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.
Just days apparently.
Maybe if you come from a generation that has been playing COD or the equivalent for some years...
“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.
Far better to get a huge rent for it. However given the current SNP leadership mob have no intentions on independence it matters not a jot. Until these wannabe Tory impersonaters are purged we are going nowhere but down the brexit drain
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?
"Why should the Government own a TV station?" is an equally good question.
Rail franchising has been part of the process of getting investment, improved reliability, improved capacity, and improved quality into our rail system.
“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……)
The leader is very pro EU and French in particular
“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.
Far better to get a huge rent for it. However given the current SNP leadership mob have no intentions on independence it matters not a jot. Until these wannabe Tory impersonaters are purged we are going nowhere but down the brexit drain
Not sure that's as an effective argument as actually getting rid of the nukes:P
Do we get charged rent for Akrotiri? I have a funny feeling that is what would happen to Faslane, and perhaps Lossie.
We have some of the best offshore facilities for wind in the world with a relatively shallow sea and much more consistent wind. Offshore wind can be much larger, and therefore more efficient. I am not saying we don't do both in our urgent need to reduce dependency on imported gas but the focus on onshore wind, which is generally unpopular with locals, seemed odd at the time.
It just kills momentum as the nation gets bogged down in a vicious debate "destroying AONB to serve London with energy".
“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).
WTF , I don't give a toss about the pension , it is a minor part of my income and I don't give a toss who pays it either, having contributed for 50 years someone arsehole government should pay the measly amount though. If you didn't have SHIT for brains you would have understood what I said previously and that an agreement on pensions would be done by either England continuing to pay those that had sent them the cash or it would be part of the assets transfer of the deal. In the end someone will pay it and either way I DGAF
PS: God help Scotland if the likes of you are it's future , cannot read and comprehend English language.
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.
Except that's not remarkable at all. "Project Fear" predicted much of this chaos.
And lo, it came to pass...
I'm becoming increasingly confident that the further the UK decends down the toilet with Johnson and his UKIP Party the greater the chance that we'll rejoin or do something similar in the next few years. Every stamp on our passports when we enter an EU country is an infringment on our freedom.
We have some of the best offshore facilities for wind in the world with a relatively shallow sea and much more consistent wind. Offshore wind can be much larger, and therefore more efficient. I am not saying we don't do both in our urgent need to reduce dependency on imported gas but the focus on onshore wind, which is generally unpopular with locals, seemed odd at the time.
The other issue is installation - on land you have to build roads to the sites, stop traffic to transport the blades etc etc. By land transportation standards, the parts of wind turbines are huge.
Hence the comments the other day by some people who live in the areas where onshore has been built.
By the standards of offshore work (see oil industry) the current turbines are not a big deal - plenty of barges and cranes that can handle them
Does Rishi's wife live in the UK? It's not my area of expertise but if you spend 183 days in one tax year in the UK I thought you were automatically resident here?
Residence and domicile are different things, for tax purposes. She will pay tax on UK income but not foreign income.
“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
Lots of MalcolmG types who are very sensitive over the pension (*old age benefit).
Certainly borne out by the age splits:
Level of State Pension (Importance in deciding vote) 18-24: 9 25-49: 13 50-64: 30 65+: 43
“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.
Far better to get a huge rent for it. However given the current SNP leadership mob have no intentions on independence it matters not a jot. Until these wannabe Tory impersonaters are purged we are going nowhere but down the brexit drain
Not sure that's as an effective argument as actually getting rid of the nukes:P
Do we get charged rent for Akrotiri? I have a funny feeling that is what would happen to Faslane, and perhaps Lossie.
Good Morning one & all. I seem to recall that Akrotiri is a 'Sovereign Base', hence not part of Cyprus but a detached bit of the UK.
Sally Lockwood of Sky reporting from NATO meeting in Brussels saying a full day of talks is to consider how they may increase support for Ukraine as there is a window of opportunity while Russia re- adjusts it military.
Apparently the Czechs are promising to supply tanks, the US are already training the Ukrainian army on US soil in drone usage, and the UK want to supply 'Jackal' armoured vehicles
It is clear that de facto NATO involvement is happening and it could be about to expand that commitment
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?
"Why should the Government own a TV station?" is an equally good question.
Rail franchising has been part of the process of getting investment, improved reliability, improved capacity, and improved quality into our rail system.
All of which have been achieved.
We subsidise the railways more under privatisation than at any period when they were publicly owned.
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.
Except that's not remarkable at all. "Project Fear" predicted much of this chaos.
And lo, it came to pass...
I'm becoming increasingly confident that the further the UK decends down the toilet with Johnson and his UKIP Party the greater the chance that we'll rejoin or do something similar in the next few years. Every stamp on our passports when we enter an EU country is an infringment on our freedom.
"Infringement on your freedom" is what is going on in Ukraine.
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.
Plus arguably the whole reason Putin invaded Ukraine was to absorb more white Christians for Russia as migration from Central Asian Muslims was diluting the white Russian population
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.
Felix. You are one of the very few posters on PB I would describe as a Troll. The word could have been described for you. Any personal attacks however egregious gets a 'Like' from you which is something most posters don't do. You are quite simply a nasty piece of 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.
Except that's not remarkable at all. "Project Fear" predicted much of this chaos.
And lo, it came to pass...
I'm becoming increasingly confident that the further the UK decends down the toilet with Johnson and his UKIP Party the greater the chance that we'll rejoin or do something similar in the next few years. Every stamp on our passports when we enter an EU country is an infringment on our freedom.
We won't, as rejoining now would require the Euro, Schengen etc. At more we would rejoin the EEA.
There is more chance non Eurozone Denmark, Sweden, Hungary and Poland leave the full EU as it moves towards a Federal EU superstate than the UK rejoins it
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
Some Christian leaders have happily preached violence for thousands of years, it's a broad tent.
Does Rishi's wife live in the UK? It's not my area of expertise but if you spend 183 days in one tax year in the UK I thought you were automatically resident here?
Residence and domicile are different things, for tax purposes. She will pay tax on UK income but not foreign income.
Lots of people resident in the UK pay tax on foreign income in the country it comes from.
Just seen the non-dom story. On top of other stuff, looks like Sunak utterly blew his chances when he didn't knife the PM when he had the chance.
Yes. It's all over for him bar the shouting, I think. He could have got rid of Johnson that Monday in the Commons when the PM was patently flailing and on the ropes, but the obsession with the self-fulfilling Heseltine mythology, for him and in the Tory Party more broadly, stopped him.
“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.
They're running as an opportunistic opposition, yes. Even governments try to do that nowadays, because it involves avoiding accountability and you don't have to be consistent. Johnson is the same. Just look at HMGs reaction to P&O.
Most people seem to hear the policies separately. So people who are not in favour of dying in nuclear Armageddon will hear the SNP policy on Trident and like it. And separately people in favour of stopping the beastly Russians will hear the SNP proposing to do more than the Westminster government and like that.
It's the same as with Covid, running airways as an opposition to the Westminster government.
The Westminster government have fallen into the trap generally of this oppositional divide. They might want to try a different strategy of being ostentatiously cooperative with Holyrood.
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
Some Christian leaders have happily preached violence for thousands of years, it's a broad tent.
As have the leaders of just about every religion - especially, it seems, the ones that bang on about peace and love.
Just seen the non-dom story. On top of other stuff, looks like Sunak utterly blew his chances when he didn't knife the PM when he had the chance.
I am not sure he ever did have the chance
To successfully oust Boris he needed support of his mps and the membership to win a coronation and that support was not there
He has seen an astonishing fall from grace with his misjudged budget and many of us who thought he was the future have been let down and are very disappointed
I would imagine he may well be moved in the reshuffle that is coming post the may elections which looks very bleak for the conservatives and in a large part down to Rishi tin ear
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
Some Christian leaders have happily preached violence for thousands of years, it's a broad tent.
As have the leaders of just about every religion - especially, it seems, the ones that bang on about peace and love.
Look at the fun Buddhists have got up to.....
Yes, people are remarkably adept at cherry picking the bits that work for them.
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.
I think this must be right. It's not only Nadine D who had no idea of its structure, I very much doubt if 10% of those polled could give a coherent account of the status quo before (or even after) the row broke. So that's the reality.
The voting in polls (but note the high DK number) will spread roughly thus: those who always oppose change and those who basically support maximal state management will vote NO. Libertarians and Boris fans and those who hate anything run by self regarding elites and prefer it in the hands of other self regarding elites will vote YES.
Much more interesting are questions about what contents people want. The general public's views on how to bring want they want about will be singularly simplistic.
FWIW what I would like from C4 is sometimes news when C4 news is on form (as recently), and universal free test match coverage. It can go off air for all other purposes. In don't think I am going to get it.
Just seen the non-dom story. On top of other stuff, looks like Sunak utterly blew his chances when he didn't knife the PM when he had the chance.
I am not sure he ever did have the chance
To successfully oust Boris he needed support of his mps and the membership to win a coronation and that support was not there
He has seen an astonishing fall from grace with his misjudged budget and many of us who thought he was the future have been let down and are very disappointed
I would imagine he may well be moved in the reshuffle that is coming post the may elections which looks very bleak for the conservatives and in a large part down to Rishi tin ear
I can't really see past Hunt, Truss or Mordaunt as possibilities , now.
Does Rishi's wife live in the UK? It's not my area of expertise but if you spend 183 days in one tax year in the UK I thought you were automatically resident here?
I think that’s more related to people who don’t want to be caught in the UK tax net full stop. First year you can spend 183 days then after that no more than 90 days without being liable for tax by the UK (details could have changed since it was of interest to me).
She’s apparently Res non-Dom so has to pay tax on any UK earnings in UK regardless and I think it only lasts 15 years.
It was so much easier in the good old days when a man could just control his wife’s finances and not have independent women making financial decisions that suit them…..
Look at the documentary series Downton Abbey where the Lord’s American wife gladly hands over her family fortune to her husband so she doesn’t do anything silly being a lady and all that.
Just seen the non-dom story. On top of other stuff, looks like Sunak utterly blew his chances when he didn't knife the PM when he had the chance.
Yes. It's all over for him bar the shouting, I think. He could have got rid of Johnson that Monday in the Commons when the PM was patently flailing and on the ropes, but the obsession with the self-fulfilling Heseltine mythology, for him and in the Tory Party more broadly, stopped him.
Probably for the best that he didn't though.
Imagine if it became public knowledge that the PM's wife was a non-dom.
(This isn't about the details of tax law. Fairly or not, some things are just not on.)
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.
Plus arguably the whole reason Putin invaded Ukraine was to absorb more white Christians for Russia as migration from Central Asian Muslims was diluting the white Russian population
I've not seen that anywhere except from you on several occasions, but I'm happy to believe it might be true. If it is true what do you think of it?
Does Rishi's wife live in the UK? It's not my area of expertise but if you spend 183 days in one tax year in the UK I thought you were automatically resident here?
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.
I support Leeds United, and did so during the Ken Bates years. I credit this with my ability to despair at my political 'team' while wishing they would be better.
I agree with everything you've written, but I'd caveat that some partisanship can be a good thing. I think you need a dash of it in an adversarial system.
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
Some Christian leaders have happily preached violence for thousands of years, it's a broad tent.
Except that nowadays we are more civilised, aren't we? Except in Russia, of course.
Just seen the non-dom story. On top of other stuff, looks like Sunak utterly blew his chances when he didn't knife the PM when he had the chance.
I am not sure he ever did have the chance
To successfully oust Boris he needed support of his mps and the membership to win a coronation and that support was not there
He has seen an astonishing fall from grace with his misjudged budget and many of us who thought he was the future have been let down and are very disappointed
I would imagine he may well be moved in the reshuffle that is coming post the may elections which looks very bleak for the conservatives and in a large part down to Rishi tin ear
I can't really see past Hunt, Truss or Mordaunt as possibilities , now.
Mordaunt would be the most effective electorally of those three.
Just seen the non-dom story. On top of other stuff, looks like Sunak utterly blew his chances when he didn't knife the PM when he had the chance.
I am not sure he ever did have the chance
To successfully oust Boris he needed support of his mps and the membership to win a coronation and that support was not there
He has seen an astonishing fall from grace with his misjudged budget and many of us who thought he was the future have been let down and are very disappointed
I would imagine he may well be moved in the reshuffle that is coming post the may elections which looks very bleak for the conservatives and in a large part down to Rishi tin ear
I can't really see past Hunt, Truss or Mordaunt as possibilities , now.
Possibly but the situation is so unpredictable as Boris could be gone by the summer or fight GE 29
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
Some Christian leaders have happily preached violence for thousands of years, it's a broad tent.
Except that nowadays we are more civilised, aren't we? Except in Russia, of course.
I think the world is generally more civilised, but we can revert quickly in a crisis. That's human nature.
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
Some Christian leaders have happily preached violence for thousands of years, it's a broad tent.
A very broad tent. Christianity is the largest identifiable organised activity in the world. The RCs alone have 1bn+ members. Even in the UK, a top secularised and rapidly secularising state, nearly 50% self identify as Christian. (Which is astonishing and weird).
It is such a broad tent that it has Cyril of Moscow in it. But just notice how few of the 20-30 million people who self identify as Christian in the UK are parading in the streets to support him. Most Christians are decent people. Just like everyone else.
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?
"Why should the Government own a TV station?" is an equally good question.
Rail franchising has been part of the process of getting investment, improved reliability, improved capacity, and improved quality into our rail system.
All of which have been achieved.
We subsidise the railways more under privatisation than at any period when they were publicly owned.
Oh lordy, not this again. Whether such a soundbite is accurate depends on many factors, such as whether you factor in the increase in passengers, mileages travelled, include infrastructure enhancements (e.g. Crossrail/HS2), etc, etc.
Blindly talking about the subsidy without factoring these in is untruthful IMO, because you are comparing apples and oranges.
“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.
They're running as an opportunistic opposition, yes. Even governments try to do that nowadays, because it involves avoiding accountability and you don't have to be consistent. Johnson is the same. Just look at HMGs reaction to P&O.
Most people seem to hear the policies separately. So people who are not in favour of dying in nuclear Armageddon will hear the SNP policy on Trident and like it. And separately people in favour of stopping the beastly Russians will hear the SNP proposing to do more than the Westminster government and like that.
It's the same as with Covid, running airways as an opposition to the Westminster government.
The Westminster government have fallen into the trap generally of this oppositional divide. They might want to try a different strategy of being ostentatiously cooperative with Holyrood.
The last is utterly impossible for a Johnson administration. Cooperation implies reasonable, predictable, non-malicious interaction that doesn't U-turn on the spur of the moment. And the current Tory administration burnt its boats right from the start, both in its general conduct and its specific behaviour towards the Scottish Government (and Wales and NI too).
From another point of view, what policy could the Scottish Gmt have that would be at all acceptable to a Johnsonite administration that wouldn't get the Scottish administration thrown out very quickly at the next election?
Just seen the non-dom story. On top of other stuff, looks like Sunak utterly blew his chances when he didn't knife the PM when he had the chance.
I am not sure he ever did have the chance
To successfully oust Boris he needed support of his mps and the membership to win a coronation and that support was not there
He has seen an astonishing fall from grace with his misjudged budget and many of us who thought he was the future have been let down and are very disappointed
I would imagine he may well be moved in the reshuffle that is coming post the may elections which looks very bleak for the conservatives and in a large part down to Rishi tin ear
I can't really see past Hunt, Truss or Mordaunt as possibilities , now.
Possibly but the situation is so unpredictable as Boris could be gone by the summer or fight GE 29
It is that surreal
It became surreal the moment the Tories thought it was a good idea to make Boris leader. He will stop at nothing to win and retain power for his personal benefit.
If anyone wants rid before he's ready to go, you will have to be prepared to overcome the nastiest onslaught. He will deploy all his dark arts.
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
Some Christian leaders have happily preached violence for thousands of years, it's a broad tent.
A very broad tent. Christianity is the largest identifiable organised activity in the world. The RCs alone have 1bn+ members. Even in the UK, a top secularised and rapidly secularising state, nearly 50% self identify as Christian. (Which is astonishing and weird).
It is such a broad tent that it has Cyril of Moscow in it. But just notice how few of the 20-30 million people who self identify as Christian in the UK are parading in the streets to support him. Most Christians are decent people. Just like everyone else.
I said leaders for a reason. Leaders dont let the precepts of their faith, be it christianity or something else, get in the way of what they want to do. Indeed, they instead twist it to make it fit.
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?
"Why should the Government own a TV station?" is an equally good question.
Rail franchising has been part of the process of getting investment, improved reliability, improved capacity, and improved quality into our rail system.
All of which have been achieved.
We subsidise the railways more under privatisation than at any period when they were publicly owned.
Oh lordy, not this again. Whether such a soundbite is accurate depends on many factors, such as whether you factor in the increase in passengers, mileages travelled, include infrastructure enhancements (e.g. Crossrail/HS2), etc, etc.
Blindly talking about the subsidy without factoring these in is untruthful IMO, because you are comparing apples and oranges.
If you could talk to a single benefit of privatisation let's hear it.
Does Rishi's wife live in the UK? It's not my area of expertise but if you spend 183 days in one tax year in the UK I thought you were automatically resident here?
I think that’s more related to people who don’t want to be caught in the UK tax net full stop. First year you can spend 183 days then after that no more than 90 days without being liable for tax by the UK (details could have changed since it was of interest to me).
She’s apparently Res non-Dom so has to pay tax on any UK earnings in UK regardless and I think it only lasts 15 years.
It was so much easier in the good old days when a man could just control his wife’s finances and not have independent women making financial decisions that suit them…..
Look at the documentary series Downton Abbey where the Lord’s American wife gladly hands over her family fortune to her husband so she doesn’t do anything silly being a lady and all that.
I have some (slight) sympathy in that India does not recognise dual nationals. I have Indian friends long resident in the US who have never taken US citizenship.
So, she would have to relinquish her Indian citizenship to become a UK national. I believe it is also true that it is very difficult to own property in India, if you are no longer an Indian citizen.
But, I think this is politically damaging and looks very bad. Sunak should haver realised this long ago.
Personally, I think the tax affairs of all politicians and their immediate family should be publicly available and open to scrutiny.
Does Rishi's wife live in the UK? It's not my area of expertise but if you spend 183 days in one tax year in the UK I thought you were automatically resident here?
Just seen the non-dom story. On top of other stuff, looks like Sunak utterly blew his chances when he didn't knife the PM when he had the chance.
I am not sure he ever did have the chance
To successfully oust Boris he needed support of his mps and the membership to win a coronation and that support was not there
He has seen an astonishing fall from grace with his misjudged budget and many of us who thought he was the future have been let down and are very disappointed
I would imagine he may well be moved in the reshuffle that is coming post the may elections which looks very bleak for the conservatives and in a large part down to Rishi tin ear
I can't really see past Hunt, Truss or Mordaunt as possibilities , now.
Mordaunt would be the most effective electorally of those three.
What makes you say that ? I would be interested to know. She is a bit of an unknown quantity.
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?
"Why should the Government own a TV station?" is an equally good question.
Rail franchising has been part of the process of getting investment, improved reliability, improved capacity, and improved quality into our rail system.
All of which have been achieved.
We subsidise the railways more under privatisation than at any period when they were publicly owned.
Oh lordy, not this again. Whether such a soundbite is accurate depends on many factors, such as whether you factor in the increase in passengers, mileages travelled, include infrastructure enhancements (e.g. Crossrail/HS2), etc, etc.
Blindly talking about the subsidy without factoring these in is untruthful IMO, because you are comparing apples and oranges.
If you could talk to a single benefit of privatisation let's hear it.
There are many, but let's take an important one: safety. The 2020 Carmont crash was the first fatal rail crash on the UK heavy-rail network since Grayrigg 13 years earlier. That is an unprecedented period, and one massively better than BR achieved.
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.
Except that's not remarkable at all. "Project Fear" predicted much of this chaos.
And lo, it came to pass...
I'm becoming increasingly confident that the further the UK decends down the toilet with Johnson and his UKIP Party the greater the chance that we'll rejoin or do something similar in the next few years. Every stamp on our passports when we enter an EU country is an infringment on our freedom.
We won't, as rejoining now would require the Euro, Schengen etc. At more we would rejoin the EEA.
There is more chance non Eurozone Denmark, Sweden, Hungary and Poland leave the full EU as it moves towards a Federal EU superstate than the UK rejoins it
I saw a poll in the last few days that suggested by quite a large majority voters now regretted leaving. If the anticipated financial crisis and accompanying chaos materialise and get pinned on Brexit (which is quite likely then a movement to rejoin could quickly take hold.
All the pieces are in place for it to happen quickly. The diehard Remainers haven't gone away even in parliament.
The only question is which of Boris' oligarch mates wants to buy channel 4.
Isn't oligarchy the wrong word for the Russian government? It is clear from those TV programmes about Putin that the rich kleptocrats are nowhere near governing the country.
Just seen the non-dom story. On top of other stuff, looks like Sunak utterly blew his chances when he didn't knife the PM when he had the chance.
I am not sure he ever did have the chance
To successfully oust Boris he needed support of his mps and the membership to win a coronation and that support was not there
He has seen an astonishing fall from grace with his misjudged budget and many of us who thought he was the future have been let down and are very disappointed
I would imagine he may well be moved in the reshuffle that is coming post the may elections which looks very bleak for the conservatives and in a large part down to Rishi tin ear
I can't really see past Hunt, Truss or Mordaunt as possibilities , now.
Mordaunt would be the most effective electorally of those three.
What makes you say that ? I would be interested to know. She is a bit of an unknown quantity.
I would agree. As a non Tory my preference would be Hunt. I fear it would all go to Truss's head if she became PM. And not in a good way.
Just seen the non-dom story. On top of other stuff, looks like Sunak utterly blew his chances when he didn't knife the PM when he had the chance.
I am not sure he ever did have the chance
To successfully oust Boris he needed support of his mps and the membership to win a coronation and that support was not there
He has seen an astonishing fall from grace with his misjudged budget and many of us who thought he was the future have been let down and are very disappointed
I would imagine he may well be moved in the reshuffle that is coming post the may elections which looks very bleak for the conservatives and in a large part down to Rishi tin ear
I can't really see past Hunt, Truss or Mordaunt as possibilities , now.
Mordaunt would be the most effective electorally of those three.
What makes you say that ? I would be interested to know. She is a bit of an unknown quantity.
Doesn't the UK's double taxation agreement with India imply that her income there is taxed there and not in the UK (as well)?
As a non-Dom she's not liable for tax on income generated outside the UK, unless she sends it to the UK. When/if she loses her non-Dom status she becomes liable in the UK to tax on worldwide income - but can offset that liability against tax already deducted in foreign jurisdictions.
Mrs Sunak would appear to be behaving correctly. It's her husband's political judgement that is in question.
“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
Lots of MalcolmG types who are very sensitive over the pension (*old age benefit).
Certainly borne out by the age splits:
Level of State Pension (Importance in deciding vote) 18-24: 9 25-49: 13 50-64: 30 65+: 43
The more people are impacted by a policy the more they are concerned about it. Cannot be a shock.
Doesn't the UK's double taxation agreement with India imply that her income there is taxed there and not in the UK (as well)?
You still declare your income for tax and you may not get to offset all you have paid in a foreign country. It is then up to you to try and reclaim that from the foreign tax authorities. I speak as someone who has to do that with Swiss shares.
We have some of the best offshore facilities for wind in the world with a relatively shallow sea and much more consistent wind. Offshore wind can be much larger, and therefore more efficient. I am not saying we don't do both in our urgent need to reduce dependency on imported gas but the focus on onshore wind, which is generally unpopular with locals, seemed odd at the time.
It's still cheaper at about 4 pence/kwh (With backup generation) as opposed to 7, and it can be put up more quickly than offshore. In terms of solving the energy crisis NOW it is the best option. Offshore wind is a piece of the puzzle, but we should do onshore too.
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?
"Why should the Government own a TV station?" is an equally good question.
Rail franchising has been part of the process of getting investment, improved reliability, improved capacity, and improved quality into our rail system.
All of which have been achieved.
We subsidise the railways more under privatisation than at any period when they were publicly owned.
Oh lordy, not this again. Whether such a soundbite is accurate depends on many factors, such as whether you factor in the increase in passengers, mileages travelled, include infrastructure enhancements (e.g. Crossrail/HS2), etc, etc.
Blindly talking about the subsidy without factoring these in is untruthful IMO, because you are comparing apples and oranges.
If you could talk to a single benefit of privatisation let's hear it.
There are many, but let's take an important one: safety. The 2020 Carmont crash was the first fatal rail crash on the UK heavy-rail network since Grayrigg 13 years earlier. That is an unprecedented period, and one massively better than BR achieved.
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.
Plus arguably the whole reason Putin invaded Ukraine was to absorb more white Christians for Russia as migration from Central Asian Muslims was diluting the white Russian population
The only question is which of Boris' oligarch mates wants to buy channel 4.
Apparently ITV are very interested
Oh dear.
If the government had a genuine public interest in mind, they could use an opportunity of ITV buying it to get the channel properly back on its feet, through legally precedented public clauses and conditions, and reintroducing the ITV-Channel 4 architecture the whole channel was partly set up to achieve.
Except I don't remotely trust them to act in the public interest.
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.
Plus arguably the whole reason Putin invaded Ukraine was to absorb more white Christians for Russia as migration from Central Asian Muslims was diluting the white Russian population
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.
I think this must be right. It's not only Nadine D who had no idea of its structure, I very much doubt if 10% of those polled could give a coherent account of the status quo before (or even after) the row broke. So that's the reality.
The voting in polls (but note the high DK number) will spread roughly thus: those who always oppose change and those who basically support maximal state management will vote NO. Libertarians and Boris fans and those who hate anything run by self regarding elites and prefer it in the hands of other self regarding elites will vote YES.
Much more interesting are questions about what contents people want. The general public's views on how to bring want they want about will be singularly simplistic.
FWIW what I would like from C4 is sometimes news when C4 news is on form (as recently), and universal free test match coverage. It can go off air for all other purposes. In don't think I am going to get it.
I also think that it's miles away from a subject of keen public interest. But the Conservatives are making a more subtle error. By seeming preoccupied with ideological projects (and getting rid of Channel 4 feels at heart to be an ideological project) and going on about culture war issues (however much Leon likes them), they are ostentatiously ignoring the issues that really do concern people. It's perfectly possible for people to agree with Johnson on trans questions and to shrug off what happens to Channel 4, but to think that if that's all the Government has to say at the moment, then they've ceased to be relevant to most people. The cost of living? Rushing out more boosters to curb the new spread of Covid? NHS waiting times? The Conservatives seem to feel these issues are all secondary.
Why are they doing it? Probably because Johnson feels he needs to show he's a proper Tory for when the crunch comes over Partygate. It's understandable from his viewpoint, but it's not sensible government.
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?
"Why should the Government own a TV station?" is an equally good question.
Rail franchising has been part of the process of getting investment, improved reliability, improved capacity, and improved quality into our rail system.
All of which have been achieved.
We subsidise the railways more under privatisation than at any period when they were publicly owned.
Oh lordy, not this again. Whether such a soundbite is accurate depends on many factors, such as whether you factor in the increase in passengers, mileages travelled, include infrastructure enhancements (e.g. Crossrail/HS2), etc, etc.
Blindly talking about the subsidy without factoring these in is untruthful IMO, because you are comparing apples and oranges.
Have you done this one before?
AIUI the publicly owned activities - Network Rail and the extras - receive many billions in subsidy plus infrastructure investment, and the Train Operating Companies pay in £0.6bn a year in Franchise, and £1.3bn in access charges.
Does Rishi's wife live in the UK? It's not my area of expertise but if you spend 183 days in one tax year in the UK I thought you were automatically resident here?
I think that’s more related to people who don’t want to be caught in the UK tax net full stop. First year you can spend 183 days then after that no more than 90 days without being liable for tax by the UK (details could have changed since it was of interest to me).
She’s apparently Res non-Dom so has to pay tax on any UK earnings in UK regardless and I think it only lasts 15 years.
It was so much easier in the good old days when a man could just control his wife’s finances and not have independent women making financial decisions that suit them…..
Look at the documentary series Downton Abbey where the Lord’s American wife gladly hands over her family fortune to her husband so she doesn’t do anything silly being a lady and all that.
I have some (slight) sympathy in that India does not recognise dual nationals. I have Indian friends long resident in the US who have never taken US citizenship.
So, she would have to relinquish her Indian citizenship to become a UK national. I believe it is also true that it is very difficult to own property in India, if you are no longer an Indian citizen.
But, I think this is politically damaging and looks very bad. Sunak should haver realised this long ago.
Personally, I think the tax affairs of all politicians and their immediate family should be publicly available and open to scrutiny.
Indian millionaires don't pay much tax, even in India...
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
Some Christian leaders have happily preached violence for thousands of years, it's a broad tent.
A very broad tent. Christianity is the largest identifiable organised activity in the world. The RCs alone have 1bn+ members. Even in the UK, a top secularised and rapidly secularising state, nearly 50% self identify as Christian. (Which is astonishing and weird).
It is such a broad tent that it has Cyril of Moscow in it. But just notice how few of the 20-30 million people who self identify as Christian in the UK are parading in the streets to support him. Most Christians are decent people. Just like everyone else.
87% of Ukranians are Christian but only 50% of Russians.
So percentage wise there are more Christians in Ukraine than Russia
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.
Except that's not remarkable at all. "Project Fear" predicted much of this chaos.
And lo, it came to pass...
I'm becoming increasingly confident that the further the UK decends down the toilet with Johnson and his UKIP Party the greater the chance that we'll rejoin or do something similar in the next few years. Every stamp on our passports when we enter an EU country is an infringment on our freedom.
Do you regard the stamp into NZ. Australia, US or indeed ANYWHERE as an infringement on your freedom? Not being able to go at all would the thing you describe. Can you show me anyone from the UK who has been denied entry into an EU country (not including criminals etc)
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
Some Christian leaders have happily preached violence for thousands of years, it's a broad tent.
A very broad tent. Christianity is the largest identifiable organised activity in the world. The RCs alone have 1bn+ members. Even in the UK, a top secularised and rapidly secularising state, nearly 50% self identify as Christian. (Which is astonishing and weird).
It is such a broad tent that it has Cyril of Moscow in it. But just notice how few of the 20-30 million people who self identify as Christian in the UK are parading in the streets to support him. Most Christians are decent people. Just like everyone else.
I said leaders for a reason. Leaders dont let the precepts of their faith, be it christianity or something else, get in the way of what they want to do. Indeed, they instead twist it to make it fit.
Got the point. And sometimes unsatisfactory people dress up as Christian leaders while having minuscule fragments of followers, like Ian Paisley. But I would be hard pressed to name a recent major Christian leader in western Europe who was not a fundamentally decent person in their attitudes towards killing in war.
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.
Plus arguably the whole reason Putin invaded Ukraine was to absorb more white Christians for Russia as migration from Central Asian Muslims was diluting the white Russian population
Does Rishi's wife live in the UK? It's not my area of expertise but if you spend 183 days in one tax year in the UK I thought you were automatically resident here?
I think that’s more related to people who don’t want to be caught in the UK tax net full stop. First year you can spend 183 days then after that no more than 90 days without being liable for tax by the UK (details could have changed since it was of interest to me).
She’s apparently Res non-Dom so has to pay tax on any UK earnings in UK regardless and I think it only lasts 15 years.
It was so much easier in the good old days when a man could just control his wife’s finances and not have independent women making financial decisions that suit them…..
Look at the documentary series Downton Abbey where the Lord’s American wife gladly hands over her family fortune to her husband so she doesn’t do anything silly being a lady and all that.
I have some (slight) sympathy in that India does not recognise dual nationals. I have Indian friends long resident in the US who have never taken US citizenship.
So, she would have to relinquish her Indian citizenship to become a UK national. I believe it is also true that it is very difficult to own property in India, if you are no longer an Indian citizen.
But, I think this is politically damaging and looks very bad. Sunak should haver realised this long ago.
Personally, I think the tax affairs of all politicians and their immediate family should be publicly available and open to scrutiny.
Indian millionaires don't pay much tax, even in India...
Doesn't the UK's double taxation agreement with India imply that her income there is taxed there and not in the UK (as well)?
As a non-Dom she's not liable for tax on income generated outside the UK, unless she sends it to the UK. When/if she loses her non-Dom status she becomes liable in the UK to tax on worldwide income - but can offset that liability against tax already deducted in foreign jurisdictions.
Mrs Sunak would appear to be behaving correctly. It's her husband's political judgement that is in question.
Why? Marrying her is not a political judgement? She is responsible for her own tax affairs. He discussed this possible conflict of interest to the treasury when he became a minister.
It is a politically difficult situation for him, sure, but what political judgement has he made which is wrong?
If he gives non doms extra benefits then that would be an issue, but I am not aware of any changes in this area he has made?
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.
Derby was richer. More recently Home had a bob or two. More recently still Blair Clegg Osborne and in hisdreams Cameron were headed in that direction, it's just they got it in afterwards. Anyway all senior politicians are multi millionaires these days in the sense of being worth more than 2m including houses. They are North of the great dividing line between worrying about money every day and worrying about it once a year on 31 Jan when the tax return is due in
Some ruthlessly snobbish Old Etonian poshboi writing about the lower classes in the 1930s said they envied only those of the rich whom they would emulate if they had the money. So not the professional classes because they realised they continued to work hard despite being wealthy. Sunak did some things right: 4 cars is not many, and they aren't Bugattis. But the jetting to California and the non dom status should have gone. Clean up a bit more and he'd have been fine.
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 am a remainer too but I see little point. Quite frankly fighting the brexit battle still is a bit like the Japanese soldier stuck on the island thinking the war hadn't ended.
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?
"Why should the Government own a TV station?" is an equally good question.
Rail franchising has been part of the process of getting investment, improved reliability, improved capacity, and improved quality into our rail system.
All of which have been achieved.
We subsidise the railways more under privatisation than at any period when they were publicly owned.
Oh lordy, not this again. Whether such a soundbite is accurate depends on many factors, such as whether you factor in the increase in passengers, mileages travelled, include infrastructure enhancements (e.g. Crossrail/HS2), etc, etc.
Blindly talking about the subsidy without factoring these in is untruthful IMO, because you are comparing apples and oranges.
If you could talk to a single benefit of privatisation let's hear it.
There are many, but let's take an important one: safety. The 2020 Carmont crash was the first fatal rail crash on the UK heavy-rail network since Grayrigg 13 years earlier. That is an unprecedented period, and one massively better than BR achieved.
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.
Except that's not remarkable at all. "Project Fear" predicted much of this chaos.
And lo, it came to pass...
I'm becoming increasingly confident that the further the UK decends down the toilet with Johnson and his UKIP Party the greater the chance that we'll rejoin or do something similar in the next few years. Every stamp on our passports when we enter an EU country is an infringment on our freedom.
We won't, as rejoining now would require the Euro, Schengen etc. At more we would rejoin the EEA.
There is more chance non Eurozone Denmark, Sweden, Hungary and Poland leave the full EU as it moves towards a Federal EU superstate than the UK rejoins it
I saw a poll in the last few days that suggested by quite a large majority voters now regretted leaving. If the anticipated financial crisis and accompanying chaos materialise and get pinned on Brexit (which is quite likely then a movement to rejoin could quickly take hold.
All the pieces are in place for it to happen quickly. The diehard Remainers haven't gone away even in parliament.
No they aren't, rarely does any poll have over 50% wanting to rejoin the full EU. Certainly not if that means the Euro too.
Plus it is not just the Tories opposed to rejoining (all the Tory diehard Remainers no longer MPs), Starmer will not do so either as he needs to win the redwall seats back for power.
Even the LDs only now back rejoining the EEA or close to it, not the full EU
Doesn't the UK's double taxation agreement with India imply that her income there is taxed there and not in the UK (as well)?
You still declare your income for tax and you may not get to offset all you have paid in a foreign country. It is then up to you to try and reclaim that from the foreign tax authorities. I speak as someone who has to do that with Swiss shares.
Just to clarify I posted the above as a domiciled person, and to demonstrate the tax situation isn't effectively the same between domiciled and non domiciled because of double taxation agreement. A domiciled person may still pay more.
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?
"Why should the Government own a TV station?" is an equally good question.
Rail franchising has been part of the process of getting investment, improved reliability, improved capacity, and improved quality into our rail system.
All of which have been achieved.
We subsidise the railways more under privatisation than at any period when they were publicly owned.
Oh lordy, not this again. Whether such a soundbite is accurate depends on many factors, such as whether you factor in the increase in passengers, mileages travelled, include infrastructure enhancements (e.g. Crossrail/HS2), etc, etc.
Blindly talking about the subsidy without factoring these in is untruthful IMO, because you are comparing apples and oranges.
If you could talk to a single benefit of privatisation let's hear it.
There are many, but let's take an important one: safety. The 2020 Carmont crash was the first fatal rail crash on the UK heavy-rail network since Grayrigg 13 years earlier. That is an unprecedented period, and one massively better than BR achieved.
...err, wasn't Network Rail in public ownership during the years you have quoted?
Safety is not just about NR-infrastructure. Causal factors can generally be roughly shoehorned into three areas: *) Infrastructure failure, e.g. Carmont. *) Human failure *) Rolling stock failure.
Though causal factors often fall into multiple of these; e.g. a driver's inattention may be human failure, but he might have had insufficient training, or the wrong shift pattern. Or a derailment caused by a broken wheel might be rolling stock failure, but it might have been contributed to by rough track (infrastructure issues) *and* human failure to detect issues early.
All three of these have been reduced. And privatisation has an effect on NR's output as well, as they need to pay fines for delays caused to operators by broken infrastructure.
So it is complex. But there is zero doubt safety has improved massively since privatisation.
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.
I think this must be right. It's not only Nadine D who had no idea of its structure, I very much doubt if 10% of those polled could give a coherent account of the status quo before (or even after) the row broke. So that's the reality.
The voting in polls (but note the high DK number) will spread roughly thus: those who always oppose change and those who basically support maximal state management will vote NO. Libertarians and Boris fans and those who hate anything run by self regarding elites and prefer it in the hands of other self regarding elites will vote YES.
Much more interesting are questions about what contents people want. The general public's views on how to bring want they want about will be singularly simplistic.
FWIW what I would like from C4 is sometimes news when C4 news is on form (as recently), and universal free test match coverage. It can go off air for all other purposes. In don't think I am going to get it.
I also think that it's miles away from a subject of keen public interest. But the Conservatives are making a more subtle error. By seeming preoccupied with ideological projects (and getting rid of Channel 4 feels at heart to be an ideological project) and going on about culture war issues (however much Leon likes them), they are ostentatiously ignoring the issues that really do concern people. It's perfectly possible for people to agree with Johnson on trans questions and to shrug off what happens to Channel 4, but to think that if that's all the Government has to say at the moment, then they've ceased to be relevant to most people. The cost of living? Rushing out more boosters to curb the new spread of Covid? NHS waiting times? The Conservatives seem to feel these issues are all secondary.
Why are they doing it? Probably because Johnson feels he needs to show he's a proper Tory for when the crunch comes over Partygate. It's understandable from his viewpoint, but it's not sensible government.
I agree. I think also that the issue of enriching an elite group at the expense of others is becoming an issue, while nowhere near where it is in Africa and Russia. So that the moment a government led issue like this is raised you have to ask Cui bono?
Comments
Rail franchising has been part of the process of getting investment, improved reliability, improved capacity, and improved quality into our rail system.
All of which have been achieved.
Do we get charged rent for Akrotiri? I have a funny feeling that is what would happen to Faslane, and perhaps Lossie.
Just spam offshore.
PS: God help Scotland if the likes of you are it's future , cannot read and comprehend English language.
Hence the comments the other day by some people who live in the areas where onshore has been built.
By the standards of offshore work (see oil industry) the current turbines are not a big deal - plenty of barges and cranes that can handle them
Answer: it doesn't.
Level of State Pension (Importance in deciding vote)
18-24: 9
25-49: 13
50-64: 30
65+: 43
I seem to recall that Akrotiri is a 'Sovereign Base', hence not part of Cyprus but a detached bit of the UK.
Apparently the Czechs are promising to supply tanks, the US are already training the Ukrainian army on US soil in drone usage, and the UK want to supply 'Jackal' armoured vehicles
It is clear that de facto NATO involvement is happening and it could be about to expand that commitment
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10694119/Horrifying-video-shows-Ukrainian-soldiers-shooting-captured-Russian-troops-hands-tied.html
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-61010605
Caedite eos. Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius.
Just seen the non-dom story. On top of other stuff, looks like Sunak utterly blew his chances when he didn't knife the PM when he had the chance.
There is more chance non Eurozone Denmark, Sweden, Hungary and Poland leave the full EU as it moves towards a Federal EU superstate than the UK rejoins it
Most people seem to hear the policies separately. So people who are not in favour of dying in nuclear Armageddon will hear the SNP policy on Trident and like it. And separately people in favour of stopping the beastly Russians will hear the SNP proposing to do more than the Westminster government and like that.
It's the same as with Covid, running airways as an opposition to the Westminster government.
The Westminster government have fallen into the trap generally of this oppositional divide. They might want to try a different strategy of being ostentatiously cooperative with Holyrood.
Look at the fun Buddhists have got up to.....
To successfully oust Boris he needed support of his mps and the membership to win a coronation and that support was not there
He has seen an astonishing fall from grace with his misjudged budget and many of us who thought he was the future have been let down and are very disappointed
I would imagine he may well be moved in the reshuffle that is coming post the may elections which looks very bleak for the conservatives and in a large part down to Rishi tin ear
The voting in polls (but note the high DK number) will spread roughly thus: those who always oppose change and those who basically support maximal state management will vote NO. Libertarians and Boris fans and those who hate anything run by self regarding elites and prefer it in the hands of other self regarding elites will vote YES.
Much more interesting are questions about what contents people want. The general public's views on how to bring want they want about will be singularly simplistic.
FWIW what I would like from C4 is sometimes news when C4 news is on form (as recently), and universal free test match coverage. It can go off air for all other purposes. In don't think I am going to get it.
She’s apparently Res non-Dom so has to pay tax on any UK earnings in UK regardless and I think it only lasts 15 years.
It was so much easier in the good old days when a man could just control his wife’s finances and not have independent women making financial decisions that suit them…..
Look at the documentary series Downton Abbey where the Lord’s American wife gladly hands over her family fortune to her husband so she doesn’t do anything silly being a lady and all that.
Imagine if it became public knowledge that the PM's wife was a non-dom.
(This isn't about the details of tax law. Fairly or not, some things are just not on.)
I agree with everything you've written, but I'd caveat that some partisanship can be a good thing. I think you need a dash of it in an adversarial system.
It is that surreal
It is such a broad tent that it has Cyril of Moscow in it. But just notice how few of the 20-30 million people who self identify as Christian in the UK are parading in the streets to support him. Most Christians are decent people. Just like everyone else.
Blindly talking about the subsidy without factoring these in is untruthful IMO, because you are comparing apples and oranges.
From another point of view, what policy could the Scottish Gmt have that would be at all acceptable to a Johnsonite administration that wouldn't get the Scottish administration thrown out very quickly at the next election?
If anyone wants rid before he's ready to go, you will have to be prepared to overcome the nastiest onslaught. He will deploy all his dark arts.
So, she would have to relinquish her Indian citizenship to become a UK national. I believe it is also true that it is very difficult to own property in India, if you are no longer an Indian citizen.
But, I think this is politically damaging and looks very bad. Sunak should haver realised this long ago.
Personally, I think the tax affairs of all politicians and their immediate family should be publicly available and open to scrutiny.
See this article in the Giuardian: between 2010 and 2016, we had the safest railways of any large network in Europe, only being beaten by Luxembourg and Ireland.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/blog/2016/aug/24/britains-rail-safety-record-deserves-some-credit-graham-ruddick
All the pieces are in place for it to happen quickly. The diehard Remainers haven't gone away even in parliament.
MPs and members of the House of Lords are automatically UK domiciled for tax purposes - https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/25/section/41.
Mrs Sunak would appear to be behaving correctly. It's her husband's political judgement that is in question.
But thinking seems to be that competition authorities will rule it out as they would have 70% of advertising in UK TV.
Time will tell.
Offshore wind is a piece of the puzzle, but we should do onshore too.
Except I don't remotely trust them to act in the public interest.
Option A: People who think he wants their job.
- That's just Bozo and his lickspittles
Option B: Those competing with Sunak to replace Bozo.
- The Truss has to be top of the list here, but perhaps Priti?
Option C: Those who want to replace him as CoE
- PB Tories will have to help me out here
Option D : Someone who hates him.
- Surely he's too nice for that to be the case?
Option E: Russia
Why are they doing it? Probably because Johnson feels he needs to show he's a proper Tory for when the crunch comes over Partygate. It's understandable from his viewpoint, but it's not sensible government.
AIUI the publicly owned activities - Network Rail and the extras - receive many billions in subsidy plus infrastructure investment, and the Train Operating Companies pay in £0.6bn a year in Franchise, and £1.3bn in access charges.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financing_of_the_rail_industry_in_Great_Britain#Train_operating_companies
That is, claims about subsidy contain a rather large element of baloney.
And that's without getting into the more than doubling in passenger miles travelled, which surely we all applaud.
So percentage wise there are more Christians in Ukraine than Russia
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Ukraine
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Russia#:~:text=Religion in Russia is diverse,and adherents of other faiths.
And Billionaires pay even less tax.
And the Super-rich pay zero tax.
It is a politically difficult situation for him, sure, but what political judgement has he made which is wrong?
If he gives non doms extra benefits then that would be an issue, but I am not aware of any changes in this area he has made?
Some ruthlessly snobbish Old Etonian poshboi writing about the lower classes in the 1930s said they envied only those of the rich whom they would emulate if they had the money. So not the professional classes because they realised they continued to work hard despite being wealthy. Sunak did some things right: 4 cars is not many, and they aren't Bugattis. But the jetting to California and the non dom status should have gone. Clean up a bit more and he'd have been fine.
It is pointless really.
That also applies to diehard Brexiters.
Plus it is not just the Tories opposed to rejoining (all the Tory diehard Remainers no longer MPs), Starmer will not do so either as he needs to win the redwall seats back for power.
Even the LDs only now back rejoining the EEA or close to it, not the full EU
*) Infrastructure failure, e.g. Carmont.
*) Human failure
*) Rolling stock failure.
Though causal factors often fall into multiple of these; e.g. a driver's inattention may be human failure, but he might have had insufficient training, or the wrong shift pattern. Or a derailment caused by a broken wheel might be rolling stock failure, but it might have been contributed to by rough track (infrastructure issues) *and* human failure to detect issues early.
All three of these have been reduced. And privatisation has an effect on NR's output as well, as they need to pay fines for delays caused to operators by broken infrastructure.
So it is complex. But there is zero doubt safety has improved massively since privatisation.