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Rishi/BoJo U-Turn on a windfall tax – politicalbetting.com

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  • LostPasswordLostPassword Posts: 14,772

    Carnyx said:

    Carnyx said:

    Applicant said:

    Carnyx said:

    Eabhal said:

    There's some ragin' Nats out there:

    Let’s be clear about what has just happened in Edinburgh:

    Labour has seized control of the council with 13 of 63 councillors.

    Only 11 of their own councillors voted in favour of this + 12 Lib Dems.

    Why could this happen anyway?
    Because Labour chose to give positions to Tories.


    https://twitter.com/TanjaBueltmann/status/1529787678635528195

    Because working with the Toreeees is always evil - except when the SNP do it.....

    I'm not a Green/SNP ultra but this is a complete disaster for those of us who engage in the extreme sport "cycling about in Edinburgh".

    The Tories are rabidly pro-driver here. It's honestly impossible to find a reason to vote for the neanderthals either on a national or local basis - everything is a culture war. I think they associate bikes with wokeists.
    I am no fan of the democratic abomination where a tiny group of 13 Labour councillors can control a council comprised of 63 elected members, but in what respect is the new Labour minority administration “a complete disaster” for cyclists? I got the impression that Scottish Labour is quite pro-cycling? Or are the Edinburgh Labourites uncharacteristically pro-car?

    (Incidentally, the centre-right are very pro-cycling in many European countries, so the hostility of the ones on the big island is a bit of a mystery. Surely we ought to be encouraging healthy and cheap activities? Makes our cities cleaner and more pleasant to live in. Reduces heart-lung and obesity catastrophe. Is fun!! Or ought to be…)
    If they could ban cyclists in Edinburgh it would considerably increase my safety and life expectancy and that of all other pedestrians.
    Seems unlikely.

    'Of around 400 pedestrians killed in collisions in the UK each year, about 2.5 involve a bicycle. Put it another way: more than 99% of pedestrian collision deaths in this country involve a motorised vehicle.'

    As you push them back into their cars you many well be increasing your own risk.

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/mar/08/killer-cyclists-roads-bikes-pedestrian-collision-deaths-britain
    Very good point.

    It is astonishing to witness the media prominence given to (relatively rare) rail, maritime and aviation loss of life and life-changing disability injuries whereas the literally daily carnage caused by motor vehicles gets a brief mention on page 32, if you’re lucky.
    Yes. IMO most anti cyclist sentiment is derived from selection bias. A cyclist ignore the highway code it is remembered and anecdotes are created as they are the other. A motorist breaks the code its not remarkable just something that happens as they are in group.

    I've always felt that cycling on Britain's roads is the closest to active discrimination I can get in the UK. The power dynamic is huge and you're entirely at the whim of what feels to be a capricious often actively malicious percentage of road users.

    The majority of drivers are lovely and courteous, 5% are ignorant and 1% are bastards.
    I can't remember the last time I saw a car run a red light. Cyclists? All the bloody time.
    I'm not saying that cyclists are brilliant. For sure the type of transport dictates which rule breaking is more common. Just that inconsiderate driving will not be remembered to the extant that cycling will.

    Do you really remember the driver that cut you up on the roundabout? Or was doing 100+ on the motorway? Or ignored the zebra crossing you were waiting at?
    One thing to be in another car, another not to be. And cars don't normally drive on pavements. Unlike cyclists, who are sometimes actually encouraged to do so.
    You're much more likely to be killed by a car on the pavement then a cyclist, pavement or otherwise.

    Of course there is a power dynamic between cyclist and pedestrians. But the dynamic between drivers and everyone else is much greater and far far deadlier.
    I've never had a run in with a car on the pacement in Edinburgh that I can recall. But several very close shaves with cyclists, some at top speed. Precisely the sort of incident which leads to heads impacting the pavement.

    The sooner we see licence plates and licences and cycling tests and compulsory training the happier I will be.
    I'm not sure you will be any happier.

    In 2017 there were 2.4million motoring convictions. People do stupid things in cars and on bikes whether or not they have a number plate or have been licensed to operate them. Its just that cars are much much more likely to hurt you.
    2.4 million is an astonishing figure when you consider how much recklessly bad driving occurs that never comes to the attention of the police. I guess that's mostly speeding offences that are caught, though.
  • MattWMattW Posts: 18,089
    edited May 2022
    MattW said:

    TOPPING said:

    Sandpit said:

    TOPPING said:

    On topic that's a great LibDem message. Did 300 Cons MPs really vote against a windfall tax last week?!

    They voted against a Labour motion, at an Opposition Day debate.
    Ah. Thanks.
    Motion is a PR Stunt, basically.
    TBF that would also be true the other way with a different govt, and it is part of the system.

    And the LD spin is also a PR stunt :smile: .
  • GardenwalkerGardenwalker Posts: 20,812
    MattW said:

    MattW said:

    TOPPING said:

    Sandpit said:

    TOPPING said:

    On topic that's a great LibDem message. Did 300 Cons MPs really vote against a windfall tax last week?!

    They voted against a Labour motion, at an Opposition Day debate.
    Ah. Thanks.
    Motion is a PR Stunt, basically.
    TBF that would also be true the other way with a different govt, and it is part of the system.

    And the LD spin is also a PR stunt :smile: .
    It’s not a PR stunt because it highlights the reality that the measure was (broadly) first raised by the Opposition and serially rubbished by the Tories for months until they needed a dead cat.
  • MikeSmithsonMikeSmithson Posts: 7,382

    ...

    IshmaelZ said:

    BREAKING Tory MP Stephen Hammond submits letter of no confidence in Boris Johnson. Canaries in the mine are adding up. Problems for the PM.

    https://twitter.com/christopherhope/status/1529839505183756294

    The letters is the easy bit.

    Voting the smug b****** out of office is quite another.
    I disagree.
This discussion has been closed.