Howdy, Stranger!

It looks like you're new here. Sign in or register to get started.

These are the numbers that should really panic Number 10 – politicalbetting.com

1234568

Comments

  • RochdalePioneersRochdalePioneers Posts: 28,901

    Leon said:

    dixiedean said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    MISTY said:

    Leon said:

    As the Labour lead has increased since Rishi Sunak gave everyone £9,000, a bag of second hand salt, and a tiny inflatable plastic wildebeest, one has to wonder what would have happened if he had NOT been so generous. Would the Labour lead be 20 points plus? Or have the voters just banked the money and decided, Well, the Tories are mad spaffing socialists, I might as well support Labour - ie, would the Tories be doing better if they were meaner and more Tory?

    It is certainly possible

    When in power, labour can be relied on to be labour.

    The tories, by their actions over the last two and half years, cannot be relied to on be anything. From the moment they adopted the Chinese Communist Party policy of lockdown, on top of the Maoist arbitrary hard target of Net Zero by 2050 At All Costs, they were finished.

    And I think they are finished. Not just now, and not just for a generation. For ever.

    How could they ever sell themselves to the electorate as anything again? It would be like Hal the computer in A Space Odyssey telling Dave he was alright now.

    I'm feeling much better now voters. I favour low taxation. I favour personal responsibility. I want a small state and fiscal discipline. I want law and order. Mr sThatcher is my heroine. All as the voters shut the whole thing down.

    A new party/brand on the right will have to replace them.

    The Tories are indeed in deep shit, but both sides have tremendous problems

    Here is just one for Labour. Brexit

    If the polls continue fair for Starmer, and the Tories keep smashing themselves in the face with a shovel, he could actually win a majority. What would he do with that majority? Suddenly he has all the reins of power, he doesn’t have to rely on the Nats or the Libs.

    In that case I think he would come under intense pressure to reverse Brexit in some form. Not immediately rejoin, not yet, but re-enter the Single Market, accept Freedom of Movement again. Everyone around him is a Remainer, he is a Remainer, his friends and allies: they are all Remainers. They won’t be able to resist moving closer to the EU. They might be able to sell it as making life easier for traders and exporters, etc etc

    And that way lies much trouble
    Brexit was a manifesto of madness. A policy designed for gullible fools. The only thing worse would now be to try and reverse it. It isn't going to happen. If that is the only straw that The Clown has to cling to then Labour will win a majority.
    I’m not talking about Rejoin. I’m talking about an EFTA/EEA arrangement, solving a lot of the ongoing Brexit problems

    And, by the by, regaining Freedom of Movement

    This will be intensely seductive for Keir “2nd vote” Starmer, and 95% of his allies and supporters
    But that isn't "reversing Brexit".
    I literally said “REVERSE BREXIT IN SOME FORM. NOT IMMEDIATELY REJOIN, NOT YET, BUT RE-ENTER THE SINGLE MARKET”

    FFS, read the comments
    Hold on. Mr Rees-Mogg has released his 2,000 Brexit benefits this very morn. Let's just wait. Could be a game changer. The freedom of not having to do certain electrical safety checks could put the Tories 20 points ahead.
    The right to be electrocuted by a Chinese British electrical appliance is definitely what I voted for.
  • northern_monkeynorthern_monkey Posts: 1,639

    Leon said:

    As the Labour lead has increased since Rishi Sunak gave everyone £9,000, a bag of second hand salt, and a tiny inflatable plastic wildebeest, one has to wonder what would have happened if he had NOT been so generous. Would the Labour lead be 20 points plus? Or have the voters just banked the money and decided, Well, the Tories are mad spaffing socialists, I might as well support Labour - ie, would the Tories be doing better if they were meaner and more Tory?

    It is certainly possible

    IMO it isn't a policy thing; it is a leadership thing. Sorry to do a big "toldyaso" (well actually not that sorry), but anyone with the tiniest understanding of leadership understood that Boris Johnson's "style" would catch up with him , and that gradually the electorate, like a slow moving disinterested supertanker, would eventually realise they either have to drop the partying Captain over the side or crash on the rocks.
    Disinterested Supertanker at the Hammersmith Apollo tonight 7pm, tickets £5/£3 NUS.
  • StockyStocky Posts: 10,215
    On rent-seeking, it is a unfortunately-termed broad economic phrase which is often mistakenly thought to relate to landlords/tenants because of its name:

    https://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/RentSeeking.html
  • kjhkjh Posts: 11,786
    edited May 2022
    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    MISTY said:

    Leon said:

    As the Labour lead has increased since Rishi Sunak gave everyone £9,000, a bag of second hand salt, and a tiny inflatable plastic wildebeest, one has to wonder what would have happened if he had NOT been so generous. Would the Labour lead be 20 points plus? Or have the voters just banked the money and decided, Well, the Tories are mad spaffing socialists, I might as well support Labour - ie, would the Tories be doing better if they were meaner and more Tory?

    It is certainly possible

    When in power, labour can be relied on to be labour.

    The tories, by their actions over the last two and half years, cannot be relied to on be anything. From the moment they adopted the Chinese Communist Party policy of lockdown, on top of the Maoist arbitrary hard target of Net Zero by 2050 At All Costs, they were finished.

    And I think they are finished. Not just now, and not just for a generation. For ever.

    How could they ever sell themselves to the electorate as anything again? It would be like Hal the computer in A Space Odyssey telling Dave he was alright now.

    I'm feeling much better now voters. I favour low taxation. I favour personal responsibility. I want a small state and fiscal discipline. I want law and order. Mr sThatcher is my heroine. All as the voters shut the whole thing down.

    A new party/brand on the right will have to replace them.

    The Tories are indeed in deep shit, but both sides have tremendous problems

    Here is just one for Labour. Brexit

    If the polls continue fair for Starmer, and the Tories keep smashing themselves in the face with a shovel, he could actually win a majority. What would he do with that majority? Suddenly he has all the reins of power, he doesn’t have to rely on the Nats or the Libs.

    In that case I think he would come under intense pressure to reverse Brexit in some form. Not immediately rejoin, not yet, but re-enter the Single Market, accept Freedom of Movement again. Everyone around him is a Remainer, he is a Remainer, his friends and allies: they are all Remainers. They won’t be able to resist moving closer to the EU. They might be able to sell it as making life easier for traders and exporters, etc etc

    And that way lies much trouble
    Brexit was a manifesto of madness. A policy designed for gullible fools. The only thing worse would now be to try and reverse it. It isn't going to happen. If that is the only straw that The Clown has to cling to then Labour will win a majority.
    I’m not talking about Rejoin. I’m talking about an EFTA/EEA arrangement, solving a lot of the ongoing Brexit problems

    And, by the by, regaining Freedom of Movement

    This will be intensely seductive for Keir “2nd vote” Starmer, and 95% of his allies and supporters
    Sounds ideal. I'd be happy with that. Probably inevitable so I would stop worrying about it.
    I’m not “worrying”. I’m sitting on my ridiculously ramshackle new Tbilisi terrace staring across the old town at Shameba cathedral sipping cold white Georgian wine as I listen to the small children argue in Ossetian just below me

    It’s brilliant.




    I too would be OK with Freedom of Movement restored. But many won’t be. Yet that is the direction PM Starmer will want to go, emotionally
    I know this is going to shock you, but I agree with you FofM it is a step to far, because of the opposition to it. We are not rejoining so what we need to do is carry out hundreds of individual agreements that remove all the little obstacles. I have not a clue how you sort out NI. I think it is unsolvable other than NI joining Eire and that is another whole bucket of worms, but there is lots of little stuff and medium sized stuff we can do.

    Sort out temporary exports so as to give bands, autosport and anyone taking demo equipment abroad a break. For me joining the pet passport scheme would be a huge win. Sort out the rolling 90 day entry issue. It has completely buggered two of my friends lives. There is so much small stuff we could do without rejoining. The red tape on imports and exports must be a priority. if both sides can draw a line under where we are, bury the hatchet and get working on making things work.
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 51,629

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    MISTY said:

    Leon said:

    As the Labour lead has increased since Rishi Sunak gave everyone £9,000, a bag of second hand salt, and a tiny inflatable plastic wildebeest, one has to wonder what would have happened if he had NOT been so generous. Would the Labour lead be 20 points plus? Or have the voters just banked the money and decided, Well, the Tories are mad spaffing socialists, I might as well support Labour - ie, would the Tories be doing better if they were meaner and more Tory?

    It is certainly possible

    When in power, labour can be relied on to be labour.

    The tories, by their actions over the last two and half years, cannot be relied to on be anything. From the moment they adopted the Chinese Communist Party policy of lockdown, on top of the Maoist arbitrary hard target of Net Zero by 2050 At All Costs, they were finished.

    And I think they are finished. Not just now, and not just for a generation. For ever.

    How could they ever sell themselves to the electorate as anything again? It would be like Hal the computer in A Space Odyssey telling Dave he was alright now.

    I'm feeling much better now voters. I favour low taxation. I favour personal responsibility. I want a small state and fiscal discipline. I want law and order. Mr sThatcher is my heroine. All as the voters shut the whole thing down.

    A new party/brand on the right will have to replace them.

    The Tories are indeed in deep shit, but both sides have tremendous problems

    Here is just one for Labour. Brexit

    If the polls continue fair for Starmer, and the Tories keep smashing themselves in the face with a shovel, he could actually win a majority. What would he do with that majority? Suddenly he has all the reins of power, he doesn’t have to rely on the Nats or the Libs.

    In that case I think he would come under intense pressure to reverse Brexit in some form. Not immediately rejoin, not yet, but re-enter the Single Market, accept Freedom of Movement again. Everyone around him is a Remainer, he is a Remainer, his friends and allies: they are all Remainers. They won’t be able to resist moving closer to the EU. They might be able to sell it as making life easier for traders and exporters, etc etc

    And that way lies much trouble
    Brexit was a manifesto of madness. A policy designed for gullible fools. The only thing worse would now be to try and reverse it. It isn't going to happen. If that is the only straw that The Clown has to cling to then Labour will win a majority.
    I’m not talking about Rejoin. I’m talking about an EFTA/EEA arrangement, solving a lot of the ongoing Brexit problems

    And, by the by, regaining Freedom of Movement

    This will be intensely seductive for Keir “2nd vote” Starmer, and 95% of his allies and supporters
    Paradoxically I think a deal for reciprocal free movement (that any future government could amend) would be less politically toxic than regulatory alignment by stealth.
    But we have full regulatory alignment. And as Rees-Mogg announced that to deviate would be "self-harm" that isn't going to change. Has anyone noticed? Does anyone care? Find me a normal who voted for Brexit because they wanted to end regulatory alignment. Or knew what that even was. They wanted an end to Brussels telling us we couldn't sell straight bananas. They know have that as no such ban existed anyway.
    You're being deliberately obtuse. Rees-Mogg was talking about border checks, not regulatory alignment. Saying, "We trust EU regulations on food for the moment so border checks are a burden we don't need," is not the same as saying, "We want the EU to make our own laws in perpetuity."
  • dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 29,402

    dixiedean said:

    Has this been reported

    John Stevenson becomes letter number 28

    Yes. It's gathering. It can't be far off now. The PM is vindictive. I would think twice about publicly confirming it.
    Rule by fear only works as long as people have reason to fear you. See that Ceaușescu speech just before Christmas 1989.
    Chants of "Timisoara! Timisoara!".
    And an utterly bewildered look on his face. Half confusion. Half terror.
  • wooliedyedwooliedyed Posts: 10,061

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    MISTY said:

    Leon said:

    As the Labour lead has increased since Rishi Sunak gave everyone £9,000, a bag of second hand salt, and a tiny inflatable plastic wildebeest, one has to wonder what would have happened if he had NOT been so generous. Would the Labour lead be 20 points plus? Or have the voters just banked the money and decided, Well, the Tories are mad spaffing socialists, I might as well support Labour - ie, would the Tories be doing better if they were meaner and more Tory?

    It is certainly possible

    When in power, labour can be relied on to be labour.

    The tories, by their actions over the last two and half years, cannot be relied to on be anything. From the moment they adopted the Chinese Communist Party policy of lockdown, on top of the Maoist arbitrary hard target of Net Zero by 2050 At All Costs, they were finished.

    And I think they are finished. Not just now, and not just for a generation. For ever.

    How could they ever sell themselves to the electorate as anything again? It would be like Hal the computer in A Space Odyssey telling Dave he was alright now.

    I'm feeling much better now voters. I favour low taxation. I favour personal responsibility. I want a small state and fiscal discipline. I want law and order. Mr sThatcher is my heroine. All as the voters shut the whole thing down.

    A new party/brand on the right will have to replace them.

    The Tories are indeed in deep shit, but both sides have tremendous problems

    Here is just one for Labour. Brexit

    If the polls continue fair for Starmer, and the Tories keep smashing themselves in the face with a shovel, he could actually win a majority. What would he do with that majority? Suddenly he has all the reins of power, he doesn’t have to rely on the Nats or the Libs.

    In that case I think he would come under intense pressure to reverse Brexit in some form. Not immediately rejoin, not yet, but re-enter the Single Market, accept Freedom of Movement again. Everyone around him is a Remainer, he is a Remainer, his friends and allies: they are all Remainers. They won’t be able to resist moving closer to the EU. They might be able to sell it as making life easier for traders and exporters, etc etc

    And that way lies much trouble
    Brexit was a manifesto of madness. A policy designed for gullible fools. The only thing worse would now be to try and reverse it. It isn't going to happen. If that is the only straw that The Clown has to cling to then Labour will win a majority.
    I’m not talking about Rejoin. I’m talking about an EFTA/EEA arrangement, solving a lot of the ongoing Brexit problems

    And, by the by, regaining Freedom of Movement

    This will be intensely seductive for Keir “2nd vote” Starmer, and 95% of his allies and supporters
    Heaven forfend that Keir Starmer do something that would "solve a lot of problems".

    It will lead to electoral DOOM, I tell you.
    Even this would lead to reigniting the foulness of 2017 to 2019 but even more pronounced. There is no way Starmer would be able to sell it to all those that voted in droves to 'get Brexit done' nor contain their rage at what would be seen as an undoing (without even a referendum). Would be socially disastrous.
    Nah, it won't.

    It will be a thousand incremental little movements towards EEA/EFTA. Starmer is not going to stand up in the HoC and say "We are signing a new accord with the EU which restores our former status."

    It will be two lines in a repeatedly-iterated treaty towards solving the Northern Ireland issues. It will be an MoU for (insert UK agency of some sort) to work more closely with (insert EU agency of some sort). And so on, a thousand times.

    Occasionally a Tory backbencher or an unreconstructed DUP Paisleyite will stand up during the third reading of the Agricultural Concordance Bill (2025) and fulminate about where all this is going. Giles Fraser will write something self-righteous in Unherd. We will have a few in vino veritas moments with Leon and we love him for it.

    But that will be it. Little by little, we will get back to something akin to our 1990s EU membership.
    But eventually he has to say hes sending Wes Streeting etc to negotiate our entry into 'whatever'
    Plus the Euro triumphalism over our renewed interest in the project wont be contained and will act as a horse spooker
  • RochdalePioneersRochdalePioneers Posts: 28,901
    Having eulogised about EVs earlier I appear still to have a semi about pick-up trucks. Wouldn't be practical for day to day, but I have no doubt I can find rural shit to do with one. And they are diesel which makes them doubly dirty.

    I am a deviant.
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 35,990
    Pretty damning @SavantaComRes poll shows Tory 80:20 election strategy to be cloud cuckoo land: 38% of 2019 Tory voters have unfavourable view of Boris Johnson, as do <3/4 of other main party voters. At least the choice for Tory MPs is clear.</i>
    https://twitter.com/PigsAndPolling/status/1531611229667590146
  • ApplicantApplicant Posts: 3,379
    ydoethur said:

    Applicant said:

    AlistairM said:

    Same.

    There is surely zero chance that Theresa hasn't put in her letter already.
    I'm assuming hers has been in since December 2019.
    REally? I always assumed she put it in in August 2019!
    I think the process re-starts after a general election :)
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 35,990
    This seems like a development...

    Word among Conservative MPs is that Boris Johnson has begun calling his critics, hinting at the prospect of promotion and asking in return that they 'stay with me'. Clearly No 10 feel the threat of a confidence vote if those kind of approaches are being made.

    https://twitter.com/PaulBrandITV/status/1531615589105643520
  • RochdalePioneersRochdalePioneers Posts: 28,901

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    MISTY said:

    Leon said:

    As the Labour lead has increased since Rishi Sunak gave everyone £9,000, a bag of second hand salt, and a tiny inflatable plastic wildebeest, one has to wonder what would have happened if he had NOT been so generous. Would the Labour lead be 20 points plus? Or have the voters just banked the money and decided, Well, the Tories are mad spaffing socialists, I might as well support Labour - ie, would the Tories be doing better if they were meaner and more Tory?

    It is certainly possible

    When in power, labour can be relied on to be labour.

    The tories, by their actions over the last two and half years, cannot be relied to on be anything. From the moment they adopted the Chinese Communist Party policy of lockdown, on top of the Maoist arbitrary hard target of Net Zero by 2050 At All Costs, they were finished.

    And I think they are finished. Not just now, and not just for a generation. For ever.

    How could they ever sell themselves to the electorate as anything again? It would be like Hal the computer in A Space Odyssey telling Dave he was alright now.

    I'm feeling much better now voters. I favour low taxation. I favour personal responsibility. I want a small state and fiscal discipline. I want law and order. Mr sThatcher is my heroine. All as the voters shut the whole thing down.

    A new party/brand on the right will have to replace them.

    The Tories are indeed in deep shit, but both sides have tremendous problems

    Here is just one for Labour. Brexit

    If the polls continue fair for Starmer, and the Tories keep smashing themselves in the face with a shovel, he could actually win a majority. What would he do with that majority? Suddenly he has all the reins of power, he doesn’t have to rely on the Nats or the Libs.

    In that case I think he would come under intense pressure to reverse Brexit in some form. Not immediately rejoin, not yet, but re-enter the Single Market, accept Freedom of Movement again. Everyone around him is a Remainer, he is a Remainer, his friends and allies: they are all Remainers. They won’t be able to resist moving closer to the EU. They might be able to sell it as making life easier for traders and exporters, etc etc

    And that way lies much trouble
    Brexit was a manifesto of madness. A policy designed for gullible fools. The only thing worse would now be to try and reverse it. It isn't going to happen. If that is the only straw that The Clown has to cling to then Labour will win a majority.
    I’m not talking about Rejoin. I’m talking about an EFTA/EEA arrangement, solving a lot of the ongoing Brexit problems

    And, by the by, regaining Freedom of Movement

    This will be intensely seductive for Keir “2nd vote” Starmer, and 95% of his allies and supporters
    Paradoxically I think a deal for reciprocal free movement (that any future government could amend) would be less politically toxic than regulatory alignment by stealth.
    But we have full regulatory alignment. And as Rees-Mogg announced that to deviate would be "self-harm" that isn't going to change. Has anyone noticed? Does anyone care? Find me a normal who voted for Brexit because they wanted to end regulatory alignment. Or knew what that even was. They wanted an end to Brussels telling us we couldn't sell straight bananas. They know have that as no such ban existed anyway.
    You're being deliberately obtuse. Rees-Mogg was talking about border checks, not regulatory alignment. Saying, "We trust EU regulations on food for the moment so border checks are a burden we don't need," is not the same as saying, "We want the EU to make our own laws in perpetuity."
    1. They decide on food standards etc
    2. We're never going to check them
    3. Our food industry keeps the same standards it has now - EU standards - and just updates as they improve
    4. As we're never checking stuff coming in the EU standard remains the defacto UK one. Government can't impose a new standard it isn't willing to police.

    So yes, that's quite literally what he just announced. Remember that the lifespan of these wazzocks in office is at most another 30 months, likely not even that in weeks.
  • wooliedyedwooliedyed Posts: 10,061
    edited May 2022
    Scott_xP said:

    This seems like a development...

    Word among Conservative MPs is that Boris Johnson has begun calling his critics, hinting at the prospect of promotion and asking in return that they 'stay with me'. Clearly No 10 feel the threat of a confidence vote if those kind of approaches are being made.

    https://twitter.com/PaulBrandITV/status/1531615589105643520

    Leaving junior ministers who arent particularly strong allies to realise they are fodder for critic promotions
    Well done Digby
  • RochdalePioneersRochdalePioneers Posts: 28,901
    edited May 2022
    Scott_xP said:

    This seems like a development...

    Word among Conservative MPs is that Boris Johnson has begun calling his critics, hinting at the prospect of promotion and asking in return that they 'stay with me'. Clearly No 10 feel the threat of a confidence vote if those kind of approaches are being made.

    https://twitter.com/PaulBrandITV/status/1531615589105643520

    Tory MP gets the call:
    "Back me and there's the prospect of promotion"
    [But that means firing others.
    Which means those promoted are dispensable.
    Which makes my promotion likely short-lived.
    And would be anyway if the polls and the deluge of angry emails I'm getting are correct.]
    "Thanks Prime Minister, you have my full support"
    [Opens Gmail]
    'Dear Graham...'
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 51,629

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    MISTY said:

    Leon said:

    As the Labour lead has increased since Rishi Sunak gave everyone £9,000, a bag of second hand salt, and a tiny inflatable plastic wildebeest, one has to wonder what would have happened if he had NOT been so generous. Would the Labour lead be 20 points plus? Or have the voters just banked the money and decided, Well, the Tories are mad spaffing socialists, I might as well support Labour - ie, would the Tories be doing better if they were meaner and more Tory?

    It is certainly possible

    When in power, labour can be relied on to be labour.

    The tories, by their actions over the last two and half years, cannot be relied to on be anything. From the moment they adopted the Chinese Communist Party policy of lockdown, on top of the Maoist arbitrary hard target of Net Zero by 2050 At All Costs, they were finished.

    And I think they are finished. Not just now, and not just for a generation. For ever.

    How could they ever sell themselves to the electorate as anything again? It would be like Hal the computer in A Space Odyssey telling Dave he was alright now.

    I'm feeling much better now voters. I favour low taxation. I favour personal responsibility. I want a small state and fiscal discipline. I want law and order. Mr sThatcher is my heroine. All as the voters shut the whole thing down.

    A new party/brand on the right will have to replace them.

    The Tories are indeed in deep shit, but both sides have tremendous problems

    Here is just one for Labour. Brexit

    If the polls continue fair for Starmer, and the Tories keep smashing themselves in the face with a shovel, he could actually win a majority. What would he do with that majority? Suddenly he has all the reins of power, he doesn’t have to rely on the Nats or the Libs.

    In that case I think he would come under intense pressure to reverse Brexit in some form. Not immediately rejoin, not yet, but re-enter the Single Market, accept Freedom of Movement again. Everyone around him is a Remainer, he is a Remainer, his friends and allies: they are all Remainers. They won’t be able to resist moving closer to the EU. They might be able to sell it as making life easier for traders and exporters, etc etc

    And that way lies much trouble
    Brexit was a manifesto of madness. A policy designed for gullible fools. The only thing worse would now be to try and reverse it. It isn't going to happen. If that is the only straw that The Clown has to cling to then Labour will win a majority.
    I’m not talking about Rejoin. I’m talking about an EFTA/EEA arrangement, solving a lot of the ongoing Brexit problems

    And, by the by, regaining Freedom of Movement

    This will be intensely seductive for Keir “2nd vote” Starmer, and 95% of his allies and supporters
    Paradoxically I think a deal for reciprocal free movement (that any future government could amend) would be less politically toxic than regulatory alignment by stealth.
    But we have full regulatory alignment. And as Rees-Mogg announced that to deviate would be "self-harm" that isn't going to change. Has anyone noticed? Does anyone care? Find me a normal who voted for Brexit because they wanted to end regulatory alignment. Or knew what that even was. They wanted an end to Brussels telling us we couldn't sell straight bananas. They know have that as no such ban existed anyway.
    You're being deliberately obtuse. Rees-Mogg was talking about border checks, not regulatory alignment. Saying, "We trust EU regulations on food for the moment so border checks are a burden we don't need," is not the same as saying, "We want the EU to make our own laws in perpetuity."
    1. They decide on food standards etc
    2. We're never going to check them
    3. Our food industry keeps the same standards it has now - EU standards - and just updates as they improve
    4. As we're never checking stuff coming in the EU standard remains the defacto UK one. Government can't impose a new standard it isn't willing to police.

    So yes, that's quite literally what he just announced. Remember that the lifespan of these wazzocks in office is at most another 30 months, likely not even that in weeks.
    Your argument could be turned around to say that the EU is completely unnecessary because European countries will just reciprocally adopt best practice. What value does Brussels add?
  • StillWatersStillWaters Posts: 8,250

    Meanwhile, this is interesting, even if one doesn't believe a single word of it.

    https://unherd.com/2022/05/dominic-cummings-i-dont-like-parties/

    I can quite believe Cummings doesn’t like parties…
  • wooliedyedwooliedyed Posts: 10,061

    Scott_xP said:

    This seems like a development...

    Word among Conservative MPs is that Boris Johnson has begun calling his critics, hinting at the prospect of promotion and asking in return that they 'stay with me'. Clearly No 10 feel the threat of a confidence vote if those kind of approaches are being made.

    https://twitter.com/PaulBrandITV/status/1531615589105643520

    Tory MP gets the call:
    "Back me and there's the prospect of promotion"
    [But that means firing others.
    Which means those promoted are dispensable.
    Which makes my promotion likely short-lived.
    And would be anyway if the polls and the deluge of angry emails I'm getting are correct.]
    "Thanks Prime Minister, you have my full support"
    [Opens Gmail]
    'Dear Graham...'
    Crocodile death roll is here.
    I'm calling it! Its over.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 54,585
    Eabhal said:

    Some SNP types are blaming Unionists for the failure of the census. Could get quite interesting if Sturgeon takes that line too.

    Does under-reporting of the population at the census, carry Barnet consequentials?
  • Nigel_ForemainNigel_Foremain Posts: 14,310

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    MISTY said:

    Leon said:

    As the Labour lead has increased since Rishi Sunak gave everyone £9,000, a bag of second hand salt, and a tiny inflatable plastic wildebeest, one has to wonder what would have happened if he had NOT been so generous. Would the Labour lead be 20 points plus? Or have the voters just banked the money and decided, Well, the Tories are mad spaffing socialists, I might as well support Labour - ie, would the Tories be doing better if they were meaner and more Tory?

    It is certainly possible

    When in power, labour can be relied on to be labour.

    The tories, by their actions over the last two and half years, cannot be relied to on be anything. From the moment they adopted the Chinese Communist Party policy of lockdown, on top of the Maoist arbitrary hard target of Net Zero by 2050 At All Costs, they were finished.

    And I think they are finished. Not just now, and not just for a generation. For ever.

    How could they ever sell themselves to the electorate as anything again? It would be like Hal the computer in A Space Odyssey telling Dave he was alright now.

    I'm feeling much better now voters. I favour low taxation. I favour personal responsibility. I want a small state and fiscal discipline. I want law and order. Mr sThatcher is my heroine. All as the voters shut the whole thing down.

    A new party/brand on the right will have to replace them.

    The Tories are indeed in deep shit, but both sides have tremendous problems

    Here is just one for Labour. Brexit

    If the polls continue fair for Starmer, and the Tories keep smashing themselves in the face with a shovel, he could actually win a majority. What would he do with that majority? Suddenly he has all the reins of power, he doesn’t have to rely on the Nats or the Libs.

    In that case I think he would come under intense pressure to reverse Brexit in some form. Not immediately rejoin, not yet, but re-enter the Single Market, accept Freedom of Movement again. Everyone around him is a Remainer, he is a Remainer, his friends and allies: they are all Remainers. They won’t be able to resist moving closer to the EU. They might be able to sell it as making life easier for traders and exporters, etc etc

    And that way lies much trouble
    Brexit was a manifesto of madness. A policy designed for gullible fools. The only thing worse would now be to try and reverse it. It isn't going to happen. If that is the only straw that The Clown has to cling to then Labour will win a majority.
    I’m not talking about Rejoin. I’m talking about an EFTA/EEA arrangement, solving a lot of the ongoing Brexit problems

    And, by the by, regaining Freedom of Movement

    This will be intensely seductive for Keir “2nd vote” Starmer, and 95% of his allies and supporters
    Paradoxically I think a deal for reciprocal free movement (that any future government could amend) would be less politically toxic than regulatory alignment by stealth.
    But we have full regulatory alignment. And as Rees-Mogg announced that to deviate would be "self-harm" that isn't going to change. Has anyone noticed? Does anyone care? Find me a normal who voted for Brexit because they wanted to end regulatory alignment. Or knew what that even was. They wanted an end to Brussels telling us we couldn't sell straight bananas. They know have that as no such ban existed anyway.
    You're being deliberately obtuse. Rees-Mogg was talking about border checks, not regulatory alignment. Saying, "We trust EU regulations on food for the moment so border checks are a burden we don't need," is not the same as saying, "We want the EU to make our own laws in perpetuity."
    1. They decide on food standards etc
    2. We're never going to check them
    3. Our food industry keeps the same standards it has now - EU standards - and just updates as they improve
    4. As we're never checking stuff coming in the EU standard remains the defacto UK one. Government can't impose a new standard it isn't willing to police.

    So yes, that's quite literally what he just announced. Remember that the lifespan of these wazzocks in office is at most another 30 months, likely not even that in weeks.
    Your argument could be turned around to say that the EU is completely unnecessary because European countries will just reciprocally adopt best practice. What value does Brussels add?
    You tell us. "You" argued in favour of it for years, and very eloquently I might add. This was before your account has nicked by a swivel-eyed Europhobe troll
  • RochdalePioneersRochdalePioneers Posts: 28,901

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    MISTY said:

    Leon said:

    As the Labour lead has increased since Rishi Sunak gave everyone £9,000, a bag of second hand salt, and a tiny inflatable plastic wildebeest, one has to wonder what would have happened if he had NOT been so generous. Would the Labour lead be 20 points plus? Or have the voters just banked the money and decided, Well, the Tories are mad spaffing socialists, I might as well support Labour - ie, would the Tories be doing better if they were meaner and more Tory?

    It is certainly possible

    When in power, labour can be relied on to be labour.

    The tories, by their actions over the last two and half years, cannot be relied to on be anything. From the moment they adopted the Chinese Communist Party policy of lockdown, on top of the Maoist arbitrary hard target of Net Zero by 2050 At All Costs, they were finished.

    And I think they are finished. Not just now, and not just for a generation. For ever.

    How could they ever sell themselves to the electorate as anything again? It would be like Hal the computer in A Space Odyssey telling Dave he was alright now.

    I'm feeling much better now voters. I favour low taxation. I favour personal responsibility. I want a small state and fiscal discipline. I want law and order. Mr sThatcher is my heroine. All as the voters shut the whole thing down.

    A new party/brand on the right will have to replace them.

    The Tories are indeed in deep shit, but both sides have tremendous problems

    Here is just one for Labour. Brexit

    If the polls continue fair for Starmer, and the Tories keep smashing themselves in the face with a shovel, he could actually win a majority. What would he do with that majority? Suddenly he has all the reins of power, he doesn’t have to rely on the Nats or the Libs.

    In that case I think he would come under intense pressure to reverse Brexit in some form. Not immediately rejoin, not yet, but re-enter the Single Market, accept Freedom of Movement again. Everyone around him is a Remainer, he is a Remainer, his friends and allies: they are all Remainers. They won’t be able to resist moving closer to the EU. They might be able to sell it as making life easier for traders and exporters, etc etc

    And that way lies much trouble
    Brexit was a manifesto of madness. A policy designed for gullible fools. The only thing worse would now be to try and reverse it. It isn't going to happen. If that is the only straw that The Clown has to cling to then Labour will win a majority.
    I’m not talking about Rejoin. I’m talking about an EFTA/EEA arrangement, solving a lot of the ongoing Brexit problems

    And, by the by, regaining Freedom of Movement

    This will be intensely seductive for Keir “2nd vote” Starmer, and 95% of his allies and supporters
    Paradoxically I think a deal for reciprocal free movement (that any future government could amend) would be less politically toxic than regulatory alignment by stealth.
    But we have full regulatory alignment. And as Rees-Mogg announced that to deviate would be "self-harm" that isn't going to change. Has anyone noticed? Does anyone care? Find me a normal who voted for Brexit because they wanted to end regulatory alignment. Or knew what that even was. They wanted an end to Brussels telling us we couldn't sell straight bananas. They know have that as no such ban existed anyway.
    You're being deliberately obtuse. Rees-Mogg was talking about border checks, not regulatory alignment. Saying, "We trust EU regulations on food for the moment so border checks are a burden we don't need," is not the same as saying, "We want the EU to make our own laws in perpetuity."
    1. They decide on food standards etc
    2. We're never going to check them
    3. Our food industry keeps the same standards it has now - EU standards - and just updates as they improve
    4. As we're never checking stuff coming in the EU standard remains the defacto UK one. Government can't impose a new standard it isn't willing to police.

    So yes, that's quite literally what he just announced. Remember that the lifespan of these wazzocks in office is at most another 30 months, likely not even that in weeks.
    Your argument could be turned around to say that the EU is completely unnecessary because European countries will just reciprocally adopt best practice. What value does Brussels add?
    They set best practice. A universal standard which reduces costs for everyone. Which is why they have Brussels. That you think it adds no value is not exactly relevant to (plucking a country from the air) Romania's ongoing membership of it.
  • Nigel_ForemainNigel_Foremain Posts: 14,310

    Having eulogised about EVs earlier I appear still to have a semi about pick-up trucks. Wouldn't be practical for day to day, but I have no doubt I can find rural shit to do with one. And they are diesel which makes them doubly dirty.

    I am a deviant.

    They are cool. And tax efficient if you put them through a company.
  • OnlyLivingBoyOnlyLivingBoy Posts: 15,779

    Meanwhile, this is interesting, even if one doesn't believe a single word of it.

    https://unherd.com/2022/05/dominic-cummings-i-dont-like-parties/

    I can quite believe Cummings doesn’t like parties…
    He'd be stood in the corner of the kitchen, muttering to anyone who he managed to trap there about how he was right about everything.
  • JohnLilburneJohnLilburne Posts: 6,241
    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    MISTY said:

    Leon said:

    As the Labour lead has increased since Rishi Sunak gave everyone £9,000, a bag of second hand salt, and a tiny inflatable plastic wildebeest, one has to wonder what would have happened if he had NOT been so generous. Would the Labour lead be 20 points plus? Or have the voters just banked the money and decided, Well, the Tories are mad spaffing socialists, I might as well support Labour - ie, would the Tories be doing better if they were meaner and more Tory?

    It is certainly possible

    When in power, labour can be relied on to be labour.

    The tories, by their actions over the last two and half years, cannot be relied to on be anything. From the moment they adopted the Chinese Communist Party policy of lockdown, on top of the Maoist arbitrary hard target of Net Zero by 2050 At All Costs, they were finished.

    And I think they are finished. Not just now, and not just for a generation. For ever.

    How could they ever sell themselves to the electorate as anything again? It would be like Hal the computer in A Space Odyssey telling Dave he was alright now.

    I'm feeling much better now voters. I favour low taxation. I favour personal responsibility. I want a small state and fiscal discipline. I want law and order. Mr sThatcher is my heroine. All as the voters shut the whole thing down.

    A new party/brand on the right will have to replace them.

    The Tories are indeed in deep shit, but both sides have tremendous problems

    Here is just one for Labour. Brexit

    If the polls continue fair for Starmer, and the Tories keep smashing themselves in the face with a shovel, he could actually win a majority. What would he do with that majority? Suddenly he has all the reins of power, he doesn’t have to rely on the Nats or the Libs.

    In that case I think he would come under intense pressure to reverse Brexit in some form. Not immediately rejoin, not yet, but re-enter the Single Market, accept Freedom of Movement again. Everyone around him is a Remainer, he is a Remainer, his friends and allies: they are all Remainers. They won’t be able to resist moving closer to the EU. They might be able to sell it as making life easier for traders and exporters, etc etc

    And that way lies much trouble
    Brexit was a manifesto of madness. A policy designed for gullible fools. The only thing worse would now be to try and reverse it. It isn't going to happen. If that is the only straw that The Clown has to cling to then Labour will win a majority.
    I’m not talking about Rejoin. I’m talking about an EFTA/EEA arrangement, solving a lot of the ongoing Brexit problems

    And, by the by, regaining Freedom of Movement

    This will be intensely seductive for Keir “2nd vote” Starmer, and 95% of his allies and supporters
    Sounds ideal. I'd be happy with that. Probably inevitable so I would stop worrying about it.
    I’m not “worrying”. I’m sitting on my ridiculously ramshackle new Tbilisi terrace staring across the old town at Shameba cathedral sipping cold white Georgian wine as I listen to the small children argue in Ossetian just below me

    It’s brilliant.




    I too would be OK with Freedom of Movement restored. But many won’t be. Yet that is the direction PM Starmer will want to go, emotionally
    Have you tried the qvevri yet? What did you think?
    What is qvevri? I’m trying a lot of wine, is that the amber coloured one? If so, yes. I have, and its delicious
    Yes, the one they ferment on the leaves and twigs. I was impressed. There is red qvevri as well, but it's less unusual as you make red that way anyway.
  • RochdalePioneersRochdalePioneers Posts: 28,901

    Scott_xP said:

    This seems like a development...

    Word among Conservative MPs is that Boris Johnson has begun calling his critics, hinting at the prospect of promotion and asking in return that they 'stay with me'. Clearly No 10 feel the threat of a confidence vote if those kind of approaches are being made.

    https://twitter.com/PaulBrandITV/status/1531615589105643520

    Tory MP gets the call:
    "Back me and there's the prospect of promotion"
    [But that means firing others.
    Which means those promoted are dispensable.
    Which makes my promotion likely short-lived.
    And would be anyway if the polls and the deluge of angry emails I'm getting are correct.]
    "Thanks Prime Minister, you have my full support"
    [Opens Gmail]
    'Dear Graham...'
    Crocodile death roll is here.
    I'm calling it! Its over.
    What has been abundantly clear these last few days is that there has been a clear surge in momentum of MPs openly saying they are sending letters. We know from previous times that others will have sent and no announced. What's more we have multiple reports that Bonzo's "I am the man" demolition of his own contrition of the hour earlier followed by knee-jerk rightward twitches have absolutely spooked backbenchers.

    They have seen into his soul. And realised he is a lady's moist place.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 81,997
    ydoethur said:

    Same.

    I'm pretty sure it was the first, actually...
    and second, third, fourth, fifth....been one everyday for the past 6 months.
  • JohnLilburneJohnLilburne Posts: 6,241

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    MISTY said:

    Leon said:

    As the Labour lead has increased since Rishi Sunak gave everyone £9,000, a bag of second hand salt, and a tiny inflatable plastic wildebeest, one has to wonder what would have happened if he had NOT been so generous. Would the Labour lead be 20 points plus? Or have the voters just banked the money and decided, Well, the Tories are mad spaffing socialists, I might as well support Labour - ie, would the Tories be doing better if they were meaner and more Tory?

    It is certainly possible

    When in power, labour can be relied on to be labour.

    The tories, by their actions over the last two and half years, cannot be relied to on be anything. From the moment they adopted the Chinese Communist Party policy of lockdown, on top of the Maoist arbitrary hard target of Net Zero by 2050 At All Costs, they were finished.

    And I think they are finished. Not just now, and not just for a generation. For ever.

    How could they ever sell themselves to the electorate as anything again? It would be like Hal the computer in A Space Odyssey telling Dave he was alright now.

    I'm feeling much better now voters. I favour low taxation. I favour personal responsibility. I want a small state and fiscal discipline. I want law and order. Mr sThatcher is my heroine. All as the voters shut the whole thing down.

    A new party/brand on the right will have to replace them.

    The Tories are indeed in deep shit, but both sides have tremendous problems

    Here is just one for Labour. Brexit

    If the polls continue fair for Starmer, and the Tories keep smashing themselves in the face with a shovel, he could actually win a majority. What would he do with that majority? Suddenly he has all the reins of power, he doesn’t have to rely on the Nats or the Libs.

    In that case I think he would come under intense pressure to reverse Brexit in some form. Not immediately rejoin, not yet, but re-enter the Single Market, accept Freedom of Movement again. Everyone around him is a Remainer, he is a Remainer, his friends and allies: they are all Remainers. They won’t be able to resist moving closer to the EU. They might be able to sell it as making life easier for traders and exporters, etc etc

    And that way lies much trouble
    Brexit was a manifesto of madness. A policy designed for gullible fools. The only thing worse would now be to try and reverse it. It isn't going to happen. If that is the only straw that The Clown has to cling to then Labour will win a majority.
    I’m not talking about Rejoin. I’m talking about an EFTA/EEA arrangement, solving a lot of the ongoing Brexit problems

    And, by the by, regaining Freedom of Movement

    This will be intensely seductive for Keir “2nd vote” Starmer, and 95% of his allies and supporters
    Sounds ideal. I'd be happy with that. Probably inevitable so I would stop worrying about it.
    I’m not “worrying”. I’m sitting on my ridiculously ramshackle new Tbilisi terrace staring across the old town at Shameba cathedral sipping cold white Georgian wine as I listen to the small children argue in Ossetian just below me

    It’s brilliant.




    I too would be OK with Freedom of Movement restored. But many won’t be. Yet that is the direction PM Starmer will want to go, emotionally
    How do you know the children are speaking Ossetian? (Ossetian, or Ossetic, is fairly close to Pashto.)
    They are all called Alan.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,277

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    MISTY said:

    Leon said:

    As the Labour lead has increased since Rishi Sunak gave everyone £9,000, a bag of second hand salt, and a tiny inflatable plastic wildebeest, one has to wonder what would have happened if he had NOT been so generous. Would the Labour lead be 20 points plus? Or have the voters just banked the money and decided, Well, the Tories are mad spaffing socialists, I might as well support Labour - ie, would the Tories be doing better if they were meaner and more Tory?

    It is certainly possible

    When in power, labour can be relied on to be labour.

    The tories, by their actions over the last two and half years, cannot be relied to on be anything. From the moment they adopted the Chinese Communist Party policy of lockdown, on top of the Maoist arbitrary hard target of Net Zero by 2050 At All Costs, they were finished.

    And I think they are finished. Not just now, and not just for a generation. For ever.

    How could they ever sell themselves to the electorate as anything again? It would be like Hal the computer in A Space Odyssey telling Dave he was alright now.

    I'm feeling much better now voters. I favour low taxation. I favour personal responsibility. I want a small state and fiscal discipline. I want law and order. Mr sThatcher is my heroine. All as the voters shut the whole thing down.

    A new party/brand on the right will have to replace them.

    The Tories are indeed in deep shit, but both sides have tremendous problems

    Here is just one for Labour. Brexit

    If the polls continue fair for Starmer, and the Tories keep smashing themselves in the face with a shovel, he could actually win a majority. What would he do with that majority? Suddenly he has all the reins of power, he doesn’t have to rely on the Nats or the Libs.

    In that case I think he would come under intense pressure to reverse Brexit in some form. Not immediately rejoin, not yet, but re-enter the Single Market, accept Freedom of Movement again. Everyone around him is a Remainer, he is a Remainer, his friends and allies: they are all Remainers. They won’t be able to resist moving closer to the EU. They might be able to sell it as making life easier for traders and exporters, etc etc

    And that way lies much trouble
    Brexit was a manifesto of madness. A policy designed for gullible fools. The only thing worse would now be to try and reverse it. It isn't going to happen. If that is the only straw that The Clown has to cling to then Labour will win a majority.
    I’m not talking about Rejoin. I’m talking about an EFTA/EEA arrangement, solving a lot of the ongoing Brexit problems

    And, by the by, regaining Freedom of Movement

    This will be intensely seductive for Keir “2nd vote” Starmer, and 95% of his allies and supporters
    Sounds ideal. I'd be happy with that. Probably inevitable so I would stop worrying about it.
    I’m not “worrying”. I’m sitting on my ridiculously ramshackle new Tbilisi terrace staring across the old town at Shameba cathedral sipping cold white Georgian wine as I listen to the small children argue in Ossetian just below me

    It’s brilliant.




    I too would be OK with Freedom of Movement restored. But many won’t be. Yet that is the direction PM Starmer will want to go, emotionally
    How do you know the children are speaking Ossetian? (Ossetian, or Ossetic, is fairly close to Pashto.)
    I was joking. i have no idea. It is all Ingushetian to me. Or Hattic. Or Lezgic. Khinalug?

    And that too is brilliant. To be in a land where you absolutely have no idea what people are saying. Or what signs mean

    I have enough vague French, Italian, Spanish, German to get a grasp of what people are saying where these tongues are spoken. Even Russian is not completely impenetrable - because I’ve travelled there enough to be able to work out the Cyrillic alphabet

    Yet here the alphabet is WTAF and the words are OMG wut? So it’s more like being in Japan or China except it *looks* European, which makes for an intoxicating mix of sensations
  • Nigel_ForemainNigel_Foremain Posts: 14,310

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    MISTY said:

    Leon said:

    As the Labour lead has increased since Rishi Sunak gave everyone £9,000, a bag of second hand salt, and a tiny inflatable plastic wildebeest, one has to wonder what would have happened if he had NOT been so generous. Would the Labour lead be 20 points plus? Or have the voters just banked the money and decided, Well, the Tories are mad spaffing socialists, I might as well support Labour - ie, would the Tories be doing better if they were meaner and more Tory?

    It is certainly possible

    When in power, labour can be relied on to be labour.

    The tories, by their actions over the last two and half years, cannot be relied to on be anything. From the moment they adopted the Chinese Communist Party policy of lockdown, on top of the Maoist arbitrary hard target of Net Zero by 2050 At All Costs, they were finished.

    And I think they are finished. Not just now, and not just for a generation. For ever.

    How could they ever sell themselves to the electorate as anything again? It would be like Hal the computer in A Space Odyssey telling Dave he was alright now.

    I'm feeling much better now voters. I favour low taxation. I favour personal responsibility. I want a small state and fiscal discipline. I want law and order. Mr sThatcher is my heroine. All as the voters shut the whole thing down.

    A new party/brand on the right will have to replace them.

    The Tories are indeed in deep shit, but both sides have tremendous problems

    Here is just one for Labour. Brexit

    If the polls continue fair for Starmer, and the Tories keep smashing themselves in the face with a shovel, he could actually win a majority. What would he do with that majority? Suddenly he has all the reins of power, he doesn’t have to rely on the Nats or the Libs.

    In that case I think he would come under intense pressure to reverse Brexit in some form. Not immediately rejoin, not yet, but re-enter the Single Market, accept Freedom of Movement again. Everyone around him is a Remainer, he is a Remainer, his friends and allies: they are all Remainers. They won’t be able to resist moving closer to the EU. They might be able to sell it as making life easier for traders and exporters, etc etc

    And that way lies much trouble
    Brexit was a manifesto of madness. A policy designed for gullible fools. The only thing worse would now be to try and reverse it. It isn't going to happen. If that is the only straw that The Clown has to cling to then Labour will win a majority.
    I’m not talking about Rejoin. I’m talking about an EFTA/EEA arrangement, solving a lot of the ongoing Brexit problems

    And, by the by, regaining Freedom of Movement

    This will be intensely seductive for Keir “2nd vote” Starmer, and 95% of his allies and supporters
    Paradoxically I think a deal for reciprocal free movement (that any future government could amend) would be less politically toxic than regulatory alignment by stealth.
    But we have full regulatory alignment. And as Rees-Mogg announced that to deviate would be "self-harm" that isn't going to change. Has anyone noticed? Does anyone care? Find me a normal who voted for Brexit because they wanted to end regulatory alignment. Or knew what that even was. They wanted an end to Brussels telling us we couldn't sell straight bananas. They know have that as no such ban existed anyway.
    You're being deliberately obtuse. Rees-Mogg was talking about border checks, not regulatory alignment. Saying, "We trust EU regulations on food for the moment so border checks are a burden we don't need," is not the same as saying, "We want the EU to make our own laws in perpetuity."
    1. They decide on food standards etc
    2. We're never going to check them
    3. Our food industry keeps the same standards it has now - EU standards - and just updates as they improve
    4. As we're never checking stuff coming in the EU standard remains the defacto UK one. Government can't impose a new standard it isn't willing to police.

    So yes, that's quite literally what he just announced. Remember that the lifespan of these wazzocks in office is at most another 30 months, likely not even that in weeks.
    Your argument could be turned around to say that the EU is completely unnecessary because European countries will just reciprocally adopt best practice. What value does Brussels add?
    You tell us. "You" argued in favour of it for years, and very eloquently I might add. This was before your account has nicked by a swivel-eyed Europhobe troll
    Who is the twat that hit the "off topic" button? Come on own up?
  • RobDRobD Posts: 59,929

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    MISTY said:

    Leon said:

    As the Labour lead has increased since Rishi Sunak gave everyone £9,000, a bag of second hand salt, and a tiny inflatable plastic wildebeest, one has to wonder what would have happened if he had NOT been so generous. Would the Labour lead be 20 points plus? Or have the voters just banked the money and decided, Well, the Tories are mad spaffing socialists, I might as well support Labour - ie, would the Tories be doing better if they were meaner and more Tory?

    It is certainly possible

    When in power, labour can be relied on to be labour.

    The tories, by their actions over the last two and half years, cannot be relied to on be anything. From the moment they adopted the Chinese Communist Party policy of lockdown, on top of the Maoist arbitrary hard target of Net Zero by 2050 At All Costs, they were finished.

    And I think they are finished. Not just now, and not just for a generation. For ever.

    How could they ever sell themselves to the electorate as anything again? It would be like Hal the computer in A Space Odyssey telling Dave he was alright now.

    I'm feeling much better now voters. I favour low taxation. I favour personal responsibility. I want a small state and fiscal discipline. I want law and order. Mr sThatcher is my heroine. All as the voters shut the whole thing down.

    A new party/brand on the right will have to replace them.

    The Tories are indeed in deep shit, but both sides have tremendous problems

    Here is just one for Labour. Brexit

    If the polls continue fair for Starmer, and the Tories keep smashing themselves in the face with a shovel, he could actually win a majority. What would he do with that majority? Suddenly he has all the reins of power, he doesn’t have to rely on the Nats or the Libs.

    In that case I think he would come under intense pressure to reverse Brexit in some form. Not immediately rejoin, not yet, but re-enter the Single Market, accept Freedom of Movement again. Everyone around him is a Remainer, he is a Remainer, his friends and allies: they are all Remainers. They won’t be able to resist moving closer to the EU. They might be able to sell it as making life easier for traders and exporters, etc etc

    And that way lies much trouble
    Brexit was a manifesto of madness. A policy designed for gullible fools. The only thing worse would now be to try and reverse it. It isn't going to happen. If that is the only straw that The Clown has to cling to then Labour will win a majority.
    I’m not talking about Rejoin. I’m talking about an EFTA/EEA arrangement, solving a lot of the ongoing Brexit problems

    And, by the by, regaining Freedom of Movement

    This will be intensely seductive for Keir “2nd vote” Starmer, and 95% of his allies and supporters
    Paradoxically I think a deal for reciprocal free movement (that any future government could amend) would be less politically toxic than regulatory alignment by stealth.
    But we have full regulatory alignment. And as Rees-Mogg announced that to deviate would be "self-harm" that isn't going to change. Has anyone noticed? Does anyone care? Find me a normal who voted for Brexit because they wanted to end regulatory alignment. Or knew what that even was. They wanted an end to Brussels telling us we couldn't sell straight bananas. They know have that as no such ban existed anyway.
    You're being deliberately obtuse. Rees-Mogg was talking about border checks, not regulatory alignment. Saying, "We trust EU regulations on food for the moment so border checks are a burden we don't need," is not the same as saying, "We want the EU to make our own laws in perpetuity."
    1. They decide on food standards etc
    2. We're never going to check them
    3. Our food industry keeps the same standards it has now - EU standards - and just updates as they improve
    4. As we're never checking stuff coming in the EU standard remains the defacto UK one. Government can't impose a new standard it isn't willing to police.

    So yes, that's quite literally what he just announced. Remember that the lifespan of these wazzocks in office is at most another 30 months, likely not even that in weeks.
    Your argument could be turned around to say that the EU is completely unnecessary because European countries will just reciprocally adopt best practice. What value does Brussels add?
    You tell us. "You" argued in favour of it for years, and very eloquently I might add. This was before your account has nicked by a swivel-eyed Europhobe troll
    Someone disagreeing with you does not make them a troll.
  • Nigel_ForemainNigel_Foremain Posts: 14,310

    Scott_xP said:

    This seems like a development...

    Word among Conservative MPs is that Boris Johnson has begun calling his critics, hinting at the prospect of promotion and asking in return that they 'stay with me'. Clearly No 10 feel the threat of a confidence vote if those kind of approaches are being made.

    https://twitter.com/PaulBrandITV/status/1531615589105643520

    Tory MP gets the call:
    "Back me and there's the prospect of promotion"
    [But that means firing others.
    Which means those promoted are dispensable.
    Which makes my promotion likely short-lived.
    And would be anyway if the polls and the deluge of angry emails I'm getting are correct.]
    "Thanks Prime Minister, you have my full support"
    [Opens Gmail]
    'Dear Graham...'
    Crocodile death roll is here.
    I'm calling it! Its over.
    What has been abundantly clear these last few days is that there has been a clear surge in momentum of MPs openly saying they are sending letters. We know from previous times that others will have sent and no announced. What's more we have multiple reports that Bonzo's "I am the man" demolition of his own contrition of the hour earlier followed by knee-jerk rightward twitches have absolutely spooked backbenchers.

    They have seen into his soul. And realised he is a lady's moist place.
    RP: Please stop calling him "Bonzo"!!!

    This is Bonzo: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bonham

    This is Mr. Johnson : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bozo_the_Clown
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 71,386

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    MISTY said:

    Leon said:

    As the Labour lead has increased since Rishi Sunak gave everyone £9,000, a bag of second hand salt, and a tiny inflatable plastic wildebeest, one has to wonder what would have happened if he had NOT been so generous. Would the Labour lead be 20 points plus? Or have the voters just banked the money and decided, Well, the Tories are mad spaffing socialists, I might as well support Labour - ie, would the Tories be doing better if they were meaner and more Tory?

    It is certainly possible

    When in power, labour can be relied on to be labour.

    The tories, by their actions over the last two and half years, cannot be relied to on be anything. From the moment they adopted the Chinese Communist Party policy of lockdown, on top of the Maoist arbitrary hard target of Net Zero by 2050 At All Costs, they were finished.

    And I think they are finished. Not just now, and not just for a generation. For ever.

    How could they ever sell themselves to the electorate as anything again? It would be like Hal the computer in A Space Odyssey telling Dave he was alright now.

    I'm feeling much better now voters. I favour low taxation. I favour personal responsibility. I want a small state and fiscal discipline. I want law and order. Mr sThatcher is my heroine. All as the voters shut the whole thing down.

    A new party/brand on the right will have to replace them.

    The Tories are indeed in deep shit, but both sides have tremendous problems

    Here is just one for Labour. Brexit

    If the polls continue fair for Starmer, and the Tories keep smashing themselves in the face with a shovel, he could actually win a majority. What would he do with that majority? Suddenly he has all the reins of power, he doesn’t have to rely on the Nats or the Libs.

    In that case I think he would come under intense pressure to reverse Brexit in some form. Not immediately rejoin, not yet, but re-enter the Single Market, accept Freedom of Movement again. Everyone around him is a Remainer, he is a Remainer, his friends and allies: they are all Remainers. They won’t be able to resist moving closer to the EU. They might be able to sell it as making life easier for traders and exporters, etc etc

    And that way lies much trouble
    Brexit was a manifesto of madness. A policy designed for gullible fools. The only thing worse would now be to try and reverse it. It isn't going to happen. If that is the only straw that The Clown has to cling to then Labour will win a majority.
    I’m not talking about Rejoin. I’m talking about an EFTA/EEA arrangement, solving a lot of the ongoing Brexit problems

    And, by the by, regaining Freedom of Movement

    This will be intensely seductive for Keir “2nd vote” Starmer, and 95% of his allies and supporters
    Paradoxically I think a deal for reciprocal free movement (that any future government could amend) would be less politically toxic than regulatory alignment by stealth.
    But we have full regulatory alignment. And as Rees-Mogg announced that to deviate would be "self-harm" that isn't going to change. Has anyone noticed? Does anyone care? Find me a normal who voted for Brexit because they wanted to end regulatory alignment. Or knew what that even was. They wanted an end to Brussels telling us we couldn't sell straight bananas. They know have that as no such ban existed anyway.
    You're being deliberately obtuse. Rees-Mogg was talking about border checks, not regulatory alignment. Saying, "We trust EU regulations on food for the moment so border checks are a burden we don't need," is not the same as saying, "We want the EU to make our own laws in perpetuity."
    1. They decide on food standards etc
    2. We're never going to check them
    3. Our food industry keeps the same standards it has now - EU standards - and just updates as they improve
    4. As we're never checking stuff coming in the EU standard remains the defacto UK one. Government can't impose a new standard it isn't willing to police.

    So yes, that's quite literally what he just announced. Remember that the lifespan of these wazzocks in office is at most another 30 months, likely not even that in weeks.
    Your argument could be turned around to say that the EU is completely unnecessary because European countries will just reciprocally adopt best practice. What value does Brussels add?
    You tell us. "You" argued in favour of it for years, and very eloquently I might add. This was before your account has nicked by a swivel-eyed Europhobe troll
    Who is the twat that hit the "off topic" button? Come on own up?
    Just tell @rcs1000 that your comment was a response to criticism of Radiohead and he'll sort them out.
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 32,557
    Good afternoon. It can't be long now before 54 is reached.
  • Nigel_ForemainNigel_Foremain Posts: 14,310
    RobD said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    MISTY said:

    Leon said:

    As the Labour lead has increased since Rishi Sunak gave everyone £9,000, a bag of second hand salt, and a tiny inflatable plastic wildebeest, one has to wonder what would have happened if he had NOT been so generous. Would the Labour lead be 20 points plus? Or have the voters just banked the money and decided, Well, the Tories are mad spaffing socialists, I might as well support Labour - ie, would the Tories be doing better if they were meaner and more Tory?

    It is certainly possible

    When in power, labour can be relied on to be labour.

    The tories, by their actions over the last two and half years, cannot be relied to on be anything. From the moment they adopted the Chinese Communist Party policy of lockdown, on top of the Maoist arbitrary hard target of Net Zero by 2050 At All Costs, they were finished.

    And I think they are finished. Not just now, and not just for a generation. For ever.

    How could they ever sell themselves to the electorate as anything again? It would be like Hal the computer in A Space Odyssey telling Dave he was alright now.

    I'm feeling much better now voters. I favour low taxation. I favour personal responsibility. I want a small state and fiscal discipline. I want law and order. Mr sThatcher is my heroine. All as the voters shut the whole thing down.

    A new party/brand on the right will have to replace them.

    The Tories are indeed in deep shit, but both sides have tremendous problems

    Here is just one for Labour. Brexit

    If the polls continue fair for Starmer, and the Tories keep smashing themselves in the face with a shovel, he could actually win a majority. What would he do with that majority? Suddenly he has all the reins of power, he doesn’t have to rely on the Nats or the Libs.

    In that case I think he would come under intense pressure to reverse Brexit in some form. Not immediately rejoin, not yet, but re-enter the Single Market, accept Freedom of Movement again. Everyone around him is a Remainer, he is a Remainer, his friends and allies: they are all Remainers. They won’t be able to resist moving closer to the EU. They might be able to sell it as making life easier for traders and exporters, etc etc

    And that way lies much trouble
    Brexit was a manifesto of madness. A policy designed for gullible fools. The only thing worse would now be to try and reverse it. It isn't going to happen. If that is the only straw that The Clown has to cling to then Labour will win a majority.
    I’m not talking about Rejoin. I’m talking about an EFTA/EEA arrangement, solving a lot of the ongoing Brexit problems

    And, by the by, regaining Freedom of Movement

    This will be intensely seductive for Keir “2nd vote” Starmer, and 95% of his allies and supporters
    Paradoxically I think a deal for reciprocal free movement (that any future government could amend) would be less politically toxic than regulatory alignment by stealth.
    But we have full regulatory alignment. And as Rees-Mogg announced that to deviate would be "self-harm" that isn't going to change. Has anyone noticed? Does anyone care? Find me a normal who voted for Brexit because they wanted to end regulatory alignment. Or knew what that even was. They wanted an end to Brussels telling us we couldn't sell straight bananas. They know have that as no such ban existed anyway.
    You're being deliberately obtuse. Rees-Mogg was talking about border checks, not regulatory alignment. Saying, "We trust EU regulations on food for the moment so border checks are a burden we don't need," is not the same as saying, "We want the EU to make our own laws in perpetuity."
    1. They decide on food standards etc
    2. We're never going to check them
    3. Our food industry keeps the same standards it has now - EU standards - and just updates as they improve
    4. As we're never checking stuff coming in the EU standard remains the defacto UK one. Government can't impose a new standard it isn't willing to police.

    So yes, that's quite literally what he just announced. Remember that the lifespan of these wazzocks in office is at most another 30 months, likely not even that in weeks.
    Your argument could be turned around to say that the EU is completely unnecessary because European countries will just reciprocally adopt best practice. What value does Brussels add?
    You tell us. "You" argued in favour of it for years, and very eloquently I might add. This was before your account has nicked by a swivel-eyed Europhobe troll
    Someone disagreeing with you does not make them a troll.
    People who are wrong regularly disagree with me. Nothing new in that. Someone who does a 180 degree flip from one extreme to the other deserves ridicule or questioning over whether they are who they claim to be. It was not "off topic"
  • StockyStocky Posts: 10,215
    edited May 2022

    Scott_xP said:

    This seems like a development...

    Word among Conservative MPs is that Boris Johnson has begun calling his critics, hinting at the prospect of promotion and asking in return that they 'stay with me'. Clearly No 10 feel the threat of a confidence vote if those kind of approaches are being made.

    https://twitter.com/PaulBrandITV/status/1531615589105643520

    Tory MP gets the call:
    "Back me and there's the prospect of promotion"
    [But that means firing others.
    Which means those promoted are dispensable.
    Which makes my promotion likely short-lived.
    And would be anyway if the polls and the deluge of angry emails I'm getting are correct.]
    "Thanks Prime Minister, you have my full support"
    [Opens Gmail]
    'Dear Graham...'
    Crocodile death roll is here.
    I'm calling it! Its over.
    Betting post: Smarkets "Confidence Vote Result" was 1.76 he loses, 2.04 he wins a couple of hours ago. Has been steady at that for three days or more.

    Just flip-flopped 1.96 he loses, 1.91 he wins.

    Very strange. I've gone in with another fifty notes at 1.96 he loses.

    Now 1.91 both ways (book 104.7%)

    Edit: just to remind you that this is the market which refunds your stake if there is no VOC in 2022.

  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 71,070
    dixiedean said:

    Leon said:

    dixiedean said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    MISTY said:

    Leon said:

    As the Labour lead has increased since Rishi Sunak gave everyone £9,000, a bag of second hand salt, and a tiny inflatable plastic wildebeest, one has to wonder what would have happened if he had NOT been so generous. Would the Labour lead be 20 points plus? Or have the voters just banked the money and decided, Well, the Tories are mad spaffing socialists, I might as well support Labour - ie, would the Tories be doing better if they were meaner and more Tory?

    It is certainly possible

    When in power, labour can be relied on to be labour.

    The tories, by their actions over the last two and half years, cannot be relied to on be anything. From the moment they adopted the Chinese Communist Party policy of lockdown, on top of the Maoist arbitrary hard target of Net Zero by 2050 At All Costs, they were finished.

    And I think they are finished. Not just now, and not just for a generation. For ever.

    How could they ever sell themselves to the electorate as anything again? It would be like Hal the computer in A Space Odyssey telling Dave he was alright now.

    I'm feeling much better now voters. I favour low taxation. I favour personal responsibility. I want a small state and fiscal discipline. I want law and order. Mr sThatcher is my heroine. All as the voters shut the whole thing down.

    A new party/brand on the right will have to replace them.

    The Tories are indeed in deep shit, but both sides have tremendous problems

    Here is just one for Labour. Brexit

    If the polls continue fair for Starmer, and the Tories keep smashing themselves in the face with a shovel, he could actually win a majority. What would he do with that majority? Suddenly he has all the reins of power, he doesn’t have to rely on the Nats or the Libs.

    In that case I think he would come under intense pressure to reverse Brexit in some form. Not immediately rejoin, not yet, but re-enter the Single Market, accept Freedom of Movement again. Everyone around him is a Remainer, he is a Remainer, his friends and allies: they are all Remainers. They won’t be able to resist moving closer to the EU. They might be able to sell it as making life easier for traders and exporters, etc etc

    And that way lies much trouble
    Brexit was a manifesto of madness. A policy designed for gullible fools. The only thing worse would now be to try and reverse it. It isn't going to happen. If that is the only straw that The Clown has to cling to then Labour will win a majority.
    I’m not talking about Rejoin. I’m talking about an EFTA/EEA arrangement, solving a lot of the ongoing Brexit problems

    And, by the by, regaining Freedom of Movement

    This will be intensely seductive for Keir “2nd vote” Starmer, and 95% of his allies and supporters
    But that isn't "reversing Brexit".
    I literally said “REVERSE BREXIT IN SOME FORM. NOT IMMEDIATELY REJOIN, NOT YET, BUT RE-ENTER THE SINGLE MARKET”

    FFS, read the comments
    Hold on. Mr Rees-Mogg has released his 2,000 Brexit benefits this very morn. Let's just wait. Could be a game changer. The freedom of not having to do certain electrical safety checks could put the Tories 20 points ahead.
    Don't forget more powerful vacuum cleaners.
    This government sucks.
    Big time.
    TBF, they do need something for the dried vomit on the carpets.
  • RobDRobD Posts: 59,929

    RobD said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    MISTY said:

    Leon said:

    As the Labour lead has increased since Rishi Sunak gave everyone £9,000, a bag of second hand salt, and a tiny inflatable plastic wildebeest, one has to wonder what would have happened if he had NOT been so generous. Would the Labour lead be 20 points plus? Or have the voters just banked the money and decided, Well, the Tories are mad spaffing socialists, I might as well support Labour - ie, would the Tories be doing better if they were meaner and more Tory?

    It is certainly possible

    When in power, labour can be relied on to be labour.

    The tories, by their actions over the last two and half years, cannot be relied to on be anything. From the moment they adopted the Chinese Communist Party policy of lockdown, on top of the Maoist arbitrary hard target of Net Zero by 2050 At All Costs, they were finished.

    And I think they are finished. Not just now, and not just for a generation. For ever.

    How could they ever sell themselves to the electorate as anything again? It would be like Hal the computer in A Space Odyssey telling Dave he was alright now.

    I'm feeling much better now voters. I favour low taxation. I favour personal responsibility. I want a small state and fiscal discipline. I want law and order. Mr sThatcher is my heroine. All as the voters shut the whole thing down.

    A new party/brand on the right will have to replace them.

    The Tories are indeed in deep shit, but both sides have tremendous problems

    Here is just one for Labour. Brexit

    If the polls continue fair for Starmer, and the Tories keep smashing themselves in the face with a shovel, he could actually win a majority. What would he do with that majority? Suddenly he has all the reins of power, he doesn’t have to rely on the Nats or the Libs.

    In that case I think he would come under intense pressure to reverse Brexit in some form. Not immediately rejoin, not yet, but re-enter the Single Market, accept Freedom of Movement again. Everyone around him is a Remainer, he is a Remainer, his friends and allies: they are all Remainers. They won’t be able to resist moving closer to the EU. They might be able to sell it as making life easier for traders and exporters, etc etc

    And that way lies much trouble
    Brexit was a manifesto of madness. A policy designed for gullible fools. The only thing worse would now be to try and reverse it. It isn't going to happen. If that is the only straw that The Clown has to cling to then Labour will win a majority.
    I’m not talking about Rejoin. I’m talking about an EFTA/EEA arrangement, solving a lot of the ongoing Brexit problems

    And, by the by, regaining Freedom of Movement

    This will be intensely seductive for Keir “2nd vote” Starmer, and 95% of his allies and supporters
    Paradoxically I think a deal for reciprocal free movement (that any future government could amend) would be less politically toxic than regulatory alignment by stealth.
    But we have full regulatory alignment. And as Rees-Mogg announced that to deviate would be "self-harm" that isn't going to change. Has anyone noticed? Does anyone care? Find me a normal who voted for Brexit because they wanted to end regulatory alignment. Or knew what that even was. They wanted an end to Brussels telling us we couldn't sell straight bananas. They know have that as no such ban existed anyway.
    You're being deliberately obtuse. Rees-Mogg was talking about border checks, not regulatory alignment. Saying, "We trust EU regulations on food for the moment so border checks are a burden we don't need," is not the same as saying, "We want the EU to make our own laws in perpetuity."
    1. They decide on food standards etc
    2. We're never going to check them
    3. Our food industry keeps the same standards it has now - EU standards - and just updates as they improve
    4. As we're never checking stuff coming in the EU standard remains the defacto UK one. Government can't impose a new standard it isn't willing to police.

    So yes, that's quite literally what he just announced. Remember that the lifespan of these wazzocks in office is at most another 30 months, likely not even that in weeks.
    Your argument could be turned around to say that the EU is completely unnecessary because European countries will just reciprocally adopt best practice. What value does Brussels add?
    You tell us. "You" argued in favour of it for years, and very eloquently I might add. This was before your account has nicked by a swivel-eyed Europhobe troll
    Someone disagreeing with you does not make them a troll.
    People who are wrong regularly disagree with me. Nothing new in that. Someone who does a 180 degree flip from one extreme to the other deserves ridicule or questioning over whether they are who they claim to be. It was not "off topic"
    People can change their minds and views as situations evolve. That doesn't make them a troll.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,277

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    MISTY said:

    Leon said:

    As the Labour lead has increased since Rishi Sunak gave everyone £9,000, a bag of second hand salt, and a tiny inflatable plastic wildebeest, one has to wonder what would have happened if he had NOT been so generous. Would the Labour lead be 20 points plus? Or have the voters just banked the money and decided, Well, the Tories are mad spaffing socialists, I might as well support Labour - ie, would the Tories be doing better if they were meaner and more Tory?

    It is certainly possible

    When in power, labour can be relied on to be labour.

    The tories, by their actions over the last two and half years, cannot be relied to on be anything. From the moment they adopted the Chinese Communist Party policy of lockdown, on top of the Maoist arbitrary hard target of Net Zero by 2050 At All Costs, they were finished.

    And I think they are finished. Not just now, and not just for a generation. For ever.

    How could they ever sell themselves to the electorate as anything again? It would be like Hal the computer in A Space Odyssey telling Dave he was alright now.

    I'm feeling much better now voters. I favour low taxation. I favour personal responsibility. I want a small state and fiscal discipline. I want law and order. Mr sThatcher is my heroine. All as the voters shut the whole thing down.

    A new party/brand on the right will have to replace them.

    The Tories are indeed in deep shit, but both sides have tremendous problems

    Here is just one for Labour. Brexit

    If the polls continue fair for Starmer, and the Tories keep smashing themselves in the face with a shovel, he could actually win a majority. What would he do with that majority? Suddenly he has all the reins of power, he doesn’t have to rely on the Nats or the Libs.

    In that case I think he would come under intense pressure to reverse Brexit in some form. Not immediately rejoin, not yet, but re-enter the Single Market, accept Freedom of Movement again. Everyone around him is a Remainer, he is a Remainer, his friends and allies: they are all Remainers. They won’t be able to resist moving closer to the EU. They might be able to sell it as making life easier for traders and exporters, etc etc

    And that way lies much trouble
    Brexit was a manifesto of madness. A policy designed for gullible fools. The only thing worse would now be to try and reverse it. It isn't going to happen. If that is the only straw that The Clown has to cling to then Labour will win a majority.
    I’m not talking about Rejoin. I’m talking about an EFTA/EEA arrangement, solving a lot of the ongoing Brexit problems

    And, by the by, regaining Freedom of Movement

    This will be intensely seductive for Keir “2nd vote” Starmer, and 95% of his allies and supporters
    Heaven forfend that Keir Starmer do something that would "solve a lot of problems".

    It will lead to electoral DOOM, I tell you.
    Even this would lead to reigniting the foulness of 2017 to 2019 but even more pronounced. There is no way Starmer would be able to sell it to all those that voted in droves to 'get Brexit done' nor contain their rage at what would be seen as an undoing (without even a referendum). Would be socially disastrous.
    Nah, it won't.

    It will be a thousand incremental little movements towards EEA/EFTA. Starmer is not going to stand up in the HoC and say "We are signing a new accord with the EU which restores our former status."

    It will be two lines in a repeatedly-iterated treaty towards solving the Northern Ireland issues. It will be an MoU for (insert UK agency of some sort) to work more closely with (insert EU agency of some sort). And so on, a thousand times.

    Occasionally a Tory backbencher or an unreconstructed DUP Paisleyite will stand up during the third reading of the Agricultural Concordance Bill (2025) and fulminate about where all this is going. Giles Fraser will write something self-righteous in Unherd. We will have a few in vino veritas moments with Leon and we love him for it.

    But that will be it. Little by little, we will get back to something akin to our 1990s EU membership.
    But eventually he has to say hes sending Wes Streeting etc to negotiate our entry into 'whatever'
    Plus the Euro triumphalism over our renewed interest in the project wont be contained and will act as a horse spooker
    Yep. The Remoaners won’t be able to resist gloating and exulting

    Which is why I say that this way lies trouble, politically. But Starmer will still do it. Because he is so emotionally devoted to the EU, and - more importantly - so is everyone around him. Peer group pressure is almost irresistible
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 71,070
    ,

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    MISTY said:

    Leon said:

    As the Labour lead has increased since Rishi Sunak gave everyone £9,000, a bag of second hand salt, and a tiny inflatable plastic wildebeest, one has to wonder what would have happened if he had NOT been so generous. Would the Labour lead be 20 points plus? Or have the voters just banked the money and decided, Well, the Tories are mad spaffing socialists, I might as well support Labour - ie, would the Tories be doing better if they were meaner and more Tory?

    It is certainly possible

    When in power, labour can be relied on to be labour.

    The tories, by their actions over the last two and half years, cannot be relied to on be anything. From the moment they adopted the Chinese Communist Party policy of lockdown, on top of the Maoist arbitrary hard target of Net Zero by 2050 At All Costs, they were finished.

    And I think they are finished. Not just now, and not just for a generation. For ever.

    How could they ever sell themselves to the electorate as anything again? It would be like Hal the computer in A Space Odyssey telling Dave he was alright now.

    I'm feeling much better now voters. I favour low taxation. I favour personal responsibility. I want a small state and fiscal discipline. I want law and order. Mr sThatcher is my heroine. All as the voters shut the whole thing down.

    A new party/brand on the right will have to replace them.

    The Tories are indeed in deep shit, but both sides have tremendous problems

    Here is just one for Labour. Brexit

    If the polls continue fair for Starmer, and the Tories keep smashing themselves in the face with a shovel, he could actually win a majority. What would he do with that majority? Suddenly he has all the reins of power, he doesn’t have to rely on the Nats or the Libs.

    In that case I think he would come under intense pressure to reverse Brexit in some form. Not immediately rejoin, not yet, but re-enter the Single Market, accept Freedom of Movement again. Everyone around him is a Remainer, he is a Remainer, his friends and allies: they are all Remainers. They won’t be able to resist moving closer to the EU. They might be able to sell it as making life easier for traders and exporters, etc etc

    And that way lies much trouble
    Brexit was a manifesto of madness. A policy designed for gullible fools. The only thing worse would now be to try and reverse it. It isn't going to happen. If that is the only straw that The Clown has to cling to then Labour will win a majority.
    I’m not talking about Rejoin. I’m talking about an EFTA/EEA arrangement, solving a lot of the ongoing Brexit problems

    And, by the by, regaining Freedom of Movement

    This will be intensely seductive for Keir “2nd vote” Starmer, and 95% of his allies and supporters
    Heaven forfend that Keir Starmer do something that would "solve a lot of problems".

    It will lead to electoral DOOM, I tell you.
    Even this would lead to reigniting the foulness of 2017 to 2019 but even more pronounced. There is no way Starmer would be able to sell it to all those that voted in droves to 'get Brexit done' nor contain their rage at what would be seen as an undoing (without even a referendum). Would be socially disastrous.
    Nah, it won't.

    It will be a thousand incremental little movements towards EEA/EFTA. Starmer is not going to stand up in the HoC and say "We are signing a new accord with the EU which restores our former status."

    It will be two lines in a repeatedly-iterated treaty towards solving the Northern Ireland issues. It will be an MoU for (insert UK agency of some sort) to work more closely with (insert EU agency of some sort). And so on, a thousand times.

    Occasionally a Tory backbencher or an unreconstructed DUP Paisleyite will stand up during the third reading of the Agricultural Concordance Bill (2025) and fulminate about where all this is going. Giles Fraser will write something self-righteous in Unherd. We will have a few in vino veritas moments with Leon and we love him for it.

    But that will be it. Little by little, we will get back to something akin to our 1990s EU membership.
    ... In about two decades' time ?
    Engineered by governments of all shades.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,277
    edited May 2022

    RobD said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    MISTY said:

    Leon said:

    As the Labour lead has increased since Rishi Sunak gave everyone £9,000, a bag of second hand salt, and a tiny inflatable plastic wildebeest, one has to wonder what would have happened if he had NOT been so generous. Would the Labour lead be 20 points plus? Or have the voters just banked the money and decided, Well, the Tories are mad spaffing socialists, I might as well support Labour - ie, would the Tories be doing better if they were meaner and more Tory?

    It is certainly possible

    When in power, labour can be relied on to be labour.

    The tories, by their actions over the last two and half years, cannot be relied to on be anything. From the moment they adopted the Chinese Communist Party policy of lockdown, on top of the Maoist arbitrary hard target of Net Zero by 2050 At All Costs, they were finished.

    And I think they are finished. Not just now, and not just for a generation. For ever.

    How could they ever sell themselves to the electorate as anything again? It would be like Hal the computer in A Space Odyssey telling Dave he was alright now.

    I'm feeling much better now voters. I favour low taxation. I favour personal responsibility. I want a small state and fiscal discipline. I want law and order. Mr sThatcher is my heroine. All as the voters shut the whole thing down.

    A new party/brand on the right will have to replace them.

    The Tories are indeed in deep shit, but both sides have tremendous problems

    Here is just one for Labour. Brexit

    If the polls continue fair for Starmer, and the Tories keep smashing themselves in the face with a shovel, he could actually win a majority. What would he do with that majority? Suddenly he has all the reins of power, he doesn’t have to rely on the Nats or the Libs.

    In that case I think he would come under intense pressure to reverse Brexit in some form. Not immediately rejoin, not yet, but re-enter the Single Market, accept Freedom of Movement again. Everyone around him is a Remainer, he is a Remainer, his friends and allies: they are all Remainers. They won’t be able to resist moving closer to the EU. They might be able to sell it as making life easier for traders and exporters, etc etc

    And that way lies much trouble
    Brexit was a manifesto of madness. A policy designed for gullible fools. The only thing worse would now be to try and reverse it. It isn't going to happen. If that is the only straw that The Clown has to cling to then Labour will win a majority.
    I’m not talking about Rejoin. I’m talking about an EFTA/EEA arrangement, solving a lot of the ongoing Brexit problems

    And, by the by, regaining Freedom of Movement

    This will be intensely seductive for Keir “2nd vote” Starmer, and 95% of his allies and supporters
    Paradoxically I think a deal for reciprocal free movement (that any future government could amend) would be less politically toxic than regulatory alignment by stealth.
    But we have full regulatory alignment. And as Rees-Mogg announced that to deviate would be "self-harm" that isn't going to change. Has anyone noticed? Does anyone care? Find me a normal who voted for Brexit because they wanted to end regulatory alignment. Or knew what that even was. They wanted an end to Brussels telling us we couldn't sell straight bananas. They know have that as no such ban existed anyway.
    You're being deliberately obtuse. Rees-Mogg was talking about border checks, not regulatory alignment. Saying, "We trust EU regulations on food for the moment so border checks are a burden we don't need," is not the same as saying, "We want the EU to make our own laws in perpetuity."
    1. They decide on food standards etc
    2. We're never going to check them
    3. Our food industry keeps the same standards it has now - EU standards - and just updates as they improve
    4. As we're never checking stuff coming in the EU standard remains the defacto UK one. Government can't impose a new standard it isn't willing to police.

    So yes, that's quite literally what he just announced. Remember that the lifespan of these wazzocks in office is at most another 30 months, likely not even that in weeks.
    Your argument could be turned around to say that the EU is completely unnecessary because European countries will just reciprocally adopt best practice. What value does Brussels add?
    You tell us. "You" argued in favour of it for years, and very eloquently I might add. This was before your account has nicked by a swivel-eyed Europhobe troll
    Someone disagreeing with you does not make them a troll.
    People who are wrong regularly disagree with me. Nothing new in that. Someone who does a 180 degree flip from one extreme to the other deserves ridicule or questioning over whether they are who they claim to be. It was not "off topic"
    Quit your bitching you silly old woman
  • StockyStocky Posts: 10,215

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    MISTY said:

    Leon said:

    As the Labour lead has increased since Rishi Sunak gave everyone £9,000, a bag of second hand salt, and a tiny inflatable plastic wildebeest, one has to wonder what would have happened if he had NOT been so generous. Would the Labour lead be 20 points plus? Or have the voters just banked the money and decided, Well, the Tories are mad spaffing socialists, I might as well support Labour - ie, would the Tories be doing better if they were meaner and more Tory?

    It is certainly possible

    When in power, labour can be relied on to be labour.

    The tories, by their actions over the last two and half years, cannot be relied to on be anything. From the moment they adopted the Chinese Communist Party policy of lockdown, on top of the Maoist arbitrary hard target of Net Zero by 2050 At All Costs, they were finished.

    And I think they are finished. Not just now, and not just for a generation. For ever.

    How could they ever sell themselves to the electorate as anything again? It would be like Hal the computer in A Space Odyssey telling Dave he was alright now.

    I'm feeling much better now voters. I favour low taxation. I favour personal responsibility. I want a small state and fiscal discipline. I want law and order. Mr sThatcher is my heroine. All as the voters shut the whole thing down.

    A new party/brand on the right will have to replace them.

    The Tories are indeed in deep shit, but both sides have tremendous problems

    Here is just one for Labour. Brexit

    If the polls continue fair for Starmer, and the Tories keep smashing themselves in the face with a shovel, he could actually win a majority. What would he do with that majority? Suddenly he has all the reins of power, he doesn’t have to rely on the Nats or the Libs.

    In that case I think he would come under intense pressure to reverse Brexit in some form. Not immediately rejoin, not yet, but re-enter the Single Market, accept Freedom of Movement again. Everyone around him is a Remainer, he is a Remainer, his friends and allies: they are all Remainers. They won’t be able to resist moving closer to the EU. They might be able to sell it as making life easier for traders and exporters, etc etc

    And that way lies much trouble
    Brexit was a manifesto of madness. A policy designed for gullible fools. The only thing worse would now be to try and reverse it. It isn't going to happen. If that is the only straw that The Clown has to cling to then Labour will win a majority.
    I’m not talking about Rejoin. I’m talking about an EFTA/EEA arrangement, solving a lot of the ongoing Brexit problems

    And, by the by, regaining Freedom of Movement

    This will be intensely seductive for Keir “2nd vote” Starmer, and 95% of his allies and supporters
    Heaven forfend that Keir Starmer do something that would "solve a lot of problems".

    It will lead to electoral DOOM, I tell you.
    Even this would lead to reigniting the foulness of 2017 to 2019 but even more pronounced. There is no way Starmer would be able to sell it to all those that voted in droves to 'get Brexit done' nor contain their rage at what would be seen as an undoing (without even a referendum). Would be socially disastrous.
    Nah, it won't.

    It will be a thousand incremental little movements towards EEA/EFTA. Starmer is not going to stand up in the HoC and say "We are signing a new accord with the EU which restores our former status."

    It will be two lines in a repeatedly-iterated treaty towards solving the Northern Ireland issues. It will be an MoU for (insert UK agency of some sort) to work more closely with (insert EU agency of some sort). And so on, a thousand times.

    Occasionally a Tory backbencher or an unreconstructed DUP Paisleyite will stand up during the third reading of the Agricultural Concordance Bill (2025) and fulminate about where all this is going. Giles Fraser will write something self-righteous in Unherd. We will have a few in vino veritas moments with Leon and we love him for it.

    But that will be it. Little by little, we will get back to something akin to our 1990s EU membership.
    But eventually he has to say hes sending Wes Streeting etc to negotiate our entry into 'whatever'
    Plus the Euro triumphalism over our renewed interest in the project wont be contained and will act as a horse spooker
    Would Starmer do that without explicitly stating it in the manifesto?
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 32,557

    The queues we are seeing at the UK's airports currently tell you so much about how crap senior managements often are in the private sector. They took a short-term decision to save money during covid by laying off a shedload of staff and are now inflicting the inevitable long-term consequences of that on their customers. It's the British business malaise laid bear - we are incapable of seeing beyond the end of our noses. We lionise those who cut costs as people who take the hard decisions. But there is nothing tough about doing it. It's easy. Any fool can do it. But there is almost always a price to pay. As ever, the idea that the private sector knows best is revealed by real life to be a load of old pony.

    Agree but what I can't understand is why they've allowed passengers to book flights when they must have known they didn't have enough staff. It's as if they were hoping for the best.
  • RochdalePioneersRochdalePioneers Posts: 28,901

    Scott_xP said:

    This seems like a development...

    Word among Conservative MPs is that Boris Johnson has begun calling his critics, hinting at the prospect of promotion and asking in return that they 'stay with me'. Clearly No 10 feel the threat of a confidence vote if those kind of approaches are being made.

    https://twitter.com/PaulBrandITV/status/1531615589105643520

    Tory MP gets the call:
    "Back me and there's the prospect of promotion"
    [But that means firing others.
    Which means those promoted are dispensable.
    Which makes my promotion likely short-lived.
    And would be anyway if the polls and the deluge of angry emails I'm getting are correct.]
    "Thanks Prime Minister, you have my full support"
    [Opens Gmail]
    'Dear Graham...'
    Crocodile death roll is here.
    I'm calling it! Its over.
    What has been abundantly clear these last few days is that there has been a clear surge in momentum of MPs openly saying they are sending letters. We know from previous times that others will have sent and no announced. What's more we have multiple reports that Bonzo's "I am the man" demolition of his own contrition of the hour earlier followed by knee-jerk rightward twitches have absolutely spooked backbenchers.

    They have seen into his soul. And realised he is a lady's moist place.
    RP: Please stop calling him "Bonzo"!!!

    This is Bonzo: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bonham

    This is Mr. Johnson : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bozo_the_Clown
    The former has been dead for a long time and doesn't have ownership of the nickname. The latter is leading the 2022 doo-dah band.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 71,386
    Andy_JS said:

    The queues we are seeing at the UK's airports currently tell you so much about how crap senior managements often are in the private sector. They took a short-term decision to save money during covid by laying off a shedload of staff and are now inflicting the inevitable long-term consequences of that on their customers. It's the British business malaise laid bear - we are incapable of seeing beyond the end of our noses. We lionise those who cut costs as people who take the hard decisions. But there is nothing tough about doing it. It's easy. Any fool can do it. But there is almost always a price to pay. As ever, the idea that the private sector knows best is revealed by real life to be a load of old pony.

    Agree but what I can't understand is why they've allowed passengers to book flights when they must have known they didn't have enough staff. It's as if they were hoping for the best.
    Plus ca change...

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_United_Express_passenger_removal
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 52,564
    Scott_xP said:

    This seems like a development...

    Word among Conservative MPs is that Boris Johnson has begun calling his critics, hinting at the prospect of promotion and asking in return that they 'stay with me'. Clearly No 10 feel the threat of a confidence vote if those kind of approaches are being made.

    https://twitter.com/PaulBrandITV/status/1531615589105643520

    He's toast.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,277
    AN APPEAL TO PRACTICAL PB-ERS

    I am out here in Tbilisi with an expensive piece of big luggage which is close to collapsing. Simply because I travel so much. Zips are fraying. Wheels are loosening

    Now a steel rod has sprung from the casing and making it almost unusable. See here




    That’s nasty. The metal is also strong and rigid. It won’t just snap off. I’ve tried. What can I do? I’m not sure I can find high quality luggage in Tbilisi to replace it

    If I could just get 1-2 more months of use out of this suitcase, I can replace it when I get back to london. Or should I give upon on this bag and scour the Caucasus for a replacement?
  • Nigel_ForemainNigel_Foremain Posts: 14,310
    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    MISTY said:

    Leon said:

    As the Labour lead has increased since Rishi Sunak gave everyone £9,000, a bag of second hand salt, and a tiny inflatable plastic wildebeest, one has to wonder what would have happened if he had NOT been so generous. Would the Labour lead be 20 points plus? Or have the voters just banked the money and decided, Well, the Tories are mad spaffing socialists, I might as well support Labour - ie, would the Tories be doing better if they were meaner and more Tory?

    It is certainly possible

    When in power, labour can be relied on to be labour.

    The tories, by their actions over the last two and half years, cannot be relied to on be anything. From the moment they adopted the Chinese Communist Party policy of lockdown, on top of the Maoist arbitrary hard target of Net Zero by 2050 At All Costs, they were finished.

    And I think they are finished. Not just now, and not just for a generation. For ever.

    How could they ever sell themselves to the electorate as anything again? It would be like Hal the computer in A Space Odyssey telling Dave he was alright now.

    I'm feeling much better now voters. I favour low taxation. I favour personal responsibility. I want a small state and fiscal discipline. I want law and order. Mr sThatcher is my heroine. All as the voters shut the whole thing down.

    A new party/brand on the right will have to replace them.

    The Tories are indeed in deep shit, but both sides have tremendous problems

    Here is just one for Labour. Brexit

    If the polls continue fair for Starmer, and the Tories keep smashing themselves in the face with a shovel, he could actually win a majority. What would he do with that majority? Suddenly he has all the reins of power, he doesn’t have to rely on the Nats or the Libs.

    In that case I think he would come under intense pressure to reverse Brexit in some form. Not immediately rejoin, not yet, but re-enter the Single Market, accept Freedom of Movement again. Everyone around him is a Remainer, he is a Remainer, his friends and allies: they are all Remainers. They won’t be able to resist moving closer to the EU. They might be able to sell it as making life easier for traders and exporters, etc etc

    And that way lies much trouble
    Brexit was a manifesto of madness. A policy designed for gullible fools. The only thing worse would now be to try and reverse it. It isn't going to happen. If that is the only straw that The Clown has to cling to then Labour will win a majority.
    I’m not talking about Rejoin. I’m talking about an EFTA/EEA arrangement, solving a lot of the ongoing Brexit problems

    And, by the by, regaining Freedom of Movement

    This will be intensely seductive for Keir “2nd vote” Starmer, and 95% of his allies and supporters
    Heaven forfend that Keir Starmer do something that would "solve a lot of problems".

    It will lead to electoral DOOM, I tell you.
    Even this would lead to reigniting the foulness of 2017 to 2019 but even more pronounced. There is no way Starmer would be able to sell it to all those that voted in droves to 'get Brexit done' nor contain their rage at what would be seen as an undoing (without even a referendum). Would be socially disastrous.
    Nah, it won't.

    It will be a thousand incremental little movements towards EEA/EFTA. Starmer is not going to stand up in the HoC and say "We are signing a new accord with the EU which restores our former status."

    It will be two lines in a repeatedly-iterated treaty towards solving the Northern Ireland issues. It will be an MoU for (insert UK agency of some sort) to work more closely with (insert EU agency of some sort). And so on, a thousand times.

    Occasionally a Tory backbencher or an unreconstructed DUP Paisleyite will stand up during the third reading of the Agricultural Concordance Bill (2025) and fulminate about where all this is going. Giles Fraser will write something self-righteous in Unherd. We will have a few in vino veritas moments with Leon and we love him for it.

    But that will be it. Little by little, we will get back to something akin to our 1990s EU membership.
    But eventually he has to say hes sending Wes Streeting etc to negotiate our entry into 'whatever'
    Plus the Euro triumphalism over our renewed interest in the project wont be contained and will act as a horse spooker
    Yep. The Remoaners won’t be able to resist gloating and exulting

    Which is why I say that this way lies trouble, politically. But Starmer will still do it. Because he is so emotionally devoted to the EU, and - more importantly - so is everyone around him. Peer group pressure is almost irresistible
    Not even the most moaning of remoaners is anywhere close to your obsession and paranoia about Brexit.

    Leon, get over it. It was pointless, but you "won". just rejoice in that news. The fact that we will inevitably move back closer to the evil empire of harmless woolly pacifists should not concern you. It really is inevitable, and no swivelly-eyed nationalist with closeted homoerotic fantasies about Mr Farage can stop it. The younger snowflakes will certainly vote it back when you are pissing yourself (not from laughter) in your state run home for incurable Brexit obsessives or pushing up the daisies. Chill out and relax and kick off your inner Col. Blimp.
  • StockyStocky Posts: 10,215

    Scott_xP said:

    This seems like a development...

    Word among Conservative MPs is that Boris Johnson has begun calling his critics, hinting at the prospect of promotion and asking in return that they 'stay with me'. Clearly No 10 feel the threat of a confidence vote if those kind of approaches are being made.

    https://twitter.com/PaulBrandITV/status/1531615589105643520

    He's toast.
    Ahem. I believe that is the third time you have posted those two words ...
  • londonpubmanlondonpubman Posts: 3,639
    Leon said:

    AN APPEAL TO PRACTICAL PB-ERS

    I am out here in Tbilisi with an expensive piece of big luggage which is close to collapsing. Simply because I travel so much. Zips are fraying. Wheels are loosening

    Now a steel rod has sprung from the casing and making it almost unusable. See here




    That’s nasty. The metal is also strong and rigid. It won’t just snap off. I’ve tried. What can I do? I’m not sure I can find high quality luggage in Tbilisi to replace it

    If I could just get 1-2 more months of use out of this suitcase, I can replace it when I get back to london. Or should I give upon on this bag and scour the Caucasus for a replacement?

    Just buy a replacement there. It's good to support the local economy 👍
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 32,557
    I'm not a fan of Jeremy Hunt as a politician but I think if he becomes leader the Tories probably aren't going to lose many of the so-called Blue Wall seats in Surrey, Hampshire, Sussex, etc.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 71,386
    Leon said:

    AN APPEAL TO PRACTICAL PB-ERS

    I am out here in Tbilisi with an expensive piece of big luggage which is close to collapsing. Simply because I travel so much. Zips are fraying. Wheels are loosening

    Now a steel rod has sprung from the casing and making it almost unusable. See here




    That’s nasty. The metal is also strong and rigid. It won’t just snap off. I’ve tried. What can I do? I’m not sure I can find high quality luggage in Tbilisi to replace it

    If I could just get 1-2 more months of use out of this suitcase, I can replace it when I get back to london. Or should I give upon on this bag and scour the Caucasus for a replacement?

    Have you thought of borrowing a hacksaw? Or would the structure be terminally weakened?
  • StockyStocky Posts: 10,215
    Leon said:

    AN APPEAL TO PRACTICAL PB-ERS

    I am out here in Tbilisi with an expensive piece of big luggage which is close to collapsing. Simply because I travel so much. Zips are fraying. Wheels are loosening

    Now a steel rod has sprung from the casing and making it almost unusable. See here




    That’s nasty. The metal is also strong and rigid. It won’t just snap off. I’ve tried. What can I do? I’m not sure I can find high quality luggage in Tbilisi to replace it

    If I could just get 1-2 more months of use out of this suitcase, I can replace it when I get back to london. Or should I give upon on this bag and scour the Caucasus for a replacement?

    I notice the wheels. Don't real men carry their own cases? Just sayin'.
  • Daveyboy1961Daveyboy1961 Posts: 3,883
    edited May 2022

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    MISTY said:

    Leon said:

    As the Labour lead has increased since Rishi Sunak gave everyone £9,000, a bag of second hand salt, and a tiny inflatable plastic wildebeest, one has to wonder what would have happened if he had NOT been so generous. Would the Labour lead be 20 points plus? Or have the voters just banked the money and decided, Well, the Tories are mad spaffing socialists, I might as well support Labour - ie, would the Tories be doing better if they were meaner and more Tory?

    It is certainly possible

    When in power, labour can be relied on to be labour.

    The tories, by their actions over the last two and half years, cannot be relied to on be anything. From the moment they adopted the Chinese Communist Party policy of lockdown, on top of the Maoist arbitrary hard target of Net Zero by 2050 At All Costs, they were finished.

    And I think they are finished. Not just now, and not just for a generation. For ever.

    How could they ever sell themselves to the electorate as anything again? It would be like Hal the computer in A Space Odyssey telling Dave he was alright now.

    I'm feeling much better now voters. I favour low taxation. I favour personal responsibility. I want a small state and fiscal discipline. I want law and order. Mr sThatcher is my heroine. All as the voters shut the whole thing down.

    A new party/brand on the right will have to replace them.

    The Tories are indeed in deep shit, but both sides have tremendous problems

    Here is just one for Labour. Brexit

    If the polls continue fair for Starmer, and the Tories keep smashing themselves in the face with a shovel, he could actually win a majority. What would he do with that majority? Suddenly he has all the reins of power, he doesn’t have to rely on the Nats or the Libs.

    In that case I think he would come under intense pressure to reverse Brexit in some form. Not immediately rejoin, not yet, but re-enter the Single Market, accept Freedom of Movement again. Everyone around him is a Remainer, he is a Remainer, his friends and allies: they are all Remainers. They won’t be able to resist moving closer to the EU. They might be able to sell it as making life easier for traders and exporters, etc etc

    And that way lies much trouble
    Brexit was a manifesto of madness. A policy designed for gullible fools. The only thing worse would now be to try and reverse it. It isn't going to happen. If that is the only straw that The Clown has to cling to then Labour will win a majority.
    I’m not talking about Rejoin. I’m talking about an EFTA/EEA arrangement, solving a lot of the ongoing Brexit problems

    And, by the by, regaining Freedom of Movement

    This will be intensely seductive for Keir “2nd vote” Starmer, and 95% of his allies and supporters
    Paradoxically I think a deal for reciprocal free movement (that any future government could amend) would be less politically toxic than regulatory alignment by stealth.
    Would there be a fee involved for the UK? That would be a sticking point.

    Also does free movement include the right to work abroad freely?

    There's a lot there.
  • glwglw Posts: 9,906

    Pulpstar said:

    Who runs the airports ?
    Seem to be thick as mince.

    The airports are run for the benefit of

    1) the owners
    2) the airlines
    3) the security people
    4) the various retailers.
    .
    .
    187) the passengers
    I've never heard an aircraft manufacturer, airline boss, or airport owner that didn't sound like some kind of spiv. The whole lot of them seem to rely on rooking customers, getting handouts and bailouts, and generally getting away with murder.
  • HeathenerHeathener Posts: 7,084
    Andy_JS said:

    I'm not a fan of Jeremy Hunt as a politician but I think if he becomes leader the Tories probably aren't going to lose many of the so-called Blue Wall seats in Surrey, Hampshire, Sussex, etc.

    Agreed. I'm not personally that much of a fan but he seems well liked in these quarters (Surrey).
  • MortimerMortimer Posts: 14,127
    One little tidbit that might help PBers. Conservative associations needs to have their AGMs by the end of June according to party rules.

    A recent one I attend was very illuminating. MP stood up and said he'd struggle to provide support to PM (he announced similarly to the press this weekend) if there was a confidence vote. Hear hears/clapping to tutting ratio was 5:1.

    The party faithful have turned against Boris. MPs are noticing.

    I'm thinking we're into the final weeks, if not days, of this premiership....
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,277
    ydoethur said:

    Leon said:

    AN APPEAL TO PRACTICAL PB-ERS

    I am out here in Tbilisi with an expensive piece of big luggage which is close to collapsing. Simply because I travel so much. Zips are fraying. Wheels are loosening

    Now a steel rod has sprung from the casing and making it almost unusable. See here




    That’s nasty. The metal is also strong and rigid. It won’t just snap off. I’ve tried. What can I do? I’m not sure I can find high quality luggage in Tbilisi to replace it

    If I could just get 1-2 more months of use out of this suitcase, I can replace it when I get back to london. Or should I give upon on this bag and scour the Caucasus for a replacement?

    Have you thought of borrowing a hacksaw? Or would the structure be terminally weakened?
    A hacksaw might just chew it off. And the structure is still good (I think)

    but 1. Where the F do I get a hacksaw and 2. Maybe this is a hint from the Gods of Entropy - this bag is nearly dead. If a zip and a wheel goes when I’m out in the wilds again, I’m screwed. So i need to bite the bullet and see if the capital of Georgia can cough up something that will suffice as a replacement
  • Nigel_ForemainNigel_Foremain Posts: 14,310
    Farooq said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    MISTY said:

    Leon said:

    As the Labour lead has increased since Rishi Sunak gave everyone £9,000, a bag of second hand salt, and a tiny inflatable plastic wildebeest, one has to wonder what would have happened if he had NOT been so generous. Would the Labour lead be 20 points plus? Or have the voters just banked the money and decided, Well, the Tories are mad spaffing socialists, I might as well support Labour - ie, would the Tories be doing better if they were meaner and more Tory?

    It is certainly possible

    When in power, labour can be relied on to be labour.

    The tories, by their actions over the last two and half years, cannot be relied to on be anything. From the moment they adopted the Chinese Communist Party policy of lockdown, on top of the Maoist arbitrary hard target of Net Zero by 2050 At All Costs, they were finished.

    And I think they are finished. Not just now, and not just for a generation. For ever.

    How could they ever sell themselves to the electorate as anything again? It would be like Hal the computer in A Space Odyssey telling Dave he was alright now.

    I'm feeling much better now voters. I favour low taxation. I favour personal responsibility. I want a small state and fiscal discipline. I want law and order. Mr sThatcher is my heroine. All as the voters shut the whole thing down.

    A new party/brand on the right will have to replace them.

    The Tories are indeed in deep shit, but both sides have tremendous problems

    Here is just one for Labour. Brexit

    If the polls continue fair for Starmer, and the Tories keep smashing themselves in the face with a shovel, he could actually win a majority. What would he do with that majority? Suddenly he has all the reins of power, he doesn’t have to rely on the Nats or the Libs.

    In that case I think he would come under intense pressure to reverse Brexit in some form. Not immediately rejoin, not yet, but re-enter the Single Market, accept Freedom of Movement again. Everyone around him is a Remainer, he is a Remainer, his friends and allies: they are all Remainers. They won’t be able to resist moving closer to the EU. They might be able to sell it as making life easier for traders and exporters, etc etc

    And that way lies much trouble
    Brexit was a manifesto of madness. A policy designed for gullible fools. The only thing worse would now be to try and reverse it. It isn't going to happen. If that is the only straw that The Clown has to cling to then Labour will win a majority.
    I’m not talking about Rejoin. I’m talking about an EFTA/EEA arrangement, solving a lot of the ongoing Brexit problems

    And, by the by, regaining Freedom of Movement

    This will be intensely seductive for Keir “2nd vote” Starmer, and 95% of his allies and supporters
    Heaven forfend that Keir Starmer do something that would "solve a lot of problems".

    It will lead to electoral DOOM, I tell you.
    Even this would lead to reigniting the foulness of 2017 to 2019 but even more pronounced. There is no way Starmer would be able to sell it to all those that voted in droves to 'get Brexit done' nor contain their rage at what would be seen as an undoing (without even a referendum). Would be socially disastrous.
    Nah, it won't.

    It will be a thousand incremental little movements towards EEA/EFTA. Starmer is not going to stand up in the HoC and say "We are signing a new accord with the EU which restores our former status."

    It will be two lines in a repeatedly-iterated treaty towards solving the Northern Ireland issues. It will be an MoU for (insert UK agency of some sort) to work more closely with (insert EU agency of some sort). And so on, a thousand times.

    Occasionally a Tory backbencher or an unreconstructed DUP Paisleyite will stand up during the third reading of the Agricultural Concordance Bill (2025) and fulminate about where all this is going. Giles Fraser will write something self-righteous in Unherd. We will have a few in vino veritas moments with Leon and we love him for it.

    But that will be it. Little by little, we will get back to something akin to our 1990s EU membership.
    But eventually he has to say hes sending Wes Streeting etc to negotiate our entry into 'whatever'
    Plus the Euro triumphalism over our renewed interest in the project wont be contained and will act as a horse spooker
    Yep. The Remoaners won’t be able to resist gloating and exulting

    Which is why I say that this way lies trouble, politically. But Starmer will still do it. Because he is so emotionally devoted to the EU, and - more importantly - so is everyone around him. Peer group pressure is almost irresistible
    I'm looking forward to a nice bit of gloating.
    If I want to really dish out what we've been given, I might add a bit of gaslighting into the mix. And an insistent teacherly tone that any reverses you suffered are entirely due to your own moral failings. One or two of you might even get called beta cucks along the way, who knows? And deep down you'll know you deserve it.
    The sad thing (for them) is they know it is coming. Full fat, full on, ever closer union with the Euro and Schengen for hors d'oeuvres. "Hors d'oeuvres must be obeyed at all times without question", as Basil Fawlty once said.
  • OnlyLivingBoyOnlyLivingBoy Posts: 15,779
    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    MISTY said:

    Leon said:

    As the Labour lead has increased since Rishi Sunak gave everyone £9,000, a bag of second hand salt, and a tiny inflatable plastic wildebeest, one has to wonder what would have happened if he had NOT been so generous. Would the Labour lead be 20 points plus? Or have the voters just banked the money and decided, Well, the Tories are mad spaffing socialists, I might as well support Labour - ie, would the Tories be doing better if they were meaner and more Tory?

    It is certainly possible

    When in power, labour can be relied on to be labour.

    The tories, by their actions over the last two and half years, cannot be relied to on be anything. From the moment they adopted the Chinese Communist Party policy of lockdown, on top of the Maoist arbitrary hard target of Net Zero by 2050 At All Costs, they were finished.

    And I think they are finished. Not just now, and not just for a generation. For ever.

    How could they ever sell themselves to the electorate as anything again? It would be like Hal the computer in A Space Odyssey telling Dave he was alright now.

    I'm feeling much better now voters. I favour low taxation. I favour personal responsibility. I want a small state and fiscal discipline. I want law and order. Mr sThatcher is my heroine. All as the voters shut the whole thing down.

    A new party/brand on the right will have to replace them.

    The Tories are indeed in deep shit, but both sides have tremendous problems

    Here is just one for Labour. Brexit

    If the polls continue fair for Starmer, and the Tories keep smashing themselves in the face with a shovel, he could actually win a majority. What would he do with that majority? Suddenly he has all the reins of power, he doesn’t have to rely on the Nats or the Libs.

    In that case I think he would come under intense pressure to reverse Brexit in some form. Not immediately rejoin, not yet, but re-enter the Single Market, accept Freedom of Movement again. Everyone around him is a Remainer, he is a Remainer, his friends and allies: they are all Remainers. They won’t be able to resist moving closer to the EU. They might be able to sell it as making life easier for traders and exporters, etc etc

    And that way lies much trouble
    Brexit was a manifesto of madness. A policy designed for gullible fools. The only thing worse would now be to try and reverse it. It isn't going to happen. If that is the only straw that The Clown has to cling to then Labour will win a majority.
    I’m not talking about Rejoin. I’m talking about an EFTA/EEA arrangement, solving a lot of the ongoing Brexit problems

    And, by the by, regaining Freedom of Movement

    This will be intensely seductive for Keir “2nd vote” Starmer, and 95% of his allies and supporters
    Heaven forfend that Keir Starmer do something that would "solve a lot of problems".

    It will lead to electoral DOOM, I tell you.
    Even this would lead to reigniting the foulness of 2017 to 2019 but even more pronounced. There is no way Starmer would be able to sell it to all those that voted in droves to 'get Brexit done' nor contain their rage at what would be seen as an undoing (without even a referendum). Would be socially disastrous.
    Nah, it won't.

    It will be a thousand incremental little movements towards EEA/EFTA. Starmer is not going to stand up in the HoC and say "We are signing a new accord with the EU which restores our former status."

    It will be two lines in a repeatedly-iterated treaty towards solving the Northern Ireland issues. It will be an MoU for (insert UK agency of some sort) to work more closely with (insert EU agency of some sort). And so on, a thousand times.

    Occasionally a Tory backbencher or an unreconstructed DUP Paisleyite will stand up during the third reading of the Agricultural Concordance Bill (2025) and fulminate about where all this is going. Giles Fraser will write something self-righteous in Unherd. We will have a few in vino veritas moments with Leon and we love him for it.

    But that will be it. Little by little, we will get back to something akin to our 1990s EU membership.
    But eventually he has to say hes sending Wes Streeting etc to negotiate our entry into 'whatever'
    Plus the Euro triumphalism over our renewed interest in the project wont be contained and will act as a horse spooker
    Yep. The Remoaners won’t be able to resist gloating and exulting

    Which is why I say that this way lies trouble, politically. But Starmer will still do it. Because he is so emotionally devoted to the EU, and - more importantly - so is everyone around him. Peer group pressure is almost irresistible
    Of course! The whole point of any Brexit vote is to be able to exalt in the misery of the defeated side. Surely if the last six years have taught us anything it is that.
  • HeathenerHeathener Posts: 7,084
    RobD said:

    RobD said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    MISTY said:

    Leon said:

    As the Labour lead has increased since Rishi Sunak gave everyone £9,000, a bag of second hand salt, and a tiny inflatable plastic wildebeest, one has to wonder what would have happened if he had NOT been so generous. Would the Labour lead be 20 points plus? Or have the voters just banked the money and decided, Well, the Tories are mad spaffing socialists, I might as well support Labour - ie, would the Tories be doing better if they were meaner and more Tory?

    It is certainly possible

    When in power, labour can be relied on to be labour.

    The tories, by their actions over the last two and half years, cannot be relied to on be anything. From the moment they adopted the Chinese Communist Party policy of lockdown, on top of the Maoist arbitrary hard target of Net Zero by 2050 At All Costs, they were finished.

    And I think they are finished. Not just now, and not just for a generation. For ever.

    How could they ever sell themselves to the electorate as anything again? It would be like Hal the computer in A Space Odyssey telling Dave he was alright now.

    I'm feeling much better now voters. I favour low taxation. I favour personal responsibility. I want a small state and fiscal discipline. I want law and order. Mr sThatcher is my heroine. All as the voters shut the whole thing down.

    A new party/brand on the right will have to replace them.

    The Tories are indeed in deep shit, but both sides have tremendous problems

    Here is just one for Labour. Brexit

    If the polls continue fair for Starmer, and the Tories keep smashing themselves in the face with a shovel, he could actually win a majority. What would he do with that majority? Suddenly he has all the reins of power, he doesn’t have to rely on the Nats or the Libs.

    In that case I think he would come under intense pressure to reverse Brexit in some form. Not immediately rejoin, not yet, but re-enter the Single Market, accept Freedom of Movement again. Everyone around him is a Remainer, he is a Remainer, his friends and allies: they are all Remainers. They won’t be able to resist moving closer to the EU. They might be able to sell it as making life easier for traders and exporters, etc etc

    And that way lies much trouble
    Brexit was a manifesto of madness. A policy designed for gullible fools. The only thing worse would now be to try and reverse it. It isn't going to happen. If that is the only straw that The Clown has to cling to then Labour will win a majority.
    I’m not talking about Rejoin. I’m talking about an EFTA/EEA arrangement, solving a lot of the ongoing Brexit problems

    And, by the by, regaining Freedom of Movement

    This will be intensely seductive for Keir “2nd vote” Starmer, and 95% of his allies and supporters
    Paradoxically I think a deal for reciprocal free movement (that any future government could amend) would be less politically toxic than regulatory alignment by stealth.
    But we have full regulatory alignment. And as Rees-Mogg announced that to deviate would be "self-harm" that isn't going to change. Has anyone noticed? Does anyone care? Find me a normal who voted for Brexit because they wanted to end regulatory alignment. Or knew what that even was. They wanted an end to Brussels telling us we couldn't sell straight bananas. They know have that as no such ban existed anyway.
    You're being deliberately obtuse. Rees-Mogg was talking about border checks, not regulatory alignment. Saying, "We trust EU regulations on food for the moment so border checks are a burden we don't need," is not the same as saying, "We want the EU to make our own laws in perpetuity."
    1. They decide on food standards etc
    2. We're never going to check them
    3. Our food industry keeps the same standards it has now - EU standards - and just updates as they improve
    4. As we're never checking stuff coming in the EU standard remains the defacto UK one. Government can't impose a new standard it isn't willing to police.

    So yes, that's quite literally what he just announced. Remember that the lifespan of these wazzocks in office is at most another 30 months, likely not even that in weeks.
    Your argument could be turned around to say that the EU is completely unnecessary because European countries will just reciprocally adopt best practice. What value does Brussels add?
    You tell us. "You" argued in favour of it for years, and very eloquently I might add. This was before your account has nicked by a swivel-eyed Europhobe troll
    Someone disagreeing with you does not make them a troll.
    People who are wrong regularly disagree with me. Nothing new in that. Someone who does a 180 degree flip from one extreme to the other deserves ridicule or questioning over whether they are who they claim to be. It was not "off topic"
    People can change their minds and views as situations evolve. .
    But every few hours, as in Leon's case?
  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 28,432
    Scott_xP said:

    Former Downing Street aide willing to share messages from PM's wife about alleged lockdown gathering in flat with Privileges Committee

    Carrie Johnson said to texted that 'the gay boys' were with her in the flat

    At that point indoor gatherings were banned https://twitter.com/Steven_Swinford/status/1531603624840798208/photo/1

    Bit rude about the privileges committee. And what were they doing attending a party with Carrie?
  • Daveyboy1961Daveyboy1961 Posts: 3,883
    Stocky said:

    Leon said:

    AN APPEAL TO PRACTICAL PB-ERS

    I am out here in Tbilisi with an expensive piece of big luggage which is close to collapsing. Simply because I travel so much. Zips are fraying. Wheels are loosening

    Now a steel rod has sprung from the casing and making it almost unusable. See here




    That’s nasty. The metal is also strong and rigid. It won’t just snap off. I’ve tried. What can I do? I’m not sure I can find high quality luggage in Tbilisi to replace it

    If I could just get 1-2 more months of use out of this suitcase, I can replace it when I get back to london. Or should I give upon on this bag and scour the Caucasus for a replacement?

    I notice the wheels. Don't real men carry their own cases? Just sayin'.
    wire cutters?
  • HeathenerHeathener Posts: 7,084

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    MISTY said:

    Leon said:

    As the Labour lead has increased since Rishi Sunak gave everyone £9,000, a bag of second hand salt, and a tiny inflatable plastic wildebeest, one has to wonder what would have happened if he had NOT been so generous. Would the Labour lead be 20 points plus? Or have the voters just banked the money and decided, Well, the Tories are mad spaffing socialists, I might as well support Labour - ie, would the Tories be doing better if they were meaner and more Tory?

    It is certainly possible

    When in power, labour can be relied on to be labour.

    The tories, by their actions over the last two and half years, cannot be relied to on be anything. From the moment they adopted the Chinese Communist Party policy of lockdown, on top of the Maoist arbitrary hard target of Net Zero by 2050 At All Costs, they were finished.

    And I think they are finished. Not just now, and not just for a generation. For ever.

    How could they ever sell themselves to the electorate as anything again? It would be like Hal the computer in A Space Odyssey telling Dave he was alright now.

    I'm feeling much better now voters. I favour low taxation. I favour personal responsibility. I want a small state and fiscal discipline. I want law and order. Mr sThatcher is my heroine. All as the voters shut the whole thing down.

    A new party/brand on the right will have to replace them.

    The Tories are indeed in deep shit, but both sides have tremendous problems

    Here is just one for Labour. Brexit

    If the polls continue fair for Starmer, and the Tories keep smashing themselves in the face with a shovel, he could actually win a majority. What would he do with that majority? Suddenly he has all the reins of power, he doesn’t have to rely on the Nats or the Libs.

    In that case I think he would come under intense pressure to reverse Brexit in some form. Not immediately rejoin, not yet, but re-enter the Single Market, accept Freedom of Movement again. Everyone around him is a Remainer, he is a Remainer, his friends and allies: they are all Remainers. They won’t be able to resist moving closer to the EU. They might be able to sell it as making life easier for traders and exporters, etc etc

    And that way lies much trouble
    Brexit was a manifesto of madness. A policy designed for gullible fools. The only thing worse would now be to try and reverse it. It isn't going to happen. If that is the only straw that The Clown has to cling to then Labour will win a majority.
    I’m not talking about Rejoin. I’m talking about an EFTA/EEA arrangement, solving a lot of the ongoing Brexit problems

    And, by the by, regaining Freedom of Movement

    This will be intensely seductive for Keir “2nd vote” Starmer, and 95% of his allies and supporters
    Paradoxically I think a deal for reciprocal free movement (that any future government could amend) would be less politically toxic than regulatory alignment by stealth.
    But we have full regulatory alignment. And as Rees-Mogg announced that to deviate would be "self-harm" that isn't going to change. Has anyone noticed? Does anyone care? Find me a normal who voted for Brexit because they wanted to end regulatory alignment. Or knew what that even was. They wanted an end to Brussels telling us we couldn't sell straight bananas. They know have that as no such ban existed anyway.
    You're being deliberately obtuse. Rees-Mogg was talking about border checks, not regulatory alignment. Saying, "We trust EU regulations on food for the moment so border checks are a burden we don't need," is not the same as saying, "We want the EU to make our own laws in perpetuity."
    1. They decide on food standards etc
    2. We're never going to check them
    3. Our food industry keeps the same standards it has now - EU standards - and just updates as they improve
    4. As we're never checking stuff coming in the EU standard remains the defacto UK one. Government can't impose a new standard it isn't willing to police.

    So yes, that's quite literally what he just announced. Remember that the lifespan of these wazzocks in office is at most another 30 months, likely not even that in weeks.
    Your argument could be turned around to say that the EU is completely unnecessary because European countries will just reciprocally adopt best practice. What value does Brussels add?
    You tell us. "You" argued in favour of it for years, and very eloquently I might add. This was before your account has nicked by a swivel-eyed Europhobe troll
    Who is the twat that hit the "off topic" button? Come on own up?
    Leon keeps doing it. It's his latest fad.
  • Nigel_ForemainNigel_Foremain Posts: 14,310
    Leon said:

    RobD said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    MISTY said:

    Leon said:

    As the Labour lead has increased since Rishi Sunak gave everyone £9,000, a bag of second hand salt, and a tiny inflatable plastic wildebeest, one has to wonder what would have happened if he had NOT been so generous. Would the Labour lead be 20 points plus? Or have the voters just banked the money and decided, Well, the Tories are mad spaffing socialists, I might as well support Labour - ie, would the Tories be doing better if they were meaner and more Tory?

    It is certainly possible

    When in power, labour can be relied on to be labour.

    The tories, by their actions over the last two and half years, cannot be relied to on be anything. From the moment they adopted the Chinese Communist Party policy of lockdown, on top of the Maoist arbitrary hard target of Net Zero by 2050 At All Costs, they were finished.

    And I think they are finished. Not just now, and not just for a generation. For ever.

    How could they ever sell themselves to the electorate as anything again? It would be like Hal the computer in A Space Odyssey telling Dave he was alright now.

    I'm feeling much better now voters. I favour low taxation. I favour personal responsibility. I want a small state and fiscal discipline. I want law and order. Mr sThatcher is my heroine. All as the voters shut the whole thing down.

    A new party/brand on the right will have to replace them.

    The Tories are indeed in deep shit, but both sides have tremendous problems

    Here is just one for Labour. Brexit

    If the polls continue fair for Starmer, and the Tories keep smashing themselves in the face with a shovel, he could actually win a majority. What would he do with that majority? Suddenly he has all the reins of power, he doesn’t have to rely on the Nats or the Libs.

    In that case I think he would come under intense pressure to reverse Brexit in some form. Not immediately rejoin, not yet, but re-enter the Single Market, accept Freedom of Movement again. Everyone around him is a Remainer, he is a Remainer, his friends and allies: they are all Remainers. They won’t be able to resist moving closer to the EU. They might be able to sell it as making life easier for traders and exporters, etc etc

    And that way lies much trouble
    Brexit was a manifesto of madness. A policy designed for gullible fools. The only thing worse would now be to try and reverse it. It isn't going to happen. If that is the only straw that The Clown has to cling to then Labour will win a majority.
    I’m not talking about Rejoin. I’m talking about an EFTA/EEA arrangement, solving a lot of the ongoing Brexit problems

    And, by the by, regaining Freedom of Movement

    This will be intensely seductive for Keir “2nd vote” Starmer, and 95% of his allies and supporters
    Paradoxically I think a deal for reciprocal free movement (that any future government could amend) would be less politically toxic than regulatory alignment by stealth.
    But we have full regulatory alignment. And as Rees-Mogg announced that to deviate would be "self-harm" that isn't going to change. Has anyone noticed? Does anyone care? Find me a normal who voted for Brexit because they wanted to end regulatory alignment. Or knew what that even was. They wanted an end to Brussels telling us we couldn't sell straight bananas. They know have that as no such ban existed anyway.
    You're being deliberately obtuse. Rees-Mogg was talking about border checks, not regulatory alignment. Saying, "We trust EU regulations on food for the moment so border checks are a burden we don't need," is not the same as saying, "We want the EU to make our own laws in perpetuity."
    1. They decide on food standards etc
    2. We're never going to check them
    3. Our food industry keeps the same standards it has now - EU standards - and just updates as they improve
    4. As we're never checking stuff coming in the EU standard remains the defacto UK one. Government can't impose a new standard it isn't willing to police.

    So yes, that's quite literally what he just announced. Remember that the lifespan of these wazzocks in office is at most another 30 months, likely not even that in weeks.
    Your argument could be turned around to say that the EU is completely unnecessary because European countries will just reciprocally adopt best practice. What value does Brussels add?
    You tell us. "You" argued in favour of it for years, and very eloquently I might add. This was before your account has nicked by a swivel-eyed Europhobe troll
    Someone disagreeing with you does not make them a troll.
    People who are wrong regularly disagree with me. Nothing new in that. Someone who does a 180 degree flip from one extreme to the other deserves ridicule or questioning over whether they are who they claim to be. It was not "off topic"
    Quit your bitching you silly old woman
    Ah, I see psychological projection is not cured by a plastic bag on the head then?
  • StockyStocky Posts: 10,215

    Stocky said:

    Leon said:

    AN APPEAL TO PRACTICAL PB-ERS

    I am out here in Tbilisi with an expensive piece of big luggage which is close to collapsing. Simply because I travel so much. Zips are fraying. Wheels are loosening

    Now a steel rod has sprung from the casing and making it almost unusable. See here




    That’s nasty. The metal is also strong and rigid. It won’t just snap off. I’ve tried. What can I do? I’m not sure I can find high quality luggage in Tbilisi to replace it

    If I could just get 1-2 more months of use out of this suitcase, I can replace it when I get back to london. Or should I give upon on this bag and scour the Caucasus for a replacement?

    I notice the wheels. Don't real men carry their own cases? Just sayin'.
    wire cutters?
    Leon could stick one of his wine corks on it.
  • ApplicantApplicant Posts: 3,379
    Stocky said:

    Leon said:

    AN APPEAL TO PRACTICAL PB-ERS

    I am out here in Tbilisi with an expensive piece of big luggage which is close to collapsing. Simply because I travel so much. Zips are fraying. Wheels are loosening

    Now a steel rod has sprung from the casing and making it almost unusable. See here




    That’s nasty. The metal is also strong and rigid. It won’t just snap off. I’ve tried. What can I do? I’m not sure I can find high quality luggage in Tbilisi to replace it

    If I could just get 1-2 more months of use out of this suitcase, I can replace it when I get back to london. Or should I give upon on this bag and scour the Caucasus for a replacement?

    I notice the wheels. Don't real men carry their own cases? Just sayin'.
    Can you even get suitcases without wheels any more?
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,277
    Stocky said:

    Leon said:

    AN APPEAL TO PRACTICAL PB-ERS

    I am out here in Tbilisi with an expensive piece of big luggage which is close to collapsing. Simply because I travel so much. Zips are fraying. Wheels are loosening

    Now a steel rod has sprung from the casing and making it almost unusable. See here




    That’s nasty. The metal is also strong and rigid. It won’t just snap off. I’ve tried. What can I do? I’m not sure I can find high quality luggage in Tbilisi to replace it

    If I could just get 1-2 more months of use out of this suitcase, I can replace it when I get back to london. Or should I give upon on this bag and scour the Caucasus for a replacement?

    I notice the wheels. Don't real men carry their own cases? Just sayin'.

    Believe it or not, this is the precise reason it took the luggage-making industry about 50 years to introduce wheeled luggage, even when it was obvious to all that wheeled bags would be superior

    It was felt men would not buy them - because “effete” - and apparently it is men that buy most serious luggage, and etc

    Insane, but true
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 32,557
    edited May 2022
    There was a brief moment in the 1990s when British airports seemed to work like clockwork about 95% of the time, even in peak times like school holidays. It shows how easy it is to go backwards.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 54,585
    Leon said:

    ydoethur said:

    Leon said:

    AN APPEAL TO PRACTICAL PB-ERS

    I am out here in Tbilisi with an expensive piece of big luggage which is close to collapsing. Simply because I travel so much. Zips are fraying. Wheels are loosening

    Now a steel rod has sprung from the casing and making it almost unusable. See here




    That’s nasty. The metal is also strong and rigid. It won’t just snap off. I’ve tried. What can I do? I’m not sure I can find high quality luggage in Tbilisi to replace it

    If I could just get 1-2 more months of use out of this suitcase, I can replace it when I get back to london. Or should I give upon on this bag and scour the Caucasus for a replacement?

    Have you thought of borrowing a hacksaw? Or would the structure be terminally weakened?
    A hacksaw might just chew it off. And the structure is still good (I think)

    but 1. Where the F do I get a hacksaw and 2. Maybe this is a hint from the Gods of Entropy - this bag is nearly dead. If a zip and a wheel goes when I’m out in the wilds again, I’m screwed. So i need to bite the bullet and see if the capital of Georgia can cough up something that will suffice as a replacement
    Get a hacksaw or a pair of pliers with a cutter, from any local hardware store or large supermarket. Or do your bit for the local economy as you say, and buy yourself a new one in Tibilsi.
  • kjhkjh Posts: 11,786
    Andy_JS said:

    I'm not a fan of Jeremy Hunt as a politician but I think if he becomes leader the Tories probably aren't going to lose many of the so-called Blue Wall seats in Surrey, Hampshire, Sussex, etc.

    I strongly agree. He seems ok to me. As I have said before his only real blackmark for me was his dalliance with homeopathy. He claimed it was naivety but he shouldn't have touched that with a barge pole.
  • Nigel_ForemainNigel_Foremain Posts: 14,310
    Heathener said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    MISTY said:

    Leon said:

    As the Labour lead has increased since Rishi Sunak gave everyone £9,000, a bag of second hand salt, and a tiny inflatable plastic wildebeest, one has to wonder what would have happened if he had NOT been so generous. Would the Labour lead be 20 points plus? Or have the voters just banked the money and decided, Well, the Tories are mad spaffing socialists, I might as well support Labour - ie, would the Tories be doing better if they were meaner and more Tory?

    It is certainly possible

    When in power, labour can be relied on to be labour.

    The tories, by their actions over the last two and half years, cannot be relied to on be anything. From the moment they adopted the Chinese Communist Party policy of lockdown, on top of the Maoist arbitrary hard target of Net Zero by 2050 At All Costs, they were finished.

    And I think they are finished. Not just now, and not just for a generation. For ever.

    How could they ever sell themselves to the electorate as anything again? It would be like Hal the computer in A Space Odyssey telling Dave he was alright now.

    I'm feeling much better now voters. I favour low taxation. I favour personal responsibility. I want a small state and fiscal discipline. I want law and order. Mr sThatcher is my heroine. All as the voters shut the whole thing down.

    A new party/brand on the right will have to replace them.

    The Tories are indeed in deep shit, but both sides have tremendous problems

    Here is just one for Labour. Brexit

    If the polls continue fair for Starmer, and the Tories keep smashing themselves in the face with a shovel, he could actually win a majority. What would he do with that majority? Suddenly he has all the reins of power, he doesn’t have to rely on the Nats or the Libs.

    In that case I think he would come under intense pressure to reverse Brexit in some form. Not immediately rejoin, not yet, but re-enter the Single Market, accept Freedom of Movement again. Everyone around him is a Remainer, he is a Remainer, his friends and allies: they are all Remainers. They won’t be able to resist moving closer to the EU. They might be able to sell it as making life easier for traders and exporters, etc etc

    And that way lies much trouble
    Brexit was a manifesto of madness. A policy designed for gullible fools. The only thing worse would now be to try and reverse it. It isn't going to happen. If that is the only straw that The Clown has to cling to then Labour will win a majority.
    I’m not talking about Rejoin. I’m talking about an EFTA/EEA arrangement, solving a lot of the ongoing Brexit problems

    And, by the by, regaining Freedom of Movement

    This will be intensely seductive for Keir “2nd vote” Starmer, and 95% of his allies and supporters
    Paradoxically I think a deal for reciprocal free movement (that any future government could amend) would be less politically toxic than regulatory alignment by stealth.
    But we have full regulatory alignment. And as Rees-Mogg announced that to deviate would be "self-harm" that isn't going to change. Has anyone noticed? Does anyone care? Find me a normal who voted for Brexit because they wanted to end regulatory alignment. Or knew what that even was. They wanted an end to Brussels telling us we couldn't sell straight bananas. They know have that as no such ban existed anyway.
    You're being deliberately obtuse. Rees-Mogg was talking about border checks, not regulatory alignment. Saying, "We trust EU regulations on food for the moment so border checks are a burden we don't need," is not the same as saying, "We want the EU to make our own laws in perpetuity."
    1. They decide on food standards etc
    2. We're never going to check them
    3. Our food industry keeps the same standards it has now - EU standards - and just updates as they improve
    4. As we're never checking stuff coming in the EU standard remains the defacto UK one. Government can't impose a new standard it isn't willing to police.

    So yes, that's quite literally what he just announced. Remember that the lifespan of these wazzocks in office is at most another 30 months, likely not even that in weeks.
    Your argument could be turned around to say that the EU is completely unnecessary because European countries will just reciprocally adopt best practice. What value does Brussels add?
    You tell us. "You" argued in favour of it for years, and very eloquently I might add. This was before your account has nicked by a swivel-eyed Europhobe troll
    Who is the twat that hit the "off topic" button? Come on own up?
    Leon keeps doing it. It's his latest fad.
    You shouldn't automatically think "Leon" just because I said "twat"
  • kjhkjh Posts: 11,786
    Sandpit said:

    Leon said:

    ydoethur said:

    Leon said:

    AN APPEAL TO PRACTICAL PB-ERS

    I am out here in Tbilisi with an expensive piece of big luggage which is close to collapsing. Simply because I travel so much. Zips are fraying. Wheels are loosening

    Now a steel rod has sprung from the casing and making it almost unusable. See here




    That’s nasty. The metal is also strong and rigid. It won’t just snap off. I’ve tried. What can I do? I’m not sure I can find high quality luggage in Tbilisi to replace it

    If I could just get 1-2 more months of use out of this suitcase, I can replace it when I get back to london. Or should I give upon on this bag and scour the Caucasus for a replacement?

    Have you thought of borrowing a hacksaw? Or would the structure be terminally weakened?
    A hacksaw might just chew it off. And the structure is still good (I think)

    but 1. Where the F do I get a hacksaw and 2. Maybe this is a hint from the Gods of Entropy - this bag is nearly dead. If a zip and a wheel goes when I’m out in the wilds again, I’m screwed. So i need to bite the bullet and see if the capital of Georgia can cough up something that will suffice as a replacement
    Get a hacksaw or a pair of pliers with a cutter, from any local hardware store or large supermarket. Or do your bit for the local economy as you say, and buy yourself a new one in Tibilsi.
    Agree, a pair of pliers with a cutting edge will sort that easily provided you are not too wimpy.
  • RochdalePioneersRochdalePioneers Posts: 28,901
    kjh said:

    Andy_JS said:

    I'm not a fan of Jeremy Hunt as a politician but I think if he becomes leader the Tories probably aren't going to lose many of the so-called Blue Wall seats in Surrey, Hampshire, Sussex, etc.

    I strongly agree. He seems ok to me. As I have said before his only real blackmark for me was his dalliance with homeopathy. He claimed it was naivety but he shouldn't have touched that with a barge pole.
    Misread that as Hunt's dalliance with homosexuality.

    Hello!!!!!
  • BarnesianBarnesian Posts: 8,582
    Andy_JS said:

    I'm not a fan of Jeremy Hunt as a politician but I think if he becomes leader the Tories probably aren't going to lose many of the so-called Blue Wall seats in Surrey, Hampshire, Sussex, etc.

    Quite. Fingers crossed he's rejected by the Party membership.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,277

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    MISTY said:

    Leon said:

    As the Labour lead has increased since Rishi Sunak gave everyone £9,000, a bag of second hand salt, and a tiny inflatable plastic wildebeest, one has to wonder what would have happened if he had NOT been so generous. Would the Labour lead be 20 points plus? Or have the voters just banked the money and decided, Well, the Tories are mad spaffing socialists, I might as well support Labour - ie, would the Tories be doing better if they were meaner and more Tory?

    It is certainly possible

    When in power, labour can be relied on to be labour.

    The tories, by their actions over the last two and half years, cannot be relied to on be anything. From the moment they adopted the Chinese Communist Party policy of lockdown, on top of the Maoist arbitrary hard target of Net Zero by 2050 At All Costs, they were finished.

    And I think they are finished. Not just now, and not just for a generation. For ever.

    How could they ever sell themselves to the electorate as anything again? It would be like Hal the computer in A Space Odyssey telling Dave he was alright now.

    I'm feeling much better now voters. I favour low taxation. I favour personal responsibility. I want a small state and fiscal discipline. I want law and order. Mr sThatcher is my heroine. All as the voters shut the whole thing down.

    A new party/brand on the right will have to replace them.

    The Tories are indeed in deep shit, but both sides have tremendous problems

    Here is just one for Labour. Brexit

    If the polls continue fair for Starmer, and the Tories keep smashing themselves in the face with a shovel, he could actually win a majority. What would he do with that majority? Suddenly he has all the reins of power, he doesn’t have to rely on the Nats or the Libs.

    In that case I think he would come under intense pressure to reverse Brexit in some form. Not immediately rejoin, not yet, but re-enter the Single Market, accept Freedom of Movement again. Everyone around him is a Remainer, he is a Remainer, his friends and allies: they are all Remainers. They won’t be able to resist moving closer to the EU. They might be able to sell it as making life easier for traders and exporters, etc etc

    And that way lies much trouble
    Brexit was a manifesto of madness. A policy designed for gullible fools. The only thing worse would now be to try and reverse it. It isn't going to happen. If that is the only straw that The Clown has to cling to then Labour will win a majority.
    I’m not talking about Rejoin. I’m talking about an EFTA/EEA arrangement, solving a lot of the ongoing Brexit problems

    And, by the by, regaining Freedom of Movement

    This will be intensely seductive for Keir “2nd vote” Starmer, and 95% of his allies and supporters
    Heaven forfend that Keir Starmer do something that would "solve a lot of problems".

    It will lead to electoral DOOM, I tell you.
    Even this would lead to reigniting the foulness of 2017 to 2019 but even more pronounced. There is no way Starmer would be able to sell it to all those that voted in droves to 'get Brexit done' nor contain their rage at what would be seen as an undoing (without even a referendum). Would be socially disastrous.
    Nah, it won't.

    It will be a thousand incremental little movements towards EEA/EFTA. Starmer is not going to stand up in the HoC and say "We are signing a new accord with the EU which restores our former status."

    It will be two lines in a repeatedly-iterated treaty towards solving the Northern Ireland issues. It will be an MoU for (insert UK agency of some sort) to work more closely with (insert EU agency of some sort). And so on, a thousand times.

    Occasionally a Tory backbencher or an unreconstructed DUP Paisleyite will stand up during the third reading of the Agricultural Concordance Bill (2025) and fulminate about where all this is going. Giles Fraser will write something self-righteous in Unherd. We will have a few in vino veritas moments with Leon and we love him for it.

    But that will be it. Little by little, we will get back to something akin to our 1990s EU membership.
    But eventually he has to say hes sending Wes Streeting etc to negotiate our entry into 'whatever'
    Plus the Euro triumphalism over our renewed interest in the project wont be contained and will act as a horse spooker
    Yep. The Remoaners won’t be able to resist gloating and exulting

    Which is why I say that this way lies trouble, politically. But Starmer will still do it. Because he is so emotionally devoted to the EU, and - more importantly - so is everyone around him. Peer group pressure is almost irresistible
    Of course! The whole point of any Brexit vote is to be able to exalt in the misery of the defeated side. Surely if the last six years have taught us anything it is that.
    That’s fair

    And, let it be said, I’m quite content with Free Movement returning. It never bothered me in the beginning. But it really will bother others, and this will be an issue for Labour (who will surely head towards the Single Market). But personally I’d quite like the right to live and work in the EU restored to me. I can do without all the other crap

    My guess is we will end up somewhere close to Switzerland. We will never rejoin but we will be begrudging members of the SM etc and we will tolerate some version of FoM

    However, to get there it probably needs all the big players in Brexit, on both sides, to depart the scene, so emotions are lowered. That definitely means Boris, possibly Starmer. And many others. Also Macron?

    Macron will be history by 2027, and after that is when we will rejoin the SM. That’s my wild prediction

  • StockyStocky Posts: 10,215
    kjh said:

    Andy_JS said:

    I'm not a fan of Jeremy Hunt as a politician but I think if he becomes leader the Tories probably aren't going to lose many of the so-called Blue Wall seats in Surrey, Hampshire, Sussex, etc.

    I strongly agree. He seems ok to me. As I have said before his only real blackmark for me was his dalliance with homeopathy. He claimed it was naivety but he shouldn't have touched that with a barge pole.
    So he's since watered-down his dalliance?
  • Nigel_ForemainNigel_Foremain Posts: 14,310

    kjh said:

    Andy_JS said:

    I'm not a fan of Jeremy Hunt as a politician but I think if he becomes leader the Tories probably aren't going to lose many of the so-called Blue Wall seats in Surrey, Hampshire, Sussex, etc.

    I strongly agree. He seems ok to me. As I have said before his only real blackmark for me was his dalliance with homeopathy. He claimed it was naivety but he shouldn't have touched that with a barge pole.
    Misread that as Hunt's dalliance with homosexuality.

    Hello!!!!!
    Wasn't that Michael Portillo? Not with Hunt I might add.
  • RochdalePioneersRochdalePioneers Posts: 28,901

    kjh said:

    Andy_JS said:

    I'm not a fan of Jeremy Hunt as a politician but I think if he becomes leader the Tories probably aren't going to lose many of the so-called Blue Wall seats in Surrey, Hampshire, Sussex, etc.

    I strongly agree. He seems ok to me. As I have said before his only real blackmark for me was his dalliance with homeopathy. He claimed it was naivety but he shouldn't have touched that with a barge pole.
    Misread that as Hunt's dalliance with homosexuality.

    Hello!!!!!
    Wasn't that Michael Portillo? Not with Hunt I might add.
    Also not Portillo:
    'A misbooking meant I had to share a bed with my aide. For warmth'
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 35,990
    Leon said:

    AN APPEAL TO PRACTICAL PB-ERS

    I am out here in Tbilisi with an expensive piece of big luggage which is close to collapsing. Simply because I travel so much. Zips are fraying. Wheels are loosening

    Now a steel rod has sprung from the casing and making it almost unusable. See here




    That’s nasty. The metal is also strong and rigid. It won’t just snap off. I’ve tried. What can I do? I’m not sure I can find high quality luggage in Tbilisi to replace it

    If I could just get 1-2 more months of use out of this suitcase, I can replace it when I get back to london. Or should I give upon on this bag and scour the Caucasus for a replacement?

    Doesn't an International man of mystery such as your self carry a Gerber/Leatherman (alongside your other flint knapping tools) for such an emergency?

    Any why the effete zipped bag? Get your self a Samsonite hardshell (with wheels)
  • GardenwalkerGardenwalker Posts: 21,298
    edited May 2022
    I’m getting worried.

    I believe we need a Lab/LD government precisely to deliver the amelioration (not reversal) of Boris’s Brexit; to create a growth economy; and to better protect the very worst off.

    Since autumn last year I have been confident that a Boris-led Tory party would lose in ‘24, and that any likely Boris replacement would also do so, if perhaps more narrowly.

    But by likely, I assumed the candidates had to be Brexiters.

    I can now absolutely see Jeremy Hunt scoring a ‘92 Major-style cling-on. Bloody hell!
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 35,990
    If I were Sir Graham Brady I’d book a large meeting room in Parliament. For the lols.
    https://twitter.com/charlotteahenry/status/1531631687490318337
  • kjhkjh Posts: 11,786
    Farooq said:

    kjh said:

    Andy_JS said:

    I'm not a fan of Jeremy Hunt as a politician but I think if he becomes leader the Tories probably aren't going to lose many of the so-called Blue Wall seats in Surrey, Hampshire, Sussex, etc.

    I strongly agree. He seems ok to me. As I have said before his only real blackmark for me was his dalliance with homeopathy. He claimed it was naivety but he shouldn't have touched that with a barge pole.
    Single data points like that should be borne in mind, but not overreacted to. Has he shown any other anti-science tendencies? Climate change denial, antivaxxing, being a Piers Corbyn weather weirdo, that sort of thing? If not, chalk it down as a misguided moment he's learned from. If so, the Tories shouldn't touch him with a bargepole.
    I like Hunt, I think he should be next PM, but if there's more along those homeopathy lines he can get all the way in the bin right away.
    I'm not aware of anything else and generally I agree with you he seems like a good choice and as a LD one I would fear. And you are right there for the grace of god and all that. But homeopathy?
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,277
    Scott_xP said:

    Leon said:

    AN APPEAL TO PRACTICAL PB-ERS

    I am out here in Tbilisi with an expensive piece of big luggage which is close to collapsing. Simply because I travel so much. Zips are fraying. Wheels are loosening

    Now a steel rod has sprung from the casing and making it almost unusable. See here




    That’s nasty. The metal is also strong and rigid. It won’t just snap off. I’ve tried. What can I do? I’m not sure I can find high quality luggage in Tbilisi to replace it

    If I could just get 1-2 more months of use out of this suitcase, I can replace it when I get back to london. Or should I give upon on this bag and scour the Caucasus for a replacement?

    Doesn't an International man of mystery such as your self carry a Gerber/Leatherman (alongside your other flint knapping tools) for such an emergency?

    Any why the effete zipped bag? Get your self a Samsonite hardshell (with wheels)
    I’ve actually got a wire cutter. But this is super strong steel. it scoffs at my attempts to sever it. Needs a metal saw, or enormous wire cutters that you use to steal bikes, as others have said
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 52,564
    Mortimer said:

    One little tidbit that might help PBers. Conservative associations needs to have their AGMs by the end of June according to party rules.

    A recent one I attend was very illuminating. MP stood up and said he'd struggle to provide support to PM (he announced similarly to the press this weekend) if there was a confidence vote. Hear hears/clapping to tutting ratio was 5:1.

    The party faithful have turned against Boris. MPs are noticing.

    I'm thinking we're into the final weeks, if not days, of this premiership....

    They know he's just not marketable any longer.

    "Time to move on" is what you hear.

    Not that this PM could exactly claim he was hard done by, if the Party chose to use him as long as he was useful - and then dumped him and moved on to the next. It has been Boris' modus operandi for long enough.
  • Nigel_ForemainNigel_Foremain Posts: 14,310

    kjh said:

    Andy_JS said:

    I'm not a fan of Jeremy Hunt as a politician but I think if he becomes leader the Tories probably aren't going to lose many of the so-called Blue Wall seats in Surrey, Hampshire, Sussex, etc.

    I strongly agree. He seems ok to me. As I have said before his only real blackmark for me was his dalliance with homeopathy. He claimed it was naivety but he shouldn't have touched that with a barge pole.
    Misread that as Hunt's dalliance with homosexuality.

    Hello!!!!!
    Wasn't that Michael Portillo? Not with Hunt I might add.
    Also not Portillo:
    'A misbooking meant I had to share a bed with my aide. For warmth'
    Ah, very like , oh, someone else I seem to remember who was prominent in the Conservative Party. What else would you like me to do Minister? Can you please ensure I don't get cold.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 71,070
    Evidence for a mouse origin of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8702434/
  • eekeek Posts: 28,370

    Second place is available on the New Thread

  • GardenwalkerGardenwalker Posts: 21,298
    I imagine Tbilisi not only has one or two decent luggage shops, but also lots of random little businesses who could repair that suitcase, ie tailors, dry-cleaners, upholsterers etc.

    I thought Leon would have learned some self-sufficient by the age of 70.
  • MattWMattW Posts: 23,154

    MattW said:

    MattW said:

    MattW said:

    dixiedean said:

    Top tip.
    Professional landlords. Solve your financial problems by simply getting a proper job.

    Why is providing high quality housing services not a proper job?

    Houses don't maintain or invest in themselves. Traditionally 15-20% or so of the income goes on maintenance and investment, often done in advance during a full refurbishment with a 10 year+ return period.
    So they’re doing 15-20% of a proper job?

    What?

    You think that businesses are only entitled to one element of their business expenses, and no income?

    So a butcher is only entitled to the money paid for meat supplies, and not the revenue that pays for the shop, the staff expenses, the tax and the maintenance of the finance which allowed investment in the business?
    I think a butcher makes a small % on top of their costs whereas a landlord makes a very large %. There is a reason why economics has the term “rent seeking”.
    Your evidence of that? And that whatever the % is is universally unreasonable?

    Bearing in mind the 30-100k investment that may have been made upfront in a refurbishment.

    If rents consistently increase more slowly than inflation (which is true), and the quality of accommodation consistently increases (which it does), that actually suggests that it is working quite well.
    My evidence for economics having a term “rent seeking”? Look in an economics textbook.

    As for landlords, I thought this an interesting article that touches on some of these issues: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13563467.2017.1401055
    No - your evidence for LLs taking an excessive %. I have never seen evidence on that.

    The article is interesting, but rather hyperbolic and seriously out of date.

    It was published in 2017, and the latest data they deal with is from 2012. This is now 2022.

    Their basic concept is "Britain’s Post-Homeownership Society". Which is not true - between publication and 2021 home ownership in the UK increased from 63% to 65%.
    https://tradingeconomics.com/united-kingdom/home-ownership-rate

    AFAICS They don't engage with the fact that, then and now, the UK has one of the smaller Private Rental Sectors in Europe.

    Is there any more recent work by these two Profs?

    I'd recommend the work of, for example, Dr Julie Rugg (York Uni when I last heard).

    Yes, I'm familiar with the term "rent-seeking", and I'm familiar with it as a generalised boo-word. I have yet to see much evidence that "the fact or practice of manipulating public policy or economic conditions as a strategy for increasing profits" exists much in the PRS. Policy changes I have seen seem to run in the other direction.
  • Nigel_ForemainNigel_Foremain Posts: 14,310
    Nigelb said:

    Evidence for a mouse origin of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8702434/

    They obviously thought they would squeak that one past the lab leak conspiracy theorists. All seems a little cheesy to me
  • MattWMattW Posts: 23,154

    Has this been reported

    John Stevenson becomes letter number 28

    I wonder what the ratio is between "public" and "private" letters?
  • Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 61,788
    Mr. Eagles, cheers (sorry for the slow reply, my dog decided to vomit, shit water outside the house, vomit outside the house, and then I had to clean the carpet and buy some rice. I blame Brexit for this).
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 35,990
    Leon said:

    I’ve actually got a wire cutter. But this is super strong steel. it scoffs at my attempts to sever it. Needs a metal saw, or enormous wire cutters that you use to steal bikes, as others have said

    You need to fatigue it. Bend it back and forth a lot. The metal will work harden and eventually shear
  • MISTYMISTY Posts: 1,594
    Is this starting to be more about the parliamentary MPs than about Johnson?

    They neither have the guts to get rid of Johnson nor the conviction to keep him.
  • Nigel_ForemainNigel_Foremain Posts: 14,310

    I’m getting worried.

    I believe we need a Lab/LD government precisely to deliver the amelioration (not reversal) of Boris’s Brexit; to create a growth economy; and to better protect the very worst off.

    Since autumn last year I have been confident that a Boris-led Tory party would lose in ‘24, and that any likely Boris replacement would also do so, if perhaps more narrowly.

    But by likely, I assumed the candidates had to be Brexiters.

    I can now absolutely see Jeremy Hunt scoring a ‘92 Major-style cling-on. Bloody hell!

    I will return to voting Conservative if Hunt were PM, and enthusiastically so. I would probably rejoin the party.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 71,070
    And another novel coronavirus.

    Structure, receptor recognition and antigenicity of the human coronavirus CCoV-HuPn-2018 spike glycoprotein
    https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(22)00650-X
    The isolation of CCoV-HuPn-2018 from a child respiratory swab indicates that more coronaviruses are spilling over to humans than previously appreciated. We determined structures of the CCoV-HuPn-2018 spike glycoprotein trimer in two distinct conformational states and show that its domain 0 recognizes sialosides. We identified that the CCoV-HuPn-2018 spike binds canine, feline and porcine aminopeptidase N (APN) orthologs, which serve as entry receptors, and determined the structure of the receptor-binding B domain in complex with canine APN. Introduction of an oligosaccharide at position N739 of human APN renders cells susceptible to CCoV-HuPn-2018 spike-mediated entry, suggesting that single nucleotide polymorphisms might account for viral detection in some individuals. Human polyclonal plasma antibodies elicited by HCoV-229E infection and a porcine coronavirus monoclonal antibody inhibit CCoV-HuPn-2018 spike-mediated entry, underscoring cross-neutralizing activity among ɑ-coronaviruses. These data pave the way for vaccine and therapeutic development targeting this zoonotic pathogen representing the 8th human-infecting coronavirus.
  • GardenwalkerGardenwalker Posts: 21,298
    Rent seeking has almost nothing to do with landlords.

    FFS.
  • Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 61,788
    F1: new 2 year deal for Perez:
    https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.breaking-red-bull-give-perez-new-two-year-deal-until-end-of-2024.26PEyZScMED9BMcREFIcYz.html

    He's been driving very well this year. If he hadn't been ordered to swap with Verstappen in Spain (and could've kept the Dutchman behind him) he'd be second in the title race, one point off his team mate.
  • MattWMattW Posts: 23,154
    edited May 2022
    Applicant said:

    .

    MattW said:

    MattW said:

    MattW said:

    dixiedean said:

    Top tip.
    Professional landlords. Solve your financial problems by simply getting a proper job.

    Why is providing high quality housing services not a proper job?

    Houses don't maintain or invest in themselves. Traditionally 15-20% or so of the income goes on maintenance and investment, often done in advance during a full refurbishment with a 10 year+ return period.
    So they’re doing 15-20% of a proper job?

    What?

    You think that businesses are only entitled to one element of their business expenses, and no income?

    So a butcher is only entitled to the money paid for meat supplies, and not the revenue that pays for the shop, the staff expenses, the tax and the maintenance of the finance which allowed investment in the business?
    I think a butcher makes a small % on top of their costs whereas a landlord makes a very large %. There is a reason why economics has the term “rent seeking”.
    Your evidence of that? And that whatever the % is is universally unreasonable?

    Bearing in mind the 30-100k investment that may have been made upfront in a refurbishment.

    If rents consistently increase more slowly than inflation (which is true), and the quality of accommodation consistently increases (which it does), that actually suggests that it is working quite well.
    What about the large number of BTL landlords who use the rent to pay their mortgage?
    What about it? Businesses need money to invest to create a high quality service, to have a return on the investment.

    It's not as if it can be done on zero capital - the max mortgage available is usually around 75%, so 25% cash plus Mr Osborne's 3% CGT surcharge, plus the transaction fees which are usually a couple of thousand or a small %, plus whatever needs to be spent on refurb.

    Obvs the lower the % loan the better the terms - going to 60% is normally worth 0.5-0.75% off the interest rate, bit it will still be 1-1.5% or so higher than the comparable for an owner occupier purchase, plus rates of return on mortgages are regulated for sustainability/affordability. Currently at (iirc) actual borrowed rate plus 3%. (But note I have not done one for several years.)
  • GardenwalkerGardenwalker Posts: 21,298
    MattW said:

    Applicant said:

    .

    MattW said:

    MattW said:

    MattW said:

    dixiedean said:

    Top tip.
    Professional landlords. Solve your financial problems by simply getting a proper job.

    Why is providing high quality housing services not a proper job?

    Houses don't maintain or invest in themselves. Traditionally 15-20% or so of the income goes on maintenance and investment, often done in advance during a full refurbishment with a 10 year+ return period.
    So they’re doing 15-20% of a proper job?

    What?

    You think that businesses are only entitled to one element of their business expenses, and no income?

    So a butcher is only entitled to the money paid for meat supplies, and not the revenue that pays for the shop, the staff expenses, the tax and the maintenance of the finance which allowed investment in the business?
    I think a butcher makes a small % on top of their costs whereas a landlord makes a very large %. There is a reason why economics has the term “rent seeking”.
    Your evidence of that? And that whatever the % is is universally unreasonable?

    Bearing in mind the 30-100k investment that may have been made upfront in a refurbishment.

    If rents consistently increase more slowly than inflation (which is true), and the quality of accommodation consistently increases (which it does), that actually suggests that it is working quite well.
    What about the large number of BTL landlords who use the rent to pay their mortgage?
    What about it? Businesses need money to invest to create a high quality service.

    It's not as if it can be done on zero capital - the max mortgage available is usually around 75%, so 25% cash plus Mr Osborne's 3% CGT surcharge, plus the transaction fees which are usually a couple of thousand or a small %, plus whatever needs to be spent on refurb.

    Obvs the lower the % loan the better the terms - going to 60% is normally worth 0.5-0.75% off the interest rate, bit it will still be 1% or so higher than the comparable for an owner occupier purchase.
    Anyone who thinks that small scale landlordism is a path to idle wealth doesn’t know what they’re talking about.

    I mean, it might have been, about ten years ago or something…
This discussion has been closed.