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We are headed for a new Elizabethan era – politicalbetting.com

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  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 53,766
    Nigelb said:

    .

    rcs1000 said:

    OnboardG1 said:

    Driver said:

    OnboardG1 said:

    Driver said:

    OnboardG1 said:

    I think the PB Tories are just trying to rationalise an inevitable bad decision in the same way that Corbyn’s opponents (myself included) did in the aftermath of 2015. Fair play, but it’s not going to help, and the rest of us think you’re bonkers.

    The difference is, in 2015 there were reasons that Corbyn would be bad that were both obvious and simple to express - problems with antisemitism and past history of dislike for the West in general and the UK in particular.

    For all that Truss's opponents are saying she'll be an obvious disaster, I haven't seen any reasons expressed so clearly.
    She has a vast amount of experience filling a chair and no achievements to speak of that a generic replacement couldn’t have managed better, she’s pitching an unsound economic policy to appeal to a small in-group, she is obsessed with an extreme interpretation of free market economics forty years after its heyday when the world is substantially different and she is unfortunately gaffe prone on the world stage. I doubt she’s going to start posting racist pictures on her instagram, but she might blow up my pocket book and public services. In that respect the two are similar, the ideological event horizons are just in different places.
    So, basically, "she's right wing"?
    I’m glad you agree that right wing economics is unsound.

    More seriously, no. She has precisely the same issues as Corbyn. She’s a lightweight that’s pedalling a view of the world which only has appeal to the hard extreme of her party. Many of Corbyn’s ideas wouldn’t have worked (even though I saw the same “you don’t like him because he’s actually left wing” defences trotted out) and would likely have been counterproductive. Many Tories on here pointed that out in 2015. I have the same view of Truss. You’re at liberty not to agree but I think of all the candidates she’s only marginally better than the hang-em shoot-em brigade. If you want my assessment of who the right should have backed, it should have been Badenoch.
    So... I think she's nothing like Corbyn for two reasons.

    Firstly, she's a woman who has held the highest offices of State.

    Secondly, Corbyn's views are the same today as when he was 17 years old. Whatever you want to say about Truss, her views have changed and evolved.
    Though not necessarily for the better.
    You can't have everything.
  • wooliedyedwooliedyed Posts: 6,827
    edited July 2022

    I have a new word to offer:
    Prattsplaining. This is posting a strawman argument in a particularly sneering way then ending the sentence with an emoji of a person with their hand over their face like thus: 🤦‍♂️

    I would like to propose Teensplaining. Teenagers who earnestly argue from the basis of totally being the first generation ever to experience angst, anything awful or the remotest existential threat or dread.
  • bondegezoubondegezou Posts: 7,160

    DavidL said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Rishi falling into the "mansplaining" accusation trap is something I didn't expect him to do. Thought he'd be better advised. (Personally I don't think he was).

    He wasn't. Quoting someone's own words and their advisors' words back to them is not Mansplaining. But after an initial 10 minutes where she was really tetchy and unhappy with being stopped from just saying any old guff unchallenged, that position reversed.

    Sunak feels like (a) he is on very solid ground factually logically and economically with his position and (b) Truss isn't. And he really isn't happy that they aren't listening to his fine reason logic and experience.

    So just like Truss must have felt during the referendum...
    Quoting someone's words etc when its your turn to talk is not Mansplaining.

    Trying not to let a woman get a word in edgewise on the other hand . . .
    Thats rude, yes. But not mansplaining as it is missing the explaining element.

    The problem is that the Trusster's plan is bonkers. The other problem is that she apparently is going to win, and Sunak feels like Egon as Walter Peck orders the guy to shut down the containment grid.
    Let me be clear about this. I very much prefer Rishi's position on economic policy and I worry about the lack of margin for error that Truss's plans leave (basically zero). So many things have gone unexpectedly wrong in recent years this seems very unwise to me.

    But it is worth noting that the UK economy has a GDP approaching £3trn. Her "wild" tax plans amount to about £30bn or round about 1% of GDP. Government spending this year is edging towards £1,100bn making £30bn something like 2.7% of government spending or, if you want to look at it another way, just under 10 days of spending out of the year.

    If you take inflation into account it is more likely that these numbers will come down rather than up. Like most modern politics this is the law of relatively small differences writ large. The gap between her and Sunak is a bit more than a rounding error but its not much more.
    So if it was a Labour chancellor proposing to borrow £30bn to spend on a pet project you would be making similar excuses? John McDonnell perhaps?

    The reason why we have a budget is because we can't just print money forever. Truss is proposing to inflate the national debt to give tax cuts to her friends and patrons. If Labour were proposing to borrow £30bn to pay for a giveaway to their friends and patrons you would be going up the bloody wall.
    How is reversing the unjustifiable National Insurance hike a "giveaway to friends and patrons?" 🤦‍♂️
    Because that isn't what she is doing, nor was it unjustifiable. Specifically raised to fund the NHS and release funds for social care. You may disagree with spending on health and social care but unjustified it was not.
    The NHS is funded by general taxation, semi-hypothecation is ignorant nonsense and always has been.

    You can't just say "for the NHS" and magically make everything you do OK.

    If the NHS needs funding then fund it, but there's no reason why taxes on people who work should be the only ones going up, while taxes on people who don't should go down.
    Taxes aren't generally hypothecated, you're right, and the NHS is funded by general taxation. However, one can put forward a case when increasing taxes whereby you say, "We need money to do X, so we will enact tax increase Y." No, it's not a formal hypothecation, but it is a political justification for an action. (This doesn't, of course, affect your argument that it was the wrong tax to put up.)
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 61,566
    edited July 2022
    Good point about the (somewhat obsolescent) 105mm howitzers we're sending Ukraine:

    https://twitter.com/UAWeapons/status/1551935766514778119
    Ukraine is receiving at least 36 British L119 howitzers - M1 projectiles fired from them can hit targets as far as 11.5 km. This is not a dramatic distance, but we believe 105mm artillery is planned to be used as a substitute to 122mm systems, which have a lack of projectiles.

    There's masses of ammunition for them, and some of the kit they are replacing is in any event both older and inferior*.
    And I believe they are retrofitted with GPS targeting, so they should fit neatly with Ukraine's battlefield targeting system.

    *They are still using 85mm guns from the 1950s.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 49,614
    rcs1000 said:

    Leon said:

    Scott_xP said:

    Latest IMF forecast out. Third downgrade of UK 2023 outlook in a row - from 2.3% in January to a predicted growth of only 0.5% GDP now. Bottom of the table of major economies except Russia. Dire news. ~AA #TheyGotTheBigCallsWrong https://twitter.com/imfnews/status/1551925988170293248 https://twitter.com/BestForBritain/status/1551936321043795978/photo/1

    ...almost as good as Italy....
    These predictions are decidedly “brave” given that parts of the EU are slipping into recession right now and Germany is facing an energy crisis which could wipe 12% off its GDP


    “Germany’s economy faces losing around 12 per cent of its annual output — some €429bn — if Russian natural gas supplies stopped abruptly, according to a new study by an adviser to the government.”


    Everywhere that is an energy importer (unlike they've been taking advantage of cheap Russian LNG cargoes, *cough* Japan *cough*), is going to see very severe impacts from rising commodity prices.

    I suspect (unless the war ends soon) that the UK, Italy and Germany will all be in recession by year end, and that France will only avoid it by a whisker.
    The US definitely won’t be in a recession though, after Biden changed the definition of the word ‘recession’.
  • MISTYMISTY Posts: 1,594
    rcs1000 said:

    Leon said:

    Scott_xP said:

    Latest IMF forecast out. Third downgrade of UK 2023 outlook in a row - from 2.3% in January to a predicted growth of only 0.5% GDP now. Bottom of the table of major economies except Russia. Dire news. ~AA #TheyGotTheBigCallsWrong https://twitter.com/imfnews/status/1551925988170293248 https://twitter.com/BestForBritain/status/1551936321043795978/photo/1

    ...almost as good as Italy....
    These predictions are decidedly “brave” given that parts of the EU are slipping into recession right now and Germany is facing an energy crisis which could wipe 12% off its GDP


    “Germany’s economy faces losing around 12 per cent of its annual output — some €429bn — if Russian natural gas supplies stopped abruptly, according to a new study by an adviser to the government.”


    Everywhere that is an energy importer (unlike they've been taking advantage of cheap Russian LNG cargoes, *cough* Japan *cough*), is going to see very severe impacts from rising commodity prices.

    I suspect (unless the war ends soon) that the UK, Italy and Germany will all be in recession by year end, and that France will only avoid it by a whisker.
    It is interesting that the real shocker from the most recent PMI was not the EU or UK but actually the US, real evidence of shrinking business activity.
  • Sandpit said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Leon said:

    Scott_xP said:

    Latest IMF forecast out. Third downgrade of UK 2023 outlook in a row - from 2.3% in January to a predicted growth of only 0.5% GDP now. Bottom of the table of major economies except Russia. Dire news. ~AA #TheyGotTheBigCallsWrong https://twitter.com/imfnews/status/1551925988170293248 https://twitter.com/BestForBritain/status/1551936321043795978/photo/1

    ...almost as good as Italy....
    These predictions are decidedly “brave” given that parts of the EU are slipping into recession right now and Germany is facing an energy crisis which could wipe 12% off its GDP


    “Germany’s economy faces losing around 12 per cent of its annual output — some €429bn — if Russian natural gas supplies stopped abruptly, according to a new study by an adviser to the government.”


    Everywhere that is an energy importer (unlike they've been taking advantage of cheap Russian LNG cargoes, *cough* Japan *cough*), is going to see very severe impacts from rising commodity prices.

    I suspect (unless the war ends soon) that the UK, Italy and Germany will all be in recession by year end, and that France will only avoid it by a whisker.
    The US definitely won’t be in a recession though, after Biden changed the definition of the word ‘recession’.
    Utterly pathetic display from Biden.
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 47,786

    Let's look at the reality of NHS funding.

    Under New Labour the NHS had its highest satisfaction ratings, ever.

    In those years we me the European average for funding.

    Coincidence? I think not

    (of course there is much more we must do)

    Perhaps in a nod to the Rwanda scheme we could introduce a programme to relocate pensioners to somewhere nice in the sun. It would reduce the burden on the NHS, improve their quality of life, mitigate the economic problems of an aging society and free up housing for younger people.
  • wooliedyedwooliedyed Posts: 6,827
    rcs1000 said:

    Sandpit said:

    The challenge now, is to get everyone (except Russia and North Korea) on board with the replacement.

    Go to Mars instead of low earth orbit.
    Lunar orbital gateway, infrastructure on the moons surface, build a mass driver, head to Mars from there.
    Should have been done 3 or 4 decades ago
    Wait: I thought a moon base was useless for getting to Mars.
    Not if you want to go regularly and cheaply. Why waste money carrying shit loads of fuel to break through Earths atmosphere? Mass drivers, you could be firing supplies etc at Mars as regularly as commuter trains
  • TazTaz Posts: 10,702

    Let's look at the reality of NHS funding.

    Under New Labour the NHS had its highest satisfaction ratings, ever.

    In those years we me the European average for funding.

    Coincidence? I think not

    (of course there is much more we must do)

    Perhaps in a nod to the Rwanda scheme we could introduce a programme to relocate pensioners to somewhere nice in the sun. It would reduce the burden on the NHS, improve their quality of life, mitigate the economic problems of an aging society and free up housing for younger people.
    Given their meagre pensions expect to see a reversal of the great retire post covid due to the cost of living crisis.
  • Sandpit said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Leon said:

    Scott_xP said:

    Latest IMF forecast out. Third downgrade of UK 2023 outlook in a row - from 2.3% in January to a predicted growth of only 0.5% GDP now. Bottom of the table of major economies except Russia. Dire news. ~AA #TheyGotTheBigCallsWrong https://twitter.com/imfnews/status/1551925988170293248 https://twitter.com/BestForBritain/status/1551936321043795978/photo/1

    ...almost as good as Italy....
    These predictions are decidedly “brave” given that parts of the EU are slipping into recession right now and Germany is facing an energy crisis which could wipe 12% off its GDP


    “Germany’s economy faces losing around 12 per cent of its annual output — some €429bn — if Russian natural gas supplies stopped abruptly, according to a new study by an adviser to the government.”


    Everywhere that is an energy importer (unlike they've been taking advantage of cheap Russian LNG cargoes, *cough* Japan *cough*), is going to see very severe impacts from rising commodity prices.

    I suspect (unless the war ends soon) that the UK, Italy and Germany will all be in recession by year end, and that France will only avoid it by a whisker.
    The US definitely won’t be in a recession though, after Biden changed the definition of the word ‘recession’.
    What!?

    I missed that one.
  • LostPasswordLostPassword Posts: 14,772

    DavidL said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Rishi falling into the "mansplaining" accusation trap is something I didn't expect him to do. Thought he'd be better advised. (Personally I don't think he was).

    He wasn't. Quoting someone's own words and their advisors' words back to them is not Mansplaining. But after an initial 10 minutes where she was really tetchy and unhappy with being stopped from just saying any old guff unchallenged, that position reversed.

    Sunak feels like (a) he is on very solid ground factually logically and economically with his position and (b) Truss isn't. And he really isn't happy that they aren't listening to his fine reason logic and experience.

    So just like Truss must have felt during the referendum...
    Quoting someone's words etc when its your turn to talk is not Mansplaining.

    Trying not to let a woman get a word in edgewise on the other hand . . .
    Thats rude, yes. But not mansplaining as it is missing the explaining element.

    The problem is that the Trusster's plan is bonkers. The other problem is that she apparently is going to win, and Sunak feels like Egon as Walter Peck orders the guy to shut down the containment grid.
    Let me be clear about this. I very much prefer Rishi's position on economic policy and I worry about the lack of margin for error that Truss's plans leave (basically zero). So many things have gone unexpectedly wrong in recent years this seems very unwise to me.

    But it is worth noting that the UK economy has a GDP approaching £3trn. Her "wild" tax plans amount to about £30bn or round about 1% of GDP. Government spending this year is edging towards £1,100bn making £30bn something like 2.7% of government spending or, if you want to look at it another way, just under 10 days of spending out of the year.

    If you take inflation into account it is more likely that these numbers will come down rather than up. Like most modern politics this is the law of relatively small differences writ large. The gap between her and Sunak is a bit more than a rounding error but its not much more.
    So if it was a Labour chancellor proposing to borrow £30bn to spend on a pet project you would be making similar excuses? John McDonnell perhaps?

    The reason why we have a budget is because we can't just print money forever. Truss is proposing to inflate the national debt to give tax cuts to her friends and patrons. If Labour were proposing to borrow £30bn to pay for a giveaway to their friends and patrons you would be going up the bloody wall.
    How is reversing the unjustifiable National Insurance hike a "giveaway to friends and patrons?" 🤦‍♂️
    Because that isn't what she is doing, nor was it unjustifiable. Specifically raised to fund the NHS and release funds for social care. You may disagree with spending on health and social care but unjustified it was not.
    That's the spin, but we're all grown-ups here. We know NI was put up so that income tax could be cut in time for the GE.
  • ClippPClippP Posts: 1,667
    MISTY said:

    DavidL said:

    MISTY said:

    DavidL said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Rishi falling into the "mansplaining" accusation trap is something I didn't expect him to do. Thought he'd be better advised. (Personally I don't think he was).

    He wasn't. Quoting someone's own words and their advisors' words back to them is not Mansplaining. But after an initial 10 minutes where she was really tetchy and unhappy with being stopped from just saying any old guff unchallenged, that position reversed.

    Sunak feels like (a) he is on very solid ground factually logically and economically with his position and (b) Truss isn't. And he really isn't happy that they aren't listening to his fine reason logic and experience.

    So just like Truss must have felt during the referendum...
    Quoting someone's words etc when its your turn to talk is not Mansplaining.

    Trying not to let a woman get a word in edgewise on the other hand . . .
    Thats rude, yes. But not mansplaining as it is missing the explaining element.

    The problem is that the Trusster's plan is bonkers. The other problem is that she apparently is going to win, and Sunak feels like Egon as Walter Peck orders the guy to shut down the containment grid.
    Let me be clear about this. I very much prefer Rishi's position on economic policy and I worry about the lack of margin for error that Truss's plans leave (basically zero). So many things have gone unexpectedly wrong in recent years this seems very unwise to me.

    But it is worth noting that the UK economy has a GDP approaching £3trn. Her "wild" tax plans amount to about £30bn or round about 1% of GDP. Government spending this year is edging towards £1,100bn making £30bn something like 2.7% of government spending or, if you want to look at it another way, just under 10 days of spending out of the year.

    If you take inflation into account it is more likely that these numbers will come down rather than up. Like most modern politics this is the law of relatively small differences writ large. The gap between her and Sunak is a bit more than a rounding error but its not much more.
    It makes you wonder why Sunak is so adamant about this. It is what is killing him.
    He wants/needs to paint her as irresponsible. And he wants to debate economics which is a strong point for him rather than , say, the finer points of the Australia free trade treaty. But he blew it.
    What strikes me about the Sunak campaign (and hence the attitude of his backers in parliament and the treasury), is the total and complete absence of any self analysis or self examination of their conduct since the end of 2019 whatever.

    They are always right, absolutely right, and any criticism whatever is automatically classed as stupidity or lack of understanding.
    Is this not a characteristic of all Conservatives?
  • LeonLeon Posts: 46,220

    Am I glad Biden won? Yes.

    Is he good? God no.

    A very fair appraisal
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 58,038
    Steven Swinford
    @Steven_Swinford
    ·
    5m
    Liz Truss pool clip:

    * UK heading for recession and economic 'disaster' under Sunak

    ===

    Whereas under my leadership it will head for recession and utter economic disaster.
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 32,735
    good use of comedy music in the background here 🎶 https://twitter.com/uklabour/status/1551933291338547206
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 49,614

    Sandpit said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Leon said:

    Scott_xP said:

    Latest IMF forecast out. Third downgrade of UK 2023 outlook in a row - from 2.3% in January to a predicted growth of only 0.5% GDP now. Bottom of the table of major economies except Russia. Dire news. ~AA #TheyGotTheBigCallsWrong https://twitter.com/imfnews/status/1551925988170293248 https://twitter.com/BestForBritain/status/1551936321043795978/photo/1

    ...almost as good as Italy....
    These predictions are decidedly “brave” given that parts of the EU are slipping into recession right now and Germany is facing an energy crisis which could wipe 12% off its GDP


    “Germany’s economy faces losing around 12 per cent of its annual output — some €429bn — if Russian natural gas supplies stopped abruptly, according to a new study by an adviser to the government.”


    Everywhere that is an energy importer (unlike they've been taking advantage of cheap Russian LNG cargoes, *cough* Japan *cough*), is going to see very severe impacts from rising commodity prices.

    I suspect (unless the war ends soon) that the UK, Italy and Germany will all be in recession by year end, and that France will only avoid it by a whisker.
    The US definitely won’t be in a recession though, after Biden changed the definition of the word ‘recession’.
    What!?

    I missed that one.
    https://www.whitehouse.gov/cea/written-materials/2022/07/21/how-do-economists-determine-whether-the-economy-is-in-a-recession/

    ” What is a recession? While some maintain that two consecutive quarters of falling real GDP constitute a recession, that is neither the official definition nor the way economists evaluate the state of the business cycle. Instead, both official determinations of recessions and economists’ assessment of economic activity are based on a holistic look at the data—including the labor market, consumer and business spending, industrial production, and incomes. Based on these data, it is unlikely that the decline in GDP in the first quarter of this year—even if followed by another GDP decline in the second quarter—indicates a recession.”
  • Genuinely if the economy is headed for recession - seriously has this ever been said in a Tory contest before? - under Sunak then how is Liz going to prevent it? Her policies aren't nearly impactful to make that big of a difference?

    Am I missing something?
  • DavidL said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Rishi falling into the "mansplaining" accusation trap is something I didn't expect him to do. Thought he'd be better advised. (Personally I don't think he was).

    He wasn't. Quoting someone's own words and their advisors' words back to them is not Mansplaining. But after an initial 10 minutes where she was really tetchy and unhappy with being stopped from just saying any old guff unchallenged, that position reversed.

    Sunak feels like (a) he is on very solid ground factually logically and economically with his position and (b) Truss isn't. And he really isn't happy that they aren't listening to his fine reason logic and experience.

    So just like Truss must have felt during the referendum...
    Quoting someone's words etc when its your turn to talk is not Mansplaining.

    Trying not to let a woman get a word in edgewise on the other hand . . .
    Thats rude, yes. But not mansplaining as it is missing the explaining element.

    The problem is that the Trusster's plan is bonkers. The other problem is that she apparently is going to win, and Sunak feels like Egon as Walter Peck orders the guy to shut down the containment grid.
    Let me be clear about this. I very much prefer Rishi's position on economic policy and I worry about the lack of margin for error that Truss's plans leave (basically zero). So many things have gone unexpectedly wrong in recent years this seems very unwise to me.

    But it is worth noting that the UK economy has a GDP approaching £3trn. Her "wild" tax plans amount to about £30bn or round about 1% of GDP. Government spending this year is edging towards £1,100bn making £30bn something like 2.7% of government spending or, if you want to look at it another way, just under 10 days of spending out of the year.

    If you take inflation into account it is more likely that these numbers will come down rather than up. Like most modern politics this is the law of relatively small differences writ large. The gap between her and Sunak is a bit more than a rounding error but its not much more.
    So if it was a Labour chancellor proposing to borrow £30bn to spend on a pet project you would be making similar excuses? John McDonnell perhaps?

    The reason why we have a budget is because we can't just print money forever. Truss is proposing to inflate the national debt to give tax cuts to her friends and patrons. If Labour were proposing to borrow £30bn to pay for a giveaway to their friends and patrons you would be going up the bloody wall.
    How is reversing the unjustifiable National Insurance hike a "giveaway to friends and patrons?" 🤦‍♂️
    Because that isn't what she is doing, nor was it unjustifiable. Specifically raised to fund the NHS and release funds for social care. You may disagree with spending on health and social care but unjustified it was not.
    That's the spin, but we're all grown-ups here. We know NI was put up so that income tax could be cut in time for the GE.
    Put up NI paid by workers, in order to cut Income Tax paid by pensioners.

    It was sickening.

    How anyone rational can prefer Sunak over Truss after that is beyond me.
  • OnboardG1OnboardG1 Posts: 1,272
    Driver said:

    .

    OnboardG1 said:

    Driver said:

    OnboardG1 said:

    Driver said:

    OnboardG1 said:

    I think the PB Tories are just trying to rationalise an inevitable bad decision in the same way that Corbyn’s opponents (myself included) did in the aftermath of 2015. Fair play, but it’s not going to help, and the rest of us think you’re bonkers.

    The difference is, in 2015 there were reasons that Corbyn would be bad that were both obvious and simple to express - problems with antisemitism and past history of dislike for the West in general and the UK in particular.

    For all that Truss's opponents are saying she'll be an obvious disaster, I haven't seen any reasons expressed so clearly.
    She has a vast amount of experience filling a chair and no achievements to speak of that a generic replacement couldn’t have managed better, she’s pitching an unsound economic policy to appeal to a small in-group, she is obsessed with an extreme interpretation of free market economics forty years after its heyday when the world is substantially different and she is unfortunately gaffe prone on the world stage. I doubt she’s going to start posting racist pictures on her instagram, but she might blow up my pocket book and public services. In that respect the two are similar, the ideological event horizons are just in different places.
    So, basically, "she's right wing"?
    I’m glad you agree that right wing economics is unsound.

    More seriously, no. She has precisely the same issues as Corbyn. She’s a lightweight that’s pedalling a view of the world which only has appeal to the hard extreme of her party. Many of Corbyn’s ideas wouldn’t have worked (even though I saw the same “you don’t like him because he’s actually left wing” defences trotted out) and would likely have been counterproductive. Many Tories on here pointed that out in 2015. I have the same view of Truss. You’re at liberty not to agree but I think of all the candidates she’s only marginally better than the hang-em shoot-em brigade. If you want my assessment of who the right should have backed, it should have been Badenoch.
    I'm pretty sure that you equate right wing economics with being unsound, whether I do or not...

    You're trying to draw a parallel with Corbyn, but with Corbyn the problems that were clear in 2015 were nothing to do with economics and, really, not much to do with policy.
    Apologies I was being flippant, it’s a reflex at this point.

    I suppose that’s fair, although I remember a lot of gnashing of teeth over policy at the time (and Corbyn was not immediately going to number ten). I still think it’s a reasonable parallel to draw. Truss has some quite extreme and (in my view and that of more than a few Tory loyalists) unsound policy views that appeal primarily to the instincts of the membership and are not conducive to good governance in an economic crisis.

    Leaving aside the personality issues, that’s precisely what caused Labour to lose its bits over Corbyn and arguably what caused the Tories to do the same with Johnson. I don’t want my country governed according to the base impulses of party memberships. It is not healthy.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 53,766
    MISTY said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Leon said:

    Scott_xP said:

    Latest IMF forecast out. Third downgrade of UK 2023 outlook in a row - from 2.3% in January to a predicted growth of only 0.5% GDP now. Bottom of the table of major economies except Russia. Dire news. ~AA #TheyGotTheBigCallsWrong https://twitter.com/imfnews/status/1551925988170293248 https://twitter.com/BestForBritain/status/1551936321043795978/photo/1

    ...almost as good as Italy....
    These predictions are decidedly “brave” given that parts of the EU are slipping into recession right now and Germany is facing an energy crisis which could wipe 12% off its GDP


    “Germany’s economy faces losing around 12 per cent of its annual output — some €429bn — if Russian natural gas supplies stopped abruptly, according to a new study by an adviser to the government.”


    Everywhere that is an energy importer (unlike they've been taking advantage of cheap Russian LNG cargoes, *cough* Japan *cough*), is going to see very severe impacts from rising commodity prices.

    I suspect (unless the war ends soon) that the UK, Italy and Germany will all be in recession by year end, and that France will only avoid it by a whisker.
    It is interesting that the real shocker from the most recent PMI was not the EU or UK but actually the US, real evidence of shrinking business activity.
    Rising energy prices are great for PTEN, H&P, etc., but rubbish for consumers who pay higher gas and electricity bills.
  • Sandpit said:

    Sandpit said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Leon said:

    Scott_xP said:

    Latest IMF forecast out. Third downgrade of UK 2023 outlook in a row - from 2.3% in January to a predicted growth of only 0.5% GDP now. Bottom of the table of major economies except Russia. Dire news. ~AA #TheyGotTheBigCallsWrong https://twitter.com/imfnews/status/1551925988170293248 https://twitter.com/BestForBritain/status/1551936321043795978/photo/1

    ...almost as good as Italy....
    These predictions are decidedly “brave” given that parts of the EU are slipping into recession right now and Germany is facing an energy crisis which could wipe 12% off its GDP


    “Germany’s economy faces losing around 12 per cent of its annual output — some €429bn — if Russian natural gas supplies stopped abruptly, according to a new study by an adviser to the government.”


    Everywhere that is an energy importer (unlike they've been taking advantage of cheap Russian LNG cargoes, *cough* Japan *cough*), is going to see very severe impacts from rising commodity prices.

    I suspect (unless the war ends soon) that the UK, Italy and Germany will all be in recession by year end, and that France will only avoid it by a whisker.
    The US definitely won’t be in a recession though, after Biden changed the definition of the word ‘recession’.
    What!?

    I missed that one.
    https://www.whitehouse.gov/cea/written-materials/2022/07/21/how-do-economists-determine-whether-the-economy-is-in-a-recession/

    ” What is a recession? While some maintain that two consecutive quarters of falling real GDP constitute a recession, that is neither the official definition nor the way economists evaluate the state of the business cycle. Instead, both official determinations of recessions and economists’ assessment of economic activity are based on a holistic look at the data—including the labor market, consumer and business spending, industrial production, and incomes. Based on these data, it is unlikely that the decline in GDP in the first quarter of this year—even if followed by another GDP decline in the second quarter—indicates a recession.”
    Oh my goodness. WTAF? 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️

    Piss off with your prattsplaining Rochdale. 😝
  • Northern_AlNorthern_Al Posts: 7,459
    I'm surprised that there hasn't been more debate on Sunak's decision to freeze the personal tax allowance (and the higher rate threshold) for four years.

    If Truss, or indeed Sunak, were really looking for something to ease the cost of living, especially for the low paid, unfreezing the personal allowance and letting it rise at the rate of inflation would be quite an effective way of putting more dosh in people's pockets, wouldn't it?
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 61,566

    rcs1000 said:

    Sandpit said:

    The challenge now, is to get everyone (except Russia and North Korea) on board with the replacement.

    Go to Mars instead of low earth orbit.
    Lunar orbital gateway, infrastructure on the moons surface, build a mass driver, head to Mars from there.
    Should have been done 3 or 4 decades ago
    Wait: I thought a moon base was useless for getting to Mars.
    Not if you want to go regularly and cheaply. Why waste money carrying shit loads of fuel to break through Earths atmosphere? Mass drivers, you could be firing supplies etc at Mars as regularly as commuter trains
    What supplies ?
    Until there's a Lunar manufacturing economy, which is a lot further off than any trip to Mars, there's nothing to send.
  • IshmaelZIshmaelZ Posts: 21,830

    rcs1000 said:

    Sandpit said:

    The challenge now, is to get everyone (except Russia and North Korea) on board with the replacement.

    Go to Mars instead of low earth orbit.
    Lunar orbital gateway, infrastructure on the moons surface, build a mass driver, head to Mars from there.
    Should have been done 3 or 4 decades ago
    Wait: I thought a moon base was useless for getting to Mars.
    Not if you want to go regularly and cheaply. Why waste money carrying shit loads of fuel to break through Earths atmosphere? Mass drivers, you could be firing supplies etc at Mars as regularly as commuter trains
    Unless Mars is desperately short of moon rock I see a flaw in this plan.
  • wooliedyedwooliedyed Posts: 6,827
    Sandpit said:

    Sandpit said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Leon said:

    Scott_xP said:

    Latest IMF forecast out. Third downgrade of UK 2023 outlook in a row - from 2.3% in January to a predicted growth of only 0.5% GDP now. Bottom of the table of major economies except Russia. Dire news. ~AA #TheyGotTheBigCallsWrong https://twitter.com/imfnews/status/1551925988170293248 https://twitter.com/BestForBritain/status/1551936321043795978/photo/1

    ...almost as good as Italy....
    These predictions are decidedly “brave” given that parts of the EU are slipping into recession right now and Germany is facing an energy crisis which could wipe 12% off its GDP


    “Germany’s economy faces losing around 12 per cent of its annual output — some €429bn — if Russian natural gas supplies stopped abruptly, according to a new study by an adviser to the government.”


    Everywhere that is an energy importer (unlike they've been taking advantage of cheap Russian LNG cargoes, *cough* Japan *cough*), is going to see very severe impacts from rising commodity prices.

    I suspect (unless the war ends soon) that the UK, Italy and Germany will all be in recession by year end, and that France will only avoid it by a whisker.
    The US definitely won’t be in a recession though, after Biden changed the definition of the word ‘recession’.
    What!?

    I missed that one.
    https://www.whitehouse.gov/cea/written-materials/2022/07/21/how-do-economists-determine-whether-the-economy-is-in-a-recession/

    ” What is a recession? While some maintain that two consecutive quarters of falling real GDP constitute a recession, that is neither the official definition nor the way economists evaluate the state of the business cycle. Instead, both official determinations of recessions and economists’ assessment of economic activity are based on a holistic look at the data—including the labor market, consumer and business spending, industrial production, and incomes. Based on these data, it is unlikely that the decline in GDP in the first quarter of this year—even if followed by another GDP decline in the second quarter—indicates a recession.”
    Up is downnomics from Biden. Hes a cornflake short of a multipack
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 50,762

    DavidL said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Rishi falling into the "mansplaining" accusation trap is something I didn't expect him to do. Thought he'd be better advised. (Personally I don't think he was).

    He wasn't. Quoting someone's own words and their advisors' words back to them is not Mansplaining. But after an initial 10 minutes where she was really tetchy and unhappy with being stopped from just saying any old guff unchallenged, that position reversed.

    Sunak feels like (a) he is on very solid ground factually logically and economically with his position and (b) Truss isn't. And he really isn't happy that they aren't listening to his fine reason logic and experience.

    So just like Truss must have felt during the referendum...
    Quoting someone's words etc when its your turn to talk is not Mansplaining.

    Trying not to let a woman get a word in edgewise on the other hand . . .
    Thats rude, yes. But not mansplaining as it is missing the explaining element.

    The problem is that the Trusster's plan is bonkers. The other problem is that she apparently is going to win, and Sunak feels like Egon as Walter Peck orders the guy to shut down the containment grid.
    Let me be clear about this. I very much prefer Rishi's position on economic policy and I worry about the lack of margin for error that Truss's plans leave (basically zero). So many things have gone unexpectedly wrong in recent years this seems very unwise to me.

    But it is worth noting that the UK economy has a GDP approaching £3trn. Her "wild" tax plans amount to about £30bn or round about 1% of GDP. Government spending this year is edging towards £1,100bn making £30bn something like 2.7% of government spending or, if you want to look at it another way, just under 10 days of spending out of the year.

    If you take inflation into account it is more likely that these numbers will come down rather than up. Like most modern politics this is the law of relatively small differences writ large. The gap between her and Sunak is a bit more than a rounding error but its not much more.
    So if it was a Labour chancellor proposing to borrow £30bn to spend on a pet project you would be making similar excuses? John McDonnell perhaps?

    The reason why we have a budget is because we can't just print money forever. Truss is proposing to inflate the national debt to give tax cuts to her friends and patrons. If Labour were proposing to borrow £30bn to pay for a giveaway to their friends and patrons you would be going up the bloody wall.
    As I have repeatedly said I am against it and prefer Sunak's more cautious approach. Not quite sure what you mean about the friends and patrons though. The proposed tax cuts will be fairly widely spread although Sunak had already taken most of the lower paid out of the NI.

    And we are no longer printing money. Thank goodness.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 53,766
    Sandpit said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Leon said:

    Scott_xP said:

    Latest IMF forecast out. Third downgrade of UK 2023 outlook in a row - from 2.3% in January to a predicted growth of only 0.5% GDP now. Bottom of the table of major economies except Russia. Dire news. ~AA #TheyGotTheBigCallsWrong https://twitter.com/imfnews/status/1551925988170293248 https://twitter.com/BestForBritain/status/1551936321043795978/photo/1

    ...almost as good as Italy....
    These predictions are decidedly “brave” given that parts of the EU are slipping into recession right now and Germany is facing an energy crisis which could wipe 12% off its GDP


    “Germany’s economy faces losing around 12 per cent of its annual output — some €429bn — if Russian natural gas supplies stopped abruptly, according to a new study by an adviser to the government.”


    Everywhere that is an energy importer (unlike they've been taking advantage of cheap Russian LNG cargoes, *cough* Japan *cough*), is going to see very severe impacts from rising commodity prices.

    I suspect (unless the war ends soon) that the UK, Italy and Germany will all be in recession by year end, and that France will only avoid it by a whisker.
    The US definitely won’t be in a recession though, after Biden changed the definition of the word ‘recession’.
    I don't think the US will have negative economic growth at year end. But I could be wrong.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 53,766

    Sandpit said:

    Sandpit said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Leon said:

    Scott_xP said:

    Latest IMF forecast out. Third downgrade of UK 2023 outlook in a row - from 2.3% in January to a predicted growth of only 0.5% GDP now. Bottom of the table of major economies except Russia. Dire news. ~AA #TheyGotTheBigCallsWrong https://twitter.com/imfnews/status/1551925988170293248 https://twitter.com/BestForBritain/status/1551936321043795978/photo/1

    ...almost as good as Italy....
    These predictions are decidedly “brave” given that parts of the EU are slipping into recession right now and Germany is facing an energy crisis which could wipe 12% off its GDP


    “Germany’s economy faces losing around 12 per cent of its annual output — some €429bn — if Russian natural gas supplies stopped abruptly, according to a new study by an adviser to the government.”


    Everywhere that is an energy importer (unlike they've been taking advantage of cheap Russian LNG cargoes, *cough* Japan *cough*), is going to see very severe impacts from rising commodity prices.

    I suspect (unless the war ends soon) that the UK, Italy and Germany will all be in recession by year end, and that France will only avoid it by a whisker.
    The US definitely won’t be in a recession though, after Biden changed the definition of the word ‘recession’.
    What!?

    I missed that one.
    https://www.whitehouse.gov/cea/written-materials/2022/07/21/how-do-economists-determine-whether-the-economy-is-in-a-recession/

    ” What is a recession? While some maintain that two consecutive quarters of falling real GDP constitute a recession, that is neither the official definition nor the way economists evaluate the state of the business cycle. Instead, both official determinations of recessions and economists’ assessment of economic activity are based on a holistic look at the data—including the labor market, consumer and business spending, industrial production, and incomes. Based on these data, it is unlikely that the decline in GDP in the first quarter of this year—even if followed by another GDP decline in the second quarter—indicates a recession.”
    Up is downnomics from Biden. Hes a cornflake short of a multipack
    That's far too articulate to actually be written by Biden.

    And - fwiw - I think US net exports are undercounted in Q1. I suspect when revisions come through, the US will have shown economic growth in the quarter.
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 50,762
    MISTY said:

    DavidL said:

    MISTY said:

    DavidL said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Rishi falling into the "mansplaining" accusation trap is something I didn't expect him to do. Thought he'd be better advised. (Personally I don't think he was).

    He wasn't. Quoting someone's own words and their advisors' words back to them is not Mansplaining. But after an initial 10 minutes where she was really tetchy and unhappy with being stopped from just saying any old guff unchallenged, that position reversed.

    Sunak feels like (a) he is on very solid ground factually logically and economically with his position and (b) Truss isn't. And he really isn't happy that they aren't listening to his fine reason logic and experience.

    So just like Truss must have felt during the referendum...
    Quoting someone's words etc when its your turn to talk is not Mansplaining.

    Trying not to let a woman get a word in edgewise on the other hand . . .
    Thats rude, yes. But not mansplaining as it is missing the explaining element.

    The problem is that the Trusster's plan is bonkers. The other problem is that she apparently is going to win, and Sunak feels like Egon as Walter Peck orders the guy to shut down the containment grid.
    Let me be clear about this. I very much prefer Rishi's position on economic policy and I worry about the lack of margin for error that Truss's plans leave (basically zero). So many things have gone unexpectedly wrong in recent years this seems very unwise to me.

    But it is worth noting that the UK economy has a GDP approaching £3trn. Her "wild" tax plans amount to about £30bn or round about 1% of GDP. Government spending this year is edging towards £1,100bn making £30bn something like 2.7% of government spending or, if you want to look at it another way, just under 10 days of spending out of the year.

    If you take inflation into account it is more likely that these numbers will come down rather than up. Like most modern politics this is the law of relatively small differences writ large. The gap between her and Sunak is a bit more than a rounding error but its not much more.
    It makes you wonder why Sunak is so adamant about this. It is what is killing him.
    He wants/needs to paint her as irresponsible. And he wants to debate economics which is a strong point for him rather than , say, the finer points of the Australia free trade treaty. But he blew it.
    What strikes me about the Sunak campaign (and hence the attitude of his backers in parliament and the treasury), is the total and complete absence of any self analysis or self examination of their conduct since the end of 2019 whatever.

    They are always right, absolutely right, and any criticism whatever is automatically classed as stupidity or lack of understanding.

    It's a character flaw that he needs to work on, that's for sure.
  • LostPasswordLostPassword Posts: 14,772
    rcs1000 said:

    Andy_JS said:

    O/T

    According to all the weather forecasts from yesterday it was supposed to be about 22C today. It's actually 18C (and feels a bit cooler).

    I can think of a few reasons (any or none of which can be true):

    (a) there are very substantial local variations (and it's quite possible where you are runs 1-3 degrees cooler than other nearby places)

    (b) weather forecasting gets better every year, but it's not perfect

    (c) extreme predictions get more publicity, and therefore we tend to remember them more
    On this timescale it's most likely a case of:

    (b)(i) clouds are the hardest thing to forecast, in some situations more than others, but particularly in summer they can have a big impact on daily high temperatures due to the strength of the sun at this time of year.

    I don't know the specifics of the forecast, where it was for, and why it's gone wrong, but I'd encourage you to have a think about why it went wrong, as it gives you a better chance of anticipating the likely range of weather for a given future forecast.
  • CD13CD13 Posts: 6,349
    Advice for the new PM, whoever it is.

    Learn from Angela Merkel.

    How to trash your reputation in three easy lessons.

    1. Cosy up to the greens by closing most of your nuclear power stations. (Not quite sure where the CO2 comes in, but facts don't matter)
    2. Rely totally on Russian gas supplies.
    3. Punish the other EU partners by demanding they make up for your idiotic actions. OK, that may be down to the poor suckers you left behind, but it's gone well, hasn't it, Angela?

    The lesson to learn from this? Listen to the Greens and do the opposite.

    I'm not a climate denier, I have a roof full of solar panels. But my advice to the Greens. Make sure you have a back-up before you phase out every source of energy you have. Even a seven-year-old should know that.
  • dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 27,835
    A propos of nothing, (inspired by a cornflake short of a multipack) why don't supermarkets sell variety bags of fruit?
    Living on my own, I don't want a pack of 10 bananas, or 5 apples, or 15 satsumas.
    A pack of 6 pieces of random fruit would be good though.
  • wooliedyedwooliedyed Posts: 6,827
    Nigelb said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Sandpit said:

    The challenge now, is to get everyone (except Russia and North Korea) on board with the replacement.

    Go to Mars instead of low earth orbit.
    Lunar orbital gateway, infrastructure on the moons surface, build a mass driver, head to Mars from there.
    Should have been done 3 or 4 decades ago
    Wait: I thought a moon base was useless for getting to Mars.
    Not if you want to go regularly and cheaply. Why waste money carrying shit loads of fuel to break through Earths atmosphere? Mass drivers, you could be firing supplies etc at Mars as regularly as commuter trains
    What supplies ?
    Until there's a Lunar manufacturing economy, which is a lot further off than any trip to Mars, there's nothing to send.
    Well we are talking long term arent we? Theres absolutely zero point in just 'going to Mars', its a colonisation effort and a lunar economy could be set up fairly swiftly if the will were there. The effort needs to be in getting the infrastructure and industry off Earth and into Space/Lunar bases etc instead of dicking about looking at what happens to cress in low Earth orbit.
    We have wasted 50 years, hopefully private industry will now pick up government slack
  • dixiedean said:

    A propos of nothing, (inspired by a cornflake short of a multipack) why don't supermarkets sell variety bags of fruit?
    Living on my own, I don't want a pack of 10 bananas, or 5 apples, or 15 satsumas.
    A pack of 6 pieces of random fruit would be good though.

    They sell them individually. Why would you need extra plastic?
  • BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 31,273
    Pulpstar said:

    FFS! Finally got through to HMRC after waiting 40 mins on hold, regarding the IHT payable my late mum's estate.

    They've lost the (seven separate) forms I had to send in, even though they phoned me to query details in them two weeks ago. Can I please complete them again and re-send, recorded delivery.

    Oh, and by the way, please guess how much IHT is due and make sure I guess right and pay it by the end of this month, else they'll be charging the estate interest.

    Sorry, appreciate that is off-topic but I feel better now.

    Crazy, how do you know what her property will sell for ultimately for instance ?
    We have to guess... what it was worth the day she died actually. It's not even her property but she had a lifetime interest in possession (could live there rent free) so even though the value of the property does not fall into her estate, she is IHT'ed as if it does. Mad.
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 47,786
    @kateferguson4
    He was seen as the kingmaker of the Tory leadership contest.

    But Defence Sec Ben Wallace has stayed tight lipped about who he is backing.

    Ahead of tonight’s crunch ⁦@TheSun leadership showdown, he says he will back whoever spends most on defence


    https://twitter.com/kateferguson4/status/1551950881389776896
  • LennonLennon Posts: 1,721
    dixiedean said:

    A propos of nothing, (inspired by a cornflake short of a multipack) why don't supermarkets sell variety bags of fruit?
    Living on my own, I don't want a pack of 10 bananas, or 5 apples, or 15 satsumas.
    A pack of 6 pieces of random fruit would be good though.

    Presumably variable best before date issues. (As well as the fact that if you put any other fruit next to a banana it ripens quicker / goes bad faster for example). But most supermarkets still sell fruit loose right, so you could just buy 1 apple, a banana and a couple of oranges surely?
  • https://twitter.com/novaramedia/status/1550901293216157697

    Former Corbyn aide Laura Murray is liable for £1.1m in costs and damages over a tweet about television host Rachel Riley.

    She went to court today to challenge the libel 'lawfare' that campaigners say is a threat to free speech.

    I'm sure Laura can survive, what with her £1m+ home, her rare artwork and her Dad's property empire
  • dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 27,835

    @kateferguson4
    He was seen as the kingmaker of the Tory leadership contest.

    But Defence Sec Ben Wallace has stayed tight lipped about who he is backing.

    Ahead of tonight’s crunch ⁦@TheSun leadership showdown, he says he will back whoever spends most on defence


    https://twitter.com/kateferguson4/status/1551950881389776896

    Putin?
  • CyclefreeCyclefree Posts: 25,074
    Far too busy working to follow Tory politics. But since it is a lovely day here I thought I'd share with you this picture of the lonely barn where I lived for a year during The Time of Covid, A.D. 2020 - 2021. It is on the far right of the photo. Black Combe is on the left.


  • BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 31,273
    Nigelb said:

    FFS! Finally got through to HMRC after waiting 40 mins on hold, regarding the IHT payable my late mum's estate.

    They've lost the (seven separate) forms I had to send in, even though they phoned me to query details in them two weeks ago. Can I please complete them again and re-send, recorded delivery.

    Oh, and by the way, please guess how much IHT is due and make sure I guess right and pay it by the end of this month, else they'll be charging the estate interest.

    Sorry, appreciate that is off-topic but I feel better now.

    Probably the fault of the new guy in charge ...
    I blame Labour, after all the Tories have had hardly any time to sort it out.
  • wooliedyedwooliedyed Posts: 6,827
    edited July 2022
    IshmaelZ said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Sandpit said:

    The challenge now, is to get everyone (except Russia and North Korea) on board with the replacement.

    Go to Mars instead of low earth orbit.
    Lunar orbital gateway, infrastructure on the moons surface, build a mass driver, head to Mars from there.
    Should have been done 3 or 4 decades ago
    Wait: I thought a moon base was useless for getting to Mars.
    Not if you want to go regularly and cheaply. Why waste money carrying shit loads of fuel to break through Earths atmosphere? Mass drivers, you could be firing supplies etc at Mars as regularly as commuter trains
    Unless Mars is desperately short of moon rock I see a flaw in this plan.
    Well yes in the immediate term but synthesis of water, fuel etc and 3D printing of lunar regolith plus the possible benefits for fusion from helium 3 and power from lunar solar farms are all medium term aims
  • IshmaelZIshmaelZ Posts: 21,830

    Nigelb said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Sandpit said:

    The challenge now, is to get everyone (except Russia and North Korea) on board with the replacement.

    Go to Mars instead of low earth orbit.
    Lunar orbital gateway, infrastructure on the moons surface, build a mass driver, head to Mars from there.
    Should have been done 3 or 4 decades ago
    Wait: I thought a moon base was useless for getting to Mars.
    Not if you want to go regularly and cheaply. Why waste money carrying shit loads of fuel to break through Earths atmosphere? Mass drivers, you could be firing supplies etc at Mars as regularly as commuter trains
    What supplies ?
    Until there's a Lunar manufacturing economy, which is a lot further off than any trip to Mars, there's nothing to send.
    Well we are talking long term arent we? Theres absolutely zero point in just 'going to Mars', its a colonisation effort and a lunar economy could be set up fairly swiftly if the will were there. The effort needs to be in getting the infrastructure and industry off Earth and into Space/Lunar bases etc instead of dicking about looking at what happens to cress in low Earth orbit.
    We have wasted 50 years, hopefully private industry will now pick up government slack
    You fall into a Sci fi trope when the Lunar rebels realise that mass driver is just another way of saying coilgun and start shelling the shit out of Mars, or drag the thing round to the earth facing side.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 61,566
    Sandpit said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Leon said:

    Scott_xP said:

    Latest IMF forecast out. Third downgrade of UK 2023 outlook in a row - from 2.3% in January to a predicted growth of only 0.5% GDP now. Bottom of the table of major economies except Russia. Dire news. ~AA #TheyGotTheBigCallsWrong https://twitter.com/imfnews/status/1551925988170293248 https://twitter.com/BestForBritain/status/1551936321043795978/photo/1

    ...almost as good as Italy....
    These predictions are decidedly “brave” given that parts of the EU are slipping into recession right now and Germany is facing an energy crisis which could wipe 12% off its GDP


    “Germany’s economy faces losing around 12 per cent of its annual output — some €429bn — if Russian natural gas supplies stopped abruptly, according to a new study by an adviser to the government.”


    Everywhere that is an energy importer (unlike they've been taking advantage of cheap Russian LNG cargoes, *cough* Japan *cough*), is going to see very severe impacts from rising commodity prices.

    I suspect (unless the war ends soon) that the UK, Italy and Germany will all be in recession by year end, and that France will only avoid it by a whisker.
    The US definitely won’t be in a recession though, after Biden changed the definition of the word ‘recession’.
    Did he - or is he just quibbling about a definition that's been around for ages ?

    https://www.americanprogress.org/article/the-strong-us-labor-market-suggests-the-economy-is-not-in-recession/
    ...In the United States, the National Bureau of Economic Research’s (NBER’s) Business Cycle Dating Committee uses a range of factors to determine when the economy is in a recession. The committee defines a recession as “a significant decline in economic activity that is spread across the economy and lasts more than a few months.” In fact, the committee explicitly rejects the outdated definition of a recession as two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth.

    The NBER Business Cycle Dating Committee explicitly rejects the outdated definition of a recession as two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth.
    The committee uses real GDP alongside many other indicators to assess economic activity. When using real GDP, it also uses real gross domestic income (GDI), taking the average of the two. NBER explicitly states that “equal weight” is given to the two measures. Historically, these two measures tend to move in similar directions, and their difference is usually quite small. However, in the first quarter of 2022, real GDI increased by 1.8 percent, while real GDP declined by 1.6 percent....


    Aren't you being as dishonest as Biden with your comment ?
  • turbotubbsturbotubbs Posts: 14,878
    IshmaelZ said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Sandpit said:

    The challenge now, is to get everyone (except Russia and North Korea) on board with the replacement.

    Go to Mars instead of low earth orbit.
    Lunar orbital gateway, infrastructure on the moons surface, build a mass driver, head to Mars from there.
    Should have been done 3 or 4 decades ago
    Wait: I thought a moon base was useless for getting to Mars.
    Not if you want to go regularly and cheaply. Why waste money carrying shit loads of fuel to break through Earths atmosphere? Mass drivers, you could be firing supplies etc at Mars as regularly as commuter trains
    Unless Mars is desperately short of moon rock I see a flaw in this plan.
    Water on the moon can be turned into hydrogen - used in rockets. Ambitious but doable.
  • OnlyLivingBoyOnlyLivingBoy Posts: 14,911
    dixiedean said:

    A propos of nothing, (inspired by a cornflake short of a multipack) why don't supermarkets sell variety bags of fruit?
    Living on my own, I don't want a pack of 10 bananas, or 5 apples, or 15 satsumas.
    A pack of 6 pieces of random fruit would be good though.

    Down Deptford Market they sell "any bowl a pound" with a bowl of mixed items.
  • dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 27,835
    Lennon said:

    dixiedean said:

    A propos of nothing, (inspired by a cornflake short of a multipack) why don't supermarkets sell variety bags of fruit?
    Living on my own, I don't want a pack of 10 bananas, or 5 apples, or 15 satsumas.
    A pack of 6 pieces of random fruit would be good though.

    Presumably variable best before date issues. (As well as the fact that if you put any other fruit next to a banana it ripens quicker / goes bad faster for example). But most supermarkets still sell fruit loose right, so you could just buy 1 apple, a banana and a couple of oranges surely?
    Yeah. Hadn't thought of that.
    I can and do, but self scan is time consuming. Obviously, I'm being a bit thick.
  • OnlyLivingBoyOnlyLivingBoy Posts: 14,911
    Advice to fellow PBers - don't wear glasses if you are going surfing. Or at least, make sure you have brought a spare pair with you.
  • dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 27,835

    dixiedean said:

    A propos of nothing, (inspired by a cornflake short of a multipack) why don't supermarkets sell variety bags of fruit?
    Living on my own, I don't want a pack of 10 bananas, or 5 apples, or 15 satsumas.
    A pack of 6 pieces of random fruit would be good though.

    Down Deptford Market they sell "any bowl a pound" with a bowl of mixed items.
    That's what I'd like.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 43,611
    rcs1000 said:

    Sandpit said:

    The challenge now, is to get everyone (except Russia and North Korea) on board with the replacement.

    Go to Mars instead of low earth orbit.
    Lunar orbital gateway, infrastructure on the moons surface, build a mass driver, head to Mars from there.
    Should have been done 3 or 4 decades ago
    Wait: I thought a moon base was useless for getting to Mars.
    NASA is planing on being a tenant at one or more of the upcoming commercial stations. What ESA, Canda etc do is up in the air.

    If either Starship or New Armstrong (Blue Origins mega lifter) work out, a space station might drop to the cost of every country has one, if they like.

    Russians not invited.

    No one is planing to get to Mars via the moon. The farcical lunar Gateway is make work for SLS
  • wooliedyedwooliedyed Posts: 6,827
    IshmaelZ said:

    Nigelb said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Sandpit said:

    The challenge now, is to get everyone (except Russia and North Korea) on board with the replacement.

    Go to Mars instead of low earth orbit.
    Lunar orbital gateway, infrastructure on the moons surface, build a mass driver, head to Mars from there.
    Should have been done 3 or 4 decades ago
    Wait: I thought a moon base was useless for getting to Mars.
    Not if you want to go regularly and cheaply. Why waste money carrying shit loads of fuel to break through Earths atmosphere? Mass drivers, you could be firing supplies etc at Mars as regularly as commuter trains
    What supplies ?
    Until there's a Lunar manufacturing economy, which is a lot further off than any trip to Mars, there's nothing to send.
    Well we are talking long term arent we? Theres absolutely zero point in just 'going to Mars', its a colonisation effort and a lunar economy could be set up fairly swiftly if the will were there. The effort needs to be in getting the infrastructure and industry off Earth and into Space/Lunar bases etc instead of dicking about looking at what happens to cress in low Earth orbit.
    We have wasted 50 years, hopefully private industry will now pick up government slack
    You fall into a Sci fi trope when the Lunar rebels realise that mass driver is just another way of saying coilgun and start shelling the shit out of Mars, or drag the thing round to the earth facing side.
    Weapons of mass destruction porn will always exist. Nuke delivery system. But they slready exist anyway
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 61,566

    Nigelb said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Sandpit said:

    The challenge now, is to get everyone (except Russia and North Korea) on board with the replacement.

    Go to Mars instead of low earth orbit.
    Lunar orbital gateway, infrastructure on the moons surface, build a mass driver, head to Mars from there.
    Should have been done 3 or 4 decades ago
    Wait: I thought a moon base was useless for getting to Mars.
    Not if you want to go regularly and cheaply. Why waste money carrying shit loads of fuel to break through Earths atmosphere? Mass drivers, you could be firing supplies etc at Mars as regularly as commuter trains
    What supplies ?
    Until there's a Lunar manufacturing economy, which is a lot further off than any trip to Mars, there's nothing to send.
    Well we are talking long term arent we? Theres absolutely zero point in just 'going to Mars', its a colonisation effort and a lunar economy could be set up fairly swiftly if the will were there. The effort needs to be in getting the infrastructure and industry off Earth and into Space/Lunar bases etc instead of dicking about looking at what happens to cress in low Earth orbit.
    We have wasted 50 years, hopefully private industry will now pick up government slack
    A Mars economy could be set up much more easily once we're there.
    Remember, the Moon is a harsh mistress...
  • @dixiedean how's it going with the Mrs?
  • RochdalePioneersRochdalePioneers Posts: 27,013
    dixiedean said:

    A propos of nothing, (inspired by a cornflake short of a multipack) why don't supermarkets sell variety bags of fruit?
    Living on my own, I don't want a pack of 10 bananas, or 5 apples, or 15 satsumas.
    A pack of 6 pieces of random fruit would be good though.

    Do you know how much money it would cost to co-pack that? Take a load of different fruit from a load of different suppliers. Send them to a 3rd party. Pay a load of people to hand pick the various different kinds of fruit into whatever groovy packaging you have paid £lots for to keep them all separate and not squish but still be environmentally friendly.

    Oh, you also need a solution to the different life on the different fruit when it gets to the co-pack operation. Can almost guarantee that something will go squish and mung the other fruit it has been packed with.

    For small shop or farm producers where its all their own veg? Sure. But not fruit thats come from everywhere. Would be bad.
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 55,008
    Leon said:

    Scott_xP said:

    Latest IMF forecast out. Third downgrade of UK 2023 outlook in a row - from 2.3% in January to a predicted growth of only 0.5% GDP now. Bottom of the table of major economies except Russia. Dire news. ~AA #TheyGotTheBigCallsWrong https://twitter.com/imfnews/status/1551925988170293248 https://twitter.com/BestForBritain/status/1551936321043795978/photo/1

    ...almost as good as Italy....
    These predictions are decidedly “brave” given that parts of the EU are slipping into recession right now and Germany is facing an energy crisis which could wipe 12% off its GDP


    “Germany’s economy faces losing around 12 per cent of its annual output — some €429bn — if Russian natural gas supplies stopped abruptly, according to a new study by an adviser to the government.”


    I must say I'm going to enjoy it next year when the UK does far better than the rest of Europe, and smashes all the IMF forecasts, and we get headlines with "despite Brexit".
  • OnlyLivingBoyOnlyLivingBoy Posts: 14,911
    Nigelb said:

    Sandpit said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Leon said:

    Scott_xP said:

    Latest IMF forecast out. Third downgrade of UK 2023 outlook in a row - from 2.3% in January to a predicted growth of only 0.5% GDP now. Bottom of the table of major economies except Russia. Dire news. ~AA #TheyGotTheBigCallsWrong https://twitter.com/imfnews/status/1551925988170293248 https://twitter.com/BestForBritain/status/1551936321043795978/photo/1

    ...almost as good as Italy....
    These predictions are decidedly “brave” given that parts of the EU are slipping into recession right now and Germany is facing an energy crisis which could wipe 12% off its GDP


    “Germany’s economy faces losing around 12 per cent of its annual output — some €429bn — if Russian natural gas supplies stopped abruptly, according to a new study by an adviser to the government.”


    Everywhere that is an energy importer (unlike they've been taking advantage of cheap Russian LNG cargoes, *cough* Japan *cough*), is going to see very severe impacts from rising commodity prices.

    I suspect (unless the war ends soon) that the UK, Italy and Germany will all be in recession by year end, and that France will only avoid it by a whisker.
    The US definitely won’t be in a recession though, after Biden changed the definition of the word ‘recession’.
    Did he - or is he just quibbling about a definition that's been around for ages ?

    https://www.americanprogress.org/article/the-strong-us-labor-market-suggests-the-economy-is-not-in-recession/
    ...In the United States, the National Bureau of Economic Research’s (NBER’s) Business Cycle Dating Committee uses a range of factors to determine when the economy is in a recession. The committee defines a recession as “a significant decline in economic activity that is spread across the economy and lasts more than a few months.” In fact, the committee explicitly rejects the outdated definition of a recession as two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth.

    The NBER Business Cycle Dating Committee explicitly rejects the outdated definition of a recession as two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth.
    The committee uses real GDP alongside many other indicators to assess economic activity. When using real GDP, it also uses real gross domestic income (GDI), taking the average of the two. NBER explicitly states that “equal weight” is given to the two measures. Historically, these two measures tend to move in similar directions, and their difference is usually quite small. However, in the first quarter of 2022, real GDI increased by 1.8 percent, while real GDP declined by 1.6 percent....


    Aren't you being as dishonest as Biden with your comment ?
    Economists usually refer to two consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth as a "technical recession". In the US the official arbiter of recessions is the NBER and they look at a variety of factors in dating the business cycle. In the UK there isn't really an official recession dater so we normally rely on the "technical recession" definition.
  • kyf_100kyf_100 Posts: 3,911
    CD13 said:

    Advice for the new PM, whoever it is.

    Learn from Angela Merkel.

    How to trash your reputation in three easy lessons.

    1. Cosy up to the greens by closing most of your nuclear power stations. (Not quite sure where the CO2 comes in, but facts don't matter)
    2. Rely totally on Russian gas supplies.
    3. Punish the other EU partners by demanding they make up for your idiotic actions. OK, that may be down to the poor suckers you left behind, but it's gone well, hasn't it, Angela?

    The lesson to learn from this? Listen to the Greens and do the opposite.

    I'm not a climate denier, I have a roof full of solar panels. But my advice to the Greens. Make sure you have a back-up before you phase out every source of energy you have. Even a seven-year-old should know that.

    "If you are simultaneously opposed to fossil fuels and nuclear power, you are for mass starvation and extreme human suffering (whether you realize it or not). As others have noted, if nuclear power were invented today, it would be hailed as civilization-saving technology. Can we just pretend like it was and get on with it?"

    https://twitter.com/DoombergT/status/1550774894618705920
  • wooliedyedwooliedyed Posts: 6,827
    edited July 2022
    Nigelb said:

    Nigelb said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Sandpit said:

    The challenge now, is to get everyone (except Russia and North Korea) on board with the replacement.

    Go to Mars instead of low earth orbit.
    Lunar orbital gateway, infrastructure on the moons surface, build a mass driver, head to Mars from there.
    Should have been done 3 or 4 decades ago
    Wait: I thought a moon base was useless for getting to Mars.
    Not if you want to go regularly and cheaply. Why waste money carrying shit loads of fuel to break through Earths atmosphere? Mass drivers, you could be firing supplies etc at Mars as regularly as commuter trains
    What supplies ?
    Until there's a Lunar manufacturing economy, which is a lot further off than any trip to Mars, there's nothing to send.
    Well we are talking long term arent we? Theres absolutely zero point in just 'going to Mars', its a colonisation effort and a lunar economy could be set up fairly swiftly if the will were there. The effort needs to be in getting the infrastructure and industry off Earth and into Space/Lunar bases etc instead of dicking about looking at what happens to cress in low Earth orbit.
    We have wasted 50 years, hopefully private industry will now pick up government slack
    A Mars economy could be set up much more easily once we're there.
    Remember, the Moon is a harsh mistress...
    Thats the longer term aim.
    Yes, it is, but for the 50 to 100 years it takes to get Mars to stand on its own 2 feet, The Moon i believe will be essential as will orbit based infrastructure (and automate as much as possible)
  • DriverDriver Posts: 4,522
    Nigelb said:

    Sandpit said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Leon said:

    Scott_xP said:

    Latest IMF forecast out. Third downgrade of UK 2023 outlook in a row - from 2.3% in January to a predicted growth of only 0.5% GDP now. Bottom of the table of major economies except Russia. Dire news. ~AA #TheyGotTheBigCallsWrong https://twitter.com/imfnews/status/1551925988170293248 https://twitter.com/BestForBritain/status/1551936321043795978/photo/1

    ...almost as good as Italy....
    These predictions are decidedly “brave” given that parts of the EU are slipping into recession right now and Germany is facing an energy crisis which could wipe 12% off its GDP


    “Germany’s economy faces losing around 12 per cent of its annual output — some €429bn — if Russian natural gas supplies stopped abruptly, according to a new study by an adviser to the government.”


    Everywhere that is an energy importer (unlike they've been taking advantage of cheap Russian LNG cargoes, *cough* Japan *cough*), is going to see very severe impacts from rising commodity prices.

    I suspect (unless the war ends soon) that the UK, Italy and Germany will all be in recession by year end, and that France will only avoid it by a whisker.
    The US definitely won’t be in a recession though, after Biden changed the definition of the word ‘recession’.
    Did he - or is he just quibbling about a definition that's been around for ages ?

    https://www.americanprogress.org/article/the-strong-us-labor-market-suggests-the-economy-is-not-in-recession/
    ...In the United States, the National Bureau of Economic Research’s (NBER’s) Business Cycle Dating Committee uses a range of factors to determine when the economy is in a recession. The committee defines a recession as “a significant decline in economic activity that is spread across the economy and lasts more than a few months.” In fact, the committee explicitly rejects the outdated definition of a recession as two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth.

    The NBER Business Cycle Dating Committee explicitly rejects the outdated definition of a recession as two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth.
    The committee uses real GDP alongside many other indicators to assess economic activity. When using real GDP, it also uses real gross domestic income (GDI), taking the average of the two. NBER explicitly states that “equal weight” is given to the two measures. Historically, these two measures tend to move in similar directions, and their difference is usually quite small. However, in the first quarter of 2022, real GDI increased by 1.8 percent, while real GDP declined by 1.6 percent....


    Aren't you being as dishonest as Biden with your comment ?
    He's trying to get people not to use the traditional definition, and the only reason he's doing it now is that he knows that the traditional definition will be met very soon...
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 47,786

    dixiedean said:

    A propos of nothing, (inspired by a cornflake short of a multipack) why don't supermarkets sell variety bags of fruit?
    Living on my own, I don't want a pack of 10 bananas, or 5 apples, or 15 satsumas.
    A pack of 6 pieces of random fruit would be good though.

    Do you know how much money it would cost to co-pack that? Take a load of different fruit from a load of different suppliers. Send them to a 3rd party. Pay a load of people to hand pick the various different kinds of fruit into whatever groovy packaging you have paid £lots for to keep them all separate and not squish but still be environmentally friendly.

    Oh, you also need a solution to the different life on the different fruit when it gets to the co-pack operation. Can almost guarantee that something will go squish and mung the other fruit it has been packed with.

    For small shop or farm producers where its all their own veg? Sure. But not fruit thats come from everywhere. Would be bad.
    What's this then?

    image
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 55,008
    rcs1000 said:

    Leon said:

    Scott_xP said:

    Latest IMF forecast out. Third downgrade of UK 2023 outlook in a row - from 2.3% in January to a predicted growth of only 0.5% GDP now. Bottom of the table of major economies except Russia. Dire news. ~AA #TheyGotTheBigCallsWrong

    ...almost as good as Italy....
    These predictions are decidedly “brave” given that parts of the EU are slipping into recession right now and Germany is facing an energy crisis which could wipe 12% off its GDP


    “Germany’s economy faces losing around 12 per cent of its annual output — some €429bn — if Russian natural gas supplies stopped abruptly, according to a new study by an adviser to the government.”


    Everywhere that is an energy importer (unlike they've been taking advantage of cheap Russian LNG cargoes, *cough* Japan *cough*), is going to see very severe impacts from rising commodity prices.

    I suspect (unless the war ends soon) that the UK, Italy and Germany will all be in recession by year end, and that France will only avoid it by a whisker.
    We are not forecasting any recession.
  • dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 27,835

    @dixiedean how's it going with the Mrs?

    Super thus far. How's yourself?
  • LostPasswordLostPassword Posts: 14,772
    dixiedean said:

    A propos of nothing, (inspired by a cornflake short of a multipack) why don't supermarkets sell variety bags of fruit?
    Living on my own, I don't want a pack of 10 bananas, or 5 apples, or 15 satsumas.
    A pack of 6 pieces of random fruit would be good though.

    I think that's a reasonably good idea, but the stumbling block is that for large numbers of people there'd end up being at least one item they didn't want.

    I have seen some supermarkets sell similar sorts of packs of mixed vegetables, marketed as enough for a stew.
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 58,038
    kyf_100 said:

    CD13 said:

    Advice for the new PM, whoever it is.

    Learn from Angela Merkel.

    How to trash your reputation in three easy lessons.

    1. Cosy up to the greens by closing most of your nuclear power stations. (Not quite sure where the CO2 comes in, but facts don't matter)
    2. Rely totally on Russian gas supplies.
    3. Punish the other EU partners by demanding they make up for your idiotic actions. OK, that may be down to the poor suckers you left behind, but it's gone well, hasn't it, Angela?

    The lesson to learn from this? Listen to the Greens and do the opposite.

    I'm not a climate denier, I have a roof full of solar panels. But my advice to the Greens. Make sure you have a back-up before you phase out every source of energy you have. Even a seven-year-old should know that.

    "If you are simultaneously opposed to fossil fuels and nuclear power, you are for mass starvation and extreme human suffering (whether you realize it or not). As others have noted, if nuclear power were invented today, it would be hailed as civilization-saving technology. Can we just pretend like it was and get on with it?"

    https://twitter.com/DoombergT/status/1550774894618705920
    Not all Greens are against nuclear. Monbiot for one has said it will be essential to support the switch over to non-carbon.
  • RochdalePioneersRochdalePioneers Posts: 27,013

    https://twitter.com/novaramedia/status/1550901293216157697

    Former Corbyn aide Laura Murray is liable for £1.1m in costs and damages over a tweet about television host Rachel Riley.

    She went to court today to challenge the libel 'lawfare' that campaigners say is a threat to free speech.

    I'm sure Laura can survive, what with her £1m+ home, her rare artwork and her Dad's property empire

    The hard left seem to have this death wish when it comes to the courts. Various elements have been taken to court for saying stupid, and failing to understand that their own forthright denunciation of the person isn't advised. Its like they haven't realised that "I am right, no I AM right, no YOU ARE WRONG STOP ATTACKING JEREMY" isn't a viable libel defence.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 43,611

    I have a new word to offer:
    Prattsplaining. This is posting a strawman argument in a particularly sneering way then ending the sentence with an emoji of a person with their hand over their face like thus: 🤦‍♂️

    I would like to propose Teensplaining. Teenagers who earnestly argue from the basis of totally being the first generation ever to experience angst, anything awful or the remotest existential threat or dread.
    Splainsplaining - where someone explains something so that opponents of the answer come up with a bizarre excuse why speaking at all was invalid, so they don’t have to deal with the answer.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 46,220
    CD13 said:

    Advice for the new PM, whoever it is.

    Learn from Angela Merkel.

    How to trash your reputation in three easy lessons.

    1. Cosy up to the greens by closing most of your nuclear power stations. (Not quite sure where the CO2 comes in, but facts don't matter)
    2. Rely totally on Russian gas supplies.
    3. Punish the other EU partners by demanding they make up for your idiotic actions. OK, that may be down to the poor suckers you left behind, but it's gone well, hasn't it, Angela?

    The lesson to learn from this? Listen to the Greens and do the opposite.

    I'm not a climate denier, I have a roof full of solar panels. But my advice to the Greens. Make sure you have a back-up before you phase out every source of energy you have. Even a seven-year-old should know that.

    Merkel also refuses to accept any responsibility and denies that she needs to apologise

    What appeared admirable in her as a leader now looks like mulishness, even childishness
  • RochdalePioneersRochdalePioneers Posts: 27,013

    dixiedean said:

    A propos of nothing, (inspired by a cornflake short of a multipack) why don't supermarkets sell variety bags of fruit?
    Living on my own, I don't want a pack of 10 bananas, or 5 apples, or 15 satsumas.
    A pack of 6 pieces of random fruit would be good though.

    Do you know how much money it would cost to co-pack that? Take a load of different fruit from a load of different suppliers. Send them to a 3rd party. Pay a load of people to hand pick the various different kinds of fruit into whatever groovy packaging you have paid £lots for to keep them all separate and not squish but still be environmentally friendly.

    Oh, you also need a solution to the different life on the different fruit when it gets to the co-pack operation. Can almost guarantee that something will go squish and mung the other fruit it has been packed with.

    For small shop or farm producers where its all their own veg? Sure. But not fruit thats come from everywhere. Would be bad.
    What's this then?

    image
    Evidence that you don't understand the issue?
  • SouthamObserverSouthamObserver Posts: 38,876

    https://twitter.com/novaramedia/status/1550901293216157697

    Former Corbyn aide Laura Murray is liable for £1.1m in costs and damages over a tweet about television host Rachel Riley.

    She went to court today to challenge the libel 'lawfare' that campaigners say is a threat to free speech.

    I'm sure Laura can survive, what with her £1m+ home, her rare artwork and her Dad's property empire

    The hard left seem to have this death wish when it comes to the courts. Various elements have been taken to court for saying stupid, and failing to understand that their own forthright denunciation of the person isn't advised. Its like they haven't realised that "I am right, no I AM right, no YOU ARE WRONG STOP ATTACKING JEREMY" isn't a viable libel defence.

    It's because they all listen to Howard Beckett, Len McCluskey's legal brain at Unite. Who was basically a conveyancing solicitor.

  • dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 27,835

    dixiedean said:

    A propos of nothing, (inspired by a cornflake short of a multipack) why don't supermarkets sell variety bags of fruit?
    Living on my own, I don't want a pack of 10 bananas, or 5 apples, or 15 satsumas.
    A pack of 6 pieces of random fruit would be good though.

    Do you know how much money it would cost to co-pack that? Take a load of different fruit from a load of different suppliers. Send them to a 3rd party. Pay a load of people to hand pick the various different kinds of fruit into whatever groovy packaging you have paid £lots for to keep them all separate and not squish but still be environmentally friendly.

    Oh, you also need a solution to the different life on the different fruit when it gets to the co-pack operation. Can almost guarantee that something will go squish and mung the other fruit it has been packed with.

    For small shop or farm producers where its all their own veg? Sure. But not fruit thats come from everywhere. Would be bad.
    What's this then?

    image
    That's what I thought. I see those packs, but they are one day's worth.
    I'd like to be able to buy a week's worth.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 43,611
    dixiedean said:

    dixiedean said:

    A propos of nothing, (inspired by a cornflake short of a multipack) why don't supermarkets sell variety bags of fruit?
    Living on my own, I don't want a pack of 10 bananas, or 5 apples, or 15 satsumas.
    A pack of 6 pieces of random fruit would be good though.

    Down Deptford Market they sell "any bowl a pound" with a bowl of mixed items.
    That's what I'd like.
    Some supermarkets have done stuff like that when they introduced self weighing on lose fruit and veg - 1kg of fruit or veg in a bag.

    Not seen it recently in a supermarket - but have seen it on street stalls, as you say.
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 38,517

    rcs1000 said:

    Sandpit said:

    The challenge now, is to get everyone (except Russia and North Korea) on board with the replacement.

    Go to Mars instead of low earth orbit.
    Lunar orbital gateway, infrastructure on the moons surface, build a mass driver, head to Mars from there.
    Should have been done 3 or 4 decades ago
    Wait: I thought a moon base was useless for getting to Mars.
    NASA is planing on being a tenant at one or more of the upcoming commercial stations. What ESA, Canda etc do is up in the air.

    If either Starship or New Armstrong (Blue Origins mega lifter) work out, a space station might drop to the cost of every country has one, if they like.

    Russians not invited.

    No one is planing to get to Mars via the moon. The farcical lunar Gateway is make work for SLS
    Lunar Gateway will be great for research in deep-space living. If SS fails, that is.

    My own personal view is that if SH/SS is man-rated outside a Mars synod, SpaceX should launch one into a Lunar/Earth orbit for a year or more, with crew on board, to test life support and other tech. With the advantage that you are within a few days of Earth if it all goes wrong, as opposed to halfway to Mars.
  • https://twitter.com/novaramedia/status/1550901293216157697

    Former Corbyn aide Laura Murray is liable for £1.1m in costs and damages over a tweet about television host Rachel Riley.

    She went to court today to challenge the libel 'lawfare' that campaigners say is a threat to free speech.

    I'm sure Laura can survive, what with her £1m+ home, her rare artwork and her Dad's property empire

    The hard left seem to have this death wish when it comes to the courts. Various elements have been taken to court for saying stupid, and failing to understand that their own forthright denunciation of the person isn't advised. Its like they haven't realised that "I am right, no I AM right, no YOU ARE WRONG STOP ATTACKING JEREMY" isn't a viable libel defence.

    It's because they all listen to Howard Beckett, Len McCluskey's legal brain at Unite. Who was basically a conveyancing solicitor.

    If Corbyn had ignored this bunch of weirdos and instead listened to John McDonnell he'd probably have done something useful.
  • LostPasswordLostPassword Posts: 14,772

    Nigelb said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Sandpit said:

    The challenge now, is to get everyone (except Russia and North Korea) on board with the replacement.

    Go to Mars instead of low earth orbit.
    Lunar orbital gateway, infrastructure on the moons surface, build a mass driver, head to Mars from there.
    Should have been done 3 or 4 decades ago
    Wait: I thought a moon base was useless for getting to Mars.
    Not if you want to go regularly and cheaply. Why waste money carrying shit loads of fuel to break through Earths atmosphere? Mass drivers, you could be firing supplies etc at Mars as regularly as commuter trains
    What supplies ?
    Until there's a Lunar manufacturing economy, which is a lot further off than any trip to Mars, there's nothing to send.
    Well we are talking long term arent we? Theres absolutely zero point in just 'going to Mars', its a colonisation effort and a lunar economy could be set up fairly swiftly if the will were there. The effort needs to be in getting the infrastructure and industry off Earth and into Space/Lunar bases etc instead of dicking about looking at what happens to cress in low Earth orbit.
    We have wasted 50 years, hopefully private industry will now pick up government slack
    The problem with this idea is that it's not much harder to go to Mars than the Moon - most of the effort is in getting out of Earth's gravity well - but it should be a lot easier to live on Mars than on the Moon.

    There's more of an atmosphere on Mars and the day length is reasonable, so you have a smaller temperature range to endure and it's easier to build habitats to live in, or grow food in. I think it's also still easier to get hold of water on Mars, which makes a lot of things easier, and cuts down the weight you need to send.

    Going to the Moon is a distraction. We should go directly to Mars.
  • RochdalePioneersRochdalePioneers Posts: 27,013

    dixiedean said:

    A propos of nothing, (inspired by a cornflake short of a multipack) why don't supermarkets sell variety bags of fruit?
    Living on my own, I don't want a pack of 10 bananas, or 5 apples, or 15 satsumas.
    A pack of 6 pieces of random fruit would be good though.

    I think that's a reasonably good idea, but the stumbling block is that for large numbers of people there'd end up being at least one item they didn't want.

    I have seen some supermarkets sell similar sorts of packs of mixed vegetables, marketed as enough for a stew.
    The problem is that you're selling fruit intended for being kept at home and eaten at your leisure. So it can't just be hoyed into a bag as squish happens. And as you say someone will want x and get y and complain - assuming they want t pay the £lots it would cost.

    There is a good reason you can buy mixed prepped veg or mixed chopped fruit intended for immediate consumption and not a mix of various things intended to be kept. Farm shops can get away with it because people like to pay for the experience. Would do exciting things to the profit numbers of the Tesco fruit buyer, lets put it that way.
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 38,517

    https://twitter.com/novaramedia/status/1550901293216157697

    Former Corbyn aide Laura Murray is liable for £1.1m in costs and damages over a tweet about television host Rachel Riley.

    She went to court today to challenge the libel 'lawfare' that campaigners say is a threat to free speech.

    I'm sure Laura can survive, what with her £1m+ home, her rare artwork and her Dad's property empire

    The hard left seem to have this death wish when it comes to the courts. Various elements have been taken to court for saying stupid, and failing to understand that their own forthright denunciation of the person isn't advised. Its like they haven't realised that "I am right, no I AM right, no YOU ARE WRONG STOP ATTACKING JEREMY" isn't a viable libel defence.
    I do love it when BJO and others on the hard left refer to Corbyn's legal 'war chest'. Leaving aside the morality of crowd-funding legal campaigns, the idea of a lead figure in 'Stop the War' having a 'War Chest' is hilarious.
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 38,517
    edited July 2022

    Nigelb said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Sandpit said:

    The challenge now, is to get everyone (except Russia and North Korea) on board with the replacement.

    Go to Mars instead of low earth orbit.
    Lunar orbital gateway, infrastructure on the moons surface, build a mass driver, head to Mars from there.
    Should have been done 3 or 4 decades ago
    Wait: I thought a moon base was useless for getting to Mars.
    Not if you want to go regularly and cheaply. Why waste money carrying shit loads of fuel to break through Earths atmosphere? Mass drivers, you could be firing supplies etc at Mars as regularly as commuter trains
    What supplies ?
    Until there's a Lunar manufacturing economy, which is a lot further off than any trip to Mars, there's nothing to send.
    Well we are talking long term arent we? Theres absolutely zero point in just 'going to Mars', its a colonisation effort and a lunar economy could be set up fairly swiftly if the will were there. The effort needs to be in getting the infrastructure and industry off Earth and into Space/Lunar bases etc instead of dicking about looking at what happens to cress in low Earth orbit.
    We have wasted 50 years, hopefully private industry will now pick up government slack
    IMV Bezos' destination of off-Earth industry is far more realistic and achievable than Musk's of a Mars civilisation.

    Edit: but both rely on getting large amounts of mass into LEO. It'll be easy for either to shift their worldview if the facts change, as Musk did when he was *really* against going to the Moon before Mars. Until NASA was awarding multi-billion dollar contracts, that is... ;)
  • dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 27,835
    Jane Austen made a career out of documenting mansplaining. Amongst other things.
  • RochdalePioneersRochdalePioneers Posts: 27,013
    dixiedean said:

    dixiedean said:

    A propos of nothing, (inspired by a cornflake short of a multipack) why don't supermarkets sell variety bags of fruit?
    Living on my own, I don't want a pack of 10 bananas, or 5 apples, or 15 satsumas.
    A pack of 6 pieces of random fruit would be good though.

    Do you know how much money it would cost to co-pack that? Take a load of different fruit from a load of different suppliers. Send them to a 3rd party. Pay a load of people to hand pick the various different kinds of fruit into whatever groovy packaging you have paid £lots for to keep them all separate and not squish but still be environmentally friendly.

    Oh, you also need a solution to the different life on the different fruit when it gets to the co-pack operation. Can almost guarantee that something will go squish and mung the other fruit it has been packed with.

    For small shop or farm producers where its all their own veg? Sure. But not fruit thats come from everywhere. Would be bad.
    What's this then?

    image
    That's what I thought. I see those packs, but they are one day's worth.
    I'd like to be able to buy a week's worth.
    Doesn't keep though. A big difference between the factory who chop RTE fruit filling tubs of Apple and of Grape etc doing a batch where they do a mix up through the multihead machine that fills the tubs.

    As fruit for keeping goes nowhere near that kind of operation you'd have to set up a factory line to do it and unlike the chopped RTE stuff you can't use a multihead. So its manual and that costs lots.
  • IshmaelZIshmaelZ Posts: 21,830

    IshmaelZ said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Sandpit said:

    The challenge now, is to get everyone (except Russia and North Korea) on board with the replacement.

    Go to Mars instead of low earth orbit.
    Lunar orbital gateway, infrastructure on the moons surface, build a mass driver, head to Mars from there.
    Should have been done 3 or 4 decades ago
    Wait: I thought a moon base was useless for getting to Mars.
    Not if you want to go regularly and cheaply. Why waste money carrying shit loads of fuel to break through Earths atmosphere? Mass drivers, you could be firing supplies etc at Mars as regularly as commuter trains
    Unless Mars is desperately short of moon rock I see a flaw in this plan.
    Water on the moon can be turned into hydrogen - used in rockets. Ambitious but doable.
    So can water on Mars.
  • RochdalePioneersRochdalePioneers Posts: 27,013

    https://twitter.com/novaramedia/status/1550901293216157697

    Former Corbyn aide Laura Murray is liable for £1.1m in costs and damages over a tweet about television host Rachel Riley.

    She went to court today to challenge the libel 'lawfare' that campaigners say is a threat to free speech.

    I'm sure Laura can survive, what with her £1m+ home, her rare artwork and her Dad's property empire

    The hard left seem to have this death wish when it comes to the courts. Various elements have been taken to court for saying stupid, and failing to understand that their own forthright denunciation of the person isn't advised. Its like they haven't realised that "I am right, no I AM right, no YOU ARE WRONG STOP ATTACKING JEREMY" isn't a viable libel defence.
    I do love it when BJO and others on the hard left refer to Corbyn's legal 'war chest'. Leaving aside the morality of crowd-funding legal campaigns, the idea of a lead figure in 'Stop the War' having a 'War Chest' is hilarious.
    Wasn't the Corbyn war chest crowd-funded?
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 47,786

    dixiedean said:

    A propos of nothing, (inspired by a cornflake short of a multipack) why don't supermarkets sell variety bags of fruit?
    Living on my own, I don't want a pack of 10 bananas, or 5 apples, or 15 satsumas.
    A pack of 6 pieces of random fruit would be good though.

    I think that's a reasonably good idea, but the stumbling block is that for large numbers of people there'd end up being at least one item they didn't want.

    I have seen some supermarkets sell similar sorts of packs of mixed vegetables, marketed as enough for a stew.
    The problem is that you're selling fruit intended for being kept at home and eaten at your leisure. So it can't just be hoyed into a bag as squish happens. And as you say someone will want x and get y and complain - assuming they want t pay the £lots it would cost.

    There is a good reason you can buy mixed prepped veg or mixed chopped fruit intended for immediate consumption and not a mix of various things intended to be kept. Farm shops can get away with it because people like to pay for the experience. Would do exciting things to the profit numbers of the Tesco fruit buyer, lets put it that way.
    You could just get somebody on the shop floor to put selections of fruit in a paper bag and sell them with a mark up.
  • Daveyboy1961Daveyboy1961 Posts: 3,335
    dixiedean said:

    dixiedean said:

    A propos of nothing, (inspired by a cornflake short of a multipack) why don't supermarkets sell variety bags of fruit?
    Living on my own, I don't want a pack of 10 bananas, or 5 apples, or 15 satsumas.
    A pack of 6 pieces of random fruit would be good though.

    Do you know how much money it would cost to co-pack that? Take a load of different fruit from a load of different suppliers. Send them to a 3rd party. Pay a load of people to hand pick the various different kinds of fruit into whatever groovy packaging you have paid £lots for to keep them all separate and not squish but still be environmentally friendly.

    Oh, you also need a solution to the different life on the different fruit when it gets to the co-pack operation. Can almost guarantee that something will go squish and mung the other fruit it has been packed with.

    For small shop or farm producers where its all their own veg? Sure. But not fruit thats come from everywhere. Would be bad.
    What's this then?

    image
    That's what I thought. I see those packs, but they are one day's worth.
    I'd like to be able to buy a week's worth.
    I get the impression they are the remains of fruit close to their sell by dates, peeled and trimmed to give them extra days. That's why they cost a lot. It's the same with Tesco salad veg packs, £1.05 each. The mould has been cut off.
  • wooliedyedwooliedyed Posts: 6,827

    Nigelb said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Sandpit said:

    The challenge now, is to get everyone (except Russia and North Korea) on board with the replacement.

    Go to Mars instead of low earth orbit.
    Lunar orbital gateway, infrastructure on the moons surface, build a mass driver, head to Mars from there.
    Should have been done 3 or 4 decades ago
    Wait: I thought a moon base was useless for getting to Mars.
    Not if you want to go regularly and cheaply. Why waste money carrying shit loads of fuel to break through Earths atmosphere? Mass drivers, you could be firing supplies etc at Mars as regularly as commuter trains
    What supplies ?
    Until there's a Lunar manufacturing economy, which is a lot further off than any trip to Mars, there's nothing to send.
    Well we are talking long term arent we? Theres absolutely zero point in just 'going to Mars', its a colonisation effort and a lunar economy could be set up fairly swiftly if the will were there. The effort needs to be in getting the infrastructure and industry off Earth and into Space/Lunar bases etc instead of dicking about looking at what happens to cress in low Earth orbit.
    We have wasted 50 years, hopefully private industry will now pick up government slack
    The problem with this idea is that it's not much harder to go to Mars than the Moon - most of the effort is in getting out of Earth's gravity well - but it should be a lot easier to live on Mars than on the Moon.

    There's more of an atmosphere on Mars and the day length is reasonable, so you have a smaller temperature range to endure and it's easier to build habitats to live in, or grow food in. I think it's also still easier to get hold of water on Mars, which makes a lot of things easier, and cuts down the weight you need to send.

    Going to the Moon is a distraction. We should go directly to Mars.
    Oh i agree making Mars work longer termfor human habitation is easier but i think much of ths moon/orbital work can be automated and thus help to speed human colonisation of Mars to a self sustainung planetary population level.
    But ultimately as long as its a serious colonisation and not a one small step gadabout then its all good
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 38,517

    https://twitter.com/novaramedia/status/1550901293216157697

    Former Corbyn aide Laura Murray is liable for £1.1m in costs and damages over a tweet about television host Rachel Riley.

    She went to court today to challenge the libel 'lawfare' that campaigners say is a threat to free speech.

    I'm sure Laura can survive, what with her £1m+ home, her rare artwork and her Dad's property empire

    The hard left seem to have this death wish when it comes to the courts. Various elements have been taken to court for saying stupid, and failing to understand that their own forthright denunciation of the person isn't advised. Its like they haven't realised that "I am right, no I AM right, no YOU ARE WRONG STOP ATTACKING JEREMY" isn't a viable libel defence.
    I do love it when BJO and others on the hard left refer to Corbyn's legal 'war chest'. Leaving aside the morality of crowd-funding legal campaigns, the idea of a lead figure in 'Stop the War' having a 'War Chest' is hilarious.
    Wasn't the Corbyn war chest crowd-funded?
    AIUI yes, that was meant to be my point (which I might have not put clearly).
  • JohnLilburneJohnLilburne Posts: 5,997

    dixiedean said:

    A propos of nothing, (inspired by a cornflake short of a multipack) why don't supermarkets sell variety bags of fruit?
    Living on my own, I don't want a pack of 10 bananas, or 5 apples, or 15 satsumas.
    A pack of 6 pieces of random fruit would be good though.

    I think that's a reasonably good idea, but the stumbling block is that for large numbers of people there'd end up being at least one item they didn't want.

    I have seen some supermarkets sell similar sorts of packs of mixed vegetables, marketed as enough for a stew.
    The problem is that you're selling fruit intended for being kept at home and eaten at your leisure. So it can't just be hoyed into a bag as squish happens. And as you say someone will want x and get y and complain - assuming they want t pay the £lots it would cost.

    There is a good reason you can buy mixed prepped veg or mixed chopped fruit intended for immediate consumption and not a mix of various things intended to be kept. Farm shops can get away with it because people like to pay for the experience. Would do exciting things to the profit numbers of the Tesco fruit buyer, lets put it that way.
    More shops should sell loose fruit and veg. One of the things I like about Waitrose is that you can buy large fruit loose, and as many bananas as you need.
  • RochdalePioneersRochdalePioneers Posts: 27,013

    dixiedean said:

    A propos of nothing, (inspired by a cornflake short of a multipack) why don't supermarkets sell variety bags of fruit?
    Living on my own, I don't want a pack of 10 bananas, or 5 apples, or 15 satsumas.
    A pack of 6 pieces of random fruit would be good though.

    I think that's a reasonably good idea, but the stumbling block is that for large numbers of people there'd end up being at least one item they didn't want.

    I have seen some supermarkets sell similar sorts of packs of mixed vegetables, marketed as enough for a stew.
    The problem is that you're selling fruit intended for being kept at home and eaten at your leisure. So it can't just be hoyed into a bag as squish happens. And as you say someone will want x and get y and complain - assuming they want t pay the £lots it would cost.

    There is a good reason you can buy mixed prepped veg or mixed chopped fruit intended for immediate consumption and not a mix of various things intended to be kept. Farm shops can get away with it because people like to pay for the experience. Would do exciting things to the profit numbers of the Tesco fruit buyer, lets put it that way.
    You could just get somebody on the shop floor to put selections of fruit in a paper bag and sell them with a mark up.
    Most fruit is sold loose as well as pre-packed - put your own fruit in the bag. Most of the supermarkets have online ordering - if you order 3 apples 2 pears 4 bananas then someone will pick that for you.
  • One thing I really don't get is bananas wrapped in plastic bags. They already come with their own natural wrapping, and the plastic only seems to serve to make them sweat if you leave them in it.

    Just have a bunch loose, what do you need a bunch in plastic for?
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 47,786

    dixiedean said:

    A propos of nothing, (inspired by a cornflake short of a multipack) why don't supermarkets sell variety bags of fruit?
    Living on my own, I don't want a pack of 10 bananas, or 5 apples, or 15 satsumas.
    A pack of 6 pieces of random fruit would be good though.

    I think that's a reasonably good idea, but the stumbling block is that for large numbers of people there'd end up being at least one item they didn't want.

    I have seen some supermarkets sell similar sorts of packs of mixed vegetables, marketed as enough for a stew.
    The problem is that you're selling fruit intended for being kept at home and eaten at your leisure. So it can't just be hoyed into a bag as squish happens. And as you say someone will want x and get y and complain - assuming they want t pay the £lots it would cost.

    There is a good reason you can buy mixed prepped veg or mixed chopped fruit intended for immediate consumption and not a mix of various things intended to be kept. Farm shops can get away with it because people like to pay for the experience. Would do exciting things to the profit numbers of the Tesco fruit buyer, lets put it that way.
    You could just get somebody on the shop floor to put selections of fruit in a paper bag and sell them with a mark up.
    Most fruit is sold loose as well as pre-packed - put your own fruit in the bag. Most of the supermarkets have online ordering - if you order 3 apples 2 pears 4 bananas then someone will pick that for you.
    So suddenly its solvable.
  • DecrepiterJohnLDecrepiterJohnL Posts: 23,926
    dixiedean said:

    A propos of nothing, (inspired by a cornflake short of a multipack) why don't supermarkets sell variety bags of fruit?
    Living on my own, I don't want a pack of 10 bananas, or 5 apples, or 15 satsumas.
    A pack of 6 pieces of random fruit would be good though.

    I do want a dozen apples BUT please bring back the best before date because I need to know they will last beyond the day after tomorrow.
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 38,517
    IshmaelZ said:

    IshmaelZ said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Sandpit said:

    The challenge now, is to get everyone (except Russia and North Korea) on board with the replacement.

    Go to Mars instead of low earth orbit.
    Lunar orbital gateway, infrastructure on the moons surface, build a mass driver, head to Mars from there.
    Should have been done 3 or 4 decades ago
    Wait: I thought a moon base was useless for getting to Mars.
    Not if you want to go regularly and cheaply. Why waste money carrying shit loads of fuel to break through Earths atmosphere? Mass drivers, you could be firing supplies etc at Mars as regularly as commuter trains
    Unless Mars is desperately short of moon rock I see a flaw in this plan.
    Water on the moon can be turned into hydrogen - used in rockets. Ambitious but doable.
    So can water on Mars.
    How much water is there on Mars? Features such as the Recurrent Slope Linea were recently seen to be evidence of flowing seasonal water, but that is very heavily debated. Water might be very common, or exceptionally rare, even as underground ice. It's science at its best, where the same evidence is examined by brilliant people and different opinions formed.

    They do agree on one thing though: we need more data, ;)
  • wooliedyedwooliedyed Posts: 6,827
    edited July 2022

    IshmaelZ said:

    IshmaelZ said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Sandpit said:

    The challenge now, is to get everyone (except Russia and North Korea) on board with the replacement.

    Go to Mars instead of low earth orbit.
    Lunar orbital gateway, infrastructure on the moons surface, build a mass driver, head to Mars from there.
    Should have been done 3 or 4 decades ago
    Wait: I thought a moon base was useless for getting to Mars.
    Not if you want to go regularly and cheaply. Why waste money carrying shit loads of fuel to break through Earths atmosphere? Mass drivers, you could be firing supplies etc at Mars as regularly as commuter trains
    Unless Mars is desperately short of moon rock I see a flaw in this plan.
    Water on the moon can be turned into hydrogen - used in rockets. Ambitious but doable.
    So can water on Mars.
    How much water is there on Mars? Features such as the Recurrent Slope Linea were recently seen to be evidence of flowing seasonal water, but that is very heavily debated. Water might be very common, or exceptionally rare, even as underground ice. It's science at its best, where the same evidence is examined by brilliant people and different opinions formed.

    They do agree on one thing though: we need more data, ;)
    Theres an enormous amount at the poles regardless of the other possibilities
  • Sean_FSean_F Posts: 35,765
    Leon said:

    CD13 said:

    Advice for the new PM, whoever it is.

    Learn from Angela Merkel.

    How to trash your reputation in three easy lessons.

    1. Cosy up to the greens by closing most of your nuclear power stations. (Not quite sure where the CO2 comes in, but facts don't matter)
    2. Rely totally on Russian gas supplies.
    3. Punish the other EU partners by demanding they make up for your idiotic actions. OK, that may be down to the poor suckers you left behind, but it's gone well, hasn't it, Angela?

    The lesson to learn from this? Listen to the Greens and do the opposite.

    I'm not a climate denier, I have a roof full of solar panels. But my advice to the Greens. Make sure you have a back-up before you phase out every source of energy you have. Even a seven-year-old should know that.

    Merkel also refuses to accept any responsibility and denies that she needs to apologise

    What appeared admirable in her as a leader now looks like mulishness, even childishness
    Merkel is one of those leaders who was grossly overrated during her time in office, and whose standing has plummeted subsequently.
  • LostPasswordLostPassword Posts: 14,772

    One thing I really don't get is bananas wrapped in plastic bags. They already come with their own natural wrapping, and the plastic only seems to serve to make them sweat if you leave them in it.

    Just have a bunch loose, what do you need a bunch in plastic for?

    Some supermarkets have stopped using the plastic bags and have found a different way to attach a label to the bunch.
  • dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 27,835
    See. I liked Morrison's. Where you could buy pick 'n mix salad by the size of the container.
  • kyf_100kyf_100 Posts: 3,911
    edited July 2022

    kyf_100 said:

    CD13 said:

    Advice for the new PM, whoever it is.

    Learn from Angela Merkel.

    How to trash your reputation in three easy lessons.

    1. Cosy up to the greens by closing most of your nuclear power stations. (Not quite sure where the CO2 comes in, but facts don't matter)
    2. Rely totally on Russian gas supplies.
    3. Punish the other EU partners by demanding they make up for your idiotic actions. OK, that may be down to the poor suckers you left behind, but it's gone well, hasn't it, Angela?

    The lesson to learn from this? Listen to the Greens and do the opposite.

    I'm not a climate denier, I have a roof full of solar panels. But my advice to the Greens. Make sure you have a back-up before you phase out every source of energy you have. Even a seven-year-old should know that.

    "If you are simultaneously opposed to fossil fuels and nuclear power, you are for mass starvation and extreme human suffering (whether you realize it or not). As others have noted, if nuclear power were invented today, it would be hailed as civilization-saving technology. Can we just pretend like it was and get on with it?"

    https://twitter.com/DoombergT/status/1550774894618705920
    Not all Greens are against nuclear. Monbiot for one has said it will be essential to support the switch over to non-carbon.
    A lot of sensible greens are pro-nuclear. Unfortunately the vast majority aren't.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-54103163

    "Much of the green movement was "steeped in an anti-nuclear mindset", she said, "when any rational, evidence-based approach shows that a strategy including nuclear energy is the only realistic solution to driving down emissions at the scale and speed required".

    And of course the German Green Party are staunchly opposed to nuclear, which is what the original poster was referring to.
  • DecrepiterJohnLDecrepiterJohnL Posts: 23,926
    Boris Johnson says meeting with ex-KGB agent Alexander Lebedev was social event
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-62308217
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 43,611

    IshmaelZ said:

    IshmaelZ said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Sandpit said:

    The challenge now, is to get everyone (except Russia and North Korea) on board with the replacement.

    Go to Mars instead of low earth orbit.
    Lunar orbital gateway, infrastructure on the moons surface, build a mass driver, head to Mars from there.
    Should have been done 3 or 4 decades ago
    Wait: I thought a moon base was useless for getting to Mars.
    Not if you want to go regularly and cheaply. Why waste money carrying shit loads of fuel to break through Earths atmosphere? Mass drivers, you could be firing supplies etc at Mars as regularly as commuter trains
    Unless Mars is desperately short of moon rock I see a flaw in this plan.
    Water on the moon can be turned into hydrogen - used in rockets. Ambitious but doable.
    So can water on Mars.
    How much water is there on Mars? Features such as the Recurrent Slope Linea were recently seen to be evidence of flowing seasonal water, but that is very heavily debated. Water might be very common, or exceptionally rare, even as underground ice. It's science at its best, where the same evidence is examined by brilliant people and different opinions formed.

    They do agree on one thing though: we need more data, ;)

    The ice caps are proven and by themselves offer vast supplies of water.
This discussion has been closed.