Off topic, well sort of, I've just been phoned by somebody purporting to be an energy advisor. I'm not one for responding to cold calls but I think it would be helpful if there was some official body which provided energy advice. As far as I know there isn't anything. At least in this geographical area! Unless of course anyone here knows better!
I've just watched one of Owen Jones's latest missives on Twitter (the one posted two days ago). And, my goodness, can someone send for the RNLI? He's drowning in salty, salty tears.
Here's an idea for him: if he's so irate, then stand for election for Labour. Then he might actually do something for people.
He wouldn't get on a shortlist under Starmer.
Well he won't now, will he!
Screeching "You're a liar!!!!" at the party leader (whilst backtracking from your comments ("Hey, I shop at Waitrose" and "He knows me, but we've only met a few times aside from one of my best mates who works for him" etc etc) will not enamour him to the saner parts of the party.
Well he's disappointed that socialism* looks off the table.
Fwiw I reckon Keir is doing double bluff. He projected Left to get the Leader gig, now projects Centre to get the bigger gig of PM, then - if my sense is right - he will shift back Left in office.
* by which I mean some 'left' radicalism not a return to Clause 4.
That concern might well be the reason he won't get the centre ground voter. I quite like him, but the rest of the Labour party is full of more fruitcakes than the Tories are.
Ok. But to be clear - by 'shift back Left' I don't mean to anything resembling the previous JC platform. I just mean he'll get in, keep it solid for a while, kind of bed himself and Labour into the public mind as "yep, these guys are ok", and then over time some fairly interesting - radical even - policies will start to arrive, maybe with a good 2nd term majority having spent the 1st with a small one or in a pact with others. Think that's the SKS plan. If you could get into his head I think that is what you'd see.
But here is Julian Smith, MP for Ripon, speaking up for Northern Ireland in relation to energy bills. He was a very good Northern Ireland Secretary, stupidly sacked by Johnson and has maintained an interest in NI affairs since.
I think this is very much to his credit. A great shame there are not more like him in the Commons.
Interestingly, Mandelson was another who continued quietly to take an interest in NI long after he left. He helped raise money for the victims of the Omagh bombing - providing financial help himself and persuading fellow Parliamentarians to contribute. That bastard Ian Paisley, for all his talk, was one of the few who contributed not a penny. Another fulminating Pharisee.
To be fair, I think there are more like him in the Commons. I'd say an interest in public service for its own sake appears to be reasonably common among MPs. It's just sadly unnewsworthy.
We need to be wary of this: I watched something earlier (*) stating that the Russian doctrine states to typically build four sets of defensive lines, and would quickly retreat to the second, taking the attackers into a kill zone. To aid this, they build another et of defensive lines well ahead of the 'real' first one, tricking the attackers into range of the Russian artillery.
If I've got that right.
However, it's a trick that may not work very well in modern warfare, where drones and satellites allow you to see - and potentially map - all the defensive lines.
(*) Yes, I know...
It's possible that if you're aware of that tactic, the Ukrainian military are too?
Such defence in depth strategies have been in use since at least WW1 - they were a response to the massive shelling on the western front. The defenders would often retreat, carefully, to prepared secondary and tertiary lines, then counter attack.
This new short thread is worth a read...
This should not be surprisings, since Ukraine's information operations pulled lots of Russian strategic & operational reserve ground forces to Kherson.
But here is Julian Smith, MP for Ripon, speaking up for Northern Ireland in relation to energy bills. He was a very good Northern Ireland Secretary, stupidly sacked by Johnson and has maintained an interest in NI affairs since.
I think this is very much to his credit. A great shame there are not more like him in the Commons.
Interestingly, Mandelson was another who continued quietly to take an interest in NI long after he left. He helped raise money for the victims of the Omagh bombing - providing financial help himself and persuading fellow Parliamentarians to contribute. That bastard Ian Paisley, for all his talk, was one of the few who contributed not a penny. Another fulminating Pharisee.
To be fair, I think there are more like him in the Commons. I'd say an interest in public service for its own sake appears to be reasonably common among MPs. It's just sadly unnewsworthy.
100% agree. I have met quite a few MPs on both sides (though mainly baby eating Tories) and they have generally been good people
It depends how you want to count. If you compare it with a voting intention poll lead, you're probably counting twice. Still, 7.5 per cent is still quite a hurdle to overcome.
The TRULY great thing about this coast is that it’s all protected. It’s a national park AND a series of regional parks. Fiercely maintained. You can’t build a small garden shed without permission
So this - the last great totally-unspoiled coast in southwest Europe, will remain unspoiled
Well done Portugal
If only Greece was doing the same, and Italy before had done. There's still miles of coastline in Greece like this, but the way things are going, in 20 years there won't be.
But here is Julian Smith, MP for Ripon, speaking up for Northern Ireland in relation to energy bills. He was a very good Northern Ireland Secretary, stupidly sacked by Johnson and has maintained an interest in NI affairs since.
I think this is very much to his credit. A great shame there are not more like him in the Commons.
Interestingly, Mandelson was another who continued quietly to take an interest in NI long after he left. He helped raise money for the victims of the Omagh bombing - providing financial help himself and persuading fellow Parliamentarians to contribute. That bastard Ian Paisley, for all his talk, was one of the few who contributed not a penny. Another fulminating Pharisee.
To be fair, I think there are more like him in the Commons. I'd say an interest in public service for its own sake appears to be reasonably common among MPs. It's just sadly unnewsworthy.
Interesting reverse ferrets starting on mega-inflation predictions: Investment bank Goldman Sachs says a cap on bills for households could see inflation, which tracks how the cost of living changes over time, peak at 10.8% in October, rather than the 14.8% forecast before.
While the Bank of England said that the plan could slow rising prices, Goldman Sachs said it would lead to prices falling more quickly as well, with inflation slowing to 2.4% by December 2023.
Both cautioned that there was uncertainty around what exactly the plan will look like and what would happen once any cap is lifted. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-62817391
I also see that there is still a lorra lorra Russian Gas flowing to Europe through the Ukraine Yamal pipeline. I make that about 25% of the full capacity of Nordstream One, but there are others here more knowledgeable in this area:
Nominations for Russian gas flows into Slovakia from Ukraine via the Velke Kapusany border point were about 36.7 million cubic metres (mcm) per day for Tuesday, little changed from the previous day, data from the Ukrainian transmission system operator showed.
Russia's Gazprom (GAZP.MM) said on Tuesday that it will ship 42.4 mcm of gas to Europe via Ukraine via the Sudzha entry point, in line with the previous day.
A small step forward, and it would have been a terrible look to deny the SNP the right to intervene even in these 'make the Nats illegal' times.
What does 'intervene' mean in this case?
'The party had applied to be allowed to submit its own arguments to the court in early August, despite the Scottish Government’s top law officer – Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain – already having submitted a case.
The UK Government has also submitted and published its own arguments in the indyref2 case.
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court said that the SNP would be allowed to intervene and submit a third written case – but it had to be limited to 20 pages and must avoid “repetition of the Lord Advocate’s arguments”.'
Obvs there will be an element of response to the UKG arguments, I should think.
*Capping price of Russian gas; *Ceiling on "enormous" revenues of renewables and nuclear; *Windfall tax on oil and gas cos; *Mandatory 5% savings in electricity use in peak hours
I've just watched one of Owen Jones's latest missives on Twitter (the one posted two days ago). And, my goodness, can someone send for the RNLI? He's drowning in salty, salty tears.
Here's an idea for him: if he's so irate, then stand for election for Labour. Then he might actually do something for people.
He wouldn't get on a shortlist under Starmer.
Well he won't now, will he!
Screeching "You're a liar!!!!" at the party leader (whilst backtracking from your comments ("Hey, I shop at Waitrose" and "He knows me, but we've only met a few times aside from one of my best mates who works for him" etc etc) will not enamour him to the saner parts of the party.
Well he's disappointed that socialism* looks off the table.
Fwiw I reckon Keir is doing double bluff. He projected Left to get the Leader gig, now projects Centre to get the bigger gig of PM, then - if my sense is right - he will shift back Left in office.
* by which I mean some 'left' radicalism not a return to Clause 4.
That concern might well be the reason he won't get the centre ground voter. I quite like him, but the rest of the Labour party is full of more fruitcakes than the Tories are.
Ok. But to be clear - by 'shift back Left' I don't mean to anything resembling the previous JC platform. I just mean he'll get in, keep it solid for a while, kind of bed himself and Labour into the public mind as "yep, these guys are ok", and then over time some fairly interesting - radical even - policies will start to arrive, maybe with a good 2nd term majority having spent a truncated 1st term with a small one or in a pact with others. Think that's the SKS plan. If you could get into his head I think that is what you'd see.
As I say, that is what many centrist voters will be concerned about. Liz Truss is correct in saying people like to keep the money they have earned. Hosing taxpayers money at trade union dominated vanity schemes in the public sector and heavily taxing middle earners to achieve it is what those of us who are Labour-sceptic hesitate over voting for them about. I hope if he is elected he governs in the same centre ground that he presents himself when asking the electorate for their endorsement
Truss, at her first PMQs: "And if taxes are put up, and raised to the same level as France, which is what the current proposal is, that will put off investors."
Truss, at her first PMQs: "And if taxes are put up, and raised to the same level as France, which is what the current proposal is, that will put off investors."
Screeds of bluster, with the briefest of mentions that the issue is “impact on womens’ rights in the rest of the U.K.:
New UK Prime Minister Liz Truss is trying to block Scotland’s plans to allow trans people to self-identify as male or female, VICE World News can reveal.
The legislation is poorly thought through and the politicians didn’t like some of the expert witness testimony they received when this was pointed out to them in committee.
1. The Scottish govt gives different inconsistent explanations of what it's legislation means depending on who it is talking to. Either it does not understand it or it is lying. 2. It is ignoring a court decision. 3. Its legislation - if it really has the effect the Scottish government is saying it will have - will impact on reserved matters under the Equality Act and therefore be outside its competence.
All over the shop:
In summary, we believe the revised statutory guidance for the Gender Representation on Public Boards Act is unlawful. The Scottish Government believe otherwise and maintain a GRC changes a person’s sex for the purposes of the Equality Act. Not only does this decouple women’s biological sex from sex-specific provisions in the Equality Act, but it means reforming the GRA also carries a serious risk of intruding on reserved matters.The Scottish Government has a history of inconsistency and lack of understanding on both the definition of woman and the operation of the Equality Act. All of this leaves the Committee exposed, trying to make good law in the midst of a live court action, the outcome of which materially affects the reform.
Is this driven by politicians ignoring Civil Service / Legal advice, or defective advice?
I've just watched one of Owen Jones's latest missives on Twitter (the one posted two days ago). And, my goodness, can someone send for the RNLI? He's drowning in salty, salty tears.
Here's an idea for him: if he's so irate, then stand for election for Labour. Then he might actually do something for people.
He wouldn't get on a shortlist under Starmer.
Well he won't now, will he!
Screeching "You're a liar!!!!" at the party leader (whilst backtracking from your comments ("Hey, I shop at Waitrose" and "He knows me, but we've only met a few times aside from one of my best mates who works for him" etc etc) will not enamour him to the saner parts of the party.
Well he's disappointed that socialism* looks off the table.
Fwiw I reckon Keir is doing double bluff. He projected Left to get the Leader gig, now projects Centre to get the bigger gig of PM, then - if my sense is right - he will shift back Left in office.
* by which I mean some 'left' radicalism not a return to Clause 4.
That concern might well be the reason he won't get the centre ground voter. I quite like him, but the rest of the Labour party is full of more fruitcakes than the Tories are.
Ok. But to be clear - by 'shift back Left' I don't mean to anything resembling the previous JC platform. I just mean he'll get in, keep it solid for a while, kind of bed himself and Labour into the public mind as "yep, these guys are ok", and then over time some fairly interesting - radical even - policies will start to arrive, maybe with a good 2nd term majority having spent a truncated 1st term with a small one or in a pact with others. Think that's the SKS plan. If you could get into his head I think that is what you'd see.
As I say, that is what many centrist voters will be concerned about. Liz Truss is correct in saying people like to keep the money they have earned. Hosing taxpayers money at trade union dominated vanity schemes in the public sector and heavily taxing middle earners to achieve it is what those of us who are Labour-sceptic hesitate over voting for them about. I hope if he is elected he governs in the same centre ground that he presents himself when asking the electorate for their endorsement
It's a shame none of the major pollsters is asking people whether their main concern today is "Hosing taxpayers money at trade union dominated vanity schemes".
*Capping price of Russian gas; *Ceiling on "enormous" revenues of renewables and nuclear; *Windfall tax on oil and gas cos; *Mandatory 5% savings in electricity use in peak hours
*Capping price of Russian gas; *Ceiling on "enormous" revenues of renewables and nuclear; *Windfall tax on oil and gas cos; *Mandatory 5% savings in electricity use in peak hours
I've just watched one of Owen Jones's latest missives on Twitter (the one posted two days ago). And, my goodness, can someone send for the RNLI? He's drowning in salty, salty tears.
Here's an idea for him: if he's so irate, then stand for election for Labour. Then he might actually do something for people.
He wouldn't get on a shortlist under Starmer.
Well he won't now, will he!
Screeching "You're a liar!!!!" at the party leader (whilst backtracking from your comments ("Hey, I shop at Waitrose" and "He knows me, but we've only met a few times aside from one of my best mates who works for him" etc etc) will not enamour him to the saner parts of the party.
Well he's disappointed that socialism* looks off the table.
Fwiw I reckon Keir is doing double bluff. He projected Left to get the Leader gig, now projects Centre to get the bigger gig of PM, then - if my sense is right - he will shift back Left in office.
* by which I mean some 'left' radicalism not a return to Clause 4.
That concern might well be the reason he won't get the centre ground voter. I quite like him, but the rest of the Labour party is full of more fruitcakes than the Tories are.
Ok. But to be clear - by 'shift back Left' I don't mean to anything resembling the previous JC platform. I just mean he'll get in, keep it solid for a while, kind of bed himself and Labour into the public mind as "yep, these guys are ok", and then over time some fairly interesting - radical even - policies will start to arrive, maybe with a good 2nd term majority having spent the 1st with a small one or in a pact with others.
Just like Blair did?
Blair's the model, no question. But hopefully there'll be no "sticking to Tory spending plans for 2 years" or sucking up to the US and invading far off countries.
I've just watched one of Owen Jones's latest missives on Twitter (the one posted two days ago). And, my goodness, can someone send for the RNLI? He's drowning in salty, salty tears.
Here's an idea for him: if he's so irate, then stand for election for Labour. Then he might actually do something for people.
He wouldn't get on a shortlist under Starmer.
Well he won't now, will he!
Screeching "You're a liar!!!!" at the party leader (whilst backtracking from your comments ("Hey, I shop at Waitrose" and "He knows me, but we've only met a few times aside from one of my best mates who works for him" etc etc) will not enamour him to the saner parts of the party.
Well he's disappointed that socialism* looks off the table.
Fwiw I reckon Keir is doing double bluff. He projected Left to get the Leader gig, now projects Centre to get the bigger gig of PM, then - if my sense is right - he will shift back Left in office.
* by which I mean some 'left' radicalism not a return to Clause 4.
That concern might well be the reason he won't get the centre ground voter. I quite like him, but the rest of the Labour party is full of more fruitcakes than the Tories are.
Ok. But to be clear - by 'shift back Left' I don't mean to anything resembling the previous JC platform. I just mean he'll get in, keep it solid for a while, kind of bed himself and Labour into the public mind as "yep, these guys are ok", and then over time some fairly interesting - radical even - policies will start to arrive, maybe with a good 2nd term majority having spent a truncated 1st term with a small one or in a pact with others. Think that's the SKS plan. If you could get into his head I think that is what you'd see.
As I say, that is what many centrist voters will be concerned about. Liz Truss is correct in saying people like to keep the money they have earned. Hosing taxpayers money at trade union dominated vanity schemes in the public sector and heavily taxing middle earners to achieve it is what those of us who are Labour-sceptic hesitate over voting for them about. I hope if he is elected he governs in the same centre ground that he presents himself when asking the electorate for their endorsement
It's a shame none of the major pollsters is asking people whether their main concern today is "Hosing taxpayers money at trade union dominated vanity schemes".
I might suggest it to them. I might also ask them to specifically poll you with the question: "when did you first realise that everyone on PB thought you were a twat?"
I've just watched one of Owen Jones's latest missives on Twitter (the one posted two days ago). And, my goodness, can someone send for the RNLI? He's drowning in salty, salty tears.
Here's an idea for him: if he's so irate, then stand for election for Labour. Then he might actually do something for people.
He wouldn't get on a shortlist under Starmer.
Well he won't now, will he!
Screeching "You're a liar!!!!" at the party leader (whilst backtracking from your comments ("Hey, I shop at Waitrose" and "He knows me, but we've only met a few times aside from one of my best mates who works for him" etc etc) will not enamour him to the saner parts of the party.
Well he's disappointed that socialism* looks off the table.
Fwiw I reckon Keir is doing double bluff. He projected Left to get the Leader gig, now projects Centre to get the bigger gig of PM, then - if my sense is right - he will shift back Left in office.
* by which I mean some 'left' radicalism not a return to Clause 4.
That concern might well be the reason he won't get the centre ground voter. I quite like him, but the rest of the Labour party is full of more fruitcakes than the Tories are.
Ok. But to be clear - by 'shift back Left' I don't mean to anything resembling the previous JC platform. I just mean he'll get in, keep it solid for a while, kind of bed himself and Labour into the public mind as "yep, these guys are ok", and then over time some fairly interesting - radical even - policies will start to arrive, maybe with a good 2nd term majority having spent a truncated 1st term with a small one or in a pact with others. Think that's the SKS plan. If you could get into his head I think that is what you'd see.
As I say, that is what many centrist voters will be concerned about. Liz Truss is correct in saying people like to keep the money they have earned. Hosing taxpayers money at trade union dominated vanity schemes in the public sector and heavily taxing middle earners to achieve it is what those of us who are Labour-sceptic hesitate over voting for them about. I hope if he is elected he governs in the same centre ground that he presents himself when asking the electorate for their endorsement
I'm sure he will. It's the getting elected bit that is the biggest handicap.
Interesting reverse ferrets starting on mega-inflation predictions: Investment bank Goldman Sachs says a cap on bills for households could see inflation, which tracks how the cost of living changes over time, peak at 10.8% in October, rather than the 14.8% forecast before.
While the Bank of England said that the plan could slow rising prices, Goldman Sachs said it would lead to prices falling more quickly as well, with inflation slowing to 2.4% by December 2023.
Both cautioned that there was uncertainty around what exactly the plan will look like and what would happen once any cap is lifted. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-62817391
I also see that there is still a lorra lorra Russian Gas flowing to Europe through the Ukraine Yamal pipeline. I make that about 25% of the full capacity of Nordstream One, but there are others here more knowledgeable in this area:
Nominations for Russian gas flows into Slovakia from Ukraine via the Velke Kapusany border point were about 36.7 million cubic metres (mcm) per day for Tuesday, little changed from the previous day, data from the Ukrainian transmission system operator showed.
Russia's Gazprom (GAZP.MM) said on Tuesday that it will ship 42.4 mcm of gas to Europe via Ukraine via the Sudzha entry point, in line with the previous day.
*Capping price of Russian gas; *Ceiling on "enormous" revenues of renewables and nuclear; *Windfall tax on oil and gas cos; *Mandatory 5% savings in electricity use in peak hours
Interesting reverse ferrets starting on mega-inflation predictions: Investment bank Goldman Sachs says a cap on bills for households could see inflation, which tracks how the cost of living changes over time, peak at 10.8% in October, rather than the 14.8% forecast before.
While the Bank of England said that the plan could slow rising prices, Goldman Sachs said it would lead to prices falling more quickly as well, with inflation slowing to 2.4% by December 2023.
Both cautioned that there was uncertainty around what exactly the plan will look like and what would happen once any cap is lifted. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-62817391
I also see that there is still a lorra lorra Russian Gas flowing to Europe through the Ukraine Yamal pipeline. I make that about 25% of the full capacity of Nordstream One, but there are others here more knowledgeable in this area:
Nominations for Russian gas flows into Slovakia from Ukraine via the Velke Kapusany border point were about 36.7 million cubic metres (mcm) per day for Tuesday, little changed from the previous day, data from the Ukrainian transmission system operator showed.
Russia's Gazprom (GAZP.MM) said on Tuesday that it will ship 42.4 mcm of gas to Europe via Ukraine via the Sudzha entry point, in line with the previous day.
I've just watched one of Owen Jones's latest missives on Twitter (the one posted two days ago). And, my goodness, can someone send for the RNLI? He's drowning in salty, salty tears.
Here's an idea for him: if he's so irate, then stand for election for Labour. Then he might actually do something for people.
He wouldn't get on a shortlist under Starmer.
Well he won't now, will he!
Screeching "You're a liar!!!!" at the party leader (whilst backtracking from your comments ("Hey, I shop at Waitrose" and "He knows me, but we've only met a few times aside from one of my best mates who works for him" etc etc) will not enamour him to the saner parts of the party.
Well he's disappointed that socialism* looks off the table.
Fwiw I reckon Keir is doing double bluff. He projected Left to get the Leader gig, now projects Centre to get the bigger gig of PM, then - if my sense is right - he will shift back Left in office.
* by which I mean some 'left' radicalism not a return to Clause 4.
That concern might well be the reason he won't get the centre ground voter. I quite like him, but the rest of the Labour party is full of more fruitcakes than the Tories are.
Ok. But to be clear - by 'shift back Left' I don't mean to anything resembling the previous JC platform. I just mean he'll get in, keep it solid for a while, kind of bed himself and Labour into the public mind as "yep, these guys are ok", and then over time some fairly interesting - radical even - policies will start to arrive, maybe with a good 2nd term majority having spent a truncated 1st term with a small one or in a pact with others. Think that's the SKS plan. If you could get into his head I think that is what you'd see.
As I say, that is what many centrist voters will be concerned about. Liz Truss is correct in saying people like to keep the money they have earned. Hosing taxpayers money at trade union dominated vanity schemes in the public sector and heavily taxing middle earners to achieve it is what those of us who are Labour-sceptic hesitate over voting for them about. I hope if he is elected he governs in the same centre ground that he presents himself when asking the electorate for their endorsement
I'm sure he will. It's the getting elected bit that is the biggest handicap.
I would suggest by 2024 Labour will be facing much lower UK tax rates, which raises the question how are they going to persuade people to pay higher taxes
We need to be wary of this: I watched something earlier (*) stating that the Russian doctrine states to typically build four sets of defensive lines, and would quickly retreat to the second, taking the attackers into a kill zone. To aid this, they build another et of defensive lines well ahead of the 'real' first one, tricking the attackers into range of the Russian artillery.
If I've got that right.
However, it's a trick that may not work very well in modern warfare, where drones and satellites allow you to see - and potentially map - all the defensive lines.
(*) Yes, I know...
It's possible that if you're aware of that tactic, the Ukrainian military are too?
Such defence in depth strategies have been in use since at least WW1 - they were a response to the massive shelling on the western front. The defenders would often retreat, carefully, to prepared secondary and tertiary lines, then counter attack.
This new short thread is worth a read...
This should not be surprisings, since Ukraine's information operations pulled lots of Russian strategic & operational reserve ground forces to Kherson.
There may be good reasons not to do this, or it may be about to happen.
Maybe the sensible thing for Ukraine to do now is call off the Kharkive counter offensive, return to the defensive in that sector, and move the troops made available by that up to Isium to exploit the brake though, reinforcing success and all that.
The Russian troops around Kharkive, will struggle to retreat without the bridges, or to advance without the supplies the bridges would bring.
Interesting reverse ferrets starting on mega-inflation predictions: Investment bank Goldman Sachs says a cap on bills for households could see inflation, which tracks how the cost of living changes over time, peak at 10.8% in October, rather than the 14.8% forecast before.
While the Bank of England said that the plan could slow rising prices, Goldman Sachs said it would lead to prices falling more quickly as well, with inflation slowing to 2.4% by December 2023.
Both cautioned that there was uncertainty around what exactly the plan will look like and what would happen once any cap is lifted. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-62817391
I also see that there is still a lorra lorra Russian Gas flowing to Europe through the Ukraine Yamal pipeline. I make that about 25% of the full capacity of Nordstream One, but there are others here more knowledgeable in this area:
Nominations for Russian gas flows into Slovakia from Ukraine via the Velke Kapusany border point were about 36.7 million cubic metres (mcm) per day for Tuesday, little changed from the previous day, data from the Ukrainian transmission system operator showed.
Russia's Gazprom (GAZP.MM) said on Tuesday that it will ship 42.4 mcm of gas to Europe via Ukraine via the Sudzha entry point, in line with the previous day.
But here is Julian Smith, MP for Ripon, speaking up for Northern Ireland in relation to energy bills. He was a very good Northern Ireland Secretary, stupidly sacked by Johnson and has maintained an interest in NI affairs since.
I think this is very much to his credit. A great shame there are not more like him in the Commons.
Interestingly, Mandelson was another who continued quietly to take an interest in NI long after he left. He helped raise money for the victims of the Omagh bombing - providing financial help himself and persuading fellow Parliamentarians to contribute. That bastard Ian Paisley, for all his talk, was one of the few who contributed not a penny. Another fulminating Pharisee.
My Ian Paisley junior anecdote.
When I started at Queens Belfast in 1989 reading History I decided that I had better join the History society. I had grown up in London so sectarianism was all new to 18 year old me.
Unbeknownst to me the Glasgow Rangers Society had been banned a year before - due to its extreme sectarianism (cancellation for promulgation of hatred was a thing even then). Its members led by young Ian had merely moved into the near comatose History Society and arranged a reverse takeover and now sat in the History common room each day reading the Sun. This was much to the annoyance of the overwhelmingly English History Dons.
When I arrived Ian was genuinely delighted to meet a real live English person. He tried to take me under his wing and told me what a great time I would have with the lads. His real selling point however was as he said the fact that his society 'Had no f###ing fenians in it'. Sadly as I was an English catholic I had to decline his offer and at the next set of officer elections one of the Professors - an Englishman called Professor Jupp- lobbied all the students to turn up and vote them out of office. I often remember the sadness in poor Ian's eyes as he and his acolytes trooped out of the faculty that day. Still at least their eyes were not too close together.
*Capping price of Russian gas; *Ceiling on "enormous" revenues of renewables and nuclear; *Windfall tax on oil and gas cos; *Mandatory 5% savings in electricity use in peak hours
Interesting reverse ferrets starting on mega-inflation predictions: Investment bank Goldman Sachs says a cap on bills for households could see inflation, which tracks how the cost of living changes over time, peak at 10.8% in October, rather than the 14.8% forecast before.
While the Bank of England said that the plan could slow rising prices, Goldman Sachs said it would lead to prices falling more quickly as well, with inflation slowing to 2.4% by December 2023.
Both cautioned that there was uncertainty around what exactly the plan will look like and what would happen once any cap is lifted. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-62817391
I also see that there is still a lorra lorra Russian Gas flowing to Europe through the Ukraine Yamal pipeline. I make that about 25% of the full capacity of Nordstream One, but there are others here more knowledgeable in this area:
Nominations for Russian gas flows into Slovakia from Ukraine via the Velke Kapusany border point were about 36.7 million cubic metres (mcm) per day for Tuesday, little changed from the previous day, data from the Ukrainian transmission system operator showed.
Russia's Gazprom (GAZP.MM) said on Tuesday that it will ship 42.4 mcm of gas to Europe via Ukraine via the Sudzha entry point, in line with the previous day.
I've just watched one of Owen Jones's latest missives on Twitter (the one posted two days ago). And, my goodness, can someone send for the RNLI? He's drowning in salty, salty tears.
Here's an idea for him: if he's so irate, then stand for election for Labour. Then he might actually do something for people.
He wouldn't get on a shortlist under Starmer.
Well he won't now, will he!
Screeching "You're a liar!!!!" at the party leader (whilst backtracking from your comments ("Hey, I shop at Waitrose" and "He knows me, but we've only met a few times aside from one of my best mates who works for him" etc etc) will not enamour him to the saner parts of the party.
Well he's disappointed that socialism* looks off the table.
Fwiw I reckon Keir is doing double bluff. He projected Left to get the Leader gig, now projects Centre to get the bigger gig of PM, then - if my sense is right - he will shift back Left in office.
* by which I mean some 'left' radicalism not a return to Clause 4.
That concern might well be the reason he won't get the centre ground voter. I quite like him, but the rest of the Labour party is full of more fruitcakes than the Tories are.
Ok. But to be clear - by 'shift back Left' I don't mean to anything resembling the previous JC platform. I just mean he'll get in, keep it solid for a while, kind of bed himself and Labour into the public mind as "yep, these guys are ok", and then over time some fairly interesting - radical even - policies will start to arrive, maybe with a good 2nd term majority having spent a truncated 1st term with a small one or in a pact with others. Think that's the SKS plan. If you could get into his head I think that is what you'd see.
As I say, that is what many centrist voters will be concerned about. Liz Truss is correct in saying people like to keep the money they have earned. Hosing taxpayers money at trade union dominated vanity schemes in the public sector and heavily taxing middle earners to achieve it is what those of us who are Labour-sceptic hesitate over voting for them about. I hope if he is elected he governs in the same centre ground that he presents himself when asking the electorate for their endorsement
I'm sure he will. It's the getting elected bit that is the biggest handicap.
I would suggest by 2024 Labour will be facing much lower UK tax rates, which raises the question how are they going to persuade people to pay higher taxes
Substantially fewer doctors, nurses, teachers, policeman and refuse collectors will focus minds.
*Capping price of Russian gas; *Ceiling on "enormous" revenues of renewables and nuclear; *Windfall tax on oil and gas cos; *Mandatory 5% savings in electricity use in peak hours
Something we would be obliged to go along with if we were still a member. ..??
Don't like our energy policy? tough.
Its been agreed at the EU level. Even if you voted for an alternative it would be the devils own job to change it.
I hope the EU are ready for Russia to switch of gas for months, even longer
The EU are as woefully unprepared for whats coming as we are im afraid. '5% savings in peak hours' - dont go heating your home when you, you know, come home
To counter any feeling of 'Truss might not be so bad', there has been an absolute torrent of invective about her on the chat at my public sector workplace - complaining about 'British workers need more graft' (the irony of British workers spending their worktime gossiping on Teams was not commented on); complaining about her unsoundness on trans rights, complaining about her unsoundness on climate change, complaining meanwhile about Keir Starmer's uselessness and pining instead for Angela Rayner. All par for the course in a public sector workplace and probably has been for a decade or more, but she clearly hasn't changed the landscape yet. Meanwhile another colleague is enthusiastically looking forward to Scotland leaving the UK so he can move to Scotland and rejoin the EU. I raised doubts about how Scotland would do economically, which he countered with 'well there are a lot of small, poor countries in the EU - Bulgaria and Portugal seem to do ok.' I thought this was maybe a bit of a steep price to pay for rejoining the promised land, but there you go.
Any 'shes planning to sell the NHS' bullshit making an early appearance?
I'm sure it's only a matter of time. Oh, and everybody very excited about what a cracking job Joe Lycett did on Sunday, putting both Liz Truss and Laura K, who is of course a proud Tory, in her place. The public sector is a very odd place.
You must feel like exploding sometimes. Sitting there amongst that with your politics sounds like me on the Lehman trading floor with mine. You should have seen that place rip when Major pulled off his shock win in 92. I've never felt so down and alone - utterly alone.
It does demonstrate what I have always believed, which is lefties are generally very negative. Britain isn't in decline, it is doing pretty well, in spite of Johnson, Brexit and Corbyn. We now need to get back to a bit of sensible boring political stability.
*Capping price of Russian gas; *Ceiling on "enormous" revenues of renewables and nuclear; *Windfall tax on oil and gas cos; *Mandatory 5% savings in electricity use in peak hours
It does demonstrate what I have always believed, which is lefties are generally very negative. Britain isn't in decline, it is doing pretty well, in spite of Johnson, Brexit and Corbyn. We now need to get back to a bit of sensible boring political stability.
I guess I'm a lefty if negativity is a key criteria. But even the righties are negative so perhaps not.
It does demonstrate what I have always believed, which is lefties are generally very negative. Britain isn't in decline, it is doing pretty well, in spite of Johnson, Brexit and Corbyn. We now need to get back to a bit of sensible boring political stability.
I guess I'm a lefty if negativity is a key criteria. But even the righties are negative so perhaps not.
To counter any feeling of 'Truss might not be so bad', there has been an absolute torrent of invective about her on the chat at my public sector workplace - complaining about 'British workers need more graft' (the irony of British workers spending their worktime gossiping on Teams was not commented on); complaining about her unsoundness on trans rights, complaining about her unsoundness on climate change, complaining meanwhile about Keir Starmer's uselessness and pining instead for Angela Rayner. All par for the course in a public sector workplace and probably has been for a decade or more, but she clearly hasn't changed the landscape yet. Meanwhile another colleague is enthusiastically looking forward to Scotland leaving the UK so he can move to Scotland and rejoin the EU. I raised doubts about how Scotland would do economically, which he countered with 'well there are a lot of small, poor countries in the EU - Bulgaria and Portugal seem to do ok.' I thought this was maybe a bit of a steep price to pay for rejoining the promised land, but there you go.
Any 'shes planning to sell the NHS' bullshit making an early appearance?
I'm sure it's only a matter of time. Oh, and everybody very excited about what a cracking job Joe Lycett did on Sunday, putting both Liz Truss and Laura K, who is of course a proud Tory, in her place. The public sector is a very odd place.
You must feel like exploding sometimes. Sitting there amongst that with your politics sounds like me on the Lehman trading floor with mine. You should have seen that place rip when Major pulled off his shock win in 92. I've never felt so down and alone - utterly alone.
You were on the trading floor at 1 am?
Next day - it was rocking.
My first intro to the concept of political betting. A bloke I knew at SG Warburg bragging he had 50k (twice my salary, prob half his before bonus) on the inevitable Labour victory to soften the blow to his finances. LOL.
Also, illustration of how extremely heavy drinking can save your life. I was so hungover I went straight home at 5.30 on the Friday, rather than pubbing till City chucking out time at 8 pm and walking straight into an IRA bomb.
In the spring the penny was dropping about Boris. However, now it has been adjusted for 2022 inflation it is time for the pound to drop.
Now $1.146 to £1 - Truss can say what she likes about "cutting taxes", the market hears "increased borrowing". A falling pound increases inflation. The Bank of England and the Treasury will be working out how best to say "we told you so".
Putting up interest rates to a more normal level wouldn't be such a bad thing.
Except for people who have both mortgages and electricity bills: basically people in the 30 to 50 cohort.
I've just watched one of Owen Jones's latest missives on Twitter (the one posted two days ago). And, my goodness, can someone send for the RNLI? He's drowning in salty, salty tears.
Here's an idea for him: if he's so irate, then stand for election for Labour. Then he might actually do something for people.
He wouldn't get on a shortlist under Starmer.
Well he won't now, will he!
Screeching "You're a liar!!!!" at the party leader (whilst backtracking from your comments ("Hey, I shop at Waitrose" and "He knows me, but we've only met a few times aside from one of my best mates who works for him" etc etc) will not enamour him to the saner parts of the party.
Well he's disappointed that socialism* looks off the table.
Fwiw I reckon Keir is doing double bluff. He projected Left to get the Leader gig, now projects Centre to get the bigger gig of PM, then - if my sense is right - he will shift back Left in office.
* by which I mean some 'left' radicalism not a return to Clause 4.
That concern might well be the reason he won't get the centre ground voter. I quite like him, but the rest of the Labour party is full of more fruitcakes than the Tories are.
Ok. But to be clear - by 'shift back Left' I don't mean to anything resembling the previous JC platform. I just mean he'll get in, keep it solid for a while, kind of bed himself and Labour into the public mind as "yep, these guys are ok", and then over time some fairly interesting - radical even - policies will start to arrive, maybe with a good 2nd term majority having spent the 1st with a small one or in a pact with others. Think that's the SKS plan. If you could get into his head I think that is what you'd see.
I'm trying to find an account for my new business. It's proving tricky for all sorts of reasons. I've been working with Virgin Money to open an account so far but I'm seriously unimpressed - they keep losing correspondence and their emails are masterpieces in missing the point, which is why a month in they still haven't opened an account.
Is there any reasonably good, preferably free or very cheap, business account out there suitable for a start up? I'm not looking for anything very elaborate although the ability to pay cheques in would be an advantage.
Well this will be fun, given that : - 1. He was given this job by the same woman who gave him his previous 2 jobs, one of which was as her personal trainer. The concept of a "conflict of interest" seems not to have occurred to anyone involved. 2. He had no obvious qualifications for the role. 3. The role was only advertised for 9 days and in the wrong section for such jobs. 4. A recent FoI request asking how many other people applied for the role and what were the criteria was answered by saying that there appeared to be no other applicants or too few and/or they didn't have the information.
There was something smelly about the appointment. Perish the thought that it was just dreamt up to give a friend a sinecure at public expense.
So his discrimination claim with court scrutiny of the precise circumstances of how the role was created and how he was appointed and why he decided to resign will be a lot of fun. But not I suspect for him. Or the woman appointing him.
In the spring the penny was dropping about Boris. However, now it has been adjusted for 2022 inflation it is time for the pound to drop.
Now $1.146 to £1 - Truss can say what she likes about "cutting taxes", the market hears "increased borrowing". A falling pound increases inflation. The Bank of England and the Treasury will be working out how best to say "we told you so".
Putting up interest rates to a more normal level wouldn't be such a bad thing.
Except for people who have both mortgages and electricity bills: basically people in the 30 to 50 cohort.
>95% of new mortgages are fixed rate and 83% of outstanding mortgages are fixed rate.
In the spring the penny was dropping about Boris. However, now it has been adjusted for 2022 inflation it is time for the pound to drop.
Now $1.146 to £1 - Truss can say what she likes about "cutting taxes", the market hears "increased borrowing". A falling pound increases inflation. The Bank of England and the Treasury will be working out how best to say "we told you so".
Putting up interest rates to a more normal level wouldn't be such a bad thing.
Except for people who have both mortgages and electricity bills: basically people in the 30 to 50 cohort.
>95% of new mortgages are fixed rate and 83% of outstanding mortgages are fixed rate.
The fixed rate period doesn't go on indefinitely...
Screeds of bluster, with the briefest of mentions that the issue is “impact on womens’ rights in the rest of the U.K.:
New UK Prime Minister Liz Truss is trying to block Scotland’s plans to allow trans people to self-identify as male or female, VICE World News can reveal.
The legislation is poorly thought through and the politicians didn’t like some of the expert witness testimony they received when this was pointed out to them in committee.
1. The Scottish govt gives different inconsistent explanations of what it's legislation means depending on who it is talking to. Either it does not understand it or it is lying. 2. It is ignoring a court decision. 3. Its legislation - if it really has the effect the Scottish government is saying it will have - will impact on reserved matters under the Equality Act and therefore be outside its competence.
All over the shop:
In summary, we believe the revised statutory guidance for the Gender Representation on Public Boards Act is unlawful. The Scottish Government believe otherwise and maintain a GRC changes a person’s sex for the purposes of the Equality Act. Not only does this decouple women’s biological sex from sex-specific provisions in the Equality Act, but it means reforming the GRA also carries a serious risk of intruding on reserved matters.The Scottish Government has a history of inconsistency and lack of understanding on both the definition of woman and the operation of the Equality Act. All of this leaves the Committee exposed, trying to make good law in the midst of a live court action, the outcome of which materially affects the reform.
Is this driven by politicians ignoring Civil Service / Legal advice, or defective advice?
It does demonstrate what I have always believed, which is lefties are generally very negative. Britain isn't in decline, it is doing pretty well, in spite of Johnson, Brexit and Corbyn. We now need to get back to a bit of sensible boring political stability.
Surely mostly what it demonstrates is that if your favoured party is not in power you're more likely to think the country is going to the dogs? You'd want to look at the answer to that question during the Blair years (or, likely, in five years' time :-)) as well to test your theory.
It does demonstrate what I have always believed, which is lefties are generally very negative. Britain isn't in decline, it is doing pretty well, in spite of Johnson, Brexit and Corbyn. We now need to get back to a bit of sensible boring political stability.
I guess I'm a lefty if negativity is a key criteria. But even the righties are negative so perhaps not.
I was being a bit tongue in cheek, but I do believe on balance people who are lefty are likely to be negative. That said, very reactionary right wing (normally very right wing) people do tend to be "the country is going to the dogs" negative types
Off topic, well sort of, I've just been phoned by somebody purporting to be an energy advisor. I'm not one for responding to cold calls but I think it would be helpful if there was some official body which provided energy advice. As far as I know there isn't anything. At least in this geographical area! Unless of course anyone here knows better!
Very luckily for me - almost at the end of my street we have a great social enterprise/charity/whatever who do energy advice. They'll even arrange someone to come to your house and check it for draughts, insulation potential etc. They've got some handymen on the books too who can do a lot of the work fixing up the problems too.
To counter any feeling of 'Truss might not be so bad', there has been an absolute torrent of invective about her on the chat at my public sector workplace - complaining about 'British workers need more graft' (the irony of British workers spending their worktime gossiping on Teams was not commented on); complaining about her unsoundness on trans rights, complaining about her unsoundness on climate change, complaining meanwhile about Keir Starmer's uselessness and pining instead for Angela Rayner. All par for the course in a public sector workplace and probably has been for a decade or more, but she clearly hasn't changed the landscape yet. Meanwhile another colleague is enthusiastically looking forward to Scotland leaving the UK so he can move to Scotland and rejoin the EU. I raised doubts about how Scotland would do economically, which he countered with 'well there are a lot of small, poor countries in the EU - Bulgaria and Portugal seem to do ok.' I thought this was maybe a bit of a steep price to pay for rejoining the promised land, but there you go.
Any 'shes planning to sell the NHS' bullshit making an early appearance?
I'm sure it's only a matter of time. Oh, and everybody very excited about what a cracking job Joe Lycett did on Sunday, putting both Liz Truss and Laura K, who is of course a proud Tory, in her place. The public sector is a very odd place.
You must feel like exploding sometimes. Sitting there amongst that with your politics sounds like me on the Lehman trading floor with mine. You should have seen that place rip when Major pulled off his shock win in 92. I've never felt so down and alone - utterly alone.
You were on the trading floor at 1 am?
Next day - it was rocking.
My first intro to the concept of political betting. A bloke I knew at SG Warburg bragging he had 50k (twice my salary, prob half his before bonus) on the inevitable Labour victory to soften the blow to his finances. LOL.
Also, illustration of how extremely heavy drinking can save your life. I was so hungover I went straight home at 5.30 on the Friday, rather than pubbing till City chucking out time at 8 pm and walking straight into an IRA bomb.
Gosh, yes, just looked that up. 9.20 pm. Sliding Doors ...
If this was what was intended then the Ukrainians have played a blinder. Everyone has been talking about Kherson but was that just the feint?
The Ukrainian move to draw Russian forces into Kherson is clearly one of the great strategic moves of the war. It brought some of the best Russian units into Kherson where they cant be supplied and are being methodically attrited. And made the Russians thin the line in Kharkiv. https://twitter.com/PhillipsPOBrien/status/1567546089758138368
I've just watched one of Owen Jones's latest missives on Twitter (the one posted two days ago). And, my goodness, can someone send for the RNLI? He's drowning in salty, salty tears.
Here's an idea for him: if he's so irate, then stand for election for Labour. Then he might actually do something for people.
He wouldn't get on a shortlist under Starmer.
Well he won't now, will he!
Screeching "You're a liar!!!!" at the party leader (whilst backtracking from your comments ("Hey, I shop at Waitrose" and "He knows me, but we've only met a few times aside from one of my best mates who works for him" etc etc) will not enamour him to the saner parts of the party.
Well he's disappointed that socialism* looks off the table.
Fwiw I reckon Keir is doing double bluff. He projected Left to get the Leader gig, now projects Centre to get the bigger gig of PM, then - if my sense is right - he will shift back Left in office.
* by which I mean some 'left' radicalism not a return to Clause 4.
That concern might well be the reason he won't get the centre ground voter. I quite like him, but the rest of the Labour party is full of more fruitcakes than the Tories are.
Ok. But to be clear - by 'shift back Left' I don't mean to anything resembling the previous JC platform. I just mean he'll get in, keep it solid for a while, kind of bed himself and Labour into the public mind as "yep, these guys are ok", and then over time some fairly interesting - radical even - policies will start to arrive, maybe with a good 2nd term majority having spent a truncated 1st term with a small one or in a pact with others. Think that's the SKS plan. If you could get into his head I think that is what you'd see.
As I say, that is what many centrist voters will be concerned about. Liz Truss is correct in saying people like to keep the money they have earned. Hosing taxpayers money at trade union dominated vanity schemes in the public sector and heavily taxing middle earners to achieve it is what those of us who are Labour-sceptic hesitate over voting for them about. I hope if he is elected he governs in the same centre ground that he presents himself when asking the electorate for their endorsement
We've got to get a bit of socialism from a Labour government, Nigel. Be reasonable now.
To counter any feeling of 'Truss might not be so bad', there has been an absolute torrent of invective about her on the chat at my public sector workplace - complaining about 'British workers need more graft' (the irony of British workers spending their worktime gossiping on Teams was not commented on); complaining about her unsoundness on trans rights, complaining about her unsoundness on climate change, complaining meanwhile about Keir Starmer's uselessness and pining instead for Angela Rayner. All par for the course in a public sector workplace and probably has been for a decade or more, but she clearly hasn't changed the landscape yet. Meanwhile another colleague is enthusiastically looking forward to Scotland leaving the UK so he can move to Scotland and rejoin the EU. I raised doubts about how Scotland would do economically, which he countered with 'well there are a lot of small, poor countries in the EU - Bulgaria and Portugal seem to do ok.' I thought this was maybe a bit of a steep price to pay for rejoining the promised land, but there you go.
Any 'shes planning to sell the NHS' bullshit making an early appearance?
I'm sure it's only a matter of time. Oh, and everybody very excited about what a cracking job Joe Lycett did on Sunday, putting both Liz Truss and Laura K, who is of course a proud Tory, in her place. The public sector is a very odd place.
You must feel like exploding sometimes. Sitting there amongst that with your politics sounds like me on the Lehman trading floor with mine. You should have seen that place rip when Major pulled off his shock win in 92. I've never felt so down and alone - utterly alone.
You were on the trading floor at 1 am?
Next day - it was rocking.
My first intro to the concept of political betting. A bloke I knew at SG Warburg bragging he had 50k (twice my salary, prob half his before bonus) on the inevitable Labour victory to soften the blow to his finances. LOL.
Also, illustration of how extremely heavy drinking can save your life. I was so hungover I went straight home at 5.30 on the Friday, rather than pubbing till City chucking out time at 8 pm and walking straight into an IRA bomb.
Gosh, yes, just looked that up. 9.20 pm. Sliding Doors ...
It's pretty tricky to be in such a wrong place at the wrong time. Stepping in front of a bus is I'm sure far more likely.
If this was what was intended then the Ukrainians have played a blinder. Everyone has been talking about Kherson but was that just the feint?
The Ukrainian move to draw Russian forces into Kherson is clearly one of the great strategic moves of the war. It brought some of the best Russian units into Kherson where they cant be supplied and are being methodically attrited. And made the Russians thin the line in Kharkiv. https://twitter.com/PhillipsPOBrien/status/1567546089758138368
I think a more likely - and impressive - explanation is that they're organisationally nimble enough to take advantage of a weakness in the Russian line.
Putting up interest rates to a more normal level wouldn't be such a bad thing.
Except for people who have both mortgages and electricity bills: basically people in the 30 to 50 cohort.
>95% of new mortgages are fixed rate and 83% of outstanding mortgages are fixed rate.
But how long is the typical remaining length of that fixed rate term? Unlike the US, we don't do very-long-term fixed mortgages, but more often 1, 2 or 5 years. So my guess is that many of those fixed-rate mortgage holders will be exposed to the prevailing interest rates within twp years.
I've just watched one of Owen Jones's latest missives on Twitter (the one posted two days ago). And, my goodness, can someone send for the RNLI? He's drowning in salty, salty tears.
Here's an idea for him: if he's so irate, then stand for election for Labour. Then he might actually do something for people.
He wouldn't get on a shortlist under Starmer.
Well he won't now, will he!
Screeching "You're a liar!!!!" at the party leader (whilst backtracking from your comments ("Hey, I shop at Waitrose" and "He knows me, but we've only met a few times aside from one of my best mates who works for him" etc etc) will not enamour him to the saner parts of the party.
Well he's disappointed that socialism* looks off the table.
Fwiw I reckon Keir is doing double bluff. He projected Left to get the Leader gig, now projects Centre to get the bigger gig of PM, then - if my sense is right - he will shift back Left in office.
* by which I mean some 'left' radicalism not a return to Clause 4.
That concern might well be the reason he won't get the centre ground voter. I quite like him, but the rest of the Labour party is full of more fruitcakes than the Tories are.
Ok. But to be clear - by 'shift back Left' I don't mean to anything resembling the previous JC platform. I just mean he'll get in, keep it solid for a while, kind of bed himself and Labour into the public mind as "yep, these guys are ok", and then over time some fairly interesting - radical even - policies will start to arrive, maybe with a good 2nd term majority having spent a truncated 1st term with a small one or in a pact with others. Think that's the SKS plan. If you could get into his head I think that is what you'd see.
As I say, that is what many centrist voters will be concerned about. Liz Truss is correct in saying people like to keep the money they have earned. Hosing taxpayers money at trade union dominated vanity schemes in the public sector and heavily taxing middle earners to achieve it is what those of us who are Labour-sceptic hesitate over voting for them about. I hope if he is elected he governs in the same centre ground that he presents himself when asking the electorate for their endorsement
We've got to get a bit of socialism from a Labour government, Nigel. Be reasonable now.
Socialism is an essentially negative and damaging ideology. Social democracy is fine, and often welcome to redress the excesses of unfettered capitalism. If he gives us reasonable social democracy then I can live with that.
Lots of very (!) graphic videos coming out from the Kupiansk Offensive of russian troops trying to flee and driving into Ukrainian ambushes to their rear.
But here is Julian Smith, MP for Ripon, speaking up for Northern Ireland in relation to energy bills. He was a very good Northern Ireland Secretary, stupidly sacked by Johnson and has maintained an interest in NI affairs since.
I think this is very much to his credit. A great shame there are not more like him in the Commons.
Interestingly, Mandelson was another who continued quietly to take an interest in NI long after he left. He helped raise money for the victims of the Omagh bombing - providing financial help himself and persuading fellow Parliamentarians to contribute. That bastard Ian Paisley, for all his talk, was one of the few who contributed not a penny. Another fulminating Pharisee.
To be fair, I think there are more like him in the Commons. I'd say an interest in public service for its own sake appears to be reasonably common among MPs. It's just sadly unnewsworthy.
100% agree. I have met quite a few MPs on both sides (though mainly baby eating Tories) and they have generally been good people
I wouldn't disagree with that - though I haven't been lucky enough to meet them I'll take your word for it. The trouble is what is the formula for getting to the top. Butter up the press, be minister for Instagram and appeal to a small number of unrepresentative ideologues.
To counter any feeling of 'Truss might not be so bad', there has been an absolute torrent of invective about her on the chat at my public sector workplace - complaining about 'British workers need more graft' (the irony of British workers spending their worktime gossiping on Teams was not commented on); complaining about her unsoundness on trans rights, complaining about her unsoundness on climate change, complaining meanwhile about Keir Starmer's uselessness and pining instead for Angela Rayner. All par for the course in a public sector workplace and probably has been for a decade or more, but she clearly hasn't changed the landscape yet. Meanwhile another colleague is enthusiastically looking forward to Scotland leaving the UK so he can move to Scotland and rejoin the EU. I raised doubts about how Scotland would do economically, which he countered with 'well there are a lot of small, poor countries in the EU - Bulgaria and Portugal seem to do ok.' I thought this was maybe a bit of a steep price to pay for rejoining the promised land, but there you go.
Any 'shes planning to sell the NHS' bullshit making an early appearance?
I'm sure it's only a matter of time. Oh, and everybody very excited about what a cracking job Joe Lycett did on Sunday, putting both Liz Truss and Laura K, who is of course a proud Tory, in her place. The public sector is a very odd place.
You must feel like exploding sometimes. Sitting there amongst that with your politics sounds like me on the Lehman trading floor with mine. You should have seen that place rip when Major pulled off his shock win in 92. I've never felt so down and alone - utterly alone.
You were on the trading floor at 1 am?
Next day - it was rocking.
My first intro to the concept of political betting. A bloke I knew at SG Warburg bragging he had 50k (twice my salary, prob half his before bonus) on the inevitable Labour victory to soften the blow to his finances. LOL.
Also, illustration of how extremely heavy drinking can save your life. I was so hungover I went straight home at 5.30 on the Friday, rather than pubbing till City chucking out time at 8 pm and walking straight into an IRA bomb.
Gosh, yes, just looked that up. 9.20 pm. Sliding Doors ...
It's pretty tricky to be in such a wrong place at the wrong time. Stepping in front of a bus is I'm sure far more likely.
I know where the bomb was, relative to the pub, relative to my tube station... you may claim that failure to drink to excess never killed anybody but I figure, why take the risk?
I've just watched one of Owen Jones's latest missives on Twitter (the one posted two days ago). And, my goodness, can someone send for the RNLI? He's drowning in salty, salty tears.
Here's an idea for him: if he's so irate, then stand for election for Labour. Then he might actually do something for people.
He wouldn't get on a shortlist under Starmer.
Well he won't now, will he!
Screeching "You're a liar!!!!" at the party leader (whilst backtracking from your comments ("Hey, I shop at Waitrose" and "He knows me, but we've only met a few times aside from one of my best mates who works for him" etc etc) will not enamour him to the saner parts of the party.
Well he's disappointed that socialism* looks off the table.
Fwiw I reckon Keir is doing double bluff. He projected Left to get the Leader gig, now projects Centre to get the bigger gig of PM, then - if my sense is right - he will shift back Left in office.
* by which I mean some 'left' radicalism not a return to Clause 4.
That concern might well be the reason he won't get the centre ground voter. I quite like him, but the rest of the Labour party is full of more fruitcakes than the Tories are.
Ok. But to be clear - by 'shift back Left' I don't mean to anything resembling the previous JC platform. I just mean he'll get in, keep it solid for a while, kind of bed himself and Labour into the public mind as "yep, these guys are ok", and then over time some fairly interesting - radical even - policies will start to arrive, maybe with a good 2nd term majority having spent a truncated 1st term with a small one or in a pact with others. Think that's the SKS plan. If you could get into his head I think that is what you'd see.
As I say, that is what many centrist voters will be concerned about. Liz Truss is correct in saying people like to keep the money they have earned. Hosing taxpayers money at trade union dominated vanity schemes in the public sector and heavily taxing middle earners to achieve it is what those of us who are Labour-sceptic hesitate over voting for them about. I hope if he is elected he governs in the same centre ground that he presents himself when asking the electorate for their endorsement
We've got to get a bit of socialism from a Labour government, Nigel. Be reasonable now.
Socialism is an essentially negative and damaging ideology. Social democracy is fine, and often welcome to redress the excesses of unfettered capitalism. If he gives us reasonable social democracy then I can live with that.
Very difficult to define where one ends and the other begins, however. Brazil did relatively well under Lula, for instance, both on strong social indicators, and, broadly, on its economy. Was that socialism, or social democracy ? You could ask the same of what is the NHS ?
*Capping price of Russian gas; *Ceiling on "enormous" revenues of renewables and nuclear; *Windfall tax on oil and gas cos; *Mandatory 5% savings in electricity use in peak hours
Putting up interest rates to a more normal level wouldn't be such a bad thing.
Except for people who have both mortgages and electricity bills: basically people in the 30 to 50 cohort.
>95% of new mortgages are fixed rate and 83% of outstanding mortgages are fixed rate.
But how long is the typical remaining length of that fixed rate term? Unlike the US, we don't do very-long-term fixed mortgages, but more often 1, 2 or 5 years. So my guess is that many of those fixed-rate mortgage holders will be exposed to the prevailing interest rates within twp years.
At least it means people who are overextended would have a decent amount of time to consider their options so it should avoid an acute problem with repossessions.
Lots of very (!) graphic videos coming out from the Kupiansk Offensive of russian troops trying to flee and driving into Ukrainian ambushes to their rear.
I've just watched one of Owen Jones's latest missives on Twitter (the one posted two days ago). And, my goodness, can someone send for the RNLI? He's drowning in salty, salty tears.
Here's an idea for him: if he's so irate, then stand for election for Labour. Then he might actually do something for people.
He wouldn't get on a shortlist under Starmer.
Well he won't now, will he!
Screeching "You're a liar!!!!" at the party leader (whilst backtracking from your comments ("Hey, I shop at Waitrose" and "He knows me, but we've only met a few times aside from one of my best mates who works for him" etc etc) will not enamour him to the saner parts of the party.
Well he's disappointed that socialism* looks off the table.
Fwiw I reckon Keir is doing double bluff. He projected Left to get the Leader gig, now projects Centre to get the bigger gig of PM, then - if my sense is right - he will shift back Left in office.
* by which I mean some 'left' radicalism not a return to Clause 4.
That concern might well be the reason he won't get the centre ground voter. I quite like him, but the rest of the Labour party is full of more fruitcakes than the Tories are.
Ok. But to be clear - by 'shift back Left' I don't mean to anything resembling the previous JC platform. I just mean he'll get in, keep it solid for a while, kind of bed himself and Labour into the public mind as "yep, these guys are ok", and then over time some fairly interesting - radical even - policies will start to arrive, maybe with a good 2nd term majority having spent a truncated 1st term with a small one or in a pact with others. Think that's the SKS plan. If you could get into his head I think that is what you'd see.
As I say, that is what many centrist voters will be concerned about. Liz Truss is correct in saying people like to keep the money they have earned. Hosing taxpayers money at trade union dominated vanity schemes in the public sector and heavily taxing middle earners to achieve it is what those of us who are Labour-sceptic hesitate over voting for them about. I hope if he is elected he governs in the same centre ground that he presents himself when asking the electorate for their endorsement
We've got to get a bit of socialism from a Labour government, Nigel. Be reasonable now.
Socialism is an essentially negative and damaging ideology. Social democracy is fine, and often welcome to redress the excesses of unfettered capitalism. If he gives us reasonable social democracy then I can live with that.
Very difficult to define where one ends and the other begins, however. Brazil did relatively well under Lula, for instance, both on strong social indicators, and, broadly, on its economy. Was that socialism, or social democracy ? You could ask the same of what is the NHS ?
The NHS is an example of socialism, and it is why it really ISN'T the envy of the world.
To counter any feeling of 'Truss might not be so bad', there has been an absolute torrent of invective about her on the chat at my public sector workplace - complaining about 'British workers need more graft' (the irony of British workers spending their worktime gossiping on Teams was not commented on); complaining about her unsoundness on trans rights, complaining about her unsoundness on climate change, complaining meanwhile about Keir Starmer's uselessness and pining instead for Angela Rayner. All par for the course in a public sector workplace and probably has been for a decade or more, but she clearly hasn't changed the landscape yet. Meanwhile another colleague is enthusiastically looking forward to Scotland leaving the UK so he can move to Scotland and rejoin the EU. I raised doubts about how Scotland would do economically, which he countered with 'well there are a lot of small, poor countries in the EU - Bulgaria and Portugal seem to do ok.' I thought this was maybe a bit of a steep price to pay for rejoining the promised land, but there you go.
Any 'shes planning to sell the NHS' bullshit making an early appearance?
I'm sure it's only a matter of time. Oh, and everybody very excited about what a cracking job Joe Lycett did on Sunday, putting both Liz Truss and Laura K, who is of course a proud Tory, in her place. The public sector is a very odd place.
You must feel like exploding sometimes. Sitting there amongst that with your politics sounds like me on the Lehman trading floor with mine. You should have seen that place rip when Major pulled off his shock win in 92. I've never felt so down and alone - utterly alone.
You were on the trading floor at 1 am?
Next day - it was rocking.
My first intro to the concept of political betting. A bloke I knew at SG Warburg bragging he had 50k (twice my salary, prob half his before bonus) on the inevitable Labour victory to soften the blow to his finances. LOL.
Also, illustration of how extremely heavy drinking can save your life. I was so hungover I went straight home at 5.30 on the Friday, rather than pubbing till City chucking out time at 8 pm and walking straight into an IRA bomb.
Gosh, yes, just looked that up. 9.20 pm. Sliding Doors ...
It's pretty tricky to be in such a wrong place at the wrong time. Stepping in front of a bus is I'm sure far more likely.
My wife - at SOAS at the time - was quite close to the Russell Sq bomb on 7/7.
I've just watched one of Owen Jones's latest missives on Twitter (the one posted two days ago). And, my goodness, can someone send for the RNLI? He's drowning in salty, salty tears.
Here's an idea for him: if he's so irate, then stand for election for Labour. Then he might actually do something for people.
He wouldn't get on a shortlist under Starmer.
Well he won't now, will he!
Screeching "You're a liar!!!!" at the party leader (whilst backtracking from your comments ("Hey, I shop at Waitrose" and "He knows me, but we've only met a few times aside from one of my best mates who works for him" etc etc) will not enamour him to the saner parts of the party.
Well he's disappointed that socialism* looks off the table.
Fwiw I reckon Keir is doing double bluff. He projected Left to get the Leader gig, now projects Centre to get the bigger gig of PM, then - if my sense is right - he will shift back Left in office.
* by which I mean some 'left' radicalism not a return to Clause 4.
That concern might well be the reason he won't get the centre ground voter. I quite like him, but the rest of the Labour party is full of more fruitcakes than the Tories are.
Ok. But to be clear - by 'shift back Left' I don't mean to anything resembling the previous JC platform. I just mean he'll get in, keep it solid for a while, kind of bed himself and Labour into the public mind as "yep, these guys are ok", and then over time some fairly interesting - radical even - policies will start to arrive, maybe with a good 2nd term majority having spent a truncated 1st term with a small one or in a pact with others. Think that's the SKS plan. If you could get into his head I think that is what you'd see.
As I say, that is what many centrist voters will be concerned about. Liz Truss is correct in saying people like to keep the money they have earned. Hosing taxpayers money at trade union dominated vanity schemes in the public sector and heavily taxing middle earners to achieve it is what those of us who are Labour-sceptic hesitate over voting for them about. I hope if he is elected he governs in the same centre ground that he presents himself when asking the electorate for their endorsement
We've got to get a bit of socialism from a Labour government, Nigel. Be reasonable now.
Socialism is an essentially negative and damaging ideology. Social democracy is fine, and often welcome to redress the excesses of unfettered capitalism. If he gives us reasonable social democracy then I can live with that.
Very difficult to define where one ends and the other begins, however. Brazil did relatively well under Lula, for instance, both on strong social indicators, and, broadly, on its economy. Was that socialism, or social democracy ? You could ask the same of what is the NHS ?
The NHS is an example of socialism, and it is why it really ISN'T the envy of the world.
And yet other centralised, heavily-funded state systems in Western Europe work much better.
Putting up interest rates to a more normal level wouldn't be such a bad thing.
Except for people who have both mortgages and electricity bills: basically people in the 30 to 50 cohort.
>95% of new mortgages are fixed rate and 83% of outstanding mortgages are fixed rate.
But how long is the typical remaining length of that fixed rate term? Unlike the US, we don't do very-long-term fixed mortgages, but more often 1, 2 or 5 years. So my guess is that many of those fixed-rate mortgage holders will be exposed to the prevailing interest rates within twp years.
At least it means people who are overextended would have a decent amount of time to consider their options so it should avoid an acute problem with repossessions.
I think most people won't even think about it until a few months before their deal expires and suddenly they'll have to pay £300+ more per month.
I've just watched one of Owen Jones's latest missives on Twitter (the one posted two days ago). And, my goodness, can someone send for the RNLI? He's drowning in salty, salty tears.
Here's an idea for him: if he's so irate, then stand for election for Labour. Then he might actually do something for people.
He wouldn't get on a shortlist under Starmer.
Well he won't now, will he!
Screeching "You're a liar!!!!" at the party leader (whilst backtracking from your comments ("Hey, I shop at Waitrose" and "He knows me, but we've only met a few times aside from one of my best mates who works for him" etc etc) will not enamour him to the saner parts of the party.
Well he's disappointed that socialism* looks off the table.
Fwiw I reckon Keir is doing double bluff. He projected Left to get the Leader gig, now projects Centre to get the bigger gig of PM, then - if my sense is right - he will shift back Left in office.
* by which I mean some 'left' radicalism not a return to Clause 4.
That concern might well be the reason he won't get the centre ground voter. I quite like him, but the rest of the Labour party is full of more fruitcakes than the Tories are.
Ok. But to be clear - by 'shift back Left' I don't mean to anything resembling the previous JC platform. I just mean he'll get in, keep it solid for a while, kind of bed himself and Labour into the public mind as "yep, these guys are ok", and then over time some fairly interesting - radical even - policies will start to arrive, maybe with a good 2nd term majority having spent a truncated 1st term with a small one or in a pact with others. Think that's the SKS plan. If you could get into his head I think that is what you'd see.
As I say, that is what many centrist voters will be concerned about. Liz Truss is correct in saying people like to keep the money they have earned. Hosing taxpayers money at trade union dominated vanity schemes in the public sector and heavily taxing middle earners to achieve it is what those of us who are Labour-sceptic hesitate over voting for them about. I hope if he is elected he governs in the same centre ground that he presents himself when asking the electorate for their endorsement
We've got to get a bit of socialism from a Labour government, Nigel. Be reasonable now.
Socialism is an essentially negative and damaging ideology. Social democracy is fine, and often welcome to redress the excesses of unfettered capitalism. If he gives us reasonable social democracy then I can live with that.
That's a deal. The boundaries of "social democracy" are wide enough to work with, I think.
To counter any feeling of 'Truss might not be so bad', there has been an absolute torrent of invective about her on the chat at my public sector workplace - complaining about 'British workers need more graft' (the irony of British workers spending their worktime gossiping on Teams was not commented on); complaining about her unsoundness on trans rights, complaining about her unsoundness on climate change, complaining meanwhile about Keir Starmer's uselessness and pining instead for Angela Rayner. All par for the course in a public sector workplace and probably has been for a decade or more, but she clearly hasn't changed the landscape yet. Meanwhile another colleague is enthusiastically looking forward to Scotland leaving the UK so he can move to Scotland and rejoin the EU. I raised doubts about how Scotland would do economically, which he countered with 'well there are a lot of small, poor countries in the EU - Bulgaria and Portugal seem to do ok.' I thought this was maybe a bit of a steep price to pay for rejoining the promised land, but there you go.
Any 'shes planning to sell the NHS' bullshit making an early appearance?
I'm sure it's only a matter of time. Oh, and everybody very excited about what a cracking job Joe Lycett did on Sunday, putting both Liz Truss and Laura K, who is of course a proud Tory, in her place. The public sector is a very odd place.
You must feel like exploding sometimes. Sitting there amongst that with your politics sounds like me on the Lehman trading floor with mine. You should have seen that place rip when Major pulled off his shock win in 92. I've never felt so down and alone - utterly alone.
You were on the trading floor at 1 am?
Next day - it was rocking.
My first intro to the concept of political betting. A bloke I knew at SG Warburg bragging he had 50k (twice my salary, prob half his before bonus) on the inevitable Labour victory to soften the blow to his finances. LOL.
Also, illustration of how extremely heavy drinking can save your life. I was so hungover I went straight home at 5.30 on the Friday, rather than pubbing till City chucking out time at 8 pm and walking straight into an IRA bomb.
Gosh, yes, just looked that up. 9.20 pm. Sliding Doors ...
It's pretty tricky to be in such a wrong place at the wrong time. Stepping in front of a bus is I'm sure far more likely.
I know where the bomb was, relative to the pub, relative to my tube station... you may claim that failure to drink to excess never killed anybody but I figure, why take the risk?
I'm sure that's true. The path that took you away had many. many branches though. I'd always suggest that one takes the precaution of dieing relatively happy.
I've just watched one of Owen Jones's latest missives on Twitter (the one posted two days ago). And, my goodness, can someone send for the RNLI? He's drowning in salty, salty tears.
Here's an idea for him: if he's so irate, then stand for election for Labour. Then he might actually do something for people.
He wouldn't get on a shortlist under Starmer.
Well he won't now, will he!
Screeching "You're a liar!!!!" at the party leader (whilst backtracking from your comments ("Hey, I shop at Waitrose" and "He knows me, but we've only met a few times aside from one of my best mates who works for him" etc etc) will not enamour him to the saner parts of the party.
Well he's disappointed that socialism* looks off the table.
Fwiw I reckon Keir is doing double bluff. He projected Left to get the Leader gig, now projects Centre to get the bigger gig of PM, then - if my sense is right - he will shift back Left in office.
* by which I mean some 'left' radicalism not a return to Clause 4.
That concern might well be the reason he won't get the centre ground voter. I quite like him, but the rest of the Labour party is full of more fruitcakes than the Tories are.
Ok. But to be clear - by 'shift back Left' I don't mean to anything resembling the previous JC platform. I just mean he'll get in, keep it solid for a while, kind of bed himself and Labour into the public mind as "yep, these guys are ok", and then over time some fairly interesting - radical even - policies will start to arrive, maybe with a good 2nd term majority having spent a truncated 1st term with a small one or in a pact with others. Think that's the SKS plan. If you could get into his head I think that is what you'd see.
As I say, that is what many centrist voters will be concerned about. Liz Truss is correct in saying people like to keep the money they have earned. Hosing taxpayers money at trade union dominated vanity schemes in the public sector and heavily taxing middle earners to achieve it is what those of us who are Labour-sceptic hesitate over voting for them about. I hope if he is elected he governs in the same centre ground that he presents himself when asking the electorate for their endorsement
We've got to get a bit of socialism from a Labour government, Nigel. Be reasonable now.
Socialism is an essentially negative and damaging ideology. Social democracy is fine, and often welcome to redress the excesses of unfettered capitalism. If he gives us reasonable social democracy then I can live with that.
Very difficult to define where one ends and the other begins, however. Brazil did relatively well under Lula, for instance, both on strong social indicators, and, broadly, on its economy. Was that socialism, or social democracy ? You could ask the same of what is the NHS ?
The NHS is an example of socialism, and it is why it really ISN'T the envy of the world.
And yet other centralised, heavily-funded state systems in Western Europe work much better.
Only the Nordics are fully state funded and they are decentralised. The NHS is arguably the most socialist and consequently least efficient organisation in Western Europe.
Brexit hardman Steve Baker is Minister of State in the Northern Ireland Office.
Good appointment, he will be an effective supporter for Heaton Harris. Quite a religious government from Truss too with evangelical Christian Baker and strict Roman Catholics Rees Mogg and Coffey
*Capping price of Russian gas; *Ceiling on "enormous" revenues of renewables and nuclear; *Windfall tax on oil and gas cos; *Mandatory 5% savings in electricity use in peak hours
In the spring the penny was dropping about Boris. However, now it has been adjusted for 2022 inflation it is time for the pound to drop.
Now $1.146 to £1 - Truss can say what she likes about "cutting taxes", the market hears "increased borrowing". A falling pound increases inflation. The Bank of England and the Treasury will be working out how best to say "we told you so".
Putting up interest rates to a more normal level wouldn't be such a bad thing.
Except for people who have both mortgages and electricity bills: basically people in the 30 to 50 cohort.
>95% of new mortgages are fixed rate and 83% of outstanding mortgages are fixed rate.
Very few are fixed for more than five years, and for many it's just three: I reckon a quarter of the 83% will reset every year.
Brexit hardman Steve Baker is Minister of State in the Northern Ireland Office.
Good appointment, he will be an effective supporter for Heaton Harris. Quite a religious government from Truss too with evangelical Christian Baker and strict Roman Catholics Rees Mogg and Coffey
I doubt anyone cares about the cabinets religions, just that they prove good at their job , though JRM is the one appointment pretty well universal condemned and frankly an unnecessary own goal by Truss
In the spring the penny was dropping about Boris. However, now it has been adjusted for 2022 inflation it is time for the pound to drop.
Now $1.146 to £1 - Truss can say what she likes about "cutting taxes", the market hears "increased borrowing". A falling pound increases inflation. The Bank of England and the Treasury will be working out how best to say "we told you so".
Putting up interest rates to a more normal level wouldn't be such a bad thing.
Except for people who have both mortgages and electricity bills: basically people in the 30 to 50 cohort.
>95% of new mortgages are fixed rate and 83% of outstanding mortgages are fixed rate.
Very few are fixed for more than five years, and for many it's just three: I reckon a quarter of the 83% will reset every year.
So it's ideal for a managed deleveraging of UK households.
*Capping price of Russian gas; *Ceiling on "enormous" revenues of renewables and nuclear; *Windfall tax on oil and gas cos; *Mandatory 5% savings in electricity use in peak hours
Something we would be obliged to go along with if we were still a member. ..??
Don't like our energy policy? tough.
Its been agreed at the EU level. Even if you voted for an alternative it would be the devils own job to change it.
I hope the EU are ready for Russia to switch of gas for months, even longer
The EU are as woefully unprepared for whats coming as we are im afraid. '5% savings in peak hours' - dont go heating your home when you, you know, come home
German gas usage was down 14.7% in the first half of 2022, and they've managed to fill their storage to 85% of peak levels. They've also managed to pay the Norwegians extra, so that the Norwegians don't reinject natural gas into their oil wells, so they have more to export to Germany.
But here's the thing: both the UK and Germany basically pay the world price for gas they import. So, the amount of pain we feel, and the amount they feel is basically the same.
Comments
Unless of course anyone here knows better!
The Bank’s independence is sacrosanct as we work together to overcome cost of living challenges.
I’ve reinstated regular meetings with the Governor - initially bi-weekly - to coordinate our ongoing response.
https://twitter.com/kwasikwarteng/status/1567519039144005636
WaPo getting the leaks may be a clue
This should not be surprisings, since Ukraine's information operations pulled lots of Russian strategic & operational reserve ground forces to Kherson.
Then cut them off.
This has allowed Ukraine to exploit its interior lines of communications at Kharkiv with no Russian
https://twitter.com/TrentTelenko/status/1567535383600140289
TL;DR Russia has spread itself too thin.
*Capping price of Russian gas;
*Ceiling on "enormous" revenues of renewables and nuclear;
*Windfall tax on oil and gas cos;
*Mandatory 5% savings in electricity use in peak hours
Complex, sometimes controversial, tbc...
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/sep/07/eu-sets-out-plans-for-windfall-taxes-and-power-savings-amid-energy-crisis?CMP=share_btn_tw
Umm. You may need to sit down for this, PM. ~AA https://twitter.com/BestForBritain/status/1567536802201747461/photo/1
Thanks - fascinating read - the parallels are uncanny.
Don't like our energy policy? tough.
Its been agreed at the EU level. Even if you voted for an alternative it would be the devils own job to change it.
Who is going to trust the Russians again even when the war ends?
Maybe the sensible thing for Ukraine to do now is call off the Kharkive counter offensive, return to the defensive in that sector, and move the troops made available by that up to Isium to exploit the brake though, reinforcing success and all that.
The Russian troops around Kharkive, will struggle to retreat without the bridges, or to advance without the supplies the bridges would bring.
When I started at Queens Belfast in 1989 reading History I decided that I had better join the History society. I had grown up in London so sectarianism was all new to 18 year old me.
Unbeknownst to me the Glasgow Rangers Society had been banned a year before - due to its extreme sectarianism (cancellation for promulgation of hatred was a thing even then). Its members led by young Ian had merely moved into the near comatose History Society and arranged a reverse takeover and now sat in the History common room each day reading the Sun. This was much to the annoyance of the overwhelmingly English History Dons.
When I arrived Ian was genuinely delighted to meet a real live English person. He tried to take me under his wing and told me what a great time I would have with the lads. His real selling point however was as he said the fact that his society 'Had no f###ing fenians in it'. Sadly as I was an English catholic I had to decline his offer and at the next set of officer elections one of the Professors - an Englishman called Professor Jupp- lobbied all the students to turn up and vote them out of office. I often remember the sadness in poor Ian's eyes as he and his acolytes trooped out of the faculty that day. Still at least their eyes were not too close together.
Almost
Overall: 69%
2019 Labour voters: 80%
2019 Conservative voters: 60%
Source: Ipsos for The Economist https://www.ipsos.com/en-uk/7-10-britons-agree-uk-decline https://twitter.com/IpsosUK/status/1567539494907256834/photo/1
Shit meets fan.
Grim.
This is another map-take of Ukraine's Kharkiv offensive.
It appears Russia currently doesn't have either the ground maneuver unit reserves or artillery fires to respond locally and seal this breach.
The Ukrainians have achieved a tactical break-in and have opened a breach
1/4
https://twitter.com/TrentTelenko/status/1567542681613570049
TL;DR Russians will have to respond with their air force which is vulnerable to ATGM. Expect Russian aircraft losses soon.
Also, illustration of how extremely heavy drinking can save your life. I was so hungover I went straight home at 5.30 on the Friday, rather than pubbing till City chucking out time at 8 pm and walking straight into an IRA bomb.
They were pretty shit.
1. He was given this job by the same woman who gave him his previous 2 jobs, one of which was as her personal trainer. The concept of a "conflict of interest" seems not to have occurred to anyone involved.
2. He had no obvious qualifications for the role.
3. The role was only advertised for 9 days and in the wrong section for such jobs.
4. A recent FoI request asking how many other people applied for the role and what were the criteria was answered by saying that there appeared to be no other applicants or too few and/or they didn't have the information.
There was something smelly about the appointment. Perish the thought that it was just dreamt up to give a friend a sinecure at public expense.
So his discrimination claim with court scrutiny of the precise circumstances of how the role was created and how he was appointed and why he decided to resign will be a lot of fun. But not I suspect for him. Or the woman appointing him.
Very luckily for me - almost at the end of my street we have a great social enterprise/charity/whatever who do energy advice. They'll even arrange someone to come to your house and check it for draughts, insulation potential etc. They've got some handymen on the books too who can do a lot of the work fixing up the problems too.
The Ukrainian move to draw Russian forces into Kherson is clearly one of the great strategic moves of the war. It brought some of the best Russian units into Kherson where they cant be supplied and are being methodically attrited. And made the Russians thin the line in Kharkiv.
https://twitter.com/PhillipsPOBrien/status/1567546089758138368
A whole russian front sector is disintegrating/ getting killed.
https://twitter.com/noclador/status/1567547838304866305
The Ukrainians went dark, and the Russian propaganda was they were making little progress...
Maybe that was the plan?
Edit. Just noted you made exactly that point.
Obviously the point is that if they turn off the gas it won't be there for you to put a match to it tomorrow!
But here's the thing: both the UK and Germany basically pay the world price for gas they import. So, the amount of pain we feel, and the amount they feel is basically the same.