Russian sappers blew up a bridge on the only road out of Lyman too early - stopping their own convoy and exposing hundreds of Russia’s regular troops to a devastating ‘turkey shoot’ - a deliberate act to punish retreating survivors for disobeying Putin’s orders or a real mistake? https://twitter.com/joerichlaw/status/1576217831695216640
Putin told his commanders to re-enact Stalingrad. So they did.
Breaking: Russia has been voted out of the ICAO council (at UN for aviation here in Montreal) following a democratic vote by member states — the first time in history that a country has been voted out of the premier category of the council. #ICAO….
Now: Russia is *refusing* to recognise the results of the election, demanding a second vote.
ICAO Execs and over 170 countries remain gathered in the UN assembly hall grappling with what to do next
Majority of countries are highlighting the election was free, fair & final #ICAO
Conference off to a great start as the hosting Tory Mayor puts down the Chairman of the Young Conservative Network for calling Birmingham a dump. He then deletes the tweet, pretends to have sent it because of a mugging attempt, but multiple tweets to the same effect resurface.
It isn't exactly uncommon for important and very busy people to seek to cut down the length of summaries they receive, concision is important (if not something I practice). But somethings really do take more than a paragraph, or even two gods forbid, to adequately explain things.
An insistence that people cut down everything is as silly as what I hope is purely a TV trope where lawyers in court demand yes or no answers to questions, which would force people into giving misleading answers when the truth requires some nuance.
Russian sappers blew up a bridge on the only road out of Lyman too early - stopping their own convoy and exposing hundreds of Russia’s regular troops to a devastating ‘turkey shoot’ - a deliberate act to punish retreating survivors for disobeying Putin’s orders or a real mistake? https://twitter.com/joerichlaw/status/1576217831695216640
Putin told his commanders to re-enact Stalingrad. So they did.
Except that the Russians won Stalingrad. At terrible cost, but still.
Conference off to a great start as the hosting Tory Mayor puts down the Chairman of the Young Conservative Network for calling Birmingham a dump. He then deletes the tweet, pretends to have sent it because of a mugging attempt, but multiple tweets to the same effect resurface.
Breaking: Russia has been voted out of the ICAO council (at UN for aviation here in Montreal) following a democratic vote by member states — the first time in history that a country has been voted out of the premier category of the council. #ICAO….
Now: Russia is *refusing* to recognise the results of the election, demanding a second vote.
ICAO Execs and over 170 countries remain gathered in the UN assembly hall grappling with what to do next
Majority of countries are highlighting the election was free, fair & final #ICAO
That's a good move. If we can't boot them out of the UN itself then removing them from subsidiary agencies instead will cause Russia some real trouble.
I look forward to Russia's usual 'How dare anyone actually respond to what we are doing? This is an outrage!" reaction.
It isn't exactly uncommon for important and very busy people to seek to cut down the length of summaries they receive, concision is important (if not something I practice). But somethings really do take more than a paragraph, or even two gods forbid, to adequately explain things.
An insistence that people cut down everything is as silly as what I hope is purely a TV trope where lawyers in court demand yes or no answers to questions, which would force people into giving misleading answers when the truth requires some nuance.
"I must insist that you only answer 'yes' or 'no' to the questions I pose, or you may be held in contempt of court. Do you understand?"
Conference off to a great start as the hosting Tory Mayor puts down the Chairman of the Young Conservative Network for calling Birmingham a dump. He then deletes the tweet, pretends to have sent it because of a mugging attempt, but multiple tweets to the same effect resurface.
Conference off to a great start as the hosting Tory Mayor puts down the Chairman of the Young Conservative Network for calling Birmingham a dump. He then deletes the tweet, pretends to have sent it because of a mugging attempt, but multiple tweets to the same effect resurface.
A bit harsh on Birmingham maybe but there is no doubt the majority of the Tory delegates would prefer the conference to be in Bournemouth or Harrogate
Then that says it all and they deserve to be out of office for decades
This is not the conservative party I have supported since I was 18 (60 years ago) and I am very near to ticking Starmers box, just as I did for Blair, though Starmer is no Blair but he understands fairness
It will take the conservative party to come to its senses and appoint Sunak in place of the dreadful Truss and even worse Kwarteng for me to even consider supporting them
Conference off to a great start as the hosting Tory Mayor puts down the Chairman of the Young Conservative Network for calling Birmingham a dump. He then deletes the tweet, pretends to have sent it because of a mugging attempt, but multiple tweets to the same effect resurface.
Conference off to a great start as the hosting Tory Mayor puts down the Chairman of the Young Conservative Network for calling Birmingham a dump. He then deletes the tweet, pretends to have sent it because of a mugging attempt, but multiple tweets to the same effect resurface.
A bit harsh on Birmingham maybe but there is no doubt the majority of the Tory delegates would prefer the conference to be in Bournemouth or Harrogate
As an aside I bet Street is in a foul mood, seeing as HS2 is about to be cancelled any day now, undoing his years and years of patient hard work on the project.
Conference off to a great start as the hosting Tory Mayor puts down the Chairman of the Young Conservative Network for calling Birmingham a dump. He then deletes the tweet, pretends to have sent it because of a mugging attempt, but multiple tweets to the same effect resurface.
Conference off to a great start as the hosting Tory Mayor puts down the Chairman of the Young Conservative Network for calling Birmingham a dump. He then deletes the tweet, pretends to have sent it because of a mugging attempt, but multiple tweets to the same effect resurface.
Just a few funny straws in the wind. A friend has just returned from Spain. He says that tens of thousands of Russian young men have turned up. Meanwhile on this morning´s ferries to Helsinki a huge number of Russian young men "with a lot of luggage". I think the suggested 250,000 Young Russians leaving the country may be an underestimate. Of course that kind of destroys the Russian army, but the Russian economy is also being shattered here too.
Then there is the "rally" in Red Square. even the hand picked were not exactly rising to the blood curdling cries from the assorted fascists on stage. Obviously we know that most Russians are quiescent towards the regime, but even still..
The crushing defeat at Lyman is now likely to be followed by more of the same, to the point that the Russian army can no longer function.
It feels like Russia has gone over the cliff, and some kind of breakdown is emerging as the most likely future. I do not know what happens next, but the outlook for the regime is darkening by the day.
"'Stand, Men of the West! Stand and wait! This is the hour of doom".
How do 10Ks of russian men get a visa to head to spain?
Conference off to a great start as the hosting Tory Mayor puts down the Chairman of the Young Conservative Network for calling Birmingham a dump. He then deletes the tweet, pretends to have sent it because of a mugging attempt, but multiple tweets to the same effect resurface.
A bit harsh on Birmingham maybe but there is no doubt the majority of the Tory delegates would prefer the conference to be in Bournemouth or Harrogate
As an aside I bet Street is in a foul mood, seeing as HS2 is about to be cancelled any day now, undoing his years and years of patient hard work on the project.
Well they can hardly cancel the route to Birmingham - it's already being built....
And it will demonstrate that the Tories don't care about anything beyond London so that's going to cost them some Northern seats...
Conference off to a great start as the hosting Tory Mayor puts down the Chairman of the Young Conservative Network for calling Birmingham a dump. He then deletes the tweet, pretends to have sent it because of a mugging attempt, but multiple tweets to the same effect resurface.
Conference off to a great start as the hosting Tory Mayor puts down the Chairman of the Young Conservative Network for calling Birmingham a dump. He then deletes the tweet, pretends to have sent it because of a mugging attempt, but multiple tweets to the same effect resurface.
Minimum requirement for cabinet level posts should be 3 years experience as either junior minister or select committee in relevant departments only. Stop plonking MPs who have no knowledge of an area into the most important roles in the country.
My problem with this is the typical issue of oppositions coming in, as shadow ministerial expereince is no substitute for the real thing either.
But the experience point was very noticable.
I noticed a week or so ago Donelan fibbing about having been in the Cabinet before being made Education Secretary for 2 days, when she was just an 'attends Cabinet'. Whilst Chief Secretary of the Treasury seems to go back and forth on its formal status, by and large if you don't have a department it's not the same thing at all.
Russian sappers blew up a bridge on the only road out of Lyman too early - stopping their own convoy and exposing hundreds of Russia’s regular troops to a devastating ‘turkey shoot’ - a deliberate act to punish retreating survivors for disobeying Putin’s orders or a real mistake? https://twitter.com/joerichlaw/status/1576217831695216640
Putin told his commanders to re-enact Stalingrad. So they did.
Except that the Russians won Stalingrad. At terrible cost, but still.
They are re-enacting Stalingrad. Just that Putin and Co are playing the Germans. Details, details.
Given the chaotic supply chains and the terrible equipment provided by the Russian army and the oncoming winter, it looks like the Russians will be the ones campaigning in their summer uniforms, in the mud. The Ukrainians are just taking delivery of state of the art winter clothing from Finland….
Is there any chance of Tory members showing some sense and bottle and actually booing the twerps that will be speaking to them?
Interestingly Lord Heseltine will be attending his first Tory conference for many years. He will be speaking at a fringe event with David Gauke for the European Movement
Turkey again saying they will block Sweden’s NATO application.
He has actually said that he will not approve it until they have enacted all the conditions he agreed to.
Which, since they are in the process of enacting most of them, including lifting their arms embargo as of last night, seems to be mostly posturing for his domestic audience.
It’s very elaborate street theatre - the Turks won’t actually get any Kurds extradited, and then know it, but they will get “concessions”. Which will make the voters in Turkey feel something has been done.
Which is why nobody has been expecting Turkey to ratify Sweden and Finland's NATO membership before next June. When there are elections in Turkey.
Erdogan has already agreed in principle to let them in and I doubt if he will in practice stop them. But he needs the sabre to rattle for a few months more.
Conference off to a great start as the hosting Tory Mayor puts down the Chairman of the Young Conservative Network for calling Birmingham a dump. He then deletes the tweet, pretends to have sent it because of a mugging attempt, but multiple tweets to the same effect resurface.
There is a large fire reportedly coming from the Belbek airfield in Crimea home to Russia’s 27th Composite Aviation Division. https://t.me/chp_crimea/12192
Just a few funny straws in the wind. A friend has just returned from Spain. He says that tens of thousands of Russian young men have turned up. Meanwhile on this morning´s ferries to Helsinki a huge number of Russian young men "with a lot of luggage". I think the suggested 250,000 Young Russians leaving the country may be an underestimate. Of course that kind of destroys the Russian army, but the Russian economy is also being shattered here too.
Then there is the "rally" in Red Square. even the hand picked were not exactly rising to the blood curdling cries from the assorted fascists on stage. Obviously we know that most Russians are quiescent towards the regime, but even still..
The crushing defeat at Lyman is now likely to be followed by more of the same, to the point that the Russian army can no longer function.
It feels like Russia has gone over the cliff, and some kind of breakdown is emerging as the most likely future. I do not know what happens next, but the outlook for the regime is darkening by the day.
"'Stand, Men of the West! Stand and wait! This is the hour of doom".
How do 10Ks of russian men get a visa to head to spain?
It's quite common for people to have multi-year multiple entry Schengen visas.
Russian sappers blew up a bridge on the only road out of Lyman too early - stopping their own convoy and exposing hundreds of Russia’s regular troops to a devastating ‘turkey shoot’ - a deliberate act to punish retreating survivors for disobeying Putin’s orders or a real mistake? https://twitter.com/joerichlaw/status/1576217831695216640
Putin told his commanders to re-enact Stalingrad. So they did.
They should tell him they want to do Operation Uranus.
Breaking: Russia has been voted out of the ICAO council (at UN for aviation here in Montreal) following a democratic vote by member states — the first time in history that a country has been voted out of the premier category of the council. #ICAO….
Now: Russia is *refusing* to recognise the results of the election, demanding a second vote.
ICAO Execs and over 170 countries remain gathered in the UN assembly hall grappling with what to do next
Majority of countries are highlighting the election was free, fair & final #ICAO
That's a good move. If we can't boot them out of the UN itself then removing them from subsidiary agencies instead will cause Russia some real trouble.
I look forward to Russia's usual 'How dare anyone actually respond to what we are doing? This is an outrage!" reaction.
The ICAO say that 158% of their members voted to expel Russia.
The polling response to this week’s mini-budget is bigger than the one after Black Wednesday.
Black Wednesday was someone profiteering from the UK being in an impossible situation (it's more than that but it's Soros is the go to poster child for that day).
Last week was completely self inflicted and the only names and faces involved are Truss and Kwasi...
Conference off to a great start as the hosting Tory Mayor puts down the Chairman of the Young Conservative Network for calling Birmingham a dump. He then deletes the tweet, pretends to have sent it because of a mugging attempt, but multiple tweets to the same effect resurface.
A bit harsh on Birmingham maybe but there is no doubt the majority of the Tory delegates would prefer the conference to be in Bournemouth or Harrogate
As an aside I bet Street is in a foul mood, seeing as HS2 is about to be cancelled any day now, undoing his years and years of patient hard work on the project.
Well they can hardly cancel the route to Birmingham - it's already being built....
And it will demonstrate that the Tories don't care about anything beyond London so that's going to cost them some Northern seats...
So is the route to Crewe. They may do an HS2 East on the route from Crewe to Manchester but I would say the rest has gone too far to stop.
Conference off to a great start as the hosting Tory Mayor puts down the Chairman of the Young Conservative Network for calling Birmingham a dump. He then deletes the tweet, pretends to have sent it because of a mugging attempt, but multiple tweets to the same effect resurface.
A bit harsh on Birmingham maybe but there is no doubt the majority of the Tory delegates would prefer the conference to be in Bournemouth or Harrogate
Then that says it all and they deserve to be out of office for decades
This is not the conservative party I have supported since I was 18 (60 years ago) and I am very near to ticking Starmers box, just as I did for Blair, though Starmer is no Blair but he understands fairness
It will take the conservative party to come to its senses and appoint Sunak in place of the dreadful Truss and even worse Kwarteng for me to even consider supporting them
I am afraid it is, if you asked the average Tory conference attendee in the Thatcher years or the Major years or the Hague or Cameron years if they would have preferred the main party conference to be in Bournemouth or Birmingham they would have gone for Bournemouth everytime (with Harrogate for the spring conference)
There is a large fire reportedly coming from the Belbek airfield in Crimea home to Russia’s 27th Composite Aviation Division. https://t.me/chp_crimea/12192
Conference off to a great start as the hosting Tory Mayor puts down the Chairman of the Young Conservative Network for calling Birmingham a dump. He then deletes the tweet, pretends to have sent it because of a mugging attempt, but multiple tweets to the same effect resurface.
A bit harsh on Birmingham maybe but there is no doubt the majority of the Tory delegates would prefer the conference to be in Bournemouth or Harrogate
As an aside I bet Street is in a foul mood, seeing as HS2 is about to be cancelled any day now, undoing his years and years of patient hard work on the project.
Well they can hardly cancel the route to Birmingham - it's already being built....
And it will demonstrate that the Tories don't care about anything beyond London so that's going to cost them some Northern seats...
So is the route to Crewe. They may do an HS2 East on the route from Crewe to Manchester but I would say the rest has gone too far to stop.
Doing an HS2 East on the route to Manchester currently makes sense - because that really does need to be underground with support for NPR / through trains to Leeds...
The current design cost saving design on stilts is actually utterly impractical
Just a few funny straws in the wind. A friend has just returned from Spain. He says that tens of thousands of Russian young men have turned up. Meanwhile on this morning´s ferries to Helsinki a huge number of Russian young men "with a lot of luggage". I think the suggested 250,000 Young Russians leaving the country may be an underestimate. Of course that kind of destroys the Russian army, but the Russian economy is also being shattered here too.
Then there is the "rally" in Red Square. even the hand picked were not exactly rising to the blood curdling cries from the assorted fascists on stage. Obviously we know that most Russians are quiescent towards the regime, but even still..
The crushing defeat at Lyman is now likely to be followed by more of the same, to the point that the Russian army can no longer function.
It feels like Russia has gone over the cliff, and some kind of breakdown is emerging as the most likely future. I do not know what happens next, but the outlook for the regime is darkening by the day.
"'Stand, Men of the West! Stand and wait! This is the hour of doom".
How do 10Ks of russian men get a visa to head to spain?
I see Russia is now retreating from a logistics hub in "Russian territory" in a war it started on its neighbour. What a joke of a country.
Russia claimed to have annexed some territory that they did not hold, and Russia is leaving territory that they did hold. Obviously this is part of a brilliant plan from the incredibly clever Vladimir Putin, and not the mother of all cock-ups, and anyone who disagrees is simply a Russophobe.
Conference off to a great start as the hosting Tory Mayor puts down the Chairman of the Young Conservative Network for calling Birmingham a dump. He then deletes the tweet, pretends to have sent it because of a mugging attempt, but multiple tweets to the same effect resurface.
Turkey again saying they will block Sweden’s NATO application.
He has actually said that he will not approve it until they have enacted all the conditions he agreed to.
Which, since they are in the process of enacting most of them, including lifting their arms embargo as of last night, seems to be mostly posturing for his domestic audience.
It’s very elaborate street theatre - the Turks won’t actually get any Kurds extradited, and then know it, but they will get “concessions”. Which will make the voters in Turkey feel something has been done.
Which is why nobody has been expecting Turkey to ratify Sweden and Finland's NATO membership before next June. When there are elections in Turkey.
Erdogan has already agreed in principle to let them in and I doubt if he will in practice stop them. But he needs the sabre to rattle for a few months more.
Sante rattling is a bit harsh. He isn’t Putin. He’s playing the old, traditional, well understood and accepted game of international relations crossing with domestic politics.
Is there any chance of Tory members showing some sense and bottle and actually booing the twerps that will be speaking to them?
Interestingly Lord Heseltine will be attending his first Tory conference for many years. He will be speaking at a fringe event with David Gauke for the European Movement
Conference off to a great start as the hosting Tory Mayor puts down the Chairman of the Young Conservative Network for calling Birmingham a dump. He then deletes the tweet, pretends to have sent it because of a mugging attempt, but multiple tweets to the same effect resurface.
A bit harsh on Birmingham maybe but there is no doubt the majority of the Tory delegates would prefer the conference to be in Bournemouth or Harrogate
Then that says it all and they deserve to be out of office for decades
This is not the conservative party I have supported since I was 18 (60 years ago) and I am very near to ticking Starmers box, just as I did for Blair, though Starmer is no Blair but he understands fairness
It will take the conservative party to come to its senses and appoint Sunak in place of the dreadful Truss and even worse Kwarteng for me to even consider supporting them
I am afraid it is, if you asked the average Tory conference attendee in the Thatcher years or the Major years or the Hague or Cameron years if they would have preferred the main party conference to be in Bournemouth or Birmingham they would have gone for Bournemouth everytime (with Harrogate for the spring conference)
This is why they are heading for a long period in opposition
The polling response to this week’s mini-budget is bigger than the one after Black Wednesday.
Black Wednesday was someone profiteering from the UK being in an impossible situation (it's more than that but it's Soros is the go to poster child for that day).
Last week was completely self inflicted and the only names and faces involved are Truss and Kwasi...
Given how self destructive and blinkered it was I expect to hear how Charles Moore talked them into it over a brandy like with Paterson.
Is there any chance of Tory members showing some sense and bottle and actually booing the twerps that will be speaking to them?
Interestingly Lord Heseltine will be attending his first Tory conference for many years. He will be speaking at a fringe event with David Gauke for the European Movement
I see Russia is now retreating from a logistics hub in "Russian territory" in a war it started on its neighbour. What a joke of a country.
Putin approaches real life the way a computer plays basic strategy games - initiate hostilities and invade, then if the tide starts turning say it is unfair aggression.
Is there any chance of Tory members showing some sense and bottle and actually booing the twerps that will be speaking to them?
Interestingly Lord Heseltine will be attending his first Tory conference for many years. He will be speaking at a fringe event with David Gauke for the European Movement
“Realists:” 1. US weapons won’t help Ukraine 2. Ok, they’ll help, but Ukraine won’t win 3. Ok, Ukraine will win but then Russia’s defeat will become America’s problem
I see Russia is now retreating from a logistics hub in "Russian territory" in a war it started on its neighbour. What a joke of a country.
Russia claimed to have annexed some territory that they did not hold, and Russia is leaving territory that they did hold. Obviously this is part of a brilliant plan from the incredibly clever Vladimir Putin, and not the mother of all cock-ups, and anyone who disagrees is simply a Russophobe.
The Nazis annexed Belgium and Nord-Pas de Calais in December 1944, even though they had been pushed out of Belgium by then.
Conference off to a great start as the hosting Tory Mayor puts down the Chairman of the Young Conservative Network for calling Birmingham a dump. He then deletes the tweet, pretends to have sent it because of a mugging attempt, but multiple tweets to the same effect resurface.
A bit harsh on Birmingham maybe but there is no doubt the majority of the Tory delegates would prefer the conference to be in Bournemouth or Harrogate
As an aside I bet Street is in a foul mood, seeing as HS2 is about to be cancelled any day now, undoing his years and years of patient hard work on the project.
Well they can hardly cancel the route to Birmingham - it's already being built....
And it will demonstrate that the Tories don't care about anything beyond London so that's going to cost them some Northern seats...
So is the route to Crewe. They may do an HS2 East on the route from Crewe to Manchester but I would say the rest has gone too far to stop.
Doing an HS2 East on the route to Manchester currently makes sense - because that really does need to be underground with support for NPR / through trains to Leeds...
The current design cost saving design on stilts is actually utterly impractical
There's a serious point here. You could probably build HS2 and NPR far more cheaply than they are actually being built, with fairly modest adjustments. One obvious one would be to reduce the top speed. Another would be to remove the almost impossible demands on slippage and settlement and take the risk for some of the more difficult ones back onto the government, not the contractor. That would actually save far more money than the cancellations they keep talking about, and still sort out the railway network
If I were feeling malicious I would say the reason this isn't being done is because the ultimate goal of the DfT and Treasury is actually to stop it being built, by hook or crook, and if it is built, make as bad a job of it as possible.
Why, I'm not sure. Bribery is one possibility. Blinkered ideology is another one and possibly one that's more plausible.
Conference off to a great start as the hosting Tory Mayor puts down the Chairman of the Young Conservative Network for calling Birmingham a dump. He then deletes the tweet, pretends to have sent it because of a mugging attempt, but multiple tweets to the same effect resurface.
"Dr Adrian Boyle, the incoming president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine told the Observer: 'Covid just makes everything that much harder and it’s entirely valid to link this with critical incidents being called around the country. All hospitals are feeling significant levels of pressure at the moment. Covid is a very heavy straw on the camel’s back.'"
The guy doesn't understand the meaning of that metaphor. The straw that breaks the camel's back has to be LIGHT. It can only be light. That's the point. Someone should tell him.
Then again, he already signalled he was a silly sod by prefacing something he was saying with the words "it's entirely valid to". If you've got something to say, just say it, mate.
Conference off to a great start as the hosting Tory Mayor puts down the Chairman of the Young Conservative Network for calling Birmingham a dump. He then deletes the tweet, pretends to have sent it because of a mugging attempt, but multiple tweets to the same effect resurface.
A bit harsh on Birmingham maybe but there is no doubt the majority of the Tory delegates would prefer the conference to be in Bournemouth or Harrogate
Then that says it all and they deserve to be out of office for decades
This is not the conservative party I have supported since I was 18 (60 years ago) and I am very near to ticking Starmers box, just as I did for Blair, though Starmer is no Blair but he understands fairness
It will take the conservative party to come to its senses and appoint Sunak in place of the dreadful Truss and even worse Kwarteng for me to even consider supporting them
I am afraid it is, if you asked the average Tory conference attendee in the Thatcher years or the Major years or the Hague or Cameron years if they would have preferred the main party conference to be in Bournemouth or Birmingham they would have gone for Bournemouth everytime (with Harrogate for the spring conference)
I rather liked Blackpool in the 1980s: a packed Winter Gardens generated a tension and atmosphere that these ghastly conference centres can’t replicate. Plus the trams, grim bed and breakfasts, and only slightly better hotels.
Conference off to a great start as the hosting Tory Mayor puts down the Chairman of the Young Conservative Network for calling Birmingham a dump. He then deletes the tweet, pretends to have sent it because of a mugging attempt, but multiple tweets to the same effect resurface.
A bit harsh on Birmingham maybe but there is no doubt the majority of the Tory delegates would prefer the conference to be in Bournemouth or Harrogate
Then that says it all and they deserve to be out of office for decades
This is not the conservative party I have supported since I was 18 (60 years ago) and I am very near to ticking Starmers box, just as I did for Blair, though Starmer is no Blair but he understands fairness
It will take the conservative party to come to its senses and appoint Sunak in place of the dreadful Truss and even worse Kwarteng for me to even consider supporting them
I am afraid it is, if you asked the average Tory conference attendee in the Thatcher years or the Major years or the Hague or Cameron years if they would have preferred the main party conference to be in Bournemouth or Birmingham they would have gone for Bournemouth everytime (with Harrogate for the spring conference)
I rather liked Blackpool in the 1980s: a packed Winter Gardens generated a tension and atmosphere that these ghastly conference centres can’t replicate. Plus the trams, grim bed and breakfasts, and only slightly better hotels.
Indeed, I went to Blackpool as a student and the bed and breakfasts were much cheaper and the conference hall more atmospheric. Bournemouth too had a good seaside location. No reason you can't alternate the conference between Manchester or Birmingham one year and Blackpool or Bournemouth the next
"Dr Adrian Boyle, the incoming president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine told the Observer: 'Covid just makes everything that much harder and it’s entirely valid to link this with critical incidents being called around the country. All hospitals are feeling significant levels of pressure at the moment. Covid is a very heavy straw on the camel’s back.'"
The guy doesn't understand the meaning of that metaphor. The straw that breaks the camel's back has to be LIGHT. It can only be light. That's the point. Someone should tell him.
Then again, he already signalled he was a silly sod by prefacing something he was saying with the words "it's entirely valid to". If you've got something to say, just say it, mate.
The "heavy straw" could indicate that the camel's back is not quite broken yet, but it's piled on the weight until a light straw will finish the job.
Conference off to a great start as the hosting Tory Mayor puts down the Chairman of the Young Conservative Network for calling Birmingham a dump. He then deletes the tweet, pretends to have sent it because of a mugging attempt, but multiple tweets to the same effect resurface.
67% of electricity is from wind or solar at this moment. Less than 10% from gas and only 1.5% from biomass.
That's got to be a record, surely?
And it helps that demand is sensationally low for some reason even though France is sucking in power like you can't believe it, but it's still good news.
demand is low because people delaying putting on heating and government buildings tend to work on a rigid 1st oct to 31 March heating on cycle . It is probably the time of year therefore for peak renewable. No bad thing of course but lets not pretend gas is not needed in huge quantities for many years to come
This is electricity generation. Not gas heating. People's heating wouldn't be affecting it.
(Anyway, it is October 1st. By your logic the heating should be spiking.)
It is the weekend, though, which means office, industrial and commercial electricity demand will be lower.
Which ‘people’ would these be I wonder? The Sioux or Zoroastrians, or Rangers supporters perhaps?
What is with the KCMG bollocks? Is he allowed to advertise himself in that way?
Since if he were one the correct form of address would be 'Sir [Name] KG' I imagine he probably is. It would be like referring to yourself as the Supreme Duke and Earl Marshall of the Wash and Humber. It is a non-existent title so has no meaning.
I have edited that because of course KCMG is Michael and George, not the Garter.
More to the point, a little research confirms there are no 'Knight Commanders' in the Garter. They are 'Knight Companions.' It's the other orders have Knight Commanders. So it's a totally made up title.
Why would he do it? I don't know, but I'm guessing because he's a tool. This would be in character with much of his career.
Just had a look at his twitter feed. Completely lost down an anti-vax rabbit hole of paranoia.
Was he ever taken seriously?
To be fair there are respected doctors like Dr Aseem Malhotra now coming out saying the vax is harmful
Calling Aseem Malhotra a 'respected doctor' would be like calling Richard Carrier a 'respected historian.' He is a crank who happens to have qualifications.
Malhotra urges a high fat low carb diet...many people agree with him on this i follow that diet myself
So?
You might like to try the diet you might feel better
Or alternatively, rather than follow diets that actual scientists doing proper research can find no evidence of efficacy for, you could exercise more and eat a bit less? Then you might find there are other ways of staying healthy...and you might feel better.
You might even feel as healthy as I do...
To be fair I spent years trying various diets and failing. I then adopted the Low carb diet (no more than 130g carbs a day) and have lost over 5 stone in the last 2 years. For me it works. For others it may well not. But to claim there is no efficacy for it seems a little wrong headed.
Conference off to a great start as the hosting Tory Mayor puts down the Chairman of the Young Conservative Network for calling Birmingham a dump. He then deletes the tweet, pretends to have sent it because of a mugging attempt, but multiple tweets to the same effect resurface.
Conference off to a great start as the hosting Tory Mayor puts down the Chairman of the Young Conservative Network for calling Birmingham a dump. He then deletes the tweet, pretends to have sent it because of a mugging attempt, but multiple tweets to the same effect resurface.
A bit harsh on Birmingham maybe but there is no doubt the majority of the Tory delegates would prefer the conference to be in Bournemouth or Harrogate
Do they want to win the next GE or not?
Most Birmingham seats are already Labour held, however all Bournemouth seats and Harrogate are Tory held
Exactly. Do you want to win new voters or do you not want to stray from your comfort zone?
The Tories need to hold the voters and seats they won in 2019 with Boris, many of whom Truss has lost.
They have zero chance of gaining any voters who did not vote Tory even in the 2019 landslide year
Why might that be?
Because they are going to haemorrhage seats. This week's conference will tell us whether or not that realisation has penetrated the fogs and vapours that protect the Tories from experiencing reality.
I see Russia is now retreating from a logistics hub in "Russian territory" in a war it started on its neighbour. What a joke of a country.
As I said before, the optics of the inevitability of Russia losing a newly minted bit of "Mother Russia" were always very odd. The million man army of newly minted recruits has done nothing to help.
It does look likely they will have no ability to stop Ukraine claiming back huge swathes of acreage in the east. The optics just get worse and worse.
If anybody else had disappointed Putin so badly, they would have disappeared out a sixth floor window. Maybe they still will.
Conference off to a great start as the hosting Tory Mayor puts down the Chairman of the Young Conservative Network for calling Birmingham a dump. He then deletes the tweet, pretends to have sent it because of a mugging attempt, but multiple tweets to the same effect resurface.
No way is 45p cut getting through when it finally comes to the floor of house.
James Cartlidge MP 🇬🇧 🇺🇦 @jcartlidgemp · 3h At my Whatfield surgery yesterday I was asked what I thought of scrapping the 45p tax rate. It’s not right for me to keep my frank answer from other constituents – to be clear, cutting tax for top earners whilst reducing benefits in a cost of living crisis is unacceptable. (1/4)
"Dr Adrian Boyle, the incoming president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine told the Observer: 'Covid just makes everything that much harder and it’s entirely valid to link this with critical incidents being called around the country. All hospitals are feeling significant levels of pressure at the moment. Covid is a very heavy straw on the camel’s back.'"Itell him.
Then again, he already signalled he was a silly sod by prefacing something he was saying with the words "it's entirely valid to". If you've got something to say, just say it, mate.
Isn't his point that this is not the final straw but makes the arrival of the final straw much more likely?
No way is 45p cut getting through when it finally comes to the floor of house.
James Cartlidge MP 🇬🇧 🇺🇦 @jcartlidgemp · 3h At my Whatfield surgery yesterday I was asked what I thought of scrapping the 45p tax rate. It’s not right for me to keep my frank answer from other constituents – to be clear, cutting tax for top earners whilst reducing benefits in a cost of living crisis is unacceptable. (1/4)
It is blatantly impossible to go ahead with it, yet we will still have to hear Truss go for the lady is not for turning followed by a silly grin whilst wearing the biggest poppy she can find.
Conference off to a great start as the hosting Tory Mayor puts down the Chairman of the Young Conservative Network for calling Birmingham a dump. He then deletes the tweet, pretends to have sent it because of a mugging attempt, but multiple tweets to the same effect resurface.
A bit harsh on Birmingham maybe but there is no doubt the majority of the Tory delegates would prefer the conference to be in Bournemouth or Harrogate
As an aside I bet Street is in a foul mood, seeing as HS2 is about to be cancelled any day now, undoing his years and years of patient hard work on the project.
Well they can hardly cancel the route to Birmingham - it's already being built....
And it will demonstrate that the Tories don't care about anything beyond London so that's going to cost them some Northern seats...
So is the route to Crewe. They may do an HS2 East on the route from Crewe to Manchester but I would say the rest has gone too far to stop.
Doing an HS2 East on the route to Manchester currently makes sense - because that really does need to be underground with support for NPR / through trains to Leeds...
The current design cost saving design on stilts is actually utterly impractical
There's a serious point here. You could probably build HS2 and NPR far more cheaply than they are actually being built, with fairly modest adjustments. One obvious one would be to reduce the top speed. Another would be to remove the almost impossible demands on slippage and settlement and take the risk for some of the more difficult ones back onto the government, not the contractor. That would actually save far more money than the cancellations they keep talking about, and still sort out the railway network
If I were feeling malicious I would say the reason this isn't being done is because the ultimate goal of the DfT and Treasury is actually to stop it being built, by hook or crook, and if it is built, make as bad a job of it as possible.
Why, I'm not sure. Bribery is one possibility. Blinkered ideology is another one and possibly one that's more plausible.
Given the argument in favour if it was always about capacity, the top speed is a bit irrelevant anyway.
Which ‘people’ would these be I wonder? The Sioux or Zoroastrians, or Rangers supporters perhaps?
What is with the KCMG bollocks? Is he allowed to advertise himself in that way?
Since if he were one the correct form of address would be 'Sir [Name] KG' I imagine he probably is. It would be like referring to yourself as the Supreme Duke and Earl Marshall of the Wash and Humber. It is a non-existent title so has no meaning.
I have edited that because of course KCMG is Michael and George, not the Garter.
More to the point, a little research confirms there are no 'Knight Commanders' in the Garter. They are 'Knight Companions.' It's the other orders have Knight Commanders. So it's a totally made up title.
Why would he do it? I don't know, but I'm guessing because he's a tool. This would be in character with much of his career.
Just had a look at his twitter feed. Completely lost down an anti-vax rabbit hole of paranoia.
Was he ever taken seriously?
To be fair there are respected doctors like Dr Aseem Malhotra now coming out saying the vax is harmful
Calling Aseem Malhotra a 'respected doctor' would be like calling Richard Carrier a 'respected historian.' He is a crank who happens to have qualifications.
Malhotra urges a high fat low carb diet...many people agree with him on this i follow that diet myself
So?
You might like to try the diet you might feel better
Or alternatively, rather than follow diets that actual scientists doing proper research can find no evidence of efficacy for, you could exercise more and eat a bit less? Then you might find there are other ways of staying healthy...and you might feel better.
You might even feel as healthy as I do...
To be fair I spent years trying various diets and failing. I then adopted the Low carb diet (no more than 130g carbs a day) and have lost over 5 stone in the last 2 years. For me it works. For others it may well not. But to claim there is no efficacy for it seems a little wrong headed.
You don’t have to be much of a scientist to work out that severely limiting your intake of carbs is likely to result in weight loss.
Why the antivaxxer nuts think that has any bearing on the safety of vaccines (which incidentally are more closely studied, and in a larger population than any medical treatment in history), is a question I’ll leave to others.
"Dr Adrian Boyle, the incoming president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine told the Observer: 'Covid just makes everything that much harder and it’s entirely valid to link this with critical incidents being called around the country. All hospitals are feeling significant levels of pressure at the moment. Covid is a very heavy straw on the camel’s back.'"
The guy doesn't understand the meaning of that metaphor. The straw that breaks the camel's back has to be LIGHT. It can only be light. That's the point. Someone should tell him.
Then again, he already signalled he was a silly sod by prefacing something he was saying with the words "it's entirely valid to". If you've got something to say, just say it, mate.
Why does the straw have to be light ? I think it’s you that doesn’t understand his use of the metaphor.
His point is that the NHS is stretched beyond capacity anyway, and Covid is indeed a heavy extra load.
Conference off to a great start as the hosting Tory Mayor puts down the Chairman of the Young Conservative Network for calling Birmingham a dump. He then deletes the tweet, pretends to have sent it because of a mugging attempt, but multiple tweets to the same effect resurface.
A bit harsh on Birmingham maybe but there is no doubt the majority of the Tory delegates would prefer the conference to be in Bournemouth or Harrogate
As an aside I bet Street is in a foul mood, seeing as HS2 is about to be cancelled any day now, undoing his years and years of patient hard work on the project.
Well they can hardly cancel the route to Birmingham - it's already being built....
And it will demonstrate that the Tories don't care about anything beyond London so that's going to cost them some Northern seats...
So is the route to Crewe. They may do an HS2 East on the route from Crewe to Manchester but I would say the rest has gone too far to stop.
Doing an HS2 East on the route to Manchester currently makes sense - because that really does need to be underground with support for NPR / through trains to Leeds...
The current design cost saving design on stilts is actually utterly impractical
There's a serious point here. You could probably build HS2 and NPR far more cheaply than they are actually being built, with fairly modest adjustments. One obvious one would be to reduce the top speed. Another would be to remove the almost impossible demands on slippage and settlement and take the risk for some of the more difficult ones back onto the government, not the contractor. That would actually save far more money than the cancellations they keep talking about, and still sort out the railway network
If I were feeling malicious I would say the reason this isn't being done is because the ultimate goal of the DfT and Treasury is actually to stop it being built, by hook or crook, and if it is built, make as bad a job of it as possible.
Why, I'm not sure. Bribery is one possibility. Blinkered ideology is another one and possibly one that's more plausible.
Given the argument in favour if it was always about capacity, the top speed is a bit irrelevant anyway.
I agree. Again, I think that may be why it was pushed so much, as a distraction. There is no reason it needs to be more than 180mph and that's not difficult engineering.
In the 1950s, there was a reform movement in the US arguing for "responsible parties". By which the political scientists proposing it meant stronger parties, more like the British parties of that era. It was never a popular movement, and got little attention from elected officials. (At that time, the parties overlapped to a great extent, so knowing what party an elected official belonged to often told you little about what they stood for. Responsible parties would have been against the interests of many politicians, then.)
For what its's worth, the two major parties have become more cohesive since then. Has that made American democracy work better? I have my doubts.
Comments
Time to make membership of the Conservative Party a notifiable condition.
An insistence that people cut down everything is as silly as what I hope is purely a TV trope where lawyers in court demand yes or no answers to questions, which would force people into giving misleading answers when the truth requires some nuance.
--- "Yes"
"Good. What is your name?"
--- "Um. No?"
This is not the conservative party I have supported since I was 18 (60 years ago) and I am very near to ticking Starmers box, just as I did for Blair, though Starmer is no Blair but he understands fairness
It will take the conservative party to come to its senses and appoint Sunak in place of the dreadful Truss and even worse Kwarteng for me to even consider supporting them
And it will demonstrate that the Tories don't care about anything beyond London so that's going to cost them some Northern seats...
https://twitter.com/BiliDowcr/status/1576196662334091265
But the experience point was very noticable.
I noticed a week or so ago Donelan fibbing about having been in the Cabinet before being made Education Secretary for 2 days, when she was just an 'attends Cabinet'. Whilst Chief Secretary of the Treasury seems to go back and forth on its formal status, by and large if you don't have a department it's not the same thing at all.
Given the chaotic supply chains and the terrible equipment provided by the Russian army and the oncoming winter, it looks like the Russians will be the ones campaigning in their summer uniforms, in the mud. The Ukrainians are just taking delivery of state of the art winter clothing from Finland….
Erdogan has already agreed in principle to let them in and I doubt if he will in practice stop them. But he needs the sabre to rattle for a few months more.
https://t.me/chp_crimea/12192
https://twitter.com/RALee85/status/1576227894053208065
This one involving bayonets not tanks...
But they won’t, sadly
Last week was completely self inflicted and the only names and faces involved are Truss and Kwasi...
Honestly, forget the cancer, the level of smoking in the Russian army is just terribly bad for all their health.
The current design cost saving design on stilts is actually utterly impractical
1. US weapons won’t help Ukraine
2. Ok, they’ll help, but Ukraine won’t win
3. Ok, Ukraine will win but then Russia’s defeat will become America’s problem
https://twitter.com/apmassaro3/status/1576160006541496320
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reichsgau_Flandern
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reichsgau_Wallonien
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/District_of_Brussels
If I were feeling malicious I would say the reason this isn't being done is because the ultimate goal of the DfT and Treasury is actually to stop it being built, by hook or crook, and if it is built, make as bad a job of it as possible.
Why, I'm not sure. Bribery is one possibility. Blinkered ideology is another one and possibly one that's more plausible.
The claim by Russian-appointed Governor of Sevastopol is that a plane overshot runway. If it did, it seems then have run into an arms dump. 🤷
https://twitter.com/olliecarroll/status/1576229330736525314?cxt=HHwWhMDR8bOO8t8rAAAA
The guy doesn't understand the meaning of that metaphor. The straw that breaks the camel's back has to be LIGHT. It can only be light. That's the point. Someone should tell him.
Then again, he already signalled he was a silly sod by prefacing something he was saying with the words "it's entirely valid to". If you've got something to say, just say it, mate.
They have zero chance of gaining any voters who did not vote Tory even in the 2019 landslide year
In that context, cutting off Italy makes perfect sense.
The Tory conference is going to be absolutely fabulous
Bubbles was way more intelligent than Liz is as I pointed out yesterday...
Liz is even more bananas.
It does look likely they will have no ability to stop Ukraine claiming back huge swathes of acreage in the east. The optics just get worse and worse.
If anybody else had disappointed Putin so badly, they would have disappeared out a sixth floor window. Maybe they still will.
Lost now of course, barring a miracle after last week's financial Dresden.
As Earl Beatty said at Jutland. "There seems to be something wrong with our defence today."
James Cartlidge MP 🇬🇧 🇺🇦
@jcartlidgemp
·
3h
At my Whatfield surgery yesterday I was asked what I thought of scrapping the 45p tax rate. It’s not right for me to keep my frank answer from other constituents – to be clear, cutting tax for top earners whilst reducing benefits in a cost of living crisis is unacceptable. (1/4)
https://twitter.com/jcartlidgemp/status/1576184721863680000
New Thread
Why the antivaxxer nuts think that has any bearing on the safety of vaccines (which incidentally are more closely studied, and in a larger population than any medical treatment in history), is a question I’ll leave to others.
His point is that the NHS is stretched beyond capacity anyway, and Covid is indeed a heavy extra load.
For what its's worth, the two major parties have become more cohesive since then. Has that made American democracy work better? I have my doubts.
(Some political scientists are still making that argument: For example: https://www.amazon.com/Responsible-Parties-Saving-Democracy-Itself/dp/0300232756 )