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Red Tape or Red Mist? – politicalbetting.com

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  • Northern_AlNorthern_Al Posts: 8,314

    CD13 said:

    Mr Away,

    Women prefer some jobs, men prefer others.

    "The gender balance of the veterinary profession has changed dramatically in the last 30 to 40 years and having once been very much in the minority, women now account for almost 60 % of practicing vets registered with the RCVS. This is a statistic is likely to increase even further considering that almost 80 % of students enrolling in the veterinary degree course are female.

    Men still outnumber women in medicine, but not in the specialism of General Practice. It only counts if men are on top in the more prestigious professions, so work is still to be done. Men outnumbering women in the poorer-paid professions will never be a problem.

    Having sat on Athena-Swan committees at Uni I am fully aware that the process is very one sided. Pharmacy is heading rapidly to be an all female profession. I opined that this is a bad thing, but no-one else seemed to care. And yet it is a bad thing. Women are significanlty more likely to take career breaks (children, and often then reduced hours for many years). This affects workforce planning. If your graduates only end up working 60% over their careers , you need to find the other 40% somewhere.
    They seem to manage in nurseries and primary schools, which are overwhelmingly female. Perhaps it's the workplace planning that's the problem rather than the gender balance?
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 35,895
    Will Liz Truss still be Conservative Party leader at next year's Conference?

    Yes - 4/6
    No - 6/5

    https://sports.ladbrokes.com/event/politics/uk/uk-politics/liz-truss-specials/236956035/all-markets
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 51,320

    What time is Ms Truss's resignation statement Conference Speech due?

    You think she might do an Estelle Morris and say she's not up to it?

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/2359695.stm
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 77,892
    24 pt swing in the Red wall. It's not polled but if you count Brigg and Goole as a red wall seat, Andrew Percy might hang on.
  • Scott_xP said:

    Exc: Liz Truss tells how she has plans to buy tens of billions in future gas supply from Norway at close to current price

    ✅stability of supply and price
    ❌debt and deficit - this will cost a LOT

    Here's extract from this morning's interview https://twitter.com/samcoatessky/status/1577251420876820481 https://twitter.com/SamCoatesSky/status/1577324656016621571/photo/1

    Why not just use the reopened Rough storage facility as a national (and nationalised) strategic gas reserve, that can be filled either from the North Sea or from elsewhere when the price has fallen?
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 62,401

    What will she come up with next? A good Trussite policy would be abolishing state schools. We could replace them with online courses, and put some of the money saved into funding youth activities.

    "youth activities for rich parents children" only of course to be true Truss economics.
  • Northern_AlNorthern_Al Posts: 8,314
    Suella is up and running: apparently all crimes are down, except for those that are up.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 41,947
    kle4 said:

    kinabalu said:

    kle4 said:

    ohnotnow said:

    This is utterly extinction levels and Truss has to go to have any chance of any form of recovery but GE 24 is lost

    https://twitter.com/YouGov/status/1577327506595643399?t=hhIBi7kXiSfD-gaFwa1mQg&s=19

    And this

    https://twitter.com/RedfieldWilton/status/1577327686430511104?t=Db34gmPjrd1M2nhXmWJqTA&s=19

    Her speech tomorrow and the reaction to it are going to be well worth tuning in for.
    I honestly cannot predict what she will go for. The sorts of ratings they are getting on the economy are indeed apocalyptic, and she's made some tweaks, but the party is mutinous already, so how does she pitch this? She cannot go for the lady is not for turning as she did turn, sensibly, but no one but her seems to believe her economic pitch will work now (even if they thought it would work initially, things have taken a turn as a result), so is she just going to say how great it is going to be?

    The attempt to shift position means they won't be trusted if they reverse, but there's no benefit to pushing on either if no one believes it. So she's stuck.
    I predict full-on ra ra "I will NOT accept the stale old consensus that the best we can do is managed decline and that our rightful place is in the second division of nations. We are GREAT Britain. We belong in the top tier. Just look at the variety and quality of our cheeses."
    It's a strong case. Pungent even.
    Yep. Course last bit was my little joke but that is the essence of what we'll get, I think. New era, dynamism, "unleash the animal in us all" yada yada.

    It's going to be a real buttock-clencher.
  • This is utterly extinction levels and Truss has to go to have any chance of any form of recovery but GE 24 is lost

    https://twitter.com/YouGov/status/1577327506595643399?t=hhIBi7kXiSfD-gaFwa1mQg&s=19

    And this

    https://twitter.com/RedfieldWilton/status/1577327686430511104?t=Db34gmPjrd1M2nhXmWJqTA&s=19

    I can't believe my eyes. Wipe out. Forget Red Wall, they'll barely hold Surrey on these satisfaction ratings.

    Incredible.

    SKSICIPM

    It would be funny if it were a short report for the foreign news section of the bulletin. "New Premier makes complete mess of things." But less funny when you live here.

    Actually- forget the UK. Is there any new PM anywhere who has soiled themselves so utterly so quickly? What happened next?
    Kim Campbell, Prime Minister of Canada (1993) in somewhat similar circumstances. Substituting Lyin' Brian for BoJo.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 41,947

    Scott_xP said:

    Policy is dead and it wasn’t even announced https://twitter.com/danbloom1/status/1577331619769290752

    Guess Frosty is bitter about no major Cabinet role, although on this one he is clearly right.

    5m on UC.

    You wanna definitely lose 5m votes, Liz?

    The benefits wedge issue doesn't work anymore.

    The pandemic which saw so many people receiving benefits (and the problems therein applying for them) has changed the perceptions on so called benefit scroungers.
    And 40% of UC recipients are in work.
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 77,892
    Lincolnshire and Essex I think should save some Tory MPs. The true brexit heartlands
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 35,895
    I hear Liz Truss’s team is worried about the prospect of MPs not turning up to listen to her speech tomorrow. Some MPs are heading home early because of train strikes; others because they can’t cope with any more. Govt aides today texting MPs asking if they plan to attend…
    https://twitter.com/BenKentish/status/1577335762080731138
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 62,401

    BREAKING: Elon Musk offers to proceed with the Twitter acquisition deal for the original price of $44 billion, Bloomberg reports.

    https://twitter.com/business/status/1577332352602234880

    WTF??
  • BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 34,586
    Pulpstar said:

    Lincolnshire and Essex I think should save some Tory MPs. The true brexit heartlands

    I can't see my North Dorset constituency ditching our (very one-nation) Tory MP tbh. Any of the neighbouring constituencies could switch to Labour of the LDs though.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 41,947
    Well I so wish I hadn't laid Labour Majority @ 6 back in ye olde political worlde of 2021.

    You have to confess your bad ones, I feel. Can't only sing when you're winning.
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 77,892

    Suella is up and running: apparently all crimes are down, except for those that are up.

    She ticks a lot of boxes for the loyalist crowd and would win with the members. She's now got one of the big jobs too, though Home is hardest of them all.
    But Cleverly is quiet and Kwarteng is too closely tied to Truss. So she could be the next Tory leader
  • BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 34,586
    kinabalu said:

    kle4 said:

    kinabalu said:

    kle4 said:

    ohnotnow said:

    This is utterly extinction levels and Truss has to go to have any chance of any form of recovery but GE 24 is lost

    https://twitter.com/YouGov/status/1577327506595643399?t=hhIBi7kXiSfD-gaFwa1mQg&s=19

    And this

    https://twitter.com/RedfieldWilton/status/1577327686430511104?t=Db34gmPjrd1M2nhXmWJqTA&s=19

    Her speech tomorrow and the reaction to it are going to be well worth tuning in for.
    I honestly cannot predict what she will go for. The sorts of ratings they are getting on the economy are indeed apocalyptic, and she's made some tweaks, but the party is mutinous already, so how does she pitch this? She cannot go for the lady is not for turning as she did turn, sensibly, but no one but her seems to believe her economic pitch will work now (even if they thought it would work initially, things have taken a turn as a result), so is she just going to say how great it is going to be?

    The attempt to shift position means they won't be trusted if they reverse, but there's no benefit to pushing on either if no one believes it. So she's stuck.
    I predict full-on ra ra "I will NOT accept the stale old consensus that the best we can do is managed decline and that our rightful place is in the second division of nations. We are GREAT Britain. We belong in the top tier. Just look at the variety and quality of our cheeses."
    It's a strong case. Pungent even.
    Yep. Course last bit was my little joke but that is the essence of what we'll get, I think. New era, dynamism, "unleash the animal in us all" yada yada.

    It's going to be a real buttock-clencher.
    What time is she due to speak?
  • paulyork64paulyork64 Posts: 2,507
    Carnyx said:

    Scott_xP said:

    kle4 said:

    Scott_xP said:

    I really hope this quote is verbatim...

    Kemi Badenoch says using the word “coup” over MPs and cabinet ministers “speaking our minds” is “inflammatory”. But dismisses talk of a cabinet split and says Truss doesn’t mind differing opinions until a policy is laid out.

    “We’re not zombies, we’re not automatrons.”


    https://twitter.com/Geri_E_L_Scott/status/1577332809030684672

    I hope so too, because it is a good point well made. Even a Cabinet has to be brought onside, and the party definitely, a new leader has reasonable excuse to seek to change direction, but they still need to persuade internally. They aren't emperors.
    Indeed, but I was particularly curious about automatrons
    Perhaps as well Ms B isn't at Health.
    Automatrons could be the answer to the NHS recruitment problem.
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 77,892

    Pulpstar said:

    Lincolnshire and Essex I think should save some Tory MPs. The true brexit heartlands

    I can't see my North Dorset constituency ditching our (very one-nation) Tory MP tbh. Any of the neighbouring constituencies could switch to Labour of the LDs though.
    Hoare would be very vulnerable to the Lib Dems if there was an election tommorow
  • AlistairAlistair Posts: 23,670

    BREAKING: Elon Musk offers to proceed with the Twitter acquisition deal for the original price of $44 billion, Bloomberg reports.

    https://twitter.com/business/status/1577332352602234880

    There's a man who saw the screaming inevitability of humiliation in the up coming court case.

    Or, even better, there's a man who is fucking hurting bad after the screaming humiliation of his Ukraine peace plan being roundly mocked.
  • nico679nico679 Posts: 6,200

    Suella is up and running: apparently all crimes are down, except for those that are up.

    I turned it off . She is a loathsome hateful woman with zero humanity or compassion.
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 77,892
    kinabalu said:

    Well I so wish I hadn't laid Labour Majority @ 6 back in ye olde political worlde of 2021.

    You have to confess your bad ones, I feel. Can't only sing when you're winning.

    Blimey. Oh well it might be alright still.
  • Scott_xP said:

    Policy is dead and it wasn’t even announced https://twitter.com/danbloom1/status/1577331619769290752

    Guess Frosty is bitter about no major Cabinet role, although on this one he is clearly right.

    5m on UC.

    You wanna definitely lose 5m votes, Liz?

    The benefits wedge issue doesn't work anymore.

    The pandemic which saw so many people receiving benefits (and the problems therein applying for them) has changed the perceptions on so called benefit scroungers.
    Its not just that, but we're at full employment, there aren't really many benefits scroungers.

    The benefits bill goes to the grey vote now, if you want to cut benefits, that's the place to start.
  • AlistairAlistair Posts: 23,670
    edited October 2022
    kinabalu said:

    Well I so wish I hadn't laid Labour Majority @ 6 back in ye olde political worlde of 2021.

    You have to confess your bad ones, I feel. Can't only sing when you're winning.

    I'm sure there are a large number of PBers holding Conservative most seat betting slips at the moment.
  • SandyRentoolSandyRentool Posts: 21,965
    I se it is "Send the buggers back" time at Tory conference.
  • StuartDicksonStuartDickson Posts: 12,146
    Farron to agent Truss: you might need to tone it down a bit now, it all looks a little too obvious, some people are beginning to suspect…

    https://twitter.com/timfarron/status/1577217590543253504?s=46&t=M_KcM3It9GUwMDftkF24Tw
  • Alistair said:

    BREAKING: Elon Musk offers to proceed with the Twitter acquisition deal for the original price of $44 billion, Bloomberg reports.

    https://twitter.com/business/status/1577332352602234880

    There's a man who saw the screaming inevitability of humiliation in the up coming court case.

    Or, even better, there's a man who is fucking hurting bad after the screaming humiliation of his Ukraine peace plan being roundly mocked.
    He was always mad as a box of frogs, but in a good way.

    Ever since he invested in crypto onwards, a truly bizarre thing to do for someone who says they care about the environment, he seems to be descending into just being mad.
  • darkagedarkage Posts: 5,317
    "Red tape" is ultimately derived from the idea that all the chaos in the world can be bought under control through law. The trouble is that the tories have embraced this phenomenon in all the time it has been in office, so any red tape busting is not particularly convincing.
  • SandyRentoolSandyRentool Posts: 21,965
    A change from those hand-wringing wet lettuce home secretaries...


    ...such as Priti Patel.


    All is relative.
  • Scott_xP said:

    Policy is dead and it wasn’t even announced https://twitter.com/danbloom1/status/1577331619769290752

    Guess Frosty is bitter about no major Cabinet role, although on this one he is clearly right.

    5m on UC.

    You wanna definitely lose 5m votes, Liz?

    The benefits wedge issue doesn't work anymore.

    The pandemic which saw so many people receiving benefits (and the problems therein applying for them) has changed the perceptions on so called benefit scroungers.
    Showing my age but this reminds me of the late 70s/early 80s when the law-abiding middle classes found it was their punk kids getting hassled and "moved on" for no reason by the police.
  • BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 34,586
    Scott_xP said:

    I hear Liz Truss’s team is worried about the prospect of MPs not turning up to listen to her speech tomorrow. Some MPs are heading home early because of train strikes; others because they can’t cope with any more. Govt aides today texting MPs asking if they plan to attend…
    https://twitter.com/BenKentish/status/1577335762080731138

    Now that *would* be funny - Truss speaks to a half empty hall.
  • kyf_100kyf_100 Posts: 4,866

    Alistair said:

    BREAKING: Elon Musk offers to proceed with the Twitter acquisition deal for the original price of $44 billion, Bloomberg reports.

    https://twitter.com/business/status/1577332352602234880

    There's a man who saw the screaming inevitability of humiliation in the up coming court case.

    Or, even better, there's a man who is fucking hurting bad after the screaming humiliation of his Ukraine peace plan being roundly mocked.
    He was always mad as a box of frogs, but in a good way.

    Ever since he invested in crypto onwards, a truly bizarre thing to do for someone who says they care about the environment, he seems to be descending into just being mad.
    You really do have a bugbear about crypto. Can you show us on the doll where bitcoin hurt you?

    Though I'm actually inclined to agree with you for once - Musk selling all his bitcoin (for a loss) was absolutely mad, and he's going to regret that in four years time. So he's definitely gone downhill.
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 42,639

    Scott_xP said:

    I hear Liz Truss’s team is worried about the prospect of MPs not turning up to listen to her speech tomorrow. Some MPs are heading home early because of train strikes; others because they can’t cope with any more. Govt aides today texting MPs asking if they plan to attend…
    https://twitter.com/BenKentish/status/1577335762080731138

    Now that *would* be funny - Truss speaks to a half empty hall.
    Like those photos of the ScoTory and SLD conferences.You could tell a newspaper's allegiance by the degree to which the photo was cropped.
  • OmniumOmnium Posts: 10,691
    darkage said:

    "Red tape" is ultimately derived from the idea that all the chaos in the world can be bought under control through law. The trouble is that the tories have embraced this phenomenon in all the time it has been in office, so any red tape busting is not particularly convincing.

    Perhaps someone can clarify, but I seem to recall there was a civil service annual or the like published under the banner of 'The Red Tape'. (It may well have a title only slightly like that)

    Somewhere in my archives I think I have such a thing.
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 77,892
    Alistair said:

    kinabalu said:

    Well I so wish I hadn't laid Labour Majority @ 6 back in ye olde political worlde of 2021.

    You have to confess your bad ones, I feel. Can't only sing when you're winning.

    I'm sure there are a large number of PBers holding Conservative most seat betting slips at the moment.
    Don't silly no-one ever backed a loser here
  • Beibheirli_CBeibheirli_C Posts: 8,163

    What time is Ms Truss's resignation statement Conference Speech due?

    You think she might do an Estelle Morris and say she's not up to it?

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/2359695.stm
    We can always hope... but I rather doubt it.
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 48,480
    edited October 2022

    Carnyx said:

    Scott_xP said:

    kle4 said:

    Scott_xP said:

    I really hope this quote is verbatim...

    Kemi Badenoch says using the word “coup” over MPs and cabinet ministers “speaking our minds” is “inflammatory”. But dismisses talk of a cabinet split and says Truss doesn’t mind differing opinions until a policy is laid out.

    “We’re not zombies, we’re not automatrons.”


    https://twitter.com/Geri_E_L_Scott/status/1577332809030684672

    I hope so too, because it is a good point well made. Even a Cabinet has to be brought onside, and the party definitely, a new leader has reasonable excuse to seek to change direction, but they still need to persuade internally. They aren't emperors.
    Indeed, but I was particularly curious about automatrons
    Perhaps as well Ms B isn't at Health.
    Automatrons could be the answer to the NHS recruitment problem.
    "Carry on Automatron" sounds like one of @Leons future dystopias, though in that one at least we aren't all living in a post nuclear wasteland.
  • eekeek Posts: 28,077

    BREAKING: Elon Musk offers to proceed with the Twitter acquisition deal for the original price of $44 billion, Bloomberg reports.

    https://twitter.com/business/status/1577332352602234880

    WTF??
    Someone has finally pointed out the end result of the court case - which was that he needs to buy twitter or pay them a shed load of money…
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 51,320

    What will she come up with next? A good Trussite policy would be abolishing state schools. We could replace them with online courses, and put some of the money saved into funding youth activities.

    "youth activities for rich parents children" only of course to be true Truss economics.
    The others can do vocational training. Cleaning chimneys or something similar.
  • turbotubbsturbotubbs Posts: 17,177

    CD13 said:

    Mr Away,

    Women prefer some jobs, men prefer others.

    "The gender balance of the veterinary profession has changed dramatically in the last 30 to 40 years and having once been very much in the minority, women now account for almost 60 % of practicing vets registered with the RCVS. This is a statistic is likely to increase even further considering that almost 80 % of students enrolling in the veterinary degree course are female.

    Men still outnumber women in medicine, but not in the specialism of General Practice. It only counts if men are on top in the more prestigious professions, so work is still to be done. Men outnumbering women in the poorer-paid professions will never be a problem.

    Having sat on Athena-Swan committees at Uni I am fully aware that the process is very one sided. Pharmacy is heading rapidly to be an all female profession. I opined that this is a bad thing, but no-one else seemed to care. And yet it is a bad thing. Women are significanlty more likely to take career breaks (children, and often then reduced hours for many years). This affects workforce planning. If your graduates only end up working 60% over their careers , you need to find the other 40% somewhere.
    They seem to manage in nurseries and primary schools, which are overwhelmingly female. Perhaps it's the workplace planning that's the problem rather than the gender balance?
    Be assured I have no beef with the profession becoming more female. And yes, if it happens you need to adjust your planning. The bigger point is that a lot of fuss is made over certain male dominated professions, but not others. No campaigns about the glass ceiling for bin men.
  • OmniumOmnium Posts: 10,691
    Pulpstar said:

    Alistair said:

    kinabalu said:

    Well I so wish I hadn't laid Labour Majority @ 6 back in ye olde political worlde of 2021.

    You have to confess your bad ones, I feel. Can't only sing when you're winning.

    I'm sure there are a large number of PBers holding Conservative most seat betting slips at the moment.
    Don't silly no-one ever backed a loser here
    I think there's a good amount of 'I got it wrong' with regards to betting here. Politics, less so.
  • DecrepiterJohnLDecrepiterJohnL Posts: 27,575
    edited October 2022

    kinabalu said:

    kle4 said:

    kinabalu said:

    kle4 said:

    ohnotnow said:

    This is utterly extinction levels and Truss has to go to have any chance of any form of recovery but GE 24 is lost

    https://twitter.com/YouGov/status/1577327506595643399?t=hhIBi7kXiSfD-gaFwa1mQg&s=19

    And this

    https://twitter.com/RedfieldWilton/status/1577327686430511104?t=Db34gmPjrd1M2nhXmWJqTA&s=19

    Her speech tomorrow and the reaction to it are going to be well worth tuning in for.
    I honestly cannot predict what she will go for. The sorts of ratings they are getting on the economy are indeed apocalyptic, and she's made some tweaks, but the party is mutinous already, so how does she pitch this? She cannot go for the lady is not for turning as she did turn, sensibly, but no one but her seems to believe her economic pitch will work now (even if they thought it would work initially, things have taken a turn as a result), so is she just going to say how great it is going to be?

    The attempt to shift position means they won't be trusted if they reverse, but there's no benefit to pushing on either if no one believes it. So she's stuck.
    I predict full-on ra ra "I will NOT accept the stale old consensus that the best we can do is managed decline and that our rightful place is in the second division of nations. We are GREAT Britain. We belong in the top tier. Just look at the variety and quality of our cheeses."
    It's a strong case. Pungent even.
    Yep. Course last bit was my little joke but that is the essence of what we'll get, I think. New era, dynamism, "unleash the animal in us all" yada yada.

    It's going to be a real buttock-clencher.
    What time is she due to speak?
    Dunno. The official agenda does not show a time, just lists her as the last speaker before they knock off at 12. The media will have been more thoroughly briefed but I've no time to look.

    ETA even then, the agenda adds the qualification, "not in order of appearance".
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 77,892
    Lol anyone else see that chart regarding benefits ?
    Osborne did exactly what everyone is yelling at Kwarteng might !
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 42,639
    Omnium said:

    darkage said:

    "Red tape" is ultimately derived from the idea that all the chaos in the world can be bought under control through law. The trouble is that the tories have embraced this phenomenon in all the time it has been in office, so any red tape busting is not particularly convincing.

    Perhaps someone can clarify, but I seem to recall there was a civil service annual or the like published under the banner of 'The Red Tape'. (It may well have a title only slightly like that)

    Somewhere in my archives I think I have such a thing.
    A union journal? 'Red Tape'.

    https://mrc-catalogue.warwick.ac.uk/records/ACA
  • pigeonpigeon Posts: 4,813

    I see it is "Send the buggers back" time at Tory conference.

    Braverman is a good bet for leader of the post-apocalyptic Tory Party. Running as the anti-coup/Truss loyalist/machine gun the dinghies mid-Channel candidate. She also holds the 35th safest Conservative seat so has a chance of survival under some of the less extreme projections.
  • Question - whilst the assumption going into this conference was that it would be dreadful, did anyone conceive of just how catastrophic this is? Could the Tories make their conference any more of a disaster if they really tried?
  • I se it is "Send the buggers back" time at Tory conference.

    What, the Cabinet? I suppose it's worth a try.

    Though if we want a refund, we'll need to return them.undamaged, and it may be too late for that.
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 51,320

    I se it is "Send the buggers back" time at Tory conference.

    "We import 2/3 of our populism... from Denmark."
  • AlistairAlistair Posts: 23,670
    eek said:

    BREAKING: Elon Musk offers to proceed with the Twitter acquisition deal for the original price of $44 billion, Bloomberg reports.

    https://twitter.com/business/status/1577332352602234880

    WTF??
    Someone has finally pointed out the end result of the court case - which was that he needs to buy twitter or pay them a shed load of money…
    Discovery is a two way street. People had a lots of fun with Elon's text's that were published a couple of days ago.
  • Pulpstar said:

    Lol anyone else see that chart regarding benefits ?
    Osborne did exactly what everyone is yelling at Kwarteng might !

    Nah, George Osborne looked after the poor by extending their personal allowances.

    Kwarteng likes to kick poor people.
  • AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 23,477

    Question - whilst the assumption going into this conference was that it would be dreadful, did anyone conceive of just how catastrophic this is? Could the Tories make their conference any more of a disaster if they really tried?

    They could parade Mr Blobby as the new party chairman, then have him body check the first two rows of the audience immediately before Truss speaks?
  • Scott_xP said:

    I hear Liz Truss’s team is worried about the prospect of MPs not turning up to listen to her speech tomorrow. Some MPs are heading home early because of train strikes; others because they can’t cope with any more. Govt aides today texting MPs asking if they plan to attend…
    https://twitter.com/BenKentish/status/1577335762080731138

    Now that *would* be funny - Truss speaks to a half empty hall.
    Even walk outs mid speech would be appropriate for many
  • CookieCookie Posts: 13,585
    edited October 2022

    Scott_xP said:

    Policy is dead and it wasn’t even announced https://twitter.com/danbloom1/status/1577331619769290752

    Guess Frosty is bitter about no major Cabinet role, although on this one he is clearly right.

    5m on UC.

    You wanna definitely lose 5m votes, Liz?

    The benefits wedge issue doesn't work anymore.

    The pandemic which saw so many people receiving benefits (and the problems therein applying for them) has changed the perceptions on so called benefit scroungers.
    Its not just that, but we're at full employment, there aren't really many benefits scroungers.

    The benefits bill goes to the grey vote now, if you want to cut benefits, that's the place to start.


    According to this article (https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/why-penny-mordaunt-s-pre-rebellion-matters) there are 5.3 million on out of work benefit, and we're nowhere near full employment. It's just that people are managed off jobseekers allowance (where they count as unemployment) to other benefits (where they don't).
    Which is crazy in a time when positions are apparently hard to fill.
    And crazier still that we are proposing to increase benefits by more than wages are increasing.

    There may be more to this than an article in the Spectator, of course, but the numbers look like they back the story up.
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 42,639

    Pulpstar said:

    Lol anyone else see that chart regarding benefits ?
    Osborne did exactly what everyone is yelling at Kwarteng might !

    Nah, George Osborne looked after the poor by extending their personal allowances.

    Kwarteng likes to kick poor people.
    What about kittens and doggies? The last admin was very pro-pussy and puppy, viz: Afghan.
  • Question - whilst the assumption going into this conference was that it would be dreadful, did anyone conceive of just how catastrophic this is? Could the Tories make their conference any more of a disaster if they really tried?

    No
  • stodgestodge Posts: 13,800

    Question - whilst the assumption going into this conference was that it would be dreadful, did anyone conceive of just how catastrophic this is? Could the Tories make their conference any more of a disaster if they really tried?

    Yet millions will still vote Conservative next time, a few, perhaps, because they believe in the current drivel.

    Others will support the Party because it suits them financially to do so - they win from lower taxes.

    For others, it's cultural or traditional - they are Tory, they have always been Tory, they will always be Tory.

    The biggest group arguably are those who are simply anti-Labour - they don't "trust" Labour, they don't "like" Starmer, they may even fear what they think a Labour Government will mean for them and the country.

    Ultimately, it's reducing that last group which will win or lose the election for Starmer. Blair was supremely successful in convincing millions of disillusioned Conservatives the Labour party he led was a non-socialist party of the centre or centre-left. If Starmer can get anywhere near that aided and abetted by Truss (who is nowhere near as likeable as John Major), he will become the next Prime Minister.

    The balancing act is to offer change without that change being threatening or alarming for middle class England.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 70,513
    Scott_xP said:

    I really hope this quote is verbatim...

    Kemi Badenoch says using the word “coup” over MPs and cabinet ministers “speaking our minds” is “inflammatory”. But dismisses talk of a cabinet split and says Truss doesn’t mind differing opinions until a policy is laid out.

    “We’re not zombies, we’re not automatrons.”


    https://twitter.com/Geri_E_L_Scott/status/1577332809030684672

    Also we’re a democracy, not an autocracy.
    A PM failing utterly to command the confidence and support of her party isn’t a ‘coup’ happening; it’s just democracy.

    Who was the idiot ? Ah, yes, Braverman.
  • nico679nico679 Posts: 6,200
    Truss doesn’t seem to get it .

    Why on earth double down on still wanting to cut taxes for those earning over 150,000 ?
  • MoonRabbitMoonRabbit Posts: 13,353
    Prediction for Truss Speech.
    Not upgrading benefits in line with inflation saves £5B. There is no way Truss won’t do it, so why prevaricate any longer? She will announce inflation rise for UC in her speech.
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 42,639
    edited October 2022

    Question - whilst the assumption going into this conference was that it would be dreadful, did anyone conceive of just how catastrophic this is? Could the Tories make their conference any more of a disaster if they really tried?

    No
    They could. Just wait till they proclaim up front the abolition of animal cruelty laws. (Which is probably what they are doing anyway, with the EU-erasure act, as per Cyclefree's header.)
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 70,513

    "Rees Mogg is odious. The Eton drawl hides a nasty, rather dim and vastly over promoted creep."

    https://twitter.com/Redpeter99/status/1576999200491200513

    What a perfect description :D

    Seems rather generous, to me.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 41,947
    edited October 2022
    Pulpstar said:

    kinabalu said:

    Well I so wish I hadn't laid Labour Majority @ 6 back in ye olde political worlde of 2021.

    You have to confess your bad ones, I feel. Can't only sing when you're winning.

    Blimey. Oh well it might be alright still.
    But my wins when Trump collapses dwarf all of this stuff. 🙂
  • pigeon said:

    I see it is "Send the buggers back" time at Tory conference.

    Braverman is a good bet for leader of the post-apocalyptic Tory Party. Running as the anti-coup/Truss loyalist/machine gun the dinghies mid-Channel candidate. She also holds the 35th safest Conservative seat so has a chance of survival under some of the less extreme projections.
    A chance of survival close to 100% I'd say - 45.6% majority & will be amazed if Fareham is not blue at next GE.
  • MoonRabbitMoonRabbit Posts: 13,353
    nico679 said:

    Truss doesn’t seem to get it .

    Why on earth double down on still wanting to cut taxes for those earning over 150,000 ?

    It has a different look and meaning to it depending which side of the ideological fence you sit on - from Truss side of the fence it holds UK back in this world making us Uncompetitive in the new global economy, and it puts huge posters up everywhere on UK streets: “we are not an aspirational nation.”

    Does that answer your question.
  • glwglw Posts: 9,871
    Scott_xP said:

    Labour lead by 38% in the Red Wall, up from 15% two weeks ago.

    Red Wall Voting Intention (3-4 Oct.):

    Labour 61% (+12)
    Conservative 23% (-11)
    Reform UK 3% (-4)
    Liberal Democrat 7% (+2)
    Green 4% (–)
    Other 2% (+1)

    Changes +/- 19-20 Sept.

    https://redfieldandwiltonstrategies.com/latest-red-wall-voting-intention-3-4-october-2022 https://twitter.com/RedfieldWilton/status/1577327686430511104/photo/1

    There comes a point when you seriously have to consider the possiblity that Liz Truss is secretly working for the EU/Russia/Lib Dems.
  • Question - whilst the assumption going into this conference was that it would be dreadful, did anyone conceive of just how catastrophic this is? Could the Tories make their conference any more of a disaster if they really tried?

    I think people paying attention with both eyes (so ruling out libertarian pirates with eyepatches) could predict that Truss would be bad. There were lots of clues.

    But not this bad, I reckon.
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 42,639
    glw said:

    Scott_xP said:

    Labour lead by 38% in the Red Wall, up from 15% two weeks ago.

    Red Wall Voting Intention (3-4 Oct.):

    Labour 61% (+12)
    Conservative 23% (-11)
    Reform UK 3% (-4)
    Liberal Democrat 7% (+2)
    Green 4% (–)
    Other 2% (+1)

    Changes +/- 19-20 Sept.

    https://redfieldandwiltonstrategies.com/latest-red-wall-voting-intention-3-4-october-2022 https://twitter.com/RedfieldWilton/status/1577327686430511104/photo/1

    There comes a point when you seriously have to consider the possiblity that Liz Truss is secretly working for the EU/Russia/Lib Dems.
    Doing a pretty crap job for the LDs. More like a Trot mole ab initio.
  • IshmaelZIshmaelZ Posts: 21,830
    Wonderful anon tory MP on Truss

    "Everyone says she's ideological, she's not ideological. She learns phrases that make her sound ideological but below the surface there is nothing.

    "The reason she freezes after a question from the media is a) she is thinking up a phrase to say that makes her sound ideological and b) she's furious. She's like a thesaurus of phrases that make her sound ideological.

    "Before becoming PM every time she would answer a question, she'd pause and think about what answer would make her prime minister. That's it.

    https://news.sky.com/story/politics-news-live-kwarteng-u-turn-45p-tax-liz-truss-12593360?postid=4580945#liveblog-body
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 77,892
    Has any recent tragedy been as underreported as the Pakistani floods ?
  • Carnyx said:

    Pulpstar said:

    Lol anyone else see that chart regarding benefits ?
    Osborne did exactly what everyone is yelling at Kwarteng might !

    Nah, George Osborne looked after the poor by extending their personal allowances.

    Kwarteng likes to kick poor people.
    What about kittens and doggies? The last admin was very pro-pussy and puppy, viz: Afghan.
    Nobody ever doubted that Boris was pro-pussy and puppy.
  • glwglw Posts: 9,871
    Carnyx said:

    glw said:

    Scott_xP said:

    Labour lead by 38% in the Red Wall, up from 15% two weeks ago.

    Red Wall Voting Intention (3-4 Oct.):

    Labour 61% (+12)
    Conservative 23% (-11)
    Reform UK 3% (-4)
    Liberal Democrat 7% (+2)
    Green 4% (–)
    Other 2% (+1)

    Changes +/- 19-20 Sept.

    https://redfieldandwiltonstrategies.com/latest-red-wall-voting-intention-3-4-october-2022 https://twitter.com/RedfieldWilton/status/1577327686430511104/photo/1

    There comes a point when you seriously have to consider the possiblity that Liz Truss is secretly working for the EU/Russia/Lib Dems.
    Doing a pretty crap job for the LDs. More like a Trot mole ab initio.
    Maybe, but whoever she is working for it sure as hell isn't the Tories.
  • kyf_100kyf_100 Posts: 4,866
    Alistair said:

    kyf_100 said:

    Alistair said:

    BREAKING: Elon Musk offers to proceed with the Twitter acquisition deal for the original price of $44 billion, Bloomberg reports.

    https://twitter.com/business/status/1577332352602234880

    There's a man who saw the screaming inevitability of humiliation in the up coming court case.

    Or, even better, there's a man who is fucking hurting bad after the screaming humiliation of his Ukraine peace plan being roundly mocked.
    He was always mad as a box of frogs, but in a good way.

    Ever since he invested in crypto onwards, a truly bizarre thing to do for someone who says they care about the environment, he seems to be descending into just being mad.
    You really do have a bugbear about crypto. Can you show us on the doll where bitcoin hurt you?

    Though I'm actually inclined to agree with you for once - Musk selling all his bitcoin (for a loss) was absolutely mad, and he's going to regret that in four years time. So he's definitely gone downhill.
    Crypto is a scam.

    Thank you for coming to my TED talk.
    Having done consultancy work for three different crypto firms, I can assure you it's not.
    Having profited from it over a number of years, I can assure you it's not.
    Having a basic understanding of a) economics, b) scarcity and c) sound money (I like gold, too), I can assure you it's not.
    Having seen Ukrainians able to flee the war zone with their crypto intact, while their bank accounts were frozen, I can assure you it's not.
    Having seen a supposedly democratic government (Canada) freeze people's bank accounts for donating to a political cause, I can assure you it's not.
    Having seen people at the WEF give talks on the cashless society, CBDCs and programmable money (essentially, the government being able to decide how and where you spend your money, e.g. limiting you from purchasing more than a certain amount of fuel, alcohol or even meat per month), I can assure you it's not.
    Having watched China ban it because they're terrified of how hard it is to censor, and how easy it is to use it to take money out of the hands of an authoritarian regime, I can assure you it's not.

    Whenever anybody tells me that "crypto is a scam", I am reminded of the Arthur C Clarke quote - “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic”. You think it's a scam (aka magic trick) because you can't understand the technology, and therefore the value.

    You are like Paul Krugman opining that the internet will have no more impact on the economy than the fax machine had.

    I feel sorry for the likes of you and Barty, because you simply can't understand the technology and therefore its value. You are therefore destined to scream "scam" evermore, even while the world moves on around you. HFSP.


  • StuartDicksonStuartDickson Posts: 12,146
    The Telegraph Politics team after seeing their new logo:

    https://twitter.com/karl_fh/status/1577310907516030976?s=46&t=zfIV0nxBO8NS7qD3OEPOaA
  • DecrepiterJohnLDecrepiterJohnL Posts: 27,575
    edited October 2022
    glw said:

    Scott_xP said:

    Labour lead by 38% in the Red Wall, up from 15% two weeks ago.

    Red Wall Voting Intention (3-4 Oct.):

    Labour 61% (+12)
    Conservative 23% (-11)
    Reform UK 3% (-4)
    Liberal Democrat 7% (+2)
    Green 4% (–)
    Other 2% (+1)

    Changes +/- 19-20 Sept.

    https://redfieldandwiltonstrategies.com/latest-red-wall-voting-intention-3-4-october-2022 https://twitter.com/RedfieldWilton/status/1577327686430511104/photo/1

    There comes a point when you seriously have to consider the possiblity that Liz Truss is secretly working for the EU/Russia/Lib Dems.
    See StuartDickson's 5.50 post quoting this Tim Farron tweet:
    https://twitter.com/timfarron/status/1577217590543253504?s=46&t=M_KcM3It9GUwMDftkF24Tw
  • GardenwalkerGardenwalker Posts: 21,257
    edited October 2022

    Question - whilst the assumption going into this conference was that it would be dreadful, did anyone conceive of just how catastrophic this is? Could the Tories make their conference any more of a disaster if they really tried?

    I think people paying attention with both eyes (so ruling out libertarian pirates with eyepatches) could predict that Truss would be bad. There were lots of clues.

    But not this bad, I reckon.
    During the debates, even the first one, she surprised me on the upside.

    She managed to avoid major clangers during the campaign, and a commitment to re-in state NPR was even mildly encouraging.

    Of course there some absurd comments passed during the hustings - such as the berserk idea that Macron was not necessarily an ally. But, I’m not really the consituency.

    So mea culpa?
    I personally found both Rishi and Truss deeply flawed, but I don’t think anyone was predicting this level of failure.
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 49,774
    edited October 2022
    glw said:

    Carnyx said:

    glw said:

    Scott_xP said:

    Labour lead by 38% in the Red Wall, up from 15% two weeks ago.

    Red Wall Voting Intention (3-4 Oct.):

    Labour 61% (+12)
    Conservative 23% (-11)
    Reform UK 3% (-4)
    Liberal Democrat 7% (+2)
    Green 4% (–)
    Other 2% (+1)

    Changes +/- 19-20 Sept.

    https://redfieldandwiltonstrategies.com/latest-red-wall-voting-intention-3-4-october-2022 https://twitter.com/RedfieldWilton/status/1577327686430511104/photo/1

    There comes a point when you seriously have to consider the possiblity that Liz Truss is secretly working for the EU/Russia/Lib Dems.
    Doing a pretty crap job for the LDs. More like a Trot mole ab initio.
    Maybe, but whoever she is working for it sure as hell isn't the Tories.
    Why not? She’s making sure they’ll have a long spell in opposition to reenergise and rethink, which is just what they need.

    The worry is that Labour doesn’t seem to have much to show for its time in the wilderness.
  • pigeonpigeon Posts: 4,813

    pigeon said:

    I see it is "Send the buggers back" time at Tory conference.

    Braverman is a good bet for leader of the post-apocalyptic Tory Party. Running as the anti-coup/Truss loyalist/machine gun the dinghies mid-Channel candidate. She also holds the 35th safest Conservative seat so has a chance of survival under some of the less extreme projections.
    A chance of survival close to 100% I'd say - 45.6% majority & will be amazed if Fareham is not blue at next GE.
    In the event of a truly catastrophic defeat, Truss, Sunak, Patel and Braverman are all likely survivors.

    A near-wipeout of Tory MPs would not, of course, change the number and composition of the membership.

    Next Con leader election: Braverman vs Patel, with Patel rejected by the fossil membership for being too moderate.
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 42,639
    edited October 2022
    We were, back at the time, discussing the way in which there was an incident when a chap heckled Prince Andrew near the High Kirk in Edinburgh. A follow-up here.

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/oct/02/two-men-charged-over-alleged-assault-on-prince-andrew-heckler
  • Carnyx said:

    We were, back at the time, discussing the way in which there was an incident when a chap heckled Prince Andrew near the High Kirk in Edinburgh. A follow-up here.

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/oct/02/two-men-charged-over-alleged-assault-on-prince-andrew-heckler

    Putting the merits of the case to one side, if you set out to offend people, you take the risk you will succeed.
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 48,480
    CD13 said:

    Mr Away,

    Women prefer some jobs, men prefer others.

    "The gender balance of the veterinary profession has changed dramatically in the last 30 to 40 years and having once been very much in the minority, women now account for almost 60 % of practicing vets registered with the RCVS. This is a statistic is likely to increase even further considering that almost 80 % of students enrolling in the veterinary degree course are female.

    Men still outnumber women in medicine, but not in the specialism of General Practice. It only counts if men are on top in the more prestigious professions, so work is still to be done. Men outnumbering women in the poorer-paid professions will never be a problem.

    It varies tremendously by speciality, and not for very obvious reasons. There is also demographic change in that the GP workforce is younger than Hospital Consultants, so more female. Some hospital specialities are dominated by women, notably paediatrics, despite the heavy on call, but also haematology curiously.

    The need for part time working is obvious, but as usual the DoH thinks this is the 1950s.
  • pigeonpigeon Posts: 4,813
    https://twitter.com/BenKentish/status/1577335762080731138

    I hear Liz Truss’s team is worried about the prospect of MPs not turning up to listen to her speech tomorrow. Some MPs are heading home early because of train strikes; others because they can’t cope with any more. Govt aides today texting MPs asking if they plan to attend…

    Of course, many of them never arrived in the first place.
  • stodgestodge Posts: 13,800

    pigeon said:

    I see it is "Send the buggers back" time at Tory conference.

    Braverman is a good bet for leader of the post-apocalyptic Tory Party. Running as the anti-coup/Truss loyalist/machine gun the dinghies mid-Channel candidate. She also holds the 35th safest Conservative seat so has a chance of survival under some of the less extreme projections.
    A chance of survival close to 100% I'd say - 45.6% majority & will be amazed if Fareham is not blue at next GE.
    Fareham has not elected anything other than a Conservative MP since 1885 - even when it was Gosport & Fareham from 1950 to 1974 it was still strongly Conservative.

    Even in 1997, the winning Conservative got 47% of the vote (the worst performance was 43% in October 1974). Compared with the 75% Thomas Inskip got in 1935 and the TWO by-elections where the Conservative was unopposed (imagine that now?), Suella Braverman isn't really trying.
  • GardenwalkerGardenwalker Posts: 21,257
    edited October 2022

    Question - whilst the assumption going into this conference was that it would be dreadful, did anyone conceive of just how catastrophic this is? Could the Tories make their conference any more of a disaster if they really tried?

    I think people paying attention with both eyes (so ruling out libertarian pirates with eyepatches) could predict that Truss would be bad. There were lots of clues.

    But not this bad, I reckon.
    During the debates, even the first one, she surprised me on the upside.

    She managed to avoid major clangers during the campaign, and a commitment to re-in state NPR was even mildly encouraging.

    Of course there some absurd comments passed during the hustings - such as the berserk idea that Macron was not necessarily an ally. But, I’m not really the consituency.

    So mea culpa?
    I personally found both Rishi and Truss deeply flawed, but I don’t think anyone was predicting this level of failure.
    To add:
    What started to make me suspicious was her silence on the energy bung; she refused to show leadership. More than that, though, was her ghastly loyalty to Boris.

    Both were calculated to win over the membership, but revealed a kind of cowardice and tendency to dissembling.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 122,273
    edited October 2022
    pigeon said:

    pigeon said:

    I see it is "Send the buggers back" time at Tory conference.

    Braverman is a good bet for leader of the post-apocalyptic Tory Party. Running as the anti-coup/Truss loyalist/machine gun the dinghies mid-Channel candidate. She also holds the 35th safest Conservative seat so has a chance of survival under some of the less extreme projections.
    A chance of survival close to 100% I'd say - 45.6% majority & will be amazed if Fareham is not blue at next GE.
    In the event of a truly catastrophic defeat, Truss, Sunak, Patel and Braverman are all likely survivors.

    A near-wipeout of Tory MPs would not, of course, change the number and composition of the membership.

    Next Con leader election: Braverman vs Patel, with Patel rejected by the fossil membership for being too moderate.
    More like Tugendhat v Braverman, Badenoch or Patel. Tonbridge and Malling will also almost certainly stay blue on current polls (though Tunbridge Wells is less certain for Greg Clark) and every Tory or Labour leadership election normally ends up with a more centrist candidate v a more right or left candidate.

    Mordaunt and Kwarteng might lose their seats on current polls as most likely would Hunt and Steve Baker and maybe even Zahawi on the last Yougov
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 49,586
    Alistair said:

    kyf_100 said:

    Alistair said:

    BREAKING: Elon Musk offers to proceed with the Twitter acquisition deal for the original price of $44 billion, Bloomberg reports.

    https://twitter.com/business/status/1577332352602234880

    There's a man who saw the screaming inevitability of humiliation in the up coming court case.

    Or, even better, there's a man who is fucking hurting bad after the screaming humiliation of his Ukraine peace plan being roundly mocked.
    He was always mad as a box of frogs, but in a good way.

    Ever since he invested in crypto onwards, a truly bizarre thing to do for someone who says they care about the environment, he seems to be descending into just being mad.
    You really do have a bugbear about crypto. Can you show us on the doll where bitcoin hurt you?

    Though I'm actually inclined to agree with you for once - Musk selling all his bitcoin (for a loss) was absolutely mad, and he's going to regret that in four years time. So he's definitely gone downhill.
    Crypto is a scam.

    Thank you for coming to my TED talk.
    To be fair, crypto itself isn't a scam. Good cryptography is always useful.

    Electronic currencies aren't a scam as such, either.

    "Investment" in bullshit topped with "block chain" and "We expect growth in the 12,340% range" definitely is a scam.

    And using all the graphics cards in the world to mine electronic currency is as mad as a box of frogs on every possible level.

    99% of crypto "business" are either bullshit where the founders have conned themselves, or are actually cons. Hence the long and growing list of frauds, lost money, missing executives, missing executives with the only key to the wallet etc etc
  • TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 119,301
    edited October 2022
    Kwasi is the greatest Chancellor ever.

    I ❤️ Kwasi.




    https://twitter.com/JohnRentoul/status/1577353120111558656
  • Sky reporting conservative mps now saying they have ended up with their own Jeremy Corbyn where ideology trumps popularity

    They know what they have to do - purge the party of her and Kwarteng
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 32,167
    edited October 2022
    If Truss keeps caving in on what she believes in there's no point in her government and there ought indeed to be an election.
  • nico679nico679 Posts: 6,200

    nico679 said:

    Truss doesn’t seem to get it .

    Why on earth double down on still wanting to cut taxes for those earning over 150,000 ?

    It has a different look and meaning to it depending which side of the ideological fence you sit on - from Truss side of the fence it holds UK back in this world making us Uncompetitive in the new global economy, and it puts huge posters up everywhere on UK streets: “we are not an aspirational nation.”

    Does that answer your question.
    Clearly the vast majority of the public don’t think those high earners should have their taxes cut and that includes a decent chunk of Tory voters. So Truss and her ideology are vote losers .
  • Have just seen the Truss / Beth Rigby interview.

    Oh
    Dear
    God

    More please!!!
  • OnlyLivingBoyOnlyLivingBoy Posts: 15,687

    Question - whilst the assumption going into this conference was that it would be dreadful, did anyone conceive of just how catastrophic this is? Could the Tories make their conference any more of a disaster if they really tried?

    I think people paying attention with both eyes (so ruling out libertarian pirates with eyepatches) could predict that Truss would be bad. There were lots of clues.

    But not this bad, I reckon.
    I thought she would be terrible and have consistently said that a Labour majority was twice as likely as a Tory one, and that is now priced. I attended a dinner shortly after she became PM where the Westminster insiders present did little to disguise their contempt for her and her team. So none of this should be wholly surprising. But I never imagined that any politician could be quite as spectacularly awful as she has turned out to be.
  • eekeek Posts: 28,077

    Kwasi is the greatest Chancellor ever.

    I ❤️ Kwasi.




    https://twitter.com/JohnRentoul/status/1577353120111558656

    France would be good, living standards are generally higher than in the UK, and the gap is growing.
    Living standards higher and a retirement age of 62 from memory
  • Carnyx said:

    We were, back at the time, discussing the way in which there was an incident when a chap heckled Prince Andrew near the High Kirk in Edinburgh. A follow-up here.

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/oct/02/two-men-charged-over-alleged-assault-on-prince-andrew-heckler

    Putting the merits of the case to one side, if you set out to offend people, you take the risk you will succeed.
    Was there not a common law offence of 'behaving in a manner likely to cause a breach of the peace'? Presumably it has been legislated away in the interim. But it was a long-established principle that one shouldn't provoke people into behaving violently and the onus isn't necessarily on them to turn the other cheek. Depends on the circumstances and the finer details, needless to say, but I'm sure most of us can imagine behaviour that would rouse us to fury, even if we disagree what it might be.
  • eekeek Posts: 28,077
    edited October 2022

    Alistair said:

    kyf_100 said:

    Alistair said:

    BREAKING: Elon Musk offers to proceed with the Twitter acquisition deal for the original price of $44 billion, Bloomberg reports.

    https://twitter.com/business/status/1577332352602234880

    There's a man who saw the screaming inevitability of humiliation in the up coming court case.

    Or, even better, there's a man who is fucking hurting bad after the screaming humiliation of his Ukraine peace plan being roundly mocked.
    He was always mad as a box of frogs, but in a good way.

    Ever since he invested in crypto onwards, a truly bizarre thing to do for someone who says they care about the environment, he seems to be descending into just being mad.
    You really do have a bugbear about crypto. Can you show us on the doll where bitcoin hurt you?

    Though I'm actually inclined to agree with you for once - Musk selling all his bitcoin (for a loss) was absolutely mad, and he's going to regret that in four years time. So he's definitely gone downhill.
    Crypto is a scam.

    Thank you for coming to my TED talk.
    To be fair, crypto itself isn't a scam. Good cryptography is always useful.

    Electronic currencies aren't a scam as such, either.

    "Investment" in bullshit topped with "block chain" and "We expect growth in the 12,340% range" definitely is a scam.

    And using all the graphics cards in the world to mine electronic currency is as mad as a box of frogs on every possible level.

    99% of crypto "business" are either bullshit where the founders have conned themselves, or are actually cons. Hence the long and growing list of frauds, lost money, missing executives, missing executives with the only key to the wallet etc etc
    I have never seen a blockchain application which wouldn’t be done better by a database managed by a trusted third party
  • Kwasi is the greatest Chancellor ever.

    I ❤️ Kwasi.




    https://twitter.com/JohnRentoul/status/1577353120111558656

    France would be good, living standards are generally higher than in the UK, and the gap is growing.
    Try being a darkie in France, terrible country.

    The roasters tried to tear gas me earlier on this year.
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