Talking up when Britain had Bollocks! The only problem being that he chose a Polish regiment as the picture...
Tangentially, there will be a big ceremony over the next couple of weekends at Newark as the remains of three Polish Presidents in exile are being exhumed and returned to Poland to be interred in the Presidential Memorial there.
Newark has the largest Polish military cemetery in Britain (I think it might be the largest in Europe outside of Poland but not sure about that) and until 1993 was the burial place of General Sikorski who was the war time Commander in Chief of the Free Polish forces and also Prime Minister in exile. It is not making anything more than local news at the moment in the UK but is big news in Poland.
Its always been impossible to defend on any economic or social grounds.
What has now arrived is the point where the damage it is doing is no longer possible to hide.
Pinko stuff from the torygraph, headline
"Vulnerable pensioners must be protected, but the 27pc of retired people who are millionaires should share in the country's financial pain"
small print
"But given the UK’s dicey financial situation, it is near impossible to defend an inflation-linked uplift for the state pensions belonging to another cohort: the 27pc of over-65s who live in millionaire households.
big difference, a millionaire household includes 2 people living in a 600,000 pound house which they can't eat or burn for fuel, with 200,000 each in pension and other assets. Typical telegraph readers in other words.
Anyway, lets all be happy that in preference to a period of calm and sensible government, Sunak has opted for a series of calamities and scandals. More fun this way.
A series? How many can you lay at his door? The appointment of Braverman yes. But Truss's phone being hacked and that being silenced by Boris to prevent Rishi getting the top job is hardly the PM's doing...
Is two a series?
Cop27. Granted, just a misjudged calamity, certainly not the full fat scandal of Cruella's appointment.
Had a contender for most surprising tourism advert on YouTube - the Ruhr, focussing on the beer and football culture of Bochum, Dortmund, Essen and Gelsenkirchen.
Perhaps the West Midlands tourism board might like to advertise the wonders of Molineux and the Hawthornes in response.
Anyway, lets all be happy that in preference to a period of calm and sensible government, Sunak has opted for a series of calamities and scandals. More fun this way.
A series? How many can you lay at his door? The appointment of Braverman yes. But Truss's phone being hacked and that being silenced by Boris to prevent Rishi getting the top job is hardly the PM's doing...
Is two a series?
Cop27. Granted, just a misjudged calamity, certainly not the full fat scandal of Cruella's appointment.
What about COP27? Staying home to work on immediate priorities rather than wasting time at an expensive talking shop?
Anyway, lets all be happy that in preference to a period of calm and sensible government, Sunak has opted for a series of calamities and scandals. More fun this way.
A series? How many can you lay at his door? The appointment of Braverman yes. But Truss's phone being hacked and that being silenced by Boris to prevent Rishi getting the top job is hardly the PM's doing...
Is two a series?
Cop27. Granted, just a misjudged calamity, certainly not the full fat scandal of Cruella's appointment.
What about COP27? Staying home to work on immediate priorities rather than wasting time at an expensive talking shop?
Anyway, lets all be happy that in preference to a period of calm and sensible government, Sunak has opted for a series of calamities and scandals. More fun this way.
I’m banking on this being Truss’ masterplan. Allow Sunak to screw up so badly that a grateful nation/party welcomes her back with open arms.
Its always been impossible to defend on any economic or social grounds.
What has now arrived is the point where the damage it is doing is no longer possible to hide.
Pinko stuff from the torygraph, headline
"Vulnerable pensioners must be protected, but the 27pc of retired people who are millionaires should share in the country's financial pain"
small print
"But given the UK’s dicey financial situation, it is near impossible to defend an inflation-linked uplift for the state pensions belonging to another cohort: the 27pc of over-65s who live in millionaire households.
big difference, a millionaire household includes 2 people living in a 600,000 pound house which they can't eat or burn for fuel, with 200,000 each in pension and other assets. Typical telegraph readers in other words.
Tapping into property wealth is now inevitable.
The only questions are who does it, how they do it and what they spend the proceeds on.
I have been saying this for years. Vast amounts of money was expended during lockdowns to keep businesses viable. But those lockdowns were to protect the pensioner age group. There has to be a grown up conversation about their contribution to rebalancing the nation's books. It is tricky when energy and food costs are rising so quickly, but saying that the triple lock reduces to a double lock is hardly unfair in the great scheme of things.
What is this pb Tory obsession with the triple lock? The last time the triple lock was suspended, it was the wages component that was jettisoned, but making that particular double lock permanent would not save money because currently it is inflation that is highest.
Politically, the Prime Minister has just made great play of the 2019 manifesto and its mandate belonging to this government. That included the triple lock.
The state pension of £10,000 a year is not generous; 20 per cent of pensioners are below the poverty line, and the latter group (as well as, one suspects, the next cohort along) need to be protected from inflation.
If the Telegraph is concerned that some pensioners are millionaires, then that should be addressed separately.
Twitter might like to have tiers of membership, where if you go over 10 tweets a day you have to pay 10 bucks a month. Over 20 and you pay 50 bucks. Companies pay 1000 bucks a month. A tax on bots, corporate PR and gobshites.
Would work quite well, when something happens and you’re desperate to say something you’ll sign up.
But who will fund covid twitter? Those endless doomsayers still wearing masks and calling the next wave that means we all should lockdown?
I stumbled across one of those a few weeks ago He was saying that the latest ‘wave’ of Covid had just peaked. I was amazed both that there was a wave worthy of the name and that anyone was still monitoring covid to that degree, but some people simply cannot move on. It’s very saddening when you meet someone who has been mentally boxed-in to that extent by the experience.
For most people life is back to normal. There is ongoing pressure in hospitals, and that is making things like A&E worse, and that is probably costing lives right now. But ultimately vaccines and exposure to covid have turned an IFR of 1 into 0.01 (don't quote me) and we are through the pandemic.
Covid twitter now consists of obsessives who never want it to be over, including sadly some scientists who have risen to prominence, acquired a host of sycophants, and can't seem to let go. And those pointing and laughing at them.
It goes back to the old question - how do pandemics end? Usually when enough people have had it that subsequent infections are not an issue. Its not going away, it probably never will, but its added to the set of circulating respiratory viruses.
Twitter might like to have tiers of membership, where if you go over 10 tweets a day you have to pay 10 bucks a month. Over 20 and you pay 50 bucks. Companies pay 1000 bucks a month. A tax on bots, corporate PR and gobshites.
Would work quite well, when something happens and you’re desperate to say something you’ll sign up.
But who will fund covid twitter? Those endless doomsayers still wearing masks and calling the next wave that means we all should lockdown?
I stumbled across one of those a few weeks ago He was saying that the latest ‘wave’ of Covid had just peaked. I was amazed both that there was a wave worthy of the name and that anyone was still monitoring covid to that degree, but some people simply cannot move on. It’s very saddening when you meet someone who has been mentally boxed-in to that extent by the experience.
For most people life is back to normal. There is ongoing pressure in hospitals, and that is making things like A&E worse, and that is probably costing lives right now. But ultimately vaccines and exposure to covid have turned an IFR of 1 into 0.01 (don't quote me) and we are through the pandemic.
Covid twitter now consists of obsessives who never want it to be over, including sadly some scientists who have risen to prominence, acquired a host of sycophants, and can't seem to let go. And those pointing and laughing at them.
It goes back to the old question - how do pandemics end? Usually when enough people have had it that subsequent infections are not an issue. Its not going away, it probably never will, but its added to the set of circulating respiratory viruses.
Historically, pandemics were deemed to have ended when the underlying mortality rate returned to what it was prior to the outbreak. I've a lot of time for the theory that the late 1880s "Russian Flu" was actually a coronavirus that continues to circulate as one of the many that cause "common colds". But I accept that that is not accepted universally - particularly by people with far more knowledge than me.
Had a contender for most surprising tourism advert on YouTube - the Ruhr, focussing on the beer and football culture of Bochum, Dortmund, Essen and Gelsenkirchen.
Perhaps the West Midlands tourism board might like to advertise the wonders of Molineux and the Hawthornes in response.
A canal holiday on the Stourport Ring has fulfilled the historical magnificence of the industrial West Midlands for decades.
If your specific tour is crap stadia of the industrial West Midlands the trip would not be complete without St Andrews.
Another day of depressing headlines over the hapless Braverman
I understand Robert Jenrick is taking her to task and Rishi is to discuss these crisis with her
Not much to discuss about serving a P45 on her to be fair
Also latest inflation figures are concerning
Italy. 12.8%
Germany. 11.6%
UK. 10.1%
Euro zone. 9.9%
US. 8.2%
Many/most PBers of all persuasions said Leaky Sue’s appointment was a moronic unforced error at the point it was made.
Yet the likes of William Glenn and one or two loyalist PB Tories sought to brush it off. Some even claimed it was 12D chess to make Labour talk more about immigration.
Anyway, lets all be happy that in preference to a period of calm and sensible government, Sunak has opted for a series of calamities and scandals. More fun this way.
I’m banking on this being Truss’ masterplan. Allow Sunak to screw up so badly that a grateful nation/party welcomes her back with open arms.
It’s a great bet, but have you considered the significant upside risk: the Liz ‘The Biz’ Truss is elected Ultimate World Boss thus making her reappointment as PM impossible?
Had a contender for most surprising tourism advert on YouTube - the Ruhr, focussing on the beer and football culture of Bochum, Dortmund, Essen and Gelsenkirchen.
Perhaps the West Midlands tourism board might like to advertise the wonders of Molineux and the Hawthornes in response.
To be fair I don’t think the Baggies or Wolves can rival Dortmund’s Yellow Wall or the Ruhr Derby.
Bolsonaro hasn't conceded, but when will Betfair pay out on Lula? The result has been announced. Lula won.
Betfair rules for this market:
"Who will be elected to be the next President of Brazil as a result of the 2022 Brazilian General Election?"
The person elected to be the next pres is Lula.
0.01 Lula, lay only. Punters are not getting discombobulated this time like they did when Trump was trading at short odds after he'd actually lost.
I think it's because
i. Brazil counts far more quickly ii. It doesn't have the electoral college system, just needs a straight up majority of voters. iii. It doesn't have the mad court system of the USA wrt elections where judges can just rule heaps of ballots invalid - or if it does noone knows about it.
Anyway, lets all be happy that in preference to a period of calm and sensible government, Sunak has opted for a series of calamities and scandals. More fun this way.
I’m banking on this being Truss’ masterplan. Allow Sunak to screw up so badly that a grateful nation/party welcomes her back with open arms.
It’s a great bet, but have you considered the significant upside risk: the Liz ‘The Biz’ Truss is elected Ultimate World Boss thus making her reappointment as PM impossible?
Anyway, lets all be happy that in preference to a period of calm and sensible government, Sunak has opted for a series of calamities and scandals. More fun this way.
I’m banking on this being Truss’ masterplan. Allow Sunak to screw up so badly that a grateful nation/party welcomes her back with open arms.
It’s a great bet, but have you considered the significant upside risk: the Liz ‘The Biz’ Truss is elected Ultimate World Boss thus making her reappointment as PM impossible?
That would still make her inferior to Chris Gayle.
Bolsonaro hasn't conceded, but when will Betfair pay out on Lula? The result has been announced. Lula won.
Betfair rules for this market:
"Who will be elected to be the next President of Brazil as a result of the 2022 Brazilian General Election?"
The person elected to be the next pres is Lula.
0.01 Lula, lay only. Punters are not getting discombobulated this time like they did when Trump was trading at short odds after he'd actually lost.
I think it's because
i. Brazil counts far more quickly ii. It doesn't have the electoral college system, just needs a straight up majority of voters. iii. It doesn't have the mad court system of the USA wrt elections where judges can just rule heaps of ballots invalid - or if it does noone knows about it.
Yes. And a VERY quick count in fact. All over in the day, pretty much.
I have been saying this for years. Vast amounts of money was expended during lockdowns to keep businesses viable. But those lockdowns were to protect the pensioner age group. There has to be a grown up conversation about their contribution to rebalancing the nation's books. It is tricky when energy and food costs are rising so quickly, but saying that the triple lock reduces to a double lock is hardly unfair in the great scheme of things.
What is this pb Tory obsession with the triple lock? The last time the triple lock was suspended, it was the wages component that was jettisoned, but making that particular double lock permanent would not save money because currently it is inflation that is highest.
Politically, the Prime Minister has just made great play of the 2019 manifesto and its mandate belonging to this government. That included the triple lock.
The state pension of £10,000 a year is not generous; 20 per cent of pensioners are below the poverty line, and the latter group (as well as, one suspects, the next cohort along) need to be protected from inflation.
If the Telegraph is concerned that some pensioners are millionaires, then that should be addressed separately.
Exactly and supposed rich pensioners , who will have paid handsomely for it, if accurate will be paying high taxes on their pension and so giving back >40% already.
Bolsonaro hasn't conceded, but when will Betfair pay out on Lula? The result has been announced. Lula won.
Betfair rules for this market:
"Who will be elected to be the next President of Brazil as a result of the 2022 Brazilian General Election?"
The person elected to be the next pres is Lula.
0.01 Lula, lay only. Punters are not getting discombobulated this time like they did when Trump was trading at short odds after he'd actually lost.
Lula has won: the result has been announced. He has been elected to be the next president of Brazil. I'm not going to lay him now - that would be paying to get my winnings.
Anyway, lets all be happy that in preference to a period of calm and sensible government, Sunak has opted for a series of calamities and scandals. More fun this way.
I’m banking on this being Truss’ masterplan. Allow Sunak to screw up so badly that a grateful nation/party welcomes her back with open arms.
It’s a great bet, but have you considered the significant upside risk: the Liz ‘The Biz’ Truss is elected Ultimate World Boss thus making her reappointment as PM impossible?
That would still make her inferior to Chris Gayle.
Very true, although Gayle will be looking over his shoulder…
Bolsonaro hasn't conceded, but when will Betfair pay out on Lula? The result has been announced. Lula won.
Betfair rules for this market:
"Who will be elected to be the next President of Brazil as a result of the 2022 Brazilian General Election?"
The person elected to be the next pres is Lula.
0.01 Lula, lay only. Punters are not getting discombobulated this time like they did when Trump was trading at short odds after he'd actually lost.
I think it's because
i. Brazil counts far more quickly ii. It doesn't have the electoral college system, just needs a straight up majority of voters. iii. It doesn't have the mad court system of the USA wrt elections where judges can just rule heaps of ballots invalid - or if it does noone knows about it.
Yes. And a VERY quick count in fact. All over in the day, pretty much.
Really impressive system. Would be worth considering here.
Its always been impossible to defend on any economic or social grounds.
What has now arrived is the point where the damage it is doing is no longer possible to hide.
Pinko stuff from the torygraph, headline
"Vulnerable pensioners must be protected, but the 27pc of retired people who are millionaires should share in the country's financial pain"
small print
"But given the UK’s dicey financial situation, it is near impossible to defend an inflation-linked uplift for the state pensions belonging to another cohort: the 27pc of over-65s who live in millionaire households.
big difference, a millionaire household includes 2 people living in a 600,000 pound house which they can't eat or burn for fuel, with 200,000 each in pension and other assets. Typical telegraph readers in other words.
Again the morons don't mention that those pensioners with any money are paying >40% tax otherwise they are living on 10K but have a nice house they paid for. What a shithole of a country where the idle greedy want to rob pensioners who have worked hard all their lives.
Bolsonaro hasn't conceded, but when will Betfair pay out on Lula? The result has been announced. Lula won.
Betfair rules for this market:
"Who will be elected to be the next President of Brazil as a result of the 2022 Brazilian General Election?"
The person elected to be the next pres is Lula.
0.01 Lula, lay only. Punters are not getting discombobulated this time like they did when Trump was trading at short odds after he'd actually lost.
Lula has won: the result has been announced. He has been elected to be the next president of Brazil. I'm not going to lay him now - that would be paying to get my winnings.
Bolsonaro is still trading. His price is 350.
No, I know. I'm agreeing with you. I'm just contrasting with the crazy POTUS market post WH20. This time punters are being rational.
Bolsonaro hasn't conceded, but when will Betfair pay out on Lula? The result has been announced. Lula won.
Betfair rules for this market:
"Who will be elected to be the next President of Brazil as a result of the 2022 Brazilian General Election?"
The person elected to be the next pres is Lula.
0.01 Lula, lay only. Punters are not getting discombobulated this time like they did when Trump was trading at short odds after he'd actually lost.
Lula has won: the result has been announced. He has been elected to be the next president of Brazil. I'm not going to lay him now - that would be paying to get my winnings.
Bolsonaro is still trading. His price is 350.
One thing the Brazilian election should raise some debate is whether the Brazilian polling companies are just crap at polling or (1) the 'shy' voter syndrome effect is coming back and is not being picked up or (2) even more problematically, certain groups (Bolsonaro supporters in this case but take your examples elsewhere), are deciding to deliberately mislead the pollsters.
Bolsonaro hasn't conceded, but when will Betfair pay out on Lula? The result has been announced. Lula won.
Betfair rules for this market:
"Who will be elected to be the next President of Brazil as a result of the 2022 Brazilian General Election?"
The person elected to be the next pres is Lula.
0.01 Lula, lay only. Punters are not getting discombobulated this time like they did when Trump was trading at short odds after he'd actually lost.
Lula has won: the result has been announced. He has been elected to be the next president of Brazil. I'm not going to lay him now - that would be paying to get my winnings.
Bolsonaro is still trading. His price is 350.
One thing the Brazilian election should raise some debate is whether the Brazilian polling companies are just crap at polling or (1) the 'shy' voter syndrome effect is coming back and is not being picked up or (2) even more problematically, certain groups (Bolsonaro supporters in this case but take your examples elsewhere), are deciding to deliberately mislead the pollsters.
Bolsonaro hasn't conceded, but when will Betfair pay out on Lula? The result has been announced. Lula won.
Betfair rules for this market:
"Who will be elected to be the next President of Brazil as a result of the 2022 Brazilian General Election?"
The person elected to be the next pres is Lula.
0.01 Lula, lay only. Punters are not getting discombobulated this time like they did when Trump was trading at short odds after he'd actually lost.
I think it's because
i. Brazil counts far more quickly ii. It doesn't have the electoral college system, just needs a straight up majority of voters. iii. It doesn't have the mad court system of the USA wrt elections where judges can just rule heaps of ballots invalid - or if it does noone knows about it.
Yes. And a VERY quick count in fact. All over in the day, pretty much.
Really impressive system. Would be worth considering here.
Very good given the size and shape of the country and its large population.
Bolsonaro hasn't conceded, but when will Betfair pay out on Lula? The result has been announced. Lula won.
Betfair rules for this market:
"Who will be elected to be the next President of Brazil as a result of the 2022 Brazilian General Election?"
The person elected to be the next pres is Lula.
0.01 Lula, lay only. Punters are not getting discombobulated this time like they did when Trump was trading at short odds after he'd actually lost.
Lula has won: the result has been announced. He has been elected to be the next president of Brazil. I'm not going to lay him now - that would be paying to get my winnings.
Bolsonaro is still trading. His price is 350.
One thing the Brazilian election should raise some debate is whether the Brazilian polling companies are just crap at polling or (1) the 'shy' voter syndrome effect is coming back and is not being picked up or (2) even more problematically, certain groups (Bolsonaro supporters in this case but take your examples elsewhere), are deciding to deliberately mislead the pollsters.
Or (3) police blocking the roads prevented some people from voting.
In The Grocer. There is reported alarm amongst farmers about the return of Therese Coffey to Defra...
Bloody useless cartoon, only gove recognisable. Loving the Sunak is an Alien slur, mind. Clever.
Alien? He's Frankestein's Monster...
Excellent, another good play on his Indian origins
Nobody ever suggested F's M was monophthalmic. Just basic incompetence.
So in a Halloween cartoon posted in the Halloween issue your take of Frankenstein's Monster is that it is a high-brow racist dig because the monster and the PM share "indian origins".
Its an opinion...
Single Cyclopean eye = alien or birth defect. See Futurama.
Bolt through the neck is a little more obvious. It's an utterly crap cartoon, and I think you might be over interpreting what's just lack of ability.
Had a contender for most surprising tourism advert on YouTube - the Ruhr, focussing on the beer and football culture of Bochum, Dortmund, Essen and Gelsenkirchen.
Perhaps the West Midlands tourism board might like to advertise the wonders of Molineux and the Hawthornes in response.
A canal holiday on the Stourport Ring has fulfilled the historical magnificence of the industrial West Midlands for decades.
If your specific tour is crap stadia of the industrial West Midlands the trip would not be complete without St Andrews.
I remember standing on the terraces of St Andrews as a kid to watch Birmingham City versus Man U in the 70s, probably '73 or '74.
Can't remember anything about the game but in the second half the terraces turned into a cascade of piss. Grim.
Another day of depressing headlines over the hapless Braverman
I understand Robert Jenrick is taking her to task and Rishi is to discuss these crisis with her
Not much to discuss about serving a P45 on her to be fair
Also latest inflation figures are concerning
Italy. 12.8%
Germany. 11.6%
UK. 10.1%
Euro zone. 9.9%
US. 8.2%
Many/most PBers of all persuasions said Leaky Sue’s appointment was a moronic unforced error at the point it was made.
Yet the likes of William Glenn and one or two loyalist PB Tories sought to brush it off. Some even claimed it was 12D chess to make Labour talk more about immigration.
Funny old world.
I wondered whether this was the final evidence that the murcurial WilliamGLenn does in fact work for the Tory Party. Telling us that the Suella Saga was a storm in a teacup which which would quickly blow out had 'Party Hack Wishful Thinking' written all over it.
As a society, we’re really not taking climate change seriously, are we?
No.
Perhaps we should fly lots of people half way round the world so that they can gather together and condemn it?
Admirably Emma Thompson flew back from LA to support the Extinction Rebellion protests then whined if she could fly clean she would. The struggle is real.
"Danish election could pave the way for a centrist government
Denmark's general election this week could change the political landscape with new parties hoping to enter parliament and others either losing influence or leaving the assembly altogether" (£)
There is a full scale political crisis for the home secretary Suella Braverman and new PM Rishi Sunak in the failure to prevent the Manston migrant processing centre being totally overwhelmed by asylum seekers. Here are the important facts. 1/20 https://twitter.com/Peston/status/1587022185633284096
There is a full scale political crisis for the home secretary Suella Braverman and new PM Rishi Sunak in the failure to prevent the Manston migrant processing centre being totally overwhelmed by asylum seekers. Here are the important facts. 1/20 https://twitter.com/Peston/status/1587022185633284096
As a society, we’re really not taking climate change seriously, are we?
No.
Perhaps we should fly lots of people half way round the world so that they can gather together and condemn it?
Admirably Emma Thompson flew back from LA to support the Extinction Rebellion protests then whined if she could fly clean she would. The struggle is real.
I'm sure she cried all the way on the plane at the harm she was causing the planet...
There is a full scale political crisis for the home secretary Suella Braverman and new PM Rishi Sunak in the failure to prevent the Manston migrant processing centre being totally overwhelmed by asylum seekers. Here are the important facts. 1/20 https://twitter.com/Peston/status/1587022185633284096
The interesting bit in there is that "charities specialising in help for asylum seekers" seem to want to encourage more illegal crossings, which is perhaps not part of their core mission.
There is a full scale political crisis for the home secretary Suella Braverman and new PM Rishi Sunak in the failure to prevent the Manston migrant processing centre being totally overwhelmed by asylum seekers. Here are the important facts. 1/20 https://twitter.com/Peston/status/1587022185633284096
Switzerland sets record with world's longest passenger train A Swiss railway operator has set a new record for completing a journey with the world's longest passenger train.
The 1.9km (1.2 mile) train, which is composed of 100 coaches, completed a spectacular 25km (15.5 mile) journey through the Alps.
Anyway, lets all be happy that in preference to a period of calm and sensible government, Sunak has opted for a series of calamities and scandals. More fun this way.
We’ve all been assuming that the Tories will recover to at least the low 30s, but what if we’re wrong and the English Con VI heads towards Scottish Con VI levels?
There is a full scale political crisis for the home secretary Suella Braverman and new PM Rishi Sunak in the failure to prevent the Manston migrant processing centre being totally overwhelmed by asylum seekers. Here are the important facts. 1/20 https://twitter.com/Peston/status/1587022185633284096
There's a new PS on this thread saying Patel says she did sign off on hotels.
Its always been impossible to defend on any economic or social grounds.
What has now arrived is the point where the damage it is doing is no longer possible to hide.
Pinko stuff from the torygraph, headline
"Vulnerable pensioners must be protected, but the 27pc of retired people who are millionaires should share in the country's financial pain"
small print
"But given the UK’s dicey financial situation, it is near impossible to defend an inflation-linked uplift for the state pensions belonging to another cohort: the 27pc of over-65s who live in millionaire households.
big difference, a millionaire household includes 2 people living in a 600,000 pound house which they can't eat or burn for fuel, with 200,000 each in pension and other assets. Typical telegraph readers in other words.
Again the morons don't mention that those pensioners with any money are paying >40% tax otherwise they are living on 10K but have a nice house they paid for. What a shithole of a country where the idle greedy want to rob pensioners who have worked hard all their lives.
Bollocks as usual Malc.
To pay >40% of their income in tax a pensioner would have to have an income of £400,000 p.a. (income tax payable = £164k); a bit less in Scotland.
There is a full scale political crisis for the home secretary Suella Braverman and new PM Rishi Sunak in the failure to prevent the Manston migrant processing centre being totally overwhelmed by asylum seekers. Here are the important facts. 1/20 https://twitter.com/Peston/status/1587022185633284096
There's a new PS on this thread saying Patel says she did sign off on hotels.
If trues then Braverman is v exposed here.
Braverman is always going to be exposed, because she is nasty and incompetent. If she survives this one there’ll be others along soon. One will fell her. A truly appalling appointment.
Its always been impossible to defend on any economic or social grounds.
What has now arrived is the point where the damage it is doing is no longer possible to hide.
Pinko stuff from the torygraph, headline
"Vulnerable pensioners must be protected, but the 27pc of retired people who are millionaires should share in the country's financial pain"
small print
"But given the UK’s dicey financial situation, it is near impossible to defend an inflation-linked uplift for the state pensions belonging to another cohort: the 27pc of over-65s who live in millionaire households.
big difference, a millionaire household includes 2 people living in a 600,000 pound house which they can't eat or burn for fuel, with 200,000 each in pension and other assets. Typical telegraph readers in other words.
Again the morons don't mention that those pensioners with any money are paying >40% tax otherwise they are living on 10K but have a nice house they paid for. What a shithole of a country where the idle greedy want to rob pensioners who have worked hard all their lives.
Bollocks as usual Malc.
To pay >40% of their income in tax a pensioner would have to have an income of £400,000 p.a. (income tax payable = £164k); a bit less in Scotland.
And the point is why a non-pensioner on the same income should pay over 10% more?
Its always been impossible to defend on any economic or social grounds.
What has now arrived is the point where the damage it is doing is no longer possible to hide.
Pinko stuff from the torygraph, headline
"Vulnerable pensioners must be protected, but the 27pc of retired people who are millionaires should share in the country's financial pain"
small print
"But given the UK’s dicey financial situation, it is near impossible to defend an inflation-linked uplift for the state pensions belonging to another cohort: the 27pc of over-65s who live in millionaire households.
big difference, a millionaire household includes 2 people living in a 600,000 pound house which they can't eat or burn for fuel, with 200,000 each in pension and other assets. Typical telegraph readers in other words.
Again the morons don't mention that those pensioners with any money are paying >40% tax otherwise they are living on 10K but have a nice house they paid for. What a shithole of a country where the idle greedy want to rob pensioners who have worked hard all their lives.
Bollocks as usual Malc.
To pay >40% of their income in tax a pensioner would have to have an income of £400,000 p.a. (income tax payable = £164k); a bit less in Scotland.
Not wakened yet Ben, 40% income tax. You are not with it if you thought I was as stupid at economics at Bart Simpson and co. Thanks for your kind thoughts though.
Rejoice PB! All your old friends from Alt Sage are coming back - this time to attack impact of Rishi Sunak’s austerity on The NHS and the nations health right up onto Election Day.
There is a full scale political crisis for the home secretary Suella Braverman and new PM Rishi Sunak in the failure to prevent the Manston migrant processing centre being totally overwhelmed by asylum seekers. Here are the important facts. 1/20 https://twitter.com/Peston/status/1587022185633284096
As there is a very specific and acute Albanian element to this debacle, has the Home Office even reached out to the Albanian government? We could announce a hard line "if you are Albanian we deport you straight back to Tirana" and worry about the legalities later. To do that, the Albanian authorities need to agree to receive their people back.
Have we asked? Or is co-operating with the forrin beneath our newly sovrin Brexity status?
The Institute for the study of war (ISW) have tried to put themseleves in Putin's mind to predict his likely actions. I'm summarising.
They think a nuclear attack is very unlikely. They predict a Spring '23 offensive, hoping a cold winter will have changed the West's enthusiasm for arming Ukraine. By then, some of his new untrained recruits may have bedded in. The last one is my own guess, so you can ignore it.
They didn't postulate how he'd like the political scene to change, but this forum might. Here's my tongue-in-cheek predictions.
Obviously, he'd like Angela back (Get rid of Nuclear, tie yourself to Russian gas), but that's unlikely. Encourage the loons in XR to run amok, and hope that Wee Jimmy succeeds. and means it when she threatens to have an independent Scotland leave NATO.
Remove Starmer for the triumphant return of Corbyn. A big ask, but the Tories are currently making themselves unelectable. Putin's aim of removing Western hegemony might need putting on the back-burner unless Trump is elected, but he's a loose cannon and might do more harm than good.
He must be an optimist, but his disdain of Western governments is a given. Six months is a long time when you're a mad poisoner who assumes something will turn up, and you control the communications.
Sturgeon has said she will not leave NATO even if some in the SNP would. Corbyn is not even a Labour MP now. Mere is harder on Putin than Merkel might be. Even despite Trump Biden is anti Trump and there are plenty of anti Trump Republicans like Senator Romney
Its always been impossible to defend on any economic or social grounds.
What has now arrived is the point where the damage it is doing is no longer possible to hide.
Pinko stuff from the torygraph, headline
"Vulnerable pensioners must be protected, but the 27pc of retired people who are millionaires should share in the country's financial pain"
small print
"But given the UK’s dicey financial situation, it is near impossible to defend an inflation-linked uplift for the state pensions belonging to another cohort: the 27pc of over-65s who live in millionaire households.
big difference, a millionaire household includes 2 people living in a 600,000 pound house which they can't eat or burn for fuel, with 200,000 each in pension and other assets. Typical telegraph readers in other words.
Again the morons don't mention that those pensioners with any money are paying >40% tax otherwise they are living on 10K but have a nice house they paid for. What a shithole of a country where the idle greedy want to rob pensioners who have worked hard all their lives.
This argument has followed a graceful 35-year arc, beginning with a spasm of concern for little old ladies in four-bedroom houses who couldn't afford their council rates. The villain of the piece is the open-ended top bracket of John Major's flawed council tax settlement that leaves million-pound houses paying as much as 10-million pound mansions across the fields (declaration of interest due here). Another long-overdue reform would be a move towards road pricing so that people who clog up brand new motorways during rush hour pay a lot more than people who drive down ancient country lanes in pursuit of a good lunch (declaration of interest, yet again). The technology exists but not (yet) the political will. It's inevitable once we all go electric.
A psychologist analyses “victim hood movements” - seen not only among some of the woke: [Video] Woke activists say they simply care more. But a pioneering psychologist, Sam Vaknin, who studies narcissism says, "The potential for aggression in victimhood movements is much larger than in the general population... Anything that is grievance-based leads to violence and death." https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1584981077172817920
Had a contender for most surprising tourism advert on YouTube - the Ruhr, focussing on the beer and football culture of Bochum, Dortmund, Essen and Gelsenkirchen.
Perhaps the West Midlands tourism board might like to advertise the wonders of Molineux and the Hawthornes in response.
To be fair I don’t think the Baggies or Wolves can rival Dortmund’s Yellow Wall or the Ruhr Derby.
Surprised the Ruhr focuses on beer and football. They've reinvented themselves as a region with a LOT of cultural stuff happening, festivals, art, repurposed ex-industrial buildings. Still wouldn't be my first choice for a holiday in Germany.
What is this pb Tory obsession with the triple lock? The last time the triple lock was suspended, it was the wages component that was jettisoned, but making that particular double lock permanent would not save money because currently it is inflation that is highest.
Politically, the Prime Minister has just made great play of the 2019 manifesto and its mandate belonging to this government. That included the triple lock.
The state pension of £10,000 a year is not generous; 20 per cent of pensioners are below the poverty line, and the latter group (as well as, one suspects, the next cohort along) need to be protected from inflation.
I think it's because it's a protection which is not applied to all the state benefits that we provide to help those below the poverty line (there is no Universal Credit Triple Lock), and it looks a bit politically suspect that the one group who are getting this protection are voters who largely vote Tory...
On balance I agree that because the triple lock only applies to the comparatively small state pension it's not as egregious a bung as its opponents sometimes make it out to be -- but if the government believes in the principle of sheltering those in poverty from the inflationary issues that are hitting them much harder than the well off, it ought to be more even-handed about doing it for all benefits, and probably should consider it on means-tested benefits before universal-availability ones.
There is a full scale political crisis for the home secretary Suella Braverman and new PM Rishi Sunak in the failure to prevent the Manston migrant processing centre being totally overwhelmed by asylum seekers. Here are the important facts. 1/20 https://twitter.com/Peston/status/1587022185633284096
I loved 'The Spite Girls'! Scruffy Smirkie Drinkie and Leaky
Roman shipwrecks are a big key to understanding the universe.
Lead is a great radiation shield, but refined lead has small amounts of radioactive ²¹⁰Pb isotopes that mess up advanced neutrino detectors. Only lead from Roman shipwrecks is old enough for the impurities to decay. https://twitter.com/emollick/status/1586852726234816512
Anyway, lets all be happy that in preference to a period of calm and sensible government, Sunak has opted for a series of calamities and scandals. More fun this way.
A series? How many can you lay at his door? The appointment of Braverman yes. But Truss's phone being hacked and that being silenced by Boris to prevent Rishi getting the top job is hardly the PM's doing...
I agree its a litte unfair but them's the breaks as a great past political leader once said
Trump’s address to the people of Brazil, shortly before Bolsonaro’s loss: “He has my complete and total endorsement. Don’t lose him. Don’t let that happen. It would not be good for your country.” https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1586877698168836097
Trump’s address to the people of Brazil, shortly before Bolsonaro’s loss: “He has my complete and total endorsement. Don’t lose him. Don’t let that happen. It would not be good for your country.” https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1586877698168836097
Bolsanaro did lose but it's the sort of close loss you can keep the flame going from
Roman shipwrecks are a big key to understanding the universe.
Lead is a great radiation shield, but refined lead has small amounts of radioactive ²¹⁰Pb isotopes that mess up advanced neutrino detectors. Only lead from Roman shipwrecks is old enough for the impurities to decay. https://twitter.com/emollick/status/1586852726234816512
A similar reason steel from the German fleet in Scapa Flow is used in scientific machines as they were sunk before the first atomic explosion
What is this pb Tory obsession with the triple lock? The last time the triple lock was suspended, it was the wages component that was jettisoned, but making that particular double lock permanent would not save money because currently it is inflation that is highest.
Politically, the Prime Minister has just made great play of the 2019 manifesto and its mandate belonging to this government. That included the triple lock.
The state pension of £10,000 a year is not generous; 20 per cent of pensioners are below the poverty line, and the latter group (as well as, one suspects, the next cohort along) need to be protected from inflation.
I think it's because it's a protection which is not applied to all the state benefits that we provide to help those below the poverty line (there is no Universal Credit Triple Lock), and it looks a bit politically suspect that the one group who are getting this protection are voters who largely vote Tory...
On balance I agree that because the triple lock only applies to the comparatively small state pension it's not as egregious a bung as its opponents sometimes make it out to be -- but if the government believes in the principle of sheltering those in poverty from the inflationary issues that are hitting them much harder than the well off, it ought to be more even-handed about doing it for all benefits, and probably should consider it on means-tested benefits before universal-availability ones.
What bollox, only a numpty would suggest all pensioners vote Tory. Most other benefits are also supposed to eb temporary not lifelong, obviously some exceptions such as disability.
Roman shipwrecks are a big key to understanding the universe.
Lead is a great radiation shield, but refined lead has small amounts of radioactive ²¹⁰Pb isotopes that mess up advanced neutrino detectors. Only lead from Roman shipwrecks is old enough for the impurities to decay. https://twitter.com/emollick/status/1586852726234816512
A similar reason steel from the German fleet in Scapa Flow is used in scientific machines as they were sunk before the first atomic explosion
Its always been impossible to defend on any economic or social grounds.
What has now arrived is the point where the damage it is doing is no longer possible to hide.
Pinko stuff from the torygraph, headline
"Vulnerable pensioners must be protected, but the 27pc of retired people who are millionaires should share in the country's financial pain"
small print
"But given the UK’s dicey financial situation, it is near impossible to defend an inflation-linked uplift for the state pensions belonging to another cohort: the 27pc of over-65s who live in millionaire households.
big difference, a millionaire household includes 2 people living in a 600,000 pound house which they can't eat or burn for fuel, with 200,000 each in pension and other assets. Typical telegraph readers in other words.
Again the morons don't mention that those pensioners with any money are paying >40% tax otherwise they are living on 10K but have a nice house they paid for. What a shithole of a country where the idle greedy want to rob pensioners who have worked hard all their lives.
This argument has followed a graceful 35-year arc, beginning with a spasm of concern for little old ladies in four-bedroom houses who couldn't afford their council rates. The villain of the piece is the open-ended top bracket of John Major's flawed council tax settlement that leaves million-pound houses paying as much as 10-million pound mansions across the fields (declaration of interest due here).
Why is John Major the only villain?
Council Tax is devolved -- if Labour or the SNP wish to do something about this, they can do it right now.
Rishi urgently needs a government relaunch. Sack Braverman. Launch a public enquiry on the Boris/Truss phone-hacking scandal.
Yes. I never quite get the 'defend to the bitter end' stuff in politics. It will play far better with voters to grasp the nettle on these. It is not as if any of it happened under his watch anyway so nothing should stick to him and he gets credit for taking action.
Its always been impossible to defend on any economic or social grounds.
What has now arrived is the point where the damage it is doing is no longer possible to hide.
Pinko stuff from the torygraph, headline
"Vulnerable pensioners must be protected, but the 27pc of retired people who are millionaires should share in the country's financial pain"
small print
"But given the UK’s dicey financial situation, it is near impossible to defend an inflation-linked uplift for the state pensions belonging to another cohort: the 27pc of over-65s who live in millionaire households.
big difference, a millionaire household includes 2 people living in a 600,000 pound house which they can't eat or burn for fuel, with 200,000 each in pension and other assets. Typical telegraph readers in other words.
Again the morons don't mention that those pensioners with any money are paying >40% tax otherwise they are living on 10K but have a nice house they paid for. What a shithole of a country where the idle greedy want to rob pensioners who have worked hard all their lives.
This argument has followed a graceful 35-year arc, beginning with a spasm of concern for little old ladies in four-bedroom houses who couldn't afford their council rates. The villain of the piece is the open-ended top bracket of John Major's flawed council tax settlement that leaves million-pound houses paying as much as 10-million pound mansions across the fields (declaration of interest due here).
Why is John Major the only villain?
Council Tax is devolved -- if Labour or the SNP wish to do something about this, they can do it right now.
Why should they do that? Why take the political grief of setting new local government funding which will be bad (because there is no good, it will always piss off large numbers of people). Instead simply sit back and blame the Tories in Westminster.
“Because of the Home Office decision not to book hotel space, the inevitable has happened”.
Conservative MP Sir Roger Gale tells @GMB that numbers at Manston asylum processing centre have gone from 2500 to 4000 in four days. Seems to blame Home Sec.
He doesn’t know whether it was Patel or Braverman.
It could just be a function of 1500 more arriving in four days.
It's fascinating that the controversy in the MSM, civil service and legal establishment is how the (many thousands) of migrants are being housed at Manston, and for how long, and almost entirely silent on the petrol bombing and suicide in Dover over the weekdn, residents sleeping with sledgehammers next to their beds as some migrants try and break in, and on the fact that almost another 1,000 came across in boats on Saturday.
This is exactly the sort of thing that fuel Farage. But because it might look a bit BNP'ey to raise concerns about it no-one says anything.
What is this pb Tory obsession with the triple lock? The last time the triple lock was suspended, it was the wages component that was jettisoned, but making that particular double lock permanent would not save money because currently it is inflation that is highest.
Politically, the Prime Minister has just made great play of the 2019 manifesto and its mandate belonging to this government. That included the triple lock.
The state pension of £10,000 a year is not generous; 20 per cent of pensioners are below the poverty line, and the latter group (as well as, one suspects, the next cohort along) need to be protected from inflation.
I think it's because it's a protection which is not applied to all the state benefits that we provide to help those below the poverty line (there is no Universal Credit Triple Lock), and it looks a bit politically suspect that the one group who are getting this protection are voters who largely vote Tory...
On balance I agree that because the triple lock only applies to the comparatively small state pension it's not as egregious a bung as its opponents sometimes make it out to be -- but if the government believes in the principle of sheltering those in poverty from the inflationary issues that are hitting them much harder than the well off, it ought to be more even-handed about doing it for all benefits, and probably should consider it on means-tested benefits before universal-availability ones.
What bollox, only a numpty would suggest all pensioners vote Tory. Most other benefits are also supposed to eb temporary not lifelong, obviously some exceptions such as disability.
Only a numpty would read "who largely vote Tory" and say it suggests that "all vote Tory"...
What is this pb Tory obsession with the triple lock? The last time the triple lock was suspended, it was the wages component that was jettisoned, but making that particular double lock permanent would not save money because currently it is inflation that is highest.
Politically, the Prime Minister has just made great play of the 2019 manifesto and its mandate belonging to this government. That included the triple lock.
The state pension of £10,000 a year is not generous; 20 per cent of pensioners are below the poverty line, and the latter group (as well as, one suspects, the next cohort along) need to be protected from inflation.
I think it's because it's a protection which is not applied to all the state benefits that we provide to help those below the poverty line (there is no Universal Credit Triple Lock), and it looks a bit politically suspect that the one group who are getting this protection are voters who largely vote Tory...
On balance I agree that because the triple lock only applies to the comparatively small state pension it's not as egregious a bung as its opponents sometimes make it out to be -- but if the government believes in the principle of sheltering those in poverty from the inflationary issues that are hitting them much harder than the well off, it ought to be more even-handed about doing it for all benefits, and probably should consider it on means-tested benefits before universal-availability ones.
But that is the paradox. It is Tories who object to the triple lock, as well as other Tories who were elected to maintain it. They are not motivated by concern for the low-paid, nor does there seem to be a blanket objection to state benefits of any sort. It just seems irrational but fashionable.
I think it's because it's a protection which is not applied to all the state benefits that we provide to help those below the poverty line (there is no Universal Credit Triple Lock), and it looks a bit politically suspect that the one group who are getting this protection are voters who largely vote Tory...
On balance I agree that because the triple lock only applies to the comparatively small state pension it's not as egregious a bung as its opponents sometimes make it out to be -- but if the government believes in the principle of sheltering those in poverty from the inflationary issues that are hitting them much harder than the well off, it ought to be more even-handed about doing it for all benefits, and probably should consider it on means-tested benefits before universal-availability ones.
What bollox, only a numpty would suggest all pensioners vote Tory. Most other benefits are also supposed to eb temporary not lifelong, obviously some exceptions such as disability.
The careful reader will note that I wrote "largely", not "all". And why should those in temporary distress be less deserving of having their financial support protected from inflationary erosion than those who are on benefits for longer periods?
UPDATE: A source close to Priti Patel has told HuffPost UK that she signed off on hotel accommodation for asylum seekers until she resigned as home secretary last month as she had a statutory duty to do so
Trump’s address to the people of Brazil, shortly before Bolsonaro’s loss: “He has my complete and total endorsement. Don’t lose him. Don’t let that happen. It would not be good for your country.” https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1586877698168836097
Bolsanaro did lose but it's the sort of close loss you can keep the flame going from
c.f. Indy ref; Remain; Sunak; Trump
My take was rather that Trump intervened so unambiguously in a foreign election.
Roman shipwrecks are a big key to understanding the universe.
Lead is a great radiation shield, but refined lead has small amounts of radioactive ²¹⁰Pb isotopes that mess up advanced neutrino detectors. Only lead from Roman shipwrecks is old enough for the impurities to decay. https://twitter.com/emollick/status/1586852726234816512
A similar reason steel from the German fleet in Scapa Flow is used in scientific machines as they were sunk before the first atomic explosion
That's something that my dad (who as a kid saw one of the salvaged battlecruisers towed into the Forth for scrapping) told me. I idly speculated that since almost all the ships were raised pre the nuclear age their metal would have been irradiated like all the rest. Can't remember what his reply was, probably no one likes a smart arse.
Its always been impossible to defend on any economic or social grounds.
What has now arrived is the point where the damage it is doing is no longer possible to hide.
Pinko stuff from the torygraph, headline
"Vulnerable pensioners must be protected, but the 27pc of retired people who are millionaires should share in the country's financial pain"
small print
"But given the UK’s dicey financial situation, it is near impossible to defend an inflation-linked uplift for the state pensions belonging to another cohort: the 27pc of over-65s who live in millionaire households.
big difference, a millionaire household includes 2 people living in a 600,000 pound house which they can't eat or burn for fuel, with 200,000 each in pension and other assets. Typical telegraph readers in other words.
Again the morons don't mention that those pensioners with any money are paying >40% tax otherwise they are living on 10K but have a nice house they paid for. What a shithole of a country where the idle greedy want to rob pensioners who have worked hard all their lives.
This argument has followed a graceful 35-year arc, beginning with a spasm of concern for little old ladies in four-bedroom houses who couldn't afford their council rates. The villain of the piece is the open-ended top bracket of John Major's flawed council tax settlement that leaves million-pound houses paying as much as 10-million pound mansions across the fields (declaration of interest due here).
Why is John Major the only villain?
Council Tax is devolved -- if Labour or the SNP wish to do something about this, they can do it right now.
Why should they do that? Why take the political grief of setting new local government funding which will be bad (because there is no good, it will always piss off large numbers of people). Instead simply sit back and blame the Tories in Westminster.
Because it is the right thing to do? Because they went into politics to change things for the better?
(In fact, Drakeford is consulting on changes in Wales, including extra bands at the top and abolishing the single person discount, though I suspect he will back down in the end).
The fact remains: Council Tax banding is devolved. Labour & the SNP could do something now, if the will was there.
We don't just have to blame John Major, who left office a quarter of a century ago.
There is a full scale political crisis for the home secretary Suella Braverman and new PM Rishi Sunak in the failure to prevent the Manston migrant processing centre being totally overwhelmed by asylum seekers. Here are the important facts. 1/20 https://twitter.com/Peston/status/1587022185633284096
As there is a very specific and acute Albanian element to this debacle, has the Home Office even reached out to the Albanian government? We could announce a hard line "if you are Albanian we deport you straight back to Tirana" and worry about the legalities later. To do that, the Albanian authorities need to agree to receive their people back.
Have we asked? Or is co-operating with the forrin beneath our newly sovrin Brexity status?
I agree, this is the solution.
British people are actually quite generous and accommodating - just look at the response to refugees from Hong Kong and Ukraine - but they want control. They hate criminality, queue jumping and people taking the piss and third sector organisations making excuses for it and saying the only issue is we don't make it easier for them. Intergovernmental arrangements are needed with Albania and, quite frankly, we need to make some choices about Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan too - the other big sources of boat passengers.
It really is a totally bubbled conversation and it needs an international solution.
UPDATE: A source close to Priti Patel has told HuffPost UK that she signed off on hotel accommodation for asylum seekers until she resigned as home secretary last month as she had a statutory duty to do so
What is this pb Tory obsession with the triple lock? The last time the triple lock was suspended, it was the wages component that was jettisoned, but making that particular double lock permanent would not save money because currently it is inflation that is highest.
Politically, the Prime Minister has just made great play of the 2019 manifesto and its mandate belonging to this government. That included the triple lock.
The state pension of £10,000 a year is not generous; 20 per cent of pensioners are below the poverty line, and the latter group (as well as, one suspects, the next cohort along) need to be protected from inflation.
I think it's because it's a protection which is not applied to all the state benefits that we provide to help those below the poverty line (there is no Universal Credit Triple Lock), and it looks a bit politically suspect that the one group who are getting this protection are voters who largely vote Tory...
On balance I agree that because the triple lock only applies to the comparatively small state pension it's not as egregious a bung as its opponents sometimes make it out to be -- but if the government believes in the principle of sheltering those in poverty from the inflationary issues that are hitting them much harder than the well off, it ought to be more even-handed about doing it for all benefits, and probably should consider it on means-tested benefits before universal-availability ones.
What bollox, only a numpty would suggest all pensioners vote Tory. Most other benefits are also supposed to eb temporary not lifelong, obviously some exceptions such as disability.
Only a numpty would read "who largely vote Tory" and say it suggests that "all vote Tory"...
Despite my lazy reply your comment was pish , a figment of your greed and lack of imagination. I also presume you were talking solely about England as well.
UPDATE: A source close to Priti Patel has told HuffPost UK that she signed off on hotel accommodation for asylum seekers until she resigned as home secretary last month as she had a statutory duty to do so
There is a full scale political crisis for the home secretary Suella Braverman and new PM Rishi Sunak in the failure to prevent the Manston migrant processing centre being totally overwhelmed by asylum seekers. Here are the important facts. 1/20 https://twitter.com/Peston/status/1587022185633284096
As there is a very specific and acute Albanian element to this debacle, has the Home Office even reached out to the Albanian government? We could announce a hard line "if you are Albanian we deport you straight back to Tirana" and worry about the legalities later. To do that, the Albanian authorities need to agree to receive their people back.
Have we asked? Or is co-operating with the forrin beneath our newly sovrin Brexity status?
I agree, this is the solution.
British people are actually quite generous and accommodating - just look at the response to refugees from Hong Kong and Ukraine - but they want control. They hate criminality, queue jumping and people taking the piss and third sector organisations making excuses for it and saying the only issue is we don't make it easier for them. Intergovernmental arrangements are needed with Albania and, quite frankly, we need to make some choices about Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan too - the other big sources of boat passengers.
It really is a totally bubbled conversation and it needs an international solution.
The simple reality which "no forrin" Tory Brexiteers deny is that there is No Legal Route to claim asylum from a stack of countries. Including Afghanistan which is appalling considering what we did in that country and the way we just abandoned them.
So we create the boat problem by lying to morons that the country is full (it isn't) and that we take lots of refugees (we don't). Even where we clearly need international co-operation they don't. Because their version of Brexit is that we make the rules and should just be allowed to do what we want and tell the forrin what is happening.
You would imagine that Albania would want to bring so many of its own people home. It is no longer the hermit state of old, and when so many people leave you can't regenerate as so many other poor eastern European countries have done. So a deal could be done, surely.
Ukraine claims it shot down 44 out of 50+ cruise missiles sent it way. It is not clear how much bigger than 50! It would still appear that the air defence system has improved substantially.
44 Russian missiles out of 50+ were shot down by #Ukraine’s air defence this morning.
Russia launched missiles & drones that hit 10 regions, damaging 18 objects of civilian critical infrastructure.
What is this pb Tory obsession with the triple lock? The last time the triple lock was suspended, it was the wages component that was jettisoned, but making that particular double lock permanent would not save money because currently it is inflation that is highest.
Politically, the Prime Minister has just made great play of the 2019 manifesto and its mandate belonging to this government. That included the triple lock.
The state pension of £10,000 a year is not generous; 20 per cent of pensioners are below the poverty line, and the latter group (as well as, one suspects, the next cohort along) need to be protected from inflation.
I think it's because it's a protection which is not applied to all the state benefits that we provide to help those below the poverty line (there is no Universal Credit Triple Lock), and it looks a bit politically suspect that the one group who are getting this protection are voters who largely vote Tory...
On balance I agree that because the triple lock only applies to the comparatively small state pension it's not as egregious a bung as its opponents sometimes make it out to be -- but if the government believes in the principle of sheltering those in poverty from the inflationary issues that are hitting them much harder than the well off, it ought to be more even-handed about doing it for all benefits, and probably should consider it on means-tested benefits before universal-availability ones.
The price for maintaining the triple lock is that National Insurance should be payable by those of pensionable ag, and then allow the combining of income tax and NI.
Awful figures for Labour when they have a 25 point lead in the polls.
Agreed. Punters are clearly sceptical about Starmer.
I'm not a Labour supporter but, if I were, I'd note that the mismatch between polling and betting indicates that, while punters may be sceptical about Starmer, voters aren't. And I'd rather it was that way around.
More realistically, it indicates that punters (probably correctly) believe Sunak is a more credible opponent to Starmer than Truss was, and the 25% lead (more than half of which opened up rather quickly in recent weeks due to consistently appalling news for the Conservatives) is likely to narrow. That isn't a judgment on Starmer as such.
There is a full scale political crisis for the home secretary Suella Braverman and new PM Rishi Sunak in the failure to prevent the Manston migrant processing centre being totally overwhelmed by asylum seekers. Here are the important facts. 1/20 https://twitter.com/Peston/status/1587022185633284096
As there is a very specific and acute Albanian element to this debacle, has the Home Office even reached out to the Albanian government? We could announce a hard line "if you are Albanian we deport you straight back to Tirana" and worry about the legalities later. To do that, the Albanian authorities need to agree to receive their people back.
Have we asked? Or is co-operating with the forrin beneath our newly sovrin Brexity status?
I agree, this is the solution.
British people are actually quite generous and accommodating - just look at the response to refugees from Hong Kong and Ukraine - but they want control. They hate criminality, queue jumping and people taking the piss and third sector organisations making excuses for it and saying the only issue is we don't make it easier for them. Intergovernmental arrangements are needed with Albania and, quite frankly, we need to make some choices about Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan too - the other big sources of boat passengers.
It really is a totally bubbled conversation and it needs an international solution.
The simple reality which "no forrin" Tory Brexiteers deny is that there is No Legal Route to claim asylum from a stack of countries. Including Afghanistan which is appalling considering what we did in that country and the way we just abandoned them.
So we create the boat problem by lying to morons that the country is full (it isn't) and that we take lots of refugees (we don't). Even where we clearly need international co-operation they don't. Because their version of Brexit is that we make the rules and should just be allowed to do what we want and tell the forrin what is happening.
You would imagine that Albania would want to bring so many of its own people home. It is no longer the hermit state of old, and when so many people leave you can't regenerate as so many other poor eastern European countries have done. So a deal could be done, surely.
Just a gentle tip: I like some of your posts but every time you put "no forrin" I stop reading.
Comments
What has now arrived is the point where the damage it is doing is no longer possible to hide.
https://www.newarkadvertiser.co.uk/news/families-of-polish-presidents-in-exile-to-attend-commemorati-9280832/
Newark has the largest Polish military cemetery in Britain (I think it might be the largest in Europe outside of Poland but not sure about that) and until 1993 was the burial place of General Sikorski who was the war time Commander in Chief of the Free Polish forces and also Prime Minister in exile. It is not making anything more than local news at the moment in the UK but is big news in Poland.
"Vulnerable pensioners must be protected, but the 27pc of retired people who are millionaires should share in the country's financial pain"
small print
"But given the UK’s dicey financial situation, it is near impossible to defend an inflation-linked uplift for the state pensions belonging to another cohort: the 27pc of over-65s who live in millionaire households.
big difference, a millionaire household includes 2 people living in a 600,000 pound house which they can't eat or burn for fuel, with 200,000 each in pension and other assets. Typical telegraph readers in other words.
Cop27. Granted, just a misjudged calamity, certainly not the full fat scandal of Cruella's appointment.
Betfair rules for this market:
"Who will be elected to be the next President of Brazil as a result of the 2022 Brazilian General Election?"
The person elected to be the next pres is Lula.
Perhaps the West Midlands tourism board might like to advertise the wonders of Molineux and the Hawthornes in response.
Another day of depressing headlines over the hapless Braverman
I understand Robert Jenrick is taking her to task and Rishi is to discuss these crisis with her
Not much to discuss about serving a P45 on her to be fair
Also latest inflation figures are concerning
Italy. 12.8%
Germany. 11.6%
UK. 10.1%
Euro zone. 9.9%
US. 8.2%
The only questions are who does it, how they do it and what they spend the proceeds on.
Politically, the Prime Minister has just made great play of the 2019 manifesto and its mandate belonging to this government. That included the triple lock.
The state pension of £10,000 a year is not generous; 20 per cent of pensioners are below the poverty line, and the latter group (as well as, one suspects, the next cohort along) need to be protected from inflation.
If the Telegraph is concerned that some pensioners are millionaires, then that should be addressed separately.
Covid twitter now consists of obsessives who never want it to be over, including sadly some scientists who have risen to prominence, acquired a host of sycophants, and can't seem to let go. And those pointing and laughing at them.
It goes back to the old question - how do pandemics end? Usually when enough people have had it that subsequent infections are not an issue. Its not going away, it probably never will, but its added to the set of circulating respiratory viruses.
If your specific tour is crap stadia of the industrial West Midlands the trip would not be complete without St Andrews.
Yet the likes of William Glenn and one or two loyalist PB Tories sought to brush it off. Some even claimed it was 12D chess to make Labour talk more about immigration.
Funny old world.
i. Brazil counts far more quickly
ii. It doesn't have the electoral college system, just needs a straight up majority of voters.
iii. It doesn't have the mad court system of the USA wrt elections where judges can just rule heaps of ballots invalid - or if it does noone knows about it.
Bolsonaro is still trading. His price is 350.
If a modest charge saw off all the trolls and fakery, it might even be a better place.
https://www.omegabreaks.com/itineraries/9031-Special Offer Northern Lights Flights 2022
As a society, we’re really not taking climate change seriously, are we?
https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pesquisas_eleitorais_para_a_eleição_presidencial_de_2022_no_Brasil#Segundo_turno
If you only read the English version, which didn't post any of the Bolsonaro ones, you'd be more confused.
I'm green on both candidates, BF hasn't settled any of the third parties as losers either.
Or (3) police blocking the roads prevented some people from voting.
It's an utterly crap cartoon, and I think you might be over interpreting what's just lack of ability.
Can't remember anything about the game but in the second half the terraces turned into a cascade of piss. Grim.
Perhaps we should fly lots of people half way round the world so that they can gather together and condemn it?
Certainly far better than the recent polling for our own most recent election for PM.
Denmark's general election this week could change the political landscape with new parties hoping to enter parliament and others either losing influence or leaving the assembly altogether" (£)
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/denmark-ap-mette-frederiksen-lars-lokke-rasmussen-inger-stojberg-b2214106.html
https://twitter.com/Peston/status/1587022185633284096
Lab Maj 2.4
Con Maj 5.6
Switzerland sets record with world's longest passenger train
A Swiss railway operator has set a new record for completing a journey with the world's longest passenger train.
The 1.9km (1.2 mile) train, which is composed of 100 coaches, completed a spectacular 25km (15.5 mile) journey through the Alps.
The world record attempt took place to highlight Switzerland's engineering achievements, as well as to mark 175 years of Swiss railways.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-europe-63442530
If trues then Braverman is v exposed here.
To pay >40% of their income in tax a pensioner would have to have an income of £400,000 p.a. (income tax payable = £164k); a bit less in Scotland.
And well done btw. I didn't bet on it myself.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/oct/31/rishi-sunak-covid-decisions-second-wave-nhs-public-health
Have we asked? Or is co-operating with the forrin beneath our newly sovrin Brexity status?
https://twitter.com/adambienkov/status/1586989654464667650?s=46&t=lRn-pXrqzuvDbyRMjVN4iA
[Video]
Woke activists say they simply care more. But a pioneering psychologist, Sam Vaknin, who studies narcissism says, "The potential for aggression in victimhood movements is much larger than in the general population... Anything that is grievance-based leads to violence and death."
https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1584981077172817920
Still wouldn't be my first choice for a holiday in Germany.
On balance I agree that because the triple lock only applies to the comparatively small state pension it's not as egregious a bung as its opponents sometimes make it out to be -- but if the government believes in the principle of sheltering those in poverty from the inflationary issues that are hitting them much harder than the well off, it ought to be more even-handed about doing it for all benefits, and probably should consider it on means-tested benefits before universal-availability ones.
https://twitter.com/PeterGreen1966/status/1587022510012485636/photo/1
Roman shipwrecks are a big key to understanding the universe.
Lead is a great radiation shield, but refined lead has small amounts of radioactive ²¹⁰Pb isotopes that mess up advanced neutrino detectors. Only lead from Roman shipwrecks is old enough for the impurities to decay.
https://twitter.com/emollick/status/1586852726234816512
https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1586877698168836097
c.f. Indy ref; Remain; Sunak; Trump
https://amp.theguardian.com/world/2016/nov/16/british-second-world-war-ships-illegal-scavenging-java-sea
Council Tax is devolved -- if Labour or the SNP wish to do something about this, they can do it right now.
This is exactly the sort of thing that fuel Farage. But because it might look a bit BNP'ey to raise concerns about it no-one says anything.
So has Braverman been breaching those duties?
https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/home-secretary-deliberately-allowed-migrant-centre-to-become-overcrowded_uk_635f868ce4b044fae3eb0f55
(In fact, Drakeford is consulting on changes in Wales, including extra bands at the top and abolishing the single person discount, though I suspect he will back down in the end).
The fact remains: Council Tax banding is devolved. Labour & the SNP could do something now, if the will was there.
We don't just have to blame John Major, who left office a quarter of a century ago.
British people are actually quite generous and accommodating - just look at the response to refugees from Hong Kong and Ukraine - but they want control. They hate criminality, queue jumping and people taking the piss and third sector organisations making excuses for it and saying the only issue is we don't make it easier for them. Intergovernmental arrangements are needed with Albania and, quite frankly, we need to make some choices about Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan too - the other big sources of boat passengers.
It really is a totally bubbled conversation and it needs an international solution.
So we create the boat problem by lying to morons that the country is full (it isn't) and that we take lots of refugees (we don't). Even where we clearly need international co-operation they don't. Because their version of Brexit is that we make the rules and should just be allowed to do what we want and tell the forrin what is happening.
You would imagine that Albania would want to bring so many of its own people home. It is no longer the hermit state of old, and when so many people leave you can't regenerate as so many other poor eastern European countries have done. So a deal could be done, surely.
44 Russian missiles out of 50+ were shot down by #Ukraine’s air defence this morning.
Russia launched missiles & drones that hit 10 regions, damaging 18 objects of civilian critical infrastructure.
#RussiaIsATerroristState
#ArmUkraineNow and help us #CloseUAskyNOW
https://twitter.com/MFA_Ukraine/status/1587033534224601091
More realistically, it indicates that punters (probably correctly) believe Sunak is a more credible opponent to Starmer than Truss was, and the 25% lead (more than half of which opened up rather quickly in recent weeks due to consistently appalling news for the Conservatives) is likely to narrow. That isn't a judgment on Starmer as such.