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With four days to go the Republicans edge back into the lead – politicalbetting.com

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Comments

  • eristdooferistdoof Posts: 5,065

    Pulpstar said:

    https://twitter.com/jamesjohnson252/status/1588462874070257665

    Latest @JLPartnersPolls @TimesRadio swing voter focus group on immigration:

    🔵 All said Britain is ‘full’ and ‘at capacity’, politicians ‘don’t get it’
    🔵 Blame on immigration for problems with NHS, housing
    🔵 Said Braverman’s description of ‘invasion’ was accurate
    🔵 Felt that PM was wrong to appoint ‘naughty’ Braverman but she ‘has good ideas’
    🔵 Current Channel situation ‘unfair’ with Brits in poverty
    🔵 Tories handling it badly - but most said they would trust them more on immigration than Labour

    Thats pretty grim all around.
    It's starting to wind up like the death penalty isn't it ?

    Broad popular support for simply turning the boats round to France (At a minimum) & summary detention, x-rays for those claiming to be children with the great and the good who run the stuff generally are far too full of sensibilities to do much about it (Jenrick is much more typical than Braverman of our politicians on the matters).
    Braverman knows this, understands it and actually on a practical level is a KC and fluent (I'd guess) in French so might actually be able to get the practical things done to sort the situation.
    How does an x ray help? Skeletal age and biological age can be radically different. (Our eldest daughter is very short for her age, so much so that she had a load of medical tests to make sure that there was no underlying problem; one finding from that was that her skeletal age is three years below her actual age).
    An X-Ray helps Bravermann and the Home office. It gives them another way to refuse an application.
  • TimSTimS Posts: 12,995
    Leon said:

    TimS said:

    https://twitter.com/jamesjohnson252/status/1588462874070257665

    Latest @JLPartnersPolls @TimesRadio swing voter focus group on immigration:

    🔵 All said Britain is ‘full’ and ‘at capacity’, politicians ‘don’t get it’
    🔵 Blame on immigration for problems with NHS, housing
    🔵 Said Braverman’s description of ‘invasion’ was accurate
    🔵 Felt that PM was wrong to appoint ‘naughty’ Braverman but she ‘has good ideas’
    🔵 Current Channel situation ‘unfair’ with Brits in poverty
    🔵 Tories handling it badly - but most said they would trust them more on immigration than Labour

    Thats pretty grim all around.
    Note “swing voters” though, so people who presumably voted Tory last time. A sizeable chunk of the electorate but not necessarily representative.

    The optics are driving this. The power of the media at work. If 5x as many refugees were making it to Britain through a European resettlement scheme and being assessed in source countries, there would be no pictures of boats on beaches, no overcrowded Manston centre, and probably little or no public attention paid to the issue.
    How awful that the “powerful media” are actually reporting what’s actually happening. Thousands of young men illegally crossing the channel every week, and being housed in Novotels

    If only you could censor this as fake news, or something

    I think you misread my point. The pictures are there, they exist. The media will of course report what’s happening. But the visual - cinematic - impact of people coming by boat and landing on beaches is the reason there is such moral panic. It was never quite so immediate annd visual even when people were stowing aboard lorries.
  • DriverDriver Posts: 4,963
    TimS said:

    The conservatives do have an incredible ability to hypnotise the voters.

    “Look, we’ve utterly messed up our asylum system just like we messed up health, education and policing. We are outraged at this and so should you be. It’s all Labour’s fault”. And it works.

    They’ll do the same on the economy: “we f*cked up big time and left you poorer and more insecure. So you’d better vote for us because Labour won’t transform the economy for the better overnight”.

    Labour could avoid this by having some policies.
  • Northern_AlNorthern_Al Posts: 8,383

    Leon said:

    We are insane. If this continues all the young men in Albania will move to the UK - illegally

    From that BBC report

    “Laknas lies on the flight path from Albania to France. Passenger jets zoom over the still and empty town: over its small mosque framed by half-built blocks and shuttered houses; over its deserted café.

    Shopkeepers gather in the quiet road to complain that their business is unviable.
    A pair of cows mumble away at the grass by the still main road.

    "They're all I have left," their owner says. "My children have gone to England."

    Residents here say 70% of the local population has already left for the UK. And the departures haven't stopped.”

    We are insane.

    The primary objective of almost any senior professional you care to mention in law, the media, the civil service or politics is to loudly signal their compassion about refugees to each other out of social anxiety about themselves and a fear of appearing BNP-like.

    This trumps everything.

    It's how Wokery has real world effects.
    Good use of the word 'trumps' there. Build that wall.
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 53,839

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    https://twitter.com/jamesjohnson252/status/1588462874070257665

    Latest @JLPartnersPolls @TimesRadio swing voter focus group on immigration:

    🔵 All said Britain is ‘full’ and ‘at capacity’, politicians ‘don’t get it’
    🔵 Blame on immigration for problems with NHS, housing
    🔵 Said Braverman’s description of ‘invasion’ was accurate
    🔵 Felt that PM was wrong to appoint ‘naughty’ Braverman but she ‘has good ideas’
    🔵 Current Channel situation ‘unfair’ with Brits in poverty
    🔵 Tories handling it badly - but most said they would trust them more on immigration than Labour

    I’m sure @foxy and @roger told us that most of the shivering Albanians are poor enslaved women?


    Oh

    “The BBC has heard evidence that Albanian drug gangs are using the migrant camps of northern France as a recruitment ground, offering to pay the passage of those prepared to work in the UK drugs industry on arrival
    .
    Albanians account for around a third of the almost 40,000 people who have arrived in small boats so far this year, according to UK government figures.

    The UK government says 12,000 Albanians have arrived by small boat this year, almost all of them young men travelling alone.

    He estimates that a majority of the young men he met in the Dunkirk camp planned to work in the Albanian cannabis and cocaine networks in the UK.”

    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-63488070

    What happens when a society has an insatiable desire for narcotics and insists on making them illegal.
    And so somehow it’s our fault, yet again

    Is there a single issue where left wing people instinctively side with Britain and the British people, rather than Anyone Else?

    You guys are contemptible and I hope you contrive to lose the next election despite being 20 points ahead of a clown troupe. Ugh
    You've probably been personally responsible for propping up half the black economy over the years so can jog on.
    Please continue. Your reflexive attitude of Fuck the Evil British, Help the Poor Albanians Coke Dealers could indeed lose you the next election, despite the grotesque inadequacy of the Tories

    You just can’t help it. You hate your own country and your own people. The British are inferior and they voted for Brexit and they deserve to have 900,000 illegal Albanians hosted in every one of their stupid Brexity towns. That’s what you think, deep down.
    How are your plans to relocate to the Mediterranean going?
    There must be some real bargains in Albania by now. Getting staff may be a problem though.
  • Leon said:

    Leon said:

    https://twitter.com/jamesjohnson252/status/1588462874070257665

    Latest @JLPartnersPolls @TimesRadio swing voter focus group on immigration:

    🔵 All said Britain is ‘full’ and ‘at capacity’, politicians ‘don’t get it’
    🔵 Blame on immigration for problems with NHS, housing
    🔵 Said Braverman’s description of ‘invasion’ was accurate
    🔵 Felt that PM was wrong to appoint ‘naughty’ Braverman but she ‘has good ideas’
    🔵 Current Channel situation ‘unfair’ with Brits in poverty
    🔵 Tories handling it badly - but most said they would trust them more on immigration than Labour

    I’m sure @foxy and @roger told us that most of the shivering Albanians are poor enslaved women?


    Oh

    “The BBC has heard evidence that Albanian drug gangs are using the migrant camps of northern France as a recruitment ground, offering to pay the passage of those prepared to work in the UK drugs industry on arrival
    .
    Albanians account for around a third of the almost 40,000 people who have arrived in small boats so far this year, according to UK government figures.

    The UK government says 12,000 Albanians have arrived by small boat this year, almost all of them young men travelling alone.

    He estimates that a majority of the young men he met in the Dunkirk camp planned to work in the Albanian cannabis and cocaine networks in the UK.”

    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-63488070

    What happens when a society has an insatiable desire for narcotics and insists on making them illegal.
    And so somehow it’s our fault, yet again

    Is there a single issue where left wing people instinctively side with Britain and the British people, rather than Anyone Else?

    You guys are contemptible and I hope you contrive to lose the next election despite being 20 points ahead of a clown troupe. Ugh
    It's attitudes like this - the pomposity, the arrogant dismissal of ordinary people's concerns, the contempt, and the self-servingness - that were a big contribution to the Brexit vote.

    If people don't get answers to their concerns they will stick it to those sneer they shouldnt have them in the first place.

    They have learnt nothing and forgotten nothing.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,339

    Leon said:

    We are insane. If this continues all the young men in Albania will move to the UK - illegally

    From that BBC report

    “Laknas lies on the flight path from Albania to France. Passenger jets zoom over the still and empty town: over its small mosque framed by half-built blocks and shuttered houses; over its deserted café.

    Shopkeepers gather in the quiet road to complain that their business is unviable.
    A pair of cows mumble away at the grass by the still main road.

    "They're all I have left," their owner says. "My children have gone to England."

    Residents here say 70% of the local population has already left for the UK. And the departures haven't stopped.”

    We are insane.

    The primary objective of almost any senior professional you care to mention in law, the media, the civil service or politics is to loudly signal their compassion about refugees to each other out of social anxiety about themselves and a fear of appearing BNP-like.

    This trumps everything.

    It's how Wokery has real world effects.
    Indeed

    It is however notable that this is the BBC reporting that parts of Albania are “depopulating” as everyone moves to the UK illegally

    That article could have appeared, word for word, in the Daily Mail. It reads like a Daily Mail piece

    Suggests a turning point has been reached?
  • Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    https://twitter.com/jamesjohnson252/status/1588462874070257665

    Latest @JLPartnersPolls @TimesRadio swing voter focus group on immigration:

    🔵 All said Britain is ‘full’ and ‘at capacity’, politicians ‘don’t get it’
    🔵 Blame on immigration for problems with NHS, housing
    🔵 Said Braverman’s description of ‘invasion’ was accurate
    🔵 Felt that PM was wrong to appoint ‘naughty’ Braverman but she ‘has good ideas’
    🔵 Current Channel situation ‘unfair’ with Brits in poverty
    🔵 Tories handling it badly - but most said they would trust them more on immigration than Labour

    I’m sure @foxy and @roger told us that most of the shivering Albanians are poor enslaved women?


    Oh

    “The BBC has heard evidence that Albanian drug gangs are using the migrant camps of northern France as a recruitment ground, offering to pay the passage of those prepared to work in the UK drugs industry on arrival
    .
    Albanians account for around a third of the almost 40,000 people who have arrived in small boats so far this year, according to UK government figures.

    The UK government says 12,000 Albanians have arrived by small boat this year, almost all of them young men travelling alone.

    He estimates that a majority of the young men he met in the Dunkirk camp planned to work in the Albanian cannabis and cocaine networks in the UK.”

    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-63488070

    What happens when a society has an insatiable desire for narcotics and insists on making them illegal.
    And so somehow it’s our fault, yet again

    Is there a single issue where left wing people instinctively side with Britain and the British people, rather than Anyone Else?

    You guys are contemptible and I hope you contrive to lose the next election despite being 20 points ahead of a clown troupe. Ugh
    You've probably been personally responsible for propping up half the black economy over the years so can jog on.
    Please continue. Your reflexive attitude of Fuck the Evil British, Help the Poor Albanians Coke Dealers could indeed lose you the next election, despite the grotesque inadequacy of the Tories

    You just can’t help it. You hate your own country and your own people. The British are inferior and they voted for Brexit and they deserve to have 900,000 illegal Albanians hosted in every one of their stupid Brexity towns. That’s what you think, deep down.
    Lot of projection going on here, Leon old boy.
    In the case of drugs gangs, I hardly think it's unreasonable to criticise people who buy illegal drugs knowing that it puts money in the hands of criminals, and daft policymakers who insist on a prohibition model even though they know it doesn't work and simply puts money in the hands of criminals. I blame the criminals too, of course, but if we are serious about preventing inflows of foreign criminals (rather than just virtue signalling about it) we need to ask why they are coming here rather than staying in the Schengen Area (where they enjoy visa free travel). The buoyant health of our black economy is surely a huge part of that draw.
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 49,863
    rkrkrk said:

    https://twitter.com/jamesjohnson252/status/1588462874070257665

    Latest @JLPartnersPolls @TimesRadio swing voter focus group on immigration:

    🔵 All said Britain is ‘full’ and ‘at capacity’, politicians ‘don’t get it’
    🔵 Blame on immigration for problems with NHS, housing
    🔵 Said Braverman’s description of ‘invasion’ was accurate
    🔵 Felt that PM was wrong to appoint ‘naughty’ Braverman but she ‘has good ideas’
    🔵 Current Channel situation ‘unfair’ with Brits in poverty
    🔵 Tories handling it badly - but most said they would trust them more on immigration than Labour

    Really hard to know what to do about this. This has obviously occurred under the Conservatives' watch and yet they will reap a political reward because they can talk tough and Labour can't.
    We know already that our politics has reached the stage where you can be idiotically incompetent, but provided you are willing to say the 'right' idiotic things, people will support you all the same.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 71,397
    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    We are insane. If this continues all the young men in Albania will move to the UK - illegally

    From that BBC report

    “Laknas lies on the flight path from Albania to France. Passenger jets zoom over the still and empty town: over its small mosque framed by half-built blocks and shuttered houses; over its deserted café.

    Shopkeepers gather in the quiet road to complain that their business is unviable.
    A pair of cows mumble away at the grass by the still main road.

    "They're all I have left," their owner says. "My children have gone to England."

    Residents here say 70% of the local population has already left for the UK. And the departures haven't stopped.”

    We are insane.

    The primary objective of almost any senior professional you care to mention in law, the media, the civil service or politics is to loudly signal their compassion about refugees to each other out of social anxiety about themselves and a fear of appearing BNP-like.

    This trumps everything.

    It's how Wokery has real world effects.
    Indeed

    It is however notable that this is the BBC reporting that parts of Albania are “depopulating” as everyone moves to the UK illegally

    That article could have appeared, word for word, in the Daily Mail. It reads like a Daily Mail piece

    Suggests a turning point has been reached?
    If nobody is left in Albania, that will stop the boats and Braverman will claim success.
  • Leon said:

    Leon said:

    We are insane. If this continues all the young men in Albania will move to the UK - illegally

    From that BBC report

    “Laknas lies on the flight path from Albania to France. Passenger jets zoom over the still and empty town: over its small mosque framed by half-built blocks and shuttered houses; over its deserted café.

    Shopkeepers gather in the quiet road to complain that their business is unviable.
    A pair of cows mumble away at the grass by the still main road.

    "They're all I have left," their owner says. "My children have gone to England."

    Residents here say 70% of the local population has already left for the UK. And the departures haven't stopped.”

    We are insane.

    The primary objective of almost any senior professional you care to mention in law, the media, the civil service or politics is to loudly signal their compassion about refugees to each other out of social anxiety about themselves and a fear of appearing BNP-like.

    This trumps everything.

    It's how Wokery has real world effects.
    Indeed

    It is however notable that this is the BBC reporting that parts of Albania are “depopulating” as everyone moves to the UK illegally

    That article could have appeared, word for word, in the Daily Mail. It reads like a Daily Mail piece

    Suggests a turning point has been reached?
    They've always been OK at reporting numbers/origins but poor at balance in what we should do about it - usually giving far too much profile & airtime to the campaigning third sector "safe and legal routes" mob.
  • TimSTimS Posts: 12,995
    Driver said:

    TimS said:

    The conservatives do have an incredible ability to hypnotise the voters.

    “Look, we’ve utterly messed up our asylum system just like we messed up health, education and policing. We are outraged at this and so should you be. It’s all Labour’s fault”. And it works.

    They’ll do the same on the economy: “we f*cked up big time and left you poorer and more insecure. So you’d better vote for us because Labour won’t transform the economy for the better overnight”.

    Labour could avoid this by having some policies.
    Look into my eyes, the eyes, not around the eyes.

    You just made the point. Labour will have plenty of policies going into the election but it’s a fact that the public expectation of them - threshold for votes - is that much higher. The Tories are regularly forgiven everything.

    We have posters on here who occasionally dip into a brief moment of disillusionment before falling back in love with the government as soon as they switch leader or do a small reshuffle.
  • Leon said:

    Leon said:

    https://twitter.com/jamesjohnson252/status/1588462874070257665

    Latest @JLPartnersPolls @TimesRadio swing voter focus group on immigration:

    🔵 All said Britain is ‘full’ and ‘at capacity’, politicians ‘don’t get it’
    🔵 Blame on immigration for problems with NHS, housing
    🔵 Said Braverman’s description of ‘invasion’ was accurate
    🔵 Felt that PM was wrong to appoint ‘naughty’ Braverman but she ‘has good ideas’
    🔵 Current Channel situation ‘unfair’ with Brits in poverty
    🔵 Tories handling it badly - but most said they would trust them more on immigration than Labour

    I’m sure @foxy and @roger told us that most of the shivering Albanians are poor enslaved women?


    Oh

    “The BBC has heard evidence that Albanian drug gangs are using the migrant camps of northern France as a recruitment ground, offering to pay the passage of those prepared to work in the UK drugs industry on arrival
    .
    Albanians account for around a third of the almost 40,000 people who have arrived in small boats so far this year, according to UK government figures.

    The UK government says 12,000 Albanians have arrived by small boat this year, almost all of them young men travelling alone.

    He estimates that a majority of the young men he met in the Dunkirk camp planned to work in the Albanian cannabis and cocaine networks in the UK.”

    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-63488070

    What happens when a society has an insatiable desire for narcotics and insists on making them illegal.
    And so somehow it’s our fault, yet again

    Is there a single issue where left wing people instinctively side with Britain and the British people, rather than Anyone Else?

    You guys are contemptible and I hope you contrive to lose the next election despite being 20 points ahead of a clown troupe. Ugh
    It's attitudes like this - the pomposity, the arrogant dismissal of ordinary people's concerns, the contempt, and the self-servingness - that were a big contribution to the Brexit vote.

    If people don't get answers to their concerns they will stick it to those sneer they shouldnt have them in the first place.

    They have learnt nothing and forgotten nothing.
    Bourbons have always been my favourite biscuits.
    But seriously, trying to find solutions that actually work rather than simply frothing at the mouth seems to me to be the absolute epitome of answering people's concerns. I'm certainly not sneering.
  • Leon said:

    We are insane. If this continues all the young men in Albania will move to the UK - illegally

    From that BBC report

    “Laknas lies on the flight path from Albania to France. Passenger jets zoom over the still and empty town: over its small mosque framed by half-built blocks and shuttered houses; over its deserted café.

    Shopkeepers gather in the quiet road to complain that their business is unviable.
    A pair of cows mumble away at the grass by the still main road.

    "They're all I have left," their owner says. "My children have gone to England."

    Residents here say 70% of the local population has already left for the UK. And the departures haven't stopped.”

    We are insane.

    The primary objective of almost any senior professional you care to mention in law, the media, the civil service or politics is to loudly signal their compassion about refugees to each other out of social anxiety about themselves and a fear of appearing BNP-like.

    This trumps everything.

    It's how Wokery has real world effects.
    Good use of the word 'trumps' there. Build that wall.
    Idiot.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 42,159

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    DavidL said:

    These polls are being distorted by Republican friendly pollsters but Biden was looking pretty down about it all yesterday.

    Biden is a disaster. Look at this. Not only does he mangle his argument (which is probably a lie anyway) he then wanders off the point like the doddery old fool he is
    Just thank the Lord your boy Trump has the same wisdom and clarity of thought as Albert Einstein in his heyday.
    I despise Trump and fear his malignant presence in the White House. Next time around could be much worse than the first. Probably would be

    But he needs to be defeated democratically. So for that the Dems need a good strong centrist candidate. Anything else is defeatist decadence at a time of maximum peril. Someone has to tell Sleepy Uncle Joe: not this time

    Trump was "defeated democratically" in 2020. It didn't deter him from claiming he wasn't.
    At it again in Iowa yesterday.

    "I ran twice and won twice, the second time bigger, I got even more votes the second time."

    Guy thinks only his votes count and the rest can be ignored - unbelievable! Doesn't understand what an election actually is.

    He won't be president again, I remain confident of that, but the fact he has a drooling base of 30m Americans - that's adult Americans, would you believe - is just so depressing. Worrying too, since they are still the world's most powerful and influential nation.
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 42,840

    Nigelb said:

    Whispers in Westminster of removing the Capital Gains Tax exemption for principle residence that could net @hmtreasury £30bn a year.
    https://twitter.com/HenryPryor/status/1588442617196564480

    Not for very many years, I suspect.

    But money travels through time like nothing else. If this policy were implemented it would create a stream of future revenue against which we can start borrowing right away.
    Indeed.

    Would that be instead of stamp duty? Would make sense mobility-wise.

    And can one get a loss offset against gains elsewhere? Can't see why not.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 54,585
    So, who’ll be elected MP for the Kent coast at the next election?

    Nigel Farage?
    Carl Benjamin?
    Tommy Robinson?
    Nick Griffin?

    Or will Braverman get support from her colleagues, to actually do something about the problem this time?
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,339

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    https://twitter.com/jamesjohnson252/status/1588462874070257665

    Latest @JLPartnersPolls @TimesRadio swing voter focus group on immigration:

    🔵 All said Britain is ‘full’ and ‘at capacity’, politicians ‘don’t get it’
    🔵 Blame on immigration for problems with NHS, housing
    🔵 Said Braverman’s description of ‘invasion’ was accurate
    🔵 Felt that PM was wrong to appoint ‘naughty’ Braverman but she ‘has good ideas’
    🔵 Current Channel situation ‘unfair’ with Brits in poverty
    🔵 Tories handling it badly - but most said they would trust them more on immigration than Labour

    I’m sure @foxy and @roger told us that most of the shivering Albanians are poor enslaved women?


    Oh

    “The BBC has heard evidence that Albanian drug gangs are using the migrant camps of northern France as a recruitment ground, offering to pay the passage of those prepared to work in the UK drugs industry on arrival
    .
    Albanians account for around a third of the almost 40,000 people who have arrived in small boats so far this year, according to UK government figures.

    The UK government says 12,000 Albanians have arrived by small boat this year, almost all of them young men travelling alone.

    He estimates that a majority of the young men he met in the Dunkirk camp planned to work in the Albanian cannabis and cocaine networks in the UK.”

    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-63488070

    What happens when a society has an insatiable desire for narcotics and insists on making them illegal.
    And so somehow it’s our fault, yet again

    Is there a single issue where left wing people instinctively side with Britain and the British people, rather than Anyone Else?

    You guys are contemptible and I hope you contrive to lose the next election despite being 20 points ahead of a clown troupe. Ugh
    You've probably been personally responsible for propping up half the black economy over the years so can jog on.
    Please continue. Your reflexive attitude of Fuck the Evil British, Help the Poor Albanians Coke Dealers could indeed lose you the next election, despite the grotesque inadequacy of the Tories

    You just can’t help it. You hate your own country and your own people. The British are inferior and they voted for Brexit and they deserve to have 900,000 illegal Albanians hosted in every one of their stupid Brexity towns. That’s what you think, deep down.
    Lot of projection going on here, Leon old boy.
    In the case of drugs gangs, I hardly think it's unreasonable to criticise people who buy illegal drugs knowing that it puts money in the hands of criminals, and daft policymakers who insist on a prohibition model even though they know it doesn't work and simply puts money in the hands of criminals. I blame the criminals too, of course, but if we are serious about preventing inflows of foreign criminals (rather than just virtue signalling about it) we need to ask why they are coming here rather than staying in the Schengen Area (where they enjoy visa free travel). The buoyant health of our black economy is surely a huge part of that draw.
    “I blame the criminals too, of course”

    Gee, thanks. So it’s only 97% the fault of stupid Brexity British people who manage to be cruel and heartless even as they house obvious illegal migrants in 4 star hotels
  • eristdooferistdoof Posts: 5,065
    IanB2 said:

    rkrkrk said:

    https://twitter.com/jamesjohnson252/status/1588462874070257665

    Latest @JLPartnersPolls @TimesRadio swing voter focus group on immigration:

    🔵 All said Britain is ‘full’ and ‘at capacity’, politicians ‘don’t get it’
    🔵 Blame on immigration for problems with NHS, housing
    🔵 Said Braverman’s description of ‘invasion’ was accurate
    🔵 Felt that PM was wrong to appoint ‘naughty’ Braverman but she ‘has good ideas’
    🔵 Current Channel situation ‘unfair’ with Brits in poverty
    🔵 Tories handling it badly - but most said they would trust them more on immigration than Labour

    Really hard to know what to do about this. This has obviously occurred under the Conservatives' watch and yet they will reap a political reward because they can talk tough and Labour can't.
    We know already that our politics has reached the stage where you can be idiotically incompetent, but provided you are willing to say the 'right' idiotic things, people will support you all the same.
    If I like this, am I supporting your saying "the right idiotic thing"?
  • Sandpit said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Not sure cancelling the new Sizewell power station is a good idea.

    Won't happen.
    The power station, or the cancellation of it?

    If it’s to be cancelled, then at least announcing what will replace it at the same time, might be seen as good politics at a time of record high energy bills!
    Cancellation. Just the Treasury chestbeating.

    There are leaks to the media day-by-day at the moment as they look at all potential tax and spending options.

    Everything will need to be "reviewed" as part of a top to bottom exercise but this won't go anywhere. Sunak and Macron shook hands on it only 7 days ago.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 54,585
    edited November 2022

    Sandpit said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Not sure cancelling the new Sizewell power station is a good idea.

    Won't happen.
    The power station, or the cancellation of it?

    If it’s to be cancelled, then at least announcing what will replace it at the same time, might be seen as good politics at a time of record high energy bills!
    Cancellation. Just the Treasury chestbeating.

    There are leaks to the media day-by-day at the moment as they look at all potential tax and spending options.

    Everything will need to be "reviewed" as part of a top to bottom exercise but this won't go anywhere. Sunak and Macron shook hands on it only 7 days ago.
    Oh, I completely agree that there needs to be a zero-based spending review over the winter, with absolutely everything on the table - but it needs to be done in a coherent manner, finishing with a single announcement before the start of the financial year.

    Dripping negative spending stories out one at a time, won’t do much for the government’s popularity. Do it all at once, to avoid every single-issue pressure group having their own day in the sun.
  • Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    https://twitter.com/jamesjohnson252/status/1588462874070257665

    Latest @JLPartnersPolls @TimesRadio swing voter focus group on immigration:

    🔵 All said Britain is ‘full’ and ‘at capacity’, politicians ‘don’t get it’
    🔵 Blame on immigration for problems with NHS, housing
    🔵 Said Braverman’s description of ‘invasion’ was accurate
    🔵 Felt that PM was wrong to appoint ‘naughty’ Braverman but she ‘has good ideas’
    🔵 Current Channel situation ‘unfair’ with Brits in poverty
    🔵 Tories handling it badly - but most said they would trust them more on immigration than Labour

    I’m sure @foxy and @roger told us that most of the shivering Albanians are poor enslaved women?


    Oh

    “The BBC has heard evidence that Albanian drug gangs are using the migrant camps of northern France as a recruitment ground, offering to pay the passage of those prepared to work in the UK drugs industry on arrival
    .
    Albanians account for around a third of the almost 40,000 people who have arrived in small boats so far this year, according to UK government figures.

    The UK government says 12,000 Albanians have arrived by small boat this year, almost all of them young men travelling alone.

    He estimates that a majority of the young men he met in the Dunkirk camp planned to work in the Albanian cannabis and cocaine networks in the UK.”

    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-63488070

    What happens when a society has an insatiable desire for narcotics and insists on making them illegal.
    And so somehow it’s our fault, yet again

    Is there a single issue where left wing people instinctively side with Britain and the British people, rather than Anyone Else?

    You guys are contemptible and I hope you contrive to lose the next election despite being 20 points ahead of a clown troupe. Ugh
    You've probably been personally responsible for propping up half the black economy over the years so can jog on.
    Please continue. Your reflexive attitude of Fuck the Evil British, Help the Poor Albanians Coke Dealers could indeed lose you the next election, despite the grotesque inadequacy of the Tories

    You just can’t help it. You hate your own country and your own people. The British are inferior and they voted for Brexit and they deserve to have 900,000 illegal Albanians hosted in every one of their stupid Brexity towns. That’s what you think, deep down.
    Lot of projection going on here, Leon old boy.
    In the case of drugs gangs, I hardly think it's unreasonable to criticise people who buy illegal drugs knowing that it puts money in the hands of criminals, and daft policymakers who insist on a prohibition model even though they know it doesn't work and simply puts money in the hands of criminals. I blame the criminals too, of course, but if we are serious about preventing inflows of foreign criminals (rather than just virtue signalling about it) we need to ask why they are coming here rather than staying in the Schengen Area (where they enjoy visa free travel). The buoyant health of our black economy is surely a huge part of that draw.
    “I blame the criminals too, of course”

    Gee, thanks. So it’s only 97% the fault of stupid Brexity British people who manage to be cruel and heartless even as they house obvious illegal migrants in 4 star hotels
    Leon are you interested in a serious conversation or just in being a dick?
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 53,839
    Sandpit said:

    Nigelb said:

    FPT:

    About Russia's military strength.

    I've wittered on in the past about how Russia's military strength does not seem to match its expenditure. In 2020 Russia spent $61.71B on its military, on a GDP of $2.1 trillion. With that, it fields a massive number of tanks, planes, SAM systems, men, and other things - not least thousands of nuclear warheads.

    In comparison, the Euro area spent $194.71B on its military in the same year, with a GDP of $13.3 trillion.

    So the Euro area spends much more on its military, from a much larger GDP, and has a military that is much smaller in some metrics (e.g. number of tanks) and larger in others (e.g. number of planes), whilst also not having to maintain a massive number of nuclear weapons.

    You PPP is a thing, and you can pay men a pittance. But when it comes to technology, if you do not do things right, effectiveness falls off a cliff...

    For example, they can't replace the kit they used to source from Ukraine.
    Russia tries to use passenger jet engines for its heavy helicopters reliant on Ukrainian engines - Defense24

    Russians failed to produce their engine in the last 6-8 yrs, now it may go into production not early than 2025 if its development would succeed

    https://twitter.com/EuromaidanPress/status/1588467410549592064
    There was a story the other day, that Russia is having to import a lot of Asian consumer electronics, purely to get computer chips that they can adapt for (very unreliable, presumably) military use.

    Russia has almost no standalone capability to make military avionics systems for planes and missiles, nor the similar electronic warfare systems required for modern tanks.
    The clue before the conflict was how the Russians performed in Nagorno-Karabakh where they got their arses kicked by drone technology and an apparently smaller but better organised foe. The weaknesses were hidden during their episodes in Syria because they did not have an organised opponent and their brutal use of artillery against targets that could not fire back made them look effective.

    If Putin wasn't an egotistical lunatic Nagorno-Karabakh would have stopped him from trying to invade Ukraine.
  • EndillionEndillion Posts: 4,976

    https://twitter.com/jamesjohnson252/status/1588462874070257665

    Latest @JLPartnersPolls @TimesRadio swing voter focus group on immigration:

    🔵 All said Britain is ‘full’ and ‘at capacity’, politicians ‘don’t get it’
    🔵 Blame on immigration for problems with NHS, housing
    🔵 Said Braverman’s description of ‘invasion’ was accurate
    🔵 Felt that PM was wrong to appoint ‘naughty’ Braverman but she ‘has good ideas’
    🔵 Current Channel situation ‘unfair’ with Brits in poverty
    🔵 Tories handling it badly - but most said they would trust them more on immigration than Labour

    When they say 'swing voter' who are they swinging between? Tory/UKIP/BNP?
    I'm sure these are widely held, majority views, unfortunately. It's what happens when you have a bad immigration policy, handled badly, and decades of scapegoating immigrants for the country's problems. I mean, blaming too many immigrants for the problems in the NHS (when the problem is too few immigrants in that case) just illustrates how messed up people's information is.
    Anyway, back to my tofu.
    In summary:
    - all immigrants are freely interchangeable with each other; in particular those with medical training are interchangeable with those without; and
    - we'd have much less illegal immigration if we just let them all in legally, which would totally not have the exact same impact on services.

    My goodness. What even is the point being made? People come here specifically because it's illegal, like they get some kind of a buzz from it?
  • algarkirkalgarkirk Posts: 12,497
    rkrkrk said:

    https://twitter.com/jamesjohnson252/status/1588462874070257665

    Latest @JLPartnersPolls @TimesRadio swing voter focus group on immigration:

    🔵 All said Britain is ‘full’ and ‘at capacity’, politicians ‘don’t get it’
    🔵 Blame on immigration for problems with NHS, housing
    🔵 Said Braverman’s description of ‘invasion’ was accurate
    🔵 Felt that PM was wrong to appoint ‘naughty’ Braverman but she ‘has good ideas’
    🔵 Current Channel situation ‘unfair’ with Brits in poverty
    🔵 Tories handling it badly - but most said they would trust them more on immigration than Labour

    Really hard to know what to do about this. This has obviously occurred under the Conservatives' watch and yet they will reap a political reward because they can talk tough and Labour can't.
    Though in the end even the dimmest voters might realise there are several (here are 4) combined but separable issues here:

    Policy
    Competence in delivery
    Capacity to deliver
    Law, tribunals and other hearings, courts and lawyers.

    None is working anywhere near decent levels.

    As to policy - no idea, all the voters know is that it doesn't work. As to the other three, the less said the better. In fact it is those, not the policy matters, which could resolve matters.

    In a huge range of issues both state and corporate it is competence and capacity not policy that is the problem.
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 78,191

    Sandpit said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Not sure cancelling the new Sizewell power station is a good idea.

    Won't happen.
    The power station, or the cancellation of it?

    If it’s to be cancelled, then at least announcing what will replace it at the same time, might be seen as good politics at a time of record high energy bills!
    Cancellation. Just the Treasury chestbeating.

    There are leaks to the media day-by-day at the moment as they look at all potential tax and spending options.

    Everything will need to be "reviewed" as part of a top to bottom exercise but this won't go anywhere. Sunak and Macron shook hands on it only 7 days ago.
    I'd imagine all contractors have a costs + whole job profits cancellation fee, it's what we're able to negotiate with our most generous customers and having seen the whole PFI farce and how the gov't got rinsed on every aspect unless they've changed their contract negotiators I can't not see this as the case for suppliers on the job.
  • So Musk’s insane Blue Tick policy.

    Our work is informing clients not to trust any blue tick verified Twitter accounts going forward and use alternative social media platforms that are verified.

    For a few dollars a week I could set up an ‘American Express Card Customer Services’ Blue Tick Twitter account and get people to give me their card details.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,339
    DavidL said:

    Sandpit said:

    Nigelb said:

    FPT:

    About Russia's military strength.

    I've wittered on in the past about how Russia's military strength does not seem to match its expenditure. In 2020 Russia spent $61.71B on its military, on a GDP of $2.1 trillion. With that, it fields a massive number of tanks, planes, SAM systems, men, and other things - not least thousands of nuclear warheads.

    In comparison, the Euro area spent $194.71B on its military in the same year, with a GDP of $13.3 trillion.

    So the Euro area spends much more on its military, from a much larger GDP, and has a military that is much smaller in some metrics (e.g. number of tanks) and larger in others (e.g. number of planes), whilst also not having to maintain a massive number of nuclear weapons.

    You PPP is a thing, and you can pay men a pittance. But when it comes to technology, if you do not do things right, effectiveness falls off a cliff...

    For example, they can't replace the kit they used to source from Ukraine.
    Russia tries to use passenger jet engines for its heavy helicopters reliant on Ukrainian engines - Defense24

    Russians failed to produce their engine in the last 6-8 yrs, now it may go into production not early than 2025 if its development would succeed

    https://twitter.com/EuromaidanPress/status/1588467410549592064
    There was a story the other day, that Russia is having to import a lot of Asian consumer electronics, purely to get computer chips that they can adapt for (very unreliable, presumably) military use.

    Russia has almost no standalone capability to make military avionics systems for planes and missiles, nor the similar electronic warfare systems required for modern tanks.
    The clue before the conflict was how the Russians performed in Nagorno-Karabakh where they got their arses kicked by drone technology and an apparently smaller but better organised foe. The weaknesses were hidden during their episodes in Syria because they did not have an organised opponent and their brutal use of artillery against targets that could not fire back made them look effective.

    If Putin wasn't an egotistical lunatic Nagorno-Karabakh would have stopped him from trying to invade Ukraine.
    That’s partly incorrect about the Armenian Azeri war

    The Azerbaijanis had more money, men, materiel AND Turkish drones
  • DriverDriver Posts: 4,963
    TimS said:

    Driver said:

    TimS said:

    The conservatives do have an incredible ability to hypnotise the voters.

    “Look, we’ve utterly messed up our asylum system just like we messed up health, education and policing. We are outraged at this and so should you be. It’s all Labour’s fault”. And it works.

    They’ll do the same on the economy: “we f*cked up big time and left you poorer and more insecure. So you’d better vote for us because Labour won’t transform the economy for the better overnight”.

    Labour could avoid this by having some policies.
    Look into my eyes, the eyes, not around the eyes.

    You just made the point. Labour will have plenty of policies going into the election but it’s a fact that the public expectation of them - threshold for votes - is that much higher. The Tories are regularly forgiven everything.

    We have posters on here who occasionally dip into a brief moment of disillusionment before falling back in love with the government as soon as they switch leader or do a small reshuffle.
    They need policies - fleshing out a clear direction of travel - now. Springing them on people during an election campaign isn't good enough.

    By this stage before the 1997 election, Blair had already had his Clause Four Moment.

    People rightly criticised Truss for not laying the groundwork for the policies in the mini-budget. This is the same thing.
  • Northern_AlNorthern_Al Posts: 8,383
    Driver said:

    TimS said:

    The conservatives do have an incredible ability to hypnotise the voters.

    “Look, we’ve utterly messed up our asylum system just like we messed up health, education and policing. We are outraged at this and so should you be. It’s all Labour’s fault”. And it works.

    They’ll do the same on the economy: “we f*cked up big time and left you poorer and more insecure. So you’d better vote for us because Labour won’t transform the economy for the better overnight”.

    Labour could avoid this by having some policies.
    You constantly repeat this mantra about Labour having no policies. Actually, Labour has lots of policies. What it hasn't done yet is digest them down into soundbites on which to base an election campaign, and I don't blame them at this stage in the cycle. Bur policy-making is developing rapidly. If you were genuinely interested (though I suspect you're not) in current Labour thinking, you could wade through all the sections here:

    https://labour.org.uk/stronger-together/a-fairer-greener-future/

    It's far too many words, but it's the thinking that lies behind the policy offer that Labour will come up with in 2024. They'll end up with something akin to the Blair pledge card, no doubt.
  • SandyRentoolSandyRentool Posts: 22,015
    CCGT power plants emit around 400 tonnes of CO2 per GWh generated. They are the marginal generator at the moment (no coal plants on the bars). Currently, the UK is exporting 3GW of power to France/Ireland. Therefore, we are emitting 1,200 tonnes per hour of CO2 to supply other countries with electricity.

    At 60% CCGT efficiency, this also means we are consuming an additional 5GWh per hour of natural gas to supply other countries with power.

    And we are supposed to be short of gas, while trying to reduce our CO2 emissions.
  • rkrkrkrkrkrk Posts: 8,297
    algarkirk said:

    rkrkrk said:

    https://twitter.com/jamesjohnson252/status/1588462874070257665

    Latest @JLPartnersPolls @TimesRadio swing voter focus group on immigration:

    🔵 All said Britain is ‘full’ and ‘at capacity’, politicians ‘don’t get it’
    🔵 Blame on immigration for problems with NHS, housing
    🔵 Said Braverman’s description of ‘invasion’ was accurate
    🔵 Felt that PM was wrong to appoint ‘naughty’ Braverman but she ‘has good ideas’
    🔵 Current Channel situation ‘unfair’ with Brits in poverty
    🔵 Tories handling it badly - but most said they would trust them more on immigration than Labour

    Really hard to know what to do about this. This has obviously occurred under the Conservatives' watch and yet they will reap a political reward because they can talk tough and Labour can't.
    Though in the end even the dimmest voters might realise there are several (here are 4) combined but separable issues here:

    Policy
    Competence in delivery
    Capacity to deliver
    Law, tribunals and other hearings, courts and lawyers.

    None is working anywhere near decent levels.

    As to policy - no idea, all the voters know is that it doesn't work. As to the other three, the less said the better. In fact it is those, not the policy matters, which could resolve matters.

    In a huge range of issues both state and corporate it is competence and capacity not policy that is the problem.
    This actually might be the solution. If Starmer can reframe the problem as one of competence rather than being tough - that could be his way to neutralize the issue.

    He probably shouldn't go into details, he just needs to tell the Tories to 'get a grip' or some other meaningless phrase which reminds people that the Tories clearly aren't very competent.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 42,159
    edited November 2022

    Leon said:

    We are insane. If this continues all the young men in Albania will move to the UK - illegally

    From that BBC report

    “Laknas lies on the flight path from Albania to France. Passenger jets zoom over the still and empty town: over its small mosque framed by half-built blocks and shuttered houses; over its deserted café.

    Shopkeepers gather in the quiet road to complain that their business is unviable.
    A pair of cows mumble away at the grass by the still main road.

    "They're all I have left," their owner says. "My children have gone to England."

    Residents here say 70% of the local population has already left for the UK. And the departures haven't stopped.”

    We are insane.

    The primary objective of almost any senior professional you care to mention in law, the media, the civil service or politics is to loudly signal their compassion about refugees to each other out of social anxiety about themselves and a fear of appearing BNP-like.

    This trumps everything.

    It's how Wokery has real world effects.
    Good use of the word 'trumps' there. Build that wall.
    I Kina B Ula today call for a complete and total ban on Albanians leaving Albania until the rest of us can figure out what the hell is going on. No choice, no choice ...
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,339

    So Musk’s insane Blue Tick policy.

    Our work is informing clients not to trust any blue tick verified Twitter accounts going forward and use alternative social media platforms that are verified.

    For a few dollars a week I could set up an ‘American Express Card Customer Services’ Blue Tick Twitter account and get people to give me their card details.

    It does seem peculiarly ill-thought-through

    I can actually see a verified, paid for blue-tick service working quite well, after initial hiccups

    But this is bonkers

    My guess is Musk is going to try lots of apparently mad and audacious things, to see what works. He’s an entrepreneur. He has crazy ideas. It’s what he does

    The risk is that by the time he’s determined what works he will have driven Twitter to destruction. Social media networks can collapse very quickly
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 42,592
    Politically, immigration is about the reality or illusion of *control*.

    The government has lost control of immigration, and that is visible to the public. If we were seen to have control of the situation, we could allow just as many people in as we are now, and far fewer people would complain.

    It is about 'control' of immigration. If the public think that immigration is under control, they mind much less.
  • eekeek Posts: 28,370
    edited November 2022

    So Musk’s insane Blue Tick policy.

    Our work is informing clients not to trust any blue tick verified Twitter accounts going forward and use alternative social media platforms that are verified.

    For a few dollars a week I could set up an ‘American Express Card Customer Services’ Blue Tick Twitter account and get people to give me their card details.

    It’s worse than that - it’s only open to countries that currently have Twitter blue (which we don’t have yet) so Americans and Australians will be able to pull those tricks but we can’t.

    Worse because we can’t even fewer people will know what’s changed
  • DriverDriver Posts: 4,963
    edited November 2022

    Driver said:

    TimS said:

    The conservatives do have an incredible ability to hypnotise the voters.

    “Look, we’ve utterly messed up our asylum system just like we messed up health, education and policing. We are outraged at this and so should you be. It’s all Labour’s fault”. And it works.

    They’ll do the same on the economy: “we f*cked up big time and left you poorer and more insecure. So you’d better vote for us because Labour won’t transform the economy for the better overnight”.

    Labour could avoid this by having some policies.
    You constantly repeat this mantra about Labour having no policies. Actually, Labour has lots of policies. What it hasn't done yet is digest them down into soundbites on which to base an election campaign, and I don't blame them at this stage in the cycle. Bur policy-making is developing rapidly. If you were genuinely interested (though I suspect you're not) in current Labour thinking, you could wade through all the sections here:

    https://labour.org.uk/stronger-together/a-fairer-greener-future/

    It's far too many words, but it's the thinking that lies behind the policy offer that Labour will come up with in 2024. They'll end up with something akin to the Blair pledge card, no doubt.
    I'm not interested in "wading through" "far too many words" on a website, I'm interested in knowing what the policies are.

    Without the "soundbites", the polcies might as well not exist to the vast majority of voters.
  • SandyRentoolSandyRentool Posts: 22,015

    https://twitter.com/jamesjohnson252/status/1588462874070257665

    Latest @JLPartnersPolls @TimesRadio swing voter focus group on immigration:

    🔵 All said Britain is ‘full’ and ‘at capacity’, politicians ‘don’t get it’
    🔵 Blame on immigration for problems with NHS, housing
    🔵 Said Braverman’s description of ‘invasion’ was accurate
    🔵 Felt that PM was wrong to appoint ‘naughty’ Braverman but she ‘has good ideas’
    🔵 Current Channel situation ‘unfair’ with Brits in poverty
    🔵 Tories handling it badly - but most said they would trust them more on immigration than Labour

    When they say 'swing voter' who are they swinging between? Tory/UKIP/BNP?
    I'm sure these are widely held, majority views, unfortunately. It's what happens when you have a bad immigration policy, handled badly, and decades of scapegoating immigrants for the country's problems. I mean, blaming too many immigrants for the problems in the NHS (when the problem is too few immigrants in that case) just illustrates how messed up people's information is.
    Anyway, back to my tofu.
    Yes, all of these Albanian lads are actually here to train to be nurses. Let more in, more nurses for the NHS.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 50,270
    eek said:

    So Musk’s insane Blue Tick policy.

    Our work is informing clients not to trust any blue tick verified Twitter accounts going forward and use alternative social media platforms that are verified.

    For a few dollars a week I could set up an ‘American Express Card Customer Services’ Blue Tick Twitter account and get people to give me their card details.

    It’s worse than that - it’s only open to countries that currently have Twitter blue (which we don’t have yet) so Americans and Australians will be able to pull those tricks but we can’t.

    Worse because we can’t even fewer people will know what’s changed
    The existing blue tick verification system is not very secure either. Trusting it would already be insane. Then again, trusting something someone posts on Twitter....
  • TimSTimS Posts: 12,995
    rkrkrk said:

    algarkirk said:

    rkrkrk said:

    https://twitter.com/jamesjohnson252/status/1588462874070257665

    Latest @JLPartnersPolls @TimesRadio swing voter focus group on immigration:

    🔵 All said Britain is ‘full’ and ‘at capacity’, politicians ‘don’t get it’
    🔵 Blame on immigration for problems with NHS, housing
    🔵 Said Braverman’s description of ‘invasion’ was accurate
    🔵 Felt that PM was wrong to appoint ‘naughty’ Braverman but she ‘has good ideas’
    🔵 Current Channel situation ‘unfair’ with Brits in poverty
    🔵 Tories handling it badly - but most said they would trust them more on immigration than Labour

    Really hard to know what to do about this. This has obviously occurred under the Conservatives' watch and yet they will reap a political reward because they can talk tough and Labour can't.
    Though in the end even the dimmest voters might realise there are several (here are 4) combined but separable issues here:

    Policy
    Competence in delivery
    Capacity to deliver
    Law, tribunals and other hearings, courts and lawyers.

    None is working anywhere near decent levels.

    As to policy - no idea, all the voters know is that it doesn't work. As to the other three, the less said the better. In fact it is those, not the policy matters, which could resolve matters.

    In a huge range of issues both state and corporate it is competence and capacity not policy that is the problem.
    This actually might be the solution. If Starmer can reframe the problem as one of competence rather than being tough - that could be his way to neutralize the issue.

    He probably shouldn't go into details, he just needs to tell the Tories to 'get a grip' or some other meaningless phrase which reminds people that the Tories clearly aren't very competent.
    And the issue is indeed one of competence, and resources. Sadly though this is one of those subjects, like housebuilding or pensions triple locks, where the arguments are emotional and visceral.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 42,159
    Driver said:

    Driver said:

    TimS said:

    The conservatives do have an incredible ability to hypnotise the voters.

    “Look, we’ve utterly messed up our asylum system just like we messed up health, education and policing. We are outraged at this and so should you be. It’s all Labour’s fault”. And it works.

    They’ll do the same on the economy: “we f*cked up big time and left you poorer and more insecure. So you’d better vote for us because Labour won’t transform the economy for the better overnight”.

    Labour could avoid this by having some policies.
    You constantly repeat this mantra about Labour having no policies. Actually, Labour has lots of policies. What it hasn't done yet is digest them down into soundbites on which to base an election campaign, and I don't blame them at this stage in the cycle. Bur policy-making is developing rapidly. If you were genuinely interested (though I suspect you're not) in current Labour thinking, you could wade through all the sections here:

    https://labour.org.uk/stronger-together/a-fairer-greener-future/

    It's far too many words, but it's the thinking that lies behind the policy offer that Labour will come up with in 2024. They'll end up with something akin to the Blair pledge card, no doubt.
    I'm not interested in "wading through" "far too many words" on a website, I'm interested in knowing what the policies are.

    Without the "soundbites", the polcies might as well not exist to the vast majority of voters.
    Well you don't read anything beyond a couple of sentences, do you?
  • Northern_AlNorthern_Al Posts: 8,383
    edited November 2022
    Driver said:

    Driver said:

    TimS said:

    The conservatives do have an incredible ability to hypnotise the voters.

    “Look, we’ve utterly messed up our asylum system just like we messed up health, education and policing. We are outraged at this and so should you be. It’s all Labour’s fault”. And it works.

    They’ll do the same on the economy: “we f*cked up big time and left you poorer and more insecure. So you’d better vote for us because Labour won’t transform the economy for the better overnight”.

    Labour could avoid this by having some policies.
    You constantly repeat this mantra about Labour having no policies. Actually, Labour has lots of policies. What it hasn't done yet is digest them down into soundbites on which to base an election campaign, and I don't blame them at this stage in the cycle. Bur policy-making is developing rapidly. If you were genuinely interested (though I suspect you're not) in current Labour thinking, you could wade through all the sections here:

    https://labour.org.uk/stronger-together/a-fairer-greener-future/

    It's far too many words, but it's the thinking that lies behind the policy offer that Labour will come up with in 2024. They'll end up with something akin to the Blair pledge card, no doubt.
    I'm not interested in "wading through" "far too many words" on a website, I'm interested in knowing what the policies are.

    Without the "soundbites", the polcies might as well not exist to the vast majority of voters.
    Thanks. Confirms my view that you're not genuinely interested. I know reading is challenging. The 'soundbites' need to evolve from serious thinking that involves detailed analysis of each issue. That needs lots of words. You'll get your soundbites in plenty of time to inform your vote at the next GE. I'm not sure that will make any difference to you.
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 38,829
    Once again, the solution is pretty straightforwards. Declare Albania a safe country and stick them on planes. Don't have a process for it and stick them on commercial flights. Treat it the same as a visa overstayer, not an asylum seeker.
  • AlistairAlistair Posts: 23,670

    So Musk’s insane Blue Tick policy.

    Our work is informing clients not to trust any blue tick verified Twitter accounts going forward and use alternative social media platforms that are verified.

    For a few dollars a week I could set up an ‘American Express Card Customer Services’ Blue Tick Twitter account and get people to give me their card details.

    Correct. Musk has decided that the most toxic fringe view of the blue tick "Status" is the main purpose when everyone else knows that the purpose is "Verifying the Account is who they say it is"

    As Musk rolls out the new "Pay to get a tick" approach it will be fucking anarchy.
  • MattWMattW Posts: 23,173
    edited November 2022

    CCGT power plants emit around 400 tonnes of CO2 per GWh generated. They are the marginal generator at the moment (no coal plants on the bars). Currently, the UK is exporting 3GW of power to France/Ireland. Therefore, we are emitting 1,200 tonnes per hour of CO2 to supply other countries with electricity.

    At 60% CCGT efficiency, this also means we are consuming an additional 5GWh per hour of natural gas to supply other countries with power.

    And we are supposed to be short of gas, while trying to reduce our CO2 emissions.

    I'm not quite sure how the carbon accounts work on energy exports via interconnectors for gas or elec, but that will presumably show up in a 1% or so reduction in the consumption based C02 emissions numbers:


  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 32,557
    Australia not performing especially well against Afghanistan.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/live/cricket/60119100
  • SelebianSelebian Posts: 8,727

    Driver said:

    TimS said:

    The conservatives do have an incredible ability to hypnotise the voters.

    “Look, we’ve utterly messed up our asylum system just like we messed up health, education and policing. We are outraged at this and so should you be. It’s all Labour’s fault”. And it works.

    They’ll do the same on the economy: “we f*cked up big time and left you poorer and more insecure. So you’d better vote for us because Labour won’t transform the economy for the better overnight”.

    Labour could avoid this by having some policies.
    You constantly repeat this mantra about Labour having no policies. Actually, Labour has lots of policies. What it hasn't done yet is digest them down into soundbites on which to base an election campaign, and I don't blame them at this stage in the cycle. Bur policy-making is developing rapidly. If you were genuinely interested (though I suspect you're not) in current Labour thinking, you could wade through all the sections here:

    https://labour.org.uk/stronger-together/a-fairer-greener-future/

    It's far too many words, but it's the thinking that lies behind the policy offer that Labour will come up with in 2024. They'll end up with something akin to the Blair pledge card, no doubt.
    Just as long as it's not an Ed Stone :hushed:
  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 28,437
    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    DavidL said:

    These polls are being distorted by Republican friendly pollsters but Biden was looking pretty down about it all yesterday.

    Biden is a disaster. Look at this. Not only does he mangle his argument (which is probably a lie anyway) he then wanders off the point like the doddery old fool he is
    Just thank the Lord your boy Trump has the same wisdom and clarity of thought as Albert Einstein in his heyday.
    I despise Trump and fear his malignant presence in the White House. Next time around could be much worse than the first. Probably would be

    But he needs to be defeated democratically. So for that the Dems need a good strong centrist candidate. Anything else is defeatist decadence at a time of maximum peril. Someone has to tell Sleepy Uncle Joe: not this time

    His presence in the White House was afaicr a lot less malignant from the UK's perspective than that of the current incumbent. Or do you think the world then was worse than the world now?

    But his presidency was inescapably malign for the USA, and January 6th was an outrage. And remember I abhor Woke Democrats. Trump is much worse than THEM
    Meh.
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 32,557
    MaxPB said:

    Once again, the solution is pretty straightforwards. Declare Albania a safe country and stick them on planes. Don't have a process for it and stick them on commercial flights. Treat it the same as a visa overstayer, not an asylum seeker.

    In any other country the nationalist right would be on at least 20% in the polls wrt what's going on at the moment. It shows how tolerant most people are in the UK that that isn't the case.
  • Driver said:

    Driver said:

    TimS said:

    The conservatives do have an incredible ability to hypnotise the voters.

    “Look, we’ve utterly messed up our asylum system just like we messed up health, education and policing. We are outraged at this and so should you be. It’s all Labour’s fault”. And it works.

    They’ll do the same on the economy: “we f*cked up big time and left you poorer and more insecure. So you’d better vote for us because Labour won’t transform the economy for the better overnight”.

    Labour could avoid this by having some policies.
    You constantly repeat this mantra about Labour having no policies. Actually, Labour has lots of policies. What it hasn't done yet is digest them down into soundbites on which to base an election campaign, and I don't blame them at this stage in the cycle. Bur policy-making is developing rapidly. If you were genuinely interested (though I suspect you're not) in current Labour thinking, you could wade through all the sections here:

    https://labour.org.uk/stronger-together/a-fairer-greener-future/

    It's far too many words, but it's the thinking that lies behind the policy offer that Labour will come up with in 2024. They'll end up with something akin to the Blair pledge card, no doubt.
    I'm not interested in "wading through" "far too many words" on a website, I'm interested in knowing what the policies are.

    Without the "soundbites", the polcies might as well not exist to the vast majority of voters.
    Thanks. Confirms my view that you're not genuinely interested. I know reading is challenging. The 'soundbites' need to evolve from serious thinking that involves detailed analysis of each issue. That needs lots of words. You'll get your soundbites in plenty of time to inform your vote at the next GE. I'm not sure that will make any difference to you.
    Agreed, hostile actors can never be debated with. It's a waste of time and money. It's the swing_voter middle who matter in most elections.
  • Sandpit said:

    Sandpit said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Not sure cancelling the new Sizewell power station is a good idea.

    Won't happen.
    The power station, or the cancellation of it?

    If it’s to be cancelled, then at least announcing what will replace it at the same time, might be seen as good politics at a time of record high energy bills!
    Cancellation. Just the Treasury chestbeating.

    There are leaks to the media day-by-day at the moment as they look at all potential tax and spending options.

    Everything will need to be "reviewed" as part of a top to bottom exercise but this won't go anywhere. Sunak and Macron shook hands on it only 7 days ago.
    Oh, I completely agree that there needs to be a zero-based spending review over the winter, with absolutely everything on the table - but it needs to be done in a coherent manner, finishing with a single announcement before the start of the financial year.

    Dripping negative spending stories out one at a time, won’t do much for the government’s popularity. Do it all at once, to avoid every single-issue pressure group having their own day in the sun.
    It will also damage investment.

    Sizewell C relies on private sector investment and the government had already made the commitment.

    This raises huge questions about the UK's reliability and consistency.
  • Northern_AlNorthern_Al Posts: 8,383
    Selebian said:

    Driver said:

    TimS said:

    The conservatives do have an incredible ability to hypnotise the voters.

    “Look, we’ve utterly messed up our asylum system just like we messed up health, education and policing. We are outraged at this and so should you be. It’s all Labour’s fault”. And it works.

    They’ll do the same on the economy: “we f*cked up big time and left you poorer and more insecure. So you’d better vote for us because Labour won’t transform the economy for the better overnight”.

    Labour could avoid this by having some policies.
    You constantly repeat this mantra about Labour having no policies. Actually, Labour has lots of policies. What it hasn't done yet is digest them down into soundbites on which to base an election campaign, and I don't blame them at this stage in the cycle. Bur policy-making is developing rapidly. If you were genuinely interested (though I suspect you're not) in current Labour thinking, you could wade through all the sections here:

    https://labour.org.uk/stronger-together/a-fairer-greener-future/

    It's far too many words, but it's the thinking that lies behind the policy offer that Labour will come up with in 2024. They'll end up with something akin to the Blair pledge card, no doubt.
    Just as long as it's not an Ed Stone :hushed:
    Starmer Stone - nicely alliterative.
  • Ishmael_ZIshmael_Z Posts: 8,981
    Alistair said:

    So Musk’s insane Blue Tick policy.

    Our work is informing clients not to trust any blue tick verified Twitter accounts going forward and use alternative social media platforms that are verified.

    For a few dollars a week I could set up an ‘American Express Card Customer Services’ Blue Tick Twitter account and get people to give me their card details.

    Correct. Musk has decided that the most toxic fringe view of the blue tick "Status" is the main purpose when everyone else knows that the purpose is "Verifying the Account is who they say it is"

    As Musk rolls out the new "Pay to get a tick" approach it will be fucking anarchy.
    Musk n Zuck giving each other object lessons in how to destroy capital.
  • Northern_AlNorthern_Al Posts: 8,383
    Andy_JS said:

    MaxPB said:

    Once again, the solution is pretty straightforwards. Declare Albania a safe country and stick them on planes. Don't have a process for it and stick them on commercial flights. Treat it the same as a visa overstayer, not an asylum seeker.

    In any other country the nationalist right would be on at least 20% in the polls wrt what's going on at the moment. It shows how tolerant most people are in the UK that that isn't the case.
    Alternatively, it shows that the nationalist right feel they are represented well by the current government.
  • kamskikamski Posts: 5,190

    kamski said:

    kamski said:



    ***Betting Post***

    I think some were asking how to beat 10% inflation with their savings the other day.

    One answer: back a Republican Majority in the House of Representatives at 1.1 on Betfair. You get a 10% return on your cash (less a bit of commission) in just a few working days.

    They only need six gains to take the House over the 2020 elections (they even advanced when all the Dems turned out for Biden in the presidential) and all the polls are pointing to a clear win, and maybe even a blowout. It's probably a 90%+ chance (not 100%, so DYOR) but nothing is really a 100% chance - not even an cash ISA.

    I've stuck a grand on because the profit will pay for a nice family meal out we'd otherwise not have. Obviously, don't put your whole life savings in it. Be sensible. But this is as clear as it gets.

    Except not all the polls are pointing to a clear win.
    Just looking at the latest polls on 538 I see several Democrat leads - the very latest poll on there is D +7

    Sure Republicans are fairly strong favorites, but 1.1 doesn't seem like much value. It would only take an average polling error of less than 2% in the right ditection to see Democrats hold on in the house.

    There's got to be over 50% chance of a polling error at least that big. Even if you think any polling error is 80% likely to be the other way, 1.1 still doesn't look like great value.
    Do you have a link to that poll please?
    Here's the list at 538
    https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/generic-ballot/
    It's from an outfit called Big Village.

    The latest Ipsos has D +1
    Latest YouGov is Even
    Latest Morning Consult D+5

    Some of these aren't Likely Voter polls, where Dems tend to do worse (eg latest Morning Consult Likely Voter poll is Even).

    But not "all the polls" are pointing to a clear Republican win.

    NB all figures taken from 538 listing, haven't double checked.
    OK, so those are generic ballot polls - and aren't focused on the races in the swing districts or the likely voters - so I'm not too worried about those.

    The 538 seat by seat forecast has 215 seats as solid or very likely for the Republicans, and they only need three more to win, with a further 11 leaning their way and 18 tossups.

    90 times in 100 that will result in a Republican win.

    It's the Senate I'm not confident about, not the House.

    Yes, they are generic polls - which polls were you referring to when you mentioned "all the polls are pointing to a clear Republican win"?

    No, some of those polls are Likely Voter polls - eg, the Big Village D+7 and YouGov Even are LV polls.

    538 has 199 "Solid" R, and 16 "Likely R" - not "very likely". And 5 "Lean R", not 11, and 11 "Toss-up" not 18.

    The 538 forecast ranges from 15% chance of Dems retaining House (Deluxe Model), to 16% (Classic Model), to 24% (Lite Model -polls only), so no 90% chance of a Republican win with their forecasts, at the moment.

    Of course, you'll probably win your bet (as with most 1.1 bets), and I'd really like to wish you luck - but I'm hoping for a surprise Democrat win

  • Endillion said:

    https://twitter.com/jamesjohnson252/status/1588462874070257665

    Latest @JLPartnersPolls @TimesRadio swing voter focus group on immigration:

    🔵 All said Britain is ‘full’ and ‘at capacity’, politicians ‘don’t get it’
    🔵 Blame on immigration for problems with NHS, housing
    🔵 Said Braverman’s description of ‘invasion’ was accurate
    🔵 Felt that PM was wrong to appoint ‘naughty’ Braverman but she ‘has good ideas’
    🔵 Current Channel situation ‘unfair’ with Brits in poverty
    🔵 Tories handling it badly - but most said they would trust them more on immigration than Labour

    When they say 'swing voter' who are they swinging between? Tory/UKIP/BNP?
    I'm sure these are widely held, majority views, unfortunately. It's what happens when you have a bad immigration policy, handled badly, and decades of scapegoating immigrants for the country's problems. I mean, blaming too many immigrants for the problems in the NHS (when the problem is too few immigrants in that case) just illustrates how messed up people's information is.
    Anyway, back to my tofu.
    In summary:
    - all immigrants are freely interchangeable with each other; in particular those with medical training are interchangeable with those without; and
    - we'd have much less illegal immigration if we just let them all in legally, which would totally not have the exact same impact on services.

    My goodness. What even is the point being made? People come here specifically because it's illegal, like they get some kind of a buzz from it?
    The point I was making is that the public think that the problems in the NHS are due to too much immigration, whereas in reality the NHS faces chronic understaffing in part because there aren't enough immigrants coming in to work for it (also shit pay). That's a completely different issue from the government's other failings in the area of immigration. Seems a reasonable point, no? Your reading of my argument is genuinely mystifying to me. If you think that's what I'm saying no wonder you disagree, but I'm not sure where you got it from.
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 53,839
    Suicidal over by Afghanistan when they were actually doing quite well. 2 run outs in an over. Ridiculous.
  • AlistairAlistair Posts: 23,670
    The sage of Nevada early voting says that Nevada looks fucked for the Dems:

    https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/the-early-voting-blog-2022
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 38,829

    Sandpit said:

    Sandpit said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Not sure cancelling the new Sizewell power station is a good idea.

    Won't happen.
    The power station, or the cancellation of it?

    If it’s to be cancelled, then at least announcing what will replace it at the same time, might be seen as good politics at a time of record high energy bills!
    Cancellation. Just the Treasury chestbeating.

    There are leaks to the media day-by-day at the moment as they look at all potential tax and spending options.

    Everything will need to be "reviewed" as part of a top to bottom exercise but this won't go anywhere. Sunak and Macron shook hands on it only 7 days ago.
    Oh, I completely agree that there needs to be a zero-based spending review over the winter, with absolutely everything on the table - but it needs to be done in a coherent manner, finishing with a single announcement before the start of the financial year.

    Dripping negative spending stories out one at a time, won’t do much for the government’s popularity. Do it all at once, to avoid every single-issue pressure group having their own day in the sun.
    It will also damage investment.

    Sizewell C relies on private sector investment and the government had already made the commitment.

    This raises huge questions about the UK's reliability and consistency.
    The real question is what the government will replace it with, we still have a huge energy deficit in 10 years time, cancelling Sizewell C may be a good decision because the EPR is clearly not good enough, bit we still need reliable energy to replace the existing nuclear reactors that will be decommissioned by then. I'd like to see a firm commitment to the modular reactors from RR and wind+storage. By firm commitment, I mean £8-10bn in state investment and another £20-30bn from the private sector. Cutting spending on future energy generation seems like an incredibly poor idea.
  • CiceroCicero Posts: 3,078
    Ishmael_Z said:

    Alistair said:

    So Musk’s insane Blue Tick policy.

    Our work is informing clients not to trust any blue tick verified Twitter accounts going forward and use alternative social media platforms that are verified.

    For a few dollars a week I could set up an ‘American Express Card Customer Services’ Blue Tick Twitter account and get people to give me their card details.

    Correct. Musk has decided that the most toxic fringe view of the blue tick "Status" is the main purpose when everyone else knows that the purpose is "Verifying the Account is who they say it is"

    As Musk rolls out the new "Pay to get a tick" approach it will be fucking anarchy.
    Musk n Zuck giving each other object lessons in how to destroy capital.
    Just deleted my Twitter App, it felt like the right thing to do. Which other App do PBers suggest?
  • DriverDriver Posts: 4,963

    Driver said:

    Driver said:

    TimS said:

    The conservatives do have an incredible ability to hypnotise the voters.

    “Look, we’ve utterly messed up our asylum system just like we messed up health, education and policing. We are outraged at this and so should you be. It’s all Labour’s fault”. And it works.

    They’ll do the same on the economy: “we f*cked up big time and left you poorer and more insecure. So you’d better vote for us because Labour won’t transform the economy for the better overnight”.

    Labour could avoid this by having some policies.
    You constantly repeat this mantra about Labour having no policies. Actually, Labour has lots of policies. What it hasn't done yet is digest them down into soundbites on which to base an election campaign, and I don't blame them at this stage in the cycle. Bur policy-making is developing rapidly. If you were genuinely interested (though I suspect you're not) in current Labour thinking, you could wade through all the sections here:

    https://labour.org.uk/stronger-together/a-fairer-greener-future/

    It's far too many words, but it's the thinking that lies behind the policy offer that Labour will come up with in 2024. They'll end up with something akin to the Blair pledge card, no doubt.
    I'm not interested in "wading through" "far too many words" on a website, I'm interested in knowing what the policies are.

    Without the "soundbites", the polcies might as well not exist to the vast majority of voters.
    Thanks. Confirms my view that you're not genuinely interested. I know reading is challenging. The 'soundbites' need to evolve from serious thinking that involves detailed analysis of each issue. That needs lots of words. You'll get your soundbites in plenty of time to inform your vote at the next GE. I'm not sure that will make any difference to you.
    I am genuinely interested in knowing what the policies are. It's telling that you couldn't summarise them, just pointing me to what you admitted are "far too many words" on a website.

    I last voted Labour in 2012 - 2015 I voted Lib Dem, and 2017 and 2019 there was Jeremy Corbyn. I expect to vote Labour next time, all things being equal, but they have to actually want my vote! If I can start understanding and supporting the policies now, that makes it more likely that even a mildly poor local candidate wouldn't turn me off.
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 38,829
    Cicero said:

    Ishmael_Z said:

    Alistair said:

    So Musk’s insane Blue Tick policy.

    Our work is informing clients not to trust any blue tick verified Twitter accounts going forward and use alternative social media platforms that are verified.

    For a few dollars a week I could set up an ‘American Express Card Customer Services’ Blue Tick Twitter account and get people to give me their card details.

    Correct. Musk has decided that the most toxic fringe view of the blue tick "Status" is the main purpose when everyone else knows that the purpose is "Verifying the Account is who they say it is"

    As Musk rolls out the new "Pay to get a tick" approach it will be fucking anarchy.
    Musk n Zuck giving each other object lessons in how to destroy capital.
    Just deleted my Twitter App, it felt like the right thing to do. Which other App do PBers suggest?
    I've heard Truth Social is the alternative.
  • SelebianSelebian Posts: 8,727

    Selebian said:

    Driver said:

    TimS said:

    The conservatives do have an incredible ability to hypnotise the voters.

    “Look, we’ve utterly messed up our asylum system just like we messed up health, education and policing. We are outraged at this and so should you be. It’s all Labour’s fault”. And it works.

    They’ll do the same on the economy: “we f*cked up big time and left you poorer and more insecure. So you’d better vote for us because Labour won’t transform the economy for the better overnight”.

    Labour could avoid this by having some policies.
    You constantly repeat this mantra about Labour having no policies. Actually, Labour has lots of policies. What it hasn't done yet is digest them down into soundbites on which to base an election campaign, and I don't blame them at this stage in the cycle. Bur policy-making is developing rapidly. If you were genuinely interested (though I suspect you're not) in current Labour thinking, you could wade through all the sections here:

    https://labour.org.uk/stronger-together/a-fairer-greener-future/

    It's far too many words, but it's the thinking that lies behind the policy offer that Labour will come up with in 2024. They'll end up with something akin to the Blair pledge card, no doubt.
    Just as long as it's not an Ed Stone :hushed:
    Starmer Stone - nicely alliterative.
    Ah, but so was the Miliband Monolith :cry:
  • CiceroCicero Posts: 3,078
    Andy_JS said:

    MaxPB said:

    Once again, the solution is pretty straightforwards. Declare Albania a safe country and stick them on planes. Don't have a process for it and stick them on commercial flights. Treat it the same as a visa overstayer, not an asylum seeker.

    In any other country the nationalist right would be on at least 20% in the polls wrt what's going on at the moment. It shows how tolerant most people are in the UK that that isn't the case.
    Perhaps the punters recognize that this is a put up job by the Tories and that their misdirection about the nature of the "crisis" should not be taken at face value.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 71,073
    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    https://twitter.com/jamesjohnson252/status/1588462874070257665

    Latest @JLPartnersPolls @TimesRadio swing voter focus group on immigration:

    🔵 All said Britain is ‘full’ and ‘at capacity’, politicians ‘don’t get it’
    🔵 Blame on immigration for problems with NHS, housing
    🔵 Said Braverman’s description of ‘invasion’ was accurate
    🔵 Felt that PM was wrong to appoint ‘naughty’ Braverman but she ‘has good ideas’
    🔵 Current Channel situation ‘unfair’ with Brits in poverty
    🔵 Tories handling it badly - but most said they would trust them more on immigration than Labour

    I’m sure @foxy and @roger told us that most of the shivering Albanians are poor enslaved women?


    Oh

    “The BBC has heard evidence that Albanian drug gangs are using the migrant camps of northern France as a recruitment ground, offering to pay the passage of those prepared to work in the UK drugs industry on arrival
    .
    Albanians account for around a third of the almost 40,000 people who have arrived in small boats so far this year, according to UK government figures.

    The UK government says 12,000 Albanians have arrived by small boat this year, almost all of them young men travelling alone.

    He estimates that a majority of the young men he met in the Dunkirk camp planned to work in the Albanian cannabis and cocaine networks in the UK.”

    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-63488070

    What happens when a society has an insatiable desire for narcotics and insists on making them illegal.
    And so somehow it’s our fault, yet again

    Is there a single issue where left wing people instinctively side with Britain and the British people, rather than Anyone Else?

    You guys are contemptible and I hope you contrive to lose the next election despite being 20 points ahead of a clown troupe. Ugh
    You've probably been personally responsible for propping up half the black economy over the years so can jog on.
    Please continue. Your reflexive attitude of Fuck the Evil British, Help the Poor Albanians Coke Dealers could indeed lose you the next election, despite the grotesque inadequacy of the Tories

    You just can’t help it. You hate your own country and your own people. The British are inferior and they voted for Brexit and they deserve to have 900,000 illegal Albanians hosted in every one of their stupid Brexity towns. That’s what you think, deep down.
    Lot of projection going on here, Leon old boy.
    In the case of drugs gangs, I hardly think it's unreasonable to criticise people who buy illegal drugs knowing that it puts money in the hands of criminals, and daft policymakers who insist on a prohibition model even though they know it doesn't work and simply puts money in the hands of criminals. I blame the criminals too, of course, but if we are serious about preventing inflows of foreign criminals (rather than just virtue signalling about it) we need to ask why they are coming here rather than staying in the Schengen Area (where they enjoy visa free travel). The buoyant health of our black economy is surely a huge part of that draw.
    “I blame the criminals too, of course”

    Gee, thanks. So it’s only 97% the fault of stupid Brexity British people who manage to be cruel and heartless even as they house obvious illegal migrants in 4 star hotels
    In case you hadn't noticed, it's precisely the stupid Brexity people who are in government, have been for years, and are housing migrants in 4 star hotels.

    So yes, it pretty well is their fault.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,339
    Hahahahahh

    HAHAHAHAHAHA


    “Amnesty International's director of refugee rights says Albanian migrants are heading to the UK because they are being persecuted for being gay.

    @drdavidbull | @stevesymondsai”

  • turbotubbsturbotubbs Posts: 17,405

    https://twitter.com/jamesjohnson252/status/1588462874070257665

    Latest @JLPartnersPolls @TimesRadio swing voter focus group on immigration:

    🔵 All said Britain is ‘full’ and ‘at capacity’, politicians ‘don’t get it’
    🔵 Blame on immigration for problems with NHS, housing
    🔵 Said Braverman’s description of ‘invasion’ was accurate
    🔵 Felt that PM was wrong to appoint ‘naughty’ Braverman but she ‘has good ideas’
    🔵 Current Channel situation ‘unfair’ with Brits in poverty
    🔵 Tories handling it badly - but most said they would trust them more on immigration than Labour

    When they say 'swing voter' who are they swinging between? Tory/UKIP/BNP?
    I'm sure these are widely held, majority views, unfortunately. It's what happens when you have a bad immigration policy, handled badly, and decades of scapegoating immigrants for the country's problems. I mean, blaming too many immigrants for the problems in the NHS (when the problem is too few immigrants in that case) just illustrates how messed up people's information is.
    Anyway, back to my tofu.
    Yes, all of these Albanian lads are actually here to train to be nurses. Let more in, more nurses for the NHS.
    Clearly not, but I'd imagine almost all of those coming to the UK are hoping to improve their life situation. Whether that will happen in Brexit Britain, racist hellhole that it is, a country in terminal decline, where we all hunt rats for meat, the NHS mainly shoots patients 'as its quicker that way', there is no electricity or indeed any source of power, will be seen.
  • CiceroCicero Posts: 3,078
    MaxPB said:

    Cicero said:

    Ishmael_Z said:

    Alistair said:

    So Musk’s insane Blue Tick policy.

    Our work is informing clients not to trust any blue tick verified Twitter accounts going forward and use alternative social media platforms that are verified.

    For a few dollars a week I could set up an ‘American Express Card Customer Services’ Blue Tick Twitter account and get people to give me their card details.

    Correct. Musk has decided that the most toxic fringe view of the blue tick "Status" is the main purpose when everyone else knows that the purpose is "Verifying the Account is who they say it is"

    As Musk rolls out the new "Pay to get a tick" approach it will be fucking anarchy.
    Musk n Zuck giving each other object lessons in how to destroy capital.
    Just deleted my Twitter App, it felt like the right thing to do. Which other App do PBers suggest?
    I've heard Truth Social is the alternative.
    No Trump please.
  • SelebianSelebian Posts: 8,727
    Cicero said:

    Ishmael_Z said:

    Alistair said:

    So Musk’s insane Blue Tick policy.

    Our work is informing clients not to trust any blue tick verified Twitter accounts going forward and use alternative social media platforms that are verified.

    For a few dollars a week I could set up an ‘American Express Card Customer Services’ Blue Tick Twitter account and get people to give me their card details.

    Correct. Musk has decided that the most toxic fringe view of the blue tick "Status" is the main purpose when everyone else knows that the purpose is "Verifying the Account is who they say it is"

    As Musk rolls out the new "Pay to get a tick" approach it will be fucking anarchy.
    Musk n Zuck giving each other object lessons in how to destroy capital.
    Just deleted my Twitter App, it felt like the right thing to do. Which other App do PBers suggest?
    For deletion? Facebook.

    You don't need a replacement Twitter App, just spend more time on here. Afterall, Scott will keep you up to date with Twitter :wink:
  • turbotubbsturbotubbs Posts: 17,405
    DavidL said:

    Suicidal over by Afghanistan when they were actually doing quite well. 2 run outs in an over. Ridiculous.

    From an England perspective they've done enough - we just need to beat Sri Lanka now to be through.
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 51,648
    Cicero said:

    Ishmael_Z said:

    Alistair said:

    So Musk’s insane Blue Tick policy.

    Our work is informing clients not to trust any blue tick verified Twitter accounts going forward and use alternative social media platforms that are verified.

    For a few dollars a week I could set up an ‘American Express Card Customer Services’ Blue Tick Twitter account and get people to give me their card details.

    Correct. Musk has decided that the most toxic fringe view of the blue tick "Status" is the main purpose when everyone else knows that the purpose is "Verifying the Account is who they say it is"

    As Musk rolls out the new "Pay to get a tick" approach it will be fucking anarchy.
    Musk n Zuck giving each other object lessons in how to destroy capital.
    Just deleted my Twitter App, it felt like the right thing to do. Which other App do PBers suggest?
    You could follow Beto O’Rourke to TikTok:

    https://twitter.com/njhochman/status/1588179424721051648
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 38,829
    Leon said:

    Hahahahahh

    HAHAHAHAHAHA


    “Amnesty International's director of refugee rights says Albanian migrants are heading to the UK because they are being persecuted for being gay.

    @drdavidbull | @stevesymondsai”

    It's laughable really, all these gay men turning up with their, err, wives joining them a few months later. It's a really simple issue to solve, declare Albania a safe country and stick them on easyjet flights back to Albania. Just keep doing it for a few months and eventually they'll give up.
  • turbotubbsturbotubbs Posts: 17,405
    Leon said:

    Hahahahahh

    HAHAHAHAHAHA


    “Amnesty International's director of refugee rights says Albanian migrants are heading to the UK because they are being persecuted for being gay.

    @drdavidbull | @stevesymondsai”

    Reminds me of Zulu. "Homosexuals, sir, thousands of 'em".
  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 28,437
    edited November 2022
    Leon said:

    Hahahahahh

    HAHAHAHAHAHA


    “Amnesty International's director of refugee rights says Albanian migrants are heading to the UK because they are being persecuted for being gay.

    @drdavidbull | @stevesymondsai”

    You laugh, but it is extremely plausible that this claim is being deployed (and accepted by the authorities) on a large scale by those concerned. It is virtually impossible to argue against, especially in today's political climate.
  • DriverDriver Posts: 4,963
    Alistair said:

    So Musk’s insane Blue Tick policy.

    Our work is informing clients not to trust any blue tick verified Twitter accounts going forward and use alternative social media platforms that are verified.

    For a few dollars a week I could set up an ‘American Express Card Customer Services’ Blue Tick Twitter account and get people to give me their card details.

    Correct. Musk has decided that the most toxic fringe view of the blue tick "Status" is the main purpose when everyone else knows that the purpose is "Verifying the Account is who they say it is"

    As Musk rolls out the new "Pay to get a tick" approach it will be fucking anarchy.
    Well, it's both, isn't it? Certainly only people with Status get to verify their account is them.
  • eekeek Posts: 28,370
    This is a great overview of what is about to happen to Twitter

    https://twitter.com/garius/status/1588115310124539904?s=46&t=qFV3jHmrmnAzz06yo8BOyw
  • SelebianSelebian Posts: 8,727
    MaxPB said:

    Leon said:

    Hahahahahh

    HAHAHAHAHAHA


    “Amnesty International's director of refugee rights says Albanian migrants are heading to the UK because they are being persecuted for being gay.

    @drdavidbull | @stevesymondsai”

    It's laughable really, all these gay men turning up with their, err, wives joining them a few months later. It's a really simple issue to solve, declare Albania a safe country and stick them on easyjet flights back to Albania. Just keep doing it for a few months and eventually they'll give up.
    To really put them off, it should be Ryanair
  • Ishmael_ZIshmael_Z Posts: 8,981
    daily Heil

    Yet the BBC’s virtue signallers have actually got it all wrong. New polling by my firm People Polling shows that 60 per cent of people think the Government has lost control of Britain’s borders. And that the vast majority of Brits also reject the idea that those arriving on small boats should be allowed to stay.

    All of this speaks to a deeper point. In 2016, the British people voted resoundingly to Take Back Control of a broken immigration system.

    Six years on – and with the daily hotel bill for housing immigrants now topping £6.8million – many will be asking: what, if anything, has changed?

    The Establishment has, of course, never forgiven Brexiteers for the result of the referendum, and continues to do its best to thwart an independent Britain. But it is also true that our political class has consistently over-promised and under-delivered.

    And the problem is that people won’t put up with it for much longer. Perhaps unsurprisingly, when my firm asked voters which leader they think would best manage the crisis on our beaches, the most popular answer was ‘none of them’ followed by Nigel Farage, the former Brexit Party leader who was among the first to highlight the problem many years ago.

    This should ring alarm bells in No10. For unless the Prime Minister and his Conservative government get a grip of this crisis, unless they ignore the shrieking media – propped up by the hard-Left on Twitter and the Establishment Blob – and listen to what voters up and down this country really want, the Tories will suffer a wipeout at the next election.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-11383981/Listen-woke-BBC-youd-think-voters-want-borders-flung-open-writes-MATT-GOODWIN.html

    People Polling is BPC

    Tory line at the moment:

    We have shat the bed

    Only we have a plan to wash the sheets

    Labour are soft on shit in beds

    is not going to hold. Actual footage of prison hulks full of Albanian orphans being towed off to Rwanda floating on a sea of libtard tears might do the trick, but it ain't happening now or ever.

  • edmundintokyoedmundintokyo Posts: 17,708
    edited November 2022
    Cicero said:

    Ishmael_Z said:

    Alistair said:

    So Musk’s insane Blue Tick policy.

    Our work is informing clients not to trust any blue tick verified Twitter accounts going forward and use alternative social media platforms that are verified.

    For a few dollars a week I could set up an ‘American Express Card Customer Services’ Blue Tick Twitter account and get people to give me their card details.

    Correct. Musk has decided that the most toxic fringe view of the blue tick "Status" is the main purpose when everyone else knows that the purpose is "Verifying the Account is who they say it is"

    As Musk rolls out the new "Pay to get a tick" approach it will be fucking anarchy.
    Musk n Zuck giving each other object lessons in how to destroy capital.
    Just deleted my Twitter App, it felt like the right thing to do. Which other App do PBers suggest?
    I'm gonna wait and see how he gets on. Elon Musk is full of shit, just because he says he's going to do something doesn't mean he is. Tesla and SpaceX managed to do some big, important things, so I'd keep an open mind. Firing half the employees overnight doesn't sound like a *great* idea, but it's hard to be sure without knowing more about the company or what he's got in mind for it.

    That said, ideally this thing wouldn't be the property of a private company, so I have Mastodon:
    https://mastodon.social/@edmundedgar
  • DriverDriver Posts: 4,963
    .

    Driver said:

    Driver said:

    TimS said:

    The conservatives do have an incredible ability to hypnotise the voters.

    “Look, we’ve utterly messed up our asylum system just like we messed up health, education and policing. We are outraged at this and so should you be. It’s all Labour’s fault”. And it works.

    They’ll do the same on the economy: “we f*cked up big time and left you poorer and more insecure. So you’d better vote for us because Labour won’t transform the economy for the better overnight”.

    Labour could avoid this by having some policies.
    You constantly repeat this mantra about Labour having no policies. Actually, Labour has lots of policies. What it hasn't done yet is digest them down into soundbites on which to base an election campaign, and I don't blame them at this stage in the cycle. Bur policy-making is developing rapidly. If you were genuinely interested (though I suspect you're not) in current Labour thinking, you could wade through all the sections here:

    https://labour.org.uk/stronger-together/a-fairer-greener-future/

    It's far too many words, but it's the thinking that lies behind the policy offer that Labour will come up with in 2024. They'll end up with something akin to the Blair pledge card, no doubt.
    I'm not interested in "wading through" "far too many words" on a website, I'm interested in knowing what the policies are.

    Without the "soundbites", the polcies might as well not exist to the vast majority of voters.
    Thanks. Confirms my view that you're not genuinely interested. I know reading is challenging. The 'soundbites' need to evolve from serious thinking that involves detailed analysis of each issue. That needs lots of words. You'll get your soundbites in plenty of time to inform your vote at the next GE. I'm not sure that will make any difference to you.
    Agreed, hostile actors can never be debated with. It's a waste of time and money. It's the swing_voter middle who matter in most elections.
    How recently does one have to have voted for Labour dor you to consider them a swing voter?
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 78,191
    edited November 2022
    DavidL said:

    Suicidal over by Afghanistan when they were actually doing quite well. 2 run outs in an over. Ridiculous.

    Aus will win, but they have a NRR problem

    Aus are 168 + 448 = 616/76.3 & 601/80 NRR 0.55 (And dropping)

    Essentially any win gets England through.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,339

    Leon said:

    Hahahahahh

    HAHAHAHAHAHA


    “Amnesty International's director of refugee rights says Albanian migrants are heading to the UK because they are being persecuted for being gay.

    @drdavidbull | @stevesymondsai”

    You laugh, but it is extremely plausible that this claim is being deployed (and accepted by the authorities) on a large scale by those concerned. It is virtually impossible to argue against, especially in today's political climate.
    Actually I might have deduced how the Albos are gaming the system

    Very many of them will have run up debt to pay for their planes to Bruges, taxis to Boulogne, and speedboats to the dinghies

    So they can say to the spineless UK authorities “oh I’m in debt bondage and they will hurt me if I go back” and debt bondage = modern day slavery = asylum application accepted

  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 38,829

    Leon said:

    Hahahahahh

    HAHAHAHAHAHA


    “Amnesty International's director of refugee rights says Albanian migrants are heading to the UK because they are being persecuted for being gay.

    @drdavidbull | @stevesymondsai”

    You laugh, but it is extremely plausible that this claim is being deployed (and accepted by the authorities) on a large scale by those concerned. It is virtually impossible to argue against, especially in today's political climate.
    Not really, Albania is a safe country for gay people. They can claim discrimination as much as they like, it doesn't make it true. The face value of it is laughable so just send them back. Alternatively we pause asylum status for gay people and legitimately persecuted people from Iran or Saudi Arabia lose out. Amnesty can either pursue political point scoring knowing that these people claiming persecution aren't, in fact, gay, in which case they face the much worse consequence of genuinely gay people not being able to claim asylum here. One would hope they would side with the genuinely persecuted people but I'm not sure, their brains seem to be completely addled right now.
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 35,990
    Rishi Washi strikes again

    🔴 Rishi Sunak is expected to shelve plans to privatise Channel 4 amid a backlash against the move from within his own Cabinet https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2022/11/04/sunak-scrap-channel-4-privatisation-amid-tory-opposition/
  • Driver said:

    .

    Driver said:

    Driver said:

    TimS said:

    The conservatives do have an incredible ability to hypnotise the voters.

    “Look, we’ve utterly messed up our asylum system just like we messed up health, education and policing. We are outraged at this and so should you be. It’s all Labour’s fault”. And it works.

    They’ll do the same on the economy: “we f*cked up big time and left you poorer and more insecure. So you’d better vote for us because Labour won’t transform the economy for the better overnight”.

    Labour could avoid this by having some policies.
    You constantly repeat this mantra about Labour having no policies. Actually, Labour has lots of policies. What it hasn't done yet is digest them down into soundbites on which to base an election campaign, and I don't blame them at this stage in the cycle. Bur policy-making is developing rapidly. If you were genuinely interested (though I suspect you're not) in current Labour thinking, you could wade through all the sections here:

    https://labour.org.uk/stronger-together/a-fairer-greener-future/

    It's far too many words, but it's the thinking that lies behind the policy offer that Labour will come up with in 2024. They'll end up with something akin to the Blair pledge card, no doubt.
    I'm not interested in "wading through" "far too many words" on a website, I'm interested in knowing what the policies are.

    Without the "soundbites", the polcies might as well not exist to the vast majority of voters.
    Thanks. Confirms my view that you're not genuinely interested. I know reading is challenging. The 'soundbites' need to evolve from serious thinking that involves detailed analysis of each issue. That needs lots of words. You'll get your soundbites in plenty of time to inform your vote at the next GE. I'm not sure that will make any difference to you.
    Agreed, hostile actors can never be debated with. It's a waste of time and money. It's the swing_voter middle who matter in most elections.
    How recently does one have to have voted for Labour dor you to consider them a swing voter?
    Not sure, 10 years?

    I should also caveat that I mean swing_voter s in marginal constituencies.
  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 28,437
    ...
    MaxPB said:

    Leon said:

    Hahahahahh

    HAHAHAHAHAHA


    “Amnesty International's director of refugee rights says Albanian migrants are heading to the UK because they are being persecuted for being gay.

    @drdavidbull | @stevesymondsai”

    You laugh, but it is extremely plausible that this claim is being deployed (and accepted by the authorities) on a large scale by those concerned. It is virtually impossible to argue against, especially in today's political climate.
    Not really, Albania is a safe country for gay people. They can claim discrimination as much as they like, it doesn't make it true. The face value of it is laughable so just send them back. Alternatively we pause asylum status for gay people and legitimately persecuted people from Iran or Saudi Arabia lose out. Amnesty can either pursue political point scoring knowing that these people claiming persecution aren't, in fact, gay, in which case they face the much worse consequence of genuinely gay people not being able to claim asylum here. One would hope they would side with the genuinely persecuted people but I'm not sure, their brains seem to be completely addled right now.
    You don't have to convince me, but I am not part of the asylum claims process, and you are assuming (wrongly imo) that logic and common sense prevail in these situations.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,339
    It’s quite unfair to say Labour don’t have any firm, simple, concrete policies when they have an admirably direct and lucid policy on immigration and asylum: Let Them All In
  • DriverDriver Posts: 4,963
    Pulpstar said:

    DavidL said:

    Suicidal over by Afghanistan when they were actually doing quite well. 2 run outs in an over. Ridiculous.

    Aus will win, but they have a NRR problem

    Aus are 168 + 448 = 616/76.3 & 601/80 NRR 0.55 (And dropping)

    Essentially any win gets England through.
    Cricinfo said at the end of the Aus innings: "Assuming England score 160 and win by a run, Australia need to keep Afghanistan down to 116 to stay ahead."

    And they haven't.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 50,270

    Cicero said:

    Ishmael_Z said:

    Alistair said:

    So Musk’s insane Blue Tick policy.

    Our work is informing clients not to trust any blue tick verified Twitter accounts going forward and use alternative social media platforms that are verified.

    For a few dollars a week I could set up an ‘American Express Card Customer Services’ Blue Tick Twitter account and get people to give me their card details.

    Correct. Musk has decided that the most toxic fringe view of the blue tick "Status" is the main purpose when everyone else knows that the purpose is "Verifying the Account is who they say it is"

    As Musk rolls out the new "Pay to get a tick" approach it will be fucking anarchy.
    Musk n Zuck giving each other object lessons in how to destroy capital.
    Just deleted my Twitter App, it felt like the right thing to do. Which other App do PBers suggest?
    I'm gonna wait and see how he gets on. Elon Musk is full of shit, just because he says he's going to do something doesn't mean he is. Tesla and SpaceX managed to do some big, important things, so I'd keep an open mind. Firing half the employees overnight doesn't sound like a *great* idea, but it's hard to be sure without knowing more about the company or what he's got in mind for it.

    That said, ideally this thing wouldn't be the property of a private company, so I have Mastodon:
    https://mastodon.social/@edmundedgar
    That it took 2 years for Twitter to get an Edit button to production suggests that their back end is crap and/or their development function is simply out of control.

    I worked for one company, where they setup a new development location in a different country to the original. Because the development function they had *refused* to update the system in various ways. These weren't stupid requests - just that the developers felt they owned the platform and didn't want to listen. Stuff like low impact initial sign up. We implemented that in a couple of months, had customer conversion going through he roof....
  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 28,437
    Scott_xP said:

    Rishi Washi strikes again

    🔴 Rishi Sunak is expected to shelve plans to privatise Channel 4 amid a backlash against the move from within his own Cabinet https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2022/11/04/sunak-scrap-channel-4-privatisation-amid-tory-opposition/

    That's a u-turn I support.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 50,270
    Selebian said:

    MaxPB said:

    Leon said:

    Hahahahahh

    HAHAHAHAHAHA


    “Amnesty International's director of refugee rights says Albanian migrants are heading to the UK because they are being persecuted for being gay.

    @drdavidbull | @stevesymondsai”

    It's laughable really, all these gay men turning up with their, err, wives joining them a few months later. It's a really simple issue to solve, declare Albania a safe country and stick them on easyjet flights back to Albania. Just keep doing it for a few months and eventually they'll give up.
    To really put them off, it should be Ryanair
    Wizzair
  • EndillionEndillion Posts: 4,976

    Endillion said:

    https://twitter.com/jamesjohnson252/status/1588462874070257665

    Latest @JLPartnersPolls @TimesRadio swing voter focus group on immigration:

    🔵 All said Britain is ‘full’ and ‘at capacity’, politicians ‘don’t get it’
    🔵 Blame on immigration for problems with NHS, housing
    🔵 Said Braverman’s description of ‘invasion’ was accurate
    🔵 Felt that PM was wrong to appoint ‘naughty’ Braverman but she ‘has good ideas’
    🔵 Current Channel situation ‘unfair’ with Brits in poverty
    🔵 Tories handling it badly - but most said they would trust them more on immigration than Labour

    When they say 'swing voter' who are they swinging between? Tory/UKIP/BNP?
    I'm sure these are widely held, majority views, unfortunately. It's what happens when you have a bad immigration policy, handled badly, and decades of scapegoating immigrants for the country's problems. I mean, blaming too many immigrants for the problems in the NHS (when the problem is too few immigrants in that case) just illustrates how messed up people's information is.
    Anyway, back to my tofu.
    In summary:
    - all immigrants are freely interchangeable with each other; in particular those with medical training are interchangeable with those without; and
    - we'd have much less illegal immigration if we just let them all in legally, which would totally not have the exact same impact on services.

    My goodness. What even is the point being made? People come here specifically because it's illegal, like they get some kind of a buzz from it?
    The point I was making is that the public think that the problems in the NHS are due to too much immigration, whereas in reality the NHS faces chronic understaffing in part because there aren't enough immigrants coming in to work for it (also shit pay). That's a completely different issue from the government's other failings in the area of immigration. Seems a reasonable point, no? Your reading of my argument is genuinely mystifying to me. If you think that's what I'm saying no wonder you disagree, but I'm not sure where you got it from.
    No, that's complete nonsense. The NHS is understaffed because we don't offer enough training positions to fill the long term staffing requirements. That's a choice that successive governments have made, to force reliance on immigration rather than homegrowing our own doctors and nurses (and paying them properly, as you say).

    You're arguing that we immigration is good because it helps resource the NHS, which is true, but missing the point; which is that it is perfectly possible to prioritise people who have something to offer (like medical training) while not allowing the free-for-all we currently have (or at least are perceived to have).

    The other issue is the illegal immigration, which does nothing to help the NHS, and damages public perception of legal immigration, even if the two issues shouldn't really be linked.
  • DriverDriver Posts: 4,963
    edited November 2022

    Driver said:

    .

    Driver said:

    Driver said:

    TimS said:

    The conservatives do have an incredible ability to hypnotise the voters.

    “Look, we’ve utterly messed up our asylum system just like we messed up health, education and policing. We are outraged at this and so should you be. It’s all Labour’s fault”. And it works.

    They’ll do the same on the economy: “we f*cked up big time and left you poorer and more insecure. So you’d better vote for us because Labour won’t transform the economy for the better overnight”.

    Labour could avoid this by having some policies.
    You constantly repeat this mantra about Labour having no policies. Actually, Labour has lots of policies. What it hasn't done yet is digest them down into soundbites on which to base an election campaign, and I don't blame them at this stage in the cycle. Bur policy-making is developing rapidly. If you were genuinely interested (though I suspect you're not) in current Labour thinking, you could wade through all the sections here:

    https://labour.org.uk/stronger-together/a-fairer-greener-future/

    It's far too many words, but it's the thinking that lies behind the policy offer that Labour will come up with in 2024. They'll end up with something akin to the Blair pledge card, no doubt.
    I'm not interested in "wading through" "far too many words" on a website, I'm interested in knowing what the policies are.

    Without the "soundbites", the polcies might as well not exist to the vast majority of voters.
    Thanks. Confirms my view that you're not genuinely interested. I know reading is challenging. The 'soundbites' need to evolve from serious thinking that involves detailed analysis of each issue. That needs lots of words. You'll get your soundbites in plenty of time to inform your vote at the next GE. I'm not sure that will make any difference to you.
    Agreed, hostile actors can never be debated with. It's a waste of time and money. It's the swing_voter middle who matter in most elections.
    How recently does one have to have voted for Labour dor you to consider them a swing voter?
    Not sure, 10 years?

    I should also caveat that I mean swing_voter s in marginal constituencies.
    OK, then I don't qualify by a few months (summer 2012 was my last) - though by picking Corbyn they totally disqualified themselves from receiving my vote for four of those years. And I think 10 years is too short - many actual swing voters wouldn't have qualified under that in 2010 or even 2005 (if you're just counting parliamentary votes).

    Majority around 10k (22%) with 15% LD + Green so very likely to be marginal next time.

    Edit: I looked it up, the election in question was November 2012 so I do still qualify, though I'll lose the status in a few weeks.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,339
    Ireland

    “Fears for safety of 50 asylum-seekers after protesters attacked centre”

    https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/fears-for-safety-of-50-asylum-seekers-after-protesters-attacked-centre-42117847.html
  • EndillionEndillion Posts: 4,976
    Cicero said:

    Ishmael_Z said:

    Alistair said:

    So Musk’s insane Blue Tick policy.

    Our work is informing clients not to trust any blue tick verified Twitter accounts going forward and use alternative social media platforms that are verified.

    For a few dollars a week I could set up an ‘American Express Card Customer Services’ Blue Tick Twitter account and get people to give me their card details.

    Correct. Musk has decided that the most toxic fringe view of the blue tick "Status" is the main purpose when everyone else knows that the purpose is "Verifying the Account is who they say it is"

    As Musk rolls out the new "Pay to get a tick" approach it will be fucking anarchy.
    Musk n Zuck giving each other object lessons in how to destroy capital.
    Just deleted my Twitter App, it felt like the right thing to do. Which other App do PBers suggest?
    I hear good things about Truth Social.
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 49,863
    Selebian said:

    MaxPB said:

    Leon said:

    Hahahahahh

    HAHAHAHAHAHA


    “Amnesty International's director of refugee rights says Albanian migrants are heading to the UK because they are being persecuted for being gay.

    @drdavidbull | @stevesymondsai”

    It's laughable really, all these gay men turning up with their, err, wives joining them a few months later. It's a really simple issue to solve, declare Albania a safe country and stick them on easyjet flights back to Albania. Just keep doing it for a few months and eventually they'll give up.
    To really put them off, it should be Ryanair
    So they'd be dropped at an airport bus stop in Greece?
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 54,585
    edited November 2022

    Cicero said:

    Ishmael_Z said:

    Alistair said:

    So Musk’s insane Blue Tick policy.

    Our work is informing clients not to trust any blue tick verified Twitter accounts going forward and use alternative social media platforms that are verified.

    For a few dollars a week I could set up an ‘American Express Card Customer Services’ Blue Tick Twitter account and get people to give me their card details.

    Correct. Musk has decided that the most toxic fringe view of the blue tick "Status" is the main purpose when everyone else knows that the purpose is "Verifying the Account is who they say it is"

    As Musk rolls out the new "Pay to get a tick" approach it will be fucking anarchy.
    Musk n Zuck giving each other object lessons in how to destroy capital.
    Just deleted my Twitter App, it felt like the right thing to do. Which other App do PBers suggest?
    I'm gonna wait and see how he gets on. Elon Musk is full of shit, just because he says he's going to do something doesn't mean he is. Tesla and SpaceX managed to do some big, important things, so I'd keep an open mind. Firing half the employees overnight doesn't sound like a *great* idea, but it's hard to be sure without knowing more about the company or what he's got in mind for it.

    That said, ideally this thing wouldn't be the property of a private company, so I have Mastodon:
    https://mastodon.social/@edmundedgar
    That it took 2 years for Twitter to get an Edit button to production suggests that their back end is crap and/or their development function is simply out of control.

    I worked for one company, where they setup a new development location in a different country to the original. Because the development function they had *refused* to update the system in various ways. These weren't stupid requests - just that the developers felt they owned the platform and didn't want to listen. Stuff like low impact initial sign up. We implemented that in a couple of months, had customer conversion going through he roof....
    The amazing thing is that Twitter had 7,500 employees in the first place.

    The base application can’t need more than a couple of dozen developers to maintain, with a few dozen more keeping database and infrastructure working. You’ll need a couple of product managers, sales, accounts and regulatory people in each major country of operation, and your usual regional and head office structures. A couple of thousand absolute tops, could probably be done with 750 rather than 7,500.

    The real ‘work’ of content moderation, is almost all either automated or outsourced.
  • Salisbury St Paul’s (Wiltshire) council by-election result:

    LDEM: 64.8% (+34.8)
    LAB: 18.5% (-3.3)
    CON: 16.6% (-15.6)

    Votes cast: 1,280

    Liberal Democrat GAIN from Conservative.
  • DriverDriver Posts: 4,963

    Selebian said:

    MaxPB said:

    Leon said:

    Hahahahahh

    HAHAHAHAHAHA


    “Amnesty International's director of refugee rights says Albanian migrants are heading to the UK because they are being persecuted for being gay.

    @drdavidbull | @stevesymondsai”

    It's laughable really, all these gay men turning up with their, err, wives joining them a few months later. It's a really simple issue to solve, declare Albania a safe country and stick them on easyjet flights back to Albania. Just keep doing it for a few months and eventually they'll give up.
    To really put them off, it should be Ryanair
    Wizzair
    Haven't used Wizzair for a while, they were perfectly fine about 10 years ago, have they got worse?

    I used Ryanair for the first time earlier this year, they were nowhere near as bad as their reputation.
  • Chasetown (Lichfield) council by-election result:

    LAB: 73.3% (+15.2)
    CON: 26.7% (-15.2)

    Votes cast: 434

    Labour GAIN from Conservative.
This discussion has been closed.