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The Tories should sack their ad agency – politicalbetting.com
The Tories should sack their ad agency – politicalbetting.com
It took me less than a minute to establish that Lynch's union, the RMT, is NOT affiliated to the Labour party. The full list of those that are is here https://t.co/YaHqD7Bl8qA epic fail? https://t.co/gMyzmQxRth
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HYUFD said:
UK voters are the second most supportive of Ukraine in the world.
Most nations voters back Ukraine too but voters in China, India, Indonesia, Pakistan and Vietnam prefer Russia
https://twitter.com/tomhfh/status/1615307393264455682?s=20&t=P_3e392zQ_zpYiHPhKsPLg
Pakistan is the surprise there considering the Putin love-in by their arch nemesis Modi.
I can understand that if you're not in the region the whole thing probably just feels very distant and nowhere near as visceral. So you can then express views based on overall vibes about the West and non-West. Europeans have generally had a similar reaction to most unrest and civil wars in Latin America. The default assumption is that both sides must be to blame
https://aslef.org.uk/publications/aslef-will-continue-affiliate-labour-party
CWU postal strikers also still affiliated to Labour
The objective is to plant mental images in gullible voters' heads. Remember the Starmer letting off Saville thing?
We can see by the behaviour of the parties that the voters do not penalise dishonesty enough to lead to a high standard of honesty.
Or maybe they're just morons. Who knows?
Nowadays, we have the banks, the hedge funds, private equity, the foreign (mostly Russian) oligarchs, the Chinese ‘investors’ sitting on London property sitting empty, as well as the various proto-fascist interest groups surrounding the Tory party, to worry about.
Somehow the unions don’t seem so bad.
Why should workers and average people have to stomach a lower quality of living due to government failures? This is why the Tories are done - the public saw the Tories back Truss, saw her budget almost crash the markets, and now we are just expected to be poorer because of it. I think most people don't like that and that's why they support the unions / strikes. Tories caused the mess in the NHS, and want you to pay for it. Tories caused mortgages to spike, and want you to pay for it. Tories broke the trains, and want you to pay for it. The same message, across all the calamities, will sell itself.
I'm abroad now, and have been for a month, and I must say travelling certainly makes you realise how many other countries are going through times as difficult, or more so, than we are.
I don't think Truss's bduget, most of which was never implemented, had any lasting effect at all. The problems are caused by spiralling global commodities prices, together with poor demand management in the US.
Edit: The running sore of Israel/Palestine probably doesn't help much either.
People saw, with their own eyes, the effects of Truss' short tenure in office. You can only ask people to ignore the evidence of their eyes for so long.
However, Russia is no longer one of the strong.
Interesting from the Guardian on Davos and how Sunak is not going but Starmer is but will not impose wealth taxes
Tax on income is far too high, and tax on wealth must be on the agenda but it seems not on Starmers
There will never be a better opportunity to tax wealth but not by labour apparently
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jan/16/the-guardian-view-on-wealth-taxes-uk-needs-one-on-millionaires-and-billionaires?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other
Presumably Morning Consult is able to directly poll the members of the Polit bureau.
http://news.sky.com/story/nadhim-zahawi-questions-remain-over-former-chancellors-seven-figure-settlement-with-hmrc-12788572
Like "Why are the police not involved?"
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jan/17/germany-new-defence-minister-boris-pistorius-ukraine
...Importantly for Scholz, Pistorius has spoken out in favour of helping Ukraine defend itself, and expressed his scepticism earlier on in the conflict about the efficacy of sanctions against Russia.
Pistorius follows on from three female defence ministers who served Germany over the past decade. Previous to that the post had only ever been held by a man...
...It had long been speculated that Pistorius had wider political ambitions. He had campaigned to become the leader of the Social Democrats and is believed to have been under discussion as a potential interior minister in the central government when Scholz was forming his new administration in late 2022.
Colleagues described him on Tuesday as having a reputation among Germany’s other state interior ministers as a knowledgable expert on domestic security. His biography indicates time spent doing his military service in the early 1980s, but otherwise he is not believed to have any military experience or expertise...
"Douglas Ross, the Scottish Conservative leader (he is an MSP as well as an MP), accuses Nicola Sturgeon of trying to turn this into a “political battle” when all the UK government is trying to do is protect the rights of women and girls."
This is the exact problem that Dross has so eloquently carved out. As an MSP he led the opposition to the bill, and thanks to cross party support he lost. Now as an MP he says it is right for Westminster to veto the bill to "protect the rights of women and girls". Whether you agree with him or the bill or whatever is not the issue.
There was a debate. Dross was outvoted by the other parties. Dross now thinks it isn't offside to simply have his other job overrule his failure in Holyrood.
Britishvolt collapses into administration
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-64303149
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11644129/Police-constable-abandoned-duty-sex-woman-van-sacked.html
Somewhat unusually, this one appears to have been consensual - in the back of the police van, parked in a public place.
"Conference threw its weight behind Solidarity with Antifascist Resistance in Ukraine (SARU). Assistant general secretary Steve Hedley said that opponents of the proposal would be “dancing on the graves” of 30,000 merchant seaman who died under Nazi bombs in the Second World War, and hero railway workers who fought fascism in Spain in the Spanish Civil War.
The motion to support Ukraine’s anti-fascist resistance was proposed by Eddie Dempsey who spoke out against the Western-backed government of western Ukraine, which included open Nazis. He reported on a visit he recently made to Ukraine, saying that anti-fascists he met there had since been murdered."
To be clear, the 'anti-fascist' he met was Aleksey Mozgovoy:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleksey_Mozgovoy
https://www.rmt.org.uk/news/publications/rmt-news-july--august-2015/105994-rmt-news-july-2015-new-lo.pdf
https://twitter.com/RosieDuffield1/status/1615351935946612736
The article states "Industry experts say the UK will need several battery factories to support the future of UK car making as petrol and diesel engines are phased out over the next decade.". And that is true - if car manufacturing is to continue on a viable scale in the UK.
If. We've been seeing a contraction for a while so Brexit isn't the cause of this decline. But it is very clear that rather than arresting the decline and opening us to exciting new opportunities, it is instead accelerating our decline.
Why bother to build here when you can do it for less cost with less faff anywhere else? Even the few remaining factories and companies show signs of gradually letting new vehicles migrate away to factories elsewhere.
Was the Government simply oblivious to the carnage that their policies could cause?
Katie Musgrave" (£)
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/01/17/lockdown-destroyed-social-bonds-no-wonder-patients-lonely/
Or it does have such an adverse impact, in which case the government was entirely correct to block it.
We'll find out in due course.
But he isn't. He and other backbenchers are saying they disagree with the legislation saying it needs to be stopped. For wazzocks like Gullis we can simply ignore what he says as he has as much intelligence as my shoe. But Douglas Ross is very different.
As an MSP and Scottish Tory leader in Holyrood he had the chance to make his case. He lost, and was comfortably outvoted by MSPs on a cross-party consensus. Yet here he is saying that actually he is correct actually and the majority of MSPs are wrong and that is why the bill must be blocked.
That is profoundly undemocratic. Even for a Tory.
https://www.facebook.com/SolidaritywithAntifascistResistanceinUkraine/
It's almost as if they'd done their job...
F-ing process jockeys with no vision, no courage and no risk appetite - with cowardly politicians on top.
Shit.
The new European centres of production are already planned, being built, or completed. We have Nissan, and that's about it.
Given the negative effects of Brexit for inward investment, it ought to have been a no brainer to use the new freedom from subsidy rules to make sure we still have a motor industry.
Utter failure.
So, why are people still obsessed with it?
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/senior-police-officer-who-harassed-27676792
Well known for their obsession with getting the detail right.
Our government seems to have abandoned that completely.
Over reliance on services at a time of rapid technological change is a risky national strategy.
https://twitter.com/joannaccherry/status/1615355356988977154
https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2023/01/120_343737.html
Korea's campaign to export nuclear reactors and related facilities is gaining fresh momentum on the occasion of President Yoon Suk Yeol's state visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), as the two countries agreed to cooperate for additional nuclear projects in either the UAE or third countries, such as the U.K.
Yoon will wrap up his state visit to the UAE on Tuesday afternoon (local time), after fruitful summit diplomacy, including securing the UAE's commitment to invest $30 billion in Korean companies guaranteed through a joint declaration and a total of 48 memoranda of understanding (MOUs) signed between the two countries.
Nuclear energy is one of the areas that is expected to facilitate bilateral cooperation.
While promising an astonishing amount of investment, UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan said his country decided to do so in recognition of the successful construction and operation of the Barakah Nuclear Power Plant, which was built by Korean companies.
During the leaders' visit to the nuclear plant on Monday, Yoon noted, "Now is the time for both Korea and the UAE to join hands to create additional nuclear power partnerships in the UAE and other countries."...
https://twitter.com/alexmassie/status/1615330895266983937
Dare I say it, but the Koreans are going to be more reliable partners than the Chinese. Or the French.
Essentially every developed democratic government fell during the Global Financial crisis - doing relatively well was not rewarded at all.
@MikeGapes
Just watched the debate on the Scottish Gender Recognition Bill Statement in the Commons. Pleased to see excellent contributions supporting women’s rights by @ToniaAntoniazzi @RosieDuffield1 and @karinsmyth. I note that all three were shouted at by SNP male MPs.
2:52 pm · 17 Jan 2023"
https://twitter.com/MikeGapes/status/1615361514206019584
eg, in Sept 22, @EHRC set out "potential cross-border implications of reform" incl impact on Equality Act operation in rUK
https://twitter.com/ChrisMusson/status/1615342240020287488
CNN - Failed GOP candidate arrested on suspicion of orchestrating shootings at homes of Democrats in New Mexico, police say
A Republican former candidate for New Mexico’s legislature who police say claimed election fraud after his defeat has been arrested on suspicion of orchestrating recent shootings that damaged homes of Democratic elected leaders in the state, police said.
Solomon Peña, who lost his 2022 run for state House District 14, was arrested Monday by Albuquerque police, accused of paying and conspiring with four men to shoot at the homes of two state legislators and two county commissioners, authorities said.
“It is believed he is the mastermind” behind the shootings that happened in December and early January, Albuquerque Police Chief Harold Medina said in a news conference.
CNN has reached out to Peña’s campaign website for comment and has been unable to identify his attorney. . . .
Before the shootings, Peña in November – after losing the election – had approached one of the legislators and some county commissioners at their homes with paperwork that he said indicated fraud was involved in the elections, police said.
Peña will face charges related to four shootings: a December 4 incident at the home of Bernalillo County Commissioner Adriann Barboa; a December 8 shooting at the home of incoming state House Speaker Javier Martinez; a December 11 shooting at the home of then-Bernalillo Commissioner Debbie O’Malley; and a January 3 shooting at the home of state Sen. Linda Lopez, police said in a news release.
In the latest shooting, police found evidence “Peña himself went on this shooting and actually pulled the trigger on at least one of the firearms that was used,” Albuquerque police Deputy Cmdr. Kyle Hartsock said. But an AR handgun he tried to use malfunctioned, and more than a dozen rounds were fired by another shooter from a separate handgun, the police statement said. . . .
During the fall campaign, Peña’s opponent, Democratic state Rep. Miguel Garcia, sued to have Peña removed from the ballot, arguing Peña’s status as an ex-felon should prevent him from being able to run for public office in the state, CNN affiliate KOAT reported. Peña served nearly seven years in prison after a 2008 conviction for stealing a large volume of goods in a “smash and grab scheme,” the KOAT report said.
“You can’t hide from your own history,” Peña told the outlet in September. “I had nothing more than a desire to improve my lot in life.”
A district court judge ruled Peña was allowed to run in the election, according to KOAT. He lost his race to Garcia, 26% to 74%. . . .
https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/17/us/solomon-pena-arrested-new-mexico-shootings/index.html
Someone really needs to write a proper book on this topic.
There are various silly debates on who the real “elite” is in the UK. Is it the “right” (generally speaking, the bankers, big business, Tory donors, and the cultural remnants of the aristocracy and the Church of England)?
Or is it the “left” (the bien pensant Islingtonians, senior civil servants and charity executives, academics, and liberal journalists)?
Well, the actual answer in the UK is the Treasury.
You should have remained neutral.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/statement-of-reasons-related-to-the-use-of-section-35-of-the-scotland-act-1998/html-version
So is Germany etc.
The global environment has been shockingly bad but just not as shockingly bad as most were expecting.
Plus, wealthier Brits are yet to exhaust their Covid savings.
British stocks look quite undervalued and this is encouraging investors to “look again”.
Important not to get complacent though.
Complacency has rather fucked the UK more broadly. Fundamental reform is necessary, even if no party is currently offering that.
It's of a piece with the way that some Brexit backers were looking to make Britain more global and outward looking and others looked to close the door.
Some would like to use our freedom from Euroregs to subsidise industry in our favour, whilst others would go for no subsidies at all. After all, hedge funders don't get subsidies, do they?
It's why the blank screen thing was excellent referendumsmanship, but lousy governance.
The "elite" in this country is quite diffuse and contains elements of all the groups you mention.
My (not massively confident) prediction is the UKG will lose.
And, at the end of the day they control all the spending.
Treasury appears to have a very rigid idea of what works and what doesn’t, and they are not completely wrong. It’s just that neither are they completely right, and they tend to defeat politicians who might want to challenge them.
The Truss-Kwarteng fiasco will only have strengthened their intellectual death-grip.
https://twitter.com/JoeTwyman/status/1615346825963372544
Osborne's austerity was a mistake (as I thought at the time). That was facilitated by Treasury orthodoxy but ultimately the thinking came from the political leadership - as it should of course.
Underneath it all there is an occasional flash of logic, ie that stuff about a democracy’s ability to make its own decisions, but that was obscured by a lot of lies about economics and trade.
And even the democracy stuff was essentially blown up by Boris’s behaviour. He, supported by Cummings, was a profoundly undemocratic character.
I see their next generation combat aircraft made its first supersonic flight today. Probably a more realistic program than our hazy joint venture with the Japanese.
It’s not like Osborne came up with it by himself.
You are smarter than me, though. I tended to support austerity as I understood it at the time (but I work in digital technology and advertising, not economics).
Now just a curiosity.
Looks like the new Labour MP will get to open the stations.
Quite fascinating, in that it suggests the key behind Korea’s success was breaking up land ownership to create small landholders in (I think) the 1950s.
This created a large “middle class” of people who were incented to work for their own prosperity and allowed them to create surplus for entrepreneurial investment.
I keep wondering if there are lessons for the UK, which has managed to gear itself into a machine for rentiers to make money.