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This looks better for Starmer than Sunak – politicalbetting.com

SystemSystem Posts: 12,163
edited February 2023 in General
imageThis looks better for Starmer than Sunak – politicalbetting.com

I quite like polling charts like the above one because it does break down a lot of the perceptions about the two leaders who dominate our politics.

Read the full story here

«13

Comments

  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 42,838
    Mm, SKS as the stronger leader. That really won't go down well with Tories, here or outside PB.
  • kle4 said:

    geoffw said:

    kinabalu said:

    kinabalu said:

    Foxy said:

    ohnotnow said:

    Andy_JS said:

    O/T

    "The Whale" film.

    Audience rating 91%
    Critics rating 65%

    https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_whale_2022

    Surely every film should get a better rating from the audience than from critics? The audience is self selecting; those who think it will be a pile of shite don't go to watch it. However, critics are paid to watch it, and can't avoid it however bad they think it will be.
    I suffered through about half of this film based on rave reviews from various critics. I should have trusted the viewing public instead.

    https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/skinamarink

    I watched the Sight and Sound critics poll "best film of all time" the other week.

    https://player.bfi.org.uk/subscription/film/watch-jeanne-dielman-23-quai-du-commerce-1080-bruxelles-1975-online

    And yes, there is a lot of potato peeling in it. Particularly well done in the second act.

    A really interesting film, though builds very slowly.
    The fact that Citizen Kane comes in the top five of every critic's 'best film of all time' list, tells you all you need to know about the rank stupidity of film critics.
    Thing is, if you adjust for age - since films like most everything else are better now than they used to be - then CK really does belong in that top 5.
    We don't adjust visual art, music or literature 'for age', so why films?
    We do, otherwise so much really old stuff - and often the same old stuff - wouldn't be always included in 'top tens'. Like with sport. We adjust for age. Give it its due regard. Eg prime Pele wouldn't get in the Man City team. Prime Rod Laver couldn't take a set of today's world number 20. Yet we - rightly imo - consider both to be all time greats. It's a bit different in the arts but not totally different. This factor still applies.
    Re Pele and Rod Laver, you should allow for the fact that the games have changed. E.g. Pele played with leather footballs, and super-sized and -strung rackets weren't available to Laver.

    It’s impossible to compare eras really, but I believe that the greats of sport, had they been born into different eras would still have excelled. Matt Syed bangs on about 10,000 hours of training, and that’s certainly a part of it, but elite sports stars also have genetic advantages.

    Don5 forget that players drive each other to greater levels. Andy Murray would have won more Slams in any other era than the Federer/Nadal/Jokovic nightmare he found himself in. But ironically he became a far better player by necessity to try to live with them.
    The much quoted 10,000 hour "rule" is absolutely without proper evidence.
    Yes. It’s a conveniently round number too, like 10,000 steps a day, 5 a day fruit and veg, and many many more things plucked from the air. I think my favourite is the number of glasses of water you supposedly need. Utter garbage, yet most of my students seem surgically attached to water bottles.
    10,000 hours at least sounds plausible, in the sense that it feels right that you need to put in a lot of time to become an expert at something. The 8 glasses of water a day thing doesn't even sound right to me - that's an awful lot of fluid if you are not feeling thirsty.
    We are limited by our genetic inheritance. Take running. I used to train 3 or 4 days a week, had a resting heart rate around 50 bpm and was pretty fit. Yet my fastest half marathon time is 2 h 14 minutes. Risibly slow. My best 5k was 26 minutes. The WR is half that. I simply do not have the ‘talent’ no matter how well I trained.
    It’s the same with sports needing coordination and reflex. Facing Joffra Archer hurling 95 mph bouncers needs both good eye sight and fast relexes, plus the ability to project the path of the ball and in built muscle memory from training. Yet Incould net for 10 hours a day for a year and still be shit against his bowling.
    The ten thousand hours is shorthand for those that making it being obsessed and from an early age. Like Bradman with his stump and golf ball (that may not be totally correct - I can’t recall). But I’m always suspicious of round numbers and with good reason.
    There was some interesting research that showed that professional batsman don't actually look at the ball....they observe it at release and then immediately look at where it will be pitching and play shot. They are like human Hawkeye. Apparently it is part of the reason why back of the hand slower ball is so deadly in T20, most top class batsman can pick its not a standard delivery, but it comes out all weird and scrambles their brain. I can't remember the England test batsman who got one from Courtney Walsh in a test match and crouched down and it slowly passed them by and clean bowled them.

    There was a brilliant experiment they did with baseball batters. They got them to face softball pitchers and they not only couldn't really hit it, they literally were swiping at thin air most of the time. Now I am sure if they faced several hours of that they would be dispatching them out the park every time, but the speed / trajectory was so different to facing a normal baseball pitcher their human Hawkeye model was totally broken. It is also why knuckleball pitchers can be incredibly effective even though they are throwing it at half the pace of a normal fast ball.
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 49,863
    Third!
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 48,648
    I reckon Sunak is the healthier of the two.

    Starmer looks a couple of stone overweight, and looks as if he buys shirts and suits by the size he was a couple of decades ago.

    I think his imposter syndrome shows in his suits. He always wears one, but never really looks comfortable in them.
  • DecrepiterJohnLDecrepiterJohnL Posts: 27,897
    edited February 2023
  • Our non-gendered parent who art in heaven: Priests could stop using male pronouns 'He' and 'Him' when referring to God in prayers and drop phrase 'our Father' from the Lord's Prayer

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11722729/God-non-gendered-Church-England-services.html

    Obviously a classic Daily Mail "could", but they really are getting themselves in a mess. Old Right Justin Wokeby won't do gay blessings, but could end up doing this....no wonder bugger all people want anything to do with church.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 82,012
    edited February 2023
    Foxy said:

    I reckon Sunak is the healthier of the two.

    Starmer looks a couple of stone overweight, and looks as if he buys shirts and suits by the size he was a couple of decades ago.

    I think his imposter syndrome shows in his suits. He always wears one, but never really looks comfortable in them.

    I don't know, I think Starmer looks pretty good to say he is 60. Maybe not as muscular as Boris ;-) Not sure necessarily a fair comparison, Sunak is only 42.
  • GardenwalkerGardenwalker Posts: 21,298
    I see that previously the Levelling Up ministry had a discretionary capex budget of £30m, chicken feed within the scale of government spending and indeed the need for Levelling Up.

    The new budget is zero.

    Councils need to beg Whitehall if they want to so much as build a toilet block in the town centre, and in turn Gove has to beg Treasury who have never seen a capex project they like the looks of.
  • kle4 said:

    geoffw said:

    kinabalu said:

    kinabalu said:

    Foxy said:

    ohnotnow said:

    Andy_JS said:

    O/T

    "The Whale" film.

    Audience rating 91%
    Critics rating 65%

    https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_whale_2022

    Surely every film should get a better rating from the audience than from critics? The audience is self selecting; those who think it will be a pile of shite don't go to watch it. However, critics are paid to watch it, and can't avoid it however bad they think it will be.
    I suffered through about half of this film based on rave reviews from various critics. I should have trusted the viewing public instead.

    https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/skinamarink

    I watched the Sight and Sound critics poll "best film of all time" the other week.

    https://player.bfi.org.uk/subscription/film/watch-jeanne-dielman-23-quai-du-commerce-1080-bruxelles-1975-online

    And yes, there is a lot of potato peeling in it. Particularly well done in the second act.

    A really interesting film, though builds very slowly.
    The fact that Citizen Kane comes in the top five of every critic's 'best film of all time' list, tells you all you need to know about the rank stupidity of film critics.
    Thing is, if you adjust for age - since films like most everything else are better now than they used to be - then CK really does belong in that top 5.
    We don't adjust visual art, music or literature 'for age', so why films?
    We do, otherwise so much really old stuff - and often the same old stuff - wouldn't be always included in 'top tens'. Like with sport. We adjust for age. Give it its due regard. Eg prime Pele wouldn't get in the Man City team. Prime Rod Laver couldn't take a set of today's world number 20. Yet we - rightly imo - consider both to be all time greats. It's a bit different in the arts but not totally different. This factor still applies.
    Re Pele and Rod Laver, you should allow for the fact that the games have changed. E.g. Pele played with leather footballs, and super-sized and -strung rackets weren't available to Laver.

    It’s impossible to compare eras really, but I believe that the greats of sport, had they been born into different eras would still have excelled. Matt Syed bangs on about 10,000 hours of training, and that’s certainly a part of it, but elite sports stars also have genetic advantages.

    Don5 forget that players drive each other to greater levels. Andy Murray would have won more Slams in any other era than the Federer/Nadal/Jokovic nightmare he found himself in. But ironically he became a far better player by necessity to try to live with them.
    The much quoted 10,000 hour "rule" is absolutely without proper evidence.
    Yes. It’s a conveniently round number too, like 10,000 steps a day, 5 a day fruit and veg, and many many more things plucked from the air. I think my favourite is the number of glasses of water you supposedly need. Utter garbage, yet most of my students seem surgically attached to water bottles.
    10,000 hours at least sounds plausible, in the sense that it feels right that you need to put in a lot of time to become an expert at something. The 8 glasses of water a day thing doesn't even sound right to me - that's an awful lot of fluid if you are not feeling thirsty.
    We are limited by our genetic inheritance. Take running. I used to train 3 or 4 days a week, had a resting heart rate around 50 bpm and was pretty fit. Yet my fastest half marathon time is 2 h 14 minutes. Risibly slow. My best 5k was 26 minutes. The WR is half that. I simply do not have the ‘talent’ no matter how well I trained.
    It’s the same with sports needing coordination and reflex. Facing Joffra Archer hurling 95 mph bouncers needs both good eye sight and fast relexes, plus the ability to project the path of the ball and in built muscle memory from training. Yet Incould net for 10 hours a day for a year and still be shit against his bowling.
    The ten thousand hours is shorthand for those that making it being obsessed and from an early age. Like Bradman with his stump and golf ball (that may not be totally correct - I can’t recall). But I’m always suspicious of round numbers and with good reason.
    There was some interesting research that showed that professional batsman don't actually look at the ball....they observe it at release and then immediately look at where it will be pitching and play shot. They are like human Hawkeye. Apparently it is part of the reason why back of the hand slower ball is so deadly in T20, most top class batsman can pick its not a standard delivery, but it comes out all weird and scrambles their brain. I can't remember the England test batsman who got one from Courtney Walsh in a test match and crouched down and it slowly passed them by and clean bowled them.

    There was a brilliant experiment they did with baseball batters. They got them to face softball pitchers and they not only couldn't really hit it, they literally were swiping at thin air most of the time. Now I am sure if they faced several hours of that they would be dispatching them out the park every time, but the speed / trajectory was so different to facing a normal baseball pitcher their human Hawkeye model was totally broken. It is also why knuckleball pitchers can be incredibly effective even though they are throwing it at half the pace of a normal fast ball.
    The ww2 German battleship Bismarck was crippled because it could not shoot down British Fairey Swordfish biplanes which flew too slowly for its radar-controlled anti-aircraft guns.
    https://theaviationgeekclub.com/did-you-know-royal-navys-fairey-swordfish-biplane-torpedo-bombers-were-able-to-damage-bismarck-because-its-guns-could-not-target-planes-moving-so-slowly/
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 71,070
    (FPT)

    Nigelb said:

    Nigelb said:

    Kubrick is the absolute master.
    He didn’t make a single shit film.
    Everyone (maybe not Eyes Wide Shut or Lolita) is a kind of masterpiece.

    Also,

    “The Shining” may be the best ever horror.
    “Dr Strangelove” the best comedy.
    “2001” the best sci-fi.
    “Paths of Glory” the best war film.
    “Barry Lyndon” the best (well, most beautifully shot) period drama.

    Astonishing.

    And all edited from a house just outside St Albans.

    "Under Siege" - the best Steven Seagal film ever made!
    And an unforgettable pair of tits leaps out in that one too!
    One’s Seagal, who’s the other ?
    Oh, I see.
    😇 . .

    One thing I have a talent for is spotting actresses on the way up and predicting their success. Like Alicia Vikander before anyone else had heard of her, before she did anything in English. In much the same way I am now tipping Julia Schlaepfer.
    I’m more into Korean drama at the moment, as I’m trying to learn the language.
    They have a load of very good actresses. My current favourite is Jeon Yeo-Bin, who’s excellent. The daughter of the rich family in Parasite - Jung Ji-So - looks promising.
    One of the parents at my kid’s school tells me that the “Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie of Korean film” live a few blocks away.

    Apparently they wanted a U.S. education for their kid(s).
    Who would that be - Hyun Bin and Son Ye-Jin ?
    The only just got married and had a child, so seems a bit premature.

    There are a fair few Koreans in Hollywood, but none I can think of who fit that description.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 71,070

    I see that previously the Levelling Up ministry had a discretionary capex budget of £30m, chicken feed within the scale of government spending and indeed the need for Levelling Up.

    The new budget is zero.

    Councils need to beg Whitehall if they want to so much as build a toilet block in the town centre, and in turn Gove has to beg Treasury who have never seen a capex project they like the looks of.

    ‘Levelling Up’ has clearly been a travesty for some time.
    Currently an utter farce.
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 42,838
    edited February 2023

    Our non-gendered parent who art in heaven: Priests could stop using male pronouns 'He' and 'Him' when referring to God in prayers and drop phrase 'our Father' from the Lord's Prayer

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11722729/God-non-gendered-Church-England-services.html

    Obviously a classic Daily Mail "could", but they really are getting themselves in a mess. Old Right Justin Wokeby won't do gay blessings, but could end up doing this....no wonder bugger all people want anything to do with church.

    Hmm, bendy bananas and straight cucumbers, remember.

    The DM are obviously remarkable for their prophecy and their understanding of theology. And to speak of the words of the Bible as inerrant* is also, erm, interesting.

    *When translated.
  • Microsoft just announced its new Bing with
    @OpenAI
    integration - using a model more powerful than ChatGPT
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 48,648
    Nigelb said:

    (FPT)

    Nigelb said:

    Nigelb said:

    Kubrick is the absolute master.
    He didn’t make a single shit film.
    Everyone (maybe not Eyes Wide Shut or Lolita) is a kind of masterpiece.

    Also,

    “The Shining” may be the best ever horror.
    “Dr Strangelove” the best comedy.
    “2001” the best sci-fi.
    “Paths of Glory” the best war film.
    “Barry Lyndon” the best (well, most beautifully shot) period drama.

    Astonishing.

    And all edited from a house just outside St Albans.

    "Under Siege" - the best Steven Seagal film ever made!
    And an unforgettable pair of tits leaps out in that one too!
    One’s Seagal, who’s the other ?
    Oh, I see.
    😇 . .

    One thing I have a talent for is spotting actresses on the way up and predicting their success. Like Alicia Vikander before anyone else had heard of her, before she did anything in English. In much the same way I am now tipping Julia Schlaepfer.
    I’m more into Korean drama at the moment, as I’m trying to learn the language.
    They have a load of very good actresses. My current favourite is Jeon Yeo-Bin, who’s excellent. The daughter of the rich family in Parasite - Jung Ji-So - looks promising.
    One of the parents at my kid’s school tells me that the “Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie of Korean film” live a few blocks away.

    Apparently they wanted a U.S. education for their kid(s).
    Who would that be - Hyun Bin and Son Ye-Jin ?
    The only just got married and had a child, so seems a bit premature.

    There are a fair few Koreans in Hollywood, but none I can think of who fit that description.
    I work with a Korean doctor who has been in England from age 16, sent to school here to grow up free from the sexism of her own land.
  • DecrepiterJohnLDecrepiterJohnL Posts: 27,897
    edited February 2023
    Man City has hired Boris Johnson's brief.

    Lord Pannick KC is set to defend Manchester City FC again, after the Premier League brought more than 100 charges against the football club yesterday.

    The leading silk, whose recent instructions include advising Boris Johnson in relation to the Partygate inquiry and acting against the UK Government in the Supreme Court case over the prorogation of Parliament, is widely believed to be one of the best barristers of his generation. He will go head to head with Blackstone Chambers colleague Adam Lewis KC in what is shaping up to be one of the biggest, and most expensive, sports law battles in history.

    The Lawyer understands that Pannick typically charges around £5,000 an hour, but has been known to request up to £10,000. If he were paid at the top end of that scale, come the trial when he is working full-time, Pannick could be paid £80,000 a day, or £400,000 a week – the same as Manchester City’s (and the Premier League’s) highest-paid player Kevin De Bruyne. At £5,000 an hour, he would still be paid more than all but seven of the club’s players.

    https://www.thelawyer.com/man-city-hires-pannick-as-it-fights-for-premier-league-survival/

    ETA I'm not sure about those salary calculations for KDB. Does he really work a 5-day week? The Telegraph, in lifting the story, uses Haaland rather than De Bruyne.
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2023/02/07/manchester-city-hires-lawyer-who-earns-much-erling-haaland-premier/ (£££)
  • dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 29,402
    edited February 2023
    Always confused by the One God of Monotheism being assigned a gender or sex.
    I mean. Being one and eternal, what would be the point of genitalia?
    And who designated it?
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 71,070
    Foxy said:

    Nigelb said:

    (FPT)

    Nigelb said:

    Nigelb said:

    Kubrick is the absolute master.
    He didn’t make a single shit film.
    Everyone (maybe not Eyes Wide Shut or Lolita) is a kind of masterpiece.

    Also,

    “The Shining” may be the best ever horror.
    “Dr Strangelove” the best comedy.
    “2001” the best sci-fi.
    “Paths of Glory” the best war film.
    “Barry Lyndon” the best (well, most beautifully shot) period drama.

    Astonishing.

    And all edited from a house just outside St Albans.

    "Under Siege" - the best Steven Seagal film ever made!
    And an unforgettable pair of tits leaps out in that one too!
    One’s Seagal, who’s the other ?
    Oh, I see.
    😇 . .

    One thing I have a talent for is spotting actresses on the way up and predicting their success. Like Alicia Vikander before anyone else had heard of her, before she did anything in English. In much the same way I am now tipping Julia Schlaepfer.
    I’m more into Korean drama at the moment, as I’m trying to learn the language.
    They have a load of very good actresses. My current favourite is Jeon Yeo-Bin, who’s excellent. The daughter of the rich family in Parasite - Jung Ji-So - looks promising.
    One of the parents at my kid’s school tells me that the “Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie of Korean film” live a few blocks away.

    Apparently they wanted a U.S. education for their kid(s).
    Who would that be - Hyun Bin and Son Ye-Jin ?
    The only just got married and had a child, so seems a bit premature.

    There are a fair few Koreans in Hollywood, but none I can think of who fit that description.
    I work with a Korean doctor who has been in England from age 16, sent to school here to grow up free from the sexism of her own land.
    A persistent scourge of Korean society - albeit massively improved on the liberal side of society over the last decade or so.

    How long ago was that ?
  • GardenwalkerGardenwalker Posts: 21,298
    Nigelb said:

    (FPT)

    Nigelb said:

    Nigelb said:

    Kubrick is the absolute master.
    He didn’t make a single shit film.
    Everyone (maybe not Eyes Wide Shut or Lolita) is a kind of masterpiece.

    Also,

    “The Shining” may be the best ever horror.
    “Dr Strangelove” the best comedy.
    “2001” the best sci-fi.
    “Paths of Glory” the best war film.
    “Barry Lyndon” the best (well, most beautifully shot) period drama.

    Astonishing.

    And all edited from a house just outside St Albans.

    "Under Siege" - the best Steven Seagal film ever made!
    And an unforgettable pair of tits leaps out in that one too!
    One’s Seagal, who’s the other ?
    Oh, I see.
    😇 . .

    One thing I have a talent for is spotting actresses on the way up and predicting their success. Like Alicia Vikander before anyone else had heard of her, before she did anything in English. In much the same way I am now tipping Julia Schlaepfer.
    I’m more into Korean drama at the moment, as I’m trying to learn the language.
    They have a load of very good actresses. My current favourite is Jeon Yeo-Bin, who’s excellent. The daughter of the rich family in Parasite - Jung Ji-So - looks promising.
    One of the parents at my kid’s school tells me that the “Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie of Korean film” live a few blocks away.

    Apparently they wanted a U.S. education for their kid(s).
    Who would that be - Hyun Bin and Son Ye-Jin ?
    The only just got married and had a child, so seems a bit premature.

    There are a fair few Koreans in Hollywood, but none I can think of who fit that description.
    Dunno. They have a school age kid at least. I’ll try to find out.
  • MoonRabbitMoonRabbit Posts: 13,507
    Nigelb said:

    Nigelb said:

    Kubrick is the absolute master.
    He didn’t make a single shit film.
    Everyone (maybe not Eyes Wide Shut or Lolita) is a kind of masterpiece.

    Also,

    “The Shining” may be the best ever horror.
    “Dr Strangelove” the best comedy.
    “2001” the best sci-fi.
    “Paths of Glory” the best war film.
    “Barry Lyndon” the best (well, most beautifully shot) period drama.

    Astonishing.

    And all edited from a house just outside St Albans.

    "Under Siege" - the best Steven Seagal film ever made!
    And an unforgettable pair of tits leaps out in that one too!
    One’s Seagal, who’s the other ?
    Oh, I see.
    😇 . .

    One thing I have a talent for is spotting actresses on the way up and predicting their success. Like Alicia Vikander before anyone else had heard of her, before she did anything in English. In much the same way I am now tipping Julia Schlaepfer.
    I’m more into Korean drama at the moment, as I’m trying to learn the language.
    They have a load of very good actresses. My current favourite is Jeon Yeo-Bin, who’s excellent. The daughter of the rich family in Parasite - Jung Ji-So - looks promising.
    Is The Trecherous Korean? I’ve seen that one.
    It’s soon obvious why I enjoyed that one. 😇
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 50,265

    kle4 said:

    geoffw said:

    kinabalu said:

    kinabalu said:

    Foxy said:

    ohnotnow said:

    Andy_JS said:

    O/T

    "The Whale" film.

    Audience rating 91%
    Critics rating 65%

    https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_whale_2022

    Surely every film should get a better rating from the audience than from critics? The audience is self selecting; those who think it will be a pile of shite don't go to watch it. However, critics are paid to watch it, and can't avoid it however bad they think it will be.
    I suffered through about half of this film based on rave reviews from various critics. I should have trusted the viewing public instead.

    https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/skinamarink

    I watched the Sight and Sound critics poll "best film of all time" the other week.

    https://player.bfi.org.uk/subscription/film/watch-jeanne-dielman-23-quai-du-commerce-1080-bruxelles-1975-online

    And yes, there is a lot of potato peeling in it. Particularly well done in the second act.

    A really interesting film, though builds very slowly.
    The fact that Citizen Kane comes in the top five of every critic's 'best film of all time' list, tells you all you need to know about the rank stupidity of film critics.
    Thing is, if you adjust for age - since films like most everything else are better now than they used to be - then CK really does belong in that top 5.
    We don't adjust visual art, music or literature 'for age', so why films?
    We do, otherwise so much really old stuff - and often the same old stuff - wouldn't be always included in 'top tens'. Like with sport. We adjust for age. Give it its due regard. Eg prime Pele wouldn't get in the Man City team. Prime Rod Laver couldn't take a set of today's world number 20. Yet we - rightly imo - consider both to be all time greats. It's a bit different in the arts but not totally different. This factor still applies.
    Re Pele and Rod Laver, you should allow for the fact that the games have changed. E.g. Pele played with leather footballs, and super-sized and -strung rackets weren't available to Laver.

    It’s impossible to compare eras really, but I believe that the greats of sport, had they been born into different eras would still have excelled. Matt Syed bangs on about 10,000 hours of training, and that’s certainly a part of it, but elite sports stars also have genetic advantages.

    Don5 forget that players drive each other to greater levels. Andy Murray would have won more Slams in any other era than the Federer/Nadal/Jokovic nightmare he found himself in. But ironically he became a far better player by necessity to try to live with them.
    The much quoted 10,000 hour "rule" is absolutely without proper evidence.
    Yes. It’s a conveniently round number too, like 10,000 steps a day, 5 a day fruit and veg, and many many more things plucked from the air. I think my favourite is the number of glasses of water you supposedly need. Utter garbage, yet most of my students seem surgically attached to water bottles.
    10,000 hours at least sounds plausible, in the sense that it feels right that you need to put in a lot of time to become an expert at something. The 8 glasses of water a day thing doesn't even sound right to me - that's an awful lot of fluid if you are not feeling thirsty.
    We are limited by our genetic inheritance. Take running. I used to train 3 or 4 days a week, had a resting heart rate around 50 bpm and was pretty fit. Yet my fastest half marathon time is 2 h 14 minutes. Risibly slow. My best 5k was 26 minutes. The WR is half that. I simply do not have the ‘talent’ no matter how well I trained.
    It’s the same with sports needing coordination and reflex. Facing Joffra Archer hurling 95 mph bouncers needs both good eye sight and fast relexes, plus the ability to project the path of the ball and in built muscle memory from training. Yet Incould net for 10 hours a day for a year and still be shit against his bowling.
    The ten thousand hours is shorthand for those that making it being obsessed and from an early age. Like Bradman with his stump and golf ball (that may not be totally correct - I can’t recall). But I’m always suspicious of round numbers and with good reason.
    There was some interesting research that showed that professional batsman don't actually look at the ball....they observe it at release and then immediately look at where it will be pitching and play shot. They are like human Hawkeye. Apparently it is part of the reason why back of the hand slower ball is so deadly in T20, most top class batsman can pick its not a standard delivery, but it comes out all weird and scrambles their brain. I can't remember the England test batsman who got one from Courtney Walsh in a test match and crouched down and it slowly passed them by and clean bowled them.

    There was a brilliant experiment they did with baseball batters. They got them to face softball pitchers and they not only couldn't really hit it, they literally were swiping at thin air most of the time. Now I am sure if they faced several hours of that they would be dispatching them out the park every time, but the speed / trajectory was so different to facing a normal baseball pitcher their human Hawkeye model was totally broken. It is also why knuckleball pitchers can be incredibly effective even though they are throwing it at half the pace of a normal fast ball.
    The ww2 German battleship Bismarck was crippled because it could not shoot down British Fairey Swordfish biplanes which flew too slowly for its radar-controlled anti-aircraft guns.
    https://theaviationgeekclub.com/did-you-know-royal-navys-fairey-swordfish-biplane-torpedo-bombers-were-able-to-damage-bismarck-because-its-guns-could-not-target-planes-moving-so-slowly/
    The too-slow-to-shoot-down thing is a myth.

    The Swordfish were extensively shot up by Bismarck.

    The main problem was the heavy AA system (10.5cm guns) weren’t properly integrated into the fire control system, were slow in traverse and elevation. And had reliability problems. The Captain wrote reams on the subject of how rubbish the AA setup was, long before Bismarck sailed on her final voyage.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 50,265
    Nigelb said:

    I see that previously the Levelling Up ministry had a discretionary capex budget of £30m, chicken feed within the scale of government spending and indeed the need for Levelling Up.

    The new budget is zero.

    Councils need to beg Whitehall if they want to so much as build a toilet block in the town centre, and in turn Gove has to beg Treasury who have never seen a capex project they like the looks of.

    ‘Levelling Up’ has clearly been a travesty for some time.
    Currently an utter farce.
    Idea!

    On returning, after the Civil Service strike, all Treasury mandarins are told they are 100% WFH.

    When their laptops don’t connect, Teams fails and their work phone don’t .. work, the IT support line goes to answer phone.
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 48,648
    Nigelb said:

    Foxy said:

    Nigelb said:

    (FPT)

    Nigelb said:

    Nigelb said:

    Kubrick is the absolute master.
    He didn’t make a single shit film.
    Everyone (maybe not Eyes Wide Shut or Lolita) is a kind of masterpiece.

    Also,

    “The Shining” may be the best ever horror.
    “Dr Strangelove” the best comedy.
    “2001” the best sci-fi.
    “Paths of Glory” the best war film.
    “Barry Lyndon” the best (well, most beautifully shot) period drama.

    Astonishing.

    And all edited from a house just outside St Albans.

    "Under Siege" - the best Steven Seagal film ever made!
    And an unforgettable pair of tits leaps out in that one too!
    One’s Seagal, who’s the other ?
    Oh, I see.
    😇 . .

    One thing I have a talent for is spotting actresses on the way up and predicting their success. Like Alicia Vikander before anyone else had heard of her, before she did anything in English. In much the same way I am now tipping Julia Schlaepfer.
    I’m more into Korean drama at the moment, as I’m trying to learn the language.
    They have a load of very good actresses. My current favourite is Jeon Yeo-Bin, who’s excellent. The daughter of the rich family in Parasite - Jung Ji-So - looks promising.
    One of the parents at my kid’s school tells me that the “Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie of Korean film” live a few blocks away.

    Apparently they wanted a U.S. education for their kid(s).
    Who would that be - Hyun Bin and Son Ye-Jin ?
    The only just got married and had a child, so seems a bit premature.

    There are a fair few Koreans in Hollywood, but none I can think of who fit that description.
    I work with a Korean doctor who has been in England from age 16, sent to school here to grow up free from the sexism of her own land.
    A persistent scourge of Korean society - albeit massively improved on the liberal side of society over the last decade or so.

    How long ago was that ?
    She must be early 30's now.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 50,265
    dixiedean said:

    Always confused by the One God of Monotheism being assigned a gender or sex.
    I mean. Being one and eternal, what would be the point of genitalia?
    And who designated it?

    God is obviously a man.

    After a massively self worshipping phase, complete with some hardcore crazy toxic masculinity - I mean, what kind of a bro joke is pranking your devoted follower to sacrifice his own son? - he had a midlife crisis.

    Hooked up with a much younger married woman, had a son of his own, in dubious circumstances. Mellowed massively, even after the son’s tragic and completely avoidable death.
  • MoonRabbitMoonRabbit Posts: 13,507
    On Topic. Asking “is creative” is a good question to ask. I’d want creative thinking to problems from Prime minister and their team. I think the better administrations have demonstrated that.

    So they are tied on build a strong economy despite everything the Tories have done, with Sunak at the centre of all that money waste and corruption, lack of growth and tax and borrowing straight jackets?
  • MoonRabbitMoonRabbit Posts: 13,507
    dixiedean said:

    Always confused by the One God of Monotheism being assigned a gender or sex.
    I mean. Being one and eternal, what would be the point of genitalia?
    And who designated it?

    Man was made in God’s image.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 71,070
    Foxy said:

    Nigelb said:

    Foxy said:

    Nigelb said:

    (FPT)

    Nigelb said:

    Nigelb said:

    Kubrick is the absolute master.
    He didn’t make a single shit film.
    Everyone (maybe not Eyes Wide Shut or Lolita) is a kind of masterpiece.

    Also,

    “The Shining” may be the best ever horror.
    “Dr Strangelove” the best comedy.
    “2001” the best sci-fi.
    “Paths of Glory” the best war film.
    “Barry Lyndon” the best (well, most beautifully shot) period drama.

    Astonishing.

    And all edited from a house just outside St Albans.

    "Under Siege" - the best Steven Seagal film ever made!
    And an unforgettable pair of tits leaps out in that one too!
    One’s Seagal, who’s the other ?
    Oh, I see.
    😇 . .

    One thing I have a talent for is spotting actresses on the way up and predicting their success. Like Alicia Vikander before anyone else had heard of her, before she did anything in English. In much the same way I am now tipping Julia Schlaepfer.
    I’m more into Korean drama at the moment, as I’m trying to learn the language.
    They have a load of very good actresses. My current favourite is Jeon Yeo-Bin, who’s excellent. The daughter of the rich family in Parasite - Jung Ji-So - looks promising.
    One of the parents at my kid’s school tells me that the “Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie of Korean film” live a few blocks away.

    Apparently they wanted a U.S. education for their kid(s).
    Who would that be - Hyun Bin and Son Ye-Jin ?
    The only just got married and had a child, so seems a bit premature.

    There are a fair few Koreans in Hollywood, but none I can think of who fit that description.
    I work with a Korean doctor who has been in England from age 16, sent to school here to grow up free from the sexism of her own land.
    A persistent scourge of Korean society - albeit massively improved on the liberal side of society over the last decade or so.

    How long ago was that ?
    She must be early 30's now.
    Things have changed a bit, I think. A great deal in some respects, probably a lot less in others.

    The TV series that made the above mentioned Hyun Bin famous in Korea - My Name Is Kim Sam-soon - was made in 2005. It looks more like something from the 70s or early 80s in Britain, both in fashions and social attitudes.
    So I can well understand why she made the move.
  • Nigelb said:

    Nigelb said:

    Kubrick is the absolute master.
    He didn’t make a single shit film.
    Everyone (maybe not Eyes Wide Shut or Lolita) is a kind of masterpiece.

    Also,

    “The Shining” may be the best ever horror.
    “Dr Strangelove” the best comedy.
    “2001” the best sci-fi.
    “Paths of Glory” the best war film.
    “Barry Lyndon” the best (well, most beautifully shot) period drama.

    Astonishing.

    And all edited from a house just outside St Albans.

    "Under Siege" - the best Steven Seagal film ever made!
    And an unforgettable pair of tits leaps out in that one too!
    One’s Seagal, who’s the other ?
    Oh, I see.
    😇 . .

    One thing I have a talent for is spotting actresses on the way up and predicting their success. Like Alicia Vikander before anyone else had heard of her, before she did anything in English. In much the same way I am now tipping Julia Schlaepfer.
    I’m more into Korean drama at the moment, as I’m trying to learn the language.
    They have a load of very good actresses. My current favourite is Jeon Yeo-Bin, who’s excellent. The daughter of the rich family in Parasite - Jung Ji-So - looks promising.
    Is The Trecherous Korean? I’ve seen that one.
    It’s soon obvious why I enjoyed that one. 😇
    Train To Busan is a very good Korean horror film.
  • GardenwalkerGardenwalker Posts: 21,298
    edited February 2023
    is

    Nigelb said:

    (FPT)

    Nigelb said:

    Nigelb said:

    Kubrick is the absolute master.
    He didn’t make a single shit film.
    Everyone (maybe not Eyes Wide Shut or Lolita) is a kind of masterpiece.

    Also,

    “The Shining” may be the best ever horror.
    “Dr Strangelove” the best comedy.
    “2001” the best sci-fi.
    “Paths of Glory” the best war film.
    “Barry Lyndon” the best (well, most beautifully shot) period drama.

    Astonishing.

    And all edited from a house just outside St Albans.

    "Under Siege" - the best Steven Seagal film ever made!
    And an unforgettable pair of tits leaps out in that one too!
    One’s Seagal, who’s the other ?
    Oh, I see.
    😇 . .

    One thing I have a talent for is spotting actresses on the way up and predicting their success. Like Alicia Vikander before anyone else had heard of her, before she did anything in English. In much the same way I am now tipping Julia Schlaepfer.
    I’m more into Korean drama at the moment, as I’m trying to learn the language.
    They have a load of very good actresses. My current favourite is Jeon Yeo-Bin, who’s excellent. The daughter of the rich family in Parasite - Jung Ji-So - looks promising.
    One of the parents at my kid’s school tells me that the “Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie of Korean film” live a few blocks away.

    Apparently they wanted a U.S. education for their kid(s).
    Who would that be - Hyun Bin and Son Ye-Jin ?
    The only just got married and had a child, so seems a bit premature.

    There are a fair few Koreans in Hollywood, but none I can think of who fit that description.
    Dunno. They have a school age kid at least. I’ll try to find out.
    Apparently it is “Ji Sung and Lee Bo-young”
  • https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-02-07/new-tory-chair-hints-next-uk-vote-to-be-in-second-half-of-2024

    Never a good sign, whenever Governments have done this in the past they've tended to lose and lose big.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 71,070

    Nigelb said:

    Nigelb said:

    Kubrick is the absolute master.
    He didn’t make a single shit film.
    Everyone (maybe not Eyes Wide Shut or Lolita) is a kind of masterpiece.

    Also,

    “The Shining” may be the best ever horror.
    “Dr Strangelove” the best comedy.
    “2001” the best sci-fi.
    “Paths of Glory” the best war film.
    “Barry Lyndon” the best (well, most beautifully shot) period drama.

    Astonishing.

    And all edited from a house just outside St Albans.

    "Under Siege" - the best Steven Seagal film ever made!
    And an unforgettable pair of tits leaps out in that one too!
    One’s Seagal, who’s the other ?
    Oh, I see.
    😇 . .

    One thing I have a talent for is spotting actresses on the way up and predicting their success. Like Alicia Vikander before anyone else had heard of her, before she did anything in English. In much the same way I am now tipping Julia Schlaepfer.
    I’m more into Korean drama at the moment, as I’m trying to learn the language.
    They have a load of very good actresses. My current favourite is Jeon Yeo-Bin, who’s excellent. The daughter of the rich family in Parasite - Jung Ji-So - looks promising.
    Is The Treacherous Korean? I’ve seen that one.
    It’s soon obvious why I enjoyed that one. 😇
    It is. Though I’ve not seen it, I can guess.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 71,070

    dixiedean said:

    Always confused by the One God of Monotheism being assigned a gender or sex.
    I mean. Being one and eternal, what would be the point of genitalia?
    And who designated it?

    Man was made in God’s image.
    As dixie says, though, it’s a pretty odd image for an eternal being to have adopted.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 71,070
    Nigelb said:

    Nigelb said:

    Nigelb said:

    Kubrick is the absolute master.
    He didn’t make a single shit film.
    Everyone (maybe not Eyes Wide Shut or Lolita) is a kind of masterpiece.

    Also,

    “The Shining” may be the best ever horror.
    “Dr Strangelove” the best comedy.
    “2001” the best sci-fi.
    “Paths of Glory” the best war film.
    “Barry Lyndon” the best (well, most beautifully shot) period drama.

    Astonishing.

    And all edited from a house just outside St Albans.

    "Under Siege" - the best Steven Seagal film ever made!
    And an unforgettable pair of tits leaps out in that one too!
    One’s Seagal, who’s the other ?
    Oh, I see.
    😇 . .

    One thing I have a talent for is spotting actresses on the way up and predicting their success. Like Alicia Vikander before anyone else had heard of her, before she did anything in English. In much the same way I am now tipping Julia Schlaepfer.
    I’m more into Korean drama at the moment, as I’m trying to learn the language.
    They have a load of very good actresses. My current favourite is Jeon Yeo-Bin, who’s excellent. The daughter of the rich family in Parasite - Jung Ji-So - looks promising.
    Is The Treacherous Korean? I’ve seen that one.
    It’s soon obvious why I enjoyed that one. 😇
    It is. Though I’ve not seen it, I can guess.
    A quick google confirms.
  • Highest % to say No since Sunak became PM.

    Do voters in the Red Wall believe the Government is currently taking the right measures to address the cost-of-living crisis? (5 February)

    No 70% (+7)
    Yes 18% (-4)
    Don't know 13% (-2)

    Changes +/- 23 January
  • Labour most trusted on all issues EXCEPT 🇺🇦 in the Red Wall.

    Party Trustworthiness (5 Feb.):

    Who do Red Wall voters trust the most on...? (Lab | Con)

    NHS (43% | 15%)
    Poverty (43% | 15%)
    Economy (35% | 24%)
    Immigration (31% | 19%)
    Ukraine (27% | 29%)
  • Keir Starmer's approval rating in the Red Wall is +10%.

    Keir Starmer Red Wall Net Approval Rating (5 February):

    Approve: 38% (-1)
    Disapprove: 28% (-3)
    Net: +10% (+2)

    Changes +/- 23 January
  • MoonRabbitMoonRabbit Posts: 13,507
    ‘Scully's departure will be a blow to both the racing and gambling industries who will have been hoping he would remain in his role as he had shown a willingness to listen to the concerns of both sectors, British racing's leaders have warned that intrusive affordability checks on bettors could wipe tens of millions of pounds from the sport's revenues if they were to be introduced’

    So Scully moved so those above him can bring in the intrusive means testing on betting he’s a block not enabler for?

    Hatred of the checks unite Mail and Guardian.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10680069/Affordability-checks-rolled-vulnerable-punters-betting-online.html

    https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2021/feb/08/gambling-affordability-checks-control-freaks-threat-civil-liberties-reform

    Despite that, and maybe if it’s because I have my Christian head on, caring society versus unfettered libertarianism causing harm, but I can see the good in the Tory governments controversial proposal - that is, if someone has an addiction problem, spiralling into debt destruction of their life and one life touches so many others, why would you want to take more money off them?

    Please correct me where got this wrong.
  • Rishi Sunak's approval rating is -23%, tying his lowest ever approval rating in these seats from his time as Chancellor.

    Rishi Sunak Red Wall Net Approval Rating (5 Feb.):

    Disapprove: 46% (+4)
    Approve: 23% (-1)
    Net: -23% (-5)

    Changes +/- 23 Jan.
  • Starmer leads Sunak by 9% in the Red Wall.

    At this moment, which of the following do Red Wall voters think would be the better PM for the UK? (5 February)

    Keir Starmer 40% (-3)
    Rishi Sunak 31% (-2)
    Don't Know 29% (+5)

    Changes +/- 23 January
  • MoonRabbitMoonRabbit Posts: 13,507
    Nigelb said:

    dixiedean said:

    Always confused by the One God of Monotheism being assigned a gender or sex.
    I mean. Being one and eternal, what would be the point of genitalia?
    And who designated it?

    Man was made in God’s image.
    As dixie says, though, it’s a pretty odd image for an eternal being to have adopted.
    There’s lots of things we are not supposed to know yet, as God reveals the answers only at the point we are supposed to know them.

    Actually God made Adam and Judith, out of clay at about the same time? So maybe God is a mixture of both, made from clay himself and hermaphrodite? The fact Judith and Adam didn’t hit it off as she wouldn’t be subservient to him might indicate important struggle in God himself?

    Who knows till God reveals the answer 🤷‍♀️
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 71,070

    is

    Nigelb said:

    (FPT)

    Nigelb said:

    Nigelb said:

    Kubrick is the absolute master.
    He didn’t make a single shit film.
    Everyone (maybe not Eyes Wide Shut or Lolita) is a kind of masterpiece.

    Also,

    “The Shining” may be the best ever horror.
    “Dr Strangelove” the best comedy.
    “2001” the best sci-fi.
    “Paths of Glory” the best war film.
    “Barry Lyndon” the best (well, most beautifully shot) period drama.

    Astonishing.

    And all edited from a house just outside St Albans.

    "Under Siege" - the best Steven Seagal film ever made!
    And an unforgettable pair of tits leaps out in that one too!
    One’s Seagal, who’s the other ?
    Oh, I see.
    😇 . .

    One thing I have a talent for is spotting actresses on the way up and predicting their success. Like Alicia Vikander before anyone else had heard of her, before she did anything in English. In much the same way I am now tipping Julia Schlaepfer.
    I’m more into Korean drama at the moment, as I’m trying to learn the language.
    They have a load of very good actresses. My current favourite is Jeon Yeo-Bin, who’s excellent. The daughter of the rich family in Parasite - Jung Ji-So - looks promising.
    One of the parents at my kid’s school tells me that the “Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie of Korean film” live a few blocks away.

    Apparently they wanted a U.S. education for their kid(s).
    Who would that be - Hyun Bin and Son Ye-Jin ?
    The only just got married and had a child, so seems a bit premature.

    There are a fair few Koreans in Hollywood, but none I can think of who fit that description.
    Dunno. They have a school age kid at least. I’ll try to find out.
    Apparently it is “Ji Sung and Lee Bo-young”
    Ah. He’s a pretty big TV star in Korea, as is she, but ‘Brad & Ange’ is a slight stretch.
  • Nigelb said:

    dixiedean said:

    Always confused by the One God of Monotheism being assigned a gender or sex.
    I mean. Being one and eternal, what would be the point of genitalia?
    And who designated it?

    Man was made in God’s image.
    As dixie says, though, it’s a pretty odd image for an eternal being to have adopted.
    There’s lots of things we are not supposed to know yet, as God reveals the answers only at the point we are supposed to know them.

    Actually God made Adam and Judith, out of clay at about the same time? So maybe God is a mixture of both, made from clay himself and hermaphrodite? The fact Judith and Adam didn’t hit it off as she wouldn’t be subservient to him might indicate important struggle in God himself?

    Who knows till God reveals the answer 🤷‍♀️
    Sadly, women have always been seen as secondary. Even the name means men with wombs. Patriarchs gonna patriarch.
  • pingping Posts: 3,805
    edited February 2023

    ‘Scully's departure will be a blow to both the racing and gambling industries who will have been hoping he would remain in his role as he had shown a willingness to listen to the concerns of both sectors, British racing's leaders have warned that intrusive affordability checks on bettors could wipe tens of millions of pounds from the sport's revenues if they were to be introduced’

    So Scully moved so those above him can bring in the intrusive means testing on betting he’s a block not enabler for?

    Hatred of the checks unite Mail and Guardian.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10680069/Affordability-checks-rolled-vulnerable-punters-betting-online.html

    https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2021/feb/08/gambling-affordability-checks-control-freaks-threat-civil-liberties-reform

    Despite that, and maybe if it’s because I have my Christian head on, caring society versus unfettered libertarianism causing harm, but I can see the good in the Tory governments controversial proposal - that is, if someone has an addiction problem, spiralling into debt destruction of their life and one life touches so many others, why would you want to take more money off them?

    Please correct me where got this wrong.
    My solution to the problem-gambling problem is a little bit left field…

    Outlaw the bookie’s edge.

    The existence of the zero on the roulette wheel is the original sin from which much evil flows.
  • dixiedean said:

    Always confused by the One God of Monotheism being assigned a gender or sex.
    I mean. Being one and eternal, what would be the point of genitalia?
    And who designated it?

    Man was made in God’s image.
    Assuming God actually exists, of course.
  • MoonRabbitMoonRabbit Posts: 13,507

    Nigelb said:

    dixiedean said:

    Always confused by the One God of Monotheism being assigned a gender or sex.
    I mean. Being one and eternal, what would be the point of genitalia?
    And who designated it?

    Man was made in God’s image.
    As dixie says, though, it’s a pretty odd image for an eternal being to have adopted.
    There’s lots of things we are not supposed to know yet, as God reveals the answers only at the point we are supposed to know them.

    Actually God made Adam and Judith, out of clay at about the same time? So maybe God is a mixture of both, made from clay himself and hermaphrodite? The fact Judith and Adam didn’t hit it off as she wouldn’t be subservient to him might indicate important struggle in God himself?

    Who knows till God reveals the answer 🤷‍♀️
    Sadly, women have always been seen as secondary. Even the name means men with wombs. Patriarchs gonna patriarch.
    But the truth of the matter is women have extra chromosome. Instead of womb man it should be man+.

    God made ordinary man, to take the rubbish out, then man+ to do everything else.
  • AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 23,485

    Nigelb said:

    dixiedean said:

    Always confused by the One God of Monotheism being assigned a gender or sex.
    I mean. Being one and eternal, what would be the point of genitalia?
    And who designated it?

    Man was made in God’s image.
    As dixie says, though, it’s a pretty odd image for an eternal being to have adopted.
    There’s lots of things we are not supposed to know yet, as God reveals the answers only at the point we are supposed to know them.

    Actually God made Adam and Judith, out of clay at about the same time? So maybe God is a mixture of both, made from clay himself and hermaphrodite? The fact Judith and Adam didn’t hit it off as she wouldn’t be subservient to him might indicate important struggle in God himself?

    Who knows till God reveals the answer 🤷‍♀️
    Aha, now I get it, I’m not supposed to get it until S/He says I can and that point is Never so I should stop wondering why it makes no sense and just accept it.

    Funny old Otherworld.

  • GardenwalkerGardenwalker Posts: 21,298
    Nigelb said:

    is

    Nigelb said:

    (FPT)

    Nigelb said:

    Nigelb said:

    Kubrick is the absolute master.
    He didn’t make a single shit film.
    Everyone (maybe not Eyes Wide Shut or Lolita) is a kind of masterpiece.

    Also,

    “The Shining” may be the best ever horror.
    “Dr Strangelove” the best comedy.
    “2001” the best sci-fi.
    “Paths of Glory” the best war film.
    “Barry Lyndon” the best (well, most beautifully shot) period drama.

    Astonishing.

    And all edited from a house just outside St Albans.

    "Under Siege" - the best Steven Seagal film ever made!
    And an unforgettable pair of tits leaps out in that one too!
    One’s Seagal, who’s the other ?
    Oh, I see.
    😇 . .

    One thing I have a talent for is spotting actresses on the way up and predicting their success. Like Alicia Vikander before anyone else had heard of her, before she did anything in English. In much the same way I am now tipping Julia Schlaepfer.
    I’m more into Korean drama at the moment, as I’m trying to learn the language.
    They have a load of very good actresses. My current favourite is Jeon Yeo-Bin, who’s excellent. The daughter of the rich family in Parasite - Jung Ji-So - looks promising.
    One of the parents at my kid’s school tells me that the “Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie of Korean film” live a few blocks away.

    Apparently they wanted a U.S. education for their kid(s).
    Who would that be - Hyun Bin and Son Ye-Jin ?
    The only just got married and had a child, so seems a bit premature.

    There are a fair few Koreans in Hollywood, but none I can think of who fit that description.
    Dunno. They have a school age kid at least. I’ll try to find out.
    Apparently it is “Ji Sung and Lee Bo-young”
    Ah. He’s a pretty big TV star in Korea, as is she, but ‘Brad & Ange’ is a slight stretch.
    More Richard and Judy?
  • MoonRabbitMoonRabbit Posts: 13,507

    Nigelb said:

    dixiedean said:

    Always confused by the One God of Monotheism being assigned a gender or sex.
    I mean. Being one and eternal, what would be the point of genitalia?
    And who designated it?

    Man was made in God’s image.
    As dixie says, though, it’s a pretty odd image for an eternal being to have adopted.
    There’s lots of things we are not supposed to know yet, as God reveals the answers only at the point we are supposed to know them.

    Actually God made Adam and Judith, out of clay at about the same time? So maybe God is a mixture of both, made from clay himself and hermaphrodite? The fact Judith and Adam didn’t hit it off as she wouldn’t be subservient to him might indicate important struggle in God himself?

    Who knows till God reveals the answer 🤷‍♀️
    Aha, now I get it, I’m not supposed to get it until S/He says I can and that point is Never so I should stop wondering why it makes no sense and just accept it.

    Funny old Otherworld.

    Not at all. Things are revealed as we go along the wide straight paths of the Lord. Sometimes in not very nice ways, like the Book of Job shows. Little babies who know nothing need to learn to stop banging their head against a table leg.

    Why do you need more than that?
  • LostPasswordLostPassword Posts: 18,361

    I see that previously the Levelling Up ministry had a discretionary capex budget of £30m, chicken feed within the scale of government spending and indeed the need for Levelling Up.

    The new budget is zero.

    Councils need to beg Whitehall if they want to so much as build a toilet block in the town centre, and in turn Gove has to beg Treasury who have never seen a capex project they like the looks of.

    It's a sign of a government about to run out of money. That and the regular doom leaks about saving money on HS2 as someone desperately tries to save it from the axe.
  • ‘Scully's departure will be a blow to both the racing and gambling industries who will have been hoping he would remain in his role as he had shown a willingness to listen to the concerns of both sectors, British racing's leaders have warned that intrusive affordability checks on bettors could wipe tens of millions of pounds from the sport's revenues if they were to be introduced’

    So Scully moved so those above him can bring in the intrusive means testing on betting he’s a block not enabler for?

    Hatred of the checks unite Mail and Guardian.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10680069/Affordability-checks-rolled-vulnerable-punters-betting-online.html

    https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2021/feb/08/gambling-affordability-checks-control-freaks-threat-civil-liberties-reform

    Despite that, and maybe if it’s because I have my Christian head on, caring society versus unfettered libertarianism causing harm, but I can see the good in the Tory governments controversial proposal - that is, if someone has an addiction problem, spiralling into debt destruction of their life and one life touches so many others, why would you want to take more money off them?

    Please correct me where got this wrong.
    Bookies are using these various checks (affordability, anti-money laundering, and so on) as a means of shedding successful punters, while taking as much as they can from mugs. Bookies used to depend on games of skill, where the skilled punter had a chance of winning, but now depend mostly on games of chance where even the luckiest punter will lose eventually. It used to be that to play roulette, for instance, you had to apply in advance to join a casino, whereas now you can walk into any betting shop or play on your phone.

    The vulnerable should be protected. This protects only the bookmakers.
  • MoonRabbitMoonRabbit Posts: 13,507

    Starmer leads Sunak by 9% in the Red Wall.

    At this moment, which of the following do Red Wall voters think would be the better PM for the UK? (5 February)

    Keir Starmer 40% (-3)
    Rishi Sunak 31% (-2)
    Don't Know 29% (+5)

    Changes +/- 23 January

    On these figures, Horse, on all these spam posts you have just clogged our cultural and philosophical debates with (without even referring to pollster and date of poll?) if the election was next week do you still really think it will be hung parliament of these figures? I think Labour would get some sort of majority on this years varied type of surveys, as Tories reduced to about or sub 200 seats.

    So if you are still calling it hung, you are calling Tories managing some good swingback?
  • Can we not just redirect gambling addicts to nicotine or buprenorphine or sex or something instead? These addictions are much better understood and arguably even wholesome in some sense.

    If "they" really need to ban games for problem gamblers then do it for FOBTs and things like that where the edge isn't a matter of opinion, but is a mathematical certainty. Of course this probably means that the problem gamblers will lose their money even quicker to those taking the other side of their markets, but at least they have a chance...
  • MoonRabbitMoonRabbit Posts: 13,507
    Nigelb said:

    Nigelb said:

    Nigelb said:

    Nigelb said:

    Kubrick is the absolute master.
    He didn’t make a single shit film.
    Everyone (maybe not Eyes Wide Shut or Lolita) is a kind of masterpiece.

    Also,

    “The Shining” may be the best ever horror.
    “Dr Strangelove” the best comedy.
    “2001” the best sci-fi.
    “Paths of Glory” the best war film.
    “Barry Lyndon” the best (well, most beautifully shot) period drama.

    Astonishing.

    And all edited from a house just outside St Albans.

    "Under Siege" - the best Steven Seagal film ever made!
    And an unforgettable pair of tits leaps out in that one too!
    One’s Seagal, who’s the other ?
    Oh, I see.
    😇 . .

    One thing I have a talent for is spotting actresses on the way up and predicting their success. Like Alicia Vikander before anyone else had heard of her, before she did anything in English. In much the same way I am now tipping Julia Schlaepfer.
    I’m more into Korean drama at the moment, as I’m trying to learn the language.
    They have a load of very good actresses. My current favourite is Jeon Yeo-Bin, who’s excellent. The daughter of the rich family in Parasite - Jung Ji-So - looks promising.
    Is The Treacherous Korean? I’ve seen that one.
    It’s soon obvious why I enjoyed that one. 😇
    It is. Though I’ve not seen it, I can guess.
    A quick google confirms.
    Yep. My kind of film. Arty. 🙂

    I’m sure it was on my Vimeo account I watched it. Though can’t find it now.

    https://vimeo.com/158378752
  • pingping Posts: 3,805
    ping said:

    Good on the lords for blocking the public order bill;

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-64561868

    It’s tragic the Tory government has stooped this low.

    I’m generally pretty hot on law and order stuff: violence, sexual crimes, fraud, robbery/burglary etc, the police/criminal justice system should be properly resourced and given enhanced legal backing imo - but this public order bill stinks.

    It’s easy, cheap, partisan, grandstanding, performative politics.

    Do the hard stuff, properly, please.

    That’s what I ask of my government.

    It’s one thing I am hoping to get from a Starmer government - proper policing/criminal justice reform.

    He’s a smart guy who spent a long time at a high level inside the system. He must have lots of well thought through ideas for how to get the system working.
  • GardenwalkerGardenwalker Posts: 21,298
    ping said:

    ping said:

    Good on the lords for blocking the public order bill;

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-64561868

    It’s tragic the Tory government has stooped this low.

    I’m generally pretty hot on law and order stuff: violence, sexual crimes, fraud, robbery/burglary etc, the police/criminal justice system should be properly resourced and given enhanced legal backing imo - but this public order bill stinks.

    It’s easy, cheap, partisan, grandstanding, performative politics.

    Do the hard stuff, properly, please.

    That’s what I ask of my government.

    It’s one thing I am hoping to get from a Starmer government - proper policing/criminal justice reform.

    He’s a smart guy who spent a long time at a high level inside the system. He must have lots of well thought through ideas for how to get the system working.
    Hope so, but at present he actually wants to abolish the House which just voted down the bullshit Public Order Bill.

    Let’s imagine a counter-factual in which a the HoL was elected “mid-term”. If said election had taken place late 2021 the Conservatives would likely have a majority and this bullshit bill would have passed.
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 49,863

    ping said:

    ping said:

    Good on the lords for blocking the public order bill;

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-64561868

    It’s tragic the Tory government has stooped this low.

    I’m generally pretty hot on law and order stuff: violence, sexual crimes, fraud, robbery/burglary etc, the police/criminal justice system should be properly resourced and given enhanced legal backing imo - but this public order bill stinks.

    It’s easy, cheap, partisan, grandstanding, performative politics.

    Do the hard stuff, properly, please.

    That’s what I ask of my government.

    It’s one thing I am hoping to get from a Starmer government - proper policing/criminal justice reform.

    He’s a smart guy who spent a long time at a high level inside the system. He must have lots of well thought through ideas for how to get the system working.
    Hope so, but at present he actually wants to abolish the House which just voted down the bullshit Public Order Bill.

    Let’s imagine a counter-factual in which a the HoL was elected “mid-term”. If said election had taken place late 2021 the Conservatives would likely have a majority and this bullshit bill would have passed.
    Not under a fair voting system, hopefully.
  • pingping Posts: 3,805
    edited February 2023
    https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6416681/yougov-finance-bribe/

    Those thrifty b’stards over at money saving expert have figured out a way of scamming money out of yougov!

    Serves yougov right for being creepy as fk with their business model. They really need to be regulated if they’re going to do this sort of shite.

    It’s only a matter of time before the inevitable open banking scandals become public knowledge, I recon.

    Data leakage of highly sensitive info to people who don’t have your best interests at heart…
  • MikeLMikeL Posts: 7,706
    edited February 2023
    The Government should attack Starmer big time on Labour voting down amendments to stop protestors blocking roads.

    The problem the Government has had up to now is they have nothing to attack Starmer on. He is just floating around looking moderate and reasonable while the Government screws everything up.

    Well this looks like their first big chance. The public do not support roads being blocked stopping people going to work and taking their kids to school. Let alone stopping people getting to hospital appointments and blocking ambulances.

    So the Government needs now needs to go on the attack - and get the tabloids to lead with headlines such as "Starmer supports protestors blocking roads / ambulances" etc.

    Of course the political elite will hate it - but it's the sort of issue which will cut through with the public. It's a bit like the small boats issue.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 71,070
    Pretty good SOTU from Biden.
  • HeathenerHeathener Posts: 7,084
    MikeL said:

    The Government should attack Starmer big time on Labour voting down amendments to stop protestors blocking roads.

    The problem the Government has had up to now is they have nothing to attack Starmer on. He is just floating around looking moderate and reasonable while the Government screws everything up.

    Well this looks like their first big chance. The public do not support roads being blocked stopping people going to work and taking their kids to school. Let alone stopping people getting to hospital appointments and blocking ambulances.

    So the Government needs now needs to go on the attack - and get the tabloids to lead with headlines such as "Starmer supports protestors blocking roads / ambulances" etc.

    Of course the political elite will hate it - but it's the sort of issue which will cut through with the public. It's a bit like the small boats issue.

    Yet more last gasp tory desperation.
  • HeathenerHeathener Posts: 7,084
    ping said:

    https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6416681/yougov-finance-bribe/

    Those thrifty b’stards over at money saving expert have figured out a way of scamming money out of yougov!

    Serves yougov right for being creepy as fk with their business model. They really need to be regulated if they’re going to do this sort of shite.

    It’s only a matter of time before the inevitable open banking scandals become public knowledge, I recon.

    Data leakage of highly sensitive info to people who don’t have your best interests at heart…

    In a similar vein, well kind-of, I'm following the Man City story with interest. It's part of a bigger picture of dodgy money deals and washing dirty money among several top European clubs, mostly connected with the Middle East.

    Will the regulators 'really' take a stance on this?

    Or will corrupt money do the talking?

    I fear the latter.
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 52,565

    dixiedean said:

    Always confused by the One God of Monotheism being assigned a gender or sex.
    I mean. Being one and eternal, what would be the point of genitalia?
    And who designated it?

    Man was made in God’s image.
    Assuming God actually exists, of course.
    Or that he doesn't have the head of an elephant....
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 52,565
    Interesting article on Russia's perfect population storm:

    https://fortune.com/2022/10/18/russia-population-historic-decline-emigration-war-plunging-birth-rate-form-perfect-storm/

    Russia's population reached "145.1 million on Aug. 1, a fall of 475,500 since the start of the year and down from 148.3 million in 1991, when the Soviet Union collapsed."
  • HeathenerHeathener Posts: 7,084
    I was literally policed from sitting down on a park bench during lockdown.

    Many others have similar stories.

    The propensity of this Government, and probably if I'm honest any party of power, to restrict freedoms is chilling.

    So don't be so sure @MikeL that the public are on the side of the Government, who are the real elite by the way. We all saw what happened when police have too much power. Not to mention the appalling stories emerging now about the corruption, misogyny, violence barely concealed in their ranks.

    We need to protect our rights to protest. Period.
  • TimSTimS Posts: 12,994

    Interesting article on Russia's perfect population storm:

    https://fortune.com/2022/10/18/russia-population-historic-decline-emigration-war-plunging-birth-rate-form-perfect-storm/

    Russia's population reached "145.1 million on Aug. 1, a fall of 475,500 since the start of the year and down from 148.3 million in 1991, when the Soviet Union collapsed."

    Next couple of decades are going to be fascinating demographically. I don’t think most people are prepared for such a huge paradigm shift.

    Essentially 4 types of population pattern around the world leading up to mid century:

    1. Massive growth in sub Saharan Africa especially in working age populations. Have we quite clocked yet that, for example, the West African randstadt from Lagos to Abidjan is going to become the biggest population concentration in the world?
    2. Slow peak and then flattening in South Asia, Middle East and Latam with the beginnings of ageing populations
    3. Roughly flat to slightly declining populations in those Western and East Asian countries with significant immigration
    4. Huge population declines across the rest of Eurasia, especially Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean

  • TimSTimS Posts: 12,994
    Heathener said:

    I was literally policed from sitting down on a park bench during lockdown.

    Many others have similar stories.

    The propensity of this Government, and probably if I'm honest any party of power, to restrict freedoms is chilling.

    So don't be so sure @MikeL that the public are on the side of the Government, who are the real elite by the way. We all saw what happened when police have too much power. Not to mention the appalling stories emerging now about the corruption, misogyny, violence barely concealed in their ranks.

    We need to protect our rights to protest. Period.

    The trouble is there are a lot of double standards in public opinion.

    People want to retain their freedoms to do what they like. But they are happy curtailing other people’s freedoms.

    Just like everyone says they’re happy for “the rich” to be taxed more but will never admit they themselves might be rich. Or they want more house building but not in their backyards and certainly not enough to reduce the value of their property. Etc.

    That said I don’t think curtailing the right to protest has much political salience for the Tories. I don’t think anything does anymore actually. People have stopped listening to them in good faith.

    Is there a wedge issue that could yet save them? Maybe if Starmer started equivocating on Putin, or promised a home building revolution across the countryside.
  • SNP MP Stewart McDonald's emails hacked by Russian group
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-64562832

    The MP was spear-phished into clicking on a dodgy document link and typing in his email password. Oops. On Friday the 13th, as well. The Russians had first taken control of one of McDonald's staff's accounts, from which to send the dodgy document (although even without this, they could have spoofed its source).

    You'd have hoped that MPs (and former heads of MI6) would have more secure email systems, and would be better briefed about not falling for obvious traps, but apparently not. Several days passed before McDonald became suspicious.
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 48,648
    TimS said:

    Heathener said:

    I was literally policed from sitting down on a park bench during lockdown.

    Many others have similar stories.

    The propensity of this Government, and probably if I'm honest any party of power, to restrict freedoms is chilling.

    So don't be so sure @MikeL that the public are on the side of the Government, who are the real elite by the way. We all saw what happened when police have too much power. Not to mention the appalling stories emerging now about the corruption, misogyny, violence barely concealed in their ranks.

    We need to protect our rights to protest. Period.

    The trouble is there are a lot of double standards in public opinion.

    People want to retain their freedoms to do what they like. But they are happy curtailing other people’s freedoms.

    Just like everyone says they’re happy for “the rich” to be taxed more but will never admit they themselves might be rich. Or they want more house building but not in their backyards and certainly not enough to reduce the value of their property. Etc.

    That said I don’t think curtailing the right to protest has much political salience for the Tories. I don’t think anything does anymore actually. People have stopped listening to them in good faith.

    Is there a wedge issue that could yet save them? Maybe if Starmer started equivocating on Putin, or promised a home building revolution across the countryside.
    The new laws on protest are unreasonably harsh. New laws are not a substitute for for enforcing existing laws.

    There might come a time when Tories want to protest, and they need to remember that.
  • TimSTimS Posts: 12,994
    It’s a foggy morning in LCY as I sit on the emergency exit row listening to that orchestral track BA play on loop while the de-icer tours the wings and wondering if we’ll actually take off.

    Seems taking off in freezing fog is OK and it’s landing that’s the problem.
  • TimS said:

    Interesting article on Russia's perfect population storm:

    https://fortune.com/2022/10/18/russia-population-historic-decline-emigration-war-plunging-birth-rate-form-perfect-storm/

    Russia's population reached "145.1 million on Aug. 1, a fall of 475,500 since the start of the year and down from 148.3 million in 1991, when the Soviet Union collapsed."

    Next couple of decades are going to be fascinating demographically. I don’t think most people are prepared for such a huge paradigm shift.

    Essentially 4 types of population pattern around the world leading up to mid century:

    1. Massive growth in sub Saharan Africa especially in working age populations. Have we quite clocked yet that, for example, the West African randstadt from Lagos to Abidjan is going to become the biggest population concentration in the world?
    2. Slow peak and then flattening in South Asia, Middle East and Latam with the beginnings of ageing populations
    3. Roughly flat to slightly declining populations in those Western and East Asian countries with significant immigration
    4. Huge population declines across the rest of Eurasia, especially Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean

    I would add, big changes in the age profile within those countries with stable or falling populations, with the old age dependency ratio (retirement age people per working age people) going up by a factor of 2-4 over the course of this century.
  • TimSTimS Posts: 12,994
    Foxy said:

    TimS said:

    Heathener said:

    I was literally policed from sitting down on a park bench during lockdown.

    Many others have similar stories.

    The propensity of this Government, and probably if I'm honest any party of power, to restrict freedoms is chilling.

    So don't be so sure @MikeL that the public are on the side of the Government, who are the real elite by the way. We all saw what happened when police have too much power. Not to mention the appalling stories emerging now about the corruption, misogyny, violence barely concealed in their ranks.

    We need to protect our rights to protest. Period.

    The trouble is there are a lot of double standards in public opinion.

    People want to retain their freedoms to do what they like. But they are happy curtailing other people’s freedoms.

    Just like everyone says they’re happy for “the rich” to be taxed more but will never admit they themselves might be rich. Or they want more house building but not in their backyards and certainly not enough to reduce the value of their property. Etc.

    That said I don’t think curtailing the right to protest has much political salience for the Tories. I don’t think anything does anymore actually. People have stopped listening to them in good faith.

    Is there a wedge issue that could yet save them? Maybe if Starmer started equivocating on Putin, or promised a home building revolution across the countryside.
    The new laws on protest are unreasonably harsh. New laws are not a substitute for for enforcing existing laws.

    There might come a time when Tories want to protest, and they need to remember that.
    Oh I agree, but expecting that rump 25-29% of voters who still support the government even now to make the connection and overcome their inbuilt dislike of crusties and eco types would be heroically optimistic.
  • TimSTimS Posts: 12,994

    TimS said:

    Interesting article on Russia's perfect population storm:

    https://fortune.com/2022/10/18/russia-population-historic-decline-emigration-war-plunging-birth-rate-form-perfect-storm/

    Russia's population reached "145.1 million on Aug. 1, a fall of 475,500 since the start of the year and down from 148.3 million in 1991, when the Soviet Union collapsed."

    Next couple of decades are going to be fascinating demographically. I don’t think most people are prepared for such a huge paradigm shift.

    Essentially 4 types of population pattern around the world leading up to mid century:

    1. Massive growth in sub Saharan Africa especially in working age populations. Have we quite clocked yet that, for example, the West African randstadt from Lagos to Abidjan is going to become the biggest population concentration in the world?
    2. Slow peak and then flattening in South Asia, Middle East and Latam with the beginnings of ageing populations
    3. Roughly flat to slightly declining populations in those Western and East Asian countries with significant immigration
    4. Huge population declines across the rest of Eurasia, especially Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean

    I would add, big changes in the age profile within those countries with stable or falling populations, with the old age dependency ratio (retirement age people per working age people) going up by a factor of 2-4 over the course of this century.
    By rights West Africa in particular should become an economic powerhouse, if they can cut the bureaucracy and trade protectionism, and build decent infrastructure. Perfect demographics this century.

    Plus unlike other recent economic growth engines (with the possible exception of India) I could see West Africa starting to compete with the West for media and culture soft power. It has a more globally translatable, less insular or specific pop culture.
  • StillWatersStillWaters Posts: 8,258

    ‘Scully's departure will be a blow to both the racing and gambling industries who will have been hoping he would remain in his role as he had shown a willingness to listen to the concerns of both sectors, British racing's leaders have warned that intrusive affordability checks on bettors could wipe tens of millions of pounds from the sport's revenues if they were to be introduced’

    So Scully moved so those above him can bring in the intrusive means testing on betting he’s a block not enabler for?

    Hatred of the checks unite Mail and Guardian.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10680069/Affordability-checks-rolled-vulnerable-punters-betting-online.html

    https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2021/feb/08/gambling-affordability-checks-control-freaks-threat-civil-liberties-reform

    Despite that, and maybe if it’s because I have my Christian head on, caring society versus unfettered libertarianism causing harm, but I can see the good in the Tory governments controversial proposal - that is, if someone has an addiction problem, spiralling into debt destruction of their life and one life touches so many others, why would you want to take more money off them?

    Please correct me where got this wrong.
    I don’t think the industry’s line “we will lose money if we make sure our customers can afford to gamble” has the resonance they want
  • StillWatersStillWaters Posts: 8,258

    Nigelb said:

    dixiedean said:

    Always confused by the One God of Monotheism being assigned a gender or sex.
    I mean. Being one and eternal, what would be the point of genitalia?
    And who designated it?

    Man was made in God’s image.
    As dixie says, though, it’s a pretty odd image for an eternal being to have adopted.
    There’s lots of things we are not supposed to know yet, as God reveals the answers only at the point we are supposed to know them.

    Actually God made Adam and Judith, out of clay at about the same time? So maybe God is a mixture of both, made from clay himself and hermaphrodite? The fact Judith and Adam didn’t hit it off as she wouldn’t be subservient to him might indicate important struggle in God himself?

    Who knows till God reveals the answer
    🤷‍♀️
    Do you mean Lilith?

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lilith

  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 71,070
    It seems to me that every time Mike publishes a header saying Biden's too old and doddery to run, he then stands up and surprises with a performance of vigour.

    Last night's State of the Union was no exception, even to the extent of deftly handling heckling from the mad fringe of the Republicans.

    No way he's not intending to run after that address; "...let me finish the job...".
  • StillWatersStillWaters Posts: 8,258
    ping said:

    https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6416681/yougov-finance-bribe/

    Those thrifty b’stards over at money saving expert have figured out a way of scamming money out of yougov!

    Serves yougov right for being creepy as fk with their business model. They really need to be regulated if they’re going to do this sort of shite.

    It’s only a matter of time before the inevitable open banking scandals become public knowledge, I recon.

    Data leakage of highly sensitive info to people who don’t have your best interests at heart…

    That’s not scamming YouGov

    That’s selling your personal data to YouGov.


  • StillWatersStillWaters Posts: 8,258
    Nigelb said:

    Pretty good SOTU from Biden.

    Clear that “let us finish the job” is the message for the re-election
  • ping said:

    ping said:

    Good on the lords for blocking the public order bill;

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-64561868

    It’s tragic the Tory government has stooped this low.

    I’m generally pretty hot on law and order stuff: violence, sexual crimes, fraud, robbery/burglary etc, the police/criminal justice system should be properly resourced and given enhanced legal backing imo - but this public order bill stinks.

    It’s easy, cheap, partisan, grandstanding, performative politics.

    Do the hard stuff, properly, please.

    That’s what I ask of my government.

    It’s one thing I am hoping to get from a Starmer government - proper policing/criminal justice reform.

    He’s a smart guy who spent a long time at a high level inside the system. He must have lots of well thought through ideas for how to get the system working.
    Hope so, but at present he actually wants to abolish the House which just voted down the bullshit Public Order Bill.

    Let’s imagine a counter-factual in which a the HoL was elected “mid-term”. If said election had taken place late 2021 the Conservatives would likely have a majority and this bullshit bill would have passed.
    It's worth remembering that the Labour government tried to pass 90 days detention without trial, as well as ID cards and an expansion in the DNA database.

    Civil liberties is something that administrations in office tend to be more cynical upon.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 71,070

    Nigelb said:

    Pretty good SOTU from Biden.

    Clear that “let us finish the job” is the message for the re-election
    I don't disagree with Mike that Biden is probably too old. But I also think he'll run, and will be a far better President than anyone I can imagine the Republicans selecting to run in 2024.

    Doddery or not, for now he still has it.
    In a combative moment filled with GOP heckles, Pres. Biden got Republican lawmakers to agree not to cut Social Security and Medicare as part of the ongoing debt ceiling negotiations
    https://mobile.twitter.com/nowthisnews/status/1623183393176403971

    (Not that the Republicans will keep any such commitment.)
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 71,388

    I see that previously the Levelling Up ministry had a discretionary capex budget of £30m, chicken feed within the scale of government spending and indeed the need for Levelling Up.

    The new budget is zero.

    Councils need to beg Whitehall if they want to so much as build a toilet block in the town centre, and in turn Gove has to beg Treasury who have never seen a capex project they like the looks of.

    It's a sign of a government about to run out of money. That and the regular doom leaks about saving money on HS2 as someone desperately tries to save it from the axe.
    HS2 can't be axed. It's under construction and half-built between London and Birmingham.

    To do so now would be to waste billions of sunk capital and leave a pointless scar and right of way across England.

    It needs to be finished. The next phases can be delayed, of course, until better economic times.
    Also much building work already done in Staffs around Lichfield and Handscare. Not quite clear whether that's 'the next phase' or not.
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 49,863
    edited February 2023
    ydoethur said:

    I see that previously the Levelling Up ministry had a discretionary capex budget of £30m, chicken feed within the scale of government spending and indeed the need for Levelling Up.

    The new budget is zero.

    Councils need to beg Whitehall if they want to so much as build a toilet block in the town centre, and in turn Gove has to beg Treasury who have never seen a capex project they like the looks of.

    It's a sign of a government about to run out of money. That and the regular doom leaks about saving money on HS2 as someone desperately tries to save it from the axe.
    HS2 can't be axed. It's under construction and half-built between London and Birmingham.

    To do so now would be to waste billions of sunk capital and leave a pointless scar and right of way across England.

    It needs to be finished. The next phases can be delayed, of course, until better economic times.
    Also much building work already done in Staffs around Lichfield and Handscare. Not quite clear whether that's 'the next phase' or not.
    In this morning’s news, it is to be re-named MHS2:

    Ministers are planning on cutting HS2 services and train speeds in an attempt to drive down the cost of the heavily delayed project, it has been reported.

    The government is said to be considering cutting the number of trains from 18 to 10 an hour and reducing the trains’ maximum speeds.

    The Department for Transport has refused to rule out reducing the frequency and speed of the high-speed rail network, saying that they “do not comment on speculation”.

    Pruning HS2 cuts short-term costs but loses bigger long-term benefits. HS2, which the government greenlit in 2012, was initially designed to run services at up to 400 km/h (248 mph). This was reduced to an average of 330 km/h (205 mph) and maximum of 360 km/h once contracts to build new trains were awarded.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 71,388
    Nigelb said:

    Nigelb said:

    Pretty good SOTU from Biden.

    Clear that “let us finish the job” is the message for the re-election
    I don't disagree with Mike that Biden is probably too old. But I also think he'll run, and will be a far better President than anyone I can imagine the Republicans selecting to run in 2024.

    Doddery or not, for now he still has it.
    In a combative moment filled with GOP heckles, Pres. Biden got Republican lawmakers to agree not to cut Social Security and Medicare as part of the ongoing debt ceiling negotiations
    https://mobile.twitter.com/nowthisnews/status/1623183393176403971

    (Not that the Republicans will keep any such commitment.)
    That clip is worth it just for the look on the Speaker's face.

    It was almost as good as the one David Perdue had as Ossoff said 'it's not just that you're a crook, Senator.'
  • I see that previously the Levelling Up ministry had a discretionary capex budget of £30m, chicken feed within the scale of government spending and indeed the need for Levelling Up.

    The new budget is zero.

    Councils need to beg Whitehall if they want to so much as build a toilet block in the town centre, and in turn Gove has to beg Treasury who have never seen a capex project they like the looks of.

    It's a sign of a government about to run out of money. That and the regular doom leaks about saving money on HS2 as someone desperately tries to save it from the axe.
    HS2 can't be axed. It's under construction and half-built between London and Birmingham.

    To do so now would be to waste billions of sunk capital and leave a pointless scar and right of way across England.

    It needs to be finished. The next phases can be delayed, of course, until better economic times.
    Agreed 100%. In fact, I wouldn't delay the next stages, either. The sooner it is completed the more value the project will deliver (and the next stages add to the value of what has already been built), and I don't think the debt markets will punish the government for borrowing to build infrastructure that facilitates economic growth and hence boosts tax revenues.
  • I see that previously the Levelling Up ministry had a discretionary capex budget of £30m, chicken feed within the scale of government spending and indeed the need for Levelling Up.

    The new budget is zero.

    Councils need to beg Whitehall if they want to so much as build a toilet block in the town centre, and in turn Gove has to beg Treasury who have never seen a capex project they like the looks of.

    It's a sign of a government about to run out of money. That and the regular doom leaks about saving money on HS2 as someone desperately tries to save it from the axe.
    HS2 can't be axed. It's under construction and ha
    ydoethur said:

    I see that previously the Levelling Up ministry had a discretionary capex budget of £30m, chicken feed within the scale of government spending and indeed the need for Levelling Up.

    The new budget is zero.

    Councils need to beg Whitehall if they want to so much as build a toilet block in the town centre, and in turn Gove has to beg Treasury who have never seen a capex project they like the looks of.

    It's a sign of a government about to run out of money. That and the regular doom leaks about saving money on HS2 as someone desperately tries to save it from the axe.
    HS2 can't be axed. It's under construction and half-built between London and Birmingham.

    To do so now would be to waste billions of sunk capital and leave a pointless scar and right of way across England.

    It needs to be finished. The next phases can be delayed, of course, until better economic times.
    Also much building work already done in Staffs around Lichfield and Handscare. Not quite clear whether that's 'the next phase' or not.
    The trouble with HS2 is that lots of the best people in the industry are avoiding it like the plague because they fear it will ruin their reputation.

    This then becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy because performance is then a bit average-poor because you have 2nd and 3rd division staff who don't really know what they're doing.

    Public reputation matters internally to a project as well as externally.
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 48,648
    Nigelb said:

    Nigelb said:

    Pretty good SOTU from Biden.

    Clear that “let us finish the job” is the message for the re-election
    I don't disagree with Mike that Biden is probably too old. But I also think he'll run, and will be a far better President than anyone I can imagine the Republicans selecting to run in 2024.

    Doddery or not, for now he still has it.
    In a combative moment filled with GOP heckles, Pres. Biden got Republican lawmakers to agree not to cut Social Security and Medicare as part of the ongoing debt ceiling negotiations
    https://mobile.twitter.com/nowthisnews/status/1623183393176403971

    (Not that the Republicans will keep any such commitment.)
    Biden still has it.

  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 49,863
    edited February 2023

    I see that previously the Levelling Up ministry had a discretionary capex budget of £30m, chicken feed within the scale of government spending and indeed the need for Levelling Up.

    The new budget is zero.

    Councils need to beg Whitehall if they want to so much as build a toilet block in the town centre, and in turn Gove has to beg Treasury who have never seen a capex project they like the looks of.

    It's a sign of a government about to run out of money. That and the regular doom leaks about saving money on HS2 as someone desperately tries to save it from the axe.
    HS2 can't be axed. It's under construction and ha
    ydoethur said:

    I see that previously the Levelling Up ministry had a discretionary capex budget of £30m, chicken feed within the scale of government spending and indeed the need for Levelling Up.

    The new budget is zero.

    Councils need to beg Whitehall if they want to so much as build a toilet block in the town centre, and in turn Gove has to beg Treasury who have never seen a capex project they like the looks of.

    It's a sign of a government about to run out of money. That and the regular doom leaks about saving money on HS2 as someone desperately tries to save it from the axe.
    HS2 can't be axed. It's under construction and half-built between London and Birmingham.

    To do so now would be to waste billions of sunk capital and leave a pointless scar and right of way across England.

    It needs to be finished. The next phases can be delayed, of course, until better economic times.
    Also much building work already done in Staffs around Lichfield and Handscare. Not quite clear whether that's 'the next phase' or not.
    The trouble with HS2 is that lots of the best people in the industry are avoiding it like the plague because they fear it will ruin their reputation.

    This then becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy because performance is then a bit average-poor because you have 2nd and 3rd division staff who don't really know what they're doing.

    Public reputation matters internally to a project as well as externally.
    Yes, I have a friend who was part of the finance team for the Millenium Dome project. Got deep laughs for years afterwards, whenever they mentioned it.

    In fact they didn’t mention it very often; but we did!
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 71,070
    edited February 2023
    ydoethur said:

    Nigelb said:

    Nigelb said:

    Pretty good SOTU from Biden.

    Clear that “let us finish the job” is the message for the re-election
    I don't disagree with Mike that Biden is probably too old. But I also think he'll run, and will be a far better President than anyone I can imagine the Republicans selecting to run in 2024.

    Doddery or not, for now he still has it.
    In a combative moment filled with GOP heckles, Pres. Biden got Republican lawmakers to agree not to cut Social Security and Medicare as part of the ongoing debt ceiling negotiations
    https://mobile.twitter.com/nowthisnews/status/1623183393176403971

    (Not that the Republicans will keep any such commitment.)
    That clip is worth it just for the look on the Speaker's face.

    It was almost as good as the one David Perdue had as Ossoff said 'it's not just that you're a crook, Senator.'
    James Fallows, who had a hand in drafting Carter's SOTUs, noted approvingly.
    "Part of the skill of SOTU is crafting lines where the other party either has to stand and cheer, or look like jerks."

    Of course it helps when a number of your opponents are indeed jerks.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 71,388
    Nigelb said:

    ydoethur said:

    Nigelb said:

    Nigelb said:

    Pretty good SOTU from Biden.

    Clear that “let us finish the job” is the message for the re-election
    I don't disagree with Mike that Biden is probably too old. But I also think he'll run, and will be a far better President than anyone I can imagine the Republicans selecting to run in 2024.

    Doddery or not, for now he still has it.
    In a combative moment filled with GOP heckles, Pres. Biden got Republican lawmakers to agree not to cut Social Security and Medicare as part of the ongoing debt ceiling negotiations
    https://mobile.twitter.com/nowthisnews/status/1623183393176403971

    (Not that the Republicans will keep any such commitment.)
    That clip is worth it just for the look on the Speaker's face.

    It was almost as good as the one David Perdue had as Ossoff said 'it's not just that you're a crook, Senator.'
    James Fallows, who had a hand in drafting Carter's SOTUs, noted approvingly.
    "Part of the skill of SOTU is crafting lines where the other party either has to stand and cheer, or look like jerks."
    To be fair there were a few republicans who managed both. Lauren Boebert, for instance.
  • IanB2 said:

    I see that previously the Levelling Up ministry had a discretionary capex budget of £30m, chicken feed within the scale of government spending and indeed the need for Levelling Up.

    The new budget is zero.

    Councils need to beg Whitehall if they want to so much as build a toilet block in the town centre, and in turn Gove has to beg Treasury who have never seen a capex project they like the looks of.

    It's a sign of a government about to run out of money. That and the regular doom leaks about saving money on HS2 as someone desperately tries to save it from the axe.
    HS2 can't be axed. It's under construction and ha
    ydoethur said:

    I see that previously the Levelling Up ministry had a discretionary capex budget of £30m, chicken feed within the scale of government spending and indeed the need for Levelling Up.

    The new budget is zero.

    Councils need to beg Whitehall if they want to so much as build a toilet block in the town centre, and in turn Gove has to beg Treasury who have never seen a capex project they like the looks of.

    It's a sign of a government about to run out of money. That and the regular doom leaks about saving money on HS2 as someone desperately tries to save it from the axe.
    HS2 can't be axed. It's under construction and half-built between London and Birmingham.

    To do so now would be to waste billions of sunk capital and leave a pointless scar and right of way across England.

    It needs to be finished. The next phases can be delayed, of course, until better economic times.
    Also much building work already done in Staffs around Lichfield and Handscare. Not quite clear whether that's 'the next phase' or not.
    The trouble with HS2 is that lots of the best people in the industry are avoiding it like the plague because they fear it will ruin their reputation.

    This then becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy because performance is then a bit average-poor because you have 2nd and 3rd division staff who don't really know what they're doing.

    Public reputation matters internally to a project as well as externally.
    Yes, I have a friend who was part of the finance team for the Millenium Dome project. Got deep laughs for years afterwards, whenever they mentioned it.

    In fact they didn’t mention it very often; but we did!
    Now it's one of the most successful venues in the UK so they've had the last laugh.
  • LostPasswordLostPassword Posts: 18,361
    edited February 2023
    TimS said:

    Interesting article on Russia's perfect population storm:

    https://fortune.com/2022/10/18/russia-population-historic-decline-emigration-war-plunging-birth-rate-form-perfect-storm/

    Russia's population reached "145.1 million on Aug. 1, a fall of 475,500 since the start of the year and down from 148.3 million in 1991, when the Soviet Union collapsed."

    Next couple of decades are going to be fascinating demographically. I don’t think most people are prepared for such a huge paradigm shift.

    Essentially 4 types of population pattern around the world leading up to mid century:

    1. Massive growth in sub Saharan Africa especially in working age populations. Have we quite clocked yet that, for example, the West African randstadt from Lagos to Abidjan is going to become the biggest population concentration in the world?
    2. Slow peak and then flattening in South Asia, Middle East and Latam with the beginnings of ageing populations
    3. Roughly flat to slightly declining populations in those Western and East Asian countries with significant immigration
    4. Huge population declines across the rest of Eurasia, especially Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean
    The big one is China. The demographic transition there to ageing and declining is particularly rapid.

    This has geopolitical implications. The moment of peak Chinese power is approaching. There will be a temptation to use that power to shape the future before the moment passes.
  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 28,433

    I see that previously the Levelling Up ministry had a discretionary capex budget of £30m, chicken feed within the scale of government spending and indeed the need for Levelling Up.

    The new budget is zero.

    Councils need to beg Whitehall if they want to so much as build a toilet block in the town centre, and in turn Gove has to beg Treasury who have never seen a capex project they like the looks of.

    It's a sign of a government about to run out of money. That and the regular doom leaks about saving money on HS2 as someone desperately tries to save it from the axe.
    HS2 can't be axed. It's under construction and ha
    ydoethur said:

    I see that previously the Levelling Up ministry had a discretionary capex budget of £30m, chicken feed within the scale of government spending and indeed the need for Levelling Up.

    The new budget is zero.

    Councils need to beg Whitehall if they want to so much as build a toilet block in the town centre, and in turn Gove has to beg Treasury who have never seen a capex project they like the looks of.

    It's a sign of a government about to run out of money. That and the regular doom leaks about saving money on HS2 as someone desperately tries to save it from the axe.
    HS2 can't be axed. It's under construction and half-built between London and Birmingham.

    To do so now would be to waste billions of sunk capital and leave a pointless scar and right of way across England.

    It needs to be finished. The next phases can be delayed, of course, until better economic times.
    Also much building work already done in Staffs around Lichfield and Handscare. Not quite clear whether that's 'the next phase' or not.
    The trouble with HS2 is that lots of the best people in the industry are avoiding it like the plague because they fear it will ruin their reputation.

    This then becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy because performance is then a bit average-poor because you have 2nd and 3rd division staff who don't really know what they're doing.

    Public reputation matters internally to a project as well as externally.
    Of course it can be axed. There is no point in throwing good money after bad.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 71,388

    IanB2 said:

    I see that previously the Levelling Up ministry had a discretionary capex budget of £30m, chicken feed within the scale of government spending and indeed the need for Levelling Up.

    The new budget is zero.

    Councils need to beg Whitehall if they want to so much as build a toilet block in the town centre, and in turn Gove has to beg Treasury who have never seen a capex project they like the looks of.

    It's a sign of a government about to run out of money. That and the regular doom leaks about saving money on HS2 as someone desperately tries to save it from the axe.
    HS2 can't be axed. It's under construction and ha
    ydoethur said:

    I see that previously the Levelling Up ministry had a discretionary capex budget of £30m, chicken feed within the scale of government spending and indeed the need for Levelling Up.

    The new budget is zero.

    Councils need to beg Whitehall if they want to so much as build a toilet block in the town centre, and in turn Gove has to beg Treasury who have never seen a capex project they like the looks of.

    It's a sign of a government about to run out of money. That and the regular doom leaks about saving money on HS2 as someone desperately tries to save it from the axe.
    HS2 can't be axed. It's under construction and half-built between London and Birmingham.

    To do so now would be to waste billions of sunk capital and leave a pointless scar and right of way across England.

    It needs to be finished. The next phases can be delayed, of course, until better economic times.
    Also much building work already done in Staffs around Lichfield and Handscare. Not quite clear whether that's 'the next phase' or not.
    The trouble with HS2 is that lots of the best people in the industry are avoiding it like the plague because they fear it will ruin their reputation.

    This then becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy because performance is then a bit average-poor because you have 2nd and 3rd division staff who don't really know what they're doing.

    Public reputation matters internally to a project as well as externally.
    Yes, I have a friend who was part of the finance team for the Millenium Dome project. Got deep laughs for years afterwards, whenever they mentioned it.

    In fact they didn’t mention it very often; but we did!
    Now it's one of the most successful venues in the UK so they've had the last laugh.
    George Stephenson had much the same experience on the Liverpool and Manchester, of course, where people confidently predicted disaster in crossing Chat Moss. And Robert was told he'd never live down Kilsby Tunnel.
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 35,990
    After Brexit, Britain’s competitors are running rings around us. Sunak’s not even at the races
    Rafael Behr

    This reshuffle will make little difference: the country is going nowhere as the PM leads us further down an economic dead end

    The drivers of Brexit can keep revving the rhetorical engines of sovereignty in celebration of their imaginary escape from Europe. That won’t get Britain out of its economic and strategic dead end. Then, eventually, when the passengers are sick of the pointless din, the choking fumes and going nowhere, the gears can be put into reverse.


    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/feb/08/rishi-sunak-reshuffle-conservatives-brexit
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 71,070

    I see that previously the Levelling Up ministry had a discretionary capex budget of £30m, chicken feed within the scale of government spending and indeed the need for Levelling Up.

    The new budget is zero.

    Councils need to beg Whitehall if they want to so much as build a toilet block in the town centre, and in turn Gove has to beg Treasury who have never seen a capex project they like the looks of.

    It's a sign of a government about to run out of money. That and the regular doom leaks about saving money on HS2 as someone desperately tries to save it from the axe.
    HS2 can't be axed. It's under construction and ha
    ydoethur said:

    I see that previously the Levelling Up ministry had a discretionary capex budget of £30m, chicken feed within the scale of government spending and indeed the need for Levelling Up.

    The new budget is zero.

    Councils need to beg Whitehall if they want to so much as build a toilet block in the town centre, and in turn Gove has to beg Treasury who have never seen a capex project they like the looks of.

    It's a sign of a government about to run out of money. That and the regular doom leaks about saving money on HS2 as someone desperately tries to save it from the axe.
    HS2 can't be axed. It's under construction and half-built between London and Birmingham.

    To do so now would be to waste billions of sunk capital and leave a pointless scar and right of way across England.

    It needs to be finished. The next phases can be delayed, of course, until better economic times.
    Also much building work already done in Staffs around Lichfield and Handscare. Not quite clear whether that's 'the next phase' or not.
    The trouble with HS2 is that lots of the best people in the industry are avoiding it like the plague because they fear it will ruin their reputation.

    This then becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy because performance is then a bit average-poor because you have 2nd and 3rd division staff who don't really know what they're doing.

    Public reputation matters internally to a project as well as externally.
    Of course it can be axed. There is no point in throwing good money after bad.
    That's the argument of the extremely credible Andrew Gilligan:
    ...A report by the Policy Exchange think-tank found cancelling all sections of HS2 where main construction has not started would save around £3billion a year by 2027-28, and £44billion or more in total.

    Its author, the former No10 transport adviser Andrew ­Gilligan wrote: “HS2 now costs more to build than the value of the benefits it will deliver.

    “The official benefit cost ratio shows that for every £1 spent on the scheme, the country gets back benefits worth only 90p. Shortening the scheme improves its value for money.”..


    Note, though, that the readers' poll, in the Sun article I clipped that from, was 70% in favour of completing the project.
  • MikeL said:

    The Government should attack Starmer big time on Labour voting down amendments to stop protestors blocking roads.

    The problem the Government has had up to now is they have nothing to attack Starmer on. He is just floating around looking moderate and reasonable while the Government screws everything up.

    Well this looks like their first big chance. The public do not support roads being blocked stopping people going to work and taking their kids to school. Let alone stopping people getting to hospital appointments and blocking ambulances.

    So the Government needs now needs to go on the attack - and get the tabloids to lead with headlines such as "Starmer supports protestors blocking roads / ambulances" etc.

    Of course the political elite will hate it - but it's the sort of issue which will cut through with the public. It's a bit like the small boats issue.

    Small boats cut through with Daily Express readers and the audience for the Jacob Rees-Mogg show on GBeebies. Nowhere else. The country is stuck with how to pay the bills with the valiant nurses and teachers showing a bit of hope for the pay rises everyone needs.

    As for the protestors blocking roads, they are morons. But the law already provides them to be removed. Which is why they get removed. So the new law isn't needed, a totem for morons to say "eugh Starmer didn't vote for this, now we have him" on GBeebies.
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 35,990
    ...
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 71,388
    Nigelb said:

    I see that previously the Levelling Up ministry had a discretionary capex budget of £30m, chicken feed within the scale of government spending and indeed the need for Levelling Up.

    The new budget is zero.

    Councils need to beg Whitehall if they want to so much as build a toilet block in the town centre, and in turn Gove has to beg Treasury who have never seen a capex project they like the looks of.

    It's a sign of a government about to run out of money. That and the regular doom leaks about saving money on HS2 as someone desperately tries to save it from the axe.
    HS2 can't be axed. It's under construction and ha
    ydoethur said:

    I see that previously the Levelling Up ministry had a discretionary capex budget of £30m, chicken feed within the scale of government spending and indeed the need for Levelling Up.

    The new budget is zero.

    Councils need to beg Whitehall if they want to so much as build a toilet block in the town centre, and in turn Gove has to beg Treasury who have never seen a capex project they like the looks of.

    It's a sign of a government about to run out of money. That and the regular doom leaks about saving money on HS2 as someone desperately tries to save it from the axe.
    HS2 can't be axed. It's under construction and half-built between London and Birmingham.

    To do so now would be to waste billions of sunk capital and leave a pointless scar and right of way across England.

    It needs to be finished. The next phases can be delayed, of course, until better economic times.
    Also much building work already done in Staffs around Lichfield and Handscare. Not quite clear whether that's 'the next phase' or not.
    The trouble with HS2 is that lots of the best people in the industry are avoiding it like the plague because they fear it will ruin their reputation.

    This then becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy because performance is then a bit average-poor because you have 2nd and 3rd division staff who don't really know what they're doing.

    Public reputation matters internally to a project as well as externally.
    Of course it can be axed. There is no point in throwing good money after bad.
    That's the argument of the extremely credible Andrew Gilligan:
    ...A report by the Policy Exchange think-tank found cancelling all sections of HS2 where main construction has not started would save around £3billion a year by 2027-28, and £44billion or more in total.

    Its author, the former No10 transport adviser Andrew ­Gilligan wrote: “HS2 now costs more to build than the value of the benefits it will deliver.

    “The official benefit cost ratio shows that for every £1 spent on the scheme, the country gets back benefits worth only 90p. Shortening the scheme improves its value for money.”..


    Note, though, that the readers' poll, in the Sun article I clipped that from, was 70% in favour of completing the project.
    Andrew Gilligan has always been strongly opposed to HS2 and was a friend of the infamous Joe Rukin. It is not surprising that he takes that view because, well, he always has.

    The problem is you can twist the figures he's using any which way - he's using hypothetical expenditure against hypothetical income.

    I would add though that by scrapping the Eastern leg the business case for HS2 has definitely been damaged.
  • GhedebravGhedebrav Posts: 3,860

    I see that previously the Levelling Up ministry had a discretionary capex budget of £30m, chicken feed within the scale of government spending and indeed the need for Levelling Up.

    The new budget is zero.

    Councils need to beg Whitehall if they want to so much as build a toilet block in the town centre, and in turn Gove has to beg Treasury who have never seen a capex project they like the looks of.

    It's a sign of a government about to run out of money. That and the regular doom leaks about saving money on HS2 as someone desperately tries to save it from the axe.
    HS2 can't be axed. It's under construction and ha
    ydoethur said:

    I see that previously the Levelling Up ministry had a discretionary capex budget of £30m, chicken feed within the scale of government spending and indeed the need for Levelling Up.

    The new budget is zero.

    Councils need to beg Whitehall if they want to so much as build a toilet block in the town centre, and in turn Gove has to beg Treasury who have never seen a capex project they like the looks of.

    It's a sign of a government about to run out of money. That and the regular doom leaks about saving money on HS2 as someone desperately tries to save it from the axe.
    HS2 can't be axed. It's under construction and half-built between London and Birmingham.

    To do so now would be to waste billions of sunk capital and leave a pointless scar and right of way across England.

    It needs to be finished. The next phases can be delayed, of course, until better economic times.
    Also much building work already done in Staffs around Lichfield and Handscare. Not quite clear whether that's 'the next phase' or not.
    The trouble with HS2 is that lots of the best people in the industry are avoiding it like the plague because they fear it will ruin their reputation.

    This then becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy because performance is then a bit average-poor because you have 2nd and 3rd division staff who don't really know what they're doing.

    Public reputation matters internally to a project as well as externally.
    Of course it can be axed. There is no point in throwing good money after bad.
    IANAE (by any stretch of the imagination), but I broadly feel warm towards the idea of investment in good infrastructure. There's a lot of hostility on here towards HS2. Is it just because of the massive cost? I get that an M62 'crossrail of the north' would have been a better rail investment, but what is it that makes HS2 particularly bad?
This discussion has been closed.