I feel a bit sorry for Rishi. He's on course for perhaps the most catastrophic political obliteration of modern times, yet it was actually his predecessors - the flatulent Boris and the preening Truss in particular - who laid the groundwork for his doom. That pair of rotters are still going around claiming they were hard done by and we should be grateful. What a dismal duo, and poor old Rishi is likely to be flushed down the toilet of history reeking of their dung. Who said life was fair?
I guess the largest term in that word cloud - "Don't know" - is possible to shake off.
Whether or not it is replaced by something better is another question, but it is a problem that could potentially be addressed.
Indeed, and there's many positives there too. Fairness/equality, helping the country/people, a better Britain, honey/trust, education, stability, the economy, change . . . surprised there's so many positives there actually.
And a lot of the negatives - greed, themselves, the rich - any Tory government ever would have had in their cloud.
The bad thing for Sunak is that he's associated with taxes. Not normally what you'd expect from a Tory government, to represent higher taxes, and that's what cost him my vote - raising NI.
I feel a bit sorry for Rishi. He's on course for perhaps the most catastrophic political obliteration of modern times, yet it was actually his predecessors - the flatulent Boris and the preening Truss in particular - who laid the groundwork for his doom. That pair of rotters are still going around claiming they were hard done by and we should be grateful. What a dismal duo, and poor old Rishi is likely to be flushed down the toilet of history reeking of their dung. Who said life was fair?
I don’t feel sorry for him. He lost the leadership contest, and then sought to undermine the winner almost immediately, in order to wear the crown himself. He deserves to be flushed down the toilet of history, reeking of the dung.
I see the images out of Moscow today show the opening stages of what was predicted a while ago. Russia is becoming a junior partner of China. Far from making Russia strong again, Putin is returning the country to being a vassal of an Asian power.
This of course is history repeating itself. The Duchy of Moscow got its start as a vassal of the Mongols. Moscow's overlords were happy to have the state take its 30 pieces of silver in return for helping Mongolia exploit the other Eastern Slavs.
This is the question then for the Russian people. Do they want to be a vassal state for a Chinese Empire, or would they prefer to have a place as a full part of Europe with all the freedoms that follow from democracy?
The discussions between Russia and China are going to be really interesting to observe - so long as the Chinese don’t arm the Russians and we end up properly in WWIII. But the optimist in me says that Xi knows how that goes down with the rest of the Western world.
I’m thinking that the meeting today, is when Putin gets told that his failed state is going to be a 2030s Chinese farm.
I'm surprised Zelenskyy hasn't had a go at trying to charm the Chinese. Maybe he has but we've not seen it or it's been rebuffed. Most of Ukraine's soft power effort has been focused on the Western donors and a couple of semi-neutral countries like Israel and Turkey.
China and Ukraine had quite strong military links until recently. Ukraine helped greatly with the J-15, China’s AliExpress copy of the Flanker K for STOBAR carrier ops. Things became #itscomplicated when China wanted to buy a majority stake in the Zaporeezheeya aircraft engine plant in a deal that was not in the slightest bit corrupt. Trump told Ukraine to tell Chyna to fuck off and relations have been more sour than a fermented plum ever since. Trump had the ability to withhold US (and British and Canadian) military aid and training programs so Ukraine had no choice. They got effed in the A.
China are probably quite happy with the trajectory of the SMO so far. It's cementing Russia into their sphere of influence while consuming vast amounts of American money, weapons and attention.
Hardly "vast amounts", compared to the American budget; and much of that money is being spent in the US. And the US is gaining lots of friends amongst countries in Europe and elsewhere that don't like the idea of being invaded by fascist states. A lot of the diplomatic damage caused by Iraq will be being healed.
The US are also gaining a vast amount of information on modern warfare tactics and how their weapons work in this sort of combat - which is miles away from the way they were used in Iraq and Afghanistan.
And what are China getting? Some cheaper oil and gas (but not much), and the dregs of Russia. And diplomatic damage if they actually help Russia.
I feel a bit sorry for Rishi. He's on course for perhaps the most catastrophic political obliteration of modern times, yet it was actually his predecessors - the flatulent Boris and the preening Truss in particular - who laid the groundwork for his doom. That pair of rotters are still going around claiming they were hard done by and we should be grateful. What a dismal duo, and poor old Rishi is likely to be flushed down the toilet of history reeking of their dung. Who said life was fair?
I don’t feel sorry for him. He lost the leadership contest, and then sought to undermine the winner almost immediately, in order to wear the crown himself. He deserves to be flushed down the toilet of history, reeking of the dung.
Liz Truss undermined herself. Rishi stayed completely quiet through the whole period as well so he didn't undermine her at all.
I feel a bit sorry for Rishi. He's on course for perhaps the most catastrophic political obliteration of modern times, yet it was actually his predecessors - the flatulent Boris and the preening Truss in particular - who laid the groundwork for his doom. That pair of rotters are still going around claiming they were hard done by and we should be grateful. What a dismal duo, and poor old Rishi is likely to be flushed down the toilet of history reeking of their dung. Who said life was fair?
In some ways he’ll probably come off ok because in comparison he’ll probably be seen as a steady pair of hands undermined from the get go by the actions of his predecessors and who just got swept away by events. A footnote, but not a terrible one. No real legacy to speak of though.
I feel a bit sorry for Rishi. He's on course for perhaps the most catastrophic political obliteration of modern times, yet it was actually his predecessors - the flatulent Boris and the preening Truss in particular - who laid the groundwork for his doom. That pair of rotters are still going around claiming they were hard done by and we should be grateful. What a dismal duo, and poor old Rishi is likely to be flushed down the toilet of history reeking of their dung. Who said life was fair?
I don’t feel sorry for him. He lost the leadership contest, and then sought to undermine the winner almost immediately, in order to wear the crown himself. He deserves to be flushed down the toilet of history, reeking of the dung.
On topic I found Alanbrooke's piece interesting but 'the old dog' ain't hardly 'fit and well'. It is limping badly and being sucked dry by a multitude of fleas.
@KevinASchofield: Every time Rishi Sunak talks about "our precious union" when talking about Northern Ireland and Brexit, he sounds just like Theresa May.
Though, in the context of sincerely professing affection for one's country, Theresa managed a better job of it purely on the basis that Philip isn't a non-dom.
At least we have had the good news of the reselection of Liz Truss by my local Cons. I'm not sure what she'd have had to have done to be reselected. Perhaps never appearing publicly in her constituency is indeed a master-stroke!
I feel a bit sorry for Rishi. He's on course for perhaps the most catastrophic political obliteration of modern times, yet it was actually his predecessors - the flatulent Boris and the preening Truss in particular - who laid the groundwork for his doom. That pair of rotters are still going around claiming they were hard done by and we should be grateful. What a dismal duo, and poor old Rishi is likely to be flushed down the toilet of history reeking of their dung. Who said life was fair?
I don’t feel sorry for him. He lost the leadership contest, and then sought to undermine the winner almost immediately, in order to wear the crown himself. He deserves to be flushed down the toilet of history, reeking of the dung.
Liz Truss undermined herself. Rishi stayed completely quiet through the whole period as well so he didn't undermine her at all.
He stayed very quiet himself of course. But his proxies - in Parliament, the Press and the City - were very loud indeed.
I feel a bit sorry for Rishi. He's on course for perhaps the most catastrophic political obliteration of modern times, yet it was actually his predecessors - the flatulent Boris and the preening Truss in particular - who laid the groundwork for his doom. That pair of rotters are still going around claiming they were hard done by and we should be grateful. What a dismal duo, and poor old Rishi is likely to be flushed down the toilet of history reeking of their dung. Who said life was fair?
I don’t feel sorry for him. He lost the leadership contest, and then sought to undermine the winner almost immediately, in order to wear the crown himself. He deserves to be flushed down the toilet of history, reeking of the dung.
Liz Truss undermined herself. Rishi stayed completely quiet through the whole period as well so he didn't undermine her at all.
He stayed very quiet himself of course. But his proxies - in Parliament, the Press and the City - were very loud indeed.
They were loud because they were their own people and Truss caused a currency collapse.
The AI revolution is going to change the way humans work, live, love, exist. In 10-20 years time arguments about nationality will likely seem quaintly absurd
I feel a bit sorry for Rishi. He's on course for perhaps the most catastrophic political obliteration of modern times, yet it was actually his predecessors - the flatulent Boris and the preening Truss in particular - who laid the groundwork for his doom. That pair of rotters are still going around claiming they were hard done by and we should be grateful. What a dismal duo, and poor old Rishi is likely to be flushed down the toilet of history reeking of their dung. Who said life was fair?
Probably true in the short term. In the long term I think he’ll be given some credit for cleaning up their messes.
On topic I found Alanbrooke's piece interesting but 'the old dog' ain't hardly 'fit and well'. It is limping badly and being sucked dry by a multitude of fleas.
A cruel but possibly accurate metaphor for NI, Wales and Scotland.
The AI revolution is going to change the way humans work, live, love, exist. In 10-20 years time arguments about nationality will likely seem quaintly absurd
I guess the largest term in that word cloud - "Don't know" - is possible to shake off.
Whether or not it is replaced by something better is another question, but it is a problem that could potentially be addressed.
However. There are two possible interpretations of that "Don't know" with completely opposite consequences. There is the Don't know of I am not knowledgeable enough to give an opinion. That can be turned round. (Although, after 13 years in power, those must be a group unlikely to vote). Then there is the don't know answerI would give, which can't. I don't even think they know.
I feel a bit sorry for Rishi. He's on course for perhaps the most catastrophic political obliteration of modern times, yet it was actually his predecessors - the flatulent Boris and the preening Truss in particular - who laid the groundwork for his doom. That pair of rotters are still going around claiming they were hard done by and we should be grateful. What a dismal duo, and poor old Rishi is likely to be flushed down the toilet of history reeking of their dung. Who said life was fair?
I don’t feel sorry for him. He lost the leadership contest, and then sought to undermine the winner almost immediately, in order to wear the crown himself. He deserves to be flushed down the toilet of history, reeking of the dung.
Liz Truss undermined herself. Rishi stayed completely quiet through the whole period as well so he didn't undermine her at all.
He stayed very quiet himself of course. But his proxies - in Parliament, the Press and the City - were very loud indeed.
They were loud because they were their own people and Truss caused a currency collapse.
It wasn’t Truss that caused the currency collapse, it was the Sunakites in the City and the Press.
I feel a bit sorry for Rishi. He's on course for perhaps the most catastrophic political obliteration of modern times, yet it was actually his predecessors - the flatulent Boris and the preening Truss in particular - who laid the groundwork for his doom. That pair of rotters are still going around claiming they were hard done by and we should be grateful. What a dismal duo, and poor old Rishi is likely to be flushed down the toilet of history reeking of their dung. Who said life was fair?
I don’t feel sorry for him. He lost the leadership contest, and then sought to undermine the winner almost immediately, in order to wear the crown himself. He deserves to be flushed down the toilet of history, reeking of the dung.
Liz Truss undermined herself. Rishi stayed completely quiet through the whole period as well so he didn't undermine her at all.
He stayed very quiet himself of course. But his proxies - in Parliament, the Press and the City - were very loud indeed.
They were loud because they were their own people and Truss caused a currency collapse.
It wasn’t Truss that caused the currency collapse, it was the Sunakites in the City and the Press.
I see the images out of Moscow today show the opening stages of what was predicted a while ago. Russia is becoming a junior partner of China. Far from making Russia strong again, Putin is returning the country to being a vassal of an Asian power.
This of course is history repeating itself. The Duchy of Moscow got its start as a vassal of the Mongols. Moscow's overlords were happy to have the state take its 30 pieces of silver in return for helping Mongolia exploit the other Eastern Slavs.
This is the question then for the Russian people. Do they want to be a vassal state for a Chinese Empire, or would they prefer to have a place as a full part of Europe with all the freedoms that follow from democracy?
The discussions between Russia and China are going to be really interesting to observe - so long as the Chinese don’t arm the Russians and we end up properly in WWIII. But the optimist in me says that Xi knows how that goes down with the rest of the Western world.
I’m thinking that the meeting today, is when Putin gets told that his failed state is going to be a 2030s Chinese farm.
I'm surprised Zelenskyy hasn't had a go at trying to charm the Chinese. Maybe he has but we've not seen it or it's been rebuffed. Most of Ukraine's soft power effort has been focused on the Western donors and a couple of semi-neutral countries like Israel and Turkey.
I think the trouble with the respecting sovereignty argument which people keep saying will work with China is that it's only ever used it for its own convenience when criticised about domestic policy. It has been perfectly happy to grab territory in the S China sea and on the Indian border and threaten most of its neighbours. Likewise the imperialism charge at Russia. China probably has common cause with Russia in being irritated by pesky little states on its doorstep like Vietnam and the Philippines who by rights should just accept their place as clients of China.
Some people (including posters here) claim that China and Russia can't be imperialist since they aren't the dominant world power (aka the USA).
So when they go all Sanders Of The River, it's not imperialism. It's just claiming their rights. Or something.
I feel a bit sorry for Rishi. He's on course for perhaps the most catastrophic political obliteration of modern times, yet it was actually his predecessors - the flatulent Boris and the preening Truss in particular - who laid the groundwork for his doom. That pair of rotters are still going around claiming they were hard done by and we should be grateful. What a dismal duo, and poor old Rishi is likely to be flushed down the toilet of history reeking of their dung. Who said life was fair?
In some ways he’ll probably come off ok because in comparison he’ll probably be seen as a steady pair of hands undermined from the get go by the actions of his predecessors and who just got swept away by events. A footnote, but not a terrible one. No real legacy to speak of though.
His job is to lose with a degree of dignity and grace, and in such a way that there remains a serious Tory v Lab political contest in due course, once the Tories have worked out what they are for; several million people who they have recently lost would like to know.
@Alanbrooke another excellent article, that explains much of why I'm a Unionist.
Lots of life left in the old dog yet. The problem is Whitehall/Westminster centralisation.
How do you address that problem without independence though?
Devolution was meant to end Whitehall/Westminster centralisation. Instead all that's happened is that you have a Holyrood that takes credit for anything decent and blames Whitehall/Westminster for all ills, no responsibility taken.
One of the better arguments that swung me around for Brexit is that if we leave the EU, politicians will no longer be able to blame the EU for all ills and would have to take responsibility for their own choices instead. That same logic applies, but 100x bigger to Holyrood too.
I find it amusing how many people looking across Brexit and Scotland are pro-independence for one, but against it for the other. Not that many people seem to be consistently pro-independence for both, or consistently against it for both.
Fewer laws, federal government and shut Oxford University.
I feel a bit sorry for Rishi. He's on course for perhaps the most catastrophic political obliteration of modern times, yet it was actually his predecessors - the flatulent Boris and the preening Truss in particular - who laid the groundwork for his doom. That pair of rotters are still going around claiming they were hard done by and we should be grateful. What a dismal duo, and poor old Rishi is likely to be flushed down the toilet of history reeking of their dung. Who said life was fair?
I don’t feel sorry for him. He lost the leadership contest, and then sought to undermine the winner almost immediately, in order to wear the crown himself. He deserves to be flushed down the toilet of history, reeking of the dung.
What exactly did he do? Surely you are too smart to believe n the conspiracy against Truss aren't you? Many like-minded people thought Truss would be a disaster, she was and they said so. What do you expect?
I have in recent years compared the rise in living standards in Ireland alongside the fairly widescale impoverishment of Northern Ireland and wondered what the long term effect of that was likely to be on an eventual border poll as promised by the GFA.
I see the images out of Moscow today show the opening stages of what was predicted a while ago. Russia is becoming a junior partner of China. Far from making Russia strong again, Putin is returning the country to being a vassal of an Asian power.
This of course is history repeating itself. The Duchy of Moscow got its start as a vassal of the Mongols. Moscow's overlords were happy to have the state take its 30 pieces of silver in return for helping Mongolia exploit the other Eastern Slavs.
This is the question then for the Russian people. Do they want to be a vassal state for a Chinese Empire, or would they prefer to have a place as a full part of Europe with all the freedoms that follow from democracy?
The discussions between Russia and China are going to be really interesting to observe - so long as the Chinese don’t arm the Russians and we end up properly in WWIII. But the optimist in me says that Xi knows how that goes down with the rest of the Western world.
I’m thinking that the meeting today, is when Putin gets told that his failed state is going to be a 2030s Chinese farm.
I'm surprised Zelenskyy hasn't had a go at trying to charm the Chinese. Maybe he has but we've not seen it or it's been rebuffed. Most of Ukraine's soft power effort has been focused on the Western donors and a couple of semi-neutral countries like Israel and Turkey.
I think the trouble with the respecting sovereignty argument which people keep saying will work with China is that it's only ever used it for its own convenience when criticised about domestic policy. It has been perfectly happy to grab territory in the S China sea and on the Indian border and threaten most of its neighbours. Likewise the imperialism charge at Russia. China probably has common cause with Russia in being irritated by pesky little states on its doorstep like Vietnam and the Philippines who by rights should just accept their place as clients of China.
Some people (including posters here) claim that China and Russia can't be imperialist since they aren't the dominant world power (aka the USA).
So when they go all Sanders Of The River, it's not imperialism. It's just claiming their rights. Or something.
Then explain the Belgian Congo.
They didn't start the fire, but come somewhere between Chubby Checker Psycho and Hemingway Eichmann.
It's not the Govts performance on the NHS it's the NHS's performance
No, the rules of this particular game of Mornington Crescent are clear and simple: All good things about health in the UK are 100% down to the brilliance of individual altruistic boffins doing something with a test tube and the NHS.
All bad things about health in the UK are the personal responsibility of government who are aided and abetted in this by the wickedness of the firms who wickedly develop and make the drugs and their even wickeder shareholders.
The AI revolution is going to change the way humans work, live, love, exist. In 10-20 years time arguments about nationality will likely seem quaintly absurd
I feel a bit sorry for Rishi. He's on course for perhaps the most catastrophic political obliteration of modern times, yet it was actually his predecessors - the flatulent Boris and the preening Truss in particular - who laid the groundwork for his doom. That pair of rotters are still going around claiming they were hard done by and we should be grateful. What a dismal duo, and poor old Rishi is likely to be flushed down the toilet of history reeking of their dung. Who said life was fair?
I don’t feel sorry for him. He lost the leadership contest, and then sought to undermine the winner almost immediately, in order to wear the crown himself. He deserves to be flushed down the toilet of history, reeking of the dung.
Liz Truss undermined herself. Rishi stayed completely quiet through the whole period as well so he didn't undermine her at all.
He stayed very quiet himself of course. But his proxies - in Parliament, the Press and the City - were very loud indeed.
They were loud because they were their own people and Truss caused a currency collapse.
It wasn’t Truss that caused the currency collapse, it was the Sunakites in the City and the Press.
This is one of most bonkers post yet on pb.com.
I mean, there is really serious competition, but this is out there in a class all of its own.
As one UK we remain a strong, medium sized power economically and politically.
Break up and we risk the fate of the ex USSR, a disunited former Union where the biggest nation is resentful and taken over by Nationalists and angry at its neighbours for deserting it while they increasingly look to the EU
As one UK we remain a strong, medium sized power economically and politically.
Break up and we risk the fate of the ex USSR, a disunited former Union where the biggest nation is resentful and taken over by Nationalists and angry at its neighbours for deserting it while they increasingly look to the EU
I feel a bit sorry for Rishi. He's on course for perhaps the most catastrophic political obliteration of modern times, yet it was actually his predecessors - the flatulent Boris and the preening Truss in particular - who laid the groundwork for his doom. That pair of rotters are still going around claiming they were hard done by and we should be grateful. What a dismal duo, and poor old Rishi is likely to be flushed down the toilet of history reeking of their dung. Who said life was fair?
I don’t feel sorry for him. He lost the leadership contest, and then sought to undermine the winner almost immediately, in order to wear the crown himself. He deserves to be flushed down the toilet of history, reeking of the dung.
Liz Truss undermined herself. Rishi stayed completely quiet through the whole period as well so he didn't undermine her at all.
He stayed very quiet himself of course. But his proxies - in Parliament, the Press and the City - were very loud indeed.
They were loud because they were their own people and Truss caused a currency collapse.
It wasn’t Truss that caused the currency collapse, it was the Sunakites in the City and the Press.
I'm sorry, that's just not true. As soon as the plan to cut taxes for high income earners was revealed along with billions in other tax cuts and no corresponding spending cuts gilts began to crash, then the LDI stuff made the market wobble very badly and it led to an immediate currency and debt crisis. It was directly related to the actions of Truss and Kwasi, they presented a plan to borrow £45bn per year extra with no spending cuts and waved away concerns around the extra borrowing.
The AI revolution is going to change the way humans work, live, love, exist. In 10-20 years time arguments about nationality will likely seem quaintly absurd
That includes British nationalism
So where’s your next flight?
Am considering Baghdad
Well if you want to visit old cities, might as well visit the oldest.
I feel a bit sorry for Rishi. He's on course for perhaps the most catastrophic political obliteration of modern times, yet it was actually his predecessors - the flatulent Boris and the preening Truss in particular - who laid the groundwork for his doom. That pair of rotters are still going around claiming they were hard done by and we should be grateful. What a dismal duo, and poor old Rishi is likely to be flushed down the toilet of history reeking of their dung. Who said life was fair?
I don’t feel sorry for him. He lost the leadership contest, and then sought to undermine the winner almost immediately, in order to wear the crown himself. He deserves to be flushed down the toilet of history, reeking of the dung.
Liz Truss undermined herself. Rishi stayed completely quiet through the whole period as well so he didn't undermine her at all.
He stayed very quiet himself of course. But his proxies - in Parliament, the Press and the City - were very loud indeed.
They were loud because they were their own people and Truss caused a currency collapse.
It wasn’t Truss that caused the currency collapse, it was the Sunakites in the City and the Press.
You cannot possibly be serious about this.
Market movements are driven by huge volumes of investment decisions by enormous numbers of people, not just in the UK but across the world. The sentiment driving market movements can be irrational (although I don't think they were in that case) but they aren't susceptible to manipulation by a handful of Sunak-ers.
In this particular case, setting a course of slashing government revenues, with no verified projections of how that would be dealt with through growth and/or paid for by spending cuts, spooked the markets here and abroad to say the very least. The pound was hammered and pension funds were within minutes of collapse. Plenty of people warned them about it, and Truss/Kwarteng totally ignored them. Then it happened in real time, and they essentially pretended it wasn't rather than doing anything meaningful to address the unfolding disaster.
Further, the idea that the press as a whole were with Sunak is demonstrably false. Not only did they tend to support Truss in the summer leadership election, but the Kwarteng budget got rapturous write-ups by many, before the market impact sent hacks scurrying.
Sunak might not have been the model of helpfulness, but the idea that he or anyone else conspired to create the f***ing catastrophe that was the Truss/Kwarteng aberation is conspiracy theory nonsense.
For any considering topping up their NI contributions before the April cut off the final step is the easiest. The long waits are to get the pension advice line to answer (45 minutes), get the letter from them confirming it (over 4 weeks), but getting the code to make your contribution pretty quick (13 minutes). Government faster at taking money off you - whodathunkit?
I have in recent years compared the rise in living standards in Ireland alongside the fairly widescale impoverishment of Northern Ireland and wondered what the long term effect of that was likely to be on an eventual border poll as promised by the GFA.
My halfsister lives in Belfast and I don't see much impoverishment in that city, seems quite thriving to me. Rural NI maybe.
Also my ex in laws were from the Dublin area and normal run of the mill people and quite patriotic Irish to the point of standing for the anthem. They said they would love a united Ireland but wouldn't vote yes in a referendum as the North was unaffordable for the south to take on.
I could quite see a poll where the South votes no to reunification on practical grounds. (Admittedly haven't talked to them in a decade now but will ask them at my sons wedding later this year)
As one UK we remain a strong, medium sized power economically and politically.
Break up and we risk the fate of the ex USSR, a disunited former Union where the biggest nation is resentful and taken over by Nationalists and angry at its neighbours for deserting it while they increasingly look to the EU
Meanwhile on Planet Earth almost all former Soviet Republics are extremely glad they have left the USSR and Ukraine is fighting to keep its independence.
Russians not being happy with that, is Russias problem. Its not that the fall of the USSR was a problem.
If you think the UK is analogous to the USSR then you're even madder than the box of frogs I had you pegged as. England isn't Russia, thank goodness!
Keir Starmer has a lot to thank Jeremy Corbyn for being so voter repellent that Labour didn't have the misfortune to manage Covid. December 2019 was a good general election to have lost.
I would disagree -- winning in 2019 gives you the opportunity to set the ground rules for our ongoing relationship with the EU, which is one of those "once done, much harder to roll back" chances to define a framework that successor governments may tweak and tinker with but are unlikely to massively rework. And the covid crisis managed well is an opportunity to show you're actually good at the job of government.
Which they would have missed, since they supported all the government's disastrous policies but wanted them more extreme and for longer...
Right, of course it's always possible to screw up your response to a crisis -- just look at partygate for a real-world example. But you shouldn't be in politics if you think it's better to let the other team manage the tricky stuff because you think you'd make a horlicks of it...
I feel a bit sorry for Rishi. He's on course for perhaps the most catastrophic political obliteration of modern times, yet it was actually his predecessors - the flatulent Boris and the preening Truss in particular - who laid the groundwork for his doom. That pair of rotters are still going around claiming they were hard done by and we should be grateful. What a dismal duo, and poor old Rishi is likely to be flushed down the toilet of history reeking of their dung. Who said life was fair?
I would have expected to feel sorry for him as he did take over some toxic legacies, but he keeps making silly mistakes of his own, especially on strikes and ethics, so the sympathy I have is pretty limited.
For any considering topping up their NI contributions before the April cut off the final step is the easiest. The long waits are to get the pension advice line to answer (45 minutes), get the letter from them confirming it (over 4 weeks), but getting the code to make your contribution pretty quick (13 minutes). Government faster at taking money off you - whodathunkit?
I only did your third step so assume the two longer ones are voluntary?
As one UK we remain a strong, medium sized power economically and politically.
Break up and we risk the fate of the ex USSR, a disunited former Union where the biggest nation is resentful and taken over by Nationalists and angry at its neighbours for deserting it while they increasingly look to the EU
Meanwhile on Planet Earth almost all former Soviet Republics are extremely glad they have left the USSR and Ukraine is fighting to keep its independence.
Russians not being happy with that, is Russias problem. Its not that the fall of the USSR was a problem.
If you think the UK is analogous to the USSR then you're even madder than the box of frogs I had you pegged as. England isn't Russia, thank goodness!
At the moment.
England did vote for Brexit however unlike Scotland and Northern Ireland. England therefore does not see itself as part of the rest of Europe in the same way they do just as Russia doesn't see itself like the rest of Europe in the same way Ukraine does.
If the UK broke up, with the economic damage that would do too and resurgent English Nationalism an English version of Putin backed up by some GB News types and the Nationalist right and Mail could well take power in a decade or 2
As one UK we remain a strong, medium sized power economically and politically.
Break up and we risk the fate of the ex USSR, a disunited former Union where the biggest nation is resentful and taken over by Nationalists and angry at its neighbours for deserting it while they increasingly look to the EU
Sending the tanks into Scotland?
Certainly not Sunak or Starmer. If the UK broke up and an English Putin became English PM who knows
I feel a bit sorry for Rishi. He's on course for perhaps the most catastrophic political obliteration of modern times, yet it was actually his predecessors - the flatulent Boris and the preening Truss in particular - who laid the groundwork for his doom. That pair of rotters are still going around claiming they were hard done by and we should be grateful. What a dismal duo, and poor old Rishi is likely to be flushed down the toilet of history reeking of their dung. Who said life was fair?
I don’t feel sorry for him. He lost the leadership contest, and then sought to undermine the winner almost immediately, in order to wear the crown himself. He deserves to be flushed down the toilet of history, reeking of the dung.
Liz Truss undermined herself. Rishi stayed completely quiet through the whole period as well so he didn't undermine her at all.
He stayed very quiet himself of course. But his proxies - in Parliament, the Press and the City - were very loud indeed.
They were loud because they were their own people and Truss caused a currency collapse.
It wasn’t Truss that caused the currency collapse, it was the Sunakites in the City and the Press.
I feel a bit sorry for Rishi. He's on course for perhaps the most catastrophic political obliteration of modern times, yet it was actually his predecessors - the flatulent Boris and the preening Truss in particular - who laid the groundwork for his doom. That pair of rotters are still going around claiming they were hard done by and we should be grateful. What a dismal duo, and poor old Rishi is likely to be flushed down the toilet of history reeking of their dung. Who said life was fair?
I don’t feel sorry for him. He lost the leadership contest, and then sought to undermine the winner almost immediately, in order to wear the crown himself. He deserves to be flushed down the toilet of history, reeking of the dung.
Liz Truss undermined herself. Rishi stayed completely quiet through the whole period as well so he didn't undermine her at all.
He stayed very quiet himself of course. But his proxies - in Parliament, the Press and the City - were very loud indeed.
They were loud because they were their own people and Truss caused a currency collapse.
It wasn’t Truss that caused the currency collapse, it was the Sunakites in the City and the Press.
I'm sorry, that's just not true. As soon as the plan to cut taxes for high income earners was revealed along with billions in other tax cuts and no corresponding spending cuts gilts began to crash, then the LDI stuff made the market wobble very badly and it led to an immediate currency and debt crisis. It was directly related to the actions of Truss and Kwasi, they presented a plan to borrow £45bn per year extra with no spending cuts and waved away concerns around the extra borrowing.
It was utterly bonkers the way they went about things. Even if you thought their ideas had merits you would still need to see where the cuts were coming from. That they waived it all away, and also had very little to say about soaring energy costs, simply made Truss and Kwarteng look like amateurs.
It does my head in that people so apparently incompetent can rise to high office in this country, they ought to be weeded out sooner.
It's not the Govts performance on the NHS it's the NHS's performance
Indeed. A plausible policy would be, more or less: Close the Department of Health and transfer it to the Treasury. Set up a multi party commission regularly to decide only what % of GDP shall be the NHS budget for the year. Write a cheque. Go away. Refer all questions to the NHS.
As one UK we remain a strong, medium sized power economically and politically.
Break up and we risk the fate of the ex USSR, a disunited former Union where the biggest nation is resentful and taken over by Nationalists and angry at its neighbours for deserting it while they increasingly look to the EU
Sending the tanks into Scotland?
Certainly not Sunak or Starmer. If the UK broke up and an English Putin became English PM who knows
Time for a thread from one of the Continuity PB Tories (e.g. BJO) on how the Lee Anderson Bounce and the Corbyn Expulsion Slump is a perfect storm for SKS
I feel a bit sorry for Rishi. He's on course for perhaps the most catastrophic political obliteration of modern times, yet it was actually his predecessors - the flatulent Boris and the preening Truss in particular - who laid the groundwork for his doom. That pair of rotters are still going around claiming they were hard done by and we should be grateful. What a dismal duo, and poor old Rishi is likely to be flushed down the toilet of history reeking of their dung. Who said life was fair?
I don’t feel sorry for him. He lost the leadership contest, and then sought to undermine the winner almost immediately, in order to wear the crown himself. He deserves to be flushed down the toilet of history, reeking of the dung.
Liz Truss undermined herself. Rishi stayed completely quiet through the whole period as well so he didn't undermine her at all.
He stayed very quiet himself of course. But his proxies - in Parliament, the Press and the City - were very loud indeed.
They were loud because they were their own people and Truss caused a currency collapse.
It wasn’t Truss that caused the currency collapse, it was the Sunakites in the City and the Press.
You cannot possibly be serious about this.
Market movements are driven by huge volumes of investment decisions by enormous numbers of people, not just in the UK but across the world. The sentiment driving market movements can be irrational (although I don't think they were in that case) but they aren't susceptible to manipulation by a handful of Sunak-ers.
In this particular case, setting a course of slashing government revenues, with no verified projections of how that would be dealt with through growth and/or paid for by spending cuts, spooked the markets here and abroad to say the very least. The pound was hammered and pension funds were within minutes of collapse. Plenty of people warned them about it, and Truss/Kwarteng totally ignored them. Then it happened in real time, and they essentially pretended it wasn't rather than doing anything meaningful to address the unfolding disaster.
Further, the idea that the press as a whole were with Sunak is demonstrably false. Not only did they tend to support Truss in the summer leadership election, but the Kwarteng budget got rapturous write-ups by many, before the market impact sent hacks scurrying.
Sunak might not have been the model of helpfulness, but the idea that he or anyone else conspired to create the f***ing catastrophe that was the Truss/Kwarteng aberation is conspiracy theory nonsense.
Free marketeers bemoaning the free market for charging market interest rates to their own government is the latest of our ever more common political absurdities.
I see the images out of Moscow today show the opening stages of what was predicted a while ago. Russia is becoming a junior partner of China. Far from making Russia strong again, Putin is returning the country to being a vassal of an Asian power.
This of course is history repeating itself. The Duchy of Moscow got its start as a vassal of the Mongols. Moscow's overlords were happy to have the state take its 30 pieces of silver in return for helping Mongolia exploit the other Eastern Slavs.
This is the question then for the Russian people. Do they want to be a vassal state for a Chinese Empire, or would they prefer to have a place as a full part of Europe with all the freedoms that follow from democracy?
The discussions between Russia and China are going to be really interesting to observe - so long as the Chinese don’t arm the Russians and we end up properly in WWIII. But the optimist in me says that Xi knows how that goes down with the rest of the Western world.
I’m thinking that the meeting today, is when Putin gets told that his failed state is going to be a 2030s Chinese farm.
I'm surprised Zelenskyy hasn't had a go at trying to charm the Chinese. Maybe he has but we've not seen it or it's been rebuffed. Most of Ukraine's soft power effort has been focused on the Western donors and a couple of semi-neutral countries like Israel and Turkey.
I think the trouble with the respecting sovereignty argument which people keep saying will work with China is that it's only ever used it for its own convenience when criticised about domestic policy. It has been perfectly happy to grab territory in the S China sea and on the Indian border and threaten most of its neighbours. Likewise the imperialism charge at Russia. China probably has common cause with Russia in being irritated by pesky little states on its doorstep like Vietnam and the Philippines who by rights should just accept their place as clients of China.
Some people (including posters here) claim that China and Russia can't be imperialist since they aren't the dominant world power (aka the USA).
So when they go all Sanders Of The River, it's not imperialism. It's just claiming their rights. Or something.
Then explain the Belgian Congo.
{Handwaves in Tanky}
"Well, Belgium was invented by Britain (ignores some actual history), so it it all UK imperialism, really"
For any considering topping up their NI contributions before the April cut off the final step is the easiest. The long waits are to get the pension advice line to answer (45 minutes), get the letter from them confirming it (over 4 weeks), but getting the code to make your contribution pretty quick (13 minutes). Government faster at taking money off you - whodathunkit?
Undoubtedly but I was surprised how difficult it seemed to pay earlier year NICs when I looked into doing it. I'm trying to give them money. I say that as a civil servant.
"It’s the finances which prove the strongest cord. None of the Celtic nations pay their way"
In 1921, Ireland was poorer than the rest of the UK. Using you argument, it should not have broken away.
Now, go & visit County Kildare or Meath. Then cross the Irish Sea to Ceredigion or Meirionnydd. The difference is stark.
The former is way, way, way more prosperous than the latter. This was not so in 1921.
Took quite a long time though. Will people accept being poorer on the promise that in 50/100 years the country will be comparatively wealthier?
Why can't Scotland or Wales learn from Ireland's mistakes ? They can do it faster.
I am just pointing out we have an explicit counter-example.
RoI broke away a poor & backward country, and it is now more prosperous than Wales (& probably Scotland).
Wales' entrenched socialist culture makes an independent Wales deeply unattractive to any business. The fact that Mark Drakeford enjoys stratospheric levels of popularity among the population says all you need to know.
I think Scotland is different, despite also leaning left. It has great universities, a big financial services sector in Edinburgh, an incredibly successful Scotch whisky industry, still decent reserves of oil and gas, and plenty of hydroelectric power.
Scotland would take a financial hit on independence, but I'm sure it could make a decent fist of it - provided its politicians were willing to make it an attractive business centre. I could see the SNP and Labour simply engaging in a contest of who can be the most left wing, in which case, it would be a basket case.
I have in recent years compared the rise in living standards in Ireland alongside the fairly widescale impoverishment of Northern Ireland and wondered what the long term effect of that was likely to be on an eventual border poll as promised by the GFA.
My halfsister lives in Belfast and I don't see much impoverishment in that city, seems quite thriving to me. Rural NI maybe.
Also my ex in laws were from the Dublin area and normal run of the mill people and quite patriotic Irish to the point of standing for the anthem. They said they would love a united Ireland but wouldn't vote yes in a referendum as the North was unaffordable for the south to take on.
I could quite see a poll where the South votes no to reunification on practical grounds. (Admittedly haven't talked to them in a decade now but will ask them at my sons wedding later this year)
I see the images out of Moscow today show the opening stages of what was predicted a while ago. Russia is becoming a junior partner of China. Far from making Russia strong again, Putin is returning the country to being a vassal of an Asian power.
This of course is history repeating itself. The Duchy of Moscow got its start as a vassal of the Mongols. Moscow's overlords were happy to have the state take its 30 pieces of silver in return for helping Mongolia exploit the other Eastern Slavs.
This is the question then for the Russian people. Do they want to be a vassal state for a Chinese Empire, or would they prefer to have a place as a full part of Europe with all the freedoms that follow from democracy?
The discussions between Russia and China are going to be really interesting to observe - so long as the Chinese don’t arm the Russians and we end up properly in WWIII. But the optimist in me says that Xi knows how that goes down with the rest of the Western world.
I’m thinking that the meeting today, is when Putin gets told that his failed state is going to be a 2030s Chinese farm.
I'm surprised Zelenskyy hasn't had a go at trying to charm the Chinese. Maybe he has but we've not seen it or it's been rebuffed. Most of Ukraine's soft power effort has been focused on the Western donors and a couple of semi-neutral countries like Israel and Turkey.
China and Ukraine had quite strong military links until recently. Ukraine helped greatly with the J-15, China’s AliExpress copy of the Flanker K for STOBAR carrier ops. Things became #itscomplicated when China wanted to buy a majority stake in the Zaporeezheeya aircraft engine plant in a deal that was not in the slightest bit corrupt. Trump told Ukraine to tell Chyna to fuck off and relations have been more sour than a fermented plum ever since. Trump had the ability to withhold US (and British and Canadian) military aid and training programs so Ukraine had no choice. They got effed in the A…
The process has been going on for a while now, though. The engine for the supersonic trainer China just sold to the UAE was second sourced in Russia back in 2015. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivchenko-Progress_AI-222
Much more significant, possibly militarily as well as economically, are Biden’s recently introduced chip technology restrictions on China.
I see the images out of Moscow today show the opening stages of what was predicted a while ago. Russia is becoming a junior partner of China. Far from making Russia strong again, Putin is returning the country to being a vassal of an Asian power.
This of course is history repeating itself. The Duchy of Moscow got its start as a vassal of the Mongols. Moscow's overlords were happy to have the state take its 30 pieces of silver in return for helping Mongolia exploit the other Eastern Slavs.
This is the question then for the Russian people. Do they want to be a vassal state for a Chinese Empire, or would they prefer to have a place as a full part of Europe with all the freedoms that follow from democracy?
The discussions between Russia and China are going to be really interesting to observe - so long as the Chinese don’t arm the Russians and we end up properly in WWIII. But the optimist in me says that Xi knows how that goes down with the rest of the Western world.
I’m thinking that the meeting today, is when Putin gets told that his failed state is going to be a 2030s Chinese farm.
I'm surprised Zelenskyy hasn't had a go at trying to charm the Chinese. Maybe he has but we've not seen it or it's been rebuffed. Most of Ukraine's soft power effort has been focused on the Western donors and a couple of semi-neutral countries like Israel and Turkey.
I think the trouble with the respecting sovereignty argument which people keep saying will work with China is that it's only ever used it for its own convenience when criticised about domestic policy. It has been perfectly happy to grab territory in the S China sea and on the Indian border and threaten most of its neighbours. Likewise the imperialism charge at Russia. China probably has common cause with Russia in being irritated by pesky little states on its doorstep like Vietnam and the Philippines who by rights should just accept their place as clients of China.
Some people (including posters here) claim that China and Russia can't be imperialist since they aren't the dominant world power (aka the USA).
So when they go all Sanders Of The River, it's not imperialism. It's just claiming their rights. Or something.
Then explain the Belgian Congo.
{Handwaves in Tanky}
"Well, Belgium was invented by Britain (ignores some actual history), so it it all UK imperialism, really"
I've certainly seen the argument advanced that it's only imperialism if you cross the sea. Extending your boundaries is not imperialism.
@Alanbrooke another excellent article, that explains much of why I'm a Unionist.
Lots of life left in the old dog yet. The problem is Whitehall/Westminster centralisation.
One of the better arguments that swung me around for Brexit is that if we leave the EU, politicians will no longer be able to blame the EU for all ills and would have to take responsibility for their own choices instead.
It's not the Govts performance on the NHS it's the NHS's performance
Indeed. A plausible policy would be, more or less: Close the Department of Health and transfer it to the Treasury. Set up a multi party commission regularly to decide only what % of GDP shall be the NHS budget for the year. Write a cheque. Go away. Refer all questions to the NHS.
AKA depoliticise the NHS
The only problem is that you assume the NHS will then treat patients. It might equally become a hive of producer interest - in the interests of the people running the NHS Quango (or whatever it will be).
This has been a problem with the NHS Since it was created - the idea of patients coming first is remarkably recent. The original ethos was that the patients should take what they are given. And be grateful.
I have in recent years compared the rise in living standards in Ireland alongside the fairly widescale impoverishment of Northern Ireland and wondered what the long term effect of that was likely to be on an eventual border poll as promised by the GFA.
My halfsister lives in Belfast and I don't see much impoverishment in that city, seems quite thriving to me. Rural NI maybe.
Also my ex in laws were from the Dublin area and normal run of the mill people and quite patriotic Irish to the point of standing for the anthem. They said they would love a united Ireland but wouldn't vote yes in a referendum as the North was unaffordable for the south to take on.
I could quite see a poll where the South votes no to reunification on practical grounds. (Admittedly haven't talked to them in a decade now but will ask them at my sons wedding later this year)
Belfast is a lot better than it was in the 80s.
I've always had the impression that Northern Ireland is a lot more prosperous than official statistics suggest. Driving up from Dublin to the Antrim coast, as I did a few years ago, on excellent roads, seeing all the swanky houses, and immaculate gardens, I would have thought I was in a very prosperous part of the world.
I feel a bit sorry for Rishi. He's on course for perhaps the most catastrophic political obliteration of modern times, yet it was actually his predecessors - the flatulent Boris and the preening Truss in particular - who laid the groundwork for his doom. That pair of rotters are still going around claiming they were hard done by and we should be grateful. What a dismal duo, and poor old Rishi is likely to be flushed down the toilet of history reeking of their dung. Who said life was fair?
I don’t feel sorry for him. He lost the leadership contest, and then sought to undermine the winner almost immediately, in order to wear the crown himself. He deserves to be flushed down the toilet of history, reeking of the dung.
Liz Truss undermined herself. Rishi stayed completely quiet through the whole period as well so he didn't undermine her at all.
He stayed very quiet himself of course. But his proxies - in Parliament, the Press and the City - were very loud indeed.
They were loud because they were their own people and Truss caused a currency collapse.
It wasn’t Truss that caused the currency collapse, it was the Sunakites in the City and the Press.
I'm sorry, that's just not true. As soon as the plan to cut taxes for high income earners was revealed along with billions in other tax cuts and no corresponding spending cuts gilts began to crash, then the LDI stuff made the market wobble very badly and it led to an immediate currency and debt crisis. It was directly related to the actions of Truss and Kwasi, they presented a plan to borrow £45bn per year extra with no spending cuts and waved away concerns around the extra borrowing.
The other thing that should be borne in mind was Truss's complete u turn on energy subsidies, from completely unaffordable to blanket coverage. Sunak only ever offered targeted support. As Kate Andrews pointed out at no point in Truss's self-justifying drivel about the establishment, orthodoxy, left wing consensus etc did she ever mention the markets.
I have in recent years compared the rise in living standards in Ireland alongside the fairly widescale impoverishment of Northern Ireland and wondered what the long term effect of that was likely to be on an eventual border poll as promised by the GFA.
Plus the higher birth rate among those likely to look to the Republic!
I have in recent years compared the rise in living standards in Ireland alongside the fairly widescale impoverishment of Northern Ireland and wondered what the long term effect of that was likely to be on an eventual border poll as promised by the GFA.
My halfsister lives in Belfast and I don't see much impoverishment in that city, seems quite thriving to me. Rural NI maybe.
Also my ex in laws were from the Dublin area and normal run of the mill people and quite patriotic Irish to the point of standing for the anthem. They said they would love a united Ireland but wouldn't vote yes in a referendum as the North was unaffordable for the south to take on.
I could quite see a poll where the South votes no to reunification on practical grounds. (Admittedly haven't talked to them in a decade now but will ask them at my sons wedding later this year)
Belfast is a lot better than it was in the 80s.
I've always had the impression that Northern Ireland is a lot more prosperous than official statistics suggest. Driving up from Dublin to the Antrim coast, as I did a few years ago, on excellent roads, seeing all the swanky houses, and immaculate gardens, I would have thought I was in a very prosperous part of the world.
You’re making the assumption that all the income was declared, and the taxes paid on it.
The AI revolution is going to change the way humans work, live, love, exist. In 10-20 years time arguments about nationality will likely seem quaintly absurd
That includes British nationalism
People thought that 1991 meant The End of History.
I feel a bit sorry for Rishi. He's on course for perhaps the most catastrophic political obliteration of modern times, yet it was actually his predecessors - the flatulent Boris and the preening Truss in particular - who laid the groundwork for his doom. That pair of rotters are still going around claiming they were hard done by and we should be grateful. What a dismal duo, and poor old Rishi is likely to be flushed down the toilet of history reeking of their dung. Who said life was fair?
I don’t feel sorry for him. He lost the leadership contest, and then sought to undermine the winner almost immediately, in order to wear the crown himself. He deserves to be flushed down the toilet of history, reeking of the dung.
Liz Truss undermined herself. Rishi stayed completely quiet through the whole period as well so he didn't undermine her at all.
He stayed very quiet himself of course. But his proxies - in Parliament, the Press and the City - were very loud indeed.
They were loud because they were their own people and Truss caused a currency collapse.
It wasn’t Truss that caused the currency collapse, it was the Sunakites in the City and the Press.
I'm sorry, that's just not true. As soon as the plan to cut taxes for high income earners was revealed along with billions in other tax cuts and no corresponding spending cuts gilts began to crash, then the LDI stuff made the market wobble very badly and it led to an immediate currency and debt crisis. It was directly related to the actions of Truss and Kwasi, they presented a plan to borrow £45bn per year extra with no spending cuts and waved away concerns around the extra borrowing.
It was utterly bonkers the way they went about things. Even if you thought their ideas had merits you would still need to see where the cuts were coming from. That they waived it all away, and also had very little to say about soaring energy costs, simply made Truss and Kwarteng look like amateurs.
It does my head in that people so apparently incompetent can rise to high office in this country, they ought to be weeded out sooner.
Yes, this is why the Tories must be voted out of office. Far too many of their MPs colluded in this historic fuck up, and near catastrophe. And as for the members, they shouldn’t be given a say in choosing the venue for a Xmas lunch, never mind who will be the next prime minister.
It is a shame because I actually quite rate Sunak, and contrary to majority opinion here think he’s doing a reasonable job.
I feel a bit sorry for Rishi. He's on course for perhaps the most catastrophic political obliteration of modern times, yet it was actually his predecessors - the flatulent Boris and the preening Truss in particular - who laid the groundwork for his doom. That pair of rotters are still going around claiming they were hard done by and we should be grateful. What a dismal duo, and poor old Rishi is likely to be flushed down the toilet of history reeking of their dung. Who said life was fair?
I don’t feel sorry for him. He lost the leadership contest, and then sought to undermine the winner almost immediately, in order to wear the crown himself. He deserves to be flushed down the toilet of history, reeking of the dung.
Liz Truss undermined herself. Rishi stayed completely quiet through the whole period as well so he didn't undermine her at all.
He stayed very quiet himself of course. But his proxies - in Parliament, the Press and the City - were very loud indeed.
That’s the Luckyguy account. I’m not convinced there’s much evidence for it.
I feel a bit sorry for Rishi. He's on course for perhaps the most catastrophic political obliteration of modern times, yet it was actually his predecessors - the flatulent Boris and the preening Truss in particular - who laid the groundwork for his doom. That pair of rotters are still going around claiming they were hard done by and we should be grateful. What a dismal duo, and poor old Rishi is likely to be flushed down the toilet of history reeking of their dung. Who said life was fair?
I don’t feel sorry for him. He lost the leadership contest, and then sought to undermine the winner almost immediately, in order to wear the crown himself. He deserves to be flushed down the toilet of history, reeking of the dung.
Liz Truss undermined herself. Rishi stayed completely quiet through the whole period as well so he didn't undermine her at all.
He stayed very quiet himself of course. But his proxies - in Parliament, the Press and the City - were very loud indeed.
They were loud because they were their own people and Truss caused a currency collapse.
It wasn’t Truss that caused the currency collapse, it was the Sunakites in the City and the Press.
I'm sorry, that's just not true. As soon as the plan to cut taxes for high income earners was revealed along with billions in other tax cuts and no corresponding spending cuts gilts began to crash, then the LDI stuff made the market wobble very badly and it led to an immediate currency and debt crisis. It was directly related to the actions of Truss and Kwasi, they presented a plan to borrow £45bn per year extra with no spending cuts and waved away concerns around the extra borrowing.
It was utterly bonkers the way they went about things. Even if you thought their ideas had merits you would still need to see where the cuts were coming from. That they waived it all away, and also had very little to say about soaring energy costs, simply made Truss and Kwarteng look like amateurs.
It does my head in that people so apparently incompetent can rise to high office in this country, they ought to be weeded out sooner.
Yes, this is why the Tories must be voted out of office. Far too many of their MPs colluded in this historic fuck up, and near catastrophe. And as for the members, they shouldn’t be given a say in choosing the venue for a Xmas lunch, never mind who will be the next prime minister.
It is a shame because I actually quite rate Sunak, and contrary to majority opinion here think he’s doing a reasonable job.
Tory members also gave us Cameron, Labour members elected Corbyn before they chose Starmer
The AI revolution is going to change the way humans work, live, love, exist. In 10-20 years time arguments about nationality will likely seem quaintly absurd
That includes British nationalism
The reverse, if anything it could accelerate nationalism depending on which governments and nations use AI most effectively to maintain and extend power
Time for a thread from one of the Continuity PB Tories (e.g. BJO) on how the Lee Anderson Bounce and the Corbyn Expulsion Slump is a perfect storm for SKS
I don't think Alanbrooke is wrong. What ROI shows is that a poor nation can, over time, become a rich one. (It took ROI 100 years. But I'm not suggesting it would necessarily take Wales or Scotland that long: ROI made a lot of sub-optimal decisions along the way.) But an independent Wales or Scotland would have to take a lot of very different decisions to those that they currently take to make that happen. Wales, in particular, seems mustard keen to drive any creation of wealth out of the principality as quickly as possible.
De Valera was not interested in making Ireland prosperous. He wanted Ireland to be devoutly Catholic, and Gaelic-speaking.
"It’s the finances which prove the strongest cord. None of the Celtic nations pay their way"
In 1921, Ireland was poorer than the rest of the UK. Using you argument, it should not have broken away.
Now, go & visit County Kildare or Meath. Then cross the Irish Sea to Ceredigion or Meirionnydd. The difference is stark.
The former is way, way, way more prosperous than the latter. This was not so in 1921.
Took quite a long time though. Will people accept being poorer on the promise that in 50/100 years the country will be comparatively wealthier?
Why can't Scotland or Wales learn from Ireland's mistakes ? They can do it faster.
I am just pointing out we have an explicit counter-example.
RoI broke away a poor & backward country, and it is now more prosperous than Wales (& probably Scotland).
Wales' entrenched socialist culture makes an independent Wales deeply unattractive to any business. The fact that Mark Drakeford enjoys stratospheric levels of popularity among the population says all you need to know.
I think Scotland is different, despite also leaning left. It has great universities, a big financial services sector in Edinburgh, an incredibly successful Scotch whisky industry, still decent reserves of oil and gas, and plenty of hydroelectric power.
Scotland would take a financial hit on independence, but I'm sure it could make a decent fist of it - provided its politicians were willing to make it an attractive business centre. I could see the SNP and Labour simply engaging in a contest of who can be the most left wing, in which case, it would be a basket case.
As someone who lives here I can't say I recognise Mark Drakeford's stratospheric level of support. Obviously he'd like to portray himself as a leader of the nation but he hardly registers with most people. I mix with people who are well educated and informed and his name is hardly mentioned - even in his own constituency! Perhaps we should pay more attention. I think all leaders got the benefit of the doubt during covid. I sense there may be trouble on the horizon though. The opposition to new road building being one such risk.
I feel a bit sorry for Rishi. He's on course for perhaps the most catastrophic political obliteration of modern times, yet it was actually his predecessors - the flatulent Boris and the preening Truss in particular - who laid the groundwork for his doom. That pair of rotters are still going around claiming they were hard done by and we should be grateful. What a dismal duo, and poor old Rishi is likely to be flushed down the toilet of history reeking of their dung. Who said life was fair?
I don’t feel sorry for him. He lost the leadership contest, and then sought to undermine the winner almost immediately, in order to wear the crown himself. He deserves to be flushed down the toilet of history, reeking of the dung.
Liz Truss undermined herself. Rishi stayed completely quiet through the whole period as well so he didn't undermine her at all.
He stayed very quiet himself of course. But his proxies - in Parliament, the Press and the City - were very loud indeed.
They were loud because they were their own people and Truss caused a currency collapse.
It wasn’t Truss that caused the currency collapse, it was the Sunakites in the City and the Press.
I'm sorry, that's just not true. As soon as the plan to cut taxes for high income earners was revealed along with billions in other tax cuts and no corresponding spending cuts gilts began to crash, then the LDI stuff made the market wobble very badly and it led to an immediate currency and debt crisis. It was directly related to the actions of Truss and Kwasi, they presented a plan to borrow £45bn per year extra with no spending cuts and waved away concerns around the extra borrowing.
It was utterly bonkers the way they went about things. Even if you thought their ideas had merits you would still need to see where the cuts were coming from. That they waived it all away, and also had very little to say about soaring energy costs, simply made Truss and Kwarteng look like amateurs.
It does my head in that people so apparently incompetent can rise to high office in this country, they ought to be weeded out sooner.
Yes, this is why the Tories must be voted out of office. Far too many of their MPs colluded in this historic fuck up, and near catastrophe. And as for the members, they shouldn’t be given a say in choosing the venue for a Xmas lunch, never mind who will be the next prime minister.
It is a shame because I actually quite rate Sunak, and contrary to majority opinion here think he’s doing a reasonable job.
Tory members also gave us Cameron, Labour members elected Corbyn before they chose Starmer
Yes, what I say about the members should be applied to both main parties.
I have in recent years compared the rise in living standards in Ireland alongside the fairly widescale impoverishment of Northern Ireland and wondered what the long term effect of that was likely to be on an eventual border poll as promised by the GFA.
My halfsister lives in Belfast and I don't see much impoverishment in that city, seems quite thriving to me. Rural NI maybe.
Also my ex in laws were from the Dublin area and normal run of the mill people and quite patriotic Irish to the point of standing for the anthem. They said they would love a united Ireland but wouldn't vote yes in a referendum as the North was unaffordable for the south to take on.
I could quite see a poll where the South votes no to reunification on practical grounds. (Admittedly haven't talked to them in a decade now but will ask them at my sons wedding later this year)
Belfast is a lot better than it was in the 80s.
South Belfast is really nice. I has a bit of the feel of a leafy Hampstead or Richmond without the ridiculously out-of-reach house prices.
The AI revolution is going to change the way humans work, live, love, exist. In 10-20 years time arguments about nationality will likely seem quaintly absurd
That includes British nationalism
People thought that 1991 meant The End of History.
The Great War is going to change the way humans work, like, love, exist. In 10-20 years time arguments about nationality will likely seem quaintly absurd.
For any considering topping up their NI contributions before the April cut off the final step is the easiest. The long waits are to get the pension advice line to answer (45 minutes), get the letter from them confirming it (over 4 weeks), but getting the code to make your contribution pretty quick (13 minutes). Government faster at taking money off you - whodathunkit?
I only did your third step so assume the two longer ones are voluntary?
In doing the third step they asked me to confirm I’d done the first two. There comes a point where further NI contributions won’t increase your pension further - depends on how many and which years your gaps are - the rules changed in the mid-teens, so contributions for years before then are worth more than for years after in terms of pension received.
I have in recent years compared the rise in living standards in Ireland alongside the fairly widescale impoverishment of Northern Ireland and wondered what the long term effect of that was likely to be on an eventual border poll as promised by the GFA.
My halfsister lives in Belfast and I don't see much impoverishment in that city, seems quite thriving to me. Rural NI maybe.
Also my ex in laws were from the Dublin area and normal run of the mill people and quite patriotic Irish to the point of standing for the anthem. They said they would love a united Ireland but wouldn't vote yes in a referendum as the North was unaffordable for the south to take on.
I could quite see a poll where the South votes no to reunification on practical grounds. (Admittedly haven't talked to them in a decade now but will ask them at my sons wedding later this year)
Belfast is a lot better than it was in the 80s.
I've always had the impression that Northern Ireland is a lot more prosperous than official statistics suggest. Driving up from Dublin to the Antrim coast, as I did a few years ago, on excellent roads, seeing all the swanky houses, and immaculate gardens, I would have thought I was in a very prosperous part of the world.
You’re making the assumption that all the income was declared, and the taxes paid on it.
Unless you are assuming everyone in NI is on the fiddle I doubt very much that is the case. When I have visited the city seems vibrant with lots of night life etc. Housing over there was markedly cheaper than the uk last time I looked however so maybe its just people have more discretionary spending
I have in recent years compared the rise in living standards in Ireland alongside the fairly widescale impoverishment of Northern Ireland and wondered what the long term effect of that was likely to be on an eventual border poll as promised by the GFA.
My halfsister lives in Belfast and I don't see much impoverishment in that city, seems quite thriving to me. Rural NI maybe.
Also my ex in laws were from the Dublin area and normal run of the mill people and quite patriotic Irish to the point of standing for the anthem. They said they would love a united Ireland but wouldn't vote yes in a referendum as the North was unaffordable for the south to take on.
I could quite see a poll where the South votes no to reunification on practical grounds. (Admittedly haven't talked to them in a decade now but will ask them at my sons wedding later this year)
Belfast is a lot better than it was in the 80s.
South Belfast is really nice. I has a bit of the feel of a leafy Hampstead or Richmond without the ridiculously out-of-reach house prices.
As is the Ards Peninsula, Bangor, and the entirety of the Antrim Coast.
I feel a bit sorry for Rishi. He's on course for perhaps the most catastrophic political obliteration of modern times, yet it was actually his predecessors - the flatulent Boris and the preening Truss in particular - who laid the groundwork for his doom. That pair of rotters are still going around claiming they were hard done by and we should be grateful. What a dismal duo, and poor old Rishi is likely to be flushed down the toilet of history reeking of their dung. Who said life was fair?
I don’t feel sorry for him. He lost the leadership contest, and then sought to undermine the winner almost immediately, in order to wear the crown himself. He deserves to be flushed down the toilet of history, reeking of the dung.
Liz Truss undermined herself. Rishi stayed completely quiet through the whole period as well so he didn't undermine her at all.
He stayed very quiet himself of course. But his proxies - in Parliament, the Press and the City - were very loud indeed.
That’s the Luckyguy account. I’m not convinced there’s much evidence for it.
The AI revolution is going to change the way humans work, live, love, exist. In 10-20 years time arguments about nationality will likely seem quaintly absurd
That includes British nationalism
People thought that 1991 meant The End of History.
That was always a mad thesis
I’m arguing the opposite, if anything. History is about to speed up and transform everything
"It’s the finances which prove the strongest cord. None of the Celtic nations pay their way"
In 1921, Ireland was poorer than the rest of the UK. Using you argument, it should not have broken away.
Now, go & visit County Kildare or Meath. Then cross the Irish Sea to Ceredigion or Meirionnydd. The difference is stark.
The former is way, way, way more prosperous than the latter. This was not so in 1921.
Took quite a long time though. Will people accept being poorer on the promise that in 50/100 years the country will be comparatively wealthier?
Why can't Scotland or Wales learn from Ireland's mistakes ? They can do it faster.
I am just pointing out we have an explicit counter-example.
RoI broke away a poor & backward country, and it is now more prosperous than Wales (& probably Scotland).
Wales' entrenched socialist culture makes an independent Wales deeply unattractive to any business. The fact that Mark Drakeford enjoys stratospheric levels of popularity among the population says all you need to know.
I think Scotland is different, despite also leaning left. It has great universities, a big financial services sector in Edinburgh, an incredibly successful Scotch whisky industry, still decent reserves of oil and gas, and plenty of hydroelectric power.
Scotland would take a financial hit on independence, but I'm sure it could make a decent fist of it - provided its politicians were willing to make it an attractive business centre. I could see the SNP and Labour simply engaging in a contest of who can be the most left wing, in which case, it would be a basket case.
The fact that Mark Drakeford enjoys stratospheric levels of popularity among the population says all you need to know.
Does he ? The Senedd Elections are always won by the Didn't Vote Party.
Drakeford got 39.9 % of the vote on a 46.6 % turnout.
39.9% *46.6 % = 18.5 %
So, Drakeford got the support of 18.5 % of the electorate. Hardly stratospheric.
The reasons Llafur won are
(i) unbelievably, the Welsh Tories are way, way worse, (ii) the Welsh LibDems have been hunted to extinction, (iii) Plaid Cymru never miss an opportunity to shoot themselves in both legs.
I can hardly be bothered to vote myself with the dross on offer in the Senedd -- and I am interested in politics!
The AI revolution is going to change the way humans work, live, love, exist. In 10-20 years time arguments about nationality will likely seem quaintly absurd
That includes British nationalism
People thought that 1991 meant The End of History.
That was always a mad thesis
I’m arguing the opposite, if anything. History is about to speed up and transform everything
AI is a Revolution. We are on the cusp now
So we keep getting told but even ChatGPT is often wrong based on what it has been inputted to do and the information it has been told to find it it missed alternative information. It can't accept an alternative argument
The AI revolution is going to change the way humans work, live, love, exist. In 10-20 years time arguments about nationality will likely seem quaintly absurd
That includes British nationalism
People thought that 1991 meant The End of History.
The Great War is going to change the way humans work, like, love, exist. In 10-20 years time arguments about nationality will likely seem quaintly absurd.
Given that the Great War led directly to the Russian Revolution, and worldwide communism, and communist China, and the rise of Hitler, and the destruction of the austrohungarian empire, and the transformation of war, and much much else, this may not be your strongest satirical point
For any considering topping up their NI contributions before the April cut off the final step is the easiest. The long waits are to get the pension advice line to answer (45 minutes), get the letter from them confirming it (over 4 weeks), but getting the code to make your contribution pretty quick (13 minutes). Government faster at taking money off you - whodathunkit?
I only did your third step so assume the two longer ones are voluntary?
In doing the third step they asked me to confirm I’d done the first two. There comes a point where further NI contributions won’t increase your pension further - depends on how many and which years your gaps are - the rules changed in the mid-teens, so contributions for years before then are worth more than for years after in terms of pension received.
Exactly. And the website and bumf they send never seem to explain things with any reliability - certainly not so you don't need to do the phoning. Which and Moneysavingexpert both say: get all the printouts and bumfs AND STILL PHONE.
It's not the Govts performance on the NHS it's the NHS's performance
Indeed. A plausible policy would be, more or less: Close the Department of Health and transfer it to the Treasury. Set up a multi party commission regularly to decide only what % of GDP shall be the NHS budget for the year. Write a cheque. Go away. Refer all questions to the NHS.
AKA depoliticise the NHS
The only problem is that you assume the NHS will then treat patients. It might equally become a hive of producer interest - in the interests of the people running the NHS Quango (or whatever it will be).
This has been a problem with the NHS Since it was created - the idea of patients coming first is remarkably recent. The original ethos was that the patients should take what they are given. And be grateful.
Perfectly good point. But as that has been a problem so far, I don't think my (implausible) solution would make it worse.
I feel a bit sorry for Rishi. He's on course for perhaps the most catastrophic political obliteration of modern times, yet it was actually his predecessors - the flatulent Boris and the preening Truss in particular - who laid the groundwork for his doom. That pair of rotters are still going around claiming they were hard done by and we should be grateful. What a dismal duo, and poor old Rishi is likely to be flushed down the toilet of history reeking of their dung. Who said life was fair?
I don’t feel sorry for him. He lost the leadership contest, and then sought to undermine the winner almost immediately, in order to wear the crown himself. He deserves to be flushed down the toilet of history, reeking of the dung.
What exactly did he do? Surely you are too smart to believe n the conspiracy against Truss aren't you? Many like-minded people thought Truss would be a disaster, she was and they said so. What do you expect?
I called it on here at the time, back in the summer, that the Sunakites would refuse to accept the result of the leadership election if it went against them.
After a brief interlude, to mourn the passing of the late Queen, i was proved to have been totally correct.
"It’s the finances which prove the strongest cord. None of the Celtic nations pay their way"
In 1921, Ireland was poorer than the rest of the UK. Using you argument, it should not have broken away.
Now, go & visit County Kildare or Meath. Then cross the Irish Sea to Ceredigion or Meirionnydd. The difference is stark.
The former is way, way, way more prosperous than the latter. This was not so in 1921.
Took quite a long time though. Will people accept being poorer on the promise that in 50/100 years the country will be comparatively wealthier?
Why can't Scotland or Wales learn from Ireland's mistakes ? They can do it faster.
I am just pointing out we have an explicit counter-example.
RoI broke away a poor & backward country, and it is now more prosperous than Wales (& probably Scotland).
Wales' entrenched socialist culture makes an independent Wales deeply unattractive to any business. The fact that Mark Drakeford enjoys stratospheric levels of popularity among the population says all you need to know.
I think Scotland is different, despite also leaning left. It has great universities, a big financial services sector in Edinburgh, an incredibly successful Scotch whisky industry, still decent reserves of oil and gas, and plenty of hydroelectric power.
Scotland would take a financial hit on independence, but I'm sure it could make a decent fist of it - provided its politicians were willing to make it an attractive business centre. I could see the SNP and Labour simply engaging in a contest of who can be the most left wing, in which case, it would be a basket case.
As someone who lives here I can't say I recognise Mark Drakeford's stratospheric level of support. Obviously he'd like to portray himself as a leader of the nation but he hardly registers with most people. I mix with people who are well educated and informed and his name is hardly mentioned - even in his own constituency! Perhaps we should pay more attention. I think all leaders got the benefit of the doubt during covid. I sense there may be trouble on the horizon though. The opposition to new road building being one such risk.
If Drakeford gets a free pass on stopping supermarkets from selling kettles and everything else but struggles due to new road building, something that should be happening, then Wales is even more messed up than I thought.
It's not the Govts performance on the NHS it's the NHS's performance
Indeed. A plausible policy would be, more or less: Close the Department of Health and transfer it to the Treasury. Set up a multi party commission regularly to decide only what % of GDP shall be the NHS budget for the year. Write a cheque. Go away. Refer all questions to the NHS.
AKA depoliticise the NHS
The only problem is that you assume the NHS will then treat patients. It might equally become a hive of producer interest - in the interests of the people running the NHS Quango (or whatever it will be).
This has been a problem with the NHS Since it was created - the idea of patients coming first is remarkably recent. The original ethos was that the patients should take what they are given. And be grateful.
Perfectly good point. But as that has been a problem so far, I don't think my (implausible) solution would make it worse.
When a hospital starts killing patients really well, it takes serious outside intervention to break through the silence. Think of a few scandals.
You need goals, a regulator.... and you are back to accountability....
If your comment about not paying their way is true, and I have no reason to doubt it, what would happen with a newly independent Scotland or Wales and their pension and benefits liabilities ?
How would these be covered from their budgets as separate nations ?
Taz , the Scottish NI last year was much higher than pensions , don't believe all the crap written on here by morons. Also as we would not be supporting Trident , embassies and all the waste of Westminster the money they currently borrow and blame on Scotland would melt away as would a lot of the supposed deficit.
I feel a bit sorry for Rishi. He's on course for perhaps the most catastrophic political obliteration of modern times, yet it was actually his predecessors - the flatulent Boris and the preening Truss in particular - who laid the groundwork for his doom. That pair of rotters are still going around claiming they were hard done by and we should be grateful. What a dismal duo, and poor old Rishi is likely to be flushed down the toilet of history reeking of their dung. Who said life was fair?
I don’t feel sorry for him. He lost the leadership contest, and then sought to undermine the winner almost immediately, in order to wear the crown himself. He deserves to be flushed down the toilet of history, reeking of the dung.
What exactly did he do? Surely you are too smart to believe n the conspiracy against Truss aren't you? Many like-minded people thought Truss would be a disaster, she was and they said so. What do you expect?
I called it on here at the time, back in the summer, that the Sunakites would refuse to accept the result of the leadership election if it went against them.
After a brief interlude, to mourn the passing of the late Queen, i was proved to have been totally correct.
The same applied to both Corbyn and IDS as neither won the highest percentage of their party's MPs, only the membership vote.
Tory MPs tried to topple IDS soon after he was elected as they did Truss, just Liz helped them on their way. Labour MPs held a vote of no confidence in Corbyn within a year of his election
If your comment about not paying their way is true, and I have no reason to doubt it, what would happen with a newly independent Scotland or Wales and their pension and benefits liabilities ?
How would these be covered from their budgets as separate nations ?
Taz , the Scottish NI last year was much higher than pensions , don't believe all the crap written on here by morons. Also as we would not be supporting Trident , embassies and all the waste of Westminster the money they currently borrow and blame on Scotland would melt away as would a lot of the supposed deficit.
Presumably there aren't going to be embassies because you'll let the EU take care of foreign affairs?
Following the YouGov poll, I have now calculated the polling averages of the six weekly polling companies (YouGov, Omnisis, Techne, PeoplePolling, Deltapoll and Redfield & Wilton) for last week (it is based on the last day of the polling period, rather than the date of publishing, so YouGov, whilst published today, falls into last week).
So the dip in the Conservative vote in the week ending 10 Feb has continued.
I feel a bit sorry for Rishi. He's on course for perhaps the most catastrophic political obliteration of modern times, yet it was actually his predecessors - the flatulent Boris and the preening Truss in particular - who laid the groundwork for his doom. That pair of rotters are still going around claiming they were hard done by and we should be grateful. What a dismal duo, and poor old Rishi is likely to be flushed down the toilet of history reeking of their dung. Who said life was fair?
I don’t feel sorry for him. He lost the leadership contest, and then sought to undermine the winner almost immediately, in order to wear the crown himself. He deserves to be flushed down the toilet of history, reeking of the dung.
What exactly did he do? Surely you are too smart to believe n the conspiracy against Truss aren't you? Many like-minded people thought Truss would be a disaster, she was and they said so. What do you expect?
I called it on here at the time, back in the summer, that the Sunakites would refuse to accept the result of the leadership election if it went against them.
After a brief interlude, to mourn the passing of the late Queen, i was proved to have been totally correct.
I think I am going to steal that last sentence for my own personal use: It is just brilliant.
In a matter of hours, they were tried, convicted, and beheaded for the crime of treason. Christoph Probst and siblings Hans and Sophie Scholl, White Rose resistance group members, dared to oppose the Nazi regime. Their pleas went unanswered. They were executed #OTD in 1943. https://twitter.com/HolocaustMuseum/status/1628399460563968000
If your comment about not paying their way is true, and I have no reason to doubt it, what would happen with a newly independent Scotland or Wales and their pension and benefits liabilities ?
How would these be covered from their budgets as separate nations ?
"It’s the finances which prove the strongest cord. None of the Celtic nations pay their way"
In 1921, Ireland was poorer than the rest of the UK. Using you argument, it should not have broken away.
Now, go & visit County Kildare or Meath. Then cross the Irish Sea to Ceredigion or Meirionnydd. The difference is stark.
The former is way, way, way more prosperous than the latter. This was not so in 1921.
Yes that;s true but there were 10,000 violent deaths, over a million emigrants and 75 years of economic stagnation before the place got on its feet. And while it is clearly good to see RoI leaving its old shackles behind the current economy is overdependent on other people's tax revenues.
as for wealth Metah and Kildatre are Surrey and Berkshire, Leitrim or Donegal are more the benchmark.
So because it might be difficult, you shouldn't try?
That's the same argument that the worst of the Remoaners used.
Independence can stink, if you make bad choices, but it is ultimately the best option to enable you to take control to make the right choices. Its why England was right to leave the EU, and why Scotland would be right to leave the UK.
But inertia will probably keep them in, just as it nearly kept Britain in the EU.
People can try if they wish., Personally I dont think a Civil and over a quarter of the population forced in to emigration was a price worth paying. But others no doubt see it differently.
Indeed, I do see it differently.
If I wasn't English and had to choose between the Republic or Northern Ireland for my nationality, I'd 100% prefer the Republic over the North. Which probably wasn't the case a little over a century ago before the Republic became independent, but the Republic being independent faced the hard truths of reality and had to grow up. The politics in the North has been in a way mollycoddled and infantilised and the same is happening with Wales and Scotland now post-devolution too.
Independence as a country is a lot like independence for a young adult. Yes its easier and more cost-effective to just keep living with mum and dad, and some people never leave the nest and some people boomerang back but overall most people find that regardless of how tough setting up your own household is, the benefits outweigh the inevitable financial costs.
If Scotland, NI and Wales aspire to nothing better than sponging off England's handmedowns then they should stay in the UK.
If they wish to move beyond the Kevin and Perry style politics of the SNP, Sinn Fein and the DUP - then they need to go independent and face the reality of the world.
Feckin halfwitted numpty, we don't sponge off anyone , we get robbed blind by arseholes like you.
There are opportunities that Scotland and Wales are not taking because they are in the Union.
It’s evident that if small country X is in a union for several hundred years and is an economic basket case, the solution is more union. That obese elephant Y who has largely overseen the economy of the union in those several hundred years feels only it can decide whether small country X can ask itself if it wishes to remain in the union indicates the wise foresight of obese elephant Y who only has the best interests of small country X in mind.
FWIW I think it's likely Scotland would vote for independence. Brexit has made it slightly more likely to go Yes in the context where it was already 50/50.
The tricky thing for nationalists is getting that choice in front of the population. The Union hangs on a procedure not happening.
I’ll argue the contrary, that, even if the question were put to the Scottish public, the issues around borders, debts, and currency, have made the case for independence more difficult.
The Scottish Nationalists should find a way to lobby the EU hard, for a digital border solution to the impasse over Northern Ireland. Because an independent Scotland wanting to join the EU, would otherwise need a very hard and physical border with England.
Talking of Ireland, Scotland’s best chance of prosperity as an independent nation would be to adopt the Irish model of being a big free zone.
It took Ireland about 60 years of poverty, post independence, for her left wing economic views to be dropped and embrace that thinking. I bet Scotland would be similar. Anyone arguing for a centre right policy would be slurred as a Tory.
Well this is the interesting question. We all seem to be agreed that a country doesn't need to take 100 years to go from poor to rich - about 20-40 will do. (A generation. Or three Scottish generations )
But how quickly will those countries' polities allow them to make the necessary decisions? I'd say at least a generation.
I have some sympathy with the separatists, and I certainly agree with @YBarddCwsc that the status quo isn't working. And the pre-devolution arrangements didn't work either. But It'll be a bumpy ride to get to the sunlit uplands, both economically and politically, and the outcome is by no means certain.
I expect if Scotland becomes independent it will probably take 50-60 years for them to come up to English standards, yes. About 30 years to ditch the leftwing politics, then another 20 to see their politics work once they hit the right ones.
But that's better than never.
And over time its taking countries less time to adapt to independence, as collectively people learn from mistakes of prior nations achieving it. It took the Irish 75 years to adapt and catch up, but that's less than half time it took the Americans who had a very bloody Civil War in-between. Neither nation would look back now though and wish away their independence, and why should the Scots if they achieve it?
What a dummy , if you could read you would know Scotland is 2nd only to London in the UK for finances.
Comments
Whether or not it is replaced by something better is another question, but it is a problem that could potentially be addressed.
And a lot of the negatives - greed, themselves, the rich - any Tory government ever would have had in their cloud.
The bad thing for Sunak is that he's associated with taxes. Not normally what you'd expect from a Tory government, to represent higher taxes, and that's what cost him my vote - raising NI.
The US are also gaining a vast amount of information on modern warfare tactics and how their weapons work in this sort of combat - which is miles away from the way they were used in Iraq and Afghanistan.
And what are China getting? Some cheaper oil and gas (but not much), and the dregs of Russia. And diplomatic damage if they actually help Russia.
It's not a very good trade for China.
The AI revolution is going to change the way humans work, live, love, exist. In 10-20 years time arguments about nationality will likely seem quaintly absurd
That includes British nationalism
There is the Don't know of I am not knowledgeable enough to give an opinion. That can be turned round. (Although, after 13 years in power, those must be a group unlikely to vote).
Then there is the don't know answerI would give, which can't.
I don't even think they know.
I have in recent years compared the rise in living standards in Ireland alongside the fairly widescale impoverishment of Northern Ireland and wondered what the long term effect of that was likely to be on an eventual border poll as promised by the GFA.
All bad things about health in the UK are the personal responsibility of government who are aided and abetted in this by the wickedness of the firms who wickedly develop and make the drugs and their even wickeder shareholders.
I mean, there is really serious competition, but this is out there in a class all of its own.
Break up and we risk the fate of the ex USSR, a disunited former Union where the biggest nation is resentful and taken over by Nationalists and angry at its neighbours for deserting it while they increasingly look to the EU
Market movements are driven by huge volumes of investment decisions by enormous numbers of people, not just in the UK but across the world. The sentiment driving market movements can be irrational (although I don't think they were in that case) but they aren't susceptible to manipulation by a handful of Sunak-ers.
In this particular case, setting a course of slashing government revenues, with no verified projections of how that would be dealt with through growth and/or paid for by spending cuts, spooked the markets here and abroad to say the very least. The pound was hammered and pension funds were within minutes of collapse. Plenty of people warned them about it, and Truss/Kwarteng totally ignored them. Then it happened in real time, and they essentially pretended it wasn't rather than doing anything meaningful to address the unfolding disaster.
Further, the idea that the press as a whole were with Sunak is demonstrably false. Not only did they tend to support Truss in the summer leadership election, but the Kwarteng budget got rapturous write-ups by many, before the market impact sent hacks scurrying.
Sunak might not have been the model of helpfulness, but the idea that he or anyone else conspired to create the f***ing catastrophe that was the Truss/Kwarteng aberation is conspiracy theory nonsense.
Also my ex in laws were from the Dublin area and normal run of the mill people and quite patriotic Irish to the point of standing for the anthem. They said they would love a united Ireland but wouldn't vote yes in a referendum as the North was unaffordable for the south to take on.
I could quite see a poll where the South votes no to reunification on practical grounds. (Admittedly haven't talked to them in a decade now but will ask them at my sons wedding later this year)
Russians not being happy with that, is Russias problem. Its not that the fall of the USSR was a problem.
If you think the UK is analogous to the USSR then you're even madder than the box of frogs I had you pegged as. England isn't Russia, thank goodness!
"At Last! A True Tory Budget!"
How right they were.
It was a total catastrophe.
England did vote for Brexit however unlike Scotland and Northern Ireland. England therefore does not see itself as part of the rest of Europe in the same way they do just as Russia doesn't see itself like the rest of Europe in the same way Ukraine does.
If the UK broke up, with the economic damage that would do too and resurgent English Nationalism an English version of Putin backed up by some GB News types and the Nationalist right and Mail could well take power in a decade or 2
It does my head in that people so apparently incompetent can rise to high office in this country, they ought to be weeded out sooner.
http://brassgoggles.co.uk/forum/
And the Alteration by Kingsley Amis forum is here
https://www.waywordradio.org/discussion/topics/the-alteration-by-kingsley-amis/
"Well, Belgium was invented by Britain (ignores some actual history), so it it all UK imperialism, really"
I think Scotland is different, despite also leaning left. It has great universities, a big financial services sector in Edinburgh, an incredibly successful Scotch whisky industry, still decent reserves of oil and gas, and plenty of hydroelectric power.
Scotland would take a financial hit on independence, but I'm sure it could make a decent fist of it - provided its politicians were willing to make it an attractive business centre. I could see the SNP and Labour simply engaging in a contest of who can be the most left wing, in which case, it would be a basket case.
The engine for the supersonic trainer China just sold to the UAE was second sourced in Russia back in 2015.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivchenko-Progress_AI-222
Much more significant, possibly militarily as well as economically, are Biden’s recently introduced chip technology restrictions on China.
And yet US/China trade (with a hiccup in 2019) continues to grow.
https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/balance/c5700.html
The only problem is that you assume the NHS will then treat patients. It might equally become a hive of producer interest - in the interests of the people running the NHS Quango (or whatever it will be).
This has been a problem with the NHS Since it was created - the idea of patients coming first is remarkably recent. The original ethos was that the patients should take what they are given. And be grateful.
It is a shame because I actually quite rate Sunak, and contrary to majority opinion here think he’s doing a reasonable job.
I’m not convinced there’s much evidence for it.
I rest my case.
Democracy doesn’t work without strong political parties
https://www.persuasion.community/p/peru-is-a-warning?
Interesting article.
I’m arguing the opposite, if anything. History is about to speed up and transform everything
AI is a Revolution. We are on the cusp now
Does he ? The Senedd Elections are always won by the Didn't Vote Party.
Drakeford got 39.9 % of the vote on a 46.6 % turnout.
39.9% *46.6 % = 18.5 %
So, Drakeford got the support of 18.5 % of the electorate. Hardly stratospheric.
The reasons Llafur won are
(i) unbelievably, the Welsh Tories are way, way worse,
(ii) the Welsh LibDems have been hunted to extinction,
(iii) Plaid Cymru never miss an opportunity to shoot themselves in both legs.
I can hardly be bothered to vote myself with the dross on offer in the Senedd -- and I am interested in politics!
After a brief interlude, to mourn the passing of the late Queen, i was proved to have been totally correct.
You need goals, a regulator.... and you are back to accountability....
Tory MPs tried to topple IDS soon after he was elected as they did Truss, just Liz helped them on their way. Labour MPs held a vote of no confidence in Corbyn within a year of his election
So the dip in the Conservative vote in the week ending 10 Feb has continued.
In a matter of hours, they were tried, convicted, and beheaded for the crime of treason. Christoph Probst and siblings Hans and Sophie Scholl, White Rose resistance group members, dared to oppose the Nazi regime. Their pleas went unanswered. They were executed #OTD in 1943.
https://twitter.com/HolocaustMuseum/status/1628399460563968000