From needing an £800,000 3rd party guaranteed loan 24 months ago to affording a £severalmillion mansion is going some. £250,000 per Peppa Pig speech is a nice repeat gig.
I have a young friend who is very enamoured of the cashless society etc, or at least was.
A few weeks ago she was stuck in a dodgy area and her phone went wrong; and since her card was on her phone she couldn't get out of the slightly sketchy area, in the rain. No longer a fan of the cashless society, although in this case she should also have carried a card for the bus. I personally don't like that London buses no longer will take cash, for the kind of scenario given above. And what if the need is more urgent than a bus, in that situation ?
I advise both my kids to always have a tenner or twenty on them. Tucked into their phone or pocket. Never use it unless it is an emergency. It is basic common sense.
Belonging to a different generation, and living in a small northern town where cash is still accepted everywhere, I always like to have enough cash to get home. Though getting home with cash won't work in London or no doubt loads of other systems.
On a London - Glasgow train In was on last week it was announced that the buffet/bar was 'cash only'.(!)
I had always assumed that the world of on course betting, drugs, off books bits of work out of sight of the revenue, car boot sales, church bazaars, old people, children and the eternal possibility of electronic systems failures there would always be cash as a back up. I still think it would be a good thing for it to endure and be always an acceptable form of payment for everyday transactions.
I would add to that busking (although some now use QR code payments), tipping in cafe's and restaurants and beggars/homeless.
I know from friends (and daughter) working in restaurants and bars that tipping has suffered a great deal since the pandemic but is starting to come back again now that, thankfully, more and more people are carrying cash - sometimes with the express purpose of tipping.
The 'discretionary' 12.5% service charge seems pretty ubiquitous these days. I have to trust the establishment to pass it on to the staff, getting it removed and leaving the equivalent as a cash tip is just too much of a PITA.
Sadly far too often they don't, or they take a hefty cut of it. Also of course it is taxed. I am not advocating tax avoidance but I always regarded a tip as a personal gift to someone who had provided a good service rather than an additional payment. I know plenty disagree with that but it is my personal view.
It's a nice sentiment but you can't really consider it to be a gift if you are only giving it to people who have done stuff for you, immediately after they do it.
From needing an £800,000 3rd party guaranteed loan 24 months ago to affording a £severalmillion mansion is going some. £250,000 per Peppa Pig speech is a nice repeat gig.
Credit crisis, what credit crisis?
Yet we were repeatedly told here that Boris would have money problems after leaving government.
From needing an £800,000 3rd party guaranteed loan 24 months ago to affording a £severalmillion mansion is going some. £250,000 per Peppa Pig speech is a nice repeat gig.
Credit crisis, what credit crisis?
Yet we were repeatedly told here that Boris would have money problems after leaving government.
We were also told, rather more often, that he’d be minted.
The Republicans who are now suddenly so concerned about US spending were happy to raise the debt ceiling under Trump and voted through tax cuts for the rich !
They’re now wanting cuts to programs which help the poor and disabled .What a loathsome bunch l
I don't actually believe in abolishing it – that was a shocking misquote by this site's Mr Perma-Angry (Pagan2).
I just think it's pointless, slow and a massive faff.
I never use it for anything at all, and if a shop insists on it I assume they are on the dodge and don't visit them again. Why people persist in it is beyond me – it is, as far as I can ascertain, an utter waste of time and resources.
(I recall on this site when some royal-botherer was frapping on about the new King Charles 50p coin – he asked whether I'd see it. I said no I hadn't, but then I hadn't see any 50p coin of any design or era for about ten years...)
Well a whole new set of coins with the King's head on have been announced today
May the force be worth you and long live the Emperor...
Great, more wasteful shrapnel that is almost worthless.
What is the bloody point of it?
Any coins you don't want, feel free to send my way.
I don't have any ever, so you'll be waiting until the 12th of Never.
I haven't even set eyes on most denominations for several years – for the simple reason that neither me nor virtually anyone else down here ever seems to use them!
Down here being Hoxton I assume. 😊
Much of London runs cashless - as an option. As does Hamburg - was there 2 weeks ago.
There are occasional small stores with a minimum spend.
I keep a couple of pound coins in my pocket. Mostly get used in supermarket trolleys…
I went to a swimming pool / spa / gym the other day in a hotel just outside London. The hotel itself was very nice but the pool / spa had seen better days. The lockers required a pound coin – which not a single person there had. So everyone took their stuff out into the pool area wrapped in a towel. Cash is dead.
Incomplete evidence fallacy though.
I still use cash myself. Mostly card, but still - sometimes cash. And anyone with primary age kids knows you need a drawer-full of pound coins and fifty-pees for the various random stuff you end up having to pay for.
My son is just out of primary school (two years). Haven't used cash for nearly ten years. I just use a bank app to cash transfer peer-to-peer (including schools). Takes two minutes.
I used cash yesterday. Some of my other anecdotes are available for a reasonable fee should one wish to book me.
If I look in my wallet I have no UK notes. However I still have some notes from my holidays over the past 12 months.
That right there is another big flaw with cash – latency. Money unspent in foreign currency that you could have in your current account.
I have been to France, Spain, Austria and the US in the last few years. I have never needed cash in any other them. I did withdraw €10 because I assumed the bus in Spain would require cash. The driver looked at me like I was mad and pointed to a sign that revealed it was 30% cheaper to pay by card...
How do you tip ppl with no readies?
Hopefully one upside of a cashless society will be that you no longer have to worry about whether you should be tipping someone or not and engaging in that furtive and demeaning-feeling exchange of a grubby dollar bill. Maybe in this brave new world their employer will pay them properly in the first place, rendering tipping redundant.
Have you been demeaned by someone tipping you, or are you feeling demeaned on their behalf?
I used to be a waiter and was always happy to get a tip after I'd spent a load of time taking the order, bringing their food and drinks, clearing their plates, getting their dessert etc, and had given them a good service and looked after them, chatted to them a bit, made sure they had everything they needed. It was the hardest job I've ever had and the tips made up for being paid £1.50 an hour. What I find demeaning is that situation in the US where you are expected to give someone a dollar bill for opening a door for you, or taking your case out of a luggage store and handing it to you. Simply because they're not being paid properly in the first place, so they have to wait for you to compensate for the meanness of their employer. Add to that the stress of not knowing if a tip is expected, not knowing the appropriate amount, not having change, not having the right currency... It is a fucking minefield. I would rather just pay 20% more for everything and have the staff paid decently. Basically, if I am already paying a bill I am happy to add 10% or 20% to it and I am a generous tipper by British standards. But handing out cash to people is just something that makes me feel grubby for all parties concerned.
As I said it is a personal thing.I don't find it grubby at all. I would much rather give someone a £20 note knowing they were getting it all than add an amount to the bill knowing the Government is going to take 30% or so of it in tax and NI and that the business owner may well not pass it on.
Edit. My problem with this conversation is it makes me feel like we are sitting round a table in a diner about to go and commit a jewel robbery
The purpose of tips, if it's institutionalised as in the States, is to shift the fixed cost burden from the employer to the employee. The restaurant no longer needs to pay the employee a proper wage during quiet times and the employee will rely on the restaurant being busy enough at other times and customers being generous enough to make their job pay.
I have a young friend who is very enamoured of the cashless society etc, or at least was.
A few weeks ago she was stuck in a dodgy area and her phone went wrong; and since her card was on her phone she couldn't get out of the slightly sketchy area, in the rain. No longer a fan of the cashless society, although in this case she should also have carried a card for the bus. I personally don't like that London buses no longer will take cash, for the kind of scenario given above. And what if the need is more urgent than a bus, in that situation ?
I advise both my kids to always have a tenner or twenty on them. Tucked into their phone or pocket. Never use it unless it is an emergency. It is basic common sense.
Belonging to a different generation, and living in a small northern town where cash is still accepted everywhere, I always like to have enough cash to get home. Though getting home with cash won't work in London or no doubt loads of other systems.
On a London - Glasgow train In was on last week it was announced that the buffet/bar was 'cash only'.(!)
I had always assumed that the world of on course betting, drugs, off books bits of work out of sight of the revenue, car boot sales, church bazaars, old people, children and the eternal possibility of electronic systems failures there would always be cash as a back up. I still think it would be a good thing for it to endure and be always an acceptable form of payment for everyday transactions.
I would add to that busking (although some now use QR code payments), tipping in cafe's and restaurants and beggars/homeless.
I know from friends (and daughter) working in restaurants and bars that tipping has suffered a great deal since the pandemic but is starting to come back again now that, thankfully, more and more people are carrying cash - sometimes with the express purpose of tipping.
The 'discretionary' 12.5% service charge seems pretty ubiquitous these days. I have to trust the establishment to pass it on to the staff, getting it removed and leaving the equivalent as a cash tip is just too much of a PITA.
Sadly far too often they don't, or they take a hefty cut of it. Also of course it is taxed. I am not advocating tax avoidance but I always regarded a tip as a personal gift to someone who had provided a good service rather than an additional payment. I know plenty disagree with that but it is my personal view.
It's a nice sentiment but you can't really consider it to be a gift if you are only giving it to people who have done stuff for you, immediately after they do it.
I do entirely consider it a gift. It is money there is no contractual need to provide as part of the purchase but given as personal thanks to someone.
The Republicans who are now suddenly so concerned about US spending were happy to raise the debt ceiling under Trump and voted through tax cuts for the rich !
They’re now wanting cuts to programs which help the poor and disabled .What a loathsome bunch l
Utterly despicable actions .
Same game every time they control the House and there’s a Democratic president - they threaten to default on the debt they incurred.
An party which abandoned shame many years ago, They make the Tories look stickler for principle.
From needing an £800,000 3rd party guaranteed loan 24 months ago to affording a £severalmillion mansion is going some. £250,000 per Peppa Pig speech is a nice repeat gig.
Credit crisis, what credit crisis?
Yet we were repeatedly told here that Boris would have money problems after leaving government.
Let's hope he isn't caught playing away. Child maintenance on another three sproggs could eat away at a newly minted fortune in next to no time.
From needing an £800,000 3rd party guaranteed loan 24 months ago to affording a £severalmillion mansion is going some. £250,000 per Peppa Pig speech is a nice repeat gig.
Credit crisis, what credit crisis?
Yet we were repeatedly told here that Boris would have money problems after leaving government.
We were also told, rather more often, that he’d be minted.
And it was obvious that he would be.
Obvious that is to all those who weren't deranged by bitterness.
Given how ex PMs get paid so many millions for giving speeches perhaps they should donate a little back to their parties.
It might reduce the need to go begging from dubious foreigners.
I don't actually believe in abolishing it – that was a shocking misquote by this site's Mr Perma-Angry (Pagan2).
I just think it's pointless, slow and a massive faff.
I never use it for anything at all, and if a shop insists on it I assume they are on the dodge and don't visit them again. Why people persist in it is beyond me – it is, as far as I can ascertain, an utter waste of time and resources.
(I recall on this site when some royal-botherer was frapping on about the new King Charles 50p coin – he asked whether I'd see it. I said no I hadn't, but then I hadn't see any 50p coin of any design or era for about ten years...)
Well a whole new set of coins with the King's head on have been announced today
May the force be worth you and long live the Emperor...
Great, more wasteful shrapnel that is almost worthless.
What is the bloody point of it?
Any coins you don't want, feel free to send my way.
I don't have any ever, so you'll be waiting until the 12th of Never.
I haven't even set eyes on most denominations for several years – for the simple reason that neither me nor virtually anyone else down here ever seems to use them!
Down here being Hoxton I assume. 😊
Much of London runs cashless - as an option. As does Hamburg - was there 2 weeks ago.
There are occasional small stores with a minimum spend.
I keep a couple of pound coins in my pocket. Mostly get used in supermarket trolleys…
I went to a swimming pool / spa / gym the other day in a hotel just outside London. The hotel itself was very nice but the pool / spa had seen better days. The lockers required a pound coin – which not a single person there had. So everyone took their stuff out into the pool area wrapped in a towel. Cash is dead.
Incomplete evidence fallacy though.
I still use cash myself. Mostly card, but still - sometimes cash. And anyone with primary age kids knows you need a drawer-full of pound coins and fifty-pees for the various random stuff you end up having to pay for.
My son is just out of primary school (two years). Haven't used cash for nearly ten years. I just use a bank app to cash transfer peer-to-peer (including schools). Takes two minutes.
I used cash yesterday. Some of my other anecdotes are available for a reasonable fee should one wish to book me.
If I look in my wallet I have no UK notes. However I still have some notes from my holidays over the past 12 months.
That right there is another big flaw with cash – latency. Money unspent in foreign currency that you could have in your current account.
I have been to France, Spain, Austria and the US in the last few years. I have never needed cash in any other them. I did withdraw €10 because I assumed the bus in Spain would require cash. The driver looked at me like I was mad and pointed to a sign that revealed it was 30% cheaper to pay by card...
How do you tip ppl with no readies?
Hopefully one upside of a cashless society will be that you no longer have to worry about whether you should be tipping someone or not and engaging in that furtive and demeaning-feeling exchange of a grubby dollar bill. Maybe in this brave new world their employer will pay them properly in the first place, rendering tipping redundant.
Have you been demeaned by someone tipping you, or are you feeling demeaned on their behalf?
I used to be a waiter and was always happy to get a tip after I'd spent a load of time taking the order, bringing their food and drinks, clearing their plates, getting their dessert etc, and had given them a good service and looked after them, chatted to them a bit, made sure they had everything they needed. It was the hardest job I've ever had and the tips made up for being paid £1.50 an hour. What I find demeaning is that situation in the US where you are expected to give someone a dollar bill for opening a door for you, or taking your case out of a luggage store and handing it to you. Simply because they're not being paid properly in the first place, so they have to wait for you to compensate for the meanness of their employer. Add to that the stress of not knowing if a tip is expected, not knowing the appropriate amount, not having change, not having the right currency... It is a fucking minefield. I would rather just pay 20% more for everything and have the staff paid decently. Basically, if I am already paying a bill I am happy to add 10% or 20% to it and I am a generous tipper by British standards. But handing out cash to people is just something that makes me feel grubby for all parties concerned.
Furthermore, taking an order, delivering the food and clearing the plates is actually the core function of a restaurant - not an optional extra for which a gratuity might be appropriate. And why should a £50 bottle of wine merit an extra £7.50 while a £10 bottle only £1.50? The service is exactly the same, and this is also true of oysters compared to sausages. Why don't we tip dental hygienists or garage mechanics? Their services are equally valued, by me at least. The French system of 'service compris' is sensible and treats all parties with respect.
From needing an £800,000 3rd party guaranteed loan 24 months ago to affording a £severalmillion mansion is going some. £250,000 per Peppa Pig speech is a nice repeat gig.
Credit crisis, what credit crisis?
Yet we were repeatedly told here that Boris would have money problems after leaving government.
Let's hope he isn't caught playing away. Child maintenance on another three sproggs could eat away at a newly minted fortune in next to no time.
I wonder if Carrie is hoping he is caught so doing.
I have a young friend who is very enamoured of the cashless society etc, or at least was.
A few weeks ago she was stuck in a dodgy area and her phone went wrong; and since her card was on her phone she couldn't get out of the slightly sketchy area, in the rain. No longer a fan of the cashless society, although in this case she should also have carried a card for the bus. I personally don't like that London buses no longer will take cash, for the kind of scenario given above. And what if the need is more urgent than a bus, in that situation ?
I advise both my kids to always have a tenner or twenty on them. Tucked into their phone or pocket. Never use it unless it is an emergency. It is basic common sense.
Belonging to a different generation, and living in a small northern town where cash is still accepted everywhere, I always like to have enough cash to get home. Though getting home with cash won't work in London or no doubt loads of other systems.
On a London - Glasgow train In was on last week it was announced that the buffet/bar was 'cash only'.(!)
I had always assumed that the world of on course betting, drugs, off books bits of work out of sight of the revenue, car boot sales, church bazaars, old people, children and the eternal possibility of electronic systems failures there would always be cash as a back up. I still think it would be a good thing for it to endure and be always an acceptable form of payment for everyday transactions.
I would add to that busking (although some now use QR code payments), tipping in cafe's and restaurants and beggars/homeless.
I know from friends (and daughter) working in restaurants and bars that tipping has suffered a great deal since the pandemic but is starting to come back again now that, thankfully, more and more people are carrying cash - sometimes with the express purpose of tipping.
The 'discretionary' 12.5% service charge seems pretty ubiquitous these days. I have to trust the establishment to pass it on to the staff, getting it removed and leaving the equivalent as a cash tip is just too much of a PITA.
Sadly far too often they don't, or they take a hefty cut of it. Also of course it is taxed. I am not advocating tax avoidance but I always regarded a tip as a personal gift to someone who had provided a good service rather than an additional payment. I know plenty disagree with that but it is my personal view.
It's a nice sentiment but you can't really consider it to be a gift if you are only giving it to people who have done stuff for you, immediately after they do it.
I do entirely consider it a gift. It is money there is no contractual need to provide as part of the purchase but given as personal thanks to someone.
Having received many tips during my waiting career I can't really say that that was how I saw them. I viewed them as a voluntary adfitional payment for services competently rendered. A gift is something I'd get from a friend or family member on my birthday or at Christmas, not something that I'd get given by a total stranger because I'd remembered to write down the extra topping they'd asked for on their pizza!
From needing an £800,000 3rd party guaranteed loan 24 months ago to affording a £severalmillion mansion is going some. £250,000 per Peppa Pig speech is a nice repeat gig.
Credit crisis, what credit crisis?
Yet we were repeatedly told here that Boris would have money problems after leaving government.
We were also told, rather more often, that he’d be minted.
And it was obvious that he would be.
Obvious that is to all those who weren't deranged by bitterness.
Given how ex PMs get paid so many millions for giving speeches perhaps they should donate a little back to their parties.
It might reduce the need to go begging from dubious foreigners.
We know he won't change It'll all go soon enough and he'll be back to begging dubious financiers.
From needing an £800,000 3rd party guaranteed loan 24 months ago to affording a £severalmillion mansion is going some. £250,000 per Peppa Pig speech is a nice repeat gig.
Credit crisis, what credit crisis?
Yet we were repeatedly told here that Boris would have money problems after leaving government.
We were also told, rather more often, that he’d be minted.
And it was obvious that he would be.
Obvious that is to all those who weren't deranged by bitterness.
Given how ex PMs get paid so many millions for giving speeches perhaps they should donate a little back to their parties.
It might reduce the need to go begging from dubious foreigners.
In many ways being paid so much for speeches is a form of corruption. Who would pay to listen to theresa may for example.
It is the Count of Monte Cristo, when meeting Danglars for the first time since his escape.
But it was of course in francs...
The banker thought the time had come for him to take the upper hand. So throwing himself back in his armchair, he said, with an arrogant and purse-proud air: “Let me beg of you not to hesitate in naming your wishes; you will then be convinced that the resources of the house of Danglars, however limited, are still equal to meeting the largest demands; and were you even to require a million——” “I beg your pardon,” interposed Monte Cristo. “I said a million,” replied Danglars, with the confidence of ignorance. “But could I do with a million?” retorted the count. “My dear sir, if a trifle like that could suffice me, I should never have given myself the trouble of opening an account. A million? Excuse my smiling when you speak of a sum I am in the habit of carrying in my pocket-book or dressing-case.” And with these words Monte Cristo took from his pocket a small case containing his visiting-cards, and drew forth two orders on the treasury for 500,000 francs each, payable at sight to the bearer. A man like Danglars was wholly inaccessible to any gentler method of correction. The effect of the present revelation was stunning; he trembled and was on the verge of apoplexy. The pupils of his eyes, as he gazed at Monte Cristo dilated horribly. “Come, come,” said Monte Cristo, “confess honestly that you have not perfect confidence in Thomson & French. I understand, and foreseeing that such might be the case, I took, in spite of my ignorance of affairs, certain precautions. See, here are two similar letters to that you have yourself received; one from the house of Arstein & Eskeles of Vienna, to Baron Rothschild, the other drawn by Baring of London, upon M. Lafitte. Now, sir, you have but to say the word, and I will spare you all uneasiness by presenting my letter of credit to one or other of these two firms.” The blow had struck home, and Danglars was entirely vanquished; with a trembling hand he took the two letters from the count, who held them carelessly between finger and thumb, and proceeded to scrutinize the signatures, with a minuteness that the count might have regarded as insulting, had it not suited his present purpose to mislead the banker. “Oh, sir,” said Danglars, after he had convinced himself of the authenticity of the documents he held, and rising as if to salute the power of gold personified in the man before him,—“three letters of unlimited credit! I can be no longer mistrustful, but you must pardon me, my dear count, for confessing to some degree of astonishment.”
Damn. I've never read the book, but I have fond memories of the film (the 2002 one with Jesus and Guy Pearce). I'm not as rememberful as I thought...
Biden tells G-7 leaders US will support effort to train Ukrainian pilots on F-16s https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/4012172-biden-tells-g7-leaders-us-will-support-effort-to-train-ukrainian-pilots-on-f-16s/ President Biden on Friday told Group of Seven (G-7) leaders that the United States will support a joint effort to train Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter aircrafts, a senior administration official told The Hill. The U.S. is hopeful the training can begin in the “coming week,” the official said, and it will require months to complete. It will occur outside Ukraine at sites in Europe. The countries participating in the effort will decide when to actually provide the jets, how many will be provided and who will provide them, the official said...
From needing an £800,000 3rd party guaranteed loan 24 months ago to affording a £severalmillion mansion is going some. £250,000 per Peppa Pig speech is a nice repeat gig.
Credit crisis, what credit crisis?
Yet we were repeatedly told here that Boris would have money problems after leaving government.
We were also told, rather more often, that he’d be minted.
And it was obvious that he would be.
Obvious that is to all those who weren't deranged by bitterness.
Given how ex PMs get paid so many millions for giving speeches perhaps they should donate a little back to their parties.
It might reduce the need to go begging from dubious foreigners.
Who do you think is paying for his “hilarious” speeches? The money is on the American circuit, and in various dubious kleptocracies.
Biden tells G-7 leaders US will support effort to train Ukrainian pilots on F-16s https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/4012172-biden-tells-g7-leaders-us-will-support-effort-to-train-ukrainian-pilots-on-f-16s/ President Biden on Friday told Group of Seven (G-7) leaders that the United States will support a joint effort to train Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter aircrafts, a senior administration official told The Hill. The U.S. is hopeful the training can begin in the “coming week,” the official said, and it will require months to complete. It will occur outside Ukraine at sites in Europe. The countries participating in the effort will decide when to actually provide the jets, how many will be provided and who will provide them, the official said...
It seems like a more diplomatic version of Trump's approach of sitting back and making European countries do the hard work.
How GOP attacks on ‘wokeism’ helped lead the Pentagon to abandon its effort to combat extremism in the military https://edition.cnn.com/2023/05/19/politics/pentagon-combat-extremism-military-republican-attacks-teixeira-leaks/index.html An early Biden administration initiative to root out extremism in the military was designed to identify people like Jack Teixeira, the 21-year-old Air National Guardsman with a long-history of violent and racist behavior now accused of perpetrating one of the biggest leaks of classified documents in modern history.
But more than two years after the Countering Extremism Working Group was formed inside the Pentagon, the effort has vanished virtually without a trace.
As the Pentagon grapples with the aftermath of the leak, the working group’s stated objectives look eerily prescient, and, in some cases, tailor-made to zero-in on the sort of anti-government, White supremacist behavior and views espoused by Teixeira.
CNN interviews with multiple sources familiar with the working group reveal that the Pentagon largely abandoned the effort to combat extremism in its ranks, as senior officials folded under political pressure from Republicans who lashed out at the initiative as an example of so-called wokeism in the military.
Of the six recommendations the working group made at the end of 2021, only one has begun to be implemented across the Defense Department, a Pentagon spokesperson told reporters on May 18…
From needing an £800,000 3rd party guaranteed loan 24 months ago to affording a £severalmillion mansion is going some. £250,000 per Peppa Pig speech is a nice repeat gig.
Credit crisis, what credit crisis?
Yet we were repeatedly told here that Boris would have money problems after leaving government.
We were also told, rather more often, that he’d be minted.
And it was obvious that he would be.
Obvious that is to all those who weren't deranged by bitterness.
Given how ex PMs get paid so many millions for giving speeches perhaps they should donate a little back to their parties.
It might reduce the need to go begging from dubious foreigners.
We know he won't change It'll all go soon enough and he'll be back to begging dubious financiers.
Boris had made over £1 million from speaking engagements alone by the end of last year since leaving No 10.
After Blair he is probably the highest paid Brit on the lecture circuit now (Thatcher was of course the highest paid when alive)
From needing an £800,000 3rd party guaranteed loan 24 months ago to affording a £severalmillion mansion is going some. £250,000 per Peppa Pig speech is a nice repeat gig.
Credit crisis, what credit crisis?
Yet we were repeatedly told here that Boris would have money problems after leaving government.
We were also told, rather more often, that he’d be minted.
And it was obvious that he would be.
Obvious that is to all those who weren't deranged by bitterness.
Given how ex PMs get paid so many millions for giving speeches perhaps they should donate a little back to their parties.
It might reduce the need to go begging from dubious foreigners.
In many ways being paid so much for speeches is a form of corruption. Who would pay to listen to theresa may for example.
It's fairly innocuous as far as ways for ex-PMs to make oodles of money go, if a little grubby. We might scoff, but there appears to be a thriving market to pay Theresa May top dollars to speak for half an hour. And it doesn't even generally appear to be being paid by the cream of the evil crop, but instead organisations with far too much money on their hands.
Unless it's being paid by corrupt regimes, and they do no lobby on behalf of some company who paid them for a speech, it's low grade stuff and more inexplicable than truly worrying.
Yes, I know the village rather well - certainly a nice place. It's LibDem-dominated and many people are vehemently anti-Brexit (there's an EU flag flying prominently in the centre) so feelings are a bit mixed, but the instinct to be pleasant to neighbours will win out.
How GOP attacks on ‘wokeism’ helped lead the Pentagon to abandon its effort to combat extremism in the military https://edition.cnn.com/2023/05/19/politics/pentagon-combat-extremism-military-republican-attacks-teixeira-leaks/index.html An early Biden administration initiative to root out extremism in the military was designed to identify people like Jack Teixeira, the 21-year-old Air National Guardsman with a long-history of violent and racist behavior now accused of perpetrating one of the biggest leaks of classified documents in modern history.
But more than two years after the Countering Extremism Working Group was formed inside the Pentagon, the effort has vanished virtually without a trace.
As the Pentagon grapples with the aftermath of the leak, the working group’s stated objectives look eerily prescient, and, in some cases, tailor-made to zero-in on the sort of anti-government, White supremacist behavior and views espoused by Teixeira.
CNN interviews with multiple sources familiar with the working group reveal that the Pentagon largely abandoned the effort to combat extremism in its ranks, as senior officials folded under political pressure from Republicans who lashed out at the initiative as an example of so-called wokeism in the military.
Of the six recommendations the working group made at the end of 2021, only one has begun to be implemented across the Defense Department, a Pentagon spokesperson told reporters on May 18…
So basically if you go looking for potentially dangerous extremists there is a risk you might find them, so best not look?
Yes, I know the village rather well - certainly a nice place. It's LibDem-dominated and many people are vehemently anti-Brexit (there's an EU flag flying prominently in the centre) so feelings are a bit mixed, but the instinct to be pleasant to neighbours will win out.
Plus hopes for an invite for Christmas mulled wine in the drawing room and summer cocktail parties on the Johnson's lawn no doubt (where they can no doubt argue Brexit with the man himself)
Biden tells G-7 leaders US will support effort to train Ukrainian pilots on F-16s https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/4012172-biden-tells-g7-leaders-us-will-support-effort-to-train-ukrainian-pilots-on-f-16s/ President Biden on Friday told Group of Seven (G-7) leaders that the United States will support a joint effort to train Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter aircrafts, a senior administration official told The Hill. The U.S. is hopeful the training can begin in the “coming week,” the official said, and it will require months to complete. It will occur outside Ukraine at sites in Europe. The countries participating in the effort will decide when to actually provide the jets, how many will be provided and who will provide them, the official said...
It seems like a more diplomatic version of Trump's approach of sitting back and making European countries do the hard work.
Trump didn't really want Europeans to spend more money on defence, he wanted them to spend more money with US defence contractors.
Indeed: he was reportedly livid when the Germans announced a modest rise in the number of people in their armed forces, rather than a big order for US weapons systems.
From needing an £800,000 3rd party guaranteed loan 24 months ago to affording a £severalmillion mansion is going some. £250,000 per Peppa Pig speech is a nice repeat gig.
Credit crisis, what credit crisis?
Yet we were repeatedly told here that Boris would have money problems after leaving government.
We were also told, rather more often, that he’d be minted.
And it was obvious that he would be.
Obvious that is to all those who weren't deranged by bitterness.
Given how ex PMs get paid so many millions for giving speeches perhaps they should donate a little back to their parties.
It might reduce the need to go begging from dubious foreigners.
In many ways being paid so much for speeches is a form of corruption. Who would pay to listen to theresa may for example.
It's fairly innocuous as far as ways for ex-PMs to make oodles of money go, if a little grubby. We might scoff, but there appears to be a thriving market to pay Theresa May top dollars to speak for half an hour. And it doesn't even generally appear to be being paid by the cream of the evil crop, but instead organisations with far too much money on their hands.
Unless it's being paid by corrupt regimes, and they do no lobby on behalf of some company who paid them for a speech, it's low grade stuff and more inexplicable than truly worrying.
That’s one way to view it. There’s certainly an argument to be made that the absurd amounts paid for what’s not a particularly valuable service have an ulterior motive.
SNP-run council’s ‘small school’ blunder could cost taxpayers £160m ... Dargavel Primary School in Bishopton, Renfrewshire opened at the start of 2022 with capacity for 430 children after officials ignored parents' warning the £18 million building was too small.
In an extraordinary admission, the local council then disclosed it had made a horrendous blunder with pupil projections for the school catchment area and space for 1,100 pupils was required.
Biden tells G-7 leaders US will support effort to train Ukrainian pilots on F-16s https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/4012172-biden-tells-g7-leaders-us-will-support-effort-to-train-ukrainian-pilots-on-f-16s/ President Biden on Friday told Group of Seven (G-7) leaders that the United States will support a joint effort to train Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter aircrafts, a senior administration official told The Hill. The U.S. is hopeful the training can begin in the “coming week,” the official said, and it will require months to complete. It will occur outside Ukraine at sites in Europe. The countries participating in the effort will decide when to actually provide the jets, how many will be provided and who will provide them, the official said...
It seems like a more diplomatic version of Trump's approach of sitting back and making European countries do the hard work.
Trump didn't really want Europeans to spend more money on defence, he wanted them to spend more money with US defence contractors.
Indeed: he was reportedly livid when the Germans announced a modest rise in the number of people in their armed forces, rather than a big order for US weapons systems.
I think that's the general idea regardless of President.
From needing an £800,000 3rd party guaranteed loan 24 months ago to affording a £severalmillion mansion is going some. £250,000 per Peppa Pig speech is a nice repeat gig.
Credit crisis, what credit crisis?
Yet we were repeatedly told here that Boris would have money problems after leaving government.
We were also told, rather more often, that he’d be minted.
And it was obvious that he would be.
Obvious that is to all those who weren't deranged by bitterness.
Given how ex PMs get paid so many millions for giving speeches perhaps they should donate a little back to their parties.
It might reduce the need to go begging from dubious foreigners.
Who do you think is paying for his “hilarious” speeches? The money is on the American circuit, and in various dubious kleptocracies.
But it still looks better than for a political party to be getting money directly from such sources.
From needing an £800,000 3rd party guaranteed loan 24 months ago to affording a £severalmillion mansion is going some. £250,000 per Peppa Pig speech is a nice repeat gig.
Credit crisis, what credit crisis?
Yet we were repeatedly told here that Boris would have money problems after leaving government.
Let's hope he isn't caught playing away. Child maintenance on another three sproggs could eat away at a newly minted fortune in next to no time.
I wonder if Carrie is hoping he is caught so doing.
I doubt that would be on her mind, but she would be very naive if she didn't believe there was at least an evens shot that lightening might strike again, and again and again.
From needing an £800,000 3rd party guaranteed loan 24 months ago to affording a £severalmillion mansion is going some. £250,000 per Peppa Pig speech is a nice repeat gig.
Credit crisis, what credit crisis?
Yet we were repeatedly told here that Boris would have money problems after leaving government.
We were also told, rather more often, that he’d be minted.
And it was obvious that he would be.
Obvious that is to all those who weren't deranged by bitterness.
Given how ex PMs get paid so many millions for giving speeches perhaps they should donate a little back to their parties.
It might reduce the need to go begging from dubious foreigners.
We know he won't change It'll all go soon enough and he'll be back to begging dubious financiers.
Boris had made over £1 million from speaking engagements alone by the end of last year since leaving No 10.
After Blair he is probably the highest paid Brit on the lecture circuit now (Thatcher was of course the highest paid when alive)
I've no doubt he'll be earning well for the next few years but the man is incorrigible.
£4 million on a house, endless child support. Three more children and their profligate mother. The amoral arse will be grubbing around the worlds despots before the decades out.
From needing an £800,000 3rd party guaranteed loan 24 months ago to affording a £severalmillion mansion is going some. £250,000 per Peppa Pig speech is a nice repeat gig.
Credit crisis, what credit crisis?
Yet we were repeatedly told here that Boris would have money problems after leaving government.
We were also told, rather more often, that he’d be minted.
And it was obvious that he would be.
Obvious that is to all those who weren't deranged by bitterness.
Given how ex PMs get paid so many millions for giving speeches perhaps they should donate a little back to their parties.
It might reduce the need to go begging from dubious foreigners.
In many ways being paid so much for speeches is a form of corruption. Who would pay to listen to theresa may for example.
It's fairly innocuous as far as ways for ex-PMs to make oodles of money go, if a little grubby. We might scoff, but there appears to be a thriving market to pay Theresa May top dollars to speak for half an hour. And it doesn't even generally appear to be being paid by the cream of the evil crop, but instead organisations with far too much money on their hands.
Unless it's being paid by corrupt regimes, and they do no lobby on behalf of some company who paid them for a speech, it's low grade stuff and more inexplicable than truly worrying.
That’s one way to view it. There’s certainly an argument to be made that the absurd amounts paid for what’s not a particularly valuable service have an ulterior motive.
And I think it right to be suspicious, but what ulterior motive can be gleaned from the Danish Bar and Law Society, who forked up 100k to May for a speaking engagement?
Biden tells G-7 leaders US will support effort to train Ukrainian pilots on F-16s https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/4012172-biden-tells-g7-leaders-us-will-support-effort-to-train-ukrainian-pilots-on-f-16s/ President Biden on Friday told Group of Seven (G-7) leaders that the United States will support a joint effort to train Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter aircrafts, a senior administration official told The Hill. The U.S. is hopeful the training can begin in the “coming week,” the official said, and it will require months to complete. It will occur outside Ukraine at sites in Europe. The countries participating in the effort will decide when to actually provide the jets, how many will be provided and who will provide them, the official said...
It seems like a more diplomatic version of Trump's approach of sitting back and making European countries do the hard work.
Trump didn't really want Europeans to spend more money on defence, he wanted them to spend more money with US defence contractors.
Indeed: he was reportedly livid when the Germans announced a modest rise in the number of people in their armed forces, rather than a big order for US weapons systems.
I think that's the general idea regardless of President.
Perhaps, in which case the question is what approach works best.
From needing an £800,000 3rd party guaranteed loan 24 months ago to affording a £severalmillion mansion is going some. £250,000 per Peppa Pig speech is a nice repeat gig.
Credit crisis, what credit crisis?
Yet we were repeatedly told here that Boris would have money problems after leaving government.
We were also told, rather more often, that he’d be minted.
And it was obvious that he would be.
Obvious that is to all those who weren't deranged by bitterness.
Given how ex PMs get paid so many millions for giving speeches perhaps they should donate a little back to their parties.
It might reduce the need to go begging from dubious foreigners.
In many ways being paid so much for speeches is a form of corruption. Who would pay to listen to theresa may for example.
It's fairly innocuous as far as ways for ex-PMs to make oodles of money go, if a little grubby. We might scoff, but there appears to be a thriving market to pay Theresa May top dollars to speak for half an hour. And it doesn't even generally appear to be being paid by the cream of the evil crop, but instead organisations with far too much money on their hands.
Unless it's being paid by corrupt regimes, and they do no lobby on behalf of some company who paid them for a speech, it's low grade stuff and more inexplicable than truly worrying.
Its unsurprising there is and there's nothing corrupt about it.
Depending upon the event, having a speaker who costs a lot on paper can end up costing not 'that much' per guest in the audience - and even in America people are very interested in the UK as a major foreign allied world power. Hearing a former PM speak is interesting, for potentially hundreds of guests in the audience, so its got a value. And since its abroad, they're not interested in all the petty shit as to why we personally dislike our own politicians. None of the stuff about why May is uninteresting to us matters to an American listening to a former British Prime Minister speak.
From needing an £800,000 3rd party guaranteed loan 24 months ago to affording a £severalmillion mansion is going some. £250,000 per Peppa Pig speech is a nice repeat gig.
Credit crisis, what credit crisis?
Yet we were repeatedly told here that Boris would have money problems after leaving government.
We were also told, rather more often, that he’d be minted.
And it was obvious that he would be.
Obvious that is to all those who weren't deranged by bitterness.
Given how ex PMs get paid so many millions for giving speeches perhaps they should donate a little back to their parties.
It might reduce the need to go begging from dubious foreigners.
In many ways being paid so much for speeches is a form of corruption. Who would pay to listen to theresa may for example.
It's fairly innocuous as far as ways for ex-PMs to make oodles of money go, if a little grubby. We might scoff, but there appears to be a thriving market to pay Theresa May top dollars to speak for half an hour. And it doesn't even generally appear to be being paid by the cream of the evil crop, but instead organisations with far too much money on their hands.
Unless it's being paid by corrupt regimes, and they do no lobby on behalf of some company who paid them for a speech, it's low grade stuff and more inexplicable than truly worrying.
That’s one way to view it. There’s certainly an argument to be made that the absurd amounts paid for what’s not a particularly valuable service have an ulterior motive.
And I think it right to be suspicious, but what ulterior motive can be gleaned from the Danish Bar and Law Society, who forked up 100k to May for a speaking engagement?
I have a young friend who is very enamoured of the cashless society etc, or at least was.
A few weeks ago she was stuck in a dodgy area and her phone went wrong; and since her card was on her phone she couldn't get out of the slightly sketchy area, in the rain. No longer a fan of the cashless society, although in this case she should also have carried a card for the bus. I personally don't like that London buses no longer will take cash, for the kind of scenario given above. And what if the need is more urgent than a bus, in that situation ?
I advise both my kids to always have a tenner or twenty on them. Tucked into their phone or pocket. Never use it unless it is an emergency. It is basic common sense.
Belonging to a different generation, and living in a small northern town where cash is still accepted everywhere, I always like to have enough cash to get home. Though getting home with cash won't work in London or no doubt loads of other systems.
On a London - Glasgow train In was on last week it was announced that the buffet/bar was 'cash only'.(!)
I had always assumed that the world of on course betting, drugs, off books bits of work out of sight of the revenue, car boot sales, church bazaars, old people, children and the eternal possibility of electronic systems failures there would always be cash as a back up. I still think it would be a good thing for it to endure and be always an acceptable form of payment for everyday transactions.
I would add to that busking (although some now use QR code payments), tipping in cafe's and restaurants and beggars/homeless.
I know from friends (and daughter) working in restaurants and bars that tipping has suffered a great deal since the pandemic but is starting to come back again now that, thankfully, more and more people are carrying cash - sometimes with the express purpose of tipping.
The 'discretionary' 12.5% service charge seems pretty ubiquitous these days. I have to trust the establishment to pass it on to the staff, getting it removed and leaving the equivalent as a cash tip is just too much of a PITA.
Sadly far too often they don't, or they take a hefty cut of it. Also of course it is taxed. I am not advocating tax avoidance but I always regarded a tip as a personal gift to someone who had provided a good service rather than an additional payment. I know plenty disagree with that but it is my personal view.
Mrs P and I had a lovely lunch at the Pythouse Kitchen Garden today (which I recommend if you're ever in deepest west Wiltshire). On their menu they explicitly state:
A discretionary 12.5% service charge is added to your final bill, which will be very gratefully received by all staff at the end of the month.
...so I hope I can trust them on that.
Absolutely. I am sure there are many - or maybe most - who are paying fair. But sadly there are also plenty who do not.
I mean, just ask the waitress. If they don’t get the tip then tell the owner you’ll never eat there again. Rare in London now. Staff generally get the tip. The Evening Standard did a campaign on it a while ago.
From needing an £800,000 3rd party guaranteed loan 24 months ago to affording a £severalmillion mansion is going some. £250,000 per Peppa Pig speech is a nice repeat gig.
Credit crisis, what credit crisis?
Yet we were repeatedly told here that Boris would have money problems after leaving government.
We were also told, rather more often, that he’d be minted.
And it was obvious that he would be.
Obvious that is to all those who weren't deranged by bitterness.
Given how ex PMs get paid so many millions for giving speeches perhaps they should donate a little back to their parties.
It might reduce the need to go begging from dubious foreigners.
In many ways being paid so much for speeches is a form of corruption. Who would pay to listen to theresa may for example.
It's fairly innocuous as far as ways for ex-PMs to make oodles of money go, if a little grubby. We might scoff, but there appears to be a thriving market to pay Theresa May top dollars to speak for half an hour. And it doesn't even generally appear to be being paid by the cream of the evil crop, but instead organisations with far too much money on their hands.
Unless it's being paid by corrupt regimes, and they do no lobby on behalf of some company who paid them for a speech, it's low grade stuff and more inexplicable than truly worrying.
That’s one way to view it. There’s certainly an argument to be made that the absurd amounts paid for what’s not a particularly valuable service have an ulterior motive.
And I think it right to be suspicious, but what ulterior motive can be gleaned from the Danish Bar and Law Society, who forked up 100k to May for a speaking engagement?
From needing an £800,000 3rd party guaranteed loan 24 months ago to affording a £severalmillion mansion is going some. £250,000 per Peppa Pig speech is a nice repeat gig.
Credit crisis, what credit crisis?
Yet we were repeatedly told here that Boris would have money problems after leaving government.
We were also told, rather more often, that he’d be minted.
And it was obvious that he would be.
Obvious that is to all those who weren't deranged by bitterness.
Given how ex PMs get paid so many millions for giving speeches perhaps they should donate a little back to their parties.
It might reduce the need to go begging from dubious foreigners.
In many ways being paid so much for speeches is a form of corruption. Who would pay to listen to theresa may for example.
It's fairly innocuous as far as ways for ex-PMs to make oodles of money go, if a little grubby. We might scoff, but there appears to be a thriving market to pay Theresa May top dollars to speak for half an hour. And it doesn't even generally appear to be being paid by the cream of the evil crop, but instead organisations with far too much money on their hands.
Unless it's being paid by corrupt regimes, and they do no lobby on behalf of some company who paid them for a speech, it's low grade stuff and more inexplicable than truly worrying.
That’s one way to view it. There’s certainly an argument to be made that the absurd amounts paid for what’s not a particularly valuable service have an ulterior motive.
And I think it right to be suspicious, but what ulterior motive can be gleaned from the Danish Bar and Law Society, who forked up 100k to May for a speaking engagement?
From needing an £800,000 3rd party guaranteed loan 24 months ago to affording a £severalmillion mansion is going some. £250,000 per Peppa Pig speech is a nice repeat gig.
Credit crisis, what credit crisis?
Yet we were repeatedly told here that Boris would have money problems after leaving government.
We were also told, rather more often, that he’d be minted.
And it was obvious that he would be.
Obvious that is to all those who weren't deranged by bitterness.
Given how ex PMs get paid so many millions for giving speeches perhaps they should donate a little back to their parties.
It might reduce the need to go begging from dubious foreigners.
In many ways being paid so much for speeches is a form of corruption. Who would pay to listen to theresa may for example.
It's fairly innocuous as far as ways for ex-PMs to make oodles of money go, if a little grubby. We might scoff, but there appears to be a thriving market to pay Theresa May top dollars to speak for half an hour. And it doesn't even generally appear to be being paid by the cream of the evil crop, but instead organisations with far too much money on their hands.
Unless it's being paid by corrupt regimes, and they do no lobby on behalf of some company who paid them for a speech, it's low grade stuff and more inexplicable than truly worrying.
That’s one way to view it. There’s certainly an argument to be made that the absurd amounts paid for what’s not a particularly valuable service have an ulterior motive.
And I think it right to be suspicious, but what ulterior motive can be gleaned from the Danish Bar and Law Society, who forked up 100k to May for a speaking engagement?
SNP-run council’s ‘small school’ blunder could cost taxpayers £160m ... Dargavel Primary School in Bishopton, Renfrewshire opened at the start of 2022 with capacity for 430 children after officials ignored parents' warning the £18 million building was too small.
In an extraordinary admission, the local council then disclosed it had made a horrendous blunder with pupil projections for the school catchment area and space for 1,100 pupils was required.
Oops. (Even if the cost implications are misleading if taking no account of savings from not building the right size schools in the first place.)
I'm not sure I would agree this is a 'blunder.' If capacity is needed for 1500 pupils I would not have one school of 1500 but four schools of 400.
430 is big for a primary school. It's a three form entry. More than that and it gets ridiculously impersonal and that's bad for the children.
I used to teach in a secondary school of 2,500 and I thought many problems it had could have been resolved by dividing it into three schools of 850 students.
Comments
Credit crisis, what credit crisis?
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/05/judge-pauline-newman-sues-cognitive-test.html
They’re now wanting cuts to programs which help the poor and disabled .What a loathsome bunch l
Utterly despicable actions .
Edit. My problem with this conversation is it makes me feel like we are sitting round a table in a diner about to go and commit a jewel robbery
An party which abandoned shame many years ago, They make the Tories look stickler for principle.
Obvious that is to all those who weren't deranged by bitterness.
Given how ex PMs get paid so many millions for giving speeches perhaps they should donate a little back to their parties.
It might reduce the need to go begging from dubious foreigners.
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/4012172-biden-tells-g7-leaders-us-will-support-effort-to-train-ukrainian-pilots-on-f-16s/
President Biden on Friday told Group of Seven (G-7) leaders that the United States will support a joint effort to train Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter aircrafts, a senior administration official told The Hill.
The U.S. is hopeful the training can begin in the “coming week,” the official said, and it will require months to complete. It will occur outside Ukraine at sites in Europe.
The countries participating in the effort will decide when to actually provide the jets, how many will be provided and who will provide them, the official said...
The money is on the American circuit, and in various dubious kleptocracies.
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/05/19/politics/pentagon-combat-extremism-military-republican-attacks-teixeira-leaks/index.html
An early Biden administration initiative to root out extremism in the military was designed to identify people like Jack Teixeira, the 21-year-old Air National Guardsman with a long-history of violent and racist behavior now accused of perpetrating one of the biggest leaks of classified documents in modern history.
But more than two years after the Countering Extremism Working Group was formed inside the Pentagon, the effort has vanished virtually without a trace.
As the Pentagon grapples with the aftermath of the leak, the working group’s stated objectives look eerily prescient, and, in some cases, tailor-made to zero-in on the sort of anti-government, White supremacist behavior and views espoused by Teixeira.
CNN interviews with multiple sources familiar with the working group reveal that the Pentagon largely abandoned the effort to combat extremism in its ranks, as senior officials folded under political pressure from Republicans who lashed out at the initiative as an example of so-called wokeism in the military.
Of the six recommendations the working group made at the end of 2021, only one has begun to be implemented across the Defense Department, a Pentagon spokesperson told reporters on May 18…
After Blair he is probably the highest paid Brit on the lecture circuit now (Thatcher was of course the highest paid when alive)
https://news.sky.com/story/boris-johnson-earns-1m-from-speaking-engagements-since-leaving-downing-street-12768139
Unless it's being paid by corrupt regimes, and they do no lobby on behalf of some company who paid them for a speech, it's low grade stuff and more inexplicable than truly worrying.
Indeed: he was reportedly livid when the Germans announced a modest rise in the number of people in their armed forces, rather than a big order for US weapons systems.
There’s certainly an argument to be made that the absurd amounts paid for what’s not a particularly valuable service have an ulterior motive.
...
Dargavel Primary School in Bishopton, Renfrewshire opened at the start of 2022 with capacity for 430 children after officials ignored parents' warning the £18 million building was too small.
In an extraordinary admission, the local council then disclosed it had made a horrendous blunder with pupil projections for the school catchment area and space for 1,100 pupils was required.
The scale of the debacle deepened earlier in 2023 when the local authority said this could increase further to 1,500 pupils by 2033.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/05/19/snp-council-small-school-renfrewshire-taxpayers-160m-bill/ (£££)
Oops. (Even if the cost implications are misleading if taking no account of savings from not building the right size schools in the first place.)
I've no doubt he'll be earning well for the next few years but the man is incorrigible.
£4 million on a house, endless child support. Three more children and their profligate mother. The amoral arse will be grubbing around the worlds despots before the decades out.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10898503/Former-PM-Theresa-paid-109-000-FIVE-hour-talk.html
Depending upon the event, having a speaker who costs a lot on paper can end up costing not 'that much' per guest in the audience - and even in America people are very interested in the UK as a major foreign allied world power. Hearing a former PM speak is interesting, for potentially hundreds of guests in the audience, so its got a value. And since its abroad, they're not interested in all the petty shit as to why we personally dislike our own politicians. None of the stuff about why May is uninteresting to us matters to an American listening to a former British Prime Minister speak.
I'd want my fees back if I was at the Danish bar
It's a very clever filtering mechanism to make sure that people who aren't "in the know" don't turn up.
It's like camouflage.
R
U
S
S
Mary Elizabeth Truss
Mother
Queen
Saviour
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-65602231
After weeks of acrimonious debate, Republicans put the two fraught issues into a single bill, which the governor has said he will sign."
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/19/us/abortion-transgender-bill-nebraska.html
And today in Swansea there is an indepence march where 15-20,000 people are expected.
Yma o hyd!!
430 is big for a primary school. It's a three form entry. More than that and it gets ridiculously impersonal and that's bad for the children.
I used to teach in a secondary school of 2,500 and I thought many problems it had could have been resolved by dividing it into three schools of 850 students.