I'm surprised no-one has mentioned this today. Sunak has a potential path, albeit it's a very narrow one.
He has rather good favourability ratings with 25-40 year olds, particularly those in their 30s, who favour their taxes being lowered over redistribution. If he can solidify the 50-64 year old group and win a chunk of the older Millennials (big ask) then there's possibly a game still on:
The answer for Mr Sunak is obvious, and Labour are making the running on it this morning. Face down the NIMBYs.
Build. More. Houses.
Building more houses isn't really the answer. There are 1/4 million long term empty homes in the UK (figure from Nov 2022). The issue is the housing market is broken and more supply won't help. Housing in this country is broken by hugely inflated prices, an excess of landlordism and a refusal from the government to really deal with that. Along with the fact that wages have not risen with inflation, it means that people of my generation (I was born in '91) have no real chance of getting on the housing ladder unless we have rich parents.
The house my parents moved into in their 20s was £55k; in my 20s it was worth £360k. It is an ex council house. Allowing more private developers (whose profits are protected in legislation) to build more high price houses (which is what they always do) and flog them off to landlords or people who use them as "investments" (see money laundering) will not help my generation.
Taking back unused houses from landlords and investors, bringing back affordable housing as a domain of the state and not housing associations, and defining affordable housing as something people can actually afford (instead of 80% of local market prices) is what is really needed.
Because there are maybe a dozen or so significant causes of our housing problems, people often assume it is only a subset of them. All the things you listed are broken and significant. As is the shortage of new homes being built.
What issues does building new houses solve? It increases supply, but we obviously don't have a real supply issue if over 1/4 million homes are empty. We have an affordability crisis, which again doesn't make sense if supply isn't an issue. So who owns those 250,000 homes? Landlords, second home owners, "investors" etc. If you build more homes, do you stop the same kind of people snapping them up? No.
Out of university I worked for a few years at a housing association and then in local government on regeneration - essentially replacing old stock with new stock. And every time developers would promise x amount of affordable housing, then once the first shovel hit the ground and everything had been approved, they would turn around, say that the profits they projected had gone down due to factors outside their control, and the affordable housing had to be reduced to allow for more houses that could make them money.
You see this everywhere. Every local council will have a housing needs assessment document somewhere, which will almost always say the same thing - we need more affordable homes, one and two bedroom homes for single people and old people, and we don't really need more large family homes. Developers, on the other hand, want to build 3 or 4 bedroom homes because they can be sold to wealthy families or landlords who will rent out the rooms individually and pay of their mortgage for them, as well as make a profit. And successive governments since the coalition years have protected developers over the needs of average people.
Your second sentence is making an incorrect assumption based on 1/4 million being a big number. The rest I broadly concur with.
Across Europe the average empty home rate is about 10%. That's much healthier. We should aspire to 2.5 million empty homes to get to that rate and if we did both rent and property prices would be much, much lower. And rental conditions would be much better, as people wouldn't be required to let neglected properties anymore.
England only having 1% of properties empty is part of the problem. More supply would fix that problem.
In Operational Research, a system running at 99% is generally considered to be bad sign. Unless you have insanely stable demand, it is about to fail at any moment.
Exactly.
And as we all know, demand is nothing like stable, so the system has failed.
I'm surprised no-one has mentioned this today. Sunak has a potential path, albeit it's a very narrow one.
He has rather good favourability ratings with 25-40 year olds, particularly those in their 30s, who favour their taxes being lowered over redistribution. If he can solidify the 50-64 year old group and win a chunk of the older Millennials (big ask) then there's possibly a game still on:
The answer for Mr Sunak is obvious, and Labour are making the running on it this morning. Face down the NIMBYs.
Build. More. Houses.
Building more houses isn't really the answer. There are 1/4 million long term empty homes in the UK (figure from Nov 2022). The issue is the housing market is broken and more supply won't help. Housing in this country is broken by hugely inflated prices, an excess of landlordism and a refusal from the government to really deal with that. Along with the fact that wages have not risen with inflation, it means that people of my generation (I was born in '91) have no real chance of getting on the housing ladder unless we have rich parents.
The house my parents moved into in their 20s was £55k; in my 20s it was worth £360k. It is an ex council house. Allowing more private developers (whose profits are protected in legislation) to build more high price houses (which is what they always do) and flog them off to landlords or people who use them as "investments" (see money laundering) will not help my generation.
Taking back unused houses from landlords and investors, bringing back affordable housing as a domain of the state and not housing associations, and defining affordable housing as something people can actually afford (instead of 80% of local market prices) is what is really needed.
Because there are maybe a dozen or so significant causes of our housing problems, people often assume it is only a subset of them. All the things you listed are broken and significant. As is the shortage of new homes being built.
What issues does building new houses solve? It increases supply, but we obviously don't have a real supply issue if over 1/4 million homes are empty. We have an affordability crisis, which again doesn't make sense if supply isn't an issue. So who owns those 250,000 homes? Landlords, second home owners, "investors" etc. If you build more homes, do you stop the same kind of people snapping them up? No.
Out of university I worked for a few years at a housing association and then in local government on regeneration - essentially replacing old stock with new stock. And every time developers would promise x amount of affordable housing, then once the first shovel hit the ground and everything had been approved, they would turn around, say that the profits they projected had gone down due to factors outside their control, and the affordable housing had to be reduced to allow for more houses that could make them money.
You see this everywhere. Every local council will have a housing needs assessment document somewhere, which will almost always say the same thing - we need more affordable homes, one and two bedroom homes for single people and old people, and we don't really need more large family homes. Developers, on the other hand, want to build 3 or 4 bedroom homes because they can be sold to wealthy families or landlords who will rent out the rooms individually and pay of their mortgage for them, as well as make a profit. And successive governments since the coalition years have protected developers over the needs of average people.
Your second sentence is making an incorrect assumption based on 1/4 million being a big number. The rest I broadly concur with.
Across Europe the average empty home rate is about 10%. That's much healthier. We should aspire to 2.5 million empty homes to get to that rate and if we did both rent and property prices would be much, much lower. And rental conditions would be much better, as people wouldn't be required to let neglected properties anymore.
England only having 1% of properties empty is part of the problem. More supply would fix that problem.
In Operational Research, a system running at 99% is generally considered to be bad sign. Unless you have insanely stable demand, it is about to fail at any moment.
Exactly.
And as we all know, demand is nothing like stable, so the system has failed.
I'm surprised no-one has mentioned this today. Sunak has a potential path, albeit it's a very narrow one.
He has rather good favourability ratings with 25-40 year olds, particularly those in their 30s, who favour their taxes being lowered over redistribution. If he can solidify the 50-64 year old group and win a chunk of the older Millennials (big ask) then there's possibly a game still on:
The answer for Mr Sunak is obvious, and Labour are making the running on it this morning. Face down the NIMBYs.
Build. More. Houses.
Building more houses isn't really the answer. There are 1/4 million long term empty homes in the UK (figure from Nov 2022). The issue is the housing market is broken and more supply won't help. Housing in this country is broken by hugely inflated prices, an excess of landlordism and a refusal from the government to really deal with that. Along with the fact that wages have not risen with inflation, it means that people of my generation (I was born in '91) have no real chance of getting on the housing ladder unless we have rich parents.
The house my parents moved into in their 20s was £55k; in my 20s it was worth £360k. It is an ex council house. Allowing more private developers (whose profits are protected in legislation) to build more high price houses (which is what they always do) and flog them off to landlords or people who use them as "investments" (see money laundering) will not help my generation.
Taking back unused houses from landlords and investors, bringing back affordable housing as a domain of the state and not housing associations, and defining affordable housing as something people can actually afford (instead of 80% of local market prices) is what is really needed.
Because there are maybe a dozen or so significant causes of our housing problems, people often assume it is only a subset of them. All the things you listed are broken and significant. As is the shortage of new homes being built.
What issues does building new houses solve? It increases supply, but we obviously don't have a real supply issue if over 1/4 million homes are empty. We have an affordability crisis, which again doesn't make sense if supply isn't an issue. So who owns those 250,000 homes? Landlords, second home owners, "investors" etc. If you build more homes, do you stop the same kind of people snapping them up? No.
Out of university I worked for a few years at a housing association and then in local government on regeneration - essentially replacing old stock with new stock. And every time developers would promise x amount of affordable housing, then once the first shovel hit the ground and everything had been approved, they would turn around, say that the profits they projected had gone down due to factors outside their control, and the affordable housing had to be reduced to allow for more houses that could make them money.
You see this everywhere. Every local council will have a housing needs assessment document somewhere, which will almost always say the same thing - we need more affordable homes, one and two bedroom homes for single people and old people, and we don't really need more large family homes. Developers, on the other hand, want to build 3 or 4 bedroom homes because they can be sold to wealthy families or landlords who will rent out the rooms individually and pay of their mortgage for them, as well as make a profit. And successive governments since the coalition years have protected developers over the needs of average people.
Your second sentence is making an incorrect assumption based on 1/4 million being a big number. The rest I broadly concur with.
Across Europe the average empty home rate is about 10%. That's much healthier. We should aspire to 2.5 million empty homes to get to that rate and if we did both rent and property prices would be much, much lower. And rental conditions would be much better, as people wouldn't be required to let neglected properties anymore.
England only having 1% of properties empty is part of the problem. More supply would fix that problem.
In Operational Research, a system running at 99% is generally considered to be bad sign. Unless you have insanely stable demand, it is about to fail at any moment.
Exactly.
And as we all know, demand is nothing like stable, so the system has failed.
At this rate Britain will be literally the last country on earth to have a high speed train, as we race to beat the Greenlanders but get pipped in 2037 as they open the Nuuq-Ilullissat line, as we debate whether to rebuild Euston with two platforms or none
The Javelins on HS1 are high speed trains on a high speed line. I was on it this morning from Ashford to St Pancras.
Not really a "network", is it? Ashford to London. About 2 miles
Meanwhile the Uzbeks - the Uzbeks - have linked multiple cities, including Tashkent, Samarkand, Bukhara, and a dozen other cities, some of them in really remote deserts and mountains. Pffff!
Has anyone been to central Asia? One of the stans?
I've never been, I'm keen to go, I have some spare time this summer when I need to base myself somewhere - but I fancy somewhere unusual that I've never seen before, coz I like new places. The Stans fit the bill, they are also cheap
Any advice? I hear Bukhara is beautiful in Uzbekistan and apparently Kyrgyzstan is quite something....
Been to Tashkent and Bishkek. Both post-Soviet corrupt, crime-ridden shitholes. Not really the Disneyland-For-Old-Men SE Asia experience you normally crave.
Urumqi, Herat or Isfahan would be the truly interesting Central Asia choices.
You're teetotal. Iran is dry. I am, shall we say, less tolerant of sobriety than you, and I've already had a Captagon habit so that doesn't entice me
Urumqi? Hmm
I shall investigate, along with Bukhara
Grozhny. They drink like the fucking Queen Mother there. Reasonable chance of getting roofied if you succumb to temptation and dally with a local blyat'. They've also got the second largest mosque in the Russian Federation. It's ticking a lot of boxes.
Today I have learned a new word. Roofied.
!!!!
I suspect one's entire linguistic module could be filled exclusively with synonyms for blootered if one tried hard enough
Good to see HYUFD linking the IPSOS figures this morning comparing 1997 with 2019.
This gives some absolute figures to go with the relative swing figures that headlined a couple of weeks ago.
2024 will be interesting, as it will be on a lower overall swing and I expect some differentials to, slightly, wind out.
Swings between 1997-2019 (+ means in favour of Conservative, i.e. with the run of play):
Overall swing: +12.5
Male swing: +14.5 Female swing: +10.5
Women have gone from 1% to the right of males in 1997 to 3% left of males in 2019. I expect this trend to accelerate a little, as incoming 18-24s are more split by gender.
18-24s were an 8% swing to the left of 65s in 1997 and are 45% swing to the left now. I expect such gaps to narrow a little in 2024.
By class: AB: +4.0 C1: +8.0 C2: +20.5 DE: +22.0
DEs were 24% swing to the left of ABs in 1997 and are 6% swing to the left now. I think this is a settled gap, I don't see any red wall reversion being particularly driven by a reverse of this.
Approx cohort comparisons: 18-24s in 1997 Vs 35-44s in 2019: +9.0 25s -> 45s: +19.5 35s -> 55s: +20.5 45s/55s -> 65s +26.5 1997 olds replacement by 2019 youngs: -20.0
Everyone has swung right with age, some more than others, and I think this unrealised swing the Tories are banking on in the 35-44s is more than matched by the snapback potential in older groups and may be a somewhat forlorn hope.
I don't know why 18-24 is used. It isn't big enough in terms of actual votes cast, because their turnout tends to be lower. The youngest age group should be 18-30 or 18-35. Interesting that 25-34s have only swung slightly to the left since 1997.
The robots exterminating us won't have "hands". They will have giant caterpillar tracks, powerful fusion-powered lasers, and aerosols of radioactive pathogens. "Hands". You idiot.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said Prof Stock's invitation should stand.
He added: "Agree or disagree with her, Professor Stock is an important figure in this argument. Students should be allowed to hear and debate her views.
Why is Rishi Sunak getting involved in the business of a university?
Two reasons. Firstly, I imagine, because he was asked the question. Secondly, because free speech and freedom of expression is important, and as PM, I'd like him to have a view about it. What's wrong with that?
If Sunak is suck a lover of free speech, why doesn't he stop the ban on people giving speeches at UK Government Events because they posted something critical of the government on Twitter?
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said Prof Stock's invitation should stand.
He added: "Agree or disagree with her, Professor Stock is an important figure in this argument. Students should be allowed to hear and debate her views.
Why is Rishi Sunak getting involved in the business of a university?
It's the business of the Oxford Union rather than the university. Sunak may be a member of the Union, but even if he isn't, I think it's fair enough to give an opinion.
Especially when one of the world’s most famous debating societies, appears to have a serious problem with the exercise of freedom of speech. Debate, as we used to call it.
At this rate Britain will be literally the last country on earth to have a high speed train, as we race to beat the Greenlanders but get pipped in 2037 as they open the Nuuq-Ilullissat line, as we debate whether to rebuild Euston with two platforms or none
The Javelins on HS1 are high speed trains on a high speed line. I was on it this morning from Ashford to St Pancras.
Not really a "network", is it? Ashford to London. About 2 miles
Meanwhile the Uzbeks - the Uzbeks - have linked multiple cities, including Tashkent, Samarkand, Bukhara, and a dozen other cities, some of them in really remote deserts and mountains. Pffff!
It's 50 or so miles to Ashford and then it goes on to Paris and Brussels FFS. What more do you want? An ice cream?
At this rate Britain will be literally the last country on earth to have a high speed train, as we race to beat the Greenlanders but get pipped in 2037 as they open the Nuuq-Ilullissat line, as we debate whether to rebuild Euston with two platforms or none
Yes, they should have flattened Camden a decade ago, for the HS2-HS1 link.
Derek Thompson (75!), an actor in a BBC show you don't watch because it's on terrestrial and it's 2023, is leaving the show he has starred in since 1933. Yes, it's still on. Really. Really. His manner of departure has not been decided but if it doesn't involve being glassed to death by Harold Shand I will be miffed.
Has anyone been to central Asia? One of the stans?
I've never been, I'm keen to go, I have some spare time this summer when I need to base myself somewhere - but I fancy somewhere unusual that I've never seen before, coz I like new places. The Stans fit the bill, they are also cheap
Any advice? I hear Bukhara is beautiful in Uzbekistan and apparently Kyrgyzstan is quite something....
Turkmenistan??? Bizarre place with artificial capital full of marble and fountains - with stunning mixture of Turkic, Asiatic & Russian women. Visit Orlov's Well. Dont plan on staying more than a long weekend though....
Derek Thompson (75!), an actor in a BBC show you don't watch because it's on terrestrial and it's 2023, is leaving the show he has starred in since 1933. Yes, it's still on. Really. Really. His manner of departure has not been decided but if it doesn't involve being glassed to death by Harold Shand I will be miffed.
Derek Thompson (75!), an actor in a BBC show you don't watch because it's on terrestrial and it's 2023, is leaving the show he has starred in since 1933...
Derek Thompson (75!), an actor in a BBC show you don't watch because it's on terrestrial and it's 2023, is leaving the show he has starred in since 1933. Yes, it's still on. Really. Really. His manner of departure has not been decided but if it doesn't involve being glassed to death by Harold Shand I will be miffed.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said Prof Stock's invitation should stand.
He added: "Agree or disagree with her, Professor Stock is an important figure in this argument. Students should be allowed to hear and debate her views.
Why is Rishi Sunak getting involved in the business of a university?
It's the business of the Oxford Union rather than the university. Sunak may be a member of the Union, but even if he isn't, I think it's fair enough to give an opinion.
Especially when one of the world’s most famous debating societies, appears to have a serious problem with the exercise of freedom of speech. Debate, as we used to call it.
Is it a debate, or an 'event' ? The reporting isn't very clear.
Derek Thompson (75!), an actor in a BBC show you don't watch because it's on terrestrial and it's 2023, is leaving the show he has starred in since 1933...
Derek Thompson (75!), an actor in a BBC show you don't watch because it's on terrestrial and it's 2023, is leaving the show he has starred in since 1933...
Since 1933 ?
I remember well the live episode where Logie Baird was crushed to death by the original studio camera.
One of my strongest memories of Turkmenistan was the job creation schemes...On the road to/from the airport there was a local lady brushing sand off the road - every 50m or so - for 10km. Then in the centre of the capital there is a local policeman with a speed-gun - in between every set of traffic lights - so every 100m or so. Zero unemployment among the Turkic population.
Derek Thompson (75!), an actor in a BBC show you don't watch because it's on terrestrial and it's 2023, is leaving the show he has starred in since 1933. Yes, it's still on. Really. Really. His manner of departure has not been decided but if it doesn't involve being glassed to death by Harold Shand I will be miffed.
Why are the Millennials not starting to convert to vote Tory?
My hypothesis is that tuition fees and student loans are to blame.
Millennials are effectively paying a higher rate of income tax on their earnings as a result of the tuition fee and student loan repayments.
This is adversely impacting their ability to get a mortgage and buy a home as they have less surplus funds to save a deposit and their after tax earnings are only able to support a lower mortgage.
Home owners are more inclined to vote Conservative.
Derek Thompson (75!), an actor in a BBC show you don't watch because it's on terrestrial and it's 2023, is leaving the show he has starred in since 1933. Yes, it's still on. Really. Really. His manner of departure has not been decided but if it doesn't involve being glassed to death by Harold Shand I will be miffed.
Is there any media / entertainment outlet that isn't full of slime bags and enablers? Gruadian the latest to have issues.
If the allegations are true, the Guardian behaved appallingly.
Along with the FT having questions to answer.
The FT seems to have behaved very badly - but the Guardian had a much larger responsibility in the sorry business.
Plays into a narrative that media industry is rather a cosy little club where everybody knows the wrong'uns, but everything is covered up for far too long....while also been all over any allegation in other industries.
Reminds some what of phone hacking, where everybody knew they were all at it, but it became politically expedient to get their man, while trying to shape it as if no other media outlet would ever involve themselves in such grubby (and illegal) tactics.
Derek Thompson (75!), an actor in a BBC show you don't watch because it's on terrestrial and it's 2023, is leaving the show he has starred in since 1933. Yes, it's still on. Really. Really. His manner of departure has not been decided but if it doesn't involve being glassed to death by Harold Shand I will be miffed.
I don't believe that Casualty is still on. Next you'll be telling me that I can still tune in and watch Eastenders.
Our Ukrainians like Emmerdale, love Coronation Street and don't understand Eastenders ("Why do they all shout?"). There's an insightful point in there somewhere about English culture as observed from outside but I am fucked if I can tease it out.
Derek Thompson (75!), an actor in a BBC show you don't watch because it's on terrestrial and it's 2023, is leaving the show he has starred in since 1933. Yes, it's still on. Really. Really. His manner of departure has not been decided but if it doesn't involve being glassed to death by Harold Shand I will be miffed.
I don't believe that Casualty is still on. Next you'll be telling me that I can still tune in and watch Eastenders.
Our Ukrainians like Emmerdale, love Coronation Street and don't understand Eastenders ("Why do they all shout?"). There's an insightful point in there somewhere about English culture as observed from outside but I am fucked if I can tease it out.
Derek Thompson (75!), an actor in a BBC show you don't watch because it's on terrestrial and it's 2023, is leaving the show he has starred in since 1933. Yes, it's still on. Really. Really. His manner of departure has not been decided but if it doesn't involve being glassed to death by Harold Shand I will be miffed.
I don't believe that Casualty is still on. Next you'll be telling me that I can still tune in and watch Eastenders.
Our Ukrainians like Emmerdale, love Coronation Street and don't understand Eastenders ("Why do they all shout?"). There's an insightful point in there somewhere about English culture as observed from outside but I am fucked if I can tease it out.
Coronation Street is big in NZ. Emmerdale not so much. EastEnders simply not tolerated at all.
Trump’s Lawyers Start to Wonder If One Could Be a Snitch https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumps-lawyers-start-to-wonder-if-one-could-be-a-snitch ...Part of the concern over lawyers turning on each other is due to the fact that the Department of Justice already has one Trump attorney’s professional notes, which could position him as a future witness against his own client, and the DOJ has another lawyer who said too much in an unrelated case and has positioned herself as yet another potential witness against her client.
But much of the anger from Trump’s lawyers is directed at the former president’s right-hand man, Boris Epshteyn, who’s accused of running interference on certain legal advice from more experienced courtroom gladiators.
Epshteyn, who’s a lawyer himself, has risen through the ranks in Trumpworld over the years, first as an adviser for Trump’s 2016 campaign, then as a more senior adviser for 2020, and now part of Trump’s innermost circle for 2024.
Ephsteyn seems to have the former president’s supreme confidence, with what’s described as a final say on all matters related to public relations and legal issues. But there’s snickering in the shadows. Several sources ridiculed the way Ephsteyn refers to himself as “in-house counsel”—normally a term for a company’s corporate attorney—noting how it echoes the way John Gotti’s mafia lawyer used to describe his services for the infamous Gambino crime family...
Of course the paranoia ought to extend to Epshteyn himself:
Derek Thompson (75!), an actor in a BBC show you don't watch because it's on terrestrial and it's 2023, is leaving the show he has starred in since 1933. Yes, it's still on. Really. Really. His manner of departure has not been decided but if it doesn't involve being glassed to death by Harold Shand I will be miffed.
I don't believe that Casualty is still on. Next you'll be telling me that I can still tune in and watch Eastenders.
Our Ukrainians like Emmerdale, love Coronation Street and don't understand Eastenders ("Why do they all shout?"). There's an insightful point in there somewhere about English culture as observed from outside but I am fucked if I can tease it out.
I thought the thing about Eastenders was they were always whispering (because they were so 'ard)
At this rate Britain will be literally the last country on earth to have a high speed train, as we race to beat the Greenlanders but get pipped in 2037 as they open the Nuuq-Ilullissat line, as we debate whether to rebuild Euston with two platforms or none
If I remember correctly you were one of the people who celebrated the fact that HS2 and HS1 weren't going to be linked as originally planned, because it would cause too much disruption in Camden.
At this rate Britain will be literally the last country on earth to have a high speed train, as we race to beat the Greenlanders but get pipped in 2037 as they open the Nuuq-Ilullissat line, as we debate whether to rebuild Euston with two platforms or none
We can't even build low speed lines. The latest report on the "East-West Rail" link from Oxford to Cambridge has just come out. It basically says they've been cogitating on the feedback from consultations done in 2021, insists (again) "no, the best route comes in to Cambridge from the south, yes, even though we got a lot of nimby feedback from people living in that area", mentions buried inside the pdf that they're going to cut costs by not making the middle section 100mph running, and announces proudly that the next step will be in 2024 and will be... statutory consultation!
Derek Thompson (75!), an actor in a BBC show you don't watch because it's on terrestrial and it's 2023, is leaving the show he has starred in since 1933. Yes, it's still on. Really. Really. His manner of departure has not been decided but if it doesn't involve being glassed to death by Harold Shand I will be miffed.
Why are the Millennials not starting to convert to vote Tory?
My hypothesis is that tuition fees and student loans are to blame.
Millennials are effectively paying a higher rate of income tax on their earnings as a result of the tuition fee and student loan repayments.
This is adversely impacting their ability to get a mortgage and buy a home as they have less surplus funds to save a deposit and their after tax earnings are only able to support a lower mortgage.
Home owners are more inclined to vote Conservative.
Thoughts?
They dont have houses, they dont have kids, therefore they have no responsibilities.
Derek Thompson (75!), an actor in a BBC show you don't watch because it's on terrestrial and it's 2023, is leaving the show he has starred in since 1933. Yes, it's still on. Really. Really. His manner of departure has not been decided but if it doesn't involve being glassed to death by Harold Shand I will be miffed.
I don't believe that Casualty is still on. Next you'll be telling me that I can still tune in and watch Eastenders.
Our Ukrainians like Emmerdale, love Coronation Street and don't understand Eastenders ("Why do they all shout?"). There's an insightful point in there somewhere about English culture as observed from outside but I am fucked if I can tease it out.
The decline of Eastenders, even set within the general decline of linear TV viewership, is astonishing. It is routinely slapped by Emmerdale these days; unthinkable two decades ago.
I only see Corrie when my mum comes to visit. I'm still struck how well it balances comedy with drama, and there's usually at least one choice line of genuine wit in any given episode. There seem to be a lot more young people on it these days, but maybe file that under 'policeman are getting younger'.
At this rate Britain will be literally the last country on earth to have a high speed train, as we race to beat the Greenlanders but get pipped in 2037 as they open the Nuuq-Ilullissat line, as we debate whether to rebuild Euston with two platforms or none
We can't even build low speed lines. The latest report on the "East-West Rail" link from Oxford to Cambridge has just come out. It basically says they've been cogitating on the feedback from consultations done in 2021, insists (again) "no, the best route comes in to Cambridge from the south, yes, even though we got a lot of nimby feedback from people living in that area", mentions buried inside the pdf that they're going to cut costs by not making the middle section 100mph running, and announces proudly that the next step will be in 2024 and will be... statutory consultation!
Does the proposed Oxford-Cambridge rail link include Luton Airport (roughly equidistant between the two)? It is pointless otherwise.
At this rate Britain will be literally the last country on earth to have a high speed train, as we race to beat the Greenlanders but get pipped in 2037 as they open the Nuuq-Ilullissat line, as we debate whether to rebuild Euston with two platforms or none
If I remember correctly you were one of the people who celebrated the fact that HS2 and HS1 weren't going to be linked as originally planned, because it would cause too much disruption in Camden.
Do you honestly think Leon has any views at all?
As befits a professional traveller, the views constantly change.
Why are the Millennials not starting to convert to vote Tory?
My hypothesis is that tuition fees and student loans are to blame.
Millennials are effectively paying a higher rate of income tax on their earnings as a result of the tuition fee and student loan repayments.
This is adversely impacting their ability to get a mortgage and buy a home as they have less surplus funds to save a deposit and their after tax earnings are only able to support a lower mortgage.
Home owners are more inclined to vote Conservative.
Thoughts?
Some of that, but also Brexit and culture wars.
Brexit was always unpopular in this group and it's seen as the Tory's thing. The current (and last few, since May really) incarnation of the Tory party is also pretty unpalatable to social liberals, which is where most people of those ages and below are.
To have a chance with those under 40, the Tories either need another loon in charge of Labour or another Cameron in charge of the Conservatives. Sunak's not too bad on that score, but it's hard to get past his cabinet an other prominent figures.
Voting Conservative is not massively more socially acceptable than voting UKIP (etc). I exaggerate, but only a bit. Under Cameron, it wasn't thus, even in lefty woke academia.
Derek Thompson (75!), an actor in a BBC show you don't watch because it's on terrestrial and it's 2023, is leaving the show he has starred in since 1933. Yes, it's still on. Really. Really. His manner of departure has not been decided but if it doesn't involve being glassed to death by Harold Shand I will be miffed.
I don't believe that Casualty is still on. Next you'll be telling me that I can still tune in and watch Eastenders.
Our Ukrainians like Emmerdale, love Coronation Street and don't understand Eastenders ("Why do they all shout?"). There's an insightful point in there somewhere about English culture as observed from outside but I am fucked if I can tease it out.
I thought the thing about Eastenders was they were always whispering (because they were so 'ard)
Right, if any of happen to bump into Sarah Connor in the next few years, we should do as she says.
Time for me to wheel out my two lightly controversial opinions on the original 1984 Terminator:
1. It is fundamentally a horror film, not SF or action 2. It is the best of the series.
I've never actually seen the original Terminator.
Seen Terminator 2 repeatedly, saw it originally on a school coach trip and then saw it repeatedly since on TV, but never came across the original.
Looked it up recently for streaming but its on an MGM streaming service which is one I don't have and don't have any interest in getting. The whole series seems oddly split up on streaming services, never seen any franchise so bizarrely split up.
Original: MGM 2 and Salvation: Sky 3: Netflix Genisys: Paramount Dark Fate: Disney+
Why are the Millennials not starting to convert to vote Tory?
My hypothesis is that tuition fees and student loans are to blame.
Millennials are effectively paying a higher rate of income tax on their earnings as a result of the tuition fee and student loan repayments.
This is adversely impacting their ability to get a mortgage and buy a home as they have less surplus funds to save a deposit and their after tax earnings are only able to support a lower mortgage.
Home owners are more inclined to vote Conservative.
Thoughts?
They dont have houses, they dont have kids, therefore they have no responsibilities.
The upper end of 'millennials' is 42. Of course a lot of them (I should say, 'us') have houses and kids. I've got responsibilities on responsibilities, mate.
I'll tell you who doesn't have responsibilities - my parents and their friends and peers.
Derek Thompson (75!), an actor in a BBC show you don't watch because it's on terrestrial and it's 2023, is leaving the show he has starred in since 1933. Yes, it's still on. Really. Really. His manner of departure has not been decided but if it doesn't involve being glassed to death by Harold Shand I will be miffed.
I don't believe that Casualty is still on. Next you'll be telling me that I can still tune in and watch Eastenders.
Our Ukrainians like Emmerdale, love Coronation Street and don't understand Eastenders ("Why do they all shout?"). There's an insightful point in there somewhere about English culture as observed from outside but I am fucked if I can tease it out.
Coronation Street is big in NZ. Emmerdale not so much. EastEnders simply not tolerated at all.
The history of BBC series (comedy especially) in the former Yugoslavia is fascinating. I have a Serbian colleague who grew up on Only Fools and Horses, the Fast Show and everything in between. Knows the scenes and quotes better than I do.
At this rate Britain will be literally the last country on earth to have a high speed train, as we race to beat the Greenlanders but get pipped in 2037 as they open the Nuuq-Ilullissat line, as we debate whether to rebuild Euston with two platforms or none
We can't even build low speed lines. The latest report on the "East-West Rail" link from Oxford to Cambridge has just come out. It basically says they've been cogitating on the feedback from consultations done in 2021, insists (again) "no, the best route comes in to Cambridge from the south, yes, even though we got a lot of nimby feedback from people living in that area", mentions buried inside the pdf that they're going to cut costs by not making the middle section 100mph running, and announces proudly that the next step will be in 2024 and will be... statutory consultation!
The destructive effect on business investment caused by this pathetic reluctance to do anything needs to end.
We need a National Infrastructure Body, working on a 20 year cycle, that is somewhat removed from political manipulation and certainly able to operate beyond the death grip of “Treasury Brain”.
Derek Thompson (75!), an actor in a BBC show you don't watch because it's on terrestrial and it's 2023, is leaving the show he has starred in since 1933. Yes, it's still on. Really. Really. His manner of departure has not been decided but if it doesn't involve being glassed to death by Harold Shand I will be miffed.
I don't believe that Casualty is still on. Next you'll be telling me that I can still tune in and watch Eastenders.
Our Ukrainians like Emmerdale, love Coronation Street and don't understand Eastenders ("Why do they all shout?"). There's an insightful point in there somewhere about English culture as observed from outside but I am fucked if I can tease it out.
Coronation Street is big in NZ. Emmerdale not so much. EastEnders simply not tolerated at all.
The history of BBC series (comedy especially) in the former Yugoslavia is fascinating. I have a Serbian colleague who grew up on Only Fools and Horses, the Fast Show and everything in between. Knows the scenes and quotes better than I do.
I am reminded that Norman Wisdom was a superstar in Albania.
Right, if any of happen to bump into Sarah Connor in the next few years, we should do as she says.
Time for me to wheel out my two lightly controversial opinions on the original 1984 Terminator:
1. It is fundamentally a horror film, not SF or action 2. It is the best of the series.
I've never actually seen the original Terminator.
Seen Terminator 2 repeatedly, saw it originally on a school coach trip and then saw it repeatedly since on TV, but never came across the original.
Looked it up recently for streaming but its on an MGM streaming service which is one I don't have and don't have any interest in getting. The whole series seems oddly split up on streaming services, never seen any franchise so bizarrely split up.
Original: MGM 2 and Salvation: Sky 3: Netflix Genisys: Paramount Dark Fate: Disney+
Only one and two are worth seeking out anyway. See also: the Alien franchise.
Derek Thompson (75!), an actor in a BBC show you don't watch because it's on terrestrial and it's 2023, is leaving the show he has starred in since 1933. Yes, it's still on. Really. Really. His manner of departure has not been decided but if it doesn't involve being glassed to death by Harold Shand I will be miffed.
I don't believe that Casualty is still on. Next you'll be telling me that I can still tune in and watch Eastenders.
Our Ukrainians like Emmerdale, love Coronation Street and don't understand Eastenders ("Why do they all shout?"). There's an insightful point in there somewhere about English culture as observed from outside but I am fucked if I can tease it out.
Coronation Street is big in NZ. Emmerdale not so much. EastEnders simply not tolerated at all.
The history of BBC series (comedy especially) in the former Yugoslavia is fascinating. I have a Serbian colleague who grew up on Only Fools and Horses, the Fast Show and everything in between. Knows the scenes and quotes better than I do.
One meets Swedes, or people from Kentucky, who can quote line after line from quite obscure British comedy, like “Stath Lets Flats”.
Derek Thompson (75!), an actor in a BBC show you don't watch because it's on terrestrial and it's 2023, is leaving the show he has starred in since 1933. Yes, it's still on. Really. Really. His manner of departure has not been decided but if it doesn't involve being glassed to death by Harold Shand I will be miffed.
I don't believe that Casualty is still on. Next you'll be telling me that I can still tune in and watch Eastenders.
My teenage son watches it religiously. It's made him decide he wants to be a paramedic.
Was chatting with a trainee paramedic the other day (I’d had a “funny turn” so 999 had been dialled) and apparently their course is run online by Cumbria University. Little known and marginally interesting fact!
Derek Thompson (75!), an actor in a BBC show you don't watch because it's on terrestrial and it's 2023, is leaving the show he has starred in since 1933. Yes, it's still on. Really. Really. His manner of departure has not been decided but if it doesn't involve being glassed to death by Harold Shand I will be miffed.
I don't believe that Casualty is still on. Next you'll be telling me that I can still tune in and watch Eastenders.
My teenage son watches it religiously. It's made him decide he wants to be a paramedic.
Was chatting with a trainee paramedic the other day (I’d had a “funny turn” so 999 had beer dialled) and apparently their course is run online by Cumbria University. Little known and marginally interesting fact!
The fact there is a Cumbria University is news to me.
Why are the Millennials not starting to convert to vote Tory?
My hypothesis is that tuition fees and student loans are to blame.
Millennials are effectively paying a higher rate of income tax on their earnings as a result of the tuition fee and student loan repayments.
This is adversely impacting their ability to get a mortgage and buy a home as they have less surplus funds to save a deposit and their after tax earnings are only able to support a lower mortgage.
Home owners are more inclined to vote Conservative.
Thoughts?
They dont have houses, they dont have kids, therefore they have no responsibilities.
The upper end of 'millennials' is 42. Of course a lot of them (I should say, 'us') have houses and kids. I've got responsibilities on responsibilities, mate.
I'll tell you who doesn't have responsibilities - my parents and their friends and peers.
LOL
Im 62 and have 3 millenials - do you think parents responsibilities just stop at Uni ?
At this rate Britain will be literally the last country on earth to have a high speed train, as we race to beat the Greenlanders but get pipped in 2037 as they open the Nuuq-Ilullissat line, as we debate whether to rebuild Euston with two platforms or none
We can't even build low speed lines. The latest report on the "East-West Rail" link from Oxford to Cambridge has just come out. It basically says they've been cogitating on the feedback from consultations done in 2021, insists (again) "no, the best route comes in to Cambridge from the south, yes, even though we got a lot of nimby feedback from people living in that area", mentions buried inside the pdf that they're going to cut costs by not making the middle section 100mph running, and announces proudly that the next step will be in 2024 and will be... statutory consultation!
Does the proposed Oxford-Cambridge rail link include Luton Airport (roughly equidistant between the two)? It is pointless otherwise.
No, it goes via Bicester, Bletchley and Bedford (largely following the route of the old Varsity Line that got closed by Beeching).
At this rate Britain will be literally the last country on earth to have a high speed train, as we race to beat the Greenlanders but get pipped in 2037 as they open the Nuuq-Ilullissat line, as we debate whether to rebuild Euston with two platforms or none
We can't even build low speed lines. The latest report on the "East-West Rail" link from Oxford to Cambridge has just come out. It basically says they've been cogitating on the feedback from consultations done in 2021, insists (again) "no, the best route comes in to Cambridge from the south, yes, even though we got a lot of nimby feedback from people living in that area", mentions buried inside the pdf that they're going to cut costs by not making the middle section 100mph running, and announces proudly that the next step will be in 2024 and will be... statutory consultation!
The destructive effect on business investment caused by this pathetic reluctance to do anything needs to end.
We need a National Infrastructure Body, working on a 20 year cycle, that is somewhat removed from political manipulation and certainly able to operate beyond the death grip of “Treasury Brain”.
That's what we should do with everything. Task Force it, find extra money to start with, and if/when the Task Forces start to work, allocate budget away from Government departments gradually.
Why are the Millennials not starting to convert to vote Tory?
My hypothesis is that tuition fees and student loans are to blame.
Millennials are effectively paying a higher rate of income tax on their earnings as a result of the tuition fee and student loan repayments.
This is adversely impacting their ability to get a mortgage and buy a home as they have less surplus funds to save a deposit and their after tax earnings are only able to support a lower mortgage.
Home owners are more inclined to vote Conservative.
Thoughts?
They dont have houses, they dont have kids, therefore they have no responsibilities.
The upper end of 'millennials' is 42. Of course a lot of them (I should say, 'us') have houses and kids. I've got responsibilities on responsibilities, mate.
I'll tell you who doesn't have responsibilities - my parents and their friends and peers.
LOL
Im 62 and have 3 millenials - do you think parents responsibilities just stop at Uni ?
Good to see HYUFD linking the IPSOS figures this morning comparing 1997 with 2019.
This gives some absolute figures to go with the relative swing figures that headlined a couple of weeks ago.
2024 will be interesting, as it will be on a lower overall swing and I expect some differentials to, slightly, wind out.
Swings between 1997-2019 (+ means in favour of Conservative, i.e. with the run of play):
Overall swing: +12.5
Male swing: +14.5 Female swing: +10.5
Women have gone from 1% to the right of males in 1997 to 3% left of males in 2019. I expect this trend to accelerate a little, as incoming 18-24s are more split by gender.
18-24s were an 8% swing to the left of 65s in 1997 and are 45% swing to the left now. I expect such gaps to narrow a little in 2024.
By class: AB: +4.0 C1: +8.0 C2: +20.5 DE: +22.0
DEs were 24% swing to the left of ABs in 1997 and are 6% swing to the left now. I think this is a settled gap, I don't see any red wall reversion being particularly driven by a reverse of this.
Approx cohort comparisons: 18-24s in 1997 Vs 35-44s in 2019: +9.0 25s -> 45s: +19.5 35s -> 55s: +20.5ing 20% 45s/55s -> 65s +26.5 1997 olds replacement by 2019 youngs: -20.0
Everyone has swung right with age, some more than others, and I think this unrealised swing the Tories are banking on in the 35-44s is more than matched by the snapback potential in older groups and may be a somewhat forlorn hope.
In 1997 as you say the Tories were still the posh party, doing 24% better with ABs than DEs and 14% better with ABs than C2s. Now the posh party is really the LDs.
In 2019 for example the Tories did 7% better with skilled working class C2s than upper middle class ABs. The Tories also did 7% better with those earning £20k to £40k than they did with those earning more than £70k. The Tories also got a 47% voteshare with middle income voters on £20k to £40k compared to 44% amongst UK voters overall.
The LDs by contrast did 7% better with ABs than C2s and 8% better with ABs than DEs in 2019. The LDs also polled better with those earning over £70k, getting a 20% voteshare with that group compared to only 12% amongst UK voters overall https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_United_Kingdom_general_election
Rishi is the only thing still keeping the Tories a bit posh, he generally polls better with ABC1s than C2DEs, the reverse of his party overall
Derek Thompson (75!), an actor in a BBC show you don't watch because it's on terrestrial and it's 2023, is leaving the show he has starred in since 1933. Yes, it's still on. Really. Really. His manner of departure has not been decided but if it doesn't involve being glassed to death by Harold Shand I will be miffed.
I don't believe that Casualty is still on. Next you'll be telling me that I can still tune in and watch Eastenders.
My teenage son watches it religiously. It's made him decide he wants to be a paramedic.
Was chatting with a trainee paramedic the other day (I’d had a “funny turn” so 999 had beer dialled) and apparently their course is run online by Cumbria University. Little known and marginally interesting fact!
The fact there is a Cumbria University is news to me.
I believe it’s also got an Agriculture department.
Derek Thompson (75!), an actor in a BBC show you don't watch because it's on terrestrial and it's 2023, is leaving the show he has starred in since 1933. Yes, it's still on. Really. Really. His manner of departure has not been decided but if it doesn't involve being glassed to death by Harold Shand I will be miffed.
I don't believe that Casualty is still on. Next you'll be telling me that I can still tune in and watch Eastenders.
Our Ukrainians like Emmerdale, love Coronation Street and don't understand Eastenders ("Why do they all shout?"). There's an insightful point in there somewhere about English culture as observed from outside but I am fucked if I can tease it out.
Coronation Street is big in NZ. Emmerdale not so much. EastEnders simply not tolerated at all.
The history of BBC series (comedy especially) in the former Yugoslavia is fascinating. I have a Serbian colleague who grew up on Only Fools and Horses, the Fast Show and everything in between. Knows the scenes and quotes better than I do.
I have a theory that pirating Dallas and Dynasty in the USSR led to Putin.
They showed them without proper broadcast rights to highlight the evils of capitalism.
So Russian learnt that capitalism is all about shouting matches in an office, followed by a big drink, followed by an elaborate criminal conspiracy to murder a rival/blow something up. And that all women need huge hair, bigger jewellery and non stop affairs.
Why are the Millennials not starting to convert to vote Tory?
My hypothesis is that tuition fees and student loans are to blame.
Millennials are effectively paying a higher rate of income tax on their earnings as a result of the tuition fee and student loan repayments.
This is adversely impacting their ability to get a mortgage and buy a home as they have less surplus funds to save a deposit and their after tax earnings are only able to support a lower mortgage.
Home owners are more inclined to vote Conservative.
Thoughts?
Some of that, but also Brexit and culture wars.
Brexit was always unpopular in this group and it's seen as the Tory's thing. The current (and last few, since May really) incarnation of the Tory party is also pretty unpalatable to social liberals, which is where most people of those ages and below are.
To have a chance with those under 40, the Tories either need another loon in charge of Labour or another Cameron in charge of the Conservatives. Sunak's not too bad on that score, but it's hard to get past his cabinet an other prominent figures.
Voting Conservative is not massively more socially acceptable than voting UKIP (etc). I exaggerate, but only a bit. Under Cameron, it wasn't thus, even in lefty woke academia.
I remember a poll in the runup to 2010 election which showed the most popular party among teachers - teachers! - was the Conservatives (tried to dig it out but can't find it at source).
Granted this was at the height of Cleggmania so a lot of the left-ish vote was split, but still.
Derek Thompson (75!), an actor in a BBC show you don't watch because it's on terrestrial and it's 2023, is leaving the show he has starred in since 1933. Yes, it's still on. Really. Really. His manner of departure has not been decided but if it doesn't involve being glassed to death by Harold Shand I will be miffed.
I don't believe that Casualty is still on. Next you'll be telling me that I can still tune in and watch Eastenders.
My teenage son watches it religiously. It's made him decide he wants to be a paramedic.
Was chatting with a trainee paramedic the other day (I’d had a “funny turn” so 999 had beer dialled) and apparently their course is run online by Cumbria University. Little known and marginally interesting fact!
The fact there is a Cumbria University is news to me.
I believe it’s also got an Agriculture department.
Why are the Millennials not starting to convert to vote Tory?
My hypothesis is that tuition fees and student loans are to blame.
Millennials are effectively paying a higher rate of income tax on their earnings as a result of the tuition fee and student loan repayments.
This is adversely impacting their ability to get a mortgage and buy a home as they have less surplus funds to save a deposit and their after tax earnings are only able to support a lower mortgage.
Home owners are more inclined to vote Conservative.
Thoughts?
They dont have own houses, they dont have kids, therefore they have no responsibilities.
Lol - Millenials are precisely the cohort with young kids.
Why are the Millennials not starting to convert to vote Tory?
My hypothesis is that tuition fees and student loans are to blame.
Millennials are effectively paying a higher rate of income tax on their earnings as a result of the tuition fee and student loan repayments.
This is adversely impacting their ability to get a mortgage and buy a home as they have less surplus funds to save a deposit and their after tax earnings are only able to support a lower mortgage.
Home owners are more inclined to vote Conservative.
Thoughts?
They dont have houses, they dont have kids, therefore they have no responsibilities.
The upper end of 'millennials' is 42. Of course a lot of them (I should say, 'us') have houses and kids. I've got responsibilities on responsibilities, mate.
I'll tell you who doesn't have responsibilities - my parents and their friends and peers.
LOL
Im 62 and have 3 millenials - do you think parents responsibilities just stop at Uni ?
Should I add a mate to that or a sonny ?
Pretty much, yes. In comparison to being a parent of a young child, absolutely.
Being a grandparent and being a parent are two completely different things when it comes to responsibilities.
At this rate Britain will be literally the last country on earth to have a high speed train, as we race to beat the Greenlanders but get pipped in 2037 as they open the Nuuq-Ilullissat line, as we debate whether to rebuild Euston with two platforms or none
We can't even build low speed lines. The latest report on the "East-West Rail" link from Oxford to Cambridge has just come out. It basically says they've been cogitating on the feedback from consultations done in 2021, insists (again) "no, the best route comes in to Cambridge from the south, yes, even though we got a lot of nimby feedback from people living in that area", mentions buried inside the pdf that they're going to cut costs by not making the middle section 100mph running, and announces proudly that the next step will be in 2024 and will be... statutory consultation!
The destructive effect on business investment caused by this pathetic reluctance to do anything needs to end.
We need a National Infrastructure Body, working on a 20 year cycle, that is somewhat removed from political manipulation and certainly able to operate beyond the death grip of “Treasury Brain”.
We somehow need to come up with a blend of Old Labour statism where the state should be involved and Trussite free marketeering where it shouldn't.
Right, if any of happen to bump into Sarah Connor in the next few years, we should do as she says.
Time for me to wheel out my two lightly controversial opinions on the original 1984 Terminator:
1. It is fundamentally a horror film, not SF or action 2. It is the best of the series.
I've never actually seen the original Terminator.
Seen Terminator 2 repeatedly, saw it originally on a school coach trip and then saw it repeatedly since on TV, but never came across the original.
Looked it up recently for streaming but its on an MGM streaming service which is one I don't have and don't have any interest in getting. The whole series seems oddly split up on streaming services, never seen any franchise so bizarrely split up.
Original: MGM 2 and Salvation: Sky 3: Netflix Genisys: Paramount Dark Fate: Disney+
Only one and two are worth seeking out anyway. See also: the Alien franchise.
At this rate Britain will be literally the last country on earth to have a high speed train, as we race to beat the Greenlanders but get pipped in 2037 as they open the Nuuq-Ilullissat line, as we debate whether to rebuild Euston with two platforms or none
We can't even build low speed lines. The latest report on the "East-West Rail" link from Oxford to Cambridge has just come out. It basically says they've been cogitating on the feedback from consultations done in 2021, insists (again) "no, the best route comes in to Cambridge from the south, yes, even though we got a lot of nimby feedback from people living in that area", mentions buried inside the pdf that they're going to cut costs by not making the middle section 100mph running, and announces proudly that the next step will be in 2024 and will be... statutory consultation!
Let me have a go.
{idly opens folder labelled Casaba-Howitzer}
Hmmm tunnel from London to Edinburgh in a perfectly straight line. How does 40 milliseconds to dig it sound?
Why are the Millennials not starting to convert to vote Tory?
My hypothesis is that tuition fees and student loans are to blame.
Millennials are effectively paying a higher rate of income tax on their earnings as a result of the tuition fee and student loan repayments.
This is adversely impacting their ability to get a mortgage and buy a home as they have less surplus funds to save a deposit and their after tax earnings are only able to support a lower mortgage.
Home owners are more inclined to vote Conservative.
Thoughts?
They dont have houses, they dont have kids, therefore they have no responsibilities.
The upper end of 'millennials' is 42. Of course a lot of them (I should say, 'us') have houses and kids. I've got responsibilities on responsibilities, mate.
I'll tell you who doesn't have responsibilities - my parents and their friends and peers.
LOL
Im 62 and have 3 millenials - do you think parents responsibilities just stop at Uni ?
Derek Thompson (75!), an actor in a BBC show you don't watch because it's on terrestrial and it's 2023, is leaving the show he has starred in since 1933. Yes, it's still on. Really. Really. His manner of departure has not been decided but if it doesn't involve being glassed to death by Harold Shand I will be miffed.
I don't believe that Casualty is still on. Next you'll be telling me that I can still tune in and watch Eastenders.
Our Ukrainians like Emmerdale, love Coronation Street and don't understand Eastenders ("Why do they all shout?"). There's an insightful point in there somewhere about English culture as observed from outside but I am fucked if I can tease it out.
Coronation Street is big in NZ. Emmerdale not so much. EastEnders simply not tolerated at all.
The history of BBC series (comedy especially) in the former Yugoslavia is fascinating. I have a Serbian colleague who grew up on Only Fools and Horses, the Fast Show and everything in between. Knows the scenes and quotes better than I do.
I have a theory that pirating Dallas and Dynasty in the USSR led to Putin.
They showed them without proper broadcast rights to highlight the evils of capitalism.
So Russian learnt that capitalism is all about shouting matches in an office, followed by a big drink, followed by an elaborate criminal conspiracy to murder a rival/blow something up. And that all women need huge hair, bigger jewellery and non stop affairs.
Why are the Millennials not starting to convert to vote Tory?
My hypothesis is that tuition fees and student loans are to blame.
Millennials are effectively paying a higher rate of income tax on their earnings as a result of the tuition fee and student loan repayments.
This is adversely impacting their ability to get a mortgage and buy a home as they have less surplus funds to save a deposit and their after tax earnings are only able to support a lower mortgage.
Home owners are more inclined to vote Conservative.
Thoughts?
They dont have own houses, they dont have kids, therefore they have no responsibilities.
Lol - Millenials are precisely the cohort with young kids.
suggest you look at birth rates in the 1960s compared to now. You lot arent having enough babies. Is that money or a lifestyle choice ?
At this rate Britain will be literally the last country on earth to have a high speed train, as we race to beat the Greenlanders but get pipped in 2037 as they open the Nuuq-Ilullissat line, as we debate whether to rebuild Euston with two platforms or none
We can't even build low speed lines. The latest report on the "East-West Rail" link from Oxford to Cambridge has just come out. It basically says they've been cogitating on the feedback from consultations done in 2021, insists (again) "no, the best route comes in to Cambridge from the south, yes, even though we got a lot of nimby feedback from people living in that area", mentions buried inside the pdf that they're going to cut costs by not making the middle section 100mph running, and announces proudly that the next step will be in 2024 and will be... statutory consultation!
The destructive effect on business investment caused by this pathetic reluctance to do anything needs to end.
We need a National Infrastructure Body, working on a 20 year cycle, that is somewhat removed from political manipulation and certainly able to operate beyond the death grip of “Treasury Brain”.
We somehow need to come up with a blend of Old Labour statism where the state should be involved and Trussite free marketeering where it shouldn't.
Perhaps we are coming to realise the current electoral system of "5-10yrs then chuck 'em all out and let the others have a go" aka FPTP doesn't really work for the long term benefit of the UK in the multi-party 21st century? At least let the voters choose the coalitions to govern under STV PR as opposed to getting them pre-packed as we currently do.
Why are the Millennials not starting to convert to vote Tory?
My hypothesis is that tuition fees and student loans are to blame.
Millennials are effectively paying a higher rate of income tax on their earnings as a result of the tuition fee and student loan repayments.
This is adversely impacting their ability to get a mortgage and buy a home as they have less surplus funds to save a deposit and their after tax earnings are only able to support a lower mortgage.
Home owners are more inclined to vote Conservative.
Thoughts?
They dont have own houses, they dont have kids, therefore they have no responsibilities.
Lol - Millenials are precisely the cohort with young kids.
suggest you look at birth rates in the 1960s compared to now. You lot arent having enough babies. Is that money or a lifestyle choice ?
Well, they have to support today's pensioners as well as themselves and saving for their own pensions.
Why are the Millennials not starting to convert to vote Tory?
My hypothesis is that tuition fees and student loans are to blame.
Millennials are effectively paying a higher rate of income tax on their earnings as a result of the tuition fee and student loan repayments.
This is adversely impacting their ability to get a mortgage and buy a home as they have less surplus funds to save a deposit and their after tax earnings are only able to support a lower mortgage.
Home owners are more inclined to vote Conservative.
Thoughts?
They dont have houses, they dont have kids, therefore they have no responsibilities.
The upper end of 'millennials' is 42. Of course a lot of them (I should say, 'us') have houses and kids. I've got responsibilities on responsibilities, mate.
I'll tell you who doesn't have responsibilities - my parents and their friends and peers.
LOL
Im 62 and have 3 millenials - do you think parents responsibilities just stop at Uni ?
Should I add a mate to that or a sonny ?
If you've done a good job of raising them, yes.
Mate.
In a somewhat unusual turn of events, I am currently employed by my still teenage, university student son. So I am now his responsibility :-)
Why are the Millennials not starting to convert to vote Tory?
My hypothesis is that tuition fees and student loans are to blame.
Millennials are effectively paying a higher rate of income tax on their earnings as a result of the tuition fee and student loan repayments.
This is adversely impacting their ability to get a mortgage and buy a home as they have less surplus funds to save a deposit and their after tax earnings are only able to support a lower mortgage.
Home owners are more inclined to vote Conservative.
Thoughts?
They dont have own houses, they dont have kids, therefore they have no responsibilities.
Lol - Millenials are precisely the cohort with young kids.
suggest you look at birth rates in the 1960s compared to now. You lot arent having enough babies. Is that money or a lifestyle choice ?
Its the housing market being broken and NIMBYism from prior generations.
Working people in their early to mid 20s should be able to get onto the housing ladder and start a family in a house of their own. That's broken currently.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/interactive/2023/christian-home-schoolers-revolt/ ...Now, on the threshold of parenthood — Christina would become pregnant within two weeks of their wedding on Sept. 29, 2012 — the couple’s reservations about “chastisement” could no longer be ignored. As a wedding gift, they said, Aaron’s brother and sister-in-law had given them “To Train Up a Child,” by the popular Christian home-schooling authors Michael and Debi Pearl. The Pearls advocate hitting children with tree branches, belts and other “instruments of love” to instill obedience, and recommend that toddlers who take slowly to potty training be washed outdoors with cold water from a garden hose. Their book advocates “training sessions” in which infants, as soon as they are old enough to crawl, are placed near a desired object and repeatedly struck with a switch if they disobey commands not to touch it. The Pearls have defended their methods, saying they are not meant to encourage brutality and, when properly applied, reduce the frequency with which parents must later discipline their kids..
...by the time the Bealls had Aurelia, their fourth child, Aaron — now a successful software engineer whose job had enabled the family to buy a four-bedroom house in Loudoun County — had begun to question far more than corporal punishment. “When it came time for me to hit my kids, that was the first independent thought I remember having: ‘This can’t be right. I think I’ll just skip this part,’” he says. But if that seemingly inviolable dogma was false, what else might be? ...
Why are the Millennials not starting to convert to vote Tory?
My hypothesis is that tuition fees and student loans are to blame.
Millennials are effectively paying a higher rate of income tax on their earnings as a result of the tuition fee and student loan repayments.
This is adversely impacting their ability to get a mortgage and buy a home as they have less surplus funds to save a deposit and their after tax earnings are only able to support a lower mortgage.
Home owners are more inclined to vote Conservative.
Thoughts?
They dont have own houses, they dont have kids, therefore they have no responsibilities.
Lol - Millenials are precisely the cohort with young kids.
suggest you look at birth rates in the 1960s compared to now. You lot arent having enough babies. Is that money or a lifestyle choice ?
Well, in my case it's biology, on account of the fact that men can't have babies.
Why are the Millennials not starting to convert to vote Tory?
My hypothesis is that tuition fees and student loans are to blame.
Millennials are effectively paying a higher rate of income tax on their earnings as a result of the tuition fee and student loan repayments.
This is adversely impacting their ability to get a mortgage and buy a home as they have less surplus funds to save a deposit and their after tax earnings are only able to support a lower mortgage.
Home owners are more inclined to vote Conservative.
Thoughts?
They dont have own houses, they dont have kids, therefore they have no responsibilities.
Lol - Millenials are precisely the cohort with young kids.
suggest you look at birth rates in the 1960s compared to now. You lot arent having enough babies. Is that money or a lifestyle choice ?
Well, they have to support today's pensioners as well as themselves and saving for their own pensions.
Maybe they cannot afford kids...?
Of course they cant, and if they cant get a house they delay having kids. So whats left to do but extend the teenage years. I feel sorry for the poor sods,
You lot are so coddled, why don't you take some personal responsibility? You're adults after all! [beat] Hey, don't you realise my adult children are still a big responsibility?
If you can't afford to have kids you shouldn't have them. Don't expect the taxpayer to support you! [beat] Hey, why aren't people having more kids?
At this rate Britain will be literally the last country on earth to have a high speed train, as we race to beat the Greenlanders but get pipped in 2037 as they open the Nuuq-Ilullissat line, as we debate whether to rebuild Euston with two platforms or none
We can't even build low speed lines. The latest report on the "East-West Rail" link from Oxford to Cambridge has just come out. It basically says they've been cogitating on the feedback from consultations done in 2021, insists (again) "no, the best route comes in to Cambridge from the south, yes, even though we got a lot of nimby feedback from people living in that area", mentions buried inside the pdf that they're going to cut costs by not making the middle section 100mph running, and announces proudly that the next step will be in 2024 and will be... statutory consultation!
The destructive effect on business investment caused by this pathetic reluctance to do anything needs to end.
We need a National Infrastructure Body, working on a 20 year cycle, that is somewhat removed from political manipulation and certainly able to operate beyond the death grip of “Treasury Brain”.
The "Treasury Brain" has been in operation for a couple of centuries now. What liberated whole sections of the Empire from its death-like grip was the fact that communications were glacially slow and by the time the Treasury heard what was happening somewhere, the job was usually done and dusted.
Why are the Millennials not starting to convert to vote Tory?
My hypothesis is that tuition fees and student loans are to blame.
Millennials are effectively paying a higher rate of income tax on their earnings as a result of the tuition fee and student loan repayments.
This is adversely impacting their ability to get a mortgage and buy a home as they have less surplus funds to save a deposit and their after tax earnings are only able to support a lower mortgage.
Home owners are more inclined to vote Conservative.
Thoughts?
They dont have own houses, they dont have kids, therefore they have no responsibilities.
Lol - Millenials are precisely the cohort with young kids.
suggest you look at birth rates in the 1960s compared to now. You lot arent having enough babies. Is that money or a lifestyle choice ?
Well, in my case it's biology, on account of the fact that men can't have babies.
Have you considered you might be a woman with a penis ?
Why are the Millennials not starting to convert to vote Tory?
My hypothesis is that tuition fees and student loans are to blame.
Millennials are effectively paying a higher rate of income tax on their earnings as a result of the tuition fee and student loan repayments.
This is adversely impacting their ability to get a mortgage and buy a home as they have less surplus funds to save a deposit and their after tax earnings are only able to support a lower mortgage.
Home owners are more inclined to vote Conservative.
Thoughts?
They dont have own houses, they dont have kids, therefore they have no responsibilities.
Lol - Millenials are precisely the cohort with young kids.
suggest you look at birth rates in the 1960s compared to now. You lot arent having enough babies. Is that money or a lifestyle choice ?
Well, in my case it's biology, on account of the fact that men can't have babies.
TRANS DEBATE ALERT! TRANS DEBATE ALERT! Please evacuate the forum. This is not a drill. Repeat, this is not a drill.
Why are the Millennials not starting to convert to vote Tory?
My hypothesis is that tuition fees and student loans are to blame.
Millennials are effectively paying a higher rate of income tax on their earnings as a result of the tuition fee and student loan repayments.
This is adversely impacting their ability to get a mortgage and buy a home as they have less surplus funds to save a deposit and their after tax earnings are only able to support a lower mortgage.
Home owners are more inclined to vote Conservative.
Thoughts?
They dont have own houses, they dont have kids, therefore they have no responsibilities.
Lol - Millenials are precisely the cohort with young kids.
suggest you look at birth rates in the 1960s compared to now. You lot arent having enough babies. Is that money or a lifestyle choice ?
Its the housing market being broken and NIMBYism from prior generations.
Working people in their early to mid 20s should be able to get onto the housing ladder and start a family in a house of their own. That's broken currently.
yes it is the whole system sucks and it isnt going to improve until we build lots more housesand discourage people in my generation from being buy to let landlord,
Why are the Millennials not starting to convert to vote Tory?
My hypothesis is that tuition fees and student loans are to blame.
Millennials are effectively paying a higher rate of income tax on their earnings as a result of the tuition fee and student loan repayments.
This is adversely impacting their ability to get a mortgage and buy a home as they have less surplus funds to save a deposit and their after tax earnings are only able to support a lower mortgage.
Home owners are more inclined to vote Conservative.
Thoughts?
They dont have own houses, they dont have kids, therefore they have no responsibilities.
Lol - Millenials are precisely the cohort with young kids.
suggest you look at birth rates in the 1960s compared to now. You lot arent having enough babies. Is that money or a lifestyle choice ?
Well, in my case it's biology, on account of the fact that men can't have babies.
Comments
And as we all know, demand is nothing like stable, so the system has failed.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/30/world/europe/me-too-guardian-financial-times-madison-marriage.html
Is there any media / entertainment outlet that isn't full of slime bags and enablers? Gruadian the latest to have issues.
Meanwhile the Uzbeks - the Uzbeks - have linked multiple cities, including Tashkent, Samarkand, Bukhara, and a dozen other cities, some of them in really remote deserts and mountains. Pffff!
We are all going to die at the hands of the robots...
Artificial intelligence could lead to extinction, experts warn
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-65746524
The robots exterminating us won't have "hands". They will have giant caterpillar tracks, powerful fusion-powered lasers, and aerosols of radioactive pathogens. "Hands". You idiot.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/may/23/dan-kaszeta-banned-from-uk-government-event-for-tweets-criticised-tories
Derek Thompson (75!), an actor in a BBC show you don't watch because it's on terrestrial and it's 2023, is leaving the show he has starred in since 1933. Yes, it's still on. Really. Really. His manner of departure has not been decided but if it doesn't involve being glassed to death by Harold Shand I will be miffed.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-65754747
*Drumroll*
Trans Activists!
https://twitter.com/lottelydia/status/1663466066310250497
The reporting isn't very clear.
My hypothesis is that tuition fees and student loans are to blame.
Millennials are effectively paying a higher rate of income tax on their earnings as a result of the tuition fee and student loan repayments.
This is adversely impacting their ability to get a mortgage and buy a home as they have less surplus funds to save a deposit and their after tax earnings are only able to support a lower mortgage.
Home owners are more inclined to vote Conservative.
Thoughts?
Reminds some what of phone hacking, where everybody knew they were all at it, but it became politically expedient to get their man, while trying to shape it as if no other media outlet would ever involve themselves in such grubby (and illegal) tactics.
1. It is fundamentally a horror film, not SF or action
2. It is the best of the series.
Emmerdale not so much.
EastEnders simply not tolerated at all.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumps-lawyers-start-to-wonder-if-one-could-be-a-snitch
...Part of the concern over lawyers turning on each other is due to the fact that the Department of Justice already has one Trump attorney’s professional notes, which could position him as a future witness against his own client, and the DOJ has another lawyer who said too much in an unrelated case and has positioned herself as yet another potential witness against her client.
But much of the anger from Trump’s lawyers is directed at the former president’s right-hand man, Boris Epshteyn, who’s accused of running interference on certain legal advice from more experienced courtroom gladiators.
Epshteyn, who’s a lawyer himself, has risen through the ranks in Trumpworld over the years, first as an adviser for Trump’s 2016 campaign, then as a more senior adviser for 2020, and now part of Trump’s innermost circle for 2024.
Ephsteyn seems to have the former president’s supreme confidence, with what’s described as a final say on all matters related to public relations and legal issues. But there’s snickering in the shadows. Several sources ridiculed the way Ephsteyn refers to himself as “in-house counsel”—normally a term for a company’s corporate attorney—noting how it echoes the way John Gotti’s mafia lawyer used to describe his services for the infamous Gambino crime family...
Of course the paranoia ought to extend to Epshteyn himself:
Top Trump adviser Boris Epshteyn to be questioned for 2nd day by special counsel: Sources
https://abcnews.go.com/US/top-trump-adviser-boris-epshteyn-questioned-2nd-day/story?id=98751205
I only see Corrie when my mum comes to visit. I'm still struck how well it balances comedy with drama, and there's usually at least one choice line of genuine wit in any given episode. There seem to be a lot more young people on it these days, but maybe file that under 'policeman are getting younger'.
Brexit was always unpopular in this group and it's seen as the Tory's thing. The current (and last few, since May really) incarnation of the Tory party is also pretty unpalatable to social liberals, which is where most people of those ages and below are.
To have a chance with those under 40, the Tories either need another loon in charge of Labour or another Cameron in charge of the Conservatives. Sunak's not too bad on that score, but it's hard to get past his cabinet an other prominent figures.
Voting Conservative is not massively more socially acceptable than voting UKIP (etc). I exaggerate, but only a bit. Under Cameron, it wasn't thus, even in lefty woke academia.
Seen Terminator 2 repeatedly, saw it originally on a school coach trip and then saw it repeatedly since on TV, but never came across the original.
Looked it up recently for streaming but its on an MGM streaming service which is one I don't have and don't have any interest in getting. The whole series seems oddly split up on streaming services, never seen any franchise so bizarrely split up.
Original: MGM
2 and Salvation: Sky
3: Netflix
Genisys: Paramount
Dark Fate: Disney+
https://twitter.com/StokeyyG2/status/1663195278541746177
I'll tell you who doesn't have responsibilities - my parents and their friends and peers.
We need a National Infrastructure Body, working on a 20 year cycle, that is somewhat removed from political manipulation and certainly able to operate beyond the death grip of “Treasury Brain”.
Little known and marginally interesting fact!
Im 62 and have 3 millenials - do you think parents responsibilities just stop at Uni ?
Should I add a mate to that or a sonny ?
Barking vindictively at anyone who can’t remember Arthur Askey won’t cut it at the next election, or any election after it.
(Definitely too old for sonny btw!)
In 2019 for example the Tories did 7% better with skilled working class C2s than upper middle class ABs. The Tories also did 7% better with those earning £20k to £40k than they did with those earning more than £70k. The Tories also got a 47% voteshare with middle income voters on £20k to £40k compared to 44% amongst UK voters overall.
The LDs by contrast did 7% better with ABs than C2s and 8% better with ABs than DEs in 2019. The LDs also polled better with those earning over £70k, getting a 20% voteshare with that group compared to only 12% amongst UK voters overall
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_United_Kingdom_general_election
Rishi is the only thing still keeping the Tories a bit posh, he generally polls better with ABC1s than C2DEs, the reverse of his party overall
"...it can't be bargained with, it can't be reasoned with, it doesn't feel pity or remorse or fear, and it absolutely will not stop…"
They showed them without proper broadcast rights to highlight the evils of capitalism.
So Russian learnt that capitalism is all about shouting matches in an office, followed by a big drink, followed by an elaborate criminal conspiracy to murder a rival/blow something up. And that all women need huge hair, bigger jewellery and non stop affairs.
When it came to implementing capitalism….
Granted this was at the height of Cleggmania so a lot of the left-ish vote was split, but still.
Being a grandparent and being a parent are two completely different things when it comes to responsibilities.
{idly opens folder labelled Casaba-Howitzer}
Hmmm tunnel from London to Edinburgh in a perfectly straight line. How does 40 milliseconds to dig it sound?
Mate.
Maybe they cannot afford kids...?
Working people in their early to mid 20s should be able to get onto the housing ladder and start a family in a house of their own. That's broken currently.
This was a really good discussion on trans people for once, very civil.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/interactive/2023/christian-home-schoolers-revolt/
...Now, on the threshold of parenthood — Christina would become pregnant within two weeks of their wedding on Sept. 29, 2012 — the couple’s reservations about “chastisement” could no longer be ignored. As a wedding gift, they said, Aaron’s brother and sister-in-law had given them “To Train Up a Child,” by the popular Christian home-schooling authors Michael and Debi Pearl.
The Pearls advocate hitting children with tree branches, belts and other “instruments of love” to instill obedience, and recommend that toddlers who take slowly to potty training be washed outdoors with cold water from a garden hose. Their book advocates “training sessions” in which infants, as soon as they are old enough to crawl, are placed near a desired object and repeatedly struck with a switch if they disobey commands not to touch it.
The Pearls have defended their methods, saying they are not meant to encourage brutality and, when properly applied, reduce the frequency with which parents must later discipline their kids..
...by the time the Bealls had Aurelia, their fourth child, Aaron — now a successful software engineer whose job had enabled the family to buy a four-bedroom house in Loudoun County — had begun to question far more than corporal punishment.
“When it came time for me to hit my kids, that was the first independent thought I remember having: ‘This can’t be right. I think I’ll just skip this part,’” he says.
But if that seemingly inviolable dogma was false, what else might be? ...
You lot are so coddled, why don't you take some personal responsibility? You're adults after all!
[beat]
Hey, don't you realise my adult children are still a big responsibility?
If you can't afford to have kids you shouldn't have them. Don't expect the taxpayer to support you!
[beat]
Hey, why aren't people having more kids?
Starling are reportedly too small to cope with the recent demand.
I used to bank with Coutts & Co but prefer Lloyds.
Avoid TSB like the plague, absolutely shocking app and online system that regularly goes down.
£150 reward if you switch to Lloyds
https://www.lloydsbank.com/current-accounts/landing/current-accounts.html
£175 if you switch to FD
https://www.firstdirect.com/banking/current-account/?fd_msc=PSR0000025&cid=FSDT:AO:P1:CA:01:1712:001:Brand_BMM&mtp=search&PPCKeyword=+first +direct +account&gclid=CjwKCAjwvdajBhBEEiwAeMh1UzOqVofhuNf34UrelATvhvWU7VzOfceXiUktKNgD8tIkpZgpY3jzhBoCProQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
Perhaps we need slower internet
TRANS DEBATE ALERT!
Please evacuate the forum. This is not a drill. Repeat, this is not a drill.