If I appear unusually gloomy, it’s not just the abyss of doom into which Britain is plunging - it’s also the fact I am still getting ruinously annoying Daily Mail notifications. Absolutely nothing - not even erasing chrome and reinstalling - fixes it. They are like cockroaches in a nuclear winter
So when the economy implodes and inflation is low and growth is poor causing a recession, the poor have to shoulder the burden via austerity.
When the economy implodes and inflation is high, the Bank of England should CAUSE a recession, forcing the poor to have less purchasing power and less job security, shouldering the burden anyway.
Why do we have this economic system? Like, it isn't a force of nature, we designed things this way - why is it talked about as if these aren't political decisions to allow rich people to stay rich and poor people to get poorer? It's obscene...
Because the system, if it is working properly, is the least worst option.
By working properly, I mean that there is support to allow those at the bottom to climb up the ladder, and protections in place to stop abuses from occurring at the top.
At the moment, it is hard to say that our system in the UK is working as well as it could be…. For a myriad of reasons I would blame on successive governments of all colours.
So the system has just never worked properly in my adult life? I am 32...
You whingers just want something for nothing. Back when men were men we had to do it all ourselves , no help from anyone and just hard graft. 21st century has produced nothing but lazy whining whingers.
I highly doubt Leon is even having problems, this is just the latest attention-seeking effort. Ignore.
If I seek or need attention, you'll certainly know about it. Because I will come up with something a tad more exciting than "the Daily Mail is sending me notifications"
Even as I type this, another has appeared. It's like catching smallpox and watching the lesions grow. AAAAARGH
Perhaps they are offering you a column gig. Apparently they are not too fussy these days. A new writer started last Friday writing nonsense about the contents of his fridge, so AI and aliens would be a welcome improvement.
Courthouse News Service - Hunter Biden to plead guilty on federal tax charges The Department of Justice announced the deal with the son of President Joe Biden in a letter to the clerk of the federal court in Delaware.
Hunter Biden, son of President Joe Biden, agreed Tuesday to plead guilty to two counts of failing to file and pay federal income taxes on time in 2017 and 2018.
The 53-year-old also faces a separate information in Delaware for buying a handgun illegally in 2018. As he would later admit in his 2021 book “Beautiful Things,” Biden was abusing crack cocaine during this time period but he maintained he wasn’t using drugs at the time of purchase of the gun. The memoir admission put him under investigation for violating a federal law that mandates gun buyers attest they aren’t drug users or addicted to illegal drugs at time of purchase.
On this count, Biden will enter a pretrial diversion agreement. The agreement permits the Justice Department to charge Biden with purchasing the gun but not prosecute him for it.
Biden has agreed to live drug-free for two years and never own a firearm again as a term of the deal. If found in violation of this probation agreement, he could be prosecuted on the firearm charge.
The son of the president has worked as a lobbyist, lawyer and investment banker. He first disclosed in December 2020 that U.S. Attorney David Weiss, a Trump appointee, was investigating him for tax misdemeanors.
President Biden did not opt to remove Weiss from his post after his election to avoid the appearance he was interfering in his son’s then-ongoing investigation.
Hunter Biden is expected to be arraigned in Delaware and plead guilty to the tax misdemeanors in the coming days. A memorandum detailing the terms of his plea deal “will be submitted at or in advance of the hearing,” according to a letter from the Justice Department submitted Tuesday. The plea deal must be approved by a federal judge. . . .
The White House released its own statement on the matter: “The President and First Lady love their son and support him as he continues to rebuild his life. We will have no further comment.”
Trump, who is considered President Biden's top opponent in his 2024 reelection bid, sounded off on the plea deal.
“Wow! The corrupt Biden DOJ just cleared up hundreds of years of criminal liability by giving Hunter Biden a mere ‘traffic ticket,’” the former president wrote on his social media platform Truth Social. “Our system is BROKEN!” . . .
Starmer got monstered by a very impressive Sunak. Not mentioning Sunak's vote failure was a massive error, same goes for Flynn, although he did manage to bring in Brexit as the problem. Rishi handled both very well.
The mortgage issue was batted back as Labour's failure.
Possibly Starmer's worst performance against Sunak and a much improved Sunak. Not least because Starmer was rubbish.
Starmer links chaotic Conservative government to people being poorer. Can Sunak convince people that correlation doesn't imply causation?
I think very clever from SKS.
What if he could? It is no good for Rishi if he tells people that yes, my government is chaotic, and yes, you are poorer, but the good news is these are not connected.
Exactly! That's why Starmer's messaging is clever. Even if people accept Starmer won't be able to fix the mortgage problem, Sunak can't give them any reason to vote for him.
Linking Tory chaos with unaffordable mortgages works better for Starmer than either of the two on its own.
If I appear unusually gloomy, it’s not just the abyss of doom into which Britain is plunging - it’s also the fact I am still getting ruinously annoying Daily Mail notifications. Absolutely nothing - not even erasing chrome and reinstalling - fixes it. They are like cockroaches in a nuclear winter
Yep had 1 Microsoft laptop - never again as it manged to break itself by overheating when MS decided to do an update at 3am is a sealed bag....
The Surface is actually, and surprisingly, not too bad as a managed device - but anything Windows is now a total pain in the arse for a home user, who really should all be on Macs by now.
Windows 11 decided to remove the words “cut”, “copy”, and “paste” from the right-click context menu in the file manager. Yes, really. Do you want to know what %age of my relatively IT-literate users got totally blown away by that one?
The icons for cut, copy, paste, export, and delete, are those along the top. Oh, and this was an automatic upgrade, that for many just happened one night.
If enough idiots vote for him and he gets another MP gig, then surely the people have spoken/democracy in action, blah, blah, blah. But he ain't getting back in. He's done. Dusted. Labour are going to form the next government and Johnson will be irrelevant.
I've asked the following question many times, but never get an answer. Who do PB Tories actually want to lead the party?
Not my business, of course, but (pace ydoethur) Gove would be good - not bad at combative politics but also a genuine old-fashioned politician keen to change things for the good of the country. Some of his changes have been very controversial, but at least he enriches public debate. What do Sunak, Hunt, Mordaunt, etc. actually stand for? When did they last say anything new?
I think Gove has been around too long, and there are too many hostages to fortune in choosing him. The problem with others like Alex Chalk, for example, is that he is too public school smooth, and is unlikely to hold his seat anyway. Tobias Ellwood has also annoyed too many with his rebellious antics, but there is a portion of the party establishment that would go for him.
The puff piece for Penny Mordaunt in the Times today suggests that if she holds her own seat, she is in with a good shout. However, that is a pretty big "if".
The big deal for the post defeat Tories will be "Character", hence the interesting positioning of Mordaunt and Ellwood.
The novelisation of Yes, Prime Minister ends with The National Education Service, and Hacker sadly realising that whatever wins he might achieve, nothing fundamental would change.
Gove's career has been about big, disruptive changes, whether at Education or Brexit. Both of those legacies are, at best, mixed, and his planning reforms have largely been blown up by Conservative Nimbies.
I do wonder if he's had his Jim Hacker moment.
This is very selectve in its overview of his career. Both at Justice and DEFRA he made significant and lasting change in both culture and practice which have had long reaching positive effects.
He is very much a details, evidence based person. Looking at what the real problems are in departments and listening to all sides rather than just the usual lobbyists.
Yet Justice is falling apart with cases taking years to get to court.
My father also had Views on his record at DEFRA.
Put it this way, you think I hate him? You should have heard what Dad had to say!
Well at least now we know where you got your irrational hatred from.
In case you've forgotten, he went to DEFRA and earned Dad's ire long after he'd screwed over education.
In case you have forgotten education was screwed over long before Gove ever came on the scene. A third world system run entirely for vested interest and ideology.
The irony of that post is while it was not necessarily true at the time Gove came into power, it was profoundly true of what he left. Especially in making it even more in hock to ideology - including some quite sinister ideologies - and vested interests which are not only not conducive to but positively opposed to the interests of children's education.
There were many problems in education in 2010. The exam system was not good. The curriculum was years out of date. Appointments to senior posts were profoundly corrupt. LEAs were a shambles.
What he left was an exam system that doesn't work at all, a curriculum that was based on naked nativism, a system of appointments to senior posts so corrupt that we actually have people who are entirely unqualified in senior positions and a series of expensive and mostly badly run academy chains taking the place of LEAs working as a gravy train for rather too many sponsoring organisations and their chums.
And I would gently suggest that rather than hector me about it, and attribute my understanding of just how bad things to an 'irrational hatred' of Gove, you remember that I am an expert in the field and you are not. Perhaps therefore the reason I disdain Gove is because I understand fully just how badly he messed up and you do not?
And yet the PISA ratings for the UK education system collapsed between 2000 and 2012 (from 7th to 24th in maths. Similar falls in Science and reading.) and only started to recover after the Tory reforms were introduced.
The Tory reforms didn’t take effect until 2016-17. The earliest you will see any effect in the Pisa rankings is about ten years later because of the way they are calculated, so 2025 at the earliest.
What you are seeing there is the effect of the Labour reforms guided by David Bell that you clearly so despised…
If I appear unusually gloomy, it’s not just the abyss of doom into which Britain is plunging - it’s also the fact I am still getting ruinously annoying Daily Mail notifications. Absolutely nothing - not even erasing chrome and reinstalling - fixes it. They are like cockroaches in a nuclear winter
Yep had 1 Microsoft laptop - never again as it manged to break itself by overheating when MS decided to do an update at 3am is a sealed bag....
The Surface is actually, and surprisingly, not too bad as a managed device - but anything Windows is now a total pain in the arse for a home user, who really should all be on Macs by now.
Windows 11 decided to remove the words “cut”, “copy”, and “paste” from the right-click context menu in the file manager. Yes, really. Do you want to know what %age of my relatively IT-literate users got totally blown away by that one?
The icons for cut, copy, paste, export, and delete, are those along the top. Oh, and this was an automatic upgrade, that for many just happened one night.
I’ve had an Apple Mac and I hated it. Worst laptop ever
The surface pro is great. Much more intuitive. Up to now
If I appear unusually gloomy, it’s not just the abyss of doom into which Britain is plunging - it’s also the fact I am still getting ruinously annoying Daily Mail notifications. Absolutely nothing - not even erasing chrome and reinstalling - fixes it. They are like cockroaches in a nuclear winter
Yep had 1 Microsoft laptop - never again as it manged to break itself by overheating when MS decided to do an update at 3am is a sealed bag....
The Surface is actually, and surprisingly, not too bad as a managed device - but anything Windows is now a total pain in the arse for a home user, who really should all be on Macs by now.
Windows 11 decided to remove the words “cut”, “copy”, and “paste” from the right-click context menu in the file manager. Yes, really. Do you want to know what %age of my relatively IT-literate users got totally blown away by that one?
The icons for cut, copy, paste, export, and delete, are those along the top. Oh, and this was an automatic upgrade, that for many just happened one night.
Gave up on Windows in 2011 after burning through an new PC laptop every few years as they quickly became bogged down with uninvited software. Still got my mid-2011 MacBook Air as a spare - still works fine (2nd battery tbf).
Has anyone considered that it's a whale that's eaten the Titanic sub. And now it's tapping out "SOS" on the hull of the sunken liner hoping to lure another tin of poor sods down to their doom? They are intelligent creatures after all, and they must be sick of our shit by now.
I did post this further down, but it may have been considered in poor taste...
Brexit - driving up inflation, making people poorer, not delivering anything that it promised except for the bastards who are happy to see us all poorer so they can profit.
It's tempting to laugh at people like that, but I think it shows just how poor political discourse was during the referendum. I keep saying this, but the remain side needed to present Freedom of Movement as a *Positive* to Brits, not something that had to be "endured".
Are we allowed to use the word 'c**t' on this forum?
No, we are not. It is a banning offence.
It seems to be unevenly enforced
To be fair the mods don't read every post, but it seems to be consistently enforced when they do see it.
Is there a list of forum rules anywhere? I don't want to be banned and I can't go back and edit the offending post now to remove that word.
ETA: I do realise the irony here in acting rashly without due awareness of the potential consequences for me of my own actions.
The way you "asked" your "question" re: misogynist c-word, clearly shows your "query" is rhetorical NOT inquisitive.
Also rude as fuck IMHO to abuse Our Gracious Host's VERY clear views on this point.
I didn't know what OGH's views on that word were. That's why I asked if there's a list of forum rules anywhere. Any rudeness towards Mike on this front was through ignorance rather than intent. If being an ill-informed, ignorant prat gets me banned, I'll accept it as deserved without complaint.
In case anyone is feeling unduly optimistic after today's flood of good news, on all fronts, a reminder that it is now midsummer, and the days get shorter from here on. Winter is coming
A necessary corrective to some of this afternoon's irrational exuberance, perhaps
The alien Overlords of the Universe have finally given up on homo sapiens and are going to invest their development effort in a more deserving species to manage the Earth going forward.
You can't say we haven't been warned but, Leodamus aside, we've studiously ignored all the UFOs they've sent us.
In case anyone is feeling unduly optimistic after today's flood of good news, on all fronts, a reminder that it is now midsummer, and the days get shorter from here on. Winter is coming
A necessary corrective to some of this afternoon's irrational exuberance, perhaps
In fact, the solstice is RIGHT NOW, 15:57
Winter gloom, here we come!
No! Cosy evenings indoors, and nights that stay dark past 4am here we come.
Love the cosy times of winter - warm house, winter TV, glass of whisky etc. But not yet. I love high summer - endless sunshine and light evenings.
If enough idiots vote for him and he gets another MP gig, then surely the people have spoken/democracy in action, blah, blah, blah. But he ain't getting back in. He's done. Dusted. Labour are going to form the next government and Johnson will be irrelevant.
I've asked the following question many times, but never get an answer. Who do PB Tories actually want to lead the party?
Not my business, of course, but (pace ydoethur) Gove would be good - not bad at combative politics but also a genuine old-fashioned politician keen to change things for the good of the country. Some of his changes have been very controversial, but at least he enriches public debate. What do Sunak, Hunt, Mordaunt, etc. actually stand for? When did they last say anything new?
I think Gove has been around too long, and there are too many hostages to fortune in choosing him. The problem with others like Alex Chalk, for example, is that he is too public school smooth, and is unlikely to hold his seat anyway. Tobias Ellwood has also annoyed too many with his rebellious antics, but there is a portion of the party establishment that would go for him.
The puff piece for Penny Mordaunt in the Times today suggests that if she holds her own seat, she is in with a good shout. However, that is a pretty big "if".
The big deal for the post defeat Tories will be "Character", hence the interesting positioning of Mordaunt and Ellwood.
The novelisation of Yes, Prime Minister ends with The National Education Service, and Hacker sadly realising that whatever wins he might achieve, nothing fundamental would change.
Gove's career has been about big, disruptive changes, whether at Education or Brexit. Both of those legacies are, at best, mixed, and his planning reforms have largely been blown up by Conservative Nimbies.
I do wonder if he's had his Jim Hacker moment.
This is very selectve in its overview of his career. Both at Justice and DEFRA he made significant and lasting change in both culture and practice which have had long reaching positive effects.
He is very much a details, evidence based person. Looking at what the real problems are in departments and listening to all sides rather than just the usual lobbyists.
Yet Justice is falling apart with cases taking years to get to court.
My father also had Views on his record at DEFRA.
Put it this way, you think I hate him? You should have heard what Dad had to say!
Well at least now we know where you got your irrational hatred from.
In case you've forgotten, he went to DEFRA and earned Dad's ire long after he'd screwed over education.
In case you have forgotten education was screwed over long before Gove ever came on the scene. A third world system run entirely for vested interest and ideology.
The irony of that post is while it was not necessarily true at the time Gove came into power, it was profoundly true of what he left. Especially in making it even more in hock to ideology - including some quite sinister ideologies - and vested interests which are not only not conducive to but positively opposed to the interests of children's education.
There were many problems in education in 2010. The exam system was not good. The curriculum was years out of date. Appointments to senior posts were profoundly corrupt. LEAs were a shambles.
What he left was an exam system that doesn't work at all, a curriculum that was based on naked nativism, a system of appointments to senior posts so corrupt that we actually have people who are entirely unqualified in senior positions and a series of expensive and mostly badly run academy chains taking the place of LEAs working as a gravy train for rather too many sponsoring organisations and their chums.
And I would gently suggest that rather than hector me about it, and attribute my understanding of just how bad things to an 'irrational hatred' of Gove, you remember that I am an expert in the field and you are not. Perhaps therefore the reason I disdain Gove is because I understand fully just how badly he messed up and you do not?
And yet the PISA ratings for the UK education system collapsed between 2000 and 2012 (from 7th to 24th in maths. Similar falls in Science and reading.) and only started to recover after the Tory reforms were introduced.
The Tory reforms didn’t take effect until 2016-17. The earliest you will see any effect in the Pisa rankings is about ten years later because of the way they are calculated, so 2025 at the earliest.
What you are seeing there is the effect of the Labour reforms guided by David Bell that you clearly so despised…
How many human problems are caused by our collective struggle to understand the time gap between an action and its effect?
In case anyone is feeling unduly optimistic after today's flood of good news, on all fronts, a reminder that it is now midsummer, and the days get shorter from here on. Winter is coming
A necessary corrective to some of this afternoon's irrational exuberance, perhaps
In fact, the solstice is RIGHT NOW, 15:57
Winter gloom, here we come!
No! Cosy evenings indoors, and nights that stay dark past 4am here we come.
Love the cosy times of winter - warm house, winter TV, glass of whisky etc. But not yet. I love high summer - endless sunshine and light evenings.
Last night I walked home down Highgate West - between the ancient cemetery and Waterlow Park, after a very agreeable evening in beer garden of The Flask. It was utterly deserted
Historic London is absolutely sublime on warm summer evenings like that. I am sure I could sense Coleridge reciting his latest opiated verse to Byron and Shelley...
Then there is the NCA which has been found by a police watchdog to tolerate predatory sexual behaviour by its staff - https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/sex-predators-tolerated-at-national-crime-agency-z3c25bq7j - problems known to the leadership with nothing done. Apparently being there is like going into "an old fashioned CID office". The usual pointless apology has been offered.
Not to be outdone, the Scouts are currently carrying out an investigation into claims they silenced women who made allegations of sexual abuse. Millions have been paid out to victims but it is said that their safeguarding policies are still inadequate.
Is there any evidence that we have gone back to the 70s, versus never left?
I think that the behaviour was simply hidden behind a wall of performative bullshit - organisations awarding themselves trophies for safe guarding, inclusivity etc, while not really changing.
Increasingly the brief period of (at least Western) prosperity for even the working classes (50s-90s) looks less like a new normal, and a blip between different forms of capitalist feudalism where workers are constantly under the boot of the propertied class. History didn't end with the collapse of the USSR, it was aborted...
If you think that the USSR was less feudalistic - hell, leaving your job was subject to state permission. What does that remind you of?
In case anyone is feeling unduly optimistic after today's flood of good news, on all fronts, a reminder that it is now midsummer, and the days get shorter from here on. Winter is coming
A necessary corrective to some of this afternoon's irrational exuberance, perhaps
In fact, the solstice is RIGHT NOW, 15:57
Winter gloom, here we come!
No! Cosy evenings indoors, and nights that stay dark past 4am here we come.
Love the cosy times of winter - warm house, winter TV, glass of whisky etc. But not yet. I love high summer - endless sunshine and light evenings.
Last night I walked home down Highgate West - between the ancient cemetery and Waterlow Park, after a very agreeable evening in beer garden of The Flask. It was utterly deserted
Historic London is absolutely sublime on warm summer evenings like that. I am sure I could sense Coleridge reciting his latest opiated verse to Byron and Shelley...
OMG, close shave. I boozed away the afternoon in The Woodman.
So when the economy implodes and inflation is low and growth is poor causing a recession, the poor have to shoulder the burden via austerity.
When the economy implodes and inflation is high, the Bank of England should CAUSE a recession, forcing the poor to have less purchasing power and less job security, shouldering the burden anyway.
Why do we have this economic system? Like, it isn't a force of nature, we designed things this way - why is it talked about as if these aren't political decisions to allow rich people to stay rich and poor people to get poorer? It's obscene...
Because the system, if it is working properly, is the least worst option.
By working properly, I mean that there is support to allow those at the bottom to climb up the ladder, and protections in place to stop abuses from occurring at the top.
At the moment, it is hard to say that our system in the UK is working as well as it could be…. For a myriad of reasons I would blame on successive governments of all colours.
So the system has just never worked properly in my adult life? I am 32...
Correct. Most people under 40 don’t know anything except interest rates being effectively zero.
So can we say a system works if it doesn't work for a generation? @numbertwelve Your definition of the system working seems, in my mind, to be social democracy - and the last person who advocated that was called a literal Stalinist for years. Like, that is not Thatcherism or Reaganism, and that is the current system we live under - neoliberalism won.
The system worked under Thatcher and Major. It broke under Blair and Brown, before interest rates fell down to zero.
We had a stable population, even sometimes declining population for decades with planning restrictions and the system was working.
Then population growth exploded at the turn of the century but planning restrictions were kept, so supply and demand became imbalanced and we've never had a working system since.
I personally am entirely comfortable with free movement and high migration - but it needs to be accompanied with free planning and high construction too. If people were able to come here without a visa, they should have been able to get a house built without planning too.
Now we have a shortfall of about 3 million houses as we have 99% occupancy rate in our houses when a stable rate and European average is about 90% occupancy. Even if net migration dropped to zero overnight, which it won't, we'd still need those 3 million houses building. We need more than that, to accompany continuing population growth.
I'm not just talking about housing, although that is a big factor. I'm talking about how the whole economy is organised to extract value from workers to give it to the already wealthy, and how any shock to the economy has a response that buggers the poor and insulates the rich. Austerity cut the social safety net to the bone, but the argument was that the Great Recession was terrible and balancing the budget will provide stability in the future. 0% interest rates were not used at that time to do Keynesianism, because neoliberal economics argues Keynesianism is bad, actually. Now that interest rates are going up, it is still the poor and workers who are most impacted, and now the argument is a recession is NECESSARY to fix the economy, and the Labour party are essentially saying they need MORE austerity. So what is the average person to look at with hope? What policies are being proposed that actually help people? What is an economy for if not to organise resources and labour towards the needs of the greater populace; which we are not doing?
In that case, the best thing that’s happened to British workers in a generation has been the EU exit - as there’s now employers fighting over employees, and not the other way around.
As you may have noticed, the Government has decided to cure the problem of people paying more for workers by importing 1 million people per year to replace them. It was in the news and everything. Economists in the Guardian were very pleased.
This is because the UK government does not do things for British working people. It does things to them.
Has anyone considered that it's a whale that's eaten the Titanic sub. And now it's tapping out "SOS" on the hull of the sunken liner hoping to lure another tin of poor sods down to their doom? They are intelligent creatures after all, and they must be sick of our shit by now.
Has anyone considered that it's a whale that's eaten the Titanic sub. And now it's tapping out "SOS" on the hull of the sunken liner hoping to lure another tin of poor sods down to their doom? They are intelligent creatures after all, and they must be sick of our shit by now.
You are about to be damned by HYUFD for eternity for your sick sense of humour.
Has anyone considered that it's a whale that's eaten the Titanic sub. And now it's tapping out "SOS" on the hull of the sunken liner hoping to lure another tin of poor sods down to their doom? They are intelligent creatures after all, and they must be sick of our shit by now.
Brexit - driving up inflation, making people poorer, not delivering anything that it promised except for the bastards who are happy to see us all poorer so they can profit.
It's tempting to laugh at people like that, but I think it shows just how poor political discourse was during the referendum. I keep saying this, but the remain side needed to present Freedom of Movement as a *Positive* to Brits, not something that had to be "endured".
Are we allowed to use the word 'c**t' on this forum?
No, we are not. It is a banning offence.
It seems to be unevenly enforced
To be fair the mods don't read every post, but it seems to be consistently enforced when they do see it.
Is there a list of forum rules anywhere? I don't want to be banned and I can't go back and edit the offending post now to remove that word.
ETA: I do realise the irony here in acting rashly without due awareness of the potential consequences for me of my own actions.
The way you "asked" your "question" re: misogynist c-word, clearly shows your "query" is rhetorical NOT inquisitive.
Also rude as fuck IMHO to abuse Our Gracious Host's VERY clear views on this point.
I didn't know what OGH's views on that word were. That's why I asked if there's a list of forum rules anywhere. Any rudeness towards Mike on this front was through ignorance rather than intent. If being an ill-informed, ignorant prat gets me banned, I'll accept it as deserved without complaint.
Yeah don't use that word, it's a no no, you've somehow got lucky with the spam trap today.
As a general rule
1) Do not be rude/abusive to Mike/Robert. They spend a lot of time and money to allow PBers to post immediately, do not misuse. It is ok to disagree.
2) Do not post things that might get Mike into legal difficulties
3) Don't use that c-word, try and avoid lots of swear words in general.
4) Do not copy and paste large portions of paywalled articles.
5) Don't act like a stalker to other posters.
6) Do not remind Robert that at Guantanamo Bay the Americans played Radiohead albums on a loop to torture the prisoners.
7) Don't deliberately post incorrect polling/betting info
There are other rules, but I cannot remember them at the moment.
Brexit - driving up inflation, making people poorer, not delivering anything that it promised except for the bastards who are happy to see us all poorer so they can profit.
It's tempting to laugh at people like that, but I think it shows just how poor political discourse was during the referendum. I keep saying this, but the remain side needed to present Freedom of Movement as a *Positive* to Brits, not something that had to be "endured".
Are we allowed to use the word 'c**t' on this forum?
No, we are not. It is a banning offence.
It seems to be unevenly enforced
To be fair the mods don't read every post, but it seems to be consistently enforced when they do see it.
Is there a list of forum rules anywhere? I don't want to be banned and I can't go back and edit the offending post now to remove that word.
ETA: I do realise the irony here in acting rashly without due awareness of the potential consequences for me of my own actions.
The way you "asked" your "question" re: misogynist c-word, clearly shows your "query" is rhetorical NOT inquisitive.
Also rude as fuck IMHO to abuse Our Gracious Host's VERY clear views on this point.
I didn't know what OGH's views on that word were. That's why I asked if there's a list of forum rules anywhere. Any rudeness towards Mike on this front was through ignorance rather than intent. If being an ill-informed, ignorant prat gets me banned, I'll accept it as deserved without complaint.
Brexit - driving up inflation, making people poorer, not delivering anything that it promised except for the bastards who are happy to see us all poorer so they can profit.
It's tempting to laugh at people like that, but I think it shows just how poor political discourse was during the referendum. I keep saying this, but the remain side needed to present Freedom of Movement as a *Positive* to Brits, not something that had to be "endured".
Are we allowed to use the word 'c**t' on this forum?
No, we are not. It is a banning offence.
It seems to be unevenly enforced
To be fair the mods don't read every post, but it seems to be consistently enforced when they do see it.
Is there a list of forum rules anywhere? I don't want to be banned and I can't go back and edit the offending post now to remove that word.
ETA: I do realise the irony here in acting rashly without due awareness of the potential consequences for me of my own actions.
The way you "asked" your "question" re: misogynist c-word, clearly shows your "query" is rhetorical NOT inquisitive.
Also rude as fuck IMHO to abuse Our Gracious Host's VERY clear views on this point.
I didn't know what OGH's views on that word were. That's why I asked if there's a list of forum rules anywhere. Any rudeness towards Mike on this front was through ignorance rather than intent. If being an ill-informed, ignorant prat gets me banned, I'll accept it as deserved without complaint.
Yeah don't use that word, it's a no no, you've somehow got lucky with the spam trap today.
As a general rule
1) Do not be rude/abusive to Mike/Robert. They spend a lot of time and money to allow PBers to post immediately, do not misuse. It is ok to disagree.
2) Do not post things that might get Mike into legal difficulties
3) Don't use that c-word, try and avoid lots of swear words in general.
4) Do not copy and paste large portions of paywalled articles.
5) Don't act like a stalker to other posters.
6) Do not remind Robert that at Guantanamo Bay the Americans played Radiohead albums on a loop to torture the prisoners.
7) Don't deliberately post incorrect polling/betting info
There are other rules, but I cannot remember them at the moment.
If enough idiots vote for him and he gets another MP gig, then surely the people have spoken/democracy in action, blah, blah, blah. But he ain't getting back in. He's done. Dusted. Labour are going to form the next government and Johnson will be irrelevant.
I've asked the following question many times, but never get an answer. Who do PB Tories actually want to lead the party?
Not my business, of course, but (pace ydoethur) Gove would be good - not bad at combative politics but also a genuine old-fashioned politician keen to change things for the good of the country. Some of his changes have been very controversial, but at least he enriches public debate. What do Sunak, Hunt, Mordaunt, etc. actually stand for? When did they last say anything new?
I think Gove has been around too long, and there are too many hostages to fortune in choosing him. The problem with others like Alex Chalk, for example, is that he is too public school smooth, and is unlikely to hold his seat anyway. Tobias Ellwood has also annoyed too many with his rebellious antics, but there is a portion of the party establishment that would go for him.
The puff piece for Penny Mordaunt in the Times today suggests that if she holds her own seat, she is in with a good shout. However, that is a pretty big "if".
The big deal for the post defeat Tories will be "Character", hence the interesting positioning of Mordaunt and Ellwood.
The novelisation of Yes, Prime Minister ends with The National Education Service, and Hacker sadly realising that whatever wins he might achieve, nothing fundamental would change.
Gove's career has been about big, disruptive changes, whether at Education or Brexit. Both of those legacies are, at best, mixed, and his planning reforms have largely been blown up by Conservative Nimbies.
I do wonder if he's had his Jim Hacker moment.
This is very selectve in its overview of his career. Both at Justice and DEFRA he made significant and lasting change in both culture and practice which have had long reaching positive effects.
He is very much a details, evidence based person. Looking at what the real problems are in departments and listening to all sides rather than just the usual lobbyists.
Yet Justice is falling apart with cases taking years to get to court.
My father also had Views on his record at DEFRA.
Put it this way, you think I hate him? You should have heard what Dad had to say!
Well at least now we know where you got your irrational hatred from.
In case you've forgotten, he went to DEFRA and earned Dad's ire long after he'd screwed over education.
In case you have forgotten education was screwed over long before Gove ever came on the scene. A third world system run entirely for vested interest and ideology.
The irony of that post is while it was not necessarily true at the time Gove came into power, it was profoundly true of what he left. Especially in making it even more in hock to ideology - including some quite sinister ideologies - and vested interests which are not only not conducive to but positively opposed to the interests of children's education.
There were many problems in education in 2010. The exam system was not good. The curriculum was years out of date. Appointments to senior posts were profoundly corrupt. LEAs were a shambles.
What he left was an exam system that doesn't work at all, a curriculum that was based on naked nativism, a system of appointments to senior posts so corrupt that we actually have people who are entirely unqualified in senior positions and a series of expensive and mostly badly run academy chains taking the place of LEAs working as a gravy train for rather too many sponsoring organisations and their chums.
And I would gently suggest that rather than hector me about it, and attribute my understanding of just how bad things to an 'irrational hatred' of Gove, you remember that I am an expert in the field and you are not. Perhaps therefore the reason I disdain Gove is because I understand fully just how badly he messed up and you do not?
A very informed post. Although I have no skin in the school aged education game anymore I find the academisation of secondary education to be absurd.
My old school in Hollywood, Worcs. was an excellent comprehensive back in my day- mid 1970s. In my year we produced Fiona Clouder, the former UK High Commissioner to Peru and Nick Rhodes of Duran Duran , not to mention those who went on to be CEOs, CFOs and a Vice President of HR for Reckitt Benckeiser. By the mid 2010s it was a failing academy. They now have an School Improvement Consultant on the Academy Board of Directors. Pass me the sick bag.
Brexit - driving up inflation, making people poorer, not delivering anything that it promised except for the bastards who are happy to see us all poorer so they can profit.
It's tempting to laugh at people like that, but I think it shows just how poor political discourse was during the referendum. I keep saying this, but the remain side needed to present Freedom of Movement as a *Positive* to Brits, not something that had to be "endured".
Are we allowed to use the word 'c**t' on this forum?
No, we are not. It is a banning offence.
It seems to be unevenly enforced
To be fair the mods don't read every post, but it seems to be consistently enforced when they do see it.
Is there a list of forum rules anywhere? I don't want to be banned and I can't go back and edit the offending post now to remove that word.
ETA: I do realise the irony here in acting rashly without due awareness of the potential consequences for me of my own actions.
The way you "asked" your "question" re: misogynist c-word, clearly shows your "query" is rhetorical NOT inquisitive.
Also rude as fuck IMHO to abuse Our Gracious Host's VERY clear views on this point.
I didn't know what OGH's views on that word were. That's why I asked if there's a list of forum rules anywhere. Any rudeness towards Mike on this front was through ignorance rather than intent. If being an ill-informed, ignorant prat gets me banned, I'll accept it as deserved without complaint.
Yeah don't use that word, it's a no no, you've somehow got lucky with the spam trap today.
As a general rule
1) Do not be rude/abusive to Mike/Robert. They spend a lot of time and money to allow PBers to post immediately, do not misuse. It is ok to disagree.
2) Do not post things that might get Mike into legal difficulties
3) Don't use that c-word, try and avoid lots of swear words in general.
4) Do not copy and paste large portions of paywalled articles.
5) Don't act like a stalker to other posters.
6) Do not remind Robert that at Guantanamo Bay the Americans played Radiohead albums on a loop to torture the prisoners.
7) Don't deliberately post incorrect polling/betting info
There are other rules, but I cannot remember them at the moment.
Reminds me what Hannah Arendt said about fascists, that they just use words as weapons and have no responsibility for them as they do not believe in truth.
Brexit - driving up inflation, making people poorer, not delivering anything that it promised except for the bastards who are happy to see us all poorer so they can profit.
It's tempting to laugh at people like that, but I think it shows just how poor political discourse was during the referendum. I keep saying this, but the remain side needed to present Freedom of Movement as a *Positive* to Brits, not something that had to be "endured".
Are we allowed to use the word 'c**t' on this forum?
No, we are not. It is a banning offence.
It seems to be unevenly enforced
To be fair the mods don't read every post, but it seems to be consistently enforced when they do see it.
Is there a list of forum rules anywhere? I don't want to be banned and I can't go back and edit the offending post now to remove that word.
ETA: I do realise the irony here in acting rashly without due awareness of the potential consequences for me of my own actions.
The way you "asked" your "question" re: misogynist c-word, clearly shows your "query" is rhetorical NOT inquisitive.
Also rude as fuck IMHO to abuse Our Gracious Host's VERY clear views on this point.
I didn't know what OGH's views on that word were. That's why I asked if there's a list of forum rules anywhere. Any rudeness towards Mike on this front was through ignorance rather than intent. If being an ill-informed, ignorant prat gets me banned, I'll accept it as deserved without complaint.
Yeah don't use that word, it's a no no, you've somehow got lucky with the spam trap today.
As a general rule
1) Do not be rude/abusive to Mike/Robert. They spend a lot of time and money to allow PBers to post immediately, do not misuse. It is ok to disagree.
2) Do not post things that might get Mike into legal difficulties
3) Don't use that c-word, try and avoid lots of swear words in general.
4) Do not copy and paste large portions of paywalled articles.
5) Don't act like a stalker to other posters.
6) Do not remind Robert that at Guantanamo Bay the Americans played Radiohead albums on a loop to torture the prisoners.
7) Don't deliberately post incorrect polling/betting info
There are other rules, but I cannot remember them at the moment.
It was nice knowing you Mr Eagles...
The Red Shoes!
Great film, interesting allusion, and death for overly high flying Eagles!
In case anyone is feeling unduly optimistic after today's flood of good news, on all fronts, a reminder that it is now midsummer, and the days get shorter from here on. Winter is coming
A necessary corrective to some of this afternoon's irrational exuberance, perhaps
In fact, the solstice is RIGHT NOW, 15:57
Winter gloom, here we come!
No! Cosy evenings indoors, and nights that stay dark past 4am here we come.
Love the cosy times of winter - warm house, winter TV, glass of whisky etc. But not yet. I love high summer - endless sunshine and light evenings.
Last night I walked home down Highgate West - between the ancient cemetery and Waterlow Park, after a very agreeable evening in beer garden of The Flask. It was utterly deserted
Historic London is absolutely sublime on warm summer evenings like that. I am sure I could sense Coleridge reciting his latest opiated verse to Byron and Shelley...
OMG, close shave. I boozed away the afternoon in The Woodman.
There isn’t a nicer place on God’s Green earth than the leafy, Georgian bits of north London on a warm summer evening. Highgate, Hampstead, Dartmouth Park, Primrose Hill. Just lovely
Wouldn’t personally choose the Woodman, however. No oysters
Reminds me what Hannah Arendt said about fascists, that they just use words as weapons and have no responsibility for them as they do not believe in truth.
Has anyone considered that it's a whale that's eaten the Titanic sub. And now it's tapping out "SOS" on the hull of the sunken liner hoping to lure another tin of poor sods down to their doom? They are intelligent creatures after all, and they must be sick of our shit by now.
You are about to be damned by HYUFD for eternity for your sick sense of humour.
He damns fellow posters for the sick stuff re boats on or under the sea, whether or not they even do it in the first place. So those so inclined might as well get the bad taste stuff in before they get the blame willynilly.
In case anyone is feeling unduly optimistic after today's flood of good news, on all fronts, a reminder that it is now midsummer, and the days get shorter from here on. Winter is coming
A necessary corrective to some of this afternoon's irrational exuberance, perhaps
In fact, the solstice is RIGHT NOW, 15:57
Winter gloom, here we come!
No! Cosy evenings indoors, and nights that stay dark past 4am here we come.
Love the cosy times of winter - warm house, winter TV, glass of whisky etc. But not yet. I love high summer - endless sunshine and light evenings.
Last night I walked home down Highgate West - between the ancient cemetery and Waterlow Park, after a very agreeable evening in beer garden of The Flask. It was utterly deserted
Historic London is absolutely sublime on warm summer evenings like that. I am sure I could sense Coleridge reciting his latest opiated verse to Byron and Shelley...
If this was an American city you would be saying that it shows the irreversible decline of America as power passes to China.
So when the economy implodes and inflation is low and growth is poor causing a recession, the poor have to shoulder the burden via austerity.
When the economy implodes and inflation is high, the Bank of England should CAUSE a recession, forcing the poor to have less purchasing power and less job security, shouldering the burden anyway.
Why do we have this economic system? Like, it isn't a force of nature, we designed things this way - why is it talked about as if these aren't political decisions to allow rich people to stay rich and poor people to get poorer? It's obscene...
Because the system, if it is working properly, is the least worst option.
By working properly, I mean that there is support to allow those at the bottom to climb up the ladder, and protections in place to stop abuses from occurring at the top.
At the moment, it is hard to say that our system in the UK is working as well as it could be…. For a myriad of reasons I would blame on successive governments of all colours.
So the system has just never worked properly in my adult life? I am 32...
You whingers just want something for nothing. Back when men were men we had to do it all ourselves , no help from anyone and just hard graft. 21st century has produced nothing but lazy whining whingers.
A bit more characteristic prejudice and psychological projection from this site's pre-eminent whining whinger.
Give me a bright optimistic young person/snowflake any day over you Malcolm, you boring grumpy prejudiced angry little intellectually challenged dullard.
Reminds me what Hannah Arendt said about fascists, that they just use words as weapons and have no responsibility for them as they do not believe in truth.
The opposite of up is down The opposite of north is south The opposite of trans is [CENSORED]
In case anyone is feeling unduly optimistic after today's flood of good news, on all fronts, a reminder that it is now midsummer, and the days get shorter from here on. Winter is coming
A necessary corrective to some of this afternoon's irrational exuberance, perhaps
In fact, the solstice is RIGHT NOW, 15:57
Winter gloom, here we come!
No! Cosy evenings indoors, and nights that stay dark past 4am here we come.
Love the cosy times of winter - warm house, winter TV, glass of whisky etc. But not yet. I love high summer - endless sunshine and light evenings.
Last night I walked home down Highgate West - between the ancient cemetery and Waterlow Park, after a very agreeable evening in beer garden of The Flask. It was utterly deserted
Historic London is absolutely sublime on warm summer evenings like that. I am sure I could sense Coleridge reciting his latest opiated verse to Byron and Shelley...
That's Swain's Lane, not Highgate West Hill. I used to do my paper round around there. The cemetery was very spooky in the early morning. I also used to have to deliver to the Soviet trade delegation on Highgate West Hill. That was very spooky in another way. Lots of very stern security guard faces as I dropped off their Morning Stars.
Reminds me what Hannah Arendt said about fascists, that they just use words as weapons and have no responsibility for them as they do not believe in truth.
I LOVE ELON
Is that because he is an anagram of your name, or because he shares your "values"?
Reminds me what Hannah Arendt said about fascists, that they just use words as weapons and have no responsibility for them as they do not believe in truth.
The problem with invoking that quote is that it applies more to the other side on this question. Language is manipulated in order to impose an alternative sense of reality on people who disagree with it.
In case anyone is feeling unduly optimistic after today's flood of good news, on all fronts, a reminder that it is now midsummer, and the days get shorter from here on. Winter is coming
A necessary corrective to some of this afternoon's irrational exuberance, perhaps
In fact, the solstice is RIGHT NOW, 15:57
Winter gloom, here we come!
No! Cosy evenings indoors, and nights that stay dark past 4am here we come.
Love the cosy times of winter - warm house, winter TV, glass of whisky etc. But not yet. I love high summer - endless sunshine and light evenings.
Last night I walked home down Highgate West - between the ancient cemetery and Waterlow Park, after a very agreeable evening in beer garden of The Flask. It was utterly deserted
Historic London is absolutely sublime on warm summer evenings like that. I am sure I could sense Coleridge reciting his latest opiated verse to Byron and Shelley...
If this was an American city you would be saying that it shows the irreversible decline of America as power passes to China.
No I wouldn’t. Earlier on this thread I’ve readily confessed that Britain is just as fucked as America, only in a different way
But like America, there are places and moments in the UK when it can still feel like THE nicest spot on the planet
Brexit - driving up inflation, making people poorer, not delivering anything that it promised except for the bastards who are happy to see us all poorer so they can profit.
It's tempting to laugh at people like that, but I think it shows just how poor political discourse was during the referendum. I keep saying this, but the remain side needed to present Freedom of Movement as a *Positive* to Brits, not something that had to be "endured".
Are we allowed to use the word 'c**t' on this forum?
No, we are not. It is a banning offence.
It seems to be unevenly enforced
To be fair the mods don't read every post, but it seems to be consistently enforced when they do see it.
Is there a list of forum rules anywhere? I don't want to be banned and I can't go back and edit the offending post now to remove that word.
ETA: I do realise the irony here in acting rashly without due awareness of the potential consequences for me of my own actions.
The way you "asked" your "question" re: misogynist c-word, clearly shows your "query" is rhetorical NOT inquisitive.
Also rude as fuck IMHO to abuse Our Gracious Host's VERY clear views on this point.
I didn't know what OGH's views on that word were. That's why I asked if there's a list of forum rules anywhere. Any rudeness towards Mike on this front was through ignorance rather than intent. If being an ill-informed, ignorant prat gets me banned, I'll accept it as deserved without complaint.
Yeah don't use that word, it's a no no, you've somehow got lucky with the spam trap today.
As a general rule
1) Do not be rude/abusive to Mike/Robert. They spend a lot of time and money to allow PBers to post immediately, do not misuse. It is ok to disagree.
2) Do not post things that might get Mike into legal difficulties
3) Don't use that c-word, try and avoid lots of swear words in general.
4) Do not copy and paste large portions of paywalled articles.
5) Don't act like a stalker to other posters.
6) Do not remind Robert that at Guantanamo Bay the Americans played Radiohead albums on a loop to torture the prisoners.
7) Don't deliberately post incorrect polling/betting info
There are other rules, but I cannot remember them at the moment.
I think we should add an 8th now - no denial of what an utter calamity PM Boris Johnson was.
"Sure he was flawed, very, but there were positives too. He delivered Brexit. He oversaw our world-leading vaccine programme. He backed Ukraine to the hilt whilst others prevaricated."
Comments such as these should lead to a period in the fridge.
Brexit - driving up inflation, making people poorer, not delivering anything that it promised except for the bastards who are happy to see us all poorer so they can profit.
It's tempting to laugh at people like that, but I think it shows just how poor political discourse was during the referendum. I keep saying this, but the remain side needed to present Freedom of Movement as a *Positive* to Brits, not something that had to be "endured".
Are we allowed to use the word 'c**t' on this forum?
No, we are not. It is a banning offence.
It seems to be unevenly enforced
To be fair the mods don't read every post, but it seems to be consistently enforced when they do see it.
Is there a list of forum rules anywhere? I don't want to be banned and I can't go back and edit the offending post now to remove that word.
ETA: I do realise the irony here in acting rashly without due awareness of the potential consequences for me of my own actions.
The way you "asked" your "question" re: misogynist c-word, clearly shows your "query" is rhetorical NOT inquisitive.
Also rude as fuck IMHO to abuse Our Gracious Host's VERY clear views on this point.
I didn't know what OGH's views on that word were. That's why I asked if there's a list of forum rules anywhere. Any rudeness towards Mike on this front was through ignorance rather than intent. If being an ill-informed, ignorant prat gets me banned, I'll accept it as deserved without complaint.
Thanks for your response, and accept my apology as I withdraw my assertion. At very least should have written "suggests" NOT "shows" but even that toooooo judgmental.
Esp. for one as naturally foul-mouthed as yours truly! Though in USA we've been avoiding-eschewing the c-word for a while now.
Reminds me what Hannah Arendt said about fascists, that they just use words as weapons and have no responsibility for them as they do not believe in truth.
The opposite of up is down The opposite of north is south The opposite of trans is [CENSORED]
Cisformers, genders in disguise!
I thought it was a description of someone in the final stage of secondary school as announced by someone with a speech impediment?
In case anyone is feeling unduly optimistic after today's flood of good news, on all fronts, a reminder that it is now midsummer, and the days get shorter from here on. Winter is coming
A necessary corrective to some of this afternoon's irrational exuberance, perhaps
In fact, the solstice is RIGHT NOW, 15:57
Winter gloom, here we come!
No! Cosy evenings indoors, and nights that stay dark past 4am here we come.
Love the cosy times of winter - warm house, winter TV, glass of whisky etc. But not yet. I love high summer - endless sunshine and light evenings.
Last night I walked home down Highgate West - between the ancient cemetery and Waterlow Park, after a very agreeable evening in beer garden of The Flask. It was utterly deserted
Historic London is absolutely sublime on warm summer evenings like that. I am sure I could sense Coleridge reciting his latest opiated verse to Byron and Shelley...
OMG, close shave. I boozed away the afternoon in The Woodman.
There isn’t a nicer place on God’s Green earth than the leafy, Georgian bits of north London on a warm summer evening. Highgate, Hampstead, Dartmouth Park, Primrose Hill. Just lovely
Wouldn’t personally choose the Woodman, however. No oysters
Brexit - driving up inflation, making people poorer, not delivering anything that it promised except for the bastards who are happy to see us all poorer so they can profit.
It's tempting to laugh at people like that, but I think it shows just how poor political discourse was during the referendum. I keep saying this, but the remain side needed to present Freedom of Movement as a *Positive* to Brits, not something that had to be "endured".
Are we allowed to use the word 'c**t' on this forum?
No, we are not. It is a banning offence.
It seems to be unevenly enforced
To be fair the mods don't read every post, but it seems to be consistently enforced when they do see it.
Is there a list of forum rules anywhere? I don't want to be banned and I can't go back and edit the offending post now to remove that word.
ETA: I do realise the irony here in acting rashly without due awareness of the potential consequences for me of my own actions.
The way you "asked" your "question" re: misogynist c-word, clearly shows your "query" is rhetorical NOT inquisitive.
Also rude as fuck IMHO to abuse Our Gracious Host's VERY clear views on this point.
I didn't know what OGH's views on that word were. That's why I asked if there's a list of forum rules anywhere. Any rudeness towards Mike on this front was through ignorance rather than intent. If being an ill-informed, ignorant prat gets me banned, I'll accept it as deserved without complaint.
Yeah don't use that word, it's a no no, you've somehow got lucky with the spam trap today.
As a general rule
1) Do not be rude/abusive to Mike/Robert. They spend a lot of time and money to allow PBers to post immediately, do not misuse. It is ok to disagree.
2) Do not post things that might get Mike into legal difficulties
3) Don't use that c-word, try and avoid lots of swear words in general.
4) Do not copy and paste large portions of paywalled articles.
5) Don't act like a stalker to other posters.
6) Do not remind Robert that at Guantanamo Bay the Americans played Radiohead albums on a loop to torture the prisoners.
7) Don't deliberately post incorrect polling/betting info
There are other rules, but I cannot remember them at the moment.
Thank you @TheScreamingEagles and to @ydoethur for the link to Robert's rules. I think I've been lucky to survive this long! A period of contemplative lurking will now follow.
I'm getting a sense of Not Trump vs Not Biden for WH24. Can't say exactly how we get there but I think that somehow we will.
It could be Not Trump vs Not Biden even if Trump and Biden are the candidates.
Sorry I'm not getting that, William? How do you mean?
I mean the two voting blocs could be "Not Biden" and "Not Trump", rather than a positive endorsement of either of them.
How screwed up is American politics, when two massively divisive octogenarians (by the end of their terms) are somehow the favourites? Let’s hope the other candidates get a look-in on both sides.
An interesting piece, and yet - like all these articles - it completely ignores the facts on the ground. The stuff I saw on my recent American odyssey
If America is ‘leaving Europe behind’ how come American life expectancy is plunging every year, has now fallen way behind Europe, and in fact has fallen behind Panama?
The must fundamental fact of life is: how long you get to live. Europe wins
In case anyone is feeling unduly optimistic after today's flood of good news, on all fronts, a reminder that it is now midsummer, and the days get shorter from here on. Winter is coming
A necessary corrective to some of this afternoon's irrational exuberance, perhaps
In fact, the solstice is RIGHT NOW, 15:57
Winter gloom, here we come!
No! Cosy evenings indoors, and nights that stay dark past 4am here we come.
Love the cosy times of winter - warm house, winter TV, glass of whisky etc. But not yet. I love high summer - endless sunshine and light evenings.
Last night I walked home down Highgate West - between the ancient cemetery and Waterlow Park, after a very agreeable evening in beer garden of The Flask. It was utterly deserted
Historic London is absolutely sublime on warm summer evenings like that. I am sure I could sense Coleridge reciting his latest opiated verse to Byron and Shelley...
OMG, close shave. I boozed away the afternoon in The Woodman.
There isn’t a nicer place on God’s Green earth than the leafy, Georgian bits of north London on a warm summer evening. Highgate, Hampstead, Dartmouth Park, Primrose Hill. Just lovely
Wouldn’t personally choose the Woodman, however. No oysters
No. It's a pub.
Damn - a pub on the top of Primrose Hill - that'd be a place!
(It'd have to not play music, not have any TV screens, and just serve British beer)
Brexit - driving up inflation, making people poorer, not delivering anything that it promised except for the bastards who are happy to see us all poorer so they can profit.
It's tempting to laugh at people like that, but I think it shows just how poor political discourse was during the referendum. I keep saying this, but the remain side needed to present Freedom of Movement as a *Positive* to Brits, not something that had to be "endured".
Are we allowed to use the word 'c**t' on this forum?
No, we are not. It is a banning offence.
It seems to be unevenly enforced
To be fair the mods don't read every post, but it seems to be consistently enforced when they do see it.
Is there a list of forum rules anywhere? I don't want to be banned and I can't go back and edit the offending post now to remove that word.
ETA: I do realise the irony here in acting rashly without due awareness of the potential consequences for me of my own actions.
The way you "asked" your "question" re: misogynist c-word, clearly shows your "query" is rhetorical NOT inquisitive.
Also rude as fuck IMHO to abuse Our Gracious Host's VERY clear views on this point.
I didn't know what OGH's views on that word were. That's why I asked if there's a list of forum rules anywhere. Any rudeness towards Mike on this front was through ignorance rather than intent. If being an ill-informed, ignorant prat gets me banned, I'll accept it as deserved without complaint.
Yeah don't use that word, it's a no no, you've somehow got lucky with the spam trap today.
As a general rule
1) Do not be rude/abusive to Mike/Robert. They spend a lot of time and money to allow PBers to post immediately, do not misuse. It is ok to disagree.
2) Do not post things that might get Mike into legal difficulties
3) Don't use that c-word, try and avoid lots of swear words in general.
4) Do not copy and paste large portions of paywalled articles.
5) Don't act like a stalker to other posters.
6) Do not remind Robert that at Guantanamo Bay the Americans played Radiohead albums on a loop to torture the prisoners.
7) Don't deliberately post incorrect polling/betting info
There are other rules, but I cannot remember them at the moment.
Might it be possible to post on homepage, a quasi-authoritative list of PB Commandments, as did OGH's famed predecessor as law-giver (allegedly) brought down from Mount Sinai?
Unless there's some kind of legalistic impediment, though maybe the last part of PB pronunciamento might be that list is not all-inclusive AND is subject to change by fiat of OGH and his henchpeople?
In case anyone is feeling unduly optimistic after today's flood of good news, on all fronts, a reminder that it is now midsummer, and the days get shorter from here on. Winter is coming
A necessary corrective to some of this afternoon's irrational exuberance, perhaps
In fact, the solstice is RIGHT NOW, 15:57
Winter gloom, here we come!
No! Cosy evenings indoors, and nights that stay dark past 4am here we come.
Love the cosy times of winter - warm house, winter TV, glass of whisky etc. But not yet. I love high summer - endless sunshine and light evenings.
Last night I walked home down Highgate West - between the ancient cemetery and Waterlow Park, after a very agreeable evening in beer garden of The Flask. It was utterly deserted
Historic London is absolutely sublime on warm summer evenings like that. I am sure I could sense Coleridge reciting his latest opiated verse to Byron and Shelley...
That's Swain's Lane, not Highgate West Hill. I used to do my paper round around there. The cemetery was very spooky in the early morning. I also used to have to deliver to the Soviet trade delegation on Highgate West Hill. That was very spooky in another way. Lots of very stern security guard faces as I dropped off their Morning Stars.
Quite right. My bad. Swain’s Lane
There is some really eccentric modern architecture down there as well. Modernist black glass houses. For once they are not intrusive. They are peculiar, tho
American wealth is very, very private. It's not obvious from the way the country as a whole looks, feels and functions. But it is undoubtedly the best place on earth in which to be rich.
Has anyone considered that it's a whale that's eaten the Titanic sub. And now it's tapping out "SOS" on the hull of the sunken liner hoping to lure another tin of poor sods down to their doom? They are intelligent creatures after all, and they must be sick of our shit by now.
You are about to be damned by HYUFD for eternity for your sick sense of humour.
HYUFD has a sick sense of humour. He still believes that the answer to this country's ills is more Boris Johnson
Has anyone considered that it's a whale that's eaten the Titanic sub. And now it's tapping out "SOS" on the hull of the sunken liner hoping to lure another tin of poor sods down to their doom? They are intelligent creatures after all, and they must be sick of our shit by now.
You are about to be damned by HYUFD for eternity for your sick sense of humour.
HYUFD has a sick sense of humour. He still believes that the answer to this country's ills is more Boris Johnson
Reminds me what Hannah Arendt said about fascists, that they just use words as weapons and have no responsibility for them as they do not believe in truth.
American wealth is very, very private. It's not obvious from the way the country as a whole looks, feels and functions. But it is undoubtedly the best place on earth in which to be rich.
Is it?
Europe beats America on almost every metric of history, beauty, culture, etc. It also beats America on access to Europe
America wins on wild big landscapes and emptiness, and, maybe, lower taxes
If you’re a trillionaire is it better to live in a massive apartment in Manhattan, Monaco or Mayfair? I don’t think the answer is clear cut. All have pros and cons
If you want to live in your own fifty square mile ranch then America wins - but that’s rare
If you want total privacy then a private island in the Caribbean is probably your best bet
Reminds me what Hannah Arendt said about fascists, that they just use words as weapons and have no responsibility for them as they do not believe in truth.
Reminds me what Hannah Arendt said about fascists, that they just use words as weapons and have no responsibility for them as they do not believe in truth.
Did he actually allow real Nazis on or just people with a different view. Twitter is very much ‘everyone who disagrees with me is Hitler’ territory.
Also as stupid as a term Cisgender is it should not be banned.
If enough idiots vote for him and he gets another MP gig, then surely the people have spoken/democracy in action, blah, blah, blah. But he ain't getting back in. He's done. Dusted. Labour are going to form the next government and Johnson will be irrelevant.
I've asked the following question many times, but never get an answer. Who do PB Tories actually want to lead the party?
Not my business, of course, but (pace ydoethur) Gove would be good - not bad at combative politics but also a genuine old-fashioned politician keen to change things for the good of the country. Some of his changes have been very controversial, but at least he enriches public debate. What do Sunak, Hunt, Mordaunt, etc. actually stand for? When did they last say anything new?
I think Gove has been around too long, and there are too many hostages to fortune in choosing him. The problem with others like Alex Chalk, for example, is that he is too public school smooth, and is unlikely to hold his seat anyway. Tobias Ellwood has also annoyed too many with his rebellious antics, but there is a portion of the party establishment that would go for him.
The puff piece for Penny Mordaunt in the Times today suggests that if she holds her own seat, she is in with a good shout. However, that is a pretty big "if".
The big deal for the post defeat Tories will be "Character", hence the interesting positioning of Mordaunt and Ellwood.
The novelisation of Yes, Prime Minister ends with The National Education Service, and Hacker sadly realising that whatever wins he might achieve, nothing fundamental would change.
Gove's career has been about big, disruptive changes, whether at Education or Brexit. Both of those legacies are, at best, mixed, and his planning reforms have largely been blown up by Conservative Nimbies.
I do wonder if he's had his Jim Hacker moment.
This is very selectve in its overview of his career. Both at Justice and DEFRA he made significant and lasting change in both culture and practice which have had long reaching positive effects.
He is very much a details, evidence based person. Looking at what the real problems are in departments and listening to all sides rather than just the usual lobbyists.
Yet Justice is falling apart with cases taking years to get to court.
My father also had Views on his record at DEFRA.
Put it this way, you think I hate him? You should have heard what Dad had to say!
Well at least now we know where you got your irrational hatred from.
In case you've forgotten, he went to DEFRA and earned Dad's ire long after he'd screwed over education.
In case you have forgotten education was screwed over long before Gove ever came on the scene. A third world system run entirely for vested interest and ideology.
The irony of that post is while it was not necessarily true at the time Gove came into power, it was profoundly true of what he left. Especially in making it even more in hock to ideology - including some quite sinister ideologies - and vested interests which are not only not conducive to but positively opposed to the interests of children's education.
There were many problems in education in 2010. The exam system was not good. The curriculum was years out of date. Appointments to senior posts were profoundly corrupt. LEAs were a shambles.
What he left was an exam system that doesn't work at all, a curriculum that was based on naked nativism, a system of appointments to senior posts so corrupt that we actually have people who are entirely unqualified in senior positions and a series of expensive and mostly badly run academy chains taking the place of LEAs working as a gravy train for rather too many sponsoring organisations and their chums.
And I would gently suggest that rather than hector me about it, and attribute my understanding of just how bad things to an 'irrational hatred' of Gove, you remember that I am an expert in the field and you are not. Perhaps therefore the reason I disdain Gove is because I understand fully just how badly he messed up and you do not?
And yet the PISA ratings for the UK education system collapsed between 2000 and 2012 (from 7th to 24th in maths. Similar falls in Science and reading.) and only started to recover after the Tory reforms were introduced.
On the other hand, there is a time lag in those ratings, surely? Not familiar with the details.
(But I also wonder about lead in petrol.)
The time lag idea is just ydoethur clutching at straws. Yes there will be a timelag but the idea it is a decade or more is rubbish.
And besides even with a decade it still falls in Labour's lap.
The testing is done at age 15 so those taking it in 2009 and 2012 had spent almost their whole education under Labour. Those taking it in 2018 had had 8 of their 10 years education under coalition or Tory government.
An interesting piece, and yet - like all these articles - it completely ignores the facts on the ground. The stuff I saw on my recent American odyssey
If America is ‘leaving Europe behind’ how come American life expectancy is plunging every year, has now fallen way behind Europe, and in fact has fallen behind Panama?
The must fundamental fact of life is: how long you get to live. Europe wins
So... France > UK.
Sadly, as a patriotic Brit, I have to confess that - at the moment - France is definitely doing better than the UK
Brexit - driving up inflation, making people poorer, not delivering anything that it promised except for the bastards who are happy to see us all poorer so they can profit.
It's tempting to laugh at people like that, but I think it shows just how poor political discourse was during the referendum. I keep saying this, but the remain side needed to present Freedom of Movement as a *Positive* to Brits, not something that had to be "endured".
Are we allowed to use the word 'c**t' on this forum?
No, we are not. It is a banning offence.
It seems to be unevenly enforced
To be fair the mods don't read every post, but it seems to be consistently enforced when they do see it.
Is there a list of forum rules anywhere? I don't want to be banned and I can't go back and edit the offending post now to remove that word.
ETA: I do realise the irony here in acting rashly without due awareness of the potential consequences for me of my own actions.
The way you "asked" your "question" re: misogynist c-word, clearly shows your "query" is rhetorical NOT inquisitive.
Also rude as fuck IMHO to abuse Our Gracious Host's VERY clear views on this point.
I didn't know what OGH's views on that word were. That's why I asked if there's a list of forum rules anywhere. Any rudeness towards Mike on this front was through ignorance rather than intent. If being an ill-informed, ignorant prat gets me banned, I'll accept it as deserved without complaint.
Yeah don't use that word, it's a no no, you've somehow got lucky with the spam trap today.
As a general rule
1) Do not be rude/abusive to Mike/Robert. They spend a lot of time and money to allow PBers to post immediately, do not misuse. It is ok to disagree.
2) Do not post things that might get Mike into legal difficulties
3) Don't use that c-word, try and avoid lots of swear words in general.
4) Do not copy and paste large portions of paywalled articles.
5) Don't act like a stalker to other posters.
6) Do not remind Robert that at Guantanamo Bay the Americans played Radiohead albums on a loop to torture the prisoners.
7) Don't deliberately post incorrect polling/betting info
There are other rules, but I cannot remember them at the moment.
Thank you @TheScreamingEagles and to @ydoethur for the link to Robert's rules. I think I've been lucky to survive this long! A period of contemplative lurking will now follow.
Reminds me what Hannah Arendt said about fascists, that they just use words as weapons and have no responsibility for them as they do not believe in truth.
The opposite of up is down The opposite of north is south The opposite of trans is [CENSORED]
Has anyone considered that it's a whale that's eaten the Titanic sub. And now it's tapping out "SOS" on the hull of the sunken liner hoping to lure another tin of poor sods down to their doom? They are intelligent creatures after all, and they must be sick of our shit by now.
You are about to be damned by HYUFD for eternity for your sick sense of humour.
HYUFD has a sick sense of humour. He still believes that the answer to this country's ills is more Boris Johnson
That's not sick. Merely silly.
I believe the definition is to be in bad taste or disturbing. I think the idea of More Johnson fulfils both these criteria
I'm getting a sense of Not Trump vs Not Biden for WH24. Can't say exactly how we get there but I think that somehow we will.
It could be Not Trump vs Not Biden even if Trump and Biden are the candidates.
Sorry I'm not getting that, William? How do you mean?
I mean the two voting blocs could be "Not Biden" and "Not Trump", rather than a positive endorsement of either of them.
How screwed up is American politics, when two massively divisive octogenarians (by the end of their terms) are somehow the favourites? Let’s hope the other candidates get a look-in on both sides.
In 1944 the choice was between a divisive, older (by contemporary standards) incumbent with obvious health issues (though seriousness was not common knowledge) who'd clearly aged in office, versus a young, energetic challenger with strong record as elected official and big state governor.
Voters chose age and cunning over youth and vigor - much to the satisfaction of say 96% of UKers, then & now.
Actually, sounds like a potential general election battle between Biden and DeSantis.
If enough idiots vote for him and he gets another MP gig, then surely the people have spoken/democracy in action, blah, blah, blah. But he ain't getting back in. He's done. Dusted. Labour are going to form the next government and Johnson will be irrelevant.
I've asked the following question many times, but never get an answer. Who do PB Tories actually want to lead the party?
Not my business, of course, but (pace ydoethur) Gove would be good - not bad at combative politics but also a genuine old-fashioned politician keen to change things for the good of the country. Some of his changes have been very controversial, but at least he enriches public debate. What do Sunak, Hunt, Mordaunt, etc. actually stand for? When did they last say anything new?
I think Gove has been around too long, and there are too many hostages to fortune in choosing him. The problem with others like Alex Chalk, for example, is that he is too public school smooth, and is unlikely to hold his seat anyway. Tobias Ellwood has also annoyed too many with his rebellious antics, but there is a portion of the party establishment that would go for him.
The puff piece for Penny Mordaunt in the Times today suggests that if she holds her own seat, she is in with a good shout. However, that is a pretty big "if".
The big deal for the post defeat Tories will be "Character", hence the interesting positioning of Mordaunt and Ellwood.
The novelisation of Yes, Prime Minister ends with The National Education Service, and Hacker sadly realising that whatever wins he might achieve, nothing fundamental would change.
Gove's career has been about big, disruptive changes, whether at Education or Brexit. Both of those legacies are, at best, mixed, and his planning reforms have largely been blown up by Conservative Nimbies.
I do wonder if he's had his Jim Hacker moment.
This is very selectve in its overview of his career. Both at Justice and DEFRA he made significant and lasting change in both culture and practice which have had long reaching positive effects.
He is very much a details, evidence based person. Looking at what the real problems are in departments and listening to all sides rather than just the usual lobbyists.
Yet Justice is falling apart with cases taking years to get to court.
My father also had Views on his record at DEFRA.
Put it this way, you think I hate him? You should have heard what Dad had to say!
Well at least now we know where you got your irrational hatred from.
In case you've forgotten, he went to DEFRA and earned Dad's ire long after he'd screwed over education.
In case you have forgotten education was screwed over long before Gove ever came on the scene. A third world system run entirely for vested interest and ideology.
The irony of that post is while it was not necessarily true at the time Gove came into power, it was profoundly true of what he left. Especially in making it even more in hock to ideology - including some quite sinister ideologies - and vested interests which are not only not conducive to but positively opposed to the interests of children's education.
There were many problems in education in 2010. The exam system was not good. The curriculum was years out of date. Appointments to senior posts were profoundly corrupt. LEAs were a shambles.
What he left was an exam system that doesn't work at all, a curriculum that was based on naked nativism, a system of appointments to senior posts so corrupt that we actually have people who are entirely unqualified in senior positions and a series of expensive and mostly badly run academy chains taking the place of LEAs working as a gravy train for rather too many sponsoring organisations and their chums.
And I would gently suggest that rather than hector me about it, and attribute my understanding of just how bad things to an 'irrational hatred' of Gove, you remember that I am an expert in the field and you are not. Perhaps therefore the reason I disdain Gove is because I understand fully just how badly he messed up and you do not?
And yet the PISA ratings for the UK education system collapsed between 2000 and 2012 (from 7th to 24th in maths. Similar falls in Science and reading.) and only started to recover after the Tory reforms were introduced.
On the other hand, there is a time lag in those ratings, surely? Not familiar with the details.
(But I also wonder about lead in petrol.)
The time lag idea is just ydoethur clutching at straws. Yes there will be a timelag but the idea it is a decade or more is rubbish.
And besides even with a decade it still falls in Labour's lap.
The testing is done at age 15 so those taking it in 2009 and 2012 had spent almost their whole education under Labour. Those taking it in 2018 had had 8 of their 10 years education under coalition or Tory government.
The curriculum changes did not take effect until 2016-17.
Unless I was teaching the wrong curriculum all that time.
The curriculum they were learning until that time was developed under Labour.
And because they are tested at age 15, any changes will be measured about ten years after they take effect, because until that time you won't know what the changes in five years and upwards have been.
So you are simply wrong.
Frankly, you're not only wrong but making yourself look an idiot. Which I don't think you are as a successful engineer, but you clearly are ignorant and therefore spouting nonsense.
This is why you should listen to experts.
But I think you are too irrationally devoted to Gove to listen to reason.
An interesting piece, and yet - like all these articles - it completely ignores the facts on the ground. The stuff I saw on my recent American odyssey
If America is ‘leaving Europe behind’ how come American life expectancy is plunging every year, has now fallen way behind Europe, and in fact has fallen behind Panama?
The must fundamental fact of life is: how long you get to live. Europe wins
So... France > UK.
Sadly, as a patriotic Brit, I have to confess that - at the moment - France is definitely doing better than the UK
Although Macron's party is now third in the polls behind the far-left and the far-right, so they probably face a more turbulent political future than we do with only Keir Starmer on the horizon.
If enough idiots vote for him and he gets another MP gig, then surely the people have spoken/democracy in action, blah, blah, blah. But he ain't getting back in. He's done. Dusted. Labour are going to form the next government and Johnson will be irrelevant.
I've asked the following question many times, but never get an answer. Who do PB Tories actually want to lead the party?
Not my business, of course, but (pace ydoethur) Gove would be good - not bad at combative politics but also a genuine old-fashioned politician keen to change things for the good of the country. Some of his changes have been very controversial, but at least he enriches public debate. What do Sunak, Hunt, Mordaunt, etc. actually stand for? When did they last say anything new?
I think Gove has been around too long, and there are too many hostages to fortune in choosing him. The problem with others like Alex Chalk, for example, is that he is too public school smooth, and is unlikely to hold his seat anyway. Tobias Ellwood has also annoyed too many with his rebellious antics, but there is a portion of the party establishment that would go for him.
The puff piece for Penny Mordaunt in the Times today suggests that if she holds her own seat, she is in with a good shout. However, that is a pretty big "if".
The big deal for the post defeat Tories will be "Character", hence the interesting positioning of Mordaunt and Ellwood.
The novelisation of Yes, Prime Minister ends with The National Education Service, and Hacker sadly realising that whatever wins he might achieve, nothing fundamental would change.
Gove's career has been about big, disruptive changes, whether at Education or Brexit. Both of those legacies are, at best, mixed, and his planning reforms have largely been blown up by Conservative Nimbies.
I do wonder if he's had his Jim Hacker moment.
This is very selectve in its overview of his career. Both at Justice and DEFRA he made significant and lasting change in both culture and practice which have had long reaching positive effects.
He is very much a details, evidence based person. Looking at what the real problems are in departments and listening to all sides rather than just the usual lobbyists.
Yet Justice is falling apart with cases taking years to get to court.
My father also had Views on his record at DEFRA.
Put it this way, you think I hate him? You should have heard what Dad had to say!
Well at least now we know where you got your irrational hatred from.
In case you've forgotten, he went to DEFRA and earned Dad's ire long after he'd screwed over education.
In case you have forgotten education was screwed over long before Gove ever came on the scene. A third world system run entirely for vested interest and ideology.
The irony of that post is while it was not necessarily true at the time Gove came into power, it was profoundly true of what he left. Especially in making it even more in hock to ideology - including some quite sinister ideologies - and vested interests which are not only not conducive to but positively opposed to the interests of children's education.
There were many problems in education in 2010. The exam system was not good. The curriculum was years out of date. Appointments to senior posts were profoundly corrupt. LEAs were a shambles.
What he left was an exam system that doesn't work at all, a curriculum that was based on naked nativism, a system of appointments to senior posts so corrupt that we actually have people who are entirely unqualified in senior positions and a series of expensive and mostly badly run academy chains taking the place of LEAs working as a gravy train for rather too many sponsoring organisations and their chums.
And I would gently suggest that rather than hector me about it, and attribute my understanding of just how bad things to an 'irrational hatred' of Gove, you remember that I am an expert in the field and you are not. Perhaps therefore the reason I disdain Gove is because I understand fully just how badly he messed up and you do not?
And yet the PISA ratings for the UK education system collapsed between 2000 and 2012 (from 7th to 24th in maths. Similar falls in Science and reading.) and only started to recover after the Tory reforms were introduced.
On the other hand, there is a time lag in those ratings, surely? Not familiar with the details.
(But I also wonder about lead in petrol.)
The time lag idea is just ydoethur clutching at straws. Yes there will be a timelag but the idea it is a decade or more is rubbish.
And besides even with a decade it still falls in Labour's lap.
The testing is done at age 15 so those taking it in 2009 and 2012 had spent almost their whole education under Labour. Those taking it in 2018 had had 8 of their 10 years education under coalition or Tory government.
Interesting. On the other hand, (a) the teachers' curriculum development groups and 9b) local authorities, only some Tory/LD, are also involved.
And lead was banned in petrol in 1999 in the UK, so - allowing for intrauterine environment - you would expect to see a kick up in, in fact, 2016.
I'm getting a sense of Not Trump vs Not Biden for WH24. Can't say exactly how we get there but I think that somehow we will.
It could be Not Trump vs Not Biden even if Trump and Biden are the candidates.
Sorry I'm not getting that, William? How do you mean?
I mean the two voting blocs could be "Not Biden" and "Not Trump", rather than a positive endorsement of either of them.
How screwed up is American politics, when two massively divisive octogenarians (by the end of their terms) are somehow the favourites? Let’s hope the other candidates get a look-in on both sides.
In 1944 the choice was between a divisive, older (by contemporary standards) incumbent with obvious health issues (though seriousness was not common knowledge) who'd clearly aged in office, versus a young, energetic challenger with strong record as elected official and big state governor.
Voters chose age and cunning over youth and vigor - much to the satisfaction of say 96% of UKers, then & now.
Actually, sounds like a potential general election battle between Biden and DeSantis.
Just reading R. C. Stern's new history of the US Navy in the Atlantic and Europe in - and before - WW2, which is bringing up some interesting perspectives on FDR and his relations with the UK. But only some way in.
An interesting piece, and yet - like all these articles - it completely ignores the facts on the ground. The stuff I saw on my recent American odyssey
If America is ‘leaving Europe behind’ how come American life expectancy is plunging every year, has now fallen way behind Europe, and in fact has fallen behind Panama?
The must fundamental fact of life is: how long you get to live. Europe wins
So... France > UK.
Sadly, as a patriotic Brit, I have to confess that - at the moment - France is definitely doing better than the UK
I think your metric is at fault more than your desired judgement. There's so much more to life than how long it lasts. I'd rather 70 years in Scotland than 80 in London. YMMV.
And if I died tomorrow in my late 50s I’d rather have had my life of extreme wildness - wine, women and song, and 100 countries seen - than a contented suburban family life where I lived into my 80s
That is not to say the quieter life is inferior. Each to their own. I am contented with my more turbulent life path. With my psyche, I didn’t get much choice anyway
Reminds me what Hannah Arendt said about fascists, that they just use words as weapons and have no responsibility for them as they do not believe in truth.
The opposite of up is down The opposite of north is south The opposite of trans is [CENSORED]
An interesting piece, and yet - like all these articles - it completely ignores the facts on the ground. The stuff I saw on my recent American odyssey
If America is ‘leaving Europe behind’ how come American life expectancy is plunging every year, has now fallen way behind Europe, and in fact has fallen behind Panama?
The must fundamental fact of life is: how long you get to live. Europe wins
So... France > UK.
Sadly, as a patriotic Brit, I have to confess that - at the moment - France is definitely doing better than the UK
Except they may elect a far-right president in less than 4 years from now.
Reminds me what Hannah Arendt said about fascists, that they just use words as weapons and have no responsibility for them as they do not believe in truth.
I LOVE ELON
enol=leno=lone=noel=elon=leon!
Suddenly things make sense...
enol, leno, lone, noel. leon are all transelon. elon is ciselon.
Leon is trans? Well there's a turnup I wasn't expecting.
An interesting piece, and yet - like all these articles - it completely ignores the facts on the ground. The stuff I saw on my recent American odyssey
If America is ‘leaving Europe behind’ how come American life expectancy is plunging every year, has now fallen way behind Europe, and in fact has fallen behind Panama?
The must fundamental fact of life is: how long you get to live. Europe wins
So... France > UK.
Sadly, as a patriotic Brit, I have to confess that - at the moment - France is definitely doing better than the UK
Except they may elect a far-right president in less than 4 years from now.
An interesting piece, and yet - like all these articles - it completely ignores the facts on the ground. The stuff I saw on my recent American odyssey
If America is ‘leaving Europe behind’ how come American life expectancy is plunging every year, has now fallen way behind Europe, and in fact has fallen behind Panama?
The must fundamental fact of life is: how long you get to live. Europe wins
So... France > UK.
Sadly, as a patriotic Brit, I have to confess that - at the moment - France is definitely doing better than the UK
An interesting piece, and yet - like all these articles - it completely ignores the facts on the ground. The stuff I saw on my recent American odyssey
If America is ‘leaving Europe behind’ how come American life expectancy is plunging every year, has now fallen way behind Europe, and in fact has fallen behind Panama?
The must fundamental fact of life is: how long you get to live. Europe wins
So... France > UK.
Sadly, as a patriotic Brit, I have to confess that - at the moment - France is definitely doing better than the UK
We're becoming the sick man of Europe again.
We are
Also, the French are better than us - right now - at football AND rugby, which is, you know, galling
If enough idiots vote for him and he gets another MP gig, then surely the people have spoken/democracy in action, blah, blah, blah. But he ain't getting back in. He's done. Dusted. Labour are going to form the next government and Johnson will be irrelevant.
I've asked the following question many times, but never get an answer. Who do PB Tories actually want to lead the party?
Not my business, of course, but (pace ydoethur) Gove would be good - not bad at combative politics but also a genuine old-fashioned politician keen to change things for the good of the country. Some of his changes have been very controversial, but at least he enriches public debate. What do Sunak, Hunt, Mordaunt, etc. actually stand for? When did they last say anything new?
I think Gove has been around too long, and there are too many hostages to fortune in choosing him. The problem with others like Alex Chalk, for example, is that he is too public school smooth, and is unlikely to hold his seat anyway. Tobias Ellwood has also annoyed too many with his rebellious antics, but there is a portion of the party establishment that would go for him.
The puff piece for Penny Mordaunt in the Times today suggests that if she holds her own seat, she is in with a good shout. However, that is a pretty big "if".
The big deal for the post defeat Tories will be "Character", hence the interesting positioning of Mordaunt and Ellwood.
The novelisation of Yes, Prime Minister ends with The National Education Service, and Hacker sadly realising that whatever wins he might achieve, nothing fundamental would change.
Gove's career has been about big, disruptive changes, whether at Education or Brexit. Both of those legacies are, at best, mixed, and his planning reforms have largely been blown up by Conservative Nimbies.
I do wonder if he's had his Jim Hacker moment.
This is very selectve in its overview of his career. Both at Justice and DEFRA he made significant and lasting change in both culture and practice which have had long reaching positive effects.
He is very much a details, evidence based person. Looking at what the real problems are in departments and listening to all sides rather than just the usual lobbyists.
Yet Justice is falling apart with cases taking years to get to court.
My father also had Views on his record at DEFRA.
Put it this way, you think I hate him? You should have heard what Dad had to say!
Well at least now we know where you got your irrational hatred from.
In case you've forgotten, he went to DEFRA and earned Dad's ire long after he'd screwed over education.
In case you have forgotten education was screwed over long before Gove ever came on the scene. A third world system run entirely for vested interest and ideology.
The irony of that post is while it was not necessarily true at the time Gove came into power, it was profoundly true of what he left. Especially in making it even more in hock to ideology - including some quite sinister ideologies - and vested interests which are not only not conducive to but positively opposed to the interests of children's education.
There were many problems in education in 2010. The exam system was not good. The curriculum was years out of date. Appointments to senior posts were profoundly corrupt. LEAs were a shambles.
What he left was an exam system that doesn't work at all, a curriculum that was based on naked nativism, a system of appointments to senior posts so corrupt that we actually have people who are entirely unqualified in senior positions and a series of expensive and mostly badly run academy chains taking the place of LEAs working as a gravy train for rather too many sponsoring organisations and their chums.
And I would gently suggest that rather than hector me about it, and attribute my understanding of just how bad things to an 'irrational hatred' of Gove, you remember that I am an expert in the field and you are not. Perhaps therefore the reason I disdain Gove is because I understand fully just how badly he messed up and you do not?
And yet the PISA ratings for the UK education system collapsed between 2000 and 2012 (from 7th to 24th in maths. Similar falls in Science and reading.) and only started to recover after the Tory reforms were introduced.
On the other hand, there is a time lag in those ratings, surely? Not familiar with the details.
(But I also wonder about lead in petrol.)
The time lag idea is just ydoethur clutching at straws. Yes there will be a timelag but the idea it is a decade or more is rubbish.
And besides even with a decade it still falls in Labour's lap.
The testing is done at age 15 so those taking it in 2009 and 2012 had spent almost their whole education under Labour. Those taking it in 2018 had had 8 of their 10 years education under coalition or Tory government.
Interesting. On the other hand, (a) the teachers' curriculum development groups and 9b) local authorities, only some Tory/LD, are also involved.
And lead was banned in petrol in 1999 in the UK, so - allowing for intrauterine environment - you would expect to see a kick up in, in fact, 2016.
The reality is that... It's complicated.
However, the UK’s average scores in reading and science did not improve significantly, and the improvement in the country’s position has been attributed in part to a drop in performance from other countries. Average scores across the OECD also fell in 2018 compared to 2015.
Mark my words, within 5 years no one will admit to voting for Brexit.
Covid inquiry: pandemic planning ‘paused’ for no-deal Brexit work
Whitehall “paused” its work planning for a potential pandemic to deal with the threat of a no-deal Brexit, the Covid inquiry has been told.
Giving evidence to the inquiry today Oliver Dowden, the deputy prime minister, was presented with evidence showing that ministers were warned in 2019 that the “significant majority” of flu pandemic preparedness work needed to be “paused” to deal with the consequences of leaving the European Union.
American wealth is very, very private. It's not obvious from the way the country as a whole looks, feels and functions. But it is undoubtedly the best place on earth in which to be rich.
Well it is amazing how many zillionaires live in the South of France and Monaco just now. They are buying up the place like the Russians were before them. Paul Allen's estate is for sale for anyone interested
An interesting piece, and yet - like all these articles - it completely ignores the facts on the ground. The stuff I saw on my recent American odyssey
If America is ‘leaving Europe behind’ how come American life expectancy is plunging every year, has now fallen way behind Europe, and in fact has fallen behind Panama?
The must fundamental fact of life is: how long you get to live. Europe wins
So... France > UK.
Sadly, as a patriotic Brit, I have to confess that - at the moment - France is definitely doing better than the UK
We're becoming the sick man of Europe again.
The decline seems to have been from around 2016 onwards. What on earth could have happened to precipitate such a catastrophe? Perhaps an asteroid struck us?
If enough idiots vote for him and he gets another MP gig, then surely the people have spoken/democracy in action, blah, blah, blah. But he ain't getting back in. He's done. Dusted. Labour are going to form the next government and Johnson will be irrelevant.
I've asked the following question many times, but never get an answer. Who do PB Tories actually want to lead the party?
Not my business, of course, but (pace ydoethur) Gove would be good - not bad at combative politics but also a genuine old-fashioned politician keen to change things for the good of the country. Some of his changes have been very controversial, but at least he enriches public debate. What do Sunak, Hunt, Mordaunt, etc. actually stand for? When did they last say anything new?
I think Gove has been around too long, and there are too many hostages to fortune in choosing him. The problem with others like Alex Chalk, for example, is that he is too public school smooth, and is unlikely to hold his seat anyway. Tobias Ellwood has also annoyed too many with his rebellious antics, but there is a portion of the party establishment that would go for him.
The puff piece for Penny Mordaunt in the Times today suggests that if she holds her own seat, she is in with a good shout. However, that is a pretty big "if".
The big deal for the post defeat Tories will be "Character", hence the interesting positioning of Mordaunt and Ellwood.
The novelisation of Yes, Prime Minister ends with The National Education Service, and Hacker sadly realising that whatever wins he might achieve, nothing fundamental would change.
Gove's career has been about big, disruptive changes, whether at Education or Brexit. Both of those legacies are, at best, mixed, and his planning reforms have largely been blown up by Conservative Nimbies.
I do wonder if he's had his Jim Hacker moment.
This is very selectve in its overview of his career. Both at Justice and DEFRA he made significant and lasting change in both culture and practice which have had long reaching positive effects.
He is very much a details, evidence based person. Looking at what the real problems are in departments and listening to all sides rather than just the usual lobbyists.
Yet Justice is falling apart with cases taking years to get to court.
My father also had Views on his record at DEFRA.
Put it this way, you think I hate him? You should have heard what Dad had to say!
Well at least now we know where you got your irrational hatred from.
In case you've forgotten, he went to DEFRA and earned Dad's ire long after he'd screwed over education.
In case you have forgotten education was screwed over long before Gove ever came on the scene. A third world system run entirely for vested interest and ideology.
The irony of that post is while it was not necessarily true at the time Gove came into power, it was profoundly true of what he left. Especially in making it even more in hock to ideology - including some quite sinister ideologies - and vested interests which are not only not conducive to but positively opposed to the interests of children's education.
There were many problems in education in 2010. The exam system was not good. The curriculum was years out of date. Appointments to senior posts were profoundly corrupt. LEAs were a shambles.
What he left was an exam system that doesn't work at all, a curriculum that was based on naked nativism, a system of appointments to senior posts so corrupt that we actually have people who are entirely unqualified in senior positions and a series of expensive and mostly badly run academy chains taking the place of LEAs working as a gravy train for rather too many sponsoring organisations and their chums.
And I would gently suggest that rather than hector me about it, and attribute my understanding of just how bad things to an 'irrational hatred' of Gove, you remember that I am an expert in the field and you are not. Perhaps therefore the reason I disdain Gove is because I understand fully just how badly he messed up and you do not?
And yet the PISA ratings for the UK education system collapsed between 2000 and 2012 (from 7th to 24th in maths. Similar falls in Science and reading.) and only started to recover after the Tory reforms were introduced.
On the other hand, there is a time lag in those ratings, surely? Not familiar with the details.
(But I also wonder about lead in petrol.)
The time lag idea is just ydoethur clutching at straws. Yes there will be a timelag but the idea it is a decade or more is rubbish.
And besides even with a decade it still falls in Labour's lap.
The testing is done at age 15 so those taking it in 2009 and 2012 had spent almost their whole education under Labour. Those taking it in 2018 had had 8 of their 10 years education under coalition or Tory government.
Interesting. On the other hand, (a) the teachers' curriculum development groups and 9b) local authorities, only some Tory/LD, are also involved.
And lead was banned in petrol in 1999 in the UK, so - allowing for intrauterine environment - you would expect to see a kick up in, in fact, 2016.
The reality is that... It's complicated.
However, the UK’s average scores in reading and science did not improve significantly, and the improvement in the country’s position has been attributed in part to a drop in performance from other countries. Average scores across the OECD also fell in 2018 compared to 2015.
One of the other problems in assessing the impact of the Gove reforms (either way) is that until about 2031 the impact of Covid will still be significant, across a great many countries.
And by the time that has worked out, the chaos engulfing our education system will probably swamp any good news anyway.
Comments
The Department of Justice announced the deal with the son of President Joe Biden in a letter to the clerk of the federal court in Delaware.
Hunter Biden, son of President Joe Biden, agreed Tuesday to plead guilty to two counts of failing to file and pay federal income taxes on time in 2017 and 2018.
The 53-year-old also faces a separate information in Delaware for buying a handgun illegally in 2018. As he would later admit in his 2021 book “Beautiful Things,” Biden was abusing crack cocaine during this time period but he maintained he wasn’t using drugs at the time of purchase of the gun. The memoir admission put him under investigation for violating a federal law that mandates gun buyers attest they aren’t drug users or addicted to illegal drugs at time of purchase.
On this count, Biden will enter a pretrial diversion agreement. The agreement permits the Justice Department to charge Biden with purchasing the gun but not prosecute him for it.
Biden has agreed to live drug-free for two years and never own a firearm again as a term of the deal. If found in violation of this probation agreement, he could be prosecuted on the firearm charge.
The son of the president has worked as a lobbyist, lawyer and investment banker. He first disclosed in December 2020 that U.S. Attorney David Weiss, a Trump appointee, was investigating him for tax misdemeanors.
President Biden did not opt to remove Weiss from his post after his election to avoid the appearance he was interfering in his son’s then-ongoing investigation.
Hunter Biden is expected to be arraigned in Delaware and plead guilty to the tax misdemeanors in the coming days. A memorandum detailing the terms of his plea deal “will be submitted at or in advance of the hearing,” according to a letter from the Justice Department submitted Tuesday. The plea deal must be approved by a federal judge. . . .
The White House released its own statement on the matter: “The President and First Lady love their son and support him as he continues to rebuild his life. We will have no further comment.”
Trump, who is considered President Biden's top opponent in his 2024 reelection bid, sounded off on the plea deal.
“Wow! The corrupt Biden DOJ just cleared up hundreds of years of criminal liability by giving Hunter Biden a mere ‘traffic ticket,’” the former president wrote on his social media platform Truth Social. “Our system is BROKEN!” . . .
https://www.courthousenews.com/hunter-biden-to-plead-guilty-on-federal-tax-charges/
Linking Tory chaos with unaffordable mortgages works better for Starmer than either of the two on its own.
Windows 11 decided to remove the words “cut”, “copy”, and “paste” from the right-click context menu in the file manager. Yes, really. Do you want to know what %age of my relatively IT-literate users got totally blown away by that one?
The icons for cut, copy, paste, export, and delete, are those along the top. Oh, and this was an automatic upgrade, that for many just happened one night.
What you are seeing there is the effect of the Labour reforms guided by David Bell that you clearly so despised…
The surface pro is great. Much more intuitive. Up to now
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnRQF_ni-Vw
https://twitter.com/Meat__Hook/status/1671424090702331906?s=20
You can't say we haven't been warned but, Leodamus aside, we've studiously ignored all the UFOs they've sent us.
Historic London is absolutely sublime on warm summer evenings like that. I am sure I could sense Coleridge reciting his latest opiated verse to Byron and Shelley...
This is because the UK government does not do things for British working people. It does things to them.
As a general rule
1) Do not be rude/abusive to Mike/Robert. They spend a lot of time and money to allow PBers to post immediately, do not misuse. It is ok to disagree.
2) Do not post things that might get Mike into legal difficulties
3) Don't use that c-word, try and avoid lots of swear words in general.
4) Do not copy and paste large portions of paywalled articles.
5) Don't act like a stalker to other posters.
6) Do not remind Robert that at Guantanamo Bay the Americans played Radiohead albums on a loop to torture the prisoners.
7) Don't deliberately post incorrect polling/betting info
There are other rules, but I cannot remember them at the moment.
https://vf.politicalbetting.com/discussion/comment/1895932#Comment_1895932
A couple of others have been noted at various times:
No doxxing
No c bombs
No breach of sub judice.
V good comment. Sorry to make you explain it.
My old school in Hollywood, Worcs. was an excellent comprehensive back in my day- mid 1970s. In my year we produced Fiona Clouder, the former UK High Commissioner to Peru and Nick Rhodes of Duran Duran , not to mention those who went on to be CEOs, CFOs and a Vice President of HR for Reckitt Benckeiser. By the mid 2010s it was a failing academy. They now have an School Improvement Consultant on the Academy Board of Directors. Pass me the sick bag.
https://www.reddit.com/r/lgbt/comments/14f1uji/well_its_official_now_cis_is_a_slur_atleast_on/
Reminds me what Hannah Arendt said about fascists, that they just use words as weapons and have no responsibility for them as they do not believe in truth.
Great film, interesting allusion, and death for overly high flying Eagles!
Wouldn’t personally choose the Woodman, however. No oysters
America is leaving Europe behind.
https://www.ft.com/content/80ace07f-3acb-40cb-9960-8bb4a44fd8d9
Give me a bright optimistic young person/snowflake any day over you Malcolm, you boring grumpy prejudiced angry little intellectually challenged dullard.
But like America, there are places and moments in the UK when it can still feel like THE nicest spot on the planet
"Sure he was flawed, very, but there were positives too. He delivered Brexit. He oversaw our world-leading vaccine programme. He backed Ukraine to the hilt whilst others prevaricated."
Comments such as these should lead to a period in the fridge.
Esp. for one as naturally foul-mouthed as yours truly! Though in USA we've been avoiding-eschewing the c-word for a while now.
PS I like Radiohead.
If America is ‘leaving Europe behind’ how come American life expectancy is plunging every year, has now fallen way behind Europe, and in fact has fallen behind Panama?
The must fundamental fact of life is: how long you get to live. Europe wins
(It'd have to not play music, not have any TV screens, and just serve British beer)
Unless there's some kind of legalistic impediment, though maybe the last part of PB pronunciamento might be that list is not all-inclusive AND is subject to change by fiat of OGH and his henchpeople?
There is some really eccentric modern architecture down there as well. Modernist black glass houses. For once they are not intrusive. They are peculiar, tho
Suddenly things make sense...
Europe beats America on almost every metric of history, beauty, culture, etc. It also beats America on access to Europe
America wins on wild big landscapes and emptiness, and, maybe, lower taxes
If you’re a trillionaire is it better to live in a massive apartment in Manhattan, Monaco or Mayfair? I don’t think the answer is clear cut. All have pros and cons
If you want to live in your own fifty square mile ranch then America wins - but that’s rare
If you want total privacy then a private island in the Caribbean is probably your best bet
So much for free speech. 🤦♂️
Also as stupid as a term Cisgender is it should not be banned.
And besides even with a decade it still falls in Labour's lap.
Maths rankings:
2000 - 7th
2003 - 17th
2006 - 23rd
2009 - 26th
2012 - 24th
2015 - 27th
2018 - 17th
The testing is done at age 15 so those taking it in 2009 and 2012 had spent almost their whole education under Labour. Those taking it in 2018 had had 8 of their 10 years education under coalition or Tory government.
https://www.visitsouthdevon.co.uk/places/beer-p1270043
[pans out as Elon reviews the scene as a fleet of Starships lifts off...]
Voters chose age and cunning over youth and vigor - much to the satisfaction of say 96% of UKers, then & now.
Actually, sounds like a potential general election battle between Biden and DeSantis.
Unless I was teaching the wrong curriculum all that time.
The curriculum they were learning until that time was developed under Labour.
And because they are tested at age 15, any changes will be measured about ten years after they take effect, because until that time you won't know what the changes in five years and upwards have been.
So you are simply wrong.
Frankly, you're not only wrong but making yourself look an idiot. Which I don't think you are as a successful engineer, but you clearly are ignorant and therefore spouting nonsense.
This is why you should listen to experts.
But I think you are too irrationally devoted to Gove to listen to reason.
And lead was banned in petrol in 1999 in the UK, so - allowing for intrauterine environment - you would expect to see a kick up in, in fact, 2016.
That is not to say the quieter life is inferior. Each to their own. I am contented with my more turbulent life path. With my psyche, I didn’t get much choice anyway
Well there's a turnup I wasn't expecting.
Also, the French are better than us - right now - at football AND rugby, which is, you know, galling
However, the UK’s average scores in reading and science did not improve significantly, and the improvement in the country’s position has been attributed in part to a drop in performance from other countries. Average scores across the OECD also fell in 2018 compared to 2015.
https://schoolsweek.co.uk/pisa-2018-maths-up-no-improvement-in-reading-or-science/
Mark my words, within 5 years no one will admit to voting for Brexit.
Covid inquiry: pandemic planning ‘paused’ for no-deal Brexit work
Whitehall “paused” its work planning for a potential pandemic to deal with the threat of a no-deal Brexit, the Covid inquiry has been told.
Giving evidence to the inquiry today Oliver Dowden, the deputy prime minister, was presented with evidence showing that ministers were warned in 2019 that the “significant majority” of flu pandemic preparedness work needed to be “paused” to deal with the consequences of leaving the European Union.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/uk-covid-inquiry-lockdown-pandemic-effects-2023-ntllrcthb
https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=paul+allens+house+cp+ferrat#imgrc=CGz4x94LHcQyZM
And by the time that has worked out, the chaos engulfing our education system will probably swamp any good news anyway.