Cost of Euston HS2 terminus could race past £4.8bn estimate, MPs say Overspend blamed on government indecision https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/jul/07/cost-of-euston-hs2-terminus-could-race-past-4-point-8bn-estimate-mps-say ...In a highly critical report, MPs on the committee said the Department for Transport (DfT) was yet to “establish the design and expectations for the station” against what it was “willing to spend”, despite spending more than eight years planning and designing the London terminus...
Utter incompetence. How do they expect to achieve anything?
Yes, there was a triple lock on the post Brexit deal- it had to have majority support in the Commons, the Conservative Party and the EU. And with the 2017 parliament, that turned out to be a Venn diagram with no intersection.
The Brexit Brexiteers expected, the Brexit voters voted for and the Brexit we got is still a Venn diagram with no intersection.
Only when we abandon Brexit can the Nation come together.
In a poll posted by yourself yesterday
For joining was 29%
Against was 24%
But the clear winner with 31% was most likely to vote for a party that prioritises other issues first
You dream is not going to happen even on your own poll
Standard MOE makes 29 indistinguishable from 31, doesn't it?
And more generally, you're making the same mistake as our friend from Essex, assuming that something that's true at one moment is true always.
Either Brexit makes people's lives better, or it does. Not tomorrow, not in the next parliament.
But bad policies get reversed.
How, realistically, will people judge if Brexit has made their lives better or not?
There are a range of factors influencing long term prosperity, of which membership or otherwise of the European Union is just one. In ten years time, if the economy isn't going well (say) some people might say "bloody Brexit" but a lot of people will probably say "bloody Starmer" or "bloody net zero" or whatever their thing is.
Ultimately, you need to judge against a counterfactual (staying in) that didn't happen, and that's incredibly difficult to do with any degree of precision.
Broadly agree in terms of the economy but three clear negatives of Brexit for me that need no counterfactual.
1. Increased division in society 2. Boris Johnson (and more broadly the end of conservatives in the Conservative party) 3. Passport queues
1) He never read his mail/e-mail from the bank. He had cash in it, so no real need to or so he thought. 2) The bank informed him it was going to close his account due to lack of funds by mail/e-mail. He obviously never read this. 3) When they closed his account the person he spoke to wasn't able to give him further info because general customer service didn't know or was unable within the bank's framework of who can say what wasn't able to tell him the reason his account was being closed. 4) Since he got immediately on the media about it every bank knew he had a bank account closed by another bank for whatever reasons. 5) Because he'd now had a bank account closed without his permission every bank now raised a red flag on him opening an account with them. 6) So his attempts to open accounts with others were stymied because of 5). 7) Even though the story (At least that which everyone understands and is in the public domain) has been solved, I'd bet many banks are keeping the red flag up on him because they're paranoid the truth might have been an AML issue Natwest/Coutts flagged up which they might want to keep confidential.
Or in fact 8) It's a conspiracy by the Internationalist Financial Elite (them again, you know... *them*).
1) He never read his mail/e-mail from the bank. He had cash in it, so no real need to or so he thought. 2) The bank informed him it was going to close his account due to lack of funds by mail/e-mail. He obviously never read this. 3) When they closed his account the person he spoke to wasn't able to give him further info because general customer service didn't know or was unable within the bank's framework of who can say what wasn't able to tell him the reason his account was being closed. 4) Since he got immediately on the media about it every bank knew he had a bank account closed by another bank for whatever reasons. 5) Because he'd now had a bank account closed without his permission every bank now raised a red flag on him opening an account with them. 6) So his attempts to open accounts with others were stymied because of 5). 7) Even though the story (At least that which everyone understands and is in the public domain) has been solved, I'd bet many banks are keeping the red flag up on him because they're paranoid the truth might have been an AML issue Natwest/Coutts flagged up which they might want to keep confidential.
1) is very likely because the emails never say anything beyond "log on and read your secure messages" and as you say who can be arsed? I discovered a series of threatening letters going back years the other day, all saying We are going to sell some of your holdings because there isn't the cash in the account to pay our fees. Then they all got neutralised because a dividend payment came in before the deadline, with me knowing nothing about it. Moral: read stuff from your bank.
Cost of Euston HS2 terminus could race past £4.8bn estimate, MPs say Overspend blamed on government indecision https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/jul/07/cost-of-euston-hs2-terminus-could-race-past-4-point-8bn-estimate-mps-say ...In a highly critical report, MPs on the committee said the Department for Transport (DfT) was yet to “establish the design and expectations for the station” against what it was “willing to spend”, despite spending more than eight years planning and designing the London terminus...
Utter incompetence. How do they expect to achieve anything?
They spent something like 15 years on a train timetable, and it still caused a few months chaos when it came out!
Have to say that SKS was presumably grateful for the interruption of his speech by protesters yesterday as it broke the tedium and made it vaguely newsworthy. He didn’t have that advantage on R4 in the morning and boy that was grim. Platitudes and generalities piled high with not a detail in sight. He’s going to be poor in the election campaign, possibly even worse than Sunak if you can imagine such a thing.
Though when he broke from the script to engage with the protestors he came over well. That bodes well for the unpredictability of a campaign.
I am no Starmer fan, and he is still rather an enigma to me. What does he actually want to do as PM? He seems to be both over-prepared and over timid.
On the other hand, he is wise not to interrupt a government bent on self destruction.
What does Sir K want to do? I think something like this: 1) Win the election from the social democrat centre left 2) Under promise both before and after the election 3) Blame the Tories (not hard) 4) See what can be done about the EU in a Swiss sort of way 5) Try to be a government with some integrity, honesty and competence, no quick fixes 6) See if a 10-15 year programme can engender a bit of hope and a sense of direction 7) Use the current mood to further regulate water, banks, rail etc 8) Stop some rich people's loopholes and rebalance the tax system.
He can't spend any money much because there isn't any. The above 8 items is enough when all your money is going on debt interest, pensions and NHS.
(5) seems wildly aspirational to me. When did we last have a government like that?
I think May tried to be a government with some integrity, honesty and competence, no quick fixes. At least as far as that's possible.
She failed fairly dismally- partly by not really being up to the job, partly because of the people in the tent pissing in, partly because the country rather likes quick fixes
The big question for Starmer is whether the UK is ready to accept that quick fixes aren't on the menu. I hope we are, but I'm not sure.
Looking back, May's position was impossible from the beginning, and then her own 2017 election campaign made it worse.
As a remainer PM after Brexit it was politically impossible to do a sane Brexit (a Swiss or Norway approach) because her own party would not let her, and Labour was too self interested to help. So she had to try to find a middle way, pleasing no-one. It is notable that the faction that made life impossible for her has nothing worthwhile to offer now.
May would be OK in OK times; Brexit made it impossible.
May had a majority in spring 2017, but what she wanted was a big enough majority in h
Have to say that SKS was presumably grateful for the interruption of his speech by protesters yesterday as it broke the tedium and made it vaguely newsworthy. He didn’t have that advantage on R4 in the morning and boy that was grim. Platitudes and generalities piled high with not a detail in sight. He’s going to be poor in the election campaign, possibly even worse than Sunak if you can imagine such a thing.
Though when he broke from the script to engage with the protestors he came over well. That bodes well for the unpredictability of a campaign.
I am no Starmer fan, and he is still rather an enigma to me. What does he actually want to do as PM? He seems to be both over-prepared and over timid.
On the other hand, he is wise not to interrupt a government bent on self destruction.
Starmer can think on his feet better than Sunak, which isn't surprising given his CV and how poor Sunak is at thinking on his feet. But unlike Blair in 1997 and for that matter even Trump in 2016 he's got practically no element of a new dawn in his offering, and practically no charisma. He doesn't even measure up to Kinnock.
All the Tories need to do is introduce a bit of new and tough in conflict into their presentation. That may well mean binning Sunak, and there may be a bit of a trouble there with him hanging onto the doorframe because he's rich - so get yer popcorn ready - but they seem to have managed OK in removing the last three prime ministers when they wanted to. And it doesn't even necessarily mean getting rid of Sunak. He is young, he is not bright but he's better than his three predecessors at listening to advice, and he can be repackaged. The Tories' biggest card is Rwanda, and they will play it when they think the time is right, which isn't yet. Labour haven't really got a card to play in response, other than to say be nice and hey this is a distraction, oh please please, listen to us. Too many pundits keep comparing with 1992 and 1997, but 2024 will probably be more like 2019.
I really don't think "Rwanda" is going to pull the Tories nuts out of the fire. All it does is remind voters of another failed soundbite policy of the government that didn't work.
If there isn’t an actual daily flight to Rwanda, full of boat arrivals, by the time of the election, then the policy is going to be seen as a failure by the electorate.
Nailed on then, as the policy is limited to 120. Not even half a plane full.
There is nothing preventing that 120 being lifted.
Its far from unprecedented when starting a new system to trial with a small number, then once the kinks are out to lift that number or even remove the cap altogether.
All you have to do is massively increase the capacity of the Rwandan legal system to process a planeful of asylum cases a day. Because the UK is going to process those cases properly, isn't it?
Oh, and you have to do it as a temporary surge. You will need all those assylum lawyers for a few weeks, but then the flow of boat people is going to fall to a trickle and they won't be needed any more.
The whole thing is a blag, and as Sandpit has pointed out, a number of right wing voters are going to be awfully unhappy when the blaginess of the scheme becomes clear.
Saying it's a policy drawn in crayon is an insult to toddlers who draw in crayon. They usually manage to get the number of arms and legs right. Sometimes the nose is even in roughly the right place.
Why would you need Rwanda to process them in a day? The UK doesn't process them in a day.
All you need is Rwanda to agree to house them and process them eventually, which is what the UK does already. No need for them to be processed within 24 hours of arrival.
That's a completely different matter. And as you say, then the flow will fall to a trickle and the planes won't be needed anymore.
Think of the asylum system as a pipeline. At the moment, people are entering that pipe at the rate of about 100 a day. Unless the flow through the narrowest part of the pipeline is about 100 a day, a backlog will build up and keep building. It's one of the reasons that the UK asylum system is in a mess and frantically looking for places to dump people; were not managing to get as many decisions made every day as we need to.
Now, in theory, we could just fly people to Rwanda, a jetload a day or a week, and try to forget about them. If it takes ages for their claims to be processed, and they spill out from those lovely flats the Home Secretary went to visit, it's not our problem.
But that's not the story we are telling ourselves- is it?
1) He never read his mail/e-mail from the bank. He had cash in it, so no real need to or so he thought. 2) The bank informed him it was going to close his account due to lack of funds by mail/e-mail. He obviously never read this. 3) When they closed his account the person he spoke to wasn't able to give him further info because general customer service didn't know or was unable within the bank's framework of who can say what wasn't able to tell him the reason his account was being closed. 4) Since he got immediately on the media about it every bank knew he had a bank account closed by another bank for whatever reasons. 5) Because he'd now had a bank account closed without his permission every bank now raised a red flag on him opening an account with them. 6) So his attempts to open accounts with others were stymied because of 5). 7) Even though the story (At least that which everyone understands and is in the public domain) has been solved, I'd bet many banks are keeping the red flag up on him because they're paranoid the truth might have been an AML issue Natwest/Coutts flagged up which they might want to keep confidential.
1) is very likely because the emails never say anything beyond "log on and read your secure messages" and as you say who can be arsed? I discovered a series of threatening letters going back years the other day, all saying We are going to sell some of your holdings because there isn't the cash in the account to pay our fees. Then they all got neutralised because a dividend payment came in before the deadline, with me knowing nothing about it. Moral: read stuff from your bank.
Perfectly normal and sensible for fees to be paid by selling stock, its not threatening, just advisory. (Hopefully not generating further new fees for selling small amounts of stock although that will depend who you are with and what you own).
I've noticed that tweets are back again without having signed on to twitter (or even being a member in my case). Presumably the protests reached even Musk, particularly with the advent of a potential competitor in nuclear war and the end of the world as we know it or Threads for short.
I think direct links work but you cannot just browse?
I'm sure it's been talked about before, but surely one unalloyed good of the Threads thing is the awareness being raised of the BBC TV film, Threads.
Still the most terrifying film I've ever seen. Genuinely brilliant.
He'd be a fool not to delay it as much as possible, which is probably a lot, especially with his BFF judge Cannon presiding.
Zero chance it happens before election, and if he wins, it will somehow get pulled.
If he wins its DOJ policy you don't charge sitting presidents apparently.
But yes, the law is a slow beast, and in this case too slow. Its still not even decided if he will be charged in Georgia.
I think the NY case, which is weaker, is due for early next year, so itcl seems pretty easy for lawyers to get all of them pushed back 10 months or so.
1) He never read his mail/e-mail from the bank. He had cash in it, so no real need to or so he thought. 2) The bank informed him it was going to close his account due to lack of funds by mail/e-mail. He obviously never read this. 3) When they closed his account the person he spoke to wasn't able to give him further info because general customer service didn't know or was unable within the bank's framework of who can say what wasn't able to tell him the reason his account was being closed. 4) Since he got immediately on the media about it every bank knew he had a bank account closed by another bank for whatever reasons. 5) Because he'd now had a bank account closed without his permission every bank now raised a red flag on him opening an account with them. 6) So his attempts to open accounts with others were stymied because of 5). 7) Even though the story (At least that which everyone understands and is in the public domain) has been solved, I'd bet many banks are keeping the red flag up on him because they're paranoid the truth might have been an AML issue Natwest/Coutts flagged up which they might want to keep confidential.
1) is very likely because the emails never say anything beyond "log on and read your secure messages" and as you say who can be arsed? I discovered a series of threatening letters going back years the other day, all saying We are going to sell some of your holdings because there isn't the cash in the account to pay our fees. Then they all got neutralised because a dividend payment came in before the deadline, with me knowing nothing about it. Moral: read stuff from your bank.
Perfectly normal and sensible for fees to be paid by selling stock, its not threatening, just advisory. (Hopefully not generating further new fees for selling small amounts of stock although that will depend who you are with and what you own).
Yes, absolutely, but if I had read them I would have injected cash rather than have the fiddle of micro-sales and micro-CGT calculations and so on.
@patrickkmaguire Labour lead at 25 points in latest YouGov poll for The Times
CON 22 (-2) LAB 47 (+1) LIB DEM 9 (-1) REF UK 9 (+1) GREEN 7 (=)
Fieldwork 5-6 July
Getting a bit Trussy.
With bad news to come, including by-election thrashings, the political narrative may become a death spiral.
What's the point in voting tory? Even if you're the type or malevolent or dim-witted bastard who like stupid tory shit you're aren't going to get it from this mob as they are simply too dysfunctional and self-obsessed to deliver it.
"Professor Lesley Sawers, the 64-year-old Equalities and Human Rights Commissioner for Scotland, has been with RBS for 32 years but two weeks ago, she and her husband Allan McKechnie were told it would be shut next month."
I've recently got in touch with solicitors on a potential litigation matter. One of their subbed out AML checks flagged a couple of hits up on my name. My partner works in compliance so was far less worried about the issue compared to myself pointing out they were partial matches and likely to be different people. Nevertheless I checked with the AML service and they didn't have me on their system. So all was well for me on this front, despite no doubt racking up a slightly larger bill. But what if they did, and they hadn't acquiesced to my mail asking to be removed from their system; or the solicitors (Whose AML regs are no doubt quite similar to banks) had decided the partial matches rendered me unable to be dealt with. What then - pursuing a bank or solicitors through the courts would be extremely difficult because perhaps all banks/solicitors might use similar checking services - and if you're on one in error you might be on others in error. Someone could have stolen your ID somewhere along the line and even though you've been convicted of no crime being on one of these systems could literally ruin your life - such is the necessity of credit in life these days. And if these systems perhaps scan to controversial social media posts for the future - now being embarrassed as a cricketer or being deselected as a candidate for an MP's office is one thing but being potentially blacklisted by anyone who needs a AML or compliance check is quite another for an off comment from 5 years ago on twitter. The courts are far too full to deal with this shite, and it'll be difficult if solicitors and so forth won't act for you anyway. But the entire apparatus of AML and discrimination legislation seems far too weighted in favour of protecting institutions and controversial or unlucky individuals be damned.
Sounds more like a Financial Services Ombudsman matter than litigation.
Cost of Euston HS2 terminus could race past £4.8bn estimate, MPs say Overspend blamed on government indecision https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/jul/07/cost-of-euston-hs2-terminus-could-race-past-4-point-8bn-estimate-mps-say ...In a highly critical report, MPs on the committee said the Department for Transport (DfT) was yet to “establish the design and expectations for the station” against what it was “willing to spend”, despite spending more than eight years planning and designing the London terminus...
How many of the DfT civil servants involved, will end up working or consulting for the contractor?
Have to say that SKS was presumably grateful for the interruption of his speech by protesters yesterday as it broke the tedium and made it vaguely newsworthy. He didn’t have that advantage on R4 in the morning and boy that was grim. Platitudes and generalities piled high with not a detail in sight. He’s going to be poor in the election campaign, possibly even worse than Sunak if you can imagine such a thing.
Though when he broke from the script to engage with the protestors he came over well. That bodes well for the unpredictability of a campaign.
I am no Starmer fan, and he is still rather an enigma to me. What does he actually want to do as PM? He seems to be both over-prepared and over timid.
On the other hand, he is wise not to interrupt a government bent on self destruction.
What does Sir K want to do? I think something like this: 1) Win the election from the social democrat centre left 2) Under promise both before and after the election 3) Blame the Tories (not hard) 4) See what can be done about the EU in a Swiss sort of way 5) Try to be a government with some integrity, honesty and competence, no quick fixes 6) See if a 10-15 year programme can engender a bit of hope and a sense of direction 7) Use the current mood to further regulate water, banks, rail etc 8) Stop some rich people's loopholes and rebalance the tax system.
He can't spend any money much because there isn't any. The above 8 items is enough when all your money is going on debt interest, pensions and NHS.
(5) seems wildly aspirational to me. When did we last have a government like that?
I think May tried to be a government with some integrity, honesty and competence, no quick fixes. At least as far as that's possible.
She failed fairly dismally- partly by not really being up to the job, partly because of the people in the tent pissing in, partly because the country rather likes quick fixes
The big question for Starmer is whether the UK is ready to accept that quick fixes aren't on the menu. I hope we are, but I'm not sure.
Looking back, May's position was impossible from the beginning, and then her own 2017 election campaign made it worse.
As a remainer PM after Brexit it was politically impossible to do a sane Brexit (a Swiss or Norway approach) because her own party would not let her, and Labour was too self interested to help. So she had to try to find a middle way, pleasing no-one. It is notable that the faction that made life impossible for her has nothing worthwhile to offer now.
May would be OK in OK times; Brexit made it impossible.
May had a majority in spring 2017, but what she wanted was a big enough majority in h
Have to say that SKS was presumably grateful for the interruption of his speech by protesters yesterday as it broke the tedium and made it vaguely newsworthy. He didn’t have that advantage on R4 in the morning and boy that was grim. Platitudes and generalities piled high with not a detail in sight. He’s going to be poor in the election campaign, possibly even worse than Sunak if you can imagine such a thing.
Though when he broke from the script to engage with the protestors he came over well. That bodes well for the unpredictability of a campaign.
I am no Starmer fan, and he is still rather an enigma to me. What does he actually want to do as PM? He seems to be both over-prepared and over timid.
On the other hand, he is wise not to interrupt a government bent on self destruction.
Starmer can think on his feet better than Sunak, which isn't surprising given his CV and how poor Sunak is at thinking on his feet. But unlike Blair in 1997 and for that matter even Trump in 2016 he's got practically no element of a new dawn in his offering, and practically no charisma. He doesn't even measure up to Kinnock.
All the Tories need to do is introduce a bit of new and tough in conflict into their presentation. That may well mean binning Sunak, and there may be a bit of a trouble there with him hanging onto the doorframe because he's rich - so get yer popcorn ready - but they seem to have managed OK in removing the last three prime ministers when they wanted to. And it doesn't even necessarily mean getting rid of Sunak. He is young, he is not bright but he's better than his three predecessors at listening to advice, and he can be repackaged. The Tories' biggest card is Rwanda, and they will play it when they think the time is right, which isn't yet. Labour haven't really got a card to play in response, other than to say be nice and hey this is a distraction, oh please please, listen to us. Too many pundits keep comparing with 1992 and 1997, but 2024 will probably be more like 2019.
I really don't think "Rwanda" is going to pull the Tories nuts out of the fire. All it does is remind voters of another failed soundbite policy of the government that didn't work.
If there isn’t an actual daily flight to Rwanda, full of boat arrivals, by the time of the election, then the policy is going to be seen as a failure by the electorate.
Nailed on then, as the policy is limited to 120. Not even half a plane full.
There is nothing preventing that 120 being lifted.
Its far from unprecedented when starting a new system to trial with a small number, then once the kinks are out to lift that number or even remove the cap altogether.
All you have to do is massively increase the capacity of the Rwandan legal system to process a planeful of asylum cases a day. Because the UK is going to process those cases properly, isn't it?
Oh, and you have to do it as a temporary surge. You will need all those assylum lawyers for a few weeks, but then the flow of boat people is going to fall to a trickle and they won't be needed any more.
The whole thing is a blag, and as Sandpit has pointed out, a number of right wing voters are going to be awfully unhappy when the blaginess of the scheme becomes clear.
Saying it's a policy drawn in crayon is an insult to toddlers who draw in crayon. They usually manage to get the number of arms and legs right. Sometimes the nose is even in roughly the right place.
Why would you need Rwanda to process them in a day? The UK doesn't process them in a day.
All you need is Rwanda to agree to house them and process them eventually, which is what the UK does already. No need for them to be processed within 24 hours of arrival.
That's a completely different matter. And as you say, then the flow will fall to a trickle and the planes won't be needed anymore.
Think of the asylum system as a pipeline. At the moment, people are entering that pipe at the rate of about 100 a day. Unless the flow through the narrowest part of the pipeline is about 100 a day, a backlog will build up and keep building. It's one of the reasons that the UK asylum system is in a mess and frantically looking for places to dump people; were not managing to get as many decisions made every day as we need to.
Now, in theory, we could just fly people to Rwanda, a jetload a day or a week, and try to forget about them. If it takes ages for their claims to be processed, and they spill out from those lovely flats the Home Secretary went to visit, it's not our problem.
But that's not the story we are telling ourselves- is it?
But that's exactly what's happened in the UK. At the moment people are entering the pipeline faster that they can be processed so a backlog has built up and keeps building.
Yes, you're right, we could fly a jetload a day or a week to Rwanda and wait for them to be processed there. So long as Rwanda is OK with that (read: so long as we write them a big enough cheque), then that is entirely possible.
Yes a backlog will build up, but that's no different to having a backlog in this country that already exists today.
And as you said, the flow of boats across the Channel would stop if they knew they absolutely definitely would be sent to Rwanda, no ifs, no buts, no equivocation.
The policy works on its merits so long as its actually implemented. Not so long as the throughput is met, since the throughput already isn't met today so that's not new.
1) He never read his mail/e-mail from the bank. He had cash in it, so no real need to or so he thought. 2) The bank informed him it was going to close his account due to lack of funds by mail/e-mail. He obviously never read this. 3) When they closed his account the person he spoke to wasn't able to give him further info because general customer service didn't know or was unable within the bank's framework of who can say what wasn't able to tell him the reason his account was being closed. 4) Since he got immediately on the media about it every bank knew he had a bank account closed by another bank for whatever reasons. 5) Because he'd now had a bank account closed without his permission every bank now raised a red flag on him opening an account with them. 6) So his attempts to open accounts with others were stymied because of 5). 7) Even though the story (At least that which everyone understands and is in the public domain) has been solved, I'd bet many banks are keeping the red flag up on him because they're paranoid the truth might have been an AML issue Natwest/Coutts flagged up which they might want to keep confidential.
Hmm.
8) Coutts doesn't automatically close your bank account because you don't have the requisite liquid assets; and 8a) they wouldn't do it by email. Your personal banker's PA would arrange a call or meeting with you. 9) I think the PEP angle could be interesting because he is a PEP. 10) There is also the reputational risk good/bad/good of having him as a customer and having him as a high profile ex-customer so that would probably be a consideration also.
I've noticed that tweets are back again without having signed on to twitter (or even being a member in my case). Presumably the protests reached even Musk, particularly with the advent of a potential competitor in nuclear war and the end of the world as we know it or Threads for short.
I think direct links work but you cannot just browse?
I'm sure it's been talked about before, but surely one unalloyed good of the Threads thing is the awareness being raised of the BBC TV film, Threads.
Still the most terrifying film I've ever seen. Genuinely brilliant.
yes it is strange that the "other" Threads didn't pop up during the brainstorming at Meta of what to call the damn thing.
Cost of Euston HS2 terminus could race past £4.8bn estimate, MPs say Overspend blamed on government indecision https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/jul/07/cost-of-euston-hs2-terminus-could-race-past-4-point-8bn-estimate-mps-say ...In a highly critical report, MPs on the committee said the Department for Transport (DfT) was yet to “establish the design and expectations for the station” against what it was “willing to spend”, despite spending more than eight years planning and designing the London terminus...
Utter incompetence. How do they expect to achieve anything?
The original completion date was planned to be 2026. We're now looking at 2041 - if everything goes smoothly.
The benefits of HS2 have been pushed so far into the future that the economic case for it must now be exploded.
@patrickkmaguire Labour lead at 25 points in latest YouGov poll for The Times
CON 22 (-2) LAB 47 (+1) LIB DEM 9 (-1) REF UK 9 (+1) GREEN 7 (=)
Fieldwork 5-6 July
Getting a bit Trussy.
With bad news to come, including by-election thrashings, the political narrative may become a death spiral.
What's the point in voting tory? Even if you're the type or malevolent or dim-witted bastard who like stupid tory shit you're aren't going to get it from this mob as they are simply too dysfunctional and self-obsessed to deliver it.
To bring on the revolution ? There must be a fairly strong case for your lending them your vote at this point.
FWIW I think the Tories will lose all the by-elections. They are an utter shambles.
In more important news, the Post Office - their senior management - need to be sacked without any compensation and various other vengeances applied to them. They are beyond a disgrace, rivalling the Met for incompetence, bad faith, mulish obstinacy, disregard for the law and any standards of common decency.
Two months ago one of the key witnesses from Fujitsu, Gareth Jenkins, was due to give evidence. His appearance was delayed because of delays in disclosure. He was due to appear yesterday and at ca. 10 pm the night before the Post Office revealed that it had still not given full disclosure of key documents which had been asked for months beforehand and that it had suddenly found about 47,000 of them.47,000! So yet another delay, yet another example of the Post Office's utter failure to comply with its legal obligations or take this inquiry seriously. The judge is pissed off of course. Though he should be raging with fury at this.
And every day that the Business Secretary does fuck all about this is another day proving that she's not fit to be in her position let alone leader of her party or PM.
The tactics smack of deliberate prevarication. If not, then they should be sacked for incompetence in any event, and a team of investigators sent in.
If it's left to the judge, as it seems it will be, then contempt proceedings ?
The GC has been giving evidence and his explanations for the failures of disclosure, not just in this inquiry but throughout the prosecutions were pitiful and embarrassing. He shames his profession.
I am ashamed to see lawyers and in-house investigators behave in such an appallingly unprofessional way. People killed themselves because of their lack of professionalism. How they sleep at night, I don't know.
In unrelated news I see that Tom Hayes's conviction is being referred to the Court of Appeal. I am bound by confidentiality obligations but if I weren't ......
🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬
Already US courts have said Tom Hayes did nothing illegal on the law at the time, I hope our Court of Appeal decide similar given the years he spent in jail.
Hayes was convincing on Newsnight last night and David Davis is raising the matter in Parliament
It may come as a surprise to you but US law and U.K. law are different. The US courts have made no ruling about Tom Hayes. They have ruled in relation to different people who were convicted.
Hayes is a bullshitter. I know exactly what he is but cannot say on here.
@patrickkmaguire Labour lead at 25 points in latest YouGov poll for The Times
CON 22 (-2) LAB 47 (+1) LIB DEM 9 (-1) REF UK 9 (+1) GREEN 7 (=)
Fieldwork 5-6 July
Big 9% for Reform there for Sunak to squeeze by reducing the boats across the Channel in particular.
Indeed Reform now tied with the LDs for 3rd party on voteshare and ahead of the Greens
Not bad for a party no-one has ever heard of. It seems to me that the Tory vote needs to be adjusted upwards for the fact that PBers and polled people are the only ones who are aware it exists. (If it does).
I (and those close to me) think that I could very well have ADHD, which holds me back.
However I don’t know how or whether to explore it without it looking like I am just trying to get hold of “smart drugs”.
Gallowgate - I've got about a minute before a meeting. I've got a bit of experience of this with my daughter - I'll come back to you later this morning.
Thank you - that’s very kind.
@Gallowgate - part 1: Our story with ADHD is as follows: We've suspected our youngest had ADHD since she was a toddler - possibly even since before she could walk. As a baby, she always wanted to be both held, and moving - we spent a lot of time with her in a sling or backpack doing housework; later, as a toddler, I remember watching her in her nursery nativity: she did her part brilliantly, but was constantly, constantly shuffling and wriggling for the rest of it. In infant school, after two perfectly normal and well behaved children, it came as something of a shock to be always having to discuss her behaviour: when she was in a good mood, she was fine, but when she was in a bad mood she was unreasonably furious, often at something incredibly trivial, like not being able to draw a triangle. She was never violent towards other children, thankfully, but she often needed to be removed from the classroom. Also, she couldn't really learn. You got, maybe, two or three minutes in which you could explain maths to her, for example, but after that it was clearly really, really hard for her to focus. (Although weirdly, of my three daughters, she has been by far the best reader and the only one who finds spelling easy). And there were a lot of other, more minor symptoms too: she could never sit still at teatime; she was still wetting the bed when she was seven, she was prone to very black moods. We've done a lot with her to try to address this over the last few years, so it's quite difficult to unpick what is ADHD from what isn't. The first big step forward was when she was about six and we found that she had various food intolerances. It was impractical to address all of them - and I suspect these tests are such that most people find they're intolerant to something to some extent - but she was clearly highly intolerant to dairy, so we cut that out, and that led to an instant step forward in her behaviour, as well as getting her guts sorted (up until the age of six she was still not pooing reliably).
I've noticed that tweets are back again without having signed on to twitter (or even being a member in my case). Presumably the protests reached even Musk, particularly with the advent of a potential competitor in nuclear war and the end of the world as we know it or Threads for short.
I think direct links work but you cannot just browse?
I'm sure it's been talked about before, but surely one unalloyed good of the Threads thing is the awareness being raised of the BBC TV film, Threads.
Still the most terrifying film I've ever seen. Genuinely brilliant.
yes it is strange that the "other" Threads didn't pop up during the brainstorming at Meta of what to call the damn thing.
People can be remarkably obtuse sometimes when it comes to names, disregarding what else already exists.
A local business near me is wanting to rebrand itself and one of the people working there told me recently the name their management is currently favouring and I had to resist laughing when I was told. It is the same name already used as the name of a new Barratt housing estate that is almost directly opposite the premises. When the link was pointed out, all the management denied knowing that the name was the same despite the fact there are signs pointing towards the estate literally outside the business that they'd have been going past daily.
I (and those close to me) think that I could very well have ADHD, which holds me back.
However I don’t know how or whether to explore it without it looking like I am just trying to get hold of “smart drugs”.
Gallowgate - I've got about a minute before a meeting. I've got a bit of experience of this with my daughter - I'll come back to you later this morning.
Thank you - that’s very kind.
@Gallowgate - part 1: Our story with ADHD is as follows: We've suspected our youngest had ADHD since she was a toddler - possibly even since before she could walk. As a baby, she always wanted to be both held, and moving - we spent a lot of time with her in a sling or backpack doing housework; later, as a toddler, I remember watching her in her nursery nativity: she did her part brilliantly, but was constantly, constantly shuffling and wriggling for the rest of it. In infant school, after two perfectly normal and well behaved children, it came as something of a shock to be always having to discuss her behaviour: when she was in a good mood, she was fine, but when she was in a bad mood she was unreasonably furious, often at something incredibly trivial, like not being able to draw a triangle. She was never violent towards other children, thankfully, but she often needed to be removed from the classroom. Also, she couldn't really learn. You got, maybe, two or three minutes in which you could explain maths to her, for example, but after that it was clearly really, really hard for her to focus. (Although weirdly, of my three daughters, she has been by far the best reader and the only one who finds spelling easy). And there were a lot of other, more minor symptoms too: she could never sit still at teatime; she was still wetting the bed when she was seven, she was prone to very black moods. We've done a lot with her to try to address this over the last few years, so it's quite difficult to unpick what is ADHD from what isn't. The first big step forward was when she was about six and we found that she had various food intolerances. It was impractical to address all of them - and I suspect these tests are such that most people find they're intolerant to something to some extent - but she was clearly highly intolerant to dairy, so we cut that out, and that led to an instant step forward in her behaviour, as well as getting her guts sorted (up until the age of six she was still not pooing reliably).
...[cont]...
...part 2...
But while her behaviour was better, it was still not good: she was still prone to sudden bouts of rage - and she still clearly couldn't focus. We went down a route of child therapy - I'm not sure how beneficial that was - it may have helped. This was all around the back end of covid, so how much of any frustration she felt was tied up with those fraught times, and having no playmates her own age for months on end, I'm not sure. And then at the end of infant school (i.e. age 7) we bit the bullet and got her assessed for ADHD. I say 'bit the bullet' because it's very expensive: you can do it on the NHS, but you'd be waiting two or three years, by which time she'd be nearly at senior school and possibly heading for special provision. So we were hoping not to have to go that way. But to go privately, you're looking at paying hundreds or thousands for the clinic, plus, if you go down the medication route, upwards of £80 a month in medication (and some medications are much more expensive). That said, once you get to a position where you are happy that dose of medication is working, you can get care transferred to the NHS - so we are no longer paying that (though will have to pay it again, periodically, when she gets reassessed - as she will have to when she grows, and 30mg is no longer enough). Basically, you need at least a couple of thousand pounds to throw at something which you don't know for sure will work.
That said, based on my experience, I'd encourage you to do it if you strongly suspect you have it and you think you might be able to function better. Having the meds has been transformational for her. She is now actually learning in school, rather than just being there. Everyone who has tried to teach her can tell the difference. She is calmer - there are fewer voices in her head pulling her off in different directions.
I (and those close to me) think that I could very well have ADHD, which holds me back.
However I don’t know how or whether to explore it without it looking like I am just trying to get hold of “smart drugs”.
Gallowgate - I've got about a minute before a meeting. I've got a bit of experience of this with my daughter - I'll come back to you later this morning.
Thank you - that’s very kind.
@Gallowgate - part 1: Our story with ADHD is as follows: We've suspected our youngest had ADHD since she was a toddler - possibly even since before she could walk. As a baby, she always wanted to be both held, and moving - we spent a lot of time with her in a sling or backpack doing housework; later, as a toddler, I remember watching her in her nursery nativity: she did her part brilliantly, but was constantly, constantly shuffling and wriggling for the rest of it. In infant school, after two perfectly normal and well behaved children, it came as something of a shock to be always having to discuss her behaviour: when she was in a good mood, she was fine, but when she was in a bad mood she was unreasonably furious, often at something incredibly trivial, like not being able to draw a triangle. She was never violent towards other children, thankfully, but she often needed to be removed from the classroom. Also, she couldn't really learn. You got, maybe, two or three minutes in which you could explain maths to her, for example, but after that it was clearly really, really hard for her to focus. (Although weirdly, of my three daughters, she has been by far the best reader and the only one who finds spelling easy). And there were a lot of other, more minor symptoms too: she could never sit still at teatime; she was still wetting the bed when she was seven, she was prone to very black moods. We've done a lot with her to try to address this over the last few years, so it's quite difficult to unpick what is ADHD from what isn't. The first big step forward was when she was about six and we found that she had various food intolerances. It was impractical to address all of them - and I suspect these tests are such that most people find they're intolerant to something to some extent - but she was clearly highly intolerant to dairy, so we cut that out, and that led to an instant step forward in her behaviour, as well as getting her guts sorted (up until the age of six she was still not pooing reliably).
...[cont]...
...part 2...
But while her behaviour was better, it was still not good: she was still prone to sudden bouts of rage - and she still clearly couldn't focus. We went down a route of child therapy - I'm not sure how beneficial that was - it may have helped. This was all around the back end of covid, so how much of any frustration she felt was tied up with those fraught times, and having no playmates her own age for months on end, I'm not sure. And then at the end of infant school (i.e. age 7) we bit the bullet and got her assessed for ADHD. I say 'bit the bullet' because it's very expensive: you can do it on the NHS, but you'd be waiting two or three years, by which time she'd be nearly at senior school and possibly heading for special provision. So we were hoping not to have to go that way. But to go privately, you're looking at paying hundreds or thousands for the clinic, plus, if you go down the medication route, upwards of £80 a month in medication (and some medications are much more expensive). That said, once you get to a position where you are happy that dose of medication is working, you can get care transferred to the NHS - so we are no longer paying that (though will have to pay it again, periodically, when she gets reassessed - as she will have to when she grows, and 30mg is no longer enough). Basically, you need at least a couple of thousand pounds to throw at something which you don't know for sure will work.
That said, based on my experience, I'd encourage you to do it if you strongly suspect you have it and you think you might be able to function better. Having the meds has been transformational for her. She is now actually learning in school, rather than just being there. Everyone who has tried to teach her can tell the difference. She is calmer - there are fewer voices in her head pulling her off in different directions.
...[cont]...
...part 3... It's worth noting that ADHD meds are very short term - typically you take them first thing in the morning and they have worn off by teatime (if they haven't, you will have trouble sleeping). So they don't fundamentally change you in any way, and - with medical advice - you can come on and off them (some people give themselves a break from them at the weekend - particularly if sleep is an issue). She is still, therefore, the loving, cuddly, lively, slightly crazy kid we have always known and loved. The meds don't change her as a person. (Though we have cycled through a few attempts at getting the right medication and dosage, and we have been able to tell, through her moods, when she is on meds which don't suit her).
As an aside, my understanding is that one of the fundamental issues with ADHD is that your brain doesn't make enough dopamine and serotonin. You are therefore forever trying to make little dopamine hits for yourself - the constant movement is part of this (as are the rather depressive tendencies). The meds are basically stimulants, which do this chemically. Weirdly, prior to medication, one of the ways in which she might have got to sit still was by giving her a can of Diet Coke.
Since we've had her diagnosed, I've come across quite a few adults who have learned late in life that they are, or suspect they are, ADHD. Often, they are of a type - within the bounds of normality, but slightly towards the edges: highly chatty, a tendency to oversharing, slightly intense, usually quite 'up' (but with a tendency to downs, though unless you live with them, you probably don't see this side). For some, medication has been transformational and has allowed them to function on a whole new level (one fella had been going through a loop of medication for various psychiatric conditions which were actually just ADHD, and very easily managed); for others, ADHD is just part of them they can function with (for example, the recruitment consultant, whose job it is to be sociable and outgoing and make connections between people - ADHD is basically who he is and he has no real desire to change it) or have managed it through other means (typically, exercise).
@patrickkmaguire Labour lead at 25 points in latest YouGov poll for The Times
CON 22 (-2) LAB 47 (+1) LIB DEM 9 (-1) REF UK 9 (+1) GREEN 7 (=)
Fieldwork 5-6 July
Getting a bit Trussy.
With bad news to come, including by-election thrashings, the political narrative may become a death spiral.
What's the point in voting tory? Even if you're the type or malevolent or dim-witted bastard who like stupid tory shit you're aren't going to get it from this mob as they are simply too dysfunctional and self-obsessed to deliver it.
Eg Oberführer Jenrick ordered the painting over of comfort-giving kiddy toons, and the refugee centre ignored him. Most pitiful ogre ever.
Cost of Euston HS2 terminus could race past £4.8bn estimate, MPs say Overspend blamed on government indecision https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/jul/07/cost-of-euston-hs2-terminus-could-race-past-4-point-8bn-estimate-mps-say ...In a highly critical report, MPs on the committee said the Department for Transport (DfT) was yet to “establish the design and expectations for the station” against what it was “willing to spend”, despite spending more than eight years planning and designing the London terminus...
How many of the DfT civil servants involved, will end up working or consulting for the contractor?
The case of the Webb telescope was interesting - the launch data was ever pushed into the future - https://xkcd.com/2014/. The costs rose - the contractor was simply given money to have an expanding team of people working on it.
They even received bonuses for.. performance.
Jim Bridenstine came in as NASA head, and announced that there would be no more bonuses for failure. And strongly hinted that if the telescope didn't approach launch in the near future, he would recommend termination of the program.
I (and those close to me) think that I could very well have ADHD, which holds me back.
However I don’t know how or whether to explore it without it looking like I am just trying to get hold of “smart drugs”.
Gallowgate - I've got about a minute before a meeting. I've got a bit of experience of this with my daughter - I'll come back to you later this morning.
Thank you - that’s very kind.
@Gallowgate - part 1: Our story with ADHD is as follows: We've suspected our youngest had ADHD since she was a toddler - possibly even since before she could walk. As a baby, she always wanted to be both held, and moving - we spent a lot of time with her in a sling or backpack doing housework; later, as a toddler, I remember watching her in her nursery nativity: she did her part brilliantly, but was constantly, constantly shuffling and wriggling for the rest of it. In infant school, after two perfectly normal and well behaved children, it came as something of a shock to be always having to discuss her behaviour: when she was in a good mood, she was fine, but when she was in a bad mood she was unreasonably furious, often at something incredibly trivial, like not being able to draw a triangle. She was never violent towards other children, thankfully, but she often needed to be removed from the classroom. Also, she couldn't really learn. You got, maybe, two or three minutes in which you could explain maths to her, for example, but after that it was clearly really, really hard for her to focus. (Although weirdly, of my three daughters, she has been by far the best reader and the only one who finds spelling easy). And there were a lot of other, more minor symptoms too: she could never sit still at teatime; she was still wetting the bed when she was seven, she was prone to very black moods. We've done a lot with her to try to address this over the last few years, so it's quite difficult to unpick what is ADHD from what isn't. The first big step forward was when she was about six and we found that she had various food intolerances. It was impractical to address all of them - and I suspect these tests are such that most people find they're intolerant to something to some extent - but she was clearly highly intolerant to dairy, so we cut that out, and that led to an instant step forward in her behaviour, as well as getting her guts sorted (up until the age of six she was still not pooing reliably).
...[cont]...
...part 2...
But while her behaviour was better, it was still not good: she was still prone to sudden bouts of rage - and she still clearly couldn't focus. We went down a route of child therapy - I'm not sure how beneficial that was - it may have helped. This was all around the back end of covid, so how much of any frustration she felt was tied up with those fraught times, and having no playmates her own age for months on end, I'm not sure. And then at the end of infant school (i.e. age 7) we bit the bullet and got her assessed for ADHD. I say 'bit the bullet' because it's very expensive: you can do it on the NHS, but you'd be waiting two or three years, by which time she'd be nearly at senior school and possibly heading for special provision. So we were hoping not to have to go that way. But to go privately, you're looking at paying hundreds or thousands for the clinic, plus, if you go down the medication route, upwards of £80 a month in medication (and some medications are much more expensive). That said, once you get to a position where you are happy that dose of medication is working, you can get care transferred to the NHS - so we are no longer paying that (though will have to pay it again, periodically, when she gets reassessed - as she will have to when she grows, and 30mg is no longer enough). Basically, you need at least a couple of thousand pounds to throw at something which you don't know for sure will work.
That said, based on my experience, I'd encourage you to do it if you strongly suspect you have it and you think you might be able to function better. Having the meds has been transformational for her. She is now actually learning in school, rather than just being there. Everyone who has tried to teach her can tell the difference. She is calmer - there are fewer voices in her head pulling her off in different directions.
...[cont]...
...part 3... It's worth noting that ADHD meds are very short term - typically you take them first thing in the morning and they have worn off by teatime (if they haven't, you will have trouble sleeping). So they don't fundamentally change you in any way, and - with medical advice - you can come on and off them (some people give themselves a break from them at the weekend - particularly if sleep is an issue). She is still, therefore, the loving, cuddly, lively, slightly crazy kid we have always known and loved. The meds don't change her as a person. (Though we have cycled through a few attempts at getting the right medication and dosage, and we have been able to tell, through her moods, when she is on meds which don't suit her).
As an aside, my understanding is that one of the fundamental issues with ADHD is that your brain doesn't make enough dopamine and serotonin. You are therefore forever trying to make little dopamine hits for yourself - the constant movement is part of this (as are the rather depressive tendencies). The meds are basically stimulants, which do this chemically. Weirdly, prior to medication, one of the ways in which she might have got to sit still was by giving her a can of Diet Coke.
Since we've had her diagnosed, I've come across quite a few adults who have learned late in life that they are, or suspect they are, ADHD. Often, they are of a type - within the bounds of normality, but slightly towards the edges: highly chatty, a tendency to oversharing, slightly intense, usually quite 'up' (but with a tendency to downs, though unless you live with them, you probably don't see this side). For some, medication has been transformational and has allowed them to function on a whole new level (one fella had been going through a loop of medication for various psychiatric conditions which were actually just ADHD, and very easily managed); for others, ADHD is just part of them they can function with (for example, the recruitment consultant, whose job it is to be sociable and outgoing and make connections between people - ADHD is basically who he is and he has no real desire to change it) or have managed it through other means (typically, exercise).
...[cont]...
...part 4... As a post-script to all this - and this is almost certainly a separate issue - we've come across a thing called retained reflexes. It sounds complete hokum - but the theory is that there are a lot of reflexes that we have as fetuses or babies which most of us lose, but some do not. Some of these reflexes are things like not being able to get your right hand to do things on the left side of your body (which explains her ability with cutlery and her inability with racket sports), others are more emotional - fear of things (she is scared of lots of things - being alone in the bathroom, for example), the need to be with people/physically touching people, instant emotional reactions to quite small things, etc. Things that babies do but which normally get shaken off by early childhood. It's particularly common in caesarian section children (like my daughter) and in children who don't do much playing around the age of 4/5 (i.e. for my daughter, around 2020) - apparently there are a lot of 8 year olds displaying these symptoms currently. The solution to this is a series of exercises, which we are now doing with her each evening, which get the body to drop these reflexes. As I said, it sounds like hokum - but the last four weeks, since we've started doing the exercises, have been amazing. She is pleasant, reasonable, sunny - you can say no to her and she doesn't fly into a rage - you can ask her to brush her teeth and she does so, rather than complaining that she hasn't had enough time on screens yet - I don't think she's been unreasonable or angry in any way since May. Could it be the exercises? Could it be changes at school? Could it be the meds? Could it be her just, finally, growing up? Who knows. But where we are now, this last four weeks, is in a better place than we've been at any time since she was born. I've realised I'm no longer walking on eggshells around her.
Anyway, that's an aside - the conclusion is, while it appears horribly expensive for something slightly speculative, based on my experience, if you and others around you think you have ADHD, you probably have; and if you think it is holding you back, £1000 or so is a small price to pay to start down the road to understanding it. Maybe you'll decide to medicate and maybe you won't, but even if you don't, just having a better understanding of yourself could be transformational.
@patrickkmaguire Labour lead at 25 points in latest YouGov poll for The Times
CON 22 (-2) LAB 47 (+1) LIB DEM 9 (-1) REF UK 9 (+1) GREEN 7 (=)
Fieldwork 5-6 July
Getting a bit Trussy.
With bad news to come, including by-election thrashings, the political narrative may become a death spiral.
The Tory problem now has become Sunak. He has been weighed and measured by the electorate, and found to be completely immature and lightweight Primeminister.
The good news for the Tories from this yougov poll is there’s no Dutch Salute, Lab up to 47 lid Dem down to 9, the opposite of the salute. As HY will correctly say, If that happens on election night it’s a great night for Sunak as he will have more MPs than Major and Hague.
Remember the MoonRabbit polling maxim: It’s not just the size of your LLG (63%) it’s what you do with it.
@patrickkmaguire Labour lead at 25 points in latest YouGov poll for The Times
CON 22 (-2) LAB 47 (+1) LIB DEM 9 (-1) REF UK 9 (+1) GREEN 7 (=)
Fieldwork 5-6 July
Big 9% for Reform there for Sunak to squeeze by reducing the boats across the Channel in particular.
Indeed Reform now tied with the LDs for 3rd party on voteshare and ahead of the Greens
Not bad for a party no-one has ever heard of. It seems to me that the Tory vote needs to be adjusted upwards for the fact that PBers and polled people are the only ones who are aware it exists. (If it does).
A glass-half-full Tory could argue that, but on the other hand one could argue that minority parties tend to get greater exposure at election time than otherwise. The conventional wisdom would certainly be that the Lib Dems should be adjusted upwards for that reason.
I've noticed that tweets are back again without having signed on to twitter (or even being a member in my case). Presumably the protests reached even Musk, particularly with the advent of a potential competitor in nuclear war and the end of the world as we know it or Threads for short.
I think direct links work but you cannot just browse?
I'm sure it's been talked about before, but surely one unalloyed good of the Threads thing is the awareness being raised of the BBC TV film, Threads.
Still the most terrifying film I've ever seen. Genuinely brilliant.
yes it is strange that the "other" Threads didn't pop up during the brainstorming at Meta of what to call the damn thing.
Threadbare and threadworm are my top word association hits. Also non-ideal. Then again, Meta itself is the worst rebrand since consignia.
Are there any precedents in any country for health provision being the major issue in a national election campaign?
Countless, in many countries.
Healthcare is a major issue in almost every developed nation, regardless of what system of healthcare they have.
Healthcare has been a major issue in almost every UK election I can ever recall, and not just the UK though, see eg arguments over 'Obamacare' in the US etc - health provision is always an issue.
Every election has featured "24 hours to save the NHS from The Evul Toooories" or some variation thereof.
In the 80s, Margret Thatcher completely destroyed the NHS on a number of occasions. I still recall, at a young age, listening to a surgeon on R4, denouncing the first of these, that I recall. It was fascinating how he managed to convey the impression of being red faced and dressed entirely in tweed, over the radio.
Have we mentioned the glorious War of Jennifer's Ear of 1992? This has its own Wikipedia entry. The Jennifer in question must be 36 now.
Cost of Euston HS2 terminus could race past £4.8bn estimate, MPs say Overspend blamed on government indecision https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/jul/07/cost-of-euston-hs2-terminus-could-race-past-4-point-8bn-estimate-mps-say ...In a highly critical report, MPs on the committee said the Department for Transport (DfT) was yet to “establish the design and expectations for the station” against what it was “willing to spend”, despite spending more than eight years planning and designing the London terminus...
How many of the DfT civil servants involved, will end up working or consulting for the contractor?
The case of the Webb telescope was interesting - the launch data was ever pushed into the future - https://xkcd.com/2014/. The costs rose - the contractor was simply given money to have an expanding team of people working on it.
They even received bonuses for.. performance.
Jim Bridenstine came in as NASA head, and announced that there would be no more bonuses for failure. And strongly hinted that if the telescope didn't approach launch in the near future, he would recommend termination of the program.
Webb suddenly got well as a program and launched.
Bridenstine was brilliant at NASA - and the Webb telescope is brilliant now that they finally launched it!
I (and those close to me) think that I could very well have ADHD, which holds me back.
However I don’t know how or whether to explore it without it looking like I am just trying to get hold of “smart drugs”.
Gallowgate - I've got about a minute before a meeting. I've got a bit of experience of this with my daughter - I'll come back to you later this morning.
Thank you - that’s very kind.
@Gallowgate - part 1: Our story with ADHD is as follows: We've suspected our youngest had ADHD since she was a toddler - possibly even since before she could walk. As a baby, she always wanted to be both held, and moving - we spent a lot of time with her in a sling or backpack doing housework; later, as a toddler, I remember watching her in her nursery nativity: she did her part brilliantly, but was constantly, constantly shuffling and wriggling for the rest of it. In infant school, after two perfectly normal and well behaved children, it came as something of a shock to be always having to discuss her behaviour: when she was in a good mood, she was fine, but when she was in a bad mood she was unreasonably furious, often at something incredibly trivial, like not being able to draw a triangle. She was never violent towards other children, thankfully, but she often needed to be removed from the classroom. Also, she couldn't really learn. You got, maybe, two or three minutes in which you could explain maths to her, for example, but after that it was clearly really, really hard for her to focus. (Although weirdly, of my three daughters, she has been by far the best reader and the only one who finds spelling easy). And there were a lot of other, more minor symptoms too: she could never sit still at teatime; she was still wetting the bed when she was seven, she was prone to very black moods. We've done a lot with her to try to address this over the last few years, so it's quite difficult to unpick what is ADHD from what isn't. The first big step forward was when she was about six and we found that she had various food intolerances. It was impractical to address all of them - and I suspect these tests are such that most people find they're intolerant to something to some extent - but she was clearly highly intolerant to dairy, so we cut that out, and that led to an instant step forward in her behaviour, as well as getting her guts sorted (up until the age of six she was still not pooing reliably).
...[cont]...
...part 2...
But while her behaviour was better, it was still not good: she was still prone to sudden bouts of rage - and she still clearly couldn't focus. We went down a route of child therapy - I'm not sure how beneficial that was - it may have helped. This was all around the back end of covid, so how much of any frustration she felt was tied up with those fraught times, and having no playmates her own age for months on end, I'm not sure. And then at the end of infant school (i.e. age 7) we bit the bullet and got her assessed for ADHD. I say 'bit the bullet' because it's very expensive: you can do it on the NHS, but you'd be waiting two or three years, by which time she'd be nearly at senior school and possibly heading for special provision. So we were hoping not to have to go that way. But to go privately, you're looking at paying hundreds or thousands for the clinic, plus, if you go down the medication route, upwards of £80 a month in medication (and some medications are much more expensive). That said, once you get to a position where you are happy that dose of medication is working, you can get care transferred to the NHS - so we are no longer paying that (though will have to pay it again, periodically, when she gets reassessed - as she will have to when she grows, and 30mg is no longer enough). Basically, you need at least a couple of thousand pounds to throw at something which you don't know for sure will work.
That said, based on my experience, I'd encourage you to do it if you strongly suspect you have it and you think you might be able to function better. Having the meds has been transformational for her. She is now actually learning in school, rather than just being there. Everyone who has tried to teach her can tell the difference. She is calmer - there are fewer voices in her head pulling her off in different directions.
...[cont]...
...part 3... It's worth noting that ADHD meds are very short term - typically you take them first thing in the morning and they have worn off by teatime (if they haven't, you will have trouble sleeping). So they don't fundamentally change you in any way, and - with medical advice - you can come on and off them (some people give themselves a break from them at the weekend - particularly if sleep is an issue). She is still, therefore, the loving, cuddly, lively, slightly crazy kid we have always known and loved. The meds don't change her as a person. (Though we have cycled through a few attempts at getting the right medication and dosage, and we have been able to tell, through her moods, when she is on meds which don't suit her).
As an aside, my understanding is that one of the fundamental issues with ADHD is that your brain doesn't make enough dopamine and serotonin. You are therefore forever trying to make little dopamine hits for yourself - the constant movement is part of this (as are the rather depressive tendencies). The meds are basically stimulants, which do this chemically. Weirdly, prior to medication, one of the ways in which she might have got to sit still was by giving her a can of Diet Coke.
Since we've had her diagnosed, I've come across quite a few adults who have learned late in life that they are, or suspect they are, ADHD. Often, they are of a type - within the bounds of normality, but slightly towards the edges: highly chatty, a tendency to oversharing, slightly intense, usually quite 'up' (but with a tendency to downs, though unless you live with them, you probably don't see this side). For some, medication has been transformational and has allowed them to function on a whole new level (one fella had been going through a loop of medication for various psychiatric conditions which were actually just ADHD, and very easily managed); for others, ADHD is just part of them they can function with (for example, the recruitment consultant, whose job it is to be sociable and outgoing and make connections between people - ADHD is basically who he is and he has no real desire to change it) or have managed it through other means (typically, exercise).
...[cont]...
My BiL has ADHD. Mid 60s, plays tennis for two hours every day, and is on the US Masters waterpolo team, FWIW. Was a nightmare as a kid, reportedly (long before any such diagnosis of course).
@patrickkmaguire Labour lead at 25 points in latest YouGov poll for The Times
CON 22 (-2) LAB 47 (+1) LIB DEM 9 (-1) REF UK 9 (+1) GREEN 7 (=)
Fieldwork 5-6 July
Getting a bit Trussy.
With bad news to come, including by-election thrashings, the political narrative may become a death spiral.
The Tory problem now has become Sunak. He has been weighed and measured by the electorate, and found to be completely immature and lightweight Primeminister.
The good news for the Tories from this yougov poll is there’s no Dutch Salute, Lab up to 47 lid Dem down to 9, the opposite of the salute. As HY will correctly say, If that happens on election night it’s a great night for Sunak as he will have more MPs than Major and Hague.
Remember the MoonRabbit polling maxim: It’s not just the size of your LLG (63%) it’s what you do with it.
Though the Dutch Salute isn't just about the totals, it's about their distribution. If the map resolves clearly into red, yellow and the odd bit of green, each constituency going for a single anti-Conservative challenger, the Conservative goose is really cooked. If the votes stay mixed in a single orangey sludge, that's good news for Rishi. (Tactical voting bores bang on about this every election; my hunch is that the extent to which voters are in the mood to spontaneously do it is what drives election results).
Call it the vinaigrette theory of politics. In 2019, the oil of Labour and the vinegar of the Lib Dems were mixed up in a way that was tasty for the Conservatives. Now, they've separated out again, and Sunak is looking a rather limp salad.
Cost of Euston HS2 terminus could race past £4.8bn estimate, MPs say Overspend blamed on government indecision https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/jul/07/cost-of-euston-hs2-terminus-could-race-past-4-point-8bn-estimate-mps-say ...In a highly critical report, MPs on the committee said the Department for Transport (DfT) was yet to “establish the design and expectations for the station” against what it was “willing to spend”, despite spending more than eight years planning and designing the London terminus...
Utter incompetence. How do they expect to achieve anything?
The original completion date was planned to be 2026. We're now looking at 2041 - if everything goes smoothly.
The benefits of HS2 have been pushed so far into the future that the economic case for it must now be exploded.
Once again, I strongly suggest shit-canning the whole project, and creating a new 'garden city' as a terminus of what's currently been built as a new commuter town for London, given that the only practical use of the thing was to feed London with commuters anyway.
I (and those close to me) think that I could very well have ADHD, which holds me back.
However I don’t know how or whether to explore it without it looking like I am just trying to get hold of “smart drugs”.
Gallowgate - I've got about a minute before a meeting. I've got a bit of experience of this with my daughter - I'll come back to you later this morning.
Thank you - that’s very kind.
@Gallowgate - part 1: Our story with ADHD is as follows: We've suspected our youngest had ADHD since she was a toddler - possibly even since before she could walk. As a baby, she always wanted to be both held, and moving - we spent a lot of time with her in a sling or backpack doing housework; later, as a toddler, I remember watching her in her nursery nativity: she did her part brilliantly, but was constantly, constantly shuffling and wriggling for the rest of it. In infant school, after two perfectly normal and well behaved children, it came as something of a shock to be always having to discuss her behaviour: when she was in a good mood, she was fine, but when she was in a bad mood she was unreasonably furious, often at something incredibly trivial, like not being able to draw a triangle. She was never violent towards other children, thankfully, but she often needed to be removed from the classroom. Also, she couldn't really learn. You got, maybe, two or three minutes in which you could explain maths to her, for example, but after that it was clearly really, really hard for her to focus. (Although weirdly, of my three daughters, she has been by far the best reader and the only one who finds spelling easy). And there were a lot of other, more minor symptoms too: she could never sit still at teatime; she was still wetting the bed when she was seven, she was prone to very black moods. We've done a lot with her to try to address this over the last few years, so it's quite difficult to unpick what is ADHD from what isn't. The first big step forward was when she was about six and we found that she had various food intolerances. It was impractical to address all of them - and I suspect these tests are such that most people find they're intolerant to something to some extent - but she was clearly highly intolerant to dairy, so we cut that out, and that led to an instant step forward in her behaviour, as well as getting her guts sorted (up until the age of six she was still not pooing reliably).
...[cont]...
...part 2...
But while her behaviour was better, it was still not good: she was still prone to sudden bouts of rage - and she still clearly couldn't focus. We went down a route of child therapy - I'm not sure how beneficial that was - it may have helped. This was all around the back end of covid, so how much of any frustration she felt was tied up with those fraught times, and having no playmates her own age for months on end, I'm not sure. And then at the end of infant school (i.e. age 7) we bit the bullet and got her assessed for ADHD. I say 'bit the bullet' because it's very expensive: you can do it on the NHS, but you'd be waiting two or three years, by which time she'd be nearly at senior school and possibly heading for special provision. So we were hoping not to have to go that way. But to go privately, you're looking at paying hundreds or thousands for the clinic, plus, if you go down the medication route, upwards of £80 a month in medication (and some medications are much more expensive). That said, once you get to a position where you are happy that dose of medication is working, you can get care transferred to the NHS - so we are no longer paying that (though will have to pay it again, periodically, when she gets reassessed - as she will have to when she grows, and 30mg is no longer enough). Basically, you need at least a couple of thousand pounds to throw at something which you don't know for sure will work.
That said, based on my experience, I'd encourage you to do it if you strongly suspect you have it and you think you might be able to function better. Having the meds has been transformational for her. She is now actually learning in school, rather than just being there. Everyone who has tried to teach her can tell the difference. She is calmer - there are fewer voices in her head pulling her off in different directions.
...[cont]...
...part 3... It's worth noting that ADHD meds are very short term - typically you take them first thing in the morning and they have worn off by teatime (if they haven't, you will have trouble sleeping). So they don't fundamentally change you in any way, and - with medical advice - you can come on and off them (some people give themselves a break from them at the weekend - particularly if sleep is an issue). She is still, therefore, the loving, cuddly, lively, slightly crazy kid we have always known and loved. The meds don't change her as a person. (Though we have cycled through a few attempts at getting the right medication and dosage, and we have been able to tell, through her moods, when she is on meds which don't suit her).
As an aside, my understanding is that one of the fundamental issues with ADHD is that your brain doesn't make enough dopamine and serotonin. You are therefore forever trying to make little dopamine hits for yourself - the constant movement is part of this (as are the rather depressive tendencies). The meds are basically stimulants, which do this chemically. Weirdly, prior to medication, one of the ways in which she might have got to sit still was by giving her a can of Diet Coke.
Since we've had her diagnosed, I've come across quite a few adults who have learned late in life that they are, or suspect they are, ADHD. Often, they are of a type - within the bounds of normality, but slightly towards the edges: highly chatty, a tendency to oversharing, slightly intense, usually quite 'up' (but with a tendency to downs, though unless you live with them, you probably don't see this side). For some, medication has been transformational and has allowed them to function on a whole new level (one fella had been going through a loop of medication for various psychiatric conditions which were actually just ADHD, and very easily managed); for others, ADHD is just part of them they can function with (for example, the recruitment consultant, whose job it is to be sociable and outgoing and make connections between people - ADHD is basically who he is and he has no real desire to change it) or have managed it through other means (typically, exercise).
...[cont]...
...part 4... As a post-script to all this - and this is almost certainly a separate issue - we've come across a thing called retained reflexes. It sounds complete hokum - but the theory is that there are a lot of reflexes that we have as fetuses or babies which most of us lose, but some do not. Some of these reflexes are things like not being able to get your right hand to do things on the left side of your body (which explains her ability with cutlery and her inability with racket sports), others are more emotional - fear of things (she is scared of lots of things - being alone in the bathroom, for example), the need to be with people/physically touching people, instant emotional reactions to quite small things, etc. Things that babies do but which normally get shaken off by early childhood. It's particularly common in caesarian section children (like my daughter) and in children who don't do much playing around the age of 4/5 (i.e. for my daughter, around 2020) - apparently there are a lot of 8 year olds displaying these symptoms currently. The solution to this is a series of exercises, which we are now doing with her each evening, which get the body to drop these reflexes. As I said, it sounds like hokum - but the last four weeks, since we've started doing the exercises, have been amazing. She is pleasant, reasonable, sunny - you can say no to her and she doesn't fly into a rage - you can ask her to brush her teeth and she does so, rather than complaining that she hasn't had enough time on screens yet - I don't think she's been unreasonable or angry in any way since May. Could it be the exercises? Could it be changes at school? Could it be the meds? Could it be her just, finally, growing up? Who knows. But where we are now, this last four weeks, is in a better place than we've been at any time since she was born. I've realised I'm no longer walking on eggshells around her.
Anyway, that's an aside - the conclusion is, while it appears horribly expensive for something slightly speculative, based on my experience, if you and others around you think you have ADHD, you probably have; and if you think it is holding you back, £1000 or so is a small price to pay to start down the road to understanding it. Maybe you'll decide to medicate and maybe you won't, but even if you don't, just having a better understanding of yourself could be transformational.
[end - with apologies for spamming the thread!]
Oh, and not quite end - to answer the original question, we went through Sanctum healthcare - though there are many other ADHD specialists out there. Of course, the problem with specialists is that they see all problems as stemming from their own speciality! But they also will have ways of quantifying the extent of your ADHD (among others, the 'QB' test - which we have told our daughter stands for 'Quite Boring') in order to help you make some informed decisions. They have also suggested our middle daughter, who is dyslexic, might have ADHD. Apparently ADHD and dyslexia often go togther; it runs in families, and middle daughter has a few traits which might raise a few question marks. But apart from an inability to spell (or to navigate), she manages life just fine, so we've not pursued it for her.
We discussed this the other day. To get it into production in 2027, the design would need to be in late full scale test - as in actual packs in actual cars. And the factory to build the batteries would need to be under construction.
EDIT: the tenor of the article above, sounds to me, as if Toyota are claiming a lab stage breakthrough.
@patrickkmaguire Labour lead at 25 points in latest YouGov poll for The Times
CON 22 (-2) LAB 47 (+1) LIB DEM 9 (-1) REF UK 9 (+1) GREEN 7 (=)
Fieldwork 5-6 July
Big 9% for Reform there for Sunak to squeeze by reducing the boats across the Channel in particular.
Indeed Reform now tied with the LDs for 3rd party on voteshare and ahead of the Greens
Not bad for a party no-one has ever heard of. It seems to me that the Tory vote needs to be adjusted upwards for the fact that PBers and polled people are the only ones who are aware it exists. (If it does).
Indeed. A similar point could be made regarding the Greens, who according to this nonsense are on course for a breakthrough from 1.6% (2017) and 2.7% (2019) to 7% (2024). Green is what some respondents say if they want to come across to the pollster as "the hell with them all" but haven't got the guts to say they won't vote or "f*ck off". (This is disregarding a few cultist nutters in Stroud or Totnes, and cool boys and girls who reside between festivals in an echo chamber in Brighton.) My mother did some canvassing for a political party in the early 1980s and some whose doors she knocked on would say "Oh I'm SDP...or National Front" (not two different people saying this, but the same person) for similar reasons. The Greens won't score anything like 7%. People may be stupid but few will vote for environment b*llocks when there's real sh*t happening in their lives, real insecurity, a real falling away of prospects and hopes.
Somebody should run a poll in which they include a fake choice just for a laugh.
It’s amazing how many people had no problem admitting that Elon Musk is seriously smart - until he revealed that he is quite right wing. At which point he miraculously morphed into a stuttering moron who just keeps getting lucky
Musk strikes me as one of those super smart people who is also a bit dumb in certain respects, certainly in his dealings with people. Spending time in academia and then finance I have come across many people who fall into this category, Musk just seems one of the more extreme examples.
He’s likes to think he's autistic and he’s confessed this. That’s the issue
FTFY
Do one, actually. Autism is hard enough to deal with without creepy insinuations that it's a lifestyle choice. And is there anything more pathetic than that ftfy thing?
Absolutely right. It’s not fun and it’s something people admit easily and Musk has - as I correctly surmised - publicly discussed his autism. I salute him for that alone
Asperger's isn't even a term used these days. So that's profoundly unhelpful.
Fuck me. So in leftieland he's not allowed to self identfy as Asperger's? tho it's OK for people with cocks to self identify as "women"?
No. Nowt to do with politics. It's been removed as of 2013 from DSM-5, as no satisfactory distinction from other forms of autism could be made. Hence the term ASD which it was merged with in 2021 under ICD-11. Autistic Spectrum Disorder. So. From 2013 you couldn't be diagnosed with Asperger's. You can self identify as whatever you like as ever. But it ain't very helpful.
It's his fucking choice. Dipshit
And there is massive controvery in autist-land over the removal of these terms: Asperger's, high functioning, etc
Don't call me a dipshit. I don't identify as such. Glad to see you defend someone's choice to self identify in the teeth of medical opinion. Imho. As a professional working in the area, ADHD is under diagnosed. And ASD over. Like anxiety and depression a few years back. Similarly, the two are often overlapping and can be confused.
Fair enough. But this issue makes me personally angry
Probably because a very close relative of mine has recently been officially diagnosed as ASD and this person was told "we would once have diagnosed you as Aspie, and high functioning, but this is no longer officially allowed even though we think it useful", then this person went away and read up on all of it and decided "fuck yeah, I'm Aspie": - ie: high functioning, socially awkward, doesn't need much or any help with daily living, but has real and grave problems in certain situations, highly intelligent etc
This person, close to me, has self identified as Aspie and it brings this person a lot of consolation - and also practical assistance: because this person now reaches out to other self-identified "Aspies" and finds common ground, AND a social network. And Elon Musk is therefore a bit of an inspiration. The richest-ish man in the world says he's Aspie. Yay
Good luck to them all
Self-diagnosed Aspergers has been fashionable amongst a certain type of tech nerd since the internet decided decades ago Bill Gates had it (also the "richest-ish man in the world"). Self-diagnosed ADHD was also popular in the United States after the amphetamines used to treat it became known as "smart drugs".
People often like to validate themselves with a medicalised diagnosis. Sometimes it is helpful in accessing support, sometimes it is an obstacle and people say "I can't do that because I am X diagnosis" or just a licence to behave in an unusual manner
A label like this can be quite restricting, and not all personality traits need to be medicalised. We should treat people as they are, whether they carry a medical label or not.
Yes, but more. Labels help because they reify a set of traits, making it easier to connect with other people with a similar experience and to look up information. (I say that as someone with a physical health spectrum disorder.)
Sure, labelling can be useful, but it can also be restricting. People sometimes use it as an excuse to avoid an activity, rather than a spur to work harder than most at an activity.
Some people find reading and writing difficult, some people find social interaction difficult, some people find unpredictability difficult, some people find noise difficult. Labelling these personality traits can help people mitigate the traits, but it can also cause people to retreat from their potential.
In any case, a lot of people do search for these medical labels. No one is allowed to simply be "eccentric" any more.
Very good post. Everyone must be categorised, and it can be used as an excuse not to develop because you are X and that's that.
Interesting.
For me personally, I think labelling has its uses, although possibly quite limited.
I was pored over by school educational psychologists in the 1970s when I was about 9 or 10, with a battery of tests and results absolutely typical for the diagnosis of whatever ADHD was branded at the time (it may still have been in the days of 'Minimal Brain Dysfunction' - lovely 😍). Lots with Cubes of Koh and all that and basically a two phase IQ score, where differences between the scores were considered indicative (diagnosis, I understand, has moved on). The difference in IQ score measured for me was 36 points between the two phases, which was considered pretty huge, however, my parents eschewed the formal diagnosis at the end of all this, for the very labelling reasons discussed here (they were quite keen on sending me down the gifted labelling though).
I broadly forgot it, going through the lazy, useless, not right iterations of self-image, whilst alternately succeeding massively and falling, until ADHD came back on my radar in my 30s. Essentially, at this stage I'm self-diagnosed with no medical confirmation. Could get the doc to dig back in my records to the 1970s, I suppose, but paying through the nose or 5 years waiting for a mental health trust to (re-)diagnose - no thanks.
So. I'm labelled and a label gives me something to work with, a basis for understanding, a basis for when to fight and when to self-limit.
Not so much the label itself, but the understanding of how it applies in my life.
It's a long post, but in brief, the main thing is that pre-organisation in my subconscious does not really work, so arbitration of which tasks I should do is very much need to be done as fairly grinding conscious processes, tiebreaks between tasks that might prevent any action need to be caught and thought about.
Some ADHDers embrace the chaos and sometimes give themselves too much license. like Boris. I embrace near autistic levels of structure to tame the chaos. I'm not certain which is the best approach overall.
How do I know everyone's subconscious isn't like mine? Well, it's there occasionally, the plan presented from my subconscious, this, this and this, and clarity occasionally breaks out. It requires the deadline, the big day, the massive surge of adrenaline. I could seek an adrenaline soaked life that drove such clarity, but so much else then by passes my subconscious then that it's unsustainable beyond a couple of weeks.
So, that's my take on labelling, diagnosing vs not. No real conclusion, but some thoughts.
"Professor Lesley Sawers, the 64-year-old Equalities and Human Rights Commissioner for Scotland, has been with RBS for 32 years but two weeks ago, she and her husband Allan McKechnie were told it would be shut next month."
Suspect NatWest being hit by a quarter billion pound fine for poor anti money laundering procedures, reduced somewhat by being co-operative, may drive.some of these account closures.
"Professor Lesley Sawers, the 64-year-old Equalities and Human Rights Commissioner for Scotland, has been with RBS for 32 years but two weeks ago, she and her husband Allan McKechnie were told it would be shut next month."
Suspect NatWest being hit by a quarter billion pound fine for poor anti money laundering procedures, reduced somewhat by being co-operative, may drive.some of these account closures.
Just because they handled £264M of cash from a dodgy jewellers in Oldham doesn't mean they need to be randomly closing other accounts. The regulator/courts need to start making it clear to banks that just because they have AML responsibilities doesn't mean they can start closing accounts willy nilly.
"Professor Lesley Sawers, the 64-year-old Equalities and Human Rights Commissioner for Scotland, has been with RBS for 32 years but two weeks ago, she and her husband Allan McKechnie were told it would be shut next month."
Suspect NatWest being hit by a quarter billion pound fine for poor anti money laundering procedures, reduced somewhat by being co-operative, may drive.some of these account closures.
The whole process doesn't work unless there is some financial benefit to the banks of treating customers proportionately that is of a similar scale to these fines being imposed.
Perhaps the fines could be shared out amongst the banks who have got the balance best (although no idea how that would be calculated).
@patrickkmaguire Labour lead at 25 points in latest YouGov poll for The Times
CON 22 (-2) LAB 47 (+1) LIB DEM 9 (-1) REF UK 9 (+1) GREEN 7 (=)
Fieldwork 5-6 July
Big 9% for Reform there for Sunak to squeeze by reducing the boats across the Channel in particular.
Indeed Reform now tied with the LDs for 3rd party on voteshare and ahead of the Greens
Do you seriously think that Sunak has *anything* to offer someone who says 'Refuk' in a poll?
I hope not. He should tell them to ReFuk themselves. It is the vote that has shifted to LD that he needs to focus on. He should make it clear that closets racists and homophobes do not share the values of modern politics.
"Professor Lesley Sawers, the 64-year-old Equalities and Human Rights Commissioner for Scotland, has been with RBS for 32 years but two weeks ago, she and her husband Allan McKechnie were told it would be shut next month."
Suspect NatWest being hit by a quarter billion pound fine for poor anti money laundering procedures, reduced somewhat by being co-operative, may drive.some of these account closures.
The whole process doesn't work unless there is some financial benefit to the banks of treating customers proportionately that is of a similar scale to these fines being imposed.
Perhaps the fines could be shared out amongst the banks who have got the balance best (although no idea how that would be calculated).
There needs to be an independent arbitrator, and a right of appeal.
Oh, and whoever at Coutts briefed the press about the financial details of a customer, needs to be struck off.
"Professor Lesley Sawers, the 64-year-old Equalities and Human Rights Commissioner for Scotland, has been with RBS for 32 years but two weeks ago, she and her husband Allan McKechnie were told it would be shut next month."
Suspect NatWest being hit by a quarter billion pound fine for poor anti money laundering procedures, reduced somewhat by being co-operative, may drive.some of these account closures.
Just because they handled £264M of cash from a dodgy jewellers in Oldham doesn't mean they need to be randomly closing other accounts. The regulator/courts need to start making it clear to banks that just because they have AML responsibilities doesn't mean they can start closing accounts willy nilly.
If they handle one drug dealers money, without being utterly strict and paranoid with all the checks - they are in the shit.
They close the accounts of 50 little old ladies, through being overzealous. Nothing happens.
The banks (largely) are doing what the government is asking them to do - be overzealous.
I went over 10,000 comments today and didn’t notice. I’ve been on here 4 1/2 years. @MoonRabbit has been on just over 18 months and done far more than me. I am an amateur.
"Professor Lesley Sawers, the 64-year-old Equalities and Human Rights Commissioner for Scotland, has been with RBS for 32 years but two weeks ago, she and her husband Allan McKechnie were told it would be shut next month."
Suspect NatWest being hit by a quarter billion pound fine for poor anti money laundering procedures, reduced somewhat by being co-operative, may drive.some of these account closures.
The whole process doesn't work unless there is some financial benefit to the banks of treating customers proportionately that is of a similar scale to these fines being imposed.
Perhaps the fines could be shared out amongst the banks who have got the balance best (although no idea how that would be calculated).
There needs to be an independent arbitrator, and a right of appeal.
Oh, and whoever at Coutts briefed the press about the financial details of a customer, needs to be struck off.
The kafka-esque dont tip off should be time limited at around 3 months as well. Gives plenty of time for investigators and police if necessary. After that explain.
It’s amazing how many people had no problem admitting that Elon Musk is seriously smart - until he revealed that he is quite right wing. At which point he miraculously morphed into a stuttering moron who just keeps getting lucky
Musk strikes me as one of those super smart people who is also a bit dumb in certain respects, certainly in his dealings with people. Spending time in academia and then finance I have come across many people who fall into this category, Musk just seems one of the more extreme examples.
He’s likes to think he's autistic and he’s confessed this. That’s the issue
FTFY
Do one, actually. Autism is hard enough to deal with without creepy insinuations that it's a lifestyle choice. And is there anything more pathetic than that ftfy thing?
Absolutely right. It’s not fun and it’s something people admit easily and Musk has - as I correctly surmised - publicly discussed his autism. I salute him for that alone
Asperger's isn't even a term used these days. So that's profoundly unhelpful.
Fuck me. So in leftieland he's not allowed to self identfy as Asperger's? tho it's OK for people with cocks to self identify as "women"?
No. Nowt to do with politics. It's been removed as of 2013 from DSM-5, as no satisfactory distinction from other forms of autism could be made. Hence the term ASD which it was merged with in 2021 under ICD-11. Autistic Spectrum Disorder. So. From 2013 you couldn't be diagnosed with Asperger's. You can self identify as whatever you like as ever. But it ain't very helpful.
It's his fucking choice. Dipshit
And there is massive controvery in autist-land over the removal of these terms: Asperger's, high functioning, etc
Don't call me a dipshit. I don't identify as such. Glad to see you defend someone's choice to self identify in the teeth of medical opinion. Imho. As a professional working in the area, ADHD is under diagnosed. And ASD over. Like anxiety and depression a few years back. Similarly, the two are often overlapping and can be confused.
Fair enough. But this issue makes me personally angry
Probably because a very close relative of mine has recently been officially diagnosed as ASD and this person was told "we would once have diagnosed you as Aspie, and high functioning, but this is no longer officially allowed even though we think it useful", then this person went away and read up on all of it and decided "fuck yeah, I'm Aspie": - ie: high functioning, socially awkward, doesn't need much or any help with daily living, but has real and grave problems in certain situations, highly intelligent etc
This person, close to me, has self identified as Aspie and it brings this person a lot of consolation - and also practical assistance: because this person now reaches out to other self-identified "Aspies" and finds common ground, AND a social network. And Elon Musk is therefore a bit of an inspiration. The richest-ish man in the world says he's Aspie. Yay
Good luck to them all
Self-diagnosed Aspergers has been fashionable amongst a certain type of tech nerd since the internet decided decades ago Bill Gates had it (also the "richest-ish man in the world"). Self-diagnosed ADHD was also popular in the United States after the amphetamines used to treat it became known as "smart drugs".
People often like to validate themselves with a medicalised diagnosis. Sometimes it is helpful in accessing support, sometimes it is an obstacle and people say "I can't do that because I am X diagnosis" or just a licence to behave in an unusual manner
A label like this can be quite restricting, and not all personality traits need to be medicalised. We should treat people as they are, whether they carry a medical label or not.
Yes, but more. Labels help because they reify a set of traits, making it easier to connect with other people with a similar experience and to look up information. (I say that as someone with a physical health spectrum disorder.)
Sure, labelling can be useful, but it can also be restricting. People sometimes use it as an excuse to avoid an activity, rather than a spur to work harder than most at an activity.
Some people find reading and writing difficult, some people find social interaction difficult, some people find unpredictability difficult, some people find noise difficult. Labelling these personality traits can help people mitigate the traits, but it can also cause people to retreat from their potential.
In any case, a lot of people do search for these medical labels. No one is allowed to simply be "eccentric" any more.
Very good post. Everyone must be categorised, and it can be used as an excuse not to develop because you are X and that's that.
Interesting.
For me personally, I think labelling has its uses, although possibly quite limited.
I was pored over by school educational psychologists in the 1970s when I was about 9 or 10, with a battery of tests and results absolutely typical for the diagnosis of whatever ADHD was branded at the time (it may still have been in the days of 'Minimal Brain Dysfunction' - lovely 😍). Lots with Cubes of Koh and all that and basically a two phase IQ score, where differences between the scores were considered indicative (diagnosis, I understand, has moved on). The difference in IQ score measured for me was 36 points between the two phases, which was considered pretty huge, however, my parents eschewed the formal diagnosis at the end of all this, for the very labelling reasons discussed here (they were quite keen on sending me down the gifted labelling though).
I broadly forgot it, going through the lazy, useless, not right iterations of self-image, whilst alternately succeeding massively and falling, until ADHD came back on my radar in my 30s. Essentially, at this stage I'm self-diagnosed with no medical confirmation. Could get the doc to dig back in my records to the 1970s, I suppose, but paying through the nose or 5 years waiting for a mental health trust to (re-)diagnose - no thanks.
So. I'm labelled and a label gives me something to work with, a basis for understanding, a basis for when to fight and when to self-limit.
Not so much the label itself, but the understanding of how it applies in my life.
It's a long post, but in brief, the main thing is that pre-organisation in my subconscious does not really work, so arbitration of which tasks I should do is very much need to be done as fairly grinding conscious processes, tiebreaks between tasks that might prevent any action need to be caught and thought about.
Some ADHDers embrace the chaos and sometimes give themselves too much license. like Boris. I embrace near autistic levels of structure to tame the chaos. I'm not certain which is the best approach overall.
How do I know everyone's subconscious isn't like mine? Well, it's there occasionally, the plan presented from my subconscious, this, this and this, and clarity occasionally breaks out. It requires the deadline, the big day, the massive surge of adrenaline. I could seek an adrenaline soaked life that drove such clarity, but so much else then by passes my subconscious then that it's unsustainable beyond a couple of weeks.
So, that's my take on labelling, diagnosing vs not. No real conclusion, but some thoughts.
Different story but similar outcome - I am fairly sure I fall into this same category. I'm reluctant to medicate or formally diagnose though. I have reached a kind of equilibrium with my chaotic mind, and found a career where a constantly wandering attention can actually be a positive. Definitely struggle with the routine tasks and choice-paralysis but at this point in my life I've found ways to make it work. It's definitely a mental difference rather than deficiency - I have a great ability to improvise and think on my feet, as well make productive connections between unlikely things, even while something as seemingly simple as filing expenses is a task of overwhelming dread.
It is fair to say that school was not a happy place for me though, as an authority driven environment packed with dull and often pointless tasks. I was seen as clever but lazy, which I had kind of internalized as the core of what I am, but actually - I'm not. I work very hard, but in my way.
I can see the same with my son though, already being ground down by homework routines at the age of nine, and I worry about him going into year 6 which is basically the year of SATs. We can't afford the private diagnosis and are going through CAMHS, but it is indeed taking years.
"Professor Lesley Sawers, the 64-year-old Equalities and Human Rights Commissioner for Scotland, has been with RBS for 32 years but two weeks ago, she and her husband Allan McKechnie were told it would be shut next month."
Suspect NatWest being hit by a quarter billion pound fine for poor anti money laundering procedures, reduced somewhat by being co-operative, may drive.some of these account closures.
The whole process doesn't work unless there is some financial benefit to the banks of treating customers proportionately that is of a similar scale to these fines being imposed.
Perhaps the fines could be shared out amongst the banks who have got the balance best (although no idea how that would be calculated).
There needs to be an independent arbitrator, and a right of appeal.
Oh, and whoever at Coutts briefed the press about the financial details of a customer, needs to be struck off.
Breach of GDPR, isn’t it?
Anyone wanted anything on a customer of the bank - I would send them to Legal and/or Compliance. And that’s just internally.
Even stating that X has an account with you sounds like revealing personal information.
Thanks, does look fun. Any personal / friend / family experience with its use?
Every time I look this type of stuff up on the internet the organisation stuff all the advice is so long winded and clunky and has so many aspects to it that I despair.
And my own system is barely less clunky and does fall apart on a regular basis.
I've noticed that tweets are back again without having signed on to twitter (or even being a member in my case). Presumably the protests reached even Musk, particularly with the advent of a potential competitor in nuclear war and the end of the world as we know it or Threads for short.
I think direct links work but you cannot just browse?
I'm sure it's been talked about before, but surely one unalloyed good of the Threads thing is the awareness being raised of the BBC TV film, Threads.
Still the most terrifying film I've ever seen. Genuinely brilliant.
yes it is strange that the "other" Threads didn't pop up during the brainstorming at Meta of what to call the damn thing.
Seems the FED are concerned for US inflation and the markets reacted badly yesterday at the prospect of ever higher interest rates in the US, EU, and UK which could see our base rate head towards 7%
This is any government's worst nightmare and certainly will see the conservatives lose to labour but what then ?
The conservative may tear themselves apart, indeed will if they go down the ERG right wing path, but the next 5 years are going to be more than challenging and especially for a labour government who for once faces the absolute of 'there is no money left'
It was interesting that labour have again said they may not be able to agree the teachers pay review body recommendations and it looks as if the public sector are not going to find it any easier to advance pay with labour
What a mess, and yes Johnson's toxic behaviour and Truss's debacle are centre to the political fray, but ultimately Brexit, covid and the war in Ukraine have combined to deliver a devastating blow to the UK economy and with the war in Ukraine and talk of threats to grain supplies, this could continue for a long time yet
Never mind - we have the cricket to look forward to - or do we ?
It isn't the 'ERG Right Wing Path' that the Tories might go down, its absolutely necessary that they do. Statist Blairism doesn't work - that it what we have at the moment. We need radical approaches to reducing the costs of the nation.
Cutting the state (and then taxes) is absolutely imperative. This will cause lots of whinging from comfortably off do-gooders who want their pet projects protected (much like Brexit did). But it has to happen.
It will either be forced as part of an IMF bailout, or voluntary under a proper Conservative Govt.
A nightmare on Downing Street!
Your idealogical panacea of no state intervention means the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. That ultimately results in totalitarian of one form or another, either by revolution or by counter-revolution.
Why can't we just try to make the mixed economy work for all of us?
No state intervention? What are you talking about. Cutting the state and allowing the private sector to grow is the solution.
The state is bigger than ever, the countryis broke with creditors demanding ever high premiums on loans, and we're likely heading for recession. How is that mixed economy working out for you?!
Privatisation you say. Thames Water says hello.
There you go again!
I didn't say privatisation. Letting the private sector grow. Getting rid of useless regulations. Reducing taxes. Reducing the civil service numbers (they've crept up to Brownite levels and beyond, I believe.
In order to present the case that a regulation poor private sector is broken, I have three words for you. West Bromwich Albion!
I've noticed that tweets are back again without having signed on to twitter (or even being a member in my case). Presumably the protests reached even Musk, particularly with the advent of a potential competitor in nuclear war and the end of the world as we know it or Threads for short.
I think direct links work but you cannot just browse?
I'm sure it's been talked about before, but surely one unalloyed good of the Threads thing is the awareness being raised of the BBC TV film, Threads.
Still the most terrifying film I've ever seen. Genuinely brilliant.
yes it is strange that the "other" Threads didn't pop up during the brainstorming at Meta of what to call the damn thing.
I had not heard of this film until I think last year. It was a UK not a global thing (made by BBC). Cleggy is my ageish, 57 or so, so perhaps he as the UK consultant had also not heard of it.
"Professor Lesley Sawers, the 64-year-old Equalities and Human Rights Commissioner for Scotland, has been with RBS for 32 years but two weeks ago, she and her husband Allan McKechnie were told it would be shut next month."
Suspect NatWest being hit by a quarter billion pound fine for poor anti money laundering procedures, reduced somewhat by being co-operative, may drive.some of these account closures.
The whole process doesn't work unless there is some financial benefit to the banks of treating customers proportionately that is of a similar scale to these fines being imposed.
Perhaps the fines could be shared out amongst the banks who have got the balance best (although no idea how that would be calculated).
There needs to be an independent arbitrator, and a right of appeal.
Oh, and whoever at Coutts briefed the press about the financial details of a customer, needs to be struck off.
Breach of GDPR, isn’t it?
Anyone wanted anything on a customer of the bank - I would send them to Legal and/or Compliance. And that’s just internally.
Even stating that X has an account with you sounds like revealing personal information.
Yes but wouldn't be an excellent and amusing irony if Farage resorted to making a complaint that utilises GDPR? That said, though I hate the man, you do have a point, but then they might be OK because he went public, trying to turn his case into a publicity stunt (plus ca change), and they would claim their response was proportionate and justified.
If he wanted to get his own back he could make a "subject access request" under GDPR which would be a bit annoying for them.
I've noticed that tweets are back again without having signed on to twitter (or even being a member in my case). Presumably the protests reached even Musk, particularly with the advent of a potential competitor in nuclear war and the end of the world as we know it or Threads for short.
I think direct links work but you cannot just browse?
I'm sure it's been talked about before, but surely one unalloyed good of the Threads thing is the awareness being raised of the BBC TV film, Threads.
Still the most terrifying film I've ever seen. Genuinely brilliant.
yes it is strange that the "other" Threads didn't pop up during the brainstorming at Meta of what to call the damn thing.
I'm quite enjoying 'East Kilbride West (South Lanarkshire)'. Could we not have shoehorned a 'North' in there too somehow? In the 90s, there was a ward in Essex with the marvellous name of 'South Woodham Ferrers Collingwood East and West'.
"Professor Lesley Sawers, the 64-year-old Equalities and Human Rights Commissioner for Scotland, has been with RBS for 32 years but two weeks ago, she and her husband Allan McKechnie were told it would be shut next month."
Suspect NatWest being hit by a quarter billion pound fine for poor anti money laundering procedures, reduced somewhat by being co-operative, may drive.some of these account closures.
Just because they handled £264M of cash from a dodgy jewellers in Oldham doesn't mean they need to be randomly closing other accounts. The regulator/courts need to start making it clear to banks that just because they have AML responsibilities doesn't mean they can start closing accounts willy nilly.
I suspect NatWest isn't closing accounts randomly. The issue is that AML compliance has costs that hit customers, not just financial costs. It's possible that NatWest still hasn't got the balance right between risks and costs.
Carlotta Vance. Scottish local by election, I believe Labour were top of the poll last time, the SNP seat came about because of a multi member vote. So really it is a Labour hold.
Bit like the Maidstone by election, was a Lib Dem seat but was won (top of the poll) last time by the Conservative with the LD second. Lib Dem held their seat but could be seen as a gain for them, interestingly there was a very significant Green surge which put the Conservative third and the Labour vote plunged.
@patrickkmaguire Labour lead at 25 points in latest YouGov poll for The Times
CON 22 (-2) LAB 47 (+1) LIB DEM 9 (-1) REF UK 9 (+1) GREEN 7 (=)
Fieldwork 5-6 July
Getting a bit Trussy.
With bad news to come, including by-election thrashings, the political narrative may become a death spiral.
The Tory problem now has become Sunak. He has been weighed and measured by the electorate, and found to be completely immature and lightweight Primeminister.
The good news for the Tories from this yougov poll is there’s no Dutch Salute, Lab up to 47 lid Dem down to 9, the opposite of the salute. As HY will correctly say, If that happens on election night it’s a great night for Sunak as he will have more MPs than Major and Hague.
Remember the MoonRabbit polling maxim: It’s not just the size of your LLG (63%) it’s what you do with it.
Quite a few double entendre and innuendo laden posts of late, ooh Mrs! Are you the ghost of Frankie Howard?
"Professor Lesley Sawers, the 64-year-old Equalities and Human Rights Commissioner for Scotland, has been with RBS for 32 years but two weeks ago, she and her husband Allan McKechnie were told it would be shut next month."
Suspect NatWest being hit by a quarter billion pound fine for poor anti money laundering procedures, reduced somewhat by being co-operative, may drive.some of these account closures.
The whole process doesn't work unless there is some financial benefit to the banks of treating customers proportionately that is of a similar scale to these fines being imposed.
Perhaps the fines could be shared out amongst the banks who have got the balance best (although no idea how that would be calculated).
There needs to be an independent arbitrator, and a right of appeal.
Oh, and whoever at Coutts briefed the press about the financial details of a customer, needs to be struck off.
Breach of GDPR, isn’t it?
Anyone wanted anything on a customer of the bank - I would send them to Legal and/or Compliance. And that’s just internally.
Even stating that X has an account with you sounds like revealing personal information.
Yes but wouldn't be an excellent and amusing irony if Farage resorted to making a complaint that utilises GDPR? That said, though I hate the man, you do have a point, but then they might be OK because he went public, trying to turn his case into a publicity stunt (plus ca change), and they would claim their response was proportionate and justified.
If he wanted to get his own back he could make a "subject access request" under GDPR which would be a bit annoying for them.
I don't think that public spats are a justification for releasing GDPR privileged information - legally, that is.
There are other privacy rules that come into play. Coutts has definitely fucked up here, I think.
I've noticed that tweets are back again without having signed on to twitter (or even being a member in my case). Presumably the protests reached even Musk, particularly with the advent of a potential competitor in nuclear war and the end of the world as we know it or Threads for short.
I think direct links work but you cannot just browse?
I'm sure it's been talked about before, but surely one unalloyed good of the Threads thing is the awareness being raised of the BBC TV film, Threads.
Still the most terrifying film I've ever seen. Genuinely brilliant.
yes it is strange that the "other" Threads didn't pop up during the brainstorming at Meta of what to call the damn thing.
I had not heard of this film until I think last year. It was a UK not a global thing (made by BBC). Cleggy is my ageish, 57 or so, so perhaps he as the UK consultant had also not heard of it.
Threads is also a very powerful software concept, e.g. multithreading. That'll be where it comes from: and orders of magnitude more people will know of it in that context rather than from an obscure BBC film from decades ago.
@patrickkmaguire Labour lead at 25 points in latest YouGov poll for The Times
CON 22 (-2) LAB 47 (+1) LIB DEM 9 (-1) REF UK 9 (+1) GREEN 7 (=)
Fieldwork 5-6 July
Big 9% for Reform there for Sunak to squeeze by reducing the boats across the Channel in particular.
Indeed Reform now tied with the LDs for 3rd party on voteshare and ahead of the Greens
If you assume all of Ref, the LDs and Greens break Tory it'll be a very tight election.
I assume the Ref's may break to Con but the LDs and Greens will stick. There is a nasty part of my head that insists that Ref are the racist element of Con that can't cope with Sunak's skin colour and so will not necessarily return to Con Daddy at election, but I don't know if I'm right.
I've noticed that tweets are back again without having signed on to twitter (or even being a member in my case). Presumably the protests reached even Musk, particularly with the advent of a potential competitor in nuclear war and the end of the world as we know it or Threads for short.
I think direct links work but you cannot just browse?
I'm sure it's been talked about before, but surely one unalloyed good of the Threads thing is the awareness being raised of the BBC TV film, Threads.
Still the most terrifying film I've ever seen. Genuinely brilliant.
yes it is strange that the "other" Threads didn't pop up during the brainstorming at Meta of what to call the damn thing.
I had not heard of this film until I think last year. It was a UK not a global thing (made by BBC). Cleggy is my ageish, 57 or so, so perhaps he as the UK consultant had also not heard of it.
Threads is also a very powerful software concept, e.g. multithreading. That'll be where it comes from: and orders of magnitude more people will know of it in that context rather than from an obscure BBC film from decades ago.
"Professor Lesley Sawers, the 64-year-old Equalities and Human Rights Commissioner for Scotland, has been with RBS for 32 years but two weeks ago, she and her husband Allan McKechnie were told it would be shut next month."
Suspect NatWest being hit by a quarter billion pound fine for poor anti money laundering procedures, reduced somewhat by being co-operative, may drive.some of these account closures.
The whole process doesn't work unless there is some financial benefit to the banks of treating customers proportionately that is of a similar scale to these fines being imposed.
Perhaps the fines could be shared out amongst the banks who have got the balance best (although no idea how that would be calculated).
There needs to be an independent arbitrator, and a right of appeal.
Oh, and whoever at Coutts briefed the press about the financial details of a customer, needs to be struck off.
Breach of GDPR, isn’t it?
Anyone wanted anything on a customer of the bank - I would send them to Legal and/or Compliance. And that’s just internally.
Even stating that X has an account with you sounds like revealing personal information.
Yes but wouldn't be an excellent and amusing irony if Farage resorted to making a complaint that utilises GDPR? That said, though I hate the man, you do have a point, but then they might be OK because he went public, trying to turn his case into a publicity stunt (plus ca change), and they would claim their response was proportionate and justified.
If he wanted to get his own back he could make a "subject access request" under GDPR which would be a bit annoying for them.
I don't think that public spats are a justification for releasing GDPR privileged information - legally, that is.
There are other privacy rules that come into play. Coutts has definitely fucked up here, I think.
@patrickkmaguire Labour lead at 25 points in latest YouGov poll for The Times
CON 22 (-2) LAB 47 (+1) LIB DEM 9 (-1) REF UK 9 (+1) GREEN 7 (=)
Fieldwork 5-6 July
Big 9% for Reform there for Sunak to squeeze by reducing the boats across the Channel in particular.
Indeed Reform now tied with the LDs for 3rd party on voteshare and ahead of the Greens
If you assume all of Ref, the LDs and Greens break Tory it'll be a very tight election.
I think/guess it will be a lot tighter than people assume at the moment.
I am less confident of my 1992 redux prediction, although I'll stick with it. I am less sure of the poster today who suggested that subject to the successful implementation of Rwanda (removal number limits apply) we are back in 2019 winning territory for the Tories.
I've noticed that tweets are back again without having signed on to twitter (or even being a member in my case). Presumably the protests reached even Musk, particularly with the advent of a potential competitor in nuclear war and the end of the world as we know it or Threads for short.
I think direct links work but you cannot just browse?
I'm sure it's been talked about before, but surely one unalloyed good of the Threads thing is the awareness being raised of the BBC TV film, Threads.
Still the most terrifying film I've ever seen. Genuinely brilliant.
yes it is strange that the "other" Threads didn't pop up during the brainstorming at Meta of what to call the damn thing.
I had not heard of this film until I think last year. It was a UK not a global thing (made by BBC). Cleggy is my ageish, 57 or so, so perhaps he as the UK consultant had also not heard of it.
Threads is also a very powerful software concept, e.g. multithreading. That'll be where it comes from: and orders of magnitude more people will know of it in that context rather than from an obscure BBC film from decades ago.
Cost of Euston HS2 terminus could race past £4.8bn estimate, MPs say Overspend blamed on government indecision https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/jul/07/cost-of-euston-hs2-terminus-could-race-past-4-point-8bn-estimate-mps-say ...In a highly critical report, MPs on the committee said the Department for Transport (DfT) was yet to “establish the design and expectations for the station” against what it was “willing to spend”, despite spending more than eight years planning and designing the London terminus...
How many of the DfT civil servants involved, will end up working or consulting for the contractor?
The case of the Webb telescope was interesting - the launch data was ever pushed into the future - https://xkcd.com/2014/. The costs rose - the contractor was simply given money to have an expanding team of people working on it.
They even received bonuses for.. performance.
Jim Bridenstine came in as NASA head, and announced that there would be no more bonuses for failure. And strongly hinted that if the telescope didn't approach launch in the near future, he would recommend termination of the program.
Webb suddenly got well as a program and launched.
Bridenstine was brilliant at NASA - and the Webb telescope is brilliant now that they finally launched it!
Bridenstine was indeed excellent - and an exemplar that even terrible government and leaders can produce the occasional brilliant nugget. I think the current incumbent, Bill Nelson, is terrible - both in policy and communication.
Edit: in the 1980s, Nelson (a congressman at the time) blagged a ride on a Shuttle mission. His crewmates called him 'ballast'. Later, he vociferously argued against politicians shouldn't get to run NASA. Which is what he went on to do...
Comments
1. Increased division in society
2. Boris Johnson (and more broadly the end of conservatives in the Conservative party)
3. Passport queues
EXCLUSIVE:
A year after Johnson quit, just 1 in 4 of voters think Sunak is any better
@yougov
poll for
@TimesRadio
shows more 2019 Tory voters think he is worse than better.
8) It's a conspiracy by the Internationalist Financial Elite (them again, you know... *them*).
With bad news to come, including by-election thrashings, the political narrative may become a death spiral.
Now, in theory, we could just fly people to Rwanda, a jetload a day or a week, and try to forget about them. If it takes ages for their claims to be processed, and they spill out from those lovely flats the Home Secretary went to visit, it's not our problem.
But that's not the story we are telling ourselves- is it?
Still the most terrifying film I've ever seen. Genuinely brilliant.
But yes, the law is a slow beast, and in this case too slow. Its still not even decided if he will be charged in Georgia.
I think the NY case, which is weaker, is due for early next year, so itcl seems pretty easy for lawyers to get all of them pushed back 10 months or so.
Yes, you're right, we could fly a jetload a day or a week to Rwanda and wait for them to be processed there. So long as Rwanda is OK with that (read: so long as we write them a big enough cheque), then that is entirely possible.
Yes a backlog will build up, but that's no different to having a backlog in this country that already exists today.
And as you said, the flow of boats across the Channel would stop if they knew they absolutely definitely would be sent to Rwanda, no ifs, no buts, no equivocation.
The policy works on its merits so long as its actually implemented. Not so long as the throughput is met, since the throughput already isn't met today so that's not new.
8) Coutts doesn't automatically close your bank account because you don't have the requisite liquid assets; and
8a) they wouldn't do it by email. Your personal banker's PA would arrange a call or meeting with you.
9) I think the PEP angle could be interesting because he is a PEP.
10) There is also the reputational risk good/bad/good of having him as a customer and having him as a high profile ex-customer so that would probably be a consideration also.
Indeed Reform now tied with the LDs for 3rd party on voteshare and ahead of the Greens
The benefits of HS2 have been pushed so far into the future that the economic case for it must now be exploded.
There must be a fairly strong case for your lending them your vote at this point.
Hayes is a bullshitter. I know exactly what he is but cannot say on here.
Our story with ADHD is as follows:
We've suspected our youngest had ADHD since she was a toddler - possibly even since before she could walk. As a baby, she always wanted to be both held, and moving - we spent a lot of time with her in a sling or backpack doing housework; later, as a toddler, I remember watching her in her nursery nativity: she did her part brilliantly, but was constantly, constantly shuffling and wriggling for the rest of it. In infant school, after two perfectly normal and well behaved children, it came as something of a shock to be always having to discuss her behaviour: when she was in a good mood, she was fine, but when she was in a bad mood she was unreasonably furious, often at something incredibly trivial, like not being able to draw a triangle. She was never violent towards other children, thankfully, but she often needed to be removed from the classroom. Also, she couldn't really learn. You got, maybe, two or three minutes in which you could explain maths to her, for example, but after that it was clearly really, really hard for her to focus. (Although weirdly, of my three daughters, she has been by far the best reader and the only one who finds spelling easy). And there were a lot of other, more minor symptoms too: she could never sit still at teatime; she was still wetting the bed when she was seven, she was prone to very black moods.
We've done a lot with her to try to address this over the last few years, so it's quite difficult to unpick what is ADHD from what isn't. The first big step forward was when she was about six and we found that she had various food intolerances. It was impractical to address all of them - and I suspect these tests are such that most people find they're intolerant to something to some extent - but she was clearly highly intolerant to dairy, so we cut that out, and that led to an instant step forward in her behaviour, as well as getting her guts sorted (up until the age of six she was still not pooing reliably).
...[cont]...
A local business near me is wanting to rebrand itself and one of the people working there told me recently the name their management is currently favouring and I had to resist laughing when I was told. It is the same name already used as the name of a new Barratt housing estate that is almost directly opposite the premises. When the link was pointed out, all the management denied knowing that the name was the same despite the fact there are signs pointing towards the estate literally outside the business that they'd have been going past daily.
But while her behaviour was better, it was still not good: she was still prone to sudden bouts of rage - and she still clearly couldn't focus. We went down a route of child therapy - I'm not sure how beneficial that was - it may have helped. This was all around the back end of covid, so how much of any frustration she felt was tied up with those fraught times, and having no playmates her own age for months on end, I'm not sure.
And then at the end of infant school (i.e. age 7) we bit the bullet and got her assessed for ADHD. I say 'bit the bullet' because it's very expensive: you can do it on the NHS, but you'd be waiting two or three years, by which time she'd be nearly at senior school and possibly heading for special provision. So we were hoping not to have to go that way. But to go privately, you're looking at paying hundreds or thousands for the clinic, plus, if you go down the medication route, upwards of £80 a month in medication (and some medications are much more expensive). That said, once you get to a position where you are happy that dose of medication is working, you can get care transferred to the NHS - so we are no longer paying that (though will have to pay it again, periodically, when she gets reassessed - as she will have to when she grows, and 30mg is no longer enough). Basically, you need at least a couple of thousand pounds to throw at something which you don't know for sure will work.
That said, based on my experience, I'd encourage you to do it if you strongly suspect you have it and you think you might be able to function better. Having the meds has been transformational for her. She is now actually learning in school, rather than just being there. Everyone who has tried to teach her can tell the difference. She is calmer - there are fewer voices in her head pulling her off in different directions.
...[cont]...
It's worth noting that ADHD meds are very short term - typically you take them first thing in the morning and they have worn off by teatime (if they haven't, you will have trouble sleeping). So they don't fundamentally change you in any way, and - with medical advice - you can come on and off them (some people give themselves a break from them at the weekend - particularly if sleep is an issue). She is still, therefore, the loving, cuddly, lively, slightly crazy kid we have always known and loved. The meds don't change her as a person. (Though we have cycled through a few attempts at getting the right medication and dosage, and we have been able to tell, through her moods, when she is on meds which don't suit her).
As an aside, my understanding is that one of the fundamental issues with ADHD is that your brain doesn't make enough dopamine and serotonin. You are therefore forever trying to make little dopamine hits for yourself - the constant movement is part of this (as are the rather depressive tendencies). The meds are basically stimulants, which do this chemically. Weirdly, prior to medication, one of the ways in which she might have got to sit still was by giving her a can of Diet Coke.
Since we've had her diagnosed, I've come across quite a few adults who have learned late in life that they are, or suspect they are, ADHD. Often, they are of a type - within the bounds of normality, but slightly towards the edges: highly chatty, a tendency to oversharing, slightly intense, usually quite 'up' (but with a tendency to downs, though unless you live with them, you probably don't see this side). For some, medication has been transformational and has allowed them to function on a whole new level (one fella had been going through a loop of medication for various psychiatric conditions which were actually just ADHD, and very easily managed); for others, ADHD is just part of them they can function with (for example, the recruitment consultant, whose job it is to be sociable and outgoing and make connections between people - ADHD is basically who he is and he has no real desire to change it) or have managed it through other means (typically, exercise).
...[cont]...
They even received bonuses for.. performance.
Jim Bridenstine came in as NASA head, and announced that there would be no more bonuses for failure. And strongly hinted that if the telescope didn't approach launch in the near future, he would recommend termination of the program.
Webb suddenly got well as a program and launched.
As a post-script to all this - and this is almost certainly a separate issue - we've come across a thing called retained reflexes. It sounds complete hokum - but the theory is that there are a lot of reflexes that we have as fetuses or babies which most of us lose, but some do not. Some of these reflexes are things like not being able to get your right hand to do things on the left side of your body (which explains her ability with cutlery and her inability with racket sports), others are more emotional - fear of things (she is scared of lots of things - being alone in the bathroom, for example), the need to be with people/physically touching people, instant emotional reactions to quite small things, etc. Things that babies do but which normally get shaken off by early childhood. It's particularly common in caesarian section children (like my daughter) and in children who don't do much playing around the age of 4/5 (i.e. for my daughter, around 2020) - apparently there are a lot of 8 year olds displaying these symptoms currently. The solution to this is a series of exercises, which we are now doing with her each evening, which get the body to drop these reflexes. As I said, it sounds like hokum - but the last four weeks, since we've started doing the exercises, have been amazing. She is pleasant, reasonable, sunny - you can say no to her and she doesn't fly into a rage - you can ask her to brush her teeth and she does so, rather than complaining that she hasn't had enough time on screens yet - I don't think she's been unreasonable or angry in any way since May. Could it be the exercises? Could it be changes at school? Could it be the meds? Could it be her just, finally, growing up? Who knows. But where we are now, this last four weeks, is in a better place than we've been at any time since she was born. I've realised I'm no longer walking on eggshells around her.
Anyway, that's an aside - the conclusion is, while it appears horribly expensive for something slightly speculative, based on my experience, if you and others around you think you have ADHD, you probably have; and if you think it is holding you back, £1000 or so is a small price to pay to start down the road to understanding it. Maybe you'll decide to medicate and maybe you won't, but even if you don't, just having a better understanding of yourself could be transformational.
[end - with apologies for spamming the thread!]
The good news for the Tories from this yougov poll is there’s no Dutch Salute, Lab up to 47 lid Dem down to 9, the opposite of the salute. As HY will correctly say, If that happens on election night it’s a great night for Sunak as he will have more MPs than Major and Hague.
Remember the MoonRabbit polling maxim: It’s not just the size of your LLG (63%) it’s what you do with it.
Was a nightmare as a kid, reportedly (long before any such diagnosis of course).
Call it the vinaigrette theory of politics. In 2019, the oil of Labour and the vinegar of the Lib Dems were mixed up in a way that was tasty for the Conservatives. Now, they've separated out again, and Sunak is looking a rather limp salad.
Toyota claims battery breakthrough in potential boost for electric cars
Japanese firm believes it could make a solid-state battery with a range of 745 miles that charges in 10 minutes
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/jul/04/toyota-claims-battery-breakthrough-electric-cars
No real details yet, so several large pinches of salt necessary.
YBJ
Are you gonna score some runs today
They have also suggested our middle daughter, who is dyslexic, might have ADHD. Apparently ADHD and dyslexia often go togther; it runs in families, and middle daughter has a few traits which might raise a few question marks. But apart from an inability to spell (or to navigate), she manages life just fine, so we've not pursued it for her.
EDIT: the tenor of the article above, sounds to me, as if Toyota are claiming a lab stage breakthrough.
Wish you well with it all.
Somebody should run a poll in which they include a fake choice just for a laugh.
For me personally, I think labelling has its uses, although possibly quite limited.
I was pored over by school educational psychologists in the 1970s when I was about 9 or 10, with a battery of tests and results absolutely typical for the diagnosis of whatever ADHD was branded at the time (it may still have been in the days of 'Minimal Brain Dysfunction' - lovely 😍). Lots with Cubes of Koh and all that and basically a two phase IQ score, where differences between the scores were considered indicative (diagnosis, I understand, has moved on). The difference in IQ score measured for me was 36 points between the two phases, which was considered pretty huge, however, my parents eschewed the formal diagnosis at the end of all this, for the very labelling reasons discussed here (they were quite keen on sending me down the gifted labelling though).
I broadly forgot it, going through the lazy, useless, not right iterations of self-image, whilst alternately succeeding massively and falling, until ADHD came back on my radar in my 30s. Essentially, at this stage I'm self-diagnosed with no medical confirmation. Could get the doc to dig back in my records to the 1970s, I suppose, but paying through the nose or 5 years waiting for a mental health trust to (re-)diagnose - no thanks.
So. I'm labelled and a label gives me something to work with, a basis for understanding, a basis for when to fight and when to self-limit.
Not so much the label itself, but the understanding of how it applies in my life.
It's a long post, but in brief, the main thing is that pre-organisation in my subconscious does not really work, so arbitration of which tasks I should do is very much need to be done as fairly grinding conscious processes, tiebreaks between tasks that might prevent any action need to be caught and thought about.
Some ADHDers embrace the chaos and sometimes give themselves too much license. like Boris. I embrace near autistic levels of structure to tame the chaos. I'm not certain which is the best approach overall.
How do I know everyone's subconscious isn't like mine? Well, it's there occasionally, the plan presented from my subconscious, this, this and this, and clarity occasionally breaks out. It requires the deadline, the big day, the massive surge of adrenaline. I could seek an adrenaline soaked life that drove such clarity, but so much else then by passes my subconscious then that it's unsustainable beyond a couple of weeks.
So, that's my take on labelling, diagnosing vs not. No real conclusion, but some thoughts.
https://www.fca.org.uk/news/press-releases/natwest-fined-264.8million-anti-money-laundering-failures
https://euromaidanpress.com/2023/07/07/frontline-update-russians-try-attacking-ukrainian-bridgehead-in-kherson-get-demolished/?swcfpc=1
https://www.adhddd.com/anti-planner/
Perhaps the fines could be shared out amongst the banks who have got the balance best (although no idea how that would be calculated).
https://xkcd.com/2765/
Oh, and whoever at Coutts briefed the press about the financial details of a customer, needs to be struck off.
They close the accounts of 50 little old ladies, through being overzealous. Nothing happens.
The banks (largely) are doing what the government is asking them to do - be overzealous.
Face eating leopard time.
It is fair to say that school was not a happy place for me though, as an authority driven environment packed with dull and often pointless tasks. I was seen as clever but lazy, which I had kind of internalized as the core of what I am, but actually - I'm not. I work very hard, but in my way.
I can see the same with my son though, already being ground down by homework routines at the age of nine, and I worry about him going into year 6 which is basically the year of SATs. We can't afford the private diagnosis and are going through CAMHS, but it is indeed taking years.
Anyone wanted anything on a customer of the bank - I would send them to Legal and/or Compliance. And that’s just internally.
Even stating that X has an account with you sounds like revealing personal information.
Every time I look this type of stuff up on the internet the organisation stuff all the advice is so long winded and clunky and has so many aspects to it that I despair.
And my own system is barely less clunky and does fall apart on a regular basis.
Might give it a go.
I've just tried googling for this phenom but cannot find it[1]. Can some kind person remind me?
[1] Google does not work for me as well as it did, and the deterioration is noticable
It may feel that way now, it may even have seemed that way at the time.
But it was real.
A lot of 2019 stuff is like that.
I'm not expecting an "I love 2019" nostalgia show.
If he wanted to get his own back he could make a "subject access request" under GDPR which would be a bit annoying for them.
"Political opinion polls: Should there be greater oversight?" House of Lords library "In Focus" series, published Friday, 13 May, 2022
In the 90s, there was a ward in Essex with the marvellous name of 'South Woodham Ferrers Collingwood East and West'.
Scottish local by election, I believe Labour were top of the poll last time, the SNP seat came about because of a multi member vote. So really it is a Labour hold.
Bit like the Maidstone by election, was a Lib Dem seat but was won (top of the poll) last time by the Conservative with the LD second. Lib Dem held their seat but could be seen as a gain for them, interestingly there was a very significant Green surge which put the Conservative third and the Labour vote plunged.
JL Partners poll for 38 Degrees
Beales (Lab) 41%
Tuckwell (Con) 33%
Baquiche (Lib Dem) 6%
Fox (Reclaim) 5%
Green (Green) 4%
Hamilton "Anti Ulez" (Ind) 4%
"Who's winning?"
"Nobody - one side's just losing faster"
There are other privacy rules that come into play. Coutts has definitely fucked up here, I think.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thread_(computing)
Its still funny though.
ETA indeed if I were trying to attack this from Musk's POV the universality of the expression "twitter thread" would be my main line of attack
Edit: in the 1980s, Nelson (a congressman at the time) blagged a ride on a Shuttle mission. His crewmates called him 'ballast'. Later, he vociferously argued against politicians shouldn't get to run NASA. Which is what he went on to do...