"This country isn't racist" vs "I'm desperately afraid of being outnumbered by Black people"
These two views can, apparently, coexist in one mind.
I don't mind what ethnic background or colour people are, or their individual religion but I would not want to live in a country with a majority fundamentalist religion. I don't think of that as racist but in favour of pluralism.
FWIW I don't think it at all likely to happen in the UK before the AI takes over and doesn't care about any of this stuff.....
Andrew Neil recently suggested the difference between Britain and Europe is their immigration tends to be uniformly from one region, whereas ours is from everywhere. Whether there's anything in that, especially beyond France, I'm not sure. Germany is quite diverse, at least in my experience of working for multinational and global megacorps.
I keep being astonished that France have managed to hold onto French Guiana in South America.
It's a proper colony but they've got away with it by folding it into metropolitan France.
One wonders why on earth we didn't do the same, for example, Malta.
Trucial States would have made our finances look slightly different!
Forget Arabia, what about the British North Atlantic colonies?
I'd only be interested if we can somehow leave out the residents of Palm Beach.
Er, I reckon it would have ended up like Torquay with alligators in that alternative universe.
Thunder rumbling around here. Backs up windy which looks similar for Headingley. Can't see too much play today at the cricket
Silverstone doesn’t know whether to be wet or dry. It just went from wet, to dry, to wet, and to dry again, in the space of an 18-lap Fromula 3 race. Somewhat chaotic!
Prost and Piquet racing on the F1 channel at the moment sponsors include Marlboro and Campari. No spoilers please 😅
Mrs Sandpit just described the 1989 cars as looking like toy cars. They’re tiny and fragile things, compared to what they drive today. Pit stops take 10s, the pit crew wear not-fireproof cotton shirts, yes all the tobacco sponsors, photographers standing in front of barriers, broken-down cars left at the side of the track. The only thing the same, is the 100,000 mad spectators - including an 11-year-old me who was there on the Friday.
I'm not sure anyone knows how to control inflation in today's economy now, other than replaying the greatest hits from the 1990s and crossing fingers that a scorched earth policy does the trick. There's a total lack of thinking and leadership.
It's no wonder voters don't warm to that.
You supported the current lack of leadership.
This inflation is being lead by shortage in the supply of energy and food, fundamentally. Those shortages were being addressed by the Truss administration; Sunak's seems to actively embrace such shortages and demand a recession to stop the proles being able to put their heating on and buy so much food.
You're a nutcase on Truss.
I acknowledge her failings but considered her overall mission to be vital. Sunak has utterly wasted everyone's time as was clear from the outset.
Truss was just applying dogma, not intellect. It's one I'd dearly have loved to be true, because I liked the tax policies, but it's fingers in the ears approach to the real world was neither clever nor responsible.
Sunak is clever and works hard, and I think gets some good results, but I don't think his core political skills are sharp enough and he hasn't thought creatively enough on this one and isn't leading from the front
Fixing things one by one behind the scenes isn't enough.
Truss screwed up but was at least asking the right questions. And while her budget collapsed, she did try to course-correct in replace Kwasi with Hunt though by then it was too little, too late.
I am not sure where this notion that Sunak is clever and gets good results comes from.
He's sticking rigidly to dogmas that are not suitable for today, any more than Truss. The problem is that his dogmas are less explosive, but that doesn't mean they're any less flawed.
Those of us who are working and have decades of career still left ahead of us are really getting screwed over by Rishi's failed dogmas.
Truss fans seem to give her a load of credit for understanding that the UK is in a state of managed decline.
Nearly everyone agrees there is managed decline, the differences are on how we deal with that. No credit for "asking the right questions" or "understanding the problems the UK faces".
How has Rishi attempted to deal with that?
Over the last few years his big ideas seem to be.
1. To increase National Insurance, a tax only paid by those who work for a living. 2. To massively increase Income Tax and National Insurance via fiscal drag, lifting more into higher rates of tax. 3. To increase Corporation Tax 4. To put the burden of dealing with inflation almost solely on those paying mortgages and those who are working. 5. All while increasing welfare by inflation to shield those on welfare from the charges.
How does any of that arrest a manage in decline? How is it even trying to?
And if a Labour Chancellor had done all that, then @Casino_Royale would quite deservedly be screaming blue murder at it, not saying its getting good results.
I would characterise the Sunak/Hunt approach as deal with crisis first, then deal with long term later. I disagree with it, as later can, and probably will become even later to the point of never never.
The Truss approach was pretend there is no crisis and at the same time don't bother explaining or testing your policies.
But Sunak's not dealing with the crisis, that's the problem.
If he wanted to put up taxes, then he could and should have put up Income Tax which everybody pays rather than National Insurance which only working people pay.
If he wanted to cut wages, then he could and should have applied that equitably, abolishing the triple lock and not just cutting wages for working people.
If he wanted to tackle inflation he could have taken some anti-inflationary fiscal measures, not leave it just to the Bank to put the burden solely upon mortgage holders.
As @Stuartinromford has said, he's palpably trying to play the system to the electoral system and he's jacking up taxes on people who are working so he can then pretend that he's cutting their taxes with an income tax cut down the line. But unlike when Thatcher took tough choices to then afford a real tax cut later, he's just playing games and dodging the tough choices.
That's not trying to deal with the crisis, its creating a crisis in order to then try to be given credit for resolving it. Its like a firefighter who starts a fire, in order to then be called a hero when they put it out.
"This country isn't racist" vs "I'm desperately afraid of being outnumbered by Black people"
These two views can, apparently, coexist in one mind.
I don't mind what ethnic background or colour people are, or their individual religion but I would not want to live in a country with a majority fundamentalist religion. I don't think of that as racist but in favour of pluralism.
FWIW I don't think it at all likely to happen in the UK before the AI takes over and doesn't care about any of this stuff.....
Andrew Neil recently suggested the difference between Britain and Europe is their immigration tends to be uniformly from one region, whereas ours is from everywhere. Whether there's anything in that, especially beyond France, I'm not sure. Germany is quite diverse, at least in my experience of working for multinational and global megacorps.
I keep being astonished that France have managed to hold onto French Guiana in South America.
It's a proper colony but they've got away with it by folding it into metropolitan France.
One wonders why on earth we didn't do the same, for example, Malta.
"This country isn't racist" vs "I'm desperately afraid of being outnumbered by Black people"
These two views can, apparently, coexist in one mind.
That really depends on your definition of racism. There are many people across the world who would not describe themselves as racist, yet would be uncomfortable with the idea of becoming a minority culture or race within their own country.
I wonder what the Tibetans think about this.
Quite. Or American Indians for that matter.
There’s a difference between “becoming a minority culture” and becoming a minority “race”. I’m British, I am of the British culture, as are the many people who live around me though we vary in skin colour. The white, brown and black kids I see walking to school in the morning, they’re all British. What’s racist is to presume culture = race
To stand that argument up your penultimate sentence should end "they’re all of the British culture." Is that your claim?
I'm not sure anyone knows how to control inflation in today's economy now, other than replaying the greatest hits from the 1990s and crossing fingers that a scorched earth policy does the trick. There's a total lack of thinking and leadership.
It's no wonder voters don't warm to that.
You supported the current lack of leadership.
This inflation is being lead by shortage in the supply of energy and food, fundamentally. Those shortages were being addressed by the Truss administration; Sunak's seems to actively embrace such shortages and demand a recession to stop the proles being able to put their heating on and buy so much food.
You're a nutcase on Truss.
I acknowledge her failings but considered her overall mission to be vital. Sunak has utterly wasted everyone's time as was clear from the outset.
Truss was just applying dogma, not intellect. It's one I'd dearly have loved to be true, because I liked the tax policies, but it's fingers in the ears approach to the real world was neither clever nor responsible.
Sunak is clever and works hard, and I think gets some good results, but I don't think his core political skills are sharp enough and he hasn't thought creatively enough on this one and isn't leading from the front
Fixing things one by one behind the scenes isn't enough.
Truss screwed up but was at least asking the right questions. And while her budget collapsed, she did try to course-correct in replace Kwasi with Hunt though by then it was too little, too late.
I am not sure where this notion that Sunak is clever and gets good results comes from.
He's sticking rigidly to dogmas that are not suitable for today, any more than Truss. The problem is that his dogmas are less explosive, but that doesn't mean they're any less flawed.
Those of us who are working and have decades of career still left ahead of us are really getting screwed over by Rishi's failed dogmas.
Truss fans seem to give her a load of credit for understanding that the UK is in a state of managed decline.
Nearly everyone agrees there is managed decline, the differences are on how we deal with that. No credit for "asking the right questions" or "understanding the problems the UK faces".
How has Rishi attempted to deal with that?
Over the last few years his big ideas seem to be.
1. To increase National Insurance, a tax only paid by those who work for a living. 2. To massively increase Income Tax and National Insurance via fiscal drag, lifting more into higher rates of tax. 3. To increase Corporation Tax 4. To put the burden of dealing with inflation almost solely on those paying mortgages and those who are working. 5. All while increasing welfare by inflation to shield those on welfare from the charges.
How does any of that arrest a manage in decline? How is it even trying to?
And if a Labour Chancellor had done all that, then @Casino_Royale would quite deservedly be screaming blue murder at it, not saying its getting good results.
Also reductions in the income tax allowances for savings and dividends. A direct cut in the latter case but an effective one in the former case for the higher paid because of fiscal drag, as the allowance depends on overall income.
Anyone seen estimates of how much tax the govt will be raising from increased savings interest combined with the lower allowances? Must be substantial?
Mr. kle4, Order of the Stick sounds pretty interesting.
I think the only webcomic I read was 8-Bit Theater. That was pretty fantastic, from fuzzy memory.
Big fan of the anti-climax and villain protagonist was 8 bit theater. Ydoethur should be wary - there was that time one of the main characters made a pun so bad it killed the person it was aimed at.
OOTS honestly I cannot praise enough - with a simple style some amazing images happen later into the story, and every character has layers and proper journeys. It's just a shame the author has health issues so it's not finished yet!
"This country isn't racist" vs "I'm desperately afraid of being outnumbered by Black people"
These two views can, apparently, coexist in one mind.
I don't mind what ethnic background or colour people are, or their individual religion but I would not want to live in a country with a majority fundamentalist religion. I don't think of that as racist but in favour of pluralism.
FWIW I don't think it at all likely to happen in the UK before the AI takes over and doesn't care about any of this stuff.....
Andrew Neil recently suggested the difference between Britain and Europe is their immigration tends to be uniformly from one region, whereas ours is from everywhere. Whether there's anything in that, especially beyond France, I'm not sure. Germany is quite diverse, at least in my experience of working for multinational and global megacorps.
I keep being astonished that France have managed to hold onto French Guiana in South America.
It's a proper colony but they've got away with it by folding it into metropolitan France.
One wonders why on earth we didn't do the same, for example, Malta.
"There were also concerns expressed by some British MPs that the representation of Malta at Westminster would set a precedent for other colonies, and influence the outcome of general elections.[7] "
Five hours ago I left my fat wallet at Camden Road station. En route to Richmond to get drunk with a friend by the river
I duly arrived, bereft, and got drunk, and it was all good and fun, but on the way back home just now, I began to tot up all the hassly expensive things I would now have to do, and how much it would all cost
At Camden Road station I discovered someone had handed in my wallet. Everything inside it intact
Thankyou London and Londoners and that lovely person. This one thing has restored my faith in my city, and in humanity. It doesn't take much, but TA
Bet it was somebody who voted Remain.
Bit gammony having a wallet these days shirley, don't people put stuff in their phone case?
This happened to me twice in London in pre-phone days, wallet handed in intact except for cash.
Only fannies put stuff in their phone case, mainly because they have little to put in. How would a real person like Leon get his huge wad and stack of cards into a stupid phone case. Grow up.
The card is on the phone, and I carry one £5 and one £10 in case I am in a good mood and see an indigent like you begging by the roadside.
The wallet struck me as anachronistic. Was he riding round on a velocipede when it fell out of the pocket of his frock coat?
Why the fuck do you need anything but a phone? It's got multiple cards in it and copies of all the documents/ID I'll ever need.
I find functioning without a phone liberating.
I don't want to be compelled to spend my whole life craning my neck at a tiny screen that I have to continually tap at and charge.
I find functioning with a phone liberating.
I don't look at the screen except for when I need to. And I never carry my wallet with me anymore, I keep my wallet safe and secure at home and only take it out if I have a special reason I think I might need it, like my passport.
People should try my technique, going out 'commando' with neither a phone NOR a 'wallet'. After the initial awkwardness, it feels good. Not for everyone of course.
"This country isn't racist" vs "I'm desperately afraid of being outnumbered by Black people"
These two views can, apparently, coexist in one mind.
I don't mind what ethnic background or colour people are, or their individual religion but I would not want to live in a country with a majority fundamentalist religion. I don't think of that as racist but in favour of pluralism.
FWIW I don't think it at all likely to happen in the UK before the AI takes over and doesn't care about any of this stuff.....
Andrew Neil recently suggested the difference between Britain and Europe is their immigration tends to be uniformly from one region, whereas ours is from everywhere. Whether there's anything in that, especially beyond France, I'm not sure. Germany is quite diverse, at least in my experience of working for multinational and global megacorps.
I keep being astonished that France have managed to hold onto French Guiana in South America.
It's a proper colony but they've got away with it by folding it into metropolitan France.
One wonders why on earth we didn't do the same, for example, Malta.
"There were also concerns expressed by some British MPs that the representation of Malta at Westminster would set a precedent for other colonies, and influence the outcome of general elections.[7] "
Hmmm ...
I wonder if some sort of colour chart was involved in their thinking?
"This country isn't racist" vs "I'm desperately afraid of being outnumbered by Black people"
These two views can, apparently, coexist in one mind.
That really depends on your definition of racism. There are many people across the world who would not describe themselves as racist, yet would be uncomfortable with the idea of becoming a minority culture or race within their own country.
I wonder what the Tibetans think about this.
Quite. Or American Indians for that matter.
There’s a difference between “becoming a minority culture” and becoming a minority “race”. I’m British, I am of the British culture, as are the many people who live around me though we vary in skin colour. The white, brown and black kids I see walking to school in the morning, they’re all British. What’s racist is to presume culture = race
To stand that argument up your penultimate sentence should end "they’re all of the British culture." Is that your claim?
I'm not sure anyone knows how to control inflation in today's economy now, other than replaying the greatest hits from the 1990s and crossing fingers that a scorched earth policy does the trick. There's a total lack of thinking and leadership.
It's no wonder voters don't warm to that.
You supported the current lack of leadership.
This inflation is being lead by shortage in the supply of energy and food, fundamentally. Those shortages were being addressed by the Truss administration; Sunak's seems to actively embrace such shortages and demand a recession to stop the proles being able to put their heating on and buy so much food.
You're a nutcase on Truss.
I acknowledge her failings but considered her overall mission to be vital. Sunak has utterly wasted everyone's time as was clear from the outset.
Truss was just applying dogma, not intellect. It's one I'd dearly have loved to be true, because I liked the tax policies, but it's fingers in the ears approach to the real world was neither clever nor responsible.
Sunak is clever and works hard, and I think gets some good results, but I don't think his core political skills are sharp enough and he hasn't thought creatively enough on this one and isn't leading from the front
Fixing things one by one behind the scenes isn't enough.
Truss screwed up but was at least asking the right questions. And while her budget collapsed, she did try to course-correct in replace Kwasi with Hunt though by then it was too little, too late.
I am not sure where this notion that Sunak is clever and gets good results comes from.
He's sticking rigidly to dogmas that are not suitable for today, any more than Truss. The problem is that his dogmas are less explosive, but that doesn't mean they're any less flawed.
Those of us who are working and have decades of career still left ahead of us are really getting screwed over by Rishi's failed dogmas.
Truss fans seem to give her a load of credit for understanding that the UK is in a state of managed decline.
Nearly everyone agrees there is managed decline, the differences are on how we deal with that. No credit for "asking the right questions" or "understanding the problems the UK faces".
How has Rishi attempted to deal with that?
Over the last few years his big ideas seem to be.
1. To increase National Insurance, a tax only paid by those who work for a living. 2. To massively increase Income Tax and National Insurance via fiscal drag, lifting more into higher rates of tax. 3. To increase Corporation Tax 4. To put the burden of dealing with inflation almost solely on those paying mortgages and those who are working. 5. All while increasing welfare by inflation to shield those on welfare from the charges.
How does any of that arrest a manage in decline? How is it even trying to?
And if a Labour Chancellor had done all that, then @Casino_Royale would quite deservedly be screaming blue murder at it, not saying its getting good results.
I would characterise the Sunak/Hunt approach as deal with crisis first, then deal with long term later. I disagree with it, as later can, and probably will become even later to the point of never never.
The Truss approach was pretend there is no crisis and at the same time don't bother explaining or testing your policies.
But Sunak's not dealing with the crisis, that's the problem.
If he wanted to put up taxes, then he could and should have put up Income Tax which everybody pays rather than National Insurance which only working people pay.
If he wanted to cut wages, then he could and should have applied that equitably, abolishing the triple lock and not just cutting wages for working people.
If he wanted to tackle inflation he could have taken some anti-inflationary fiscal measures, not leave it just to the Bank to put the burden solely upon mortgage holders.
As @Stuartinromford has said, he's palpably trying to play the system to the electoral system and he's jacking up taxes on people who are working so he can then pretend that he's cutting their taxes with an income tax cut down the line. But unlike when Thatcher took tough choices to then afford a real tax cut later, he's just playing games and dodging the tough choices.
That's not trying to deal with the crisis, its creating a crisis in order to then try to be given credit for resolving it. Its like a firefighter who starts a fire, in order to then be called a hero when they put it out.
Not here to support Sunak's policies. I don't doubt that he can see the UK has problems of being in a managed decline just as Truss can though, as can Starmer, Corbyn, Johnson, Farage et al.
According to ITV News Gillian Keegan wants to accept the independent pay review's 6.5% increase recommendation for teacher's pay. Rishi Rich currently believes it to be inflationary and is minded to reject the findings.
How can a pay increase below the rate of inflation be "inflationary"? Surely that is deflationary?
A more fundamental question - and one that may show my ignorance so apologies in advance and thanks to anyone for putting me right
How can any pay rise to teachers in the public sector be inflationary?
As I understand it inflation is measured against the costs of things that we, as the public, buy. Different forms of inflation inlcude different things but in the end they are all about stuff we directly pay for.
But we do not buy state education - we pay for it out of our taxes. Yes ultimately we are paying for it but it is not something that is measured by any of the normal inflation criteria that I am aware of. At worst (and it is of course bad) pay rises for teachers means more Government spending leading to more debt, higher taxes or cuts elsewhere. But it does not mean that the price of anything we are directly paying for goes up.
So how is a public sector pay increase inflationary?
Teachers buy things, too. Also, if government is borrowing to pay public sector suffers, it is increasing the money supply in general. The increase in pay isn't, as you note, linked to any increase in goods or services.
The overall effect is small - but one public sector pay deal influences others.
Above inflation pay rises across the economy are the definition of wage inflation, if pay is increasing faster than the increase in gods and services. More money chasing the same amount of stuff pushes prices up.
That doesn't mean I'm but in favour of a decent settlement fund teachers, btw. And definitely fully funded.
The government's choice is either spend more money or have fewer teachers. Stuff costs what it costs.
To use the language of the times, I think a lot in the public sector are "quiet quitting".
I notice that far more clinics in our outpatients finish by 1230, while previously they were still crowded at that time. A lot of my colleagues don't overbook urgent cases anymore, as was near universal a decade ago. It probably was just hiding capacity gaps in the past.
Beyond a certain point, Aaron Bell's question, Does the Prime Minister think I'm a fool? becomes inescapable.
And whilst there's nothing fundamentally wrong with Rishi being a squillionaire, or having a squillionaire as Prime Minister, there is a problem with him telling other people they can't have an inflation-matching pay rise from his government.
As Senator Gracchus said, he doesn't need to be a man of the people, he needs to try to be a man for the people.
And, ideally, his attempt really should be for them, not just what he thinks is for them.
Five hours ago I left my fat wallet at Camden Road station. En route to Richmond to get drunk with a friend by the river
I duly arrived, bereft, and got drunk, and it was all good and fun, but on the way back home just now, I began to tot up all the hassly expensive things I would now have to do, and how much it would all cost
At Camden Road station I discovered someone had handed in my wallet. Everything inside it intact
Thankyou London and Londoners and that lovely person. This one thing has restored my faith in my city, and in humanity. It doesn't take much, but TA
Bet it was somebody who voted Remain.
Bit gammony having a wallet these days shirley, don't people put stuff in their phone case?
This happened to me twice in London in pre-phone days, wallet handed in intact except for cash.
Only fannies put stuff in their phone case, mainly because they have little to put in. How would a real person like Leon get his huge wad and stack of cards into a stupid phone case. Grow up.
The card is on the phone, and I carry one £5 and one £10 in case I am in a good mood and see an indigent like you begging by the roadside.
The wallet struck me as anachronistic. Was he riding round on a velocipede when it fell out of the pocket of his frock coat?
Why the fuck do you need anything but a phone? It's got multiple cards in it and copies of all the documents/ID I'll ever need.
I find functioning without a phone liberating.
I don't want to be compelled to spend my whole life craning my neck at a tiny screen that I have to continually tap at and charge.
I find functioning with a phone liberating.
I don't look at the screen except for when I need to. And I never carry my wallet with me anymore, I keep my wallet safe and secure at home and only take it out if I have a special reason I think I might need it, like my passport.
Fair enough, and that doesn't work for me.
I like being totally switched off at times.
So do I. You can do that with a phone too, you can turn it off, put it on Do Not Disturb, or Airplane Mode.
You're not a slave to your device, you can choose how to use it. If your usage is feeling unhealthy, you can make the change.
Sounds like when people try to ban office cake on the basis it will tempt some people who are trying to watch their weight - it's still on them to give into the temptation!
"This country isn't racist" vs "I'm desperately afraid of being outnumbered by Black people"
These two views can, apparently, coexist in one mind.
I don't mind what ethnic background or colour people are, or their individual religion but I would not want to live in a country with a majority fundamentalist religion. I don't think of that as racist but in favour of pluralism.
FWIW I don't think it at all likely to happen in the UK before the AI takes over and doesn't care about any of this stuff.....
Andrew Neil recently suggested the difference between Britain and Europe is their immigration tends to be uniformly from one region, whereas ours is from everywhere. Whether there's anything in that, especially beyond France, I'm not sure. Germany is quite diverse, at least in my experience of working for multinational and global megacorps.
I keep being astonished that France have managed to hold onto French Guiana in South America.
It's a proper colony but they've got away with it by folding it into metropolitan France.
One wonders why on earth we didn't do the same, for example, Malta.
"There were also concerns expressed by some British MPs that the representation of Malta at Westminster would set a precedent for other colonies, and influence the outcome of general elections.[7] "
"This country isn't racist" vs "I'm desperately afraid of being outnumbered by Black people"
These two views can, apparently, coexist in one mind.
I don't mind what ethnic background or colour people are, or their individual religion but I would not want to live in a country with a majority fundamentalist religion. I don't think of that as racist but in favour of pluralism.
FWIW I don't think it at all likely to happen in the UK before the AI takes over and doesn't care about any of this stuff.....
Andrew Neil recently suggested the difference between Britain and Europe is their immigration tends to be uniformly from one region, whereas ours is from everywhere. Whether there's anything in that, especially beyond France, I'm not sure. Germany is quite diverse, at least in my experience of working for multinational and global megacorps.
I am not sure I agree with Neil's point, but I believe Germany immigration was until very recently overwhelmingly Eastern Europe particularly a large Turkish population. More recently obviously they took a large number of Syrians. But I don't believe they have ever really had substantial immigrant populations from places like South Asian, Caribbean or Chinese, or even former African colonies.
Here in the UK, we definitely have the large Eastern European immigrant population plus all of those listed previously and dating back 50+ years with likes of the Windrush generation.
The critical issue with the teachers’ pay award is not so much the precise percentage but whether it is matched by a top-up to the National Funding Formula that determines school income. 6.5% isn’t so attractive if it comes with an increased workload as class sizes go up and teaching assistants disappear.
The critical issue with the teachers’ pay award is not so much the precise percentage but whether it is matched by a top-up to the National Funding Formula that determines school income. 6.5% isn’t so attractive if it comes with an increased workload as class sizes go up and teaching assistants disappear.
It's not so much their disappearance as the quality. Right now, absolutely anyone who can obtain a DBS can work as a TA. And you often turn up in the morning with a completely random new face, who needs training up. It's at least a week before they're more trouble than they are worth. Even if they are very good. They don't know the Law, let alone the rules and procedures. Absolutely no guarantee they'll be back the next day. Being literate and numerate isn't a requirement in practice either.
"This country isn't racist" vs "I'm desperately afraid of being outnumbered by Black people"
These two views can, apparently, coexist in one mind.
That really depends on your definition of racism. There are many people across the world who would not describe themselves as racist, yet would be uncomfortable with the idea of becoming a minority culture or race within their own country.
I wonder what the Tibetans think about this.
Quite. Or American Indians for that matter.
There’s a difference between “becoming a minority culture” and becoming a minority “race”. I’m British, I am of the British culture, as are the many people who live around me though we vary in skin colour. The white, brown and black kids I see walking to school in the morning, they’re all British. What’s racist is to presume culture = race
To stand that argument up your penultimate sentence should end "they’re all of the British culture." Is that your claim?
Of course they are!
Does that include the ones whose parents have put a schoolteacher into lifelong hiding for showing a pic of the prophet pbuh?
I'm not sure anyone knows how to control inflation in today's economy now, other than replaying the greatest hits from the 1990s and crossing fingers that a scorched earth policy does the trick. There's a total lack of thinking and leadership.
It's no wonder voters don't warm to that.
You supported the current lack of leadership.
This inflation is being lead by shortage in the supply of energy and food, fundamentally. Those shortages were being addressed by the Truss administration; Sunak's seems to actively embrace such shortages and demand a recession to stop the proles being able to put their heating on and buy so much food.
You're a nutcase on Truss.
I acknowledge her failings but considered her overall mission to be vital. Sunak has utterly wasted everyone's time as was clear from the outset.
Truss was just applying dogma, not intellect. It's one I'd dearly have loved to be true, because I liked the tax policies, but it's fingers in the ears approach to the real world was neither clever nor responsible.
Sunak is clever and works hard, and I think gets some good results, but I don't think his core political skills are sharp enough and he hasn't thought creatively enough on this one and isn't leading from the front
Fixing things one by one behind the scenes isn't enough.
Truss screwed up but was at least asking the right questions. And while her budget collapsed, she did try to course-correct in replace Kwasi with Hunt though by then it was too little, too late.
I am not sure where this notion that Sunak is clever and gets good results comes from.
He's sticking rigidly to dogmas that are not suitable for today, any more than Truss. The problem is that his dogmas are less explosive, but that doesn't mean they're any less flawed.
Those of us who are working and have decades of career still left ahead of us are really getting screwed over by Rishi's failed dogmas.
Truss fans seem to give her a load of credit for understanding that the UK is in a state of managed decline.
Nearly everyone agrees there is managed decline, the differences are on how we deal with that. No credit for "asking the right questions" or "understanding the problems the UK faces".
How has Rishi attempted to deal with that?
Over the last few years his big ideas seem to be.
1. To increase National Insurance, a tax only paid by those who work for a living. 2. To massively increase Income Tax and National Insurance via fiscal drag, lifting more into higher rates of tax. 3. To increase Corporation Tax 4. To put the burden of dealing with inflation almost solely on those paying mortgages and those who are working. 5. All while increasing welfare by inflation to shield those on welfare from the charges.
How does any of that arrest a manage in decline? How is it even trying to?
And if a Labour Chancellor had done all that, then @Casino_Royale would quite deservedly be screaming blue murder at it, not saying its getting good results.
Also reductions in the income tax allowances for savings and dividends. A direct cut in the latter case but an effective one in the former case for the higher paid because of fiscal drag, as the allowance depends on overall income.
Anyone seen estimates of how much tax the govt will be raising from increased savings interest combined with the lower allowances? Must be substantial?
Savings is still IK for non-higher rate, if one is paying tax (it's complex for lower incomes), but of course on an index linked income a pensioner on say 9K state pension is much closer to going over the 12,7K level after a 10% [edit] increase. And savings income has gome up from 1% or less to 4-5% depending on how clued up one is. You only need 20-25K savings outside an ISA to go over the allowance.
As the DM-entariat were going berserk in the comments on a report on that matter recently, I think quite a few people, particularly the Tory clients, will be hit and some will even be brought into PAYE (which hits the marginal working class/poorer pensioners of e.g. the red wall). I wonder if HMRC has the staff to cope?
The critical issue with the teachers’ pay award is not so much the precise percentage but whether it is matched by a top-up to the National Funding Formula that determines school income. 6.5% isn’t so attractive if it comes with an increased workload as class sizes go up and teaching assistants disappear.
The critical issue with the teachers’ pay award is not so much the precise percentage but whether it is matched by a top-up to the National Funding Formula that determines school income. 6.5% isn’t so attractive if it comes with an increased workload as class sizes go up and teaching assistants disappear.
It's not so much their disappearance as the quality. Right now, absolutely anyone who can obtain a DBS can work as a TA. And you often turn up in the morning with a completely random new face, who needs training up. It's at least a week before they're more trouble than they are worth. Even if they are very good. They don't know the Law, let alone the rules and procedures. Absolutely no guarantee they'll be back the next day. Being literate and numerate isn't a requirement in practice either.
... before thjey are *less* trouble, one hopes ...
I'm not sure anyone knows how to control inflation in today's economy now, other than replaying the greatest hits from the 1990s and crossing fingers that a scorched earth policy does the trick. There's a total lack of thinking and leadership.
It's no wonder voters don't warm to that.
You supported the current lack of leadership.
This inflation is being lead by shortage in the supply of energy and food, fundamentally. Those shortages were being addressed by the Truss administration; Sunak's seems to actively embrace such shortages and demand a recession to stop the proles being able to put their heating on and buy so much food.
You're a nutcase on Truss.
I acknowledge her failings but considered her overall mission to be vital. Sunak has utterly wasted everyone's time as was clear from the outset.
Truss was just applying dogma, not intellect. It's one I'd dearly have loved to be true, because I liked the tax policies, but it's fingers in the ears approach to the real world was neither clever nor responsible.
Sunak is clever and works hard, and I think gets some good results, but I don't think his core political skills are sharp enough and he hasn't thought creatively enough on this one and isn't leading from the front
Fixing things one by one behind the scenes isn't enough.
Truss screwed up but was at least asking the right questions. And while her budget collapsed, she did try to course-correct in replace Kwasi with Hunt though by then it was too little, too late.
I am not sure where this notion that Sunak is clever and gets good results comes from.
He's sticking rigidly to dogmas that are not suitable for today, any more than Truss. The problem is that his dogmas are less explosive, but that doesn't mean they're any less flawed.
Those of us who are working and have decades of career still left ahead of us are really getting screwed over by Rishi's failed dogmas.
Truss fans seem to give her a load of credit for understanding that the UK is in a state of managed decline.
Nearly everyone agrees there is managed decline, the differences are on how we deal with that. No credit for "asking the right questions" or "understanding the problems the UK faces".
How has Rishi attempted to deal with that?
Over the last few years his big ideas seem to be.
1. To increase National Insurance, a tax only paid by those who work for a living. 2. To massively increase Income Tax and National Insurance via fiscal drag, lifting more into higher rates of tax. 3. To increase Corporation Tax 4. To put the burden of dealing with inflation almost solely on those paying mortgages and those who are working. 5. All while increasing welfare by inflation to shield those on welfare from the charges.
How does any of that arrest a manage in decline? How is it even trying to?
And if a Labour Chancellor had done all that, then @Casino_Royale would quite deservedly be screaming blue murder at it, not saying its getting good results.
Also reductions in the income tax allowances for savings and dividends. A direct cut in the latter case but an effective one in the former case for the higher paid because of fiscal drag, as the allowance depends on overall income.
Anyone seen estimates of how much tax the govt will be raising from increased savings interest combined with the lower allowances? Must be substantial?
Savings is still IK for non-higher rate, if one is paying tax (it's complex for lower incomes), but of course on an index linked income a pensioner on say 9K state pension is much closer to going over the 12,7K level after a 10K increase. And savings income has gome up from 1% or less to 4-5% depending on how clued up one is. You only need 20-25K savings outside an ISA to go over the allowance.
As the DM-entariat were going berserk in the comments on a report on that matter recently, I think quite a few people, particularly the Tory clients, will be hit and some will even be brought into PAYE (which hits the marginal working class/poorer pensioners of e.g. the red wall). I wonder if HMRC has the staff to cope?
By PAYE do you mean self assessment or am I missing something?
According to ITV News Gillian Keegan wants to accept the independent pay review's 6.5% increase recommendation for teacher's pay. Rishi Rich currently believes it to be inflationary and is minded to reject the findings.
How can a pay increase below the rate of inflation be "inflationary"? Surely that is deflationary?
A more fundamental question - and one that may show my ignorance so apologies in advance and thanks to anyone for putting me right
How can any pay rise to teachers in the public sector be inflationary?
As I understand it inflation is measured against the costs of things that we, as the public, buy. Different forms of inflation inlcude different things but in the end they are all about stuff we directly pay for.
But we do not buy state education - we pay for it out of our taxes. Yes ultimately we are paying for it but it is not something that is measured by any of the normal inflation criteria that I am aware of. At worst (and it is of course bad) pay rises for teachers means more Government spending leading to more debt, higher taxes or cuts elsewhere. But it does not mean that the price of anything we are directly paying for goes up.
So how is a public sector pay increase inflationary?
Teachers buy things, too. Also, if government is borrowing to pay public sector suffers, it is increasing the money supply in general. The increase in pay isn't, as you note, linked to any increase in goods or services.
The overall effect is small - but one public sector pay deal influences others.
Above inflation pay rises across the economy are the definition of wage inflation, if pay is increasing faster than the increase in gods and services. More money chasing the same amount of stuff pushes prices up.
That doesn't mean I'm but in favour of a decent settlement fund teachers, btw. And definitely fully funded.
The government's choice is either spend more money or have fewer teachers. Stuff costs what it costs.
To use the language of the times, I think a lot in the public sector are "quiet quitting".
I notice that far more clinics in our outpatients finish by 1230, while previously they were still crowded at that time. A lot of my colleagues don't overbook urgent cases anymore, as was near universal a decade ago. It probably was just hiding capacity gaps in the past.
Beyond a certain point, Aaron Bell's question, Does the Prime Minister think I'm a fool? becomes inescapable.
And whilst there's nothing fundamentally wrong with Rishi being a squillionaire, or having a squillionaire as Prime Minister, there is a problem with him telling other people they can't have an inflation-matching pay rise from his government.
As Senator Gracchus said, he doesn't need to be a man of the people, he needs to try to be a man for the people.
And, ideally, his attempt really should be for them, not just what he thinks is for them.
Or, at the very least, try to look like he is trying to be a man for the people.
I'm not sure anyone knows how to control inflation in today's economy now, other than replaying the greatest hits from the 1990s and crossing fingers that a scorched earth policy does the trick. There's a total lack of thinking and leadership.
It's no wonder voters don't warm to that.
You supported the current lack of leadership.
This inflation is being lead by shortage in the supply of energy and food, fundamentally. Those shortages were being addressed by the Truss administration; Sunak's seems to actively embrace such shortages and demand a recession to stop the proles being able to put their heating on and buy so much food.
You're a nutcase on Truss.
I acknowledge her failings but considered her overall mission to be vital. Sunak has utterly wasted everyone's time as was clear from the outset.
Truss was just applying dogma, not intellect. It's one I'd dearly have loved to be true, because I liked the tax policies, but it's fingers in the ears approach to the real world was neither clever nor responsible.
Sunak is clever and works hard, and I think gets some good results, but I don't think his core political skills are sharp enough and he hasn't thought creatively enough on this one and isn't leading from the front
Fixing things one by one behind the scenes isn't enough.
Truss screwed up but was at least asking the right questions. And while her budget collapsed, she did try to course-correct in replace Kwasi with Hunt though by then it was too little, too late.
I am not sure where this notion that Sunak is clever and gets good results comes from.
He's sticking rigidly to dogmas that are not suitable for today, any more than Truss. The problem is that his dogmas are less explosive, but that doesn't mean they're any less flawed.
Those of us who are working and have decades of career still left ahead of us are really getting screwed over by Rishi's failed dogmas.
Truss fans seem to give her a load of credit for understanding that the UK is in a state of managed decline.
Nearly everyone agrees there is managed decline, the differences are on how we deal with that. No credit for "asking the right questions" or "understanding the problems the UK faces".
How has Rishi attempted to deal with that?
Over the last few years his big ideas seem to be.
1. To increase National Insurance, a tax only paid by those who work for a living. 2. To massively increase Income Tax and National Insurance via fiscal drag, lifting more into higher rates of tax. 3. To increase Corporation Tax 4. To put the burden of dealing with inflation almost solely on those paying mortgages and those who are working. 5. All while increasing welfare by inflation to shield those on welfare from the charges.
How does any of that arrest a manage in decline? How is it even trying to?
And if a Labour Chancellor had done all that, then @Casino_Royale would quite deservedly be screaming blue murder at it, not saying its getting good results.
I would characterise the Sunak/Hunt approach as deal with crisis first, then deal with long term later. I disagree with it, as later can, and probably will become even later to the point of never never.
The Truss approach was pretend there is no crisis and at the same time don't bother explaining or testing your policies.
But Sunak's not dealing with the crisis, that's the problem.
If he wanted to put up taxes, then he could and should have put up Income Tax which everybody pays rather than National Insurance which only working people pay.
If he wanted to cut wages, then he could and should have applied that equitably, abolishing the triple lock and not just cutting wages for working people.
If he wanted to tackle inflation he could have taken some anti-inflationary fiscal measures, not leave it just to the Bank to put the burden solely upon mortgage holders.
As @Stuartinromford has said, he's palpably trying to play the system to the electoral system and he's jacking up taxes on people who are working so he can then pretend that he's cutting their taxes with an income tax cut down the line. But unlike when Thatcher took tough choices to then afford a real tax cut later, he's just playing games and dodging the tough choices.
That's not trying to deal with the crisis, its creating a crisis in order to then try to be given credit for resolving it. Its like a firefighter who starts a fire, in order to then be called a hero when they put it out.
Not here to support Sunak's policies. I don't doubt that he can see the UK has problems of being in a managed decline just as Truss can though, as can Starmer, Corbyn, Johnson, Farage et al.
I don't see any evidence he thinks its a problem, rather than what he's there to do.
Like you, I'm not defending Truss's policies, she royally screwed up. But the first step of dealing with a problem is to acknowledge there's a problem, and I've never seen Sunak acknowledge it or show any interest in resolving it.
Not saying Truss is the solution, but its not a binary choice, and Sunak isn't the solution either.
"This country isn't racist" vs "I'm desperately afraid of being outnumbered by Black people"
These two views can, apparently, coexist in one mind.
That really depends on your definition of racism. There are many people across the world who would not describe themselves as racist, yet would be uncomfortable with the idea of becoming a minority culture or race within their own country.
I wonder what the Tibetans think about this.
Quite. Or American Indians for that matter.
There’s a difference between “becoming a minority culture” and becoming a minority “race”. I’m British, I am of the British culture, as are the many people who live around me though we vary in skin colour. The white, brown and black kids I see walking to school in the morning, they’re all British. What’s racist is to presume culture = race
To stand that argument up your penultimate sentence should end "they’re all of the British culture." Is that your claim?
Of course they are!
Does that include the ones whose parents have put a schoolteacher into lifelong hiding for showing a pic of the prophet pbuh?
Kids aren’t responsible for their parents’ behaviour.
Five hours ago I left my fat wallet at Camden Road station. En route to Richmond to get drunk with a friend by the river
I duly arrived, bereft, and got drunk, and it was all good and fun, but on the way back home just now, I began to tot up all the hassly expensive things I would now have to do, and how much it would all cost
At Camden Road station I discovered someone had handed in my wallet. Everything inside it intact
Thankyou London and Londoners and that lovely person. This one thing has restored my faith in my city, and in humanity. It doesn't take much, but TA
Bet it was somebody who voted Remain.
Bit gammony having a wallet these days shirley, don't people put stuff in their phone case?
This happened to me twice in London in pre-phone days, wallet handed in intact except for cash.
Only fannies put stuff in their phone case, mainly because they have little to put in. How would a real person like Leon get his huge wad and stack of cards into a stupid phone case. Grow up.
The card is on the phone, and I carry one £5 and one £10 in case I am in a good mood and see an indigent like you begging by the roadside.
The wallet struck me as anachronistic. Was he riding round on a velocipede when it fell out of the pocket of his frock coat?
Why the fuck do you need anything but a phone? It's got multiple cards in it and copies of all the documents/ID I'll ever need.
Yes, like most people, I stopped taking a wallet out with me some time ago. It sits at home with my cards in for use as a backup in the event that I should lose my phone.
"This country isn't racist" vs "I'm desperately afraid of being outnumbered by Black people"
These two views can, apparently, coexist in one mind.
I don't mind what ethnic background or colour people are, or their individual religion but I would not want to live in a country with a majority fundamentalist religion. I don't think of that as racist but in favour of pluralism.
FWIW I don't think it at all likely to happen in the UK before the AI takes over and doesn't care about any of this stuff.....
Andrew Neil recently suggested the difference between Britain and Europe is their immigration tends to be uniformly from one region, whereas ours is from everywhere. Whether there's anything in that, especially beyond France, I'm not sure. Germany is quite diverse, at least in my experience of working for multinational and global megacorps.
I keep being astonished that France have managed to hold onto French Guiana in South America.
It's a proper colony but they've got away with it by folding it into metropolitan France.
One wonders why on earth we didn't do the same, for example, Malta.
"There were also concerns expressed by some British MPs that the representation of Malta at Westminster would set a precedent for other colonies, and influence the outcome of general elections.[7] "
Hmmm ...
I wonder if some sort of colour chart was involved in their thinking?
I'm not sure anyone knows how to control inflation in today's economy now, other than replaying the greatest hits from the 1990s and crossing fingers that a scorched earth policy does the trick. There's a total lack of thinking and leadership.
It's no wonder voters don't warm to that.
You supported the current lack of leadership.
This inflation is being lead by shortage in the supply of energy and food, fundamentally. Those shortages were being addressed by the Truss administration; Sunak's seems to actively embrace such shortages and demand a recession to stop the proles being able to put their heating on and buy so much food.
You're a nutcase on Truss.
That's generous of you, adding those last 2 words.
There seems to have been a transition from 'Truss didn't have time to see if her plans would work' - which ignores that she was too incompetent to stay in office for half the length of the previous shortest serving PM ever, which is a good indication she is not very good - to 'Truss's plans would definitely or were working' and I guess people just hate progress.
I didn't go into the Truss premiership thinking she'd be awful. On the contrary, I didn't really get why some people disliked her so much.
But her defenders continually rely on saying she was right about the need to do something different (despite her election platform being in part that Boris was right about everything and should not have gone*), and then maintaining that that means that what she was doing was right. Ssometimes they concede she had not prepared properly, but that's a pretty f*cking big part of taking things in a new direction, planning for it properly.
That's like saying I took the wrong turning and need to u-turn, and so I just turn into oncoming traffic without checking and cause a pile up, but that's ok because I did need to turn around.
* Sorry, i forgot, we're now pretending that mean old Rishi wouldn't let Boris change direction, and even though he was PM he really wanted to change to do what Truss planned.
The critical issue with the teachers’ pay award is not so much the precise percentage but whether it is matched by a top-up to the National Funding Formula that determines school income. 6.5% isn’t so attractive if it comes with an increased workload as class sizes go up and teaching assistants disappear.
The critical issue with the teachers’ pay award is not so much the precise percentage but whether it is matched by a top-up to the National Funding Formula that determines school income. 6.5% isn’t so attractive if it comes with an increased workload as class sizes go up and teaching assistants disappear.
It's not so much their disappearance as the quality. Right now, absolutely anyone who can obtain a DBS can work as a TA. And you often turn up in the morning with a completely random new face, who needs training up. It's at least a week before they're more trouble than they are worth. Even if they are very good. They don't know the Law, let alone the rules and procedures. Absolutely no guarantee they'll be back the next day. Being literate and numerate isn't a requirement in practice either.
An excellent point, and presumably the workload for the teacher could increase more with an inexperienced/incompetent TA in the classroom than if they weren’t there at all.
"This country isn't racist" vs "I'm desperately afraid of being outnumbered by Black people"
These two views can, apparently, coexist in one mind.
That really depends on your definition of racism. There are many people across the world who would not describe themselves as racist, yet would be uncomfortable with the idea of becoming a minority culture or race within their own country.
I wonder what the Tibetans think about this.
Quite. Or American Indians for that matter.
There’s a difference between “becoming a minority culture” and becoming a minority “race”. I’m British, I am of the British culture, as are the many people who live around me though we vary in skin colour. The white, brown and black kids I see walking to school in the morning, they’re all British. What’s racist is to presume culture = race
To stand that argument up your penultimate sentence should end "they’re all of the British culture." Is that your claim?
Of course they are!
Does that include the ones whose parents have put a schoolteacher into lifelong hiding for showing a pic of the prophet pbuh?
Kids aren’t responsible for their parents’ behaviour.
OK so there are adults who are not part of British culture?
"This country isn't racist" vs "I'm desperately afraid of being outnumbered by Black people"
These two views can, apparently, coexist in one mind.
I don't mind what ethnic background or colour people are, or their individual religion but I would not want to live in a country with a majority fundamentalist religion. I don't think of that as racist but in favour of pluralism.
FWIW I don't think it at all likely to happen in the UK before the AI takes over and doesn't care about any of this stuff.....
Andrew Neil recently suggested the difference between Britain and Europe is their immigration tends to be uniformly from one region, whereas ours is from everywhere. Whether there's anything in that, especially beyond France, I'm not sure. Germany is quite diverse, at least in my experience of working for multinational and global megacorps.
I keep being astonished that France have managed to hold onto French Guiana in South America.
It's a proper colony but they've got away with it by folding it into metropolitan France.
One wonders why on earth we didn't do the same, for example, Malta.
"This country isn't racist" vs "I'm desperately afraid of being outnumbered by Black people"
These two views can, apparently, coexist in one mind.
That really depends on your definition of racism. There are many people across the world who would not describe themselves as racist, yet would be uncomfortable with the idea of becoming a minority culture or race within their own country.
I wonder what the Tibetans think about this.
Quite. Or American Indians for that matter.
There’s a difference between “becoming a minority culture” and becoming a minority “race”. I’m British, I am of the British culture, as are the many people who live around me though we vary in skin colour. The white, brown and black kids I see walking to school in the morning, they’re all British. What’s racist is to presume culture = race
To stand that argument up your penultimate sentence should end "they’re all of the British culture." Is that your claim?
Of course they are!
Does that include the ones whose parents have put a schoolteacher into lifelong hiding for showing a pic of the prophet pbuh?
That has absolutely nothing to do with skin colour, and I think you'll find there are reprehensible white people and people of all other colours who cause others to go into hiding too.
We should tackle those who are reprehensible or threaten violence regardless of race.
Horseshoe theory applies here too. I have more in common with educated, liberal British people who are white, brown, black, Asian or any other ethnic background than I do the fatwa-wielding zealots, or white skinhead thugs.
And the white skinhead thugs and the fatwa-wielding zealots have more in common with each other than they do with me.
"This country isn't racist" vs "I'm desperately afraid of being outnumbered by Black people"
These two views can, apparently, coexist in one mind.
I don't mind what ethnic background or colour people are, or their individual religion but I would not want to live in a country with a majority fundamentalist religion. I don't think of that as racist but in favour of pluralism.
FWIW I don't think it at all likely to happen in the UK before the AI takes over and doesn't care about any of this stuff.....
Andrew Neil recently suggested the difference between Britain and Europe is their immigration tends to be uniformly from one region, whereas ours is from everywhere. Whether there's anything in that, especially beyond France, I'm not sure. Germany is quite diverse, at least in my experience of working for multinational and global megacorps.
I keep being astonished that France have managed to hold onto French Guiana in South America.
It's a proper colony but they've got away with it by folding it into metropolitan France.
One wonders why on earth we didn't do the same, for example, Malta.
"There were also concerns expressed by some British MPs that the representation of Malta at Westminster would set a precedent for other colonies, and influence the outcome of general elections.[7] "
Hmmm ...
I wonder if some sort of colour chart was involved in their thinking?
I'm not sure anyone knows how to control inflation in today's economy now, other than replaying the greatest hits from the 1990s and crossing fingers that a scorched earth policy does the trick. There's a total lack of thinking and leadership.
It's no wonder voters don't warm to that.
You supported the current lack of leadership.
This inflation is being lead by shortage in the supply of energy and food, fundamentally. Those shortages were being addressed by the Truss administration; Sunak's seems to actively embrace such shortages and demand a recession to stop the proles being able to put their heating on and buy so much food.
You're a nutcase on Truss.
I acknowledge her failings but considered her overall mission to be vital. Sunak has utterly wasted everyone's time as was clear from the outset.
Truss was just applying dogma, not intellect. It's one I'd dearly have loved to be true, because I liked the tax policies, but it's fingers in the ears approach to the real world was neither clever nor responsible.
Sunak is clever and works hard, and I think gets some good results, but I don't think his core political skills are sharp enough and he hasn't thought creatively enough on this one and isn't leading from the front
Fixing things one by one behind the scenes isn't enough.
Truss screwed up but was at least asking the right questions. And while her budget collapsed, she did try to course-correct in replace Kwasi with Hunt though by then it was too little, too late.
I am not sure where this notion that Sunak is clever and gets good results comes from.
He's sticking rigidly to dogmas that are not suitable for today, any more than Truss. The problem is that his dogmas are less explosive, but that doesn't mean they're any less flawed.
Those of us who are working and have decades of career still left ahead of us are really getting screwed over by Rishi's failed dogmas.
Truss fans seem to give her a load of credit for understanding that the UK is in a state of managed decline.
Nearly everyone agrees there is managed decline, the differences are on how we deal with that. No credit for "asking the right questions" or "understanding the problems the UK faces".
How has Rishi attempted to deal with that?
Over the last few years his big ideas seem to be.
1. To increase National Insurance, a tax only paid by those who work for a living. 2. To massively increase Income Tax and National Insurance via fiscal drag, lifting more into higher rates of tax. 3. To increase Corporation Tax 4. To put the burden of dealing with inflation almost solely on those paying mortgages and those who are working. 5. All while increasing welfare by inflation to shield those on welfare from the charges.
How does any of that arrest a manage in decline? How is it even trying to?
And if a Labour Chancellor had done all that, then @Casino_Royale would quite deservedly be screaming blue murder at it, not saying its getting good results.
I would characterise the Sunak/Hunt approach as deal with crisis first, then deal with long term later. I disagree with it, as later can, and probably will become even later to the point of never never.
The Truss approach was pretend there is no crisis and at the same time don't bother explaining or testing your policies.
I think that is almost right. She did believe there was a crisis, of sorts, but her policy to deal with it was not explained or tested, and included elements which seemed to have nothing to do with the crisis or direction she was talking about and were just unfunded giveaways to please a very narrow section of her base. Then she whinged when people complained. (and her cohorts now whinge that if only she'd been given more time, ignoring that inability to get that time was utterly damning on her abilities).
Sunak and Hunt were about playing for time, and hoping something would come up. It hasn't, and their plans don't go beyond that as we're still in crisis mode.
They're screwed, and us with it, but rewriting history isn't going to work.
"This country isn't racist" vs "I'm desperately afraid of being outnumbered by Black people"
These two views can, apparently, coexist in one mind.
That really depends on your definition of racism. There are many people across the world who would not describe themselves as racist, yet would be uncomfortable with the idea of becoming a minority culture or race within their own country.
I wonder what the Tibetans think about this.
Quite. Or American Indians for that matter.
There’s a difference between “becoming a minority culture” and becoming a minority “race”. I’m British, I am of the British culture, as are the many people who live around me though we vary in skin colour. The white, brown and black kids I see walking to school in the morning, they’re all British. What’s racist is to presume culture = race
To stand that argument up your penultimate sentence should end "they’re all of the British culture." Is that your claim?
Of course they are!
Does that include the ones whose parents have put a schoolteacher into lifelong hiding for showing a pic of the prophet pbuh?
That has absolutely nothing to do with skin colour, and I think you'll find there are reprehensible white people and people of all other colours who cause others to go into hiding too.
We should tackle those who are reprehensible or threaten violence regardless of race.
Horseshoe theory applies here too. I have more in common with educated, liberal British people who are white, brown, black, Asian or any other ethnic background than I do the fatwa-wielding zealots, or white skinhead thugs.
And the white skinhead thugs and the fatwa-wielding zealots have more in common with each other than they do with me.
Looks to me a lot like culturally driven behaviour where the culture is not distinctively British, which was the point.
These modern cricketers are triggered very easily....i got infinitely worse when i made my debut as 13-14 in adult local league cricket. I batted out 20 overs for a draw away from home & not only did i get constant abuse from the opposition when i walked off having saved the game a load of old timers made a beeline for me & haranged me for playing the most f##king boring cricket they had ever seen.
"This country isn't racist" vs "I'm desperately afraid of being outnumbered by Black people"
These two views can, apparently, coexist in one mind.
That really depends on your definition of racism. There are many people across the world who would not describe themselves as racist, yet would be uncomfortable with the idea of becoming a minority culture or race within their own country.
I wonder what the Tibetans think about this.
Quite. Or American Indians for that matter.
There’s a difference between “becoming a minority culture” and becoming a minority “race”. I’m British, I am of the British culture, as are the many people who live around me though we vary in skin colour. The white, brown and black kids I see walking to school in the morning, they’re all British. What’s racist is to presume culture = race
To stand that argument up your penultimate sentence should end "they’re all of the British culture." Is that your claim?
Of course they are!
Does that include the ones whose parents have put a schoolteacher into lifelong hiding for showing a pic of the prophet pbuh?
That has absolutely nothing to do with skin colour, and I think you'll find there are reprehensible white people and people of all other colours who cause others to go into hiding too.
We should tackle those who are reprehensible or threaten violence regardless of race.
Horseshoe theory applies here too. I have more in common with educated, liberal British people who are white, brown, black, Asian or any other ethnic background than I do the fatwa-wielding zealots, or white skinhead thugs.
And the white skinhead thugs and the fatwa-wielding zealots have more in common with each other than they do with me.
Looks to me a lot like culturally driven behaviour where the culture is not distinctively British, which was the point.
What do you define as distinctively British culture?
Is a white gangbanger who murders an innocent woman who just happened to be in a pub on Christmas Eve engaged in "distinctively British" culture?
"This country isn't racist" vs "I'm desperately afraid of being outnumbered by Black people"
These two views can, apparently, coexist in one mind.
That really depends on your definition of racism. There are many people across the world who would not describe themselves as racist, yet would be uncomfortable with the idea of becoming a minority culture or race within their own country.
I wonder what the Tibetans think about this.
Quite. Or American Indians for that matter.
There’s a difference between “becoming a minority culture” and becoming a minority “race”. I’m British, I am of the British culture, as are the many people who live around me though we vary in skin colour. The white, brown and black kids I see walking to school in the morning, they’re all British. What’s racist is to presume culture = race
To stand that argument up your penultimate sentence should end "they’re all of the British culture." Is that your claim?
Of course they are!
Does that include the ones whose parents have put a schoolteacher into lifelong hiding for showing a pic of the prophet pbuh?
That has absolutely nothing to do with skin colour, and I think you'll find there are reprehensible white people and people of all other colours who cause others to go into hiding too.
We should tackle those who are reprehensible or threaten violence regardless of race.
Horseshoe theory applies here too. I have more in common with educated, liberal British people who are white, brown, black, Asian or any other ethnic background than I do the fatwa-wielding zealots, or white skinhead thugs.
And the white skinhead thugs and the fatwa-wielding zealots have more in common with each other than they do with me.
Looks to me a lot like culturally driven behaviour where the culture is not distinctively British, which was the point.
What do you define as distinctively British culture?
Is a white gangbanger who murders an innocent woman who just happened to be in a pub on Christmas Eve engaged in "distinctively British" culture?
"This country isn't racist" vs "I'm desperately afraid of being outnumbered by Black people"
These two views can, apparently, coexist in one mind.
If an Afghan said “I’m not racist but I’d rather my country didn’t become majority white and Christian, unless the Afghan people approve of it in a vote” you wouldn’t accuse them of hypocrisy. Yet for white British people it is unacceptable to say this?
These modern cricketers are triggered very easily....i got infinitely worse when i made my debut as 13-14 in adult local league cricket. I batted out 20 overs for a draw away from home & not only did i get constant abuse from the opposition when i walked off having saved the game a load of old timers made a beeline for me & haranged me for playing the most f##king boring cricket they had ever seen.
If Smith doesn't like what Bairstow said then Bairstow could call him a cheater next time - it's 100% true after all as he confessed to it and was banned for it, so it does it even count as sledging or insulting?
"This country isn't racist" vs "I'm desperately afraid of being outnumbered by Black people"
These two views can, apparently, coexist in one mind.
If an Afghan said “I’m not racist but I’d rather my country didn’t become majority white and Christian, unless the Afghan people approve of it in a vote” you wouldn’t accuse them of hypocrisy. Yet for white British people it is unacceptable to say this?
Unless Dorries either gets a peerage or a satisfactory explanation why she didn't then there likely won't be a by election. She won't stand down to annoy everyone
These modern cricketers are triggered very easily....i got infinitely worse when i made my debut as 13-14 in adult local league cricket. I batted out 20 overs for a draw away from home & not only did i get constant abuse from the opposition when i walked off having saved the game a load of old timers made a beeline for me & haranged me for playing the most f##king boring cricket they had ever seen.
If Smith doesn't like what Bairstow said then Bairstow could call him a cheater next time - it's 100% true after all as he confessed to it and was banned for it, so it does it even count as sledging or insulting?
Bairstow could of course just say, 'that took a bit out of your bat, d'you need sandpaper?'
These modern cricketers are triggered very easily....i got infinitely worse when i made my debut as 13-14 in adult local league cricket. I batted out 20 overs for a draw away from home & not only did i get constant abuse from the opposition when i walked off having saved the game a load of old timers made a beeline for me & haranged me for playing the most f##king boring cricket they had ever seen.
If Smith doesn't like what Bairstow said then Bairstow could call him a cheater next time - it's 100% true after all as he confessed to it and was banned for it, so it does it even count as sledging or insulting?
If I was Bairstow, I would have some sandpaper ready to pull out and ask if he would sign it. Now that's some proper sledging.
Unless Dorries either gets a peerage or a satisfactory explanation why she didn't then there likely won't be a by election. She won't stand down to annoy everyone
Is she petulant and insane enough to stand in Mid Beds at the next General Election?
"This country isn't racist" vs "I'm desperately afraid of being outnumbered by Black people"
These two views can, apparently, coexist in one mind.
That really depends on your definition of racism. There are many people across the world who would not describe themselves as racist, yet would be uncomfortable with the idea of becoming a minority culture or race within their own country.
I wonder what the Tibetans think about this.
Quite. Or American Indians for that matter.
There’s a difference between “becoming a minority culture” and becoming a minority “race”. I’m British, I am of the British culture, as are the many people who live around me though we vary in skin colour. The white, brown and black kids I see walking to school in the morning, they’re all British. What’s racist is to presume culture = race
To stand that argument up your penultimate sentence should end "they’re all of the British culture." Is that your claim?
Of course they are!
Does that include the ones whose parents have put a schoolteacher into lifelong hiding for showing a pic of the prophet pbuh?
Kids aren’t responsible for their parents’ behaviour.
OK so there are adults who are not part of British culture?
Sure. I don’t think everyone in the world is part of British culture.
Five hours ago I left my fat wallet at Camden Road station. En route to Richmond to get drunk with a friend by the river
I duly arrived, bereft, and got drunk, and it was all good and fun, but on the way back home just now, I began to tot up all the hassly expensive things I would now have to do, and how much it would all cost
At Camden Road station I discovered someone had handed in my wallet. Everything inside it intact
Thankyou London and Londoners and that lovely person. This one thing has restored my faith in my city, and in humanity. It doesn't take much, but TA
Bet it was somebody who voted Remain.
Bit gammony having a wallet these days shirley, don't people put stuff in their phone case?
This happened to me twice in London in pre-phone days, wallet handed in intact except for cash.
Only fannies put stuff in their phone case, mainly because they have little to put in. How would a real person like Leon get his huge wad and stack of cards into a stupid phone case. Grow up.
The card is on the phone, and I carry one £5 and one £10 in case I am in a good mood and see an indigent like you begging by the roadside.
The wallet struck me as anachronistic. Was he riding round on a velocipede when it fell out of the pocket of his frock coat?
Why the fuck do you need anything but a phone? It's got multiple cards in it and copies of all the documents/ID I'll ever need.
Press card for the Gazette, driving license, plus credit cards in case my phone fails/battery dies so you lose Apple Pay. Not everywhere takes Apple Pay and so on
An interesting parliamentary exchange between John Redwood and a certain sword-bearer:
It's difficult to tell how old JR is because he looks like a Cyberman constructed from Pek luncheon meat. I looked it up and the prick is 72! We could have to put up with his prolix Nacht und Nebel decrees for another 10 years.
Look on the bright side - Rees-Mogg is 54, we could have him for another 30.
Five hours ago I left my fat wallet at Camden Road station. En route to Richmond to get drunk with a friend by the river
I duly arrived, bereft, and got drunk, and it was all good and fun, but on the way back home just now, I began to tot up all the hassly expensive things I would now have to do, and how much it would all cost
At Camden Road station I discovered someone had handed in my wallet. Everything inside it intact
Thankyou London and Londoners and that lovely person. This one thing has restored my faith in my city, and in humanity. It doesn't take much, but TA
Bet it was somebody who voted Remain.
Bit gammony having a wallet these days shirley, don't people put stuff in their phone case?
This happened to me twice in London in pre-phone days, wallet handed in intact except for cash.
But that’s even worse if you lose it. Phone AND everything else
But you are monitoring it the whole time. I have to check about every 90 seconds for evidence of people being wrong on the internet.
lol true. But losing your phone is nonetheless quite traumatic. I had mine snatched a few months ago. Not nice
Tho I did admire the skill with which this Remainery young kid sailed his e-bike past me and plucked the phone from my hand with nary a wobble, and sped away. I could see the phone on my map as it disappeared into Belsize Park. @kinabalu-land. Woke Central
Presumably you were able to track it on your other phone.
Well, yes. And my iPads. It was quite exciting watching it whizz about London
"This country isn't racist" vs "I'm desperately afraid of being outnumbered by Black people"
These two views can, apparently, coexist in one mind.
That really depends on your definition of racism. There are many people across the world who would not describe themselves as racist, yet would be uncomfortable with the idea of becoming a minority culture or race within their own country.
I wonder what the Tibetans think about this.
Quite. Or American Indians for that matter.
There’s a difference between “becoming a minority culture” and becoming a minority “race”. I’m British, I am of the British culture, as are the many people who live around me though we vary in skin colour. The white, brown and black kids I see walking to school in the morning, they’re all British. What’s racist is to presume culture = race
To stand that argument up your penultimate sentence should end "they’re all of the British culture." Is that your claim?
Of course they are!
Does that include the ones whose parents have put a schoolteacher into lifelong hiding for showing a pic of the prophet pbuh?
That has absolutely nothing to do with skin colour, and I think you'll find there are reprehensible white people and people of all other colours who cause others to go into hiding too.
We should tackle those who are reprehensible or threaten violence regardless of race.
Horseshoe theory applies here too. I have more in common with educated, liberal British people who are white, brown, black, Asian or any other ethnic background than I do the fatwa-wielding zealots, or white skinhead thugs.
And the white skinhead thugs and the fatwa-wielding zealots have more in common with each other than they do with me.
Looks to me a lot like culturally driven behaviour where the culture is not distinctively British, which was the point.
What do you define as distinctively British culture?
Is a white gangbanger who murders an innocent woman who just happened to be in a pub on Christmas Eve engaged in "distinctively British" culture?
"This country isn't racist" vs "I'm desperately afraid of being outnumbered by Black people"
These two views can, apparently, coexist in one mind.
That really depends on your definition of racism. There are many people across the world who would not describe themselves as racist, yet would be uncomfortable with the idea of becoming a minority culture or race within their own country.
I wonder what the Tibetans think about this.
Quite. Or American Indians for that matter.
There’s a difference between “becoming a minority culture” and becoming a minority “race”. I’m British, I am of the British culture, as are the many people who live around me though we vary in skin colour. The white, brown and black kids I see walking to school in the morning, they’re all British. What’s racist is to presume culture = race
To stand that argument up your penultimate sentence should end "they’re all of the British culture." Is that your claim?
Of course they are!
Does that include the ones whose parents have put a schoolteacher into lifelong hiding for showing a pic of the prophet pbuh?
Kids aren’t responsible for their parents’ behaviour.
OK so there are adults who are not part of British culture?
Sure. I don’t think everyone in the world is part of British culture.
Unless Dorries either gets a peerage or a satisfactory explanation why she didn't then there likely won't be a by election. She won't stand down to annoy everyone
That justification is such a load of nonsense.
For one, she was standing down to annoy Rishi, since in the present climate the seat is very losable. It's one less seat loss as she sticks around, so it's annoying but not less so for him.
For two, she's had an explanation. The 'satisfactory' part is a pretext for her to insist she wants more of one when all the relevant information has been provided.
She thought it was sorted, Boris told her it was, but it wasn't. She should know better than to rely on his assessment, rather than check it out herself.
"This country isn't racist" vs "I'm desperately afraid of being outnumbered by Black people"
These two views can, apparently, coexist in one mind.
That really depends on your definition of racism. There are many people across the world who would not describe themselves as racist, yet would be uncomfortable with the idea of becoming a minority culture or race within their own country.
I wonder what the Tibetans think about this.
Quite. Or American Indians for that matter.
There’s a difference between “becoming a minority culture” and becoming a minority “race”. I’m British, I am of the British culture, as are the many people who live around me though we vary in skin colour. The white, brown and black kids I see walking to school in the morning, they’re all British. What’s racist is to presume culture = race
To stand that argument up your penultimate sentence should end "they’re all of the British culture." Is that your claim?
Of course they are!
Does that include the ones whose parents have put a schoolteacher into lifelong hiding for showing a pic of the prophet pbuh?
That has absolutely nothing to do with skin colour, and I think you'll find there are reprehensible white people and people of all other colours who cause others to go into hiding too.
We should tackle those who are reprehensible or threaten violence regardless of race.
Horseshoe theory applies here too. I have more in common with educated, liberal British people who are white, brown, black, Asian or any other ethnic background than I do the fatwa-wielding zealots, or white skinhead thugs.
And the white skinhead thugs and the fatwa-wielding zealots have more in common with each other than they do with me.
Looks to me a lot like culturally driven behaviour where the culture is not distinctively British, which was the point.
What do you define as distinctively British culture?
Is a white gangbanger who murders an innocent woman who just happened to be in a pub on Christmas Eve engaged in "distinctively British" culture?
There seems to be debate about what was said before the officer shot the driver Out of interest, do the French police not wear body cams? It seems to me issuing every officer with a body cam is just the easiest way of ensuring if you get a situation like this you can quickly find out the truth.
I believe that is what happened with the guy who got shot when "hard stopped" by the police in London. His family were initially all for the police were wrong, bad, the officer needs to be charged, then they were shown the body cam footage and quickly became very quiet on the matter, as it is reported he was ramming the police cars / driving at officers.
"This country isn't racist" vs "I'm desperately afraid of being outnumbered by Black people"
These two views can, apparently, coexist in one mind.
That really depends on your definition of racism. There are many people across the world who would not describe themselves as racist, yet would be uncomfortable with the idea of becoming a minority culture or race within their own country.
I wonder what the Tibetans think about this.
Quite. Or American Indians for that matter.
There’s a difference between “becoming a minority culture” and becoming a minority “race”. I’m British, I am of the British culture, as are the many people who live around me though we vary in skin colour. The white, brown and black kids I see walking to school in the morning, they’re all British. What’s racist is to presume culture = race
To stand that argument up your penultimate sentence should end "they’re all of the British culture." Is that your claim?
Of course they are!
Does that include the ones whose parents have put a schoolteacher into lifelong hiding for showing a pic of the prophet pbuh?
That has absolutely nothing to do with skin colour, and I think you'll find there are reprehensible white people and people of all other colours who cause others to go into hiding too.
We should tackle those who are reprehensible or threaten violence regardless of race.
Horseshoe theory applies here too. I have more in common with educated, liberal British people who are white, brown, black, Asian or any other ethnic background than I do the fatwa-wielding zealots, or white skinhead thugs.
And the white skinhead thugs and the fatwa-wielding zealots have more in common with each other than they do with me.
Looks to me a lot like culturally driven behaviour where the culture is not distinctively British, which was the point.
What do you define as distinctively British culture?
Is a white gangbanger who murders an innocent woman who just happened to be in a pub on Christmas Eve engaged in "distinctively British" culture?
"This country isn't racist" vs "I'm desperately afraid of being outnumbered by Black people"
These two views can, apparently, coexist in one mind.
That really depends on your definition of racism. There are many people across the world who would not describe themselves as racist, yet would be uncomfortable with the idea of becoming a minority culture or race within their own country.
I wonder what the Tibetans think about this.
Quite. Or American Indians for that matter.
There’s a difference between “becoming a minority culture” and becoming a minority “race”. I’m British, I am of the British culture, as are the many people who live around me though we vary in skin colour. The white, brown and black kids I see walking to school in the morning, they’re all British. What’s racist is to presume culture = race
To stand that argument up your penultimate sentence should end "they’re all of the British culture." Is that your claim?
Of course they are!
Does that include the ones whose parents have put a schoolteacher into lifelong hiding for showing a pic of the prophet pbuh?
Kids aren’t responsible for their parents’ behaviour.
OK so there are adults who are not part of British culture?
Sure. I don’t think everyone in the world is part of British culture.
But in the UK?
I don’t think everyone in the UK is part of British culture. I don’t think the instant someone sets foot in the UK, they instantly have an opinion on Marmite. Of course not.
"This country isn't racist" vs "I'm desperately afraid of being outnumbered by Black people"
These two views can, apparently, coexist in one mind.
That really depends on your definition of racism. There are many people across the world who would not describe themselves as racist, yet would be uncomfortable with the idea of becoming a minority culture or race within their own country.
I wonder what the Tibetans think about this.
Quite. Or American Indians for that matter.
There’s a difference between “becoming a minority culture” and becoming a minority “race”. I’m British, I am of the British culture, as are the many people who live around me though we vary in skin colour. The white, brown and black kids I see walking to school in the morning, they’re all British. What’s racist is to presume culture = race
To stand that argument up your penultimate sentence should end "they’re all of the British culture." Is that your claim?
Of course they are!
Does that include the ones whose parents have put a schoolteacher into lifelong hiding for showing a pic of the prophet pbuh?
Kids aren’t responsible for their parents’ behaviour.
OK so there are adults who are not part of British culture?
Sure. I don’t think everyone in the world is part of British culture.
But in the UK?
I don’t think everyone in the UK is part of British culture. I don’t think the instant someone sets foot in the UK, they instantly have an opinion on Marmite. Of course not.
There are people who have lived in the UK for many many years, who have no opinion about marmite!
These modern cricketers are triggered very easily....i got infinitely worse when i made my debut as 13-14 in adult local league cricket. I batted out 20 overs for a draw away from home & not only did i get constant abuse from the opposition when i walked off having saved the game a load of old timers made a beeline for me & haranged me for playing the most f##king boring cricket they had ever seen.
If Smith doesn't like what Bairstow said then Bairstow could call him a cheater next time - it's 100% true after all as he confessed to it and was banned for it, so it does it even count as sledging or insulting?
If I was Bairstow, I would have some sandpaper ready to pull out and ask if he would sign it. Now that's some proper sledging.
Would definitely turn up with a sheet of sandpaper and a pen if I was going to watch, and see if I could get the convicts to sign it!
"This country isn't racist" vs "I'm desperately afraid of being outnumbered by Black people"
These two views can, apparently, coexist in one mind.
I don't mind what ethnic background or colour people are, or their individual religion but I would not want to live in a country with a majority fundamentalist religion. I don't think of that as racist but in favour of pluralism.
FWIW I don't think it at all likely to happen in the UK before the AI takes over and doesn't care about any of this stuff.....
Andrew Neil recently suggested the difference between Britain and Europe is their immigration tends to be uniformly from one region, whereas ours is from everywhere. Whether there's anything in that, especially beyond France, I'm not sure. Germany is quite diverse, at least in my experience of working for multinational and global megacorps.
I keep being astonished that France have managed to hold onto French Guiana in South America.
It's a proper colony but they've got away with it by folding it into metropolitan France.
One wonders why on earth we didn't do the same, for example, Malta.
These modern cricketers are triggered very easily....i got infinitely worse when i made my debut as 13-14 in adult local league cricket. I batted out 20 overs for a draw away from home & not only did i get constant abuse from the opposition when i walked off having saved the game a load of old timers made a beeline for me & haranged me for playing the most f##king boring cricket they had ever seen.
If Smith doesn't like what Bairstow said then Bairstow could call him a cheater next time - it's 100% true after all as he confessed to it and was banned for it, so it does it even count as sledging or insulting?
If I was Bairstow, I would have some sandpaper ready to pull out and ask if he would sign it. Now that's some proper sledging.
Would definitely turn up with a sheet of sandpaper and a pen if I was going to watch, and see if I could get the convicts to sign it!
The ultimate troll would be to do it in such a way that it doesn't appear they are signing sand paper, then once they have done so, reveal what they have done.
Five hours ago I left my fat wallet at Camden Road station. En route to Richmond to get drunk with a friend by the river
I duly arrived, bereft, and got drunk, and it was all good and fun, but on the way back home just now, I began to tot up all the hassly expensive things I would now have to do, and how much it would all cost
At Camden Road station I discovered someone had handed in my wallet. Everything inside it intact
Thankyou London and Londoners and that lovely person. This one thing has restored my faith in my city, and in humanity. It doesn't take much, but TA
Lovely story. In 1993, as a callow 19 year old on my gap yah, I rocked up to Los Angeles Greyhound Bus Station. Realising that there was sod all I could do in LA without a car, I decided to get the next bus to wherever I was going next (can’t remember TBH). While waiting in the line to get on a breathless young man ran after me with my wallet that I had left in the waiting room containing all the cash I had. People are genuinely decent much of the time.
Unless Dorries either gets a peerage or a satisfactory explanation why she didn't then there likely won't be a by election. She won't stand down to annoy everyone
It’s classy touches like that that make the modern Tory Party what it is.
Unless Dorries either gets a peerage or a satisfactory explanation why she didn't then there likely won't be a by election. She won't stand down to annoy everyone
It’s classy touches like that that make the modern Tory Party what it is.
Rishi should give Nad a peerage just to point out it was Boris who let her down, because that's what Boris does.
These modern cricketers are triggered very easily....i got infinitely worse when i made my debut as 13-14 in adult local league cricket. I batted out 20 overs for a draw away from home & not only did i get constant abuse from the opposition when i walked off having saved the game a load of old timers made a beeline for me & haranged me for playing the most f##king boring cricket they had ever seen.
If Smith doesn't like what Bairstow said then Bairstow could call him a cheater next time - it's 100% true after all as he confessed to it and was banned for it, so it does it even count as sledging or insulting?
If I was Bairstow, I would have some sandpaper ready to pull out and ask if he would sign it. Now that's some proper sledging.
Would definitely turn up with a sheet of sandpaper and a pen if I was going to watch, and see if I could get the convicts to sign it!
The ultimate troll would be to do it in such a way that it doesn't appear they are signing sand paper, then once they have done so, reveal what they have done.
From my limited experience of competing against and with Australians they have a sort of smirking regard for gamesmanship and cheating. They prefer to win ugly and would probably be delighted to sign it.
They cheated like fuck in the infamous UK/Aus vs USMC rugby match in Basra and were proud of it. Five players had to be medevaced to Bahrain after that particular exemplar of the Corinthian spirit. A RAN Clearance Diver squirrel gripped the Italian ref to incapacitate him so that the carnage could proceed without invigilation.
Five hours ago I left my fat wallet at Camden Road station. En route to Richmond to get drunk with a friend by the river
I duly arrived, bereft, and got drunk, and it was all good and fun, but on the way back home just now, I began to tot up all the hassly expensive things I would now have to do, and how much it would all cost
At Camden Road station I discovered someone had handed in my wallet. Everything inside it intact
Thankyou London and Londoners and that lovely person. This one thing has restored my faith in my city, and in humanity. It doesn't take much, but TA
Bet it was somebody who voted Remain.
Bit gammony having a wallet these days shirley, don't people put stuff in their phone case?
This happened to me twice in London in pre-phone days, wallet handed in intact except for cash.
Only fannies put stuff in their phone case, mainly because they have little to put in. How would a real person like Leon get his huge wad and stack of cards into a stupid phone case. Grow up.
The card is on the phone, and I carry one £5 and one £10 in case I am in a good mood and see an indigent like you begging by the roadside.
The wallet struck me as anachronistic. Was he riding round on a velocipede when it fell out of the pocket of his frock coat?
Why the fuck do you need anything but a phone? It's got multiple cards in it and copies of all the documents/ID I'll ever need.
I find functioning without a phone liberating.
I don't want to be compelled to spend my whole life craning my neck at a tiny screen that I have to continually tap at and charge.
I find functioning with a phone liberating.
I don't look at the screen except for when I need to. And I never carry my wallet with me anymore, I keep my wallet safe and secure at home and only take it out if I have a special reason I think I might need it, like my passport.
Fair enough, and that doesn't work for me.
I like being totally switched off at times.
So do I. You can do that with a phone too, you can turn it off, put it on Do Not Disturb, or Airplane Mode.
You're not a slave to your device, you can choose how to use it. If your usage is feeling unhealthy, you can make the change.
Sounds like when people try to ban office cake on the basis it will tempt some people who are trying to watch their weight - it's still on them to give into the temptation!
Besides which none of them disable tracking, some of don't see a need to provide that data to google/the police/governments
An interesting parliamentary exchange between John Redwood and a certain sword-bearer:
It's difficult to tell how old JR is because he looks like a Cyberman constructed from Pek luncheon meat. I looked it up and the prick is 72! We could have to put up with his prolix Nacht und Nebel decrees for another 10 years.
Has Dorries done anything in her capacity as an MP, such as claimed her salary, or any kind of expenses, or enjoyed any kind of perks, since she "resigned" supposedly with immediate effect?
How much of a personality-retarded pillock is it possible to look? "I only resigned because they told me I could be a baroness, and if I can't be a baroness then sorry, folks, I'm un-resigning." And Lindsay Hoyle just keeps his mouth shut. He should step in and tell the silly cow to stop f*cking her constituents and the Commons around. You're not supposed to be able to resign as an MP. If you want to stop being one, there's a procedure. Follow it or STFU.
These modern cricketers are triggered very easily....i got infinitely worse when i made my debut as 13-14 in adult local league cricket. I batted out 20 overs for a draw away from home & not only did i get constant abuse from the opposition when i walked off having saved the game a load of old timers made a beeline for me & haranged me for playing the most f##king boring cricket they had ever seen.
If Smith doesn't like what Bairstow said then Bairstow could call him a cheater next time - it's 100% true after all as he confessed to it and was banned for it, so it does it even count as sledging or insulting?
If I was Bairstow, I would have some sandpaper ready to pull out and ask if he would sign it. Now that's some proper sledging.
Would definitely turn up with a sheet of sandpaper and a pen if I was going to watch, and see if I could get the convicts to sign it!
The ultimate troll would be to do it in such a way that it doesn't appear they are signing sand paper, then once they have done so, reveal what they have done.
From my limited experience of competing against and with Australians they have a sort of smirking regard for gamesmanship and cheating. They prefer to win ugly and would probably be delighted to sign it.
They cheated like fuck in the infamous UK/Aus vs USMC rugby match in Basra and were proud of it. Five players had to be medevaced to Bahrain after that particular exemplar of the Corinthian spirit. A RAN Clearance Diver squirrel gripped the Italian ref to incapacitate him so that the carnage could proceed without invigilation.
Its like they are all descended from criminals or something....
These modern cricketers are triggered very easily....i got infinitely worse when i made my debut as 13-14 in adult local league cricket. I batted out 20 overs for a draw away from home & not only did i get constant abuse from the opposition when i walked off having saved the game a load of old timers made a beeline for me & haranged me for playing the most f##king boring cricket they had ever seen.
If Smith doesn't like what Bairstow said then Bairstow could call him a cheater next time - it's 100% true after all as he confessed to it and was banned for it, so it does it even count as sledging or insulting?
If I was Bairstow, I would have some sandpaper ready to pull out and ask if he would sign it. Now that's some proper sledging.
Would definitely turn up with a sheet of sandpaper and a pen if I was going to watch, and see if I could get the convicts to sign it!
The ultimate troll would be to do it in such a way that it doesn't appear they are signing sand paper, then once they have done so, reveal what they have done.
From my limited experience of competing against and with Australians they have a sort of smirking regard for gamesmanship and cheating. They prefer to win ugly and would probably be delighted to sign it.
They cheated like fuck in the infamous UK/Aus vs USMC rugby match in Basra and were proud of it. Five players had to be medevaced to Bahrain after that particular exemplar of the Corinthian spirit. A RAN Clearance Diver squirrel gripped the Italian ref to incapacitate him so that the carnage could proceed without invigilation.
Does "grip" have some pervy meaning that only sailors know about?
Would you resign your seat if you have no bench in either of the Houses accompanied by no income and title from Westminster?.
I've thought of a line she might use. "I wanted to serve the people for the whole of the rest of my life in the upper house [*], but if that's no longer possible then I am determined to serve the people in the lower house at least until the next general election."
* Never mind that life peers have no representative responsibilities whatsoever.
I just love the reactions of airport security staff when I tell them that I'm travelling to the International Herpesvirus Workshop. Excellent double-take from the lady on the Delta desk this morning #IHW2023. "Are there... A lot of you?" https://twitter.com/DrCJ_Houldcroft/status/1677208551779979266
I'm not sure anyone knows how to control inflation in today's economy now, other than replaying the greatest hits from the 1990s and crossing fingers that a scorched earth policy does the trick. There's a total lack of thinking and leadership.
It's no wonder voters don't warm to that.
You supported the current lack of leadership.
This inflation is being lead by shortage in the supply of energy and food, fundamentally. Those shortages were being addressed by the Truss administration; Sunak's seems to actively embrace such shortages and demand a recession to stop the proles being able to put their heating on and buy so much food.
You're a nutcase on Truss.
That's generous of you, adding those last 2 words.
There seems to have been a transition from 'Truss didn't have time to see if her plans would work' - which ignores that she was too incompetent to stay in office for half the length of the previous shortest serving PM ever, which is a good indication she is not very good - to 'Truss's plans would definitely or were working' and I guess people just hate progress.
I didn't go into the Truss premiership thinking she'd be awful. On the contrary, I didn't really get why some people disliked her so much.
But her defenders continually rely on saying she was right about the need to do something different (despite her election platform being in part that Boris was right about everything and should not have gone*), and then maintaining that that means that what she was doing was right. Ssometimes they concede she had not prepared properly, but that's a pretty f*cking big part of taking things in a new direction, planning for it properly.
That's like saying I took the wrong turning and need to u-turn, and so I just turn into oncoming traffic without checking and cause a pile up, but that's ok because I did need to turn around.
* Sorry, i forgot, we're now pretending that mean old Rishi wouldn't let Boris change direction, and even though he was PM he really wanted to change to do what Truss planned.
Assuming I've managed to comprehend this rather incoherent sulky screed, you're accusing me of ramping up my 'Trussism' in the face of Sunak's increasing floundering, attempting to re-write history.
Actually my view has remained consistent. I always believed that Truss was right to seek to cut taxes, and that her programme of growth measures (which was fully released at a later stage) would have been extremely beneficial to our economy. She was right to warn about the dangers of windfall taxes on the energy industry, and the rise in Corporation Tax, both of which have already proven highly negative in the event. She correctly identified that we needed to produce more of our own food, and more of our own energy. It's easy to claim that such ideas are hardly rocket science, but if they are that easy, why isn't the current Government doing them?
Would you resign your seat if you have no bench in either of the Houses accompanied by no income and title from Westminster?.
I've thought of a line she might use. "I wanted to serve the people for the whole of the rest of my life in the upper house [*], but if that's no longer possible then I am determined to serve the people in the lower house at least until the next general election."
* Never mind that life peers have no representative responsibilities whatsoever.
So she should - but she's already implied she would, once she got answers, so she's boxed herself in.
These modern cricketers are triggered very easily....i got infinitely worse when i made my debut as 13-14 in adult local league cricket. I batted out 20 overs for a draw away from home & not only did i get constant abuse from the opposition when i walked off having saved the game a load of old timers made a beeline for me & haranged me for playing the most f##king boring cricket they had ever seen.
If Smith doesn't like what Bairstow said then Bairstow could call him a cheater next time - it's 100% true after all as he confessed to it and was banned for it, so it does it even count as sledging or insulting?
If I was Bairstow, I would have some sandpaper ready to pull out and ask if he would sign it. Now that's some proper sledging.
Would definitely turn up with a sheet of sandpaper and a pen if I was going to watch, and see if I could get the convicts to sign it!
The ultimate troll would be to do it in such a way that it doesn't appear they are signing sand paper, then once they have done so, reveal what they have done.
From my limited experience of competing against and with Australians they have a sort of smirking regard for gamesmanship and cheating. They prefer to win ugly and would probably be delighted to sign it.
They cheated like fuck in the infamous UK/Aus vs USMC rugby match in Basra and were proud of it. Five players had to be medevaced to Bahrain after that particular exemplar of the Corinthian spirit. A RAN Clearance Diver squirrel gripped the Italian ref to incapacitate him so that the carnage could proceed without invigilation.
Does "grip" have some pervy meaning that only sailors know about?
The verb is "to squirrel grip". Vide Urban Dictionary.
Grip on its own is a verb used mainly by brown jobs.
1946 Take the Faroe Islands independent 1955 Keep Sweden driving on the left (despite drivers' seats also being on the left) 1956 Integrate Malta 1991 Don't rename Leningrad
Comments
If he wanted to put up taxes, then he could and should have put up Income Tax which everybody pays rather than National Insurance which only working people pay.
If he wanted to cut wages, then he could and should have applied that equitably, abolishing the triple lock and not just cutting wages for working people.
If he wanted to tackle inflation he could have taken some anti-inflationary fiscal measures, not leave it just to the Bank to put the burden solely upon mortgage holders.
As @Stuartinromford has said, he's palpably trying to play the system to the electoral system and he's jacking up taxes on people who are working so he can then pretend that he's cutting their taxes with an income tax cut down the line. But unlike when Thatcher took tough choices to then afford a real tax cut later, he's just playing games and dodging the tough choices.
That's not trying to deal with the crisis, its creating a crisis in order to then try to be given credit for resolving it. Its like a firefighter who starts a fire, in order to then be called a hero when they put it out.
OOTS honestly I cannot praise enough - with a simple style some amazing images happen later into the story, and every character has layers and proper journeys. It's just a shame the author has health issues so it's not finished yet!
Hmmm ...
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tax/news/parents-put-children-spain-boarding-school-labour-tax-raid/
If that doesn't make SKS think again, what will?
And, ideally, his attempt really should be for them, not just what he thinks is for them.
And you often turn up in the morning with a completely random new face, who needs training up. It's at least a week before they're more trouble than they are worth. Even if they are very good. They don't know the Law, let alone the rules and procedures.
Absolutely no guarantee they'll be back the next day.
Being literate and numerate isn't a requirement in practice either.
As the DM-entariat were going berserk in the comments on a report on that matter recently, I think quite a few people, particularly the Tory clients, will be hit and some will even be brought into PAYE (which hits the marginal working class/poorer pensioners of e.g. the red wall). I wonder if HMRC has the staff to cope?
Like you, I'm not defending Truss's policies, she royally screwed up. But the first step of dealing with a problem is to acknowledge there's a problem, and I've never seen Sunak acknowledge it or show any interest in resolving it.
Not saying Truss is the solution, but its not a binary choice, and Sunak isn't the solution either.
I didn't go into the Truss premiership thinking she'd be awful. On the contrary, I didn't really get why some people disliked her so much.
But her defenders continually rely on saying she was right about the need to do something different (despite her election platform being in part that Boris was right about everything and should not have gone*), and then maintaining that that means that what she was doing was right. Ssometimes they concede she had not prepared properly, but that's a pretty f*cking big part of taking things in a new direction, planning for it properly.
That's like saying I took the wrong turning and need to u-turn, and so I just turn into oncoming traffic without checking and cause a pile up, but that's ok because I did need to turn around.
* Sorry, i forgot, we're now pretending that mean old Rishi wouldn't let Boris change direction, and even though he was PM he really wanted to change to do what Truss planned.
We should tackle those who are reprehensible or threaten violence regardless of race.
Horseshoe theory applies here too. I have more in common with educated, liberal British people who are white, brown, black, Asian or any other ethnic background than I do the fatwa-wielding zealots, or white skinhead thugs.
And the white skinhead thugs and the fatwa-wielding zealots have more in common with each other than they do with me.
Sunak and Hunt were about playing for time, and hoping something would come up. It hasn't, and their plans don't go beyond that as we're still in crisis mode.
They're screwed, and us with it, but rewriting history isn't going to work.
These modern cricketers are triggered very easily....i got infinitely worse when i made my debut as 13-14 in adult local league cricket. I batted out 20 overs for a draw away from home & not only did i get constant abuse from the opposition when i walked off having saved the game a load of old timers made a beeline for me & haranged me for playing the most f##king boring cricket they had ever seen.
Is a white gangbanger who murders an innocent woman who just happened to be in a pub on Christmas Eve engaged in "distinctively British" culture?
https://www.merseyside.police.uk/news/merseyside/news/2023/connor-chapman-jailed-for-life-to-serve-a-minimum-of-48-years---for-the-murder-of-elle-edwards/
Take your racism and shove it where the sun doesn't shine.
Take your racism and shove it where the sun doesn't shine.
Lefties are ridiculous twats, part 297
For one, she was standing down to annoy Rishi, since in the present climate the seat is very losable. It's one less seat loss as she sticks around, so it's annoying but not less so for him.
For two, she's had an explanation. The 'satisfactory' part is a pretext for her to insist she wants more of one when all the relevant information has been provided.
She thought it was sorted, Boris told her it was, but it wasn't. She should know better than to rely on his assessment, rather than check it out herself.
But the problem between French suburbs and French police goes much deeper than occasional eruptions of fireworks and Molotov cocktails.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-66133676
There seems to be debate about what was said before the officer shot the driver Out of interest, do the French police not wear body cams? It seems to me issuing every officer with a body cam is just the easiest way of ensuring if you get a situation like this you can quickly find out the truth.
I believe that is what happened with the guy who got shot when "hard stopped" by the police in London. His family were initially all for the police were wrong, bad, the officer needs to be charged, then they were shown the body cam footage and quickly became very quiet on the matter, as it is reported he was ramming the police cars / driving at officers.
You seem to.
Too soon?
Unwise, IMHO.
They cheated like fuck in the infamous UK/Aus vs USMC rugby match in Basra and were proud of it. Five players had to be medevaced to Bahrain after that particular exemplar of the Corinthian spirit. A RAN Clearance Diver squirrel gripped the Italian ref to incapacitate him so that the carnage could proceed without invigilation.
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/07/07/europe/turkey-ukraine-nato-membership-intl/index.html
How much of a personality-retarded pillock is it possible to look? "I only resigned because they told me I could be a baroness, and if I can't be a baroness then sorry, folks, I'm un-resigning." And Lindsay Hoyle just keeps his mouth shut. He should step in and tell the silly cow to stop f*cking her constituents and the Commons around. You're not supposed to be able to resign as an MP. If you want to stop being one, there's a procedure. Follow it or STFU.
* Never mind that life peers have no representative responsibilities whatsoever.
https://twitter.com/DrCJ_Houldcroft/status/1677208551779979266
Actually my view has remained consistent. I always believed that Truss was right to seek to cut taxes, and that her programme of growth measures (which was fully released at a later stage) would have been extremely beneficial to our economy. She was right to warn about the dangers of windfall taxes on the energy industry, and the rise in Corporation Tax, both of which have already proven highly negative in the event. She correctly identified that we needed to produce more of our own food, and more of our own energy. It's easy to claim that such ideas are hardly rocket science, but if they are that easy, why isn't the current Government doing them?
@BartholomewRoberts’s attack on Rishi upthread is devastatingly accurate.
Grip on its own is a verb used mainly by brown jobs.
1946 Take the Faroe Islands independent
1955 Keep Sweden driving on the left (despite drivers' seats also being on the left)
1956 Integrate Malta
1991 Don't rename Leningrad
Defense of Ukraine
@DefenceU
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1h
President @ZelenskyyUa visited Snake Island in the Black Sea today.
No russian warships are nearby.