Yes yes, rats leaving a sinking ship and all that, but only about 1/4 of the Cabinet were MPs before 2010, Wallace included, so he's practically a veteran compared to most of them.
Another one off the next leader list.
I couldn't really see his appeal, but I struggle with Tory leaders betting because I don't really see the appeal of any of them.
I am warming towards Jenrick as a decent bet for the Conservative leader after next. He is so ruthlessly ambitious in the vein of Alan B'stard, and I don't believe I have come across a politician quite so slimy in my 60 plus years.
Ones like Jenrick who are super ambitious and just approaching the age and career experience to start thinking about top jobs will be super desperate to get something now, since with losing office a real possibility soon they may be in the mix where they have too much baggage to be seen as a fresh option to revitalise the party, but also not yet experienced enough to be a safe pair of hands to rebuild after a loss. Then they face the prospect of 1-2 terms out of office, and for people hitting their peak now, that amount of time will see them looked past.
Newark has been pretty unfortunate with its last few MPs.
They had Fiona Jones who fiddled her election spending and then got away with it because she claimed the rules were too difficult to understand (even though everyone else had managed it and the rules weren't subsequently changed)
Then they had Patrick Mercer who went from being a decent bloke to a crook in a matter of a few years.
And now they have Jenrick, the worst of the lot - someone who gives snake oil salesmen a bad name.
Pat Mercer became bad during his time as an MP. Jenrick has a head start on it and is living down to his potential
steve richards @steverichards14 · 1h Much of K Starmer’s Observer article tomorrow is lifted word for word from T Blair post 97 eg :“It will mean moving from a one-size-fits-all approach to bespoke services that work for people..”Never before has a leader imitated a predecessor so overtly..a curious experiment.
Affirms my earlier comments but for Starmer he will inherit a far worse economy than Blair
I still have a 20 seat majority Sunak Government.
There seems to be far more of a spring in the PB Tory step with better polling against Labour and since last night's IHT revelation.
steve richards @steverichards14 · 1h Much of K Starmer’s Observer article tomorrow is lifted word for word from T Blair post 97 eg :“It will mean moving from a one-size-fits-all approach to bespoke services that work for people..”Never before has a leader imitated a predecessor so overtly..a curious experiment.
Affirms my earlier comments but for Starmer he will inherit a far worse economy than Blair
I still have a 20 seat majority Sunak Government.
There seems to be far more of a spring in the PB Tory step with better polling against Labour and since last night's IHT revelation.
You are very brave
I expect Starmer to lead a majority Labour government but not sure the margins
. Here’s RFK Jr. suggesting that COVID was “ethnically targeted” to spare Chinese and Jews. This kind of bullshit is toxic to our society. Responsible media would write this guy off now. https://twitter.com/MarkJacob16/status/1680223533807415298
Yes yes, rats leaving a sinking ship and all that, but only about 1/4 of the Cabinet were MPs before 2010, Wallace included, so he's practically a veteran compared to most of them.
Another one off the next leader list.
I couldn't really see his appeal, but I struggle with Tory leaders betting because I don't really see the appeal of any of them.
I am warming towards Jenrick as a decent bet for the Conservative leader after next. He is so ruthlessly ambitious in the vein of Alan B'stard, and I don't believe I have come across a politician quite so slimy in my 60 plus years.
Is a summer reshuffle on the cards? Perhaps shift the 5 who have failed on their pledges...
It does feel weird to have someone not the PM pre-announce a reshuffle, which just puts everyone on notice that the PM doesn't think things are going well with their team and they need to rejig things.
Also shows how much actual control the PM has over this reshuffle. That would be none. In office, but not in power. 18 months of this charade of hoping summat turns up while the country goes to the dogs.
Musk(m)Elon should arrange a joint (!) fundraiser with his fellow Puntinist, the MyPillow seditionista?
Whose business is also in free fall. Along with yet another Trumpite grifter, namely Fucker Carlson, Inc.
I see you are another sufferer of Musk Derangement Syndrome. Tesla stock is up 160% this year, and nobody predicting the demise of Twitter has been correct so far.
Why are you so keen to defend Musk? There is *lots* to criticise him for; especially in the social and political spheres. Much (though not all) of that criticism is valid.
And BTW, Tesla stock is up this year, but only back about where it was last September after a large drop at the end of last year. It is still well down on where it was un autumn 2021.
And I'll express my view on Twitter: it probably won't die (in that the domain name won't die); I'd also say that it will remain a much-used site. But it faces significant issues with both debt and it's owner repelling advertisers. There's a non-zero chance it gets further ruined by Musk's wizard wheezes, and gets bought out by someone with some competence with that sort of company - and especially the advertising market.
Musk is doing space travel in a really exciting way. I think I could forgive most things in return for that
Why?
As just one example, if he helps get a loony Republican candidate such as RDS (*) into the White House next year, would the damage that's done - to America, to the poor, Ukraine - be worth slightly cheaper rocketry?
(*) Ron DeSantis, not, Radio Data System.
Why? Because I want to know what's out there. I'm also sure it is the best assurance of a future for the human race - which might be a mixed bag.
Trump was oddly sane in his actions in office. (The man can't even do mad screaming loon with any honesty)
If you want to know what's out there in space, go and work for a company or org that actually creates satellites that do scientific research. People fetishise the rockets, but that's silly. The rockets are just trucks, what matters are the payloads. And that's where the money is.
(SpaceX, it should be said, has done f-all research in space, relying on NASA for all of that sort of stuff. This is particularly odd if they actually mean to get to Mars, as there's an f-load of science to learn about such missions.)
We get the smallest glimpse of our neighbouring planets. Musk proposes we go out and look. There's not a chance that it'd be boots-on-planet first. I'm all for it.
Many people we propose to do that. Many people actually create satellites and probes to do that.
Musk doesn't. He create the trucks. Now, trucks are valuable, but the payloads are vital.
If there's a great adventure to be had I really don't mind in the slightest if anyone gets wonderfully rich along the way.
I think you miss my point. I don't object to Musk getting rich; I'm pointing out that he SpaceX has done essentially f-all research into deep space science, even the masses of topics you'd need to get to Mars.
Why and how would he? Has he ever launched a manned rocket even? What you are talking about is space physiology presumably, and NASA knows more about that than the ROW combined.
"Has he ever launched a manned rocket even?"
Urrrm, yes. Many, in fact.
It's not just physiology, although that's important. Even food's an issue, especially maintaining nutrients, vitamins etc. We just don't have a massive amount of experience in space outside LEO, and that experience was from fifty years ago.
OK 9 as of March this year seems to be the answer, all to the ISS. My point was that all of the ISS data and all of the beyond LEO data are from NASA. I don't see how spacex could be researching this independently of NASA.
The Internet throws up a paper called Interplanetary regenerative medicine for mission Mars of SpaceX and NASA. I don't have access to it.
I may well be wrong on this if so apologies but I was under the impression that because NASA is a federal agency, anything they do that is not covered by national security or personal privacy laws has to be made freely available to other interested parties.
So I think SpaceX may well have access to ALL their data.
Regarding Squareroot's view that things were equally bad, or worse in 2010: I appreciate that this is a not uncommon view.
Never mind attacking Sunak, Labour should produce a set of posters and adverts which clearly paint the picture of how much better the period 1997-2010 was for the UK than 2010-2023/24 has been. It really wouldn't be hard, some simple graphs or simple statements of things like:
- NHS waiting times - Real income - Debt (seriously, who'd have thought would be a higher share of GDP now than in 2010?) - Growth - Inflation - Immigration - House ownership % - Days lost to strikes
I am sure PBers can think of a few others (number of Cabinet members prosecuted?)
You'd have to exclude the 2008-10 period.
The economy was in better shape, pre-2008, than now.
Not only that but ignore the effects of Brexit, covid and war in Ukraine all in the last 3 years, which are the unique drivers to where we are today
More excuses than a pregnant nun!
Hard to face reality then
I'm sure you were arguing that we should ignore the Global Financial Crisis when thinking about howe to vote back in 2010, Big_G ;-)
In truth, every government faces unexpected events. Labour had 9/11, 7/7 and the GFC; Tories had Brexit, Covid, Ukraine.
But Brexit was entirely of the Conservative Government's making.
You can't put that down as an "act of God" unless your god is called Boris Johnson.
Indeed true, but Big_G was using it as a reason for the Tories utter screw-up of the economy over the past 13 years, so I allowed him that one.
Some Tories, of course, still cling to the idea that the GFC was all Labour's fault (in which case they had a mighty impressive ability to influence the global economy).
Bottom line though, are there any PB posters, of whatever persuasion, who think the Tories have managed the economy at all well?
I'd say that their economic management has been about average, for rich world governments, from 2010 to date.
Almost every rich country has been dealt a rotten hand, over the past 13 years.
Real criticism of the government lies elsewhere, IMHO. The corruption, the infighting, and the very odd sense of priorities, in terms of public spending. The almost wilful ineptititude with which they run institutions.
I am curious about how the Tories get their reputation for good management of the economy? In my adult lifetime the only period of sustained econmic growth has come under Labour (1997-2007).
I entered adulthood in the Thatcher years in the middle of a long recession. I started work on 1988 on a slight economic upswing from a low base but by the time we got to February 1989 things were on the down again and my friends seeking work a year behind me all really struggled to find jobs. We also had a burst of 10% inflation.
The early 90s were grim, we fell out of the ERM, there was a property bust, and I lost my job twice in that period, and of my friends wasn't alone. I will concede that having made a complete pig's ear of everything Major and Clarke provided a steadier hand at the tiller from about 94 onwards but by then their reputation was in tatters anyway.
The we get to 2010. I felt at the time that some austerity was needed for a while to balance the books. It was probably too much for too long even under the coalition, but once the restraining had of the LDs was removed it has been an utter shitshow.
On the other hand under Labour not only did the economy grow, the public realm also visibly improved. The GFC revealed that they hadn't been attentive enough in building up reserves for a rainy day, as in fact they had done in the first few years. But overall 1997-2010 is a far better record than anything the Tories can point at, without even having to bother to look up statistics.
Looking at the current Labour leadership, Starmer seems more of a conservative than anyone in the current Conservative Party. Yet "everyone" is scared of Labour trashing the economy. Why?
Well Thatcher did cut strikes, slash the top income tax rate, rejuvinate Docklands, expand working class property ownership via council house sales and privatise inefficient nationalise industries. Major cut inflation.
Unemployment now at 4% half the 8% unemployment Labour left in 2010
AKA:
Took away workers' rights Gave tax cuts to the rich Allowed the proceeds of a bullion robbery to be laundered through property development Sold off public assets on the cheap Sold off even more public assets on the cheap and pissed away the money
And squandered all the proceeds from North Sea Oil.
Used the proceeds from North Sea Oil to deal with the transformation and modernisation of the economy away from uncompetitive heavy industries.
Uh-huh? Good job Germany had all that North Sea Oil too then.
Germany had an industrial base that had been completely rebuilt by the allies only 30 years earlier. There really was no comparison.
Is there then, in your opinion, any possible comparable country? If not, it's hard to prove your incorrect argument without a window into the alternative universe where a UK PM made sensible use of the North Sea Oil bonanza.
Again, looking at it in isolation is not realistic. In comparison with the rest of Europe the UK went from 'the sick man of Europe' in the late 70s to one of the leading economies at the end of the 80s. We did make sensible use of North Sea oil. The alternative was to continue as a backward, failing, deindustrialising nation ruled by the unions and facing unsustainable challenges from the rest of the world.
Did Thatcher do everything (or even most) things right? No. But on the transformation of the economy on a national scale she was spot on.
Rubbish , it was stolen from Scotland and used to upgrade London and fill arseholes pockets.
Hahahahahahahaha
You know I like you Malc and that I support Scottish independence but you do say some very silly things sometimes.
Interesting thread. On thing not mentioned is that these rounds are very likely to be used in areas already heavily mined, which will need to be de-mined after the war in any event.
After @biden's tough call to provide Ukraine with 100s of 1000's of rounds of cluster munitions, Ukrainian MOD @oleksiireznikov provides rationale & assurances (in 5 statements) of how they will be used.
"Eco-protester who targeted George Osborne at his wedding is former librarian and councillor who jetted off to Thailand months after declaring a ‘climate emergency’ in Somerset"
"Eco-protester who targeted George Osborne at his wedding is former librarian and councillor who jetted off to Thailand months after declaring a ‘climate emergency’ in Somerset"
"Eco-protester who targeted George Osborne at his wedding is former librarian and councillor who jetted off to Thailand months after declaring a ‘climate emergency’ in Somerset"
Bloody hell, ITV just issued a long-winded trigger warning for Shanghai Noon, a film released way back in --- the year 2000.
I think most trigger warnings are dumb and unnecessary, but a film being not being recent would be part of the point of the damn things - because they will have been made in a time when things were different and so people might see something shocking to their now enlightened sensivities.
steve richards @steverichards14 · 1h Much of K Starmer’s Observer article tomorrow is lifted word for word from T Blair post 97 eg :“It will mean moving from a one-size-fits-all approach to bespoke services that work for people..”Never before has a leader imitated a predecessor so overtly..a curious experiment.
Affirms my earlier comments but for Starmer he will inherit a far worse economy than Blair
I still have a 20 seat majority Sunak Government.
There seems to be far more of a spring in the PB Tory step with better polling against Labour and since last night's IHT revelation.
What polling are you referring to and is the IHT now a manifesto commitment or a still a flag flying exercise in The Times?
steve richards @steverichards14 · 1h Much of K Starmer’s Observer article tomorrow is lifted word for word from T Blair post 97 eg :“It will mean moving from a one-size-fits-all approach to bespoke services that work for people..”Never before has a leader imitated a predecessor so overtly..a curious experiment.
Affirms my earlier comments but for Starmer he will inherit a far worse economy than Blair
I still have a 20 seat majority Sunak Government.
There seems to be far more of a spring in the PB Tory step with better polling against Labour and since last night's IHT revelation.
What polling are you referring to and is the IHT now a manifesto commitment or a still a flag flying exercise in The Times?
@NickyBreakspear posted some excellent polling details which had Labour falling back to a sub 45 average and the Tories back up to 28.
As HY has indicated, IHT removal wins back the BlueWall. I seldom agree with HY, but on this he is right.
Bloody hell, ITV just issued a long-winded trigger warning for Shanghai Noon, a film released way back in --- the year 2000.
Collateral is on Film 4
Collateral is Cruise's most impressive performance. He is uncannily menacing.
Shanghai Noon in the other hand triggers me. It is neither Jackie Chan nor Owen Wilson's greatest work. I think Owen Wilson's performance for Sofology is more impressive.
steve richards @steverichards14 · 1h Much of K Starmer’s Observer article tomorrow is lifted word for word from T Blair post 97 eg :“It will mean moving from a one-size-fits-all approach to bespoke services that work for people..”Never before has a leader imitated a predecessor so overtly..a curious experiment.
Affirms my earlier comments but for Starmer he will inherit a far worse economy than Blair
I still have a 20 seat majority Sunak Government.
There seems to be far more of a spring in the PB Tory step with better polling against Labour and since last night's IHT revelation.
What polling are you referring to and is the IHT now a manifesto commitment or a still a flag flying exercise in The Times?
@NickyBreakspear posted some excellent polling details which had Labour falling back to a sub 45 average and the Tories back up to 28.
As HY has indicated, IHT removal wins back the BlueWall. I seldom agree with HY, but on this he is right.
On the latter point, is it policy yet, or just some judicious leaking to The Times?
Casting my eye over the weather model output I’d say the best place for a holiday in Europe this coming week is Galicia from the Rias Baixas down into Northern Portugal.
26-28C maxes with fresh nights in the mid teens, warm sea water lapping those white granite beaches. Ideal for a drop of Albariño or Vinho Verde.
Or quite high up in the Swiss Alps, Dolomites, Tatras
I’m off to Poland where it will be warm but not, I hope, roasting
Poland looks very decent for the next week.
Shame Poland is a tiny bit boring. But maybe I can find some more excitement *nearby*
Casting my eye over the weather model output I’d say the best place for a holiday in Europe this coming week is Galicia from the Rias Baixas down into Northern Portugal.
26-28C maxes with fresh nights in the mid teens, warm sea water lapping those white granite beaches. Ideal for a drop of Albariño or Vinho Verde.
Or quite high up in the Swiss Alps, Dolomites, Tatras
I’m off to Poland where it will be warm but not, I hope, roasting
Poland looks very decent for the next week.
Shame Poland is a tiny bit boring. But maybe I can find some more excitement *nearby*
Musk(m)Elon should arrange a joint (!) fundraiser with his fellow Puntinist, the MyPillow seditionista?
Whose business is also in free fall. Along with yet another Trumpite grifter, namely Fucker Carlson, Inc.
I see you are another sufferer of Musk Derangement Syndrome. Tesla stock is up 160% this year, and nobody predicting the demise of Twitter has been correct so far.
Why are you so keen to defend Musk? There is *lots* to criticise him for; especially in the social and political spheres. Much (though not all) of that criticism is valid.
And BTW, Tesla stock is up this year, but only back about where it was last September after a large drop at the end of last year. It is still well down on where it was un autumn 2021.
And I'll express my view on Twitter: it probably won't die (in that the domain name won't die); I'd also say that it will remain a much-used site. But it faces significant issues with both debt and it's owner repelling advertisers. There's a non-zero chance it gets further ruined by Musk's wizard wheezes, and gets bought out by someone with some competence with that sort of company - and especially the advertising market.
Musk is doing space travel in a really exciting way. I think I could forgive most things in return for that
Why?
As just one example, if he helps get a loony Republican candidate such as RDS (*) into the White House next year, would the damage that's done - to America, to the poor, Ukraine - be worth slightly cheaper rocketry?
(*) Ron DeSantis, not, Radio Data System.
Why? Because I want to know what's out there. I'm also sure it is the best assurance of a future for the human race - which might be a mixed bag.
Trump was oddly sane in his actions in office. (The man can't even do mad screaming loon with any honesty)
If you want to know what's out there in space, go and work for a company or org that actually creates satellites that do scientific research. People fetishise the rockets, but that's silly. The rockets are just trucks, what matters are the payloads. And that's where the money is.
(SpaceX, it should be said, has done f-all research in space, relying on NASA for all of that sort of stuff. This is particularly odd if they actually mean to get to Mars, as there's an f-load of science to learn about such missions.)
We get the smallest glimpse of our neighbouring planets. Musk proposes we go out and look. There's not a chance that it'd be boots-on-planet first. I'm all for it.
Many people we propose to do that. Many people actually create satellites and probes to do that.
Musk doesn't. He create the trucks. Now, trucks are valuable, but the payloads are vital.
If there's a great adventure to be had I really don't mind in the slightest if anyone gets wonderfully rich along the way.
I think you miss my point. I don't object to Musk getting rich; I'm pointing out that he SpaceX has done essentially f-all research into deep space science, even the masses of topics you'd need to get to Mars.
Why and how would he? Has he ever launched a manned rocket even? What you are talking about is space physiology presumably, and NASA knows more about that than the ROW combined.
"Has he ever launched a manned rocket even?"
Urrrm, yes. Many, in fact.
It's not just physiology, although that's important. Even food's an issue, especially maintaining nutrients, vitamins etc. We just don't have a massive amount of experience in space outside LEO, and that experience was from fifty years ago.
OK 9 as of March this year seems to be the answer, all to the ISS. My point was that all of the ISS data and all of the beyond LEO data are from NASA. I don't see how spacex could be researching this independently of NASA.
The Internet throws up a paper called Interplanetary regenerative medicine for mission Mars of SpaceX and NASA. I don't have access to it.
I may well be wrong on this if so apologies but I was under the impression that because NASA is a federal agency, anything they do that is not covered by national security or personal privacy laws has to be made freely available to other interested parties.
So I think SpaceX may well have access to ALL their data.
Their first free flying mission (not to ISS) went considerably above ISS altitude.
The next one will include an EVA in an iteration of the SpaceX in vehicle spacesuit - probably a tethered design. It may even include boosting Hubble to a higher orbit.
steve richards @steverichards14 · 1h Much of K Starmer’s Observer article tomorrow is lifted word for word from T Blair post 97 eg :“It will mean moving from a one-size-fits-all approach to bespoke services that work for people..”Never before has a leader imitated a predecessor so overtly..a curious experiment.
Affirms my earlier comments but for Starmer he will inherit a far worse economy than Blair
I still have a 20 seat majority Sunak Government.
There seems to be far more of a spring in the PB Tory step with better polling against Labour and since last night's IHT revelation.
What polling are you referring to and is the IHT now a manifesto commitment or a still a flag flying exercise in The Times?
@NickyBreakspear posted some excellent polling details which had Labour falling back to a sub 45 average and the Tories back up to 28.
As HY has indicated, IHT removal wins back the BlueWall. I seldom agree with HY, but on this he is right.
On the latter point, is it policy yet, or just some judicious leaking to The Times?
steve richards @steverichards14 · 1h Much of K Starmer’s Observer article tomorrow is lifted word for word from T Blair post 97 eg :“It will mean moving from a one-size-fits-all approach to bespoke services that work for people..”Never before has a leader imitated a predecessor so overtly..a curious experiment.
Affirms my earlier comments but for Starmer he will inherit a far worse economy than Blair
I still have a 20 seat majority Sunak Government.
There seems to be far more of a spring in the PB Tory step with better polling against Labour and since last night's IHT revelation.
What polling are you referring to and is the IHT now a manifesto commitment or a still a flag flying exercise in The Times?
@NickyBreakspear posted some excellent polling details which had Labour falling back to a sub 45 average and the Tories back up to 28.
As HY has indicated, IHT removal wins back the BlueWall. I seldom agree with HY, but on this he is right.
On the latter point, is it policy yet, or just some judicious leaking to The Times?
steve richards @steverichards14 · 1h Much of K Starmer’s Observer article tomorrow is lifted word for word from T Blair post 97 eg :“It will mean moving from a one-size-fits-all approach to bespoke services that work for people..”Never before has a leader imitated a predecessor so overtly..a curious experiment.
Affirms my earlier comments but for Starmer he will inherit a far worse economy than Blair
I still have a 20 seat majority Sunak Government.
There seems to be far more of a spring in the PB Tory step with better polling against Labour and since last night's IHT revelation.
What polling are you referring to and is the IHT now a manifesto commitment or a still a flag flying exercise in The Times?
@NickyBreakspear posted some excellent polling details which had Labour falling back to a sub 45 average and the Tories back up to 28.
As HY has indicated, IHT removal wins back the BlueWall. I seldom agree with HY, but on this he is right.
On the latter point, is it policy yet, or just some judicious leaking to The Times?
steve richards @steverichards14 · 1h Much of K Starmer’s Observer article tomorrow is lifted word for word from T Blair post 97 eg :“It will mean moving from a one-size-fits-all approach to bespoke services that work for people..”Never before has a leader imitated a predecessor so overtly..a curious experiment.
Affirms my earlier comments but for Starmer he will inherit a far worse economy than Blair
I still have a 20 seat majority Sunak Government.
There seems to be far more of a spring in the PB Tory step with better polling against Labour and since last night's IHT revelation.
What polling are you referring to and is the IHT now a manifesto commitment or a still a flag flying exercise in The Times?
@NickyBreakspear posted some excellent polling details which had Labour falling back to a sub 45 average and the Tories back up to 28.
As HY has indicated, IHT removal wins back the BlueWall. I seldom agree with HY, but on this he is right.
On the latter point, is it policy yet, or just some judicious leaking to The Times?
The latest numbers from @NickyBreakspear are at the *top* of the table, and are Con 26.8%, Lab 45.8%. Were you looking at another row in the table?
Doug has a point. I stated sub 45 for Labour and 28 for the Tories.
The trend however is the Tories friend.
MOE movements don’t constitute a “trend”. The polls have been pretty stable in recent weeks. Come back to me when Labour’s lead is below 10 (or even 12) points for more than two weeks and I’ll grant you a trend. This isn’t a trend and the abolition of IHT isn’t a policy.
The Times/Sunday Times has decided to print the name of a Conservative MP who hasn't attended parliament for more than a year since arrest. Obviously probably best not to comment further on this.
Musk(m)Elon should arrange a joint (!) fundraiser with his fellow Puntinist, the MyPillow seditionista?
Whose business is also in free fall. Along with yet another Trumpite grifter, namely Fucker Carlson, Inc.
I see you are another sufferer of Musk Derangement Syndrome. Tesla stock is up 160% this year, and nobody predicting the demise of Twitter has been correct so far.
Why are you so keen to defend Musk? There is *lots* to criticise him for; especially in the social and political spheres. Much (though not all) of that criticism is valid.
And BTW, Tesla stock is up this year, but only back about where it was last September after a large drop at the end of last year. It is still well down on where it was un autumn 2021.
And I'll express my view on Twitter: it probably won't die (in that the domain name won't die); I'd also say that it will remain a much-used site. But it faces significant issues with both debt and it's owner repelling advertisers. There's a non-zero chance it gets further ruined by Musk's wizard wheezes, and gets bought out by someone with some competence with that sort of company - and especially the advertising market.
Musk is doing space travel in a really exciting way. I think I could forgive most things in return for that
Why?
As just one example, if he helps get a loony Republican candidate such as RDS (*) into the White House next year, would the damage that's done - to America, to the poor, Ukraine - be worth slightly cheaper rocketry?
(*) Ron DeSantis, not, Radio Data System.
Why? Because I want to know what's out there. I'm also sure it is the best assurance of a future for the human race - which might be a mixed bag.
Trump was oddly sane in his actions in office. (The man can't even do mad screaming loon with any honesty)
If you want to know what's out there in space, go and work for a company or org that actually creates satellites that do scientific research. People fetishise the rockets, but that's silly. The rockets are just trucks, what matters are the payloads. And that's where the money is.
(SpaceX, it should be said, has done f-all research in space, relying on NASA for all of that sort of stuff. This is particularly odd if they actually mean to get to Mars, as there's an f-load of science to learn about such missions.)
We get the smallest glimpse of our neighbouring planets. Musk proposes we go out and look. There's not a chance that it'd be boots-on-planet first. I'm all for it.
Many people we propose to do that. Many people actually create satellites and probes to do that.
Musk doesn't. He create the trucks. Now, trucks are valuable, but the payloads are vital.
If there's a great adventure to be had I really don't mind in the slightest if anyone gets wonderfully rich along the way.
I think you miss my point. I don't object to Musk getting rich; I'm pointing out that he SpaceX has done essentially f-all research into deep space science, even the masses of topics you'd need to get to Mars.
Why and how would he? Has he ever launched a manned rocket even? What you are talking about is space physiology presumably, and NASA knows more about that than the ROW combined.
"Has he ever launched a manned rocket even?"
Urrrm, yes. Many, in fact.
It's not just physiology, although that's important. Even food's an issue, especially maintaining nutrients, vitamins etc. We just don't have a massive amount of experience in space outside LEO, and that experience was from fifty years ago.
OK 9 as of March this year seems to be the answer, all to the ISS. My point was that all of the ISS data and all of the beyond LEO data are from NASA. I don't see how spacex could be researching this independently of NASA.
The Internet throws up a paper called Interplanetary regenerative medicine for mission Mars of SpaceX and NASA. I don't have access to it.
I may well be wrong on this if so apologies but I was under the impression that because NASA is a federal agency, anything they do that is not covered by national security or personal privacy laws has to be made freely available to other interested parties.
So I think SpaceX may well have access to ALL their data.
Their first free flying mission (not to ISS) went considerably above ISS altitude.
The next one will include an EVA in an iteration of the SpaceX in vehicle spacesuit - probably a tethered design. It may even include boosting Hubble to a higher orbit.
"Their first free flying mission (not to ISS) went considerably above ISS altitude."
Still well in LEO. Inspiration 5 went to 585 km; LEO is up to 2,000 km. The space shuttle occasionally went higher; it's only just beyond Hubble's altitude.
What matters is experience in, and beyond, the van Allen belts, which start at a minimum of 640km (AIUI you actually want to get through the VA belts as quicky as possible, as there be dragons...)
Comments
They had Fiona Jones who fiddled her election spending and then got away with it because she claimed the rules were too difficult to understand (even though everyone else had managed it and the rules weren't subsequently changed)
Then they had Patrick Mercer who went from being a decent bloke to a crook in a matter of a few years.
And now they have Jenrick, the worst of the lot - someone who gives snake oil salesmen a bad name.
Pat Mercer became bad during his time as an MP. Jenrick has a head start on it and is living down to his potential
There seems to be far more of a spring in the PB Tory step with better polling against Labour and since last night's IHT revelation.
I expect Starmer to lead a majority Labour government but not sure the margins
Vile man.
. Here’s RFK Jr. suggesting that COVID was “ethnically targeted” to spare Chinese and Jews. This kind of bullshit is toxic to our society. Responsible media would write this guy off now.
https://twitter.com/MarkJacob16/status/1680223533807415298
That would be none.
In office, but not in power.
18 months of this charade of hoping summat turns up while the country goes to the dogs.
So I think SpaceX may well have access to ALL their data.
On thing not mentioned is that these rounds are very likely to be used in areas already heavily mined, which will need to be de-mined after the war in any event.
After @biden's tough call to provide Ukraine with 100s of 1000's of rounds of cluster munitions, Ukrainian MOD @oleksiireznikov provides rationale & assurances (in 5 statements) of how they will be used.
But the debate continues, as some US senators now question that call. 1/8
https://twitter.com/MarkHertling/status/1677727855210373120
Democrat Ad.
https://twitter.com/cwebbonline/status/1680071525230321666
"Eco-protester who targeted George Osborne at his wedding is former librarian and councillor who jetted off to Thailand months after declaring a ‘climate emergency’ in Somerset"
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12302633/Protester-targeted-Osbornes-wedding-jetted-Thailand-declaring-climate-emergency.html
https://www.facebook.com/cbcnews/videos/you-had-an-option-sir/10153530991384604/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_had_an_option,_sir#:~:text=He then demanded that Turner,not going to do it.
Old lady throws confetti at a wedding.
@DegenRolf
"Contrary to common beliefs, empirical evidence suggests that incels are not particularly prone to violence."
https://twitter.com/DegenRolf/status/1679011068520062981
As HY has indicated, IHT removal wins back the BlueWall. I seldom agree with HY, but on this he is right.
Shanghai Noon in the other hand triggers me. It is neither Jackie Chan nor Owen Wilson's greatest work. I think Owen Wilson's performance for Sofology is more impressive.
And on the former…huh?
https://vf.politicalbetting.com/discussion/comment/4472641#Comment_4472641
Gdansk is good as well.
Their first free flying mission (not to ISS) went considerably above ISS altitude.
The next one will include an EVA in an iteration of the SpaceX in vehicle spacesuit - probably a tethered design. It may even include boosting Hubble to a higher orbit.
Re: Trump’s success in H1 2023
1. There is “zero entitlement from Trump.” He is legitimately working for the nomination and responsive with most anyone.
2. Contra the dominant media narrative that Trump’s base are a bunch of cult-drunk yokels,
Trump truly has a bespoke issue set — national trade policy, controlled immigration, anti-Ukraine war, anti-Ryanism—
That he is hammering and hammering hard
https://twitter.com/curtmills/status/1680030871452282880
The latest numbers from @NickyBreakspear are at the *top* of the table, and are Con 26.8%, Lab 45.8%. Were you looking at another row in the table?
Nonetheless the trend is with the Tories and against Labour.
The trend however is the Tories friend.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/tory-mp-andrew-rosindell-has-not-attended-parliament-for-more-than-a-year-since-arrest-3xf7vkn3j
Still well in LEO. Inspiration 5 went to 585 km; LEO is up to 2,000 km. The space shuttle occasionally went higher; it's only just beyond Hubble's altitude.
What matters is experience in, and beyond, the van Allen belts, which start at a minimum of 640km (AIUI you actually want to get through the VA belts as quicky as possible, as there be dragons...)