kinabalu - Since you asked for a prediction, here's one: Next month, the US State Department will make a report on PEPFAR, a program that has saved, so far, more than 20 million lives. (Bill Gates recently said 25 million.)
The report will receive little attention from the NYT, the Guardian, or even the BBC.
The BBC is the news organization best suited to give this program the coverage it deserves, since so many of the people saved live in former British colonies.
"The British Tories are completely deluded. They do not understand why millions of ordinary people are utterly fed up with them and the state of Britain. And they do not understand why their electorate has been blown apart.
That’s the conclusion I reached after having dinner with a cabinet minister who told me how senior Tories think about one issue that will shape the next election.
The issue is immigration and the insight into how the country’s most senior Tories are thinking and feeling about it is remarkable."
What on Earth do you see in Goodwin? The guy is a joke.
Andy has some odd opinions and Matt Goodwin validates them?
FWIW it seems to me that Goodwin invariably uses reasoned arguments and doesn't resort to ad hominem nonsense; in return he receives quite a lot of abuse.
I think his detractors can do better. This doesn't mean I agree with him, but I value his particular voice.
Matthew Goodwin said there was no reasonable way Labour would achieve 40% of the vote in the GE17 election.
They then literally did just that.
I challenge you to name three commentators who have made falsifiable predictions about future events, and haven't been badly wrong on some of them.
I don't say that as a particular defence of Goodwin... just that it's hard to make falsifiable predictions, and there's a bit of a risk in being too hard on those who do that you just get commentators hedging to a silly degree.
The Fivethirtyeight approach ("we said there was a 20% chance of Trump winning in 2016, and he won, so we were kind of right") is one I get in some senses as the world is inherently uncertain, but is a bit bloody irritating in others in that they give themselves a get out clause for any outcome.
Yes, it's bollox, we want 'head on the block' predictions and no pussyfooting.
Eg some from me:
The GE is Oct 24 and Lab win with a majority of 95. Neither Trump nor Biden win the presidency next year. Neither Djokovic nor Alcaraz win this current US open. It's pork chops for dinner tonight.
Happy to be judged on these.
Pork? Sounds very anti-woke to me. Whatever next.
That one's my nap too. Get the acca up and running.
While the government cannot be blamed for the building materials used in some schools the timing of these school closures just before schools return next week seems a spectacular own goal
I started a Journalism Degree in 1995. I remember going out to a Sheffield primary school to write a story about the crumbling building. This was so decrepit that an endoskeleton had been installed - steel beams to hold up the roof. The school itself was still open despite signs that the steelwork was also in poor condition. A complete lack of money for new facilities.
So for all that PFI has its faults, it isn't as if public money was being spent. The Tory attitude being don't do PFI (unless we do it and make sure the Right People get to cash in), and don't spend public money either. The education of kids? Who cares?
And here we are again. Crumbling schools which needed replacing a decade ago still standing but literally falling down around the pupils.
There are lots of interesting points to be made about this, but that seems one of the more ill-judged and political ones.
Some questions: why was construction with this type of material stopped (apparently) in the 1990s? Was it that the problems with it were found and understood, or that a 'better' (i.e. cheaper) construction method was found? How do local authorities/the government keep track of the age and condition of their school (and hospital, and everything else...) buildings?
I started primary school in a building that was constructed in the early 1900s
In the 1970s a 'new' school was constructed to cater for a growing population, although the old school was retained.
Since then the 'new' school has been completely demolished and rebuilt.
The old school is still standing...
My eldest's primary school dates from that time. The caretaker showed me the roof structure - I mentioned I was interested, when he said that he reckoned that the beams were old oak from ship breaking.
That roof will be there when I am dead and buried for a 100 years, unless someone one fucks with it.
The rest of it are built from that brick the Victorians liked for public buildings. Walls a yard thick.
Firstly. The counter-attack south of Orikhiv continues to advance bit-by-bit and has now taken a noticeable bite out of the lines. Whilst still slow and painful, it is determined and continuing.
Secondly. The advances of the Russians in the North East (only I noticed this) have been partially repelled. Lyman is no longer in imminent danger of being taken, although Kupiansk is still endangered
My personal view is that the war in Ukraine will be decided on the road to Mariupol.
It the Russians are able to hold the Ukrainians off, then the pressure on Ukraine to accept some kind of negotiated peace will only grow. Now, I suspect that they will resist it, but if supplies from the West start to taper, then it will be a long war.
On the other hand, if the Ukrainian forces successfully sever the link to Crimea, then there are a lot of troops West of that break where resupply is going to be incredibly difficult. How do you get food and ammo and fresh weapons to the tens - or hundreds - of thousands of Russians who are now cut off?
A Ukrainian success there would essentially force the Russians to go all in on reopening the corridor. Which would be a very tough ask.
Right now, it looks like Ukraine is going to severely compromise Russia's ability to supply Crimea. The further south they go, the more the rail line comes within artillery range. That's not the same as a severing, but it makes Russia's task holding on in the West that bit harder.
kinabalu - Since you asked for a prediction, here's one: Next month, the US State Department will make a report on PEPFAR, a program that has saved, so far, more than 20 million lives. (Bill Gates recently said 25 million.)
The report will receive little attention from the NYT, the Guardian, or even the BBC.
The BBC is the news organization best suited to give this program the coverage it deserves, since so many of the people saved live in former British colonies.
And I would love to have the BBC prove me wrong.
"Arrogant, white saviour complex, colonialists worsen population time bomb in formerly oppressed countries"?
rcs1000 said: "The UK (and Europe, Canada, Australia, NZ, etc) all have rather better safety nets than the US.
There are parts of the US, like old former mining towns in Colorado, which feel like the poorer parts of Romania. And they exist just a few miles away from gleaming ski resorts where homes start at $20m, and Nobu delivers."
Your conclusion may be correct, but a single example doesn't prove it. Here's a parallel example for you: The careers of Harold Shipman and Lucy Letby show that NHS employees can not be trusted.
Generalizing from a single example is a common error. It's been a while since I read the book, but think that error is covered in "Thinking, Fast and Slow". I am a little surprised to see you make it, and at a betting site, no less.
And I remind you that US safety nets vary from state to state, and even from city to city.
It is certainly true that one can find "limousine liberals" in the US. Who might decry poverty if you ask them, but won't help their neighbors.
(Tom Wolfe skewered similar types brilliantly in "Mauve Gloves & Mad Men, Clutter & Vine".)
I know a lots of NHS employees, so their (lack of) trustworthiness is old news to me.
I note with some shame the comments above, as I am writing an article[1] about Goodwin's idea concerning elite disconnect, and you are all making good points.
However I content myself by knowing that I will shamelessly steal them and include them in the article...
Note [1] Yes I know the rate is about one word per month. ShuttupShuttupShuttup. I'm busy.
Speaking of articles wot I wrote, you may remember my article on the Intermarium and how Poland is becoming a Big Bastard.
It is with some smugness therefore that I refer you to today's CaspianReport on the same subject....
A coastal Suffolk town will be left bankless when Barclays closes its final branch there in November.
The Southwold Barclays, the last remaining branch in the seaside town, is one of the 15 branches of the bank which are due to close by the end of the year. Barclays said it took the decision after identifying just 17 people used the branch as their only source of banking.
Locals will be able to get cash from the local Post Office but the nearest branch of the bank will now be in Lowestoft, a 30-minute drive away.
Therese Coffey, MP for Suffolk Coastal, has promised to appeal to cash network operator LINK for a banking hub, a centre which provides cash services and access to different banks on each day of the week, Eastern Daily News reported.
Elsewhere in Suffolk, Christine Wheeler, Mayor of Beccles, said she intended to challenge the banking giant’s decision to close in the town, according to other local news reports.
Barclays has already announced more than 60 closures so far in 2023 and branches in central London, Hove and Portsmouth are also pencilled in for closure.
The bank has closed more than 614 branches since 2019, making up 27pc of the 2,277 outlets shuttered by the major banks in the time period.
Elsewhere residents in a village on the outskirts of the expanded Ulez area face being forced to pay £12.50 to go to their nearest Barclays, with a branch in the Buckinghamshire village of Chalfont St Peter no longer open from September.
At the same time the local village Post Office, which is now the only place offering cash services in the village, is due to close in September for a week-long refurbishment, leaving residents without cash access.
kinabalu - Since you asked for a prediction, here's one: Next month, the US State Department will make a report on PEPFAR, a program that has saved, so far, more than 20 million lives. (Bill Gates recently said 25 million.)
The report will receive little attention from the NYT, the Guardian, or even the BBC.
The BBC is the news organization best suited to give this program the coverage it deserves, since so many of the people saved live in former British colonies.
And I would love to have the BBC prove me wrong.
You appear to be correct re: The Guardian, but as for NYT & BBC
NYT - The U.S. Program That Brought H.I.V. Treatment to 20 Million People Over two decades, Pepfar may have saved an estimated 25 million lives, helping to slow the AIDS pandemic. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/14/health/pepfar-hiv.html
BBC - Elton John lauds 'American genius' in fight against Aids Elton John testified to the US Senate on Wednesday, advocating for the reauthorisation of the President's Emergency Plan for Aids Relief, known as Pepfar. The US-funded programme fights Aids across the globe. https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us-canada-65307263
Not sure how much the rest of UK media has/is covering Pepfar.
Not sure what materials the particular lodge I work in is constructed of. Not something I ever thought I'd have to be concerned about. However. It seems the correct age. And correct level of flimsiness and cheapness. It has wood panelling concealing the underlying structure. One thing I know is this. We have no spare classrooms. None. The library, IT room, art room, science room and media suite are already makeshift form rooms. Find out Monday. Not my job till then.
"The British Tories are completely deluded. They do not understand why millions of ordinary people are utterly fed up with them and the state of Britain. And they do not understand why their electorate has been blown apart.
That’s the conclusion I reached after having dinner with a cabinet minister who told me how senior Tories think about one issue that will shape the next election.
The issue is immigration and the insight into how the country’s most senior Tories are thinking and feeling about it is remarkable."
What on Earth do you see in Goodwin? The guy is a joke.
Andy has some odd opinions and Matt Goodwin validates them?
FWIW it seems to me that Goodwin invariably uses reasoned arguments and doesn't resort to ad hominem nonsense; in return he receives quite a lot of abuse.
I think his detractors can do better. This doesn't mean I agree with him, but I value his particular voice.
I used to - in about 2014/15 - post a lot of Goodwin pieces and Tweets. He was intelligent and refreshingly counter-consensus.
But in the last two or three years, he's become incredibly one note. And his articles, which used to dig into polling data really well, are now anecdotes about how he hangs out with Cabinet Ministers. Which he does because the polling data no longer supports his conclusions, while the Cabinet minister does..
Also, and perhaps more importantly, he is trying to make money with a substack
If all he offers is data and opinions then no one will pay to read his substack. Just another pundit. If he can say "Oh I had this remarkable private conversation with a minister and she said [please pay to read on]", he might well get people coughing up
He's playing to a market and trying to get clicks and click-throughs
Imagine if he could get a one-on-one with Viktor Orban. That would catapult him into ... well you can't overstate it.
"The British Tories are completely deluded. They do not understand why millions of ordinary people are utterly fed up with them and the state of Britain. And they do not understand why their electorate has been blown apart.
That’s the conclusion I reached after having dinner with a cabinet minister who told me how senior Tories think about one issue that will shape the next election.
The issue is immigration and the insight into how the country’s most senior Tories are thinking and feeling about it is remarkable."
What on Earth do you see in Goodwin? The guy is a joke.
Andy has some odd opinions and Matt Goodwin validates them?
FWIW it seems to me that Goodwin invariably uses reasoned arguments and doesn't resort to ad hominem nonsense; in return he receives quite a lot of abuse.
I think his detractors can do better. This doesn't mean I agree with him, but I value his particular voice.
I used to - in about 2014/15 - post a lot of Goodwin pieces and Tweets. He was intelligent and refreshingly counter-consensus.
But in the last two or three years, he's become incredibly one note. And his articles, which used to dig into polling data really well, are now anecdotes about how he hangs out with Cabinet Ministers. Which he does because the polling data no longer supports his conclusions, while the Cabinet minister does..
Also, and perhaps more importantly, he is trying to make money with a substack
If all he offers is data and opinions then no one will pay to read his substack. Just another pundit. If he can say "Oh I had this remarkable private conversation with a minister and she said [please pay to read on]", he might well get people coughing up
He's playing to a market and trying to get clicks and click-throughs
Content provider tries to get paid for content. What a rotter.
Yes, what an alt.right fiend! A writer hoping to be PAID?!!
I expect part of the better results for women surgeons is from better behaviour and communication with the operating theatre staff.
The paper suggests lady sawbones are slower and more methodical, which is interesting as didn't we used to be told that faster surgery (shorter time under anaesthetic) was better? And possibly before that, that more painstaking surgeons were better?
I recall, as a child, a surgeon decrying, on Radio 4, this new fangled, American, microsurgery nonsense. Which would destroy the NHS*.
Proper surgery, according to him, required a big hole in the patient.
If he wasn’t actually dressed in three piece tweed, he should have been.
*I was young, so can’t remember if this was the second or third time Thatcher completely destroyed the NHS.
It would be interesting to look at the data - of course it would need to be adjusted for types of surgery being performed. If (and I do say if) more male surgeons were performing dangerous types of surgery, that would account for any disparity in outcomes.
Nadine Dorries’s book on the ousting of Boris Johnson will not be released until after the Conservative Party conference because of legal checks.
The former culture secretary, who quit as an MP last week after three months of delay, was due to release The Plot: the Political Assassination of Boris Johnson on September 28.
Allies of Rishi Sunak were braced for the release to affect the party conference, which begins three days later. Dorries has said her book will name and shame those she sees as central to Johnson’s downfall.
HarperCollins, the publisher, said that a “small delay is necessary to allow for the huge volume of material the author has consulted, the number of high-level sources spoken to, and the required legal process needed to share her story”.
It will be released on November 9, which is also likely to be after the by-election in her former constituency of Mid Bedfordshire.
Nadine Dorries’s book on the ousting of Boris Johnson will not be released until after the Conservative Party conference because of legal checks.
The former culture secretary, who quit as an MP last week after three months of delay, was due to release The Plot: the Political Assassination of Boris Johnson on September 28.
Allies of Rishi Sunak were braced for the release to affect the party conference, which begins three days later. Dorries has said her book will name and shame those she sees as central to Johnson’s downfall.
HarperCollins, the publisher, said that a “small delay is necessary to allow for the huge volume of material the author has consulted, the number of high-level sources spoken to, and the required legal process needed to share her story”.
It will be released on November 9, which is also likely to be after the by-election in her former constituency of Mid Bedfordshire.
More on schools. "About 90% of school buildings in England are thought to contain asbestos, often around pipes and boilers, and in wall and ceiling tiles."
I did say this morning that "Save now pay shedloads more later" appears to be the motto. School buildings are a glaring example.
I just cannot understand how even people as manifestly unfit for their roles as the senior staff of the DfE thought it was OK to leave this all to the absolute last minute like this.
I mean, even by their appallingly low standards this is shocking. It's actually grotesque. This has been flagged up, by them, for weeks. Surely they should have out contingency plans in place before now?
The sooner they are abolished and all of them are banned from working in the public sector or with children, the better.
While the government cannot be blamed for the building materials used in some schools the timing of these school closures just before schools return next week seems a spectacular own goal
I started a Journalism Degree in 1995. I remember going out to a Sheffield primary school to write a story about the crumbling building. This was so decrepit that an endoskeleton had been installed - steel beams to hold up the roof. The school itself was still open despite signs that the steelwork was also in poor condition. A complete lack of money for new facilities.
So for all that PFI has its faults, it isn't as if public money was being spent. The Tory attitude being don't do PFI (unless we do it and make sure the Right People get to cash in), and don't spend public money either. The education of kids? Who cares?
And here we are again. Crumbling schools which needed replacing a decade ago still standing but literally falling down around the pupils.
There are lots of interesting points to be made about this, but that seems one of the more ill-judged and political ones.
Some questions: why was construction with this type of material stopped (apparently) in the 1990s? Was it that the problems with it were found and understood, or that a 'better' (i.e. cheaper) construction method was found? How do local authorities/the government keep track of the age and condition of their school (and hospital, and everything else...) buildings?
I started primary school in a building that was constructed in the early 1900s
In the 1970s a 'new' school was constructed to cater for a growing population, although the old school was retained.
Since then the 'new' school has been completely demolished and rebuilt.
The old school is still standing...
My eldest's primary school dates from that time. The caretaker showed me the roof structure - I mentioned I was interested, when he said that he reckoned that the beams were old oak from ship breaking.
That roof will be there when I am dead and buried for a 100 years, unless someone one fucks with it.
The rest of it are built from that brick the Victorians liked for public buildings. Walls a yard thick.
How long should a new public building be designed to last? 20 years? 30 years? 50 years? 100 years? 500 years?
The longer you want to 'guarantee' it to last, the more expensive it is - sometimes dramatically so. Has the extended life of your old Victorian school not undergone Trigger-syndrome, and did the people who built it really expect/want it to last that long? Were the walls a yard thick justified for the purpose they designed it for?
The key is understanding that all buildings require maintenance, and when they get near the end of their 'lives', that life can be extended, but at a larger cost. Often that cost is less than replacement, sometimes it is more. Often, sadly, the fact it needs replacing is ignored.
Nadine Dorries’s book on the ousting of Boris Johnson will not be released until after the Conservative Party conference because of legal checks.
The former culture secretary, who quit as an MP last week after three months of delay, was due to release The Plot: the Political Assassination of Boris Johnson on September 28.
Allies of Rishi Sunak were braced for the release to affect the party conference, which begins three days later. Dorries has said her book will name and shame those she sees as central to Johnson’s downfall.
HarperCollins, the publisher, said that a “small delay is necessary to allow for the huge volume of material the author has consulted, the number of high-level sources spoken to, and the required legal process needed to share her story”.
It will be released on November 9, which is also likely to be after the by-election in her former constituency of Mid Bedfordshire.
I did say this morning that "Save now pay shedloads more later" appears to be the motto. School buildings are a glaring example.
I just cannot understand how even people as manifestly unfit for their roles as the senior staff of the DfE thought it was OK to leave this all to the absolute last minute like this.
I mean, even by their appallingly low standards this is shocking. It's actually grotesque. This has been flagged up, by them, for weeks. Surely they should have out contingency plans in place before now?
The sooner they are abolished and all of them are banned from working in the public sector or with children, the better.
My guess is insurance. They could not get the buildings insured for the next school year.
I did say this morning that "Save now pay shedloads more later" appears to be the motto. School buildings are a glaring example.
I just cannot understand how even people as manifestly unfit for their roles as the senior staff of the DfE thought it was OK to leave this all to the absolute last minute like this.
I mean, even by their appallingly low standards this is shocking. It's actually grotesque. This has been flagged up, by them, for weeks. Surely they should have out contingency plans in place before now?
The sooner they are abolished and all of them are banned from working in the public sector or with children, the better.
Do Senior staff at the DfE actually come into contact with any children whatsoever on a regular basis?* Maybe that is the problem.
I did say this morning that "Save now pay shedloads more later" appears to be the motto. School buildings are a glaring example.
I just cannot understand how even people as manifestly unfit for their roles as the senior staff of the DfE thought it was OK to leave this all to the absolute last minute like this.
I mean, even by their appallingly low standards this is shocking. It's actually grotesque. This has been flagged up, by them, for weeks. Surely they should have out contingency plans in place before now?
The sooner they are abolished and all of them are banned from working in the public sector or with children, the better.
Do Senior staff at the DfE actually come into contact with any children whatsoever on a regular basis?* Maybe that is the problem.
*Other than Ministers and their own.
Not until they retire and go to work as academy chain chief execs on vast sums, pontificating endlessly about how brilliant they are.
"Ex-MP Antoinette Sandbach 'threatens to sue Cambridge University' saying her privacy has been invaded after academic's award-winning research showed her ancestor made his fortune out of West Indies slave plantations"
A coastal Suffolk town will be left bankless when Barclays closes its final branch there in November.
The Southwold Barclays, the last remaining branch in the seaside town, is one of the 15 branches of the bank which are due to close by the end of the year. Barclays said it took the decision after identifying just 17 people used the branch as their only source of banking.
Locals will be able to get cash from the local Post Office but the nearest branch of the bank will now be in Lowestoft, a 30-minute drive away.
Therese Coffey, MP for Suffolk Coastal, has promised to appeal to cash network operator LINK for a banking hub, a centre which provides cash services and access to different banks on each day of the week, Eastern Daily News reported.
Elsewhere in Suffolk, Christine Wheeler, Mayor of Beccles, said she intended to challenge the banking giant’s decision to close in the town, according to other local news reports.
Barclays has already announced more than 60 closures so far in 2023 and branches in central London, Hove and Portsmouth are also pencilled in for closure.
The bank has closed more than 614 branches since 2019, making up 27pc of the 2,277 outlets shuttered by the major banks in the time period.
Elsewhere residents in a village on the outskirts of the expanded Ulez area face being forced to pay £12.50 to go to their nearest Barclays, with a branch in the Buckinghamshire village of Chalfont St Peter no longer open from September.
At the same time the local village Post Office, which is now the only place offering cash services in the village, is due to close in September for a week-long refurbishment, leaving residents without cash access.
Anecdote alert. I was in the middle of that there City of London yesterday and a cabbie dropped me off for an interview. His fecking card machine didn’t work so we had to drive to find a cash machine, the nearest turned out to be one in City Thameslink by the Ludgate Hill entrance. Was on time for the interview, just, but had to pay a £1.99 fee to withdraw £20 for the cab and then nearly run. Always carry cash kids. Or use Uber.
Why do lawyers, including ones on trial for serious crimes, find it so appealing to go on 'news' shows and talk about it at length? Do the enjoy attention so much they don't see how they can incriminate themselves? Fmr Trump lawyer John Eastman says on Fox News that what he wanted on Jan. 6 was for VP Pence to delay certification from happening for a week. Not news but in his own words it sounds like he wanted to impede the certification https://nitter.net/hugolowell/status/1697038553828511766#m
While the government cannot be blamed for the building materials used in some schools the timing of these school closures just before schools return next week seems a spectacular own goal
I started a Journalism Degree in 1995. I remember going out to a Sheffield primary school to write a story about the crumbling building. This was so decrepit that an endoskeleton had been installed - steel beams to hold up the roof. The school itself was still open despite signs that the steelwork was also in poor condition. A complete lack of money for new facilities.
So for all that PFI has its faults, it isn't as if public money was being spent. The Tory attitude being don't do PFI (unless we do it and make sure the Right People get to cash in), and don't spend public money either. The education of kids? Who cares?
And here we are again. Crumbling schools which needed replacing a decade ago still standing but literally falling down around the pupils.
There are lots of interesting points to be made about this, but that seems one of the more ill-judged and political ones.
Some questions: why was construction with this type of material stopped (apparently) in the 1990s? Was it that the problems with it were found and understood, or that a 'better' (i.e. cheaper) construction method was found? How do local authorities/the government keep track of the age and condition of their school (and hospital, and everything else...) buildings?
I started primary school in a building that was constructed in the early 1900s
In the 1970s a 'new' school was constructed to cater for a growing population, although the old school was retained.
Since then the 'new' school has been completely demolished and rebuilt.
The old school is still standing...
My eldest's primary school dates from that time. The caretaker showed me the roof structure - I mentioned I was interested, when he said that he reckoned that the beams were old oak from ship breaking.
That roof will be there when I am dead and buried for a 100 years, unless someone one fucks with it.
The rest of it are built from that brick the Victorians liked for public buildings. Walls a yard thick.
How long should a new public building be designed to last? 20 years? 30 years? 50 years? 100 years? 500 years?
The longer you want to 'guarantee' it to last, the more expensive it is - sometimes dramatically so. Has the extended life of your old Victorian school not undergone Trigger-syndrome, and did the people who built it really expect/want it to last that long? Were the walls a yard thick justified for the purpose they designed it for?
The key is understanding that all buildings require maintenance, and when they get near the end of their 'lives', that life can be extended, but at a larger cost. Often that cost is less than replacement, sometimes it is more. Often, sadly, the fact it needs replacing is ignored.
The people who commissioned Stonehenge should be looking for their money back IMHO.
Why do lawyers, including ones on trial for serious crimes, find it so appealing to go on 'news' shows and talk about it at length? Do the enjoy attention so much they don't see how they can incriminate themselves? Fmr Trump lawyer John Eastman says on Fox News that what he wanted on Jan. 6 was for VP Pence to delay certification from happening for a week. Not news but in his own words it sounds like he wanted to impede the certification https://nitter.net/hugolowell/status/1697038553828511766#m
It’s an American thing. Until quite recently Barristers here weren’t allowed to and it was frowned upon for solicitors to do so.
While the government cannot be blamed for the building materials used in some schools the timing of these school closures just before schools return next week seems a spectacular own goal
I started a Journalism Degree in 1995. I remember going out to a Sheffield primary school to write a story about the crumbling building. This was so decrepit that an endoskeleton had been installed - steel beams to hold up the roof. The school itself was still open despite signs that the steelwork was also in poor condition. A complete lack of money for new facilities.
So for all that PFI has its faults, it isn't as if public money was being spent. The Tory attitude being don't do PFI (unless we do it and make sure the Right People get to cash in), and don't spend public money either. The education of kids? Who cares?
And here we are again. Crumbling schools which needed replacing a decade ago still standing but literally falling down around the pupils.
There are lots of interesting points to be made about this, but that seems one of the more ill-judged and political ones.
Some questions: why was construction with this type of material stopped (apparently) in the 1990s? Was it that the problems with it were found and understood, or that a 'better' (i.e. cheaper) construction method was found? How do local authorities/the government keep track of the age and condition of their school (and hospital, and everything else...) buildings?
I started primary school in a building that was constructed in the early 1900s
In the 1970s a 'new' school was constructed to cater for a growing population, although the old school was retained.
Since then the 'new' school has been completely demolished and rebuilt.
The old school is still standing...
My eldest's primary school dates from that time. The caretaker showed me the roof structure - I mentioned I was interested, when he said that he reckoned that the beams were old oak from ship breaking.
That roof will be there when I am dead and buried for a 100 years, unless someone one fucks with it.
The rest of it are built from that brick the Victorians liked for public buildings. Walls a yard thick.
How long should a new public building be designed to last? 20 years? 30 years? 50 years? 100 years? 500 years?
The longer you want to 'guarantee' it to last, the more expensive it is - sometimes dramatically so. Has the extended life of your old Victorian school not undergone Trigger-syndrome, and did the people who built it really expect/want it to last that long? Were the walls a yard thick justified for the purpose they designed it for?
The key is understanding that all buildings require maintenance, and when they get near the end of their 'lives', that life can be extended, but at a larger cost. Often that cost is less than replacement, sometimes it is more. Often, sadly, the fact it needs replacing is ignored.
The people who commissioned Stonehenge should be looking for their money back IMHO.
Yes, some of it fell down well before the end of the design life of the materials. Dodgy foundations.
A coastal Suffolk town will be left bankless when Barclays closes its final branch there in November.
The Southwold Barclays, the last remaining branch in the seaside town, is one of the 15 branches of the bank which are due to close by the end of the year. Barclays said it took the decision after identifying just 17 people used the branch as their only source of banking.
Locals will be able to get cash from the local Post Office but the nearest branch of the bank will now be in Lowestoft, a 30-minute drive away.
Therese Coffey, MP for Suffolk Coastal, has promised to appeal to cash network operator LINK for a banking hub, a centre which provides cash services and access to different banks on each day of the week, Eastern Daily News reported.
Elsewhere in Suffolk, Christine Wheeler, Mayor of Beccles, said she intended to challenge the banking giant’s decision to close in the town, according to other local news reports.
Barclays has already announced more than 60 closures so far in 2023 and branches in central London, Hove and Portsmouth are also pencilled in for closure.
The bank has closed more than 614 branches since 2019, making up 27pc of the 2,277 outlets shuttered by the major banks in the time period.
Elsewhere residents in a village on the outskirts of the expanded Ulez area face being forced to pay £12.50 to go to their nearest Barclays, with a branch in the Buckinghamshire village of Chalfont St Peter no longer open from September.
At the same time the local village Post Office, which is now the only place offering cash services in the village, is due to close in September for a week-long refurbishment, leaving residents without cash access.
As a part time resident I can tell you that Adnams refuses to take cash and as they basically own Southwold the Southwold residents (or as we call them 2nd home owners as there are only about 3 residents left) don't use cash.
I did say this morning that "Save now pay shedloads more later" appears to be the motto. School buildings are a glaring example.
I just cannot understand how even people as manifestly unfit for their roles as the senior staff of the DfE thought it was OK to leave this all to the absolute last minute like this.
I mean, even by their appallingly low standards this is shocking. It's actually grotesque. This has been flagged up, by them, for weeks. Surely they should have out contingency plans in place before now?
The sooner they are abolished and all of them are banned from working in the public sector or with children, the better.
My guess is insurance. They could not get the buildings insured for the next school year.
Probably wrong, though...
(1) If that were the issue, you would have thought* they would have checked before;
(2) Insurance is usually a matter for the school foundation, not the DfE. So I don't think that could explain it.
This strikes more of the panic we saw among various LAs after Grenfell. I'm wondering if there's been an actual collapse somewhere that they're not currently admitting to.
Because if not, this is really negligent. @Stuartinromford has been flagging this for months if not years and for all his shrewdness he's not got full access to the relevant information nor is he paid to evaluate it.
*although TBF I'm almost passed being shocked by the complacency and idiocy of the DfE.
A coastal Suffolk town will be left bankless when Barclays closes its final branch there in November.
The Southwold Barclays, the last remaining branch in the seaside town, is one of the 15 branches of the bank which are due to close by the end of the year. Barclays said it took the decision after identifying just 17 people used the branch as their only source of banking.
Locals will be able to get cash from the local Post Office but the nearest branch of the bank will now be in Lowestoft, a 30-minute drive away.
Therese Coffey, MP for Suffolk Coastal, has promised to appeal to cash network operator LINK for a banking hub, a centre which provides cash services and access to different banks on each day of the week, Eastern Daily News reported.
Elsewhere in Suffolk, Christine Wheeler, Mayor of Beccles, said she intended to challenge the banking giant’s decision to close in the town, according to other local news reports.
Barclays has already announced more than 60 closures so far in 2023 and branches in central London, Hove and Portsmouth are also pencilled in for closure.
The bank has closed more than 614 branches since 2019, making up 27pc of the 2,277 outlets shuttered by the major banks in the time period.
Elsewhere residents in a village on the outskirts of the expanded Ulez area face being forced to pay £12.50 to go to their nearest Barclays, with a branch in the Buckinghamshire village of Chalfont St Peter no longer open from September.
At the same time the local village Post Office, which is now the only place offering cash services in the village, is due to close in September for a week-long refurbishment, leaving residents without cash access.
Anecdote alert. I was in the middle of that there City of London yesterday and a cabbie dropped me off for an interview. His fecking card machine didn’t work so we had to drive to find a cash machine, the nearest turned out to be one in City Thameslink by the Ludgate Hill entrance. Was on time for the interview, just, but had to pay a £1.99 fee to withdraw £20 for the cab and then nearly run. Always carry cash kids. Or use Uber.
I do not understand why those who do not use cash, which by the way I am one, seem to have an obsession in banning it
It is hardly doing anyone harm and some people do use it and their need is as much to be respected as those that don't
I did say this morning that "Save now pay shedloads more later" appears to be the motto. School buildings are a glaring example.
I just cannot understand how even people as manifestly unfit for their roles as the senior staff of the DfE thought it was OK to leave this all to the absolute last minute like this.
I mean, even by their appallingly low standards this is shocking. It's actually grotesque. This has been flagged up, by them, for weeks. Surely they should have out contingency plans in place before now?
The sooner they are abolished and all of them are banned from working in the public sector or with children, the better.
My guess is insurance. They could not get the buildings insured for the next school year.
Probably wrong, though...
(1) If that were the issue, you would have thought* they would have checked before;
(2) Insurance is usually a matter for the school foundation, not the DfE. So I don't think that could explain it.
This strikes more of the panic we saw among various LAs after Grenfell. I'm wondering if there's been an actual collapse somewhere that they're not currently admitting to.
Because if not, this is really negligent. @Stuartinromford has been flagging this for months if not years and for all his shrewdness he's not got full access to the relevant information nor is he paid to evaluate it.
*although TBF I'm almost passed being shocked by the complacency and idiocy of the DfE.
Re building collapse. I know of one building, where when they looked at the cladding, they found the whole structure deficient.
"Ex-MP Antoinette Sandbach 'threatens to sue Cambridge University' saying her privacy has been invaded after academic's award-winning research showed her ancestor made his fortune out of West Indies slave plantations"
I did say this morning that "Save now pay shedloads more later" appears to be the motto. School buildings are a glaring example.
I just cannot understand how even people as manifestly unfit for their roles as the senior staff of the DfE thought it was OK to leave this all to the absolute last minute like this.
I mean, even by their appallingly low standards this is shocking. It's actually grotesque. This has been flagged up, by them, for weeks. Surely they should have out contingency plans in place before now?
The sooner they are abolished and all of them are banned from working in the public sector or with children, the better.
My guess is insurance. They could not get the buildings insured for the next school year.
Probably wrong, though...
(1) If that were the issue, you would have thought* they would have checked before;
(2) Insurance is usually a matter for the school foundation, not the DfE. So I don't think that could explain it.
This strikes more of the panic we saw among various LAs after Grenfell. I'm wondering if there's been an actual collapse somewhere that they're not currently admitting to.
Because if not, this is really negligent. @Stuartinromford has been flagging this for months if not years and for all his shrewdness he's not got full access to the relevant information nor is he paid to evaluate it.
*although TBF I'm almost passed being shocked by the complacency and idiocy of the DfE.
Re building collapse. I know of one building, where when they looked at the cladding, they found the whole structure deficient.
As in - nobody sneeze time…
If there were sneezing, there would also be coffin?
LGBTQ+ citizens are at risk when traveling to the US due to numerous discriminatory laws passed at state level, the Canadian government has warned.
“Some states have enacted laws and policies that may affect 2SLGBTQI+ persons. Check relevant state and local laws,” the government’s website reads.
Although no US state or law was singled out, the news comes after a wave of discriminatory laws passed in predominantly Republican-controlled states. They include Florida’s so-called “don’t say gay” law, and bans against drag performances, gender-affirming care bans, transgender sports participation and bathroom use in states such as Kentucky, Texas, and Tennessee.
In a statement to CNN, the global affairs department of the Canadian government said: “Since the beginning of 2023, certain states in the US have passed laws banning drag shows and restricting the transgender community from access to gender affirming care and from participation in sporting events.”
Canada has provided specific guidelines to its LGBTQ+ citizens traveling abroad: “Watch for laws that: criminalize same-sex activities and relationships [and] criminalize people based on their sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and sex characteristics.
“Some countries may use laws related to ‘vagrancy’, ‘public nuisance’ or ‘public morals’ to criminalize 2SLGBTQI+ people.”
While the government cannot be blamed for the building materials used in some schools the timing of these school closures just before schools return next week seems a spectacular own goal
I started a Journalism Degree in 1995. I remember going out to a Sheffield primary school to write a story about the crumbling building. This was so decrepit that an endoskeleton had been installed - steel beams to hold up the roof. The school itself was still open despite signs that the steelwork was also in poor condition. A complete lack of money for new facilities.
So for all that PFI has its faults, it isn't as if public money was being spent. The Tory attitude being don't do PFI (unless we do it and make sure the Right People get to cash in), and don't spend public money either. The education of kids? Who cares?
And here we are again. Crumbling schools which needed replacing a decade ago still standing but literally falling down around the pupils.
There are lots of interesting points to be made about this, but that seems one of the more ill-judged and political ones.
Some questions: why was construction with this type of material stopped (apparently) in the 1990s? Was it that the problems with it were found and understood, or that a 'better' (i.e. cheaper) construction method was found? How do local authorities/the government keep track of the age and condition of their school (and hospital, and everything else...) buildings?
I started primary school in a building that was constructed in the early 1900s
In the 1970s a 'new' school was constructed to cater for a growing population, although the old school was retained.
Since then the 'new' school has been completely demolished and rebuilt.
The old school is still standing...
My eldest's primary school dates from that time. The caretaker showed me the roof structure - I mentioned I was interested, when he said that he reckoned that the beams were old oak from ship breaking.
That roof will be there when I am dead and buried for a 100 years, unless someone one fucks with it.
The rest of it are built from that brick the Victorians liked for public buildings. Walls a yard thick.
How long should a new public building be designed to last? 20 years? 30 years? 50 years? 100 years? 500 years?
The longer you want to 'guarantee' it to last, the more expensive it is - sometimes dramatically so. Has the extended life of your old Victorian school not undergone Trigger-syndrome, and did the people who built it really expect/want it to last that long? Were the walls a yard thick justified for the purpose they designed it for?
The key is understanding that all buildings require maintenance, and when they get near the end of their 'lives', that life can be extended, but at a larger cost. Often that cost is less than replacement, sometimes it is more. Often, sadly, the fact it needs replacing is ignored.
The people who commissioned Stonehenge should be looking for their money back IMHO.
I don't know. It is starting to look a bit wobbly.
"Ex-MP Antoinette Sandbach 'threatens to sue Cambridge University' saying her privacy has been invaded after academic's award-winning research showed her ancestor made his fortune out of West Indies slave plantations"
I'm not a lawyer, but I'm not sure revealing embarrassing ancestors is something that is so damaging or private that you should sue over it.
If anyone thinks anything ill of her for her ancestor's fortunate that just shows them to be fools.
I assume you also can't sue for telling the truth.
Especially if it is published
(a) in the slave-owners' database (which is based on the compo records, including the arguments about who really owned the slaves so was due to get the compo fxrom the taxpayer)
(b) as remarked earlier here, in Debretts, Burkes, or the Peerage website, which goes into huge details about descendants, even living ones well out of the line of getting the coconut. Which, more generally, makes using your mother's surname as useful a safety feature for a bank account online as a Rangers fan's cashpoint card number.
He's apparently trying to make X the go-to site for everything. Fascinating. If he pulls it off - massive "if" - that $44bn will be seen as a bargain
Not by him, given he felt it was too much to pay and is suing the lawyers who forced him to pay it. But he could make it less bad.
Apparently he is trying to copy Chinese social media sites that do this: cover every base
He may fail, of course. But what Musk has already done is show how useless Dorsey and Co were, at running Twitter, when they had ten times the staff. Almost zero innovation for many years; constantly making losses
Interesting thread (on Twitter!) for anyone thinking Musk is following some brilliant master plan in killing off half his Twitter business by poisoning the brand and supposedly moving to a one stop financial services shop.
He has, precisely, been here before. Including the X brand thing.
I did say this morning that "Save now pay shedloads more later" appears to be the motto. School buildings are a glaring example.
I just cannot understand how even people as manifestly unfit for their roles as the senior staff of the DfE thought it was OK to leave this all to the absolute last minute like this.
I mean, even by their appallingly low standards this is shocking. It's actually grotesque. This has been flagged up, by them, for weeks. Surely they should have out contingency plans in place before now?
The sooner they are abolished and all of them are banned from working in the public sector or with children, the better.
Months, not weeks. The NAO report was published in June, but the fieldwork was done at the start of the year, and I'm absolutely sure that the NAO will have shared the findings with the DfE long before publication. Here's the key summary from the NAO report: Following years of underinvestment, the estate’s overall condition is declining and around 700,000 pupils are learning in a school that the responsible body or DfE believes needs major rebuilding or refurbishment. Most seriously, DfE recognises significant safety concerns across the estate, and has escalated these concerns to the government risk register.
LGBTQ+ citizens are at risk when traveling to the US due to numerous discriminatory laws passed at state level, the Canadian government has warned.
“Some states have enacted laws and policies that may affect 2SLGBTQI+ persons. Check relevant state and local laws,” the government’s website reads.
Although no US state or law was singled out, the news comes after a wave of discriminatory laws passed in predominantly Republican-controlled states. They include Florida’s so-called “don’t say gay” law, and bans against drag performances, gender-affirming care bans, transgender sports participation and bathroom use in states such as Kentucky, Texas, and Tennessee.
In a statement to CNN, the global affairs department of the Canadian government said: “Since the beginning of 2023, certain states in the US have passed laws banning drag shows and restricting the transgender community from access to gender affirming care and from participation in sporting events.”
Canada has provided specific guidelines to its LGBTQ+ citizens traveling abroad: “Watch for laws that: criminalize same-sex activities and relationships [and] criminalize people based on their sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and sex characteristics.
“Some countries may use laws related to ‘vagrancy’, ‘public nuisance’ or ‘public morals’ to criminalize 2SLGBTQI+ people.”
I did say this morning that "Save now pay shedloads more later" appears to be the motto. School buildings are a glaring example.
I just cannot understand how even people as manifestly unfit for their roles as the senior staff of the DfE thought it was OK to leave this all to the absolute last minute like this.
I mean, even by their appallingly low standards this is shocking. It's actually grotesque. This has been flagged up, by them, for weeks. Surely they should have out contingency plans in place before now?
The sooner they are abolished and all of them are banned from working in the public sector or with children, the better.
Months, not weeks. The NAO report was published in June, but the fieldwork was done at the start of the year, and I'm absolutely sure that the NAO will have shared the findings with the DfE long before publication. Here's the key summary from the NAO report: Following years of underinvestment, the estate’s overall condition is declining and around 700,000 pupils are learning in a school that the responsible body or DfE believes needs major rebuilding or refurbishment. Most seriously, DfE recognises significant safety concerns across the estate, and has escalated these concerns to the government risk register.
So basically, they did fuck all when first warned.
So what has suddenly changed their minds?
Unless of course it's a distraction from the clusterfuck exams have turned into for the fifth year in six.
Firstly. The counter-attack south of Orikhiv continues to advance bit-by-bit and has now taken a noticeable bite out of the lines. Whilst still slow and painful, it is determined and continuing.
Secondly. The advances of the Russians in the North East (only I noticed this) have been partially repelled. Lyman is no longer in imminent danger of being taken, although Kupiansk is still endangered
My personal view is that the war in Ukraine will be decided on the road to Mariupol.
It the Russians are able to hold the Ukrainians off, then the pressure on Ukraine to accept some kind of negotiated peace will only grow. Now, I suspect that they will resist it, but if supplies from the West start to taper, then it will be a long war.
On the other hand, if the Ukrainian forces successfully sever the link to Crimea, then there are a lot of troops West of that break where resupply is going to be incredibly difficult. How do you get food and ammo and fresh weapons to the tens - or hundreds - of thousands of Russians who are now cut off?
A Ukrainian success there would essentially force the Russians to go all in on reopening the corridor. Which would be a very tough ask.
Right now, it looks like Ukraine is going to severely compromise Russia's ability to supply Crimea. The further south they go, the more the rail line comes within artillery range. That's not the same as a severing, but it makes Russia's task holding on in the West that bit harder.
The railway line south of Tokmak is already within HIMARS range, only about 25km from the front line. I’m sure that they already have some cheap drones that can spot the trains. If they can get some firepower into the new territories around Robotyne, that railway is dead, and with it the ability to supply Crimea and SW Ukraine towards Odessa.
"Ex-MP Antoinette Sandbach 'threatens to sue Cambridge University' saying her privacy has been invaded after academic's award-winning research showed her ancestor made his fortune out of West Indies slave plantations"
I'm not a lawyer, but I'm not sure revealing embarrassing ancestors is something that is so damaging or private that you should sue over it.
If anyone thinks anything ill of her for her ancestor's fortunate that just shows them to be fools.
Number of years ago, there was someone posting on PB for a relatively short period, who kept referring, but without giving details, to an ancestor who (IIRC) she said was involved in slave trade, which she found (as I recall anyway) quite upsetting and embarrassing.
Which yours truly and others didn't/don't understand very well, seeing as how I & etc. were/are as willing to brag about an ancestor hanged for sheep-stealing (or worse) as one who with more respectable credentials.
For example, knew a fellow student years ago in Louisiana, who was descendant of Sanson, who managed to segue from being last royal executioner of France, to the high executioner of the French Republic. He claimed to have dispatched 3k by his own hand, including attempted assassin of Louis XV . . . and that king's heir, Louis XVI.
My friend was NOT embarrassed in the least. On the other hand, he was NOT a big fan of capital punishment.
LGBTQ+ citizens are at risk when traveling to the US due to numerous discriminatory laws passed at state level, the Canadian government has warned.
“Some states have enacted laws and policies that may affect 2SLGBTQI+ persons. Check relevant state and local laws,” the government’s website reads.
Although no US state or law was singled out, the news comes after a wave of discriminatory laws passed in predominantly Republican-controlled states. They include Florida’s so-called “don’t say gay” law, and bans against drag performances, gender-affirming care bans, transgender sports participation and bathroom use in states such as Kentucky, Texas, and Tennessee.
In a statement to CNN, the global affairs department of the Canadian government said: “Since the beginning of 2023, certain states in the US have passed laws banning drag shows and restricting the transgender community from access to gender affirming care and from participation in sporting events.”
Canada has provided specific guidelines to its LGBTQ+ citizens traveling abroad: “Watch for laws that: criminalize same-sex activities and relationships [and] criminalize people based on their sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and sex characteristics.
“Some countries may use laws related to ‘vagrancy’, ‘public nuisance’ or ‘public morals’ to criminalize 2SLGBTQI+ people.”
"Ex-MP Antoinette Sandbach 'threatens to sue Cambridge University' saying her privacy has been invaded after academic's award-winning research showed her ancestor made his fortune out of West Indies slave plantations"
I'm not a lawyer, but I'm not sure revealing embarrassing ancestors is something that is so damaging or private that you should sue over it.
If anyone thinks anything ill of her for her ancestor's fortunate that just shows them to be fools.
Number of years ago, there was someone posting on PB for a relatively short period, who kept referring, but without giving details, to an ancestor who (IIRC) she said was involved in slave trade, which she found (as I recall anyway) quite upsetting and embarrassing.
Which yours truly and others didn't/don't understand very well, seeing as how I & etc. were/are as willing to brag about an ancestor hanged for sheep-stealing (or worse) as one who with more respectable credentials.
For example, knew a fellow student years ago in Louisiana, who was descendant of Sanson, who managed to segue from being last royal executioner of France, to the high executioner of the French Republic. He claimed to have dispatched 3k by his own hand, including attempted assassin of Louis XV . . . and that king's heir, Louis XVI.
My friend was NOT embarrassed in the least. On the other hand, he was NOT a big fan of capital punishment.
Monsieur Sanson was doing a public service [edit] or at least that is what most of his contemporaries would have said, and some would say today (including some on the opposite side from the Tory hang and flog 'em crowd).
French President Emmanuel Macron slammed the two-term constitutional limit that means he must step down in 2027 as “damnable bullshit” in a meeting with party leaders yesterday.
A coastal Suffolk town will be left bankless when Barclays closes its final branch there in November.
The Southwold Barclays, the last remaining branch in the seaside town, is one of the 15 branches of the bank which are due to close by the end of the year. Barclays said it took the decision after identifying just 17 people used the branch as their only source of banking.
Locals will be able to get cash from the local Post Office but the nearest branch of the bank will now be in Lowestoft, a 30-minute drive away.
Therese Coffey, MP for Suffolk Coastal, has promised to appeal to cash network operator LINK for a banking hub, a centre which provides cash services and access to different banks on each day of the week, Eastern Daily News reported.
Elsewhere in Suffolk, Christine Wheeler, Mayor of Beccles, said she intended to challenge the banking giant’s decision to close in the town, according to other local news reports.
Barclays has already announced more than 60 closures so far in 2023 and branches in central London, Hove and Portsmouth are also pencilled in for closure.
The bank has closed more than 614 branches since 2019, making up 27pc of the 2,277 outlets shuttered by the major banks in the time period.
Elsewhere residents in a village on the outskirts of the expanded Ulez area face being forced to pay £12.50 to go to their nearest Barclays, with a branch in the Buckinghamshire village of Chalfont St Peter no longer open from September.
At the same time the local village Post Office, which is now the only place offering cash services in the village, is due to close in September for a week-long refurbishment, leaving residents without cash access.
As a part time resident I can tell you that Adnams refuses to take cash and as they basically own Southwold the Southwold residents (or as we call them 2nd home owners as there are only about 3 residents left) don't use cash.
"Ex-MP Antoinette Sandbach 'threatens to sue Cambridge University' saying her privacy has been invaded after academic's award-winning research showed her ancestor made his fortune out of West Indies slave plantations"
I'm not a lawyer, but I'm not sure revealing embarrassing ancestors is something that is so damaging or private that you should sue over it.
If anyone thinks anything ill of her for her ancestor's fortunate that just shows them to be fools.
Number of years ago, there was someone posting on PB for a relatively short period, who kept referring, but without giving details, to an ancestor who (IIRC) she said was involved in slave trade, which she found (as I recall anyway) quite upsetting and embarrassing.
Which yours truly and others didn't/don't understand very well, seeing as how I & etc. were/are as willing to brag about an ancestor hanged for sheep-stealing (or worse) as one who with more respectable credentials.
For example, knew a fellow student years ago in Louisiana, who was descendant of Sanson, who managed to segue from being last royal executioner of France, to the high executioner of the French Republic. He claimed to have dispatched 3k by his own hand, including attempted assassin of Louis XV . . . and that king's heir, Louis XVI.
My friend was NOT embarrassed in the least. On the other hand, he was NOT a big fan of capital punishment.
For someone who is himself still on the Trump train Kemp at least seems to play things mostly straight. Perhaps why he won re-election easily whilst the GOP lost both senate seats in the state.
French President Emmanuel Macron slammed the two-term constitutional limit that means he must step down in 2027 as “damnable bullshit” in a meeting with party leaders yesterday.
Become so popular and therefore powerful that a court will just say 'Eh, doesn't matter what the rule says' a la Nayib Bukele.
Seek to become PM to the next President, and make that role more powerful - a la Putin Mark I
Make some kind of constitutional change, any kind, and have a court claim that means your term limits applied to the old one and can be reset - increasingly popular amongst today's budding authoritarians, a la Putin mark II
Launch civil unrest and conpiracy at the unfairness of it a la Trump.
French President Emmanuel Macron slammed the two-term constitutional limit that means he must step down in 2027 as “damnable bullshit” in a meeting with party leaders yesterday.
Become so popular and therefore powerful that a court will just say 'Eh, doesn't matter what the rule says' a la Nayib Bukele.
Seek to become PM to the next President, and make that role more powerful - a la Putin Mark I
Make some kind of constitutional change, any kind, and have a court claim that means your term limits applied to the old one and can be reset - increasingly popular amongst today's budding authoritarians, a la Putin mark II
Launch civil unrest and conpiracy at the unfairness of it a la Trump.
The more I see of politicians the more convinced I am that the US was damn lucky Washington was its first president and was not only rather bad at the job, but knew it and got fed up as a result.
Just imagine if Thomas Jefferson or Alexander Hamilton had been the first president.
But it's clear Washington in giving up powers voluntarily was very much the exception and not the rule.
I was in the supermarket just now and a couple of shop ladies were cursing the tills ("there's absolutely no change in any of them"), then had to set about refilling each till with metric tonnes of pointless scraps of metal.
I winced and wondered to myself, "how long will it be before we start seeing the first cashless supermarkets?"
It can't be too long. I mean, nobody was paying in cash, and yet the poor girls had to waste their time lugging around bits of near-worthless metal into heavy-duty machines almost nobody wants.
A coastal Suffolk town will be left bankless when Barclays closes its final branch there in November.
The Southwold Barclays, the last remaining branch in the seaside town, is one of the 15 branches of the bank which are due to close by the end of the year. Barclays said it took the decision after identifying just 17 people used the branch as their only source of banking.
Locals will be able to get cash from the local Post Office but the nearest branch of the bank will now be in Lowestoft, a 30-minute drive away.
Therese Coffey, MP for Suffolk Coastal, has promised to appeal to cash network operator LINK for a banking hub, a centre which provides cash services and access to different banks on each day of the week, Eastern Daily News reported.
Elsewhere in Suffolk, Christine Wheeler, Mayor of Beccles, said she intended to challenge the banking giant’s decision to close in the town, according to other local news reports.
Barclays has already announced more than 60 closures so far in 2023 and branches in central London, Hove and Portsmouth are also pencilled in for closure.
The bank has closed more than 614 branches since 2019, making up 27pc of the 2,277 outlets shuttered by the major banks in the time period.
Elsewhere residents in a village on the outskirts of the expanded Ulez area face being forced to pay £12.50 to go to their nearest Barclays, with a branch in the Buckinghamshire village of Chalfont St Peter no longer open from September.
At the same time the local village Post Office, which is now the only place offering cash services in the village, is due to close in September for a week-long refurbishment, leaving residents without cash access.
Anecdote alert. I was in the middle of that there City of London yesterday and a cabbie dropped me off for an interview. His fecking card machine didn’t work so we had to drive to find a cash machine, the nearest turned out to be one in City Thameslink by the Ludgate Hill entrance. Was on time for the interview, just, but had to pay a £1.99 fee to withdraw £20 for the cab and then nearly run. Always carry cash kids. Or use Uber.
Could have just BACS transferred it to him via your banking app. Takes less than 90 seconds.
I was in the supermarket just now and a couple of shop ladies were cursing the tills ("there's absolutely no change in any of them"), then had to set about refilling each till with metric tonnes of pointless scraps of metal.
I winced and wondered to myself, "how long will it be before we start seeing the first cashless supermarkets?"
It can't be too long. I mean, nobody was paying in cash, and yet the poor girls had to waste their time lugging around bits of near-worthless metal into heavy-duty machines almost nobody wants.
What a ludicrous waste of time and energy.
If nobody was paying in cash, they wouldn't have been emptied of change, would they?
For someone who is himself still on the Trump train Kemp at least seems to play things mostly straight. Perhaps why he won re-election easily whilst the GOP lost both senate seats in the state.
That's pretty much it. Georgians do not doubt Gov. Kemp's rightwing conservative Republican credentials, and are NOT willing to vote against him, or even criticize him overmuch, just for dissing Trump, or rather going along with 45's megla-MAGA-mania.
Note that Brian K runs HIS state party AND government with a very firm grip. Which discourages opposition, even under Trumpian circumstances. And without a lot of yelling and screaming, on general model of Teddy Roosevelt's "speak softly but carry a big stick".
Something obviously beyond the abilities and/or ken of his Florida neighbor, Ron DeSantis.
A long but worthwhile read from the brilliant Jennifer Williams in the FT. I went to college in Oldham so know the town well. To read so many problems at a big high school is disheartening.
The Tories have absolutely broken the ability of so many families to get by, and also broken the budgets of the schools who are left to pick up the pieces.
Christ, that is a tough read, it left me in tears. The Tories have utterly broken this country, and unforgivably they have ensured that children, and especially poor children, have borne the brunt of it. I find it hard to control my anger at them sometimes.
Is this really the country we want? The society we believe to be just? I know PB Tories and their fellow travellers excuse almost everything, but is this what we have been reduced to? For what other benefit?
If we remove the (often) justified anger, then there's four simple questions which the politicans of all sides need to ask.
1) What are we currently spending money on? 2) What could we spend more money or or less on to make the changes which people want (and what are those changes)? 3) How can we increase the money to make the gap from 1 to 2?
Anything other than that is really just details.
The big one for me is thinking longer term.
Don't pay NHS staff at levels that mean we have a perma-shortage of staff and pay 3-5x that rate for agency staff to cover the ones who are left, off sick thru stress or striking.
Don't repair pot holes with the cheapest possible mix to keep this years budget low, when fixing it properly might be a third the cost over 10 years.
There are loads of similar examples where the govt ideology thinks it is (or it least claims it is) controlling the budget responsibly but are actually making things much more expensive by shifting costs down the line.
Borrowing and/or tax needs to go up for a few years, but over our lifetimes doing so will make public services better and cheaper. This should not be a matter of left or right, but common sense accounting.
"I'm willing to pay a little more tax so that we can have a lot better public services."
Now what are the likelihoods of:
This extra tax actually being higher than predicted.
The improvement in public services being lower than predicted.
We all know what the historic pattern has been so why should things change now ?
I don't think we are going to get the changes I would like to see. If I was in charge it is what I would do, and it would work.
The current batch of Tories are brainwashed by thinking controlling public finances is always the right thing to do regardless of the scenario.
Labour lack imagination and coherence, there is a small chance they are just hiding these away but I doubt it.
But we haven't been controlling public finances but rather living beyond the country's means to varying extents.
All we get is profligacy on buying votes and vanity projects with cuts elsewhere.
It happens under every government and will continue to do so.
Of course the government have been trying to control public finances, have you heard about all the pay strikes?
Govt completely unrealistic in its offer led to widespread strikes, loss of motivation in staff, more people leaving, very high agency pay and poor service levels.
And then govt ends up paying what could have been accepted six months earlier. It was all futile, in the name of controlling public spending, when all it really did is increase it.
But if the government had just accepted the initial pay demands it would have ended up paying even more and guaranteeing ever higher pay demands in future.
No. It doesn't lead to ever higher pay demands, you have just made that up. And of course they shouldn't have paid the initial demands, but something in the realms of reasonableness. You can't boast about raising wages for private sector workers, pay pensioners 10%+ and then offer 2% to public sectors and not expect a no. I don't understand why that is complicated.
So you think that if the government agreed to the doctors 35% pay demand it wouldn't lead to similar pay demands from the rest of the NHS workforce followed by the rest of the public sector ?
Of course it would and rightly so.
So what we get instead are the negotiations battles with each side trying to find what the other's minimum acceptance point.
Now overall I think the government did a reasonable job at that this year but then I'm a net taxpayer, not on public sector wages and a minimal user of NHS services.
Other people, with different perspectives, may have different views.
I was in the supermarket just now and a couple of shop ladies were cursing the tills ("there's absolutely no change in any of them"), then had to set about refilling each till with metric tonnes of pointless scraps of metal.
I winced and wondered to myself, "how long will it be before we start seeing the first cashless supermarkets?"
It can't be too long. I mean, nobody was paying in cash, and yet the poor girls had to waste their time lugging around bits of near-worthless metal into heavy-duty machines almost nobody wants.
What a ludicrous waste of time and energy.
Already happened.
Aldi follows Tesco and Amazon by opening first cashless checkout-free supermarket
Aldi is following in the footsteps of Tesco, Sainsbury's and Amazon by opening its first ever checkout-free store in the UK. It follows a successful trial where the concept was tested out by staff
For someone who is himself still on the Trump train Kemp at least seems to play things mostly straight. Perhaps why he won re-election easily whilst the GOP lost both senate seats in the state.
That's pretty much it. Georgians do not doubt Gov. Kemp's rightwing conservative Republican credentials, and are NOT willing to vote against him, or even criticize him overmuch, just for dissing Trump, or rather going along with 45's megla-MAGA-mania.
Note that Brian K runs HIS state party AND government with a very firm grip. Which discourages opposition, even under Trumpian circumstances. And without a lot of yelling and screaming, on general model of Teddy Roosevelt's "speak softly but carry a big stick".
Something obviously beyond the abilities and/or ken of his Florida neighbor, Ron DeSantis.
Given he has been accused himself of various - ahem - creative re-election strategies, I imagine it's also quite useful for him to be able to pose as the noble defender of democracy and the Constitution against the Evil Suppressors of it.
I was in the supermarket just now and a couple of shop ladies were cursing the tills ("there's absolutely no change in any of them"), then had to set about refilling each till with metric tonnes of pointless scraps of metal.
I winced and wondered to myself, "how long will it be before we start seeing the first cashless supermarkets?"
It can't be too long. I mean, nobody was paying in cash, and yet the poor girls had to waste their time lugging around bits of near-worthless metal into heavy-duty machines almost nobody wants.
What a ludicrous waste of time and energy.
If nobody was paying in cash, they wouldn't have been emptied of change, would they?
Nobody there at the time was paying in cash, not a single customer. Obviously some people must do, albeit a tiny minority of their punters, I'd venture. Yet they have to maintain these Heath-Robinson devices just for a few nostalgics.
I was in the supermarket just now and a couple of shop ladies were cursing the tills ("there's absolutely no change in any of them"), then had to set about refilling each till with metric tonnes of pointless scraps of metal.
I winced and wondered to myself, "how long will it be before we start seeing the first cashless supermarkets?"
It can't be too long. I mean, nobody was paying in cash, and yet the poor girls had to waste their time lugging around bits of near-worthless metal into heavy-duty machines almost nobody wants.
What a ludicrous waste of time and energy.
Already happened.
Aldi follows Tesco and Amazon by opening first cashless checkout-free supermarket
Aldi is following in the footsteps of Tesco, Sainsbury's and Amazon by opening its first ever checkout-free store in the UK. It follows a successful trial where the concept was tested out by staff
I one acted for a local authority’s “Domestic Violence Coordinator” and my quip that we should be stopping such activity rather than choreographing it was not well received.
I was in the supermarket just now and a couple of shop ladies were cursing the tills ("there's absolutely no change in any of them"), then had to set about refilling each till with metric tonnes of pointless scraps of metal.
I winced and wondered to myself, "how long will it be before we start seeing the first cashless supermarkets?"
It can't be too long. I mean, nobody was paying in cash, and yet the poor girls had to waste their time lugging around bits of near-worthless metal into heavy-duty machines almost nobody wants.
What a ludicrous waste of time and energy.
If nobody was paying in cash, they wouldn't have been emptied of change, would they?
Nobody there at the time was paying in cash, not a single customer. Obviously some people must do, albeit a tiny minority of their punters, I'd venture. Yet they have to maintain these Heath-Robinson devices just for a few nostalgics.
But again, if hardly anyone was paying they wouldn't have been emptied, unless they'd been robbed (which I would have thought the staff might have commented on).
Also, in my experience all supermarkets will switch tills to 'card only' if they don't expect many cash customers or have any change to spare.
Has it occurred to you they might be being used more widely at other times of the day?
I one acted for a local authority’s “Domestic Violence Coordinator” and my quip that we should be stopping such activity rather than choreographing it was not well received.
A coastal Suffolk town will be left bankless when Barclays closes its final branch there in November.
The Southwold Barclays, the last remaining branch in the seaside town, is one of the 15 branches of the bank which are due to close by the end of the year. Barclays said it took the decision after identifying just 17 people used the branch as their only source of banking.
Locals will be able to get cash from the local Post Office but the nearest branch of the bank will now be in Lowestoft, a 30-minute drive away.
Therese Coffey, MP for Suffolk Coastal, has promised to appeal to cash network operator LINK for a banking hub, a centre which provides cash services and access to different banks on each day of the week, Eastern Daily News reported.
Elsewhere in Suffolk, Christine Wheeler, Mayor of Beccles, said she intended to challenge the banking giant’s decision to close in the town, according to other local news reports.
Barclays has already announced more than 60 closures so far in 2023 and branches in central London, Hove and Portsmouth are also pencilled in for closure.
The bank has closed more than 614 branches since 2019, making up 27pc of the 2,277 outlets shuttered by the major banks in the time period.
Elsewhere residents in a village on the outskirts of the expanded Ulez area face being forced to pay £12.50 to go to their nearest Barclays, with a branch in the Buckinghamshire village of Chalfont St Peter no longer open from September.
At the same time the local village Post Office, which is now the only place offering cash services in the village, is due to close in September for a week-long refurbishment, leaving residents without cash access.
Anecdote alert. I was in the middle of that there City of London yesterday and a cabbie dropped me off for an interview. His fecking card machine didn’t work so we had to drive to find a cash machine, the nearest turned out to be one in City Thameslink by the Ludgate Hill entrance. Was on time for the interview, just, but had to pay a £1.99 fee to withdraw £20 for the cab and then nearly run. Always carry cash kids. Or use Uber.
Could have just BACS transferred it to him via your banking app. Takes less than 90 seconds.
I gave him my business card and told him to send me his bank details but he wanted cash if poss.
I one acted for a local authority’s “Domestic Violence Coordinator” and my quip that we should be stopping such activity rather than choreographing it was not well received.
French President Emmanuel Macron slammed the two-term constitutional limit that means he must step down in 2027 as “damnable bullshit” in a meeting with party leaders yesterday.
Firstly. The counter-attack south of Orikhiv continues to advance bit-by-bit and has now taken a noticeable bite out of the lines. Whilst still slow and painful, it is determined and continuing.
Secondly. The advances of the Russians in the North East (only I noticed this) have been partially repelled. Lyman is no longer in imminent danger of being taken, although Kupiansk is still endangered
My personal view is that the war in Ukraine will be decided on the road to Mariupol.
It the Russians are able to hold the Ukrainians off, then the pressure on Ukraine to accept some kind of negotiated peace will only grow. Now, I suspect that they will resist it, but if supplies from the West start to taper, then it will be a long war.
On the other hand, if the Ukrainian forces successfully sever the link to Crimea, then there are a lot of troops West of that break where resupply is going to be incredibly difficult. How do you get food and ammo and fresh weapons to the tens - or hundreds - of thousands of Russians who are now cut off?
A Ukrainian success there would essentially force the Russians to go all in on reopening the corridor. Which would be a very tough ask.
Right now, it looks like Ukraine is going to severely compromise Russia's ability to supply Crimea. The further south they go, the more the rail line comes within artillery range. That's not the same as a severing, but it makes Russia's task holding on in the West that bit harder.
The railway line south of Tokmak is already within HIMARS range, only about 25km from the front line. I’m sure that they already have some cheap drones that can spot the trains. If they can get some firepower into the new territories around Robotyne, that railway is dead, and with it the ability to supply Crimea and SW Ukraine towards Odessa.
Not quite. In that scenario there is a gap in the line, but the landbridge hasn't been entirely servered.
The Russians can work their way around it by stopping the train earlier, and then having trucks transport supplies further East where they meet another train. It's much less convenient, and it no doubt reduces capacity markedly, but probably isn't quite enough.
But every mile South they push, and if they capture the tracks themselves, makes it harder and harder for the Russians.
SSI2 - You may have missed the "little" qualifier in my prediction.
Well, it WAS pretty darn little even for a little qualifier!
Among my lefty friends (some of whom would curl your hair IF you've still got some) PEPFAR is the ONE thing for which they give Bush the Younger high marks.
You may have seen this story in the Seattle Times last month:
NYT (via ST $x2) - AIDS relief program under threat as GOP insists on abortion restriction
Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic former House speaker, and George W. Bush, the Republican former president, do not agree on much. But earlier this year, they joined a high-powered gathering in Washington — with Irish rock star Bono on video from Dublin — to mark the 20th anniversary of America’s biggest and, arguably, most successful foreign aid program.
Bush created that program, the President’s Emergency Program for AIDS Relief, in 2003. In the two decades since, PEPFAR, as it is known, has saved 25 million lives and served as a powerful tool for soft diplomacy, a symbol of America’s moral leadership in the world. It has had extraordinary support from a bipartisan coalition of liberals and Christian conservatives.
But now PEPFAR is in danger of becoming a victim of abortion politics — just as the State Department is reorganizing to make the program permanent.
The program is set to expire at the end of September. But House Republicans are not moving forward with a bill to reauthorize it for another five years, because opponents of abortion — led by a GOP congressman who has long been a supporter of PEPFAR — are insisting on adding abortion-related restrictions.
The stalemate is the latest example of how Republicans are using their majority in the House of Representatives to impose their conservative views on social policy throughout the federal government. They have focused in particular on abortion, a year after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and, with it, the right to legal abortion. Earlier this summer, House Republicans loaded up the annual military policy bill that has long been bipartisan with provisions to limit abortion access and transgender care.
The fight over PEPFAR, a $7 billion-a-year program that operates in more than 50 countries, is similar, because it is a broadly bipartisan program that now appears at risk of being sucked into a partisan fight over cultural and social issues. . . .
French President Emmanuel Macron slammed the two-term constitutional limit that means he must step down in 2027 as “damnable bullshit” in a meeting with party leaders yesterday.
For someone who is himself still on the Trump train Kemp at least seems to play things mostly straight. Perhaps why he won re-election easily whilst the GOP lost both senate seats in the state.
That's pretty much it. Georgians do not doubt Gov. Kemp's rightwing conservative Republican credentials, and are NOT willing to vote against him, or even criticize him overmuch, just for dissing Trump, or rather going along with 45's megla-MAGA-mania.
Note that Brian K runs HIS state party AND government with a very firm grip. Which discourages opposition, even under Trumpian circumstances. And without a lot of yelling and screaming, on general model of Teddy Roosevelt's "speak softly but carry a big stick".
Something obviously beyond the abilities and/or ken of his Florida neighbor, Ron DeSantis.
There's certainly a difference between right-wing conservativism and MAGAism and between both and Trump idolatry.
Plus standard centre-right and "our family's always voted Republican" traditional types.
Do you have any thoughts as to what proportion of the GOP vote comes into each category ?
I was in the supermarket just now and a couple of shop ladies were cursing the tills ("there's absolutely no change in any of them"), then had to set about refilling each till with metric tonnes of pointless scraps of metal.
I winced and wondered to myself, "how long will it be before we start seeing the first cashless supermarkets?"
It can't be too long. I mean, nobody was paying in cash, and yet the poor girls had to waste their time lugging around bits of near-worthless metal into heavy-duty machines almost nobody wants.
What a ludicrous waste of time and energy.
If nobody was paying in cash, they wouldn't have been emptied of change, would they?
Nobody there at the time was paying in cash, not a single customer. Obviously some people must do, albeit a tiny minority of their punters, I'd venture. Yet they have to maintain these Heath-Robinson devices just for a few nostalgics.
People who still use cash should just be left to starve. Twats
I was in the supermarket just now and a couple of shop ladies were cursing the tills ("there's absolutely no change in any of them"), then had to set about refilling each till with metric tonnes of pointless scraps of metal.
I winced and wondered to myself, "how long will it be before we start seeing the first cashless supermarkets?"
It can't be too long. I mean, nobody was paying in cash, and yet the poor girls had to waste their time lugging around bits of near-worthless metal into heavy-duty machines almost nobody wants.
I one acted for a local authority’s “Domestic Violence Coordinator” and my quip that we should be stopping such activity rather than choreographing it was not well received.
When Oklahoma became a state in 1907, they created the state "Criminal Court of Appeals".
Which was changed shortly thereafter, to the still-existing "Court of Criminal Appeals".
French President Emmanuel Macron slammed the two-term constitutional limit that means he must step down in 2027 as “damnable bullshit” in a meeting with party leaders yesterday.
French President Emmanuel Macron slammed the two-term constitutional limit that means he must step down in 2027 as “damnable bullshit” in a meeting with party leaders yesterday.
I was in the supermarket just now and a couple of shop ladies were cursing the tills ("there's absolutely no change in any of them"), then had to set about refilling each till with metric tonnes of pointless scraps of metal.
I winced and wondered to myself, "how long will it be before we start seeing the first cashless supermarkets?"
It can't be too long. I mean, nobody was paying in cash, and yet the poor girls had to waste their time lugging around bits of near-worthless metal into heavy-duty machines almost nobody wants.
For someone who is himself still on the Trump train Kemp at least seems to play things mostly straight. Perhaps why he won re-election easily whilst the GOP lost both senate seats in the state.
That's pretty much it. Georgians do not doubt Gov. Kemp's rightwing conservative Republican credentials, and are NOT willing to vote against him, or even criticize him overmuch, just for dissing Trump, or rather going along with 45's megla-MAGA-mania.
Note that Brian K runs HIS state party AND government with a very firm grip. Which discourages opposition, even under Trumpian circumstances. And without a lot of yelling and screaming, on general model of Teddy Roosevelt's "speak softly but carry a big stick".
Something obviously beyond the abilities and/or ken of his Florida neighbor, Ron DeSantis.
Given he has been accused himself of various - ahem - creative re-election strategies, I imagine it's also quite useful for him to be able to pose as the noble defender of democracy and the Constitution against the Evil Suppressors of it.
More so nationally with NYT columnists & such like, than among his GA GOP base, let alone national GOP.
Note that strategies and tactics used (then and still) by Kemp and GA secretary of state, while objectionable, even disgraceful in my view, are within the mainstream of GOP voter suppression.
Which sedition Trump/MAGA style is NOT. Or at least not yet.
Why Kemp, Pence and others like them, should NOT be tarred (and feathered) with the true Putinists.
Comments
The report will receive little attention from the NYT, the Guardian, or even the BBC.
The BBC is the news organization best suited to give this program the coverage it deserves, since so many of the people saved live in former British colonies.
And I would love to have the BBC prove me wrong.
That roof will be there when I am dead and buried for a 100 years, unless someone one fucks with it.
The rest of it are built from that brick the Victorians liked for public buildings. Walls a yard thick.
It the Russians are able to hold the Ukrainians off, then the pressure on Ukraine to accept some kind of negotiated peace will only grow. Now, I suspect that they will resist it, but if supplies from the West start to taper, then it will be a long war.
On the other hand, if the Ukrainian forces successfully sever the link to Crimea, then there are a lot of troops West of that break where resupply is going to be incredibly difficult. How do you get food and ammo and fresh weapons to the tens - or hundreds - of thousands of Russians who are now cut off?
A Ukrainian success there would essentially force the Russians to go all in on reopening the corridor. Which would be a very tough ask.
Right now, it looks like Ukraine is going to severely compromise Russia's ability to supply Crimea. The further south they go, the more the rail line comes within artillery range. That's not the same as a severing, but it makes Russia's task holding on in the West that bit harder.
It is with some smugness therefore that I refer you to today's CaspianReport on the same subject....
CaspianReport 20230831: "Poland is a powerhouse in the making", https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrGx91p04x8
The Southwold Barclays, the last remaining branch in the seaside town, is one of the 15 branches of the bank which are due to close by the end of the year. Barclays said it took the decision after identifying just 17 people used the branch as their only source of banking.
Locals will be able to get cash from the local Post Office but the nearest branch of the bank will now be in Lowestoft, a 30-minute drive away.
Therese Coffey, MP for Suffolk Coastal, has promised to appeal to cash network operator LINK for a banking hub, a centre which provides cash services and access to different banks on each day of the week, Eastern Daily News reported.
Elsewhere in Suffolk, Christine Wheeler, Mayor of Beccles, said she intended to challenge the banking giant’s decision to close in the town, according to other local news reports.
Barclays has already announced more than 60 closures so far in 2023 and branches in central London, Hove and Portsmouth are also pencilled in for closure.
The bank has closed more than 614 branches since 2019, making up 27pc of the 2,277 outlets shuttered by the major banks in the time period.
Elsewhere residents in a village on the outskirts of the expanded Ulez area face being forced to pay £12.50 to go to their nearest Barclays, with a branch in the Buckinghamshire village of Chalfont St Peter no longer open from September.
At the same time the local village Post Office, which is now the only place offering cash services in the village, is due to close in September for a week-long refurbishment, leaving residents without cash access.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/consumer-affairs/seaside-town-left-no-bank-barclays-closes-last-branch/
The trend is your friend,
NYT - The U.S. Program That Brought H.I.V. Treatment to 20 Million People
Over two decades, Pepfar may have saved an estimated 25 million lives, helping to slow the AIDS pandemic.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/14/health/pepfar-hiv.html
BBC - Elton John lauds 'American genius' in fight against Aids
Elton John testified to the US Senate on Wednesday, advocating for the reauthorisation of the President's Emergency Plan for Aids Relief, known as Pepfar. The US-funded programme fights Aids across the globe.
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us-canada-65307263
Not sure how much the rest of UK media has/is covering Pepfar.
Given the amount of pure poison in its pages, I hope for his sake that Starmer like Corbyn falls just short.
However. It seems the correct age. And correct level of flimsiness and cheapness.
It has wood panelling concealing the underlying structure.
One thing I know is this. We have no spare classrooms. None. The library, IT room, art room, science room and media suite are already makeshift form rooms.
Find out Monday. Not my job till then.
"Save now pay shedloads more later" appears to be the motto. School buildings are a glaring example.
The former culture secretary, who quit as an MP last week after three months of delay, was due to release The Plot: the Political Assassination of Boris Johnson on September 28.
Allies of Rishi Sunak were braced for the release to affect the party conference, which begins three days later. Dorries has said her book will name and shame those she sees as central to Johnson’s downfall.
HarperCollins, the publisher, said that a “small delay is necessary to allow for the huge volume of material the author has consulted, the number of high-level sources spoken to, and the required legal process needed to share her story”.
It will be released on November 9, which is also likely to be after the by-election in her former constituency of Mid Bedfordshire.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/nadine-dorries-new-book-the-plot-delayed-november-legal-issues-5jwzsb0z0
"About 90% of school buildings in England are thought to contain asbestos, often around pipes and boilers, and in wall and ceiling tiles."
Thought to is interesting.
I mean, even by their appallingly low standards this is shocking. It's actually grotesque. This has been flagged up, by them, for weeks. Surely they should have out contingency plans in place before now?
The sooner they are abolished and all of them are banned from working in the public sector or with children, the better.
The longer you want to 'guarantee' it to last, the more expensive it is - sometimes dramatically so. Has the extended life of your old Victorian school not undergone Trigger-syndrome, and did the people who built it really expect/want it to last that long? Were the walls a yard thick justified for the purpose they designed it for?
The key is understanding that all buildings require maintenance, and when they get near the end of their 'lives', that life can be extended, but at a larger cost. Often that cost is less than replacement, sometimes it is more. Often, sadly, the fact it needs replacing is ignored.
Probably wrong, though...
Maybe that is the problem.
*Other than Ministers and their own.
Or it would be, but that's the world we live in.
If anyone thinks anything ill of her for her ancestor's fortunate that just shows them to be fools.
Fmr Trump lawyer John Eastman says on Fox News that what he wanted on Jan. 6 was for VP Pence to delay certification from happening for a week. Not news but in his own words it sounds like he wanted to impede the certification
https://nitter.net/hugolowell/status/1697038553828511766#m
https://order-order.com/2023/08/31/local-tories-furious-as-meddling-hands-ignores-concerns-to-select-mike-wood-in-gavin-williamsons-old-seat/
(2) Insurance is usually a matter for the school foundation, not the DfE. So I don't think that could explain it.
This strikes more of the panic we saw among various LAs after Grenfell. I'm wondering if there's been an actual collapse somewhere that they're not currently admitting to.
Because if not, this is really negligent. @Stuartinromford has been flagging this for months if not years and for all his shrewdness he's not got full access to the relevant information nor is he paid to evaluate it.
*although TBF I'm almost passed being shocked by the complacency and idiocy of the DfE.
It is hardly doing anyone harm and some people do use it and their need is as much to be respected as those that don't
Live and let live
As in - nobody sneeze time…
“Some states have enacted laws and policies that may affect 2SLGBTQI+ persons. Check relevant state and local laws,” the government’s website reads.
Although no US state or law was singled out, the news comes after a wave of discriminatory laws passed in predominantly Republican-controlled states. They include Florida’s so-called “don’t say gay” law, and bans against drag performances, gender-affirming care bans, transgender sports participation and bathroom use in states such as Kentucky, Texas, and Tennessee.
In a statement to CNN, the global affairs department of the Canadian government said: “Since the beginning of 2023, certain states in the US have passed laws banning drag shows and restricting the transgender community from access to gender affirming care and from participation in sporting events.”
Canada has provided specific guidelines to its LGBTQ+ citizens traveling abroad: “Watch for laws that: criminalize same-sex activities and relationships [and] criminalize people based on their sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and sex characteristics.
“Some countries may use laws related to ‘vagrancy’, ‘public nuisance’ or ‘public morals’ to criminalize 2SLGBTQI+ people.”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/aug/31/canada-travel-warning-lgbtq-residents-us?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
(a) in the slave-owners' database (which is based on the compo records, including the arguments about who really owned the slaves so was due to get the compo fxrom the taxpayer)
(b) as remarked earlier here, in Debretts, Burkes, or the Peerage website, which goes into huge details about descendants, even living ones well out of the line of getting the coconut. Which, more generally, makes using your mother's surname as useful a safety feature for a bank account online as a Rangers fan's cashpoint card number.
He has, precisely, been here before. Including the X brand thing.
https://twitter.com/garius/status/1683808576328937472
Here's the key summary from the NAO report:
Following years of underinvestment, the estate’s overall condition is declining and around 700,000 pupils are learning in a school that the responsible body or DfE believes needs major rebuilding or refurbishment.
Most seriously, DfE recognises significant safety concerns across the estate, and has escalated these concerns to the government risk register.
https://twitter.com/SECircuit/status/1697276548099784708/photo/1
So what has suddenly changed their minds?
Unless of course it's a distraction from the clusterfuck exams have turned into for the fifth year in six.
Which yours truly and others didn't/don't understand very well, seeing as how I & etc. were/are as willing to brag about an ancestor hanged for sheep-stealing (or worse) as one who with more respectable credentials.
For example, knew a fellow student years ago in Louisiana, who was descendant of Sanson, who managed to segue from being last royal executioner of France, to the high executioner of the French Republic. He claimed to have dispatched 3k by his own hand, including attempted assassin of Louis XV . . . and that king's heir, Louis XVI.
My friend was NOT embarrassed in the least. On the other hand, he was NOT a big fan of capital punishment.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles-Henri_Sanson
On the other hand ...
“The bottom line is that in the state of Georgia, as long as I'm governor, we're going to follow the law and the Constitution.
https://twitter.com/AccountableGOP/status/1697275017149518335
https://x.com/politicoeurope/status/1697270887429419380
Which naturally reminds me, and perhaps others, of Woolton Pie.
PB Pundit Query, for Cookie and other experts: Which is better, Woolton Pie or Eccles Cake, and Why?
Become so popular and therefore powerful that a court will just say 'Eh, doesn't matter what the rule says' a la Nayib Bukele.
Seek to become PM to the next President, and make that role more powerful - a la Putin Mark I
Make some kind of constitutional change, any kind, and have a court claim that means your term limits applied to the old one and can be reset - increasingly popular amongst today's budding authoritarians, a la Putin mark II
Launch civil unrest and conpiracy at the unfairness of it a la Trump.
Just imagine if Thomas Jefferson or Alexander Hamilton had been the first president.
But it's clear Washington in giving up powers voluntarily was very much the exception and not the rule.
I winced and wondered to myself, "how long will it be before we start seeing the first cashless supermarkets?"
It can't be too long. I mean, nobody was paying in cash, and yet the poor girls had to waste their time lugging around bits of near-worthless metal into heavy-duty machines almost nobody wants.
What a ludicrous waste of time and energy.
Note that Brian K runs HIS state party AND government with a very firm grip. Which discourages opposition, even under Trumpian circumstances. And without a lot of yelling and screaming, on general model of Teddy Roosevelt's "speak softly but carry a big stick".
Something obviously beyond the abilities and/or ken of his Florida neighbor, Ron DeSantis.
Of course it would and rightly so.
So what we get instead are the negotiations battles with each side trying to find what the other's minimum acceptance point.
Now overall I think the government did a reasonable job at that this year but then I'm a net taxpayer, not on public sector wages and a minimal user of NHS services.
Other people, with different perspectives, may have different views.
Aldi follows Tesco and Amazon by opening first cashless checkout-free supermarket
Aldi is following in the footsteps of Tesco, Sainsbury's and Amazon by opening its first ever checkout-free store in the UK. It follows a successful trial where the concept was tested out by staff
https://www.mirror.co.uk/money/inside-aldis-first-ever-checkout-25975837
It will be a growing trend, I'd venture.
Handling cash must be a huge drag on resources for them – and is largely pointless.
Also, in my experience all supermarkets will switch tills to 'card only' if they don't expect many cash customers or have any change to spare.
Has it occurred to you they might be being used more widely at other times of the day?
The Russians can work their way around it by stopping the train earlier, and then having trucks transport supplies further East where they meet another train. It's much less convenient, and it no doubt reduces capacity markedly, but probably isn't quite enough.
But every mile South they push, and if they capture the tracks themselves, makes it harder and harder for the Russians.
Among my lefty friends (some of whom would curl your hair IF you've still got some) PEPFAR is the ONE thing for which they give Bush the Younger high marks.
You may have seen this story in the Seattle Times last month:
NYT (via ST $x2) - AIDS relief program under threat as GOP insists on abortion restriction
Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic former House speaker, and George W. Bush, the Republican former president, do not agree on much. But earlier this year, they joined a high-powered gathering in Washington — with Irish rock star Bono on video from Dublin — to mark the 20th anniversary of America’s biggest and, arguably, most successful foreign aid program.
Bush created that program, the President’s Emergency Program for AIDS Relief, in 2003. In the two decades since, PEPFAR, as it is known, has saved 25 million lives and served as a powerful tool for soft diplomacy, a symbol of America’s moral leadership in the world. It has had extraordinary support from a bipartisan coalition of liberals and Christian conservatives.
But now PEPFAR is in danger of becoming a victim of abortion politics — just as the State Department is reorganizing to make the program permanent.
The program is set to expire at the end of September. But House Republicans are not moving forward with a bill to reauthorize it for another five years, because opponents of abortion — led by a GOP congressman who has long been a supporter of PEPFAR — are insisting on adding abortion-related restrictions.
The stalemate is the latest example of how Republicans are using their majority in the House of Representatives to impose their conservative views on social policy throughout the federal government. They have focused in particular on abortion, a year after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and, with it, the right to legal abortion. Earlier this summer, House Republicans loaded up the annual military policy bill that has long been bipartisan with provisions to limit abortion access and transgender care.
The fight over PEPFAR, a $7 billion-a-year program that operates in more than 50 countries, is similar, because it is a broadly bipartisan program that now appears at risk of being sucked into a partisan fight over cultural and social issues. . . .
https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/nation-politics/aids-relief-program-under-threat-as-gop-insists-on-abortion-restriction/
The panicking starts right now...
Edit - and this is priceless.
'It only affects schools from a particular time period, which we know to be from the 1950s to the mid 1990s...'
Do you say, "Excuse me, I need to use the toilet as I seem to be brimming with vigour."
Plus standard centre-right and "our family's always voted Republican" traditional types.
Do you have any thoughts as to what proportion of the GOP vote comes into each category ?
Infratest dimap
CDU/CSU 29%
AfD 22%
SPD 16%
Green 14%
FDP 6%
Left 4%
Others 9%
https://www.wahlrecht.de/umfragen/
Which was changed shortly thereafter, to the still-existing "Court of Criminal Appeals".
Anabob the Anti-Bob.
Note that strategies and tactics used (then and still) by Kemp and GA secretary of state, while objectionable, even disgraceful in my view, are within the mainstream of GOP voter suppression.
Which sedition Trump/MAGA style is NOT. Or at least not yet.
Why Kemp, Pence and others like them, should NOT be tarred (and feathered) with the true Putinists.