Which major engineering firm or project consultancy is going to want to get involved in all these new rail projects knowing now that this government has demonstrated it is a total unreliable and mercurial client.
They'll find somewhere else in the world to build.
£2 bus fare being kept: instinctually that seems a good idea, but I wonder how it has affected ridership...
That's a huge con / negative in lots of places...as its £2 max per journey / for a single, all that has happened is returns / day tickets have gone up significantly. And of course most people need a return, as they need to get back from where they were going.
If you really want to help out / incentivise bus travel, you need to be capping the returns / day tickets as well.
Surely it's effectively capping returns at £4, i.e. two singles. I'm afraid I don't use bus travel enough to know if this is cheaper than most return journeys before the policy was implemented or not.
In my local area at least, its not. Return / day ticket prices are significantly more expensive since the £2 cap came in and the bus company were open about why.
Which major engineering firm or project consultancy is going to want to get involved in all these new rail projects knowing now that this government has demonstrated it is a total unreliable and mercurial client.
They'll find somewhere else in the world to build.
All of them ?
You just make sure you get a decent termination clause in the project, I imagine a fair bit of the sunk cost in HS2 will be paying out for work already done & effectively future lost profits on HS2. For all it's shouting the Gov't will definitely pay up if it's signed a contract.
Some cabinet faces look to me like they're thinking....better start bringing forward my leadership campaign.
No, none of them have any interest in taking over now, they will leave Sunak and Hunt to take the party to defeat then hope to take over in opposition when a Labour government would have to deal with the economy.
Though Sunak's speech was a bit dull in terms of competent managerialism and broader infrastructure investment and more wide ranging skills for school leavers it was OK.
And an extension of whole life terms to sadistic and sexual murderers and cutting down on smoking
That is a very good summary. Sadly.
Liz Truss in her speech (queues out of the door) had 3 policies. Build 500,000 houses a year, start fracking, and reduce CT back to 19% or below. That was far more coherent and substantial than Rishi's nonsense.
Actor turned political activist Laurence Fox has been arrested on suspicion of conspiring to commit criminal damage to ULEZ cameras.
Fox, who is the leader of the Reclaim Party, said in a social media video shared earlier today that his home was being searched by police officers.
Just before 10.45am, the party posted on X, formerly Twitter, saying: "Live now @LozzaFox is having his house searched by the police."
The post was accompanied by a video of Fox, sitting on his sofa addressing the camera, seemingly with police officers around him.
In the short clip, he says: "Look how many coppers there are around my house."
In another video of Fox at his house, also shared to X, he criticises moves to what he called a "surveillance state".
In a statement, a police spokesperson said: "On Wednesday 4 October officers arrested a 45-year-old man on suspicion of conspiring to commit criminal damage to ULEZ cameras and encouraging or assisting offences to be committed.
"He was arrested in Stockwell and has been taken to a South London police station where he remains in custody."
So Rishi went to Manchester to cancel the big train line to Manchester. It was leaked, but he decided to spend all week denying the story (with increasingly elaborate BS) so that he could give the bad news himself. He then fluffed the payoff, by saying that the money saved would pay for things "across the country", i.e. not just the North.
£2 bus fare being kept: instinctually that seems a good idea, but I wonder how it has affected ridership...
That's a huge con / negative in lots of places...as its £2 max per journey / for a single, all that has happened is returns / day tickets have gone up significantly. And of course most people need a return, as they need to get back from where they were going.
If you really want to help out / incentivise bus travel, you need to be capping the returns / day tickets as well.
Surely it's effectively capping returns at £4, i.e. two singles. I'm afraid I don't use bus travel enough to know if this is cheaper than most return journeys before the policy was implemented or not.
In my local area at least, its not. Return / day ticket prices are significantly more expensive since the £2 cap came in and the bus company were open about why.
I can see the issue with day tickets, but for return journeys why doesn't everyone buy two singles then (this frequently is cheaper for railway tickets, and most people therefore buy singles when it is).
The Irish Government is strongly resisting a European Commission bid to seek a slice of Ireland's corporate sector profits as a way to replenish the European Union budget, RTÉ News has learned.
The whole budget is probably going to get quite rancorous as countries shift from being net recipients to net contributors and they need to start paying for their infrastructure from their own funds.
£2 bus fare being kept: instinctually that seems a good idea, but I wonder how it has affected ridership...
That's a huge con / negative in lots of places...as its £2 max per journey / for a single, all that has happened is returns / day tickets have gone up significantly. And of course most people need a return, as they need to get back from where they were going.
If you really want to help out / incentivise bus travel, you need to be capping the returns / day tickets as well.
Surely it's effectively capping returns at £4, i.e. two singles. I'm afraid I don't use bus travel enough to know if this is cheaper than most return journeys before the policy was implemented or not.
In my local area at least, its not. Return / day ticket prices are significantly more expensive since the £2 cap came in and the bus company were open about why.
I can see the issue with day tickets, but for return journeys why doesn't everyone buy two singles then (this frequently is cheaper for railway tickets, and most people therefore buy singles when it is).
No you are missing the point. Yes it caps the return to £4, but the return price was significantly below £4 before and now they just put it up £4. So in reality for the majority of people, bus travel has actually got more expensive, not less since the introduction of the cap.
Now given inflation, in reality the return probably would have got to £4 anyway, but day tickets have skyrocketed, so at best, the cap hasn't actually helped, but more likely it has led to the bus company hitting certain traveller harder to make up for discounting a small minority.
Needs to do some proper jail time. I'm sick of this government's soft approach to crime.
Rishi has just said he agrees with Suella that "there's no such thing as minor offences", so I'm sure the full weight of the law will be brought to bear on Fox.
There was that Dominic Cummings line about entering Number Ten, waiting to see the magic door, behind which there were the ninjas who ran everything?
There is no door. There are no ninjas.
As for the rabbit, Mr Twitchytail has gone to live on a farm. And it's got nothing at all to do with the rabbit pie were were given for supper last year.
Meanwhile, the Tories have made a martyr out of Truss and brought Farage in from the cold, without asking whether he wants it.
Are they actively trying to throw the next election? What do they know that we don't?
Sunak is presiding over something I've never seen before. It's hard to know what to think about it. Feel sorry for sensible old skool Conservative Tories.
Does the husband or wife of the PM usually do a speech before the main man (Or woman) is up on the stage at conference ?
Murphy in particular seems to have gone down like cold sick btl in the Daily Mail comments (A necessary but not sufficient crowd the PM has to win over in GE24/25 I'd argue).
All students to study Maths and English to 18 in a new Advanced British Standard combining A levels and T levels, 5 subjects to be studied for A level.
Teachers of key subjects to get tax free £30k bonus
This is going back to matriculation which was abolished in 1951. Once students have reached the standard they can reach in any subject it is pointless to force them to study it further. They should be able to choose what they want to study, presumably in things they do well and enjoy.
What is the point in teaching a brilliant mathematician War and Peace if s/he hates it and isn't any good at it?
What is the point of teaching a budding journalist or novelist about imaginary numbers which they will never come into contact with in real life and just can't grasp or understand.
Whilst I agree with your general point I am sure we can also all agree that it woud be great if our journalists (and politicians and other commentators) had at least a basic grasp of maths. They splash their ignorance daily across the frontpages and TV screens.
Raising smoking age year on year is a very good policy. Well done Rishi.
Sounds like something for a royal commission rather than a PM's intuition. I'm probably in favour but would like it discussed more thoroughly.
What is in the pro column for smoking, apart from I suppose the tax revenue?
Some people enjoy it?
People enjoy doing many different illegal things.
Smoking is not illegal, though. At least, not right now.
76,000 people died from smoking related diseases in 2021.
There were just under 10,000 deaths caused by alcohol in that same year. Where do you decide it is right to ban something and wrong to ban something else? What about eating meat? Or sugar? Should governments be banning these as well.
This should not even be on the radar for any Government.
Its the old joke.
If you don't drink, don't smoke, go vegetarian, don't eat sweet things and abstain from sex you don't actually live any longer. It just feels like it.
You might ask what the government thinks people should actually die of.
Johnson was happy for people to die of COVID-19.
Sunak is happy for people to die of air pollution or road traffic accidents.
If we save all these deaths and everyone ends up with dementia instead that won't be a terribly good outcome.
We should look at chronic disease as being the really bad thing. We need people to be healthier, not just older.
Smoking of course does cause a lot of chronic disease (as does air pollution) so I'm not advocating either.
The Irish Government is strongly resisting a European Commission bid to seek a slice of Ireland's corporate sector profits as a way to replenish the European Union budget, RTÉ News has learned.
The whole budget is probably going to get quite rancorous as countries shift from being net recipients to net contributors and they need to start paying for their infrastructure from their own funds.
The main sensible conclusion from this conference is that they are planning for a late election. This was not a pre-election rally.
The follow-up conclusion is that Sunak is so out of his depth politically, that he actually might have thought this was a pre-election rally. And that another year of this nonsense could be fatal.
Actor turned political activist Laurence Fox has been arrested on suspicion of conspiring to commit criminal damage to ULEZ cameras.
Fox, who is the leader of the Reclaim Party, said in a social media video shared earlier today that his home was being searched by police officers.
Just before 10.45am, the party posted on X, formerly Twitter, saying: "Live now @LozzaFox is having his house searched by the police."
The post was accompanied by a video of Fox, sitting on his sofa addressing the camera, seemingly with police officers around him.
In the short clip, he says: "Look how many coppers there are around my house."
In another video of Fox at his house, also shared to X, he criticises moves to what he called a "surveillance state".
In a statement, a police spokesperson said: "On Wednesday 4 October officers arrested a 45-year-old man on suspicion of conspiring to commit criminal damage to ULEZ cameras and encouraging or assisting offences to be committed.
"He was arrested in Stockwell and has been taken to a South London police station where he remains in custody."
Once upon a time Lozza was married to Billie Piper, a middle England favourite in Lewis and would have likely been nailed on to play one of the incestuous blond haired family in Game of thrones then up for roles against Cumberbatch as slightly awkward English superhero in Marvel type films.
Instead he’s getting nicked and sacked for talking absolute shit and being an idiot.
Actor turned political activist Laurence Fox has been arrested on suspicion of conspiring to commit criminal damage to ULEZ cameras.
Fox, who is the leader of the Reclaim Party, said in a social media video shared earlier today that his home was being searched by police officers.
Just before 10.45am, the party posted on X, formerly Twitter, saying: "Live now @LozzaFox is having his house searched by the police."
The post was accompanied by a video of Fox, sitting on his sofa addressing the camera, seemingly with police officers around him.
In the short clip, he says: "Look how many coppers there are around my house."
In another video of Fox at his house, also shared to X, he criticises moves to what he called a "surveillance state".
In a statement, a police spokesperson said: "On Wednesday 4 October officers arrested a 45-year-old man on suspicion of conspiring to commit criminal damage to ULEZ cameras and encouraging or assisting offences to be committed.
"He was arrested in Stockwell and has been taken to a South London police station where he remains in custody."
Meanwhile, the Tories have made a martyr out of Truss and brought Farage in from the cold, without asking whether he wants it.
Are they actively trying to throw the next election? What do they know that we don't?
Sunak is presiding over something I've never seen before. It's hard to know what to think about it. Feel sorry for sensible old skool Conservative Tories.
Just making it explicit to the remaining conservatives that this is bluekip. But doing it badly because Rishi isn't Bluekip but Singapore-on-Thames.
Actor turned political activist Laurence Fox has been arrested on suspicion of conspiring to commit criminal damage to ULEZ cameras.
Fox, who is the leader of the Reclaim Party, said in a social media video shared earlier today that his home was being searched by police officers.
Just before 10.45am, the party posted on X, formerly Twitter, saying: "Live now @LozzaFox is having his house searched by the police."
The post was accompanied by a video of Fox, sitting on his sofa addressing the camera, seemingly with police officers around him.
In the short clip, he says: "Look how many coppers there are around my house."
In another video of Fox at his house, also shared to X, he criticises moves to what he called a "surveillance state".
In a statement, a police spokesperson said: "On Wednesday 4 October officers arrested a 45-year-old man on suspicion of conspiring to commit criminal damage to ULEZ cameras and encouraging or assisting offences to be committed.
"He was arrested in Stockwell and has been taken to a South London police station where he remains in custody."
Once upon a time Lozza was married to Billie Piper, a middle England favourite in Lewis and would have likely been nailed on to play one of the incestuous blond haired family in Game of thrones then up for roles against Cumberbatch as slightly awkward English superhero in Marvel type films.
Instead he’s getting nicked and sacked for talking absolute shit and being an idiot.
Quite a downfall.
Don't worry. Sunak will invite him to be a Tory MP soon enough. Then he can do the Game of Thrones thing for real.
Actor turned political activist Laurence Fox has been arrested on suspicion of conspiring to commit criminal damage to ULEZ cameras.
Fox, who is the leader of the Reclaim Party, said in a social media video shared earlier today that his home was being searched by police officers.
Just before 10.45am, the party posted on X, formerly Twitter, saying: "Live now @LozzaFox is having his house searched by the police."
The post was accompanied by a video of Fox, sitting on his sofa addressing the camera, seemingly with police officers around him.
In the short clip, he says: "Look how many coppers there are around my house."
In another video of Fox at his house, also shared to X, he criticises moves to what he called a "surveillance state".
In a statement, a police spokesperson said: "On Wednesday 4 October officers arrested a 45-year-old man on suspicion of conspiring to commit criminal damage to ULEZ cameras and encouraging or assisting offences to be committed.
"He was arrested in Stockwell and has been taken to a South London police station where he remains in custody."
Once upon a time Lozza was married to Billie Piper, a middle England favourite in Lewis and would have likely been nailed on to play one of the incestuous blond haired family in Game of thrones then up for roles against Cumberbatch as slightly awkward English superhero in Marvel type films.
Instead he’s getting nicked and sacked for talking absolute shit and being an idiot.
Quite a downfall.
It appears to be quite a widespread condition among middle aged celebs, it affects them all slightly differently, but the thing they all seem to end up suffering with is chronic tw@ttering disease.
Actor turned political activist Laurence Fox has been arrested on suspicion of conspiring to commit criminal damage to ULEZ cameras.
Fox, who is the leader of the Reclaim Party, said in a social media video shared earlier today that his home was being searched by police officers.
Just before 10.45am, the party posted on X, formerly Twitter, saying: "Live now @LozzaFox is having his house searched by the police."
The post was accompanied by a video of Fox, sitting on his sofa addressing the camera, seemingly with police officers around him.
In the short clip, he says: "Look how many coppers there are around my house."
In another video of Fox at his house, also shared to X, he criticises moves to what he called a "surveillance state".
In a statement, a police spokesperson said: "On Wednesday 4 October officers arrested a 45-year-old man on suspicion of conspiring to commit criminal damage to ULEZ cameras and encouraging or assisting offences to be committed.
"He was arrested in Stockwell and has been taken to a South London police station where he remains in custody."
Dear me, it looks as if the A-G may need to brief the PM on the contempt of court laws. Ms Sturgeon was arrested and interviewed under caution by the police.
The proceedings would seem to be "active" within the meaning of Schedule 1 of the 1991 Contempt of Court Act.
The PM commenting in a speech on Ms S's potential guilt looks very like contempt of court to me. The press would be well advised not to report this bit.
Is there anyone with any sense advising the PM? I am available for an enormous fee - not because I give a toss about the Tories but I do care a bit about the rule of law and our government not trashing it and not making the country look like a numpty. For all our sakes.
Oh - and @HYUFD: please spare yourself the bother of writing a million posts displaying your ignorance of the law.
On education, while A-levels will, as ever, get all the attention, the real scandal is the scrapping of T-levels. A huge amount of money has been spent on implementing these vocational qualifications (equivalent to 3 A-levels) since 2020. They haven't been fully rolled out yet, with some delay caused by Covid. But it's a huge waste of time and money to scrap them now before full implementation - a minor version of HS2.
But it only really affects FE colleges and vocational education, so nobody gives a flying fuck. Including the PM, apparently.
Hope he tells Sunak to do one and announces he is resigning from the party and will serve and stand again as an independent.
He'd win.
Yes, I reckon he would. Andy Street seems to be relatively popular here, even among those who aren't Conservatives. He very much gives the impression that he is a champion of the region rather than of the Tories; indeed you'd be hard pushed to actually identify him as a Conservative from his election materials.
Does the husband or wife of the PM usually do a speech before the main man (Or woman) is up on the stage at conference ?
Murphy in particular seems to have gone down like cold sick btl in the Daily Mail comments (A necessary but not sufficient crowd the PM has to win over in GE24/25 I'd argue).
Sir Graham Brady Old Lady’s Postman: “So today, Conference, I can tell you I have decided to step down, on doctor’s orders. The health of my spine is paramount.”
Meanwhile, the Tories have made a martyr out of Truss and brought Farage in from the cold, without asking whether he wants it.
Are they actively trying to throw the next election? What do they know that we don't?
Sunak is presiding over something I've never seen before. It's hard to know what to think about it. Feel sorry for sensible old skool Conservative Tories.
Yes, the Truss thing was a disaster for Rishi and the Tories. Who will feel safe voting for them now if a second Truss takeover is not beyond the realms of possibility? Voting Tory now seems an unacceptable risk whatever Rishi does. He's having a nightmare.
Its obvious that it (the decision on HS2) had been made a while back. The issue for the Tories/government is just how leaky things have got. Aside of whether it is the right or wrong thing to do, the big issue is that its dominated the news for weeks because someone cannot keep their mouths shut. And that is a huge problem. Its ruined any hope of a decent conference.
The blob theorists will surely blame the civil service. They might be right, but equally it could be anyone in the loop with an axe to grind (northern Tory MP).
I think Rishi is doing everyone a massive favour. His premiership is a dull disappointment - it is a warm up act for the certainty of dull disappointment that will be the premiership of Sir Kier Starmer
Dear me, it looks as if the A-G may need to brief the PM on the contempt of court laws. Ms Sturgeon was arrested and interviewed under caution by the police.
The proceedings would seem to be "active" within the meaning of Schedule 1 of the 1991 Contempt of Court Act.
The PM commenting in a speech on Ms S's potential guilt looks very like contempt of court to me. The press would be well advised not to report this bit.
Is there anyone with any sense advising the PM? I am available for an enormous fee - not because I give a toss about the Tories but I do care a bit about the rule of law and our government not trashing it and not making the country look like a numpty. For all our sakes.
Oh - and @HYUFD: please spare yourself the bother of writing a million posts displaying your ignorance of the law.
It was clearly a joke, and quite a good one. I'd be more worried about his lock 'em up and throw away the key populism.
Hope he tells Sunak to do one and announces he is resigning from the party and will serve and stand again as an independent.
He'd win.
Maybe, maybe not. There isn't a great track record of people flouncing from parties going on to win (cough cough Change UK etc). People forget the legions of political activists (many on here) who pound the pavements and knock on doors and are from the Party, not your incredible charisma.
Hope he tells Sunak to do one and announces he is resigning from the party and will serve and stand again as an independent.
He'd win.
Yes, I reckon he would. Andy Street seems to be relatively popular here, even among those who aren't Conservatives. He very much gives the impression that he is a champion of the region rather than of the Tories; indeed you'd be hard pushed to actually identify him as a Conservative from his election materials.
He simply doesn't belong in the current iteration of the Tory party. If he stays it will be a very poor reflection on his judgement.
All students to study Maths and English to 18 in a new Advanced British Standard combining A levels and T levels, 5 subjects to be studied for A level.
Teachers of key subjects to get tax free £30k bonus
This is going back to matriculation which was abolished in 1951. Once students have reached the standard they can reach in any subject it is pointless to force them to study it further. They should be able to choose what they want to study, presumably in things they do well and enjoy.
What is the point in teaching a brilliant mathematician War and Peace if s/he hates it and isn't any good at it?
What is the point of teaching a budding journalist or novelist about imaginary numbers which they will never come into contact with in real life and just can't grasp or understand.
Whilst I agree with your general point I am sure we can also all agree that it woud be great if our journalists (and politicians and other commentators) had at least a basic grasp of maths. They splash their ignorance daily across the frontpages and TV screens.
Oh I so so agree with that. The number of times I sit in front of the TV and watch something and then go and have a rant at my wife (who doesn't deserve it).
Its obvious that it (the decision on HS2) had been made a while back. The issue for the Tories/government is just how leaky things have got. Aside of whether it is the right or wrong thing to do, the big issue is that its dominated the news for weeks because someone cannot keep their mouths shut. And that is a huge problem. Its ruined any hope of a decent conference.
The blob theorists will surely blame the civil service. They might be right, but equally it could be anyone in the loop with an axe to grind (northern Tory MP).
The way they handled the leak was bizarre. The argument was that a decision had not been made, which was pretty obviously untrue. They wanted to deny it so that Rishi could announce it in his speech and as a result created a load of negative press. They should have confirmed it, got the Transport secretary to talk about the bad news bit and let Rishi sell the future vision. But he fluffed even that.
Hope he tells Sunak to do one and announces he is resigning from the party and will serve and stand again as an independent.
He'd win.
Yes, I reckon he would. Andy Street seems to be relatively popular here, even among those who aren't Conservatives. He very much gives the impression that he is a champion of the region rather than of the Tories; indeed you'd be hard pushed to actually identify him as a Conservative from his election materials.
It's my old stomping ground from my childhood and I still have family in the area. Non conservatives in the main but they willingly vote Street. He gets stuff done.
Going back my A levels, back in the Dark Ages, Medicine and Pharmacy required four; Botany, Chemistry, Physics and Zoology. You could do Biology, but that still required the same amount of study as Botany and Zoology. Is that the case, and where, in that case, where do Maths and English fit in?
One more thought before I go to conduct my afternoon.
The smoking age going up by a year every year.
Proof of age is currently only a fairly low level identity thing limited to the young. As time goes on, 30, 40, 50 year olds will be having to prove their age to smoke.
Maybe it will still be low level, but it could also be seen as a serious use case for identity cards.
All students to study Maths and English to 18 in a new Advanced British Standard combining A levels and T levels, 5 subjects to be studied for A level.
Teachers of key subjects to get tax free £30k bonus
This is going back to matriculation which was abolished in 1951. Once students have reached the standard they can reach in any subject it is pointless to force them to study it further. They should be able to choose what they want to study, presumably in things they do well and enjoy.
What is the point in teaching a brilliant mathematician War and Peace if s/he hates it and isn't any good at it?
What is the point of teaching a budding journalist or novelist about imaginary numbers which they will never come into contact with in real life and just can't grasp or understand.
Whilst I agree with your general point I am sure we can also all agree that it woud be great if our journalists (and politicians and other commentators) had at least a basic grasp of maths. They splash their ignorance daily across the frontpages and TV screens.
It isn't so much the ignorance as the idea that this ignorance doesn't matter.
Given what we saw during the pandemic I'm not sure many of them would ever have been capable of being taught.
One more thought before I go to conduct my afternoon.
The smoking age going up by a year every year.
Proof of age is currently only a fairly low level identity thing limited to the young. As time goes on, 30, 40, 50 year olds will be having to prove their age to smoke.
Maybe it will still be low level, but it could also be seen as a serious use case for identity cards.
Hmmm. A very good point.
Would you otherwise have to wave a driving licence or a passport every time you go to the corner shop?
Actor turned political activist Laurence Fox has been arrested on suspicion of conspiring to commit criminal damage to ULEZ cameras.
Fox, who is the leader of the Reclaim Party, said in a social media video shared earlier today that his home was being searched by police officers.
Just before 10.45am, the party posted on X, formerly Twitter, saying: "Live now @LozzaFox is having his house searched by the police."
The post was accompanied by a video of Fox, sitting on his sofa addressing the camera, seemingly with police officers around him.
In the short clip, he says: "Look how many coppers there are around my house."
In another video of Fox at his house, also shared to X, he criticises moves to what he called a "surveillance state".
In a statement, a police spokesperson said: "On Wednesday 4 October officers arrested a 45-year-old man on suspicion of conspiring to commit criminal damage to ULEZ cameras and encouraging or assisting offences to be committed.
"He was arrested in Stockwell and has been taken to a South London police station where he remains in custody."
Once upon a time Lozza was married to Billie Piper, a middle England favourite in Lewis and would have likely been nailed on to play one of the incestuous blond haired family in Game of thrones then up for roles against Cumberbatch as slightly awkward English superhero in Marvel type films.
Instead he’s getting nicked and sacked for talking absolute shit and being an idiot.
Quite a downfall.
It appears to be quite a widespread condition among middle aged celebs, it affects them all slightly differently, but the thing they all seem to end up suffering with is chronic tw@ttering disease.
He seems to have had "issues" for some time. According to wiki he was expelled from Harrow just before taking his A Levels and was unable to get a place at university because of a report the school wrote about him, I imagine not a step they'd take lightly. Still, the posh never fall too far. Disappointing that the lovely Billie Piper ever considered him worthy.
Going back my A levels, back in the Dark Ages, Medicine and Pharmacy required four; Botany, Chemistry, Physics and Zoology. You could do Biology, but that still required the same amount of study as Botany and Zoology. Is that the case, and where, in that case, where do Maths and English fit in?
You think it's that well thought out?
(For maths, it could be made to work I guess. Everyone has to do some sort of maths study at an appropriate level as part of the core, then people who want to study maths can do it in an option box as well.)
But, personally, I'm filing under "not happening inside 12 months, therefore not happening ever."
Actor turned political activist Laurence Fox has been arrested on suspicion of conspiring to commit criminal damage to ULEZ cameras.
Fox, who is the leader of the Reclaim Party, said in a social media video shared earlier today that his home was being searched by police officers.
Just before 10.45am, the party posted on X, formerly Twitter, saying: "Live now @LozzaFox is having his house searched by the police."
The post was accompanied by a video of Fox, sitting on his sofa addressing the camera, seemingly with police officers around him.
In the short clip, he says: "Look how many coppers there are around my house."
In another video of Fox at his house, also shared to X, he criticises moves to what he called a "surveillance state".
In a statement, a police spokesperson said: "On Wednesday 4 October officers arrested a 45-year-old man on suspicion of conspiring to commit criminal damage to ULEZ cameras and encouraging or assisting offences to be committed.
"He was arrested in Stockwell and has been taken to a South London police station where he remains in custody."
Going back my A levels, back in the Dark Ages, Medicine and Pharmacy required four; Botany, Chemistry, Physics and Zoology. You could do Biology, but that still required the same amount of study as Botany and Zoology. Is that the case, and where, in that case, where do Maths and English fit in?
Looking at the University entry guidelines for a medical degree, they mostly seem to state that Chemistry is a must and that the other main subjects should be either Biology, Physics or Maths. This ties in with what my son was told last year when doing his choices for A level.
Dear me, it looks as if the A-G may need to brief the PM on the contempt of court laws. Ms Sturgeon was arrested and interviewed under caution by the police.
The proceedings would seem to be "active" within the meaning of Schedule 1 of the 1991 Contempt of Court Act.
The PM commenting in a speech on Ms S's potential guilt looks very like contempt of court to me. The press would be well advised not to report this bit.
Is there anyone with any sense advising the PM? I am available for an enormous fee - not because I give a toss about the Tories but I do care a bit about the rule of law and our government not trashing it and not making the country look like a numpty. For all our sakes.
Oh - and @HYUFD: please spare yourself the bother of writing a million posts displaying your ignorance of the law.
It was clearly a joke, and quite a good one. I'd be more worried about his lock 'em up and throw away the key populism.
Some are interesting: "Sheffield to Manchester further upgrades and electrification to rail" - so the Mottram bypass finally? And wires through a Hope Valley line which is already too full so can't cope with faster trains? £3.9bn more for northern mayors - of which Houchen will get £3.8bn and by Houchen I mean his mates M6 J15 improvements - we cancelled HS2 for an extra lane on the slip roads Bradford new station. What - a replacement building at Interchange? They can't build the unity station as its bonkers expensive Don Valley Line - Supertram extended tram trains?
Is that it? Most of that was already in programme - they have just nicked about £50bn
One more thought before I go to conduct my afternoon.
The smoking age going up by a year every year.
Proof of age is currently only a fairly low level identity thing limited to the young. As time goes on, 30, 40, 50 year olds will be having to prove their age to smoke.
Maybe it will still be low level, but it could also be seen as a serious use case for identity cards.
Hmmm. A very good point.
Would you otherwise have to wave a driving licence or a passport every time you go to the corner shop?
One more thought before I go to conduct my afternoon.
The smoking age going up by a year every year.
Proof of age is currently only a fairly low level identity thing limited to the young. As time goes on, 30, 40, 50 year olds will be having to prove their age to smoke.
Maybe it will still be low level, but it could also be seen as a serious use case for identity cards.
I'm not convinced by one year at a time - too complex and pfaffy; 21 now and 25 in 4 years' time would be a better start, perhaps alongside significant price hikes, and followed in due course by making the relevant substances probihibited drugs.
(If there is no such thing as a minor crime as I just heard, why is he running away from parking enforcement to prevent wheelchair users and others being forced into dangerous traffic?)
One more thought before I go to conduct my afternoon.
The smoking age going up by a year every year.
Proof of age is currently only a fairly low level identity thing limited to the young. As time goes on, 30, 40, 50 year olds will be having to prove their age to smoke.
Maybe it will still be low level, but it could also be seen as a serious use case for identity cards.
Indeed and one wonders if this could be a trojan for just that eventuality. After all, how on earth does a shopkeeper tell if someone is 45 or 46 when they come to buy cigarettes?
Going back my A levels, back in the Dark Ages, Medicine and Pharmacy required four; Botany, Chemistry, Physics and Zoology. You could do Biology, but that still required the same amount of study as Botany and Zoology. Is that the case, and where, in that case, where do Maths and English fit in?
You think it's that well thought out?
(For maths, it could be made to work I guess. Everyone has to do some sort of maths study at an appropriate level as part of the core, then people who want to study maths can do it in an option box as well.)
But, personally, I'm filing under "not happening inside 12 months, therefore not happening ever."
It will ‘interesting’ to see what members of the education and health professions say about this when they finish work later today. It will also be informative to hear what the Labour’s and the LibDem’s education spokespeople have to say about it.
One more thought before I go to conduct my afternoon.
The smoking age going up by a year every year.
Proof of age is currently only a fairly low level identity thing limited to the young. As time goes on, 30, 40, 50 year olds will be having to prove their age to smoke.
Maybe it will still be low level, but it could also be seen as a serious use case for identity cards.
I'm not convinced by one year at a time; 21 now and 25 in 4 years' time would be a better start, perhaps alongside significant price hikes, and followed in due course by making the relevant substances probihibited drugs.
Why do people insist on sticking their noses in on other people's legal business? Small mindedness and puritanism on steroids.
Actor turned political activist Laurence Fox has been arrested on suspicion of conspiring to commit criminal damage to ULEZ cameras.
Fox, who is the leader of the Reclaim Party, said in a social media video shared earlier today that his home was being searched by police officers.
Just before 10.45am, the party posted on X, formerly Twitter, saying: "Live now @LozzaFox is having his house searched by the police."
The post was accompanied by a video of Fox, sitting on his sofa addressing the camera, seemingly with police officers around him.
In the short clip, he says: "Look how many coppers there are around my house."
In another video of Fox at his house, also shared to X, he criticises moves to what he called a "surveillance state".
In a statement, a police spokesperson said: "On Wednesday 4 October officers arrested a 45-year-old man on suspicion of conspiring to commit criminal damage to ULEZ cameras and encouraging or assisting offences to be committed.
"He was arrested in Stockwell and has been taken to a South London police station where he remains in custody."
Once upon a time Lozza was married to Billie Piper, a middle England favourite in Lewis and would have likely been nailed on to play one of the incestuous blond haired family in Game of thrones then up for roles against Cumberbatch as slightly awkward English superhero in Marvel type films.
Instead he’s getting nicked and sacked for talking absolute shit and being an idiot.
How many MPs went through the care system as children?
From the top of my head, Esther McVey was fostered; different thing again, but Gove was adopted; not sure what age.
From the other side of the fence Edward Timpson grew up in a family that (commendably) fostered many children, so understands the system better than most might,
John Timpson is quite impressive for what he has done.
The whole family is. Not just the fostering of 100+ kids by Mr and Mrs Timpson Snr have done over the years, but the way they hire / train up ex-cons to work in the family business, that has an excellent reputation for treating their staff well.
And the 'if you're unemployed and have a job interview, we'll dry clean your suit and fix your shoes for free'
If it’s true that the government are indeed rushing to sell off the land compulsorily purchased, over years, at HUGE cost, for the sections of HS2 above Crewe, that’s a genuine act of national sabotage – just to make sure a future government can’t override Rishi’s decision.
One more thought before I go to conduct my afternoon.
The smoking age going up by a year every year.
Proof of age is currently only a fairly low level identity thing limited to the young. As time goes on, 30, 40, 50 year olds will be having to prove their age to smoke.
Maybe it will still be low level, but it could also be seen as a serious use case for identity cards.
I'm not convinced by one year at a time - too complex and pfaffy; 21 now and 25 in 4 years' time would be a better start, perhaps alongside significant price hikes, and followed in due course by making the relevant substances probihibited drugs.
(If there is no such thing as a minor crime as I just heard, why is he running away from parking enforcement?)
Ah yes, prohibited drugs.
If the government's ability to limit smoking by banning it goes anything like its attempts to limit people doing weed, coke, ecstasy, meth, etc, I am fairly sure your average 16 year old will soon be able to get hold of a pack of 20 Marlboro far easier than I can as a man in his 40s...
If it’s true that the government are indeed rushing to sell off the land compulsorily purchased, over years, at HUGE cost, for the sections of HS2 above Crewe, that’s a genuine act of national sabotage – just to make sure a future government can’t override Rishi’s decision.
Sounds like a possible case for Labour's proposed compulsory purchase/reduction of planning gain windfall policy.
(Though they were briefing last week that had been de-prioritised.)
If it’s true that the government are indeed rushing to sell off the land compulsorily purchased, over years, at HUGE cost, for the sections of HS2 above Crewe, that’s a genuine act of national sabotage – just to make sure a future government can’t override Rishi’s decision.
Meanwhile, the Tories have made a martyr out of Truss and brought Farage in from the cold, without asking whether he wants it.
Are they actively trying to throw the next election? What do they know that we don't?
Sunak is presiding over something I've never seen before. It's hard to know what to think about it. Feel sorry for sensible old skool Conservative Tories.
Yes, the Truss thing was a disaster for Rishi and the Tories. Who will feel safe voting for them now if a second Truss takeover is not beyond the realms of possibility? Voting Tory now seems an unacceptable risk whatever Rishi does. He's having a nightmare.
Brilliant, absolutely brilliant. If Rishi fucks up the GE it will still be Truss's fault, for reasons unclear.
One more thought before I go to conduct my afternoon.
The smoking age going up by a year every year.
Proof of age is currently only a fairly low level identity thing limited to the young. As time goes on, 30, 40, 50 year olds will be having to prove their age to smoke.
Maybe it will still be low level, but it could also be seen as a serious use case for identity cards.
I'm not convinced by one year at a time; 21 now and 25 in 4 years' time would be a better start, perhaps alongside significant price hikes, and followed in due course by making the relevant substances probihibited drugs.
Why do people insist on sticking their noses in on other people's legal business? Small mindedness and puritanism on steroids.
So you're OK if we make it illegal?
Why do people have a problem with programmes to improve health, and prevent those who say "Waah ! Leave me on my own !" imposing unnecessary costs on the Health System?
The smoking policy is absolute nonsense. It's a decision which should be made by adults. Either you are an adult and thus old enough to decide at 18 or you are not.
If the government wants to discourage smoking further it should simply increase the tax on cigarettes.
One more thought before I go to conduct my afternoon.
The smoking age going up by a year every year.
Proof of age is currently only a fairly low level identity thing limited to the young. As time goes on, 30, 40, 50 year olds will be having to prove their age to smoke.
Maybe it will still be low level, but it could also be seen as a serious use case for identity cards.
I'm not convinced by one year at a time; 21 now and 25 in 4 years' time would be a better start, perhaps alongside significant price hikes, and followed in due course by making the relevant substances probihibited drugs.
Why do people insist on sticking their noses in on other people's legal business? Small mindedness and puritanism on steroids.
Why do people have a problem with programmes to improve health, and prevent those who say "Waah ! Leave me on my own !" imposing unnecessary costs on the Health System?
It's a 2-way street.
Freedom vs security. And we all know which way that ends...
The smoking policy is absolute nonsense. It's a decision which should be made by adults. Either you are an adult and thus old enough to decide at 18 or you are not.
If the government wants to discourage smoking further it should simply increase the tax on cigarettes.
Actor turned political activist Laurence Fox has been arrested on suspicion of conspiring to commit criminal damage to ULEZ cameras.
Fox, who is the leader of the Reclaim Party, said in a social media video shared earlier today that his home was being searched by police officers.
Just before 10.45am, the party posted on X, formerly Twitter, saying: "Live now @LozzaFox is having his house searched by the police."
The post was accompanied by a video of Fox, sitting on his sofa addressing the camera, seemingly with police officers around him.
In the short clip, he says: "Look how many coppers there are around my house."
In another video of Fox at his house, also shared to X, he criticises moves to what he called a "surveillance state".
In a statement, a police spokesperson said: "On Wednesday 4 October officers arrested a 45-year-old man on suspicion of conspiring to commit criminal damage to ULEZ cameras and encouraging or assisting offences to be committed.
"He was arrested in Stockwell and has been taken to a South London police station where he remains in custody."
I've no time for Fox, he's a dim-witted self-promoting moron, but this is just bollocks. Arresting someone for a tweet encouraging something that is likely to have widespread support is getting fearfully close thought crime.
House burgled? Sorry, no officers available, here's a crime number. Send a tweet that Sadiq Khan may not like? Loads of coppers, arrest and custody.
One more thought before I go to conduct my afternoon.
The smoking age going up by a year every year.
Proof of age is currently only a fairly low level identity thing limited to the young. As time goes on, 30, 40, 50 year olds will be having to prove their age to smoke.
Maybe it will still be low level, but it could also be seen as a serious use case for identity cards.
I'm not convinced by one year at a time; 21 now and 25 in 4 years' time would be a better start, perhaps alongside significant price hikes, and followed in due course by making the relevant substances probihibited drugs.
Why do people insist on sticking their noses in on other people's legal business? Small mindedness and puritanism on steroids.
Why do people have a problem with programmes to improve health, and prevent those who say "Waah ! Leave me on my own !" imposing unnecessary costs on the Health System?
According to the anti-smoking lobby ASH, smoking costs the NHS £2.5 billion a year According to HMRC smoking raises £8.8 billion a year in tax.
Comments
They'll find somewhere else in the world to build.
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/10/04/new-hampshire-nikki-haley-desantis-00119864
19% / 10%
You just make sure you get a decent termination clause in the project, I imagine a fair bit of the sunk cost in HS2 will be paying out for work already done & effectively future lost profits on HS2. For all it's shouting the Gov't will definitely pay up if it's signed a contract.
Behind The Scenes At Tory Conference: A Party In Meltdown
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAwcZK_Y6ro
Fox, who is the leader of the Reclaim Party, said in a social media video shared earlier today that his home was being searched by police officers.
Just before 10.45am, the party posted on X, formerly Twitter, saying: "Live now @LozzaFox is having his house searched by the police."
The post was accompanied by a video of Fox, sitting on his sofa addressing the camera, seemingly with police officers around him.
In the short clip, he says: "Look how many coppers there are around my house."
In another video of Fox at his house, also shared to X, he criticises moves to what he called a "surveillance state".
In a statement, a police spokesperson said: "On Wednesday 4 October officers arrested a 45-year-old man on suspicion of conspiring to commit criminal damage to ULEZ cameras and encouraging or assisting offences to be committed.
"He was arrested in Stockwell and has been taken to a South London police station where he remains in custody."
https://news.sky.com/story/laurence-fox-arrested-after-video-showing-police-in-his-home-shared-on-social-media-12976589
So Rishi went to Manchester to cancel the big train line to Manchester. It was leaked, but he decided to spend all week denying the story (with increasingly elaborate BS) so that he could give the bad news himself. He then fluffed the payoff, by saying that the money saved would pay for things "across the country", i.e. not just the North.
Is someone trying to stitch him up?
The PM directly addressed him during his conference speech, saying they can still work together and that he’ll fund the extension to the Midlands Metro tram network.
https://twitter.com/LewisJWarner/status/1709542869214638404
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/04/adding-nine-countries-eu-cost-existing-members
Now given inflation, in reality the return probably would have got to £4 anyway, but day tickets have skyrocketed, so at best, the cap hasn't actually helped, but more likely it has led to the bus company hitting certain traveller harder to make up for discounting a small minority.
He's only got around a year to fail to carry out the long-term decisions he set out today.
There is no door. There are no ninjas.
As for the rabbit, Mr Twitchytail has gone to live on a farm. And it's got nothing at all to do with the rabbit pie were were given for supper last year.
He'd win.
Are they actively trying to throw the next election? What do they know that we don't?
Sunak is presiding over something I've never seen before. It's hard to know what to think about it. Feel sorry for sensible old skool Conservative Tories.
Murphy in particular seems to have gone down like cold sick btl in the Daily Mail comments (A necessary but not sufficient crowd the PM has to win over in GE24/25 I'd argue).
We should look at chronic disease as being the really bad thing. We need people to be healthier, not just older.
Smoking of course does cause a lot of chronic disease (as does air pollution) so I'm not advocating either.
That sounds like a bullshit claim if ever I heard one.
The follow-up conclusion is that Sunak is so out of his depth politically, that he actually might have thought this was a pre-election rally. And that another year of this nonsense could be fatal.
The Tories are best off without him.
Instead he’s getting nicked and sacked for talking absolute shit and being an idiot.
Quite a downfall.
The proceedings would seem to be "active" within the meaning of Schedule 1 of the 1991 Contempt of Court Act.
The PM commenting in a speech on Ms S's potential guilt looks very like contempt of court to me. The press would be well advised not to report this bit.
Is there anyone with any sense advising the PM? I am available for an enormous fee - not because I give a toss about the Tories but I do care a bit about the rule of law and our government not trashing it and not making the country look like a numpty. For all our sakes.
Oh - and @HYUFD: please spare yourself the bother of writing a million posts displaying your ignorance of the law.
But it only really affects FE colleges and vocational education, so nobody gives a flying fuck. Including the PM, apparently.
source$: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/interactive/2023/house-speaker-vote-kevin-mccarthy/
Four Democrats and three Republicans did not vote; 210 Republicans voted against removing McCarthy.
Those 8 Republicans will receive criticism, deservedly; those 208 Democrats will mostly not. They may even receive praise for their tactics.
Its obvious that it (the decision on HS2) had been made a while back. The issue for the Tories/government is just how leaky things have got. Aside of whether it is the right or wrong thing to do, the big issue is that its dominated the news for weeks because someone cannot keep their mouths shut. And that is a huge problem. Its ruined any hope of a decent conference.
The blob theorists will surely blame the civil service. They might be right, but equally it could be anyone in the loop with an axe to grind (northern Tory MP).
Why on earth would they vote to keep him in office ?
Bizarre, bizarre, bizarre.
Is that the case, and where, in that case, where do Maths and English fit in?
The smoking age going up by a year every year.
Proof of age is currently only a fairly low level identity thing limited to the young. As time goes on, 30, 40, 50 year olds will be having to prove their age to smoke.
Maybe it will still be low level, but it could also be seen as a serious use case for identity cards.
Given what we saw during the pandemic I'm not sure many of them would ever have been capable of being taught.
Would you otherwise have to wave a driving licence or a passport every time you go to the corner shop?
(For maths, it could be made to work I guess. Everyone has to do some sort of maths study at an appropriate level as part of the core, then people who want to study maths can do it in an option box as well.)
But, personally, I'm filing under "not happening inside 12 months, therefore not happening ever."
Throw away the key.
This is a good example:
https://www.themedicportal.com/application-guide/choosing-a-medical-school/what-a-levels-do-you-need-to-be-a-doctor/
Shite logo:
https://twitter.com/10DowningStreet/status/1709543970789835259
Some are interesting:
"Sheffield to Manchester further upgrades and electrification to rail" - so the Mottram bypass finally? And wires through a Hope Valley line which is already too full so can't cope with faster trains?
£3.9bn more for northern mayors - of which Houchen will get £3.8bn and by Houchen I mean his mates
M6 J15 improvements - we cancelled HS2 for an extra lane on the slip roads
Bradford new station. What - a replacement building at Interchange? They can't build the unity station as its bonkers expensive
Don Valley Line - Supertram extended tram trains?
Is that it? Most of that was already in programme - they have just nicked about £50bn
He comes across to me as an inept political coward with a disfunctional smokescreen.
Though TBF they have now trained me to be contemptuous.
(If there is no such thing as a minor crime as I just heard, why is he running away from parking enforcement to prevent wheelchair users and others being forced into dangerous traffic?)
It will also be informative to hear what the Labour’s and the LibDem’s education spokespeople have to say about it.
"The Prime Minister announced that £36 million pounds will be reinvested in road and rail projects in the North and Midlands"
Erm. No he didn't.
She is facing a retrial - after her appeal against her convictions - on only one of the murder charges where the jury failed to reach a verdict.
@jamesrbuk
If it’s true that the government are indeed rushing to sell off the land compulsorily purchased, over years, at HUGE cost, for the sections of HS2 above Crewe, that’s a genuine act of national sabotage – just to make sure a future government can’t override Rishi’s decision.
If the government's ability to limit smoking by banning it goes anything like its attempts to limit people doing weed, coke, ecstasy, meth, etc, I am fairly sure your average 16 year old will soon be able to get hold of a pack of 20 Marlboro far easier than I can as a man in his 40s...
(Though they were briefing last week that had been de-prioritised.)
Why do people have a problem with programmes to improve health, and prevent those who say "Waah ! Leave me on my own !" imposing unnecessary costs on the Health System?
It's a 2-way street.
If the government wants to discourage smoking further it should simply increase the tax on cigarettes.
...says the man with the PPE degree.
House burgled? Sorry, no officers available, here's a crime number. Send a tweet that Sadiq Khan may not like? Loads of coppers, arrest and custody.
According to HMRC smoking raises £8.8 billion a year in tax.
Your costs argument is bullshit.