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Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Ashkelon – politicalbetting.com

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  • What a strange country...


    Robert Reich
    @RBReich
    ·
    5m
    The U.S. has suffered 565 mass shootings in 299 days this year, per the Gun Violence Archive.

    Republicans say if we talk about gun reform in the aftermath of a shooting, that's "politicizing" it.

    That means we can never discus it. There's almost never a day without a shooting.

    More killed by gun violence in the USA this year, even excluding suicides, than by Hamas and Israel combined. It's that old saying about tragedies and statistics.
    https://www.gunviolencearchive.org/
    Out of a much larger population and spread throughout the year though.
  • ohnotnowohnotnow Posts: 3,792
    carnforth said:

    ohnotnow said:

    carnforth said:

    ohnotnow said:

    carnforth said:

    Twitter points out that the Rachel Reeves actually has its moments. Her description of the average male British economist:


    Is it Vanilla or PB that's resizing images to 'unimaginably small' mode? I had to use the accessibility tools to read that :-/
    It's not actually resampling them, just showing them small.

    (Vanilla does resample, but only for really big images)
    It's very annoying - whatever the cause. You'd think they'd be vaguely aware of the a11y implications.
    They haven't fixed the rotation of camera phone pictures in over a year, so I don't hold out hope.
    :: sad trombone emoji if there is one and I knew how to do emoji ::
  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 28,437
    Leon said:

    Israeli TV lampooning the BBC. How others see us.

    https://twitter.com/MarcherMedia1/status/1717591597867512279

    I do think the Beeb has incurred reputational damage. Maybe not entirely it's fault. But there we are.

    That’s… terrible TV. Could they not find two actors with remotely British accents?
    That was my feeling too. Not in the finest traditions of Jewish comedy.
  • ohnotnow said:

    carnforth said:

    Twitter points out that the Rachel Reeves actually has its moments. Her description of the average male British economist:


    Is it Vanilla or PB that's resizing images to 'unimaginably small' mode? I had to use the accessibility tools to read that :-/
    Opening the image in a new tab is normally enough but I do not know if that would work on phones. You'd probably have to read the Vanilla release notes to discover why they made this change but life is too short.
  • carnforthcarnforth Posts: 4,587

    ohnotnow said:

    carnforth said:

    Twitter points out that the Rachel Reeves actually has its moments. Her description of the average male British economist:


    Is it Vanilla or PB that's resizing images to 'unimaginably small' mode? I had to use the accessibility tools to read that :-/
    Opening the image in a new tab is normally enough but I do not know if that would work on phones. You'd probably have to read the Vanilla release notes to discover why they made this change but life is too short.
    On a phone you can just pinch and zoom.
  • Sean_FSean_F Posts: 37,360
    Cyclefree said:

    You should read my headers more carefully.

    From April 2022 - https://www2.politicalbetting.com/index.php/archives/2022/04/12/not-the-sharpest-tool-in-the-tory-box/

    Note the highlighted paragraph and the last two sentences.

    His comments about the trial seemed utterly bizarre then, but perhaps, more sinister, now.
  • isamisam Posts: 41,118

    carnforth said:

    Twitter points out that the Rachel Reeves actually has its moments. Her description of the average male British economist:


    It sounds like she’s describing an ex-boyfriend.
    Someone sent to this to me a year or so ago and tried to claim it described me, but only some of the details are correct, like Cafe Oto and the LRB.

    Lol.
    It's very tempting to treat it as a kind of middle aged, middle class, middlebrow purity test.

    (Are potted plants really an indicator?)

    (I was a Chris Morris fan when he was doing weird stuff on the provincialest of BBC Local Radio.)
    Saw this last week, and it is uncannily similar to The Day Today

    https://x.com/neilsmiles/status/1713824454529163680?s=46&t=CW4pL-mMpTqsJXCdjW0Z6Q


  • GardenwalkerGardenwalker Posts: 21,298

    carnforth said:

    Twitter points out that the Rachel Reeves actually has its moments. Her description of the average male British economist:


    It sounds like she’s describing an ex-boyfriend.
    Someone sent to this to me a year or so ago and tried to claim it described me, but only some of the details are correct, like Cafe Oto and the LRB.

    Lol.
    It's very tempting to treat it as a kind of middle aged, middle class, middlebrow purity test.

    (Are potted plants really an indicator?)

    (I was a Chris Morris fan when he was doing weird stuff on the provincialest of BBC Local Radio.)
    It’s a definite *type* - a middle-middle class and vaguely failed, ageing hipster. There’s a lot of them in Hackney but they tend *not* to be economists, more likely they work as brand planners in advertising agencies. The less successful ones have kind of hopeless non-jobs at the local council.
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 48,662

    What a strange country...


    Robert Reich
    @RBReich
    ·
    5m
    The U.S. has suffered 565 mass shootings in 299 days this year, per the Gun Violence Archive.

    Republicans say if we talk about gun reform in the aftermath of a shooting, that's "politicizing" it.

    That means we can never discus it. There's almost never a day without a shooting.

    More killed by gun violence in the USA this year, even excluding suicides, than by Hamas and Israel combined. It's that old saying about tragedies and statistics.
    https://www.gunviolencearchive.org/
    Out of a much larger population and spread throughout the year though.
    So that's alright then...
  • CyclefreeCyclefree Posts: 25,310
    Cyclefree said:

    You should read my headers more carefully.

    From April 2022 - https://www2.politicalbetting.com/index.php/archives/2022/04/12/not-the-sharpest-tool-in-the-tory-box/

    Note the highlighted paragraph and the last two sentences.

    Attachment now actually attached -
  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 28,437
    Sean_F said:

    Cyclefree said:

    You should read my headers more carefully.

    From April 2022 - https://www2.politicalbetting.com/index.php/archives/2022/04/12/not-the-sharpest-tool-in-the-tory-box/

    Note the highlighted paragraph and the last two sentences.

    His comments about the trial seemed utterly bizarre then, but perhaps, more sinister, now.
    I honestly thought that Crispin Blunt had already been removed due to a public scandal.

    Still, if the drug in question was cannabis then thr nominative determinism continues.
  • Foxy said:

    What a strange country...


    Robert Reich
    @RBReich
    ·
    5m
    The U.S. has suffered 565 mass shootings in 299 days this year, per the Gun Violence Archive.

    Republicans say if we talk about gun reform in the aftermath of a shooting, that's "politicizing" it.

    That means we can never discus it. There's almost never a day without a shooting.

    More killed by gun violence in the USA this year, even excluding suicides, than by Hamas and Israel combined. It's that old saying about tragedies and statistics.
    https://www.gunviolencearchive.org/
    Out of a much larger population and spread throughout the year though.
    So that's alright then...
    No, of course not! The gun violence in the US is insane, but not in the same league as the Israel-Hamas conflict in terms of risk to the respective populations.
  • kamski said:

    So the EU is calling for "pauses" instead of a ceasefire. Why? Because a ceasefire would have to involve Hamas agreeing not to fire rockets into Israel, and they know the chances of that happening are nil. So instead they'll be asking for "pauses" from Israel.

    It's grotesquely one-sided.

    What a strange and totally wrong interpretation.
    It does seem a weird comment, given that Israel has already categorically rejected calls for a ceasefire.
  • MJWMJW Posts: 1,728

    It is extremely tedious to see the PB gammonati jump on the BBC/charities/venison eaters are anti semitic bus.

    They’ve seen their beloved Tory party make right horlicks of running the country and they know the party faces a near-extinction event. Alongside which, Brexit has proved an utter failure.

    So they’ll jump on any anti-progressive bandwagon that’s going, trying to make a culture war from perceived slights.

    It’s a kind of distraction therapy for them.
    Counterpoint: Tories might be terrible at calling it out, as they have their own issues and often don't understand the left - too often they lump people who disagree profoundly together - but there is a huge problem with antisemitism on the 'progressive left'.

    You only have to look at the scenes from various marches - 'Visibly Jewish New Yorkers' are being advised to stay inside on Saturday due to a march. Or university campuses, where Jewish students were advised to 'hide in an attic'. Or here in the UK to have lived through the shameful Jeremy 'Hamas are a force for social justice' Corbyn years, to realise it's a big problem.

    Or just speak to Jewish friends about how they've felt about a section of the left's behaviour over the past few weeks. After murderous antisemitic terrorists attacked Jews, they had to watch some people cheer and then blame the victims. Or deny it happened. There have been some very dangerous historic echoes - and they're coming from the far left, rather than right this time.

    It's a big problem that needs to primarily be called out by others on the left, as it's going on in our spaces and will be ruinous to progressive politics in the long term.

    Personally I'd be delighted if the Tories got an absolute walloping at the last election, having been so awful over the last 13 years. But one reason I'll have no qualms about that thumping is that Keir Starmer appears to understand that problem. Sadly, it seems, better than many on the left.
  • CyclefreeCyclefree Posts: 25,310

    Sean_F said:

    Cyclefree said:

    You should read my headers more carefully.

    From April 2022 - https://www2.politicalbetting.com/index.php/archives/2022/04/12/not-the-sharpest-tool-in-the-tory-box/

    Note the highlighted paragraph and the last two sentences.

    His comments about the trial seemed utterly bizarre then, but perhaps, more sinister, now.
    I honestly thought that Crispin Blunt had already been removed due to a public scandal.

    Still, if the drug in question was cannabis then thr nominative determinism continues.
    He decided not to stand again after his intemperate and ill-judged comments on this case. I chose my words carefully. But there have been good reasons to question his judgment and behaviour going back years.

    I will say no more at this point given the contempt of court laws.

    Incidentally, I worked on a case during pupillage where his brother, David Blunt (now a KC and Emily's father) was on the opposing side. It related to the building of Furness General Hospital and involved sitting in a couple of Portakabins outside Barrow in November and December for an interminable arbitration - not quite the introduction to the Lake District I had been expecting.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,339
    edited October 2023

    carnforth said:

    Twitter points out that the Rachel Reeves actually has its moments. Her description of the average male British economist:


    It sounds like she’s describing an ex-boyfriend.
    Someone sent to this to me a year or so ago and tried to claim it described me, but only some of the details are correct, like Cafe Oto and the LRB.

    Lol.
    It's very tempting to treat it as a kind of middle aged, middle class, middlebrow purity test.

    (Are potted plants really an indicator?)

    (I was a Chris Morris fan when he was doing weird stuff on the provincialest of BBC Local Radio.)
    It’s a definite *type* - a middle-middle class and vaguely failed, ageing hipster. There’s a lot of them in Hackney but they tend *not* to be economists, more likely they work as brand planners in advertising agencies. The less successful ones have kind of hopeless non-jobs at the local council.
    I’m not sure these guys - and they do exist, on the left - could afford Hackney anymore

    Wathamstow or the nicer bits of Tottenham are more like it

    And no, it’s not Reeves
  • MJWMJW Posts: 1,728
    MJW said:

    It is extremely tedious to see the PB gammonati jump on the BBC/charities/venison eaters are anti semitic bus.

    They’ve seen their beloved Tory party make right horlicks of running the country and they know the party faces a near-extinction event. Alongside which, Brexit has proved an utter failure.

    So they’ll jump on any anti-progressive bandwagon that’s going, trying to make a culture war from perceived slights.

    It’s a kind of distraction therapy for them.
    Counterpoint: Tories might be terrible at calling it out, as they have their own issues and often don't understand the left - too often they lump people who disagree profoundly together - but there is a huge problem with antisemitism on the 'progressive left'.

    You only have to look at the scenes from various marches - 'Visibly Jewish New Yorkers' are being advised to stay inside on Saturday due to a march. Or university campuses, where Jewish students were advised to 'hide in an attic'. Or here in the UK to have lived through the shameful Jeremy 'Hamas are a force for social justice' Corbyn years, to realise it's a big problem.

    Or just speak to Jewish friends about how they've felt about a section of the left's behaviour over the past few weeks. After murderous antisemitic terrorists attacked Jews, they had to watch some people cheer and then blame the victims. Or deny it happened. There have been some very dangerous historic echoes - and they're coming from the far left, rather than right this time.

    It's a big problem that needs to primarily be called out by others on the left, as it's going on in our spaces and will be ruinous to progressive politics in the long term.

    Personally I'd be delighted if the Tories got an absolute walloping at the last election, having been so awful over the last 13 years. But one reason I'll have no qualms about that thumping is that Keir Starmer appears to understand that problem. Sadly, it seems, better than many on the left.
    I'd just add this thread for an example of how a part of the left's behaviour is going down - it could well be damaging for a long time: https://twitter.com/JamesHarrisNow/status/1717583740879172006
  • carnforthcarnforth Posts: 4,587
    Leon said:

    carnforth said:

    Twitter points out that the Rachel Reeves actually has its moments. Her description of the average male British economist:


    It sounds like she’s describing an ex-boyfriend.
    Someone sent to this to me a year or so ago and tried to claim it described me, but only some of the details are correct, like Cafe Oto and the LRB.

    Lol.
    It's very tempting to treat it as a kind of middle aged, middle class, middlebrow purity test.

    (Are potted plants really an indicator?)

    (I was a Chris Morris fan when he was doing weird stuff on the provincialest of BBC Local Radio.)
    It’s a definite *type* - a middle-middle class and vaguely failed, ageing hipster. There’s a lot of them in Hackney but they tend *not* to be economists, more likely they work as brand planners in advertising agencies. The less successful ones have kind of hopeless non-jobs at the local council.
    I’m not sure these guys - and they do exist, on the left - could afford Hackney anymore

    Wathamstow or the nicer bits of Tottenham are more like it

    And no, it’s not Reeves
    Mea culpa, for believing twitter.
  • kamski said:

    So the EU is calling for "pauses" instead of a ceasefire. Why? Because a ceasefire would have to involve Hamas agreeing not to fire rockets into Israel, and they know the chances of that happening are nil. So instead they'll be asking for "pauses" from Israel.

    It's grotesquely one-sided.

    What a strange and totally wrong interpretation.
    It does seem a weird comment, given that Israel has already categorically rejected calls for a ceasefire.
    Presumably "pauses" are a step down from a "ceasefire" and then it makes sense.
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 62,724
    Leon said:

    carnforth said:

    Twitter points out that the Rachel Reeves actually has its moments. Her description of the average male British economist:


    It sounds like she’s describing an ex-boyfriend.
    Someone sent to this to me a year or so ago and tried to claim it described me, but only some of the details are correct, like Cafe Oto and the LRB.

    Lol.
    It's very tempting to treat it as a kind of middle aged, middle class, middlebrow purity test.

    (Are potted plants really an indicator?)

    (I was a Chris Morris fan when he was doing weird stuff on the provincialest of BBC Local Radio.)
    It’s a definite *type* - a middle-middle class and vaguely failed, ageing hipster. There’s a lot of them in Hackney but they tend *not* to be economists, more likely they work as brand planners in advertising agencies. The less successful ones have kind of hopeless non-jobs at the local council.
    I’m not sure these guys - and they do exist, on the left - could afford Hackney anymore

    Wathamstow or the nicer bits of Tottenham are more like it

    And no, it’s not Reeves
    A visit for the Flint Knappers?

    Massimo
    @Rainmaker1973
    When Italy declared war on the Austro-Hungarian empire, the front line passed through the Dolomites. The fights were brutal and in a very harsh environment: they left indelible traces on the mountains.

    The Buffa di Perrero shelter sits over 2,760 m above sea level on the massif Moutn Cristallo.

    It comprises brick walls, a sloping roof, two doors, four shuttered windows, and a vertical drop to the valley below mere steps from the entryway.

    https://twitter.com/Rainmaker1973/status/1717600672110019055
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 51,648
    Interesting pro-Netanyahu article from Barbara Amiel, pre-dating the events of October:

    https://nationalpost.com/opinion/only-the-jews-themselves-can-destroy-israel

    So everything is a battle. Every election. But never has the State of Israel faced such savage opposition from sections of the Jewish community — at home and abroad. We Jews are, as the Bible says, a “stiff-necked people” and a disputatious people. In his later years, my grandfather mused that, “Only the Jews themselves can destroy Israel.” He died in 1961, but sadly, his words have a prophetic ring.
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 32,558
    edited October 2023
    Has anything happened today on PB? I was walking around Leamington Spa without any connection to the outside world. 😊
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 71,073
    Maine GOP congressman acknowledges they are wrong about guns.

    Golden: I have opposed efforts to ban deadly weapons of war like the assault rifle he used to carry out this crime. The time has now come for me to take responsibility for this failure. Which is why I now call on the United States congress to ban assault rifles
    https://twitter.com/Acyn/status/1717664937294627265

    One could say unkind things about this, but I prefer to recognise the minor miracle, and give him credit for honesty.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,161
    edited October 2023

    Interesting pro-Netanyahu article from Barbara Amiel, pre-dating the events of October:

    https://nationalpost.com/opinion/only-the-jews-themselves-can-destroy-israel

    So everything is a battle. Every election. But never has the State of Israel faced such savage opposition from sections of the Jewish community — at home and abroad. We Jews are, as the Bible says, a “stiff-necked people” and a disputatious people. In his later years, my grandfather mused that, “Only the Jews themselves can destroy Israel.” He died in 1961, but sadly, his words have a prophetic ring.

    Most sentences that contain the words "Barbara Amiel" and the word "interesting" usually need to also carry words like "flawed" or "partial" or simply "wrong".

    Netanyahu encouraged Hamas to allow Israel to have an implacable enemy and for domestic political reasons.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 71,073
    Andy_JS said:

    Has anything happened today on PB? I was walking around Leamington Spa without any connection to the outside world. 😊

    Leon crashed the site for a couple of hours.
  • CyclefreeCyclefree Posts: 25,310
    Poignant at the best of times. But even more so these days.

    https://youtu.be/GS6L_9xUT5E?si=CTfKbWQHbZ-JNlEr
  • StillWatersStillWaters Posts: 8,259
    carnforth said:

    ohnotnow said:

    carnforth said:

    Twitter points out that the Rachel Reeves actually has its moments. Her description of the average male British economist:


    Is it Vanilla or PB that's resizing images to 'unimaginably small' mode? I had to use the accessibility tools to read that :-/
    Opening the image in a new tab is normally enough but I do not know if that would work on phones. You'd probably have to read the Vanilla release notes to discover why they made this change but life is too short.
    On a phone you can just pinch and zoom.
    That’s the sort of thing that gets Tory MPs sacked…
  • sladeslade Posts: 2,041
    A minor event but the Lib Dems have just won a local by election in Helen Morgan's North Shropshire constituency with a 43% swing.
  • Jim_MillerJim_Miller Posts: 2,999
    Here's the US death problem I worry most about: https://nida.nih.gov/research-topics/trends-statistics/overdose-death-rates
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 96,103

    What a strange country...


    Robert Reich
    @RBReich
    ·
    5m
    The U.S. has suffered 565 mass shootings in 299 days this year, per the Gun Violence Archive.

    Republicans say if we talk about gun reform in the aftermath of a shooting, that's "politicizing" it.

    That means we can never discus it. There's almost never a day without a shooting.

    The aftermath is exactly the time to talk about these things. You don't necessarily immediately enact something, but you should contemplate it. Of course, they know that, and despite polarisation there the public seem to be pretty resigned to it.
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 96,103
    viewcode said:

    viewcode said:
    What on earth is "nitter"?
    THE LONG RANTY VERSION

    It used to be that twitter was free to view even if you hadn't joined up. But as part of the General Enshittification of the Internet, now you have to log on to read the tweet/the thread/the user.

    This is bad

    Whenever this happens to a platform a culture springs up around it to produce a workaround. In this case, the "nitters" have been produced to enable free viewing. The one I am most familiar with is "nitter.net". If you take a tweet and change "twitter.com" to "nitter.net" you can read it as normal.

    That is good.
    It went down a few times, so I assume (not knowing how these things work) that the Elon-ites at X try to prevent it from working, but it's been stable for ages now, so if they are trying it doesn't seem to be effective.
  • sladeslade Posts: 2,041
    Ind hold in Herefordshire, The winner was Matthew Engel the former editor of Wisden.
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 96,103
    slade said:

    A minor event but the Lib Dems have just won a local by election in Helen Morgan's North Shropshire constituency with a 43% swing.

    Sounds promising for them - it's the sort of seat the Tories should even now win back at a GE, but such local tremors will have them wondering if that is the case, and potentially expending resources even in the safest seats.
  • sladeslade Posts: 2,041
    Lab hold in Coventry.
  • Beibheirli_CBeibheirli_C Posts: 8,163
    edited October 2023
    Nigelb said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Has anything happened today on PB? I was walking around Leamington Spa without any connection to the outside world. 😊

    Leon crashed the site for a couple of hours.
    I thought TSE blamed it on Vanilla...?

    I find blaming it on Leon more believable :D
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 50,270

    It is extremely tedious to see the PB gammonati jump on the BBC/charities/venison eaters are anti semitic bus.

    That a fact? Sorry to hear you're bored.

    I think many people (perhaps not you) hugely underestimate the immense hurt, anxiety and fear felt by the Jewish community here in the UK and elsewhere.

    Lord Wolfson, so far as I know,is not a member of the PB gammonati. But he's more worried about his daughter going into London wearing a Star of David necklace than he is about his son serving in the IDF. And he's not very impressed by the BBC.

    https://twitter.com/DXW_KC/status/1717211376874127369
    I live on the UWS of Manhattan, which I think has the highest density of Jews in the world outside Tel Aviv.

    I can only imagine the trauma of Jews as they are confronted once more with the exterminatory horror unleashed by Hamas. I have a lot of sympathy with Lord Wolfson’s fears but I think he is grossly overestimating the dangers of anti-semitism in London versus - you know - actual military service in a war zone. I can understand how he’s got there, but I think he’s wrong and I’d even argue he risks trivialising the real dangers.

    I don’t know what the gammonati’s excuse is.
    As someone who had did deal with actual anti-Semitic violence about 5 minutes ago, you are taking shit.

    I broke the fuckers nose, thankfully.
  • kle4 said:

    slade said:

    A minor event but the Lib Dems have just won a local by election in Helen Morgan's North Shropshire constituency with a 43% swing.

    Sounds promising for them - it's the sort of seat the Tories should even now win back at a GE, but such local tremors will have them wondering if that is the case, and potentially expending resources even in the safest seats.
    Helen Morgan is an exceptionally strong candidate. On paper, it's the least promising seat the Lib Dems have gained since 2019. In practice, after Somerset (where boundary changes help a lot) it's their best bet to hold.
  • sladeslade Posts: 2,041
    Green holds in Burnley and Lancashire.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,161

    kle4 said:

    slade said:

    A minor event but the Lib Dems have just won a local by election in Helen Morgan's North Shropshire constituency with a 43% swing.

    Sounds promising for them - it's the sort of seat the Tories should even now win back at a GE, but such local tremors will have them wondering if that is the case, and potentially expending resources even in the safest seats.
    Helen Morgan is an exceptionally strong candidate. On paper, it's the least promising seat the Lib Dems have gained since 2019. In practice, after Somerset (where boundary changes help a lot) it's their best bet to hold.
    She was in the year below me at Trinity. I didn't know her well.
  • rcs1000 said:

    kle4 said:

    slade said:

    A minor event but the Lib Dems have just won a local by election in Helen Morgan's North Shropshire constituency with a 43% swing.

    Sounds promising for them - it's the sort of seat the Tories should even now win back at a GE, but such local tremors will have them wondering if that is the case, and potentially expending resources even in the safest seats.
    Helen Morgan is an exceptionally strong candidate. On paper, it's the least promising seat the Lib Dems have gained since 2019. In practice, after Somerset (where boundary changes help a lot) it's their best bet to hold.
    She was in the year below me at Trinity. I didn't know her well.
    Cheers, Peter Ustinov. Tremendous anecdote.
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 32,558
    Maybe the LDs can hold most of their by-election gains. Chesham and Amersham is a bit doubtful though.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,161
    edited October 2023

    rcs1000 said:

    kle4 said:

    slade said:

    A minor event but the Lib Dems have just won a local by election in Helen Morgan's North Shropshire constituency with a 43% swing.

    Sounds promising for them - it's the sort of seat the Tories should even now win back at a GE, but such local tremors will have them wondering if that is the case, and potentially expending resources even in the safest seats.
    Helen Morgan is an exceptionally strong candidate. On paper, it's the least promising seat the Lib Dems have gained since 2019. In practice, after Somerset (where boundary changes help a lot) it's their best bet to hold.
    She was in the year below me at Trinity. I didn't know her well.
    Cheers, Peter Ustinov. Tremendous anecdote.
    :lol:

    Embarrassingly I knew both Kwasi and Tristram Hunt well, so I should have picked my friends more carefully.
  • GardenwalkerGardenwalker Posts: 21,298
    Leon said:

    carnforth said:

    Twitter points out that the Rachel Reeves actually has its moments. Her description of the average male British economist:


    It sounds like she’s describing an ex-boyfriend.
    Someone sent to this to me a year or so ago and tried to claim it described me, but only some of the details are correct, like Cafe Oto and the LRB.

    Lol.
    It's very tempting to treat it as a kind of middle aged, middle class, middlebrow purity test.

    (Are potted plants really an indicator?)

    (I was a Chris Morris fan when he was doing weird stuff on the provincialest of BBC Local Radio.)
    It’s a definite *type* - a middle-middle class and vaguely failed, ageing hipster. There’s a lot of them in Hackney but they tend *not* to be economists, more likely they work as brand planners in advertising agencies. The less successful ones have kind of hopeless non-jobs at the local council.
    I’m not sure these guys - and they do exist, on the left - could afford Hackney anymore

    Wathamstow or the nicer bits of Tottenham are more like it

    And no, it’s not Reeves

    It is extremely tedious to see the PB gammonati jump on the BBC/charities/venison eaters are anti semitic bus.

    That a fact? Sorry to hear you're bored.

    I think many people (perhaps not you) hugely underestimate the immense hurt, anxiety and fear felt by the Jewish community here in the UK and elsewhere.

    Lord Wolfson, so far as I know,is not a member of the PB gammonati. But he's more worried about his daughter going into London wearing a Star of David necklace than he is about his son serving in the IDF. And he's not very impressed by the BBC.

    https://twitter.com/DXW_KC/status/1717211376874127369
    I live on the UWS of Manhattan, which I think has the highest density of Jews in the world outside Tel Aviv.

    I can only imagine the trauma of Jews as they are confronted once more with the exterminatory horror unleashed by Hamas. I have a lot of sympathy with Lord Wolfson’s fears but I think he is grossly overestimating the dangers of anti-semitism in London versus - you know - actual military service in a war zone. I can understand how he’s got there, but I think he’s wrong and I’d even argue he risks trivialising the real dangers.

    I don’t know what the gammonati’s excuse is.
    As someone who had did deal with actual anti-Semitic violence about 5 minutes ago, you are taking shit.

    I broke the fuckers nose, thankfully.
    You’re a complete idiot, with an anger management problem, by the sounds of it.
  • Andy_JS said:

    Maybe the LDs can hold most of their by-election gains. Chesham and Amersham is a bit doubtful though.

    Tiverton and Honiton is scythed apart by boundary changes. Boundary changes help the Lib Dems in their Somerset gain, but in Devon it puts a lot of very blue areas into two separate seats. Richard Foord is going for Honiton and Sidmouth rather than Tiverton and Minehead. He's a good candidate, but both are tough.
  • viewcodeviewcode Posts: 22,091
    rcs1000 said:

    rcs1000 said:

    kle4 said:

    slade said:

    A minor event but the Lib Dems have just won a local by election in Helen Morgan's North Shropshire constituency with a 43% swing.

    Sounds promising for them - it's the sort of seat the Tories should even now win back at a GE, but such local tremors will have them wondering if that is the case, and potentially expending resources even in the safest seats.
    Helen Morgan is an exceptionally strong candidate. On paper, it's the least promising seat the Lib Dems have gained since 2019. In practice, after Somerset (where boundary changes help a lot) it's their best bet to hold.
    She was in the year below me at Trinity. I didn't know her well.
    Cheers, Peter Ustinov. Tremendous anecdote.
    :lol:

    Embarrassingly I knew both Kwasi and Tristram Hunt well, so I should have picked my friends more carefully.
    I was in the same train carriage as Martha Lane Fox once. That's about the same isn't it?

    (sobs briefly)
  • kyf_100kyf_100 Posts: 4,945

    Leon said:

    carnforth said:

    Twitter points out that the Rachel Reeves actually has its moments. Her description of the average male British economist:


    It sounds like she’s describing an ex-boyfriend.
    Someone sent to this to me a year or so ago and tried to claim it described me, but only some of the details are correct, like Cafe Oto and the LRB.

    Lol.
    It's very tempting to treat it as a kind of middle aged, middle class, middlebrow purity test.

    (Are potted plants really an indicator?)

    (I was a Chris Morris fan when he was doing weird stuff on the provincialest of BBC Local Radio.)
    It’s a definite *type* - a middle-middle class and vaguely failed, ageing hipster. There’s a lot of them in Hackney but they tend *not* to be economists, more likely they work as brand planners in advertising agencies. The less successful ones have kind of hopeless non-jobs at the local council.
    I’m not sure these guys - and they do exist, on the left - could afford Hackney anymore

    Wathamstow or the nicer bits of Tottenham are more like it

    And no, it’s not Reeves

    It is extremely tedious to see the PB gammonati jump on the BBC/charities/venison eaters are anti semitic bus.

    That a fact? Sorry to hear you're bored.

    I think many people (perhaps not you) hugely underestimate the immense hurt, anxiety and fear felt by the Jewish community here in the UK and elsewhere.

    Lord Wolfson, so far as I know,is not a member of the PB gammonati. But he's more worried about his daughter going into London wearing a Star of David necklace than he is about his son serving in the IDF. And he's not very impressed by the BBC.

    https://twitter.com/DXW_KC/status/1717211376874127369
    I live on the UWS of Manhattan, which I think has the highest density of Jews in the world outside Tel Aviv.

    I can only imagine the trauma of Jews as they are confronted once more with the exterminatory horror unleashed by Hamas. I have a lot of sympathy with Lord Wolfson’s fears but I think he is grossly overestimating the dangers of anti-semitism in London versus - you know - actual military service in a war zone. I can understand how he’s got there, but I think he’s wrong and I’d even argue he risks trivialising the real dangers.

    I don’t know what the gammonati’s excuse is.
    As someone who had did deal with actual anti-Semitic violence about 5 minutes ago, you are taking shit.

    I broke the fuckers nose, thankfully.
    You’re a complete idiot, with an anger management problem, by the sounds of it.
    And how would you feel, and what would you do, if you were black and someone called you the N-word?
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 51,648
    Former Chinese premier Li Keqiang has died at 68, state media has reported.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-67235777
  • Chris Clarkson MP wants a judge-led inquiry into Angela Rayner saying Rishi Sunak flew home from the Conservative Party conference.

    Honesty, integrity and truth matter in politics.
    That's why I have written to the Commissioner on Standards to ask him to look into recent comments made by Angela Rayner on LBC during her radio show.



    https://twitter.com/ChrisClarksonMP/status/1717479343302103181
  • Chris Clarkson MP wants a judge-led inquiry into Angela Rayner saying Rishi Sunak flew home from the Conservative Party conference.

    Honesty, integrity and truth matter in politics.
    That's why I have written to the Commissioner on Standards to ask him to look into recent comments made by Angela Rayner on LBC during her radio show.



    https://twitter.com/ChrisClarksonMP/status/1717479343302103181

    Clarkson and Rayner have history.

    Angela Rayner apologises for 'scum' remark in Commons
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-54638267
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 71,398

    Former Chinese premier Li Keqiang has died at 68, state media has reported.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-67235777

    Xi getting nervous about his position?
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 54,585
    MJW said:

    It is extremely tedious to see the PB gammonati jump on the BBC/charities/venison eaters are anti semitic bus.

    They’ve seen their beloved Tory party make right horlicks of running the country and they know the party faces a near-extinction event. Alongside which, Brexit has proved an utter failure.

    So they’ll jump on any anti-progressive bandwagon that’s going, trying to make a culture war from perceived slights.

    It’s a kind of distraction therapy for them.
    Counterpoint: Tories might be terrible at calling it out, as they have their own issues and often don't understand the left - too often they lump people who disagree profoundly together - but there is a huge problem with antisemitism on the 'progressive left'.

    You only have to look at the scenes from various marches - 'Visibly Jewish New Yorkers' are being advised to stay inside on Saturday due to a march. Or university campuses, where Jewish students were advised to 'hide in an attic'. Or here in the UK to have lived through the shameful Jeremy 'Hamas are a force for social justice' Corbyn years, to realise it's a big problem.

    Or just speak to Jewish friends about how they've felt about a section of the left's behaviour over the past few weeks. After murderous antisemitic terrorists attacked Jews, they had to watch some people cheer and then blame the victims. Or deny it happened. There have been some very dangerous historic echoes - and they're coming from the far left, rather than right this time.

    It's a big problem that needs to primarily be called out by others on the left, as it's going on in our spaces and will be ruinous to progressive politics in the long term.

    Personally I'd be delighted if the Tories got an absolute walloping at the last election, having been so awful over the last 13 years. But one reason I'll have no qualms about that thumping is that Keir Starmer appears to understand that problem. Sadly, it seems, better than many on the left.
    Has it ever happened before, that the response to a terrorist attack has been hundreds of thousands of protestors turning up across the Western world in support of the terrorists?
  • Chris Clarkson MP wants a judge-led inquiry into Angela Rayner saying Rishi Sunak flew home from the Conservative Party conference.

    Honesty, integrity and truth matter in politics.
    That's why I have written to the Commissioner on Standards to ask him to look into recent comments made by Angela Rayner on LBC during her radio show.



    https://twitter.com/ChrisClarksonMP/status/1717479343302103181

    Clarkson and Rayner have history.

    Angela Rayner apologises for 'scum' remark in Commons
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-54638267
    "This Bounty Hunter is my kind of scum: fearless and inventive!"
This discussion has been closed.