Imagine labelling the death of 5000 babies self defence
Imagine thinking that half a million people on a peaceful march calling for a ceasfire on armistice day are evil and are putting the cenotaph at risk
Imagine arguing that it's okay to kill babies on incubators because you've labelled them human shields.
Imagine being on the same side as Tommy Robinson.
A number of respected PBers hold these views along with a couple that you wouldn't expect anything better
And yet not a word against Hamas who dug the tunnels for their military citadel underneath the maternity ward. Which is a war crime.
Did they ? Much of the underground infrastructure was built by Israel when the expanded the hospital during the last occupation. Which is why they know it's there. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Shifa_Hospital
The choice to use it as a military base is Hamas's responsibility, of course.
Much of it was made by Israel, as part of an expansion of the hospital. Not as a military base. The implications are that Hamas turned it into military infrastructure, and expanded it.
Imagine labelling the death of 5000 babies self defence
Imagine thinking that half a million people on a peaceful march calling for a ceasfire on armistice day are evil and are putting the cenotaph at risk
Imagine arguing that it's okay to kill babies on incubators because you've labelled them human shields.
Imagine being on the same side as Tommy Robinson.
A number of respected PBers hold these views along with a couple that you wouldn't expect anything better
And yet not a word against Hamas who dug the tunnels for their military citadel underneath the maternity ward. Which is a war crime.
Did they ? Much of the underground infrastructure was built by Israel when the expanded the hospital during the last occupation. Which is why they know it's there. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Shifa_Hospital
The choice to use it as a military base is Hamas's responsibility, of course.
When we discuss the Hamas tunnels, I'm reminded of the Taliban mountain compound that never was:
It is obvious to anyone watching the conflict that not every target Israel is bombing can possibly be somewhere Hamas is stationed, unless their definition of Hamas affiliated is "someone who knows someone in Hamas walked past here once". They carpet bombed the entire north of Gaza. Not only that, but they have targeted multiple hospitals, UN sites and journalists.
It got to a point where, to justify their illegal killing of journalists, politicians made up that journalists knew about the October 7th attacks ahead of time. Whereas the view of settler leaders, and the view of those in government who support them, are not based in the October 7th attacks and are based in their political desire to control all the land of Palestine and Israel, with no Arab Palestinians in it:
Some suggestion that the MPC might hold rates at the current rate until late next year because services inflation is going to fall more slowly than the headline rate. I hope that this report has come from a financial illiterate and isn't actually reflective of the BoE outlook because services inflation is a hugely lagging indicator and tracks to wage rises which account for almost the entirety of input price inflation for services providers. If the CPI rate falls then wage rises fall and eventually services inflation follows.
If the BoE waits for services inflation to fall before cutting rates we're going to be in the shit and just as we were way, way too late and slow in raising rates we're going to be too late and slow in cutting them.
Andrew Bailey is going to cost the Tories an extra 30-40 seats they would probably otherwise hold onto with interest rates falling by April to May next year and down to ~3.5% by election time in October-December.
It is not the job of the BoE to protect the public from the government's mistakes.
Some suggestion that the MPC might hold rates at the current rate until late next year because services inflation is going to fall more slowly than the headline rate. I hope that this report has come from a financial illiterate and isn't actually reflective of the BoE outlook because services inflation is a hugely lagging indicator and tracks to wage rises which account for almost the entirety of input price inflation for services providers. If the CPI rate falls then wage rises fall and eventually services inflation follows.
If the BoE waits for services inflation to fall before cutting rates we're going to be in the shit and just as we were way, way too late and slow in raising rates we're going to be too late and slow in cutting them.
Andrew Bailey is going to cost the Tories an extra 30-40 seats they would probably otherwise hold onto with interest rates falling by April to May next year and down to ~3.5% by election time in October-December.
It is not the job of the BoE to protect the public from the government's mistakes.
Nor is it their job to make avoidable mistakes. The B o E seems to view economic growth and wage rises as bad things.
Imagine labelling the death of 5000 babies self defence
Imagine thinking that half a million people on a peaceful march calling for a ceasfire on armistice day are evil and are putting the cenotaph at risk
Imagine arguing that it's okay to kill babies on incubators because you've labelled them human shields.
Imagine being on the same side as Tommy Robinson.
A number of respected PBers hold these views along with a couple that you wouldn't expect anything better
And yet not a word against Hamas who dug the tunnels for their military citadel underneath the maternity ward. Which is a war crime.
Did they ? Much of the underground infrastructure was built by Israel when the expanded the hospital during the last occupation. Which is why they know it's there. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Shifa_Hospital
The choice to use it as a military base is Hamas's responsibility, of course.
When we discuss the Hamas tunnels, I'm reminded of the Taliban mountain compound that never was:
It is obvious to anyone watching the conflict that not every target Israel is bombing can possibly be somewhere Hamas is stationed, unless their definition of Hamas affiliated is "someone who knows someone in Hamas walked past here once". They carpet bombed the entire north of Gaza. Not only that, but they have targeted multiple hospitals, UN sites and journalists.
It got to a point where, to justify their illegal killing of journalists, politicians made up that journalists knew about the October 7th attacks ahead of time. Whereas the view of settler leaders, and the view of those in government who support them, are not based in the October 7th attacks and are based in their political desire to control all the land of Palestine and Israel, with no Arab Palestinians in it:
Tim Scott suspends his presidential campaign https://www.politico.com/news/2023/11/12/tim-scott-presidential-campaign-00126793 ...he remained at risk of failing to qualify for the next debate, which had even higher donor and polling criteria. The polling threshold for that debate, on Dec. 6 in Alabama, is 6 percent, a mark Scott has not been hitting. And the campaign had dwindling resources to try and improve his numbers, having spent significantly more than it had brought in. The campaign had $12.4 million in expenditures during the third fundraising quarter, while raising $4.6 million...
Five Republicans left then:
Donald Trump Ron DeSantis Vivek Ramaswarmy Nikki Haley Chris Christie
(Plus Doug Burgum and Asa Hutchinson, who theoretically have campaigns still going).
Can’t see Christie making the next debate either, so we’ll be down to four serious contenders before the primaries even start. Does Trump turn up for the December debate, if it’s only going to be four of them?
Of course not, the debate is the race for second and he has already won.
Pupils should be taught maths, sciences, history (and the classics in particular).
Pupils should celebrate working-class culture, school experts say
Songs by The Specials and films such as Trainspotting could be part of the curriculum to challenge classism
Pulp sang about a rich student who wanted to live like “common people”. Now a book suggests the song should be studied at school, along with books, films and music that celebrate working-class culture.
Its authors, two education consultants — one a former teacher and both from working-class backgrounds — say schools must do more to raise standards among disadvantaged children and recognise their rich heritage rather than seeing it as a weakness.
They say meritocracy is “smoke and mirrors” and criticise social mobility as lifting a few working-class children away from their identity rather than challenging snobbery.
White working-class boys are some of the lowest achievers at school, on average, and their book says classroom attitudes must change to boost standards.
Day-to-day practices in England’s schools often unintentionally draw attention to family incomes and make children feel embarrassed and different, the book says. These include expensive uniform policies, non-uniform days and requests from teachers to bring in pencil cases.
Matt Bromley and Andy Griffith, the authors of The Working Classroom, say every school’s curriculum should celebrate working-class culture alongside the culture of dominant classes, but that poorer children should also not be excluded from “high culture”.
While every pupil should be offered the same ambitious curriculum, there should be more opportunities for working-class pupils to ensure equity.
“So much of what schools do is classist, including the way the curriculum is designed, the way the assessment system works and the impact of the hidden curriculum on students,” the book says.
“Social mobility implies lifting students out of the working classes and leaving behind all that they are and identify with. Rather, the aim of equity in education is to celebrate and embrace students’ working-class roots, while simultaneously ensuring those roots don’t take a stranglehold of their life chances.”
The social observation of songs by The Specials such as "Friday Night, Saturday Morning" "Too Much Too Young" or "Nite Club" is certainly worthy of study but 40 years out of date for modern teenagers. A bit like if I had been forced to study Frank Sinatra at school.
Trainspotting was released a 1/4 of century ago. For my children that puts it in History category.
I like the idea that both non-uniforms *and* uniforms are classist. Not sure the solution is going to get past a safe guarding review, though.
Imagine labelling the death of 5000 babies self defence
Imagine thinking that half a million people on a peaceful march calling for a ceasfire on armistice day are evil and are putting the cenotaph at risk
Imagine arguing that it's okay to kill babies on incubators because you've labelled them human shields.
Imagine being on the same side as Tommy Robinson.
A number of respected PBers hold these views along with a couple that you wouldn't expect anything better
And yet not a word against Hamas who dug the tunnels for their military citadel underneath the maternity ward. Which is a war crime.
You prove my point that the incubators are being used as human shields so killibg the babies in them is OK.
Pathetic mate
So what's your answer? How would you have Israel deal with Hamas?
Stop killing everyone in sight for a start Get the colonists out of the West Bank Lift the blockade of Gaza Do everything possible to make Palestine a viable state Remove the IDF conscription waiver for the 48-Arabs forcing that august institution to be more secular and multi-cultural
Imagine labelling the death of 5000 babies self defence
Imagine thinking that half a million people on a peaceful march calling for a ceasfire on armistice day are evil and are putting the cenotaph at risk
Imagine arguing that it's okay to kill babies on incubators because you've labelled them human shields.
Imagine being on the same side as Tommy Robinson.
A number of respected PBers hold these views along with a couple that you wouldn't expect anything better
Imagine being on the same side as a group of people who, given the opportunity, would have killed you and your family while you were on holiday just because of who you were, not what you'd done.
Pupils should be taught maths, sciences, history (and the classics in particular).
Pupils should celebrate working-class culture, school experts say
Songs by The Specials and films such as Trainspotting could be part of the curriculum to challenge classism
Pulp sang about a rich student who wanted to live like “common people”. Now a book suggests the song should be studied at school, along with books, films and music that celebrate working-class culture.
Its authors, two education consultants — one a former teacher and both from working-class backgrounds — say schools must do more to raise standards among disadvantaged children and recognise their rich heritage rather than seeing it as a weakness.
They say meritocracy is “smoke and mirrors” and criticise social mobility as lifting a few working-class children away from their identity rather than challenging snobbery.
White working-class boys are some of the lowest achievers at school, on average, and their book says classroom attitudes must change to boost standards.
Day-to-day practices in England’s schools often unintentionally draw attention to family incomes and make children feel embarrassed and different, the book says. These include expensive uniform policies, non-uniform days and requests from teachers to bring in pencil cases.
Matt Bromley and Andy Griffith, the authors of The Working Classroom, say every school’s curriculum should celebrate working-class culture alongside the culture of dominant classes, but that poorer children should also not be excluded from “high culture”.
While every pupil should be offered the same ambitious curriculum, there should be more opportunities for working-class pupils to ensure equity.
“So much of what schools do is classist, including the way the curriculum is designed, the way the assessment system works and the impact of the hidden curriculum on students,” the book says.
“Social mobility implies lifting students out of the working classes and leaving behind all that they are and identify with. Rather, the aim of equity in education is to celebrate and embrace students’ working-class roots, while simultaneously ensuring those roots don’t take a stranglehold of their life chances.”
They aren’t right about social mobility. The fact that the typical Briton has moved up from being a farm labourer, servant, chimney sweep, coal miner to being a home-owning office worker, over the past two centuries, is an unalloyed blessing.
Some suggestion that the MPC might hold rates at the current rate until late next year because services inflation is going to fall more slowly than the headline rate. I hope that this report has come from a financial illiterate and isn't actually reflective of the BoE outlook because services inflation is a hugely lagging indicator and tracks to wage rises which account for almost the entirety of input price inflation for services providers. If the CPI rate falls then wage rises fall and eventually services inflation follows.
If the BoE waits for services inflation to fall before cutting rates we're going to be in the shit and just as we were way, way too late and slow in raising rates we're going to be too late and slow in cutting them.
Andrew Bailey is going to cost the Tories an extra 30-40 seats they would probably otherwise hold onto with interest rates falling by April to May next year and down to ~3.5% by election time in October-December.
It is not the job of the BoE to protect the public from the government's mistakes.
Its job is to not make its own mistakes; the BoE had a particular task of keeping inflation at 2% or thereabouts. They failed abysmally in this. If they were to make up for this, prices need to be stable or falling for several years.
It always was obvious that keeping interest rates at practically zero for years would have the effect of stoking asset values and debasing the currency. The BoE, parliament and government were in total denial of this for years, and it has had a massive effect both on younger people (property prices etc), and the older people too (artificially low returns on deposits).
BenPointer - How generous the US welfare system is depends partly on the state and city. But every state has a Medicaid program providing medical care, as do DC and Puerto Rico. (Benefits do vary from state to state.) "Medicaid is the largest source of funding for medical and health-related services for people with low income in the United States, providing free health insurance to 85 million low-income and disabled people as of 2022;[3] in 2019, the program paid for half of all U.S. births.[4] As of 2017, the total annual cost of Medicaid was just over $600 billion, of which the federal government contributed $375 billion and states an additional $230 billion.[4] States are not required to participate in the program, although all have since 1982. In general, Medicaid recipients must be U.S. citizens or qualified non-citizens, and may include low-income adults, their children, and people with certain disabilities." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medicaid
So this program for the poor serves more people than the UK's NHS. (I'd be interested to know how the per capita Medicaid spending compares with that of the NHS.)
The US also subsidizes food for the poor through a program that once called food stamps, but is now the Supplementary Nutrition Assistance Program: "SNAP benefits supplied roughly 40 million Americans in 2018, at an expenditure of $57.1 billion.[2][3] Approximately 9.2% of American households obtained SNAP benefits at some point during 2017, with approximately 16.7% of all children living in households with SNAP benefits.[2] Beneficiaries and costs increased sharply with the Great Recession, peaked in 2013 and declined through 2017 as the economy recovered.[2] It is the largest nutrition program of the 15 administered by FNS and is a key component of the social safety net for low-income Americans."
UK spending on the NHS is £176bn in 2023-24 covering circa 68 million people, £2,588 ($3,164) per person p.a.
So, that would appear to be several times cheaper per capita than Medicaid which from your figures looks like $7,058 per person p.a. ($600bn covering 85m people).
Of course, the NHS covers everyone, not just the poor and disabled, so it might be expected to have a healthier client base maybe?
(If anyone thinks I've made a mistake with any of those figures, please feel free to correct me.)
Agree with the basic analysis - NHS is relatively excellent value.
Your Medicaid number seems somewhat low to me. A figure published for 2021 by "Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission" gives $8,651.
Medicaid also involves a co-pay ie recipient contribution, which raises an amount for which I can't find a total number. Varies by State. Looking around I'd say copay is of the order of hundreds of dollars per person per year. But I am not clear if it is in those total numbers we quote.
But OTOH Medicaid has some cover for what we call social care and long term support.
Tim Scott suspends his presidential campaign https://www.politico.com/news/2023/11/12/tim-scott-presidential-campaign-00126793 ...he remained at risk of failing to qualify for the next debate, which had even higher donor and polling criteria. The polling threshold for that debate, on Dec. 6 in Alabama, is 6 percent, a mark Scott has not been hitting. And the campaign had dwindling resources to try and improve his numbers, having spent significantly more than it had brought in. The campaign had $12.4 million in expenditures during the third fundraising quarter, while raising $4.6 million...
Five Republicans left then:
Donald Trump Ron DeSantis Vivek Ramaswarmy Nikki Haley Chris Christie
(Plus Doug Burgum and Asa Hutchinson, who theoretically have campaigns still going).
Can’t see Christie making the next debate either, so we’ll be down to four serious contenders before the primaries even start. Does Trump turn up for the December debate, if it’s only going to be four of them?
Of course not, the debate is the race for second and he has already won.
Some suggestion that the MPC might hold rates at the current rate until late next year because services inflation is going to fall more slowly than the headline rate. I hope that this report has come from a financial illiterate and isn't actually reflective of the BoE outlook because services inflation is a hugely lagging indicator and tracks to wage rises which account for almost the entirety of input price inflation for services providers. If the CPI rate falls then wage rises fall and eventually services inflation follows.
If the BoE waits for services inflation to fall before cutting rates we're going to be in the shit and just as we were way, way too late and slow in raising rates we're going to be too late and slow in cutting them.
Andrew Bailey is going to cost the Tories an extra 30-40 seats they would probably otherwise hold onto with interest rates falling by April to May next year and down to ~3.5% by election time in October-December.
It is not the job of the BoE to protect the public from the government's mistakes.
Nor is it their job to make avoidable mistakes. The B o E seems to view economic growth and wage rises as bad things.
In any normal world the Governor would have been sacked over allowing inflation to rise to double figures and be above target for such a prolonged period.
Action too little too late and yet he is allowed to spout on its workers wanting a pay rise causing it.
Imagine labelling the death of 5000 babies self defence
Imagine thinking that half a million people on a peaceful march calling for a ceasfire on armistice day are evil and are putting the cenotaph at risk
Imagine arguing that it's okay to kill babies on incubators because you've labelled them human shields.
Imagine being on the same side as Tommy Robinson.
A number of respected PBers hold these views along with a couple that you wouldn't expect anything better
Imagine being on the same side as a group of people who, given the opportunity, would have killed you and your family while you were on holiday just because of who you were, not what you'd done.
The tricky question is formulating a policy that supports good people and aspirations on both (or all) sides, and opposes the bad people and their aspirations.
I cannot think that any demo captures this position, probably the one held by the great majority of non-attenders, who nonetheless pay attention and vote.
Imagine labelling the death of 5000 babies self defence
Imagine thinking that half a million people on a peaceful march calling for a ceasfire on armistice day are evil and are putting the cenotaph at risk
Imagine arguing that it's okay to kill babies on incubators because you've labelled them human shields.
Imagine being on the same side as Tommy Robinson.
A number of respected PBers hold these views along with a couple that you wouldn't expect anything better
And yet not a word against Hamas who dug the tunnels for their military citadel underneath the maternity ward. Which is a war crime.
You prove my point that the incubators are being used as human shields so killibg the babies in them is OK.
Pathetic mate
So what's your answer? How would you have Israel deal with Hamas?
Stop killing everyone in sight for a start Get the colonists out of the West Bank Lift the blockade of Gaza Do everything possible to make Palestine a viable state Remove the IDF conscription waiver for the 48-Arabs forcing that august institution to be more secular and multi-cultural
They're good answers, thanks. You're one of only a couple of posters who've actually answered.
Do you think Hamas will do anything in response? Or see the above as an utter victory and do the same again? How do you stop Hamas doing the same again?
Some of those are also medium- and long-term things, which have zero effect in the short term.
(Although I'd argue they're not 'killing everyone in sight')
They also came up with 'New Labour, New Danger'. Not sure the Tories will be devastated with losing a company whose last notable political success coincided with Rentaghost.
On its own it isn't a very interesting story (like the whole of the front page), but obviously its far from the only one.
Out of interest, how are the Indy still going? They are online only now and their website is horrific. Their offering is significantly inferior to Times or Guardian.
Don't see the Indy these days. It doesn't like my ad blocker, so it can bugger off.
The Independent currently offers a year's subscription for £20 (down from, and continuing at £99).
But what you can do to read the news bits without adverts is use MS's Edge browser with strict non-tracking (and let it through your main ad blocker). Some sites will object, and others raise their eyebrows at Edge in this configuration. It is ironic given how much data Edge passes on to Microsoft if you let it.
Pupils should be taught maths, sciences, history (and the classics in particular).
Pupils should celebrate working-class culture, school experts say
Songs by The Specials and films such as Trainspotting could be part of the curriculum to challenge classism
Pulp sang about a rich student who wanted to live like “common people”. Now a book suggests the song should be studied at school, along with books, films and music that celebrate working-class culture.
Its authors, two education consultants — one a former teacher and both from working-class backgrounds — say schools must do more to raise standards among disadvantaged children and recognise their rich heritage rather than seeing it as a weakness.
They say meritocracy is “smoke and mirrors” and criticise social mobility as lifting a few working-class children away from their identity rather than challenging snobbery.
White working-class boys are some of the lowest achievers at school, on average, and their book says classroom attitudes must change to boost standards.
Day-to-day practices in England’s schools often unintentionally draw attention to family incomes and make children feel embarrassed and different, the book says. These include expensive uniform policies, non-uniform days and requests from teachers to bring in pencil cases.
Matt Bromley and Andy Griffith, the authors of The Working Classroom, say every school’s curriculum should celebrate working-class culture alongside the culture of dominant classes, but that poorer children should also not be excluded from “high culture”.
While every pupil should be offered the same ambitious curriculum, there should be more opportunities for working-class pupils to ensure equity.
“So much of what schools do is classist, including the way the curriculum is designed, the way the assessment system works and the impact of the hidden curriculum on students,” the book says.
“Social mobility implies lifting students out of the working classes and leaving behind all that they are and identify with. Rather, the aim of equity in education is to celebrate and embrace students’ working-class roots, while simultaneously ensuring those roots don’t take a stranglehold of their life chances.”
They aren’t right about social mobility. The fact that the typical Briton has moved up from being a farm labourer, servant, chimney sweep, coal miner to being a home-owning office worker, over the past two centuries, is an unalloyed blessing.
WWC boys are definitely disadvantaged, but singing Jarvis Cocker isn't going to do a damn thing for them nor is dumbing down the curriculum. Good education will.
This sounds like virtue-signalling and grandstanding to me - and we've had left-wing educational specialists make similar arguments like this for over 50 years.
Tim Scott suspends his presidential campaign https://www.politico.com/news/2023/11/12/tim-scott-presidential-campaign-00126793 ...he remained at risk of failing to qualify for the next debate, which had even higher donor and polling criteria. The polling threshold for that debate, on Dec. 6 in Alabama, is 6 percent, a mark Scott has not been hitting. And the campaign had dwindling resources to try and improve his numbers, having spent significantly more than it had brought in. The campaign had $12.4 million in expenditures during the third fundraising quarter, while raising $4.6 million...
Five Republicans left then:
Donald Trump Ron DeSantis Vivek Ramaswarmy Nikki Haley Chris Christie
(Plus Doug Burgum and Asa Hutchinson, who theoretically have campaigns still going).
Can’t see Christie making the next debate either, so we’ll be down to four serious contenders before the primaries even start. Does Trump turn up for the December debate, if it’s only going to be four of them?
Of course not, the debate is the race for second and he has already won.
A more concentrated field doesn’t help him though. It creates a focal point around an alternative.
If DeSantis was smart he’d see now is not his time (if there ever will come a time, but that’s another point) and bow out. If it becomes Trump v Haley it potentially becomes interesting.
I would replace her with Alex Chalk as he’s by far the best performer in interviews and massively knowledgeable on his brief. Comes from a legal background and no apparent behavioural issues. He seems humane about justice and could steady the Home Office in the last year whilst dealing with the inevitable Small Boats fallout either way from Wednesday.
Against him are the fact he was at school with Sunak, he’s a man which might be a problem if all four major offices are held by men, and he’s likely to lose his seat at the next election (which probably applies to all candidates in reality but still.).
Imagine labelling the death of 5000 babies self defence
Imagine thinking that half a million people on a peaceful march calling for a ceasfire on armistice day are evil and are putting the cenotaph at risk
Imagine arguing that it's okay to kill babies on incubators because you've labelled them human shields.
Imagine being on the same side as Tommy Robinson.
A number of respected PBers hold these views along with a couple that you wouldn't expect anything better
And yet not a word against Hamas who dug the tunnels for their military citadel underneath the maternity ward. Which is a war crime.
You prove my point that the incubators are being used as human shields so killibg the babies in them is OK.
Pathetic mate
So what's your answer? How would you have Israel deal with Hamas?
Stop killing everyone in sight for a start Get the colonists out of the West Bank Lift the blockade of Gaza Do everything possible to make Palestine a viable state Remove the IDF conscription waiver for the 48-Arabs forcing that august institution to be more secular and multi-cultural
The colonists tried getting out of Gaza and made plans to develop its infrastructure together with the ruling government. Go check it out. Yes really the pulled out of Gaza, over to you lads, no blockade in fact we're going to help you develop the port plus we've left a whole load of stuff for you also.
Some suggestion that the MPC might hold rates at the current rate until late next year because services inflation is going to fall more slowly than the headline rate. I hope that this report has come from a financial illiterate and isn't actually reflective of the BoE outlook because services inflation is a hugely lagging indicator and tracks to wage rises which account for almost the entirety of input price inflation for services providers. If the CPI rate falls then wage rises fall and eventually services inflation follows.
If the BoE waits for services inflation to fall before cutting rates we're going to be in the shit and just as we were way, way too late and slow in raising rates we're going to be too late and slow in cutting them.
Andrew Bailey is going to cost the Tories an extra 30-40 seats they would probably otherwise hold onto with interest rates falling by April to May next year and down to ~3.5% by election time in October-December.
It is not the job of the BoE to protect the public from the government's mistakes.
Its job is to not make its own mistakes; the BoE had a particular task of keeping inflation at 2% or thereabouts. They failed abysmally in this. If they were to make up for this, prices need to be stable or falling for several years.
It always was obvious that keeping interest rates at practically zero for years would have the effect of stoking asset values and debasing the currency. The BoE, parliament and government were in total denial of this for years, and it has had a massive effect both on younger people (property prices etc), and the older people too (artificially low returns on deposits).
It was also obvious that government ought to have taken advantage of cheap money to invest seriously in our infrastructure. They failed miserably to seize the opportunity.
Wonder if Hunt might resign too today seeing as he's standing down for the next GE. The exchange of letters will be more cordial than Bravermann's I think !
I suspect it will further stir up party management issues for Rishi.
He had party management issues either way, because the party is massively divided and the leading MPs dislike each other and over rate their own capabilities and silly ideas.
Wonder if Hunt might resign too today seeing as he's standing down for the next GE. The exchange of letters will be more cordial than Bravermann's I think !
It would be quite brave to do so just before the November statement
I suspect it will further stir up party management issues for Rishi.
Oh, I don't know. If I know Suella like I think I know Suella, she'll accept the setback with her customary grace and humility, then work tirelessly to assist the Prime Minister in whatever way she can from the backbenches, whether by rallying the troops or by campaigning tirelessly for Conservative victory at the General Election.
Suspect the odious Suella will now disappear into near obscurity a la Patel. The latest in a long line of thick nutters visited on the country by a clapped-out party.
Can he survive now is the big question - does the Party go full on Bill Cash or does it reclaim some of the sanity it has lost over the past few years.
Big moment. I don't necessarily see Rishi as the grip the party by the scruff of the neck we're going this way kind of guy but cometh the hour...
.. and I actually expected Rishi to keep her, and I think this move actually weakens Braverman rather than strengthens her. She will now be the person who was sacked for the events of this weekend, and that will not play particularly well. She will now rightly or wrongly be painted with the “far right” label.
Wonder if Hunt might resign too today seeing as he's standing down for the next GE. The exchange of letters will be more cordial than Bravermann's I think !
It would be quite brave to do so just before the November statement
Does he go full term then ?
Will be a bit odd to go into a campaign with no "live" Chancellor, equally if he's to go it has to be at some point. Perhaps not before either of the big set pieces as you say mind.
I suspect it will further stir up party management issues for Rishi.
He had party management issues either way, because the party is massively divided and the leading MPs dislike each other and over rate their own capabilities and silly ideas.
The police said that she incited a riot. Never mind sacking her, lets have her arrested. A very serious criminal offence, once which led to police officers being injured.
I see that Rishi's proposal I mentioned last week to change Work Capability Assessments because too many people were being given benefits has broken cover over at the Beeb: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-67385385
The proposals follow the announcement in March that the government wants to scrap the controversial Work Capability Assessment, which is used to determine if people can receive additional benefits payments due to a health condition.
Eligible claimants currently receive £390 a month on top of their universal credit payment.
If the proposals are enacted, people who, for instance, are in severe pain while awaiting an operation or have some mental health conditions, such as depression and anxiety, may not receive the additional payment but would be expected to look for work.
The existing assessment process is an amateurish dog's breakfast since the last lot of 'reforms'. God knows what they will end up doing this time.
Wonder if Hunt might resign too today seeing as he's standing down for the next GE. The exchange of letters will be more cordial than Bravermann's I think !
It would be quite brave to do so just before the November statement
Does he go full term then ?
Will be a bit odd to go into a campaign with no "live" Chancellor, equally if he's to go it has to be at some point. Perhaps not before either of the big set pieces as you say mind.
I suppose it doesn’t matter if you have the most advanced armed forces in the region and the backing of Big Daddy Biden, but the Israeli government seem amazingly crap at the pr game. This is embarrassing.
Tim Scott suspends his presidential campaign https://www.politico.com/news/2023/11/12/tim-scott-presidential-campaign-00126793 ...he remained at risk of failing to qualify for the next debate, which had even higher donor and polling criteria. The polling threshold for that debate, on Dec. 6 in Alabama, is 6 percent, a mark Scott has not been hitting. And the campaign had dwindling resources to try and improve his numbers, having spent significantly more than it had brought in. The campaign had $12.4 million in expenditures during the third fundraising quarter, while raising $4.6 million...
Five Republicans left then:
Donald Trump Ron DeSantis Vivek Ramaswarmy Nikki Haley Chris Christie
(Plus Doug Burgum and Asa Hutchinson, who theoretically have campaigns still going).
Can’t see Christie making the next debate either, so we’ll be down to four serious contenders before the primaries even start. Does Trump turn up for the December debate, if it’s only going to be four of them?
Of course not, the debate is the race for second and he has already won.
A more concentrated field doesn’t help him though. It creates a focal point around an alternative.
If DeSantis was smart he’d see now is not his time (if there ever will come a time, but that’s another point) and bow out. If it becomes Trump v Haley it potentially becomes interesting.
The two way Trump v Haley breaks 50:15 at the moment. It is noticably better than Trump v RDS which is around 64:12.
On this side of the pond, observers overestimate how open Republicans are to changing their minds on Trump, and think events will change things. Yet his polling over the last year has steadily grown from mid 40s to high 50s despite numerous criminal trials, him starting to sound even more mad and heading further down the dictator is best route.
Western liberal democracy needs a lot of luck and good economic news over the next 12 months.
I suspect it will further stir up party management issues for Rishi.
Oh, I don't know. If I know Suella like I think I know Suella, she'll accept the setback with her customary grace and humility, then work tirelessly to assist the Prime Minister in whatever way she can from the backbenches, whether by rallying the troops or by campaigning tirelessly for Conservative victory at the General Election.
She'd need to be slightly careful.
If the Tories are so bad in the next year that they have a no swing back election, EC currently has her with a 6% majority.
Depending on the nature of her personal vote she could even evaporate such a majority (although retained Tories in such an election could be regarded as fairly hardcore).
In short, there is a limit to how bad Suella Braverman would like it to get.
I see that Rishi's proposal I mentioned last week to change Work Capability Assessments because too many people were being given benefits has broken cover over at the Beeb: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-67385385
The proposals follow the announcement in March that the government wants to scrap the controversial Work Capability Assessment, which is used to determine if people can receive additional benefits payments due to a health condition.
Eligible claimants currently receive £390 a month on top of their universal credit payment.
If the proposals are enacted, people who, for instance, are in severe pain while awaiting an operation or have some mental health conditions, such as depression and anxiety, may not receive the additional payment but would be expected to look for work.
The existing assessment process is an amateurish dog's breakfast since the last lot of 'reforms'. God knows what they will end up doing this time.
Complete randomness as work coaches randomly pick victims to ensure they hit their sanction targets...
Wonder if Hunt might resign too today seeing as he's standing down for the next GE. The exchange of letters will be more cordial than Bravermann's I think !
It would be quite brave to do so just before the November statement
Does he go full term then ?
Will be a bit odd to go into a campaign with no "live" Chancellor, equally if he's to go it has to be at some point. Perhaps not before either of the big set pieces as you say mind.
She is absolutely hopeless so wouldn’t be a surprise.
Now that would be a declaration of intent from Sunak, and potentially dangerous. Clearing out 2 of the top 3 leadership contenders from cabinet… it would certainly turn heads.
Some suggestion that the MPC might hold rates at the current rate until late next year because services inflation is going to fall more slowly than the headline rate. I hope that this report has come from a financial illiterate and isn't actually reflective of the BoE outlook because services inflation is a hugely lagging indicator and tracks to wage rises which account for almost the entirety of input price inflation for services providers. If the CPI rate falls then wage rises fall and eventually services inflation follows.
If the BoE waits for services inflation to fall before cutting rates we're going to be in the shit and just as we were way, way too late and slow in raising rates we're going to be too late and slow in cutting them.
Andrew Bailey is going to cost the Tories an extra 30-40 seats they would probably otherwise hold onto with interest rates falling by April to May next year and down to ~3.5% by election time in October-December.
It is not the job of the BoE to protect the public from the government's mistakes.
Its job is to not make its own mistakes; the BoE had a particular task of keeping inflation at 2% or thereabouts. They failed abysmally in this. If they were to make up for this, prices need to be stable or falling for several years.
It always was obvious that keeping interest rates at practically zero for years would have the effect of stoking asset values and debasing the currency. The BoE, parliament and government were in total denial of this for years, and it has had a massive effect both on younger people (property prices etc), and the older people too (artificially low returns on deposits).
This does highlight the ridiculous nature of targeting raw inflation figures. How exactly was the BoE supposed to prevent the war in Ukraine driving up energy prices in the UK by a factor of 5 or more? (Currently roughly triple pre war prices from eyeballing the chart.)
We should expect everything to get more expensive in that scenario! We are a nation that on net imports energy - if the price of that energy increases, we have to pay more, one way or another: Everything has energy as an input, so everything gets more expensive.
Has she gone? I'm watching BBC Breakfast do a fluff piece on a guy from Strictly and not a hint. I'm not a BBC basher by any means, but Breakfast has been shocking as a news program for a while.
Sacking Braverman a very risky move by Sunak, the right of the party will be angry at what they will see as his appeasing the liberal left and it risks further leakage to ReformUK.
Braverman will of course be a thorn in Sunak's side on the backbenches too now and wait for Sunak and Hunt to lose the next general election when she will be a strong contender to be Leader of the Opposition
I see that Rishi's proposal I mentioned last week to change Work Capability Assessments because too many people were being given benefits has broken cover over at the Beeb: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-67385385
The proposals follow the announcement in March that the government wants to scrap the controversial Work Capability Assessment, which is used to determine if people can receive additional benefits payments due to a health condition.
Eligible claimants currently receive £390 a month on top of their universal credit payment.
If the proposals are enacted, people who, for instance, are in severe pain while awaiting an operation or have some mental health conditions, such as depression and anxiety, may not receive the additional payment but would be expected to look for work.
The existing assessment process is an amateurish dog's breakfast since the last lot of 'reforms'. God knows what they will end up doing this time.
I'm not sure that piece is going to help with the confusion. It's not very clear what is happening from it.
She is absolutely hopeless so wouldn’t be a surprise.
Now that would be a declaration of intent from Sunak, and potentially dangerous. Clearing out 2 of the top 3 leadership contenders from cabinet… it would certainly turn heads.
She has been completely useless, indeed invisible, as business secretary. I serially questioned on PB what a certain stripe of PB Tory saw in her. A question to which I never received any satisfactory answer.
We all love a fight on here and now there will be one between the (vaguely) sane wing of the Cons party and the loons.
Both have quite different ideologies, with different objectives and means to achieve those objectives, so I suppose the only certainty about the outcome is that whoever wins will have the full support and backing of @HYUFD.
Neil O’Brien, a junior health minister, says he is leaving the government. He says he wants to focus on his constituency work, and to spend more time with his children...
Sacking Braverman a very risky move by Sunak, the right of the party will be angry at what they will see as his appeasing the liberal left and it risks further leakage to ReformUK.
Braverman will of course be a thorn in Sunak's side on the backbenches too now and wait for Sunak and Hunt to lose the next general election when she will be a strong contender now to be Leader of the Opposition
When you start thinking of the likes of Rishi and Hunt as liberal lefties, you should realise you are as barking as Rebecca Wrong-Daily or Chris Williamson calling Starmer a right wing Tory. You just lose even more votes....keep at it.
How is Cameron as FS going to work without him being an MP or a Lord?
Instant appointment to the Lords. Was the same with Mandelson.
It does however break the convention that we thought had been established that the Great Offices of State are not granted to the peerage - Carrington was the last and it has for some time been assumed final FS from the Lords.
Neil O’Brien, a junior health minister, says he is leaving the government. He says he wants to focus on his constituency work, and to spend more time with his children...
How is Cameron as FS going to work without him being an MP or a Lord?
Instant appointment to the Lords. Was the same with Mandelson.
It does however break the convention that we thought had been established that the Great Offices of State are not granted to the peerage - Carrington was the last and it has for some time been assumed final FS from the Lords.
Maybe he got sick of being bed blocked by Blair and Brown (allegedly) not wanting to go to the Lord's and thought this is the best way?
Comments
https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/tora-bora-tunnel-kingdom-wasnt-lessons-fake-news
It is obvious to anyone watching the conflict that not every target Israel is bombing can possibly be somewhere Hamas is stationed, unless their definition of Hamas affiliated is "someone who knows someone in Hamas walked past here once". They carpet bombed the entire north of Gaza. Not only that, but they have targeted multiple hospitals, UN sites and journalists.
https://rsf.org/en/israeli-politicians-call-journalists-gaza-be-killed#:~:text=Ever since the start of,the course of their work.
It got to a point where, to justify their illegal killing of journalists, politicians made up that journalists knew about the October 7th attacks ahead of time. Whereas the view of settler leaders, and the view of those in government who support them, are not based in the October 7th attacks and are based in their political desire to control all the land of Palestine and Israel, with no Arab Palestinians in it:
https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/the-extreme-ambitions-of-west-bank-settlers
They are truly Schrödinger's Tunnels...
Back to the backbenches
I like the idea that both non-uniforms *and* uniforms are classist. Not sure the solution is going to get past a safe guarding review, though.
Get the colonists out of the West Bank
Lift the blockade of Gaza
Do everything possible to make Palestine a viable state
Remove the IDF conscription waiver for the 48-Arabs forcing that august institution to be more secular and multi-cultural
It always was obvious that keeping interest rates at practically zero for years would have the effect of stoking asset values and debasing the currency. The BoE, parliament and government were in total denial of this for years, and it has had a massive effect both on younger people (property prices etc), and the older people too (artificially low returns on deposits).
https://www.npr.org/2023/11/02/1210087629/the-hamas-tunnels-a-wildcard-in-the-gaza-fighting
Your Medicaid number seems somewhat low to me. A figure published for 2021 by "Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission" gives $8,651.
Medicaid spent $8,651 in fiscal year 2021 for all enrollees and $9,175 per full-benefit enrollee. Full-benefit enrollees exclude those who received coverage for only emergency services, family planning services, or assistance with Medicare premiums and cost sharing.
https://www.macpac.gov/publication/medicaid-benefit-spending-per-full-year-equivalent-fye-enrollee-by-state-and-eligibility-group/
Medicaid also involves a co-pay ie recipient contribution, which raises an amount for which I can't find a total number. Varies by State. Looking around I'd say copay is of the order of hundreds of dollars per person per year. But I am not clear if it is in those total numbers we quote.
But OTOH Medicaid has some cover for what we call social care and long term support.
A fairly good summary analysis of some aspects of Medicaid from the Kaiser Family Foundation:
https://www.kff.org/mental-health/issue-brief/10-things-to-know-about-medicaid/
Action too little too late and yet he is allowed to spout on its workers wanting a pay rise causing it.
I cannot think that any demo captures this position, probably the one held by the great majority of non-attenders, who nonetheless pay attention and vote.
Do you think Hamas will do anything in response? Or see the above as an utter victory and do the same again? How do you stop Hamas doing the same again?
Some of those are also medium- and long-term things, which have zero effect in the short term.
(Although I'd argue they're not 'killing everyone in sight')
But what you can do to read the news bits without adverts is use MS's Edge browser with strict non-tracking (and let it through your main ad blocker). Some sites will object, and others raise their eyebrows at Edge in this configuration. It is ironic given how much data Edge passes on to Microsoft if you let it.
This sounds like virtue-signalling and grandstanding to me - and we've had left-wing educational specialists make similar arguments like this for over 50 years.
If DeSantis was smart he’d see now is not his time (if there ever will come a time, but that’s another point) and bow out. If it becomes Trump v Haley it potentially becomes interesting.
Against him are the fact he was at school with Sunak, he’s a man which might be a problem if all four major offices are held by men, and he’s likely to lose his seat at the next election (which probably applies to all candidates in reality but still.).
How did that turn out for the colonists?
They failed miserably to seize the opportunity.
I suspect it will further stir up party management issues for Rishi.
Well would you put it past them?
( Or worse still, Jenrick)
The BBC suggesting Michelle Donelan as a possible new HS
Big moment. I don't necessarily see Rishi as the grip the party by the scruff of the neck we're going this way kind of guy but cometh the hour...
Hard to keep up.
Will be a bit odd to go into a campaign with no "live" Chancellor, equally if he's to go it has to be at some point. Perhaps not before either of the big set pieces as you say mind.
I see that Rishi's proposal I mentioned last week to change Work Capability Assessments because too many people were being given benefits has broken cover over at the Beeb:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-67385385
The proposals follow the announcement in March that the government wants to scrap the controversial Work Capability Assessment, which is used to determine if people can receive additional benefits payments due to a health condition.
Eligible claimants currently receive £390 a month on top of their universal credit payment.
If the proposals are enacted, people who, for instance, are in severe pain while awaiting an operation or have some mental health conditions, such as depression and anxiety, may not receive the additional payment but would be expected to look for work.
The existing assessment process is an amateurish dog's breakfast since the last lot of 'reforms'. God knows what they will end up doing this time.
(Although you are probably correct.)
https://x.com/lowkey0nline/status/1723647395248955657?s=61&t=LYVEHh2mqFy1oUJAdCfe-Q
On this side of the pond, observers overestimate how open Republicans are to changing their minds on Trump, and think events will change things. Yet his polling over the last year has steadily grown from mid 40s to high 50s despite numerous criminal trials, him starting to sound even more mad and heading further down the dictator is best route.
Western liberal democracy needs a lot of luck and good economic news over the next 12 months.
If the Tories are so bad in the next year that they have a no swing back election, EC currently has her with a 6% majority.
Depending on the nature of her personal vote
she could even evaporate such a majority (although retained Tories in such an election could be regarded as fairly hardcore).
In short, there is a limit to how bad Suella Braverman would like it to get.
She is absolutely hopeless so wouldn’t be a surprise.
https://twitter.com/MattCartoonist/status/1722669251121574118
Acceptable to this One Nationer.
We should expect everything to get more expensive in that scenario! We are a nation that on net imports energy - if the price of that energy increases, we have to pay more, one way or another: Everything has energy as an input, so everything gets more expensive.
Braverman will of course be a thorn in Sunak's side on the backbenches too now and wait for Sunak and Hunt to lose the next general election when she will be a strong
contender to be Leader of the Opposition
If that happens then I’m on team Rishi
That’s big.
Sunak’s Mandelson moment.
Both have quite different ideologies, with different objectives and means to achieve those objectives, so I suppose the only certainty about the outcome is that whoever wins will have the full support and backing of @HYUFD.
... and his post Parliament job applications.
It does however break the convention that we thought had been established that the Great Offices of State are not granted to the peerage - Carrington was the last and it has for some time been assumed final FS from the Lords.
Truss, Sunak, Johnson, May, Cameron, Brown, Blair, Major, Samuel L. Jackson.
Presumably as PM