BREAKING: Conservative MP Scott Benton faces a 35 day suspension from the Commons following a newspaper sting that found him allegedly offering to lobby on behalf of the gambling industry.
Another potential by-election looms, this time in Blackpool South.
Will be interesting to see how Reform does - it was one of the constituencies where the Brexit Party saved its deposit (and beat the LibDems and Greens).
I find myself increasingly Green - in the old fashioned sense - as I age. The damage we do to nature, our mother planet, distresses me intensely. Two weeks ago I was on a near-wilderness Cambodian island - probably the most beautiful beach was destroyed by plastic litter
Ugh
And the cruelty we inflict on animals: eeesh. They are our brothers and sisters, born at the same moment of Creation. I now eschew red meat unless it can be absolutely and ethically sourced, otherwise I eat sustainable fish, game, veg
On the other hand I’m all up for a hard right populist government ready to deport everyone to Burundi. So it’s swings and roundabouts
Ah so you're sort of 'old school' Green? This reminds me of you claiming to be an 'old school feminist'.
The advanced language skills on display here as usual. Using 'old school' in its lesser known but still perfectly valid meaning of 'not really'.
According to Alan Partridge's biography 'old school' is just a euphemism for 'alcoholic'.
Leon are you forgetting that you’re banned from posting AI images?
The first was merely an example of a potential AI image (I’m not sure myself if it is AI or not). Can we not even discuss this issue? If we are unable to use examples it prevents us from properly debating a crucial area which may be pivotal in the next US/UK elex: AI fakery
You can discuss it just don’t embed the images into your posts.
Other than not having a Leon hobbyhorse why shouldn't @leon post AI images @TheScreamingEagles ?
I can think of 2 arguments. Defamation in an image, which clearly wasn't the case here and potential copyright as the images will have been generated from other images, but that seems unlikely to be an issue here also particularly with these sort of images.
Or are you trying to prevent such a situation arising?
Just had to go to the post office to collect a card.
The card had a counterfeit stamp on it because the person who sent it bought them from Amazon
Hefty claim against Amazon to be made?
Cost of postage recovery fee
Cost of fake stamps
Cost of time to re-tender procurement for replacement stamps
Responsible desposal costs for rest of fake stamps
Replacement cards for all items sent using counterfeit stamps (as some recipients may not collect)
Damage to relationship with recipients due to undelivered/late cards
Time dealing with Royal Mail and pursuing the claim against Amazon
Damage to your and sender's reputation for being associated with counterfeit goods
Legal fees related to all the above
Get to four figures at least pretty quickly, I should think?
Needs an inquiry. Six Four figures will be a rounding error then.
Actually, my estimate was far too small anyway. 'Desposal' is much more expensive than disposal, requiring as it does the disposal to be carried out by a fully qualified despot.
As with all polls there are small variations in voters chosen method of getting rid of the Tories but no change in the direction of travel. I wonder whether the Tories could go all the way like other huge brands? Quite a few of the ingredients for collapse are in place. Primarily that they have lost their identity almost completely
25% or so of voters don't want to get rid of the Tories at all. Utterly baffling imo but there it is.
BREAKING: Conservative MP Scott Benton faces a 35 day suspension from the Commons following a newspaper sting that found him allegedly offering to lobby on behalf of the gambling industry.
Another potential by-election looms, this time in Blackpool South.
Will be interesting to see how Reform does - it was one of the constituencies where the Brexit Party saved its deposit (and beat the LibDems and Greens).
As with all polls there are small variations in voters chosen method of getting rid of the Tories but no change in the direction of travel. I wonder whether the Tories could go all the way like other huge brands? Quite a few of the ingredients for collapse are in place. Primarily that they have lost their identity almost completely
In Johnson's quest for World Kingery he signed a pact with Satan, and the price was one nation Conservatism.
It will return, but those remaining one nation Tory MPs who voted for the Rwanda debacle need to grow a pair and push their agenda forward and fight against Farage's vile narrative. A narrative that is defining this Conservative government.
I find myself increasingly Green - in the old fashioned sense - as I age. The damage we do to nature, our mother planet, distresses me intensely. Two weeks ago I was on a near-wilderness Cambodian island - probably the most beautiful beach was destroyed by plastic litter
Ugh
And the cruelty we inflict on animals: eeesh. They are our brothers and sisters, born at the same moment of Creation. I now eschew red meat unless it can be absolutely and ethically sourced, otherwise I eat sustainable fish, game, veg
On the other hand I’m all up for a hard right populist government ready to deport everyone to Burundi. So it’s swings and roundabouts
I find myself increasingly Green - in the old fashioned sense - as I age. The damage we do to nature, our mother planet, distresses me intensely. Two weeks ago I was on a near-wilderness Cambodian island - probably the most beautiful beach was destroyed by plastic litter
Ugh
And the cruelty we inflict on animals: eeesh. They are our brothers and sisters, born at the same moment of Creation. I now eschew red meat unless it can be absolutely and ethically sourced, otherwise I eat sustainable fish, game, veg
On the other hand I’m all up for a hard right populist government ready to deport everyone to Burundi. So it’s swings and roundabouts
Ah so you're sort of 'old school' Green? This reminds me of you claiming to be an 'old school feminist'.
The advanced language skills on display here as usual. Using 'old school' in its lesser known but still perfectly valid meaning of 'not really'.
According to Alan Partridge's biography 'old school' is just a euphemism for 'alcoholic'.
That's fairly accurate. Eg if you work in the City and some bloke is described as 'old school' it means he's always in the pub.
BREAKING: Conservative MP Scott Benton faces a 35 day suspension from the Commons following a newspaper sting that found him allegedly offering to lobby on behalf of the gambling industry.
Another potential by-election looms, this time in Blackpool South.
Will be interesting to see how Reform does - it was one of the constituencies where the Brexit Party saved its deposit (and beat the LibDems and Greens).
In his interview with the Standards Commissioner, Scott Benton said he couldn’t think clearly as the sting took place in a noisy and distracting environment
I find myself increasingly Green - in the old fashioned sense - as I age. The damage we do to nature, our mother planet, distresses me intensely. Two weeks ago I was on a near-wilderness Cambodian island - probably the most beautiful beach was destroyed by plastic litter
Ugh
And the cruelty we inflict on animals: eeesh. They are our brothers and sisters, born at the same moment of Creation. I now eschew red meat unless it can be absolutely and ethically sourced, otherwise I eat sustainable fish, game, veg
On the other hand I’m all up for a hard right populist government ready to deport everyone to Burundi. So it’s swings and roundabouts
Ah so you're sort of 'old school' Green? This reminds me of you claiming to be an 'old school feminist'.
The advanced language skills on display here as usual. Using 'old school' in its lesser known but still perfectly valid meaning of 'not really'.
According to Alan Partridge's biography 'old school' is just a euphemism for 'alcoholic'.
That's fairly accurate. Eg if you work in the City and some bloke is described as 'old school' it means he's always in the pub.
Mildly connectedly, Savile Row very old school.
‘E could drink 12 pints of Courage and still hand stitch a lapel as straight as an arrer
BREAKING: Conservative MP Scott Benton faces a 35 day suspension from the Commons following a newspaper sting that found him allegedly offering to lobby on behalf of the gambling industry.
Another potential by-election looms, this time in Blackpool South.
Will be interesting to see how Reform does - it was one of the constituencies where the Brexit Party saved its deposit (and beat the LibDems and Greens).
BREAKING: Conservative MP Scott Benton faces a 35 day suspension from the Commons following a newspaper sting that found him allegedly offering to lobby on behalf of the gambling industry.
Another potential by-election looms, this time in Blackpool South.
Will be interesting to see how Reform does - it was one of the constituencies where the Brexit Party saved its deposit (and beat the LibDems and Greens).
How did the recall petition against Peter Bone do?
Still ongoing - it runs until 19 December.
I don't think there's a betting market (?) but worth noting that three of the four recall petitions so far were successful, with the sole exception of Ian Paisley (jnr) in N Antrim in 2018, and even that reached 9.4%. There were also several cases that would have triggered a petition had the MP not resigned first or a general election intervened in which the MP didn't recontest.
Oklahoma @GovStitt has signed an executive order abolishing the DEI bureaucracy in all public universities.
No, as it would require repeal of a number of equality laws.
Once you have these laws there needs to be a monitoring bureau to produce figures to demonstrate that an organisation is meeting the law.
Change the name if it offends you, but someone in HR needs to take the responsibility on.
Ours is very good at organising public health campaigns to engage underserved communities, which often have particular health needs.
Eventually, they will be repealed. It will start in America; as ever, we shall lag 5 years behind
Leon launches campaign for bigotry and discrimination.
BRACE
The sad thing is that, like H&S, real equality work is incredibly valuable.
The people who use it as performative dance to build an empire of bullshit, should be blindfolded, and left in a building full of open elevator shafts, exposed wiring and angry leopards.
Without HiViz
As Foxy says, any competent HR dept and overall management have to monitor things to check they're not breaching the laws. The logical implication is that anyone demanding the abolition of equality work is necessarily demanding the abolition of the discrimination legislation. Whether they realise it or not is another question. .
It works the other way round as well. Discrimination legislation leads inexorably to an ever-expanding bureaucracy to ensure the correct level of diversity is maintained. It's not the case that this is a temporary measure until society has progressed to the point that it is no longer needed.
"The incumbent Donald Trump is the favourite for the nomination but he’s no longer odds on. He’s rated by the markets as a 80% chance..."
Surely an 80% chance is "odds on" by definition (i.e. more likely than evens)?
And still value at that, unless you don't like the look of his health.
Iowa is a bit of a comedy show. Many candidates have won there then flopped, or lost there and gone on to win the nomination. Winning it is usually a question of having motivated activists willing to go out for hours on a freezing cold evening in the MidWest and advocate for their choice.
So who has the more devoted followers, and by how much, and by how many? Trump, surely. By miles.
Haley is decent value as second-favourite in a 'meh, she'll do' sense if Trump falls. But she ain't beating him.
Health and legal woes. I think it's likely court hearings will play in his favour among GOP base. But it's just possible that it's seen as too much of a distraction from winning back the White House.
I think you're a little unfair with the "meh". In a Trump-less contest, Haley would be a genuinely interesting GOP pick in a way DeSantis wouldn't.
I think there's less to Haley than meets the eye. She's been after the White House for a long time and has played quite a canny game so far. However, those decent political skills mask, IMO, a bit of an emptiness underneath. Though overall, that wouldn't be a bad thing for America or the world.
As you say though, Trump's legal woes are likely to strengthen his support with the GOP base - which is primarily what the primaries are about. And those woes don't even kick in properly until the race is well underway in voting terms. Health remains a concern but the actuarial risk continues to diminish week by week and we're very close to the starting line now (indeed, we're over it in terms of early voting).
1. No conviction is likely until the primaries are well underway and many delegates are already in the bag. 2. Trump would reject the conviction, appeal and carry on his campaign. 3. These are the Republican primaries, and while a conviction would reduce his support, it wouldn't necessarily knock him off top spot in that race, even it it would critically hobble him for November.
Just had to go to the post office to collect a card.
The card had a counterfeit stamp on it because the person who sent it bought them from Amazon
Hefty claim against Amazon to be made?
Cost of postage recovery fee
Cost of fake stamps
Cost of time to re-tender procurement for replacement stamps
Responsible desposal costs for rest of fake stamps
Replacement cards for all items sent using counterfeit stamps (as some recipients may not collect)
Damage to relationship with recipients due to undelivered/late cards
Time dealing with Royal Mail and pursuing the claim against Amazon
Damage to your and sender's reputation for being associated with counterfeit goods
Legal fees related to all the above
Get to four figures at least pretty quickly, I should think?
Needs an inquiry. Six Four figures will be a rounding error then.
Actually, my estimate was far too small anyway. 'Desposal' is much more expensive than disposal, requiring as it does the disposal to be carried out by a fully qualified despot.
Also add the further costs if the actual sender was a third party, possibly in Southern Ruritania, rather than Amazon UK plc.
However, it's also possible that the PO itself was mistaken in identifying the stamps as dodgy. If I were in that situation I'd have a word with the sender to get them to check a sample of other recipients of mail using stamps *from the same book/sheet*.
Any local ULEZ-style issues that could stymie this?
Yeah. Blackpool truly is a shithole.
I got done by a hobby booby at 11.45pm for being in the wrong lane to turn right.it was my first visit on business.This was
Early 90s.... Pissing with rain.on the seafront ...Not a car to be seen anywhere ...he must have been.playimg poker as my car was red. Never had a red car since. I was so angry I wrote to the Chief Constable about hobby Bobby's attitude. Never been to Blackpool since
Oklahoma @GovStitt has signed an executive order abolishing the DEI bureaucracy in all public universities.
No, as it would require repeal of a number of equality laws.
Once you have these laws there needs to be a monitoring bureau to produce figures to demonstrate that an organisation is meeting the law.
Change the name if it offends you, but someone in HR needs to take the responsibility on.
Ours is very good at organising public health campaigns to engage underserved communities, which often have particular health needs.
Eventually, they will be repealed. It will start in America; as ever, we shall lag 5 years behind
Leon launches campaign for bigotry and discrimination.
BRACE
The sad thing is that, like H&S, real equality work is incredibly valuable.
The people who use it as performative dance to build an empire of bullshit, should be blindfolded, and left in a building full of open elevator shafts, exposed wiring and angry leopards.
Without HiViz
As Foxy says, any competent HR dept and overall management have to monitor things to check they're not breaching the laws. The logical implication is that anyone demanding the abolition of equality work is necessarily demanding the abolition of the discrimination legislation. Whether they realise it or not is another question. .
It works the other way round as well. Discrimination legislation leads inexorably to an ever-expanding bureaucracy to ensure the correct level of diversity is maintained. It's not the case that this is a temporary measure until society has progressed to the point that it is no longer needed.
That's a libertarian argument for closing down the police force, though.
Just had to go to the post office to collect a card.
The card had a counterfeit stamp on it because the person who sent it bought them from Amazon
Hefty claim against Amazon to be made?
Cost of postage recovery fee
Cost of fake stamps
Cost of time to re-tender procurement for replacement stamps
Responsible desposal costs for rest of fake stamps
Replacement cards for all items sent using counterfeit stamps (as some recipients may not collect)
Damage to relationship with recipients due to undelivered/late cards
Time dealing with Royal Mail and pursuing the claim against Amazon
Damage to your and sender's reputation for being associated with counterfeit goods
Legal fees related to all the above
Get to four figures at least pretty quickly, I should think?
Needs an inquiry. Six Four figures will be a rounding error then.
Actually, my estimate was far too small anyway. 'Desposal' is much more expensive than disposal, requiring as it does the disposal to be carried out by a fully qualified despot.
Worth noting that the stamps may not actually be fake at all as well as the post office seems to be having some issues and declaring stamps as fake when evidence suggests its their fake detection at fault
Any local ULEZ-style issues that could stymie this?
Yeah. Blackpool truly is a shithole.
I got done by a hobby booby at 11.45pm for being in the wrong lane to turn right.it was my first visit on business.This was
Early 90s.... Pissing with rain.on the seafront ...Not a car to be seen anywhere ...he must have been.playimg poker as my car was red. Never had a red car since. I was so angry I wrote to the Chief Constable about hobby Bobby's attitude. Never been to Blackpool since
Blackpool's the only place I've ever got two parking tickets in one day.
And the only time I've stayed in a hotel where the bed folded down out of the wardbrobe.
Any local ULEZ-style issues that could stymie this?
Yeah. Blackpool truly is a shithole.
I got done by a hobby booby at 11.45pm for being in the wrong lane to turn right.it was my first visit on business.This was
Early 90s.... Pissing with rain.on the seafront ...Not a car to be seen anywhere ...he must have been.playimg poker as my car was red. Never had a red car since. I was so angry I wrote to the Chief Constable about hobby Bobby's attitude. Never been to Blackpool since
Blackpool's the only place I've ever got two parking tickets in one day.
And the only time I've stayed in a hotel where the bed folded down out of the wardbrobe.
Once was enough . It’s a total dump . I stopped off on the way back from the Lakes . Had fish and chips and then escaped quickly .
Any local ULEZ-style issues that could stymie this?
Yeah. Blackpool truly is a shithole.
I got done by a hobby booby at 11.45pm for being in the wrong lane to turn right.it was my first visit on business.This was
Early 90s.... Pissing with rain.on the seafront ...Not a car to be seen anywhere ...he must have been.playimg poker as my car was red. Never had a red car since. I was so angry I wrote to the Chief Constable about hobby Bobby's attitude. Never been to Blackpool since
Blackpool's the only place I've ever got two parking tickets in one day.
And the only time I've stayed in a hotel where the bed folded down out of the wardbrobe.
Once was enough . It’s a total dump . I stopped off on the way back from the Lakes . Had fish and chips and then escaped quickly .
Stayed there once. The faulty fire alarm in our room went off and the hotelier could only switch it off by cutting the cable to it with pliers. He then charged us for the damage.
Oklahoma @GovStitt has signed an executive order abolishing the DEI bureaucracy in all public universities.
No, as it would require repeal of a number of equality laws.
Once you have these laws there needs to be a monitoring bureau to produce figures to demonstrate that an organisation is meeting the law.
Change the name if it offends you, but someone in HR needs to take the responsibility on.
Ours is very good at organising public health campaigns to engage underserved communities, which often have particular health needs.
Eventually, they will be repealed. It will start in America; as ever, we shall lag 5 years behind
Leon launches campaign for bigotry and discrimination.
BRACE
The sad thing is that, like H&S, real equality work is incredibly valuable.
The people who use it as performative dance to build an empire of bullshit, should be blindfolded, and left in a building full of open elevator shafts, exposed wiring and angry leopards.
Without HiViz
As Foxy says, any competent HR dept and overall management have to monitor things to check they're not breaching the laws. The logical implication is that anyone demanding the abolition of equality work is necessarily demanding the abolition of the discrimination legislation. Whether they realise it or not is another question. .
It works the other way round as well. Discrimination legislation leads inexorably to an ever-expanding bureaucracy to ensure the correct level of diversity is maintained. It's not the case that this is a temporary measure until society has progressed to the point that it is no longer needed.
That's a libertarian argument for closing down the police force, though.
Yes why have any laws, they're too expensive to enforce.
Leon are you forgetting that you’re banned from posting AI images?
The first was merely an example of a potential AI image (I’m not sure myself if it is AI or not). Can we not even discuss this issue? If we are unable to use examples it prevents us from properly debating a crucial area which may be pivotal in the next US/UK elex: AI fakery
You can discuss it just don’t embed the images into your posts.
Other than not having a Leon hobbyhorse why shouldn't @leon post AI images @TheScreamingEagles ?
I can think of 2 arguments. Defamation in an image, which clearly wasn't the case here and potential copyright as the images will have been generated from other images, but that seems unlikely to be an issue here also particularly with these sort of images.
Or are you trying to prevent such a situation arising?
Oklahoma @GovStitt has signed an executive order abolishing the DEI bureaucracy in all public universities.
No, as it would require repeal of a number of equality laws.
Once you have these laws there needs to be a monitoring bureau to produce figures to demonstrate that an organisation is meeting the law.
Change the name if it offends you, but someone in HR needs to take the responsibility on.
Ours is very good at organising public health campaigns to engage underserved communities, which often have particular health needs.
Eventually, they will be repealed. It will start in America; as ever, we shall lag 5 years behind
Leon launches campaign for bigotry and discrimination.
BRACE
The sad thing is that, like H&S, real equality work is incredibly valuable.
The people who use it as performative dance to build an empire of bullshit, should be blindfolded, and left in a building full of open elevator shafts, exposed wiring and angry leopards.
Without HiViz
As Foxy says, any competent HR dept and overall management have to monitor things to check they're not breaching the laws. The logical implication is that anyone demanding the abolition of equality work is necessarily demanding the abolition of the discrimination legislation. Whether they realise it or not is another question. .
It works the other way round as well. Discrimination legislation leads inexorably to an ever-expanding bureaucracy to ensure the correct level of diversity is maintained. It's not the case that this is a temporary measure until society has progressed to the point that it is no longer needed.
That's a libertarian argument for closing down the police force, though.
Yes why have any laws, they're too expensive to enforce.
You don't believe that an inclusive society can be self-sustaining?
Leon are you forgetting that you’re banned from posting AI images?
The first was merely an example of a potential AI image (I’m not sure myself if it is AI or not). Can we not even discuss this issue? If we are unable to use examples it prevents us from properly debating a crucial area which may be pivotal in the next US/UK elex: AI fakery
You can discuss it just don’t embed the images into your posts.
Other than not having a Leon hobbyhorse why shouldn't @leon post AI images @TheScreamingEagles ?
I can think of 2 arguments. Defamation in an image, which clearly wasn't the case here and potential copyright as the images will have been generated from other images, but that seems unlikely to be an issue here also particularly with these sort of images.
Or are you trying to prevent such a situation arising?
Spamming?
Yup.
At his peak Leon was posting 50+ images a day.
Ah ok. It was the reason I dismissed then, which was one of his hobby horses.
Not putting any restrictions on Woke, Aliens, Holiday snaps, Lab leaks then?
As with all polls there are small variations in voters chosen method of getting rid of the Tories but no change in the direction of travel. I wonder whether the Tories could go all the way like other huge brands? Quite a few of the ingredients for collapse are in place. Primarily that they have lost their identity almost completely
25% or so of voters don't want to get rid of the Tories at all. Utterly baffling imo but there it is.
25% or so of voters are utterly unconvinced of the alternative offers. Given the state of Starmer and Davey, not baffling at all.
Oklahoma @GovStitt has signed an executive order abolishing the DEI bureaucracy in all public universities.
No, as it would require repeal of a number of equality laws.
Once you have these laws there needs to be a monitoring bureau to produce figures to demonstrate that an organisation is meeting the law.
Change the name if it offends you, but someone in HR needs to take the responsibility on.
Ours is very good at organising public health campaigns to engage underserved communities, which often have particular health needs.
Eventually, they will be repealed. It will start in America; as ever, we shall lag 5 years behind
Leon launches campaign for bigotry and discrimination.
BRACE
The sad thing is that, like H&S, real equality work is incredibly valuable.
The people who use it as performative dance to build an empire of bullshit, should be blindfolded, and left in a building full of open elevator shafts, exposed wiring and angry leopards.
Without HiViz
As Foxy says, any competent HR dept and overall management have to monitor things to check they're not breaching the laws. The logical implication is that anyone demanding the abolition of equality work is necessarily demanding the abolition of the discrimination legislation. Whether they realise it or not is another question. .
It works the other way round as well. Discrimination legislation leads inexorably to an ever-expanding bureaucracy to ensure the correct level of diversity is maintained. It's not the case that this is a temporary measure until society has progressed to the point that it is no longer needed.
That's a libertarian argument for closing down the police force, though.
Yes why have any laws, they're too expensive to enforce.
You don't believe that an inclusive society can be self-sustaining?
Most people are nice and inclusive just like most people aren't murderers or rapists. Laws exist to protect people from other people's bad behaviour, even if such behaviour isn't widespread. Don't you think people deserve to be protected from discrimination?
Oklahoma @GovStitt has signed an executive order abolishing the DEI bureaucracy in all public universities.
No, as it would require repeal of a number of equality laws.
Once you have these laws there needs to be a monitoring bureau to produce figures to demonstrate that an organisation is meeting the law.
Change the name if it offends you, but someone in HR needs to take the responsibility on.
Ours is very good at organising public health campaigns to engage underserved communities, which often have particular health needs.
Eventually, they will be repealed. It will start in America; as ever, we shall lag 5 years behind
Leon launches campaign for bigotry and discrimination.
BRACE
The sad thing is that, like H&S, real equality work is incredibly valuable.
The people who use it as performative dance to build an empire of bullshit, should be blindfolded, and left in a building full of open elevator shafts, exposed wiring and angry leopards.
Without HiViz
As Foxy says, any competent HR dept and overall management have to monitor things to check they're not breaching the laws. The logical implication is that anyone demanding the abolition of equality work is necessarily demanding the abolition of the discrimination legislation. Whether they realise it or not is another question. .
It works the other way round as well. Discrimination legislation leads inexorably to an ever-expanding bureaucracy to ensure the correct level of diversity is maintained. It's not the case that this is a temporary measure until society has progressed to the point that it is no longer needed.
That's a libertarian argument for closing down the police force, though.
Yes why have any laws, they're too expensive to enforce.
Given the underfunding and backlog of courts and prisons, I think we've already done this...
In truth, Russia would snap your hand off for a deal along the current front tomorrow. Ukraine won't though, and quite right too. But that stance surely depends on the continued level of military assistance from Washington and the EU going forward.
A lot of people who like to play wise find some sort of weird sense in what Putin says and does, these tend to be people who think Ukraine should accept "reality" and cede territory, but it's plain to me that Putin is full of shit and quite possibly has also lost his marbles. By any normal measure the attack on Ukraine since 2022 has been an absolute disaster for Russia in terms of duration, lives lost, capital squandered, degradation of the Russian military, sanctions, the impact on Russian industry, their best and brightest fleeing, and more. If the Russian people were not so cowed Putin would have been hanged from a lamppost by now. He's proven to be a yet another terrible ruler of Russia.
Just had to go to the post office to collect a card.
The card had a counterfeit stamp on it because the person who sent it bought them from Amazon
Hefty claim against Amazon to be made?
Cost of postage recovery fee
Cost of fake stamps
Cost of time to re-tender procurement for replacement stamps
Responsible desposal costs for rest of fake stamps
Replacement cards for all items sent using counterfeit stamps (as some recipients may not collect)
Damage to relationship with recipients due to undelivered/late cards
Time dealing with Royal Mail and pursuing the claim against Amazon
Damage to your and sender's reputation for being associated with counterfeit goods
Legal fees related to all the above
Get to four figures at least pretty quickly, I should think?
Needs an inquiry. Six Four figures will be a rounding error then.
Actually, my estimate was far too small anyway. 'Desposal' is much more expensive than disposal, requiring as it does the disposal to be carried out by a fully qualified despot.
Also add the further costs if the actual sender was a third party, possibly in Southern Ruritania, rather than Amazon UK plc.
However, it's also possible that the PO itself was mistaken in identifying the stamps as dodgy. If I were in that situation I'd have a word with the sender to get them to check a sample of other recipients of mail using stamps *from the same book/sheet*.
Oklahoma @GovStitt has signed an executive order abolishing the DEI bureaucracy in all public universities.
No, as it would require repeal of a number of equality laws.
Once you have these laws there needs to be a monitoring bureau to produce figures to demonstrate that an organisation is meeting the law.
Change the name if it offends you, but someone in HR needs to take the responsibility on.
Ours is very good at organising public health campaigns to engage underserved communities, which often have particular health needs.
Eventually, they will be repealed. It will start in America; as ever, we shall lag 5 years behind
Leon launches campaign for bigotry and discrimination.
BRACE
The sad thing is that, like H&S, real equality work is incredibly valuable.
The people who use it as performative dance to build an empire of bullshit, should be blindfolded, and left in a building full of open elevator shafts, exposed wiring and angry leopards.
Without HiViz
As Foxy says, any competent HR dept and overall management have to monitor things to check they're not breaching the laws. The logical implication is that anyone demanding the abolition of equality work is necessarily demanding the abolition of the discrimination legislation. Whether they realise it or not is another question. .
It works the other way round as well. Discrimination legislation leads inexorably to an ever-expanding bureaucracy to ensure the correct level of diversity is maintained. It's not the case that this is a temporary measure until society has progressed to the point that it is no longer needed.
That's a libertarian argument for closing down the police force, though.
Yes why have any laws, they're too expensive to enforce.
You don't believe that an inclusive society can be self-sustaining?
Most people are nice and inclusive just like most people aren't murderers or rapists. Laws exist to protect people from other people's bad behaviour, even if such behaviour isn't widespread. Don't you think people deserve to be protected from discrimination?
If eliminating discrimination is the objective then you can't elevate "diversity, equity, and inclusion" because there is an inherent conflcit between choosing purely on merit and achieving a defined level of representation.
Be interesting to see some Haley v Biden state polling.
I still believe she will end up being the official Republican candidate. I expect she beats Biden, unless Trump runs as a "MAGA" candidate. But I strongly suspect he won't be on the ballot in '24. He's just too damned dangerous to democracy to be allowed another shot.
Oklahoma @GovStitt has signed an executive order abolishing the DEI bureaucracy in all public universities.
No, as it would require repeal of a number of equality laws.
Once you have these laws there needs to be a monitoring bureau to produce figures to demonstrate that an organisation is meeting the law.
Change the name if it offends you, but someone in HR needs to take the responsibility on.
Ours is very good at organising public health campaigns to engage underserved communities, which often have particular health needs.
Eventually, they will be repealed. It will start in America; as ever, we shall lag 5 years behind
Leon launches campaign for bigotry and discrimination.
BRACE
The sad thing is that, like H&S, real equality work is incredibly valuable.
The people who use it as performative dance to build an empire of bullshit, should be blindfolded, and left in a building full of open elevator shafts, exposed wiring and angry leopards.
Without HiViz
As Foxy says, any competent HR dept and overall management have to monitor things to check they're not breaching the laws. The logical implication is that anyone demanding the abolition of equality work is necessarily demanding the abolition of the discrimination legislation. Whether they realise it or not is another question. .
It works the other way round as well. Discrimination legislation leads inexorably to an ever-expanding bureaucracy to ensure the correct level of diversity is maintained. It's not the case that this is a temporary measure until society has progressed to the point that it is no longer needed.
That's a libertarian argument for closing down the police force, though.
Yes why have any laws, they're too expensive to enforce.
You don't believe that an inclusive society can be self-sustaining?
Most people are nice and inclusive just like most people aren't murderers or rapists. Laws exist to protect people from other people's bad behaviour, even if such behaviour isn't widespread. Don't you think people deserve to be protected from discrimination?
If eliminating discrimination is the objective then you can't elevate "diversity, equity, and inclusion" because there is an inherent conflcit between choosing purely on merit and achieving a defined level of representation.
I don't see a conflict. Diversity and inclusion isn't about meeting quotas, it's about ensuring that processes are fair and transparent so some groups aren't disadvantaged. In my opinion it's actually about getting the best people.
Be interesting to see some Haley v Biden state polling.
I still believe she will end up being the official Republican candidate. I expect she beats Biden, unless Trump runs as a "MAGA" candidate. But I strongly suspect he won't be on the ballot in '24. He's just too damned dangerous to democracy to be allowed another shot.
Who do you expect to stop Trump, and how?
Simply being 'dangerous to democracy' is no bar to becoming a candidate unless Republican primary voters agree with you - and at the moment, he's polling about five times the level of the next-best candidate.
Just had to go to the post office to collect a card.
The card had a counterfeit stamp on it because the person who sent it bought them from Amazon
Hefty claim against Amazon to be made?
Cost of postage recovery fee
Cost of fake stamps
Cost of time to re-tender procurement for replacement stamps
Responsible desposal costs for rest of fake stamps
Replacement cards for all items sent using counterfeit stamps (as some recipients may not collect)
Damage to relationship with recipients due to undelivered/late cards
Time dealing with Royal Mail and pursuing the claim against Amazon
Damage to your and sender's reputation for being associated with counterfeit goods
Legal fees related to all the above
Get to four figures at least pretty quickly, I should think?
Needs an inquiry. Six Four figures will be a rounding error then.
Actually, my estimate was far too small anyway. 'Desposal' is much more expensive than disposal, requiring as it does the disposal to be carried out by a fully qualified despot.
Worth noting that the stamps may not actually be fake at all as well as the post office seems to be having some issues and declaring stamps as fake when evidence suggests its their fake detection at fault
"[Royal Mail] told Guardian Money that customers must produce receipts and the name and address of the retailer to prove that their confiscated stamps were bought legitimately."
Sure, everyone keeps receipts for a book of stamps, don't they? 🤦♂️
Be interesting to see some Haley v Biden state polling.
I still believe she will end up being the official Republican candidate. I expect she beats Biden, unless Trump runs as a "MAGA" candidate. But I strongly suspect he won't be on the ballot in '24. He's just too damned dangerous to democracy to be allowed another shot.
You’re assuming there’s enough Americans who care about democracy . Even if convicted I expect many supporters will still find a way to vote for him . I think we have to sadly accept that the USA is fast becoming a failed state . I’m not worried about Trump starting a war but he will certainly be on a mission to exact revenge against those who he perceives as having wronged him .
The latest YouGov/Times voting intention poll shows the Conservatives on 22% of the vote (no change from our previous survey on 6-7 December) to Labour's 44% (-1).
Elsewhere, the Liberal Democrats have 10% of the vote (no change), while Reform UK have 11% of the vote (no change) and the Greens have 7% (also no change).
It's Con v. Lib Dem in local elections today. The blues are defending in North Kesteven, Warwickshire, and Rugby(x2); the yellows in Cotswolds, Swale, and Three Rivers.
It's Con v. Lib Dem in local elections today. The blues are defending in North Kesteven, Warwickshire, and Rugby(x2); the yellows in Cotswolds, Swale, and Three Rivers.
Without looking at the wards, North Kesteven instinctively feels like the most likely Tory hold of those lot.
Labour loses key councillor in London in defection to the Greens over failures
"She said her confidence faded further when she lobbied her local chapter to speak out against the conflict in Sudan and said no one replied to her request. The “final straw”, cllr Adam said, came two months ago when she was asked to sign what she said was a statement calling on councillors to highlight the October 7 attack on Israelis by Hamas when asked about the conflict in Gaza. She also expressed concern about the party not calling for a ceasefire."
Just had to go to the post office to collect a card.
The card had a counterfeit stamp on it because the person who sent it bought them from Amazon
Hefty claim against Amazon to be made?
Cost of postage recovery fee
Cost of fake stamps
Cost of time to re-tender procurement for replacement stamps
Responsible desposal costs for rest of fake stamps
Replacement cards for all items sent using counterfeit stamps (as some recipients may not collect)
Damage to relationship with recipients due to undelivered/late cards
Time dealing with Royal Mail and pursuing the claim against Amazon
Damage to your and sender's reputation for being associated with counterfeit goods
Legal fees related to all the above
Get to four figures at least pretty quickly, I should think?
Needs an inquiry. Six Four figures will be a rounding error then.
Actually, my estimate was far too small anyway. 'Desposal' is much more expensive than disposal, requiring as it does the disposal to be carried out by a fully qualified despot.
Worth noting that the stamps may not actually be fake at all as well as the post office seems to be having some issues and declaring stamps as fake when evidence suggests its their fake detection at fault
"[Royal Mail] told Guardian Money that customers must produce receipts and the name and address of the retailer to prove that their confiscated stamps were bought legitimately."
Sure, everyone keeps receipts for a book of stamps, don't they? 🤦♂️
Not just that, but the full details of every book of stamps or partial sheet thereof, inclujding serial number and all.
This GOP flap about Hunter Biden. They want a closed doors inquisition. He says "I have nothing to hide, lets do this in public". They say his action is "obstruction".
Unless there is a national security angle - stop laughing - there is no reason for a closed session. So what do the GOP have to hide?
Inconvenient evidence being given a public airing.
Given criminal cases are being pursued against Biden Jnr, Congress holding any kind of hearing targeted at him is problematic. There's a big separation of powers issue, since politicians are effectively front running a criminal case. And Hunter Biden has never held public office.
So far they've presented zero evidence with regard to impeachment of President Biden, which might give some excuse for their behaviour. Indeed what evidence that has come out is actually against the Trump administration - his state department cancelling the corruption investigation into Burisma, for example.
If he has to give evidence under oath, there are previously rulings that his evidence can’t be used against him in a court. And indeed that prosecuting him for any any offences covered in testimony becomes near impossible.
Oliver North used this one quite a lot - essentially he talked about all the things he’d done, under oath, and claimed not to remember about *other* people doing stuff.
The result was it became nearly impossible to prosecute him for anything.
Well it's rather reassuring to hear for once from the Secretary of State for Business and Trade. She's been so quiet of late I was beginning to wonder whether she was still amongst us. And of course there has been every reason to hear from her. She is the Minister currently in charge of the Post Office, so you might imagine that she would have something to say about the parade of liars, rogues, charlatans and crooks appearing on behalf of the PO at the Inquiry into the biggest public scandal of my lifetime.
Instead, silence.
I do not believe this is judicious restraint whilst the Inquiry gets on with its work. It is tacit support for the PO's policy of obstructing and delaying that work. Her Government owns the PO. It could tell its Board to stop acting the goat and start cooperating. You can draw your own conclusions from its failure to do so.
Is Kemi complicit, or is she merely lazy, incompetent, and indifferent?
TBF she is very busy with more pressing matters. Becoming Tory Party leader requires a decent amount of graft - or do I mean grift?
She is also, I believe, self-appointed Minister for Transgenger Issues.
How does she find the time?
That is unfair of you. She is Minister for Women and Equality Issues so her appearance yesterday before the Select Committee was entirely appropriate. It was also good that she was better informed on the issues than many on the Committee, some of whom had not apparently read the Cass Report. Commenting on trans issues or women's rights without reading the relevant reports or legal judgments, which quite a lot of commentators do, is unacceptable - particularly in politicians purporting to opine on these matters.
I do not criticise her for that. Women's rights have been far too neglected frankly and it is good that someone is thinking about such issues. It is worth noting that there have been a lot of legal cases relating to women's rights and trans issues and the clash between the two and it is about time that this was taken seriously by government because womens' concerns have been ignored for far too long and too many women raising issues have faced abuse and attacks.
No the far better criticism of Badenoch is that this is the only thing she appears to care about. She has utterly failed to take any sort of serious action with regard to the Post Office.
I will repost my answer from the previous thread on this.
It does not matter. Her silence and failure to act are in effect complicity in the Post Office's behaviour which is deliberately and intentionally undermining the Inquiry, the chances of any effective compensation, the overturning of unjust convictions and effective criminal, regulatory or disciplinary action against all those responsible.
This is now a governmental scandal - not merely an IT or legal one.
I have no confidence Labour will put it right. And I now feel that the state is a malign actor when it comes to putting - or, rather, failing to put - the interests of those it is meant to serve ahead of its own.
Any local ULEZ-style issues that could stymie this?
Yeah. Blackpool truly is a shithole.
I got done by a hobby booby at 11.45pm for being in the wrong lane to turn right.it was my first visit on business.This was
Early 90s.... Pissing with rain.on the seafront ...Not a car to be seen anywhere ...he must have been.playimg poker as my car was red. Never had a red car since. I was so angry I wrote to the Chief Constable about hobby Bobby's attitude. Never been to Blackpool since
I thought the police played car snooker. White then yellow followed by red, followed by green followed by red, followed by brown etc finishing on white after the (black) red. That's why I drive a silver car.
Well it's rather reassuring to hear for once from the Secretary of State for Business and Trade. She's been so quiet of late I was beginning to wonder whether she was still amongst us. And of course there has been every reason to hear from her. She is the Minister currently in charge of the Post Office, so you might imagine that she would have something to say about the parade of liars, rogues, charlatans and crooks appearing on behalf of the PO at the Inquiry into the biggest public scandal of my lifetime.
Instead, silence.
I do not believe this is judicious restraint whilst the Inquiry gets on with its work. It is tacit support for the PO's policy of obstructing and delaying that work. Her Government owns the PO. It could tell its Board to stop acting the goat and start cooperating. You can draw your own conclusions from its failure to do so.
Is Kemi complicit, or is she merely lazy, incompetent, and indifferent?
TBF she is very busy with more pressing matters. Becoming Tory Party leader requires a decent amount of graft - or do I mean grift?
She is also, I believe, self-appointed Minister for Transgenger Issues.
How does she find the time?
Transgenger issues is not far off Transginger issues, which would be true intersectionality.
Oklahoma @GovStitt has signed an executive order abolishing the DEI bureaucracy in all public universities.
No, as it would require repeal of a number of equality laws.
Once you have these laws there needs to be a monitoring bureau to produce figures to demonstrate that an organisation is meeting the law.
Change the name if it offends you, but someone in HR needs to take the responsibility on.
Ours is very good at organising public health campaigns to engage underserved communities, which often have particular health needs.
Eventually, they will be repealed. It will start in America; as ever, we shall lag 5 years behind
Leon launches campaign for bigotry and discrimination.
BRACE
The sad thing is that, like H&S, real equality work is incredibly valuable.
The people who use it as performative dance to build an empire of bullshit, should be blindfolded, and left in a building full of open elevator shafts, exposed wiring and angry leopards.
Without HiViz
As Foxy says, any competent HR dept and overall management have to monitor things to check they're not breaching the laws. The logical implication is that anyone demanding the abolition of equality work is necessarily demanding the abolition of the discrimination legislation. Whether they realise it or not is another question. .
It works the other way round as well. Discrimination legislation leads inexorably to an ever-expanding bureaucracy to ensure the correct level of diversity is maintained. It's not the case that this is a temporary measure until society has progressed to the point that it is no longer needed.
Even better - making the problem worse is good, since it is evidence that you need more resources to deal with the problem.
Well it's rather reassuring to hear for once from the Secretary of State for Business and Trade. She's been so quiet of late I was beginning to wonder whether she was still amongst us. And of course there has been every reason to hear from her. She is the Minister currently in charge of the Post Office, so you might imagine that she would have something to say about the parade of liars, rogues, charlatans and crooks appearing on behalf of the PO at the Inquiry into the biggest public scandal of my lifetime.
Instead, silence.
I do not believe this is judicious restraint whilst the Inquiry gets on with its work. It is tacit support for the PO's policy of obstructing and delaying that work. Her Government owns the PO. It could tell its Board to stop acting the goat and start cooperating. You can draw your own conclusions from its failure to do so.
Is Kemi complicit, or is she merely lazy, incompetent, and indifferent?
TBF she is very busy with more pressing matters. Becoming Tory Party leader requires a decent amount of graft - or do I mean grift?
She is also, I believe, self-appointed Minister for Transgenger Issues.
How does she find the time?
Transgenger issues is not far off Transginger issues, which would be true intersectionality.
Just had to go to the post office to collect a card.
The card had a counterfeit stamp on it because the person who sent it bought them from Amazon
Hefty claim against Amazon to be made?
Cost of postage recovery fee
Cost of fake stamps
Cost of time to re-tender procurement for replacement stamps
Responsible desposal costs for rest of fake stamps
Replacement cards for all items sent using counterfeit stamps (as some recipients may not collect)
Damage to relationship with recipients due to undelivered/late cards
Time dealing with Royal Mail and pursuing the claim against Amazon
Damage to your and sender's reputation for being associated with counterfeit goods
Legal fees related to all the above
Get to four figures at least pretty quickly, I should think?
Needs an inquiry. Six Four figures will be a rounding error then.
Actually, my estimate was far too small anyway. 'Desposal' is much more expensive than disposal, requiring as it does the disposal to be carried out by a fully qualified despot.
Worth noting that the stamps may not actually be fake at all as well as the post office seems to be having some issues and declaring stamps as fake when evidence suggests its their fake detection at fault
"[Royal Mail] told Guardian Money that customers must produce receipts and the name and address of the retailer to prove that their confiscated stamps were bought legitimately."
Sure, everyone keeps receipts for a book of stamps, don't they? 🤦♂️
The old budget airlines ploy of making it so hard to claim people don't bother.
Lab gain is a foregone conclusion. The interesting thing to see will be the reform vote will be, with them perhaps being a bit more in people's minds after ol' Nige's jungle japes.
People who watch I'm a Celebrity unlikely to be able to remember it by March, what with Christmas, New Year, winter and fuel price rises in between.
I suspect they will have trouble remembering their own names or what day of the week it is.
Well it's rather reassuring to hear for once from the Secretary of State for Business and Trade. She's been so quiet of late I was beginning to wonder whether she was still amongst us. And of course there has been every reason to hear from her. She is the Minister currently in charge of the Post Office, so you might imagine that she would have something to say about the parade of liars, rogues, charlatans and crooks appearing on behalf of the PO at the Inquiry into the biggest public scandal of my lifetime.
Instead, silence.
I do not believe this is judicious restraint whilst the Inquiry gets on with its work. It is tacit support for the PO's policy of obstructing and delaying that work. Her Government owns the PO. It could tell its Board to stop acting the goat and start cooperating. You can draw your own conclusions from its failure to do so.
Is Kemi complicit, or is she merely lazy, incompetent, and indifferent?
TBF she is very busy with more pressing matters. Becoming Tory Party leader requires a decent amount of graft - or do I mean grift?
She is also, I believe, self-appointed Minister for Transgenger Issues.
How does she find the time?
That is unfair of you. She is Minister for Women and Equality Issues so her appearance yesterday before the Select Committee was entirely appropriate. It was also good that she was better informed on the issues than many on the Committee, some of whom had not apparently read the Cass Report. Commenting on trans issues or women's rights without reading the relevant reports or legal judgments, which quite a lot of commentators do, is unacceptable - particularly in politicians purporting to opine on these matters.
I do not criticise her for that. Women's rights have been far too neglected frankly and it is good that someone is thinking about such issues. It is worth noting that there have been a lot of legal cases relating to women's rights and trans issues and the clash between the two and it is about time that this was taken seriously by government because womens' concerns have been ignored for far too long and too many women raising issues have faced abuse and attacks.
No the far better criticism of Badenoch is that this is the only thing she appears to care about. She has utterly failed to take any sort of serious action with regard to the Post Office.
I will repost my answer from the previous thread on this.
It does not matter. Her silence and failure to act are in effect complicity in the Post Office's behaviour which is deliberately and intentionally undermining the Inquiry, the chances of any effective compensation, the overturning of unjust convictions and effective criminal, regulatory or disciplinary action against all those responsible.
This is now a governmental scandal - not merely an IT or legal one.
I have no confidence Labour will put it right. And I now feel that the state is a malign actor when it comes to putting - or, rather, failing to put - the interests of those it is meant to serve ahead of its own.
It’s more that the state reflexively protects itself and those it regards as “partners” - big contractors, third sector etc.
This phenomenon has been well documented since the 19th cent. The loss of HMS Captain is a classic of this genre. Laird (who built the ship - yes, one of those Lairds) was protected to the point he was nearly appointed Director of Construction for the Royal Navy!
This GOP flap about Hunter Biden. They want a closed doors inquisition. He says "I have nothing to hide, lets do this in public". They say his action is "obstruction".
Unless there is a national security angle - stop laughing - there is no reason for a closed session. So what do the GOP have to hide?
This reading of events isn't the version that I've heard, which is that Biden jnr's requests were made by his hardball lawyer precisely to obstruct and run the clock down on the investigation.
I think you're going pretty far down the rabbit hole trying to wash Hunter Biden clean, however little knowledge you choose to believe Joe Biden had of his misdeeds.
I find myself increasingly Green - in the old fashioned sense - as I age. The damage we do to nature, our mother planet, distresses me intensely. Two weeks ago I was on a near-wilderness Cambodian island - probably the most beautiful beach was destroyed by plastic litter
Ugh
And the cruelty we inflict on animals: eeesh. They are our brothers and sisters, born at the same moment of Creation. I now eschew red meat unless it can be absolutely and ethically sourced, otherwise I eat sustainable fish, game, veg
On the other hand I’m all up for a hard right populist government ready to deport everyone to Burundi. So it’s swings and roundabouts
Ah so you're sort of 'old school' Green? This reminds me of you claiming to be an 'old school feminist'.
The advanced language skills on display here as usual. Using 'old school' in its lesser known but still perfectly valid meaning of 'not really'.
According to Alan Partridge's biography 'old school' is just a euphemism for 'alcoholic'.
That's fairly accurate. Eg if you work in the City and some bloke is described as 'old school' it means he's always in the pub.
Mildly connectedly, Savile Row very old school.
‘E could drink 12 pints of Courage and still hand stitch a lapel as straight as an arrer
Fascinating scene that sounds. I actually did my "articles" (let's stick to the old ways of talking) in Savile Row and, yes, we young accountants would often stumble across some 'interesting' not so young characters in the local hostelries. Early 80s. I can't say I remember like it was yesterday (it feels about 40 years ago, oddly) but I bet some of them were tailors.
Well it's rather reassuring to hear for once from the Secretary of State for Business and Trade. She's been so quiet of late I was beginning to wonder whether she was still amongst us. And of course there has been every reason to hear from her. She is the Minister currently in charge of the Post Office, so you might imagine that she would have something to say about the parade of liars, rogues, charlatans and crooks appearing on behalf of the PO at the Inquiry into the biggest public scandal of my lifetime.
Instead, silence.
I do not believe this is judicious restraint whilst the Inquiry gets on with its work. It is tacit support for the PO's policy of obstructing and delaying that work. Her Government owns the PO. It could tell its Board to stop acting the goat and start cooperating. You can draw your own conclusions from its failure to do so.
Is Kemi complicit, or is she merely lazy, incompetent, and indifferent?
TBF she is very busy with more pressing matters. Becoming Tory Party leader requires a decent amount of graft - or do I mean grift?
She is also, I believe, self-appointed Minister for Transgenger Issues.
How does she find the time?
That is unfair of you. She is Minister for Women and Equality Issues so her appearance yesterday before the Select Committee was entirely appropriate. It was also good that she was better informed on the issues than many on the Committee, some of whom had not apparently read the Cass Report. Commenting on trans issues or women's rights without reading the relevant reports or legal judgments, which quite a lot of commentators do, is unacceptable - particularly in politicians purporting to opine on these matters.
I do not criticise her for that. Women's rights have been far too neglected frankly and it is good that someone is thinking about such issues. It is worth noting that there have been a lot of legal cases relating to women's rights and trans issues and the clash between the two and it is about time that this was taken seriously by government because womens' concerns have been ignored for far too long and too many women raising issues have faced abuse and attacks.
No the far better criticism of Badenoch is that this is the only thing she appears to care about. She has utterly failed to take any sort of serious action with regard to the Post Office.
I will repost my answer from the previous thread on this.
It does not matter. Her silence and failure to act are in effect complicity in the Post Office's behaviour which is deliberately and intentionally undermining the Inquiry, the chances of any effective compensation, the overturning of unjust convictions and effective criminal, regulatory or disciplinary action against all those responsible.
This is now a governmental scandal - not merely an IT or legal one.
I have no confidence Labour will put it right. And I now feel that the state is a malign actor when it comes to putting - or, rather, failing to put - the interests of those it is meant to serve ahead of its own.
It’s more that the state reflexively protects itself and those it regards as “partners” - big contractors, third sector etc.
This phenomenon has been well documented since the 19th cent. The loss of HMS Captain is a classic of this genre. Laird (who built the ship - yes, one of those Lairds) was protected to the point he was nearly appointed Director of Construction for the Royal Navy!
Or more recently, Cressida Dick, who after being the person in charge when an innocent man was shot dead, went on to lead the Met.
In truth, Russia would snap your hand off for a deal along the current front tomorrow. Ukraine won't though, and quite right too. But that stance surely depends on the continued level of military assistance from Washington and the EU going forward.
A lot of people who like to play wise find some sort of weird sense in what Putin says and does, these tend to be people who think Ukraine should accept "reality" and cede territory, but it's plain to me that Putin is full of shit and quite possibly has also lost his marbles. By any normal measure the attack on Ukraine since 2022 has been an absolute disaster for Russia in terms of duration, lives lost, capital squandered, degradation of the Russian military, sanctions, the impact on Russian industry, their best and brightest fleeing, and more. If the Russian people were not so cowed Putin would have been hanged from a lamppost by now. He's proven to be a yet another terrible ruler of Russia.
If the yanks were not a bunch of isolationist greedy gits then it woudl all be over by now and he would have had his just desserts. If Ukraine could find huge oil reserves they would be all in tout suite.
Just had to go to the post office to collect a card.
The card had a counterfeit stamp on it because the person who sent it bought them from Amazon
Hefty claim against Amazon to be made?
Cost of postage recovery fee
Cost of fake stamps
Cost of time to re-tender procurement for replacement stamps
Responsible desposal costs for rest of fake stamps
Replacement cards for all items sent using counterfeit stamps (as some recipients may not collect)
Damage to relationship with recipients due to undelivered/late cards
Time dealing with Royal Mail and pursuing the claim against Amazon
Damage to your and sender's reputation for being associated with counterfeit goods
Legal fees related to all the above
Get to four figures at least pretty quickly, I should think?
Needs an inquiry. Six Four figures will be a rounding error then.
Actually, my estimate was far too small anyway. 'Desposal' is much more expensive than disposal, requiring as it does the disposal to be carried out by a fully qualified despot.
Worth noting that the stamps may not actually be fake at all as well as the post office seems to be having some issues and declaring stamps as fake when evidence suggests its their fake detection at fault
"[Royal Mail] told Guardian Money that customers must produce receipts and the name and address of the retailer to prove that their confiscated stamps were bought legitimately."
Sure, everyone keeps receipts for a book of stamps, don't they? 🤦♂️
The old budget airlines ploy of making it so hard to claim people don't bother.
Wankers
Rip-off Britain is as bad as it was prior to 1997. Had to go through drop off at Gatwick to get to the Sofitel. Paid for the Sofitel car park then got a ticket from NCP for overstaying drop off. If I paid immediately the £100 penalty dropped to £15. Also got done over in a similar fashion in Heathrow. £6 for less than 5 minutes in drop off. NCP must think I'm made of money.
Oklahoma @GovStitt has signed an executive order abolishing the DEI bureaucracy in all public universities.
No, as it would require repeal of a number of equality laws.
Once you have these laws there needs to be a monitoring bureau to produce figures to demonstrate that an organisation is meeting the law.
Change the name if it offends you, but someone in HR needs to take the responsibility on.
Ours is very good at organising public health campaigns to engage underserved communities, which often have particular health needs.
Eventually, they will be repealed. It will start in America; as ever, we shall lag 5 years behind
Leon launches campaign for bigotry and discrimination.
BRACE
The sad thing is that, like H&S, real equality work is incredibly valuable.
The people who use it as performative dance to build an empire of bullshit, should be blindfolded, and left in a building full of open elevator shafts, exposed wiring and angry leopards.
Without HiViz
As Foxy says, any competent HR dept and overall management have to monitor things to check they're not breaching the laws. The logical implication is that anyone demanding the abolition of equality work is necessarily demanding the abolition of the discrimination legislation. Whether they realise it or not is another question. .
It works the other way round as well. Discrimination legislation leads inexorably to an ever-expanding bureaucracy to ensure the correct level of diversity is maintained. It's not the case that this is a temporary measure until society has progressed to the point that it is no longer needed.
That's a libertarian argument for closing down the police force, though.
Yes why have any laws, they're too expensive to enforce.
You don't believe that an inclusive society can be self-sustaining?
Most people are nice and inclusive just like most people aren't murderers or rapists. Laws exist to protect people from other people's bad behaviour, even if such behaviour isn't widespread. Don't you think people deserve to be protected from discrimination?
If eliminating discrimination is the objective then you can't elevate "diversity, equity, and inclusion" because there is an inherent conflcit between choosing purely on merit and achieving a defined level of representation.
Yes, it's not rocket science, just hire the best well educated, middle class white man for the job.
I find myself increasingly Green - in the old fashioned sense - as I age. The damage we do to nature, our mother planet, distresses me intensely. Two weeks ago I was on a near-wilderness Cambodian island - probably the most beautiful beach was destroyed by plastic litter
Ugh
And the cruelty we inflict on animals: eeesh. They are our brothers and sisters, born at the same moment of Creation. I now eschew red meat unless it can be absolutely and ethically sourced, otherwise I eat sustainable fish, game, veg
On the other hand I’m all up for a hard right populist government ready to deport everyone to Burundi. So it’s swings and roundabouts
Ah so you're sort of 'old school' Green? This reminds me of you claiming to be an 'old school feminist'.
The advanced language skills on display here as usual. Using 'old school' in its lesser known but still perfectly valid meaning of 'not really'.
According to Alan Partridge's biography 'old school' is just a euphemism for 'alcoholic'.
Well it's rather reassuring to hear for once from the Secretary of State for Business and Trade. She's been so quiet of late I was beginning to wonder whether she was still amongst us. And of course there has been every reason to hear from her. She is the Minister currently in charge of the Post Office, so you might imagine that she would have something to say about the parade of liars, rogues, charlatans and crooks appearing on behalf of the PO at the Inquiry into the biggest public scandal of my lifetime.
Instead, silence.
I do not believe this is judicious restraint whilst the Inquiry gets on with its work. It is tacit support for the PO's policy of obstructing and delaying that work. Her Government owns the PO. It could tell its Board to stop acting the goat and start cooperating. You can draw your own conclusions from its failure to do so.
Is Kemi complicit, or is she merely lazy, incompetent, and indifferent?
TBF she is very busy with more pressing matters. Becoming Tory Party leader requires a decent amount of graft - or do I mean grift?
She is also, I believe, self-appointed Minister for Transgenger Issues.
How does she find the time?
Transgenger issues is not far off Transginger issues, which would be true intersectionality.
Just as boring as well.
Not if one is a ginger ...
Hello, Malky. Sun and blue sky here!
Hello Carnyx, similar weather here but bit nippy. Some cracking gingers around.
In truth, Russia would snap your hand off for a deal along the current front tomorrow. Ukraine won't though, and quite right too. But that stance surely depends on the continued level of military assistance from Washington and the EU going forward.
A lot of people who like to play wise find some sort of weird sense in what Putin says and does, these tend to be people who think Ukraine should accept "reality" and cede territory, but it's plain to me that Putin is full of shit and quite possibly has also lost his marbles. By any normal measure the attack on Ukraine since 2022 has been an absolute disaster for Russia in terms of duration, lives lost, capital squandered, degradation of the Russian military, sanctions, the impact on Russian industry, their best and brightest fleeing, and more. If the Russian people were not so cowed Putin would have been hanged from a lamppost by now. He's proven to be a yet another terrible ruler of Russia.
If the yanks were not a bunch of isolationist greedy gits then it woudl all be over by now and he would have had his just desserts. If Ukraine could find huge oil reserves they would be all in tout suite.
Part of the reason for the Russian invasion is major natural gas deposits off the coast of Ukraine.
This GOP flap about Hunter Biden. They want a closed doors inquisition. He says "I have nothing to hide, lets do this in public". They say his action is "obstruction".
Unless there is a national security angle - stop laughing - there is no reason for a closed session. So what do the GOP have to hide?
This reading of events isn't the version that I've heard, which is that Biden jnr's requests were made by his hardball lawyer precisely to obstruct and run the clock down on the investigation.
I think you're going pretty far down the rabbit hole trying to wash Hunter Biden clean, however little knowledge you choose to believe Joe Biden had of his misdeeds.
Hunter Biden may be a bad 'un and Fox News are after his nuts, and his Dad's. However you and Fox News are content to whitewash Trump's dirty protest, and what Trump has done is a million times more corrupt and illegal than Biden Jnr's misdeeds.
Any local ULEZ-style issues that could stymie this?
Yeah. Blackpool truly is a shithole.
I got done by a hobby booby at 11.45pm for being in the wrong lane to turn right.it was my first visit on business.This was
Early 90s.... Pissing with rain.on the seafront ...Not a car to be seen anywhere ...he must have been.playimg poker as my car was red. Never had a red car since. I was so angry I wrote to the Chief Constable about hobby Bobby's attitude. Never been to Blackpool since
I thought the police played car snooker. White then yellow followed by red, followed by green followed by red, followed by brown etc finishing on white after the (black) red. That's why I drive a silver car.
I'd always assumed the police car was the cue ball - back when they were mostly white, anyway - and so had assumed that white cars were also pretty safe.
Not that I ever had a white car. Green -> green -> light blue -> black -> silver -> silver -> dark blue When I bought the first green car the salesman tried to upsell me to a similar, but more expensive, model in orange, noting that green cars are unlucky. I never believed in such nonsense of course and am very open to buying further green cars even though my first two (green) cars were both insurance write-offs after being hit by other cars. No accidents since, in other colours. Statistically significant,* but I'm still wedded to the null hypothesis.
*chi-squared, taking no account of time at risk or other confounders
Oklahoma @GovStitt has signed an executive order abolishing the DEI bureaucracy in all public universities.
No, as it would require repeal of a number of equality laws.
Once you have these laws there needs to be a monitoring bureau to produce figures to demonstrate that an organisation is meeting the law.
Change the name if it offends you, but someone in HR needs to take the responsibility on.
Ours is very good at organising public health campaigns to engage underserved communities, which often have particular health needs.
Eventually, they will be repealed. It will start in America; as ever, we shall lag 5 years behind
Leon launches campaign for bigotry and discrimination.
BRACE
The sad thing is that, like H&S, real equality work is incredibly valuable.
The people who use it as performative dance to build an empire of bullshit, should be blindfolded, and left in a building full of open elevator shafts, exposed wiring and angry leopards.
Without HiViz
As Foxy says, any competent HR dept and overall management have to monitor things to check they're not breaching the laws. The logical implication is that anyone demanding the abolition of equality work is necessarily demanding the abolition of the discrimination legislation. Whether they realise it or not is another question. .
It works the other way round as well. Discrimination legislation leads inexorably to an ever-expanding bureaucracy to ensure the correct level of diversity is maintained. It's not the case that this is a temporary measure until society has progressed to the point that it is no longer needed.
That's a libertarian argument for closing down the police force, though.
Yes why have any laws, they're too expensive to enforce.
You don't believe that an inclusive society can be self-sustaining?
Most people are nice and inclusive just like most people aren't murderers or rapists. Laws exist to protect people from other people's bad behaviour, even if such behaviour isn't widespread. Don't you think people deserve to be protected from discrimination?
Fielding William's sly slanty "questions". It's a test of discipline, intellect, and mettle. You can't take the 5th but you don't want to say more than is needed.
Labour loses key councillor in London in defection to the Greens over failures
"She said her confidence faded further when she lobbied her local chapter to speak out against the conflict in Sudan and said no one replied to her request. The “final straw”, cllr Adam said, came two months ago when she was asked to sign what she said was a statement calling on councillors to highlight the October 7 attack on Israelis by Hamas when asked about the conflict in Gaza. She also expressed concern about the party not calling for a ceasefire."
This GOP flap about Hunter Biden. They want a closed doors inquisition. He says "I have nothing to hide, lets do this in public". They say his action is "obstruction".
Unless there is a national security angle - stop laughing - there is no reason for a closed session. So what do the GOP have to hide?
This reading of events isn't the version that I've heard, which is that Biden jnr's requests were made by his hardball lawyer precisely to obstruct and run the clock down on the investigation.
I think you're going pretty far down the rabbit hole trying to wash Hunter Biden clean, however little knowledge you choose to believe Joe Biden had of his misdeeds.
What investigation - his personal tax affairs, or the bogus 'impeachment enquiry' ?
If it's the former, then they have no business investigating him. That's the business of the criminal investigation.
If you mean the latter, what evidence do the Republicans have ?
This GOP flap about Hunter Biden. They want a closed doors inquisition. He says "I have nothing to hide, lets do this in public". They say his action is "obstruction".
Unless there is a national security angle - stop laughing - there is no reason for a closed session. So what do the GOP have to hide?
This reading of events isn't the version that I've heard, which is that Biden jnr's requests were made by his hardball lawyer precisely to obstruct and run the clock down on the investigation.
I think you're going pretty far down the rabbit hole trying to wash Hunter Biden clean, however little knowledge you choose to believe Joe Biden had of his misdeeds.
Hunter Biden may be a bad 'un and Fox News are after his nuts, and his Dad's. However you and Fox News are content to whitewash Trump's dirty protest, and what Trump has done is a million times more corrupt and illegal than Biden Jnr's misdeeds.
The case against Joe Biden re Hunter is incredibly serious and is missing only one thing - some evidence.
Oklahoma @GovStitt has signed an executive order abolishing the DEI bureaucracy in all public universities.
No, as it would require repeal of a number of equality laws.
Once you have these laws there needs to be a monitoring bureau to produce figures to demonstrate that an organisation is meeting the law.
Change the name if it offends you, but someone in HR needs to take the responsibility on.
Ours is very good at organising public health campaigns to engage underserved communities, which often have particular health needs.
Eventually, they will be repealed. It will start in America; as ever, we shall lag 5 years behind
Leon launches campaign for bigotry and discrimination.
BRACE
The sad thing is that, like H&S, real equality work is incredibly valuable.
The people who use it as performative dance to build an empire of bullshit, should be blindfolded, and left in a building full of open elevator shafts, exposed wiring and angry leopards.
Without HiViz
As Foxy says, any competent HR dept and overall management have to monitor things to check they're not breaching the laws. The logical implication is that anyone demanding the abolition of equality work is necessarily demanding the abolition of the discrimination legislation. Whether they realise it or not is another question. .
It works the other way round as well. Discrimination legislation leads inexorably to an ever-expanding bureaucracy to ensure the correct level of diversity is maintained. It's not the case that this is a temporary measure until society has progressed to the point that it is no longer needed.
That's a libertarian argument for closing down the police force, though.
Yes why have any laws, they're too expensive to enforce.
You don't believe that an inclusive society can be self-sustaining?
Most people are nice and inclusive just like most people aren't murderers or rapists. Laws exist to protect people from other people's bad behaviour, even if such behaviour isn't widespread. Don't you think people deserve to be protected from discrimination?
If eliminating discrimination is the objective then you can't elevate "diversity, equity, and inclusion" because there is an inherent conflcit between choosing purely on merit and achieving a defined level of representation.
Yes, it's not rocket science, just hire the best well educated, middle class white man for the job.
Just had to go to the post office to collect a card.
The card had a counterfeit stamp on it because the person who sent it bought them from Amazon
Hefty claim against Amazon to be made?
Cost of postage recovery fee
Cost of fake stamps
Cost of time to re-tender procurement for replacement stamps
Responsible desposal costs for rest of fake stamps
Replacement cards for all items sent using counterfeit stamps (as some recipients may not collect)
Damage to relationship with recipients due to undelivered/late cards
Time dealing with Royal Mail and pursuing the claim against Amazon
Damage to your and sender's reputation for being associated with counterfeit goods
Legal fees related to all the above
Get to four figures at least pretty quickly, I should think?
Needs an inquiry. Six Four figures will be a rounding error then.
Actually, my estimate was far too small anyway. 'Desposal' is much more expensive than disposal, requiring as it does the disposal to be carried out by a fully qualified despot.
Worth noting that the stamps may not actually be fake at all as well as the post office seems to be having some issues and declaring stamps as fake when evidence suggests its their fake detection at fault
This GOP flap about Hunter Biden. They want a closed doors inquisition. He says "I have nothing to hide, lets do this in public". They say his action is "obstruction".
Unless there is a national security angle - stop laughing - there is no reason for a closed session. So what do the GOP have to hide?
This reading of events isn't the version that I've heard, which is that Biden jnr's requests were made by his hardball lawyer precisely to obstruct and run the clock down on the investigation.
I think you're going pretty far down the rabbit hole trying to wash Hunter Biden clean, however little knowledge you choose to believe Joe Biden had of his misdeeds.
Hunter Biden may be a bad 'un and Fox News are after his nuts, and his Dad's. However you and Fox News are content to whitewash Trump's dirty protest, and what Trump has done is a million times more corrupt and illegal than Biden Jnr's misdeeds.
The case against Joe Biden re Hunter is incredibly serious and is missing only one thing - some evidence.
Well there are the lies put about by the lead of the Congressional investigation, Rep. James Comer. But you'd need to be an idiot to take them seriously.
Oklahoma @GovStitt has signed an executive order abolishing the DEI bureaucracy in all public universities.
No, as it would require repeal of a number of equality laws.
Once you have these laws there needs to be a monitoring bureau to produce figures to demonstrate that an organisation is meeting the law.
Change the name if it offends you, but someone in HR needs to take the responsibility on.
Ours is very good at organising public health campaigns to engage underserved communities, which often have particular health needs.
Eventually, they will be repealed. It will start in America; as ever, we shall lag 5 years behind
Leon launches campaign for bigotry and discrimination.
BRACE
The sad thing is that, like H&S, real equality work is incredibly valuable.
The people who use it as performative dance to build an empire of bullshit, should be blindfolded, and left in a building full of open elevator shafts, exposed wiring and angry leopards.
Without HiViz
As Foxy says, any competent HR dept and overall management have to monitor things to check they're not breaching the laws. The logical implication is that anyone demanding the abolition of equality work is necessarily demanding the abolition of the discrimination legislation. Whether they realise it or not is another question. .
It works the other way round as well. Discrimination legislation leads inexorably to an ever-expanding bureaucracy to ensure the correct level of diversity is maintained. It's not the case that this is a temporary measure until society has progressed to the point that it is no longer needed.
That's a libertarian argument for closing down the police force, though.
Yes why have any laws, they're too expensive to enforce.
You don't believe that an inclusive society can be self-sustaining?
Most people are nice and inclusive just like most people aren't murderers or rapists. Laws exist to protect people from other people's bad behaviour, even if such behaviour isn't widespread. Don't you think people deserve to be protected from discrimination?
If eliminating discrimination is the objective then you can't elevate "diversity, equity, and inclusion" because there is an inherent conflcit between choosing purely on merit and achieving a defined level of representation.
Yes, it's not rocket science, just hire the best well educated, middle class white man for the job.
Be interesting to see some Haley v Biden state polling.
I still believe she will end up being the official Republican candidate. I expect she beats Biden, unless Trump runs as a "MAGA" candidate. But I strongly suspect he won't be on the ballot in '24. He's just too damned dangerous to democracy to be allowed another shot.
If Trump died, I expect Haley would be the candidate and the Republicans to take the White House, Senate and House of Reps. While Trump is alive, who knows?!
Oklahoma @GovStitt has signed an executive order abolishing the DEI bureaucracy in all public universities.
No, as it would require repeal of a number of equality laws.
Once you have these laws there needs to be a monitoring bureau to produce figures to demonstrate that an organisation is meeting the law.
Change the name if it offends you, but someone in HR needs to take the responsibility on.
Ours is very good at organising public health campaigns to engage underserved communities, which often have particular health needs.
Eventually, they will be repealed. It will start in America; as ever, we shall lag 5 years behind
Leon launches campaign for bigotry and discrimination.
BRACE
The sad thing is that, like H&S, real equality work is incredibly valuable.
The people who use it as performative dance to build an empire of bullshit, should be blindfolded, and left in a building full of open elevator shafts, exposed wiring and angry leopards.
Without HiViz
As Foxy says, any competent HR dept and overall management have to monitor things to check they're not breaching the laws. The logical implication is that anyone demanding the abolition of equality work is necessarily demanding the abolition of the discrimination legislation. Whether they realise it or not is another question. .
It works the other way round as well. Discrimination legislation leads inexorably to an ever-expanding bureaucracy to ensure the correct level of diversity is maintained. It's not the case that this is a temporary measure until society has progressed to the point that it is no longer needed.
That's a libertarian argument for closing down the police force, though.
Yes why have any laws, they're too expensive to enforce.
You don't believe that an inclusive society can be self-sustaining?
Most people are nice and inclusive just like most people aren't murderers or rapists. Laws exist to protect people from other people's bad behaviour, even if such behaviour isn't widespread. Don't you think people deserve to be protected from discrimination?
If eliminating discrimination is the objective then you can't elevate "diversity, equity, and inclusion" because there is an inherent conflcit between choosing purely on merit and achieving a defined level of representation.
Yes, it's not rocket science, just hire the best well educated, middle class white man for the job.
There’s a special noise when your mind hits the glass ceiling of your maximum IQ, a sort of dull crunch perceptible only to those with the right sensory equipment
Last time I stayed in a hotel in Blackpool, there were there most extreme sex noises from the adjacent room.
Didn't complain in case I had to pay for the show...
Some years ago I went to an LGA conference in Harrogate; because of the council numbers at the time there were three Worthing representative, me from the minority group (LibDem) and two from the ruling group (Con). I took the train and they drove up together. We were booked into the same hotel, but arrived at different times, and so checked in separately. Late that evening I was in my room when I discovered that a) the walls were paper thin, b) one of the Tory councillors had the room next door, and c) he'd brought a woman back with him. They proceeded to have fairly energetic sex, although not of a particularly long duration. Now this could have been problematic enough as I knew his girlfriend at home (who he was having problems with fairly publicly), but he then quite audibly proceeded to settle up with her, and argue about the price quoted and services rendered. I always wondered if he ever thought to question why I grinned so visibly when we met the next morning.
Well it's rather reassuring to hear for once from the Secretary of State for Business and Trade. She's been so quiet of late I was beginning to wonder whether she was still amongst us. And of course there has been every reason to hear from her. She is the Minister currently in charge of the Post Office, so you might imagine that she would have something to say about the parade of liars, rogues, charlatans and crooks appearing on behalf of the PO at the Inquiry into the biggest public scandal of my lifetime.
Instead, silence.
I do not believe this is judicious restraint whilst the Inquiry gets on with its work. It is tacit support for the PO's policy of obstructing and delaying that work. Her Government owns the PO. It could tell its Board to stop acting the goat and start cooperating. You can draw your own conclusions from its failure to do so.
Is Kemi complicit, or is she merely lazy, incompetent, and indifferent?
TBF she is very busy with more pressing matters. Becoming Tory Party leader requires a decent amount of graft - or do I mean grift?
She is also, I believe, self-appointed Minister for Transgenger Issues.
How does she find the time?
That is unfair of you. She is Minister for Women and Equality Issues so her appearance yesterday before the Select Committee was entirely appropriate. It was also good that she was better informed on the issues than many on the Committee, some of whom had not apparently read the Cass Report. Commenting on trans issues or women's rights without reading the relevant reports or legal judgments, which quite a lot of commentators do, is unacceptable - particularly in politicians purporting to opine on these matters.
I do not criticise her for that. Women's rights have been far too neglected frankly and it is good that someone is thinking about such issues. It is worth noting that there have been a lot of legal cases relating to women's rights and trans issues and the clash between the two and it is about time that this was taken seriously by government because womens' concerns have been ignored for far too long and too many women raising issues have faced abuse and attacks.
No the far better criticism of Badenoch is that this is the only thing she appears to care about. She has utterly failed to take any sort of serious action with regard to the Post Office.
I will repost my answer from the previous thread on this.
It does not matter. Her silence and failure to act are in effect complicity in the Post Office's behaviour which is deliberately and intentionally undermining the Inquiry, the chances of any effective compensation, the overturning of unjust convictions and effective criminal, regulatory or disciplinary action against all those responsible.
This is now a governmental scandal - not merely an IT or legal one.
I have no confidence Labour will put it right. And I now feel that the state is a malign actor when it comes to putting - or, rather, failing to put - the interests of those it is meant to serve ahead of its own.
I do not disagree with you. Sadly though I would say that fundamentally it has ever been thus. At least for all of my adult life.
I did find myself wondering this morning if the lack of proper action by the Government to root out those in the upper echelons of the PO is due to a fear (or perhaps knowledge) that the rot extends far into Government and that cutting loose the PO executives wouk expose those inside Government.
Someone else looking after her kids all day, and she’s moaning that she can’t get out on the piss after work because of them. Bet they’ll love seeing this when they’re older
As I walk past everyone going to Christmas parties and drinks on my way to get the kids from nursery, yet again acutely aware the motherhood penalty is just a gift that keeps giving….
Not just flexible working we need but flexible networking too….
Labour loses key councillor in London in defection to the Greens over failures
"She said her confidence faded further when she lobbied her local chapter to speak out against the conflict in Sudan and said no one replied to her request. The “final straw”, cllr Adam said, came two months ago when she was asked to sign what she said was a statement calling on councillors to highlight the October 7 attack on Israelis by Hamas when asked about the conflict in Gaza. She also expressed concern about the party not calling for a ceasefire."
So they have lost two councillors called Mona (Adam and Ahmed) in short succession in a single council. Perhaps next time they should select those who are more agreeable.
Well it's rather reassuring to hear for once from the Secretary of State for Business and Trade. She's been so quiet of late I was beginning to wonder whether she was still amongst us. And of course there has been every reason to hear from her. She is the Minister currently in charge of the Post Office, so you might imagine that she would have something to say about the parade of liars, rogues, charlatans and crooks appearing on behalf of the PO at the Inquiry into the biggest public scandal of my lifetime.
Instead, silence.
I do not believe this is judicious restraint whilst the Inquiry gets on with its work. It is tacit support for the PO's policy of obstructing and delaying that work. Her Government owns the PO. It could tell its Board to stop acting the goat and start cooperating. You can draw your own conclusions from its failure to do so.
Is Kemi complicit, or is she merely lazy, incompetent, and indifferent?
TBF she is very busy with more pressing matters. Becoming Tory Party leader requires a decent amount of graft - or do I mean grift?
She is also, I believe, self-appointed Minister for Transgenger Issues.
How does she find the time?
That is unfair of you. She is Minister for Women and Equality Issues so her appearance yesterday before the Select Committee was entirely appropriate. It was also good that she was better informed on the issues than many on the Committee, some of whom had not apparently read the Cass Report. Commenting on trans issues or women's rights without reading the relevant reports or legal judgments, which quite a lot of commentators do, is unacceptable - particularly in politicians purporting to opine on these matters.
I do not criticise her for that. Women's rights have been far too neglected frankly and it is good that someone is thinking about such issues. It is worth noting that there have been a lot of legal cases relating to women's rights and trans issues and the clash between the two and it is about time that this was taken seriously by government because womens' concerns have been ignored for far too long and too many women raising issues have faced abuse and attacks.
No the far better criticism of Badenoch is that this is the only thing she appears to care about. She has utterly failed to take any sort of serious action with regard to the Post Office.
I will repost my answer from the previous thread on this.
It does not matter. Her silence and failure to act are in effect complicity in the Post Office's behaviour which is deliberately and intentionally undermining the Inquiry, the chances of any effective compensation, the overturning of unjust convictions and effective criminal, regulatory or disciplinary action against all those responsible.
This is now a governmental scandal - not merely an IT or legal one.
I have no confidence Labour will put it right. And I now feel that the state is a malign actor when it comes to putting - or, rather, failing to put - the interests of those it is meant to serve ahead of its own.
I do not disagree with you. Sadly though I would say that fundamentally it has ever been thus. At least for all of my adult life.
I did find myself wondering this morning if the lack of proper action by the Government to root out those in the upper echelons of the PO is due to a fear (or perhaps knowledge) that the rot extends far into Government and that cutting loose the PO executives wouk expose those inside Government.
I'm sceptical that this government has the sense of cohesion and unity for that.
Labour loses key councillor in London in defection to the Greens over failures
"She said her confidence faded further when she lobbied her local chapter to speak out against the conflict in Sudan and said no one replied to her request. The “final straw”, cllr Adam said, came two months ago when she was asked to sign what she said was a statement calling on councillors to highlight the October 7 attack on Israelis by Hamas when asked about the conflict in Gaza. She also expressed concern about the party not calling for a ceasefire."
So they have lost two councillors called Mona (Adam and Ahmed) in short succession in a single council. Perhaps next time they should select those who are more agreeable.
Expected. What was a matter of uncertainty was whether the hawks would still be voting for a rate rise - and three of the nine members did just that.
Join date Member Avg deviation from decision Rating Vote this time "First vote: 19 Mar 20" Andrew Bailey 0.00% NEUTRAL HOLD "First vote: 2 Nov 23" Sarah Breeden 0.00% NEUTRAL HOLD "First vote: 9 Jun 11" Ben Broadbent 0.00% NEUTRAL HOLD "First vote: 22 Sep 22" Swati Dhingra -0.25% DOVE HOLD "First vote: 3 Aug 23" Megan Greene 0.19% STRONG HAWK RAISE "First vote: 13 Sep 18" Jonathan Haskel 0.03% V SLIGHT HAWK RAISE "First vote: 23 Sep 21" Catherine L Mann 0.12% HAWK RAISE "First vote: 23 Sep 21" Huw Pill 0.00% NEUTRAL HOLD "First vote: 14 Sep 17" Dave Ramsden 0.01% NEUTRAL HOLD
This GOP flap about Hunter Biden. They want a closed doors inquisition. He says "I have nothing to hide, lets do this in public". They say his action is "obstruction".
Unless there is a national security angle - stop laughing - there is no reason for a closed session. So what do the GOP have to hide?
This reading of events isn't the version that I've heard, which is that Biden jnr's requests were made by his hardball lawyer precisely to obstruct and run the clock down on the investigation.
I think you're going pretty far down the rabbit hole trying to wash Hunter Biden clean, however little knowledge you choose to believe Joe Biden had of his misdeeds.
Hunter Biden may be a bad 'un and Fox News are after his nuts, and his Dad's. However you and Fox News are content to whitewash Trump's dirty protest, and what Trump has done is a million times more corrupt and illegal than Biden Jnr's misdeeds.
I don't think I've spoken extensively about Trump's legal travails - I certainly haven't tried to whitewash him.
Oklahoma @GovStitt has signed an executive order abolishing the DEI bureaucracy in all public universities.
No, as it would require repeal of a number of equality laws.
Once you have these laws there needs to be a monitoring bureau to produce figures to demonstrate that an organisation is meeting the law.
Change the name if it offends you, but someone in HR needs to take the responsibility on.
Ours is very good at organising public health campaigns to engage underserved communities, which often have particular health needs.
Eventually, they will be repealed. It will start in America; as ever, we shall lag 5 years behind
Leon launches campaign for bigotry and discrimination.
BRACE
The sad thing is that, like H&S, real equality work is incredibly valuable.
The people who use it as performative dance to build an empire of bullshit, should be blindfolded, and left in a building full of open elevator shafts, exposed wiring and angry leopards.
Without HiViz
As Foxy says, any competent HR dept and overall management have to monitor things to check they're not breaching the laws. The logical implication is that anyone demanding the abolition of equality work is necessarily demanding the abolition of the discrimination legislation. Whether they realise it or not is another question. .
It works the other way round as well. Discrimination legislation leads inexorably to an ever-expanding bureaucracy to ensure the correct level of diversity is maintained. It's not the case that this is a temporary measure until society has progressed to the point that it is no longer needed.
That's a libertarian argument for closing down the police force, though.
Yes why have any laws, they're too expensive to enforce.
You don't believe that an inclusive society can be self-sustaining?
Most people are nice and inclusive just like most people aren't murderers or rapists. Laws exist to protect people from other people's bad behaviour, even if such behaviour isn't widespread. Don't you think people deserve to be protected from discrimination?
If eliminating discrimination is the objective then you can't elevate "diversity, equity, and inclusion" because there is an inherent conflcit between choosing purely on merit and achieving a defined level of representation.
Yes, it's not rocket science, just hire the best well educated, middle class white man for the job.
Well it's rather reassuring to hear for once from the Secretary of State for Business and Trade. She's been so quiet of late I was beginning to wonder whether she was still amongst us. And of course there has been every reason to hear from her. She is the Minister currently in charge of the Post Office, so you might imagine that she would have something to say about the parade of liars, rogues, charlatans and crooks appearing on behalf of the PO at the Inquiry into the biggest public scandal of my lifetime.
Instead, silence.
I do not believe this is judicious restraint whilst the Inquiry gets on with its work. It is tacit support for the PO's policy of obstructing and delaying that work. Her Government owns the PO. It could tell its Board to stop acting the goat and start cooperating. You can draw your own conclusions from its failure to do so.
Is Kemi complicit, or is she merely lazy, incompetent, and indifferent?
TBF she is very busy with more pressing matters. Becoming Tory Party leader requires a decent amount of graft - or do I mean grift?
She is also, I believe, self-appointed Minister for Transgenger Issues.
How does she find the time?
That is unfair of you. She is Minister for Women and Equality Issues so her appearance yesterday before the Select Committee was entirely appropriate. It was also good that she was better informed on the issues than many on the Committee, some of whom had not apparently read the Cass Report. Commenting on trans issues or women's rights without reading the relevant reports or legal judgments, which quite a lot of commentators do, is unacceptable - particularly in politicians purporting to opine on these matters.
I do not criticise her for that. Women's rights have been far too neglected frankly and it is good that someone is thinking about such issues. It is worth noting that there have been a lot of legal cases relating to women's rights and trans issues and the clash between the two and it is about time that this was taken seriously by government because womens' concerns have been ignored for far too long and too many women raising issues have faced abuse and attacks.
No the far better criticism of Badenoch is that this is the only thing she appears to care about. She has utterly failed to take any sort of serious action with regard to the Post Office.
I will repost my answer from the previous thread on this.
It does not matter. Her silence and failure to act are in effect complicity in the Post Office's behaviour which is deliberately and intentionally undermining the Inquiry, the chances of any effective compensation, the overturning of unjust convictions and effective criminal, regulatory or disciplinary action against all those responsible.
This is now a governmental scandal - not merely an IT or legal one.
I have no confidence Labour will put it right. And I now feel that the state is a malign actor when it comes to putting - or, rather, failing to put - the interests of those it is meant to serve ahead of its own.
I do not disagree with you. Sadly though I would say that fundamentally it has ever been thus. At least for all of my adult life.
I did find myself wondering this morning if the lack of proper action by the Government to root out those in the upper echelons of the PO is due to a fear (or perhaps knowledge) that the rot extends far into Government and that cutting loose the PO executives wouk expose those inside Government.
I'm sceptical that this government has the sense of cohesion and unity for that.
Although it civil servants could.
I see I am in the dock, and can only plead guilty as charged. I didn't appreciate she was Minister for Women and Equality Issues, in which case her intervention was of course appropriate, whether one agrees with her or not. Ignorance is no defence,of course, (unless you worked for the Post Office, in which case it will do fine), so I await my punishment. Do we still send offenders to ConHome, or was that deemed a cruel and unusual punishment?
As regards the eventual outcome of the PO scandal, I share your pessimism. There will almost certainly be a new Government in place when Sir Wyn Nice-Oldthing signs off his report, but I cannot see it will be any more willing to grasp the very thorny nettle than the current one has proved.
I fully expect continued procrastination,with Government assistance, in the hope that the scandal dies the death, as a number of its victims have already.
Labour loses key councillor in London in defection to the Greens over failures
"She said her confidence faded further when she lobbied her local chapter to speak out against the conflict in Sudan and said no one replied to her request. The “final straw”, cllr Adam said, came two months ago when she was asked to sign what she said was a statement calling on councillors to highlight the October 7 attack on Israelis by Hamas when asked about the conflict in Gaza. She also expressed concern about the party not calling for a ceasefire."
So they have lost two councillors called Mona (Adam and Ahmed) in short succession in a single council. Perhaps next time they should select those who are more agreeable.
Ah but are they Re-Monas?
Starmer breaks the news to Nandy: "It's Mona, Lisa"
Someone else looking after her kids all day, and she’s moaning that she can’t get out on the piss after work because of them. Bet they’ll love seeing this when they’re older
As I walk past everyone going to Christmas parties and drinks on my way to get the kids from nursery, yet again acutely aware the motherhood penalty is just a gift that keeps giving….
Not just flexible working we need but flexible networking too….
Someone else looking after her kids all day, and she’s moaning that she can’t get out on the piss after work because of them. Bet they’ll love seeing this when they’re older
As I walk past everyone going to Christmas parties and drinks on my way to get the kids from nursery, yet again acutely aware the motherhood penalty is just a gift that keeps giving….
Not just flexible working we need but flexible networking too….
This GOP flap about Hunter Biden. They want a closed doors inquisition. He says "I have nothing to hide, lets do this in public". They say his action is "obstruction".
Unless there is a national security angle - stop laughing - there is no reason for a closed session. So what do the GOP have to hide?
This reading of events isn't the version that I've heard, which is that Biden jnr's requests were made by his hardball lawyer precisely to obstruct and run the clock down on the investigation.
I think you're going pretty far down the rabbit hole trying to wash Hunter Biden clean, however little knowledge you choose to believe Joe Biden had of his misdeeds.
Hunter Biden may be a bad 'un and Fox News are after his nuts, and his Dad's. However you and Fox News are content to whitewash Trump's dirty protest, and what Trump has done is a million times more corrupt and illegal than Biden Jnr's misdeeds.
I don't think I've spoken extensively about Trump's legal travails - I certainly haven't tried to whitewash him.
Who has tried to whitewash Hunter Biden ?
You appear unable to distinguish between his personal legal affairs, and whatever it is that lies behind the House investigation.
Just had to go to the post office to collect a card.
The card had a counterfeit stamp on it because the person who sent it bought them from Amazon
Hefty claim against Amazon to be made?
Cost of postage recovery fee
Cost of fake stamps
Cost of time to re-tender procurement for replacement stamps
Responsible desposal costs for rest of fake stamps
Replacement cards for all items sent using counterfeit stamps (as some recipients may not collect)
Damage to relationship with recipients due to undelivered/late cards
Time dealing with Royal Mail and pursuing the claim against Amazon
Damage to your and sender's reputation for being associated with counterfeit goods
Legal fees related to all the above
Get to four figures at least pretty quickly, I should think?
Needs an inquiry. Six Four figures will be a rounding error then.
Actually, my estimate was far too small anyway. 'Desposal' is much more expensive than disposal, requiring as it does the disposal to be carried out by a fully qualified despot.
Worth noting that the stamps may not actually be fake at all as well as the post office seems to be having some issues and declaring stamps as fake when evidence suggests its their fake detection at fault
I am very surprised to hear that the PO might think a crime had taken place when in fact it hadn’t.
It's the Royal Mail this time, not the PO, but in view of the stresss the latter put on the 'robust' nature of their crap Horizon system, the RM really ought to have used a different term.
Comments
https://members.parliament.uk/constituency/3338/election/397
It will return, but those remaining one nation Tory MPs who voted for the Rwanda debacle need to grow a pair and push their agenda forward and fight against Farage's vile narrative. A narrative that is defining this Conservative government.
In his interview with the Standards Commissioner, Scott Benton said he couldn’t think clearly as the sting took place in a noisy and distracting environment
On the tape, he commented on how quiet it was
https://twitter.com/johnestevens/status/1735243727881343185
‘E could drink 12 pints of Courage and still hand stitch a lapel as straight as an arrer
https://x.com/dieworkwear/status/1735058153329598868?s=61&t=LYVEHh2mqFy1oUJAdCfe-Q
So lets have a swing from Tory to ReFUK for added shits and giggles.
I don't think there's a betting market (?) but worth noting that three of the four recall petitions so far were successful, with the sole exception of Ian Paisley (jnr) in N Antrim in 2018, and even that reached 9.4%. There were also several cases that would have triggered a petition had the MP not resigned first or a general election intervened in which the MP didn't recontest.
1. No conviction is likely until the primaries are well underway and many delegates are already in the bag.
2. Trump would reject the conviction, appeal and carry on his campaign.
3. These are the Republican primaries, and while a conviction would reduce his support, it wouldn't necessarily knock him off top spot in that race, even it it would critically hobble him for November.
Sunak denies he is ‘tetchy’ under pressure amid Tory in-fighting over immigration
PM dismisses dissent among his MPs to his Rwanda bill as ‘debating society’ behaviour
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/dec/14/im-not-tetchy-says-rishi-sunak-tory-in-fighting-rwanda-bill-immigration
However, it's also possible that the PO itself was mistaken in identifying the stamps as dodgy. If I were in that situation I'd have a word with the sender to get them to check a sample of other recipients of mail using stamps *from the same book/sheet*.
Early 90s.... Pissing with rain.on the seafront ...Not a car to be seen anywhere ...he must have been.playimg poker as my car was red. Never had a red car since.
I was so angry I wrote to the Chief Constable about hobby Bobby's attitude.
Never been to Blackpool since
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2023/nov/11/royal-mail-stamp-swap-customers-were-sent-warnings
And the only time I've stayed in a hotel where the bed folded down out of the wardbrobe.
At his peak Leon was posting 50+ images a day.
Didn't complain in case I had to pay for the show...
Not putting any restrictions on Woke, Aliens, Holiday snaps, Lab leaks then?
Helpfully they put a picture of Bill Clinton in the suite.
I still believe she will end up being the official Republican candidate. I expect she beats Biden, unless Trump runs as a "MAGA" candidate. But I strongly suspect he won't be on the ballot in '24. He's just too damned dangerous to democracy to be allowed another shot.
Simply being 'dangerous to democracy' is no bar to becoming a candidate unless Republican primary voters agree with you - and at the moment, he's polling about five times the level of the next-best candidate.
Sure, everyone keeps receipts for a book of stamps, don't they? 🤦♂️
https://yougov.co.uk/politics/articles/48175-voting-intention-con-22-lab-44-12-13-dec-2023
The latest YouGov/Times voting intention poll shows the Conservatives on 22% of the vote (no change from our previous survey on 6-7 December) to Labour's 44% (-1).
Elsewhere, the Liberal Democrats have 10% of the vote (no change), while Reform UK have 11% of the vote (no change) and the Greens have 7% (also no change).
(The people in the room below us complained about the sound-proofing next morning ;-) )
"She said her confidence faded further when she lobbied her local chapter to speak out against the conflict in Sudan and said no one replied to her request. The “final straw”, cllr Adam said, came two months ago when she was asked to sign what she said was a statement calling on councillors to highlight the October 7 attack on Israelis by Hamas when asked about the conflict in Gaza. She also expressed concern about the party not calling for a ceasefire."
https://www.mylondon.news/news/west-london-news/west-london-councillor-quits-labour-28273594
SKS please explain ?
Oliver North used this one quite a lot - essentially he talked about all the things he’d done, under oath, and claimed not to remember about *other* people doing stuff.
The result was it became nearly impossible to prosecute him for anything.
I do not criticise her for that. Women's rights have been far too neglected frankly and it is good that someone is thinking about such issues. It is worth noting that there have been a lot of legal cases relating to women's rights and trans issues and the clash between the two and it is about time that this was taken seriously by government because womens' concerns have been ignored for far too long and too many women raising issues have faced abuse and attacks.
No the far better criticism of Badenoch is that this is the only thing she appears to care about. She has utterly failed to take any sort of serious action with regard to the Post Office.
I will repost my answer from the previous thread on this.
It does not matter. Her silence and failure to act are in effect complicity in the Post Office's behaviour which is deliberately and intentionally undermining the Inquiry, the chances of any effective compensation, the overturning of unjust convictions and effective criminal, regulatory or disciplinary action against all those responsible.
This is now a governmental scandal - not merely an IT or legal one.
I have no confidence Labour will put it right. And I now feel that the state is a malign actor when it comes to putting - or, rather, failing to put - the interests of those it is meant to serve ahead of its own.
Hello, Malky. Sun and blue sky here!
Wankers
This phenomenon has been well documented since the 19th cent. The loss of HMS Captain is a classic of this genre. Laird (who built the ship - yes, one of those Lairds) was protected to the point he was nearly appointed Director of Construction for the Royal Navy!
I think you're going pretty far down the rabbit hole trying to wash Hunter Biden clean, however little knowledge you choose to believe Joe Biden had of his misdeeds.
https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/ozempic-has-cured-my-alcoholism/
Not that I ever had a white car. Green -> green -> light blue -> black -> silver -> silver -> dark blue
When I bought the first green car the salesman tried to upsell me to a similar, but more expensive, model in orange, noting that green cars are unlucky. I never believed in such nonsense of course and am very open to buying further green cars even though my first two (green) cars were both insurance write-offs after being hit by other cars. No accidents since, in other colours. Statistically significant,* but I'm still wedded to the null hypothesis.
*chi-squared, taking no account of time at risk or other confounders
If it's the former, then they have no business investigating him. That's the business of the criminal investigation.
If you mean the latter, what evidence do the Republicans have ?
What was a matter of uncertainty was whether the hawks would still be voting for a rate rise - and three of the nine members did just that.
Late that evening I was in my room when I discovered that a) the walls were paper thin, b) one of the Tory councillors had the room next door, and c) he'd brought a woman back with him.
They proceeded to have fairly energetic sex, although not of a particularly long duration.
Now this could have been problematic enough as I knew his girlfriend at home (who he was having problems with fairly publicly), but he then quite audibly proceeded to settle up with her, and argue about the price quoted and services rendered. I always wondered if he ever thought to question why I grinned so visibly when we met the next morning.
I did find myself wondering this morning if the lack of proper action by the Government to root out those in the upper echelons of the PO is due to a fear (or perhaps knowledge) that the rot extends far into Government and that cutting loose the PO executives wouk expose those inside Government.
Someone else looking after her kids all day, and she’s moaning that she can’t get out on the piss after work because of them. Bet they’ll love seeing this when they’re older
As I walk past everyone going to Christmas parties and drinks on my way to get the kids from nursery, yet again acutely aware the motherhood penalty is just a gift that keeps giving….
Not just flexible working we need but flexible networking too….
https://x.com/stellacreasy/status/1735003828775268603?s=46&t=CW4pL-mMpTqsJXCdjW0Z6Q
Although it civil servants could.
"First vote:
19 Mar 20" Andrew Bailey 0.00% NEUTRAL HOLD
"First vote:
2 Nov 23" Sarah Breeden 0.00% NEUTRAL HOLD
"First vote:
9 Jun 11" Ben Broadbent 0.00% NEUTRAL HOLD
"First vote:
22 Sep 22" Swati Dhingra -0.25% DOVE HOLD
"First vote:
3 Aug 23" Megan Greene 0.19% STRONG HAWK RAISE
"First vote:
13 Sep 18" Jonathan Haskel 0.03% V SLIGHT HAWK RAISE
"First vote:
23 Sep 21" Catherine L Mann 0.12% HAWK RAISE
"First vote:
23 Sep 21" Huw Pill 0.00% NEUTRAL HOLD
"First vote:
14 Sep 17" Dave Ramsden 0.01% NEUTRAL HOLD
Avg committee member 0.01% NEUTRAL HOLD
As regards the eventual outcome of the PO scandal, I share your pessimism. There will almost certainly be a new Government in place when Sir Wyn Nice-Oldthing signs off his report, but I cannot see it will be any more willing to grasp the very thorny nettle than the current one has proved.
I fully expect continued procrastination,with Government assistance, in the hope that the scandal dies the death, as a number of its victims have already.
https://amp.theguardian.com/politics/2022/jun/30/mps-should-not-bring-babies-into-commons-says-cross-party-review
You appear unable to distinguish between his personal legal affairs, and whatever it is that lies behind the House investigation.