Gordon Brown asked by Sky on whether he will do a Cameron-style comeback: “I’m too old to be a British politician and too young to be an American politician.”
Gordon Brown asked by Sky on whether he will do a Cameron-style comeback: “I’m too old to be a British politician and too young to be an American politician.”
Thoughts and prayers for Michelle Mone and Douglas Barrowman.
Neidle is quickly establishing himself as a fully fledged scourge of [alleged] tax dodgers. His work on Post Office recently has also been excellent. Enough material for the first book by now I think.
Gordon Brown asked by Sky on whether he will do a Cameron-style comeback: “I’m too old to be a British politician and too young to be an American politician.”
Lol. Nothing 'dour' about that from Gordon.
That's quite funny. Though in Brown's frurious deadpan I imagine you would have had to have been concentrating quite hard to realise he'd just told a joke.
Gordon Brown asked by Sky on whether he will do a Cameron-style comeback: “I’m too old to be a British politician and too young to be an American politician.”
I miss the days when we were assured Sweden didn’t want anything to do with NATO, although they need to come up with better Operation names, it’s no Able Archer or ReForGer.
Nato members will send 90,000 troops to the alliance’s largest military exercise since the Cold War.
Britain is deploying 20,000 soldiers to Operation Steadfast Defender 2024, which starts next week and will continue until the end of May.
Gen Christopher Cavoli, Nato’s most senior commander, said the exercises would demonstrate the alliance’s ability to quickly “reinforce” its territory in the event of an attack.
Exercises will take place in Germany, Poland and the Baltic States in what is widely expected to be a simulation of war with Russia.
Troops from all 31 Nato members and Sweden, a candidate for membership, are taking part.
Good afternoon from Gatwick. Sensational business meeting this morning, so well worth the trip. But. Roads were unpleasant for a chunk of the drive to the airport yesterday, and today can best be described as snowmageddon.
I wonder if I will actually make it home tonight? Back to Aberdeen, no problem. Beyond that, not sure...
I miss the days when we were assured Sweden didn’t want anything to do with NATO, although they need to come up with better Operation names, it’s no Able Archer or ReForGer.
Nato members will send 90,000 troops to the alliance’s largest military exercise since the Cold War.
Britain is deploying 20,000 soldiers to Operation Steadfast Defender 2024, which starts next week and will continue until the end of May.
Gen Christopher Cavoli, Nato’s most senior commander, said the exercises would demonstrate the alliance’s ability to quickly “reinforce” its territory in the event of an attack.
Exercises will take place in Germany, Poland and the Baltic States in what is widely expected to be a simulation of war with Russia.
Troops from all 31 Nato members and Sweden, a candidate for membership, are taking part.
On topic, not entirely true about the Dems and NH.
You could argue that no primaries will have an effect given that Biden is the only credible candidate. To that end, NH is no different.
However, if it were a competitive race, the fact that no delegates will be apportioned as a result of the vote would probably make precious little difference. The momentum coming out of these early states still matters greatly in framing the contest and it certainly wouldn't "have no impact on who is the Democratic nominee".
I miss the days when we were assured Sweden didn’t want anything to do with NATO, although they need to come up with better Operation names, it’s no Able Archer or ReForGer.
Nato members will send 90,000 troops to the alliance’s largest military exercise since the Cold War.
Britain is deploying 20,000 soldiers to Operation Steadfast Defender 2024, which starts next week and will continue until the end of May.
Gen Christopher Cavoli, Nato’s most senior commander, said the exercises would demonstrate the alliance’s ability to quickly “reinforce” its territory in the event of an attack.
Exercises will take place in Germany, Poland and the Baltic States in what is widely expected to be a simulation of war with Russia.
Troops from all 31 Nato members and Sweden, a candidate for membership, are taking part.
Gordon Brown asked by Sky on whether he will do a Cameron-style comeback: “I’m too old to be a British politician and too young to be an American politician.”
Lol. Nothing 'dour' about that from Gordon.
That's quite funny. Though in Brown's frurious deadpan I imagine you would have had to have been concentrating quite hard to realise he'd just told a joke.
I miss the days when we were assured Sweden didn’t want anything to do with NATO, although they need to come up with better Operation names, it’s no Able Archer or ReForGer.
Nato members will send 90,000 troops to the alliance’s largest military exercise since the Cold War.
Britain is deploying 20,000 soldiers to Operation Steadfast Defender 2024, which starts next week and will continue until the end of May.
Gen Christopher Cavoli, Nato’s most senior commander, said the exercises would demonstrate the alliance’s ability to quickly “reinforce” its territory in the event of an attack.
Exercises will take place in Germany, Poland and the Baltic States in what is widely expected to be a simulation of war with Russia.
Troops from all 31 Nato members and Sweden, a candidate for membership, are taking part.
Was there ever a good alt-hist where NATO were the aggressors? "Red Storm Rising" and "By Dawn's Early Light" both had faked NATO attacks as the initiator, but otherwise it was always the Soviets as bad guys
I miss the days when we were assured Sweden didn’t want anything to do with NATO, although they need to come up with better Operation names, it’s no Able Archer or ReForGer.
Nato members will send 90,000 troops to the alliance’s largest military exercise since the Cold War.
Britain is deploying 20,000 soldiers to Operation Steadfast Defender 2024, which starts next week and will continue until the end of May.
Gen Christopher Cavoli, Nato’s most senior commander, said the exercises would demonstrate the alliance’s ability to quickly “reinforce” its territory in the event of an attack.
Exercises will take place in Germany, Poland and the Baltic States in what is widely expected to be a simulation of war with Russia.
Troops from all 31 Nato members and Sweden, a candidate for membership, are taking part.
Looking at the detail of the YouGov poll it looks likely that if HMG could stop the small boats, then that would be the single greatest thing that would help to win back the 2019GE voters that they have lost.
But they actually have to stop the boats.
I'm not really seeing that. YouGov says that 22% of the electorate would be more likely to vote Tory if the small boats were stopped. Problem is that 41% of the Tories in the sample agreed so it's only 17% of non Tories including only 7% of Labour and 8% of Lib Dem in the sample, if we assume that Greens are also 8% and that more likely means definitely voting Tory makes the YouGov.
Labour drop from 47% to 44% Conservative up from 20% to 34% Reform drop from 10% to 1% Lib Dems drop from 8% to 7% Greens drop from 7% to 6%
On the same list there's "Reduce NHS Waiting Lists" this would get more Tory support from 27% of the public, including 19% of Labour voters. Again making the massive assumption that more likely to support means actually switching your vote, that would mean:
Labour drop from 47% to 38% Conservative up from 20% to 39% Reform drop from 10% to 3% Lib Dems drop from 8% to 7% Greens drop from 7% to 6%
And that would be hung parliament, Conservative largest party territory.
I miss the days when we were assured Sweden didn’t want anything to do with NATO, although they need to come up with better Operation names, it’s no Able Archer or ReForGer.
Nato members will send 90,000 troops to the alliance’s largest military exercise since the Cold War.
Britain is deploying 20,000 soldiers to Operation Steadfast Defender 2024, which starts next week and will continue until the end of May.
Gen Christopher Cavoli, Nato’s most senior commander, said the exercises would demonstrate the alliance’s ability to quickly “reinforce” its territory in the event of an attack.
Exercises will take place in Germany, Poland and the Baltic States in what is widely expected to be a simulation of war with Russia.
Troops from all 31 Nato members and Sweden, a candidate for membership, are taking part.
Was there ever a good alt-hist where NATO were the aggressors? "Red Storm Rising" and "By Dawn's Early Light" both had faked NATO attacks as the initiator, but otherwise it was always the Soviets as bad guys
The Soviet warplans claimed to assume a NATO surprise attack.
Invariably, though, the "Surprise NATO attack" was assumed to have conquered not an inch of Warsaw Pact Territory and destroyed nothing. And the Warsaw pact units were all assumed to be at maximum readiness. And raring to go, on the border....
I miss the days when we were assured Sweden didn’t want anything to do with NATO, although they need to come up with better Operation names, it’s no Able Archer or ReForGer.
Nato members will send 90,000 troops to the alliance’s largest military exercise since the Cold War.
Britain is deploying 20,000 soldiers to Operation Steadfast Defender 2024, which starts next week and will continue until the end of May.
Gen Christopher Cavoli, Nato’s most senior commander, said the exercises would demonstrate the alliance’s ability to quickly “reinforce” its territory in the event of an attack.
Exercises will take place in Germany, Poland and the Baltic States in what is widely expected to be a simulation of war with Russia.
Troops from all 31 Nato members and Sweden, a candidate for membership, are taking part.
Good afternoon from Gatwick. Sensational business meeting this morning, so well worth the trip. But. Roads were unpleasant for a chunk of the drive to the airport yesterday, and today can best be described as snowmageddon.
I wonder if I will actually make it home tonight? Back to Aberdeen, no problem. Beyond that, not sure...
I miss the days when we were assured Sweden didn’t want anything to do with NATO, although they need to come up with better Operation names, it’s no Able Archer or ReForGer.
Nato members will send 90,000 troops to the alliance’s largest military exercise since the Cold War.
Britain is deploying 20,000 soldiers to Operation Steadfast Defender 2024, which starts next week and will continue until the end of May.
Gen Christopher Cavoli, Nato’s most senior commander, said the exercises would demonstrate the alliance’s ability to quickly “reinforce” its territory in the event of an attack.
Exercises will take place in Germany, Poland and the Baltic States in what is widely expected to be a simulation of war with Russia.
Troops from all 31 Nato members and Sweden, a candidate for membership, are taking part.
You can tell the Americans are in charge when operations have daftly heroic names. I prefer the British names which mean absolutely nothing e.g. Operation Market Garden.
I miss the days when we were assured Sweden didn’t want anything to do with NATO, although they need to come up with better Operation names, it’s no Able Archer or ReForGer.
Nato members will send 90,000 troops to the alliance’s largest military exercise since the Cold War.
Britain is deploying 20,000 soldiers to Operation Steadfast Defender 2024, which starts next week and will continue until the end of May.
Gen Christopher Cavoli, Nato’s most senior commander, said the exercises would demonstrate the alliance’s ability to quickly “reinforce” its territory in the event of an attack.
Exercises will take place in Germany, Poland and the Baltic States in what is widely expected to be a simulation of war with Russia.
Troops from all 31 Nato members and Sweden, a candidate for membership, are taking part.
Was there ever a good alt-hist where NATO were the aggressors? "Red Storm Rising" and "By Dawn's Early Light" both had faked NATO attacks as the initiator, but otherwise it was always the Soviets as bad guys
The Soviet warplans claimed to assume a NATO surprise attack.
Invariably, though, the "Surprise NATO attack" was assumed to have conquered not an inch of Warsaw Pact Territory and destroyed nothing. And the Warsaw pact units were all assumed to be at maximum readiness. And raring to go, on the border....
Ah, nostalgia. Warsaw Pact, Reforger, Fulda Gap, Cheyenne Mountain, rotate your key, jumpers for goalposts...
Trying to conflate the Commons refusal to implement the result of the referendum with the Lords thwarting the Rwanda bill is straw clutching from Rishi I think. I don’t remember explicitly voting for it, and neither does anyone else
Coming across like a poor man’s Theresa May
Do not frustrate the will of the people'
In a press conference this morning @RishiSunak urged members of the House of Lords to 'do the right thing' after his Rwanda Bill passed through the Commons itv.com/news/2024-01-1…
I miss the days when we were assured Sweden didn’t want anything to do with NATO, although they need to come up with better Operation names, it’s no Able Archer or ReForGer.
Nato members will send 90,000 troops to the alliance’s largest military exercise since the Cold War.
Britain is deploying 20,000 soldiers to Operation Steadfast Defender 2024, which starts next week and will continue until the end of May.
Gen Christopher Cavoli, Nato’s most senior commander, said the exercises would demonstrate the alliance’s ability to quickly “reinforce” its territory in the event of an attack.
Exercises will take place in Germany, Poland and the Baltic States in what is widely expected to be a simulation of war with Russia.
Troops from all 31 Nato members and Sweden, a candidate for membership, are taking part.
You can tell the Americans are in charge when operations have daftly heroic names. I prefer the British names which mean absolutely nothing e.g. Operation Market Garden.
Trying to conflate the Commons refusal to implement the result of the referendum with the Lords thwarting the Rwanda bill is straw clutching from Rishi I think. I don’t remember explicitly voting for it, and neither does anyone else
Coming across like a poor man’s Theresa May
Do not frustrate the will of the people'
In a press conference this morning @RishiSunak urged members of the House of Lords to 'do the right thing' after his Rwanda Bill passed through the Commons itv.com/news/2024-01-1…
I miss the days when we were assured Sweden didn’t want anything to do with NATO, although they need to come up with better Operation names, it’s no Able Archer or ReForGer.
Nato members will send 90,000 troops to the alliance’s largest military exercise since the Cold War.
Britain is deploying 20,000 soldiers to Operation Steadfast Defender 2024, which starts next week and will continue until the end of May.
Gen Christopher Cavoli, Nato’s most senior commander, said the exercises would demonstrate the alliance’s ability to quickly “reinforce” its territory in the event of an attack.
Exercises will take place in Germany, Poland and the Baltic States in what is widely expected to be a simulation of war with Russia.
Troops from all 31 Nato members and Sweden, a candidate for membership, are taking part.
You can tell the Americans are in charge when operations have daftly heroic names. I prefer the British names which mean absolutely nothing e.g. Operation Market Garden.
There's been uses of "The Edinburgh Government" and "The Paris Government" recorded in the pages of Hansard, you would have thought that our former Deputy Prime Minister would have checked, she had the whole morning to compose her tweet.
OGH - "whatever happens in the Democrat primary will have no impact whatsoever on who gets the nomination."
SSI - Half correct, half NOT.
Correct in sense that, because New Hamphire primary date violated Democratic National Party rules, zero delegates will be awarded . . . at least until the Democratic National Convention comes up with a fix, like happened in 2016 with similar situation re: Michigan.
Wrong in sense that, if Joe Biden's write-in campaign yields way less than, say, 50% of the total NH Democratic presidential primary vote, THAT could most definitely have an impact - on the betting, on upcoming primaries AND on the nomination.
AS FOR NEVADA REPUBLICAN CAUCUS versus PRIMARY
Note that under Nevada GOP rules, any candidate who filed for the Nevada Primary is INELIGIBLE to receive ANY delegates from the Silver State to the Republican National Convention.
Here is list of candidate who filed for Nevada Republican presidential PRIMARY
John Anthony Castro Heath V. Fulkerson Nikki Haley Donald Kjornes Mike Pence (withdrawn) Tim Scott (withdrawn) Hirsh V. Singh (withdrawn)
And here is list of candidates who filed with NV GOP for Nevada Republican presidential CAUCUSES
Implies to me that people don't actually care about immigration as much as they make out, otherwise they'd surely have seen the statistics. I mean it's not as if they've not been in the news recently.
Good afternoon from Gatwick. Sensational business meeting this morning, so well worth the trip. But. Roads were unpleasant for a chunk of the drive to the airport yesterday, and today can best be described as snowmageddon.
I wonder if I will actually make it home tonight? Back to Aberdeen, no problem. Beyond that, not sure...
It could be a bit of a Dyce-y journey.
The Glens will be a bit tricky. Check before you leave Dyce.
The enormous overestimate of illegal migration is presumably fed by the government talking about little else.
I don't think it's that. Recent polling showed people think total migration levels are way way lower than they actually are - below 100k per year. The real issue is the enormous UNDERestimate of legal migration.
It's another reason I don't get the sense migration is directly and noticeably affecting people's day to day lives now in the way it did - in certain areas - before the referendum. Otherwise they would be coming up with much higher estimates of legal migration. My sense is public opinion is being shaped by the news on this, rather than personal experience. In the same way you sometimes see people's views on their personal financial prospects way more positive than their answers on the national economy.
The enormous overestimate of illegal migration is presumably fed by the government talking about little else.
I don't think it's that. Recent polling showed people think total migration levels are way way lower than they actually are - below 100k per year. The real issue is the enormous UNDERestimate of legal migration.
It's another reason I don't get the sense migration is directly and noticeably affecting people's day to day lives now in the way it did - in certain areas - before the referendum. Otherwise they would be coming up with much higher estimates of legal migration.
Utter shite. People are noticing. And that noticing is about to surge
The enormous overestimate of illegal migration is presumably fed by the government talking about little else.
I don't think it's that. Recent polling showed people think total migration levels are way way lower than they actually are - below 100k per year. The real issue is the enormous UNDERestimate of legal migration.
It's another reason I don't get the sense migration is directly and noticeably affecting people's day to day lives now in the way it did - in certain areas - before the referendum. Otherwise they would be coming up with much higher estimates of legal migration.
Utter shite. People are noticing. And that noticing is about to surge
They're evidently not noticing the actual numbers of legal migration. They think total migration is below 100k
And another very interesting difference from 2014-16: concern about immigration in polling is much more partisan, and more concentrated in older voters. If it's largely the retired who are worrying then it's not because they're directly affected by housing availability or school places, which was one of the big gripes in areas with large Eastern European influxes before Brexit.
“The globe is already pockmarked with crises, and here may be another: North Korea is acting in highly unusual ways, leading some veteran analysts to fear it is preparing a surprise attack on South Korea and perhaps on Japan and Guam as well.”
Do Britons believe more migrants come to the UK legally or illegally?
All Britons More come illegally: 45% More come legally: 34%
Is that really surprising?
45% saw the Angles, Saxons and Jutes risking treacherous sea crossings in small, poorly equipped boats, and just wading ashore. And so, naturally, they answer that they came here illegally. Whereas the minority of subscribers to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle knew that Hengist and Horsa had been invited over by Vortigern, and hence had arrived legally.
“The globe is already pockmarked with crises, and here may be another: North Korea is acting in highly unusual ways, leading some veteran analysts to fear it is preparing a surprise attack on South Korea and perhaps on Japan and Guam as well.”
NYT
Yeh, I read that one earlier on NY Times site. Jeez. Just what we all need.
The enormous overestimate of illegal migration is presumably fed by the government talking about little else.
I don't think it's that. Recent polling showed people think total migration levels are way way lower than they actually are - below 100k per year. The real issue is the enormous UNDERestimate of legal migration.
It's another reason I don't get the sense migration is directly and noticeably affecting people's day to day lives now in the way it did - in certain areas - before the referendum. Otherwise they would be coming up with much higher estimates of legal migration.
It could be the case that people can't believe that the government is letting so many people move here so they assume much more of it must be illegal.
The enormous overestimate of illegal migration is presumably fed by the government talking about little else.
I don't think it's that. Recent polling showed people think total migration levels are way way lower than they actually are - below 100k per year. The real issue is the enormous UNDERestimate of legal migration.
It's another reason I don't get the sense migration is directly and noticeably affecting people's day to day lives now in the way it did - in certain areas - before the referendum. Otherwise they would be coming up with much higher estimates of legal migration.
Utter shite. People are noticing. And that noticing is about to surge
They're evidently not noticing the actual numbers of legal migration. They think total migration is below 100k
Just because some blithe midwit vineyard-owning lefty twat like you doesn’t care about immigration and doesn’t want his compatriots to care does NOT mean people less rich than you don’t care
They are now beginning to twig. You can sense it. The influx is so vast
The reason there is a delay between reality and political opinion is because Brexit. Voters assumed they’d pulled the lever on mass immigration and stopped it. They forgot that politicians are all venal liars
Do Britons believe more migrants come to the UK legally or illegally?
All Britons More come illegally: 45% More come legally: 34%
Is that really surprising?
45% saw the Angles, Saxons and Jutes risking treacherous sea crossings in small, poorly equipped boats, and just wading ashore. And so, naturally, they answer that they came here illegally. Whereas the minority of subscribers to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle knew that Hengist and Horsa had been invited over by Vortigern, and hence had arrived legally.
The irony being a few centuries later after 52% of voters chose for Harold to put a stop to free movement of Danes, they saw a massive increase in migration from Northern France instead.
Good afternoon from Gatwick. Sensational business meeting this morning, so well worth the trip. But. Roads were unpleasant for a chunk of the drive to the airport yesterday, and today can best be described as snowmageddon.
I wonder if I will actually make it home tonight? Back to Aberdeen, no problem. Beyond that, not sure...
It could be a bit of a Dyce-y journey.
The Glens will be a bit tricky. Check before you leave Dyce.
I just got the train back into Aberdeen from Dyce. All the trains on the Inverness line are running late and there are a lot of cancellations - amusingly the anouncements say because of 'predicted severe weather' rather than because of actual severe weather. There is still about 4 inches of snow on the ground at Dyce and I presume it gets worse as you move out of the immediate environs of Aberdeen.
I willl be spending the weekend waiting on choppers in Aberdeen. I was supposed to fly up to the Shetlands tomorrow and then on from there ouit into the Atlantic for 3 weeks on the Ocean GreatWhite - the largest semi-submersible drilling rig in the world. Unfortunately (particularly for my back to back) the weather has been so bad that no choppers have made it to the rig this week. Lots of people who already spent Christmas and New Year offshore now not able to get home.
Predictions are 70 - 80 mile an hour winds over the next week so not sure I will be going anywhere for a while.
The enormous overestimate of illegal migration is presumably fed by the government talking about little else.
I don't think it's that. Recent polling showed people think total migration levels are way way lower than they actually are - below 100k per year. The real issue is the enormous UNDERestimate of legal migration.
It's another reason I don't get the sense migration is directly and noticeably affecting people's day to day lives now in the way it did - in certain areas - before the referendum. Otherwise they would be coming up with much higher estimates of legal migration.
Utter shite. People are noticing. And that noticing is about to surge
They're evidently not noticing the actual numbers of legal migration. They think total migration is below 100k
Just because some blithe midwit vineyard-owning lefty twat like you doesn’t care about immigration and doesn’t want his compatriots to care does NOT mean people less rich than you don’t care
They are now beginning to twig. You can sense it. The influx is so vast
The reason there is a delay between reality and political opinion is because Brexit. Voters assumed they’d pulled the lever on mass immigration and stopped it. They forgot that politicians are all venal liars
They are now waking up to this
I am looking at what polling says at the moment. Maybe it will move and we'll be in rivers of blood territory in a year's time but that's not what the surveys are saying now.
The enormous overestimate of illegal migration is presumably fed by the government talking about little else.
I don't think it's that. Recent polling showed people think total migration levels are way way lower than they actually are - below 100k per year. The real issue is the enormous UNDERestimate of legal migration.
It's another reason I don't get the sense migration is directly and noticeably affecting people's day to day lives now in the way it did - in certain areas - before the referendum. Otherwise they would be coming up with much higher estimates of legal migration.
Utter shite. People are noticing. And that noticing is about to surge
They're evidently not noticing the actual numbers of legal migration. They think total migration is below 100k
Just because some blithe midwit vineyard-owning lefty twat like you doesn’t care about immigration and doesn’t want his compatriots to care does NOT mean people less rich than you don’t care
They are now beginning to twig. You can sense it. The influx is so vast
The reason there is a delay between reality and political opinion is because Brexit. Voters assumed they’d pulled the lever on mass immigration and stopped it. They forgot that politicians are all venal liars
They are now waking up to this
I am looking at what polling says at the moment. Maybe it will move and we'll be in rivers of blood territory in a year's time but that's not what the surveys are saying now.
Good afternoon from Gatwick. Sensational business meeting this morning, so well worth the trip. But. Roads were unpleasant for a chunk of the drive to the airport yesterday, and today can best be described as snowmageddon.
I wonder if I will actually make it home tonight? Back to Aberdeen, no problem. Beyond that, not sure...
It could be a bit of a Dyce-y journey.
The Glens will be a bit tricky. Check before you leave Dyce.
Six people coming out of the station in question slipped on ice.
The last one did a somersault and landed on his feet. He got lucky with the last roll of the Dyce.
Good afternoon from Gatwick. Sensational business meeting this morning, so well worth the trip. But. Roads were unpleasant for a chunk of the drive to the airport yesterday, and today can best be described as snowmageddon.
I wonder if I will actually make it home tonight? Back to Aberdeen, no problem. Beyond that, not sure...
It could be a bit of a Dyce-y journey.
The Glens will be a bit tricky. Check before you leave Dyce.
I just got the train back into Aberdeen from Dyce. All the trains on the Inverness line are running late and there are a lot of cancellations - amusingly the anouncements say because of 'predicted severe weather' rather than because of actual severe weather. There is still about 4 inches of snow on the ground at Dyce and I presume it gets worse as you move out of the immediate environs of Aberdeen.
I willl be spending the weekend waiting on choppers in Aberdeen. I was supposed to fly up to the Shetlands tomorrow and then on from there ouit into the Atlantic for 3 weeks on the Ocean GreatWhite - the largest semi-submersible drilling rig in the world. Unfortunately (particularly for my back to back) the weather has been so bad that no choppers have made it to the rig this week. Lots of people who already spent Christmas and New Year offshore now not able to get home.
Predictions are 70 - 80 mile an hour winds over the next week so not sure I will be going anywhere for a while.
Sounds chilly, not to mention cramped and inconvenient. Couldn't they at least find you a hotel?
The enormous overestimate of illegal migration is presumably fed by the government talking about little else.
I don't think it's that. Recent polling showed people think total migration levels are way way lower than they actually are - below 100k per year. The real issue is the enormous UNDERestimate of legal migration.
It's another reason I don't get the sense migration is directly and noticeably affecting people's day to day lives now in the way it did - in certain areas - before the referendum. Otherwise they would be coming up with much higher estimates of legal migration.
Utter shite. People are noticing. And that noticing is about to surge
They're evidently not noticing the actual numbers of legal migration. They think total migration is below 100k
Just because some blithe midwit vineyard-owning lefty twat like you doesn’t care about immigration and doesn’t want his compatriots to care does NOT mean people less rich than you don’t care
They are now beginning to twig. You can sense it. The influx is so vast
The reason there is a delay between reality and political opinion is because Brexit. Voters assumed they’d pulled the lever on mass immigration and stopped it. They forgot that politicians are all venal liars
They are now waking up to this
Here is the very basic problem. Millions of people have been whipped to dislike immigrants. And muslims. And lefties. And so on. So migration is now a pretty visceral issue, especially in left behind communities who blame the forrin for all of cuts to services.
But - the Tories have focused obsessively on Stop The Boats. Those are visible. But lets assume that their wildest dreams come true and the boats do stop. Will that make people happy?
No - because they assume that Stop The Boats means less foreigners. And there is a growing tide of legal migration that the Stop The Boats party are letting in (rightly). Rather than Stop The Boats delivering, it will infuriate. Why are there more and more migrants? Didn't we Stop The Boats to get rid of them?
Trying to conflate the Commons refusal to implement the result of the referendum with the Lords thwarting the Rwanda bill is straw clutching from Rishi I think. I don’t remember explicitly voting for it, and neither does anyone else
Coming across like a poor man’s Theresa May
Do not frustrate the will of the people'
In a press conference this morning @RishiSunak urged members of the House of Lords to 'do the right thing' after his Rwanda Bill passed through the Commons itv.com/news/2024-01-1…
Good afternoon from Gatwick. Sensational business meeting this morning, so well worth the trip. But. Roads were unpleasant for a chunk of the drive to the airport yesterday, and today can best be described as snowmageddon.
I wonder if I will actually make it home tonight? Back to Aberdeen, no problem. Beyond that, not sure...
It could be a bit of a Dyce-y journey.
The Glens will be a bit tricky. Check before you leave Dyce.
I just got the train back into Aberdeen from Dyce. All the trains on the Inverness line are running late and there are a lot of cancellations - amusingly the anouncements say because of 'predicted severe weather' rather than because of actual severe weather. There is still about 4 inches of snow on the ground at Dyce and I presume it gets worse as you move out of the immediate environs of Aberdeen.
I willl be spending the weekend waiting on choppers in Aberdeen. I was supposed to fly up to the Shetlands tomorrow and then on from there ouit into the Atlantic for 3 weeks on the Ocean GreatWhite - the largest semi-submersible drilling rig in the world. Unfortunately (particularly for my back to back) the weather has been so bad that no choppers have made it to the rig this week. Lots of people who already spent Christmas and New Year offshore now not able to get home.
Predictions are 70 - 80 mile an hour winds over the next week so not sure I will be going anywhere for a while.
I'm due to land just after 9pm. Main roads are ok around Aberdeen. Its north of Ellon where it gets exciting. An awful lot of places where the snow is being blown off the fields onto the road. But all my routes home are plowed and gritted, and they are out again now to do them all again.
We will see! Otherwise I will be in an airport hotel...
The enormous overestimate of illegal migration is presumably fed by the government talking about little else.
I don't think it's that. Recent polling showed people think total migration levels are way way lower than they actually are - below 100k per year. The real issue is the enormous UNDERestimate of legal migration.
It's another reason I don't get the sense migration is directly and noticeably affecting people's day to day lives now in the way it did - in certain areas - before the referendum. Otherwise they would be coming up with much higher estimates of legal migration.
Utter shite. People are noticing. And that noticing is about to surge
They're evidently not noticing the actual numbers of legal migration. They think total migration is below 100k
Just because some blithe midwit vineyard-owning lefty twat like you doesn’t care about immigration and doesn’t want his compatriots to care does NOT mean people less rich than you don’t care
They are now beginning to twig. You can sense it. The influx is so vast
The reason there is a delay between reality and political opinion is because Brexit. Voters assumed they’d pulled the lever on mass immigration and stopped it. They forgot that politicians are all venal liars
They are now waking up to this
I am looking at what polling says at the moment. Maybe it will move and we'll be in rivers of blood territory in a year's time but that's not what the surveys are saying now.
Yes, but you’re an idiot
A man who sees every passing mammal as a wolf is pretty idiotic, tbh.
Trying to conflate the Commons refusal to implement the result of the referendum with the Lords thwarting the Rwanda bill is straw clutching from Rishi I think. I don’t remember explicitly voting for it, and neither does anyone else
Coming across like a poor man’s Theresa May
Do not frustrate the will of the people'
In a press conference this morning @RishiSunak urged members of the House of Lords to 'do the right thing' after his Rwanda Bill passed through the Commons itv.com/news/2024-01-1…
If Rishi underperforms vs expectations in the same way as Mrs May did, the Tories could be down to 50 odd seats....
Sunak & Sir Keir are so devoid of any personality, if there were a charismatic, straight talking, non Tory or Labour politician out there, the conditions are ripe for a Cleggasm. I’d say Farage but is he too well known?
The enormous overestimate of illegal migration is presumably fed by the government talking about little else.
I don't think it's that. Recent polling showed people think total migration levels are way way lower than they actually are - below 100k per year. The real issue is the enormous UNDERestimate of legal migration.
It's another reason I don't get the sense migration is directly and noticeably affecting people's day to day lives now in the way it did - in certain areas - before the referendum. Otherwise they would be coming up with much higher estimates of legal migration.
Utter shite. People are noticing. And that noticing is about to surge
They're evidently not noticing the actual numbers of legal migration. They think total migration is below 100k
Just because some blithe midwit vineyard-owning lefty twat like you doesn’t care about immigration and doesn’t want his compatriots to care does NOT mean people less rich than you don’t care
They are now beginning to twig. You can sense it. The influx is so vast
The reason there is a delay between reality and political opinion is because Brexit. Voters assumed they’d pulled the lever on mass immigration and stopped it. They forgot that politicians are all venal liars
The enormous overestimate of illegal migration is presumably fed by the government talking about little else.
I don't think it's that. Recent polling showed people think total migration levels are way way lower than they actually are - below 100k per year. The real issue is the enormous UNDERestimate of legal migration.
It's another reason I don't get the sense migration is directly and noticeably affecting people's day to day lives now in the way it did - in certain areas - before the referendum. Otherwise they would be coming up with much higher estimates of legal migration.
Utter shite. People are noticing. And that noticing is about to surge
They're evidently not noticing the actual numbers of legal migration. They think total migration is below 100k
Just because some blithe midwit vineyard-owning lefty twat like you doesn’t care about immigration and doesn’t want his compatriots to care does NOT mean people less rich than you don’t care
They are now beginning to twig. You can sense it. The influx is so vast
The reason there is a delay between reality and political opinion is because Brexit. Voters assumed they’d pulled the lever on mass immigration and stopped it. They forgot that politicians are all venal liars
They are now waking up to this
I am looking at what polling says at the moment. Maybe it will move and we'll be in rivers of blood territory in a year's time but that's not what the surveys are saying now.
What happens when Reform start trumpeting the 1.3 million? This could well sink Rishi.
Trying to conflate the Commons refusal to implement the result of the referendum with the Lords thwarting the Rwanda bill is straw clutching from Rishi I think. I don’t remember explicitly voting for it, and neither does anyone else
Coming across like a poor man’s Theresa May
Do not frustrate the will of the people'
In a press conference this morning @RishiSunak urged members of the House of Lords to 'do the right thing' after his Rwanda Bill passed through the Commons itv.com/news/2024-01-1…
If Rishi underperforms vs expectations in the same way as Mrs May did, the Tories could be down to 50 odd seats....
Sunak & Sir Keir are so devoid of any charisma, if there were a charismatic, straight talking, non Tory or Labour politician out the conditions are ripe for a Cleggasm. I’d say Farage but is he too well known?
We're looking at a non-charismatic landslide victory. Nothing like 1997 in that sense.
The enormous overestimate of illegal migration is presumably fed by the government talking about little else.
I don't think it's that. Recent polling showed people think total migration levels are way way lower than they actually are - below 100k per year. The real issue is the enormous UNDERestimate of legal migration.
It's another reason I don't get the sense migration is directly and noticeably affecting people's day to day lives now in the way it did - in certain areas - before the referendum. Otherwise they would be coming up with much higher estimates of legal migration.
Utter shite. People are noticing. And that noticing is about to surge
They're evidently not noticing the actual numbers of legal migration. They think total migration is below 100k
Just because some blithe midwit vineyard-owning lefty twat like you doesn’t care about immigration and doesn’t want his compatriots to care does NOT mean people less rich than you don’t care
They are now beginning to twig. You can sense it. The influx is so vast
The reason there is a delay between reality and political opinion is because Brexit. Voters assumed they’d pulled the lever on mass immigration and stopped it. They forgot that politicians are all venal liars
They are now waking up to this
I am looking at what polling says at the moment. Maybe it will move and we'll be in rivers of blood territory in a year's time but that's not what the surveys are saying now.
What happens when Reform start trumpeting the 1.3 million? This could well sink Rishi.
Precisely
And, when Labour takes over this year, the Tories will shamelessly blame all the migration on Labour
And it will work. Because voters are only just waking up now to the scale of what is happening in Britain and to Britain. We are set for a massive right wards shift on this issue, under PM Starmer. What will he do?!
The Tories are lying bastards but in this instance their utter mendacity will work for them
I see no reason - none at all - why the UK will not follow the rest of the western world towards a hard/far right form of governance
It will be anti migrant, nativist, and belligerent. It will shift money towards defence spending over welfare. It will be tax light as that is the only way to attract capital. It’s coming and it’s not going to be pretty
The enormous overestimate of illegal migration is presumably fed by the government talking about little else.
I don't think it's that. Recent polling showed people think total migration levels are way way lower than they actually are - below 100k per year. The real issue is the enormous UNDERestimate of legal migration.
It's another reason I don't get the sense migration is directly and noticeably affecting people's day to day lives now in the way it did - in certain areas - before the referendum. Otherwise they would be coming up with much higher estimates of legal migration.
Utter shite. People are noticing. And that noticing is about to surge
They're evidently not noticing the actual numbers of legal migration. They think total migration is below 100k
Just because some blithe midwit vineyard-owning lefty twat like you doesn’t care about immigration and doesn’t want his compatriots to care does NOT mean people less rich than you don’t care
They are now beginning to twig. You can sense it. The influx is so vast
The reason there is a delay between reality and political opinion is because Brexit. Voters assumed they’d pulled the lever on mass immigration and stopped it. They forgot that politicians are all venal liars
They are now waking up to this
You're hopecasting.
I think there is a basic point there even though he is hopecasting. But "they are now beginning to twig" - yes. That the Tories and the right wind media have been lying to them. That they are making things worse not better. Hence the endless slide in the polls and the rise of the FUKers.
Comments
@JAHeale
Gordon Brown asked by Sky on whether he will do a Cameron-style comeback: “I’m too old to be a British politician and too young to be an American politician.”
Don't ask.
Equally Dan instantly saw through a whole set of landlord schemes that HMRC only issued a spotlight about after Dan’s work
fantasyingthinking about Michelle Mone in a women’s prison.Edit: either way, the betting will be affected by the vote, but it is not affected in the sense that betting is still happening.
Nato members will send 90,000 troops to the alliance’s largest military exercise since the Cold War.
Britain is deploying 20,000 soldiers to Operation Steadfast Defender 2024, which starts next week and will continue until the end of May.
Gen Christopher Cavoli, Nato’s most senior commander, said the exercises would demonstrate the alliance’s ability to quickly “reinforce” its territory in the event of an attack.
Exercises will take place in Germany, Poland and the Baltic States in what is widely expected to be a simulation of war with Russia.
Troops from all 31 Nato members and Sweden, a candidate for membership, are taking part.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/01/18/ukraine-russia-war-live-st-petersburg-drone-strike/
I wonder if I will actually make it home tonight? Back to Aberdeen, no problem. Beyond that, not sure...
You could argue that no primaries will have an effect given that Biden is the only credible candidate. To that end, NH is no different.
However, if it were a competitive race, the fact that no delegates will be apportioned as a result of the vote would probably make precious little difference. The momentum coming out of these early states still matters greatly in framing the contest and it certainly wouldn't "have no impact on who is the Democratic nominee".
Hmmm. Rishi needs a hot war.
"and the man at the back said
Everyone attack!"
Labour drop from 47% to 44%
Conservative up from 20% to 34%
Reform drop from 10% to 1%
Lib Dems drop from 8% to 7%
Greens drop from 7% to 6%
On the same list there's "Reduce NHS Waiting Lists" this would get more Tory support from 27% of the public, including 19% of Labour voters. Again making the massive assumption that more likely to support means actually switching your vote, that would mean:
Labour drop from 47% to 38%
Conservative up from 20% to 39%
Reform drop from 10% to 3%
Lib Dems drop from 8% to 7%
Greens drop from 7% to 6%
And that would be hung parliament, Conservative largest party territory.
Sunak and Starmer are tied in the Blue Wall.
Which of the following do Blue Wall voters think would be the better PM for the UK? (17-18 January)
Keir Starmer 36% (+1)
Rishi Sunak 36% (-4)
Changes +/- 4 December
Invariably, though, the "Surprise NATO attack" was assumed to have conquered not an inch of Warsaw Pact Territory and destroyed nothing. And the Warsaw pact units were all assumed to be at maximum readiness. And raring to go, on the border....
https://tankmuseumshop.org/products/world-of-tanks-low-top-canvas-trainer-urban-camo
Some keyboard snipers moaning that I criticised the opposition for referring to the Kigali government, not the Rwandan government.
I would not call the French government, the Paris government nor the Scottish government, the Edinburgh government.
Why disrespect Rwanda?
https://x.com/theresecoffey/status/1747964647355854893?s=46&t=CW4pL-mMpTqsJXCdjW0Z6Q
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synecdoche
https://x.com/theresecoffey/status/1747964647355854893?s=20
Yet more Streisand effect. Why do people do this?
Coming across like a poor man’s Theresa May
Do not frustrate the will of the people'
In a press conference this morning @RishiSunak urged members of the House of Lords to 'do the right thing' after his Rwanda Bill passed through the Commons
itv.com/news/2024-01-1…
https://x.com/itvnewspolitics/status/1747930712110498127?s=46&t=CW4pL-mMpTqsJXCdjW0Z6Q
@montie Holyrood, Cardiff and Stormont now have carte blanche on devolved matters with no scrutiny from Lords
https://x.com/theresecoffey/status/562531086480470016?s=46&t=CW4pL-mMpTqsJXCdjW0Z6Q
Stella Ceeasy also doubled down on her faux pas.
Do Britons believe more migrants come to the UK legally or illegally?
All Britons
More come illegally: 45%
More come legally: 34%
About the same: 8%
2019 Con voters
More come illegally: 56%
More come legally: 27%
About the same: 8%
2019 Lab voters
More come illegally: 33%
More come legally: 44%
About the same: 7%
yougov.co.uk/topics/politic…
https://twitter.com/YouGov/status/1748021240009273784?t=wypuofuiGxaCltT5c08dTw&s=19
Had one recently named after a Shakespearean character - could well be the corporate "theme" for naming projects.
Current project shares a name with a railway locomotive, which is much better!
SSI - Half correct, half NOT.
Correct in sense that, because New Hamphire primary date violated Democratic National Party rules, zero delegates will be awarded . . . at least until the Democratic National Convention comes up with a fix, like happened in 2016 with similar situation re: Michigan.
Wrong in sense that, if Joe Biden's write-in campaign yields way less than, say, 50% of the total NH Democratic presidential primary vote, THAT could most definitely have an impact - on the betting, on upcoming primaries AND on the nomination.
AS FOR NEVADA REPUBLICAN CAUCUS versus PRIMARY
Note that under Nevada GOP rules, any candidate who filed for the Nevada Primary is INELIGIBLE to receive ANY delegates from the Silver State to the Republican National Convention.
Here is list of candidate who filed for Nevada Republican presidential PRIMARY
John Anthony Castro
Heath V. Fulkerson
Nikki Haley
Donald Kjornes
Mike Pence (withdrawn)
Tim Scott (withdrawn)
Hirsh V. Singh (withdrawn)
And here is list of candidates who filed with NV GOP for Nevada Republican presidential CAUCUSES
Ryan Binkley
Ron DeSantis
Donald Trump
Blue Wall Sunak v Starmer (17-18 January)
Starmer leads on 13 of 18 leadership characteristics polled, including:
Cares about ppl. like me (35% | 25%)
Represents change (38% | 29%)
Keeps promises (28% | 23%)
Is a strong leader (31% | 29%)
https://x.com/sadiqkhan/status/1747646645825622219
https://x.com/ruthdavidsonpc/status/1747945096807362650?s=46&t=CW4pL-mMpTqsJXCdjW0Z6Q
It's another reason I don't get the sense migration is directly and noticeably affecting people's day to day lives now in the way it did - in certain areas - before the referendum. Otherwise they would be coming up with much higher estimates of legal migration. My sense is public opinion is being shaped by the news on this, rather than personal experience. In the same way you sometimes see people's views on their personal financial prospects way more positive than their answers on the national economy.
Utter shite. People are noticing. And that noticing is about to surge
And another very interesting difference from 2014-16: concern about immigration in polling is much more partisan, and more concentrated in older voters. If it's largely the retired who are worrying then it's not because they're directly affected by housing availability or school places, which was one of the big gripes in areas with large Eastern European influxes before Brexit.
“The globe is already pockmarked with crises, and here may be another: North Korea is acting in highly unusual ways, leading some veteran analysts to fear it is preparing a surprise attack on South Korea and perhaps on Japan and Guam as well.”
NYT
45% saw the Angles, Saxons and Jutes risking treacherous sea crossings in small, poorly equipped boats, and just wading ashore. And so, naturally, they answer that they came here illegally. Whereas the minority of subscribers to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle knew that Hengist and Horsa had been invited over by Vortigern, and hence had arrived legally.
They are now beginning to twig. You can sense it. The influx is so vast
The reason there is a delay between reality and political opinion is because Brexit. Voters assumed they’d pulled the lever on mass immigration and stopped it. They forgot that politicians are all venal liars
They are now waking up to this
I willl be spending the weekend waiting on choppers in Aberdeen. I was supposed to fly up to the Shetlands tomorrow and then on from there ouit into the Atlantic for 3 weeks on the Ocean GreatWhite - the largest semi-submersible drilling rig in the world. Unfortunately (particularly for my back to back) the weather has been so bad that no choppers have made it to the rig this week. Lots of people who already spent Christmas and New Year offshore now not able to get home.
Predictions are 70 - 80 mile an hour winds over the next week so not sure I will be going anywhere for a while.
In the past week alone, the Middle East has seen an insane scale of cross-border conflict:
Pakistan <-> Iran
Houthi -> Red Sea shipping
Iran -> Syria
Iran -> Iraq
Hezbollah -> Israel
US/UK -> Yemen
Turkey -> Syria
Jordan -> Syria
Iran proxies in Iraq -> Israel
The last one did a somersault and landed on his feet. He got lucky with the last roll of the Dyce.
But - the Tories have focused obsessively on Stop The Boats. Those are visible. But lets assume that their wildest dreams come true and the boats do stop. Will that make people happy?
No - because they assume that Stop The Boats means less foreigners. And there is a growing tide of legal migration that the Stop The Boats party are letting in (rightly). Rather than Stop The Boats delivering, it will infuriate. Why are there more and more migrants? Didn't we Stop The Boats to get rid of them?
If Rishi underperforms vs expectations in the same way as Mrs May did, the Tories could be down to 50 odd seats....
We will see! Otherwise I will be in an airport hotel...
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-68017571
And, when Labour takes over this year, the Tories will shamelessly blame all the migration on Labour
And it will work. Because voters are only just waking up now to the scale of what is happening in Britain and to Britain. We are set for a massive right wards shift on this issue, under PM Starmer. What will he do?!
The Tories are lying bastards but in this instance their utter mendacity will work for them
I see no reason - none at all - why the UK will not follow the rest of the western world towards a hard/far right form of governance
It will be anti migrant, nativist, and belligerent. It will shift money towards defence spending over welfare. It will be tax light as that is the only way to attract capital. It’s coming and it’s not going to be pretty