Dictatorships tend not to go with the elected bit, unless they've rigged it. Which is why Trump was trying to avoid the transfer of power on January 6th after he lost.
We have an election this year, where Ken and everyone else can register their displeasure at the supposed "dictatorship".
And then he can moan about Elected Dictatorship by Woke.
The Office for National Statistics just forecast that between today and 2036 Britain's population will grow by 6.6 million people --6.1 million of which will be due to international net migration.
That is bigger than the combined current populations of Greater Manchester, the West Midlands and Leeds.
That looks like the battleground for the next election to me.
The Office for National Statistics just forecast that between today and 2036 Britain's population will grow by 6.6 million people --6.1 million of which will be due to international net migration.
That looks like the battleground for the next election to me.
Is there any difference between Labour and Tory on the issue?
The issue will impact how many votes both parties lose to Reform, but I can't see it moving the dial between them much at all.
The Office for National Statistics just forecast that between today and 2036 Britain's population will grow by 6.6 million people --6.1 million of which will be due to international net migration.
That looks like the battleground for the next election to me.
Now do the number of houses that will be built over this time. The number of new schools, hospitals, new motorways, new train capacity, etc.
Dictatorships tend not to go with the elected bit, unless they've rigged it. Which is why Trump was trying to avoid the transfer of power on January 6th after he lost.
We have an election this year, where Ken and everyone else can register their displeasure at the supposed "dictatorship".
And then he can moan about Elected Dictatorship by Woke.
This is astonishingly naive.
Just remind me how Hitler, Putin, Modi, Orban, Erdoğan for example first came to power?
The Office for National Statistics just forecast that between today and 2036 Britain's population will grow by 6.6 million people --6.1 million of which will be due to international net migration.
That is bigger than the combined current populations of Greater Manchester, the West Midlands and Leeds.
That looks like the battleground for the next election to me.
The main parties have nothing to say on this subject.
As I said last night, Ken Clarke is the greatest PM we never had.
And
One of the reasons I am a Thatcherite is this quote from the Iron Lady.
‘The legal system we have and the rule of law are far more responsible for our traditional liberties than any system of one man one vote. Any country or government which wants to proceed towards tyranny starts to undermine legal rights and undermine the law.’
Dictatorships tend not to go with the elected bit, unless they've rigged it. Which is why Trump was trying to avoid the transfer of power on January 6th after he lost.
We have an election this year, where Ken and everyone else can register their displeasure at the supposed "dictatorship".
And then he can moan about Elected Dictatorship by Woke.
This is astonishingly naive.
Just remind me how Hitler, Putin, Modi, Orban, Erdoğan for example first came to power?
They rigged it. By blocking opponents, for example. How many true proponents of democracy does Putin allow to stand against him?
The Office for National Statistics just forecast that between today and 2036 Britain's population will grow by 6.6 million people --6.1 million of which will be due to international net migration.
That is bigger than the combined current populations of Greater Manchester, the West Midlands and Leeds.
That looks like the battleground for the next election to me.
Not sure the Tories can make it a battleground given the mass immigration we’ve delivered, a bit like being criticised by Keith Richards for drinking too much booze and doing too many drugs.
Dictatorships tend not to go with the elected bit, unless they've rigged it. Which is why Trump was trying to avoid the transfer of power on January 6th after he lost.
We have an election this year, where Ken and everyone else can register their displeasure at the supposed "dictatorship".
And then he can moan about Elected Dictatorship by Woke.
This is astonishingly naive.
Just remind me how Hitler, Putin, Modi, Orban, Erdoğan for example first came to power?
They rigged it. By blocking opponents, for example. How many true proponents of democracy does Putin allow to stand against him?
Jacob Rees-Mogg admitted the Tories rigged the voter ID rules.
The Office for National Statistics just forecast that between today and 2036 Britain's population will grow by 6.6 million people --6.1 million of which will be due to international net migration.
That is bigger than the combined current populations of Greater Manchester, the West Midlands and Leeds.
That looks like the battleground for the next election to me.
Not sure the Tories can make it a battleground given the mass immigration we’ve delivered, a bit like being criticised by Keith Richards for drinking too much booze and doing too many drugs.
The Office for National Statistics just forecast that between today and 2036 Britain's population will grow by 6.6 million people --6.1 million of which will be due to international net migration.
That looks like the battleground for the next election to me.
Now do the number of houses that will be built over this time. The number of new schools, hospitals, new motorways, new train capacity, etc.
How about we build a fast train line from London to Manchester and then connect it to the North? Not sure what we could call it though.
As I said last night, Ken Clarke is the greatest PM we never had.
And
One of the reasons I am a Thatcherite is this quote from the Iron Lady.
‘The legal system we have and the rule of law are far more responsible for our traditional liberties than any system of one man one vote. Any country or government which wants to proceed towards tyranny starts to undermine legal rights and undermine the law.’
That Thatcher quote is bollocks, just a rehash of Hayekian dislike of democracy. We had the rule of law for a long time before most people enjoyed liberties of any description. It is entirely possible for a legal system to oversee tyranny and oppression, as for instance in the case of the Atlantic slave trade. I have some respect for the second sentence in the quotation, less for the first.
The Office for National Statistics just forecast that between today and 2036 Britain's population will grow by 6.6 million people --6.1 million of which will be due to international net migration.
That is bigger than the combined current populations of Greater Manchester, the West Midlands and Leeds.
That looks like the battleground for the next election to me.
The really worrying thing about that is the fact that 2036 is fewer than twelve years away.
As I said last night, Ken Clarke is the greatest PM we never had.
And
One of the reasons I am a Thatcherite is this quote from the Iron Lady.
‘The legal system we have and the rule of law are far more responsible for our traditional liberties than any system of one man one vote. Any country or government which wants to proceed towards tyranny starts to undermine legal rights and undermine the law.’
That Thatcher quote is bollocks, just a rehash of Hayekian dislike of democracy. We had the rule of law for a long time before most people enjoyed liberties of any description. It is entirely possible for a legal system to oversee tyranny and oppression, as for instance in the case of the Atlantic slave trade. I have some respect for the second sentence in the quotation, less for the first.
And there are plenty of democracies without individual liberties that we take for granted too. Neither democracy nor rule of law is sufficient alone and it would be hard to choose one over the other without further context.
The Office for National Statistics just forecast that between today and 2036 Britain's population will grow by 6.6 million people --6.1 million of which will be due to international net migration.
That is bigger than the combined current populations of Greater Manchester, the West Midlands and Leeds.
That looks like the battleground for the next election to me.
The really worrying thing about that is the fact that 2036 is fewer than twelve years away.
The Office for National Statistics just forecast that between today and 2036 Britain's population will grow by 6.6 million people --6.1 million of which will be due to international net migration.
That is bigger than the combined current populations of Greater Manchester, the West Midlands and Leeds.
That looks like the battleground for the next election to me.
The really worrying thing about that is the fact that 2036 is fewer than twelve years away.
Alliance leader Naomi Long on the DUP deal: “There is nothing in the deal that wasn't available in 2018 under Theresa May.”
The DUP are the biggest cucks in UK politics.
I know some get exercised by Starmer’s lies but nothing will ever top Boris Johnson going to the DUP conference and telling them no UK PM could put a border in the Irish Sea then won an election and put a border in the Irish Sea.
The Office for National Statistics just forecast that between today and 2036 Britain's population will grow by 6.6 million people --6.1 million of which will be due to international net migration.
That is bigger than the combined current populations of Greater Manchester, the West Midlands and Leeds.
That looks like the battleground for the next election to me.
Not sure the Tories can make it a battleground given the mass immigration we’ve delivered, a bit like being criticised by Keith Richards for drinking too much booze and doing too many drugs.
They’ve been trying to Stop the Boats, though.
Ineffectively, admittedly. But come the election campaign, it will count for something, versus a Labour Party whose innate sensibilities are "let them come".
I can see it being where the wheels come off Starmer's election campaign, in the same way they came off May's in 2017. It feeds into concerns about housing, NHS, education, transport. When the underlying unease in the country is that "everything is broken", the idea of having 10% more people in every train carriage, on every NHS waiting list, in every classroom, on every motorway, waiting for every rental property to come available - that is hardly the shiny hope of "things can only get better" that Tony Blair rode to 10 Downing Street.
The Office for National Statistics just forecast that between today and 2036 Britain's population will grow by 6.6 million people --6.1 million of which will be due to international net migration.
That is bigger than the combined current populations of Greater Manchester, the West Midlands and Leeds.
That looks like the battleground for the next election to me.
Not sure the Tories can make it a battleground given the mass immigration we’ve delivered, a bit like being criticised by Keith Richards for drinking too much booze and doing too many drugs.
They’ve been trying to Stop the Boats, though.
Ineffectively, admittedly. But come the election campaign, it will count for something, versus a Labour Party whose innate sensibilities are "let them come".
I can see it being where the wheels come off Starmer's election campaign, in the same way they came off May's in 2017. It feeds into concerns about housing, NHS, education, transport. When the underlying unease in the country is that "everything is broken", the idea of having 10% more people in every train carriage, on every NHS waiting list, in every classroom, on every motorway, waiting for every rental property to come available - that is hardly the shiny hope of "things can only get better" that Tony Blair rode to 10 Downing Street.
How do you "stop the boats"? This country has already made people wait in Calais before they can claim asylum, now they're planning to make them wait in Rwanda. And, of course, the vast majority of immigration isn't the boats nor is it illegal.
The Office for National Statistics just forecast that between today and 2036 Britain's population will grow by 6.6 million people --6.1 million of which will be due to international net migration.
That is bigger than the combined current populations of Greater Manchester, the West Midlands and Leeds.
That looks like the battleground for the next election to me.
The really worrying thing about that is the fact that 2036 is fewer than twelve years away.
WTF!?!
Where due my youth go?
Davos?
I’ve been to Davos, the real action is at the Bilderberg conferences, much better food and ladies of questionable morals.
The Office for National Statistics just forecast that between today and 2036 Britain's population will grow by 6.6 million people --6.1 million of which will be due to international net migration.
That is bigger than the combined current populations of Greater Manchester, the West Midlands and Leeds.
That looks like the battleground for the next election to me.
It’s in an odd battleground. OK, on one side you’ve got Reform UK with a clear “one in, one out” policy, and on the other you’ve got Labour saying the numbers are a bit high and they’ll bring them down, but they’re OK with immigration and their main solution is more housebuilding.
The weird bit, however, is that you have the Conservatives saying these numbers are way too high, while simultaneously being directly responsible for the numbers being what they are. So, do voters go with what the Tories say or what the Tories do? Or do all voters, whatever their views on immigration, see the Tories as having failed on this?
Were I the Conservative Party, I’d be doing everything possible to move the public discussion on to any other topic!
As I said last night, Ken Clarke is the greatest PM we never had.
And
One of the reasons I am a Thatcherite is this quote from the Iron Lady.
‘The legal system we have and the rule of law are far more responsible for our traditional liberties than any system of one man one vote. Any country or government which wants to proceed towards tyranny starts to undermine legal rights and undermine the law.’
He's only 3 years older than Mr Biden, and 6 older than Mr Chump if I have it right !
(Presumably it’s actually someone with a serious neurological illness and a very poor quality of life, happy to donate their living body to science for as long as they’re still alive).
As I said last night, Ken Clarke is the greatest PM we never had.
And
One of the reasons I am a Thatcherite is this quote from the Iron Lady.
‘The legal system we have and the rule of law are far more responsible for our traditional liberties than any system of one man one vote. Any country or government which wants to proceed towards tyranny starts to undermine legal rights and undermine the law.’
That Thatcher quote is bollocks, just a rehash of Hayekian dislike of democracy. We had the rule of law for a long time before most people enjoyed liberties of any description. It is entirely possible for a legal system to oversee tyranny and oppression, as for instance in the case of the Atlantic slave trade. I have some respect for the second sentence in the quotation, less for the first.
The Hayekian dislike of democracy is the same as the OnlyLivingBoy dislike of democracy: people might vote for illiberal things.
As I said last night, Ken Clarke is the greatest PM we never had.
And
One of the reasons I am a Thatcherite is this quote from the Iron Lady.
‘The legal system we have and the rule of law are far more responsible for our traditional liberties than any system of one man one vote. Any country or government which wants to proceed towards tyranny starts to undermine legal rights and undermine the law.’
That Thatcher quote is bollocks, just a rehash of Hayekian dislike of democracy. We had the rule of law for a long time before most people enjoyed liberties of any description. It is entirely possible for a legal system to oversee tyranny and oppression, as for instance in the case of the Atlantic slave trade. I have some respect for the second sentence in the quotation, less for the first.
Indeed - opposition to the abolition of slavery included the idea that abolition undermined the rights of… slave owners.
“ If we submit ourselves to law, even submit to losing freedoms, the freedom to oppress, for instance, we may discover other freedoms previously unknown to us.”
We should listen to the IMF because the last time we didn’t Liz Truss fucked the economy and I was fewer than 48 hours from activating Operation Dynamo and that’s a very bad thing.
1. It is prohibited to kill, injure or capture an adversary by resort to perfidy. Acts inviting the confidence of an adversary to lead him to believe that he is entitled to, or is obliged to accord, protection under the rules of international law applicable in armed conflict, with intent to betray that confidence, shall constitute perfidy. The following acts are examples of perfidy:
(a) The feigning of an intent to negotiate under a flag of truce or of a surrender; (b) The feigning of an incapacitation by wounds or sickness; (c) The feigning of civilian, non-combatant status; and (d) The feigning of protected status by the use of signs, emblems or uniforms of the United Nations or of neutral or other States not Parties to the conflict.
The Office for National Statistics just forecast that between today and 2036 Britain's population will grow by 6.6 million people --6.1 million of which will be due to international net migration.
That is bigger than the combined current populations of Greater Manchester, the West Midlands and Leeds.
That looks like the battleground for the next election to me.
Not sure the Tories can make it a battleground given the mass immigration we’ve delivered, a bit like being criticised by Keith Richards for drinking too much booze and doing too many drugs.
They’ve been trying to Stop the Boats, though.
Ineffectively, admittedly. But come the election campaign, it will count for something, versus a Labour Party whose innate sensibilities are "let them come".
I can see it being where the wheels come off Starmer's election campaign, in the same way they came off May's in 2017. It feeds into concerns about housing, NHS, education, transport. When the underlying unease in the country is that "everything is broken", the idea of having 10% more people in every train carriage, on every NHS waiting list, in every classroom, on every motorway, waiting for every rental property to come available - that is hardly the shiny hope of "things can only get better" that Tony Blair rode to 10 Downing Street.
Come the election campaign, the Tories will try and make it count for something, but all Labour has to do is remind people that, whatever the Tories say, they’ve done the opposite. They’ve not stopped the boats; they’ve chosen to have record high immigration to the country.
1. It is prohibited to kill, injure or capture an adversary by resort to perfidy. Acts inviting the confidence of an adversary to lead him to believe that he is entitled to, or is obliged to accord, protection under the rules of international law applicable in armed conflict, with intent to betray that confidence, shall constitute perfidy. The following acts are examples of perfidy:
(a) The feigning of an intent to negotiate under a flag of truce or of a surrender; (b) The feigning of an incapacitation by wounds or sickness; (c) The feigning of civilian, non-combatant status; and (d) The feigning of protected status by the use of signs, emblems or uniforms of the United Nations or of neutral or other States not Parties to the conflict.
I trust you’ll be voting Tory at the next election.
Britain is ready to bring forward the moment when it formally recognises a Palestinian state, the foreign secretary has suggested.
Lord Cameron said Palestinians had to be given a political horizon to encourage peace in the Middle East.
He is beginning his fourth visit to the region since being appointed foreign secretary in November.
The UK has a responsibility to set out what a Palestinian state would look like, he told a Westminster reception.
The Palestinian people would have to be shown "irreversible progress" towards a two-state solution, Lord Cameron said.
"As that happens, we - with allies - will look at the issue of recognising a Palestinian state, including at the United Nations," he told the Conservative Middle East Council.
"That could be one of the things that helps to make this process irreversible."
1. It is prohibited to kill, injure or capture an adversary by resort to perfidy. Acts inviting the confidence of an adversary to lead him to believe that he is entitled to, or is obliged to accord, protection under the rules of international law applicable in armed conflict, with intent to betray that confidence, shall constitute perfidy. The following acts are examples of perfidy:
(a) The feigning of an intent to negotiate under a flag of truce or of a surrender; (b) The feigning of an incapacitation by wounds or sickness; (c) The feigning of civilian, non-combatant status; and (d) The feigning of protected status by the use of signs, emblems or uniforms of the United Nations or of neutral or other States not Parties to the conflict.
Alleged from what I saw unless they captured "the dozen" and were able to guarantee who they were or am I missing something.
Alliance leader Naomi Long on the DUP deal: “There is nothing in the deal that wasn't available in 2018 under Theresa May.”
The DUP are the biggest cucks in UK politics.
I know some get exercised by Starmer’s lies but nothing will ever top Boris Johnson going to the DUP conference and telling them no UK PM could put a border in the Irish Sea then won an election and put a border in the Irish Sea.
What worries me is the Tories on PB and elsewhere presenting a deal with the DUP as a HUUUUUUGE ACHIEVEMENT.
1. It is prohibited to kill, injure or capture an adversary by resort to perfidy. Acts inviting the confidence of an adversary to lead him to believe that he is entitled to, or is obliged to accord, protection under the rules of international law applicable in armed conflict, with intent to betray that confidence, shall constitute perfidy. The following acts are examples of perfidy:
(a) The feigning of an intent to negotiate under a flag of truce or of a surrender; (b) The feigning of an incapacitation by wounds or sickness; (c) The feigning of civilian, non-combatant status; and (d) The feigning of protected status by the use of signs, emblems or uniforms of the United Nations or of neutral or other States not Parties to the conflict.
I trust you’ll be voting Tory at the next election.
Britain is ready to bring forward the moment when it formally recognises a Palestinian state, the foreign secretary has suggested.
Lord Cameron said Palestinians had to be given a political horizon to encourage peace in the Middle East.
He is beginning his fourth visit to the region since being appointed foreign secretary in November.
The UK has a responsibility to set out what a Palestinian state would look like, he told a Westminster reception.
The Palestinian people would have to be shown "irreversible progress" towards a two-state solution, Lord Cameron said.
"As that happens, we - with allies - will look at the issue of recognising a Palestinian state, including at the United Nations," he told the Conservative Middle East Council.
"That could be one of the things that helps to make this process irreversible."
1. It is prohibited to kill, injure or capture an adversary by resort to perfidy. Acts inviting the confidence of an adversary to lead him to believe that he is entitled to, or is obliged to accord, protection under the rules of international law applicable in armed conflict, with intent to betray that confidence, shall constitute perfidy. The following acts are examples of perfidy:
(a) The feigning of an intent to negotiate under a flag of truce or of a surrender; (b) The feigning of an incapacitation by wounds or sickness; (c) The feigning of civilian, non-combatant status; and (d) The feigning of protected status by the use of signs, emblems or uniforms of the United Nations or of neutral or other States not Parties to the conflict.
The Office for National Statistics just forecast that between today and 2036 Britain's population will grow by 6.6 million people --6.1 million of which will be due to international net migration.
That looks like the battleground for the next election to me.
Now do the number of houses that will be built over this time. The number of new schools, hospitals, new motorways, new train capacity, etc.
How about we build a fast train line from London to Manchester and then connect it to the North? Not sure what we could call it though.
The Office for National Statistics just forecast that between today and 2036 Britain's population will grow by 6.6 million people --6.1 million of which will be due to international net migration.
That looks like the battleground for the next election to me.
Now do the number of houses that will be built over this time. The number of new schools, hospitals, new motorways, new train capacity, etc.
How about we build a fast train line from London to Manchester and then connect it to the North? Not sure what we could call it though.
1. It is prohibited to kill, injure or capture an adversary by resort to perfidy. Acts inviting the confidence of an adversary to lead him to believe that he is entitled to, or is obliged to accord, protection under the rules of international law applicable in armed conflict, with intent to betray that confidence, shall constitute perfidy. The following acts are examples of perfidy:
(a) The feigning of an intent to negotiate under a flag of truce or of a surrender; (b) The feigning of an incapacitation by wounds or sickness; (c) The feigning of civilian, non-combatant status; and (d) The feigning of protected status by the use of signs, emblems or uniforms of the United Nations or of neutral or other States not Parties to the conflict.
1. It is prohibited to kill, injure or capture an adversary by resort to perfidy. Acts inviting the confidence of an adversary to lead him to believe that he is entitled to, or is obliged to accord, protection under the rules of international law applicable in armed conflict, with intent to betray that confidence, shall constitute perfidy. The following acts are examples of perfidy:
(a) The feigning of an intent to negotiate under a flag of truce or of a surrender; (b) The feigning of an incapacitation by wounds or sickness; (c) The feigning of civilian, non-combatant status; and (d) The feigning of protected status by the use of signs, emblems or uniforms of the United Nations or of neutral or other States not Parties to the conflict.
I trust you’ll be voting Tory at the next election.
Britain is ready to bring forward the moment when it formally recognises a Palestinian state, the foreign secretary has suggested.
Lord Cameron said Palestinians had to be given a political horizon to encourage peace in the Middle East.
He is beginning his fourth visit to the region since being appointed foreign secretary in November.
The UK has a responsibility to set out what a Palestinian state would look like, he told a Westminster reception.
The Palestinian people would have to be shown "irreversible progress" towards a two-state solution, Lord Cameron said.
"As that happens, we - with allies - will look at the issue of recognising a Palestinian state, including at the United Nations," he told the Conservative Middle East Council.
"That could be one of the things that helps to make this process irreversible."
1. It is prohibited to kill, injure or capture an adversary by resort to perfidy. Acts inviting the confidence of an adversary to lead him to believe that he is entitled to, or is obliged to accord, protection under the rules of international law applicable in armed conflict, with intent to betray that confidence, shall constitute perfidy. The following acts are examples of perfidy:
(a) The feigning of an intent to negotiate under a flag of truce or of a surrender; (b) The feigning of an incapacitation by wounds or sickness; (c) The feigning of civilian, non-combatant status; and (d) The feigning of protected status by the use of signs, emblems or uniforms of the United Nations or of neutral or other States not Parties to the conflict.
I trust you’ll be voting Tory at the next election.
Britain is ready to bring forward the moment when it formally recognises a Palestinian state, the foreign secretary has suggested.
Lord Cameron said Palestinians had to be given a political horizon to encourage peace in the Middle East.
He is beginning his fourth visit to the region since being appointed foreign secretary in November.
The UK has a responsibility to set out what a Palestinian state would look like, he told a Westminster reception.
The Palestinian people would have to be shown "irreversible progress" towards a two-state solution, Lord Cameron said.
"As that happens, we - with allies - will look at the issue of recognising a Palestinian state, including at the United Nations," he told the Conservative Middle East Council.
"That could be one of the things that helps to make this process irreversible."
Thankfully there are other parties who currently support recognising a Palestinian state that are also not completely terrible in every other way.
Dave is awesome and Starmer will retain Dave as Foreign Secretary after the election.
I mean that would be a worst of both worlds situation in my head, but does kind of fit Starmer to a tee so I can't dismiss it as entirely impossible...
Alliance leader Naomi Long on the DUP deal: “There is nothing in the deal that wasn't available in 2018 under Theresa May.”
The DUP are the biggest cucks in UK politics.
I know some get exercised by Starmer’s lies but nothing will ever top Boris Johnson going to the DUP conference and telling them no UK PM could put a border in the Irish Sea then won an election and put a border in the Irish Sea.
What worries me is the Tories on PB and elsewhere presenting a deal with the DUP as a HUUUUUUGE ACHIEVEMENT.
We've been there before, as indeed you show.
We’ve had the oven ready Brexit deal (sic) and the Windsor Agreement, third time lucky ?
1. It is prohibited to kill, injure or capture an adversary by resort to perfidy. Acts inviting the confidence of an adversary to lead him to believe that he is entitled to, or is obliged to accord, protection under the rules of international law applicable in armed conflict, with intent to betray that confidence, shall constitute perfidy. The following acts are examples of perfidy:
(a) The feigning of an intent to negotiate under a flag of truce or of a surrender; (b) The feigning of an incapacitation by wounds or sickness; (c) The feigning of civilian, non-combatant status; and (d) The feigning of protected status by the use of signs, emblems or uniforms of the United Nations or of neutral or other States not Parties to the conflict.
From his twitter he looks a supremely unbiased source of news.
Mildly hilarious that the Rwandan effective dictator is getting worried about the reputational risks of an asylum arrangement with the UK. Even the £400 million for not doing anything much has its costs.
Ken Clarke is the only member of the Lords that is "present" in that chamber. Everyone else is asleep, or possibly dead.
The Office for National Statistics just forecast that between today and 2036 Britain's population will grow by 6.6 million people --6.1 million of which will be due to international net migration.
That is bigger than the combined current populations of Greater Manchester, the West Midlands and Leeds.
That looks like the battleground for the next election to me.
The main parties have nothing to say on this subject.
There's not a lot they can say.
All sorts of sectors of the economy would collapse without people coming here and doing our jobs. That's especially true for health and social care, where the ultimate employer is... wait for it... HM Government.
Lots of people like the idea of reducing immigration... that's understandable. But I'll happily wager a shiny sixpence that they wouldn't like the knock on effects of reducing it to the extent they wish.
Why do you hang on to that utter (k)nob's every last word?
Is he wrong?
We need another 10 million people to pay off the debt run up by boomers. But first we need to convince millennials and gen-xers that it will be a thoroughly good thing. It's going quite well, I'd say.
From the actual source. The ONS
“Over the 15 years between mid-2021 and mid-2036, the UK population is projected to grow by 6.6 million people.
This includes 541,000 more births than deaths and international net migration of 6.1 million people.”
Utter insanity. Any party that promises to stop this, and does it, will win big. That’s not the Tories, they cannot be trusted
We may have to start our own party
I've never got the argument that "students" should drop out of the migration figures because they are only here for a temporary course: firstly, if they were, they'd be netted out of the migration figures anyway and, secondly, it's quite clear that the majority stay so they need to be.
The majority do not stay. What tosh. Why come here and post nonsense?
IPSOS latest polling from 17-23 Jan just out. It tends to go under the radar because it takes a few more days delay to get out, being telephone polling.
22% Lab lead, up 5% since December, Labour to 49% on the headline measure.
Reform surprisingly at only 4%. I am not sure if Ipsos prompt for Reform. It is a massively different figure from normal internet based polling drawn from sample panels.
Truly shocking figures for Sunak personally. Only 26% think he would make the most capable PM, the lowest figure for any Conservative PM since 2010, not a patch on what Liz Truss managed. Starmer has a 13% lead on that measure.
Why do you hang on to that utter (k)nob's every last word?
Is he wrong?
We need another 10 million people to pay off the debt run up by boomers. But first we need to convince millennials and gen-xers that it will be a thoroughly good thing. It's going quite well, I'd say.
From the actual source. The ONS
“Over the 15 years between mid-2021 and mid-2036, the UK population is projected to grow by 6.6 million people.
This includes 541,000 more births than deaths and international net migration of 6.1 million people.”
Utter insanity. Any party that promises to stop this, and does it, will win big. That’s not the Tories, they cannot be trusted
We may have to start our own party
I've never got the argument that "students" should drop out of the migration figures because they are only here for a temporary course: firstly, if they were, they'd be netted out of the migration figures anyway and, secondly, it's quite clear that the majority stay so they need to be.
The majority do not stay. What tosh. Why come here and post nonsense?
Is that not the whole point? Maybe I've been doing this wrong....
Alliance leader Naomi Long on the DUP deal: “There is nothing in the deal that wasn't available in 2018 under Theresa May.”
The DUP are the biggest cucks in UK politics.
I know some get exercised by Starmer’s lies but nothing will ever top Boris Johnson going to the DUP conference and telling them no UK PM could put a border in the Irish Sea then won an election and put a border in the Irish Sea.
What worries me is the Tories on PB and elsewhere presenting a deal with the DUP as a HUUUUUUGE ACHIEVEMENT.
We've been there before, as indeed you show.
We’ve had the oven ready Brexit deal (sic) and the Windsor Agreement, third time lucky ?
I presume this will be something pretty close to the Windsor Agreement and, basically, the DUP have backed down (or seen sense would be a better way of putting it!).
The truth is our current economic and social infrastructure would probably fall over without large immigration each and every year. The Tories, and Labour to be fair, would obviously do something about it if there were an answer - electorally it's a big problem.
The question is: why this wasn't the case in the 1990s - were the demographics simply much more favourable? - and how do we spend over the 10-20 years so it becomes no longer necessary through structural reform?
In the meantime, immigration is more carefully controlled - and university "students" need clamping down on, and HMG will have to step in to fund those universities more so they are not as reliant on them.
As I said last night, Ken Clarke is the greatest PM we never had.
And
One of the reasons I am a Thatcherite is this quote from the Iron Lady.
‘The legal system we have and the rule of law are far more responsible for our traditional liberties than any system of one man one vote. Any country or government which wants to proceed towards tyranny starts to undermine legal rights and undermine the law.’
That Thatcher quote is bollocks, just a rehash of Hayekian dislike of democracy. We had the rule of law for a long time before most people enjoyed liberties of any description. It is entirely possible for a legal system to oversee tyranny and oppression, as for instance in the case of the Atlantic slave trade. I have some respect for the second sentence in the quotation, less for the first.
It's not entirely wrong, though. There is no democracy - and no civil society - without the rule of law.
You can probably draw a direct relationship between government cutbacks to university funding in 2010-2011 and a rise in immigration via student numbers subsequently.
1. It is prohibited to kill, injure or capture an adversary by resort to perfidy. Acts inviting the confidence of an adversary to lead him to believe that he is entitled to, or is obliged to accord, protection under the rules of international law applicable in armed conflict, with intent to betray that confidence, shall constitute perfidy. The following acts are examples of perfidy:
(a) The feigning of an intent to negotiate under a flag of truce or of a surrender; (b) The feigning of an incapacitation by wounds or sickness; (c) The feigning of civilian, non-combatant status; and (d) The feigning of protected status by the use of signs, emblems or uniforms of the United Nations or of neutral or other States not Parties to the conflict.
From his twitter he looks a supremely unbiased source of news.
Not.
Aside from playing the man rather than the ball, are you disputing his account of what happened, the IDF's account, or the text of the Geneva Convention?
The Office for National Statistics just forecast that between today and 2036 Britain's population will grow by 6.6 million people --6.1 million of which will be due to international net migration.
That is bigger than the combined current populations of Greater Manchester, the West Midlands and Leeds.
That looks like the battleground for the next election to me.
It’s in an odd battleground. OK, on one side you’ve got Reform UK with a clear “one in, one out” policy, and on the other you’ve got Labour saying the numbers are a bit high and they’ll bring them down, but they’re OK with immigration and their main solution is more housebuilding.
The weird bit, however, is that you have the Conservatives saying these numbers are way too high, while simultaneously being directly responsible for the numbers being what they are. So, do voters go with what the Tories say or what the Tories do? Or do all voters, whatever their views on immigration, see the Tories as having failed on this?
Were I the Conservative Party, I’d be doing everything possible to move the public discussion on to any other topic!
The only long term sustainable position on a small and already overcrowded island is net zero immigration. By a happy coincidence for the Tories, not only is this ultimately inevitable, but it would be fairly popular with voters in general, and really popular with both their base, and all the red wall swing voters they won last time. The weird thing is that the Tories are so fixated on the headline GDP numbers they haven't gone for this.
As it is, they seem determined to push their core voters to Reform whilst alienating everyone else as well.
On the plus side for them, if they manage to avoid Reform totally eating their lunch, winning against a wildly unpopular KS in 5 years time with a main policy of net zero migration is going to be extremely easy.
The Office for National Statistics just forecast that between today and 2036 Britain's population will grow by 6.6 million people --6.1 million of which will be due to international net migration.
That looks like the battleground for the next election to me.
Is there any difference between Labour and Tory on the issue?
The issue will impact how many votes both parties lose to Reform, but I can't see it moving the dial between them much at all.
The Tories are going to implode in the next GE
Labour will be deeply unpopular within a year, because of this issue (and others) - our problems are too grave
If ever a hard right party is going to arise, and take over the Tories, and finally do something about this absurdity, it is 2024-2029
As I said last night, Ken Clarke is the greatest PM we never had.
And
One of the reasons I am a Thatcherite is this quote from the Iron Lady.
‘The legal system we have and the rule of law are far more responsible for our traditional liberties than any system of one man one vote. Any country or government which wants to proceed towards tyranny starts to undermine legal rights and undermine the law.’
That Thatcher quote is bollocks, just a rehash of Hayekian dislike of democracy. We had the rule of law for a long time before most people enjoyed liberties of any description. It is entirely possible for a legal system to oversee tyranny and oppression, as for instance in the case of the Atlantic slave trade. I have some respect for the second sentence in the quotation, less for the first.
The Hayekian dislike of democracy is the same as the OnlyLivingBoy dislike of democracy: people might vote for illiberal things.
I have no dislike of democracy. I don't always like its outcomes but I have always supported it 100% as a system of government. It is clearly better than any alternative. I'm surprised you think otherwise to be honest. Followers of Hayek, eg the Chilean "Chicago Boys", have had a much patchier record in this regard than I have.
The Office for National Statistics just forecast that between today and 2036 Britain's population will grow by 6.6 million people --6.1 million of which will be due to international net migration.
That is bigger than the combined current populations of Greater Manchester, the West Midlands and Leeds.
That looks like the battleground for the next election to me.
The really worrying thing about that is the fact that 2036 is fewer than twelve years away.
WTF!?!
Where due my youth go?
Davos?
I’ve been to Davos, the real action is at the Bilderberg conferences, much better food and ladies of questionable morals.
1. It is prohibited to kill, injure or capture an adversary by resort to perfidy. Acts inviting the confidence of an adversary to lead him to believe that he is entitled to, or is obliged to accord, protection under the rules of international law applicable in armed conflict, with intent to betray that confidence, shall constitute perfidy. The following acts are examples of perfidy:
(a) The feigning of an intent to negotiate under a flag of truce or of a surrender; (b) The feigning of an incapacitation by wounds or sickness; (c) The feigning of civilian, non-combatant status; and (d) The feigning of protected status by the use of signs, emblems or uniforms of the United Nations or of neutral or other States not Parties to the conflict.
I trust you’ll be voting Tory at the next election.
Britain is ready to bring forward the moment when it formally recognises a Palestinian state, the foreign secretary has suggested.
Lord Cameron said Palestinians had to be given a political horizon to encourage peace in the Middle East.
He is beginning his fourth visit to the region since being appointed foreign secretary in November.
The UK has a responsibility to set out what a Palestinian state would look like, he told a Westminster reception.
The Palestinian people would have to be shown "irreversible progress" towards a two-state solution, Lord Cameron said.
"As that happens, we - with allies - will look at the issue of recognising a Palestinian state, including at the United Nations," he told the Conservative Middle East Council.
"That could be one of the things that helps to make this process irreversible."
Thankfully there are other parties who currently support recognising a Palestinian state that are also not completely terrible in every other way.
Morning 148. I see this also in the article: "At the same time, there would have to be a new Palestinian authority "stood up quickly" with "technocratic and good leaders" able to govern Gaza, he said."
So win-win - Hamas leadership would have to leave Gaza and, presumably, displaced as its government also.
The main Democratic super PAC supporting President Biden’s re-election bid, Future Forward, is beginning this week to reserve $250 million in advertising across the most important battleground states, a blitz that it says is the largest single purchase of political advertising by a super PAC in the nation’s history.
Why do you hang on to that utter (k)nob's every last word?
Is he wrong?
We need another 10 million people to pay off the debt run up by boomers. But first we need to convince millennials and gen-xers that it will be a thoroughly good thing. It's going quite well, I'd say.
From the actual source. The ONS
“Over the 15 years between mid-2021 and mid-2036, the UK population is projected to grow by 6.6 million people.
This includes 541,000 more births than deaths and international net migration of 6.1 million people.”
Utter insanity. Any party that promises to stop this, and does it, will win big. That’s not the Tories, they cannot be trusted
We may have to start our own party
I've never got the argument that "students" should drop out of the migration figures because they are only here for a temporary course: firstly, if they were, they'd be netted out of the migration figures anyway and, secondly, it's quite clear that the majority stay so they need to be.
The majority do not stay. What tosh. Why come here and post nonsense?
given they have no records of in or out how do you work that one out. Shedloads bringing their families with them and guaranteed they are not leaving given the huge population increases
You can probably draw a direct relationship between government cutbacks to university funding in 2010-2011 and a rise in immigration via student numbers subsequently.
As I said last night, Ken Clarke is the greatest PM we never had.
And
One of the reasons I am a Thatcherite is this quote from the Iron Lady.
‘The legal system we have and the rule of law are far more responsible for our traditional liberties than any system of one man one vote. Any country or government which wants to proceed towards tyranny starts to undermine legal rights and undermine the law.’
That Thatcher quote is bollocks, just a rehash of Hayekian dislike of democracy. We had the rule of law for a long time before most people enjoyed liberties of any description. It is entirely possible for a legal system to oversee tyranny and oppression, as for instance in the case of the Atlantic slave trade. I have some respect for the second sentence in the quotation, less for the first.
And there are plenty of democracies without individual liberties that we take for granted too. Neither democracy nor rule of law is sufficient alone and it would be hard to choose one over the other without further context.
Yes both need to be present. I have a strong sense that democracy is the more important of the two, even for the protection of the rights of minorities. But perhaps that reflects a British-centric viewpoint, living in a country that has had the rule of law a lot longer than it has had democracy.
The main Democratic super PAC supporting President Biden’s re-election bid, Future Forward, is beginning this week to reserve $250 million in advertising across the most important battleground states, a blitz that it says is the largest single purchase of political advertising by a super PAC in the nation’s history.
ny times
And in the meantime they will be up against deep fake videos on small groups of social media which will have a bigger impact.
The Office for National Statistics just forecast that between today and 2036 Britain's population will grow by 6.6 million people --6.1 million of which will be due to international net migration.
That is bigger than the combined current populations of Greater Manchester, the West Midlands and Leeds.
That looks like the battleground for the next election to me.
The main parties have nothing to say on this subject.
There's not a lot they can say.
All sorts of sectors of the economy would collapse without people coming here and doing our jobs. That's especially true for health and social care, where the ultimate employer is... wait for it... HM Government.
Lots of people like the idea of reducing immigration... that's understandable. But I'll happily wager a shiny sixpence that they wouldn't like the knock on effects of reducing it to the extent they wish.
Trouble with this logic is we're just running a ponzi scheme which requires more immigration each year to keep up with itself. At some point the music is going to stop, and it come crashing to earth, so we might as well get it over with. The longer we leave it the worse it will get.
Why do you hang on to that utter (k)nob's every last word?
Is he wrong?
We need another 10 million people to pay off the debt run up by boomers. But first we need to convince millennials and gen-xers that it will be a thoroughly good thing. It's going quite well, I'd say.
From the actual source. The ONS
“Over the 15 years between mid-2021 and mid-2036, the UK population is projected to grow by 6.6 million people.
This includes 541,000 more births than deaths and international net migration of 6.1 million people.”
Utter insanity. Any party that promises to stop this, and does it, will win big. That’s not the Tories, they cannot be trusted
We may have to start our own party
I've never got the argument that "students" should drop out of the migration figures because they are only here for a temporary course: firstly, if they were, they'd be netted out of the migration figures anyway and, secondly, it's quite clear that the majority stay so they need to be.
The majority do not stay. What tosh. Why come here and post nonsense?
given they have no records of in or out how do you work that one out. Shedloads bringing their families with them and guaranteed they are not leaving given the huge population increases
1. It is prohibited to kill, injure or capture an adversary by resort to perfidy. Acts inviting the confidence of an adversary to lead him to believe that he is entitled to, or is obliged to accord, protection under the rules of international law applicable in armed conflict, with intent to betray that confidence, shall constitute perfidy. The following acts are examples of perfidy:
(a) The feigning of an intent to negotiate under a flag of truce or of a surrender; (b) The feigning of an incapacitation by wounds or sickness; (c) The feigning of civilian, non-combatant status; and (d) The feigning of protected status by the use of signs, emblems or uniforms of the United Nations or of neutral or other States not Parties to the conflict.
From his twitter he looks a supremely unbiased source of news.
Not.
Aside from playing the man rather than the ball, are you disputing his account of what happened, the IDF's account, or the text of the Geneva Convention?
Has any PB-er ever been to the Stans of Central Asia?
I AM DESPERATE TO GET TO THE STANS OF CENTRAL ASIA
I am making some nice money what with working so hard and halving my drinking and I am prepared to SPUNK IT all over some travel to the last corners of the the globe I do not know. The STANS rank high. I intend to go this summer
However it would be nice if I could get the Knappers Gazette to commission me to write about the “Rhyolite Sex Ticklers of Samarkand” so if any well travelled PBer thinks there is a story to be written about the STANS please tell me, and I will pray for you at the confluence of the Mekong and the Tonle Sap
The mountains of heaven: Tien Shan, that’s gotta be amazing. But what’s the angle?
I am not Ken Clarke's biggest fan (nothing personal against him, just strongly disagree with his politics) but largely I agree with him here on the Rwanda - yes asylum applications probably should be processed outside of destination, but the choice of Rwanda is puzzling. My guess is it was a 'quick fix' because Rwanda already had some sort of asylum industry set up and other countries did not? I am also puzzled that they cannot come back from Rwanda. It seems fairly simple and fair to me to bring back successful applicants on the planes that the others went out on (preferably far lighter on the return trip). It would still massively deter bogus claimants (providing the system was rigorous), and would mean Rwanda wouldn't 'fill up'.
My conclusion is a bit different though - I think the policy should at least be tried to see if it works.
1. It is prohibited to kill, injure or capture an adversary by resort to perfidy. Acts inviting the confidence of an adversary to lead him to believe that he is entitled to, or is obliged to accord, protection under the rules of international law applicable in armed conflict, with intent to betray that confidence, shall constitute perfidy. The following acts are examples of perfidy:
(a) The feigning of an intent to negotiate under a flag of truce or of a surrender; (b) The feigning of an incapacitation by wounds or sickness; (c) The feigning of civilian, non-combatant status; and (d) The feigning of protected status by the use of signs, emblems or uniforms of the United Nations or of neutral or other States not Parties to the conflict.
From his twitter he looks a supremely unbiased source of news.
Not.
Aside from playing the man rather than the ball, are you disputing his account of what happened, the IDF's account, or the text of the Geneva Convention?
I think you know, but clearly suggesting his account of events may not be the whole truth.
The Office for National Statistics just forecast that between today and 2036 Britain's population will grow by 6.6 million people --6.1 million of which will be due to international net migration.
That is bigger than the combined current populations of Greater Manchester, the West Midlands and Leeds.
That looks like the battleground for the next election to me.
It’s in an odd battleground. OK, on one side you’ve got Reform UK with a clear “one in, one out” policy, and on the other you’ve got Labour saying the numbers are a bit high and they’ll bring them down, but they’re OK with immigration and their main solution is more housebuilding.
The weird bit, however, is that you have the Conservatives saying these numbers are way too high, while simultaneously being directly responsible for the numbers being what they are. So, do voters go with what the Tories say or what the Tories do? Or do all voters, whatever their views on immigration, see the Tories as having failed on this?
Were I the Conservative Party, I’d be doing everything possible to move the public discussion on to any other topic!
The only long term sustainable position on a small and already overcrowded island is net zero immigration. By a happy coincidence for the Tories, not only is this ultimately inevitable, but it would be fairly popular with voters in general, and really popular with both their base, and all the red wall swing voters they won last time. The weird thing is that the Tories are so fixated on the headline GDP numbers they haven't gone for this.
As it is, they seem determined to push their core voters to Reform whilst alienating everyone else as well.
On the plus side for them, if they manage to avoid Reform totally eating their lunch, winning against a wildly unpopular KS in 5 years time with a main policy of net zero migration is going to be extremely easy.
I agree. I had this thought today
The pro-immigration lobby - a truly unholy alliance of the far left, the Woke left, the Remainers, and Tory neo-liberal right wing big business - have pushed the British (a genuinely tolerant bunch) to the edge of that tolerance, and almost over the edge. We are seeing cities transformed in short years, and still they push for MORE immigration
The centre cannot hold, this will all fall apart. Expect MAJOR ructions and a serious push for zero net migration. One in, one out
1. It is prohibited to kill, injure or capture an adversary by resort to perfidy. Acts inviting the confidence of an adversary to lead him to believe that he is entitled to, or is obliged to accord, protection under the rules of international law applicable in armed conflict, with intent to betray that confidence, shall constitute perfidy. The following acts are examples of perfidy:
(a) The feigning of an intent to negotiate under a flag of truce or of a surrender; (b) The feigning of an incapacitation by wounds or sickness; (c) The feigning of civilian, non-combatant status; and (d) The feigning of protected status by the use of signs, emblems or uniforms of the United Nations or of neutral or other States not Parties to the conflict.
So, yesterday you claimed that Hamas's refusal to comply with the ICJ's demand to release the hostages was "understandable", even though presumably we're all agreed that hostage taking is a war crime.
Is this also understandable - perhaps because attempting to use a hospital as a shelter is itself a war crime, and the IDF were trying (successfully, by the looks of things!) to minimise civilian casualties, or does this game only work one way?
Or is "perfidy" that much worse than hostage taking?
Has any PB-er ever been to the Stans of Central Asia?
I AM DESPERATE TO GET TO THE STANS OF CENTRAL ASIA
I am making some nice money what with working so hard and halving my drinking and I am prepared to SPUNK IT all over some travel to the last corners of the the globe I do not know. The STANS rank high. I intend to go this summer
However it would be nice if I could get the Knappers Gazette to commission me to write about the “Rhyolite Sex Ticklers of Samarkand” so if any well travelled PBer thinks there is a story to be written about the STANS please tell me, and I will pray for you at the confluence of the Mekong and the Tonle Sap
The mountains of heaven: Tien Shan, that’s gotta be amazing. But what’s the angle?
Only been to Turkmenistan. There might be an interesting story on how the reputation of the completely bonkers Turkmenbashi - the one who renamed the days of the week after the members of his family and had a golden statue of himself rotating towards the sun - has fared since his demise. "What happens to a cult of personality when the personality moves on?"
1. It is prohibited to kill, injure or capture an adversary by resort to perfidy. Acts inviting the confidence of an adversary to lead him to believe that he is entitled to, or is obliged to accord, protection under the rules of international law applicable in armed conflict, with intent to betray that confidence, shall constitute perfidy. The following acts are examples of perfidy:
(a) The feigning of an intent to negotiate under a flag of truce or of a surrender; (b) The feigning of an incapacitation by wounds or sickness; (c) The feigning of civilian, non-combatant status; and (d) The feigning of protected status by the use of signs, emblems or uniforms of the United Nations or of neutral or other States not Parties to the conflict.
From his twitter he looks a supremely unbiased source of news.
Not.
Aside from playing the man rather than the ball, are you disputing his account of what happened, the IDF's account, or the text of the Geneva Convention?
I see Michelle Obama is down to 9/1 for the Democratic nomination.
Just what on earth are people smoking?
She has said no way. But...
If her Party/nation called, would she really throw that chance away? Be interesting to see some polling. But you'd have to think she'd make a fascinating first female President.
Has any PB-er ever been to the Stans of Central Asia?
I AM DESPERATE TO GET TO THE STANS OF CENTRAL ASIA
I am making some nice money what with working so hard and halving my drinking and I am prepared to SPUNK IT all over some travel to the last corners of the the globe I do not know. The STANS rank high. I intend to go this summer
However it would be nice if I could get the Knappers Gazette to commission me to write about the “Rhyolite Sex Ticklers of Samarkand” so if any well travelled PBer thinks there is a story to be written about the STANS please tell me, and I will pray for you at the confluence of the Mekong and the Tonle Sap
The mountains of heaven: Tien Shan, that’s gotta be amazing. But what’s the angle?
Only been to Turkmenistan. There might be an interesting story on how the reputation of the completely bonkers Turkmenbashi - the one who renamed the days of the week after the members of his family and had a golden statue of himself rotating towards the sun - has fared since his demise. "What happens to a cult of personality when the personality moves on?"
Nice, and obregado, but I’m thinking of more travel-y ideas
Was Turkmenistan fun? Highlights? Unknown corners?
I see Michelle Obama is down to 9/1 for the Democratic nomination.
Just what on earth are people smoking?
Biden has a Bob Dole moment and it flows from there.
What's not clear to me is why it flows to Michelle Obama and not his perfectly adequate Vice President. Or if you have a way for it to flow around Kamala Harris, why it doesn't instead flow to some other famous American non-politician like Oprah Winfrey or Taylor Swift.
1. It is prohibited to kill, injure or capture an adversary by resort to perfidy. Acts inviting the confidence of an adversary to lead him to believe that he is entitled to, or is obliged to accord, protection under the rules of international law applicable in armed conflict, with intent to betray that confidence, shall constitute perfidy. The following acts are examples of perfidy:
(a) The feigning of an intent to negotiate under a flag of truce or of a surrender; (b) The feigning of an incapacitation by wounds or sickness; (c) The feigning of civilian, non-combatant status; and (d) The feigning of protected status by the use of signs, emblems or uniforms of the United Nations or of neutral or other States not Parties to the conflict.
From his twitter he looks a supremely unbiased source of news.
Not.
Aside from playing the man rather than the ball, are you disputing his account of what happened, the IDF's account, or the text of the Geneva Convention?
I see Michelle Obama is down to 9/1 for the Democratic nomination.
Just what on earth are people smoking?
Biden has a Bob Dole moment and it flows from there.
What's not clear to me is why it flows to Michelle Obama and not his perfectly adequate Vice President. Or if you have a way for it to flow around Kamala Harris, why it doesn't instead flow to some other famous American non-politician like Oprah Winfrey or Taylor Swift.
Swift won't be 35 until after the election, but before the inauguration, so does that mean she's eligible?
She'd clearly be a great president, but there would be concerns the work would get in the way of her music.
I see Michelle Obama is down to 9/1 for the Democratic nomination.
Just what on earth are people smoking?
Biden has a Bob Dole moment and it flows from there.
What's not clear to me is why it flows to Michelle Obama and not his perfectly adequate Vice President. Or if you have a way for it to flow around Kamala Harris, why it doesn't instead flow to some other famous American non-politician like Oprah Winfrey or Taylor Swift.
President Swift could turn round the fortunes of the US quite rapidly.
Have just read about Sunak's visit to This Morning.
Rejoice!
Britain has turned a corner, away from the misery of the last 14 years of Labour governments. He has a plan. So of course he is confident that he can win the election. The alternative is that we go back to square one and suffer again that Labour government we have had since 2010.
I haven't had a drink for 18 months. It does make life very boring. But you sleep better.
Is this for medical reasons AAMOI. I ask because many of my friends have cut down drinking significantly, as have I. One has given it up completely but does from time to time bemoan the absence of a good glass of burgundy, or whatever. I have no idea why they don't just have the odd glass of wine.
I get the "all or nothing" mentality but it seems illogical. My friend doesn't think that one glass will lead to 10 pints of snakebite and five bottles of a decent red.
Have just read about Sunak's visit to This Morning.
Rejoice!
Britain has turned a corner, away from the misery of the last 14 years of Labour governments. He has a plan. So of course he is confident that he can win the election. The alternative is that we go back to square one and suffer again that Labour government we have had since 2010.
You have to admire his eternal optimism in the face of 20 point Labour leads in the polls.
I am not Ken Clarke's biggest fan (nothing personal against him, just strongly disagree with his politics) but largely I agree with him here on the Rwanda - yes asylum applications probably should be processed outside of destination, but the choice of Rwanda is puzzling. My guess is it was a 'quick fix' because Rwanda already had some sort of asylum industry set up and other countries did not? I am also puzzled that they cannot come back from Rwanda. It seems fairly simple and fair to me to bring back successful applicants on the planes that the others went out on (preferably far lighter on the return trip). It would still massively deter bogus claimants (providing the system was rigorous), and would mean Rwanda wouldn't 'fill up'.
My conclusion is a bit different though - I think the policy should at least be tried to see if it works.
As discussed on the previous thread, perhaps the idea should be for Western countries to get together and buy cheap one of those empty Chinese cities that their banks don’t want to totally write off, and operate it as a massive free zone under some form of agreed Western law?
1. It is prohibited to kill, injure or capture an adversary by resort to perfidy. Acts inviting the confidence of an adversary to lead him to believe that he is entitled to, or is obliged to accord, protection under the rules of international law applicable in armed conflict, with intent to betray that confidence, shall constitute perfidy. The following acts are examples of perfidy:
(a) The feigning of an intent to negotiate under a flag of truce or of a surrender; (b) The feigning of an incapacitation by wounds or sickness; (c) The feigning of civilian, non-combatant status; and (d) The feigning of protected status by the use of signs, emblems or uniforms of the United Nations or of neutral or other States not Parties to the conflict.
From his twitter he looks a supremely unbiased source of news.
Not.
Aside from playing the man rather than the ball, are you disputing his account of what happened, the IDF's account, or the text of the Geneva Convention?
Have just read about Sunak's visit to This Morning.
Rejoice!
Britain has turned a corner, away from the misery of the last 14 years of Labour governments. He has a plan. So of course he is confident that he can win the election. The alternative is that we go back to square one and suffer again that Labour government we have had since 2010.
You have to admire his eternal optimism in the face of 20 point Labour leads in the polls.
What else can he do? Besides, SOMETHING might turn up...
I see Michelle Obama is down to 9/1 for the Democratic nomination.
Just what on earth are people smoking?
Biden has a Bob Dole moment and it flows from there.
What's not clear to me is why it flows to Michelle Obama and not his perfectly adequate Vice President. Or if you have a way for it to flow around Kamala Harris, why it doesn't instead flow to some other famous American non-politician like Oprah Winfrey or Taylor Swift.
Swift won't be 35 until after the election, but before the inauguration, so does that mean she's eligible?
She'd clearly be a great president, but there would be concerns the work would get in the way of her music.
Has any PB-er ever been to the Stans of Central Asia?
I AM DESPERATE TO GET TO THE STANS OF CENTRAL ASIA
I am making some nice money what with working so hard and halving my drinking and I am prepared to SPUNK IT all over some travel to the last corners of the the globe I do not know. The STANS rank high. I intend to go this summer
However it would be nice if I could get the Knappers Gazette to commission me to write about the “Rhyolite Sex Ticklers of Samarkand” so if any well travelled PBer thinks there is a story to be written about the STANS please tell me, and I will pray for you at the confluence of the Mekong and the Tonle Sap
The mountains of heaven: Tien Shan, that’s gotta be amazing. But what’s the angle?
There's already been a good travel story of the Stans written, which is
I spent a couple of weeks in Kyrgyzstan about 12 years ago, which was an interesting and enjoyable holiday (also about 3 days in Kazakhstan, as I went there by train - very flat).
I was on a (personal) guided tour, which helped with the travel, meals, bookings and so on. In some ways it's like a much wilder version of Switzerland. Phenomenal scenery, iffy politics, shepherds up mountains, lakeside towns, the world mostly passing it by. In other ways, less so. It's a semi-dry country, alcohol-wise (they brew some weird thing out of milk but I was suffering altitude sickness at the time after spending a night in a yurt above 3000m, so gave it a pass). As the Stans go, it's the most liberal still, though that also makes it the least safe but generally not dangerously so other than in identifiable areas of e.g. Bishkek.
1. It is prohibited to kill, injure or capture an adversary by resort to perfidy. Acts inviting the confidence of an adversary to lead him to believe that he is entitled to, or is obliged to accord, protection under the rules of international law applicable in armed conflict, with intent to betray that confidence, shall constitute perfidy. The following acts are examples of perfidy:
(a) The feigning of an intent to negotiate under a flag of truce or of a surrender; (b) The feigning of an incapacitation by wounds or sickness; (c) The feigning of civilian, non-combatant status; and (d) The feigning of protected status by the use of signs, emblems or uniforms of the United Nations or of neutral or other States not Parties to the conflict.
From his twitter he looks a supremely unbiased source of news.
Not.
Aside from playing the man rather than the ball, are you disputing his account of what happened, the IDF's account, or the text of the Geneva Convention?
I am not Ken Clarke's biggest fan (nothing personal against him, just strongly disagree with his politics) but largely I agree with him here on the Rwanda - yes asylum applications probably should be processed outside of destination, but the choice of Rwanda is puzzling. My guess is it was a 'quick fix' because Rwanda already had some sort of asylum industry set up and other countries did not? I am also puzzled that they cannot come back from Rwanda. It seems fairly simple and fair to me to bring back successful applicants on the planes that the others went out on (preferably far lighter on the return trip). It would still massively deter bogus claimants (providing the system was rigorous), and would mean Rwanda wouldn't 'fill up'.
My conclusion is a bit different though - I think the policy should at least be tried to see if it works.
As discussed on the previous thread, perhaps the idea should be for Western countries to get together and buy cheap one of those empty Chinese cities that their banks don’t want to totally write off, and operate it as a massive free zone under some form of agreed Western law?
So we get a Uyghur refugee from China, give them asylum, and then send them off to China? And pay China an enormous wedge for this? Better than Labour, as they have no plan......
Has any PB-er ever been to the Stans of Central Asia?
I AM DESPERATE TO GET TO THE STANS OF CENTRAL ASIA
I am making some nice money what with working so hard and halving my drinking and I am prepared to SPUNK IT all over some travel to the last corners of the the globe I do not know. The STANS rank high. I intend to go this summer
However it would be nice if I could get the Knappers Gazette to commission me to write about the “Rhyolite Sex Ticklers of Samarkand” so if any well travelled PBer thinks there is a story to be written about the STANS please tell me, and I will pray for you at the confluence of the Mekong and the Tonle Sap
The mountains of heaven: Tien Shan, that’s gotta be amazing. But what’s the angle?
You have asked this before and I have answered it before. That famously high IQ is in inevitable decline.
Chechnya is were the stories are. Islamic/OCG statelet and Russian satrapy.
I see Michelle Obama is down to 9/1 for the Democratic nomination.
Just what on earth are people smoking?
Biden has a Bob Dole moment and it flows from there.
What's not clear to me is why it flows to Michelle Obama and not his perfectly adequate Vice President. Or if you have a way for it to flow around Kamala Harris, why it doesn't instead flow to some other famous American non-politician like Oprah Winfrey or Taylor Swift.
Swift won't be 35 until after the election, but before the inauguration, so does that mean she's eligible?
She'd clearly be a great president, but there would be concerns the work would get in the way of her music.
Pretty sure it's the inauguration.
Yes, Inauguration Day. Same applies to AOC who’s almost exactly the same age as Miss Swift.
Has any PB-er ever been to the Stans of Central Asia?
I AM DESPERATE TO GET TO THE STANS OF CENTRAL ASIA
I am making some nice money what with working so hard and halving my drinking and I am prepared to SPUNK IT all over some travel to the last corners of the the globe I do not know. The STANS rank high. I intend to go this summer
However it would be nice if I could get the Knappers Gazette to commission me to write about the “Rhyolite Sex Ticklers of Samarkand” so if any well travelled PBer thinks there is a story to be written about the STANS please tell me, and I will pray for you at the confluence of the Mekong and the Tonle Sap
The mountains of heaven: Tien Shan, that’s gotta be amazing. But what’s the angle?
Only been to Turkmenistan. There might be an interesting story on how the reputation of the completely bonkers Turkmenbashi - the one who renamed the days of the week after the members of his family and had a golden statue of himself rotating towards the sun - has fared since his demise. "What happens to a cult of personality when the personality moves on?"
Nice, and obregado, but I’m thinking of more travel-y ideas
Was Turkmenistan fun? Highlights? Unknown corners?
To be fair, only saw Ashgabat, which was underwhelming. The country is 70% desert, so not hugely inviting. As mentioned previously, it does have the world's largest carpet, but I suspect the other Stans have more romance...
On the Stans, I did go up towards the high Himalayas in Pakistan in the days before the Taliban, which was exquisitely beautiful "Oooh - look over there - K2!" but I doubt it is doable now without serious risk to life and limb. One of the remarkable things up there was stopping and talking to people (when I say people - men) who looked like all other Pakistanis, but with piercing blue eyes - a throwback to when the armies of Alexander the Great wandered around there...
1. It is prohibited to kill, injure or capture an adversary by resort to perfidy. Acts inviting the confidence of an adversary to lead him to believe that he is entitled to, or is obliged to accord, protection under the rules of international law applicable in armed conflict, with intent to betray that confidence, shall constitute perfidy. The following acts are examples of perfidy:
(a) The feigning of an intent to negotiate under a flag of truce or of a surrender; (b) The feigning of an incapacitation by wounds or sickness; (c) The feigning of civilian, non-combatant status; and (d) The feigning of protected status by the use of signs, emblems or uniforms of the United Nations or of neutral or other States not Parties to the conflict.
From his twitter he looks a supremely unbiased source of news.
Not.
Aside from playing the man rather than the ball, are you disputing his account of what happened, the IDF's account, or the text of the Geneva Convention?
I think you know, but clearly suggesting his account of events may not be the whole truth.
It is all over the news, following the IDF's account. His spin is the Geneva Convention but the realpolitik is that Bibi, like Vladimir, will not end up in The Hague.
Comments
We have an election this year, where Ken and everyone else can register their displeasure at the supposed "dictatorship".
And then he can moan about Elected Dictatorship by Woke.
That is bigger than the combined current populations of Greater Manchester, the West Midlands and Leeds.
That looks like the battleground for the next election to me.
The issue will impact how many votes both parties lose to Reform, but I can't see it moving the dial between them much at all.
Just remind me how Hitler, Putin, Modi, Orban, Erdoğan for example first came to power?
And
One of the reasons I am a Thatcherite is this quote from the Iron Lady.
‘The legal system we have and the rule of law are far more responsible for our traditional liberties than any system of one man one vote. Any country or government which wants to proceed towards tyranny starts to undermine legal rights and undermine the law.’
WTF!?!
Where due my youth go?
Was a little concerned for a minute there.
I know some get exercised by Starmer’s lies but nothing will ever top Boris Johnson going to the DUP conference and telling them no UK PM could put a border in the Irish Sea then won an election and put a border in the Irish Sea.
I can see it being where the wheels come off Starmer's election campaign, in the same way they came off May's in 2017. It feeds into concerns about housing, NHS, education, transport. When the underlying unease in the country is that "everything is broken", the idea of having 10% more people in every train carriage, on every NHS waiting list, in every classroom, on every motorway, waiting for every rental property to come available - that is hardly the shiny hope of "things can only get better" that Tony Blair rode to 10 Downing Street.
Oh and proper A List cast.
The weird bit, however, is that you have the Conservatives saying these numbers are way too high, while simultaneously being directly responsible for the numbers being what they are. So, do voters go with what the Tories say or what the Tories do? Or do all voters, whatever their views on immigration, see the Tories as having failed on this?
Were I the Conservative Party, I’d be doing everything possible to move the public discussion on to any other topic!
https://www.reuters.com/technology/neuralink-implants-brain-chip-first-human-musk-says-2024-01-29/
(Presumably it’s actually someone with a serious neurological illness and a very poor quality of life, happy to donate their living body to science for as long as they’re still alive).
“ If we submit ourselves to law, even submit to losing freedoms, the freedom to oppress, for instance, we may discover other freedoms previously unknown to us.”
https://twitter.com/muhammadshehad2/status/1752233848262295844
Article 37. – Prohibition of perfidy
1. It is prohibited to kill, injure or capture an adversary by resort to perfidy. Acts inviting the confidence of an adversary to lead him to believe that he is entitled to, or is obliged to accord, protection under the rules of international law applicable in armed conflict, with intent to betray that confidence, shall constitute perfidy. The following acts are examples of perfidy:
(a) The feigning of an intent to negotiate under a flag of truce or of a surrender;
(b) The feigning of an incapacitation by wounds or sickness;
(c) The feigning of civilian, non-combatant status; and
(d) The feigning of protected status by the use of signs, emblems or uniforms of the United Nations or of neutral or other States not Parties to the conflict.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rB6IOWHzdZg
Britain is ready to bring forward the moment when it formally recognises a Palestinian state, the foreign secretary has suggested.
Lord Cameron said Palestinians had to be given a political horizon to encourage peace in the Middle East.
He is beginning his fourth visit to the region since being appointed foreign secretary in November.
The UK has a responsibility to set out what a Palestinian state would look like, he told a Westminster reception.
The Palestinian people would have to be shown "irreversible progress" towards a two-state solution, Lord Cameron said.
"As that happens, we - with allies - will look at the issue of recognising a Palestinian state, including at the United Nations," he told the Conservative Middle East Council.
"That could be one of the things that helps to make this process irreversible."
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-68137220.
We've been there before, as indeed you show.
Thankfully there are other parties who currently support recognising a Palestinian state that are also not completely terrible in every other way.
Not.
Ken Clarke is the only member of the Lords that is "present" in that chamber. Everyone else is asleep, or possibly dead.
All sorts of sectors of the economy would collapse without people coming here and doing our jobs. That's especially true for health and social care, where the ultimate employer is... wait for it... HM Government.
Lots of people like the idea of reducing immigration... that's understandable. But I'll happily wager a shiny sixpence that they wouldn't like the knock on effects of reducing it to the extent they wish.
https://www.ipsos.com/sites/default/files/ct/news/documents/2024-01/ipsos-politicial-monitor-uk-charts-january-2024.pdf
22% Lab lead, up 5% since December, Labour to 49% on the headline measure.
Reform surprisingly at only 4%. I am not sure if Ipsos prompt for Reform. It is a massively different figure from normal internet based polling drawn from sample panels.
Truly shocking figures for Sunak personally. Only 26% think he would make the most capable PM, the lowest figure for any Conservative PM since 2010, not a patch on what Liz Truss managed. Starmer has a 13% lead on that measure.
The question is: why this wasn't the case in the 1990s - were the demographics simply much more favourable? - and how do we spend over the 10-20 years so it becomes no longer necessary through structural reform?
In the meantime, immigration is more carefully controlled - and university "students" need clamping down on, and HMG will have to step in to fund those universities more so they are not as reliant on them.
The weird thing is that the Tories are so fixated on the headline GDP numbers they haven't gone for this.
As it is, they seem determined to push their core voters to Reform whilst alienating everyone else as well.
On the plus side for them, if they manage to avoid Reform totally eating their lunch, winning against a wildly unpopular KS in 5 years time with a main policy of net zero migration is going to be extremely easy.
Labour will be deeply unpopular within a year, because of this issue (and others) - our problems are too grave
If ever a hard right party is going to arise, and take over the Tories, and finally do something about this absurdity, it is 2024-2029
Ins’allah
Followers of Hayek, eg the Chilean "Chicago Boys", have had a much patchier record in this regard than I have.
Their virtue is negotiable though
So win-win - Hamas leadership would have to leave Gaza and, presumably, displaced as its government also.
What's not to like.
ny times
It is government policy from 2019 and re-affirmed regularly since then including 2023.
Then they moan about it and say Labour have no plan.........and wonder why voters go to Reform or Labour.
Just bonkers I'm afraid.
You say it is "guaranteed they are not leaving". OK, if it's guaranteed, prove it.
Just what on earth are people smoking?
Has any PB-er ever been to the Stans of Central Asia?
I AM DESPERATE TO GET TO THE STANS OF CENTRAL ASIA
I am making some nice money what with working so hard and halving my drinking and I am prepared to SPUNK IT all over some travel to the last corners of the the globe I do not know. The STANS rank high. I intend to go this summer
However it would be nice if I could get the Knappers Gazette to commission me to write about the “Rhyolite Sex Ticklers of Samarkand” so if any well travelled PBer thinks there is a story to be written about the STANS please tell me, and I will pray for you at the confluence of the Mekong and the Tonle Sap
The mountains of heaven: Tien Shan, that’s gotta be amazing. But what’s the angle?
My conclusion is a bit different though - I think the policy should at least be tried to see if it works.
The pro-immigration lobby - a truly unholy alliance of the far left, the Woke left, the Remainers, and Tory neo-liberal right wing big business - have pushed the British (a genuinely tolerant bunch) to the edge of that tolerance, and almost over the edge. We are seeing cities transformed in short years, and still they push for MORE immigration
The centre cannot hold, this will all fall apart. Expect MAJOR ructions and a serious push for zero net migration. One in, one out
Is this also understandable - perhaps because attempting to use a hospital as a shelter is itself a war crime, and the IDF were trying (successfully, by the looks of things!) to minimise civilian casualties, or does this game only work one way?
Or is "perfidy" that much worse than hostage taking?
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/watch-israeli-soldiers-in-disguise-raid-west-bank-hospital-to-kill-three-hamas-terrorists/ar-BB1htPdV
If her Party/nation called, would she really throw that chance away? Be interesting to see some polling. But you'd have to think she'd make a fascinating first female President.
Was Turkmenistan fun? Highlights? Unknown corners?
She'd clearly be a great president, but there would be concerns the work would get in the way of her music.
Rejoice!
Britain has turned a corner, away from the misery of the last 14 years of Labour governments. He has a plan. So of course he is confident that he can win the election. The alternative is that we go back to square one and suffer again that Labour government we have had since 2010.
I get the "all or nothing" mentality but it seems illogical. My friend doesn't think that one glass will lead to 10 pints of snakebite and five bottles of a decent red.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sovietistan-Turkmenistan-Kazakhstan-Tajikistan-Kyrgyzstan/dp/0857057774
and worth a read.
I spent a couple of weeks in Kyrgyzstan about 12 years ago, which was an interesting and enjoyable holiday (also about 3 days in Kazakhstan, as I went there by train - very flat).
I was on a (personal) guided tour, which helped with the travel, meals, bookings and so on. In some ways it's like a much wilder version of Switzerland. Phenomenal scenery, iffy politics, shepherds up mountains, lakeside towns, the world mostly passing it by. In other ways, less so. It's a semi-dry country, alcohol-wise (they brew some weird thing out of milk but I was suffering altitude sickness at the time after spending a night in a yurt above 3000m, so gave it a pass). As the Stans go, it's the most liberal still, though that also makes it the least safe but generally not dangerously so other than in identifiable areas of e.g. Bishkek.
Which was the naughty bit.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/jan/30/ukrainians-uk-shocked-shortage-dentists-survey
Bloody Ukrainians, coming here, nicking our dentists and freelance language teachers.
Chechnya is were the stories are. Islamic/OCG statelet and Russian satrapy.
On the Stans, I did go up towards the high Himalayas in Pakistan in the days before the Taliban, which was exquisitely beautiful "Oooh - look over there - K2!" but I doubt it is doable now without serious risk to life and limb. One of the remarkable things up there was stopping and talking to people (when I say people - men) who looked like all other Pakistanis, but with piercing blue eyes - a throwback to when the armies of Alexander the Great wandered around there...