Beergate2 for the PB Tory’s to get stuck into on front of MoS.
Rayners Housegate!
48K net on a house bought in 2007? She must almost have been trying to *lose* money. And that's before correction for inflation, I assume.
£48k profit on a £26k investment? 3x her money in 15 years is not too bad
Er, not according to the Mail Online:
"Records show she took out a mortgage to pay £79,000 for the two-bedroom property, having been granted a £26,000 discount on its market value – a typical right-to-buy discount of one quarter. She sold it for £127,500 in March 2015, making a paper profit of £48,500. "
Made the mistake of relying on the accuracy of the bullet points at the top of the Mail Online story…
Angela Rayner bought her council house in Stockport for £26,000 in 2007
A quick check of the BoE inflation calculator shows that 79K in 2007 was alone worth 96K in 2015, and we don't know what capital improvements she put into it ...
All rather thin beer and weak korma.
Also, that weasel 'paper profit'. If she had then to buy a new house at a similarly Tory-inflated price, then ...
But it's the usual stuff. We'll soon be told that she kept donkeys in the back yard for her mother.
How do you address the hypocrisy angle?
The question is whether there is anything in the first place. After the donkeys, I wouldn't believe anything the DM said about any Labour activist without scrutinising it very carefully, and we have already seen its malicious misrepresentation fooling intelligent PBers.
Nope. It’s plainly there laughing at your post. You personally benefited from a scheme you now intend to scrap so no one else can.
You have no answer at all to clear hypocrisy there?
Beergate2 for the PB Tory’s to get stuck into on front of MoS.
Rayners Housegate!
48K net on a house bought in 2007? She must almost have been trying to *lose* money. And that's before correction for inflation, I assume.
£48k profit on a £26k investment? 3x her money in 15 years is not too bad
Er, not according to the Mail Online:
"Records show she took out a mortgage to pay £79,000 for the two-bedroom property, having been granted a £26,000 discount on its market value – a typical right-to-buy discount of one quarter. She sold it for £127,500 in March 2015, making a paper profit of £48,500. "
Made the mistake of relying on the accuracy of the bullet points at the top of the Mail Online story…
Angela Rayner bought her council house in Stockport for £26,000 in 2007
A quick check of the BoE inflation calculator shows that 79K in 2007 was alone worth 96K in 2015, and we don't know what capital improvements she put into it ...
All rather thin beer and weak korma.
Also, that weasel 'paper profit'. If she had then to buy a new house at a similarly Tory-inflated price, then ...
But it's the usual stuff. We'll soon be told that she kept donkeys in the back yard for her mother.
How do you address the hypocrisy angle?
The question is whether there is anything in the first place. After the donkeys, I wouldn't believe anything the DM said about any Labour activist without scrutinising it very carefully, and we have already seen its malicious misrepresentation fooling intelligent PBers.
PS Hope the lambing is going well, in this weather.
"Well, Clarice, have the lambs stopped screaming?"
Someone in that bunch should certainly find another party. I believe the Lib Dems would be suitable.
Truss’ railing against the deep state as an excuse for her own breathtaking incompetence should be embarrassingly pathetic , unfortunately is not because there are a mob of armchair warriors that actually believe her nonsense.
I care less about someone using fruity language to promote their book to Americans than I do about the real problems with the British state, namely a class of self-interested and ideologically motivated functionaries running our country into the ground. Something which neither the current Government nor the assumed next one seem to want to do anything about.
“ a class of self-interested and ideologically motivated functionaries running our country into the ground.”
They have no ideology apart from
1) People Like Us should keep running things. 2) If we keep adding Process, one day, Real Soon, everything will be perfect.
This thinking is the resort of people who don't want to face up to the fact that we have had a totally inept, misguided, shambles of a government for the past 14 years.
"It's all the Blob, the lefty-liberal Blob! If only we'd been allowed to govern properly everything would be fine."
It’s not a lefty blob. Or a righty blob. It’s a way of thinking that tries to remove thinking from the process. And morality. And accountability.
I partly agree. It's a statist, centrist blob. Its beliefs are:
- the private sector is just a cash cow. Its only purpose is to fund the Public Good. As we define it. And our salaries and benefits, of course. - whatever the problem, from global warming to hate speech online to a youth centre in Swindon, more government is always the solution, as long as it is arranged by us - the more of us there are, the better - discontent amongst the proles can always be bought off with other people's money - short term fixes are better than long-term radical change. If they have bad long-term consequences, who cares because we'll be in other jobs or retired by then?
Truss was not “right wing”, if right wing is taken to include fiscal conservatism.
Her policy was simply tax cuts for the rich on the never-never, which is why the bond markets threw a shit fit.
The woman is simply a crackpot. It’s a terrifying indictment of British politics that she was even allowed into Cabinet, let alone the highest office in the land.
The reason that Liz Truss cannot fly is that she has been held back by a deep state cabal of unelected scientific experts with their so called law of gravity.
This blob is literally holding Britain down.
At the same time, there most certainly is a blob. There’s always been a blob. Thatcher fought against a blob of wets. Churchill had to overcome an appeasement blob.
I have *some* sympathy with the notion that it is jolly hard to get reform done. And it may even be harder than it ever has been.
But Truss and Johnson and Cummings et al don’t really want reform. They simply wish to do what they want, unhindered by process or even, often, simple facts.
But does the blob exist outside their subjective views? The Trussian blob will undoubtedly have been different from that faced by, say, Messrs Cameron or (in a counterfactual) Corbyn. Owes more to reading H. P. Lovecraft under the bedcover with a torch in her younger days.
"I fought the blob, and the blob won" is perhaps Liz's epitaph.
Possibly with a spelling mistake just to underline the staggering inaccuracy.
Someone in that bunch should certainly find another party. I believe the Lib Dems would be suitable.
Truss’ railing against the deep state as an excuse for her own breathtaking incompetence should be embarrassingly pathetic , unfortunately is not because there are a mob of armchair warriors that actually believe her nonsense.
I care less about someone using fruity language to promote their book to Americans than I do about the real problems with the British state, namely a class of self-interested and ideologically motivated functionaries running our country into the ground. Something which neither the current Government nor the assumed next one seem to want to do anything about.
“ a class of self-interested and ideologically motivated functionaries running our country into the ground.”
They have no ideology apart from
1) People Like Us should keep running things. 2) If we keep adding Process, one day, Real Soon, everything will be perfect.
This thinking is the resort of people who don't want to face up to the fact that we have had a totally inept, misguided, shambles of a government for the past 14 years.
"It's all the Blob, the lefty-liberal Blob! If only we'd been allowed to govern properly everything would be fine."
It’s not a lefty blob. Or a righty blob. It’s a way of thinking that tries to remove thinking from the process. And morality. And accountability.
I partly agree. It's a statist, centrist blob. Its beliefs are:
- the private sector is just a cash cow. Its only purpose is to fund the Public Good. As we define it. And our salaries and benefits, of course. - whatever the problem, from global warming to hate speech online to a youth centre in Swindon, more government is always the solution, as long as it is arranged by us - the more of us there are, the better - discontent amongst the proles can always be bought off with other people's money - short term fixes are better than long-term radical change. If they have bad long-term consequences, who cares because we'll be in other jobs or retired by then?
Alternatively. The Conservatives have been in power for 14 years, they did a lot of things, which on reflection didn’t work out as the hoped and maybe, just maybe they were wrong.
Truss was not “right wing”, if right wing is taken to include fiscal conservatism.
Her policy was simply tax cuts for the rich on the never-never, which is why the bond markets threw a shit fit.
The woman is simply a crackpot. It’s a terrifying indictment of British politics that she was even allowed into Cabinet, let alone the highest office in the land.
The reason that Liz Truss cannot fly is that she has been held back by a deep state cabal of unelected scientific experts with their so called law of gravity.
This blob is literally holding Britain down.
At the same time, there most certainly is a blob. There’s always been a blob. Thatcher fought against a blob of wets. Churchill had to overcome an appeasement blob.
I have *some* sympathy with the notion that it is jolly hard to get reform done. And it may even be harder than it ever has been.
But Truss and Johnson and Cummings et al don’t really want reform. They simply wish to do what they want, unhindered by process or even, often, simple facts.
Quite a few people had to overcome the 'drunken Churchill blob'.
The removal of the whip from Lee Anderson means the Tories’ overall majority is now just *46* (down from 80 in 2019).
Due to be 44 soon, surely?
You’re referring to what? Just 45 if member for Las Vegas South is struck off, but there won’t be a by election.
Not a by election because there’s no more by elections this parliament, even if it goes to December. The Tories will quite rightly say it’s too close to a General Election to waste money on a by election. Tories cannot now lose any seats to opponents in this Parliament.
Someone in that bunch should certainly find another party. I believe the Lib Dems would be suitable.
Truss’ railing against the deep state as an excuse for her own breathtaking incompetence should be embarrassingly pathetic , unfortunately is not because there are a mob of armchair warriors that actually believe her nonsense.
I care less about someone using fruity language to promote their book to Americans than I do about the real problems with the British state, namely a class of self-interested and ideologically motivated functionaries running our country into the ground. Something which neither the current Government nor the assumed next one seem to want to do anything about.
“ a class of self-interested and ideologically motivated functionaries running our country into the ground.”
They have no ideology apart from
1) People Like Us should keep running things. 2) If we keep adding Process, one day, Real Soon, everything will be perfect.
This thinking is the resort of people who don't want to face up to the fact that we have had a totally inept, misguided, shambles of a government for the past 14 years.
"It's all the Blob, the lefty-liberal Blob! If only we'd been allowed to govern properly everything would be fine."
It’s not a lefty blob. Or a righty blob. It’s a way of thinking that tries to remove thinking from the process. And morality. And accountability.
I partly agree. It's a statist, centrist blob. Its beliefs are:
- the private sector is just a cash cow. Its only purpose is to fund the Public Good. As we define it. And our salaries and benefits, of course. - whatever the problem, from global warming to hate speech online to a youth centre in Swindon, more government is always the solution, as long as it is arranged by us - the more of us there are, the better - discontent amongst the proles can always be bought off with other people's money - short term fixes are better than long-term radical change. If they have bad long-term consequences, who cares because we'll be in other jobs or retired by then?
It’s not even statist. You find it in the private sector. The defining characteristic, for me, is a disconnection with the actual purpose of the organisation. You sit in meetings where they could be running the KGB in 1973 and it would be no different - just endless self congratulation about nothing.
There's CCTV video showing the police seemingly allowing a group of pro-Palestinian protestors to get into the Conservative fund-raiser that was disrupted last night:
Lee Anderson was foolish and cack-handed in his words about Khan, and also self-harming to his cause. Twit
Nonetheless a lot of people will be looking at these various videos of MPs being aggressively heckled, councils being invaded, parliament forced into quasi-lockdown, streets and bridges closed, and they will think "he also had a point"
I think both sides of the debate overreact when it comes to Islamic extremism.
And dialogue between them there is none.
There is now a clear, present and lethal danger to our democracy, and it comes from Islamic extremism, and it is worsened by the way it has progressively seduced some idiot lefties, and menaced the moderate lefties, and also harnessed wider (and understandable) anger over Gaza
The threat still appears relatively small but the potential is grave and serious. It’s a bit like seeing the first signs of a fire in a crowded theatre. How do you relay the serious danger to the theatre goers, without making everything worse, by causing a panic, yet also making sure people DO perceive the threat?
Lee Anderson did the equivalent of leap around pointing at people shouting “arsonist! Arsonist!” That makes it easy to dismiss him as a nutter with a grudge and actually makes it harder to tell everyone, “er, there actually is a fire, we need to respond now”
There is indeed a clear, present and lethal danger to our democracy. It comes from Putin and Trump.
Those are both external threats. We also have an internal threat
"Anti-Muslim hate incidents in Britain TRIPLE since Hamas' assault on Israel - with women bearing the brunt of racist attacks, watchdog reports More than 2,000 hate crimes against Muslims recorded since October 7"
Something else to thank Hamas for then.
Didn't have you down as an Islamophobe.
I despise terrorism. Don't you?
Yes, which is why I despise the Israeli terror-bombing of the Palestinian people.
Hamas' human shields.
Hamas wouldn't have come about if Israel had recognised Palestinian independence back in the 1990s.
Eh? Hamas were founded in the 1980s and helped scupper the 1990s peace process - when the Palestinian, not Israel rejected Oslo and an independent Palestinian state.
There are many rights and wrongs on all sides, but one of the biggest problems has been the Palestinian leadership never properly recognising Israel's right to exist and thus reject every opportunity for partition and mutual recognition because they are maximalists who mean what they chant in 'From the River to the Sea'.
Beergate2 for the PB Tory’s to get stuck into on front of MoS.
Rayners Housegate!
48K net on a house bought in 2007? She must almost have been trying to *lose* money. And that's before correction for inflation, I assume.
£48k profit on a £26k investment? 3x her money in 15 years is not too bad
Er, not according to the Mail Online:
"Records show she took out a mortgage to pay £79,000 for the two-bedroom property, having been granted a £26,000 discount on its market value – a typical right-to-buy discount of one quarter. She sold it for £127,500 in March 2015, making a paper profit of £48,500. "
Made the mistake of relying on the accuracy of the bullet points at the top of the Mail Online story…
Angela Rayner bought her council house in Stockport for £26,000 in 2007
A quick check of the BoE inflation calculator shows that 79K in 2007 was alone worth 96K in 2015, and we don't know what capital improvements she put into it ...
All rather thin beer and weak korma.
Also, that weasel 'paper profit'. If she had then to buy a new house at a similarly Tory-inflated price, then ...
But it's the usual stuff. We'll soon be told that she kept donkeys in the back yard for her mother.
How do you address the hypocrisy angle?
The question is whether there is anything in the first place. After the donkeys, I wouldn't believe anything the DM said about any Labour activist without scrutinising it very carefully, and we have already seen its malicious misrepresentation fooling intelligent PBers.
PS Hope the lambing is going well, in this weather.
The weather’s been okay in the lambing shed 😏 When dear mum went out, I bottle fed some on the sofa.
They like climbing. Got a picture of one sat on my head.
Someone in that bunch should certainly find another party. I believe the Lib Dems would be suitable.
Truss’ railing against the deep state as an excuse for her own breathtaking incompetence should be embarrassingly pathetic , unfortunately is not because there are a mob of armchair warriors that actually believe her nonsense.
I care less about someone using fruity language to promote their book to Americans than I do about the real problems with the British state, namely a class of self-interested and ideologically motivated functionaries running our country into the ground. Something which neither the current Government nor the assumed next one seem to want to do anything about.
“ a class of self-interested and ideologically motivated functionaries running our country into the ground.”
They have no ideology apart from
1) People Like Us should keep running things. 2) If we keep adding Process, one day, Real Soon, everything will be perfect.
This thinking is the resort of people who don't want to face up to the fact that we have had a totally inept, misguided, shambles of a government for the past 14 years.
"It's all the Blob, the lefty-liberal Blob! If only we'd been allowed to govern properly everything would be fine."
It’s not a lefty blob. Or a righty blob. It’s a way of thinking that tries to remove thinking from the process. And morality. And accountability.
I partly agree. It's a statist, centrist blob. Its beliefs are:
- the private sector is just a cash cow. Its only purpose is to fund the Public Good. As we define it. And our salaries and benefits, of course. - whatever the problem, from global warming to hate speech online to a youth centre in Swindon, more government is always the solution, as long as it is arranged by us - the more of us there are, the better - discontent amongst the proles can always be bought off with other people's money - short term fixes are better than long-term radical change. If they have bad long-term consequences, who cares because we'll be in other jobs or retired by then?
It’s not even statist. You find it in the private sector. The defining characteristic, for me, is a disconnection with the actual purpose of the organisation. You sit in meetings where they could be running the KGB in 1973 and it would be no different - just endless self congratulation about nothing.
... Have you been sitting in on my Zoom calls? I don't spend all of them with my camera off, just staring out the window thinking "Why is UK productivity so low?".
Not all of them.
Some of them I have to waste my time looking attentive instead.
There's CCTV video showing the police seemingly allowing a group of pro-Palestinian protestors to get into the Conservative fund-raiser that was disrupted last night:
Lee Anderson was foolish and cack-handed in his words about Khan, and also self-harming to his cause. Twit
Nonetheless a lot of people will be looking at these various videos of MPs being aggressively heckled, councils being invaded, parliament forced into quasi-lockdown, streets and bridges closed, and they will think "he also had a point"
I think both sides of the debate overreact when it comes to Islamic extremism.
And dialogue between them there is none.
There is now a clear, present and lethal danger to our democracy, and it comes from Islamic extremism, and it is worsened by the way it has progressively seduced some idiot lefties, and menaced the moderate lefties, and also harnessed wider (and understandable) anger over Gaza
The threat still appears relatively small but the potential is grave and serious. It’s a bit like seeing the first signs of a fire in a crowded theatre. How do you relay the serious danger to the theatre goers, without making everything worse, by causing a panic, yet also making sure people DO perceive the threat?
Lee Anderson did the equivalent of leap around pointing at people shouting “arsonist! Arsonist!” That makes it easy to dismiss him as a nutter with a grudge and actually makes it harder to tell everyone, “er, there actually is a fire, we need to respond now”
There is indeed a clear, present and lethal danger to our democracy. It comes from Putin and Trump.
Those are both external threats. We also have an internal threat
"Anti-Muslim hate incidents in Britain TRIPLE since Hamas' assault on Israel - with women bearing the brunt of racist attacks, watchdog reports More than 2,000 hate crimes against Muslims recorded since October 7"
Something else to thank Hamas for then.
Didn't have you down as an Islamophobe.
I despise terrorism. Don't you?
Yes, which is why I despise the Israeli terror-bombing of the Palestinian people.
Hamas' human shields.
Hamas wouldn't have come about if Israel had recognised Palestinian independence back in the 1990s.
Eh? Hamas were founded in the 1980s and helped scupper the 1990s peace process - when the Palestinian, not Israel rejected Oslo and an independent Palestinian state.
There are many rights and wrongs on all sides, but one of the biggest problems has been the Palestinian leadership never properly recognising Israel's right to exist and thus reject every opportunity for partition and mutual recognition because they are maximalists who mean what they chant in 'From the River to the Sea'.
I was having a discussion with a Palestinian colleague a year or two ago (we were avoiding a meeting by having another meeting, just to join the comment-dots). We were comparing who had the worst governments. It was the 'height' of Liz's triumphant reign. I was quite insistent that it was us. Then she explained that just a day or two before about six opposition candidates in Palestine had been shot through the head on a beach for daring to question the ruling faction.
At which point I conceded that Liz would not in fact have managed that. If anything giving her a gun would have been a danger to all and sundry in the surrounding 1/4 mile.
The interesting question for me would be whether the Baltics could run their own program or would go joint with Poland.
Contrary to the belief that nuclear weapons are expensive - check out the South African program. Which quietly built bombs for a tiny fraction of their national budget. Once you can get a simple bomb into a 1000lb bomb shape - that’s all you need for basic deterrence.
Little Boy was massively over engineered. And under fueled - a lot of its core was less than 90% U235
That’s before you get to the fun stuff - like air lenses, flying plates etc
All governments since 1979 have been neo-liberal. Blair - like Clinton in the US - was merely a more social democratic permutation.
Neo-liberalism failed in 2008, but nobody seems to have figured out what should replace it. The right’s eventual response to failure has been to dispense with its ideological underpinnings altogether in favour of populism.
It’s important to note that since 2010 the UK policy regime has been a unique blend of austerity + low investment + no housing + trade barriers + high immigration. But none of these are essentially right wing per se, and we can’t therefore necessarily expect a left wing party to change that formula.
It should have been replaced with a soft version of social democracy.
All governments since 1979 have been neo-liberal. Blair - like Clinton in the US - was merely a more social democratic permutation.
Neo-liberalism failed in 2008, but nobody seems to have figured out what should replace it. The right’s eventual response to failure has been to dispense with its ideological underpinnings altogether in favour of populism.
It’s important to note that since 2010 the UK policy regime has been a unique blend of austerity + low investment + no housing + trade barriers + high immigration. But none of these are essentially right wing per se, and we can’t therefore necessarily expect a left wing party to change that formula.
It should have been replaced with a soft version of social democracy.
We have had social democracy for 40+ years its led is to the state we are in. You think more of the same is the answer?
Someone in that bunch should certainly find another party. I believe the Lib Dems would be suitable.
Truss’ railing against the deep state as an excuse for her own breathtaking incompetence should be embarrassingly pathetic , unfortunately is not because there are a mob of armchair warriors that actually believe her nonsense.
I care less about someone using fruity language to promote their book to Americans than I do about the real problems with the British state, namely a class of self-interested and ideologically motivated functionaries running our country into the ground. Something which neither the current Government nor the assumed next one seem to want to do anything about.
“ a class of self-interested and ideologically motivated functionaries running our country into the ground.”
They have no ideology apart from
1) People Like Us should keep running things. 2) If we keep adding Process, one day, Real Soon, everything will be perfect.
This thinking is the resort of people who don't want to face up to the fact that we have had a totally inept, misguided, shambles of a government for the past 14 years.
"It's all the Blob, the lefty-liberal Blob! If only we'd been allowed to govern properly everything would be fine."
It’s not a lefty blob. Or a righty blob. It’s a way of thinking that tries to remove thinking from the process. And morality. And accountability.
I partly agree. It's a statist, centrist blob. Its beliefs are:
- the private sector is just a cash cow. Its only purpose is to fund the Public Good. As we define it. And our salaries and benefits, of course. - whatever the problem, from global warming to hate speech online to a youth centre in Swindon, more government is always the solution, as long as it is arranged by us - the more of us there are, the better - discontent amongst the proles can always be bought off with other people's money - short term fixes are better than long-term radical change. If they have bad long-term consequences, who cares because we'll be in other jobs or retired by then?
It’s not even statist. You find it in the private sector. The defining characteristic, for me, is a disconnection with the actual purpose of the organisation. You sit in meetings where they could be running the KGB in 1973 and it would be no different - just endless self congratulation about nothing.
... Have you been sitting in on my Zoom calls? I don't spend all of them with my camera off, just staring out the window thinking "Why is UK productivity so low?".
Not all of them.
Some of them I have to waste my time looking attentive instead.
All organisations accrete bullshit until they collapse.
The reason that the US was an economic leader for so long was its ability to allow the collapses to happen.
A few decades ago, Boeing, LockMart and their bastard child ULA owned the space business.
Boeing can’t now get a simple space capsule to orbit (Starliner). ULA is about to be bought by Blue Origin. Everyone else’s lunch has been eaten by SpaceX.
Boeing and LockMart will retreat to military contracts. The drone revolution will possibly start chipping away there, though.
The US has an extraordinary system of contrasts - companies like Boeing are supported and protected by the state. While mad piratical organisations are allowed to grow.
The sane way is some kind of balance between these competing ideologies.
If you want this country to grow, we need to understand that risk can’t be bought out. That we need to try many things and only some will succeed. That a thousand page rule book can’t give you morality or decency. Or even success.
It's worth recalling that it was the Tories' fear of being overhauled by UKIP (now respawned as Reform) that gave us Brexit. After that whole shit show, here we are again with the Tories facing the same prospect. When will they learn?
All governments since 1979 have been neo-liberal. Blair - like Clinton in the US - was merely a more social democratic permutation.
Neo-liberalism failed in 2008, but nobody seems to have figured out what should replace it. The right’s eventual response to failure has been to dispense with its ideological underpinnings altogether in favour of populism.
It’s important to note that since 2010 the UK policy regime has been a unique blend of austerity + low investment + no housing + trade barriers + high immigration. But none of these are essentially right wing per se, and we can’t therefore necessarily expect a left wing party to change that formula.
It should have been replaced with a soft version of social democracy.
We have had social democracy for 40+ years its led is to the state we are in. You think more of the same is the answer?
All governments since 1979 have been neo-liberal. Blair - like Clinton in the US - was merely a more social democratic permutation.
Neo-liberalism failed in 2008, but nobody seems to have figured out what should replace it. The right’s eventual response to failure has been to dispense with its ideological underpinnings altogether in favour of populism.
It’s important to note that since 2010 the UK policy regime has been a unique blend of austerity + low investment + no housing + trade barriers + high immigration. But none of these are essentially right wing per se, and we can’t therefore necessarily expect a left wing party to change that formula.
It should have been replaced with a soft version of social democracy.
We have had social democracy for 40+ years its led is to the state we are in. You think more of the same is the answer?
Ha bloody ha. Just keep telling yourself that.
What else would you call it, highest tax, highest state spending and been increasing year on year. Its not neo liberal despite the claims thats american ways. Sadly people label anything that is not out right corbynite socialism these days as neo liberal or fascist. They are wrong. The uk has been a social democratic state since at least the 90's and it has led us to ruin
Beergate2 for the PB Tory’s to get stuck into on front of MoS.
Rayners Housegate!
48K net on a house bought in 2007? She must almost have been trying to *lose* money. And that's before correction for inflation, I assume.
£48k profit on a £26k investment? 3x her money in 15 years is not too bad
Er, not according to the Mail Online:
"Records show she took out a mortgage to pay £79,000 for the two-bedroom property, having been granted a £26,000 discount on its market value – a typical right-to-buy discount of one quarter. She sold it for £127,500 in March 2015, making a paper profit of £48,500. "
Made the mistake of relying on the accuracy of the bullet points at the top of the Mail Online story…
Angela Rayner bought her council house in Stockport for £26,000 in 2007
A quick check of the BoE inflation calculator shows that 79K in 2007 was alone worth 96K in 2015, and we don't know what capital improvements she put into it ...
All rather thin beer and weak korma.
Also, that weasel 'paper profit'. If she had then to buy a new house at a similarly Tory-inflated price, then ...
But it's the usual stuff. We'll soon be told that she kept donkeys in the back yard for her mother.
How do you address the hypocrisy angle?
I don't buy hypocrisy here. Maybe one could use the arguement that the nation can no longer afford right to buy, certainly in homelessness terms. That's a weak argument granted, but it is what it is. No hypocrisy.
This is almost as crap a smear on Rayner as was M1ngegate.
It's worth recalling that it was the Tories' fear of being overhauled by UKIP (now respawned as Reform) that gave us Brexit. After that whole shit show, here we are again with the Tories facing the same prospect. When will they learn?
How do they top Brexit? Actually don't answer, I've thought of my own list: Hanging, flogging, repatriation, workhouses and even more free unicorns.
Here’s a fun thought. Ukraine might well have enough bomb grade U235 kicking around from small research reactors. Poland has some, I believe.
Oh well. I was worried for a bit. Although TBH I don't know why the Ukranians don't just tiptoe into Belarus and steal theirs. They've only been there for a couple of months: they're probably still under a tarp.
It's worth recalling that it was the Tories' fear of being overhauled by UKIP (now respawned as Reform) that gave us Brexit. After that whole shit show, here we are again with the Tories facing the same prospect. When will they learn?
How do they top Brexit? Actually don't answer, I've thought of my own list: Hanging, flogging, repatriation, workhouses and even more free unicorns.
It was the Whigs who introduced the workhouses not the Tories
Here’s a fun thought. Ukraine might well have enough bomb grade U235 kicking around from small research reactors. Poland has some, I believe.
Oh well. I was worried for a bit. Although TBH I don't know why the Ukranians don't just tiptoe into Belarus and steal theirs. They've only been there for a couple of months: they're probably still under a tarp.
During the first Gulf War, Iraq had enough HEU in a research reactor to make an implosion weapon. They just never got around to the obvious.
Probably they had to form a committee to decide what biscuits should be served in the committee meeting to decide which picture of Saddam would go on the casing. Or something like that.
After the first Gulf War, the US reversed the policy on handing out TRIGA reactors like cheap candy. And tried to get lots of counties to get rid of them (and similar).
The New Statesman's election forecast is currently predicting a very similar result to 1997 and 2001 in terms of seats for the two main parties, 416 for Lab and 161 for Con. (1997 was 419/165, 2001 was 413/166).
It's worth recalling that it was the Tories' fear of being overhauled by UKIP (now respawned as Reform) that gave us Brexit. After that whole shit show, here we are again with the Tories facing the same prospect. When will they learn?
How do they top Brexit? Actually don't answer, I've thought of my own list: Hanging, flogging, repatriation, workhouses and even more free unicorns.
That’s ludicrous.
The sane ordering is flogging, workhouses, hanging and *then* repatriation.
It's worth recalling that it was the Tories' fear of being overhauled by UKIP (now respawned as Reform) that gave us Brexit. After that whole shit show, here we are again with the Tories facing the same prospect. When will they learn?
How do they top Brexit? Actually don't answer, I've thought of my own list: Hanging, flogging, repatriation, workhouses and even more free unicorns.
That’s ludicrous.
The sane ordering is flogging, workhouses, hanging and *then* repatriation.
Flogging before workhouse? Are you daft?
Workhouse. Flogging. Repatriation. Hanging.
And only those who can sing for their supper get Unicorn. Cooked slow and low.
England have some talented youngsters, this Scottish kid Finn Smith, nice, Feyi-Aboso, get Marcus Smith back, and somehow Henry Arundell, suddenly we look more piercing
But this game is lost to the genius of Van Der Merwe
Feyi-Aboso is Welsh - born & bred in Cardiff. But he chose the dark side...
I think my predictions were a bit better than yours today. I predicted Ireland and Scotland would win by wider margins than you, and so it was
Nonetheless you now have 8/8 correct 6N predictions. Bravo! And it will surely be 9/9 by end of play tomorrow
Can you call every single match correctly in a whole 6N campaign?! If you do, PB should collectively buy you a bottle of your favourite wine
Although every game so far has been won by the favourites.
Sure, but nonetheless 8/8 is proprerly impressive, and several of these games have been knife edge stuff, Wales England, Wales Scotland, Scotland France (which Scotland should have won in the last moment), etc
I wonder what the accumulated odds would be, if you put down a tenner at the start of the 6N, then got the first 9 games all correct
i repeat what I said earlier - picking the winners is easy - picking the margin is much more difficult. I underestimated the margins in both of Saturdays games although both games played out pretty much as predicted.
There's going to be an East Midlands Regional Mayor covering Notts, Nottingham, Derby and Derbyshire.
That seems far better than shredding Derbyshire and giving bits of it to Sheffield.
The Conservative Candidate is non-other than Ben Bradley - who if he won would make him a tripled job holder, MP for Mansfield, Leader of Notts County Council and Regional Mayor.
Alex Salmond Eat Your Heart Out.
My guestimate is that it looks quite marginal between Labour and the Conservatives.
Haley apparently outspent Trump in the state by over ten times, so it’s a pretty humiliating result for her whichever way you cut it.
Why? She knows that she’s not going to get a majority.
She’s fighting to prove that somewhere,somehow there is a part of the GOP that is still sane
I would call Haley "less insane" rather than "sane".
She has stated that she would give Trump a Presidential Pardon, *after* the trial - so she thinks if he is found guilty of insurrection, manipulating elections and stealing state secret documents for his own benefit, he should not be punished.
That's both pretty loopy and nihilistic. She's hoping that the trials will damage him enough, or lock him up enough, to make him withdraw or be beyond-the-pale.
Haley apparently outspent Trump in the state by over ten times, so it’s a pretty humiliating result for her whichever way you cut it.
Why? She knows that she’s not going to get a majority.
She’s fighting to prove that somewhere,somehow there is a part of the GOP that is still sane
I would call Haley "less insane" rather than "sane".
She has stated that she would give Trump a Presidential Pardon, *after* the trial - so she thinks if he is found guilty of insurrection, manipulating elections and stealing state secret documents for his own benefit, he should not be punished.
That's both pretty loopy and nihilistic. She's hoping that the trials will damage him enough, or lock him up enough, to make him withdraw or be beyond-the-pale.
she said she would pardon Trump after any conviction because “the last thing we need is an 80-year-old president” – Trump is 77 – “sitting in jail, because that’s just going to further divide our country”.
“This is no longer about whether he’s innocent or guilty. This is about … how do we bring the country back together? And I am determined to make sure all of this division, all of this chaos goes away. And I think a pardon for him would make all of that go away, and I think it would be healing for the country.”
It’s about truth (the conviction) and reconciliation (the pardon)
Sunak sounds pretty weaselly on Anderson. He doesn't address the remarks but talks about safety of MPs and "hatred" which implies he shares the criticism of Moslem groups,
Someone in that bunch should certainly find another party. I believe the Lib Dems would be suitable.
Truss’ railing against the deep state as an excuse for her own breathtaking incompetence should be embarrassingly pathetic , unfortunately is not because there are a mob of armchair warriors that actually believe her nonsense.
I care less about someone using fruity language to promote their book to Americans than I do about the real problems with the British state, namely a class of self-interested and ideologically motivated functionaries running our country into the ground. Something which neither the current Government nor the assumed next one seem to want to do anything about.
Truss was shamelessly booted out of Downing Street by her own party because she was economically illiterate. She almost caused a collapse in our Pension Funds which led to the the Bank of England losing tens of billions to bail her out.....and millions paying thousands upon thousands on additional interest payments to live in their homes....
Someone in that bunch should certainly find another party. I believe the Lib Dems would be suitable.
Truss’ railing against the deep state as an excuse for her own breathtaking incompetence should be embarrassingly pathetic , unfortunately is not because there are a mob of armchair warriors that actually believe her nonsense.
I care less about someone using fruity language to promote their book to Americans than I do about the real problems with the British state, namely a class of self-interested and ideologically motivated functionaries running our country into the ground. Something which neither the current Government nor the assumed next one seem to want to do anything about.
“ a class of self-interested and ideologically motivated functionaries running our country into the ground.”
They have no ideology apart from
1) People Like Us should keep running things. 2) If we keep adding Process, one day, Real Soon, everything will be perfect.
This thinking is the resort of people who don't want to face up to the fact that we have had a totally inept, misguided, shambles of a government for the past 14 years.
"It's all the Blob, the lefty-liberal Blob! If only we'd been allowed to govern properly everything would be fine."
It’s not a lefty blob. Or a righty blob. It’s a way of thinking that tries to remove thinking from the process. And morality. And accountability.
I partly agree. It's a statist, centrist blob. Its beliefs are:
- the private sector is just a cash cow. Its only purpose is to fund the Public Good. As we define it. And our salaries and benefits, of course. - whatever the problem, from global warming to hate speech online to a youth centre in Swindon, more government is always the solution, as long as it is arranged by us - the more of us there are, the better - discontent amongst the proles can always be bought off with other people's money - short term fixes are better than long-term radical change. If they have bad long-term consequences, who cares because we'll be in other jobs or retired by then?
Rather an old fashioned view. These days, and at least since Blair, the public sector has been seen as a cash cow for the private sector. And whatever the problem, the solution is to marketise, outsource or privatise it. The power of the free market! Which of course has the benefit of removing thinking, morality and accountability from ministers.
Shoppers face a £1 billion so called toaster tax under plans to force all retailers of electrical goods to put in place a free recycling scheme for goods irrespective of whether they sold it or not.
Shoppers face a £1 billion so called toaster tax under plans to force all retailers of electrical goods to put in place a free recycling scheme for goods irrespective of whether they sold it or not.
Shoppers face a £1 billion so called toaster tax under plans to force all retailers of electrical goods to put in place a free recycling scheme for goods irrespective of whether they sold it or not.
This might result in toasters that last a bit longer! A boost to British industry, British jobs in the face of Chinese tat.
Recycling schemes already exist (eg gas canisters in outdoor shops, inner tubes in bike shops, Currys do it for free for white goods). The key thing is crafting the policy so that "polluter pays" (the consumer) and that it induces a change in behaviour from manufacturers.
You do not need to invent deep state conspiracies to understand why Truss failed, you simply need to read what she said and see what she did.
Or listen to her for more than a minute. She’s still Loopy Liz, and I strongly suspect she is shallow enough to be seduced by the attention and $$$ she can get pandering to the American right, that we won’t be seeing her on planet sanity again any time soon.
Sunak sounds pretty weaselly on Anderson. He doesn't address the remarks but talks about safety of MPs and "hatred" which implies he shares the criticism of Moslem groups,
The sheer delight with which some Labour supporters are looking to use the Anderson row to weaponise charges of extremism against the Tories, and the PM personally, is absolutely disgusting.
We do have a problem with extremism here as the large rises in anti-semitic incidents, threats of violence against MPs and public servants over Gaza, and, yes, a rise in anti-Muslim sentiment have shown.
I rate issues of direct threats and intimidation higher as they potentially affect individual's mental and physical wellbeing, and initimate them into silence.
Someone in that bunch should certainly find another party. I believe the Lib Dems would be suitable.
Truss’ railing against the deep state as an excuse for her own breathtaking incompetence should be embarrassingly pathetic , unfortunately is not because there are a mob of armchair warriors that actually believe her nonsense.
I care less about someone using fruity language to promote their book to Americans than I do about the real problems with the British state, namely a class of self-interested and ideologically motivated functionaries running our country into the ground. Something which neither the current Government nor the assumed next one seem to want to do anything about.
“ a class of self-interested and ideologically motivated functionaries running our country into the ground.”
They have no ideology apart from
1) People Like Us should keep running things. 2) If we keep adding Process, one day, Real Soon, everything will be perfect.
This thinking is the resort of people who don't want to face up to the fact that we have had a totally inept, misguided, shambles of a government for the past 14 years.
"It's all the Blob, the lefty-liberal Blob! If only we'd been allowed to govern properly everything would be fine."
It’s not a lefty blob. Or a righty blob. It’s a way of thinking that tries to remove thinking from the process. And morality. And accountability.
I partly agree. It's a statist, centrist blob. Its beliefs are:
- the private sector is just a cash cow. Its only purpose is to fund the Public Good. As we define it. And our salaries and benefits, of course. - whatever the problem, from global warming to hate speech online to a youth centre in Swindon, more government is always the solution, as long as it is arranged by us - the more of us there are, the better - discontent amongst the proles can always be bought off with other people's money - short term fixes are better than long-term radical change. If they have bad long-term consequences, who cares because we'll be in other jobs or retired by then?
It’s not even statist. You find it in the private sector. The defining characteristic, for me, is a disconnection with the actual purpose of the organisation. You sit in meetings where they could be running the KGB in 1973 and it would be no different - just endless self congratulation about nothing.
Another manifestation of the self-licking ice cream cone.
But resisting change is essentially human nature, particularly if you have some sort of position or power already and hence benefit from the status quo. Whatever government (or indeed anyone in any sort of public office) trying to change anything will meet with resistance, and if they did manage to change everything and someone came along to change it back to the way it was, they too would find resistance, just the same.
Sunak sounds pretty weaselly on Anderson. He doesn't address the remarks but talks about safety of MPs and "hatred" which implies he shares the criticism of Moslem groups,
The sheer delight with which some Labour supporters are looking to use the Anderson row to weaponise charges of extremism against the Tories, and the PM personally, is absolutely disgusting.
We do have a problem with extremism here as the large rises in anti-semitic incidents, threats of violence against MPs and public servants over Gaza, and, yes, a rise in anti-Muslim sentiment have shown.
I rate issues of direct threats and intimidation higher as they potentially affect individual's mental and physical wellbeing, and initimate them into silence.
I agree with you - but that cuts both ways.
Braverman's article saying that “The Islamists, the extremists and the antisemites are in charge.” was as unacceptable as Anderson's poison.
Both parties should be co-operating to isolate the extremists, not paint them as mainstream, and credit each other when they do the right thing.
Sunak sounds pretty weaselly on Anderson. He doesn't address the remarks but talks about safety of MPs and "hatred" which implies he shares the criticism of Moslem groups,
The sheer delight with which some Labour supporters are looking to use the Anderson row to weaponise charges of extremism against the Tories, and the PM personally, is absolutely disgusting.
We do have a problem with extremism here as the large rises in anti-semitic incidents, threats of violence against MPs and public servants over Gaza, and, yes, a rise in anti-Muslim sentiment have shown.
I rate issues of direct threats and intimidation higher as they potentially affect individual's mental and physical wellbeing, and initimate them into silence.
Well it does get labour off the hook with their own problems with Jew hatred and anti semitism.
What is fascinating is all the people saying ‘nothing to see here’, including on here, at labours anti semitism are suddenly outraged at this.
Sunak sounds pretty weaselly on Anderson. He doesn't address the remarks but talks about safety of MPs and "hatred" which implies he shares the criticism of Moslem groups,
The sheer delight with which some Labour supporters are looking to use the Anderson row to weaponise charges of extremism against the Tories, and the PM personally, is absolutely disgusting.
We do have a problem with extremism here as the large rises in anti-semitic incidents, threats of violence against MPs and public servants over Gaza, and, yes, a rise in anti-Muslim sentiment have shown.
I rate issues of direct threats and intimidation higher as they potentially affect individual's mental and physical wellbeing, and initimate them into silence.
But it’s okay when the Tories do the same re anti-Semitism ! You can’t criticize Labour and not criticize the Tories .
Sunak sounds pretty weaselly on Anderson. He doesn't address the remarks but talks about safety of MPs and "hatred" which implies he shares the criticism of Moslem groups,
The sheer delight with which some Labour supporters are looking to use the Anderson row to weaponise charges of extremism against the Tories, and the PM personally, is absolutely disgusting.
We do have a problem with extremism here as the large rises in anti-semitic incidents, threats of violence against MPs and public servants over Gaza, and, yes, a rise in anti-Muslim sentiment have shown.
I rate issues of direct threats and intimidation higher as they potentially affect individual's mental and physical wellbeing, and initimate them into silence.
I agree with you - but that cuts both ways.
Braverman's article saying that “The Islamists, the extremists and the antisemites are in charge.” was as unacceptable as Anderson's poison.
Both parties should be co-operating to isolate the extremists, not paint them as mainstream, and credit each other when they do the right thing.
Sadly both parties are weaponising it. Neither are acceptable. Bravermans statement was far worse for me especially given she wants to be leader. Do we really want, as a society, the leader of one of the two main parties espousing such stuff.
Haley going on the attack against Trump - saying he can't beat Biden.
Haley confirms she is staying in the race.
Clear victory for Trump but nearly 40% of the vote for Haley in ultra conservative South Carolina, even if she was its ex governor, is not nothing.
She will certainly stay in the race until Super Tuesday and continue to build up delegates and hope a conviction for Trump in one of his criminal trials means he is forced out of the race and a new nominee picked at the Republican convention
Sunak sounds pretty weaselly on Anderson. He doesn't address the remarks but talks about safety of MPs and "hatred" which implies he shares the criticism of Moslem groups,
The sheer delight with which some Labour supporters are looking to use the Anderson row to weaponise charges of extremism against the Tories, and the PM personally, is absolutely disgusting.
We do have a problem with extremism here as the large rises in anti-semitic incidents, threats of violence against MPs and public servants over Gaza, and, yes, a rise in anti-Muslim sentiment have shown.
I rate issues of direct threats and intimidation higher as they potentially affect individual's mental and physical wellbeing, and initimate them into silence.
I agree with you - but that cuts both ways.
Braverman's article saying that “The Islamists, the extremists and the antisemites are in charge.” was as unacceptable as Anderson's poison.
Both parties should be co-operating to isolate the extremists, not paint them as mainstream, and credit each other when they do the right thing.
Sadly both parties are weaponising it. Neither are acceptable. Bravermans statement was far worse for me especially given she wants to be leader. Do we really want, as a society, the leader of one of the two main parties espousing such stuff.
Absolutely not.
This shouldn't be difficult stuff. If Casino and I can agree on it, then it ought not to be that hard.
Beergate2 for the PB Tory’s to get stuck into on front of MoS.
Rayners Housegate!
48K net on a house bought in 2007? She must almost have been trying to *lose* money. And that's before correction for inflation, I assume.
£48k profit on a £26k investment? 3x her money in 15 years is not too bad
Er, not according to the Mail Online:
"Records show she took out a mortgage to pay £79,000 for the two-bedroom property, having been granted a £26,000 discount on its market value – a typical right-to-buy discount of one quarter. She sold it for £127,500 in March 2015, making a paper profit of £48,500. "
The only questionable part here is the discounted Right to Buy scheme itself. But given it was government policy (and as it happens massively supported by the Mail), Rayner can hardly be blamed for taking advantage of it.
There's CCTV video showing the police seemingly allowing a group of pro-Palestinian protestors to get into the Conservative fund-raiser that was disrupted last night:
Lee Anderson was foolish and cack-handed in his words about Khan, and also self-harming to his cause. Twit
Nonetheless a lot of people will be looking at these various videos of MPs being aggressively heckled, councils being invaded, parliament forced into quasi-lockdown, streets and bridges closed, and they will think "he also had a point"
I think both sides of the debate overreact when it comes to Islamic extremism.
And dialogue between them there is none.
There is now a clear, present and lethal danger to our democracy, and it comes from Islamic extremism, and it is worsened by the way it has progressively seduced some idiot lefties, and menaced the moderate lefties, and also harnessed wider (and understandable) anger over Gaza
The threat still appears relatively small but the potential is grave and serious. It’s a bit like seeing the first signs of a fire in a crowded theatre. How do you relay the serious danger to the theatre goers, without making everything worse, by causing a panic, yet also making sure people DO perceive the threat?
Lee Anderson did the equivalent of leap around pointing at people shouting “arsonist! Arsonist!” That makes it easy to dismiss him as a nutter with a grudge and actually makes it harder to tell everyone, “er, there actually is a fire, we need to respond now”
There is indeed a clear, present and lethal danger to our democracy. It comes from Putin and Trump.
Those are both external threats. We also have an internal threat
"Anti-Muslim hate incidents in Britain TRIPLE since Hamas' assault on Israel - with women bearing the brunt of racist attacks, watchdog reports More than 2,000 hate crimes against Muslims recorded since October 7"
Something else to thank Hamas for then.
Didn't have you down as an Islamophobe.
I despise terrorism. Don't you?
Yes, which is why I despise the Israeli terror-bombing of the Palestinian people.
Hamas' human shields.
Hamas wouldn't have come about if Israel had recognised Palestinian independence back in the 1990s.
Eh? Hamas were founded in the 1980s and helped scupper the 1990s peace process - when the Palestinian, not Israel rejected Oslo and an independent Palestinian state.
There are many rights and wrongs on all sides, but one of the biggest problems has been the Palestinian leadership never properly recognising Israel's right to exist and thus reject every opportunity for partition and mutual recognition because they are maximalists who mean what they chant in 'From the River to the Sea'.
This quote from Wikipedia suggest you have over-simplified the Hamas position:
While initially seeking a state in all of Mandatory Palestine, Hamas began acquiescing to 1967 borders in the agreements it signed with Fatah in 2005, 2006 and 2007[60][61][62] In 2017, Hamas released a new charter that supported a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders without recognizing Israel.[63][64][65][66][67] Hamas's repeated offers of a truce (for a period of 10–100 years[68]) based on the 1967 borders are seen by many as consistent with a two-state solution,[69][70][71][72] while others say that Hamas retains the long-term objective of establishing one state in former Mandatory Palestine.[73][74]
Sunak sounds pretty weaselly on Anderson. He doesn't address the remarks but talks about safety of MPs and "hatred" which implies he shares the criticism of Moslem groups,
The sheer delight with which some Labour supporters are looking to use the Anderson row to weaponise charges of extremism against the Tories, and the PM personally, is absolutely disgusting.
We do have a problem with extremism here as the large rises in anti-semitic incidents, threats of violence against MPs and public servants over Gaza, and, yes, a rise in anti-Muslim sentiment have shown.
I rate issues of direct threats and intimidation higher as they potentially affect individual's mental and physical wellbeing, and initimate them into silence.
I agree with you - but that cuts both ways.
Braverman's article saying that “The Islamists, the extremists and the antisemites are in charge.” was as unacceptable as Anderson's poison.
Both parties should be co-operating to isolate the extremists, not paint them as mainstream, and credit each other when they do the right thing.
Sadly both parties are weaponising it. Neither are acceptable. Bravermans statement was far worse for me especially given she wants to be leader. Do we really want, as a society, the leader of one of the two main parties espousing such stuff.
"We" as a whole, as a nation, probably don't. Even if the only effect is to give the other lot an easy ride.
Unfortunately, it's not really up to us in that sense. And there are multiple examples of party activists choosing leaders who speak to their worst, most self-indulgent instincts. Corbyn and Trump are only the two most calamitous examples of this.
Sunak sounds pretty weaselly on Anderson. He doesn't address the remarks but talks about safety of MPs and "hatred" which implies he shares the criticism of Moslem groups,
The sheer delight with which some Labour supporters are looking to use the Anderson row to weaponise charges of extremism against the Tories, and the PM personally, is absolutely disgusting.
We do have a problem with extremism here as the large rises in anti-semitic incidents, threats of violence against MPs and public servants over Gaza, and, yes, a rise in anti-Muslim sentiment have shown.
I rate issues of direct threats and intimidation higher as they potentially affect individual's mental and physical wellbeing, and initimate them into silence.
I agree with you - but that cuts both ways.
Braverman's article saying that “The Islamists, the extremists and the antisemites are in charge.” was as unacceptable as Anderson's poison.
Both parties should be co-operating to isolate the extremists, not paint them as mainstream, and credit each other when they do the right thing.
Sunak sounds pretty weaselly on Anderson. He doesn't address the remarks but talks about safety of MPs and "hatred" which implies he shares the criticism of Moslem groups,
The sheer delight with which some Labour supporters are looking to use the Anderson row to weaponise charges of extremism against the Tories, and the PM personally, is absolutely disgusting.
We do have a problem with extremism here as the large rises in anti-semitic incidents, threats of violence against MPs and public servants over Gaza, and, yes, a rise in anti-Muslim sentiment have shown.
I rate issues of direct threats and intimidation higher as they potentially affect individual's mental and physical wellbeing, and initimate them into silence.
I agree with you - but that cuts both ways.
Braverman's article saying that “The Islamists, the extremists and the antisemites are in charge.” was as unacceptable as Anderson's poison.
Both parties should be co-operating to isolate the extremists, not paint them as mainstream, and credit each other when they do the right thing.
Sadly both parties are weaponising it. Neither are acceptable. Bravermans statement was far worse for me especially given she wants to be leader. Do we really want, as a society, the leader of one of the two main parties espousing such stuff.
There are no boundaries to the allies some are willing to co-opt provided, as they believe, it enhances their ability to piss in the pissing contest.
There's CCTV video showing the police seemingly allowing a group of pro-Palestinian protestors to get into the Conservative fund-raiser that was disrupted last night:
Lee Anderson was foolish and cack-handed in his words about Khan, and also self-harming to his cause. Twit
Nonetheless a lot of people will be looking at these various videos of MPs being aggressively heckled, councils being invaded, parliament forced into quasi-lockdown, streets and bridges closed, and they will think "he also had a point"
I think both sides of the debate overreact when it comes to Islamic extremism.
And dialogue between them there is none.
There is now a clear, present and lethal danger to our democracy, and it comes from Islamic extremism, and it is worsened by the way it has progressively seduced some idiot lefties, and menaced the moderate lefties, and also harnessed wider (and understandable) anger over Gaza
The threat still appears relatively small but the potential is grave and serious. It’s a bit like seeing the first signs of a fire in a crowded theatre. How do you relay the serious danger to the theatre goers, without making everything worse, by causing a panic, yet also making sure people DO perceive the threat?
Lee Anderson did the equivalent of leap around pointing at people shouting “arsonist! Arsonist!” That makes it easy to dismiss him as a nutter with a grudge and actually makes it harder to tell everyone, “er, there actually is a fire, we need to respond now”
There is indeed a clear, present and lethal danger to our democracy. It comes from Putin and Trump.
Those are both external threats. We also have an internal threat
Yes we do. From people like you.
Leon's not really a threat, except in the useful idiot sense.
Tell that to the burkha wearing women he used to claim to abuse.
The threat is to sites like this. People who aren't interested in this racist bile just quietly peel off. What else is there to do
Your anti-Semitic and misogynistic mindset is pretty off putting to be honest
Every one of my several hundred relatives are Jewish. Learn the difference between Jewish and Israeli before you spout your bile and then cite a single example of my anti-sermitism you moron
The expectation that Scotland might win this game is more painful than the usual despair
Given only Van Der Merwe's tries have put Scotland ahead, maybe more accurate to suggest this could be a victory for a Scottish South African alliance. He has about as much connection to Scotland as an English student studying for 3 years at Edinburgh university, given it was only his 3 year Edinburgh residency that qualified him. Otherwise he was South African born and South African raised with no Scottish ancestry
He is a superb player, likewise Finn Russell
Scotland are blessed with two of the best players in the world. If they could find maybe two or three more they could win Slams and maybe the next World Cup
He is excellent and has won this match for Scotland fair enough.
I hope we get no more complaints form Scottish Nationalists about non Scottish born English residents of Scotland helping No to victory in 2014 though on the same basis
Comments
You have no answer at all to clear hypocrisy there?
- the private sector is just a cash cow. Its only purpose is to fund the Public Good. As we define it. And our salaries and benefits, of course.
- whatever the problem, from global warming to hate speech online to a youth centre in Swindon, more government is always the solution, as long as it is arranged by us
- the more of us there are, the better
- discontent amongst the proles can always be bought off with other people's money
- short term fixes are better than long-term radical change. If they have bad long-term consequences, who cares because we'll be in other jobs or retired by then?
Possibly with a spelling mistake just to underline the staggering inaccuracy.
Balance in all things.
Not a by election because there’s no more by elections this parliament, even if it goes to December. The Tories will quite rightly say it’s too close to a General Election to waste money on a by election. Tories cannot now lose any seats to opponents in this Parliament.
At least they are spared that pain and damage.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0KWyWwVp0E
There are many rights and wrongs on all sides, but one of the biggest problems has been the Palestinian leadership never properly recognising Israel's right to exist and thus reject every opportunity for partition and mutual recognition because they are maximalists who mean what they chant in 'From the River to the Sea'.
https://x.com/pawelsokala/status/1760969958987890778
When dear mum went out, I bottle fed some on the sofa.
They like climbing. Got a picture of one sat on my head.
Not all of them.
Some of them I have to waste my time looking attentive instead.
At which point I conceded that Liz would not in fact have managed that. If anything giving her a gun would have been a danger to all and sundry in the surrounding 1/4 mile.
Ukraine will acquire them as well.
The interesting question for me would be whether the Baltics could run their own program or would go joint with Poland.
Contrary to the belief that nuclear weapons are expensive - check out the South African program. Which quietly built bombs for a tiny fraction of their national budget. Once you can get a simple bomb into a 1000lb bomb shape - that’s all you need for basic deterrence.
Little Boy was massively over engineered. And under fueled - a lot of its core was less than 90% U235
That’s before you get to the fun stuff - like air lenses, flying plates etc
Which gave us this. In the 1950s
And that’s a relatively non-exotic design.
The reason that the US was an economic leader for so long was its ability to allow the collapses to happen.
A few decades ago, Boeing, LockMart and their bastard child ULA owned the space business.
Boeing can’t now get a simple space capsule to orbit (Starliner). ULA is about to be bought by Blue Origin. Everyone else’s lunch has been eaten by SpaceX.
Boeing and LockMart will retreat to military contracts. The drone revolution will possibly start chipping away there, though.
The US has an extraordinary system of contrasts - companies like Boeing are supported and protected by the state. While mad piratical organisations are allowed to grow.
The sane way is some kind of balance between these competing ideologies.
If you want this country to grow, we need to understand that risk can’t be bought out. That we need to try many things and only some will succeed. That a thousand page rule book can’t give you morality or decency. Or even success.
Is Poland creating one?
Yes[1][2]
Step 2: station NATO nukes on Polish soil.
Is it looking to station NATO nukes on Polish soil?
Yes[3][4]
Step 3: has it got sufficient higher education facilities to produce profs, research students and engineers?
Yes
Step 4: is there a local power with nuclear power stations under attack by Russia who might be persuaded to lend a bit of plutonium?
Yes
OK, I'm convinced.
Of course, somebody had the foresight to write an article[5] about this
Notes
[1] https://www.gov.pl/web/paa-en/Polish-Nuclear-Power-Program
[2] https://neutronbytes.com/2023/08/27/poland-selects-location-for-three-ap1000s/
[3] https://www.iiss.org/publications/strategic-comments/2023/polands-bid-to-participate-in-nato-nuclear-sharing/
[4] https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2023/06/30/7409302/
[5] https://www1.politicalbetting.com/index.php/archives/2023/01/29/the-intermarium/
Just keep telling yourself that.
This is almost as crap a smear on Rayner as was M1ngegate.
Here’s a fun thought. Ukraine might well have enough bomb grade U235 kicking around from small research reactors. Poland has some, I believe.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjVINv0o0eE
Probably they had to form a committee to decide what biscuits should be served in the committee meeting to decide which picture of Saddam would go on the casing. Or something like that.
After the first Gulf War, the US reversed the policy on handing out TRIGA reactors like cheap candy. And tried to get lots of counties to get rid of them (and similar).
https://sotn.newstatesman.com/2023/08/britain-predicts-who-would-win-election-held-today
The sane ordering is flogging, workhouses, hanging and *then* repatriation.
Workhouse. Flogging. Repatriation. Hanging.
And only those who can sing for their supper get Unicorn. Cooked slow and low.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/02/24/us/elections/results-south-carolina-republican-primary.html#forecast
Haley 39.5%
46% counted
Haley going on the attack against Trump - saying he can't beat Biden.
Haley confirms she is staying in the race.
She’s fighting to prove that somewhere,somehow there is a part of the GOP that is still sane
That seems far better than shredding Derbyshire and giving bits of it to Sheffield.
The Conservative Candidate is non-other than Ben Bradley - who if he won would make him a tripled job holder, MP for Mansfield, Leader of Notts County Council and Regional Mayor.
Alex Salmond Eat Your Heart Out.
My guestimate is that it looks quite marginal between Labour and the Conservatives.
She has stated that she would give Trump a Presidential Pardon, *after* the trial - so she thinks if he is found guilty of insurrection, manipulating elections and stealing state secret documents for his own benefit, he should not be punished.
That's both pretty loopy and nihilistic. She's hoping that the trials will damage him enough, or lock him up enough, to make him withdraw or be beyond-the-pale.
Nikki Haley would not pre-emptively pardon Donald Trump for crimes committed as president, saying no one was above the law and legal processes should play out. But she would pardon him anyway after any conviction, she added.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/jan/19/nikki-haley-trump-pardon-new-hampshire-townhall
she said she would pardon Trump after any conviction because “the last thing we need is an 80-year-old president” – Trump is 77 – “sitting in jail, because that’s just going to further divide our country”.
“This is no longer about whether he’s innocent or guilty. This is about … how do we bring the country back together? And I am determined to make sure all of this division, all of this chaos goes away. And I think a pardon for him would make all of that go away, and I think it would be healing for the country.”
It’s about truth (the conviction) and reconciliation (the pardon)
AI robots 'copy' bishops' voices to con nuns out of thousands in terrifying scam
https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/weird-news/ai-robots-copy-bishops-voices-32196884
Not nothing, but hardly likely to be decisive.
All in the name of net zero.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/02/24/toasters-net-zero-defra-environment-eco-tax-retailers-curry/
One of the greats from the seventies
https://x.com/elerianm/status/1761484877634154900?s=61
Recycling schemes already exist (eg gas canisters in outdoor shops, inner tubes in bike shops, Currys do it for free for white goods). The key thing is crafting the policy so that "polluter pays" (the consumer) and that it induces a change in behaviour from manufacturers.
Biden usually outperforms his.
We do have a problem with extremism here as the large rises in anti-semitic incidents, threats of violence against MPs and public servants over Gaza, and, yes, a rise in anti-Muslim sentiment have shown.
I rate issues of direct threats and intimidation higher as they potentially affect individual's mental and physical wellbeing, and initimate them into silence.
But resisting change is essentially human nature, particularly if you have some sort of position or power already and hence benefit from the status quo. Whatever government (or indeed anyone in any sort of public office) trying to change anything will meet with resistance, and if they did manage to change everything and someone came along to change it back to the way it was, they too would find resistance, just the same.
Braverman's article saying that “The Islamists, the extremists and the antisemites are in charge.” was as unacceptable as Anderson's poison.
Both parties should be co-operating to isolate the extremists, not paint them as mainstream, and credit each other when they do the right thing.
What is fascinating is all the people saying ‘nothing to see here’, including on here, at labours anti semitism are suddenly outraged at this.
Meanwhile
https://x.com/newhamindparty/status/1761391035161235899?s=61
‘Our yields are going to be appalling’: one of wettest winters in decades hits England’s farms
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/feb/23/farms-flooding-rainfall-winter-nfu-conference
She will certainly stay in the race until Super Tuesday and continue to build up delegates and hope a conviction for Trump in one of his criminal trials means he is forced out of the race and a new nominee picked at the Republican convention
This shouldn't be difficult stuff. If Casino and I can agree on it, then it ought not to be that hard.
While initially seeking a state in all of Mandatory Palestine, Hamas began acquiescing to 1967 borders in the agreements it signed with Fatah in 2005, 2006 and 2007[60][61][62] In 2017, Hamas released a new charter that supported a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders without recognizing Israel.[63][64][65][66][67] Hamas's repeated offers of a truce (for a period of 10–100 years[68]) based on the 1967 borders are seen by many as consistent with a two-state solution,[69][70][71][72] while others say that Hamas retains the long-term objective of establishing one state in former Mandatory Palestine.[73][74]
Unfortunately, it's not really up to us in that sense. And there are multiple examples of party activists choosing leaders who speak to their worst, most self-indulgent instincts. Corbyn and Trump are only the two most calamitous examples of this.
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