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What is Sunak up to? – politicalbetting.com

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  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 42,814

    IanB2 said:

    And a great clear round from Dylan, current world under-19 champion, in the small agility final

    The next competitor, Sizzle, not doing so well.

    Aren’t all dogs under 19?
    No, actually, though it can be disputable.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-68002393
  • MoonRabbitMoonRabbit Posts: 13,494
    stodge said:

    stodge said:

    On a complete tangent, with Cheltenham next week, you might be forgiven all is well in the world of jump racing currently. While ITV Racing luxuriates at the top end of the sport, I was at Lingfield on a damp Tuesday afternoon to watch 25 runners go round in 6 races. As with many sports, it may be tough at the top but it's a lot tougher at the bottom.

    Lossiemouth confirmed for champion hurdle. 🐎
    With Ballyburn going for the Gallagher rather than the Supreme, we can see Mullins moving his pieces round the board. I think he rates Ashroe Diamond who will presumably be a short price for the Mares.
    Why take certain win in the Mares, if you think you can down State Man in Champion Hurdle? And I am convinced she can.

    That would certainly open up the mares, perhaps for a longer odds winner re-finding form not there earlier in the season.
  • turbotubbsturbotubbs Posts: 17,392

    Count Binface is clearly liberal-left but he also has a cracking sense of humour, and his style is very very British.

    I could be tempted.

    Sex? Or just give him him your vote? :D
  • StuartinromfordStuartinromford Posts: 17,214

    How is Michelle Donelan still in post?

    Because the only real constraint on ministerial behaviour is the threat that the voters will punish them at the subsequent election.

    And that needle is already at "this is going to hurt me much less than it hurts you", so there's not much more than another minister behaving badly can add to that.
  • DumbosaurusDumbosaurus Posts: 794
    edited March 7
    Selebian said:

    MattW said:

    MattW said:

    A little FPT: I'm baffled by the ingrowing complacency of some on PB with respect to road safety. It's not as if we can't vastly improve it with fairly minor changes.

    Here's one that came across my screen today.

    Dangerous driver in an uninsured, untaxed, un-MOTd vehicle barely avoiding killing someone because of his impatience to save a few seconds. An army soldier who has access to guns. He also plainly lied on oath, so I expect his army career will be as a Private.

    The sentence? 12 month ban and a fine of just over £500.

    https://youtu.be/38nxEB_w2m8?t=36


    Actually you kind of prove my point here.

    As discussed per mile of a car driving there's no fatalities until you get to nine significant figures, that's how incredibly safe our roads are.

    But those are averages. Averages mask variance.

    Law abiding, legal drivers are even safer than that.

    Criminals who break the law are more dangerous by far.

    We should clamp down more on the criminals, and less on the law abiding.

    Can we agree on that?
    I agree with most of that - certainly to a crackdown on criminals.

    However I'd say the guy in the 4x4 in the video (who nearly rolled when he put it sideways on the verge as well) is a young-lad-who-thinks-he's-immortal-and-did-not-think-of-possible-consequences (he's 25) rather than a 'criminal'.

    I know something about this because I spun my parents' car off a frosted traffic island at the age of 17 years and 8 months (no injuries, bent but driveable). My sister did exactly the same thing with my first car 12 months later (no injuries, bent but driveable).

    I'm not sure what "law abiding" means in this context, when perhaps 70-80% of people who drive vehicles admit to breaking various laws in any 12 month period.

    But I think that dividing it into 'others', such as 'criminals', 'drunk drivers' etc, and 'us', distracts from the very significant elements caused by laziness, carelessness and complacency amongst the 'normal' driving population - for example people who can get a phone cradle from Amazon for £5, but don't bother and do hand-held phone calls instead - at a much higher risk level. Me, I switch my phone off and put it in the glovebox.

    Much of this statistical, and amenable to analysis and targeted adjustments.

    Here's an example of an opportunity to target high risk groups. Fatals per distance driven, segmented by age and sex. On the LHS I'd say it's testosterone, male showing off and trying to pull women. On the RHS it's mainly more old women living than old men, but 85+ year old males seem to have disproportionate numbers of casualty collisions compared to the 1/3 of the age group they comprise- I wonder why?

    The age-sex split is fascinating. The numbers of elderly males and females shouldn't matter if it's normalised (as it appears) to miles driven. But maybe it's older males doing longer/safer motorway trips with partner to see family whereas the females left alone are doing more hazardous shorter trips on more dangerous roads?

    Historically, which maybe feeds into the figures, there was a tendency for males to do more of the driving, which maybe reduced female driving skills/awareness at older ages. If so, you'd expect that effect to drop out over time.

    Re the video you posted, I've only seen the video and not context, but I did wonder whether the driver simply cocked up, was too fast/not paying enough attention and came up on the minibus suddenly, in panic veered on to the grass and then - unable to really brake on the verge - ended up doing the multiple undertaking. You'd have thought he would instead have moved into the other lane, but verge may have been a panic reaction if uncertain if the road ahead was clear.
    My theory (which I have no evidence for, but as far as I can see no one else does either) for the male/female action from the 70s is it's women who haven't driven in decades - or who very rarely did the driving - due to low confidence / competence and having a husband/LTP to do it suddenly being forced by circumstances to drive again when the spouse dies - or divorces.

    Much more likely to happen demographically that way around than the non driving man suddenly having to step up because of his driving wife dying. Particularly with people who are old enough to be in their 70s and above!

    And then later on the men catch up as almost everyone's dead or not driving.
  • DecrepiterJohnLDecrepiterJohnL Posts: 27,867
    stodge said:

    stodge said:

    On a complete tangent, with Cheltenham next week, you might be forgiven all is well in the world of jump racing currently. While ITV Racing luxuriates at the top end of the sport, I was at Lingfield on a damp Tuesday afternoon to watch 25 runners go round in 6 races. As with many sports, it may be tough at the top but it's a lot tougher at the bottom.

    Lossiemouth confirmed for champion hurdle. 🐎
    With Ballyburn going for the Gallagher rather than the Supreme, we can see Mullins moving his pieces round the board. I think he rates Ashroe Diamond who will presumably be a short price for the Mares.
    Bloody Gallagher. I've only just got used to calling it the Baring Bingham.
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 49,859
    Carnyx said:

    IanB2 said:

    IanB2 said:

    And the outcome of the judging from tonight’s Utility Dog competition…the winner is the (ugly little) French Bulldog. Runner up is the Tibetan Spaniel. The very well groomed Tibetan Terrier takes fourth.

    So the utility category has been won by a dog with remarkably little utility.

    No Miniature Schnauzers in the top four? It’s a fix, I tell ya!
    The French Bulldog is a dog for people who don’t actually want a dog. Shame on Crufts for putting it through to Sunday’s final.
    It's a *utility dog*?! A breed which is positively pathological? I'll say it's for owners who don't want or like dogs, with the breathing problems.

    Exactly. The Frenchie exploded in popularity because it is happy to be left sitting alone all day at home, having an empty mind, and requires minimal exercise when its busy owners eventually return home from work. And is friendly, affectionate and mostly harmless, if you can overlook its incessant snorting and the fact that it’s an ugly little ****.
  • londonpubmanlondonpubman Posts: 3,639
    kinabalu said:

    kinabalu said:

    I’m very disappointed. I was expecting a thread about the Lewisham mayoral by-election!

    A small hill of beans compared to the Hillhead council by-election (Galloway’s old stamping ground by the by).

    https://ballotbox.scot/preview-hillhead/
    Congrats tud btw. You've palmed him off on us again!
    Not entirely comfortable tbh, yet again he’s probably sucked in some quite decent people into his shenanigans. Hopefully won’t be for too long.
    Hope not. The truth is, I'm looking forward hugely to the Labour landslide (Oct, I think) but I'm actually pretty depressed about politics in general atm. Right wing populism all over the place, appealing to all the baser instincts. We all have them but jesus let's not celebrate them and pretend it's the way to go. Trump is a coin toss ffs, just can't believe that, and although I hope (and semi expect) Starmer proves more radical in office than people think I do miss the 'edge' of the Corbyn era. I want that back with a more intelligent modern skillful leader. And preferably no beard.

    Anyway, just been listening to one of my fave songs by the Hollies and the hook lyric reminded me of the opportunity the left had (and squandered) when it got control of the party.

    "I know that we could have made it
    We had ideas in our heads"

    ✊️🙂
    You will be fine with LAB and Biden both winning. No need to worry about other outcomes.
  • stodgestodge Posts: 13,871

    stodge said:

    stodge said:

    On a complete tangent, with Cheltenham next week, you might be forgiven all is well in the world of jump racing currently. While ITV Racing luxuriates at the top end of the sport, I was at Lingfield on a damp Tuesday afternoon to watch 25 runners go round in 6 races. As with many sports, it may be tough at the top but it's a lot tougher at the bottom.

    Lossiemouth confirmed for champion hurdle. 🐎
    With Ballyburn going for the Gallagher rather than the Supreme, we can see Mullins moving his pieces round the board. I think he rates Ashroe Diamond who will presumably be a short price for the Mares.
    Why take certain win in the Mares, if you think you can down State Man in Champion Hurdle? And I am convinced she can.

    That would certainly open up the mares, perhaps for a longer odds winner re-finding form not there earlier in the season.
    It worked for Honeysuckle, I suppose. She won the Mares before her two Champion Hurdle wins and signed off in the Mares last year. Is Lossiemouth as good? We'll see - she's rated 14 lbs behind State Man but gets 7 lbs so that cuts the gap a little. She did look good at the Trials meeting but she beat Love Envoi - yes, not much.

    Ashroe Diamond would presumably go odds on in the Mares. It's a more interesting race but the top British challenger seems to be, yep, Love Envoi. If the ground dries I'd like Gala Marceau at a price but the weather forecasts look very uncertain - we could easily have more rain before Tuesday.

  • CyclefreeCyclefree Posts: 25,307
    edited March 7

    What a fucking roaster.

    Police misconduct should be dealt with “behind closed doors” and problems in Britain’s biggest force are the result of individual “bad ’uns”, the Conservative London mayoral candidate has said.

    In a leaked recording, Susan Hall can be heard telling backers that she would “support [the Met] completely in front of other people”, adding: “If they’re doing something wrong, you take them into your office, you close the door, and you have the conversation and that’s exactly what we should be doing with the police.”

    Hall also suggested that problems of sexism and misogyny in the Met are down to “bad ’uns” and “wrong ’uns”. This runs counter to the central finding of Baroness Casey’s review of the Met, which concluded that the force was institutionally racist, misogynistic and homophobic...

    ...The leaked remarks were made at a campaign event for Hall in January, during which she was challenged on her approach to the Met by a member of the audience who warned her against failing to publicly recognise the need for reform.

    In response, Hall replied: “There have been some disgraceful episodes, you’re quite right. And they are now rooting out the bad ’uns, if you like. There’s 250 that are on suspension, not allowed to work and there’s about 1,000 that are being watched. Totally not good enough … Having said that, if you’re running a business, if you want things to go well with your staff, you support them completely in front of other people.

    “If they’re doing something wrong, you take them into your office, you close the door, and you have the conversation and that’s exactly what we should be doing with the police.”

    Hall went on to praise the majority of Met officers who feel “battered and bruised” by the criticism directed at the force in recent years, adding: “And some of the wrong ’uns are the ones that have gotten a bad reputation. So I will continue to support [the majority].

    “But what I say to the commissioner behind closed doors will stay behind closed doors. But I promise you, we will get results. It will be much, much better under a Hall mayoralty.”

    Hall’s campaign slogan is “Safer with Susan” and she has been deeply critical of the current Labour mayor Sadiq Khan’s record on policing. The former leader of Harrow council was selected by the Conservative Party to fight the City Hall election this May.

    A Conservative source said the remarks risked sending relations between the Met and the public “back to square one”.

    They said: “To tackle the deep-rooted issues in the Met police you need to first actually tackle the problem and also regain the trust of the public. To do that you have to call out bad behaviour publicly and to suggest she won’t say that anything is wrong is worrying. Susan has to show the public she understands the depth of the problem.”


    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/met-police-problems-susan-hall-tory-london-mayor-candidate-pps59ln3g

    I don't see how what she's saying is particularly unreasonable. I find that 'thought leaders' in politics and the civil service are always using individual shocking newsmaking events to instigate massive and not necessarily positive institutional changes that they wanted to make anyway. Yes, the Met does need to be sorted, and far greater rigour applied to appointments, but it is far from self-evident that a huge public process ending with (to give some examples) tokenistic public displays of 'respect' toward women, active discrimination toward women in recruitment, and the criminalisation of wolf whistling, is the best way forward. Just stopping employing criminals and known perverts as policemen should do the trick.
    Clearly neither you nor Susan Hall have read the multiple reports on the problems in the Met. The Met is not fundamentally decent or even fundamentally professional. They have not been like that for years and part of the reason has been politicians not holding them to account and coming out with rubbish like this, which has allowed the leadership to avoid being clear-eyed about what they need to do. The problems are not simply about employing a few criminals by mistake.

    For instance, the recent Angiolini Report made clear that Couzens was not a "known pervert" (he should have been) and was actually rather good at hiding his true character and behaviour from his colleagues. Why he was hired - despite some subtle warning signs - and why he was not caught will not be solved by just telling the bosses behind closed doors not to hire criminals and perverts.

    Hall is an idiot.
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 53,799

    Selebian said:

    MattW said:

    MattW said:

    A little FPT: I'm baffled by the ingrowing complacency of some on PB with respect to road safety. It's not as if we can't vastly improve it with fairly minor changes.

    Here's one that came across my screen today.

    Dangerous driver in an uninsured, untaxed, un-MOTd vehicle barely avoiding killing someone because of his impatience to save a few seconds. An army soldier who has access to guns. He also plainly lied on oath, so I expect his army career will be as a Private.

    The sentence? 12 month ban and a fine of just over £500.

    https://youtu.be/38nxEB_w2m8?t=36


    Actually you kind of prove my point here.

    As discussed per mile of a car driving there's no fatalities until you get to nine significant figures, that's how incredibly safe our roads are.

    But those are averages. Averages mask variance.

    Law abiding, legal drivers are even safer than that.

    Criminals who break the law are more dangerous by far.

    We should clamp down more on the criminals, and less on the law abiding.

    Can we agree on that?
    I agree with most of that - certainly to a crackdown on criminals.

    However I'd say the guy in the 4x4 in the video (who nearly rolled when he put it sideways on the verge as well) is a young-lad-who-thinks-he's-immortal-and-did-not-think-of-possible-consequences (he's 25) rather than a 'criminal'.

    I know something about this because I spun my parents' car off a frosted traffic island at the age of 17 years and 8 months (no injuries, bent but driveable). My sister did exactly the same thing with my first car 12 months later (no injuries, bent but driveable).

    I'm not sure what "law abiding" means in this context, when perhaps 70-80% of people who drive vehicles admit to breaking various laws in any 12 month period.

    But I think that dividing it into 'others', such as 'criminals', 'drunk drivers' etc, and 'us', distracts from the very significant elements caused by laziness, carelessness and complacency amongst the 'normal' driving population - for example people who can get a phone cradle from Amazon for £5, but don't bother and do hand-held phone calls instead - at a much higher risk level. Me, I switch my phone off and put it in the glovebox.

    Much of this statistical, and amenable to analysis and targeted adjustments.

    Here's an example of an opportunity to target high risk groups. Fatals per distance driven, segmented by age and sex. On the LHS I'd say it's testosterone, male showing off and trying to pull women. On the RHS it's mainly more old women living than old men, but 85+ year old males seem to have disproportionate numbers of casualty collisions compared to the 1/3 of the age group they comprise- I wonder why?

    The age-sex split is fascinating. The numbers of elderly males and females shouldn't matter if it's normalised (as it appears) to miles driven. But maybe it's older males doing longer/safer motorway trips with partner to see family whereas the females left alone are doing more hazardous shorter trips on more dangerous roads?

    Historically, which maybe feeds into the figures, there was a tendency for males to do more of the driving, which maybe reduced female driving skills/awareness at older ages. If so, you'd expect that effect to drop out over time.

    Re the video you posted, I've only seen the video and not context, but I did wonder whether the driver simply cocked up, was too fast/not paying enough attention and came up on the minibus suddenly, in panic veered on to the grass and then - unable to really brake on the verge - ended up doing the multiple undertaking. You'd have thought he would instead have moved into the other lane, but verge may have been a panic reaction if uncertain if the road ahead was clear.
    The part of the brain that assesses risk is not fully developed until age 25.
    Spatial awareness reduces after age 60, and markedly so after age 70. Over 75 women are of a generation that let their male partners drive them, especially for long journeys.
    My son used to weigh his serious dislike of buses and the sheer terror of getting driven to school by his 80 year old grandma. Eventually, even he decided that it wasn’t worth the risk. At which point we finally persuaded her to give up her car.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 42,098

    kinabalu said:

    kinabalu said:

    I’m very disappointed. I was expecting a thread about the Lewisham mayoral by-election!

    A small hill of beans compared to the Hillhead council by-election (Galloway’s old stamping ground by the by).

    https://ballotbox.scot/preview-hillhead/
    Congrats tud btw. You've palmed him off on us again!
    Not entirely comfortable tbh, yet again he’s probably sucked in some quite decent people into his shenanigans. Hopefully won’t be for too long.
    Hope not. The truth is, I'm looking forward hugely to the Labour landslide (Oct, I think) but I'm actually pretty depressed about politics in general atm. Right wing populism all over the place, appealing to all the baser instincts. We all have them but jesus let's not celebrate them and pretend it's the way to go. Trump is a coin toss ffs, just can't believe that, and although I hope (and semi expect) Starmer proves more radical in office than people think I do miss the 'edge' of the Corbyn era. I want that back with a more intelligent modern skillful leader. And preferably no beard.

    Anyway, just been listening to one of my fave songs by the Hollies and the hook lyric reminded me of the opportunity the left had (and squandered) when it got control of the party.

    "I know that we could have made it
    We had ideas in our heads"

    ✊️🙂
    You will be fine with LAB and Biden both winning. No need to worry about other outcomes.
    Well thank you londonpubman. Have a half on me.
  • GIN1138GIN1138 Posts: 22,274
    edited March 7
    Either Sunak is going for a May election, or... He's a really terrible politician...

    Take your pick!
  • algarkirkalgarkirk Posts: 12,496

    not expecting this of course but at 33/1 ladbrokes are offering the tories to lose between 1 and 50 seats . There must be at least a 3% chance the tories will rally enough for this - value bet imo

    Also value is 20/1 Tories lose 51-100 seats (Hills).

    Not at all value: Sunak to be PM after the next election at 7/1. This price simply makes no sense.
  • MoonRabbitMoonRabbit Posts: 13,494
    stodge said:

    stodge said:

    stodge said:

    On a complete tangent, with Cheltenham next week, you might be forgiven all is well in the world of jump racing currently. While ITV Racing luxuriates at the top end of the sport, I was at Lingfield on a damp Tuesday afternoon to watch 25 runners go round in 6 races. As with many sports, it may be tough at the top but it's a lot tougher at the bottom.

    Lossiemouth confirmed for champion hurdle. 🐎
    With Ballyburn going for the Gallagher rather than the Supreme, we can see Mullins moving his pieces round the board. I think he rates Ashroe Diamond who will presumably be a short price for the Mares.
    Why take certain win in the Mares, if you think you can down State Man in Champion Hurdle? And I am convinced she can.

    That would certainly open up the mares, perhaps for a longer odds winner re-finding form not there earlier in the season.
    It worked for Honeysuckle, I suppose. She won the Mares before her two Champion Hurdle wins and signed off in the Mares last year. Is Lossiemouth as good? We'll see - she's rated 14 lbs behind State Man but gets 7 lbs so that cuts the gap a little. She did look good at the Trials meeting but she beat Love Envoi - yes, not much.

    Ashroe Diamond would presumably go odds on in the Mares. It's a more interesting race but the top British challenger seems to be, yep, Love Envoi. If the ground dries I'd like Gala Marceau at a price but the weather forecasts look very uncertain - we could easily have more rain before Tuesday.

    I ❤️ love envoi and ❤️ Marie’s Rock. Both have run well at previous festivals.

    Today they reckon Lossiemouth plays safe and stays in the mares. Boo. They playing it too slow with her.

    Do you have opinion on monkfish?
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,129
    GIN1138 said:

    Either Sunak is going for a May election, or... He's a really terrible politician...

    Take your pick!

    Or both...
  • MoonRabbitMoonRabbit Posts: 13,494
    algarkirk said:

    not expecting this of course but at 33/1 ladbrokes are offering the tories to lose between 1 and 50 seats . There must be at least a 3% chance the tories will rally enough for this - value bet imo

    Also value is 20/1 Tories lose 51-100 seats (Hills).

    Not at all value: Sunak to be PM after the next election at 7/1. This price simply makes no sense.
    20/1 Tories lose 51-100 seats (Hills). Have a nibble on it.
  • No_Offence_AlanNo_Offence_Alan Posts: 4,513

    John Major called the 1992 election on 11 March, the day after the budget, with polling day on 9 April, so Sunak's already missed his chance to repeat that strategy.

    I remember that, there were council elections in Scotland in May, when voters complained about having two elections so close together!
  • MoonRabbitMoonRabbit Posts: 13,494
    edited March 7
    GIN1138 said:

    Either Sunak is going for a May election, or... He's a really terrible politician...

    Take your pick!

    Can’t we have both 😆
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 49,859
    algarkirk said:

    not expecting this of course but at 33/1 ladbrokes are offering the tories to lose between 1 and 50 seats . There must be at least a 3% chance the tories will rally enough for this - value bet imo

    Also value is 20/1 Tories lose 51-100 seats (Hills).

    Not at all value: Sunak to be PM after the next election at 7/1. This price simply makes no sense.
    The modal market on Betfair is Tory seats in the range of 100-149.

    Meanwhile the 14% return within a year on Labour, most seats, is surely screaming value?
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 78,174
    Just had a look at Catherine L Mann (MPC member) Facebook page. Is she really a crypto sister or has the page been semi hijacked ?
  • MoonRabbitMoonRabbit Posts: 13,494
    rcs1000 said:

    GIN1138 said:

    Either Sunak is going for a May election, or... He's a really terrible politician...

    Take your pick!

    Or both...
    Cowboy country quick on the draw 🤠
  • SeaShantyIrish2SeaShantyIrish2 Posts: 17,559
    edited March 7
    As of today, Sweden is full member of NATO.

    PB Putinists please explain?
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 60,407

    Count Binface is clearly liberal-left but he also has a cracking sense of humour, and his style is very very British.

    I could be tempted.

    Sex? Or just give him him your vote? :D
    I'm neither a lion nor am I that dexterous with a bin.
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 53,799

    stodge said:

    stodge said:

    stodge said:

    On a complete tangent, with Cheltenham next week, you might be forgiven all is well in the world of jump racing currently. While ITV Racing luxuriates at the top end of the sport, I was at Lingfield on a damp Tuesday afternoon to watch 25 runners go round in 6 races. As with many sports, it may be tough at the top but it's a lot tougher at the bottom.

    Lossiemouth confirmed for champion hurdle. 🐎
    With Ballyburn going for the Gallagher rather than the Supreme, we can see Mullins moving his pieces round the board. I think he rates Ashroe Diamond who will presumably be a short price for the Mares.
    Why take certain win in the Mares, if you think you can down State Man in Champion Hurdle? And I am convinced she can.

    That would certainly open up the mares, perhaps for a longer odds winner re-finding form not there earlier in the season.
    It worked for Honeysuckle, I suppose. She won the Mares before her two Champion Hurdle wins and signed off in the Mares last year. Is Lossiemouth as good? We'll see - she's rated 14 lbs behind State Man but gets 7 lbs so that cuts the gap a little. She did look good at the Trials meeting but she beat Love Envoi - yes, not much.

    Ashroe Diamond would presumably go odds on in the Mares. It's a more interesting race but the top British challenger seems to be, yep, Love Envoi. If the ground dries I'd like Gala Marceau at a price but the weather forecasts look very uncertain - we could easily have more rain before Tuesday.

    I ❤️ love envoi and ❤️ Marie’s Rock. Both have run well at previous festivals.

    Today they reckon Lossiemouth plays safe and stays in the mares. Boo. They playing it too slow with her.

    Do you have opinion on monkfish?
    Delicious with hollandaise and a dry white wine.
  • Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 51,814

    FPT

    rcs1000 said:

    Leon said:

    Colin said:

    Leon said:

    London nightlife under Khan, and the imams and nimbies of gloom


    “In Hackney, all new venues must close by 11PM Mon-Fri and 12PM at the weekend. No new venues can operate later than this.

    Over time the existing venues will need new licenses and therefore the venues that are open after 11/12 will slowly erode until there is literally none left.”

    https://x.com/lukerobertblack/status/1764372293357048228?s=46&t=bulOICNH15U6kB0MwE6Lfw

    Give it 20 years Leon and you will be out praying at the mosque to get some excitement.
    I’m done with London. It’s over

    Hang on, you haven't visited all 612 train stations in London!
    Do you have to get out at every one, or does traveling through count?
    Of course you have to alight at a station to visit it! Ideally, to "properly" do it, taking a picture of the platforms (direction A, direction B ), station name sign, and station building/entrance :lol:

    https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Sunil060902
    Were you lonely at Roding Valley?
    Visited it a couple of times, and on one occasion was told off for taking pictures by a jobsworth who happened to be on duty!
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 60,407

    kinabalu said:

    kinabalu said:

    I’m very disappointed. I was expecting a thread about the Lewisham mayoral by-election!

    A small hill of beans compared to the Hillhead council by-election (Galloway’s old stamping ground by the by).

    https://ballotbox.scot/preview-hillhead/
    Congrats tud btw. You've palmed him off on us again!
    Not entirely comfortable tbh, yet again he’s probably sucked in some quite decent people into his shenanigans. Hopefully won’t be for too long.
    Hope not. The truth is, I'm looking forward hugely to the Labour landslide (Oct, I think) but I'm actually pretty depressed about politics in general atm. Right wing populism all over the place, appealing to all the baser instincts. We all have them but jesus let's not celebrate them and pretend it's the way to go. Trump is a coin toss ffs, just can't believe that, and although I hope (and semi expect) Starmer proves more radical in office than people think I do miss the 'edge' of the Corbyn era. I want that back with a more intelligent modern skillful leader. And preferably no beard.

    Anyway, just been listening to one of my fave songs by the Hollies and the hook lyric reminded me of the opportunity the left had (and squandered) when it got control of the party.

    "I know that we could have made it
    We had ideas in our heads"

    ✊️🙂
    You will be fine with LAB and Biden both winning. No need to worry about other outcomes.
    Not sure about Biden.
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 60,407
    I see Biden has drifted again to 1.3 for the nom.

    The guy now has over 1,500 delegates and is only about 400 short of what he needs to win outright, which he'll get in the coming weeks.

    What the fuck is wrong with people?
  • algarkirkalgarkirk Posts: 12,496

    algarkirk said:

    not expecting this of course but at 33/1 ladbrokes are offering the tories to lose between 1 and 50 seats . There must be at least a 3% chance the tories will rally enough for this - value bet imo

    Also value is 20/1 Tories lose 51-100 seats (Hills).

    Not at all value: Sunak to be PM after the next election at 7/1. This price simply makes no sense.
    20/1 Tories lose 51-100 seats (Hills). Have a nibble on it.
    Yes. I have. (But I am not putting a farthing on 2nd May as GE day!).

  • Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 51,814

    Taz said:

    The original plan was Spring 2023, the replacement plan was Spring 2024 and we are now down to option 3. We also had briefings regarding Autumn 2023 but that was probably just a very hamfisted attempt to confuse the Lab electoral machine. Any Govt that ends up going to the end of its term is doing so because it is bottling the preferable earlier dates. If the Cons had thought they could have won earlier then they would have gone to the GE earlier. We look for a No 10 strategy but there really is none. They just cross their fingers and hope something, anything, will turn up.

    Meanwhile, people are very tired of them. That will not improve as they continue to stage their socio-political dirty protest at No 10

    Well put. If it looks like a bottle. It's a bottle.
    Especially when it's three-quarters full of lukewarm piss . . . and being waved about in voters' faces . . .
    The only lukewarm piss is from the resident cash hater claiming the govt are bottling a May election when they’ve never said, or even implied, they will do it. It is just labour demanding one.
    There you go again! What on God’s Green Earth has this discussion got to do with cash? Sod all. You are obsessed.
    C

    A

    S

    H

    :lol:
  • state_go_awaystate_go_away Posts: 5,813
    edited March 7

    algarkirk said:

    not expecting this of course but at 33/1 ladbrokes are offering the tories to lose between 1 and 50 seats . There must be at least a 3% chance the tories will rally enough for this - value bet imo

    Also value is 20/1 Tories lose 51-100 seats (Hills).

    Not at all value: Sunak to be PM after the next election at 7/1. This price simply makes no sense.
    20/1 Tories lose 51-100 seats (Hills). Have a nibble on it.
    33
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 49,859

    kinabalu said:

    kinabalu said:

    I’m very disappointed. I was expecting a thread about the Lewisham mayoral by-election!

    A small hill of beans compared to the Hillhead council by-election (Galloway’s old stamping ground by the by).

    https://ballotbox.scot/preview-hillhead/
    Congrats tud btw. You've palmed him off on us again!
    Not entirely comfortable tbh, yet again he’s probably sucked in some quite decent people into his shenanigans. Hopefully won’t be for too long.
    Hope not. The truth is, I'm looking forward hugely to the Labour landslide (Oct, I think) but I'm actually pretty depressed about politics in general atm. Right wing populism all over the place, appealing to all the baser instincts. We all have them but jesus let's not celebrate them and pretend it's the way to go. Trump is a coin toss ffs, just can't believe that, and although I hope (and semi expect) Starmer proves more radical in office than people think I do miss the 'edge' of the Corbyn era. I want that back with a more intelligent modern skillful leader. And preferably no beard.

    Anyway, just been listening to one of my fave songs by the Hollies and the hook lyric reminded me of the opportunity the left had (and squandered) when it got control of the party.

    "I know that we could have made it
    We had ideas in our heads"

    ✊️🙂
    You will be fine with LAB and Biden both winning. No need to worry about other outcomes.
    Not sure about Biden.
    You can still lay Mrs Obama as next President at 22. And back Biden not being impeached before the November election at 1.09. And back the Dems as popular vote winner at 1.66. There is plenty of value if you go looking for it.

    I even have money on laying Trump as Republican VP nominee at 66, which was never going to happen. Now out at 290. Of course, not worth more than a token stake given the risible return.
  • MoonRabbitMoonRabbit Posts: 13,494
    DavidL said:

    stodge said:

    stodge said:

    stodge said:

    On a complete tangent, with Cheltenham next week, you might be forgiven all is well in the world of jump racing currently. While ITV Racing luxuriates at the top end of the sport, I was at Lingfield on a damp Tuesday afternoon to watch 25 runners go round in 6 races. As with many sports, it may be tough at the top but it's a lot tougher at the bottom.

    Lossiemouth confirmed for champion hurdle. 🐎
    With Ballyburn going for the Gallagher rather than the Supreme, we can see Mullins moving his pieces round the board. I think he rates Ashroe Diamond who will presumably be a short price for the Mares.
    Why take certain win in the Mares, if you think you can down State Man in Champion Hurdle? And I am convinced she can.

    That would certainly open up the mares, perhaps for a longer odds winner re-finding form not there earlier in the season.
    It worked for Honeysuckle, I suppose. She won the Mares before her two Champion Hurdle wins and signed off in the Mares last year. Is Lossiemouth as good? We'll see - she's rated 14 lbs behind State Man but gets 7 lbs so that cuts the gap a little. She did look good at the Trials meeting but she beat Love Envoi - yes, not much.

    Ashroe Diamond would presumably go odds on in the Mares. It's a more interesting race but the top British challenger seems to be, yep, Love Envoi. If the ground dries I'd like Gala Marceau at a price but the weather forecasts look very uncertain - we could easily have more rain before Tuesday.

    I ❤️ love envoi and ❤️ Marie’s Rock. Both have run well at previous festivals.

    Today they reckon Lossiemouth plays safe and stays in the mares. Boo. They playing it too slow with her.

    Do you have opinion on monkfish?
    Delicious with hollandaise and a dry white wine.
    Okay. Clearly time for me to go and have supper now.
  • stodgestodge Posts: 13,871

    stodge said:

    stodge said:

    stodge said:

    On a complete tangent, with Cheltenham next week, you might be forgiven all is well in the world of jump racing currently. While ITV Racing luxuriates at the top end of the sport, I was at Lingfield on a damp Tuesday afternoon to watch 25 runners go round in 6 races. As with many sports, it may be tough at the top but it's a lot tougher at the bottom.

    Lossiemouth confirmed for champion hurdle. 🐎
    With Ballyburn going for the Gallagher rather than the Supreme, we can see Mullins moving his pieces round the board. I think he rates Ashroe Diamond who will presumably be a short price for the Mares.
    Why take certain win in the Mares, if you think you can down State Man in Champion Hurdle? And I am convinced she can.

    That would certainly open up the mares, perhaps for a longer odds winner re-finding form not there earlier in the season.
    It worked for Honeysuckle, I suppose. She won the Mares before her two Champion Hurdle wins and signed off in the Mares last year. Is Lossiemouth as good? We'll see - she's rated 14 lbs behind State Man but gets 7 lbs so that cuts the gap a little. She did look good at the Trials meeting but she beat Love Envoi - yes, not much.

    Ashroe Diamond would presumably go odds on in the Mares. It's a more interesting race but the top British challenger seems to be, yep, Love Envoi. If the ground dries I'd like Gala Marceau at a price but the weather forecasts look very uncertain - we could easily have more rain before Tuesday.

    I ❤️ love envoi and ❤️ Marie’s Rock. Both have run well at previous festivals.

    Today they reckon Lossiemouth plays safe and stays in the mares. Boo. They playing it too slow with her.

    Do you have opinion on monkfish?
    On the assumption we're talking about the horse rather than the aquatic creature, it wasn't the strongest Galmoy he won and in a division which seems to focus on the veterans, I'd rather risk Sire du Berlais to win at 20s if we're going down that route.

    A lot depends on what Elliott does with Irish Point - does he go for the Champion? Crambo won the Long Walk but he's never won at Cheltenham - I'd like him more if the ground dried further.

    Another one which interests me is Sir Gerhard who won what is now the Gallagher a couple of years ago. Back over hurdles could he come back?
  • Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 51,814

    Count Binface is clearly liberal-left but he also has a cracking sense of humour, and his style is very very British.

    I could be tempted.

    Sex? Or just give him him your vote? :D
    I'm neither a lion nor am I that dexterous with a bin.
    General Waste invented the dust bin!
  • SeaShantyIrish2SeaShantyIrish2 Posts: 17,559

    rcs1000 said:

    GIN1138 said:

    Either Sunak is going for a May election, or... He's a really terrible politician...

    Take your pick!

    Or both...
    Hi RCS, any idea what happened to the Like feature, where we can no longer see who has 'liked' a given post?
    RCS knows, no doubt? But he ain't telling the likes (ahem) of us what he knows!

    Perhaps The Shadow knows???

    The Shadow - Heh! Heh! Heh!
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMlRpN8ANrU
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 60,407
    Michelle Obama: not running, as I've said for years. Not interested. I'm a gazillion to one.

    Market: no, you're not! You're 20/1 or less - whether you think so or not!!
  • boulayboulay Posts: 5,486

    rcs1000 said:

    GIN1138 said:

    Either Sunak is going for a May election, or... He's a really terrible politician...

    Take your pick!

    Or both...
    Hi RCS, any idea what happened to the Like feature, where we can no longer see who has 'liked' a given post?
    You need to let it go Ben. Don’t live your life needing affirmation from random punters on PB. There’s a whole world out there where people can like what you say with a friendly nod, a laugh, a word of agreement in real human life. Even cats and dogs can show appreciation.

    If you need likes then Facebook is an option.

    Just say what you want and be proud you said it whether people liked it or not. Don’t worry who liked it, fellow travellers or opponents. Be free now, say what you want and damn the consequences, likes or no.
  • BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 34,653

    I see Biden has drifted again to 1.3 for the nom.

    The guy now has over 1,500 delegates and is only about 400 short of what he needs to win outright, which he'll get in the coming weeks.

    What the fuck is wrong with people?

    If there's a serious drift it would indicate someone has (or thinks they have) inside information that he's going to step aside.
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 60,407
    IanB2 said:

    kinabalu said:

    kinabalu said:

    I’m very disappointed. I was expecting a thread about the Lewisham mayoral by-election!

    A small hill of beans compared to the Hillhead council by-election (Galloway’s old stamping ground by the by).

    https://ballotbox.scot/preview-hillhead/
    Congrats tud btw. You've palmed him off on us again!
    Not entirely comfortable tbh, yet again he’s probably sucked in some quite decent people into his shenanigans. Hopefully won’t be for too long.
    Hope not. The truth is, I'm looking forward hugely to the Labour landslide (Oct, I think) but I'm actually pretty depressed about politics in general atm. Right wing populism all over the place, appealing to all the baser instincts. We all have them but jesus let's not celebrate them and pretend it's the way to go. Trump is a coin toss ffs, just can't believe that, and although I hope (and semi expect) Starmer proves more radical in office than people think I do miss the 'edge' of the Corbyn era. I want that back with a more intelligent modern skillful leader. And preferably no beard.

    Anyway, just been listening to one of my fave songs by the Hollies and the hook lyric reminded me of the opportunity the left had (and squandered) when it got control of the party.

    "I know that we could have made it
    We had ideas in our heads"

    ✊️🙂
    You will be fine with LAB and Biden both winning. No need to worry about other outcomes.
    Not sure about Biden.
    You can still lay Mrs Obama as next President at 22. And back Biden not being impeached before the November election at 1.09. And back the Dems as popular vote winner at 1.66. There is plenty of value if you go looking for it.

    I even have money on laying Trump as Republican VP nominee at 66, which was never going to happen. Now out at 290. Of course, not worth more than a token stake given the risible return.
    The value is Biden as nom, Michelle fantasy Obama, and Trump winning the popular.
  • boulayboulay Posts: 5,486

    Count Binface is clearly liberal-left but he also has a cracking sense of humour, and his style is very very British.

    I could be tempted.

    Sex? Or just give him him your vote? :D
    I'm neither a lion nor am I that dexterous with a bin.
    General Waste invented the dust bin!
    Pip Bin invented the bin. Listen to “Bleak Expectations” for evidence.
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 60,407

    I see Biden has drifted again to 1.3 for the nom.

    The guy now has over 1,500 delegates and is only about 400 short of what he needs to win outright, which he'll get in the coming weeks.

    What the fuck is wrong with people?

    If there's a serious drift it would indicate someone has (or thinks they have) inside information that he's going to step aside.
    Nah, it indicates punters are deranged. Or, more likely, they simply don't get how US politics work and are putting it through a strong British/international news filter together with a dollop of wishful thinking. We've been here before with Rubio and Bloomberg.

    There's no inside information fuelling a British betting market here: that's just one small step away from a conspiracy theory.
  • bigglesbiggles Posts: 6,051
    edited March 7
    It’s amazing how we all live in our own bubbles these days isn’t it?

    Having quit Twitter a good five years ago, and not ever seeing any political advertising on FB, I guess my political bubble is quite small beyond this site (not many super-engaged friends) but it had never occurred to me for a second the Gvt might actually have considered May. I never got the sense of Sunak even slightly teasing anything either (including in the thread header). I have always assumed his intent is Oct/Nov but he’ll end up leaving it to Jan because “something will turn up”.
  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 28,412
    edited March 7
    Cyclefree said:

    What a fucking roaster.

    Police misconduct should be dealt with “behind closed doors” and problems in Britain’s biggest force are the result of individual “bad ’uns”, the Conservative London mayoral candidate has said.

    In a leaked recording, Susan Hall can be heard telling backers that she would “support [the Met] completely in front of other people”, adding: “If they’re doing something wrong, you take them into your office, you close the door, and you have the conversation and that’s exactly what we should be doing with the police.”

    Hall also suggested that problems of sexism and misogyny in the Met are down to “bad ’uns” and “wrong ’uns”. This runs counter to the central finding of Baroness Casey’s review of the Met, which concluded that the force was institutionally racist, misogynistic and homophobic...

    ...The leaked remarks were made at a campaign event for Hall in January, during which she was challenged on her approach to the Met by a member of the audience who warned her against failing to publicly recognise the need for reform.

    In response, Hall replied: “There have been some disgraceful episodes, you’re quite right. And they are now rooting out the bad ’uns, if you like. There’s 250 that are on suspension, not allowed to work and there’s about 1,000 that are being watched. Totally not good enough … Having said that, if you’re running a business, if you want things to go well with your staff, you support them completely in front of other people.

    “If they’re doing something wrong, you take them into your office, you close the door, and you have the conversation and that’s exactly what we should be doing with the police.”

    Hall went on to praise the majority of Met officers who feel “battered and bruised” by the criticism directed at the force in recent years, adding: “And some of the wrong ’uns are the ones that have gotten a bad reputation. So I will continue to support [the majority].

    “But what I say to the commissioner behind closed doors will stay behind closed doors. But I promise you, we will get results. It will be much, much better under a Hall mayoralty.”

    Hall’s campaign slogan is “Safer with Susan” and she has been deeply critical of the current Labour mayor Sadiq Khan’s record on policing. The former leader of Harrow council was selected by the Conservative Party to fight the City Hall election this May.

    A Conservative source said the remarks risked sending relations between the Met and the public “back to square one”.

    They said: “To tackle the deep-rooted issues in the Met police you need to first actually tackle the problem and also regain the trust of the public. To do that you have to call out bad behaviour publicly and to suggest she won’t say that anything is wrong is worrying. Susan has to show the public she understands the depth of the problem.”


    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/met-police-problems-susan-hall-tory-london-mayor-candidate-pps59ln3g

    I don't see how what she's saying is particularly unreasonable. I find that 'thought leaders' in politics and the civil service are always using individual shocking newsmaking events to instigate massive and not necessarily positive institutional changes that they wanted to make anyway. Yes, the Met does need to be sorted, and far greater rigour applied to appointments, but it is far from self-evident that a huge public process ending with (to give some examples) tokenistic public displays of 'respect' toward women, active discrimination toward women in recruitment, and the criminalisation of wolf whistling, is the best way forward. Just stopping employing criminals and known perverts as policemen should do the trick.
    Clearly neither you nor Susan Hall have read the multiple reports on the problems in the Met. The Met is not fundamentally decent or even fundamentally professional. They have not been like that for years and part of the reason has been politicians not holding them to account and coming out with rubbish like this, which has allowed the leadership to avoid being clear-eyed about what they need to do. The problems are not simply about employing a few criminals by mistake.

    For instance, the recent Angiolini Report made clear that Couzens was not a "known pervert" (he should have been) and was actually rather good at hiding his true character and behaviour from his colleagues. Why he was hired - despite some subtle warning signs - and why he was not caught will not be solved by just telling the bosses behind closed doors not to hire criminals and perverts.

    Hall is an idiot.
    You're right, I haven't read the reports, and I do yield to your far greater knowledge on the topic.

    However, I think we often neglect simple solutions in favour of more complex ones. I was shocked that convicted criminals are allowed to serve in the Met. These people should not serve. We don't need a huge enquiry to tell us that.

    Edit - and to offer a little counterargument to your point about Couzens, was he not reported for indecent exposure some time before he committed the Everard murder?
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 42,098
    IanB2 said:

    kinabalu said:

    kinabalu said:

    I’m very disappointed. I was expecting a thread about the Lewisham mayoral by-election!

    A small hill of beans compared to the Hillhead council by-election (Galloway’s old stamping ground by the by).

    https://ballotbox.scot/preview-hillhead/
    Congrats tud btw. You've palmed him off on us again!
    Not entirely comfortable tbh, yet again he’s probably sucked in some quite decent people into his shenanigans. Hopefully won’t be for too long.
    Hope not. The truth is, I'm looking forward hugely to the Labour landslide (Oct, I think) but I'm actually pretty depressed about politics in general atm. Right wing populism all over the place, appealing to all the baser instincts. We all have them but jesus let's not celebrate them and pretend it's the way to go. Trump is a coin toss ffs, just can't believe that, and although I hope (and semi expect) Starmer proves more radical in office than people think I do miss the 'edge' of the Corbyn era. I want that back with a more intelligent modern skillful leader. And preferably no beard.

    Anyway, just been listening to one of my fave songs by the Hollies and the hook lyric reminded me of the opportunity the left had (and squandered) when it got control of the party.

    "I know that we could have made it
    We had ideas in our heads"

    ✊️🙂
    You will be fine with LAB and Biden both winning. No need to worry about other outcomes.
    Not sure about Biden.
    You can still lay Mrs Obama as next President at 22. And back Biden not being impeached before the November election at 1.09. And back the Dems as popular vote winner at 1.66. There is plenty of value if you go looking for it.

    I even have money on laying Trump as Republican VP nominee at 66, which was never going to happen. Now out at 290. Of course, not worth more than a token stake given the risible return.
    I'm very short Trump for Prez at average 4.

    Many thousands.

    🤞 c'mon you American people. It's a bet on you.
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 49,859

    IanB2 said:

    kinabalu said:

    kinabalu said:

    I’m very disappointed. I was expecting a thread about the Lewisham mayoral by-election!

    A small hill of beans compared to the Hillhead council by-election (Galloway’s old stamping ground by the by).

    https://ballotbox.scot/preview-hillhead/
    Congrats tud btw. You've palmed him off on us again!
    Not entirely comfortable tbh, yet again he’s probably sucked in some quite decent people into his shenanigans. Hopefully won’t be for too long.
    Hope not. The truth is, I'm looking forward hugely to the Labour landslide (Oct, I think) but I'm actually pretty depressed about politics in general atm. Right wing populism all over the place, appealing to all the baser instincts. We all have them but jesus let's not celebrate them and pretend it's the way to go. Trump is a coin toss ffs, just can't believe that, and although I hope (and semi expect) Starmer proves more radical in office than people think I do miss the 'edge' of the Corbyn era. I want that back with a more intelligent modern skillful leader. And preferably no beard.

    Anyway, just been listening to one of my fave songs by the Hollies and the hook lyric reminded me of the opportunity the left had (and squandered) when it got control of the party.

    "I know that we could have made it
    We had ideas in our heads"

    ✊️🙂
    You will be fine with LAB and Biden both winning. No need to worry about other outcomes.
    Not sure about Biden.
    You can still lay Mrs Obama as next President at 22. And back Biden not being impeached before the November election at 1.09. And back the Dems as popular vote winner at 1.66. There is plenty of value if you go looking for it.

    I even have money on laying Trump as Republican VP nominee at 66, which was never going to happen. Now out at 290. Of course, not worth more than a token stake given the risible return.
    The value is Biden as nom, Michelle fantasy Obama, and Trump winning the popular.
    Not the latter, when you consider the polling amongst independents, not to mention the various obstacles he faces between now and then.
  • bigglesbiggles Posts: 6,051

    Cyclefree said:

    What a fucking roaster.

    Police misconduct should be dealt with “behind closed doors” and problems in Britain’s biggest force are the result of individual “bad ’uns”, the Conservative London mayoral candidate has said.

    In a leaked recording, Susan Hall can be heard telling backers that she would “support [the Met] completely in front of other people”, adding: “If they’re doing something wrong, you take them into your office, you close the door, and you have the conversation and that’s exactly what we should be doing with the police.”

    Hall also suggested that problems of sexism and misogyny in the Met are down to “bad ’uns” and “wrong ’uns”. This runs counter to the central finding of Baroness Casey’s review of the Met, which concluded that the force was institutionally racist, misogynistic and homophobic...

    ...The leaked remarks were made at a campaign event for Hall in January, during which she was challenged on her approach to the Met by a member of the audience who warned her against failing to publicly recognise the need for reform.

    In response, Hall replied: “There have been some disgraceful episodes, you’re quite right. And they are now rooting out the bad ’uns, if you like. There’s 250 that are on suspension, not allowed to work and there’s about 1,000 that are being watched. Totally not good enough … Having said that, if you’re running a business, if you want things to go well with your staff, you support them completely in front of other people.

    “If they’re doing something wrong, you take them into your office, you close the door, and you have the conversation and that’s exactly what we should be doing with the police.”

    Hall went on to praise the majority of Met officers who feel “battered and bruised” by the criticism directed at the force in recent years, adding: “And some of the wrong ’uns are the ones that have gotten a bad reputation. So I will continue to support [the majority].

    “But what I say to the commissioner behind closed doors will stay behind closed doors. But I promise you, we will get results. It will be much, much better under a Hall mayoralty.”

    Hall’s campaign slogan is “Safer with Susan” and she has been deeply critical of the current Labour mayor Sadiq Khan’s record on policing. The former leader of Harrow council was selected by the Conservative Party to fight the City Hall election this May.

    A Conservative source said the remarks risked sending relations between the Met and the public “back to square one”.

    They said: “To tackle the deep-rooted issues in the Met police you need to first actually tackle the problem and also regain the trust of the public. To do that you have to call out bad behaviour publicly and to suggest she won’t say that anything is wrong is worrying. Susan has to show the public she understands the depth of the problem.”


    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/met-police-problems-susan-hall-tory-london-mayor-candidate-pps59ln3g

    I don't see how what she's saying is particularly unreasonable. I find that 'thought leaders' in politics and the civil service are always using individual shocking newsmaking events to instigate massive and not necessarily positive institutional changes that they wanted to make anyway. Yes, the Met does need to be sorted, and far greater rigour applied to appointments, but it is far from self-evident that a huge public process ending with (to give some examples) tokenistic public displays of 'respect' toward women, active discrimination toward women in recruitment, and the criminalisation of wolf whistling, is the best way forward. Just stopping employing criminals and known perverts as policemen should do the trick.
    Clearly neither you nor Susan Hall have read the multiple reports on the problems in the Met. The Met is not fundamentally decent or even fundamentally professional. They have not been like that for years and part of the reason has been politicians not holding them to account and coming out with rubbish like this, which has allowed the leadership to avoid being clear-eyed about what they need to do. The problems are not simply about employing a few criminals by mistake.

    For instance, the recent Angiolini Report made clear that Couzens was not a "known pervert" (he should have been) and was actually rather good at hiding his true character and behaviour from his colleagues. Why he was hired - despite some subtle warning signs - and why he was not caught will not be solved by just telling the bosses behind closed doors not to hire criminals and perverts.

    Hall is an idiot.
    You're right, I haven't read the reports, and I do yield to your far greater knowledge on the topic.

    However, I think we often neglect simple solutions in favour of more complex ones. I was shocked that convicted criminals are allowed to serve in the Met. These people should not serve. We don't need a huge enquiry to tell us that.
    Ancillary point to this, but I would caution being too distracted by whether someone HAS a criminal record. Yes, obviously we should bar those with (some types of) criminal record from certain jobs, but always remember that a) a DBS check is only valid at the moment it is completed; and b) the most successful criminals don’t have records anyway.

    Vetting has to be broader than criminal record checks.
  • FF43FF43 Posts: 17,208

    NEW: Michelle Donelan received legal advice about tweeting *that* £15k letter BEFORE she tweeted it. But govt won't tell us what that advice was

    https://twitter.com/e_casalicchio/status/1765720770284511542

    This story is incredible. Why the fuck is the taxpayer paying her libel bills when she's chosen to engage in politically-motivated defamation?
    Donelan isn't short of money thanks to the
    extremely lucrative PPE contracts awarded without competition to her husband and father in law.
  • BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 34,653
    kinabalu said:

    IanB2 said:

    kinabalu said:

    kinabalu said:

    I’m very disappointed. I was expecting a thread about the Lewisham mayoral by-election!

    A small hill of beans compared to the Hillhead council by-election (Galloway’s old stamping ground by the by).

    https://ballotbox.scot/preview-hillhead/
    Congrats tud btw. You've palmed him off on us again!
    Not entirely comfortable tbh, yet again he’s probably sucked in some quite decent people into his shenanigans. Hopefully won’t be for too long.
    Hope not. The truth is, I'm looking forward hugely to the Labour landslide (Oct, I think) but I'm actually pretty depressed about politics in general atm. Right wing populism all over the place, appealing to all the baser instincts. We all have them but jesus let's not celebrate them and pretend it's the way to go. Trump is a coin toss ffs, just can't believe that, and although I hope (and semi expect) Starmer proves more radical in office than people think I do miss the 'edge' of the Corbyn era. I want that back with a more intelligent modern skillful leader. And preferably no beard.

    Anyway, just been listening to one of my fave songs by the Hollies and the hook lyric reminded me of the opportunity the left had (and squandered) when it got control of the party.

    "I know that we could have made it
    We had ideas in our heads"

    ✊️🙂
    You will be fine with LAB and Biden both winning. No need to worry about other outcomes.
    Not sure about Biden.
    You can still lay Mrs Obama as next President at 22. And back Biden not being impeached before the November election at 1.09. And back the Dems as popular vote winner at 1.66. There is plenty of value if you go looking for it.

    I even have money on laying Trump as Republican VP nominee at 66, which was never going to happen. Now out at 290. Of course, not worth more than a token stake given the risible return.
    I'm very short Trump for Prez at average 4.

    Many thousands.

    🤞 c'mon you American people. It's a bet on you.
    For the minority on here who know nothing about betting what does that actually mean? If Trump wins you profit? or is it vice versa?
  • BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 34,653
    FF43 said:

    NEW: Michelle Donelan received legal advice about tweeting *that* £15k letter BEFORE she tweeted it. But govt won't tell us what that advice was

    https://twitter.com/e_casalicchio/status/1765720770284511542

    This story is incredible. Why the fuck is the taxpayer paying her libel bills when she's chosen to engage in politically-motivated defamation?
    Donelan isn't short of money thanks to the
    extremely lucrative PPE contracts awarded without competition to her husband and father in law.
    FFS! Really?
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 60,407
    IanB2 said:

    IanB2 said:

    kinabalu said:

    kinabalu said:

    I’m very disappointed. I was expecting a thread about the Lewisham mayoral by-election!

    A small hill of beans compared to the Hillhead council by-election (Galloway’s old stamping ground by the by).

    https://ballotbox.scot/preview-hillhead/
    Congrats tud btw. You've palmed him off on us again!
    Not entirely comfortable tbh, yet again he’s probably sucked in some quite decent people into his shenanigans. Hopefully won’t be for too long.
    Hope not. The truth is, I'm looking forward hugely to the Labour landslide (Oct, I think) but I'm actually pretty depressed about politics in general atm. Right wing populism all over the place, appealing to all the baser instincts. We all have them but jesus let's not celebrate them and pretend it's the way to go. Trump is a coin toss ffs, just can't believe that, and although I hope (and semi expect) Starmer proves more radical in office than people think I do miss the 'edge' of the Corbyn era. I want that back with a more intelligent modern skillful leader. And preferably no beard.

    Anyway, just been listening to one of my fave songs by the Hollies and the hook lyric reminded me of the opportunity the left had (and squandered) when it got control of the party.

    "I know that we could have made it
    We had ideas in our heads"

    ✊️🙂
    You will be fine with LAB and Biden both winning. No need to worry about other outcomes.
    Not sure about Biden.
    You can still lay Mrs Obama as next President at 22. And back Biden not being impeached before the November election at 1.09. And back the Dems as popular vote winner at 1.66. There is plenty of value if you go looking for it.

    I even have money on laying Trump as Republican VP nominee at 66, which was never going to happen. Now out at 290. Of course, not worth more than a token stake given the risible return.
    The value is Biden as nom, Michelle fantasy Obama, and Trump winning the popular.
    Not the latter, when you consider the polling amongst independents, not to mention the various obstacles he faces between now and then.
    Yes, the latter. It's 4.5 on Betfair which is absurd when you look at the polling.

    But the sentiments you express explain why his price so long.
  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 28,412
    edited March 7
    biggles said:

    Cyclefree said:

    What a fucking roaster.

    Police misconduct should be dealt with “behind closed doors” and problems in Britain’s biggest force are the result of individual “bad ’uns”, the Conservative London mayoral candidate has said.

    In a leaked recording, Susan Hall can be heard telling backers that she would “support [the Met] completely in front of other people”, adding: “If they’re doing something wrong, you take them into your office, you close the door, and you have the conversation and that’s exactly what we should be doing with the police.”

    Hall also suggested that problems of sexism and misogyny in the Met are down to “bad ’uns” and “wrong ’uns”. This runs counter to the central finding of Baroness Casey’s review of the Met, which concluded that the force was institutionally racist, misogynistic and homophobic...

    ...The leaked remarks were made at a campaign event for Hall in January, during which she was challenged on her approach to the Met by a member of the audience who warned her against failing to publicly recognise the need for reform.

    In response, Hall replied: “There have been some disgraceful episodes, you’re quite right. And they are now rooting out the bad ’uns, if you like. There’s 250 that are on suspension, not allowed to work and there’s about 1,000 that are being watched. Totally not good enough … Having said that, if you’re running a business, if you want things to go well with your staff, you support them completely in front of other people.

    “If they’re doing something wrong, you take them into your office, you close the door, and you have the conversation and that’s exactly what we should be doing with the police.”

    Hall went on to praise the majority of Met officers who feel “battered and bruised” by the criticism directed at the force in recent years, adding: “And some of the wrong ’uns are the ones that have gotten a bad reputation. So I will continue to support [the majority].

    “But what I say to the commissioner behind closed doors will stay behind closed doors. But I promise you, we will get results. It will be much, much better under a Hall mayoralty.”

    Hall’s campaign slogan is “Safer with Susan” and she has been deeply critical of the current Labour mayor Sadiq Khan’s record on policing. The former leader of Harrow council was selected by the Conservative Party to fight the City Hall election this May.

    A Conservative source said the remarks risked sending relations between the Met and the public “back to square one”.

    They said: “To tackle the deep-rooted issues in the Met police you need to first actually tackle the problem and also regain the trust of the public. To do that you have to call out bad behaviour publicly and to suggest she won’t say that anything is wrong is worrying. Susan has to show the public she understands the depth of the problem.”


    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/met-police-problems-susan-hall-tory-london-mayor-candidate-pps59ln3g

    I don't see how what she's saying is particularly unreasonable. I find that 'thought leaders' in politics and the civil service are always using individual shocking newsmaking events to instigate massive and not necessarily positive institutional changes that they wanted to make anyway. Yes, the Met does need to be sorted, and far greater rigour applied to appointments, but it is far from self-evident that a huge public process ending with (to give some examples) tokenistic public displays of 'respect' toward women, active discrimination toward women in recruitment, and the criminalisation of wolf whistling, is the best way forward. Just stopping employing criminals and known perverts as policemen should do the trick.
    Clearly neither you nor Susan Hall have read the multiple reports on the problems in the Met. The Met is not fundamentally decent or even fundamentally professional. They have not been like that for years and part of the reason has been politicians not holding them to account and coming out with rubbish like this, which has allowed the leadership to avoid being clear-eyed about what they need to do. The problems are not simply about employing a few criminals by mistake.

    For instance, the recent Angiolini Report made clear that Couzens was not a "known pervert" (he should have been) and was actually rather good at hiding his true character and behaviour from his colleagues. Why he was hired - despite some subtle warning signs - and why he was not caught will not be solved by just telling the bosses behind closed doors not to hire criminals and perverts.

    Hall is an idiot.
    You're right, I haven't read the reports, and I do yield to your far greater knowledge on the topic.

    However, I think we often neglect simple solutions in favour of more complex ones. I was shocked that convicted criminals are allowed to serve in the Met. These people should not serve. We don't need a huge enquiry to tell us that.
    Ancillary point to this, but I would caution being too distracted by whether someone HAS a criminal record. Yes, obviously we should bar those with (some types of) criminal record from certain jobs, but always remember that a) a DBS check is only valid at the moment it is completed; and b) the most successful criminals don’t have records anyway.

    Vetting has to be broader than criminal record checks.
    It isn't just about vetting; the last time we discussed this I am sure I heard of serving officers being convicted of drugs offences etc. and continuing to serve. It was shocking and disgraceful. Of course clever criminals aren't caught, but we can at least weed out the stupid (but still dangerous) ones. You break the law; you don't serve as a police officer. This isn't a complex concept.
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 60,407
    kinabalu said:

    IanB2 said:

    kinabalu said:

    kinabalu said:

    I’m very disappointed. I was expecting a thread about the Lewisham mayoral by-election!

    A small hill of beans compared to the Hillhead council by-election (Galloway’s old stamping ground by the by).

    https://ballotbox.scot/preview-hillhead/
    Congrats tud btw. You've palmed him off on us again!
    Not entirely comfortable tbh, yet again he’s probably sucked in some quite decent people into his shenanigans. Hopefully won’t be for too long.
    Hope not. The truth is, I'm looking forward hugely to the Labour landslide (Oct, I think) but I'm actually pretty depressed about politics in general atm. Right wing populism all over the place, appealing to all the baser instincts. We all have them but jesus let's not celebrate them and pretend it's the way to go. Trump is a coin toss ffs, just can't believe that, and although I hope (and semi expect) Starmer proves more radical in office than people think I do miss the 'edge' of the Corbyn era. I want that back with a more intelligent modern skillful leader. And preferably no beard.

    Anyway, just been listening to one of my fave songs by the Hollies and the hook lyric reminded me of the opportunity the left had (and squandered) when it got control of the party.

    "I know that we could have made it
    We had ideas in our heads"

    ✊️🙂
    You will be fine with LAB and Biden both winning. No need to worry about other outcomes.
    Not sure about Biden.
    You can still lay Mrs Obama as next President at 22. And back Biden not being impeached before the November election at 1.09. And back the Dems as popular vote winner at 1.66. There is plenty of value if you go looking for it.

    I even have money on laying Trump as Republican VP nominee at 66, which was never going to happen. Now out at 290. Of course, not worth more than a token stake given the risible return.
    I'm very short Trump for Prez at average 4.

    Many thousands.

    🤞 c'mon you American people. It's a bet on you.
    I hope it's money you can afford to lose.

    Bet with your head and DYOR. Still time to mod your position.
  • bigglesbiggles Posts: 6,051
    ydoethur said:

    Carnyx said:

    isam said:
    You obviously are unaware of male lion behaviour in the wild.
    Do they have Gay Prides?
    Roar sex appeal and

    biggles said:

    Cyclefree said:

    What a fucking roaster.

    Police misconduct should be dealt with “behind closed doors” and problems in Britain’s biggest force are the result of individual “bad ’uns”, the Conservative London mayoral candidate has said.

    In a leaked recording, Susan Hall can be heard telling backers that she would “support [the Met] completely in front of other people”, adding: “If they’re doing something wrong, you take them into your office, you close the door, and you have the conversation and that’s exactly what we should be doing with the police.”

    Hall also suggested that problems of sexism and misogyny in the Met are down to “bad ’uns” and “wrong ’uns”. This runs counter to the central finding of Baroness Casey’s review of the Met, which concluded that the force was institutionally racist, misogynistic and homophobic...

    ...The leaked remarks were made at a campaign event for Hall in January, during which she was challenged on her approach to the Met by a member of the audience who warned her against failing to publicly recognise the need for reform.

    In response, Hall replied: “There have been some disgraceful episodes, you’re quite right. And they are now rooting out the bad ’uns, if you like. There’s 250 that are on suspension, not allowed to work and there’s about 1,000 that are being watched. Totally not good enough … Having said that, if you’re running a business, if you want things to go well with your staff, you support them completely in front of other people.

    “If they’re doing something wrong, you take them into your office, you close the door, and you have the conversation and that’s exactly what we should be doing with the police.”

    Hall went on to praise the majority of Met officers who feel “battered and bruised” by the criticism directed at the force in recent years, adding: “And some of the wrong ’uns are the ones that have gotten a bad reputation. So I will continue to support [the majority].

    “But what I say to the commissioner behind closed doors will stay behind closed doors. But I promise you, we will get results. It will be much, much better under a Hall mayoralty.”

    Hall’s campaign slogan is “Safer with Susan” and she has been deeply critical of the current Labour mayor Sadiq Khan’s record on policing. The former leader of Harrow council was selected by the Conservative Party to fight the City Hall election this May.

    A Conservative source said the remarks risked sending relations between the Met and the public “back to square one”.

    They said: “To tackle the deep-rooted issues in the Met police you need to first actually tackle the problem and also regain the trust of the public. To do that you have to call out bad behaviour publicly and to suggest she won’t say that anything is wrong is worrying. Susan has to show the public she understands the depth of the problem.”


    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/met-police-problems-susan-hall-tory-london-mayor-candidate-pps59ln3g

    I don't see how what she's saying is particularly unreasonable. I find that 'thought leaders' in politics and the civil service are always using individual shocking newsmaking events to instigate massive and not necessarily positive institutional changes that they wanted to make anyway. Yes, the Met does need to be sorted, and far greater rigour applied to appointments, but it is far from self-evident that a huge public process ending with (to give some examples) tokenistic public displays of 'respect' toward women, active discrimination toward women in recruitment, and the criminalisation of wolf whistling, is the best way forward. Just stopping employing criminals and known perverts as policemen should do the trick.
    Clearly neither you nor Susan Hall have read the multiple reports on the problems in the Met. The Met is not fundamentally decent or even fundamentally professional. They have not been like that for years and part of the reason has been politicians not holding them to account and coming out with rubbish like this, which has allowed the leadership to avoid being clear-eyed about what they need to do. The problems are not simply about employing a few criminals by mistake.

    For instance, the recent Angiolini Report made clear that Couzens was not a "known pervert" (he should have been) and was actually rather good at hiding his true character and behaviour from his colleagues. Why he was hired - despite some subtle warning signs - and why he was not caught will not be solved by just telling the bosses behind closed doors not to hire criminals and perverts.

    Hall is an idiot.
    You're right, I haven't read the reports, and I do yield to your far greater knowledge on the topic.

    However, I think we often neglect simple solutions in favour of more complex ones. I was shocked that convicted criminals are allowed to serve in the Met. These people should not serve. We don't need a huge enquiry to tell us that.
    Ancillary point to this, but I would caution being too distracted by whether someone HAS a criminal record. Yes, obviously we should bar those with (some types of) criminal record from certain jobs, but always remember that a) a DBS check is only valid at the moment it is completed; and b) the most successful criminals don’t have records anyway.

    Vetting has to be broader than criminal record checks.
    It isn't just about vetting; the last time we discussed this I am sure I heard of serving officers being convicted of drugs offences etc. and continuing to serve. It was shocking and disgraceful. Of course clever criminals aren't caught, but we can at least weed out the stupid (but still dangerous ones). You break the law; you don't serve as a police officer. This isn't a complex concept.
    I didn’t argue with any of that. I was pointing out that only gets you so far, and can give you a false sense of security.
  • BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 34,653

    I see Biden has drifted again to 1.3 for the nom.

    The guy now has over 1,500 delegates and is only about 400 short of what he needs to win outright, which he'll get in the coming weeks.

    What the fuck is wrong with people?

    If there's a serious drift it would indicate someone has (or thinks they have) inside information that he's going to step aside.
    Nah, it indicates punters are deranged. Or, more likely, they simply don't get how US politics work and are putting it through a strong British/international news filter together with a dollop of wishful thinking. We've been here before with Rubio and Bloomberg.

    There's no inside information fuelling a British betting market here: that's just one small step away from a conspiracy theory.
    Yes good point, I hadn't factored in that it's a UK based market. And if in doubt it's nearly always cock-up rather than conspiracy.
  • ohnotnowohnotnow Posts: 3,779
    boulay said:

    Count Binface is clearly liberal-left but he also has a cracking sense of humour, and his style is very very British.

    I could be tempted.

    Sex? Or just give him him your vote? :D
    I'm neither a lion nor am I that dexterous with a bin.
    General Waste invented the dust bin!
    Pip Bin invented the bin. Listen to “Bleak Expectations” for evidence.
    One of the under-rated gems of R4. (even if it went a bit off the deep end later). See also Cabin Pressure - which I would have thought was cheap-as-chips to transfer to TV. But instead we get celebrity dancing on ice with baking.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 71,357
    biggles said:

    ydoethur said:

    Carnyx said:

    isam said:
    You obviously are unaware of male lion behaviour in the wild.
    Do they have Gay Prides?
    Roar sex appeal and
    ...then the mane event?
  • Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 51,814
    ydoethur said:

    Carnyx said:

    isam said:
    You obviously are unaware of male lion behaviour in the wild.
    Do they have Gay Prides?
    Mane stream, I would imagine.
  • Big_G_NorthWalesBig_G_NorthWales Posts: 63,027
    We do not follow horse racing but my wife is interested in the racehorse ' Lossiemouth ' and has it any connection to Lossiemouth

    She is from Lossiemouth hence the interest
  • Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 51,814
    boulay said:

    Count Binface is clearly liberal-left but he also has a cracking sense of humour, and his style is very very British.

    I could be tempted.

    Sex? Or just give him him your vote? :D
    I'm neither a lion nor am I that dexterous with a bin.
    General Waste invented the dust bin!
    Pip Bin invented the bin. Listen to “Bleak Expectations” for evidence.
    Utter tosh!

    Countless bins around the world are stamped "General Waste"!
  • ohnotnowohnotnow Posts: 3,779

    rcs1000 said:

    GIN1138 said:

    Either Sunak is going for a May election, or... He's a really terrible politician...

    Take your pick!

    Or both...
    Hi RCS, any idea what happened to the Like feature, where we can no longer see who has 'liked' a given post?
    RCS knows, no doubt? But he ain't telling the likes (ahem) of us what he knows!

    Perhaps The Shadow knows???

    The Shadow - Heh! Heh! Heh!
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMlRpN8ANrU
    One of my favourite tracks :

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0O-8bJEYwtA

    Link Wray - The Shadow Knows.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 71,357

    ydoethur said:

    Carnyx said:

    isam said:
    You obviously are unaware of male lion behaviour in the wild.
    Do they have Gay Prides?
    Mane stream, I would imagine.
    Sorry, beat you to it. Your own fault for pawsing.
  • carnforthcarnforth Posts: 4,574
    edited March 7

    I see Biden has drifted again to 1.3 for the nom.

    The guy now has over 1,500 delegates and is only about 400 short of what he needs to win outright, which he'll get in the coming weeks.

    What the fuck is wrong with people?

    My two bets, placed in early 2023 are:

    a) Biden for the nom at 7/20.

    b) Biden for next President at 3/1

    Feeling confident about both. In the second case, not the outcome but the value.
  • bigglesbiggles Posts: 6,051
    edited March 7
    ydoethur said:

    biggles said:

    ydoethur said:

    Carnyx said:

    isam said:
    You obviously are unaware of male lion behaviour in the wild.
    Do they have Gay Prides?
    Roar sex appeal and
    ...then the mane event?
    LOL yes I was trying for “roar sex appeal in the mane” and then fat fingers killed my amazing joke.
  • Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 51,814
    ydoethur said:

    ydoethur said:

    Carnyx said:

    isam said:
    You obviously are unaware of male lion behaviour in the wild.
    Do they have Gay Prides?
    Mane stream, I would imagine.
    Sorry, beat you to it. Your own fault for pawsing.
    Didn't have you down as a cheet-er.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 71,357

    ydoethur said:

    ydoethur said:

    Carnyx said:

    isam said:
    You obviously are unaware of male lion behaviour in the wild.
    Do they have Gay Prides?
    Mane stream, I would imagine.
    Sorry, beat you to it. Your own fault for pawsing.
    Didn't have you down as a cheet-er.
    If you make any more puns like that, you'll become a PBer leper-d.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 71,357
    carnforth said:


    I see Biden has drifted again to 1.3 for the nom.

    The guy now has over 1,500 delegates and is only about 400 short of what he needs to win outright, which he'll get in the coming weeks.

    What the fuck is wrong with people?

    My two bets, placed in early 2023 are:

    a) Biden for the nom at 7/20.

    b) Biden for next President at 3/1

    Feeling confident about both. In the second case, not the outcome but the value.
    The second bet is impossible. He can't be the next President as he's the incumbent. The next President will be the first person other than him to hold the office.
  • boulayboulay Posts: 5,486
    ohnotnow said:

    boulay said:

    Count Binface is clearly liberal-left but he also has a cracking sense of humour, and his style is very very British.

    I could be tempted.

    Sex? Or just give him him your vote? :D
    I'm neither a lion nor am I that dexterous with a bin.
    General Waste invented the dust bin!
    Pip Bin invented the bin. Listen to “Bleak Expectations” for evidence.
    One of the under-rated gems of R4. (even if it went a bit off the deep end later). See also Cabin Pressure - which I would have thought was cheap-as-chips to transfer to TV. But instead we get celebrity dancing on ice with baking.
    There are quite a few missed gems. Old Harry’s game by Andy Hamilton would have worked as would Absolute Power with Stephen Fry and John Bird. But at least we got Mrs Brown’s Boys.
  • GIN1138GIN1138 Posts: 22,274
    C

    A

    S

    H

    I

    S

    K

    I

    N

    G
  • StuartinromfordStuartinromford Posts: 17,214
    ohnotnow said:

    boulay said:

    Count Binface is clearly liberal-left but he also has a cracking sense of humour, and his style is very very British.

    I could be tempted.

    Sex? Or just give him him your vote? :D
    I'm neither a lion nor am I that dexterous with a bin.
    General Waste invented the dust bin!
    Pip Bin invented the bin. Listen to “Bleak Expectations” for evidence.
    One of the under-rated gems of R4. (even if it went a bit off the deep end later). See also Cabin Pressure - which I would have thought was cheap-as-chips to transfer to TV. But instead we get celebrity dancing on ice with baking.
    Guess a fatal part of the challenge is getting Benedict's diary and Roger's diary to line up. Shame. John Finnemore is a bloody genius and his creations should have a bigger audience.

    (One of the reasons radio is better is that the actors can do two episodes in an evening. Love a Radio 4 recording, me.)
  • GIN1138GIN1138 Posts: 22,274
    I bet Liz Truss uses CASH...
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 71,357
    More money fun for Trump:

    Donald Trump told to pay six-figure costs of firm he sued
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-68499543
  • eekeek Posts: 28,366
    ydoethur said:

    carnforth said:


    I see Biden has drifted again to 1.3 for the nom.

    The guy now has over 1,500 delegates and is only about 400 short of what he needs to win outright, which he'll get in the coming weeks.

    What the fuck is wrong with people?

    My two bets, placed in early 2023 are:

    a) Biden for the nom at 7/20.

    b) Biden for next President at 3/1

    Feeling confident about both. In the second case, not the outcome but the value.
    The second bet is impossible. He can't be the next President as he's the incumbent. The next President will be the first person other than him to hold the office.
    I don't even think Betfair could screw up the Terms and Conditions of their market to end up with a market that could extend to 2028...
  • StereodogStereodog Posts: 692
    boulay said:

    ohnotnow said:

    boulay said:

    Count Binface is clearly liberal-left but he also has a cracking sense of humour, and his style is very very British.

    I could be tempted.

    Sex? Or just give him him your vote? :D
    I'm neither a lion nor am I that dexterous with a bin.
    General Waste invented the dust bin!
    Pip Bin invented the bin. Listen to “Bleak Expectations” for evidence.
    One of the under-rated gems of R4. (even if it went a bit off the deep end later). See also Cabin Pressure - which I would have thought was cheap-as-chips to transfer to TV. But instead we get celebrity dancing on ice with baking.
    There are quite a few missed gems. Old Harry’s game by Andy Hamilton would have worked as would Absolute Power with Stephen Fry and John Bird. But at least we got Mrs Brown’s Boys.
    Absolute Power did get a tv series. It focused more on celebrity clients if I recall but it had some good lines.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 42,098
    edited March 7

    kinabalu said:

    IanB2 said:

    kinabalu said:

    kinabalu said:

    I’m very disappointed. I was expecting a thread about the Lewisham mayoral by-election!

    A small hill of beans compared to the Hillhead council by-election (Galloway’s old stamping ground by the by).

    https://ballotbox.scot/preview-hillhead/
    Congrats tud btw. You've palmed him off on us again!
    Not entirely comfortable tbh, yet again he’s probably sucked in some quite decent people into his shenanigans. Hopefully won’t be for too long.
    Hope not. The truth is, I'm looking forward hugely to the Labour landslide (Oct, I think) but I'm actually pretty depressed about politics in general atm. Right wing populism all over the place, appealing to all the baser instincts. We all have them but jesus let's not celebrate them and pretend it's the way to go. Trump is a coin toss ffs, just can't believe that, and although I hope (and semi expect) Starmer proves more radical in office than people think I do miss the 'edge' of the Corbyn era. I want that back with a more intelligent modern skillful leader. And preferably no beard.

    Anyway, just been listening to one of my fave songs by the Hollies and the hook lyric reminded me of the opportunity the left had (and squandered) when it got control of the party.

    "I know that we could have made it
    We had ideas in our heads"

    ✊️🙂
    You will be fine with LAB and Biden both winning. No need to worry about other outcomes.
    Not sure about Biden.
    You can still lay Mrs Obama as next President at 22. And back Biden not being impeached before the November election at 1.09. And back the Dems as popular vote winner at 1.66. There is plenty of value if you go looking for it.

    I even have money on laying Trump as Republican VP nominee at 66, which was never going to happen. Now out at 290. Of course, not worth more than a token stake given the risible return.
    I'm very short Trump for Prez at average 4.

    Many thousands.

    🤞 c'mon you American people. It's a bet on you.
    I hope it's money you can afford to lose.

    Bet with your head and DYOR. Still time to mod your position.
    Always the dessicated head with me on the old betting. Or best I can anyway. But of course I do get things wrong sometimes.

    No way am I going to trade out of it atm. Not with his current price. If anything it will be double down.

    I'll trade out when he's double digits. 🙂
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 71,357
    eek said:

    ydoethur said:

    carnforth said:


    I see Biden has drifted again to 1.3 for the nom.

    The guy now has over 1,500 delegates and is only about 400 short of what he needs to win outright, which he'll get in the coming weeks.

    What the fuck is wrong with people?

    My two bets, placed in early 2023 are:

    a) Biden for the nom at 7/20.

    b) Biden for next President at 3/1

    Feeling confident about both. In the second case, not the outcome but the value.
    The second bet is impossible. He can't be the next President as he's the incumbent. The next President will be the first person other than him to hold the office.
    I don't even think Betfair could screw up the Terms and Conditions of their market to end up with a market that could extend to 2028...
    But it couldn't, could it? If he lost this time and somehow won in 2028 when he would be slightly less desiccated than a Galapogan tortoise, he would still not be the 'next' President.
  • bigglesbiggles Posts: 6,051
    edited March 7

    ohnotnow said:

    boulay said:

    Count Binface is clearly liberal-left but he also has a cracking sense of humour, and his style is very very British.

    I could be tempted.

    Sex? Or just give him him your vote? :D
    I'm neither a lion nor am I that dexterous with a bin.
    General Waste invented the dust bin!
    Pip Bin invented the bin. Listen to “Bleak Expectations” for evidence.
    One of the under-rated gems of R4. (even if it went a bit off the deep end later). See also Cabin Pressure - which I would have thought was cheap-as-chips to transfer to TV. But instead we get celebrity dancing on ice with baking.
    Guess a fatal part of the challenge is getting Benedict's diary and Roger's diary to line up. Shame. John Finnemore is a bloody genius and his creations should have a bigger audience.

    (One of the reasons radio is better is that the actors can do two episodes in an evening. Love a Radio 4 recording, me.)
    And for Radio 4 shows at Broadcasting House they kettle you in a bar while you wait (or they did the last time I went) rather than make you queue outside in the pissing rain like they did when I saw QI recorded for TV (that was good in the end though).
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 51,603
    edited March 7
    Very odd

    https://x.com/disclosetv/status/1765843754643034579

    U.S. and British embassies in Moscow warn that "extremists" have "imminent plans" to target "large gatherings."

    https://ru.usembassy.gov/security-alert-avoid-large-gatherings-over-the-next-48-hours/

    The Embassy is monitoring reports that extremists have imminent plans to target large gatherings in Moscow, to include concerts, and U.S. citizens should be advised to avoid large gatherings over the next 48 hours.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 42,098

    kinabalu said:

    IanB2 said:

    kinabalu said:

    kinabalu said:

    I’m very disappointed. I was expecting a thread about the Lewisham mayoral by-election!

    A small hill of beans compared to the Hillhead council by-election (Galloway’s old stamping ground by the by).

    https://ballotbox.scot/preview-hillhead/
    Congrats tud btw. You've palmed him off on us again!
    Not entirely comfortable tbh, yet again he’s probably sucked in some quite decent people into his shenanigans. Hopefully won’t be for too long.
    Hope not. The truth is, I'm looking forward hugely to the Labour landslide (Oct, I think) but I'm actually pretty depressed about politics in general atm. Right wing populism all over the place, appealing to all the baser instincts. We all have them but jesus let's not celebrate them and pretend it's the way to go. Trump is a coin toss ffs, just can't believe that, and although I hope (and semi expect) Starmer proves more radical in office than people think I do miss the 'edge' of the Corbyn era. I want that back with a more intelligent modern skillful leader. And preferably no beard.

    Anyway, just been listening to one of my fave songs by the Hollies and the hook lyric reminded me of the opportunity the left had (and squandered) when it got control of the party.

    "I know that we could have made it
    We had ideas in our heads"

    ✊️🙂
    You will be fine with LAB and Biden both winning. No need to worry about other outcomes.
    Not sure about Biden.
    You can still lay Mrs Obama as next President at 22. And back Biden not being impeached before the November election at 1.09. And back the Dems as popular vote winner at 1.66. There is plenty of value if you go looking for it.

    I even have money on laying Trump as Republican VP nominee at 66, which was never going to happen. Now out at 290. Of course, not worth more than a token stake given the risible return.
    I'm very short Trump for Prez at average 4.

    Many thousands.

    🤞 c'mon you American people. It's a bet on you.
    For the minority on here who know nothing about betting what does that actually mean? If Trump wins you profit? or is it vice versa?
    I lose if he wins.
  • SeaShantyIrish2SeaShantyIrish2 Posts: 17,559
    For whom it may (or may not) concern - "Colin" is Kaput.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 71,357

    Very odd

    https://x.com/disclosetv/status/1765843754643034579

    U.S. and British embassies in Moscow warn that "extremists" have "imminent plans" to target "large gatherings."

    https://ru.usembassy.gov/security-alert-avoid-large-gatherings-over-the-next-48-hours/

    The Embassy is monitoring reports that extremists have imminent plans to target large gatherings in Moscow, to include concerts, and U.S. citizens should be advised to avoid large gatherings over the next 48 hours.

    Putin sick of blowing up Ukrainians and going for his own people now?
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,239
    The road from Pablo Escobar’s Water park to Medellin is as terrifying as it is lovely. Colombia is stunning
  • CyclefreeCyclefree Posts: 25,307

    Cyclefree said:

    What a fucking roaster.

    Police misconduct should be dealt with “behind closed doors” and problems in Britain’s biggest force are the result of individual “bad ’uns”, the Conservative London mayoral candidate has said.

    In a leaked recording, Susan Hall can be heard telling backers that she would “support [the Met] completely in front of other people”, adding: “If they’re doing something wrong, you take them into your office, you close the door, and you have the conversation and that’s exactly what we should be doing with the police.”

    Hall also suggested that problems of sexism and misogyny in the Met are down to “bad ’uns” and “wrong ’uns”. This runs counter to the central finding of Baroness Casey’s review of the Met, which concluded that the force was institutionally racist, misogynistic and homophobic...

    ...The leaked remarks were made at a campaign event for Hall in January, during which she was challenged on her approach to the Met by a member of the audience who warned her against failing to publicly recognise the need for reform.

    In response, Hall replied: “There have been some disgraceful episodes, you’re quite right. And they are now rooting out the bad ’uns, if you like. There’s 250 that are on suspension, not allowed to work and there’s about 1,000 that are being watched. Totally not good enough … Having said that, if you’re running a business, if you want things to go well with your staff, you support them completely in front of other people.

    “If they’re doing something wrong, you take them into your office, you close the door, and you have the conversation and that’s exactly what we should be doing with the police.”

    Hall went on to praise the majority of Met officers who feel “battered and bruised” by the criticism directed at the force in recent years, adding: “And some of the wrong ’uns are the ones that have gotten a bad reputation. So I will continue to support [the majority].

    “But what I say to the commissioner behind closed doors will stay behind closed doors. But I promise you, we will get results. It will be much, much better under a Hall mayoralty.”

    Hall’s campaign slogan is “Safer with Susan” and she has been deeply critical of the current Labour mayor Sadiq Khan’s record on policing. The former leader of Harrow council was selected by the Conservative Party to fight the City Hall election this May.

    A Conservative source said the remarks risked sending relations between the Met and the public “back to square one”.

    They said: “To tackle the deep-rooted issues in the Met police you need to first actually tackle the problem and also regain the trust of the public. To do that you have to call out bad behaviour publicly and to suggest she won’t say that anything is wrong is worrying. Susan has to show the public she understands the depth of the problem.”


    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/met-police-problems-susan-hall-tory-london-mayor-candidate-pps59ln3g

    I don't see how what she's saying is particularly unreasonable. I find that 'thought leaders' in politics and the civil service are always using individual shocking newsmaking events to instigate massive and not necessarily positive institutional changes that they wanted to make anyway. Yes, the Met does need to be sorted, and far greater rigour applied to appointments, but it is far from self-evident that a huge public process ending with (to give some examples) tokenistic public displays of 'respect' toward women, active discrimination toward women in recruitment, and the criminalisation of wolf whistling, is the best way forward. Just stopping employing criminals and known perverts as policemen should do the trick.
    Clearly neither you nor Susan Hall have read the multiple reports on the problems in the Met. The Met is not fundamentally decent or even fundamentally professional. They have not been like that for years and part of the reason has been politicians not holding them to account and coming out with rubbish like this, which has allowed the leadership to avoid being clear-eyed about what they need to do. The problems are not simply about employing a few criminals by mistake.

    For instance, the recent Angiolini Report made clear that Couzens was not a "known pervert" (he should have been) and was actually rather good at hiding his true character and behaviour from his colleagues. Why he was hired - despite some subtle warning signs - and why he was not caught will not be solved by just telling the bosses behind closed doors not to hire criminals and perverts.

    Hall is an idiot.
    You're right, I haven't read the reports, and I do yield to your far greater knowledge on the topic.

    However, I think we often neglect simple solutions in favour of more complex ones. I was shocked that convicted criminals are allowed to serve in the Met. These people should not serve. We don't need a huge enquiry to tell us that.

    Edit - and to offer a little counterargument to your point about Couzens, was he not reported for indecent exposure some time before he committed the Everard murder?
    He was - in 2015 but it was never investigated. The point is that long before then there were good reasons why he should not have been hired, even though he had never been convicted. Why he was hired despite various red flags needs more thought to remedy than "let's not employ crooks".

    It's a facile answer (though part of the answer) to failings which arise from more complex causes - some of which I touched on in my recent header. If police leadership and people like Hall and Khan don't bother to understand those reasons then they are not going to be able to help the police come up with effective solutions.

    There is a lot of valuable information in these reports (most of which has not been reported in the press) which would help an intelligent leadership properly focused on putting things right to do just that.

    Instead of which we get denial and Hall behaving as if this is a case of telling off a slightly errant member of an otherwise well-functioning team. She hasn't got a fucking clue and is yet another example of people in public life promoted well above any level of competence shown.
  • boulayboulay Posts: 5,486

    For whom it may (or may not) concern - "Colin" is Kaput.

    I wonder if he pronounced it like the late great Colin Powell or like Colin the Caterpillar.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 71,357
    kinabalu said:

    kinabalu said:

    IanB2 said:

    kinabalu said:

    kinabalu said:

    I’m very disappointed. I was expecting a thread about the Lewisham mayoral by-election!

    A small hill of beans compared to the Hillhead council by-election (Galloway’s old stamping ground by the by).

    https://ballotbox.scot/preview-hillhead/
    Congrats tud btw. You've palmed him off on us again!
    Not entirely comfortable tbh, yet again he’s probably sucked in some quite decent people into his shenanigans. Hopefully won’t be for too long.
    Hope not. The truth is, I'm looking forward hugely to the Labour landslide (Oct, I think) but I'm actually pretty depressed about politics in general atm. Right wing populism all over the place, appealing to all the baser instincts. We all have them but jesus let's not celebrate them and pretend it's the way to go. Trump is a coin toss ffs, just can't believe that, and although I hope (and semi expect) Starmer proves more radical in office than people think I do miss the 'edge' of the Corbyn era. I want that back with a more intelligent modern skillful leader. And preferably no beard.

    Anyway, just been listening to one of my fave songs by the Hollies and the hook lyric reminded me of the opportunity the left had (and squandered) when it got control of the party.

    "I know that we could have made it
    We had ideas in our heads"

    ✊️🙂
    You will be fine with LAB and Biden both winning. No need to worry about other outcomes.
    Not sure about Biden.
    You can still lay Mrs Obama as next President at 22. And back Biden not being impeached before the November election at 1.09. And back the Dems as popular vote winner at 1.66. There is plenty of value if you go looking for it.

    I even have money on laying Trump as Republican VP nominee at 66, which was never going to happen. Now out at 290. Of course, not worth more than a token stake given the risible return.
    I'm very short Trump for Prez at average 4.

    Many thousands.

    🤞 c'mon you American people. It's a bet on you.
    For the minority on here who know nothing about betting what does that actually mean? If Trump wins you profit? or is it vice versa?
    I lose if he wins.
    The entire fucking planet loses if he wins. Your bankruptcy would actually be one of the more minor tragedies involved, however painful for you personally.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 71,062

    FF43 said:

    NEW: Michelle Donelan received legal advice about tweeting *that* £15k letter BEFORE she tweeted it. But govt won't tell us what that advice was

    https://twitter.com/e_casalicchio/status/1765720770284511542

    This story is incredible. Why the fuck is the taxpayer paying her libel bills when she's chosen to engage in politically-motivated defamation?
    Donelan isn't short of money thanks to the
    extremely lucrative PPE contracts awarded without competition to her husband and father in law.
    FFS! Really?
    Little reported, but apparently so.
    Totally arms length, of course.

    TBF, at least one of them was a genuine PPE supplier.
  • SandyRentoolSandyRentool Posts: 22,009
    boulay said:

    For whom it may (or may not) concern - "Colin" is Kaput.

    I wonder if he pronounced it like the late great Colin Powell or like Colin the Caterpillar.
    I imagine he pronounced it with a Russian accent.
  • OnlyLivingBoyOnlyLivingBoy Posts: 15,767
    FF43 said:

    NEW: Michelle Donelan received legal advice about tweeting *that* £15k letter BEFORE she tweeted it. But govt won't tell us what that advice was

    https://twitter.com/e_casalicchio/status/1765720770284511542

    This story is incredible. Why the fuck is the taxpayer paying her libel bills when she's chosen to engage in politically-motivated defamation?
    Donelan isn't short of money thanks to the
    extremely lucrative PPE contracts awarded without competition to her husband and father in law.
    https://goodlawproject.org/michelle-donelan-partner-contracts/

    Indeed, I had forgotten about that.

    I hope we have a full accounting for what went on with PPE contracts once we have a new government. Really clean out the stables. See if any of it passes the threshold for criminal activity.
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 42,952
    Leon said:

    The road from Pablo Escobar’s Water park to Medellin is as terrifying as it is lovely. Colombia is stunning

    Is that the sound of Phnom Penh gently weeping.
  • SeaShantyIrish2SeaShantyIrish2 Posts: 17,559
    FF43 said:

    NEW: Michelle Donelan received legal advice about tweeting *that* £15k letter BEFORE she tweeted it. But govt won't tell us what that advice was

    https://twitter.com/e_casalicchio/status/1765720770284511542

    This story is incredible. Why the fuck is the taxpayer paying her libel bills when she's chosen to engage in politically-motivated defamation?
    Donelan isn't short of money thanks to the
    extremely lucrative PPE contracts awarded without competition to her husband and father in law.
    Is she Minister for Government Ethics? AND for Crony Coordination? Ditto Silly Walks of Shame?

  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 71,357

    FF43 said:

    NEW: Michelle Donelan received legal advice about tweeting *that* £15k letter BEFORE she tweeted it. But govt won't tell us what that advice was

    https://twitter.com/e_casalicchio/status/1765720770284511542

    This story is incredible. Why the fuck is the taxpayer paying her libel bills when she's chosen to engage in politically-motivated defamation?
    Donelan isn't short of money thanks to the
    extremely lucrative PPE contracts awarded without competition to her husband and father in law.
    https://goodlawproject.org/michelle-donelan-partner-contracts/

    Indeed, I had forgotten about that.

    I hope we have a full accounting for what went on with PPE contracts once we have a new government. Really clean out the stables. See if any of it passes the threshold for criminal activity.
    I suspect it will all be covered up.
  • SeaShantyIrish2SeaShantyIrish2 Posts: 17,559
    TOPPING said:

    Leon said:

    The road from Pablo Escobar’s Water park to Medellin is as terrifying as it is lovely. Colombia is stunning

    Is that the sound of Phnom Penh gently weeping.
    OR quietly rejoicing?
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 71,357

    TOPPING said:

    Leon said:

    The road from Pablo Escobar’s Water park to Medellin is as terrifying as it is lovely. Colombia is stunning

    Is that the sound of Phnom Penh gently weeping.
    OR quietly rejoicing?
    Could be worse. He could miss Saigon.
  • TheuniondivvieTheuniondivvie Posts: 41,950
    ohnotnow said:

    rcs1000 said:

    GIN1138 said:

    Either Sunak is going for a May election, or... He's a really terrible politician...

    Take your pick!

    Or both...
    Hi RCS, any idea what happened to the Like feature, where we can no longer see who has 'liked' a given post?
    RCS knows, no doubt? But he ain't telling the likes (ahem) of us what he knows!

    Perhaps The Shadow knows???

    The Shadow - Heh! Heh! Heh!
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMlRpN8ANrU
    One of my favourite tracks :

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0O-8bJEYwtA

    Link Wray - The Shadow Knows.
    Link Wray is brill.
    Rumble is one of the only instrumentals to be banned on US radio stations. I like to think it was because of its brooding menace but I think it was down to a moral panic about teenage greasers knifing each other, and rumble being slang for such activities.
  • SandyRentoolSandyRentool Posts: 22,009

    Very odd

    https://x.com/disclosetv/status/1765843754643034579

    U.S. and British embassies in Moscow warn that "extremists" have "imminent plans" to target "large gatherings."

    https://ru.usembassy.gov/security-alert-avoid-large-gatherings-over-the-next-48-hours/

    The Embassy is monitoring reports that extremists have imminent plans to target large gatherings in Moscow, to include concerts, and U.S. citizens should be advised to avoid large gatherings over the next 48 hours.

    By 'extremists' do they mean the government?
  • Are we expecting any polling tonight, or will it be tomorrow for the post budget voting intentions?

    I think that we are expecting YouGov, We Think, Techne and Survation with the last three tomorrow. Opinium will be over the weekend. Any others, BMG?
  • GIN1138GIN1138 Posts: 22,274
  • SeaShantyIrish2SeaShantyIrish2 Posts: 17,559

    FF43 said:

    NEW: Michelle Donelan received legal advice about tweeting *that* £15k letter BEFORE she tweeted it. But govt won't tell us what that advice was

    https://twitter.com/e_casalicchio/status/1765720770284511542

    This story is incredible. Why the fuck is the taxpayer paying her libel bills when she's chosen to engage in politically-motivated defamation?
    Donelan isn't short of money thanks to the
    extremely lucrative PPE contracts awarded without competition to her husband and father in law.
    https://goodlawproject.org/michelle-donelan-partner-contracts/

    Indeed, I had forgotten about that.

    I hope we have a full accounting for what went on with PPE contracts once we have a new government. Really clean out the stables. See if any of it passes the threshold for criminal activity.
    Current UK "Conservative" government, is making the US Grant AND Harding administrations look honest as the day is long, comparatively speaking.

    Which is REALLY saying something!

    (BTW, note clever double-meaning of "US" in middle sentence.)
This discussion has been closed.