James O'Brien @mrjamesob · 1h Hours after Downing Street briefed friendly journalists that they'd had a great week, a former Minister defects to Labour...
The Tory arse licking right wing press are delusional . I’m beginning to think Sunak could announce a cure for cancer and he’d still be loathed by many . It might now be a case of the messenger and even when there might be some more positive announcements people see Sunak and just think just go away !
What utter bollocks. The NHS now gets plenty of money - about the European average IIRC?
What it desperately needs is massive reform, and a switch to contributory welfare rather than “free to everyone, come on in”
That's a factor, but nobody, nobody, and nobody imagines the system as efficient. Even private healthcare is a lumbering oaf of inefficiency. For the NHS though the situation is so bad that the care delivered is hugely impaired.
I went private recently. The first chap doddled a list of tests and other people he wanted me to see on an iPad as he went. By the time he’d finished (10 minutes) his secretory had lined up the tests and appointments for me - a couple of options for each. Calendar ics for each, straight to my phone.
All that done, I was back for the results 3 days later. Another 10 minutes and done.
Seemed like a very streamlined setup to me.
Sure, Private medicine with no expense spared can give great customer service. Not always efficient in terms of resources, but that is something different.
There ain't no private hospital that will sort out your impending sub-arachnoid at 2230 on a Friday night though, which is why we all need places like ED at QMC to be functioning well.
Looking at his majority I might have to agree that he might be genuine in his claimed reasons. That does look like one of the safer Tory seats.
To add: I am sure there wil be some attempts at defections from those with smaller majorities who think it might save them.
He's even more of a Cameroon than I am which is saying something.
He genuinely believes the Tories have been an ultra nationalist nasty right wing party.
It’s absolutely delusional. What nationalist nasty right wing party allows in 1.4m migrants in 2 years and is so scared of the guardian it won’t deport anyone ever?
Which one? This one - because it is so grotesquely incompetent and corrupt. Plenty of seriously fucking nasty policies and statements, the only saving grace being that they’re so useless they can barely implement them.
As for the NHS we spend record amounts whilst simultaneously starving front line healthcare of money. A vast faux market bureaucracy which sticks money into middlemen pockets and not actually into patient care. More cash is not needed, a sledgehammer to smash the idiotic system is needed.
Some generally pro-Ukraine accounts are reporting a significant Russian breakthrough
No idea if it’s true. But the sources for this are unusual if it’s not true. Also no idea what “significant” means
I see that warmonitor3 is reporting that. I stopped following that account when they reported a breakthrough at Robotyne, which ended up being a bit underwhelming. Certainly not what people normally think of as a breakthrough.
Also, a bit strange that they don't say where.
Let’s hope this is Russia’s Ludendorff offensive.
The much maligned Douglas Haig commented when asked by Lloyd George in February 1918 if the Germans would attempt a major offensive, 'Perhaps. But if they are wise they will think twice before doing so, because if it fails their position would be critical.'
I'm quite close to this and I can confirm RR is really pissed off at how HMG has fucked around and delayed on this.
However, I think this is a British institutional thing with our government structures and civil service and not a political one. Labour certainly wouldn't be able to do it any faster.
The long history of government run projects says hello.
Some years ago a chap I worked with bid on a small piece of IT work. He sneaked into the contract a no changes clause - he could refuse changes. He delivered the work onto time and on budget. His description of the horror and anger when he rebuffed attempts at pointless changes.
He actually accepted a couple of real changes.
I did geo eng at university - a form of civil engineering. A friend want to work on the precursor works for the Channel Tunnel Rail Link. His boss had worked on the Channel Tunnel.
When the Channel Tunnel was defined, his boss said a thick ring binder contained all the documentation they were meant to work to: all the project-specific stuff over and above the usual legislation. With the CTRL, the documentation came on a lorry with a forklift.
You may expect a tunnel under the sea to have fewer requirements - there are far fewer constituents to be annoyed, until we have piscine voting rights. But even allowing for that, it seems there may be a certain amount of feature creep. Instead of : "Do this!", it is: "Do this, *exactly* like this! Even if it's insane!"
Of all the shit things this government has done, this is one of the worst. It's being dressed up as a way to fight fraud, but it's not because everyone is going to be caught up. DWP gets a report from your bank about what is going in and out of your account, no suspicion of fraud necessary. No bureaucracy will be able to resist the temptation to use that data for other purposes.
And of course there will be screwups. Everyone's had their card blocked or account frozen because the bank's brain-dead software detected some non-existent 'fraud'. Now imagine what that will do to people who lose their benefits while DWP investigates a false positive.
James O'Brien @mrjamesob · 1h Hours after Downing Street briefed friendly journalists that they'd had a great week, a former Minister defects to Labour...
The Tory arse licking right wing press are delusional . I’m beginning to think Sunak could announce a cure for cancer and he’d still be loathed by many . It might now be a case of the messenger and even when there might be some more positive announcements people see Sunak and just think just go away !
Looking at his majority I might have to agree that he might be genuine in his claimed reasons. That does look like one of the safer Tory seats.
To add: I am sure there wil be some attempts at defections from those with smaller majorities who think it might save them.
He's even more of a Cameroon than I am which is saying something.
He genuinely believes the Tories have been an ultra nationalist nasty right wing party.
It’s absolutely delusional. What nationalist nasty right wing party allows in 1.4m migrants in 2 years and is so scared of the guardian it won’t deport anyone ever?
Which one? This one - because it is so grotesquely incompetent and corrupt. Plenty of seriously fucking nasty policies and statements, the only saving grace being that they’re so useless they can barely implement them.
As for the NHS we spend record amounts whilst simultaneously starving front line healthcare of money. A vast faux market bureaucracy which sticks money into middlemen pockets and not actually into patient care. More cash is not needed, a sledgehammer to smash the idiotic system is needed.
Monopoly suppliers, especially state controlled monopoly suppliers, will always tend towards bureaucratisation and producer capture.
Smash the system if you can ** but whatever replaces it will end in a similar result.
** And the bigger the system the harder change is.
Silly comparison though. Horizon wasn't about seeing accounts it was about dodgy software and remote editing
To be fair, however, it's not so much the Gmt seeing the data as what their machinery does with it. And spitting out lists of dodgy practitioners. We already know on PB that people can have their state pension entitlement screwed up by being conflated with someone else - apparently something beyond the will or wit of DWP to sort out. That's not a happy story to remember in this context.
Especially when HMG is already convinced lots of benefit recipients are bent.
steve richards @steverichards14 Defections are rare …and are more significant than they seem whatever the inevitably conplex calculations of the defector…They reliably symbolise a wider direction of travel and further disturb the troubled party that the defector is leaving…while highlighting to voters deep internal discontent.. this specific defector shows also the Sunak has failed to move on from the fantasy English exceptionalism of a right wing party that is still not right wing enough for some of its prominent figures.
What utter bollocks. The NHS now gets plenty of money - about the European average IIRC?
What it desperately needs is massive reform, and a switch to contributory welfare rather than “free to everyone, come on in”
That's a factor, but nobody, nobody, and nobody imagines the system as efficient. Even private healthcare is a lumbering oaf of inefficiency. For the NHS though the situation is so bad that the care delivered is hugely impaired.
I went private recently. The first chap doddled a list of tests and other people he wanted me to see on an iPad as he went. By the time he’d finished (10 minutes) his secretory had lined up the tests and appointments for me - a couple of options for each. Calendar ics for each, straight to my phone.
All that done, I was back for the results 3 days later. Another 10 minutes and done.
Seemed like a very streamlined setup to me.
Sure, Private medicine with no expense spared can give great customer service. Not always efficient in terms of resources, but that is something different.
There ain't no private hospital that will sort out your impending sub-arachnoid at 2230 on a Friday night though, which is why we all need places like ED at QMC to be functioning well.
I’ve seen consultants on the NHS - the total time spent seemed to orders of magnitude more. The system around them seemed to be trying to prevent them doing things.
In total time I saw the consultant for maybe 20 minutes. The other tests were very quickly handled.
I saw the actual bills (passed to an insurance company). They weren’t crazy amounts of money either.
James O'Brien @mrjamesob · 1h Hours after Downing Street briefed friendly journalists that they'd had a great week, a former Minister defects to Labour...
I was but a neophyte in those days, but this seems to me to be much worse. Iirc, it was always in the gift of Brown to set the election, with no speculation (by this point) that he would go early, or be forced to do so. His Government was by no means stable, but it was a lot more stable than this!
Looking at his majority I might have to agree that he might be genuine in his claimed reasons. That does look like one of the safer Tory seats.
To add: I am sure there wil be some attempts at defections from those with smaller majorities who think it might save them.
He's even more of a Cameroon than I am which is saying something.
He genuinely believes the Tories have been an ultra nationalist nasty right wing party.
It’s absolutely delusional. What nationalist nasty right wing party allows in 1.4m migrants in 2 years and is so scared of the guardian it won’t deport anyone ever?
An incompetent one.
If you’re going to be nasty, and the trains are still late, that’s a fail.
Indeed. That’s the worst of it all. The Tories pretend to be nasty and right wing and authoritarian so they get all the hate that comes with that; yet in reality they are high tax high spend high migration. They are further left than Blair
I absolutely despise them. I hope they go extinct
But Blair was further right than probably every pre-Thatcher Tory PM of the 20th century!
I'm quite close to this and I can confirm RR is really pissed off at how HMG has fucked around and delayed on this.
However, I think this is a British institutional thing with our government structures and civil service and not a political one. Labour certainly wouldn't be able to do it any faster.
The long history of government run projects says hello.
Some years ago a chap I worked with bid on a small piece of IT work. He sneaked into the contract a no changes clause - he could refuse changes. He delivered the work onto time and on budget. His description of the horror and anger when he rebuffed attempts at pointless changes.
He actually accepted a couple of real changes.
I did geo eng at university - a form of civil engineering. A friend want to work on the precursor works for the Channel Tunnel Rail Link. His boss had worked on the Channel Tunnel.
When the Channel Tunnel was defined, his boss said a thick ring binder contained all the documentation they were meant to work to: all the project-specific stuff over and above the usual legislation. With the CTRL, the documentation came on a lorry with a forklift.
You may expect a tunnel under the sea to have fewer requirements - there are far fewer constituents to be annoyed, until we have piscine voting rights. But even allowing for that, it seems there may be a certain amount of feature creep. Instead of : "Do this!", it is: "Do this, *exactly* like this! Even if it's insane!"
I wonder how much paperwork Edward Watkin and E. C. H. Day needed for their Channel Tunnel, 1880 ...
James O'Brien @mrjamesob · 1h Hours after Downing Street briefed friendly journalists that they'd had a great week, a former Minister defects to Labour...
I was but a neophyte in those days, but this seems to me to be much worse. Iirc, it was always in the gift of Brown to set the election, with no speculation (by this point) that he would go early, or be forced to do so. His Government was by no means stable, but it was a lot more stable than this!
Well there was a plot to get rid of him in Feb 2010, just a couple of months before he had to call the election...
What utter bollocks. The NHS now gets plenty of money - about the European average IIRC?
What it desperately needs is massive reform, and a switch to contributory welfare rather than “free to everyone, come on in”
It was doing fine 'tll 2010.
Perhaps the money spent should be reduced to 2010 levels then.
Might need to cull a few million pensioners to get the 2010 demographics too.
Good evening
I know you are joking, but it has been a very real possibility for me recently and I am now entirely dependent on my pacemaker
On the wider issue of Poulter, it is yet more bad news for Sunak but then he hasn't been able to put the right in their box and a GE is urgently needed to reset politics not only in Westminster but also in Scotland
steve richards @steverichards14 Defections are rare …and are more significant than they seem whatever the inevitably conplex calculations of the defector…They reliably symbolise a wider direction of travel and further disturb the troubled party that the defector is leaving…while highlighting to voters deep internal discontent.. this specific defector shows also the Sunak has failed to move on from the fantasy English exceptionalism of a right wing party that is still not right wing enough for some of its prominent figures.
I'm quite close to this and I can confirm RR is really pissed off at how HMG has fucked around and delayed on this.
However, I think this is a British institutional thing with our government structures and civil service and not a political one. Labour certainly wouldn't be able to do it any faster.
The long history of government run projects says hello.
Some years ago a chap I worked with bid on a small piece of IT work. He sneaked into the contract a no changes clause - he could refuse changes. He delivered the work onto time and on budget. His description of the horror and anger when he rebuffed attempts at pointless changes.
He actually accepted a couple of real changes.
I did geo eng at university - a form of civil engineering. A friend want to work on the precursor works for the Channel Tunnel Rail Link. His boss had worked on the Channel Tunnel.
When the Channel Tunnel was defined, his boss said a thick ring binder contained all the documentation they were meant to work to: all the project-specific stuff over and above the usual legislation. With the CTRL, the documentation came on a lorry with a forklift.
You may expect a tunnel under the sea to have fewer requirements - there are far fewer constituents to be annoyed, until we have piscine voting rights. But even allowing for that, it seems there may be a certain amount of feature creep. Instead of : "Do this!", it is: "Do this, *exactly* like this! Even if it's insane!"
The powers that be are finally starting to take seriously and scope out with our French friends (what????) the prospect of a tunnel from Jersey to France. It was laughed out for probably nearly thirty years but the limits of a small island to house all the people they need and the chance of increasing the employment base, improving logistics amongst other things have finally tipped to the point it’s an obvious solution.
If they had actually planned for the inevitable future 20 years ago then the tunnel would be operational now. I could do a quick drive by on Leon and be home for dinner. Only joking Leon, promise.
I'm quite close to this and I can confirm RR is really pissed off at how HMG has fucked around and delayed on this.
However, I think this is a British institutional thing with our government structures and civil service and not a political one. Labour certainly wouldn't be able to do it any faster.
The long history of government run projects says hello.
Some years ago a chap I worked with bid on a small piece of IT work. He sneaked into the contract a no changes clause - he could refuse changes. He delivered the work onto time and on budget. His description of the horror and anger when he rebuffed attempts at pointless changes.
He actually accepted a couple of real changes.
I did geo eng at university - a form of civil engineering. A friend want to work on the precursor works for the Channel Tunnel Rail Link. His boss had worked on the Channel Tunnel.
When the Channel Tunnel was defined, his boss said a thick ring binder contained all the documentation they were meant to work to: all the project-specific stuff over and above the usual legislation. With the CTRL, the documentation came on a lorry with a forklift.
You may expect a tunnel under the sea to have fewer requirements - there are far fewer constituents to be annoyed, until we have piscine voting rights. But even allowing for that, it seems there may be a certain amount of feature creep. Instead of : "Do this!", it is: "Do this, *exactly* like this! Even if it's insane!"
I wonder how much paperwork Edward Watkin and E. C. H. Day needed for their Channel Tunnel, 1880 ...
I'm quite close to this and I can confirm RR is really pissed off at how HMG has fucked around and delayed on this.
However, I think this is a British institutional thing with our government structures and civil service and not a political one. Labour certainly wouldn't be able to do it any faster.
The long history of government run projects says hello.
Some years ago a chap I worked with bid on a small piece of IT work. He sneaked into the contract a no changes clause - he could refuse changes. He delivered the work onto time and on budget. His description of the horror and anger when he rebuffed attempts at pointless changes.
He actually accepted a couple of real changes.
I did geo eng at university - a form of civil engineering. A friend want to work on the precursor works for the Channel Tunnel Rail Link. His boss had worked on the Channel Tunnel.
When the Channel Tunnel was defined, his boss said a thick ring binder contained all the documentation they were meant to work to: all the project-specific stuff over and above the usual legislation. With the CTRL, the documentation came on a lorry with a forklift.
You may expect a tunnel under the sea to have fewer requirements - there are far fewer constituents to be annoyed, until we have piscine voting rights. But even allowing for that, it seems there may be a certain amount of feature creep. Instead of : "Do this!", it is: "Do this, *exactly* like this! Even if it's insane!"
The powers that be are finally starting to take seriously and scope out with our French friends (what????) the prospect of a tunnel from Jersey to France. It was laughed out for probably nearly thirty years but the limits of a small island to house all the people they need and the chance of increasing the employment base, improving logistics amongst other things have finally tipped to the point it’s an obvious solution.
If they had actually planned for the inevitable future 20 years ago then the tunnel would be operational now. I could do a quick drive by on Leon and be home for dinner. Only joking Leon, promise.
Sort of thing the Japanese and Norwegians and Faroese have already ... the latter even have a roundabout.
I'm quite close to this and I can confirm RR is really pissed off at how HMG has fucked around and delayed on this.
However, I think this is a British institutional thing with our government structures and civil service and not a political one. Labour certainly wouldn't be able to do it any faster.
The long history of government run projects says hello.
Some years ago a chap I worked with bid on a small piece of IT work. He sneaked into the contract a no changes clause - he could refuse changes. He delivered the work onto time and on budget. His description of the horror and anger when he rebuffed attempts at pointless changes.
He actually accepted a couple of real changes.
I did geo eng at university - a form of civil engineering. A friend want to work on the precursor works for the Channel Tunnel Rail Link. His boss had worked on the Channel Tunnel.
When the Channel Tunnel was defined, his boss said a thick ring binder contained all the documentation they were meant to work to: all the project-specific stuff over and above the usual legislation. With the CTRL, the documentation came on a lorry with a forklift.
You may expect a tunnel under the sea to have fewer requirements - there are far fewer constituents to be annoyed, until we have piscine voting rights. But even allowing for that, it seems there may be a certain amount of feature creep. Instead of : "Do this!", it is: "Do this, *exactly* like this! Even if it's insane!"
I wonder how much paperwork Edward Watkin and E. C. H. Day needed for their Channel Tunnel, 1880 ...
Not to mention William Philip Price and James Allport, drawing a line on the map to create the Settle and Carlisle...
That’s absolutely spectacular. A reverse hostile takeover by Salmond. And as we know, he remains a spectacularly popular politician which is why he won so many votes last time out in his local patch…
Of all the shit things this government has done, this is one of the worst. It's being dressed up as a way to fight fraud, but it's not because everyone is going to be caught up. DWP gets a report from your bank about what is going in and out of your account, no suspicion of fraud necessary. No bureaucracy will be able to resist the temptation to use that data for other purposes.
And of course there will be screwups. Everyone's had their card blocked or account frozen because the bank's brain-dead software detected some non-existent 'fraud'. Now imagine what that will do to people who lose their benefits while DWP investigates a false positive.
So defect to Monzo. I left first direct because when they detected a fraudulent payment I had to spend an hour on the phone to them trying to prove I was me. Monzo detects fraud about equally often but all I have to do is video myself speaking to their app and they unfreeze the account in about 3 minutes
That’s absolutely spectacular. A reverse hostile takeover by Salmond. And as we know, he remains a spectacularly popular politician which is why he won so many votes last time out in his local patch…
I'm quite close to this and I can confirm RR is really pissed off at how HMG has fucked around and delayed on this.
However, I think this is a British institutional thing with our government structures and civil service and not a political one. Labour certainly wouldn't be able to do it any faster.
The long history of government run projects says hello.
Some years ago a chap I worked with bid on a small piece of IT work. He sneaked into the contract a no changes clause - he could refuse changes. He delivered the work onto time and on budget. His description of the horror and anger when he rebuffed attempts at pointless changes.
He actually accepted a couple of real changes.
I did geo eng at university - a form of civil engineering. A friend want to work on the precursor works for the Channel Tunnel Rail Link. His boss had worked on the Channel Tunnel.
When the Channel Tunnel was defined, his boss said a thick ring binder contained all the documentation they were meant to work to: all the project-specific stuff over and above the usual legislation. With the CTRL, the documentation came on a lorry with a forklift.
You may expect a tunnel under the sea to have fewer requirements - there are far fewer constituents to be annoyed, until we have piscine voting rights. But even allowing for that, it seems there may be a certain amount of feature creep. Instead of : "Do this!", it is: "Do this, *exactly* like this! Even if it's insane!"
The powers that be are finally starting to take seriously and scope out with our French friends (what????) the prospect of a tunnel from Jersey to France. It was laughed out for probably nearly thirty years but the limits of a small island to house all the people they need and the chance of increasing the employment base, improving logistics amongst other things have finally tipped to the point it’s an obvious solution.
If they had actually planned for the inevitable future 20 years ago then the tunnel would be operational now. I could do a quick drive by on Leon and be home for dinner. Only joking Leon, promise.
Sort of thing the Japanese and Norwegians and Faroese have already ... the latter even have a roundabout.
It’s really frustrating as it was clear which way the population was going in the late 90s and the way the finance industry, building industries etc etc were booming that you needed more houses and more people. Better late than never I hope and we can get lots of graduates from France who can commute and the kids here get a vague chance of buying a home here or France as today, you think the UK is bad, they have no chance.
That’s absolutely spectacular. A reverse hostile takeover by Salmond. And as we know, he remains a spectacularly popular politician which is why he won so many votes last time out in his local patch…
I assume Useless will say no and go
I expect so. And then the SNP will put up someone else. Will Salmond maintain his "only if you do what I tell you" ultimatum? Because if he does, that someone else would also immediately fail.
Tempted to drive over the hill and lob a thank you card over his gate.
That’s absolutely spectacular. A reverse hostile takeover by Salmond. And as we know, he remains a spectacularly popular politician which is why he won so many votes last time out in his local patch…
I assume Useless will say no and go
I expect so. And then the SNP will put up someone else. Will Salmond maintain his "only if you do what I tell you" ultimatum? Because if he does, that someone else would also immediately fail.
Tempted to drive over the hill and lob a thank you card over his gate.
It's nothing to worry about, people like me already have access to your bank accounts and everybody else's in the UK.
How comforting. You'll be telling me next that if I've done nothing wrong I've nothing to worry about.
Completely agree, I was saying the same thing on a thread a few days ago.
The right to financial privacy should be sacrosanct. There's a clear reason why physical gold, paper currency and truly anonymous crypto like Monero are being hounded out of existence, and it has nothing to do with the next Pablo Escobar wanting to launder his cash - the money laundering channels in tax havens and offshore bank accounts will always exist for the rich. It has everything to do with state control and surveillance over the ordinary citizen. They want to be able to pry into every aspect of our lives.
That’s absolutely spectacular. A reverse hostile takeover by Salmond. And as we know, he remains a spectacularly popular politician which is why he won so many votes last time out in his local patch…
I assume Useless will say no and go
I expect so. And then the SNP will put up someone else. Will Salmond maintain his "only if you do what I tell you" ultimatum? Because if he does, that someone else would also immediately fail.
Tempted to drive over the hill and lob a thank you card over his gate.
Scotland like the rest of UK needs elections
If my memory serves me correctly, a couple of years or so ago you - and quite a few others - were fairly dismissive of a poster on here - now long departed -who argued quite confidently that Labour could recover its former dominant position in Scotland.
My prediction: with the electoral map turning blood red many young, moderate tories who feel they are not done in politics yet will be tempted to defect. We havent seen the last person crossing before the GE.
That’s absolutely spectacular. A reverse hostile takeover by Salmond. And as we know, he remains a spectacularly popular politician which is why he won so many votes last time out in his local patch…
I assume Useless will say no and go
I expect so. And then the SNP will put up someone else. Will Salmond maintain his "only if you do what I tell you" ultimatum? Because if he does, that someone else would also immediately fail.
Tempted to drive over the hill and lob a thank you card over his gate.
Scotland like the rest of UK needs elections
I'm doing more reading. Here is the problem for the SNP: 1. Yousaf has written a letter of unreal desperation to each party leader. Like this one sent to DRoss: https://twitter.com/PGibbano/status/1784278750760255509 2. If the Greens vote against, the balance of power is held by Ash Reagan. The greens not only will vote against Yousaf, but will also vote against anyone they dislike, again and again: https://twitter.com/SuzJamieson/status/1784229956907655676 3. There is a deal on offer from Salmond for Reagan's vote. But at a price (electoral pact with Salmond in charge) they cannot accept without losing SNP members defecting to the Greens or elsewhere
Yousless has done this. Demolished the deal with the Greens so badly that they will now vote against the SNP unless they get the whip hand. And the only other option is a deal with Alba, with the devil getting the whip hand.
Unless the Greens or Salmond back down, an election seems inevitable.
But will Poulter be the first of a wave of Tory > Labour defectors?
Wave? I doubt it. But defections (especially when not prompted by an expulsion) are very rare, so even one happening is significant, and it's been only 2 years since that the last Labour-Tory defection, so not that long ago.
Was the last proper one (that is, without their being suspensions beforehand etc) the SNP lady to the Tories?
I don't think anyone has ever gone directly from Labour to Tory whilst in the Commons, though Tory to Labour has happened a few times.
But will Poulter be the first of a wave of Tory > Labour defectors?
Wave? I doubt it. But defections (especially when not prompted by an expulsion) are very rare, so even one happening is significant, and it's been only 2 years since that the last Labour-Tory defection, so not that long ago.
Was the last proper one (that is, without their being suspensions beforehand etc) the SNP lady to the Tories?
I don't think anyone has ever gone directly from Labour to Tory whilst in the Commons, though Tory to Labour has happened a few times.
Didn't Salmond try to to get people to vote SNP for the constituency gote, Alba for the regional vote last scottish election? Didn't seem to cut through at all at the time, a proper pact seems a bit much for the SNP to accept even though they are weaker now.
That’s absolutely spectacular. A reverse hostile takeover by Salmond. And as we know, he remains a spectacularly popular politician which is why he won so many votes last time out in his local patch…
I assume Useless will say no and go
I expect so. And then the SNP will put up someone else. Will Salmond maintain his "only if you do what I tell you" ultimatum? Because if he does, that someone else would also immediately fail.
Tempted to drive over the hill and lob a thank you card over his gate.
Scotland like the rest of UK needs elections
I'm doing more reading. Here is the problem for the SNP: 1. Yousaf has written a letter of unreal desperation to each party leader. Like this one sent to DRoss: https://twitter.com/PGibbano/status/1784278750760255509 2. If the Greens vote against, the balance of power is held by Ash Reagan. The greens not only will vote against Yousaf, but will also vote against anyone they dislike, again and again: https://twitter.com/SuzJamieson/status/1784229956907655676 3. There is a deal on offer from Salmond for Reagan's vote. But at a price (electoral pact with Salmond in charge) they cannot accept without losing SNP members defecting to the Greens or elsewhere
Yousless has done this. Demolished the deal with the Greens so badly that they will now vote against the SNP unless they get the whip hand. And the only other option is a deal with Alba, with the devil getting the whip hand.
Unless the Greens or Salmond back down, an election seems inevitable.
That letter from Yousaf to Ross is even more insufferably patronising and silly than the letters British Gas have been sending me.
It's nearly as daft as the average email from the Student Loans Company.
Bet he'd still vote for her if he's based in South Dakota though.
Remember when some GOP used to occasionally say Trump might not be right all the time when he did something disgustingly offensive? They got over that right quick.
But will Poulter be the first of a wave of Tory > Labour defectors?
Wave? I doubt it. But defections (especially when not prompted by an expulsion) are very rare, so even one happening is significant, and it's been only 2 years since that the last Labour-Tory defection, so not that long ago.
Was the last proper one (that is, without their being suspensions beforehand etc) the SNP lady to the Tories?
I don't think anyone has ever gone directly from Labour to Tory whilst in the Commons, though Tory to Labour has happened a few times.
That’s absolutely spectacular. A reverse hostile takeover by Salmond. And as we know, he remains a spectacularly popular politician which is why he won so many votes last time out in his local patch…
I assume Useless will say no and go
I expect so. And then the SNP will put up someone else. Will Salmond maintain his "only if you do what I tell you" ultimatum? Because if he does, that someone else would also immediately fail.
Tempted to drive over the hill and lob a thank you card over his gate.
Scotland like the rest of UK needs elections
If my memory serves me correctly, a couple of years or so ago you - and quite a few others - were fairly dismissive of a poster on here - now long departed -who argued quite confidently that Labour could recover its former dominant position in Scotland.
Nobody could have foreseen the collapse of the SNP in such a spectacular fashion
But will Poulter be the first of a wave of Tory > Labour defectors?
Wave? I doubt it. But defections (especially when not prompted by an expulsion) are very rare, so even one happening is significant, and it's been only 2 years since that the last Labour-Tory defection, so not that long ago.
Was the last proper one (that is, without their being suspensions beforehand etc) the SNP lady to the Tories?
I don't think anyone has ever gone directly from Labour to Tory whilst in the Commons, though Tory to Labour has happened a few times.
Reg Prentice
I stand corrected, cheers. Definitely less common though.
But will Poulter be the first of a wave of Tory > Labour defectors?
Wave? I doubt it. But defections (especially when not prompted by an expulsion) are very rare, so even one happening is significant, and it's been only 2 years since that the last Labour-Tory defection, so not that long ago.
Was the last proper one (that is, without their being suspensions beforehand etc) the SNP lady to the Tories?
I don't think anyone has ever gone directly from Labour to Tory whilst in the Commons, though Tory to Labour has happened a few times.
That’s absolutely spectacular. A reverse hostile takeover by Salmond. And as we know, he remains a spectacularly popular politician which is why he won so many votes last time out in his local patch…
I assume Useless will say no and go
I expect so. And then the SNP will put up someone else. Will Salmond maintain his "only if you do what I tell you" ultimatum? Because if he does, that someone else would also immediately fail.
Tempted to drive over the hill and lob a thank you card over his gate.
Scotland like the rest of UK needs elections
If my memory serves me correctly, a couple of years or so ago you - and quite a few others - were fairly dismissive of a poster on here - now long departed -who argued quite confidently that Labour could recover its former dominant position in Scotland.
Nobody could have foreseen the collapse of the SNP in such a spectacular fashion
Well he appeared to see the possibility of it happening at some point.Admittedly he was then suggesting that Labour might win circa 15 seats - which now is probably a rather conservative estimate. It has struck me as quite an astute prediction - and he had a similar experience predicting Labour gains in Scotland back in 2017.
"The US says that once the system is operational, up to 150 trucks of aid could be delivered a day with two million meals, enough to feed almost all of the territory's 2.3 million population."
...
"The possible role for British forces - known as "wet boots" by military planners - would see them drive trucks off landing craft onto the temporary causeway and deliver aid to a secure distribution area ashore.
Although a huge effort would be made to protect allied forces both off and onshore, British troops would potentially face a higher risk of attack from Hamas and other armed groups."
How TF can this be done, unless something big changes, without direct cooperation with Hamas?
The idea that Hamas would attack the delivery of food aid to a starving population is insane.
Is this delivery of aid intended to continue while the Israeli army "enters" Rafah? It could very easily turn to assistance with mass deportation. (This is not meant as any kind of criticism of the delivery of aid, which is of course vital.)
"The US says that once the system is operational, up to 150 trucks of aid could be delivered a day with two million meals, enough to feed almost all of the territory's 2.3 million population."
...
"The possible role for British forces - known as "wet boots" by military planners - would see them drive trucks off landing craft onto the temporary causeway and deliver aid to a secure distribution area ashore.
Although a huge effort would be made to protect allied forces both off and onshore, British troops would potentially face a higher risk of attack from Hamas and other armed groups."
How TF can this be done, unless something big changes, without direct cooperation with Hamas?
The idea that Hamas would attack the delivery of food aid to a starving population is insane.
Is this delivery of aid intended to continue while the Israeli army "enters" Rafah? It could very easily turn to assistance with mass deportation. (This is not meant as any kind of criticism of the delivery of aid, which is of course vital.)
I’m wondering why the British are maybe going to be doing it and not an ally of the US who are a Muslim country such as NATO member Turkey or regional ally Jordan. Surely they can be trusted to work with the US side and acceptable to Hamas and co?
I may have mused on this before but why has Sony not yet come up with a solution to CD’s skipping on the Walkman when out for a run? Shouldn’t be that hard.
"The US says that once the system is operational, up to 150 trucks of aid could be delivered a day with two million meals, enough to feed almost all of the territory's 2.3 million population."
...
"The possible role for British forces - known as "wet boots" by military planners - would see them drive trucks off landing craft onto the temporary causeway and deliver aid to a secure distribution area ashore.
Although a huge effort would be made to protect allied forces both off and onshore, British troops would potentially face a higher risk of attack from Hamas and other armed groups."
How TF can this be done, unless something big changes, without direct cooperation with Hamas?
The idea that Hamas would attack the delivery of food aid to a starving population is insane.
Is this delivery of aid intended to continue while the Israeli army "enters" Rafah? It could very easily turn to assistance with mass deportation. (This is not meant as any kind of criticism of the delivery of aid, which is of course vital.)
I’m wondering why the British are maybe going to be doing it and not an ally of the US who are a Muslim country such as NATO member Turkey or regional ally Jordan. Surely they can be trusted to work with the US side and acceptable to Hamas and co?
I may have mused on this before but why has Sony not yet come up with a solution to CD’s skipping on the Walkman when out for a run? Shouldn’t be that hard.
It's old tech now - I doubt anyone'll bother to make it much better. Just buy a solid-state MP3 player instead.
I would have thought Boris and Rishi spent more on the NHS than Cameron and Osborne?
Sounds more like he thinks backing Labour gives him a better chance of returning to the NHS as a doctor than being a Tory MP than a sudden damascene conversion to socialism or social democracy
I may have mused on this before but why has Sony not yet come up with a solution to CD’s skipping on the Walkman when out for a run? Shouldn’t be that hard.
It's old tech now - I doubt anyone'll bother to make it much better. Just buy a solid-state MP3 player instead.
A workaround I’ve found is putting it in a wheelbarrow which gives a bit of an upper body workout as well but is a bit awkward on narrow pavements. The potential for accidents is quite high.
"The US says that once the system is operational, up to 150 trucks of aid could be delivered a day with two million meals, enough to feed almost all of the territory's 2.3 million population."
...
"The possible role for British forces - known as "wet boots" by military planners - would see them drive trucks off landing craft onto the temporary causeway and deliver aid to a secure distribution area ashore.
Although a huge effort would be made to protect allied forces both off and onshore, British troops would potentially face a higher risk of attack from Hamas and other armed groups."
How TF can this be done, unless something big changes, without direct cooperation with Hamas?
The idea that Hamas would attack the delivery of food aid to a starving population is insane.
Is this delivery of aid intended to continue while the Israeli army "enters" Rafah? It could very easily turn to assistance with mass deportation. (This is not meant as any kind of criticism of the delivery of aid, which is of course vital.)
I’m wondering why the British are maybe going to be doing it and not an ally of the US who are a Muslim country such as NATO member Turkey or regional ally Jordan. Surely they can be trusted to work with the US side and acceptable to Hamas and co?
Possibly because the Israelis said no.
Which would be silly as what would be better PR for the Israelis than them welcoming an Arab/islamic nation as part of a plan to help the Palestinians.
"The US says that once the system is operational, up to 150 trucks of aid could be delivered a day with two million meals, enough to feed almost all of the territory's 2.3 million population."
...
"The possible role for British forces - known as "wet boots" by military planners - would see them drive trucks off landing craft onto the temporary causeway and deliver aid to a secure distribution area ashore.
Although a huge effort would be made to protect allied forces both off and onshore, British troops would potentially face a higher risk of attack from Hamas and other armed groups."
(Snip)
How TF can this be done, unless something big changes, without direct cooperation with Hamas?
The idea that Hamas would attack the delivery of food aid to a starving population is insane.
Is this delivery of aid intended to continue while the Israeli army "enters" Rafah? It could very easily turn to assistance with mass deportation. (This is not meant as any kind of criticism of the delivery of aid, which is of course vital.)
I've linked to the 'What's up with shipping' videos on this subject before. It's problematic. But Hamas's supporters have been making a big thing of 'their' people starving; it would be a very bad look for them to stop aid. That does not mean that other actors in the region may not interfere, though.
As for the Israelis... that's more interesting. There's virtually no chance of weapons or other non-aid getting through to the Palestinians, so they'd like that. On the other, it might stop Palestinians from starving, which they may not like...
But there's going to have to be boots on the ground, at least at the beach-head and distribution areas.
I may have mused on this before but why has Sony not yet come up with a solution to CD’s skipping on the Walkman when out for a run? Shouldn’t be that hard.
It's old tech now - I doubt anyone'll bother to make it much better. Just buy a solid-state MP3 player instead.
A workaround I’ve found is putting it in a wheelbarrow which gives a bit of an upper body workout as well but is a bit awkward on narrow pavements. The potential for accidents is quite high.
"The US says that once the system is operational, up to 150 trucks of aid could be delivered a day with two million meals, enough to feed almost all of the territory's 2.3 million population."
...
"The possible role for British forces - known as "wet boots" by military planners - would see them drive trucks off landing craft onto the temporary causeway and deliver aid to a secure distribution area ashore.
Although a huge effort would be made to protect allied forces both off and onshore, British troops would potentially face a higher risk of attack from Hamas and other armed groups."
How TF can this be done, unless something big changes, without direct cooperation with Hamas?
The idea that Hamas would attack the delivery of food aid to a starving population is insane.
Is this delivery of aid intended to continue while the Israeli army "enters" Rafah? It could very easily turn to assistance with mass deportation. (This is not meant as any kind of criticism of the delivery of aid, which is of course vital.)
I suspect the Israeli's see this as a way of sealing the land borders and only allowing access through the port.
That’s absolutely spectacular. A reverse hostile takeover by Salmond. And as we know, he remains a spectacularly popular politician which is why he won so many votes last time out in his local patch…
I assume Useless will say no and go
I expect so. And then the SNP will put up someone else. Will Salmond maintain his "only if you do what I tell you" ultimatum? Because if he does, that someone else would also immediately fail.
Tempted to drive over the hill and lob a thank you card over his gate.
Scotland like the rest of UK needs elections
If my memory serves me correctly, a couple of years or so ago you - and quite a few others - were fairly dismissive of a poster on here - now long departed -who argued quite confidently that Labour could recover its former dominant position in Scotland.
Nobody could have foreseen the collapse of the SNP in such a spectacular fashion
Nobody did- the question is, could we have done? Should we have done?
Now the cracks are visible, it's blooming obvious that a party that straddles rural conservatives and urban progressives isn't stable. The fissure was there, held together by the promise of the Sindyref and whatever it was Sturgeon was doing.
The deal with the Greens, and the uber wokery that followed, probably made things worse, but the contradictions were there anyway.
And whichever way the SNP wave function collapses, it loses half its support. Only question is- which half?
I may have mused on this before but why has Sony not yet come up with a solution to CD’s skipping on the Walkman when out for a run? Shouldn’t be that hard.
It's old tech now - I doubt anyone'll bother to make it much better. Just buy a solid-state MP3 player instead.
A workaround I’ve found is putting it in a wheelbarrow which gives a bit of an upper body workout as well but is a bit awkward on narrow pavements. The potential for accidents is quite high.
An easier workaround is not to feel the need to drown out the sounds of nature when out and about.
I had a tough start; actually the tough start began last night. Just as I went to bed a bit later than planned, a mass brawl kicked off in the plaza outside
There was a lot of shouting, smashing and clanging. I glanced out of the window and saw a large crowd of young men throwing bottles, chairs and tables at each other
I closed all the shutters and just tried to sleep. I got woken a few times by alternating violence and sirens, and there was still shouting outside when my alarm went off at half five
I put my head under the pillow and fell asleep for another hour, waking up to quiet. Fuck knows what happened, maybe just a normal Friday night in Astorga?
So I set off rather late, just after eight, feeling less than fully rested
The weather has been awful most of today; cloudy, cold, windy and wet - and even ten minutes of hail, during which I saw some English graffitti on the back of a road sign
"Grit your teeth and keep walking"
I did just that and managed to get just over fifty kilometres walked today, all the way to León
The weather cheered up. I got a lovely hotel room right in the centre, about three hundred yards from the Cathedral. I dropped my bag in my room and went to see the Cathedral (sadly closed, apparently has rather special stained glass ŵindows)
Now eating dinner in an excellent Asian restaurant, the top rated place on TripAdvisor, next door to my hotel!
I may have mused on this before but why has Sony not yet come up with a solution to CD’s skipping on the Walkman when out for a run? Shouldn’t be that hard.
It's old tech now - I doubt anyone'll bother to make it much better. Just buy a solid-state MP3 player instead.
A workaround I’ve found is putting it in a wheelbarrow which gives a bit of an upper body workout as well but is a bit awkward on narrow pavements. The potential for accidents is quite high.
An easier workaround is not to feel the need to drown out the sounds of nature when out and about.
Safer too.
Those glorious nature sounds of cars rushing by, in many cases.
"The US says that once the system is operational, up to 150 trucks of aid could be delivered a day with two million meals, enough to feed almost all of the territory's 2.3 million population."
...
"The possible role for British forces - known as "wet boots" by military planners - would see them drive trucks off landing craft onto the temporary causeway and deliver aid to a secure distribution area ashore.
Although a huge effort would be made to protect allied forces both off and onshore, British troops would potentially face a higher risk of attack from Hamas and other armed groups."
How TF can this be done, unless something big changes, without direct cooperation with Hamas?
The idea that Hamas would attack the delivery of food aid to a starving population is insane.
Is this delivery of aid intended to continue while the Israeli army "enters" Rafah? It could very easily turn to assistance with mass deportation. (This is not meant as any kind of criticism of the delivery of aid, which is of course vital.)
Hamas isn’t a single dictatorial system. More an oligarchic franchise. This means that is you do a deal with one faction, you may or may not be doing a deal with the others.
An attack on a Western military power - even if providing food aid - might well be too tempting for a faction. You are then worrying about the least rational individuals in a terrorist organisation that is quite into Death To The West.
I may have mused on this before but why has Sony not yet come up with a solution to CD’s skipping on the Walkman when out for a run? Shouldn’t be that hard.
It's old tech now - I doubt anyone'll bother to make it much better. Just buy a solid-state MP3 player instead.
A workaround I’ve found is putting it in a wheelbarrow which gives a bit of an upper body workout as well but is a bit awkward on narrow pavements. The potential for accidents is quite high.
An easier workaround is not to feel the need to drown out the sounds of nature when out and about.
Safer too.
Those glorious nature sounds of cars rushing by, in many cases.
That's part of the safety bit. Hearing cars, cyclists, approaching villains.
I had a tough start; actually the tough start began last night. Just as I went to bed a bit later than planned, a mass brawl kicked off in the plaza outside
There was a lot of shouting, smashing and clanging. I glanced out of the window and saw a large crowd of young men throwing bottles, chairs and tables at each other
I closed all the shutters and just tried to sleep. I got woken a few times by alternating violence and sirens, and there was still shouting outside when my alarm went off at half five
I put my head under the pillow and fell asleep for another hour, waking up to quiet. Fuck knows what happened, maybe just a normal Friday night in Astorga?
So I set off rather late, just after eight, feeling less than fully rested
The weather has been awful most of today; cloudy, cold, windy and wet - and even ten minutes of hail, during which I saw some English graffitti on the back of a road sign
"Grit your teeth and keep walking"
I did just that and managed to get just over fifty kilometres walked today, all the way to León
The weather cheered up. I got a lovely hotel room right in the centre, about three hundred yards from the Cathedral. I dropped my bag in my room and went to see the Cathedral (sadly closed, apparently has rather special stained glass ŵindows)
Now eating dinner in an excellent Asian restaurant, the top rated place on TripAdvisor, next door to my hotel!
Yay. Well done you
Cathedral looks amazing
I forgot if you ever told us, why are you doing the Camino in reverse?
I may have mused on this before but why has Sony not yet come up with a solution to CD’s skipping on the Walkman when out for a run? Shouldn’t be that hard.
It's old tech now - I doubt anyone'll bother to make it much better. Just buy a solid-state MP3 player instead.
A workaround I’ve found is putting it in a wheelbarrow which gives a bit of an upper body workout as well but is a bit awkward on narrow pavements. The potential for accidents is quite high.
I have a gimballed radiogram playing 33 rpm lps through Marshall speakers, powered by a bank of heavy duty car batteries, installed on a mule cart.
I had a tough start; actually the tough start began last night. Just as I went to bed a bit later than planned, a mass brawl kicked off in the plaza outside
There was a lot of shouting, smashing and clanging. I glanced out of the window and saw a large crowd of young men throwing bottles, chairs and tables at each other
I closed all the shutters and just tried to sleep. I got woken a few times by alternating violence and sirens, and there was still shouting outside when my alarm went off at half five
I put my head under the pillow and fell asleep for another hour, waking up to quiet. Fuck knows what happened, maybe just a normal Friday night in Astorga?
So I set off rather late, just after eight, feeling less than fully rested
The weather has been awful most of today; cloudy, cold, windy and wet - and even ten minutes of hail, during which I saw some English graffitti on the back of a road sign
"Grit your teeth and keep walking"
I did just that and managed to get just over fifty kilometres walked today, all the way to León
The weather cheered up. I got a lovely hotel room right in the centre, about three hundred yards from the Cathedral. I dropped my bag in my room and went to see the Cathedral (sadly closed, apparently has rather special stained glass ŵindows)
Now eating dinner in an excellent Asian restaurant, the top rated place on TripAdvisor, next door to my hotel!
I have another question. I’m doing a walking holiday for the gazette very soon. It’s in a lovely part of the world but - TBH - I find walking day after day quite dull. And I like walking. But I’m generally happy with a 1-3 hour schlep unless it’s absolutely compelling - like Paris in Decline the other day
How do you get over that? Do you listen to audiobooks? Do you go into some zen state? Or is is actually quite hard - step after step after step…
Comments
There ain't no private hospital that will sort out your impending sub-arachnoid at 2230 on a Friday night though, which is why we all need places like ED at QMC to be functioning well.
As for the NHS we spend record amounts whilst simultaneously starving front line healthcare of money. A vast faux market bureaucracy which sticks money into middlemen pockets and not actually into patient care. More cash is not needed, a sledgehammer to smash the idiotic system is needed.
They should have listened...
When the Channel Tunnel was defined, his boss said a thick ring binder contained all the documentation they were meant to work to: all the project-specific stuff over and above the usual legislation. With the CTRL, the documentation came on a lorry with a forklift.
You may expect a tunnel under the sea to have fewer requirements - there are far fewer constituents to be annoyed, until we have piscine voting rights. But even allowing for that, it seems there may be a certain amount of feature creep. Instead of : "Do this!", it is: "Do this, *exactly* like this! Even if it's insane!"
Gareth Roberts"
https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/life-was-better-in-the-1990s/
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18540832
And of course there will be screwups. Everyone's had their card blocked or account frozen because the bank's brain-dead software detected some non-existent 'fraud'. Now imagine what that will do to people who lose their benefits while DWP investigates a false positive.
Smash the system if you can ** but whatever replaces it will end in a similar result.
** And the bigger the system the harder change is.
Investigation finds groups hosting Islamophobic attacks on London mayor Sadiq Khan, white supremacist slogans and antisemitic conspiracy theories
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/apr/27/tory-staff-running-network-of-anti-ulez-facebook-groups-riddled-with-racism-and-abuse
Especially when HMG is already convinced lots of benefit recipients are bent.
The other thought is - why DWP but not HMRC?
@steverichards14
Defections are rare …and are more significant than they seem whatever the inevitably conplex calculations of the defector…They reliably symbolise a wider direction of travel and further disturb the troubled party that the defector is leaving…while highlighting to voters deep internal discontent.. this specific defector shows also the Sunak has failed to move on from the fantasy English exceptionalism of a right wing party that is still not right wing enough for some of its prominent figures.
https://twitter.com/steverichards14/status/1784271792741191821
In total time I saw the consultant for maybe 20 minutes. The other tests were very quickly handled.
I saw the actual bills (passed to an insurance company). They weren’t crazy amounts of money either.
With great power comes great responsibility
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/392db86e-7d65-4c5d-b2a9-b781d5ee7250?shareToken=2d4f0b63b71d81aefa497b90bd9f8d36
For those who can't read it. It is likely Blunt betrayed us to the Germans in WW2.
Very nasty if true. Blunt was a traitor and had his honour taken back.
On death he should have had an award of "Death with dishonour"
Taking his knighthood away just isn't enough.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0d5bae6e-c917-46a6-b839-050980739516?shareToken=952ae3ab68dd1227fce6b5ac1b4b419e
Scottish politics delivers once again.
Pact with Alba Party is price of Yousaf’s survival
Alex Salmond reveals his terms for backing the beleaguered first minister as no-confidence vote loom
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/pact-with-alba-party-is-price-of-yousafs-survival-njfk8bbh7
I know you are joking, but it has been a very real possibility for me recently and I am now entirely dependent on my pacemaker
On the wider issue of Poulter, it is yet more bad news for Sunak but then he hasn't been able to put the right in their box and a GE is urgently needed to reset politics not only in Westminster but also in Scotland
If they had actually planned for the inevitable future 20 years ago then the tunnel would be operational now. I could do a quick drive by on Leon and be home for dinner. Only joking Leon, promise.
https://visitfaroeislands.com/en/see-do/culture-attractions0/world-first-under-sea-roundabout
IMV too many politicians see it as 'power', rather than 'responsibility'.
The Labour Party
@UKLabour
·
1h
Welcome, Dr Dan Poulter, Labour’s new MP for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich.
https://twitter.com/UKLabour/status/1784266200031047787
Tempted to drive over the hill and lob a thank you card over his gate.
1) The Labour motion fails;
2) The Tory motion in Yousaf passes;
3) Yousaf refuses to resign (as he would be within his rights to do).
They then have a disgraced and discredited FM *and* no election for the time being.
The right to financial privacy should be sacrosanct. There's a clear reason why physical gold, paper currency and truly anonymous crypto like Monero are being hounded out of existence, and it has nothing to do with the next Pablo Escobar wanting to launder his cash - the money laundering channels in tax havens and offshore bank accounts will always exist for the rich. It has everything to do with state control and surveillance over the ordinary citizen. They want to be able to pry into every aspect of our lives.
1. Yousaf has written a letter of unreal desperation to each party leader. Like this one sent to DRoss: https://twitter.com/PGibbano/status/1784278750760255509
2. If the Greens vote against, the balance of power is held by Ash Reagan. The greens not only will vote against Yousaf, but will also vote against anyone they dislike, again and again: https://twitter.com/SuzJamieson/status/1784229956907655676
3. There is a deal on offer from Salmond for Reagan's vote. But at a price (electoral pact with Salmond in charge) they cannot accept without losing SNP members defecting to the Greens or elsewhere
Yousless has done this. Demolished the deal with the Greens so badly that they will now vote against the SNP unless they get the whip hand. And the only other option is a deal with Alba, with the devil getting the whip hand.
Unless the Greens or Salmond back down, an election seems inevitable.
But sure as eggs the data will be quietly made available to HMRC and any other department that wants it.
OK, which MPs are likely to defect in 2040?
I'm not actually a banker. I'm really a lawyer.
Was the last proper one (that is, without their being suspensions beforehand etc) the SNP lady to the Tories?
I don't think anyone has ever gone directly from Labour to Tory whilst in the Commons, though Tory to Labour has happened a few times.
It's nearly as daft as the average email from the Student Loans Company.
Remember when some GOP used to occasionally say Trump might not be right all the time when he did something disgustingly offensive? They got over that right quick.
I've just been watching some old Haircut 100 videos on that YouTube.
Anyhow, to bring things back to politics, Nick Hayward could be mistaken for a young Nigel Farage.
I hope everyone is having a Fantastic Day.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-68909511
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-68904209
"The US says that once the system is operational, up to 150 trucks of aid could be delivered a day with two million meals, enough to feed almost all of the territory's 2.3 million population."
...
"The possible role for British forces - known as "wet boots" by military planners - would see them drive trucks off landing craft onto the temporary causeway and deliver aid to a secure distribution area ashore.
Although a huge effort would be made to protect allied forces both off and onshore, British troops would potentially face a higher risk of attack from Hamas and other armed groups."
How TF can this be done, unless something big changes, without direct cooperation with Hamas?
The idea that Hamas would attack the delivery of food aid to a starving population is insane.
Is this delivery of aid intended to continue while the Israeli army "enters" Rafah? It could very easily turn to assistance with mass deportation. (This is not meant as any kind of criticism of the delivery of aid, which is of course vital.)
There are worse places to open a window to warmer air
Sounds more like he thinks backing Labour gives him a better chance of returning to the NHS as a doctor than being a Tory MP than a sudden damascene conversion to socialism or social democracy
As for the Israelis... that's more interesting. There's virtually no chance of weapons or other non-aid getting through to the Palestinians, so they'd like that. On the other, it might stop Palestinians from starving, which they may not like...
But there's going to have to be boots on the ground, at least at the beach-head and distribution areas.
Westminster Voting Intention:
LAB: 44% (+1)
CON: 22% (-4)
RFM: 13% (+2)
LDM: 9% (=)
GRN: 6% (-1)
SNP: 3% (+1)
Via @wethinkpolling, 25-26 Apr.
Raynergate rampers please explain.
Now the cracks are visible, it's blooming obvious that a party that straddles rural conservatives and urban progressives isn't stable. The fissure was there, held together by the promise of the Sindyref and whatever it was Sturgeon was doing.
The deal with the Greens, and the uber wokery that followed, probably made things worse, but the contradictions were there anyway.
And whichever way the SNP wave function collapses, it loses half its support. Only question is- which half?
Safer too.
I had a tough start; actually the tough start began last night. Just as I went to bed a bit later than planned, a mass brawl kicked off in the plaza outside
There was a lot of shouting, smashing and clanging. I glanced out of the window and saw a large crowd of young men throwing bottles, chairs and tables at each other
I closed all the shutters and just tried to sleep. I got woken a few times by alternating violence and sirens, and there was still shouting outside when my alarm went off at half five
I put my head under the pillow and fell asleep for another hour, waking up to quiet. Fuck knows what happened, maybe just a normal Friday night in Astorga?
So I set off rather late, just after eight, feeling less than fully rested
The weather has been awful most of today; cloudy, cold, windy and wet - and even ten minutes of hail, during which I saw some English graffitti on the back of a road sign
"Grit your teeth and keep walking"
I did just that and managed to get just over fifty kilometres walked today, all the way to León
The weather cheered up. I got a lovely hotel room right in the centre, about three hundred yards from the Cathedral. I dropped my bag in my room and went to see the Cathedral (sadly closed, apparently has rather special stained glass ŵindows)
Now eating dinner in an excellent Asian restaurant, the top rated place on TripAdvisor, next door to my hotel!
An attack on a Western military power - even if providing food aid - might well be too tempting for a faction. You are then worrying about the least rational individuals in a terrorist organisation that is quite into Death To The West.
Cathedral looks amazing
I forgot if you ever told us, why are you doing the Camino in reverse?
How do you get over that? Do you listen to audiobooks? Do you go into some zen state? Or is is actually quite hard - step after step after step…