Is their a website somewhere with a list of when we can expect the results? I'm assuming the London Mayor one will be massively delayed as it always is and won't announce until Saturday.
This is the Press Association page, but they haven't updated it like they said they would, by the end of April.
They are not even going to start counting the London results until 9am on Saturday.
I must say I know a lot of election workers, and deeply respect all they do, but the professionals mostly do not like overnight counting, understandably, and are not really concerned with speedy counting at all (even when there are not multiple elections to deal with), it is the one point I fall out with them about.
Also know lot of election worker, and share your respect.
Overnight counting is for the birds IMHO. As for speedy counting, here in Martin Luther King County in the great Evergreen State of WA, our election administrators & workers strive to combine strict accuracy with reasonable speed - the later where valid ballots are still arriving days after Election Day.
Two major reasons why they aim to be correct and NOT slow:
1. Professional pride and efficiency which translates into more ballots processed, validated & counted per hour per worker = significant budget savings for county government; and
2. Desire to get media, candidates, pundits, bloggers, etc., etc. off their freaking backs, by Feeding the Beast(s) and getting close enough to hitting bottom re: vote counting, so that only the VERY closest races are still undecided by (say) the Friday after the First Tuesday after the First Monday in November.
Curious conversation today with my good tory Surrey friend with whom I’m staying again this week.
She said to me, ‘Keir Starmer is the new Boris Johnson.’
I was speechless and thought I must have misheard but another friend heard it and was equally astonished by it. So my good friend repeated the claim. I’ve put it in bold partly because it’s so astonishing and partly because it’ll catch the eye
After a long period of thinking she knew nothing about Starmer and nothing about Labour’s policies my friend has now come to the conclusion that, 'like Boris,' he’s a man of the people: ‘he’s listening to what really matters to people.’
It’ll be dismissed out of hand by the likes of CR who seems to think any anecdotes are the mark of the troll, which doesn’t matter. Perhaps more pertinently I don’t imagine it’s a view widely held by many hitherto tory voters.
But suppose it is? Suppose Starmer is cutting through? I’ve heard elsewhere that he’s gaining traction amongst older voters.
Anyway, I am still astonished by the comment and offer it humbly and verbatim.
I definitely get the sense that Starmer connects far better with ordinary folk than Sunak, although that’s not a high bar (stop sniggering at the back - Ed). I assume your friend likes Johnson, otherwise comparing Starmer with the serially lying, shagging, shambling lump of dishonesty is a bit harsh.
Starmer has two big advantages.
First is that his background involved some more interaction with normal people.
Second, his career involved a lot more interaction with normal people.
He doesn't have to be good to be hugely better. If you are in the desert, even ditchwater tastes sweet.
My take on the locals. The Tories will do better than expected. And draw all the wrong conclusions.
My take is that while the government have not been particularly inspiring, much of what has ‘gone wrong’ has been outside effects (covid and Ukraine), and they would have been hard for any government. I think the country has decided that they no longer want a Tory government. But they see local politics a bit differently, so yes I think the extrapolated national vote share will be better for the Tories than current general election polling, and yes, it won’t save them in June, July, November or January, when the national finally gets its say.
Curious conversation today with my good tory Surrey friend with whom I’m staying again this week.
She said to me, ‘Keir Starmer is the new Boris Johnson.’
I was speechless and thought I must have misheard but another friend heard it and was equally astonished by it. So my good friend repeated the claim. I’ve put it in bold partly because it’s so astonishing and partly because it’ll catch the eye
After a long period of thinking she knew nothing about Starmer and nothing about Labour’s policies my friend has now come to the conclusion that, 'like Boris,' he’s a man of the people: ‘he’s listening to what really matters to people.’
It’ll be dismissed out of hand by the likes of CR who seems to think any anecdotes are the mark of the troll, which doesn’t matter. Perhaps more pertinently I don’t imagine it’s a view widely held by many hitherto tory voters.
But suppose it is? Suppose Starmer is cutting through? I’ve heard elsewhere that he’s gaining traction amongst older voters.
Anyway, I am still astonished by the comment and offer it humbly and verbatim.
So what PNS and NEV tomorrow matches your anecdote and shows cutting through and getting vote out, will you say?
Blair got 46% in 1995, Ed got 38% in 2012. Starmer has only ever managed 35%.
Now polling over 43% Starmer needs a national equivalent of over 40% doesn’t he to prove he isn’t massively underperforming in real votes.
Not that I’m dismissing your anecdote and focus group of 1 person - who at least had the political nous to vote Conservative so many times.
But a PNS and NEV up in the forties is far stronger evidence of cut through, or otherwise if it’s still 39% or less, we can agree?
Is their a website somewhere with a list of when we can expect the results? I'm assuming the London Mayor one will be massively delayed as it always is and won't announce until Saturday.
This is the Press Association page, but they haven't updated it like they said they would, by the end of April.
They are not even going to start counting the London results until 9am on Saturday.
Previously, the London count used scanning machines, but with the switch to FPTP, they're switching the counting to by hand, the old fashioned way. AIUI.
This doesn't explain the Saturday counting. Just thought I'd mention it.
I've pretty much lost track of Starmer's tedious tactical triangulations, but have we done this one?
"Labour set to unveil weakened package of workers’ rights. Shadow ministers have been discussing how to tone down some of pledges in ‘New Deal’ to ease employer misgivings", Financial Times, May 1 2024?, see https://archive.is/DdxXz
Or do we just throw it on the pile with the rest?
We're teaming with Employers up and down the country to give you an extensively limited package of vague and disappointing rights. Because they told us to. It's electoral gold
Starmer is going to be absolutely shit, isn’t he? He will have an enormous majority and he will do zero with it, apart from vaguely left wing things that are pointless and cheap (because there’s no money left). He will then try and appease his base with Woke crap
I suspect he will manage to throw away that vast majority within one term
That's exactly what's going to happen.
You are now endorsing Leondamus’ view of the world? The person who so emphatically declared to us that Liz Truss was a marvel, a diamond in the rough, a person who would win the next election for the Conservatives. Clearly it’s high time for the annual reminder:
There are an awful lot of right-wingers on here at the moment who are getting ever more irascible and irrational (an interesting combination) as their moment of Doom approaches.
You will have many, many, years of non-power to contemplate the error of your ways and it’s a shocking and chastening thought that many pb-ers will be dead before the Conservatives return to power in the UK. I might be one of them.
Who, exactly, do you class as right wing on here? Anybody to the right of you (pretty much everyone!)? Or do you have a little list?
"Don't tell him, Pike!"
Actually allowing SOME people the option to work zero hours is fine, as it suits some people.
Has the Hall campaign been as outrageous as he is implying? (I don’t live in London so have no idea).
Yeah they have been peddling thinly disguised racism against Khan and lies about ULEZ on social media for months. I'm just surprised no senior opposition politician had called it out earlier.
I’ve seen some of the stuff about road pricing. Isnt that based on things Khan has written, but now claims to not wish to do? I think it’s fair to suggest that it’s something that might happen, even if only to get Khan to commit to not doing it. If he renews, it’s on his record for next time.
I've pretty much lost track of Starmer's tedious tactical triangulations, but have we done this one?
"Labour set to unveil weakened package of workers’ rights. Shadow ministers have been discussing how to tone down some of pledges in ‘New Deal’ to ease employer misgivings", Financial Times, May 1 2024?, see https://archive.is/DdxXz
Or do we just throw it on the pile with the rest?
We're teaming with Employers up and down the country to give you an extensively limited package of vague and disappointing rights. Because they told us to. It's electoral gold
Starmer is going to be absolutely shit, isn’t he? He will have an enormous majority and he will do zero with it, apart from vaguely left wing things that are pointless and cheap (because there’s no money left). He will then try and appease his base with Woke crap
I suspect he will manage to throw away that vast majority within one term
That's exactly what's going to happen.
You are now endorsing Leondamus’ view of the world? The person who so emphatically declared to us that Liz Truss was a marvel, a diamond in the rough, a person who would win the next election for the Conservatives. Clearly it’s high time for the annual reminder:
There are an awful lot of right-wingers on here at the moment who are getting ever more irascible and irrational (an interesting combination) as their moment of Doom approaches.
You will have many, many, years of non-power to contemplate the error of your ways and it’s a shocking and chastening thought that many pb-ers will be dead before the Conservatives return to power in the UK. I might be one of them.
Who, exactly, do you class as right wing on here? Anybody to the right of you (pretty much everyone!)? Or do you have a little list?
"Don't tell him, Pike!"
Actually allowing SOME people the option to work zero hours is fine, as it suits some people.
Yep. I have no issue with protections around ZHCs, but banning them seems over the top.
I've pretty much lost track of Starmer's tedious tactical triangulations, but have we done this one?
"Labour set to unveil weakened package of workers’ rights. Shadow ministers have been discussing how to tone down some of pledges in ‘New Deal’ to ease employer misgivings", Financial Times, May 1 2024?, see https://archive.is/DdxXz
Or do we just throw it on the pile with the rest?
We're teaming with Employers up and down the country to give you an extensively limited package of vague and disappointing rights. Because they told us to. It's electoral gold
Starmer is going to be absolutely shit, isn’t he? He will have an enormous majority and he will do zero with it, apart from vaguely left wing things that are pointless and cheap (because there’s no money left). He will then try and appease his base with Woke crap
I suspect he will manage to throw away that vast majority within one term
That's exactly what's going to happen.
You are now endorsing Leondamus’ view of the world? The person who so emphatically declared to us that Liz Truss was a marvel, a diamond in the rough, a person who would win the next election for the Conservatives. Clearly it’s high time for the annual reminder:
There are an awful lot of right-wingers on here at the moment who are getting ever more irascible and irrational (an interesting combination) as their moment of Doom approaches.
You will have many, many, years of non-power to contemplate the error of your ways and it’s a shocking and chastening thought that many pb-ers will be dead before the Conservatives return to power in the UK. I might be one of them.
I might sound right-wing but I always end up voting for the LDs. Don't ask why. Maybe I feel sorry for them. 😊
My take on the locals. The Tories will do better than expected. And draw all the wrong conclusions.
My take is that while the government have not been particularly inspiring, much of what has ‘gone wrong’ has been outside effects (covid and Ukraine), and they would have been hard for any government. I think the country has decided that they no longer want a Tory government. But they see local politics a bit differently, so yes I think the extrapolated national vote share will be better for the Tories than current general election polling, and yes, it won’t save them in June, July, November or January, when the national finally gets its say.
Hah. In Adam Zamoyski’s Napoleon he talks about Napoleon’s attitude to religion (about which bonaparte cared a lot: he was a deist)
Napoleon deeply criticised the French Revolution because it took away the “sense of the numinous”. Those are the words Zamoyski uses
This actually reinforces something I’ve been thinking for a while. I know this will provoke more skeptical and materialist PB-ers, but for a long time I’ve thought I am actually a reincarnation of Napoleon Bonaparte. And I am increasingly sure it is true, given the plentiful evidence, which I surely don’t need to adduce here
Have you ever felt the urge to conquer mainland Europe? If so, you might be on to something.
I was born on the same day as Napoleon. Is that simply coincidence? Or something more than that? You decide. It’s your call
But when you add that in, then it all looks a lot more ambiguous doesn’t it?
There will always be nay sayers that I can never convince. I pay them no heed
My son was born on the same day as Napoleon's death, 177 years later, and - unlike you - is directly descended from him. And he doesn't talk batshit nonsense either.
You can fight it out with him, if you want.
I PAY YOU NO HEED
I can tell. And you make sure of it by shouting it.
I've pretty much lost track of Starmer's tedious tactical triangulations, but have we done this one?
"Labour set to unveil weakened package of workers’ rights. Shadow ministers have been discussing how to tone down some of pledges in ‘New Deal’ to ease employer misgivings", Financial Times, May 1 2024?, see https://archive.is/DdxXz
Or do we just throw it on the pile with the rest?
We're teaming with Employers up and down the country to give you an extensively limited package of vague and disappointing rights. Because they told us to. It's electoral gold
Starmer is going to be absolutely shit, isn’t he? He will have an enormous majority and he will do zero with it, apart from vaguely left wing things that are pointless and cheap (because there’s no money left). He will then try and appease his base with Woke crap
I suspect he will manage to throw away that vast majority within one term
That's exactly what's going to happen.
You are now endorsing Leondamus’ view of the world? The person who so emphatically declared to us that Liz Truss was a marvel, a diamond in the rough, a person who would win the next election for the Conservatives. Clearly it’s high time for the annual reminder:
There are an awful lot of right-wingers on here at the moment who are getting ever more irascible and irrational (an interesting combination) as their moment of Doom approaches.
You will have many, many, years of non-power to contemplate the error of your ways and it’s a shocking and chastening thought that many pb-ers will be dead before the Conservatives return to power in the UK. I might be one of them.
I might sound right-wing but I always end up voting for the LDs. Don't ask why. Maybe I feel sorry for them. 😊
The old saying applies. If you meet one arsehole in your day, you met an arsehole. If you meet a lot of arseholes, it’s probably you that’s the problem. If you meet someone more right wing than you, you met a right winger. If everyone you meet is more right wing than you, maybe, just maybe, you ar3 really far left yourself.
My take on the locals. The Tories will do better than expected. And draw all the wrong conclusions.
My take is that while the government have not been particularly inspiring, much of what has ‘gone wrong’ has been outside effects (covid and Ukraine), and they would have been hard for any government. I think the country has decided that they no longer want a Tory government. But they see local politics a bit differently, so yes I think the extrapolated national vote share will be better for the Tories than current general election polling, and yes, it won’t save them in June, July, November or January, when the national finally gets its say.
I mean you get all sorts of odd balls and weirdo's coming out of the woodwork during Elections.
Did Susan Hall even know she was "campaigning" with this fella or what his views are?
Don't forget that guy from PB (Martin Day?) who was nominally "campaigning" for the Conservatives when he was arrested for assaulting Labour activists in Election 2010.
Was David Cameron personally responsible for that?
Have you seen today’s question time? Sunak was twice asked if it’s true, the WhatsApp groups full of Islamophobia and death threats at Khan have been set up by Conservative activists. Rather than saying no, Sunak dodged it twice.
If a parties activists are behind these things, then yes, the buck does stop at the Party Leaders desk. Is that not fair to say?
My take on the locals. The Tories will do better than expected. And draw all the wrong conclusions.
My take is that while the government have not been particularly inspiring, much of what has ‘gone wrong’ has been outside effects (covid and Ukraine), and they would have been hard for any government. I think the country has decided that they no longer want a Tory government. But they see local politics a bit differently, so yes I think the extrapolated national vote share will be better for the Tories than current general election polling, and yes, it won’t save them in June, July, November or January, when the national finally gets its say.
Time. For. A. Change.
It is. But locals may not fully reflect that.
Yeah. In the 1997 local elections, the Conservatives started to show some signs of recovery, even as they were going down to their worst defeat in 1832, in the national election.
As this will be an election year, I'm not sure if these locals are comparable to 1996 or 1997?
Seems oddly cheap to be honest. Why can't a super billionaire pay for stuff like that and ensure their name lives on forever?
It could be a significant game changer for that region of Morocco. It always seemed wrong that the part of the country closest to the riches of the EU is also the poorest and most troubled, while the South and West are where the money is.
A tunnel plus proper port facilities and some targeted industrial infrastructure and Tangier and region could be a nearshoring hotspot. That plus electricity exports from solar farms further South.
I expect the impact on migration would be pretty limited because the straits are already very narrow but most migrants go elsewhere where the smugglers can act with impunity. And if anything some industrial development in the North might boost resources for policing and security.
Isn't Africa going to collide with Europe in 10 million years or something in any case? Seems like a waste of funds.
I’m sure there must be a joke about Calmac ferries somewhere.
I've pretty much lost track of Starmer's tedious tactical triangulations, but have we done this one?
"Labour set to unveil weakened package of workers’ rights. Shadow ministers have been discussing how to tone down some of pledges in ‘New Deal’ to ease employer misgivings", Financial Times, May 1 2024?, see https://archive.is/DdxXz
Or do we just throw it on the pile with the rest?
We're teaming with Employers up and down the country to give you an extensively limited package of vague and disappointing rights. Because they told us to. It's electoral gold
Starmer is going to be absolutely shit, isn’t he? He will have an enormous majority and he will do zero with it, apart from vaguely left wing things that are pointless and cheap (because there’s no money left). He will then try and appease his base with Woke crap
I suspect he will manage to throw away that vast majority within one term
That's exactly what's going to happen.
You are now endorsing Leondamus’ view of the world? The person who so emphatically declared to us that Liz Truss was a marvel, a diamond in the rough, a person who would win the next election for the Conservatives. Clearly it’s high time for the annual reminder:
There are an awful lot of right-wingers on here at the moment who are getting ever more irascible and irrational (an interesting combination) as their moment of Doom approaches.
You will have many, many, years of non-power to contemplate the error of your ways and it’s a shocking and chastening thought that many pb-ers will be dead before the Conservatives return to power in the UK. I might be one of them.
Who, exactly, do you class as right wing on here? Anybody to the right of you (pretty much everyone!)? Or do you have a little list?
"Don't tell him, Pike!"
Actually allowing SOME people the option to work zero hours is fine, as it suits some people.
Labour should stop chasing headlines and put proposals through which won’t then get diluted . Zero hours should be an option for those that want them and shouldn’t be forced on employees . That seems a fair compromise .
My take on the locals. The Tories will do better than expected. And draw all the wrong conclusions.
My take is that while the government have not been particularly inspiring, much of what has ‘gone wrong’ has been outside effects (covid and Ukraine), and they would have been hard for any government. I think the country has decided that they no longer want a Tory government. But they see local politics a bit differently, so yes I think the extrapolated national vote share will be better for the Tories than current general election polling, and yes, it won’t save them in June, July, November or January, when the national finally gets its say.
Time. For. A. Change.
It is. But locals may not fully reflect that.
Yeah. In the 1997 local elections, the Conservatives started to show some signs of recovery, even as they were going down to their worst defeat in 1832, in the national election.
As this will be an election year, I'm not sure if these locals are comparable to 1996 or 1997?
In 1997 they benefited from general election turnout and the county seats up being last contested in 1993 when the Tories had lost control of every county council except Bucks. So the only way was up
I mean you get all sorts of odd balls and weirdo's coming out of the woodwork during Elections.
Did Susan Hall even know she was "campaigning" with this fella or what his views are?
Don't forget that guy from PB (Martin Day?) who was nominally "campaigning" for the Conservatives when he was arrested for assaulting Labour activists in Election 2010.
Was David Cameron personally responsible for that?
Have you seen today’s question time? Sunak was twice asked if it’s true, the WhatsApp groups full of Islamophobia and death threats at Khan have been set up by Conservative activists. Rather than saying no, Sunak dodged it twice.
If a parties activists are behind these things, then yes, the buck does stop at the Party Leaders desk. Is that not fair to say?
Well, if anything illegal or criminal has been going on (and death threats would certainly constitute that) that's a matter for the police first and foremost, then, if proven, for the Party to expel the members who have been engaging in this activity.
Finally, the Party leadership should then explain how it happened and what they intend to do to make sure it doesn't happen again
Is their a website somewhere with a list of when we can expect the results? I'm assuming the London Mayor one will be massively delayed as it always is and won't announce until Saturday.
This is the Press Association page, but they haven't updated it like they said they would, by the end of April.
They are not even going to start counting the London results until 9am on Saturday.
Previously, the London count used scanning machines, but with the switch to FPTP, they're switching the counting to by hand, the old fashioned way. AIUI.
This doesn't explain the Saturday counting. Just thought I'd mention it.
It’s completely crackers that they don’t even start counting the mayoral votes until Saturday. It should be enshrined in law that all election counts are triggered Thursday night.
I've pretty much lost track of Starmer's tedious tactical triangulations, but have we done this one?
"Labour set to unveil weakened package of workers’ rights. Shadow ministers have been discussing how to tone down some of pledges in ‘New Deal’ to ease employer misgivings", Financial Times, May 1 2024?, see https://archive.is/DdxXz
Or do we just throw it on the pile with the rest?
We're teaming with Employers up and down the country to give you an extensively limited package of vague and disappointing rights. Because they told us to. It's electoral gold
Starmer is going to be absolutely shit, isn’t he? He will have an enormous majority and he will do zero with it, apart from vaguely left wing things that are pointless and cheap (because there’s no money left). He will then try and appease his base with Woke crap
I suspect he will manage to throw away that vast majority within one term
That's exactly what's going to happen.
You are now endorsing Leondamus’ view of the world? The person who so emphatically declared to us that Liz Truss was a marvel, a diamond in the rough, a person who would win the next election for the Conservatives. Clearly it’s high time for the annual reminder:
There are an awful lot of right-wingers on here at the moment who are getting ever more irascible and irrational (an interesting combination) as their moment of Doom approaches.
You will have many, many, years of non-power to contemplate the error of your ways and it’s a shocking and chastening thought that many pb-ers will be dead before the Conservatives return to power in the UK. I might be one of them.
Not everyone in the UK has the same issue with people of colour that you do
Is their a website somewhere with a list of when we can expect the results? I'm assuming the London Mayor one will be massively delayed as it always is and won't announce until Saturday.
This is the Press Association page, but they haven't updated it like they said they would, by the end of April.
They are not even going to start counting the London results until 9am on Saturday.
Previously, the London count used scanning machines, but with the switch to FPTP, they're switching the counting to by hand, the old fashioned way. AIUI.
This doesn't explain the Saturday counting. Just thought I'd mention it.
I remember the first time London used scanning machines in about 2004. It was a total fiasco, with the results taking much longer than they did previously with hand-counting.
I've pretty much lost track of Starmer's tedious tactical triangulations, but have we done this one?
"Labour set to unveil weakened package of workers’ rights. Shadow ministers have been discussing how to tone down some of pledges in ‘New Deal’ to ease employer misgivings", Financial Times, May 1 2024?, see https://archive.is/DdxXz
Or do we just throw it on the pile with the rest?
We're teaming with Employers up and down the country to give you an extensively limited package of vague and disappointing rights. Because they told us to. It's electoral gold
Starmer is going to be absolutely shit, isn’t he? He will have an enormous majority and he will do zero with it, apart from vaguely left wing things that are pointless and cheap (because there’s no money left). He will then try and appease his base with Woke crap
I suspect he will manage to throw away that vast majority within one term
That's exactly what's going to happen.
You are now endorsing Leondamus’ view of the world? The person who so emphatically declared to us that Liz Truss was a marvel, a diamond in the rough, a person who would win the next election for the Conservatives. Clearly it’s high time for the annual reminder:
There are an awful lot of right-wingers on here at the moment who are getting ever more irascible and irrational (an interesting combination) as their moment of Doom approaches.
You will have many, many, years of non-power to contemplate the error of your ways and it’s a shocking and chastening thought that many pb-ers will be dead before the Conservatives return to power in the UK. I might be one of them.
Who, exactly, do you class as right wing on here? Anybody to the right of you (pretty much everyone!)? Or do you have a little list?
"Don't tell him, Pike!"
Actually allowing SOME people the option to work zero hours is fine, as it suits some people.
Labour should stop chasing headlines and put proposals through which won’t then get diluted . Zero hours should be an option for those that want them and shouldn’t be forced on employees . That seems a fair compromise .
But how can you tell that an employee who "wants" zero hours has not been forced by their employers to say that?
Hah. In Adam Zamoyski’s Napoleon he talks about Napoleon’s attitude to religion (about which bonaparte cared a lot: he was a deist)
Napoleon deeply criticised the French Revolution because it took away the “sense of the numinous”. Those are the words Zamoyski uses
This actually reinforces something I’ve been thinking for a while. I know this will provoke more skeptical and materialist PB-ers, but for a long time I’ve thought I am actually a reincarnation of Napoleon Bonaparte. And I am increasingly sure it is true, given the plentiful evidence, which I surely don’t need to adduce here
Have you ever felt the urge to conquer mainland Europe? If so, you might be on to something.
I was born on the same day as Napoleon. Is that simply coincidence? Or something more than that? You decide. It’s your call
But when you add that in, then it all looks a lot more ambiguous doesn’t it?
There will always be nay sayers that I can never convince. I pay them no heed
My son was born on the same day as Napoleon's death, 177 years later, and - unlike you - is directly descended from him. And he doesn't talk batshit nonsense either.
You can fight it out with him, if you want.
I am the reincarnation of both Spinoza and Ian Botham!
The cricketing ability of the former, and philosophical acumen of the latter ?
I mean you get all sorts of odd balls and weirdo's coming out of the woodwork during Elections.
Did Susan Hall even know she was "campaigning" with this fella or what his views are?
Don't forget that guy from PB (Martin Day?) who was nominally "campaigning" for the Conservatives when he was arrested for assaulting Labour activists in Election 2010.
Was David Cameron personally responsible for that?
Have you seen today’s question time? Sunak was twice asked if it’s true, the WhatsApp groups full of Islamophobia and death threats at Khan have been set up by Conservative activists. Rather than saying no, Sunak dodged it twice.
If a parties activists are behind these things, then yes, the buck does stop at the Party Leaders desk. Is that not fair to say?
You are correct, and would be IF the situation were reversed. Or turned upside down, or whatever.
As you imply (I think) Sunak should have done obvious, by denouncing political hate speech whether committed by alleged supporters or not; especially when committed from them. No need to be hyperbolic, a short clear statement sufficing; certainly better than a plate of waffles.
BUT am speaking as a strange stranger from a stranger land; so your insight and viewpoint more likely to be cogent just as your vote is more potent. Or something like that.
Hah. In Adam Zamoyski’s Napoleon he talks about Napoleon’s attitude to religion (about which bonaparte cared a lot: he was a deist)
Napoleon deeply criticised the French Revolution because it took away the “sense of the numinous”. Those are the words Zamoyski uses
This actually reinforces something I’ve been thinking for a while. I know this will provoke more skeptical and materialist PB-ers, but for a long time I’ve thought I am actually a reincarnation of Napoleon Bonaparte. And I am increasingly sure it is true, given the plentiful evidence, which I surely don’t need to adduce here
Have you ever felt the urge to conquer mainland Europe? If so, you might be on to something.
I was born on the same day as Napoleon. Is that simply coincidence? Or something more than that? You decide. It’s your call
But when you add that in, then it all looks a lot more ambiguous doesn’t it?
There will always be nay sayers that I can never convince. I pay them no heed
My son was born on the same day as Napoleon's death, 177 years later, and - unlike you - is directly descended from him. And he doesn't talk batshit nonsense either.
You can fight it out with him, if you want.
I am the reincarnation of both Spinoza and Ian Botham!
I have the physique of Bing Crosby and the singing voice of Joe Bugner. As a kid, I wanted to be the other way around.
My take on the locals. The Tories will do better than expected. And draw all the wrong conclusions.
My take is that while the government have not been particularly inspiring, much of what has ‘gone wrong’ has been outside effects (covid and Ukraine), and they would have been hard for any government. I think the country has decided that they no longer want a Tory government. But they see local politics a bit differently, so yes I think the extrapolated national vote share will be better for the Tories than current general election polling, and yes, it won’t save them in June, July, November or January, when the national finally gets its say.
Time. For. A. Change.
It is. But locals may not fully reflect that.
The often do, though. Whenever the political tide turns, a lot of very decent local politicians get turfed out because of the colour of their rosette. Some of them were even Lib Dems.
Mayors, by their huge profile, may be able to withstand that.
Hah. In Adam Zamoyski’s Napoleon he talks about Napoleon’s attitude to religion (about which bonaparte cared a lot: he was a deist)
Napoleon deeply criticised the French Revolution because it took away the “sense of the numinous”. Those are the words Zamoyski uses
This actually reinforces something I’ve been thinking for a while. I know this will provoke more skeptical and materialist PB-ers, but for a long time I’ve thought I am actually a reincarnation of Napoleon Bonaparte. And I am increasingly sure it is true, given the plentiful evidence, which I surely don’t need to adduce here
Have you ever felt the urge to conquer mainland Europe? If so, you might be on to something.
I was born on the same day as Napoleon. Is that simply coincidence? Or something more than that? You decide. It’s your call
But when you add that in, then it all looks a lot more ambiguous doesn’t it?
There will always be nay sayers that I can never convince. I pay them no heed
My son was born on the same day as Napoleon's death, 177 years later, and - unlike you - is directly descended from him. And he doesn't talk batshit nonsense either.
You can fight it out with him, if you want.
I PAY YOU NO HEED
I can tell. And you make sure of it by shouting it.
Tu m'amuse, mon cher.
As Marie Walewska said to Napoleon Bonaparte. (Or was it the other way around?)
I'm starting to think a fair number of students across American universities seem to think they are Malcolm McDowell in If... and that a certain section of the public agrees.
I mean you get all sorts of odd balls and weirdo's coming out of the woodwork during Elections.
Did Susan Hall even know she was "campaigning" with this fella or what his views are?
Don't forget that guy from PB (Martin Day?) who was nominally "campaigning" for the Conservatives when he was arrested for assaulting Labour activists in Election 2010.
Was David Cameron personally responsible for that?
Have you seen today’s question time? Sunak was twice asked if it’s true, the WhatsApp groups full of Islamophobia and death threats at Khan have been set up by Conservative activists. Rather than saying no, Sunak dodged it twice.
If a parties activists are behind these things, then yes, the buck does stop at the Party Leaders desk. Is that not fair to say?
Well, if anything illegal or criminal has been going on (and death threats would certainly constitute that) that's a matter for the police first and foremost, then, if proven, for the Party to expel the members who have been engaging in this activity.
Finally, the Party leadership should then explain how it happened and what they intend to do to make sure it doesn't happen again
You mean a Party Leader will know full well what’s going on, but will say at PMQs and everywhere “I cannot answer or act whilst there is a police investigation going on.”
New Scotland polling for Peston tonight forecasts Labour will win most Scottish MPs for the first time since 2010 with 28 MPs while the SNP collapse to just 19
New Scotland polling for Peston tonight forecasts Labour will win most Scottish MPs for the first time since 2010 with 28 MPs while the SNP collapse to just 19
What about the Tories? Their vote seems to be holding up better in Scotland than England.
That story on the train to Morocco reminded me of the post I made earlier today, at Patterico's:
"On Saturday, “joyful crowds” turned out to celebrate new Sound Transit commuter rail line. Or so said the Seattle Times. Top Democrats headlined the celebration, pleased at this “progressive” triumph.
I have to admit that I smiled as I read the article, and watched a little of the TV news stories. The line links two poverty-stricken cities, Bellevue and Redmond. It is six miles long, and cost, so far, a measly 3.7 billion. It already has an additional, special police unit. Supposedly, it will be linked to the much larger Seattle-based system real soon, so that it can be used for something practical, like getting to the Seatac airport. As far as I can tell, trips on it will be slower, for most riders, than the buses, which have been in use for years.
I smiled, because the whole thing is so absurd — but I do feel sorry for my younger family members and friends in the area, who will have to pay for all this.
(For the record: At 80, I have given up driving, at least for now. I use buses in this area regularly. and have found them adequate for my simple needs.)"
Hah. In Adam Zamoyski’s Napoleon he talks about Napoleon’s attitude to religion (about which bonaparte cared a lot: he was a deist)
Napoleon deeply criticised the French Revolution because it took away the “sense of the numinous”. Those are the words Zamoyski uses
This actually reinforces something I’ve been thinking for a while. I know this will provoke more skeptical and materialist PB-ers, but for a long time I’ve thought I am actually a reincarnation of Napoleon Bonaparte. And I am increasingly sure it is true, given the plentiful evidence, which I surely don’t need to adduce here
Have you ever felt the urge to conquer mainland Europe? If so, you might be on to something.
I was born on the same day as Napoleon. Is that simply coincidence? Or something more than that? You decide. It’s your call
But when you add that in, then it all looks a lot more ambiguous doesn’t it?
There will always be nay sayers that I can never convince. I pay them no heed
My son was born on the same day as Napoleon's death, 177 years later, and - unlike you - is directly descended from him. And he doesn't talk batshit nonsense either.
You can fight it out with him, if you want.
Considering the little turd was responsible for tens of thousands of untimely deaths due to his insatiable lust for personal aggrandisement (Napoleon, not your son), I fail to see what there is to be particularly proud of.
New Scotland polling for Peston tonight forecasts Labour will win most Scottish MPs for the first time since 2010 with 28 MPs while the SNP collapse to just 19
But the election isn’t today, and polls are not predictive, just snapshots.
Whoever the new SNP leader is, polls are saying they will be massively more popular than the outgoing leaders ratings, and more popular than Labour. A honeymoon and uplift in SNP popularity and polling looks on the cards doesn’t it?
I mean you get all sorts of odd balls and weirdo's coming out of the woodwork during Elections.
Did Susan Hall even know she was "campaigning" with this fella or what his views are?
Don't forget that guy from PB (Martin Day?) who was nominally "campaigning" for the Conservatives when he was arrested for assaulting Labour activists in Election 2010.
Was David Cameron personally responsible for that?
Have you seen today’s question time? Sunak was twice asked if it’s true, the WhatsApp groups full of Islamophobia and death threats at Khan have been set up by Conservative activists. Rather than saying no, Sunak dodged it twice.
If a parties activists are behind these things, then yes, the buck does stop at the Party Leaders desk. Is that not fair to say?
Sunak is being careful not to associate himself with Susan Hall, as his unpopularity could damage her campaign.
New Scotland polling for Peston tonight forecasts Labour will win most Scottish MPs for the first time since 2010 with 28 MPs while the SNP collapse to just 19
But the election isn’t today, and polls are not predictive, just snapshots.
Whoever the new SNP leader is, polls are saying they will be massively more popular than the outgoing leaders ratings, and more popular than Labour. A honeymoon and uplift in SNP popularity and polling looks on the cards doesn’t it?
Hah. In Adam Zamoyski’s Napoleon he talks about Napoleon’s attitude to religion (about which bonaparte cared a lot: he was a deist)
Napoleon deeply criticised the French Revolution because it took away the “sense of the numinous”. Those are the words Zamoyski uses
This actually reinforces something I’ve been thinking for a while. I know this will provoke more skeptical and materialist PB-ers, but for a long time I’ve thought I am actually a reincarnation of Napoleon Bonaparte. And I am increasingly sure it is true, given the plentiful evidence, which I surely don’t need to adduce here
Have you ever felt the urge to conquer mainland Europe? If so, you might be on to something.
I was born on the same day as Napoleon. Is that simply coincidence? Or something more than that? You decide. It’s your call
But when you add that in, then it all looks a lot more ambiguous doesn’t it?
There will always be nay sayers that I can never convince. I pay them no heed
My son was born on the same day as Napoleon's death, 177 years later, and - unlike you - is directly descended from him. And he doesn't talk batshit nonsense either.
You can fight it out with him, if you want.
Considering the little turd was responsible for tens of thousands of untimely deaths due to his insatiable lust for personal aggrandisement (Napoleon, not your son), I fail to see what there is to be particularly proud of.
If it was long enough ago killing lots of people becomes a point of pride.
Hah. In Adam Zamoyski’s Napoleon he talks about Napoleon’s attitude to religion (about which bonaparte cared a lot: he was a deist)
Napoleon deeply criticised the French Revolution because it took away the “sense of the numinous”. Those are the words Zamoyski uses
This actually reinforces something I’ve been thinking for a while. I know this will provoke more skeptical and materialist PB-ers, but for a long time I’ve thought I am actually a reincarnation of Napoleon Bonaparte. And I am increasingly sure it is true, given the plentiful evidence, which I surely don’t need to adduce here
Have you ever felt the urge to conquer mainland Europe? If so, you might be on to something.
I was born on the same day as Napoleon. Is that simply coincidence? Or something more than that? You decide. It’s your call
But when you add that in, then it all looks a lot more ambiguous doesn’t it?
There will always be nay sayers that I can never convince. I pay them no heed
My son was born on the same day as Napoleon's death, 177 years later, and - unlike you - is directly descended from him. And he doesn't talk batshit nonsense either.
You can fight it out with him, if you want.
Considering the little turd was responsible for tens of thousands of untimely deaths due to his insatiable lust for personal aggrandisement (Napoleon, not your son), I fail to see what there is to be particularly proud of.
If it was long enough ago killing lots of people becomes a point of pride.
It is a little odd though. I mean we're not talking about Gandhi here. It's like boasting about being descended from Genghis Khan or Attila the Hun. Amusing perhaps but hardly an untarnished badge of honour.
New Scotland polling for Peston tonight forecasts Labour will win most Scottish MPs for the first time since 2010 with 28 MPs while the SNP collapse to just 19
But the election isn’t today, and polls are not predictive, just snapshots.
Whoever the new SNP leader is, polls are saying they will be massively more popular than the outgoing leaders ratings, and more popular than Labour. A honeymoon and uplift in SNP popularity and polling looks on the cards doesn’t it?
Today: Destruction, violence and hate overtake college campuses across the country with Jewish students feeling unsafe at their own schools. It is unacceptable, and harkening back to the 1930s in Europe.
Credit to MoonRabbit for saying "Pro Hamas". In this area and, so far as I can tell, most of the US, "pro-Palestinian" is the standard adjective.
("Pro-Gazan" is another possibility, but I think the Rabbit's choice is better.)
I'm following someone on instagram who I cannot believe for a second would be favourable to Hamas but nonetheless seems to think these protests in the US are inspiring. They are the first step towards freeing ourselves from the prison our elites have locked us in and saving the planet from total destruction.
Admittedly this individual is a little eccentric but people's susceptibility to simple narratives worries me.
Hah. In Adam Zamoyski’s Napoleon he talks about Napoleon’s attitude to religion (about which bonaparte cared a lot: he was a deist)
Napoleon deeply criticised the French Revolution because it took away the “sense of the numinous”. Those are the words Zamoyski uses
This actually reinforces something I’ve been thinking for a while. I know this will provoke more skeptical and materialist PB-ers, but for a long time I’ve thought I am actually a reincarnation of Napoleon Bonaparte. And I am increasingly sure it is true, given the plentiful evidence, which I surely don’t need to adduce here
Have you ever felt the urge to conquer mainland Europe? If so, you might be on to something.
I was born on the same day as Napoleon. Is that simply coincidence? Or something more than that? You decide. It’s your call
But when you add that in, then it all looks a lot more ambiguous doesn’t it?
There will always be nay sayers that I can never convince. I pay them no heed
My son was born on the same day as Napoleon's death, 177 years later, and - unlike you - is directly descended from him. And he doesn't talk batshit nonsense either.
You can fight it out with him, if you want.
Considering the little turd was responsible for tens of thousands of untimely deaths due to his insatiable lust for personal aggrandisement (Napoleon, not your son), I fail to see what there is to be particularly proud of.
If it was long enough ago killing lots of people becomes a point of pride.
I think with napoleon the question is, would the alternative have been any better?
By modern standards he's a dictator and a fascist, by the standards of the time he was a reformist and a radical.
Hah. In Adam Zamoyski’s Napoleon he talks about Napoleon’s attitude to religion (about which bonaparte cared a lot: he was a deist)
Napoleon deeply criticised the French Revolution because it took away the “sense of the numinous”. Those are the words Zamoyski uses
This actually reinforces something I’ve been thinking for a while. I know this will provoke more skeptical and materialist PB-ers, but for a long time I’ve thought I am actually a reincarnation of Napoleon Bonaparte. And I am increasingly sure it is true, given the plentiful evidence, which I surely don’t need to adduce here
Have you ever felt the urge to conquer mainland Europe? If so, you might be on to something.
I was born on the same day as Napoleon. Is that simply coincidence? Or something more than that? You decide. It’s your call
But when you add that in, then it all looks a lot more ambiguous doesn’t it?
There will always be nay sayers that I can never convince. I pay them no heed
My son was born on the same day as Napoleon's death, 177 years later, and - unlike you - is directly descended from him. And he doesn't talk batshit nonsense either.
You can fight it out with him, if you want.
Considering the little turd was responsible for tens of thousands of untimely deaths due to his insatiable lust for personal aggrandisement (Napoleon, not your son), I fail to see what there is to be particularly proud of.
If it was long enough ago killing lots of people becomes a point of pride.
I think with napoleon the question is, would the alternative have been any better?
By modern standards he's a dictator and a fascist, by the standards of the time he was a reformist and a radical.
He was a complex guy, to be sure, and times a lot more brutal in general.
...complete with shots of bins and a broken fence (ugh - some people! - they're not Like Us!), showing the police zeroing down on an a house in Anytown - could be a house near you - bagging themselves a non-white immigrant and putting him in a van ready for deportation to happy Rwanda. Pure Alf Garnett heaven and catnip, with "Vote Tory" written all the way through it as if through a stick of rock. This is how the Tories will win the general election.
I've pretty much lost track of Starmer's tedious tactical triangulations, but have we done this one?
"Labour set to unveil weakened package of workers’ rights. Shadow ministers have been discussing how to tone down some of pledges in ‘New Deal’ to ease employer misgivings", Financial Times, May 1 2024?, see https://archive.is/DdxXz
Or do we just throw it on the pile with the rest?
We're teaming with Employers up and down the country to give you an extensively limited package of vague and disappointing rights. Because they told us to. It's electoral gold
Starmer is going to be absolutely shit, isn’t he? He will have an enormous majority and he will do zero with it, apart from vaguely left wing things that are pointless and cheap (because there’s no money left). He will then try and appease his base with Woke crap
I suspect he will manage to throw away that vast majority within one term
That's exactly what's going to happen.
You are now endorsing Leondamus’ view of the world? The person who so emphatically declared to us that Liz Truss was a marvel, a diamond in the rough, a person who would win the next election for the Conservatives. Clearly it’s high time for the annual reminder:
There are an awful lot of right-wingers on here at the moment who are getting ever more irascible and irrational (an interesting combination) as their moment of Doom approaches.
You will have many, many, years of non-power to contemplate the error of your ways and it’s a shocking and chastening thought that many pb-ers will be dead before the Conservatives return to power in the UK. I might be one of them.
Who, exactly, do you class as right wing on here? Anybody to the right of you (pretty much everyone!)? Or do you have a little list?
"Don't tell him, Pike!"
Actually allowing SOME people the option to work zero hours is fine, as it suits some people.
In the US, California caused a lot of problems for freelancers by the way they cracked down on zero hours contracts.
"London mayoral election race electrified by final poll showing Sadiq Khan lead over Susan Hall smallest so far Exclusive: Savanta survey for Centre for London put Labour mayor on 42 per cent and Tory candidate 32 per cent"
Hah. In Adam Zamoyski’s Napoleon he talks about Napoleon’s attitude to religion (about which bonaparte cared a lot: he was a deist)
Napoleon deeply criticised the French Revolution because it took away the “sense of the numinous”. Those are the words Zamoyski uses
This actually reinforces something I’ve been thinking for a while. I know this will provoke more skeptical and materialist PB-ers, but for a long time I’ve thought I am actually a reincarnation of Napoleon Bonaparte. And I am increasingly sure it is true, given the plentiful evidence, which I surely don’t need to adduce here
Have you ever felt the urge to conquer mainland Europe? If so, you might be on to something.
I was born on the same day as Napoleon. Is that simply coincidence? Or something more than that? You decide. It’s your call
But when you add that in, then it all looks a lot more ambiguous doesn’t it?
There will always be nay sayers that I can never convince. I pay them no heed
My son was born on the same day as Napoleon's death, 177 years later, and - unlike you - is directly descended from him. And he doesn't talk batshit nonsense either.
You can fight it out with him, if you want.
Considering the little turd was responsible for tens of thousands of untimely deaths due to his insatiable lust for personal aggrandisement (Napoleon, not your son), I fail to see what there is to be particularly proud of.
If it was long enough ago killing lots of people becomes a point of pride.
Hah. In Adam Zamoyski’s Napoleon he talks about Napoleon’s attitude to religion (about which bonaparte cared a lot: he was a deist)
Napoleon deeply criticised the French Revolution because it took away the “sense of the numinous”. Those are the words Zamoyski uses
This actually reinforces something I’ve been thinking for a while. I know this will provoke more skeptical and materialist PB-ers, but for a long time I’ve thought I am actually a reincarnation of Napoleon Bonaparte. And I am increasingly sure it is true, given the plentiful evidence, which I surely don’t need to adduce here
Have you ever felt the urge to conquer mainland Europe? If so, you might be on to something.
I was born on the same day as Napoleon. Is that simply coincidence? Or something more than that? You decide. It’s your call
But when you add that in, then it all looks a lot more ambiguous doesn’t it?
There will always be nay sayers that I can never convince. I pay them no heed
My son was born on the same day as Napoleon's death, 177 years later, and - unlike you - is directly descended from him. And he doesn't talk batshit nonsense either.
You can fight it out with him, if you want.
Considering the little turd was responsible for tens of thousands of untimely deaths due to his insatiable lust for personal aggrandisement (Napoleon, not your son), I fail to see what there is to be particularly proud of.
I was stating a fact not an opinion. Not about Napoleon. I did express an opinion about @Leon but he is well able to take care of himself and I enjoy teasing him.
I am not responsible for the actions of my ancestors. The stories about them interest and sometimes amuse me. The histories of families are vastly entertaining and illuminating - of history, of how it affects families and how they respond to it. On my father's side one of my ancestors was an early member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, a precursor of the IRA, and involved in an infamous attack on a police station, for which he fled to France for a while to avoid being arrested.
The Irish did not, like the French, much like the English either.
Hah. In Adam Zamoyski’s Napoleon he talks about Napoleon’s attitude to religion (about which bonaparte cared a lot: he was a deist)
Napoleon deeply criticised the French Revolution because it took away the “sense of the numinous”. Those are the words Zamoyski uses
This actually reinforces something I’ve been thinking for a while. I know this will provoke more skeptical and materialist PB-ers, but for a long time I’ve thought I am actually a reincarnation of Napoleon Bonaparte. And I am increasingly sure it is true, given the plentiful evidence, which I surely don’t need to adduce here
Have you ever felt the urge to conquer mainland Europe? If so, you might be on to something.
I was born on the same day as Napoleon. Is that simply coincidence? Or something more than that? You decide. It’s your call
But when you add that in, then it all looks a lot more ambiguous doesn’t it?
There will always be nay sayers that I can never convince. I pay them no heed
My son was born on the same day as Napoleon's death, 177 years later, and - unlike you - is directly descended from him. And he doesn't talk batshit nonsense either.
You can fight it out with him, if you want.
Considering the little turd was responsible for tens of thousands of untimely deaths due to his insatiable lust for personal aggrandisement (Napoleon, not your son), I fail to see what there is to be particularly proud of.
If it was long enough ago killing lots of people becomes a point of pride.
Credit to MoonRabbit for saying "Pro Hamas". In this area and, so far as I can tell, most of the US, "pro-Palestinian" is the standard adjective.
("Pro-Gazan" is another possibility, but I think the Rabbit's choice is better.)
"Pro Hamas" is either propaganda or else plain ignorance.
"Pro-Gazan" ignores the fact that most of the population of Gaza aren't in Gaza by choice, let alone in Rafah. If they - or the proportion who are allowed to survive - are shifted to an even smaller area such as al Mawasi, perhaps call them Al Mawasians and then after that perhaps Boatsians.
Gaza is a geographical area and I wonder why you think it's OK to refer to people who have been forced there as if they are from there or belong there?
Are we already seeing just how streetwise the hard ball being played by Tories together with greater scrutiny on “what will Labour do” will close the polling gap?
I can’t be the only one thinking something seems to be changing. A poor PNS and NEV of still just 30 something % with underwhelming results elsewhere for Labour this week, and Conservatives buoyed by better than expected elections, it could act as a sort of catalyst that proves things are now on the turn.
On the turn to a change in narrative, and tightening of polling, expected by all of us as destined to come in febrile pre General Election period with the greater scrutiny on Labour? It’s starting now and late if anything.
When I called the GE Labour 39% Conservatives 33% I was called Loon Rabbit - but looking over tomorrow mornings front pages, can you not appreciate just how much harder this is already getting for Labour - at the business end of the season as they say in football (aka squeaky bum time). The “i” and Guardian not helpful to Labour on election day, hammering them for watering down pledge to protect workers and rights, The Times telling us Labour are planning to give channel migrants asylum, The Mail repatriating the Ref vote back to the Tories.
When Starmer said today he would scrap Rwanda Scheme on Day 1, you sensed no one in the country believes he will, not least how technically and legally does he do it? For example, it’s easy to dismiss something still at idea stage as a gimmick, but Shadow Minister was today asked, everyone the Tories deport to Rwanda, do you start bringing them back? He didn’t have an answer. If any floating voter watched him waffle the vote was lost.
And 2% inflation! recession busting growth! and interest rate cuts (ignore US in different place to our economy) still to be endlessly lauded in coming weeks…
Hah. In Adam Zamoyski’s Napoleon he talks about Napoleon’s attitude to religion (about which bonaparte cared a lot: he was a deist)
Napoleon deeply criticised the French Revolution because it took away the “sense of the numinous”. Those are the words Zamoyski uses
This actually reinforces something I’ve been thinking for a while. I know this will provoke more skeptical and materialist PB-ers, but for a long time I’ve thought I am actually a reincarnation of Napoleon Bonaparte. And I am increasingly sure it is true, given the plentiful evidence, which I surely don’t need to adduce here
Have you ever felt the urge to conquer mainland Europe? If so, you might be on to something.
I was born on the same day as Napoleon. Is that simply coincidence? Or something more than that? You decide. It’s your call
But when you add that in, then it all looks a lot more ambiguous doesn’t it?
There will always be nay sayers that I can never convince. I pay them no heed
My son was born on the same day as Napoleon's death, 177 years later, and - unlike you - is directly descended from him. And he doesn't talk batshit nonsense either.
You can fight it out with him, if you want.
Considering the little turd was responsible for tens of thousands of untimely deaths due to his insatiable lust for personal aggrandisement (Napoleon, not your son), I fail to see what there is to be particularly proud of.
If it was long enough ago killing lots of people becomes a point of pride.
I think with napoleon the question is, would the alternative have been any better?
By modern standards he's a dictator and a fascist, by the standards of the time he was a reformist and a radical.
The British like to think of themselves as always fighting for liberty against fascists and dictators.
This does not survive even a moment's scrutiny.
Let's take Nelson. When the Neapolitans rose up against the Bourbon Kings, inspired by Napoleon, and declared the Parthenopean Republic, it was Nelson who helped quash the rebellion - brutally. Indeed, he boasted about putting it down as savagely as the Irish rebels had been put down in the Wolfe Tone-led rebellion just beforehand. The British were allying themselves with Bourbon monarchs - who were some of the most useless monarchs around.
Hah. In Adam Zamoyski’s Napoleon he talks about Napoleon’s attitude to religion (about which bonaparte cared a lot: he was a deist)
Napoleon deeply criticised the French Revolution because it took away the “sense of the numinous”. Those are the words Zamoyski uses
This actually reinforces something I’ve been thinking for a while. I know this will provoke more skeptical and materialist PB-ers, but for a long time I’ve thought I am actually a reincarnation of Napoleon Bonaparte. And I am increasingly sure it is true, given the plentiful evidence, which I surely don’t need to adduce here
Have you ever felt the urge to conquer mainland Europe? If so, you might be on to something.
I was born on the same day as Napoleon. Is that simply coincidence? Or something more than that? You decide. It’s your call
But when you add that in, then it all looks a lot more ambiguous doesn’t it?
There will always be nay sayers that I can never convince. I pay them no heed
My son was born on the same day as Napoleon's death, 177 years later, and - unlike you - is directly descended from him. And he doesn't talk batshit nonsense either.
You can fight it out with him, if you want.
Considering the little turd was responsible for tens of thousands of untimely deaths due to his insatiable lust for personal aggrandisement (Napoleon, not your son), I fail to see what there is to be particularly proud of.
If it was long enough ago killing lots of people becomes a point of pride.
I think with napoleon the question is, would the alternative have been any better?
By modern standards he's a dictator and a fascist, by the standards of the time he was a reformist and a radical.
"Fascist" when applied to Napoleon is anachronistic. Dictator he certainly was.
Hah. In Adam Zamoyski’s Napoleon he talks about Napoleon’s attitude to religion (about which bonaparte cared a lot: he was a deist)
Napoleon deeply criticised the French Revolution because it took away the “sense of the numinous”. Those are the words Zamoyski uses
This actually reinforces something I’ve been thinking for a while. I know this will provoke more skeptical and materialist PB-ers, but for a long time I’ve thought I am actually a reincarnation of Napoleon Bonaparte. And I am increasingly sure it is true, given the plentiful evidence, which I surely don’t need to adduce here
Have you ever felt the urge to conquer mainland Europe? If so, you might be on to something.
I was born on the same day as Napoleon. Is that simply coincidence? Or something more than that? You decide. It’s your call
But when you add that in, then it all looks a lot more ambiguous doesn’t it?
There will always be nay sayers that I can never convince. I pay them no heed
My son was born on the same day as Napoleon's death, 177 years later, and - unlike you - is directly descended from him. And he doesn't talk batshit nonsense either.
You can fight it out with him, if you want.
Considering the little turd was responsible for tens of thousands of untimely deaths due to his insatiable lust for personal aggrandisement (Napoleon, not your son), I fail to see what there is to be particularly proud of.
If it was long enough ago killing lots of people becomes a point of pride.
I think with napoleon the question is, would the alternative have been any better?
By modern standards he's a dictator and a fascist, by the standards of the time he was a reformist and a radical.
"Fascist" when applied to Napoleon is anachronistic. Dictator he certainly was.
It's almost like somebody wrote an article about how it becomes more difficult to apply a classification the further away in time or space you go... 😀
On reincarnation, I wonder who Rishi Sunak thinks he is a reincarnation of. The wankers in the media who have painted him in racist terms as a "snake" haven't had the intelligence to ask that question.
There are other currently serving and former politicians and state figures both in Britain and a number of nearby and allied countries who are not Hindus but who nonetheless strongly believe they have been reincarnated. It's one of those things that nobody talks about. If you know what to look for, it's unmistakable.
Reincarnation is a detestable idea and in certain hierarchical spiritual scenes in which lower levels are indoctrinated into believing in this crap, the teaching at higher levels is that it is an illusion.
Regarding Napoleon, I am wondering whether he knew the Ossian material was fake. He may have done. Perhaps he rated it as top-quality modern mythmaking.
On reincarnation, I wonder who Rishi Sunak thinks he is a reincarnation of. The wankers in the media who have painted him in racist terms as a "snake" haven't had the intelligence to ask that question.
There are other currently serving and former politicians and state figures both in Britain and a number of nearby and allied countries who are not Hindus but who nonetheless strongly believe they have been reincarnated. It's one of those things that nobody talks about. If you know what to look for, it's unmistakable.
Reincarnation is a detestable idea and in certain hierarchical spiritual scenes in which lower levels are indoctrinated into believing in this crap, the teaching at higher levels is that it is an illusion.
My Buddhist friends would disagree.
It may of course be crap when taken in the literal sense but your atoms will be recycled and were definitely part of many things in the past.
Credit to MoonRabbit for saying "Pro Hamas". In this area and, so far as I can tell, most of the US, "pro-Palestinian" is the standard adjective.
("Pro-Gazan" is another possibility, but I think the Rabbit's choice is better.)
"Pro Hamas" is either propaganda or else plain ignorance.
"Pro-Gazan" ignores the fact that most of the population of Gaza aren't in Gaza by choice, let alone in Rafah. If they - or the proportion who are allowed to survive - are shifted to an even smaller area such as al Mawasi, perhaps call them Al Mawasians and then after that perhaps Boatsians.
Gaza is a geographical area and I wonder why you think it's OK to refer to people who have been forced there as if they are from there or belong there?
Plain ignorance. I’ll give you plain ignorance.
Go look at the banner posted below by kle4. And the facts are Hamas and IS, the two groups who control Gaza, murder LGBT+ people - whilst Israel is a tolerant Liberal Democracy that does not.
It is these students who are ignorant. They have the inability to compute what is happening is not a black and white historical struggle full of injustice, but far more nuanced battle of ideologies, with on one side a misogynist and murderously intolerant ideology they can only be wittingly or ignorantly cheerleading for right now. They have no excuse. And you too, if you support and defend these protests.
Everyone who protests for Gaza now is also on the side on the hideous pogrom Hamas committed to start this conflict. If you side with evil bastards, you will always appear to reasonable minded folk as the evil bastard too. That’s ignorance going on here.
On reincarnation, I wonder who Rishi Sunak thinks he is a reincarnation of. The wankers in the media who have painted him in racist terms as a "snake" haven't had the intelligence to ask that question.
There are other currently serving and former politicians and state figures both in Britain and a number of nearby and allied countries who are not Hindus but who nonetheless strongly believe they have been reincarnated. It's one of those things that nobody talks about. If you know what to look for, it's unmistakable.
Reincarnation is a detestable idea and in certain hierarchical spiritual scenes in which lower levels are indoctrinated into believing in this crap, the teaching at higher levels is that it is an illusion.
My Buddhist friends would disagree.
It may of course be crap when taken in the literal sense but your atoms will be recycled and were definitely part of many things in the past.
Anyway, what should we be looking for, exactly?
I don't want to say too much. Look first for an interest in a previous figure that strikes you as more than just admiration or an intellectual interest. This is all I will say.
As for Napo-Leon and PB-Leon, perhaps Napoleon's use of bee symbolism was connected with mad honey :-)
I'm surprised the poll giving the incumbent a 10% lead in London isn't getting more attention, given that most of the polls were about 10% out last time around.
Credit to MoonRabbit for saying "Pro Hamas". In this area and, so far as I can tell, most of the US, "pro-Palestinian" is the standard adjective.
("Pro-Gazan" is another possibility, but I think the Rabbit's choice is better.)
"Pro Hamas" is either propaganda or else plain ignorance.
"Pro-Gazan" ignores the fact that most of the population of Gaza aren't in Gaza by choice, let alone in Rafah. If they - or the proportion who are allowed to survive - are shifted to an even smaller area such as al Mawasi, perhaps call them Al Mawasians and then after that perhaps Boatsians.
Gaza is a geographical area and I wonder why you think it's OK to refer to people who have been forced there as if they are from there or belong there?
Actually good point I have paused and thought about it.
Actually. I’ve been thinking why did I say Hamas supporting protests as first thing that came into my head, and not Palestinians? I always think of gazans as Hamas, but not all Palestinians as Hamas. I guess it is the way I have reasoned it and understand it already and can’t subtract innocent gazans from not so innocent Hamas and IS who’s in charge. But on the other hand I do recognise there’s lots of Israeli’s who never have and don’t support Netanyahu’s government. Is it because I have seen them on news protesting and not killed but never seen Gazans protesting about Hamas and IS and alive afterwards, so presume they are all the same side or have fled?
So I still feel no need at all for these political sit ins, when there have clearly been unfair horrors committed by both sides out there. imo be mindful of the horrors committed by both sides better than getting involved in the unstraighforward politics of this conflict.
If feel the need to do something, as I have done, then lend support or money to Red Cross or Red Crescent and other charities going on the ground Easy to recognise how Gazan’s will starve, have injuries, have lost loved ones, have been traumatised, especially the children - so support the charities who, bravely as we know from those Britons Israel blew up, are going out their way to help with all these things.
Gazans are going to need lots of food quickly now. Don’t have a self serving sit in, stand up and make it happen. Make some sandwiches or something. Hummus for Hamas.
Currently global news stories in the US and US-satellite zone:
* clearance of non-white immigrant tent dwellers in Dublin, as "streets cleaned" and victims "herded" on to coaches as the Guardian puts it, complete with a photo of clearance personnel wearing lilywhite hazmat suits;
* clearance of pro-Palestinian student protestors from Columbia University campus in New York, the protestors who have been demanding divestment from Israel in order to combat what they believe to be the danger that the regime that has killed about 1.5% of the Gaza population within the last 7 months will commit imminent genocide.
Meanwhile in a north European country:
* "first phase of detentions underway for Rwanda relocations", as the British government terms - in a way that bureaucrats will find so erotic - its arrest of illegal immigrants preparatory to deportation - "relocation" to a country that nobody really thinks is safe but which has in a "Don't argue with the cops" way been "deemed" to be as safe as houses.
Any guesses for a fourth story of the clearance of the weak by the strong?
Currently global news stories in the US and US-satellite zone:
* clearance of non-white immigrant tent dwellers in Dublin, as "streets cleaned" and victims "herded" on to coaches as the Guardian puts it, complete with a photo of clearance personnel wearing lilywhite hazmat suits;
* clearance of pro-Palestinian student protestors from Columbia University campus in New York, the protestors who have been demanding divestment from Israel in order to combat what they believe to be the danger that the regime that has killed about 1.5% of the Gaza population within the last 7 months will commit imminent genocide.
Meanwhile in a north European country:
* "first phase of detentions underway for Rwanda relocations", as the British government terms - in a way that bureaucrats will find so erotic - its arrest of illegal immigrants preparatory to deportation - "relocation" to a country that nobody really thinks is safe but which has in a "Don't argue with the cops" way been "deemed" to be as safe as houses.
Any guesses for a fourth story of the clearance of the weak by the strong?
Gaza ?
I’m sure I’m a few years time it will be part of Israel and some prime real estate.
What then are we to make of the London Mayoral election polls this evening? We had YouGov with a 22 point Khan lead yesterday, then Savanta weighed in with a 10 point Khan lead this morning.
The Savanta poll looks dramatic but it's not Hall tearing chunks out of Khan's lead (Hall is actually down a point) but all the candidates taking nibbles out of Khan's polling. Blackie has 10% (the polls often over estimate the LD position) with Garbett also up a notch as is Reform.
The methodology Savanta use weights on the 2021 Mayoral poll and there's an argument false recall is one of the issues. We'll find out more on Friday evening.
As Chris Hopkins himself states, it's still a comfortable lead for Khan but there's a world of difference in terms of how this can be spun by CCHQ between a 25% vote for Hall and a 32% vote.
As has been said by others, the Mayoral contests, more than the Council or PCC or even the Blackpool South by-elections, will be the fulcrum of the election night spin operation. IF Houchen and Street win and Hall performs respectably, the Conservatives will claim a good night irrespective of the other results. IF Houchen scrapes home, Street loses and Hall gets 25% or less I suspect it will be much harder to spin as anything positive.
If, as you say, the reduced Sadiq Khan lead is due to support for parties outside the big two then this shows why the Conservatives changed the election to FPTP. How minor party supporters will actually vote is anyone's guess but they can no longer transfer their votes to Khan or Hall as second preferences.
As for spin, the question is not the usual one of how CCHQ will spin near-misses to the public but how Number 10 will spin them to Conservative backbenchers.
Not only will that never happen (the business case won't stack up and the politics would never allow it, it would be a huge conduit for migration into Europe) but they'd struggle to even approve and finance it by 2030 even if they wanted to, yet alone build it.
It would take at least 8 years to build and commission, and probably more like 10.
Absolutely disgraceful and shameful efforts by the Tories in the West Midlands .
Street deserves to lose for being part of this last minute campaign to discredit his opponent . The Labour candidate already fulfills the criteria to stand regardless of where he lives because of his business interests in the area .
He’s a carpetbagger?
The allegation seems to be that he is an unlawful carpetbagger, which is a very different accusation if true.
My brother knows Andy Street a little and describes him as ‘a weasel’ and with ‘a very nasty piece of work as partner’.
And, noooooo, that’s doesn’t mean my bro’ is being homophobic. He’s gay.
I've had a good laugh reading your posts on here tonight. It's the only way one can now interpret them. And they're truly hilarious.
Hah. In Adam Zamoyski’s Napoleon he talks about Napoleon’s attitude to religion (about which bonaparte cared a lot: he was a deist)
Napoleon deeply criticised the French Revolution because it took away the “sense of the numinous”. Those are the words Zamoyski uses
This actually reinforces something I’ve been thinking for a while. I know this will provoke more skeptical and materialist PB-ers, but for a long time I’ve thought I am actually a reincarnation of Napoleon Bonaparte. And I am increasingly sure it is true, given the plentiful evidence, which I surely don’t need to adduce here
Have you ever felt the urge to conquer mainland Europe? If so, you might be on to something.
I was born on the same day as Napoleon. Is that simply coincidence? Or something more than that? You decide. It’s your call
But when you add that in, then it all looks a lot more ambiguous doesn’t it?
There will always be nay sayers that I can never convince. I pay them no heed
My son was born on the same day as Napoleon's death, 177 years later, and - unlike you - is directly descended from him. And he doesn't talk batshit nonsense either.
You can fight it out with him, if you want.
Considering the little turd was responsible for tens of thousands of untimely deaths due to his insatiable lust for personal aggrandisement (Napoleon, not your son), I fail to see what there is to be particularly proud of.
If it was long enough ago killing lots of people becomes a point of pride.
I think with napoleon the question is, would the alternative have been any better?
By modern standards he's a dictator and a fascist, by the standards of the time he was a reformist and a radical.
The British like to think of themselves as always fighting for liberty against fascists and dictators.
This does not survive even a moment's scrutiny.
Let's take Nelson. When the Neapolitans rose up against the Bourbon Kings, inspired by Napoleon, and declared the Parthenopean Republic, it was Nelson who helped quash the rebellion - brutally. Indeed, he boasted about putting it down as savagely as the Irish rebels had been put down in the Wolfe Tone-led rebellion just beforehand. The British were allying themselves with Bourbon monarchs - who were some of the most useless monarchs around.
The Bourbons were useless, and they were useless when restored following the final defeat of Napoleon, but this was just Britain acting in what it saw as its national interest.
Sometimes, and ideally, that coincided with its ideals, but not always.
Currently global news stories in the US and US-satellite zone:
* clearance of non-white immigrant tent dwellers in Dublin, as "streets cleaned" and victims "herded" on to coaches as the Guardian puts it, complete with a photo of clearance personnel wearing lilywhite hazmat suits;
* clearance of pro-Palestinian student protestors from Columbia University campus in New York, the protestors who have been demanding divestment from Israel in order to combat what they believe to be the danger that the regime that has killed about 1.5% of the Gaza population within the last 7 months will commit imminent genocide.
Meanwhile in a north European country:
* "first phase of detentions underway for Rwanda relocations", as the British government terms - in a way that bureaucrats will find so erotic - its arrest of illegal immigrants preparatory to deportation - "relocation" to a country that nobody really thinks is safe but which has in a "Don't argue with the cops" way been "deemed" to be as safe as houses.
Any guesses for a fourth story of the clearance of the weak by the strong?
Is their a website somewhere with a list of when we can expect the results? I'm assuming the London Mayor one will be massively delayed as it always is and won't announce until Saturday.
This is the Press Association page, but they haven't updated it like they said they would, by the end of April.
They are not even going to start counting the London results until 9am on Saturday.
Previously, the London count used scanning machines, but with the switch to FPTP, they're switching the counting to by hand, the old fashioned way. AIUI.
This doesn't explain the Saturday counting. Just thought I'd mention it.
It’s completely crackers that they don’t even start counting the mayoral votes until Saturday. It should be enshrined in law that all election counts are triggered Thursday night.
I've pretty much made the same bet as you, because my nose tells me Khan is just too short even if he will win, so maybe - just maybe- the market will get the heebie-jeebies at some point if Hall does well, and we can trade out at a profit.
Hah. In Adam Zamoyski’s Napoleon he talks about Napoleon’s attitude to religion (about which bonaparte cared a lot: he was a deist)
Napoleon deeply criticised the French Revolution because it took away the “sense of the numinous”. Those are the words Zamoyski uses
This actually reinforces something I’ve been thinking for a while. I know this will provoke more skeptical and materialist PB-ers, but for a long time I’ve thought I am actually a reincarnation of Napoleon Bonaparte. And I am increasingly sure it is true, given the plentiful evidence, which I surely don’t need to adduce here
Have you ever felt the urge to conquer mainland Europe? If so, you might be on to something.
I was born on the same day as Napoleon. Is that simply coincidence? Or something more than that? You decide. It’s your call
But when you add that in, then it all looks a lot more ambiguous doesn’t it?
There will always be nay sayers that I can never convince. I pay them no heed
My son was born on the same day as Napoleon's death, 177 years later, and - unlike you - is directly descended from him. And he doesn't talk batshit nonsense either.
You can fight it out with him, if you want.
Considering the little turd was responsible for tens of thousands of untimely deaths due to his insatiable lust for personal aggrandisement (Napoleon, not your son), I fail to see what there is to be particularly proud of.
If it was long enough ago killing lots of people becomes a point of pride.
I think with napoleon the question is, would the alternative have been any better?
By modern standards he's a dictator and a fascist, by the standards of the time he was a reformist and a radical.
The British like to think of themselves as always fighting for liberty against fascists and dictators.
This does not survive even a moment's scrutiny.
Let's take Nelson. When the Neapolitans rose up against the Bourbon Kings, inspired by Napoleon, and declared the Parthenopean Republic, it was Nelson who helped quash the rebellion - brutally. Indeed, he boasted about putting it down as savagely as the Irish rebels had been put down in the Wolfe Tone-led rebellion just beforehand. The British were allying themselves with Bourbon monarchs - who were some of the most useless monarchs around.
The problem was the Bourbons were absurdly popular with the lower classes. The Parthenopean Republic was an elite creation, which could only survive with French backing.
That does not however, exonerate Nelson, who violated the terms of surrender that were granted to the rebels. Brutal executions would have been no problem, in contemporary eyes, had the rebels surrendered unconditionally. It was Nelson’s perfidy however, that attracted condemnation.
I had a gruelling evening yesterday. I'd decided to do a big walk. I stopped after 36km in quite a big town to try to find a room about 10km on
I found one 12km away and booked, but got no confirmation. I'd run out of supplies (beer) and went to three supermarkets. They were all closed and not opening until 5pm, I got to the third one at 4:30
I had to press on without beer, not knowing if I had a room booked. I'd walked about 2km more when I got a message from the host asking me to be there before 8pm
I replied no problem, thinking I'd be there by 7. Five minutes later I was officially diverted. They were doing major works on the canal I'd been walking by. I followed the diversion, and it seemed to be an extra km or two on the route. No problem
Then I lost the route.. the signs are set up for people going the right way, not oddballs like me walking to France. But Google maps told me that I was still on a path, heading for a road that would join me back to the official route
Then the path ended. It carried on on Google, but I'd reached the middle of a side of a vast field with some young crops growing in it. I couldn't follow the Google path, straight through the field, but I had to carry on, I had to be there by 8
I ended up having to walk around four fields, and walk through the brambles and climb over the irrigation channels between them. I eventually got back to the road, still with 10km to go, and two and a half hours until eight
I knew I could do it, but I was damned thirsty and still had a hill to climb. I got over the 100m hill and thought I was basically done; 5km to go and an hour and a half to get there
Then the heavens opened, quite violently, and the wind got strong. I had my little umbrella up but couldn't stop the rain from hammering ìnto the back of my legs
Nor could I do anything about the dirty, huge splash from the rain covering my jeans from the knee down in filth
I arrived at the hostel with half an hour to spare. The host was shocked to see me; he was sure I'd have given up. But my room was available, he gave me perfect dinner (chicken soup, then lentil and chorizo stew), and did my washing, all for 40€
Fantastic. You have a gift for vivid self-reportage!
"Then the path ended. It carried on on Google, but I'd reached the middle of a side of a vast field with some young crops growing in it. I couldn't follow the Google path, straight through the field, but I had to carry on, I had to be there by 8"
That's an interesting comparator.
Does the landowner have a duty exist to maintain PROWs across fields in France?
Ballot is tomorrow, obvs, but looking at the odds tonight and how tight they are Houchen looks home and dry.
He's almost as short in price as Khan.
As he won 73-27 in 2021, it's astonishing it's even been a contest. If he wins 55-43 it's still a massive swing to Labour. Street has done rather better to give himself more than a fighting chance and his win will show the merits of disassociating yourself from the national party.
Hall has done okay if she gets above 30% - even Savanta has Khan ahead in Outer London which is astonishing but the 2021 experience makes me a little wary of these polls.
Elsewhere, the PCC elections and Council elections are likely to be unpleasant for the Conservatives but there just aren't the volume of seats to lose as there were in 2022 and 2023 and will be next year.
I've put up my eight predictions so we'll see how they go.
If a result within 10 gives Labour hope of winning all the constituencies at the GE, then how come Houchen keeps winning?
"Keeps winning" is a bit of a stretch for 2017 and 2021 only !
Even H'Angus the Monkey in Hartlepool won three terms.
I've pretty much lost track of Starmer's tedious tactical triangulations, but have we done this one?
"Labour set to unveil weakened package of workers’ rights. Shadow ministers have been discussing how to tone down some of pledges in ‘New Deal’ to ease employer misgivings", Financial Times, May 1 2024?, see https://archive.is/DdxXz
Or do we just throw it on the pile with the rest?
We're teaming with Employers up and down the country to give you an extensively limited package of vague and disappointing rights. Because they told us to. It's electoral gold
Starmer is going to be absolutely shit, isn’t he? He will have an enormous majority and he will do zero with it, apart from vaguely left wing things that are pointless and cheap (because there’s no money left). He will then try and appease his base with Woke crap
I suspect he will manage to throw away that vast majority within one term
That's exactly what's going to happen.
You are now endorsing Leondamus’ view of the world? The person who so emphatically declared to us that Liz Truss was a marvel, a diamond in the rough, a person who would win the next election for the Conservatives. Clearly it’s high time for the annual reminder:
There are an awful lot of right-wingers on here at the moment who are getting ever more irascible and irrational (an interesting combination) as their moment of Doom approaches.
You will have many, many, years of non-power to contemplate the error of your ways and it’s a shocking and chastening thought that many pb-ers will be dead before the Conservatives return to power in the UK. I might be one of them.
Who, exactly, do you class as right wing on here? Anybody to the right of you (pretty much everyone!)? Or do you have a little list?
"Don't tell him, Pike!"
Actually allowing SOME people the option to work zero hours is fine, as it suits some people.
Yep. I have no issue with protections around ZHCs, but banning them seems over the top.
As I see it they are a shibboleth, about which some Trade Union figures obsess. Rail and water renationalisation are similar for many.
Every time I see polling, most people on ZHCs seem to want to retain them.
I've pretty much lost track of Starmer's tedious tactical triangulations, but have we done this one?
"Labour set to unveil weakened package of workers’ rights. Shadow ministers have been discussing how to tone down some of pledges in ‘New Deal’ to ease employer misgivings", Financial Times, May 1 2024?, see https://archive.is/DdxXz
Or do we just throw it on the pile with the rest?
We're teaming with Employers up and down the country to give you an extensively limited package of vague and disappointing rights. Because they told us to. It's electoral gold
Starmer is going to be absolutely shit, isn’t he? He will have an enormous majority and he will do zero with it, apart from vaguely left wing things that are pointless and cheap (because there’s no money left). He will then try and appease his base with Woke crap
I suspect he will manage to throw away that vast majority within one term
That's exactly what's going to happen.
You are now endorsing Leondamus’ view of the world? The person who so emphatically declared to us that Liz Truss was a marvel, a diamond in the rough, a person who would win the next election for the Conservatives. Clearly it’s high time for the annual reminder:
There are an awful lot of right-wingers on here at the moment who are getting ever more irascible and irrational (an interesting combination) as their moment of Doom approaches.
You will have many, many, years of non-power to contemplate the error of your ways and it’s a shocking and chastening thought that many pb-ers will be dead before the Conservatives return to power in the UK. I might be one of them.
Who, exactly, do you class as right wing on here? Anybody to the right of you (pretty much everyone!)? Or do you have a little list?
"Don't tell him, Pike!"
Actually allowing SOME people the option to work zero hours is fine, as it suits some people.
Yep. I have no issue with protections around ZHCs, but banning them seems over the top.
As I see it they are a shibboleth, about which some Trade Union figures obsess. Rail and water renationalisation are similar for many.
Every time I see polling, most people on ZHCs seem to want to retain them.
But on this, reality is irrelevant.
That seems perfectly aligned with what Labour propose. Employers will be obliged to offer permanent contracts periodically, but employees can choose to stay on ZHC if it suits them. There will be protections against coercive employers.
Not only will that never happen (the business case won't stack up and the politics would never allow it, it would be a huge conduit for migration into Europe) but they'd struggle to even approve and finance it by 2030 even if they wanted to, yet alone build it.
It would take at least 8 years to build and commission, and probably more like 10.
Meanwhile,in China such a tunnel could be designed and built within 3-4 years. Africa is going to be the fastest growing economic region over the next generation...
Hah. In Adam Zamoyski’s Napoleon he talks about Napoleon’s attitude to religion (about which bonaparte cared a lot: he was a deist)
Napoleon deeply criticised the French Revolution because it took away the “sense of the numinous”. Those are the words Zamoyski uses
This actually reinforces something I’ve been thinking for a while. I know this will provoke more skeptical and materialist PB-ers, but for a long time I’ve thought I am actually a reincarnation of Napoleon Bonaparte. And I am increasingly sure it is true, given the plentiful evidence, which I surely don’t need to adduce here
Have you ever felt the urge to conquer mainland Europe? If so, you might be on to something.
I was born on the same day as Napoleon. Is that simply coincidence? Or something more than that? You decide. It’s your call
But when you add that in, then it all looks a lot more ambiguous doesn’t it?
There will always be nay sayers that I can never convince. I pay them no heed
My son was born on the same day as Napoleon's death, 177 years later, and - unlike you - is directly descended from him. And he doesn't talk batshit nonsense either.
You can fight it out with him, if you want.
Considering the little turd was responsible for tens of thousands of untimely deaths due to his insatiable lust for personal aggrandisement (Napoleon, not your son), I fail to see what there is to be particularly proud of.
If it was long enough ago killing lots of people becomes a point of pride.
I think with napoleon the question is, would the alternative have been any better?
By modern standards he's a dictator and a fascist, by the standards of the time he was a reformist and a radical.
The British like to think of themselves as always fighting for liberty against fascists and dictators.
This does not survive even a moment's scrutiny.
Let's take Nelson. When the Neapolitans rose up against the Bourbon Kings, inspired by Napoleon, and declared the Parthenopean Republic, it was Nelson who helped quash the rebellion - brutally. Indeed, he boasted about putting it down as savagely as the Irish rebels had been put down in the Wolfe Tone-led rebellion just beforehand. The British were allying themselves with Bourbon monarchs - who were some of the most useless monarchs around.
Like everyone the British fought for their own self interest. Since the goal of British foreign policy was generally to prevent the emergence of a dominant power in continental Europe, this often involved us fighting powerful bullies like Napoleon. But since the British also ran the largest empire in the world, an inherently coercive exercise, the idea that we only fought for liberty doesn't survive even a moment's scrutiny.
Comments
Overnight counting is for the birds IMHO. As for speedy counting, here in Martin Luther King County in the great Evergreen State of WA, our election administrators & workers strive to combine strict accuracy with reasonable speed - the later where valid ballots are still arriving days after Election Day.
Two major reasons why they aim to be correct and NOT slow:
1. Professional pride and efficiency which translates into more ballots processed, validated & counted per hour per worker = significant budget savings for county government; and
2. Desire to get media, candidates, pundits, bloggers, etc., etc. off their freaking backs, by Feeding the Beast(s) and getting close enough to hitting bottom re: vote counting, so that only the VERY closest races are still undecided by (say) the Friday after the First Tuesday after the First Monday in November.
First is that his background involved some more interaction with normal people.
Second, his career involved a lot more interaction with normal people.
He doesn't have to be good to be hugely better. If you are in the desert, even ditchwater tastes sweet.
But they see local politics a bit differently, so yes I think the extrapolated national vote share will be better for the Tories than current general election polling, and yes, it won’t save them in June, July, November or January, when the national finally gets its say.
Blair got 46% in 1995, Ed got 38% in 2012. Starmer has only ever managed 35%.
Now polling over 43% Starmer needs a national equivalent of over 40% doesn’t he to prove he isn’t massively underperforming in real votes.
Not that I’m dismissing your anecdote and focus group of 1 person - who at least had the political nous to vote Conservative so many times.
But a PNS and NEV up in the forties is far stronger evidence of cut through, or otherwise if it’s still 39% or less, we can agree?
This doesn't explain the Saturday counting. Just thought I'd mention it.
Tu m'amuse, mon cher.
If a parties activists are behind these things, then yes, the buck does stop at the Party Leaders desk. Is that not fair to say?
As this will be an election year, I'm not sure if these locals are comparable to 1996 or 1997?
Finally, the Party leadership should then explain how it happened and what they intend to do to make sure it doesn't happen again
https://www.lightningmaps.org/#google_vignette;m=oss;t=3;s=200;o=0;b=;ts=0;y=48.6861;x=0.7306;z=7;d=2;dl=2;dc=0;
As you imply (I think) Sunak should have done obvious, by denouncing political hate speech whether committed by alleged supporters or not; especially when committed from them. No need to be hyperbolic, a short clear statement sufficing; certainly better than a plate of waffles.
BUT am speaking as a strange stranger from a stranger land; so your insight and viewpoint more likely to be cogent just as your vote is more potent. Or something like that.
What if Rupert Murdoch’s newspaper company didn’t just hack phones to get a scoop, but targeted elected politicians—right to the very top—in pursuit of its business ambitions?
https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/media/phone-hacking/65891/did-the-murdoch-empire-hack-mps-for-commercial-ends
https://www.postofficescandal.uk/post/martin-smith-and-the-instruction-to-shred/
Mayors, by their huge profile, may be able to withstand that.
You think that’s okay?
"On Saturday, “joyful crowds” turned out to celebrate new Sound Transit commuter rail line. Or so said the Seattle Times. Top Democrats headlined the celebration, pleased at this “progressive” triumph.
I have to admit that I smiled as I read the article, and watched a little of the TV news stories. The line links two poverty-stricken cities, Bellevue and Redmond. It is six miles long, and cost, so far, a measly 3.7 billion. It already has an additional, special police unit. Supposedly, it will be linked to the much larger Seattle-based system real soon, so that it can be used for something practical, like getting to the Seatac airport. As far as I can tell, trips on it will be slower, for most riders, than the buses, which have been in use for years.
I smiled, because the whole thing is so absurd — but I do feel sorry for my younger family members and friends in the area, who will have to pay for all this.
(For the record: At 80, I have given up driving, at least for now. I use buses in this area regularly. and have found them adequate for my simple needs.)"
I should have added that they estimate that it will have an average of 6,000 riders a day. For those not familiar with this area: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bellevue,_Washington
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redmond,_Washington
And that the topography of this area is less suited to rail than other flatter places, without large water obstacles.
If it’s such bad news over there for Biden, is it going to become a problem for Labour here too?
Of course we were lucky back then that the national union of students was led by Jack Straw so inevitably it came to nothing much.
Whoever the new SNP leader is, polls are saying they will be massively more popular than the outgoing leaders ratings, and more popular than Labour. A honeymoon and uplift in SNP popularity and polling looks on the cards doesn’t it?
("Pro-Gazan" is another possibility, but I think the Rabbit's choice is better.)
Labour/Tory are not.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_Scottish_Parliament_election
https://x.com/danabashcnn/status/1785725450527842512
Today: Destruction, violence and hate overtake college campuses across the country with Jewish students feeling unsafe at their own schools. It is unacceptable, and harkening back to the 1930s in Europe.
Admittedly this individual is a little eccentric but people's susceptibility to simple narratives worries me.
By modern standards he's a dictator and a fascist, by the standards of the time he was a reformist and a radical.
https://youtu.be/npoFJk_cMD8
...complete with shots of bins and a broken fence (ugh - some people! - they're not Like Us!), showing the police zeroing down on an a house in Anytown - could be a house near you - bagging themselves a non-white immigrant and putting him in a van ready for deportation to happy Rwanda. Pure Alf Garnett heaven and catnip, with "Vote Tory" written all the way through it as if through a stick of rock. This is how the Tories will win the general election.
Khan 42%
Hall 32%
"London mayoral election race electrified by final poll showing Sadiq Khan lead over Susan Hall smallest so far
Exclusive: Savanta survey for Centre for London put Labour mayor on 42 per cent and Tory candidate 32 per cent"
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/london-mayoral-election-race-latest-poll-sadiq-khan-susan-hall-b1154884.html
I am not responsible for the actions of my ancestors. The stories about them interest and sometimes amuse me. The histories of families are vastly entertaining and illuminating - of history, of how it affects families and how they respond to it. On my father's side one of my ancestors was an early member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, a precursor of the IRA, and involved in an infamous attack on a police station, for which he fled to France for a while to avoid being arrested.
The Irish did not, like the French, much like the English either.
"Pro-Gazan" ignores the fact that most of the population of Gaza aren't in Gaza by choice, let alone in Rafah. If they - or the proportion who are allowed to survive - are shifted to an even smaller area such as al Mawasi, perhaps call them Al Mawasians and then after that perhaps Boatsians.
Gaza is a geographical area and I wonder why you think it's OK to refer to people who have been forced there as if they are from there or belong there?
I can’t be the only one thinking something seems to be changing. A poor PNS and NEV of still just 30 something % with underwhelming results elsewhere for Labour this week, and Conservatives buoyed by better than expected elections, it could act as a sort of catalyst that proves things are now on the turn.
On the turn to a change in narrative, and tightening of polling, expected by all of us as destined to come in febrile pre General Election period with the greater scrutiny on Labour? It’s starting now and late if anything.
When I called the GE Labour 39% Conservatives 33% I was called Loon Rabbit - but looking over tomorrow mornings front pages, can you not appreciate just how much harder this is already getting for Labour - at the business end of the season as they say in football (aka squeaky bum time). The “i” and Guardian not helpful to Labour on election day, hammering them for watering down pledge to protect workers and rights, The Times telling us Labour are planning to give channel migrants asylum, The Mail repatriating the Ref vote back to the Tories.
When Starmer said today he would scrap Rwanda Scheme on Day 1, you sensed no one in the country believes he will, not least how technically and legally does he do it? For example, it’s easy to dismiss something still at idea stage as a gimmick, but Shadow Minister was today asked, everyone the Tories deport to Rwanda, do you start bringing them back? He didn’t have an answer. If any floating voter watched him waffle the vote was lost.
And 2% inflation! recession busting growth! and interest rate cuts (ignore US in different place to our economy) still to be endlessly lauded in coming weeks…
Things are on the turn.
This does not survive even a moment's scrutiny.
Let's take Nelson. When the Neapolitans rose up against the Bourbon Kings, inspired by Napoleon, and declared the Parthenopean Republic, it was Nelson who helped quash the rebellion - brutally. Indeed, he boasted about putting it down as savagely as the Irish rebels had been put down in the Wolfe Tone-led rebellion just beforehand. The British were allying themselves with Bourbon monarchs - who were some of the most useless monarchs around.
Dictator he certainly was.
https://www1.politicalbetting.com/index.php/archives/2024/01/07/classification/
There are other currently serving and former politicians and state figures both in Britain and a number of nearby and allied countries who are not Hindus but who nonetheless strongly believe they have been reincarnated. It's one of those things that nobody talks about. If you know what to look for, it's unmistakable.
Reincarnation is a detestable idea and in certain hierarchical spiritual scenes in which lower levels are indoctrinated into believing in this crap, the teaching at higher levels is that it is an illusion.
It may of course be crap when taken in the literal sense but your atoms will be recycled and were definitely part of many things in the past.
Anyway, what should we be looking for, exactly?
Go look at the banner posted below by kle4. And the facts are Hamas and IS, the two groups who control Gaza, murder LGBT+ people - whilst Israel is a tolerant Liberal Democracy that does not.
It is these students who are ignorant. They have the inability to compute what is happening is not a black and white historical struggle full of injustice, but far more nuanced battle of ideologies, with on one side a misogynist and murderously intolerant ideology they can only be wittingly or ignorantly cheerleading for right now. They have no excuse. And you too, if you support and defend these protests.
Everyone who protests for Gaza now is also on the side on the hideous pogrom Hamas committed to start this conflict. If you side with evil bastards, you will always appear to reasonable minded folk as the evil bastard too. That’s ignorance going on here.
Enjoy! 🙏
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5jf_86AqPs
As for Napo-Leon and PB-Leon, perhaps Napoleon's use of bee symbolism was connected with mad honey :-)
Actually. I’ve been thinking why did I say Hamas supporting protests as first thing that came into my head, and not Palestinians? I always think of gazans as Hamas, but not all Palestinians as Hamas. I guess it is the way I have reasoned it and understand it already and can’t subtract innocent gazans from not so innocent Hamas and IS who’s in charge. But on the other hand I do recognise there’s lots of Israeli’s who never have and don’t support Netanyahu’s government. Is it because I have seen them on news protesting and not killed but never seen Gazans protesting about Hamas and IS and alive afterwards, so presume they are all the same side or have fled?
So I still feel no need at all for these political sit ins, when there have clearly been unfair horrors committed by both sides out there. imo be mindful of the horrors committed by both sides better than getting involved in the unstraighforward politics of this conflict.
If feel the need to do something, as I have done, then lend support or money to Red Cross or Red Crescent and other charities going on the ground Easy to recognise how Gazan’s will starve, have injuries, have lost loved ones, have been traumatised, especially the children - so support the charities who, bravely as we know from those Britons Israel blew up, are going out their way to help with all these things.
Gazans are going to need lots of food quickly now. Don’t have a self serving sit in, stand up and make it happen. Make some sandwiches or something. Hummus for Hamas.
There, I’ve done it again.
* clearance of non-white immigrant tent dwellers in Dublin, as "streets cleaned" and victims "herded" on to coaches as the Guardian puts it, complete with a photo of clearance personnel wearing lilywhite hazmat suits;
* clearance of pro-Palestinian student protestors from Columbia University campus in New York, the protestors who have been demanding divestment from Israel in order to combat what they believe to be the danger that the regime that has killed about 1.5% of the Gaza population within the last 7 months will commit imminent genocide.
Meanwhile in a north European country:
* "first phase of detentions underway for Rwanda relocations", as the British government terms - in a way that bureaucrats will find so erotic - its arrest of illegal immigrants preparatory to deportation - "relocation" to a country that nobody really thinks is safe but which has in a "Don't argue with the cops" way been "deemed" to be as safe as houses.
Any guesses for a fourth story of the clearance of the weak by the strong?
I’m sure I’m a few years time it will be part of Israel and some prime real estate.
As for spin, the question is not the usual one of how CCHQ will spin near-misses to the public but how Number 10 will spin them to Conservative backbenchers.
It would take at least 8 years to build and commission, and probably more like 10.
More please.
Very bright. Initially I thought NR had Yellow Plant out doing night-time maintenance on the railway line by my house.
Sometimes, and ideally, that coincided with its ideals, but not always.
That does not however, exonerate Nelson, who violated the terms of surrender that were granted to the rebels. Brutal executions would have been no problem, in contemporary eyes, had the rebels surrendered unconditionally. It was Nelson’s perfidy however, that attracted condemnation.
That's an interesting comparator.
Does the landowner have a duty exist to maintain PROWs across fields in France?
Even H'Angus the Monkey in Hartlepool won three terms.
Will Houchen be the new H'Angus?
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/may/01/akyia-houses-why-japan-has-nine-million-empty-homes
I don't think we will be getting the problem here for a while, but there are similarities already in parts of Europe.
Every time I see polling, most people on ZHCs seem to want to retain them.
But on this, reality is irrelevant.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/may/01/labours-new-deal-for-workers-will-not-fully-ban-zero-hours-contracts
https://twitter.com/PolitlcsUK/status/1785792949030101411?t=8k7p63652LkGFDyaN9yIPQ&s=19
Why? Because they’re locals.
One of the wrong conclusions will be about Labour.
If it hastens the General Election then great but I doubt it will.