(((Dan Hodges))) @DPJHodges · 12m Rishi Sunak says the issue shouldn’t be politicised and we should focus on the veterans. There was supposed to be a campaign pause for D-Day. He broke it, left the veterans, and came home for a political interview.
Um, he filmed an interview that wasn’t to be aired during D-day events and so clearly didn’t do any campaigning.
The only reason people are aware he did an interview for the campaign is because of people wetting their pants about him missing part of the D-day commemorations. So he respected the campaigning pause - it was others who turned it into part of the campaign.
That’s not how people will see it. He didn’t have time in his diary for veterans of D Day but could find the time to do a campaign interview. And his excuse that he did the British events but not the non-British one is just staggering. The liberation of Nazi occupied Europe was a joint endeavour, the commemoration of it should be too. Any PM who doesn’t get that instinctively deserves everything he gets.
He didn’t have time for veterans except the one he pushed along in his wheelchair, the ones he met, addressed and quoted and praised at the ceremony he attended.
Now I know I’m one of probably three people on this site who didn’t stop everything yesterday and devote the day to watching D-day, and I apologise for that, but I’m guessing the veterans cared more about the king being there, about actually being there themselves and getting the thanks from the ordinary people.
I can’t imagine any of them knew who was actually attending the main ceremony. So let’s get someone to ask them - after all, it’s about them and their comrades. If they really are offended then Sunak needs to step down, if they say they don’t care, it’s not about politicians then we move on. Fair enough?
I'm looking forward to the 100th anniversary of D-Day, when politicians will have to kneel down upon the Holy Sands, bare their back and flagellate themselves with the Sacred Barbed Wire Of Omaha. Anyone seen as not showing enough reverence will immediatey be tied to a Czech hedgehog, ready to be claimed by the next tide.
Quite right too. I mean, I know most people who are hammering Sunak woke up early yesterday, faced towards Normandy and saluted at the time of the first landings then spent the day in sorrowful contemplation whilst watching Whoever has replaced Huw Edward’s looking mournful whilst weeping into their tissues.
I know they refrained from anything frivolous but I think of the words of my grandfather who survived the war, who was bombing Normandy from D-day onwards, to go and enjoy every day and don’t take it all too seriously because you don’t know when it’s over.
He lost two brothers in the war and would have found the performative outrage seriously embarrassing and possibly offensive in itself because the vast majority of the outrage isn’t because they hold these incredibly deep values and feelings for those who died but because it makes one side look bad and them better.
I think most people here are hammering Sunak purely for his suicidal stupidity.
They’ve done this because a small group of Woke trustafarian idiots have campaigned for it bEcAuSe IsRaeL
Never give in to these people. You give an inch and before you know it everything is cancelled / problematic.
The activists are basically objecting to BF being an investment company.
...“The assertion that we have significant amounts of money in the occupied Palestinian territories is offensively misleading. Baillie Gifford is a large investor in several multinational technology companies, including Amazon, Nvidia and Meta. Demanding divestment from these global companies, used by millions of people around the world, is unreasonable and serves no purpose. Much as it would be unreasonable to demand authors boycott Instagram or stop selling books on Amazon.”
Baillie Gifford was also not a “significant fossil fuel investor”, Thomas said. “Only 2% of our clients’ money is invested in companies with some business related to fossil fuels. We invest far more in companies helping drive the transition to clean energy.”..
This is my point. They are rarely if ever good faith actors, they despise the capitalist system, it must be torn down. I bet we all indirectly have 2% of our pension etc invested in these areas.
One of the XR founder was honest about it at the beginning, that climate change cause was just a vehicle to help them achieve this by tapping into wider public concerns about the environment.
This is what they are doing here, leveraging fossil fuels and Israel.
XR are a bunch of risibles. Anyone serious about action on climate change should share that opinion.
At some point, assuming that the science is broadly sound, then combining this with the actual current facts and only possible trajectory of CO2 emissions a particular thing has to change, and it will embarrass a lot of people. It is this:
There is no route whatsoever out of very substantial global warming as a result of actions past, present and immediate future. None of this is stoppable.
If the science is correct, the immediate issue is how to plan for and deal with the realities of this fact.
This has been true for some years, but people cling to the myth that 'we have five (insert similar number) years to save the world by abolishing oil and gas'.
Anyoneknow what the record number of posts in a thread is?
Are we making an attempt on the record?
But the big long threads seem to be working well for discussion though? In relation to days with lots of threads to jump across to, that can be discussion(s) killer, this feels okay?
But editors also need to be mindful lots of lurkers come for the quality and independent thoughts in the headers, i suspect.
A focus on quality not quantity of headers, and longer threads for discussion seems good balance to me.
In fairness to the editors, OGH has stepped down, TSE is off sick and Robert lives in another timezone. It's not surprising if we have to talk amongst ourselves for a little longer than usual.
The depleted editorial team should use OGH's old tricks of starting a thread every time he saw a tweet about a new opinion poll, and when he didn't, regularly starting generic Nighthawks threads. We do not need the editors to spend the whole day crafting thousand-word headers.
I wonder if there isn't a long standing respected member who could step up to being on the editorial team? How did TSE get his place?
Bribery? Blackmail? Befriending OGH at the occasional in-person meetings we used to hold?
Popstar Holly Valance holds crunch last minute talks with Reform UK to stand against Tory chairman Richard Holden in election. She must decide by 4pm today.
In other WWII related news, I hadn't realised that one of the earliest triggers for the change in US policy which led to the Marshall plan, was the decision by the Attlee government in Feb 1947 to end support for the Greek government's war against communist insurgents.
And while the US determined to rebuild the economies of Western Europe, we were still blowing up German shipyards in 1949.
In retrospect a policy of German deindustrialisation would have been a visionary approach to tackling climate change.
My postie just arrived. Shaved head, tats everywhere you look, including one of those ones with a bulldog holding a union jack or maybe wearing one I didn't look to closely.
Came over, handed me my post, left.
Not. A. Word. about Normandy.
DYOR and bet accordingly.
Ah so it's attained the "goes without saying" level of horror. Oh dear, awful for Sunak.
I don't fancy Penny Mourdant job this evening. It bad enough having 6 others gang up on you in a debate over your record in government, now what does she do about Sunak decision?
Go in studs up on Farage.
And let the PM speak for himself.
What does that even look like? Calling him a racist isn't going to fly with the voters they're fighting over.
But Trump is Farage´s big mate, and about as popular as norovirus with most people in this country, then there is the questionable history with Russia Today, the who paid the Bad Boys of Brexit, and admit it, Nigel you prefer Red wine to Bitter etc etc
Popstar Holly Valance holds crunch last minute talks with Reform UK to stand against Tory chairman Richard Holden in election. She must decide by 4pm today.
At least she won’t be able to criticise Sunak for being married to a billionaire. I knew there would be some good news for Rishi today.
There has been a distinct lack of celeb endorsements so far. Maybe this tedious stuff will come shortly. I was fully expecting the likes of Gary Neville to be drowning on at every opportunity to vote Labour.
They’ve done this because a small group of Woke trustafarian idiots have campaigned for it bEcAuSe IsRaeL
Few things have made me angrier recently. It encapsulates everything wrong with 'radical' left-wing activism. Internally incoherent and incredibly stupid, hectoring, destroying the very things claim to value because others aren't allowed to enjoy them without paying the Danegeld, bullying, full undeserved self-righteousness, and then throw in a non-sequitur about Israel because why not? That's what's cool to shout about these days.
And what does it achieve. Probably that some of these festivals don't go ahead. Well done Sebastian and Arabella. Top work.
Two of the big campaigners who got all the literary festivals cancelled are Nish Kumar and Charlotte Church. Which is kinda perfect, two more objectionable twats it is hard to imagine
Are we sure if either of them can actually read? They don’t strike me as people suffused in literature
Popstar Holly Valance holds crunch last minute talks with Reform UK to stand against Tory chairman Richard Holden in election. She must decide by 4pm today.
At least she won’t be able to criticise Sunak for being married to a billionaire. I knew there would be some good news for Rishi today.
Popstar Holly Valance holds crunch last minute talks with Reform UK to stand against Tory chairman Richard Holden in election. She must decide by 4pm today.
They’ve done this because a small group of Woke trustafarian idiots have campaigned for it bEcAuSe IsRaeL
Never give in to these people. You give an inch and before you know it everything is cancelled / problematic.
The activists are basically objecting to BF being an investment company.
...“The assertion that we have significant amounts of money in the occupied Palestinian territories is offensively misleading. Baillie Gifford is a large investor in several multinational technology companies, including Amazon, Nvidia and Meta. Demanding divestment from these global companies, used by millions of people around the world, is unreasonable and serves no purpose. Much as it would be unreasonable to demand authors boycott Instagram or stop selling books on Amazon.”
Baillie Gifford was also not a “significant fossil fuel investor”, Thomas said. “Only 2% of our clients’ money is invested in companies with some business related to fossil fuels. We invest far more in companies helping drive the transition to clean energy.”..
This is my point. They are rarely if ever good faith actors, they despise the capitalist system, it must be torn down. I bet we all indirectly have 2% of our pension etc invested in these areas.
One of the XR founder was honest about it at the beginning, that climate change cause was just a vehicle to help them achieve this by tapping into wider public concerns about the environment.
This is what they are doing here, leveraging fossil fuels and Israel.
XR are a bunch of risibles. Anyone serious about action on climate change should share that opinion.
At some point, assuming that the science is broadly sound, then combining this with the actual current facts and only possible trajectory of CO2 emissions a particular thing has to change, and it will embarrass a lot of people. It is this:
There is no route whatsoever out of very substantial global warming as a result of actions past, present and immediate future. None of this is stoppable.
If the science is correct, the immediate issue is how to plan for and deal with the realities of this fact.
This has been true for some years, but people cling to the myth that 'we have five (insert similar number) years to save the world by abolishing oil and gas'.
I sympathise with the idea that we need to start planning for the inevitable. The 2030s will be all about getting the UK ready.
But the nature and scale of the damage escalates very quickly the hotter the world gets. Sure, it's some dodgy modelling and no one knows for sure, but it's as likely it could be even worse than expected than better.
There are some interesting and rather terrifying tipping points. It's like FPTP, but for the human race.
Popstar Holly Valance holds crunch last minute talks with Reform UK to stand against Tory chairman Richard Holden in election. She must decide by 4pm today.
This could start a political arms race to recruit Australian soap stars.
Popstar Holly Valance holds crunch last minute talks with Reform UK to stand against Tory chairman Richard Holden in election. She must decide by 4pm today.
It's Holly v The Wally
I think more Wally vs Wally.
She did a long form interview a couple of months ago and it was quite painful.
Popstar Holly Valance holds crunch last minute talks with Reform UK to stand against Tory chairman Richard Holden in election. She must decide by 4pm today.
This could start a political arms race to recruit Australian soap stars.
Popstar Holly Valance holds crunch last minute talks with Reform UK to stand against Tory chairman Richard Holden in election. She must decide by 4pm today.
Popstar Holly Valance holds crunch last minute talks with Reform UK to stand against Tory chairman Richard Holden in election. She must decide by 4pm today.
This could start a political arms race to recruit Australian soap stars.
In other WWII related news, I hadn't realised that one of the earliest triggers for the change in US policy which led to the Marshall plan, was the decision by the Attlee government in Feb 1947 to end support for the Greek government's war against communist insurgents.
And while the US determined to rebuild the economies of Western Europe, we were still blowing up German shipyards in 1949.
In retrospect a policy of German deindustrialisation would have been a visionary approach to tackling climate change.
Well that was the previous policy.
Since the German populace were at that time subsisting on about 1000 kcal a day, its continuance would have required about 25m of them to disappear, one way or another, within a fairly short space of time.
My postie just arrived. Shaved head, tats everywhere you look, including one of those ones with a bulldog holding a union jack or maybe wearing one I didn't look to closely.
Came over, handed me my post, left.
Not. A. Word. about Normandy.
DYOR and bet accordingly.
He (or she) has clearly got your number.
I have never met a chatty postman, they seem in too much of a hurry.
My postie just arrived. Shaved head, tats everywhere you look, including one of those ones with a bulldog holding a union jack or maybe wearing one I didn't look to closely.
Came over, handed me my post, left.
Not. A. Word. about Normandy.
DYOR and bet accordingly.
He (or she) has clearly got your number.
I have never met a chatty postman, they seem in too much of a hurry.
Might help to explain why ours are so good at delivering to the right house number in the wrong road.
They’ve done this because a small group of Woke trustafarian idiots have campaigned for it bEcAuSe IsRaeL
Never give in to these people. You give an inch and before you know it everything is cancelled / problematic.
The activists are basically objecting to BF being an investment company.
...“The assertion that we have significant amounts of money in the occupied Palestinian territories is offensively misleading. Baillie Gifford is a large investor in several multinational technology companies, including Amazon, Nvidia and Meta. Demanding divestment from these global companies, used by millions of people around the world, is unreasonable and serves no purpose. Much as it would be unreasonable to demand authors boycott Instagram or stop selling books on Amazon.”
Baillie Gifford was also not a “significant fossil fuel investor”, Thomas said. “Only 2% of our clients’ money is invested in companies with some business related to fossil fuels. We invest far more in companies helping drive the transition to clean energy.”..
This is my point. They are rarely if ever good faith actors, they despise the capitalist system, it must be torn down. I bet we all indirectly have 2% of our pension etc invested in these areas.
One of the XR founder was honest about it at the beginning, that climate change cause was just a vehicle to help them achieve this by tapping into wider public concerns about the environment.
This is what they are doing here, leveraging fossil fuels and Israel.
XR are a bunch of risibles. Anyone serious about action on climate change should share that opinion.
At some point, assuming that the science is broadly sound, then combining this with the actual current facts and only possible trajectory of CO2 emissions a particular thing has to change, and it will embarrass a lot of people. It is this:
There is no route whatsoever out of very substantial global warming as a result of actions past, present and immediate future. None of this is stoppable.
If the science is correct, the immediate issue is how to plan for and deal with the realities of this fact.
This has been true for some years, but people cling to the myth that 'we have five (insert similar number) years to save the world by abolishing oil and gas'.
I sympathise with the idea that we need to start planning for the inevitable. The 2030s will be all about getting the UK ready.
But the nature and scale of the damage escalates very quickly the hotter the world gets. Sure, it's some dodgy modelling and no one knows for sure, but it's as likely it could be even worse than expected than better.
There are some interesting and rather terrifying tipping points. It's like FPTP, but for the human race.
Yes, the implication that we can therefore abandon the transition to renewables is plain wrong. We actually need to be accelerating that transition and planning how to adapt to significant climate change.
Globally, the energy transition should be a net economic plus over time, which is fortunate.
Popstar Holly Valance holds crunch last minute talks with Reform UK to stand against Tory chairman Richard Holden in election. She must decide by 4pm today.
This could start a political arms race to recruit Australian soap stars.
The Tories seem to have already succumbed to Nathalie Imbroglio.
I think this all comes back to the 'Sunak is not good at politics' conclusion.
He might do okay working in a political think-tank. But being PM is simply way above his pay grade. For that you need a political instinct that he does not possess.
My postie just arrived. Shaved head, tats everywhere you look, including one of those ones with a bulldog holding a union jack or maybe wearing one I didn't look to closely.
Came over, handed me my post, left.
Not. A. Word. about Normandy.
DYOR and bet accordingly.
He (or she) has clearly got your number.
I have never met a chatty postman, they seem in too much of a hurry.
You haven't been round long. We have one who posts on PB.
On topic (but it will take me a while to get to it):
Could Political Betting help people become "super-agers"? An article in the May 7th NYT describes the findings from studies in Spain and Chicago of "super-agers", old people who are especially active mentally -- for their age.
Here, for me, is the most interesting finding: "The behaviors of some of the Chicago super-agers were similarly a surprise. Some exercised regularly, but some never had; some stuck to a Mediterranean diet, others subsisted off TV dinners; and a few of them still smoked cigarettes. However, one consistency among the group was that they tended to have strong social relationships, Dr. Rogalski said." (from an article by Dana G. Smith, titled "Peering Inside the Brains of 'Super-Agers')
To the extent that PB helps people have "strong social relationships", it will help them age well.
(And for the application to US politics? Social relationships have broken down in the US over recent decades, weakening families and communities. And that contributes to the widespread unhappiness in this wealthy nation, an unhappiness that is exploited by so many.)
I think this all comes back to the 'Sunak is not good at politics' conclusion.
He might do okay working in a political think-tank. But being PM is simply way above his pay grade. For that you need a political instinct that he does not possess.
Only when looking at the recent serial string of disasters do you realise just how easy some people made it look
I think this all comes back to the 'Sunak is not good at politics' conclusion.
He might do okay working in a political think-tank. But being PM is simply way above his pay grade. For that you need a political instinct that he does not possess.
Theresa May was the last person who was actually capable of doing the job. I know she came under criticism for the way she did it and her presentational style, but she had the seriousness and the respect for the role.
The Tories have since sent us 3 people unqualified and incapable of performing the role. They have really dug their own political graves here.
WTF kind of excuse is “it was pre-arranged” anyway? Nobody cares if it was pre-arranged, it looks bad because you did it, not because of when it went into your diary.
I cannot believe that Rishi’s comms team like him, or that he is listening to them.
"It was pre-arranged to feck off early"
Whoever didn't block D-Day from his diary is not fit for purpose.
That he didn't spot it himself - ditto.
If we had gone from Boris to Penny Mordaunt, the Conservative Party - and the country - would have been in a better place. No way Penny would have shown such a lack of political acumen.
There are a bunch of MPs who voted for Truss who will have a long, long time to reflect on their stupidity. With that on their CV, hard to see how those ex-MPs who voted for her get another job any time soon.
I feel sorry for a core of Tory MPs who have been bloody good constituency MPs, but who have been undermined in getting re-elected by too many of their colleagues, from the top down.
Now we have Starmer drifting in to Downing Street, effectively unopposed. Which wouldn't be quite so bad if hadn't shown himself to be so utterly useless in that first debte. A lifelong barrister who can't make the case for voting for him? He could be on Trump's team of lawyers, being that bad.
Penny would have emerged from the waves in a WWII era dive suit holding a trident.
COPP style, diving in originally from a canoe paddled by, who? That would have been good.
No, apparently standing in the sea. Then revealed to be standing on the casing of an X-craft
My postie just arrived. Shaved head, tats everywhere you look, including one of those ones with a bulldog holding a union jack or maybe wearing one I didn't look to closely.
Came over, handed me my post, left.
Not. A. Word. about Normandy.
DYOR and bet accordingly.
He (or she) has clearly got your number.
I have never met a chatty postman, they seem in too much of a hurry.
You haven't been round long. We have one who posts on PB.
Popstar Holly Valance holds crunch last minute talks with Reform UK to stand against Tory chairman Richard Holden in election. She must decide by 4pm today.
This could start a political arms race to recruit Australian soap stars.
Ok, the pipe major in the town I grew up in has just completely lost it a series of deeply abusive Facebook posts, all related to D-gate.
CUT THROUGH
"Garage door openers"
"The pipe major in my town"
I'm in an unfamiliar world here today.
That's why we come here. Provincial British exotica. I don't know why Leon's always travelling, we've got everything here.
War memorial Bus station Greggs Deserted Debenhams shop More Greggs Van selling burgers or kebabs Cashpoints Tramp outside cashpoint Drunks at prominent doorway begging/menacing Old fat people on mobility scooters, so fat the seat disappears in the bottom Nightclub that looks old and tacky in the daytime, with blanked-out windows Vape shops Charity shops British Heart Foundation Furniture and Electrical Waitrose/Sainsburys/Tescos/Co-op/Morrisons Buskers Tattoo shops Chain Coffee shop (Costa, Starbucks, whatevs) Local Coffee shop/cake shop where you can sit down with bacon roll and read book for a bit People sitting at tables drinking coffee like it was Paris or something Car parks Boarded-up shopping centre/road Pub advertising football Big Issue seller from Eastern Europe Opticians Nail bars Ice-cream shop
That's a beautiful list. You're missing roadworks, flytipping, newsagents with a board outside showing a really banal headline from a local newspaper, bored kids at a bus stop, a painfully loud ice cream van, and a boy doing a wheelie on the pavement.
"It's simply not reasonable to criticise me for making a mistake, we planned to make this mistake simply AGES ago. This wasn't merely some momentary cock-up, it was a meticulously-planned, carefully strategised act of total, underpants-on-head idiocy"
Popstar Holly Valance holds crunch last minute talks with Reform UK to stand against Tory chairman Richard Holden in election. She must decide by 4pm today.
This could start a political arms race to recruit Australian soap stars.
Surely Reform are choosing on the basis of their, er, robust political views?
In which case I imagine they'll be drumming up Eric Clapton and Morrissey next.
Any last minute surprises/defections on the horizon I wonder? We’ve got under two hours to go. Tick, tick, tick….
I was wondering about news in re Mr Ross D., ex-MP, but Mr Sunak seems to have very nobly hogged the media and taken the Scottish heat off his subordinate.
Why is the Returning Officer always called the Acting Returning Officer, both on my poll card and when sharing the limelight at 4am with Count Binface. What added value does the word Acting bring to the party?
They’ve done this because a small group of Woke trustafarian idiots have campaigned for it bEcAuSe IsRaeL
Never give in to these people. You give an inch and before you know it everything is cancelled / problematic.
The activists are basically objecting to BF being an investment company.
...“The assertion that we have significant amounts of money in the occupied Palestinian territories is offensively misleading. Baillie Gifford is a large investor in several multinational technology companies, including Amazon, Nvidia and Meta. Demanding divestment from these global companies, used by millions of people around the world, is unreasonable and serves no purpose. Much as it would be unreasonable to demand authors boycott Instagram or stop selling books on Amazon.”
Baillie Gifford was also not a “significant fossil fuel investor”, Thomas said. “Only 2% of our clients’ money is invested in companies with some business related to fossil fuels. We invest far more in companies helping drive the transition to clean energy.”..
This is my point. They are rarely if ever good faith actors, they despise the capitalist system, it must be torn down. I bet we all indirectly have 2% of our pension etc invested in these areas.
One of the XR founder was honest about it at the beginning, that climate change cause was just a vehicle to help them achieve this by tapping into wider public concerns about the environment.
This is what they are doing here, leveraging fossil fuels and Israel.
XR are a bunch of risibles. Anyone serious about action on climate change should share that opinion.
At some point, assuming that the science is broadly sound, then combining this with the actual current facts and only possible trajectory of CO2 emissions a particular thing has to change, and it will embarrass a lot of people. It is this:
There is no route whatsoever out of very substantial global warming as a result of actions past, present and immediate future. None of this is stoppable.
If the science is correct, the immediate issue is how to plan for and deal with the realities of this fact.
This has been true for some years, but people cling to the myth that 'we have five (insert similar number) years to save the world by abolishing oil and gas'.
I sympathise with the idea that we need to start planning for the inevitable. The 2030s will be all about getting the UK ready.
But the nature and scale of the damage escalates very quickly the hotter the world gets. Sure, it's some dodgy modelling and no one knows for sure, but it's as likely it could be even worse than expected than better.
There are some interesting and rather terrifying tipping points. It's like FPTP, but for the human race.
Yes, the implication that we can therefore abandon the transition to renewables is plain wrong. We actually need to be accelerating that transition and planning how to adapt to significant climate change.
Globally, the energy transition should be a net economic plus over time, which is fortunate.
It's one of the most underestimated demerits on Mr Sunak's recird that he not only failed to push it but backpedalled.
My postie just arrived. Shaved head, tats everywhere you look, including one of those ones with a bulldog holding a union jack or maybe wearing one I didn't look to closely.
Came over, handed me my post, left.
Not. A. Word. about Normandy.
DYOR and bet accordingly.
He (or she) has clearly got your number.
I have never met a chatty postman, they seem in too much of a hurry.
You haven't been round long. We have one who posts on PB.
OK but on the job or in his spare time?
Assuming he's not making stuff up (which seems implausible) on the job. Mind you, he's a fast walker.
Not enough people are aware of the extent of damage of Ukraine’s electricity production due to the relentless Russian strikes...
Before the full-scale invasion Ukraine had about 55 gigawatts (GW) of electricity production. The FT recently wrote that about 20 GW are left. Just last Saturday alone, RU destroyed 1.2 GW of production.
Several 🇺🇦 experts believe this number is more 6-10 GW, which means Ukraine lacks the means to cover electricity demands of private and industrial consumers. For peak summer but especially this winter, we will face hours long outages. Some quotes from the FT article that highlight the severity of the situation:
“Asked what the damage would mean for the months ahead, one of the officials put it bluntly: “We should prepare for life in the cold and the dark.” “This is our new normal,” the second official said, gesturing outside a window to the darkness that had descended on Kyiv during a recent emergency power shutdown…
If no measures are taken, according to our modelling, then probably the population will have only two to four hours of electricity [per day] in January,” said Borys Dodonov, head of energy and climate studies at the Kyiv School of Economics.” https://x.com/mattia_n/status/1799023310816076197
Why is the Returning Officer always called the Acting Returning Officer, both on my poll card and when sharing the limelight at 4am with Count Binface. What added value does the word Acting bring to the party?
Presumably cos the ARO has a normal job with a completely different title. If I'm Head of Sanitation for Barchester City Council I don't want to have to resign and reapply every time a Tory PM screws up. Also, legally there is no permanent position, so the same applies, in reverse. We don't want to have to pay them redundo after 24 hours, she isn't a Tory PM.
Why is the Returning Officer always called the Acting Returning Officer, both on my poll card and when sharing the limelight at 4am with Count Binface. What added value does the word Acting bring to the party?
Presumably cos the ARO has a normal job with a completely different title. If I'm Head of Sanitation for Barchester City Council I don't want to have to resign and reapply every time a Tory PM screws up. Also, legally there is no permanent position, so the same applies, in reverse. We don't want to have to pay them redundo after 24 hours, she isn't a Tory PM.
According to wiki:
In England and Wales the post of returning officer for general elections is an honorary one, held by the high sheriff of the county for a county constituency or the mayor or chairman of the local council for a borough constituency. If a constituency overlaps district and county borders, the returning officer is designated by the Secretary of State for Justice.
Why is the Returning Officer always called the Acting Returning Officer, both on my poll card and when sharing the limelight at 4am with Count Binface. What added value does the word Acting bring to the party?
I asked Claude. This is (part of) his answer: In the United Kingdom, the term "Acting Returning Officer" is used during elections because the role is temporary and specific to the election period. The Returning Officer is the person responsible for conducting elections in a particular constituency or local authority area. However, this is not a permanent, full-time position. Instead, the role is taken on by an existing official, typically the head of the local council or a senior civil servant, in addition to their regular duties.
They’ve done this because a small group of Woke trustafarian idiots have campaigned for it bEcAuSe IsRaeL
Never give in to these people. You give an inch and before you know it everything is cancelled / problematic.
The activists are basically objecting to BF being an investment company.
...“The assertion that we have significant amounts of money in the occupied Palestinian territories is offensively misleading. Baillie Gifford is a large investor in several multinational technology companies, including Amazon, Nvidia and Meta. Demanding divestment from these global companies, used by millions of people around the world, is unreasonable and serves no purpose. Much as it would be unreasonable to demand authors boycott Instagram or stop selling books on Amazon.”
Baillie Gifford was also not a “significant fossil fuel investor”, Thomas said. “Only 2% of our clients’ money is invested in companies with some business related to fossil fuels. We invest far more in companies helping drive the transition to clean energy.”..
This is my point. They are rarely if ever good faith actors, they despise the capitalist system, it must be torn down. I bet we all indirectly have 2% of our pension etc invested in these areas.
One of the XR founder was honest about it at the beginning, that climate change cause was just a vehicle to help them achieve this by tapping into wider public concerns about the environment.
This is what they are doing here, leveraging fossil fuels and Israel.
XR are a bunch of risibles. Anyone serious about action on climate change should share that opinion.
At some point, assuming that the science is broadly sound, then combining this with the actual current facts and only possible trajectory of CO2 emissions a particular thing has to change, and it will embarrass a lot of people. It is this:
There is no route whatsoever out of very substantial global warming as a result of actions past, present and immediate future. None of this is stoppable.
If the science is correct, the immediate issue is how to plan for and deal with the realities of this fact.
This has been true for some years, but people cling to the myth that 'we have five (insert similar number) years to save the world by abolishing oil and gas'.
The most important thing now is still to reduce the amount of global warming that we have to adjust to by reducing fossil fuel use, and other sources of GHGs, as quickly as possible.
There's a big difference between 2C of warming and 4C.
I hesitate to mention this, but could Sunak’s background be an issue. He’s of Indian descent and his family are fairly recent migrants
For a British politician with that innate sense if British history - parents who remember the war or grandparents who were in wars - etc etc - then D Day is iconic. It’s in your blood. No way you make this howling error
For someone like Sunak D Day may appear like some quaint ceremony of a long ago war. He might appreciate it intellectually but doesn’t get it emotionally. Because of his background
I hasten to add I have no problem with a migrant prime minister. Just as long as they are competent! I’d have no problem with a bloody robot premier - they’d probably be better
Sunak doesn’t quite grasp Britain or Britishness. His wife is also Indian and billionaire. He is detached in multiple ways
Yes but if the UK's first non white PM loses his first election by a landslide that also kills off the prospect of any further ethnic minority leaders of a major UK party for a generation unfortunately
Not really - it has nothing to do with his skin colour, he’s just shite.
Do you really think Reform would be polling 15-20% if the Tory leader was a white male? I don't, sadly
UKIP did in 2015. Not sure where in Asia Cameron was born exactly.
No UKIP got 12% in 2015 that is lower than Reform are polling in the latest polls
We were talking about polling. UKIP polled 15-20% before the election.
I'm starting to think that SKS has got a genie who forget to limit the number of wishes to 3...
Because the other argument is that most of the campaigning team hate Rishi but even that couldn't explain the sheer number of coincidences like the one above.
(((Dan Hodges))) @DPJHodges · 12m Rishi Sunak says the issue shouldn’t be politicised and we should focus on the veterans. There was supposed to be a campaign pause for D-Day. He broke it, left the veterans, and came home for a political interview.
Um, he filmed an interview that wasn’t to be aired during D-day events and so clearly didn’t do any campaigning.
The only reason people are aware he did an interview for the campaign is because of people wetting their pants about him missing part of the D-day commemorations. So he respected the campaigning pause - it was others who turned it into part of the campaign.
That’s not how people will see it. He didn’t have time in his diary for veterans of D Day but could find the time to do a campaign interview. And his excuse that he did the British events but not the non-British one is just staggering. The liberation of Nazi occupied Europe was a joint endeavour, the commemoration of it should be too. Any PM who doesn’t get that instinctively deserves everything he gets.
He didn’t have time for veterans except the one he pushed along in his wheelchair, the ones he met, addressed and quoted and praised at the ceremony he attended.
Now I know I’m one of probably three people on this site who didn’t stop everything yesterday and devote the day to watching D-day, and I apologise for that, but I’m guessing the veterans cared more about the king being there, about actually being there themselves and getting the thanks from the ordinary people.
I can’t imagine any of them knew who was actually attending the main ceremony. So let’s get someone to ask them - after all, it’s about them and their comrades. If they really are offended then Sunak needs to step down, if they say they don’t care, it’s not about politicians then we move on. Fair enough?
I am particularly busy at the moment but I regret to say that I did not see a single minute of the anniversary commemorations either. No doubt the fault is mine.
I get more than a little tired of those expressing outrage on someone else's behalf, someone they haven't even had the courtesy to ask. It is wearing.
OTOH I find it very difficult to see what Sunak could possibly do that could make him look more Prime Ministerial or like a leader of substance than being there and playing a prominent part. It is politically stupid and inept, as so many of his decisions are. Morally? Bah!
That’s the bit I just don’t understand. Flip this around. If you were running an election campaign and were offered free prime time tv time that didn’t “score” for electoral balance reasons, photo ops with world leaders, including Zelensky, and universally loved D-Day veterans; you’d jump at the chance.
Him turning it down shows incompetence and idiocy. It’s the exact opposite of taking the politically motivated choice some are accusing him of. It’s just stupid.
It goes beyond stupid. It's stark raving bonkers. And to leave the LOTO to hold the field and representing the UK, I mean why doesn't he accept that he is for all practical purposes, no longer our PM and the chalice has already passed?
Sunak had almost nothing going for him in the campaign. The one "almost" was incumbency and he has thrown the advantages that brings away. It's right up there with Jeremy Thorpe thinking, see that Norman Scott, he's a bit of a nuisance, maybe I should murder him.
No: it was killing the *dog*. Utterly unforgivable in British culture.
They’ve done this because a small group of Woke trustafarian idiots have campaigned for it bEcAuSe IsRaeL
Never give in to these people. You give an inch and before you know it everything is cancelled / problematic.
The activists are basically objecting to BF being an investment company.
...“The assertion that we have significant amounts of money in the occupied Palestinian territories is offensively misleading. Baillie Gifford is a large investor in several multinational technology companies, including Amazon, Nvidia and Meta. Demanding divestment from these global companies, used by millions of people around the world, is unreasonable and serves no purpose. Much as it would be unreasonable to demand authors boycott Instagram or stop selling books on Amazon.”
Baillie Gifford was also not a “significant fossil fuel investor”, Thomas said. “Only 2% of our clients’ money is invested in companies with some business related to fossil fuels. We invest far more in companies helping drive the transition to clean energy.”..
This is my point. They are rarely if ever good faith actors, they despise the capitalist system, it must be torn down. I bet we all indirectly have 2% of our pension etc invested in these areas.
One of the XR founder was honest about it at the beginning, that climate change cause was just a vehicle to help them achieve this by tapping into wider public concerns about the environment.
This is what they are doing here, leveraging fossil fuels and Israel.
XR are a bunch of risibles. Anyone serious about action on climate change should share that opinion.
At some point, assuming that the science is broadly sound, then combining this with the actual current facts and only possible trajectory of CO2 emissions a particular thing has to change, and it will embarrass a lot of people. It is this:
There is no route whatsoever out of very substantial global warming as a result of actions past, present and immediate future. None of this is stoppable.
If the science is correct, the immediate issue is how to plan for and deal with the realities of this fact.
This has been true for some years, but people cling to the myth that 'we have five (insert similar number) years to save the world by abolishing oil and gas'.
The most important thing now is still to reduce the amount of global warming that we have to adjust to by reducing fossil fuel use, and other sources of GHGs, as quickly as possible.
There's a big difference between 2C of warming and 4C.
But the reality is we're already doing that.
We've already set our course to do our bit. We've stopped burning coal, we've eliminated a significant chunk of our emissions and we're on course for more of the same.
We should tackle our emissions. We are doing. Nothing needs to change on that, we just need to "keep calm and carry on".
They’ve done this because a small group of Woke trustafarian idiots have campaigned for it bEcAuSe IsRaeL
Never give in to these people. You give an inch and before you know it everything is cancelled / problematic.
The activists are basically objecting to BF being an investment company.
...“The assertion that we have significant amounts of money in the occupied Palestinian territories is offensively misleading. Baillie Gifford is a large investor in several multinational technology companies, including Amazon, Nvidia and Meta. Demanding divestment from these global companies, used by millions of people around the world, is unreasonable and serves no purpose. Much as it would be unreasonable to demand authors boycott Instagram or stop selling books on Amazon.”
Baillie Gifford was also not a “significant fossil fuel investor”, Thomas said. “Only 2% of our clients’ money is invested in companies with some business related to fossil fuels. We invest far more in companies helping drive the transition to clean energy.”..
This is my point. They are rarely if ever good faith actors, they despise the capitalist system, it must be torn down. I bet we all indirectly have 2% of our pension etc invested in these areas.
One of the XR founder was honest about it at the beginning, that climate change cause was just a vehicle to help them achieve this by tapping into wider public concerns about the environment.
This is what they are doing here, leveraging fossil fuels and Israel.
XR are a bunch of risibles. Anyone serious about action on climate change should share that opinion.
At some point, assuming that the science is broadly sound, then combining this with the actual current facts and only possible trajectory of CO2 emissions a particular thing has to change, and it will embarrass a lot of people. It is this:
There is no route whatsoever out of very substantial global warming as a result of actions past, present and immediate future. None of this is stoppable.
If the science is correct, the immediate issue is how to plan for and deal with the realities of this fact.
This has been true for some years, but people cling to the myth that 'we have five (insert similar number) years to save the world by abolishing oil and gas'.
The most important thing now is still to reduce the amount of global warming that we have to adjust to by reducing fossil fuel use, and other sources of GHGs, as quickly as possible.
There's a big difference between 2C of warming and 4C.
It’s the equivalent of heading at 70mph into a brick wall and realising it’s now too late to avoid crashing into it. So you don’t bother braking. In fact why not press the accelerator.
I see Alloa and Grangemouth now available on Bet365. The odds probably match the current Scotland polling, but a post D-Day SCon -> Labour unionist shift is possible. Factoring in the presence of well-known Independence candidates in Kenny MacAskill and the feisty Eva Comrie, and a bit of anti-woke backlash against the (semi) incumbent SNP John Nicolson has led me to to back Labour at 15/8. As ever DYOR.
Richi Sunak must be Britain’s most high-ranking World War II casualty.
He has been bloody funny of late. He announced recently that he was going to boycott Latitude, Glasto, etc as a mark of protest. It would of course be churlish to ask whether he had been invited to perform...
They’ve done this because a small group of Woke trustafarian idiots have campaigned for it bEcAuSe IsRaeL
Never give in to these people. You give an inch and before you know it everything is cancelled / problematic.
The activists are basically objecting to BF being an investment company.
...“The assertion that we have significant amounts of money in the occupied Palestinian territories is offensively misleading. Baillie Gifford is a large investor in several multinational technology companies, including Amazon, Nvidia and Meta. Demanding divestment from these global companies, used by millions of people around the world, is unreasonable and serves no purpose. Much as it would be unreasonable to demand authors boycott Instagram or stop selling books on Amazon.”
Baillie Gifford was also not a “significant fossil fuel investor”, Thomas said. “Only 2% of our clients’ money is invested in companies with some business related to fossil fuels. We invest far more in companies helping drive the transition to clean energy.”..
This is my point. They are rarely if ever good faith actors, they despise the capitalist system, it must be torn down. I bet we all indirectly have 2% of our pension etc invested in these areas.
One of the XR founder was honest about it at the beginning, that climate change cause was just a vehicle to help them achieve this by tapping into wider public concerns about the environment.
This is what they are doing here, leveraging fossil fuels and Israel.
XR are a bunch of risibles. Anyone serious about action on climate change should share that opinion.
At some point, assuming that the science is broadly sound, then combining this with the actual current facts and only possible trajectory of CO2 emissions a particular thing has to change, and it will embarrass a lot of people. It is this:
There is no route whatsoever out of very substantial global warming as a result of actions past, present and immediate future. None of this is stoppable.
If the science is correct, the immediate issue is how to plan for and deal with the realities of this fact.
This has been true for some years, but people cling to the myth that 'we have five (insert similar number) years to save the world by abolishing oil and gas'.
The most important thing now is still to reduce the amount of global warming that we have to adjust to by reducing fossil fuel use, and other sources of GHGs, as quickly as possible.
There's a big difference between 2C of warming and 4C.
They’ve done this because a small group of Woke trustafarian idiots have campaigned for it bEcAuSe IsRaeL
Never give in to these people. You give an inch and before you know it everything is cancelled / problematic.
The activists are basically objecting to BF being an investment company.
...“The assertion that we have significant amounts of money in the occupied Palestinian territories is offensively misleading. Baillie Gifford is a large investor in several multinational technology companies, including Amazon, Nvidia and Meta. Demanding divestment from these global companies, used by millions of people around the world, is unreasonable and serves no purpose. Much as it would be unreasonable to demand authors boycott Instagram or stop selling books on Amazon.”
Baillie Gifford was also not a “significant fossil fuel investor”, Thomas said. “Only 2% of our clients’ money is invested in companies with some business related to fossil fuels. We invest far more in companies helping drive the transition to clean energy.”..
This is my point. They are rarely if ever good faith actors, they despise the capitalist system, it must be torn down. I bet we all indirectly have 2% of our pension etc invested in these areas.
One of the XR founder was honest about it at the beginning, that climate change cause was just a vehicle to help them achieve this by tapping into wider public concerns about the environment.
This is what they are doing here, leveraging fossil fuels and Israel.
XR are a bunch of risibles. Anyone serious about action on climate change should share that opinion.
At some point, assuming that the science is broadly sound, then combining this with the actual current facts and only possible trajectory of CO2 emissions a particular thing has to change, and it will embarrass a lot of people. It is this:
There is no route whatsoever out of very substantial global warming as a result of actions past, present and immediate future. None of this is stoppable.
If the science is correct, the immediate issue is how to plan for and deal with the realities of this fact.
This has been true for some years, but people cling to the myth that 'we have five (insert similar number) years to save the world by abolishing oil and gas'.
The most important thing now is still to reduce the amount of global warming that we have to adjust to by reducing fossil fuel use, and other sources of GHGs, as quickly as possible.
There's a big difference between 2C of warming and 4C.
It’s the equivalent of heading at 70mph into a brick wall and realising it’s now too late to avoid crashing into it. So you don’t bother braking. In fact why not press the accelerator.
I'm not sure that analogy will work for everyone given previous debates on 20mph limits
Why is the Returning Officer always called the Acting Returning Officer, both on my poll card and when sharing the limelight at 4am with Count Binface. What added value does the word Acting bring to the party?
AFAIK the leading civic dignitary is the Returning Officer and the Council apparatchik who actively runs the election is acting on their behalf. This is why on election night you sometimes see the mayor all togged up announcing the result as the Returning Officer.
Popstar Holly Valance holds crunch last minute talks with Reform UK to stand against Tory chairman Richard Holden in election. She must decide by 4pm today.
This could start a political arms race to recruit Australian soap stars.
Surely Reform are choosing on the basis of their, er, robust political views?
In which case I imagine they'll be drumming up Eric Clapton and Morrissey next.
Aussie soaps much more suitable.
Paul Robinson clearly a blue wall Tory. Stand him somewhere in Surrey.
Harold Bishop an old school Tory Wet. Probably also vulnerable to the Lib Dems.
Mrs Mangle standing as Tory for Maidenhead.
Helen Robinson gets a cross bench peerage in the Lords.
Scott standing for Labour in a London seat.
Charlene Labour up in Manchester.
Henry standing for the Lib Dems somewhere in the West Country.
Over in Home and Away Alf Stewart standing for Reform in Thanet.
IIRC the previous version of the PB server used to have problems if comments reached more than about a thousand, but the new one can obviously cope with it.
Good greif, did you see the 2:21 story about the resignation? OK, so it's only Mr Gove's adviser, but the tone makes Mr Duguid look like an example from the Sermon on the Mount.
'Ian Acheson, who has advised the Communities Secretary on extremism, said the Prime Minister’s decision was a “colossal act of disrespect” to war veterans on what could be the last commemoration that they could attend.
In his resignation letter, seen by The Telegraph, Mr Acheson, a former prison governor, said: “It was an act of either colossal stupidity or cynical calculation.
“Either way, it revealed to me that while I still embrace a conservative philosophy, I am no longer willing to have it outsourced to a bunch of mendacious, incompetent and disreputable clowns. Country before party. Always.”'
Any last minute surprises/defections on the horizon I wonder? We’ve got under two hours to go. Tick, tick, tick….
I was wondering about news in re Mr Ross D., ex-MP, but Mr Sunak seems to have very nobly hogged the media and taken the Scottish heat off his subordinate.
Did he hospitalise Duguid to ensure he could pick that seat
With all the speculation about whether the Tories will field a full slate of candidates (of course they will) a fun fact. The last time the Tories didn't stand a candidate in a GE (except for Speaker/Northern Ireland) was in 1970 - Greenock. They stood down in favour of a Liberal or Independent Conservative a handful of times in the 1950s (counting National Liberals as Conservatives for this purpose).
Labour of course stood aside for Martin Bell in Tatton in 1997 but prior to that I think the previous time they failed to put a full slate up was in 1945.
I see Alloa and Grangemouth now available on Bet365. The odds probably match the current Scotland polling, but a post D-Day SCon -> Labour unionist shift is possible. Factoring in the presence of well-known Independence candidates in Kenny MacAskill and the feisty Eva Comrie, and a bit of anti-woke backlash against the (semi) incumbent SNP John Nicolson has led me to to back Labour at 15/8. As ever DYOR.
As long as Nicholson gets a good drubbing. Eva would be the best person for the area for sure.
Why is the Returning Officer always called the Acting Returning Officer, both on my poll card and when sharing the limelight at 4am with Count Binface. What added value does the word Acting bring to the party?
That's funny, I was just about to ask the same question. What's a non-acting returning officer? Also, you sometimes have the "deputy acting returning officer" announcing the result.
They’ve done this because a small group of Woke trustafarian idiots have campaigned for it bEcAuSe IsRaeL
Never give in to these people. You give an inch and before you know it everything is cancelled / problematic.
The activists are basically objecting to BF being an investment company.
...“The assertion that we have significant amounts of money in the occupied Palestinian territories is offensively misleading. Baillie Gifford is a large investor in several multinational technology companies, including Amazon, Nvidia and Meta. Demanding divestment from these global companies, used by millions of people around the world, is unreasonable and serves no purpose. Much as it would be unreasonable to demand authors boycott Instagram or stop selling books on Amazon.”
Baillie Gifford was also not a “significant fossil fuel investor”, Thomas said. “Only 2% of our clients’ money is invested in companies with some business related to fossil fuels. We invest far more in companies helping drive the transition to clean energy.”..
This is my point. They are rarely if ever good faith actors, they despise the capitalist system, it must be torn down. I bet we all indirectly have 2% of our pension etc invested in these areas.
One of the XR founder was honest about it at the beginning, that climate change cause was just a vehicle to help them achieve this by tapping into wider public concerns about the environment.
This is what they are doing here, leveraging fossil fuels and Israel.
XR are a bunch of risibles. Anyone serious about action on climate change should share that opinion.
At some point, assuming that the science is broadly sound, then combining this with the actual current facts and only possible trajectory of CO2 emissions a particular thing has to change, and it will embarrass a lot of people. It is this:
There is no route whatsoever out of very substantial global warming as a result of actions past, present and immediate future. None of this is stoppable.
If the science is correct, the immediate issue is how to plan for and deal with the realities of this fact.
This has been true for some years, but people cling to the myth that 'we have five (insert similar number) years to save the world by abolishing oil and gas'.
The most important thing now is still to reduce the amount of global warming that we have to adjust to by reducing fossil fuel use, and other sources of GHGs, as quickly as possible.
There's a big difference between 2C of warming and 4C.
But the reality is we're already doing that.
We've already set our course to do our bit. We've stopped burning coal, we've eliminated a significant chunk of our emissions and we're on course for more of the same.
We should tackle our emissions. We are doing. Nothing needs to change on that, we just need to "keep calm and carry on".
while India and China pile the coal into the boilers for full speed ahead.
I think this all comes back to the 'Sunak is not good at politics' conclusion.
He might do okay working in a political think-tank. But being PM is simply way above his pay grade. For that you need a political instinct that he does not possess.
Theresa May was the last person who was actually capable of doing the job. I know she came under criticism for the way she did it and her presentational style, but she had the seriousness and the respect for the role.
Nah. She had no political judgement or governmental expertise at all. She was poor as Home Sec and totally out of her depth as PM.
I'm no fan of Cameron, who was pretty mediocre, but was at least moderately competent in governmental matters and didn't keep shooting himself in the foot.
Popstar Holly Valance holds crunch last minute talks with Reform UK to stand against Tory chairman Richard Holden in election. She must decide by 4pm today.
I despise Reform but I'll make a special exception for them up against Ric!
(((Dan Hodges))) @DPJHodges · 12m Rishi Sunak says the issue shouldn’t be politicised and we should focus on the veterans. There was supposed to be a campaign pause for D-Day. He broke it, left the veterans, and came home for a political interview.
Um, he filmed an interview that wasn’t to be aired during D-day events and so clearly didn’t do any campaigning.
The only reason people are aware he did an interview for the campaign is because of people wetting their pants about him missing part of the D-day commemorations. So he respected the campaigning pause - it was others who turned it into part of the campaign.
That’s not how people will see it. He didn’t have time in his diary for veterans of D Day but could find the time to do a campaign interview. And his excuse that he did the British events but not the non-British one is just staggering. The liberation of Nazi occupied Europe was a joint endeavour, the commemoration of it should be too. Any PM who doesn’t get that instinctively deserves everything he gets.
He didn’t have time for veterans except the one he pushed along in his wheelchair, the ones he met, addressed and quoted and praised at the ceremony he attended.
Now I know I’m one of probably three people on this site who didn’t stop everything yesterday and devote the day to watching D-day, and I apologise for that, but I’m guessing the veterans cared more about the king being there, about actually being there themselves and getting the thanks from the ordinary people.
I can’t imagine any of them knew who was actually attending the main ceremony. So let’s get someone to ask them - after all, it’s about them and their comrades. If they really are offended then Sunak needs to step down, if they say they don’t care, it’s not about politicians then we move on. Fair enough?
I am particularly busy at the moment but I regret to say that I did not see a single minute of the anniversary commemorations either. No doubt the fault is mine.
I get more than a little tired of those expressing outrage on someone else's behalf, someone they haven't even had the courtesy to ask. It is wearing.
OTOH I find it very difficult to see what Sunak could possibly do that could make him look more Prime Ministerial or like a leader of substance than being there and playing a prominent part. It is politically stupid and inept, as so many of his decisions are. Morally? Bah!
That’s the bit I just don’t understand. Flip this around. If you were running an election campaign and were offered free prime time tv time that didn’t “score” for electoral balance reasons, photo ops with world leaders, including Zelensky, and universally loved D-Day veterans; you’d jump at the chance.
Him turning it down shows incompetence and idiocy. It’s the exact opposite of taking the politically motivated choice some are accusing him of. It’s just stupid.
It goes beyond stupid. It's stark raving bonkers. And to leave the LOTO to hold the field and representing the UK, I mean why doesn't he accept that he is for all practical purposes, no longer our PM and the chalice has already passed?
Sunak had almost nothing going for him in the campaign. The one "almost" was incumbency and he has thrown the advantages that brings away. It's right up there with Jeremy Thorpe thinking, see that Norman Scott, he's a bit of a nuisance, maybe I should murder him.
No: it was killing the *dog*. Utterly unforgivable in British culture.
Yes, i remember it well. He'd have been fine if he hadn't shot the dog.
IIRC the previous version of the PB server used to have problems if comments reached more than about a thousand, but the new one can obviously cope with it.
Suggest we crowdsource hundreds of sunny breakfast shots to put the mofo through its paces
Not enough people are aware of the extent of damage of Ukraine’s electricity production due to the relentless Russian strikes...
Before the full-scale invasion Ukraine had about 55 gigawatts (GW) of electricity production. The FT recently wrote that about 20 GW are left. Just last Saturday alone, RU destroyed 1.2 GW of production.
Several 🇺🇦 experts believe this number is more 6-10 GW, which means Ukraine lacks the means to cover electricity demands of private and industrial consumers. For peak summer but especially this winter, we will face hours long outages. Some quotes from the FT article that highlight the severity of the situation:
“Asked what the damage would mean for the months ahead, one of the officials put it bluntly: “We should prepare for life in the cold and the dark.” “This is our new normal,” the second official said, gesturing outside a window to the darkness that had descended on Kyiv during a recent emergency power shutdown…
If no measures are taken, according to our modelling, then probably the population will have only two to four hours of electricity [per day] in January,” said Borys Dodonov, head of energy and climate studies at the Kyiv School of Economics.” https://x.com/mattia_n/status/1799023310816076197
Trust me. I’ve noticed
This is what the portable generators sound like all over Odessa. Add in diesel fumes for extra annoyance
It is maddening. And this is across Ukraine now I think. Even in Lviv
Good greif, did you see the 2:21 story about the resignation? OK, so it's only Mr Gove's adviser, but the tone makes Mr Duguid look like an example from the Sermon on the Mount.
'Ian Acheson, who has advised the Communities Secretary on extremism, said the Prime Minister’s decision was a “colossal act of disrespect” to war veterans on what could be the last commemoration that they could attend.
In his resignation letter, seen by The Telegraph, Mr Acheson, a former prison governor, said: “It was an act of either colossal stupidity or cynical calculation.
“Either way, it revealed to me that while I still embrace a conservative philosophy, I am no longer willing to have it outsourced to a bunch of mendacious, incompetent and disreputable clowns. Country before party. Always.”'
Even Andrew Lloyd Weber is piling in.
Andrew Lloyd Webber has accused Rishi Sunak of an “astonishing and terrible lack of political judgment” after leaving D-Day commemorations early.
Lord Lloyd Webber, a lifelong Conservative supporter, composed a new piece of music, Lovingly Remembered, to mark the 80th anniversary of the landings.
They’ve done this because a small group of Woke trustafarian idiots have campaigned for it bEcAuSe IsRaeL
Never give in to these people. You give an inch and before you know it everything is cancelled / problematic.
The activists are basically objecting to BF being an investment company.
...“The assertion that we have significant amounts of money in the occupied Palestinian territories is offensively misleading. Baillie Gifford is a large investor in several multinational technology companies, including Amazon, Nvidia and Meta. Demanding divestment from these global companies, used by millions of people around the world, is unreasonable and serves no purpose. Much as it would be unreasonable to demand authors boycott Instagram or stop selling books on Amazon.”
Baillie Gifford was also not a “significant fossil fuel investor”, Thomas said. “Only 2% of our clients’ money is invested in companies with some business related to fossil fuels. We invest far more in companies helping drive the transition to clean energy.”..
This is my point. They are rarely if ever good faith actors, they despise the capitalist system, it must be torn down. I bet we all indirectly have 2% of our pension etc invested in these areas.
One of the XR founder was honest about it at the beginning, that climate change cause was just a vehicle to help them achieve this by tapping into wider public concerns about the environment.
This is what they are doing here, leveraging fossil fuels and Israel.
XR are a bunch of risibles. Anyone serious about action on climate change should share that opinion.
At some point, assuming that the science is broadly sound, then combining this with the actual current facts and only possible trajectory of CO2 emissions a particular thing has to change, and it will embarrass a lot of people. It is this:
There is no route whatsoever out of very substantial global warming as a result of actions past, present and immediate future. None of this is stoppable.
If the science is correct, the immediate issue is how to plan for and deal with the realities of this fact.
This has been true for some years, but people cling to the myth that 'we have five (insert similar number) years to save the world by abolishing oil and gas'.
The most important thing now is still to reduce the amount of global warming that we have to adjust to by reducing fossil fuel use, and other sources of GHGs, as quickly as possible.
There's a big difference between 2C of warming and 4C.
But the reality is we're already doing that.
We've already set our course to do our bit. We've stopped burning coal, we've eliminated a significant chunk of our emissions and we're on course for more of the same.
We should tackle our emissions. We are doing. Nothing needs to change on that, we just need to "keep calm and carry on".
while India and China pile the coal into the boilers for full speed ahead.
Any last minute surprises/defections on the horizon I wonder? We’ve got under two hours to go. Tick, tick, tick….
I was wondering about news in re Mr Ross D., ex-MP, but Mr Sunak seems to have very nobly hogged the media and taken the Scottish heat off his subordinate.
Did he hospitalise Duguid to ensure he could pick that seat
Duguid was in hospital because of a disease in his spine.
Which is surprising, because when he voted for Boris in that confidence vote, I assumed he didn't have one.
In his resignation letter, seen by The Telegraph, Mr Acheson, a former prison governor, said: “It was an act of either colossal stupidity or cynical calculation. “Either way, it revealed to me that while I still embrace a conservative philosophy, I am no longer willing to have it outsourced to a bunch of mendacious, incompetent and disreputable clowns. “Country before party. Always.”
Popstar Holly Valance holds crunch last minute talks with Reform UK to stand against Tory chairman Richard Holden in election. She must decide by 4pm today.
Is Holly Valance choosing between standing in Basildon for RefUK, or taking over from the Prime Minister who seemed close to chucking it all in during the pool interview. She has till 4pm.
Seems there’s some last minute shenanigans in Hemel Hempstead as the recently selected Tory candidate resigns/is dumped at the last minute. When the story is written of this election it might not fit in one volume.
Seems there’s some last minute shenanigans in Hemel Hempstead as the recently selected Tory candidate resigns/is dumped at the last minute. When the story is written of this election it might not fit in one volume.
Right…no buzz about Reform defections? Are they truly going to come right at the last minute? Or maybe not happening?
I find it incredible we won’t get at least one defection given D-Day gate alone
It is of course possible that some people have asked to defect and Farage has said no…
He’s got to be a bit careful, because he doesn’t want it to look like all the incompetent and unlikeable Tories are moving over to his vehicle. Ones that aren’t household names are easier sells, perhaps.
Why is the Returning Officer always called the Acting Returning Officer, both on my poll card and when sharing the limelight at 4am with Count Binface. What added value does the word Acting bring to the party?
AFAIK the leading civic dignitary is the Returning Officer and the Council apparatchik who actively runs the election is acting on their behalf. This is why on election night you sometimes see the mayor all togged up announcing the result as the Returning Officer.
Popstar Holly Valance holds crunch last minute talks with Reform UK to stand against Tory chairman Richard Holden in election. She must decide by 4pm today.
This could start a political arms race to recruit Australian soap stars.
Surely Reform are choosing on the basis of their, er, robust political views?
In which case I imagine they'll be drumming up Eric Clapton and Morrissey next.
Aussie soaps much more suitable.
Paul Robinson clearly a blue wall Tory. Stand him somewhere in Surrey.
Harold Bishop an old school Tory Wet. Probably also vulnerable to the Lib Dems.
Mrs Mangle standing as Tory for Maidenhead.
Helen Robinson gets a cross bench peerage in the Lords.
Scott standing for Labour in a London seat.
Charlene Labour up in Manchester.
Henry standing for the Lib Dems somewhere in the West Country.
Over in Home and Away Alf Stewart standing for Reform in Thanet.
Like a lot of other people, I spent a inordinate amount of time watching this show. Looking back it's difficult to see what was so engrossing about the likes of Harold Bishop, Mrs Mangel, etc. 😊
Comments
There is no route whatsoever out of very substantial global warming as a result of actions past, present and immediate future. None of this is stoppable.
If the science is correct, the immediate issue is how to plan for and deal with the realities of this fact.
This has been true for some years, but people cling to the myth that 'we have five (insert similar number) years to save the world by abolishing oil and gas'.
LATEST
Popstar Holly Valance holds crunch last minute talks with Reform UK to stand against Tory chairman Richard Holden in election.
She must decide by 4pm today.
Not sure that anyone would put their name forward, though ? Not the greatest risk/reward proposition.
There must be an easier way ?
Sorry; not sorry
But the nature and scale of the damage escalates very quickly the hotter the world gets. Sure, it's some dodgy modelling and no one knows for sure, but it's as likely it could be even worse than expected than better.
There are some interesting and rather terrifying tipping points. It's like FPTP, but for the human race.
She did a long form interview a couple of months ago and it was quite painful.
Since the German populace were at that time subsisting on about 1000 kcal a day, its continuance would have required about 25m of them to disappear, one way or another, within a fairly short space of time.
We actually need to be accelerating that transition and planning how to adapt to significant climate change.
Globally, the energy transition should be a net economic plus over time, which is fortunate.
He might do okay working in a political think-tank. But being PM is simply way above his pay grade. For that you need a political instinct that he does not possess.
We have one who posts on PB.
Could Political Betting help people become "super-agers"? An article in the May 7th NYT describes the findings from studies in Spain and Chicago of "super-agers", old people who are especially active mentally -- for their age.
Here, for me, is the most interesting finding: "The behaviors of some of the Chicago super-agers were similarly a surprise. Some exercised regularly, but some never had; some stuck to a Mediterranean diet, others subsisted off TV dinners; and a few of them still smoked cigarettes. However, one consistency among the group was that they tended to have strong social relationships, Dr. Rogalski said." (from an article by Dana G. Smith, titled "Peering Inside the Brains of 'Super-Agers')
To the extent that PB helps people have "strong social relationships", it will help them age well.
(And for the application to US politics? Social relationships have broken down in the US over recent decades, weakening families and communities. And that contributes to the widespread unhappiness in this wealthy nation, an unhappiness that is exploited by so many.)
The Tories have since sent us 3 people unqualified and incapable of performing the role. They have really dug their own political graves here.
OH. WOW.😯
Chris Philp's defence of Sunak to @sarahjolney1
: "Were YOU there yesterday, then?" 😬
A (quite rightly LIVID) Olney: "I'm not the PM. I'm not out there, in a foreign country, representing ALL of us."
This is turning into a bigger mess for Sunak, by the minute. ~AA
https://x.com/BestForBritain/status/1799069455538155834
"It's simply not reasonable to criticise me for making a mistake, we planned to make this mistake simply AGES ago. This wasn't merely some momentary cock-up, it was a meticulously-planned, carefully strategised act of total, underpants-on-head idiocy"
In which case I imagine they'll be drumming up Eric Clapton and Morrissey next.
Rishi Sunak went from his pool clip to visit a school. The school was located on...Veterans Way 😬
A genuinely incredible day of campaigning.
https://x.com/TomLarkinSky/status/1799071669711261991
Mind you, he's a fast walker.
Before the full-scale invasion Ukraine had about 55 gigawatts (GW) of electricity production. The FT recently wrote that about 20 GW are left. Just last Saturday alone, RU destroyed 1.2 GW of production.
Several 🇺🇦 experts believe this number is more 6-10 GW, which means Ukraine lacks the means to cover electricity demands of private and industrial consumers. For peak summer but especially this winter, we will face hours long outages. Some quotes from the FT article that highlight the severity of the situation:
“Asked what the damage would mean for the months ahead, one of the officials put it bluntly: “We should prepare for life in the cold and the dark.”
“This is our new normal,” the second official said, gesturing outside a window to the darkness that had descended on Kyiv during a recent emergency power shutdown…
If no measures are taken, according to our modelling, then probably the population will have only two to four hours of electricity [per day] in January,” said Borys Dodonov, head of energy and climate studies at the Kyiv School of Economics.”
https://x.com/mattia_n/status/1799023310816076197
In England and Wales the post of returning officer for general elections is an honorary one, held by the high sheriff of the county for a county constituency or the mayor or chairman of the local council for a borough constituency. If a constituency overlaps district and county borders, the returning officer is designated by the Secretary of State for Justice.
In the United Kingdom, the term "Acting Returning Officer" is used during elections because the role is temporary and specific to the election period.
The Returning Officer is the person responsible for conducting elections in a particular constituency or local authority area. However, this is not a permanent, full-time position. Instead, the role is taken on by an existing official, typically the head of the local council or a senior civil servant, in addition to their regular duties.
I find it incredible we won’t get at least one defection given D-Day gate alone
There's a big difference between 2C of warming and 4C.
Because the other argument is that most of the campaigning team hate Rishi but even that couldn't explain the sheer number of coincidences like the one above.
Richi Sunak must be Britain’s most high-ranking World War II casualty.
We've already set our course to do our bit. We've stopped burning coal, we've eliminated a significant chunk of our emissions and we're on course for more of the same.
We should tackle our emissions. We are doing. Nothing needs to change on that, we just need to "keep calm and carry on".
Paul Robinson clearly a blue wall Tory. Stand him somewhere in Surrey.
Harold Bishop an old school
Tory Wet. Probably also vulnerable to the Lib Dems.
Mrs Mangle standing as Tory for Maidenhead.
Helen Robinson gets a cross bench peerage in the Lords.
Scott standing for Labour in a London seat.
Charlene Labour up in Manchester.
Henry standing for the Lib Dems somewhere in the West Country.
Over in Home and Away Alf Stewart standing for Reform in Thanet.
Top story in the Mirror Guardian Indepedent Telegraph.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/06/07/general-election-latest-news-rishi-sunak-keir-starmer/
IIRC the previous version of the PB server used to have problems if comments reached more than about a thousand, but the new one can obviously cope with it.
'Ian Acheson, who has advised the Communities Secretary on extremism, said the Prime Minister’s decision was a “colossal act of disrespect” to war veterans on what could be the last commemoration that they could attend.
In his resignation letter, seen by The Telegraph, Mr Acheson, a former prison governor, said: “It was an act of either colossal stupidity or cynical calculation.
“Either way, it revealed to me that while I still embrace a conservative philosophy, I am no longer willing to have it outsourced to a bunch of mendacious, incompetent and disreputable clowns. Country before party. Always.”'
I have just sent you a piece for a header, if you are looking.
(Good afternoon everyone)
No one really cares what he says, tbf.
Labour of course stood aside for Martin Bell in Tatton in 1997 but prior to that I think the previous time they failed to put a full slate up was in 1945.
I'm no fan of Cameron, who was pretty mediocre, but was at least moderately competent in governmental matters and didn't keep shooting himself in the foot.
Not sure if this is because he helped to make the decision or because he's registering a protest about it.
This is what the portable generators sound like all over Odessa. Add in diesel fumes for extra annoyance
It is maddening. And this is across Ukraine now I think. Even in Lviv
https://imgur.com/gallery/PCrfSpo
Andrew Lloyd Webber has accused Rishi Sunak of an “astonishing and terrible lack of political judgment” after leaving D-Day commemorations early.
Lord Lloyd Webber, a lifelong Conservative supporter, composed a new piece of music, Lovingly Remembered, to mark the 80th anniversary of the landings.
“Hearing consistently now that the D-Day error has absolutely cut through to voters and is already being brought up frequently on doorsteps”
Very funny.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/ianpalmer/2024/04/28/oil-going-down-while-chinas-energy-mix-and-emissions-doing-a-backflip/#
https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/indias-renewable-energy-supply-on-the-rise-report-101706122032208-amp.html
Which is surprising, because when he voted for Boris in that confidence vote, I assumed he didn't have one.
In his resignation letter, seen by The Telegraph, Mr Acheson, a former prison governor, said: “It was an act of either colossal stupidity or cynical calculation.
“Either way, it revealed to me that while I still embrace a conservative philosophy, I am no longer willing to have it outsourced to a bunch of mendacious, incompetent and disreputable clowns.
“Country before party. Always.”
https://archive.ph/bAx2k
https://x.com/tomorrowsmps/status/1799082221284028894?s=46
He’s got to be a bit careful, because he doesn’t want it to look like all the incompetent and unlikeable Tories are moving over to his vehicle. Ones that aren’t household names are easier sells, perhaps.