The thing that has put a strain on our councils finances in recent years is a tripling of children diagnosed with special needs which entitles them to free transport to school and accompanying vast taxi bill.
This interestingly started a few years after the ending of tax credits for more than two children unless one has a disability in which case they stay and there is a £3k disabled child allowance.
Any comment on that line makes you look like you want to put people in wheelchairs in workhouses, but a huge number of them have things like ADHD which are subjective diagnosis, not mobility affecting (and very lucrative tax credit/universal credit wise).
It is the sort of thing that the Tories have utterly failed to grasp.
Questions: Who is diagnosing them, how much are they paid. Why are taxi companies being enriched, what links to councillors do they have, why can't councils hire buses etc. etc.
Nope the killer bit is adult social care - special needs is very secondary to that
Not round our way. Its child social care.
Agree Adult social care is a problem in a good few places. - and what is at the root of that? The same private equity parasites who have made vets resemble US Healthcare.
However so long as those who pay most council tax will have to pay for their own social care, and to rub it in pay a couple or three hundred a week extra to subsidise council funded places as the councils get bulk discount, I can't see much support for extra council tax to sort it.
In Central Beds council 36% of the budget goes on adult social care and 25% on children's social care, of which a small proportion relates to transport.
Conversation on facebook (town group, 10,000 members) with independent councillor in Jan 2024.
Independent Councillor "A gentle reminder…. Tough decisions are having to be made at the moment due to the £19m short fall in the 2024/25 council budget."
Resident: "Where did the 19M go? Can we get some honesty for a change? It's easy to blame the previous administration, show us the losses"
Independent Councillor " Here are some of the answers: 1. Exponentially rising costs for SEND children transport costs 2. Much higher than anticipated costs for children and adult social care 3. Savings not realised for promised council efficiencies
If you look at some of the pinned posts you will see more of the actual detail. It’s late now hence not having all the correct facts and figures to hand."
Here is one of the earlier posts:
Independent Councillor "WHY IS CHILDREN'S SERVICES SO HIGH AND OVER FORECAST? We have a statutory duty to provide educational transport. The council has to provide it where the needs assessment (such as an EHCP) determines that the child requires it to access schooling.
Another earlier post by said Independent Councillor "It’s definitely a legacy left by the outgoing administration, i.e. the conservatives.
If we had seen more attention to children’s services, particularly the number of SEND places available in CBC, we wouldn’t need to spend as much on educational transport.
However, we must remember that the plight of CBC’s finances are replicated across the UK. Educational transport costs - a statutory duty - are causing huge financial strain on most unitary authorities."
"Modelling within the report predicts that the costs of providing SEND school transport will almost triple over a decade – from £397m in 2018/19 to £1.125bn in 2027/28 – with the number of children eligible for free school transport increasing 122% over the same period, from 58,000 to 129,000.
This increase is driven by the introduction of SEND legislation in 2014 and a subsequent explosion in the number of children receiving Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) which set out the support they need, including transport to school. The number of students on these plans has doubled from 105,000 eight years ago to 230,000 in 2023."
And who was responsible for 2014 Send Legislation? Step Forrward Baron Wet of Chipping Norton. Current Foreign Sectretary.
I think what is missing there is the impact of Govt top line salami-slicing over nearly 15 years; it's surprising the Councillor did not mention that.
Last year the Council Tax increases of Counties and Unitaries were capped at a cut of ~5% in real terms, unless a referendum was held. That situation has to end.
There is something coming like a revaluation, or a removal of the Band A:Band H (or is it G used in the regulation?) capped ratio AND a full revaluation. The next Govt has no option imo. There's a whole field of wilted nettles the last Govt failed to grasp.
Depressing. I wished they’d stuck to their line yesterday when they bumped into the French lads: “You’re shit, you’re shit, but your birds are fit.”
Make love not war, England.
There seems to be some uncertainty about this. There are reports that Albanians attacked the Serbs and the English were caught up in it as they were nearby.
"German police have dealt with an incident involving Albanian & Serbian fans near the centre of Gelsenkirchen. Most senior German police officer on the scene says at the moment they believe the incident did not involve England fans."
Interesting. Thanks. Our reputation proceeds is but hopefully that report is right. As I say, we were mixing reasonably well with France yesterday - and their fans take no prisoners (at least in club football). So fingers crossed 🤞
The Ch4 series on football cops was quite interesting on the state of violence in English game.
Ciff notes, the oldies are a load of softies these days or been banned from everything. The trouble they are having is young teenagers at lower league games, which is a bit worrying if they don't nip it in the bud for when they get to their late teens / early 20s.
I've noticed it a lot since lockdown at my league 1 team - drugs are also endemic at football as well, which is not helping things. The majority of 18-30s I know could get coke faster than a pizza if they were inclined. Twice in the past year I've had a business card with a bag handed to me just living my daily life (which were obviously discarded immediately). I really wonder when a Government will face the reality that prohibition has been a complete failure so they might as well tax it, make it safe, and stop funnelling money to criminal gangs.
Are these not Tory MPs and the extent to which they are threatened by a Labour candidate?
There are several seats on that list where the clear challenge comes from the Lib Dem candidate, I think.
As an example... North Devon.
Yep. The list is just the survivors. I have not differentiated the threats.
Gosh. I agree with @ClippP . If that is a survivors list (of only 72) I am surprised by some it contains. Ones that immediately spring out are Surrey Heath, Tunbridge Wells, North Devon, Maidenhead, Eastleigh, and probably others I have no knowledge of.
All LD target seats, those are the types of largely bluewall seats Rishi probably saves for the Tories (as well as Chelsea and Fulham where Hands projected to cling on), had Boris and Truss still been Conservative leader they would likely have gone yellow.
Albeit a number of redwall and Leave seats Boris would have held will go Labour under Rishi
I know you have this weird faith in Rishi’s appeal to Home Counties Tories, but the evidence from elections (local elections, granted) suggests these people are among the most riled by the current Government. I think the Tory vote will hold up best in the Midlands, and in particular the south and east Midlands.
Depressing. I wished they’d stuck to their line yesterday when they bumped into the French lads: “You’re shit, you’re shit, but your birds are fit.”
Make love not war, England.
There seems to be some uncertainty about this. There are reports that Albanians attacked the Serbs and the English were caught up in it as they were nearby.
"German police have dealt with an incident involving Albanian & Serbian fans near the centre of Gelsenkirchen. Most senior German police officer on the scene says at the moment they believe the incident did not involve England fans."
Interesting. Thanks. Our reputation proceeds is but hopefully that report is right. As I say, we were mixing reasonably well with France yesterday - and their fans take no prisoners (at least in club football). So fingers crossed 🤞
The Ch4 series on football cops was quite interesting on the state of violence in English game.
Ciff notes, the oldies are a load of softies these days or been banned from everything. The trouble they are having is young teenagers at lower league games, which is a bit worrying if they don't nip it in the bud for when they get to their late teens / early 20s.
I've noticed it a lot since lockdown at my league 1 team - drugs are also endemic at football as well, which is not helping things. The majority of 18-30s I know could get coke faster than a pizza if they were inclined. Twice in the past year I've had a business card with a bag handed to me just living my daily life (which were obviously discarded immediately). I really wonder when a Government will face the reality that prohibition has been a complete failure so they might as well tax it, make it safe, and stop funnelling money to criminal gangs.
There has been huge market efficiencies in coke market making it incredibly cheap. And yes the CH4 programme mentions this, its not punters getting pissed up, they are off their tits on coke.
On a lighter note have any PBers been to the Black Sea coast of Turkey?
The gazette have kindly told me I’ve got a rare Carte Blanche - I can go anywhere I’ve not been before - within Europe or very close - and write about it and have a nice freebie. Before my larger commitments kick in
Thing is I’ve been nearly everywhere in Europe
And I want sun yet I don’t want somewhere overrun with kids and tourists. Also not too pricey…
That leaves not much - here’s my list
Bulgaria esp the mountains and nearby Thrace Inland northern Portugal The Vosges (maybe too pricey and cold) Abbruzzo Black Sea coast of Turkey Possibly Albania
One thing that isn't discussed enough if the Tories become the official opposition with 72 MPs then democracy is going to struggle.
Good luck getting a shadow cabinet and shadow junior ministers out of that to hold the government to account.
Also they will struggle to fill the select committees, several of which the Tories should be chair of.
And they're struggling just on seat count - when you actually look at the list a large amount of them are far over the hill and should not not be involved in front line politics or just a bit too woo woo for this decade. Then throw in the vicious power struggle between the various sub groups that will break out.
One thing that isn't discussed enough if the Tories become the official opposition with 72 MPs then democracy is going to struggle.
Good luck getting a shadow cabinet and shadow junior ministers out of that to hold the government to account.
Also they will struggle to fill the select committees, several of which the Tories should be chair of.
And they're struggling just on seat count - when you actually look at the list a large amount of them are far over the hill and should not not be involved in front line politics or just a bit too woo woo for this decade. Then throw in the vicious power struggle between the various sub groups that will break out.
LOL. Sorry, I have visions of the Tories being reduced to one MP who then has a fight with themselves a la Fight Club over whch direction they should go.
I trust England are still taking the knee. If they don’t do that racism will return to the world
It's worse: they've convinced themselves it's racist not to take the knee.
Southgate, or a better manager, needs to tell them to stop it.
Are you joking? I was joking. Are they STILL taking the fucking knee for that dead fentanyl addict and proven villain? Why don’t they do a special hoppity skip for Jack the fucking ripper?
Stop being a racist prick.
In two sentences, explains why the three main parties vote share is declining and why they just don't get why.
Ordinary British People don't like racism (which is why that pub in Lancashire banned white US servicemen during the war in response to the US Army demanding a colour bar).
Ordinary British people also do not like violent grifters and crooks who jump on bandwagons and exploit causes for their own ends and; similarly, do not like people making out they are morally superior by genuflecting to grifters and crooks.
The introduction of more council tax bands would not be a total surprise and it might be our fault. PB has previously discussed the much higher property taxes in the land of the free, and the difficulty of taking expensive homes out of the country.
Council tax was flawed from it's introduction as it did not have enough and fairer higher ranges
I actually support extending the ranges and at present the Welsh Labour government are proceeding with just that and using drones to assess people's land and gardens
Can't read i t, but the bit I can see is MAYBE and IN THE FUTURE and SATELLITES which is probably a misunderstanding of Google "Satellite View" (which is taken from aircraft) but could just be the absolutely normal commercial databases which ANY firm can buy if they want, whether taken from aircraft or satellites.
Edit: have been able to read it on a second try. NO MENTION OF DRONES OR SUCH SPECIFIC INTRUSION. It's all about systematic checking of what is evidently standard general commercial air photography. No dsifferent from looking at the OS map whcih is made by the same means.
'The Telegraph can now reveal the data that is currently being gathered by the Valuation Office, where officials are building an “automated valuation model” to prepare up-to-date values for all of the 1.5 million homes in Wales.
As part of this model, they are using “aerial and street view photography” in order to verify the size of houses and gardens.'
Says it's a mix of satellite and plane and the odd drone and balloon
Doesn't even mention drones or balloons. And that isn't the Welsh Gmt doing the photography. I think someone's been winding Big G up.
Not at all - it is widely reported in Wales and the Welsh government have not denied it
However, the main point is Welsh Labour is about to revalue and implement new council tax bands from next April or the year after
You were claiming DRONES DRONES DRONES.
You have not provided a single report that mentions drones. You know, leering in at your bathroom window when you are having a shower.
So far as I can see, it's all going to be bog standard wide area aerial photography and derived mapping that anyone can buy, so far as I can see. The same stuff as, for instance, the electricity board uses to keep track of its properties as a basis for further examination when needed.
And this election isn't even about Wales as far as domestic administration is concerned.
I am impressed that you posted that before William Glenn did.
Yes, clearly Trump is serious about pushing for a swift Ukrainian victory. If he said the opposite it would create complacency among Ukraine's European allies and give Russia an opportunity.
Trump is pushing for a swift Ukranian victory? What brings you to that interpretation?
What is the effect of his words if not to push European countries to pull their finger out and reduce dependence on the US?
An alternative theory suggests Trump is a humongous turd who will do his best to see Ukraine defeated. This is to return the favour to his friend Vladimir for his help in subverting the American political system to Trump's personal benefit.
You mean a conspiracy theory?
A conspiracy theory that a deliberate policy to starve Ukraine of the means to avoid defeat could be a deliberate policy to ensure defeat?
Yeah. I might buy into that.
How do you reconcile Trump's opposition to Germany filling Russia's coffers and underspending on defence with the view that he is determined to help Russian expansionism?
Your view depends on seeing the US as the only real actor in this with European countries reduced to being merely pawns. In a strange way you see eye-to-eye with Putin.
How do you reconcile his promise to cut support to Ukraine as his support for Ukraine?
He isn't running to be dictactor of the West and isn't proposing to do anything to prevent Ukraine acting to defend itself.
(This is in contrast to the Biden White House which has imposed conditions on Ukraine and made it fight with one hand tied behind its back as well as limiting what US allies can do to help.)
I had expected at least some engagement with the substantive content that Trump wants to cut aid, but if it is just about being an edgy right-wing internet provocateur, that's boring.
What did I say that's untrue?
The case against Trump is mainly psychological: he doesn't seem to care about which state the Donbas is part of, therefore he's a bad man, therefore everything he does has malign intent.
It's a way of thinking that is detached from the material world. Biden has acted as a drag on the Western world's response all along, placing limits on what military aid is given and how it can be used and using NATO unity as an excuse for not doing more. He also failed to deter Putin in the first place after holding a summit meeting with him before the invasion.
All of this is excused because Biden is deemed to be on the right side. He doesn't want Putin to win, so it doesn't seem to matter what effect his actions have on the outcome.
I trust England are still taking the knee. If they don’t do that racism will return to the world
It's worse: they've convinced themselves it's racist not to take the knee.
Southgate, or a better manager, needs to tell them to stop it.
Are you joking? I was joking. Are they STILL taking the fucking knee for that dead fentanyl addict and proven villain? Why don’t they do a special hoppity skip for Jack the fucking ripper?
Stop being a racist prick.
In two sentences, explains why the three main parties vote share is declining and why they just don't get why.
Ordinary British People don't like racism (which is why that pub in Lancashire banned white US servicemen during the war in response to the US Army demanding a colour bar).
Ordinary British people also do not like violent grifters and crooks who jump on bandwagons and exploit causes for their own ends and; similarly, do not like people making out they are morally superior by genuflecting to grifters and crooks.
One pub versus millions of votes for Farage & sending them back to Africa.
On a lighter note have any PBers been to the Black Sea coast of Turkey?
The gazette have kindly told me I’ve got a rare Carte Blanche - I can go anywhere I’ve not been before - within Europe or very close - and write about it and have a nice freebie. Before my larger commitments kick in
Thing is I’ve been nearly everywhere in Europe
And I want sun yet I don’t want somewhere overrun with kids and tourists. Also not too pricey…
That leaves not much - here’s my list
Bulgaria esp the mountains and nearby Thrace Inland northern Portugal The Vosges (maybe too pricey and cold) Abbruzzo Black Sea coast of Turkey Possibly Albania
Depressing. I wished they’d stuck to their line yesterday when they bumped into the French lads: “You’re shit, you’re shit, but your birds are fit.”
Make love not war, England.
There seems to be some uncertainty about this. There are reports that Albanians attacked the Serbs and the English were caught up in it as they were nearby.
"German police have dealt with an incident involving Albanian & Serbian fans near the centre of Gelsenkirchen. Most senior German police officer on the scene says at the moment they believe the incident did not involve England fans."
I trust England are still taking the knee. If they don’t do that racism will return to the world
It's worse: they've convinced themselves it's racist not to take the knee.
Southgate, or a better manager, needs to tell them to stop it.
Are you joking? I was joking. Are they STILL taking the fucking knee for that dead fentanyl addict and proven villain? Why don’t they do a special hoppity skip for Jack the fucking ripper?
Stop being a racist prick.
In two sentences, explains why the three main parties vote share is declining and why they just don't get why.
Ordinary British People don't like racism (which is why that pub in Lancashire banned white US servicemen during the war in response to the US Army demanding a colour bar).
Ordinary British people also do not like violent grifters and crooks who jump on bandwagons and exploit causes for their own ends and; similarly, do not like people making out they are morally superior by genuflecting to grifters and crooks.
One pub versus millions of votes for Farage & sending them back to Africa.
Nevermind Farage. 16 million people voted to be part of a white-countries-only political union.
Lots of people giving @Big_G_NorthWales a hard time because he's voting Tory.
Nasty. Really nasty.
I had this yesterday from some quarters, despite an explanation which @Heathener and others accepted and it seems that for some discussing your voting intention with the person you have been married to for 60 years is outrageous, but for me we had quite a comprehensive discussion and came to our conclusion as the last thing we want is a Farage led conservative party and it will not prevent Starmer being PM on the 5th July
FWIW my mother, somewhat younger than you, has reached the same conclusion
I trust England are still taking the knee. If they don’t do that racism will return to the world
It's worse: they've convinced themselves it's racist not to take the knee.
Southgate, or a better manager, needs to tell them to stop it.
Are you joking? I was joking. Are they STILL taking the fucking knee for that dead fentanyl addict and proven villain? Why don’t they do a special hoppity skip for Jack the fucking ripper?
Stop being a racist prick.
In two sentences, explains why the three main parties vote share is declining and why they just don't get why.
Ordinary British People don't like racism (which is why that pub in Lancashire banned white US servicemen during the war in response to the US Army demanding a colour bar).
Ordinary British people also do not like violent grifters and crooks who jump on bandwagons and exploit causes for their own ends and; similarly, do not like people making out they are morally superior by genuflecting to grifters and crooks.
I know posters of limited IQ like you and Leon don't get it, but the knee isn't just about George Floyd but ingrained racism in the UK.
It's about things like this
Police more than six times more likely to strip-search black children
Exclusive: New study also shows forces in England and Wales 10 times more likely to search black people
The thing that has put a strain on our councils finances in recent years is a tripling of children diagnosed with special needs which entitles them to free transport to school and accompanying vast taxi bill.
This interestingly started a few years after the ending of tax credits for more than two children unless one has a disability in which case they stay and there is a £3k disabled child allowance.
Any comment on that line makes you look like you want to put people in wheelchairs in workhouses, but a huge number of them have things like ADHD which are subjective diagnosis, not mobility affecting (and very lucrative tax credit/universal credit wise).
It is the sort of thing that the Tories have utterly failed to grasp.
Questions: Who is diagnosing them, how much are they paid. Why are taxi companies being enriched, what links to councillors do they have, why can't councils hire buses etc. etc.
Nope the killer bit is adult social care - special needs is very secondary to that
Adult social care still eats up a larger proportion of council budgets than children's services, but demand for the latter has grown more rapidly in recent years:
County council leaders have called for an ‘honest discussion’ about service delivery as new research reveals local authorities spend two-thirds of their budgets on care services. A new analysis by Pixel Financial Management (Pixel) for the County Councils Network (CCN) has revealed that councils are spending over £200 per person more on children’s services and adult social care compared to a decade ago.
The study found that per person spending on children’s services has risen 77% over the last 10 years and consumes almost a quarter (23%) of all council expenditure – up from 18% in 2014.
Spending on adult social care has risen by 48% per person over the same period.
CCN warned that spending on care was ‘squeezing’ the funding for other services such as libraries, road repairs, street lighting, and parks maintenance.
Cllr Roger Gough, CCN Spokesperson for Children’s Services said: ‘With more than two-thirds of the average county local authority’s budget now spent on just children’s services and adult social care, rising to three quarters in some areas, there is simply less and less each year for us to spend on highly valued services such as libraries, road repairs, and street lighting.
‘This month’s Budget confirmed that the public finances remain extremely tight. Therefore, we need to have an honest discussion with all main political parties as we head into the general election on what councils can reasonably be expected to deliver, in a climate where substantive extra funds are unlikely and both demand and costs are set to rise.’
Regardless, without either a large enough injection of cash or the removal of statutory responsibilities from councils, every authority in England that currently has to fund social care is eventually going to go bankrupt. All of them. Every county and every unitary. The tsunami of demand is something that can't be funded through efficiency savings or getting rid of diversity officers. Councils will end up ceasing to provide absolutely everything not strictly mandated by law and then, when there's nothing left to get rid of that they are allowed to get rid of, they'll fold anyway. It's simple maths.
And so much of this is because of immigration
Surely, by your own logic, importing people from countries with lower life expectancy to do the work in care homes helps solve the problem?
Immigration dosent really explain either of these.
The care home issue is principally due to a bubble of ageing baby boomer generation combined with deveopments in medicine that don't cure very ill people but prevent very ill people dying so they need 24h care. With private equity driving up costs too.
With Children, if anything there are less children than a generation ago, and the issue is legislation allowing dubious experts to medicalise badly behaved children and rewarding their parents financially (meanwhile those with genuine severe disability whos parents don't know how to game the system really struggle to get help because councils are overwhelmed).
Instead we get f##king Wayne Rooney taking bollocks.
We use commentators for player recognition. A few years ago, IBM created a system to pick out clips for highlights shows at Wimbledon based on crowd noise.
Instead we get f##king Wayne Rooney taking bollocks.
We use commentators for player recognition. A few years ago, IBM created a system to pick out clips for highlights shows at Wimbledon based on crowd noise.
Most big media companies use similar (but more advanced) technology now. It is how the NFL can have highlight packages up for games very shortly after the end of a game. I presume Sky do as well, as they get their football highlights up on YouTube very quickly.
Given the piss poor quality of some of those selected by BBC and ITV for the Euros, they will need the player id tech as they easily get confused.
On a lighter note have any PBers been to the Black Sea coast of Turkey?
The gazette have kindly told me I’ve got a rare Carte Blanche - I can go anywhere I’ve not been before - within Europe or very close - and write about it and have a nice freebie. Before my larger commitments kick in
Thing is I’ve been nearly everywhere in Europe
And I want sun yet I don’t want somewhere overrun with kids and tourists. Also not too pricey…
That leaves not much - here’s my list
Bulgaria esp the mountains and nearby Thrace Inland northern Portugal The Vosges (maybe too pricey and cold) Abbruzzo Black Sea coast of Turkey Possibly Albania
Thoughts? Anyone been to these places?
Rose Macaulay visited the Black Sea coast of Turkey in the 1950s. Back in the day it was the only way to get the Inland Revenue to pay for a foreign jaunt.
Thanks for the list. Looks like a mish mash of right wingers, one nation and in-betweeners?
Which means the leadership election could be a right mess.
72 Conservative MPs means you need 24 to get through to the final stage.
One imagines that continuity, steady as she sinks, Sunakites can do that. Barclay or Badenoch, perhaps.
That leaves two wings- wets (Tugendhat?) and Farage-curious (Braverman?).
But then it goes to the membership, where I suspect Braverman beats Barclay beats Tugendhat.
The only alternative is that the continuity block has enough votes to nix the right wing, either by getting two of their own through to the final, or (more likely) lending enough votes to the wets to get them through.
It's all looking a bit 2001, and I'm not sure anyone on that list will cause Starmer sleepless nights. Hence the apparent enthusiasm for impossible candidates like Dave and Nigel.
Are these not Tory MPs and the extent to which they are threatened by a Labour candidate?
There are several seats on that list where the clear challenge comes from the Lib Dem candidate, I think.
As an example... North Devon.
Yep. The list is just the survivors. I have not differentiated the threats.
Gosh. I agree with @ClippP . If that is a survivors list (of only 72) I am surprised by some it contains. Ones that immediately spring out are Surrey Heath, Tunbridge Wells, North Devon, Maidenhead, Eastleigh, and probably others I have no knowledge of.
All LD target seats, those are the types of largely bluewall seats Rishi probably saves for the Tories (as well as Chelsea and Fulham where Hands projected to cling on), had Boris and Truss still been Conservative leader they would likely have gone yellow.
Albeit a number of redwall and Leave seats Boris would have held will go Labour under Rishi
I know you have this weird faith in Rishi’s appeal to Home Counties Tories, but the evidence from elections (local elections, granted) suggests these people are among the most riled by the current Government. I think the Tory vote will hold up best in the Midlands, and in particular the south and east Midlands.
I am not sure. Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire look like they are lost completely. Lincolnshire will still be predominantly blue and a few seats in Leicestershire and Northants but otherwise it looks pretty bleak for them.
IanB2 said: » show previous quotes The LibDems are alive to the fact that despite the likes of Big_G spending six months wasting our time reading his daily posts about how he wasn’t going to vote Tory, just like he did throughout 2019, Mrs_G had him down as a Tory voter from the start, and clearly she’s the one that gets to fill in their ballot papers.
And people here have the cheek to make caustic comments about postal votes in Tower Hamlets!
Can we give Mrs_G an account here?
Big_G_NorthWales Posts: 60,971
I am saddened that you have taken my wife and my decision to vote for the conservative in our postal vote despite an explanation of the thought and reasons and no doubt you do not like that my wife considers Davey a ' clown' and is unimpressed with his antics and his role in the PO enquiry not least as she was a customer of Alan Bates
You twist around on 2019 but fail to recognise I did not vote for Johnson as leader and I did have a vote as I was a member at the time, but of course I voted for the party v Corbyn
You need to understand that my wife and I utterly condemn Farage and it is important for all conservatives who want a one nation party to support the party on the 4th July to ensure the total numbers of votes exceed Reform
My explanation was endorsed by @Heathener and others on here so maybe you need to accept that in some families, and especially mine where my wife and I have just celebrated 60 years of marriage , that we do discuss issues and decide together how we deal with them
Just accept that your credibility here is shot.
I have no idea why you are taking this so badly, but to be honest no amount of criticism will prevent me posting as honestly as I can and if you do not like it then that is a matter for you
You’ve made a complete tit of yourself, two elections running. Even the more charitable amongst us can see that, very clearly.
Depressing. I wished they’d stuck to their line yesterday when they bumped into the French lads: “You’re shit, you’re shit, but your birds are fit.”
Make love not war, England.
There seems to be some uncertainty about this. There are reports that Albanians attacked the Serbs and the English were caught up in it as they were nearby.
"German police have dealt with an incident involving Albanian & Serbian fans near the centre of Gelsenkirchen. Most senior German police officer on the scene says at the moment they believe the incident did not involve England fans."
Interesting. Thanks. Our reputation proceeds is but hopefully that report is right. As I say, we were mixing reasonably well with France yesterday - and their fans take no prisoners (at least in club football). So fingers crossed 🤞
The Ch4 series on football cops was quite interesting on the state of violence in English game.
Ciff notes, the oldies are a load of softies these days or been banned from everything. The trouble they are having is young teenagers at lower league games, which is a bit worrying if they don't nip it in the bud for when they get to their late teens / early 20s.
I've noticed it a lot since lockdown at my league 1 team - drugs are also endemic at football as well, which is not helping things. The majority of 18-30s I know could get coke faster than a pizza if they were inclined. Twice in the past year I've had a business card with a bag handed to me just living my daily life (which were obviously discarded immediately). I really wonder when a Government will face the reality that prohibition has been a complete failure so they might as well tax it, make it safe, and stop funnelling money to criminal gangs.
There has been huge market efficiencies in coke market making it incredibly cheap. And yes the CH4 programme mentions this, its not punters getting pissed up, they are off their tits on coke.
The economist did a great graph on it - in Europe it's increased purity by 50% since 2011 while dipping in price 5% (nominal prices - so in reality a 30% drop in price). It's such a huge and endemic issue - especially when pints have become weaker and 55% more expensive in the same period. The cone of silence around what is now the only logical approach is fascinating - legalise weed (at home) and ketamine and you'd be taking billions out of the gangs' wallets with relatively little impact on public health (or potentially even improving it).
I've been watching football cops as well - rare example of a following the police programme that is actually putting lots of new interesting information out there.
I trust England are still taking the knee. If they don’t do that racism will return to the world
It's worse: they've convinced themselves it's racist not to take the knee.
Southgate, or a better manager, needs to tell them to stop it.
Are you joking? I was joking. Are they STILL taking the fucking knee for that dead fentanyl addict and proven villain? Why don’t they do a special hoppity skip for Jack the fucking ripper?
Stop being a racist prick.
In two sentences, explains why the three main parties vote share is declining and why they just don't get why.
Ordinary British People don't like racism (which is why that pub in Lancashire banned white US servicemen during the war in response to the US Army demanding a colour bar).
Ordinary British people also do not like violent grifters and crooks who jump on bandwagons and exploit causes for their own ends and; similarly, do not like people making out they are morally superior by genuflecting to grifters and crooks.
I know posters of limited IQ like you and Leon don't get it, but the knee isn't just about George Floyd but ingrained racism in the UK.
It's about things like this
Police more than six times more likely to strip-search black children
Exclusive: New study also shows forces in England and Wales 10 times more likely to search black people
Maybe you should speak to African immigrants parents bringing up children (boys in particular) trying to bring them up as respectable citizens and terrified of them being either victims of knife crime or lured into knife wielding gangs before going down that road. You might find they have surprisingly "right wing" views on things like stop and search.
They also have pretty right wing views on liberal decadence in the UK.
A vote for Labour is a vote for your Council Tax bill going up.
Are you fucking kidding???? Do you know how much my council tax has gone up under the Tories at a local and national level?!??!!! Have you any idea how shit the public services we get in Kent in return? Yes, council tax will go up under Labour, but it has gone up and will go up under the Tories too. At least Labour are not denying it.
And I’m not cheering more council tax. I’m saying it is a regrettable necessity given many years of utter Tory mismanagement and waste.
I think the issue is the extension of the number of bands which was the flaw in the original implementation and it is a fact that million pound homes just 500 yards from us are only paying one band higher
Wales Labour has hammered Council tax at 5% for years and more recently at plus 10.1% and 9.77% this year
Council tax should be payments for services not a matter of income redistribution. That should be a matter for national policy
The one consistent thing across all the polls is that they don't know. Once you push the controls past the detent FPTP skews the results in crazy ways.
Were I a Tory I would absolutely KBO until the last - a crazy results election can produce results which are crazy because you win when you should have lost.
For me there are broadly 2 big unknowns: 1. Does the Tory slide to Reform continue at this pace, ease off, stop or reverse? Are there enough don't know Tories who can be persuaded back? 2. Does the broad but shallow Labour vote on a landslide scale allow people to disappear off to start voting for what they want rather than in fear?
In essence, the Tories *could* find a reason for people to stop wandering off to RefUK, even if that reason is being begged not to kill them. And Labour could lose some of their projected seats on the left as people vote Green / Hamas independents and on the right as people vote LD to remove yet more Tories.
So yeah. 150 seats. Or 50 seats. The way is clear to both outcomes for the blues. I think the "we're going to get utterly crushed, think about what happens afterwards" play is all they have left. Stop wazzing on about what Labour will do to tax as nobody cares what you think. Talk instead about the shape of the country after a decade of a Labour super majority and is that really what you want?
I trust England are still taking the knee. If they don’t do that racism will return to the world
It's worse: they've convinced themselves it's racist not to take the knee.
Southgate, or a better manager, needs to tell them to stop it.
Are you joking? I was joking. Are they STILL taking the fucking knee for that dead fentanyl addict and proven villain? Why don’t they do a special hoppity skip for Jack the fucking ripper?
Stop being a racist prick.
In two sentences, explains why the three main parties vote share is declining and why they just don't get why.
Ordinary British People don't like racism (which is why that pub in Lancashire banned white US servicemen during the war in response to the US Army demanding a colour bar).
Ordinary British people also do not like violent grifters and crooks who jump on bandwagons and exploit causes for their own ends and; similarly, do not like people making out they are morally superior by genuflecting to grifters and crooks.
I know posters of limited IQ like you and Leon don't get it, but the knee isn't just about George Floyd but ingrained racism in the UK.
It's about things like this
Police more than six times more likely to strip-search black children
Exclusive: New study also shows forces in England and Wales 10 times more likely to search black people
I trust England are still taking the knee. If they don’t do that racism will return to the world
It's worse: they've convinced themselves it's racist not to take the knee.
Southgate, or a better manager, needs to tell them to stop it.
Are you joking? I was joking. Are they STILL taking the fucking knee for that dead fentanyl addict and proven villain? Why don’t they do a special hoppity skip for Jack the fucking ripper?
Stop being a racist prick.
In two sentences, explains why the three main parties vote share is declining and why they just don't get why.
Ordinary British People don't like racism (which is why that pub in Lancashire banned white US servicemen during the war in response to the US Army demanding a colour bar).
Ordinary British people also do not like violent grifters and crooks who jump on bandwagons and exploit causes for their own ends and; similarly, do not like people making out they are morally superior by genuflecting to grifters and crooks.
I know posters of limited IQ like you and Leon don't get it, but the knee isn't just about George Floyd but ingrained racism in the UK.
It's about things like this
Police more than six times more likely to strip-search black children
Exclusive: New study also shows forces in England and Wales 10 times more likely to search black people
It's possible, indeed essential, to be ashamed at that - and to want to work to end it - whilst also acknowledging its complex causes and opposing politicised gestures like this that set-up an implied submission between races and subversion of authority. That doesn't do anything to fix it and, arguably, makes it worse.
Knowing you a little, after all these years, I doubt you're a particularly big fan of it anyway.
I trust England are still taking the knee. If they don’t do that racism will return to the world
It's worse: they've convinced themselves it's racist not to take the knee.
Southgate, or a better manager, needs to tell them to stop it.
Are you joking? I was joking. Are they STILL taking the fucking knee for that dead fentanyl addict and proven villain? Why don’t they do a special hoppity skip for Jack the fucking ripper?
Stop being a racist prick.
In two sentences, explains why the three main parties vote share is declining and why they just don't get why.
Ordinary British People don't like racism (which is why that pub in Lancashire banned white US servicemen during the war in response to the US Army demanding a colour bar).
Ordinary British people also do not like violent grifters and crooks who jump on bandwagons and exploit causes for their own ends and; similarly, do not like people making out they are morally superior by genuflecting to grifters and crooks.
I know posters of limited IQ like you and Leon don't get it, but the knee isn't just about George Floyd but ingrained racism in the UK.
It's about things like this
Police more than six times more likely to strip-search black children
Exclusive: New study also shows forces in England and Wales 10 times more likely to search black people
Maybe you should speak to African immigrants parents bringing up children (boys in particular) trying to bring them up as respectable citizens and terrified of them being either victims of knife crime or lured into knife wielding gangs before going down that road. You might find they have surprisingly "right wing" views on things like stop and search.
They also have pretty right wing views on liberal decadence in the UK.
On a lighter note have any PBers been to the Black Sea coast of Turkey?
The gazette have kindly told me I’ve got a rare Carte Blanche - I can go anywhere I’ve not been before - within Europe or very close - and write about it and have a nice freebie. Before my larger commitments kick in
Thing is I’ve been nearly everywhere in Europe
And I want sun yet I don’t want somewhere overrun with kids and tourists. Also not too pricey…
That leaves not much - here’s my list
Bulgaria esp the mountains and nearby Thrace Inland northern Portugal The Vosges (maybe too pricey and cold) Abbruzzo Black Sea coast of Turkey Possibly Albania
Thoughts? Anyone been to these places?
Rose Macaulay visited the Black Sea coast of Turkey in the 1950s. Back in the day it was the only way to get the Inland Revenue to pay for a foreign jaunt.
The expulsion of the 2 0000 year old Pontine Greek culture from the Easren Black Sea coast is one of the world's forgotten cultural genocides. I have a large number of friends in Thessalonika defended from the refugees. Surnames ending in "is" typically.
On a lighter note have any PBers been to the Black Sea coast of Turkey?
The gazette have kindly told me I’ve got a rare Carte Blanche - I can go anywhere I’ve not been before - within Europe or very close - and write about it and have a nice freebie. Before my larger commitments kick in
Thing is I’ve been nearly everywhere in Europe
And I want sun yet I don’t want somewhere overrun with kids and tourists. Also not too pricey…
That leaves not much - here’s my list
Bulgaria esp the mountains and nearby Thrace Inland northern Portugal The Vosges (maybe too pricey and cold) Abbruzzo Black Sea coast of Turkey Possibly Albania
Thoughts? Anyone been to these places?
Rose Macaulay visited the Black Sea coast of Turkey in the 1950s. Back in the day it was the only way to get the Inland Revenue to pay for a foreign jaunt.
I trust England are still taking the knee. If they don’t do that racism will return to the world
It's worse: they've convinced themselves it's racist not to take the knee.
Southgate, or a better manager, needs to tell them to stop it.
Are you joking? I was joking. Are they STILL taking the fucking knee for that dead fentanyl addict and proven villain? Why don’t they do a special hoppity skip for Jack the fucking ripper?
Stop being a racist prick.
In two sentences, explains why the three main parties vote share is declining and why they just don't get why.
Ordinary British People don't like racism (which is why that pub in Lancashire banned white US servicemen during the war in response to the US Army demanding a colour bar).
Ordinary British people also do not like violent grifters and crooks who jump on bandwagons and exploit causes for their own ends and; similarly, do not like people making out they are morally superior by genuflecting to grifters and crooks.
I know posters of limited IQ like you and Leon don't get it, but the knee isn't just about George Floyd but ingrained racism in the UK.
It's about things like this
Police more than six times more likely to strip-search black children
Exclusive: New study also shows forces in England and Wales 10 times more likely to search black people
Feels a bit like mistaking the outcome for the cause. Not much need for stop and search in royal tunbridge wells is there.
The vast majority of S&S will be in major settlements, where young people are much more likely to be non-white. Especially when you consider socio-economic status and racial make-ups of known gangs. The cause of the differing S&S rates is well upstream of the coppers making the decision who to search.
I am impressed that you posted that before William Glenn did.
Yes, clearly Trump is serious about pushing for a swift Ukrainian victory. If he said the opposite it would create complacency among Ukraine's European allies and give Russia an opportunity.
Trump is pushing for a swift Ukranian victory? What brings you to that interpretation?
What is the effect of his words if not to push European countries to pull their finger out and reduce dependence on the US?
An alternative theory suggests Trump is a humongous turd who will do his best to see Ukraine defeated. This is to return the favour to his friend Vladimir for his help in subverting the American political system to Trump's personal benefit.
You mean a conspiracy theory?
A conspiracy theory that a deliberate policy to starve Ukraine of the means to avoid defeat could be a deliberate policy to ensure defeat?
Yeah. I might buy into that.
How do you reconcile Trump's opposition to Germany filling Russia's coffers and underspending on defence with the view that he is determined to help Russian expansionism?
Your view depends on seeing the US as the only real actor in this with European countries reduced to being merely pawns. In a strange way you see eye-to-eye with Putin.
How do you reconcile his promise to cut support to Ukraine as his support for Ukraine?
He isn't running to be dictactor of the West and isn't proposing to do anything to prevent Ukraine acting to defend itself.
(This is in contrast to the Biden White House which has imposed conditions on Ukraine and made it fight with one hand tied behind its back as well as limiting what US allies can do to help.)
I had expected at least some engagement with the substantive content that Trump wants to cut aid, but if it is just about being an edgy right-wing internet provocateur, that's boring.
What did I say that's untrue?
The case against Trump is mainly psychological: he doesn't seem to care about which state the Donbas is part of, therefore he's a bad man, therefore everything he does has malign intent.
It's a way of thinking that is detached from the material world. Biden has acted as a drag on the Western world's response all along, placing limits on what military aid is given and how it can be used and using NATO unity as an excuse for not doing more. He also failed to deter Putin in the first place after holding a summit meeting with him before the invasion.
All of this is excused because Biden is deemed to be on the right side. He doesn't want Putin to win, so it doesn't seem to matter what effect his actions have on the outcome.
Delusional. Trump got the Congressional GOP to delay US aid for over six months - which cost thousands of Ukrainian lives. And you're an apologist.
I trust England are still taking the knee. If they don’t do that racism will return to the world
It's worse: they've convinced themselves it's racist not to take the knee.
Southgate, or a better manager, needs to tell them to stop it.
Are you joking? I was joking. Are they STILL taking the fucking knee for that dead fentanyl addict and proven villain? Why don’t they do a special hoppity skip for Jack the fucking ripper?
Stop being a racist prick.
In two sentences, explains why the three main parties vote share is declining and why they just don't get why.
Ordinary British People don't like racism (which is why that pub in Lancashire banned white US servicemen during the war in response to the US Army demanding a colour bar).
Ordinary British people also do not like violent grifters and crooks who jump on bandwagons and exploit causes for their own ends and; similarly, do not like people making out they are morally superior by genuflecting to grifters and crooks.
I know posters of limited IQ like you and Leon don't get it, but the knee isn't just about George Floyd but ingrained racism in the UK.
It's about things like this
Police more than six times more likely to strip-search black children
Exclusive: New study also shows forces in England and Wales 10 times more likely to search black people
The introduction of more council tax bands would not be a total surprise and it might be our fault. PB has previously discussed the much higher property taxes in the land of the free, and the difficulty of taking expensive homes out of the country.
Council tax was flawed from it's introduction as it did not have enough and fairer higher ranges
I actually support extending the ranges and at present the Welsh Labour government are proceeding with just that and using drones to assess people's land and gardens
Can't read i t, but the bit I can see is MAYBE and IN THE FUTURE and SATELLITES which is probably a misunderstanding of Google "Satellite View" (which is taken from aircraft) but could just be the absolutely normal commercial databases which ANY firm can buy if they want, whether taken from aircraft or satellites.
Edit: have been able to read it on a second try. NO MENTION OF DRONES OR SUCH SPECIFIC INTRUSION. It's all about systematic checking of what is evidently standard general commercial air photography. No dsifferent from looking at the OS map whcih is made by the same means.
'The Telegraph can now reveal the data that is currently being gathered by the Valuation Office, where officials are building an “automated valuation model” to prepare up-to-date values for all of the 1.5 million homes in Wales.
As part of this model, they are using “aerial and street view photography” in order to verify the size of houses and gardens.'
I trust England are still taking the knee. If they don’t do that racism will return to the world
It's worse: they've convinced themselves it's racist not to take the knee.
Southgate, or a better manager, needs to tell them to stop it.
Are you joking? I was joking. Are they STILL taking the fucking knee for that dead fentanyl addict and proven villain? Why don’t they do a special hoppity skip for Jack the fucking ripper?
Stop being a racist prick.
In two sentences, explains why the three main parties vote share is declining and why they just don't get why.
Ordinary British People don't like racism (which is why that pub in Lancashire banned white US servicemen during the war in response to the US Army demanding a colour bar).
Ordinary British people also do not like violent grifters and crooks who jump on bandwagons and exploit causes for their own ends and; similarly, do not like people making out they are morally superior by genuflecting to grifters and crooks.
I know posters of limited IQ like you and Leon don't get it, but the knee isn't just about George Floyd but ingrained racism in the UK.
It's about things like this
Police more than six times more likely to strip-search black children
Exclusive: New study also shows forces in England and Wales 10 times more likely to search black people
Maybe you should speak to African immigrants parents bringing up children (boys in particular) trying to bring them up as respectable citizens and terrified of them being either victims of knife crime or lured into knife wielding gangs before going down that road. You might find they have surprisingly "right wing" views on things like stop and search.
They also have pretty right wing views on liberal decadence in the UK.
And do they hate people who "take the knee" as well?
Depressing. I wished they’d stuck to their line yesterday when they bumped into the French lads: “You’re shit, you’re shit, but your birds are fit.”
Make love not war, England.
There seems to be some uncertainty about this. There are reports that Albanians attacked the Serbs and the English were caught up in it as they were nearby.
"German police have dealt with an incident involving Albanian & Serbian fans near the centre of Gelsenkirchen. Most senior German police officer on the scene says at the moment they believe the incident did not involve England fans."
So if your kid is a remedial they get a free taxi to school every day?
Such a system could never be exploited
It's more @dixiedean's patch than mine, but a lot of the problem is that there just aren't enough special places in the system. So kids wait ages for placements and then have to travel silly distances to take them up when they become available.
Some of that is diagnosis patterns, but also the baby boomlet around 2010 is still working its way through the school system.
Running at 100% capacity looks efficient, but it really isn't.
So if your kid is a remedial they get a free taxi to school every day?
Such a system could never be exploited
As well as a taxi
Universal Credit Disabled child element £1,873pa.
Which exempts you from the two child limit so if 3 or more kids in family
Extra Universal Child Element £3,455pa.
So badly behaved little Johnny getting an ADHD diagnosis is worth £5k a year tax free.
When the teacher calls you in about little johnnys bad behaviour they may well suggest getting help that leads to a diagnosis. The school getting £6k a year extra government funding for little Johnny if diagnosed of course dosen't enter into teachers head.
I trust England are still taking the knee. If they don’t do that racism will return to the world
It's worse: they've convinced themselves it's racist not to take the knee.
Southgate, or a better manager, needs to tell them to stop it.
Are you joking? I was joking. Are they STILL taking the fucking knee for that dead fentanyl addict and proven villain? Why don’t they do a special hoppity skip for Jack the fucking ripper?
Stop being a racist prick.
In two sentences, explains why the three main parties vote share is declining and why they just don't get why.
Ordinary British People don't like racism (which is why that pub in Lancashire banned white US servicemen during the war in response to the US Army demanding a colour bar).
Ordinary British people also do not like violent grifters and crooks who jump on bandwagons and exploit causes for their own ends and; similarly, do not like people making out they are morally superior by genuflecting to grifters and crooks.
I know posters of limited IQ like you and Leon don't get it, but the knee isn't just about George Floyd but ingrained racism in the UK.
It's about things like this
Police more than six times more likely to strip-search black children
Exclusive: New study also shows forces in England and Wales 10 times more likely to search black people
Maybe you should speak to African immigrants parents bringing up children (boys in particular) trying to bring them up as respectable citizens and terrified of them being either victims of knife crime or lured into knife wielding gangs before going down that road. You might find they have surprisingly "right wing" views on things like stop and search.
They also have pretty right wing views on liberal decadence in the UK.
And do they hate people who "take the knee" as well?
They don't, they sometimes see the knee as tokenism without real action on racism. Stephy Mavididi at Leicester has expressed that via in the past.
On a lighter note have any PBers been to the Black Sea coast of Turkey?
The gazette have kindly told me I’ve got a rare Carte Blanche - I can go anywhere I’ve not been before - within Europe or very close - and write about it and have a nice freebie. Before my larger commitments kick in
Thing is I’ve been nearly everywhere in Europe
And I want sun yet I don’t want somewhere overrun with kids and tourists. Also not too pricey…
That leaves not much - here’s my list
Bulgaria esp the mountains and nearby Thrace Inland northern Portugal The Vosges (maybe too pricey and cold) Abbruzzo Black Sea coast of Turkey Possibly Albania
Thoughts? Anyone been to these places?
Rose Macaulay visited the Black Sea coast of Turkey in the 1950s. Back in the day it was the only way to get the Inland Revenue to pay for a foreign jaunt.
The expulsion of the 2 0000 year old Pontine Greek culture from the Easren Black Sea coast is one of the world's forgotten cultural genocides. I have a large number of friends in Thessalonika defended from the refugees. Surnames ending in "is" typically.
Have you been? It seems like one of the forgotten corners of “Europe” - ok Asia Minor - hardly anyone goes there
I suspect there is a lot of industry and some shit towns but still. Tempting. Trebizond has always tempted me just coz name
A vote for Labour is a vote for your Council Tax bill going up.
Are you fucking kidding???? Do you know how much my council tax has gone up under the Tories at a local and national level?!??!!! Have you any idea how shit the public services we get in Kent in return? Yes, council tax will go up under Labour, but it has gone up and will go up under the Tories too. At least Labour are not denying it.
And I’m not cheering more council tax. I’m saying it is a regrettable necessity given many years of utter Tory mismanagement and waste.
I think the issue is the extension of the number of bands which was the flaw in the original implementation and it is a fact that million pound homes just 500 yards from us are only paying one band higher
Wales Labour has hammered Council tax at 5% for years and more recently at plus 10.1% and 9.77% this year
Council tax should be payments for services not a matter of income redistribution. That should be a matter for national policy
In which case families with lots of children (and old people?) should pay extra
I hope pb is filled with people who are reading these threads and comments, but, although silent, will secretly place a 'X' in the box next to the Conservative candidate regardless on 4th July
Definitely me. I’m just pretending. The record of Tory achievement over the last 14 years speaks for itself. Why wouldn’t anyone vote for more of this milk and honey?
Well, as Labour is only offering piss and vinegar....
I trust England are still taking the knee. If they don’t do that racism will return to the world
It's worse: they've convinced themselves it's racist not to take the knee.
Southgate, or a better manager, needs to tell them to stop it.
Are you joking? I was joking. Are they STILL taking the fucking knee for that dead fentanyl addict and proven villain? Why don’t they do a special hoppity skip for Jack the fucking ripper?
Stop being a racist prick.
In two sentences, explains why the three main parties vote share is declining and why they just don't get why.
Ordinary British People don't like racism (which is why that pub in Lancashire banned white US servicemen during the war in response to the US Army demanding a colour bar).
Ordinary British people also do not like violent grifters and crooks who jump on bandwagons and exploit causes for their own ends and; similarly, do not like people making out they are morally superior by genuflecting to grifters and crooks.
I know posters of limited IQ like you and Leon don't get it, but the knee isn't just about George Floyd but ingrained racism in the UK.
It's about things like this
Police more than six times more likely to strip-search black children
Exclusive: New study also shows forces in England and Wales 10 times more likely to search black people
Maybe you should speak to African immigrants parents bringing up children (boys in particular) trying to bring them up as respectable citizens and terrified of them being either victims of knife crime or lured into knife wielding gangs before going down that road. You might find they have surprisingly "right wing" views on things like stop and search.
They also have pretty right wing views on liberal decadence in the UK.
And do they hate people who "take the knee" as well?
Disliking people taking the knee is not the same as hating those who practice it. However convenient it might be to conflate the two.
I trust England are still taking the knee. If they don’t do that racism will return to the world
It's worse: they've convinced themselves it's racist not to take the knee.
Southgate, or a better manager, needs to tell them to stop it.
Are you joking? I was joking. Are they STILL taking the fucking knee for that dead fentanyl addict and proven villain? Why don’t they do a special hoppity skip for Jack the fucking ripper?
Stop being a racist prick.
In two sentences, explains why the three main parties vote share is declining and why they just don't get why.
Ordinary British People don't like racism (which is why that pub in Lancashire banned white US servicemen during the war in response to the US Army demanding a colour bar).
Ordinary British people also do not like violent grifters and crooks who jump on bandwagons and exploit causes for their own ends and; similarly, do not like people making out they are morally superior by genuflecting to grifters and crooks.
One pub versus millions of votes for Farage & sending them back to Africa.
Nevermind Farage. 16 million people voted to be part of a white-countries-only political union.
The introduction of more council tax bands would not be a total surprise and it might be our fault. PB has previously discussed the much higher property taxes in the land of the free, and the difficulty of taking expensive homes out of the country.
Council tax was flawed from it's introduction as it did not have enough and fairer higher ranges
I actually support extending the ranges and at present the Welsh Labour government are proceeding with just that and using drones to assess people's land and gardens
Can't read i t, but the bit I can see is MAYBE and IN THE FUTURE and SATELLITES which is probably a misunderstanding of Google "Satellite View" (which is taken from aircraft) but could just be the absolutely normal commercial databases which ANY firm can buy if they want, whether taken from aircraft or satellites.
Edit: have been able to read it on a second try. NO MENTION OF DRONES OR SUCH SPECIFIC INTRUSION. It's all about systematic checking of what is evidently standard general commercial air photography. No dsifferent from looking at the OS map whcih is made by the same means.
'The Telegraph can now reveal the data that is currently being gathered by the Valuation Office, where officials are building an “automated valuation model” to prepare up-to-date values for all of the 1.5 million homes in Wales.
As part of this model, they are using “aerial and street view photography” in order to verify the size of houses and gardens.'
Says it's a mix of satellite and plane and the odd drone and balloon
Doesn't even mention drones or balloons. And that isn't the Welsh Gmt doing the photography. I think someone's been winding Big G up.
Not at all - it is widely reported in Wales and the Welsh government have not denied it
However, the main point is Welsh Labour is about to revalue and implement new council tax bands from next April or the year after
You were claiming DRONES DRONES DRONES.
You have not provided a single report that mentions drones. You know, leering in at your bathroom window when you are having a shower.
So far as I can see, it's all going to be bog standard wide area aerial photography and derived mapping that anyone can buy, so far as I can see. The same stuff as, for instance, the electricity board uses to keep track of its properties as a basis for further examination when needed.
And this election isn't even about Wales as far as domestic administration is concerned.
Another personal attack from someone not living here in Wales
What is wrong with you
It is widely reported across media in Wales but why demeaning comments about a shower in our bathroom when in fact I am unable to shower anyway due to my health issues
You can dismiss us in Wales we are used to it, but the issue is that this is coming to England under Labour and rightly so
A vote for Labour is a vote for your Council Tax bill going up.
Are you fucking kidding???? Do you know how much my council tax has gone up under the Tories at a local and national level?!??!!! Have you any idea how shit the public services we get in Kent in return? Yes, council tax will go up under Labour, but it has gone up and will go up under the Tories too. At least Labour are not denying it.
And I’m not cheering more council tax. I’m saying it is a regrettable necessity given many years of utter Tory mismanagement and waste.
I think the issue is the extension of the number of bands which was the flaw in the original implementation and it is a fact that million pound homes just 500 yards from us are only paying one band higher
Wales Labour has hammered Council tax at 5% for years and more recently at plus 10.1% and 9.77% this year
Council tax should be payments for services not a matter of income redistribution. That should be a matter for national policy
So if your kid is a remedial they get a free taxi to school every day?
Such a system could never be exploited
As well as a taxi
Universal Credit Disabled child element £1,873pa.
Which exempts you from the two child limit so if 3 or more kids in family
Extra Universal Child Element £3,455pa.
So badly behaved little Johnny getting an ADHD diagnosis is worth £5k a year tax free.
When the teacher calls you in about little johnnys bad behaviour they may well suggest getting help that leads to a diagnosis. The school getting £6k a year extra government funding for little Johnny if diagnosed of course dosen't enter into teachers head.
I think you greatly exaggerate the ease of getting a "statement", it usually takes years and multiple appeals.
It might be much better to tackle the problem upstream and identify and intervene with these children much earlier.
DOI: I have a nephew with ADHD amongst other diagnoses. It's not an easy condition for a family to live with.
Although I am very much in the camp that AI isn't going to be all jobs in every sector in 2-3 years, not to be even having a discussion about how it will effect education and work is quite crazy. We know productivity is piss poor, we should be looking at what it can do for many aspects of the state (this is where Big Dom was actually onto something).
The GE is quite weird. Labour nor Tories really have any big new ideas, its just rehashing old policies with new names as if the world hasn't changed at all since 1997.
That Sean Thomas knows nothing about tech, I remember when he was convinced What.3.Words would change the world as we know it.
He is the Rogerdamus of the tech and political world.
I think the main issue is that AI will clearly be able to post endlessly on discussion forums, and will never get tired of offending people.
Multiple personalities. 24 hours a day. It can't be bargained with. It can't be reasoned with. It doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop.
I am impressed that you posted that before William Glenn did.
Yes, clearly Trump is serious about pushing for a swift Ukrainian victory. If he said the opposite it would create complacency among Ukraine's European allies and give Russia an opportunity.
Trump is pushing for a swift Ukranian victory? What brings you to that interpretation?
What is the effect of his words if not to push European countries to pull their finger out and reduce dependence on the US?
An alternative theory suggests Trump is a humongous turd who will do his best to see Ukraine defeated. This is to return the favour to his friend Vladimir for his help in subverting the American political system to Trump's personal benefit.
You mean a conspiracy theory?
A conspiracy theory that a deliberate policy to starve Ukraine of the means to avoid defeat could be a deliberate policy to ensure defeat?
Yeah. I might buy into that.
How do you reconcile Trump's opposition to Germany filling Russia's coffers and underspending on defence with the view that he is determined to help Russian expansionism?
Your view depends on seeing the US as the only real actor in this with European countries reduced to being merely pawns. In a strange way you see eye-to-eye with Putin.
How do you reconcile his promise to cut support to Ukraine as his support for Ukraine?
He isn't running to be dictactor of the West and isn't proposing to do anything to prevent Ukraine acting to defend itself.
(This is in contrast to the Biden White House which has imposed conditions on Ukraine and made it fight with one hand tied behind its back as well as limiting what US allies can do to help.)
I had expected at least some engagement with the substantive content that Trump wants to cut aid, but if it is just about being an edgy right-wing internet provocateur, that's boring.
What did I say that's untrue?
The case against Trump is mainly psychological: he doesn't seem to care about which state the Donbas is part of, therefore he's a bad man, therefore everything he does has malign intent.
It's a way of thinking that is detached from the material world. Biden has acted as a drag on the Western world's response all along, placing limits on what military aid is given and how it can be used and using NATO unity as an excuse for not doing more. He also failed to deter Putin in the first place after holding a summit meeting with him before the invasion.
All of this is excused because Biden is deemed to be on the right side. He doesn't want Putin to win, so it doesn't seem to matter what effect his actions have on the outcome.
Delusional. Trump got the Congressional GOP to delay US aid for over six months - which cost thousands of Ukrainian lives. And you're an apologist.
"Apologist" is WAY to kind, for a inpious fraud who desecrates the Ukrainian flag every time he posts.
On a lighter note have any PBers been to the Black Sea coast of Turkey?
The gazette have kindly told me I’ve got a rare Carte Blanche - I can go anywhere I’ve not been before - within Europe or very close - and write about it and have a nice freebie. Before my larger commitments kick in
Thing is I’ve been nearly everywhere in Europe
And I want sun yet I don’t want somewhere overrun with kids and tourists. Also not too pricey…
That leaves not much - here’s my list
Bulgaria esp the mountains and nearby Thrace Inland northern Portugal The Vosges (maybe too pricey and cold) Abbruzzo Black Sea coast of Turkey Possibly Albania
Thoughts? Anyone been to these places?
Rose Macaulay visited the Black Sea coast of Turkey in the 1950s. Back in the day it was the only way to get the Inland Revenue to pay for a foreign jaunt.
The expulsion of the 2 0000 year old Pontine Greek culture from the Easren Black Sea coast is one of the world's forgotten cultural genocides. I have a large number of friends in Thessalonika descended from the refugees. Surnames ending in "is" typically.
So if your kid is a remedial they get a free taxi to school every day?
Such a system could never be exploited
As well as a taxi
Universal Credit Disabled child element £1,873pa.
Which exempts you from the two child limit so if 3 or more kids in family
Extra Universal Child Element £3,455pa.
So badly behaved little Johnny getting an ADHD diagnosis is worth £5k a year tax free.
When the teacher calls you in about little johnnys bad behaviour they may well suggest getting help that leads to a diagnosis. The school getting £6k a year extra government funding for little Johnny if diagnosed of course dosen't enter into teachers head.
I think you greatly exaggerate the ease of getting a "statement", it usually takes years and multiple appeals.
It might be much better to tackle the problem upstream and identify and intervene with these children much earlier.
DOI: I have a nephew with ADHD amongst other diagnoses. It's not an easy condition for a family to live with.
My sister, who works at a fairly ordinary primary school in a working class area reports statementing at almost a quarter of all pupils, and over half in one class.
I am impressed that you posted that before William Glenn did.
Yes, clearly Trump is serious about pushing for a swift Ukrainian victory. If he said the opposite it would create complacency among Ukraine's European allies and give Russia an opportunity.
Trump is pushing for a swift Ukranian victory? What brings you to that interpretation?
What is the effect of his words if not to push European countries to pull their finger out and reduce dependence on the US?
An alternative theory suggests Trump is a humongous turd who will do his best to see Ukraine defeated. This is to return the favour to his friend Vladimir for his help in subverting the American political system to Trump's personal benefit.
You mean a conspiracy theory?
A conspiracy theory that a deliberate policy to starve Ukraine of the means to avoid defeat could be a deliberate policy to ensure defeat?
Yeah. I might buy into that.
How do you reconcile Trump's opposition to Germany filling Russia's coffers and underspending on defence with the view that he is determined to help Russian expansionism?
Your view depends on seeing the US as the only real actor in this with European countries reduced to being merely pawns. In a strange way you see eye-to-eye with Putin.
How do you reconcile his promise to cut support to Ukraine as his support for Ukraine?
He isn't running to be dictactor of the West and isn't proposing to do anything to prevent Ukraine acting to defend itself.
(This is in contrast to the Biden White House which has imposed conditions on Ukraine and made it fight with one hand tied behind its back as well as limiting what US allies can do to help.)
I had expected at least some engagement with the substantive content that Trump wants to cut aid, but if it is just about being an edgy right-wing internet provocateur, that's boring.
What did I say that's untrue?
The case against Trump is mainly psychological: he doesn't seem to care about which state the Donbas is part of, therefore he's a bad man, therefore everything he does has malign intent.
It's a way of thinking that is detached from the material world. Biden has acted as a drag on the Western world's response all along, placing limits on what military aid is given and how it can be used and using NATO unity as an excuse for not doing more. He also failed to deter Putin in the first place after holding a summit meeting with him before the invasion.
All of this is excused because Biden is deemed to be on the right side. He doesn't want Putin to win, so it doesn't seem to matter what effect his actions have on the outcome.
Delusional. Trump got the Congressional GOP to delay US aid for over six months - which cost thousands of Ukrainian lives. And you're an apologist.
"Apologist" is WAY to kind, for a inpious fraud who desecrates the Ukrainian flag every time he posts.
Did you speak out against Obama after he mocked Romney for stating that Russia was the biggest threat, or did you vote for him?
The introduction of more council tax bands would not be a total surprise and it might be our fault. PB has previously discussed the much higher property taxes in the land of the free, and the difficulty of taking expensive homes out of the country.
Council tax was flawed from it's introduction as it did not have enough and fairer higher ranges
I actually support extending the ranges and at present the Welsh Labour government are proceeding with just that and using drones to assess people's land and gardens
Can't read i t, but the bit I can see is MAYBE and IN THE FUTURE and SATELLITES which is probably a misunderstanding of Google "Satellite View" (which is taken from aircraft) but could just be the absolutely normal commercial databases which ANY firm can buy if they want, whether taken from aircraft or satellites.
Edit: have been able to read it on a second try. NO MENTION OF DRONES OR SUCH SPECIFIC INTRUSION. It's all about systematic checking of what is evidently standard general commercial air photography. No dsifferent from looking at the OS map whcih is made by the same means.
'The Telegraph can now reveal the data that is currently being gathered by the Valuation Office, where officials are building an “automated valuation model” to prepare up-to-date values for all of the 1.5 million homes in Wales.
As part of this model, they are using “aerial and street view photography” in order to verify the size of houses and gardens.'
Says it's a mix of satellite and plane and the odd drone and balloon
Doesn't even mention drones or balloons. And that isn't the Welsh Gmt doing the photography. I think someone's been winding Big G up.
Not at all - it is widely reported in Wales and the Welsh government have not denied it
However, the main point is Welsh Labour is about to revalue and implement new council tax bands from next April or the year after
You were claiming DRONES DRONES DRONES.
You have not provided a single report that mentions drones. You know, leering in at your bathroom window when you are having a shower.
So far as I can see, it's all going to be bog standard wide area aerial photography and derived mapping that anyone can buy, so far as I can see. The same stuff as, for instance, the electricity board uses to keep track of its properties as a basis for further examination when needed.
And this election isn't even about Wales as far as domestic administration is concerned.
Another personal attack from someone not living here in Wales
What is wrong with you
It is widely reported across media in Wales but why demeaning comments about a shower in our bathroom when in fact I am unable to shower anyway due to my health issues
You can dismiss us in Wales we are used to it, but the issue is that this is coming to England under Labour and rightly so
That wasn't a personal attack. Someone telling you you are wrong or mistaken isn't a personal attack. It's kind of the backbone of political debate. Stop wallowing.
And what is 'leering at your bathroom window whilst having a shower' then and in my case quite unkind as I cannot shower in our bathroom due to my health issues
I’m gonna start taking the knee every time I have a wank, out of respect
It’s these daily and humble rituals which will eventually overcome racism, small as they seem at the time, and I encourage other PB-ers - equally concerned about racial division in our societies - to join me
I’m gonna start taking the knee every time I have a wank, out of respect
It’s these daily and humble rituals which will eventually overcome racism, small as they seem at the time, and I encourage other PB-ers - equally concerned about racial division in our societies - to join me
Gosh what kind of dark materials are you consuming to need to make a stand (kneel) for racial injustice to make up for it?
I trust England are still taking the knee. If they don’t do that racism will return to the world
It's worse: they've convinced themselves it's racist not to take the knee.
Southgate, or a better manager, needs to tell them to stop it.
Are you joking? I was joking. Are they STILL taking the fucking knee for that dead fentanyl addict and proven villain? Why don’t they do a special hoppity skip for Jack the fucking ripper?
Stop being a racist prick.
In two sentences, explains why the three main parties vote share is declining and why they just don't get why.
Ordinary British People don't like racism (which is why that pub in Lancashire banned white US servicemen during the war in response to the US Army demanding a colour bar).
Ordinary British people also do not like violent grifters and crooks who jump on bandwagons and exploit causes for their own ends and; similarly, do not like people making out they are morally superior by genuflecting to grifters and crooks.
I know posters of limited IQ like you and Leon don't get it, but the knee isn't just about George Floyd but ingrained racism in the UK.
It's about things like this
Police more than six times more likely to strip-search black children
Exclusive: New study also shows forces in England and Wales 10 times more likely to search black people
Maybe you should speak to African immigrants parents bringing up children (boys in particular) trying to bring them up as respectable citizens and terrified of them being either victims of knife crime or lured into knife wielding gangs before going down that road. You might find they have surprisingly "right wing" views on things like stop and search.
They also have pretty right wing views on liberal decadence in the UK.
And do they hate people who "take the knee" as well?
Disliking people taking the knee is not the same as hating those who practice it. However convenient it might be to conflate the two.
And as a Catholic I find it blasphemous. I only take the knee for the Real Presence of Jesus Christ.
I’m gonna start taking the knee every time I have a wank, out of respect
It’s these daily and humble rituals which will eventually overcome racism, small as they seem at the time, and I encourage other PB-ers - equally concerned about racial division in our societies - to join me
It being Pride Month you should be wankng exclusively to dudes. I can recommend source material if required :-)
Aside from the Euros and cricket, the one story dominating my non politics WhatsApp groups is Surrey police and that cow.
The cow's really got my goat. Lots of enthusiastic meat eaters very upset that police prioritised human life over a dumb animal. They sorted it out relatively quickly and it's fine (until it gets tased and dissected for dinner in a few months).
I am impressed that you posted that before William Glenn did.
Yes, clearly Trump is serious about pushing for a swift Ukrainian victory. If he said the opposite it would create complacency among Ukraine's European allies and give Russia an opportunity.
Trump is pushing for a swift Ukranian victory? What brings you to that interpretation?
What is the effect of his words if not to push European countries to pull their finger out and reduce dependence on the US?
An alternative theory suggests Trump is a humongous turd who will do his best to see Ukraine defeated. This is to return the favour to his friend Vladimir for his help in subverting the American political system to Trump's personal benefit.
You mean a conspiracy theory?
A conspiracy theory that a deliberate policy to starve Ukraine of the means to avoid defeat could be a deliberate policy to ensure defeat?
Yeah. I might buy into that.
How do you reconcile Trump's opposition to Germany filling Russia's coffers and underspending on defence with the view that he is determined to help Russian expansionism?
Your view depends on seeing the US as the only real actor in this with European countries reduced to being merely pawns. In a strange way you see eye-to-eye with Putin.
How do you reconcile his promise to cut support to Ukraine as his support for Ukraine?
He isn't running to be dictactor of the West and isn't proposing to do anything to prevent Ukraine acting to defend itself.
(This is in contrast to the Biden White House which has imposed conditions on Ukraine and made it fight with one hand tied behind its back as well as limiting what US allies can do to help.)
I had expected at least some engagement with the substantive content that Trump wants to cut aid, but if it is just about being an edgy right-wing internet provocateur, that's boring.
What did I say that's untrue?
The case against Trump is mainly psychological: he doesn't seem to care about which state the Donbas is part of, therefore he's a bad man, therefore everything he does has malign intent.
It's a way of thinking that is detached from the material world. Biden has acted as a drag on the Western world's response all along, placing limits on what military aid is given and how it can be used and using NATO unity as an excuse for not doing more. He also failed to deter Putin in the first place after holding a summit meeting with him before the invasion.
All of this is excused because Biden is deemed to be on the right side. He doesn't want Putin to win, so it doesn't seem to matter what effect his actions have on the outcome.
"...he doesn't seem to care about which state the Donbas is part of,"
There is much to be said about your post, little of which reflects well on you. But I thought I would concentrate on this.
If you look at what Putin has said he wants - including the maximalist surrender-of-Ukraine speech he made the other day, he does not just want the Donbass. He wants much more. Add in the way he is interfering in countries throughout Europe, including the Moldovan elections, and it is obvious you, as much as Trump, have malign intent.
On a lighter note have any PBers been to the Black Sea coast of Turkey?
The gazette have kindly told me I’ve got a rare Carte Blanche - I can go anywhere I’ve not been before - within Europe or very close - and write about it and have a nice freebie. Before my larger commitments kick in
Thing is I’ve been nearly everywhere in Europe
And I want sun yet I don’t want somewhere overrun with kids and tourists. Also not too pricey…
That leaves not much - here’s my list
Bulgaria esp the mountains and nearby Thrace Inland northern Portugal The Vosges (maybe too pricey and cold) Abbruzzo Black Sea coast of Turkey Possibly Albania
Thoughts? Anyone been to these places?
Rose Macaulay visited the Black Sea coast of Turkey in the 1950s. Back in the day it was the only way to get the Inland Revenue to pay for a foreign jaunt.
The expulsion of the 2 0000 year old Pontine Greek culture from the Easren Black Sea coast is one of the world's forgotten cultural genocides. I have a large number of friends in Thessalonika defended from the refugees. Surnames ending in "is" typically.
Have you been? It seems like one of the forgotten corners of “Europe” - ok Asia Minor - hardly anyone goes there
I suspect there is a lot of industry and some shit towns but still. Tempting. Trebizond has always tempted me just coz name
In my experience nobody goes anywhere in turkey more than 50 miles inland from the med.
On a lighter note have any PBers been to the Black Sea coast of Turkey?
The gazette have kindly told me I’ve got a rare Carte Blanche - I can go anywhere I’ve not been before - within Europe or very close - and write about it and have a nice freebie. Before my larger commitments kick in
Thing is I’ve been nearly everywhere in Europe
And I want sun yet I don’t want somewhere overrun with kids and tourists. Also not too pricey…
That leaves not much - here’s my list
Bulgaria esp the mountains and nearby Thrace Inland northern Portugal The Vosges (maybe too pricey and cold) Abbruzzo Black Sea coast of Turkey Possibly Albania
Thoughts? Anyone been to these places?
Rose Macaulay visited the Black Sea coast of Turkey in the 1950s. Back in the day it was the only way to get the Inland Revenue to pay for a foreign jaunt.
Albania, although I'm surprised you havent been there yet.
I'm sure I've mentioned before, my wife was trying to get Norman Wisdom to appear in a film. I was working for a company that had an office in Tirana. I got a signed photo from him, wishing well to everyone in the office there.
It was placed in something akin to a shrine there, such was the reverence he was held in.
A vote for Labour is a vote for your Council Tax bill going up.
Are you fucking kidding???? Do you know how much my council tax has gone up under the Tories at a local and national level?!??!!! Have you any idea how shit the public services we get in Kent in return? Yes, council tax will go up under Labour, but it has gone up and will go up under the Tories too. At least Labour are not denying it.
And I’m not cheering more council tax. I’m saying it is a regrettable necessity given many years of utter Tory mismanagement and waste.
I think the issue is the extension of the number of bands which was the flaw in the original implementation and it is a fact that million pound homes just 500 yards from us are only paying one band higher
Wales Labour has hammered Council tax at 5% for years and more recently at plus 10.1% and 9.77% this year
Council tax should be payments for services not a matter of income redistribution. That should be a matter for national policy
In which case families with lots of children (and old people?) should pay extra
It's unusual to hear calls to for a return of the Poll Tax that brought down Mrs T.
Aside from the Euros and cricket, the one story dominating my non politics WhatsApp groups is Surrey police and that cow.
And the 2028 and 2032 Labour re-election campaigns will include the phrase "Remember last time the Tories were in power? We couldn't even clear cows from the streets..."
I trust England are still taking the knee. If they don’t do that racism will return to the world
It's worse: they've convinced themselves it's racist not to take the knee.
Southgate, or a better manager, needs to tell them to stop it.
Are you joking? I was joking. Are they STILL taking the fucking knee for that dead fentanyl addict and proven villain? Why don’t they do a special hoppity skip for Jack the fucking ripper?
Stop being a racist prick.
In two sentences, explains why the three main parties vote share is declining and why they just don't get why.
Ordinary British People don't like racism (which is why that pub in Lancashire banned white US servicemen during the war in response to the US Army demanding a colour bar).
Ordinary British people also do not like violent grifters and crooks who jump on bandwagons and exploit causes for their own ends and; similarly, do not like people making out they are morally superior by genuflecting to grifters and crooks.
I know posters of limited IQ like you and Leon don't get it, but the knee isn't just about George Floyd but ingrained racism in the UK.
It's about things like this
Police more than six times more likely to strip-search black children
Exclusive: New study also shows forces in England and Wales 10 times more likely to search black people
Maybe you should speak to African immigrants parents bringing up children (boys in particular) trying to bring them up as respectable citizens and terrified of them being either victims of knife crime or lured into knife wielding gangs before going down that road. You might find they have surprisingly "right wing" views on things like stop and search.
They also have pretty right wing views on liberal decadence in the UK.
And do they hate people who "take the knee" as well?
Disliking people taking the knee is not the same as hating those who practice it. However convenient it might be to conflate the two.
And as a Catholic I find it blasphemous. I only take the knee for the Real Presence of Jesus Christ.
Because you're a Catholic you think everyone who goes down on one knee for whatever reason is a blasphemer? Even if they're an atheist?
Tell me, do you want to stone them to death for that?
I am impressed that you posted that before William Glenn did.
Yes, clearly Trump is serious about pushing for a swift Ukrainian victory. If he said the opposite it would create complacency among Ukraine's European allies and give Russia an opportunity.
I wish that was true. And if Trump wins, and it happens, I will be incredibly grateful.
But is there any example you can think of where Trump has done anything other than fawn over Putin? And is there any indication that the Trump-wing of the Republican Party has been supportive of Ukraine. (Indeed, almost all of Trump's most vocal backers have been actually anti-Ukraine.)
So if your kid is a remedial they get a free taxi to school every day?
Such a system could never be exploited
As well as a taxi
Universal Credit Disabled child element £1,873pa.
Which exempts you from the two child limit so if 3 or more kids in family
Extra Universal Child Element £3,455pa.
So badly behaved little Johnny getting an ADHD diagnosis is worth £5k a year tax free.
When the teacher calls you in about little johnnys bad behaviour they may well suggest getting help that leads to a diagnosis. The school getting £6k a year extra government funding for little Johnny if diagnosed of course dosen't enter into teachers head.
I think you greatly exaggerate the ease of getting a "statement", it usually takes years and multiple appeals.
It might be much better to tackle the problem upstream and identify and intervene with these children much earlier.
DOI: I have a nephew with ADHD amongst other diagnoses. It's not an easy condition for a family to live with.
So if your kid is a remedial they get a free taxi to school every day?
Such a system could never be exploited
As well as a taxi
Universal Credit Disabled child element £1,873pa.
Which exempts you from the two child limit so if 3 or more kids in family
Extra Universal Child Element £3,455pa.
So badly behaved little Johnny getting an ADHD diagnosis is worth £5k a year tax free.
When the teacher calls you in about little johnnys bad behaviour they may well suggest getting help that leads to a diagnosis. The school getting £6k a year extra government funding for little Johnny if diagnosed of course dosen't enter into teachers head.
I think you greatly exaggerate the ease of getting a "statement", it usually takes years and multiple appeals.
It might be much better to tackle the problem upstream and identify and intervene with these children much earlier.
DOI: I have a nephew with ADHD amongst other diagnoses. It's not an easy condition for a family to live with.
My sister, who works at a fairly ordinary primary school in a working class area reports statementing at almost a quarter of all pupils, and over half in one class.
That isn't happening everywhere, of course.
This flushes out one of the other issues. Those with children with disabilities who are honest and play by the rules have all sorts of difficulties.
Nasty pieces of work who know how to game the system and are quite unpleasant if resisted generally get their way as doctors/assessors etc are terrified of being thrown to the wolves if a complaint is made and don't want the hassle. Especially if an -ism is involved.
The thing that has put a strain on our councils finances in recent years is a tripling of children diagnosed with special needs which entitles them to free transport to school and accompanying vast taxi bill.
This interestingly started a few years after the ending of tax credits for more than two children unless one has a disability in which case they stay and there is a £3k disabled child allowance.
Any comment on that line makes you look like you want to put people in wheelchairs in workhouses, but a huge number of them have things like ADHD which are subjective diagnosis, not mobility affecting (and very lucrative tax credit/universal credit wise).
It is the sort of thing that the Tories have utterly failed to grasp.
Questions: Who is diagnosing them, how much are they paid. Why are taxi companies being enriched, what links to councillors do they have, why can't councils hire buses etc. etc.
Nope the killer bit is adult social care - special needs is very secondary to that
Not round our way. Its child social care.
Agree Adult social care is a problem in a good few places. - and what is at the root of that? The same private equity parasites who have made vets resemble US Healthcare.
However so long as those who pay most council tax will have to pay for their own social care, and to rub it in pay a couple or three hundred a week extra to subsidise council funded places as the councils get bulk discount, I can't see much support for extra council tax to sort it.
In Central Beds council 36% of the budget goes on adult social care and 25% on children's social care, of which a small proportion relates to transport.
One of the things in life I can't get my head round is adult social care costs. I don't get how it's so expensive - often climbing towards £100k/yr yet the charities/companies running them that I audited in my old jobs were all basket cases on the brink of going under. Every other type of organisation I worked with I could get a good handle on where the money was going/how they ticked, yet I never could with them.
Most goes on labour costs, massively increased by the minimum wage increases
A vote for Labour is a vote for your Council Tax bill going up.
Are you fucking kidding???? Do you know how much my council tax has gone up under the Tories at a local and national level?!??!!! Have you any idea how shit the public services we get in Kent in return? Yes, council tax will go up under Labour, but it has gone up and will go up under the Tories too. At least Labour are not denying it.
And I’m not cheering more council tax. I’m saying it is a regrettable necessity given many years of utter Tory mismanagement and waste.
I think the issue is the extension of the number of bands which was the flaw in the original implementation and it is a fact that million pound homes just 500 yards from us are only paying one band higher
Wales Labour has hammered Council tax at 5% for years and more recently at plus 10.1% and 9.77% this year
Council tax should be payments for services not a matter of income redistribution. That should be a matter for national policy
In which case families with lots of children (and old people?) should pay extra
It's unusual to hear calls to for a return of the Poll Tax that brought down Mrs T.
I trust England are still taking the knee. If they don’t do that racism will return to the world
It's worse: they've convinced themselves it's racist not to take the knee.
Southgate, or a better manager, needs to tell them to stop it.
Are you joking? I was joking. Are they STILL taking the fucking knee for that dead fentanyl addict and proven villain? Why don’t they do a special hoppity skip for Jack the fucking ripper?
Stop being a racist prick.
In two sentences, explains why the three main parties vote share is declining and why they just don't get why.
Ordinary British People don't like racism (which is why that pub in Lancashire banned white US servicemen during the war in response to the US Army demanding a colour bar).
Ordinary British people also do not like violent grifters and crooks who jump on bandwagons and exploit causes for their own ends and; similarly, do not like people making out they are morally superior by genuflecting to grifters and crooks.
I know posters of limited IQ like you and Leon don't get it, but the knee isn't just about George Floyd but ingrained racism in the UK.
It's about things like this
Police more than six times more likely to strip-search black children
Exclusive: New study also shows forces in England and Wales 10 times more likely to search black people
Maybe you should speak to African immigrants parents bringing up children (boys in particular) trying to bring them up as respectable citizens and terrified of them being either victims of knife crime or lured into knife wielding gangs before going down that road. You might find they have surprisingly "right wing" views on things like stop and search.
They also have pretty right wing views on liberal decadence in the UK.
And do they hate people who "take the knee" as well?
Disliking people taking the knee is not the same as hating those who practice it. However convenient it might be to conflate the two.
And as a Catholic I find it blasphemous. I only take the knee for the Real Presence of Jesus Christ.
Treasonous disrespect of your liege and King, Charles the Third. To Tyburn with you! You will be taught to kneel!
Aside from the Euros and cricket, the one story dominating my non politics WhatsApp groups is Surrey police and that cow.
And the 2028 and 2032 Labour re-election campaigns will include the phrase "Remember last time the Tories were in power? We couldn't even clear cows from the streets..."
On a lighter note have any PBers been to the Black Sea coast of Turkey?
The gazette have kindly told me I’ve got a rare Carte Blanche - I can go anywhere I’ve not been before - within Europe or very close - and write about it and have a nice freebie. Before my larger commitments kick in
Thing is I’ve been nearly everywhere in Europe
And I want sun yet I don’t want somewhere overrun with kids and tourists. Also not too pricey…
That leaves not much - here’s my list
Bulgaria esp the mountains and nearby Thrace Inland northern Portugal The Vosges (maybe too pricey and cold) Abbruzzo Black Sea coast of Turkey Possibly Albania
Thoughts? Anyone been to these places?
Rose Macaulay visited the Black Sea coast of Turkey in the 1950s. Back in the day it was the only way to get the Inland Revenue to pay for a foreign jaunt.
The expulsion of the 2 0000 year old Pontine Greek culture from the Easren Black Sea coast is one of the world's forgotten cultural genocides. I have a large number of friends in Thessalonika defended from the refugees. Surnames ending in "is" typically.
Have you been? It seems like one of the forgotten corners of “Europe” - ok Asia Minor - hardly anyone goes there
I suspect there is a lot of industry and some shit towns but still. Tempting. Trebizond has always tempted me just coz name
In my experience nobody goes anywhere in turkey more than 50 miles inland from the med.
De bernieres Birds without Wings is worth reading
Bursa is quite interesting. The tomb of Osman Ghazi (and I think the next two padishahs) and a nice castle and bazaar. And the home of döner kebap, although if you want to eat at Iskander Effendi's you need to book
On a lighter note have any PBers been to the Black Sea coast of Turkey?
The gazette have kindly told me I’ve got a rare Carte Blanche - I can go anywhere I’ve not been before - within Europe or very close - and write about it and have a nice freebie. Before my larger commitments kick in
Thing is I’ve been nearly everywhere in Europe
And I want sun yet I don’t want somewhere overrun with kids and tourists. Also not too pricey…
That leaves not much - here’s my list
Bulgaria esp the mountains and nearby Thrace Inland northern Portugal The Vosges (maybe too pricey and cold) Abbruzzo Black Sea coast of Turkey Possibly Albania
Thoughts? Anyone been to these places?
Rose Macaulay visited the Black Sea coast of Turkey in the 1950s. Back in the day it was the only way to get the Inland Revenue to pay for a foreign jaunt.
The expulsion of the 2 0000 year old Pontine Greek culture from the Easren Black Sea coast is one of the world's forgotten cultural genocides. I have a large number of friends in Thessalonika defended from the refugees. Surnames ending in "is" typically.
Have you been? It seems like one of the forgotten corners of “Europe” - ok Asia Minor - hardly anyone goes there
I suspect there is a lot of industry and some shit towns but still. Tempting. Trebizond has always tempted me just coz name
No, not been. Neither have my Pontine descended friends. Too much bad history for them.
Please can I use this post to like the thread header about seven times. I keep meaning to do that work, with an eye on next Tory leader bets, and I never got round to it. Thank you.
What's Farage's position on this? Is he pro-Putin still?
'Nigel Farage has described Adolf Hitler as “hypnotic in a very dangerous way” after reiterating his admiration for Vladimir Putin as a “political operator”.
The Reform UK leader offered his view on the public speaking abilities of Nazi Germany dictator Hitler when asked about him during a live BBC phone-in.
He also suggested Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky should enter negotiations with Russia, although he acknowledged Kyiv’s Western allies will continue support to support them.
The introduction of more council tax bands would not be a total surprise and it might be our fault. PB has previously discussed the much higher property taxes in the land of the free, and the difficulty of taking expensive homes out of the country.
Council tax was flawed from it's introduction as it did not have enough and fairer higher ranges
I actually support extending the ranges and at present the Welsh Labour government are proceeding with just that and using drones to assess people's land and gardens
Can't read i t, but the bit I can see is MAYBE and IN THE FUTURE and SATELLITES which is probably a misunderstanding of Google "Satellite View" (which is taken from aircraft) but could just be the absolutely normal commercial databases which ANY firm can buy if they want, whether taken from aircraft or satellites.
Edit: have been able to read it on a second try. NO MENTION OF DRONES OR SUCH SPECIFIC INTRUSION. It's all about systematic checking of what is evidently standard general commercial air photography. No dsifferent from looking at the OS map whcih is made by the same means.
'The Telegraph can now reveal the data that is currently being gathered by the Valuation Office, where officials are building an “automated valuation model” to prepare up-to-date values for all of the 1.5 million homes in Wales.
As part of this model, they are using “aerial and street view photography” in order to verify the size of houses and gardens.'
Says it's a mix of satellite and plane and the odd drone and balloon
Doesn't even mention drones or balloons. And that isn't the Welsh Gmt doing the photography. I think someone's been winding Big G up.
Not at all - it is widely reported in Wales and the Welsh government have not denied it
However, the main point is Welsh Labour is about to revalue and implement new council tax bands from next April or the year after
You were claiming DRONES DRONES DRONES.
You have not provided a single report that mentions drones. You know, leering in at your bathroom window when you are having a shower.
So far as I can see, it's all going to be bog standard wide area aerial photography and derived mapping that anyone can buy, so far as I can see. The same stuff as, for instance, the electricity board uses to keep track of its properties as a basis for further examination when needed.
And this election isn't even about Wales as far as domestic administration is concerned.
Another personal attack from someone not living here in Wales
What is wrong with you
It is widely reported across media in Wales but why demeaning comments about a shower in our bathroom when in fact I am unable to shower anyway due to my health issues
You can dismiss us in Wales we are used to it, but the issue is that this is coming to England under Labour and rightly so
About the shower - my unreserved apologies, I had no idea.
Scrub the shower and replace it with "leering at you in the sitting room keying in on PB."
And you still can't find something which confirms the drone story. I think you've been had by the Tories, opr their chums in the media.
On a lighter note have any PBers been to the Black Sea coast of Turkey?
The gazette have kindly told me I’ve got a rare Carte Blanche - I can go anywhere I’ve not been before - within Europe or very close - and write about it and have a nice freebie. Before my larger commitments kick in
Thing is I’ve been nearly everywhere in Europe
And I want sun yet I don’t want somewhere overrun with kids and tourists. Also not too pricey…
That leaves not much - here’s my list
Bulgaria esp the mountains and nearby Thrace Inland northern Portugal The Vosges (maybe too pricey and cold) Abbruzzo Black Sea coast of Turkey Possibly Albania
Thoughts? Anyone been to these places?
Rose Macaulay visited the Black Sea coast of Turkey in the 1950s. Back in the day it was the only way to get the Inland Revenue to pay for a foreign jaunt.
The expulsion of the 2 0000 year old Pontine Greek culture from the Easren Black Sea coast is one of the world's forgotten cultural genocides. I have a large number of friends in Thessalonika defended from the refugees. Surnames ending in "is" typically.
Have you been? It seems like one of the forgotten corners of “Europe” - ok Asia Minor - hardly anyone goes there
I suspect there is a lot of industry and some shit towns but still. Tempting. Trebizond has always tempted me just coz name
In my experience nobody goes anywhere in turkey more than 50 miles inland from the med.
De bernieres Birds without Wings is worth reading
I thought about going there a couple of years back but was put off by the climate (very cloudy and humid, almost British in sunshine hours). Does look culturally and scenically fascinating though, like a big Turkish Basque Country on a similar curve of coast.
I trust England are still taking the knee. If they don’t do that racism will return to the world
It's worse: they've convinced themselves it's racist not to take the knee.
Southgate, or a better manager, needs to tell them to stop it.
Are you joking? I was joking. Are they STILL taking the fucking knee for that dead fentanyl addict and proven villain? Why don’t they do a special hoppity skip for Jack the fucking ripper?
Stop being a racist prick.
In two sentences, explains why the three main parties vote share is declining and why they just don't get why.
Ordinary British People don't like racism (which is why that pub in Lancashire banned white US servicemen during the war in response to the US Army demanding a colour bar).
Ordinary British people also do not like violent grifters and crooks who jump on bandwagons and exploit causes for their own ends and; similarly, do not like people making out they are morally superior by genuflecting to grifters and crooks.
I know posters of limited IQ like you and Leon don't get it, but the knee isn't just about George Floyd but ingrained racism in the UK.
It's about things like this
Police more than six times more likely to strip-search black children
Exclusive: New study also shows forces in England and Wales 10 times more likely to search black people
Maybe you should speak to African immigrants parents bringing up children (boys in particular) trying to bring them up as respectable citizens and terrified of them being either victims of knife crime or lured into knife wielding gangs before going down that road. You might find they have surprisingly "right wing" views on things like stop and search.
They also have pretty right wing views on liberal decadence in the UK.
And do they hate people who "take the knee" as well?
They don't, they sometimes see the knee as tokenism without real action on racism. Stephy Mavididi at Leicester has expressed that via in the past.
Ah - so the question "Are they STILL taking the fucking knee for that dead fentanyl addict and proven villain?" was really a protest about insufficient action being taken against racism?
I think you should be more realistic about the reasons why people who say things like that dislike it. I would suggest they are very rarely advocating more effective action against racism!
I am impressed that you posted that before William Glenn did.
Yes, clearly Trump is serious about pushing for a swift Ukrainian victory. If he said the opposite it would create complacency among Ukraine's European allies and give Russia an opportunity.
Trump is pushing for a swift Ukranian victory? What brings you to that interpretation?
What is the effect of his words if not to push European countries to pull their finger out and reduce dependence on the US?
An alternative theory suggests Trump is a humongous turd who will do his best to see Ukraine defeated. This is to return the favour to his friend Vladimir for his help in subverting the American political system to Trump's personal benefit.
You mean a conspiracy theory?
A conspiracy theory that a deliberate policy to starve Ukraine of the means to avoid defeat could be a deliberate policy to ensure defeat?
Yeah. I might buy into that.
How do you reconcile Trump's opposition to Germany filling Russia's coffers and underspending on defence with the view that he is determined to help Russian expansionism?
Your view depends on seeing the US as the only real actor in this with European countries reduced to being merely pawns. In a strange way you see eye-to-eye with Putin.
How do you reconcile his promise to cut support to Ukraine as his support for Ukraine?
He isn't running to be dictactor of the West and isn't proposing to do anything to prevent Ukraine acting to defend itself.
(This is in contrast to the Biden White House which has imposed conditions on Ukraine and made it fight with one hand tied behind its back as well as limiting what US allies can do to help.)
I had expected at least some engagement with the substantive content that Trump wants to cut aid, but if it is just about being an edgy right-wing internet provocateur, that's boring.
What did I say that's untrue?
The case against Trump is mainly psychological: he doesn't seem to care about which state the Donbas is part of, therefore he's a bad man, therefore everything he does has malign intent.
It's a way of thinking that is detached from the material world. Biden has acted as a drag on the Western world's response all along, placing limits on what military aid is given and how it can be used and using NATO unity as an excuse for not doing more. He also failed to deter Putin in the first place after holding a summit meeting with him before the invasion.
All of this is excused because Biden is deemed to be on the right side. He doesn't want Putin to win, so it doesn't seem to matter what effect his actions have on the outcome.
"...he doesn't seem to care about which state the Donbas is part of,"
There is much to be said about your post, little of which reflects well on you. But I thought I would concentrate on this.
If you look at what Putin has said he wants - including the maximalist surrender-of-Ukraine speech he made the other day, he does not just want the Donbass. He wants much more. Add in the way he is interfering in countries throughout Europe, including the Moldovan elections, and it is obvious you, as much as Trump, have malign intent.
What a disingenuous reply. My comment referred to what Trump wants and you responded by referring to what Putin wants.
On a lighter note have any PBers been to the Black Sea coast of Turkey?
The gazette have kindly told me I’ve got a rare Carte Blanche - I can go anywhere I’ve not been before - within Europe or very close - and write about it and have a nice freebie. Before my larger commitments kick in
Thing is I’ve been nearly everywhere in Europe
And I want sun yet I don’t want somewhere overrun with kids and tourists. Also not too pricey…
That leaves not much - here’s my list
Bulgaria esp the mountains and nearby Thrace Inland northern Portugal The Vosges (maybe too pricey and cold) Abbruzzo Black Sea coast of Turkey Possibly Albania
Thoughts? Anyone been to these places?
I hear Sochi is very nice this time of year ;-)
All joking aside, can they not send you to Russia? It would have a lot of significance - be more of a foreign correspondent sort of piece than 'Discovering hidden Albania, the next up and coming tourist spot after Haiti'. Are UK subjects allowed to go?
Aside from the Euros and cricket, the one story dominating my non politics WhatsApp groups is Surrey police and that cow.
The cow's really got my goat. Lots of enthusiastic meat eaters very upset that police prioritised human life over a dumb animal. They sorted it out relatively quickly and it's fine (until it gets tased and dissected for dinner in a few months).
It was a heifer, may be destined for life as a dairy cow
But how can this go on for hours? If as local police you don't know who the beast is likely to belong to, you are not doing your job, but anyway you can zoom in on its eartag and ask DEFRA whose it is and get the farmer to sort it.
Aside from the Euros and cricket, the one story dominating my non politics WhatsApp groups is Surrey police and that cow.
The cow's really got my goat. Lots of enthusiastic meat eaters very upset that police prioritised human life over a dumb animal. They sorted it out relatively quickly and it's fine (until it gets tased and dissected for dinner in a few months).
It was a heifer, may be destined for life as a dairy cow
But how can this go on for hours? If as local police you don't know who the beast is likely to belong to, you are not doing your job, but anyway you can zoom in on its eartag and ask DEFRA whose it is and get the farmer to sort it.
Are there not computer games where you can run over cows? They were probably keen gamers and thought they wouldn't get another chance.
Comments
Last year the Council Tax increases of Counties and Unitaries were capped at a cut of ~5% in real terms, unless a referendum was held. That situation has to end.
There is something coming like a revaluation, or a removal of the Band A:Band H (or is it G used in the regulation?) capped ratio AND a full revaluation. The next Govt has no option imo. There's a whole field of wilted nettles the last Govt failed to grasp.
The gazette have kindly told me I’ve got a rare Carte Blanche - I can go anywhere I’ve not been before - within Europe or very close - and write about it and have a nice freebie. Before my larger commitments kick in
Thing is I’ve been nearly everywhere in Europe
And I want sun yet I don’t want somewhere overrun with kids and tourists. Also not too pricey…
That leaves not much - here’s my list
Bulgaria esp the mountains and nearby Thrace
Inland northern Portugal
The Vosges (maybe too pricey and cold)
Abbruzzo
Black Sea coast of Turkey
Possibly Albania
Thoughts? Anyone been to these places?
I wonder if we’ll keep the record of at least three per game?
Ordinary British People don't like racism (which is why that pub in Lancashire banned white US servicemen during the war in response to the US Army demanding a colour bar).
Ordinary British people also do not like violent grifters and crooks who jump on bandwagons and exploit causes for their own ends and; similarly, do not like people making out they are morally superior by genuflecting to grifters and crooks.
You have not provided a single report that mentions drones. You know, leering in at your bathroom window when you are having a shower.
So far as I can see, it's all going to be bog standard wide area aerial photography and derived mapping that anyone can buy, so far as I can see. The same stuff as, for instance, the electricity board uses to keep track of its properties as a basis for further examination when needed.
And this election isn't even about Wales as far as domestic administration is concerned.
The case against Trump is mainly psychological: he doesn't seem to care about which state the Donbas is part of, therefore he's a bad man, therefore everything he does has malign intent.
It's a way of thinking that is detached from the material world. Biden has acted as a drag on the Western world's response all along, placing limits on what military aid is given and how it can be used and using NATO unity as an excuse for not doing more. He also failed to deter Putin in the first place after holding a summit meeting with him before the invasion.
All of this is excused because Biden is deemed to be on the right side. He doesn't want Putin to win, so it doesn't seem to matter what effect his actions have on the outcome.
It's about things like this
Police more than six times more likely to strip-search black children
Exclusive: New study also shows forces in England and Wales 10 times more likely to search black people
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/article/2024/jun/10/police-more-than-six-times-more-likely-to-strip-search-black-children
and this
https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/raheem-sterling-daily-mail_uk_5c0cf45de4b035a7bf5bf41c
The care home issue is principally due to a bubble of ageing baby boomer generation combined with deveopments in medicine that don't cure very ill people but prevent very ill people dying so they need 24h care. With private equity driving up costs too.
With Children, if anything there are less children than a generation ago, and the issue is legislation allowing dubious experts to medicalise badly behaved children and rewarding their parents financially (meanwhile those with genuine severe disability whos parents don't know how to game the system really struggle to get help because councils are overwhelmed).
Given the piss poor quality of some of those selected by BBC and ITV for the Euros, they will need the player id tech as they easily get confused.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/192954.The_Towers_of_Trebizond
Such a system could never be exploited
72 Conservative MPs means you need 24 to get through to the final stage.
One imagines that continuity, steady as she sinks, Sunakites can do that. Barclay or Badenoch, perhaps.
That leaves two wings- wets (Tugendhat?) and Farage-curious (Braverman?).
But then it goes to the membership, where I suspect Braverman beats Barclay beats Tugendhat.
The only alternative is that the continuity block has enough votes to nix the right wing, either by getting two of their own through to the final, or (more likely) lending enough votes to the wets to get them through.
It's all looking a bit 2001, and I'm not sure anyone on that list will cause Starmer sleepless nights. Hence the apparent enthusiasm for impossible candidates like Dave and Nigel.
That’s a bit much
https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https://preview.redd.it/vp0ebaj7g2mb1.jpg?auto=webp&s=d8f4db80015b51f4767fa290377e2eb9c4416995
I've been watching football cops as well - rare example of a following the police programme that is actually putting lots of new interesting information out there.
They also have pretty right wing views on liberal decadence in the UK.
Were I a Tory I would absolutely KBO until the last - a crazy results election can produce results which are crazy because you win when you should have lost.
For me there are broadly 2 big unknowns:
1. Does the Tory slide to Reform continue at this pace, ease off, stop or reverse? Are there enough don't know Tories who can be persuaded back?
2. Does the broad but shallow Labour vote on a landslide scale allow people to disappear off to start voting for what they want rather than in fear?
In essence, the Tories *could* find a reason for people to stop wandering off to RefUK, even if that reason is being begged not to kill them. And Labour could lose some of their projected seats on the left as people vote Green / Hamas independents and on the right as people vote LD to remove yet more Tories.
So yeah. 150 seats. Or 50 seats. The way is clear to both outcomes for the blues. I think the "we're going to get utterly crushed, think about what happens afterwards" play is all they have left. Stop wazzing on about what Labour will do to tax as nobody cares what you think. Talk instead about the shape of the country after a decade of a Labour super majority and is that really what you want?
Knowing you a little, after all these years, I doubt you're a particularly big fan of it anyway.
The vast majority of S&S will be in major settlements, where young people are much more likely to be non-white. Especially when you consider socio-economic status and racial make-ups of known gangs. The cause of the differing S&S rates is well upstream of the coppers making the decision who to search.
Trump got the Congressional GOP to delay US aid for over six months - which cost thousands of Ukrainian lives. And you're an apologist.
Mind you there is Senedd elections in May 2026 so expect it to be implemented by then
Some of that is diagnosis patterns, but also the baby boomlet around 2010 is still working its way through the school system.
Running at 100% capacity looks efficient, but it really isn't.
Universal Credit Disabled child element £1,873pa.
Which exempts you from the two child limit so if 3 or more kids in family
Extra Universal Child Element £3,455pa.
So badly behaved little Johnny getting an ADHD diagnosis is worth £5k a year tax free.
When the teacher calls you in about little johnnys bad behaviour they may well suggest getting help that leads to a diagnosis. The school getting £6k a year extra government funding for little Johnny if diagnosed of course dosen't enter into teachers head.
I suspect there is a lot of industry and some shit towns but still. Tempting. Trebizond has always tempted me just coz name
(I kid, I kid)
What is wrong with you
It is widely reported across media in Wales but why demeaning comments about a shower in our bathroom when in fact I am unable to shower anyway due to my health issues
You can dismiss us in Wales we are used to it, but the issue is that this is coming to England under Labour and rightly so
It might be much better to tackle the problem upstream and identify and intervene with these children much earlier.
DOI: I have a nephew with ADHD amongst other diagnoses. It's not an easy condition for a family to live with.
Multiple personalities. 24 hours a day. It can't be bargained with. It can't be reasoned with. It doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop.
Some people will need to find new hobbies.
Rebetiko, I think ?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebetiko
That isn't happening everywhere, of course.
It’s these daily and humble rituals which will eventually overcome racism, small as they seem at the time, and I encourage other PB-ers - equally concerned about racial division in our societies - to join me
There is much to be said about your post, little of which reflects well on you. But I thought I would concentrate on this.
If you look at what Putin has said he wants - including the maximalist surrender-of-Ukraine speech he made the other day, he does not just want the Donbass. He wants much more. Add in the way he is interfering in countries throughout Europe, including the Moldovan elections, and it is obvious you, as much as Trump, have malign intent.
De bernieres Birds without Wings is worth reading
It was placed in something akin to a shrine there, such was the reverence he was held in.
Tell me, do you want to stone them to death for that?
God save us from idiots!
Nasty pieces of work who know how to game the system and are quite unpleasant if resisted generally get their way as doctors/assessors etc are terrified of being thrown to the wolves if a complaint is made and don't want the hassle. Especially if an -ism is involved.
Big glass of wine.
BBC1.
C’mon England.
I will vote for any party which stops the police from running over cows.
https://x.com/JeremyClarkson/status/1802289165989486980
Scrub the shower and replace it with "leering at you in the sitting room keying in on PB."
And you still can't find something which confirms the drone story. I think you've been had by the Tories, opr their chums in the media.
I think you should be more realistic about the reasons why people who say things like that dislike it. I would suggest they are very rarely advocating more effective action against racism!
We all knew what the resut would be for ages.
Highlight of the campaign was when two Jags became two jabs.
But how can this go on for hours? If as local police you don't know who the beast is likely to belong to, you are not doing your job, but anyway you can zoom in on its eartag and ask DEFRA whose it is and get the farmer to sort it.