One good thing about the Farage Riots is that conservative commentators have suddenly noticed that there's an underclass of around 10%-15% who feel cut off from the rest of society. I'm not sure how they didn't notice that before but that's besides the point.
Given a bipartisan inclination to heal this divide in our society, what could this Parliament do to help this 10%-15% have a stake in our country again? Particularly asking PB_Tories here, what could Labour do that you would support them with?
Just found this article in UnHerd which gives a good explanation of what's going on imo. (I assume it's written from what a left-winger would regard as a Tory point of view).
I see Margaret Hodge has commented Labour shouldn't be frightened to talk about immigration.
Quite right.
There's a rule (Stodge's Seventh Political Law) which states "If you don't want to talk about a subject, someone else will. If you talk about the subject first, you can frame the conversation, if someone else does, they will."
At the moment, the immigration debate is being framed squarely by those who are "concerned" or "worried" or "anxious". No one is coming about with the positive argument for immigration (there is a strong economic one) or even the "we might not like it but we need it" argument.
There are echoes of the 2016 debate which was quickly controlled by those voices hostile to the EU - as we've often argued, those who wanted to offer a positive message either wouldn't or couldn't using words which worked for the public.
It has been a major discussion my entire life. The idea that talking about immigration has somehow been suppressed it total bollocks.
I'm not suggesting it's not talked about - I'm suggesting those who could or would put a more positive case for immigration have struggled to frame the discussion in those terms and have seemed unduly passive in the face of those hostile to both immigrants coming and those already here.
Here’s a piquant moral dilemma that I am facing. Maybe PB can help
Last night I met a few old friends for drinks. One of them - to put it bluntly - looked rather ill. Frail, suddenly quite thin, a persistent cough. At his age - mid 50s, one might worry
I didn’t say much apart from “you’ve got a bit of a cough” and he waved it away. Fair enough. Didn’t want to doom the evening by pressing him with medical questions
But I am concerned. He’s a dear old friend. I’ve considered talking to his wife “has X had himself checked out, he looks poorly”? But is even that intrusive? What if X knows he is sick and wants to ignore it or keep it private - as many do?
What’s the protocol?
Described the symptoms to my father.
You've got to launch an intervention.
The unexplained weight loss is a big red flag with cough.
With the big C you need to catch it early.
At worst you'll be seen as a busybody and at best a lifesaver.
Thankyou - that’s helpful. I have now sent his wife a quick text. Hopefully I’m utterly wrong and he’s just doing lots of exercise!
Just got back online after a weekend without internet. Wow. As far as the riots go, it seems to me unquestionable that Sir Keir has played a blinder. The man will reign supreme over the issue of law and order for the foreseeable future. As for the British Right - they (Farage in particular) have got themselves into a right old pickle. Not sure where they go from here.
Except that we've not had any VI polling. But we have seen SKS's personal rating plummeting. So there’s that.
But yeh, apart from actual facts, yep, legendary crisis management.
On a tangential note, it is great to see Charles maturing into his Kingship and failing to take the same overtly political line on the riots that SKS has taken. Given his instincts politically, it must have been tempting, but he's kept his nose clean. He must be getting good advice from somewhere.
I too think that Starmer has played a blinder in response to the riots. They're now utterly quashed and the rioters are getting their just deserts in a hardline response. There is as yet no up to date polling to back up whether my view is shared, but I'll back my judgement in the meantime. What polling there was on Starmer's favourability was more general and was also taken at a point when the riots appeared briefly out of control, so it is likely to be positively misleading on the question of how the government handled the riots specifically.
Unsurprisingly the state saw off this challenge to its authority. However hubris has set in. There is one case where a judge has remanded someone for just being present at the scene of some disorder, another where someone got a 2 year sentence for 'gesticulating' at the police. There is various other stuff, like one where a guy in the midlands went on an ill advised monologue about free speech on Twitter, in doing so retweeting another dodgy tweet, and ended up with 38 months in jail, he has 3 kids and grew up in care etc, they are losing their council house.
For the government to maintain the plausibility of the narrative that this is 'the justice system running its course without fear or favour', instances like the above need to be rapidly corrected. At the moment they are being used by Musk etc as evidence in support of their view of the situation. They also risk unnerving their 'left liberal' support base if they carry on with things like the above.
Yet for decades we have heard nothing from Conservative voices other than the sentiment we need to be tough on law and order. Blair (and now to an extent Starmer) have followed this - "tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime", anyone? In other words, it's fine for a Conservative HS to talk tough on crime but when Labour are equally if not more authoritarian (Straw, Blunkett) it's different. Indeed, since Douglas Hurd, every Conservative HS (in Government or Opposition) has tried to outdo their predecessor in sounding "tough" to curry favour with the political base.
There's a saying about the punishment fitting the crime - perhaps it's more about the punishment fitting the capacity of the prison system.
At a local political level here in Newham, the Momentum supporters, having been expelled from Labour, have formed their own Newham Independent group (it's not registered as a political party to my knowledge and those who stood under its banner in July were simply Independent candidates). They. along with the Greens, form the opposition to Labour on Newham Council (section 114 notice coming soon apparently).
In East Ham, the "Newham" Independent got just under 18% of the vote while the Green vote went from 1.6% to 11.2% beating the Conservatives (who had been second in every East Ham election since the year dot) by 350 votes into fourth place.
Similar happened in West Ham & Beckton whereas in other parts of Inner east and south London such as Greenwich, Woolwich and Lewisham, the Greens finished a clear second in front of both the LDs and the Conservatives.
Across London as a whole, the Green vote rose from 3% to 10% just behind the LDs (11%). At the 2022 locals, the Greens polled 12% in the capital (LDs 14%) but it wouldn't surprise me if the Greens finished third in London in 2026 - as to how that will translate in seats, I have no clue as to the strength or otherwise of their local organisation. The recent by elections in Beckton and Little Ilford weren't good for the Greens but I've no clue as to whether the Newham Independents will be able to call on the strength of vote in 2026 they could in 2024 (albeit down on 2023).
You forgot Wes Streeting, coming within 500 votes of losing Ilford North to an Independent.
As I’m instinctively in favour of rent controls and against nuclear power, please could someone (SKS fan or otherwise) explain, patiently, objectively, and without resorting to insults:
- why rent controls don’t work, and - how nuclear power is good for the environment?
I am asking this with an open mind.
(Not an SKS fan, but will nonetheless try to answer in good faith).
Rent controls are a distortion to the market, and encourage bad behaviours from both landlords and tenants. Properties subject to rent control are usually poorly looked after on both sides, and landlords always want the tenant to leave because they get to refurb and rent at a higher rate. Tenants are often stuck in place, unable to move because they’d have to pay market rate elsewhere, affecting the mobility of labour and the makeup of families. Rents on new contracts need to take into account that they’re not going to be allowed to rise over time, so are more expensive than would be the case in a free market.
Nuclear power is good for the environment because it mostly replaces power generation from the combustion of fossil fuels, with their associated carbon emissions. Nuclear plants don’t emit CO2 in operation, and can generate a lot of power for their physical size when compared to wind and solar farms.
So, AIUI from your reply and from elsewhere, the environmental benefits from nuclear are that the actual power generation is carbon-free and the power output and reliability are significantly better than solar and wind (particularly in the UK). Correct me if that’s not a fair summary.
On the down side, nuclear power generates vast amounts of toxic waste that carries huge environmental and economic costs when it comes to storage and disposal. As with fossil fuel powered energy generation, nuclear is also reliant on raw materials that, again, carry huge environmental costs in their extraction, transportation and storage… and [sweeping generalisation klaxon] much of the supply is sourced from areas of the world where less consideration is given to environmental concerns.
(History has also shown us that supposedly safe nuclear power is only safe until unforeseen and unlikely but not entirely unpredictable events occur and suddenly it isn’t safe anymore. And the environmental consequences of safety failures in nuclear power are beyond catastrophic.)
I’m not persuaded that the benefits of nuclear outweigh the costs (and risks) and, for me, I think we should ideally be eschewing it entirely in favour of a truly green energy strategy focused on:
Sure but my question was whether nuclear power is good for the environment, not whether it’s less bad than fossil fuels.
I think there’s a real danger that relying on nuclear as an apparently environmentally-friendly source of energy will hold back the development of - and transition to - actually environmentally-friendly energy sources.
Here’s a piquant moral dilemma that I am facing. Maybe PB can help
Last night I met a few old friends for drinks. One of them - to put it bluntly - looked rather ill. Frail, suddenly quite thin, a persistent cough. At his age - mid 50s, one might worry
I didn’t say much apart from “you’ve got a bit of a cough” and he waved it away. Fair enough. Didn’t want to doom the evening by pressing him with medical questions
But I am concerned. He’s a dear old friend. I’ve considered talking to his wife “has X had himself checked out, he looks poorly”? But is even that intrusive? What if X knows he is sick and wants to ignore it or keep it private - as many do?
What’s the protocol?
Described the symptoms to my father.
You've got to launch an intervention.
The unexplained weight loss is a big red flag with a cough.
With the big C you need to catch it early.
At worst you'll be seen as a busybody and at best a lifesaver.
My partner: "lung cancer, COPD, other cancer, doesn't matter that he has quit smoking, damage already done. Or severe depression + COVID. "
Me: "Bloke has taken up parkrun and Leon can't believe someone in their 50s can be so slender"
One good thing about the Farage Riots is that conservative commentators have suddenly noticed that there's an underclass of around 10%-15% who feel cut off from the rest of society. I'm not sure how they didn't notice that before but that's besides the point.
Given a bipartisan inclination to heal this divide in our society, what could this Parliament do to help this 10%-15% have a stake in our country again? Particularly asking PB_Tories here, what could Labour do that you would support them with?
Just found this article in UnHerd which gives a good explanation of what's going on imo. (I assume it's written from what a left-winger would regard as a Tory point of view).
Why are all these weightlifters carrying so much weight that doesn't count towards the competition?
I was wondering that. Looking at some of them, it’s clearly not all muscle - although they do have a lot of that as well. How does being overweight help lift weights?
Why are all these weightlifters carrying so much weight that doesn't count towards the competition?
I was wondering that. Looking at some of them, it’s clearly not all muscle - although they do have a lot of that as well. How does being overweight help lift weights?
It's a puzzle. Maybe it stops you falling over, like a concrete umbrella base?
One good thing about the Farage Riots is that conservative commentators have suddenly noticed that there's an underclass of around 10%-15% who feel cut off from the rest of society. I'm not sure how they didn't notice that before but that's besides the point.
Given a bipartisan inclination to heal this divide in our society, what could this Parliament do to help this 10%-15% have a stake in our country again? Particularly asking PB_Tories here, what could Labour do that you would support them with?
Just found this article in UnHerd which gives a good explanation of what's going on imo. (I assume it's written from what a left-winger would regard as a Tory point of view).
One good thing about the Farage Riots is that conservative commentators have suddenly noticed that there's an underclass of around 10%-15% who feel cut off from the rest of society. I'm not sure how they didn't notice that before but that's besides the point.
Given a bipartisan inclination to heal this divide in our society, what could this Parliament do to help this 10%-15% have a stake in our country again? Particularly asking PB_Tories here, what could Labour do that you would support them with?
Just found this article in UnHerd which gives a good explanation of what's going on imo. (I assume it's written from what a left-winger would regard as a Tory point of view).
At a local political level here in Newham, the Momentum supporters, having been expelled from Labour, have formed their own Newham Independent group (it's not registered as a political party to my knowledge and those who stood under its banner in July were simply Independent candidates). They. along with the Greens, form the opposition to Labour on Newham Council (section 114 notice coming soon apparently).
In East Ham, the "Newham" Independent got just under 18% of the vote while the Green vote went from 1.6% to 11.2% beating the Conservatives (who had been second in every East Ham election since the year dot) by 350 votes into fourth place.
Similar happened in West Ham & Beckton whereas in other parts of Inner east and south London such as Greenwich, Woolwich and Lewisham, the Greens finished a clear second in front of both the LDs and the Conservatives.
Across London as a whole, the Green vote rose from 3% to 10% just behind the LDs (11%). At the 2022 locals, the Greens polled 12% in the capital (LDs 14%) but it wouldn't surprise me if the Greens finished third in London in 2026 - as to how that will translate in seats, I have no clue as to the strength or otherwise of their local organisation. The recent by elections in Beckton and Little Ilford weren't good for the Greens but I've no clue as to whether the Newham Independents will be able to call on the strength of vote in 2026 they could in 2024 (albeit down on 2023).
You forgot Wes Streeting, coming within 500 votes of losing Ilford North to an Independent.
I don't know if the Independent candidates in the two Ilford seats had any links (direct or otherwise) to the Newham Independent candidates. It may be we'll see Redbridge Independents in 2026. I know there are three Independents on Redbridge who have broken from the Labour group since 2022 but I don't know the cirumstances (Gaza ?).
I see Margaret Hodge has commented Labour shouldn't be frightened to talk about immigration.
Quite right.
There's a rule (Stodge's Seventh Political Law) which states "If you don't want to talk about a subject, someone else will. If you talk about the subject first, you can frame the conversation, if someone else does, they will."
At the moment, the immigration debate is being framed squarely by those who are "concerned" or "worried" or "anxious". No one is coming about with the positive argument for immigration (there is a strong economic one) or even the "we might not like it but we need it" argument.
There are echoes of the 2016 debate which was quickly controlled by those voices hostile to the EU - as we've often argued, those who wanted to offer a positive message either wouldn't or couldn't using words which worked for the public.
Margaret has certainly talked about immigration in the past..
More Americans trust Kamala Harris to handle the US economy than Donald Trump, according to a new poll that marks a sharp change in voter sentiment following President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the White House race.
The survey, conducted for the Financial Times and the University of Michigan Ross School of Business, is the first monthly poll to show the Democratic presidential candidate leading Trump on the economy since it began tracking voter sentiment on the issue nearly a year ago.
Although 41 per cent of Americans still trust the former president more on economic issues — unchanged from the two previous monthly polls — the survey found 42 per cent of voters believe Harris would be better at handling the economy. That is a 7 percentage point increase compared to Biden’s numbers last month.
“The fact that voters were more positive on Harris than on Biden . . . says as much about how badly Biden was doing as it does about how well Harris is doing,” said Erik Gordon, a professor at the university.
One good thing about the Farage Riots is that conservative commentators have suddenly noticed that there's an underclass of around 10%-15% who feel cut off from the rest of society. I'm not sure how they didn't notice that before but that's besides the point.
Given a bipartisan inclination to heal this divide in our society, what could this Parliament do to help this 10%-15% have a stake in our country again? Particularly asking PB_Tories here, what could Labour do that you would support them with?
Just found this article in UnHerd which gives a good explanation of what's going on imo. (I assume it's written from what a left-winger would regard as a Tory point of view).
The Dutch are going to beat GB in the medal table, just saying.
GB are going to get 65 medals but only 14 gold.
That will be the worst ratio since 1996.
Interestingly the target was 50 to 70 medals but it seems without a target for golds.
And now we understand why.
If there were a special prize for stacking up bronze medals, the British team would be away and clear in second place, behind only the Americans.
The rowers and the horsey people will be pretty pleased and athletics wasn't too far off, but beyond that rather a lot has gone wrong. There will be nervous sweating over lottery money in many governing bodies.
The cyclists in particular did not do anything like as well as they hoped. I think it was 1 gold medal in the women's sprint? 8 other medals but none of them gold. I think that may well hurt them. They have been really well funded up to now.
The Dutch are going to beat GB in the medal table, just saying.
GB are going to get 65 medals but only 14 gold.
That will be the worst ratio since 1996.
Interestingly the target was 50 to 70 medals but it seems without a target for golds.
And now we understand why.
If there were a special prize for stacking up bronze medals, the British team would be away and clear in second place, behind only the Americans.
The rowers and the horsey people will be pretty pleased and athletics wasn't too far off, but beyond that rather a lot has gone wrong. There will be nervous sweating over lottery money in many governing bodies.
The cyclists in particular did not do anything like as well as they hoped. I think it was 1 gold medal in the women's sprint? 8 other medals but none of them gold. I think that may well hurt them. They have been really well funded up to now.
It will be tough in the next games in LA, given that the Americans have no concept whatsoever of staging an event with neutrality as to the outcomes.
The Dutch are going to beat GB in the medal table, just saying.
GB are going to get 65 medals but only 14 gold.
That will be the worst ratio since 1996.
Interestingly the target was 50 to 70 medals but it seems without a target for golds.
And now we understand why.
If there were a special prize for stacking up bronze medals, the British team would be away and clear in second place, behind only the Americans.
The rowers and the horsey people will be pretty pleased and athletics wasn't too far off, but beyond that rather a lot has gone wrong. There will be nervous sweating over lottery money in many governing bodies.
The cyclists in particular did not do anything like as well as they hoped. I think it was 1 gold medal in the women's sprint? 8 other medals but none of them gold. I think that may well hurt them. They have been really well funded up to now.
If there were medals for cycling through red lights, holding up motorists and frightening pensioners, we would have been guaranteed three more gold medals.
Why are all these weightlifters carrying so much weight that doesn't count towards the competition?
I was wondering that. Looking at some of them, it’s clearly not all muscle - although they do have a lot of that as well. How does being overweight help lift weights?
It's a puzzle. Maybe it stops you falling over, like a concrete umbrella base?
Same with sumo wrestlers. The fat helps in some way.
The Dutch are going to beat GB in the medal table, just saying.
GB are going to get 65 medals but only 14 gold.
That will be the worst ratio since 1996.
Interestingly the target was 50 to 70 medals but it seems without a target for golds.
And now we understand why.
If there were a special prize for stacking up bronze medals, the British team would be away and clear in second place, behind only the Americans.
The rowers and the horsey people will be pretty pleased and athletics wasn't too far off, but beyond that rather a lot has gone wrong. There will be nervous sweating over lottery money in many governing bodies.
The cyclists in particular did not do anything like as well as they hoped. I think it was 1 gold medal in the women's sprint? 8 other medals but none of them gold. I think that may well hurt them. They have been really well funded up to now.
If there were medals for cycling through red lights, holding up motorists and frightening pensioners, we would have been guaranteed three more gold medals.
The Dutch are going to beat GB in the medal table, just saying.
GB are going to get 65 medals but only 14 gold.
That will be the worst ratio since 1996.
Interestingly the target was 50 to 70 medals but it seems without a target for golds.
And now we understand why.
If there were a special prize for stacking up bronze medals, the British team would be away and clear in second place, behind only the Americans.
The rowers and the horsey people will be pretty pleased and athletics wasn't too far off, but beyond that rather a lot has gone wrong. There will be nervous sweating over lottery money in many governing bodies.
Hmmm…
I’m not sure I share the assessment that “a lot has gone wrong.” In many disciplines, at that level, the margins between third and first are pretty small. There have been a good few near-misses across a number of sports these games, which would have inflated our gold medal count quite significantly if they’d gone the other way. Sometimes it comes down to very marginal factors on the day. This is why I suspect the number of medals is considered more than the colour - if you’re getting people onto the podiums chances are you’re going to get some first place finishes in a decent number of those.
We have won more medals overall than Tokyo. I don’t think there’s anything wrong fundamentally with the system. So I’m afraid I cannot share any sentiment that this has been a failure. Essentially it boils down to - we have done really well as a national team but we’ve come away with a few less golds than we’d have liked.
There are however as with any Olympics some particular disciplines that need to review things. We should be doing much better in sailing, for instance.
At a local political level here in Newham, the Momentum supporters, having been expelled from Labour, have formed their own Newham Independent group (it's not registered as a political party to my knowledge and those who stood under its banner in July were simply Independent candidates). They. along with the Greens, form the opposition to Labour on Newham Council (section 114 notice coming soon apparently).
In East Ham, the "Newham" Independent got just under 18% of the vote while the Green vote went from 1.6% to 11.2% beating the Conservatives (who had been second in every East Ham election since the year dot) by 350 votes into fourth place.
Similar happened in West Ham & Beckton whereas in other parts of Inner east and south London such as Greenwich, Woolwich and Lewisham, the Greens finished a clear second in front of both the LDs and the Conservatives.
Across London as a whole, the Green vote rose from 3% to 10% just behind the LDs (11%). At the 2022 locals, the Greens polled 12% in the capital (LDs 14%) but it wouldn't surprise me if the Greens finished third in London in 2026 - as to how that will translate in seats, I have no clue as to the strength or otherwise of their local organisation. The recent by elections in Beckton and Little Ilford weren't good for the Greens but I've no clue as to whether the Newham Independents will be able to call on the strength of vote in 2026 they could in 2024 (albeit down on 2023).
You forgot Wes Streeting, coming within 500 votes of losing Ilford North to an Independent.
I don't know if the Independent candidates in the two Ilford seats had any links (direct or otherwise) to the Newham Independent candidates. It may be we'll see Redbridge Independents in 2026. I know there are three Independents on Redbridge who have broken from the Labour group since 2022 but I don't know the cirumstances (Gaza ?).
Leanne Mohamad, Streeting's challenger, is a British Palestinian.
The Dutch are going to beat GB in the medal table, just saying.
GB are going to get 65 medals but only 14 gold.
That will be the worst ratio since 1996.
Interestingly the target was 50 to 70 medals but it seems without a target for golds.
And now we understand why.
If there were a special prize for stacking up bronze medals, the British team would be away and clear in second place, behind only the Americans.
The rowers and the horsey people will be pretty pleased and athletics wasn't too far off, but beyond that rather a lot has gone wrong. There will be nervous sweating over lottery money in many governing bodies.
Hmmm…
I’m not sure I share the assessment that “a lot has gone wrong.” In many disciplines, at that level, the margins between third and first are pretty small. There have been a good few near-misses across a number of sports these games, which would have inflated our gold medal count quite significantly if they’d gone the other way. Sometimes it comes down to very marginal factors on the day. This is why I suspect the number of medals is considered more than the colour - if you’re getting people onto the podiums chances are you’re going to get some first place finishes in a decent number of those.
We have won more medals overall than Tokyo. I don’t think there’s anything wrong fundamentally with the system. So I’m afraid I cannot share any sentiment that this has been a failure. Essentially it boils down to - we have done really well as a national team but we’ve come away with a few less golds than we’d have liked.
There are however as with any Olympics some particular disciplines that need to review things. We should be doing much better in sailing, for instance.
3 of the athletics silver medals were particularly strong. Hudson Smith, Kerr and KJT. They weren't your average silvers. They were a cut above.
One good thing about the Farage Riots is that conservative commentators have suddenly noticed that there's an underclass of around 10%-15% who feel cut off from the rest of society. I'm not sure how they didn't notice that before but that's besides the point.
Given a bipartisan inclination to heal this divide in our society, what could this Parliament do to help this 10%-15% have a stake in our country again? Particularly asking PB_Tories here, what could Labour do that you would support them with?
Just found this article in UnHerd which gives a good explanation of what's going on imo. (I assume it's written from what a left-winger would regard as a Tory point of view).
Just got back online after a weekend without internet. Wow. As far as the riots go, it seems to me unquestionable that Sir Keir has played a blinder. The man will reign supreme over the issue of law and order for the foreseeable future. As for the British Right - they (Farage in particular) have got themselves into a right old pickle. Not sure where they go from here.
Except that we've not had any VI polling. But we have seen SKS's personal rating plummeting. So there’s that.
But yeh, apart from actual facts, yep, legendary crisis management.
On a tangential note, it is great to see Charles maturing into his Kingship and failing to take the same overtly political line on the riots that SKS has taken. Given his instincts politically, it must have been tempting, but he's kept his nose clean. He must be getting good advice from somewhere.
I too think that Starmer has played a blinder in response to the riots. They're now utterly quashed and the rioters are getting their just deserts in a hardline response. There is as yet no up to date polling to back up whether my view is shared, but I'll back my judgement in the meantime. What polling there was on Starmer's favourability was more general and was also taken at a point when the riots appeared briefly out of control, so it is likely to be positively misleading on the question of how the government handled the riots specifically.
Unsurprisingly the state saw off this challenge to its authority. However hubris has set in. There is one case where a judge has remanded someone for just being present at the scene of some disorder, another where someone got a 2 year sentence for 'gesticulating' at the police. There is various other stuff, like one where a guy in the midlands went on an ill advised monologue about free speech on Twitter, in doing so retweeting another dodgy tweet, and ended up with 38 months in jail, he has 3 kids and grew up in care etc, they are losing their council house.
For the government to maintain the plausibility of the narrative that this is 'the justice system running its course without fear or favour', instances like the above need to be rapidly corrected. At the moment they are being used by Musk etc as evidence in support of their view of the situation. They also risk unnerving their 'left liberal' support base if they carry on with things like the above.
It would be good to provide links to individual cases so we can judge how bad they are. The fact Musk is tweeting about them makes it more likely that there is something intentionally misleading going on, so as a timesaving measure gets filed under probably bullshit until facts are provided.
On the Rent Controls debate, let me try and illustrate the loss of flexibility. This is long, but I'm not putting this information in a header.
If rent controls are passed, they will lock in a framework of CPI increases *every* year, because if it is not done it is lost, and flexibility is impossible. They will f*ck it all up, because they always f*ck it all up, through listening to media, politics, Shelter, Generation Rent etc who are just not in touch as they only hear the negative side.
Last time they f*cked up pet rentals, by making normal options of an extra deposit, an agreed T-paid deep clean at the end, or a short term extra rent for one year to build up a deposit into criminal offences. So the only option I have left to manage the extra risk is a permanently higher rent - not good for LL or T. I can't drop it back because I think that makes the previous higher period an offence.
(This is aside from the problem that Corporates such as Grainger and Aviva, L&G etc do rentals for professionals in income percentiles ~70-95+%, not the mainstream long-term rental market).
Compare to a rental increase I agreed with a T yesterday, from £700 to £754, or 7.7%. This T has been with me since 2017, and I expect them to stay until about 2035, since there are children under 10. Circumstances:
* I set rentals to align with Housing Benefit on time, and benefit % increase on amount so that it is a clear process, they don't have to send extra paperwork at funny times of the year etc, and increases are fair and justifiable.
* The % increase is set for April by CPI the previous September (was 6.7%). It's been weird for the previous Gov who's approach was "freeze in cash terms & catch-up when it is good for us politically", which is perverse. I can't use that, so do the above. This year T has the General Election 3-year "save our arse" Tory political catch-up, & is up by ~£100.
* This one is above inflation; this evens out.
* This was delayed from April since 1) T has changed jobs and it took time for her to work out where just where her finances would be. 2) Works have been happening - new boiler, plastering, and T asked for a gas-based not electric-based bath mixer shower to reduce bills (3 kids).
* I'm gradually recovering a fall back in rent levels at 1-3% a year over inflation because I gave all Ts a 2 year cash-freeze in Covid to help them, and to give a buffer on energy bills going nuts (even though all my houses are very well insulated / ventilated). Motivation for me is because it's right to do, I look after my Ts, and Ts leaving is the most expensive thing anyway at £2-3k per time.
* Next increase will be April 2025, which I have let this T know is looking like 2-3%.
This type of tenancy and management is not in the universe of possibility for build-to-letters; they have overheads and cost bases that make it impossible
For the Govt to make this impossible would be a shame.
The Dutch are going to beat GB in the medal table, just saying.
GB are going to get 65 medals but only 14 gold.
That will be the worst ratio since 1996.
Interestingly the target was 50 to 70 medals but it seems without a target for golds.
And now we understand why.
If there were a special prize for stacking up bronze medals, the British team would be away and clear in second place, behind only the Americans.
The rowers and the horsey people will be pretty pleased and athletics wasn't too far off, but beyond that rather a lot has gone wrong. There will be nervous sweating over lottery money in many governing bodies.
The cyclists in particular did not do anything like as well as they hoped. I think it was 1 gold medal in the women's sprint? 8 other medals but none of them gold. I think that may well hurt them. They have been really well funded up to now.
If there were medals for cycling through red lights, holding up motorists and frightening pensioners, we would have been guaranteed three more gold medals.
From Edinburgh alone.
If we are doing Edinburgh, they could have had a tram tracks obstacle course for cyclists, with the winner being the one with the fewest unnecessary hospital visits .
One good thing about the Farage Riots is that conservative commentators have suddenly noticed that there's an underclass of around 10%-15% who feel cut off from the rest of society. I'm not sure how they didn't notice that before but that's besides the point.
Given a bipartisan inclination to heal this divide in our society, what could this Parliament do to help this 10%-15% have a stake in our country again? Particularly asking PB_Tories here, what could Labour do that you would support them with?
Just found this article in UnHerd which gives a good explanation of what's going on imo. (I assume it's written from what a left-winger would regard as a Tory point of view).
“You merely adopted the rain. I was born in it. Moulded by it. I didn’t see the sun until I was already a man, by then it was nothing to me but blinding!”
More Americans trust Kamala Harris to handle the US economy than Donald Trump, according to a new poll that marks a sharp change in voter sentiment following President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the White House race.
The survey, conducted for the Financial Times and the University of Michigan Ross School of Business, is the first monthly poll to show the Democratic presidential candidate leading Trump on the economy since it began tracking voter sentiment on the issue nearly a year ago.
Although 41 per cent of Americans still trust the former president more on economic issues — unchanged from the two previous monthly polls — the survey found 42 per cent of voters believe Harris would be better at handling the economy. That is a 7 percentage point increase compared to Biden’s numbers last month.
“The fact that voters were more positive on Harris than on Biden . . . says as much about how badly Biden was doing as it does about how well Harris is doing,” said Erik Gordon, a professor at the university.
There have been some embarrassing confessions on PB over the years, but wow...
I have one for everyday. It clips on my cycle handlebars.
What's embarrassing?
(If anyone says it IS embarrassing, I'm not interested.)
I have a man bag. I take it when I go out. It has my spectacles and my headphones in it. It was a freebie with two bottles of Johnnie Walker green label many years ago. Served me well. Also got a smaller leather one. If others want to feel embarrasment on my part feel free. I don’t. I last had it on the works night out.
I mean, that hasn’t stopped a number of government programs in the past. Several of which led to praise and promotion for the people in charge. The Nimrod MRA4 was an awesome success on that metric - jobs in the right places, promotions, honours.
If people actually wanted to cut *illegal* immigration massively, killing the black economy would be a start. Which is actually fairly simple. But that would break too many vested interests.
I had big issues with the Rwanda plan - I favour a system where Rwanda (or another offshore location with no attraction for economic migrants) would be the default destination for all irregularly arrivals who wished to claim asylum, and the successful ones would be shipped back on the return voyage. That seemed fair, would remove the refoulement issue, and the disincentive would remain the same.
However, flawed as it was, it was already proving to be a factor in many would-be boat decisions, and I believe that had it taken a few hundred, the news of that would have cratered boat crossings. Yes, perhaps it would have been overwhelmed very quickly (though I think it could have been scaled up, plus it would have emptied as soon as filled, because nobody would want to stay there) but who's going to volunteer to pay a people smuggler to be at the front of the queue to find out?
More Americans trust Kamala Harris to handle the US economy than Donald Trump, according to a new poll that marks a sharp change in voter sentiment following President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the White House race.
The survey, conducted for the Financial Times and the University of Michigan Ross School of Business, is the first monthly poll to show the Democratic presidential candidate leading Trump on the economy since it began tracking voter sentiment on the issue nearly a year ago.
Although 41 per cent of Americans still trust the former president more on economic issues — unchanged from the two previous monthly polls — the survey found 42 per cent of voters believe Harris would be better at handling the economy. That is a 7 percentage point increase compared to Biden’s numbers last month.
“The fact that voters were more positive on Harris than on Biden . . . says as much about how badly Biden was doing as it does about how well Harris is doing,” said Erik Gordon, a professor at the university.
Proposition. Trump was never a good candidate for 2024.
A combination of the January 7 riot and RoevWadeRIP shot him in the knees. It was only Biden's senility and the not-gone-away inflation pulse that kept him afloat. Now than JBxPOTUS Kamala can pretend to be a clean-sheet, leaving Trump as sin-eater for the past four years, and his poll numbers are hysteresising (I made a word!) back to his base state
On the Rent Controls debate, let me try and illustrate the loss of flexibility. This is long, but I'm not putting this information in a header.
If rent controls are passed, they will lock in a framework of CPI increases *every* year, because if it is not done it is lost, and flexibility is impossible. They will f*ck it all up, because they always f*ck it all up, through listening to media, politics, Shelter, Generation Rent etc who are just not in touch as they only hear the negative side.
Last time they f*cked up pet rentals, by making normal options of an extra deposit, an agreed T-paid deep clean at the end, or a short term extra rent for one year to build up a deposit into criminal offences. So the only option I have left to manage the extra risk is a permanently higher rent - not good for LL or T. I can't drop it back because I think that makes the previous higher period an offence.
(This is aside from the problem that Corporates such as Grainger and Aviva, L&G etc do rentals for professionals in income percentiles ~70-95+%, not the mainstream long-term rental market).
Compare to a rental increase I agreed with a T yesterday, from £700 to £754, or 7.7%. This T has been with me since 2017, and I expect them to stay until about 2035, since there are children under 10. Circumstances:
* I set rentals to align with Housing Benefit on time, and benefit % increase on amount so that it is a clear process, they don't have to send extra paperwork at funny times of the year etc, and increases are fair and justifiable.
* The % increase is set for April by CPI the previous September (was 6.7%). It's been weird for the previous Gov who's approach was "freeze in cash terms & catch-up when it is good for us politically", which is perverse. I can't use that, so do the above. This year T has the General Election 3-year "save our arse" Tory political catch-up, & is up by ~£100.
* This one is above inflation; this evens out.
* This was delayed from April since 1) T has changed jobs and it took time for her to work out where just where her finances would be. 2) Works have been happening - new boiler, plastering, and T asked for a gas-based not electric-based bath mixer shower to reduce bills (3 kids).
* I'm gradually recovering a fall back in rent levels at 1-3% a year over inflation because I gave all Ts a 2 year cash-freeze in Covid to help them, and to give a buffer on energy bills going nuts (even though all my houses are very well insulated / ventilated). Motivation for me is because it's right to do, I look after my Ts, and Ts leaving is the most expensive thing anyway at £2-3k per time.
* Next increase will be April 2025, which I have let this T know is looking like 2-3%.
This type of tenancy and management is not in the universe of possibility for build-to-letters; they have overheads and cost bases that make it impossible
For the Govt to make this impossible would be a shame.
Interesting post. Will you stay in with the proposed law changes from labour.
I have no real life stake in this debate. We have just the one home and would not touch BTL.
This does have the feel of policy made by single issue lobbyists and activist journalists. Someone replied earlier to say if private landlords are forced out then good. I think be careful what you wish for. To echo Bart, we need more homes, increase supply and demand.
Just got back online after a weekend without internet. Wow. As far as the riots go, it seems to me unquestionable that Sir Keir has played a blinder. The man will reign supreme over the issue of law and order for the foreseeable future. As for the British Right - they (Farage in particular) have got themselves into a right old pickle. Not sure where they go from here.
Except that we've not had any VI polling. But we have seen SKS's personal rating plummeting. So there’s that.
But yeh, apart from actual facts, yep, legendary crisis management.
On a tangential note, it is great to see Charles maturing into his Kingship and failing to take the same overtly political line on the riots that SKS has taken. Given his instincts politically, it must have been tempting, but he's kept his nose clean. He must be getting good advice from somewhere.
I too think that Starmer has played a blinder in response to the riots. They're now utterly quashed and the rioters are getting their just deserts in a hardline response. There is as yet no up to date polling to back up whether my view is shared, but I'll back my judgement in the meantime. What polling there was on Starmer's favourability was more general and was also taken at a point when the riots appeared briefly out of control, so it is likely to be positively misleading on the question of how the government handled the riots specifically.
Unsurprisingly the state saw off this challenge to its authority. However hubris has set in. There is one case where a judge has remanded someone for just being present at the scene of some disorder, another where someone got a 2 year sentence for 'gesticulating' at the police. There is various other stuff, like one where a guy in the midlands went on an ill advised monologue about free speech on Twitter, in doing so retweeting another dodgy tweet, and ended up with 38 months in jail, he has 3 kids and grew up in care etc, they are losing their council house.
For the government to maintain the plausibility of the narrative that this is 'the justice system running its course without fear or favour', instances like the above need to be rapidly corrected. At the moment they are being used by Musk etc as evidence in support of their view of the situation. They also risk unnerving their 'left liberal' support base if they carry on with things like the above.
That's genuinely despicable about the Twitter man; I didn't know that. I don't know how anybody with a moral compass could support that.
There have been some embarrassing confessions on PB over the years, but wow...
I have one for everyday. It clips on my cycle handlebars.
What's embarrassing?
(If anyone says it IS embarrassing, I'm not interested.)
I have a man bag. I take it when I go out. It has my spectacles and my headphones in it. It was a freebie with two bottles of Johnnie Walker green label many years ago. Served me well. Also got a smaller leather one. If others want to feel embarrasment on my part feel free. I don’t. I last had it on the works night out.
I mean, that hasn’t stopped a number of government programs in the past. Several of which led to praise and promotion for the people in charge. The Nimrod MRA4 was an awesome success on that metric - jobs in the right places, promotions, honours.
If people actually wanted to cut *illegal* immigration massively, killing the black economy would be a start. Which is actually fairly simple. But that would break too many vested interests.
I had big issues with the Rwanda plan - I favour a system where Rwanda (or another offshore location with no attraction for economic migrants) would be the default destination for all irregularly arrivals who wished to claim asylum, and the successful ones would be shipped back on the return voyage. That seemed fair, would remove the refoulement issue, and the disincentive would remain the same.
However, flawed as it was, it was already proving to be a factor in many would-be boat decisions, and I believe that had it taken a few hundred, the news of that would have cratered boat crossings. Yes, perhaps it would have been overwhelmed very quickly (though I think it could have been scaled up, plus it would have emptied as soon as filled, because nobody would want to stay there) but who's going to volunteer to pay a people smuggler to be at the front of the queue to find out?
It's also adds to the mystery of Sunak's bizarre decision to call a summer election
Like you I think a better version of the Rwanda plan would certainly work. However, even the deeply flawed and foolish version we had was, it seems, beginning to exercise a deterrent effect. The Irish said so. Why, then, in God's name did Sunak not wait a few more months, by which time he could say Look, I AM stopping the boats?
I sometimes wonder if he actually wanted to lose, and wanted to scupper Rwanda, by losing. Or he's just bloody useless at politics. Probably the latter
On the Rent Controls debate, let me try and illustrate the loss of flexibility. This is long, but I'm not putting this information in a header.
If rent controls are passed, they will lock in a framework of CPI increases *every* year, because if it is not done it is lost, and flexibility is impossible. They will f*ck it all up, because they always f*ck it all up, through listening to media, politics, Shelter, Generation Rent etc who are just not in touch as they only hear the negative side.
Last time they f*cked up pet rentals, by making normal options of an extra deposit, an agreed T-paid deep clean at the end, or a short term extra rent for one year to build up a deposit into criminal offences. So the only option I have left to manage the extra risk is a permanently higher rent - not good for LL or T. I can't drop it back because I think that makes the previous higher period an offence.
(This is aside from the problem that Corporates such as Grainger and Aviva, L&G etc do rentals for professionals in income percentiles ~70-95+%, not the mainstream long-term rental market).
Compare to a rental increase I agreed with a T yesterday, from £700 to £754, or 7.7%. This T has been with me since 2017, and I expect them to stay until about 2035, since there are children under 10. Circumstances:
* I set rentals to align with Housing Benefit on time, and benefit % increase on amount so that it is a clear process, they don't have to send extra paperwork at funny times of the year etc, and increases are fair and justifiable.
* The % increase is set for April by CPI the previous September (was 6.7%). It's been weird for the previous Gov who's approach was "freeze in cash terms & catch-up when it is good for us politically", which is perverse. I can't use that, so do the above. This year T has the General Election 3-year "save our arse" Tory political catch-up, & is up by ~£100.
* This one is above inflation; this evens out.
* This was delayed from April since 1) T has changed jobs and it took time for her to work out where just where her finances would be. 2) Works have been happening - new boiler, plastering, and T asked for a gas-based not electric-based bath mixer shower to reduce bills (3 kids).
* I'm gradually recovering a fall back in rent levels at 1-3% a year over inflation because I gave all Ts a 2 year cash-freeze in Covid to help them, and to give a buffer on energy bills going nuts (even though all my houses are very well insulated / ventilated). Motivation for me is because it's right to do, I look after my Ts, and Ts leaving is the most expensive thing anyway at £2-3k per time.
* Next increase will be April 2025, which I have let this T know is looking like 2-3%.
This type of tenancy and management is not in the universe of possibility for build-to-letters; they have overheads and cost bases that make it impossible
For the Govt to make this impossible would be a shame.
Interesting post. Will you stay in with the proposed law changes from labour.
I have no real life stake in this debate. We have just the one home and would not touch BTL.
This does have the feel of policy made by single issue lobbyists and activist journalists. Someone replied earlier to say if private landlords are forced out then good. I think be careful what you wish for. To echo Bart, we need more homes, increase supply and demand.
I recently inherited a house (not expensive!) and had to consider whether to rent it out. Decided firmly against, and sold up - happily it's now a family home again. Key, but not only, elements were (a) I couldn't face the hassle of doing it well, (b) I'm not enough of a bastard to do it badly. I found posts on PB - especially but not only by @MattW - enormously useful in getting a sense of the pros and cons.
Just got back online after a weekend without internet. Wow. As far as the riots go, it seems to me unquestionable that Sir Keir has played a blinder. The man will reign supreme over the issue of law and order for the foreseeable future. As for the British Right - they (Farage in particular) have got themselves into a right old pickle. Not sure where they go from here.
Except that we've not had any VI polling. But we have seen SKS's personal rating plummeting. So there’s that.
But yeh, apart from actual facts, yep, legendary crisis management.
On a tangential note, it is great to see Charles maturing into his Kingship and failing to take the same overtly political line on the riots that SKS has taken. Given his instincts politically, it must have been tempting, but he's kept his nose clean. He must be getting good advice from somewhere.
I too think that Starmer has played a blinder in response to the riots. They're now utterly quashed and the rioters are getting their just deserts in a hardline response. There is as yet no up to date polling to back up whether my view is shared, but I'll back my judgement in the meantime. What polling there was on Starmer's favourability was more general and was also taken at a point when the riots appeared briefly out of control, so it is likely to be positively misleading on the question of how the government handled the riots specifically.
Unsurprisingly the state saw off this challenge to its authority. However hubris has set in. There is one case where a judge has remanded someone for just being present at the scene of some disorder, another where someone got a 2 year sentence for 'gesticulating' at the police. There is various other stuff, like one where a guy in the midlands went on an ill advised monologue about free speech on Twitter, in doing so retweeting another dodgy tweet, and ended up with 38 months in jail, he has 3 kids and grew up in care etc, they are losing their council house.
For the government to maintain the plausibility of the narrative that this is 'the justice system running its course without fear or favour', instances like the above need to be rapidly corrected. At the moment they are being used by Musk etc as evidence in support of their view of the situation. They also risk unnerving their 'left liberal' support base if they carry on with things like the above.
That's genuinely despicable about the Twitter man; I didn't know that. I don't know how anybody with a moral compass could support that.
Is this the man?
'He tweeted on Wednesday: "Mass deportations now, set fire to all the f***ing hotels full of the b******s for all I care... If that makes me racist, so be it". '
I mean, that hasn’t stopped a number of government programs in the past. Several of which led to praise and promotion for the people in charge. The Nimrod MRA4 was an awesome success on that metric - jobs in the right places, promotions, honours.
If people actually wanted to cut *illegal* immigration massively, killing the black economy would be a start. Which is actually fairly simple. But that would break too many vested interests.
I had big issues with the Rwanda plan - I favour a system where Rwanda (or another offshore location with no attraction for economic migrants) would be the default destination for all irregularly arrivals who wished to claim asylum, and the successful ones would be shipped back on the return voyage. That seemed fair, would remove the refoulement issue, and the disincentive would remain the same.
However, flawed as it was, it was already proving to be a factor in many would-be boat decisions, and I believe that had it taken a few hundred, the news of that would have cratered boat crossings. Yes, perhaps it would have been overwhelmed very quickly (though I think it could have been scaled up, plus it would have emptied as soon as filled, because nobody would want to stay there) but who's going to volunteer to pay a people smuggler to be at the front of the queue to find out?
It's also adds to the mystery of Sunak's bizarre decision to call a summer election
Like you I think a better version of the Rwanda plan would certainly work. However, even the deeply flawed and foolish version we had was, it seems, beginning to exercise a deterrent effect. The Irish said so. Why, then, in God's name did Sunak not wait a few more months, by which time he could say Look, I AM stopping the boats?
I sometimes wonder if he actually wanted to lose, and wanted to scupper Rwanda, by losing. Or he's just bloody useless at politics. Probably the latter
I believe that there was a leadership challenge in the offing and he made good his threat to call the election if he were challenged. I can't see any other logic. I think some of those behind the challenge were the ones who quit as MPs when Sunak called the election.
Milk in first, with tea, obviously. (Or better, no milk at all.) Other way round for coffee.
You're plain wrong as to the order. Is it Magee (?) who's book goes into the chemistry - anyway milk does change the chemistry of tea, so it's a different drink with or without. I like them both.
On the Rent Controls debate, let me try and illustrate the loss of flexibility. This is long, but I'm not putting this information in a header.
If rent controls are passed, they will lock in a framework of CPI increases *every* year, because if it is not done it is lost, and flexibility is impossible. They will f*ck it all up, because they always f*ck it all up, through listening to media, politics, Shelter, Generation Rent etc who are just not in touch as they only hear the negative side.
Last time they f*cked up pet rentals, by making normal options of an extra deposit, an agreed T-paid deep clean at the end, or a short term extra rent for one year to build up a deposit into criminal offences. So the only option I have left to manage the extra risk is a permanently higher rent - not good for LL or T. I can't drop it back because I think that makes the previous higher period an offence.
(This is aside from the problem that Corporates such as Grainger and Aviva, L&G etc do rentals for professionals in income percentiles ~70-95+%, not the mainstream long-term rental market).
Compare to a rental increase I agreed with a T yesterday, from £700 to £754, or 7.7%. This T has been with me since 2017, and I expect them to stay until about 2035, since there are children under 10. Circumstances:
* I set rentals to align with Housing Benefit on time, and benefit % increase on amount so that it is a clear process, they don't have to send extra paperwork at funny times of the year etc, and increases are fair and justifiable.
* The % increase is set for April by CPI the previous September (was 6.7%). It's been weird for the previous Gov who's approach was "freeze in cash terms & catch-up when it is good for us politically", which is perverse. I can't use that, so do the above. This year T has the General Election 3-year "save our arse" Tory political catch-up, & is up by ~£100.
* This one is above inflation; this evens out.
* This was delayed from April since 1) T has changed jobs and it took time for her to work out where just where her finances would be. 2) Works have been happening - new boiler, plastering, and T asked for a gas-based not electric-based bath mixer shower to reduce bills (3 kids).
* I'm gradually recovering a fall back in rent levels at 1-3% a year over inflation because I gave all Ts a 2 year cash-freeze in Covid to help them, and to give a buffer on energy bills going nuts (even though all my houses are very well insulated / ventilated). Motivation for me is because it's right to do, I look after my Ts, and Ts leaving is the most expensive thing anyway at £2-3k per time.
* Next increase will be April 2025, which I have let this T know is looking like 2-3%.
This type of tenancy and management is not in the universe of possibility for build-to-letters; they have overheads and cost bases that make it impossible
For the Govt to make this impossible would be a shame.
Interesting post. Will you stay in with the proposed law changes from labour.
I have no real life stake in this debate. We have just the one home and would not touch BTL.
This does have the feel of policy made by single issue lobbyists and activist journalists. Someone replied earlier to say if private landlords are forced out then good. I think be careful what you wish for. To echo Bart, we need more homes, increase supply and demand.
I'll stay in; it's the main chunk of my pension arrangements.
When I was diagnosed diabetic in 2001 in my early 30s, they told me it was likely that on average stats I would lose 15 years of life expectancy - which does rather mitigate against investments that may not survive IHT. Though I do have some small private pension setups (15 years contributions).
The sweet spot for small LLs for the last few years has been non-leveraged (Osborne 2014 reforms which tax business finance expenses paid out as income) and which ideally does not tip into higher rate income tax. I'm low leverage and small portfolio, which partly does that. I also have good tenants in general.
From proposals I have seen, the one that would hurt me would be transfer of Council Tax to LL - which would be ~15% of rental income potentially, which is a *lot* to lose in one hit.
CGT does not worry particularly, as I bought with long-term time horizons. Land lord licensing which is not in Ashfield yet is a pain but manageable, though Councils *always* try and insert things that are not legal.
Milk in first, with tea, obviously. (Or better, no milk at all.) Other way round for coffee.
You must be making it in a pot - dunno how you'd make it with a bag with the milk in first.
It was an old class thing. If you could afford good China you'd put your tea in first. I put my tea in first, but I think it's easier to gauge how much milk to put in that way. If the tea is strong you might want more milk. How do you judge that with the milk already in?
I see Margaret Hodge has commented Labour shouldn't be frightened to talk about immigration.
Quite right.
There's a rule (Stodge's Seventh Political Law) which states "If you don't want to talk about a subject, someone else will. If you talk about the subject first, you can frame the conversation, if someone else does, they will."
At the moment, the immigration debate is being framed squarely by those who are "concerned" or "worried" or "anxious". No one is coming about with the positive argument for immigration (there is a strong economic one) or even the "we might not like it but we need it" argument.
There are echoes of the 2016 debate which was quickly controlled by those voices hostile to the EU - as we've often argued, those who wanted to offer a positive message either wouldn't or couldn't using words which worked for the public.
The important aspect of this point is that in 2010, the LibDems - as part of the Coalition Agreement - forbade any discussion of the possibility of an EU referendum.
Just got back online after a weekend without internet. Wow. As far as the riots go, it seems to me unquestionable that Sir Keir has played a blinder. The man will reign supreme over the issue of law and order for the foreseeable future. As for the British Right - they (Farage in particular) have got themselves into a right old pickle. Not sure where they go from here.
Except that we've not had any VI polling. But we have seen SKS's personal rating plummeting. So there’s that.
But yeh, apart from actual facts, yep, legendary crisis management.
On a tangential note, it is great to see Charles maturing into his Kingship and failing to take the same overtly political line on the riots that SKS has taken. Given his instincts politically, it must have been tempting, but he's kept his nose clean. He must be getting good advice from somewhere.
I too think that Starmer has played a blinder in response to the riots. They're now utterly quashed and the rioters are getting their just deserts in a hardline response. There is as yet no up to date polling to back up whether my view is shared, but I'll back my judgement in the meantime. What polling there was on Starmer's favourability was more general and was also taken at a point when the riots appeared briefly out of control, so it is likely to be positively misleading on the question of how the government handled the riots specifically.
Unsurprisingly the state saw off this challenge to its authority. However hubris has set in. There is one case where a judge has remanded someone for just being present at the scene of some disorder, another where someone got a 2 year sentence for 'gesticulating' at the police. There is various other stuff, like one where a guy in the midlands went on an ill advised monologue about free speech on Twitter, in doing so retweeting another dodgy tweet, and ended up with 38 months in jail, he has 3 kids and grew up in care etc, they are losing their council house.
For the government to maintain the plausibility of the narrative that this is 'the justice system running its course without fear or favour', instances like the above need to be rapidly corrected. At the moment they are being used by Musk etc as evidence in support of their view of the situation. They also risk unnerving their 'left liberal' support base if they carry on with things like the above.
That's genuinely despicable about the Twitter man; I didn't know that. I don't know how anybody with a moral compass could support that.
Is this the man?
'He tweeted on Wednesday: "Mass deportations now, set fire to all the f***ing hotels full of the b******s for all I care... If that makes me racist, so be it". '
If so, Darkage' s description of the case doesn't seem accurate
That is a quote tweet (of a tweet by the councillor's wife), and it was part of a sequence of tweets where he actually tagged the police, because he was trying to prove a political point
In the circs, even quote-tweeting was foolish, but the intent was not to foment trouble, it was to query police tactics
For that he has got more than three years in jail, and he's lost his home
A few weeks cooling down in chokey would have been sufficient. Three years??
Milk in first, with tea, obviously. (Or better, no milk at all.) Other way round for coffee.
You must be making it in a pot - dunno how you'd make it with a bag with the milk in first.
It was an old class thing. If you could afford good China you'd put your tea in first. I put my tea in first, but I think it's easier to gauge how much milk to put in that way. If the tea is strong you might want more milk. How do you judge that with the milk already in?
Actually boiling tea poured on to second class 'china' may have been an issue. Shabby old @Nigelb !
I have a very radical way of doing instant coffee - obviously I prefer proper coffee but it's not always on offer. Use Millicano instant it's a bit nicer.
Anyway, first you mix your instant coffee with just a little bit of hot water - it doesn't make a paste, but something more like a half shot of espresso in consistency. Then you add your milk, and stir. Then you fill up with hot water. I think it tastes nicer, and my theory is that the fats in the milk are latching on to the coffee at a molecular level to create a smoother taste. Which is likely bollocks but I do prefer the taste to the other way, and others have commented without knowing I'd done it.
Remember that weird, and probably shite-stirring, piece in the DT the other day about Home Counties people supposedly having to pay more for Scottish electricity? With a pretty map of weird zones like some new Heptarchy? The timing might be to do with this ...
More Americans trust Kamala Harris to handle the US economy than Donald Trump, according to a new poll that marks a sharp change in voter sentiment following President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the White House race.
The survey, conducted for the Financial Times and the University of Michigan Ross School of Business, is the first monthly poll to show the Democratic presidential candidate leading Trump on the economy since it began tracking voter sentiment on the issue nearly a year ago.
Although 41 per cent of Americans still trust the former president more on economic issues — unchanged from the two previous monthly polls — the survey found 42 per cent of voters believe Harris would be better at handling the economy. That is a 7 percentage point increase compared to Biden’s numbers last month.
“The fact that voters were more positive on Harris than on Biden . . . says as much about how badly Biden was doing as it does about how well Harris is doing,” said Erik Gordon, a professor at the university.
Proposition. Trump was never a good candidate for 2024.
A combination of the January 7 riot and RoevWadeRIP shot him in the knees. It was only Biden's senility and the not-gone-away inflation pulse that kept him afloat. Now than JBxPOTUS Kamala can pretend to be a clean-sheet, leaving Trump as sin-eater for the past four years, and his poll numbers are hysteresising (I made a word!) back to his base state
Trump is a sh*t candidate.
The problem was that Biden, through his age, was also a sh*t candidate.
Everyone thought Harris was going to be a sh*t candidate, but so far she comes across as being able to string a coherent sentence together and hasn’t picked a weirdo for VP, so in contrast to Trump she looks amazingly impressive.
I think she occupies a bit of a magic zone where she can own the administration’s successes while avoiding taking much responsibility for its failures, or hinting she’d do things a bit differently. See her nudge-nudge triangulation on Gaza, for example.
More Americans trust Kamala Harris to handle the US economy than Donald Trump, according to a new poll that marks a sharp change in voter sentiment following President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the White House race.
The survey, conducted for the Financial Times and the University of Michigan Ross School of Business, is the first monthly poll to show the Democratic presidential candidate leading Trump on the economy since it began tracking voter sentiment on the issue nearly a year ago.
Although 41 per cent of Americans still trust the former president more on economic issues — unchanged from the two previous monthly polls — the survey found 42 per cent of voters believe Harris would be better at handling the economy. That is a 7 percentage point increase compared to Biden’s numbers last month.
“The fact that voters were more positive on Harris than on Biden . . . says as much about how badly Biden was doing as it does about how well Harris is doing,” said Erik Gordon, a professor at the university.
Or it's the result of his predicting a Great Depression, saying he ought to take over from the Fed in setting interest rates, and having a general meltdown last week.
Just got back online after a weekend without internet. Wow. As far as the riots go, it seems to me unquestionable that Sir Keir has played a blinder. The man will reign supreme over the issue of law and order for the foreseeable future. As for the British Right - they (Farage in particular) have got themselves into a right old pickle. Not sure where they go from here.
Except that we've not had any VI polling. But we have seen SKS's personal rating plummeting. So there’s that.
But yeh, apart from actual facts, yep, legendary crisis management.
On a tangential note, it is great to see Charles maturing into his Kingship and failing to take the same overtly political line on the riots that SKS has taken. Given his instincts politically, it must have been tempting, but he's kept his nose clean. He must be getting good advice from somewhere.
I too think that Starmer has played a blinder in response to the riots. They're now utterly quashed and the rioters are getting their just deserts in a hardline response. There is as yet no up to date polling to back up whether my view is shared, but I'll back my judgement in the meantime. What polling there was on Starmer's favourability was more general and was also taken at a point when the riots appeared briefly out of control, so it is likely to be positively misleading on the question of how the government handled the riots specifically.
Unsurprisingly the state saw off this challenge to its authority. However hubris has set in. There is one case where a judge has remanded someone for just being present at the scene of some disorder, another where someone got a 2 year sentence for 'gesticulating' at the police. There is various other stuff, like one where a guy in the midlands went on an ill advised monologue about free speech on Twitter, in doing so retweeting another dodgy tweet, and ended up with 38 months in jail, he has 3 kids and grew up in care etc, they are losing their council house.
For the government to maintain the plausibility of the narrative that this is 'the justice system running its course without fear or favour', instances like the above need to be rapidly corrected. At the moment they are being used by Musk etc as evidence in support of their view of the situation. They also risk unnerving their 'left liberal' support base if they carry on with things like the above.
That's genuinely despicable about the Twitter man; I didn't know that. I don't know how anybody with a moral compass could support that.
Is this the man?
'He tweeted on Wednesday: "Mass deportations now, set fire to all the f***ing hotels full of the b******s for all I care... If that makes me racist, so be it". '
If so, Darkage' s description of the case doesn't seem accurate
That is a quote tweet (of a tweet by the councillor's wife), and it was part of a sequence of tweets where he actually tagged the police, because he was trying to prove a political point
In the circs, even quote-tweeting was foolish, but the intent was not to foment trouble, it was to query police tactics
For that he has got more than three years in jail, and he's lost his home
A few weeks cooling down in chokey would have been sufficient. Three years??
I think a severe talking to would have been appropriate, if examples needed to be made, then yes a few weeks as a short sharp shock. Three years is unconscionable. That's police state stuff - grim.
Milk in first, with tea, obviously. (Or better, no milk at all.) Other way round for coffee.
You must be making it in a pot - dunno how you'd make it with a bag with the milk in first.
It was an old class thing. If you could afford good China you'd put your tea in first. I put my tea in first, but I think it's easier to gauge how much milk to put in that way. If the tea is strong you might want more milk. How do you judge that with the milk already in?
Milk in first, with tea, obviously. (Or better, no milk at all.) Other way round for coffee.
You must be making it in a pot - dunno how you'd make it with a bag with the milk in first.
It was an old class thing. If you could afford good China you'd put your tea in first. I put my tea in first, but I think it's easier to gauge how much milk to put in that way. If the tea is strong you might want more milk. How do you judge that with the milk already in?
Well yes, who doesn't use a teapot ?
On the rare occasion I make tea (usually in an office setting) I don't use a teapot. If you do, good for you.
Remember that weird, and probably shite-stirring, piece in the DT the other day about Home Counties people supposedly having to pay more for Scottish electricity? With a pretty map of weird zones like some new Heptarchy? The timing might be to do with this ...
Just got back online after a weekend without internet. Wow. As far as the riots go, it seems to me unquestionable that Sir Keir has played a blinder. The man will reign supreme over the issue of law and order for the foreseeable future. As for the British Right - they (Farage in particular) have got themselves into a right old pickle. Not sure where they go from here.
Except that we've not had any VI polling. But we have seen SKS's personal rating plummeting. So there’s that.
But yeh, apart from actual facts, yep, legendary crisis management.
On a tangential note, it is great to see Charles maturing into his Kingship and failing to take the same overtly political line on the riots that SKS has taken. Given his instincts politically, it must have been tempting, but he's kept his nose clean. He must be getting good advice from somewhere.
I too think that Starmer has played a blinder in response to the riots. They're now utterly quashed and the rioters are getting their just deserts in a hardline response. There is as yet no up to date polling to back up whether my view is shared, but I'll back my judgement in the meantime. What polling there was on Starmer's favourability was more general and was also taken at a point when the riots appeared briefly out of control, so it is likely to be positively misleading on the question of how the government handled the riots specifically.
Unsurprisingly the state saw off this challenge to its authority. However hubris has set in. There is one case where a judge has remanded someone for just being present at the scene of some disorder, another where someone got a 2 year sentence for 'gesticulating' at the police. There is various other stuff, like one where a guy in the midlands went on an ill advised monologue about free speech on Twitter, in doing so retweeting another dodgy tweet, and ended up with 38 months in jail, he has 3 kids and grew up in care etc, they are losing their council house.
For the government to maintain the plausibility of the narrative that this is 'the justice system running its course without fear or favour', instances like the above need to be rapidly corrected. At the moment they are being used by Musk etc as evidence in support of their view of the situation. They also risk unnerving their 'left liberal' support base if they carry on with things like the above.
That's genuinely despicable about the Twitter man; I didn't know that. I don't know how anybody with a moral compass could support that.
Is this the man?
'He tweeted on Wednesday: "Mass deportations now, set fire to all the f***ing hotels full of the b******s for all I care... If that makes me racist, so be it". '
If so, Darkage' s description of the case doesn't seem accurate
That is a quote tweet (of a tweet by the councillor's wife), and it was part of a sequence of tweets where he actually tagged the police, because he was trying to prove a political point
In the circs, even quote-tweeting was foolish, but the intent was not to foment trouble, it was to query police tactics
For that he has got more than three years in jail, and he's lost his home
A few weeks cooling down in chokey would have been sufficient. Three years??
There's a picture of the actual tweet in the news story I linked to above, I don't how to do pictures here, so maybe someone can post it so people can judge for themselves.
As for tagging the police the only sign of that I can see is that in the list of hashtags under the tweet it has #f***northamptonshirepolice
If you are right then please provide a source, please don't take this the wrong way, but experience has taught me that you are often full of shit
Just got back online after a weekend without internet. Wow. As far as the riots go, it seems to me unquestionable that Sir Keir has played a blinder. The man will reign supreme over the issue of law and order for the foreseeable future. As for the British Right - they (Farage in particular) have got themselves into a right old pickle. Not sure where they go from here.
Except that we've not had any VI polling. But we have seen SKS's personal rating plummeting. So there’s that.
But yeh, apart from actual facts, yep, legendary crisis management.
On a tangential note, it is great to see Charles maturing into his Kingship and failing to take the same overtly political line on the riots that SKS has taken. Given his instincts politically, it must have been tempting, but he's kept his nose clean. He must be getting good advice from somewhere.
I too think that Starmer has played a blinder in response to the riots. They're now utterly quashed and the rioters are getting their just deserts in a hardline response. There is as yet no up to date polling to back up whether my view is shared, but I'll back my judgement in the meantime. What polling there was on Starmer's favourability was more general and was also taken at a point when the riots appeared briefly out of control, so it is likely to be positively misleading on the question of how the government handled the riots specifically.
Unsurprisingly the state saw off this challenge to its authority. However hubris has set in. There is one case where a judge has remanded someone for just being present at the scene of some disorder, another where someone got a 2 year sentence for 'gesticulating' at the police. There is various other stuff, like one where a guy in the midlands went on an ill advised monologue about free speech on Twitter, in doing so retweeting another dodgy tweet, and ended up with 38 months in jail, he has 3 kids and grew up in care etc, they are losing their council house.
For the government to maintain the plausibility of the narrative that this is 'the justice system running its course without fear or favour', instances like the above need to be rapidly corrected. At the moment they are being used by Musk etc as evidence in support of their view of the situation. They also risk unnerving their 'left liberal' support base if they carry on with things like the above.
That's genuinely despicable about the Twitter man; I didn't know that. I don't know how anybody with a moral compass could support that.
Is this the man?
'He tweeted on Wednesday: "Mass deportations now, set fire to all the f***ing hotels full of the b******s for all I care... If that makes me racist, so be it". '
If so, Darkage' s description of the case doesn't seem accurate
That is a quote tweet (of a tweet by the councillor's wife), and it was part of a sequence of tweets where he actually tagged the police, because he was trying to prove a political point
In the circs, even quote-tweeting was foolish, but the intent was not to foment trouble, it was to query police tactics
For that he has got more than three years in jail, and he's lost his home
A few weeks cooling down in chokey would have been sufficient. Three years??
It's not a quote tweet. Itv showed it was an actual tweet that he typed.
One good thing about the Farage Riots is that conservative commentators have suddenly noticed that there's an underclass of around 10%-15% who feel cut off from the rest of society. I'm not sure how they didn't notice that before but that's besides the point.
Given a bipartisan inclination to heal this divide in our society, what could this Parliament do to help this 10%-15% have a stake in our country again? Particularly asking PB_Tories here, what could Labour do that you would support them with?
Just found this article in UnHerd which gives a good explanation of what's going on imo. (I assume it's written from what a left-winger would regard as a Tory point of view).
Remember that weird, and probably shite-stirring, piece in the DT the other day about Home Counties people supposedly having to pay more for Scottish electricity? With a pretty map of weird zones like some new Heptarchy? The timing might be to do with this ...
Remember that weird, and probably shite-stirring, piece in the DT the other day about Home Counties people supposedly having to pay more for Scottish electricity? With a pretty map of weird zones like some new Heptarchy? The timing might be to do with this ...
.... while making the already ugly bits even uglier. Everything we do, these days, feels like self harm. I cannot wait to escape
My viewpoint for such things is very simple
1) we need the extra capacity 2) if they wish for the cables to be buried underground they should pay the extra costs attached to that burial as part of their electricity standing Charge
Now all you have to do is find X people willing to pay £30 extra a month and see how many still complain...
Milk in first, with tea, obviously. (Or better, no milk at all.) Other way round for coffee.
You must be making it in a pot - dunno how you'd make it with a bag with the milk in first.
It was an old class thing. If you could afford good China you'd put your tea in first. I put my tea in first, but I think it's easier to gauge how much milk to put in that way. If the tea is strong you might want more milk. How do you judge that with the milk already in?
If others are making the tea, I always ask if I can put in my own milk. Some peoples’ tea needs crutches to help it out of the pot.
Remember that weird, and probably shite-stirring, piece in the DT the other day about Home Counties people supposedly having to pay more for Scottish electricity? With a pretty map of weird zones like some new Heptarchy? The timing might be to do with this ...
More Americans trust Kamala Harris to handle the US economy than Donald Trump, according to a new poll that marks a sharp change in voter sentiment following President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the White House race.
The survey, conducted for the Financial Times and the University of Michigan Ross School of Business, is the first monthly poll to show the Democratic presidential candidate leading Trump on the economy since it began tracking voter sentiment on the issue nearly a year ago.
Although 41 per cent of Americans still trust the former president more on economic issues — unchanged from the two previous monthly polls — the survey found 42 per cent of voters believe Harris would be better at handling the economy. That is a 7 percentage point increase compared to Biden’s numbers last month.
“The fact that voters were more positive on Harris than on Biden . . . says as much about how badly Biden was doing as it does about how well Harris is doing,” said Erik Gordon, a professor at the university.
Proposition. Trump was never a good candidate for 2024.
A combination of the January 7 riot and RoevWadeRIP shot him in the knees. It was only Biden's senility and the not-gone-away inflation pulse that kept him afloat. Now than JBxPOTUS Kamala can pretend to be a clean-sheet, leaving Trump as sin-eater for the past four years, and his poll numbers are hysteresising (I made a word!) back to his base state
Trump is a sh*t candidate.
The problem was that Biden, through his age, was also a sh*t candidate.
Everyone thought Harris was going to be a sh*t candidate, but so far she comes across as being able to string a coherent sentence together and hasn’t picked a weirdo for VP, so in contrast to Trump she looks amazingly impressive.
I think she occupies a bit of a magic zone where she can own the administration’s successes while avoiding taking much responsibility for its failures, or hinting she’d do things a bit differently. See her nudge-nudge triangulation on Gaza, for example.
Milk in first, with tea, obviously. (Or better, no milk at all.) Other way round for coffee.
You must be making it in a pot - dunno how you'd make it with a bag with the milk in first.
It was an old class thing. If you could afford good China you'd put your tea in first. I put my tea in first, but I think it's easier to gauge how much milk to put in that way. If the tea is strong you might want more milk. How do you judge that with the milk already in?
Well yes, who doesn't use a teapot ?
On the rare occasion I make tea (usually in an office setting) I don't use a teapot. If you do, good for you.
Just got back online after a weekend without internet. Wow. As far as the riots go, it seems to me unquestionable that Sir Keir has played a blinder. The man will reign supreme over the issue of law and order for the foreseeable future. As for the British Right - they (Farage in particular) have got themselves into a right old pickle. Not sure where they go from here.
Except that we've not had any VI polling. But we have seen SKS's personal rating plummeting. So there’s that.
But yeh, apart from actual facts, yep, legendary crisis management.
On a tangential note, it is great to see Charles maturing into his Kingship and failing to take the same overtly political line on the riots that SKS has taken. Given his instincts politically, it must have been tempting, but he's kept his nose clean. He must be getting good advice from somewhere.
I too think that Starmer has played a blinder in response to the riots. They're now utterly quashed and the rioters are getting their just deserts in a hardline response. There is as yet no up to date polling to back up whether my view is shared, but I'll back my judgement in the meantime. What polling there was on Starmer's favourability was more general and was also taken at a point when the riots appeared briefly out of control, so it is likely to be positively misleading on the question of how the government handled the riots specifically.
Unsurprisingly the state saw off this challenge to its authority. However hubris has set in. There is one case where a judge has remanded someone for just being present at the scene of some disorder, another where someone got a 2 year sentence for 'gesticulating' at the police. There is various other stuff, like one where a guy in the midlands went on an ill advised monologue about free speech on Twitter, in doing so retweeting another dodgy tweet, and ended up with 38 months in jail, he has 3 kids and grew up in care etc, they are losing their council house.
For the government to maintain the plausibility of the narrative that this is 'the justice system running its course without fear or favour', instances like the above need to be rapidly corrected. At the moment they are being used by Musk etc as evidence in support of their view of the situation. They also risk unnerving their 'left liberal' support base if they carry on with things like the above.
That's genuinely despicable about the Twitter man; I didn't know that. I don't know how anybody with a moral compass could support that.
Is this the man?
'He tweeted on Wednesday: "Mass deportations now, set fire to all the f***ing hotels full of the b******s for all I care... If that makes me racist, so be it". '
If so, Darkage' s description of the case doesn't seem accurate
That is a quote tweet (of a tweet by the councillor's wife), and it was part of a sequence of tweets where he actually tagged the police, because he was trying to prove a political point
In the circs, even quote-tweeting was foolish, but the intent was not to foment trouble, it was to query police tactics
For that he has got more than three years in jail, and he's lost his home
A few weeks cooling down in chokey would have been sufficient. Three years??
There's a picture of the actual tweet in the news story I linked to above, I don't how to do pictures here, so maybe someone can post it so people can judge for themselves.
As for tagging the police the only sign of that I can see is that in the list of hashtags under the tweet it has #f***northamptonshirepolice
If you are right then please provide a source, please don't take this the wrong way, but experience has taught me that you are often full of shit
Likewise, I find you consitently full of shit, rancid with hypocrisy, also myopic, ludicrous, and idiotic, and dumb as a fucking pit-pony AS WELL, but honestly it's nothing personal
Here's the evidence
"TYLER KAY WENT TO PRISON AND LOST HIS HOUSE FOR COPYING A POST ON X
Tyler was sentenced to 38 months in prison for copying a post made on X by Lucy Connolly, the wife of a Conservative councilor.
The post read: “Mass deportation now, set fire to all the f*king hotels full of the ba*ards for all I care…If that makes me a racist, so be it.”
Lucy had been arrested for the post, and Tyler was trying to prove that he wouldn’t be arrested.
He made this clear in a reply to his post, stating: “My point is more, it’s one rule for some and another rule for others.”
Despite his barrister explaining he was immature, had grown up in care, and would lose his council house as a result of a prison sentence, the judge said he “clearly intended to incite serious violence.”
He then sent Tyler, a father of 3, to prison for 3 years and 2 months.
i believe the arrest and conviction was correct. Even copying an incendiary tweet to make a point is extremely foolish during a time of tiots. But 3 years 2 months in jail?
One good thing about the Farage Riots is that conservative commentators have suddenly noticed that there's an underclass of around 10%-15% who feel cut off from the rest of society. I'm not sure how they didn't notice that before but that's besides the point.
Given a bipartisan inclination to heal this divide in our society, what could this Parliament do to help this 10%-15% have a stake in our country again? Particularly asking PB_Tories here, what could Labour do that you would support them with?
Just found this article in UnHerd which gives a good explanation of what's going on imo. (I assume it's written from what a left-winger would regard as a Tory point of view).
Remember that weird, and probably shite-stirring, piece in the DT the other day about Home Counties people supposedly having to pay more for Scottish electricity? With a pretty map of weird zones like some new Heptarchy? The timing might be to do with this ...
One good thing about the Farage Riots is that conservative commentators have suddenly noticed that there's an underclass of around 10%-15% who feel cut off from the rest of society. I'm not sure how they didn't notice that before but that's besides the point.
Given a bipartisan inclination to heal this divide in our society, what could this Parliament do to help this 10%-15% have a stake in our country again? Particularly asking PB_Tories here, what could Labour do that you would support them with?
Just found this article in UnHerd which gives a good explanation of what's going on imo. (I assume it's written from what a left-winger would regard as a Tory point of view).
Remember that weird, and probably shite-stirring, piece in the DT the other day about Home Counties people supposedly having to pay more for Scottish electricity? With a pretty map of weird zones like some new Heptarchy? The timing might be to do with this ...
Just got back online after a weekend without internet. Wow. As far as the riots go, it seems to me unquestionable that Sir Keir has played a blinder. The man will reign supreme over the issue of law and order for the foreseeable future. As for the British Right - they (Farage in particular) have got themselves into a right old pickle. Not sure where they go from here.
Except that we've not had any VI polling. But we have seen SKS's personal rating plummeting. So there’s that.
But yeh, apart from actual facts, yep, legendary crisis management.
On a tangential note, it is great to see Charles maturing into his Kingship and failing to take the same overtly political line on the riots that SKS has taken. Given his instincts politically, it must have been tempting, but he's kept his nose clean. He must be getting good advice from somewhere.
I too think that Starmer has played a blinder in response to the riots. They're now utterly quashed and the rioters are getting their just deserts in a hardline response. There is as yet no up to date polling to back up whether my view is shared, but I'll back my judgement in the meantime. What polling there was on Starmer's favourability was more general and was also taken at a point when the riots appeared briefly out of control, so it is likely to be positively misleading on the question of how the government handled the riots specifically.
Unsurprisingly the state saw off this challenge to its authority. However hubris has set in. There is one case where a judge has remanded someone for just being present at the scene of some disorder, another where someone got a 2 year sentence for 'gesticulating' at the police. There is various other stuff, like one where a guy in the midlands went on an ill advised monologue about free speech on Twitter, in doing so retweeting another dodgy tweet, and ended up with 38 months in jail, he has 3 kids and grew up in care etc, they are losing their council house.
For the government to maintain the plausibility of the narrative that this is 'the justice system running its course without fear or favour', instances like the above need to be rapidly corrected. At the moment they are being used by Musk etc as evidence in support of their view of the situation. They also risk unnerving their 'left liberal' support base if they carry on with things like the above.
That's genuinely despicable about the Twitter man; I didn't know that. I don't know how anybody with a moral compass could support that.
Is this the man?
'He tweeted on Wednesday: "Mass deportations now, set fire to all the f***ing hotels full of the b******s for all I care... If that makes me racist, so be it". '
If so, Darkage' s description of the case doesn't seem accurate
That is a quote tweet (of a tweet by the councillor's wife), and it was part of a sequence of tweets where he actually tagged the police, because he was trying to prove a political point
In the circs, even quote-tweeting was foolish, but the intent was not to foment trouble, it was to query police tactics
For that he has got more than three years in jail, and he's lost his home
A few weeks cooling down in chokey would have been sufficient. Three years??
There's a picture of the actual tweet in the news story I linked to above, I don't how to do pictures here, so maybe someone can post it so people can judge for themselves.
As for tagging the police the only sign of that I can see is that in the list of hashtags under the tweet it has #f***northamptonshirepolice
If you are right then please provide a source, please don't take this the wrong way, but experience has taught me that you are often full of shit
Likewise, I find you consitently full of shit, rancid with hypocrisy, also myopic, ludicrous, and idiotic, and dumb as a fucking pit-pony AS WELL, but honestly it's nothing personal
Here's the evidence
"TYLER KAY WENT TO PRISON AND LOST HIS HOUSE FOR COPYING A POST ON X
Tyler was sentenced to 38 months in prison for copying a post made on X by Lucy Connolly, the wife of a Conservative councilor.
The post read: “Mass deportation now, set fire to all the f*king hotels full of the ba*ards for all I care…If that makes me a racist, so be it.”
Lucy had been arrested for the post, and Tyler was trying to prove that he wouldn’t be arrested.
He made this clear in a reply to his post, stating: “My point is more, it’s one rule for some and another rule for others.”
Despite his barrister explaining he was immature, had grown up in care, and would lose his council house as a result of a prison sentence, the judge said he “clearly intended to incite serious violence.”
He then sent Tyler, a father of 3, to prison for 3 years and 2 months.
i believe the arrest and conviction was correct. Even copying an incendiary tweet to make a point is extremely foolish during a time of tiots. But 3 years 2 months in jail?
The authoritarian state has gone mad
Given that he was only jailed on Friday how come he has already lost his home?
I mean it's incredibly likely to occur that he will lose his home (mainly because he won't be in it for 18 months and won't be paying the bills) but he hasn't lost it yet.
Edit - I'm also not sure about his “My point is more, it’s one rule for some and another rule for others.”
As the people I expect he is talking about (Farage and co) were a bit cleverer in what they actually wrote..
I see Margaret Hodge has commented Labour shouldn't be frightened to talk about immigration.
Quite right.
There's a rule (Stodge's Seventh Political Law) which states "If you don't want to talk about a subject, someone else will. If you talk about the subject first, you can frame the conversation, if someone else does, they will."
At the moment, the immigration debate is being framed squarely by those who are "concerned" or "worried" or "anxious". No one is coming about with the positive argument for immigration (there is a strong economic one) or even the "we might not like it but we need it" argument.
There are echoes of the 2016 debate which was quickly controlled by those voices hostile to the EU - as we've often argued, those who wanted to offer a positive message either wouldn't or couldn't using words which worked for the public.
The important aspect of this point is that in 2010, the LibDems - as part of the Coalition Agreement - forbade any discussion of the possibility of an EU referendum.
So Farage did.
The rest, as they say...
Looking at the coalition agreement, I can't see any mention of anyone forbidding discussion of the possibility of an EU referendum. Perhaps you could quote the relevant passage?
Just got back online after a weekend without internet. Wow. As far as the riots go, it seems to me unquestionable that Sir Keir has played a blinder. The man will reign supreme over the issue of law and order for the foreseeable future. As for the British Right - they (Farage in particular) have got themselves into a right old pickle. Not sure where they go from here.
Except that we've not had any VI polling. But we have seen SKS's personal rating plummeting. So there’s that.
But yeh, apart from actual facts, yep, legendary crisis management.
On a tangential note, it is great to see Charles maturing into his Kingship and failing to take the same overtly political line on the riots that SKS has taken. Given his instincts politically, it must have been tempting, but he's kept his nose clean. He must be getting good advice from somewhere.
I too think that Starmer has played a blinder in response to the riots. They're now utterly quashed and the rioters are getting their just deserts in a hardline response. There is as yet no up to date polling to back up whether my view is shared, but I'll back my judgement in the meantime. What polling there was on Starmer's favourability was more general and was also taken at a point when the riots appeared briefly out of control, so it is likely to be positively misleading on the question of how the government handled the riots specifically.
Unsurprisingly the state saw off this challenge to its authority. However hubris has set in. There is one case where a judge has remanded someone for just being present at the scene of some disorder, another where someone got a 2 year sentence for 'gesticulating' at the police. There is various other stuff, like one where a guy in the midlands went on an ill advised monologue about free speech on Twitter, in doing so retweeting another dodgy tweet, and ended up with 38 months in jail, he has 3 kids and grew up in care etc, they are losing their council house.
For the government to maintain the plausibility of the narrative that this is 'the justice system running its course without fear or favour', instances like the above need to be rapidly corrected. At the moment they are being used by Musk etc as evidence in support of their view of the situation. They also risk unnerving their 'left liberal' support base if they carry on with things like the above.
That's genuinely despicable about the Twitter man; I didn't know that. I don't know how anybody with a moral compass could support that.
Is this the man?
'He tweeted on Wednesday: "Mass deportations now, set fire to all the f***ing hotels full of the b******s for all I care... If that makes me racist, so be it". '
If so, Darkage' s description of the case doesn't seem accurate
That is a quote tweet (of a tweet by the councillor's wife), and it was part of a sequence of tweets where he actually tagged the police, because he was trying to prove a political point
In the circs, even quote-tweeting was foolish, but the intent was not to foment trouble, it was to query police tactics
For that he has got more than three years in jail, and he's lost his home
A few weeks cooling down in chokey would have been sufficient. Three years??
There's a picture of the actual tweet in the news story I linked to above, I don't how to do pictures here, so maybe someone can post it so people can judge for themselves.
As for tagging the police the only sign of that I can see is that in the list of hashtags under the tweet it has #f***northamptonshirepolice
If you are right then please provide a source, please don't take this the wrong way, but experience has taught me that you are often full of shit
Likewise, I find you consitently full of shit, rancid with hypocrisy, also myopic, ludicrous, and idiotic, and dumb as a fucking pit-pony AS WELL, but honestly it's nothing personal
Here's the evidence
"TYLER KAY WENT TO PRISON AND LOST HIS HOUSE FOR COPYING A POST ON X
Tyler was sentenced to 38 months in prison for copying a post made on X by Lucy Connolly, the wife of a Conservative councilor.
The post read: “Mass deportation now, set fire to all the f*king hotels full of the ba*ards for all I care…If that makes me a racist, so be it.”
Lucy had been arrested for the post, and Tyler was trying to prove that he wouldn’t be arrested.
He made this clear in a reply to his post, stating: “My point is more, it’s one rule for some and another rule for others.”
Despite his barrister explaining he was immature, had grown up in care, and would lose his council house as a result of a prison sentence, the judge said he “clearly intended to incite serious violence.”
He then sent Tyler, a father of 3, to prison for 3 years and 2 months.
i believe the arrest and conviction was correct. Even copying an incendiary tweet to make a point is extremely foolish during a time of tiots. But 3 years 2 months in jail?
The authoritarian state has gone mad
The Met police quote retweeted the video of the the labour councillor who wanted to slash throats. I was a bit surprised by that one. Surely their social media person should be going down for a stretch.
Milk in first, with tea, obviously. (Or better, no milk at all.) Other way round for coffee.
You must be making it in a pot - dunno how you'd make it with a bag with the milk in first.
It was an old class thing. If you could afford good China you'd put your tea in first. I put my tea in first, but I think it's easier to gauge how much milk to put in that way. If the tea is strong you might want more milk. How do you judge that with the milk already in?
Well yes, who doesn't use a teapot ?
On the rare occasion I make tea (usually in an office setting) I don't use a teapot. If you do, good for you.
Is that so they don’t ask you to make it again?
Don't know really, just not the done thing in my office/s.
Just got back online after a weekend without internet. Wow. As far as the riots go, it seems to me unquestionable that Sir Keir has played a blinder. The man will reign supreme over the issue of law and order for the foreseeable future. As for the British Right - they (Farage in particular) have got themselves into a right old pickle. Not sure where they go from here.
Except that we've not had any VI polling. But we have seen SKS's personal rating plummeting. So there’s that.
But yeh, apart from actual facts, yep, legendary crisis management.
On a tangential note, it is great to see Charles maturing into his Kingship and failing to take the same overtly political line on the riots that SKS has taken. Given his instincts politically, it must have been tempting, but he's kept his nose clean. He must be getting good advice from somewhere.
I too think that Starmer has played a blinder in response to the riots. They're now utterly quashed and the rioters are getting their just deserts in a hardline response. There is as yet no up to date polling to back up whether my view is shared, but I'll back my judgement in the meantime. What polling there was on Starmer's favourability was more general and was also taken at a point when the riots appeared briefly out of control, so it is likely to be positively misleading on the question of how the government handled the riots specifically.
Unsurprisingly the state saw off this challenge to its authority. However hubris has set in. There is one case where a judge has remanded someone for just being present at the scene of some disorder, another where someone got a 2 year sentence for 'gesticulating' at the police. There is various other stuff, like one where a guy in the midlands went on an ill advised monologue about free speech on Twitter, in doing so retweeting another dodgy tweet, and ended up with 38 months in jail, he has 3 kids and grew up in care etc, they are losing their council house.
For the government to maintain the plausibility of the narrative that this is 'the justice system running its course without fear or favour', instances like the above need to be rapidly corrected. At the moment they are being used by Musk etc as evidence in support of their view of the situation. They also risk unnerving their 'left liberal' support base if they carry on with things like the above.
That's genuinely despicable about the Twitter man; I didn't know that. I don't know how anybody with a moral compass could support that.
Is this the man?
'He tweeted on Wednesday: "Mass deportations now, set fire to all the f***ing hotels full of the b******s for all I care... If that makes me racist, so be it". '
If so, Darkage' s description of the case doesn't seem accurate
That is a quote tweet (of a tweet by the councillor's wife), and it was part of a sequence of tweets where he actually tagged the police, because he was trying to prove a political point
In the circs, even quote-tweeting was foolish, but the intent was not to foment trouble, it was to query police tactics
For that he has got more than three years in jail, and he's lost his home
A few weeks cooling down in chokey would have been sufficient. Three years??
There's a picture of the actual tweet in the news story I linked to above, I don't how to do pictures here, so maybe someone can post it so people can judge for themselves.
As for tagging the police the only sign of that I can see is that in the list of hashtags under the tweet it has #f***northamptonshirepolice
If you are right then please provide a source, please don't take this the wrong way, but experience has taught me that you are often full of shit
Likewise, I find you consitently full of shit, rancid with hypocrisy, also myopic, ludicrous, and idiotic, and dumb as a fucking pit-pony AS WELL, but honestly it's nothing personal
Here's the evidence
"TYLER KAY WENT TO PRISON AND LOST HIS HOUSE FOR COPYING A POST ON X
Tyler was sentenced to 38 months in prison for copying a post made on X by Lucy Connolly, the wife of a Conservative councilor.
The post read: “Mass deportation now, set fire to all the f*king hotels full of the ba*ards for all I care…If that makes me a racist, so be it.”
Lucy had been arrested for the post, and Tyler was trying to prove that he wouldn’t be arrested.
He made this clear in a reply to his post, stating: “My point is more, it’s one rule for some and another rule for others.”
Despite his barrister explaining he was immature, had grown up in care, and would lose his council house as a result of a prison sentence, the judge said he “clearly intended to incite serious violence.”
He then sent Tyler, a father of 3, to prison for 3 years and 2 months.
i believe the arrest and conviction was correct. Even copying an incendiary tweet to make a point is extremely foolish during a time of tiots. But 3 years 2 months in jail?
The authoritarian state has gone mad
So long as he remains a good boy in prison he will be out on tag in nine and a half months time.
Just got back online after a weekend without internet. Wow. As far as the riots go, it seems to me unquestionable that Sir Keir has played a blinder. The man will reign supreme over the issue of law and order for the foreseeable future. As for the British Right - they (Farage in particular) have got themselves into a right old pickle. Not sure where they go from here.
Except that we've not had any VI polling. But we have seen SKS's personal rating plummeting. So there’s that.
But yeh, apart from actual facts, yep, legendary crisis management.
On a tangential note, it is great to see Charles maturing into his Kingship and failing to take the same overtly political line on the riots that SKS has taken. Given his instincts politically, it must have been tempting, but he's kept his nose clean. He must be getting good advice from somewhere.
I too think that Starmer has played a blinder in response to the riots. They're now utterly quashed and the rioters are getting their just deserts in a hardline response. There is as yet no up to date polling to back up whether my view is shared, but I'll back my judgement in the meantime. What polling there was on Starmer's favourability was more general and was also taken at a point when the riots appeared briefly out of control, so it is likely to be positively misleading on the question of how the government handled the riots specifically.
Unsurprisingly the state saw off this challenge to its authority. However hubris has set in. There is one case where a judge has remanded someone for just being present at the scene of some disorder, another where someone got a 2 year sentence for 'gesticulating' at the police. There is various other stuff, like one where a guy in the midlands went on an ill advised monologue about free speech on Twitter, in doing so retweeting another dodgy tweet, and ended up with 38 months in jail, he has 3 kids and grew up in care etc, they are losing their council house.
For the government to maintain the plausibility of the narrative that this is 'the justice system running its course without fear or favour', instances like the above need to be rapidly corrected. At the moment they are being used by Musk etc as evidence in support of their view of the situation. They also risk unnerving their 'left liberal' support base if they carry on with things like the above.
That's genuinely despicable about the Twitter man; I didn't know that. I don't know how anybody with a moral compass could support that.
Is this the man?
'He tweeted on Wednesday: "Mass deportations now, set fire to all the f***ing hotels full of the b******s for all I care... If that makes me racist, so be it". '
If so, Darkage' s description of the case doesn't seem accurate
That is a quote tweet (of a tweet by the councillor's wife), and it was part of a sequence of tweets where he actually tagged the police, because he was trying to prove a political point
In the circs, even quote-tweeting was foolish, but the intent was not to foment trouble, it was to query police tactics
For that he has got more than three years in jail, and he's lost his home
A few weeks cooling down in chokey would have been sufficient. Three years??
There's a picture of the actual tweet in the news story I linked to above, I don't how to do pictures here, so maybe someone can post it so people can judge for themselves.
As for tagging the police the only sign of that I can see is that in the list of hashtags under the tweet it has #f***northamptonshirepolice
If you are right then please provide a source, please don't take this the wrong way, but experience has taught me that you are often full of shit
Likewise, I find you consitently full of shit, rancid with hypocrisy, also myopic, ludicrous, and idiotic, and dumb as a fucking pit-pony AS WELL, but honestly it's nothing personal
Here's the evidence
"TYLER KAY WENT TO PRISON AND LOST HIS HOUSE FOR COPYING A POST ON X
Tyler was sentenced to 38 months in prison for copying a post made on X by Lucy Connolly, the wife of a Conservative councilor.
The post read: “Mass deportation now, set fire to all the f*king hotels full of the ba*ards for all I care…If that makes me a racist, so be it.”
Lucy had been arrested for the post, and Tyler was trying to prove that he wouldn’t be arrested.
He made this clear in a reply to his post, stating: “My point is more, it’s one rule for some and another rule for others.”
Despite his barrister explaining he was immature, had grown up in care, and would lose his council house as a result of a prison sentence, the judge said he “clearly intended to incite serious violence.”
He then sent Tyler, a father of 3, to prison for 3 years and 2 months.
i believe the arrest and conviction was correct. Even copying an incendiary tweet to make a point is extremely foolish during a time of tiots. But 3 years 2 months in jail?
The authoritarian state has gone mad
Given that he was only jailed on Friday how come he has already lost his home?
I mean it's incredibly likely to occur that he will lose his home (mainly because he won't be in it for 18 months and won't be paying the bills) but he hasn't lost it yet.
Edit - I'm also not sure about his “My point is more, it’s one rule for some and another rule for others.”
As the people I expect he is talking about (Farage and co) were a bit cleverer in what they actually wrote..
If it’s a racing certainty I think it’s legitimate to say it as if it has already happened.
Remember that weird, and probably shite-stirring, piece in the DT the other day about Home Counties people supposedly having to pay more for Scottish electricity? With a pretty map of weird zones like some new Heptarchy? The timing might be to do with this ...
Remember that weird, and probably shite-stirring, piece in the DT the other day about Home Counties people supposedly having to pay more for Scottish electricity? With a pretty map of weird zones like some new Heptarchy? The timing might be to do with this ...
.... while making the already ugly bits even uglier. Everything we do, these days, feels like self harm. I cannot wait to escape
I’d rather have electricity than a good view.
Other countries seem to manage both; not us
Who knows. I think though if you compare us to France we're doing a better job of not being ugly. France has it's troubles but is really working at the issues. Personally I think both countries are a field of wonder where unlike mixes with like and produces something far better.
On the Rent Controls debate, let me try and illustrate the loss of flexibility. This is long, but I'm not putting this information in a header.
If rent controls are passed, they will lock in a framework of CPI increases *every* year, because if it is not done it is lost, and flexibility is impossible. They will f*ck it all up, because they always f*ck it all up, through listening to media, politics, Shelter, Generation Rent etc who are just not in touch as they only hear the negative side.
-- snip
(This is aside from the problem that Corporates such as Grainger and Aviva, L&G etc do rentals for professionals in income percentiles ~70-95+%, not the mainstream long-term rental market).
Compare to a rental increase I agreed with a T yesterday, from £700 to £754, or 7.7%. This T has been with me since 2017, and I expect them to stay until about 2035, since there are children under 10. Circumstances:
* I set rentals to align with Housing Benefit on time, and benefit % increase on amount so that it is a clear process, they don't have to send extra paperwork at funny times of the year etc, and increases are fair and justifiable.
* The % increase is set for April by CPI the previous September (was 6.7%). It's been weird for the previous Gov who's approach was "freeze in cash terms & catch-up when it is good for us politically", which is perverse. I can't use that, so do the above. This year T has the General Election 3-year "save our arse" Tory political catch-up, & is up by ~£100.
* This one is above inflation; this evens out.
* This was delayed from April since 1) T has changed jobs and it took time for her to work out where just where her finances would be. 2) Works have been happening - new boiler, plastering, and T asked for a gas-based not electric-based bath mixer shower to reduce bills (3 kids).
* I'm gradually recovering a fall back in rent levels at 1-3% a year over inflation because I gave all Ts a 2 year cash-freeze in Covid to help them, and to give a buffer on energy bills going nuts (even though all my houses are very well insulated / ventilated). Motivation for me is because it's right to do, I look after my Ts, and Ts leaving is the most expensive thing anyway at £2-3k per time.
* Next increase will be April 2025, which I have let this T know is looking like 2-3%.
This type of tenancy and management is not in the universe of possibility for build-to-letters; they have overheads and cost bases that make it impossible
For the Govt to make this impossible would be a shame.
Interesting post. Will you stay in with the proposed law changes from labour.
I have no real life stake in this debate. We have just the one home and would not touch BTL.
This does have the feel of policy made by single issue lobbyists and activist journalists. Someone replied earlier to say if private landlords are forced out then good. I think be careful what you wish for. To echo Bart, we need more homes, increase supply and demand.
I recently inherited a house (not expensive!) and had to consider whether to rent it out. Decided firmly against, and sold up - happily it's now a family home again. Key, but not only, elements were (a) I couldn't face the hassle of doing it well, (b) I'm not enough of a bastard to do it badly. I found posts on PB - especially but not only by @MattW - enormously useful in getting a sense of the pros and cons.
Yep - a single property is always difficult because you cannot lay off risk and overheads across say 4 or 5, and give your trades a regular flow of small jobs that keeps them on board and prioritising you, and if it is one that lands on you it may not be suitable for rent. Some properties endemically give a 6-8% return, others 2-4%.
The one I discuss is a case in point. I bought it for the Ts, who are relations of a former T (mum and dad, and 4 dogs) and asked if they could find one for me. Gave guidance, and 2 years later they found one - low enough priced for a decent return on a reasonable rent with 3 double bedrooms (needed under space required regs for the future for kids of both sexes over 10, plus parents' room).
It's not one I renovated so there has been a constant stream of minor work, but it was under £100k and started with a top line yield of 6.8% which is workable long-term.
Renovation quality was nothing like I do so I have probably put a further 7-8k in over 6-7 years. But OTOH we have a setup where dad does lots of little non-regulated handyman jobs without me needing to intervene, and trust is fine.
At present he has borrowed my cement mixer to do a shed-base for the other daughter, and is talking about this one needing an external socket to power a pump for the paddling pool to avoid an extension leas being used, which I will insist on my electrician doing as it is regulated. Normally I install one of these as basic spec on reno. But a 5-year Electrical Safety Inspection is due, so it will just be an extra hour.
Milk in first, with tea, obviously. (Or better, no milk at all.) Other way round for coffee.
You must be making it in a pot - dunno how you'd make it with a bag with the milk in first.
It was an old class thing. If you could afford good China you'd put your tea in first. I put my tea in first, but I think it's easier to gauge how much milk to put in that way. If the tea is strong you might want more milk. How do you judge that with the milk already in?
Well yes, who doesn't use a teapot ?
On the rare occasion I make tea (usually in an office setting) I don't use a teapot. If you do, good for you.
Is that so they don’t ask you to make it again?
Don't know really, just not the done thing in my office/s.
Actually, way way back one of my first jobs was in a Castle and a big teapot was de rigeur, but I have lost my airs and graces these days.
Just got back online after a weekend without internet. Wow. As far as the riots go, it seems to me unquestionable that Sir Keir has played a blinder. The man will reign supreme over the issue of law and order for the foreseeable future. As for the British Right - they (Farage in particular) have got themselves into a right old pickle. Not sure where they go from here.
Except that we've not had any VI polling. But we have seen SKS's personal rating plummeting. So there’s that.
But yeh, apart from actual facts, yep, legendary crisis management.
On a tangential note, it is great to see Charles maturing into his Kingship and failing to take the same overtly political line on the riots that SKS has taken. Given his instincts politically, it must have been tempting, but he's kept his nose clean. He must be getting good advice from somewhere.
I too think that Starmer has played a blinder in response to the riots. They're now utterly quashed and the rioters are getting their just deserts in a hardline response. There is as yet no up to date polling to back up whether my view is shared, but I'll back my judgement in the meantime. What polling there was on Starmer's favourability was more general and was also taken at a point when the riots appeared briefly out of control, so it is likely to be positively misleading on the question of how the government handled the riots specifically.
Unsurprisingly the state saw off this challenge to its authority. However hubris has set in. There is one case where a judge has remanded someone for just being present at the scene of some disorder, another where someone got a 2 year sentence for 'gesticulating' at the police. There is various other stuff, like one where a guy in the midlands went on an ill advised monologue about free speech on Twitter, in doing so retweeting another dodgy tweet, and ended up with 38 months in jail, he has 3 kids and grew up in care etc, they are losing their council house.
For the government to maintain the plausibility of the narrative that this is 'the justice system running its course without fear or favour', instances like the above need to be rapidly corrected. At the moment they are being used by Musk etc as evidence in support of their view of the situation. They also risk unnerving their 'left liberal' support base if they carry on with things like the above.
That's genuinely despicable about the Twitter man; I didn't know that. I don't know how anybody with a moral compass could support that.
Is this the man?
'He tweeted on Wednesday: "Mass deportations now, set fire to all the f***ing hotels full of the b******s for all I care... If that makes me racist, so be it". '
If so, Darkage' s description of the case doesn't seem accurate
That is a quote tweet (of a tweet by the councillor's wife), and it was part of a sequence of tweets where he actually tagged the police, because he was trying to prove a political point
In the circs, even quote-tweeting was foolish, but the intent was not to foment trouble, it was to query police tactics
For that he has got more than three years in jail, and he's lost his home
A few weeks cooling down in chokey would have been sufficient. Three years??
There's a picture of the actual tweet in the news story I linked to above, I don't how to do pictures here, so maybe someone can post it so people can judge for themselves.
As for tagging the police the only sign of that I can see is that in the list of hashtags under the tweet it has #f***northamptonshirepolice
If you are right then please provide a source, please don't take this the wrong way, but experience has taught me that you are often full of shit
Likewise, I find you consitently full of shit, rancid with hypocrisy, also myopic, ludicrous, and idiotic, and dumb as a fucking pit-pony AS WELL, but honestly it's nothing personal
Here's the evidence
"TYLER KAY WENT TO PRISON AND LOST HIS HOUSE FOR COPYING A POST ON X
Tyler was sentenced to 38 months in prison for copying a post made on X by Lucy Connolly, the wife of a Conservative councilor.
The post read: “Mass deportation now, set fire to all the f*king hotels full of the ba*ards for all I care…If that makes me a racist, so be it.”
Lucy had been arrested for the post, and Tyler was trying to prove that he wouldn’t be arrested.
He made this clear in a reply to his post, stating: “My point is more, it’s one rule for some and another rule for others.”
Despite his barrister explaining he was immature, had grown up in care, and would lose his council house as a result of a prison sentence, the judge said he “clearly intended to incite serious violence.”
He then sent Tyler, a father of 3, to prison for 3 years and 2 months.
i believe the arrest and conviction was correct. Even copying an incendiary tweet to make a point is extremely foolish during a time of tiots. But 3 years 2 months in jail?
The authoritarian state has gone mad
Given that he was only jailed on Friday how come he has already lost his home?
I mean it's incredibly likely to occur that he will lose his home (mainly because he won't be in it for 18 months and won't be paying the bills) but he hasn't lost it yet.
Edit - I'm also not sure about his “My point is more, it’s one rule for some and another rule for others.”
As the people I expect he is talking about (Farage and co) were a bit cleverer in what they actually wrote..
I agree on your second point. The whole tweet sequence was idiotic and, in this troubled time, the coppers were right to arrest him, and the court to convict him. But a few weeks in jail is surely sufficient. Not three years two months, which is enough to ruin his life and deprive him of a home. And he has three young kids
Remember that weird, and probably shite-stirring, piece in the DT the other day about Home Counties people supposedly having to pay more for Scottish electricity? With a pretty map of weird zones like some new Heptarchy? The timing might be to do with this ...
.... while making the already ugly bits even uglier. Everything we do, these days, feels like self harm. I cannot wait to escape
I’d rather have electricity than a good view.
Other countries seem to manage both; not us
Who knows. I think though if you compare us to France we're doing a better job of not being ugly. France has it's troubles but is really working at the issues. Personally I think both countries are a field of wonder where unlike mixes with like and produces something far better.
"I think though if you compare us to France we're doing a better job of not being ugly."
AHAHAHAHAHAHA
Having just spent 9 of the last 12 weeks travelling all over France I can sadly assure you that France is vastly more beautiful than the UK, and, not only that, they are striving to make it even lovelier, and often suceeding, even as we do the exact opposite
I see low IQ Leon has fallen for fake news again. So it wasn't just posting on social media it was giving the specific location of the riot and how to avoid detection.
The father-of-three used his own name and profile picture, openly talked to people about where he lived and said during an attack he would use ‘gloves, no car either so no number plate to trace, and a change of clothes ready nearby,’ adding that he ‘watched enough CSI programmes’.
He gave other people advice on ‘staying anon’ and said he would ‘categorically not be arrested’ by Northants Police, before actually tagging the force in one of his tweets...
...The 26-year-old also reposted a screenshot of another message inciting action against a named immigration solicitors in Northampton – the site of Wednesday’s planned disorder – with the message ‘Let’s go!!!’ Other posts attributable to him showed a desire to be involved in organised protests in the town.
Just got back online after a weekend without internet. Wow. As far as the riots go, it seems to me unquestionable that Sir Keir has played a blinder. The man will reign supreme over the issue of law and order for the foreseeable future. As for the British Right - they (Farage in particular) have got themselves into a right old pickle. Not sure where they go from here.
Except that we've not had any VI polling. But we have seen SKS's personal rating plummeting. So there’s that.
But yeh, apart from actual facts, yep, legendary crisis management.
On a tangential note, it is great to see Charles maturing into his Kingship and failing to take the same overtly political line on the riots that SKS has taken. Given his instincts politically, it must have been tempting, but he's kept his nose clean. He must be getting good advice from somewhere.
I too think that Starmer has played a blinder in response to the riots. They're now utterly quashed and the rioters are getting their just deserts in a hardline response. There is as yet no up to date polling to back up whether my view is shared, but I'll back my judgement in the meantime. What polling there was on Starmer's favourability was more general and was also taken at a point when the riots appeared briefly out of control, so it is likely to be positively misleading on the question of how the government handled the riots specifically.
Unsurprisingly the state saw off this challenge to its authority. However hubris has set in. There is one case where a judge has remanded someone for just being present at the scene of some disorder, another where someone got a 2 year sentence for 'gesticulating' at the police. There is various other stuff, like one where a guy in the midlands went on an ill advised monologue about free speech on Twitter, in doing so retweeting another dodgy tweet, and ended up with 38 months in jail, he has 3 kids and grew up in care etc, they are losing their council house.
For the government to maintain the plausibility of the narrative that this is 'the justice system running its course without fear or favour', instances like the above need to be rapidly corrected. At the moment they are being used by Musk etc as evidence in support of their view of the situation. They also risk unnerving their 'left liberal' support base if they carry on with things like the above.
That's genuinely despicable about the Twitter man; I didn't know that. I don't know how anybody with a moral compass could support that.
Is this the man?
'He tweeted on Wednesday: "Mass deportations now, set fire to all the f***ing hotels full of the b******s for all I care... If that makes me racist, so be it". '
If so, Darkage' s description of the case doesn't seem accurate
That is a quote tweet (of a tweet by the councillor's wife), and it was part of a sequence of tweets where he actually tagged the police, because he was trying to prove a political point
In the circs, even quote-tweeting was foolish, but the intent was not to foment trouble, it was to query police tactics
For that he has got more than three years in jail, and he's lost his home
A few weeks cooling down in chokey would have been sufficient. Three years??
There's a picture of the actual tweet in the news story I linked to above, I don't how to do pictures here, so maybe someone can post it so people can judge for themselves.
As for tagging the police the only sign of that I can see is that in the list of hashtags under the tweet it has #f***northamptonshirepolice
If you are right then please provide a source, please don't take this the wrong way, but experience has taught me that you are often full of shit
Likewise, I find you consitently full of shit, rancid with hypocrisy, also myopic, ludicrous, and idiotic, and dumb as a fucking pit-pony AS WELL, but honestly it's nothing personal
Here's the evidence
"TYLER KAY WENT TO PRISON AND LOST HIS HOUSE FOR COPYING A POST ON X
Tyler was sentenced to 38 months in prison for copying a post made on X by Lucy Connolly, the wife of a Conservative councilor.
The post read: “Mass deportation now, set fire to all the f*king hotels full of the ba*ards for all I care…If that makes me a racist, so be it.”
Lucy had been arrested for the post, and Tyler was trying to prove that he wouldn’t be arrested.
He made this clear in a reply to his post, stating: “My point is more, it’s one rule for some and another rule for others.”
Despite his barrister explaining he was immature, had grown up in care, and would lose his council house as a result of a prison sentence, the judge said he “clearly intended to incite serious violence.”
He then sent Tyler, a father of 3, to prison for 3 years and 2 months.
i believe the arrest and conviction was correct. Even copying an incendiary tweet to make a point is extremely foolish during a time of tiots. But 3 years 2 months in jail?
The authoritarian state has gone mad
So long as he remains a good boy in prison he will be out on tag in nine and a half months time.
Are you sure? - release point is currently 40% rather than 50% of sentence which I make to be 15 months or so..
Just got back online after a weekend without internet. Wow. As far as the riots go, it seems to me unquestionable that Sir Keir has played a blinder. The man will reign supreme over the issue of law and order for the foreseeable future. As for the British Right - they (Farage in particular) have got themselves into a right old pickle. Not sure where they go from here.
Except that we've not had any VI polling. But we have seen SKS's personal rating plummeting. So there’s that.
But yeh, apart from actual facts, yep, legendary crisis management.
On a tangential note, it is great to see Charles maturing into his Kingship and failing to take the same overtly political line on the riots that SKS has taken. Given his instincts politically, it must have been tempting, but he's kept his nose clean. He must be getting good advice from somewhere.
I too think that Starmer has played a blinder in response to the riots. They're now utterly quashed and the rioters are getting their just deserts in a hardline response. There is as yet no up to date polling to back up whether my view is shared, but I'll back my judgement in the meantime. What polling there was on Starmer's favourability was more general and was also taken at a point when the riots appeared briefly out of control, so it is likely to be positively misleading on the question of how the government handled the riots specifically.
Unsurprisingly the state saw off this challenge to its authority. However hubris has set in. There is one case where a judge has remanded someone for just being present at the scene of some disorder, another where someone got a 2 year sentence for 'gesticulating' at the police. There is various other stuff, like one where a guy in the midlands went on an ill advised monologue about free speech on Twitter, in doing so retweeting another dodgy tweet, and ended up with 38 months in jail, he has 3 kids and grew up in care etc, they are losing their council house.
For the government to maintain the plausibility of the narrative that this is 'the justice system running its course without fear or favour', instances like the above need to be rapidly corrected. At the moment they are being used by Musk etc as evidence in support of their view of the situation. They also risk unnerving their 'left liberal' support base if they carry on with things like the above.
That's genuinely despicable about the Twitter man; I didn't know that. I don't know how anybody with a moral compass could support that.
Is this the man?
'He tweeted on Wednesday: "Mass deportations now, set fire to all the f***ing hotels full of the b******s for all I care... If that makes me racist, so be it". '
If so, Darkage' s description of the case doesn't seem accurate
That is a quote tweet (of a tweet by the councillor's wife), and it was part of a sequence of tweets where he actually tagged the police, because he was trying to prove a political point
In the circs, even quote-tweeting was foolish, but the intent was not to foment trouble, it was to query police tactics
For that he has got more than three years in jail, and he's lost his home
A few weeks cooling down in chokey would have been sufficient. Three years??
There's a picture of the actual tweet in the news story I linked to above, I don't how to do pictures here, so maybe someone can post it so people can judge for themselves.
As for tagging the police the only sign of that I can see is that in the list of hashtags under the tweet it has #f***northamptonshirepolice
If you are right then please provide a source, please don't take this the wrong way, but experience has taught me that you are often full of shit
Likewise, I find you consitently full of shit, rancid with hypocrisy, also myopic, ludicrous, and idiotic, and dumb as a fucking pit-pony AS WELL, but honestly it's nothing personal
Here's the evidence
"TYLER KAY WENT TO PRISON AND LOST HIS HOUSE FOR COPYING A POST ON X
Tyler was sentenced to 38 months in prison for copying a post made on X by Lucy Connolly, the wife of a Conservative councilor.
The post read: “Mass deportation now, set fire to all the f*king hotels full of the ba*ards for all I care…If that makes me a racist, so be it.”
Lucy had been arrested for the post, and Tyler was trying to prove that he wouldn’t be arrested.
He made this clear in a reply to his post, stating: “My point is more, it’s one rule for some and another rule for others.”
Despite his barrister explaining he was immature, had grown up in care, and would lose his council house as a result of a prison sentence, the judge said he “clearly intended to incite serious violence.”
He then sent Tyler, a father of 3, to prison for 3 years and 2 months.
i believe the arrest and conviction was correct. Even copying an incendiary tweet to make a point is extremely foolish during a time of tiots. But 3 years 2 months in jail?
The authoritarian state has gone mad
I wonder why you don't link to the actual article in the Northampton Chronicle so people can judge for themselves:
'He tweeted his support for wife of West Northamptonshire councillor Ray Connolly, Lucy Connolly, who allegedly posted hateful messages earlier this week. This is the subject of an ongoing police investigation. He admitted copying and pasting the message that she had been arrested for and posting it himself on X.
His message said: “Mass deportation now, set fire to all the f****** hotels full of the b****** for all I care… If that makes me racist, so be it.”
The father-of-three used his own name and profile picture, openly talked to people about where he lived and said during an attack he would use ‘gloves, no car either so no number plate to trace, and a change of clothes ready nearby,’ adding that he ‘watched enough CSI programmes’.
He gave other people advice on ‘staying anon’ and said he would ‘categorically not be arrested’ by Northants Police, before actually tagging the force in one of his tweets.
He used the hashtags #standwithlucyconnolly, #farageriots, #riotsuk and #f***northamptonshirepolice
People on his X account even warned him he would be jailed and he said ‘For what? Sharing a screenshot? You’re delusional buddy’.
The 26-year-old also reposted a screenshot of another message inciting action against a named immigration solicitors in Northampton – the site of Wednesday’s planned disorder – with the message ‘Let’s go!!!’ Other posts attributable to him showed a desire to be involved in organised protests in the town.
...
Kay was previously convicted in 2020 after he stole an iphone worth £1,046 from his employer Albion Computers. He was given a community order but failed to comply with it.'
At least you seem to be coming round to slowly admitting that Darkage's description of the case was not accurate, or at least I think you are, so some progress - well done!
Just got back online after a weekend without internet. Wow. As far as the riots go, it seems to me unquestionable that Sir Keir has played a blinder. The man will reign supreme over the issue of law and order for the foreseeable future. As for the British Right - they (Farage in particular) have got themselves into a right old pickle. Not sure where they go from here.
Except that we've not had any VI polling. But we have seen SKS's personal rating plummeting. So there’s that.
But yeh, apart from actual facts, yep, legendary crisis management.
On a tangential note, it is great to see Charles maturing into his Kingship and failing to take the same overtly political line on the riots that SKS has taken. Given his instincts politically, it must have been tempting, but he's kept his nose clean. He must be getting good advice from somewhere.
I too think that Starmer has played a blinder in response to the riots. They're now utterly quashed and the rioters are getting their just deserts in a hardline response. There is as yet no up to date polling to back up whether my view is shared, but I'll back my judgement in the meantime. What polling there was on Starmer's favourability was more general and was also taken at a point when the riots appeared briefly out of control, so it is likely to be positively misleading on the question of how the government handled the riots specifically.
Unsurprisingly the state saw off this challenge to its authority. However hubris has set in. There is one case where a judge has remanded someone for just being present at the scene of some disorder, another where someone got a 2 year sentence for 'gesticulating' at the police. There is various other stuff, like one where a guy in the midlands went on an ill advised monologue about free speech on Twitter, in doing so retweeting another dodgy tweet, and ended up with 38 months in jail, he has 3 kids and grew up in care etc, they are losing their council house.
For the government to maintain the plausibility of the narrative that this is 'the justice system running its course without fear or favour', instances like the above need to be rapidly corrected. At the moment they are being used by Musk etc as evidence in support of their view of the situation. They also risk unnerving their 'left liberal' support base if they carry on with things like the above.
That's genuinely despicable about the Twitter man; I didn't know that. I don't know how anybody with a moral compass could support that.
Is this the man?
'He tweeted on Wednesday: "Mass deportations now, set fire to all the f***ing hotels full of the b******s for all I care... If that makes me racist, so be it". '
If so, Darkage' s description of the case doesn't seem accurate
That is a quote tweet (of a tweet by the councillor's wife), and it was part of a sequence of tweets where he actually tagged the police, because he was trying to prove a political point
In the circs, even quote-tweeting was foolish, but the intent was not to foment trouble, it was to query police tactics
For that he has got more than three years in jail, and he's lost his home
A few weeks cooling down in chokey would have been sufficient. Three years??
There's a picture of the actual tweet in the news story I linked to above, I don't how to do pictures here, so maybe someone can post it so people can judge for themselves.
As for tagging the police the only sign of that I can see is that in the list of hashtags under the tweet it has #f***northamptonshirepolice
If you are right then please provide a source, please don't take this the wrong way, but experience has taught me that you are often full of shit
Likewise, I find you consitently full of shit, rancid with hypocrisy, also myopic, ludicrous, and idiotic, and dumb as a fucking pit-pony AS WELL, but honestly it's nothing personal
Here's the evidence
"TYLER KAY WENT TO PRISON AND LOST HIS HOUSE FOR COPYING A POST ON X
Tyler was sentenced to 38 months in prison for copying a post made on X by Lucy Connolly, the wife of a Conservative councilor.
The post read: “Mass deportation now, set fire to all the f*king hotels full of the ba*ards for all I care…If that makes me a racist, so be it.”
Lucy had been arrested for the post, and Tyler was trying to prove that he wouldn’t be arrested.
He made this clear in a reply to his post, stating: “My point is more, it’s one rule for some and another rule for others.”
Despite his barrister explaining he was immature, had grown up in care, and would lose his council house as a result of a prison sentence, the judge said he “clearly intended to incite serious violence.”
He then sent Tyler, a father of 3, to prison for 3 years and 2 months.
i believe the arrest and conviction was correct. Even copying an incendiary tweet to make a point is extremely foolish during a time of tiots. But 3 years 2 months in jail?
The authoritarian state has gone mad
So long as he remains a good boy in prison he will be out on tag in nine and a half months time.
Are you sure? - release point is currently 40% rather than 50% of sentence which I make to be 15 months or so..
Comments
There's a saying about the punishment fitting the crime - perhaps it's more about the punishment fitting the capacity of the prison system.
I think there’s a real danger that relying on nuclear as an apparently environmentally-friendly source of energy will hold back the development of - and transition to - actually environmentally-friendly energy sources.
Me: "Bloke has taken up parkrun and Leon can't believe someone in their 50s can be so slender"
This is the media page, but I don't know if it is viewable.
I'll drop a few in when I have photo quota.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2139620953034138/media
https://www.reddit.com/r/AccidentalRenaissance/comments/1ecvu87/kier_starmer_at_the_olympics/
https://x.com/jrc1921/status/1822557711487185066?s=46&t=fJymV-V84rexmlQMLXHHJQ
More Americans trust Kamala Harris to handle the US economy than Donald Trump, according to a new poll that marks a sharp change in voter sentiment following President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the White House race.
The survey, conducted for the Financial Times and the University of Michigan Ross School of Business, is the first monthly poll to show the Democratic presidential candidate leading Trump on the economy since it began tracking voter sentiment on the issue nearly a year ago.
Although 41 per cent of Americans still trust the former president more on economic issues — unchanged from the two previous monthly polls — the survey found 42 per cent of voters believe Harris would be better at handling the economy. That is a 7 percentage point increase compared to Biden’s numbers last month.
“The fact that voters were more positive on Harris than on Biden . . . says as much about how badly Biden was doing as it does about how well Harris is doing,” said Erik Gordon, a professor at the university.
https://www.ft.com/content/cf9a7c4d-3b82-4867-892c-f4f95daebbc7
What's embarrassing?
(If anyone says it IS embarrassing, I'm not interested.)
I’m not sure I share the assessment that “a lot has gone wrong.” In many disciplines, at that level, the margins between third and first are pretty small. There have been a good few near-misses across a number of sports these games, which would have inflated our gold medal count quite significantly if they’d gone the other way. Sometimes it comes down to very marginal factors on the day. This is why I suspect the number of medals is considered more than the colour - if you’re getting people onto the podiums chances are you’re going to get some first place finishes in a decent number of those.
We have won more medals overall than Tokyo. I don’t think there’s anything wrong fundamentally with the system. So I’m afraid I cannot share any sentiment that this has been a failure. Essentially it boils down to - we have done really well as a national team but we’ve come away with a few less golds than we’d have liked.
There are however as with any Olympics some particular disciplines that need to review things. We should be doing much better in sailing, for instance.
https://www.medalspercapita.com/#medals-per-capita:2024
If rent controls are passed, they will lock in a framework of CPI increases *every* year, because if it is not done it is lost, and flexibility is impossible. They will f*ck it all up, because they always f*ck it all up, through listening to media, politics, Shelter, Generation Rent etc who are just not in touch as they only hear the negative side.
Last time they f*cked up pet rentals, by making normal options of an extra deposit, an agreed T-paid deep clean at the end, or a short term extra rent for one year to build up a deposit into criminal offences. So the only option I have left to manage the extra risk is a permanently higher rent - not good for LL or T. I can't drop it back because I think that makes the previous higher period an offence.
(This is aside from the problem that Corporates such as Grainger and Aviva, L&G etc do rentals for professionals in income percentiles ~70-95+%, not the mainstream long-term rental market).
Compare to a rental increase I agreed with a T yesterday, from £700 to £754, or 7.7%. This T has been with me since 2017, and I expect them to stay until about 2035, since there are children under 10. Circumstances:
* I set rentals to align with Housing Benefit on time, and benefit % increase on amount so that it is a clear process, they don't have to send extra paperwork at funny times of the year etc, and increases are fair and justifiable.
* The % increase is set for April by CPI the previous September (was 6.7%). It's been weird for the previous Gov who's approach was "freeze in cash terms & catch-up when it is good for us politically", which is perverse. I can't use that, so do the above. This year T has the General Election 3-year "save our arse" Tory political catch-up, & is up by ~£100.
* This one is above inflation; this evens out.
* This was delayed from April since 1) T has changed jobs and it took time for her to work out where just where her finances would be. 2) Works have been happening - new boiler, plastering, and T asked for a gas-based not electric-based bath mixer shower to reduce bills (3 kids).
* I'm gradually recovering a fall back in rent levels at 1-3% a year over inflation because I gave all Ts a 2 year cash-freeze in Covid to help them, and to give a buffer on energy bills going nuts (even though all my houses are very well insulated / ventilated). Motivation for me is because it's right to do, I look after my Ts, and Ts leaving is the most expensive thing anyway at £2-3k per time.
* Next increase will be April 2025, which I have let this T know is looking like 2-3%.
This type of tenancy and management is not in the universe of possibility for build-to-letters; they have overheads and cost bases that make it impossible
For the Govt to make this impossible would be a shame.
However, flawed as it was, it was already proving to be a factor in many would-be boat decisions, and I believe that had it taken a few hundred, the news of that would have cratered boat crossings. Yes, perhaps it would have been overwhelmed very quickly (though I think it could have been scaled up, plus it would have emptied as soon as filled, because nobody would want to stay there) but who's going to volunteer to pay a people smuggler to be at the front of the queue to find out?
Proposition. Trump was never a good candidate for 2024.
A combination of the January 7 riot and RoevWadeRIP shot him in the knees. It was only Biden's senility and the not-gone-away inflation pulse that kept him afloat. Now than JBxPOTUS Kamala can pretend to be a clean-sheet, leaving Trump as sin-eater for the past four years, and his poll numbers are hysteresising (I made a word!) back to his base state
I have no real life stake in this debate. We have just the one home and would not touch BTL.
This does have the feel of policy made by single issue lobbyists and activist journalists. Someone replied earlier to say if private landlords are forced out then good. I think be careful what you wish for. To echo Bart, we need more homes, increase supply and demand.
Other way round for coffee.
Not many people know this, but Politico was sold to an Uber right wing billionaire who has previously asked his executives to pray for a Trump win.
The hackers definitely picked a friendly publication to send their hacked information.
https://x.com/MPLSKerrBear/status/1822398395614663043
Latte - milk in first.
Flat white - coffee in first.
Instant coffee - put it in the bin.
Like you I think a better version of the Rwanda plan would certainly work. However, even the deeply flawed and foolish version we had was, it seems, beginning to exercise a deterrent effect. The Irish said so. Why, then, in God's name did Sunak not wait a few more months, by which time he could say Look, I AM stopping the boats?
I sometimes wonder if he actually wanted to lose, and wanted to scupper Rwanda, by losing. Or he's just bloody useless at politics. Probably the latter
'He tweeted on Wednesday: "Mass deportations now, set fire to all the f***ing hotels full of the b******s for all I care... If that makes me racist, so be it". '
https://www.itv.com/news/anglia/2024-08-09/dad-of-three-jailed-for-three-years-for-burn-hotels-online-post
If so, Darkage' s description of the case doesn't seem accurate
When I was diagnosed diabetic in 2001 in my early 30s, they told me it was likely that on average stats I would lose 15 years of life expectancy - which does rather mitigate against investments that may not survive IHT. Though I do have some small private pension setups (15 years contributions).
The sweet spot for small LLs for the last few years has been non-leveraged (Osborne 2014 reforms which tax business finance expenses paid out as income) and which ideally does not tip into higher rate income tax. I'm low leverage and small portfolio, which partly does that. I also have good tenants in general.
From proposals I have seen, the one that would hurt me would be transfer of Council Tax to LL - which would be ~15% of rental income potentially, which is a *lot* to lose in one hit.
CGT does not worry particularly, as I bought with long-term time horizons. Land lord licensing which is not in Ashfield yet is a pain but manageable, though Councils *always* try and insert things that are not legal.
It was an old class thing. If you could afford good China you'd put your tea in first. I put my tea in first, but I think it's easier to gauge how much milk to put in that way. If the tea is strong you might want more milk. How do you judge that with the milk already in?
So Farage did.
The rest, as they say...
In the circs, even quote-tweeting was foolish, but the intent was not to foment trouble, it was to query police tactics
For that he has got more than three years in jail, and he's lost his home
A few weeks cooling down in chokey would have been sufficient. Three years??
Anyway, first you mix your instant coffee with just a little bit of hot water - it doesn't make a paste, but something more like a half shot of espresso in consistency. Then you add your milk, and stir. Then you fill up with hot water. I think it tastes nicer, and my theory is that the fats in the milk are latching on to the coffee at a molecular level to create a smoother taste. Which is likely bollocks but I do prefer the taste to the other way, and others have commented without knowing I'd done it.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/article/2024/aug/11/labour-go-ahead-for-march-of-the-pylons-promises-to-spark-conflict
The problem was that Biden, through his age, was also a sh*t candidate.
Everyone thought Harris was going to be a sh*t candidate, but so far she comes across as being able to string a coherent sentence together and hasn’t picked a weirdo for VP, so in contrast to Trump she looks amazingly impressive.
I think she occupies a bit of a magic zone where she can own the administration’s successes while avoiding taking much responsibility for its failures, or hinting she’d do things a bit differently. See her nudge-nudge triangulation on Gaza, for example.
https://www.saveambervalley.com/
.... while making the already ugly bits even uglier. Everything we do, these days, feels like self harm. I cannot wait to escape
As for tagging the police the only sign of that I can see is that in the list of hashtags under the tweet it has #f***northamptonshirepolice
If you are right then please provide a source, please don't take this the wrong way, but experience has taught me that you are often full of shit
This is scientific fact and therefore anybody who does it on the wrong order is scientifically wrong, as well as morally and socially.
Coffee is different because of course the water should never be boiling.
1) we need the extra capacity
2) if they wish for the cables to be buried underground they should pay the extra costs attached to that burial as part of their electricity standing Charge
Now all you have to do is find X people willing to pay £30 extra a month and see how many still complain...
Here's the evidence
"TYLER KAY WENT TO PRISON AND LOST HIS HOUSE FOR COPYING A POST ON X
Tyler was sentenced to 38 months in prison for copying a post made on X by Lucy Connolly, the wife of a Conservative councilor.
The post read: “Mass deportation now, set fire to all the f*king hotels full of the ba*ards for all I care…If that makes me a racist, so be it.”
Lucy had been arrested for the post, and Tyler was trying to prove that he wouldn’t be arrested.
He made this clear in a reply to his post, stating: “My point is more, it’s one rule for some and another rule for others.”
Despite his barrister explaining he was immature, had grown up in care, and would lose his council house as a result of a prison sentence, the judge said he “clearly intended to incite serious violence.”
He then sent Tyler, a father of 3, to prison for 3 years and 2 months.
Sources: Northampton Chronicle, Independent"
https://x.com/MarioNawfal/status/1822293116847612071
i believe the arrest and conviction was correct. Even copying an incendiary tweet to make a point is extremely foolish during a time of tiots. But 3 years 2 months in jail?
The authoritarian state has gone mad
I’m still reeling from this revelation, and slightly weirded out.
This is just NIMBYism, people blocking a development that will benefit many others.
I mean it's incredibly likely to occur that he will lose his home (mainly because he won't be in it for 18 months and won't be paying the bills) but he hasn't lost it yet.
Edit - I'm also not sure about his “My point is more, it’s one rule for some and another rule for others.”
As the people I expect he is talking about (Farage and co) were a bit cleverer in what they actually wrote..
The one I discuss is a case in point. I bought it for the Ts, who are relations of a former T (mum and dad, and 4 dogs) and asked if they could find one for me. Gave guidance, and 2 years later they found one - low enough priced for a decent return on a reasonable rent with 3 double bedrooms (needed under space required regs for the future for kids of both sexes over 10, plus parents' room).
It's not one I renovated so there has been a constant stream of minor work, but it was under £100k and started with a top line yield of 6.8% which is workable long-term.
Renovation quality was nothing like I do so I have probably put a further 7-8k in over 6-7 years. But OTOH we have a setup where dad does lots of little non-regulated handyman jobs without me needing to intervene, and trust is fine.
At present he has borrowed my cement mixer to do a shed-base for the other daughter, and is talking about this one needing an external socket to power a pump for the paddling pool to avoid an extension leas being used, which I will insist on my electrician doing as it is regulated. Normally I install one of these as basic spec on reno. But a 5-year Electrical Safety Inspection is due, so it will just be an extra hour.
One of my colleagues explained for tea drinkers it is like pineapple on pizza for me.
1. Luncheon meat
2. Banana
3. Pineapple
AHAHAHAHAHAHA
Having just spent 9 of the last 12 weeks travelling all over France I can sadly assure you that France is vastly more beautiful than the UK, and, not only that, they are striving to make it even lovelier, and often suceeding, even as we do the exact opposite
The father-of-three used his own name and profile picture, openly talked to people about where he lived and said during an attack he would use ‘gloves, no car either so no number plate to trace, and a change of clothes ready nearby,’ adding that he ‘watched enough CSI programmes’.
He gave other people advice on ‘staying anon’ and said he would ‘categorically not be arrested’ by Northants Police, before actually tagging the force in one of his tweets...
...The 26-year-old also reposted a screenshot of another message inciting action against a named immigration solicitors in Northampton – the site of Wednesday’s planned disorder – with the message ‘Let’s go!!!’ Other posts attributable to him showed a desire to be involved in organised protests in the town.
https://www.northamptonchron.co.uk/news/crime/northampton-man-tyler-kay-jailed-after-threatening-to-burn-down-asylum-hotel-using-his-own-name-and-picture-on-twitter-and-tagging-northants-police-4736588
https://www.theguardian.com/society/article/2024/jul/18/prisoners-released-early-england-and-wales
And are therefore slightly weird...
https://www.northamptonchron.co.uk/news/crime/northampton-man-tyler-kay-jailed-after-threatening-to-burn-down-asylum-hotel-using-his-own-name-and-picture-on-twitter-and-tagging-northants-police-4736588
'He tweeted his support for wife of West Northamptonshire councillor Ray Connolly, Lucy Connolly, who allegedly posted hateful messages earlier this week. This is the subject of an ongoing police investigation. He admitted copying and pasting the message that she had been arrested for and posting it himself on X.
His message said: “Mass deportation now, set fire to all the f****** hotels full of the b****** for all I care… If that makes me racist, so be it.”
The father-of-three used his own name and profile picture, openly talked to people about where he lived and said during an attack he would use ‘gloves, no car either so no number plate to trace, and a change of clothes ready nearby,’ adding that he ‘watched enough CSI programmes’.
He gave other people advice on ‘staying anon’ and said he would ‘categorically not be arrested’ by Northants Police, before actually tagging the force in one of his tweets.
He used the hashtags #standwithlucyconnolly, #farageriots, #riotsuk and #f***northamptonshirepolice
People on his X account even warned him he would be jailed and he said ‘For what? Sharing a screenshot? You’re delusional buddy’.
The 26-year-old also reposted a screenshot of another message inciting action against a named immigration solicitors in Northampton – the site of Wednesday’s planned disorder – with the message ‘Let’s go!!!’ Other posts attributable to him showed a desire to be involved in organised protests in the town.
...
Kay was previously convicted in 2020 after he stole an iphone worth £1,046 from his employer Albion Computers. He was given a community order but failed to comply with it.'
At least you seem to be coming round to slowly admitting that Darkage's description of the case was not accurate, or at least I think you are, so some progress - well done!