Wasn't JD Vance claiming that children are going hungry something that led to outrage among Dem supporters ?
Well, if you get people such as Rishi Sunak pretending* that a small drop in inflation rate is going to make everything better for the public after three years of high inflation, I think I know where the problem lies.
*In his much trumpeted claims to the public during, or just before, the election campaign (you'll forgive my memory: all those Tory PMs get increasingly foreshortened with recency, which shouldn't be happening ...)
A fall from 11% to 2% is not a small drop. In fact it is a reduction to the BoE’s target rate.
But you're missing the point that it didn't do anything for people who had been immiserated by the last few years. It's not the rate of increase, but the actual real price, that hits real people in real pockets.
That was an example of absolute exploitation of the different meanings of inflation - prices, rate of increase thereof, and differential thereof ...
So you are saying you agree with the Trumper quoted in the posts above?
Wasn't JD Vance claiming that children are going hungry something that led to outrage among Dem supporters ?
From last year:
David Cameron was famously asked the price of bread a decade ago and struggled to answer, saying instead he used an electric breadmaker. The answer was around 47p.
Then, the Tories were struggling to deal with a cost of living crisis and were accused of being out of touch. Now, here we are again a decade later, with the prime minister Rishi Sunak and his chancellor Jeremy Hunt being accused of having no clue. Only now an average white loaf is £1.37 – and this time it’s not just politicians that are under pressure to do something about it.
Wasn't JD Vance claiming that children are going hungry something that led to outrage among Dem supporters ?
From last year:
David Cameron was famously asked the price of bread a decade ago and struggled to answer, saying instead he used an electric breadmaker. The answer was around 47p.
Then, the Tories were struggling to deal with a cost of living crisis and were accused of being out of touch. Now, here we are again a decade later, with the prime minister Rishi Sunak and his chancellor Jeremy Hunt being accused of having no clue. Only now an average white loaf is £1.37 – and this time it’s not just politicians that are under pressure to do something about it.
Which suggests that the Guardian is as confused as any politician as to what the price of bread is.
On the Tesco loaf, given it was "first baked 1872" I'd expect it to be pretty cheap. That is crazy cheap by today's prices.
I reckon my tastes in bread to be a bit daringly top-end - and I'd blanche at paying much more than £1.20. I'm somewhat sceptical of the £1.37 figure. Perhaps that's the average of all loaves - because there are some expensive options out there - but I can't believe it's the average of all loaves bought.
A Roberts loaf - which is pretty high end - is 1.35.
Warburton is 1.40.
How many people buy those ahead of own brand?
That average figure of 1.37 is as plausible as Dominic Cummings' excuses for breaking lockdown.
Edit - the only thing I can think of is that it includes artisanal unsliced loaves from high end bakeries. You can pay three quid for a white loaf in a farm shop, if you're especially stupid. But that's not really the way the average should be calculated.
Get yourself a sourdough starter. 50p a loaf plus some oven time
Wasn't JD Vance claiming that children are going hungry something that led to outrage among Dem supporters ?
From last year:
David Cameron was famously asked the price of bread a decade ago and struggled to answer, saying instead he used an electric breadmaker. The answer was around 47p.
Then, the Tories were struggling to deal with a cost of living crisis and were accused of being out of touch. Now, here we are again a decade later, with the prime minister Rishi Sunak and his chancellor Jeremy Hunt being accused of having no clue. Only now an average white loaf is £1.37 – and this time it’s not just politicians that are under pressure to do something about it.
Which suggests that the Guardian is as confused as any politician as to what the price of bread is.
On the Tesco loaf, given it was "first baked 1872" I'd expect it to be pretty cheap. That is crazy cheap by today's prices.
I reckon my tastes in bread to be a bit daringly top-end - and I'd blanche at paying much more than £1.20. I'm somewhat sceptical of the £1.37 figure. Perhaps that's the average of all loaves - because there are some expensive options out there - but I can't believe it's the average of all loaves bought.
A Roberts loaf - which is pretty high end - is 1.35.
Warburton is 1.40.
How many people buy those ahead of own brand?
That average figure of 1.37 is as plausible as Dominic Cummings' excuses for breaking lockdown.
Edit - the only thing I can think of is that it includes artisanal unsliced loaves from high end bakeries. You can pay three quid for a white loaf in a farm shop, if you're especially stupid. But that's not really the way the average should be calculated.
Get yourself a sourdough starter. 50p a loaf plus some oven time
Wasn't JD Vance claiming that children are going hungry something that led to outrage among Dem supporters ?
Well, if you get people such as Rishi Sunak pretending* that a small drop in inflation rate is going to make everything better for the public after three years of high inflation, I think I know where the problem lies.
*In his much trumpeted claims to the public during, or just before, the election campaign (you'll forgive my memory: all those Tory PMs get increasingly foreshortened with recency, which shouldn't be happening ...)
A fall from 11% to 2% is not a small drop. In fact it is a reduction to the BoE’s target rate.
That is true but the historical consequences of the years of higher inflation remain in the price and the 2% is of much higher number as a result.
When I was being taught economics the view was that low inflation was a good thing because it gave a nudge to consumption and thus encouraged demand and investment.
Deflation, in contrast, is a very bad thing. It encourages deferred expenditure, it causes major problems for those with fixed debts, such as mortgages, and it discourages investment because you might get a lower return on your investment than you had hoped.
High inflation is also a very bad thing threatening those on fixed incomes or reliant on savings.
All of this is incredibly straightforward. What people find much more difficult is comparing and contrasting their income or debts to the "real" value of money. I think there are several reasons for this. Firstly, everyone has different inflation rates at different stages of their lives. When I was in my 20s with a house that was 90% owned by the Nationwide I was quite sanguine about 9-10% inflation a year because my share was growing and theirs wasn't. Now, with my mortgage paid off and a few bob in hand interest rates below inflation hurt.
Secondly, we tend to look backwards at inflation rather than forwards. We see this in the pressure to keep wages growing at a nominal rate of 5% or so even although inflation is only 2%. We want to "get back" what we lost when inflation was higher than wage increases.
Thirdly, and sadly, the majority of the population is simply innumerate. The majority find comparing relative rates hard and we are much more likely to notice the bad points than the good.
Not quite. From your link, RLB says that excluding affordable homes will not address the shortage of affordable homes.
In a letter to Salford City Council, Ms Long-Bailey called for the plans to be refused for not ensuring 20% of the planned homes were "affordable" housing, a requirement in the area’s local plan. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvgd429gdpno
Wasn't JD Vance claiming that children are going hungry something that led to outrage among Dem supporters ?
From last year:
David Cameron was famously asked the price of bread a decade ago and struggled to answer, saying instead he used an electric breadmaker. The answer was around 47p.
Then, the Tories were struggling to deal with a cost of living crisis and were accused of being out of touch. Now, here we are again a decade later, with the prime minister Rishi Sunak and his chancellor Jeremy Hunt being accused of having no clue. Only now an average white loaf is £1.37 – and this time it’s not just politicians that are under pressure to do something about it.
Wasn't JD Vance claiming that children are going hungry something that led to outrage among Dem supporters ?
From last year:
David Cameron was famously asked the price of bread a decade ago and struggled to answer, saying instead he used an electric breadmaker. The answer was around 47p.
Then, the Tories were struggling to deal with a cost of living crisis and were accused of being out of touch. Now, here we are again a decade later, with the prime minister Rishi Sunak and his chancellor Jeremy Hunt being accused of having no clue. Only now an average white loaf is £1.37 – and this time it’s not just politicians that are under pressure to do something about it.
No major surprises in Harris' speech last night. She promised to cut costs of living and protect abortion rights and support Ukraine. A vague commitment to a ceasefire in Gaza but that still might not be enough for the left
Wasn't JD Vance claiming that children are going hungry something that led to outrage among Dem supporters ?
From last year:
David Cameron was famously asked the price of bread a decade ago and struggled to answer, saying instead he used an electric breadmaker. The answer was around 47p.
Then, the Tories were struggling to deal with a cost of living crisis and were accused of being out of touch. Now, here we are again a decade later, with the prime minister Rishi Sunak and his chancellor Jeremy Hunt being accused of having no clue. Only now an average white loaf is £1.37 – and this time it’s not just politicians that are under pressure to do something about it.
Which suggests that the Guardian is as confused as any politician as to what the price of bread is.
On the Tesco loaf, given it was "first baked 1872" I'd expect it to be pretty cheap. That is crazy cheap by today's prices.
I reckon my tastes in bread to be a bit daringly top-end - and I'd blanche at paying much more than £1.20. I'm somewhat sceptical of the £1.37 figure. Perhaps that's the average of all loaves - because there are some expensive options out there - but I can't believe it's the average of all loaves bought.
I can't find the methodology but yes given it is labelled as "ave price - Bread: white loaf/sliced/800g." the average of all loaves that fit that description seems most likely.
Not quite. From your link, RLB says that excluding affordable homes will not address the shortage of affordable homes.
In a letter to Salford City Council, Ms Long-Bailey called for the plans to be refused for not ensuring 20% of the planned homes were "affordable" housing, a requirement in the area’s local plan. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvgd429gdpno
This is typical of the more slow-thinking public sector mindset that you can just legislate something into existence.
Wasn't JD Vance claiming that children are going hungry something that led to outrage among Dem supporters ?
Well, if you get people such as Rishi Sunak pretending* that a small drop in inflation rate is going to make everything better for the public after three years of high inflation, I think I know where the problem lies.
*In his much trumpeted claims to the public during, or just before, the election campaign (you'll forgive my memory: all those Tory PMs get increasingly foreshortened with recency, which shouldn't be happening ...)
Those three years also having had pay and pension rises to match the inflation:
With the problem governments facing is that too many people believe that prices have increased by much, much more than they actually have.
Not to mention in this country people forgetting all the extra handouts that the government have given them because of the price rises.
How many people have already forgotten the £150 council tax rebate of 2022 or the £400 winter fuel subsidy of winter 2022/3 or the £900 extra payment to the poor or the two years of £300 extra winter fuel for the oldies ?
Wasn't JD Vance claiming that children are going hungry something that led to outrage among Dem supporters ?
From last year:
David Cameron was famously asked the price of bread a decade ago and struggled to answer, saying instead he used an electric breadmaker. The answer was around 47p.
Then, the Tories were struggling to deal with a cost of living crisis and were accused of being out of touch. Now, here we are again a decade later, with the prime minister Rishi Sunak and his chancellor Jeremy Hunt being accused of having no clue. Only now an average white loaf is £1.37 – and this time it’s not just politicians that are under pressure to do something about it.
Wasn't JD Vance claiming that children are going hungry something that led to outrage among Dem supporters ?
From last year:
David Cameron was famously asked the price of bread a decade ago and struggled to answer, saying instead he used an electric breadmaker. The answer was around 47p.
Then, the Tories were struggling to deal with a cost of living crisis and were accused of being out of touch. Now, here we are again a decade later, with the prime minister Rishi Sunak and his chancellor Jeremy Hunt being accused of having no clue. Only now an average white loaf is £1.37 – and this time it’s not just politicians that are under pressure to do something about it.
Which suggests that the Guardian is as confused as any politician as to what the price of bread is.
On the Tesco loaf, given it was "first baked 1872" I'd expect it to be pretty cheap. That is crazy cheap by today's prices.
I reckon my tastes in bread to be a bit daringly top-end - and I'd blanche at paying much more than £1.20. I'm somewhat sceptical of the £1.37 figure. Perhaps that's the average of all loaves - because there are some expensive options out there - but I can't believe it's the average of all loaves bought.
A Roberts loaf - which is pretty high end - is 1.35.
Warburton is 1.40.
How many people buy those ahead of own brand?
That average figure of 1.37 is as plausible as Dominic Cummings' excuses for breaking lockdown.
Edit - the only thing I can think of is that it includes artisanal unsliced loaves from high end bakeries. You can pay three quid for a white loaf in a farm shop, if you're especially stupid. But that's not really the way the average should be calculated.
Lidl's freshly baked loaves, my go-to, are £1.90-£2.10, they & similar from other supermarkets would up the average.
That recording of Jan 6th is indeed brutal. But it is not new. How can anyone support Trump after that, let alone nearly 45% of Americans?
I genuinely find it bewildering. How can any elected official of any part of the party think this is ok?
Many Americans see a very different picture of events, they’re fed a stream of propaganda on Fox News etc. They see a different reality, they’re told lies. They’re in a Facebook bubble where they believe that Harris slept her way to the top, lies about her ethnicity and her family, and is a communist. They’ve absorbed a message that the country is in a crisis because of immigrants and anyone who isn’t white.
These beliefs don’t spontaneously emerge. They are rehearsed, over and over again, by traditional and social media on the right.
It's why we should close down GB News.
Prevention is better than cure.
What calumnies are you alleging GBNews have been guilty of?
Spreading antivax bollocks for starters such as
GB News broke Ofcom rules with presenter’s Covid vaccine claims
Regulator says Mark Steyn’s use of data to draw misleading conclusions breached content guidelines
GB News is an entertainment channel for right wing morons and Farage supporters masquerading as a bona fide news channel.
On GB News, I don't understand how Gloria de Piero is still there. I'm surprised she hasn't jumped ship for somewhere like Times Radio.
Unlike Lee Anderson, she hasn't gone loopy, and still does interesting work.
Her twitter feed is civilised and interesting, as opposed to Anderson's constant dog whistles. https://x.com/GloriaDePiero
On GBNews itself, it is owned by Sir Paul Marshall and investment firm Legatum. Paul Marshall also owns Unherd, and is in the running to buy the Spectator and the Telegraph.
Wasn't JD Vance claiming that children are going hungry something that led to outrage among Dem supporters ?
Well, if you get people such as Rishi Sunak pretending* that a small drop in inflation rate is going to make everything better for the public after three years of high inflation, I think I know where the problem lies.
*In his much trumpeted claims to the public during, or just before, the election campaign (you'll forgive my memory: all those Tory PMs get increasingly foreshortened with recency, which shouldn't be happening ...)
A fall from 11% to 2% is not a small drop. In fact it is a reduction to the BoE’s target rate.
That is true but the historical consequences of the years of higher inflation remain in the price and the 2% is of much higher number as a result.
When I was being taught economics the view was that low inflation was a good thing because it gave a nudge to consumption and thus encouraged demand and investment.
Deflation, in contrast, is a very bad thing. It encourages deferred expenditure, it causes major problems for those with fixed debts, such as mortgages, and it discourages investment because you might get a lower return on your investment than you had hoped.
High inflation is also a very bad thing threatening those on fixed incomes or reliant on savings.
All of this is incredibly straightforward. What people find much more difficult is comparing and contrasting their income or debts to the "real" value of money. I think there are several reasons for this. Firstly, everyone has different inflation rates at different stages of their lives. When I was in my 20s with a house that was 90% owned by the Nationwide I was quite sanguine about 9-10% inflation a year because my share was growing and theirs wasn't. Now, with my mortgage paid off and a few bob in hand interest rates below inflation hurt.
Secondly, we tend to look backwards at inflation rather than forwards. We see this in the pressure to keep wages growing at a nominal rate of 5% or so even although inflation is only 2%. We want to "get back" what we lost when inflation was higher than wage increases.
Thirdly, and sadly, the majority of the population is simply innumerate. The majority find comparing relative rates hard and we are much more likely to notice the bad points than the good.
Add to that, that for an awful lot of people wages haven’t risen in line with inflation in recent years, and that inflation in certain product categories such as food have run well above the headline rate.
Wasn't JD Vance claiming that children are going hungry something that led to outrage among Dem supporters ?
From last year:
David Cameron was famously asked the price of bread a decade ago and struggled to answer, saying instead he used an electric breadmaker. The answer was around 47p.
Then, the Tories were struggling to deal with a cost of living crisis and were accused of being out of touch. Now, here we are again a decade later, with the prime minister Rishi Sunak and his chancellor Jeremy Hunt being accused of having no clue. Only now an average white loaf is £1.37 – and this time it’s not just politicians that are under pressure to do something about it.
Which suggests that the Guardian is as confused as any politician as to what the price of bread is.
On the Tesco loaf, given it was "first baked 1872" I'd expect it to be pretty cheap. That is crazy cheap by today's prices.
I reckon my tastes in bread to be a bit daringly top-end - and I'd blanche at paying much more than £1.20. I'm somewhat sceptical of the £1.37 figure. Perhaps that's the average of all loaves - because there are some expensive options out there - but I can't believe it's the average of all loaves bought.
I can't find the methodology but yes given it is labelled as "ave price - Bread: white loaf/sliced/800g." the average of all loaves that fit that description seems most likely.
That plot is also contrary to the Guardian’s narrative about it all being down to the evil Tories. Turns out the price of bread surged before 2010.
Not quite. From your link, RLB says that excluding affordable homes will not address the shortage of affordable homes.
In a letter to Salford City Council, Ms Long-Bailey called for the plans to be refused for not ensuring 20% of the planned homes were "affordable" housing, a requirement in the area’s local plan. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvgd429gdpno
Which is totally innumerate bullshit. If the supply of houses in the local area increases by over 3000 (not a typo) then the price of all homes in the area comes down versus if the homes aren't built. Which makes housing more affordable.
Building poor quality "affordable" homes isn't the only way to get home prices down, increasing supply faster than demand does that too.
Wasn't JD Vance claiming that children are going hungry something that led to outrage among Dem supporters ?
From last year:
David Cameron was famously asked the price of bread a decade ago and struggled to answer, saying instead he used an electric breadmaker. The answer was around 47p.
Then, the Tories were struggling to deal with a cost of living crisis and were accused of being out of touch. Now, here we are again a decade later, with the prime minister Rishi Sunak and his chancellor Jeremy Hunt being accused of having no clue. Only now an average white loaf is £1.37 – and this time it’s not just politicians that are under pressure to do something about it.
Which suggests that the Guardian is as confused as any politician as to what the price of bread is.
On the Tesco loaf, given it was "first baked 1872" I'd expect it to be pretty cheap. That is crazy cheap by today's prices.
I reckon my tastes in bread to be a bit daringly top-end - and I'd blanche at paying much more than £1.20. I'm somewhat sceptical of the £1.37 figure. Perhaps that's the average of all loaves - because there are some expensive options out there - but I can't believe it's the average of all loaves bought.
There is some sort of inverse law along the lines of the more ingredients in a loaf, the lower the price. We're very lucky that we can afford to only ever buy fresh baked sourdough from a local bakery (we actually make our own bread a couple of times a week) and it costs 4 quid a loaf (but we get 20% discount because we drink coffee there most days.) It's the best bread I've ever tasted, but if there's any left after a couple of days, it's only good for toast. Supermarket white bread, especially the cheap stuff should probably not even be classed as food and is about as nutritious as cardboard. That society and especially governments think that that is acceptable to feed to poor families is one of our biggest failings as a society.
Not quite. From your link, RLB says that excluding affordable homes will not address the shortage of affordable homes.
In a letter to Salford City Council, Ms Long-Bailey called for the plans to be refused for not ensuring 20% of the planned homes were "affordable" housing, a requirement in the area’s local plan. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvgd429gdpno
Which is totally innumerate bullshit. If the supply of houses in the local area increases by over 3000 (not a typo) then the price of all homes in the area comes down versus if the homes aren't built. Which makes housing more affordable.
Building poor quality "affordable" homes isn't the only way to get home prices down, increasing supply faster than demand does that too.
What did you expect from her, something other than totally innumerate bullsh…?
Wasn't JD Vance claiming that children are going hungry something that led to outrage among Dem supporters ?
From last year:
David Cameron was famously asked the price of bread a decade ago and struggled to answer, saying instead he used an electric breadmaker. The answer was around 47p.
Then, the Tories were struggling to deal with a cost of living crisis and were accused of being out of touch. Now, here we are again a decade later, with the prime minister Rishi Sunak and his chancellor Jeremy Hunt being accused of having no clue. Only now an average white loaf is £1.37 – and this time it’s not just politicians that are under pressure to do something about it.
Wasn't JD Vance claiming that children are going hungry something that led to outrage among Dem supporters ?
From last year:
David Cameron was famously asked the price of bread a decade ago and struggled to answer, saying instead he used an electric breadmaker. The answer was around 47p.
Then, the Tories were struggling to deal with a cost of living crisis and were accused of being out of touch. Now, here we are again a decade later, with the prime minister Rishi Sunak and his chancellor Jeremy Hunt being accused of having no clue. Only now an average white loaf is £1.37 – and this time it’s not just politicians that are under pressure to do something about it.
Which suggests that the Guardian is as confused as any politician as to what the price of bread is.
On the Tesco loaf, given it was "first baked 1872" I'd expect it to be pretty cheap. That is crazy cheap by today's prices.
I reckon my tastes in bread to be a bit daringly top-end - and I'd blanche at paying much more than £1.20. I'm somewhat sceptical of the £1.37 figure. Perhaps that's the average of all loaves - because there are some expensive options out there - but I can't believe it's the average of all loaves bought.
A Roberts loaf - which is pretty high end - is 1.35.
Warburton is 1.40.
How many people buy those ahead of own brand?
That average figure of 1.37 is as plausible as Dominic Cummings' excuses for breaking lockdown.
Edit - the only thing I can think of is that it includes artisanal unsliced loaves from high end bakeries. You can pay three quid for a white loaf in a farm shop, if you're especially stupid. But that's not really the way the average should be calculated.
You can pay a lot more than 3 quid in naice supermarkets, the UKs most expensive regular loaf is apparantely £24. Stuff like sourdough should be ignored but probably also some of the bottom of range ultra processed value bread @ 50p too.
No major surprises in Harris' speech last night. She promised to cut costs of living and protect abortion rights and support Ukraine. A vague commitment to a ceasefire in Gaza but that still might not be enough for the left
She has a big advantage over Biden there because of who she is so she can afford to avoid giving concessions to the left.
That recording of Jan 6th is indeed brutal. But it is not new. How can anyone support Trump after that, let alone nearly 45% of Americans?
I genuinely find it bewildering. How can any elected official of any part of the party think this is ok?
Many Americans see a very different picture of events, they’re fed a stream of propaganda on Fox News etc. They see a different reality, they’re told lies. They’re in a Facebook bubble where they believe that Harris slept her way to the top, lies about her ethnicity and her family, and is a communist. They’ve absorbed a message that the country is in a crisis because of immigrants and anyone who isn’t white.
These beliefs don’t spontaneously emerge. They are rehearsed, over and over again, by traditional and social media on the right.
It's why we should close down GB News.
Prevention is better than cure.
GB news is the only genuine right of centre news channel
Wasn't JD Vance claiming that children are going hungry something that led to outrage among Dem supporters ?
From last year:
David Cameron was famously asked the price of bread a decade ago and struggled to answer, saying instead he used an electric breadmaker. The answer was around 47p.
Then, the Tories were struggling to deal with a cost of living crisis and were accused of being out of touch. Now, here we are again a decade later, with the prime minister Rishi Sunak and his chancellor Jeremy Hunt being accused of having no clue. Only now an average white loaf is £1.37 – and this time it’s not just politicians that are under pressure to do something about it.
That recording of Jan 6th is indeed brutal. But it is not new. How can anyone support Trump after that, let alone nearly 45% of Americans?
I genuinely find it bewildering. How can any elected official of any part of the party think this is ok?
Many Americans see a very different picture of events, they’re fed a stream of propaganda on Fox News etc. They see a different reality, they’re told lies. They’re in a Facebook bubble where they believe that Harris slept her way to the top, lies about her ethnicity and her family, and is a communist. They’ve absorbed a message that the country is in a crisis because of immigrants and anyone who isn’t white.
These beliefs don’t spontaneously emerge. They are rehearsed, over and over again, by traditional and social media on the right.
It's why we should close down GB News.
Prevention is better than cure.
GB news is the only genuine right of centre news channel
Which means, it's not a news channel but a right-wing commentary magazine programme ...? From your own words.
Wasn't JD Vance claiming that children are going hungry something that led to outrage among Dem supporters ?
From last year:
David Cameron was famously asked the price of bread a decade ago and struggled to answer, saying instead he used an electric breadmaker. The answer was around 47p.
Then, the Tories were struggling to deal with a cost of living crisis and were accused of being out of touch. Now, here we are again a decade later, with the prime minister Rishi Sunak and his chancellor Jeremy Hunt being accused of having no clue. Only now an average white loaf is £1.37 – and this time it’s not just politicians that are under pressure to do something about it.
Wasn't JD Vance claiming that children are going hungry something that led to outrage among Dem supporters ?
From last year:
David Cameron was famously asked the price of bread a decade ago and struggled to answer, saying instead he used an electric breadmaker. The answer was around 47p.
Then, the Tories were struggling to deal with a cost of living crisis and were accused of being out of touch. Now, here we are again a decade later, with the prime minister Rishi Sunak and his chancellor Jeremy Hunt being accused of having no clue. Only now an average white loaf is £1.37 – and this time it’s not just politicians that are under pressure to do something about it.
Wasn't JD Vance claiming that children are going hungry something that led to outrage among Dem supporters ?
From last year:
David Cameron was famously asked the price of bread a decade ago and struggled to answer, saying instead he used an electric breadmaker. The answer was around 47p.
Then, the Tories were struggling to deal with a cost of living crisis and were accused of being out of touch. Now, here we are again a decade later, with the prime minister Rishi Sunak and his chancellor Jeremy Hunt being accused of having no clue. Only now an average white loaf is £1.37 – and this time it’s not just politicians that are under pressure to do something about it.
Vice President Harris: As a part of his Project 2025 agenda, Trump and his allies would limit access to birth control, ban medication abortion, and enact a nationwide abortion ban. Simply put, they are out of their minds https://x.com/KamalaHQ/status/1826818501165633806
Is this true? I thought Trump was just letting the states do their own thing.
The various anti-abortion dominated states have engaged in a campaign to attack abortion in *other* states - trying to prosecute women for having a abortion in other states, attacking companies and charities that are involved in reproductive rights in *other* states.
It’s a version of States Rights that is familiar. Down to the demand that other states use their police forces to track down and catch escaped slaves. women who want an abortion.
The people involved in this are often hard core MAGA, friends of Trump and are open about heir desire for a federal abortion ban.
The Vatican and most evangelical Christians would like a Federal abortion ban too but even Trump is leaving it to the states, though Vance would try and restrict access
Wasn't JD Vance claiming that children are going hungry something that led to outrage among Dem supporters ?
From last year:
David Cameron was famously asked the price of bread a decade ago and struggled to answer, saying instead he used an electric breadmaker. The answer was around 47p.
Then, the Tories were struggling to deal with a cost of living crisis and were accused of being out of touch. Now, here we are again a decade later, with the prime minister Rishi Sunak and his chancellor Jeremy Hunt being accused of having no clue. Only now an average white loaf is £1.37 – and this time it’s not just politicians that are under pressure to do something about it.
That recording of Jan 6th is indeed brutal. But it is not new. How can anyone support Trump after that, let alone nearly 45% of Americans.
Because violence in general, and political violence in particular, are much more socially acceptable in America than here. Americans are brought up on garbage like Thomas Jefferson's "a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical" and Patrick Henry's, "If this be treason, make the most of it", and it isn't very far from admiring those sayings to regarding January 6th as a patriotic act.
And, given 30 years of terrorism in Northern Ireland, we can't be as superior as we'd like.
Of course they would also argue if it was not for the Boston Tea Party riot and War of Independence King Charles III would have followed his ancestor King George III to the US throne and this presidential election in the still colonies would not be happening
That recording of Jan 6th is indeed brutal. But it is not new. How can anyone support Trump after that, let alone nearly 45% of Americans?
I genuinely find it bewildering. How can any elected official of any part of the party think this is ok?
Many Americans see a very different picture of events, they’re fed a stream of propaganda on Fox News etc. They see a different reality, they’re told lies. They’re in a Facebook bubble where they believe that Harris slept her way to the top, lies about her ethnicity and her family, and is a communist. They’ve absorbed a message that the country is in a crisis because of immigrants and anyone who isn’t white.
These beliefs don’t spontaneously emerge. They are rehearsed, over and over again, by traditional and social media on the right.
It's why we should close down GB News.
Prevention is better than cure.
GB news is the only genuine right of centre news channel
When does a news channel stop being a news channel? At some point, the mirror journalism holds up to the events of the day becomes so warped that it can't be said to be an accurate reflection any more.
We all find it easy to point to this in our enemies; anything coming out of the Kremlin for example is probably not news. GBN is, at the very least, stretching the limits of what counts as news.
That recording of Jan 6th is indeed brutal. But it is not new. How can anyone support Trump after that, let alone nearly 45% of Americans?
I genuinely find it bewildering. How can any elected official of any part of the party think this is ok?
Many Americans see a very different picture of events, they’re fed a stream of propaganda on Fox News etc. They see a different reality, they’re told lies. They’re in a Facebook bubble where they believe that Harris slept her way to the top, lies about her ethnicity and her family, and is a communist. They’ve absorbed a message that the country is in a crisis because of immigrants and anyone who isn’t white.
These beliefs don’t spontaneously emerge. They are rehearsed, over and over again, by traditional and social media on the right.
It's why we should close down GB News.
Prevention is better than cure.
GB news is the only genuine right of centre news channel
When does a news channel stop being a news channel? At some point, the mirror journalism holds up to the events of the day becomes so warped that it can't be said to be an accurate reflection any more.
We all find it easy to point to this in our enemies; anything coming out of the Kremlin for example is probably not news. GBN is, at the very least, stretching the limits of what counts as news.
Try watching any of the American “News Channels” for more than about 10 minutes, they’re not much better than RT and PressTV.
Wasn't JD Vance claiming that children are going hungry something that led to outrage among Dem supporters ?
From last year:
David Cameron was famously asked the price of bread a decade ago and struggled to answer, saying instead he used an electric breadmaker. The answer was around 47p.
Then, the Tories were struggling to deal with a cost of living crisis and were accused of being out of touch. Now, here we are again a decade later, with the prime minister Rishi Sunak and his chancellor Jeremy Hunt being accused of having no clue. Only now an average white loaf is £1.37 – and this time it’s not just politicians that are under pressure to do something about it.
That recording of Jan 6th is indeed brutal. But it is not new. How can anyone support Trump after that, let alone nearly 45% of Americans.
Because violence in general, and political violence in particular, are much more socially acceptable in America than here. Americans are brought up on garbage like Thomas Jefferson's "a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical" and Patrick Henry's, "If this be treason, make the most of it", and it isn't very far from admiring those sayings to regarding January 6th as a patriotic act.
And, given 30 years of terrorism in Northern Ireland, we can't be as superior as we'd like.
Of course they would also argue if it was not for the Boston Tea Party riot and War of Independence King Charles III would have followed his ancestor King George III to the US throne and this presidential election in the still colonies would not be happening
... like those brutally downtrodden and oppressed colonies, Canada and Australia ...
Wasn't JD Vance claiming that children are going hungry something that led to outrage among Dem supporters ?
From last year:
David Cameron was famously asked the price of bread a decade ago and struggled to answer, saying instead he used an electric breadmaker. The answer was around 47p.
Then, the Tories were struggling to deal with a cost of living crisis and were accused of being out of touch. Now, here we are again a decade later, with the prime minister Rishi Sunak and his chancellor Jeremy Hunt being accused of having no clue. Only now an average white loaf is £1.37 – and this time it’s not just politicians that are under pressure to do something about it.
Wasn't JD Vance claiming that children are going hungry something that led to outrage among Dem supporters ?
From last year:
David Cameron was famously asked the price of bread a decade ago and struggled to answer, saying instead he used an electric breadmaker. The answer was around 47p.
Then, the Tories were struggling to deal with a cost of living crisis and were accused of being out of touch. Now, here we are again a decade later, with the prime minister Rishi Sunak and his chancellor Jeremy Hunt being accused of having no clue. Only now an average white loaf is £1.37 – and this time it’s not just politicians that are under pressure to do something about it.
Wasn't JD Vance claiming that children are going hungry something that led to outrage among Dem supporters ?
From last year:
David Cameron was famously asked the price of bread a decade ago and struggled to answer, saying instead he used an electric breadmaker. The answer was around 47p.
Then, the Tories were struggling to deal with a cost of living crisis and were accused of being out of touch. Now, here we are again a decade later, with the prime minister Rishi Sunak and his chancellor Jeremy Hunt being accused of having no clue. Only now an average white loaf is £1.37 – and this time it’s not just politicians that are under pressure to do something about it.
Wasn't JD Vance claiming that children are going hungry something that led to outrage among Dem supporters ?
Well, if you get people such as Rishi Sunak pretending* that a small drop in inflation rate is going to make everything better for the public after three years of high inflation, I think I know where the problem lies.
*In his much trumpeted claims to the public during, or just before, the election campaign (you'll forgive my memory: all those Tory PMs get increasingly foreshortened with recency, which shouldn't be happening ...)
Those three years also having had pay and pension rises to match the inflation:
With the problem governments facing is that too many people believe that prices have increased by much, much more than they actually have.
Not to mention in this country people forgetting all the extra handouts that the government have given them because of the price rises.
How many people have already forgotten the £150 council tax rebate of 2022 or the £400 winter fuel subsidy of winter 2022/3 or the £900 extra payment to the poor or the two years of £300 extra winter fuel for the oldies ?
Does anyone have a full list of all the 'cost of living' subsidies and handouts the government made ?
Unless you received and remembered them or know about them and know where to look its easy to be unaware of them.
IIRC Nick Palmer was surprised to receive the extra £300 on top of the usual £200 WFA.
That recording of Jan 6th is indeed brutal. But it is not new. How can anyone support Trump after that, let alone nearly 45% of Americans?
I genuinely find it bewildering. How can any elected official of any part of the party think this is ok?
Many Americans see a very different picture of events, they’re fed a stream of propaganda on Fox News etc. They see a different reality, they’re told lies. They’re in a Facebook bubble where they believe that Harris slept her way to the top, lies about her ethnicity and her family, and is a communist. They’ve absorbed a message that the country is in a crisis because of immigrants and anyone who isn’t white.
These beliefs don’t spontaneously emerge. They are rehearsed, over and over again, by traditional and social media on the right.
It's why we should close down GB News.
Prevention is better than cure.
GB news is the only genuine right of centre news channel
When does a news channel stop being a news channel? At some point, the mirror journalism holds up to the events of the day becomes so warped that it can't be said to be an accurate reflection any more.
We all find it easy to point to this in our enemies; anything coming out of the Kremlin for example is probably not news. GBN is, at the very least, stretching the limits of what counts as news.
Try watching any of the American “News Channels” for more than about 10 minutes, they’re not much better than RT and PressTV.
Totally agree, look at Fox, party to an armed insurrection and paying out close to a billion dollars for defamation about electoral fraud.
Vice President Harris: As a part of his Project 2025 agenda, Trump and his allies would limit access to birth control, ban medication abortion, and enact a nationwide abortion ban. Simply put, they are out of their minds https://x.com/KamalaHQ/status/1826818501165633806
Is this true? I thought Trump was just letting the states do their own thing.
The various anti-abortion dominated states have engaged in a campaign to attack abortion in *other* states - trying to prosecute women for having a abortion in other states, attacking companies and charities that are involved in reproductive rights in *other* states.
It’s a version of States Rights that is familiar. Down to the demand that other states use their police forces to track down and catch escaped slaves. women who want an abortion.
The people involved in this are often hard core MAGA, friends of Trump and are open about heir desire for a federal abortion ban.
The Vatican and most evangelical Christians would like a Federal abortion ban too but even Trump is leaving it to the states, though Vance would try and restrict access
What's it got to do with the Vatican? They're irrelevant for anyone not Catholic.
Wasn't JD Vance claiming that children are going hungry something that led to outrage among Dem supporters ?
From last year:
David Cameron was famously asked the price of bread a decade ago and struggled to answer, saying instead he used an electric breadmaker. The answer was around 47p.
Then, the Tories were struggling to deal with a cost of living crisis and were accused of being out of touch. Now, here we are again a decade later, with the prime minister Rishi Sunak and his chancellor Jeremy Hunt being accused of having no clue. Only now an average white loaf is £1.37 – and this time it’s not just politicians that are under pressure to do something about it.
That recording of Jan 6th is indeed brutal. But it is not new. How can anyone support Trump after that, let alone nearly 45% of Americans.
Because violence in general, and political violence in particular, are much more socially acceptable in America than here. Americans are brought up on garbage like Thomas Jefferson's "a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical" and Patrick Henry's, "If this be treason, make the most of it", and it isn't very far from admiring those sayings to regarding January 6th as a patriotic act.
And, given 30 years of terrorism in Northern Ireland, we can't be as superior as we'd like.
Of course they would also argue if it was not for the Boston Tea Party riot and War of Independence King Charles III would have followed his ancestor King George III to the US throne and this presidential election in the still colonies would not be happening
I think that's about right from both above.
The USA has inground, endemic violence, which is acceptable to a far greater degree than would in eg Western Europe.
That recording of Jan 6th is indeed brutal. But it is not new. How can anyone support Trump after that, let alone nearly 45% of Americans?
I genuinely find it bewildering. How can any elected official of any part of the party think this is ok?
Many Americans see a very different picture of events, they’re fed a stream of propaganda on Fox News etc. They see a different reality, they’re told lies. They’re in a Facebook bubble where they believe that Harris slept her way to the top, lies about her ethnicity and her family, and is a communist. They’ve absorbed a message that the country is in a crisis because of immigrants and anyone who isn’t white.
These beliefs don’t spontaneously emerge. They are rehearsed, over and over again, by traditional and social media on the right.
It's why we should close down GB News.
Prevention is better than cure.
GB news is the only genuine right of centre news channel
When does a news channel stop being a news channel? At some point, the mirror journalism holds up to the events of the day becomes so warped that it can't be said to be an accurate reflection any more.
We all find it easy to point to this in our enemies; anything coming out of the Kremlin for example is probably not news. GBN is, at the very least, stretching the limits of what counts as news.
Try watching any of the American “News Channels” for more than about 10 minutes, they’re not much better than RT and PressTV.
Totally agree, look at Fox, party to an armed insurrection and paying out close to a billion dollars for defamation about electoral fraud.
Although if a Russian TV channel incited an insurrection and accused the elections of being rigged, we'd look at it rather differently.
Wasn't JD Vance claiming that children are going hungry something that led to outrage among Dem supporters ?
Well, if you get people such as Rishi Sunak pretending* that a small drop in inflation rate is going to make everything better for the public after three years of high inflation, I think I know where the problem lies.
*In his much trumpeted claims to the public during, or just before, the election campaign (you'll forgive my memory: all those Tory PMs get increasingly foreshortened with recency, which shouldn't be happening ...)
Those three years also having had pay and pension rises to match the inflation:
With the problem governments facing is that too many people believe that prices have increased by much, much more than they actually have.
Not to mention in this country people forgetting all the extra handouts that the government have given them because of the price rises.
How many people have already forgotten the £150 council tax rebate of 2022 or the £400 winter fuel subsidy of winter 2022/3 or the £900 extra payment to the poor or the two years of £300 extra winter fuel for the oldies ?
Does anyone have a full list of all the 'cost of living' subsidies and handouts the government made ?
Unless you received and remembered them or know about them and know where to look its easy to be unaware of them.
IIRC Nick Palmer was surprised to receive the extra £300 on top of the usual £200 WFA.
My parents aren’t happy about the WFA withdrawal. They’re going to have to pay for their own flights to come and spend a month with me somewhere warmer this winter.
The pilot of the 'Kerbo Charge' system, which is funded by residents, will help improve air quality across the borough and reduce CO2 emissions, in line with the Council’s climate action targets for the borough to become cleaner and greener for all who live, work and study within it.
The breakthrough EV charging channels make it possible for residents with street parking, estimated to be 60 per cent of Enfield households, to safely charge their car from their home supply which is five to ten times cheaper than using public chargers.
Enfield Council is the first local authority in London to trial the innovative Kerbo Charge technology after successful rollouts in several towns and cities across the UK.
When residents charge their car, they insert their charging cable into the channel and the specially designed lid closes behind, just like a zip. This takes away a potentially dangerous trip hazard that can result from loose cables stretching across public footpaths.
The introduction of the Kerbo Charge channels makes owning an EV much more attractive to those who do not have off-street parking, as residents can then charge off-peak for as little as 7.5p / kWh or 7p / mile...
Wasn't JD Vance claiming that children are going hungry something that led to outrage among Dem supporters ?
From last year:
David Cameron was famously asked the price of bread a decade ago and struggled to answer, saying instead he used an electric breadmaker. The answer was around 47p.
Then, the Tories were struggling to deal with a cost of living crisis and were accused of being out of touch. Now, here we are again a decade later, with the prime minister Rishi Sunak and his chancellor Jeremy Hunt being accused of having no clue. Only now an average white loaf is £1.37 – and this time it’s not just politicians that are under pressure to do something about it.
Which suggests that the Guardian is as confused as any politician as to what the price of bread is.
That'll be the difference between "the average white loaf" and "the absolute cheapest economy loaf available", I expect.
With the latter being the relevant one in any reference to a 'cost of living crisis'.
Now you can pay £1 extra to get a branded bread or £3 extra to get a fancy hand baked sourdough bread.
But you don't have to, you don't need to, you do so by choice.
Good quality bread, like good quality coffee or olive oil is a very affordable luxury.
Very few Britons have calorie deficient malnutrition, but loads have obesity from excess refined carbohydrate in their diet.
Indeed, eliminating carbohydrates entirely from my diet has done wonders for my health.
Its also been cheaper too, as while meat is expensive per calorie, when its all you're eating you can afford to pay for it and not buy the rest of the stuff that goes with it.
Still buy fruits and vegetables and bread etc for my wife and kids even though I don't eat it myself, but doing the weekly shop is proving cheaper by eliminating my portion of those and eliminating snacks etc even while considerably increasing the amount of meat purchased.
Though I get my meat cheaper by going to by buying joints and cutting them into steaks (which Morrisons butcher will do for you when buying a joint) rather than buying pre-packaged steaks.
Wasn't JD Vance claiming that children are going hungry something that led to outrage among Dem supporters ?
From last year:
David Cameron was famously asked the price of bread a decade ago and struggled to answer, saying instead he used an electric breadmaker. The answer was around 47p.
Then, the Tories were struggling to deal with a cost of living crisis and were accused of being out of touch. Now, here we are again a decade later, with the prime minister Rishi Sunak and his chancellor Jeremy Hunt being accused of having no clue. Only now an average white loaf is £1.37 – and this time it’s not just politicians that are under pressure to do something about it.
Vice President Harris: As a part of his Project 2025 agenda, Trump and his allies would limit access to birth control, ban medication abortion, and enact a nationwide abortion ban. Simply put, they are out of their minds https://x.com/KamalaHQ/status/1826818501165633806
Is this true? I thought Trump was just letting the states do their own thing.
The various anti-abortion dominated states have engaged in a campaign to attack abortion in *other* states - trying to prosecute women for having a abortion in other states, attacking companies and charities that are involved in reproductive rights in *other* states.
It’s a version of States Rights that is familiar. Down to the demand that other states use their police forces to track down and catch escaped slaves. women who want an abortion.
The people involved in this are often hard core MAGA, friends of Trump and are open about heir desire for a federal abortion ban.
The Vatican and most evangelical Christians would like a Federal abortion ban too but even Trump is leaving it to the states, though Vance would try and restrict access
What's it got to do with the Vatican? They're irrelevant for anyone not Catholic.
Oddly enough fear of Catholics and their diabolic mastermind the Pope has been a traditional feature of American Protestant nativism.
Not quite. From your link, RLB says that excluding affordable homes will not address the shortage of affordable homes.
In a letter to Salford City Council, Ms Long-Bailey called for the plans to be refused for not ensuring 20% of the planned homes were "affordable" housing, a requirement in the area’s local plan. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvgd429gdpno
Which is totally innumerate bullshit. If the supply of houses in the local area increases by over 3000 (not a typo) then the price of all homes in the area comes down versus if the homes aren't built. Which makes housing more affordable.
Building poor quality "affordable" homes isn't the only way to get home prices down, increasing supply faster than demand does that too.
What did you expect from her, something other than totally innumerate bullsh…?
Just to play devil's advocate, it is possible that new developments stimulate higher house prices, particularly if they are of a high enough quality, have good transport connections and are within commute distance of a city centre.
There are less salubrious parts of Edinburgh that are experiencing very high levels of development, largely in the old port areas like Leith, Granton, Newhaven, Seafield. This is leading to a large influx of young working people which carries a snowball effect - they are rapidly gentrifying with yoga, board game and plant pot shops. This means the values of existing flats is increasing as these working class areas suddenly get flooded with young professionals.
In fact, I was at a viewing yesterday of older flat in one of these areas, and the agent estimated about 75% of people interested are BTL landlords, thereby further squeezing the number of homes available to people who want to own their own place.
As we find time and again, the housing market is a complex beast and pointing at a supply and demand graph is simply not enough. There are plenty of examples of this kinda thing once you pass Economics 1A.
Vice President Harris: As a part of his Project 2025 agenda, Trump and his allies would limit access to birth control, ban medication abortion, and enact a nationwide abortion ban. Simply put, they are out of their minds https://x.com/KamalaHQ/status/1826818501165633806
Is this true? I thought Trump was just letting the states do their own thing.
The various anti-abortion dominated states have engaged in a campaign to attack abortion in *other* states - trying to prosecute women for having a abortion in other states, attacking companies and charities that are involved in reproductive rights in *other* states.
It’s a version of States Rights that is familiar. Down to the demand that other states use their police forces to track down and catch escaped slaves. women who want an abortion.
The people involved in this are often hard core MAGA, friends of Trump and are open about heir desire for a federal abortion ban.
The Vatican and most evangelical Christians would like a Federal abortion ban too but even Trump is leaving it to the states, though Vance would try and restrict access
What's it got to do with the Vatican? They're irrelevant for anyone not Catholic.
Oddly enough fear of Catholics and their diabolic mastermind the Pope has been a traditional feature of American Protestant nativism.
Although HYUFD is quoting the Vatican approvingly, and not disapprovingly.
The pilot of the 'Kerbo Charge' system, which is funded by residents, will help improve air quality across the borough and reduce CO2 emissions, in line with the Council’s climate action targets for the borough to become cleaner and greener for all who live, work and study within it.
The breakthrough EV charging channels make it possible for residents with street parking, estimated to be 60 per cent of Enfield households, to safely charge their car from their home supply which is five to ten times cheaper than using public chargers.
Enfield Council is the first local authority in London to trial the innovative Kerbo Charge technology after successful rollouts in several towns and cities across the UK.
When residents charge their car, they insert their charging cable into the channel and the specially designed lid closes behind, just like a zip. This takes away a potentially dangerous trip hazard that can result from loose cables stretching across public footpaths.
The introduction of the Kerbo Charge channels makes owning an EV much more attractive to those who do not have off-street parking, as residents can then charge off-peak for as little as 7.5p / kWh or 7p / mile...
So the way forward is creating private parking spaces outside each individual house, on the public road?
Wasn't JD Vance claiming that children are going hungry something that led to outrage among Dem supporters ?
From last year:
David Cameron was famously asked the price of bread a decade ago and struggled to answer, saying instead he used an electric breadmaker. The answer was around 47p.
Then, the Tories were struggling to deal with a cost of living crisis and were accused of being out of touch. Now, here we are again a decade later, with the prime minister Rishi Sunak and his chancellor Jeremy Hunt being accused of having no clue. Only now an average white loaf is £1.37 – and this time it’s not just politicians that are under pressure to do something about it.
Wasn't JD Vance claiming that children are going hungry something that led to outrage among Dem supporters ?
From last year:
David Cameron was famously asked the price of bread a decade ago and struggled to answer, saying instead he used an electric breadmaker. The answer was around 47p.
Then, the Tories were struggling to deal with a cost of living crisis and were accused of being out of touch. Now, here we are again a decade later, with the prime minister Rishi Sunak and his chancellor Jeremy Hunt being accused of having no clue. Only now an average white loaf is £1.37 – and this time it’s not just politicians that are under pressure to do something about it.
The average is biased by those extravagant artisanal loaves bought by the upper crust.
Quite possible. But can you prove it?
These puns have grown stale, unleavened by any originality.
I'm afraid disappointment is baked in whenever a thread is derailed by puns.
They knead to stop. Someone should banneton the site
Loaf of bread and pint of milk gotchas have been out of date since the advent of the supermarket. The usual unit is the weekly shop. Not any of its constituents.
Wasn't JD Vance claiming that children are going hungry something that led to outrage among Dem supporters ?
From last year:
David Cameron was famously asked the price of bread a decade ago and struggled to answer, saying instead he used an electric breadmaker. The answer was around 47p.
Then, the Tories were struggling to deal with a cost of living crisis and were accused of being out of touch. Now, here we are again a decade later, with the prime minister Rishi Sunak and his chancellor Jeremy Hunt being accused of having no clue. Only now an average white loaf is £1.37 – and this time it’s not just politicians that are under pressure to do something about it.
That recording of Jan 6th is indeed brutal. But it is not new. How can anyone support Trump after that, let alone nearly 45% of Americans.
Because violence in general, and political violence in particular, are much more socially acceptable in America than here. Americans are brought up on garbage like Thomas Jefferson's "a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical" and Patrick Henry's, "If this be treason, make the most of it", and it isn't very far from admiring those sayings to regarding January 6th as a patriotic act.
And, given 30 years of terrorism in Northern Ireland, we can't be as superior as we'd like.
Wasn't JD Vance claiming that children are going hungry something that led to outrage among Dem supporters ?
From last year:
David Cameron was famously asked the price of bread a decade ago and struggled to answer, saying instead he used an electric breadmaker. The answer was around 47p.
Then, the Tories were struggling to deal with a cost of living crisis and were accused of being out of touch. Now, here we are again a decade later, with the prime minister Rishi Sunak and his chancellor Jeremy Hunt being accused of having no clue. Only now an average white loaf is £1.37 – and this time it’s not just politicians that are under pressure to do something about it.
Which suggests that the Guardian is as confused as any politician as to what the price of bread is.
On the Tesco loaf, given it was "first baked 1872" I'd expect it to be pretty cheap. That is crazy cheap by today's prices.
I reckon my tastes in bread to be a bit daringly top-end - and I'd blanche at paying much more than £1.20. I'm somewhat sceptical of the £1.37 figure. Perhaps that's the average of all loaves - because there are some expensive options out there - but I can't believe it's the average of all loaves bought.
Checking, I think I pay around £1.00-£1.10 for those 800g sliced loaves I do have from Aldi, which are for things that are more awkward with bread machine bread - such as dipping sticks for a boiled hegg.
That will not be a shredded loo roll white, but more like a brown / wholemeal with seeds.
Maybe the Guardian one is an Islington-average, or they got confused because it a number bigger than three.
Wasn't JD Vance claiming that children are going hungry something that led to outrage among Dem supporters ?
From last year:
David Cameron was famously asked the price of bread a decade ago and struggled to answer, saying instead he used an electric breadmaker. The answer was around 47p.
Then, the Tories were struggling to deal with a cost of living crisis and were accused of being out of touch. Now, here we are again a decade later, with the prime minister Rishi Sunak and his chancellor Jeremy Hunt being accused of having no clue. Only now an average white loaf is £1.37 – and this time it’s not just politicians that are under pressure to do something about it.
The pilot of the 'Kerbo Charge' system, which is funded by residents, will help improve air quality across the borough and reduce CO2 emissions, in line with the Council’s climate action targets for the borough to become cleaner and greener for all who live, work and study within it.
The breakthrough EV charging channels make it possible for residents with street parking, estimated to be 60 per cent of Enfield households, to safely charge their car from their home supply which is five to ten times cheaper than using public chargers.
Enfield Council is the first local authority in London to trial the innovative Kerbo Charge technology after successful rollouts in several towns and cities across the UK.
When residents charge their car, they insert their charging cable into the channel and the specially designed lid closes behind, just like a zip. This takes away a potentially dangerous trip hazard that can result from loose cables stretching across public footpaths.
The introduction of the Kerbo Charge channels makes owning an EV much more attractive to those who do not have off-street parking, as residents can then charge off-peak for as little as 7.5p / kWh or 7p / mile...
So the way forward is creating private parking spaces outside each individual house, on the public road?
There are already plenty of residential parking permit systems in place. It could be an extension of that.
Vice President Harris: As a part of his Project 2025 agenda, Trump and his allies would limit access to birth control, ban medication abortion, and enact a nationwide abortion ban. Simply put, they are out of their minds https://x.com/KamalaHQ/status/1826818501165633806
Is this true? I thought Trump was just letting the states do their own thing.
The various anti-abortion dominated states have engaged in a campaign to attack abortion in *other* states - trying to prosecute women for having a abortion in other states, attacking companies and charities that are involved in reproductive rights in *other* states.
It’s a version of States Rights that is familiar. Down to the demand that other states use their police forces to track down and catch escaped slaves. women who want an abortion.
The people involved in this are often hard core MAGA, friends of Trump and are open about heir desire for a federal abortion ban.
The Vatican and most evangelical Christians would like a Federal abortion ban too but even Trump is leaving it to the states, though Vance would try and restrict access
What's it got to do with the Vatican? They're irrelevant for anyone not Catholic.
Oddly enough fear of Catholics and their diabolic mastermind the Pope has been a traditional feature of American Protestant nativism.
It was a big issue for Kennedy in 1960. I wonder how many even noticed that Biden was a catholic.
Wasn't JD Vance claiming that children are going hungry something that led to outrage among Dem supporters ?
From last year:
David Cameron was famously asked the price of bread a decade ago and struggled to answer, saying instead he used an electric breadmaker. The answer was around 47p.
Then, the Tories were struggling to deal with a cost of living crisis and were accused of being out of touch. Now, here we are again a decade later, with the prime minister Rishi Sunak and his chancellor Jeremy Hunt being accused of having no clue. Only now an average white loaf is £1.37 – and this time it’s not just politicians that are under pressure to do something about it.
Which suggests that the Guardian is as confused as any politician as to what the price of bread is.
That'll be the difference between "the average white loaf" and "the absolute cheapest economy loaf available", I expect.
With the latter being the relevant one in any reference to a 'cost of living crisis'.
Now you can pay £1 extra to get a branded bread or £3 extra to get a fancy hand baked sourdough bread.
But you don't have to, you don't need to, you do so by choice.
Good quality bread, like good quality coffee or olive oil is a very affordable luxury.
Very few Britons have calorie deficient malnutrition, but loads have obesity from excess refined carbohydrate in their diet.
Indeed, eliminating carbohydrates entirely from my diet has done wonders for my health.
Its also been cheaper too, as while meat is expensive per calorie, when its all you're eating you can afford to pay for it and not buy the rest of the stuff that goes with it.
Still buy fruits and vegetables and bread etc for my wife and kids even though I don't eat it myself, but doing the weekly shop is proving cheaper by eliminating my portion of those and eliminating snacks etc even while considerably increasing the amount of meat purchased.
Though I get my meat cheaper by going to by buying joints and cutting them into steaks (which Morrisons butcher will do for you when buying a joint) rather than buying pre-packaged steaks.
Be careful with meat too, it increases diabetes risk.
Not quite. From your link, RLB says that excluding affordable homes will not address the shortage of affordable homes.
In a letter to Salford City Council, Ms Long-Bailey called for the plans to be refused for not ensuring 20% of the planned homes were "affordable" housing, a requirement in the area’s local plan. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvgd429gdpno
Which is totally innumerate bullshit. If the supply of houses in the local area increases by over 3000 (not a typo) then the price of all homes in the area comes down versus if the homes aren't built. Which makes housing more affordable.
Building poor quality "affordable" homes isn't the only way to get home prices down, increasing supply faster than demand does that too.
What did you expect from her, something other than totally innumerate bullsh…?
Just to play devil's advocate, it is possible that new developments stimulate higher house prices, particularly if they are of a high enough quality, have good transport connections and are within commute distance of a city centre.
There are less salubrious parts of Edinburgh that are experiencing very high levels of development, largely in the old port areas like Leith, Granton, Newhaven, Seafield. This is leading to a large influx of young working people which carries a snowball effect - they are rapidly gentrifying with yoga, board game and plant pot shops. This means the values of existing flats is increasing as these working class areas suddenly get flooded with young professionals.
In fact, I was at a viewing yesterday of older flat in one of these areas, and the agent estimated about 75% of people interested are BTL landlords, thereby further squeezing the number of homes available to people who want to own their own place.
As we find time and again, the housing market is a complex beast and pointing at a supply and demand graph is simply not enough. There are plenty of examples of this kinda thing once you pass Economics 1A.
Gentrification is a different issue, specific to large cities, but every new dwelling built still works towards the overall housing problem.
The biggest current problem is massive pent-up demand for housing - there’s loads of twentysomethings and even thirtysomethings living with their parents or sharing with friends, who aspire to have a place of their own.
This means that prices won’t appreciably start falling until we are a couple of million units in to new construction, minus the units sold as second homes and to overseas residents.
Yes, it’s a horribly complex economic situation, with a load of moving parts such as taxation, interest rates, availability of finance, laws on foreign investment etc, rather than simply supply and demand for houses.
The only guaranteed way out of the current mess is 10m new housing units across the country.
Wasn't JD Vance claiming that children are going hungry something that led to outrage among Dem supporters ?
From last year:
David Cameron was famously asked the price of bread a decade ago and struggled to answer, saying instead he used an electric breadmaker. The answer was around 47p.
Then, the Tories were struggling to deal with a cost of living crisis and were accused of being out of touch. Now, here we are again a decade later, with the prime minister Rishi Sunak and his chancellor Jeremy Hunt being accused of having no clue. Only now an average white loaf is £1.37 – and this time it’s not just politicians that are under pressure to do something about it.
Which suggests that the Guardian is as confused as any politician as to what the price of bread is.
That'll be the difference between "the average white loaf" and "the absolute cheapest economy loaf available", I expect.
With the latter being the relevant one in any reference to a 'cost of living crisis'.
Now you can pay £1 extra to get a branded bread or £3 extra to get a fancy hand baked sourdough bread.
But you don't have to, you don't need to, you do so by choice.
Good quality bread, like good quality coffee or olive oil is a very affordable luxury.
Very few Britons have calorie deficient malnutrition, but loads have obesity from excess refined carbohydrate in their diet.
Indeed, eliminating carbohydrates entirely from my diet has done wonders for my health.
Its also been cheaper too, as while meat is expensive per calorie, when its all you're eating you can afford to pay for it and not buy the rest of the stuff that goes with it.
Still buy fruits and vegetables and bread etc for my wife and kids even though I don't eat it myself, but doing the weekly shop is proving cheaper by eliminating my portion of those and eliminating snacks etc even while considerably increasing the amount of meat purchased.
Though I get my meat cheaper by going to by buying joints and cutting them into steaks (which Morrisons butcher will do for you when buying a joint) rather than buying pre-packaged steaks.
How do you think you'll go on that long term? Not a criticism, just genuinely interested. Are you fully carnivore, no fruit, nuts, seeds, grains at all? Do you take supplements? I'm fully 180° the other way, no animal products at all. I'm in the best shape I've ever been in in the round, but that's also because of a complete overhaul of lifestyle, better sleep, no booze, a lot more exercise and fresh air, even a bit of meditation 😀
The pilot of the 'Kerbo Charge' system, which is funded by residents, will help improve air quality across the borough and reduce CO2 emissions, in line with the Council’s climate action targets for the borough to become cleaner and greener for all who live, work and study within it.
The breakthrough EV charging channels make it possible for residents with street parking, estimated to be 60 per cent of Enfield households, to safely charge their car from their home supply which is five to ten times cheaper than using public chargers.
Enfield Council is the first local authority in London to trial the innovative Kerbo Charge technology after successful rollouts in several towns and cities across the UK.
When residents charge their car, they insert their charging cable into the channel and the specially designed lid closes behind, just like a zip. This takes away a potentially dangerous trip hazard that can result from loose cables stretching across public footpaths.
The introduction of the Kerbo Charge channels makes owning an EV much more attractive to those who do not have off-street parking, as residents can then charge off-peak for as little as 7.5p / kWh or 7p / mile...
Given that we can't even prevent the utility companies from wrecking our footways when they dig them up, this is not the way. What's going to happen when they have a charging cable that won't fit?
It will multiply our already endemic trip hazards as Bodge, Bodge and Wreckit do their cheap-as-possible fly by night installs, or Barry the Civil Servant buys an angle grinder and thinks he knows how to work with paving slabs.
Footways are pedestrian space, and cannot be colonised as part of motor vehicle space; keep the damn things in the carriageway.
There's probably a large archive of them saying uncomplimentary things about each other that the Democrats are sitting on. I don't think the RFK thing ends up being of any benefit at all to Trump.
There's probably a large archive of them saying uncomplimentary things about each other that the Democrats are sitting on. I don't think the RFK thing ends up being of any benefit at all to Trump.
“It reads, ‘I’m With Her,’” Trump intoned. “I choose to recite a different pledge. My pledge reads: ‘I’m with you.’”
It was an unusually deft rhetorical turn that mocked Clinton’s self-hyping campaign and encouraged many voters’ suspicions that she was not truly focused on them.
Fast forward eight years and Kamala Harris delivered the counter-argument that Clinton and Joe Biden never really managed to land.
Narrating her career as a lawyer, Harris told the Democratic convention in Chicago that she has “only had one client: the people.” In Trump’s career in business and politics, she went on, he has represented “the only client he has ever had: himself.”
It extends a theme we’ve heard throughout the Democratic convention: that Trump is a narcissist who’s not really interested in governing, leading or helping people. It is an ironic turn that among the most effective versions of that message came from Bill Clinton, when he urged voters listening to Trump: “Don’t count the lies, count the I’d.”..
Not quite. From your link, RLB says that excluding affordable homes will not address the shortage of affordable homes.
In a letter to Salford City Council, Ms Long-Bailey called for the plans to be refused for not ensuring 20% of the planned homes were "affordable" housing, a requirement in the area’s local plan. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvgd429gdpno
Which is totally innumerate bullshit. If the supply of houses in the local area increases by over 3000 (not a typo) then the price of all homes in the area comes down versus if the homes aren't built. Which makes housing more affordable.
Building poor quality "affordable" homes isn't the only way to get home prices down, increasing supply faster than demand does that too.
What did you expect from her, something other than totally innumerate bullsh…?
Just to play devil's advocate, it is possible that new developments stimulate higher house prices, particularly if they are of a high enough quality, have good transport connections and are within commute distance of a city centre.
There are less salubrious parts of Edinburgh that are experiencing very high levels of development, largely in the old port areas like Leith, Granton, Newhaven, Seafield. This is leading to a large influx of young working people which carries a snowball effect - they are rapidly gentrifying with yoga, board game and plant pot shops. This means the values of existing flats is increasing as these working class areas suddenly get flooded with young professionals.
In fact, I was at a viewing yesterday of older flat in one of these areas, and the agent estimated about 75% of people interested are BTL landlords, thereby further squeezing the number of homes available to people who want to own their own place.
As we find time and again, the housing market is a complex beast and pointing at a supply and demand graph is simply not enough. There are plenty of examples of this kinda thing once you pass Economics 1A.
Gentrification is a different issue, specific to large cities, but every new dwelling built still works towards the overall housing problem.
The biggest current problem is massive pent-up demand for housing - there’s loads of twentysomethings and even thirtysomethings living with their parents or sharing with friends, who aspire to have a place of their own.
This means that prices won’t appreciably start falling until we are a couple of million units in to new construction, minus the units sold as second homes or to foreign residents.
Yes, it’s a horribly complex economic situation, with a load of moving parts such as taxation, interest rates, availability of finance, laws on foreign investment etc, rather than simply supply and demand for houses.
I dunno. The French have 8 million more homes than use, similar house prices and more overcrowding.
The problem is that 20 and 30 somethings all want to live close to where their peers and their jobs are, which is increasingly just a few major cities. People go to Uni and never return to towns or villages.
(and I don't think gentrification is an issue at all - it's just people whining about somewhere not being a shithole anymore. But being nice comes with a price).
Not quite. From your link, RLB says that excluding affordable homes will not address the shortage of affordable homes.
In a letter to Salford City Council, Ms Long-Bailey called for the plans to be refused for not ensuring 20% of the planned homes were "affordable" housing, a requirement in the area’s local plan. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvgd429gdpno
This is typical of the more slow-thinking public sector mindset that you can just legislate something into existence.
Not quite. From your link, RLB says that excluding affordable homes will not address the shortage of affordable homes.
In a letter to Salford City Council, Ms Long-Bailey called for the plans to be refused for not ensuring 20% of the planned homes were "affordable" housing, a requirement in the area’s local plan. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvgd429gdpno
Which is totally innumerate bullshit. If the supply of houses in the local area increases by over 3000 (not a typo) then the price of all homes in the area comes down versus if the homes aren't built. Which makes housing more affordable.
Building poor quality "affordable" homes isn't the only way to get home prices down, increasing supply faster than demand does that too.
No
600 homes to be sold / let for 80% of the normal price will lower local housing costs.
Putting 3000 flats on the market for 350-700k will make no real difference.
You seem to think that the homes would still be built if prices fell. They wouldn’t. The system will only support rising prices.
Wasn't JD Vance claiming that children are going hungry something that led to outrage among Dem supporters ?
From last year:
David Cameron was famously asked the price of bread a decade ago and struggled to answer, saying instead he used an electric breadmaker. The answer was around 47p.
Then, the Tories were struggling to deal with a cost of living crisis and were accused of being out of touch. Now, here we are again a decade later, with the prime minister Rishi Sunak and his chancellor Jeremy Hunt being accused of having no clue. Only now an average white loaf is £1.37 – and this time it’s not just politicians that are under pressure to do something about it.
Which suggests that the Guardian is as confused as any politician as to what the price of bread is.
On the Tesco loaf, given it was "first baked 1872" I'd expect it to be pretty cheap. That is crazy cheap by today's prices.
I reckon my tastes in bread to be a bit daringly top-end - and I'd blanche at paying much more than £1.20. I'm somewhat sceptical of the £1.37 figure. Perhaps that's the average of all loaves - because there are some expensive options out there - but I can't believe it's the average of all loaves bought.
Checking, I think I pay around £1.00-£1.10 for those 800g sliced loaves I do have from Aldi, which are for things that are more awkward with bread machine bread - such as dipping sticks for a boiled hegg.
That will not be a shredded loo roll white, but more like a brown / wholemeal with seeds.
Maybe the Guardian one is an Islington-average, or they got confused because it a number bigger than three.
Not quite. From your link, RLB says that excluding affordable homes will not address the shortage of affordable homes.
In a letter to Salford City Council, Ms Long-Bailey called for the plans to be refused for not ensuring 20% of the planned homes were "affordable" housing, a requirement in the area’s local plan. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvgd429gdpno
Which is totally innumerate bullshit. If the supply of houses in the local area increases by over 3000 (not a typo) then the price of all homes in the area comes down versus if the homes aren't built. Which makes housing more affordable.
Building poor quality "affordable" homes isn't the only way to get home prices down, increasing supply faster than demand does that too.
What did you expect from her, something other than totally innumerate bullsh…?
Just to play devil's advocate, it is possible that new developments stimulate higher house prices, particularly if they are of a high enough quality, have good transport connections and are within commute distance of a city centre.
There are less salubrious parts of Edinburgh that are experiencing very high levels of development, largely in the old port areas like Leith, Granton, Newhaven, Seafield. This is leading to a large influx of young working people which carries a snowball effect - they are rapidly gentrifying with yoga, board game and plant pot shops. This means the values of existing flats is increasing as these working class areas suddenly get flooded with young professionals.
In fact, I was at a viewing yesterday of older flat in one of these areas, and the agent estimated about 75% of people interested are BTL landlords, thereby further squeezing the number of homes available to people who want to own their own place.
As we find time and again, the housing market is a complex beast and pointing at a supply and demand graph is simply not enough. There are plenty of examples of this kinda thing once you pass Economics 1A.
Gentrification is a different issue, specific to large cities, but every new dwelling built still works towards the overall housing problem.
The biggest current problem is massive pent-up demand for housing - there’s loads of twentysomethings and even thirtysomethings living with their parents or sharing with friends, who aspire to have a place of their own.
This means that prices won’t appreciably start falling until we are a couple of million units in to new construction, minus the units sold as second homes or to foreign residents.
Yes, it’s a horribly complex economic situation, with a load of moving parts such as taxation, interest rates, availability of finance, laws on foreign investment etc, rather than simply supply and demand for houses.
I dunno. The French have 8 million more homes than use, similar house prices and more overcrowding.
The problem is that 20 and 30 somethings all want to live close to where their peers and their jobs are, which is increasingly just a few major cities. People go to Uni and never return to towns or villages.
(and I don't think gentrification is an issue at all - it's just people whining about somewhere not being a shithole anymore. But being nice comes with a price).
'Gentrification' is used as a euphemism for other complaints.
The pilot of the 'Kerbo Charge' system, which is funded by residents, will help improve air quality across the borough and reduce CO2 emissions, in line with the Council’s climate action targets for the borough to become cleaner and greener for all who live, work and study within it.
The breakthrough EV charging channels make it possible for residents with street parking, estimated to be 60 per cent of Enfield households, to safely charge their car from their home supply which is five to ten times cheaper than using public chargers.
Enfield Council is the first local authority in London to trial the innovative Kerbo Charge technology after successful rollouts in several towns and cities across the UK.
When residents charge their car, they insert their charging cable into the channel and the specially designed lid closes behind, just like a zip. This takes away a potentially dangerous trip hazard that can result from loose cables stretching across public footpaths.
The introduction of the Kerbo Charge channels makes owning an EV much more attractive to those who do not have off-street parking, as residents can then charge off-peak for as little as 7.5p / kWh or 7p / mile...
Given that we can't even prevent the utility companies from wrecking our footways when they dig them up, this is not the way. What's going to happen when they have a charging cable that won't fit?
It will multiply our already endemic trip hazards as Bodge, Bodge and Wreckit do their cheap-as-possible fly by night installs, or Barry the Civil Servant buys an angle grinder and thinks he knows how to work with paving slabs.
Footways are pedestrian space, and cannot be colonised as part of motor vehicle space; keep the damn things in the carriageway.
This is a great idea that could be poorly implemented and receive a massive backlash.
Electric charging should indeed come from kerbs, but I think it should be a proper investment by the government with standardised design and maintained by local authorities. Any new pavement or refurbishment should include it, like the slow rollout of Charles III coins.
We should wait to see how the trial goes before we pronounce judgment though. Keep on eye on what the RNIB say.
Not quite. From your link, RLB says that excluding affordable homes will not address the shortage of affordable homes.
In a letter to Salford City Council, Ms Long-Bailey called for the plans to be refused for not ensuring 20% of the planned homes were "affordable" housing, a requirement in the area’s local plan. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvgd429gdpno
Which is totally innumerate bullshit. If the supply of houses in the local area increases by over 3000 (not a typo) then the price of all homes in the area comes down versus if the homes aren't built. Which makes housing more affordable.
Building poor quality "affordable" homes isn't the only way to get home prices down, increasing supply faster than demand does that too.
What did you expect from her, something other than totally innumerate bullsh…?
Just to play devil's advocate, it is possible that new developments stimulate higher house prices, particularly if they are of a high enough quality, have good transport connections and are within commute distance of a city centre.
There are less salubrious parts of Edinburgh that are experiencing very high levels of development, largely in the old port areas like Leith, Granton, Newhaven, Seafield. This is leading to a large influx of young working people which carries a snowball effect - they are rapidly gentrifying with yoga, board game and plant pot shops. This means the values of existing flats is increasing as these working class areas suddenly get flooded with young professionals.
In fact, I was at a viewing yesterday of older flat in one of these areas, and the agent estimated about 75% of people interested are BTL landlords, thereby further squeezing the number of homes available to people who want to own their own place.
As we find time and again, the housing market is a complex beast and pointing at a supply and demand graph is simply not enough. There are plenty of examples of this kinda thing once you pass Economics 1A.
Gentrification is a different issue, specific to large cities, but every new dwelling built still works towards the overall housing problem.
The biggest current problem is massive pent-up demand for housing - there’s loads of twentysomethings and even thirtysomethings living with their parents or sharing with friends, who aspire to have a place of their own.
This means that prices won’t appreciably start falling until we are a couple of million units in to new construction, minus the units sold as second homes or to foreign residents.
Yes, it’s a horribly complex economic situation, with a load of moving parts such as taxation, interest rates, availability of finance, laws on foreign investment etc, rather than simply supply and demand for houses.
I dunno. The French have 8 million more homes than use, similar house prices and more overcrowding.
The problem is that 20 and 30 somethings all want to live close to where their peers and their jobs are, which is increasingly just a few major cities. People go to Uni and never return to towns or villages.
(and I don't think gentrification is an issue at all - it's just people whining about somewhere not being a shithole anymore. But being nice comes with a price).
'Gentrification' is used as a euphemism for other complaints.
My biggest objection to "Gentrification" protestors, is that they won't do the obvious.
Burglary, sell some crack, get the neighbourhood back to how it was....
Wasn't JD Vance claiming that children are going hungry something that led to outrage among Dem supporters ?
From last year:
David Cameron was famously asked the price of bread a decade ago and struggled to answer, saying instead he used an electric breadmaker. The answer was around 47p.
Then, the Tories were struggling to deal with a cost of living crisis and were accused of being out of touch. Now, here we are again a decade later, with the prime minister Rishi Sunak and his chancellor Jeremy Hunt being accused of having no clue. Only now an average white loaf is £1.37 – and this time it’s not just politicians that are under pressure to do something about it.
Which suggests that the Guardian is as confused as any politician as to what the price of bread is.
On the Tesco loaf, given it was "first baked 1872" I'd expect it to be pretty cheap. That is crazy cheap by today's prices.
I reckon my tastes in bread to be a bit daringly top-end - and I'd blanche at paying much more than £1.20. I'm somewhat sceptical of the £1.37 figure. Perhaps that's the average of all loaves - because there are some expensive options out there - but I can't believe it's the average of all loaves bought.
Checking, I think I pay around £1.00-£1.10 for those 800g sliced loaves I do have from Aldi, which are for things that are more awkward with bread machine bread - such as dipping sticks for a boiled hegg.
That will not be a shredded loo roll white, but more like a brown / wholemeal with seeds.
Maybe the Guardian one is an Islington-average, or they got confused because it a number bigger than three.
Or perhaps they use the ONS official figures.
They clearly don’t since the 47p from a decade ago is nonsense. A decade ago the price of bread was about the same as it is now….
Wasn't JD Vance claiming that children are going hungry something that led to outrage among Dem supporters ?
From last year:
David Cameron was famously asked the price of bread a decade ago and struggled to answer, saying instead he used an electric breadmaker. The answer was around 47p.
Then, the Tories were struggling to deal with a cost of living crisis and were accused of being out of touch. Now, here we are again a decade later, with the prime minister Rishi Sunak and his chancellor Jeremy Hunt being accused of having no clue. Only now an average white loaf is £1.37 – and this time it’s not just politicians that are under pressure to do something about it.
Which suggests that the Guardian is as confused as any politician as to what the price of bread is.
That'll be the difference between "the average white loaf" and "the absolute cheapest economy loaf available", I expect.
With the latter being the relevant one in any reference to a 'cost of living crisis'.
Now you can pay £1 extra to get a branded bread or £3 extra to get a fancy hand baked sourdough bread.
But you don't have to, you don't need to, you do so by choice.
Yesterday I paid £1.80 for a 400g (half size) Warburtons Old English White from Sainsbury's. Well, £1.50 after Nectar discount. I'm not really sure how the existence of cheaper loaves somehow disproves inflation, but it does support my contention that most economic statistics are rubbish.
Wasn't JD Vance claiming that children are going hungry something that led to outrage among Dem supporters ?
From last year:
David Cameron was famously asked the price of bread a decade ago and struggled to answer, saying instead he used an electric breadmaker. The answer was around 47p.
Then, the Tories were struggling to deal with a cost of living crisis and were accused of being out of touch. Now, here we are again a decade later, with the prime minister Rishi Sunak and his chancellor Jeremy Hunt being accused of having no clue. Only now an average white loaf is £1.37 – and this time it’s not just politicians that are under pressure to do something about it.
Which suggests that the Guardian is as confused as any politician as to what the price of bread is.
That'll be the difference between "the average white loaf" and "the absolute cheapest economy loaf available", I expect.
With the latter being the relevant one in any reference to a 'cost of living crisis'.
Now you can pay £1 extra to get a branded bread or £3 extra to get a fancy hand baked sourdough bread.
But you don't have to, you don't need to, you do so by choice.
Good quality bread, like good quality coffee or olive oil is a very affordable luxury.
Very few Britons have calorie deficient malnutrition, but loads have obesity from excess refined carbohydrate in their diet.
Indeed, eliminating carbohydrates entirely from my diet has done wonders for my health.
Its also been cheaper too, as while meat is expensive per calorie, when its all you're eating you can afford to pay for it and not buy the rest of the stuff that goes with it.
Still buy fruits and vegetables and bread etc for my wife and kids even though I don't eat it myself, but doing the weekly shop is proving cheaper by eliminating my portion of those and eliminating snacks etc even while considerably increasing the amount of meat purchased.
Though I get my meat cheaper by going to by buying joints and cutting them into steaks (which Morrisons butcher will do for you when buying a joint) rather than buying pre-packaged steaks.
How do you think you'll go on that long term? Not a criticism, just genuinely interested. Are you fully carnivore, no fruit, nuts, seeds, grains at all? Do you take supplements? I'm fully 180° the other way, no animal products at all. I'm in the best shape I've ever been in in the round, but that's also because of a complete overhaul of lifestyle, better sleep, no booze, a lot more exercise and fresh air, even a bit of meditation 😀
Rather relieved. Halfway through a 'do not turn off your computer' update, the power went out. Just came back now, I think everything's ok. Was worried my desktop, which I've only had a few months, might've become a brick.
Go to the UPS shop and buy one, or at least make sure everything you care about is backed up so that when it does all go pear-shaped and you need to reinstall Windows, you do not lose all your photos and tunes or whatever the cool kids keep on their machines these days.
Wasn't JD Vance claiming that children are going hungry something that led to outrage among Dem supporters ?
From last year:
David Cameron was famously asked the price of bread a decade ago and struggled to answer, saying instead he used an electric breadmaker. The answer was around 47p.
Then, the Tories were struggling to deal with a cost of living crisis and were accused of being out of touch. Now, here we are again a decade later, with the prime minister Rishi Sunak and his chancellor Jeremy Hunt being accused of having no clue. Only now an average white loaf is £1.37 – and this time it’s not just politicians that are under pressure to do something about it.
Which suggests that the Guardian is as confused as any politician as to what the price of bread is.
That'll be the difference between "the average white loaf" and "the absolute cheapest economy loaf available", I expect.
With the latter being the relevant one in any reference to a 'cost of living crisis'.
Now you can pay £1 extra to get a branded bread or £3 extra to get a fancy hand baked sourdough bread.
But you don't have to, you don't need to, you do so by choice.
Good quality bread, like good quality coffee or olive oil is a very affordable luxury.
Very few Britons have calorie deficient malnutrition, but loads have obesity from excess refined carbohydrate in their diet.
Indeed, eliminating carbohydrates entirely from my diet has done wonders for my health.
Its also been cheaper too, as while meat is expensive per calorie, when its all you're eating you can afford to pay for it and not buy the rest of the stuff that goes with it.
Still buy fruits and vegetables and bread etc for my wife and kids even though I don't eat it myself, but doing the weekly shop is proving cheaper by eliminating my portion of those and eliminating snacks etc even while considerably increasing the amount of meat purchased.
Though I get my meat cheaper by going to by buying joints and cutting them into steaks (which Morrisons butcher will do for you when buying a joint) rather than buying pre-packaged steaks.
Be careful with meat too, it increases diabetes risk.
Correlation is not causation and I'm pretty certain having lost fifty pounds I'm at less risk of diabetes, not more.
Indeed one of the reasons I tried this diet is because I'm at risk of diabetes, it runs in my family.
My dad got it from his vegetarian diet and now he's done a complete 180. It still amazes me now when we go out and he'll order a mixed grill no chips for his meal after decades of vegetarianism.
Off topic but after a summer of reading I wanted to thank @StillWaters for the recommendation of Barr's A Line in the Sand to understand more about the conflict in Gaza. Despite what felt at times like a bit of an anti - French bias it was a great read and I feel much better informed about the political history. Thanks.
Also to @148grss for the recommendation of Federici's Caliban and the Witch. It's rare to read a book that offers a completely new perspective on something but this did so on the early history of capitalism. I felt it played into my own prejudices at times and when I forced myself to be skeptical I felt she sometimes drew out fairly tendentious causal chains for things, but the scholarship is deep and wide and it's an impressive read, thanks.
Ex-Tory chairman launches blistering tirade at 'complete idiocy' of Rishi Sunak Sir Jake Berry said Rishi Sunak's decision to call a General Election early was 'absolute idiocy' and said the former PM 'must have taken leave of his senses... if he ever had them' https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/ex-tory-chairman-lauches-blistering-33524186
The pilot of the 'Kerbo Charge' system, which is funded by residents, will help improve air quality across the borough and reduce CO2 emissions, in line with the Council’s climate action targets for the borough to become cleaner and greener for all who live, work and study within it.
The breakthrough EV charging channels make it possible for residents with street parking, estimated to be 60 per cent of Enfield households, to safely charge their car from their home supply which is five to ten times cheaper than using public chargers.
Enfield Council is the first local authority in London to trial the innovative Kerbo Charge technology after successful rollouts in several towns and cities across the UK.
When residents charge their car, they insert their charging cable into the channel and the specially designed lid closes behind, just like a zip. This takes away a potentially dangerous trip hazard that can result from loose cables stretching across public footpaths.
The introduction of the Kerbo Charge channels makes owning an EV much more attractive to those who do not have off-street parking, as residents can then charge off-peak for as little as 7.5p / kWh or 7p / mile...
Given that we can't even prevent the utility companies from wrecking our footways when they dig them up, this is not the way. What's going to happen when they have a charging cable that won't fit?
It will multiply our already endemic trip hazards as Bodge, Bodge and Wreckit do their cheap-as-possible fly by night installs, or Barry the Civil Servant buys an angle grinder and thinks he knows how to work with paving slabs.
Footways are pedestrian space, and cannot be colonised as part of motor vehicle space; keep the damn things in the carriageway.
This is a great idea that could be poorly implemented and receive a massive backlash.
Electric charging should indeed come from kerbs, but I think it should be a proper investment by the government with standardised design and maintained by local authorities. Any new pavement or refurbishment should include it, like the slow rollout of Charles III coins.
We should wait to see how the trial goes before we pronounce judgment though. Keep on eye on what the RNIB say.
Yes, it's not an ideal solution - but it demonstrates what's possible now. And it ought to be possible to manage far better the below pavement infrastructure for utilities.
Wasn't JD Vance claiming that children are going hungry something that led to outrage among Dem supporters ?
From last year:
David Cameron was famously asked the price of bread a decade ago and struggled to answer, saying instead he used an electric breadmaker. The answer was around 47p.
Then, the Tories were struggling to deal with a cost of living crisis and were accused of being out of touch. Now, here we are again a decade later, with the prime minister Rishi Sunak and his chancellor Jeremy Hunt being accused of having no clue. Only now an average white loaf is £1.37 – and this time it’s not just politicians that are under pressure to do something about it.
Which suggests that the Guardian is as confused as any politician as to what the price of bread is.
On the Tesco loaf, given it was "first baked 1872" I'd expect it to be pretty cheap. That is crazy cheap by today's prices.
I reckon my tastes in bread to be a bit daringly top-end - and I'd blanche at paying much more than £1.20. I'm somewhat sceptical of the £1.37 figure. Perhaps that's the average of all loaves - because there are some expensive options out there - but I can't believe it's the average of all loaves bought.
Checking, I think I pay around £1.00-£1.10 for those 800g sliced loaves I do have from Aldi, which are for things that are more awkward with bread machine bread - such as dipping sticks for a boiled hegg.
That will not be a shredded loo roll white, but more like a brown / wholemeal with seeds.
Maybe the Guardian one is an Islington-average, or they got confused because it a number bigger than three.
Or perhaps they use the ONS official figures.
They clearly don’t since the 47p from a decade ago is nonsense. A decade ago the price of bread was about the same as it is now….
The 47p came from Nick Ferrari, Tory fanboy at LBC, the Guardian repeated it.
Ex-Tory chairman launches blistering tirade at 'complete idiocy' of Rishi Sunak Sir Jake Berry said Rishi Sunak's decision to call a General Election early was 'absolute idiocy' and said the former PM 'must have taken leave of his senses... if he ever had them' https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/ex-tory-chairman-lauches-blistering-33524186
Though looking at the issues that were in the governmental in-tray... The public sector pay recommendations, the energy price rises... Any reason to think that Sunak would have done better by staying in government until the autumn?
That recording of Jan 6th is indeed brutal. But it is not new. How can anyone support Trump after that, let alone nearly 45% of Americans.
Because violence in general, and political violence in particular, are much more socially acceptable in America than here. Americans are brought up on garbage like Thomas Jefferson's "a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical" and Patrick Henry's, "If this be treason, make the most of it", and it isn't very far from admiring those sayings to regarding January 6th as a patriotic act.
And, given 30 years of terrorism in Northern Ireland, we can't be as superior as we'd like.
Of course they would also argue if it was not for the Boston Tea Party riot and War of Independence King Charles III would have followed his ancestor King George III to the US throne and this presidential election in the still colonies would not be happening
I think that's about right from both above.
The USA has inground, endemic violence, which is acceptable to a far greater degree than would in eg Western Europe.
Similar comments could be made wrt prison population, which pro-rata is six times higher than the UK, and ours is high compared to most of Europe.
Is it linked to a lack of a close-to-home war for 150 years?
I'd link it to a very strongly ingrained individualism, which makes it far easier to blame THEM, whoever is the convenient "them".
Certainly the US has a more individualist culture than most of Europe and other western nations, driven by the fact it set itself up as a nation free of monarchy and aristocracy and established religion and a refuge for those fleeing socialism and communism in the Cold War and for Jews fleeing Fascism after WW2.
Though as you say that more libertarian approach also means it leads to lax gun control and more gun deaths.
Its incarceration rate and prison population is also high, though many Americans would also argue that is less of a problem given its reoffending rate is better than not only ours but Sweden's, New Zealand's, the Netherlands, Latvia's, Australia's, Canada's, France's and Germany's and Ireland's to take a few examples and about the same as Italy's. Only Norway and South Korea have clearly lower recidivism rates than the USA https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/recidivism-rates-by-country
Wasn't JD Vance claiming that children are going hungry something that led to outrage among Dem supporters ?
From last year:
David Cameron was famously asked the price of bread a decade ago and struggled to answer, saying instead he used an electric breadmaker. The answer was around 47p.
Then, the Tories were struggling to deal with a cost of living crisis and were accused of being out of touch. Now, here we are again a decade later, with the prime minister Rishi Sunak and his chancellor Jeremy Hunt being accused of having no clue. Only now an average white loaf is £1.37 – and this time it’s not just politicians that are under pressure to do something about it.
Which suggests that the Guardian is as confused as any politician as to what the price of bread is.
That'll be the difference between "the average white loaf" and "the absolute cheapest economy loaf available", I expect.
With the latter being the relevant one in any reference to a 'cost of living crisis'.
Now you can pay £1 extra to get a branded bread or £3 extra to get a fancy hand baked sourdough bread.
But you don't have to, you don't need to, you do so by choice.
Good quality bread, like good quality coffee or olive oil is a very affordable luxury.
Very few Britons have calorie deficient malnutrition, but loads have obesity from excess refined carbohydrate in their diet.
Indeed, eliminating carbohydrates entirely from my diet has done wonders for my health.
Its also been cheaper too, as while meat is expensive per calorie, when its all you're eating you can afford to pay for it and not buy the rest of the stuff that goes with it.
Still buy fruits and vegetables and bread etc for my wife and kids even though I don't eat it myself, but doing the weekly shop is proving cheaper by eliminating my portion of those and eliminating snacks etc even while considerably increasing the amount of meat purchased.
Though I get my meat cheaper by going to by buying joints and cutting them into steaks (which Morrisons butcher will do for you when buying a joint) rather than buying pre-packaged steaks.
How do you think you'll go on that long term? Not a criticism, just genuinely interested. Are you fully carnivore, no fruit, nuts, seeds, grains at all? Do you take supplements? I'm fully 180° the other way, no animal products at all. I'm in the best shape I've ever been in in the round, but that's also because of a complete overhaul of lifestyle, better sleep, no booze, a lot more exercise and fresh air, even a bit of meditation 😀
I'm coming up towards a year now of full carnivore. Don't take any supplements, don't need them you get all the nutrition you need from beef.
Wasn't JD Vance claiming that children are going hungry something that led to outrage among Dem supporters ?
From last year:
David Cameron was famously asked the price of bread a decade ago and struggled to answer, saying instead he used an electric breadmaker. The answer was around 47p.
Then, the Tories were struggling to deal with a cost of living crisis and were accused of being out of touch. Now, here we are again a decade later, with the prime minister Rishi Sunak and his chancellor Jeremy Hunt being accused of having no clue. Only now an average white loaf is £1.37 – and this time it’s not just politicians that are under pressure to do something about it.
Which suggests that the Guardian is as confused as any politician as to what the price of bread is.
On the Tesco loaf, given it was "first baked 1872" I'd expect it to be pretty cheap. That is crazy cheap by today's prices.
I reckon my tastes in bread to be a bit daringly top-end - and I'd blanche at paying much more than £1.20. I'm somewhat sceptical of the £1.37 figure. Perhaps that's the average of all loaves - because there are some expensive options out there - but I can't believe it's the average of all loaves bought.
Checking, I think I pay around £1.00-£1.10 for those 800g sliced loaves I do have from Aldi, which are for things that are more awkward with bread machine bread - such as dipping sticks for a boiled hegg.
That will not be a shredded loo roll white, but more like a brown / wholemeal with seeds.
Maybe the Guardian one is an Islington-average, or they got confused because it a number bigger than three.
Or perhaps they use the ONS official figures.
They clearly don’t since the 47p from a decade ago is nonsense. A decade ago the price of bread was about the same as it is now….
The 47p came from Nick Ferrari, Tory fanboy at LBC, the Guardian repeated it.
Wasn't JD Vance claiming that children are going hungry something that led to outrage among Dem supporters ?
From last year:
David Cameron was famously asked the price of bread a decade ago and struggled to answer, saying instead he used an electric breadmaker. The answer was around 47p.
Then, the Tories were struggling to deal with a cost of living crisis and were accused of being out of touch. Now, here we are again a decade later, with the prime minister Rishi Sunak and his chancellor Jeremy Hunt being accused of having no clue. Only now an average white loaf is £1.37 – and this time it’s not just politicians that are under pressure to do something about it.
Which suggests that the Guardian is as confused as any politician as to what the price of bread is.
On the Tesco loaf, given it was "first baked 1872" I'd expect it to be pretty cheap. That is crazy cheap by today's prices.
I reckon my tastes in bread to be a bit daringly top-end - and I'd blanche at paying much more than £1.20. I'm somewhat sceptical of the £1.37 figure. Perhaps that's the average of all loaves - because there are some expensive options out there - but I can't believe it's the average of all loaves bought.
Checking, I think I pay around £1.00-£1.10 for those 800g sliced loaves I do have from Aldi, which are for things that are more awkward with bread machine bread - such as dipping sticks for a boiled hegg.
That will not be a shredded loo roll white, but more like a brown / wholemeal with seeds.
Maybe the Guardian one is an Islington-average, or they got confused because it a number bigger than three.
Or perhaps they use the ONS official figures.
They clearly don’t since the 47p from a decade ago is nonsense. A decade ago the price of bread was about the same as it is now….
The 47p came from Nick Ferrari, Tory fanboy at LBC, the Guardian repeated it.
Wasn't JD Vance claiming that children are going hungry something that led to outrage among Dem supporters ?
From last year:
David Cameron was famously asked the price of bread a decade ago and struggled to answer, saying instead he used an electric breadmaker. The answer was around 47p.
Then, the Tories were struggling to deal with a cost of living crisis and were accused of being out of touch. Now, here we are again a decade later, with the prime minister Rishi Sunak and his chancellor Jeremy Hunt being accused of having no clue. Only now an average white loaf is £1.37 – and this time it’s not just politicians that are under pressure to do something about it.
Which suggests that the Guardian is as confused as any politician as to what the price of bread is.
That'll be the difference between "the average white loaf" and "the absolute cheapest economy loaf available", I expect.
With the latter being the relevant one in any reference to a 'cost of living crisis'.
Now you can pay £1 extra to get a branded bread or £3 extra to get a fancy hand baked sourdough bread.
But you don't have to, you don't need to, you do so by choice.
Good quality bread, like good quality coffee or olive oil is a very affordable luxury.
Very few Britons have calorie deficient malnutrition, but loads have obesity from excess refined carbohydrate in their diet.
Indeed, eliminating carbohydrates entirely from my diet has done wonders for my health.
Its also been cheaper too, as while meat is expensive per calorie, when its all you're eating you can afford to pay for it and not buy the rest of the stuff that goes with it.
Still buy fruits and vegetables and bread etc for my wife and kids even though I don't eat it myself, but doing the weekly shop is proving cheaper by eliminating my portion of those and eliminating snacks etc even while considerably increasing the amount of meat purchased.
Though I get my meat cheaper by going to by buying joints and cutting them into steaks (which Morrisons butcher will do for you when buying a joint) rather than buying pre-packaged steaks.
How do you think you'll go on that long term? Not a criticism, just genuinely interested. Are you fully carnivore, no fruit, nuts, seeds, grains at all? Do you take supplements? I'm fully 180° the other way, no animal products at all. I'm in the best shape I've ever been in in the round, but that's also because of a complete overhaul of lifestyle, better sleep, no booze, a lot more exercise and fresh air, even a bit of meditation 😀
Vice President Harris: As a part of his Project 2025 agenda, Trump and his allies would limit access to birth control, ban medication abortion, and enact a nationwide abortion ban. Simply put, they are out of their minds https://x.com/KamalaHQ/status/1826818501165633806
Is this true? I thought Trump was just letting the states do their own thing.
The various anti-abortion dominated states have engaged in a campaign to attack abortion in *other* states - trying to prosecute women for having a abortion in other states, attacking companies and charities that are involved in reproductive rights in *other* states.
It’s a version of States Rights that is familiar. Down to the demand that other states use their police forces to track down and catch escaped slaves. women who want an abortion.
The people involved in this are often hard core MAGA, friends of Trump and are open about heir desire for a federal abortion ban.
The Vatican and most evangelical Christians would like a Federal abortion ban too but even Trump is leaving it to the states, though Vance would try and restrict access
What's it got to do with the Vatican? They're irrelevant for anyone not Catholic.
Not quite. From your link, RLB says that excluding affordable homes will not address the shortage of affordable homes.
In a letter to Salford City Council, Ms Long-Bailey called for the plans to be refused for not ensuring 20% of the planned homes were "affordable" housing, a requirement in the area’s local plan. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvgd429gdpno
Which is totally innumerate bullshit. If the supply of houses in the local area increases by over 3000 (not a typo) then the price of all homes in the area comes down versus if the homes aren't built. Which makes housing more affordable.
Building poor quality "affordable" homes isn't the only way to get home prices down, increasing supply faster than demand does that too.
What did you expect from her, something other than totally innumerate bullsh…?
Just to play devil's advocate, it is possible that new developments stimulate higher house prices, particularly if they are of a high enough quality, have good transport connections and are within commute distance of a city centre.
There are less salubrious parts of Edinburgh that are experiencing very high levels of development, largely in the old port areas like Leith, Granton, Newhaven, Seafield. This is leading to a large influx of young working people which carries a snowball effect - they are rapidly gentrifying with yoga, board game and plant pot shops. This means the values of existing flats is increasing as these working class areas suddenly get flooded with young professionals.
In fact, I was at a viewing yesterday of older flat in one of these areas, and the agent estimated about 75% of people interested are BTL landlords, thereby further squeezing the number of homes available to people who want to own their own place.
As we find time and again, the housing market is a complex beast and pointing at a supply and demand graph is simply not enough. There are plenty of examples of this kinda thing once you pass Economics 1A.
Gentrification is a different issue, specific to large cities, but every new dwelling built still works towards the overall housing problem.
The biggest current problem is massive pent-up demand for housing - there’s loads of twentysomethings and even thirtysomethings living with their parents or sharing with friends, who aspire to have a place of their own.
This means that prices won’t appreciably start falling until we are a couple of million units in to new construction, minus the units sold as second homes or to foreign residents.
Yes, it’s a horribly complex economic situation, with a load of moving parts such as taxation, interest rates, availability of finance, laws on foreign investment etc, rather than simply supply and demand for houses.
I dunno. The French have 8 million more homes than use, similar house prices and more overcrowding.
The problem is that 20 and 30 somethings all want to live close to where their peers and their jobs are, which is increasingly just a few major cities. People go to Uni and never return to towns or villages.
(and I don't think gentrification is an issue at all - it's just people whining about somewhere not being a shithole anymore. But being nice comes with a price).
The housing crisis is indeed really complicated. In addition, as we live in a democracy, whatever gets done has to bring enough of the people along with it. The cry of frustration of, "Sod 'em, impose this and be done with it," simply can't work - at least not for more than one or two election cycles at best, and solving the issue won't be done in that timescale.
The simplistic "build more and prices come down" approach runs into the problem that whilst it may be true to an extent nationwide, it's not true locally (and that's cantering past the fact that actually it's "Build more and price rises won't be as great as otherwise but won't necessarily go into reverse"). Induced demand is a thing - build a load of expensive four and five bedroom houses and people will come into the area from more expensive areas outside of it. As long as other aspects of the area are sufficiently attractive. You can build loads of new houses - as we have done in the Vale - continually in the top five LAs in the country for rate (as per Pulpstar), but house prices have continued to climb. Because our population has climbed to match the housing, as we've pulled people into these new houses from elsewhere.
This makes it hard to sell to the local population. We've used the argument that housebuilding means lower house prices than otherwise, and they naturally point to the fact that houses are more unaffordable than ever, leaving us to have to argue "Yes, but they'd be even MORE unaffordable if we hadn't, honest."
Meanwhile schools get more and more oversubscribed, no-one can get into a GP surgery locally, roads jam up, the sewerage system is utterly unfit for purpose and people literally end up wading through shit (in one ward, during the storms over winter, we had the unedifying spectacle of seeing a literal shower of shit), developers continually fail to provide what was promised, Neighbourhood Development Plans get ignored as unenforceable, previously loved green spaces get concreted over... and your children STILL can't get anywhere near affording a house.
Telling people they're being unreasonable and NIMBYs just doesn't cut the mustard at that point.
There are solutions, but because they're not ultra-simple, and can involve compromises and costs, they're difficult to sell and not quick to explain.
Ex-Tory chairman launches blistering tirade at 'complete idiocy' of Rishi Sunak Sir Jake Berry said Rishi Sunak's decision to call a General Election early was 'absolute idiocy' and said the former PM 'must have taken leave of his senses... if he ever had them' https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/ex-tory-chairman-lauches-blistering-33524186
Though looking at the issues that were in the governmental in-tray... The public sector pay recommendations, the energy price rises... Any reason to think that Sunak would have done better by staying in government until the autumn?
Inflation, growth, whatever. Even if Sunak had not done any better by waiting, he could hardly have done worse and all his MPs would have had an extra six months' wages. July made no sense, unlike May or December.
Comments
https://groceries.asda.com/product/seeded-grains-bread/asda-extra-special-superseeded-sliced-loaf/910003042066
When I was being taught economics the view was that low inflation was a good thing because it gave a nudge to consumption and thus encouraged demand and investment.
Deflation, in contrast, is a very bad thing. It encourages deferred expenditure, it causes major problems for those with fixed debts, such as mortgages, and it discourages investment because you might get a lower return on your investment than you had hoped.
High inflation is also a very bad thing threatening those on fixed incomes or reliant on savings.
All of this is incredibly straightforward. What people find much more difficult is comparing and contrasting their income or debts to the "real" value of money. I think there are several reasons for this.
Firstly, everyone has different inflation rates at different stages of their lives. When I was in my 20s with a house that was 90% owned by the Nationwide I was quite sanguine about 9-10% inflation a year because my share was growing and theirs wasn't. Now, with my mortgage paid off and a few bob in hand interest rates below inflation hurt.
Secondly, we tend to look backwards at inflation rather than forwards. We see this in the pressure to keep wages growing at a nominal rate of 5% or so even although inflation is only 2%. We want to "get back" what we lost when inflation was higher than wage increases.
Thirdly, and sadly, the majority of the population is simply innumerate. The majority find comparing relative rates hard and we are much more likely to notice the bad points than the good.
In a letter to Salford City Council, Ms Long-Bailey called for the plans to be refused for not ensuring 20% of the planned homes were "affordable" housing, a requirement in the area’s local plan.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvgd429gdpno
https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/inflationandpriceindices/timeseries/czoh/mm23
I can't find the methodology but yes given it is labelled as "ave price - Bread: white loaf/sliced/800g." the average of all loaves that fit that description seems most likely.
https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/inflationandpriceindices/timeseries/d7bt/mm23
https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/timeseries/kab9/emp
With the problem governments facing is that too many people believe that prices have increased by much, much more than they actually have.
Not to mention in this country people forgetting all the extra handouts that the government have given them because of the price rises.
How many people have already forgotten the £150 council tax rebate of 2022 or the £400 winter fuel subsidy of winter 2022/3 or the £900 extra payment to the poor or the two years of £300 extra winter fuel for the oldies ?
@YouGov
·
58m
Kemi Badenoch is the frontrunner in our new poll of Tory members for the 2024 leadership contest
https://x.com/YouGov/status/1826890094986359206
https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/media/65415/the-marshall-plan-paul-marshall-gb-news
Building poor quality "affordable" homes isn't the only way to get home prices down, increasing supply faster than demand does that too.
We're very lucky that we can afford to only ever buy fresh baked sourdough from a local bakery (we actually make our own bread a couple of times a week) and it costs 4 quid a loaf (but we get 20% discount because we drink coffee there most days.) It's the best bread I've ever tasted, but if there's any left after a couple of days, it's only good for toast.
Supermarket white bread, especially the cheap stuff should probably not even be classed as food and is about as nutritious as cardboard. That society and especially governments think that that is acceptable to feed to poor families is one of our biggest failings as a society.
We all find it easy to point to this in our enemies; anything coming out of the Kremlin for example is probably not news. GBN is, at the very least, stretching the limits of what counts as news.
Now you can pay £1 extra to get a branded bread or £3 extra to get a fancy hand baked sourdough bread.
But you don't have to, you don't need to, you do so by choice.
Very few Britons have calorie deficient malnutrition, but loads have obesity from excess refined carbohydrate in their diet.
Unless you received and remembered them or know about them and know where to look its easy to be unaware of them.
IIRC Nick Palmer was surprised to receive the extra £300 on top of the usual £200 WFA.
Is this some sort of post modern aspect of media studies ?
The USA has inground, endemic violence, which is acceptable to a far greater degree than would in eg Western Europe.
For just one statistics, consider that Gun Deaths in the USA are ~1.3-1.5 MILLION since 1990 - more than half are suicides, perhaps 1/3 homicies. And huge numbers of people would still defend that status quo.
https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/04/26/what-the-data-says-about-gun-deaths-in-the-u-s/
Similar comments could be made wrt prison population, which pro-rata is six times higher than the UK, and ours is high compared to most of Europe.
Is it linked to a lack of a close-to-home war for 150 years?
I'd link it to a very strongly ingrained individualism, which makes it far easier to blame THEM, whoever is the convenient "them".
Through-pavement electric vehicle charging trial a first for London
https://www.enfield.gov.uk/news-and-events/2024/08/through-pavement-electric-vehicle-charging-trial-a-first-for-london
Enfield Council has launched a through-pavement Electric Vehicle (EV) charging channel pilot that will make it much easier for residents with street parking to move from diesel/petrol cars to electric.
The pilot of the 'Kerbo Charge' system, which is funded by residents, will help improve air quality across the borough and reduce CO2 emissions, in line with the Council’s climate action targets for the borough to become cleaner and greener for all who live, work and study within it.
The breakthrough EV charging channels make it possible for residents with street parking, estimated to be 60 per cent of Enfield households, to safely charge their car from their home supply which is five to ten times cheaper than using public chargers.
Enfield Council is the first local authority in London to trial the innovative Kerbo Charge technology after successful rollouts in several towns and cities across the UK.
When residents charge their car, they insert their charging cable into the channel and the specially designed lid closes behind, just like a zip. This takes away a potentially dangerous trip hazard that can result from loose cables stretching across public footpaths.
The introduction of the Kerbo Charge channels makes owning an EV much more attractive to those who do not have off-street parking, as residents can then charge off-peak for as little as 7.5p / kWh or 7p / mile...
Its also been cheaper too, as while meat is expensive per calorie, when its all you're eating you can afford to pay for it and not buy the rest of the stuff that goes with it.
Still buy fruits and vegetables and bread etc for my wife and kids even though I don't eat it myself, but doing the weekly shop is proving cheaper by eliminating my portion of those and eliminating snacks etc even while considerably increasing the amount of meat purchased.
Though I get my meat cheaper by going to by buying joints and cutting them into steaks (which Morrisons butcher will do for you when buying a joint) rather than buying pre-packaged steaks.
There are less salubrious parts of Edinburgh that are experiencing very high levels of development, largely in the old port areas like Leith, Granton, Newhaven, Seafield. This is leading to a large influx of young working people which carries a snowball effect - they are rapidly gentrifying with yoga, board game and plant pot shops. This means the values of existing flats is increasing as these working class areas suddenly get flooded with young professionals.
In fact, I was at a viewing yesterday of older flat in one of these areas, and the agent estimated about 75% of people interested are BTL landlords, thereby further squeezing the number of homes available to people who want to own their own place.
As we find time and again, the housing market is a complex beast and pointing at a supply and demand graph is simply not enough. There are plenty of examples of this kinda thing once you pass Economics 1A.
Loaf of bread and pint of milk gotchas have been out of date since the advent of the supermarket. The usual unit is the weekly shop. Not any of its constituents.
That will not be a shredded loo roll white, but more like a brown / wholemeal with seeds.
Maybe the Guardian one is an Islington-average, or they got confused because it a number bigger than three.
It could be an extension of that.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/article/2024/aug/20/two-slices-of-ham-a-day-can-raise-type-2-diabetes-risk-by-15-research-suggests?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other
The biggest current problem is massive pent-up demand for housing - there’s loads of twentysomethings and even thirtysomethings living with their parents or sharing with friends, who aspire to have a place of their own.
This means that prices won’t appreciably start falling until we are a couple of million units in to new construction, minus the units sold as second homes and to overseas residents.
Yes, it’s a horribly complex economic situation, with a load of moving parts such as taxation, interest rates, availability of finance, laws on foreign investment etc, rather than simply supply and demand for houses.
The only guaranteed way out of the current mess is 10m new housing units across the country.
Not a criticism, just genuinely interested.
Are you fully carnivore, no fruit, nuts, seeds, grains at all? Do you take supplements?
I'm fully 180° the other way, no animal products at all.
I'm in the best shape I've ever been in in the round, but that's also because of a complete overhaul of lifestyle, better sleep, no booze, a lot more exercise and fresh air, even a bit of meditation 😀
It will multiply our already endemic trip hazards as Bodge, Bodge and Wreckit do their cheap-as-possible fly by night installs, or Barry the Civil Servant buys an angle grinder and thinks he knows how to work with paving slabs.
Footways are pedestrian space, and cannot be colonised as part of motor vehicle space; keep the damn things in the carriageway.
https://x.com/keithedwards/status/1826802837403435210
There's probably a large archive of them saying uncomplimentary things about each other that the Democrats are sitting on.
I don't think the RFK thing ends up being of any benefit at all to Trump.
https://x.com/jackposobiec/status/1826853478842421461
https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2024/08/22/dnc-live-updates-coverage/kamala-harris-trump-narcissist-00176091
When Donald Trump addressed the Republican convention in 2016, he picked up one of Hillary Clinton’s signature slogans and wielded it against her to searing effect. Clinton’s campaign, he noted, had a catch phrase that he called a “three-world loyalty pledge.”
“It reads, ‘I’m With Her,’” Trump intoned. “I choose to recite a different pledge. My pledge reads: ‘I’m with you.’”
It was an unusually deft rhetorical turn that mocked Clinton’s self-hyping campaign and encouraged many voters’ suspicions that she was not truly focused on them.
Fast forward eight years and Kamala Harris delivered the counter-argument that Clinton and Joe Biden never really managed to land.
Narrating her career as a lawyer, Harris told the Democratic convention in Chicago that she has “only had one client: the people.” In Trump’s career in business and politics, she went on, he has represented “the only client he has ever had: himself.”
It extends a theme we’ve heard throughout the Democratic convention: that Trump is a narcissist who’s not really interested in governing, leading or helping people. It is an ironic turn that among the most effective versions of that message came from Bill Clinton, when he urged voters listening to Trump: “Don’t count the lies, count the I’d.”..
The problem is that 20 and 30 somethings all want to live close to where their peers and their jobs are, which is increasingly just a few major cities. People go to Uni and never return to towns or villages.
(and I don't think gentrification is an issue at all - it's just people whining about somewhere not being a shithole anymore. But being nice comes with a price).
600 homes to be sold / let for 80% of the normal price will lower local housing costs.
Putting 3000 flats on the market for 350-700k will make no real difference.
You seem to think that the homes would still be built if prices fell. They wouldn’t. The system will only support rising prices.
Electric charging should indeed come from kerbs, but I think it should be a proper investment by the government with standardised design and maintained by local authorities. Any new pavement or refurbishment should include it, like the slow rollout of Charles III coins.
We should wait to see how the trial goes before we pronounce judgment though. Keep on eye on what the RNIB say.
Burglary, sell some crack, get the neighbourhood back to how it was....
https://x.com/euanmccolm/status/1826914080629703157
Correlation is not causation and I'm pretty certain having lost fifty pounds I'm at less risk of diabetes, not more.
Indeed one of the reasons I tried this diet is because I'm at risk of diabetes, it runs in my family.
My dad got it from his vegetarian diet and now he's done a complete 180. It still amazes me now when we go out and he'll order a mixed grill no chips for his meal after decades of vegetarianism.
Also to @148grss for the recommendation of Federici's Caliban and the Witch. It's rare to read a book that offers a completely new perspective on something but this did so on the early history of capitalism. I felt it played into my own prejudices at times and when I forced myself to be skeptical I felt she sometimes drew out fairly tendentious causal chains for things, but the scholarship is deep and wide and it's an impressive read, thanks.
Sir Jake Berry said Rishi Sunak's decision to call a General Election early was 'absolute idiocy' and said the former PM 'must have taken leave of his senses... if he ever had them'
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/ex-tory-chairman-lauches-blistering-33524186
And it ought to be possible to manage far better the below pavement infrastructure for utilities.
Though as you say that more libertarian approach also means it leads to lax gun control and more gun deaths.
Its incarceration rate and prison population is also high, though many Americans would also argue that is less of a problem given its reoffending rate is better than not only ours but Sweden's, New Zealand's, the Netherlands, Latvia's, Australia's, Canada's, France's and Germany's and Ireland's to take a few examples and about the same as Italy's. Only Norway and South Korea have clearly lower recidivism rates than the USA
https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/recidivism-rates-by-country
I do drink booze, also getting more exercise.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_the_United_States
Then build even more houses.
The simplistic "build more and prices come down" approach runs into the problem that whilst it may be true to an extent nationwide, it's not true locally (and that's cantering past the fact that actually it's "Build more and price rises won't be as great as otherwise but won't necessarily go into reverse"). Induced demand is a thing - build a load of expensive four and five bedroom houses and people will come into the area from more expensive areas outside of it. As long as other aspects of the area are sufficiently attractive. You can build loads of new houses - as we have done in the Vale - continually in the top five LAs in the country for rate (as per Pulpstar), but house prices have continued to climb. Because our population has climbed to match the housing, as we've pulled people into these new houses from elsewhere.
This makes it hard to sell to the local population. We've used the argument that housebuilding means lower house prices than otherwise, and they naturally point to the fact that houses are more unaffordable than ever, leaving us to have to argue "Yes, but they'd be even MORE unaffordable if we hadn't, honest."
Meanwhile schools get more and more oversubscribed, no-one can get into a GP surgery locally, roads jam up, the sewerage system is utterly unfit for purpose and people literally end up wading through shit (in one ward, during the storms over winter, we had the unedifying spectacle of seeing a literal shower of shit), developers continually fail to provide what was promised, Neighbourhood Development Plans get ignored as unenforceable, previously loved green spaces get concreted over... and your children STILL can't get anywhere near affording a house.
Telling people they're being unreasonable and NIMBYs just doesn't cut the mustard at that point.
There are solutions, but because they're not ultra-simple, and can involve compromises and costs, they're difficult to sell and not quick to explain.