Israel reportedly fast-tracked its explosion of thousands of pagers used by Hezbollah fighters because the mass sabotage operation was about to be exposed.
It was a “use it or lose it moment,” a US official told Axios describing the reason Israel gave for the timing of the attack, which killed at least 11 and injured almost 3,000.
Two ounces of explosives were believed to have been hidden in 5,000 pagers next to a battery along with a switch to remotely trigger the device, US sources told The New York Times.
Torygraph
It was a brilliant operation. Quite precisely targeted.
Brilliant because it's real James Bond shit, but not that precisely targeted because they had no way of knowing, and didn't care, how many innocent people were going to be maimed or killed. You should appreciate the ingenuity of the operation, whilst finding abhorrent the lack of any shred of humanity in the people who thought it up.
The security camera footage from convenience store showed one of the explosions. People standing right next to the victim were unharmed. Seemed far more discriminating than automatic weapon fire. Or a 2000lb bomb.
They had no definite way of ensuring a pager wasn't in the hands of an innocent person when it exploded, or if a Hezbollah fighter had his baby in his arms, or what sort of collateral damage the explosion might trigger. I just can't condone that.
No army can 100% know that there won't be collateral damage to its actions, only mitigate the risk, especially when it's fighting an enemy that deliberately embeds itself in the civilian population. The question under international law is, can the risk (sometimes high to certain) be justified as proportional to the aims? If an army or terror group are using civilians as cover for attacks, then that is very much their war crime - not the response.
As Hezbollah has been endlessly firing rockets at Israel, themselves killing innocent people, and threatening worse, there's clearly an argument that it is proportionate - especially when you consider that the alternative means of inflicting this much damage on Hezbollah would likely be far more devastating to civilians.
At times it seems lots of people are determined to condemn Israel for existing and fighting back against enemies who wish to destroy it - and have little concern about the blood spilt doing so among their own people - whatever they do.
Find a way to specifically target Hezbollah members - outrage. Conduct missile strikes to hit Hezbollah - also outrage. Ground invasion - also outrage. Just what is it Israel is supposed to do? Sit back and accept rockets raining down on its northern cities and towns permanently?
For example we practically levelled Mosul to destroy ISIS, killing thousands of civilians - but there were few complaints as it was generally understood that the threat of ISIS remaining in Iraq and potentially recovering to carry out its atrocities was so great that it had to be done, despite the cost in civilian life.
You'd add that if a Hezbollah fighter has his baby in his arms and they are harmed, that's very much on him for being a Hezbollah fighter. You don't get to be a terrorist target innocent people with your attacks, go back to your family and cry because targeting you might put your own family at risk. You chose to be a terrorist. Those are the consequences.
Israel has a right to defend itself and Hezbollah are horrible shits, but imagine the pager is on a table in a cafe, and maims a kid that is a total stranger to the Hezbollah fella. The kids parents are not terrorists. Israel had no definite way of knowing that it would only kill and maim wrong 'uns or their dependants. Would you be happy with the UK using such tactics?
If you don't want any of your loved ones to be blown to pieces then don't be a part of an organisation whose mission is to blow people to pieces.
Such ignorance of what Hezbollah are. They are part of the fabric of Lebanese society. They run schools and social welfare. They have MP's and Ministers in the Lebanese Parliament. They are more equivalent to Snin Fein than anything else
So why are they not using mobile phones? And being equivalent to Sein Fein just makes me think terrorist adjacent, like the bad old days.
The story of Lebanon since before their civil war is complicated. I shot a commercial for the Lebanese government which was really an envioronmental film and through the visuals of a girl's face being destroyed intercut with the destruction of the country told the story.
But during the three days of the shoot I got a very thorough grounding in Lebanese history. It's one of my favourite countries and I am completely in love with the people. I'm totally biased and my film won their top advertising award that year.
But if you speak to anyone who knows it well they'll more than likely echo my feelings towards the country and its people
Someone embezzled a lot of construction funds, if a few homebuilt Ukrainian drones did this...
...4/ When the facility was opened in 2018, Bulgakov hailed it as providing "reliable and safe storage, protects against air and missile strikes and even against the damaging effects of a nuclear explosion.".. https://x.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/1836321009881743813
The overnight explosions were enormous, and went on well into the morning, so quite a lot of the arsenal went bang. Apparently puts paid to any prospect of invading the Baltic states for a year or so.
The RAF Fauld explosion in 1944 was one of the largest manmade non-nuclear explosions in history. 4,000 tonnes of ammunition went up.
During the clear-up, lots of unexploded ammunition in the collapsed tunnels was dug out.
And used.
When I was a kid, there were rumours that there was still many tonnes of bombs underground that were too unsafe to get out.
Quite nuke-like. Impressive. The shockwave in the Beirut fertiliser explosion a few years ago was the most dramatic I can remember. This looks bigger and over a much larger area though.
Same as the Junior Doctors and all the others this govt just capitulated to without getting any concessions.
And leaving Granny to shiver in the cold
Granny’s had big increases in her pension over the last few years, granny should stop moaning.
This highlights the problem that the idea grannies are well served with the pension increases is far away from the real lives of pensioners just above the thresaehold and is incentive to their plight
Yes 25% of pensioners do not need the WFA but many millions more do as we will see this winter
I’m not convinced that 75% of pensioners need WFA.
Im not convinced 100% of the PMs wives need a £19,000 dress allowance.
The £19k wasn’t public money, so what’s that got to do with WFA?
A key point which many PB Tories can't seem to grasp.
Funny old world.
Do we know for sure that Starmer wasn’t wanting to keep the WFA and, after the donor gave the money he also told Starmer that he wants to see WFA cut?
Now it’s clearly very unlikely but the fact is that if the PM is receiving freebies then he is open to charges of undue influence in return for freebies. If his response is that the value isn’t enough to risk swaying his mind then it’s not enough to need others to pay it.
I mean, Sunak could have been told to cut HS2 by the person who gave him free seats to watch Soton at St Mary's.
That could be the case.
But it's not very likely, is it?
Are we saying that no MPs should ever accept gifts, hospitality under any circumstances? And, if so, would you extend this rule to all other jobs and professions where corruption of some kind could hypothetically be an issue?
The whole point of declaring the gifts is so it's transparent to the public.
Well he's not going to lose office over it - or even my vote (I didn't vote Labour). But it has slightly lowered my opinion of him.
Is a few Arsenal games really worth that ... ?
I worked it last night, I spent close to £40k following Liverpool in 2019/20 season, slightly less in 2021/22.
There’s absolutely nothing I wouldn’t spend to follow my team.
You can change your job, your nationality, your name, heck you can even change your gender, but you can never change the club you love and follow.
I started off supporting Liverpool because I was a young child who liked supporting the winners and Liverpool were that for much of eighties
But I loved Dalglish even more than Liverpool, so I supported Blackburn after a couple of years of half-hearted support under Souness
I have a Blackburn shirt signed by the whole squad that won the league
Then when I grew up I decided to support the team from where I'm from
So now I have the Saturday stress of seeing Southampton's scores
I don't see why fans shouldn't change clubs. Players seem to have no qualms whatsoever about doing so (aside from Steve Bull and Matt Le Tissier). One way loyalty is a mug's game.
I've followed several clubs during my lifetime. Very few of them big ones, although when I visited the son who lives in Thailand we used to go and watch one of Thailand's major teams now and again. The crowd there is much less formal and regimented than they are here; more like those watching a fourth division side here, although a lot bigger.
Quite nuke-like. Impressive. The shockwave in the Beirut fertiliser explosion a few years ago was the most dramatic I can remember. This looks bigger and over a much larger area though.
Marcelo Goulart, of the Zurich-based wealth advisor First Alliance, has been so busy helping clients leave the UK that he’s had no summer holiday. He tells @CityAM that 80 per cent of his “UK exposed” clients have either left the country or are in the final stages of doing so.
I had a meeting yesterday with someone in that business who confirmed to me that enquiries pre election to the local gov arm who handle SHNW relocatirs were about 3 per month. They are currently 12 new per week.
I was also told of a number of Financial companies relocating key parts from London to here and it’s all down to the fear and feeling that Labour are going to screw them.
I’ve said it before - I’m not happy about this, doesn’t improve my life but diminishes the UK which I love.
This is corporate tax, spending with the VAT and jobs associated, stamp duties, staff etc etc going.
Labour's hatred of wealth is going to come up against its love of the NHS.
Wealthy people pay for the NHS.
There is also a further interesting point. I work in IT in bank. Of my team, I am the only one born in the UK. There is one, who is long term settled (married to local, house etc). The others are 1st generation immigrants who have been in the country 3-5 years.
The other day, when we were discussing tax, someone was saying that if CGT was put up substantially, then exiting the country and living abroad for a period of time was in his financial interest. Which led people to accuse that person of being "transactional" and that, if he had that attitude, then leave and good riddance.
The recent immigrant members of the team have started discussing moving (in the bank) to another country or leaving for another country. The reason - concern over future tax rates. Is this transactional? Is it just to be expected? After all, they have lived nearly their entire lives in China, India etc. etc. While they are currently putting down roots - even studying for the citizenship test and spending money on the naturalisation process - they are very shallow roots.
In short - a portion of the highly skilled workforce has very little social and emotional connection to this country. Their "personal cost of changing countries" is quite low. In the case of the bank, they have been told that they can move to any other bank office in the world - we have partial WFH and the team is already split between countries...
The current tax system, which favours enterprise and entrepeneurship, is a major draw for investment and high skilled immigrants. If you whack up the CGT tax rates, then the country becomes less appealing and people will leave, it then loses high rate tax payers and get less CGT and also lose investment.
This is something I learned when I was 17 and doing A-level politics/economics. I thought it was something universally understood and culturally entrenched in the British system, but perhaps the current government are just in denial of it.
If the government want to switch to a different system, IE a north european social democratic model, it takes decades and generations to build up, and a lot of pain in the process; you cannot just switch over to it in one budget.
I don't follow why someone who is employed in IT at a bank is so worried about CGT? Unless they are being paid in shares or are buying loads of shares then why are they facing it? If they have bought property (other than residential) out of their earnings then they could be hit, but, and its a big but, selling now and leaving now is too late. The sale will not go through in time for the October budget so any gain made to date will be hit at new rates.
Maybe I am missing something?
I would guess they have assets/investments? I think @kyf_100 has been complaining about similar things. The CGT rates are what - 20% max after allowances for a higher rate tax payer?. In other european countries they are closer to 40%. If you have a gain of say £100k it is a significant difference.
I could bore you about CGT ad infinitum, suffice to say
1. It's a disincentive to investment. From a betting perspective, if you flip a coin for £10, you gain £10 if you win and lose your £10 if you make the wrong call. Add in CGT at 20% and it's a gain of £8 vs a loss of £10, so the risk/reward is skewed. Now consider CGT at 45%. Heads I win £5.50, tails I lose £10. This has real world effects on investment - I've already declined a six figure investment in a promising startup in anticipation of a 45% rate, because the risk/reward is too unbalanced.
2. Around 50% of disposals are for £5m or more, meaning most will be clobbered by a 45% rate. Let's say you have a gain of £2m. You might not want to take the kids out of school or quit your day job to avoid the current £400k tax bill. But at 45% you could fly to Dubai, dispose of the asset, and pay 0%. Meaning you could spend 200k a year for the next 5 years without working and still be up on paying tax in the UK.
3. The rich already pay into the Uk coffers disproportionately, it's oft cited that the top 1% of taxpayers account for ~27% of all treasury income. They get little for it, and we live in a globalised market for talent now. I've worked abroad twice in my lifetime and would do so again. Add in the fact that many working in London and our top industries were born elsewhere, have an EU passport, or are married to a non UK citizen and the whole 'stay and pay your taxes in 'your' country' argument gets very thin very quickly.
A 45% CGT rate would be one of the highest in the entire world, and would lead to a dramatic reduction in investment as demonstrated by point (1), while encouraging the globally mobile rich to leave due to points (2) and (3), disproportionately affecting the treasury's coffers. HMRC themselves have said that raising the current CGT rates more than 5% (so from 20% to 25% or 24% to 29% for property) would be net negative to the exchequer.
It's pure unalloyed madness from an economic perspective, and if Labour do it, it will be one of the greatest acts of economic self harm the country has ever witnessed. Even if you don't pay CGT yourself, the knock on effect in terms of reduced jobs in the economy, particularly in start ups and tech, will lead to a brain drain that the UK would take many, many years to recover from.
If you flip a coin for £10, how has the UK economy benefitted? Has productivity increased? No. You got lucky. If I earn £10 through hard work, I have to pay tax on my income. You, fecklessly gambling, don’t. Is that fair?
So, I don’t think your coin flip is the best example! Presumably you think most CGT gains involve thoughtful investment, not random chance. I would guess it’s a mix of both. We need investment and should encourage investment, but we shouldn’t go easy on people who’ve made money through luck while expecting those in work to pay. I don’t know what the solution is there, but I found your post one-sided.
I was attempting to use an easy to understand metaphor on a BETTING site, but my point seems to have gone utterly over your head, so let me explain again.
Imagine a person comes to me, an investor, with a business plan they are seeking 250k investment in (assume I have maxed out entrepreneur's relief etc already, or my share of the investment would be less than 5% so non qualifying).
Based on their business plan, I estimate the risk of their business folding in the next 5 years to be 40%, with an estimated reward of 250k. Under the current taxation system I'd have a 40% chance of losing all the money invested for an estimated 200k post tax profit. So it would be EV neutral. Under 45% tax, I'd still a 40% chance of losing all my money, but would only be looking at a potential reward of £137,500. So I go, hmm. The risks outweigh the rewards here, so I'll pass.
There. I have just told you the exact same story, only as a business investment decision rather than a 'coin toss' which I thought was an ELI5 way of explaining risk, rather than a LITERAL coin toss. Sighs and shakes head.
Is there no way to offset losses against gains to reduce CGT?
Same as the Junior Doctors and all the others this govt just capitulated to without getting any concessions.
And leaving Granny to shiver in the cold
Granny’s had big increases in her pension over the last few years, granny should stop moaning.
This highlights the problem that the idea grannies are well served with the pension increases is far away from the real lives of pensioners just above the thresaehold and is incentive to their plight
Yes 25% of pensioners do not need the WFA but many millions more do as we will see this winter
I’m not convinced that 75% of pensioners need WFA.
Im not convinced 100% of the PMs wives need a £19,000 dress allowance.
The £19k wasn’t public money, so what’s that got to do with WFA?
A key point which many PB Tories can't seem to grasp.
Funny old world.
Do we know for sure that Starmer wasn’t wanting to keep the WFA and, after the donor gave the money he also told Starmer that he wants to see WFA cut?
Now it’s clearly very unlikely but the fact is that if the PM is receiving freebies then he is open to charges of undue influence in return for freebies. If his response is that the value isn’t enough to risk swaying his mind then it’s not enough to need others to pay it.
I mean, Sunak could have been told to cut HS2 by the person who gave him free seats to watch Soton at St Mary's.
That could be the case.
But it's not very likely, is it?
Are we saying that no MPs should ever accept gifts, hospitality under any circumstances? And, if so, would you extend this rule to all other jobs and professions where corruption of some kind could hypothetically be an issue?
The whole point of declaring the gifts is so it's transparent to the public.
Well he's not going to lose office over it - or even my vote (I didn't vote Labour). But it has slightly lowered my opinion of him.
Is a few Arsenal games really worth that ... ?
I worked it last night, I spent close to £40k following Liverpool in 2019/20 season, slightly less in 2021/22.
There’s absolutely nothing I wouldn’t spend to follow my team.
You can change your job, your nationality, your name, heck you can even change your gender, but you can never change the club you love and follow.
I started off supporting Liverpool because I was a young child who liked supporting the winners and Liverpool were that for much of eighties
But I loved Dalglish even more than Liverpool, so I supported Blackburn after a couple of years of half-hearted support under Souness
I have a Blackburn shirt signed by the whole squad that won the league
Then when I grew up I decided to support the team from where I'm from
So now I have the Saturday stress of seeing Southampton's scores
I don't see why fans shouldn't change clubs. Players seem to have no qualms whatsoever about doing so (aside from Steve Bull and Matt Le Tissier). One way loyalty is a mug's game.
Club loyalty is an odd thing. I have been a Swindon fan since 1985. I have periods of my life in other cities watching other clubs fairly regularly - Coventry and Norwich, for instance. I must have been to see Norwich play well over 20 times. But will I would want then to do well, they never became my club. And it was no contest if they played my beloved Town. If I were to switch I would be giving up 40 years of suffering but also 40 years of some amazing memories. So unless the club vanishes overnight, I am, as they say, "Swindon till I die".
While I profess not to care about how one arbitrary team of unpleasant mercenaries in red shirts fares in a contrived encounter with another lot in blue; and while I find football the least satisfying, most infuriating, most wilfully stupid, and least entertaining of the team sports, and while I find the tribality of its fans ridiculous - I can't deny that life is made a tiny bit better if I see Stockport County has won.
Someone embezzled a lot of construction funds, if a few homebuilt Ukrainian drones did this...
...4/ When the facility was opened in 2018, Bulgakov hailed it as providing "reliable and safe storage, protects against air and missile strikes and even against the damaging effects of a nuclear explosion.".. https://x.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/1836321009881743813
The overnight explosions were enormous, and went on well into the morning, so quite a lot of the arsenal went bang. Apparently puts paid to any prospect of invading the Baltic states for a year or so.
The RAF Fauld explosion in 1944 was one of the largest manmade non-nuclear explosions in history. 4,000 tonnes of ammunition went up.
During the clear-up, lots of unexploded ammunition in the collapsed tunnels was dug out.
And used.
When I was a kid, there were rumours that there was still many tonnes of bombs underground that were too unsafe to get out.
Malmesbury's Rules For A Simple Life - 453. Don't let people chisel the fuses out of live weapons. With a sledgehammer.
To be fair, they don't really know what caused the explosion as there wasn't much left of the source. There was (ahem) a certain amount of anti-Italian sentiment at the time in the area, as loads of Italian POWs were working in the mine.
The brass chisel cause is pretty much a random guess. Another was that a bomb fell off one of the narrow-gauge wagons they used in the tunnels.
People reported other people using non-brass chisels. And using sledgehammers to get them going.....
There were also reports of bombs falling of wagons into stacks of other bombs. The real cause is pretty much guesswork.
Same as the Junior Doctors and all the others this govt just capitulated to without getting any concessions.
And leaving Granny to shiver in the cold
Granny’s had big increases in her pension over the last few years, granny should stop moaning.
This highlights the problem that the idea grannies are well served with the pension increases is far away from the real lives of pensioners just above the thresaehold and is incentive to their plight
Yes 25% of pensioners do not need the WFA but many millions more do as we will see this winter
I’m not convinced that 75% of pensioners need WFA.
Im not convinced 100% of the PMs wives need a £19,000 dress allowance.
The £19k wasn’t public money, so what’s that got to do with WFA?
A key point which many PB Tories can't seem to grasp.
Funny old world.
Do we know for sure that Starmer wasn’t wanting to keep the WFA and, after the donor gave the money he also told Starmer that he wants to see WFA cut?
Now it’s clearly very unlikely but the fact is that if the PM is receiving freebies then he is open to charges of undue influence in return for freebies. If his response is that the value isn’t enough to risk swaying his mind then it’s not enough to need others to pay it.
I mean, Sunak could have been told to cut HS2 by the person who gave him free seats to watch Soton at St Mary's.
That could be the case.
But it's not very likely, is it?
Are we saying that no MPs should ever accept gifts, hospitality under any circumstances? And, if so, would you extend this rule to all other jobs and professions where corruption of some kind could hypothetically be an issue?
The whole point of declaring the gifts is so it's transparent to the public.
Well he's not going to lose office over it - or even my vote (I didn't vote Labour). But it has slightly lowered my opinion of him.
Is a few Arsenal games really worth that ... ?
I worked it last night, I spent close to £40k following Liverpool in 2019/20 season, slightly less in 2021/22.
There’s absolutely nothing I wouldn’t spend to follow my team.
You can change your job, your nationality, your name, heck you can even change your gender, but you can never change the club you love and follow.
I started off supporting Liverpool because I was a young child who liked supporting the winners and Liverpool were that for much of eighties
But I loved Dalglish even more than Liverpool, so I supported Blackburn after a couple of years of half-hearted support under Souness
I have a Blackburn shirt signed by the whole squad that won the league
Then when I grew up I decided to support the team from where I'm from
So now I have the Saturday stress of seeing Southampton's scores
I don't see why fans shouldn't change clubs. Players seem to have no qualms whatsoever about doing so (aside from Steve Bull and Matt Le Tissier). One way loyalty is a mug's game.
Club loyalty is an odd thing. I have been a Swindon fan since 1985. I have periods of my life in other cities watching other clubs fairly regularly - Coventry and Norwich, for instance. I must have been to see Norwich play well over 20 times. But will I would want then to do well, they never became my club. And it was no contest if they played my beloved Town. If I were to switch I would be giving up 40 years of suffering but also 40 years of some amazing memories. So unless the club vanishes overnight, I am, as they say, "Swindon till I die".
While I profess not to care about how one arbitrary team of unpleasant mercenaries in red shirts fares in a contrived encounter with another lot in blue; and while I find football the least satisfying, most infuriating, most wilfully stupid, and least entertaining of the team sports, and while I find the tribality of its fans ridiculous - I can't deny that life is made a tiny bit better if I see Stockport County has won.
Over the course of my life I've had times when I've attended games regularly and times when I haven't (like now, for reasons). But I still get the thrill of the win (unexpected, like last weekend) and the annoyance at the loss. Its part of me and always will be.
That viral photo of the "Haitian immigrant" with a dead goose wasn't even taken in Springfield, OH -- it's in Columbus. The guy who took it (u/isitmeyourelooking4x) posted it on the r/Columbus subreddit a month ago. https://x.com/AricToler/status/1833513437156061616
That viral photo of the "Haitian immigrant" with a dead goose wasn't even taken in Springfield, OH -- it's in Columbus. The guy who took it (u/isitmeyourelooking4x) posted it on the r/Columbus subreddit a month ago. https://x.com/AricToler/status/1833513437156061616
Same as the Junior Doctors and all the others this govt just capitulated to without getting any concessions.
And leaving Granny to shiver in the cold
Granny’s had big increases in her pension over the last few years, granny should stop moaning.
This highlights the problem that the idea grannies are well served with the pension increases is far away from the real lives of pensioners just above the thresaehold and is incentive to their plight
Yes 25% of pensioners do not need the WFA but many millions more do as we will see this winter
I’m not convinced that 75% of pensioners need WFA.
Im not convinced 100% of the PMs wives need a £19,000 dress allowance.
The £19k wasn’t public money, so what’s that got to do with WFA?
A key point which many PB Tories can't seem to grasp.
Funny old world.
And there is a decent argument that she *should* have an allowance.
She’s not an employee or in a public role, but will incur additional costs when acting in her capacity as the PMs wife. It’s reasonable that the state should pay
Good post. There is certainly a case for that, but in the absence of such an allowance it seems reasonable that the Labour Party should pay, which in effect it did – it's just that one of its biggest donors ringfenced the funding for her wardrobe rather than chucked it into general party coffers (which could then be pissed up the wall at various party events).
“In effect it did” doesn’t cover it.
Your boy did wrong.
He shouldn’t have taken the clothes or the tickets. Caesar’s wife and all that.
His only 'wrongdoing' was declaring the frocks late,
although he did declare them once he realised he should do so, and he did this before any media interest.
So yes, there was technically wrongdoing, but it is pretty small beer.
That viral photo of the "Haitian immigrant" with a dead goose wasn't even taken in Springfield, OH -- it's in Columbus. The guy who took it (u/isitmeyourelooking4x) posted it on the r/Columbus subreddit a month ago. https://x.com/AricToler/status/1833513437156061616
From Wikipedia: In July, a user posted a photo to Reddit of a man carrying two dead Canada geese on the street in Columbus, Ohio.[57][53] The post initially attracted relatively little attention.[58] More than a month later, right-wing sites and influencers started claiming the photograph shows a Haitian immigrant in Springfield.[57] The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) was inundated with phone calls from people who thought the photo was evidence of Haitians eating waterfowl.[57] According to the Ohio Division of Wildlife, the geese were killed in a car accident and there is no evidence that the man intended to eat them, nor that he was Haitian or an immigrant.[59]
[...]
The Columbus photographer who posted the photo to Reddit of the man carrying the dead goose told The Columbus Dispatch he regretted taking the picture, saying: "I wish I never took it, for sure. And I hate that the picture that I took is being weaponized to use against immigrants, or really, any other group. They always have to have somebody to use as a weapon. Some group to be the bad guy."[58]
Hezbollah severely compromised on the comms front. Mossad noting every casualty that reports ho a medical centre. They'll have to use runners with letters now to communicate. Carrier pigeon is out. We all saw what happened to Speckled Jim.
Same as the Junior Doctors and all the others this govt just capitulated to without getting any concessions.
And leaving Granny to shiver in the cold
Granny’s had big increases in her pension over the last few years, granny should stop moaning.
This highlights the problem that the idea grannies are well served with the pension increases is far away from the real lives of pensioners just above the thresaehold and is incentive to their plight
Yes 25% of pensioners do not need the WFA but many millions more do as we will see this winter
I’m not convinced that 75% of pensioners need WFA.
Im not convinced 100% of the PMs wives need a £19,000 dress allowance.
The £19k wasn’t public money, so what’s that got to do with WFA?
A key point which many PB Tories can't seem to grasp.
Funny old world.
And there is a decent argument that she *should* have an allowance.
She’s not an employee or in a public role, but will incur additional costs when acting in her capacity as the PMs wife. It’s reasonable that the state should pay
Good post. There is certainly a case for that, but in the absence of such an allowance it seems reasonable that the Labour Party should pay, which in effect it did – it's just that one of its biggest donors ringfenced the funding for her wardrobe rather than chucked it into general party coffers (which could then be pissed up the wall at various party events).
“In effect it did” doesn’t cover it.
Your boy did wrong.
He shouldn’t have taken the clothes or the tickets. Caesar’s wife and all that.
His only 'wrongdoing' was declaring the frocks late, although he did declare them once he realised he should do so, and he did this before any media interest.
So yes, there was technically wrongdoing, but it is pretty small beer.
He's got form for declaring things 'late'. From 2022:
That viral photo of the "Haitian immigrant" with a dead goose wasn't even taken in Springfield, OH -- it's in Columbus. The guy who took it (u/isitmeyourelooking4x) posted it on the r/Columbus subreddit a month ago. https://x.com/AricToler/status/1833513437156061616
From Wikipedia: In July, a user posted a photo to Reddit of a man carrying two dead Canada geese on the street in Columbus, Ohio.[57][53] The post initially attracted relatively little attention.[58] More than a month later, right-wing sites and influencers started claiming the photograph shows a Haitian immigrant in Springfield.[57] The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) was inundated with phone calls from people who thought the photo was evidence of Haitians eating waterfowl.[57] According to the Ohio Division of Wildlife, the geese were killed in a car accident and there is no evidence that the man intended to eat them, nor that he was Haitian or an immigrant.[59]
[...]
The Columbus photographer who posted the photo to Reddit of the man carrying the dead goose told The Columbus Dispatch he regretted taking the picture, saying: "I wish I never took it, for sure. And I hate that the picture that I took is being weaponized to use against immigrants, or really, any other group. They always have to have somebody to use as a weapon. Some group to be the bad guy."[58]
Vance is still lying about it; about the numbers (its not 20k); about the 'dumping' (they were invited)... and has made up a whole new country, apparently (the Asian Haiti ?).
Marcelo Goulart, of the Zurich-based wealth advisor First Alliance, has been so busy helping clients leave the UK that he’s had no summer holiday. He tells @CityAM that 80 per cent of his “UK exposed” clients have either left the country or are in the final stages of doing so.
I had a meeting yesterday with someone in that business who confirmed to me that enquiries pre election to the local gov arm who handle SHNW relocatirs were about 3 per month. They are currently 12 new per week.
I was also told of a number of Financial companies relocating key parts from London to here and it’s all down to the fear and feeling that Labour are going to screw them.
I’ve said it before - I’m not happy about this, doesn’t improve my life but diminishes the UK which I love.
This is corporate tax, spending with the VAT and jobs associated, stamp duties, staff etc etc going.
Labour's hatred of wealth is going to come up against its love of the NHS.
Wealthy people pay for the NHS.
There is also a further interesting point. I work in IT in bank. Of my team, I am the only one born in the UK. There is one, who is long term settled (married to local, house etc). The others are 1st generation immigrants who have been in the country 3-5 years.
The other day, when we were discussing tax, someone was saying that if CGT was put up substantially, then exiting the country and living abroad for a period of time was in his financial interest. Which led people to accuse that person of being "transactional" and that, if he had that attitude, then leave and good riddance.
The recent immigrant members of the team have started discussing moving (in the bank) to another country or leaving for another country. The reason - concern over future tax rates. Is this transactional? Is it just to be expected? After all, they have lived nearly their entire lives in China, India etc. etc. While they are currently putting down roots - even studying for the citizenship test and spending money on the naturalisation process - they are very shallow roots.
In short - a portion of the highly skilled workforce has very little social and emotional connection to this country. Their "personal cost of changing countries" is quite low. In the case of the bank, they have been told that they can move to any other bank office in the world - we have partial WFH and the team is already split between countries...
The current tax system, which favours enterprise and entrepeneurship, is a major draw for investment and high skilled immigrants. If you whack up the CGT tax rates, then the country becomes less appealing and people will leave, it then loses high rate tax payers and get less CGT and also lose investment.
This is something I learned when I was 17 and doing A-level politics/economics. I thought it was something universally understood and culturally entrenched in the British system, but perhaps the current government are just in denial of it.
If the government want to switch to a different system, IE a north european social democratic model, it takes decades and generations to build up, and a lot of pain in the process; you cannot just switch over to it in one budget.
I don't follow why someone who is employed in IT at a bank is so worried about CGT? Unless they are being paid in shares or are buying loads of shares then why are they facing it? If they have bought property (other than residential) out of their earnings then they could be hit, but, and its a big but, selling now and leaving now is too late. The sale will not go through in time for the October budget so any gain made to date will be hit at new rates.
Maybe I am missing something?
I would guess they have assets/investments? I think @kyf_100 has been complaining about similar things. The CGT rates are what - 20% max after allowances for a higher rate tax payer?. In other european countries they are closer to 40%. If you have a gain of say £100k it is a significant difference.
I could bore you about CGT ad infinitum, suffice to say
1. It's a disincentive to investment. From a betting perspective, if you flip a coin for £10, you gain £10 if you win and lose your £10 if you make the wrong call. Add in CGT at 20% and it's a gain of £8 vs a loss of £10, so the risk/reward is skewed. Now consider CGT at 45%. Heads I win £5.50, tails I lose £10. This has real world effects on investment - I've already declined a six figure investment in a promising startup in anticipation of a 45% rate, because the risk/reward is too unbalanced.
2. Around 50% of disposals are for £5m or more, meaning most will be clobbered by a 45% rate. Let's say you have a gain of £2m. You might not want to take the kids out of school or quit your day job to avoid the current £400k tax bill. But at 45% you could fly to Dubai, dispose of the asset, and pay 0%. Meaning you could spend 200k a year for the next 5 years without working and still be up on paying tax in the UK.
3. The rich already pay into the Uk coffers disproportionately, it's oft cited that the top 1% of taxpayers account for ~27% of all treasury income. They get little for it, and we live in a globalised market for talent now. I've worked abroad twice in my lifetime and would do so again. Add in the fact that many working in London and our top industries were born elsewhere, have an EU passport, or are married to a non UK citizen and the whole 'stay and pay your taxes in 'your' country' argument gets very thin very quickly.
A 45% CGT rate would be one of the highest in the entire world, and would lead to a dramatic reduction in investment as demonstrated by point (1), while encouraging the globally mobile rich to leave due to points (2) and (3), disproportionately affecting the treasury's coffers. HMRC themselves have said that raising the current CGT rates more than 5% (so from 20% to 25% or 24% to 29% for property) would be net negative to the exchequer.
It's pure unalloyed madness from an economic perspective, and if Labour do it, it will be one of the greatest acts of economic self harm the country has ever witnessed. Even if you don't pay CGT yourself, the knock on effect in terms of reduced jobs in the economy, particularly in start ups and tech, will lead to a brain drain that the UK would take many, many years to recover from.
If you flip a coin for £10, how has the UK economy benefitted? Has productivity increased? No. You got lucky. If I earn £10 through hard work, I have to pay tax on my income. You, fecklessly gambling, don’t. Is that fair?
So, I don’t think your coin flip is the best example! Presumably you think most CGT gains involve thoughtful investment, not random chance. I would guess it’s a mix of both. We need investment and should encourage investment, but we shouldn’t go easy on people who’ve made money through luck while expecting those in work to pay. I don’t know what the solution is there, but I found your post one-sided.
I was attempting to use an easy to understand metaphor on a BETTING site, but my point seems to have gone utterly over your head, so let me explain again.
Imagine a person comes to me, an investor, with a business plan they are seeking 250k investment in (assume I have maxed out entrepreneur's relief etc already, or my share of the investment would be less than 5% so non qualifying).
Based on their business plan, I estimate the risk of their business folding in the next 5 years to be 40%, with an estimated reward of 250k. Under the current taxation system I'd have a 40% chance of losing all the money invested for an estimated 200k post tax profit. So it would be EV neutral. Under 45% tax, I'd still a 40% chance of losing all my money, but would only be looking at a potential reward of £137,500. So I go, hmm. The risks outweigh the rewards here, so I'll pass.
There. I have just told you the exact same story, only as a business investment decision rather than a 'coin toss' which I thought was an ELI5 way of explaining risk, rather than a LITERAL coin toss. Sighs and shakes head.
Oh, heavens to Betsy. I said I was picking at your example. I got your point. I also responded to your point. The part of my response that you skipped over is the comparison to other forms of income.
If I go earn some extra money, I pay 40% of it in income tax. If you’re rich and able to invest £250k (something most people in the country can’t even dream of) and you make money from that investment, should you pay no tax on that, should you pay the same as income tax, less, more? If you want to make your argument about CGT, I suggest you need to do it in the context of the tax rates on earned income.
Or, as I explained in my previous post, capital is globally mobile, and those with 250k (or much more) to invest, will simply up sticks and leave the UK.
There is a reason why tax on profit from investment (i.e. risk) is generally taxed much lower than income in every country across the world. You want people to risk their capital.
Having 250k to invest also means you have 250k to lose. At 45%, people will risk their capital less (thus harming the economy) or take their money out of the economy entirely (causing even more harm).
To repeat myself, again, it would be an unalloyed act of economic madness from Labour to do it. Not least because HMRC have already estimated it to be significantly net negative to the treasury. So if they do go down that path, it's political posturing of the very worst kind, the kind that actively harms the economy, all in the name of 'bashing the rich' (who will bugger off, anyway).
Thank you for a more considered reply.
Three points: (1) the idea that people "will simply up sticks and leave the UK" is repeated whenever Labour is in power. The risk is greatly exaggerated.
(2) As I said, the tax system should encourage people to invest in businesses. Plenty of capital gains, however, is not investment. How do we best distinguish which is which?
(3) Yours is another in a recent glut of posts that claim it would be "madness" for Labour to do something that they haven't announced they're going to do.
To your points, at 45% I will personally either defer any sale until CGT falls again, or leave. I personally know two people who have already left, due to the reduction in entrepreneur's relief.
I agree with you that the tax system needs to differentiate between types of investment. And it already does. Which is why there's a higher rate for property CGT than there is for other investments like shares, plus (limited) entrepreneur's relief and other reliefs that further encourage the 'right' kind of investment. I expect these to continue being progressively taken away.
Thirdly, unlike some of the posters on here posting links to the Telegraph or Mail (which are primarily focused on Evil Labour after your BTL gains), this is very much my world, as I consult for a number of startups who are worried, and as I say, I've already turned down an investment opportunity myself on the basis of what Labour *might* do to affect the risk/reward balance in October. So their refusal to deny the 45% rate is already having a real world impact on investment.
The FT (a paper that backed Labour at the GE) is littered with concerned articles about the potential impact on growth, investment and entrepreneurship, for example -
The fact that people are already running for the hills over what might be is already causing harm to the economy.
It's frustrating because, as I say, it flies in the face of basic economics. So it will be interesting to see if it actually happens. I rate the chances of equalisation with income tax at 50/50 or more. When really they should be 0, because the latest government modelling shows that 25%ish or 29%ish on property is about as high as you can go before revenue becomes net negative. So if Labour do go ahead with it, we'll know it's a bash the rich policy that actually harms the economy - lower growth, fewer jobs, a smaller tax base as rich people emigrate and young, smart people leave for better opportunities elsewhere.
Of course the FT is littered with concerned articles. That's what interested parties do before a budget. They try and influence government policy. They, among other things, write concerned articles about why their thing should be taxed less or supported more.
I am very confident that the new Labour govt will not do most of the things that people have written concerned articles about. But I think we should raise tax somewhere, somehow.
True - the hope is that Reeves is rattling the sabre to encourage sales now to increase tax take this year.
I also don't think it's unreasonable to tax disguised income (carried interest) as income rather than a capital gain. Though the private equity types are saying that too will reduce economic activity. I'm less certain of that. But it's harder to justify if no risk is involved.
If I were chancellor, I'd put CGT on property back up to 28% where it was a couple of years ago, or even consider 30%. It's an unproductive part of the economy and also you can't leave the country to avoid paying it, so less risk of capital flight or brain drains (many brains working in startups and tech being paid in equity - few brains in the property development world).
I would either leave the main rate of CGT where it is now, or risk bringing it up to 25% (though without indexation this is often effectively a 25% tax on inflation, reintroducing indexation would reduce the take substantially, so you're back to square one).
Another option would be to consider a long term and short term rate as the US has, where investments attract less CGT if held for longer than a year. Or you could reintroduce taper relief, which reduces your tax bill the longer you hold an asset.
The point is though, that once you start fiddling with taper reliefs and indexation, you end up generating about what you generate now at 20% without the added complexity.
CGT where it is now, or maybe up to 25% (lower) and 30% (higher rate) is about as high as you can push it before you get capital flight, brain drain, lower growth, less economic activity, fewer jobs, fewer startups etc. And that effects everyone, not just the 'rich' few who actually pay it.
As far as property goes.
I think taking it back up to 28% is a no brainer. You could also make it 28% for all taxpayers. You could also remove the £3k allowance for property.
The ability to avoid tax by shifting property assets between spouses has been vastly reduced but might as well go the whole hog and make it unworthwhile.
Any changes effective from April 2025 should focus the minds and bring forward transactions.
Same as the Junior Doctors and all the others this govt just capitulated to without getting any concessions.
And leaving Granny to shiver in the cold
Granny’s had big increases in her pension over the last few years, granny should stop moaning.
This highlights the problem that the idea grannies are well served with the pension increases is far away from the real lives of pensioners just above the thresaehold and is incentive to their plight
Yes 25% of pensioners do not need the WFA but many millions more do as we will see this winter
I’m not convinced that 75% of pensioners need WFA.
Im not convinced 100% of the PMs wives need a £19,000 dress allowance.
The £19k wasn’t public money, so what’s that got to do with WFA?
A key point which many PB Tories can't seem to grasp.
Funny old world.
Do we know for sure that Starmer wasn’t wanting to keep the WFA and, after the donor gave the money he also told Starmer that he wants to see WFA cut?
Now it’s clearly very unlikely but the fact is that if the PM is receiving freebies then he is open to charges of undue influence in return for freebies. If his response is that the value isn’t enough to risk swaying his mind then it’s not enough to need others to pay it.
I mean, Sunak could have been told to cut HS2 by the person who gave him free seats to watch Soton at St Mary's.
That could be the case.
But it's not very likely, is it?
Are we saying that no MPs should ever accept gifts, hospitality under any circumstances? And, if so, would you extend this rule to all other jobs and professions where corruption of some kind could hypothetically be an issue?
The whole point of declaring the gifts is so it's transparent to the public.
Well he's not going to lose office over it - or even my vote (I didn't vote Labour). But it has slightly lowered my opinion of him.
Is a few Arsenal games really worth that ... ?
I worked it last night, I spent close to £40k following Liverpool in 2019/20 season, slightly less in 2021/22.
There’s absolutely nothing I wouldn’t spend to follow my team.
You can change your job, your nationality, your name, heck you can even change your gender, but you can never change the club you love and follow.
I started off supporting Liverpool because I was a young child who liked supporting the winners and Liverpool were that for much of eighties
But I loved Dalglish even more than Liverpool, so I supported Blackburn after a couple of years of half-hearted support under Souness
I have a Blackburn shirt signed by the whole squad that won the league
Then when I grew up I decided to support the team from where I'm from
So now I have the Saturday stress of seeing Southampton's scores
I don't see why fans shouldn't change clubs. Players seem to have no qualms whatsoever about doing so (aside from Steve Bull and Matt Le Tissier). One way loyalty is a mug's game.
Tell me you don't understand football supporters without telling me you don't understand football supporters.
I'm getting an awful feeling this Labour government is going to be SO bad it will re-energise Scottish Indy
Only if the tories look to benefit in England.
This is a one term Labour government. It is the Frost Fair of governments. They have lots of stalls selling Old Tom gin and hot spiced wine, they have dancing bears and baited bulls, Angela Rayner is skating towards Keir Starmer who is busily stuffing himself with free plum duff as he laughs at starving mudlarks, but the whole thing is built on ice and a dramatic thaw will send them plunging into the Thames, at the next GE
I'm getting an awful feeling this Labour government is going to be SO bad it will re-energise Scottish Indy
I have seen that poll but not the percentage changes
That is a huge drop for labour
I would suggest if the SNP have no further fall out from campervan gate they could recover for the Holyrood election
It's hardly surprising. This Labour government is shit, AND sleazy
If it wasn't for Truss I think we could say this is the worst start to a new government in living memory. They really don't seem to be up to the job at all.
I'm getting an awful feeling this Labour government is going to be SO bad it will re-energise Scottish Indy
I have seen that poll but not the percentage changes
That is a huge drop for labour
I would suggest if the SNP have no further fall out from campervan gate they could recover for the Holyrood election
It's hardly surprising. This Labour government is shit, AND sleazy
A bit unfair at this early stage I think.
I'm starting to worry about Reeves' competence though. Leaving rumours hanging over massive issues such as single person CT discount and TFC on pensions is destabilising. The latter would amount to retrospective taxation.
Tax is so high already in this country; Reeves is learning that getting the maximum amount of feathers with the least amount of hissing is a devil of a job when we are already hissing.
A hundred grand in freebies. Starmer doesn't appear to have broken any rules and it looks like he is meticulous in recording it all, but it looks fecking awful. He wants to go and watch the footie, get comped because he's Swifty, dress nicely and have designer specs, so he'll take a hundred grand in freebies from whoever wants to curry his favour. It stinks, and he needs to have a word with himself.
But…but…but… it’s too much to ask him to pay for his own tickets to football…
Now he's a minister, he doesn't have to declare such gifts, so long as they're in his official capacity.
That would cover the DCMS ministers.
What is the “official capacity” for the PM attending matches?
At least he is a genuine Arsenal fan, not a fan of Arsenal Hotspurs or something (Aston Ham Utd).
David Lammy (I know, I know) raised an interesting point re clothing. PM's don't have a clothing budget yet do need to dress well to do the job. Perhaps there should be a clothing allowance? I'd also argue that the PM's salary is way too low - fix that and the issue of needing a friend to buy clothes and glasses goes away.
But if the PM needs a clothing budget what about the Foreign Minister? So where do you draw the line?
There are lots of jobs where you need to look smart or are required to dress to a code. Do they get an allowance from their employer? Starmer is in the wrong here.
Quite a few do get clothing allowances, but not all. And you can claim against tax too.
Of course, but Lauren who works in an office isn't getting her entire wardrobe paid for. Starmer needs to grow the fuck up, and realise a hundred grand in freebies just isn't the look a Labour PM should strive for.
Yeah seems an unnecessary misstep tbh, along with all the free football tickets.
Hasn't every prior Prime Minister going back decades accepted free tickets to sporting events? (Possibly excepting Truss on the grounds she wasn't around long enough.)
To give an example of one sport I know, the Sports Minister doesn’t have to declare a ticket to the British Grand Prix, because they are there in an official capacity and will present a trophy to the winner at the podium ceremony after the race.
Some other random minister or MP, who accepts a £10k Paddock Club ticket for the weekend, either from F1 or another company, but isn’t involved in an official capacity at the event itself, has to declare the hospitality.
The PM attending sporting events and concerts at Wembley, as guest of the FA, needs to be declared unless he’s actually involved in proceedings at the event, and not just there to enjoy themselves.
Am I the only one on PB that thinks this is all confected outrage, the tickets and the frocks?
Sir Keir gets free tickets for Arsenal from Arsenal FC. These are not at the taxpayers' expense. So what? Ditto Taylor Swift gigs.
Lady Vic gets free frocks (which she wears in her public capacity as first lady) from a longstanding Labour donor who would otherwise sink that money into Labour's general coffers. These frocks are not at the taxpayers' expense. Again, so what?
It is true that Sir Keir declared the latter late, but he did declare them and – and this is a key point that seems to have been lost – did so before any media interest, once he realised that they should have been declared.
It's just a more glamorous version of Donkeygate. A whole load of wup.
It is indefensible for Statmer to receive £100,000 from a fellow millionaire to dress him and his wife and lots of other freebies but as I said previously the great British public reject his largesse by 62% to 13% so you are one of the 13%
So what? I seek not to hold the common view, but the right one.
The only rule he 'broke' was declaring Lady Vic's frocks late – but rectified this once he realised the error.
The fact that Big G, the bloke on the internet, got out of bed the wrong side one morning and started clutching his pearls is irrelevant.
Seems a bit pervy to let another man dress your wife
Moronic post. She's dressing herself you twit. Alli provided the funding for her wardrobe.
I think what Alan is saying is that a real alpha man dresses his own wife - so Keir is being a bit of a beta cuck here.
Fwiw I find the expression that a man should 'dress his own wife' to be a piece of old school patriarchal yuck.
It's a 'woman as possession' sentiment.
Perhaps she should dress herself? But the sentiment expressed by Lammy that she has to dress up for the good of the country seems to reduce her to chatteldom.
Well there is 'wardrobe pressure' on her now that there wouldn't have been before. As for the funding of it I don't think it should come from a rich donor. The less of that sort of thing the better imo.
The question, for sensible people, is how to change things.
I don't think that people giving gifts to the PM that amount to 15%+ of his salary is suitable in the modern world. So what is the alternative?
EDIT:
The facts go like this
- Starmer used to go to lots of Arsenal games. Because he likes watching Arsenal - The police will have told him that he can't sit in the stands. And that if he ignores their advice, he is risking the safety of his close protection officers. - For security, they will have advised using a box. - A box at Arsenal costs 5 figures.
What meets the case?
Well being PM means some sacrifices and its hardly essential that he needs to carry on watching Arsenal is it? What is it with this football obsession?
I think he should have the balls to just turn up and sit in the stands.
Same as the Junior Doctors and all the others this govt just capitulated to without getting any concessions.
And leaving Granny to shiver in the cold
Granny’s had big increases in her pension over the last few years, granny should stop moaning.
This highlights the problem that the idea grannies are well served with the pension increases is far away from the real lives of pensioners just above the thresaehold and is incentive to their plight
Yes 25% of pensioners do not need the WFA but many millions more do as we will see this winter
I’m not convinced that 75% of pensioners need WFA.
Im not convinced 100% of the PMs wives need a £19,000 dress allowance.
The £19k wasn’t public money, so what’s that got to do with WFA?
A key point which many PB Tories can't seem to grasp.
Funny old world.
Do we know for sure that Starmer wasn’t wanting to keep the WFA and, after the donor gave the money he also told Starmer that he wants to see WFA cut?
Now it’s clearly very unlikely but the fact is that if the PM is receiving freebies then he is open to charges of undue influence in return for freebies. If his response is that the value isn’t enough to risk swaying his mind then it’s not enough to need others to pay it.
I mean, Sunak could have been told to cut HS2 by the person who gave him free seats to watch Soton at St Mary's.
That could be the case.
But it's not very likely, is it?
Are we saying that no MPs should ever accept gifts, hospitality under any circumstances? And, if so, would you extend this rule to all other jobs and professions where corruption of some kind could hypothetically be an issue?
The whole point of declaring the gifts is so it's transparent to the public.
Well he's not going to lose office over it - or even my vote (I didn't vote Labour). But it has slightly lowered my opinion of him.
Is a few Arsenal games really worth that ... ?
I worked it last night, I spent close to £40k following Liverpool in 2019/20 season, slightly less in 2021/22.
There’s absolutely nothing I wouldn’t spend to follow my team.
You can change your job, your nationality, your name, heck you can even change your gender, but you can never change the club you love and follow.
I started off supporting Liverpool because I was a young child who liked supporting the winners and Liverpool were that for much of eighties
But I loved Dalglish even more than Liverpool, so I supported Blackburn after a couple of years of half-hearted support under Souness
I have a Blackburn shirt signed by the whole squad that won the league
Then when I grew up I decided to support the team from where I'm from
So now I have the Saturday stress of seeing Southampton's scores
I don't see why fans shouldn't change clubs. Players seem to have no qualms whatsoever about doing so (aside from Steve Bull and Matt Le Tissier). One way loyalty is a mug's game.
Tell me you don't understand football supporters without telling me you don't understand football supporters.
I'm getting an awful feeling this Labour government is going to be SO bad it will re-energise Scottish Indy
I have seen that poll but not the percentage changes
That is a huge drop for labour
I would suggest if the SNP have no further fall out from campervan gate they could recover for the Holyrood election
It's hardly surprising. This Labour government is shit, AND sleazy
As you noted the other day, the Guardian are really going for him and running many stories about the expenses and clothes each day.
They either want him cowed to their wants or alternatively they have a crazy idea that he could be unseated and someone more to the left could take over.
It’s a spectacular own goal - not an ideological fick up like Truss but just a tin-eared one from a place of hubris and over confidence.
Many players told Tories to go and think about why we lost but equally Starmer and Labour need to think about why they won - and it wasn’t because they were really popular and had great policies.
I'm getting an awful feeling this Labour government is going to be SO bad it will re-energise Scottish Indy
Only if the tories look to benefit in England.
This is a one term Labour government. It is the Frost Fair of governments. They have lots of stalls selling Old Tom gin and hot spiced wine, they have dancing bears and baited bulls, Angela Rayner is skating towards Keir Starmer who is busily stuffing himself with free plum duff as he laughs at starving mudlarks, but the whole thing is built on ice and a dramatic thaw will send them plunging into the Thames, at the next GE
It'll take a perfect storm for indy to become reality. Labour implosion, tories to stop imploding, and Nigels mob to still be around. Putin gone and peace in Ukraine, And other situations that may or may not be around the corner.
Lots of Scots would need persuading to relive the indy ref all over again, including some of those who voted for it.
Apparently Israel is now blowing up smartphones as well
They have managed to compromise every electronic device in Hezbollah hands. The videos are disturbing - but the dark genius of the strike is undeniable
They could literally take out Hezbollah as an effective fighting force with this one coup de theatre. An army that cannot communicate cannot fight. Simple as that
I'm getting an awful feeling this Labour government is going to be SO bad it will re-energise Scottish Indy
Only if the tories look to benefit in England.
This is a one term Labour government. It is the Frost Fair of governments. They have lots of stalls selling Old Tom gin and hot spiced wine, they have dancing bears and baited bulls, Angela Rayner is skating towards Keir Starmer who is busily stuffing himself with free plum duff as he laughs at starving mudlarks, but the whole thing is built on ice and a dramatic thaw will send them plunging into the Thames, at the next GE
The Conservatives have got to shape up though. Must get it right with a strong and competent leader. I don't think Jenrick is that on either count. Cleverly is the safest choice but is safe the way to go? Tugendhat is competent but timid like Sunak. Badenoch is strong, and could shape up to be something special, but her competency is largely untested.
Apparently Israel is now blowing up smartphones as well
They have managed to compromise every electronic device in Hezbollah hands. The videos are disturbing - but the dark genius of the strike is undeniable
They could literally take out Hezbollah as an effective fighting force with this one coup de theatre. An army that cannot communicate cannot fight. Simple as that
And everyone in Iran must be crapping themselves
More interesting would be if they can detonate Hezbollah rockets in their stores
I'm getting an awful feeling this Labour government is going to be SO bad it will re-energise Scottish Indy
I have seen that poll but not the percentage changes
That is a huge drop for labour
I would suggest if the SNP have no further fall out from campervan gate they could recover for the Holyrood election
It's hardly surprising. This Labour government is shit, AND sleazy
A bit unfair at this early stage I think.
I'm starting to worry about Reeves' competence though. Leaving rumours hanging over massive issues such as single person CT discount and TFC on pensions is destabilising. The latter would amount to retrospective taxation.
Tax is so high already in this country; Reeves is learning that getting the maximum amount of feathers with the least amount of hissing is a devil of a job when we are already hissing.
It's just that Leon voted Labour for the first time in his life and had such high hopes. That's where his OTT frothing criticism is coming from I think. A place of disappointment. Of idealistic notions dashed.
Israel reportedly fast-tracked its explosion of thousands of pagers used by Hezbollah fighters because the mass sabotage operation was about to be exposed.
It was a “use it or lose it moment,” a US official told Axios describing the reason Israel gave for the timing of the attack, which killed at least 11 and injured almost 3,000.
Two ounces of explosives were believed to have been hidden in 5,000 pagers next to a battery along with a switch to remotely trigger the device, US sources told The New York Times.
Torygraph
It was a brilliant operation. Quite precisely targeted.
Brilliant because it's real James Bond shit, but not that precisely targeted because they had no way of knowing, and didn't care, how many innocent people were going to be maimed or killed. You should appreciate the ingenuity of the operation, whilst finding abhorrent the lack of any shred of humanity in the people who thought it up.
The security camera footage from convenience store showed one of the explosions. People standing right next to the victim were unharmed. Seemed far more discriminating than automatic weapon fire. Or a 2000lb bomb.
They had no definite way of ensuring a pager wasn't in the hands of an innocent person when it exploded, or if a Hezbollah fighter had his baby in his arms, or what sort of collateral damage the explosion might trigger. I just can't condone that.
No army can 100% know that there won't be collateral damage to its actions, only mitigate the risk, especially when it's fighting an enemy that deliberately embeds itself in the civilian population. The question under international law is, can the risk (sometimes high to certain) be justified as proportional to the aims? If an army or terror group are using civilians as cover for attacks, then that is very much their war crime - not the response.
As Hezbollah has been endlessly firing rockets at Israel, themselves killing innocent people, and threatening worse, there's clearly an argument that it is proportionate - especially when you consider that the alternative means of inflicting this much damage on Hezbollah would likely be far more devastating to civilians.
At times it seems lots of people are determined to condemn Israel for existing and fighting back against enemies who wish to destroy it - and have little concern about the blood spilt doing so among their own people - whatever they do.
Find a way to specifically target Hezbollah members - outrage. Conduct missile strikes to hit Hezbollah - also outrage. Ground invasion - also outrage. Just what is it Israel is supposed to do? Sit back and accept rockets raining down on its northern cities and towns permanently?
For example we practically levelled Mosul to destroy ISIS, killing thousands of civilians - but there were few complaints as it was generally understood that the threat of ISIS remaining in Iraq and potentially recovering to carry out its atrocities was so great that it had to be done, despite the cost in civilian life.
You'd add that if a Hezbollah fighter has his baby in his arms and they are harmed, that's very much on him for being a Hezbollah fighter. You don't get to be a terrorist target innocent people with your attacks, go back to your family and cry because targeting you might put your own family at risk. You chose to be a terrorist. Those are the consequences.
Israel has a right to defend itself and Hezbollah are horrible shits, but imagine the pager is on a table in a cafe, and maims a kid that is a total stranger to the Hezbollah fella. The kids parents are not terrorists. Israel had no definite way of knowing that it would only kill and maim wrong 'uns or their dependants. Would you be happy with the UK using such tactics?
If you don't want any of your loved ones to be blown to pieces then don't be a part of an organisation whose mission is to blow people to pieces.
Such ignorance of what Hezbollah are. They are part of the fabric of Lebanese society. They run schools and social welfare. They have MP's and Ministers in the Lebanese Parliament. They are more equivalent to Snin Fein than anything else
could I interest you in a pager ?
They’re so yesterday’s tech. Walkie-talkies are where it’s at today.
Apple and Samsung need to spot the opportunity for a sales pitch. 100% explosive free. Pop it in your pocket without the worry of losing your Henry Halls. Text and keep your fingers intact. Phone and keep your eyeballs in your head.
Israel reportedly fast-tracked its explosion of thousands of pagers used by Hezbollah fighters because the mass sabotage operation was about to be exposed.
It was a “use it or lose it moment,” a US official told Axios describing the reason Israel gave for the timing of the attack, which killed at least 11 and injured almost 3,000.
Two ounces of explosives were believed to have been hidden in 5,000 pagers next to a battery along with a switch to remotely trigger the device, US sources told The New York Times.
Torygraph
It was a brilliant operation. Quite precisely targeted.
Brilliant because it's real James Bond shit, but not that precisely targeted because they had no way of knowing, and didn't care, how many innocent people were going to be maimed or killed. You should appreciate the ingenuity of the operation, whilst finding abhorrent the lack of any shred of humanity in the people who thought it up.
The security camera footage from convenience store showed one of the explosions. People standing right next to the victim were unharmed. Seemed far more discriminating than automatic weapon fire. Or a 2000lb bomb.
They had no definite way of ensuring a pager wasn't in the hands of an innocent person when it exploded, or if a Hezbollah fighter had his baby in his arms, or what sort of collateral damage the explosion might trigger. I just can't condone that.
No army can 100% know that there won't be collateral damage to its actions, only mitigate the risk, especially when it's fighting an enemy that deliberately embeds itself in the civilian population. The question under international law is, can the risk (sometimes high to certain) be justified as proportional to the aims? If an army or terror group are using civilians as cover for attacks, then that is very much their war crime - not the response.
As Hezbollah has been endlessly firing rockets at Israel, themselves killing innocent people, and threatening worse, there's clearly an argument that it is proportionate - especially when you consider that the alternative means of inflicting this much damage on Hezbollah would likely be far more devastating to civilians.
At times it seems lots of people are determined to condemn Israel for existing and fighting back against enemies who wish to destroy it - and have little concern about the blood spilt doing so among their own people - whatever they do.
Find a way to specifically target Hezbollah members - outrage. Conduct missile strikes to hit Hezbollah - also outrage. Ground invasion - also outrage. Just what is it Israel is supposed to do? Sit back and accept rockets raining down on its northern cities and towns permanently?
For example we practically levelled Mosul to destroy ISIS, killing thousands of civilians - but there were few complaints as it was generally understood that the threat of ISIS remaining in Iraq and potentially recovering to carry out its atrocities was so great that it had to be done, despite the cost in civilian life.
You'd add that if a Hezbollah fighter has his baby in his arms and they are harmed, that's very much on him for being a Hezbollah fighter. You don't get to be a terrorist target innocent people with your attacks, go back to your family and cry because targeting you might put your own family at risk. You chose to be a terrorist. Those are the consequences.
Israel has a right to defend itself and Hezbollah are horrible shits, but imagine the pager is on a table in a cafe, and maims a kid that is a total stranger to the Hezbollah fella. The kids parents are not terrorists. Israel had no definite way of knowing that it would only kill and maim wrong 'uns or their dependants. Would you be happy with the UK using such tactics?
If you don't want any of your loved ones to be blown to pieces then don't be a part of an organisation whose mission is to blow people to pieces.
Such ignorance of what Hezbollah are. They are part of the fabric of Lebanese society. They run schools and social welfare. They have MP's and Ministers in the Lebanese Parliament. They are more equivalent to Snin Fein than anything else
could I interest you in a pager ?
They’re so yesterday’s tech. Walkie-talkies are where it’s at today.
Tomorrow it will be cups / string and carrier pigeon.
I'm getting an awful feeling this Labour government is going to be SO bad it will re-energise Scottish Indy
Only if the tories look to benefit in England.
This is a one term Labour government. It is the Frost Fair of governments. They have lots of stalls selling Old Tom gin and hot spiced wine, they have dancing bears and baited bulls, Angela Rayner is skating towards Keir Starmer who is busily stuffing himself with free plum duff as he laughs at starving mudlarks, but the whole thing is built on ice and a dramatic thaw will send them plunging into the Thames, at the next GE
The Conservatives have got to shape up though. Must get it right with a strong and competent leader. I don't think Jenrick is that on either count. Cleverly is the safest choice but is safe the way to go? Tugendhat is competent but timid like Sunak. Badenoch is strong, and could shape up to be something special, but her competency is largely untested.
The only way I can see the Tories getting back in 2029 isif they cut a deal with Reform
It would also have the advantage of making Labour red wall MPs super twitchy. Would Sir Sleazealot survive the full term ?
Jezza may have been a far lefty but he wasnt looking special treatment
I'm getting an awful feeling this Labour government is going to be SO bad it will re-energise Scottish Indy
I have seen that poll but not the percentage changes
That is a huge drop for labour
I would suggest if the SNP have no further fall out from campervan gate they could recover for the Holyrood election
It's hardly surprising. This Labour government is shit, AND sleazy
A bit unfair at this early stage I think.
I'm starting to worry about Reeves' competence though. Leaving rumours hanging over massive issues such as single person CT discount and TFC on pensions is destabilising. The latter would amount to retrospective taxation.
Tax is so high already in this country; Reeves is learning that getting the maximum amount of feathers with the least amount of hissing is a devil of a job when we are already hissing.
It's just that Leon voted Labour for the first time in his life and had such high hopes. That's where his OTT frothing criticism is coming from I think. A place of disappointment. Of idealistic notions dashed.
Yes indeed. I feel PERSONALLY let down. This isn't just ideas and hypotheticals
Sir Kir Royale Freebieface is a hypocritical greedy fuck and did not deserve my vote, it turns out
Israel reportedly fast-tracked its explosion of thousands of pagers used by Hezbollah fighters because the mass sabotage operation was about to be exposed.
It was a “use it or lose it moment,” a US official told Axios describing the reason Israel gave for the timing of the attack, which killed at least 11 and injured almost 3,000.
Two ounces of explosives were believed to have been hidden in 5,000 pagers next to a battery along with a switch to remotely trigger the device, US sources told The New York Times.
Torygraph
It was a brilliant operation. Quite precisely targeted.
Brilliant because it's real James Bond shit, but not that precisely targeted because they had no way of knowing, and didn't care, how many innocent people were going to be maimed or killed. You should appreciate the ingenuity of the operation, whilst finding abhorrent the lack of any shred of humanity in the people who thought it up.
The security camera footage from convenience store showed one of the explosions. People standing right next to the victim were unharmed. Seemed far more discriminating than automatic weapon fire. Or a 2000lb bomb.
They had no definite way of ensuring a pager wasn't in the hands of an innocent person when it exploded, or if a Hezbollah fighter had his baby in his arms, or what sort of collateral damage the explosion might trigger. I just can't condone that.
No army can 100% know that there won't be collateral damage to its actions, only mitigate the risk, especially when it's fighting an enemy that deliberately embeds itself in the civilian population. The question under international law is, can the risk (sometimes high to certain) be justified as proportional to the aims? If an army or terror group are using civilians as cover for attacks, then that is very much their war crime - not the response.
As Hezbollah has been endlessly firing rockets at Israel, themselves killing innocent people, and threatening worse, there's clearly an argument that it is proportionate - especially when you consider that the alternative means of inflicting this much damage on Hezbollah would likely be far more devastating to civilians.
At times it seems lots of people are determined to condemn Israel for existing and fighting back against enemies who wish to destroy it - and have little concern about the blood spilt doing so among their own people - whatever they do.
Find a way to specifically target Hezbollah members - outrage. Conduct missile strikes to hit Hezbollah - also outrage. Ground invasion - also outrage. Just what is it Israel is supposed to do? Sit back and accept rockets raining down on its northern cities and towns permanently?
For example we practically levelled Mosul to destroy ISIS, killing thousands of civilians - but there were few complaints as it was generally understood that the threat of ISIS remaining in Iraq and potentially recovering to carry out its atrocities was so great that it had to be done, despite the cost in civilian life.
You'd add that if a Hezbollah fighter has his baby in his arms and they are harmed, that's very much on him for being a Hezbollah fighter. You don't get to be a terrorist target innocent people with your attacks, go back to your family and cry because targeting you might put your own family at risk. You chose to be a terrorist. Those are the consequences.
Israel has a right to defend itself and Hezbollah are horrible shits, but imagine the pager is on a table in a cafe, and maims a kid that is a total stranger to the Hezbollah fella. The kids parents are not terrorists. Israel had no definite way of knowing that it would only kill and maim wrong 'uns or their dependants. Would you be happy with the UK using such tactics?
If you don't want any of your loved ones to be blown to pieces then don't be a part of an organisation whose mission is to blow people to pieces.
Such ignorance of what Hezbollah are. They are part of the fabric of Lebanese society. They run schools and social welfare. They have MP's and Ministers in the Lebanese Parliament. They are more equivalent to Snin Fein than anything else
could I interest you in a pager ?
They’re so yesterday’s tech. Walkie-talkies are where it’s at today.
Tomorrow it will be cups / string and carrier pigeon.
Wait until they are down to just shouting. Then the UK will have the most powerful weapon on the planet - Brian Blessed!
Israel reportedly fast-tracked its explosion of thousands of pagers used by Hezbollah fighters because the mass sabotage operation was about to be exposed.
It was a “use it or lose it moment,” a US official told Axios describing the reason Israel gave for the timing of the attack, which killed at least 11 and injured almost 3,000.
Two ounces of explosives were believed to have been hidden in 5,000 pagers next to a battery along with a switch to remotely trigger the device, US sources told The New York Times.
Torygraph
It was a brilliant operation. Quite precisely targeted.
Brilliant because it's real James Bond shit, but not that precisely targeted because they had no way of knowing, and didn't care, how many innocent people were going to be maimed or killed. You should appreciate the ingenuity of the operation, whilst finding abhorrent the lack of any shred of humanity in the people who thought it up.
The security camera footage from convenience store showed one of the explosions. People standing right next to the victim were unharmed. Seemed far more discriminating than automatic weapon fire. Or a 2000lb bomb.
They had no definite way of ensuring a pager wasn't in the hands of an innocent person when it exploded, or if a Hezbollah fighter had his baby in his arms, or what sort of collateral damage the explosion might trigger. I just can't condone that.
No army can 100% know that there won't be collateral damage to its actions, only mitigate the risk, especially when it's fighting an enemy that deliberately embeds itself in the civilian population. The question under international law is, can the risk (sometimes high to certain) be justified as proportional to the aims? If an army or terror group are using civilians as cover for attacks, then that is very much their war crime - not the response.
As Hezbollah has been endlessly firing rockets at Israel, themselves killing innocent people, and threatening worse, there's clearly an argument that it is proportionate - especially when you consider that the alternative means of inflicting this much damage on Hezbollah would likely be far more devastating to civilians.
At times it seems lots of people are determined to condemn Israel for existing and fighting back against enemies who wish to destroy it - and have little concern about the blood spilt doing so among their own people - whatever they do.
Find a way to specifically target Hezbollah members - outrage. Conduct missile strikes to hit Hezbollah - also outrage. Ground invasion - also outrage. Just what is it Israel is supposed to do? Sit back and accept rockets raining down on its northern cities and towns permanently?
For example we practically levelled Mosul to destroy ISIS, killing thousands of civilians - but there were few complaints as it was generally understood that the threat of ISIS remaining in Iraq and potentially recovering to carry out its atrocities was so great that it had to be done, despite the cost in civilian life.
You'd add that if a Hezbollah fighter has his baby in his arms and they are harmed, that's very much on him for being a Hezbollah fighter. You don't get to be a terrorist target innocent people with your attacks, go back to your family and cry because targeting you might put your own family at risk. You chose to be a terrorist. Those are the consequences.
Israel has a right to defend itself and Hezbollah are horrible shits, but imagine the pager is on a table in a cafe, and maims a kid that is a total stranger to the Hezbollah fella. The kids parents are not terrorists. Israel had no definite way of knowing that it would only kill and maim wrong 'uns or their dependants. Would you be happy with the UK using such tactics?
If you don't want any of your loved ones to be blown to pieces then don't be a part of an organisation whose mission is to blow people to pieces.
Such ignorance of what Hezbollah are. They are part of the fabric of Lebanese society. They run schools and social welfare. They have MP's and Ministers in the Lebanese Parliament. They are more equivalent to Snin Fein than anything else
So why are they not using mobile phones? And being equivalent to Sein Fein just makes me think terrorist adjacent, like the bad old days.
The story of Lebanon since before their civil war is complicated. I shot a commercial for the Lebanese government which was really an envioronmental film and through the visuals of a girl's face being destroyed intercut with the destruction of the country told the story.
But during the three days of the shoot I got a very thorough grounding in Lebanese history. It's one of my favourite countries and I am completely in love with the people. I'm totally biased and my film won their top advertising award that year.
But if you speak to anyone who knows it well they'll more than likely echo my feelings towards the country and its people
Apple and Samsung need to spot the opportunity for a sales pitch. 100% explosive free. Pop it in your pocket without the worry of losing your Henry Halls. Text and keep your fingers intact. Phone and keep your eyeballs in your head.
Just ignore that Mossad already cracked these years ago.
Their best chance of something secure is probably going to be a bunch of the brand new iPhones with the crap IOS18 that no-one with an existing device wants to upgrade to yet.
Israel reportedly fast-tracked its explosion of thousands of pagers used by Hezbollah fighters because the mass sabotage operation was about to be exposed.
It was a “use it or lose it moment,” a US official told Axios describing the reason Israel gave for the timing of the attack, which killed at least 11 and injured almost 3,000.
Two ounces of explosives were believed to have been hidden in 5,000 pagers next to a battery along with a switch to remotely trigger the device, US sources told The New York Times.
Torygraph
It was a brilliant operation. Quite precisely targeted.
Brilliant because it's real James Bond shit, but not that precisely targeted because they had no way of knowing, and didn't care, how many innocent people were going to be maimed or killed. You should appreciate the ingenuity of the operation, whilst finding abhorrent the lack of any shred of humanity in the people who thought it up.
The security camera footage from convenience store showed one of the explosions. People standing right next to the victim were unharmed. Seemed far more discriminating than automatic weapon fire. Or a 2000lb bomb.
They had no definite way of ensuring a pager wasn't in the hands of an innocent person when it exploded, or if a Hezbollah fighter had his baby in his arms, or what sort of collateral damage the explosion might trigger. I just can't condone that.
No army can 100% know that there won't be collateral damage to its actions, only mitigate the risk, especially when it's fighting an enemy that deliberately embeds itself in the civilian population. The question under international law is, can the risk (sometimes high to certain) be justified as proportional to the aims? If an army or terror group are using civilians as cover for attacks, then that is very much their war crime - not the response.
As Hezbollah has been endlessly firing rockets at Israel, themselves killing innocent people, and threatening worse, there's clearly an argument that it is proportionate - especially when you consider that the alternative means of inflicting this much damage on Hezbollah would likely be far more devastating to civilians.
At times it seems lots of people are determined to condemn Israel for existing and fighting back against enemies who wish to destroy it - and have little concern about the blood spilt doing so among their own people - whatever they do.
Find a way to specifically target Hezbollah members - outrage. Conduct missile strikes to hit Hezbollah - also outrage. Ground invasion - also outrage. Just what is it Israel is supposed to do? Sit back and accept rockets raining down on its northern cities and towns permanently?
For example we practically levelled Mosul to destroy ISIS, killing thousands of civilians - but there were few complaints as it was generally understood that the threat of ISIS remaining in Iraq and potentially recovering to carry out its atrocities was so great that it had to be done, despite the cost in civilian life.
You'd add that if a Hezbollah fighter has his baby in his arms and they are harmed, that's very much on him for being a Hezbollah fighter. You don't get to be a terrorist target innocent people with your attacks, go back to your family and cry because targeting you might put your own family at risk. You chose to be a terrorist. Those are the consequences.
Israel has a right to defend itself and Hezbollah are horrible shits, but imagine the pager is on a table in a cafe, and maims a kid that is a total stranger to the Hezbollah fella. The kids parents are not terrorists. Israel had no definite way of knowing that it would only kill and maim wrong 'uns or their dependants. Would you be happy with the UK using such tactics?
If you don't want any of your loved ones to be blown to pieces then don't be a part of an organisation whose mission is to blow people to pieces.
Such ignorance of what Hezbollah are. They are part of the fabric of Lebanese society. They run schools and social welfare. They have MP's and Ministers in the Lebanese Parliament. They are more equivalent to Snin Fein than anything else
So why are they not using mobile phones? And being equivalent to Sein Fein just makes me think terrorist adjacent, like the bad old days.
The story of Lebanon since before their civil war is complicated. I shot a commercial for the Lebanese government which was really an envioronmental film and through the visuals of a girl's face being destroyed intercut with the destruction of the country told the story.
But during the three days of the shoot I got a very thorough grounding in Lebanese history. It's one of my favourite countries and I am completely in love with the people. I'm totally biased and my film won their top advertising award that year.
But if you speak to anyone who knows it well they'll more than likely echo my feelings towards the country and its people
Apparently Israel is now blowing up smartphones as well
They have managed to compromise every electronic device in Hezbollah hands. The videos are disturbing - but the dark genius of the strike is undeniable
They could literally take out Hezbollah as an effective fighting force with this one coup de theatre. An army that cannot communicate cannot fight. Simple as that
And everyone in Iran must be crapping themselves
There has never been a more effective attack on the troops of an army without risk of direct reply in kind. With the possible exemption of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Same as the Junior Doctors and all the others this govt just capitulated to without getting any concessions.
And leaving Granny to shiver in the cold
Granny’s had big increases in her pension over the last few years, granny should stop moaning.
This highlights the problem that the idea grannies are well served with the pension increases is far away from the real lives of pensioners just above the thresaehold and is incentive to their plight
Yes 25% of pensioners do not need the WFA but many millions more do as we will see this winter
I’m not convinced that 75% of pensioners need WFA.
Im not convinced 100% of the PMs wives need a £19,000 dress allowance.
The £19k wasn’t public money, so what’s that got to do with WFA?
A key point which many PB Tories can't seem to grasp.
Funny old world.
And there is a decent argument that she *should* have an allowance.
She’s not an employee or in a public role, but will incur additional costs when acting in her capacity as the PMs wife. It’s reasonable that the state should pay
Good post. There is certainly a case for that, but in the absence of such an allowance it seems reasonable that the Labour Party should pay, which in effect it did – it's just that one of its biggest donors ringfenced the funding for her wardrobe rather than chucked it into general party coffers (which could then be pissed up the wall at various party events).
“In effect it did” doesn’t cover it.
Your boy did wrong.
He shouldn’t have taken the clothes or the tickets. Caesar’s wife and all that.
His only 'wrongdoing' was declaring the frocks late, although he did declare them once he realised he should do so, and he did this before any media interest.
So yes, there was technically wrongdoing, but it is pretty small beer.
I define “wrongdoing” more broadly than “breaking the rules”
A public servant should never take money directly from someone for personal benefit.
I'm getting an awful feeling this Labour government is going to be SO bad it will re-energise Scottish Indy
Only if the tories look to benefit in England.
This is a one term Labour government. It is the Frost Fair of governments. They have lots of stalls selling Old Tom gin and hot spiced wine, they have dancing bears and baited bulls, Angela Rayner is skating towards Keir Starmer who is busily stuffing himself with free plum duff as he laughs at starving mudlarks, but the whole thing is built on ice and a dramatic thaw will send them plunging into the Thames, at the next GE
I said it could be a one-term government before the election and got pilloried for it.
Someone embezzled a lot of construction funds, if a few homebuilt Ukrainian drones did this...
...4/ When the facility was opened in 2018, Bulgakov hailed it as providing "reliable and safe storage, protects against air and missile strikes and even against the damaging effects of a nuclear explosion.".. https://x.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/1836321009881743813
The overnight explosions were enormous, and went on well into the morning, so quite a lot of the arsenal went bang. Apparently puts paid to any prospect of invading the Baltic states for a year or so.
The RAF Fauld explosion in 1944 was one of the largest manmade non-nuclear explosions in history. 4,000 tonnes of ammunition went up.
During the clear-up, lots of unexploded ammunition in the collapsed tunnels was dug out.
And used.
When I was a kid, there were rumours that there was still many tonnes of bombs underground that were too unsafe to get out.
Saw a headline in the Daily Mail: "Train drivers vote to accept bumper pay deal from Labour as unions boast they have 'protected hard-won terms and conditions' with strikes".
I can confirm that the DM commenters don't like to be informed in one of the first 10 comments that the bumper pay deal is less than inflation , by a margin of just over 4 to 1. Good interaction level, though.
Now a few things to do in the garden. Have a good evening, all.
I'm getting an awful feeling this Labour government is going to be SO bad it will re-energise Scottish Indy
Only if the tories look to benefit in England.
This is a one term Labour government. It is the Frost Fair of governments. They have lots of stalls selling Old Tom gin and hot spiced wine, they have dancing bears and baited bulls, Angela Rayner is skating towards Keir Starmer who is busily stuffing himself with free plum duff as he laughs at starving mudlarks, but the whole thing is built on ice and a dramatic thaw will send them plunging into the Thames, at the next GE
I said it could be a one-term government before the election and got pilloried for it.
...and because the site clown says so that's now a fact?
I'm getting an awful feeling this Labour government is going to be SO bad it will re-energise Scottish Indy
I have seen that poll but not the percentage changes
That is a huge drop for labour
I would suggest if the SNP have no further fall out from campervan gate they could recover for the Holyrood election
It's hardly surprising. This Labour government is shit, AND sleazy
As you noted the other day, the Guardian are really going for him and running many stories about the expenses and clothes each day.
They either want him cowed to their wants or alternatively they have a crazy idea that he could be unseated and someone more to the left could take over.
It’s a spectacular own goal - not an ideological fick up like Truss but just a tin-eared one from a place of hubris and over confidence.
Many players told Tories to go and think about why we lost but equally Starmer and Labour need to think about why they won - and it wasn’t because they were really popular and had great policies.
Surely the Guardian are generally to the right of Starmer
Comments
But during the three days of the shoot I got a very thorough grounding in Lebanese history. It's one of my favourite countries and I am completely in love with the people. I'm totally biased and my film won their top advertising award that year.
But if you speak to anyone who knows it well they'll more than likely echo my feelings towards the country and its people
I've no idea what that equates to in terms of numbers of artillery shells, percentage of annual production, etc.
Sky just added Hezbollah are collecting walkie talkies and taking the batteries out of them
Not sure any of us realise just how far this could go, what if smart phones are targeted
NORSAR has automatically detected multiple seismic events in #Toropets in #Russia 18 September. Our seismologists are currently analysing the signals.
https://x.com/NorsarInfo/status/1836397964295557474
That viral photo of the "Haitian immigrant" with a dead goose wasn't even taken in Springfield, OH -- it's in Columbus. The guy who took it (u/isitmeyourelooking4x) posted it on the r/Columbus subreddit a month ago.
https://x.com/AricToler/status/1833513437156061616
Elton's Honky Chateau is the perfect accompaniment
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13864849/Cops-explosives-car-near-Trump-rally-Long-Island-second-assassination-attempt.html
(Bagram is an airbase in Afghanistan)
https://x.com/Acyn/status/1836184824677367944
It's reached the point where I don't even know what he thinks he's talking about.
In July, a user posted a photo to Reddit of a man carrying two dead Canada geese on the street in Columbus, Ohio.[57][53] The post initially attracted relatively little attention.[58] More than a month later, right-wing sites and influencers started claiming the photograph shows a Haitian immigrant in Springfield.[57] The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) was inundated with phone calls from people who thought the photo was evidence of Haitians eating waterfowl.[57] According to the Ohio Division of Wildlife, the geese were killed in a car accident and there is no evidence that the man intended to eat them, nor that he was Haitian or an immigrant.[59]
[...]
The Columbus photographer who posted the photo to Reddit of the man carrying the dead goose told The Columbus Dispatch he regretted taking the picture, saying: "I wish I never took it, for sure. And I hate that the picture that I took is being weaponized to use against immigrants, or really, any other group. They always have to have somebody to use as a weapon. Some group to be the bad guy."[58]
They'll have to use runners with letters now to communicate.
Carrier pigeon is out. We all saw what happened to Speckled Jim.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-61781601
He's incompetent, corrupt, or stupid. Or all three.
Vance: 20,000 migrants primarily from Haitia have been dropped into Springfield
https://x.com/Acyn/status/1836107108858974403
I think taking it back up to 28% is a no brainer.
You could also make it 28% for all taxpayers.
You could also remove the £3k allowance for property.
The ability to avoid tax by shifting property assets between spouses has been vastly reduced but might as well go the whole hog and make it unworthwhile.
Any changes effective from April 2025 should focus the minds and bring forward transactions.
POLL: Scottish Labour vote plunges, SNP leads.
🟨 SNP 32% (+2)
🟥 LAB 25% (-10)
🟦 CON 14% (+1)
🟪 REF 11% (+4)
🟧 LD 8% (-2)
🟩 GRN 7% (+3)
https://x.com/LeftieStats/status/1836363640636653941
I'm getting an awful feeling this Labour government is going to be SO bad it will re-energise Scottish Indy
That is a huge drop for labour
I would suggest if the SNP have no further fall out from campervan gate they could recover for the Holyrood election
I'm starting to worry about Reeves' competence though. Leaving rumours hanging over massive issues such as single person CT discount and TFC on pensions is destabilising. The latter would amount to retrospective taxation.
Tax is so high already in this country; Reeves is learning that getting the maximum amount of feathers with the least amount of hissing is a devil of a job when we are already hissing.
They either want him cowed to their wants or alternatively they have a crazy idea that he could be unseated and someone more to the left could take over.
It’s a spectacular own goal - not an ideological fick up like Truss but just a tin-eared one from a place of hubris and over confidence.
Many players told Tories to go and think about why we lost but equally Starmer and Labour need to think about why they won - and it wasn’t because they were really popular and had great policies.
Putin gone and peace in Ukraine,
And other situations that may or may not be around the corner.
Lots of Scots would need persuading to relive the indy ref all over again, including some of those who voted for it.
They have managed to compromise every electronic device in Hezbollah hands. The videos are disturbing - but the dark genius of the strike is undeniable
They could literally take out Hezbollah as an effective fighting force with this one coup de theatre. An army that cannot communicate cannot fight. Simple as that
And everyone in Iran must be crapping themselves
It would make Tver look like a side show
100% explosive free.
Pop it in your pocket without the worry of losing your Henry Halls.
Text and keep your fingers intact.
Phone and keep your eyeballs in your head.
It would also have the advantage of making Labour red wall MPs super twitchy. Would Sir Sleazealot survive the full term ?
Jezza may have been a far lefty but he wasnt looking special treatment
NEW THREAD
https://x.com/melaniatrump/status/1836375317646086533
https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/favorability/donald-trump/
Sir Kir Royale Freebieface is a hypocritical greedy fuck and did not deserve my vote, it turns out
Their best chance of something secure is probably going to be a bunch of the brand new iPhones with the crap IOS18 that no-one with an existing device wants to upgrade to yet.
A public servant should never take money directly from someone for personal benefit.
So 25 per tonne -ish.
If it's all artillery shells, that's 25 * 30,000 = 750k
ie A lot.
(It isn't all artillery shells. It could be 15,000-30,000 glide bombs instead.)
Saw a headline in the Daily Mail: "Train drivers vote to accept bumper pay deal from Labour as unions boast they have 'protected hard-won terms and conditions' with strikes".
I can confirm that the DM commenters don't like to be informed in one of the first 10 comments that the bumper pay deal is less than inflation
Now a few things to do in the garden. Have a good evening, all.