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The Democrats are losing their enthusiasm – politicalbetting.com

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  • kenObi said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Phil said:

    NB. It seems the whole “Starmer is getting a box at Arsenal for free” is something of a misunderstanding - he’s being seated in the Director’s box, alongside all the other guests. The Director’s box is a) huge and b) invitation only, which presumably allows his security to vet the guest list. Similarly Sunak was seated in the Director’s box when he attended Southampton matches I believe.

    Much of the Starmer freebies story is a massive own goal of spectacular proportions, but this one seems reasonable?

    Source: https://x.com/Jim_Cornelius/status/1838881435672871142/photo/1

    Starmer also continues to pay for his Arsenal season ticket.
    Does he then sell the seats through the Arsenal secondary market, recouping - IIRC - 80% of face?
    He doesn't have a season ticket any more. It's another one of his vague lawyerly mistruths that he has allowed to continue, to let people use as reasoning to support his actions.
    Any evidence of this ?

    Most football fans hold on to season tickets like limpets particularly at the likes of Arsenal, United, Liverpool and even Everton, and which is why some season ticket holders at Liverpool are rumoured to have reached the ripe old age of 107

    They can get face value back from the club without difficulty.

    When he's left office and on the ex PM speech gravy train, I'd be pretty certain his son would prefer to sit in his normal spec. with people he has probably known for 5 years+ than with some twats in a box.
    I'll row back on my comment. It was on the BBC this morning as they were running a live update on his interview, they used the word 'previously' but that live update is not up any more.

    He normally only says 'I have been a season ticket holder for years'.

    If he is still, who is using the season ticket? Are they using it for free?

    Poor bloke only received £35,792 worth of football tickets during the last parliament.
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 38,877
    Leon said:

    This is going viral on TwiX. Is it true? I have never used Manc airport


    "The experience of arriving at Manchester Airport from Singapore is the nearest we can get to experiencing actual time travel from the future to the past, or to approximate viscerally the feeling of what it was like to return to East Germany from the West"

    https://x.com/MatthewLBishop/status/1838506530234126557

    Two points. He is comparing it to Changi which is probably the best airport in the world, and in one of the richest cities in the world. And I went through Edinburgh airport recently and I thought it was OK for a regional European airport, about the same as you'd get in Spain or Germany, a bit less flash than France

    But is Manc really that bad?

    All of our airports except LCY are shit compared to Changi or middle eastern ones. As with most infrastructure in the UK there's been far too little investment and far too much shareholder dividends. Heathrow generates so much cash that it should be world class and have £4-5bn in the bank ready for the third runway but instead anyone who doesn't fly from T2 or T5 gets a depressing experience through a long security queue and a bunch of shite airside. Greedy shareholders are the bane of regulated UK industry from water to airports to energy generation.
  • EabhalEabhal Posts: 8,780
    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    This is going viral on TwiX. Is it true? I have never used Manc airport


    "The experience of arriving at Manchester Airport from Singapore is the nearest we can get to experiencing actual time travel from the future to the past, or to approximate viscerally the feeling of what it was like to return to East Germany from the West"

    https://x.com/MatthewLBishop/status/1838506530234126557

    Two points. He is comparing it to Changi which is probably the best airport in the world, and in one of the richest cities in the world. And I went through Edinburgh airport recently and I thought it was OK for a regional European airport, about the same as you'd get in Spain or Germany, a bit less flash than France

    But is Manc really that bad?

    I last went through Manchester Airport ten or more years ago, and I was only ever airside of security (on a weird stopping service by Flybe from Exeter to Edinburgh), and I had the distinct impression of a crowded, chaotic and poorly laid out terminal.

    Edinburgh is superior, albeit it doesn't have to cope with as much traffic.
    My favourite regional airport in the UK is Foula island. Which is literally a grass strip, and a small hut

    Shetland has some weird tiny ones as well, and isn't there a beach airport in the Outer Hebrides

    For actual airport airports, Newquay has a picayune charm, right by the Cornish cliffs
    Barra is fun, particularly when the pilot delays takeoff to wait for some oystercatchers to get off the beach.

    Then there's the famous Westray/Papa Westray. 2 minutes.

    (Maybe this is why my reaction to Manchester is so visceral...)
  • viewcodeviewcode Posts: 22,180
    Leon said:

    This is going viral on TwiX. Is it true? I have never used Manc airport


    "The experience of arriving at Manchester Airport from Singapore is the nearest we can get to experiencing actual time travel from the future to the past, or to approximate viscerally the feeling of what it was like to return to East Germany from the West"

    https://x.com/MatthewLBishop/status/1838506530234126557

    Two points. He is comparing it to Changi which is probably the best airport in the world, and in one of the richest cities in the world. And I went through Edinburgh airport recently and I thought it was OK for a regional European airport, about the same as you'd get in Spain or Germany, a bit less flash than France

    But is Manc really that bad?

    I was in Manchester in 2021 for Conference. Arriving at the airport for departure involve a queue hundreds of yards long to get thru security, which took well over a hour to get to the end. I had to run to the plane. So in that respect, yes it is that bad.
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 52,696
    edited September 25
    Scilly Airport on St Mary's is a dive out over the cliffs.

    Nothing quite beats Madeira though....
  • rcs1000 said:

    Phil said:

    NB. It seems the whole “Starmer is getting a box at Arsenal for free” is something of a misunderstanding - he’s being seated in the Director’s box, alongside all the other guests. The Director’s box is a) huge and b) invitation only, which presumably allows his security to vet the guest list. Similarly Sunak was seated in the Director’s box when he attended Southampton matches I believe.

    Much of the Starmer freebies story is a massive own goal of spectacular proportions, but this one seems reasonable?

    Source: https://x.com/Jim_Cornelius/status/1838881435672871142/photo/1

    In the interests of Full Disclosure, both OGH and I have been invited to the Director's Box at Brighton in the past.
    Lucky you. My pals and I have to pay for our own days in the hospitality at St Mirren.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 123,332
    edited September 25
    Yougov US national

    Registered voters Harris 47% Trump 44% Stein 1% Other 1%

    Likely voters Harris 49% Trump 46% Stein 1% Other 1%

    https://d3nkl3psvxxpe9.cloudfront.net/documents/econTabReport_YtkV7hy.pdf
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 32,679

    Scilly Airport on St Mary's is a dive out over the cliffs.

    Nothing quite beats Madeira though....

    Old Hong Kong?
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 53,931
    On topic 538 has Harris with a favourable rating of 0.7. She only went positive a week ago and the trend still seems to be upwards. https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/favorability/kamala-harris/

    Trump, in contrast, is pretty much steady at -9.5: https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/favorability/donald-trump/

    Harris's lead has softened slightly in voting intentions but these numbers are peculiarly vulnerable to the production of polls such as Rasmussen.

    Do I take it that this enthusiasm is different from favourability?
  • edmundintokyoedmundintokyo Posts: 17,708
    It seems like Harris gets enthusiasm bumps from exposure (nomination, debate) but they subside. Joe Biden needs to start practicing his heart attack face so they can do an inauguration.
  • DavidL said:

    On topic 538 has Harris with a favourable rating of 0.7. She only went positive a week ago and the trend still seems to be upwards. https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/favorability/kamala-harris/

    Trump, in contrast, is pretty much steady at -9.5: https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/favorability/donald-trump/

    Harris's lead has softened slightly in voting intentions but these numbers are peculiarly vulnerable to the production of polls such as Rasmussen.

    Do I take it that this enthusiasm is different from favourability?

    Yes.
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 52,696
    Andy_JS said:

    Scilly Airport on St Mary's is a dive out over the cliffs.

    Nothing quite beats Madeira though....

    Old Hong Kong?
    Yes. Consigned to history though. Once tried to beat a typhoon - but had to abort to Taiwan at the last moment. 24 hours stuck in the plane at Taiwan meant the flight was the longest I have ever had without getting off the plane.
  • EabhalEabhal Posts: 8,780
    MaxPB said:

    Leon said:

    This is going viral on TwiX. Is it true? I have never used Manc airport


    "The experience of arriving at Manchester Airport from Singapore is the nearest we can get to experiencing actual time travel from the future to the past, or to approximate viscerally the feeling of what it was like to return to East Germany from the West"

    https://x.com/MatthewLBishop/status/1838506530234126557

    Two points. He is comparing it to Changi which is probably the best airport in the world, and in one of the richest cities in the world. And I went through Edinburgh airport recently and I thought it was OK for a regional European airport, about the same as you'd get in Spain or Germany, a bit less flash than France

    But is Manc really that bad?

    All of our airports except LCY are shit compared to Changi or middle eastern ones. As with most infrastructure in the UK there's been far too little investment and far too much shareholder dividends. Heathrow generates so much cash that it should be world class and have £4-5bn in the bank ready for the third runway but instead anyone who doesn't fly from T2 or T5 gets a depressing experience through a long security queue and a bunch of shite airside. Greedy shareholders are the bane of regulated UK industry from water to airports to energy generation.
    City is horribly claustrophobic imo.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,727
    Foula “airport”

    It is quite hairy in windy weather - ie 97% of the time


  • kenObi said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Phil said:

    NB. It seems the whole “Starmer is getting a box at Arsenal for free” is something of a misunderstanding - he’s being seated in the Director’s box, alongside all the other guests. The Director’s box is a) huge and b) invitation only, which presumably allows his security to vet the guest list. Similarly Sunak was seated in the Director’s box when he attended Southampton matches I believe.

    Much of the Starmer freebies story is a massive own goal of spectacular proportions, but this one seems reasonable?

    Source: https://x.com/Jim_Cornelius/status/1838881435672871142/photo/1

    Starmer also continues to pay for his Arsenal season ticket.
    Does he then sell the seats through the Arsenal secondary market, recouping - IIRC - 80% of face?
    He doesn't have a season ticket any more. It's another one of his vague lawyerly mistruths that he has allowed to continue, to let people use as reasoning to support his actions.
    Any evidence of this ?

    Most football fans hold on to season tickets like limpets particularly at the likes of Arsenal, United, Liverpool and even Everton, and which is why some season ticket holders at Liverpool are rumoured to have reached the ripe old age of 107

    They can get face value back from the club without difficulty.

    When he's left office and on the ex PM speech gravy train, I'd be pretty certain his son would prefer to sit in his normal spec. with people he has probably known for 5 years+ than with some twats in a box.
    I'll row back on my comment. It was on the BBC this morning as they were running a live update on his interview, they used the word 'previously' but that live update is not up any more.

    He normally only says 'I have been a season ticket holder for years'.

    If he is still, who is using the season ticket? Are they using it for free?

    Poor bloke only received £35,792 worth of football tickets during the last parliament.
    I had a season ticket for years for Manchester United and wouldn't even have considered giving it up as it would take years to get another one

    I haven't heard until you said it that Starmer has surrendered his ticket and frankly I do not believe he has

    As far as him saying he has been a season ticket holder for years I would have said the same

  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 52,696
    Eabhal said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    This is going viral on TwiX. Is it true? I have never used Manc airport


    "The experience of arriving at Manchester Airport from Singapore is the nearest we can get to experiencing actual time travel from the future to the past, or to approximate viscerally the feeling of what it was like to return to East Germany from the West"

    https://x.com/MatthewLBishop/status/1838506530234126557

    Two points. He is comparing it to Changi which is probably the best airport in the world, and in one of the richest cities in the world. And I went through Edinburgh airport recently and I thought it was OK for a regional European airport, about the same as you'd get in Spain or Germany, a bit less flash than France

    But is Manc really that bad?

    I last went through Manchester Airport ten or more years ago, and I was only ever airside of security (on a weird stopping service by Flybe from Exeter to Edinburgh), and I had the distinct impression of a crowded, chaotic and poorly laid out terminal.

    Edinburgh is superior, albeit it doesn't have to cope with as much traffic.
    My favourite regional airport in the UK is Foula island. Which is literally a grass strip, and a small hut

    Shetland has some weird tiny ones as well, and isn't there a beach airport in the Outer Hebrides

    For actual airport airports, Newquay has a picayune charm, right by the Cornish cliffs
    Barra is fun, particularly when the pilot delays takeoff to wait for some oystercatchers to get off the beach.

    Then there's the famous Westray/Papa Westray. 2 minutes.

    (Maybe this is why my reaction to Manchester is so visceral...)
    Brazzaville to Kinshasa is I believe the shortest international flight - about six minutes from the Republic of Congo to the DRC. Straight across the Congo river, which is about three or four miles wide at that point.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,727
    Eabhal said:

    MaxPB said:

    Leon said:

    This is going viral on TwiX. Is it true? I have never used Manc airport


    "The experience of arriving at Manchester Airport from Singapore is the nearest we can get to experiencing actual time travel from the future to the past, or to approximate viscerally the feeling of what it was like to return to East Germany from the West"

    https://x.com/MatthewLBishop/status/1838506530234126557

    Two points. He is comparing it to Changi which is probably the best airport in the world, and in one of the richest cities in the world. And I went through Edinburgh airport recently and I thought it was OK for a regional European airport, about the same as you'd get in Spain or Germany, a bit less flash than France

    But is Manc really that bad?

    All of our airports except LCY are shit compared to Changi or middle eastern ones. As with most infrastructure in the UK there's been far too little investment and far too much shareholder dividends. Heathrow generates so much cash that it should be world class and have £4-5bn in the bank ready for the third runway but instead anyone who doesn't fly from T2 or T5 gets a depressing experience through a long security queue and a bunch of shite airside. Greedy shareholders are the bane of regulated UK industry from water to airports to energy generation.
    City is horribly claustrophobic imo.
    Agreed. Really cramped and terrible catering. It used to be great, I dunno what they've done

    Luton is vastly improved, esp with the train shuttle

    LHR is a great world airport, people are far too cruel about it

    I agree some of the UK's regional airports are a disgrace. Glasgow is horrible. Exeter is dismal
  • eekeek Posts: 28,440
    viewcode said:

    Leon said:

    This is going viral on TwiX. Is it true? I have never used Manc airport


    "The experience of arriving at Manchester Airport from Singapore is the nearest we can get to experiencing actual time travel from the future to the past, or to approximate viscerally the feeling of what it was like to return to East Germany from the West"

    https://x.com/MatthewLBishop/status/1838506530234126557

    Two points. He is comparing it to Changi which is probably the best airport in the world, and in one of the richest cities in the world. And I went through Edinburgh airport recently and I thought it was OK for a regional European airport, about the same as you'd get in Spain or Germany, a bit less flash than France

    But is Manc really that bad?

    I was in Manchester in 2021 for Conference. Arriving at the airport for departure involve a queue hundreds of yards long to get thru security, which took well over a hour to get to the end. I had to run to the plane. So in that respect, yes it is that bad.
    I can't remember a time when Manchester airport has been that great and that's with fast pass security and lounge access.

    As I've said before given the choice I fly from Teesside via AMS - it's usually cheaper once you factor in airport parking costs elsewhere.
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 52,696
    edited September 25
    Leon said:

    Foula “airport”

    It is quite hairy in windy weather - ie 97% of the time


    The airport to a great fanfare on St. Helena is almost useless because of the wind shear or low cloud.
  • mercatormercator Posts: 815

    I'm having grilled hostages with onion gravy and cheesy mustard mash for dinner

    A perfect meal over which to re-read some John Buchan. The Three Sausages has always been a favourite.
  • KnightOutKnightOut Posts: 144
    MaxPB said:

    Leon said:

    This is going viral on TwiX. Is it true? I have never used Manc airport


    "The experience of arriving at Manchester Airport from Singapore is the nearest we can get to experiencing actual time travel from the future to the past, or to approximate viscerally the feeling of what it was like to return to East Germany from the West"

    https://x.com/MatthewLBishop/status/1838506530234126557

    Two points. He is comparing it to Changi which is probably the best airport in the world, and in one of the richest cities in the world. And I went through Edinburgh airport recently and I thought it was OK for a regional European airport, about the same as you'd get in Spain or Germany, a bit less flash than France

    But is Manc really that bad?

    All of our airports except LCY are shit compared to Changi or middle eastern ones. As with most infrastructure in the UK there's been far too little investment and far too much shareholder dividends. Heathrow generates so much cash that it should be world class and have £4-5bn in the bank ready for the third runway but instead anyone who doesn't fly from T2 or T5 gets a depressing experience through a long security queue and a bunch of shite airside. Greedy shareholders are the bane of regulated UK industry from water to airports to energy generation.

    Changi is the Robert Jenrick of airports. Try as I might, I just can't see the appeal.

    Yes, passport control gave me a small boiled sweet, but I had to walk a huge distance in a very short time between connecting flights immediately after disembarking, which wasn't enjoyable.

    I also dislike Dubai which some rave about.

    Give me a medium-sized US airport with an on-site microbrewery every time.
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 36,031

    I'm having grilled hostages with onion gravy and cheesy mustard mash for dinner

    Greggs apparently advertising hostage rolls today
  • LostPasswordLostPassword Posts: 18,613
    Andy_JS said:

    Scilly Airport on St Mary's is a dive out over the cliffs.

    Nothing quite beats Madeira though....

    Old Hong Kong?
    I quite like the approach to Cardiff airport towards the cliffs. Was glad that the taxpayers of Wales bailed the airport out for that reason alone.
  • Starmer interview live with Rigby on Sky is just embarrassing
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 123,332
    edited September 25
    HYUFD said:

    Yougov US national

    Registered voters Harris 47% Trump 44% Stein 1% Other 1%

    Likely voters Harris 49% Trump 46% Stein 1% Other 1%

    https://d3nkl3psvxxpe9.cloudfront.net/documents/econTabReport_YtkV7hy.pdf

    Harris at 49% with likely voters with Yougov is now polling closer to Hillary's 48% in 2016 than Biden's 51% in 2020, yet still fractionally above what Hillary got.

    Trump's 46% is the same as he got in 2016 and 2020 which suggests a tighter EC margin for Trump than 2016 if he wins and a tighter EC margin for Harris than Biden got in 2020 if she wins
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,727
    eek said:

    viewcode said:

    Leon said:

    This is going viral on TwiX. Is it true? I have never used Manc airport


    "The experience of arriving at Manchester Airport from Singapore is the nearest we can get to experiencing actual time travel from the future to the past, or to approximate viscerally the feeling of what it was like to return to East Germany from the West"

    https://x.com/MatthewLBishop/status/1838506530234126557

    Two points. He is comparing it to Changi which is probably the best airport in the world, and in one of the richest cities in the world. And I went through Edinburgh airport recently and I thought it was OK for a regional European airport, about the same as you'd get in Spain or Germany, a bit less flash than France

    But is Manc really that bad?

    I was in Manchester in 2021 for Conference. Arriving at the airport for departure involve a queue hundreds of yards long to get thru security, which took well over a hour to get to the end. I had to run to the plane. So in that respect, yes it is that bad.
    I can't remember a time when Manchester airport has been that great and that's with fast pass security and lounge access.

    As I've said before given the choice I fly from Teesside via AMS - it's usually cheaper once you factor in airport parking costs elsewhere.
    I find Schiphol crowded, chaotic and pricey, these days

    It used to be a gem, not any more

    Madrid Barajas is a much nicer hub
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 54,646
    edited September 25
    MaxPB said:

    Leon said:

    This is going viral on TwiX. Is it true? I have never used Manc airport


    "The experience of arriving at Manchester Airport from Singapore is the nearest we can get to experiencing actual time travel from the future to the past, or to approximate viscerally the feeling of what it was like to return to East Germany from the West"

    https://x.com/MatthewLBishop/status/1838506530234126557

    Two points. He is comparing it to Changi which is probably the best airport in the world, and in one of the richest cities in the world. And I went through Edinburgh airport recently and I thought it was OK for a regional European airport, about the same as you'd get in Spain or Germany, a bit less flash than France

    But is Manc really that bad?

    All of our airports except LCY are shit compared to Changi or middle eastern ones. As with most infrastructure in the UK there's been far too little investment and far too much shareholder dividends. Heathrow generates so much cash that it should be world class and have £4-5bn in the bank ready for the third runway but instead anyone who doesn't fly from T2 or T5 gets a depressing experience through a long security queue and a bunch of shite airside. Greedy shareholders are the bane of regulated UK industry from water to airports to energy generation.
    I’ll give props to Southampton, which is basically LCY-on-Sea.

    Props also being how most of the planes flying out of there derive their forward motion.

    LHR’s third runway should have been completed at least a decade ago, and represents in one project the attitudes typical of UK infrastructure and why it’s impossible to JFDI.
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 52,696

    I'm having grilled hostages with onion gravy and cheesy mustard mash for dinner

    I'm guessing Starmer isn't invited...
  • BlancheLivermoreBlancheLivermore Posts: 5,936
    edited September 25

    I'm having grilled hostages with onion gravy and cheesy mustard mash for dinner

    I'm guessing Starmer isn't invited...
    I'd quite honestly rather invite Corbyn

    Eta - so long as he leaves his pager at home
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,727
    edited September 25
    KnightOut said:

    MaxPB said:

    Leon said:

    This is going viral on TwiX. Is it true? I have never used Manc airport


    "The experience of arriving at Manchester Airport from Singapore is the nearest we can get to experiencing actual time travel from the future to the past, or to approximate viscerally the feeling of what it was like to return to East Germany from the West"

    https://x.com/MatthewLBishop/status/1838506530234126557

    Two points. He is comparing it to Changi which is probably the best airport in the world, and in one of the richest cities in the world. And I went through Edinburgh airport recently and I thought it was OK for a regional European airport, about the same as you'd get in Spain or Germany, a bit less flash than France

    But is Manc really that bad?

    All of our airports except LCY are shit compared to Changi or middle eastern ones. As with most infrastructure in the UK there's been far too little investment and far too much shareholder dividends. Heathrow generates so much cash that it should be world class and have £4-5bn in the bank ready for the third runway but instead anyone who doesn't fly from T2 or T5 gets a depressing experience through a long security queue and a bunch of shite airside. Greedy shareholders are the bane of regulated UK industry from water to airports to energy generation.

    Changi is the Robert Jenrick of airports. Try as I might, I just can't see the appeal.

    Yes, passport control gave me a small boiled sweet, but I had to walk a huge distance in a very short time between connecting flights immediately after disembarking, which wasn't enjoyable.

    I also dislike Dubai which some rave about.

    Give me a medium-sized US airport with an on-site microbrewery every time.
    Yes, the oft-overlooked problem with these massive Gulf and Asian airports is they often come with enormous walks - 30 minutes to get to the gate etc. Which is not fun

    For me the perfect airport is small, near its city, but ultra-modern, and with maybe three good bars and a good restaurant

    If you must have a big world airport give it great connections to the city and lots of good bars and restos, cool lounges, and minimal walking. LHR is really pretty good for that. Better than CDG, JFK or LAX for instance
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 52,696
    Leon said:

    eek said:

    viewcode said:

    Leon said:

    This is going viral on TwiX. Is it true? I have never used Manc airport


    "The experience of arriving at Manchester Airport from Singapore is the nearest we can get to experiencing actual time travel from the future to the past, or to approximate viscerally the feeling of what it was like to return to East Germany from the West"

    https://x.com/MatthewLBishop/status/1838506530234126557

    Two points. He is comparing it to Changi which is probably the best airport in the world, and in one of the richest cities in the world. And I went through Edinburgh airport recently and I thought it was OK for a regional European airport, about the same as you'd get in Spain or Germany, a bit less flash than France

    But is Manc really that bad?

    I was in Manchester in 2021 for Conference. Arriving at the airport for departure involve a queue hundreds of yards long to get thru security, which took well over a hour to get to the end. I had to run to the plane. So in that respect, yes it is that bad.
    I can't remember a time when Manchester airport has been that great and that's with fast pass security and lounge access.

    As I've said before given the choice I fly from Teesside via AMS - it's usually cheaper once you factor in airport parking costs elsewhere.
    I find Schiphol crowded, chaotic and pricey, these days

    It used to be a gem, not any more

    Madrid Barajas is a much nicer hub
    An utterly gorgeous redhead member of security at Schiphol once made me open a giant tube of Smarties, meant for my godson. And proceeded to eat all the orange ones.

    I really didn't mind one bit.
  • HMG admit 37 early release prisoners were incorrectly released and should not have been released from prison
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 52,696
    Leon said:

    KnightOut said:

    MaxPB said:

    Leon said:

    This is going viral on TwiX. Is it true? I have never used Manc airport


    "The experience of arriving at Manchester Airport from Singapore is the nearest we can get to experiencing actual time travel from the future to the past, or to approximate viscerally the feeling of what it was like to return to East Germany from the West"

    https://x.com/MatthewLBishop/status/1838506530234126557

    Two points. He is comparing it to Changi which is probably the best airport in the world, and in one of the richest cities in the world. And I went through Edinburgh airport recently and I thought it was OK for a regional European airport, about the same as you'd get in Spain or Germany, a bit less flash than France

    But is Manc really that bad?

    All of our airports except LCY are shit compared to Changi or middle eastern ones. As with most infrastructure in the UK there's been far too little investment and far too much shareholder dividends. Heathrow generates so much cash that it should be world class and have £4-5bn in the bank ready for the third runway but instead anyone who doesn't fly from T2 or T5 gets a depressing experience through a long security queue and a bunch of shite airside. Greedy shareholders are the bane of regulated UK industry from water to airports to energy generation.

    Changi is the Robert Jenrick of airports. Try as I might, I just can't see the appeal.

    Yes, passport control gave me a small boiled sweet, but I had to walk a huge distance in a very short time between connecting flights immediately after disembarking, which wasn't enjoyable.

    I also dislike Dubai which some rave about.

    Give me a medium-sized US airport with an on-site microbrewery every time.
    Yes, the oft-overlooked problem with these massive Gulf and Asian airports is they often come with enormous walks - 30 minutes to get to the gate etc. Which is not fun

    For me the perfect airport is small, near its city, but ultra-modern, and with maybe three good bars and a good restaurant

    If you must have a big world airport give it great connections to the city and lots of good bars and restos, cool lounges, and minimal walking. LHR is really pretty good for that. Better than CDG, JFK or LAX for instance
    First time I went to Phnom Penh airport, it had just opened. It had one carousel and no walk was more than about fifty yards.

    Joyous. I suspect that has changed!
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 52,696

    HMG admit 37 early release prisoners were incorrectly released and should not have been released from prison

    Dear oh dear...
  • carnforthcarnforth Posts: 4,658

    HMG admit 37 early release prisoners were incorrectly released and should not have been released from prison

    Dear oh dear...
    Not a good look for a former DPP.
  • AnneJGPAnneJGP Posts: 3,082
    Leon said:

    Eabhal said:

    MaxPB said:

    Leon said:

    This is going viral on TwiX. Is it true? I have never used Manc airport


    "The experience of arriving at Manchester Airport from Singapore is the nearest we can get to experiencing actual time travel from the future to the past, or to approximate viscerally the feeling of what it was like to return to East Germany from the West"

    https://x.com/MatthewLBishop/status/1838506530234126557

    Two points. He is comparing it to Changi which is probably the best airport in the world, and in one of the richest cities in the world. And I went through Edinburgh airport recently and I thought it was OK for a regional European airport, about the same as you'd get in Spain or Germany, a bit less flash than France

    But is Manc really that bad?

    All of our airports except LCY are shit compared to Changi or middle eastern ones. As with most infrastructure in the UK there's been far too little investment and far too much shareholder dividends. Heathrow generates so much cash that it should be world class and have £4-5bn in the bank ready for the third runway but instead anyone who doesn't fly from T2 or T5 gets a depressing experience through a long security queue and a bunch of shite airside. Greedy shareholders are the bane of regulated UK industry from water to airports to energy generation.
    City is horribly claustrophobic imo.
    Agreed. Really cramped and terrible catering. It used to be great, I dunno what they've done

    Luton is vastly improved, esp with the train shuttle

    LHR is a great world airport, people are far too cruel about it

    I agree some of the UK's regional airports are a disgrace. Glasgow is horrible. Exeter is dismal
    For a tiny insight into how some other people travel, I once went from Heathrow to Plymouth by coach. At Heathrow bus station I bought a Styrofoam cup of horrible tea and a little packet of biscuits. In Plymouth I went into a cafe and bought an All day breakfast kind of meal. The All day breakfast cost less than the tea and biscuits at Heathrow bus station.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,727

    Leon said:

    KnightOut said:

    MaxPB said:

    Leon said:

    This is going viral on TwiX. Is it true? I have never used Manc airport


    "The experience of arriving at Manchester Airport from Singapore is the nearest we can get to experiencing actual time travel from the future to the past, or to approximate viscerally the feeling of what it was like to return to East Germany from the West"

    https://x.com/MatthewLBishop/status/1838506530234126557

    Two points. He is comparing it to Changi which is probably the best airport in the world, and in one of the richest cities in the world. And I went through Edinburgh airport recently and I thought it was OK for a regional European airport, about the same as you'd get in Spain or Germany, a bit less flash than France

    But is Manc really that bad?

    All of our airports except LCY are shit compared to Changi or middle eastern ones. As with most infrastructure in the UK there's been far too little investment and far too much shareholder dividends. Heathrow generates so much cash that it should be world class and have £4-5bn in the bank ready for the third runway but instead anyone who doesn't fly from T2 or T5 gets a depressing experience through a long security queue and a bunch of shite airside. Greedy shareholders are the bane of regulated UK industry from water to airports to energy generation.

    Changi is the Robert Jenrick of airports. Try as I might, I just can't see the appeal.

    Yes, passport control gave me a small boiled sweet, but I had to walk a huge distance in a very short time between connecting flights immediately after disembarking, which wasn't enjoyable.

    I also dislike Dubai which some rave about.

    Give me a medium-sized US airport with an on-site microbrewery every time.
    Yes, the oft-overlooked problem with these massive Gulf and Asian airports is they often come with enormous walks - 30 minutes to get to the gate etc. Which is not fun

    For me the perfect airport is small, near its city, but ultra-modern, and with maybe three good bars and a good restaurant

    If you must have a big world airport give it great connections to the city and lots of good bars and restos, cool lounges, and minimal walking. LHR is really pretty good for that. Better than CDG, JFK or LAX for instance
    First time I went to Phnom Penh airport, it had just opened. It had one carousel and no walk was more than about fifty yards.

    Joyous. I suspect that has changed!
    Not that much. It is still agreeably small, and they've speeded up the mad visa paying thing

    The trouble now is the traffic from the airport to the city centre....
  • carnforth said:

    HMG admit 37 early release prisoners were incorrectly released and should not have been released from prison

    Dear oh dear...
    Not a good look for a former DPP.
    Don't forget that we are playing Cambridge rules now

    There's probably a secret book of them
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 52,696
    Sean_F said:

    OT. I wouldn't look at specific polls @MarqueeMark seems to have done to determine the outcome of the race - CNN has Harris today at +1 nationally and Quinnipac has the race tied. So should we say Harris has a +6 lead or doesn't have a lead at all? That is even more the case with the state polls.

    Probably better indicators are how consumers are feeling about specific topics and who would be best to fix them and that looks grim for Harris. Gallup had the GOP leading on 9 of the top 10 indicators and on the most important factors. Pew said the same recently.

    If you also look at the trends that are happening in the polls (if you believe them), it seems like AZ and GA are moving slowly but surely to be considered strong possibilities for Trump. NC is more at risk because of Robinson but that may suggest what will happen next with this bid for Governor. PA is tied. WI is marginal Harris but the WI polls have tended to massively overstate the Democrats' lead in 2016 and 2020.

    One final point - you might want to consider that high-profile Democrat Governors like Shapiro, Whitmer, Pritzker and Newsom have not exactly been banging the drum at 100% volume for Harris. There are a lot of big Democrat names who would see a Harris victory in 2024 as a block to their Presidential bids in 2028.

    If (as seems probable right now), Trump picks up Arizona and Georgia, that puts him on 259 EC votes. That leaves Pennsylvania as the key.

    Not sure anything is "probable right now" in the US election. The extent to which registrations are racing ahead of normal rates leaves huge questions as to whether polling companies are making corrections for this. Those with bigger leads for Harris might be. But nobody is saying.
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 53,931

    HMG admit 37 early release prisoners were incorrectly released and should not have been released from prison

    And you wonder why so few Home Secretaries get the top job, May being the notable exception.
  • Andy_JS said:

    Why are petrol prices falling so much at the moment?

    To give Rishi another chapter in his memoir: Why I called the election too early.
  • mercatormercator Posts: 815
    There was some twit on radio 4 a year or two ago who pretended to mispronounce Jeremy Hunt's surname with a C. The twittery being that this just doesn't happen: we don't store words as strings according to initial letter or concluding syllable and so we don't dip into a folder of *unt words and accidentally come up with the wrong one.

    Starmer is emotionally colourblind. Duck and luck are for most of us black and white words while fuck is lit up in neon. And there's as big a difference between sausage and hostage. These are not to most of us just character strings with a 43% overlap. A frightened captive human being and a high fat gristle tube are in different folders, as separate and differently coloured as the duck and fuck folders. Picking one by mistake for the other is not a human mistake.

    To be human is to dream. Dreams let us process and make emotional sense of life. Starmer shockingly claims not to dream. Sausage and hostage to him are just character strings.

    He is plainly good enough at mimicking human to get by at least in the stilted worlds of law and the labour party. Labour tends to promote such people - Brown, Miliband. The key to understanding Starmer is to see that he is what "does not speak human" really looks like.
  • DavidL said:

    HMG admit 37 early release prisoners were incorrectly released and should not have been released from prison

    And you wonder why so few Home Secretaries get the top job, May being the notable exception.
    Apparently it is the Ministry of Justice
  • eekeek Posts: 28,440

    HMG admit 37 early release prisoners were incorrectly released and should not have been released from prison

    out of 1700 released prisoners so it's a 2% screw up rate.

    In the scheme of such things that isn't that bad..
  • Cookie said:

    Even “Jonathan Pie” has turned on Labour.

    https://x.com/jonathanpienews/status/1838902692065734876

    You can’t be in opposition for 14 years, criticising the Tories for accepting ‘gifts’, and certain privileges, then act surprised when the public call you out for doing the same thing.
    From Angela Rayner’s ‘But everybody does it’ excuse, to Starmer saying ‘It was the right thing to do’, Labour needs to sort their shit out ASAP, because as Honeymoon periods go, this one has been an absolute car crash.

    Labour are being criticised for things that they DIDN’T criticise the Tories for.
    I'd say the closest equivalent under the Tories was wallpapergate.
    Which they absolutely ripped into the Tories for.
    Another reminder that wallpapergate (in which actual money changed hands) is not what brought Boris down.
  • AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 23,585
    edited September 25

    I've replaced the scrunched up newspaper in my walking shoes five times and they're still not dry

    Try (balls of) kitchen roll. That stuff does an amazing job of drying out hiking boots.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 50,541

    HMG admit 37 early release prisoners were incorrectly released and should not have been released from prison

    carnforth said:

    HMG admit 37 early release prisoners were incorrectly released and should not have been released from prison

    Dear oh dear...
    Not a good look for a former DPP.

    Cameron Poe: On any other day, that might seem strange.
  • On keeping his children out of view, Starmer said today 'we won't have photographs done with them in public'.

    So why did he stick photos of his children in another mans house when making his covid video in Dec 21?

    Happy to use them as a prop when needed.
  • OmniumOmnium Posts: 10,801
    edited September 25
    Sandpit said:

    MaxPB said:

    Leon said:

    This is going viral on TwiX. Is it true? I have never used Manc airport


    "The experience of arriving at Manchester Airport from Singapore is the nearest we can get to experiencing actual time travel from the future to the past, or to approximate viscerally the feeling of what it was like to return to East Germany from the West"

    https://x.com/MatthewLBishop/status/1838506530234126557

    Two points. He is comparing it to Changi which is probably the best airport in the world, and in one of the richest cities in the world. And I went through Edinburgh airport recently and I thought it was OK for a regional European airport, about the same as you'd get in Spain or Germany, a bit less flash than France

    But is Manc really that bad?

    All of our airports except LCY are shit compared to Changi or middle eastern ones. As with most infrastructure in the UK there's been far too little investment and far too much shareholder dividends. Heathrow generates so much cash that it should be world class and have £4-5bn in the bank ready for the third runway but instead anyone who doesn't fly from T2 or T5 gets a depressing experience through a long security queue and a bunch of shite airside. Greedy shareholders are the bane of regulated UK industry from water to airports to energy generation.
    I’ll give props to Southampton, which is basically LCY-on-Sea.

    Props also being how most of the planes flying out of there derive their forward motion.

    LHR’s third runway should have been completed at least a decade ago, and represents in one project the attitudes typical of UK infrastructure and why it’s impossible to JFDI.
    "Props also being how most of the planes flying out of there derive their forward motion. "

    So is it - by

    1) A big horse harness
    2) The UK's aircraft carriers lending a hand
    3) The endless updraft of the Southampton mayors laughter than people have thought this was London
    4) The passengers peddling after having experienced Southampton


    It's going to be one of those I'm sure.


    Edit: I just read this as props to and thought it was a quiz
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 51,853
    eek said:

    HMG admit 37 early release prisoners were incorrectly released and should not have been released from prison

    out of 1700 released prisoners so it's a 2% screw up rate.

    In the scheme of such things that isn't that bad..
    That won't be much consolation if one of them commits a murder.
  • eek said:

    HMG admit 37 early release prisoners were incorrectly released and should not have been released from prison

    out of 1700 released prisoners so it's a 2% screw up rate.

    In the scheme of such things that isn't that bad..
    Again it is optics
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,727

    eek said:

    HMG admit 37 early release prisoners were incorrectly released and should not have been released from prison

    out of 1700 released prisoners so it's a 2% screw up rate.

    In the scheme of such things that isn't that bad..
    That won't be much consolation if one of them commits a murder.
    Which will inevitably happen. Likewise rape, and child abuse
  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 28,547
    tlg86 said:

    https://order-order.com/2024/09/25/starmer-pretended-lord-allis-penthouse-was-his-home-for-covid-broadcast/

    The video was broadcast on BBC One at 7 p.m, 13th December. Five days prior to Starmer’s message the government announced the entirety of England would be moved to Plan B rules in response to the fast spread of Omicron. According to the regulations those who could were meant to work from home. ‘Mr Rules’ even said in the video message:

    “It will be easy to let the festivities we’ve all been looking forward to divert us from our national duty. Getting jabbed, wearing masks, and working from home if we can really will help prevent infections and help prevent the NHS being overwhelmed.”

    Guido’s not sure working from home rules included working from someone else’s home. Must have been nice to head up to the massive roof terrace after that was done though…

    It could have been his home at that point.
  • JonathanJonathan Posts: 21,685
    Flew to Singapore from Manchester, having been diverted from Heathrow.

    Singapore is in a class of its own. Transfer from terminals in each of the three airports is mind boggling different.

    Singapore, you can walk or take a convenient free monorail through a water fountain.
    Heathrow you have to go up and down several lifts before catching the Elizabeth line, taking baggage off trolleys.
    Manchester you’re wheeling a trolley outside in the elements through a dodgy car park.

    Singapore is amazing, although the assistance customer service by BA in London was the best anywhere
  • AnneJGPAnneJGP Posts: 3,082
    mercator said:

    There was some twit on radio 4 a year or two ago who pretended to mispronounce Jeremy Hunt's surname with a C. The twittery being that this just doesn't happen: we don't store words as strings according to initial letter or concluding syllable and so we don't dip into a folder of *unt words and accidentally come up with the wrong one.

    Starmer is emotionally colourblind. Duck and luck are for most of us black and white words while fuck is lit up in neon. And there's as big a difference between sausage and hostage. These are not to most of us just character strings with a 43% overlap. A frightened captive human being and a high fat gristle tube are in different folders, as separate and differently coloured as the duck and fuck folders. Picking one by mistake for the other is not a human mistake.

    To be human is to dream. Dreams let us process and make emotional sense of life. Starmer shockingly claims not to dream. Sausage and hostage to him are just character strings.

    He is plainly good enough at mimicking human to get by at least in the stilted worlds of law and the labour party. Labour tends to promote such people - Brown, Miliband. The key to understanding Starmer is to see that he is what "does not speak human" really looks like.

    It seems to me the most anyone can claim is that they never remember dreams. I rarely remember dreams. Also I have no visual imagination (I think it's called aphantasia) which may be why I rarely remember dreams. But not remembering isn't not dreaming.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,727
    mercator said:

    There was some twit on radio 4 a year or two ago who pretended to mispronounce Jeremy Hunt's surname with a C. The twittery being that this just doesn't happen: we don't store words as strings according to initial letter or concluding syllable and so we don't dip into a folder of *unt words and accidentally come up with the wrong one.

    Starmer is emotionally colourblind. Duck and luck are for most of us black and white words while fuck is lit up in neon. And there's as big a difference between sausage and hostage. These are not to most of us just character strings with a 43% overlap. A frightened captive human being and a high fat gristle tube are in different folders, as separate and differently coloured as the duck and fuck folders. Picking one by mistake for the other is not a human mistake.

    To be human is to dream. Dreams let us process and make emotional sense of life. Starmer shockingly claims not to dream. Sausage and hostage to him are just character strings.

    He is plainly good enough at mimicking human to get by at least in the stilted worlds of law and the labour party. Labour tends to promote such people - Brown, Miliband. The key to understanding Starmer is to see that he is what "does not speak human" really looks like.

    "Sausage" was a weird weird mistake. Not sure I agree with your diagnosis, or understand it, but it was ODD

    Reeves is arguably even eerier. Check her out here

    "I’ve never seen a human that talks and moves like this. It’s very hard to believe she’s real at this point."


    https://x.com/nickdixoncomic/status/1838373649499185509


    I think she's been told to smile, to dispel the "doom and gloom". It's about as effective as the time they told Gordon Brown to smile
  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 28,547

    Even “Jonathan Pie” has turned on Labour.

    https://x.com/jonathanpienews/status/1838902692065734876

    You can’t be in opposition for 14 years, criticising the Tories for accepting ‘gifts’, and certain privileges, then act surprised when the public call you out for doing the same thing.
    From Angela Rayner’s ‘But everybody does it’ excuse, to Starmer saying ‘It was the right thing to do’, Labour needs to sort their shit out ASAP, because as Honeymoon periods go, this one has been an absolute car crash.

    Labour are being criticised for things that they DIDN’T criticise the Tories for.
    That's because the Tories didn't empty the prisons of thieving little scrotes so they could fill them with Facebook warriors.
  • TazTaz Posts: 14,548
    AnneJGP said:

    mercator said:

    There was some twit on radio 4 a year or two ago who pretended to mispronounce Jeremy Hunt's surname with a C. The twittery being that this just doesn't happen: we don't store words as strings according to initial letter or concluding syllable and so we don't dip into a folder of *unt words and accidentally come up with the wrong one.

    Starmer is emotionally colourblind. Duck and luck are for most of us black and white words while fuck is lit up in neon. And there's as big a difference between sausage and hostage. These are not to most of us just character strings with a 43% overlap. A frightened captive human being and a high fat gristle tube are in different folders, as separate and differently coloured as the duck and fuck folders. Picking one by mistake for the other is not a human mistake.

    To be human is to dream. Dreams let us process and make emotional sense of life. Starmer shockingly claims not to dream. Sausage and hostage to him are just character strings.

    He is plainly good enough at mimicking human to get by at least in the stilted worlds of law and the labour party. Labour tends to promote such people - Brown, Miliband. The key to understanding Starmer is to see that he is what "does not speak human" really looks like.

    It seems to me the most anyone can claim is that they never remember dreams. I rarely remember dreams. Also I have no visual imagination (I think it's called aphantasia) which may be why I rarely remember dreams. But not remembering isn't not dreaming.
    When I wake up I remember them quite vividly but many I rapidly forget. I do remember the odd one or two. Probably one in every ten.
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 48,815
    eek said:

    HMG admit 37 early release prisoners were incorrectly released and should not have been released from prison

    out of 1700 released prisoners so it's a 2% screw up rate.

    In the scheme of such things that isn't that bad..
    The Tories really left the prisons in a parlous state.

    I have had several inmate patients cancel appointments these last weeks as too few staff for escort duty.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,727
    AnneJGP said:

    mercator said:

    There was some twit on radio 4 a year or two ago who pretended to mispronounce Jeremy Hunt's surname with a C. The twittery being that this just doesn't happen: we don't store words as strings according to initial letter or concluding syllable and so we don't dip into a folder of *unt words and accidentally come up with the wrong one.

    Starmer is emotionally colourblind. Duck and luck are for most of us black and white words while fuck is lit up in neon. And there's as big a difference between sausage and hostage. These are not to most of us just character strings with a 43% overlap. A frightened captive human being and a high fat gristle tube are in different folders, as separate and differently coloured as the duck and fuck folders. Picking one by mistake for the other is not a human mistake.

    To be human is to dream. Dreams let us process and make emotional sense of life. Starmer shockingly claims not to dream. Sausage and hostage to him are just character strings.

    He is plainly good enough at mimicking human to get by at least in the stilted worlds of law and the labour party. Labour tends to promote such people - Brown, Miliband. The key to understanding Starmer is to see that he is what "does not speak human" really looks like.

    It seems to me the most anyone can claim is that they never remember dreams. I rarely remember dreams. Also I have no visual imagination (I think it's called aphantasia) which may be why I rarely remember dreams. But not remembering isn't not dreaming.
    Do you have aphantasia? It's such an odd thing, my sympathies

    I met a girl in Colombia who has it. She told me she cannot remember the face of her boyfriend if he's not there with her. Nor can she picture a dog in her mind if you say "picture a dog in your mind"

    This was particularly striking because we were all in Colombia to take ayahuasca and her boyfriend is one of the top scientists in the world investigating psychedelics

    Everyone had a mad trip with insane hallucinations, apart from her, she experienced nothing. She ascribed that to her aphantasia...
  • mercatormercator Posts: 815
    eek said:

    HMG admit 37 early release prisoners were incorrectly released and should not have been released from prison

    out of 1700 released prisoners so it's a 2% screw up rate.

    In the scheme of such things that isn't that bad..
    Analogously it means that for every full Airbus A380 about 14 passengers have managed to get guns and knives through security. I have no problem with that.
  • The FromTheRiverers are already calling Israel's surgical strikes on Hezbollah 'occupation' and 'genocide' of Lebanon

    Do these people have any idea what the Lebanese think of Hezbollah?

    Of course not; they just hate Jews and want Israel destroyed

    Is there a word for people who want Israel destroyed?

    Anti-Zionist doesn't really do it justice for me, even though it's what Anti-Zionist means

    Any two-state-solutionists are Zionists; you all want Israel to exist. Is being anti you enough to suggest that one wants Israel to no longer exist?

  • carnforthcarnforth Posts: 4,658
    Taz said:

    AnneJGP said:

    mercator said:

    There was some twit on radio 4 a year or two ago who pretended to mispronounce Jeremy Hunt's surname with a C. The twittery being that this just doesn't happen: we don't store words as strings according to initial letter or concluding syllable and so we don't dip into a folder of *unt words and accidentally come up with the wrong one.

    Starmer is emotionally colourblind. Duck and luck are for most of us black and white words while fuck is lit up in neon. And there's as big a difference between sausage and hostage. These are not to most of us just character strings with a 43% overlap. A frightened captive human being and a high fat gristle tube are in different folders, as separate and differently coloured as the duck and fuck folders. Picking one by mistake for the other is not a human mistake.

    To be human is to dream. Dreams let us process and make emotional sense of life. Starmer shockingly claims not to dream. Sausage and hostage to him are just character strings.

    He is plainly good enough at mimicking human to get by at least in the stilted worlds of law and the labour party. Labour tends to promote such people - Brown, Miliband. The key to understanding Starmer is to see that he is what "does not speak human" really looks like.

    It seems to me the most anyone can claim is that they never remember dreams. I rarely remember dreams. Also I have no visual imagination (I think it's called aphantasia) which may be why I rarely remember dreams. But not remembering isn't not dreaming.
    When I wake up I remember them quite vividly but many I rapidly forget. I do remember the odd one or two. Probably one in every ten.
    I can't remember the dream after a minute - but sometimes, if it is a bad one, an odd feeling persists all day.
  • AnneJGPAnneJGP Posts: 3,082
    eek said:

    HMG admit 37 early release prisoners were incorrectly released and should not have been released from prison

    out of 1700 released prisoners so it's a 2% screw up rate.

    In the scheme of such things that isn't that bad..
    I wonder whether they'll punish the wrongly released for not protesting their ineligibility.
  • Starmer Rigby interview

    PM defends taking £20k GCSE donation

    https://news.sky.com/video/share-13221964
  • LostPasswordLostPassword Posts: 18,613
    Taz said:

    AnneJGP said:

    mercator said:

    There was some twit on radio 4 a year or two ago who pretended to mispronounce Jeremy Hunt's surname with a C. The twittery being that this just doesn't happen: we don't store words as strings according to initial letter or concluding syllable and so we don't dip into a folder of *unt words and accidentally come up with the wrong one.

    Starmer is emotionally colourblind. Duck and luck are for most of us black and white words while fuck is lit up in neon. And there's as big a difference between sausage and hostage. These are not to most of us just character strings with a 43% overlap. A frightened captive human being and a high fat gristle tube are in different folders, as separate and differently coloured as the duck and fuck folders. Picking one by mistake for the other is not a human mistake.

    To be human is to dream. Dreams let us process and make emotional sense of life. Starmer shockingly claims not to dream. Sausage and hostage to him are just character strings.

    He is plainly good enough at mimicking human to get by at least in the stilted worlds of law and the labour party. Labour tends to promote such people - Brown, Miliband. The key to understanding Starmer is to see that he is what "does not speak human" really looks like.

    It seems to me the most anyone can claim is that they never remember dreams. I rarely remember dreams. Also I have no visual imagination (I think it's called aphantasia) which may be why I rarely remember dreams. But not remembering isn't not dreaming.
    When I wake up I remember them quite vividly but many I rapidly forget. I do remember the odd one or two. Probably one in every ten.
    My wife remembers a lot more of her dreams then I do of mine, but she somehow doesn't remember the ones in which she wakes me up due to some in-dream emergency that she expresses out loud.

    "Quick! We've got to get out!"

    It's not really the way you want to wake up at 3am in the morning, but she was instantly back asleep.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,727

    Starmer Rigby interview

    PM defends taking £20k GCSE donation

    https://news.sky.com/video/share-13221964

    Christ, he's fucking terrible
  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 28,547

    Starmer Rigby interview

    PM defends taking £20k GCSE donation

    https://news.sky.com/video/share-13221964

    What donations will he be defending in the next interview? Tune in next week for another thrilling installment.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 71,481
    Leon said:

    This is Trump's to lose, now

    And he's doing a pretty good job of that.
  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 28,547
    Leon said:

    mercator said:

    There was some twit on radio 4 a year or two ago who pretended to mispronounce Jeremy Hunt's surname with a C. The twittery being that this just doesn't happen: we don't store words as strings according to initial letter or concluding syllable and so we don't dip into a folder of *unt words and accidentally come up with the wrong one.

    Starmer is emotionally colourblind. Duck and luck are for most of us black and white words while fuck is lit up in neon. And there's as big a difference between sausage and hostage. These are not to most of us just character strings with a 43% overlap. A frightened captive human being and a high fat gristle tube are in different folders, as separate and differently coloured as the duck and fuck folders. Picking one by mistake for the other is not a human mistake.

    To be human is to dream. Dreams let us process and make emotional sense of life. Starmer shockingly claims not to dream. Sausage and hostage to him are just character strings.

    He is plainly good enough at mimicking human to get by at least in the stilted worlds of law and the labour party. Labour tends to promote such people - Brown, Miliband. The key to understanding Starmer is to see that he is what "does not speak human" really looks like.

    "Sausage" was a weird weird mistake. Not sure I agree with your diagnosis, or understand it, but it was ODD

    Reeves is arguably even eerier. Check her out here

    "I’ve never seen a human that talks and moves like this. It’s very hard to believe she’s real at this point."


    https://x.com/nickdixoncomic/status/1838373649499185509


    I think she's been told to smile, to dispel the "doom and gloom". It's about as effective as the time they told Gordon Brown to smile
    I've started to feel a bit sorry for Reeves. I see her more as a loyal Labourite than anything else. She was asked to be the iron chancellor, now she's being asked to be the sunny chancellor, and she's gamely having a bash.

    Starmer, I don’t feel sorry for. At all.
  • Leon said:

    Starmer Rigby interview

    PM defends taking £20k GCSE donation

    https://news.sky.com/video/share-13221964

    Christ, he's fucking terrible
    He is still the same man who took his press team to John Lewis so he could point at wallpaper; he just takes himself more seriously these days
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 51,853
    Leon said:

    mercator said:

    There was some twit on radio 4 a year or two ago who pretended to mispronounce Jeremy Hunt's surname with a C. The twittery being that this just doesn't happen: we don't store words as strings according to initial letter or concluding syllable and so we don't dip into a folder of *unt words and accidentally come up with the wrong one.

    Starmer is emotionally colourblind. Duck and luck are for most of us black and white words while fuck is lit up in neon. And there's as big a difference between sausage and hostage. These are not to most of us just character strings with a 43% overlap. A frightened captive human being and a high fat gristle tube are in different folders, as separate and differently coloured as the duck and fuck folders. Picking one by mistake for the other is not a human mistake.

    To be human is to dream. Dreams let us process and make emotional sense of life. Starmer shockingly claims not to dream. Sausage and hostage to him are just character strings.

    He is plainly good enough at mimicking human to get by at least in the stilted worlds of law and the labour party. Labour tends to promote such people - Brown, Miliband. The key to understanding Starmer is to see that he is what "does not speak human" really looks like.

    "Sausage" was a weird weird mistake. Not sure I agree with your diagnosis, or understand it, but it was ODD

    Reeves is arguably even eerier. Check her out here

    "I’ve never seen a human that talks and moves like this. It’s very hard to believe she’s real at this point."


    https://x.com/nickdixoncomic/status/1838373649499185509


    I think she's been told to smile, to dispel the "doom and gloom". It's about as effective as the time they told Gordon Brown to smile
    If you watch Liz Kendall with the sound off she looks deranged.

    https://x.com/saulstaniforth/status/1838886518720479560
  • Leon said:

    mercator said:

    There was some twit on radio 4 a year or two ago who pretended to mispronounce Jeremy Hunt's surname with a C. The twittery being that this just doesn't happen: we don't store words as strings according to initial letter or concluding syllable and so we don't dip into a folder of *unt words and accidentally come up with the wrong one.

    Starmer is emotionally colourblind. Duck and luck are for most of us black and white words while fuck is lit up in neon. And there's as big a difference between sausage and hostage. These are not to most of us just character strings with a 43% overlap. A frightened captive human being and a high fat gristle tube are in different folders, as separate and differently coloured as the duck and fuck folders. Picking one by mistake for the other is not a human mistake.

    To be human is to dream. Dreams let us process and make emotional sense of life. Starmer shockingly claims not to dream. Sausage and hostage to him are just character strings.

    He is plainly good enough at mimicking human to get by at least in the stilted worlds of law and the labour party. Labour tends to promote such people - Brown, Miliband. The key to understanding Starmer is to see that he is what "does not speak human" really looks like.

    "Sausage" was a weird weird mistake. Not sure I agree with your diagnosis, or understand it, but it was ODD

    Reeves is arguably even eerier. Check her out here

    "I’ve never seen a human that talks and moves like this. It’s very hard to believe she’s real at this point."


    https://x.com/nickdixoncomic/status/1838373649499185509


    I think she's been told to smile, to dispel the "doom and gloom". It's about as effective as the time they told Gordon Brown to smile
    I've started to feel a bit sorry for Reeves. I see her more as a loyal Labourite than anything else. She was asked to be the iron chancellor, now she's being asked to be the sunny chancellor, and she's gamely having a bash.

    Starmer, I don’t feel sorry for. At all.
    Have you seen the For God's Sake FOR GOD'S SAKE vid yet?
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,727

    Starmer Rigby interview

    PM defends taking £20k GCSE donation

    https://news.sky.com/video/share-13221964

    What donations will he be defending in the next interview? Tune in next week for another thrilling installment.
    One of his problems is he immediately gets defensive and prickly, and refuses to take questions, and that makes him look even guiltier, and he is completely devoid of charm, smarm or humour

    Blair would have said Shucks, sorry, ah well, and smiled, and you'd warm to him anyway; Boris would have blustered then told a joke and distracted everyone (tho he ran out of jokes in the end)

    This is at the BEGINNING of Starmer's premiership and he looks like an exhausted batsman who has been at the crease all day and is now wearily fending off the bowling

    What's more, Beth Rigby didn't even ask him the obvious, punitive question: "Prime Minister, you say you claimed this flat for your son's GCSEs, but the dates don't match, those exams finished nearly a month before you handed the flat back. What did you really use the flat for?"
  • AnneJGP said:

    mercator said:

    There was some twit on radio 4 a year or two ago who pretended to mispronounce Jeremy Hunt's surname with a C. The twittery being that this just doesn't happen: we don't store words as strings according to initial letter or concluding syllable and so we don't dip into a folder of *unt words and accidentally come up with the wrong one.

    Starmer is emotionally colourblind. Duck and luck are for most of us black and white words while fuck is lit up in neon. And there's as big a difference between sausage and hostage. These are not to most of us just character strings with a 43% overlap. A frightened captive human being and a high fat gristle tube are in different folders, as separate and differently coloured as the duck and fuck folders. Picking one by mistake for the other is not a human mistake.

    To be human is to dream. Dreams let us process and make emotional sense of life. Starmer shockingly claims not to dream. Sausage and hostage to him are just character strings.

    He is plainly good enough at mimicking human to get by at least in the stilted worlds of law and the labour party. Labour tends to promote such people - Brown, Miliband. The key to understanding Starmer is to see that he is what "does not speak human" really looks like.

    It seems to me the most anyone can claim is that they never remember dreams. I rarely remember dreams. Also I have no visual imagination (I think it's called aphantasia) which may be why I rarely remember dreams. But not remembering isn't not dreaming.
    I never remembered a dream for years but recently, for medical reasons, I've been sleeping in a sitting-up position in which I have many dreams, so maybe Keir Starmer uses only one pillow.
  • MattWMattW Posts: 23,435
    edited September 25
    Taz said:

    AnneJGP said:

    mercator said:

    There was some twit on radio 4 a year or two ago who pretended to mispronounce Jeremy Hunt's surname with a C. The twittery being that this just doesn't happen: we don't store words as strings according to initial letter or concluding syllable and so we don't dip into a folder of *unt words and accidentally come up with the wrong one.

    Starmer is emotionally colourblind. Duck and luck are for most of us black and white words while fuck is lit up in neon. And there's as big a difference between sausage and hostage. These are not to most of us just character strings with a 43% overlap. A frightened captive human being and a high fat gristle tube are in different folders, as separate and differently coloured as the duck and fuck folders. Picking one by mistake for the other is not a human mistake.

    To be human is to dream. Dreams let us process and make emotional sense of life. Starmer shockingly claims not to dream. Sausage and hostage to him are just character strings.

    He is plainly good enough at mimicking human to get by at least in the stilted worlds of law and the labour party. Labour tends to promote such people - Brown, Miliband. The key to understanding Starmer is to see that he is what "does not speak human" really looks like.

    It seems to me the most anyone can claim is that they never remember dreams. I rarely remember dreams. Also I have no visual imagination (I think it's called aphantasia) which may be why I rarely remember dreams. But not remembering isn't not dreaming.
    When I wake up I remember them quite vividly but many I rapidly forget. I do remember the odd one or two. Probably one in every ten.
    A pedant enquires ....

    How do you know it's 10 if you don't remember? :smile:
  • OmniumOmnium Posts: 10,801

    Starmer Rigby interview

    PM defends taking £20k GCSE donation

    https://news.sky.com/video/share-13221964

    What donations will he be defending in the next interview? Tune in next week for another thrilling installment.
    I really hope we don't return to the situation that we had under Boris where politics simply became about defending Boris.

    It's ridiculous that he took free clothes and all the rest of it. (Although I do think the football stuff is ok.)

    We need to look at the laws so that attempted bribery of an MP gets you locked up.

  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,727

    Leon said:

    mercator said:

    There was some twit on radio 4 a year or two ago who pretended to mispronounce Jeremy Hunt's surname with a C. The twittery being that this just doesn't happen: we don't store words as strings according to initial letter or concluding syllable and so we don't dip into a folder of *unt words and accidentally come up with the wrong one.

    Starmer is emotionally colourblind. Duck and luck are for most of us black and white words while fuck is lit up in neon. And there's as big a difference between sausage and hostage. These are not to most of us just character strings with a 43% overlap. A frightened captive human being and a high fat gristle tube are in different folders, as separate and differently coloured as the duck and fuck folders. Picking one by mistake for the other is not a human mistake.

    To be human is to dream. Dreams let us process and make emotional sense of life. Starmer shockingly claims not to dream. Sausage and hostage to him are just character strings.

    He is plainly good enough at mimicking human to get by at least in the stilted worlds of law and the labour party. Labour tends to promote such people - Brown, Miliband. The key to understanding Starmer is to see that he is what "does not speak human" really looks like.

    "Sausage" was a weird weird mistake. Not sure I agree with your diagnosis, or understand it, but it was ODD

    Reeves is arguably even eerier. Check her out here

    "I’ve never seen a human that talks and moves like this. It’s very hard to believe she’s real at this point."


    https://x.com/nickdixoncomic/status/1838373649499185509


    I think she's been told to smile, to dispel the "doom and gloom". It's about as effective as the time they told Gordon Brown to smile
    If you watch Liz Kendall with the sound off she looks deranged.

    https://x.com/saulstaniforth/status/1838886518720479560
    OMFG lol
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 71,481
    MattW said:

    Taz said:

    AnneJGP said:

    mercator said:

    There was some twit on radio 4 a year or two ago who pretended to mispronounce Jeremy Hunt's surname with a C. The twittery being that this just doesn't happen: we don't store words as strings according to initial letter or concluding syllable and so we don't dip into a folder of *unt words and accidentally come up with the wrong one.

    Starmer is emotionally colourblind. Duck and luck are for most of us black and white words while fuck is lit up in neon. And there's as big a difference between sausage and hostage. These are not to most of us just character strings with a 43% overlap. A frightened captive human being and a high fat gristle tube are in different folders, as separate and differently coloured as the duck and fuck folders. Picking one by mistake for the other is not a human mistake.

    To be human is to dream. Dreams let us process and make emotional sense of life. Starmer shockingly claims not to dream. Sausage and hostage to him are just character strings.

    He is plainly good enough at mimicking human to get by at least in the stilted worlds of law and the labour party. Labour tends to promote such people - Brown, Miliband. The key to understanding Starmer is to see that he is what "does not speak human" really looks like.

    It seems to me the most anyone can claim is that they never remember dreams. I rarely remember dreams. Also I have no visual imagination (I think it's called aphantasia) which may be why I rarely remember dreams. But not remembering isn't not dreaming.
    When I wake up I remember them quite vividly but many I rapidly forget. I do remember the odd one or two. Probably one in every ten.
    A pedant enquires ....

    How do you know it's 10 if you don't remember? :smile:
    You can be aware you've dreamed, and be unable to recall any detail.
    That's me most of the time, too.
  • squareroot2squareroot2 Posts: 6,756
    Has anyone looked into what the other ministers have taken as gifts.?
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 71,481
    Big chicken still chicken.

    Bret Baier: Trump, not Harris, the ‘holdup’ on Fox News debate
    https://thehill.com/homenews/media/4898291-bret-baier-trump-not-harris-debate-holdup-fox-news/

    Scared to debate on Fox.
  • MattWMattW Posts: 23,435
    edited September 25
    Sandpit said:

    kyf_100 said:

    kyf_100 said:

    kyf_100 said:

    TOPPING said:

    rcs1000 said:

    MattW said:

    In this morning's discussion about the £300k mortgage for a couple earning £50k did anyone mention that would be a property price higher than the national average for people barely earning above minimum wage.

    But everybody who wants to buy a house under the age of 25 *must* have a 3-bed semi or better.
    Its perfectly possible in large parts of the country as well.

    Leave school at 18, get a job, learn a skillset and at 25 they'll be earning £30k or more, have savings and no debt.

    Then buy a 3 bed semi for £200k with a 10% deposit and a 3x mortgage.

    Now that wont suit everyone's life plans but everyone has to make their own choices.
    It's not that easy to have saved £30k - a whole year's pretax income - by the time you're 25, especially as you won't be starting on £30k, you'll be starting on £15-20k.

    If you are living at home it might be doable, but if you're in shared accommodation, then you're going to be clearing at most £1,500/month (at £20k) and spending at least £500 of that on accommodation and bills. Even if you are able to save 20% of your post tax, post rent and bills income, you will struggle to save more than £2,400 in a year.

    Getting to £30k of savings is not impossible, but does requires iron discipline and a very high savings rate.
    So no avocados is what I'm hearing.
    The deposit is pretty much the reason why all the "well, if government policy forces landlords to sell up, that's good for renters" arguments fall flat.

    It's great if you're in a position to save for a 30k deposit (few are), it's even better if you've got family who can stump up the deposit (so, generational wealth).

    If you don't have that ability, the war on landlords just means the pool of renters who are unable to buy are competing for a diminishing number of properties at ever higher prices, with the ever increasing regulatory burdens and red tape tacked onto the price of the rental.

    We are at a point where the rental trap is more or less impossible to escape without family help, entrenching a two-tier system where those who are able to tap into generational wealth can get on the property ladder, while those without are screwed in perpetuity.
    What on earth happens to the houses the landlords are selling? Either go to other landlords or renters. If they are left empty or second homes, tax them punitively. The houses don't disappear because amateur landlord can't make their business work.
    Are you completely blind, or just thick as a whale omelette?

    As I stated above, landlords selling up is great for those who can afford a 30k deposit.

    It kinda sucks for renters who can't.

    May I suggest visiting a popular optician for some reading glasses?
    Unless the quantity of houses changes landlords selling up has next-to-zero effect on renters.

    If a landlord sells to someone who was a tenant then the supply of landlords houses goes down by 1 and the demand for houses from tenants goes down by one so there is absolutely zero net change in supply versus demand.

    Want to affect supply and demand - build more houses.
    As has been discussed on here ad infinitum, renters tend to occupy more of a property than owners. E.g. a young couple buy a house together, having formerly lived in bedrooms in two fully occupied houses of multiple occupancy, buy a two bed flat with a spare bedroom, thus reducing occupancy levels. This diminishes the pool of rooms available to renters. This has been discussed on this site innumerable times.
    As has been discussed on here ad infinitum that statistic is total bullshit as it just measures age. Controlling for age there is no significant difference whatsoever.

    Owner occupiers, especially owner occupiers without a mortgage, are disproportionately elderly people without children living with them as their children have moved out of the house.

    A young couple renting a home or buying a home of their own has no net change in housing supply.
    My daughter and husband 53 and 64 have I year left on their mortgage and my youngest son 49 and his wife 42 have paid off their mortgage so they do not fit your profile

    And my daughter has their 15 year son living with them and my son and his wife have 3 children 12, 10 and 2

    I would add that neither had inheritance but a lot of middle age parents do inherit money and pay off their mortgage
    Your daughter and husband are old.

    Your youngest is old.

    People should be able to get a home in their 20s or 30s, people in their fifties aren't especially relevant to the conversation other than saying that it was affordable for them to get homes decades ago which isn't the case for far too many today.
    49 is old ?

    The average age for a first time buyer is 34

    Our son and daughter bought their homes in the last 20 - 25 years which is similar to the average age today
    Yes it is.

    49 is a generation past people who should be looking for homes today, 25 years ago is a totally different era. 25 years ago the average house price in Wales was £51k - to compare 25 years ago with today just shows how broken today is.

    49 is well past the age where the NHS warns about dangers for pregnancies. For people to safely settle down, have a family, in their own home, they need to be buying homes in their 20s, early 30s at the latest.

    And the average 34 year old today does not own their own home, the average age you're quoting is distorted by excluding those who don't get a home which is far, far, far too many people - way more than it used to be.
    Wages in 2000 were £18,800 compared to £35,800 today

    However, affordability does depend on location and even today they are homes available to buy in our area between £130,000 and £180,000

    I understand you are frustrated about home ownership but the only solution is more homes as you say, but building regulations requirements of net zero compliance have added to the costs.

    I understand that the government is to mandate the renting of all homes or sale will require those homes to have a C rating or above which again will cause huge increases in prices as homes are retrofitted

    Indeed the Welsh government are about to mandate EV charging points on all homes for rent or sale

    This is a complex and difficult problem to resolve but it is not the fault of those who have bought and paid off their mortgages
    I really don't think we should accept the building industry propaganda about not being able to improve the quality of housing without massive additional costs. We should expect them to be able to increase productivity to deliver higher quality housing at a lower price.
    Prefab housing, built in factories and trucked to site for final assembly. 3-bed house costs £100k, plus the land and site works.

    The obstacles are that they need to be either mortgageable, or buyable by housing associations or public sector on the basis of a 50-year lifespan.
    That's always been in place afaik.

    eg SPACE 4 are a recent incarnation who have been doing it since 2001, and have a factory capacity of 8000 units per annum.

    I talked to them about it back in 200x when I was looking at a site. One advantage is that it is weatherproof within days.

    Here's a piccie of similar techniques being applied to putting an upstairs on a bungalow (I think iirc):



    It was by a company called Modular Loft something, and I wrote some dofferel about it:

    As I was planning for my toft
    I met a man with a Modular Loft
    Windows were installed and tiles
    With insulation, floors and style
    Windows, Lift, Loft, Tiles
    Make an instant ancient pile!
    A extraordinarily transportable loft -
    But do I want one for my toft?


    Lots more photos: https://forum.buildhub.org.uk/blogs/entry/496-what-about-a-modular-loft/


  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 28,547

    Leon said:

    mercator said:

    There was some twit on radio 4 a year or two ago who pretended to mispronounce Jeremy Hunt's surname with a C. The twittery being that this just doesn't happen: we don't store words as strings according to initial letter or concluding syllable and so we don't dip into a folder of *unt words and accidentally come up with the wrong one.

    Starmer is emotionally colourblind. Duck and luck are for most of us black and white words while fuck is lit up in neon. And there's as big a difference between sausage and hostage. These are not to most of us just character strings with a 43% overlap. A frightened captive human being and a high fat gristle tube are in different folders, as separate and differently coloured as the duck and fuck folders. Picking one by mistake for the other is not a human mistake.

    To be human is to dream. Dreams let us process and make emotional sense of life. Starmer shockingly claims not to dream. Sausage and hostage to him are just character strings.

    He is plainly good enough at mimicking human to get by at least in the stilted worlds of law and the labour party. Labour tends to promote such people - Brown, Miliband. The key to understanding Starmer is to see that he is what "does not speak human" really looks like.

    "Sausage" was a weird weird mistake. Not sure I agree with your diagnosis, or understand it, but it was ODD

    Reeves is arguably even eerier. Check her out here

    "I’ve never seen a human that talks and moves like this. It’s very hard to believe she’s real at this point."


    https://x.com/nickdixoncomic/status/1838373649499185509


    I think she's been told to smile, to dispel the "doom and gloom". It's about as effective as the time they told Gordon Brown to smile
    I've started to feel a bit sorry for Reeves. I see her more as a loyal Labourite than anything else. She was asked to be the iron chancellor, now she's being asked to be the sunny chancellor, and she's gamely having a bash.

    Starmer, I don’t feel sorry for. At all.
    Have you seen the For God's Sake FOR GOD'S SAKE vid yet?
    Yes, but in response to the glitter attack, I thought that was a relatively human response - shock, annoyance, disgust.
  • squareroot2squareroot2 Posts: 6,756

    Leon said:

    mercator said:

    There was some twit on radio 4 a year or two ago who pretended to mispronounce Jeremy Hunt's surname with a C. The twittery being that this just doesn't happen: we don't store words as strings according to initial letter or concluding syllable and so we don't dip into a folder of *unt words and accidentally come up with the wrong one.

    Starmer is emotionally colourblind. Duck and luck are for most of us black and white words while fuck is lit up in neon. And there's as big a difference between sausage and hostage. These are not to most of us just character strings with a 43% overlap. A frightened captive human being and a high fat gristle tube are in different folders, as separate and differently coloured as the duck and fuck folders. Picking one by mistake for the other is not a human mistake.

    To be human is to dream. Dreams let us process and make emotional sense of life. Starmer shockingly claims not to dream. Sausage and hostage to him are just character strings.

    He is plainly good enough at mimicking human to get by at least in the stilted worlds of law and the labour party. Labour tends to promote such people - Brown, Miliband. The key to understanding Starmer is to see that he is what "does not speak human" really looks like.

    "Sausage" was a weird weird mistake. Not sure I agree with your diagnosis, or understand it, but it was ODD

    Reeves is arguably even eerier. Check her out here

    "I’ve never seen a human that talks and moves like this. It’s very hard to believe she’s real at this point."


    https://x.com/nickdixoncomic/status/1838373649499185509


    I think she's been told to smile, to dispel the "doom and gloom". It's about as effective as the time they told Gordon Brown to smile
    I've started to feel a bit sorry for Reeves. I see her more as a loyal Labourite than anything else. She was asked to be the iron chancellor, now she's being asked to be the sunny chancellor, and she's gamely having a bash.

    Starmer, I don’t feel sorry for. At all.
    Have you seen the For God's Sake FOR GOD'S SAKE vid yet?
    Rachel "Thieves"smiles as she robs your wallet.
  • tlg86tlg86 Posts: 26,183
    https://x.com/JackElsom/status/1838988312175853663

    Jack Elsom
    @JackElsom
    No10 say they are confident Starmer did not break lockdown rules with this.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,727
    I'm trying to be balanced and say something nice about Labour. I find it very very hard. What good have they done, yet?

    If they build nice neo-Georgian houses I will feel a lot better; likewise if they accept the new EU youth Free Movement offer, which I think is generous

    Right now the nicest thing I can say is Mrs Starmer is genuinely pretty, but that's somewhat double-edged
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 71,481
    OTOH, Netanyahu is doing his best for Trump.

    Israel preparing for possible ground offensive in Lebanon, military chief says
    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/sep/25/israel-hezbollah-beirut-tel-aviv-lebanon-cross-border-conflict-expands
  • Leon said:

    mercator said:

    There was some twit on radio 4 a year or two ago who pretended to mispronounce Jeremy Hunt's surname with a C. The twittery being that this just doesn't happen: we don't store words as strings according to initial letter or concluding syllable and so we don't dip into a folder of *unt words and accidentally come up with the wrong one.

    Starmer is emotionally colourblind. Duck and luck are for most of us black and white words while fuck is lit up in neon. And there's as big a difference between sausage and hostage. These are not to most of us just character strings with a 43% overlap. A frightened captive human being and a high fat gristle tube are in different folders, as separate and differently coloured as the duck and fuck folders. Picking one by mistake for the other is not a human mistake.

    To be human is to dream. Dreams let us process and make emotional sense of life. Starmer shockingly claims not to dream. Sausage and hostage to him are just character strings.

    He is plainly good enough at mimicking human to get by at least in the stilted worlds of law and the labour party. Labour tends to promote such people - Brown, Miliband. The key to understanding Starmer is to see that he is what "does not speak human" really looks like.

    "Sausage" was a weird weird mistake. Not sure I agree with your diagnosis, or understand it, but it was ODD

    Reeves is arguably even eerier. Check her out here

    "I’ve never seen a human that talks and moves like this. It’s very hard to believe she’s real at this point."


    https://x.com/nickdixoncomic/status/1838373649499185509


    I think she's been told to smile, to dispel the "doom and gloom". It's about as effective as the time they told Gordon Brown to smile
    I've started to feel a bit sorry for Reeves. I see her more as a loyal Labourite than anything else. She was asked to be the iron chancellor, now she's being asked to be the sunny chancellor, and she's gamely having a bash.

    Starmer, I don’t feel sorry for. At all.
    Have you seen the For God's Sake FOR GOD'S SAKE vid yet?
    Yes, but in response to the glitter attack, I thought that was a relatively human response - shock, annoyance, disgust.
    Oh, sorry Rachel..

    I though it was when she saw that her Taylor Swift seats weren't front row
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,727

    Leon said:

    mercator said:

    There was some twit on radio 4 a year or two ago who pretended to mispronounce Jeremy Hunt's surname with a C. The twittery being that this just doesn't happen: we don't store words as strings according to initial letter or concluding syllable and so we don't dip into a folder of *unt words and accidentally come up with the wrong one.

    Starmer is emotionally colourblind. Duck and luck are for most of us black and white words while fuck is lit up in neon. And there's as big a difference between sausage and hostage. These are not to most of us just character strings with a 43% overlap. A frightened captive human being and a high fat gristle tube are in different folders, as separate and differently coloured as the duck and fuck folders. Picking one by mistake for the other is not a human mistake.

    To be human is to dream. Dreams let us process and make emotional sense of life. Starmer shockingly claims not to dream. Sausage and hostage to him are just character strings.

    He is plainly good enough at mimicking human to get by at least in the stilted worlds of law and the labour party. Labour tends to promote such people - Brown, Miliband. The key to understanding Starmer is to see that he is what "does not speak human" really looks like.

    "Sausage" was a weird weird mistake. Not sure I agree with your diagnosis, or understand it, but it was ODD

    Reeves is arguably even eerier. Check her out here

    "I’ve never seen a human that talks and moves like this. It’s very hard to believe she’s real at this point."


    https://x.com/nickdixoncomic/status/1838373649499185509


    I think she's been told to smile, to dispel the "doom and gloom". It's about as effective as the time they told Gordon Brown to smile
    I've started to feel a bit sorry for Reeves. I see her more as a loyal Labourite than anything else. She was asked to be the iron chancellor, now she's being asked to be the sunny chancellor, and she's gamely having a bash.

    Starmer, I don’t feel sorry for. At all.
    Have you seen the For God's Sake FOR GOD'S SAKE vid yet?
    Yes, but in response to the glitter attack, I thought that was a relatively human response - shock, annoyance, disgust.
    Yes, I first posted this and thought it was from this year. It is not. It is from the glitter attack and in that context it is entirely understandable
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,292
    Leon said:

    This is going viral on TwiX. Is it true? I have never used Manc airport


    "The experience of arriving at Manchester Airport from Singapore is the nearest we can get to experiencing actual time travel from the future to the past, or to approximate viscerally the feeling of what it was like to return to East Germany from the West"

    https://x.com/MatthewLBishop/status/1838506530234126557

    Two points. He is comparing it to Changi which is probably the best airport in the world, and in one of the richest cities in the world. And I went through Edinburgh airport recently and I thought it was OK for a regional European airport, about the same as you'd get in Spain or Germany, a bit less flash than France

    But is Manc really that bad?

    Manchester isn't very good: it's like the old Terminal 2 at Heathrow, before they tore it down and rebuilt it. It feels stale and tired, and it hasn't been particularly well maintained.

    But at the same time, it's a regional airport, so what the hell does he expect?

    And compared to some of the regional airports in the US, it's superb.
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 38,877
    edited September 25
    Leon said:

    Eabhal said:

    MaxPB said:

    Leon said:

    This is going viral on TwiX. Is it true? I have never used Manc airport


    "The experience of arriving at Manchester Airport from Singapore is the nearest we can get to experiencing actual time travel from the future to the past, or to approximate viscerally the feeling of what it was like to return to East Germany from the West"

    https://x.com/MatthewLBishop/status/1838506530234126557

    Two points. He is comparing it to Changi which is probably the best airport in the world, and in one of the richest cities in the world. And I went through Edinburgh airport recently and I thought it was OK for a regional European airport, about the same as you'd get in Spain or Germany, a bit less flash than France

    But is Manc really that bad?

    All of our airports except LCY are shit compared to Changi or middle eastern ones. As with most infrastructure in the UK there's been far too little investment and far too much shareholder dividends. Heathrow generates so much cash that it should be world class and have £4-5bn in the bank ready for the third runway but instead anyone who doesn't fly from T2 or T5 gets a depressing experience through a long security queue and a bunch of shite airside. Greedy shareholders are the bane of regulated UK industry from water to airports to energy generation.
    City is horribly claustrophobic imo.
    Agreed. Really cramped and terrible catering. It used to be great, I dunno what they've done

    Luton is vastly improved, esp with the train shuttle

    LHR is a great world airport, people are far too cruel about it

    I agree some of the UK's regional airports are a disgrace. Glasgow is horrible. Exeter is dismal
    That's a shame, I haven't flown from there for a while because corporate HQ was in Japan so no flights. It used to be brilliant, airside in under 15 mins, decent selection of bars and not too crowded with pointless shops.

    Heathrow is only good if you're flying from T2 or T5. If you're in 3 or 4 it's dire. They need to invest and refurb or rebuild T4 completely and expand T2 enough so they can dump T3 entirely.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,292
    tlg86 said:

    kenObi said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Phil said:

    NB. It seems the whole “Starmer is getting a box at Arsenal for free” is something of a misunderstanding - he’s being seated in the Director’s box, alongside all the other guests. The Director’s box is a) huge and b) invitation only, which presumably allows his security to vet the guest list. Similarly Sunak was seated in the Director’s box when he attended Southampton matches I believe.

    Much of the Starmer freebies story is a massive own goal of spectacular proportions, but this one seems reasonable?

    Source: https://x.com/Jim_Cornelius/status/1838881435672871142/photo/1

    Starmer also continues to pay for his Arsenal season ticket.
    Does he then sell the seats through the Arsenal secondary market, recouping - IIRC - 80% of face?
    He doesn't have a season ticket any more. It's another one of his vague lawyerly mistruths that he has allowed to continue, to let people use as reasoning to support his actions.
    Any evidence of this ?

    Most football fans hold on to season tickets like limpets particularly at the likes of Arsenal, United, Liverpool and even Everton, and which is why some season ticket holders at Liverpool are rumoured to have reached the ripe old age of 107

    They can get face value back from the club without difficulty.

    When he's left office and on the ex PM speech gravy train, I'd be pretty certain his son would prefer to sit in his normal spec. with people he has probably known for 5 years+ than with some twats in a box.
    That's not true of Arsenal. I joined the season ticket waiting list in 2008 and got one in 2013. If you joined the list now, you're not going to be getting one any time soon. Point is, it all depends on the perception of the fans. At the moment, they've "got their Arsenal back". A bad season and we'll be back to loads of empty seats and it impossible to sell on the exchange.
    I'm still on the waiting list to graduate from Red to Silver membership.
  • MattWMattW Posts: 23,435
    MattW said:

    Sandpit said:

    kyf_100 said:

    kyf_100 said:

    kyf_100 said:

    TOPPING said:

    rcs1000 said:

    MattW said:

    In this morning's discussion about the £300k mortgage for a couple earning £50k did anyone mention that would be a property price higher than the national average for people barely earning above minimum wage.

    But everybody who wants to buy a house under the age of 25 *must* have a 3-bed semi or better.
    Its perfectly possible in large parts of the country as well.

    Leave school at 18, get a job, learn a skillset and at 25 they'll be earning £30k or more, have savings and no debt.

    Then buy a 3 bed semi for £200k with a 10% deposit and a 3x mortgage.

    Now that wont suit everyone's life plans but everyone has to make their own choices.
    It's not that easy to have saved £30k - a whole year's pretax income - by the time you're 25, especially as you won't be starting on £30k, you'll be starting on £15-20k.

    If you are living at home it might be doable, but if you're in shared accommodation, then you're going to be clearing at most £1,500/month (at £20k) and spending at least £500 of that on accommodation and bills. Even if you are able to save 20% of your post tax, post rent and bills income, you will struggle to save more than £2,400 in a year.

    Getting to £30k of savings is not impossible, but does requires iron discipline and a very high savings rate.
    So no avocados is what I'm hearing.
    The deposit is pretty much the reason why all the "well, if government policy forces landlords to sell up, that's good for renters" arguments fall flat.

    It's great if you're in a position to save for a 30k deposit (few are), it's even better if you've got family who can stump up the deposit (so, generational wealth).

    If you don't have that ability, the war on landlords just means the pool of renters who are unable to buy are competing for a diminishing number of properties at ever higher prices, with the ever increasing regulatory burdens and red tape tacked onto the price of the rental.

    We are at a point where the rental trap is more or less impossible to escape without family help, entrenching a two-tier system where those who are able to tap into generational wealth can get on the property ladder, while those without are screwed in perpetuity.
    What on earth happens to the houses the landlords are selling? Either go to other landlords or renters. If they are left empty or second homes, tax them punitively. The houses don't disappear because amateur landlord can't make their business work.
    Are you completely blind, or just thick as a whale omelette?

    As I stated above, landlords selling up is great for those who can afford a 30k deposit.

    It kinda sucks for renters who can't.

    May I suggest visiting a popular optician for some reading glasses?
    Unless the quantity of houses changes landlords selling up has next-to-zero effect on renters.

    If a landlord sells to someone who was a tenant then the supply of landlords houses goes down by 1 and the demand for houses from tenants goes down by one so there is absolutely zero net change in supply versus demand.

    Want to affect supply and demand - build more houses.
    As has been discussed on here ad infinitum, renters tend to occupy more of a property than owners. E.g. a young couple buy a house together, having formerly lived in bedrooms in two fully occupied houses of multiple occupancy, buy a two bed flat with a spare bedroom, thus reducing occupancy levels. This diminishes the pool of rooms available to renters. This has been discussed on this site innumerable times.
    As has been discussed on here ad infinitum that statistic is total bullshit as it just measures age. Controlling for age there is no significant difference whatsoever.

    Owner occupiers, especially owner occupiers without a mortgage, are disproportionately elderly people without children living with them as their children have moved out of the house.

    A young couple renting a home or buying a home of their own has no net change in housing supply.
    My daughter and husband 53 and 64 have I year left on their mortgage and my youngest son 49 and his wife 42 have paid off their mortgage so they do not fit your profile

    And my daughter has their 15 year son living with them and my son and his wife have 3 children 12, 10 and 2

    I would add that neither had inheritance but a lot of middle age parents do inherit money and pay off their mortgage
    Your daughter and husband are old.

    Your youngest is old.

    People should be able to get a home in their 20s or 30s, people in their fifties aren't especially relevant to the conversation other than saying that it was affordable for them to get homes decades ago which isn't the case for far too many today.
    49 is old ?

    The average age for a first time buyer is 34

    Our son and daughter bought their homes in the last 20 - 25 years which is similar to the average age today
    Yes it is.

    49 is a generation past people who should be looking for homes today, 25 years ago is a totally different era. 25 years ago the average house price in Wales was £51k - to compare 25 years ago with today just shows how broken today is.

    49 is well past the age where the NHS warns about dangers for pregnancies. For people to safely settle down, have a family, in their own home, they need to be buying homes in their 20s, early 30s at the latest.

    And the average 34 year old today does not own their own home, the average age you're quoting is distorted by excluding those who don't get a home which is far, far, far too many people - way more than it used to be.
    Wages in 2000 were £18,800 compared to £35,800 today

    However, affordability does depend on location and even today they are homes available to buy in our area between £130,000 and £180,000

    I understand you are frustrated about home ownership but the only solution is more homes as you say, but building regulations requirements of net zero compliance have added to the costs.

    I understand that the government is to mandate the renting of all homes or sale will require those homes to have a C rating or above which again will cause huge increases in prices as homes are retrofitted

    Indeed the Welsh government are about to mandate EV charging points on all homes for rent or sale

    This is a complex and difficult problem to resolve but it is not the fault of those who have bought and paid off their mortgages
    I really don't think we should accept the building industry propaganda about not being able to improve the quality of housing without massive additional costs. We should expect them to be able to increase productivity to deliver higher quality housing at a lower price.
    Prefab housing, built in factories and trucked to site for final assembly. 3-bed house costs £100k, plus the land and site works.

    The obstacles are that they need to be either mortgageable, or buyable by housing associations or public sector on the basis of a 50-year lifespan.
    That's always been in place afaik.

    eg SPACE 4 are a recent incarnation who have been doing it since 2001, and have a factory capacity of 8000 units per annum.

    I talked to them about it back in 200x when I was looking at a site. One advantage is that it is weatherproof within days.

    Here's a piccie of similar techniques being applied to putting an upstairs on a bungalow (I think iirc):



    It was by a company called Modular Loft something, and I wrote some dofferel about it:

    As I was planning for my toft
    I met a man with a Modular Loft
    Windows were installed and tiles
    With insulation, floors and style
    Windows, Lift, Loft, Tiles
    Make an instant ancient pile!
    A extraordinarily transportable loft -
    But do I want one for my toft?


    Lots more photos: https://forum.buildhub.org.uk/blogs/entry/496-what-about-a-modular-loft/
    I also have a creative keyboard - doggerel / dofferel.
  • carnforthcarnforth Posts: 4,658
    Leon said:

    Starmer Rigby interview

    PM defends taking £20k GCSE donation

    https://news.sky.com/video/share-13221964

    What donations will he be defending in the next interview? Tune in next week for another thrilling installment.
    One of his problems is he immediately gets defensive and prickly, and refuses to take questions, and that makes him look even guiltier, and he is completely devoid of charm, smarm or humour
    His being bad under cross-examination is a sort of karma I suppose.
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 51,853
    rcs1000 said:

    Leon said:

    This is going viral on TwiX. Is it true? I have never used Manc airport


    "The experience of arriving at Manchester Airport from Singapore is the nearest we can get to experiencing actual time travel from the future to the past, or to approximate viscerally the feeling of what it was like to return to East Germany from the West"

    https://x.com/MatthewLBishop/status/1838506530234126557

    Two points. He is comparing it to Changi which is probably the best airport in the world, and in one of the richest cities in the world. And I went through Edinburgh airport recently and I thought it was OK for a regional European airport, about the same as you'd get in Spain or Germany, a bit less flash than France

    But is Manc really that bad?

    Manchester isn't very good: it's like the old Terminal 2 at Heathrow, before they tore it down and rebuilt it. It feels stale and tired, and it hasn't been particularly well maintained.

    But at the same time, it's a regional airport, so what the hell does he expect?

    And compared to some of the regional airports in the US, it's superb.
    Manchester's generally on the up and is being seen more and more as England's second city, so maybe it would be a good place for showcase airport.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,292

    kenObi said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Phil said:

    NB. It seems the whole “Starmer is getting a box at Arsenal for free” is something of a misunderstanding - he’s being seated in the Director’s box, alongside all the other guests. The Director’s box is a) huge and b) invitation only, which presumably allows his security to vet the guest list. Similarly Sunak was seated in the Director’s box when he attended Southampton matches I believe.

    Much of the Starmer freebies story is a massive own goal of spectacular proportions, but this one seems reasonable?

    Source: https://x.com/Jim_Cornelius/status/1838881435672871142/photo/1

    Starmer also continues to pay for his Arsenal season ticket.
    Does he then sell the seats through the Arsenal secondary market, recouping - IIRC - 80% of face?
    He doesn't have a season ticket any more. It's another one of his vague lawyerly mistruths that he has allowed to continue, to let people use as reasoning to support his actions.
    Any evidence of this ?

    Most football fans hold on to season tickets like limpets particularly at the likes of Arsenal, United, Liverpool and even Everton, and which is why some season ticket holders at Liverpool are rumoured to have reached the ripe old age of 107

    They can get face value back from the club without difficulty.

    When he's left office and on the ex PM speech gravy train, I'd be pretty certain his son would prefer to sit in his normal spec. with people he has probably known for 5 years+ than with some twats in a box.
    I'll row back on my comment. It was on the BBC this morning as they were running a live update on his interview, they used the word 'previously' but that live update is not up any more.

    He normally only says 'I have been a season ticket holder for years'.

    If he is still, who is using the season ticket? Are they using it for free?

    Poor bloke only received £35,792 worth of football tickets during the last parliament.
    Errr: he will simply sell the tickets back to the Club, which takes about 20 seconds to do.
  • mercatormercator Posts: 815
    tlg86 said:

    https://x.com/JackElsom/status/1838988312175853663

    Jack Elsom
    @JackElsom
    No10 say they are confident Starmer did not break lockdown rules with this.

    If you are saying that in 2024 you are losing
  • rcs1000 said:

    kenObi said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Phil said:

    NB. It seems the whole “Starmer is getting a box at Arsenal for free” is something of a misunderstanding - he’s being seated in the Director’s box, alongside all the other guests. The Director’s box is a) huge and b) invitation only, which presumably allows his security to vet the guest list. Similarly Sunak was seated in the Director’s box when he attended Southampton matches I believe.

    Much of the Starmer freebies story is a massive own goal of spectacular proportions, but this one seems reasonable?

    Source: https://x.com/Jim_Cornelius/status/1838881435672871142/photo/1

    Starmer also continues to pay for his Arsenal season ticket.
    Does he then sell the seats through the Arsenal secondary market, recouping - IIRC - 80% of face?
    He doesn't have a season ticket any more. It's another one of his vague lawyerly mistruths that he has allowed to continue, to let people use as reasoning to support his actions.
    Any evidence of this ?

    Most football fans hold on to season tickets like limpets particularly at the likes of Arsenal, United, Liverpool and even Everton, and which is why some season ticket holders at Liverpool are rumoured to have reached the ripe old age of 107

    They can get face value back from the club without difficulty.

    When he's left office and on the ex PM speech gravy train, I'd be pretty certain his son would prefer to sit in his normal spec. with people he has probably known for 5 years+ than with some twats in a box.
    I'll row back on my comment. It was on the BBC this morning as they were running a live update on his interview, they used the word 'previously' but that live update is not up any more.

    He normally only says 'I have been a season ticket holder for years'.

    If he is still, who is using the season ticket? Are they using it for free?

    Poor bloke only received £35,792 worth of football tickets during the last parliament.
    Errr: he will simply sell the tickets back to the Club, which takes about 20 seconds to do.
    Does he need to declare that income?
  • geoffwgeoffw Posts: 8,744
    "I've got a mandate to change the country ... "
    True, on the votes of 17.5% of UK adults
This discussion has been closed.