I was starting at UCL when we won the Falklands War, and we were all drinking in the Grafton Arms on Warren St in Fitzrovia when a US TV crew came in to ask “British” opinions of the victory
We were all quite drunk and they interviewed us and I was clearly exuberant and the American TV guy said “what do you think should happen now” and I said “now we reconquer America!” And they laughed and it was cool
And then afterwards the guy told me “you know that was live and it went out on CBS News in the USA?”
My American media career peaked early
I'll have to search the archives, see if I can find it anywhere.
That would be fun but I am on assignment and I actually have to go out and explore and do things. And as far as I can see there is nothing to see and do here
I’ve already seen the famously hideous modernist buildings
Can't you spend some time looking for all the streets named after Tony Blair?
There must be a few waiters or barmen named 'Tonibler' these days!
I was starting at UCL when we won the Falklands War, and we were all drinking in the Grafton Arms on Warren St in Fitzrovia when a US TV crew came in to ask “British” opinions of the victory
We were all quite drunk and they interviewed us and I was clearly exuberant and the American TV guy said “what do you think should happen now” and I said “now we reconquer America!” And they laughed and it was cool
And then afterwards the guy told me “you know that was live and it went out on CBS News in the USA?”
My American media career peaked early
Bit dickish. Great that you're not like that now you're older.
The Falklands campaign was fought at a time when we could just about manage to defend it, but at a price including the loss of 32 Welsh Guards at Bluff Cove on the 8th June 1982, the day of our daughter's 11th birthday
It was a feature of our campaign to re elect Margaret Thatcher in 1983, as I was the driver for campaign for the late Wyn Roberts, as lots of questions were asked at the hustings not least because of the slaughter of the Welsh Guards
My wife and I visited the Falklands on our expedition to Antarctica in 2009 and it is a remote number of islands with sheep and amazing wildlife but few inhabitants and on the face of it seems understandable if some want it to return to Argentina, but ultimately if it is the Islanders decision, as it was in 1982, to remain British then we should defend that democratic wish
However, the best answer is to keep it as it as at present
You know this isn't your family WhatsApp chat, right?
Maybe telling a story of a lived experience is better than photos of food and gossip on WhatsApp
We were devastated at the loss of the Welsh Guards here in Wales and it was very much the story of our hustings in 1983
So devastating the first thing you cite on that day that over 30 men burnt to death is that it was your daughter's 11th birthday.
Rein the wife, kids, brothers, grandkids and second cousin twice-removed step-daughters close family friend crap, and give it a rest.
No-one cares.
Blimey. I am tempted to flag this. Pretty uncalled for.
If I may morally adjudicate, I think @Casino_Royale’s bluntness to @Big_G_NorthWales was unnecessary. However I suspect @Casino_Royale is genuinely angered and upset by the Chagos betrayal and is lashing out. If that is the case I extend him some sympathy as - for a while - I was equally infuriated. I have genuinely never seen such a stupid self harming act by a British government - I know most PBers won’t begin to understand this, but that is my honest perception
However I am now distracted by being in the world’s worst capital city and I’m thereby moving on, perhaps @Casino_Royale is still brooding
"Wouldn't bother me if my firm fired me. Fuck em."
Oh, they actually have. The bustards.
At some point these dull wankers are going to collide with Realpolitik, and realise how great powers will push you around, and actually kill you, if you are not prepared to use your own power (which we still have). Cf Ukraine, they should have kept their nukes, but alas
This is one of the criminal aspects of the Chagos Treachery, we are handing a significant prize to China AND FOR NO REASON AT ALL. We haven’t even done right by the Chagossians, we’ve done right by China, who will now plunder those pristine waters, and menace the American base
Sensationally stupid by Starmer, world class fuckwittery
You are a bit lost, aren’t you? Can't understand things.
Not really, I’m in the beating heart of Pristina, in literally the best bar in the country of Kosovo (I just checked on TripAdvisor)
[swaggering] I saw Tower Bridge open and close THREE times in as many hours from the 58th floor of one of London's tallest skyscrapers today
I used to be able to watch it open from my desk, when I worked just off the southern end of the bridge.
Annoying whenever it opened when I was trying to get back to Tower Hill for the tube home.
I used to live on the North side of the bridge, on Leman Street.
Friends would regularly suggest meeting up just South of the bridge, and I'd always groan, because it was inevitable that it would rise just as we got to it.
"Wouldn't bother me if my firm fired me. Fuck em."
Oh, they actually have. The bustards.
At some point these dull wankers are going to collide with Realpolitik, and realise how great powers will push you around, and actually kill you, if you are not prepared to use your own power (which we still have). Cf Ukraine, they should have kept their nukes, but alas
This is one of the criminal aspects of the Chagos Treachery, we are handing a significant prize to China AND FOR NO REASON AT ALL. We haven’t even done right by the Chagossians, we’ve done right by China, who will now plunder those pristine waters, and menace the American base
Sensationally stupid by Starmer, world class fuckwittery
You are a bit lost, aren’t you? Can't understand things.
Not really, I’m in the beating heart of Pristina, in literally the best bar in the country of Kosovo (I just checked on TripAdvisor)
[swaggering] I saw Tower Bridge open and close THREE times in as many hours from the 58th floor of one of London's tallest skyscrapers today
I used to be able to watch it open from my desk, when I worked just off the southern end of the bridge.
Annoying whenever it opened when I was trying to get back to Tower Hill for the tube home.
I used to live on the North side of the bridge, on Leman Street.
Friends would regularly suggest meeting up just South of the bridge, and I'd always groan, because it was inevitable that it would rise just as we got to it.
There was a tourist boat that had a tall mast on it, purely to force Tower Bridge to be opened when it went through.
Finally, they got told by the Port of London people that their license to operate would be withdrawn if they kept it.
So they got rid of it.
Massively reduced the number of openings and closings of Tower Bridge.
"Wouldn't bother me if my firm fired me. Fuck em."
Oh, they actually have. The bustards.
At some point these dull wankers are going to collide with Realpolitik, and realise how great powers will push you around, and actually kill you, if you are not prepared to use your own power (which we still have). Cf Ukraine, they should have kept their nukes, but alas
This is one of the criminal aspects of the Chagos Treachery, we are handing a significant prize to China AND FOR NO REASON AT ALL. We haven’t even done right by the Chagossians, we’ve done right by China, who will now plunder those pristine waters, and menace the American base
Sensationally stupid by Starmer, world class fuckwittery
You are a bit lost, aren’t you? Can't understand things.
Not really, I’m in the beating heart of Pristina, in literally the best bar in the country of Kosovo (I just checked on TripAdvisor)
[swaggering] I saw Tower Bridge open and close THREE times in as many hours from the 58th floor of one of London's tallest skyscrapers today
I used to be able to watch it open from my desk, when I worked just off the southern end of the bridge.
Annoying whenever it opened when I was trying to get back to Tower Hill for the tube home.
I used to live on the North side of the bridge, on Leman Street.
Friends would regularly suggest meeting up just South of the bridge, and I'd always groan, because it was inevitable that it would rise just as we got to it.
Leman Street - I was on Cartwright Street for years.
I was starting at UCL when we won the Falklands War, and we were all drinking in the Grafton Arms on Warren St in Fitzrovia when a US TV crew came in to ask “British” opinions of the victory
We were all quite drunk and they interviewed us and I was clearly exuberant and the American TV guy said “what do you think should happen now” and I said “now we reconquer America!” And they laughed and it was cool
And then afterwards the guy told me “you know that was live and it went out on CBS News in the USA?”
My American media career peaked early
Bit dickish. Great that you're not like that now you're older.
Indeed. A bit laddish and juvenile. However I was in the pub with a large group of FRIENDS (a couple of them still friends) and that’s what can happen when you all get together and have a laugh!
But then you wouldn’t get that dynamic, because you don’t really have friends, do you? - as you told us; so I can see why my entire life generally mystifies you
That would be fun but I am on assignment and I actually have to go out and explore and do things. And as far as I can see there is nothing to see and do here
I’ve already seen the famously hideous modernist buildings
Can't you spend some time looking for all the streets named after Tony Blair?
That reminds me of my old favorite quiz question:
In which city is Hermann Goering Strasse?
(Sadly, the street was renamed in 2004, and so it no longer works.)
"Wouldn't bother me if my firm fired me. Fuck em."
Oh, they actually have. The bustards.
At some point these dull wankers are going to collide with Realpolitik, and realise how great powers will push you around, and actually kill you, if you are not prepared to use your own power (which we still have). Cf Ukraine, they should have kept their nukes, but alas
This is one of the criminal aspects of the Chagos Treachery, we are handing a significant prize to China AND FOR NO REASON AT ALL. We haven’t even done right by the Chagossians, we’ve done right by China, who will now plunder those pristine waters, and menace the American base
Sensationally stupid by Starmer, world class fuckwittery
You are a bit lost, aren’t you? Can't understand things.
Not really, I’m in the beating heart of Pristina, in literally the best bar in the country of Kosovo (I just checked on TripAdvisor)
[swaggering] I saw Tower Bridge open and close THREE times in as many hours from the 58th floor of one of London's tallest skyscrapers today
I used to be able to watch it open from my desk, when I worked just off the southern end of the bridge.
Annoying whenever it opened when I was trying to get back to Tower Hill for the tube home.
I used to live on the North side of the bridge, on Leman Street.
Friends would regularly suggest meeting up just South of the bridge, and I'd always groan, because it was inevitable that it would rise just as we got to it.
Leman Street - I was on Cartwright Street for years.
What was the OK curry shop - Leman Spice??
I used to go to the Indian on Alie Street, just off Leman Street.
That would be fun but I am on assignment and I actually have to go out and explore and do things. And as far as I can see there is nothing to see and do here
I’ve already seen the famously hideous modernist buildings
Can't you spend some time looking for all the streets named after Tony Blair?
That reminds me of my old favorite quiz question:
In which city is Hermann Goering Strasse?
(Sadly, the street was renamed in 2004, and so it no longer works.)
"Wouldn't bother me if my firm fired me. Fuck em."
Oh, they actually have. The bustards.
At some point these dull wankers are going to collide with Realpolitik, and realise how great powers will push you around, and actually kill you, if you are not prepared to use your own power (which we still have). Cf Ukraine, they should have kept their nukes, but alas
This is one of the criminal aspects of the Chagos Treachery, we are handing a significant prize to China AND FOR NO REASON AT ALL. We haven’t even done right by the Chagossians, we’ve done right by China, who will now plunder those pristine waters, and menace the American base
Sensationally stupid by Starmer, world class fuckwittery
You are a bit lost, aren’t you? Can't understand things.
Not really, I’m in the beating heart of Pristina, in literally the best bar in the country of Kosovo (I just checked on TripAdvisor)
[swaggering] I saw Tower Bridge open and close THREE times in as many hours from the 58th floor of one of London's tallest skyscrapers today
I used to be able to watch it open from my desk, when I worked just off the southern end of the bridge.
Annoying whenever it opened when I was trying to get back to Tower Hill for the tube home.
I used to live on the North side of the bridge, on Leman Street.
Friends would regularly suggest meeting up just South of the bridge, and I'd always groan, because it was inevitable that it would rise just as we got to it.
There was a tourist boat that had a tall mast on it, purely to force Tower Bridge to be opened when it went through.
Finally, they got told by the Port of London people that their license to operate would be withdrawn if they kept it.
So they got rid of it.
Massively reduced the number of openings and closings of Tower Bridge.
The huge passenger ships like "Icon of the Seas" that sail from the Baltic to the North Sea lower their funnels in order to pass under the Øresund Bridge
"Wouldn't bother me if my firm fired me. Fuck em."
Oh, they actually have. The bustards.
At some point these dull wankers are going to collide with Realpolitik, and realise how great powers will push you around, and actually kill you, if you are not prepared to use your own power (which we still have). Cf Ukraine, they should have kept their nukes, but alas
This is one of the criminal aspects of the Chagos Treachery, we are handing a significant prize to China AND FOR NO REASON AT ALL. We haven’t even done right by the Chagossians, we’ve done right by China, who will now plunder those pristine waters, and menace the American base
Sensationally stupid by Starmer, world class fuckwittery
You are a bit lost, aren’t you? Can't understand things.
Not really, I’m in the beating heart of Pristina, in literally the best bar in the country of Kosovo (I just checked on TripAdvisor)
[swaggering] I saw Tower Bridge open and close THREE times in as many hours from the 58th floor of one of London's tallest skyscrapers today
I used to be able to watch it open from my desk, when I worked just off the southern end of the bridge.
Annoying whenever it opened when I was trying to get back to Tower Hill for the tube home.
I used to live on the North side of the bridge, on Leman Street.
Friends would regularly suggest meeting up just South of the bridge, and I'd always groan, because it was inevitable that it would rise just as we got to it.
Leman Street - I was on Cartwright Street for years.
What was the OK curry shop - Leman Spice??
I used to go to the Indian on Alie Street, just off Leman Street.
I used to go to the Tower Tandori - just across the river!
That would be fun but I am on assignment and I actually have to go out and explore and do things. And as far as I can see there is nothing to see and do here
I’ve already seen the famously hideous modernist buildings
Can't you spend some time looking for all the streets named after Tony Blair?
That reminds me of my old favorite quiz question:
In which city is Hermann Goering Strasse?
(Sadly, the street was renamed in 2004, and so it no longer works.)
In Namibia, isn’t it? Named after the dad?
Very good
I think you’re right. Either in Luderiz or swakop. Think I’ve walked down it
"Wouldn't bother me if my firm fired me. Fuck em."
Oh, they actually have. The bustards.
At some point these dull wankers are going to collide with Realpolitik, and realise how great powers will push you around, and actually kill you, if you are not prepared to use your own power (which we still have). Cf Ukraine, they should have kept their nukes, but alas
This is one of the criminal aspects of the Chagos Treachery, we are handing a significant prize to China AND FOR NO REASON AT ALL. We haven’t even done right by the Chagossians, we’ve done right by China, who will now plunder those pristine waters, and menace the American base
Sensationally stupid by Starmer, world class fuckwittery
You are a bit lost, aren’t you? Can't understand things.
Not really, I’m in the beating heart of Pristina, in literally the best bar in the country of Kosovo (I just checked on TripAdvisor)
[swaggering] I saw Tower Bridge open and close THREE times in as many hours from the 58th floor of one of London's tallest skyscrapers today
I used to be able to watch it open from my desk, when I worked just off the southern end of the bridge.
Annoying whenever it opened when I was trying to get back to Tower Hill for the tube home.
I used to live on the North side of the bridge, on Leman Street.
Friends would regularly suggest meeting up just South of the bridge, and I'd always groan, because it was inevitable that it would rise just as we got to it.
There was a tourist boat that had a tall mast on it, purely to force Tower Bridge to be opened when it went through.
Finally, they got told by the Port of London people that their license to operate would be withdrawn if they kept it.
So they got rid of it.
Massively reduced the number of openings and closings of Tower Bridge.
The huge passenger ships like "Icon of the Seas" that sail from the Baltic to the North Sea lower their funnels in order to pass under the Øresund Bridge
There was a fake paddle wheel boat that used to go up and down the Thames - at high tide they would fold the fake funnels to go under Tower Bridge, IIRC
The Falklands campaign was fought at a time when we could just about manage to defend it, but at a price including the loss of 32 Welsh Guards at Bluff Cove on the 8th June 1982, the day of our daughter's 11th birthday
It was a feature of our campaign to re elect Margaret Thatcher in 1983, as I was the driver for campaign for the late Wyn Roberts, as lots of questions were asked at the hustings not least because of the slaughter of the Welsh Guards
My wife and I visited the Falklands on our expedition to Antarctica in 2009 and it is a remote number of islands with sheep and amazing wildlife but few inhabitants and on the face of it seems understandable if some want it to return to Argentina, but ultimately if it is the Islanders decision, as it was in 1982, to remain British then we should defend that democratic wish
However, the best answer is to keep it as it as at present
You know this isn't your family WhatsApp chat, right?
Maybe telling a story of a lived experience is better than photos of food and gossip on WhatsApp
We were devastated at the loss of the Welsh Guards here in Wales and it was very much the story of our hustings in 1983
So devastating the first thing you cite on that day that over 30 men burnt to death is that it was your daughter's 11th birthday.
Rein the wife, kids, brothers, grandkids and second cousin twice-removed step-daughters close family friend crap, and give it a rest.
No-one cares.
Blimey. I am tempted to flag this. Pretty uncalled for.
If I may morally adjudicate, I think @Casino_Royale’s bluntness to @Big_G_NorthWales was unnecessary. However I suspect @Casino_Royale is genuinely angered and upset by the Chagos betrayal and is lashing out. If that is the case I extend him some sympathy as - for a while - I was equally infuriated. I have genuinely never seen such a stupid self harming act by a British government - I know most PBers won’t begin to understand this, but that is my honest perception
However I am now distracted by being in the world’s worst capital city and I’m thereby moving on, perhaps @Casino_Royale is still brooding
C'mon, there must be something. Ashgabat has the world's largest carpet. Keswick has the world's first pencil.
The Falklands campaign was fought at a time when we could just about manage to defend it, but at a price including the loss of 32 Welsh Guards at Bluff Cove on the 8th June 1982, the day of our daughter's 11th birthday
It was a feature of our campaign to re elect Margaret Thatcher in 1983, as I was the driver for campaign for the late Wyn Roberts, as lots of questions were asked at the hustings not least because of the slaughter of the Welsh Guards
My wife and I visited the Falklands on our expedition to Antarctica in 2009 and it is a remote number of islands with sheep and amazing wildlife but few inhabitants and on the face of it seems understandable if some want it to return to Argentina, but ultimately if it is the Islanders decision, as it was in 1982, to remain British then we should defend that democratic wish
However, the best answer is to keep it as it as at present
You know this isn't your family WhatsApp chat, right?
Maybe telling a story of a lived experience is better than photos of food and gossip on WhatsApp
We were devastated at the loss of the Welsh Guards here in Wales and it was very much the story of our hustings in 1983
So devastating the first thing you cite on that day that over 30 men burnt to death is that it was your daughter's 11th birthday.
Rein the wife, kids, brothers, grandkids and second cousin twice-removed step-daughters close family friend crap, and give it a rest.
No-one cares.
Blimey. I am tempted to flag this. Pretty uncalled for.
If I may morally adjudicate, I think @Casino_Royale’s bluntness to @Big_G_NorthWales was unnecessary. However I suspect @Casino_Royale is genuinely angered and upset by the Chagos betrayal and is lashing out. If that is the case I extend him some sympathy as - for a while - I was equally infuriated. I have genuinely never seen such a stupid self harming act by a British government - I know most PBers won’t begin to understand this, but that is my honest perception
However I am now distracted by being in the world’s worst capital city and I’m thereby moving on, perhaps @Casino_Royale is still brooding
C'mon, there must be something. Ashgabat has the world's largest carpet. Keswick has the world's first pencil.
That would be fun but I am on assignment and I actually have to go out and explore and do things. And as far as I can see there is nothing to see and do here
I’ve already seen the famously hideous modernist buildings
Can't you spend some time looking for all the streets named after Tony Blair?
That reminds me of my old favorite quiz question:
In which city is Hermann Goering Strasse?
(Sadly, the street was renamed in 2004, and so it no longer works.)
In Namibia, isn’t it? Named after the dad?
Very good
I think you’re right. Either in Luderiz or swakop. Think I’ve walked down it
Goering Senior was involved in the Namibian Genocide, wasn’t he?
That would be fun but I am on assignment and I actually have to go out and explore and do things. And as far as I can see there is nothing to see and do here
I’ve already seen the famously hideous modernist buildings
Can't you spend some time looking for all the streets named after Tony Blair?
That reminds me of my old favorite quiz question:
In which city is Hermann Goering Strasse?
(Sadly, the street was renamed in 2004, and so it no longer works.)
That would be fun but I am on assignment and I actually have to go out and explore and do things. And as far as I can see there is nothing to see and do here
I’ve already seen the famously hideous modernist buildings
Can't you spend some time looking for all the streets named after Tony Blair?
That reminds me of my old favorite quiz question:
In which city is Hermann Goering Strasse?
(Sadly, the street was renamed in 2004, and so it no longer works.)
In Namibia, isn’t it? Named after the dad?
Very good
I think you’re right. Either in Luderiz or swakop. Think I’ve walked down it
Goering Senior was involved in the Namibian Genocide, wasn’t he?
Yes. There were arguably two genocides in Namibia - two tribes - the witbooi and the Herero
That would be fun but I am on assignment and I actually have to go out and explore and do things. And as far as I can see there is nothing to see and do here
I’ve already seen the famously hideous modernist buildings
Can't you spend some time looking for all the streets named after Tony Blair?
That reminds me of my old favorite quiz question:
In which city is Hermann Goering Strasse?
(Sadly, the street was renamed in 2004, and so it no longer works.)
In Namibia, isn’t it? Named after the dad?
Very good
I think you’re right. Either in Luderiz or swakop. Think I’ve walked down it
Goering Senior was involved in the Namibian Genocide, wasn’t he?
The Falklands campaign was fought at a time when we could just about manage to defend it, but at a price including the loss of 32 Welsh Guards at Bluff Cove on the 8th June 1982, the day of our daughter's 11th birthday
It was a feature of our campaign to re elect Margaret Thatcher in 1983, as I was the driver for campaign for the late Wyn Roberts, as lots of questions were asked at the hustings not least because of the slaughter of the Welsh Guards
My wife and I visited the Falklands on our expedition to Antarctica in 2009 and it is a remote number of islands with sheep and amazing wildlife but few inhabitants and on the face of it seems understandable if some want it to return to Argentina, but ultimately if it is the Islanders decision, as it was in 1982, to remain British then we should defend that democratic wish
However, the best answer is to keep it as it as at present
You know this isn't your family WhatsApp chat, right?
Maybe telling a story of a lived experience is better than photos of food and gossip on WhatsApp
We were devastated at the loss of the Welsh Guards here in Wales and it was very much the story of our hustings in 1983
So devastating the first thing you cite on that day that over 30 men burnt to death is that it was your daughter's 11th birthday.
Rein the wife, kids, brothers, grandkids and second cousin twice-removed step-daughters close family friend crap, and give it a rest.
No-one cares.
Blimey. I am tempted to flag this. Pretty uncalled for.
If I may morally adjudicate, I think @Casino_Royale’s bluntness to @Big_G_NorthWales was unnecessary. However I suspect @Casino_Royale is genuinely angered and upset by the Chagos betrayal and is lashing out. If that is the case I extend him some sympathy as - for a while - I was equally infuriated. I have genuinely never seen such a stupid self harming act by a British government - I know most PBers won’t begin to understand this, but that is my honest perception
However I am now distracted by being in the world’s worst capital city and I’m thereby moving on, perhaps @Casino_Royale is still brooding
C'mon, there must be something. Ashgabat has the world's largest carpet. Keswick has the world's first pencil.
There must be SOMETHING?
Maybe not - that's why it's called Pristina
OK. Scarily, it means Leon can create its singular cause celebre. The reason people - hen parties, stag does - will flock to the place...
One of the worst aspects about party-gate was all this focus on Boris lying / covering for those partying, but those actually doing the partying are not named and shamed. They censored all the photos with those actually giving it large. So all we got was Boris with his shitty cake and Rishi in the corner with his can of coke.
My take has always been that these Friday night drinks in #10 have been going on forever and Boris, with his rule bending / breaking mindset, went you know if the ball came out the back of the scrum and there happened to be a few drinks in here after work on a Friday, I never saw nothing.....but the civil servants took that and turned into all nighters getting smashed. Those doing this should have been named and shamed and sacked in addition to Boris.
One of the worst aspects about party-gate was all this focus on Boris lying / covering for those partying, but those actually doing the partying are not named and shamed.
My take has always been that these Friday night drinks in #10 have been going on forever and Boris, with his rule bending / breaking mindset, went you know if the ball came out the back of the scrum and there happened to be a few drinks in here after work on a Friday, I never saw anything.....but the civil servants took that and turned into all nighters getting smashed.
Quite. But since he took the police caution, he had to apologise - not only on behalf if himself but everyone else. And he was never going to refuse the caution.
One of the worst aspects about party-gate was all this focus on Boris lying / covering for those partying, but those actually doing the partying are not named and shamed. So all we got was Boris with his shitty cake and Rishi in the corner with his can of coke.
My take has always been that these Friday night drinks in #10 have been going on forever and Boris, with his rule bending / breaking mindset, went you know if the ball came out the back of the scrum and there happened to be a few drinks in here after work on a Friday, I never saw nothing.....but the civil servants took that and turned into all nighters getting smashed. Those doing this should have been named and shamed and sacked in addition to Boris.
Simon Case should have resigned instantly when this appalling behaviour and actual law breaking took place.
It's not as if anyone other than Johnson has thought he is the right person to be Cabinet Sec.
The fact that it has taken three years to finally get him out is utterly disgraceful.
The Falklands campaign was fought at a time when we could just about manage to defend it, but at a price including the loss of 32 Welsh Guards at Bluff Cove on the 8th June 1982, the day of our daughter's 11th birthday
It was a feature of our campaign to re elect Margaret Thatcher in 1983, as I was the driver for campaign for the late Wyn Roberts, as lots of questions were asked at the hustings not least because of the slaughter of the Welsh Guards
My wife and I visited the Falklands on our expedition to Antarctica in 2009 and it is a remote number of islands with sheep and amazing wildlife but few inhabitants and on the face of it seems understandable if some want it to return to Argentina, but ultimately if it is the Islanders decision, as it was in 1982, to remain British then we should defend that democratic wish
However, the best answer is to keep it as it as at present
You know this isn't your family WhatsApp chat, right?
Maybe telling a story of a lived experience is better than photos of food and gossip on WhatsApp
We were devastated at the loss of the Welsh Guards here in Wales and it was very much the story of our hustings in 1983
So devastating the first thing you cite on that day that over 30 men burnt to death is that it was your daughter's 11th birthday.
Rein the wife, kids, brothers, grandkids and second cousin twice-removed step-daughters close family friend crap, and give it a rest.
One of the worst aspects about party-gate was all this focus on Boris lying / covering for those partying, but those actually doing the partying are not named and shamed.
My take has always been that these Friday night drinks in #10 have been going on forever and Boris, with his rule bending / breaking mindset, went you know if the ball came out the back of the scrum and there happened to be a few drinks in here after work on a Friday, I never saw anything.....but the civil servants took that and turned into all nighters getting smashed.
Quite. But since he took the police caution, he had to apologise - not only on behalf if himself but everyone else. And he was never going to refuse the caution.
I am not letting Boris off the hook, but a load of people who absolutely took the piss, not once, or having a meal in the garden during work time which included a drink, seemingly consistently Friday after Friday with the infamous trolley bag to get all the booze.
One of the worst aspects about party-gate was all this focus on Boris lying / covering for those partying, but those actually doing the partying are not named and shamed.
My take has always been that these Friday night drinks in #10 have been going on forever and Boris, with his rule bending / breaking mindset, went you know if the ball came out the back of the scrum and there happened to be a few drinks in here after work on a Friday, I never saw anything.....but the civil servants took that and turned into all nighters getting smashed.
Quite. But since he took the police caution, he had to apologise - not only on behalf if himself but everyone else. And he was never going to refuse the caution.
I am not letting Boris off the hook, but a load of people who absolutely took the piss, not once, or having a meal in the garden including a drink, seemingly consistently Friday after Friday with the infamous trolley bag to get all the booze.
Well he took one for the team ... and they say he's not a team player
One of the worst aspects about party-gate was all this focus on Boris lying / covering for those partying, but those actually doing the partying are not named and shamed.
My take has always been that these Friday night drinks in #10 have been going on forever and Boris, with his rule bending / breaking mindset, went you know if the ball came out the back of the scrum and there happened to be a few drinks in here after work on a Friday, I never saw anything.....but the civil servants took that and turned into all nighters getting smashed.
Quite. But since he took the police caution, he had to apologise - not only on behalf if himself but everyone else. And he was never going to refuse the caution.
I am not letting Boris off the hook, but a load of people who absolutely took the piss, not once, or having a meal in the garden during work time which included a drink, seemingly consistently Friday after Friday with the infamous trolley bag to get all the booze.
Let’s not forget it now turns out Starmer was probably living in an entirely different flat from his declared home - and doing fake tv broadcasts with his family photos on the shelves
For me, that is easily as bad as Partygate. Starmer is a fucking liar AND a thieving hypocrite
I am sure we were told this government was all about growth....and how do you get growth, one big driver is upgrading infrastructure. But its ok we are going to waste £20bn on some BS carbon capture nonsense instead.
I thought this was an interesting video talking about that widely cited Foundations paper. The guy makes some sensible and balanced points in his critique.
I am sure we were told this government was all about growth....and how do you get growth, one big driver is upgrading infrastructure. But its ok we are going to waste £20bn on some BS carbon capture nonsense instead.
I thought this was an interesting video talking about that widely cited Foundations paper. The guy makes some sensible and balanced points.
One of the worst aspects about party-gate was all this focus on Boris lying / covering for those partying, but those actually doing the partying are not named and shamed.
My take has always been that these Friday night drinks in #10 have been going on forever and Boris, with his rule bending / breaking mindset, went you know if the ball came out the back of the scrum and there happened to be a few drinks in here after work on a Friday, I never saw anything.....but the civil servants took that and turned into all nighters getting smashed.
Quite. But since he took the police caution, he had to apologise - not only on behalf if himself but everyone else. And he was never going to refuse the caution.
I am not letting Boris off the hook, but a load of people who absolutely took the piss, not once, or having a meal in the garden during work time which included a drink, seemingly consistently Friday after Friday with the infamous trolley bag to get all the booze.
Let’s not forget it now turns out Starmer was probably living in an entirely different flat from his declared home - and doing fake tv broadcasts with his family photos on the shelves
For me, that is easily as bad as Partygate. Starmer is a fucking liar AND a thieving hypocrite
I thought the photo thing was interesting...I keep my family secret, I don't use them as part of doing politics, until I do...his son seems to crop up in his excuses on a regular basis.
I am sure we were told this government was all about growth....and how do you get growth, one big driver is upgrading infrastructure. But its ok we are going to waste £20bn on some BS carbon capture nonsense instead.
I thought this was an interesting video talking about that widely cited Foundations paper. The guy makes some sensible and balanced points in his critique.
I am sure we were told this government was all about growth....and how do you get growth, one big driver is upgrading infrastructure. But its ok we are going to waste £20bn on some BS carbon capture nonsense instead.
I thought this was an interesting video talking about that widely cited Foundations paper. The guy makes some sensible and balanced points.
I tell you. They are going to be the Worst Government Ever and we will be begging for Liz Truss to come back
We are not even four months in
I genuinely can't work out what they are doing. The whole point of Labour is yin to Tory yang, we haven't invested enough in infrastructure, we have imported millions of people, we need more capacity, more hospitals, roads, rail, airports, schools, compute, etc....all the stuff you expect Labour to really go for, and they have plenty of political cover to borrow to do so.
Instead its some stupidly expensive carbon capture and some windmills and pylons via PFI, while cancelling hospital building, super computers, new rail, now roads....
If they do manage to sort out the planning system to build millions of new homes, there isn't going to be the infrastructure to support it.
One of the worst aspects about party-gate was all this focus on Boris lying / covering for those partying, but those actually doing the partying are not named and shamed.
My take has always been that these Friday night drinks in #10 have been going on forever and Boris, with his rule bending / breaking mindset, went you know if the ball came out the back of the scrum and there happened to be a few drinks in here after work on a Friday, I never saw anything.....but the civil servants took that and turned into all nighters getting smashed.
Quite. But since he took the police caution, he had to apologise - not only on behalf if himself but everyone else. And he was never going to refuse the caution.
I am not letting Boris off the hook, but a load of people who absolutely took the piss, not once, or having a meal in the garden during work time which included a drink, seemingly consistently Friday after Friday with the infamous trolley bag to get all the booze.
Let’s not forget it now turns out Starmer was probably living in an entirely different flat from his declared home - and doing fake tv broadcasts with his family photos on the shelves
For me, that is easily as bad as Partygate. Starmer is a fucking liar AND a thieving hypocrite
I thought the photo thing was interesting...I keep my family secret, I don't use them as part of doing politics, until I do...his son seems to crop up in his excuses on a regular basis.
Starmer is quite despicable. A cold blooded liar and an amoral careerist
I am sure we were told this government was all about growth....and how do you get growth, one big driver is upgrading infrastructure. But its ok we are going to waste £20bn on some BS carbon capture nonsense instead.
I thought this was an interesting video talking about that widely cited Foundations paper. The guy makes some sensible and balanced points.
I tell you. They are going to be the Worst Government Ever and we will be begging for Liz Truss to come back
We are not even four months in
I genuinely can't work out what they are doing. The whole point of Labour is yin to Tory yang, we haven't invested enough in infrastructure, we have imported millions of people, we need more capacity, more hospitals, roads, rail, airports, schools, compute, etc....all the stuff you expect Labour to really go for, and they have plenty of political cover to borrow to do so.
Instead its some stupidly expensive carbon capture and some windmills and pylons via PFI, while cancelling hospital building, super computers, new rail, now roads....
If they do manage to sort out the planning system to build millions of new homes, there isn't going to be the infrastructure to support it.
It’s weird. Really weird. And nobody on government is making any effort to communicate about this or explain what’s going on.
Either they’re being spun against like no previous government and this stuff is all nonsense, or the entire apparatus of government has been taken over by beancounters.
I am sure we were told this government was all about growth....and how do you get growth, one big driver is upgrading infrastructure. But its ok we are going to waste £20bn on some BS carbon capture nonsense instead.
I thought this was an interesting video talking about that widely cited Foundations paper. The guy makes some sensible and balanced points.
I tell you. They are going to be the Worst Government Ever and we will be begging for Liz Truss to come back
We are not even four months in
I genuinely can't work out what they are doing. The whole point of Labour is yin to Tory yang, we haven't invested enough in infrastructure, we have imported millions of people, we need more capacity, more hospitals, roads, rail, airports, schools, compute, etc....all the stuff you expect Labour to really go for, and they have plenty of political cover to borrow to do so.
Instead its some stupidly expensive carbon capture and some windmills and pylons via PFI, while cancelling hospital building, super computers, new rail, now roads....
If they do manage to sort out the planning system to build millions of new homes, there isn't going to be the infrastructure to support it.
One can only hope this is just the 'early days' syndrome as they struggle to get a grip on No. 10 and their ministerial offices. Lot of inexperienced people taking over. They need to find the levers fast and they need to find some grip.
And where is the plan for government? Sue Grey supposedly spend a whole year prepping for the transfer of power and it has been a bloody shambles apart from the riot reaction which was the only 'events, dear boy, events' thing to happen and so wasn't planned.
The Budget is becoming the make or break event for this administration.
I am sure we were told this government was all about growth....and how do you get growth, one big driver is upgrading infrastructure. But its ok we are going to waste £20bn on some BS carbon capture nonsense instead.
I thought this was an interesting video talking about that widely cited Foundations paper. The guy makes some sensible and balanced points.
I tell you. They are going to be the Worst Government Ever and we will be begging for Liz Truss to come back
We are not even four months in
I genuinely can't work out what they are doing. The whole point of Labour is yin to Tory yang, we haven't invested enough in infrastructure, we have imported millions of people, we need more capacity, more hospitals, roads, rail, airports, schools, compute, etc....all the stuff you expect Labour to really go for, and they have plenty of political cover to borrow to do so.
Instead its some stupidly expensive carbon capture and some windmills and pylons via PFI, while cancelling hospital building, super computers, new rail, now roads....
If they do manage to sort out the planning system to build millions of new homes, there isn't going to be the infrastructure to support it.
Leeds goalkeeper has just made the howler of howlers letting the ball slip through his hands at the end of added time gifting Sunderland an equaliser
It reminds me of the way some football supporter's chant
'you do not know what you are doing'
This is very apt for Starmer, especially with his football connections
I wonder when Yougov will grow a set, pull their finger out of their anus, and release some VI polling, as these topical quiz questions are getting rather threadbare. Will next week see them get really incisive and tell us how the nation splits on fabric conditioner preference, or perhaps the nitty gritty of favourite Christmas tune?
I am sure we were told this government was all about growth....and how do you get growth, one big driver is upgrading infrastructure. But its ok we are going to waste £20bn on some BS carbon capture nonsense instead.
I thought this was an interesting video talking about that widely cited Foundations paper. The guy makes some sensible and balanced points in his critique.
I am sure we were told this government was all about growth....and how do you get growth, one big driver is upgrading infrastructure. But its ok we are going to waste £20bn on some BS carbon capture nonsense instead.
I thought this was an interesting video talking about that widely cited Foundations paper. The guy makes some sensible and balanced points.
I tell you. They are going to be the Worst Government Ever and we will be begging for Liz Truss to come back
We are not even four months in
I genuinely can't work out what they are doing. The whole point of Labour is yin to Tory yang, we haven't invested enough in infrastructure, we have imported millions of people, we need more capacity, more hospitals, roads, rail, airports, schools, compute, etc....all the stuff you expect Labour to really go for, and they have plenty of political cover to borrow to do so.
Instead its some stupidly expensive carbon capture and some windmills and pylons via PFI, while cancelling hospital building, super computers, new rail, now roads....
If they do manage to sort out the planning system to build millions of new homes, there isn't going to be the infrastructure to support it.
What I want to know is who sold them this carbon capture idea.
Nobody sane would come up with it as a solution to anything.
20bn is a lot of insulation. Or solar panels. Or batteries. Or even an entire tidal scheme.
It doesn't product any return other than some vague thing to grandstand about at the kind of international conferences nobody really cares about. And maybe a few jobs importing Chinese pipes.
The decision on BIOT is the same. Buying 'goodwill' from the wrong people.
I am sure we were told this government was all about growth....and how do you get growth, one big driver is upgrading infrastructure. But its ok we are going to waste £20bn on some BS carbon capture nonsense instead.
I thought this was an interesting video talking about that widely cited Foundations paper. The guy makes some sensible and balanced points.
I tell you. They are going to be the Worst Government Ever and we will be begging for Liz Truss to come back
We are not even four months in
I genuinely can't work out what they are doing. The whole point of Labour is yin to Tory yang, we haven't invested enough in infrastructure, we have imported millions of people, we need more capacity, more hospitals, roads, rail, airports, schools, compute, etc....all the stuff you expect Labour to really go for, and they have plenty of political cover to borrow to do so.
Instead its some stupidly expensive carbon capture and some windmills and pylons via PFI, while cancelling hospital building, super computers, new rail, now roads....
If they do manage to sort out the planning system to build millions of new homes, there isn't going to be the infrastructure to support it.
One can only hope this is just the 'early days' syndrome as they struggle to get a grip on No. 10 and their ministerial offices. Lot of inexperienced people taking over. They need to find the levers fast and they need to find some grip.
And where is the plan for government? Sue Grey supposedly spend a whole year prepping for the transfer of power and it has been a bloody shambles apart from the riot reaction which was the only 'events, dear boy, events' thing to happen and so wasn't planned.
The Budget is becoming the make or break event for this administration.
I am sure we were told this government was all about growth....and how do you get growth, one big driver is upgrading infrastructure. But its ok we are going to waste £20bn on some BS carbon capture nonsense instead.
I thought this was an interesting video talking about that widely cited Foundations paper. The guy makes some sensible and balanced points.
I tell you. They are going to be the Worst Government Ever and we will be begging for Liz Truss to come back
We are not even four months in
I genuinely can't work out what they are doing. The whole point of Labour is yin to Tory yang, we haven't invested enough in infrastructure, we have imported millions of people, we need more capacity, more hospitals, roads, rail, airports, schools, compute, etc....all the stuff you expect Labour to really go for, and they have plenty of political cover to borrow to do so.
Instead its some stupidly expensive carbon capture and some windmills and pylons via PFI, while cancelling hospital building, super computers, new rail, now roads....
If they do manage to sort out the planning system to build millions of new homes, there isn't going to be the infrastructure to support it.
It’s weird. Really weird. And nobody on government is making any effort to communicate about this or explain what’s going on.
Either they’re being spun against like no previous government and this stuff is all nonsense, or the entire apparatus of government has been taken over by beancounters.
It's only a matter of time before Mandelson is bought into No 10 to help get a bloody grip.
I am sure we were told this government was all about growth....and how do you get growth, one big driver is upgrading infrastructure. But its ok we are going to waste £20bn on some BS carbon capture nonsense instead.
I thought this was an interesting video talking about that widely cited Foundations paper. The guy makes some sensible and balanced points.
I tell you. They are going to be the Worst Government Ever and we will be begging for Liz Truss to come back
We are not even four months in
I genuinely can't work out what they are doing. The whole point of Labour is yin to Tory yang, we haven't invested enough in infrastructure, we have imported millions of people, we need more capacity, more hospitals, roads, rail, airports, schools, compute, etc....all the stuff you expect Labour to really go for, and they have plenty of political cover to borrow to do so.
Instead its some stupidly expensive carbon capture and some windmills and pylons via PFI, while cancelling hospital building, super computers, new rail, now roads....
If they do manage to sort out the planning system to build millions of new homes, there isn't going to be the infrastructure to support it.
It’s weird. Really weird. And nobody on government is making any effort to communicate about this or explain what’s going on.
Either they’re being spun against like no previous government and this stuff is all nonsense, or the entire apparatus of government has been taken over by beancounters.
It's only a matter of time before Mandelson is bought into No 10 to help get a bloody grip.
I am sure we were told this government was all about growth....and how do you get growth, one big driver is upgrading infrastructure. But its ok we are going to waste £20bn on some BS carbon capture nonsense instead.
I thought this was an interesting video talking about that widely cited Foundations paper. The guy makes some sensible and balanced points.
I tell you. They are going to be the Worst Government Ever and we will be begging for Liz Truss to come back
We are not even four months in
I genuinely can't work out what they are doing. The whole point of Labour is yin to Tory yang, we haven't invested enough in infrastructure, we have imported millions of people, we need more capacity, more hospitals, roads, rail, airports, schools, compute, etc....all the stuff you expect Labour to really go for, and they have plenty of political cover to borrow to do so.
Instead its some stupidly expensive carbon capture and some windmills and pylons via PFI, while cancelling hospital building, super computers, new rail, now roads....
If they do manage to sort out the planning system to build millions of new homes, there isn't going to be the infrastructure to support it.
It’s weird. Really weird. And nobody on government is making any effort to communicate about this or explain what’s going on.
Either they’re being spun against like no previous government and this stuff is all nonsense, or the entire apparatus of government has been taken over by beancounters.
The optimistic take is that nature is healing, and we're back to pre-Spending Review politics as normal. The Parade of the Bleeding Stumps; "of course we could find ten percent savings, but it would require the firstborn to slaughter themselves because we couldn't afford the bullets..." Which the civil servants carefully write up in a report which the minister "carelessly" leaves on the table when they chat to a journalist because that's the trouble with so many bits of paper...
I'm not saying that I believe that's what's going on, but that was politics as normal. Which is part of the reason why a Spending Review is so overdue.
I am sure we were told this government was all about growth....and how do you get growth, one big driver is upgrading infrastructure. But its ok we are going to waste £20bn on some BS carbon capture nonsense instead.
I thought this was an interesting video talking about that widely cited Foundations paper. The guy makes some sensible and balanced points.
I tell you. They are going to be the Worst Government Ever and we will be begging for Liz Truss to come back
We are not even four months in
I genuinely can't work out what they are doing. The whole point of Labour is yin to Tory yang, we haven't invested enough in infrastructure, we have imported millions of people, we need more capacity, more hospitals, roads, rail, airports, schools, compute, etc....all the stuff you expect Labour to really go for, and they have plenty of political cover to borrow to do so.
Instead its some stupidly expensive carbon capture and some windmills and pylons via PFI, while cancelling hospital building, super computers, new rail, now roads....
If they do manage to sort out the planning system to build millions of new homes, there isn't going to be the infrastructure to support it.
It’s weird. Really weird. And nobody on government is making any effort to communicate about this or explain what’s going on.
Either they’re being spun against like no previous government and this stuff is all nonsense, or the entire apparatus of government has been taken over by beancounters.
It's only a matter of time before Mandelson is bought into No 10 to help get a bloody grip.
He’s too old. Labour are clueless and fucked already
SpaceX engineers are trying to deliver Starlink terminals & supplies to devastated areas in North Carolina right now and @FEMA is both failing to help AND won’t let others help. This is unconscionable!!
They just took this video a few hours ago, where you can see the level of devastation: roads, houses, electricity, water supply and ground Internet connections completely destroyed.
@FEMA wouldn’t let them land to deliver critical supplies … my blood is boiling …
FEMA’s response to the disaster in NC is becoming a political issue in the US.
There are lots of allegations of misuse of funds as well as actively making things worse on the ground. This local businesswoman describes attempts to confiscate chainsaws she had sent to help people clear the blocked roads:
I am sure we were told this government was all about growth....and how do you get growth, one big driver is upgrading infrastructure. But its ok we are going to waste £20bn on some BS carbon capture nonsense instead.
I thought this was an interesting video talking about that widely cited Foundations paper. The guy makes some sensible and balanced points.
I tell you. They are going to be the Worst Government Ever and we will be begging for Liz Truss to come back
We are not even four months in
I genuinely can't work out what they are doing. The whole point of Labour is yin to Tory yang, we haven't invested enough in infrastructure, we have imported millions of people, we need more capacity, more hospitals, roads, rail, airports, schools, compute, etc....all the stuff you expect Labour to really go for, and they have plenty of political cover to borrow to do so.
Instead its some stupidly expensive carbon capture and some windmills and pylons via PFI, while cancelling hospital building, super computers, new rail, now roads....
If they do manage to sort out the planning system to build millions of new homes, there isn't going to be the infrastructure to support it.
One can only hope this is just the 'early days' syndrome as they struggle to get a grip on No. 10 and their ministerial offices. Lot of inexperienced people taking over. They need to find the levers fast and they need to find some grip.
And where is the plan for government? Sue Grey supposedly spend a whole year prepping for the transfer of power and it has been a bloody shambles apart from the riot reaction which was the only 'events, dear boy, events' thing to happen and so wasn't planned.
The Budget is becoming the make or break event for this administration.
I am mystified frankly.
And who is doing all the leaking ?
Some would say that, considering means, motive and opportunity, it's an open and shut case.
And whilst the Cabinet Secretary's retirement letter denied that it was to do with anything other than health, you know what someone (Otto von Bismarck? Claud Cockburn? Nobody really knows) said about never believing anything until it had been officially denied...
I am sure we were told this government was all about growth....and how do you get growth, one big driver is upgrading infrastructure. But its ok we are going to waste £20bn on some BS carbon capture nonsense instead.
I thought this was an interesting video talking about that widely cited Foundations paper. The guy makes some sensible and balanced points.
I tell you. They are going to be the Worst Government Ever and we will be begging for Liz Truss to come back
We are not even four months in
I genuinely can't work out what they are doing. The whole point of Labour is yin to Tory yang, we haven't invested enough in infrastructure, we have imported millions of people, we need more capacity, more hospitals, roads, rail, airports, schools, compute, etc....all the stuff you expect Labour to really go for, and they have plenty of political cover to borrow to do so.
Instead its some stupidly expensive carbon capture and some windmills and pylons via PFI, while cancelling hospital building, super computers, new rail, now roads....
If they do manage to sort out the planning system to build millions of new homes, there isn't going to be the infrastructure to support it.
One can only hope this is just the 'early days' syndrome as they struggle to get a grip on No. 10 and their ministerial offices. Lot of inexperienced people taking over. They need to find the levers fast and they need to find some grip.
And where is the plan for government? Sue Grey supposedly spend a whole year prepping for the transfer of power and it has been a bloody shambles apart from the riot reaction which was the only 'events, dear boy, events' thing to happen and so wasn't planned.
The Budget is becoming the make or break event for this administration.
I am mystified frankly.
And who is doing all the leaking ?
Some would say that, considering means, motive and opportunity, it's an open and shut case.
And whilst the Cabinet Secretary's retirement letter denied that it was to do with anything other than health, you know what someone (Otto von Bismarck? Claud Cockburn? Nobody really knows) said about never believing anything until it had been officially denied...
It has been suggested Sue Gray is not at all popular with her colleagues so it could be just anybody
If you look at his CV Sands has done some really dodgy shit, and taken up some peculiar causes, and seems to detest the concept of “Britain”. Also a bitter Remainer, of course
lol
We will always have Brexit to annoy the fuck out of them
I think I’m correct that he was on the advisory board of weird Unionist cult site These Islands so he must have been into a concept of ‘Britain’ at some point. No longer mentioned in their guff so perhaps he’s been turned.
I am sure we were told this government was all about growth....and how do you get growth, one big driver is upgrading infrastructure. But its ok we are going to waste £20bn on some BS carbon capture nonsense instead.
I thought this was an interesting video talking about that widely cited Foundations paper. The guy makes some sensible and balanced points.
I tell you. They are going to be the Worst Government Ever and we will be begging for Liz Truss to come back
We are not even four months in
I genuinely can't work out what they are doing. The whole point of Labour is yin to Tory yang, we haven't invested enough in infrastructure, we have imported millions of people, we need more capacity, more hospitals, roads, rail, airports, schools, compute, etc....all the stuff you expect Labour to really go for, and they have plenty of political cover to borrow to do so.
Instead its some stupidly expensive carbon capture and some windmills and pylons via PFI, while cancelling hospital building, super computers, new rail, now roads....
If they do manage to sort out the planning system to build millions of new homes, there isn't going to be the infrastructure to support it.
One can only hope this is just the 'early days' syndrome as they struggle to get a grip on No. 10 and their ministerial offices. Lot of inexperienced people taking over. They need to find the levers fast and they need to find some grip.
And where is the plan for government? Sue Grey supposedly spend a whole year prepping for the transfer of power and it has been a bloody shambles apart from the riot reaction which was the only 'events, dear boy, events' thing to happen and so wasn't planned.
The Budget is becoming the make or break event for this administration.
I am mystified frankly.
And who is doing all the leaking ?
Some would say that, considering means, motive and opportunity, it's an open and shut case.
And whilst the Cabinet Secretary's retirement letter denied that it was to do with anything other than health, you know what someone (Otto von Bismarck? Claud Cockburn? Nobody really knows) said about never believing anything until it had been officially denied...
It has been suggested Sue Gray is not at all popular with her colleagues so it could be just anybody
Seems there are several leakers.
I guess it is etiquette - but allowing Case another three months is bloody ridiculous given the state of the ship of state.
That would be fun but I am on assignment and I actually have to go out and explore and do things. And as far as I can see there is nothing to see and do here
I’ve already seen the famously hideous modernist buildings
Can't you spend some time looking for all the streets named after Tony Blair?
That reminds me of my old favorite quiz question:
In which city is Hermann Goering Strasse?
(Sadly, the street was renamed in 2004, and so it no longer works.)
In Namibia, isn’t it? Named after the dad?
Very good
I think you’re right. Either in Luderiz or swakop. Think I’ve walked down it
Goering Senior was involved in the Namibian Genocide, wasn’t he?
I was starting at UCL when we won the Falklands War, and we were all drinking in the Grafton Arms on Warren St in Fitzrovia when a US TV crew came in to ask “British” opinions of the victory
We were all quite drunk and they interviewed us and I was clearly exuberant and the American TV guy said “what do you think should happen now” and I said “now we reconquer America!” And they laughed and it was cool
And then afterwards the guy told me “you know that was live and it went out on CBS News in the USA?”
My American media career peaked early
Bit dickish. Great that you're not like that now you're older.
Indeed. A bit laddish and juvenile. However I was in the pub with a large group of FRIENDS (a couple of them still friends) and that’s what can happen when you all get together and have a laugh!
But then you wouldn’t get that dynamic, because you don’t really have friends, do you? - as you told us; so I can see why my entire life generally mystifies you
Far from the truth. I was wild until I was 46. I'd just meet people and - boom - half an hour later we'd be friends, laughing and drinking and doing impressions. But time does its thing. That's what it's there for.
One of the worst aspects about party-gate was all this focus on Boris lying / covering for those partying, but those actually doing the partying are not named and shamed.
My take has always been that these Friday night drinks in #10 have been going on forever and Boris, with his rule bending / breaking mindset, went you know if the ball came out the back of the scrum and there happened to be a few drinks in here after work on a Friday, I never saw anything.....but the civil servants took that and turned into all nighters getting smashed.
Quite. But since he took the police caution, he had to apologise - not only on behalf if himself but everyone else. And he was never going to refuse the caution.
I am not letting Boris off the hook, but a load of people who absolutely took the piss, not once, or having a meal in the garden during work time which included a drink, seemingly consistently Friday after Friday with the infamous trolley bag to get all the booze.
Let’s not forget it now turns out Starmer was probably living in an entirely different flat from his declared home - and doing fake tv broadcasts with his family photos on the shelves
For me, that is easily as bad as Partygate. Starmer is a fucking liar AND a thieving hypocrite
I thought the photo thing was interesting...I keep my family secret, I don't use them as part of doing politics, until I do...his son seems to crop up in his excuses on a regular basis.
Starmer is quite despicable. A cold blooded liar and an amoral careerist
"amoral careerist"? Hardly a surprise. He sat in Corbyn's Shadow Cabinet whilst anti-semitism ran riot through Labour for years. Never flinched.
One of the worst aspects about party-gate was all this focus on Boris lying / covering for those partying, but those actually doing the partying are not named and shamed.
My take has always been that these Friday night drinks in #10 have been going on forever and Boris, with his rule bending / breaking mindset, went you know if the ball came out the back of the scrum and there happened to be a few drinks in here after work on a Friday, I never saw anything.....but the civil servants took that and turned into all nighters getting smashed.
Quite. But since he took the police caution, he had to apologise - not only on behalf if himself but everyone else. And he was never going to refuse the caution.
I am not letting Boris off the hook, but a load of people who absolutely took the piss, not once, or having a meal in the garden during work time which included a drink, seemingly consistently Friday after Friday with the infamous trolley bag to get all the booze.
Let’s not forget it now turns out Starmer was probably living in an entirely different flat from his declared home - and doing fake tv broadcasts with his family photos on the shelves
For me, that is easily as bad as Partygate. Starmer is a fucking liar AND a thieving hypocrite
I thought the photo thing was interesting...I keep my family secret, I don't use them as part of doing politics, until I do...his son seems to crop up in his excuses on a regular basis.
Starmer is quite despicable. A cold blooded liar and an amoral careerist
I've been surprised by how many mistakes he's made, and I had very low expectations.
I was working in Finland in 1982 and the first I knew of the Falklands war was a striking Time Magazine headline on the news stands saying "The Empire Strikes Back" (referencing Star Wars for those too young to know). And actually for the first (and maybe the last) time it did make me feel a flush of pride in a "rules the waves" kind of way
I was mortally embarrassed by the whole thing.
Why? An illegal invasion of sovereign territory? Sending a fleet and troops enough to reclaim the rightful ownership?
The jingoism was suffocating. I found it very unpleasant. It's not so much a comment on the rights and wrongs of the exercise.
One of the worst aspects about party-gate was all this focus on Boris lying / covering for those partying, but those actually doing the partying are not named and shamed.
My take has always been that these Friday night drinks in #10 have been going on forever and Boris, with his rule bending / breaking mindset, went you know if the ball came out the back of the scrum and there happened to be a few drinks in here after work on a Friday, I never saw anything.....but the civil servants took that and turned into all nighters getting smashed.
Quite. But since he took the police caution, he had to apologise - not only on behalf if himself but everyone else. And he was never going to refuse the caution.
I am not letting Boris off the hook, but a load of people who absolutely took the piss, not once, or having a meal in the garden during work time which included a drink, seemingly consistently Friday after Friday with the infamous trolley bag to get all the booze.
Let’s not forget it now turns out Starmer was probably living in an entirely different flat from his declared home - and doing fake tv broadcasts with his family photos on the shelves
For me, that is easily as bad as Partygate. Starmer is a fucking liar AND a thieving hypocrite
I thought the photo thing was interesting...I keep my family secret, I don't use them as part of doing politics, until I do...his son seems to crop up in his excuses on a regular basis.
Starmer is quite despicable. A cold blooded liar and an amoral careerist
I've been surprised by how many mistakes he's made, and I had very low expectations.
He’s brought the mindset of a self-righteous public-sector lawyer into politics
I was starting at UCL when we won the Falklands War, and we were all drinking in the Grafton Arms on Warren St in Fitzrovia when a US TV crew came in to ask “British” opinions of the victory
We were all quite drunk and they interviewed us and I was clearly exuberant and the American TV guy said “what do you think should happen now” and I said “now we reconquer America!” And they laughed and it was cool
And then afterwards the guy told me “you know that was live and it went out on CBS News in the USA?”
My American media career peaked early
Bit dickish. Great that you're not like that now you're older.
Indeed. A bit laddish and juvenile. However I was in the pub with a large group of FRIENDS (a couple of them still friends) and that’s what can happen when you all get together and have a laugh!
But then you wouldn’t get that dynamic, because you don’t really have friends, do you? - as you told us; so I can see why my entire life generally mystifies you
Far from the truth. I was wild until I was 46. I'd just meet people and - boom - half an hour later we'd be friends, laughing and drinking and doing impressions. But time does its thing. That's what it's there for.
I find that extremely hard to believe - the easy affability. You’re just not the type
But what do I know. Maybe you save the dashing charm for other forums, and fair enough
I am sure we were told this government was all about growth....and how do you get growth, one big driver is upgrading infrastructure. But its ok we are going to waste £20bn on some BS carbon capture nonsense instead.
I thought this was an interesting video talking about that widely cited Foundations paper. The guy makes some sensible and balanced points.
I tell you. They are going to be the Worst Government Ever and we will be begging for Liz Truss to come back
We are not even four months in
I genuinely can't work out what they are doing. The whole point of Labour is yin to Tory yang, we haven't invested enough in infrastructure, we have imported millions of people, we need more capacity, more hospitals, roads, rail, airports, schools, compute, etc....all the stuff you expect Labour to really go for, and they have plenty of political cover to borrow to do so.
Instead its some stupidly expensive carbon capture and some windmills and pylons via PFI, while cancelling hospital building, super computers, new rail, now roads....
If they do manage to sort out the planning system to build millions of new homes, there isn't going to be the infrastructure to support it.
What I want to know is who sold them this carbon capture idea.
Nobody sane would come up with it as a solution to anything.
20bn is a lot of insulation. Or solar panels. Or batteries. Or even an entire tidal scheme.
It doesn't product any return other than some vague thing to grandstand about at the kind of international conferences nobody really cares about. And maybe a few jobs importing Chinese pipes.
The decision on BIOT is the same. Buying 'goodwill' from the wrong people.
From what I understand, the 22Bn is a future promise to pay money for carbon actually captured and stored. So there is no chance that any money will be paid out before the next election - it will take years to build the actual carbon capture facilities.
I have a certain sympathy to this approach - offer a bounty for actual results delivered. I would like to do something similar for ZEV power storage.
I think there is a BMG poll out tonight in the I newspaper with Labour 30% Conservatives 25%
If true then Labour will be delirious given the appalling few weeks they have had.
The last listed BMG poll on Wikipedia has a 4 point Labour lead (30/26), so that would represent a 1 point improvement of their lead through September.
On Jan 6th, Trump didn't come out for a speech to "Hail to the Chief". Which may have indicated the speech was a Presidential act. As set out by the Supreme Court.
Instead, he emerged to the Village People's "YMCA".
A 64-year-old white man in Springfield, Ohio, was accused of illegally hunting geese at a golf course pond as former President Donald Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, were spreading racist lies that Haitian immigrants in the area were eating geese and people’s pets.
Brian Comer was charged with a misdemeanor in connection with the Sept. 10 incident. According to an arrest affidavit obtained by HuffPost, a golfer at Rocky Lakes Golf Course in Springfield reported seeing a Canada goose floating in a pond and Comer using a shotgun to shoot another bird.
Oh. So it was an old white guy who killed a goose. Not a Haitian.
I am sure we were told this government was all about growth....and how do you get growth, one big driver is upgrading infrastructure. But its ok we are going to waste £20bn on some BS carbon capture nonsense instead.
I thought this was an interesting video talking about that widely cited Foundations paper. The guy makes some sensible and balanced points.
I tell you. They are going to be the Worst Government Ever and we will be begging for Liz Truss to come back
We are not even four months in
I genuinely can't work out what they are doing. The whole point of Labour is yin to Tory yang, we haven't invested enough in infrastructure, we have imported millions of people, we need more capacity, more hospitals, roads, rail, airports, schools, compute, etc....all the stuff you expect Labour to really go for, and they have plenty of political cover to borrow to do so.
Instead its some stupidly expensive carbon capture and some windmills and pylons via PFI, while cancelling hospital building, super computers, new rail, now roads....
If they do manage to sort out the planning system to build millions of new homes, there isn't going to be the infrastructure to support it.
It’s weird. Really weird. And nobody on government is making any effort to communicate about this or explain what’s going on.
Either they’re being spun against like no previous government and this stuff is all nonsense, or the entire apparatus of government has been taken over by beancounters.
It's only a matter of time before Mandelson is bought into No 10 to help get a bloody grip.
I was wondering about him. They need someone to get a grip who knows his way around govt and understands comms. The return of the prince of darkness? Desperate times, desperate measures....
This is mildly interesting — one of Mel Stride's supporters, in the shape of Desmond Swayne, is now backing Robert Jenrick. Shows how you can't make easy assumptions about how votes will transfer between candidates.
One of the worst aspects about party-gate was all this focus on Boris lying / covering for those partying, but those actually doing the partying are not named and shamed.
My take has always been that these Friday night drinks in #10 have been going on forever and Boris, with his rule bending / breaking mindset, went you know if the ball came out the back of the scrum and there happened to be a few drinks in here after work on a Friday, I never saw anything.....but the civil servants took that and turned into all nighters getting smashed.
Quite. But since he took the police caution, he had to apologise - not only on behalf if himself but everyone else. And he was never going to refuse the caution.
I am not letting Boris off the hook, but a load of people who absolutely took the piss, not once, or having a meal in the garden during work time which included a drink, seemingly consistently Friday after Friday with the infamous trolley bag to get all the booze.
Let’s not forget it now turns out Starmer was probably living in an entirely different flat from his declared home - and doing fake tv broadcasts with his family photos on the shelves
For me, that is easily as bad as Partygate. Starmer is a fucking liar AND a thieving hypocrite
I thought the photo thing was interesting...I keep my family secret, I don't use them as part of doing politics, until I do...his son seems to crop up in his excuses on a regular basis.
Starmer is quite despicable. A cold blooded liar and an amoral careerist
Not good reading for Labour or the Conservatives to be honest.
Yet another example of the political stupidity of the WFA cut. And for what? Might not even save £0.5b at the current rate of progress as loads of pensioners switch to the pension credit.
A 64-year-old white man in Springfield, Ohio, was accused of illegally hunting geese at a golf course pond as former President Donald Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, were spreading racist lies that Haitian immigrants in the area were eating geese and people’s pets.
Brian Comer was charged with a misdemeanor in connection with the Sept. 10 incident. According to an arrest affidavit obtained by HuffPost, a golfer at Rocky Lakes Golf Course in Springfield reported seeing a Canada goose floating in a pond and Comer using a shotgun to shoot another bird.
Oh. So it was an old white guy who killed a goose. Not a Haitian.
I was working in Finland in 1982 and the first I knew of the Falklands war was a striking Time Magazine headline on the news stands saying "The Empire Strikes Back" (referencing Star Wars for those too young to know). And actually for the first (and maybe the last) time it did make me feel a flush of pride in a "rules the waves" kind of way
I was mortally embarrassed by the whole thing.
Why?
Embarassed is perhaps the wrong word on reflection. Alienated is maybe better. The country seemed to go a bit soft in the head. There was no escape from it.
A 64-year-old white man in Springfield, Ohio, was accused of illegally hunting geese at a golf course pond as former President Donald Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, were spreading racist lies that Haitian immigrants in the area were eating geese and people’s pets.
Brian Comer was charged with a misdemeanor in connection with the Sept. 10 incident. According to an arrest affidavit obtained by HuffPost, a golfer at Rocky Lakes Golf Course in Springfield reported seeing a Canada goose floating in a pond and Comer using a shotgun to shoot another bird.
Oh. So it was an old white guy who killed a goose. Not a Haitian.
A plurality of British voters think the future of the Falkland Islands should be up to islanders themselves and the rest mainly think they should stay British.
I think the fact they are unbothered otherwise doesn't mean much other than they are over the other side of the world and not a major day to day concern but there clearly is no desire to hand them over to Argentina either
SpaceX engineers are trying to deliver Starlink terminals & supplies to devastated areas in North Carolina right now and @FEMA is both failing to help AND won’t let others help. This is unconscionable!!
They just took this video a few hours ago, where you can see the level of devastation: roads, houses, electricity, water supply and ground Internet connections completely destroyed.
@FEMA wouldn’t let them land to deliver critical supplies … my blood is boiling …
FEMA’s response to the disaster in NC is becoming a political issue in the US.
There are lots of allegations of misuse of funds as well as actively making things worse on the ground. This local businesswoman describes attempts to confiscate chainsaws she had sent to help people clear the blocked roads:
Buttigieg dismisses Musk’s Helene federal response claims
https://thehill.com/policy/technology/4916893-pete-buttigieg-elon-musk-hurricane/ Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg called out tech giant Elon Musk on Friday for making false claims about the federal government blocking flights with deliveries for Hurricane Helene victims. Musk posted a screenshot of a conversation with a person who said the air space had been “shut down” and that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was “throttling flights.” “The level of belligerent government incompetence is staggering!!” Musk wrote to his followers. About an hour later, Buttigeg responded to his claims, which he noted were inaccurate. “No one is shutting down the airspace and FAA doesn’t block legitimate rescue and recovery flights. If you’re encountering a problem give me a call,” Buttigieg stated. Following their public conversation, Musk posted a message thanking Buttigeg for speaking with him offline. “Thanks for the call. Hopefully, we can resolve this soon,” Musk vaguely replied leaving people to wonder about what transpired...
Britain through to final of sailing’s Americas Cup for 1st time since 1964. These the scenes in Barcelona as @ineosbritannia team celebrate 7-4 win over Italy & progress to the sport’s showpiece event
SpaceX engineers are trying to deliver Starlink terminals & supplies to devastated areas in North Carolina right now and @FEMA is both failing to help AND won’t let others help. This is unconscionable!!
They just took this video a few hours ago, where you can see the level of devastation: roads, houses, electricity, water supply and ground Internet connections completely destroyed.
@FEMA wouldn’t let them land to deliver critical supplies … my blood is boiling …
FEMA’s response to the disaster in NC is becoming a political issue in the US.
There are lots of allegations of misuse of funds as well as actively making things worse on the ground. This local businesswoman describes attempts to confiscate chainsaws she had sent to help people clear the blocked roads:
Do you ever consider that replying to yourself to confirm your own point, citing a twitter account who's banner image is a dude holding a rifle and described as 'We are an organization dedicated to restoring the civil rights of Americans 🇺🇸' possibly makes you look a tad partisan?
SpaceX engineers are trying to deliver Starlink terminals & supplies to devastated areas in North Carolina right now and @FEMA is both failing to help AND won’t let others help. This is unconscionable!!
They just took this video a few hours ago, where you can see the level of devastation: roads, houses, electricity, water supply and ground Internet connections completely destroyed.
@FEMA wouldn’t let them land to deliver critical supplies … my blood is boiling …
FEMA’s response to the disaster in NC is becoming a political issue in the US.
There are lots of allegations of misuse of funds as well as actively making things worse on the ground. This local businesswoman describes attempts to confiscate chainsaws she had sent to help people clear the blocked roads:
Buttigieg dismisses Musk’s Helene federal response claims
https://thehill.com/policy/technology/4916893-pete-buttigieg-elon-musk-hurricane/ Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg called out tech giant Elon Musk on Friday for making false claims about the federal government blocking flights with deliveries for Hurricane Helene victims. Musk posted a screenshot of a conversation with a person who said the air space had been “shut down” and that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was “throttling flights.” “The level of belligerent government incompetence is staggering!!” Musk wrote to his followers. About an hour later, Buttigeg responded to his claims, which he noted were inaccurate. “No one is shutting down the airspace and FAA doesn’t block legitimate rescue and recovery flights. If you’re encountering a problem give me a call,” Buttigieg stated. Following their public conversation, Musk posted a message thanking Buttigeg for speaking with him offline. “Thanks for the call. Hopefully, we can resolve this soon,” Musk vaguely replied leaving people to wonder about what transpired...
Misinformation - some of it spread by the despicable Musk - may well be costing lives. An example of how the new social media free for alls are actively dangerous. Local Republican says the conspiracy theories are harming rescue efforts.
SpaceX engineers are trying to deliver Starlink terminals & supplies to devastated areas in North Carolina right now and @FEMA is both failing to help AND won’t let others help. This is unconscionable!!
They just took this video a few hours ago, where you can see the level of devastation: roads, houses, electricity, water supply and ground Internet connections completely destroyed.
@FEMA wouldn’t let them land to deliver critical supplies … my blood is boiling …
FEMA’s response to the disaster in NC is becoming a political issue in the US.
There are lots of allegations of misuse of funds as well as actively making things worse on the ground. This local businesswoman describes attempts to confiscate chainsaws she had sent to help people clear the blocked roads:
Buttigieg dismisses Musk’s Helene federal response claims
https://thehill.com/policy/technology/4916893-pete-buttigieg-elon-musk-hurricane/ Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg called out tech giant Elon Musk on Friday for making false claims about the federal government blocking flights with deliveries for Hurricane Helene victims. Musk posted a screenshot of a conversation with a person who said the air space had been “shut down” and that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was “throttling flights.” “The level of belligerent government incompetence is staggering!!” Musk wrote to his followers. About an hour later, Buttigeg responded to his claims, which he noted were inaccurate. “No one is shutting down the airspace and FAA doesn’t block legitimate rescue and recovery flights. If you’re encountering a problem give me a call,” Buttigieg stated. Following their public conversation, Musk posted a message thanking Buttigeg for speaking with him offline. “Thanks for the call. Hopefully, we can resolve this soon,” Musk vaguely replied leaving people to wonder about what transpired...
I'm actually surprised that as many as 35% would be "upset". That's an awful lot of Blimps we still have here in 2024.
As a democrat I'd be upset since I know it's not what the residents want.
If the residents wanted to go Argentinian then I couldn't care less, respect their choices, but that cuts both ways and if (since) they want to be British then democracy should be respected.
Self determination goes both ways.
Yet resolutely un-upset about, say, the enormous Palestinian casualties in Gaza.
Comments
https://x.com/ReformDaily_/status/1842185497612841393?t=lWOnDB1Rb8CzNZ21lS6dfQ&s=19
Initial Reports of a Rocket Attack against U.S. Forces stationed at MSS Euphrates within the Conoco Gas Field in Eastern Syria.
However I am now distracted by being in the world’s worst capital city and I’m thereby moving on, perhaps @Casino_Royale is still brooding
Friends would regularly suggest meeting up just South of the bridge, and I'd always groan, because it was inevitable that it would rise just as we got to it.
Finally, they got told by the Port of London people that their license to operate would be withdrawn if they kept it.
So they got rid of it.
Massively reduced the number of openings and closings of Tower Bridge.
https://vote-2012.proboards.com/post/1553268/thread
What was the OK curry shop - Leman Spice??
Boris Johnson writes better than any other politician – his memoir is proof
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/non-fiction/review-boris-memoir-unleashed/
Thankful Cameron hasn't returned to writing.
@PaulBrandITV
·
4h
EXCLUSIVE: Boris Johnson tells ITV News he regrets apologising for Partygate
https://itv.com/news/2024-10-04/boris-johnson-tells-itv-news-he-regrets-apologising-for-partygate?utm_source=NewsApp&utm_medium=SocialShare
Kate
@katebevan
·
1h
My mum was dying alone of cancer while they were partying at No 10. Fuck you, Johnson. Fuck you all the way to hell and back.
https://x.com/katebevan/status/1842276490588659752
But then you wouldn’t get that dynamic, because you don’t really have friends, do you? - as you told us; so I can see why my entire life generally mystifies you
In which city is Hermann Goering Strasse?
(Sadly, the street was renamed in 2004, and so it no longer works.)
I think you’re right. Either in Luderiz or swakop. Think I’ve walked down it
There must be SOMETHING?
Named for the father of the famous Nazi.
An appalling history
My take has always been that these Friday night drinks in #10 have been going on forever and Boris, with his rule bending / breaking mindset, went you know if the ball came out the back of the scrum and there happened to be a few drinks in here after work on a Friday, I never saw nothing.....but the civil servants took that and turned into all nighters getting smashed. Those doing this should have been named and shamed and sacked in addition to Boris.
It's not as if anyone other than Johnson has thought he is the right person to be Cabinet Sec.
The fact that it has taken three years to finally get him out is utterly disgraceful.
https://info.ambervalley.gov.uk/docarc/docviewer.aspx?docguid=b028c610d7484292a40d49f9cb207002
Reform 472
Green 120
Labour 255
Something of a Reform stronghold already. Of the 7 seats Heanor East has on the town council, Reform won 4 in 2023;
https://www.ambervalley.gov.uk/councillors-and-elections/elections/local-elections/parish-elections-results/4-may-2023/
Neil Henderson
@hendopolis
·
16m
INDEPENDENT DIGITAL: Revealed: 36 rail projects face axe #TomorrowsPapersToday
https://x.com/hendopolis/status/1842303300537843823
The North to be hit hardest.
Every time. Every single time.
For me, that is easily as bad as Partygate. Starmer is a fucking liar AND a thieving hypocrite
I thought this was an interesting video talking about that widely cited Foundations paper. The guy makes some sensible and balanced points in his critique.
Could This Fix the UK Economy?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NJnbSdKopU
We are not even four months in
Instead its some stupidly expensive carbon capture and some windmills and pylons via PFI, while cancelling hospital building, super computers, new rail, now roads....
If they do manage to sort out the planning system to build millions of new homes, there isn't going to be the infrastructure to support it.
Either they’re being spun against like no previous government and this stuff is all nonsense, or the entire apparatus of government has been taken over by beancounters.
And where is the plan for government? Sue Grey supposedly spend a whole year prepping for the transfer of power and it has been a bloody shambles apart from the riot reaction which was the only 'events, dear boy, events' thing to happen and so wasn't planned.
The Budget is becoming the make or break event for this administration.
I am mystified frankly.
It reminds me of the way some football supporter's chant
'you do not know what you are doing'
This is very apt for Starmer, especially with his football connections
Nobody sane would come up with it as a solution to anything.
20bn is a lot of insulation. Or solar panels. Or batteries. Or even an entire tidal scheme.
It doesn't product any return other than some vague thing to grandstand about at the kind of international conferences nobody really cares about. And maybe a few jobs importing Chinese pipes.
The decision on BIOT is the same. Buying 'goodwill' from the wrong people.
I'm not saying that I believe that's what's going on, but that was politics as normal. Which is part of the reason why a Spending Review is so overdue.
There are lots of allegations of misuse of funds as well as actively making things worse on the ground. This local businesswoman describes attempts to confiscate chainsaws she had sent to help people clear the blocked roads:
https://x.com/mrgunsngear/status/1842223294247829743
And whilst the Cabinet Secretary's retirement letter denied that it was to do with anything other than health, you know what someone (Otto von Bismarck? Claud Cockburn? Nobody really knows) said about never believing anything until it had been officially denied...
The trend needs to be watched
I guess it is etiquette - but allowing Case another three months is bloody ridiculous given the state of the ship of state.
https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/winter-fuel-cut-payment-slump-support-starmer-labour-3309426
But what do I know. Maybe you save the dashing charm for other forums, and fair enough
I use this place to offload my Id
I have a certain sympathy to this approach - offer a bounty for actual results delivered. I would like to do something similar for ZEV power storage.
https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/winter-fuel-cut-payment-slump-support-starmer-labour-3309426
Not good reading for Labour or the Conservatives to be honest.
Or MoE, if you prefer.
https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2024-election-forecast/pennsylvania/
On Jan 6th, Trump didn't come out for a speech to "Hail to the Chief". Which may have indicated the speech was a Presidential act. As set out by the Supreme Court.
Instead, he emerged to the Village People's "YMCA".
Not the act of a President.
Brian Comer was charged with a misdemeanor in connection with the Sept. 10 incident. According to an arrest affidavit obtained by HuffPost, a golfer at Rocky Lakes Golf Course in Springfield reported seeing a Canada goose floating in a pond and Comer using a shotgun to shoot another bird.
Oh. So it was an old white guy who killed a goose. Not a Haitian.
https://www.thebulwark.com/p/meet-the-racists-who-love-to-talk?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
https://conservativehome.com/2024/10/02/next-tory-leader-which-mp-is-backing-whom-cleverly-surges-ahead-to-two-supporters/
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Haitians
Recommended:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lost-White-Tribes-Riccardo-Orizio/dp/0743211979/
I think the fact they are unbothered otherwise doesn't mean much other than they are over the other side of the world and not a major day to day concern but there clearly is no desire to hand them over to Argentina either
"Tory leadership: Tom Tugendhat backs Liz Truss
29 July 2022"
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-62354297
However ...
Buttigieg dismisses Musk’s Helene federal response claims
https://thehill.com/policy/technology/4916893-pete-buttigieg-elon-musk-hurricane/
Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg called out tech giant Elon Musk on Friday for making false claims about the federal government blocking flights with deliveries for Hurricane Helene victims.
Musk posted a screenshot of a conversation with a person who said the air space had been “shut down” and that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was “throttling flights.”
“The level of belligerent government incompetence is staggering!!” Musk wrote to his followers.
About an hour later, Buttigeg responded to his claims, which he noted were inaccurate.
“No one is shutting down the airspace and FAA doesn’t block legitimate rescue and recovery flights. If you’re encountering a problem give me a call,” Buttigieg stated.
Following their public conversation, Musk posted a message thanking Buttigeg for speaking with him offline.
“Thanks for the call. Hopefully, we can resolve this soon,” Musk vaguely replied leaving people to wonder about what transpired...
Britain through to final of sailing’s Americas Cup for 1st time since 1964.
These the scenes in Barcelona as @ineosbritannia team celebrate 7-4 win over Italy & progress to the sport’s showpiece event
https://x.com/danroan/status/1842195125415399503?s=46
https://twitter.com/jbendery/status/1842289307878301987
Buttigieg I mean.
"People are strange" ...