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Damned if she does, damned if she doesn’t – politicalbetting.com

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Comments

  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 43,375
    TOPPING said:

    Problem for her is that if she does something performative to hit "the rich" then it isn't going to make a dent on the nation's coffers (ie vat on schools and most people wouldn't know or be eligible for CGT if it was sitting on their kitchen table).

    She needs to do something which affects everyone but is more stealth than explicit. I expect for that reason a lot of freezing thresholds which most people will have difficulty equating to actual deprivation.

    thought they were already frozen to 2028
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 28,449

    kinabalu said:

    Dopermean said:

    Scott_xP said:

    @OccupyDemocrats
    BREAKING: The former chief marketer for NBC apologizes to the American people for giving us Donald Trump by helping to sell “The Apprentice” myth to the American people.

    This is humiliating for MAGA…

    “I want to apologize to America. I helped create a monster,” writes John D. Miller in a piece entitled “We Created a Monster: Trump Was a TV Fantasy Invented for 'The Apprentice'” for U.S. News & World Report.

    “For nearly 25 years, I led marketing at NBC and NBCUniversal,” Miller explains. “I led the team that marketed ‘The Apprentice,’ the reality show that made Donald Trump a household name outside of New York City, where he was better known for overextending his empire and appearing in celebrity gossip columns.”

    He goes on to state that his team “created the narrative that Trump was a super-successful businessman who lived like royalty” which was a “substantial exaggeration” that “created a false narrative by making him seem more successful than he was.”

    Miller points out that Trump had to declare bankruptcy four times before the show premiered and at least twice over the course of its 14 seasons.

    “The imposing board room where he famously fired contestants was a set, because his real boardroom was too old and shabby for TV,” writers Miller.

    In a section that is certain to bruise Trump’s ego, Miller states that he was the “perfect choice” for the show because “more successful CEOs were too busy to get involved in reality TV and didn’t want to hire random game show winners onto their executive teams.”

    Meanwhile, Trump “had no such concerns” and “plenty of time for filming.”

    “I never imagined that the picture we painted of Trump as a successful businessman would help catapult him to the White House,” writes Miller, likening all of their advertising around the show to “fake news” because it was so “highly exaggerated.”

    “I discovered in my interactions with him over the years that he is manipulative, yet extraordinarily easy to manipulate,” he goes on. “He has an unfillable compliment hole. No amount is too much. Flatter him and he is compliant. World leaders, including apparently Russian strongman Vladimir Putin and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, have discovered that too.”

    Not surprisingly, Trump was full of bad suggestions for the show. He wanted to make “a team of Black players compete against white players.” Miller tried to convince him against it by appealing to Trump’s greed and telling him that it would alienate sponsors.

    “While we were successful in marketing ‘The Apprentice,’ we also did irreparable harm by creating the false image of Trump as a successful leader. I deeply regret that,” writers Miller. “And I regret that it has taken me so long to go public.”

    https://x.com/OccupyDemocrats/status/1846939723379450122

    Too late now....

    Somewhere in Essex, Alan Sugar changes the subject ....
    What could have been. Very poignant.
    An business icon of Thatcher's 80s. It would have been very symbolic if he became PM.
    Have you ever owned an Amstrad product? No, I thought not. Back in the day some of the consumer electronics he sold were DelBoy quality merchandise, but sold from Currys rather than a market stall.
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 43,007
    Eabhal said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Eabhal said:

    ydoethur said:

    I have been in London for 48 hours working with a group of disabled people on a theatre trip.

    So far, I’ve had to physically block six cyclists who ran a red light and then tried to cut straight across the front of a wheelchair user which would have caused a crash.

    WTF London cyclists? Do you have to be utter Tristram Hunts?

    I apologise on behalf of London cyclists. What a horrible experience. Personally I always stop for red lights at pedestrian crossings and stop at zebra crossings when someone is crossing or waiting to cross. I also was almost knocked off my bike this week by a fellow cyclist who sped round a bend with no regard to people coming, so I can confirm that many of my fellow cyclists are indeed awful - he didn't even say sorry. I think in part the aggression is a response to stress and danger, but of course if you cycle more carefully it is less stressful so you can control this.
    And worth pointing out that about 85% of cyclists stop at red lights, according to TfL. You can get points on your driving licence for doing it, just not enough cops to enforce it.

    A loophole is available - pop a leg over and scoot across.
    Surprised it's as high as 85%. You don't get that impression in central London.
    I suppose you only notice the ones that do. FWIW, studies from Copenhagen find that cyclists break the law at junctions at a much lower rate than drivers, but I guess cyclists are generally in closer proximity to pedestrians and therefore more noticeable.

    The most interesting thing from that study was that cyclists are much more likely to obey rules when there is cycling infrastructure available - a sort of quid pro quo, perhaps.
    Er, no.

    Well not in London, anyway. The only thing that stops most of them is a cavalcade of lorries crossing the intended path.

    No way is it as low as 15% in London - 60-70% more like.
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 51,832
    kinabalu said:

    kinabalu said:

    Dopermean said:

    Scott_xP said:

    @OccupyDemocrats
    BREAKING: The former chief marketer for NBC apologizes to the American people for giving us Donald Trump by helping to sell “The Apprentice” myth to the American people.

    This is humiliating for MAGA…

    “I want to apologize to America. I helped create a monster,” writes John D. Miller in a piece entitled “We Created a Monster: Trump Was a TV Fantasy Invented for 'The Apprentice'” for U.S. News & World Report.

    “For nearly 25 years, I led marketing at NBC and NBCUniversal,” Miller explains. “I led the team that marketed ‘The Apprentice,’ the reality show that made Donald Trump a household name outside of New York City, where he was better known for overextending his empire and appearing in celebrity gossip columns.”

    He goes on to state that his team “created the narrative that Trump was a super-successful businessman who lived like royalty” which was a “substantial exaggeration” that “created a false narrative by making him seem more successful than he was.”

    Miller points out that Trump had to declare bankruptcy four times before the show premiered and at least twice over the course of its 14 seasons.

    “The imposing board room where he famously fired contestants was a set, because his real boardroom was too old and shabby for TV,” writers Miller.

    In a section that is certain to bruise Trump’s ego, Miller states that he was the “perfect choice” for the show because “more successful CEOs were too busy to get involved in reality TV and didn’t want to hire random game show winners onto their executive teams.”

    Meanwhile, Trump “had no such concerns” and “plenty of time for filming.”

    “I never imagined that the picture we painted of Trump as a successful businessman would help catapult him to the White House,” writes Miller, likening all of their advertising around the show to “fake news” because it was so “highly exaggerated.”

    “I discovered in my interactions with him over the years that he is manipulative, yet extraordinarily easy to manipulate,” he goes on. “He has an unfillable compliment hole. No amount is too much. Flatter him and he is compliant. World leaders, including apparently Russian strongman Vladimir Putin and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, have discovered that too.”

    Not surprisingly, Trump was full of bad suggestions for the show. He wanted to make “a team of Black players compete against white players.” Miller tried to convince him against it by appealing to Trump’s greed and telling him that it would alienate sponsors.

    “While we were successful in marketing ‘The Apprentice,’ we also did irreparable harm by creating the false image of Trump as a successful leader. I deeply regret that,” writers Miller. “And I regret that it has taken me so long to go public.”

    https://x.com/OccupyDemocrats/status/1846939723379450122

    Too late now....

    Somewhere in Essex, Alan Sugar changes the subject ....
    What could have been. Very poignant.
    An business icon of Thatcher's 80s. It would have been very symbolic if he became PM.
    "You're fired" he could have said to a chastened Tony Blair, sat back in his Commons LOTO seat after the Sugarslide of GE01, the hordes of newly elected rough and ready self-made men chuckling loudly behind him.
    "Make Britain Have Loadsa Money Again"
  • EabhalEabhal Posts: 8,775
    Dopermean said:

    Eabhal said:

    Eabhal said:

    ydoethur said:

    I have been in London for 48 hours working with a group of disabled people on a theatre trip.

    So far, I’ve had to physically block six cyclists who ran a red light and then tried to cut straight across the front of a wheelchair user which would have caused a crash.

    WTF London cyclists? Do you have to be utter Tristram Hunts?

    I apologise on behalf of London cyclists. What a horrible experience. Personally I always stop for red lights at pedestrian crossings and stop at zebra crossings when someone is crossing or waiting to cross. I also was almost knocked off my bike this week by a fellow cyclist who sped round a bend with no regard to people coming, so I can confirm that many of my fellow cyclists are indeed awful - he didn't even say sorry. I think in part the aggression is a response to stress and danger, but of course if you cycle more carefully it is less stressful so you can control this.
    And worth pointing out that about 85% of cyclists stop at red lights, according to TfL. You can get points on your driving licence for doing it, just not enough cops to enforce it.

    A loophole is available - pop a leg over and scoot across.
    Also worth pointing out that according to TfL's own research the reason most cyclists killed in London are women is that they are more likely to obey the red lights, and get crushed by heavy vehicles turning left across them, while a large proportion of the men have just carried on regardless and got ahead of the motor vehicles.
    I did not know that. Sobering.
    If you look at the Direct Vision standard information it's frightening how big the blind spot in front of HGVs is as well as either side. Even if you're in the bike box you want to get out in front fast so that HGV drivers see you again and remember that you're there.

    My worst experience though was parked up in a layby behind an HGV, driver walked past on his way back from the toilet, got in the cab and then a couple of minutes later, presumably after stowing his jazz mag, the reversing lights came on, I leant on my horn immediately but still got shunted 2 metres backwards.
    Even if you use that bike box, the police will still assign you some blame for putting yourself in a vulnerable position (aka cycling about). Read the sentencing notes for Emma Burke Newman.
  • kjhkjh Posts: 11,847
    edited October 17
    HYUFD said:

    I expect in the end Reeves to raise taxes on the wealthy and CGT on entrepreneurs and NI on employers and use the money raised to put into public services. If she doesn't, the Labour left and unions will go mad

    Increase in employers NI seems baked in. Difficult one as it raises money, but hits the business bottom line and discourages employment.

    Raising CGT rates seems like a no brainer

    No one has really mentioned a wealth tax which is possible

    Increases in duty is possible and petrol is an obvious one with the recent reductions in prices

    An increase in the PA would be sensible and an attractive give away, while keeping the freeze on the higher rate bands

    Reducing the tax relief on pension contributions for higher tax payers is very sensible. It is far too generous and does not deter people from making pension contributions as the relief is still generous.

    NI on company pension contributions is possible, but again it is a deterrent to employment and on generous employer contributions to employees funds so not a good one if encouraging business.

    I think thresholds for CGT, Savings and Dividends should be modestly increased, but they won't be.

    Removing the fact that transferred pension posts are free from IHT again seems sensible as it is an anomaly.

    I don't think a change in the tax free element of a pension pot will change because it is very complicated and unfair in terms of peoples planning, but it might happen. If it does there should be some relief given, which will negate the benefit of doing it.

    That is my tuppence worth.
  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 43,375
    kinabalu said:

    Told you all Gove was the puppet master behind Badenoch.

    Robert Jenrick would be vulnerable as Tory leader because the country has had enough of “Tory boys”, Michael Gove has said.

    Speaking on the BBC’s Today podcast, the former Cabinet minister said: “Robert’s strengths are diligence, rigour, hunger. He is someone who has focused on the big questions that have been the party’s internal conversation.

    “I think one of his weaknesses is that he looks like a typical Tory politician. And, given the strength of feeling against Tory boys expressed at the last general election, that’s a challenge.”

    Mr Gove, a former leadership contender, said he was “very fond” of Kemi Badenoch, Mr Jenrick’s opponent in the Tory leadership race, because of her “courage”.

    He said: “Courage is her hallmark. One of the criticisms directed at her is that she’s too willing to get involved in a scrap. I think it’s a virtue.”


    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/10/17/gove-would-vote-for-lesser-of-two-evils-harris-over-trump/

    Badenoch is a garden-variety coward.

    She has spent the last fortnight hiding from the media, such that Sophy Ridge carried an entire segment last night on her disappearing act.

    And she was invisible as a minister – always absent when the going got tough.

    She's hopeless.
    Both candidates are hopeless.
    Jenrick is definitely a no hope candidate. Irredeemable.

    Badenoch seems to me to be a low hope candidate with not a totally deterministic outcome. Someone who might 'surprise on the upside'.


    Cleverley within 18 months.
    Mordaunt after returning via a by-election might be a better bet if you think Jenrick/Badenoch won't last.
    Has the "Boris" bug finally been killed off then?
    you went mental, she was a duffer extrodinaire, a pompous useless windbag.
  • EabhalEabhal Posts: 8,775
    TOPPING said:

    Eabhal said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Eabhal said:

    ydoethur said:

    I have been in London for 48 hours working with a group of disabled people on a theatre trip.

    So far, I’ve had to physically block six cyclists who ran a red light and then tried to cut straight across the front of a wheelchair user which would have caused a crash.

    WTF London cyclists? Do you have to be utter Tristram Hunts?

    I apologise on behalf of London cyclists. What a horrible experience. Personally I always stop for red lights at pedestrian crossings and stop at zebra crossings when someone is crossing or waiting to cross. I also was almost knocked off my bike this week by a fellow cyclist who sped round a bend with no regard to people coming, so I can confirm that many of my fellow cyclists are indeed awful - he didn't even say sorry. I think in part the aggression is a response to stress and danger, but of course if you cycle more carefully it is less stressful so you can control this.
    And worth pointing out that about 85% of cyclists stop at red lights, according to TfL. You can get points on your driving licence for doing it, just not enough cops to enforce it.

    A loophole is available - pop a leg over and scoot across.
    Surprised it's as high as 85%. You don't get that impression in central London.
    I suppose you only notice the ones that do. FWIW, studies from Copenhagen find that cyclists break the law at junctions at a much lower rate than drivers, but I guess cyclists are generally in closer proximity to pedestrians and therefore more noticeable.

    The most interesting thing from that study was that cyclists are much more likely to obey rules when there is cycling infrastructure available - a sort of quid pro quo, perhaps.
    Er, no.

    Well not in London, anyway. The only thing that stops most of them is a cavalcade of lorries crossing the intended path.

    No way is it as low as 15% in London - 60-70% more like.
    Feel free to provide your own evidence.
  • MattWMattW Posts: 23,411
    Foxy said:

    MattW said:

    HYUFD said:

    I expect in the end Reeves to raise taxes on the wealthy and CGT on entrepreneurs and NI on employers and use the money raised to put into public services. If she doesn't, the Labour left and unions will go mad

    I think taxes will increase on the wealthy.

    My nap is that pensions pots will be brought into IHT in some form, as if I have it right, when the pensioner pops their clogs the remaining investments are untaxed money.

    (Though is there something about CGT on asset sales within pension schemes?)
    As I understand it a personal pension pot is inherited tax free under the age of 75, and taxed as income for the recipient afterwards.

    There's also something about exemptions, but I didn't inherit a £750k pension pot unfortunately.
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 43,007
    Eabhal said:

    Dopermean said:

    Eabhal said:

    Eabhal said:

    ydoethur said:

    I have been in London for 48 hours working with a group of disabled people on a theatre trip.

    So far, I’ve had to physically block six cyclists who ran a red light and then tried to cut straight across the front of a wheelchair user which would have caused a crash.

    WTF London cyclists? Do you have to be utter Tristram Hunts?

    I apologise on behalf of London cyclists. What a horrible experience. Personally I always stop for red lights at pedestrian crossings and stop at zebra crossings when someone is crossing or waiting to cross. I also was almost knocked off my bike this week by a fellow cyclist who sped round a bend with no regard to people coming, so I can confirm that many of my fellow cyclists are indeed awful - he didn't even say sorry. I think in part the aggression is a response to stress and danger, but of course if you cycle more carefully it is less stressful so you can control this.
    And worth pointing out that about 85% of cyclists stop at red lights, according to TfL. You can get points on your driving licence for doing it, just not enough cops to enforce it.

    A loophole is available - pop a leg over and scoot across.
    Also worth pointing out that according to TfL's own research the reason most cyclists killed in London are women is that they are more likely to obey the red lights, and get crushed by heavy vehicles turning left across them, while a large proportion of the men have just carried on regardless and got ahead of the motor vehicles.
    I did not know that. Sobering.
    If you look at the Direct Vision standard information it's frightening how big the blind spot in front of HGVs is as well as either side. Even if you're in the bike box you want to get out in front fast so that HGV drivers see you again and remember that you're there.

    My worst experience though was parked up in a layby behind an HGV, driver walked past on his way back from the toilet, got in the cab and then a couple of minutes later, presumably after stowing his jazz mag, the reversing lights came on, I leant on my horn immediately but still got shunted 2 metres backwards.
    Even if you use that bike box, the police will still assign you some blame for putting yourself in a vulnerable position (aka cycling about). Read the sentencing notes for Emma Burke Newman.
    Do you have them to hand.
  • OmniumOmnium Posts: 10,801
    What Reeves should really do is rip up the rulebook and have a complete stonker of a budget.

    By this I mean one of these, although no doubt other ideas occur.

    - Print enough money to pay off (say) 80% of the national debt.
    - Raise VAT to 25%

    The second element would be to create a capped range for national debt, a capped spend for all of the departments, etc (percentages of gdp type thing obviously)


    If she has, in her back pocket, anything like such a plan then now is her one and only chance to deploy it. Otherwise she'll have to be content with going down in history as a poor Chancellor. (Admittedly you can be an absolute clown and somehow not be condemned as you should in that office - I speak of course of the ghastly Brown)
  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 43,375
    Dopermean said:

    https://arunadvani.com/taxreform.html
    Doesn't seem too hard if this is correct, equalize CGT, remove the cap on NI and secure ear defenders.

    Priorities...
    Energy : Modernise the grid, insulate old housing stock, encourage smart usage and invest in renewables and energy storage
    Health: Get waiting lists down (just pour money in), encourage healthier lifestyles and invest in earlier diagnostics and better treatments. It's in a mess because the coalition govt austerity ran up waiting lists resulting in patients being in worse health when they finally got treated.
    Immigration: Speed up processing, get them integrated into society or returned if ineligible.

    Politics: Regain control of the messaging and project a bit of hope

    The houses they insulated last time are falling to bits as they hired shedloads of cowboys/pals etc who did crap job of it
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 48,809
    Incidentally I expect quite a binge on spending this Christmas on big ticket items. A contact in the pensions industry says that they have had a very busy month paying out tax free lump sums before the budget. Some will go to other savings but some will get spent.
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 48,809
    MattW said:

    Foxy said:

    MattW said:

    HYUFD said:

    I expect in the end Reeves to raise taxes on the wealthy and CGT on entrepreneurs and NI on employers and use the money raised to put into public services. If she doesn't, the Labour left and unions will go mad

    I think taxes will increase on the wealthy.

    My nap is that pensions pots will be brought into IHT in some form, as if I have it right, when the pensioner pops their clogs the remaining investments are untaxed money.

    (Though is there something about CGT on asset sales within pension schemes?)
    As I understand it a personal pension pot is inherited tax free under the age of 75, and taxed as income for the recipient afterwards.

    There's also something about exemptions, but I didn't inherit a £750k pension pot unfortunately.
    Age 75 for the deceased, not the recipient that is!
  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 43,375
    edited October 17
    MattW said:

    Foxy said:

    MattW said:

    HYUFD said:

    I expect in the end Reeves to raise taxes on the wealthy and CGT on entrepreneurs and NI on employers and use the money raised to put into public services. If she doesn't, the Labour left and unions will go mad

    I think taxes will increase on the wealthy.

    My nap is that pensions pots will be brought into IHT in some form, as if I have it right, when the pensioner pops their clogs the remaining investments are untaxed money.

    (Though is there something about CGT on asset sales within pension schemes?)
    As I understand it a personal pension pot is inherited tax free under the age of 75, and taxed as income for the recipient afterwards.

    There's also something about exemptions, but I didn't inherit a £750k pension pot unfortunately.
    Foxy is correct , though only taxed when used if dead after 75
  • DecrepiterJohnLDecrepiterJohnL Posts: 28,056
    Foxy said:

    Incidentally I expect quite a binge on spending this Christmas on big ticket items. A contact in the pensions industry says that they have had a very busy month paying out tax free lump sums before the budget. Some will go to other savings but some will get spent.

    I got a fair way along the path of taking the 25 per cent but decided it was too much like hard work. That said, it would be nice to keep it for lower annual withdrawals so if the Chancellor is reading this, please cap it rather than remove it.
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 43,007
    Eabhal said:

    TOPPING said:

    Eabhal said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Eabhal said:

    ydoethur said:

    I have been in London for 48 hours working with a group of disabled people on a theatre trip.

    So far, I’ve had to physically block six cyclists who ran a red light and then tried to cut straight across the front of a wheelchair user which would have caused a crash.

    WTF London cyclists? Do you have to be utter Tristram Hunts?

    I apologise on behalf of London cyclists. What a horrible experience. Personally I always stop for red lights at pedestrian crossings and stop at zebra crossings when someone is crossing or waiting to cross. I also was almost knocked off my bike this week by a fellow cyclist who sped round a bend with no regard to people coming, so I can confirm that many of my fellow cyclists are indeed awful - he didn't even say sorry. I think in part the aggression is a response to stress and danger, but of course if you cycle more carefully it is less stressful so you can control this.
    And worth pointing out that about 85% of cyclists stop at red lights, according to TfL. You can get points on your driving licence for doing it, just not enough cops to enforce it.

    A loophole is available - pop a leg over and scoot across.
    Surprised it's as high as 85%. You don't get that impression in central London.
    I suppose you only notice the ones that do. FWIW, studies from Copenhagen find that cyclists break the law at junctions at a much lower rate than drivers, but I guess cyclists are generally in closer proximity to pedestrians and therefore more noticeable.

    The most interesting thing from that study was that cyclists are much more likely to obey rules when there is cycling infrastructure available - a sort of quid pro quo, perhaps.
    Er, no.

    Well not in London, anyway. The only thing that stops most of them is a cavalcade of lorries crossing the intended path.

    No way is it as low as 15% in London - 60-70% more like.
    Feel free to provide your own evidence.
    Obviously you're not a London cyclist.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 42,327

    kinabalu said:

    kinabalu said:

    Dopermean said:

    Scott_xP said:

    @OccupyDemocrats
    BREAKING: The former chief marketer for NBC apologizes to the American people for giving us Donald Trump by helping to sell “The Apprentice” myth to the American people.

    This is humiliating for MAGA…

    “I want to apologize to America. I helped create a monster,” writes John D. Miller in a piece entitled “We Created a Monster: Trump Was a TV Fantasy Invented for 'The Apprentice'” for U.S. News & World Report.

    “For nearly 25 years, I led marketing at NBC and NBCUniversal,” Miller explains. “I led the team that marketed ‘The Apprentice,’ the reality show that made Donald Trump a household name outside of New York City, where he was better known for overextending his empire and appearing in celebrity gossip columns.”

    He goes on to state that his team “created the narrative that Trump was a super-successful businessman who lived like royalty” which was a “substantial exaggeration” that “created a false narrative by making him seem more successful than he was.”

    Miller points out that Trump had to declare bankruptcy four times before the show premiered and at least twice over the course of its 14 seasons.

    “The imposing board room where he famously fired contestants was a set, because his real boardroom was too old and shabby for TV,” writers Miller.

    In a section that is certain to bruise Trump’s ego, Miller states that he was the “perfect choice” for the show because “more successful CEOs were too busy to get involved in reality TV and didn’t want to hire random game show winners onto their executive teams.”

    Meanwhile, Trump “had no such concerns” and “plenty of time for filming.”

    “I never imagined that the picture we painted of Trump as a successful businessman would help catapult him to the White House,” writes Miller, likening all of their advertising around the show to “fake news” because it was so “highly exaggerated.”

    “I discovered in my interactions with him over the years that he is manipulative, yet extraordinarily easy to manipulate,” he goes on. “He has an unfillable compliment hole. No amount is too much. Flatter him and he is compliant. World leaders, including apparently Russian strongman Vladimir Putin and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, have discovered that too.”

    Not surprisingly, Trump was full of bad suggestions for the show. He wanted to make “a team of Black players compete against white players.” Miller tried to convince him against it by appealing to Trump’s greed and telling him that it would alienate sponsors.

    “While we were successful in marketing ‘The Apprentice,’ we also did irreparable harm by creating the false image of Trump as a successful leader. I deeply regret that,” writers Miller. “And I regret that it has taken me so long to go public.”

    https://x.com/OccupyDemocrats/status/1846939723379450122

    Too late now....

    Somewhere in Essex, Alan Sugar changes the subject ....
    What could have been. Very poignant.
    An business icon of Thatcher's 80s. It would have been very symbolic if he became PM.
    "You're fired" he could have said to a chastened Tony Blair, sat back in his Commons LOTO seat after the Sugarslide of GE01, the hordes of newly elected rough and ready self-made men chuckling loudly behind him.
    "Make Britain Have Loadsa Money Again"
    And no Iraq war. Sugar would have got Hussein and Bush in a room and done a deal. Just like he did when he bought his first rag and bone van.
  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 43,375

    Foxy said:

    Incidentally I expect quite a binge on spending this Christmas on big ticket items. A contact in the pensions industry says that they have had a very busy month paying out tax free lump sums before the budget. Some will go to other savings but some will get spent.

    I got a fair way along the path of taking the 25 per cent but decided it was too much like hard work. That said, it would be nice to keep it for lower annual withdrawals so if the Chancellor is reading this, please cap it rather than remove it.
    what made it hard work, just an e-mail to your platform and they send you the cash
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 62,861
    Bluesky‬ ‪@bsky.app‬
    ·
    9m
    update: half a million new people in the last day 🤯
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 43,007
    kinabalu said:

    kinabalu said:

    kinabalu said:

    Dopermean said:

    Scott_xP said:

    @OccupyDemocrats
    BREAKING: The former chief marketer for NBC apologizes to the American people for giving us Donald Trump by helping to sell “The Apprentice” myth to the American people.

    This is humiliating for MAGA…

    “I want to apologize to America. I helped create a monster,” writes John D. Miller in a piece entitled “We Created a Monster: Trump Was a TV Fantasy Invented for 'The Apprentice'” for U.S. News & World Report.

    “For nearly 25 years, I led marketing at NBC and NBCUniversal,” Miller explains. “I led the team that marketed ‘The Apprentice,’ the reality show that made Donald Trump a household name outside of New York City, where he was better known for overextending his empire and appearing in celebrity gossip columns.”

    He goes on to state that his team “created the narrative that Trump was a super-successful businessman who lived like royalty” which was a “substantial exaggeration” that “created a false narrative by making him seem more successful than he was.”

    Miller points out that Trump had to declare bankruptcy four times before the show premiered and at least twice over the course of its 14 seasons.

    “The imposing board room where he famously fired contestants was a set, because his real boardroom was too old and shabby for TV,” writers Miller.

    In a section that is certain to bruise Trump’s ego, Miller states that he was the “perfect choice” for the show because “more successful CEOs were too busy to get involved in reality TV and didn’t want to hire random game show winners onto their executive teams.”

    Meanwhile, Trump “had no such concerns” and “plenty of time for filming.”

    “I never imagined that the picture we painted of Trump as a successful businessman would help catapult him to the White House,” writes Miller, likening all of their advertising around the show to “fake news” because it was so “highly exaggerated.”

    “I discovered in my interactions with him over the years that he is manipulative, yet extraordinarily easy to manipulate,” he goes on. “He has an unfillable compliment hole. No amount is too much. Flatter him and he is compliant. World leaders, including apparently Russian strongman Vladimir Putin and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, have discovered that too.”

    Not surprisingly, Trump was full of bad suggestions for the show. He wanted to make “a team of Black players compete against white players.” Miller tried to convince him against it by appealing to Trump’s greed and telling him that it would alienate sponsors.

    “While we were successful in marketing ‘The Apprentice,’ we also did irreparable harm by creating the false image of Trump as a successful leader. I deeply regret that,” writers Miller. “And I regret that it has taken me so long to go public.”

    https://x.com/OccupyDemocrats/status/1846939723379450122

    Too late now....

    Somewhere in Essex, Alan Sugar changes the subject ....
    What could have been. Very poignant.
    An business icon of Thatcher's 80s. It would have been very symbolic if he became PM.
    "You're fired" he could have said to a chastened Tony Blair, sat back in his Commons LOTO seat after the Sugarslide of GE01, the hordes of newly elected rough and ready self-made men chuckling loudly behind him.
    "Make Britain Have Loadsa Money Again"
    And no Iraq war. Sugar would have got Hussein and Bush in a room and done a deal. Just like he did when he bought his first rag and bone van.
    I detect a green-tinged side to your comments about Lord Surallan. Don't like the idea of someone else coming up from the slums and making it large, eh.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 42,327
    TOPPING said:

    kinabalu said:

    kinabalu said:

    kinabalu said:

    Dopermean said:

    Scott_xP said:

    @OccupyDemocrats
    BREAKING: The former chief marketer for NBC apologizes to the American people for giving us Donald Trump by helping to sell “The Apprentice” myth to the American people.

    This is humiliating for MAGA…

    “I want to apologize to America. I helped create a monster,” writes John D. Miller in a piece entitled “We Created a Monster: Trump Was a TV Fantasy Invented for 'The Apprentice'” for U.S. News & World Report.

    “For nearly 25 years, I led marketing at NBC and NBCUniversal,” Miller explains. “I led the team that marketed ‘The Apprentice,’ the reality show that made Donald Trump a household name outside of New York City, where he was better known for overextending his empire and appearing in celebrity gossip columns.”

    He goes on to state that his team “created the narrative that Trump was a super-successful businessman who lived like royalty” which was a “substantial exaggeration” that “created a false narrative by making him seem more successful than he was.”

    Miller points out that Trump had to declare bankruptcy four times before the show premiered and at least twice over the course of its 14 seasons.

    “The imposing board room where he famously fired contestants was a set, because his real boardroom was too old and shabby for TV,” writers Miller.

    In a section that is certain to bruise Trump’s ego, Miller states that he was the “perfect choice” for the show because “more successful CEOs were too busy to get involved in reality TV and didn’t want to hire random game show winners onto their executive teams.”

    Meanwhile, Trump “had no such concerns” and “plenty of time for filming.”

    “I never imagined that the picture we painted of Trump as a successful businessman would help catapult him to the White House,” writes Miller, likening all of their advertising around the show to “fake news” because it was so “highly exaggerated.”

    “I discovered in my interactions with him over the years that he is manipulative, yet extraordinarily easy to manipulate,” he goes on. “He has an unfillable compliment hole. No amount is too much. Flatter him and he is compliant. World leaders, including apparently Russian strongman Vladimir Putin and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, have discovered that too.”

    Not surprisingly, Trump was full of bad suggestions for the show. He wanted to make “a team of Black players compete against white players.” Miller tried to convince him against it by appealing to Trump’s greed and telling him that it would alienate sponsors.

    “While we were successful in marketing ‘The Apprentice,’ we also did irreparable harm by creating the false image of Trump as a successful leader. I deeply regret that,” writers Miller. “And I regret that it has taken me so long to go public.”

    https://x.com/OccupyDemocrats/status/1846939723379450122

    Too late now....

    Somewhere in Essex, Alan Sugar changes the subject ....
    What could have been. Very poignant.
    An business icon of Thatcher's 80s. It would have been very symbolic if he became PM.
    "You're fired" he could have said to a chastened Tony Blair, sat back in his Commons LOTO seat after the Sugarslide of GE01, the hordes of newly elected rough and ready self-made men chuckling loudly behind him.
    "Make Britain Have Loadsa Money Again"
    And no Iraq war. Sugar would have got Hussein and Bush in a room and done a deal. Just like he did when he bought his first rag and bone van.
    I detect a green-tinged side to your comments about Lord Surallan. Don't like the idea of someone else coming up from the slums and making it large, eh.
    Just having a giggle, Topsy. Don't overthink it.
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 28,449

    kinabalu said:

    Dopermean said:

    Scott_xP said:

    @OccupyDemocrats
    BREAKING: The former chief marketer for NBC apologizes to the American people for giving us Donald Trump by helping to sell “The Apprentice” myth to the American people.

    This is humiliating for MAGA…

    “I want to apologize to America. I helped create a monster,” writes John D. Miller in a piece entitled “We Created a Monster: Trump Was a TV Fantasy Invented for 'The Apprentice'” for U.S. News & World Report.

    “For nearly 25 years, I led marketing at NBC and NBCUniversal,” Miller explains. “I led the team that marketed ‘The Apprentice,’ the reality show that made Donald Trump a household name outside of New York City, where he was better known for overextending his empire and appearing in celebrity gossip columns.”

    He goes on to state that his team “created the narrative that Trump was a super-successful businessman who lived like royalty” which was a “substantial exaggeration” that “created a false narrative by making him seem more successful than he was.”

    Miller points out that Trump had to declare bankruptcy four times before the show premiered and at least twice over the course of its 14 seasons.

    “The imposing board room where he famously fired contestants was a set, because his real boardroom was too old and shabby for TV,” writers Miller.

    In a section that is certain to bruise Trump’s ego, Miller states that he was the “perfect choice” for the show because “more successful CEOs were too busy to get involved in reality TV and didn’t want to hire random game show winners onto their executive teams.”

    Meanwhile, Trump “had no such concerns” and “plenty of time for filming.”

    “I never imagined that the picture we painted of Trump as a successful businessman would help catapult him to the White House,” writes Miller, likening all of their advertising around the show to “fake news” because it was so “highly exaggerated.”

    “I discovered in my interactions with him over the years that he is manipulative, yet extraordinarily easy to manipulate,” he goes on. “He has an unfillable compliment hole. No amount is too much. Flatter him and he is compliant. World leaders, including apparently Russian strongman Vladimir Putin and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, have discovered that too.”

    Not surprisingly, Trump was full of bad suggestions for the show. He wanted to make “a team of Black players compete against white players.” Miller tried to convince him against it by appealing to Trump’s greed and telling him that it would alienate sponsors.

    “While we were successful in marketing ‘The Apprentice,’ we also did irreparable harm by creating the false image of Trump as a successful leader. I deeply regret that,” writers Miller. “And I regret that it has taken me so long to go public.”

    https://x.com/OccupyDemocrats/status/1846939723379450122

    Too late now....

    Somewhere in Essex, Alan Sugar changes the subject ....
    What could have been. Very poignant.
    An business icon of Thatcher's 80s. It would have been very symbolic if he became PM.
    Have you ever owned an Amstrad product? No, I thought not. Back in the day some of the consumer electronics he sold were DelBoy quality merchandise, but sold from Currys rather than a market stall.
    Amstrad computers were affordable IBM-compatible PCs for about half the price. Its word processors brought a generation into IT. Amstrad was the second largest European computer manufacturer behind Olivetti.

    Sugar was the Elon Musk of his day, with around half a dozen brilliant ideas over his career.

    The legitimate criticism of Lord Sugar is not that he spoke common or sold rubbish but that despite often achieving near-monopoly status with several products, none of it lasted. There was no research, development or investment.
    He led the way by importing cheap consumer electronics from the Far East and selling them for top dollar. The word processor did it's job reasonably well but was quickly obsolete. We had one and it saved my wife a fortune by typing her dissertation out herself. A few years before I had to pay a typist!
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 43,007

    Bluesky‬ ‪@bsky.app‬
    ·
    9m
    update: half a million new people in the last day 🤯

    What are you saying here.
  • RobDRobD Posts: 59,957
    TOPPING said:

    Bluesky‬ ‪@bsky.app‬
    ·
    9m
    update: half a million new people in the last day 🤯

    What are you saying here.
    Half a million births yesterday? Sounds plausible.
  • Jim_MillerJim_Miller Posts: 3,018
    FWIW, cyclists here can be quite annoying, and, from time to time, dangerous. On one of my favorite trails, the city has tried radar, nothing, and, more recently, polite little signs. Recently, I have been thinking that a different facility, suited for cyclists who are seriously exercising, might help.
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 43,007
    kinabalu said:

    TOPPING said:

    kinabalu said:

    kinabalu said:

    kinabalu said:

    Dopermean said:

    Scott_xP said:

    @OccupyDemocrats
    BREAKING: The former chief marketer for NBC apologizes to the American people for giving us Donald Trump by helping to sell “The Apprentice” myth to the American people.

    This is humiliating for MAGA…

    “I want to apologize to America. I helped create a monster,” writes John D. Miller in a piece entitled “We Created a Monster: Trump Was a TV Fantasy Invented for 'The Apprentice'” for U.S. News & World Report.

    “For nearly 25 years, I led marketing at NBC and NBCUniversal,” Miller explains. “I led the team that marketed ‘The Apprentice,’ the reality show that made Donald Trump a household name outside of New York City, where he was better known for overextending his empire and appearing in celebrity gossip columns.”

    He goes on to state that his team “created the narrative that Trump was a super-successful businessman who lived like royalty” which was a “substantial exaggeration” that “created a false narrative by making him seem more successful than he was.”

    Miller points out that Trump had to declare bankruptcy four times before the show premiered and at least twice over the course of its 14 seasons.

    “The imposing board room where he famously fired contestants was a set, because his real boardroom was too old and shabby for TV,” writers Miller.

    In a section that is certain to bruise Trump’s ego, Miller states that he was the “perfect choice” for the show because “more successful CEOs were too busy to get involved in reality TV and didn’t want to hire random game show winners onto their executive teams.”

    Meanwhile, Trump “had no such concerns” and “plenty of time for filming.”

    “I never imagined that the picture we painted of Trump as a successful businessman would help catapult him to the White House,” writes Miller, likening all of their advertising around the show to “fake news” because it was so “highly exaggerated.”

    “I discovered in my interactions with him over the years that he is manipulative, yet extraordinarily easy to manipulate,” he goes on. “He has an unfillable compliment hole. No amount is too much. Flatter him and he is compliant. World leaders, including apparently Russian strongman Vladimir Putin and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, have discovered that too.”

    Not surprisingly, Trump was full of bad suggestions for the show. He wanted to make “a team of Black players compete against white players.” Miller tried to convince him against it by appealing to Trump’s greed and telling him that it would alienate sponsors.

    “While we were successful in marketing ‘The Apprentice,’ we also did irreparable harm by creating the false image of Trump as a successful leader. I deeply regret that,” writers Miller. “And I regret that it has taken me so long to go public.”

    https://x.com/OccupyDemocrats/status/1846939723379450122

    Too late now....

    Somewhere in Essex, Alan Sugar changes the subject ....
    What could have been. Very poignant.
    An business icon of Thatcher's 80s. It would have been very symbolic if he became PM.
    "You're fired" he could have said to a chastened Tony Blair, sat back in his Commons LOTO seat after the Sugarslide of GE01, the hordes of newly elected rough and ready self-made men chuckling loudly behind him.
    "Make Britain Have Loadsa Money Again"
    And no Iraq war. Sugar would have got Hussein and Bush in a room and done a deal. Just like he did when he bought his first rag and bone van.
    I detect a green-tinged side to your comments about Lord Surallan. Don't like the idea of someone else coming up from the slums and making it large, eh.
    Just having a giggle, Topsy. Don't overthink it.
    Understanding how your mind works doesn't need a very great deal of thought.
  • SeaShantyIrish2SeaShantyIrish2 Posts: 17,559
    Scott_xP said:

    @OccupyDemocrats
    BREAKING: The former chief marketer for NBC apologizes to the American people for giving us Donald Trump by helping to sell “The Apprentice” myth to the American people.

    This is humiliating for MAGA…

    “I want to apologize to America. I helped create a monster,” writes John D. Miller in a piece entitled “We Created a Monster: Trump Was a TV Fantasy Invented for 'The Apprentice'” for U.S. News & World Report.

    “For nearly 25 years, I led marketing at NBC and NBCUniversal,” Miller explains. “I led the team that marketed ‘The Apprentice,’ the reality show that made Donald Trump a household name outside of New York City, where he was better known for overextending his empire and appearing in celebrity gossip columns.”

    He goes on to state that his team “created the narrative that Trump was a super-successful businessman who lived like royalty” which was a “substantial exaggeration” that “created a false narrative by making him seem more successful than he was.”

    Miller points out that Trump had to declare bankruptcy four times before the show premiered and at least twice over the course of its 14 seasons.

    “The imposing board room where he famously fired contestants was a set, because his real boardroom was too old and shabby for TV,” writers Miller.

    In a section that is certain to bruise Trump’s ego, Miller states that he was the “perfect choice” for the show because “more successful CEOs were too busy to get involved in reality TV and didn’t want to hire random game show winners onto their executive teams.”

    Meanwhile, Trump “had no such concerns” and “plenty of time for filming.”

    “I never imagined that the picture we painted of Trump as a successful businessman would help catapult him to the White House,” writes Miller, likening all of their advertising around the show to “fake news” because it was so “highly exaggerated.”

    “I discovered in my interactions with him over the years that he is manipulative, yet extraordinarily easy to manipulate,” he goes on. “He has an unfillable compliment hole. No amount is too much. Flatter him and he is compliant. World leaders, including apparently Russian strongman Vladimir Putin and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, have discovered that too.”

    Not surprisingly, Trump was full of bad suggestions for the show. He wanted to make “a team of Black players compete against white players.” Miller tried to convince him against it by appealing to Trump’s greed and telling him that it would alienate sponsors.

    “While we were successful in marketing ‘The Apprentice,’ we also did irreparable harm by creating the false image of Trump as a successful leader. I deeply regret that,” writers Miller. “And I regret that it has taken me so long to go public.”

    https://x.com/OccupyDemocrats/status/1846939723379450122

    Way more humiliating for NBC seeing as how Trump has no shame OR embarassment threshold.

    As for NBC & etc., they could make recompense/reparation by donating all "Apprentice" earnings & proceeds (with interest) to worthy charities . . . theoretically anyway . . .
  • DecrepiterJohnLDecrepiterJohnL Posts: 28,056
    malcolmg said:

    Foxy said:

    Incidentally I expect quite a binge on spending this Christmas on big ticket items. A contact in the pensions industry says that they have had a very busy month paying out tax free lump sums before the budget. Some will go to other savings but some will get spent.

    I got a fair way along the path of taking the 25 per cent but decided it was too much like hard work. That said, it would be nice to keep it for lower annual withdrawals so if the Chancellor is reading this, please cap it rather than remove it.
    what made it hard work, just an e-mail to your platform and they send you the cash
    Yes, I put the process in motion but then discovered I had a second pot with them, and that would have left them in different states. This is where it became complicated and with hindsight I should have sought a financial advisor.

    As a general rant, why did they not tell me I had a long-forgotten pot with them (that came via an acquisition so was not available on their website), and why does the government not make it easier to trace pension pots?
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 43,007

    kinabalu said:

    Dopermean said:

    Scott_xP said:

    @OccupyDemocrats
    BREAKING: The former chief marketer for NBC apologizes to the American people for giving us Donald Trump by helping to sell “The Apprentice” myth to the American people.

    This is humiliating for MAGA…

    “I want to apologize to America. I helped create a monster,” writes John D. Miller in a piece entitled “We Created a Monster: Trump Was a TV Fantasy Invented for 'The Apprentice'” for U.S. News & World Report.

    “For nearly 25 years, I led marketing at NBC and NBCUniversal,” Miller explains. “I led the team that marketed ‘The Apprentice,’ the reality show that made Donald Trump a household name outside of New York City, where he was better known for overextending his empire and appearing in celebrity gossip columns.”

    He goes on to state that his team “created the narrative that Trump was a super-successful businessman who lived like royalty” which was a “substantial exaggeration” that “created a false narrative by making him seem more successful than he was.”

    Miller points out that Trump had to declare bankruptcy four times before the show premiered and at least twice over the course of its 14 seasons.

    “The imposing board room where he famously fired contestants was a set, because his real boardroom was too old and shabby for TV,” writers Miller.

    In a section that is certain to bruise Trump’s ego, Miller states that he was the “perfect choice” for the show because “more successful CEOs were too busy to get involved in reality TV and didn’t want to hire random game show winners onto their executive teams.”

    Meanwhile, Trump “had no such concerns” and “plenty of time for filming.”

    “I never imagined that the picture we painted of Trump as a successful businessman would help catapult him to the White House,” writes Miller, likening all of their advertising around the show to “fake news” because it was so “highly exaggerated.”

    “I discovered in my interactions with him over the years that he is manipulative, yet extraordinarily easy to manipulate,” he goes on. “He has an unfillable compliment hole. No amount is too much. Flatter him and he is compliant. World leaders, including apparently Russian strongman Vladimir Putin and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, have discovered that too.”

    Not surprisingly, Trump was full of bad suggestions for the show. He wanted to make “a team of Black players compete against white players.” Miller tried to convince him against it by appealing to Trump’s greed and telling him that it would alienate sponsors.

    “While we were successful in marketing ‘The Apprentice,’ we also did irreparable harm by creating the false image of Trump as a successful leader. I deeply regret that,” writers Miller. “And I regret that it has taken me so long to go public.”

    https://x.com/OccupyDemocrats/status/1846939723379450122

    Too late now....

    Somewhere in Essex, Alan Sugar changes the subject ....
    What could have been. Very poignant.
    An business icon of Thatcher's 80s. It would have been very symbolic if he became PM.
    Have you ever owned an Amstrad product? No, I thought not. Back in the day some of the consumer electronics he sold were DelBoy quality merchandise, but sold from Currys rather than a market stall.
    Amstrad computers were affordable IBM-compatible PCs for about half the price. Its word processors brought a generation into IT. Amstrad was the second largest European computer manufacturer behind Olivetti.

    Sugar was the Elon Musk of his day, with around half a dozen brilliant ideas over his career.

    The legitimate criticism of Lord Sugar is not that he spoke common or sold rubbish but that despite often achieving near-monopoly status with several products, none of it lasted. There was no research, development or investment.
    The fact a PCW wore out didn't matter, the rate the wider tech was moving. Who cared? It was CP/M.

    I had about 6 PCWs owned one after the other (inherited/redundant/free from friends/relatives) and cannibalised as needed so I had something working for a decade or so despite heavy use. I plugged in a PC 5.25" drive and file conversion software. A fraction the cost of a PC and with a free printer thrown in. Saved me a lot of money on a series of PCs when the latter cost real money and I'd just bought a house and was trying to pay off the mortgage early given the high rates at the time.

  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 43,007
    edited October 17
    RobD said:

    TOPPING said:

    Bluesky‬ ‪@bsky.app‬
    ·
    9m
    update: half a million new people in the last day 🤯

    What are you saying here.
    Half a million births yesterday? Sounds plausible.
    Good point. We know, from The Cult (The Cult) that 40,000 a day exit left.

    No idea if that is a good stat, that said.
  • Jim_MillerJim_Miller Posts: 3,018
    Surprise, surprise! Rooftop solar may have regressive effects: "The result is that richer homeowners who can afford solar get cheap electricity bills — while poorer residents see higher bills to compensate. In California alone, researchers at UC Berkeley and the California Public Advocates Office estimated that rooftop solar will add between $4 billion and $6.5 billion to customers’ bills in 2024. One solution is to match the tax breaks and benefits of rooftop solar more closely to the value it actually adds to the electricity grid." (Link omitted.)
    source$: https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/2024/10/16/rooftop-solar-emissions-climate-change/

    OK, actually, I'm not surprised.

  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 42,327
    Omnium said:

    What Reeves should really do is rip up the rulebook and have a complete stonker of a budget.

    By this I mean one of these, although no doubt other ideas occur.

    - Print enough money to pay off (say) 80% of the national debt.
    - Raise VAT to 25%

    The second element would be to create a capped range for national debt, a capped spend for all of the departments, etc (percentages of gdp type thing obviously)

    If she has, in her back pocket, anything like such a plan then now is her one and only chance to deploy it. Otherwise she'll have to be content with going down in history as a poor Chancellor. (Admittedly you can be an absolute clown and somehow not be condemned as you should in that office - I speak of course of the ghastly Brown)

    Printing money to settle our debts sounds a bit dark and dystopian.
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 43,007

    malcolmg said:

    Foxy said:

    Incidentally I expect quite a binge on spending this Christmas on big ticket items. A contact in the pensions industry says that they have had a very busy month paying out tax free lump sums before the budget. Some will go to other savings but some will get spent.

    I got a fair way along the path of taking the 25 per cent but decided it was too much like hard work. That said, it would be nice to keep it for lower annual withdrawals so if the Chancellor is reading this, please cap it rather than remove it.
    what made it hard work, just an e-mail to your platform and they send you the cash
    Yes, I put the process in motion but then discovered I had a second pot with them, and that would have left them in different states. This is where it became complicated and with hindsight I should have sought a financial advisor.

    As a general rant, why did they not tell me I had a long-forgotten pot with them (that came via an acquisition so was not available on their website), and why does the government not make it easier to trace pension pots?
    Mr Cameron's administration set a scheme up:

    https://www.gov.uk/find-pension-contact-details

    But perhaps not good enough?
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 43,007

    FWIW, cyclists here can be quite annoying, and, from time to time, dangerous. On one of my favorite trails, the city has tried radar, nothing, and, more recently, polite little signs. Recently, I have been thinking that a different facility, suited for cyclists who are seriously exercising, might help.

    The local grizzly bear reserve, if there is one near Snohomish or wherever MS hang out?

    Regents Park has something suitable already.
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 42,888

    kinabalu said:

    Dopermean said:

    Scott_xP said:

    @OccupyDemocrats
    BREAKING: The former chief marketer for NBC apologizes to the American people for giving us Donald Trump by helping to sell “The Apprentice” myth to the American people.

    This is humiliating for MAGA…

    “I want to apologize to America. I helped create a monster,” writes John D. Miller in a piece entitled “We Created a Monster: Trump Was a TV Fantasy Invented for 'The Apprentice'” for U.S. News & World Report.

    “For nearly 25 years, I led marketing at NBC and NBCUniversal,” Miller explains. “I led the team that marketed ‘The Apprentice,’ the reality show that made Donald Trump a household name outside of New York City, where he was better known for overextending his empire and appearing in celebrity gossip columns.”

    He goes on to state that his team “created the narrative that Trump was a super-successful businessman who lived like royalty” which was a “substantial exaggeration” that “created a false narrative by making him seem more successful than he was.”

    Miller points out that Trump had to declare bankruptcy four times before the show premiered and at least twice over the course of its 14 seasons.

    “The imposing board room where he famously fired contestants was a set, because his real boardroom was too old and shabby for TV,” writers Miller.

    In a section that is certain to bruise Trump’s ego, Miller states that he was the “perfect choice” for the show because “more successful CEOs were too busy to get involved in reality TV and didn’t want to hire random game show winners onto their executive teams.”

    Meanwhile, Trump “had no such concerns” and “plenty of time for filming.”

    “I never imagined that the picture we painted of Trump as a successful businessman would help catapult him to the White House,” writes Miller, likening all of their advertising around the show to “fake news” because it was so “highly exaggerated.”

    “I discovered in my interactions with him over the years that he is manipulative, yet extraordinarily easy to manipulate,” he goes on. “He has an unfillable compliment hole. No amount is too much. Flatter him and he is compliant. World leaders, including apparently Russian strongman Vladimir Putin and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, have discovered that too.”

    Not surprisingly, Trump was full of bad suggestions for the show. He wanted to make “a team of Black players compete against white players.” Miller tried to convince him against it by appealing to Trump’s greed and telling him that it would alienate sponsors.

    “While we were successful in marketing ‘The Apprentice,’ we also did irreparable harm by creating the false image of Trump as a successful leader. I deeply regret that,” writers Miller. “And I regret that it has taken me so long to go public.”

    https://x.com/OccupyDemocrats/status/1846939723379450122

    Too late now....

    Somewhere in Essex, Alan Sugar changes the subject ....
    What could have been. Very poignant.
    An business icon of Thatcher's 80s. It would have been very symbolic if he became PM.
    Have you ever owned an Amstrad product? No, I thought not. Back in the day some of the consumer electronics he sold were DelBoy quality merchandise, but sold from Currys rather than a market stall.
    I worked for a tech company run by one of Sugar's old lieutenants (from before the Apprentice days). They apparently hated each other at that stage.

    The guy was a very good company boss IMO. Though on the day I left, he asked me why I was leaving, in a hurt how-dare-you voice. My reply was: "You've just made my girlfriend redundant, and she's got a job at the other end of the country."

    He then mentioned loyalty, and how he never hired anyone again who had previously chosen to leave one of his companies. I could never see the sense in that 'policy', given people leave for all sorts of reasons.

    But he could sell snow to Eskimos. He really was a very good tech boss, despite knowing very little about the tech.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 54,646

    Scott_xP said:

    @OccupyDemocrats
    BREAKING: The former chief marketer for NBC apologizes to the American people for giving us Donald Trump by helping to sell “The Apprentice” myth to the American people.

    This is humiliating for MAGA…

    “I want to apologize to America. I helped create a monster,” writes John D. Miller in a piece entitled “We Created a Monster: Trump Was a TV Fantasy Invented for 'The Apprentice'” for U.S. News & World Report.

    “For nearly 25 years, I led marketing at NBC and NBCUniversal,” Miller explains. “I led the team that marketed ‘The Apprentice,’ the reality show that made Donald Trump a household name outside of New York City, where he was better known for overextending his empire and appearing in celebrity gossip columns.”

    He goes on to state that his team “created the narrative that Trump was a super-successful businessman who lived like royalty” which was a “substantial exaggeration” that “created a false narrative by making him seem more successful than he was.”

    Miller points out that Trump had to declare bankruptcy four times before the show premiered and at least twice over the course of its 14 seasons.

    “The imposing board room where he famously fired contestants was a set, because his real boardroom was too old and shabby for TV,” writers Miller.

    In a section that is certain to bruise Trump’s ego, Miller states that he was the “perfect choice” for the show because “more successful CEOs were too busy to get involved in reality TV and didn’t want to hire random game show winners onto their executive teams.”

    Meanwhile, Trump “had no such concerns” and “plenty of time for filming.”

    “I never imagined that the picture we painted of Trump as a successful businessman would help catapult him to the White House,” writes Miller, likening all of their advertising around the show to “fake news” because it was so “highly exaggerated.”

    “I discovered in my interactions with him over the years that he is manipulative, yet extraordinarily easy to manipulate,” he goes on. “He has an unfillable compliment hole. No amount is too much. Flatter him and he is compliant. World leaders, including apparently Russian strongman Vladimir Putin and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, have discovered that too.”

    Not surprisingly, Trump was full of bad suggestions for the show. He wanted to make “a team of Black players compete against white players.” Miller tried to convince him against it by appealing to Trump’s greed and telling him that it would alienate sponsors.

    “While we were successful in marketing ‘The Apprentice,’ we also did irreparable harm by creating the false image of Trump as a successful leader. I deeply regret that,” writers Miller. “And I regret that it has taken me so long to go public.”

    https://x.com/OccupyDemocrats/status/1846939723379450122

    The Apprentice saved Trump's finances, not just his reputation. Trump had negotiated a share of royalties as well as an executive producer credit.
    https://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-raked-in-427-million-on-the-apprentice-nyt-2020-9
    It’s almost as if he’s good at doing deals…
  • carnforthcarnforth Posts: 4,652

    Scott_xP said:

    @OccupyDemocrats
    BREAKING: The former chief marketer for NBC apologizes to the American people for giving us Donald Trump by helping to sell “The Apprentice” myth to the American people.

    This is humiliating for MAGA…

    “I want to apologize to America. I helped create a monster,” writes John D. Miller in a piece entitled “We Created a Monster: Trump Was a TV Fantasy Invented for 'The Apprentice'” for U.S. News & World Report.

    “For nearly 25 years, I led marketing at NBC and NBCUniversal,” Miller explains. “I led the team that marketed ‘The Apprentice,’ the reality show that made Donald Trump a household name outside of New York City, where he was better known for overextending his empire and appearing in celebrity gossip columns.”

    He goes on to state that his team “created the narrative that Trump was a super-successful businessman who lived like royalty” which was a “substantial exaggeration” that “created a false narrative by making him seem more successful than he was.”

    Miller points out that Trump had to declare bankruptcy four times before the show premiered and at least twice over the course of its 14 seasons.

    “The imposing board room where he famously fired contestants was a set, because his real boardroom was too old and shabby for TV,” writers Miller.

    In a section that is certain to bruise Trump’s ego, Miller states that he was the “perfect choice” for the show because “more successful CEOs were too busy to get involved in reality TV and didn’t want to hire random game show winners onto their executive teams.”

    Meanwhile, Trump “had no such concerns” and “plenty of time for filming.”

    “I never imagined that the picture we painted of Trump as a successful businessman would help catapult him to the White House,” writes Miller, likening all of their advertising around the show to “fake news” because it was so “highly exaggerated.”

    “I discovered in my interactions with him over the years that he is manipulative, yet extraordinarily easy to manipulate,” he goes on. “He has an unfillable compliment hole. No amount is too much. Flatter him and he is compliant. World leaders, including apparently Russian strongman Vladimir Putin and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, have discovered that too.”

    Not surprisingly, Trump was full of bad suggestions for the show. He wanted to make “a team of Black players compete against white players.” Miller tried to convince him against it by appealing to Trump’s greed and telling him that it would alienate sponsors.

    “While we were successful in marketing ‘The Apprentice,’ we also did irreparable harm by creating the false image of Trump as a successful leader. I deeply regret that,” writers Miller. “And I regret that it has taken me so long to go public.”

    https://x.com/OccupyDemocrats/status/1846939723379450122

    "I've created an uncontrollable monster who is very easy to control."
    "I don't understand, or am pretending not to understand, the difference between personal and commerical bankruptcy." also making its appearance there.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 42,327
    TOPPING said:

    kinabalu said:

    TOPPING said:

    kinabalu said:

    kinabalu said:

    kinabalu said:

    Dopermean said:

    Scott_xP said:

    @OccupyDemocrats
    BREAKING: The former chief marketer for NBC apologizes to the American people for giving us Donald Trump by helping to sell “The Apprentice” myth to the American people.

    This is humiliating for MAGA…

    “I want to apologize to America. I helped create a monster,” writes John D. Miller in a piece entitled “We Created a Monster: Trump Was a TV Fantasy Invented for 'The Apprentice'” for U.S. News & World Report.

    “For nearly 25 years, I led marketing at NBC and NBCUniversal,” Miller explains. “I led the team that marketed ‘The Apprentice,’ the reality show that made Donald Trump a household name outside of New York City, where he was better known for overextending his empire and appearing in celebrity gossip columns.”

    He goes on to state that his team “created the narrative that Trump was a super-successful businessman who lived like royalty” which was a “substantial exaggeration” that “created a false narrative by making him seem more successful than he was.”

    Miller points out that Trump had to declare bankruptcy four times before the show premiered and at least twice over the course of its 14 seasons.

    “The imposing board room where he famously fired contestants was a set, because his real boardroom was too old and shabby for TV,” writers Miller.

    In a section that is certain to bruise Trump’s ego, Miller states that he was the “perfect choice” for the show because “more successful CEOs were too busy to get involved in reality TV and didn’t want to hire random game show winners onto their executive teams.”

    Meanwhile, Trump “had no such concerns” and “plenty of time for filming.”

    “I never imagined that the picture we painted of Trump as a successful businessman would help catapult him to the White House,” writes Miller, likening all of their advertising around the show to “fake news” because it was so “highly exaggerated.”

    “I discovered in my interactions with him over the years that he is manipulative, yet extraordinarily easy to manipulate,” he goes on. “He has an unfillable compliment hole. No amount is too much. Flatter him and he is compliant. World leaders, including apparently Russian strongman Vladimir Putin and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, have discovered that too.”

    Not surprisingly, Trump was full of bad suggestions for the show. He wanted to make “a team of Black players compete against white players.” Miller tried to convince him against it by appealing to Trump’s greed and telling him that it would alienate sponsors.

    “While we were successful in marketing ‘The Apprentice,’ we also did irreparable harm by creating the false image of Trump as a successful leader. I deeply regret that,” writers Miller. “And I regret that it has taken me so long to go public.”

    https://x.com/OccupyDemocrats/status/1846939723379450122

    Too late now....

    Somewhere in Essex, Alan Sugar changes the subject ....
    What could have been. Very poignant.
    An business icon of Thatcher's 80s. It would have been very symbolic if he became PM.
    "You're fired" he could have said to a chastened Tony Blair, sat back in his Commons LOTO seat after the Sugarslide of GE01, the hordes of newly elected rough and ready self-made men chuckling loudly behind him.
    "Make Britain Have Loadsa Money Again"
    And no Iraq war. Sugar would have got Hussein and Bush in a room and done a deal. Just like he did when he bought his first rag and bone van.
    I detect a green-tinged side to your comments about Lord Surallan. Don't like the idea of someone else coming up from the slums and making it large, eh.
    Just having a giggle, Topsy. Don't overthink it.
    Understanding how your mind works doesn't need a very great deal of thought.
    Ooo. That landed alright.
  • OmniumOmnium Posts: 10,801

    kinabalu said:

    Dopermean said:

    Scott_xP said:

    @OccupyDemocrats
    BREAKING: The former chief marketer for NBC apologizes to the American people for giving us Donald Trump by helping to sell “The Apprentice” myth to the American people.

    This is humiliating for MAGA…

    “I want to apologize to America. I helped create a monster,” writes John D. Miller in a piece entitled “We Created a Monster: Trump Was a TV Fantasy Invented for 'The Apprentice'” for U.S. News & World Report.

    “For nearly 25 years, I led marketing at NBC and NBCUniversal,” Miller explains. “I led the team that marketed ‘The Apprentice,’ the reality show that made Donald Trump a household name outside of New York City, where he was better known for overextending his empire and appearing in celebrity gossip columns.”

    He goes on to state that his team “created the narrative that Trump was a super-successful businessman who lived like royalty” which was a “substantial exaggeration” that “created a false narrative by making him seem more successful than he was.”

    Miller points out that Trump had to declare bankruptcy four times before the show premiered and at least twice over the course of its 14 seasons.

    “The imposing board room where he famously fired contestants was a set, because his real boardroom was too old and shabby for TV,” writers Miller.

    In a section that is certain to bruise Trump’s ego, Miller states that he was the “perfect choice” for the show because “more successful CEOs were too busy to get involved in reality TV and didn’t want to hire random game show winners onto their executive teams.”

    Meanwhile, Trump “had no such concerns” and “plenty of time for filming.”

    “I never imagined that the picture we painted of Trump as a successful businessman would help catapult him to the White House,” writes Miller, likening all of their advertising around the show to “fake news” because it was so “highly exaggerated.”

    “I discovered in my interactions with him over the years that he is manipulative, yet extraordinarily easy to manipulate,” he goes on. “He has an unfillable compliment hole. No amount is too much. Flatter him and he is compliant. World leaders, including apparently Russian strongman Vladimir Putin and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, have discovered that too.”

    Not surprisingly, Trump was full of bad suggestions for the show. He wanted to make “a team of Black players compete against white players.” Miller tried to convince him against it by appealing to Trump’s greed and telling him that it would alienate sponsors.

    “While we were successful in marketing ‘The Apprentice,’ we also did irreparable harm by creating the false image of Trump as a successful leader. I deeply regret that,” writers Miller. “And I regret that it has taken me so long to go public.”

    https://x.com/OccupyDemocrats/status/1846939723379450122

    Too late now....

    Somewhere in Essex, Alan Sugar changes the subject ....
    What could have been. Very poignant.
    An business icon of Thatcher's 80s. It would have been very symbolic if he became PM.
    Have you ever owned an Amstrad product? No, I thought not. Back in the day some of the consumer electronics he sold were DelBoy quality merchandise, but sold from Currys rather than a market stall.
    Amstrad computers were affordable IBM-compatible PCs for about half the price. Its word processors brought a generation into IT. Amstrad was the second largest European computer manufacturer behind Olivetti.

    Sugar was the Elon Musk of his day, with around half a dozen brilliant ideas over his career.

    The legitimate criticism of Lord Sugar is not that he spoke common or sold rubbish but that despite often achieving near-monopoly status with several products, none of it lasted. There was no research, development or investment.
    Sugar was/is no Musk.

    Musk is jumping up and down amazing. He is though like the rest of us and has a long list of faults.
  • DopermeanDopermean Posts: 542
    malcolmg said:

    Dopermean said:

    https://arunadvani.com/taxreform.html
    Doesn't seem too hard if this is correct, equalize CGT, remove the cap on NI and secure ear defenders.

    Priorities...
    Energy : Modernise the grid, insulate old housing stock, encourage smart usage and invest in renewables and energy storage
    Health: Get waiting lists down (just pour money in), encourage healthier lifestyles and invest in earlier diagnostics and better treatments. It's in a mess because the coalition govt austerity ran up waiting lists resulting in patients being in worse health when they finally got treated.
    Immigration: Speed up processing, get them integrated into society or returned if ineligible.

    Politics: Regain control of the messaging and project a bit of hope

    The houses they insulated last time are falling to bits as they hired shedloads of cowboys/pals etc who did crap job of it
    The homeowner will have appointed the contractor, Govt just administered the grants. There would be no objection to stronger regulation of trades for quality from anyone apart from the trades/cowboys themselves.
    My parents' house loft and cavity wall insulation is fine.
  • DecrepiterJohnLDecrepiterJohnL Posts: 28,056

    kinabalu said:

    Dopermean said:

    Scott_xP said:

    @OccupyDemocrats
    BREAKING: The former chief marketer for NBC apologizes to the American people for giving us Donald Trump by helping to sell “The Apprentice” myth to the American people.

    This is humiliating for MAGA…

    “I want to apologize to America. I helped create a monster,” writes John D. Miller in a piece entitled “We Created a Monster: Trump Was a TV Fantasy Invented for 'The Apprentice'” for U.S. News & World Report.

    “For nearly 25 years, I led marketing at NBC and NBCUniversal,” Miller explains. “I led the team that marketed ‘The Apprentice,’ the reality show that made Donald Trump a household name outside of New York City, where he was better known for overextending his empire and appearing in celebrity gossip columns.”

    He goes on to state that his team “created the narrative that Trump was a super-successful businessman who lived like royalty” which was a “substantial exaggeration” that “created a false narrative by making him seem more successful than he was.”

    Miller points out that Trump had to declare bankruptcy four times before the show premiered and at least twice over the course of its 14 seasons.

    “The imposing board room where he famously fired contestants was a set, because his real boardroom was too old and shabby for TV,” writers Miller.

    In a section that is certain to bruise Trump’s ego, Miller states that he was the “perfect choice” for the show because “more successful CEOs were too busy to get involved in reality TV and didn’t want to hire random game show winners onto their executive teams.”

    Meanwhile, Trump “had no such concerns” and “plenty of time for filming.”

    “I never imagined that the picture we painted of Trump as a successful businessman would help catapult him to the White House,” writes Miller, likening all of their advertising around the show to “fake news” because it was so “highly exaggerated.”

    “I discovered in my interactions with him over the years that he is manipulative, yet extraordinarily easy to manipulate,” he goes on. “He has an unfillable compliment hole. No amount is too much. Flatter him and he is compliant. World leaders, including apparently Russian strongman Vladimir Putin and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, have discovered that too.”

    Not surprisingly, Trump was full of bad suggestions for the show. He wanted to make “a team of Black players compete against white players.” Miller tried to convince him against it by appealing to Trump’s greed and telling him that it would alienate sponsors.

    “While we were successful in marketing ‘The Apprentice,’ we also did irreparable harm by creating the false image of Trump as a successful leader. I deeply regret that,” writers Miller. “And I regret that it has taken me so long to go public.”

    https://x.com/OccupyDemocrats/status/1846939723379450122

    Too late now....

    Somewhere in Essex, Alan Sugar changes the subject ....
    What could have been. Very poignant.
    An business icon of Thatcher's 80s. It would have been very symbolic if he became PM.
    Have you ever owned an Amstrad product? No, I thought not. Back in the day some of the consumer electronics he sold were DelBoy quality merchandise, but sold from Currys rather than a market stall.
    Amstrad computers were affordable IBM-compatible PCs for about half the price. Its word processors brought a generation into IT. Amstrad was the second largest European computer manufacturer behind Olivetti.

    Sugar was the Elon Musk of his day, with around half a dozen brilliant ideas over his career.

    The legitimate criticism of Lord Sugar is not that he spoke common or sold rubbish but that despite often achieving near-monopoly status with several products, none of it lasted. There was no research, development or investment.
    He led the way by importing cheap consumer electronics from the Far East and selling them for top dollar. The word processor did it's job reasonably well but was quickly obsolete. We had one and it saved my wife a fortune by typing her dissertation out herself. A few years before I had to pay a typist!
    Not top dollar. That was the point. That's why it saved your wife a fortune. And an Amstrad hifi might have been rubbish but was a tenth of the price of buying separates.

    Lord Sugar's biggest hits:-

    De facto monopoly on injection moulded record consoles (or something anyway).
    Integrated hifi
    Word processors
    IBM-compatible PCs (people forget many PCs were not!)
    Satellite tv receivers

    Aside from the first, which was a trade product, most of Sugar's stuff was stripped down and sold to consumers (or small businesses for PCs) at half the price of rival products.

  • OmniumOmnium Posts: 10,801
    kinabalu said:

    Omnium said:

    What Reeves should really do is rip up the rulebook and have a complete stonker of a budget.

    By this I mean one of these, although no doubt other ideas occur.

    - Print enough money to pay off (say) 80% of the national debt.
    - Raise VAT to 25%

    The second element would be to create a capped range for national debt, a capped spend for all of the departments, etc (percentages of gdp type thing obviously)

    If she has, in her back pocket, anything like such a plan then now is her one and only chance to deploy it. Otherwise she'll have to be content with going down in history as a poor Chancellor. (Admittedly you can be an absolute clown and somehow not be condemned as you should in that office - I speak of course of the ghastly Brown)

    Printing money to settle our debts sounds a bit dark and dystopian.
    Well there's a long and very bad record of governments doing so. The key thing is making sure you don't ever do it again.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 54,646
    Wasn’t Yahya Sinwa supposed to be at the Four Seaons in Doha?

    They got him unexpectedly in a shootout in Gaza.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/10/17/israel-hezbollah-lebanon-war-iran/
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 42,327

    Scott_xP said:

    @OccupyDemocrats
    BREAKING: The former chief marketer for NBC apologizes to the American people for giving us Donald Trump by helping to sell “The Apprentice” myth to the American people.

    This is humiliating for MAGA…

    “I want to apologize to America. I helped create a monster,” writes John D. Miller in a piece entitled “We Created a Monster: Trump Was a TV Fantasy Invented for 'The Apprentice'” for U.S. News & World Report.

    “For nearly 25 years, I led marketing at NBC and NBCUniversal,” Miller explains. “I led the team that marketed ‘The Apprentice,’ the reality show that made Donald Trump a household name outside of New York City, where he was better known for overextending his empire and appearing in celebrity gossip columns.”

    He goes on to state that his team “created the narrative that Trump was a super-successful businessman who lived like royalty” which was a “substantial exaggeration” that “created a false narrative by making him seem more successful than he was.”

    Miller points out that Trump had to declare bankruptcy four times before the show premiered and at least twice over the course of its 14 seasons.

    “The imposing board room where he famously fired contestants was a set, because his real boardroom was too old and shabby for TV,” writers Miller.

    In a section that is certain to bruise Trump’s ego, Miller states that he was the “perfect choice” for the show because “more successful CEOs were too busy to get involved in reality TV and didn’t want to hire random game show winners onto their executive teams.”

    Meanwhile, Trump “had no such concerns” and “plenty of time for filming.”

    “I never imagined that the picture we painted of Trump as a successful businessman would help catapult him to the White House,” writes Miller, likening all of their advertising around the show to “fake news” because it was so “highly exaggerated.”

    “I discovered in my interactions with him over the years that he is manipulative, yet extraordinarily easy to manipulate,” he goes on. “He has an unfillable compliment hole. No amount is too much. Flatter him and he is compliant. World leaders, including apparently Russian strongman Vladimir Putin and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, have discovered that too.”

    Not surprisingly, Trump was full of bad suggestions for the show. He wanted to make “a team of Black players compete against white players.” Miller tried to convince him against it by appealing to Trump’s greed and telling him that it would alienate sponsors.

    “While we were successful in marketing ‘The Apprentice,’ we also did irreparable harm by creating the false image of Trump as a successful leader. I deeply regret that,” writers Miller. “And I regret that it has taken me so long to go public.”

    https://x.com/OccupyDemocrats/status/1846939723379450122

    Way more humiliating for NBC seeing as how Trump has no shame OR embarassment threshold.

    As for NBC & etc., they could make recompense/reparation by donating all "Apprentice" earnings & proceeds (with interest) to worthy charities . . . theoretically anyway . . .
    Do you have a feel for this election yet, SSI? Leaning Trump? Harris? Coin flip?
  • ydoethur said:

    I have been in London for 48 hours working with a group of disabled people on a theatre trip.

    So far, I’ve had to physically block six cyclists who ran a red light and then tried to cut straight across the front of a wheelchair user which would have caused a crash.

    WTF London cyclists? Do you have to be utter Tristram Hunts?

    Lycra warriors are Stewards of the Bar throughout the UK.

    My wife has just exchanged her stunning silver with a red soft top Mercedes cabriolet with a private plate that spells her name in full, for something very much more demure and less offensive to cyclists after she was threatened with f-bombs, c- bombs and a 28" Campagnolo front wheel thrust into her face through the open window of her car for having the temerity to warn them of her presence as they rode two abreast on a moderately narrow road.

    The angry one was clearly not a Conservative voter!
    Is "had the temerity to warn them of her presence as they rode two abreast" a euphemism for "hooted at them to stop their completley legal cycling because she wasn't prepared to wait for a safe place to overtake"?

    If you're overtaking legally and safely it is, of course, better for the motorist if the cyclists are two abreast than if they aren't, for reasons which become clear once you stop and think.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 42,327
    edited October 17
    Omnium said:

    kinabalu said:

    Omnium said:

    What Reeves should really do is rip up the rulebook and have a complete stonker of a budget.

    By this I mean one of these, although no doubt other ideas occur.

    - Print enough money to pay off (say) 80% of the national debt.
    - Raise VAT to 25%

    The second element would be to create a capped range for national debt, a capped spend for all of the departments, etc (percentages of gdp type thing obviously)

    If she has, in her back pocket, anything like such a plan then now is her one and only chance to deploy it. Otherwise she'll have to be content with going down in history as a poor Chancellor. (Admittedly you can be an absolute clown and somehow not be condemned as you should in that office - I speak of course of the ghastly Brown)

    Printing money to settle our debts sounds a bit dark and dystopian.
    Well there's a long and very bad record of governments doing so. The key thing is making sure you don't ever do it again.
    I suppose if everyone did it at the same time?
  • DecrepiterJohnLDecrepiterJohnL Posts: 28,056
    Omnium said:

    kinabalu said:

    Dopermean said:

    Scott_xP said:

    @OccupyDemocrats
    BREAKING: The former chief marketer for NBC apologizes to the American people for giving us Donald Trump by helping to sell “The Apprentice” myth to the American people.

    This is humiliating for MAGA…

    “I want to apologize to America. I helped create a monster,” writes John D. Miller in a piece entitled “We Created a Monster: Trump Was a TV Fantasy Invented for 'The Apprentice'” for U.S. News & World Report.

    “For nearly 25 years, I led marketing at NBC and NBCUniversal,” Miller explains. “I led the team that marketed ‘The Apprentice,’ the reality show that made Donald Trump a household name outside of New York City, where he was better known for overextending his empire and appearing in celebrity gossip columns.”

    He goes on to state that his team “created the narrative that Trump was a super-successful businessman who lived like royalty” which was a “substantial exaggeration” that “created a false narrative by making him seem more successful than he was.”

    Miller points out that Trump had to declare bankruptcy four times before the show premiered and at least twice over the course of its 14 seasons.

    “The imposing board room where he famously fired contestants was a set, because his real boardroom was too old and shabby for TV,” writers Miller.

    In a section that is certain to bruise Trump’s ego, Miller states that he was the “perfect choice” for the show because “more successful CEOs were too busy to get involved in reality TV and didn’t want to hire random game show winners onto their executive teams.”

    Meanwhile, Trump “had no such concerns” and “plenty of time for filming.”

    “I never imagined that the picture we painted of Trump as a successful businessman would help catapult him to the White House,” writes Miller, likening all of their advertising around the show to “fake news” because it was so “highly exaggerated.”

    “I discovered in my interactions with him over the years that he is manipulative, yet extraordinarily easy to manipulate,” he goes on. “He has an unfillable compliment hole. No amount is too much. Flatter him and he is compliant. World leaders, including apparently Russian strongman Vladimir Putin and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, have discovered that too.”

    Not surprisingly, Trump was full of bad suggestions for the show. He wanted to make “a team of Black players compete against white players.” Miller tried to convince him against it by appealing to Trump’s greed and telling him that it would alienate sponsors.

    “While we were successful in marketing ‘The Apprentice,’ we also did irreparable harm by creating the false image of Trump as a successful leader. I deeply regret that,” writers Miller. “And I regret that it has taken me so long to go public.”

    https://x.com/OccupyDemocrats/status/1846939723379450122

    Too late now....

    Somewhere in Essex, Alan Sugar changes the subject ....
    What could have been. Very poignant.
    An business icon of Thatcher's 80s. It would have been very symbolic if he became PM.
    Have you ever owned an Amstrad product? No, I thought not. Back in the day some of the consumer electronics he sold were DelBoy quality merchandise, but sold from Currys rather than a market stall.
    Amstrad computers were affordable IBM-compatible PCs for about half the price. Its word processors brought a generation into IT. Amstrad was the second largest European computer manufacturer behind Olivetti.

    Sugar was the Elon Musk of his day, with around half a dozen brilliant ideas over his career.

    The legitimate criticism of Lord Sugar is not that he spoke common or sold rubbish but that despite often achieving near-monopoly status with several products, none of it lasted. There was no research, development or investment.
    Sugar was/is no Musk.

    Musk is jumping up and down amazing. He is though like the rest of us and has a long list of faults.
    Musk has not invented anything. What he has done is simplified production across industries which is the similarity with Sugar (and cashed a few cheques from Uncle Sam). Sure, Musk is playing in a higher league but it is the same game.
  • OmniumOmnium Posts: 10,801
    kinabalu said:

    Omnium said:

    kinabalu said:

    Omnium said:

    What Reeves should really do is rip up the rulebook and have a complete stonker of a budget.

    By this I mean one of these, although no doubt other ideas occur.

    - Print enough money to pay off (say) 80% of the national debt.
    - Raise VAT to 25%

    The second element would be to create a capped range for national debt, a capped spend for all of the departments, etc (percentages of gdp type thing obviously)

    If she has, in her back pocket, anything like such a plan then now is her one and only chance to deploy it. Otherwise she'll have to be content with going down in history as a poor Chancellor. (Admittedly you can be an absolute clown and somehow not be condemned as you should in that office - I speak of course of the ghastly Brown)

    Printing money to settle our debts sounds a bit dark and dystopian.
    Well there's a long and very bad record of governments doing so. The key thing is making sure you don't ever do it again.
    I suppose if everyone did it at the same time?
    You suppose correctly!
  • DopermeanDopermean Posts: 542
    Eabhal said:

    Dopermean said:

    Eabhal said:

    Eabhal said:

    ydoethur said:

    I have been in London for 48 hours working with a group of disabled people on a theatre trip.

    So far, I’ve had to physically block six cyclists who ran a red light and then tried to cut straight across the front of a wheelchair user which would have caused a crash.

    WTF London cyclists? Do you have to be utter Tristram Hunts?

    I apologise on behalf of London cyclists. What a horrible experience. Personally I always stop for red lights at pedestrian crossings and stop at zebra crossings when someone is crossing or waiting to cross. I also was almost knocked off my bike this week by a fellow cyclist who sped round a bend with no regard to people coming, so I can confirm that many of my fellow cyclists are indeed awful - he didn't even say sorry. I think in part the aggression is a response to stress and danger, but of course if you cycle more carefully it is less stressful so you can control this.
    And worth pointing out that about 85% of cyclists stop at red lights, according to TfL. You can get points on your driving licence for doing it, just not enough cops to enforce it.

    A loophole is available - pop a leg over and scoot across.
    Also worth pointing out that according to TfL's own research the reason most cyclists killed in London are women is that they are more likely to obey the red lights, and get crushed by heavy vehicles turning left across them, while a large proportion of the men have just carried on regardless and got ahead of the motor vehicles.
    I did not know that. Sobering.
    If you look at the Direct Vision standard information it's frightening how big the blind spot in front of HGVs is as well as either side. Even if you're in the bike box you want to get out in front fast so that HGV drivers see you again and remember that you're there.

    My worst experience though was parked up in a layby behind an HGV, driver walked past on his way back from the toilet, got in the cab and then a couple of minutes later, presumably after stowing his jazz mag, the reversing lights came on, I leant on my horn immediately but still got shunted 2 metres backwards.
    Even if you use that bike box, the police will still assign you some blame for putting yourself in a vulnerable position (aka cycling about). Read the sentencing notes for Emma Burke Newman.
    The motor normativity of the Police and Courts is terrible, HGV drivers know where they have blind spots and not to drive accordingly should be considered careless at least, but the best solution would be to change HGV design and put the driver at car level.
  • TimSTimS Posts: 13,059
    edited October 17

    kinabalu said:

    Dopermean said:

    Scott_xP said:

    @OccupyDemocrats
    BREAKING: The former chief marketer for NBC apologizes to the American people for giving us Donald Trump by helping to sell “The Apprentice” myth to the American people.

    This is humiliating for MAGA…

    “I want to apologize to America. I helped create a monster,” writes John D. Miller in a piece entitled “We Created a Monster: Trump Was a TV Fantasy Invented for 'The Apprentice'” for U.S. News & World Report.

    “For nearly 25 years, I led marketing at NBC and NBCUniversal,” Miller explains. “I led the team that marketed ‘The Apprentice,’ the reality show that made Donald Trump a household name outside of New York City, where he was better known for overextending his empire and appearing in celebrity gossip columns.”

    He goes on to state that his team “created the narrative that Trump was a super-successful businessman who lived like royalty” which was a “substantial exaggeration” that “created a false narrative by making him seem more successful than he was.”

    Miller points out that Trump had to declare bankruptcy four times before the show premiered and at least twice over the course of its 14 seasons.

    “The imposing board room where he famously fired contestants was a set, because his real boardroom was too old and shabby for TV,” writers Miller.

    In a section that is certain to bruise Trump’s ego, Miller states that he was the “perfect choice” for the show because “more successful CEOs were too busy to get involved in reality TV and didn’t want to hire random game show winners onto their executive teams.”

    Meanwhile, Trump “had no such concerns” and “plenty of time for filming.”

    “I never imagined that the picture we painted of Trump as a successful businessman would help catapult him to the White House,” writes Miller, likening all of their advertising around the show to “fake news” because it was so “highly exaggerated.”

    “I discovered in my interactions with him over the years that he is manipulative, yet extraordinarily easy to manipulate,” he goes on. “He has an unfillable compliment hole. No amount is too much. Flatter him and he is compliant. World leaders, including apparently Russian strongman Vladimir Putin and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, have discovered that too.”

    Not surprisingly, Trump was full of bad suggestions for the show. He wanted to make “a team of Black players compete against white players.” Miller tried to convince him against it by appealing to Trump’s greed and telling him that it would alienate sponsors.

    “While we were successful in marketing ‘The Apprentice,’ we also did irreparable harm by creating the false image of Trump as a successful leader. I deeply regret that,” writers Miller. “And I regret that it has taken me so long to go public.”

    https://x.com/OccupyDemocrats/status/1846939723379450122

    Too late now....

    Somewhere in Essex, Alan Sugar changes the subject ....
    What could have been. Very poignant.
    An business icon of Thatcher's 80s. It would have been very symbolic if he became PM.
    Have you ever owned an Amstrad product? No, I thought not. Back in the day some of the consumer electronics he sold were DelBoy quality merchandise, but sold from Currys rather than a market stall.
    I once upon a time at a previous firm gave tax advice to Amstrad. I remember a meeting with HMRC where we were talking through their R&D credit claim, and Lord Sugar (or mere Srallen as he was then) hovered around the door to the meeting room wanting to talk to the CFO, but didn’t come in until beckoned. It was quite sweet.

    Other thing, now I remember. It was July 2006 and the hottest July day on record. About 36C. Brentwood was like Provence.
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 60,557

    Bluesky‬ ‪@bsky.app‬
    ·
    9m
    update: half a million new people in the last day 🤯

    SKS scrapping Rwanda has been an absolute disaster
  • nico679nico679 Posts: 6,277
    More disgusting comments from the stain on humanity today . Out and out racism , then blaming Ukraine for the war and then slagging off Poland for not stopping Hitler from invading .

  • DecrepiterJohnLDecrepiterJohnL Posts: 28,056
    edited October 17

    kinabalu said:

    Dopermean said:

    Scott_xP said:

    @OccupyDemocrats
    BREAKING: The former chief marketer for NBC apologizes to the American people for giving us Donald Trump by helping to sell “The Apprentice” myth to the American people.

    This is humiliating for MAGA…

    “I want to apologize to America. I helped create a monster,” writes John D. Miller in a piece entitled “We Created a Monster: Trump Was a TV Fantasy Invented for 'The Apprentice'” for U.S. News & World Report.

    “For nearly 25 years, I led marketing at NBC and NBCUniversal,” Miller explains. “I led the team that marketed ‘The Apprentice,’ the reality show that made Donald Trump a household name outside of New York City, where he was better known for overextending his empire and appearing in celebrity gossip columns.”

    He goes on to state that his team “created the narrative that Trump was a super-successful businessman who lived like royalty” which was a “substantial exaggeration” that “created a false narrative by making him seem more successful than he was.”

    Miller points out that Trump had to declare bankruptcy four times before the show premiered and at least twice over the course of its 14 seasons.

    “The imposing board room where he famously fired contestants was a set, because his real boardroom was too old and shabby for TV,” writers Miller.

    In a section that is certain to bruise Trump’s ego, Miller states that he was the “perfect choice” for the show because “more successful CEOs were too busy to get involved in reality TV and didn’t want to hire random game show winners onto their executive teams.”

    Meanwhile, Trump “had no such concerns” and “plenty of time for filming.”

    “I never imagined that the picture we painted of Trump as a successful businessman would help catapult him to the White House,” writes Miller, likening all of their advertising around the show to “fake news” because it was so “highly exaggerated.”

    “I discovered in my interactions with him over the years that he is manipulative, yet extraordinarily easy to manipulate,” he goes on. “He has an unfillable compliment hole. No amount is too much. Flatter him and he is compliant. World leaders, including apparently Russian strongman Vladimir Putin and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, have discovered that too.”

    Not surprisingly, Trump was full of bad suggestions for the show. He wanted to make “a team of Black players compete against white players.” Miller tried to convince him against it by appealing to Trump’s greed and telling him that it would alienate sponsors.

    “While we were successful in marketing ‘The Apprentice,’ we also did irreparable harm by creating the false image of Trump as a successful leader. I deeply regret that,” writers Miller. “And I regret that it has taken me so long to go public.”

    https://x.com/OccupyDemocrats/status/1846939723379450122

    Too late now....

    Somewhere in Essex, Alan Sugar changes the subject ....
    What could have been. Very poignant.
    An business icon of Thatcher's 80s. It would have been very symbolic if he became PM.
    Have you ever owned an Amstrad product? No, I thought not. Back in the day some of the consumer electronics he sold were DelBoy quality merchandise, but sold from Currys rather than a market stall.
    I worked for a tech company run by one of Sugar's old lieutenants (from before the Apprentice days). They apparently hated each other at that stage.

    The guy was a very good company boss IMO. Though on the day I left, he asked me why I was leaving, in a hurt how-dare-you voice. My reply was: "You've just made my girlfriend redundant, and she's got a job at the other end of the country."

    He then mentioned loyalty, and how he never hired anyone again who had previously chosen to leave one of his companies. I could never see the sense in that 'policy', given people leave for all sorts of reasons.

    But he could sell snow to Eskimos. He really was a very good tech boss, despite knowing very little about the tech.
    Although your chap was obviously not one of them, what is remarkable given Sugar's reputation for brusqueness and even rudeness is that he kept the same senior management team for decades (most of whom popped up on The Apprentice).
  • OmniumOmnium Posts: 10,801

    Omnium said:

    kinabalu said:

    Dopermean said:

    Scott_xP said:

    @OccupyDemocrats
    BREAKING: The former chief marketer for NBC apologizes to the American people for giving us Donald Trump by helping to sell “The Apprentice” myth to the American people.

    This is humiliating for MAGA…

    “I want to apologize to America. I helped create a monster,” writes John D. Miller in a piece entitled “We Created a Monster: Trump Was a TV Fantasy Invented for 'The Apprentice'” for U.S. News & World Report.

    “For nearly 25 years, I led marketing at NBC and NBCUniversal,” Miller explains. “I led the team that marketed ‘The Apprentice,’ the reality show that made Donald Trump a household name outside of New York City, where he was better known for overextending his empire and appearing in celebrity gossip columns.”

    He goes on to state that his team “created the narrative that Trump was a super-successful businessman who lived like royalty” which was a “substantial exaggeration” that “created a false narrative by making him seem more successful than he was.”

    Miller points out that Trump had to declare bankruptcy four times before the show premiered and at least twice over the course of its 14 seasons.

    “The imposing board room where he famously fired contestants was a set, because his real boardroom was too old and shabby for TV,” writers Miller.

    In a section that is certain to bruise Trump’s ego, Miller states that he was the “perfect choice” for the show because “more successful CEOs were too busy to get involved in reality TV and didn’t want to hire random game show winners onto their executive teams.”

    Meanwhile, Trump “had no such concerns” and “plenty of time for filming.”

    “I never imagined that the picture we painted of Trump as a successful businessman would help catapult him to the White House,” writes Miller, likening all of their advertising around the show to “fake news” because it was so “highly exaggerated.”

    “I discovered in my interactions with him over the years that he is manipulative, yet extraordinarily easy to manipulate,” he goes on. “He has an unfillable compliment hole. No amount is too much. Flatter him and he is compliant. World leaders, including apparently Russian strongman Vladimir Putin and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, have discovered that too.”

    Not surprisingly, Trump was full of bad suggestions for the show. He wanted to make “a team of Black players compete against white players.” Miller tried to convince him against it by appealing to Trump’s greed and telling him that it would alienate sponsors.

    “While we were successful in marketing ‘The Apprentice,’ we also did irreparable harm by creating the false image of Trump as a successful leader. I deeply regret that,” writers Miller. “And I regret that it has taken me so long to go public.”

    https://x.com/OccupyDemocrats/status/1846939723379450122

    Too late now....

    Somewhere in Essex, Alan Sugar changes the subject ....
    What could have been. Very poignant.
    An business icon of Thatcher's 80s. It would have been very symbolic if he became PM.
    Have you ever owned an Amstrad product? No, I thought not. Back in the day some of the consumer electronics he sold were DelBoy quality merchandise, but sold from Currys rather than a market stall.
    Amstrad computers were affordable IBM-compatible PCs for about half the price. Its word processors brought a generation into IT. Amstrad was the second largest European computer manufacturer behind Olivetti.

    Sugar was the Elon Musk of his day, with around half a dozen brilliant ideas over his career.

    The legitimate criticism of Lord Sugar is not that he spoke common or sold rubbish but that despite often achieving near-monopoly status with several products, none of it lasted. There was no research, development or investment.
    Sugar was/is no Musk.

    Musk is jumping up and down amazing. He is though like the rest of us and has a long list of faults.
    Musk has not invented anything. What he has done is simplified production across industries which is the similarity with Sugar (and cashed a few cheques from Uncle Sam). Sure, Musk is playing in a higher league but it is the same game.
    He's not invented a thing, you're right. Now look at the video of a booster rocket finding its way home to its gantry. I'm simply in awe of the man's achievements. (And rather disappointed by his politics)

  • TimSTimS Posts: 13,059

    Bluesky‬ ‪@bsky.app‬
    ·
    9m
    update: half a million new people in the last day 🤯

    SKS scrapping Rwanda has been an absolute disaster
    I think I’m missing something here. Some subtweet of a joke several pages back I assume
  • squareroot2squareroot2 Posts: 6,754
    edited October 17
    The grief that Labour are suffering is entirely of their own making. The creating of a fantasy black hole was an own goal of epic proportions.
    I doubt Reeves will still be there in 12 months time.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 42,327
    nico679 said:

    More disgusting comments from the stain on humanity today . Out and out racism , then blaming Ukraine for the war and then slagging off Poland for not stopping Hitler from invading .

    Nov 6th. Elation or despair. There's no middle ground if you're paying attention. It's as big and binary as you can get. Oh god.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 42,327

    The grief that Labour are suffering is entirely of their own making. The creating of a fantasy black hole was an own goal of epic proportions.
    I doubt Reeves will still be there in 12 months time.

    Don't know about £22b or how much was a genuine surprise but there were a lot of unfunded current spending commitments. I think that's accepted.
  • nico679nico679 Posts: 6,277
    kinabalu said:

    nico679 said:

    More disgusting comments from the stain on humanity today . Out and out racism , then blaming Ukraine for the war and then slagging off Poland for not stopping Hitler from invading .

    Nov 6th. Elation or despair. There's no middle ground if you're paying attention. It's as big and binary as you can get. Oh god.
    True . Trump is becoming even more unhinged. His comments over the last two days should have been all over US news , now they just shrug and continue their sane washing .
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 51,832
    kinabalu said:

    The grief that Labour are suffering is entirely of their own making. The creating of a fantasy black hole was an own goal of epic proportions.
    I doubt Reeves will still be there in 12 months time.

    Don't know about £22b or how much was a genuine surprise but there were a lot of unfunded current spending commitments. I think that's accepted.
    14 years of 'spend, spend, spend' put the country in a perilous position. It's about time we had some parsimony in power.
  • OmniumOmnium Posts: 10,801

    The grief that Labour are suffering is entirely of their own making. The creating of a fantasy black hole was an own goal of epic proportions.
    I doubt Reeves will still be there in 12 months time.

    Labour are totally stuffed if anything happens to Reeves.
  • MattWMattW Posts: 23,411
    malcolmg said:

    MattW said:

    HYUFD said:

    I expect in the end Reeves to raise taxes on the wealthy and CGT on entrepreneurs and NI on employers and use the money raised to put into public services. If she doesn't, the Labour left and unions will go mad

    I think taxes will increase on the wealthy.

    My nap is that pensions pots will be brought into IHT in some form, as if I have it right, when the pensioner pops their clogs the remaining investments are untaxed money.

    (Though is there something about CGT on asset sales within pension schemes?)
    What bollox Matt, they are passed on without tax but are taxed when consumed so they get their pound of flesh regardless unless you pop your clogs at early age.
    Disagree on that one, Malc :smile: .

    I paid a stonking IHT bill on inherited property, and I don't see why pension pots should be much different.
  • AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 23,581
    Let’s get ready to RUMBLE!

    GB News 1900hrs.

    Bobby vs Kemi.

    Here we go!
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 42,327
    nico679 said:

    kinabalu said:

    nico679 said:

    More disgusting comments from the stain on humanity today . Out and out racism , then blaming Ukraine for the war and then slagging off Poland for not stopping Hitler from invading .

    Nov 6th. Elation or despair. There's no middle ground if you're paying attention. It's as big and binary as you can get. Oh god.
    True . Trump is becoming even more unhinged. His comments over the last two days should have been all over US news , now they just shrug and continue their sane washing .
    Yep. Many books will be written about the madness that took hold in America 2016 to ???
  • Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 51,950

    Let’s get ready to RUMBLE!

    GB News 1900hrs.

    Bobby vs Kemi.

    Here we go!

    The anticipation!
  • MattWMattW Posts: 23,411
    edited October 17
    Eabhal said:

    Dopermean said:

    Eabhal said:

    Eabhal said:

    ydoethur said:

    I have been in London for 48 hours working with a group of disabled people on a theatre trip.

    So far, I’ve had to physically block six cyclists who ran a red light and then tried to cut straight across the front of a wheelchair user which would have caused a crash.

    WTF London cyclists? Do you have to be utter Tristram Hunts?

    I apologise on behalf of London cyclists. What a horrible experience. Personally I always stop for red lights at pedestrian crossings and stop at zebra crossings when someone is crossing or waiting to cross. I also was almost knocked off my bike this week by a fellow cyclist who sped round a bend with no regard to people coming, so I can confirm that many of my fellow cyclists are indeed awful - he didn't even say sorry. I think in part the aggression is a response to stress and danger, but of course if you cycle more carefully it is less stressful so you can control this.
    And worth pointing out that about 85% of cyclists stop at red lights, according to TfL. You can get points on your driving licence for doing it, just not enough cops to enforce it.

    A loophole is available - pop a leg over and scoot across.
    Also worth pointing out that according to TfL's own research the reason most cyclists killed in London are women is that they are more likely to obey the red lights, and get crushed by heavy vehicles turning left across them, while a large proportion of the men have just carried on regardless and got ahead of the motor vehicles.
    I did not know that. Sobering.
    If you look at the Direct Vision standard information it's frightening how big the blind spot in front of HGVs is as well as either side. Even if you're in the bike box you want to get out in front fast so that HGV drivers see you again and remember that you're there.

    My worst experience though was parked up in a layby behind an HGV, driver walked past on his way back from the toilet, got in the cab and then a couple of minutes later, presumably after stowing his jazz mag, the reversing lights came on, I leant on my horn immediately but still got shunted 2 metres backwards.
    Even if you use that bike box, the police will still assign you some blame for putting yourself in a vulnerable position (aka cycling about). Read the sentencing notes for Emma Burke Newman.
    Isn't that the Court, not the police TBF, after aiui the Judge paying attention a somewhat controversial expert report - so is that police policy or a judge who got it wrong? How widely does that happen?

    And I'm not totally convinced that was an entirely typical case.

    But I also think it is nuanced and complex and would take a lot of posts to tease out.

  • AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 23,581

    Let’s get ready to RUMBLE!

    GB News 1900hrs.

    Bobby vs Kemi.

    Here we go!

    The anticipation!
    Hold on to your hats!

    JENRICK is on stage now.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 71,452

    Bluesky‬ ‪@bsky.app‬
    ·
    9m
    update: half a million new people in the last day 🤯

    Wonder where they decamped from.
  • rkrkrkrkrkrk Posts: 8,312
    On topic, glad to see a header on the budget. I don't think Reeves will like the metaphor of rabbits and hats, she's been dreaming of being Chancellor for decades and will be hoping she can look sober and credible not a magician.

    I agree Labour has taken some time to figure out what it wants to do. I think the message is going to be - difficult choices now to pay for investment for the long term.

    Labour are clearly hoping private sector investment will make their life easier but we will see.

  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 42,327

    kinabalu said:

    The grief that Labour are suffering is entirely of their own making. The creating of a fantasy black hole was an own goal of epic proportions.
    I doubt Reeves will still be there in 12 months time.

    Don't know about £22b or how much was a genuine surprise but there were a lot of unfunded current spending commitments. I think that's accepted.
    14 years of 'spend, spend, spend' put the country in a perilous position. It's about time we had some parsimony in power.
    Longer, William. We've been living beyond our means since the Boer war. You can't do that forever unless you have an Empire to exploit. It's time to wake up and smell the coffee. Starting on October 30th.
  • tlg86tlg86 Posts: 26,183
    Robert Jenrick is very wooden. Not sure how he's made it as an MP never mind a contender for leader of the opposition.
  • EabhalEabhal Posts: 8,775
    edited October 17
    MattW said:

    Eabhal said:

    Dopermean said:

    Eabhal said:

    Eabhal said:

    ydoethur said:

    I have been in London for 48 hours working with a group of disabled people on a theatre trip.

    So far, I’ve had to physically block six cyclists who ran a red light and then tried to cut straight across the front of a wheelchair user which would have caused a crash.

    WTF London cyclists? Do you have to be utter Tristram Hunts?

    I apologise on behalf of London cyclists. What a horrible experience. Personally I always stop for red lights at pedestrian crossings and stop at zebra crossings when someone is crossing or waiting to cross. I also was almost knocked off my bike this week by a fellow cyclist who sped round a bend with no regard to people coming, so I can confirm that many of my fellow cyclists are indeed awful - he didn't even say sorry. I think in part the aggression is a response to stress and danger, but of course if you cycle more carefully it is less stressful so you can control this.
    And worth pointing out that about 85% of cyclists stop at red lights, according to TfL. You can get points on your driving licence for doing it, just not enough cops to enforce it.

    A loophole is available - pop a leg over and scoot across.
    Also worth pointing out that according to TfL's own research the reason most cyclists killed in London are women is that they are more likely to obey the red lights, and get crushed by heavy vehicles turning left across them, while a large proportion of the men have just carried on regardless and got ahead of the motor vehicles.
    I did not know that. Sobering.
    If you look at the Direct Vision standard information it's frightening how big the blind spot in front of HGVs is as well as either side. Even if you're in the bike box you want to get out in front fast so that HGV drivers see you again and remember that you're there.

    My worst experience though was parked up in a layby behind an HGV, driver walked past on his way back from the toilet, got in the cab and then a couple of minutes later, presumably after stowing his jazz mag, the reversing lights came on, I leant on my horn immediately but still got shunted 2 metres backwards.
    Even if you use that bike box, the police will still assign you some blame for putting yourself in a vulnerable position (aka cycling about). Read the sentencing notes for Emma Burke Newman.
    Isn't that the Court, not the police TBF, after aiui the Judge paying attention a somewhat controversial expert report - so is that police policy or a judge who got it wrong? How widely does that happen?

    And I'm not totally convinced that was an entirely typical case.

    But I also think it is nuanced and complex and would take a lot of posts to tease out.

    It was the report from the police officer, that the sheriff referenced in the sentencing.
  • MattWMattW Posts: 23,411
    edited October 17
    TOPPING said:

    Eabhal said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Eabhal said:

    ydoethur said:

    I have been in London for 48 hours working with a group of disabled people on a theatre trip.

    So far, I’ve had to physically block six cyclists who ran a red light and then tried to cut straight across the front of a wheelchair user which would have caused a crash.

    WTF London cyclists? Do you have to be utter Tristram Hunts?

    I apologise on behalf of London cyclists. What a horrible experience. Personally I always stop for red lights at pedestrian crossings and stop at zebra crossings when someone is crossing or waiting to cross. I also was almost knocked off my bike this week by a fellow cyclist who sped round a bend with no regard to people coming, so I can confirm that many of my fellow cyclists are indeed awful - he didn't even say sorry. I think in part the aggression is a response to stress and danger, but of course if you cycle more carefully it is less stressful so you can control this.
    And worth pointing out that about 85% of cyclists stop at red lights, according to TfL. You can get points on your driving licence for doing it, just not enough cops to enforce it.

    A loophole is available - pop a leg over and scoot across.
    Surprised it's as high as 85%. You don't get that impression in central London.
    I suppose you only notice the ones that do. FWIW, studies from Copenhagen find that cyclists break the law at junctions at a much lower rate than drivers, but I guess cyclists are generally in closer proximity to pedestrians and therefore more noticeable.

    The most interesting thing from that study was that cyclists are much more likely to obey rules when there is cycling infrastructure available - a sort of quid pro quo, perhaps.
    Er, no.

    Well not in London, anyway. The only thing that stops most of them is a cavalcade of lorries crossing the intended path.

    No way is it as low as 15% in London - 60-70% more like.
    Cyclists would break the law less if we had the Idaho Stop, and if contraflow cycling was legal on one way streets by default. I mean eg the one way side streets that will all be in LTNs with a default 20mph limit when it comes in in England, not the arterial and distributor roads. :smile::wink:

    As I think is essentially the case in Cambridge, without serious problems.

    But suggest it on one street in Mansfield, and the entire set of Captain Mainwarings would have a heart attack in chorus.

    (He said helpfully! *)

    * I can't remember which TV programme from which that is a catchphrase.
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 62,861
    nico679 said:

    kinabalu said:

    nico679 said:

    More disgusting comments from the stain on humanity today . Out and out racism , then blaming Ukraine for the war and then slagging off Poland for not stopping Hitler from invading .

    Nov 6th. Elation or despair. There's no middle ground if you're paying attention. It's as big and binary as you can get. Oh god.
    True . Trump is becoming even more unhinged. His comments over the last two days should have been all over US news , now they just shrug and continue their sane washing .
    Why aren't the media hammering his mental fitness for office from dawn 'til dusk?

    Why isn't the former Chief of Staff of the military being interviewed on TV every hour about his view Trump is totally unfit to serve and is a fascist who will destroy the republic? The head military man under Trump. Worked with him every day says he is basically a lunatic.



  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 62,861
    tlg86 said:

    Robert Jenrick is very wooden. Not sure how he's made it as an MP never mind a contender for leader of the opposition.

    I'm sure he'll make a fine leader for a collapsing into irrelevance party.
  • viewcodeviewcode Posts: 22,176
    edited October 17

    Sandpit said:

    Told you all Gove was the puppet master behind Badenoch.

    Robert Jenrick would be vulnerable as Tory leader because the country has had enough of “Tory boys”, Michael Gove has said.

    Speaking on the BBC’s Today podcast, the former Cabinet minister said: “Robert’s strengths are diligence, rigour, hunger. He is someone who has focused on the big questions that have been the party’s internal conversation.

    “I think one of his weaknesses is that he looks like a typical Tory politician. And, given the strength of feeling against Tory boys expressed at the last general election, that’s a challenge.”

    Mr Gove, a former leadership contender, said he was “very fond” of Kemi Badenoch, Mr Jenrick’s opponent in the Tory leadership race, because of her “courage”.

    He said: “Courage is her hallmark. One of the criticisms directed at her is that she’s too willing to get involved in a scrap. I think it’s a virtue.”


    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/10/17/gove-would-vote-for-lesser-of-two-evils-harris-over-trump/

    Doesn’t Kemi rather not like him any more, following a personal falling-out a couple of years ago?
    She’s over it now.

    She wants to win and needs his help.
    Didn't Gove have a [redacted] with a [redacted] and she disapproved?

    However she is a politician. She has principles. And if they stand in the way of power she can deprioritise them.
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 32,674

    Surprise, surprise! Rooftop solar may have regressive effects: "The result is that richer homeowners who can afford solar get cheap electricity bills — while poorer residents see higher bills to compensate. In California alone, researchers at UC Berkeley and the California Public Advocates Office estimated that rooftop solar will add between $4 billion and $6.5 billion to customers’ bills in 2024. One solution is to match the tax breaks and benefits of rooftop solar more closely to the value it actually adds to the electricity grid." (Link omitted.)
    source$: https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/2024/10/16/rooftop-solar-emissions-climate-change/

    OK, actually, I'm not surprised.

    Doesn't make any sense to me.
  • AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 23,581

    The grief that Labour are suffering is entirely of their own making. The creating of a fantasy black hole was an own goal of epic proportions.
    I doubt Reeves will still be there in 12 months time.

    Interesting. Fancy pricing that prediction up?
  • AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 23,581
    The GB News audio is out of sync with the video. Is it always this amateurish?
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 48,809

    kinabalu said:

    The grief that Labour are suffering is entirely of their own making. The creating of a fantasy black hole was an own goal of epic proportions.
    I doubt Reeves will still be there in 12 months time.

    Don't know about £22b or how much was a genuine surprise but there were a lot of unfunded current spending commitments. I think that's accepted.
    14 years of 'spend, spend, spend' put the country in a perilous position. It's about time we had some parsimony in power.
    Yep. The highest taxes since the war, and all that money squandered.

    It's easy to see why the country voted for change. Reeves take note, the same will not do.
  • OmniumOmnium Posts: 10,801
    kinabalu said:

    kinabalu said:

    The grief that Labour are suffering is entirely of their own making. The creating of a fantasy black hole was an own goal of epic proportions.
    I doubt Reeves will still be there in 12 months time.

    Don't know about £22b or how much was a genuine surprise but there were a lot of unfunded current spending commitments. I think that's accepted.
    14 years of 'spend, spend, spend' put the country in a perilous position. It's about time we had some parsimony in power.
    Longer, William. We've been living beyond our means since the Boer war. You can't do that forever unless you have an Empire to exploit. It's time to wake up and smell the coffee. Starting on October 30th.
    This idea of exploiting an Empire isn't right. When you have an Empire you manage it in a way that keeps your Empire as the number one thing. And you'd be daft to do anything else.

    British Imperial policy must always have been mostly about maintaining the Empire. Churchill's gravest fears were about loss of Empire.
  • AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 23,581
    It also has a ticker that says ‘Lucy Connelly jailed for inciting racial violence on X day of Southport attacks.’

    Someone fill in the X!
  • The GB News audio is out of sync with the video. Is it always this amateurish?

    No idea - I can honestly say I have never watched it nor do I intend to
  • OmniumOmnium Posts: 10,801

    The GB News audio is out of sync with the video. Is it always this amateurish?

    No idea - I can honestly say I have never watched it nor do I intend to
    So why did you reply?
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 32,674
    Chris Chope.

    "Kemi Badenoch too ‘preoccupied with her children’ to lead, says MP
    Sir Christopher Chope, who is supporting Robert Jenrick, her rival in the Tory leadership race, has been urged to apologise and branded a ‘dinosaur’"

    https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/tory-mp-christopher-chope-kemi-badenoch-children-3lv2rj3wl
  • Omnium said:

    The GB News audio is out of sync with the video. Is it always this amateurish?

    No idea - I can honestly say I have never watched it nor do I intend to
    So why did you reply?
    Just to indicate my rejection of GBNews as a channel I have no interest in watching
  • AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 23,581

    The GB News audio is out of sync with the video. Is it always this amateurish?

    No idea - I can honestly say I have never watched it nor do I intend to
    You are missing The Jenster setting his stall out to the nation.
  • The GB News audio is out of sync with the video. Is it always this amateurish?

    No idea - I can honestly say I have never watched it nor do I intend to
    You are missing The Jenster setting his stall out to the nation.
    I much prefer Emmerdale then listening to Jenrick
  • FF43FF43 Posts: 17,209

    The grief that Labour are suffering is entirely of their own making. The creating of a fantasy black hole was an own goal of epic proportions.
    I doubt Reeves will still be there in 12 months time.

    The new Labour government is making some of the mistakes the Cameron government made when it took power, without causing any substantial political problems for them.
  • Carnyx said:

    malcolmg said:

    Foxy said:

    Incidentally I expect quite a binge on spending this Christmas on big ticket items. A contact in the pensions industry says that they have had a very busy month paying out tax free lump sums before the budget. Some will go to other savings but some will get spent.

    I got a fair way along the path of taking the 25 per cent but decided it was too much like hard work. That said, it would be nice to keep it for lower annual withdrawals so if the Chancellor is reading this, please cap it rather than remove it.
    what made it hard work, just an e-mail to your platform and they send you the cash
    Yes, I put the process in motion but then discovered I had a second pot with them, and that would have left them in different states. This is where it became complicated and with hindsight I should have sought a financial advisor.

    As a general rant, why did they not tell me I had a long-forgotten pot with them (that came via an acquisition so was not available on their website), and why does the government not make it easier to trace pension pots?
    Mr Cameron's administration set a scheme up:

    https://www.gov.uk/find-pension-contact-details

    But perhaps not good enough?
    The current scheme basically relies on remembering who you worked for, and finding out which pension providers they used, then asking the provider if they have anything for you. It is complicated by employers going out of business, or being one of a dozen similarly-named companies, and likewise pension providers. And many people will have trouble remembering job-hopping decades ago. It's great for one-company careers though.

    What HMG should do is set up a central database so you could type in your NI number and have the answer pop out.
    https://www.ajbell.co.uk/sipp/ready-made-pension

    Disclaimer - I own a risibly small shareholding in the company which delivers this for them.
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 60,557
    FF43 said:

    The grief that Labour are suffering is entirely of their own making. The creating of a fantasy black hole was an own goal of epic proportions.
    I doubt Reeves will still be there in 12 months time.

    The new Labour government is making some of the mistakes the Cameron government made when it took power, without causing any substantial political problems for them.
    Err, you what? Have you seen the polling for SKS and satisfaction figures for the government?
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 60,557
    FF43 said:

    The grief that Labour are suffering is entirely of their own making. The creating of a fantasy black hole was an own goal of epic proportions.
    I doubt Reeves will still be there in 12 months time.

    The new Labour government is making some of the mistakes the Cameron government made when it took power, without causing any substantial political problems for them.
    Err, you what? Have you seen the polling for SKS and satisfaction figures for the government?
  • FF43FF43 Posts: 17,209
    Andy_JS said:

    Chris Chope.

    "Kemi Badenoch too ‘preoccupied with her children’ to lead, says MP
    Sir Christopher Chope, who is supporting Robert Jenrick, her rival in the Tory leadership race, has been urged to apologise and branded a ‘dinosaur’"

    https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/tory-mp-christopher-chope-kemi-badenoch-children-3lv2rj3wl

    Tory MP out-batshits Badenoch.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 71,452
    FF43 said:

    The grief that Labour are suffering is entirely of their own making. The creating of a fantasy black hole was an own goal of epic proportions.
    I doubt Reeves will still be there in 12 months time.

    The new Labour government is making some of the mistakes the Cameron government made when it took power, without causing any substantial political problems for them.
    Not entirely fantasy.

    Repair bill for crumbling NHS buildings in England soars to almost £14bn
    NHS Providers chief says 'vital bits of the NHS are literally falling apart after years of underinvestment’

    https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/oct/17/repair-bill-for-crumbling-nhs-buildings-soars-to-almost-14bn
    The cost of repairing crumbling NHS buildings has soared to almost £14bn, prompting warnings that patients and staff are at risk from falling roofs and faulty equipment.

    The repair bill faced by the health service to make its estate fit for purpose has more than trebled from £4.5bn in 2012-13 to £13.8bn last year, according to NHS England data.

    The latest bill means that, for the first time since records began, it would cost the NHS more to eradicate its maintenance backlog than the £13.6bn it spends on running its entire estate...

  • maaarshmaaarsh Posts: 3,590
    FF43 said:

    The grief that Labour are suffering is entirely of their own making. The creating of a fantasy black hole was an own goal of epic proportions.
    I doubt Reeves will still be there in 12 months time.

    The new Labour government is making some of the mistakes the Cameron government made when it took power, without causing any substantial political problems for them.
    The Tories nearly lost that election (and indeed ended up in coalition rather than full power) because they went in to the election being strangely clear about the fiscal situation and the hard yards required.

    Labour said they would match current spending plans and not raise NI before this election. The parallel is not very close.
  • maaarshmaaarsh Posts: 3,590

    Carnyx said:

    malcolmg said:

    Foxy said:

    Incidentally I expect quite a binge on spending this Christmas on big ticket items. A contact in the pensions industry says that they have had a very busy month paying out tax free lump sums before the budget. Some will go to other savings but some will get spent.

    I got a fair way along the path of taking the 25 per cent but decided it was too much like hard work. That said, it would be nice to keep it for lower annual withdrawals so if the Chancellor is reading this, please cap it rather than remove it.
    what made it hard work, just an e-mail to your platform and they send you the cash
    Yes, I put the process in motion but then discovered I had a second pot with them, and that would have left them in different states. This is where it became complicated and with hindsight I should have sought a financial advisor.

    As a general rant, why did they not tell me I had a long-forgotten pot with them (that came via an acquisition so was not available on their website), and why does the government not make it easier to trace pension pots?
    Mr Cameron's administration set a scheme up:

    https://www.gov.uk/find-pension-contact-details

    But perhaps not good enough?
    The current scheme basically relies on remembering who you worked for, and finding out which pension providers they used, then asking the provider if they have anything for you. It is complicated by employers going out of business, or being one of a dozen similarly-named companies, and likewise pension providers. And many people will have trouble remembering job-hopping decades ago. It's great for one-company careers though.

    What HMG should do is set up a central database so you could type in your NI number and have the answer pop out.
    https://www.pensionsdashboardsprogramme.org.uk/

    It's coming relatively soon.
This discussion has been closed.