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Senatus Populusque – Previewing November’s other elections – politicalbetting.com

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  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 38,777
    rcs1000 said:

    tlg86 said:

    maxh said:

    tlg86 said:

    maxh said:

    tlg86 said:

    maaarsh said:

    Sandpit said:

    carnforth said:

    Sky

    Southport killer charged with terrorism

    The teenager accused of the stabbing murders of three young girls in Southport has been charged with producing the poison ricin and possessing a military study of an Al Qaeda training manual.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c05zpdq0lzgo

    This isn't going to help all conspiracy theory stuff, as the police were very quick to say not terrorist related and the online stuff which got people out on the streets was all about a cover up of this being a terrorist attack and strange story of the soldier stabbing (which we still don't really know much about).
    Wasn't the crux of the 'fake news' story that he was known to the security services?
    The crux was that he was an immigrant, which he wasn't, IIRC.
    https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/security-services-may-look-at-russia-and-farage-in-riots-probe_uk_66ba2494e4b0eabd2393a9a1

    Farage falsely claimed the police were not telling the whole truth around the tragedies in Southport shortly after the stabbings first happened, and suggested the suspect was already known to the security services.
    I can understand why the police didn’t want to release this pre whatever that Tommy Robinson march was, but the perception I.e what some groups will do with this won’t help.
    So they’ve put “Tommy” in prison, and are now saying that this attack was terrorism after all?

    Hope the police and Home Office are braced for the response, let’s all hope and pray it doesn’t get as ugly as it did earlier in the summer.
    It's cold and dark now, safe time to admit the hush up.
    The weather is set fair for the next week. Plenty of fireworks around too. (Not that I want it to kick off - I don't think it will - but if that was the thinking behind the lies, then the police deserve everything they get)
    I find some of the language and sentiments expressed by certain posters on here pretty unpleasant at the moment.

    Are you really saying that individual police officers deserve to be attacked with fireworks? Pretty shameful imo.
    Nope, I'm saying the powers that be having to ask their officers to deal with shit deserve everything they get. (If I were rank and file, I'd refuse to go out there after this).
    That isn't how your previous post reads, to me at least.
    "Not that I want it to kick off"

    Obviously, police don't have much of choice, so I will retract any suggestion that they deserve it. But this is a cover up. And it is an absolute fucking disgrace.
    What specifically had been covered up?
    We were told that it was disinformation to link the crime to Islamist terrorism. Now it seems to be the truth.
    The disinformation was primarily that he was an illegal/boat person.
    Along with an incorrect name too.
    Isn’t this just correlation/causation

    1. He has mental health problems.
    2. He is interest in radical Islamic topics
    3. He stabbed some kids

    2&3 flow from 1. But that doesn’t mean 3 flows from 2
    Much better put than I managed.
    No it isn't it's the kind of behaviour which causes Asian people laugh at white liberal Europeans. Currently it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck yet people are attempting tortured logic to suggest it's a goose.
  • DopermeanDopermean Posts: 495

    maaarsh said:

    maaarsh said:

    maaarsh said:

    After yesterday's tweets about 'engineer' Kemi's sub-par academic achievements (D in A Level maths), I've just spotted Keir only got BBC in his A levels.

    Why are we ruled by idiots, and how was this not spotted when muppets were going on about his razor-sharp intellect - the clues of his inability to think on his feet were there all along.

    In the old days, top grades were harder to get and not many people cared anyway.
    She took her A levels in 1997 not 1970 - if you can only get a D in A level maths I don't want to rely on anything you've engineered.

    Even when Keir was doing it 10% got As - out of the whole country we couldn't be bothered to pick someone in the top decile mentally - admittedly America has 2 similar choices, but it doesn't excuse us.
    Not everyone excels in their A Levels. A pretty daft way to judge someone with decades of work experience.
    The world of work is full of successful but clearly not particularly bright people - good luck to them. I'm merely suggesting for Prime Minister we should aim high.

    At the stage Kemi did her A-levels you needed to be Intelligent or consciencious to get good grades - not a good sign if she couldn't tick either box.
    She was 16 when she moved to the UK. Getting three A levels shortly after is probably quite an achievement considering.
    Moved back to the UK
    AIUI she was also staying with a family friend rather than with her parents, while Starmer had a severely ill parent.
    Far more sensible to judge them on their graduate education and what they've done since than how stable a home life and well-coached they were at 18.
  • TimSTimS Posts: 12,983
    rcs1000 said:

    rcs1000 said:

    rcs1000 said:

    I've seen nothing to support the claim he was previously known to security services.

    If that's the case, why not? We have over 40,000 people on terror watchlists. Why wasn't he one of them?
    Errrr, because there are 70 million people in the UK.

    And there's a balance here: either you have so many people on the list that no one is being properly monitored* or you miss someone. Let's not forget either that at the height of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, the security services reckoned they knew the identities of less than a fifth of the members of the Provisional IRA.

    * And do we really want hundreds of thousands of people on terror watch lists for - say - having visited an Islamist web site?
    My comment doesn't necessarily imply that the list should be bigger, but if someone who goes on to commit mass murder wasn't on the list, then questions need to be asked about whether we are monitoring the right people.
    That's a fair point.

    But don't forget that this stuff is hard.

    And there's always a difficult balance to be had, because - beyond watching a few individuals - what can the State really do before someone does something that is actually illegal? We can't lock people up for their thoughts: much as I find it repugnant, people are allowed to believe that children are acceptable sexual partners, or in the primacy of Islam or that white people are racially superior to other people.

    The essence of freedom is that we accept that some terrible things are going to happen, and that those things might have been stopped.

    And we accept that, because when we give the government too much power, then more bad things happen.

    Just remember: outside of disease and old age, the entity most likely to kill you is your own government. And it isn't even close.
    What?
    Could you elucidate?
    Sure: in the 20th Century, about 200 million people were killed by their own government. Now, the biggest chunk of these were Communist countries (China, Cambodia), but the stats are pretty undeniable: in most countries it is the government you need to be afraid of. And the more powers you give it, the more afraid you need to be.

    Tyranny is facilitated when large parts of a population support the state doing bad things to "other people", and assume those same bad things won't be done to them.
  • Daveyboy1961Daveyboy1961 Posts: 3,883
    rcs1000 said:

    rcs1000 said:

    rcs1000 said:

    I've seen nothing to support the claim he was previously known to security services.

    If that's the case, why not? We have over 40,000 people on terror watchlists. Why wasn't he one of them?
    Errrr, because there are 70 million people in the UK.

    And there's a balance here: either you have so many people on the list that no one is being properly monitored* or you miss someone. Let's not forget either that at the height of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, the security services reckoned they knew the identities of less than a fifth of the members of the Provisional IRA.

    * And do we really want hundreds of thousands of people on terror watch lists for - say - having visited an Islamist web site?
    My comment doesn't necessarily imply that the list should be bigger, but if someone who goes on to commit mass murder wasn't on the list, then questions need to be asked about whether we are monitoring the right people.
    That's a fair point.

    But don't forget that this stuff is hard.

    And there's always a difficult balance to be had, because - beyond watching a few individuals - what can the State really do before someone does something that is actually illegal? We can't lock people up for their thoughts: much as I find it repugnant, people are allowed to believe that children are acceptable sexual partners, or in the primacy of Islam or that white people are racially superior to other people.

    The essence of freedom is that we accept that some terrible things are going to happen, and that those things might have been stopped.

    And we accept that, because when we give the government too much power, then more bad things happen.

    Just remember: outside of disease and old age, the entity most likely to kill you is your own government. And it isn't even close.
    What?
    Could you elucidate?
    Sure: in the 20th Century, about 200 million people were killed by their own government. Now, the biggest chunk of these were Communist countries (China, Cambodia), but the stats are pretty undeniable: in most countries it is the government you need to be afraid of. And the more powers you give it, the more afraid you need to be.

    OIC
    Some countries are weighting the average a little though...
  • FrankBoothFrankBooth Posts: 9,826
    rcs1000 said:

    Selebian said:

    carnforth said:

    carnforth said:

    carnforth said:

    Sky

    Southport killer charged with terrorism

    The teenager accused of the stabbing murders of three young girls in Southport has been charged with producing the poison ricin and possessing a military study of an Al Qaeda training manual.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c05zpdq0lzgo

    This isn't going to help all conspiracy theory stuff, as the police were very quick to say not terrorist related.
    "Not being treated as terrorism". Not quite the same. I suppose they could start saying "Not currently being treated as terrorism".
    Also:

    "However, police have not declared the events of 29 July a terrorist incident. "For a matter to be declared as a terrorist incident, motivation would need to be established," Chief Constable Kennedy said."

    So we're charging people just for having PDFs on their hard drives again. Lucky no-one went around checking hard drives for the Anarchist's Cookbook when I was a teenager.
    Producing ricin is not just possessing pdfs.
    True, but:

    "He also faces a terror charge of possession of information "likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism, contrary to Section 58 of the Terrorism Act 2000"."

    Someone could be charged with that alone. They probably wouldn't be, but they could be - and that's not right.
    A chemistry degree would appear to fall under that!
    One of my colleagues used to be in possession of mg scale amounts of a drug CC1065 that would kill hundreds in the right environment and be almost undetectable (binds to DNA causing multi-organ failure a few months after administration). The way he talks about what terrorists ought to do is fascinating/scary at the same time.
    To someone who has done chemistry, the world is full of "Put this, this and this in a bucket and you get...."
    When I was doing my A-Level chemistry I was paired up with this Chinese kid. Very smart, but had only just arrived in the UK and his English wasn't very good and had shall we say a very lax approach to health and safety....using the fume cupboard was seen as unnecessary hassle, as was bothering to measure things...150ml...300ml, same thing...i just double everything else...
    When I was a teenager, you could get everything mail order. I still remember the thrill of getting the 100% Sulphuric acid. In those days the use of polystyrene foam round a bottle in a parcel was a bit exotic. Glass bottle of course.....

    The 100% Nitric was fun as well.

    My brother (slightly older) was a spoil sport and drew the line at Hydrofluoric......

    Mind you, the bit where we teaching ourselves how to silver glass using silver nitrate... and the solution turned black.....
    In my day the students who knew what they were doing were allowed to brew up all kinds of things in the back of the chemistry lab at school.

    The usual amusement was NI3 which was mostly used to eat shoe soles one crackle at a time but other more exciting compounds may have been attempted.

    It was kind of brought to a halt when some fool didn't cool a reaction vessel enough and the main classroom had to be cleared rather quickly.

    I don't think anyone deliberately made any fulminates though!

    Most of those committing such criminal acts went on to Oxbridge, of course.

    [That's me on a list now]

    One of the sixth formers at my school (who ended up at Oxford) used to make amphetamines in the school chemistry lab.

    This was discovered just before Easter in his upper sixth, and the school was faced with a choice...

    As he was the only kid with an Oxbridge offer, they did exactly what you'd expect, and completely swept it under the carpet.
    The scandal I assume not the amphetamines.
  • Dopermean said:

    maaarsh said:

    maaarsh said:

    maaarsh said:

    After yesterday's tweets about 'engineer' Kemi's sub-par academic achievements (D in A Level maths), I've just spotted Keir only got BBC in his A levels.

    Why are we ruled by idiots, and how was this not spotted when muppets were going on about his razor-sharp intellect - the clues of his inability to think on his feet were there all along.

    In the old days, top grades were harder to get and not many people cared anyway.
    She took her A levels in 1997 not 1970 - if you can only get a D in A level maths I don't want to rely on anything you've engineered.

    Even when Keir was doing it 10% got As - out of the whole country we couldn't be bothered to pick someone in the top decile mentally - admittedly America has 2 similar choices, but it doesn't excuse us.
    Not everyone excels in their A Levels. A pretty daft way to judge someone with decades of work experience.
    The world of work is full of successful but clearly not particularly bright people - good luck to them. I'm merely suggesting for Prime Minister we should aim high.

    At the stage Kemi did her A-levels you needed to be Intelligent or consciencious to get good grades - not a good sign if she couldn't tick either box.
    She was 16 when she moved to the UK. Getting three A levels shortly after is probably quite an achievement considering.
    Moved back to the UK
    AIUI she was also staying with a family friend rather than with her parents, while Starmer had a severely ill parent.
    Far more sensible to judge them on their graduate education and what they've done since than how stable a home life and well-coached they were at 18.
    Yes UK born, but believe she returned back to Nigeria as a baby still, certainly no schooling here. On the rest of what you say, absolutely agree.
  • MaxPB said:

    rcs1000 said:

    tlg86 said:

    maxh said:

    tlg86 said:

    maxh said:

    tlg86 said:

    maaarsh said:

    Sandpit said:

    carnforth said:

    Sky

    Southport killer charged with terrorism

    The teenager accused of the stabbing murders of three young girls in Southport has been charged with producing the poison ricin and possessing a military study of an Al Qaeda training manual.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c05zpdq0lzgo

    This isn't going to help all conspiracy theory stuff, as the police were very quick to say not terrorist related and the online stuff which got people out on the streets was all about a cover up of this being a terrorist attack and strange story of the soldier stabbing (which we still don't really know much about).
    Wasn't the crux of the 'fake news' story that he was known to the security services?
    The crux was that he was an immigrant, which he wasn't, IIRC.
    https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/security-services-may-look-at-russia-and-farage-in-riots-probe_uk_66ba2494e4b0eabd2393a9a1

    Farage falsely claimed the police were not telling the whole truth around the tragedies in Southport shortly after the stabbings first happened, and suggested the suspect was already known to the security services.
    I can understand why the police didn’t want to release this pre whatever that Tommy Robinson march was, but the perception I.e what some groups will do with this won’t help.
    So they’ve put “Tommy” in prison, and are now saying that this attack was terrorism after all?

    Hope the police and Home Office are braced for the response, let’s all hope and pray it doesn’t get as ugly as it did earlier in the summer.
    It's cold and dark now, safe time to admit the hush up.
    The weather is set fair for the next week. Plenty of fireworks around too. (Not that I want it to kick off - I don't think it will - but if that was the thinking behind the lies, then the police deserve everything they get)
    I find some of the language and sentiments expressed by certain posters on here pretty unpleasant at the moment.

    Are you really saying that individual police officers deserve to be attacked with fireworks? Pretty shameful imo.
    Nope, I'm saying the powers that be having to ask their officers to deal with shit deserve everything they get. (If I were rank and file, I'd refuse to go out there after this).
    That isn't how your previous post reads, to me at least.
    "Not that I want it to kick off"

    Obviously, police don't have much of choice, so I will retract any suggestion that they deserve it. But this is a cover up. And it is an absolute fucking disgrace.
    What specifically had been covered up?
    We were told that it was disinformation to link the crime to Islamist terrorism. Now it seems to be the truth.
    The disinformation was primarily that he was an illegal/boat person.
    Along with an incorrect name too.
    Isn’t this just correlation/causation

    1. He has mental health problems.
    2. He is interest in radical Islamic topics
    3. He stabbed some kids

    2&3 flow from 1. But that doesn’t mean 3 flows from 2
    Much better put than I managed.
    No it isn't it's the kind of behaviour which causes Asian people laugh at white liberal Europeans. Currently it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck yet people are attempting tortured logic to suggest it's a goose.
    Keeping an open mind doesn't mean you're saying it's a goose, just you don't yet know what it is for certain.

    The problem is some people lack patience and have an undue haste to predetermine what it is, before the poor victims had even been buried let alone there being a proper investigation.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,110
    MaxPB said:

    rcs1000 said:

    tlg86 said:

    maxh said:

    tlg86 said:

    maxh said:

    tlg86 said:

    maaarsh said:

    Sandpit said:

    carnforth said:

    Sky

    Southport killer charged with terrorism

    The teenager accused of the stabbing murders of three young girls in Southport has been charged with producing the poison ricin and possessing a military study of an Al Qaeda training manual.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c05zpdq0lzgo

    This isn't going to help all conspiracy theory stuff, as the police were very quick to say not terrorist related and the online stuff which got people out on the streets was all about a cover up of this being a terrorist attack and strange story of the soldier stabbing (which we still don't really know much about).
    Wasn't the crux of the 'fake news' story that he was known to the security services?
    The crux was that he was an immigrant, which he wasn't, IIRC.
    https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/security-services-may-look-at-russia-and-farage-in-riots-probe_uk_66ba2494e4b0eabd2393a9a1

    Farage falsely claimed the police were not telling the whole truth around the tragedies in Southport shortly after the stabbings first happened, and suggested the suspect was already known to the security services.
    I can understand why the police didn’t want to release this pre whatever that Tommy Robinson march was, but the perception I.e what some groups will do with this won’t help.
    So they’ve put “Tommy” in prison, and are now saying that this attack was terrorism after all?

    Hope the police and Home Office are braced for the response, let’s all hope and pray it doesn’t get as ugly as it did earlier in the summer.
    It's cold and dark now, safe time to admit the hush up.
    The weather is set fair for the next week. Plenty of fireworks around too. (Not that I want it to kick off - I don't think it will - but if that was the thinking behind the lies, then the police deserve everything they get)
    I find some of the language and sentiments expressed by certain posters on here pretty unpleasant at the moment.

    Are you really saying that individual police officers deserve to be attacked with fireworks? Pretty shameful imo.
    Nope, I'm saying the powers that be having to ask their officers to deal with shit deserve everything they get. (If I were rank and file, I'd refuse to go out there after this).
    That isn't how your previous post reads, to me at least.
    "Not that I want it to kick off"

    Obviously, police don't have much of choice, so I will retract any suggestion that they deserve it. But this is a cover up. And it is an absolute fucking disgrace.
    What specifically had been covered up?
    We were told that it was disinformation to link the crime to Islamist terrorism. Now it seems to be the truth.
    The disinformation was primarily that he was an illegal/boat person.
    Along with an incorrect name too.
    Isn’t this just correlation/causation

    1. He has mental health problems.
    2. He is interest in radical Islamic topics
    3. He stabbed some kids

    2&3 flow from 1. But that doesn’t mean 3 flows from 2
    Much better put than I managed.
    No it isn't it's the kind of behaviour which causes Asian people laugh at white liberal Europeans. Currently it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck yet people are attempting tortured logic to suggest it's a goose.
    So you're saying that just because (some) Asians aren't very good at risk calculus, we shouldn't be either?
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 42,948
    There need be no huge distinction between terrorism and mental health problems. It's not a binary choice.
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 38,777
    rcs1000 said:

    MaxPB said:

    rcs1000 said:

    tlg86 said:

    maxh said:

    tlg86 said:

    maxh said:

    tlg86 said:

    maaarsh said:

    Sandpit said:

    carnforth said:

    Sky

    Southport killer charged with terrorism

    The teenager accused of the stabbing murders of three young girls in Southport has been charged with producing the poison ricin and possessing a military study of an Al Qaeda training manual.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c05zpdq0lzgo

    This isn't going to help all conspiracy theory stuff, as the police were very quick to say not terrorist related and the online stuff which got people out on the streets was all about a cover up of this being a terrorist attack and strange story of the soldier stabbing (which we still don't really know much about).
    Wasn't the crux of the 'fake news' story that he was known to the security services?
    The crux was that he was an immigrant, which he wasn't, IIRC.
    https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/security-services-may-look-at-russia-and-farage-in-riots-probe_uk_66ba2494e4b0eabd2393a9a1

    Farage falsely claimed the police were not telling the whole truth around the tragedies in Southport shortly after the stabbings first happened, and suggested the suspect was already known to the security services.
    I can understand why the police didn’t want to release this pre whatever that Tommy Robinson march was, but the perception I.e what some groups will do with this won’t help.
    So they’ve put “Tommy” in prison, and are now saying that this attack was terrorism after all?

    Hope the police and Home Office are braced for the response, let’s all hope and pray it doesn’t get as ugly as it did earlier in the summer.
    It's cold and dark now, safe time to admit the hush up.
    The weather is set fair for the next week. Plenty of fireworks around too. (Not that I want it to kick off - I don't think it will - but if that was the thinking behind the lies, then the police deserve everything they get)
    I find some of the language and sentiments expressed by certain posters on here pretty unpleasant at the moment.

    Are you really saying that individual police officers deserve to be attacked with fireworks? Pretty shameful imo.
    Nope, I'm saying the powers that be having to ask their officers to deal with shit deserve everything they get. (If I were rank and file, I'd refuse to go out there after this).
    That isn't how your previous post reads, to me at least.
    "Not that I want it to kick off"

    Obviously, police don't have much of choice, so I will retract any suggestion that they deserve it. But this is a cover up. And it is an absolute fucking disgrace.
    What specifically had been covered up?
    We were told that it was disinformation to link the crime to Islamist terrorism. Now it seems to be the truth.
    The disinformation was primarily that he was an illegal/boat person.
    Along with an incorrect name too.
    Isn’t this just correlation/causation

    1. He has mental health problems.
    2. He is interest in radical Islamic topics
    3. He stabbed some kids

    2&3 flow from 1. But that doesn’t mean 3 flows from 2
    Much better put than I managed.
    No it isn't it's the kind of behaviour which causes Asian people laugh at white liberal Europeans. Currently it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck yet people are attempting tortured logic to suggest it's a goose.
    So you're saying that just because (some) Asians aren't very good at risk calculus, we shouldn't be either?
    No, it means lets get real here, the guy is a terrorist and the police dancing on the head of a pin for the sake of community relations is idioitic.
  • AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 23,479
    MaxPB said:

    On A-Levels, I don't think there's much to be gained on judging people's intelligence based on their grades, true for Starmer and Kemi.

    ….
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 38,777
    TOPPING said:

    There need be no huge distinction between terrorism and mental health problems. It's not a binary choice.

    I'd suggest that the two are intrinsically linked. One would have to have mental problems to be able to justify killing people for religion.
  • AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 23,479

    rcs1000 said:

    Selebian said:

    carnforth said:

    carnforth said:

    carnforth said:

    Sky

    Southport killer charged with terrorism

    The teenager accused of the stabbing murders of three young girls in Southport has been charged with producing the poison ricin and possessing a military study of an Al Qaeda training manual.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c05zpdq0lzgo

    This isn't going to help all conspiracy theory stuff, as the police were very quick to say not terrorist related.
    "Not being treated as terrorism". Not quite the same. I suppose they could start saying "Not currently being treated as terrorism".
    Also:

    "However, police have not declared the events of 29 July a terrorist incident. "For a matter to be declared as a terrorist incident, motivation would need to be established," Chief Constable Kennedy said."

    So we're charging people just for having PDFs on their hard drives again. Lucky no-one went around checking hard drives for the Anarchist's Cookbook when I was a teenager.
    Producing ricin is not just possessing pdfs.
    True, but:

    "He also faces a terror charge of possession of information "likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism, contrary to Section 58 of the Terrorism Act 2000"."

    Someone could be charged with that alone. They probably wouldn't be, but they could be - and that's not right.
    A chemistry degree would appear to fall under that!
    One of my colleagues used to be in possession of mg scale amounts of a drug CC1065 that would kill hundreds in the right environment and be almost undetectable (binds to DNA causing multi-organ failure a few months after administration). The way he talks about what terrorists ought to do is fascinating/scary at the same time.
    To someone who has done chemistry, the world is full of "Put this, this and this in a bucket and you get...."
    When I was doing my A-Level chemistry I was paired up with this Chinese kid. Very smart, but had only just arrived in the UK and his English wasn't very good and had shall we say a very lax approach to health and safety....using the fume cupboard was seen as unnecessary hassle, as was bothering to measure things...150ml...300ml, same thing...i just double everything else...
    When I was a teenager, you could get everything mail order. I still remember the thrill of getting the 100% Sulphuric acid. In those days the use of polystyrene foam round a bottle in a parcel was a bit exotic. Glass bottle of course.....

    The 100% Nitric was fun as well.

    My brother (slightly older) was a spoil sport and drew the line at Hydrofluoric......

    Mind you, the bit where we teaching ourselves how to silver glass using silver nitrate... and the solution turned black.....
    In my day the students who knew what they were doing were allowed to brew up all kinds of things in the back of the chemistry lab at school.

    The usual amusement was NI3 which was mostly used to eat shoe soles one crackle at a time but other more exciting compounds may have been attempted.

    It was kind of brought to a halt when some fool didn't cool a reaction vessel enough and the main classroom had to be cleared rather quickly.

    I don't think anyone deliberately made any fulminates though!

    Most of those committing such criminal acts went on to Oxbridge, of course.

    [That's me on a list now]

    One of the sixth formers at my school (who ended up at Oxford) used to make amphetamines in the school chemistry lab.

    This was discovered just before Easter in his upper sixth, and the school was faced with a choice...

    As he was the only kid with an Oxbridge offer, they did exactly what you'd expect, and completely swept it under the carpet.
    The scandal I assume not the amphetamines.
    :D
  • Sean_FSean_F Posts: 37,342
    MaxPB said:

    I don't understand why this isn't being treated as terrorism, the guy had ricin and a terrorist handbook, he's a terrorist and killed children in an act of terrorism. What are the police afraid of?

    Ricin is usually a dead giveaway for a terrorist motive. It
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 54,569
    Konstantin Kisin went to the Nazi Rally. This is his report:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1IsPL3xWSk
  • Big_G_NorthWalesBig_G_NorthWales Posts: 63,009
    edited October 29
    Reeves announces minimum wage to rise to £12.21 and 18 - 20 year olds to £10 per hour

    Huge above inflation rises

    Also why is this announced now ?
  • TimSTimS Posts: 12,983
    rcs1000 said:

    MaxPB said:

    rcs1000 said:

    tlg86 said:

    maxh said:

    tlg86 said:

    maxh said:

    tlg86 said:

    maaarsh said:

    Sandpit said:

    carnforth said:

    Sky

    Southport killer charged with terrorism

    The teenager accused of the stabbing murders of three young girls in Southport has been charged with producing the poison ricin and possessing a military study of an Al Qaeda training manual.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c05zpdq0lzgo

    This isn't going to help all conspiracy theory stuff, as the police were very quick to say not terrorist related and the online stuff which got people out on the streets was all about a cover up of this being a terrorist attack and strange story of the soldier stabbing (which we still don't really know much about).
    Wasn't the crux of the 'fake news' story that he was known to the security services?
    The crux was that he was an immigrant, which he wasn't, IIRC.
    https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/security-services-may-look-at-russia-and-farage-in-riots-probe_uk_66ba2494e4b0eabd2393a9a1

    Farage falsely claimed the police were not telling the whole truth around the tragedies in Southport shortly after the stabbings first happened, and suggested the suspect was already known to the security services.
    I can understand why the police didn’t want to release this pre whatever that Tommy Robinson march was, but the perception I.e what some groups will do with this won’t help.
    So they’ve put “Tommy” in prison, and are now saying that this attack was terrorism after all?

    Hope the police and Home Office are braced for the response, let’s all hope and pray it doesn’t get as ugly as it did earlier in the summer.
    It's cold and dark now, safe time to admit the hush up.
    The weather is set fair for the next week. Plenty of fireworks around too. (Not that I want it to kick off - I don't think it will - but if that was the thinking behind the lies, then the police deserve everything they get)
    I find some of the language and sentiments expressed by certain posters on here pretty unpleasant at the moment.

    Are you really saying that individual police officers deserve to be attacked with fireworks? Pretty shameful imo.
    Nope, I'm saying the powers that be having to ask their officers to deal with shit deserve everything they get. (If I were rank and file, I'd refuse to go out there after this).
    That isn't how your previous post reads, to me at least.
    "Not that I want it to kick off"

    Obviously, police don't have much of choice, so I will retract any suggestion that they deserve it. But this is a cover up. And it is an absolute fucking disgrace.
    What specifically had been covered up?
    We were told that it was disinformation to link the crime to Islamist terrorism. Now it seems to be the truth.
    The disinformation was primarily that he was an illegal/boat person.
    Along with an incorrect name too.
    Isn’t this just correlation/causation

    1. He has mental health problems.
    2. He is interest in radical Islamic topics
    3. He stabbed some kids

    2&3 flow from 1. But that doesn’t mean 3 flows from 2
    Much better put than I managed.
    No it isn't it's the kind of behaviour which causes Asian people laugh at white liberal Europeans. Currently it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck yet people are attempting tortured logic to suggest it's a goose.
    So you're saying that just because (some) Asians aren't very good at risk calculus, we shouldn't be either?
    The police have a long and illustrious history of putting two and two together, deciding something looks and quacks like a duck and then coming a cropper.

    Hillsborough was of course a classic of the genre but Jean Charles de Menezes is a more recent victim of that mentality. There have also been cases here and abroad where attacks were treated as terrorism and then turned out not to be.
  • AnneJGPAnneJGP Posts: 3,076
    rcs1000 said:

    rcs1000 said:

    rcs1000 said:

    I've seen nothing to support the claim he was previously known to security services.

    If that's the case, why not? We have over 40,000 people on terror watchlists. Why wasn't he one of them?
    Errrr, because there are 70 million people in the UK.

    And there's a balance here: either you have so many people on the list that no one is being properly monitored* or you miss someone. Let's not forget either that at the height of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, the security services reckoned they knew the identities of less than a fifth of the members of the Provisional IRA.

    * And do we really want hundreds of thousands of people on terror watch lists for - say - having visited an Islamist web site?
    My comment doesn't necessarily imply that the list should be bigger, but if someone who goes on to commit mass murder wasn't on the list, then questions need to be asked about whether we are monitoring the right people.
    That's a fair point.

    But don't forget that this stuff is hard.

    And there's always a difficult balance to be had, because - beyond watching a few individuals - what can the State really do before someone does something that is actually illegal? We can't lock people up for their thoughts: much as I find it repugnant, people are allowed to believe that children are acceptable sexual partners, or in the primacy of Islam or that white people are racially superior to other people.

    The essence of freedom is that we accept that some terrible things are going to happen, and that those things might have been stopped.

    And we accept that, because when we give the government too much power, then more bad things happen.

    Just remember: outside of disease and old age, the entity most likely to kill you is your own government. And it isn't even close.
    What?
    Could you elucidate?
    Sure: in the 20th Century, about 200 million people were killed by their own government. Now, the biggest chunk of these were Communist countries (China, Cambodia), but the stats are pretty undeniable: in most countries it is the government you need to be afraid of. And the more powers you give it, the more afraid you need to be.

    And that, as I understand it, is why Americans are so keen on their right to bear arms.
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 32,540
    "Matt Goodwin
    @GoodwinMJ

    Could it be true that Prime Minister Keir Starmer, much of the political class and the state blamed protestors for “misinformation” while deliberately withholding information? There are so many questions that need answering."

    Huge questions about Southport. How long were the police and CPS aware of this? Were they sitting on this information during the riots, protests and sentencing?"

    https://x.com/GoodwinMJ/status/1851288467847725277
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 42,809

    MaxPB said:

    rcs1000 said:

    tlg86 said:

    maxh said:

    tlg86 said:

    maxh said:

    tlg86 said:

    maaarsh said:

    Sandpit said:

    carnforth said:

    Sky

    Southport killer charged with terrorism

    The teenager accused of the stabbing murders of three young girls in Southport has been charged with producing the poison ricin and possessing a military study of an Al Qaeda training manual.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c05zpdq0lzgo

    This isn't going to help all conspiracy theory stuff, as the police were very quick to say not terrorist related and the online stuff which got people out on the streets was all about a cover up of this being a terrorist attack and strange story of the soldier stabbing (which we still don't really know much about).
    Wasn't the crux of the 'fake news' story that he was known to the security services?
    The crux was that he was an immigrant, which he wasn't, IIRC.
    https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/security-services-may-look-at-russia-and-farage-in-riots-probe_uk_66ba2494e4b0eabd2393a9a1

    Farage falsely claimed the police were not telling the whole truth around the tragedies in Southport shortly after the stabbings first happened, and suggested the suspect was already known to the security services.
    I can understand why the police didn’t want to release this pre whatever that Tommy Robinson march was, but the perception I.e what some groups will do with this won’t help.
    So they’ve put “Tommy” in prison, and are now saying that this attack was terrorism after all?

    Hope the police and Home Office are braced for the response, let’s all hope and pray it doesn’t get as ugly as it did earlier in the summer.
    It's cold and dark now, safe time to admit the hush up.
    The weather is set fair for the next week. Plenty of fireworks around too. (Not that I want it to kick off - I don't think it will - but if that was the thinking behind the lies, then the police deserve everything they get)
    I find some of the language and sentiments expressed by certain posters on here pretty unpleasant at the moment.

    Are you really saying that individual police officers deserve to be attacked with fireworks? Pretty shameful imo.
    Nope, I'm saying the powers that be having to ask their officers to deal with shit deserve everything they get. (If I were rank and file, I'd refuse to go out there after this).
    That isn't how your previous post reads, to me at least.
    "Not that I want it to kick off"

    Obviously, police don't have much of choice, so I will retract any suggestion that they deserve it. But this is a cover up. And it is an absolute fucking disgrace.
    What specifically had been covered up?
    We were told that it was disinformation to link the crime to Islamist terrorism. Now it seems to be the truth.
    The disinformation was primarily that he was an illegal/boat person.
    Along with an incorrect name too.
    Isn’t this just correlation/causation

    1. He has mental health problems.
    2. He is interest in radical Islamic topics
    3. He stabbed some kids

    2&3 flow from 1. But that doesn’t mean 3 flows from 2
    Much better put than I managed.
    No it isn't it's the kind of behaviour which causes Asian people laugh at white liberal Europeans. Currently it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck yet people are attempting tortured logic to suggest it's a goose.
    Keeping an open mind doesn't mean you're saying it's a goose, just you don't yet know what it is for certain.

    The problem is some people lack patience and have an undue haste to predetermine what it is, before the poor victims had even been buried let alone there being a proper investigation.
    There were those on PB who thought Scottish bin lorries were terrorist. About five minutes after the incident in question.
  • eekeek Posts: 28,362

    Reeves announces minimum wage to rise to £12.21 and 18 - 20 year olds to £10 per hour

    Huge above inflation rises

    Also why is this announced now ?

    because it needs to be.

    The fact that the 18-20 rate is not increasing to £12.21 is interesting because all the rumours until now was that it would rise to be the same rate for everyone over 18...
  • RobD said:

    Reeves announces minimum wage to rise to £12.21 and 18 - 20 year olds to £10 per hour

    Huge above inflation rises

    Also why is this announced now ?

    Hoyle won’t be happy.
    Neither will the hospitality industry
  • maaarshmaaarsh Posts: 3,590

    Reeves announces minimum wage to rise to £12.21 and 18 - 20 year olds to £10 per hour

    Huge above inflation rises

    Also why is this announced now ?

    Combined with NI rise that's a big chunk of the workforce 9% more expensive to employers. And probably swallowing up the entire salary rise budget whilst median wages stagnate and more skilled workers get increasingly little premium to show for it.
  • tlg86tlg86 Posts: 26,173
    MaxPB said:

    On A-Levels, I don't think there's much to be gained on judging people's intelligence based on their grades, true for Starmer and Kemi.

    Which is depressing given my grades. :wink:
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 81,960
    edited October 29
    Sean_F said:

    maaarsh said:

    maaarsh said:

    maaarsh said:

    After yesterday's tweets about 'engineer' Kemi's sub-par academic achievements (D in A Level maths), I've just spotted Keir only got BBC in his A levels.

    Why are we ruled by idiots, and how was this not spotted when muppets were going on about his razor-sharp intellect - the clues of his inability to think on his feet were there all along.

    In the old days, top grades were harder to get and not many people cared anyway.
    She took her A levels in 1997 not 1970 - if you can only get a D in A level maths I don't want to rely on anything you've engineered.

    Even when Keir was doing it 10% got As - out of the whole country we couldn't be bothered to pick someone in the top decile mentally - admittedly America has 2 similar choices, but it doesn't excuse us.
    Not everyone excels in their A Levels. A pretty daft way to judge someone with decades of work experience.
    The world of work is full of successful but clearly not particularly bright people - good luck to them. I'm merely suggesting for Prime Minister we should aim high.

    At the stage Kemi did her A-levels you needed to be Intelligent or consciencious to get good grades - not a good sign if she couldn't tick either box.
    She was 16 when she moved to the UK. Getting three A levels shortly after is probably quite an achievement considering.
    People can improve.

    My O’Levels were mediocre, due to my laziness. My A Levels were decent, but not exceptional for a UCS pupil (apart from history, where I scored very well). My degree was good (a borderline 2:1). I passed my Solicitors’ Exams, in one go, but barely. But, I got a Distinction for my Masters, because I enjoyed the subject (Military History), and I’d matured sufficiently to put in the hard work.
    And of course the opposite, and those people can be quite dangerous, as they still very much believe they are much smarter than everybody else because they smashed their A-Levels 30 years ago. I think Boris is a good example.
  • moonshinemoonshine Posts: 5,747
    “Prime Minister, why was Taylor Swift given a special police escort?”

    Hmmm
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 53,794
    MaxPB said:

    On A-Levels, I don't think there's much to be gained on judging people's intelligence based on their grades, true for Starmer and Kemi.

    I would not go that far. It is the case that some kids mature at different ages. They may do badly at school but much better at University or indeed in life. Or the reverse. School qualifications seem to me to be focused mainly on diligence and having a decent memory. Brilliance is a nice to have but not an essential. At University in many courses the same remains the case but cleverness tends to be a little more obvious.


    BBC on the back of the schooling that Starmer got seems pretty underwhelming but he got a first class honours degree at his University and went on to a distinguished career in the law. He may be an incompetent balloon as PM and he has a weird tendency to look like a deer in the headlights but I am confident that he is far from stupid. He strikes me as someone who wants a bit of time to think about things which makes some of his interview answers a bit wayward.
  • BatteryCorrectHorseBatteryCorrectHorse Posts: 3,647
    edited October 29
    Frankly if a UK business can’t afford to pay people a living wage then I would not be happy supporting them.
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 28,368
    ...
    Andy_JS said:

    "Matt Goodwin
    @GoodwinMJ

    Could it be true that Prime Minister Keir Starmer, much of the political class and the state blamed protestors for “misinformation” while deliberately withholding information? There are so many questions that need answering."

    Huge questions about Southport. How long were the police and CPS aware of this? Were they sitting on this information during the riots, protests and sentencing?"

    https://x.com/GoodwinMJ/status/1851288467847725277

    What bollocks from Goodwin. Irrespective of whether the lad had terrorist sympathies, that did not give Farage the right to plageurise Andrew Tate's fake news nonsense for political gain.

    Those morons who tried setting fire to Holiday Inns are not vindicated by this news,.

    Whether BigG.finally has his Starmer gotcha is another question. Maybe he has.
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 53,794
    moonshine said:

    “Prime Minister, why was Taylor Swift given a special police escort?”

    Hmmm

    Because she is the 1.
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 28,368
    ...

    RobD said:

    Reeves announces minimum wage to rise to £12.21 and 18 - 20 year olds to £10 per hour

    Huge above inflation rises

    Also why is this announced now ?

    Hoyle won’t be happy.
    Neither will the hospitality industry
    A few years ago those complaining at an increase in minimum wage today were lauding lorry drivers naming their price after Brexit.
  • moonshinemoonshine Posts: 5,747
    DavidL said:

    moonshine said:

    “Prime Minister, why was Taylor Swift given a special police escort?”

    Hmmm

    Because she is the 1.
    Well I think we now know the answer don’t we. It’s hard this lying stuff. Because every time you lie, you have to end up making up another lie. Until eventually your trousers come cascading down your ankles for the whole world to see.

    Southport and its aftermath was one of those few stories that get real cut through during a whole parliamentary term. I’ve got little problem after this news, predicting that there’s almost no chance that Starmer will be prime minister beyond the next election. And therefore there’s a good chance his tenure isn’t even that long, notwithstanding Labour constitutional issues.
  • StuartinromfordStuartinromford Posts: 17,207
    edited October 29

    Reeves announces minimum wage to rise to £12.21 and 18 - 20 year olds to £10 per hour

    Huge above inflation rises

    Also why is this announced now ?

    You can see some of the workings here- it's implementing the recommendations of external experts:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/how-the-lpc-will-respond-to-our-updated-remit/9c80b49e-70a2-4872-af97-f69a83b1f385

    It's gone up quite a bit becasue it's loosely tied to 2/3 of median wages, and they have also gone up quite a bit. Same reason that pensions are going up quite a bit, because that bit of the triple lock has been engaged for April 2025.

    As for the timing, the day before the autumn statement seems normal. Jeremy Hunt did the same last year.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-67484102
  • ...

    Andy_JS said:

    "Matt Goodwin
    @GoodwinMJ

    Could it be true that Prime Minister Keir Starmer, much of the political class and the state blamed protestors for “misinformation” while deliberately withholding information? There are so many questions that need answering."

    Huge questions about Southport. How long were the police and CPS aware of this? Were they sitting on this information during the riots, protests and sentencing?"

    https://x.com/GoodwinMJ/status/1851288467847725277

    What bollocks from Goodwin. Irrespective of whether the lad had terrorist sympathies, that did not give Farage the right to plageurise Andrew Tate's fake news nonsense for political gain.

    Those morons who tried setting fire to Holiday Inns are not vindicated by this news,.

    Whether BigG.finally has his Starmer gotcha is another question. Maybe he has.
    I do not want a Starmer gotcha - he is doing fine if you on the other side
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 51,576

    Frankly if a UK business can’t afford to pay people a living wage then I would not be happy supporting them.

    Plenty of "UK businesses" employ people below the UK minimum wage. They just don't employ them in the UK.
  • FossFoss Posts: 1,019

    Frankly if a UK business can’t afford to pay people a living wage then I would not be happy supporting them.

    It's probably good for Boston Dynamics.
  • Reeves announces minimum wage to rise to £12.21 and 18 - 20 year olds to £10 per hour

    Huge above inflation rises

    Also why is this announced now ?

    You can see some of the workings here- it's implementing the recommendations of external experts:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/how-the-lpc-will-respond-to-our-updated-remit/9c80b49e-70a2-4872-af97-f69a83b1f385

    It's gone up quite a bit becasue it's loosely tied to 2/3 of median wages, and they have also gone up quite a bit. Same reason that pensions are going up quite a bit, because that bit of the triple lock has been engaged for April 2025.

    As for the timing, the day before the autumn statement seems normal. Jeremy Hunt did the same last year.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-67484102
    I suspect the concern will come from the Bank of England with such huge above inflation rises meaning reducing interest rates becomes less likely

  • numbertwelvenumbertwelve Posts: 6,811

    Reeves announces minimum wage to rise to £12.21 and 18 - 20 year olds to £10 per hour

    Huge above inflation rises

    Also why is this announced now ?

    Call me a cynic, but maybe they thought it might be a good time to get some budget news out rather than have Southport dominate bulletins….

    Purely from a news management perspective, it might be the first sensible thing they’ve done tactically…
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 42,546

    Sean_F said:

    maaarsh said:

    maaarsh said:

    maaarsh said:

    After yesterday's tweets about 'engineer' Kemi's sub-par academic achievements (D in A Level maths), I've just spotted Keir only got BBC in his A levels.

    Why are we ruled by idiots, and how was this not spotted when muppets were going on about his razor-sharp intellect - the clues of his inability to think on his feet were there all along.

    In the old days, top grades were harder to get and not many people cared anyway.
    She took her A levels in 1997 not 1970 - if you can only get a D in A level maths I don't want to rely on anything you've engineered.

    Even when Keir was doing it 10% got As - out of the whole country we couldn't be bothered to pick someone in the top decile mentally - admittedly America has 2 similar choices, but it doesn't excuse us.
    Not everyone excels in their A Levels. A pretty daft way to judge someone with decades of work experience.
    The world of work is full of successful but clearly not particularly bright people - good luck to them. I'm merely suggesting for Prime Minister we should aim high.

    At the stage Kemi did her A-levels you needed to be Intelligent or consciencious to get good grades - not a good sign if she couldn't tick either box.
    She was 16 when she moved to the UK. Getting three A levels shortly after is probably quite an achievement considering.
    People can improve.

    My O’Levels were mediocre, due to my laziness. My A Levels were decent, but not exceptional for a UCS pupil (apart from history, where I scored very well). My degree was good (a borderline 2:1). I passed my Solicitors’ Exams, in one go, but barely. But, I got a Distinction for my Masters, because I enjoyed the subject (Military History), and I’d matured sufficiently to put in the hard work.
    And of course the opposite, and those people can be quite dangerous, as they still very much believe they are much smarter than everybody else because they smashed their A-Levels 30 years ago. I think Boris is a good example.
    My own view on Boris is that he is highly intelligent, but has a lazy brain. If something interests him, he can focus well on it. Or the myriad of stuff that does not interest him, but is vital for the role of MoL or PM - then he either phones it in, or gets his advisers to sort out. When they are really his job.
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 96,046
    I do enjoy the argument in the US around Bezos' newspaper not endorsing a presidential candidate. Personally I agree with reasoning that it'd be better if papers didn't do that sort of thing, but the timing is so obvious, and his butter wouldn't melt in his mouth act about Trump meeting with his other company the day after being a coincidence is not persuasive. He should have just made the call 2-3 years ago - any blowback would have been over by now.
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 96,046

    Selebian said:

    carnforth said:

    carnforth said:

    carnforth said:

    Sky

    Southport killer charged with terrorism

    The teenager accused of the stabbing murders of three young girls in Southport has been charged with producing the poison ricin and possessing a military study of an Al Qaeda training manual.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c05zpdq0lzgo

    This isn't going to help all conspiracy theory stuff, as the police were very quick to say not terrorist related.
    "Not being treated as terrorism". Not quite the same. I suppose they could start saying "Not currently being treated as terrorism".
    Also:

    "However, police have not declared the events of 29 July a terrorist incident. "For a matter to be declared as a terrorist incident, motivation would need to be established," Chief Constable Kennedy said."

    So we're charging people just for having PDFs on their hard drives again. Lucky no-one went around checking hard drives for the Anarchist's Cookbook when I was a teenager.
    Producing ricin is not just possessing pdfs.
    True, but:

    "He also faces a terror charge of possession of information "likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism, contrary to Section 58 of the Terrorism Act 2000"."

    Someone could be charged with that alone. They probably wouldn't be, but they could be - and that's not right.
    A chemistry degree would appear to fall under that!
    One of my colleagues used to be in possession of mg scale amounts of a drug CC1065 that would kill hundreds in the right environment and be almost undetectable (binds to DNA causing multi-organ failure a few months after administration). The way he talks about what terrorists ought to do is fascinating/scary at the same time.
    Thank gods most terrorists are incompetent?
  • BartholomewRobertsBartholomewRoberts Posts: 21,968
    edited October 29

    Frankly if a UK business can’t afford to pay people a living wage then I would not be happy supporting them.

    Which isn't what you were saying not long ago when you were demanding that employers be able to bring in people on minimum wage into the country to evade pay rises to fill vacancies.

    Specifically you said local hospitality couldn't fill vacancies unless people were allowed to migrate on the existing minimum wage rather than put up wages.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 81,960
    edited October 29

    Sean_F said:

    maaarsh said:

    maaarsh said:

    maaarsh said:

    After yesterday's tweets about 'engineer' Kemi's sub-par academic achievements (D in A Level maths), I've just spotted Keir only got BBC in his A levels.

    Why are we ruled by idiots, and how was this not spotted when muppets were going on about his razor-sharp intellect - the clues of his inability to think on his feet were there all along.

    In the old days, top grades were harder to get and not many people cared anyway.
    She took her A levels in 1997 not 1970 - if you can only get a D in A level maths I don't want to rely on anything you've engineered.

    Even when Keir was doing it 10% got As - out of the whole country we couldn't be bothered to pick someone in the top decile mentally - admittedly America has 2 similar choices, but it doesn't excuse us.
    Not everyone excels in their A Levels. A pretty daft way to judge someone with decades of work experience.
    The world of work is full of successful but clearly not particularly bright people - good luck to them. I'm merely suggesting for Prime Minister we should aim high.

    At the stage Kemi did her A-levels you needed to be Intelligent or consciencious to get good grades - not a good sign if she couldn't tick either box.
    She was 16 when she moved to the UK. Getting three A levels shortly after is probably quite an achievement considering.
    People can improve.

    My O’Levels were mediocre, due to my laziness. My A Levels were decent, but not exceptional for a UCS pupil (apart from history, where I scored very well). My degree was good (a borderline 2:1). I passed my Solicitors’ Exams, in one go, but barely. But, I got a Distinction for my Masters, because I enjoyed the subject (Military History), and I’d matured sufficiently to put in the hard work.
    And of course the opposite, and those people can be quite dangerous, as they still very much believe they are much smarter than everybody else because they smashed their A-Levels 30 years ago. I think Boris is a good example.
    My own view on Boris is that he is highly intelligent, but has a lazy brain. If something interests him, he can focus well on it. Or the myriad of stuff that does not interest him, but is vital for the role of MoL or PM - then he either phones it in, or gets his advisers to sort out. When they are really his job.
    Many of the reports from COVID times, that officials found it very difficult to get him to understand what were quite simple things, such that they had to dumb everything down.
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 60,399
    I think I've taken a cold hard cost-benefit analysis approach to any work I've done my whole life. Unless it's something I genuinely love like politics or steam railways. Or, for that matter, military history.
  • AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 23,479
    edited October 29
    Andy_JS said:

    "Matt Goodwin
    @GoodwinMJ

    Could it be true that Prime Minister Keir Starmer, much of the political class and the state blamed protestors for “misinformation” while deliberately withholding information? There are so many questions that need answering."

    Huge questions about Southport. How long were the police and CPS aware of this? Were they sitting on this information during the riots, protests and sentencing?"

    https://x.com/GoodwinMJ/status/1851288467847725277

    GOODWINNED



    Again.
  • kjhkjh Posts: 11,782
    moonshine said:

    “Prime Minister, why was Taylor Swift given a special police escort?”

    Hmmm

    Hmmmmm what? What do you think the issue is? Home Secretary and Mayor believe extra protection needed following Austrian terrorist issue. Police disagree. Home Secretary and Mayor get their way, possibly under pressure from Swift's team. Seems normal stuff.

    What new conspiracy are you trying to spread now?
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,110
    Sean_F said:

    maaarsh said:

    maaarsh said:

    maaarsh said:

    After yesterday's tweets about 'engineer' Kemi's sub-par academic achievements (D in A Level maths), I've just spotted Keir only got BBC in his A levels.

    Why are we ruled by idiots, and how was this not spotted when muppets were going on about his razor-sharp intellect - the clues of his inability to think on his feet were there all along.

    In the old days, top grades were harder to get and not many people cared anyway.
    She took her A levels in 1997 not 1970 - if you can only get a D in A level maths I don't want to rely on anything you've engineered.

    Even when Keir was doing it 10% got As - out of the whole country we couldn't be bothered to pick someone in the top decile mentally - admittedly America has 2 similar choices, but it doesn't excuse us.
    Not everyone excels in their A Levels. A pretty daft way to judge someone with decades of work experience.
    The world of work is full of successful but clearly not particularly bright people - good luck to them. I'm merely suggesting for Prime Minister we should aim high.

    At the stage Kemi did her A-levels you needed to be Intelligent or consciencious to get good grades - not a good sign if she couldn't tick either box.
    She was 16 when she moved to the UK. Getting three A levels shortly after is probably quite an achievement considering.
    People can improve.

    My O’Levels were mediocre, due to my laziness. My A Levels were decent, but not exceptional for a UCS pupil (apart from history, where I scored very well). My degree was good (a borderline 2:1), but I could have done better. I passed my Solicitors’ Exams, in one go, but barely. But, I got a Distinction for my Masters, because I enjoyed the subject (Military History), and I’d matured sufficiently to put in the hard work.
    My GCSEs were poor (I never met anyone at Cambridge with worse grades than me), my A Levels very good (because I'd decided I wanted to go to Cambridge...), and my degree was OK (2:2), but that was a great result considering the amount of work I'd put in.
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 96,046

    ...

    Andy_JS said:

    "Matt Goodwin
    @GoodwinMJ

    Could it be true that Prime Minister Keir Starmer, much of the political class and the state blamed protestors for “misinformation” while deliberately withholding information? There are so many questions that need answering."

    Huge questions about Southport. How long were the police and CPS aware of this? Were they sitting on this information during the riots, protests and sentencing?"

    https://x.com/GoodwinMJ/status/1851288467847725277

    What bollocks from Goodwin. Irrespective of whether the lad had terrorist sympathies, that did not give Farage the right to plageurise Andrew Tate's fake news nonsense for political gain.

    Those morons who tried setting fire to Holiday Inns are not vindicated by this news,.

    Whether BigG.finally has his Starmer gotcha is another question. Maybe he has.
    Frustrating though a lack of information might be (if for sake of argument it were being unreasonably withheld), it doesn't magically make deliberate misinformation ok under the guise of 'just asking questions'.
  • KnightOutKnightOut Posts: 142

    maaarsh said:

    maaarsh said:

    After yesterday's tweets about 'engineer' Kemi's sub-par academic achievements (D in A Level maths), I've just spotted Keir only got BBC in his A levels.

    Why are we ruled by idiots, and how was this not spotted when muppets were going on about his razor-sharp intellect - the clues of his inability to think on his feet were there all along.

    In the old days, top grades were harder to get and not many people cared anyway.
    She took her A levels in 1997 not 1970 - if you can only get a D in A level maths I don't want to rely on anything you've engineered.

    Even when Keir was doing it 10% got As - out of the whole country we couldn't be bothered to pick someone in the top decile mentally - admittedly America has 2 similar choices, but it doesn't excuse us.
    Not everyone excels in their A Levels. A pretty daft way to judge someone with decades of work experience.

    Said it before, I know, but I got an A in my English Lit. A level without properly reading any of the set books.

    This destroyed whatever residual faith I may have had in teachers and teaching.

    I'd estimate ~98% of everything I ever learned was picked up outside the so-called Education System.
  • TimSTimS Posts: 12,983

    ...

    Andy_JS said:

    "Matt Goodwin
    @GoodwinMJ

    Could it be true that Prime Minister Keir Starmer, much of the political class and the state blamed protestors for “misinformation” while deliberately withholding information? There are so many questions that need answering."

    Huge questions about Southport. How long were the police and CPS aware of this? Were they sitting on this information during the riots, protests and sentencing?"

    https://x.com/GoodwinMJ/status/1851288467847725277

    What bollocks from Goodwin. Irrespective of whether the lad had terrorist sympathies, that did not give Farage the right to plageurise Andrew Tate's fake news nonsense for political gain.

    Those morons who tried setting fire to Holiday Inns are not vindicated by this news,.

    Whether BigG.finally has his Starmer gotcha is another question. Maybe he has.
    The question is what do these agitators want? What would they have liked to happen? Because I doubt that anything reasonable the police could have said or done would have sated their appetite.

    Let’s been honest, given their and others’ messages during the riots. They would have liked the Police to name the murderer as a terrorist, to clearly state his race, to go easy on the rioters and those inciting violence online - perhaps just shrug it off as people blowing off steam. But that wouldn’t be enough. Nothing short of some sort of mass deportation would be enough, because what they want is - to echo some rhetoric that’s made its way on to this site in the last 24 hours - “not to see too many black or brown faces”. Yes, a poster actually wrote that last night, on here.

    That’s the game Goodwin is playing. It’s also the pool Jenrick is dipping his toes into, whether out of ideology or cynicism. PB recently suggests to me that there’s a market for it even amongst people with, to channel another of this evening’s topics, decent A Levels.

  • AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 23,479
    Good news on the National Minimum Wage increase. Well done Rachel.
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 42,546
    I was fairly ill for periods during my GCSE's (including an emergency operation), and I did quite well regardless. But I really, really mucked up my A-levels. In part because I still had a few health problems, but mainly because I had worn myself out mentally in my GCSEs. Then I left my degree early.

    You know what? I've done okay for myself despite all that. The poor A level results and not finishing my degree may have diverted my life somewhat, but I've had a good few decades since. Qualifications are important, but not as important as being a hard worker. Qualis can only get you in the door.
  • OmniumOmnium Posts: 10,747

    Reeves announces minimum wage to rise to £12.21 and 18 - 20 year olds to £10 per hour

    Huge above inflation rises

    Also why is this announced now ?

    You can see some of the workings here- it's implementing the recommendations of external experts:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/how-the-lpc-will-respond-to-our-updated-remit/9c80b49e-70a2-4872-af97-f69a83b1f385

    It's gone up quite a bit becasue it's loosely tied to 2/3 of median wages, and they have also gone up quite a bit. Same reason that pensions are going up quite a bit, because that bit of the triple lock has been engaged for April 2025.

    As for the timing, the day before the autumn statement seems normal. Jeremy Hunt did the same last year.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-67484102
    I suspect the concern will come from the Bank of England with such huge above inflation rises meaning reducing interest rates becomes less likely

    The BoE have long been far softer than they should be. I think I remember a somewhat harder stance, perhaps much harder, in the 80s, but I'm not sure.

    Anyway they'll wave through most things these days. The BoE and everybody else that pays attention has long worked out that the whole sandcastle is what it is. Sandcastle isn't the right metaphor though - it's more bonfire-dwelling bamboo fort.
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 38,777
    rcs1000 said:

    Sean_F said:

    maaarsh said:

    maaarsh said:

    maaarsh said:

    After yesterday's tweets about 'engineer' Kemi's sub-par academic achievements (D in A Level maths), I've just spotted Keir only got BBC in his A levels.

    Why are we ruled by idiots, and how was this not spotted when muppets were going on about his razor-sharp intellect - the clues of his inability to think on his feet were there all along.

    In the old days, top grades were harder to get and not many people cared anyway.
    She took her A levels in 1997 not 1970 - if you can only get a D in A level maths I don't want to rely on anything you've engineered.

    Even when Keir was doing it 10% got As - out of the whole country we couldn't be bothered to pick someone in the top decile mentally - admittedly America has 2 similar choices, but it doesn't excuse us.
    Not everyone excels in their A Levels. A pretty daft way to judge someone with decades of work experience.
    The world of work is full of successful but clearly not particularly bright people - good luck to them. I'm merely suggesting for Prime Minister we should aim high.

    At the stage Kemi did her A-levels you needed to be Intelligent or consciencious to get good grades - not a good sign if she couldn't tick either box.
    She was 16 when she moved to the UK. Getting three A levels shortly after is probably quite an achievement considering.
    People can improve.

    My O’Levels were mediocre, due to my laziness. My A Levels were decent, but not exceptional for a UCS pupil (apart from history, where I scored very well). My degree was good (a borderline 2:1), but I could have done better. I passed my Solicitors’ Exams, in one go, but barely. But, I got a Distinction for my Masters, because I enjoyed the subject (Military History), and I’d matured sufficiently to put in the hard work.
    My GCSEs were poor (I never met anyone at Cambridge with worse grades than me), my A Levels very good (because I'd decided I wanted to go to Cambridge...), and my degree was OK (2:2), but that was a great result considering the amount of work I'd put in.
    I think I peaked academically at GCSE and then slowly realised I didn't enjoy it all and my time was better spent drinking and shagging. I honestly have no idea how I've got this far.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,110
    MaxPB said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Sean_F said:

    maaarsh said:

    maaarsh said:

    maaarsh said:

    After yesterday's tweets about 'engineer' Kemi's sub-par academic achievements (D in A Level maths), I've just spotted Keir only got BBC in his A levels.

    Why are we ruled by idiots, and how was this not spotted when muppets were going on about his razor-sharp intellect - the clues of his inability to think on his feet were there all along.

    In the old days, top grades were harder to get and not many people cared anyway.
    She took her A levels in 1997 not 1970 - if you can only get a D in A level maths I don't want to rely on anything you've engineered.

    Even when Keir was doing it 10% got As - out of the whole country we couldn't be bothered to pick someone in the top decile mentally - admittedly America has 2 similar choices, but it doesn't excuse us.
    Not everyone excels in their A Levels. A pretty daft way to judge someone with decades of work experience.
    The world of work is full of successful but clearly not particularly bright people - good luck to them. I'm merely suggesting for Prime Minister we should aim high.

    At the stage Kemi did her A-levels you needed to be Intelligent or consciencious to get good grades - not a good sign if she couldn't tick either box.
    She was 16 when she moved to the UK. Getting three A levels shortly after is probably quite an achievement considering.
    People can improve.

    My O’Levels were mediocre, due to my laziness. My A Levels were decent, but not exceptional for a UCS pupil (apart from history, where I scored very well). My degree was good (a borderline 2:1), but I could have done better. I passed my Solicitors’ Exams, in one go, but barely. But, I got a Distinction for my Masters, because I enjoyed the subject (Military History), and I’d matured sufficiently to put in the hard work.
    My GCSEs were poor (I never met anyone at Cambridge with worse grades than me), my A Levels very good (because I'd decided I wanted to go to Cambridge...), and my degree was OK (2:2), but that was a great result considering the amount of work I'd put in.
    I think I peaked academically at GCSE and then slowly realised I didn't enjoy it all and my time was better spent drinking and shagging. I honestly have no idea how I've got this far.
    Raw talent.
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 96,046
    RobD said:

    Reeves announces minimum wage to rise to £12.21 and 18 - 20 year olds to £10 per hour

    Huge above inflation rises

    Also why is this announced now ?

    Hoyle won’t be happy.
    Good.

    Maybe we'd all like to be back in a world where ministers didn't release these things before speaking to the House, but those times aren't coming back and everyone knows it, so performative outrage by Speakers, however sincerely felt in defence of the House, is now just annoying and looks pathetic.

    This isn't one of those cases where fighting the trend will stop it, so it's time to move on.
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 60,399
    Foxy said:

    Sean_F said:

    maaarsh said:

    maaarsh said:

    maaarsh said:

    After yesterday's tweets about 'engineer' Kemi's sub-par academic achievements (D in A Level maths), I've just spotted Keir only got BBC in his A levels.

    Why are we ruled by idiots, and how was this not spotted when muppets were going on about his razor-sharp intellect - the clues of his inability to think on his feet were there all along.

    In the old days, top grades were harder to get and not many people cared anyway.
    She took her A levels in 1997 not 1970 - if you can only get a D in A level maths I don't want to rely on anything you've engineered.

    Even when Keir was doing it 10% got As - out of the whole country we couldn't be bothered to pick someone in the top decile mentally - admittedly America has 2 similar choices, but it doesn't excuse us.
    Not everyone excels in their A Levels. A pretty daft way to judge someone with decades of work experience.
    The world of work is full of successful but clearly not particularly bright people - good luck to them. I'm merely suggesting for Prime Minister we should aim high.

    At the stage Kemi did her A-levels you needed to be Intelligent or consciencious to get good grades - not a good sign if she couldn't tick either box.
    She was 16 when she moved to the UK. Getting three A levels shortly after is probably quite an achievement considering.
    People can improve.

    My O’Levels were mediocre, due to my laziness. My A Levels were decent, but not exceptional for a UCS pupil (apart from history, where I scored very well). My degree was good (a borderline 2:1), but I could have done better. I passed my Solicitors’ Exams, in one go, but barely. But, I got a Distinction for my Masters, because I enjoyed the subject (Military History), and I’d matured sufficiently to put in the hard work.
    I still publish bits of research but not much of it really matters and I find it rarely quoted. Indeed my worst paper is the most heavily cited, mostly by people saying what bollocks it is.
    Lol. Got to love the cold hard honesty of this!

    Chapeau!
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 81,960
    MaxPB said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Sean_F said:

    maaarsh said:

    maaarsh said:

    maaarsh said:

    After yesterday's tweets about 'engineer' Kemi's sub-par academic achievements (D in A Level maths), I've just spotted Keir only got BBC in his A levels.

    Why are we ruled by idiots, and how was this not spotted when muppets were going on about his razor-sharp intellect - the clues of his inability to think on his feet were there all along.

    In the old days, top grades were harder to get and not many people cared anyway.
    She took her A levels in 1997 not 1970 - if you can only get a D in A level maths I don't want to rely on anything you've engineered.

    Even when Keir was doing it 10% got As - out of the whole country we couldn't be bothered to pick someone in the top decile mentally - admittedly America has 2 similar choices, but it doesn't excuse us.
    Not everyone excels in their A Levels. A pretty daft way to judge someone with decades of work experience.
    The world of work is full of successful but clearly not particularly bright people - good luck to them. I'm merely suggesting for Prime Minister we should aim high.

    At the stage Kemi did her A-levels you needed to be Intelligent or consciencious to get good grades - not a good sign if she couldn't tick either box.
    She was 16 when she moved to the UK. Getting three A levels shortly after is probably quite an achievement considering.
    People can improve.

    My O’Levels were mediocre, due to my laziness. My A Levels were decent, but not exceptional for a UCS pupil (apart from history, where I scored very well). My degree was good (a borderline 2:1), but I could have done better. I passed my Solicitors’ Exams, in one go, but barely. But, I got a Distinction for my Masters, because I enjoyed the subject (Military History), and I’d matured sufficiently to put in the hard work.
    My GCSEs were poor (I never met anyone at Cambridge with worse grades than me), my A Levels very good (because I'd decided I wanted to go to Cambridge...), and my degree was OK (2:2), but that was a great result considering the amount of work I'd put in.
    I think I peaked academically at GCSE and then slowly realised I didn't enjoy it all and my time was better spent drinking and shagging. I honestly have no idea how I've got this far.
    Humble brag.....
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 60,399

    Good news on the National Minimum Wage increase. Well done Rachel.

    I expect we'll be hearing a lot of this from you in the next 24 hours.

    Maybe you could send her flowers?
  • OnlyLivingBoyOnlyLivingBoy Posts: 15,767
    Whoa is it freshers' week?
    I don't have any A levels.
  • TimSTimS Posts: 12,983
    Omnium said:

    Reeves announces minimum wage to rise to £12.21 and 18 - 20 year olds to £10 per hour

    Huge above inflation rises

    Also why is this announced now ?

    You can see some of the workings here- it's implementing the recommendations of external experts:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/how-the-lpc-will-respond-to-our-updated-remit/9c80b49e-70a2-4872-af97-f69a83b1f385

    It's gone up quite a bit becasue it's loosely tied to 2/3 of median wages, and they have also gone up quite a bit. Same reason that pensions are going up quite a bit, because that bit of the triple lock has been engaged for April 2025.

    As for the timing, the day before the autumn statement seems normal. Jeremy Hunt did the same last year.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-67484102
    I suspect the concern will come from the Bank of England with such huge above inflation rises meaning reducing interest rates becomes less likely

    The BoE have long been far softer than they should be. I think I remember a somewhat harder stance, perhaps much harder, in the 80s, but I'm not sure.

    Anyway they'll wave through most things these days. The BoE and everybody else that pays attention has long worked out that the whole sandcastle is what it is. Sandcastle isn't the right metaphor though - it's more bonfire-dwelling bamboo fort.
    Funny how all those huge inflation-busting triple lock pension increases were A-OK.
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 28,368
    ...
    TimS said:

    ...

    Andy_JS said:

    "Matt Goodwin
    @GoodwinMJ

    Could it be true that Prime Minister Keir Starmer, much of the political class and the state blamed protestors for “misinformation” while deliberately withholding information? There are so many questions that need answering."

    Huge questions about Southport. How long were the police and CPS aware of this? Were they sitting on this information during the riots, protests and sentencing?"

    https://x.com/GoodwinMJ/status/1851288467847725277

    What bollocks from Goodwin. Irrespective of whether the lad had terrorist sympathies, that did not give Farage the right to plageurise Andrew Tate's fake news nonsense for political gain.

    Those morons who tried setting fire to Holiday Inns are not vindicated by this news,.

    Whether BigG.finally has his Starmer gotcha is another question. Maybe he has.
    The question is what do these agitators want? What would they have liked to happen? Because I doubt that anything reasonable the police could have said or done would have sated their appetite.

    Let’s been honest, given their and others’ messages during the riots. They would have liked the Police to name the murderer as a terrorist, to clearly state his race, to go easy on the rioters and those inciting violence online - perhaps just shrug it off as people blowing off steam. But that wouldn’t be enough. Nothing short of some sort of mass deportation would be enough, because what they want is - to echo some rhetoric that’s made its way on to this site in the last 24 hours - “not to see too many black or brown faces”. Yes, a poster actually wrote that last night, on here.

    That’s the game Goodwin is playing. It’s also the pool Jenrick is dipping his toes into, whether out of ideology or cynicism. PB recently suggests to me that there’s a market for it even amongst people with, to channel another of this evening’s topics, decent A Levels.

    A great final paragraph.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,110
    KnightOut said:

    maaarsh said:

    maaarsh said:

    After yesterday's tweets about 'engineer' Kemi's sub-par academic achievements (D in A Level maths), I've just spotted Keir only got BBC in his A levels.

    Why are we ruled by idiots, and how was this not spotted when muppets were going on about his razor-sharp intellect - the clues of his inability to think on his feet were there all along.

    In the old days, top grades were harder to get and not many people cared anyway.
    She took her A levels in 1997 not 1970 - if you can only get a D in A level maths I don't want to rely on anything you've engineered.

    Even when Keir was doing it 10% got As - out of the whole country we couldn't be bothered to pick someone in the top decile mentally - admittedly America has 2 similar choices, but it doesn't excuse us.
    Not everyone excels in their A Levels. A pretty daft way to judge someone with decades of work experience.

    Said it before, I know, but I got an A in my English Lit. A level without properly reading any of the set books.

    This destroyed whatever residual faith I may have had in teachers and teaching.

    I'd estimate ~98% of everything I ever learned was picked up outside the so-called Education System.
    I think it's easier to get an A in English Lit if you don't read the set books, because then you've memorized the correct criticism without having it polluted by any actual knowledge of the text.
  • viewcodeviewcode Posts: 22,056

    I think I've taken a cold hard cost-benefit analysis approach to any work I've done my whole life. Unless it's something I genuinely love like politics or steam railways. Or, for that matter, military history.

    The minute they develop a Battle Train with a battering ram and Big Gunz, you are off... :)
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 38,777
    rcs1000 said:

    MaxPB said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Sean_F said:

    maaarsh said:

    maaarsh said:

    maaarsh said:

    After yesterday's tweets about 'engineer' Kemi's sub-par academic achievements (D in A Level maths), I've just spotted Keir only got BBC in his A levels.

    Why are we ruled by idiots, and how was this not spotted when muppets were going on about his razor-sharp intellect - the clues of his inability to think on his feet were there all along.

    In the old days, top grades were harder to get and not many people cared anyway.
    She took her A levels in 1997 not 1970 - if you can only get a D in A level maths I don't want to rely on anything you've engineered.

    Even when Keir was doing it 10% got As - out of the whole country we couldn't be bothered to pick someone in the top decile mentally - admittedly America has 2 similar choices, but it doesn't excuse us.
    Not everyone excels in their A Levels. A pretty daft way to judge someone with decades of work experience.
    The world of work is full of successful but clearly not particularly bright people - good luck to them. I'm merely suggesting for Prime Minister we should aim high.

    At the stage Kemi did her A-levels you needed to be Intelligent or consciencious to get good grades - not a good sign if she couldn't tick either box.
    She was 16 when she moved to the UK. Getting three A levels shortly after is probably quite an achievement considering.
    People can improve.

    My O’Levels were mediocre, due to my laziness. My A Levels were decent, but not exceptional for a UCS pupil (apart from history, where I scored very well). My degree was good (a borderline 2:1), but I could have done better. I passed my Solicitors’ Exams, in one go, but barely. But, I got a Distinction for my Masters, because I enjoyed the subject (Military History), and I’d matured sufficiently to put in the hard work.
    My GCSEs were poor (I never met anyone at Cambridge with worse grades than me), my A Levels very good (because I'd decided I wanted to go to Cambridge...), and my degree was OK (2:2), but that was a great result considering the amount of work I'd put in.
    I think I peaked academically at GCSE and then slowly realised I didn't enjoy it all and my time was better spent drinking and shagging. I honestly have no idea how I've got this far.
    Raw talent.
    I'd say luck is probably closer to the truth. Also self teaching C++ and C# was probably the best thing I did at university, it meant I got a 2:2 because I didn't pay any attention to my course but after my degree it opened up a world jobs I'd never even imagined and being self taught definitely put me a step above the grads because I'd had to figure it all out myself rather than be spoonfed which meant I did well in the problem solving bits of interview processes.
  • OmniumOmnium Posts: 10,747
    edited October 29

    Whoa is it freshers' week?
    I don't have any A levels.

    Stop fondling the students Professor OLB!
  • boulayboulay Posts: 5,484
    kjh said:

    moonshine said:

    “Prime Minister, why was Taylor Swift given a special police escort?”

    Hmmm

    Hmmmmm what? What do you think the issue is? Home Secretary and Mayor believe extra protection needed following Austrian terrorist issue. Police disagree. Home Secretary and Mayor get their way, possibly under pressure from Swift's team. Seems normal stuff.

    What new conspiracy are you trying to spread now?
    Are we sure Taylor Swift was threatened by a terrorist in Austria or someone with mental health issues? I guess our gov would know without doubt I suppose.
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 96,046
    rcs1000 said:

    rcs1000 said:

    rcs1000 said:

    I've seen nothing to support the claim he was previously known to security services.

    If that's the case, why not? We have over 40,000 people on terror watchlists. Why wasn't he one of them?
    Errrr, because there are 70 million people in the UK.

    And there's a balance here: either you have so many people on the list that no one is being properly monitored* or you miss someone. Let's not forget either that at the height of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, the security services reckoned they knew the identities of less than a fifth of the members of the Provisional IRA.

    * And do we really want hundreds of thousands of people on terror watch lists for - say - having visited an Islamist web site?
    My comment doesn't necessarily imply that the list should be bigger, but if someone who goes on to commit mass murder wasn't on the list, then questions need to be asked about whether we are monitoring the right people.
    That's a fair point.

    But don't forget that this stuff is hard.

    And there's always a difficult balance to be had, because - beyond watching a few individuals - what can the State really do before someone does something that is actually illegal? We can't lock people up for their thoughts: much as I find it repugnant, people are allowed to believe that children are acceptable sexual partners, or in the primacy of Islam or that white people are racially superior to other people.

    The essence of freedom is that we accept that some terrible things are going to happen, and that those things might have been stopped.

    And we accept that, because when we give the government too much power, then more bad things happen.

    Just remember: outside of disease and old age, the entity most likely to kill you is your own government. And it isn't even close.
    What?
    Could you elucidate?
    Sure: in the 20th Century, about 200 million people were killed by their own government. Now, the biggest chunk of these were Communist countries (China, Cambodia), but the stats are pretty undeniable: in most countries it is the government you need to be afraid of. And the more powers you give it, the more afraid you need to be.

    A monopoly on the use of violence is one of the key powers of most (stable) states, I should think.

    And given what happens when governments don't have such a monopoly it seems less that people have a problem with the monopoly, just an argument about it's extent.

    Like that absolutely moronic expression about the most terrifying words about being from the government and being there to help (moronic when treated literally at least).
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,110
    TRAFALGAR GIVES TRUMP 3 POINT LEAD IN NORTH CAROLINA.

    I know that's of no importance whatsoever, but I just wanted to mention it.
  • algarkirkalgarkirk Posts: 12,496

    Frankly if a UK business can’t afford to pay people a living wage then I would not be happy supporting them.

    A couple both working maximum (48) hours in FT employment on minimum wage (12.21) once the rise has taken effect will earn (gross) £61K. Which is great but also has interesting effects and pressures on the employment market. I think.
  • Daveyboy1961Daveyboy1961 Posts: 3,883

    Sean_F said:

    maaarsh said:

    maaarsh said:

    maaarsh said:

    After yesterday's tweets about 'engineer' Kemi's sub-par academic achievements (D in A Level maths), I've just spotted Keir only got BBC in his A levels.

    Why are we ruled by idiots, and how was this not spotted when muppets were going on about his razor-sharp intellect - the clues of his inability to think on his feet were there all along.

    In the old days, top grades were harder to get and not many people cared anyway.
    She took her A levels in 1997 not 1970 - if you can only get a D in A level maths I don't want to rely on anything you've engineered.

    Even when Keir was doing it 10% got As - out of the whole country we couldn't be bothered to pick someone in the top decile mentally - admittedly America has 2 similar choices, but it doesn't excuse us.
    Not everyone excels in their A Levels. A pretty daft way to judge someone with decades of work experience.
    The world of work is full of successful but clearly not particularly bright people - good luck to them. I'm merely suggesting for Prime Minister we should aim high.

    At the stage Kemi did her A-levels you needed to be Intelligent or consciencious to get good grades - not a good sign if she couldn't tick either box.
    She was 16 when she moved to the UK. Getting three A levels shortly after is probably quite an achievement considering.
    People can improve.

    My O’Levels were mediocre, due to my laziness. My A Levels were decent, but not exceptional for a UCS pupil (apart from history, where I scored very well). My degree was good (a borderline 2:1). I passed my Solicitors’ Exams, in one go, but barely. But, I got a Distinction for my Masters, because I enjoyed the subject (Military History), and I’d matured sufficiently to put in the hard work.
    And of course the opposite, and those people can be quite dangerous, as they still very much believe they are much smarter than everybody else because they smashed their A-Levels 30 years ago. I think Boris is a good example.
    My own view on Boris is that he is highly intelligent, but has a lazy brain. If something interests him, he can focus well on it. Or the myriad of stuff that does not interest him, but is vital for the role of MoL or PM - then he either phones it in, or gets his advisers to sort out. When they are really his job.
    Many of the reports from COVID times, that officials found it very difficult to get him to understand what were quite simple things, such that they had to dumb everything down.
    Do we know what grades he got?
  • kle4 said:

    RobD said:

    Reeves announces minimum wage to rise to £12.21 and 18 - 20 year olds to £10 per hour

    Huge above inflation rises

    Also why is this announced now ?

    Hoyle won’t be happy.
    Good.

    Maybe we'd all like to be back in a world where ministers didn't release these things before speaking to the House, but those times aren't coming back and everyone knows it, so performative outrage by Speakers, however sincerely felt in defence of the House, is now just annoying and looks pathetic.

    This isn't one of those cases where fighting the trend will stop it, so it's time to move on.
    Apparently Starmer is rewriting the ministerial code and the government was challenged today in the house to make it legally binding

  • kle4kle4 Posts: 96,046

    Whoa is it freshers' week?
    I don't have any A levels.

    Higher School Certificate?
  • TimS said:

    Omnium said:

    Reeves announces minimum wage to rise to £12.21 and 18 - 20 year olds to £10 per hour

    Huge above inflation rises

    Also why is this announced now ?

    You can see some of the workings here- it's implementing the recommendations of external experts:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/how-the-lpc-will-respond-to-our-updated-remit/9c80b49e-70a2-4872-af97-f69a83b1f385

    It's gone up quite a bit becasue it's loosely tied to 2/3 of median wages, and they have also gone up quite a bit. Same reason that pensions are going up quite a bit, because that bit of the triple lock has been engaged for April 2025.

    As for the timing, the day before the autumn statement seems normal. Jeremy Hunt did the same last year.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-67484102
    I suspect the concern will come from the Bank of England with such huge above inflation rises meaning reducing interest rates becomes less likely

    The BoE have long been far softer than they should be. I think I remember a somewhat harder stance, perhaps much harder, in the 80s, but I'm not sure.

    Anyway they'll wave through most things these days. The BoE and everybody else that pays attention has long worked out that the whole sandcastle is what it is. Sandcastle isn't the right metaphor though - it's more bonfire-dwelling bamboo fort.
    Funny how all those huge inflation-busting triple lock pension increases were A-OK.
    Not sure they are - they all contribute to inflation
  • AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 23,479

    Good news on the National Minimum Wage increase. Well done Rachel.

    I expect we'll be hearing a lot of this from you in the next 24 hours.

    Maybe you could send her flowers?
    I already have. Haven’t you?
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 38,777
    I just hope everyone's ready for the £9 pint.
  • RattersRatters Posts: 1,076
    Trump's chance of winning electoral college:
    - 538: 53%
    - Nate Silver: 54%
    - Betfair: 65%

    So the models project a coin toss with a slight Trump bias, while the betting market make Trump almost twice as likely to win as Harris.

    It is a very significant divergence.
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 96,046

    kle4 said:

    RobD said:

    Reeves announces minimum wage to rise to £12.21 and 18 - 20 year olds to £10 per hour

    Huge above inflation rises

    Also why is this announced now ?

    Hoyle won’t be happy.
    Good.

    Maybe we'd all like to be back in a world where ministers didn't release these things before speaking to the House, but those times aren't coming back and everyone knows it, so performative outrage by Speakers, however sincerely felt in defence of the House, is now just annoying and looks pathetic.

    This isn't one of those cases where fighting the trend will stop it, so it's time to move on.
    Apparently Starmer is rewriting the ministerial code and the government was challenged today in the house to make it legally binding

    Well that's just dumb - long overabused the rule might be, the flexibility on how to do things is part and parcel of how our institutions function. You see it all the time when people try to write new rulebooks, being way too proscriptive and trying to cover every single eventuality, try to procedure everything into oblivion.

    If they were to try to make it legally binding there'd be so many caveats and exceptions needed to be built into it it would be a confusing and absurd mess.
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 60,399

    Good news on the National Minimum Wage increase. Well done Rachel.

    I expect we'll be hearing a lot of this from you in the next 24 hours.

    Maybe you could send her flowers?
    I already have. Haven’t you?
    I sent cash.
  • @TimS can you link this post? That's shocking to see overt racism on this board now.

    Things really have descended. Sad.
  • OmniumOmnium Posts: 10,747
    MaxPB said:

    I just hope everyone's ready for the £9 pint.

    My bladder has long encouraged the half.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 42,096
    rcs1000 said:

    TRAFALGAR GIVES TRUMP 3 POINT LEAD IN NORTH CAROLINA.

    I know that's of no importance whatsoever, but I just wanted to mention it.

    Wahay. I'm off to spend my Harris WH24 winnings. See you all later.
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 51,576
    MaxPB said:

    I just hope everyone's ready for the £9 pint.

    I've been ready for that ever since my first trip to Scandinavia.
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 96,046
    edited October 29
    Ratters said:

    Trump's chance of winning electoral college:
    - 538: 53%
    - Nate Silver: 54%
    - Betfair: 65%

    So the models project a coin toss with a slight Trump bias, while the betting market make Trump almost twice as likely to win as Harris.

    It is a very significant divergence.

    I've seen more optimism from previously cautious Dems online in recent days, but if the poll aggregators are to be believed such an increase on optimism is not based on anything.

    So I hope they are just overcorrecting for previous Trump underestimates.
  • Frankly if a UK business can’t afford to pay people a living wage then I would not be happy supporting them.

    Which isn't what you were saying not long ago when you were demanding that employers be able to bring in people on minimum wage into the country to evade pay rises to fill vacancies.

    Specifically you said local hospitality couldn't fill vacancies unless people were allowed to migrate on the existing minimum wage rather than put up wages.
    When did I say that then?
  • Daveyboy1961Daveyboy1961 Posts: 3,883
    algarkirk said:

    Frankly if a UK business can’t afford to pay people a living wage then I would not be happy supporting them.

    A couple both working maximum (48) hours in FT employment on minimum wage (12.21) once the rise has taken effect will earn (gross) £61K. Which is great but also has interesting effects and pressures on the employment market. I think.
    That's good if they can both achieve a min wage job for 48 hours. On the good side they would be paying a lot of tax and Ni, and will probably have given up any in work benefits.

  • MaxPB said:

    I just hope everyone's ready for the £9 pint.

    It's already getting on for £9 in some places in London. Not places I go to often but it's there.

    Although at my local corner shop I can get pint cans still for £1.50. So I often go there now.
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 28,368
    rcs1000 said:

    TRAFALGAR GIVES TRUMP 3 POINT LEAD IN NORTH CAROLINA.

    I know that's of no importance whatsoever, but I just wanted to mention it.

    Is his methodology the tried and trusted technique of throwing half a dozen playing cards in the air and those that land face up give us the Trump lead?
  • OnlyLivingBoyOnlyLivingBoy Posts: 15,767
    kle4 said:

    Whoa is it freshers' week?
    I don't have any A levels.

    Higher School Certificate?
    6 Highers, 3 CSYS, all at A.
  • AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 23,479

    Good news on the National Minimum Wage increase. Well done Rachel.

    I expect we'll be hearing a lot of this from you in the next 24 hours.

    Maybe you could send her flowers?
    I already have. Haven’t you?
    I sent cash.
    A somewhat gauche and vulgar gift. I’d have expected better from you.
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 51,576

    rcs1000 said:

    TRAFALGAR GIVES TRUMP 3 POINT LEAD IN NORTH CAROLINA.

    I know that's of no importance whatsoever, but I just wanted to mention it.

    Is his methodology the tried and trusted technique of throwing half a dozen playing cards in the air and those that land face up give us the Trump lead?
    I didn't realise it was that scientific.
  • Frankly I think people writing off SKS at this point are incredibly naïve. You could have taken these posts and transplanted them back to 2020/2021 when people were saying Johnson would be PM for a decade. I think only @Anabobazina and myself were saying otherwise.

    Of course I also thought Jezza would win in 2019 so...
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 42,096
    edited October 29
    AAA

    (old money)
This discussion has been closed.