Last night, as I was returning to my flat in London, I was attacked and mugged by a group of individuals.
Luckily, I have no injuries and I am ok. Unfortunately, they just took my phone so I’m without one for the foreseeable future.
I want to thank the @metpoliceuk for their swift response and support. The officers who assisted me went above and beyond. They are a remarkable credit to the force. "
And if he wasn't an mp the response when he rang up would have been "we can give you a crime number"
What the Met say constantly is using your phone in public is asking for it to be stolen. There are signs up everywhere and announcements on the tubes and trains urging people not to leave their phone "on display" but we are of course so dependent on the devices out they come as soon as we're outside the stations and the muggers, usually on bicycles or e-scooters, take their chance.
Of course, it shouldn't be like that but it is and we all know that.
Sounds a bit like victim blaming.
To an extent, it is. It would be so much better if we could all use our phones in public in perfect safety but I live in the real world (or East London) and it's just something you don't do because there's a very real risk someone on a bicycle or e-scooter will come up and snatch it out of your hand.
Tell me how this shouldn't be the case - give me a coherent policy which would end such street crime. I've not heard one yet from anyone.
The reality is that most of this crime is committed by a fairly small number of individuals. Three strikes and it's 20 years in the slammer type legislation won't change them, but it does mean that during their 20 years inside they won't be nicking your phone. Prison works folks.
You don't need three strikes or incredibly long sentences if only a small number are doing a lot of it, you just need to catch and punish them normally and it ould have the same effect.
"catch them and punish them normally" - you mean give them a suspended sentence and sent back out the revolving door?
That does jack shit.
In 2010 (ie before "Tory austerity") my house was broken into by a career burglar. He was caught as I interrupted him in my living room and I chased him (dumb move!) and I got his reg plate as he drove off. He was then arrested within a week while breaking into somebody else's home.
He pled guilty to the break in for the one he was arrested committing, my one I interrupted and 18 other known burglaries. He had not long been released from prison for his previous crimes.
The sentence the Judge gave? A suspended sentence.
No doubt he was terrorising more people within days.
I'm very liberal on laws and think we should not put people in jail for any victimless crimes. But when you are harming people and breaking the law like that repeatedly then prison works - if only because you can't commit crimes for the period you are incarcerated.
I posted that story earlier today. Remarkable was the number of environmentalists arguing on Twitter that it was a good use of £100m (plus whatever the lengthy delay and lawyers fees involved cost).
It's not even as though someone has to think we should do nothing about rare bats and other species to think that the societal costs of making things so damn difficult to approve and build has to outweigh the potential harm at least sometimes.
I understand it's not diplomatic and Orban remains an EU leader, but still. The man is essentially Putin's Vidkun Quisling in Europe so that response is probably morally the right one.
In international diplomacy a lot of awful people have to be put up with, or it is easier/more beneficial to put up with them. Orban is one where they can probably slight him and not suffer too much, since he delights in irking the rest of the EU anyway, and he's not going to throw it all away over that, though he might rant and get his own back with some petty response in turn.
He actually seemed to take it pretty well, loath as I am to give him credit for anything.
On Harry, I'll say if he did lie on his visa application about not taking drugs and was then stupid enough to admit to getting Coked up in his money-raking memoir, then he deserves to be deported, not for doing Coke when he was a kid bit for being so arrogant (and stupid) as to think he could admit it in his book and not have to face any problems down the line.
That said, I suspect in the end Trump will sweep it all under the rug...
All this talk of "don't have phones out in public" and rampant phone thieves is so alien to me, like people talking from a third world country, its something that happens there but not here.
Recently I was in Liverpool and had my phone out for sat nav between parking and where I was walking to since there was no parking at my destination and never thought twice about having the phone out the entire time. On way back to the car I was playing on my phone, never thought twice about it. Amusing considering the reputation of Liverpool, but it seems to this Scouser that we're so much safer than what's being discussed by our Cockney correspondents.
Not sure what the difference is, except from what people are suggesting that we're not blighted by bikes and traffic isn't so bad that we can still drive properly and cars aren't convenient for muggers in the same way as bikes are.
If you look at the crime stats for England and Wales, theft from the person correlates strongly with wealth and walkable neighbourhoods, as you'd expect. London (Westminster) at the top, old mining areas of Wales at the bottom.
Everyone in the country has smartphones now.
Sounds like from what you're saying we should be doing whatever we can to make towns less reliant on walking to reduce crimes though. Walkable sounds like a distinct negative from your explanation.
Last night, as I was returning to my flat in London, I was attacked and mugged by a group of individuals.
Luckily, I have no injuries and I am ok. Unfortunately, they just took my phone so I’m without one for the foreseeable future.
I want to thank the @metpoliceuk for their swift response and support. The officers who assisted me went above and beyond. They are a remarkable credit to the force. "
And if he wasn't an mp the response when he rang up would have been "we can give you a crime number"
What the Met say constantly is using your phone in public is asking for it to be stolen. There are signs up everywhere and announcements on the tubes and trains urging people not to leave their phone "on display" but we are of course so dependent on the devices out they come as soon as we're outside the stations and the muggers, usually on bicycles or e-scooters, take their chance.
Of course, it shouldn't be like that but it is and we all know that.
Sounds a bit like victim blaming.
To an extent, it is. It would be so much better if we could all use our phones in public in perfect safety but I live in the real world (or East London) and it's just something you don't do because there's a very real risk someone on a bicycle or e-scooter will come up and snatch it out of your hand.
Tell me how this shouldn't be the case - give me a coherent policy which would end such street crime. I've not heard one yet from anyone.
The reality is that most of this crime is committed by a fairly small number of individuals. Three strikes and it's 20 years in the slammer type legislation won't change them, but it does mean that during their 20 years inside they won't be nicking your phone. Prison works folks.
You don't need three strikes or incredibly long sentences if only a small number are doing a lot of it, you just need to catch and punish them normally and it ould have the same effect.
"catch them and punish them normally" - you mean give them a suspended sentence and sent back out the revolving door?
That does jack shit.
In 2010 (ie before "Tory austerity") my house was broken into by a career burglar. He was caught as I interrupted him in my living room and I chased him (dumb move!) and I got his reg plate as he drove off. He was then arrested within a week while breaking into somebody else's home.
He pled guilty to the break in for the one he was arrested committing, my one I interrupted and 18 other known burglaries. He had not long been released from prison for his previous crimes.
The sentence the Judge gave? A suspended sentence.
No doubt he was terrorising more people within days.
I'm very liberal on laws and think we should not put people in jail for any victimless crimes. But when you are harming people and breaking the law like that repeatedly then prison works - if only because you can't commit crimes for the period you are incarcerated.
I mean by making it normal to not just get suspended sentences. It's not that I think custodial sentences are always the best option, but I agree that there are cases where just getting someone off the streets and punishing them with a sentence is the right move. If that means they get out, then back in shortly after, that may be necessary. I just don't agree that three strikes laws or 25 year sentences for crimes will actually help reduce instances, and shorter sentences which actually occur, rather than example you give where a sentence is suspended despite habituality, would have the same effect.
More prisons, and better prisons, can probably work. But if people think they won't be caught, and if caught not punished, no wonder nothing changes.
All this talk of "don't have phones out in public" and rampant phone thieves is so alien to me, like people talking from a third world country, its something that happens there but not here.
Recently I was in Liverpool and had my phone out for sat nav between parking and where I was walking to since there was no parking at my destination and never thought twice about having the phone out the entire time. On way back to the car I was playing on my phone, never thought twice about it. Amusing considering the reputation of Liverpool, but it seems to this Scouser that we're so much safer than what's being discussed by our Cockney correspondents.
Not sure what the difference is, except from what people are suggesting that we're not blighted by bikes and traffic isn't so bad that we can still drive properly and cars aren't convenient for muggers in the same way as bikes are.
If you look at the crime stats for England and Wales, theft from the person correlates strongly with wealth and walkable neighbourhoods, as you'd expect. London (Westminster) at the top, old mining areas of Wales at the bottom.
Everyone in the country has smartphones now.
Sounds like from what you're saying we should be doing whatever we can to make towns less reliant on walking to reduce crimes though. Walkable sounds like a distinct negative from your explanation.
Hmm, except that Liverpool has a 44% higher rate of assaults against the person, 84% higher rates of death or serious injury from driving offences, and a 88% higher rate of stalking than in London.
They won't nick your phone but they will follow you around, stab you and then run you over. Swings and roundabouts.
I posted that story earlier today. Remarkable was the number of environmentalists arguing on Twitter that it was a good use of £100m (plus whatever the lengthy delay and lawyers fees involved cost).
When things like this bat arch are brought up I think some people reflexively defend it, because they feel like *all* environmental protection is at risk if they cannot defend all actions that follow from it.
We have a very all or nothing political discourse where an absurdity like a £100m bat arch gets lumped in with limits on chicken shit discharges into rivers. Really the two things are very different, but I think the temptation to overgeneralise is one that we have to be constantly mindful of.
All this talk of "don't have phones out in public" and rampant phone thieves is so alien to me, like people talking from a third world country, its something that happens there but not here.
Recently I was in Liverpool and had my phone out for sat nav between parking and where I was walking to since there was no parking at my destination and never thought twice about having the phone out the entire time. On way back to the car I was playing on my phone, never thought twice about it. Amusing considering the reputation of Liverpool, but it seems to this Scouser that we're so much safer than what's being discussed by our Cockney correspondents.
Not sure what the difference is, except from what people are suggesting that we're not blighted by bikes and traffic isn't so bad that we can still drive properly and cars aren't convenient for muggers in the same way as bikes are.
If you look at the crime stats for England and Wales, theft from the person correlates strongly with wealth and walkable neighbourhoods, as you'd expect. London (Westminster) at the top, old mining areas of Wales at the bottom.
Everyone in the country has smartphones now.
Sounds like from what you're saying we should be doing whatever we can to make towns less reliant on walking to reduce crimes though. Walkable sounds like a distinct negative from your explanation.
Everyone under 55 has smartphones now. Over 55, not entirely.
The purpose of government infrastructure projects is to enrich lawyers and consultants.
As someone who has acted for public sector entities in infrastructure projects that just isn’t true in my experience and when things do go wrong it’s because they tried to skimp on legal fees and other professional fees up front. Ie they tried to do things themselves or on the cheap up front and ballsed it all up.
All this talk of "don't have phones out in public" and rampant phone thieves is so alien to me, like people talking from a third world country, its something that happens there but not here.
Recently I was in Liverpool and had my phone out for sat nav between parking and where I was walking to since there was no parking at my destination and never thought twice about having the phone out the entire time. On way back to the car I was playing on my phone, never thought twice about it. Amusing considering the reputation of Liverpool, but it seems to this Scouser that we're so much safer than what's being discussed by our Cockney correspondents.
Not sure what the difference is, except from what people are suggesting that we're not blighted by bikes and traffic isn't so bad that we can still drive properly and cars aren't convenient for muggers in the same way as bikes are.
If you look at the crime stats for England and Wales, theft from the person correlates strongly with wealth and walkable neighbourhoods, as you'd expect. London (Westminster) at the top, old mining areas of Wales at the bottom.
Everyone in the country has smartphones now.
Sounds like from what you're saying we should be doing whatever we can to make towns less reliant on walking to reduce crimes though. Walkable sounds like a distinct negative from your explanation.
Hmm, except that Liverpool has a 44% higher rate of assaults against the person, 84% higher rates of death or serious injury from driving offences, and a 88% higher rate of stalking than in London.
They won't nick your phone but they will follow you around, stab you and then run you over. Swings and roundabouts.
All this talk of "don't have phones out in public" and rampant phone thieves is so alien to me, like people talking from a third world country, its something that happens there but not here.
Recently I was in Liverpool and had my phone out for sat nav between parking and where I was walking to since there was no parking at my destination and never thought twice about having the phone out the entire time. On way back to the car I was playing on my phone, never thought twice about it. Amusing considering the reputation of Liverpool, but it seems to this Scouser that we're so much safer than what's being discussed by our Cockney correspondents.
Not sure what the difference is, except from what people are suggesting that we're not blighted by bikes and traffic isn't so bad that we can still drive properly and cars aren't convenient for muggers in the same way as bikes are.
I think in reality this may be one of those crimes where your demographic - particularly your age - makes a huge difference to your risk of being a victim.
My son tells me of a number of school friends who've had their phones snatched. Whereas fully grown adults, particularly over the age of about 25, don't seem to experience it at all. Same with mugging: once you're over about 30 that risk seems to decline massively. Kids steal from kids.
Yep. I was set on twice as a teenager.
Never happened as an adult. But I was jumpy and nervous for some time.
I posted that story earlier today. Remarkable was the number of environmentalists arguing on Twitter that it was a good use of £100m (plus whatever the lengthy delay and lawyers fees involved cost).
When things like this bat arch are brought up I think some people reflexively defend it, because they feel like *all* environmental protection is at risk if they cannot defend all actions that follow from it.
We have a very all or nothing political discourse where an absurdity like a £100m bat arch gets lumped in with limits on chicken shit discharges into rivers. Really the two things are very different, but I think the temptation to overgeneralise is one that we have to be constantly mindful of.
I have a solution. Subcontract HS2 to The Trump Organisation. Get Trump’s MAGA goons to shoot all the f*cking bats. While they’re here, they can drain the swamp and kill all the f*cking newts. Then we can start building stuff at a reasonable cost once again.
All this talk of "don't have phones out in public" and rampant phone thieves is so alien to me, like people talking from a third world country, its something that happens there but not here.
Recently I was in Liverpool and had my phone out for sat nav between parking and where I was walking to since there was no parking at my destination and never thought twice about having the phone out the entire time. On way back to the car I was playing on my phone, never thought twice about it. Amusing considering the reputation of Liverpool, but it seems to this Scouser that we're so much safer than what's being discussed by our Cockney correspondents.
Not sure what the difference is, except from what people are suggesting that we're not blighted by bikes and traffic isn't so bad that we can still drive properly and cars aren't convenient for muggers in the same way as bikes are.
If you look at the crime stats for England and Wales, theft from the person correlates strongly with wealth and walkable neighbourhoods, as you'd expect. London (Westminster) at the top, old mining areas of Wales at the bottom.
Everyone in the country has smartphones now.
Sounds like from what you're saying we should be doing whatever we can to make towns less reliant on walking to reduce crimes though. Walkable sounds like a distinct negative from your explanation.
Everyone under 55 has smartphones now. Over 55, not entirely.
I posted that story earlier today. Remarkable was the number of environmentalists arguing on Twitter that it was a good use of £100m (plus whatever the lengthy delay and lawyers fees involved cost).
When things like this bat arch are brought up I think some people reflexively defend it, because they feel like *all* environmental protection is at risk if they cannot defend all actions that follow from it.
We have a very all or nothing political discourse where an absurdity like a £100m bat arch gets lumped in with limits on chicken shit discharges into rivers. Really the two things are very different, but I think the temptation to overgeneralise is one that we have to be constantly mindful of.
I have a solution. Subcontract HS2 to The Trump Organisation. Get Trump’s MAGA goons to shoot all the f*cking bats. While they’re here, they can drain the swamp and kill all the f*cking newts. Then we can start building stuff at a reasonable cost once again.
I'm sure they'd build as much of HS2 as they built of the wall with Mexico.
The Alliance Party has paid tribute to its "ground-breaking" and "trailblazing" former assembly member Anna Lo, who has died at the age of 74.
Ms Lo was the first ethnic-minority politician elected to Stormont, and the first Chinese person to be elected to a legislative parliament in western Europe
One day, in the future, we might grow up enough as a country to stop worrying about where our PM is in the running order of phone calls made by the new President Elect.
But it’s not this day.
We can only parley with the US, China and Russia as an equal with an empire, not without.
Otherwise, we are just too small.
This is rubbish.
We will be the equal of those countries when we have a powerfully growing economy and strong defence capability, not a collection of pink on a map, most of which were millstones and none of which were profitable except India.
@Andy_JS, whilst I almost agree with Sullivan, I am constantly frustrated by his blindspot: his failure to recognise that he, Andrew Sullivan, is most definitely an elite member. According to Italian Elite Theory, it is not Elites vs the plebs, it's Elites vs other Elites (the "Counter-Elite"). This ties in with Turchin more exactly than Sullivan's interpretation.
Here is two videos by a monarchist and national-conservative (European, not Usonian) that I think you may like:
Can somebody give an optimistic view on Trump 2.0 and the policies which will actually do some good?
A super-optimistic scenario might go something like this:
The tax cuts and deregulation might turbo-charge the economy, and incidentally show how dismal our own government's approach is, the tariffs might die in Congress and the courts, Putin might refuse his peace deal, causing him to extend more decisive aid to Ukraine than Biden did, his bullying may force the European countries that count to modernise their militaries, and he will fight the woke garbage that is poisoning parts of American (and our) national life.
@Andy_JS, whilst I almost agree with Sullivan, I am constantly frustrated by his blindspot: his failure to recognise that he, Andrew Sullivan, is most definitely an elite member. According to Italian Elite Theory, it is not Elites vs the plebs, it's Elites vs other Elites (the "Counter-Elite"). This ties in with Turchin more exactly than Sullivan's interpretation.
Here is two videos by a monarchist and national-conservative (European, not Usonian) that I think you may like:
I posted that story earlier today. Remarkable was the number of environmentalists arguing on Twitter that it was a good use of £100m (plus whatever the lengthy delay and lawyers fees involved cost).
Of course they would say it was a good use of money. No surprise.
Last night, as I was returning to my flat in London, I was attacked and mugged by a group of individuals.
Luckily, I have no injuries and I am ok. Unfortunately, they just took my phone so I’m without one for the foreseeable future.
I want to thank the @metpoliceuk for their swift response and support. The officers who assisted me went above and beyond. They are a remarkable credit to the force. "
And if he wasn't an mp the response when he rang up would have been "we can give you a crime number"
What the Met say constantly is using your phone in public is asking for it to be stolen. There are signs up everywhere and announcements on the tubes and trains urging people not to leave their phone "on display" but we are of course so dependent on the devices out they come as soon as we're outside the stations and the muggers, usually on bicycles or e-scooters, take their chance.
Of course, it shouldn't be like that but it is and we all know that.
Sounds a bit like victim blaming.
To an extent, it is. It would be so much better if we could all use our phones in public in perfect safety but I live in the real world (or East London) and it's just something you don't do because there's a very real risk someone on a bicycle or e-scooter will come up and snatch it out of your hand.
Tell me how this shouldn't be the case - give me a coherent policy which would end such street crime. I've not heard one yet from anyone.
The reality is that most of this crime is committed by a fairly small number of individuals. Three strikes and it's 20 years in the slammer type legislation won't change them, but it does mean that during their 20 years inside they won't be nicking your phone. Prison works folks.
You don't need three strikes or incredibly long sentences if only a small number are doing a lot of it, you just need to catch and punish them normally and it ould have the same effect.
"catch them and punish them normally" - you mean give them a suspended sentence and sent back out the revolving door?
That does jack shit.
In 2010 (ie before "Tory austerity") my house was broken into by a career burglar. He was caught as I interrupted him in my living room and I chased him (dumb move!) and I got his reg plate as he drove off. He was then arrested within a week while breaking into somebody else's home.
He pled guilty to the break in for the one he was arrested committing, my one I interrupted and 18 other known burglaries. He had not long been released from prison for his previous crimes.
The sentence the Judge gave? A suspended sentence.
No doubt he was terrorising more people within days.
I'm very liberal on laws and think we should not put people in jail for any victimless crimes. But when you are harming people and breaking the law like that repeatedly then prison works - if only because you can't commit crimes for the period you are incarcerated.
I mean by making it normal to not just get suspended sentences. It's not that I think custodial sentences are always the best option, but I agree that there are cases where just getting someone off the streets and punishing them with a sentence is the right move. If that means they get out, then back in shortly after, that may be necessary. I just don't agree that three strikes laws or 25 year sentences for crimes will actually help reduce instances, and shorter sentences which actually occur, rather than example you give where a sentence is suspended despite habituality, would have the same effect.
More prisons, and better prisons, can probably work. But if people think they won't be caught, and if caught not punished, no wonder nothing changes.
Surely if you send someone down for 20 years on the third offence, their personal crime rate for the next 20 years will be a pretty good approximation of zero?
I doubt a three strikes rule has much deterrent effect whilst a persistent offender is at large, but if a large volume of crime is being committed by a small volume of criminals, you would expect jailing them for long periods to reduce crime substantially.
We currently have policing which isn't interested in crimes below rape (other than speeding tickets and people misgendering each other on twitter), and if by chance shoplifters, muggers and burgulars are apprehended and convincted they get suspended sentences and a bit of community service. Then we wonder why we have an epidemic of these sorts of crimes...
Is Robert Kennedy really going to be Trump's health tsar?
Sort of like putting Mad Ed Miliband in charge of our energy industry or having David "Trump's a Nazi sociopath" Lammy in charge of relations with the new US administration.
Emmanuel Macron @EmmanuelMacron · 2h I have no intention of leaving Europe as a stage inhabited by herbivores, only for carnivores to come and devour according to their agenda.
Emmanuel Macron @EmmanuelMacron · 2h I have no intention of leaving Europe as a stage inhabited by herbivores, only for carnivores to come and devour according to their agenda.
===
Ok, to be honest, you've lost me.
Saying that liberal pansies are making Europe weak and he won't let them do that.
Hilarious Newsnight interview with Elon Musk's father earlier on. Watching it on catch-up. Faisal Islam asking what Musk wants, and his father replying "He already has everything".
Emmanuel Macron @EmmanuelMacron · 2h I have no intention of leaving Europe as a stage inhabited by herbivores, only for carnivores to come and devour according to their agenda.
===
Ok, to be honest, you've lost me.
Saying that liberal pansies are making Europe weak and he won't let them do that.
All this talk of "don't have phones out in public" and rampant phone thieves is so alien to me, like people talking from a third world country, its something that happens there but not here.
Recently I was in Liverpool and had my phone out for sat nav between parking and where I was walking to since there was no parking at my destination and never thought twice about having the phone out the entire time. On way back to the car I was playing on my phone, never thought twice about it. Amusing considering the reputation of Liverpool, but it seems to this Scouser that we're so much safer than what's being discussed by our Cockney correspondents.
Not sure what the difference is, except from what people are suggesting that we're not blighted by bikes and traffic isn't so bad that we can still drive properly and cars aren't convenient for muggers in the same way as bikes are.
If you look at the crime stats for England and Wales, theft from the person correlates strongly with wealth and walkable neighbourhoods, as you'd expect. London (Westminster) at the top, old mining areas of Wales at the bottom.
Everyone in the country has smartphones now.
Sounds like from what you're saying we should be doing whatever we can to make towns less reliant on walking to reduce crimes though. Walkable sounds like a distinct negative from your explanation.
Saying everyone under 55 has a smartphone today is a bit like saying everyone had a VHS video player in the 1990s or everyone had a house-phone in the 1980s. It's never actually true, there are always a small minority who don't.
Last night, as I was returning to my flat in London, I was attacked and mugged by a group of individuals.
Luckily, I have no injuries and I am ok. Unfortunately, they just took my phone so I’m without one for the foreseeable future.
I want to thank the @metpoliceuk for their swift response and support. The officers who assisted me went above and beyond. They are a remarkable credit to the force. "
And if he wasn't an mp the response when he rang up would have been "we can give you a crime number"
What the Met say constantly is using your phone in public is asking for it to be stolen. There are signs up everywhere and announcements on the tubes and trains urging people not to leave their phone "on display" but we are of course so dependent on the devices out they come as soon as we're outside the stations and the muggers, usually on bicycles or e-scooters, take their chance.
Of course, it shouldn't be like that but it is and we all know that.
Sounds a bit like victim blaming.
To an extent, it is. It would be so much better if we could all use our phones in public in perfect safety but I live in the real world (or East London) and it's just something you don't do because there's a very real risk someone on a bicycle or e-scooter will come up and snatch it out of your hand.
Tell me how this shouldn't be the case - give me a coherent policy which would end such street crime. I've not heard one yet from anyone.
The reality is that most of this crime is committed by a fairly small number of individuals. Three strikes and it's 20 years in the slammer type legislation won't change them, but it does mean that during their 20 years inside they won't be nicking your phone. Prison works folks.
You don't need three strikes or incredibly long sentences if only a small number are doing a lot of it, you just need to catch and punish them normally and it ould have the same effect.
"catch them and punish them normally" - you mean give them a suspended sentence and sent back out the revolving door?
That does jack shit.
In 2010 (ie before "Tory austerity") my house was broken into by a career burglar. He was caught as I interrupted him in my living room and I chased him (dumb move!) and I got his reg plate as he drove off. He was then arrested within a week while breaking into somebody else's home.
He pled guilty to the break in for the one he was arrested committing, my one I interrupted and 18 other known burglaries. He had not long been released from prison for his previous crimes.
The sentence the Judge gave? A suspended sentence.
No doubt he was terrorising more people within days.
I'm very liberal on laws and think we should not put people in jail for any victimless crimes. But when you are harming people and breaking the law like that repeatedly then prison works - if only because you can't commit crimes for the period you are incarcerated.
I mean by making it normal to not just get suspended sentences. It's not that I think custodial sentences are always the best option, but I agree that there are cases where just getting someone off the streets and punishing them with a sentence is the right move. If that means they get out, then back in shortly after, that may be necessary. I just don't agree that three strikes laws or 25 year sentences for crimes will actually help reduce instances, and shorter sentences which actually occur, rather than example you give where a sentence is suspended despite habituality, would have the same effect.
More prisons, and better prisons, can probably work. But if people think they won't be caught, and if caught not punished, no wonder nothing changes.
Surely if you send someone down for 20 years on the third offence, their personal crime rate for the next 20 years will be a pretty good approximation of zero?
I doubt a three strikes rule has much deterrent effect whilst a persistent offender is at large, but if a large volume of crime is being committed by a small volume of criminals, you would expect jailing them for long periods to reduce crime substantially.
We currently have policing which isn't interested in crimes below rape (other than speeding tickets and people misgendering each other on twitter), and if by chance shoplifters, muggers and burgulars are apprehended and convincted they get suspended sentences and a bit of community service. Then we wonder why we have an epidemic of these sorts of crimes...
Tory police cuts. There was a view in the 2010s that crime kept falling so we could no away with some of the police.
Last night, as I was returning to my flat in London, I was attacked and mugged by a group of individuals.
Luckily, I have no injuries and I am ok. Unfortunately, they just took my phone so I’m without one for the foreseeable future.
I want to thank the @metpoliceuk for their swift response and support. The officers who assisted me went above and beyond. They are a remarkable credit to the force. "
And if he wasn't an mp the response when he rang up would have been "we can give you a crime number"
What the Met say constantly is using your phone in public is asking for it to be stolen. There are signs up everywhere and announcements on the tubes and trains urging people not to leave their phone "on display" but we are of course so dependent on the devices out they come as soon as we're outside the stations and the muggers, usually on bicycles or e-scooters, take their chance.
Of course, it shouldn't be like that but it is and we all know that.
Sounds a bit like victim blaming.
To an extent, it is. It would be so much better if we could all use our phones in public in perfect safety but I live in the real world (or East London) and it's just something you don't do because there's a very real risk someone on a bicycle or e-scooter will come up and snatch it out of your hand.
Tell me how this shouldn't be the case - give me a coherent policy which would end such street crime. I've not heard one yet from anyone.
The reality is that most of this crime is committed by a fairly small number of individuals. Three strikes and it's 20 years in the slammer type legislation won't change them, but it does mean that during their 20 years inside they won't be nicking your phone. Prison works folks.
You don't need three strikes or incredibly long sentences if only a small number are doing a lot of it, you just need to catch and punish them normally and it ould have the same effect.
"catch them and punish them normally" - you mean give them a suspended sentence and sent back out the revolving door?
That does jack shit.
In 2010 (ie before "Tory austerity") my house was broken into by a career burglar. He was caught as I interrupted him in my living room and I chased him (dumb move!) and I got his reg plate as he drove off. He was then arrested within a week while breaking into somebody else's home.
He pled guilty to the break in for the one he was arrested committing, my one I interrupted and 18 other known burglaries. He had not long been released from prison for his previous crimes.
The sentence the Judge gave? A suspended sentence.
No doubt he was terrorising more people within days.
I'm very liberal on laws and think we should not put people in jail for any victimless crimes. But when you are harming people and breaking the law like that repeatedly then prison works - if only because you can't commit crimes for the period you are incarcerated.
I mean by making it normal to not just get suspended sentences. It's not that I think custodial sentences are always the best option, but I agree that there are cases where just getting someone off the streets and punishing them with a sentence is the right move. If that means they get out, then back in shortly after, that may be necessary. I just don't agree that three strikes laws or 25 year sentences for crimes will actually help reduce instances, and shorter sentences which actually occur, rather than example you give where a sentence is suspended despite habituality, would have the same effect.
More prisons, and better prisons, can probably work. But if people think they won't be caught, and if caught not punished, no wonder nothing changes.
Surely if you send someone down for 20 years on the third offence, their personal crime rate for the next 20 years will be a pretty good approximation of zero?
I doubt a three strikes rule has much deterrent effect whilst a persistent offender is at large, but if a large volume of crime is being committed by a small volume of criminals, you would expect jailing them for long periods to reduce crime substantially.
We currently have policing which isn't interested in crimes below rape (other than speeding tickets and people misgendering each other on twitter), and if by chance shoplifters, muggers and burgulars are apprehended and convincted they get suspended sentences and a bit of community service. Then we wonder why we have an epidemic of these sorts of crimes...
Tory police cuts. There was a view in the 2010s that crime kept falling so we could no away with some of the police.
I do think one of the worst Tory policies was cutting the Police.
Is Robert Kennedy really going to be Trump's health tsar?
Perhaps not, the transition team are said to be distancing themselves from him.
Interesting to see how Trump satisfies his crank wing while not doing anything that dooms his presidency by being thoroughly crazy and hugely damaging.
The GOP have an opportunity to remake America for decades even without resorting to the kind of anti-democratic measures some in the Trump camp salivate over. But you wouldn't bet against them screwing everything up, ironically, by following through on some of the madder things they've said they'll do but people don't believe or understand.
Re predictions, it's still possible my election forecasts could be within about 1.5% of the final result in the swing states, but that doesn't cut the mustard when you get the winner wrong obviously.
All this talk of "don't have phones out in public" and rampant phone thieves is so alien to me, like people talking from a third world country, its something that happens there but not here.
Recently I was in Liverpool and had my phone out for sat nav between parking and where I was walking to since there was no parking at my destination and never thought twice about having the phone out the entire time. On way back to the car I was playing on my phone, never thought twice about it. Amusing considering the reputation of Liverpool, but it seems to this Scouser that we're so much safer than what's being discussed by our Cockney correspondents.
Not sure what the difference is, except from what people are suggesting that we're not blighted by bikes and traffic isn't so bad that we can still drive properly and cars aren't convenient for muggers in the same way as bikes are.
If you look at the crime stats for England and Wales, theft from the person correlates strongly with wealth and walkable neighbourhoods, as you'd expect. London (Westminster) at the top, old mining areas of Wales at the bottom.
Everyone in the country has smartphones now.
Sounds like from what you're saying we should be doing whatever we can to make towns less reliant on walking to reduce crimes though. Walkable sounds like a distinct negative from your explanation.
Hmm, except that Liverpool has a 44% higher rate of assaults against the person, 84% higher rates of death or serious injury from driving offences, and a 88% higher rate of stalking than in London.
They won't nick your phone but they will follow you around, stab you and then run you over. Swings and roundabouts.
The positive British case for Trump is that Europe wakes up, realises it needs British security co-operation, and this smoothes the way for some kind of Swiss-style EEA access arrangement - while the UK is largely spared tariffs.
London can retake its role as THE natural European entrepôt.
Is Robert Kennedy really going to be Trump's health tsar?
Perhaps not, the transition team are said to be distancing themselves from him.
Interesting to see how Trump satisfies his crank wing while not doing anything that dooms his presidency by being thoroughly crazy and hugely damaging.
The GOP have an opportunity to remake America for decades even without resorting to the kind of anti-democratic measures some in the Trump camp salivate over. But you wouldn't bet against them screwing everything up, ironically, by following through on some of the madder things they've said they'll do but people don't believe or understand.
They can but to do that they particularly need tariffs to prove successful in expanding US manufacturing jobs in particular, not mainly leading to heavy inflation on consumer goods instead.
If the latter the voters will swiftly turn Democrat again in the 2026 midterms and then the 2028 presidential election
@Andy_JS, whilst I almost agree with Sullivan, I am constantly frustrated by his blindspot: his failure to recognise that he, Andrew Sullivan, is most definitely an elite member. According to Italian Elite Theory, it is not Elites vs the plebs, it's Elites vs other Elites (the "Counter-Elite"). This ties in with Turchin more exactly than Sullivan's interpretation.
Here is two videos by a monarchist and national-conservative (European, not Usonian) that I think you may like:
I posted that story earlier today. Remarkable was the number of environmentalists arguing on Twitter that it was a good use of £100m (plus whatever the lengthy delay and lawyers fees involved cost).
Of course they would say it was a good use of money. No surprise.
Were they 'environmental campaigners' or professional ecologists?
Like the Green Party having only a tenuous connection with actually being Green, 'environmentalists' don't always have much knowledge of the actual environment.
Incidentally, the biggest bat roosts around here are some old arches under the Transpennine railway.
All this talk of "don't have phones out in public" and rampant phone thieves is so alien to me, like people talking from a third world country, its something that happens there but not here.
Recently I was in Liverpool and had my phone out for sat nav between parking and where I was walking to since there was no parking at my destination and never thought twice about having the phone out the entire time. On way back to the car I was playing on my phone, never thought twice about it. Amusing considering the reputation of Liverpool, but it seems to this Scouser that we're so much safer than what's being discussed by our Cockney correspondents.
Not sure what the difference is, except from what people are suggesting that we're not blighted by bikes and traffic isn't so bad that we can still drive properly and cars aren't convenient for muggers in the same way as bikes are.
If you look at the crime stats for England and Wales, theft from the person correlates strongly with wealth and walkable neighbourhoods, as you'd expect. London (Westminster) at the top, old mining areas of Wales at the bottom.
Everyone in the country has smartphones now.
Sounds like from what you're saying we should be doing whatever we can to make towns less reliant on walking to reduce crimes though. Walkable sounds like a distinct negative from your explanation.
Saying everyone under 55 has a smartphone today is a bit like saying everyone had a VHS video player in the 1990s or everyone had a house-phone in the 1980s. It's never actually true, there are always a small minority who don't.
Mrs Flatlander didn't have a house phone until 1988.
Her Dad refused to have one until he retired - as he might have been contacted by work out of hours.
All this talk of "don't have phones out in public" and rampant phone thieves is so alien to me, like people talking from a third world country, its something that happens there but not here.
Recently I was in Liverpool and had my phone out for sat nav between parking and where I was walking to since there was no parking at my destination and never thought twice about having the phone out the entire time. On way back to the car I was playing on my phone, never thought twice about it. Amusing considering the reputation of Liverpool, but it seems to this Scouser that we're so much safer than what's being discussed by our Cockney correspondents.
Not sure what the difference is, except from what people are suggesting that we're not blighted by bikes and traffic isn't so bad that we can still drive properly and cars aren't convenient for muggers in the same way as bikes are.
If you look at the crime stats for England and Wales, theft from the person correlates strongly with wealth and walkable neighbourhoods, as you'd expect. London (Westminster) at the top, old mining areas of Wales at the bottom.
I'd say it correlates more nearly with people wandering about with their phones in their hands and their heads in their phones, not paying any attention to what is around them.
Is Robert Kennedy really going to be Trump's health tsar?
Sort of like putting Mad Ed Miliband in charge of our energy industry or having David "Trump's a Nazi sociopath" Lammy in charge of relations with the new US administration.
It seems to be the case that Trump won't even notice.
He'll be like a 17 year old coming to the throne in the 14C, just not interested - that was what he was like last time - and his advisers will have to convert everything into Ladybird Books so he can understand it. That's when he's awake.
"U.S. voter turnout on Nov. 5 is projected to be around 65 percent, with more than 158 million ballots counted, according to data from the University of Florida’s Election Lab. That number is a dip from the 2020 U.S. presidential election, which registered a historic 67 percent turnout."
158 million was the number counted in 2020. Population is up slightly since then so the same figure again gives a slight drop in turnout (to state the obvious).
Re predictions, it's still possible my election forecasts could be within about 1.5% of the final result in the swing states, but that doesn't cut the mustard when you get the winner wrong obviously.
Don't beat yourself up. Predictions that get the winner right but have a high mean absolute error (eg Scottish Referendum 2014) are lauded, but are merely storing up problems for the future (eg Brexit & Trump 2016). Predictions like yours, which get the winner wrong but have a lower mean absolute error, are still valuable.
It might help if you understand the difference between accuracy and precision. See this image
Right now, much depends on whether or not Republicans win the House. Probably they will, but it's not certain. If the Democrats control the House, and stay united, they can, for instance, stop large tax changes.
And whether even a few Senate Republicans will show some independence. (I expect some will, especially senators who are planning to retire at the end of their terms.)
Damn. If GallegovsLake's predicted margin continues to decay at the same rate, the prediction will flip in 24hrs time from Gallego to Lake. And I will lose my £200 stake. Poo.
Damn. If GallegovsLake's predicted margin continues to decay at the same rate, the prediction will flip in 24hrs time from Gallego to Lake. And I will lose my £200 stake. Poo.
I posted that story earlier today. Remarkable was the number of environmentalists arguing on Twitter that it was a good use of £100m (plus whatever the lengthy delay and lawyers fees involved cost).
When things like this bat arch are brought up I think some people reflexively defend it, because they feel like *all* environmental protection is at risk if they cannot defend all actions that follow from it.
We have a very all or nothing political discourse where an absurdity like a £100m bat arch gets lumped in with limits on chicken shit discharges into rivers. Really the two things are very different, but I think the temptation to overgeneralise is one that we have to be constantly mindful of.
I have a solution. Subcontract HS2 to The Trump Organisation. Get Trump’s MAGA goons to shoot all the f*cking bats. While they’re here, they can drain the swamp and kill all the f*cking newts. Then we can start building stuff at a reasonable cost once again.
Nah. Muksy Baby hates high-speed rail - he only promoted the brain-dead Hyperloop scam to try to kill California's HSR scheme.
Pro-Kamala Harris spot targeting ‘real men’ ripped as ‘cringiest political ad ever’
The Democrats got this election so wrong. They seem to have declared war on men, not a wise approach.
Labour needs to be extremely careful they don't go down the same path.
I'm man enough to support my wife's boyfriend when they fall out
Other Harris mistakes: not being able to say what she'd do differently compared to Biden, and telling black men to look forward to being able to sell weed.
"The cost of living is out of control in America. There is very little in the way of safety nets for those that really struggle, resulting in prevalent poverty redolent of the third world. The middle classes are battered with relentless rip-off expenses from all directions. And they’re sick of it. They’re angry. They just want to get ahead and are fighting to breathe. The equivalent of council tax costs the same as Stamp Duty, every single year."
"The cost of living is out of control in America. There is very little in the way of safety nets for those that really struggle, resulting in prevalent poverty redolent of the third world. The middle classes are battered with relentless rip-off expenses from all directions. And they’re sick of it. They’re angry. They just want to get ahead and are fighting to breathe. The equivalent of council tax costs the same as Stamp Duty, every single year."
The problem is that Trump will just take money from them, and reduce any little safety net they had. That's what he wants, and it is what his 'advisors' want.
Lammy thinks something he personally said 7 years ago is 'old news', while simultaneously supporting reparations for something that occurred centuries ago. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cm2z1zm1pk3o
He's not responsible for words that came out of his own mouth, but he sure as hell wants modern day Britons to be responsible for things that happened before their grandparents were born.
"When he was a backbench MP in 2018, David Lammy described Trump as a "tyrant" and "a woman-hating, neo-Nazi-sympathising sociopath". "
[Annoyingly, I predicted this but to a person in real life rather than as a comment I can link to here].
Lammy thinks something he personally said 7 years ago is 'old news', while simultaneously supporting reparations for something that occurred centuries ago. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cm2z1zm1pk3o
He's not responsible for words that came out of his own mouth, but he sure as hell wants modern day Britons to be responsible for things that happened before their grandparents were born.
"When he was a backbench MP in 2018, David Lammy described Trump as a "tyrant" and "a woman-hating, neo-Nazi-sympathising sociopath". "
[Annoyingly, I predicted this but to a person in real life rather than as a comment I can link to here].
This focus on Lammy is misguided. Feels like the right are tying to score cheap points at any costs. A bit desperate.
Half the people on team Trump have criticised him in the past, not least JD Vance.
"The cost of living is out of control in America. There is very little in the way of safety nets for those that really struggle, resulting in prevalent poverty redolent of the third world. The middle classes are battered with relentless rip-off expenses from all directions. And they’re sick of it. They’re angry. They just want to get ahead and are fighting to breathe. The equivalent of council tax costs the same as Stamp Duty, every single year."
This is why when I read about American salaries, I'm pretty sure I could easily get $250-300k a year there, I'm less impressed.
Double the price of food, add in massive healthcare costs, tipping everywhere, endless expenses, mediocre infrastructure, very long hours, ghost city centres, and driving everywhere...
Emmanuel Macron @EmmanuelMacron · 2h I have no intention of leaving Europe as a stage inhabited by herbivores, only for carnivores to come and devour according to their agenda.
===
Ok, to be honest, you've lost me.
Saying that liberal pansies are making Europe weak and he won't let them do that.
You don't think our Foreign Secretary previously calling the new president of the USA a 'tyrant' and 'neo-Nazi-sympathising sociopath' is worthy of comment?
Pro-Kamala Harris spot targeting ‘real men’ ripped as ‘cringiest political ad ever’
The Democrats got this election so wrong. They seem to have declared war on men, not a wise approach.
Labour needs to be extremely careful they don't go down the same path.
It’s not overly far from those dreadful London adverts with ‘mate’ and such like that have some contrived situation with loutish white man making loud comments about a small minority woman, but fortunately the black male in the group is there to call him out on his misogyny.
The killer to those adverts was Trump’s joking, to paraphrase “these white dudes are voting for Harris, but I don’t care, because their wives and their wives’ boyfriends are voting for me” Utter 10 out of 10, Pocahontas (remember him, with a single word destroying any presidential nominee chance of Elizabeth Warren?) level of mockery.
You don't think our Foreign Secretary previously calling the new president of the USA a 'tyrant' and 'neo-Nazi-sympathising sociopath' is worthy of comment?
Well, Trump obviously doesn't or he wouldn't have JD Vance as his Veep (God help us).
You don't think our Foreign Secretary previously calling the new president of the USA a 'tyrant' and 'neo-Nazi-sympathising sociopath' is worthy of comment?
It’s cheap politicking. Trump seems to not give a toss, breaking bread with him,
Mr. Jonathan, and I suppose the hypocrisy of Lammy saying his own words are old news but reparations for deeds done centuries past (and only from the British not from African slave traders) are a good thing doesn't matter either?
"The cost of living is out of control in America. There is very little in the way of safety nets for those that really struggle, resulting in prevalent poverty redolent of the third world. The middle classes are battered with relentless rip-off expenses from all directions. And they’re sick of it. They’re angry. They just want to get ahead and are fighting to breathe. The equivalent of council tax costs the same as Stamp Duty, every single year."
That's a really good article, in a somewhat semi-comical publication.
Harris, being introduced by celebrities from the private jet squad, did everything possible to reinforce perceptions she was one of the privileged elite whilst Trump, with garbage trucks and McDonald's, showed he was on the side of ordinary Americans and - incredibly- made them believe he was one of them.
You don't think our Foreign Secretary previously calling the new president of the USA a 'tyrant' and 'neo-Nazi-sympathising sociopath' is worthy of comment?
It’s cheap politicking. Trump seems to not give a toss, breaking bread with him,
That one meal with Trump is doing a lot of heavy lifting.
Mr. Jonathan, and I suppose the hypocrisy of Lammy saying his own words are old news but reparations for deeds done centuries past (and only from the British not from African slave traders) are a good thing doesn't matter either?
"The cost of living is out of control in America. There is very little in the way of safety nets for those that really struggle, resulting in prevalent poverty redolent of the third world. The middle classes are battered with relentless rip-off expenses from all directions. And they’re sick of it. They’re angry. They just want to get ahead and are fighting to breathe. The equivalent of council tax costs the same as Stamp Duty, every single year."
That's a really good article, in a somewhat semi-comical publication.
Harris, being introduced by celebrities from the private jet squad, did everything possible to reinforce perceptions she was one of the privileged elite whilst Trump, with garbage trucks and McDonald's, showed he was on the side of ordinary Americans and - incredibly- made them believe he was one of them.
And Harris couldn't see this??
I think that celebrity endorsement can be voter-repellent.
Pro-Kamala Harris spot targeting ‘real men’ ripped as ‘cringiest political ad ever’
The Democrats got this election so wrong. They seem to have declared war on men, not a wise approach.
Labour needs to be extremely careful they don't go down the same path.
It’s not overly far from those dreadful London adverts with ‘mate’ and such like that have some contrived situation with loutish white man making loud comments about a small minority woman, but fortunately the black male in the group is there to call him out on his misogyny.
The killer to those adverts was Trump’s joking, to paraphrase “these white dudes are voting for Harris, but I don’t care, because their wives and their wives’ boyfriends are voting for me” Utter 10 out of 10, Pocahontas (remember him, with a single word destroying any presidential nominee chance of Elizabeth Warren?) level of mockery.
Horrible though he is, Trump can be very funny with insults.
“Their wives and their wives’ boyfriends is comedy gold.”
You don't think our Foreign Secretary previously calling the new president of the USA a 'tyrant' and 'neo-Nazi-sympathising sociopath' is worthy of comment?
It’s cheap politicking. Trump seems to not give a toss, breaking bread with him,
That one meal with Trump is doing a lot of heavy lifting.
Not really. Trump is used to this sort of stuff and probably appreciates the attention. Half the leaders of the western world and most of his own party have said something less than complementary about Trump and vice versa. Trump dishes it out. Life moves on.
Off topic, but good job he wasn’t white and gesticulating wildly: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/11/07/hammer-wielding-man-middlesbrough-riots-jailed/ 15 months for running around with a hammer during the riots seeking out revenge, judge clearly states he intended to commit violence if he ran into the gang of protesters. With the company he works for keeping his job open. “ Michele Turner, his solicitor, asked the judge to consider suspending Khan’s sentence because he was a victim of his car being damaged. The court heard that his job in Sheffield was being held open for him.”
Dems just took the lead in AZ Congressional District 6 (held by Rep):
Dem 157,517 Rep 157,306
There are quite a few very close House races.
Alaska at large looks like a GOP pickup to me taking a gander at the Alaska independent party wiki
The GOP took the Pennsylvania Senate seat overnight, and Lake may well win Arizona. If they get 54 seats, that probably guarantees them Senate control for four years.
Nevada looks like a Democratic hold, while the House looks very tight.
Pro-Kamala Harris spot targeting ‘real men’ ripped as ‘cringiest political ad ever’
The Democrats got this election so wrong. They seem to have declared war on men, not a wise approach.
Labour needs to be extremely careful they don't go down the same path.
It's an ideology I think they'll have real trouble escaping from.
It won't matter if in four years the voters realise that despite deporting all the people who they thought were criminals, crime doesn't fall because it's largely committed by white people from their own communities. If they realise they have been played for suckers as they don't escape the hamster wheel of poverty whilst billionaires own an ever greater portion of the wealth of the US. If they realise Trump's healthcare plans means less coverage, no care for pre-existing conditions, rocketing cost for basic drugs like insulin.
Trump's cynicism at playing them will eventually get figured out. But by then it will be President Vance in the line of fire.
You don't think our Foreign Secretary previously calling the new president of the USA a 'tyrant' and 'neo-Nazi-sympathising sociopath' is worthy of comment?
It’s cheap politicking. Trump seems to not give a toss, breaking bread with him,
That one meal with Trump is doing a lot of heavy lifting.
Not really. Trump is used to this sort of stuff and probably appreciates the attention. Half the leaders of the western world and most of his own party have said something less than complementary about Trump and vice versa. Trump dishes it out. Life moves on.
Well let's hope you're right. I'm afraid I think Trump will drag up old wounds when it suits him and Lammy and others will be served a dish of cold crow to eat along with their words. Labour is looking a bit stupid on this, one minute they are calling Trump a deranged Nazi while the next he's a pillar of reason and international statesman.
It just shows the mess pointless agitprop gets them in to. If Harris had won do I think Lammy would be saying what a great guy the Donald is ?
"The cost of living is out of control in America. There is very little in the way of safety nets for those that really struggle, resulting in prevalent poverty redolent of the third world. The middle classes are battered with relentless rip-off expenses from all directions. And they’re sick of it. They’re angry. They just want to get ahead and are fighting to breathe. The equivalent of council tax costs the same as Stamp Duty, every single year."
This is why when I read about American salaries, I'm pretty sure I could easily get $250-300k a year there, I'm less impressed.
Double the price of food, add in massive healthcare costs, tipping everywhere, endless expenses, mediocre infrastructure, very long hours, ghost city centres, and driving everywhere...
Nah.
Exactly, a quarter of that would go on tips to people just for doing their basic job
You don't think our Foreign Secretary previously calling the new president of the USA a 'tyrant' and 'neo-Nazi-sympathising sociopath' is worthy of comment?
It’s cheap politicking. Trump seems to not give a toss, breaking bread with him,
That one meal with Trump is doing a lot of heavy lifting.
Not really. Trump is used to this sort of stuff and probably appreciates the attention. Half the leaders of the western world and most of his own party have said something less than complementary about Trump and vice versa. Trump dishes it out. Life moves on.
Well let's hope you're right. I'm afraid I think Trump will drag up old wounds when it suits him and Lammy and others will be served a dish of cold crow to eat along with their words. Labour is looking a bit stupid on this, one minute they are calling Trump a deranged Nazi while the next he's a pillar of reason and international statesman.
It just shows the mess pointless agitprop gets them in to. If Harris had won do I think Lammy would be saying what a great guy the Donald is ?
GMB played the far from cerebral Angela Rayner from 2020 describing Donald Trump as a buffoon who should not be in office this morning.
Now that may well be her view and it may well play to her voter base but, again, it is pointless commentary from people who, at the time, knew they could well be in power a few years later.
Pro-Kamala Harris spot targeting ‘real men’ ripped as ‘cringiest political ad ever’
The Democrats got this election so wrong. They seem to have declared war on men, not a wise approach.
Labour needs to be extremely careful they don't go down the same path.
It's an ideology I think they'll have real trouble escaping from.
It won't matter if in four years the voters realise that despite deporting all the people who they thought were criminals, crime doesn't fall because it's largely committed by white people from their own communities. If they realise they have been played for suckers as they don't escape the hamster wheel of poverty whilst billionaires own an ever greater portion of the wealth of the US. If they realise Trump's healthcare plans means less coverage, no care for pre-existing conditions, rocketing cost for basic drugs like insulin.
Trump's cynicism at playing them will eventually get figured out. But by then it will be President Vance in the line of fire.
Again, you're adopting the language of the Left here for the USA: "white people from their own communities" and "billionaires".
"The cost of living is out of control in America. There is very little in the way of safety nets for those that really struggle, resulting in prevalent poverty redolent of the third world. The middle classes are battered with relentless rip-off expenses from all directions. And they’re sick of it. They’re angry. They just want to get ahead and are fighting to breathe. The equivalent of council tax costs the same as Stamp Duty, every single year."
This is why when I read about American salaries, I'm pretty sure I could easily get $250-300k a year there, I'm less impressed.
Double the price of food, add in massive healthcare costs, tipping everywhere, endless expenses, mediocre infrastructure, very long hours, ghost city centres, and driving everywhere...
Nah.
Exactly, a quarter of that would go on tips to people just for doing their basic job
"The cost of living is out of control in America. There is very little in the way of safety nets for those that really struggle, resulting in prevalent poverty redolent of the third world. The middle classes are battered with relentless rip-off expenses from all directions. And they’re sick of it. They’re angry. They just want to get ahead and are fighting to breathe. The equivalent of council tax costs the same as Stamp Duty, every single year."
This is why when I read about American salaries, I'm pretty sure I could easily get $250-300k a year there, I'm less impressed.
Double the price of food, add in massive healthcare costs, tipping everywhere, endless expenses, mediocre infrastructure, very long hours, ghost city centres, and driving everywhere...
Nah.
Exactly, a quarter of that would go on tips to people just for doing their basic job
Absolute nonsense.
It was meant as a jocular comment not a serious commentary.
Comments
That does jack shit.
In 2010 (ie before "Tory austerity") my house was broken into by a career burglar. He was caught as I interrupted him in my living room and I chased him (dumb move!) and I got his reg plate as he drove off. He was then arrested within a week while breaking into somebody else's home.
He pled guilty to the break in for the one he was arrested committing, my one I interrupted and 18 other known burglaries. He had not long been released from prison for his previous crimes.
The sentence the Judge gave? A suspended sentence.
No doubt he was terrorising more people within days.
I'm very liberal on laws and think we should not put people in jail for any victimless crimes. But when you are harming people and breaking the law like that repeatedly then prison works - if only because you can't commit crimes for the period you are incarcerated.
That said, I suspect in the end Trump will sweep it all under the rug...
Sounds like from what you're saying we should be doing whatever we can to make towns less reliant on walking to reduce crimes though. Walkable sounds like a distinct negative from your explanation.
More prisons, and better prisons, can probably work. But if people think they won't be caught, and if caught not punished, no wonder nothing changes.
They won't nick your phone but they will follow you around, stab you and then run you over. Swings and roundabouts.
We have a very all or nothing political discourse where an absurdity like a £100m bat arch gets lumped in with limits on chicken shit discharges into rivers. Really the two things are very different, but I think the temptation to overgeneralise is one that we have to be constantly mindful of.
https://www.uswitch.com/mobiles/studies/mobile-statistics/
Never happened as an adult. But I was jumpy and nervous for some time.
Practically everyone enough to think that location is not a factor in whether people there have phones or not.
Ms Lo was the first ethnic-minority politician elected to Stormont, and the first Chinese person to be elected to a legislative parliament in western Europe
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd9nj8z9329o
We will be the equal of those countries when we have a powerfully growing economy and strong defence capability, not a collection of pink on a map, most of which were millstones and none of which were profitable except India.
Here is two videos by a monarchist and national-conservative (European, not Usonian) that I think you may like:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCccDVsMOFQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DN4JVG8Ubfw
The tax cuts and deregulation might turbo-charge the economy, and incidentally show how dismal our own government's approach is, the tariffs might die in Congress and the courts, Putin might refuse his peace deal, causing him to extend more decisive aid to Ukraine than Biden did, his bullying may force the European countries that count to modernise their militaries, and he will fight the woke garbage that is poisoning parts of American (and our) national life.
I doubt a three strikes rule has much deterrent effect whilst a persistent offender is at large, but if a large volume of crime is being committed by a small volume of criminals, you would expect jailing them for long periods to reduce crime substantially.
We currently have policing which isn't interested in crimes below rape (other than speeding tickets and people misgendering each other on twitter), and if by chance shoplifters, muggers and burgulars are apprehended and convincted they get suspended sentences and a bit of community service. Then we wonder why we have an epidemic of these sorts of crimes...
Emmanuel Macron
@EmmanuelMacron
·
2h
I have no intention of leaving Europe as a stage inhabited by herbivores, only for carnivores to come and devour according to their agenda.
===
Ok, to be honest, you've lost me.
There was a view in the 2010s that crime kept falling so we could no away with some of the police.
The GOP have an opportunity to remake America for decades even without resorting to the kind of anti-democratic measures some in the Trump camp salivate over. But you wouldn't bet against them screwing everything up, ironically, by following through on some of the madder things they've said they'll do but people don't believe or understand.
London can retake its role as THE natural European entrepôt.
If the latter the voters will swiftly turn Democrat again in the 2026 midterms and then the 2028 presidential election
Like the Green Party having only a tenuous connection with actually being Green, 'environmentalists' don't always have much knowledge of the actual environment.
Incidentally, the biggest bat roosts around here are some old arches under the Transpennine railway.
Her Dad refused to have one until he retired - as he might have been contacted by work out of hours.
https://x.com/emmanuelmacron/status/1854606082473148791?s=46&t=L9g_woCIqbo1MTuBFCK0xg
For better or for worse, Macron *is* the leader of Europe, which is probably why Trump called him first.
He'll be like a 17 year old coming to the throne in the 14C, just not interested - that was what he was like last time - and his advisers will have to convert everything into Ladybird Books so he can understand it. That's when he's awake.
https://foreignpolicy.com/projects/2024-us-president-election-live-updates-harris-trump/?article_anchor=us-presidential-election-2024-voter-turnout-comparison
158 million was the number counted in 2020. Population is up slightly since then so the same figure again gives a slight drop in turnout (to state the obvious).
It might help if you understand the difference between accuracy and precision. See this image
https://edition.cnn.com/election/2024/results/new-york/president
@Redistrict
Latest numbers: across the seven battleground states, the '20-'24 swing towards Trump was ~3.1 pts. Across the other 43 states (+DC), it was ~6.7 pts.
Bottom line: the Harris campaign swam impressively against some very strong underlying currents."
https://x.com/Redistrict/status/1854613790345904302
And whether even a few Senate Republicans will show some independence. (I expect some will, especially senators who are planning to retire at the end of their terms.)
Pro-Kamala Harris spot targeting ‘real men’ ripped as ‘cringiest political ad ever’
The Democrats got this election so wrong. They seem to have declared war on men, not a wise approach.
Labour needs to be extremely careful they don't go down the same path.
Sanders’ analysis that Democrats lost because they failed working-class voters scorned by party chair Jaime Harrison"
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/nov/07/bernie-sanders-democrats-election
Latest
Gallego 1,300,603 (49.8%)
Lake 1,256,902 (48.1%)
74% in
https://edition.cnn.com/election/2024/results/senate?admin1=04&election-data-id=2024-SG&selected-election-data-id=2024-SG-AZ&election-painting-mode=projection-with-lead&filter-key-races=false&filter-flipped=false&filter-remaining=false
Dem 157,517
Rep 157,306
There are quite a few very close House races.
https://www.theoldie.co.uk/blog/why-trump-won-james-fletcher
Lammy thinks something he personally said 7 years ago is 'old news', while simultaneously supporting reparations for something that occurred centuries ago.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cm2z1zm1pk3o
He's not responsible for words that came out of his own mouth, but he sure as hell wants modern day Britons to be responsible for things that happened before their grandparents were born.
"When he was a backbench MP in 2018, David Lammy described Trump as a "tyrant" and "a woman-hating, neo-Nazi-sympathising sociopath". "
[Annoyingly, I predicted this but to a person in real life rather than as a comment I can link to here].
Half the people on team Trump have criticised him in the past, not least JD Vance.
France and Poland are the only two serious hard power countries in the EU. Maybe Sweden will get there soon.
We could be the one outside the EU but in the EPC (which, remember, wouldn't even exist were if not for Brexit) but we don't want to pay.
Double the price of food, add in massive healthcare costs, tipping everywhere, endless expenses, mediocre infrastructure, very long hours, ghost city centres, and driving everywhere...
Nah.
You don't think our Foreign Secretary previously calling the new president of the USA a 'tyrant' and 'neo-Nazi-sympathising sociopath' is worthy of comment?
The killer to those adverts was Trump’s joking, to paraphrase “these white dudes are voting for Harris, but I don’t care, because their wives and their wives’ boyfriends are voting for me”
Utter 10 out of 10, Pocahontas (remember him, with a single word destroying any presidential nominee chance of Elizabeth Warren?) level of mockery.
Harris, being introduced by celebrities from the private jet squad, did everything possible to reinforce perceptions she was one of the privileged elite whilst Trump, with garbage trucks and McDonald's, showed he was on the side of ordinary Americans and - incredibly- made them believe he was one of them.
And Harris couldn't see this??
“Their wives and their wives’ boyfriends is comedy gold.”
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/11/07/hammer-wielding-man-middlesbrough-riots-jailed/
15 months for running around with a hammer during the riots seeking out revenge, judge clearly states he intended to commit violence if he ran into the gang of protesters. With the company he works for keeping his job open.
“ Michele Turner, his solicitor, asked the judge to consider suspending Khan’s sentence because he was a victim of his car being damaged. The court heard that his job in Sheffield was being held open for him.”
Nevada looks like a Democratic hold, while the House looks very tight.
NEW THREAD
Trump's cynicism at playing them will eventually get figured out. But by then it will be President Vance in the line of fire.
It just shows the mess pointless agitprop gets them in to. If Harris had won do I think Lammy would be saying what a great guy the Donald is ?
Now that may well be her view and it may well play to her voter base but, again, it is pointless commentary from people who, at the time, knew they could well be in power a few years later.
It is just student politics.