Told you Badenoch had faulty judgment and is out of touch with the British public.
But [Badenoch] is also inspired by fiction and is a fan of Game of Thrones. Asked if she identifies with Daenerys Targaryen, known as the Mother of Dragons, she said: “I strongly associated with Daenerys, yes.” She added that the character — a queen who demands unswerving loyalty, can walk through fire and has a penchant for immolating her enemies — is “much misunderstood”.
She is less keen on another cult favourite, however: the Christmas film Love Actually.
“There’s actually quite a lot of dark undertones to Love Actually,” she told the magazine. “There is a British prime minister who’s messing around and is not doing the foreign policy properly, people are cheating … there is a lot going on there if you move away from the smiley, happy, cheesy stuff.”
Instead, she enjoys Die Hard, which she describes as “a good Christmas-adjacent movie”. She added: “My favourite Christmas movie is probably a tie between Gremlins and Scrooged. Ghosts of Girlfriends Past is a close third. So I do like the Scrooge theme.“
FPT - very disturbing conversation last night. Murder is never an answer to justice, under any circumstances.
If we go down that road we will get a free for all and there will be someone who finds some reason to gun for you too. Literally. "I would give the devil benefit of law, for my own safety's sake."
Woke and/or virtue signalling.
A fundamental principle of law stretching back, ooh, about 800 years at least.
People can vent and emote, I get that, but the problem with social media is that it can, and does, cross over into real action.
Kill one rich guy on the streets of Manhattan and the law swings rapidly into action and tracks you down within days.
Kill tens of thousands by perpetrating medical insurance fraud across America and you are lauded for increasing profits.
If the law isn't working for people then they won't respect it. If the law isn't for everyone then it's for no-one.
Perhaps someone should have read that quote about the benefit of the law to the CEO. He certainly seemed to think he could enjoy the law's protection without sticking to it.
Two rising zeitgeists in America combined. First, political violence is legitimate in good causes (which in practice means provided you feel strongly about something, such as a stolen election)...
See also throttling to death slightly scary people on the metro.
No that doesn't compare at all. All of the eyewitnesses say the man in question was threatening to kill people on that train. The person who subdued the would be murderer saved many lives that day. That it went to court is ridiculous but at least the correct verdict was reached.
It's not "ridiculous" that it went to court. Claiming that it "saved many lives that day" pretty well proves my point. There's no evidence of that.
Penny came up behind Neely, grabbed his neck, took him to the floor and “put him out,” as the veteran told police at the scene.
Passengers’ video showed that at one point during the roughly six-minute hold, Neely tapped an onlooker’s leg and gestured to him. Later, he briefly got an arm free. But he went still nearly a minute before Penny released him.
“He’s dying,” an unseen bystander said in one video. “Let him go!”
A witness who stepped in to hold down Neely’s arms testified that he told Penny to free the man, though Penny’s lawyers noted the witness’ story changed significantly over time.
Penny told detectives shortly after the encounter that Neely threatened to kill people and the chokehold was an attempt to “de-escalate” the situation until police could arrive. The veteran said he held on so long because Neely periodically tried to break loose.
“I wasn’t trying to injure him. I’m just trying to keep him from hurting anyone else. He’s threatening people. That’s what we learn in the Marine Corps,” Penny told the detectives.
However, one of Penny’s Marine Corps instructors testified that the veteran misused a chokehold technique he’d been taught.
Prosecutors said Penny reacted far too forcefully to someone he perceived as a peril, not a person. Prosecutors also argued that any need to protect passengers quickly ebbed when the train doors opened at the next station, seconds after Penny took action...
Was the verdict reasonable - yes, though it could not unreasonably have gone the other way on the lesser charge, on the facts presented.
I'm going to bite on this one. He might end up PM one day but probably not the next one.
He'll be a bit old by the one after, by UK political standards... He's already 60.
...and might have the liver of an 80 year old.
My liver is in excellent condition according to my GP who requires blood tests every quarter due to my need to take blood thinners
Mind you I rarely drink !!!!
Long may it stay so!
Unlike you, Farage is not a healthy man and will, I suspect, age a lot in the next five years. He already looks a lot older than he is.
Fortunately my cardiologist provided me with a pacemaker in February having told me the day after Christmas last year that my heart was worn out and I needed an urgent pacemaker to save my life
Since then I remain under a haematologist, vascular surgeon, and my cardiologist, all of whom are performing valiantly to keep me going though at times its a struggle
Anyway I am so grateful for all my blessings
Indeed, good luck to you. Sadly a member of our congregation had a heart attack at the weekend and on a life support machine and unlikely to survive, she was a lovely lady and wife and mother and only in her early fifties so you never know what is around the corner
Yes, enjoy your life, what is left of it, as you do not know what is around the corner. That is why I am due to retire imminently.
I've been thinking about this a lot in the context of my daughter's young friend who died of methanol poisoning in Laos. You don't know what is coming and should live for today. Planning for the future is wise but don't let it get in the way of living.
FPT - very disturbing conversation last night. Murder is never an answer to justice, under any circumstances.
If we go down that road we will get a free for all and there will be someone who finds some reason to gun for you too. Literally. "I would give the devil benefit of law, for my own safety's sake."
Woke and/or virtue signalling.
A fundamental principle of law stretching back, ooh, about 800 years at least.
People can vent and emote, I get that, but the problem with social media is that it can, and does, cross over into real action.
Kill one rich guy on the streets of Manhattan and the law swings rapidly into action and tracks you down within days.
Kill tens of thousands by perpetrating medical insurance fraud across America and you are lauded for increasing profits.
If the law isn't working for people then they won't respect it. If the law isn't for everyone then it's for no-one.
Perhaps someone should have read that quote about the benefit of the law to the CEO. He certainly seemed to think he could enjoy the law's protection without sticking to it.
Two rising zeitgeists in America combined. First, political violence is legitimate in good causes (which in practice means provided you feel strongly about something, such as a stolen election)...
See also throttling to death slightly scary people on the metro.
No that doesn't compare at all. All of the eyewitnesses say the man in question was threatening to kill people on that train. The person who subdued the would be murderer saved many lives that day. That it went to court is ridiculous but at least the correct verdict was reached.
One case involved a sociopath threatening to kill lots of innocent people, and the other a homeless person with mental health issues.
Russia still doing better than Germany and about as well as Britain?
Russia has a major drop in the rate of growth despite an unsustainable public sector deficit currently funded by large but now exhausted currency reserves and massive defence spending which should be boosting the economy (short term). One of the worst performers in the world compared to the previous year. At some point in 2025 it is going to hit the buffers, hard.
As posted on TPT, a few notes on the Russian private bond market:
TL:DR it’s totally screwed, and when it falls it will pretty much collapse the economy with it. The money-printing taps are already being turned on, and a bank failure or two would tip things over the edge into the really serious inflation.
It laments that similar such crises in the past have been met by bipartisan efforts to improve the situation but now the parties are more interested in arguing about culture war topics and the President elect wants to abolish the department of Education.
I'm going to bite on this one. He might end up PM one day but probably not the next one.
He'll be a bit old by the one after, by UK political standards... He's already 60.
...and might have the liver of an 80 year old.
My liver is in excellent condition according to my GP who requires blood tests every quarter due to my need to take blood thinners
Mind you I rarely drink !!!!
Long may it stay so!
Unlike you, Farage is not a healthy man and will, I suspect, age a lot in the next five years. He already looks a lot older than he is.
Fortunately my cardiologist provided me with a pacemaker in February having told me the day after Christmas last year that my heart was worn out and I needed an urgent pacemaker to save my life
Since then I remain under a haematologist, vascular surgeon, and my cardiologist, all of whom are performing valiantly to keep me going though at times its a struggle
Anyway I am so grateful for all my blessings
Indeed, good luck to you. Sadly a member of our congregation had a heart attack at the weekend and on a life support machine and unlikely to survive, she was a lovely lady and wife and mother and only in her early fifties so you never know what is around the corner
Yes, enjoy your life, what is left of it, as you do not know what is around the corner. That is why I am due to retire imminently.
I've been thinking about this a lot in the context of my daughter's young friend who died of methanol poisoning in Laos. You don't know what is coming and should live for today. Planning for the future is wise but don't let it get in the way of living.
This is why I think the FIRE movement miss the point. You're exactly right.
You need a balance. I am glad when I was putting money aside for my pensions/savings I still spent money doing things I enjoyed well I was younger too.
As for work, why do it if you don't have to. On no ones tombstone does it say, unironically, I wish I had spent more time in the Office.
Murder is not justifiable. Doesn’t matter who the victim is.
Agreed and I was astonished anyone thought it was
Yet it's surprising how many people think blowing up a house with twenty people inside knowing one might be a person of interest is OK as happens on a daily basis in GAZA. Anyone looking for moral answers to questions of shooting this insurance man will struggle on here
That is rubbish, most US voters have chosen election after election to have a healthcare system funded mainly by private health insurance and not to pay the taxes to fund Medicare for all or universal healthcare coverage for all.
They can then hardly complain when CEOs of said private health insurance companies put making a profit and limiting risk from patients treatments first as they are paid to do and as the free market and their shareholders demand.
In 2016 and 2020 Sanders for example was promising Medicare for all as a presidential candidate, US voters elected Trump and the GOP instead and their firm opposition to 'socialised medicine' as they did again this year
I'm going to bite on this one. He might end up PM one day but probably not the next one.
He'll be a bit old by the one after, by UK political standards... He's already 60.
...and might have the liver of an 80 year old.
My liver is in excellent condition according to my GP who requires blood tests every quarter due to my need to take blood thinners
Mind you I rarely drink !!!!
Long may it stay so!
Unlike you, Farage is not a healthy man and will, I suspect, age a lot in the next five years. He already looks a lot older than he is.
Fortunately my cardiologist provided me with a pacemaker in February having told me the day after Christmas last year that my heart was worn out and I needed an urgent pacemaker to save my life
Since then I remain under a haematologist, vascular surgeon, and my cardiologist, all of whom are performing valiantly to keep me going though at times its a struggle
Anyway I am so grateful for all my blessings
Indeed, good luck to you. Sadly a member of our congregation had a heart attack at the weekend and on a life support machine and unlikely to survive, she was a lovely lady and wife and mother and only in her early fifties so you never know what is around the corner
Yes, enjoy your life, what is left of it, as you do not know what is around the corner. That is why I am due to retire imminently.
I've been thinking about this a lot in the context of my daughter's young friend who died of methanol poisoning in Laos. You don't know what is coming and should live for today. Planning for the future is wise but don't let it get in the way of living.
That was a really horrible story, sorry to hear that your daughter knew one of the victims.
It laments that similar such crises in the past have been met by bipartisan efforts to improve the situation but now the parties are more interested in arguing about culture war topics and the President elect wants to abolish the department of Education.
Most education in the US is provided by the States. The federal Department of Education mostly exists to promote what used to be called civil rights but recently descended into gender studies. It was created in its current form in 1979.
That is rubbish, most US voters have chosen election after election to have a healthcare system funded mainly by private health insurance and not to pay the taxes to fund Medicare for all and universal healthcare for all.
They can then hardly complain when CEOS of said private health insurance companies put making a profit and limiting risk from patients treatments first
It’s like arguing that Bruno Tesch was just a salesman of pesticides, without any ethical responsibility for his actions.
Thompson chose to triple the rate of denying policyholders’ claims, and he chose to engage in insider trading. The system did not compel him.
Apparently Kemi Badenoch prefers watching Die Hard at Christmas
It's even more bonkers than that:
That gets weirder, the more you look at it. She is either subscribing to the Situationist International concept of mediating social relations through imagery (pace Debord and Pinot-Gallizio) or she's spouting shit.
I don't think anybody should be taking dietary advice from here, anyway. She looks like a 45 gallon drum that's rolled through a branch of SpecSavers.
https://thehill.com/media/5036312-trump-kari-lake-director-voice-of-america/ President-elect Trump announced he is tapping Kari Lake, a former news anchor and staunch Trump supporter, to head the government-funded news outlet Voice of America. “I am pleased to announce that Kari Lake will serve as our next Director of the Voice of America,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post Wednesday night. Lake will “ensure that the American values of Freedom and Liberty are broadcast around the World FAIRLY and ACCURATELY, unlike the lies spread by the Fake News Media,” Trump added...
Though his big tax and regulation cuts to boost growth are also accompanied by massive spending and welfare cuts too
It's rather early to say his policies are working - these are simply forecasts for growth next year, and suggest expectations that Argentina will make up the GDP lost this year, pretty much. GDP fell by around 2% in both Q1 and Q2, similar to Q4 last year (Milei took power in December). Inflation has come down but remains very high. Interest rates are 32%. The currency is weaker than when he took office. The business community is more optimistic, but there is plenty of room for disappointment, and Argentina is pretty much the poster child for economic false dawns. Nobel prize winning economist Simon Kuznets is said to have said there are four types of country: under-developed, developed, Japan and Argentina.
Big news in Scotland this morning is opposition to a large battery facility near Coldstream. The community council actually approved the facility, bless them, but now feel the power company is taking the piss with an additional application for 200 acres worth.
The solution is obvious - when energy infrastructure like this is built on farmland, any house or business within two or three miles should get their energy for free (within reason).
If the law isn't working for people then they won't respect it. If the law isn't for everyone then it's for no-one.
Unless you're the King President
Or the son of the President.
You're quite right. Eric Trump has evaded justice for too long.
I like this bit from his Wikipedia article:
In 2016, the fundraising president of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital stated that the Eric Trump Foundation had raised and donated $16.3 million to the hospital since the charity's foundation.[37]
In June 2017, Forbes reported that the Eric Trump Foundation shifted money intended to go to cancer patients to the Trumps' businesses.[38][39][40][41] Eric Trump had asserted that his foundation got to use Trump Organization assets for free ("We get to use our assets 100% free of charge"), but that appears not to be true. According to Forbes, more than $1.2 million of the donations went to the Trump Organization for the use of Trump's Westchester golf course, and "Golf charity experts say the listed expenses defy any reasonable cost justification for a one-day golf tournament". According to a former foundation director, "We did have to cover the expenses. ...The charity had grown so much that the Trump Organization couldn't absorb all of those costs anymore." Forbes acknowledged that the charity has done a great deal of good, including an intensive-care unit that opened in 2015 at St. Jude and funding cancer research.[38] According to Trump, the foundation's expense ratio is 12.6%, and "at no time did the Trump Organization profit in any way from the foundation or any of its activities".[42]
Apparently Kemi Badenoch prefers watching Die Hard at Christmas
Good morning everyone,
That's comment is a signpost to a rabbit hole.
Which film or other script represents the current opposition?
I don't know my film scripts well enough, but I'm inclined to reach for something centred on a different planet such as an alien civilisation visited by Star Trek, or The Clangers.
"Tell me about this strange earth custom known only as "kissing", Cpt Kirk", says a voluptuous, scantily clad, blonde haired green skinned alien woman in her early twenties.
"Tell me about this strange Earth custom known as moist bread, Cpt Badenoch!"
I have sympathy with Kemi here. Far too many shop bought sandwiches are soggy, and mayonnaise is far too liberally applied. I always avoid any shop bought sandwich which contains tomatoes.
I never understand why anyone buys a pre-made sandwich at a shop, they are all overpriced and disgusting. I always make my own.
Badenoch's comment about lunch, though, is a small indication of poor judgement. My current employer sends out reminders from time to time that not only should we take a proper break from work at lunchtime, it should be away from our desks. And that's not because they are doing so out of the goodness of their hearts, there is a clear benefit in afternoon performance of doing so.
I also have a feeling that there is a requirement on an employer to ensure that staff take the break they are entitled to?
This is my photo quota for the day, the extent of Green Belt and Protected Areas in England.
From the BBC article about the announcement about the Planning System happening later this morning. By my eye, that looks like Green Belt, National Parks and AONBs - so it misses out other categories such as eg Special Protection Areas (for birds).
But it does show that framing the debate around "Green Belt" is beyond absurd, since they are so different across communities and the country. Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gpdgjepdeo
That is rubbish, most US voters have chosen election after election to have a healthcare system funded mainly by private health insurance and not to pay the taxes to fund Medicare for all and universal healthcare for all.
They can then hardly complain when CEOS of said private health insurance companies put making a profit and limiting risk from patients treatments first
It’s like arguing that Bruno Tesch was just a salesman of pesticides, without any ethical responsibility for his actions.
Thompson chose to triple the rate of denying policyholders’ claims, and he chose to engage in insider trading. The system did not compel him.
Which would have increased his companies profits and pleased his shareholders, that is ultimately what the free market unchecked rewards most of all.
No insider trading charges had been brought against him so that is just speculation
This is my photo quota for the day, the extent of Green Belt and Protected Areas in England.
From the BBC article about the announcement about the Planning System happening later this morning. By my eye, that looks like Green Belt, National Parks and AONBs - so it misses out other categories such as eg Special Protection Areas (for birds).
But it does show that framing the debate around "Green Belt" is beyond absurd, since they are so different across communities and the country. Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gpdgjepdeo
They all though offer breathing space around big cities
Russia still doing better than Germany and about as well as Britain?
Russia has a major drop in the rate of growth despite an unsustainable public sector deficit currently funded by large but now exhausted currency reserves and massive defence spending which should be boosting the economy (short term). One of the worst performers in the world compared to the previous year. At some point in 2025 it is going to hit the buffers, hard.
As posted on TPT, a few notes on the Russian private bond market:
TL:DR it’s totally screwed, and when it falls it will pretty much collapse the economy with it. The money-printing taps are already being turned on, and a bank failure or two would tip things over the edge into the really serious inflation.
Unfortunately as I have never joined X I can only read the first page but is inevitable that there is going to be a crisis. The printing of money to pay for defence spending that can no longer be funded means that inflation is going to take off even more. This will exacerbate the fall in the value of the ruble which began a while ago but is likely to accelerate. The diversion of so many young men (large numbers of whom are not coming back) from economic roles is hurting output all over. Bond rates for companies are rising to the point that borrowing or even recycling existing debt is no longer affordable. Large scale insolvencies and redundancies are inevitable.
Putin is often portrayed as an evil genius but in fact he's an idiot. He has destroyed his armed forces. He has severely damaged his economy. He has lost the whip hand of gas that he used to have over western Europe and Germany in particular. He has scared "neutral" countries on his borders sufficiently to have them join NATO. He has massively exacerbated the already serious demographic crisis that Russia was facing and stealing a few tens of thousands of Ukrainian children is not going to fix that. In his early years he gave some stability to a country that was lurching from crisis to crisis but in his latter years he is the source of these crises.
I'm going to bite on this one. He might end up PM one day but probably not the next one.
He'll be a bit old by the one after, by UK political standards... He's already 60.
...and might have the liver of an 80 year old.
My liver is in excellent condition according to my GP who requires blood tests every quarter due to my need to take blood thinners
Mind you I rarely drink !!!!
Long may it stay so!
Unlike you, Farage is not a healthy man and will, I suspect, age a lot in the next five years. He already looks a lot older than he is.
Fortunately my cardiologist provided me with a pacemaker in February having told me the day after Christmas last year that my heart was worn out and I needed an urgent pacemaker to save my life
Since then I remain under a haematologist, vascular surgeon, and my cardiologist, all of whom are performing valiantly to keep me going though at times its a struggle
Anyway I am so grateful for all my blessings
Indeed, good luck to you. Sadly a member of our congregation had a heart attack at the weekend and on a life support machine and unlikely to survive, she was a lovely lady and wife and mother and only in her early fifties so you never know what is around the corner
Yes, enjoy your life, what is left of it, as you do not know what is around the corner. That is why I am due to retire imminently.
I've been thinking about this a lot in the context of my daughter's young friend who died of methanol poisoning in Laos. You don't know what is coming and should live for today. Planning for the future is wise but don't let it get in the way of living.
This is why I think the FIRE movement miss the point. You're exactly right.
You need a balance. I am glad when I was putting money aside for my pensions/savings I still spent money doing things I enjoyed well I was younger too.
As for work, why do it if you don't have to. On no ones tombstone does it say, unironically, I wish I had spent more time in the Office.
The thing is that I am in the lucky position of liking my work. It gives me purpose and focus. I am content to keep doing it as long as they'll have me and my health holds.
The number of hospital beds in England occupied by patients with flu has increased by 70% in a week, NHS England said, as it warned of a “tidal wave of flu hitting hospitals”.
Told you Badenoch had faulty judgment and is out of touch with the British public.
But [Badenoch] is also inspired by fiction and is a fan of Game of Thrones. Asked if she identifies with Daenerys Targaryen, known as the Mother of Dragons, she said: “I strongly associated with Daenerys, yes.” She added that the character — a queen who demands unswerving loyalty, can walk through fire and has a penchant for immolating her enemies — is “much misunderstood”.
She is less keen on another cult favourite, however: the Christmas film Love Actually.
“There’s actually quite a lot of dark undertones to Love Actually,” she told the magazine. “There is a British prime minister who’s messing around and is not doing the foreign policy properly, people are cheating … there is a lot going on there if you move away from the smiley, happy, cheesy stuff.”
Instead, she enjoys Die Hard, which she describes as “a good Christmas-adjacent movie”. She added: “My favourite Christmas movie is probably a tie between Gremlins and Scrooged. Ghosts of Girlfriends Past is a close third. So I do like the Scrooge theme.“
Kemi hates Love Actually, which as we know from the More in Common Polls for The Rest is Entertainment (see the last thread header) is the most popular Christmas film for Conservative voters. She's not focus-grouped this interview.
She's right about Love Actually, if nothing else.
I can watch Notting Hill time after time, but found Love Actually cloyingly horrible.
Yup, I can sit through Notting Hill when my wife inevitably watches it every other year, bit I can't make it through Love Actually at all. It's just awful.
Of course, the difference might just be that Notting Hill has the wonderful portrayal of Spike by Rhys Ifans...
I think Spike (a classic Curtis 'comedy' working class person) is the most annoying thing about Notting Hill. The best thing about it? The chemistry between the two leads. I could watch Julia Roberts in anything, though. Without wanting to go full Leon, she is a very beautiful woman.
Something of a marmite actress. I often find her mannered and irritating, though she can also be good.
Still, better than the on screen black hole that was Andie MacDowell in FWAAF.
The number of hospital beds in England occupied by patients with flu has increased by 70% in a week, NHS England said, as it warned of a “tidal wave of flu hitting hospitals”.
Guardian
Great. Just great.
Walking around local Shopping Mall yesterday afternoon
Lots of unrul kids running round, "coughing, barking , spitting and farting" (as my old grandad would have said) sneezing - picking things up
Little or no parental control.
No wonder bugs are spreading like widfire
Question to any Gen Z parent....if your kid has a bug why the feck do you feel the need to let it run wild around shops and supermarkets??
This is my photo quota for the day, the extent of Green Belt and Protected Areas in England.
From the BBC article about the announcement about the Planning System happening later this morning. By my eye, that looks like Green Belt, National Parks and AONBs - so it misses out other categories such as eg Special Protection Areas (for birds).
But it does show that framing the debate around "Green Belt" is beyond absurd, since they are so different across communities and the country. Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gpdgjepdeo
They all though offer breathing space around big cities
Indeed they do, but there are large and small cities which do not have Green Belt - and they need to be in the mix. Green Belt cannot be a political idol.
It is quite reasonable to argue that because Leicester does not have a Green Belt, it can be relaxed elsewhere.
Derby does not have on either, other than on one side being adjacent to the Nottingham Green Belt.
For other large places in this area, neither Mansfield nor Chesterfield have Green Belts. They may be strange places to mention to some, but both are 75k people or so (150k+ for Mansfield if you include adjacent urban areas). Also Sunderland only has Green Belt on one side. Lincoln has nothing whatsoever, and so on.
If there is to be a debate, it needs to be an informed, complete debate without a squint, rather than vested interests defending their interest vs the rest.
Monthly inflation down to 2.6% as well and still dropping. By 2027 the annual rate could dip below 10% with a very fast growing economy. Argentina could very quickly become South America's powerhouse after decades of being a basket case.
There’s lots of American Republican fans of Millei on Twitter, obviously hoping to do something similar there next year....
The two economies aren't even vaguely comparable. What would doing "something similar" actually mean ?
I'm going to bite on this one. He might end up PM one day but probably not the next one.
He'll be a bit old by the one after, by UK political standards... He's already 60.
...and might have the liver of an 80 year old.
My liver is in excellent condition according to my GP who requires blood tests every quarter due to my need to take blood thinners
Mind you I rarely drink !!!!
Long may it stay so!
Unlike you, Farage is not a healthy man and will, I suspect, age a lot in the next five years. He already looks a lot older than he is.
Fortunately my cardiologist provided me with a pacemaker in February having told me the day after Christmas last year that my heart was worn out and I needed an urgent pacemaker to save my life
Since then I remain under a haematologist, vascular surgeon, and my cardiologist, all of whom are performing valiantly to keep me going though at times its a struggle
Anyway I am so grateful for all my blessings
.........a haematologist a vascular surgeon and a cardiologist,
And these multi millionaire farmers want to know why they have to pay tax
They saved my life and you try to make it political
Not your best moment
I thought it was a reasonable point. It might be a good thing if these farmers realised that their taxes like all our taxes are keeping people alive and in good health and there are other considerations than their dynasties
Poll suggesting majority of Leave voters support return of freedom of movement. Is this really Farage's moment?
It's Starmer and Labour's 'get out of jail free' card if things start going badly.
Not that It feels likely at the moment. After a few teething troubles his government seems to be shaping up to be one the most competent and creative we've had for a while
I think you are having a left-leaning HYFUD moment @Roger We are not even 6 month in and the start has not exactly been smooth.
By 2028 a lot of the more vocal pro-Brexit pro-Farage types will be in their graves and that will reduce his support even further and may be the only saving grace if SKS continues to dazzle at his current performance level...
I quite like the faltering start. A decent government takes a while to bed in. I know it's only six months but that feels like a lifetime for a PM not to pull a pint or be seen in a high viz jacket.
Russia still doing better than Germany and about as well as Britain?
Russia has a major drop in the rate of growth despite an unsustainable public sector deficit currently funded by large but now exhausted currency reserves and massive defence spending which should be boosting the economy (short term). One of the worst performers in the world compared to the previous year. At some point in 2025 it is going to hit the buffers, hard.
As posted on TPT, a few notes on the Russian private bond market:
TL:DR it’s totally screwed, and when it falls it will pretty much collapse the economy with it. The money-printing taps are already being turned on, and a bank failure or two would tip things over the edge into the really serious inflation.
Unfortunately as I have never joined X I can only read the first page but is inevitable that there is going to be a crisis. The printing of money to pay for defence spending that can no longer be funded means that inflation is going to take off even more. This will exacerbate the fall in the value of the ruble which began a while ago but is likely to accelerate. The diversion of so many young men (large numbers of whom are not coming back) from economic roles is hurting output all over. Bond rates for companies are rising to the point that borrowing or even recycling existing debt is no longer affordable. Large scale insolvencies and redundancies are inevitable.
Putin is often portrayed as an evil genius but in fact he's an idiot. He has destroyed his armed forces. He has severely damaged his economy. He has lost the whip hand of gas that he used to have over western Europe and Germany in particular. He has scared "neutral" countries on his borders sufficiently to have them join NATO. He has massively exacerbated the already serious demographic crisis that Russia was facing and stealing a few tens of thousands of Ukrainian children is not going to fix that. In his early years he gave some stability to a country that was lurching from crisis to crisis but in his latter years he is the source of these crises.
https://thehill.com/media/5036312-trump-kari-lake-director-voice-of-america/ President-elect Trump announced he is tapping Kari Lake, a former news anchor and staunch Trump supporter, to head the government-funded news outlet Voice of America. “I am pleased to announce that Kari Lake will serve as our next Director of the Voice of America,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post Wednesday night. Lake will “ensure that the American values of Freedom and Liberty are broadcast around the World FAIRLY and ACCURATELY, unlike the lies spread by the Fake News Media,” Trump added...
Murder is not justifiable. Doesn’t matter who the victim is.
Heydrich? Though tbf I think the Nazis classified that as terrorism, another movable feast of a term.
Heydrich was an armed, uniformed officer in multiple military organisations of the German state.
The German state was at war with the UK and the Czech government in exile.
The killers, members of military organisation, reporting to identifiable command structure, attacked openly, targeting the military vehicle in which was carrying Heydrich and his armed, uniformed, military driver.
Under the laws of war at the time that was all legal.
https://thehill.com/media/5036312-trump-kari-lake-director-voice-of-america/ President-elect Trump announced he is tapping Kari Lake, a former news anchor and staunch Trump supporter, to head the government-funded news outlet Voice of America. “I am pleased to announce that Kari Lake will serve as our next Director of the Voice of America,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post Wednesday night. Lake will “ensure that the American values of Freedom and Liberty are broadcast around the World FAIRLY and ACCURATELY, unlike the lies spread by the Fake News Media,” Trump added...
I'm going to bite on this one. He might end up PM one day but probably not the next one.
He'll be a bit old by the one after, by UK political standards... He's already 60.
...and might have the liver of an 80 year old.
My liver is in excellent condition according to my GP who requires blood tests every quarter due to my need to take blood thinners
Mind you I rarely drink !!!!
Long may it stay so!
Unlike you, Farage is not a healthy man and will, I suspect, age a lot in the next five years. He already looks a lot older than he is.
Fortunately my cardiologist provided me with a pacemaker in February having told me the day after Christmas last year that my heart was worn out and I needed an urgent pacemaker to save my life
Since then I remain under a haematologist, vascular surgeon, and my cardiologist, all of whom are performing valiantly to keep me going though at times its a struggle
Anyway I am so grateful for all my blessings
Indeed, good luck to you. Sadly a member of our congregation had a heart attack at the weekend and on a life support machine and unlikely to survive, she was a lovely lady and wife and mother and only in her early fifties so you never know what is around the corner
The one thing Streeting is absolutely correct on is prevention and regular tests for blood pressure, pulse rate and oxygen levels will help in this
I fully expect Reform to take the lead in some polls in the new year.
On Farage becoming PM. Yes he absolutely can. I don’t think I’d put him as favourite. But it’s certainly a plausible outcome at the next GE.
Without any judgement or criticism, I do think that the centrist, consensus groupthink can form an opinion that it just can’t happen, he is too extreme, too marmite, too fringe, elections are won from the centre, yadda yadda. But our party system is breaking down, and people are more fluid in their voting patterns, and people do not feel listened to by their politicians. The backlash against Labour is a symptom of this - they are viewed as more of the same, not agents of change.
Labour are banking on things improving to an extent that they’ll be given another go. The Tories are banking on the fact that if Labour are unpopular they will be the repository of the anti-Labour vote as the second party. Neither of these assumptions, in my view, are safe ones to make.
The other point to make is that the media landscape has changed, and people are much more commonly digesting things that reflect their own prejudices. This poses a challenge for Labour, because even if NHS waiting times come down, even if immigration ticks down, even if more houses are built, if people don’t feel better or don’t believe things are improving, they won’t give Labour their vote. Statistics and meeting targets aren’t necessarily going to win them an election.
I'm going to bite on this one. He might end up PM one day but probably not the next one.
He'll be a bit old by the one after, by UK political standards... He's already 60.
...and might have the liver of an 80 year old.
My liver is in excellent condition according to my GP who requires blood tests every quarter due to my need to take blood thinners
Mind you I rarely drink !!!!
Long may it stay so!
Unlike you, Farage is not a healthy man and will, I suspect, age a lot in the next five years. He already looks a lot older than he is.
Fortunately my cardiologist provided me with a pacemaker in February having told me the day after Christmas last year that my heart was worn out and I needed an urgent pacemaker to save my life
Since then I remain under a haematologist, vascular surgeon, and my cardiologist, all of whom are performing valiantly to keep me going though at times its a struggle
Anyway I am so grateful for all my blessings
Best not tell'em how you feel about any payrises.
Everyone should have a pay rise but it must be affordable
The number of hospital beds in England occupied by patients with flu has increased by 70% in a week, NHS England said, as it warned of a “tidal wave of flu hitting hospitals”.
Guardian
Great. Just great.
Walking around local Shopping Mall yesterday afternoon
Lots of unrul kids running round, "coughing, barking , spitting and farting" (as my old grandad would have said) sneezing - picking things up
Little or no parental control.
No wonder bugs are spreading like widfire
Question to any Gen Z parent....if your kid has a bug why the feck do you feel the need to let it run wild around shops and supermarkets??
Even when your kids are sick - you still need to buy food!
https://thehill.com/media/5036312-trump-kari-lake-director-voice-of-america/ President-elect Trump announced he is tapping Kari Lake, a former news anchor and staunch Trump supporter, to head the government-funded news outlet Voice of America. “I am pleased to announce that Kari Lake will serve as our next Director of the Voice of America,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post Wednesday night. Lake will “ensure that the American values of Freedom and Liberty are broadcast around the World FAIRLY and ACCURATELY, unlike the lies spread by the Fake News Media,” Trump added...
State-funded propaganda? Another tick on the "Are you a fascist?" checklist.
It's always been state-funded propaganda. What you are really saying is that America used to be great...
Indeed, it’s the American version of the World Service.
It’s there to give the US point of view to the rest of the world, but bound by journalistic standards rather than simply be the mouthpiece of the incumbent government.
Monthly inflation down to 2.6% as well and still dropping. By 2027 the annual rate could dip below 10% with a very fast growing economy. Argentina could very quickly become South America's powerhouse after decades of being a basket case.
There’s lots of American Republican fans of Millei on Twitter, obviously hoping to do something similar there next year....
The two economies aren't even vaguely comparable. What would doing "something similar" actually mean ?
Poll suggesting majority of Leave voters support return of freedom of movement. Is this really Farage's moment?
It's Starmer and Labour's 'get out of jail free' card if things start going badly.
Not that It feels likely at the moment. After a few teething troubles his government seems to be shaping up to be one the most competent and creative we've had for a while
I think you are having a left-leaning HYFUD moment @Roger We are not even 6 month in and the start has not exactly been smooth.
By 2028 a lot of the more vocal pro-Brexit pro-Farage types will be in their graves and that will reduce his support even further and may be the only saving grace if SKS continues to dazzle at his current performance level...
I quite like the faltering start. A decent government takes a while to bed in. I know it's only six months but that feels like a lifetime for a PM not to pull a pint or be seen in a high viz jacket.
Told you Badenoch had faulty judgment and is out of touch with the British public.
But [Badenoch] is also inspired by fiction and is a fan of Game of Thrones. Asked if she identifies with Daenerys Targaryen, known as the Mother of Dragons, she said: “I strongly associated with Daenerys, yes.” She added that the character — a queen who demands unswerving loyalty, can walk through fire and has a penchant for immolating her enemies — is “much misunderstood”.
She is less keen on another cult favourite, however: the Christmas film Love Actually.
“There’s actually quite a lot of dark undertones to Love Actually,” she told the magazine. “There is a British prime minister who’s messing around and is not doing the foreign policy properly, people are cheating … there is a lot going on there if you move away from the smiley, happy, cheesy stuff.”
Instead, she enjoys Die Hard, which she describes as “a good Christmas-adjacent movie”. She added: “My favourite Christmas movie is probably a tie between Gremlins and Scrooged. Ghosts of Girlfriends Past is a close third. So I do like the Scrooge theme.“
Kemi hates Love Actually, which as we know from the More in Common Polls for The Rest is Entertainment (see the last thread header) is the most popular Christmas film for Conservative voters. She's not focus-grouped this interview.
She's right about Love Actually, if nothing else.
I can watch Notting Hill time after time, but found Love Actually cloyingly horrible.
Yup, I can sit through Notting Hill when my wife inevitably watches it every other year, bit I can't make it through Love Actually at all. It's just awful.
Of course, the difference might just be that Notting Hill has the wonderful portrayal of Spike by Rhys Ifans...
I think Spike (a classic Curtis 'comedy' working class person) is the most annoying thing about Notting Hill. The best thing about it? The chemistry between the two leads. I could watch Julia Roberts in anything, though. Without wanting to go full Leon, she is a very beautiful woman.
Something of a marmite actress. I often find her mannered and irritating, though she can also be good.
Still, better than the on screen black hole that was Andie MacDowell in FWAAF.
I think she's underrated as an actor. But I am probably biased in her favour. She's got one of those smiles that is completely disarming (my wife also has a smile like this).
Poll suggesting majority of Leave voters support return of freedom of movement. Is this really Farage's moment?
It's Starmer and Labour's 'get out of jail free' card if things start going badly.
Not that It feels likely at the moment. After a few teething troubles his government seems to be shaping up to be one the most competent and creative we've had for a while
I think you are having a left-leaning HYFUD moment @Roger We are not even 6 month in and the start has not exactly been smooth.
By 2028 a lot of the more vocal pro-Brexit pro-Farage types will be in their graves and that will reduce his support even further and may be the only saving grace if SKS continues to dazzle at his current performance level...
I quite like the faltering start. A decent government takes a while to bed in. I know it's only six months but that feels like a lifetime for a PM not to pull a pint or be seen in a high viz jacket.
The number of hospital beds in England occupied by patients with flu has increased by 70% in a week, NHS England said, as it warned of a “tidal wave of flu hitting hospitals”.
Guardian
Great. Just great.
Walking around local Shopping Mall yesterday afternoon
Lots of unrul kids running round, "coughing, barking , spitting and farting" (as my old grandad would have said) sneezing - picking things up
Little or no parental control.
No wonder bugs are spreading like widfire
Question to any Gen Z parent....if your kid has a bug why the feck do you feel the need to let it run wild around shops and supermarkets??
Even when your kids are sick - you still need to buy food!
I don't use it myself much, but what about internet shopping?
I fully expect Reform to take the lead in some polls in the new year.
On Farage becoming PM. Yes he absolutely can. I don’t think I’d put him as favourite. But it’s certainly a plausible outcome at the next GE.
Without any judgement or criticism, I do think that the centrist, consensus groupthink can form an opinion that it just can’t happen, he is too extreme, too marmite, too fringe, elections are won from the centre, yadda yadda. But our party system is breaking down, and people are more fluid in their voting patterns, and people do not feel listened to by their politicians. The backlash against Labour is a symptom of this - they are viewed as more of the same, not agents of change.
It's exactly the same stripe of tepid analysis that prevailed on here with regard to DJT in 2020-2024. Trump winning was unthinkable so start from the position that he won't then construct, imagine or fabricate supporting evidence.
Murder is not justifiable. Doesn’t matter who the victim is.
Heydrich? Though tbf I think the Nazis classified that as terrorism, another movable feast of a term.
Heydrich was an armed, uniformed officer in multiple military organisations of the German state.
The German state was at war with the UK and the Czech government in exile.
The killers, members of military organisation, reporting to identifiable command structure, attacked openly, targeting the military vehicle in which was carrying Heydrich and his armed, uniformed, military driver.
Under the laws of war at the time that was all legal.
The killers were neither in uniform nor wearing a distinguishing badge. They enjoyed none of the protection given to combatants, under the laws of war, as they stood at the time.
Of course, they were entirely morally justified in killing Heydrich.
The number of hospital beds in England occupied by patients with flu has increased by 70% in a week, NHS England said, as it warned of a “tidal wave of flu hitting hospitals”.
Guardian
Great. Just great.
Walking around local Shopping Mall yesterday afternoon
Lots of unrul kids running round, "coughing, barking , spitting and farting" (as my old grandad would have said) sneezing - picking things up
Little or no parental control.
No wonder bugs are spreading like widfire
Question to any Gen Z parent....if your kid has a bug why the feck do you feel the need to let it run wild around shops and supermarkets??
Even when your kids are sick - you still need to buy food!
I don't use it myself much, but what about internet shopping?
Not offered by lidl/aldi, also good luck getting a slot at short notice in the run up to Christmas....
I fully expect Reform to take the lead in some polls in the new year.
On Farage becoming PM. Yes he absolutely can. I don’t think I’d put him as favourite. But it’s certainly a plausible outcome at the next GE.
Without any judgement or criticism, I do think that the centrist, consensus groupthink can form an opinion that it just can’t happen, he is too extreme, too marmite, too fringe, elections are won from the centre, yadda yadda. But our party system is breaking down, and people are more fluid in their voting patterns, and people do not feel listened to by their politicians. The backlash against Labour is a symptom of this - they are viewed as more of the same, not agents of change.
It's exactly the same stripe of tepid analysis that prevailed on here with regard to DJT in 2020-2024. Trump winning was unthinkable so start from the position that he won't then construct, imagine or fabricate supporting evidence.
It’s probably wiser to assume that things you don’t want to happen will happen at some point.
https://thehill.com/media/5036312-trump-kari-lake-director-voice-of-america/ President-elect Trump announced he is tapping Kari Lake, a former news anchor and staunch Trump supporter, to head the government-funded news outlet Voice of America. “I am pleased to announce that Kari Lake will serve as our next Director of the Voice of America,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post Wednesday night. Lake will “ensure that the American values of Freedom and Liberty are broadcast around the World FAIRLY and ACCURATELY, unlike the lies spread by the Fake News Media,” Trump added...
State-funded propaganda? Another tick on the "Are you a fascist?" checklist.
I thought she was being made ambassador to Mexico?
That went to a guy called Ron Johnson. Former Ambassador to El Salvador under Trump previously. Easy to confuse with Rep Senator Ronald Johnson.
I was trying to recall any Kari Lake scandals, but I think she's just a standard MAGA lobotomised nut job, with usual conspiracy theories about the 2020 Election, losing defamation cases, being party to actions to overturn the 2020 Election and other bits and pieces, who lost her Senate Seat in 2024.
She also has a history as a bit of a Vicar of Bray, having been Rep, Dem and Indy.
I'd say she's getting this as former TV presenter, so linked to "media" in Trump's mind. She has also gone on about "The Fake News".
I've no idea how VOA will fare - it's the USA version of BBC World Service, but more closely linked to Government. I used to listen sometimes before the Soviet Union collapsed, but is was catholic in its tastes than BBC WS.
FPT - very disturbing conversation last night. Murder is never an answer to justice, under any circumstances.
If we go down that road we will get a free for all and there will be someone who finds some reason to gun for you too. Literally. "I would give the devil benefit of law, for my own safety's sake."
Woke and/or virtue signalling.
A fundamental principle of law stretching back, ooh, about 800 years at least.
People can vent and emote, I get that, but the problem with social media is that it can, and does, cross over into real action.
Kill one rich guy on the streets of Manhattan and the law swings rapidly into action and tracks you down within days.
Kill tens of thousands by perpetrating medical insurance fraud across America and you are lauded for increasing profits.
If the law isn't working for people then they won't respect it. If the law isn't for everyone then it's for no-one.
Perhaps someone should have read that quote about the benefit of the law to the CEO. He certainly seemed to think he could enjoy the law's protection without sticking to it.
I'm absolutely astonished at what you're saying. Shocked.
https://thehill.com/media/5036312-trump-kari-lake-director-voice-of-america/ President-elect Trump announced he is tapping Kari Lake, a former news anchor and staunch Trump supporter, to head the government-funded news outlet Voice of America. “I am pleased to announce that Kari Lake will serve as our next Director of the Voice of America,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post Wednesday night. Lake will “ensure that the American values of Freedom and Liberty are broadcast around the World FAIRLY and ACCURATELY, unlike the lies spread by the Fake News Media,” Trump added...
State-funded propaganda? Another tick on the "Are you a fascist?" checklist.
I thought she was being made ambassador to Mexico?
That went to a guy called Ron Johnson. Former Ambassador to El Salvador under Trump previously. Easy to confuse with Rep Senator Ronald Johnson.
I was trying to recall any Kari Lake scandals, but I think she's just a standard MAGA lobotomised nut job, with usual conspiracy theories about the 2020 Election, losing defamation cases, being party to actions to overturn the 2020 Election and other bits and pieces, who lost her Senate Seat in 2024.
She also has a history as a bit of a Vicar of Bray, having been Rep, Dem and Indy.
I'd say she's getting this as former TV presenter, so linked to "media" in Trump's mind. She has also gone on about "The Fake News".
I've no idea how VOA will fare - it's the USA version of BBC World Service, but more closely linked to Government. I used to listen sometimes before the Soviet Union collapsed, but is was catholic in its tastes than BBC WS.
Heh. I see that my assessment is slightly different to @Sandpit 's .
Poll suggesting majority of Leave voters support return of freedom of movement. Is this really Farage's moment?
Clear consensus Brexit was a mistake. We're at last moving onto the And This Means... stage.
SKS knows any loosening of Brexit conditions would have been jumped upon in any GE Campaign by MSM.
He also knows that there is REAL APPETITE now to begin to reduild and reopen bridges and that he is ALREADY DOING.
If the great cooperation over Migration and Immigration starts to bear the sort of low hanging fruits we've seen in the past few months with well publicised arrests in Germany, The Balkans etc, it opens up more avenues economically and travel wise.
The is potentially plenty of low hanging fruit for him to gradually pick over the next 3-4 years.
(1) HOLIDAY TRAVEL- anything that improves transit to and through EU airports in holiday season where SKS has actually moved the dial in favour of the UK Voter = MASSIVE VOTE WINNER
(2) EASIER EMPLOYMENT / Study On fixed term Visas EU Nationals - a BIG vote winner with the key Younger Voters
(3) Easing of RED TAPE and PAPERWORK - may even placate the majority of Framers who are not Farage supporting bone heads
-----
Drip feed this slowly sr=teadily, gain PUBLIC APPROVAL and then in 2028 or 2029 go the the Country with a stark WARNING...
I'm afraid you simply don't understand what the EU does or how it negotiates. Nothing with the EU is low-hanging fruit. I have spent too many years of my career trying to make headway in Brussels.
Anything we want, they will oppose, simply because they regard it as cherry-picking. Doesn't matter if it's perfectly reasonable or marginally beneficial to them or even if they proposed it in the first place. And they will demand huge and unacceptable concessions simply because they think they have the upper hand.
The only way to get results from the EU, as Margaret Thatcher showed with the rebate, is to be even more determined, single-minded and inflexible than they are. Then maybe you'll get a fraction of what you want.
Even the Americans, who are by no means a pushover, are more rational and easier to deal with than the EU. They may be excruciatingly legalistic and utterly insular and ignorant of foreign countries, but at least they don't constantly shift their ground and aren't quite as insecure about their rationale for existence.
I think that one area to watch is how Mr Starmer handles the end of the UK-EU transitional post-Brexit fishing arrangements. It was claimed as a big Brexit win, and the French fought a bureaucratic, regulatory war with much impact on their politics. I generally agree that negotiating with the EU requires the ability take a strong stance, and have the ability to back it up in practice.
The arrangements are coming to an end in 2026, and with France in several varieties of chaos it will be tempting for Mons. Macron to use it as a lever to please nationalists, blaming the UK.
Brexit promises were that it would help out fishing industry by recovering autonomy. The Govt will have control over quotas in UK waters, and pressure from other countries imo will be around tit for tat negotiations to maintain access.
I have no idea how this will go, or how other areas of improving co-operation may have an impact.
The number of hospital beds in England occupied by patients with flu has increased by 70% in a week, NHS England said, as it warned of a “tidal wave of flu hitting hospitals”.
Guardian
Great. Just great.
Which could be 100 last week to 170 this week nationally, or10000 last week to 17000 this. The NHS winter issue is the same as its been for ages. Management efficiency dogma wants maximal bed occupancy at all times, but this doesn't give stretch capacity.
"The UK is relatively well positioned to withstand the repercussions of President-elect Donald Trump's proposed trade tariffs," said Stefan Koopman at Rabobank.
"Surely, as an open economy, the UK will inevitably feel the impact of a trade war, but likely to a lesser extent than countries that are heavily-dependent on manufacturing and goods exports, such as Germany."
Apparently big changes to housing today. But let’s see, they always say that.
Yes.
IMO they need to hit the vested interests which are blocks (eg speculative private land banking), in a way that aligns Local Political interests with development following the legal principles. In a way which is enforcible.
My checklist of what is required:
1 Local Councillors to be focussed on long term direction / strategy / local plans, not micro-management of individual applications. 2 Individual applications to be determined by Planning Professionals following law, not Planning Committees following parish pump politics. This should also remove some conflicts of interest / opportunity for corruption, though not all. 3 Housing targets to be mandatory, and obsessed objectively. 4 Possibilities for robust intervention if local Councillors sit on their hands. 5 Planning Gain to be capped in some effective way. 6 Encouragement / facilitation for local councils to be more proactive in Compulsory Purchase, potentially involving the opportunity to intervene on sustainable (in planning terms) development sites. 7 Possibility is streamlining enforcement. 8 All of the above will require capacity building.
This is my photo quota for the day, the extent of Green Belt and Protected Areas in England.
From the BBC article about the announcement about the Planning System happening later this morning. By my eye, that looks like Green Belt, National Parks and AONBs - so it misses out other categories such as eg Special Protection Areas (for birds).
But it does show that framing the debate around "Green Belt" is beyond absurd, since they are so different across communities and the country. Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gpdgjepdeo
They all though offer breathing space around big cities
Had no idea that the English belts were so enormous. The Edinburgh one is puny and thin by comparison.
FPT - very disturbing conversation last night. Murder is never an answer to justice, under any circumstances.
If we go down that road we will get a free for all and there will be someone who finds some reason to gun for you too. Literally. "I would give the devil benefit of law, for my own safety's sake."
Woke and/or virtue signalling.
A fundamental principle of law stretching back, ooh, about 800 years at least.
People can vent and emote, I get that, but the problem with social media is that it can, and does, cross over into real action.
Kill one rich guy on the streets of Manhattan and the law swings rapidly into action and tracks you down within days.
Kill tens of thousands by perpetrating medical insurance fraud across America and you are lauded for increasing profits.
If the law isn't working for people then they won't respect it. If the law isn't for everyone then it's for no-one.
Perhaps someone should have read that quote about the benefit of the law to the CEO. He certainly seemed to think he could enjoy the law's protection without sticking to it.
I'm absolutely astonished at what you're saying. Shocked.
Deeply worrying.
Why are you shocked? This logic is a cornerstone of Tory politics.
Disraeli, 1848: "The palace is not safe when the cottage is not happy.” Hogg, 1943: "If you don't give the people social reform, they will give you social revolution."
Companies have been increasingly taking the piss for many years and efforts at reform have been piecemeal and ineffective.
You should not be shocked. You should have been expecting this.
FPT - very disturbing conversation last night. Murder is never an answer to justice, under any circumstances.
If we go down that road we will get a free for all and there will be someone who finds some reason to gun for you too. Literally. "I would give the devil benefit of law, for my own safety's sake."
Woke and/or virtue signalling.
A fundamental principle of law stretching back, ooh, about 800 years at least.
People can vent and emote, I get that, but the problem with social media is that it can, and does, cross over into real action.
Kill one rich guy on the streets of Manhattan and the law swings rapidly into action and tracks you down within days.
Kill tens of thousands by perpetrating medical insurance fraud across America and you are lauded for increasing profits.
If the law isn't working for people then they won't respect it. If the law isn't for everyone then it's for no-one.
Perhaps someone should have read that quote about the benefit of the law to the CEO. He certainly seemed to think he could enjoy the law's protection without sticking to it.
I'm absolutely astonished at what you're saying. Shocked.
Deeply worrying.
Why are you shocked? This logic is a cornerstone of Tory politics.
Disraeli, 1848: "The palace is not safe when the cottage is not happy.” Hogg, 1943: "If you don't give the people social reform, they will give you social revolution."
Companies have been increasingly taking the piss for many years and efforts at reform have been piecemeal and ineffective.
You should not be shocked. You should have been expecting this.
Also surprised anyone is surprised/shocked, which ever applies. Plenty of conversations on PB demanding or supporting the death of various people, often in wars and/or extralegally.
I'm going to bite on this one. He might end up PM one day but probably not the next one.
He'll be a bit old by the one after, by UK political standards... He's already 60.
...and might have the liver of an 80 year old.
My liver is in excellent condition according to my GP who requires blood tests every quarter due to my need to take blood thinners
Mind you I rarely drink !!!!
Long may it stay so!
Unlike you, Farage is not a healthy man and will, I suspect, age a lot in the next five years. He already looks a lot older than he is.
Fortunately my cardiologist provided me with a pacemaker in February having told me the day after Christmas last year that my heart was worn out and I needed an urgent pacemaker to save my life
Since then I remain under a haematologist, vascular surgeon, and my cardiologist, all of whom are performing valiantly to keep me going though at times its a struggle
Anyway I am so grateful for all my blessings
Indeed, good luck to you. Sadly a member of our congregation had a heart attack at the weekend and on a life support machine and unlikely to survive, she was a lovely lady and wife and mother and only in her early fifties so you never know what is around the corner
Yes, enjoy your life, what is left of it, as you do not know what is around the corner. That is why I am due to retire imminently.
I've been thinking about this a lot in the context of my daughter's young friend who died of methanol poisoning in Laos. You don't know what is coming and should live for today. Planning for the future is wise but don't let it get in the way of living.
This is why I think the FIRE movement miss the point. You're exactly right.
You need a balance. I am glad when I was putting money aside for my pensions/savings I still spent money doing things I enjoyed well I was younger too.
As for work, why do it if you don't have to. On no ones tombstone does it say, unironically, I wish I had spent more time in the Office.
The thing is that I am in the lucky position of liking my work. It gives me purpose and focus. I am content to keep doing it as long as they'll have me and my health holds.
Enjoying your job is a great position to be in. I used to enjoy mine as well but over the years the level of corporate micro management has increased and it has become less enjoyable.
I would certainly be interested in part time if the job was more enjoyable.
I hope, for you, your health holds and you keep enjoying it.
The number of hospital beds in England occupied by patients with flu has increased by 70% in a week, NHS England said, as it warned of a “tidal wave of flu hitting hospitals”.
Guardian
Great. Just great.
Walking around local Shopping Mall yesterday afternoon
Lots of unrul kids running round, "coughing, barking , spitting and farting" (as my old grandad would have said) sneezing - picking things up
Little or no parental control.
No wonder bugs are spreading like widfire
Question to any Gen Z parent....if your kid has a bug why the feck do you feel the need to let it run wild around shops and supermarkets??
Even when your kids are sick - you still need to buy food!
Apparently big changes to housing today. But let’s see, they always say that.
Yes.
IMO they need to hit the vested interests which are blocks (eg speculative private land banking), in a way that aligns Local Political interests with development following the legal principles. In a way which is enforcible.
My checklist of what is required:
1 Local Councillors to be focussed on long term direction / strategy / local plans, not micro-management of individual applications. 2 Individual applications to be determined by Planning Professionals following law, not Planning Committees following parish pump politics. This should also remove some conflicts of interest / opportunity for corruption, though not all. 3 Housing targets to be mandatory, and obsessed objectively. 4 Possibilities for robust intervention if local Councillors sit on their hands. 5 Planning Gain to be capped in some effective way. 6 Encouragement / facilitation for local councils to be more proactive in Compulsory Purchase, potentially involving the opportunity to intervene on sustainable (in planning terms) development sites. 7 Possibility is streamlining enforcement. 8 All of the above will require capacity building.
Quite a lot of that is actually fairly likely to be done.
This is my photo quota for the day, the extent of Green Belt and Protected Areas in England.
From the BBC article about the announcement about the Planning System happening later this morning. By my eye, that looks like Green Belt, National Parks and AONBs - so it misses out other categories such as eg Special Protection Areas (for birds).
But it does show that framing the debate around "Green Belt" is beyond absurd, since they are so different across communities and the country. Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gpdgjepdeo
They all though offer breathing space around big cities
Had no idea that the English belts were so enormous. The Edinburgh one is puny and thin by comparison.
I think the dynamic of that is that where population density overall is higher there is perhaps more pressure to make protection more thorough on the parts of the country deemed to be under threat - even acknowledging the difference in character between the Central Belt, and the rest of Scotland.
And, as ever, it was driven from London (even listed buildings taper off as you go North).
Also does Scotland lean more heavily towards protection-by-National-Park, and by more concentrated land ownership amongst people who will always be alright, Jack, and will self-restrict development in large measure?
The number of hospital beds in England occupied by patients with flu has increased by 70% in a week, NHS England said, as it warned of a “tidal wave of flu hitting hospitals”.
Guardian
Great. Just great.
Walking around local Shopping Mall yesterday afternoon
Lots of unrul kids running round, "coughing, barking , spitting and farting" (as my old grandad would have said) sneezing - picking things up
Little or no parental control.
No wonder bugs are spreading like widfire
Question to any Gen Z parent....if your kid has a bug why the feck do you feel the need to let it run wild around shops and supermarkets??
Even when your kids are sick - you still need to buy food!
I don't use it myself much, but what about internet shopping?
Not offered by lidl/aldi, also good luck getting a slot at short notice in the run up to Christmas....
Also, isn't the onus more on those who don't want to catch the bugs to use internet shopping?
FPT - very disturbing conversation last night. Murder is never an answer to justice, under any circumstances.
If we go down that road we will get a free for all and there will be someone who finds some reason to gun for you too. Literally. "I would give the devil benefit of law, for my own safety's sake."
Woke and/or virtue signalling.
A fundamental principle of law stretching back, ooh, about 800 years at least.
People can vent and emote, I get that, but the problem with social media is that it can, and does, cross over into real action.
Kill one rich guy on the streets of Manhattan and the law swings rapidly into action and tracks you down within days.
Kill tens of thousands by perpetrating medical insurance fraud across America and you are lauded for increasing profits.
If the law isn't working for people then they won't respect it. If the law isn't for everyone then it's for no-one.
Perhaps someone should have read that quote about the benefit of the law to the CEO. He certainly seemed to think he could enjoy the law's protection without sticking to it.
I'm absolutely astonished at what you're saying. Shocked.
Deeply worrying.
Why are you shocked? This logic is a cornerstone of Tory politics.
Disraeli, 1848: "The palace is not safe when the cottage is not happy.” Hogg, 1943: "If you don't give the people social reform, they will give you social revolution."
Companies have been increasingly taking the piss for many years and efforts at reform have been piecemeal and ineffective.
You should not be shocked. You should have been expecting this.
Alternatively. A random rich engineer going insane after a botched spinal surgery is not an inevitable killing and isn't a "signal of working class distress". https://x.com/lxeagle17/status/1866902439770853652
The reaction to it is certainly a sign of deep dissatisfaction with mega-corporates. But there's some very confused moral reasoning (or complete lack of reasoning) involved.
I'm going to bite on this one. He might end up PM one day but probably not the next one.
He'll be a bit old by the one after, by UK political standards... He's already 60.
...and might have the liver of an 80 year old.
My liver is in excellent condition according to my GP who requires blood tests every quarter due to my need to take blood thinners
Mind you I rarely drink !!!!
Long may it stay so!
Unlike you, Farage is not a healthy man and will, I suspect, age a lot in the next five years. He already looks a lot older than he is.
Fortunately my cardiologist provided me with a pacemaker in February having told me the day after Christmas last year that my heart was worn out and I needed an urgent pacemaker to save my life
Since then I remain under a haematologist, vascular surgeon, and my cardiologist, all of whom are performing valiantly to keep me going though at times its a struggle
Anyway I am so grateful for all my blessings
Indeed, good luck to you. Sadly a member of our congregation had a heart attack at the weekend and on a life support machine and unlikely to survive, she was a lovely lady and wife and mother and only in her early fifties so you never know what is around the corner
Yes, enjoy your life, what is left of it, as you do not know what is around the corner. That is why I am due to retire imminently.
I've been thinking about this a lot in the context of my daughter's young friend who died of methanol poisoning in Laos. You don't know what is coming and should live for today. Planning for the future is wise but don't let it get in the way of living.
This is why I think the FIRE movement miss the point. You're exactly right.
You need a balance. I am glad when I was putting money aside for my pensions/savings I still spent money doing things I enjoyed well I was younger too.
As for work, why do it if you don't have to. On no ones tombstone does it say, unironically, I wish I had spent more time in the Office.
The thing is that I am in the lucky position of liking my work. It gives me purpose and focus. I am content to keep doing it as long as they'll have me and my health holds.
Enjoying your job is a great position to be in. I used to enjoy mine as well but over the years the level of corporate micro management has increased and it has become less enjoyable.
I would certainly be interested in part time if the job was more enjoyable.
I hope, for you, your health holds and you keep enjoying it.
I can't really imagine enjoying my job that much. I was having the inevitable 'lottery' conversation with the football parents (following the postcode lottery win in Wythenshawe). "What would you buy?" I was asked. I can't think of anything I'd want to buy, so I just offered "I'd stop working." This was greeted with amazement by the dinner lady, the gas fitter, the shop worker... These people all want money for stuff, but like their jobs sufficiently that even with sufficient resources not to have to do these jobs, they'd carry on doing them. My job OTOH falls into that sweet spot of not too stressful/quite interesting/colleagues are quite pleasant - but if I didn't need a job there are hundreds of other things I would rather do with my time. Even anchored to my home town by the needs of my children, I'd be out walking, or cycling, or down the pub; I'd be spending more time with my kids, or with my parents; I'd be able to volunteer to do all those hundreds of small jobs a community needs doing; I;'d be able to start to tackle the backlog of Things That Need Doing Around The House; I'd be gardening, doing crosswords, jigsaws; I'd be calling amiably by friends' houses. I'd be able to look after my health. I'd read books, watch films. I'd join Lancashire CCC. I can't imagine how a job could be better than doing all that.
Apparently big changes to housing today. But let’s see, they always say that.
Yes.
IMO they need to hit the vested interests which are blocks (eg speculative private land banking), in a way that aligns Local Political interests with development following the legal principles. In a way which is enforcible.
My checklist of what is required:
1 Local Councillors to be focussed on long term direction / strategy / local plans, not micro-management of individual applications. 2 Individual applications to be determined by Planning Professionals following law, not Planning Committees following parish pump politics. This should also remove some conflicts of interest / opportunity for corruption, though not all. 3 Housing targets to be mandatory, and obsessed objectively. 4 Possibilities for robust intervention if local Councillors sit on their hands. 5 Planning Gain to be capped in some effective way. 6 Encouragement / facilitation for local councils to be more proactive in Compulsory Purchase, potentially involving the opportunity to intervene on sustainable (in planning terms) development sites. 7 Possibility is streamlining enforcement. 8 All of the above will require capacity building.
Quite a lot of that is actually fairly likely to be done.
FPT - very disturbing conversation last night. Murder is never an answer to justice, under any circumstances.
If we go down that road we will get a free for all and there will be someone who finds some reason to gun for you too. Literally. "I would give the devil benefit of law, for my own safety's sake."
Woke and/or virtue signalling.
A fundamental principle of law stretching back, ooh, about 800 years at least.
People can vent and emote, I get that, but the problem with social media is that it can, and does, cross over into real action.
Kill one rich guy on the streets of Manhattan and the law swings rapidly into action and tracks you down within days.
Kill tens of thousands by perpetrating medical insurance fraud across America and you are lauded for increasing profits.
If the law isn't working for people then they won't respect it. If the law isn't for everyone then it's for no-one.
Perhaps someone should have read that quote about the benefit of the law to the CEO. He certainly seemed to think he could enjoy the law's protection without sticking to it.
I'm absolutely astonished at what you're saying. Shocked.
Deeply worrying.
Fraudsters don't attract much sympathy, when their victims strike back at them.
I fully expect Reform to take the lead in some polls in the new year.
On Farage becoming PM. Yes he absolutely can. I don’t think I’d put him as favourite. But it’s certainly a plausible outcome at the next GE.
Without any judgement or criticism, I do think that the centrist, consensus groupthink can form an opinion that it just can’t happen, he is too extreme, too marmite, too fringe, elections are won from the centre, yadda yadda. But our party system is breaking down, and people are more fluid in their voting patterns, and people do not feel listened to by their politicians. The backlash against Labour is a symptom of this - they are viewed as more of the same, not agents of change.
It's exactly the same stripe of tepid analysis that prevailed on here with regard to DJT in 2020-2024. Trump winning was unthinkable so start from the position that he won't then construct, imagine or fabricate supporting evidence.
I was burnt there. I couldn't see Trump2 and paid the price in £££ and (worse) self-esteem and (worst of all) in PB.com kudos. The reputation I'd built up over many years as just about the shrewdest assessor on here was trashed overnight.
So I have to start again. It's like falling off a horse, isn't it. What do you do? You remount. Get back in the saddle. That's the only way unless you're going to retire and call it a day, which I'm not ready for. I still have some top level political betting/punditry in me, I feel.
Farage Next PM then. Yes, there's a route. It's no crazy long shot but 3.85 is where it is now on the exchange. THREE POINT EIGHT FIVE ie better than a 25% chance. Is this fair value? No way. Too short. In the light of WH24 it's not easy for me to type out the words "Nigel Farage looks like a good lay" but I'm going to bite the nettle and do so.
FPT - very disturbing conversation last night. Murder is never an answer to justice, under any circumstances.
If we go down that road we will get a free for all and there will be someone who finds some reason to gun for you too. Literally. "I would give the devil benefit of law, for my own safety's sake."
Woke and/or virtue signalling.
A fundamental principle of law stretching back, ooh, about 800 years at least.
People can vent and emote, I get that, but the problem with social media is that it can, and does, cross over into real action.
Kill one rich guy on the streets of Manhattan and the law swings rapidly into action and tracks you down within days.
Kill tens of thousands by perpetrating medical insurance fraud across America and you are lauded for increasing profits.
If the law isn't working for people then they won't respect it. If the law isn't for everyone then it's for no-one.
Perhaps someone should have read that quote about the benefit of the law to the CEO. He certainly seemed to think he could enjoy the law's protection without sticking to it.
I'm absolutely astonished at what you're saying. Shocked.
Deeply worrying.
Fraudsters don't attract much sympathy, when their victims strike back at them.
Apparently big changes to housing today. But let’s see, they always say that.
Yes.
IMO they need to hit the vested interests which are blocks (eg speculative private land banking), in a way that aligns Local Political interests with development following the legal principles. In a way which is enforcible.
My checklist of what is required:
1 Local Councillors to be focussed on long term direction / strategy / local plans, not micro-management of individual applications. 2 Individual applications to be determined by Planning Professionals following law, not Planning Committees following parish pump politics. This should also remove some conflicts of interest / opportunity for corruption, though not all. 3 Housing targets to be mandatory, and obsessed objectively. 4 Possibilities for robust intervention if local Councillors sit on their hands. 5 Planning Gain to be capped in some effective way. 6 Encouragement / facilitation for local councils to be more proactive in Compulsory Purchase, potentially involving the opportunity to intervene on sustainable (in planning terms) development sites. 7 Possibility is streamlining enforcement. 8 All of the above will require capacity building.
Quite a lot of that is actually fairly likely to be done.
I'm going to bite on this one. He might end up PM one day but probably not the next one.
He'll be a bit old by the one after, by UK political standards... He's already 60.
...and might have the liver of an 80 year old.
My liver is in excellent condition according to my GP who requires blood tests every quarter due to my need to take blood thinners
Mind you I rarely drink !!!!
Long may it stay so!
Unlike you, Farage is not a healthy man and will, I suspect, age a lot in the next five years. He already looks a lot older than he is.
Fortunately my cardiologist provided me with a pacemaker in February having told me the day after Christmas last year that my heart was worn out and I needed an urgent pacemaker to save my life
Since then I remain under a haematologist, vascular surgeon, and my cardiologist, all of whom are performing valiantly to keep me going though at times its a struggle
Anyway I am so grateful for all my blessings
Indeed, good luck to you. Sadly a member of our congregation had a heart attack at the weekend and on a life support machine and unlikely to survive, she was a lovely lady and wife and mother and only in her early fifties so you never know what is around the corner
Yes, enjoy your life, what is left of it, as you do not know what is around the corner. That is why I am due to retire imminently.
I've been thinking about this a lot in the context of my daughter's young friend who died of methanol poisoning in Laos. You don't know what is coming and should live for today. Planning for the future is wise but don't let it get in the way of living.
This is why I think the FIRE movement miss the point. You're exactly right.
You need a balance. I am glad when I was putting money aside for my pensions/savings I still spent money doing things I enjoyed well I was younger too.
As for work, why do it if you don't have to. On no ones tombstone does it say, unironically, I wish I had spent more time in the Office.
The thing is that I am in the lucky position of liking my work. It gives me purpose and focus. I am content to keep doing it as long as they'll have me and my health holds.
Enjoying your job is a great position to be in. I used to enjoy mine as well but over the years the level of corporate micro management has increased and it has become less enjoyable.
I would certainly be interested in part time if the job was more enjoyable.
I hope, for you, your health holds and you keep enjoying it.
I can't really imagine enjoying my job that much. I was having the inevitable 'lottery' conversation with the football parents (following the postcode lottery win in Wythenshawe). "What would you buy?" I was asked. I can't think of anything I'd want to buy, so I just offered "I'd stop working." This was greeted with amazement by the dinner lady, the gas fitter, the shop worker... These people all want money for stuff, but like their jobs sufficiently that even with sufficient resources not to have to do these jobs, they'd carry on doing them. My job OTOH falls into that sweet spot of not too stressful/quite interesting/colleagues are quite pleasant - but if I didn't need a job there are hundreds of other things I would rather do with my time. Even anchored to my home town by the needs of my children, I'd be out walking, or cycling, or down the pub; I'd be spending more time with my kids, or with my parents; I'd be able to volunteer to do all those hundreds of small jobs a community needs doing; I;'d be able to start to tackle the backlog of Things That Need Doing Around The House; I'd be gardening, doing crosswords, jigsaws; I'd be calling amiably by friends' houses. I'd be able to look after my health. I'd read books, watch films. I'd join Lancashire CCC. I can't imagine how a job could be better than doing all that.
FPT - very disturbing conversation last night. Murder is never an answer to justice, under any circumstances.
If we go down that road we will get a free for all and there will be someone who finds some reason to gun for you too. Literally. "I would give the devil benefit of law, for my own safety's sake."
Woke and/or virtue signalling.
A fundamental principle of law stretching back, ooh, about 800 years at least.
People can vent and emote, I get that, but the problem with social media is that it can, and does, cross over into real action.
Kill one rich guy on the streets of Manhattan and the law swings rapidly into action and tracks you down within days.
Kill tens of thousands by perpetrating medical insurance fraud across America and you are lauded for increasing profits.
If the law isn't working for people then they won't respect it. If the law isn't for everyone then it's for no-one.
Perhaps someone should have read that quote about the benefit of the law to the CEO. He certainly seemed to think he could enjoy the law's protection without sticking to it.
I'm absolutely astonished at what you're saying. Shocked.
Deeply worrying.
Fraudsters don't attract much sympathy, when their victims strike back at them.
I have a problem with regulars excusing murder.
Nobody is excusing it, just that there's little to no sympathy for him. Did Italians have any sympathy when Mussolini was hanged from a lamppost rather than tried and put in prison? I doubt it.
The CEO was a murdering, fraudster. It's difficult to have any sympathy for someone like that.
This is my photo quota for the day, the extent of Green Belt and Protected Areas in England.
From the BBC article about the announcement about the Planning System happening later this morning. By my eye, that looks like Green Belt, National Parks and AONBs - so it misses out other categories such as eg Special Protection Areas (for birds).
But it does show that framing the debate around "Green Belt" is beyond absurd, since they are so different across communities and the country. Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gpdgjepdeo
They all though offer breathing space around big cities
Had no idea that the English belts were so enormous. The Edinburgh one is puny and thin by comparison.
I think the dynamic of that is that where population density overall is higher there is perhaps more pressure to make protection more thorough on the parts of the country deemed to be under threat - even acknowledging the difference in character between the Central Belt, and the rest of Scotland.
And, as ever, it was driven from London (even listed buildings taper off as you go North)...
But that is where the greatest pressure to build is, so it's hardly a surprise.
Reposting this again, without apology, as it identifies areas for well over half a million new houses, in the highest demand areas, which barely impact the large swathes of green belt (and in some cases just piggyback on existing HS2 green belt development). https://www.britainremade.co.uk/newtowns
This is my photo quota for the day, the extent of Green Belt and Protected Areas in England.
From the BBC article about the announcement about the Planning System happening later this morning. By my eye, that looks like Green Belt, National Parks and AONBs - so it misses out other categories such as eg Special Protection Areas (for birds).
But it does show that framing the debate around "Green Belt" is beyond absurd, since they are so different across communities and the country. Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gpdgjepdeo
They all though offer breathing space around big cities
Had no idea that the English belts were so enormous. The Edinburgh one is puny and thin by comparison.
I think the dynamic of that is that where population density overall is higher there is perhaps more pressure to make protection more thorough on the parts of the country deemed to be under threat - even acknowledging the difference in character between the Central Belt, and the rest of Scotland.
And, as ever, it was driven from London (even listed buildings taper off as you go North).
Also does Scotland lean more heavily towards protection-by-National-Park, and by more concentrated land ownership amongst people who will always be alright, Jack, and will self-restrict development in large measure?
Don't think so on the latter. The lairds often self-fund by selling land for housing, remember. Much the most lucrative crop.
As Eabhal said the other day, the area to the south/east of Edinburgh is building houses very fast indeed and the Edinburgh green belt is so small you could blink and miss it when driving in. It's changed a lot in the last 10 yewars alone.
The impression I get is that there are clear planning targets and areas set out for housing and that the SG inspectors will not hesitate to overturn local decisions.
I'm going to bite on this one. He might end up PM one day but probably not the next one.
He'll be a bit old by the one after, by UK political standards... He's already 60.
...and might have the liver of an 80 year old.
My liver is in excellent condition according to my GP who requires blood tests every quarter due to my need to take blood thinners
Mind you I rarely drink !!!!
Long may it stay so!
Unlike you, Farage is not a healthy man and will, I suspect, age a lot in the next five years. He already looks a lot older than he is.
Fortunately my cardiologist provided me with a pacemaker in February having told me the day after Christmas last year that my heart was worn out and I needed an urgent pacemaker to save my life
Since then I remain under a haematologist, vascular surgeon, and my cardiologist, all of whom are performing valiantly to keep me going though at times its a struggle
Anyway I am so grateful for all my blessings
Indeed, good luck to you. Sadly a member of our congregation had a heart attack at the weekend and on a life support machine and unlikely to survive, she was a lovely lady and wife and mother and only in her early fifties so you never know what is around the corner
Yes, enjoy your life, what is left of it, as you do not know what is around the corner. That is why I am due to retire imminently.
I've been thinking about this a lot in the context of my daughter's young friend who died of methanol poisoning in Laos. You don't know what is coming and should live for today. Planning for the future is wise but don't let it get in the way of living.
This is why I think the FIRE movement miss the point. You're exactly right.
You need a balance. I am glad when I was putting money aside for my pensions/savings I still spent money doing things I enjoyed well I was younger too.
As for work, why do it if you don't have to. On no ones tombstone does it say, unironically, I wish I had spent more time in the Office.
The thing is that I am in the lucky position of liking my work. It gives me purpose and focus. I am content to keep doing it as long as they'll have me and my health holds.
Enjoying your job is a great position to be in. I used to enjoy mine as well but over the years the level of corporate micro management has increased and it has become less enjoyable.
I would certainly be interested in part time if the job was more enjoyable.
I hope, for you, your health holds and you keep enjoying it.
I can't really imagine enjoying my job that much. I was having the inevitable 'lottery' conversation with the football parents (following the postcode lottery win in Wythenshawe). "What would you buy?" I was asked. I can't think of anything I'd want to buy, so I just offered "I'd stop working." This was greeted with amazement by the dinner lady, the gas fitter, the shop worker... These people all want money for stuff, but like their jobs sufficiently that even with sufficient resources not to have to do these jobs, they'd carry on doing them. My job OTOH falls into that sweet spot of not too stressful/quite interesting/colleagues are quite pleasant - but if I didn't need a job there are hundreds of other things I would rather do with my time. Even anchored to my home town by the needs of my children, I'd be out walking, or cycling, or down the pub; I'd be spending more time with my kids, or with my parents; I'd be able to volunteer to do all those hundreds of small jobs a community needs doing; I;'d be able to start to tackle the backlog of Things That Need Doing Around The House; I'd be gardening, doing crosswords, jigsaws; I'd be calling amiably by friends' houses. I'd be able to look after my health. I'd read books, watch films. I'd join Lancashire CCC. I can't imagine how a job could be better than doing all that.
Completely with you and many of the same things on my list (but Surrey, or for convenience, Essex).
Despite being moderately challenging and interesting and involving working mostly with nice people, Managing IT Projects for a bunch of numpties comes in at about Number 1000, just ahead of shopping and watching paint dry.
I'm going to bite on this one. He might end up PM one day but probably not the next one.
He'll be a bit old by the one after, by UK political standards... He's already 60.
...and might have the liver of an 80 year old.
My liver is in excellent condition according to my GP who requires blood tests every quarter due to my need to take blood thinners
Mind you I rarely drink !!!!
Long may it stay so!
Unlike you, Farage is not a healthy man and will, I suspect, age a lot in the next five years. He already looks a lot older than he is.
Fortunately my cardiologist provided me with a pacemaker in February having told me the day after Christmas last year that my heart was worn out and I needed an urgent pacemaker to save my life
Since then I remain under a haematologist, vascular surgeon, and my cardiologist, all of whom are performing valiantly to keep me going though at times its a struggle
Anyway I am so grateful for all my blessings
Indeed, good luck to you. Sadly a member of our congregation had a heart attack at the weekend and on a life support machine and unlikely to survive, she was a lovely lady and wife and mother and only in her early fifties so you never know what is around the corner
Yes, enjoy your life, what is left of it, as you do not know what is around the corner. That is why I am due to retire imminently.
I've been thinking about this a lot in the context of my daughter's young friend who died of methanol poisoning in Laos. You don't know what is coming and should live for today. Planning for the future is wise but don't let it get in the way of living.
This is why I think the FIRE movement miss the point. You're exactly right.
You need a balance. I am glad when I was putting money aside for my pensions/savings I still spent money doing things I enjoyed well I was younger too.
As for work, why do it if you don't have to. On no ones tombstone does it say, unironically, I wish I had spent more time in the Office.
The thing is that I am in the lucky position of liking my work. It gives me purpose and focus. I am content to keep doing it as long as they'll have me and my health holds.
Enjoying your job is a great position to be in. I used to enjoy mine as well but over the years the level of corporate micro management has increased and it has become less enjoyable.
I would certainly be interested in part time if the job was more enjoyable.
I hope, for you, your health holds and you keep enjoying it.
I can't really imagine enjoying my job that much. I was having the inevitable 'lottery' conversation with the football parents (following the postcode lottery win in Wythenshawe). "What would you buy?" I was asked. I can't think of anything I'd want to buy, so I just offered "I'd stop working." This was greeted with amazement by the dinner lady, the gas fitter, the shop worker... These people all want money for stuff, but like their jobs sufficiently that even with sufficient resources not to have to do these jobs, they'd carry on doing them. My job OTOH falls into that sweet spot of not too stressful/quite interesting/colleagues are quite pleasant - but if I didn't need a job there are hundreds of other things I would rather do with my time. Even anchored to my home town by the needs of my children, I'd be out walking, or cycling, or down the pub; I'd be spending more time with my kids, or with my parents; I'd be able to volunteer to do all those hundreds of small jobs a community needs doing; I;'d be able to start to tackle the backlog of Things That Need Doing Around The House; I'd be gardening, doing crosswords, jigsaws; I'd be calling amiably by friends' houses. I'd be able to look after my health. I'd read books, watch films. I'd join Lancashire CCC. I can't imagine how a job could be better than doing all that.
What you want first is to react slowly.
Back in the 1980s my dad had two employees, and the long-term one won the pools to the tune of several hundred k.
The same day he said "I'm offski" and walked out, then bought the big house, and moved in.
The disruption to his lifestyle /routine / social networks was enough that it caused problems for him, being classic working class.
Apparently big changes to housing today. But let’s see, they always say that.
Yes.
IMO they need to hit the vested interests which are blocks (eg speculative private land banking), in a way that aligns Local Political interests with development following the legal principles. In a way which is enforcible.
My checklist of what is required:
1 Local Councillors to be focussed on long term direction / strategy / local plans, not micro-management of individual applications. 2 Individual applications to be determined by Planning Professionals following law, not Planning Committees following parish pump politics. This should also remove some conflicts of interest / opportunity for corruption, though not all. 3 Housing targets to be mandatory, and obsessed objectively. 4 Possibilities for robust intervention if local Councillors sit on their hands. 5 Planning Gain to be capped in some effective way. 6 Encouragement / facilitation for local councils to be more proactive in Compulsory Purchase, potentially involving the opportunity to intervene on sustainable (in planning terms) development sites. 7 Possibility is streamlining enforcement. 8 All of the above will require capacity building.
Quite a lot of that is actually fairly likely to be done.
Do we have a link to when this statement is due?
I don't know. They've now published the post-consultation planning framework,
FPT - very disturbing conversation last night. Murder is never an answer to justice, under any circumstances.
If we go down that road we will get a free for all and there will be someone who finds some reason to gun for you too. Literally. "I would give the devil benefit of law, for my own safety's sake."
Woke and/or virtue signalling.
A fundamental principle of law stretching back, ooh, about 800 years at least.
People can vent and emote, I get that, but the problem with social media is that it can, and does, cross over into real action.
Kill one rich guy on the streets of Manhattan and the law swings rapidly into action and tracks you down within days.
Kill tens of thousands by perpetrating medical insurance fraud across America and you are lauded for increasing profits.
If the law isn't working for people then they won't respect it. If the law isn't for everyone then it's for no-one.
Perhaps someone should have read that quote about the benefit of the law to the CEO. He certainly seemed to think he could enjoy the law's protection without sticking to it.
I'm absolutely astonished at what you're saying. Shocked.
Deeply worrying.
Why are you shocked? This logic is a cornerstone of Tory politics.
Disraeli, 1848: "The palace is not safe when the cottage is not happy.” Hogg, 1943: "If you don't give the people social reform, they will give you social revolution."
Companies have been increasingly taking the piss for many years and efforts at reform have been piecemeal and ineffective.
You should not be shocked. You should have been expecting this.
Alternatively. A random rich engineer going insane after a botched spinal surgery is not an inevitable killing and isn't a "signal of working class distress". https://x.com/lxeagle17/status/1866902439770853652
The reaction to it is certainly a sign of deep dissatisfaction with mega-corporates. But there's some very confused moral reasoning (or complete lack of reasoning) involved.
I've only really commented on it in response to the shocked comments about how people online are reacting to it.
Obviously the people who act in the most extreme ways as a response to corporate malfeasance are going to be weird and unusual in many ways. Normal people are not committing murder instead of leaving one-star online reviews.
But when the social contract breaks down then people are going to care less about the murder of a person responsible for breaking the social contract.
This is not like the case of the kidnapping of Kevin Lunney, say. We're not in a situation where people are indifferent to all attacks on company directors.
You may remember the YouTube channel "Task and Purpose", which gives a brief summary of a military issue every week. This week they went to the (too small) part of the Kursk Oblast in Russia that Ukraine occupy. It's proper warzone reporting and perhaps you might like it. It is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ox9_V-APOGg
Apparently big changes to housing today. But let’s see, they always say that.
Yes.
IMO they need to hit the vested interests which are blocks (eg speculative private land banking), in a way that aligns Local Political interests with development following the legal principles. In a way which is enforcible.
My checklist of what is required:
1 Local Councillors to be focussed on long term direction / strategy / local plans, not micro-management of individual applications. 2 Individual applications to be determined by Planning Professionals following law, not Planning Committees following parish pump politics. This should also remove some conflicts of interest / opportunity for corruption, though not all. 3 Housing targets to be mandatory, and obsessed objectively. 4 Possibilities for robust intervention if local Councillors sit on their hands. 5 Planning Gain to be capped in some effective way. 6 Encouragement / facilitation for local councils to be more proactive in Compulsory Purchase, potentially involving the opportunity to intervene on sustainable (in planning terms) development sites. 7 Possibility is streamlining enforcement. 8 All of the above will require capacity building.
Quite a lot of that is actually fairly likely to be done.
50% affordable housing target is interestng.
Limiting site specific viability assessments until the guidelines have been rewritten next spring will reduce opportunities for obfuscation.
Strengthening presumption in favour of approval where no local plan is in force is interesting, and putting limitations on such entrepreneurial developments in requirements to meet national density etc guidelines are interesting.
Srengthening of pressure to get Local Plans in place by limiting scope of things that stop them is interesting.
Capacity will be interesting ... eg here Ashfield have merged their planning function with Erewash, so I now have no local planning service. Who gets the resource to push it through? Similar questions for certain combinations of London Boroughs - did Hammersmith merge theirs a few years ago?
Murder is not justifiable. Doesn’t matter who the victim is.
Heydrich? Though tbf I think the Nazis classified that as terrorism, another movable feast of a term.
Heydrich was an armed, uniformed officer in multiple military organisations of the German state.
The German state was at war with the UK and the Czech government in exile.
The killers, members of military organisation, reporting to identifiable command structure, attacked openly, targeting the military vehicle in which was carrying Heydrich and his armed, uniformed, military driver.
Under the laws of war at the time that was all legal.
The killers were neither in uniform nor wearing a distinguishing badge. They enjoyed none of the protection given to combatants, under the laws of war, as they stood at the time.
Of course, they were entirely morally justified in killing Heydrich.
The Hague Convention actually gave some status to non uniformed soldiers (Francs-tireurs), but the Germans in WWI and II carried on shooting such people out of hand.
See the “peculiar idea of German Military justice” - Captain Charles Fryatt etc.
I'm going to bite on this one. He might end up PM one day but probably not the next one.
He'll be a bit old by the one after, by UK political standards... He's already 60.
...and might have the liver of an 80 year old.
My liver is in excellent condition according to my GP who requires blood tests every quarter due to my need to take blood thinners
Mind you I rarely drink !!!!
Long may it stay so!
Unlike you, Farage is not a healthy man and will, I suspect, age a lot in the next five years. He already looks a lot older than he is.
Fortunately my cardiologist provided me with a pacemaker in February having told me the day after Christmas last year that my heart was worn out and I needed an urgent pacemaker to save my life
Since then I remain under a haematologist, vascular surgeon, and my cardiologist, all of whom are performing valiantly to keep me going though at times its a struggle
Anyway I am so grateful for all my blessings
Indeed, good luck to you. Sadly a member of our congregation had a heart attack at the weekend and on a life support machine and unlikely to survive, she was a lovely lady and wife and mother and only in her early fifties so you never know what is around the corner
Yes, enjoy your life, what is left of it, as you do not know what is around the corner. That is why I am due to retire imminently.
I've been thinking about this a lot in the context of my daughter's young friend who died of methanol poisoning in Laos. You don't know what is coming and should live for today. Planning for the future is wise but don't let it get in the way of living.
This is why I think the FIRE movement miss the point. You're exactly right.
You need a balance. I am glad when I was putting money aside for my pensions/savings I still spent money doing things I enjoyed well I was younger too.
As for work, why do it if you don't have to. On no ones tombstone does it say, unironically, I wish I had spent more time in the Office.
The thing is that I am in the lucky position of liking my work. It gives me purpose and focus. I am content to keep doing it as long as they'll have me and my health holds.
Enjoying your job is a great position to be in. I used to enjoy mine as well but over the years the level of corporate micro management has increased and it has become less enjoyable.
I would certainly be interested in part time if the job was more enjoyable.
I hope, for you, your health holds and you keep enjoying it.
I can't really imagine enjoying my job that much. I was having the inevitable 'lottery' conversation with the football parents (following the postcode lottery win in Wythenshawe). "What would you buy?" I was asked. I can't think of anything I'd want to buy, so I just offered "I'd stop working." This was greeted with amazement by the dinner lady, the gas fitter, the shop worker... These people all want money for stuff, but like their jobs sufficiently that even with sufficient resources not to have to do these jobs, they'd carry on doing them. My job OTOH falls into that sweet spot of not too stressful/quite interesting/colleagues are quite pleasant - but if I didn't need a job there are hundreds of other things I would rather do with my time. Even anchored to my home town by the needs of my children, I'd be out walking, or cycling, or down the pub; I'd be spending more time with my kids, or with my parents; I'd be able to volunteer to do all those hundreds of small jobs a community needs doing; I;'d be able to start to tackle the backlog of Things That Need Doing Around The House; I'd be gardening, doing crosswords, jigsaws; I'd be calling amiably by friends' houses. I'd be able to look after my health. I'd read books, watch films. I'd join Lancashire CCC. I can't imagine how a job could be better than doing all that.
I am with you on that. There is nothing big ticket I really want to buy either. I pretty much have what I want. We will go on holiday when I finish to Fuerteventura and a Cruise for our ten year anniversary in September. Aside from that I don't have any large spending plans aside from, possibly, an electric bike.
I plan to declutter the garage and loft, sell tat on vinted. Make cheese, chutnies, james and preserves. Work on my home made wines, work on the garage and watch the BBC Shakespeare DVD's as well as volunteer locally and look for a 12 hour a week job.
Murder is not justifiable. Doesn’t matter who the victim is.
Heydrich? Though tbf I think the Nazis classified that as terrorism, another movable feast of a term.
Heydrich was an armed, uniformed officer in multiple military organisations of the German state.
The German state was at war with the UK and the Czech government in exile.
The killers, members of military organisation, reporting to identifiable command structure, attacked openly, targeting the military vehicle in which was carrying Heydrich and his armed, uniformed, military driver.
Under the laws of war at the time that was all legal.
The killers were neither in uniform nor wearing a distinguishing badge. They enjoyed none of the protection given to combatants, under the laws of war, as they stood at the time.
Of course, they were entirely morally justified in killing Heydrich.
The Hague Convention actually gave some status to non uniformed soldiers (Francs-tireurs), but the Germans in WWI and II carried on shooting such people out of hand.
See the “peculiar idea of German Military justice” - Captain Charles Fryatt etc.
The Western Allies in 1945, made very clear that they would execute adult male German civilians, in retaliation for killings of servicemen carried out by Werwolf (in fact, Werwolf never amounted to much).
Defenders don't take higher casualties than attackers, without some huge technological advantage on the part of the latter.
I think the very highest end estimates for Ukraine casualties (NOT the official figures, which seem unreliably low) are about 400-500 thousand killed and wounded. With the large majority of those being wounded.
Russia has to have taken at least double the casualties, given their military tactics, inferior equipment, and the inherent problem of offensive operations.
I'm not sure where Leon gets the idea that it's ABC who are claiming such a nonsense number.
It's a rare day I stand four square with @Casino_Royale. We shouldn't be excusing summary justice because the victim was deserving. That's the slipperiest of slopes.
Defenders don't take higher casualties than attackers, without some huge technological advantage on the part of the latter.
I think the very highest end estimates for Ukraine casualties (NOT the official figures, which seem unreliably low) are about 400-500 thousand killed and wounded. With the large majority of those being wounded.
Russia has to have taken at least double the casualties, given their military tactics, inferior equipment, and the inherent problem of offensive operations.
I'm not sure where Leon gets the idea that it's ABC who are claiming such a nonsense number.
Comments
Claiming that it "saved many lives that day" pretty well proves my point. There's no evidence of that.
https://apnews.com/article/daniel-penny-subway-chokehold-jordan-neely-305a4eb324f6466a67bdb6734a7b999a
..Neely was unarmed, with nothing but a muffin in his pocket, and didn’t touch any passengers. One said he made lunging movements that alarmed her enough that she shielded her 5-year-old from him.
Penny came up behind Neely, grabbed his neck, took him to the floor and “put him out,” as the veteran told police at the scene.
Passengers’ video showed that at one point during the roughly six-minute hold, Neely tapped an onlooker’s leg and gestured to him. Later, he briefly got an arm free. But he went still nearly a minute before Penny released him.
“He’s dying,” an unseen bystander said in one video. “Let him go!”
A witness who stepped in to hold down Neely’s arms testified that he told Penny to free the man, though Penny’s lawyers noted the witness’ story changed significantly over time.
Penny told detectives shortly after the encounter that Neely threatened to kill people and the chokehold was an attempt to “de-escalate” the situation until police could arrive. The veteran said he held on so long because Neely periodically tried to break loose.
“I wasn’t trying to injure him. I’m just trying to keep him from hurting anyone else. He’s threatening people. That’s what we learn in the Marine Corps,” Penny told the detectives.
However, one of Penny’s Marine Corps instructors testified that the veteran misused a chokehold technique he’d been taught.
Prosecutors said Penny reacted far too forcefully to someone he perceived as a peril, not a person. Prosecutors also argued that any need to protect passengers quickly ebbed when the train doors opened at the next station, seconds after Penny took action...
Was the verdict reasonable - yes, though it could not unreasonably have gone the other way on the lesser charge, on the facts presented.
- American Redditors
https://x.com/evgen1232007/status/1866949203127308788
TL:DR it’s totally screwed, and when it falls it will pretty much collapse the economy with it. The money-printing taps are already being turned on, and a bank failure or two would tip things over the edge into the really serious inflation.
It laments that similar such crises in the past have been met by bipartisan efforts to improve the situation but now the parties are more interested in arguing about culture war topics and the President elect wants to abolish the department of Education.
You need a balance. I am glad when I was putting money aside for my pensions/savings I still spent money doing things I enjoyed well I was younger too.
As for work, why do it if you don't have to. On no ones tombstone does it say, unironically, I wish I had spent more time in the Office.
They can then hardly complain when CEOs of said private health insurance companies put making a profit and limiting risk from patients treatments first as they are paid to do and as the free market and their shareholders demand.
In 2016 and 2020 Sanders for example was promising Medicare for all as a presidential candidate, US voters elected Trump and the GOP instead and their firm opposition to 'socialised medicine' as they did again this year
Thompson chose to triple the rate of denying policyholders’ claims, and he chose to engage in insider trading. The system did not compel him.
I don't think anybody should be taking dietary advice from here, anyway. She looks like a 45 gallon drum that's rolled through a branch of SpecSavers.
State-funded propaganda? Another tick on the "Are you a fascist?" checklist.
The solution is obvious - when energy infrastructure like this is built on farmland, any house or business within two or three miles should get their energy for free (within reason).
I like this bit from his Wikipedia article:
In 2016, the fundraising president of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital stated that the Eric Trump Foundation had raised and donated $16.3 million to the hospital since the charity's foundation.[37]
In June 2017, Forbes reported that the Eric Trump Foundation shifted money intended to go to cancer patients to the Trumps' businesses.[38][39][40][41] Eric Trump had asserted that his foundation got to use Trump Organization assets for free ("We get to use our assets 100% free of charge"), but that appears not to be true. According to Forbes, more than $1.2 million of the donations went to the Trump Organization for the use of Trump's Westchester golf course, and "Golf charity experts say the listed expenses defy any reasonable cost justification for a one-day golf tournament". According to a former foundation director, "We did have to cover the expenses. ...The charity had grown so much that the Trump Organization couldn't absorb all of those costs anymore." Forbes acknowledged that the charity has done a great deal of good, including an intensive-care unit that opened in 2015 at St. Jude and funding cancer research.[38] According to Trump, the foundation's expense ratio is 12.6%, and "at no time did the Trump Organization profit in any way from the foundation or any of its activities".[42]
From the BBC article about the announcement about the Planning System happening later this morning.
By my eye, that looks like Green Belt, National Parks and AONBs - so it misses out other categories such as eg Special Protection Areas (for birds).
But it does show that framing the debate around "Green Belt" is beyond absurd, since they are so different across communities and the country.
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gpdgjepdeo
No insider trading charges had been brought against him so that is just speculation
Except in the US Social Media Kangaroo Court system.
Putin is often portrayed as an evil genius but in fact he's an idiot. He has destroyed his armed forces. He has severely damaged his economy. He has lost the whip hand of gas that he used to have over western Europe and Germany in particular. He has scared "neutral" countries on his borders sufficiently to have them join NATO. He has massively exacerbated the already serious demographic crisis that Russia was facing and stealing a few tens of thousands of Ukrainian children is not going to fix that. In his early years he gave some stability to a country that was lurching from crisis to crisis but in his latter years he is the source of these crises.
Guardian
Great. Just great.
I often find her mannered and irritating, though she can also be good.
Still, better than the on screen black hole that was Andie MacDowell in FWAAF.
Lots of unrul kids running round, "coughing, barking , spitting and farting" (as my old grandad would have said) sneezing - picking things up
Little or no parental control.
No wonder bugs are spreading like widfire
Question to any Gen Z parent....if your kid has a bug why the feck do you feel the need to let it run wild around shops and supermarkets??
It is quite reasonable to argue that because Leicester does not have a Green Belt, it can be relaxed elsewhere.
Derby does not have on either, other than on one side being adjacent to the Nottingham Green Belt.
For other large places in this area, neither Mansfield nor Chesterfield have Green Belts. They may be strange places to mention to some, but both are 75k people or so (150k+ for Mansfield if you include adjacent urban areas). Also Sunderland only has Green Belt on one side. Lincoln has nothing whatsoever, and so on.
If there is to be a debate, it needs to be an informed, complete debate without a squint, rather than vested interests defending their interest vs the rest.
What would doing "something similar" actually mean ?
On that score, Krugman's new blog is rather better than his NYT column. Here's his look at the DOGE stuff:
https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/the-fraudulence-of-waste-fraud-and
https://x.com/AngelaRayner/status/1867142761495093660
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1866949203127308788.html
The German state was at war with the UK and the Czech government in exile.
The killers, members of military organisation, reporting to identifiable command structure, attacked openly, targeting the military vehicle in which was carrying Heydrich and his armed, uniformed, military driver.
Under the laws of war at the time that was all legal.
So sorry for the lady and her family
On Farage becoming PM. Yes he absolutely can. I don’t think I’d put him as favourite. But it’s certainly a plausible outcome at the next GE.
Without any judgement or criticism, I do think that the centrist, consensus groupthink can form an opinion that it just can’t happen, he is too extreme, too marmite, too fringe, elections are won from the centre, yadda yadda. But our party system is breaking down, and people are more fluid in their voting patterns, and people do not feel listened to by their politicians. The backlash against Labour is a symptom of this - they are viewed as more of the same, not agents of change.
Labour are banking on things improving to an extent that they’ll be given another go. The Tories are banking on the fact that if Labour are unpopular they will be the repository of the anti-Labour vote as the second party. Neither of these assumptions, in my view, are safe ones to make.
The other point to make is that the media landscape has changed, and people are much more commonly digesting things that reflect their own prejudices. This poses a challenge for Labour, because even if NHS waiting times come down, even if immigration ticks down, even if more houses are built, if people don’t feel better or don’t believe things are improving, they won’t give Labour their vote. Statistics and meeting targets aren’t necessarily going to win them an election.
It’s there to give the US point of view to the rest of the world, but bound by journalistic standards rather than simply be the mouthpiece of the incumbent government.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voice_of_America
That the new President would choose a 20-year veteran journalist to run it, is hardly surprising.
Sometimes it is not to their advantage
Of course, they were entirely morally justified in killing Heydrich.
https://x.com/rachelreevesmp/status/1867167641967657162
We are backing the builders over the blockers.
I was trying to recall any Kari Lake scandals, but I think she's just a standard MAGA lobotomised nut job, with usual conspiracy theories about the 2020 Election, losing defamation cases, being party to actions to overturn the 2020 Election and other bits and pieces, who lost her Senate Seat in 2024.
She also has a history as a bit of a Vicar of Bray, having been Rep, Dem and Indy.
I'd say she's getting this as former TV presenter, so linked to "media" in Trump's mind. She has also gone on about "The Fake News".
I've no idea how VOA will fare - it's the USA version of BBC World Service, but more closely linked to Government. I used to listen sometimes before the Soviet Union collapsed, but is was catholic in its tastes than BBC WS.
Deeply worrying.
The NHS winter issue is the same as its been for ages. Management efficiency dogma wants maximal bed occupancy at all times, but this doesn't give stretch capacity.
https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/uk-mostly-avoid-tariff-trouble-with-us-say-economists-2024-12-12/
"The UK is relatively well positioned to withstand the repercussions of President-elect Donald Trump's proposed trade tariffs," said Stefan Koopman at Rabobank.
"Surely, as an open economy, the UK will inevitably feel the impact of a trade war, but likely to a lesser extent than countries that are heavily-dependent on manufacturing and goods exports, such as Germany."
IMO they need to hit the vested interests which are blocks (eg speculative private land banking), in a way that aligns Local Political interests with development following the legal principles. In a way which is enforcible.
My checklist of what is required:
1 Local Councillors to be focussed on long term direction / strategy / local plans, not micro-management of individual applications.
2 Individual applications to be determined by Planning Professionals following law, not Planning Committees following parish pump politics. This should also remove some conflicts of interest / opportunity for corruption, though not all.
3 Housing targets to be mandatory, and obsessed objectively.
4 Possibilities for robust intervention if local Councillors sit on their hands.
5 Planning Gain to be capped in some effective way.
6 Encouragement / facilitation for local councils to be more proactive in Compulsory Purchase, potentially involving the opportunity to intervene on sustainable (in planning terms) development sites.
7 Possibility is streamlining enforcement.
8 All of the above will require capacity building.
https://aprs.scot/resources/green-belt-map-edinburgh/
Disraeli, 1848: "The palace is not safe when the cottage is not happy.”
Hogg, 1943: "If you don't give the people social reform, they will give you social revolution."
Companies have been increasingly taking the piss for many years and efforts at reform have been piecemeal and ineffective.
You should not be shocked. You should have been expecting this.
I would certainly be interested in part time if the job was more enjoyable.
I hope, for you, your health holds and you keep enjoying it.
And, as ever, it was driven from London (even listed buildings taper off as you go North).
Also does Scotland lean more heavily towards protection-by-National-Park, and by more concentrated land ownership amongst people who will always be alright, Jack, and will self-restrict development in large measure?
A random rich engineer going insane after a botched spinal surgery is not an inevitable killing and isn't a "signal of working class distress".
https://x.com/lxeagle17/status/1866902439770853652
The reaction to it is certainly a sign of deep dissatisfaction with mega-corporates. But there's some very confused moral reasoning (or complete lack of reasoning) involved.
I was having the inevitable 'lottery' conversation with the football parents (following the postcode lottery win in Wythenshawe). "What would you buy?" I was asked. I can't think of anything I'd want to buy, so I just offered "I'd stop working." This was greeted with amazement by the dinner lady, the gas fitter, the shop worker... These people all want money for stuff, but like their jobs sufficiently that even with sufficient resources not to have to do these jobs, they'd carry on doing them. My job OTOH falls into that sweet spot of not too stressful/quite interesting/colleagues are quite pleasant - but if I didn't need a job there are hundreds of other things I would rather do with my time. Even anchored to my home town by the needs of my children, I'd be out walking, or cycling, or down the pub; I'd be spending more time with my kids, or with my parents; I'd be able to volunteer to do all those hundreds of small jobs a community needs doing; I;'d be able to start to tackle the backlog of Things That Need Doing Around The House; I'd be gardening, doing crosswords, jigsaws; I'd be calling amiably by friends' houses. I'd be able to look after my health. I'd read books, watch films. I'd join Lancashire CCC. I can't imagine how a job could be better than doing all that.
So I have to start again. It's like falling off a horse, isn't it. What do you do? You remount. Get back in the saddle. That's the only way unless you're going to retire and call it a day, which I'm not ready for. I still have some top level political betting/punditry in me, I feel.
Farage Next PM then. Yes, there's a route. It's no crazy long shot but 3.85 is where it is now on the exchange. THREE POINT EIGHT FIVE ie better than a 25% chance. Is this fair value? No way. Too short. In the light of WH24 it's not easy for me to type out the words "Nigel Farage looks like a good lay" but I'm going to bite the nettle and do so.
This is my link, which may be individual.
https://parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/a0ff5009-cda5-4af7-9ef2-78c55aff546f
The CEO was a murdering, fraudster. It's difficult to have any sympathy for someone like that.
https://x.com/ericabbenante/status/1867016695581175859
One million Ukrainian soldiers have died in the war
https://x.com/mylordbebo/status/1867179247221064026?s=46&t=bulOICNH15U6kB0MwE6Lfw
Reposting this again, without apology, as it identifies areas for well over half a million new houses, in the highest demand areas, which barely impact the large swathes of green belt (and in some cases just piggyback on existing HS2 green belt development).
https://www.britainremade.co.uk/newtowns
As Eabhal said the other day, the area to the south/east of Edinburgh is building houses very fast indeed and the Edinburgh green belt is so small you could blink and miss it when driving in. It's changed a lot in the last 10 yewars alone.
The impression I get is that there are clear planning targets and areas set out for housing and that the SG inspectors will not hesitate to overturn local decisions.
Despite being moderately challenging and interesting and involving working mostly with nice people, Managing IT Projects for a bunch of numpties comes in at about Number 1000, just ahead of shopping and watching paint dry.
Back in the 1980s my dad had two employees, and the long-term one won the pools to the tune of several hundred k.
The same day he said "I'm offski" and walked out, then bought the big house, and moved in.
The disruption to his lifestyle /routine / social networks was enough that it caused problems for him, being classic working class.
They've now published the post-consultation planning framework,
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/675abd214cbda57cacd3476e/NPPF-December-2024.pdf
Obviously the people who act in the most extreme ways as a response to corporate malfeasance are going to be weird and unusual in many ways. Normal people are not committing murder instead of leaving one-star online reviews.
But when the social contract breaks down then people are going to care less about the murder of a person responsible for breaking the social contract.
This is not like the case of the kidnapping of Kevin Lunney, say. We're not in a situation where people are indifferent to all attacks on company directors.
Limiting site specific viability assessments until the guidelines have been rewritten next spring will reduce opportunities for obfuscation.
Strengthening presumption in favour of approval where no local plan is in force is interesting, and putting limitations on such entrepreneurial developments in requirements to meet national density etc guidelines are interesting.
Srengthening of pressure to get Local Plans in place by limiting scope of things that stop them is interesting.
Capacity will be interesting ... eg here Ashfield have merged their planning function with Erewash, so I now have no local planning service. Who gets the resource to push it through? Similar questions for certain combinations of London Boroughs - did Hammersmith merge theirs a few years ago?
See the “peculiar idea of German Military justice” - Captain Charles Fryatt etc.
I plan to declutter the garage and loft, sell tat on vinted. Make cheese, chutnies, james and preserves. Work on my home made wines, work on the garage and watch the BBC Shakespeare DVD's as well as volunteer locally and look for a 12 hour a week job.
I will also cycle more.
There’s an allegation that the ABC video is fake, I’ll go down the rabbit hole…
EDIT: the narrator’s voice alters pitch, a tad, at a crucial moment
Russia has to have taken at least double the casualties, given their military tactics, inferior equipment, and the inherent problem of offensive operations.
I'm not sure where Leon gets the idea that it's ABC who are claiming such a nonsense number.
We shouldn't be excusing summary justice because the victim was deserving.
That's the slipperiest of slopes.
From the thread:
Durden Westfall @jrrdesertfox9
Below is the original clip. This one has been heavily edited and false narration was added.https://x.com/jrrdesertfox9/status/1867181986890096781
(Update: I see you acknowledged that already, whilst investigating - thanks.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JduNWEFjMWQ
Go to 5:08, and you see where they inserted the fake voice - just before “it’s incredible” - the voice is not exactly the same
Interesting that they made an error, the voice cooking tech is so brilliant now they could done a perfect job