Just off to work for the twenty-sixth time in the last thirty days (had the 20th, 25th, 26th and 1st off)
It's got a bit quieter since Christmas, but I've still been averaging about nine hours a day (compared to eleven hour average in the fortnight before)
One rather heartening thing I've noticed among the masses of travel brochures I have to deliver this time of year, is the number of thank you notes
Some are very obviously so; the childlike scrawl of a name, followed by Mum's neatly written address. My favourite name so far, I couldn't read any other way than "Uncle Bum"
I have the day off tomorrow. Thankfully, I have nothing planned
Californian fires look even more horrendous now than they did a few hours ago. There’s an awful lot of houses that have gone up, and a shortage of water to control the fires. Planes and helicopters that were helping have been grounded due to the high winds.
The winds are finally dying down, but there are three or four enormous fires still burning in Los Angeles. We're only about 200 yards from the mandatory evacuation zone, so we have everything packed and ready in case we need to depart in the middle of the night.
Crikey. Good luck. I hope you end up with a great story for the family dinner table. Not a burned family dinner table
“Profits in financial services are set to fall at their fastest rate since the depths of the financial crisis after Rachel Reeves’s Budget tax raid sent costs spiralling.
Britain’s leading industry is shedding staff and slashing investments as optimism in the tumbles to its lowest level since the aftermath of Liz Truss’s mini-budget in 2022, according to a quarterly survey of the financial industry by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI).
Two-thirds of financial services companies anticipate a drop in profits in the next three months, with just one in 10 expecting an increase - an imbalance that matches the very worst moments of the financial crisis when RBS was bailed out by the Government in late 2008.“
@MaxPB might be right. This stupefyingly inept government might be driving us straight into the wall of a debt crisis and an IMF bailout
You can get a job with CCHQ if you can draft that rant into a PMQ whose reply does not begin and end with "Liz Truss". That is Kemi's problem in a nutshell.
From looking at a map, the Hills area seems to be mostly large houses and a lot of trees. Ideal for spreading fire.
There’s a lot of stories about insurance companies cancelling fire cover last year for many of the affected areas, and also a lot of stories of the fire department having their preventative maintenance budget cut and having water supply problems.
After the immediate emergency has been dealt with and the fires put out, there could be quite the political fallout on the mayor, the governor, and the fire chief. Here’s a letter from the fire chief to the mayor from only a month ago, saying that there’s an elevated risk of fires getting out of control. https://x.com/globalphotopro/status/1877249753164997086
So how much extra income tax is everyone prepared to pay in order for the country to afford vast increases in military spending?
None. We borrow up front to increase the size and capability of the armed forces, and then pay it back by ransacking France and Ireland like the old days.
I thought they were skint too?
It would be better to invade somewhere with spare cash like Canada.
Ummm...actually, that might not be a smart suggestion right now.
I hear the Virgin Islands has a fair amount of cash, on paper at least. Rather inexplicably.
The Yanks bought their Virgin isles off Denmark in 1917, for US 25 million, by agreement of both countries, and there had been a plebiscite on the Islands previously.
Incidentally, as part of the treaty of transfer, the United States accepted a Danish demand for a declaration stating that they would "not object to the Danish Government extending their political and economic interests to the whole of Greenland"
They still drive on the left in the USVI thanks to their Danish heritage - in US-built left-hand-drive vehicles massively too wide for the roads. The islands are a bit rough but 'interesting' and definitely not a suitable destination for a self-drive holiday.
I went there in the 1970s, flying with the famous "Antillies Airboats" airline. They flew ex-war Grumman Goose's between the islands, landing in the harbour, then taxi-ing up the slipway. We flew from St Croix to St Thomas on them, over to St John, and the BVI, then vin a Short Sandringham flying boat to Puerto Rico. I think it likely that we flew on the one that the boss pranged and died in a few years later.
“Profits in financial services are set to fall at their fastest rate since the depths of the financial crisis after Rachel Reeves’s Budget tax raid sent costs spiralling.
Britain’s leading industry is shedding staff and slashing investments as optimism in the tumbles to its lowest level since the aftermath of Liz Truss’s mini-budget in 2022, according to a quarterly survey of the financial industry by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI).
Two-thirds of financial services companies anticipate a drop in profits in the next three months, with just one in 10 expecting an increase - an imbalance that matches the very worst moments of the financial crisis when RBS was bailed out by the Government in late 2008.“
@MaxPB might be right. This stupefyingly inept government might be driving us straight into the wall of a debt crisis and an IMF bailout
Many in business/FS seemed to have convinced themselves this lot would be like ChangeUK/TIGGers before the election.
The fire is now said to be almost at Hollywood Boulevard.
Ooof. I hope that OGH Minor and his are fine. I wonder what has helped it spread this time - over there it is sometimes high winds as well as a crispy landscape.
It's just down the coast from a fire I recall reports of in the 1990s, which were in a place called Laguna Beach - where the fire was driven by dried vegetation, wicked along by wooden fences and and aggravated by large trees and inadequate water supplies.
There was a famous photograph of one house, with a sealed roof so no gaps between tiles, double glazing to keep the heat out, and a garden full of succulent plants, which survived alone on a slope where the rest had burnt down.
Google Street View shows the contemporary view now with all of the homes rebuilt in various styles - even Mystic Hills. Not sure if they were mystic before or after the event. Anyway one homeowner seems relaxed about covering his home with a lot of vegetation.
Here's the same one. Plots rearranged across the road behind.
I see the Mexican President has a good sense of humour:
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum responded to Trump’s proposal to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico by pointing to a 17th century map of greater Mexico and suggesting a new name for the US.
“We are going to call it América Mexicana. It sounds pretty, no?”
So how much extra income tax is everyone prepared to pay in order for the country to afford vast increases in military spending?
None. We borrow up front to increase the size and capability of the armed forces, and then pay it back by ransacking France and Ireland like the old days.
I thought they were skint too?
It would be better to invade somewhere with spare cash like Canada.
Ummm...actually, that might not be a smart suggestion right now.
I hear the Virgin Islands has a fair amount of cash, on paper at least. Rather inexplicably.
The Yanks bought their Virgin isles off Denmark in 1917, for US 25 million, by agreement of both countries, and there had been a plebiscite on the Islands previously.
Incidentally, as part of the treaty of transfer, the United States accepted a Danish demand for a declaration stating that they would "not object to the Danish Government extending their political and economic interests to the whole of Greenland"
They still drive on the left in the USVI thanks to their Danish heritage - in US-built left-hand-drive vehicles massively too wide for the roads. The islands are a bit rough but 'interesting' and definitely not a suitable destination for a self-drive holiday.
I went there in the 1970s, flying with the famous "Antillies Airboats" airline. They flew ex-war Grumman Goose's between the islands, landing in the harbour, then taxi-ing up the slipway. We flew from St Croix to St Thomas on them, over to St John, and the BVI, then vin a Short Sandringham flying boat to Puerto Rico. I think it likely that we flew on the one that the boss pranged and died in a few years later.
“Profits in financial services are set to fall at their fastest rate since the depths of the financial crisis after Rachel Reeves’s Budget tax raid sent costs spiralling.
Britain’s leading industry is shedding staff and slashing investments as optimism in the tumbles to its lowest level since the aftermath of Liz Truss’s mini-budget in 2022, according to a quarterly survey of the financial industry by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI).
Two-thirds of financial services companies anticipate a drop in profits in the next three months, with just one in 10 expecting an increase - an imbalance that matches the very worst moments of the financial crisis when RBS was bailed out by the Government in late 2008.“
@MaxPB might be right. This stupefyingly inept government might be driving us straight into the wall of a debt crisis and an IMF bailout
You can get a job with CCHQ if you can draft that rant into a PMQ whose reply does not begin and end with "Liz Truss". That is Kemi's problem in a nutshell.
Liz Truss was ejected after 49 days, and Jeremy Hunt imposed common sense even sooner than that.
From looking at a map, the Hills area seems to be mostly large houses and a lot of trees. Ideal for spreading fire.
There’s a lot of stories about insurance companies cancelling fire cover last year for many of the affected areas, and also a lot of stories of the fire department having their preventative maintenance budget cut and having water supply problems.
After the immediate emergency has been dealt with and the fires put out, there could be quite the political fallout on the mayor, the governor, and the fire chief. Here’s a letter from the fire chief to the mayor from only a month ago, saying that there’s an elevated risk of fires getting out of control. https://x.com/globalphotopro/status/1877249753164997086
With apologies to RCS:
Many of those affected by these fires are rich or super-rich. Minimal taxes have helped them become that rich. Fire departments are a common good: if they wanted better fire prevention and other things, then perhaps they should have paid more tax?
Having said that, there's only so much anyone can do against a forest fire. I remember going into the hills above Melbourne (Oz, not Derbyshire) with my ex, and being shown a pub in a clearing with a large concrete car park. Below the car park was a specially-built bunker. If there was a fire, locals could drive to the pub and be safe underground; the volunteer firefighters would also use it as a base. Locals had fairly horrifying stories about a fire in the ?1980s?.
These new ‘sharing’ tech companies see natural disasters as an opportunity. The new fake taxi companies will be the same, 10x the normal price to evacuate people who are about to lose everything. To them it’s no different from having a big sporting event in town, just ignore the state of emergency being declared.
Meanwhile there’s now Hollywood Boulevard hotels being evacuated, mostly containing people who’d already been evacuated from their houses. By today it could be over half a million people displaced.
I had a double take at Fake Taxi. Not sure I’d want a lift in that !!
But you’re right. These companies see these things as no different to large scale sporting events. Until they get some bad publicity and they enter damage limitation manoeuvres.
No, not *that* Fake Taxi!
(To anyone who doesn’t know what that is, it’s an ‘adult’ website so don’t google it!)
“Profits in financial services are set to fall at their fastest rate since the depths of the financial crisis after Rachel Reeves’s Budget tax raid sent costs spiralling.
Britain’s leading industry is shedding staff and slashing investments as optimism in the tumbles to its lowest level since the aftermath of Liz Truss’s mini-budget in 2022, according to a quarterly survey of the financial industry by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI).
Two-thirds of financial services companies anticipate a drop in profits in the next three months, with just one in 10 expecting an increase - an imbalance that matches the very worst moments of the financial crisis when RBS was bailed out by the Government in late 2008.“
@MaxPB might be right. This stupefyingly inept government might be driving us straight into the wall of a debt crisis and an IMF bailout
I wonder if that is why financials and banks were hammered yesterday falling on the Stock Exchange.
These new ‘sharing’ tech companies see natural disasters as an opportunity. The new fake taxi companies will be the same, 10x the normal price to evacuate people who are about to lose everything. To them it’s no different from having a big sporting event in town, just ignore the state of emergency being declared.
Meanwhile there’s now Hollywood Boulevard hotels being evacuated, mostly containing people who’d already been evacuated from their houses. By today it could be over half a million people displaced.
I had a double take at Fake Taxi. Not sure I’d want a lift in that !!
But you’re right. These companies see these things as no different to large scale sporting events. Until they get some bad publicity and they enter damage limitation manoeuvres.
These new ‘sharing’ tech companies see natural disasters as an opportunity. The new fake taxi companies will be the same, 10x the normal price to evacuate people who are about to lose everything. To them it’s no different from having a big sporting event in town, just ignore the state of emergency being declared.
Meanwhile there’s now Hollywood Boulevard hotels being evacuated, mostly containing people who’d already been evacuated from their houses. By today it could be over half a million people displaced.
I had a double take at Fake Taxi. Not sure I’d want a lift in that !!
But you’re right. These companies see these things as no different to large scale sporting events. Until they get some bad publicity and they enter damage limitation manoeuvres.
No, not *that* Fake Taxi!
(To anyone who doesn’t know what that is, it’s an ‘adult’ website so don’t google it!)
Certainly not at work !!!!
I wonder if TSE has heard of it
Everyone has heard of it.
Love the way pb'ers are pretending to be confused this morning!
Never mind thing thing and thing, and the government’s calamitous energy and foreign policies, in six months Labour have economically shat the bed, also the wardrobe, the curtains, the fireplace, the hallway, the sofa, and that bit under the stairs
Hilariously bad if it weren’t so tragic for the nation
And, they are paying other nations in hock to China to give away strategic British territory and they've committed Britain to Reparations.
Don't forget during COP they committed us to Climate "Reparations" too, not as much as the grifting NGO's who would "manage" the funds want, but a start all the same.
Never mind thing thing and thing, and the government’s calamitous energy and foreign policies, in six months Labour have economically shat the bed, also the wardrobe, the curtains, the fireplace, the hallway, the sofa, and that bit under the stairs
Hilariously bad if it weren’t so tragic for the nation
And, they are paying other nations in hock to China to give away strategic British territory and they've committed Britain to Reparations.
Don't forget during COP they committed us to Climate "Reparations" too, not as much as the grifting NGO's who would "manage" the funds want, but a start all the same.
So how much extra income tax is everyone prepared to pay in order for the country to afford vast increases in military spending?
None. We borrow up front to increase the size and capability of the armed forces, and then pay it back by ransacking France and Ireland like the old days.
I thought they were skint too?
It would be better to invade somewhere with spare cash like Canada.
Ummm...actually, that might not be a smart suggestion right now.
I hear the Virgin Islands has a fair amount of cash, on paper at least. Rather inexplicably.
The Yanks bought their Virgin isles off Denmark in 1917, for US 25 million, by agreement of both countries, and there had been a plebiscite on the Islands previously.
Incidentally, as part of the treaty of transfer, the United States accepted a Danish demand for a declaration stating that they would "not object to the Danish Government extending their political and economic interests to the whole of Greenland"
They still drive on the left in the USVI thanks to their Danish heritage - in US-built left-hand-drive vehicles massively too wide for the roads. The islands are a bit rough but 'interesting' and definitely not a suitable destination for a self-drive holiday.
I went there in the 1970s, flying with the famous "Antillies Airboats" airline. They flew ex-war Grumman Goose's between the islands, landing in the harbour, then taxi-ing up the slipway. We flew from St Croix to St Thomas on them, over to St John, and the BVI, then vin a Short Sandringham flying boat to Puerto Rico. I think it likely that we flew on the one that the boss pranged and died in a few years later.
Never mind thing thing and thing, and the government’s calamitous energy and foreign policies, in six months Labour have economically shat the bed, also the wardrobe, the curtains, the fireplace, the hallway, the sofa, and that bit under the stairs
Hilariously bad if it weren’t so tragic for the nation
And, they are paying other nations in hock to China to give away strategic British territory and they've committed Britain to Reparations.
Don't forget during COP they committed us to Climate "Reparations" too, not as much as the grifting NGO's who would "manage" the funds want, but a start all the same.
I hope Tory/Reform cancels all this in 4 years.
It was Alok Sharma and his cronies who were agreeing to it at the previous COP. The Tories were just as bad.
Can't believe anyone takes Trump seriously when he talks about invading Greenland, etc.
Personally, I think that Canada should announce that if will be conducting a national referendum on merging with the US. Said referendum would be in -say- three and a half years time.
And Trump should spend the next -say- three and half years campaigning in Canada.
It would cause absolute consternation in US conservative circles, as the really don't want 40 million socialist Canadians voting. And it would keep Trump out of trouble.
Personally, I think that Canada should announce that if will be conducting a national referendum on merging with Greenland.
Get in first.
Trying to get in first with a referendum didn’t pan out so well for Schuschnigg, though, did it?
Catching up, but Kemi Badenoch did a very good job at PMQs I thought. Sir Funeral Director scraped through with his righteous chin wobbling indignation that anyone should dare to put his vital child welfare bill in jeopardy, but it was fairly thin stuff and I think Kemi had the best of it and it wasn't close.
When Starmer asked Kemi “have you ever mentioned this before Musk did, as MP or Minister” and Kemi couldn’t answer, that was the zinger that won it for Starmer today.
That in a nutshell is the Tory weakness trying to match Reform on this, it’s so transparent they didn’t ask these questions till in opposition.
The Tories were in power a long time and made many mistakes. That is true. But they are now in Opposition and their role now is to probe, ask questions and subject the government to scrutiny for THEIR decisions.
Otherwise what is the point of the Opposition?
I thought Kemi did very well today and Starmer was woeful (easily his worse performance since July)
I thought Keir was meh. But Kemi having no comeback for the accusation was quite a bad look. If she was an untainted new face, fair enough. But she's held relevant posts in government leading up to now. Had she been Welsh Secretary, or Fisheries Minister before now - then she could have just shoved some people under the bus and moved on.
You are discussing the banned subject !!!!
And you have spent the last half a dozen posts making the situation worse.
I had a very innocuous post pulled after PMQs. That is fine, it was entirely at the discretion of the mods. It is their site. Are you now one of the team of moderators?
Maybe we need some more lawyers elected as MPs and not just ex SPADs, MPs researchers and councillors, journalists, trade union officials and middle managers as is increasingly the case. The PM is a lawyer as is Lammy but few others in his Cabinet are and Lammy only practiced for 3 years, there aren't many lawyers in the Shadow Cabinet either apart from Jenrick and a few others (Kemi does have a part time law degree from Birkbeck but that is it and she worked as an analyst and consultant).
Davey, Flynn and Farage aren't lawyers either. A few more lawyers, especially barristers, would enable all consequences of legislation to be scrutinised whether intended or not
I like this. I don't necessarily think we should be singling out lawyers - although as you say I would hope they would have a better handle on unintended consequences of bad legislation. But basically anyone who has had a proper career - whether it is a lawyer, a military man, a doctor, a plumber or a shop keeper. People who have lived and worked in the real world rather than solely in the realm of politics.
We have Tulip Siddiq as City and anti-corruption Minister. Now imagine what I could do with such a role .....
Talking of which I see that FCA enforcement got its arse slapped today .....
Think a lot less lawyers in Westminster would be an improvement
Comments
It's got a bit quieter since Christmas, but I've still been averaging about nine hours a day (compared to eleven hour average in the fortnight before)
One rather heartening thing I've noticed among the masses of travel brochures I have to deliver this time of year, is the number of thank you notes
Some are very obviously so; the childlike scrawl of a name, followed by Mum's neatly written address. My favourite name so far, I couldn't read any other way than "Uncle Bum"
I have the day off tomorrow. Thankfully, I have nothing planned
https://x.com/glorydoge/status/1877181086700019865
From looking at a map, the Hills area seems to be mostly large houses and a lot of trees. Ideal for spreading fire.
There’s a lot of stories about insurance companies cancelling fire cover last year for many of the affected areas, and also a lot of stories of the fire department having their preventative maintenance budget cut and having water supply problems.
After the immediate emergency has been dealt with and the fires put out, there could be quite the political fallout on the mayor, the governor, and the fire chief. Here’s a letter from the fire chief to the mayor from only a month ago, saying that there’s an elevated risk of fires getting out of control. https://x.com/globalphotopro/status/1877249753164997086
They are not. They are socialists.
Here's the same one. Plots rearranged across the road behind.
https://www.google.com/maps/search/Tahiti+Avenue+in+Laguna+Beach's+Mystic+Hills+neighborhood/@33.5475662,-117.7688644,72a,35y,319.34h,53.49t/data=!3m1!1e3?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDEwNi4xIKXMDSoASAFQAw==
Musk is up to about a dozen tweets blaming wokery of various sorts. Nothing yet on farmers and golf courses using up water.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum responded to Trump’s proposal to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico by pointing to a 17th century map of greater Mexico and suggesting a new name for the US.
“We are going to call it América Mexicana. It sounds pretty, no?”
Trump is a global laughingstock. 🤣
https://bsky.app/profile/joncooper-us.bsky.social/post/3lfamjlonls2x
NEW THREAD
This lot are there for 5 years.
Many of those affected by these fires are rich or super-rich. Minimal taxes have helped them become that rich. Fire departments are a common good: if they wanted better fire prevention and other things, then perhaps they should have paid more tax?
Having said that, there's only so much anyone can do against a forest fire. I remember going into the hills above Melbourne (Oz, not Derbyshire) with my ex, and being shown a pub in a clearing with a large concrete car park. Below the car park was a specially-built bunker. If there was a fire, locals could drive to the pub and be safe underground; the volunteer firefighters would also use it as a base. Locals had fairly horrifying stories about a fire in the ?1980s?.
I wonder if TSE has heard of it
She really is utterly useless.
Love the way pb'ers are pretending to be confused this morning!
I had a very innocuous post pulled after PMQs. That is fine, it was entirely at the discretion of the mods. It is their site. Are you now one of the team of moderators?
He warns Labour may have to resort to austerity measures if sentiment doesn’t change”
https://x.com/alexwickham/status/1877269909563969783?s=46&t=bulOICNH15U6kB0MwE6Lfw