LOL....its Bezos personal pet project. I have a very funny story about the making of it but I can't tell it on here because the individual who told me probably be identified. But suffice to say the making of it was a shit show.
EXCL: Education Minister Stephen Morgan ran a vile WhatsApp group which branded pensioners “terrorists”, hurled abuse at colleagues and shared memes of ex-PM Rishi Sunak being deported to Rwanda.
@nickschifrin BREAKING: @SecDef walks back his statement yesterday that a negotiated settlement is not likely to end with Ukraine in @NATO: "These negotiations are led by @realDonaldTrump. Everything is on the table. In his conversations with Vladimir Putin and Zelensky, what he decides to allow or not allow, is at the purview of the leader of the free world--President Trump. So I'm not going to stand at this podium and declare what President Trump will do or won't do, what will be in or what will be out, what concessions will be made or what concessions are not made."
That's quite a - diplomatic - response, which could mean lots of things.
On its face it just looks like SecDef was told not be foolish and rule things out, even if privately they are, because that's basic negotiating strategy.
The use of leader of the free world, always a bit of a silly expression, somehow looks more like Trump trying to be literal in this context, as though it were a title like emperor.
I'd speculate he doesn't want to confront Trump unless he has to do so, and if the Europeans do it will be a hell of a tricky thing to animate. He'll need Lord Mandelbrot back on placement from NY.
EXCL: Education Minister Stephen Morgan ran a vile WhatsApp group which branded pensioners “terrorists”, hurled abuse at colleagues and shared memes of ex-PM Rishi Sunak being deported to Rwanda.
EXCL: Education Minister Stephen Morgan ran a vile WhatsApp group which branded pensioners “terrorists”, hurled abuse at colleagues and shared memes of ex-PM Rishi Sunak being deported to Rwanda.
It does appear that some people in Labour have a genuine disdain/hatred for old people?
Why we can't build shit in this country example #55483958498934
Council reject EV charging points at a Morrisons supermarket due to insufficient information provided in relation to potential of noise pollution https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyhBUT_KXm8
I like his correction published 35 minutes after the video:
IMPORTANT CORRECTIONS
1. Wisbech is in Cambridgeshire, not Norfolk (but under the control of West Norfolk Council) 2. The information from the news article appears outdated, as it would seem the chargers in question are (I think) now in place.
The rest of my rant is - reasonably - accurate and my standard usual opinion.
I see even Reform friendly sites like Guido panned the party's energy policy announcement yesterday (which included burying power cables), which feels like a strong indication it stinks.
A key problem Reform has in building out it's policy platform is it has no (even vaguely) coherent political philosophy.
It's anti-immigration, sure. Against woke / political correctness etc. It's pro common sense, whatever that means. But what policy direction does it have beyond that?
I would say it's led by people who are pretty right wing economically and supported by people who are pretty left wing or centrist economically. That clearly creates a problem if put under scrutiny.
The latest announcement falls in that category. Are they just attacking batteries as anti-woke? Are they burying power cables to be Nimbys? Both fly in the face of their traditional economically right-wing perspective. And also happen to be crap policy.
I think they'll win lots of seats saying nothing at all. But, as we see with Labour now, if you're planning to get into power it's generally a good idea to have some idea as to what you'll do when you get there.
At least Labour has policy instincts to fall back on (raise taxes, try to improve services). Reform would just be a government that spends 4 years rejecting visa and asylum applications....
EXCL: Education Minister Stephen Morgan ran a vile WhatsApp group which branded pensioners “terrorists”, hurled abuse at colleagues and shared memes of ex-PM Rishi Sunak being deported to Rwanda.
It does appear that some people in Labour have a genuine disdain/hatred for old people?
They regard the old as the barrier to progress and assume young people all agree with them.
Losing the youth vote will be as painful for modern progressives as losing the skilled working class was for old-school socialists.
The photograph of Starmer standing on the steps of the Lockheed Electra at Heston Aerodrome after his return from his appeasement treaty trip to Munich will be vomit inducing. Cometh the hour, cometh Boris Churchill!
The appeaser is from the other side of the Atlantic. And appeasement would be a generous description; this seems a fraction closer to Molotov/Ribbentrop.
EXCL: Education Minister Stephen Morgan ran a vile WhatsApp group which branded pensioners “terrorists”, hurled abuse at colleagues and shared memes of ex-PM Rishi Sunak being deported to Rwanda.
Why we can't build shit in this country example #55483958498934
Council reject EV charging points at a Morrisons supermarket due to insufficient information provided in relation to potential of noise pollution https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyhBUT_KXm8
I like his correction published 35 minutes after the video:
IMPORTANT CORRECTIONS
1. Wisbech is in Cambridgeshire, not Norfolk (but under the control of West Norfolk Council) 2. The information from the news article appears outdated, as it would seem the chargers in question are (I think) now in place.
The rest of my rant is - reasonably - accurate and my standard usual opinion.
EXCL: Education Minister Stephen Morgan ran a vile WhatsApp group which branded pensioners “terrorists”, hurled abuse at colleagues and shared memes of ex-PM Rishi Sunak being deported to Rwanda.
Auto deleting message apps (with no non delete functionality) only people. And people will probably still save screenshots.
EXCL: Education Minister Stephen Morgan ran a vile WhatsApp group which branded pensioners “terrorists”, hurled abuse at colleagues and shared memes of ex-PM Rishi Sunak being deported to Rwanda.
It does appear that some people in Labour have a genuine disdain/hatred for old people?
They regard the old as the barrier to progress and assume young people all agree with them.
Losing the youth vote will be as painful for modern progressives as losing the skilled working class was for old-school socialists.
After your old chap Trump has finished crashing the World, progressives may see a resurgence. It's all cyclical you know.
EXCL: Education Minister Stephen Morgan ran a vile WhatsApp group which branded pensioners “terrorists”, hurled abuse at colleagues and shared memes of ex-PM Rishi Sunak being deported to Rwanda.
And there goes another minister....
The way PB is growing, I do wonder which of us he is.
Reform’s energy announcements look heavily focus grouped to me. Focus grouped with angry old men who are asked what really gets their goat and respond with various diatribes.
Policy by diatribe will presumably also put paid to parking wardens, speed bumps, any planning permission, call centres, people playing music on the bus (Macron’s already on that), and being asked if you have any allergies when ordering food.
Why we can't build shit in this country example #55483958498934
Council reject EV charging points at a Morrisons supermarket due to insufficient information provided in relation to potential of noise pollution https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyhBUT_KXm8
I like his correction published 35 minutes after the video:
IMPORTANT CORRECTIONS
1. Wisbech is in Cambridgeshire, not Norfolk (but under the control of West Norfolk Council) 2. The information from the news article appears outdated, as it would seem the chargers in question are (I think) now in place.
The rest of my rant is - reasonably - accurate and my standard usual opinion.
Sorry about this one
I don't think the second part is true. There are EV chargers at the site with the supermarket shared with other outlets which has been there for a while (you can look up when they opened), this was an application for the Morrisons petrol station, they are two separate sites.
As I say, I bet it is something to do with one of 1000 forms having not been filled in providing the noise impact evidence. But its all performative nonsense because there is already a working petrol station there i.e. the noise will be dominated by that.
EXCL: Education Minister Stephen Morgan ran a vile WhatsApp group which branded pensioners “terrorists”, hurled abuse at colleagues and shared memes of ex-PM Rishi Sunak being deported to Rwanda.
Why do they keep referring to these WhatsApp messages/groups as “vile”? They are a bit dickish, unfunny, a bit unpleasant but to call them “vile” sounds like the writer is very wet and has never been outside, definitely not a pub or even a school. Very pearl clutchy.
Why we can't build shit in this country example #55483958498934
Council reject EV charging points at a Morrisons supermarket due to insufficient information provided in relation to potential of noise pollution https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyhBUT_KXm8
I like his correction published 35 minutes after the video:
IMPORTANT CORRECTIONS
1. Wisbech is in Cambridgeshire, not Norfolk (but under the control of West Norfolk Council) 2. The information from the news article appears outdated, as it would seem the chargers in question are (I think) now in place.
The rest of my rant is - reasonably - accurate and my standard usual opinion.
Sorry about this one
I don't think the second part is true. There are EV chargers at the site with the supermarket shared with other outlets which has been there for a while, this was an application for the Morrisons petrol station, they are two separate sites.
Last year, they installed a single EV charging point in the B & Q car park down the road from Gants Hill, now they're busy installing at least three more.
The latest DOGE executive order makes it something akin to the old Soviet General Secretariat, at least as far as the US executive is concerned.
The second part is meatier.
New hires have to be approved by newly-installed DOGE Team Leads in each agency. These Team Leads will report what goes on in the agency they're assigned to on a monthly basis.
And federal agencies are ordered to participate in their own dismemberment. … Agencies are ordered to develop a comprehensive reorganization plan that identifies offices that can be purged because they lack statutory protections..
As a result, the head of DOGE will now wield something close to full executive power in the US bureaucracy. Domestically, it’s now the second most powerful position in government, de facto.
EXCL: Education Minister Stephen Morgan ran a vile WhatsApp group which branded pensioners “terrorists”, hurled abuse at colleagues and shared memes of ex-PM Rishi Sunak being deported to Rwanda.
It does appear that some people in Labour have a genuine disdain/hatred for old people?
They regard the old as the barrier to progress and assume young people all agree with them.
Losing the youth vote will be as painful for modern progressives as losing the skilled working class was for old-school socialists.
After your old chap Trump has finished crashing the World, progressives may see a resurgence. It's all cyclical you know.
EXCL: Education Minister Stephen Morgan ran a vile WhatsApp group which branded pensioners “terrorists”, hurled abuse at colleagues and shared memes of ex-PM Rishi Sunak being deported to Rwanda.
Why do they keep referring to these WhatsApp messages/groups as “vile”? They are a bit dickish, unfunny, a bit unpleasant but to call them “vile” sounds like the writer is very wet and has never been outside, definitely not a pub or even a school. Very pearl clutchy.
Without seeing the full range of content its hard to judge completely, but it does sound pretty low level. It can run the risk of trivialising the really dark stuff that's out there.
I guess its all relative as they're politicians, and dickish banter can cross the line, but there are levels of poor behaviour, and some groups will be way more vile than others.
I've heard that Amazon are cleaning house in the writing team and they're getting some of the original lore experts back in after the catastrophic drop in viewers for season 2. They are contractually bound to make all 5 seasons so they have no choice but to listen to fan feedback so hopefully the tone and writing will improve for season 3 onwards. I'm sceptical but open to the idea that they can do better, I mean it can't get any worse.
I've skirted around yesterday's PB Invasion of the Cosplay Himmlers, and the detection of the great ranting of middle-aged men in the force, but that Ben Wallace article in the Telegraph is excellent (there, I said it).
The latest DOGE executive order makes it something akin to the old Soviet General Secretariat, at least as far as the US executive is concerned.
The second part is meatier.
New hires have to be approved by newly-installed DOGE Team Leads in each agency. These Team Leads will report what goes on in the agency they're assigned to on a monthly basis.
And federal agencies are ordered to participate in their own dismemberment. … Agencies are ordered to develop a comprehensive reorganization plan that identifies offices that can be purged because they lack statutory protections..
As a result, the head of DOGE will now wield something close to full executive power in the US bureaucracy. Domestically, it’s now the second most powerful position in government, de facto.
Co-president.
This 'aint gonna end with a polite handshake, a small glass of beer and warm wishes for retirement.
Why we can't build shit in this country example #55483958498934
Council reject EV charging points at a Morrisons supermarket due to insufficient information provided in relation to potential of noise pollution https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyhBUT_KXm8
I like his correction published 35 minutes after the video:
IMPORTANT CORRECTIONS
1. Wisbech is in Cambridgeshire, not Norfolk (but under the control of West Norfolk Council) 2. The information from the news article appears outdated, as it would seem the chargers in question are (I think) now in place.
The rest of my rant is - reasonably - accurate and my standard usual opinion.
Sorry about this one
I don't think the second part is true. There are EV chargers at the site with the supermarket shared with other outlets which has been there for a while (you can look up when they opened), this was an application for the Morrisons petrol station, they are two separate sites.
As I say, I bet it is something to do with one of 1000 forms having not been filled in providing the noise impact evidence. But its all performative nonsense because there is already a working petrol station there i.e. the noise will be dominated by that.
So they are dumb enough to believe that the sound of electric chargers will be louder than the sound of a petrol pump? At college I had digs near a 24 hour petrol station and you could hear the bloody things going all night. The council officers sound like grade 1 morons.
I've heard that Amazon are cleaning house in the writing team and they're getting some of the original lore experts back in after the catastrophic drop in viewers for season 2. They are contractually bound to make all 5 seasons so they have no choice but to listen to fan feedback so hopefully the tone and writing will improve for season 3 onwards. I'm sceptical but open to the idea that they can do better, I mean it can't get any worse.
The purchase of what are just a few appendices, not actual stories, for crazy money was one of the best / worse deals in the history of IP...
EXCL: Education Minister Stephen Morgan ran a vile WhatsApp group which branded pensioners “terrorists”, hurled abuse at colleagues and shared memes of ex-PM Rishi Sunak being deported to Rwanda.
Why do they keep referring to these WhatsApp messages/groups as “vile”? They are a bit dickish, unfunny, a bit unpleasant but to call them “vile” sounds like the writer is very wet and has never been outside, definitely not a pub or even a school. Very pearl clutchy.
Without seeing the full range of content its hard to judge completely, but it does sound pretty low level. It can run the risk of trivialising the really dark stuff that's out there.
I guess its all relative as they're politicians, and dickish banter can cross the line, but there are levels of poor behaviour, and some groups will be way more vile than others.
If Labour are going to have a reshuffle, they might just as well use it to get rid of future embarrassments pre-emptively. Rough justice, perhaps, but no one has a right to a ministerial post.
And with so large a new intake, they must be able to identify some talent on the backbenches ?
EXCL: Education Minister Stephen Morgan ran a vile WhatsApp group which branded pensioners “terrorists”, hurled abuse at colleagues and shared memes of ex-PM Rishi Sunak being deported to Rwanda.
Why do they keep referring to these WhatsApp messages/groups as “vile”? They are a bit dickish, unfunny, a bit unpleasant but to call them “vile” sounds like the writer is very wet and has never been outside, definitely not a pub or even a school. Very pearl clutchy.
Without seeing the full range of content its hard to judge completely, but it does sound pretty low level. It can run the risk of trivialising the really dark stuff that's out there.
I guess its all relative as they're politicians, and dickish banter can cross the line, but there are levels of poor behaviour, and some groups will be way more vile than others.
If Labour are going to have a reshuffle, they might just as well use it to get rid of future embarrassments pre-emptively. Rough justice, perhaps, but no one has a right to a ministerial post.
And with so large a new intake, they must be able to identify some talent on the backbenches ?
They did try to cut out a few obvious embarrassments from even being selected of course, but with 400 MPs and people more sensitive and data more open than ever, you cannot get them all.
I've heard that Amazon are cleaning house in the writing team and they're getting some of the original lore experts back in after the catastrophic drop in viewers for season 2. They are contractually bound to make all 5 seasons so they have no choice but to listen to fan feedback so hopefully the tone and writing will improve for season 3 onwards. I'm sceptical but open to the idea that they can do better, I mean it can't get any worse.
The purchase of what are just a few appendices, not actual stories, for crazy money was one of the best / worse deals in the history of IP...
Sounds like it could have been ideal (albeit not at the price they paid), in getting rights without needing to slavishly follow the, comparively light, amount of detail.
But you need to do such a thing well. It's not as though canon experts have no complaints about the movies, which are very well received, people will accept lack of lore adherence in the right circumstances.
The latest DOGE executive order makes it something akin to the old Soviet General Secretariat, at least as far as the US executive is concerned.
The second part is meatier.
New hires have to be approved by newly-installed DOGE Team Leads in each agency. These Team Leads will report what goes on in the agency they're assigned to on a monthly basis.
And federal agencies are ordered to participate in their own dismemberment. … Agencies are ordered to develop a comprehensive reorganization plan that identifies offices that can be purged because they lack statutory protections..
As a result, the head of DOGE will now wield something close to full executive power in the US bureaucracy. Domestically, it’s now the second most powerful position in government, de facto.
Co-president.
This 'aint gonna end with a polite handshake, a small glass of beer and warm wishes for retirement.
Elon seems to be in a real hurry, is he about to catch a rocket to Mars or something?
Is this a new moderation policy, or just the RFK exception to the existing one ?
The c-word exclusion was the direct instruction of OGH, who is of the generation that considered it the ultimate bad word. OGH has taken a step back from the day-to-day running of the site. That function is now done by the two mods, one of which is @rcs1000. His censorship space is different to OGH and he occasionally uses the c-word. But OGH's rule has not been revoked for the non-mods.
EXCL: Education Minister Stephen Morgan ran a vile WhatsApp group which branded pensioners “terrorists”, hurled abuse at colleagues and shared memes of ex-PM Rishi Sunak being deported to Rwanda.
I'd love to know how pensioners qualify as terrorists. Isn't there an organisation that deradicalises people? I'm 76 so when is my referral coming?
EXCL: Education Minister Stephen Morgan ran a vile WhatsApp group which branded pensioners “terrorists”, hurled abuse at colleagues and shared memes of ex-PM Rishi Sunak being deported to Rwanda.
I'd love to know how pensioners qualify as terrorists. Isn't there an organisation that deradicalises people? I'm 76 so when is my referral coming?
Good evening, everybody.
Good evening! Just called to dinner (woodpigeon breasts - doing our thing for local agriculture and food security).
EXCL: Education Minister Stephen Morgan ran a vile WhatsApp group which branded pensioners “terrorists”, hurled abuse at colleagues and shared memes of ex-PM Rishi Sunak being deported to Rwanda.
Why do they keep referring to these WhatsApp messages/groups as “vile”? They are a bit dickish, unfunny, a bit unpleasant but to call them “vile” sounds like the writer is very wet and has never been outside, definitely not a pub or even a school. Very pearl clutchy.
Without seeing the full range of content its hard to judge completely, but it does sound pretty low level. It can run the risk of trivialising the really dark stuff that's out there.
I guess its all relative as they're politicians, and dickish banter can cross the line, but there are levels of poor behaviour, and some groups will be way more vile than others.
If Labour are going to have a reshuffle, they might just as well use it to get rid of future embarrassments pre-emptively. Rough justice, perhaps, but no one has a right to a ministerial post.
And with so large a new intake, they must be able to identify some talent on the backbenches ?
The problem is that Starmer is the most in need of reshuffling. He might be a decent Home Sec.
Why we can't build shit in this country example #55483958498934
Council reject EV charging points at a Morrisons supermarket due to insufficient information provided in relation to potential of noise pollution https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyhBUT_KXm8
I like his correction published 35 minutes after the video:
IMPORTANT CORRECTIONS
1. Wisbech is in Cambridgeshire, not Norfolk (but under the control of West Norfolk Council) 2. The information from the news article appears outdated, as it would seem the chargers in question are (I think) now in place.
The rest of my rant is - reasonably - accurate and my standard usual opinion.
Sorry about this one
I don't think the second part is true. There are EV chargers at the site with the supermarket shared with other outlets which has been there for a while (you can look up when they opened), this was an application for the Morrisons petrol station, they are two separate sites.
As I say, I bet it is something to do with one of 1000 forms having not been filled in providing the noise impact evidence. But its all performative nonsense because there is already a working petrol station there i.e. the noise will be dominated by that.
So they are dumb enough to believe that the sound of electric chargers will be louder than the sound of a petrol pump? At college I had digs near a 24 hour petrol station and you could hear the bloody things going all night. The council officers sound like grade 1 morons.
No - I think they are probably sensible enough to ask the applicant to fill in a simple form properly.
Bloody brilliant. JHB has honed on one of the top huge achilles heels of Farage - his Trump/Putin love and gone for the kill.
"I thought Reform cared about national borders"
More burger eating surrender monkeys.
Even Chamberlain had his limits. Reform would give Putin anything he wanted.
IIRC Farage's position at the GE was that Putin's NATO and other arguments were indeed pretexts, but it was the West's fault for giving those to him, which seemed to misunderstand the point of a pretext that it is not the real reason for an action, so if it were not given there would be another chosen.
Why we can't build shit in this country example #55483958498934
Council reject EV charging points at a Morrisons supermarket due to insufficient information provided in relation to potential of noise pollution https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyhBUT_KXm8
I like his correction published 35 minutes after the video:
IMPORTANT CORRECTIONS
1. Wisbech is in Cambridgeshire, not Norfolk (but under the control of West Norfolk Council) 2. The information from the news article appears outdated, as it would seem the chargers in question are (I think) now in place.
The rest of my rant is - reasonably - accurate and my standard usual opinion.
Sorry about this one
I don't think the second part is true. There are EV chargers at the site with the supermarket shared with other outlets which has been there for a while (you can look up when they opened), this was an application for the Morrisons petrol station, they are two separate sites.
As I say, I bet it is something to do with one of 1000 forms having not been filled in providing the noise impact evidence. But its all performative nonsense because there is already a working petrol station there i.e. the noise will be dominated by that.
So they are dumb enough to believe that the sound of electric chargers will be louder than the sound of a petrol pump? At college I had digs near a 24 hour petrol station and you could hear the bloody things going all night. The council officers sound like grade 1 morons.
Planning is a farce in this country and a barrier to getting stuff done Part 74813c of an ongoing series.
The latest DOGE executive order makes it something akin to the old Soviet General Secretariat, at least as far as the US executive is concerned.
The second part is meatier.
New hires have to be approved by newly-installed DOGE Team Leads in each agency. These Team Leads will report what goes on in the agency they're assigned to on a monthly basis.
And federal agencies are ordered to participate in their own dismemberment. … Agencies are ordered to develop a comprehensive reorganization plan that identifies offices that can be purged because they lack statutory protections..
As a result, the head of DOGE will now wield something close to full executive power in the US bureaucracy. Domestically, it’s now the second most powerful position in government, de facto.
If, for a minute, we ignore the process and look at the results isn't there a good case for someone to be doing this? And not just in America but here too.
"Public sector productivity fell again last year, according to figures that dealt a blow to ministers’ hopes of a more efficient state.
Rising numbers of staff are not being matched by results and the state remains 8.4 per cent below its pre-pandemic levels of productivity, according to the Office for National Statistics.
The NHS has driven declining efficiency and remains 18.5 per cent less productive than before the Covid lockdown, the figures suggest."
Isn't it right for someone out there to be asking the question about making savings in the public sector, even if the money is shoved into other bits of it or infrastructure investment. The complete lack of oversight of state spending by politicians for the last 8 years since Theresa May turned on the taps (and Labour look like increasing further) has resulted in an almost 10% drop in productivity, that's literally £70bn in spending we could cut tomorrow from departments to push into infrastructure or just not spend and reduce the deficit. There's £40bn of productivity loss in the NHS alone.
We need more focus on outcomes and less focus on processes. It's that incessant focus on process that has resulted in an 18.5% drop in NHS productivity. The lack of accountability has slowed them to get away with it too.
They’re correct if you see it in absolute terms, which makes more sense.
The question does explicitly talk about it in proportional terms, but frankly I can easily see people still getting that mixed up, and I'd have no idea whether the UK gives more or less proportionally than others.
Going back to the polling earlier, where basically Reform form a government on 300 seats or whatever, or there is a Grande Coalition of Lab-Con -- Reform (Tice/Farage) have a massive albatross around their necks on the Putin love fst stuff.
We are effectively imho already at war with Russia.
Seems very very likely by the GE of 2029 we will be even close to war.
EXCL: Education Minister Stephen Morgan ran a vile WhatsApp group which branded pensioners “terrorists”, hurled abuse at colleagues and shared memes of ex-PM Rishi Sunak being deported to Rwanda.
I'd love to know how pensioners qualify as terrorists.
Have you met a group UK goverment's are more terrified of upsetting for fear of (electoral) consequences?
Is this a new moderation policy, or just the RFK exception to the existing one ?
The c-word exclusion was the direct instruction of OGH, who is of the generation that considered it the ultimate bad word. OGH has taken a step back from the day-to-day running of the site. That function is now done by the two mods, one of which is @rcs1000. His censorship space is different to OGH and he occasionally uses the c-word. But OGH's rule has not been revoked for the non-mods.
There are also perceived misogyny issues around the use of the c-word as an expletive.
The latest DOGE executive order makes it something akin to the old Soviet General Secretariat, at least as far as the US executive is concerned.
The second part is meatier.
New hires have to be approved by newly-installed DOGE Team Leads in each agency. These Team Leads will report what goes on in the agency they're assigned to on a monthly basis.
And federal agencies are ordered to participate in their own dismemberment. … Agencies are ordered to develop a comprehensive reorganization plan that identifies offices that can be purged because they lack statutory protections..
As a result, the head of DOGE will now wield something close to full executive power in the US bureaucracy. Domestically, it’s now the second most powerful position in government, de facto.
If, for a minute, we ignore the process and look at the results isn't there a good case for someone to be doing this? And not just in America but here too.
"Public sector productivity fell again last year, according to figures that dealt a blow to ministers’ hopes of a more efficient state.
Rising numbers of staff are not being matched by results and the state remains 8.4 per cent below its pre-pandemic levels of productivity, according to the Office for National Statistics.
The NHS has driven declining efficiency and remains 18.5 per cent less productive than before the Covid lockdown, the figures suggest."
Isn't it right for someone out there to be asking the question about making savings in the public sector, even if the money is shoved into other bits of it or infrastructure investment. The complete lack of oversight of state spending by politicians for the last 8 years since Theresa May turned on the taps (and Labour look like increasing further) has resulted in an almost 10% drop in productivity, that's literally £70bn in spending we could cut tomorrow from departments to push into infrastructure or just not spend and reduce the deficit. There's £40bn of productivity loss in the NHS alone.
We need more focus on outcomes and less focus on processes. It's that incessant focus on process that has resulted in an 18.5% drop in NHS productivity. The lack of accountability has slowed them to get away with it too.
Process isn't everything and a rebalancing may be needed, a shock even, but are there no limitations?
Going back to the polling earlier, where basically Reform form a government on 300 seats or whatever, or there is a Grande Coalition of Lab-Con -- Reform (Tice/Farage) have a massive albatross around their necks on the Putin love fst stuff.
We are effectively imho already at war with Russia.
Seems very very likely by the GE of 2029 we will be even close to war.
Their vote will be snow in April.
We aren't going to War with Russia, most likely it will be a deal on current boundaries which will stay frozen until a new President replaces Trump
It was officially renewed - contracts signed etc - before Christmas
Great news. Not least because it will piss off all the racist incels with their moans about black elves and 'efnic' hobbits.
I've managed to avoid the complete works of Tolkien for the last 55 years and I reckon I can hold out for the final furlong. But elves and hobbits don't sound especially pink to my way of thinking. However, they must, without exception be less than three feet tall. If Bezos has been casting actors who exceed this perfectly sensible limitation it would be yet another DEI shocker crying out for justice.
EXCL: Education Minister Stephen Morgan ran a vile WhatsApp group which branded pensioners “terrorists”, hurled abuse at colleagues and shared memes of ex-PM Rishi Sunak being deported to Rwanda.
I'd love to know how pensioners qualify as terrorists. Isn't there an organisation that deradicalises people? I'm 76 so when is my referral coming?
Good evening, everybody.
Good evening! Just called to dinner (woodpigeon breasts - doing our thing for local agriculture and food security).
Partridge en croute tonight for me. First meal home after more than month away offshore where the food is decent enough in a transport caff sort of way.
Going back to the polling earlier, where basically Reform form a government on 300 seats or whatever, or there is a Grande Coalition of Lab-Con -- Reform (Tice/Farage) have a massive albatross around their necks on the Putin love fst stuff.
We are effectively imho already at war with Russia.
Seems very very likely by the GE of 2029 we will be even close to war.
Their vote will be snow in April.
We aren't going to War with Russia, most likely it will be a deal on current boundaries which will stay frozen until a new President replaces Trump
Do you mean Trump or Putin?
Neither is leaving office other than in a pine box.
I probably call this as normal Telegraph shit stirring. They are trying to make out a liability exists for ++Welby on the basis of Council Tax. For it to apply, it needs a lot of angels to line up on pinheads. They are in the habit of telling porkies where the Church of England is concerned.
Relevant matters (and I can't call how they apply):
It's absolutely routine for Priests / Ministers etc to be allowed to stay in their work accommodation if necessary, as it would be empty for the interregnum anyway,and there will be a normal way of doing this - there will be scores or hundreds of cases every year. @HYUFD may know how this is normally set up.
And the ABC is no different in concept from any other Stipendiary Minister - albeit with a somewhat higher stipend (receives around £85k iirc at present).
1 - I am not sure of the rules around work accommodation. This is work accommodation.
2 - (1) matters because the CT liability falls on the church if they own the property and it is work accommodation.
3 - Dwellings for a Minister of Religion are exempt from CT liability when empty, like those owned by charities.
4 - So that leaves Welby potenitally liable if he is in situ and not working as a Minister of Religion.
But
5 - If he is a Permitted Occupier or Licensed Occupier under rental law, CT liability does not attach to the occupier anyway. That would normally be the option rather than a rental agreement, since the latter is more complex and gives a Right to Occupy for 6 months plus makes eviction complex if relationship break down, and flexibility is needed. PO or LO will be Standard.
6 - Given that he has simply resigned with no payoff, his not being liable may be part of the deal.
7 - An alternative would be to appoint him for the period to something different that does make him a Minister of Religion, such as a Chaplain or whatever, or to make it House for Duty for the duration. HMRC do not treat half-time House for Duty as a taxable benefit, and the church being served would pick up the liability.
Yes Ministers of Religion are exempt from council tax as are members of religious communities with “no income or capital” of their own who are “dependent on the community” to provide for their “material needs”.
Going back to the polling earlier, where basically Reform form a government on 300 seats or whatever, or there is a Grande Coalition of Lab-Con -- Reform (Tice/Farage) have a massive albatross around their necks on the Putin love fst stuff.
We are effectively imho already at war with Russia.
Seems very very likely by the GE of 2029 we will be even close to war.
Their vote will be snow in April.
We aren't going to War with Russia, most likely it will be a deal on current boundaries which will stay frozen until a new President replaces Trump
Do you mean Trump or Putin?
Neither is leaving office other than in a pine box.
Under the US constitution Trump is leaving office in 4 years time even if his approval rating is 90%
It was officially renewed - contracts signed etc - before Christmas
Great news. Not least because it will piss off all the racist incels with their moans about black elves and 'efnic' hobbits.
I've managed to avoid the complete works of Tolkien for the last 55 years and I reckon I can hold out for the final furlong. But elves and hobbits don't sound especially pink to my way of thinking. However, they must, without exception be less than three feet tall. If Bezos has been casting actors who exceed this perfectly sensible limitation it would be yet another DEI shocker crying out for justice.
I read pretty much the whole Tolkein back in the Seventies.
It wasn't worth the bother. The Silmarilion was particularly turgid.
The latest DOGE executive order makes it something akin to the old Soviet General Secretariat, at least as far as the US executive is concerned.
The second part is meatier.
New hires have to be approved by newly-installed DOGE Team Leads in each agency. These Team Leads will report what goes on in the agency they're assigned to on a monthly basis.
And federal agencies are ordered to participate in their own dismemberment. … Agencies are ordered to develop a comprehensive reorganization plan that identifies offices that can be purged because they lack statutory protections..
As a result, the head of DOGE will now wield something close to full executive power in the US bureaucracy. Domestically, it’s now the second most powerful position in government, de facto.
If, for a minute, we ignore the process and look at the results isn't there a good case for someone to be doing this? And not just in America but here too.
"Public sector productivity fell again last year, according to figures that dealt a blow to ministers’ hopes of a more efficient state.
Rising numbers of staff are not being matched by results and the state remains 8.4 per cent below its pre-pandemic levels of productivity, according to the Office for National Statistics.
The NHS has driven declining efficiency and remains 18.5 per cent less productive than before the Covid lockdown, the figures suggest."
Isn't it right for someone out there to be asking the question about making savings in the public sector, even if the money is shoved into other bits of it or infrastructure investment. The complete lack of oversight of state spending by politicians for the last 8 years since Theresa May turned on the taps (and Labour look like increasing further) has resulted in an almost 10% drop in productivity, that's literally £70bn in spending we could cut tomorrow from departments to push into infrastructure or just not spend and reduce the deficit. There's £40bn of productivity loss in the NHS alone.
We need more focus on outcomes and less focus on processes. It's that incessant focus on process that has resulted in an 18.5% drop in NHS productivity. The lack of accountability has slowed them to get away with it too.
Process isn't everything and a rebalancing may be needed, a shock even, but are there no limitations?
Maybe there shouldn't be because what we're doing isn't working. Sending someone like Musk in to slash at the unproductive parts of the state so we can stop borrowing so much money for basically no loss in output might actually be the way out of the current conundrum for the government. Yes the unions would be upset and we'd end up with 1m or so people looking for work (resulting in lower inflation) but we're going to borrow £127bn this year and £70bn of that is due to productivity losses vs pre-covid era productivity. Imagine if the NHS was as productive today as it was in 2019 and had the same funding, literally 20% more operations, 20% more appointments, 20% more resource overall, instead we've been shoving ever more cash into a system that has peaked in output terms and can no longer expand it's output regardless of how much we put in.
It was officially renewed - contracts signed etc - before Christmas
Great news. Not least because it will piss off all the racist incels with their moans about black elves and 'efnic' hobbits.
I've managed to avoid the complete works of Tolkien for the last 55 years and I reckon I can hold out for the final furlong. But elves and hobbits don't sound especially pink to my way of thinking. However, they must, without exception be less than three feet tall. If Bezos has been casting actors who exceed this perfectly sensible limitation it would be yet another DEI shocker crying out for justice.
Random sprinklings of different ethnicities in small groups may be a more valid complaint, there can be a too easy dismissal of some points just because some people are racist. There are times and settings where race blindness could affect the story, depending on its tone and type. An ultra serious biopic of Nelson Mandela vs a light hearted and ethnically diverse story in the time of Henry VIII say.
Going back to the polling earlier, where basically Reform form a government on 300 seats or whatever, or there is a Grande Coalition of Lab-Con -- Reform (Tice/Farage) have a massive albatross around their necks on the Putin love fst stuff.
We are effectively imho already at war with Russia.
Seems very very likely by the GE of 2029 we will be even close to war.
Their vote will be snow in April.
We aren't going to War with Russia, most likely it will be a deal on current boundaries which will stay frozen until a new President replaces Trump
Do you mean Trump or Putin?
Neither is leaving office other than in a pine box.
Under the US constitution Trump is leaving office in 4 years time even if his approval rating is 90%
The latest DOGE executive order makes it something akin to the old Soviet General Secretariat, at least as far as the US executive is concerned.
The second part is meatier.
New hires have to be approved by newly-installed DOGE Team Leads in each agency. These Team Leads will report what goes on in the agency they're assigned to on a monthly basis.
And federal agencies are ordered to participate in their own dismemberment. … Agencies are ordered to develop a comprehensive reorganization plan that identifies offices that can be purged because they lack statutory protections..
As a result, the head of DOGE will now wield something close to full executive power in the US bureaucracy. Domestically, it’s now the second most powerful position in government, de facto.
If, for a minute, we ignore the process and look at the results isn't there a good case for someone to be doing this? And not just in America but here too.
"Public sector productivity fell again last year, according to figures that dealt a blow to ministers’ hopes of a more efficient state.
Rising numbers of staff are not being matched by results and the state remains 8.4 per cent below its pre-pandemic levels of productivity, according to the Office for National Statistics.
The NHS has driven declining efficiency and remains 18.5 per cent less productive than before the Covid lockdown, the figures suggest."
Isn't it right for someone out there to be asking the question about making savings in the public sector, even if the money is shoved into other bits of it or infrastructure investment. The complete lack of oversight of state spending by politicians for the last 8 years since Theresa May turned on the taps (and Labour look like increasing further) has resulted in an almost 10% drop in productivity, that's literally £70bn in spending we could cut tomorrow from departments to push into infrastructure or just not spend and reduce the deficit. There's £40bn of productivity loss in the NHS alone.
We need more focus on outcomes and less focus on processes. It's that incessant focus on process that has resulted in an 18.5% drop in NHS productivity. The lack of accountability has slowed them to get away with it too.
What does declining NHS efficiency mean? Is it measured in bandages per nurse, appointments, treatments, deaths or discharges, and per what? Does NICE approval of a new cancer treatment costing £50,000 a dose mean fewer lives saved per pound? The article is not clear.
The latest DOGE executive order makes it something akin to the old Soviet General Secretariat, at least as far as the US executive is concerned.
The second part is meatier.
New hires have to be approved by newly-installed DOGE Team Leads in each agency. These Team Leads will report what goes on in the agency they're assigned to on a monthly basis.
And federal agencies are ordered to participate in their own dismemberment. … Agencies are ordered to develop a comprehensive reorganization plan that identifies offices that can be purged because they lack statutory protections..
As a result, the head of DOGE will now wield something close to full executive power in the US bureaucracy. Domestically, it’s now the second most powerful position in government, de facto.
If, for a minute, we ignore the process and look at the results isn't there a good case for someone to be doing this? And not just in America but here too.
"Public sector productivity fell again last year, according to figures that dealt a blow to ministers’ hopes of a more efficient state.
Rising numbers of staff are not being matched by results and the state remains 8.4 per cent below its pre-pandemic levels of productivity, according to the Office for National Statistics.
The NHS has driven declining efficiency and remains 18.5 per cent less productive than before the Covid lockdown, the figures suggest."
Isn't it right for someone out there to be asking the question about making savings in the public sector, even if the money is shoved into other bits of it or infrastructure investment. The complete lack of oversight of state spending by politicians for the last 8 years since Theresa May turned on the taps (and Labour look like increasing further) has resulted in an almost 10% drop in productivity, that's literally £70bn in spending we could cut tomorrow from departments to push into infrastructure or just not spend and reduce the deficit. There's £40bn of productivity loss in the NHS alone.
We need more focus on outcomes and less focus on processes. It's that incessant focus on process that has resulted in an 18.5% drop in NHS productivity. The lack of accountability has slowed them to get away with it too.
Process isn't everything and a rebalancing may be needed, a shock even, but are there no limitations?
Maybe there shouldn't be because what we're doing isn't working. Sending someone like Musk in to slash at the unproductive parts of the state so we can stop borrowing so much money for basically no loss in output might actually be the way out of the current conundrum for the government. Yes the unions would be upset and we'd end up with 1m or so people looking for work (resulting in lower inflation) but we're going to borrow £127bn this year and £70bn of that is due to productivity losses vs pre-covid era productivity. Imagine if the NHS was as productive today as it was in 2019 and had the same funding, literally 20% more operations, 20% more appointments, 20% more resource overall, instead we've been shoving ever more cash into a system that has peaked in output terms and can no longer expand it's output regardless of how much we put in.
This is like the benevolent dictator argument though. It may work brilliantly for a time, then it doesnt, so there's processes to avoid it.
Is this a new moderation policy, or just the RFK exception to the existing one ?
The c-word exclusion was the direct instruction of OGH, who is of the generation that considered it the ultimate bad word. OGH has taken a step back from the day-to-day running of the site. That function is now done by the two mods, one of which is @rcs1000. His censorship space is different to OGH and he occasionally uses the c-word. But OGH's rule has not been revoked for the non-mods.
There are also perceived misogyny issues around the use of the c-word as an expletive.
Are prick, cock, dick, penis, bollocks, bellend, knob and any other expletives derived from words for male sexual organs misandry?
It was officially renewed - contracts signed etc - before Christmas
Great news. Not least because it will piss off all the racist incels with their moans about black elves and 'efnic' hobbits.
I've managed to avoid the complete works of Tolkien for the last 55 years and I reckon I can hold out for the final furlong. But elves and hobbits don't sound especially pink to my way of thinking. However, they must, without exception be less than three feet tall. If Bezos has been casting actors who exceed this perfectly sensible limitation it would be yet another DEI shocker crying out for justice.
I read pretty much the whole Tolkein back in the Seventies.
It wasn't worth the bother. The Silmarilion was particularly turgid.
Great themes, great worldbuilding, great prose. Not necessarily the best written. Tastes differ, no doubt some of your preferred stuff is not great to many others.
Silmarillion is not even a novel really, of course its more turgid though.
The latest DOGE executive order makes it something akin to the old Soviet General Secretariat, at least as far as the US executive is concerned.
The second part is meatier.
New hires have to be approved by newly-installed DOGE Team Leads in each agency. These Team Leads will report what goes on in the agency they're assigned to on a monthly basis.
And federal agencies are ordered to participate in their own dismemberment. … Agencies are ordered to develop a comprehensive reorganization plan that identifies offices that can be purged because they lack statutory protections..
As a result, the head of DOGE will now wield something close to full executive power in the US bureaucracy. Domestically, it’s now the second most powerful position in government, de facto.
If, for a minute, we ignore the process and look at the results isn't there a good case for someone to be doing this? And not just in America but here too.
"Public sector productivity fell again last year, according to figures that dealt a blow to ministers’ hopes of a more efficient state.
Rising numbers of staff are not being matched by results and the state remains 8.4 per cent below its pre-pandemic levels of productivity, according to the Office for National Statistics.
The NHS has driven declining efficiency and remains 18.5 per cent less productive than before the Covid lockdown, the figures suggest."
Isn't it right for someone out there to be asking the question about making savings in the public sector, even if the money is shoved into other bits of it or infrastructure investment. The complete lack of oversight of state spending by politicians for the last 8 years since Theresa May turned on the taps (and Labour look like increasing further) has resulted in an almost 10% drop in productivity, that's literally £70bn in spending we could cut tomorrow from departments to push into infrastructure or just not spend and reduce the deficit. There's £40bn of productivity loss in the NHS alone.
We need more focus on outcomes and less focus on processes. It's that incessant focus on process that has resulted in an 18.5% drop in NHS productivity. The lack of accountability has slowed them to get away with it too.
Process isn't everything and a rebalancing may be needed, a shock even, but are there no limitations?
Maybe there shouldn't be because what we're doing isn't working. Sending someone like Musk in to slash at the unproductive parts of the state so we can stop borrowing so much money for basically no loss in output might actually be the way out of the current conundrum for the government. Yes the unions would be upset and we'd end up with 1m or so people looking for work (resulting in lower inflation) but we're going to borrow £127bn this year and £70bn of that is due to productivity losses vs pre-covid era productivity. Imagine if the NHS was as productive today as it was in 2019 and had the same funding, literally 20% more operations, 20% more appointments, 20% more resource overall, instead we've been shoving ever more cash into a system that has peaked in output terms and can no longer expand it's output regardless of how much we put in.
This is like the benevolent dictator argument though. It may work brilliantly for a time, then it doesnt, so there's processes to avoid it.
Sure, but again, maybe we need to slash and burn at the current "process state" because it's causing a huge burden on the taxpayer for no real gain. We're spending more on the state than ever but receive less service from it than we did in 2017. That money has just gone into the ether, wouldn't it be better if we just didn't spend it and reduced state borrowing?
I probably call this as normal Telegraph shit stirring. They are trying to make out a liability exists for ++Welby on the basis of Council Tax. For it to apply, it needs a lot of angels to line up on pinheads. They are in the habit of telling porkies where the Church of England is concerned.
Relevant matters (and I can't call how they apply):
It's absolutely routine for Priests / Ministers etc to be allowed to stay in their work accommodation if necessary, as it would be empty for the interregnum anyway,and there will be a normal way of doing this - there will be scores or hundreds of cases every year. @HYUFD may know how this is normally set up.
And the ABC is no different in concept from any other Stipendiary Minister - albeit with a somewhat higher stipend (receives around £85k iirc at present).
1 - I am not sure of the rules around work accommodation. This is work accommodation.
2 - (1) matters because the CT liability falls on the church if they own the property and it is work accommodation.
3 - Dwellings for a Minister of Religion are exempt from CT liability when empty, like those owned by charities.
4 - So that leaves Welby potenitally liable if he is in situ and not working as a Minister of Religion.
But
5 - If he is a Permitted Occupier or Licensed Occupier under rental law, CT liability does not attach to the occupier anyway. That would normally be the option rather than a rental agreement, since the latter is more complex and gives a Right to Occupy for 6 months plus makes eviction complex if relationship break down, and flexibility is needed. PO or LO will be Standard.
6 - Given that he has simply resigned with no payoff, his not being liable may be part of the deal.
7 - An alternative would be to appoint him for the period to something different that does make him a Minister of Religion, such as a Chaplain or whatever, or to make it House for Duty for the duration. HMRC do not treat half-time House for Duty as a taxable benefit, and the church being served would pick up the liability.
Yes Ministers of Religion are exempt from council tax as are members of religious communities with “no income or capital” of their own who are “dependent on the community” to provide for their “material needs”.
Heh. So the "HMRC will make a ruling" answer was actually quite wise.
Is this a new moderation policy, or just the RFK exception to the existing one ?
The c-word exclusion was the direct instruction of OGH, who is of the generation that considered it the ultimate bad word. OGH has taken a step back from the day-to-day running of the site. That function is now done by the two mods, one of which is @rcs1000. His censorship space is different to OGH and he occasionally uses the c-word. But OGH's rule has not been revoked for the non-mods.
There are also perceived misogyny issues around the use of the c-word as an expletive.
Are prick, cock, dick, penis, bollocks, bellend, knob and any other expletives derived from words for male sexual organs misandry?
Penis is not an expletive. The rest are just useful adjectives to describe Trump, and Musk for that matter.
EXCL: Education Minister Stephen Morgan ran a vile WhatsApp group which branded pensioners “terrorists”, hurled abuse at colleagues and shared memes of ex-PM Rishi Sunak being deported to Rwanda.
I'd love to know how pensioners qualify as terrorists.
Have you met a group UK goverment's are more terrified of upsetting for fear of (electoral) consequences?
That's amusing, but if someone like an Education Minister has really redefined terrorists to mean those who vote in fair & free elections we're definitely on the skids. The equivalent would be those peaceful, democratic people who abjure voting in favour of knives, guns & bombs.
EXCL: Education Minister Stephen Morgan ran a vile WhatsApp group which branded pensioners “terrorists”, hurled abuse at colleagues and shared memes of ex-PM Rishi Sunak being deported to Rwanda.
Why do they keep referring to these WhatsApp messages/groups as “vile”? They are a bit dickish, unfunny, a bit unpleasant but to call them “vile” sounds like the writer is very wet and has never been outside, definitely not a pub or even a school. Very pearl clutchy.
Without seeing the full range of content its hard to judge completely, but it does sound pretty low level. It can run the risk of trivialising the really dark stuff that's out there.
I guess its all relative as they're politicians, and dickish banter can cross the line, but there are levels of poor behaviour, and some groups will be way more vile than others.
It's always the same press stories. Something really egregious happens and it makes a great story, so the press hunt around for something similar to keep it going. The second story is never as strong and then it peters out.
For example, the Gavin Willliamson bullying story was pretty bad, and then it was followed by Raab bullying which was a lot more tame (although Raab eventually resigned anyway)
Is this a new moderation policy, or just the RFK exception to the existing one ?
The c-word exclusion was the direct instruction of OGH, who is of the generation that considered it the ultimate bad word. OGH has taken a step back from the day-to-day running of the site. That function is now done by the two mods, one of which is @rcs1000. His censorship space is different to OGH and he occasionally uses the c-word. But OGH's rule has not been revoked for the non-mods.
There are also perceived misogyny issues around the use of the c-word as an expletive.
Are prick, cock, dick, penis, bollocks, bellend, knob and any other expletives derived from words for male sexual organs misandry?
No, and nor is pussy widely seen as misogynistic, so probably the extreme nature of the c-word is a factor here.
But you've reminded me of my favourite 2010s-era Viz joke – Education Secretary Michael Gove revealed that 90 per cent of the emails he received misspelled the word bellend.
TUI flight issues horror 'MAY DAY' fuel emergency and comes within minutes of crash The Boeing 787 aircraft had 300 passengers on board when pilots realised fuel was running dangerously low after they tried to land at two airports due to raging winds https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/tui-flight-issues-horror-may-34672700
The report has been issued about a 2023 near-disaster. At first glance, it is not encouraging that the airliner was originally told to circle Manchester and then diverted to an airport too small.
Going back to the polling earlier, where basically Reform form a government on 300 seats or whatever, or there is a Grande Coalition of Lab-Con -- Reform (Tice/Farage) have a massive albatross around their necks on the Putin love fst stuff.
We are effectively imho already at war with Russia.
Seems very very likely by the GE of 2029 we will be even close to war.
Their vote will be snow in April.
We aren't going to War with Russia, most likely it will be a deal on current boundaries which will stay frozen until a new President replaces Trump
Do you mean Trump or Putin?
Neither is leaving office other than in a pine box.
Under the US constitution Trump is leaving office in 4 years time even if his approval rating is 90%
Genuine
Look at what is happening before your very eyes.
Unless there is a constitutional amendment requiring 2/3 of Congress and the states behind it or Trump has the military behind him to enforce a dictatorship, which he didn't in Jan 2021, he will be leaving office in Jan 2029
Going back to the polling earlier, where basically Reform form a government on 300 seats or whatever, or there is a Grande Coalition of Lab-Con -- Reform (Tice/Farage) have a massive albatross around their necks on the Putin love fst stuff.
We are effectively imho already at war with Russia.
Seems very very likely by the GE of 2029 we will be even close to war.
Their vote will be snow in April.
We aren't going to War with Russia, most likely it will be a deal on current boundaries which will stay frozen until a new President replaces Trump
Do you mean Trump or Putin?
Neither is leaving office other than in a pine box.
Under the US constitution Trump is leaving office in 4 years time even if his approval rating is 90%
As interpreted by the Supreme Court, which has been rigged by Trump and has already granted him effective total immunity from prosecution. There's no particular reason to suppose that they won't rule he's also allowed to stand again, because reasons, and the subsequent election can then be fiddled. Unless the justices show unexpected backbone, in which case expect a few accidental tragic falls out of the windows of tall buildings.
Going back to the polling earlier, where basically Reform form a government on 300 seats or whatever, or there is a Grande Coalition of Lab-Con -- Reform (Tice/Farage) have a massive albatross around their necks on the Putin love fst stuff.
We are effectively imho already at war with Russia.
Seems very very likely by the GE of 2029 we will be even close to war.
Their vote will be snow in April.
We aren't going to War with Russia, most likely it will be a deal on current boundaries which will stay frozen until a new President replaces Trump
Do you mean Trump or Putin?
Neither is leaving office other than in a pine box.
Under the US constitution Trump is leaving office in 4 years time even if his approval rating is 90%
Genuine
Look at what is happening before your very eyes.
Unless there is a constitutional amendment requiring 2/3 of Congress and the states behind it or Trump has the military behind him to enforce a dictatorship, which he didn't in Jan 2021, he will be leaving office in Jan 2029
I think the pessimistic take on the current situation is a civil war in relatively short order. I can't imagine many blue states putting up with what Musk is up to for very long. And it seems USonians are pretty entrenched in their views.
I think a lot depends on whether the administration tries to defy the courts. If they do, I suspect there will be a flashpoint for violence at some point soon that will snowball.
At which point, presumably, the military will have to pick a side. So Trump may have the military behind him by 2029 (or may be forced from office by said military).
I'm not saying that will happen, but I don't think we're that far from it if a few bad things happen in sequence.
In 'where is the money coming from' news the oldies and sickies seem to be protected into the dim and distant:
In its central forecast, the OBR projected UK public healthcare spending will rise by around 3% every year, after adjusting for inflation. This would be broadly in line with average growth over recent decades, although the rate has fluctuated under different governments.
The OBR estimates this trend would add up to roughly an extra 1% of GDP going on public health spending every decade going forward.
That would take public health spending from around 8% of GDP in 2024-25, up to 14.5% of GDP by 2073-74, equivalent to around £180bn in today's money.
I'm curious as to how much the NHS has increased health and life expectancy as opposed to those caused by reductions in smoking, better housing, milder winters, changing work types and other improvements in public health.
Because this looks like a ponzi scheme:
Shortly after the NHS was founded, in 1949-50, total UK health spending was around £17bn in today's money.
By 2023–24 it had grown to £226bn.
About half of all healthcare spending goes on the over-65s. I don't have specific knowledge of how precisely that is broken down (one of our PB medics might venture an opinion) but I think the big "problem" is that medical science has become increasingly adept at keeping very frail, very old people with multiple complex medical problems alive for a long time.
The other major issue is that most of the population is sedentary and fat. Abused lardy bodies with worn joints and clapped out cardiovascular systems = enormous expense.
If you have an old and knackered population then you end up with an expensive and overburdened healthcare system. It's no more complex than that.
Why not invest in fitness?
We should absolutely invest in fitness. The problem is that investing in fitness will only have effects in the long-term. You don't see a life saved by it. You don't see waiting lists dropping.
A friend used to work in charitable fundraising. She always joked that the most successful charity would be Kittens for Kids with Cancer. No-one wants to give money to Encouraging Regular People to Do More Exercise.
Its a myth that it only has long term impacts. People get happier and more productive pretty quickly when they improve their fitness.
You are right. I spoke poorly. They do get happier (and less depressed) and more productive pretty quickly. But they don't go from death's door to living an extra year, which is what many a "miracle" cancer drug has done.
It is not just about one thing though.
People are currently unhappy, unhealthy and the nation is economically unproductive. It feels quite mad that we don't talk about fitness as a political objective.
It's yet another thing that's been parked in the too difficult column, not least because the most important element in getting the nation fit is improving its appalling diet and that would require a lot of unpopular nannying - in crude terms, state subsided fruit for the poor, paid for with punishing sin taxes on anything with high fat and sugar content, i.e. all the shit that people actually enjoy eating.
You then need to back that up with much better access to cheap leisure facilities (which means giving local government the means to build leisure centres and pools all over the place, which in turn means solving the local government funding crisis, an expense that Westminster has zero interest in taking on,) and we also need to set a deadline for outlawing the sale of tobacco products and force the nation's remaining smokers to quit. This, obviously, would cause an immense tantrum amongst the remaining addicts and be manna from heaven for Farage.
Now, on top of all of that you have to fix the NHS (and, by extension, the social care system without which you can't unbung the hospitals) so that people get timely treatment for ailments and don't end up growing increasingly sick and disabled whilst stuck on waiting lists. So you're back again to trying to find massive amounts of money, whilst somehow avoiding the biggest shitstorm ever by raiding assets and pensions to pay for it. And the country simultaneously has to shore up it's education system, its creaking infrastructure and rearm itself at the same time.
Where do we even start?
We have been having this very expensive COVID inquiry that I am sure the headline will be Team Boris were bloody useless and that is why everybody died....when we know COVID was much worse if you were a fatty, the UK was very hard hit because of this, but I don't we are going to be asking those difficult questions, case offends the body positivity lot and all that bollocks.
That been said the evidence for things like the sugar tax is very thin. It seems the much bigger impact on for instance kids getting less sugar was leaning on the manufacturers just to only make items with less sugar in the first place.
The latest DOGE executive order makes it something akin to the old Soviet General Secretariat, at least as far as the US executive is concerned.
The second part is meatier.
New hires have to be approved by newly-installed DOGE Team Leads in each agency. These Team Leads will report what goes on in the agency they're assigned to on a monthly basis.
And federal agencies are ordered to participate in their own dismemberment. … Agencies are ordered to develop a comprehensive reorganization plan that identifies offices that can be purged because they lack statutory protections..
As a result, the head of DOGE will now wield something close to full executive power in the US bureaucracy. Domestically, it’s now the second most powerful position in government, de facto.
If, for a minute, we ignore the process and look at the results isn't there a good case for someone to be doing this? And not just in America but here too.
"Public sector productivity fell again last year, according to figures that dealt a blow to ministers’ hopes of a more efficient state.
Rising numbers of staff are not being matched by results and the state remains 8.4 per cent below its pre-pandemic levels of productivity, according to the Office for National Statistics.
The NHS has driven declining efficiency and remains 18.5 per cent less productive than before the Covid lockdown, the figures suggest."
Isn't it right for someone out there to be asking the question about making savings in the public sector, even if the money is shoved into other bits of it or infrastructure investment. The complete lack of oversight of state spending by politicians for the last 8 years since Theresa May turned on the taps (and Labour look like increasing further) has resulted in an almost 10% drop in productivity, that's literally £70bn in spending we could cut tomorrow from departments to push into infrastructure or just not spend and reduce the deficit. There's £40bn of productivity loss in the NHS alone.
We need more focus on outcomes and less focus on processes. It's that incessant focus on process that has resulted in an 18.5% drop in NHS productivity. The lack of accountability has slowed them to get away with it too.
Process isn't everything and a rebalancing may be needed, a shock even, but are there no limitations?
Maybe there shouldn't be because what we're doing isn't working. Sending someone like Musk in to slash at the unproductive parts of the state so we can stop borrowing so much money for basically no loss in output might actually be the way out of the current conundrum for the government. Yes the unions would be upset and we'd end up with 1m or so people looking for work (resulting in lower inflation) but we're going to borrow £127bn this year and £70bn of that is due to productivity losses vs pre-covid era productivity. Imagine if the NHS was as productive today as it was in 2019 and had the same funding, literally 20% more operations, 20% more appointments, 20% more resource overall, instead we've been shoving ever more cash into a system that has peaked in output terms and can no longer expand it's output regardless of how much we put in.
This is like the benevolent dictator argument though. It may work brilliantly for a time, then it doesnt, so there's processes to avoid it.
Sure, but again, maybe we need to slash and burn at the current "process state" because it's causing a huge burden on the taxpayer for no real gain. We're spending more on the state than ever but receive less service from it than we did in 2017. That money has just gone into the ether, wouldn't it be better if we just didn't spend it and reduced state borrowing?
Where do you think that is - because in Local Government I know adult and child social care is a money pit which would consume every penny in council tax and demand more.
Going back to the polling earlier, where basically Reform form a government on 300 seats or whatever, or there is a Grande Coalition of Lab-Con -- Reform (Tice/Farage) have a massive albatross around their necks on the Putin love fst stuff.
We are effectively imho already at war with Russia.
Seems very very likely by the GE of 2029 we will be even close to war.
Their vote will be snow in April.
We aren't going to War with Russia, most likely it will be a deal on current boundaries which will stay frozen until a new President replaces Trump
Do you mean Trump or Putin?
Neither is leaving office other than in a pine box.
Under the US constitution Trump is leaving office in 4 years time even if his approval rating is 90%
As interpreted by the Supreme Court, which has been rigged by Trump and has already granted him effective total immunity from prosecution. There's no particular reason to suppose that they won't rule he's also allowed to stand again, because reasons, and the subsequent election can then be fiddled. Unless the justices show unexpected backbone, in which case expect a few accidental tragic falls out of the windows of tall buildings.
I am (perhaps naively) still hopeful that the Supreme Court will do it's job. Biased, yes, but I think there are still enough judges that believe in the constitution and will have a limit on what they will permit from Trump.
Going back to the polling earlier, where basically Reform form a government on 300 seats or whatever, or there is a Grande Coalition of Lab-Con -- Reform (Tice/Farage) have a massive albatross around their necks on the Putin love fst stuff.
We are effectively imho already at war with Russia.
Seems very very likely by the GE of 2029 we will be even close to war.
Their vote will be snow in April.
We aren't going to War with Russia, most likely it will be a deal on current boundaries which will stay frozen until a new President replaces Trump
Do you mean Trump or Putin?
Neither is leaving office other than in a pine box.
Under the US constitution Trump is leaving office in 4 years time even if his approval rating is 90%
Genuine
Look at what is happening before your very eyes.
Unless there is a constitutional amendment requiring 2/3 of Congress and the states behind it or Trump has the military behind him to enforce a dictatorship, which he didn't in Jan 2021, he will be leaving office in Jan 2029
I think the pessimistic take on the current situation is a civil war in relatively short order. I can't imagine many blue states putting up with what Musk is up to for very long. And it seems USonians are pretty entrenched in their views.
I think a lot depends on whether the administration tries to defy the courts. If they do, I suspect there will be a flashpoint for violence at some point soon that will snowball.
At which point, presumably, the military will have to pick a side. So Trump may have the military behind him by 2029 (or may be forced from office by said military).
I'm not saying that will happen, but I don't think we're that far from it if a few bad things happen in sequence.
Not sure. I’m sensing Democrats are rather cowed, demoralised and not in the mood for a fight. There seems to be an almost Russian air of defeatism and resignation.
Comments
‘Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’ Renewed for Season 3 at Prime Video
https://variety.com/2025/tv/news/lord-of-the-rings-rings-of-power-renewed-season-3-amazon-1236174259/
Great news. Not least because it will piss off all the racist incels with their moans about black elves and 'efnic' hobbits.
EXCL: Education Minister Stephen Morgan ran a vile WhatsApp group which branded pensioners “terrorists”, hurled abuse at colleagues and shared memes of ex-PM Rishi Sunak being deported to Rwanda.
https://x.com/tonydowson5/status/1890109791869288546?s=61
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6-IQAdFU3w
IMPORTANT CORRECTIONS
1. Wisbech is in Cambridgeshire, not Norfolk (but under the control of West Norfolk Council)
2. The information from the news article appears outdated, as it would seem the chargers in question are (I think) now in place.
The rest of my rant is - reasonably - accurate and my standard usual opinion.
Sorry about this one
Anyone who says they know what the outcome of the 2029 general election is going to be is either lying or deluded.
It's anti-immigration, sure. Against woke / political correctness etc. It's pro common sense, whatever that means. But what policy direction does it have beyond that?
I would say it's led by people who are pretty right wing economically and supported by people who are pretty left wing or centrist economically. That clearly creates a problem if put under scrutiny.
The latest announcement falls in that category. Are they just attacking batteries as anti-woke? Are they burying power cables to be Nimbys? Both fly in the face of their traditional economically right-wing perspective. And also happen to be crap policy.
I think they'll win lots of seats saying nothing at all. But, as we see with Labour now, if you're planning to get into power it's generally a good idea to have some idea as to what you'll do when you get there.
At least Labour has policy instincts to fall back on (raise taxes, try to improve services). Reform would just be a government that spends 4 years rejecting visa and asylum applications....
Losing the youth vote will be as painful for modern progressives as losing the skilled working class was for old-school socialists.
Tim Radford obit, to follow up from earlier.
And appeasement would be a generous description; this seems a fraction closer to Molotov/Ribbentrop.
*biased sample*
"Morrisons applied to add the facility to its garage"
https://www.edp24.co.uk/news/24888739.electric-car-chargers-turned-morrisons-wisbech/
As I say, I bet it is something to do with one of 1000 forms having not been filled in providing the noise impact evidence. But its all performative nonsense because there is already a working petrol station there i.e. the noise will be dominated by that.
The second part is meatier.
New hires have to be approved by newly-installed DOGE Team Leads in each agency. These Team Leads will report what goes on in the agency they're assigned to on a monthly basis.
But that's not even the big part yet..
https://x.com/cremieuxrecueil/status/1889479172348629194
And federal agencies are ordered to participate in their own dismemberment.
… Agencies are ordered to develop a comprehensive reorganization plan that identifies offices that can be purged because they lack statutory protections..
As a result, the head of DOGE will now wield something close to full executive power in the US bureaucracy. Domestically, it’s now the second most powerful position in government, de facto.
But how soon, and after what damage ?
I guess its all relative as they're politicians, and dickish banter can cross the line, but there are levels of poor behaviour, and some groups will be way more vile than others.
https://archive.is/JfU7d
I contribute Mr Tangerine Man (2005), in recognition of the cosmic union of Trump and Hegseth.
https://eclectech.co.uk/nonsense/kilroysilktangerine
This 'aint gonna end with a polite handshake, a small glass of beer and warm wishes for retirement.
And with so large a new intake, they must be able to identify some talent on the backbenches ?
https://x.com/USA_Polling/status/1890111629788082359
But you need to do such a thing well. It's not as though canon experts have no complaints about the movies, which are very well received, people will accept lack of lore adherence in the right circumstances.
Even Chamberlain had his limits. Reform would give Putin anything he wanted.
Good evening, everybody.
https://www.thetimes.com/article/f6d12453-fe46-4c84-933c-f38e049fb4e4?shareToken=e0f7dd4fa3cf9096758f36c6c30c4708
"Public sector productivity fell again last year, according to figures that dealt a blow to ministers’ hopes of a more efficient state.
Rising numbers of staff are not being matched by results and the state remains 8.4 per cent below its pre-pandemic levels of productivity, according to the Office for National Statistics.
The NHS has driven declining efficiency and remains 18.5 per cent less productive than before the Covid lockdown, the figures suggest."
Isn't it right for someone out there to be asking the question about making savings in the public sector, even if the money is shoved into other bits of it or infrastructure investment. The complete lack of oversight of state spending by politicians for the last 8 years since Theresa May turned on the taps (and Labour look like increasing further) has resulted in an almost 10% drop in productivity, that's literally £70bn in spending we could cut tomorrow from departments to push into infrastructure or just not spend and reduce the deficit. There's £40bn of productivity loss in the NHS alone.
We need more focus on outcomes and less focus on processes. It's that incessant focus on process that has resulted in an 18.5% drop in NHS productivity. The lack of accountability has slowed them to get away with it too.
today's highlight was learning of the existence of the Labour MP for Broxtowe from 1929 until 1953, who revelled in the name "Seymour Cocks"
https://bsky.app/profile/jonnelledge.bsky.social/post/3li3cedlub222
We are effectively imho already at war with Russia.
Seems very very likely by the GE of 2029 we will be even close to war.
Their vote will be snow in April.
Neither is leaving office other than in a pine box.
It wasn't worth the bother. The Silmarilion was particularly turgid.
I dont think it is one of RoPs bigger issues.
Look at what is happening before your very eyes.
Silmarillion is not even a novel really, of course its more turgid though.
The rest are just useful adjectives to describe Trump, and Musk for that matter.
For example, the Gavin Willliamson bullying story was pretty bad, and then it was followed by Raab bullying which was a lot more tame (although Raab eventually resigned anyway)
But you've reminded me of my favourite 2010s-era Viz joke – Education Secretary Michael Gove revealed that 90 per cent of the emails he received misspelled the word bellend.
BREAKING: We are suing Musk & DOGE for violating the constitution
They have no right to your personal data & no authority to dismantle entire agencies
We’re calling their bluff & taking them to court
https://x.com/NormEisen/status/1890099204288311420
The Boeing 787 aircraft had 300 passengers on board when pilots realised fuel was running dangerously low after they tried to land at two airports due to raging winds
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/tui-flight-issues-horror-may-34672700
The report has been issued about a 2023 near-disaster. At first glance, it is not encouraging that the airliner was originally told to circle Manchester and then diverted to an airport too small.
I think a lot depends on whether the administration tries to defy the courts. If they do, I suspect there will be a flashpoint for violence at some point soon that will snowball.
At which point, presumably, the military will have to pick a side. So Trump may have the military behind him by 2029 (or may be forced from office by said military).
I'm not saying that will happen, but I don't think we're that far from it if a few bad things happen in sequence.
My latest Substack piece on the US's Steel and Aluminium tariffs: https://open.substack.com/pub/robertsmithson1/p/baffling-and-counterproductive?r=2a9ngu&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
And even if the courts did something it would be appealed or more likely simply ignored