Brilliant yet again by Avanti West Coast - full VIP experience, bike and panniers carried onto train by two polite and energetic Gen Zers, strapped up and made safe, adjacent seats block booked for cyclists, careful coordination depending on where we are getting off.
Sometimes, Britain really works. The only issue is there are only 4 spots, rather than the 20+ you need on a service this size.
The problem is 20 bikes is probably the equivalent of 30 seats and that is a lot of potential revenue lost.
It's dead easy to do - you just have a larger space with fold down seats, half a carriage or a whole carriage. Priority to disabled people, booked (and paid for) cyclists (and maybe luggage), then casual users.
The issue is that the rail company do not have equality as a core value of their company culture, despite whatever waffle in on the website.
My photo today: a cycle/mobility aid space on the Belgian railway:
When somebody who has paid £££ for a ticket is obliged to stand to create space for a bike that is being carried for free, things can get a bit fractious.
I don’t understand why cyclists need to be on a train. Can’t they just cycle to wherever they’re going and leave more room on the train for the rest of us?
I don't know why other members of the public have to be on the train. They're noisy, always take the window seat, constantly wandering up and down the aisle or grabbing bags down from the luggage racks, and generally be a nuisance to me. We should all get our own, individual train, to do with what we want.
Yes, passwords, they're associated with the modern digital world but you come across them well before that. Eg in the dated reactionary 'Secret Seven' novels of Enid Blyton, in order to enter whatever place they were meeting up in, typically a garden shed, each member would have to whisper the agreed password. Anybody failing to do so would not get through the door, not even Peter.
Do you dispute that nearly everyone used to do their banking without needing passwords? Or even any ID a lot of the time. You just walked into the bank with your bank book.
Yep. I remember those days. Nicer in some ways but lots of downside too. Eg when I first went to uni my cashcard was good for a cumulative £50. After that it was swallowed and another one posted back to me a week later. And if I wanted an overdraft I had to go in and see the manager, persaude him I wouldn't spend it on fripperies. I still recall his name. Mr Wilkinson.
I once had a bank manager called Mr Doody. His very pretty daughter went to my Sixth Form
I got into some overdraft trouble so I decided to write him a personal letter, to charm and disarm him
Yes, passwords, they're associated with the modern digital world but you come across them well before that. Eg in the dated reactionary 'Secret Seven' novels of Enid Blyton, in order to enter whatever place they were meeting up in, typically a garden shed, each member would have to whisper the agreed password. Anybody failing to do so would not get through the door, not even Peter.
Do you dispute that nearly everyone used to do their banking without needing passwords? Or even any ID a lot of the time. You just walked into the bank with your bank book.
Yep. I remember those days. Nicer in some ways but lots of downside too. Eg when I first went to uni my cashcard was good for a cumulative £50. After that it was swallowed and another one posted back to me a week later. And if I wanted an overdraft I had to go in and see the manager, persaude him I wouldn't spend it on fripperies. I still recall his name. Mr Wilkinson.
I remember the first time I asked for a credit card, I was refused. The bank manager told me I didn’t need one. He only issued them to people like commercial travellers. That’s before the traditional bank managers were replaced by pushy salesmen.
UK government seeks way out of clash with US over Apple encryption
Officials fear technology deals with Washington could be impeded after Trump administration weighs in
Sir Keir Starmer’s government is seeking a way out of a clash with the Trump administration over the UK’s demand that Apple provide it with access to secure customer data, two senior British officials have told the Financial Times.
The officials both said the Home Office, which ordered the tech giant in January to grant access to its most secure cloud storage system, would probably have to retreat in the face of pressure from senior leaders in Washington, including vice-president JD Vance.
“This is something that the vice-president is very annoyed about and which needs to be resolved,” said an official in the UK’s technology department. “The Home Office is basically going to have to back down.”
Both officials said the UK decision to force Apple to break its end-to-end encryption — which has been raised multiple times by top officials in Donald Trump’s administration — could impede technology agreements with the US.
“One of the challenges for the tech partnerships we’re working on is the encryption issue,” the first official said. “It’s a big red line in the US — they don’t want us messing with their tech companies.”
Starmer’s government has set out a trade strategy that focuses on digital goals such as AI and data partnerships.
The other senior government official added that the Home Office had handled the issue of Apple encryption very badly and now had “its back against the wall”, adding: “It’s a problem of the Home Office’s own making, and they’re working on a way around it now”.
Panorama tonight. A ransomware attack destroyed KNP (Knights of Old lorries) and 700 jobs were lost.
Stay safe, everyone, appears to be the advice of the NCSC.
(This is not a parable for dicking around with the layout of PB.)
That's a depressing read. I think we need to criminalise paying the ransom but set up a government insurance scheme that supports small-medium size businesses during and after attacks.
Where then is the incentive for companies to have IT security? The competent and the utterly negligent are treated equally. The other problem is that this is international crime and state-sponsored.
Ha! Read my mind. I'd be amazed if ANY of these 'l33t hackerz' groups weren't state sponsored. I suspect most of them are just extensions of the Russian, Chinese and North Korean governments. Possibly Iran too.
You've therefore no chance of catching them, as you'd have to invade the country in question to get to them.
However, I was looking and I did think that yeah, the company was going bust anyway, just the ransomware attack made it certain.
Define "State sponsored"
I would presume that the hackers are kicking back a chunk of profits to the security agencies of the government, only attacking abroad and possibly taking occasional request to go after X.
So, conservatives want a Conservative party they can vote for, or an adjacent equivalent. Shocking
I think that’s pretty much it. There’s still a left and a right, and Reform is a party of the right. It’s managed to drag the conservatives in its direction, but its main role is providing voters with a home for swing away from the incumbent, at a time when the Tories aren’t a credible option.
The Greens are playing a similar role for lefties. The Lib Dems are now driven by somewhat different dynamics.
The Lib Dems are now the party for posh centrists, full of ex One Nation Tories and a few ex New Labour types as well as traditional Liberals and ex SDP
https://yougov.co.uk/politics/articles/49978-how-britain-voted-in-the-2024-general-election and go down to the section on "How Britons voted in 2024 by social grade". Most parties, including the LibDems, don't show big differences by social grade. Across AB, C1, C2 and DE, the maximum difference in vote share for Labour is only 4pp, the LibDems 5pp, the Greens 2pp and the Tories 4pp. The only party with a big difference in social grade is Reform UK, who had 10% of the AB vote versus 20% of the C2 vote. So, no the LibDems are not "the party for posh centrists". We continue to receive plenty of support across C2 and DE.
Social class is an absolutely shocking metric to predict voting intention by. I am continually stunned by otherwise astute posters on all sides who persist in referencing it. It's a sticky myth from early psephology (when it had validity).
In terms of Reform, social class is as much a predictor of their vote as age.
Indeed Reform do better with working class white young men than AB graduate pensioners
That’s because working class white young men need society to change to give them a chance in life, such as jobs and housing. AB graduate pensioners need society not to change, as they are doing very well out of the current system.
Brilliant yet again by Avanti West Coast - full VIP experience, bike and panniers carried onto train by two polite and energetic Gen Zers, strapped up and made safe, adjacent seats block booked for cyclists, careful coordination depending on where we are getting off.
Sometimes, Britain really works. The only issue is there are only 4 spots, rather than the 20+ you need on a service this size.
The problem is 20 bikes is probably the equivalent of 30 seats and that is a lot of potential revenue lost.
It's dead easy to do - you just have a larger space with fold down seats, half a carriage or a whole carriage. Priority to disabled people, booked (and paid for) cyclists (and maybe luggage), then casual users.
The issue is that the rail company do not have equality as a core value of their company culture, despite whatever waffle in on the website.
My photo today: a cycle/mobility aid space on the Belgian railway:
When somebody who has paid £££ for a ticket is obliged to stand to create space for a bike that is being carried for free, things can get a bit fractious.
Indeed, but that's the edge case, and I did break cycles down into booked and casual. On the other hand, is it not standard these days for passengers to have pre-booked a seat?
The most startling case to me was Doug Paulley vs First Group, where he was denied access to a bus because "Karen" had her pushchair in only available priority disabled space, and refused to move it. He offered to fold up his own wheelchair and sit in a normal seat, but the driver refused him access for "safety reasons". This was 2013. It made him miss the train to which he was travelling.
“Somebody got there just before me and put a pushchair in the wheelchair space. The bus driver asked her to leave, but she refused so I was not allowed on the bus.
He won his case, but First Bus fought it to the Supreme Court to remove the duty for their drivers to act. That's not good enough.
(It is normally in the conditions of carriage anyway that the driver could make Karen move her pushchair or leave the bus, under 'disruptive behaviour' or something generic ... but they don't bother.)
Are you joking? I love this kind of pointless chit chat, it’s a gentle way to ease into the working week. I don’t want dramatic rows about genocide and Gaza at 11am on a Monday, ta v much
I've realised what Starmer's government reminds me of - the government in A Clockwork Orange.
It's the combination of incompetence & pretend liberalism.
The media grid comparison is rather interesting...what's in the headlines at the moment, immigration and crime...what are the government talking about today shuffling the deckchair of water regulators and a new inquiry into an incident from 45 years ago that is only really important to the unions...what is Farage talking about...crime and immigration.
What are was on PB talking about Famous Five vs Secret Seven and password managers.
Yes, passwords, they're associated with the modern digital world but you come across them well before that. Eg in the dated reactionary 'Secret Seven' novels of Enid Blyton, in order to enter whatever place they were meeting up in, typically a garden shed, each member would have to whisper the agreed password. Anybody failing to do so would not get through the door, not even Peter.
I think that has to be the first ever reference to the Secret Seven on PB....always thought they were better stories than Famous Five myself.
Brilliant yet again by Avanti West Coast - full VIP experience, bike and panniers carried onto train by two polite and energetic Gen Zers, strapped up and made safe, adjacent seats block booked for cyclists, careful coordination depending on where we are getting off.
Sometimes, Britain really works. The only issue is there are only 4 spots, rather than the 20+ you need on a service this size.
The problem is 20 bikes is probably the equivalent of 30 seats and that is a lot of potential revenue lost.
It's dead easy to do - you just have a larger space with fold down seats, half a carriage or a whole carriage. Priority to disabled people, booked (and paid for) cyclists (and maybe luggage), then casual users.
The issue is that the rail company do not have equality as a core value of their company culture, despite whatever waffle in on the website.
My photo today: a cycle/mobility aid space on the Belgian railway:
When somebody who has paid £££ for a ticket is obliged to stand to create space for a bike that is being carried for free, things can get a bit fractious.
I don’t understand why cyclists need to be on a train. Can’t they just cycle to wherever they’re going and leave more room on the train for the rest of us?
I don't know why other members of the public have to be on the train. They're noisy, always take the window seat, constantly wandering up and down the aisle or grabbing bags down from the luggage racks, and generally be a nuisance to me. We should all get our own, individual train, to do with what we want.
I'm sure if we build a decent system of mobility tracks everywhere it would make it easier .
Yes, passwords, they're associated with the modern digital world but you come across them well before that. Eg in the dated reactionary 'Secret Seven' novels of Enid Blyton, in order to enter whatever place they were meeting up in, typically a garden shed, each member would have to whisper the agreed password. Anybody failing to do so would not get through the door, not even Peter.
I think that has to be the first ever reference to the Secret Seven on PB....always thought they were better stories than Famous Five myself.
Yes, passwords, they're associated with the modern digital world but you come across them well before that. Eg in the dated reactionary 'Secret Seven' novels of Enid Blyton, in order to enter whatever place they were meeting up in, typically a garden shed, each member would have to whisper the agreed password. Anybody failing to do so would not get through the door, not even Peter.
Do you dispute that nearly everyone used to do their banking without needing passwords? Or even any ID a lot of the time. You just walked into the bank with your bank book.
Yep. I remember those days. Nicer in some ways but lots of downside too. Eg when I first went to uni my cashcard was good for a cumulative £50. After that it was swallowed and another one posted back to me a week later. And if I wanted an overdraft I had to go in and see the manager, persaude him I wouldn't spend it on fripperies. I still recall his name. Mr Wilkinson.
I remember the first time I asked for a credit card, I was refused. The bank manager told me I didn’t need one. He only issued them to people like commercial travellers. That’s before the traditional bank managers were replaced by pushy salesmen.
Poor credit risk and not a particularly valuable account anyway?
Why don’t you start a discussion about politics and betting, then?
Once again you misconstrue. I LOVE MEANDERING CONVERSATIONAL NONSENSE
I just thought I’d note the deliciously weird mix this morning. Sometimes this place really is like 14 old guys in a shed AND THERE’S NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT
Yes, passwords, they're associated with the modern digital world but you come across them well before that. Eg in the dated reactionary 'Secret Seven' novels of Enid Blyton, in order to enter whatever place they were meeting up in, typically a garden shed, each member would have to whisper the agreed password. Anybody failing to do so would not get through the door, not even Peter.
Do you dispute that nearly everyone used to do their banking without needing passwords? Or even any ID a lot of the time. You just walked into the bank with your bank book.
Yep. I remember those days. Nicer in some ways but lots of downside too. Eg when I first went to uni my cashcard was good for a cumulative £50. After that it was swallowed and another one posted back to me a week later. And if I wanted an overdraft I had to go in and see the manager, persaude him I wouldn't spend it on fripperies. I still recall his name. Mr Wilkinson.
I once had a bank manager called Mr Doody. His very pretty daughter went to my Sixth Form
I got into some overdraft trouble so I decided to write him a personal letter, to charm and disarm him
I began the letter with
“Howdy Doody”
And it went on from there
Went on to a failure to obtain more credit, I imagine.
Brilliant yet again by Avanti West Coast - full VIP experience, bike and panniers carried onto train by two polite and energetic Gen Zers, strapped up and made safe, adjacent seats block booked for cyclists, careful coordination depending on where we are getting off.
Sometimes, Britain really works. The only issue is there are only 4 spots, rather than the 20+ you need on a service this size.
The problem is 20 bikes is probably the equivalent of 30 seats and that is a lot of potential revenue lost.
It's dead easy to do - you just have a larger space with fold down seats, half a carriage or a whole carriage. Priority to disabled people, booked (and paid for) cyclists (and maybe luggage), then casual users.
The issue is that the rail company do not have equality as a core value of their company culture, despite whatever waffle in on the website.
My photo today: a cycle/mobility aid space on the Belgian railway:
When somebody who has paid £££ for a ticket is obliged to stand to create space for a bike that is being carried for free, things can get a bit fractious.
I don’t understand why cyclists need to be on a train. Can’t they just cycle to wherever they’re going and leave more room on the train for the rest of us?
I don't know why other members of the public have to be on the train. They're noisy, always take the window seat, constantly wandering up and down the aisle or grabbing bags down from the luggage racks, and generally be a nuisance to me. We should all get our own, individual train, to do with what we want.
I'm sure if we build a decent system of mobility tracks everywhere it would make it easier .
How's that going, in ... say ... Devon.
Well, the sunken lanes certainly do act as a form of track...
(Incidentally, I believe Labour have cancelled the final section of the Dawlish resilience works, designed to prevent another breach of the seawall and cliff falls.)
Yes, passwords, they're associated with the modern digital world but you come across them well before that. Eg in the dated reactionary 'Secret Seven' novels of Enid Blyton, in order to enter whatever place they were meeting up in, typically a garden shed, each member would have to whisper the agreed password. Anybody failing to do so would not get through the door, not even Peter.
Do you dispute that nearly everyone used to do their banking without needing passwords? Or even any ID a lot of the time. You just walked into the bank with your bank book.
Yep. I remember those days. Nicer in some ways but lots of downside too. Eg when I first went to uni my cashcard was good for a cumulative £50. After that it was swallowed and another one posted back to me a week later. And if I wanted an overdraft I had to go in and see the manager, persaude him I wouldn't spend it on fripperies. I still recall his name. Mr Wilkinson.
I remember the first time I asked for a credit card, I was refused. The bank manager told me I didn’t need one. He only issued them to people like commercial travellers. That’s before the traditional bank managers were replaced by pushy salesmen.
Poor credit risk and not a particularly valuable account anyway?
Yes, passwords, they're associated with the modern digital world but you come across them well before that. Eg in the dated reactionary 'Secret Seven' novels of Enid Blyton, in order to enter whatever place they were meeting up in, typically a garden shed, each member would have to whisper the agreed password. Anybody failing to do so would not get through the door, not even Peter.
Do you dispute that nearly everyone used to do their banking without needing passwords? Or even any ID a lot of the time. You just walked into the bank with your bank book.
Yep. I remember those days. Nicer in some ways but lots of downside too. Eg when I first went to uni my cashcard was good for a cumulative £50. After that it was swallowed and another one posted back to me a week later. And if I wanted an overdraft I had to go in and see the manager, persaude him I wouldn't spend it on fripperies. I still recall his name. Mr Wilkinson.
I once had a bank manager called Mr Doody. His very pretty daughter went to my Sixth Form
I got into some overdraft trouble so I decided to write him a personal letter, to charm and disarm him
I began the letter with
“Howdy Doody”
And it went on from there
Went on to a failure to obtain more credit, I imagine.
Actually he was quite nice. I believe I got an overdraft extension
On the other hand I remember once being summoned to my bank and a meeting with the manager, and he summarily asked for my bank card and then, when I handed it over, he ceremoniously cut it in two
I looked at him slightly surprised. He gazed back with a hint of triumph and petty Hitlerism - like I was 18 rather than 23 and he could intimidate me
So I suppressed a chuckle and I walked out of the bank thinking “fuck them then” and I left behind my £900 overdraft, never paid it back and just opened a new account 50 yards down the road
OFWAT to be scrapped and replaced by a new regulator, probably with most of the same faces and the water industry to remain privatised Environment Sec announces. So little real change
There has been a very large project in Warminster for over a year - building infrastructure to manage storm water (so avoiding sewage overflows). All good, thats what we want. BUT. A look at the data suggests that Warminster doesn't really have a big problem with this so I am surprised that this is the project they have been pouring money and concrete into. Surely you fix the worst cases first?
Brilliant yet again by Avanti West Coast - full VIP experience, bike and panniers carried onto train by two polite and energetic Gen Zers, strapped up and made safe, adjacent seats block booked for cyclists, careful coordination depending on where we are getting off.
Sometimes, Britain really works. The only issue is there are only 4 spots, rather than the 20+ you need on a service this size.
The problem is 20 bikes is probably the equivalent of 30 seats and that is a lot of potential revenue lost.
It's dead easy to do - you just have a larger space with fold down seats, half a carriage or a whole carriage. Priority to disabled people, booked (and paid for) cyclists (and maybe luggage), then casual users.
The issue is that the rail company do not have equality as a core value of their company culture, despite whatever waffle in on the website.
My photo today: a cycle/mobility aid space on the Belgian railway:
When somebody who has paid £££ for a ticket is obliged to stand to create space for a bike that is being carried for free, things can get a bit fractious.
I don’t understand why cyclists need to be on a train. Can’t they just cycle to wherever they’re going and leave more room on the train for the rest of us?
I don't know why other members of the public have to be on the train. They're noisy, always take the window seat, constantly wandering up and down the aisle or grabbing bags down from the luggage racks, and generally be a nuisance to me. We should all get our own, individual train, to do with what we want.
Yes, passwords, they're associated with the modern digital world but you come across them well before that. Eg in the dated reactionary 'Secret Seven' novels of Enid Blyton, in order to enter whatever place they were meeting up in, typically a garden shed, each member would have to whisper the agreed password. Anybody failing to do so would not get through the door, not even Peter.
Do you dispute that nearly everyone used to do their banking without needing passwords? Or even any ID a lot of the time. You just walked into the bank with your bank book.
Yes, I remember those bad old days. Having to get into a bank, which is difficult enough with them typically only being open in work hours or very limited weekend hours. Then having to queue to see a teller.
Thank goodness we don't need to do that anymore and I can do it all from my sofa on my phone without having to waste time getting into a bank.
Yes, passwords, they're associated with the modern digital world but you come across them well before that. Eg in the dated reactionary 'Secret Seven' novels of Enid Blyton, in order to enter whatever place they were meeting up in, typically a garden shed, each member would have to whisper the agreed password. Anybody failing to do so would not get through the door, not even Peter.
I think that has to be the first ever reference to the Secret Seven on PB....always thought they were better stories than Famous Five myself.
Yes. Got to be due a reread at some point whilst I still have my marbles.
I'm looking forward to my son reaching the age that the Secret Seven and Famous Five are simply to best and most exciting thing to read ever.
One of my childhood / teenage memories was accompanying my dad to a NatWest branch in the centre of Derby (*), on (I think Thursday) mornings in order to collect the cash for the wages. Often a man in full military regalia would be outside with his horse, having ridden into town from a village outside in order to do his weekly banking.
He was a bit of a local celebrity. I always wondered what he did after they closed that branch.
Brilliant yet again by Avanti West Coast - full VIP experience, bike and panniers carried onto train by two polite and energetic Gen Zers, strapped up and made safe, adjacent seats block booked for cyclists, careful coordination depending on where we are getting off.
Sometimes, Britain really works. The only issue is there are only 4 spots, rather than the 20+ you need on a service this size.
The problem is 20 bikes is probably the equivalent of 30 seats and that is a lot of potential revenue lost.
It's dead easy to do - you just have a larger space with fold down seats, half a carriage or a whole carriage. Priority to disabled people, booked (and paid for) cyclists (and maybe luggage), then casual users.
The issue is that the rail company do not have equality as a core value of their company culture, despite whatever waffle in on the website.
My photo today: a cycle/mobility aid space on the Belgian railway:
When somebody who has paid £££ for a ticket is obliged to stand to create space for a bike that is being carried for free, things can get a bit fractious.
I don’t understand why cyclists need to be on a train. Can’t they just cycle to wherever they’re going and leave more room on the train for the rest of us?
I don't know why other members of the public have to be on the train. They're noisy, always take the window seat, constantly wandering up and down the aisle or grabbing bags down from the luggage racks, and generally be a nuisance to me. We should all get our own, individual train, to do with what we want.
I'm sure if we build a decent system of mobility tracks everywhere it would make it easier .
How's that going, in ... say ... Devon.
Well, the sunken lanes certainly do act as a form of track...
(Incidentally, I believe Labour have cancelled the final section of the Dawlish resilience works, designed to prevent another breach of the seawall and cliff falls.)
Good job you haven't got the Refukkers in control, or they would spend £10m digging out the stuff that's already been installed to save money, even if it was entirely funded by another body.
OFWAT to be scrapped and replaced by a new regulator, probably with most of the same faces and the water industry to remain privatised Environment Sec announces. So little real change
There has been a very large project in Warminster for over a year - building infrastructure to manage storm water (so avoiding sewage overflows). All good, thats what we want. BUT. A look at the data suggests that Warminster doesn't really have a big problem with this so I am surprised that this is the project they have been pouring money and concrete into. Surely you fix the worst cases first?
I expect an OFWAT executive lives downstream of Warminster.
It was amazing how you could rip off banks, back in the day
Open an account, run up an overdraft, close the account. Open a new one. You’d maybe get the occasional angry letter but you just put them into the calamity cupboard and then the disaster drawer and finally the “oh, whatever” waste paper basket. And so life went on
So, conservatives want a Conservative party they can vote for, or an adjacent equivalent. Shocking
I think that’s pretty much it. There’s still a left and a right, and Reform is a party of the right. It’s managed to drag the conservatives in its direction, but its main role is providing voters with a home for swing away from the incumbent, at a time when the Tories aren’t a credible option.
The Greens are playing a similar role for lefties. The Lib Dems are now driven by somewhat different dynamics.
The Lib Dems are now the party for posh centrists, full of ex One Nation Tories and a few ex New Labour types as well as traditional Liberals and ex SDP
https://yougov.co.uk/politics/articles/49978-how-britain-voted-in-the-2024-general-election and go down to the section on "How Britons voted in 2024 by social grade". Most parties, including the LibDems, don't show big differences by social grade. Across AB, C1, C2 and DE, the maximum difference in vote share for Labour is only 4pp, the LibDems 5pp, the Greens 2pp and the Tories 4pp. The only party with a big difference in social grade is Reform UK, who had 10% of the AB vote versus 20% of the C2 vote. So, no the LibDems are not "the party for posh centrists". We continue to receive plenty of support across C2 and DE.
Yes they do. On that very chart the LDs got 15% with ABs, just 10% with DEs and 11% with C2s. The LDs got 16% with those earning over £70,000, just 11% amongst those earning under £20,000. So the LDs are much higher by higher social grade and income on average.
Reform also see a big difference by social grade as you say (doing better with working class voters), getting 20% with C2s and 19% with DEs but just 10% with ABs and 17% with those earning under £20,000 to just 10% with those earning more than £70,000.
Labour and the Tories don't see much difference by social grade, fair enough, if slightly bigger differences by income. The Tories got 27% with ABs under Sunak and 22% with those earning over £70,000, 24% with C2s and 23% with DEs and 24% with those earning under £20,000 and 25% with those earning £30,000-£49,999. Labour under Starmer got 36% with ABs and 40% with those earning over £70,000, 34% with DEs and 33% with those earning under £20,000.
The LibDems see a 5pp difference and the Tories see a 4pp difference. You call the 5pp difference "much higher", but say, "the Tories don't see much difference" with their 4pp difference.
15% with ABs for the LDs is 33% more than the 10% they got with DEs.
27% with ABs is just 17% more than 23% with DEs for the Tories
Percentages of percentages is dangerous territory.
Yes, passwords, they're associated with the modern digital world but you come across them well before that. Eg in the dated reactionary 'Secret Seven' novels of Enid Blyton, in order to enter whatever place they were meeting up in, typically a garden shed, each member would have to whisper the agreed password. Anybody failing to do so would not get through the door, not even Peter.
I think that has to be the first ever reference to the Secret Seven on PB....always thought they were better stories than Famous Five myself.
Yes. Got to be due a reread at some point whilst I still have my marbles.
I'm looking forward to my son reaching the age that the Secret Seven and Famous Five are simply to best and most exciting thing to read ever.
Does that not mean that he will miss out on Huffin and Puffin? Though your boy will style himself Algernon.
They were puffins, I think, in the Adventure Series.
Too many bloody dogs ... we need children to be indoctrinated towards parrots.
Brilliant yet again by Avanti West Coast - full VIP experience, bike and panniers carried onto train by two polite and energetic Gen Zers, strapped up and made safe, adjacent seats block booked for cyclists, careful coordination depending on where we are getting off.
Sometimes, Britain really works. The only issue is there are only 4 spots, rather than the 20+ you need on a service this size.
The problem is 20 bikes is probably the equivalent of 30 seats and that is a lot of potential revenue lost.
It's dead easy to do - you just have a larger space with fold down seats, half a carriage or a whole carriage. Priority to disabled people, booked (and paid for) cyclists (and maybe luggage), then casual users.
The issue is that the rail company do not have equality as a core value of their company culture, despite whatever waffle in on the website.
My photo today: a cycle/mobility aid space on the Belgian railway:
When somebody who has paid £££ for a ticket is obliged to stand to create space for a bike that is being carried for free, things can get a bit fractious.
I don’t understand why cyclists need to be on a train. Can’t they just cycle to wherever they’re going and leave more room on the train for the rest of us?
I don't know why other members of the public have to be on the train. They're noisy, always take the window seat, constantly wandering up and down the aisle or grabbing bags down from the luggage racks, and generally be a nuisance to me. We should all get our own, individual train, to do with what we want.
I'm sure if we build a decent system of mobility tracks everywhere it would make it easier .
How's that going, in ... say ... Devon.
Well, the sunken lanes certainly do act as a form of track...
(Incidentally, I believe Labour have cancelled the final section of the Dawlish resilience works, designed to prevent another breach of the seawall and cliff falls.)
Good job you haven't got the Refukkers in control, or they would spend £10m digging out the stuff that's already been installed to save money, even if it was entirely funded by another body.
They'd want to reconvert it back to broad gauge atmospheric railway. If it was good enough for Brunel...
Today's Russian papers reviewed by the BBC's Steve Rosenberg. TL/DR; Russian papers are free to discuss the country's economic problems but steer clear of politics and the SMO.
A three-member taskforce, led by trade unionist and Labour peer Baroness Drake, would “tackle the barriers that stop too many saving in the first place”, Ms Kendall said.
Having too much month at the end of your money is a pretty huge barrier that stops people from saving.
I hate to be a broken record, but lower taxes on working people and lower housing costs would ensure people have more money, which would enable some saving.
Has anyone read Henrich's 'The Secret of our Success'? It's a Harvard professor's argument that our collective social and cultural intelligence is at least as important a causal factor as natural selection in our ecological dominance.
I am halfway through it and finding it fascinating, but I don't have enough knowledge to critically assess his arguments, other than to have a vague feeling that he is picking and choosing research to favour his argument. Any evolutionary biologists around with a view on his claims?
The new start-up company you are joining is so new that they don't even have an office yet.
Or a payroll department?
Not yet... It is the start-upyist of start-ups. All apparently quite exciting.
I loved the couple of occasions when I worked for really new start-ups .I was the joint-third software engineer at one, as me and a mate joined on the same day. We had to go to World of Computers in Milton to pick up our computers. And as the office did not have a proper switchboard yet, I shared a phone line with a certain female IC designer...
Maybe Liz will reduce retirement age to 50? I mean, surely she wouldnt be so utterly predictable as to bring forward 70 by several years and trying to interfere with taking private pensions early a la Torsten Bells well publicised fantasies??
Yes, passwords, they're associated with the modern digital world but you come across them well before that. Eg in the dated reactionary 'Secret Seven' novels of Enid Blyton, in order to enter whatever place they were meeting up in, typically a garden shed, each member would have to whisper the agreed password. Anybody failing to do so would not get through the door, not even Peter.
Do you dispute that nearly everyone used to do their banking without needing passwords? Or even any ID a lot of the time. You just walked into the bank with your bank book.
Yep. I remember those days. Nicer in some ways but lots of downside too. Eg when I first went to uni my cashcard was good for a cumulative £50. After that it was swallowed and another one posted back to me a week later. And if I wanted an overdraft I had to go in and see the manager, persaude him I wouldn't spend it on fripperies. I still recall his name. Mr Wilkinson.
I remember the first time I asked for a credit card, I was refused. The bank manager told me I didn’t need one. He only issued them to people like commercial travellers. That’s before the traditional bank managers were replaced by pushy salesmen.
Poor credit risk and not a particularly valuable account anyway?
Absolutely. I was about 23 and newly married.
Bank managers were accountable for defaults at their branch and I think way, way back had to reimburse some of the default from their own pocket. Which encouraged a very conservative risk appetite.
This area of the White House features portraits of former First Ladies. Trump replaced Hillary Clinton’s with his own—just as he did with Obama’s on the main floor. https://x.com/Mollyploofkins/status/1935463614825251103
Enid Blyton - read one as a kid and decided she was rubbish. Never seen any need to revisit that conclusion.
You’ve never read **trembles slightly** - The Magic Faraway Tree??
I always enjoyed Blyton's throwaway comments like "When you want to impress a girl, you bring a bunch of flowers. When you want to impress the King of the Northmen, you bring a sack of heads."
Brilliant yet again by Avanti West Coast - full VIP experience, bike and panniers carried onto train by two polite and energetic Gen Zers, strapped up and made safe, adjacent seats block booked for cyclists, careful coordination depending on where we are getting off.
Sometimes, Britain really works. The only issue is there are only 4 spots, rather than the 20+ you need on a service this size.
The problem is 20 bikes is probably the equivalent of 30 seats and that is a lot of potential revenue lost.
It's dead easy to do - you just have a larger space with fold down seats, half a carriage or a whole carriage. Priority to disabled people, booked (and paid for) cyclists (and maybe luggage), then casual users.
The issue is that the rail company do not have equality as a core value of their company culture, despite whatever waffle in on the website.
My photo today: a cycle/mobility aid space on the Belgian railway:
When somebody who has paid £££ for a ticket is obliged to stand to create space for a bike that is being carried for free, things can get a bit fractious.
I don’t understand why cyclists need to be on a train. Can’t they just cycle to wherever they’re going and leave more room on the train for the rest of us?
I don't know why other members of the public have to be on the train. They're noisy, always take the window seat, constantly wandering up and down the aisle or grabbing bags down from the luggage racks, and generally be a nuisance to me. We should all get our own, individual train, to do with what we want.
I'm sure if we build a decent system of mobility tracks everywhere it would make it easier .
How's that going, in ... say ... Devon.
Well, the sunken lanes certainly do act as a form of track...
(Incidentally, I believe Labour have cancelled the final section of the Dawlish resilience works, designed to prevent another breach of the seawall and cliff falls.)
Good job you haven't got the Refukkers in control, or they would spend £10m digging out the stuff that's already been installed to save money, even if it was entirely funded by another body.
They'd want to reconvert it back to broad gauge atmospheric railway. If it was good enough for Brunel...
Would they not want a Sedan Chair - the Leeanderthal man carried along by 4x 13 year olds?
A three-member taskforce, led by trade unionist and Labour peer Baroness Drake, would “tackle the barriers that stop too many saving in the first place”, Ms Kendall said.
Having too much month at the end of your money is a pretty huge barrier that stops people from saving.
I hate to be a broken record, but lower taxes on working people and lower housing costs would ensure people have more money, which would enable some saving.
Sequence matters, though.
No point in cutting taxes as long as rents are "every penny you can afford and then some". All that would happen is that the tax cuts would pass through renters to landlords as quickly as prunes pass through the digestive system to... well, we know where they end up.
Farage promises to build “Nightingale prisons” to house 12,400 inmates, send 10,000 of the most serious offenders to overseas jails, including in El Salvador and recruit 30,000 more police officers in five years. 6 weeks of law and order policy announcements to come says Farage.
I would like to see the workings out on these first day of announcements....
Protect the triple lock, pull forward the change to 68 to about 2036.
Probably reporting just after the next election.
Really a simple change in the triple lock to inflation should be acceptable to most people.
Isn't that why and where it all started? Late in the Blair years the old age pension increased by something like 75p in a year didn't it? The Tories by looking after the oldsters gave themselves 14 years in Government.
Ah, God. I would pay my own money to have Blair back as PM. Can’t believe I’m saying that, but he’s just so much better than the thicko fools in charge now - on any side
A three-member taskforce, led by trade unionist and Labour peer Baroness Drake, would “tackle the barriers that stop too many saving in the first place”, Ms Kendall said.
Having too much month at the end of your money is a pretty huge barrier that stops people from saving.
I hate to be a broken record, but lower taxes on working people and lower housing costs would ensure people have more money, which would enable some saving.
Sequence matters, though.
No point in cutting taxes as long as rents are "every penny you can afford and then some". All that would happen is that the tax cuts would pass through renters to landlords as quickly as prunes pass through the digestive system to... well, we know where they end up.
We need to fix the housing system and build millions of homes, and reach the point that ~10% of homes are vacant which is typical in most countries.
That way landlords that decide to leave their house damp, squalid and raise rents find that they have no tenants as tenants decide to rent from an affordable, well-maintained home instead. And the landlord is left paying the cost of the home and any cost of taxes without any tenant to pass the cost onto.
Farage promises to build “Nightingale prisons” to house 12,400 inmates, send 10,000 of the most serious offenders to overseas jails, including in El Salvador and recruit 30,000 more police officers in five years. 6 weeks of law and order policy announcements to come says Farage.
I would like to see the workings out on these first day of announcements....
And 200 years from now we'll be delighted on the rare occasions we beat the El Salvador cricket team.
Farage promises to build “Nightingale prisons” to house 12,400 inmates, send 10,000 of the most serious offenders to overseas jails, including in El Salvador and recruit 30,000 more police officers in five years.
Going for the throw them in a pit and bring back the rack vote
Farage promises to build “Nightingale prisons” to house 12,400 inmates, send 10,000 of the most serious offenders to overseas jails, including in El Salvador and recruit 30,000 more police officers in five years.
6 weeks of law and order policy announcements to come says Farage.
I would like to see the workings out on the first day of announcements....
And presumably costed down to the last penny. So no need for Laura Kuennsberg et al to even question the costs.
Farage promises to build “Nightingale prisons” to house 12,400 inmates, send 10,000 of the most serious offenders to overseas jails, including in El Salvador and recruit 30,000 more police officers in five years.
6 weeks of law and order policy announcements to come says Farage.
I would like to see the workings out on these first day of announcements....
Leaving aside the whole "Florence Nightingale wasn't a prison warder" thing, don't you have to purpose-build prisons properly if you want to actually imprison people? Converting conference centres and sports halls ain't gonna work.
Farage promises to build “Nightingale prisons” to house 12,400 inmates, send 10,000 of the most serious offenders to overseas jails, including in El Salvador and recruit 30,000 more police officers in five years.
6 weeks of law and order policy announcements to come says Farage.
I would like to see the workings out on these first day of announcements....
So, he wants to deport UK citizens to overseas jails... for what end?
Farage promises to build “Nightingale prisons” to house 12,400 inmates, send 10,000 of the most serious offenders to overseas jails, including in El Salvador and recruit 30,000 more police officers in five years.
He should have a whole bunch of primary legislation prepared in his top drawer to be run through parliament if he wants to make these sorts of changes & a plan to get it all through the Lords (Whether that's through abolition, packing or tieing everything to money bills)
Must admit though given experience of gov't in recent years I'd be pleasently surprised if he's done the prep. Of course if he doesn't get a majority and is in a minority administration that's another matter.
Farage promises to build “Nightingale prisons” to house 12,400 inmates, send 10,000 of the most serious offenders to overseas jails, including in El Salvador and recruit 30,000 more police officers in five years.
6 weeks of law and order policy announcements to come says Farage.
I would like to see the workings out on these first day of announcements....
So, he wants to deport UK citizens to overseas jails... for what end?
The acquisition of votes from the hang em and flog em cohort
Farage promises to build “Nightingale prisons” to house 12,400 inmates, send 10,000 of the most serious offenders to overseas jails, including in El Salvador and recruit 30,000 more police officers in five years.
6 weeks of law and order policy announcements to come says Farage.
I would like to see the workings out on these first day of announcements....
So, he wants to deport UK citizens to overseas jails... for what end?
Ah, God. I would pay my own money to have Blair back as PM. Can’t believe I’m saying that, but he’s just so much better than the thicko fools in charge now - on any side
What is really striking is Blair nails the takedown in an easy digestible form that everybody can go hmm yeah, I think he might have a point here. Now if you think even harder, you might start to pick holes in his driverless cars are definitely going to change the world, but other than PB regulars, people aren't getting past the 3 minute conversation level thinking.
Farage promises to build “Nightingale prisons” to house 12,400 inmates, send 10,000 of the most serious offenders to overseas jails, including in El Salvador and recruit 30,000 more police officers in five years.
6 weeks of law and order policy announcements to come says Farage.
I would like to see the workings out on these first day of announcements....
Leaving aside the whole "Florence Nightingale wasn't a prison warder" thing, don't you have to purpose-build prisons properly if you want to actually imprison people? Converting conference centres and sports halls ain't gonna work.
Hes not a serious politician though, this is pure populist arsery
Farage promises to build “Nightingale prisons” to house 12,400 inmates, send 10,000 of the most serious offenders to overseas jails, including in El Salvador and recruit 30,000 more police officers in five years.
6 weeks of law and order policy announcements to come says Farage.
I would like to see the workings out on these first day of announcements....
So, he wants to deport UK citizens to overseas jails... for what end?
To make himself look like the mango Mussolini.
Surely the Argentine model of filling a stadium full of socialists (and other criminals) would be more cost effective.
A three-member taskforce, led by trade unionist and Labour peer Baroness Drake, would “tackle the barriers that stop too many saving in the first place”, Ms Kendall said.
Having too much month at the end of your money is a pretty huge barrier that stops people from saving.
I hate to be a broken record, but lower taxes on working people and lower housing costs would ensure people have more money, which would enable some saving.
Subsidised avocados for millennials should do the trick.
Farage promises to build “Nightingale prisons” to house 12,400 inmates, send 10,000 of the most serious offenders to overseas jails, including in El Salvador and recruit 30,000 more police officers in five years.
6 weeks of law and order policy announcements to come says Farage.
I would like to see the workings out on these first day of announcements....
So, he wants to deport UK citizens to overseas jails... for what end?
So we can discover new fictitious countries and fantasy creatures like "marsupials".
Water is treated differently from the other utilities. You can be disconnected from the power and gas lines (subject to a Magistrate agreeing) but it is a criminal offence to cut off a water supply. And since it is so different, why was it privatised in the first place?
Americans love the Cotsolds. The area seems to accord with their preconceived notion of bucolic English countryside. Personally I've always found it a bit smug and boring and over-managed, lacking the character of the Lakes, the Yorkshire Dales, the Northumberland Coast, the Peak District, Cornwall or the nice bits of Kent, let alone the Scottish highlands and islands. The Enid Blyton of the English countryside, perhaps, hemmed in by middle class English convention and only satisfying for those whose imaginations can't handle something too challenging and raw.
The rejection seems to be of a 'new 2% tax on the savings, investments and property of the wealthy'. That's fair enough, as it is too much of a cliff-edge.
Farage promises to build “Nightingale prisons” to house 12,400 inmates, send 10,000 of the most serious offenders to overseas jails, including in El Salvador and recruit 30,000 more police officers in five years.
6 weeks of law and order policy announcements to come says Farage.
I would like to see the workings out on these first day of announcements....
Leaving aside the whole "Florence Nightingale wasn't a prison warder" thing, don't you have to purpose-build prisons properly if you want to actually imprison people? Converting conference centres and sports halls ain't gonna work.
How did the Nightingale hospitals work out ? They didn't.
At the risk of giving him ideas, they might work if they're intended purely as short term internment camps, prior to deporting the unfortunates in question to some South American death camp...
Water is treated differently from the other utilities. You can be disconnected from the power and gas lines (subject to a Magistrate agreeing) but it is a criminal offence to cut off a water supply. And since it is so different, why was it privatised in the first place?
In part because water pollution pre-privatisation was utterly horrendous and the state-owned and state-managed firms did absolutely nothing to end it because any 'fines' they notionally got were utterly meaningless since it was all state-ran anyway.
Privatising water was a huge success, initially at least, as the firms had a profit motive not to get fined, so it was worth investing and fixing problems.
That only works with a strong regulator that is willing to issue fines though, that puts a real cost on the externality.
Farage promises to build “Nightingale prisons” to house 12,400 inmates, send 10,000 of the most serious offenders to overseas jails, including in El Salvador and recruit 30,000 more police officers in five years. 6 weeks of law and order policy announcements to come says Farage.
I would like to see the workings out on these first day of announcements....
Fire up the printer.
Where’s the money coming from, especially if they raise the personal allowance to £20,000.
I read some Enid Blyton as a kid but wasn't that bothered by it and don't remember it now.
I preferred to read the Hardy Boys at that age.
Enid Blyton was so popular because she wrote so many books.
She literally started on Monday at 9am and by lunchtime on Friday it was finished and on to the next one - to say she wrote a lot would be an understatement
I think they will lower it to 60. And increase it. That's the sort of kindness and respect Liz Kendall is famous for.
Don’t they have to review it periodically anyway ?
Every six years but it was done in 2023......
Looks like this one reports in 2027 from the news article.
So in time to be kicked out after the next election like every other tough decision.
I wasn't sure reading it - there's two reviews. One of increasing pension savings/the pension commission reboot which reports 2027 but I think the review of SRA is separate, not sure when it reports (unless I just read it wrong which is very possible)
Protect the triple lock, pull forward the change to 68 to about 2036.
Probably reporting just after the next election.
Really a simple change in the triple lock to inflation should be acceptable to most people.
Pensions used to be linked to inflation, and before (or maybe after) to wages. I'm convinced the triple lock fuss was started by Russian trolls. Ending it will save no money in the short term and affects only the OBR's dodgy economic modelling. And if the triple lock did call for a rise deemed too large, it would surely be overridden just as it was after Covid.
I read some Enid Blyton as a kid but wasn't that bothered by it and don't remember it now.
I preferred to read the Hardy Boys at that age.
Enid Blyton was so popular because she wrote so many books.
She literally started on Monday at 9am and by lunchtime on Friday it was finished and on to the next one - to say she wrote a lot would be an understatement
Are we sure she didn't have a team of little helpers?
The rejection seems to be of a 'new 2% tax on the savings, investments and property of the wealthy'. That's fair enough, as it is too much of a cliff-edge.
I predict a % of value Council Tax.
She has enough common sense to know that wealthy people have options and can quickly upsticks and move
Protect the triple lock, pull forward the change to 68 to about 2036.
Probably reporting just after the next election.
Really a simple change in the triple lock to inflation should be acceptable to most people.
Isn't that why and where it all started? Late in the Blair years the old age pension increased by something like 75p in a year didn't it? The Tories by looking after the oldsters gave themselves 14 years in Government.
Yes, it did.
The party of austerity and fiscal responsibility enacted a policy that was the total opposite. Even if they’d only put it in as a temporary measure they would not have been able to remove it.
However we are now out of the era of low inflation.
Farage promises to build “Nightingale prisons” to house 12,400 inmates, send 10,000 of the most serious offenders to overseas jails, including in El Salvador and recruit 30,000 more police officers in five years. 6 weeks of law and order policy announcements to come says Farage.
I would like to see the workings out on these first day of announcements....
Fire up the printer.
Where’s the money coming from, especially if they raise the personal allowance to £20,000.
All law and order, all the time, everywhere. You won't be able to move for bizzies
Comments
I got into some overdraft trouble so I decided to write him a personal letter, to charm and disarm him
I began the letter with
“Howdy Doody”
And it went on from there
Problem passwords
The complete works of Enid Blyton
Bank manager anecdotes
I would presume that the hackers are kicking back a chunk of profits to the security agencies of the government, only attacking abroad and possibly taking occasional request to go after X.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/07/21/labour-to-review-state-pension-age/
Well we all know what the answer will be.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8d638rrndzo
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-14922645/JD-Vances-gridlock-traffic-Cotswolds-Vice-President.html
The most startling case to me was Doug Paulley vs First Group, where he was denied access to a bus because "Karen" had her pushchair in only available priority disabled space, and refused to move it. He offered to fold up his own wheelchair and sit in a normal seat, but the driver refused him access for "safety reasons". This was 2013. It made him miss the train to which he was travelling.
“Somebody got there just before me and put a pushchair in the wheelchair space. The bus driver asked her to leave, but she refused so I was not allowed on the bus.
He won his case, but First Bus fought it to the Supreme Court to remove the duty for their drivers to act. That's not good enough.
(It is normally in the conditions of carriage anyway that the driver could make Karen move her pushchair or leave the bus, under 'disruptive behaviour' or something generic ... but they don't bother.)
Can somebody smuggle a Colt 45 into his luggage, so we can lock the bugger up in Wormwood Scrubs for 5 years?
What are was on PB talking about Famous Five vs Secret Seven and password managers.
Never seen any need to revisit that conclusion.
How's that going, in ... say ... Devon.
The new start-up company you are joining is so new that they don't even have an office yet.
I just thought I’d note the deliciously weird mix this morning. Sometimes this place really is like 14 old guys in a shed AND THERE’S NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT
(Incidentally, I believe Labour have cancelled the final section of the Dawlish resilience works, designed to prevent another breach of the seawall and cliff falls.)
They were not overly impressed, either.
Water privatisation has been a complete & utter failure.
It is absurd that the government's report into the water industry didn't even consider public ownership.
That's not a report. That's a political broadcast for the private sector.
Put water back into public hands, now.
https://x.com/jeremycorbyn/status/1947233172367741305
On the other hand I remember once being summoned to my bank and a meeting with the manager, and he summarily asked for my bank card and then, when I handed it over, he ceremoniously cut it in two
I looked at him slightly surprised. He gazed back with a hint of triumph and petty Hitlerism - like I was 18 rather than 23 and he could intimidate me
So I suppressed a chuckle and I walked out of the bank thinking “fuck them then” and I left behind my £900 overdraft, never paid it back and just opened a new account 50 yards down the road
"I've just been smugged..."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yyj5cv5FPWA
Thank goodness we don't need to do that anymore and I can do it all from my sofa on my phone without having to waste time getting into a bank.
One of my childhood / teenage memories was accompanying my dad to a NatWest branch in the centre of Derby (*), on (I think Thursday) mornings in order to collect the cash for the wages. Often a man in full military regalia would be outside with his horse, having ridden into town from a village outside in order to do his weekly banking.
He was a bit of a local celebrity. I always wondered what he did after they closed that branch.
(*) Now, I believe, the Standing Order pub.
That's the sort of kindness and respect Liz Kendall is famous for.
Open an account, run up an overdraft, close the account. Open a new one. You’d maybe get the occasional angry letter but you just put them into the calamity cupboard and then the disaster drawer and finally the “oh, whatever” waste paper basket. And so life went on
Good times
They were puffins, I think, in the Adventure Series.
Too many bloody dogs ... we need children to be indoctrinated towards parrots.
Anyone who has not read and loved THE MAGIC FARAWAY TREE barely qualifies as human
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3jodEpyT7E
Today's Russian papers reviewed by the BBC's Steve Rosenberg. TL/DR; Russian papers are free to discuss the country's economic problems but steer clear of politics and the SMO.
Having too much month at the end of your money is a pretty huge barrier that stops people from saving.
I hate to be a broken record, but lower taxes on working people and lower housing costs would ensure people have more money, which would enable some saving.
I am halfway through it and finding it fascinating, but I don't have enough knowledge to critically assess his arguments, other than to have a vague feeling that he is picking and choosing research to favour his argument. Any evolutionary biologists around with a view on his claims?
Thanks.
I preferred to read the Hardy Boys at that age.
I loved the couple of occasions when I worked for really new start-ups .I was the joint-third software engineer at one, as me and a mate joined on the same day. We had to go to World of Computers in Milton to pick up our computers. And as the office did not have a proper switchboard yet, I shared a phone line with a certain female IC designer...
I mean, surely she wouldnt be so utterly predictable as to bring forward 70 by several years and trying to interfere with taking private pensions early a la Torsten Bells well publicised fantasies??
Probably reporting just after the next election.
Really a simple change in the triple lock to inflation should be acceptable to most people.
Wealth taxes don't work. Wealth is mobile.
Land taxes do. Land is not.
The only wealth tax that works is a land tax.
This area of the White House features portraits of former First Ladies. Trump replaced Hillary Clinton’s with his own—just as he did with Obama’s on the main floor.
https://x.com/Mollyploofkins/status/1935463614825251103
Mercifully brief.
No point in cutting taxes as long as rents are "every penny you can afford and then some". All that would happen is that the tax cuts would pass through renters to landlords as quickly as prunes pass through the digestive system to... well, we know where they end up.
I would like to see the workings out on these first day of announcements....
https://x.com/nadeem83shafqat/status/1947184402930225507?s=46&t=bulOICNH15U6kB0MwE6Lfw
Ah, God. I would pay my own money to have Blair back as PM. Can’t believe I’m saying that, but he’s just so much better than the thicko fools in charge now - on any side
That way landlords that decide to leave their house damp, squalid and raise rents find that they have no tenants as tenants decide to rent from an affordable, well-maintained home instead. And the landlord is left paying the cost of the home and any cost of taxes without any tenant to pass the cost onto.
Must admit though given experience of gov't in recent years I'd be pleasently surprised if he's done the prep. Of course if he doesn't get a majority and is in a minority administration that's another matter.
Compare to Starmer or Kemi...
Surely the Argentine model of filling a stadium full of socialists (and other criminals) would be more cost effective.
I predict a % of value Council Tax.
They didn't.
At the risk of giving him ideas, they might work if they're intended purely as short term internment camps, prior to deporting the unfortunates in question to some South American death camp...
Privatising water was a huge success, initially at least, as the firms had a profit motive not to get fined, so it was worth investing and fixing problems.
That only works with a strong regulator that is willing to issue fines though, that puts a real cost on the externality.
So in time to be kicked out after the next election like every other tough decision.
Where’s the money coming from, especially if they raise the personal allowance to £20,000.
She literally started on Monday at 9am and by lunchtime on Friday it was finished and on to the next one - to say she wrote a lot would be an understatement
The party of austerity and fiscal responsibility enacted a policy that was the total opposite. Even if they’d only put it in as a temporary measure they would not have been able to remove it.
However we are now out of the era of low inflation.
Do you have to even ask ?
You won't be able to move for bizzies