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Nostalgia isn’t what it used to be – politicalbetting.com

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  • wooliedyedwooliedyed Posts: 13,122

    Pulpstar said:

    Crawley
    Duckett
    Pope
    Root
    Brook
    Stokes
    Smith
    Atkinson
    Bashir
    Archer
    Wood

    Tongue 12th.
    Carse 13th

    for Oz.

    Wouldn't bother with Dawson or Overton.

    Bin Carse and Tongue for Hull and Stone if fit
    Why Stone? He isn't the bowler he was and has been basically injured for 5 years.
    Norwich lad innit
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 79,895

    Andy_JS said:

    Pulpstar said:

    Dawson going to lose his sub fielding job lol

    Your confidence probably isn't high when you've just been dropped from the team. Maybe it would have been better to have someone else fielding as sub.
    I never quite understand why an international team where every chance counts you don't have gun fielders as backups rather than the bloke who you dropped. I mean I would be tempted to have you ropey fielders who aren't bowlers have terrible bouts of illness.
    Having someone like Jonty Rhodes as a sub fielder is huge
  • LeonLeon Posts: 63,718

    Apols if posted as I've been out all day but BMG have this months Inews poll out including one with Your Party and one without

    Ref 32 (+2)
    Lab 23 (-4)
    Con 18 (-1)
    LD 13 (+1)
    Grn 8 (+1)
    Changes since end June

    With Corbyn
    Ref 31
    Lab 20
    Con 19
    LD 13
    Grn 7
    YP 6

    That’s two great polls for Reform. Cruising to victory

    Corbyn is going to kill the Left. Heh
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 86,446

    Pulpstar said:

    Crawley
    Duckett
    Pope
    Root
    Brook
    Stokes
    Smith
    Atkinson
    Bashir
    Archer
    Wood

    Tongue 12th.
    Carse 13th

    for Oz.

    Wouldn't bother with Dawson or Overton.

    Bin Carse and Tongue for Hull and Stone if fit
    Why Stone? He isn't the bowler he was and has been basically injured for 5 years.
    Norwich lad innit
    Which ever set of bowlers they pick, most of them will have to be bubble wrapped and have a fragile, handle with care sticker slapped on them for the trip to Oz.
  • wooliedyedwooliedyed Posts: 13,122

    Pulpstar said:

    Crawley
    Duckett
    Pope
    Root
    Brook
    Stokes
    Smith
    Atkinson
    Bashir
    Archer
    Wood

    Tongue 12th.
    Carse 13th

    for Oz.

    Wouldn't bother with Dawson or Overton.

    Bin Carse and Tongue for Hull and Stone if fit
    Why Stone? He isn't the bowler he was and has been basically injured for 5 years.
    Norwich lad innit
    Which ever set of bowlers they pick, most of them will have to be bubble wrapped and have a fragile, handle with care sticker slapped on them for the trip to Oz.
    I could unretire and send down a few medium pace leg cutters
  • MattWMattW Posts: 28,795
    Media note:

    Has anyone noticed press coverage of the "Trans+ Pride" demonstration last weekend in London last Saturday, that drew 100k+ people?

    I only caught it from the Guardian feed, and nearly missed it.

    Checking - Guardian, Indy, BBC London Region, ES covered it. Elsewhere - crickets, as far as I can see.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5y3pw10zw2o
  • Richard_TyndallRichard_Tyndall Posts: 33,488

    I sometimes reflect on my student days, late 1970s, when friends were widely dispersed and not only did we not have mobile phones, obviously, but we also didn't have landlines, and wonder how on earth we managed to organise the brilliant social life we had. I really can't remember how we managed to meet up in pub x at time y most nights, but we did, and it wasn't a problem at all at the time.

    Same for me in the mid eighties. Basically you used your legs, went round to somone's house or prearranged meeting time at whatever venue you were heading for. Word of mouth and face to face contact plus a much greater commitment to actually turning up when something had been arranged.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 86,446

    I sometimes reflect on my student days, late 1970s, when friends were widely dispersed and not only did we not have mobile phones, obviously, but we also didn't have landlines, and wonder how on earth we managed to organise the brilliant social life we had. I really can't remember how we managed to meet up in pub x at time y most nights, but we did, and it wasn't a problem at all at the time.

    Same for me in the mid eighties. Basically you used your legs, went round to somone's house or prearranged meeting time at whatever venue you were heading for. Word of mouth and face to face contact plus a much greater commitment to actually turning up when something had been arranged.
    There was the advantage you could have a house party and no issue of "somebody posted on Facebook" and 5000 people show up to wreck the place.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 86,446
    edited August 1
    Leon said:

    Apols if posted as I've been out all day but BMG have this months Inews poll out including one with Your Party and one without

    Ref 32 (+2)
    Lab 23 (-4)
    Con 18 (-1)
    LD 13 (+1)
    Grn 8 (+1)
    Changes since end June

    With Corbyn
    Ref 31
    Lab 20
    Con 19
    LD 13
    Grn 7
    YP 6

    That’s two great polls for Reform. Cruising to victory

    Corbyn is going to kill the Left. Heh
    Wait until he gets the old Jezza roadshows going again. He is in his element and they are genuinely popular. Starmer isn't going to be getting on any soap boxes in town centres and convincing people.
  • kjhkjh Posts: 12,983

    I sometimes reflect on my student days, late 1970s, when friends were widely dispersed and not only did we not have mobile phones, obviously, but we also didn't have landlines, and wonder how on earth we managed to organise the brilliant social life we had. I really can't remember how we managed to meet up in pub x at time y most nights, but we did, and it wasn't a problem at all at the time.

    Same for me in the mid eighties. Basically you used your legs, went round to somone's house or prearranged meeting time at whatever venue you were heading for. Word of mouth and face to face contact plus a much greater commitment to actually turning up when something had been arranged.
    I really can't remember how we organised stuff without the internet. For travel people used to use travel agents, but in the 70s I organised a 3 week drive around France with my girlfriend. I planned it myself. I don't know how I did it now. I don't think I booked anything except a ferry.
  • RogerRoger Posts: 20,804
    kyf_100 said:

    From previous threads, as I only check in here now and again, thought this might be of use to @leon as it is my subject area of expertise.

    So, @Leon While I bow to Roger's experience in terms of advertising, as an ex marketing bod, if this helps you write your Sidney Sweeney article:

    - It's _heavily_ based on Brooke Shields 'my Calvins' 1980 campaign for Calvin Klein Jeans - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9-2uJz2df4

    - Interestingly, if you want to draw a parallel between then and now, Shields was 15 when she made these ads. Sweeney is what, 27?

    - I don't think you can really cover the 80s jeans ads without referencing the granddaddy of 80s jeans ads, Levi's Laundrette - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwG_wym3p68

    - Famously lovingly appropriated by Carling Black Label a year later - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCemJAd3KZA

    - What's interesting of course is that the Levis ad 'objectifies' men (in a fun way) and is made for the female gaze. Quite forward for its time in a way. And more interesting still, is they remade it a year ago with Beyonce in the male role but it fell flat - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q40oimgnN00 - mainly because it lacked any of the playfulness of the original and just felt... meh. But there is a definite *trend* towards reobjectification that started before the Sweeney ad.

    So lots here to play with in terms of changes in attitudes between the 80s (which Sweeney's ad is deliberately rooted in) and now.

    Just an ex-marketing bod's opinion, hope that is useful.

    That's quite interesting. There's quite a lot to be said. Hegarty has written books on the subject after the success of his various Levi ads particularly 'Laundrette'. But it goes further back than that and as for sexism in ads that has come and gone and been written about many times. I've shot topless chocolate ads for France and Germany which have had to be recut for the UK. Cadbury flake is worth looking at. Could you get away with it now? The answer's no but not for the reason people might think..........

    https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=cadbury's+flake+commercial#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:09c72aca,vid:3FcjxpnbHhA,st:0
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 52,449
    MattW said:

    Media note:

    Has anyone noticed press coverage of the "Trans+ Pride" demonstration last weekend in London last Saturday, that drew 100k+ people?

    I only caught it from the Guardian feed, and nearly missed it.

    Checking - Guardian, Indy, BBC London Region, ES covered it. Elsewhere - crickets, as far as I can see.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5y3pw10zw2o

    I didn't see anything about it. It just shows how accepted Pride marches are, that they are no longer news.

    We even have Rutland pride now. Its that respectable.
  • MattWMattW Posts: 28,795
    MattW said:

    Media note:

    Has anyone noticed press coverage of the "Trans+ Pride" demonstration last weekend in London last Saturday, that drew 100k+ people?

    I only caught it from the Guardian feed, and nearly missed it.

    Checking - Guardian, Indy, BBC London Region, ES covered it. Elsewhere - crickets, as far as I can see.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5y3pw10zw2o

    Update - checking a bit harder, I've found a bit more including Mail and Telegraph.

    Fairly straight report in the Mail at a quick look but no comments. Quite inflammatory in the Telegraph *. Mail:
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/pa/article-14943879/London-Trans-Pride-sees-record-breaking-turnout-100-000-people.html

    * "We must arm ourselves, say trans activists
    Provocative placards at London protest ‘call for violence against women’, says human rights charity"
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/07/27/we-must-arm-ourselves-say-trans-activists/
  • nunu2nunu2 Posts: 1,557

    Andy_JS said:

    ANOTHER DROP?!

    Your joking....Not another one,

    England throwing this game away.
    They're dropping the ball.
  • TresTres Posts: 2,975
    Andy_JS said:

    Roger said:

    Interesting and disturbing fact I heard on Alastair Campbell's podcast ;

    Two out of five people prosecuted after the Southport riots had previously been involved in domestic violence.

    Doesn't this tell us something disturbing about the far right who are currently leading in the polls?

    Why do you say the far-right are currently leading in the polls?
    Because they are?
  • kjhkjh Posts: 12,983

    I sometimes reflect on my student days, late 1970s, when friends were widely dispersed and not only did we not have mobile phones, obviously, but we also didn't have landlines, and wonder how on earth we managed to organise the brilliant social life we had. I really can't remember how we managed to meet up in pub x at time y most nights, but we did, and it wasn't a problem at all at the time.

    Same for me in the mid eighties. Basically you used your legs, went round to somone's house or prearranged meeting time at whatever venue you were heading for. Word of mouth and face to face contact plus a much greater commitment to actually turning up when something had been arranged.
    There was the advantage you could have a house party and no issue of "somebody posted on Facebook" and 5000 people show up to wreck the place.
    I went to a few that didn't end well.
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 52,449
    kjh said:

    I sometimes reflect on my student days, late 1970s, when friends were widely dispersed and not only did we not have mobile phones, obviously, but we also didn't have landlines, and wonder how on earth we managed to organise the brilliant social life we had. I really can't remember how we managed to meet up in pub x at time y most nights, but we did, and it wasn't a problem at all at the time.

    Same for me in the mid eighties. Basically you used your legs, went round to somone's house or prearranged meeting time at whatever venue you were heading for. Word of mouth and face to face contact plus a much greater commitment to actually turning up when something had been arranged.
    I really can't remember how we organised stuff without the internet. For travel people used to use travel agents, but in the 70s I organised a 3 week drive around France with my girlfriend. I planned it myself. I don't know how I did it now. I don't think I booked anything except a ferry.
    After I finished my O levels 3 16 year old mates and I cycled around Normandy camping for a fortnight. We booked the ferry and nothing else, just found campsites when we got tired. You don't really need to plan ahead with these things.

    On my way back from New Zealand through SE Asia in 1990 Mrs Foxy and I back packed for 3 months, with nothing booked ahead apart from flights. We just caught bus and train, and when we got to a place there were always hostel touts. It shows the degree of trust that we would hop in a van at midnight to go to a hostel, but we never had any problems, indeed had a great time. You just need a bit of flexibility and faith that you will find somewhere to stay.
  • kjhkjh Posts: 12,983
    edited August 1
    MattW said:

    MattW said:

    Media note:

    Has anyone noticed press coverage of the "Trans+ Pride" demonstration last weekend in London last Saturday, that drew 100k+ people?

    I only caught it from the Guardian feed, and nearly missed it.

    Checking - Guardian, Indy, BBC London Region, ES covered it. Elsewhere - crickets, as far as I can see.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5y3pw10zw2o

    Update - checking a bit harder, I've found a bit more including Mail and Telegraph.

    Fairly straight report in the Mail at a quick look but no comments. Quite inflammatory in the Telegraph *. Mail:
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/pa/article-14943879/London-Trans-Pride-sees-record-breaking-turnout-100-000-people.html

    * "We must arm ourselves, say trans activists
    Provocative placards at London protest ‘call for violence against women’, says human rights charity"
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/07/27/we-must-arm-ourselves-say-trans-activists/
    In the 90s I used to get the Saturday Telegraph (equivalent to the Sunday paper). 95% non political and that, that was, was mainstream Tory stuff. No batty stuff.
  • carnforthcarnforth Posts: 6,753
    edited August 1
    Foxy said:

    kjh said:

    I sometimes reflect on my student days, late 1970s, when friends were widely dispersed and not only did we not have mobile phones, obviously, but we also didn't have landlines, and wonder how on earth we managed to organise the brilliant social life we had. I really can't remember how we managed to meet up in pub x at time y most nights, but we did, and it wasn't a problem at all at the time.

    Same for me in the mid eighties. Basically you used your legs, went round to somone's house or prearranged meeting time at whatever venue you were heading for. Word of mouth and face to face contact plus a much greater commitment to actually turning up when something had been arranged.
    I really can't remember how we organised stuff without the internet. For travel people used to use travel agents, but in the 70s I organised a 3 week drive around France with my girlfriend. I planned it myself. I don't know how I did it now. I don't think I booked anything except a ferry.
    After I finished my O levels 3 16 year old mates and I cycled around Normandy camping for a fortnight. We booked the ferry and nothing else, just found campsites when we got tired. You don't really need to plan ahead with these things.

    On my way back from New Zealand through SE Asia in 1990 Mrs Foxy and I back packed for 3 months, with nothing booked ahead apart from flights. We just caught bus and train, and when we got to a place there were always hostel touts. It shows the degree of trust that we would hop in a van at midnight to go to a hostel, but we never had any problems, indeed had a great time. You just need a bit of flexibility and faith that you will find somewhere to stay.
    Sometimes the flexibility has gone away as it's no longer required and so is longer commonplace. A hundred years ago you could (I remember reading) walk into a village and ask in the pub to see if anyone in the village would put you up for the night for cash. I doubt you'd get much luck trying that now.

    Watching old films it seemed common to tell a hotel desk clerk you'll be staying for a few nights, but you don't know how long. I'm not sure that works these days either. Perhaps it was only ever in the movies.
  • StillWatersStillWaters Posts: 10,487
    Roger said:

    kyf_100 said:

    From previous threads, as I only check in here now and again, thought this might be of use to @leon as it is my subject area of expertise.

    So, @Leon While I bow to Roger's experience in terms of advertising, as an ex marketing bod, if this helps you write your Sidney Sweeney article:

    - It's _heavily_ based on Brooke Shields 'my Calvins' 1980 campaign for Calvin Klein Jeans - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9-2uJz2df4

    - Interestingly, if you want to draw a parallel between then and now, Shields was 15 when she made these ads. Sweeney is what, 27?

    - I don't think you can really cover the 80s jeans ads without referencing the granddaddy of 80s jeans ads, Levi's Laundrette - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwG_wym3p68

    - Famously lovingly appropriated by Carling Black Label a year later - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCemJAd3KZA

    - What's interesting of course is that the Levis ad 'objectifies' men (in a fun way) and is made for the female gaze. Quite forward for its time in a way. And more interesting still, is they remade it a year ago with Beyonce in the male role but it fell flat - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q40oimgnN00 - mainly because it lacked any of the playfulness of the original and just felt... meh. But there is a definite *trend* towards reobjectification that started before the Sweeney ad.

    So lots here to play with in terms of changes in attitudes between the 80s (which Sweeney's ad is deliberately rooted in) and now.

    Just an ex-marketing bod's opinion, hope that is useful.

    That's quite interesting. There's quite a lot to be said. Hegarty has written books on the subject after the success of his various Levi ads particularly 'Laundrette'. But it goes further back than that and as for sexism in ads that has come and gone and been written about many times. I've shot topless chocolate ads for France and Germany which have had to be recut for the UK. Cadbury flake is worth looking at. Could you get away with it now? The answer's no but not for the reason people might think..........

    https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=cadbury's+flake+commercial#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:09c72aca,vid:3FcjxpnbHhA,st:0
    What’s the reason?
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 86,446
    edited August 1
    carnforth said:

    Foxy said:

    kjh said:

    I sometimes reflect on my student days, late 1970s, when friends were widely dispersed and not only did we not have mobile phones, obviously, but we also didn't have landlines, and wonder how on earth we managed to organise the brilliant social life we had. I really can't remember how we managed to meet up in pub x at time y most nights, but we did, and it wasn't a problem at all at the time.

    Same for me in the mid eighties. Basically you used your legs, went round to somone's house or prearranged meeting time at whatever venue you were heading for. Word of mouth and face to face contact plus a much greater commitment to actually turning up when something had been arranged.
    I really can't remember how we organised stuff without the internet. For travel people used to use travel agents, but in the 70s I organised a 3 week drive around France with my girlfriend. I planned it myself. I don't know how I did it now. I don't think I booked anything except a ferry.
    After I finished my O levels 3 16 year old mates and I cycled around Normandy camping for a fortnight. We booked the ferry and nothing else, just found campsites when we got tired. You don't really need to plan ahead with these things.

    On my way back from New Zealand through SE Asia in 1990 Mrs Foxy and I back packed for 3 months, with nothing booked ahead apart from flights. We just caught bus and train, and when we got to a place there were always hostel touts. It shows the degree of trust that we would hop in a van at midnight to go to a hostel, but we never had any problems, indeed had a great time. You just need a bit of flexibility and faith that you will find somewhere to stay.
    Sometimes the flexibility has gone away as it's no longer required and so is longer commonplace. A hundred years ago you could (I remember reading) walk into a village and ask in the pub to see if anyone in the village would put you up for the night for cash. I doubt you'd get much luck trying that now.

    Watching old films it seemed common to tell a hotel desk clerk you'll be staying for a few nights, but you don't know how long. I'm not sure that works these days either. Perhaps it was only ever in the movies.
    Prior to widespread internet, airlines, hotels, etc, if somebody hadn't booked through travel agents, there was no other avenue that you would sell than via walk ups, so you had to entertain their trade. Because of that you could haggle prices because they knew if you didn't buy they were highly unlikely to sell to anybody else that day. Now, it is still very possible that people will be booking those services even on the day.
  • nico67nico67 Posts: 5,714
    edited August 1
    Trump fires the BLS chief because he didn’t like the jobs report . And this was comedy gold .

    Trump accuses McEntarfer of faking "Jobs Numbers before the Election to try and boost Kamala’s chances of Victory".

    "Important numbers like this must be fair and accurate, they can’t be manipulated for political purposes," he says.

    The imbecile of course ignored the last jobs report before the election which was dreadful.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 86,446
    edited August 1
    Ghislaine Maxwell, the convicted associate of late financier Jeffrey Epstein, has been moved from a Florida prison to a minimum-security facility in Texas, authorities have confirmed.

    Also housed among the approximately 650 female inmates at the facility is disgraced Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes, who is serving an 11-year prison sentence after being found guilty of defrauding investors in her blood-testing start-up in 2022.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/czd049y2qymo
  • LeonLeon Posts: 63,718
    Just got an advert for a “special Christmas getaway” from a Cornish hotel. August 1st. A record?
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 60,878
    You can't make it up:

    "Donald Trump has said he will sack the head of the US’s labour statistics agency following a weak jobs report in a move that could fuel concerns that he is seeking to influence independent data tracking the world’s biggest economy."



  • TresTres Posts: 2,975
    rcs1000 said:

    You can't make it up:

    "Donald Trump has said he will sack the head of the US’s labour statistics agency following a weak jobs report in a move that could fuel concerns that he is seeking to influence independent data tracking the world’s biggest economy."



    well if it's good enough for China, why should orange be at a disadvantage due to facts and figures?
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 52,449
    carnforth said:

    Foxy said:

    kjh said:

    I sometimes reflect on my student days, late 1970s, when friends were widely dispersed and not only did we not have mobile phones, obviously, but we also didn't have landlines, and wonder how on earth we managed to organise the brilliant social life we had. I really can't remember how we managed to meet up in pub x at time y most nights, but we did, and it wasn't a problem at all at the time.

    Same for me in the mid eighties. Basically you used your legs, went round to somone's house or prearranged meeting time at whatever venue you were heading for. Word of mouth and face to face contact plus a much greater commitment to actually turning up when something had been arranged.
    I really can't remember how we organised stuff without the internet. For travel people used to use travel agents, but in the 70s I organised a 3 week drive around France with my girlfriend. I planned it myself. I don't know how I did it now. I don't think I booked anything except a ferry.
    After I finished my O levels 3 16 year old mates and I cycled around Normandy camping for a fortnight. We booked the ferry and nothing else, just found campsites when we got tired. You don't really need to plan ahead with these things.

    On my way back from New Zealand through SE Asia in 1990 Mrs Foxy and I back packed for 3 months, with nothing booked ahead apart from flights. We just caught bus and train, and when we got to a place there were always hostel touts. It shows the degree of trust that we would hop in a van at midnight to go to a hostel, but we never had any problems, indeed had a great time. You just need a bit of flexibility and faith that you will find somewhere to stay.
    Sometimes the flexibility has gone away as it's no longer required and so is longer commonplace. A hundred years ago you could (I remember reading) walk into a village and ask in the pub to see if anyone in the village would put you up for the night for cash. I doubt you'd get much luck trying that now.

    Watching old films it seemed common to tell a hotel desk clerk you'll be staying for a few nights, but you don't know how long. I'm not sure that works these days either. Perhaps it was only ever in the movies.
    Yes, it may well be harder now.

    In all my travels I only remember being stuck for accommodation once, in a country town in the Transvaal in 1994 when it was getting dark, too dark to drive to the next place. All the accommodation was full as there was a lumberjack festival that had drawn crowds. We ate dinner in a local pizza place, and asked the manager if she knew anywhere with a spare room, and she offered the spare bedroom at their farm. It was a bit weird as it was draped with Nazi regalia, as she was part of Eugene Terreblanches hard-core Afrikaaner bitter-ender faction, but apart from that was fine.

    A culture of hospitality to strangers used to be pretty universal in rural areas all around the world, with the expectation that casual travellers would be put up and fed, often in return for some chores. Its a culture that is still there in many places, but not really viable where there are lots of tourists.
  • carnforthcarnforth Posts: 6,753
    Leon said:

    Just got an advert for a “special Christmas getaway” from a Cornish hotel. August 1st. A record?

    https://www.pocruises.com/new-collection?s_kwcid=AL!13500!3!731158527242!e!!g!!2027 cruises

    You could always book a cruise for 2027.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 60,878

    Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it.

    Advice is a form of nostalgia. Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it's worth.

    Is that from Wear Sunscreen?
  • Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 55,381
    Tres said:

    rcs1000 said:

    You can't make it up:

    "Donald Trump has said he will sack the head of the US’s labour statistics agency following a weak jobs report in a move that could fuel concerns that he is seeking to influence independent data tracking the world’s biggest economy."



    well if it's good enough for China, why should orange be at a disadvantage due to facts and figures?
    Republican color [sic] is Communist Red after all!
  • MattWMattW Posts: 28,795
    edited August 1
    Were we talking about "nothing will be done until 3 people have been killed".

    Here's another one, at a place called Plusha in Cornwall. 3 killed since 2015.

    Right turns across the A30, and also out across and into the other side; it is a 70mph limit dual carriageway at that point. There's a big petrol station/halt on one side, so a lot of turning traffic I assume.

    There's a bit of self-serving nonsense:
    "Amelia Collins had been travelling at 70mph along the A30 and said: "I did not see her pull out. I could not have done anything to avoid the collision."

    Dear, there's half a mile of a lot of bloody great signs showing how complex the junction is and what is there; you could have slowed down to 40 or 50mph which would have cut your kinetic energy by 1/2 to 2/3 . And even a "downhill, turning vehicles, reduce speed" one. You chose to drive at an inappropriate speed through potential traffic predictably crossing in both directions, when the consequences could have been mitigated. All exasperated by the turning driver being 79. (Personally, I suggest it is careless or reckless, bit not enough intention for dangerous.)

    https://maps.app.goo.gl/3y3RNcxLYfWyeg7R7
    My piccie for today:

    BBC report:
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clyzvj24ge1o
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 33,410
    ...

    Leon said:

    Apols if posted as I've been out all day but BMG have this months Inews poll out including one with Your Party and one without

    Ref 32 (+2)
    Lab 23 (-4)
    Con 18 (-1)
    LD 13 (+1)
    Grn 8 (+1)
    Changes since end June

    With Corbyn
    Ref 31
    Lab 20
    Con 19
    LD 13
    Grn 7
    YP 6

    That’s two great polls for Reform. Cruising to victory

    Corbyn is going to kill the Left. Heh
    Wait until he gets the old Jezza roadshows going again. He is in his element and they are genuinely popular. Starmer isn't going to be getting on any soap boxes in town centres and convincing people.
    Colour me sceptical but his undoubted Magic Grandpa charm didn't work in 2019.
  • StuartinromfordStuartinromford Posts: 19,314
    rcs1000 said:

    You can't make it up:

    "Donald Trump has said he will sack the head of the US’s labour statistics agency following a weak jobs report in a move that could fuel concerns that he is seeking to influence independent data tracking the world’s biggest economy."



    Inability to make it up is what cost Erika McEntarfer her job.
  • numbertwelvenumbertwelve Posts: 7,747
    Leon said:

    Just got an advert for a “special Christmas getaway” from a Cornish hotel. August 1st. A record?

    To be fair, I suspect that in that part of the world Christmas stuff gets booked up pretty far in advance.

    We always have a family meal on Boxing Day, and it’s only another month or so before we really have to start getting somewhere booked.
  • MattWMattW Posts: 28,795

    rcs1000 said:

    You can't make it up:

    "Donald Trump has said he will sack the head of the US’s labour statistics agency following a weak jobs report in a move that could fuel concerns that he is seeking to influence independent data tracking the world’s biggest economy."



    Inability to make it up is what cost Erika McEntarfer her job.
    I think he's done that to data collection for inflation, too. Just like weather forecasting.

    "We don't need the Civil Service - wave the chainsaw Elon!"
  • glwglw Posts: 10,471
    MattW said:

    rcs1000 said:

    You can't make it up:

    "Donald Trump has said he will sack the head of the US’s labour statistics agency following a weak jobs report in a move that could fuel concerns that he is seeking to influence independent data tracking the world’s biggest economy."



    Inability to make it up is what cost Erika McEntarfer her job.
    I think he's done that to data collection for inflation, too. Just like weather forecasting.

    "We don't need the Civil Service - wave the chainsaw Elon!"
    Just over six months gone. I’m not sure if the US can take 4 years of this madness.
  • moonshinemoonshine Posts: 5,995

    ...

    Leon said:

    Apols if posted as I've been out all day but BMG have this months Inews poll out including one with Your Party and one without

    Ref 32 (+2)
    Lab 23 (-4)
    Con 18 (-1)
    LD 13 (+1)
    Grn 8 (+1)
    Changes since end June

    With Corbyn
    Ref 31
    Lab 20
    Con 19
    LD 13
    Grn 7
    YP 6

    That’s two great polls for Reform. Cruising to victory

    Corbyn is going to kill the Left. Heh
    Wait until he gets the old Jezza roadshows going again. He is in his element and they are genuinely popular. Starmer isn't going to be getting on any soap boxes in town centres and convincing people.
    Colour me sceptical but his undoubted Magic Grandpa charm didn't work in 2019.
    J Corbz got 40% in 2017. In 2019 even when everyone had had a good look at him, he still got half a million more votes than Starmer managed last year.

    I am the opposite of a Corbynista but I find it odd how so many are ready to write him off. He’s fricking old now but it’s far from impossible he’d poll nationally in double figures but with a highly efficient vote, due to tactical voting / constituency pacts.
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 46,392
    Foxy said:

    carnforth said:

    Foxy said:

    kjh said:

    I sometimes reflect on my student days, late 1970s, when friends were widely dispersed and not only did we not have mobile phones, obviously, but we also didn't have landlines, and wonder how on earth we managed to organise the brilliant social life we had. I really can't remember how we managed to meet up in pub x at time y most nights, but we did, and it wasn't a problem at all at the time.

    Same for me in the mid eighties. Basically you used your legs, went round to somone's house or prearranged meeting time at whatever venue you were heading for. Word of mouth and face to face contact plus a much greater commitment to actually turning up when something had been arranged.
    I really can't remember how we organised stuff without the internet. For travel people used to use travel agents, but in the 70s I organised a 3 week drive around France with my girlfriend. I planned it myself. I don't know how I did it now. I don't think I booked anything except a ferry.
    After I finished my O levels 3 16 year old mates and I cycled around Normandy camping for a fortnight. We booked the ferry and nothing else, just found campsites when we got tired. You don't really need to plan ahead with these things.

    On my way back from New Zealand through SE Asia in 1990 Mrs Foxy and I back packed for 3 months, with nothing booked ahead apart from flights. We just caught bus and train, and when we got to a place there were always hostel touts. It shows the degree of trust that we would hop in a van at midnight to go to a hostel, but we never had any problems, indeed had a great time. You just need a bit of flexibility and faith that you will find somewhere to stay.
    Sometimes the flexibility has gone away as it's no longer required and so is longer commonplace. A hundred years ago you could (I remember reading) walk into a village and ask in the pub to see if anyone in the village would put you up for the night for cash. I doubt you'd get much luck trying that now.

    Watching old films it seemed common to tell a hotel desk clerk you'll be staying for a few nights, but you don't know how long. I'm not sure that works these days either. Perhaps it was only ever in the movies.
    Yes, it may well be harder now.

    In all my travels I only remember being stuck for accommodation once, in a country town in the Transvaal in 1994 when it was getting dark, too dark to drive to the next place. All the accommodation was full as there was a lumberjack festival that had drawn crowds. We ate dinner in a local pizza place, and asked the manager if she knew anywhere with a spare room, and she offered the spare bedroom at their farm. It was a bit weird as it was draped with Nazi regalia, as she was part of Eugene Terreblanches hard-core Afrikaaner bitter-ender faction, but apart from that was fine.

    A culture of hospitality to strangers used to be pretty universal in rural areas all around the world, with the expectation that casual travellers would be put up and fed, often in return for some chores. Its a culture that is still there in many places, but not really viable where there are lots of tourists.
    I've asked people where I could pitch my tent when backpacking on a fair few occasions. One time I was pointed to a churchyard (Croick Church, in the Highlands, which has names engraved on the windows from locals who fled into the church during the clearances). Putting my tent up between the gravestones felt rather eerie.

    But the best was in a small and posh village in Oxfordshire, near the start of the Thames Path. I was going to the pub to see if I could pitch my tent in their beer garden (I would, of course, buy a meal and a pint) when I saw a middle-aged man getting out of his posh car to close a gate. I walked over to him and asked him where I could pitch my tent. He asked me a few questions, then said: "Pitch it in my paddock around the back for the night."

    So I did. There were no horses or animals in the paddock, and I erected my bright yellow tent in one corner. After an hour or so, a woman came up to me and asked something like: "What the Hell are you doing in my garden?"

    It turns out her husband had not told her that they had a visitor for the night...

    I have received lots of similar kindness from pub landlords, gypsies, homeowners, B&B owners, farmers, and many others. One farmer caught me wild camping on his land and invited me in for breakfast.
  • kyf_100kyf_100 Posts: 4,976
    Roger said:

    kyf_100 said:

    From previous threads, as I only check in here now and again, thought this might be of use to @leon as it is my subject area of expertise.

    So, @Leon While I bow to Roger's experience in terms of advertising, as an ex marketing bod, if this helps you write your Sidney Sweeney article:

    - It's _heavily_ based on Brooke Shields 'my Calvins' 1980 campaign for Calvin Klein Jeans - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9-2uJz2df4

    - Interestingly, if you want to draw a parallel between then and now, Shields was 15 when she made these ads. Sweeney is what, 27?

    - I don't think you can really cover the 80s jeans ads without referencing the granddaddy of 80s jeans ads, Levi's Laundrette - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwG_wym3p68

    - Famously lovingly appropriated by Carling Black Label a year later - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCemJAd3KZA

    - What's interesting of course is that the Levis ad 'objectifies' men (in a fun way) and is made for the female gaze. Quite forward for its time in a way. And more interesting still, is they remade it a year ago with Beyonce in the male role but it fell flat - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q40oimgnN00 - mainly because it lacked any of the playfulness of the original and just felt... meh. But there is a definite *trend* towards reobjectification that started before the Sweeney ad.

    So lots here to play with in terms of changes in attitudes between the 80s (which Sweeney's ad is deliberately rooted in) and now.

    Just an ex-marketing bod's opinion, hope that is useful.

    That's quite interesting. There's quite a lot to be said. Hegarty has written books on the subject after the success of his various Levi ads particularly 'Laundrette'. But it goes further back than that and as for sexism in ads that has come and gone and been written about many times. I've shot topless chocolate ads for France and Germany which have had to be recut for the UK. Cadbury flake is worth looking at. Could you get away with it now? The answer's no but not for the reason people might think..........

    https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=cadbury's+flake+commercial#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:09c72aca,vid:3FcjxpnbHhA,st:0
    I had a crush on the Cadbury's Caramel bunny when I was a kid. I dare say this would have me labelled as a "furry" today! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvkexGUF79A

    The thing about the Brooke Shields ad is she literally does the whole genes/jeans schtick at about 3:00 in my link above, arguably going a lot further, referencing 'natural selection' while sexualising a 15 year old. The ad was widely criticised at the time, but for sexualising a 15 year old, not for the obvious eugenics element to the original script. So there's a story here about media outrage and how the focus of that outrage has changed in a more racially diverse america, away from overt sexualisation (normalised) and towards eugenics (less normalised) as the thing to hate on.

    In both cases, the advertisers knew what they were doing in terms of enjoying free earned media through courting controversy. The Cadbury's Bunny on the other hand, that just turned an entire generation of kids weird...
  • RogerRoger Posts: 20,804
    edited August 1

    Roger said:

    kyf_100 said:

    From previous threads, as I only check in here now and again, thought this might be of use to @leon as it is my subject area of expertise.

    So, @Leon While I bow to Roger's experience in terms of advertising, as an ex marketing bod, if this helps you write your Sidney Sweeney article:

    - It's _heavily_ based on Brooke Shields 'my Calvins' 1980 campaign for Calvin Klein Jeans - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9-2uJz2df4

    - Interestingly, if you want to draw a parallel between then and now, Shields was 15 when she made these ads. Sweeney is what, 27?

    - I don't think you can really cover the 80s jeans ads without referencing the granddaddy of 80s jeans ads, Levi's Laundrette - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwG_wym3p68

    - Famously lovingly appropriated by Carling Black Label a year later - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCemJAd3KZA

    - What's interesting of course is that the Levis ad 'objectifies' men (in a fun way) and is made for the female gaze. Quite forward for its time in a way. And more interesting still, is they remade it a year ago with Beyonce in the male role but it fell flat - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q40oimgnN00 - mainly because it lacked any of the playfulness of the original and just felt... meh. But there is a definite *trend* towards reobjectification that started before the Sweeney ad.

    So lots here to play with in terms of changes in attitudes between the 80s (which Sweeney's ad is deliberately rooted in) and now.

    Just an ex-marketing bod's opinion, hope that is useful.

    That's quite interesting. There's quite a lot to be said. Hegarty has written books on the subject after the success of his various Levi ads particularly 'Laundrette'. But it goes further back than that and as for sexism in ads that has come and gone and been written about many times. I've shot topless chocolate ads for France and Germany which have had to be recut for the UK. Cadbury flake is worth looking at. Could you get away with it now? The answer's no but not for the reason people might think..........

    https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=cadbury's+flake+commercial#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:09c72aca,vid:3FcjxpnbHhA,st:0
    What’s the reason?
    https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=cadbury's+flake+ad+bath#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:ba36b54b,vid:mEZ2ax2-O2A,st:0

    This ad specifically for the same reason as this one........

    https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=cadbury's+flake+ad+jonathan+glazer#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:1455bbce,vid:8Uxnpc-JQ3o,st:0

    The ad would be thought to be demonic as in this recent one which was apparently an homage to the earlier one and was banned. (incidentally shot by Jonathan Glazer)
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 60,878

    I sometimes reflect on my student days, late 1970s, when friends were widely dispersed and not only did we not have mobile phones, obviously, but we also didn't have landlines, and wonder how on earth we managed to organise the brilliant social life we had. I really can't remember how we managed to meet up in pub x at time y most nights, but we did, and it wasn't a problem at all at the time.

    Same for me in the mid eighties. Basically you used your legs, went round to somone's house or prearranged meeting time at whatever venue you were heading for. Word of mouth and face to face contact plus a much greater commitment to actually turning up when something had been arranged.
    There was the advantage you could have a house party and no issue of "somebody posted on Facebook" and 5000 people show up to wreck the place.
    Hmmm: we'd still hear word of mouth about parties and turn up at someone we didn't know's place. And - put it like this - I wouldn't have liked to have been the person cleaning up in the morning.
  • FF43FF43 Posts: 18,238

    Delivering the Supreme Court's ruling, Lord Reed says the court allows appeals brought by the finance companies.

    But, Lord Reed says the court upholds Mr Johnson's claim "that the relationship between him and the finance company was unfair".

    "We award him the amount of commission plus interest," Lord Reed says before adding that "other customers claims are rejected".

    The point of law is whether car dealers have a fiduciary duty to their customers. eg. solicitors and company directors are expected not to benefit personally from any actions taken on behalf of clients or shareholders beyond being paid a fee for their services.

    I would think it's obvious car dealers are motivated by the profit in each transaction and don't have fiduciary duties similar to solicitors and company directors but it took the Supreme Court to work that out.

    The one case allowed entailed a grotesquely large commission so was deemed to be contrary to consumer duty regulations in force at the time.

    https://supremecourt.uk/news/latest-judgement
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 60,878
    kyf_100 said:

    Roger said:

    kyf_100 said:

    From previous threads, as I only check in here now and again, thought this might be of use to @leon as it is my subject area of expertise.

    So, @Leon While I bow to Roger's experience in terms of advertising, as an ex marketing bod, if this helps you write your Sidney Sweeney article:

    - It's _heavily_ based on Brooke Shields 'my Calvins' 1980 campaign for Calvin Klein Jeans - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9-2uJz2df4

    - Interestingly, if you want to draw a parallel between then and now, Shields was 15 when she made these ads. Sweeney is what, 27?

    - I don't think you can really cover the 80s jeans ads without referencing the granddaddy of 80s jeans ads, Levi's Laundrette - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwG_wym3p68

    - Famously lovingly appropriated by Carling Black Label a year later - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCemJAd3KZA

    - What's interesting of course is that the Levis ad 'objectifies' men (in a fun way) and is made for the female gaze. Quite forward for its time in a way. And more interesting still, is they remade it a year ago with Beyonce in the male role but it fell flat - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q40oimgnN00 - mainly because it lacked any of the playfulness of the original and just felt... meh. But there is a definite *trend* towards reobjectification that started before the Sweeney ad.

    So lots here to play with in terms of changes in attitudes between the 80s (which Sweeney's ad is deliberately rooted in) and now.

    Just an ex-marketing bod's opinion, hope that is useful.

    That's quite interesting. There's quite a lot to be said. Hegarty has written books on the subject after the success of his various Levi ads particularly 'Laundrette'. But it goes further back than that and as for sexism in ads that has come and gone and been written about many times. I've shot topless chocolate ads for France and Germany which have had to be recut for the UK. Cadbury flake is worth looking at. Could you get away with it now? The answer's no but not for the reason people might think..........

    https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=cadbury's+flake+commercial#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:09c72aca,vid:3FcjxpnbHhA,st:0
    I had a crush on the Cadbury's Caramel bunny when I was a kid. I dare say this would have me labelled as a "furry" today! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvkexGUF79A

    The thing about the Brooke Shields ad is she literally does the whole genes/jeans schtick at about 3:00 in my link above, arguably going a lot further, referencing 'natural selection' while sexualising a 15 year old. The ad was widely criticised at the time, but for sexualising a 15 year old, not for the obvious eugenics element to the original script. So there's a story here about media outrage and how the focus of that outrage has changed in a more racially diverse america, away from overt sexualisation (normalised) and towards eugenics (less normalised) as the thing to hate on.

    In both cases, the advertisers knew what they were doing in terms of enjoying free earned media through courting controversy. The Cadbury's Bunny on the other hand, that just turned an entire generation of kids weird...
    My best friend out here in LA used to work for Gavin de Becker in private security, and was Brooke Shield's bodyguard for a couple of years.
  • AlsoLeiAlsoLei Posts: 1,527
    edited August 1

    ...

    Leon said:

    Apols if posted as I've been out all day but BMG have this months Inews poll out including one with Your Party and one without

    Ref 32 (+2)
    Lab 23 (-4)
    Con 18 (-1)
    LD 13 (+1)
    Grn 8 (+1)
    Changes since end June

    With Corbyn
    Ref 31
    Lab 20
    Con 19
    LD 13
    Grn 7
    YP 6

    That’s two great polls for Reform. Cruising to victory

    Corbyn is going to kill the Left. Heh
    Wait until he gets the old Jezza roadshows going again. He is in his element and they are genuinely popular. Starmer isn't going to be getting on any soap boxes in town centres and convincing people.
    Colour me sceptical but his undoubted Magic Grandpa charm didn't work in 2019.
    He still had it in Islington North last year. Honestly, it was like a tsunami - a tide rising slowly at first but which just kept coming in and in and in. Labour pushed hard from the start and even appeared to be ahead at first, but they were drowned in the final weeks.

    I'd expect plenty of other inner-ish London seats to be vulnerable. Lammy in Tottenham, Streeting in Ilford North, whoever Labour stand in Hackney North (assuming it won't be Abbott!) - they all could be swept away. Similar places with new Labour MPs who haven't had time to establish a local support base - Vauxhall, Peckham, Stratford and Bow.

    Elsewhere, look at places won by Labour with the Greens and Refuk battling for position as the challengers for next time. Hastings, definitely. East Thanet, maybe. Canterbury, depending on who Labour select to replace Duffield.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 79,783
    rcs1000 said:

    You can't make it up:

    "Donald Trump has said he will sack the head of the US’s labour statistics agency following a weak jobs report in a move that could fuel concerns that he is seeking to influence independent data tracking the world’s biggest economy."

    "That could fuel concerns" is a fine example of both-sides journalism.

    Who wrote that piece of craven analysis ?
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 52,593

    From day one as Ilford North’s MP I’ve had an accessible and visible constituency office to serve my local community.

    Repeated criminal damage is unfair to my staff and an attack on democracy.

    I will not be commenting further while there is a live police investigation.

    https://x.com/wesstreeting/status/1951308368716427450

    Makes a change from pet shops?
  • BarnesianBarnesian Posts: 9,245

    Leon said:

    Just got an advert for a “special Christmas getaway” from a Cornish hotel. August 1st. A record?

    To be fair, I suspect that in that part of the world Christmas stuff gets booked up pretty far in advance.

    We always have a family meal on Boxing Day, and it’s only another month or so before we really have to start getting somewhere booked.
    The Oxford and Cambridge Christmas dinner is already fully booked. And the Advent Carol Service.
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 52,593
    edited August 1
    kjh said:

    I sometimes reflect on my student days, late 1970s, when friends were widely dispersed and not only did we not have mobile phones, obviously, but we also didn't have landlines, and wonder how on earth we managed to organise the brilliant social life we had. I really can't remember how we managed to meet up in pub x at time y most nights, but we did, and it wasn't a problem at all at the time.

    Same for me in the mid eighties. Basically you used your legs, went round to somone's house or prearranged meeting time at whatever venue you were heading for. Word of mouth and face to face contact plus a much greater commitment to actually turning up when something had been arranged.
    I really can't remember how we organised stuff without the internet. For travel people used to use travel agents, but in the 70s I organised a 3 week drive around France with my girlfriend. I planned it myself. I don't know how I did it now. I don't think I booked anything except a ferry.
    Part of it was the freedom just to pitch up somewhere and look for a hotel. I used to do that in the early days driving south through France, some time between three and four you’d start calling at town hotels and pretty soon get a vacancy. Nowadays that just wouldn’t work; best case, you’d get a crap price, and usually wouldn’t get a room at all.

    Otherwise you used agents to book hotels, as you say, or if you were brave, telephone or write. There was a brief period of a few years when fax was a very good way to arrange hotels overseas. When online booking first became a thing, it didn’t seem very trustworthy and I used to send a fax to confirm anything done online. But that must have been just for a year or two. Then suddenly, you could arrange a whole trip yourself from your PC. My current trip would have been a logistical nightmare to have arranged without the internet. I am currently the only British car on a ferry from Finland to Sweden; not sure how that would have been done in the old days other than through a travel agent?
  • Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 55,381
    moonshine said:

    ...

    Leon said:

    Apols if posted as I've been out all day but BMG have this months Inews poll out including one with Your Party and one without

    Ref 32 (+2)
    Lab 23 (-4)
    Con 18 (-1)
    LD 13 (+1)
    Grn 8 (+1)
    Changes since end June

    With Corbyn
    Ref 31
    Lab 20
    Con 19
    LD 13
    Grn 7
    YP 6

    That’s two great polls for Reform. Cruising to victory

    Corbyn is going to kill the Left. Heh
    Wait until he gets the old Jezza roadshows going again. He is in his element and they are genuinely popular. Starmer isn't going to be getting on any soap boxes in town centres and convincing people.
    Colour me sceptical but his undoubted Magic Grandpa charm didn't work in 2019.
    J Corbz got 40% in 2017. In 2019 even when everyone had had a good look at him, he still got half a million more votes than Starmer managed last year.
    Ancient history never was my strong point, but did he become PM? I must have missed that.
  • viewcodeviewcode Posts: 25,425

    moonshine said:

    ...

    Leon said:

    Apols if posted as I've been out all day but BMG have this months Inews poll out including one with Your Party and one without

    Ref 32 (+2)
    Lab 23 (-4)
    Con 18 (-1)
    LD 13 (+1)
    Grn 8 (+1)
    Changes since end June

    With Corbyn
    Ref 31
    Lab 20
    Con 19
    LD 13
    Grn 7
    YP 6

    That’s two great polls for Reform. Cruising to victory

    Corbyn is going to kill the Left. Heh
    Wait until he gets the old Jezza roadshows going again. He is in his element and they are genuinely popular. Starmer isn't going to be getting on any soap boxes in town centres and convincing people.
    Colour me sceptical but his undoubted Magic Grandpa charm didn't work in 2019.
    J Corbz got 40% in 2017. In 2019 even when everyone had had a good look at him, he still got half a million more votes than Starmer managed last year.
    Ancient history never was my strong point, but did he become PM? I must have missed that.
    (Checks notes)

    Hmm

    Apparently not. It was a lard-based heffalump called "Boris". Entirely more sensible.
  • EabhalEabhal Posts: 11,369
    edited August 1
    MattW said:

    Were we talking about "nothing will be done until 3 people have been killed".

    Here's another one, at a place called Plusha in Cornwall. 3 killed since 2015.

    Right turns across the A30, and also out across and into the other side; it is a 70mph limit dual carriageway at that point. There's a big petrol station/halt on one side, so a lot of turning traffic I assume.

    There's a bit of self-serving nonsense:
    "Amelia Collins had been travelling at 70mph along the A30 and said: "I did not see her pull out. I could not have done anything to avoid the collision."

    Dear, there's half a mile of a lot of bloody great signs showing how complex the junction is and what is there; you could have slowed down to 40 or 50mph which would have cut your kinetic energy by 1/2 to 2/3 . And even a "downhill, turning vehicles, reduce speed" one. You chose to drive at an inappropriate speed through potential traffic predictably crossing in both directions, when the consequences could have been mitigated. All exasperated by the turning driver being 79. (Personally, I suggest it is careless or reckless, bit not enough intention for dangerous.)

    https://maps.app.goo.gl/3y3RNcxLYfWyeg7R7
    My piccie for today:

    BBC report:
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clyzvj24ge1o

    That's very similar to the problematic junctions on the A9, particularly Aviemore. I always slow down for them given their brutal history. I've witnessed 8 German motorcyclists going through wrong way coming out of the Ralia junction.

    Anyway, it would simple just to pop a 40mph limit on them, or one of those "8 fatalities in last 10 years" signs up. I have no idea why they don't, and it's self-regulating anyway because of the average speed cameras.
  • viewcodeviewcode Posts: 25,425
    kyf_100 said:

    Foxy said:

    MattW said:

    Media note:

    Has anyone noticed press coverage of the "Trans+ Pride" demonstration last weekend in London last Saturday, that drew 100k+ people?

    I only caught it from the Guardian feed, and nearly missed it.

    Checking - Guardian, Indy, BBC London Region, ES covered it. Elsewhere - crickets, as far as I can see.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5y3pw10zw2o

    I didn't see anything about it. It just shows how accepted Pride marches are, that they are no longer news.

    We even have Rutland pride now. Its that respectable.
    The thing about this year's trans pride was the difference in numbers.

    Trans pride attracted 100k this year, but only 60k a year ago. And the 100k who marched for trans pride this year was more than those who marched for the main pride event, just 30k. While pride is more of a celebration / booze up these days, trans pride is intensely political and becoming more so with recent events. I know it's not PB's demographic, but a lot of people in my social circle are very angry about the way the government is acting over this - particularly a Labour government.

    I noted earlier this week that the government is ruling by decree, invoking a statutory instrument to take away trans rights, - see https://iandunt.substack.com/p/the-trans-rights-stitch-up-2ca?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=7aibo&triedRedirect=true and has overruled the chairs of the women and equalities committee and the joint committee on human rights to appoint Mary Ann Stephenson to replace Kishwer Falkner, described as underqualified on race relations and lacking in credibility in a letter to Bridget Phillipson - https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/jul/31/mary-ann-stephenson-confirmed-as-ehrc-chair-despite-mps-objections - she was clearly only appointed because the government wants to push through anti-trans legislation. As I pointed out this week, you don't have to support trans rights to support good government based on transparency, fairness, and parliamentary accountability. Everything the current government is not.

    There is an argument that she was chosen specifically as she had the "right background." Interpret that how you will...

    https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/gender-critical-ehrc-chair-mary-ann-stephenson-hf7mkzcwx
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 63,948
    True Lies is essentially Arnold Schwarzneggers one and only Bond film.
  • carnforthcarnforth Posts: 6,753
    edited August 1
    viewcode said:

    kyf_100 said:

    Foxy said:

    MattW said:

    Media note:

    Has anyone noticed press coverage of the "Trans+ Pride" demonstration last weekend in London last Saturday, that drew 100k+ people?

    I only caught it from the Guardian feed, and nearly missed it.

    Checking - Guardian, Indy, BBC London Region, ES covered it. Elsewhere - crickets, as far as I can see.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5y3pw10zw2o

    I didn't see anything about it. It just shows how accepted Pride marches are, that they are no longer news.

    We even have Rutland pride now. Its that respectable.
    The thing about this year's trans pride was the difference in numbers.

    Trans pride attracted 100k this year, but only 60k a year ago. And the 100k who marched for trans pride this year was more than those who marched for the main pride event, just 30k. While pride is more of a celebration / booze up these days, trans pride is intensely political and becoming more so with recent events. I know it's not PB's demographic, but a lot of people in my social circle are very angry about the way the government is acting over this - particularly a Labour government.

    I noted earlier this week that the government is ruling by decree, invoking a statutory instrument to take away trans rights, - see https://iandunt.substack.com/p/the-trans-rights-stitch-up-2ca?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=7aibo&triedRedirect=true and has overruled the chairs of the women and equalities committee and the joint committee on human rights to appoint Mary Ann Stephenson to replace Kishwer Falkner, described as underqualified on race relations and lacking in credibility in a letter to Bridget Phillipson - https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/jul/31/mary-ann-stephenson-confirmed-as-ehrc-chair-despite-mps-objections - she was clearly only appointed because the government wants to push through anti-trans legislation. As I pointed out this week, you don't have to support trans rights to support good government based on transparency, fairness, and parliamentary accountability. Everything the current government is not.

    There is an argument that she was chosen specifically as she had the "right background." Interpret that how you will...

    https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/gender-critical-ehrc-chair-mary-ann-stephenson-hf7mkzcwx
    What does it mean by "overrule MPs"? Do the committees in question have a formal role? Or does "overrule" here just mean ignore?
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 67,144
    Spencer Hakimian
    @SpencerHakimian
    ·
    23m
    *FED GOVERNOR ADRIANA KUGLER TO RESIGN EFFECTIVE AUG. 8

    Biden appointee.

    Going to be replaced by a MAGA hack.
  • ohnotnowohnotnow Posts: 5,173
    rcs1000 said:

    You can't make it up:

    "Donald Trump has said he will sack the head of the US’s labour statistics agency following a weak jobs report in a move that could fuel concerns that he is seeking to influence independent data tracking the world’s biggest economy."



    "Important numbers like this must be fair and accurate, they can’t be manipulated for political purposes," he says.

  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 67,144
    So it begins...


    Hours after disappointing jobs data reflected cracks in the U.S. economy, President Trump said Friday that he planned to fire the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Erika McEntarfer, and implied on social media that she had manipulated the monthly data for political reasons.

    Mr. Trump offered no evidence to support his claim.

    NY Times blog

    As ever, projection. He intends to select someone who will manipulate the data for political reasons.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 79,783
    edited August 1
    ohnotnow said:

    rcs1000 said:

    You can't make it up:

    "Donald Trump has said he will sack the head of the US’s labour statistics agency following a weak jobs report in a move that could fuel concerns that he is seeking to influence independent data tracking the world’s biggest economy."

    "Important numbers like this must be fair and accurate, they can’t be manipulated for political purposes," he says.

    Only dictators pull shit like that.

    Note Vance actively backed her appointment, back in the day.
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 67,144
    George Conway 👊🇺🇸🔥
    @gtconway3d
    ·
    52m
    Pretty soon all economic and jobs data released by the federal government will be handwritten with a black Sharpie

    https://x.com/gtconway3d/status/1951359169463767141
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 74,620

    George Conway 👊🇺🇸🔥
    @gtconway3d
    ·
    52m
    Pretty soon all economic and jobs data released by the federal government will be handwritten with a black Sharpie

    https://x.com/gtconway3d/status/1951359169463767141

    More likely a red crayon.
  • ohnotnowohnotnow Posts: 5,173
    Nigelb said:

    ohnotnow said:

    rcs1000 said:

    You can't make it up:

    "Donald Trump has said he will sack the head of the US’s labour statistics agency following a weak jobs report in a move that could fuel concerns that he is seeking to influence independent data tracking the world’s biggest economy."

    "Important numbers like this must be fair and accurate, they can’t be manipulated for political purposes," he says.

    Only dictators pull shit like that.

    Note Vance actively backed her appointment, back in the day.
    "I like not this news! Bring me some other news!"

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWsKhMQ41lY

  • RogerRoger Posts: 20,804
    kyf_100 said:

    Roger said:

    kyf_100 said:

    From previous threads, as I only check in here now and again, thought this might be of use to @leon as it is my subject area of expertise.

    So, @Leon While I bow to Roger's experience in terms of advertising, as an ex marketing bod, if this helps you write your Sidney Sweeney article:

    - It's _heavily_ based on Brooke Shields 'my Calvins' 1980 campaign for Calvin Klein Jeans - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9-2uJz2df4

    - Interestingly, if you want to draw a parallel between then and now, Shields was 15 when she made these ads. Sweeney is what, 27?

    - I don't think you can really cover the 80s jeans ads without referencing the granddaddy of 80s jeans ads, Levi's Laundrette - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwG_wym3p68

    - Famously lovingly appropriated by Carling Black Label a year later - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCemJAd3KZA

    - What's interesting of course is that the Levis ad 'objectifies' men (in a fun way) and is made for the female gaze. Quite forward for its time in a way. And more interesting still, is they remade it a year ago with Beyonce in the male role but it fell flat - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q40oimgnN00 - mainly because it lacked any of the playfulness of the original and just felt... meh. But there is a definite *trend* towards reobjectification that started before the Sweeney ad.

    So lots here to play with in terms of changes in attitudes between the 80s (which Sweeney's ad is deliberately rooted in) and now.

    Just an ex-marketing bod's opinion, hope that is useful.

    That's quite interesting. There's quite a lot to be said. Hegarty has written books on the subject after the success of his various Levi ads particularly 'Laundrette'. But it goes further back than that and as for sexism in ads that has come and gone and been written about many times. I've shot topless chocolate ads for France and Germany which have had to be recut for the UK. Cadbury flake is worth looking at. Could you get away with it now? The answer's no but not for the reason people might think..........

    https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=cadbury's+flake+commercial#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:09c72aca,vid:3FcjxpnbHhA,st:0
    I had a crush on the Cadbury's Caramel bunny when I was a kid. I dare say this would have me labelled as a "furry" today! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvkexGUF79A

    The thing about the Brooke Shields ad is she literally does the whole genes/jeans schtick at about 3:00 in my link above, arguably going a lot further, referencing 'natural selection' while sexualising a 15 year old. The ad was widely criticised at the time, but for sexualising a 15 year old, not for the obvious eugenics element to the original script. So there's a story here about media outrage and how the focus of that outrage has changed in a more racially diverse america, away from overt sexualisation (normalised) and towards eugenics (less normalised) as the thing to hate on.

    In both cases, the advertisers knew what they were doing in terms of enjoying free earned media through courting controversy. The Cadbury's Bunny on the other hand, that just turned an entire generation of kids weird...
    Exactly. Get your ad banned for the right sort of reasons was a win win if it didn't cost too much. The boundaries were always being pushed beyond breaking point. There have been too many innovative and risky ideas this latest doesn't register try as the advertiser might wish. I thought Santa's Wife was more worthy of a controversy
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 67,144
    Nigelb said:

    rcs1000 said:

    You can't make it up:

    "Donald Trump has said he will sack the head of the US’s labour statistics agency following a weak jobs report in a move that could fuel concerns that he is seeking to influence independent data tracking the world’s biggest economy."

    "That could fuel concerns" is a fine example of both-sides journalism.

    Who wrote that piece of craven analysis ?
    3 and 1/2 more years of this shit.

    At least.

    No idea why the US stock market isn't properly reacting to all this insanity. NYSE is in a banana republic.
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 67,144

    Sarah Longwell
    @SarahLongwell25

    Trump is firing people for publishing statistics about the damage he is doing to the economy.

    https://x.com/SarahLongwell25/status/1951349331736535340
  • moonshinemoonshine Posts: 5,995

    moonshine said:

    ...

    Leon said:

    Apols if posted as I've been out all day but BMG have this months Inews poll out including one with Your Party and one without

    Ref 32 (+2)
    Lab 23 (-4)
    Con 18 (-1)
    LD 13 (+1)
    Grn 8 (+1)
    Changes since end June

    With Corbyn
    Ref 31
    Lab 20
    Con 19
    LD 13
    Grn 7
    YP 6

    That’s two great polls for Reform. Cruising to victory

    Corbyn is going to kill the Left. Heh
    Wait until he gets the old Jezza roadshows going again. He is in his element and they are genuinely popular. Starmer isn't going to be getting on any soap boxes in town centres and convincing people.
    Colour me sceptical but his undoubted Magic Grandpa charm didn't work in 2019.
    J Corbz got 40% in 2017. In 2019 even when everyone had had a good look at him, he still got half a million more votes than Starmer managed last year.
    Ancient history never was my strong point, but did he become PM? I must have missed that.
    He doesn’t want to be PM does he, not really. He just wants to be a bit of a pickle and annoy the people who chucked him out of his beloved Labour Party. And he’s very well positioned to do that.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 86,446

    moonshine said:

    ...

    Leon said:

    Apols if posted as I've been out all day but BMG have this months Inews poll out including one with Your Party and one without

    Ref 32 (+2)
    Lab 23 (-4)
    Con 18 (-1)
    LD 13 (+1)
    Grn 8 (+1)
    Changes since end June

    With Corbyn
    Ref 31
    Lab 20
    Con 19
    LD 13
    Grn 7
    YP 6

    That’s two great polls for Reform. Cruising to victory

    Corbyn is going to kill the Left. Heh
    Wait until he gets the old Jezza roadshows going again. He is in his element and they are genuinely popular. Starmer isn't going to be getting on any soap boxes in town centres and convincing people.
    Colour me sceptical but his undoubted Magic Grandpa charm didn't work in 2019.
    J Corbz got 40% in 2017. In 2019 even when everyone had had a good look at him, he still got half a million more votes than Starmer managed last year.
    Ancient history never was my strong point, but did he become PM? I must have missed that.
    Well he hold everybody he won...the argument.
  • Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 55,381
    edited August 1

    True Lies is essentially Arnold Schwarznegger's one and only Bond film.

    Helen: Have you ever killed anyone?
    Harry: Yeah, but they were all bad.
  • viewcodeviewcode Posts: 25,425
    moonshine said:

    moonshine said:

    ...

    Leon said:

    Apols if posted as I've been out all day but BMG have this months Inews poll out including one with Your Party and one without

    Ref 32 (+2)
    Lab 23 (-4)
    Con 18 (-1)
    LD 13 (+1)
    Grn 8 (+1)
    Changes since end June

    With Corbyn
    Ref 31
    Lab 20
    Con 19
    LD 13
    Grn 7
    YP 6

    That’s two great polls for Reform. Cruising to victory

    Corbyn is going to kill the Left. Heh
    Wait until he gets the old Jezza roadshows going again. He is in his element and they are genuinely popular. Starmer isn't going to be getting on any soap boxes in town centres and convincing people.
    Colour me sceptical but his undoubted Magic Grandpa charm didn't work in 2019.
    J Corbz got 40% in 2017. In 2019 even when everyone had had a good look at him, he still got half a million more votes than Starmer managed last year.
    Ancient history never was my strong point, but did he become PM? I must have missed that.
    He doesn’t want to be PM does he, not really. He just wants to be a bit of a pickle and annoy the people who chucked him out of his beloved Labour Party. And he’s very well positioned to do that.
    Indeed. Jeremy Corbyn's worst enemy is Jeremy Corbyn. But he can cause a lot of damage in the meantime.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 86,446
    edited August 1
    moonshine said:

    ...

    Leon said:

    Apols if posted as I've been out all day but BMG have this months Inews poll out including one with Your Party and one without

    Ref 32 (+2)
    Lab 23 (-4)
    Con 18 (-1)
    LD 13 (+1)
    Grn 8 (+1)
    Changes since end June

    With Corbyn
    Ref 31
    Lab 20
    Con 19
    LD 13
    Grn 7
    YP 6

    That’s two great polls for Reform. Cruising to victory

    Corbyn is going to kill the Left. Heh
    Wait until he gets the old Jezza roadshows going again. He is in his element and they are genuinely popular. Starmer isn't going to be getting on any soap boxes in town centres and convincing people.
    Colour me sceptical but his undoubted Magic Grandpa charm didn't work in 2019.
    J Corbz got 40% in 2017. In 2019 even when everyone had had a good look at him, he still got half a million more votes than Starmer managed last year.

    I am the opposite of a Corbynista but I find it odd how so many are ready to write him off. He’s fricking old now but it’s far from impossible he’d poll nationally in double figures but with a highly efficient vote, due to tactical voting / constituency pacts.
    The problems that made him popular haven't gone away, if anything they are worse. Because he has never changed his mind about anything he has down pat his pitch and it is undeniable he can give a rabble rousing speech on home ground. And I can see why people buy into his socialist solutions. Also, there are the new breed of online influencers likes of Gary's Economics who can funnel people his way.

    Does it mean his band of merry men, women, non-binaries will get 40%, no. But if he does actually decide to put some effort in, its not impossible they can hoover up left wing votes.

    The counter is people might cling to nurse Starmer to stop Farage.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 86,446
    edited August 1
    moonshine said:

    moonshine said:

    ...

    Leon said:

    Apols if posted as I've been out all day but BMG have this months Inews poll out including one with Your Party and one without

    Ref 32 (+2)
    Lab 23 (-4)
    Con 18 (-1)
    LD 13 (+1)
    Grn 8 (+1)
    Changes since end June

    With Corbyn
    Ref 31
    Lab 20
    Con 19
    LD 13
    Grn 7
    YP 6

    That’s two great polls for Reform. Cruising to victory

    Corbyn is going to kill the Left. Heh
    Wait until he gets the old Jezza roadshows going again. He is in his element and they are genuinely popular. Starmer isn't going to be getting on any soap boxes in town centres and convincing people.
    Colour me sceptical but his undoubted Magic Grandpa charm didn't work in 2019.
    J Corbz got 40% in 2017. In 2019 even when everyone had had a good look at him, he still got half a million more votes than Starmer managed last year.
    Ancient history never was my strong point, but did he become PM? I must have missed that.
    He doesn’t want to be PM does he, not really. He just wants to be a bit of a pickle and annoy the people who chucked him out of his beloved Labour Party. And he’s very well positioned to do that.
    He might also hope to drag Labour Party back to the left more in the way Farage dragged the Tories right.
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 63,948

    True Lies is essentially Arnold Schwarznegger's one and only Bond film.

    Helen: Have you ever killed anyone?
    Harry: Yeah, but they were all bad.
    I might stick it on.
  • boulayboulay Posts: 6,712

    True Lies is essentially Arnold Schwarzneggers one and only Bond film.

    Disappointingly it’s a remake of a French film so don’t dirty our good old British Bond with such comparisons.
  • RochdalePioneersRochdalePioneers Posts: 30,665
    Had a week off - have I missed anything much?
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 79,783
    I'm not Rishi Sunak's greatest fan, but the open racism expressed in a lot of the replies to this tweet is utterly disgusting.

    Happy Yorkshire Day! Proud to call it home, and even prouder to represent its people.

    There’s nowhere quite like it.

    https://x.com/RishiSunak/status/1951161325872357511

    All credit to those posters calling out the racists, though.

  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 56,082

    moonshine said:

    moonshine said:

    ...

    Leon said:

    Apols if posted as I've been out all day but BMG have this months Inews poll out including one with Your Party and one without

    Ref 32 (+2)
    Lab 23 (-4)
    Con 18 (-1)
    LD 13 (+1)
    Grn 8 (+1)
    Changes since end June

    With Corbyn
    Ref 31
    Lab 20
    Con 19
    LD 13
    Grn 7
    YP 6

    That’s two great polls for Reform. Cruising to victory

    Corbyn is going to kill the Left. Heh
    Wait until he gets the old Jezza roadshows going again. He is in his element and they are genuinely popular. Starmer isn't going to be getting on any soap boxes in town centres and convincing people.
    Colour me sceptical but his undoubted Magic Grandpa charm didn't work in 2019.
    J Corbz got 40% in 2017. In 2019 even when everyone had had a good look at him, he still got half a million more votes than Starmer managed last year.
    Ancient history never was my strong point, but did he become PM? I must have missed that.
    He doesn’t want to be PM does he, not really. He just wants to be a bit of a pickle and annoy the people who chucked him out of his beloved Labour Party. And he’s very well positioned to do that.
    He might also hope to drag Labour Party back to the left more in the way Farage dragged the Tories right.
    I think there is more chance of this party doing a reverse takeover of the Labour Party than Reform doing it to the Conservatives.

    The Reform pitch is that the Conservative Party is the enemy. Part of the problem.

    Fruit & Nuts pitch is that the wrong people are running the Labour Party. It’s an externalised Maomentum.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 86,446
    edited August 1
    I presumed it was going to be Palestine ReAction that did in Wes Streeting's office, but apparently not (although they are all the same group of people in all these groups),

    Wes Streeting’s constituency office has been vandalised by “trans rage” protesters.

    Windows at the Health Secretary’s Ilford North Office were smashed, and the words “child killer” daubed on the front in paint. Trans Bash Back, a “trans-led direct action project”, claimed they were responsible for the vandalism in a post on the social media platform BlueSky.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/08/01/trans-rage-protesters-vandalise-wes-streeting-office/

  • boulayboulay Posts: 6,712
    moonshine said:

    moonshine said:

    ...

    Leon said:

    Apols if posted as I've been out all day but BMG have this months Inews poll out including one with Your Party and one without

    Ref 32 (+2)
    Lab 23 (-4)
    Con 18 (-1)
    LD 13 (+1)
    Grn 8 (+1)
    Changes since end June

    With Corbyn
    Ref 31
    Lab 20
    Con 19
    LD 13
    Grn 7
    YP 6

    That’s two great polls for Reform. Cruising to victory

    Corbyn is going to kill the Left. Heh
    Wait until he gets the old Jezza roadshows going again. He is in his element and they are genuinely popular. Starmer isn't going to be getting on any soap boxes in town centres and convincing people.
    Colour me sceptical but his undoubted Magic Grandpa charm didn't work in 2019.
    J Corbz got 40% in 2017. In 2019 even when everyone had had a good look at him, he still got half a million more votes than Starmer managed last year.
    Ancient history never was my strong point, but did he become PM? I must have missed that.
    He doesn’t want to be PM does he, not really. He just wants to be a bit of a pickle and annoy the people who chucked him out of his beloved Labour Party. And he’s very well positioned to do that.
    I think he would love to be PM but leading a party that wasn’t the platform that made him a name - if he could have a pure socialist party he would be happy. Conversely I think Farage would love to be PM leading the Conservative Party in his preferred clothes rather than the entity he used for prominence. He is so conservative he must have dreamt of being Conservative PM.
  • RochdalePioneersRochdalePioneers Posts: 30,665
    Nigelb said:

    I'm not Rishi Sunak's greatest fan, but the open racism expressed in a lot of the replies to this tweet is utterly disgusting.

    Happy Yorkshire Day! Proud to call it home, and even prouder to represent its people.

    There’s nowhere quite like it.

    https://x.com/RishiSunak/status/1951161325872357511

    All credit to those posters calling out the racists, though.

    The confected “crisis” with migrants in hotels. It all comes down to skin colour. The confected crisis with Mohammed being the most popular boys name. It all comes down to skin colour.
  • LostPasswordLostPassword Posts: 19,717
    In the light of Trump's firing of the Labor Statistics chief who had the temerity to report Labor Statistics that the Dear Leader disliked, is there anyone who still believes that the votes cast at the mid-terms will be fairly and honestly counted?
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 86,446
    edited August 1
    Nigelb said:

    I'm not Rishi Sunak's greatest fan, but the open racism expressed in a lot of the replies to this tweet is utterly disgusting.

    Happy Yorkshire Day! Proud to call it home, and even prouder to represent its people.

    There’s nowhere quite like it.

    https://x.com/RishiSunak/status/1951161325872357511

    All credit to those posters calling out the racists, though.

    How much of the replies will be bots? It seems very odd that when he was actually in charge, there was very little racism thrown at him. Now all of a sudden today, it starts in volume. Rather suss.
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 67,144
    Once you have seen that Donald Trump is confabulating, it cannot be unseen — and all sorts of other mildly disturbing incidents suddenly fall into place.

    https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/5429516-trump-confabulation-dementia-signs/
  • edmundintokyoedmundintokyo Posts: 17,753

    In the light of Trump's firing of the Labor Statistics chief who had the temerity to report Labor Statistics that the Dear Leader disliked, is there anyone who still believes that the votes cast at the mid-terms will be fairly and honestly counted?

    Mostly, yes? The president doesn't run the election or appoint the people who do.
  • RochdalePioneersRochdalePioneers Posts: 30,665

    In the light of Trump's firing of the Labor Statistics chief who had the temerity to report Labor Statistics that the Dear Leader disliked, is there anyone who still believes that the votes cast at the mid-terms will be fairly and honestly counted?

    I’ve been calling this for ages - America has gone.
  • LostPasswordLostPassword Posts: 19,717
    glw said:

    MattW said:

    rcs1000 said:

    You can't make it up:

    "Donald Trump has said he will sack the head of the US’s labour statistics agency following a weak jobs report in a move that could fuel concerns that he is seeking to influence independent data tracking the world’s biggest economy."



    Inability to make it up is what cost Erika McEntarfer her job.
    I think he's done that to data collection for inflation, too. Just like weather forecasting.

    "We don't need the Civil Service - wave the chainsaw Elon!"
    Just over six months gone. I’m not sure if the US can take 4 years of this madness.
    It's not going to be 4 years. Unless those famous checks and balances can actually start being effective, this is how the US will be run until there's a revolution.
  • boulayboulay Posts: 6,712

    Nigelb said:

    I'm not Rishi Sunak's greatest fan, but the open racism expressed in a lot of the replies to this tweet is utterly disgusting.

    Happy Yorkshire Day! Proud to call it home, and even prouder to represent its people.

    There’s nowhere quite like it.

    https://x.com/RishiSunak/status/1951161325872357511

    All credit to those posters calling out the racists, though.

    The confected “crisis” with migrants in hotels. It all comes down to skin colour. The confected crisis with Mohammed being the most popular boys name. It all comes down to skin colour.
    There are two very important splits in the UK, probably most places, those who hate others for their skin colour and those who hate those for their beliefs/ways of life.

    Effectively racists v “culturalists”.

    Rishi is as British as most of us here, possibly more so. Kemi too. A lot of British people will “accept” Rishi and Kemi because aspects of their background culture are so in the background but they “behave” like British people. So the same people who might hate a lot of the migrants with similar parental backgrounds give a pass.

    There are those who won’t forgive Rishi and Kemi for their skin colour.

    I think it’s understandable for people to fear and not like people who look “different” if they also have a very alien culture and feel they have to adapt to accommodate that culture. They do however not see that there are white “cultures” which are every bit as different to their preferred ideal white/british/ english concept of culture.

    It’s not as simple as people hating migrants because of their skin colour. It’s a simplistic argument and reaction that doesn’t help solve the problem.

    I’m not a fan of the “Jafaikan” culture that captured a lot of the young of the UK with the lingo, icons, attitudes etc. I don’t like those who subscribe regardless of their skin colour. I find it misogynistic and basic and want the young to look to a more aspirational and dare I say it “respectful” culture.

    I would imagine that a lot of people who have irrational issues with Muslims in the UK from largely the Pakistani background wouldn’t have the same issue with Indonesian Muslims. It’s not as simple as skin colour or “the other”.
  • carnforthcarnforth Posts: 6,753
    More on those civil servant working class internships:

    "If your parents were train drivers on £80k per year you qualify for government internships - which they now claim will be limited to just 'working class' kids.

    If your parents were nurses you will be banned."

    https://x.com/tomhfh/status/1951363547763818663
  • LostPasswordLostPassword Posts: 19,717

    In the light of Trump's firing of the Labor Statistics chief who had the temerity to report Labor Statistics that the Dear Leader disliked, is there anyone who still believes that the votes cast at the mid-terms will be fairly and honestly counted?

    Mostly, yes? The president doesn't run the election or appoint the people who do.
    The separation of powers and devolution of power are not things Trump respects. This isn't 2020 when Republican officials resisted the pressure to change the result, or when Democrat States didn't have to worry about ICE goon squads and the National Guard being deployed on spurious grounds.

    Look at how most of the universities have caved to pressure from the Executive.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 79,783
    .

    In the light of Trump's firing of the Labor Statistics chief who had the temerity to report Labor Statistics that the Dear Leader disliked, is there anyone who still believes that the votes cast at the mid-terms will be fairly and honestly counted?

    I’ve been calling this for ages - America has gone.
    No, it hasn't. Not quite.

    But it is on the way, and if the GOP retain control of Congress in the midterms, then it will be a lot closer to being gone.

    Democracies tend to be resilient; the habit is hard to break. Note even Hungary might just kick out Orban.
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 52,449

    Nigelb said:

    I'm not Rishi Sunak's greatest fan, but the open racism expressed in a lot of the replies to this tweet is utterly disgusting.

    Happy Yorkshire Day! Proud to call it home, and even prouder to represent its people.

    There’s nowhere quite like it.

    https://x.com/RishiSunak/status/1951161325872357511

    All credit to those posters calling out the racists, though.

    How much of the replies will be bots? It seems very odd that when he was actually in charge, there was very little racism thrown at him. Now all of a sudden today, it starts in volume. Rather suss.
    Its X, the dead Internet of bots and trolls.
  • Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 55,381

    I presumed it was going to be Palestine ReAction that did in Wes Streeting's office, but apparently not (although they are all the same group of people in all these groups),

    Wes Streeting’s constituency office has been vandalised by “trans rage” protesters.

    Windows at the Health Secretary’s Ilford North Office were smashed, and the words “child killer” daubed on the front in paint. Trans Bash Back, a “trans-led direct action project”, claimed they were responsible for the vandalism in a post on the social media platform BlueSky.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/08/01/trans-rage-protesters-vandalise-wes-streeting-office/

    Blimey, less than half a mile away from me!
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 56,082

    In the light of Trump's firing of the Labor Statistics chief who had the temerity to report Labor Statistics that the Dear Leader disliked, is there anyone who still believes that the votes cast at the mid-terms will be fairly and honestly counted?

    Mostly, yes? The president doesn't run the election or appoint the people who do.
    The separation of powers and devolution of power are not things Trump respects. This isn't 2020 when Republican officials resisted the pressure to change the result, or when Democrat States didn't have to worry about ICE goon squads and the National Guard being deployed on spurious grounds.

    Look at how most of the universities have caved to pressure from the Executive.
    MAGA have worked very hard to get their most fanatical into positions in the electoral system. At every level.
  • Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 55,381

    True Lies is essentially Arnold Schwarznegger's one and only Bond film.

    Helen: Have you ever killed anyone?
    Harry: Yeah, but they were all bad.
    I might stick it on.
    "Well, you see, this is the problem with terrorists. They're really inconsiderate when it comes to people's schedules."
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 79,783

    In the light of Trump's firing of the Labor Statistics chief who had the temerity to report Labor Statistics that the Dear Leader disliked, is there anyone who still believes that the votes cast at the mid-terms will be fairly and honestly counted?

    Mostly, yes? The president doesn't run the election or appoint the people who do.
    The separation of powers and devolution of power are not things Trump respects. This isn't 2020 when Republican officials resisted the pressure to change the result, or when Democrat States didn't have to worry about ICE goon squads and the National Guard being deployed on spurious grounds.

    Look at how most of the universities have caved to pressure from the Executive.
    Also, big tech.
    The latest executive order threatens to withhold federal money from companies whose AIs don't meet Trump's own personal "fairness" standards.
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 67,144

    Justin Wolfers
    @JustinWolfers
    ·
    2m
    Firing the BLS Commissioner — the guy in charge of the statisticians who track economic reality — is an authoritarian four alarm fire.

    It will also backfire: You can't bend economic reality, but you can break the trust of markets. And biased data yields worse policy.

    https://x.com/JustinWolfers
  • RochdalePioneersRochdalePioneers Posts: 30,665
    boulay said:

    Nigelb said:

    I'm not Rishi Sunak's greatest fan, but the open racism expressed in a lot of the replies to this tweet is utterly disgusting.

    Happy Yorkshire Day! Proud to call it home, and even prouder to represent its people.

    There’s nowhere quite like it.

    https://x.com/RishiSunak/status/1951161325872357511

    All credit to those posters calling out the racists, though.

    The confected “crisis” with migrants in hotels. It all comes down to skin colour. The confected crisis with Mohammed being the most popular boys name. It all comes down to skin colour.
    There are two very important splits in the UK, probably most places, those who hate others for their skin colour and those who hate those for their beliefs/ways of life.

    Effectively racists v “culturalists”.

    Rishi is as British as most of us here, possibly more so. Kemi too. A lot of British people will “accept” Rishi and Kemi because aspects of their background culture are so in the background but they “behave” like British people. So the same people who might hate a lot of the migrants with similar parental backgrounds give a pass.

    There are those who won’t forgive Rishi and Kemi for their skin colour.

    I think it’s understandable for people to fear and not like people who look “different” if they also have a very alien culture and feel they have to adapt to accommodate that culture. They do however not see that there are white “cultures” which are every bit as different to their preferred ideal white/british/ english concept of culture.

    It’s not as simple as people hating migrants because of their skin colour. It’s a simplistic argument and reaction that doesn’t help solve the problem.

    I’m not a fan of the “Jafaikan” culture that captured a lot of the young of the UK with the lingo, icons, attitudes etc. I don’t like those who subscribe regardless of their skin colour. I find it misogynistic and basic and want the young to look to a more aspirational and dare I say it “respectful” culture.

    I would imagine that a lot of people who have irrational issues with Muslims in the UK from largely the Pakistani background wouldn’t have the same issue with Indonesian Muslims. It’s not as simple as skin colour or “the other”.
    Sophistry. Why is Kemi decrying her heritage? Because she wants to stop being Nigerian to the racists whose votes she wants to rely on. She will fail - racists only see colour.
  • FairlieredFairliered Posts: 6,152
    Leon said:

    Just got an advert for a “special Christmas getaway” from a Cornish hotel. August 1st. A record?

    Not at all. I received an invite for Christmas at Mingary Castle on (checks inbox) 27th January.
  • boulayboulay Posts: 6,712

    boulay said:

    Nigelb said:

    I'm not Rishi Sunak's greatest fan, but the open racism expressed in a lot of the replies to this tweet is utterly disgusting.

    Happy Yorkshire Day! Proud to call it home, and even prouder to represent its people.

    There’s nowhere quite like it.

    https://x.com/RishiSunak/status/1951161325872357511

    All credit to those posters calling out the racists, though.

    The confected “crisis” with migrants in hotels. It all comes down to skin colour. The confected crisis with Mohammed being the most popular boys name. It all comes down to skin colour.
    There are two very important splits in the UK, probably most places, those who hate others for their skin colour and those who hate those for their beliefs/ways of life.

    Effectively racists v “culturalists”.

    Rishi is as British as most of us here, possibly more so. Kemi too. A lot of British people will “accept” Rishi and Kemi because aspects of their background culture are so in the background but they “behave” like British people. So the same people who might hate a lot of the migrants with similar parental backgrounds give a pass.

    There are those who won’t forgive Rishi and Kemi for their skin colour.

    I think it’s understandable for people to fear and not like people who look “different” if they also have a very alien culture and feel they have to adapt to accommodate that culture. They do however not see that there are white “cultures” which are every bit as different to their preferred ideal white/british/ english concept of culture.

    It’s not as simple as people hating migrants because of their skin colour. It’s a simplistic argument and reaction that doesn’t help solve the problem.

    I’m not a fan of the “Jafaikan” culture that captured a lot of the young of the UK with the lingo, icons, attitudes etc. I don’t like those who subscribe regardless of their skin colour. I find it misogynistic and basic and want the young to look to a more aspirational and dare I say it “respectful” culture.

    I would imagine that a lot of people who have irrational issues with Muslims in the UK from largely the Pakistani background wouldn’t have the same issue with Indonesian Muslims. It’s not as simple as skin colour or “the other”.
    Sophistry. Why is Kemi decrying her heritage? Because she wants to stop being Nigerian to the racists whose votes she wants to rely on. She will fail - racists only see colour.
    How is Kemi decrying her heritage, btw no big fan of hers, disclaimer not because of her skin colour?

    And sophistry is also nuance. If you see everything as being about skin colour then you will only get the wrong solutions.
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