Anybody who thinks the EU wouldn't give a rejoining UK an opt-out on the Euro (although it wouldn't be called an 'opt-out') knows SFA about Berlaymont and its culture. In the pre-brexit Golden Age, I prepared 20+ students for the European Commission language assessments and I'm still in touch with some of them so I reckon I know a bit about it.
Rejoin of the UK and the utter humiliation of the leavers would be the final vindication of "The Project" on an emotional and philosophical level. For that prize, they'd give a lot and a Euro opt-out marketed as an assessment period of undefined duration wouldn't even make them blink twice.
lol
This is the exact psychological equivalent of “we hold all the cards in this negotiation” and “German car makers will demand to give us a great deal” ie all that hopeful sad bullshit from the Brexiteers - only from the other side, this time
Hilarious
Not really. It's just a useful corrective to all the 'we'd have to join the Euro' chestnutting.
The truth is we don't know what rejoining would look like.
As multiple people have pointed out, we would get the same conditions of entry as everyone else. Which would mean signing up, eventually, for the Euro.
The UK economy/government budget doesn't meet the conditions to join the Euro. Either
1) The government bravely decides that service cuts *and* tax rises are awesome. And does a decade of Euro Austerity. 2) Or they continue with misalignment that prevents entry to the Euro. So the "eventually" in joining the Euro is the other side of "never".
Hmmm.... that's a tough one.
Well those multiple people are 'asserting' not 'pointing out' - but, yes, 'eventually' can do great work when used properly, can't it.
It seems fairly certain - if you open up the joining criteria for the EU for negotiation, every country will stick their oar in. This is why the EU likes and tries to enforce unanimity - otherwise everything turns into a re-negotiation.
I think the response for rejoin from the EU would be "Sure. Join the process. Let's see where you are in the alignments and legal stuff...."
As good a place to start as any. I'd expect a degree of 'special case' for the UK - but to what degree, and how manifested, who knows.
TBH, I'm not particularly bullish on the prospects of Rejoin. Brexit was enormously stupid on every level but it feels irreversible to me.
The problem with "Special Case", from the EU point of view, is that it opens the door for every politician in Europe with a bone to pick and a special interest to appease. Spending 20 years sorting out some niggle due to an obscure Italian politician's demand regarding the labelling of flaked parmesan in Waitrose.....
Yes, and that is a powerful factor in the direction of nothing bespoke for us. But does it mean we'd be treated exactly like some country looking to join for the first time? There's the queue etc? I doubt that. I'd expect some flex. But as I say, how much and in what, nobody knows at this point.
Many in the EU would love to have us back in. It proves the EU is right!
They're obviously not going to treat us similarly to, say, Montenegro or other current applicants. We're clearly very different in size, in wealth, in history with the EU, in alignment with the EU etc. etc.
You’re so dumb. These are, equally, all reasons why a negotiation on re-entry would be extremely complicated and likely very painful
And, as others have noted, they would have to make sure we never leave again. That means Euro membership at least
I've been down an interesting rabbit hole with FUKers and Dump Net Zero policy.
They're against wind and all cite the same data to prove that its more expensive than anything else. And they want it switched off tomorrow.
As Wind is a third of our generating capacity, we'd need to replace that with something else.
The best suggestion I've been told by one of their self-proclaimed energy experts? COAL. Specifically domestic coal.
Thing is, back when we had coal being dug from profitable pits, the imported stuff was cheaper, so we closed the pits. Now - so I am told - we can just reopen the pits and burn coal.
OK, lets imagine that we scrap planning laws so no cost from enquiries or any of that. Buy the land. Dig the holes. Erect the surface infrastructure, buy machinery and train men. Just to be able to access coal which used to be more expensive than imports when there was no access costs.
Coal. Is that really what they think can be done? And I used to mock Boris Johnson for "crayon policies". This lot are a whole new level of stupid.
Anybody who thinks the EU wouldn't give a rejoining UK an opt-out on the Euro (although it wouldn't be called an 'opt-out') knows SFA about Berlaymont and its culture. In the pre-brexit Golden Age, I prepared 20+ students for the European Commission language assessments and I'm still in touch with some of them so I reckon I know a bit about it.
Rejoin of the UK and the utter humiliation of the leavers would be the final vindication of "The Project" on an emotional and philosophical level. For that prize, they'd give a lot and a Euro opt-out marketed as an assessment period of undefined duration wouldn't even make them blink twice.
lol
This is the exact psychological equivalent of “we hold all the cards in this negotiation” and “German car makers will demand to give us a great deal” ie all that hopeful sad bullshit from the Brexiteers - only from the other side, this time
Hilarious
Not really. It's just a useful corrective to all the 'we'd have to join the Euro' chestnutting.
The truth is we don't know what rejoining would look like.
As multiple people have pointed out, we would get the same conditions of entry as everyone else. Which would mean signing up, eventually, for the Euro.
The UK economy/government budget doesn't meet the conditions to join the Euro. Either
1) The government bravely decides that service cuts *and* tax rises are awesome. And does a decade of Euro Austerity. 2) Or they continue with misalignment that prevents entry to the Euro. So the "eventually" in joining the Euro is the other side of "never".
Hmmm.... that's a tough one.
Well those multiple people are 'asserting' not 'pointing out' - but, yes, 'eventually' can do great work when used properly, can't it.
It seems fairly certain - if you open up the joining criteria for the EU for negotiation, every country will stick their oar in. This is why the EU likes and tries to enforce unanimity - otherwise everything turns into a re-negotiation.
I think the response for rejoin from the EU would be "Sure. Join the process. Let's see where you are in the alignments and legal stuff...."
As good a place to start as any. I'd expect a degree of 'special case' for the UK - but to what degree, and how manifested, who knows.
TBH, I'm not particularly bullish on the prospects of Rejoin. Brexit was enormously stupid on every level but it feels irreversible to me.
The problem with "Special Case", from the EU point of view, is that it opens the door for every politician in Europe with a bone to pick and a special interest to appease. Spending 20 years sorting out some niggle due to an obscure Italian politician's demand regarding the labelling of flaked parmesan in Waitrose.....
Yes, and that is a powerful factor in the direction of nothing bespoke for us. But does it mean we'd be treated exactly like some country looking to join for the first time? There's the queue etc? I doubt that. I'd expect some flex. But as I say, how much and in what, nobody knows at this point.
Many in the EU would love to have us back in. It proves the EU is right!
They're obviously not going to treat us similarly to, say, Montenegro or other current applicants. We're clearly very different in size, in wealth, in history with the EU, in alignment with the EU etc. etc.
It's not a queue as such. You have to demonstrate various bits of alignment, democracy, rule of law, corruption levels etc. We'd start way down the process -
The really culpable player here sadly is Bethell, with the dropped catches and the daft shot.
But given his age and inexperience it's unfair to blame him for it. The real mistake was not calling up somebody with more experience (and indeed some red ball time this season).
Woakes walks out for a famous duck, probably his last act in Tests. A strange end to a slightly strange career.
I've been down an interesting rabbit hole with FUKers and Dump Net Zero policy.
They're against wind and all cite the same data to prove that its more expensive than anything else. And they want it switched off tomorrow.
As Wind is a third of our generating capacity, we'd need to replace that with something else.
The best suggestion I've been told by one of their self-proclaimed energy experts? COAL. Specifically domestic coal.
Thing is, back when we had coal being dug from profitable pits, the imported stuff was cheaper, so we closed the pits. Now - so I am told - we can just reopen the pits and burn coal.
OK, lets imagine that we scrap planning laws so no cost from enquiries or any of that. Buy the land. Dig the holes. Erect the surface infrastructure, buy machinery and train men. Just to be able to access coal which used to be more expensive than imports when there was no access costs.
Coal. Is that really what they think can be done? And I used to mock Boris Johnson for "crayon policies". This lot are a whole new level of stupid.
There is logic in opting for coal. That is, there is very clear 2020s culture war logic for opting for coal. Bearing in mind that the main aim of 2020s online politics is to upset your political opponents as much as possible, not to come up with actual useful policy.
Coal is the material most hated by woke lefty eco types. So QED. It must be the fuel of the future. If eco types were still vehemently anti nuclear like in the old days you can be certain your friends would be advocating for nuclear.
I am a bit surprised at this, more at the timing as the seat selection process for the SNP is pretty much done.
Obvious reasons, young family, important to have a life outside politics, etc. She would have been favourite to retain her seat, the Lib Dems will fancy their chances now.
There will be quite a lot of pressure on JS to take the SNP further to the left, assuming he wins next years election
Will be a big relief to Swinney as Forbes was his main potential rival for the SNP leadership
Whither more socially conservative supporters of Scottish independence? Alba has failed, no-one to lead a socially conservative faction within the SNP. Do they give up on independence and go for Reform UK? Do they go for the pro-federalism LibDems?
I expect a few will go Reform or Alba, none will go LD
Alba are finished now that Salmond has died. If I wasn’t SNP I would be Lib Dem. I suspect I’m not the only one.
Kate Forbes was the SNP leader most feared by unionists. That the SNP members couldn't see that - and voted in a klutz like Humza - shows how terminally deluded they are in their misunderstanding of the Scottish electorate.
(For info - Scots are just as socially conservative as the English - and just as exasperated by all the woke crap. The blob that dominates Holyrood just doesn't get it. Hence the debacle about male rapists in women's prisons)
I suspect her decision is based on a number of factors. She just couldn't see a way past the membership to the leadership, has a young family, and is under pressure in her Highland constituency from the LibDems, who will certainly gain it with her departure.
Quite a consequential decision.
She's currently doing the rounds on her constituency surgeries so will be getting a decent feel of how things are going. I don't think a Lib Dem gain is a certainty, but without a big ticket name on the ballot paper it's a lot easier.
In her position, I'd have been happy biding time waiting if I wanted the leadership. She's only 35, a few years younger than Stephen Flynn. But why bother waiting carting yourself to Edinburgh 4/5 nights a week when you are at the important part of raising a family? Central belt MSPs have the luxury of being able to go home when parliament finishes for the day.
Flynn will probably now be hot favourite for leader when a vacancy arises, assuming he wins his seat, which is likely given split opposition and decline in Slab support in Aberdeen
I've been down an interesting rabbit hole with FUKers and Dump Net Zero policy.
They're against wind and all cite the same data to prove that its more expensive than anything else. And they want it switched off tomorrow.
As Wind is a third of our generating capacity, we'd need to replace that with something else.
The best suggestion I've been told by one of their self-proclaimed energy experts? COAL. Specifically domestic coal.
Thing is, back when we had coal being dug from profitable pits, the imported stuff was cheaper, so we closed the pits. Now - so I am told - we can just reopen the pits and burn coal.
OK, lets imagine that we scrap planning laws so no cost from enquiries or any of that. Buy the land. Dig the holes. Erect the surface infrastructure, buy machinery and train men. Just to be able to access coal which used to be more expensive than imports when there was no access costs.
Coal. Is that really what they think can be done? And I used to mock Boris Johnson for "crayon policies". This lot are a whole new level of stupid.
I take it these were not from coal-mining areas !
They really think we want all the industrial diseases back?
Perhaps they need to be asked about the return of asbestos.
I've been down an interesting rabbit hole with FUKers and Dump Net Zero policy.
They're against wind and all cite the same data to prove that its more expensive than anything else. And they want it switched off tomorrow.
As Wind is a third of our generating capacity, we'd need to replace that with something else.
The best suggestion I've been told by one of their self-proclaimed energy experts? COAL. Specifically domestic coal.
Thing is, back when we had coal being dug from profitable pits, the imported stuff was cheaper, so we closed the pits. Now - so I am told - we can just reopen the pits and burn coal.
OK, lets imagine that we scrap planning laws so no cost from enquiries or any of that. Buy the land. Dig the holes. Erect the surface infrastructure, buy machinery and train men. Just to be able to access coal which used to be more expensive than imports when there was no access costs.
Coal. Is that really what they think can be done? And I used to mock Boris Johnson for "crayon policies". This lot are a whole new level of stupid.
Coal wasn't profitable. Unless you banned imports.
It was getting more and more expensive.
Coal died because coal fired ships disappeared. Welsh Best was great for that - more expensive, but more BTU and less ash.
At Jutland, the German ships were beginning to lose boilers to poor coal. By comparison, the coal fired ships in the British line were burning Welsh Best and spraying oil on it for extra knots. But for the weather, the Germans would have faced a long run home, slowly being overtaken by the Grand Fleet and pounded to death.
Without the requirements of weight/BTU, you are burning coal in power stations, pretty much. And cheap coal does that just fine. Whereas British coal was expensive and getting more so. Seams measure in inches of thickness deep underground vs open cast mines with seams measured in 10s of feet.
There was a BBC program - they took a ex-miner from Wales round the world to see the coal industry. There was a scene where he was looking into a Canadian mine, where a single dump truck (house sized) carried more coal than a whole shift dug in his old pit and a line of the dump trucks kept rolling past....
I've been down an interesting rabbit hole with FUKers and Dump Net Zero policy.
They're against wind and all cite the same data to prove that its more expensive than anything else. And they want it switched off tomorrow.
As Wind is a third of our generating capacity, we'd need to replace that with something else.
The best suggestion I've been told by one of their self-proclaimed energy experts? COAL. Specifically domestic coal.
Thing is, back when we had coal being dug from profitable pits, the imported stuff was cheaper, so we closed the pits. Now - so I am told - we can just reopen the pits and burn coal.
OK, lets imagine that we scrap planning laws so no cost from enquiries or any of that. Buy the land. Dig the holes. Erect the surface infrastructure, buy machinery and train men. Just to be able to access coal which used to be more expensive than imports when there was no access costs.
Coal. Is that really what they think can be done? And I used to mock Boris Johnson for "crayon policies". This lot are a whole new level of stupid.
There is logic in opting for coal. That is, there is very clear 2020s culture war logic for opting for coal. Bearing in mind that the main aim of 2020s online politics is to upset your political opponents as much as possible, not to come up with actual useful policy.
Coal is the material most hated by woke lefty eco types. So QED. It must be the fuel of the future. If eco types were still vehemently anti nuclear like in the old days you can be certain your friends would be advocating for nuclear.
They are btw. It's the stock response now, coal has gone a bit out of fashion on climate-denier twitter because they've clocked most people detest it (see the Yougov polling on it).
Progress, of a sort. I think wind is going to be undercut by solar + batteries in the end, not nuclear, gas or coal.
I've been down an interesting rabbit hole with FUKers and Dump Net Zero policy.
They're against wind and all cite the same data to prove that its more expensive than anything else. And they want it switched off tomorrow.
As Wind is a third of our generating capacity, we'd need to replace that with something else.
The best suggestion I've been told by one of their self-proclaimed energy experts? COAL. Specifically domestic coal.
Thing is, back when we had coal being dug from profitable pits, the imported stuff was cheaper, so we closed the pits. Now - so I am told - we can just reopen the pits and burn coal.
OK, lets imagine that we scrap planning laws so no cost from enquiries or any of that. Buy the land. Dig the holes. Erect the surface infrastructure, buy machinery and train men. Just to be able to access coal which used to be more expensive than imports when there was no access costs.
Coal. Is that really what they think can be done? And I used to mock Boris Johnson for "crayon policies". This lot are a whole new level of stupid.
I take it these were not from coal-mining areas !
They really think we want all the industrial diseases back?
Perhaps they need to be asked about the return of asbestos.
There was a Prof. at UCH - specialised in black lung. I recall he gave an interview in which he said it was rare to find someone (like himself) who was glad his job was ending and he didn't need to train any successors.
I've been down an interesting rabbit hole with FUKers and Dump Net Zero policy.
They're against wind and all cite the same data to prove that its more expensive than anything else. And they want it switched off tomorrow.
As Wind is a third of our generating capacity, we'd need to replace that with something else.
The best suggestion I've been told by one of their self-proclaimed energy experts? COAL. Specifically domestic coal.
Thing is, back when we had coal being dug from profitable pits, the imported stuff was cheaper, so we closed the pits. Now - so I am told - we can just reopen the pits and burn coal.
OK, lets imagine that we scrap planning laws so no cost from enquiries or any of that. Buy the land. Dig the holes. Erect the surface infrastructure, buy machinery and train men. Just to be able to access coal which used to be more expensive than imports when there was no access costs.
Coal. Is that really what they think can be done? And I used to mock Boris Johnson for "crayon policies". This lot are a whole new level of stupid.
I doubt the ones who aren't stupid are thinking about any of their "policies" having to be put into effect. Surely the strategy is just to appeal to voters who have very strongly held and simplistic views, such as hatred of wind turbines and a belief that we are "an island of coal floating in a sea of oil". Those voters would probably feel betrayed if the policies became more realistic, because in the real world there's generally a price to be paid.
I've been down an interesting rabbit hole with FUKers and Dump Net Zero policy.
They're against wind and all cite the same data to prove that its more expensive than anything else. And they want it switched off tomorrow.
As Wind is a third of our generating capacity, we'd need to replace that with something else.
The best suggestion I've been told by one of their self-proclaimed energy experts? COAL. Specifically domestic coal.
Thing is, back when we had coal being dug from profitable pits, the imported stuff was cheaper, so we closed the pits. Now - so I am told - we can just reopen the pits and burn coal.
OK, lets imagine that we scrap planning laws so no cost from enquiries or any of that. Buy the land. Dig the holes. Erect the surface infrastructure, buy machinery and train men. Just to be able to access coal which used to be more expensive than imports when there was no access costs.
Coal. Is that really what they think can be done? And I used to mock Boris Johnson for "crayon policies". This lot are a whole new level of stupid.
There is logic in opting for coal. That is, there is very clear 2020s culture war logic for opting for coal. Bearing in mind that the main aim of 2020s online politics is to upset your political opponents as much as possible, not to come up with actual useful policy.
Coal is the material most hated by woke lefty eco types. So QED. It must be the fuel of the future. If eco types were still vehemently anti nuclear like in the old days you can be certain your friends would be advocating for nuclear.
They are btw. It's the stock response now, coal has gone a bit out of fashion on climate-denier twitter because they've clocked most people detest it (see the Yougov polling on it).
Progress, of a sort. I think wind is going to be undercut by solar + batteries in the end, not nuclear, gas or coal.
I agree on solar. It keeps getting cheaper, as do the batteries. The chap I know, whose moved to solar farming, says that the revelation in his life is the relaxation of enjoying sleeping in to 7am and enjoying his morning coffee, contemplating the sunrise and dials all moving...
I've been down an interesting rabbit hole with FUKers and Dump Net Zero policy.
They're against wind and all cite the same data to prove that its more expensive than anything else. And they want it switched off tomorrow.
As Wind is a third of our generating capacity, we'd need to replace that with something else.
The best suggestion I've been told by one of their self-proclaimed energy experts? COAL. Specifically domestic coal.
Thing is, back when we had coal being dug from profitable pits, the imported stuff was cheaper, so we closed the pits. Now - so I am told - we can just reopen the pits and burn coal.
OK, lets imagine that we scrap planning laws so no cost from enquiries or any of that. Buy the land. Dig the holes. Erect the surface infrastructure, buy machinery and train men. Just to be able to access coal which used to be more expensive than imports when there was no access costs.
Coal. Is that really what they think can be done? And I used to mock Boris Johnson for "crayon policies". This lot are a whole new level of stupid.
It's curious how our nationalist friends (Reform and SNP) descend into complete unreality when energy is introduced into the conversation.
According to some SNats, the perfidious English are nicking all their wind-power - "It's Scotland's Wind" - in much the same way as they snaffled the oil. Meanwhile, they are busy making sure Scotland is completely lacking in nuclear generation.
Head south and Big Nige is going to sweep to victory in Wales next year on the back of promising to reopen the coal mines.
On the bright side that should be Ollie Pope’s last test match.
If it isn't Zak Crawley's last as well then we really are stuffed.
When I think of the ordure heaped over Graeme Hick by the management and their acolytes in the media, whose Test record at the same stage was rather better and who had a fantastic first class record to throw at critics, and I look at how Crawley gets a free ride far too often, it really pisses me off.
"Over the weekend, three posters appeared next to Kentish Town West overground station, plastered onto the billboards which sit under the bridge to the left of the entrance. They read: “Wanted Keir Starmer”, calling out the Prime Minister for his perceived complicity in Israel’s war in Gaza. They, and other posters, popped up around London on Saturday ahead of a wider mobilisation of activists, led by Palestinian Youth Movement.
"Kentish Town is at the heart of Starmer’s constituency – Holborn and St Pancras – but it is also the place that the Prime Minister called home before last year’s general election. His favourite pub, The Pineapple, sits to the north of the area, and he still plays five-aside football on a Kentish Town pitch. It is a political home. But things are shifting. In 2019 Starmer returned to Holborn and St Pancras with a majority of 27,763. In 2024 it had dropped to 18,884. This cannot be explained entirely by the war in Gaza. But the pro-Gaza independent who ran against Starmer in 2024, Andrew Feinstein, squeezed some of his vote.
"The slow gestation of the new left-wing party (whose founding is being co-led by Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana) has awakened talk of Feinstein’s candidacy. He has said he will support and likely join the new party, and Holborn and St Pancras is already being talked about as a key target (despite the next general election being four years away)."
Absolutely incredible series, one in the eye for those who say test cricket is dead.
Test cricket is the best format!
Now for the Hundred (yawn)
As we all know the hundred wasn't designed for those of us that like test cricket. But there can be no comparison with what we've just seen and the whole series. Amazing.
On the bright side that should be Ollie Pope’s last test match.
If it isn't Zak Crawley's last as well then we really are stuffed.
When I think of the ordure heaped over Graeme Hick by the management and their acolytes in the media, whose Test record at the same stage was rather better and who had a fantastic first class record to throw at critics, and I look at how Crawley gets a free ride far too often, it really pisses me off.
And Hick was facing the WI and Australia with two superb bowling attacks.
"Over the weekend, three posters appeared next to Kentish Town West overground station, plastered onto the billboards which sit under the bridge to the left of the entrance. They read: “Wanted Keir Starmer”, calling out the Prime Minister for his perceived complicity in Israel’s war in Gaza. They, and other posters, popped up around London on Saturday ahead of a wider mobilisation of activists, led by Palestinian Youth Movement.
"Kentish Town is at the heart of Starmer’s constituency – Holborn and St Pancras – but it is also the place that the Prime Minister called home before last year’s general election. His favourite pub, The Pineapple, sits to the north of the area, and he still plays five-aside football on a Kentish Town pitch. It is a political home. But things are shifting. In 2019 Starmer returned to Holborn and St Pancras with a majority of 27,763. In 2024 it had dropped to 18,884. This cannot be explained entirely by the war in Gaza. But the pro-Gaza independent who ran against Starmer in 2024, Andrew Feinstein, squeezed some of his vote.
"The slow gestation of the new left-wing party (whose founding is being co-led by Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana) has awakened talk of Feinstein’s candidacy. He has said he will support and likely join the new party, and Holborn and St Pancras is already being talked about as a key target (despite the next general election being four years away)."
Starmer should hold (and hopefully win) a referendum to rejoin EFTA (and possibly the EEA). The EU would be happy (they'd be fully back within the British Sphere of Influence [1][2]) and in theory it doesn't upset the 2016 referendum.
[1] I've been playing too much Victoria 2 lately [2] Or the UK in the EU's sphere, but nawh..... they need us more than.... fog in channel, continent cut off.... etc etc *nationalist ramblings*
We haven't had a better opening partnership since Cook/Compton in 2012-13, which was vandalised by the selectors. And before that Strauss/Trescothick in 2004-6.
Went would we want to wreck an opening partnership that's working?
"Over the weekend, three posters appeared next to Kentish Town West overground station, plastered onto the billboards which sit under the bridge to the left of the entrance. They read: “Wanted Keir Starmer”, calling out the Prime Minister for his perceived complicity in Israel’s war in Gaza. They, and other posters, popped up around London on Saturday ahead of a wider mobilisation of activists, led by Palestinian Youth Movement.
"Kentish Town is at the heart of Starmer’s constituency – Holborn and St Pancras – but it is also the place that the Prime Minister called home before last year’s general election. His favourite pub, The Pineapple, sits to the north of the area, and he still plays five-aside football on a Kentish Town pitch. It is a political home. But things are shifting. In 2019 Starmer returned to Holborn and St Pancras with a majority of 27,763. In 2024 it had dropped to 18,884. This cannot be explained entirely by the war in Gaza. But the pro-Gaza independent who ran against Starmer in 2024, Andrew Feinstein, squeezed some of his vote.
"The slow gestation of the new left-wing party (whose founding is being co-led by Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana) has awakened talk of Feinstein’s candidacy. He has said he will support and likely join the new party, and Holborn and St Pancras is already being talked about as a key target (despite the next general election being four years away)."
Very unlikely.
Majority of 11,572 Turnout 38,602
So a majority that is 30% of turnout….
looks like the drop was stay-at-homes.
Bear in mind that @leon voted for Sir Keir. There is a distinct possibility - I say no more - that he may favour another candidate next time?
I know this polling must be exciting for you, but that's a bit of an overreaction.
Very good. To be honest as much as I wish we didn’t Brexit, I don’t think full rejoin is realistic or appropriate. Some form of associate membership modelled on EEA/EFTA would probably be the one.
Great minds....
And when Farage screams 'betrayal' just get that clip of Farage saying "We'll have a free trade agreement with the EU" during the 2016 campaign and then point to the words European FREE TRADE Area in that name.
"Over the weekend, three posters appeared next to Kentish Town West overground station, plastered onto the billboards which sit under the bridge to the left of the entrance. They read: “Wanted Keir Starmer”, calling out the Prime Minister for his perceived complicity in Israel’s war in Gaza. They, and other posters, popped up around London on Saturday ahead of a wider mobilisation of activists, led by Palestinian Youth Movement.
"Kentish Town is at the heart of Starmer’s constituency – Holborn and St Pancras – but it is also the place that the Prime Minister called home before last year’s general election. His favourite pub, The Pineapple, sits to the north of the area, and he still plays five-aside football on a Kentish Town pitch. It is a political home. But things are shifting. In 2019 Starmer returned to Holborn and St Pancras with a majority of 27,763. In 2024 it had dropped to 18,884. This cannot be explained entirely by the war in Gaza. But the pro-Gaza independent who ran against Starmer in 2024, Andrew Feinstein, squeezed some of his vote.
"The slow gestation of the new left-wing party (whose founding is being co-led by Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana) has awakened talk of Feinstein’s candidacy. He has said he will support and likely join the new party, and Holborn and St Pancras is already being talked about as a key target (despite the next general election being four years away)."
Very unlikely.
Majority of 11,572 Turnout 38,602
So a majority that is 30% of turnout….
looks like the drop was stay-at-homes.
Bear in mind that @leon voted for Sir Keir. There is a distinct possibility - I say no more - that he may favour another candidate next time?
Had a flipping appointment at 11.30 so I missed it all. Bloody hell. Bloody Bethell last night lost us the match and the series win, and Smiths 2 from 20 was utterly pointless. Drop and run you absolute arse. Aaaaaaaaargh
I know this polling must be exciting for you, but that's a bit of an overreaction.
Very good. To be honest as much as I wish we didn’t Brexit, I don’t think full rejoin is realistic or appropriate. Some form of associate membership modelled on EEA/EFTA would probably be the one.
Great minds....
And when Farage screams 'betrayal' just get that clip of Farage saying "We'll have a free trade agreement with the EU" during the 2016 campaign and then point to the words European FREE TRADE Area in that name.
TBF we do have a free trade agreement with the EU; what we don't have is being in a single market with the EU. They are very different concepts.
Id take Sibley, hes a much better bat now than his early stuttering career imo Find a number three Bashir or Ahmed or Leach for spin, fuck Bethell the useless tosser Atkinson, Wood, Archer, Stokes could win with Robinson and Stone back up if fit
My friend is an EE engineer going out fixing/installing mobile masts, he says this is happening more and more.
Openreach engineers trial panic alarms as incidents of abuse and assault soar
Exclusive: UK company reports 450 incidents in a year, with workers spat at, shaken off ladders and pushed down stairs
From scissors being brandished as weapons to verbal abuse and being trapped during a home visit, the number of reported incidents of abuse and assault on telecoms engineers is on the rise.
Openreach, the BT subsidiary that maintains the vast majority of the broadband network serving UK homes and businesses, recorded 450 reports of abuse and assault in the year to the end of March.
The number of incidents involving Openreach employees was up 8% year-on-year, a 40% increase on 2022-23 and seven times the volume reported almost a decade ago.
Abuse and assault has for the first time become the largest cause of injury to Openreach office staff and its 22,000 field engineers. Managers believe the number of incidents is even higher, as many cases are not reported by staf
I'm glad we agree that cricket is supremely boring usually but run chases are definitely interesting.
I know what, why not just cut to the run chase.
Saves all that interminable preamble where it really doesn't matter if the opener gets a single or not in the third over and instead, start the matches with 20 to go off six balls or 10 to win with a one-legged, one-armed blind batsman at one end.
Amongst all our bickering, I have no doubt that PB will at least all come together to agree with me on this.
My friend is an EE engineer going out fixing/installing mobile masts, he says this is happening more and more.
Openreach engineers trial panic alarms as incidents of abuse and assault soar
Exclusive: UK company reports 450 incidents in a year, with workers spat at, shaken off ladders and pushed down stairs
From scissors being brandished as weapons to verbal abuse and being trapped during a home visit, the number of reported incidents of abuse and assault on telecoms engineers is on the rise.
Openreach, the BT subsidiary that maintains the vast majority of the broadband network serving UK homes and businesses, recorded 450 reports of abuse and assault in the year to the end of March.
The number of incidents involving Openreach employees was up 8% year-on-year, a 40% increase on 2022-23 and seven times the volume reported almost a decade ago.
Abuse and assault has for the first time become the largest cause of injury to Openreach office staff and its 22,000 field engineers. Managers believe the number of incidents is even higher, as many cases are not reported by staf
I read a book a few months ago by a guy who volunteered to deliver meds and food during the height of the lockdowns. He writes that there are certain parts of his city where anyone in any kind of official looking garb or with a lanyard is viewed with extreme suspicion and often outright hostility.
Initially he was using his own car but then they made him use a logo council van and then things got difficult.
We haven't had a better opening partnership since Cook/Compton in 2012-13, which was vandalised by the selectors. And before that Strauss/Trescothick in 2004-6.
Went would we want to wreck an opening partnership that's working?
There is an argument to keep both as getting to 60 or 70 for 1 is better than what we have seen from many other opening pairs. However part of the job of openers is to see off the new ball and we tend to be 70-1 after 10, rather than 25 overs.
"Over the weekend, three posters appeared next to Kentish Town West overground station, plastered onto the billboards which sit under the bridge to the left of the entrance. They read: “Wanted Keir Starmer”, calling out the Prime Minister for his perceived complicity in Israel’s war in Gaza. They, and other posters, popped up around London on Saturday ahead of a wider mobilisation of activists, led by Palestinian Youth Movement.
"Kentish Town is at the heart of Starmer’s constituency – Holborn and St Pancras – but it is also the place that the Prime Minister called home before last year’s general election. His favourite pub, The Pineapple, sits to the north of the area, and he still plays five-aside football on a Kentish Town pitch. It is a political home. But things are shifting. In 2019 Starmer returned to Holborn and St Pancras with a majority of 27,763. In 2024 it had dropped to 18,884. This cannot be explained entirely by the war in Gaza. But the pro-Gaza independent who ran against Starmer in 2024, Andrew Feinstein, squeezed some of his vote.
"The slow gestation of the new left-wing party (whose founding is being co-led by Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana) has awakened talk of Feinstein’s candidacy. He has said he will support and likely join the new party, and Holborn and St Pancras is already being talked about as a key target (despite the next general election being four years away)."
Very unlikely.
Majority of 11,572 Turnout 38,602
So a majority that is 30% of turnout….
looks like the drop was stay-at-homes.
As a previous inhabitant of that constituency, I would say there is every chance if Labour are 24% in the polls, he loses IF Reform takes a chunk of his previously relied upon vote, and Your Party wins on differential turnout.
Ive just looked up a random cricket stat to Cheer myself up, Jimmy Anderson is only 7 steps from the Bodyline series
He played in a test with Alec Stewart Who played in a test with Graham Gooch Who played with John Edrich Who played with Freddie Trueman Who played with Len Hutton Who played with Wally Hammond Who bowled in the Bodyline tour
A friend, living in a 5th storey council flat, has 2 folding e-cycles for mobility, an e-Brompton and a Gocycle; both are long established British brands. Her Council have just totally banned all e-scooter and e-bike batteries from the lifts.
Their stance is absolute, and to cite safety concerns and their legal duty to residents i.e. that they could go to prison if they don't take appropriate steps and there's a fire caused by an e-battery. Laptop batteries have not been banned.
It's a strange one with lots of angles. Standards exist. Fires would start when plugged in and charging in the main, surely? And AFAIK there are no stats collected distinguishing laptop batteries from e-bike batteries (does anyone know?) - there is not much difference, so how is the policy justified?
A totally separate angle is cycle storage as part of the residents parking for the block.
And calls for regulation of batteries have been being made consistently for a number of years. This is what happens when appropriate regulation is not done at the appropriate time.
The reason that they have banned e-bike batteries and not laptops, is volume of material. Same on airlines. A laptop battery letting go* is a small danger. An e-bike battery can threaten a whole building. Such fires have already happened and caused massive amounts of damage.
Fires are primarily during charging - but can happen after damage and are often time delayed from the damage - hours later.
After Grenfell, no one is going to take a chance. If they don't ban them and there is a fire, then they would be answering question in the dock. And the government el al will hang them out to dry - a useful scapegoat.
Regulating the batteries would require strict import control. Which would upset China and all the poorer people using cheap e-bike kits.
Personally, I would go for staggering fines for importing, possession and use of dangerous batteries. Scaled by the capacity of the battery. Plus criminal liability.
We actually have such rules for dangerous ICEs - but it's a non-existent problem, since the cheapest and worst petrol car conforms to all the regulations about safety with petrol. Petrol contains more energy per kilo than TNT.....
*Increasing problem - people are buying ancient laptops, second hand and replacing the batteries with cheap shite from guess where. There is a whole market in replacement batteries for laptops going back a decade or more.
(Not having a go at you; I'm just exploring the details.)
For me that doesn't convince. It's not purely about capacity and fire risk. It's more broad brush than that.
The 20 mile range battery on my Axxon Rides E-folder is 180Wh. That is exactly the same size as batteries for power tools I have. For my E-Brompton I have batteries of size (checks) 90Wh and 180Wh, the former specced to go on an airline.
Apple currently supply laptop batteries of 100Wh.
Electric wheelchair lithium batteries go from ~250Wh to ~700Wh, including those available on Motability. The airline limit for those is 300Wh.
If the risk profile was so stark electric wheelchair batteries would be banned or required to be small; as far as I know they are not banned or size limited.
I'm not sure that we can say much around "there have already been fires" to justify bans, when data about which categories of battery caused how many fires has just not been collected. The alleged data is probably hearsay.
To me this feels like lazy and easy decisions that do not reflect actual risk.
Regulating the batteries would require strict import control. Which would upset China and all the poorer people using cheap e-bike kits. I think this is important. Where are all these cheap batteries kept? We regulate other things; of course we can regulate these.
My friend is an EE engineer going out fixing/installing mobile masts, he says this is happening more and more.
Openreach engineers trial panic alarms as incidents of abuse and assault soar
Exclusive: UK company reports 450 incidents in a year, with workers spat at, shaken off ladders and pushed down stairs
From scissors being brandished as weapons to verbal abuse and being trapped during a home visit, the number of reported incidents of abuse and assault on telecoms engineers is on the rise.
Openreach, the BT subsidiary that maintains the vast majority of the broadband network serving UK homes and businesses, recorded 450 reports of abuse and assault in the year to the end of March.
The number of incidents involving Openreach employees was up 8% year-on-year, a 40% increase on 2022-23 and seven times the volume reported almost a decade ago.
Abuse and assault has for the first time become the largest cause of injury to Openreach office staff and its 22,000 field engineers. Managers believe the number of incidents is even higher, as many cases are not reported by staf
The country are gagging for it and that's not including the 16-18 year olds who will vote rejoin unanimously. My guess is that Starmer has already got this in mind. He's got very close to France and Germany and Canada feels like it might want to be part of the club. Very few in the UK like Trump's America and people are only now wising up to the fact that the EU is as big a power block as the US and we were top dogs in it........
The advertising would be so easy......... None of the excruciating Red Bus nonsense of Referendum !. Just 28/29 of the most beautiful and inspiring capitals in the world and we get free access to all of them for work or for play. It could look like the most alluring travel agency of all time.....
Not happening Roger.
The right wing own the news media, including broadcast media, and OfCom have no teeth. It's their game now.
It feels like that at the moment but my sense is that the right wing media and their ignorant and aging followers have had their day. Corbyn is sparking more enthusiasm than Farage. People want change and no one's looking to the Telegraph the Mail or GB News for change. Media follow the zeitgeist. Even the BBC have noticably moved in the last few weeks as have Labour. Things are in flux and that can only lead one way and that's not in a Faragist/Trumpian/Netanyahu direction
My friend is an EE engineer going out fixing/installing mobile masts, he says this is happening more and more.
Openreach engineers trial panic alarms as incidents of abuse and assault soar
Exclusive: UK company reports 450 incidents in a year, with workers spat at, shaken off ladders and pushed down stairs
From scissors being brandished as weapons to verbal abuse and being trapped during a home visit, the number of reported incidents of abuse and assault on telecoms engineers is on the rise.
Openreach, the BT subsidiary that maintains the vast majority of the broadband network serving UK homes and businesses, recorded 450 reports of abuse and assault in the year to the end of March.
The number of incidents involving Openreach employees was up 8% year-on-year, a 40% increase on 2022-23 and seven times the volume reported almost a decade ago.
Abuse and assault has for the first time become the largest cause of injury to Openreach office staff and its 22,000 field engineers. Managers believe the number of incidents is even higher, as many cases are not reported by staf
That seems a leap. My dad had a very unpleasant encounter with a very rude Open Reach employee. After my mum died Dad tried to arrange stopping BT sport and the internet but wanted to keep the landline. BT cut off the landline. When someone finally attended he accused by Dad of doing all kinds of things, which he hadn't, and didn't resolve the issue (which was BT cutting him off). So I'd image some people might have been rather more arsey than my dad was.
A friend, living in a 5th storey council flat, has 2 folding e-cycles for mobility, an e-Brompton and a Gocycle; both are long established British brands. Her Council have just totally banned all e-scooter and e-bike batteries from the lifts.
Their stance is absolute, and to cite safety concerns and their legal duty to residents i.e. that they could go to prison if they don't take appropriate steps and there's a fire caused by an e-battery. Laptop batteries have not been banned.
It's a strange one with lots of angles. Standards exist. Fires would start when plugged in and charging in the main, surely? And AFAIK there are no stats collected distinguishing laptop batteries from e-bike batteries (does anyone know?) - there is not much difference, so how is the policy justified?
A totally separate angle is cycle storage as part of the residents parking for the block.
And calls for regulation of batteries have been being made consistently for a number of years. This is what happens when appropriate regulation is not done at the appropriate time.
The reason that they have banned e-bike batteries and not laptops, is volume of material. Same on airlines. A laptop battery letting go* is a small danger. An e-bike battery can threaten a whole building. Such fires have already happened and caused massive amounts of damage.
Fires are primarily during charging - but can happen after damage and are often time delayed from the damage - hours later.
After Grenfell, no one is going to take a chance. If they don't ban them and there is a fire, then they would be answering question in the dock. And the government el al will hang them out to dry - a useful scapegoat.
Regulating the batteries would require strict import control. Which would upset China and all the poorer people using cheap e-bike kits.
Personally, I would go for staggering fines for importing, possession and use of dangerous batteries. Scaled by the capacity of the battery. Plus criminal liability.
We actually have such rules for dangerous ICEs - but it's a non-existent problem, since the cheapest and worst petrol car conforms to all the regulations about safety with petrol. Petrol contains more energy per kilo than TNT.....
*Increasing problem - people are buying ancient laptops, second hand and replacing the batteries with cheap shite from guess where. There is a whole market in replacement batteries for laptops going back a decade or more.
(Not having a go at you; I'm just exploring the details.)
For me that doesn't convince. It's not purely about capacity and fire risk. It's more broad brush than that.
The 20 mile range battery on my Axxon Rides E-folder is 180Wh. That is exactly the same size as batteries for power tools I have. For my E-Brompton I have batteries of size (checks) 90Wh and 180Wh, the former specced to go on an airline.
Apple currently supply laptop batteries of 100Wh.
Electric wheelchair lithium batteries go from ~250Wh to ~700Wh, including those available on Motability. The airline limit for those is 300Wh.
If the risk profile was so stark electric wheelchair batteries would be banned or required to be small; as far as I know they are not banned or size limited.
I'm not sure that we can say much around "there have already been fires" to justify bans, when data about which categories of battery caused how many fires has just not been collected. The alleged data is probably hearsay.
To me this feels like lazy and easy decisions that do not reflect actual risk.
Regulating the batteries would require strict import control. Which would upset China and all the poorer people using cheap e-bike kits. I think this is important. Where are all these cheap batteries kept? We regulate other things; of course we can regulate these.
I expect a resolution to this is going to be around equality law requiring a more thoughtful policy, as "ban it all" is not a "reasonable adjustment", when some of them are as safe or safer than permitted batteries, plus maybe a Judicial Review challenging the rationality of the banning practice, and some persuasion.
At which point the policies will change because it is to some extent - imo - characterised by over-simplistic policies shielded by rhetoric.
Comments
And, as others have noted, they would have to make sure we never leave again. That means Euro membership at least
They're against wind and all cite the same data to prove that its more expensive than anything else. And they want it switched off tomorrow.
As Wind is a third of our generating capacity, we'd need to replace that with something else.
The best suggestion I've been told by one of their self-proclaimed energy experts? COAL. Specifically domestic coal.
Thing is, back when we had coal being dug from profitable pits, the imported stuff was cheaper, so we closed the pits. Now - so I am told - we can just reopen the pits and burn coal.
OK, lets imagine that we scrap planning laws so no cost from enquiries or any of that. Buy the land. Dig the holes. Erect the surface infrastructure, buy machinery and train men. Just to be able to access coal which used to be more expensive than imports when there was no access costs.
Coal. Is that really what they think can be done? And I used to mock Boris Johnson for "crayon policies". This lot are a whole new level of stupid.
But given his age and inexperience it's unfair to blame him for it. The real mistake was not calling up somebody with more experience (and indeed some red ball time this season).
Woakes walks out for a famous duck, probably his last act in Tests. A strange end to a slightly strange career.
Extraordinary fight.
https://www.skysports.com/boxing/video/33722/12988509/otd-danny-williams-wins-with-dislocated-shoulder-amazing-one-handed-ko
Looks like a night at the curry house is due!!
Coal is the material most hated by woke lefty eco types. So QED. It must be the fuel of the future. If eco types were still vehemently anti nuclear like in the old days you can be certain your friends would be advocating for nuclear.
In her position, I'd have been happy biding time waiting if I wanted the leadership. She's only 35, a few years younger than Stephen Flynn. But why bother waiting carting yourself to Edinburgh 4/5 nights a week when you are at the important part of raising a family? Central belt MSPs have the luxury of being able to go home when parliament finishes for the day.
Flynn will probably now be hot favourite for leader when a vacancy arises, assuming he wins his seat, which is likely given split opposition and decline in Slab support in Aberdeen
They really think we want all the industrial diseases back?
Perhaps they need to be asked about the return of asbestos.
Edit: oh ignore that, I missed that they’d run a bye at the end of the last over.
It was getting more and more expensive.
Coal died because coal fired ships disappeared. Welsh Best was great for that - more expensive, but more BTU and less ash.
At Jutland, the German ships were beginning to lose boilers to poor coal. By comparison, the coal fired ships in the British line were burning Welsh Best and spraying oil on it for extra knots. But for the weather, the Germans would have faced a long run home, slowly being overtaken by the Grand Fleet and pounded to death.
Without the requirements of weight/BTU, you are burning coal in power stations, pretty much. And cheap coal does that just fine. Whereas British coal was expensive and getting more so. Seams measure in inches of thickness deep underground vs open cast mines with seams measured in 10s of feet.
There was a BBC program - they took a ex-miner from Wales round the world to see the coal industry. There was a scene where he was looking into a Canadian mine, where a single dump truck (house sized) carried more coal than a whole shift dug in his old pit and a line of the dump trucks kept rolling past....
Progress, of a sort. I think wind is going to be undercut by solar + batteries in the end, not nuclear, gas or coal.
India will surely lose points for their horrible over rate though.
Edit - so one hit to win the series.
losingwinningWoakes ends 0 not out.
Along with rottenborough and Pulpstar.
Absolutely gutting. But 2-2 is fair series result
An excellent series though, down to the final day and a great advert for Test cricket.
And I’m now going to get fucking hammered on my wizzair flight to Gatwick to solace myself
Now for the Hundred (yawn)
According to some SNats, the perfidious English are nicking all their wind-power - "It's Scotland's Wind" - in much the same way as they snaffled the oil. Meanwhile, they are busy making sure Scotland is completely lacking in nuclear generation.
Head south and Big Nige is going to sweep to victory in Wales next year on the back of promising to reopen the coal mines.
Ugh
We have the batters, for sure
When I think of the ordure heaped over Graeme Hick by the management and their acolytes in the media, whose Test record at the same stage was rather better and who had a fantastic first class record to throw at critics, and I look at how Crawley gets a free ride far too often, it really pisses me off.
New Statesman briefing:
"Over the weekend, three posters appeared next to Kentish Town West overground station, plastered onto the billboards which sit under the bridge to the left of the entrance. They read: “Wanted Keir Starmer”, calling out the Prime Minister for his perceived complicity in Israel’s war in Gaza. They, and other posters, popped up around London on Saturday ahead of a wider mobilisation of activists, led by Palestinian Youth Movement.
"Kentish Town is at the heart of Starmer’s constituency – Holborn and St Pancras – but it is also the place that the Prime Minister called home before last year’s general election. His favourite pub, The Pineapple, sits to the north of the area, and he still plays five-aside football on a Kentish Town pitch. It is a political home. But things are shifting. In 2019 Starmer returned to Holborn and St Pancras with a majority of 27,763. In 2024 it had dropped to 18,884. This cannot be explained entirely by the war in Gaza. But the pro-Gaza independent who ran against Starmer in 2024, Andrew Feinstein, squeezed some of his vote.
"The slow gestation of the new left-wing party (whose founding is being co-led by Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana) has awakened talk of Feinstein’s candidacy. He has said he will support and likely join the new party, and Holborn and St Pancras is already being talked about as a key target (despite the next general election being four years away)."
Majority of 11,572
Turnout 38,602
So a majority that is 30% of turnout….
looks like the drop was stay-at-homes.
Starmer should hold (and hopefully win) a referendum to rejoin EFTA (and possibly the EEA). The EU would be happy (they'd be fully back within the British Sphere of Influence [1][2]) and in theory it doesn't upset the 2016 referendum.
[1] I've been playing too much Victoria 2 lately
[2] Or the UK in the EU's sphere, but nawh..... they need us more than.... fog in channel, continent cut off.... etc etc *nationalist ramblings*
Trescothick/Vaughan averaged 48.76
Cook/Strauss averaged 40.96
We haven't had a better opening partnership since Cook/Compton in 2012-13, which was vandalised by the selectors. And before that Strauss/Trescothick in 2004-6.
Went would we want to wreck an opening partnership that's working?
Whither @leon, whither Holborn & St Pancras?
And when Farage screams 'betrayal' just get that clip of Farage saying "We'll have a free trade agreement with the EU" during the 2016 campaign and then point to the words European FREE TRADE Area in that name.
Bloody hell.
Bloody Bethell last night lost us the match and the series win, and Smiths 2 from 20 was utterly pointless.
Drop and run you absolute arse.
Aaaaaaaaargh
Find a number three
Bashir or Ahmed or Leach for spin, fuck Bethell the useless tosser
Atkinson, Wood, Archer, Stokes could win with Robinson and Stone back up if fit
Openreach engineers trial panic alarms as incidents of abuse and assault soar
Exclusive: UK company reports 450 incidents in a year, with workers spat at, shaken off ladders and pushed down stairs
From scissors being brandished as weapons to verbal abuse and being trapped during a home visit, the number of reported incidents of abuse and assault on telecoms engineers is on the rise.
Openreach, the BT subsidiary that maintains the vast majority of the broadband network serving UK homes and businesses, recorded 450 reports of abuse and assault in the year to the end of March.
The number of incidents involving Openreach employees was up 8% year-on-year, a 40% increase on 2022-23 and seven times the volume reported almost a decade ago.
Abuse and assault has for the first time become the largest cause of injury to Openreach office staff and its 22,000 field engineers. Managers believe the number of incidents is even higher, as many cases are not reported by staf
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/aug/02/openreach-engineers-trial-panic-alarms-as-incidents-of-abuse-and-assault-soar
I know what, why not just cut to the run chase.
Saves all that interminable preamble where it really doesn't matter if the opener gets a single or not in the third over and instead, start the matches with 20 to go off six balls or 10 to win with a one-legged, one-armed blind batsman at one end.
Amongst all our bickering, I have no doubt that PB will at least all come together to agree with me on this.
Initially he was using his own car but then they made him use a logo council van and then things got difficult.
"I took her to see India, Fawlty.
At the Oval...."
While I'm not a fan, you need a pretty strong replacement in place of someone who hasn't quite comprehensively failed.
He played in a test with Alec Stewart
Who played in a test with Graham Gooch
Who played with John Edrich
Who played with Freddie Trueman
Who played with Len Hutton
Who played with Wally Hammond
Who bowled in the Bodyline tour
For me that doesn't convince. It's not purely about capacity and fire risk. It's more broad brush than that.
The 20 mile range battery on my Axxon Rides E-folder is 180Wh. That is exactly the same size as batteries for power tools I have. For my E-Brompton I have batteries of size (checks) 90Wh and 180Wh, the former specced to go on an airline.
Apple currently supply laptop batteries of 100Wh.
Electric wheelchair lithium batteries go from ~250Wh to ~700Wh, including those available on Motability. The airline limit for those is 300Wh.
If the risk profile was so stark electric wheelchair batteries would be banned or required to be small; as far as I know they are not banned or size limited.
I'm not sure that we can say much around "there have already been fires" to justify bans, when data about which categories of battery caused how many fires has just not been collected. The alleged data is probably hearsay.
To me this feels like lazy and easy decisions that do not reflect actual risk.
Regulating the batteries would require strict import control. Which would upset China and all the poorer people using cheap e-bike kits.
I think this is important. Where are all these cheap batteries kept? We regulate other things; of course we can regulate these.
I tend to agree on regulation. We already have certain regs, but they are not consistent or applied consistently. This is the WFW position statement on this:
https://wheelsforwellbeing.org.uk/wheels-for-wellbeing-position-statement-on-statutory-guidelines-on-lithium-ion-battery-safety-for-e-bikes/
I'm not sure he hasn't quite comprehensively failed.
I expect a resolution to this is going to be around equality law requiring a more thoughtful policy, as "ban it all" is not a "reasonable adjustment", when some of them are as safe or safer than permitted batteries, plus maybe a Judicial Review challenging the rationality of the banning practice, and some persuasion.
At which point the policies will change because it is to some extent - imo - characterised by over-simplistic policies shielded by rhetoric.