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This poll brings some good news for Labour and Starmer – politicalbetting.com

SystemSystem Posts: 12,714
edited October 1 in General
This poll brings some good news for Labour and Starmer – politicalbetting.com

This polling from Ipsos in my humble opinion brings good news for Labour, around the time of this polling Ipsos had Reform polling 34% and Labour polling 22% which isn’t out of line with other pollsters.

Read the full story here

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Comments

  • turbotubbsturbotubbs Posts: 20,539
    Still conference season though, isn't it? I thought it was untrustworthy to trust polls while the extra exposure of conferences was on?

    And first
  • TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 124,085

    Still conference season though, isn't it? I thought it was untrustworthy to trust polls while the extra exposure of conferences was on?

    And first

    This poll was pre Labour's conference.
  • squareroot2squareroot2 Posts: 7,201
    Is anyone paying attention to conference season?. I doubt more than on in 20 are
  • TimSTimS Posts: 16,236
    I’ve noticed a real tidal change in coverage of politics in the past month. It is all about Reform vs the government. This is getting critical for the Conservatives: they’re starting to get the Lib Dem experience of being comprehensively ignored by both traditional and social media.

    Great for Farage, bad for Badenoch. Bad too for Starmer, who surely benefits from a divided right. I sense the Ref-Con crossover is getting dangerously close to escape velocity.
  • algarkirkalgarkirk Posts: 15,587
    The 19% of LDs and 11% of Greens who prefer Reform to Labour must be interesting people to meet.

    It looks as if 27% want neither Labour nor Reform at any price.
  • I expect that Starmer's "Farage Boats" will rival his "Johnson Variant"
  • TimSTimS Posts: 16,236
    algarkirk said:

    The 19% of LDs and 11% of Greens who prefer Reform to Labour must be interesting people to meet.

    It looks as if 27% want neither Labour nor Reform at any price.

    Those will be the residual NOTA voters in those groups.
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 47,653

    I expect that Starmer's "Farage Boats" will rival his "Johnson Variant"

    The "Johnson variant" thing was a major black mark against Starmer in my book. It was nasty and unnecessary.

    As an aside, I do wonder how things would have turned out if Johnson had decided to have a party of national government during the crisis. Given the crisis facing the country, it may have made sense. If he had, things might be very different now...
  • numbertwelvenumbertwelve Posts: 8,183
    I don’t think Labour have had a bad conference, all things considered. I think it could have gone a lot worse for Starmer, instead he’s gotten away with a speech that seems to have gone OK, Burnham still a threat but looking a bit sillier now, and a new narrative (us v Farage) that he can now try to press home.

    Given the weeks of bad headlines and the ID card misstep last week, I think it’s probably gone as well or slightly better than they could have hoped for.

    Starmer certainly looks safe to me until 2026 now. The locals will still be the point of danger.

    Whether the us v Reform thing will actually work, whether Labour has the discipline to stay on message on all this immigration stuff, and whether the budget will derail things - all risks for the future. For now I think we can at least look at the government and see some kind of driving vision, even if it’s what they’re against rather than what they’re for. That’s better than what they came into the conference with.


  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 61,747
    Ummm: aren't older Britains the ones who vote?
  • algarkirkalgarkirk Posts: 15,587
    TimS said:

    I’ve noticed a real tidal change in coverage of politics in the past month. It is all about Reform vs the government. This is getting critical for the Conservatives: they’re starting to get the Lib Dem experience of being comprehensively ignored by both traditional and social media.

    Great for Farage, bad for Badenoch. Bad too for Starmer, who surely benefits from a divided right. I sense the Ref-Con crossover is getting dangerously close to escape velocity.

    Any media which is either commercial or has to maintain an audience (as the BBC must to justify the licence) has to consider the box office. Political box office is holding power, seizing power, toppling from office, charisma, extremism, threat, exercising power in popular or unpopular ways. The Tories currently score close to Zero on all fronts.

    They matter less than LDs at the moment. The LDs are, electorally, Labour proxy in about 100 seats, so they count.
  • TimSTimS Posts: 16,236
    The budget will be the Tories’ last chance to claw it back. We should get a solid 2-3 weeks where Reform is largely irrelevant. Nobody takes their fiscal prognostications seriously, I suspect even their own voters. Likewise the Greens.
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 47,653
    Put flag up everywhere, graffiti things, assault workers working on lampposts:
    Plastic patriots: All great stuff!

    Labour party wave flags at conference:
    Plastic patriots: Burn them!!!!
  • RogerRoger Posts: 21,203
    Starmer got his speech just right yesterday. Farage has been allowed to get away with murder. He's a full on xenophobe/racist and though late in the day Starmer has finally called him out for what he is. If voters are attracted to that then let the vast majority who don't see themselves that way understand the dividing line.

    Starmer was impressive yesterday as was Lammy. Labour have taken a year and a half to get the tone right. Don't row back.
  • noneoftheabovenoneoftheabove Posts: 25,282

    This finding doesn't surprise me. There is a decent majority in this country who detest Farage and everything he stands for.

    There clearly isn't. Only 38% prefer the current government. Even if all those detest Farage (they don't) then it is unlikely there is another 13% who detest Farage yet are unable to express a preference for Starmer. And that would take it to a wafer thin majority.

    For Labour to win the next election they will have to deliver rather than rely on emotion.
  • numbertwelvenumbertwelve Posts: 8,183
    TimS said:

    The budget will be the Tories’ last chance to claw it back. We should get a solid 2-3 weeks where Reform is largely irrelevant. Nobody takes their fiscal prognostications seriously, I suspect even their own voters. Likewise the Greens.

    I think the Tories’ last chance is probably the leadership contest in 2026 (which must be coming). They’ve probably got one more roll of the dice to stay relevant - but it will need a big shift in momentum and direction from their new leader, and I’m not convinced there’s anyone who can offer that. Jenrick, for all his ills, is the closest in the sense that he can at least get headlines.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 57,196

    Still conference season though, isn't it? I thought it was untrustworthy to trust polls while the extra exposure of conferences was on?

    And first

    This poll was pre Labour's conference.
    So before they started talking about ID cards instead of housing?
  • noneoftheabovenoneoftheabove Posts: 25,282

    TimS said:

    The budget will be the Tories’ last chance to claw it back. We should get a solid 2-3 weeks where Reform is largely irrelevant. Nobody takes their fiscal prognostications seriously, I suspect even their own voters. Likewise the Greens.

    I think the Tories’ last chance is probably the leadership contest in 2026 (which must be coming). They’ve probably got one more roll of the dice to stay relevant - but it will need a big shift in momentum and direction from their new leader, and I’m not convinced there’s anyone who can offer that. Jenrick, for all his ills, is the closest in the sense that he can at least get headlines.
    The only headlines he will go for are on immigration and its tangents. Which boosts Reform and hurts the Conservatives as the question the Conservatives simply cannot answer is if it is such an existential issue why did they not just achieve no reduction in 14 years but ended up with the biggest wave of immigration in our history and a gridlocked court system that couldn't cope?
  • TimSTimS Posts: 16,236

    This finding doesn't surprise me. There is a decent majority in this country who detest Farage and everything he stands for.

    There clearly isn't. Only 38% prefer the current government. Even if all those detest Farage (they don't) then it is unlikely there is another 13% who detest Farage yet are unable to express a preference for Starmer. And that would take it to a wafer thin majority.

    For Labour to win the next election they will have to deliver rather than rely on emotion.
    The old two tier politics conundrum in this social media oligarch age, as seen in the US.

    The far right can be total arseholes and win votes by some sort of magical osmosis. Their opponents must do everything right and never even venture a controversial opinion lest they provoke the far right even more.

    The playing field is slopy.
  • noneoftheabovenoneoftheabove Posts: 25,282
    TimS said:

    This finding doesn't surprise me. There is a decent majority in this country who detest Farage and everything he stands for.

    There clearly isn't. Only 38% prefer the current government. Even if all those detest Farage (they don't) then it is unlikely there is another 13% who detest Farage yet are unable to express a preference for Starmer. And that would take it to a wafer thin majority.

    For Labour to win the next election they will have to deliver rather than rely on emotion.
    The old two tier politics conundrum in this social media oligarch age, as seen in the US.

    The far right can be total arseholes and win votes by some sort of magical osmosis. Their opponents must do everything right and never even venture a controversial opinion lest they provoke the far right even more.

    The playing field is slopy.
    Agree fully apart from magical osmosis = Billions spent on social media
  • BattlebusBattlebus Posts: 1,665
    Good morning and may I tap into the PB expertise on badgers? For some reason a local badger has taken to arriving at 4:00 to dig up some newly laid topsoil and grass seeding. Could the panel suggest how I get the beast to visit my neighbours, whom we dislike. instead.

    Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells.
  • EabhalEabhal Posts: 12,069
    If pensioners migrate en masse to Reform then the Conservatives are in mortal peril, Reform have a very good chance of winning, and there is no chance of the UK ever reaching a low tax, low spending fiscal stance.
  • numbertwelvenumbertwelve Posts: 8,183
    edited October 1

    This finding doesn't surprise me. There is a decent majority in this country who detest Farage and everything he stands for.

    There clearly isn't. Only 38% prefer the current government. Even if all those detest Farage (they don't) then it is unlikely there is another 13% who detest Farage yet are unable to express a preference for Starmer. And that would take it to a wafer thin majority.

    For Labour to win the next election they will have to deliver rather than rely on emotion.
    I agree.

    Tactical voting may very much help Labour and hurt Reform (I think this is why their journey to a majority is difficult) but I don’t think it will be an election winning or losing element in itself. Labour will need to combine it with some measurable success.

    Similarly it’s entirely possible tactical voting will also work the other way, and that’s another reason why I think a HP seems fairly likely.
  • noneoftheabovenoneoftheabove Posts: 25,282
    Eabhal said:

    If pensioners migrate en masse to Reform then the Conservatives are in mortal peril, Reform have a very good chance of winning, and there is no chance of the UK ever reaching a low tax, low spending fiscal stance.

    We can't reach a low tax, low spending stance whatever party is in charge. Demographics.
  • boulayboulay Posts: 7,534
    Battlebus said:

    Good morning and may I tap into the PB expertise on badgers? For some reason a local badger has taken to arriving at 4:00 to dig up some newly laid topsoil and grass seeding. Could the panel suggest how I get the beast to visit my neighbours, whom we dislike. instead.

    Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells.

    Maybe buy a bag of dry dog food and throw handfuls into your neighbour’s garden when they are out which might attract the badger there for an easy meal. Perhaps leave a little trail from away from your garden towards theirs from the wilds where the badgers live.

    Either that or just kill one with a spade and leave it on a post as a warning to other badgers.
  • TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 124,085
    TimS said:

    The budget will be the Tories’ last chance to claw it back. We should get a solid 2-3 weeks where Reform is largely irrelevant. Nobody takes their fiscal prognostications seriously, I suspect even their own voters. Likewise the Greens.

    I have this hunch that we are going to see at least one Con to Reform defection timed to ruin the Tory conference.

    Farage tried it 2014.
  • EabhalEabhal Posts: 12,069

    This finding doesn't surprise me. There is a decent majority in this country who detest Farage and everything he stands for.

    There clearly isn't. Only 38% prefer the current government. Even if all those detest Farage (they don't) then it is unlikely there is another 13% who detest Farage yet are unable to express a preference for Starmer. And that would take it to a wafer thin majority.

    For Labour to win the next election they will have to deliver rather than rely on emotion.
    I agree.

    Tactical voting may very much help Labour and hurt Reform (I think this is why their journey to a majority is difficult) but I don’t think it will be an election winning or losing element in itself. Labour will need to combine it with some measurable success.

    Similarly it’s entirely possible tactical voting will also work the other way, and that’s another reason why I think a HP seems fairly likely.
    Labour won the last election on a similar basis however - extremely efficient tactical voting where they could beat the Conservatives, with no real sense they had a big plan for the country.
  • another_richardanother_richard Posts: 28,335
    edited October 1
    The FTSE100 is currently edging over 9,400.

    If Starmer wants something to boast about he can claim the increase in the stock market and the consequent boost to DC pension pots.

    Though, I suspect, that there are various leftists who would regard higher share prices and bigger DC pension pots as bad things.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 81,759
    The other factor is that Trump very likely will have shat the bed so appallingly, that our homegrown snake oil salesman will struggle adequately to distance himself from his current adulatory stance.
  • numbertwelvenumbertwelve Posts: 8,183
    Eabhal said:

    This finding doesn't surprise me. There is a decent majority in this country who detest Farage and everything he stands for.

    There clearly isn't. Only 38% prefer the current government. Even if all those detest Farage (they don't) then it is unlikely there is another 13% who detest Farage yet are unable to express a preference for Starmer. And that would take it to a wafer thin majority.

    For Labour to win the next election they will have to deliver rather than rely on emotion.
    I agree.

    Tactical voting may very much help Labour and hurt Reform (I think this is why their journey to a majority is difficult) but I don’t think it will be an election winning or losing element in itself. Labour will need to combine it with some measurable success.

    Similarly it’s entirely possible tactical voting will also work the other way, and that’s another reason why I think a HP seems fairly likely.
    Labour won the last election on a similar basis however - extremely efficient tactical voting where they could beat the Conservatives, with no real sense they had a big plan for the country.
    I agree.

    But Labour weren’t the government then.
  • another_richardanother_richard Posts: 28,335

    The FTSE100 is currently edging over 9,400.

    If Starmer wants something to boast about he can claim the increase in the stock market and the consequent boost to DC pension pots.

    Though, I suspect, that there are various leftists who would regard as higher share prices and bigger DC pension pots as bad things.

    I'd like to see some polling on these questions:

    Do you regard higher share prices / values as a good / bad thing ?

    Do you regard higher house prices / values as a good / bad thing ?
  • FossFoss Posts: 1,808
    Battlebus said:

    Good morning and may I tap into the PB expertise on badgers? For some reason a local badger has taken to arriving at 4:00 to dig up some newly laid topsoil and grass seeding. Could the panel suggest how I get the beast to visit my neighbours, whom we dislike. instead.

    Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells.

    Amazon sell movement activated sound devices that put out a sound on a tuneable narrow frequency. They're effectively a mosquito device for small mammals.
  • noneoftheabovenoneoftheabove Posts: 25,282
    Roger said:

    Starmer got his speech just right yesterday. Farage has been allowed to get away with murder. He's a full on xenophobe/racist and though late in the day Starmer has finally called him out for what he is. If voters are attracted to that then let the vast majority who don't see themselves that way understand the dividing line.

    Starmer was impressive yesterday as was Lammy. Labour have taken a year and a half to get the tone right. Don't row back.

    The speech was ok. They are talking about the right steps on immigration and housing. I just doubt they will make anywhere near sufficient progress by 2028 especially given the hostility of the media and public.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 65,817
    Roger said:

    Starmer got his speech just right yesterday. Farage has been allowed to get away with murder. He's a full on xenophobe/racist and though late in the day Starmer has finally called him out for what he is. If voters are attracted to that then let the vast majority who don't see themselves that way understand the dividing line.

    Starmer was impressive yesterday as was Lammy. Labour have taken a year and a half to get the tone right. Don't row back.

    Lammy said Farage had links with the Hitler Youth. An organisation disbanded two decades before Farage was born
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 57,196

    TimS said:

    The budget will be the Tories’ last chance to claw it back. We should get a solid 2-3 weeks where Reform is largely irrelevant. Nobody takes their fiscal prognostications seriously, I suspect even their own voters. Likewise the Greens.

    I have this hunch that we are going to see at least one Con to Reform defection timed to ruin the Tory conference.

    Farage tried it 2014.
    The Tories were in government in 2014.

    Even now a single MP defecting when in Opposition isn’t much to write home about.

    If they can get someone who was in the Cabinet 18 months ago, then the media might care for more than half a day.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 81,759
    Roger said:

    Starmer got his speech just right yesterday. Farage has been allowed to get away with murder. He's a full on xenophobe/racist and though late in the day Starmer has finally called him out for what he is. If voters are attracted to that then let the vast majority who don't see themselves that way understand the dividing line.

    Starmer was impressive yesterday as was Lammy. Labour have taken a year and a half to get the tone right. Don't row back.

    While that kind of talk is going to persuade absolutely no one, the enthusiasm you're currently showing might (possibly) indicate that Starmer has a chance with Labour's natural base ?
  • Great British Energy will cut bills for schools and hospitals and deliver new jobs in a thriving clean energy sector.

    That is patriotic national renewal.

    StaLLMer
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 61,747
    Leon said:

    Roger said:

    Starmer got his speech just right yesterday. Farage has been allowed to get away with murder. He's a full on xenophobe/racist and though late in the day Starmer has finally called him out for what he is. If voters are attracted to that then let the vast majority who don't see themselves that way understand the dividing line.

    Starmer was impressive yesterday as was Lammy. Labour have taken a year and a half to get the tone right. Don't row back.

    Lammy said Farage had links with the Hitler Youth. An organisation disbanded two decades before Farage was born
    Are you sure? He looks bloody ancient. Hard to believe he's actually the same age as Nick Clegg.
  • noneoftheabovenoneoftheabove Posts: 25,282

    TimS said:

    The budget will be the Tories’ last chance to claw it back. We should get a solid 2-3 weeks where Reform is largely irrelevant. Nobody takes their fiscal prognostications seriously, I suspect even their own voters. Likewise the Greens.

    I have this hunch that we are going to see at least one Con to Reform defection timed to ruin the Tory conference.

    Farage tried it 2014.
    Defection, probably. Ruin the conference, unlikely. Which Cons are good enough to actually be a big loss?
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 47,653
    Leon said:

    Roger said:

    Starmer got his speech just right yesterday. Farage has been allowed to get away with murder. He's a full on xenophobe/racist and though late in the day Starmer has finally called him out for what he is. If voters are attracted to that then let the vast majority who don't see themselves that way understand the dividing line.

    Starmer was impressive yesterday as was Lammy. Labour have taken a year and a half to get the tone right. Don't row back.

    Lammy said Farage had links with the Hitler Youth. An organisation disbanded two decades before Farage was born
    The fact it's been disbanded doesn't stop stupid young kids from singing their songs.
  • Northern_AlNorthern_Al Posts: 9,109
    Farage doesn't often make mistakes, but in his ranty response to Starmer yesterday he accused him of encouraging something called Antifa. I mean, how many people in the UK have even heard of Antifa, let alone come across them?
    I think Farage's Americanisation of the culture wars may harm him a bit. We're not the USA.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 88,195
    edited October 1
    All that hard work Ed Miliband has been doing to fight climate change and then OpenAI release Sora 2 as a TikTok style app.
  • BarnesianBarnesian Posts: 9,414
    Advance UK is getting organised.
    30,000+ members including Tommy Robinson and supported by Musk.
    It will take some support from the right wing of Reform.
    Advance UK is at 70s on Betfair to take most seats at the next general Election!
    Shorter odds than the Greens
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 47,653
    Foss said:

    Battlebus said:

    Good morning and may I tap into the PB expertise on badgers? For some reason a local badger has taken to arriving at 4:00 to dig up some newly laid topsoil and grass seeding. Could the panel suggest how I get the beast to visit my neighbours, whom we dislike. instead.

    Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells.

    Amazon sell movement activated sound devices that put out a sound on a tuneable narrow frequency. They're effectively a mosquito device for small mammals.
    There's a car scarer near us that causes Mrs J and our son pain whenever we walk past that garden. I, and other friends, cannot hear it and are unaffected.

    IIRC similar things were proposed as an anti-kids device a few years back, as kids tend to hear it more than adults.
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 68,291
    Roger said:

    Starmer got his speech just right yesterday. Farage has been allowed to get away with murder. He's a full on xenophobe/racist and though late in the day Starmer has finally called him out for what he is. If voters are attracted to that then let the vast majority who don't see themselves that way understand the dividing line.

    Starmer was impressive yesterday as was Lammy. Labour have taken a year and a half to get the tone right. Don't row back.

    Farage and Yusuf clearly rattled this morning, trying to create a spurious row about Farage's security detail.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 61,747
    boulay said:

    Battlebus said:

    Good morning and may I tap into the PB expertise on badgers? For some reason a local badger has taken to arriving at 4:00 to dig up some newly laid topsoil and grass seeding. Could the panel suggest how I get the beast to visit my neighbours, whom we dislike. instead.

    Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells.

    Maybe buy a bag of dry dog food and throw handfuls into your neighbour’s garden when they are out which might attract the badger there for an easy meal. Perhaps leave a little trail from away from your garden towards theirs from the wilds where the badgers live.

    Either that or just kill one with a spade and leave it on a post as a warning to other badgers.
    Don't you think killing a neighbor is a bit excessive?
  • noneoftheabovenoneoftheabove Posts: 25,282
    Leon said:

    Roger said:

    Starmer got his speech just right yesterday. Farage has been allowed to get away with murder. He's a full on xenophobe/racist and though late in the day Starmer has finally called him out for what he is. If voters are attracted to that then let the vast majority who don't see themselves that way understand the dividing line.

    Starmer was impressive yesterday as was Lammy. Labour have taken a year and a half to get the tone right. Don't row back.

    Lammy said Farage had links with the Hitler Youth. An organisation disbanded two decades before Farage was born
    Maybe he could try a defence of it wasn't the Hitler Youth it was the National Front on a bus?

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/ng-interactive/2024/jun/14/he-was-a-deeply-unembarrassed-racist-nigel-farage-by-those-who-have-known-him

    "Chloe Deakin, an English teacher at Dulwich college, wrote in 1981: “You will recall that at the recent, and lengthy, meeting about the selection of prefects, the remark by a colleague that Farage was ‘a fascist but that was no reason why he would not make a good prefect’ invoked considerable reaction from members of the common room.

    “Another colleague, who teaches the boy, described his publicly professed racist and neo-fascist views, and he cited a particular incident in which Farage was so offensive to a boy in his set, that he had to be removed from the lesson.”

    One Jewish pupil claimed Farage would sidle up to him and say: “Hitler was right,” or “Gas ’em.” Another claimed Farage had a preoccupation with his initials, NF, as they were the same as those of the National Front."
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 47,653
    Sandpit said:

    Not just a huge russian oil refinery on fire overnight, looks like there’s a russian oil pumping station on fire too!

    https://x.com/bayraktar_1love/status/1973278620945883231

    These Russians really need to stop playing with matches!

    I dunno. There have been so many carelessly-discarded-matches incidents recently that I'm starting to think there might be something else behind them. I don't want to get all tinfoil-hatted, but it's almost as though a rival country is sending drones and missiles in to hit them, and that the superb Russian air defences can do f-all to stop them.

    I know I'm probably being silly, and that carelessly discarded matches are by far the most probable explanation, but the more these incidents happen, the more I wonder...

    :)
  • noneoftheabovenoneoftheabove Posts: 25,282
    Barnesian said:

    Advance UK is getting organised.
    30,000+ members including Tommy Robinson and supported by Musk.
    It will take some support from the right wing of Reform.
    Advance UK is at 70s on Betfair to take most seats at the next general Election!
    Shorter odds than the Greens

    With Musks funding they could stand in every seat and stop Reform!
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 130,544
    edited October 1
    This poll shows that Labour could still beat Reform if they can get enough LD and Green voters and a few liberal Tories to vote tactically for them in Labour held seats to defeat Farage.

    Much as the Canadian Liberals beat Poilievre's Conservatives earlier this year by squeezing NDP and Green voters. Albeit Labour might need a new leader as the Liberals replaced Trudeau with Carney
  • LeonLeon Posts: 65,817
    Last day in Naples

    AirPods3 are Babelfish

  • LeonLeon Posts: 65,817
    The universe is being overturned
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 61,747

    Still conference season though, isn't it? I thought it was untrustworthy to trust polls while the extra exposure of conferences was on?

    And first

    This poll was pre Labour's conference.
    So you reckon there's another four or five points for them to drop, then?
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 57,196
    Foss said:

    Battlebus said:

    Good morning and may I tap into the PB expertise on badgers? For some reason a local badger has taken to arriving at 4:00 to dig up some newly laid topsoil and grass seeding. Could the panel suggest how I get the beast to visit my neighbours, whom we dislike. instead.

    Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells.

    Amazon sell movement activated sound devices that put out a sound on a tuneable narrow frequency. They're effectively a mosquito device for small mammals.
    You need to tune those carefully, especially if you have kids.

    Years ago a local corner shop to me put one outside tuned to about 20kHz, which was inaudible to anyone aged over about 16 but a really loud and annoying squeal to anyone younger. Dogs went mad as they got close to it.

    Police were called and didn’t understand what was happening, because they couldn’t hear it either!
  • FossFoss Posts: 1,808
    Sandpit said:

    Foss said:

    Battlebus said:

    Good morning and may I tap into the PB expertise on badgers? For some reason a local badger has taken to arriving at 4:00 to dig up some newly laid topsoil and grass seeding. Could the panel suggest how I get the beast to visit my neighbours, whom we dislike. instead.

    Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells.

    Amazon sell movement activated sound devices that put out a sound on a tuneable narrow frequency. They're effectively a mosquito device for small mammals.
    You need to tune those carefully, especially if you have kids.

    Years ago a local corner shop to me put one outside tuned to about 20kHz, which was inaudible to anyone aged over about 16 but a really loud and annoying squeal to anyone younger. Dogs went mad as they got close to it.

    Police were called and didn’t understand what was happening, because they couldn’t hear it either!
    I wouldn't point them at the street, but a small, controlled part of the garden would probably be ok.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 57,196
    edited October 1
    Barnesian said:

    Advance UK is getting organised.
    30,000+ members including Tommy Robinson and supported by Musk.
    It will take some support from the right wing of Reform.
    Advance UK is at 70s on Betfair to take most seats at the next general Election!
    Shorter odds than the Greens

    That’ll probably please Farage no end, as it takes away the fringes he doesn’t want associated with his movement.

    There’s precisely no chance that “Tommy” and friends make it through an election campaign without a lot a very unsavoury characters revealed to be standing, and without one of their senior spokespeople saying something considered totally outrageous to 99% of the population.

    They’ll also probably get caught for many breaches of election law if they try and take money from foreigners.
  • boulayboulay Posts: 7,534
    rcs1000 said:

    boulay said:

    Battlebus said:

    Good morning and may I tap into the PB expertise on badgers? For some reason a local badger has taken to arriving at 4:00 to dig up some newly laid topsoil and grass seeding. Could the panel suggest how I get the beast to visit my neighbours, whom we dislike. instead.

    Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells.

    Maybe buy a bag of dry dog food and throw handfuls into your neighbour’s garden when they are out which might attract the badger there for an easy meal. Perhaps leave a little trail from away from your garden towards theirs from the wilds where the badgers live.

    Either that or just kill one with a spade and leave it on a post as a warning to other badgers.
    Don't you think killing a neighbor is a bit excessive?
    Ooh I didn’t think of that, potentially solves two problems for the price of one.
  • noneoftheabovenoneoftheabove Posts: 25,282
    edited October 1

    Farage doesn't often make mistakes, but in his ranty response to Starmer yesterday he accused him of encouraging something called Antifa. I mean, how many people in the UK have even heard of Antifa, let alone come across them?
    I think Farage's Americanisation of the culture wars may harm him a bit. We're not the USA.

    He has two audiences. The UK electorate for votes and US broligarchs for the $$$$.
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 47,653
    Sandpit said:

    Barnesian said:

    Advance UK is getting organised.
    30,000+ members including Tommy Robinson and supported by Musk.
    It will take some support from the right wing of Reform.
    Advance UK is at 70s on Betfair to take most seats at the next general Election!
    Shorter odds than the Greens

    That’ll probably please Farage no end, as it takes away the fringes he doesn’t want associated with his movement.

    There’s precisely no chance that “Tommy” and friends make it through an election campaign without a lot a very unsavoury characters revealed to be standing, and without one of their senior spokespeople saying something considered totally outrageous to 99% of the population.
    There's also the possibility that Advance UK grabs a lot of the attention, and support, that Farage has been relying on - and that their views become synonymous with those of the Farage Party.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 130,544
    Barnesian said:

    Advance UK is getting organised.
    30,000+ members including Tommy Robinson and supported by Musk.
    It will take some support from the right wing of Reform.
    Advance UK is at 70s on Betfair to take most seats at the next general Election!
    Shorter odds than the Greens

    Ironically that would be great news for Starmer and the Tories under FPTP
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 61,747
    edited October 1

    Barnesian said:

    Advance UK is getting organised.
    30,000+ members including Tommy Robinson and supported by Musk.
    It will take some support from the right wing of Reform.
    Advance UK is at 70s on Betfair to take most seats at the next general Election!
    Shorter odds than the Greens

    With Musks funding they could stand in every seat and stop Reform!
    Musk seems very determined to damage his brand. Farage might not be popular with everyone, but he's popular with a lot of people.

    Tommy Robinson is a thug, and the crossover between Tommy Robinson fans and Tesla fans is... well, it's Elon Musk.

    On the subject of Advance, I see two possible impact on Reform.

    One is a positive one: there are going to be plenty of Reform-curious voters on the Tory right, who are nervous about voting for a genuinely hard right party. The existence of Advance shows that Reform is not hard right, and is merely a bit -errr- righter than the Conservatives. This benefits Reform somewhat.

    On the other hand, there are going to be some seats where the BNP saved their deposit (there were 70 of these in 2010!), and where Advance may manage to achieve similarly. In those seats, it's possible the success of Advance could result in Reform failing to take a seat. But Reform is likely to win most of these seats fairly comfortably; so there are perhaps only a dozen seats where Advance's ... errr ... advance could impact Reform.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 130,544

    TimS said:

    The budget will be the Tories’ last chance to claw it back. We should get a solid 2-3 weeks where Reform is largely irrelevant. Nobody takes their fiscal prognostications seriously, I suspect even their own voters. Likewise the Greens.

    I think the Tories’ last chance is probably the leadership contest in 2026 (which must be coming). They’ve probably got one more roll of the dice to stay relevant - but it will need a big shift in momentum and direction from their new leader, and I’m not convinced there’s anyone who can offer that. Jenrick, for all his ills, is the closest in the sense that he can at least get headlines.
    Cleverly polls best with Tory and all voters, Jenrick with Reform voters
  • RochdalePioneersRochdalePioneers Posts: 31,116

    Put flag up everywhere, graffiti things, assault workers working on lampposts:
    Plastic patriots: All great stuff!

    Labour party wave flags at conference:
    Plastic patriots: Burn them!!!!

    Apparently you're not allowed to call them plastic patriots, it's offensive. The new acceptable phrase is "flag shaggers"
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 81,759

    TimS said:

    The budget will be the Tories’ last chance to claw it back. We should get a solid 2-3 weeks where Reform is largely irrelevant. Nobody takes their fiscal prognostications seriously, I suspect even their own voters. Likewise the Greens.

    I think the Tories’ last chance is probably the leadership contest in 2026 (which must be coming). They’ve probably got one more roll of the dice to stay relevant - but it will need a big shift in momentum and direction from their new leader, and I’m not convinced there’s anyone who can offer that. Jenrick, for all his ills, is the closest in the sense that he can at least get headlines.
    The only headlines he will go for are on immigration and its tangents. Which boosts Reform and hurts the Conservatives as the question the Conservatives simply cannot answer is if it is such an existential issue why did they not just achieve no reduction in 14 years but ended up with the biggest wave of immigration in our history and a gridlocked court system that couldn't cope?
    What would kill the issue absolutely stone dead for the Tories, would be Labour having a degree of success in reducing the numbers significantly.

    Between that on one side, and the Reform ultras on the other, there would be no credible space to occupy, given their record in the previous government.
  • BarnesianBarnesian Posts: 9,414
    Nigelb said:

    The other factor is that Trump very likely will have shat the bed so appallingly, that our homegrown snake oil salesman will struggle adequately to distance himself from his current adulatory stance.

    The military top brass did not like the Hesketh/Trump speeches on using Democrat cities as training grounds. "Get ready to fire."
    They were heard in complete silence. Trump asked them to applaud and they didn't.
    I'd love to eavesdrop on the conversations currently going on between the top generals.

    It's approaching crunch time with the government shutdown and troops on the streets.
    I'm waiting for some senior Republican Senators (Cruz et al) to come together and oppose Trump.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 81,759
    Battlebus said:

    Good morning and may I tap into the PB expertise on badgers? For some reason a local badger has taken to arriving at 4:00 to dig up some newly laid topsoil and grass seeding. Could the panel suggest how I get the beast to visit my neighbours, whom we dislike. instead.

    Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells.

    Short of a badger proof fence, or chucking some food waste into your neighbour's garden, it will be a struggle.
  • noneoftheabovenoneoftheabove Posts: 25,282
    Nigelb said:

    TimS said:

    The budget will be the Tories’ last chance to claw it back. We should get a solid 2-3 weeks where Reform is largely irrelevant. Nobody takes their fiscal prognostications seriously, I suspect even their own voters. Likewise the Greens.

    I think the Tories’ last chance is probably the leadership contest in 2026 (which must be coming). They’ve probably got one more roll of the dice to stay relevant - but it will need a big shift in momentum and direction from their new leader, and I’m not convinced there’s anyone who can offer that. Jenrick, for all his ills, is the closest in the sense that he can at least get headlines.
    The only headlines he will go for are on immigration and its tangents. Which boosts Reform and hurts the Conservatives as the question the Conservatives simply cannot answer is if it is such an existential issue why did they not just achieve no reduction in 14 years but ended up with the biggest wave of immigration in our history and a gridlocked court system that couldn't cope?
    What would kill the issue absolutely stone dead for the Tories, would be Labour having a degree of success in reducing the numbers significantly.

    Between that on one side, and the Reform ultras on the other, there would be no credible space to occupy, given their record in the previous government.
    It is already stone dead for the Tories, they have no answer and changing leader or policies won't change it any time soon. And will be fatal for Labour too without regaining control of the process, including ending asylum seeker hotels and getting back to claims being processed in a couple of months rather than years.
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 68,291
    Barnesian said:

    Nigelb said:

    The other factor is that Trump very likely will have shat the bed so appallingly, that our homegrown snake oil salesman will struggle adequately to distance himself from his current adulatory stance.

    The military top brass did not like the Hesketh/Trump speeches on using Democrat cities as training grounds. "Get ready to fire."
    They were heard in complete silence. Trump asked them to applaud and they didn't.
    I'd love to eavesdrop on the conversations currently going on between the top generals.

    It's approaching crunch time with the government shutdown and troops on the streets.
    I'm waiting for some senior Republican Senators (Cruz et al) to come together and oppose Trump.
    You'll be waiting a long time I suspect.

    Very very few left in GOP who have the guts to take this on.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 130,544
    Nigelb said:

    TimS said:

    The budget will be the Tories’ last chance to claw it back. We should get a solid 2-3 weeks where Reform is largely irrelevant. Nobody takes their fiscal prognostications seriously, I suspect even their own voters. Likewise the Greens.

    I think the Tories’ last chance is probably the leadership contest in 2026 (which must be coming). They’ve probably got one more roll of the dice to stay relevant - but it will need a big shift in momentum and direction from their new leader, and I’m not convinced there’s anyone who can offer that. Jenrick, for all his ills, is the closest in the sense that he can at least get headlines.
    The only headlines he will go for are on immigration and its tangents. Which boosts Reform and hurts the Conservatives as the question the Conservatives simply cannot answer is if it is such an existential issue why did they not just achieve no reduction in 14 years but ended up with the biggest wave of immigration in our history and a gridlocked court system that couldn't cope?
    What would kill the issue absolutely stone dead for the Tories, would be Labour having a degree of success in reducing the numbers significantly.

    Between that on one side, and the Reform ultras on the other, there would be no credible space to occupy, given their record in the previous government.
    Net immigration now falling due to Sunak and Cleverly's tighter visa wage rules.

    Taxes going up under Labour though

  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 61,747
    Leon said:

    Last day in Naples

    AirPods3 are Babelfish

    Well, I'm more excited by the Meta Rayban Display. I like the idea of seeing subtitles rather than restricting what I hear.
  • noneoftheabovenoneoftheabove Posts: 25,282

    Barnesian said:

    Nigelb said:

    The other factor is that Trump very likely will have shat the bed so appallingly, that our homegrown snake oil salesman will struggle adequately to distance himself from his current adulatory stance.

    The military top brass did not like the Hesketh/Trump speeches on using Democrat cities as training grounds. "Get ready to fire."
    They were heard in complete silence. Trump asked them to applaud and they didn't.
    I'd love to eavesdrop on the conversations currently going on between the top generals.

    It's approaching crunch time with the government shutdown and troops on the streets.
    I'm waiting for some senior Republican Senators (Cruz et al) to come together and oppose Trump.
    You'll be waiting a long time I suspect.

    Very very few left in GOP who have the guts to take this on.
    If they didn't post Jan 6th when he was defeated, of course they are not going to take him on at this stage.
  • LostPasswordLostPassword Posts: 20,367
    Russian media report that 38% of refinery capacity is offline and that there is a 20% gasoline shortage. Chinese parts can't fully replace those from the West, blocked by sanctions, to enable repairs.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 61,747

    Russian media report that 38% of refinery capacity is offline and that there is a 20% gasoline shortage. Chinese parts can't fully replace those from the West, blocked by sanctions, to enable repairs.

    Bear in mind that Russia mostly exports crude rather than refined products, so the impact of this will be mostly on the domestic Russian economy.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 47,546

    Leon said:

    Roger said:

    Starmer got his speech just right yesterday. Farage has been allowed to get away with murder. He's a full on xenophobe/racist and though late in the day Starmer has finally called him out for what he is. If voters are attracted to that then let the vast majority who don't see themselves that way understand the dividing line.

    Starmer was impressive yesterday as was Lammy. Labour have taken a year and a half to get the tone right. Don't row back.

    Lammy said Farage had links with the Hitler Youth. An organisation disbanded two decades before Farage was born
    Maybe he could try a defence of it wasn't the Hitler Youth it was the National Front on a bus?

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/ng-interactive/2024/jun/14/he-was-a-deeply-unembarrassed-racist-nigel-farage-by-those-who-have-known-him

    "Chloe Deakin, an English teacher at Dulwich college, wrote in 1981: “You will recall that at the recent, and lengthy, meeting about the selection of prefects, the remark by a colleague that Farage was ‘a fascist but that was no reason why he would not make a good prefect’ invoked considerable reaction from members of the common room.

    “Another colleague, who teaches the boy, described his publicly professed racist and neo-fascist views, and he cited a particular incident in which Farage was so offensive to a boy in his set, that he had to be removed from the lesson.”

    One Jewish pupil claimed Farage would sidle up to him and say: “Hitler was right,” or “Gas ’em.” Another claimed Farage had a preoccupation with his initials, NF, as they were the same as those of the National Front."
    Yuck. Show me the boy, I'll show you the man.
  • BarnesianBarnesian Posts: 9,414
    edited October 1

    Barnesian said:

    Nigelb said:

    The other factor is that Trump very likely will have shat the bed so appallingly, that our homegrown snake oil salesman will struggle adequately to distance himself from his current adulatory stance.

    The military top brass did not like the Hesketh/Trump speeches on using Democrat cities as training grounds. "Get ready to fire."
    They were heard in complete silence. Trump asked them to applaud and they didn't.
    I'd love to eavesdrop on the conversations currently going on between the top generals.

    It's approaching crunch time with the government shutdown and troops on the streets.
    I'm waiting for some senior Republican Senators (Cruz et al) to come together and oppose Trump.
    You'll be waiting a long time I suspect.

    Very very few left in GOP who have the guts to take this on.
    It takes four.
    This has gone way beyond Jan 6th.
    Or perhaps the military will have a word. "Listen sunshine"
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 61,747
    rcs1000 said:

    Russian media report that 38% of refinery capacity is offline and that there is a 20% gasoline shortage. Chinese parts can't fully replace those from the West, blocked by sanctions, to enable repairs.

    Bear in mind that Russia mostly exports crude rather than refined products, so the impact of this will be mostly on the domestic Russian economy.
    In fact, Russia doesn't really have the infrastructure to import refined products and get them to market easily, so the impact could be really quite severe. If Ukraine was able to damage any more Russian refining capacity it could start to have a significant impact on the war effort, as well as on the economy and the lives of everyday Russians.

    Bear in mind, too, that Russia is so large that it is *highly* dependent on petroleum products in every part of their economy.
  • kjhkjh Posts: 13,216
    Battlebus said:

    Good morning and may I tap into the PB expertise on badgers? For some reason a local badger has taken to arriving at 4:00 to dig up some newly laid topsoil and grass seeding. Could the panel suggest how I get the beast to visit my neighbours, whom we dislike. instead.

    Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells.

    Ultrasonic device. It will also keep unwanted teenagers away. I used one to protect my raspberries from deer. Worked perfectly, until my wife mowed it with a motor mower. Never seen the inside of a 9v battery before. I think she was trying to let me know that this was my job.
  • BattlebusBattlebus Posts: 1,665
    Nigelb said:

    Battlebus said:

    Good morning and may I tap into the PB expertise on badgers? For some reason a local badger has taken to arriving at 4:00 to dig up some newly laid topsoil and grass seeding. Could the panel suggest how I get the beast to visit my neighbours, whom we dislike. instead.

    Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells.

    Short of a badger proof fence, or chucking some food waste into your neighbour's garden, it will be a struggle.
    That's the advice I've heard so far. But I hadn't considered the spade option as a solution.

    Off to buy a spade, an ultrasonic deterrent (badgers not neighbours) and some dog food. Will see what happens overnight as the area is covered by cameras. We can see where and when it arrives so should be able to check the effectiveness or otherwise.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 47,546
    Barnesian said:

    Nigelb said:

    The other factor is that Trump very likely will have shat the bed so appallingly, that our homegrown snake oil salesman will struggle adequately to distance himself from his current adulatory stance.

    The military top brass did not like the Hesketh/Trump speeches on using Democrat cities as training grounds. "Get ready to fire."
    They were heard in complete silence. Trump asked them to applaud and they didn't.
    I'd love to eavesdrop on the conversations currently going on between the top generals.

    It's approaching crunch time with the government shutdown and troops on the streets.
    I'm waiting for some senior Republican Senators (Cruz et al) to come together and oppose Trump.
    Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas at the front there?
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 61,747

    Leon said:

    Roger said:

    Starmer got his speech just right yesterday. Farage has been allowed to get away with murder. He's a full on xenophobe/racist and though late in the day Starmer has finally called him out for what he is. If voters are attracted to that then let the vast majority who don't see themselves that way understand the dividing line.

    Starmer was impressive yesterday as was Lammy. Labour have taken a year and a half to get the tone right. Don't row back.

    Lammy said Farage had links with the Hitler Youth. An organisation disbanded two decades before Farage was born
    Maybe he could try a defence of it wasn't the Hitler Youth it was the National Front on a bus?

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/ng-interactive/2024/jun/14/he-was-a-deeply-unembarrassed-racist-nigel-farage-by-those-who-have-known-him

    "Chloe Deakin, an English teacher at Dulwich college, wrote in 1981: “You will recall that at the recent, and lengthy, meeting about the selection of prefects, the remark by a colleague that Farage was ‘a fascist but that was no reason why he would not make a good prefect’ invoked considerable reaction from members of the common room.

    “Another colleague, who teaches the boy, described his publicly professed racist and neo-fascist views, and he cited a particular incident in which Farage was so offensive to a boy in his set, that he had to be removed from the lesson.”

    One Jewish pupil claimed Farage would sidle up to him and say: “Hitler was right,” or “Gas ’em.” Another claimed Farage had a preoccupation with his initials, NF, as they were the same as those of the National Front."
    If that's true, that does not reflect well on the young Farage.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 61,747
    kinabalu said:

    Leon said:

    Roger said:

    Starmer got his speech just right yesterday. Farage has been allowed to get away with murder. He's a full on xenophobe/racist and though late in the day Starmer has finally called him out for what he is. If voters are attracted to that then let the vast majority who don't see themselves that way understand the dividing line.

    Starmer was impressive yesterday as was Lammy. Labour have taken a year and a half to get the tone right. Don't row back.

    Lammy said Farage had links with the Hitler Youth. An organisation disbanded two decades before Farage was born
    Maybe he could try a defence of it wasn't the Hitler Youth it was the National Front on a bus?

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/ng-interactive/2024/jun/14/he-was-a-deeply-unembarrassed-racist-nigel-farage-by-those-who-have-known-him

    "Chloe Deakin, an English teacher at Dulwich college, wrote in 1981: “You will recall that at the recent, and lengthy, meeting about the selection of prefects, the remark by a colleague that Farage was ‘a fascist but that was no reason why he would not make a good prefect’ invoked considerable reaction from members of the common room.

    “Another colleague, who teaches the boy, described his publicly professed racist and neo-fascist views, and he cited a particular incident in which Farage was so offensive to a boy in his set, that he had to be removed from the lesson.”

    One Jewish pupil claimed Farage would sidle up to him and say: “Hitler was right,” or “Gas ’em.” Another claimed Farage had a preoccupation with his initials, NF, as they were the same as those of the National Front."
    Yuck. Show me the boy, I'll show you the man.
    Oh come, come, come. Anthony Blair was practically a communist when he was young. And Claire Fox was... actually... Claire Fox has always been a total scumbag.
  • Big_G_NorthWalesBig_G_NorthWales Posts: 67,727

    I don’t think Labour have had a bad conference, all things considered. I think it could have gone a lot worse for Starmer, instead he’s gotten away with a speech that seems to have gone OK, Burnham still a threat but looking a bit sillier now, and a new narrative (us v Farage) that he can now try to press home.

    Given the weeks of bad headlines and the ID card misstep last week, I think it’s probably gone as well or slightly better than they could have hoped for.

    Starmer certainly looks safe to me until 2026 now. The locals will still be the point of danger.

    Whether the us v Reform thing will actually work, whether Labour has the discipline to stay on message on all this immigration stuff, and whether the budget will derail things - all risks for the future. For now I think we can at least look at the government and see some kind of driving vision, even if it’s what they’re against rather than what they’re for. That’s better than what they came into the conference with.


    Good morning

    Fair assessment and it all comes down to the Senedd and Holyrood May 26 plus other locals results which at present look dire for labour
  • LostPasswordLostPassword Posts: 20,367
    rcs1000 said:

    Barnesian said:

    Advance UK is getting organised.
    30,000+ members including Tommy Robinson and supported by Musk.
    It will take some support from the right wing of Reform.
    Advance UK is at 70s on Betfair to take most seats at the next general Election!
    Shorter odds than the Greens

    With Musks funding they could stand in every seat and stop Reform!
    Musk seems very determined to damage his brand. Farage might not be popular with everyone, but he's popular with a lot of people.

    Tommy Robinson is a thug, and the crossover between Tommy Robinson fans and Tesla fans is... well, it's Elon Musk.

    On the subject of Advance, I see two possible impact on Reform.

    One is a positive one: there are going to be plenty of Reform-curious voters on the Tory right, who are nervous about voting for a genuinely hard right party. The existence of Advance shows that Reform is not hard right, and is merely a bit -errr- righter than the Conservatives. This benefits Reform somewhat.

    On the other hand, there are going to be some seats where the BNP saved their deposit (there were 70 of these in 2010!), and where Advance may manage to achieve similarly. In those seats, it's possible the success of Advance could result in Reform failing to take a seat. But Reform is likely to win most of these seats fairly comfortably; so there are perhaps only a dozen seats where Advance's ... errr ... advance could impact Reform.
    The big risk for Farage is that he panics, decides he can't allow himself to be outflanked, and alienates much of his current support by shifting further right.

    I'd say he's unlikely to make that mistake, but the more that he's influenced by the US online right the greater the chance of him making that mistake.
  • another_richardanother_richard Posts: 28,335
    kinabalu said:

    Barnesian said:

    Nigelb said:

    The other factor is that Trump very likely will have shat the bed so appallingly, that our homegrown snake oil salesman will struggle adequately to distance himself from his current adulatory stance.

    The military top brass did not like the Hesketh/Trump speeches on using Democrat cities as training grounds. "Get ready to fire."
    They were heard in complete silence. Trump asked them to applaud and they didn't.
    I'd love to eavesdrop on the conversations currently going on between the top generals.

    It's approaching crunch time with the government shutdown and troops on the streets.
    I'm waiting for some senior Republican Senators (Cruz et al) to come together and oppose Trump.
    Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas at the front there?
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Days_in_May
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 81,759
    .
    Barnesian said:

    Nigelb said:

    The other factor is that Trump very likely will have shat the bed so appallingly, that our homegrown snake oil salesman will struggle adequately to distance himself from his current adulatory stance.

    The military top brass did not like the Hesketh/Trump speeches on using Democrat cities as training grounds. "Get ready to fire."
    They were heard in complete silence. Trump asked them to applaud and they didn't.
    I'd love to eavesdrop on the conversations currently going on between the top generals.

    It's approaching crunch time with the government shutdown and troops on the streets.
    I'm waiting for some senior Republican Senators (Cruz et al) to come together and oppose Trump.
    With all due respect to Sandpit, I think this is a more typical reaction than the hyperbolic nonsense he posted on the previous thread. (Checking his link, I was amused to note that it was a poster I blocked quite some time ago.)

    Vets, I want y’all to remember the most tedious, pointless all-hands call of your careers. Standing at attention on a flight deck in the sun.

    Now imagine instead you’re a flag officer and you just left your post on an overnight taxpayer funded jet. All so that a washed out O4 can lecture you about grooming standards for an hour in front of a big flag.

    Point is, this ain’t some new “warrior ethos”—it’s the same tedious bureaucratic horseshit that defines service members lives, but ratcheted up to 11.

    Hegseth is out here worried about drumming out Black and ginger soldiers because their shave bumps won’t go away. What he ain’t worried about is our epidemic of suicide among service members and veterans. He ain’t worried about defense contractors gold-plating every contract to exploit tax payers. He ain’t worried about how our dwindling force means service members are facing higher optempos and greater strains than ever before, pushing em till they break.

    Hegseth doesn’t give a shit about what sailors on the deck plate care about. There’s nothing fresh here. Every vet has seen a middle-grade officer with a chip on his shoulder before—he ain’t nothing new.

    https://x.com/votemikepruitt/status/1973086712810123673
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 47,653
    kinabalu said:

    Leon said:

    Roger said:

    Starmer got his speech just right yesterday. Farage has been allowed to get away with murder. He's a full on xenophobe/racist and though late in the day Starmer has finally called him out for what he is. If voters are attracted to that then let the vast majority who don't see themselves that way understand the dividing line.

    Starmer was impressive yesterday as was Lammy. Labour have taken a year and a half to get the tone right. Don't row back.

    Lammy said Farage had links with the Hitler Youth. An organisation disbanded two decades before Farage was born
    Maybe he could try a defence of it wasn't the Hitler Youth it was the National Front on a bus?

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/ng-interactive/2024/jun/14/he-was-a-deeply-unembarrassed-racist-nigel-farage-by-those-who-have-known-him

    "Chloe Deakin, an English teacher at Dulwich college, wrote in 1981: “You will recall that at the recent, and lengthy, meeting about the selection of prefects, the remark by a colleague that Farage was ‘a fascist but that was no reason why he would not make a good prefect’ invoked considerable reaction from members of the common room.

    “Another colleague, who teaches the boy, described his publicly professed racist and neo-fascist views, and he cited a particular incident in which Farage was so offensive to a boy in his set, that he had to be removed from the lesson.”

    One Jewish pupil claimed Farage would sidle up to him and say: “Hitler was right,” or “Gas ’em.” Another claimed Farage had a preoccupation with his initials, NF, as they were the same as those of the National Front."
    Yuck. Show me the boy, I'll show you the man.
    I'm unsure that's true, or fair, in all cases.

    I was recently chatting to a friend from uni. I made the old aside that people turn more right-wing as they grow older. She turned to me and said: "Not you; you've become more left-wing!"

    Which we then discussed. :) : I see it slightly differently: it's just that I am less reactionary. Things that use to really annoy me, or get me het up, tend to just elicit little more than a shrug. Things I used to think were really important seem less so, now. Perhaps I have mellowed.

    She has actually made the reverse journey, and has become somewhat less left-wing as the decades have gone by.
  • SelebianSelebian Posts: 9,733
    Foss said:

    Battlebus said:

    Good morning and may I tap into the PB expertise on badgers? For some reason a local badger has taken to arriving at 4:00 to dig up some newly laid topsoil and grass seeding. Could the panel suggest how I get the beast to visit my neighbours, whom we dislike. instead.

    Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells.

    Amazon sell movement activated sound devices that put out a sound on a tuneable narrow frequency. They're effectively a mosquito device for small mammals.
    We got one of the cat variants a couple of months ago. I was not convinced it would work, but completely and immediately eliminated cat poo from the rubber gravel under our kids' play area (we'll need more if we want to eliminate elsewhere in the garden, but it was the play area they were mainly using as a litter tray). Have seen cats in the garden approach the area, stop back on haunches and then change direction and head off to one side.

    Fun aside, I think I did the patent examination and/or search on the original Mosquito patent. Or it may have been a similar device and the Mosquito patent came up in the search.
  • Big_G_NorthWalesBig_G_NorthWales Posts: 67,727
    boulay said:

    Battlebus said:

    Good morning and may I tap into the PB expertise on badgers? For some reason a local badger has taken to arriving at 4:00 to dig up some newly laid topsoil and grass seeding. Could the panel suggest how I get the beast to visit my neighbours, whom we dislike. instead.

    Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells.

    Maybe buy a bag of dry dog food and throw handfuls into your neighbour’s garden when they are out which might attract the badger there for an easy meal. Perhaps leave a little trail from away from your garden towards theirs from the wilds where the badgers live.

    Either that or just kill one with a spade and leave it on a post as a warning to other badgers.
    You do know your last sentence would be a criminal act under the 'Protection of Badgers Act 1992' with upto 6 months imprisonment !!!!
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 47,546
    edited October 1
    Nigelb said:

    TimS said:

    The budget will be the Tories’ last chance to claw it back. We should get a solid 2-3 weeks where Reform is largely irrelevant. Nobody takes their fiscal prognostications seriously, I suspect even their own voters. Likewise the Greens.

    I think the Tories’ last chance is probably the leadership contest in 2026 (which must be coming). They’ve probably got one more roll of the dice to stay relevant - but it will need a big shift in momentum and direction from their new leader, and I’m not convinced there’s anyone who can offer that. Jenrick, for all his ills, is the closest in the sense that he can at least get headlines.
    The only headlines he will go for are on immigration and its tangents. Which boosts Reform and hurts the Conservatives as the question the Conservatives simply cannot answer is if it is such an existential issue why did they not just achieve no reduction in 14 years but ended up with the biggest wave of immigration in our history and a gridlocked court system that couldn't cope?
    What would kill the issue absolutely stone dead for the Tories, would be Labour having a degree of success in reducing the numbers significantly.

    Between that on one side, and the Reform ultras on the other, there would be no credible space to occupy, given their record in the previous government.
    Very tough for the Tories. Their natural big cards are trusted with the £££ (since forever) and (since 2016) Brexity nationalism and they can't run on either. The latter is owned by Farage/Reform and they trashed their rep on the first with Liz Truss. On top of all that they lost control of immigration under Johnson.
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 47,653
    Incidentally, I have a problem spelling 'Keir' because I am so used to reading about the construction company, Keir.

    In a similar manner, I keep on referring to Hegseth as Hesketh, after the 1970s F1 team...
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hesketh_Racing
  • wooliedyedwooliedyed Posts: 14,654
    Morning all.
    Labours More in Common Bounce disintegrates as they siip to joint second with the Tories

    Weekly voting intention - all fieldwork before Starmer speech - Reform lead back up to 10. Tories and Labour tie on 20%.

    ➡️ REF UK 30% (+2)
    🌹 LAB 20% (-5)
    🌳 CON 20% (nc)
    🔶 LIB DEM 14% (+1)
    🌍 GREEN 8% (nc)
    🟡 SNP 3% (nc)
    ❓OTH 4% (+1)

    N = 2,012 | 26-29/9 | Change w 22/9
  • RogerRoger Posts: 21,203

    boulay said:

    Battlebus said:

    Good morning and may I tap into the PB expertise on badgers? For some reason a local badger has taken to arriving at 4:00 to dig up some newly laid topsoil and grass seeding. Could the panel suggest how I get the beast to visit my neighbours, whom we dislike. instead.

    Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells.

    Maybe buy a bag of dry dog food and throw handfuls into your neighbour’s garden when they are out which might attract the badger there for an easy meal. Perhaps leave a little trail from away from your garden towards theirs from the wilds where the badgers live.

    Either that or just kill one with a spade and leave it on a post as a warning to other badgers.
    You do know your last sentence would be a criminal act under the 'Protection of Badgers Act 1992' with upto 6 months imprisonment !!!!
    Quite right. Badgers are protected
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 47,546

    kinabalu said:

    Leon said:

    Roger said:

    Starmer got his speech just right yesterday. Farage has been allowed to get away with murder. He's a full on xenophobe/racist and though late in the day Starmer has finally called him out for what he is. If voters are attracted to that then let the vast majority who don't see themselves that way understand the dividing line.

    Starmer was impressive yesterday as was Lammy. Labour have taken a year and a half to get the tone right. Don't row back.

    Lammy said Farage had links with the Hitler Youth. An organisation disbanded two decades before Farage was born
    Maybe he could try a defence of it wasn't the Hitler Youth it was the National Front on a bus?

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/ng-interactive/2024/jun/14/he-was-a-deeply-unembarrassed-racist-nigel-farage-by-those-who-have-known-him

    "Chloe Deakin, an English teacher at Dulwich college, wrote in 1981: “You will recall that at the recent, and lengthy, meeting about the selection of prefects, the remark by a colleague that Farage was ‘a fascist but that was no reason why he would not make a good prefect’ invoked considerable reaction from members of the common room.

    “Another colleague, who teaches the boy, described his publicly professed racist and neo-fascist views, and he cited a particular incident in which Farage was so offensive to a boy in his set, that he had to be removed from the lesson.”

    One Jewish pupil claimed Farage would sidle up to him and say: “Hitler was right,” or “Gas ’em.” Another claimed Farage had a preoccupation with his initials, NF, as they were the same as those of the National Front."
    Yuck. Show me the boy, I'll show you the man.
    I'm unsure that's true, or fair, in all cases.

    I was recently chatting to a friend from uni. I made the old aside that people turn more right-wing as they grow older. She turned to me and said: "Not you; you've become more left-wing!"

    Which we then discussed. :) : I see it slightly differently: it's just that I am less reactionary. Things that use to really annoy me, or get me het up, tend to just elicit little more than a shrug. Things I used to think were really important seem less so, now. Perhaps I have mellowed.

    She has actually made the reverse journey, and has become somewhat less left-wing as the decades have gone by.
    Yes, people can change. Not sure he has though. The evidence is more that he hasn't. Not really.
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 34,806

    Morning all.
    Labours More in Common Bounce disintegrates as they siip to joint second with the Tories

    Weekly voting intention - all fieldwork before Starmer speech - Reform lead back up to 10. Tories and Labour tie on 20%.

    ➡️ REF UK 30% (+2)
    🌹 LAB 20% (-5)
    🌳 CON 20% (nc)
    🔶 LIB DEM 14% (+1)
    🌍 GREEN 8% (nc)
    🟡 SNP 3% (nc)
    ❓OTH 4% (+1)

    N = 2,012 | 26-29/9 | Change w 22/9

    If this poll isn't posted on here at least half a dozen times today I will be shocked. That is a great poll for Kemi.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 88,195
    Business confidence has hit a record low, according to the latest Institute of Directors survey. Optimism in the economy fell to -74 in September, a 13-point drop from last month. That’s the lowest level since the survey began nine years ago.
  • LostPasswordLostPassword Posts: 20,367
    edited October 1
    rcs1000 said:

    Russian media report that 38% of refinery capacity is offline and that there is a 20% gasoline shortage. Chinese parts can't fully replace those from the West, blocked by sanctions, to enable repairs.

    Bear in mind that Russia mostly exports crude rather than refined products, so the impact of this will be mostly on the domestic Russian economy.
    Yes.

    You can approximate the proportion of refinery capacity that was exported using the percentages in the Russian media reports. 62% of refinery capacity is supplying 80% of Russia's domestic gasoline needs. Therefore ~22% of Russian refinery capacity was used for exports of refined products*.

    One consequence of this is that the next 5% of refinery capacity that is damaged will have a greater impact on the domestic Russian economy than an earlier 5%. The crude processing unit hit today represents about 2% of Russian refining capacity.

    Ukraine have also recently hit some of Russia's export infrastructure, but you'd expect that to show up on global oil prices if they made serious inroads into reducing Russian crude oil exports.

    * I believe Britain was an importer of diesel from Russia before February 2022.
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