The generals understand that Trump sees their fellow Americans as his enemies. And they must now realize that at some point, they are likely to be forced to choose between Trump and their oaths to defend the Constitution.
The Hesgeth speech seemed at odds with the lavish praise Trump gave in the following speech. But Trump does not appear to be in control of anything other than the narrative which I suppose is what its about. Bannon's flood the zone.
Meanwhile over on another site I dip into for some Energy insights, there is an interesting view of why the Russia- Ukraine SMO has a long way to go. TLDR: They fear the army and what all those returnees might do if not kept busy.
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
That's unsurprising as in the run up to Sir Keir's speech the media were all but reading him the last rites. Sir Keir will hope he's confounded his foes and can now start building a narrative with him as the comeback kid.
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.
Yes, although Russia has done a lot to electrify their railways. A brief Google suggests that half of their track has been electrified, and 87% of rail freight is moved by electric traction (as of ~2020).
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
ID policy impacting Labour?
Combination of last week being an obvious outlier top end for Lab and noise imo. Starmer is at his lowest ever with MiC this week but I believe this is also Labours lowest ever with MiC too so perhaps there's been a negative reaction on top of the noise
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...
It is because no-one can read the No Smoking signs in that silly alphabet.
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.
I watched that yesterday. It feels like we've moved into a parallel universe. Could a minister of defense really give such an ignorant speech to people who have spent a career reaching such heights? He came across as a total moron. Surely someone must have noticed?
The big question must be whether the US will ever recover from this Trump second term?
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.
Yes, although Russia has done a lot to electrify their railways. A brief Google suggests that half of their track has been electrified, and 87% of rail freight is moved by electric traction (as of ~2020).
I hadn't spotted that re Russia's trainlines - that's really interesting.
Of course, it suggests that once the Ukrainians have taken a little more refining off line, they should probably concentrate their attention on the electricity grid.
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.
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
That's unsurprising as in the run up to Sir Keir's speech the media were all but reading him the last rites. Sir Keir will hope he's confounded his foes and can now start building a narrative with him as the comeback kid.
Starmer's speech is only being reported in the right wing media from the viewpoint of Farage's tearful rebuttal.
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.
Yes, although Russia has done a lot to electrify their railways. A brief Google suggests that half of their track has been electrified, and 87% of rail freight is moved by electric traction (as of ~2020).
I hadn't spotted that re Russia's trainlines - that's really interesting.
Of course, it suggests that once the Ukrainians have taken a little more refining off line, they should probably concentrate their attention on the electricity grid.
The irony of course being that was Russia's strategy for a while against Ukraine which got Leon all hot and bothered as a war-winning strategem.
Only the Russians weren't very good at it. Seems the Ukrainians might be a touch better and causing smoking accidents, or the Russians aren't as good at defending against them, or both.
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.
Yes, although Russia has done a lot to electrify their railways. A brief Google suggests that half of their track has been electrified, and 87% of rail freight is moved by electric traction (as of ~2020).
I hadn't spotted that re Russia's trainlines - that's really interesting.
Of course, it suggests that once the Ukrainians have taken a little more refining off line, they should probably concentrate their attention on the electricity grid.
Indeed. As I said last night, Russians are really good at replacing and restoring damaged railways.
But electrified railways are much easier to damage, and also more complicated to repair. And if you rely so heavily on electrified railways, you have fewer diesels to temporarily run services as the knitting and associated electricity supplies are restored.
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
ID policy impacting Labour?
Wait; I thought Labour had backed away from Self ID?
They now want a national online database of everyone's gender identity which you can use via contactless to enable digital access to the right gender of toilets.
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.
Yes, although Russia has done a lot to electrify their railways. A brief Google suggests that half of their track has been electrified, and 87% of rail freight is moved by electric traction (as of ~2020).
I hadn't spotted that re Russia's trainlines - that's really interesting.
Of course, it suggests that once the Ukrainians have taken a little more refining off line, they should probably concentrate their attention on the electricity grid.
It's kinda funny* because I thought to check only because I wondered whether they had any steam locomotives left, that might reduce the impact of a shortage of diesel, only to be confounded by the information that they've electrified more of their track than Britain (38% by 2023).
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
ID policy impacting Labour?
Combination of last week being an obvious outlier top end for Lab and noise imo. Starmer is at his lowest ever with MiC this week but I believe this is also Labours lowest ever with MiC too so perhaps there's been a negative reaction on top of the noise
And it is getting worse for Labour.
The Mail is suggesting today (as Nige did yesterday) that Starmer has furtively placed a murderous target on Nigey's sainted back.
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.
The generals understand that Trump sees their fellow Americans as his enemies. And they must now realize that at some point, they are likely to be forced to choose between Trump and their oaths to defend the Constitution.
Bulwark's JVL.
Deposing Trump and defending the constitution are the same thing.
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.
Yes, although Russia has done a lot to electrify their railways. A brief Google suggests that half of their track has been electrified, and 87% of rail freight is moved by electric traction (as of ~2020).
I hadn't spotted that re Russia's trainlines - that's really interesting.
Of course, it suggests that once the Ukrainians have taken a little more refining off line, they should probably concentrate their attention on the electricity grid.
It's kinda funny* because I thought to check only because I wondered whether they had any steam locomotives left, that might reduce the impact of a shortage of diesel, only to be confounded by the information that they've electrified more of their track than Britain (38% by 2023).
* Except, not funny.
Oh God, let's not start up the debate over the secret tunnels within Box Tunnel that contain the UK's strategic steam reserve...
Edit: and steam might be problematic, even if they have enough locomotives that can be made into working condition. They will need updating for modern signalling systems, and they need frequent access to coal and, more importantly, water. Steam locos get through massive amounts of water. And then there are where you can get trained crews from.
The generals understand that Trump sees their fellow Americans as his enemies. And they must now realize that at some point, they are likely to be forced to choose between Trump and their oaths to defend the Constitution.
Bulwark's JVL.
Deposing Trump and defending the constitution are the same thing.
Deposing Trump? You mean, getting him to answer questions from a lawyer?
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
ID policy impacting Labour?
Combination of last week being an obvious outlier top end for Lab and noise imo. Starmer is at his lowest ever with MiC this week but I believe this is also Labours lowest ever with MiC too so perhaps there's been a negative reaction on top of the noise
And it is getting worse for Labour.
The Mail is suggesting today (as Nige did yesterday) that Starmer has furtively placed a murderous target on Nigey's sainted back.
Zia Yusuf was out and about overplaying it like an academy award nominee to anyone who would listen (so, everyone in the media).
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
ID policy impacting Labour?
Combination of last week being an obvious outlier top end for Lab and noise imo. Starmer is at his lowest ever with MiC this week but I believe this is also Labours lowest ever with MiC too so perhaps there's been a negative reaction on top of the noise
And it is getting worse for Labour.
The Mail is suggesting today (as Nige did yesterday) that Starmer has furtively placed a murderous target on Nigey's sainted back.
And their enemies of the people front page didn’t ! So now apparently no one’s allowed to criticise Reform or Farage .
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.
A poll posted multiple times on PB.? Oh the Huge! Manatee!
It’s not a good poll for Kemi. It shows Labour joining the Conservatives in the SlidingToOblivion zone.
It is when she has her party on as low as 15% in some polls.
When Farage's Trump adjacency becomes an embarrassment to Farage, the Tories (who are no longer to blame for the small boats) will be the net beneficiaries.
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
ID policy impacting Labour?
Combination of last week being an obvious outlier top end for Lab and noise imo. Starmer is at his lowest ever with MiC this week but I believe this is also Labours lowest ever with MiC too so perhaps there's been a negative reaction on top of the noise
And it is getting worse for Labour.
The Mail is suggesting today (as Nige did yesterday) that Starmer has furtively placed a murderous target on Nigey's sainted back.
And it's getting even more worser: Sir Keir is now being held personally responsible for Donald Trump's incendiary remarks about Sadiq Khan and Sharia law:
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.
Yes, although Russia has done a lot to electrify their railways. A brief Google suggests that half of their track has been electrified, and 87% of rail freight is moved by electric traction (as of ~2020).
I hadn't spotted that re Russia's trainlines - that's really interesting.
Of course, it suggests that once the Ukrainians have taken a little more refining off line, they should probably concentrate their attention on the electricity grid.
It's kinda funny* because I thought to check only because I wondered whether they had any steam locomotives left, that might reduce the impact of a shortage of diesel, only to be confounded by the information that they've electrified more of their track than Britain (38% by 2023).
* Except, not funny.
Oh God, let's not start up the debate over the secret tunnels within Box Tunnel that contain the UK's strategic steam reserve...
Edit: and steam might be problematic, even if they have enough locomotives that can be made into working condition. They will need updating for modern signalling systems, and they need frequent access to coal and, more importantly, water. Steam locos get through massive amounts of water. And then there are where you can get trained crews from.
Why not visit the Strategic Rail Reserve at the UK's various heritage railways and the two National Railway Museum sites...?
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?
"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.
These stories have been well attested. It does seem that he was a thoroughly poisonous adolescent.
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
ID policy impacting Labour?
Combination of last week being an obvious outlier top end for Lab and noise imo. Starmer is at his lowest ever with MiC this week but I believe this is also Labours lowest ever with MiC too so perhaps there's been a negative reaction on top of the noise
And it is getting worse for Labour.
The Mail is suggesting today (as Nige did yesterday) that Starmer has furtively placed a murderous target on Nigey's sainted back.
And their enemies of the people front page didn’t ! So now apparently no one’s allowed to criticise Reform or Farage .
Reform turn into snowflakes the moment Autumn arrives
A company linked to Baroness Michelle Mone breached a £122m government contract by supplying unsterile personal protective equipment during the Covid pandemic, a judge rules
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.)
Because that one is definitely not hyperbolic nonsense in the other direction, not at all!
I called it right yesterday, that the talk from Hegseth would be about getting the DEI and wokery out of the military. Because unlike most on here I actually follow people on both sides of US politics.
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.
Yes, although Russia has done a lot to electrify their railways. A brief Google suggests that half of their track has been electrified, and 87% of rail freight is moved by electric traction (as of ~2020).
I hadn't spotted that re Russia's trainlines - that's really interesting.
Of course, it suggests that once the Ukrainians have taken a little more refining off line, they should probably concentrate their attention on the electricity grid.
Interesting - another thing I thought was well known.
“Communism is Soviet power plus the electrification of the whole country.”
Electrification of railways vs Coal fired steam is a staggering improvement for long distances.
Instead of spending much of the capacity of the system hauling coal about, ‘leccy.
The drop in costs and increase in reliability and performance is something like an order of magnitude for really long distances. Especially when coal mining occurs at one end of long lines - as distances build up, you are hauling coal to power the trains to haul coal to power the trains that haul more coal….
Oktoberfest opening delayed in Munich after fatal fire and bomb threat...."Booby traps were also found in the affected building. Special forces were called in to defuse them."
Went to see The Book of Mormon last night, opening night at the Liverpool Empire.
If you've seen it before, the UK version has Elder Arnold Cunningham regularly mispronouncing Nabulungi's name. The final mispronounciation was (as it was in 2018/19 when I saw it), Cunningham said 'Nigel Farage'. This drew the loudest laughs from the audience and also some booing (not evident the first time I saw it).
Proof that Labour will defo hold all the Merseyside seats [1].
[1] I'm being sarcastic.... but it was interesting nevertheless.
Anyway, as a good atheist, I'm off to consider that the song 'You're making things up again Arnold' is a criticism of all religious texts that just make stuff up.
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
I heard him say something about flirting with Nazism in his youth. Very smart of lammy to put it out there.
Those who want to believe it will . Those like big boobs Betty from Barnsley on the BBC Vox Pop will also probably believe it but won't be bothered.
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
ID policy impacting Labour?
Combination of last week being an obvious outlier top end for Lab and noise imo. Starmer is at his lowest ever with MiC this week but I believe this is also Labours lowest ever with MiC too so perhaps there's been a negative reaction on top of the noise
And it is getting worse for Labour.
The Mail is suggesting today (as Nige did yesterday) that Starmer has furtively placed a murderous target on Nigey's sainted back.
And it's getting even more worser: Sir Keir is now being held personally responsible for Donald Trump's incendiary remarks about Sadiq Khan and Sharia law:
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
I heard him say something about flirting with Nazism in his youth. Very smart of lammy to put it out there.
Those who want to believe it will . Those like big boobs Betty from Barnsley on the BBC Vox Pop will also probably believe it but won't be bothered.
Lammy doesn't have parliamentary priviledge if I were Farage I would be tempted to go for him, just for a laugh
Labour being 3% ahead in a forced choice between them and Reform is hardly a great result for them. I would have expected them to be further ahead.
Most of Lab, Green, YP, s wodge of LD and a few Con versus Ref and about a third Con and a handful of anti immigration left with a lot of Con, the Nats and the uncommitted from the others in the 'neither' camp id guess?
A company linked to Baroness Michelle Mone breached a £122m government contract by supplying unsterile personal protective equipment during the Covid pandemic, a judge rules
Whoops.
It’s one thing to take a big pile of money to supply stuff that’s scarce during an emergency, but you’d better made sure that you do actually supply what’s been paid for.
No issues with those who were paid up front but supplied substandard PPE being chased for the money.
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.
Yes, although Russia has done a lot to electrify their railways. A brief Google suggests that half of their track has been electrified, and 87% of rail freight is moved by electric traction (as of ~2020).
I hadn't spotted that re Russia's trainlines - that's really interesting.
Of course, it suggests that once the Ukrainians have taken a little more refining off line, they should probably concentrate their attention on the electricity grid.
Interesting - another thing I thought was well known.
“Communism is Soviet power plus the electrification of the whole country.”
Electrification of railways vs Coal fired steam is a staggering improvement for long distances.
Instead of spending much of the capacity of the system hauling coal about, ‘leccy.
The drop in costs and increase in reliability and performance is something like an order of magnitude for really long distances. Especially when coal mining occurs at one end of long lines - as distances build up, you are hauling coal to power the trains to haul coal to power the trains that haul more coal….
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
That's unsurprising as in the run up to Sir Keir's speech the media were all but reading him the last rites. Sir Keir will hope he's confounded his foes and can now start building a narrative with him as the comeback kid.
It will be interesting how the Starmer v Farage public fight pans out in the next few polls
If I am honest, it could go either way and I haven't a clue where in this febrile climate
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.
I watched that yesterday. It feels like we've moved into a parallel universe. Could a minister of defense really give such an ignorant speech to people who have spent a career reaching such heights? He came across as a total moron. Surely someone must have noticed?
The big question must be whether the US will ever recover from this Trump second term?
They're going to need a major operation and several years of rehab. Even then it's 50/50.
Yeah, I hear Harold Wilson, as part of his role as Soviet spy, got them there. They were dragged in from Avonmouth Docks behind the APT-E. All photos were then destroyed and bystanders' minds wiped by Wilson's KGB. The unions got to hear about it, which was why they blacklisted the APT-E. It was nothing to do with seats in the cab...
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.)
Because that one is definitely not hyperbolic nonsense in the other direction, not at all!
I called it right yesterday, that the talk from Hegseth would be about getting the DEI and wokery out of the military. Because unlike most on here I actually follow people on both sides of US politics.
The generals understand that Trump sees their fellow Americans as his enemies. And they must now realize that at some point, they are likely to be forced to choose between Trump and their oaths to defend the Constitution.
Bulwark's JVL.
On that score, the published opinion backing this ruling against Rubio on the 1st Amendment right of non-citizens (they have the same rights as citizens, as the Constitution makes clear, of course), is quite remarkable.
I gasped when I saw the front page of this decision; Judge Young includes a postcard sent to him asking "Trump has pardons and tanks ... what do you have?"
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
That's unsurprising as in the run up to Sir Keir's speech the media were all but reading him the last rites. Sir Keir will hope he's confounded his foes and can now start building a narrative with him as the comeback kid.
It will be interesting how the Starmer v Farage public fight pans out in the next few polls
If I am honest, it could go either way and I haven't a clue where in this febrile climate
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
ID policy impacting Labour?
Combination of last week being an obvious outlier top end for Lab and noise imo. Starmer is at his lowest ever with MiC this week but I believe this is also Labours lowest ever with MiC too so perhaps there's been a negative reaction on top of the noise
And it is getting worse for Labour.
The Mail is suggesting today (as Nige did yesterday) that Starmer has furtively placed a murderous target on Nigey's sainted back.
Zia Yusuf was out and about overplaying it like an academy award nominee to anyone who would listen (so, everyone in the media).
At times he was verging on the ridiculous and not at all sure he did Farage or Reform any favours
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
Thoughts and prayers for Sunil and his fellow SKS fans.
SKS should be guaranteed a speech bounce next week based on that purely.
His speech as delivered sounded like two speeches badly stuck together. Or perhaps 3 speeches.
Think Strawberry Fields Forever, where the finished song is two different takes recorded in different keys and at different speeds. The main difference is that the Beatles edit was seamless, and the McSweeney edit was not...
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
That's unsurprising as in the run up to Sir Keir's speech the media were all but reading him the last rites. Sir Keir will hope he's confounded his foes and can now start building a narrative with him as the comeback kid.
It will be interesting how the Starmer v Farage public fight pans out in the next few polls
If I am honest, it could go either way and I haven't a clue where in this febrile climate
Have you listened to Nigel's rather impressive whiny broadcast? He has misrepresented Starmer, and laid the murderous hyperbole on with a trowel. However it does seem like he is about to cry.
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
ID policy impacting Labour?
Combination of last week being an obvious outlier top end for Lab and noise imo. Starmer is at his lowest ever with MiC this week but I believe this is also Labours lowest ever with MiC too so perhaps there's been a negative reaction on top of the noise
And it is getting worse for Labour.
The Mail is suggesting today (as Nige did yesterday) that Starmer has furtively placed a murderous target on Nigey's sainted back.
Zia Yusuf was out and about overplaying it like an academy award nominee to anyone who would listen (so, everyone in the media).
At times he was verging on the ridiculous and not at all sure he did Farage or Reform any favours
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.)
Because that one is definitely not hyperbolic nonsense in the other direction, not at all!
I called it right yesterday, that the talk from Hegseth would be about getting the DEI and wokery out of the military. Because unlike most on here I actually follow people on both sides of US politics.
DEI and wokery have f-all effect on the US military. This move will harm the ability of the US military to recruit.
Which, to be fair, might be counteracted by the announced increase in pay.
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.)
Because that one is definitely not hyperbolic nonsense in the other direction, not at all!
I called it right yesterday, that the talk from Hegseth would be about getting the DEI and wokery out of the military. Because unlike most on here I actually follow people on both sides of US politics.
Maga and for balance Extreme Maga?
NigelB’s quote was from someone who’s running for Congress as a Democrat.
He probably wrote it before he’d heard a word of DefSec’s speech.
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
I heard him say something about flirting with Nazism in his youth. Very smart of lammy to put it out there.
Those who want to believe it will . Those like big boobs Betty from Barnsley on the BBC Vox Pop will also probably believe it but won't be bothered.
It was the one real misstep widely criticised, including by labour supporters who are annoyed it dominated the news media
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.)
Because that one is definitely not hyperbolic nonsense in the other direction, not at all!
I called it right yesterday, that the talk from Hegseth would be about getting the DEI and wokery out of the military. Because unlike most on here I actually follow people on both sides of US politics.
DEI and wokery have f-all effect on the US military. This move will harm the ability of the US military to recruit.
Which, to be fair, might be counteracted by the announced increase in pay.
Do you really mean to say that Trump & Co. have, with great fanfare, concentrated on rolling out a policy that is stupid, mean, pointless, garbage, probably illegal and definitely self harming?
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.)
Because that one is definitely not hyperbolic nonsense in the other direction, not at all!
I called it right yesterday, that the talk from Hegseth would be about getting the DEI and wokery out of the military. Because unlike most on here I actually follow people on both sides of US politics.
Maga and for balance Extreme Maga?
NigelB’s quote was from someone who’s running for Congress as a Democrat.
He probably wrote it before he’d heard a word of DefSec’s speech.
I tried to watch the speech but i can't deal with that extreme level of cringe. The end bit when no one applauded was almost unbearable. Like something from Succession.
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
I heard him say something about flirting with Nazism in his youth. Very smart of lammy to put it out there.
Those who want to believe it will . Those like big boobs Betty from Barnsley on the BBC Vox Pop will also probably believe it but won't be bothered.
It was the one real misstep widely criticised, including by labour supporters who are annoyed it dominated the news media
Lammy back tracked on his comment subsequently
Lammy is referencing widely reported stories from teachers at Dulwich College that Farage demonstrated "fascist" (their word) tendencies including allegedly singing Hitler Youth songs whilst on a field trip to Sussex.
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
That's unsurprising as in the run up to Sir Keir's speech the media were all but reading him the last rites. Sir Keir will hope he's confounded his foes and can now start building a narrative with him as the comeback kid.
It will be interesting how the Starmer v Farage public fight pans out in the next few polls
If I am honest, it could go either way and I haven't a clue where in this febrile climate
Have you listened to Nigel's rather impressive whiny broadcast? He has misrepresented Starmer, and laid the murderous hyperbole on with a trowel. However it does seem like he is about to cry.
I did hear it from what appears to be his own studio, and frankly it's a plague on both your houses from me
Then I live in hope that Badenoch can offer something different at her conference
The door has opened for her, but will she walk through it?
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
I heard him say something about flirting with Nazism in his youth. Very smart of lammy to put it out there.
Those who want to believe it will . Those like big boobs Betty from Barnsley on the BBC Vox Pop will also probably believe it but won't be bothered.
It was the one real misstep widely criticised, including by labour supporters who are annoyed it dominated the news media
Lammy back tracked on his comment subsequently
Lammy is referencing widely reported stories from teachers at Dulwich College that Farage demonstrated "fascist" (their word) tendencies including allegedly singing Hitler Youth songs whilst on a field trip to Sussex.
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
I heard him say something about flirting with Nazism in his youth. Very smart of lammy to put it out there.
Those who want to believe it will . Those like big boobs Betty from Barnsley on the BBC Vox Pop will also probably believe it but won't be bothered.
It was the one real misstep widely criticised, including by labour supporters who are annoyed it dominated the news media
Lammy back tracked on his comment subsequently
Lammy is referencing widely reported stories from teachers at Dulwich College that Farage demonstrated "fascist" (their word) tendencies including allegedly singing Hitler Youth songs whilst on a field trip to Sussex.
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.
Yes, although Russia has done a lot to electrify their railways. A brief Google suggests that half of their track has been electrified, and 87% of rail freight is moved by electric traction (as of ~2020).
I hadn't spotted that re Russia's trainlines - that's really interesting.
Of course, it suggests that once the Ukrainians have taken a little more refining off line, they should probably concentrate their attention on the electricity grid.
Interesting - another thing I thought was well known.
“Communism is Soviet power plus the electrification of the whole country.”
Electrification of railways vs Coal fired steam is a staggering improvement for long distances.
Instead of spending much of the capacity of the system hauling coal about, ‘leccy.
The drop in costs and increase in reliability and performance is something like an order of magnitude for really long distances. Especially when coal mining occurs at one end of long lines - as distances build up, you are hauling coal to power the trains to haul coal to power the trains that haul more coal….
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
ID policy impacting Labour?
Combination of last week being an obvious outlier top end for Lab and noise imo. Starmer is at his lowest ever with MiC this week but I believe this is also Labours lowest ever with MiC too so perhaps there's been a negative reaction on top of the noise
And it is getting worse for Labour.
The Mail is suggesting today (as Nige did yesterday) that Starmer has furtively placed a murderous target on Nigey's sainted back.
And it's getting even more worser: Sir Keir is now being held personally responsible for Donald Trump's incendiary remarks about Sadiq Khan and Sharia law:
Hmm. Labour have to be a bit careful with the hair splitting here. The nuance will get lost in the fog of war.
SKS’s stance is, as far as I can see:
1. Reform’s immigration policy is racist 2. Nigel Farage, the leader of Reform, is not racist, despite being responsible for its immigration policy, which is racist. He hates Britain though. 3. People who support Reform and Nigel Farage (who is not racist) are not racist either nor do they hate Britain, despite the immigration policy of Reform, which is racist, and the fact Reform is led by Nigel Farage, who hates Britain.
Yes, I am sure this can all be communicated in a clear, unambiguous way that avoids all doubt and will be taken at face value by the voters, media and social networks.
It's completely mental to have unidentifiable law enforcement officers running about. And that's not what doxxing means anyway - there should be no expectation of anonymity for people carrying out work in the name of the government. Insane that someone of your politics would ever countenance that - absolutely pathetic.
For a start it compromises the safety of the officers - if they rocked up to a gun-totin libertarians ranch then they could have no complaints if they got mown down under the US's stand-your-ground laws. There's already been a few cases of criminals impersonating them.
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
ID policy impacting Labour?
Combination of last week being an obvious outlier top end for Lab and noise imo. Starmer is at his lowest ever with MiC this week but I believe this is also Labours lowest ever with MiC too so perhaps there's been a negative reaction on top of the noise
And it is getting worse for Labour.
The Mail is suggesting today (as Nige did yesterday) that Starmer has furtively placed a murderous target on Nigey's sainted back.
And it's getting even more worser: Sir Keir is now being held personally responsible for Donald Trump's incendiary remarks about Sadiq Khan and Sharia law:
Hmm. Labour have to be a bit careful with the hair splitting here. The nuance will get lost in the fog of war.
SKS’s stance is, as far as I can see:
1. Reform’s immigration policy is racist 2. Nigel Farage, the leader of Reform, is not racist, despite being responsible for its immigration policy, which is racist. He hates Britain though. 3. People who support Reform and Nigel Farage (who is not racist) are not racist either nor do they hate Britain, despite the immigration policy of Reform, which is racist, and the fact Reform is led by Nigel Farage, who hates Britain.
Yes, I am sure this can all be communicated in a clear, unambiguous way that avoids all doubt and will be taken at face value by the voters, media and social networks.
It is the point Fraser Nelson made as soon as Starmer said this in his Sunday interview that it would cause pin head dancing and ministers being forced (and some happy to do so) to back up Starmer, and it gets messy very quickly.
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
I heard him say something about flirting with Nazism in his youth. Very smart of lammy to put it out there.
Those who want to believe it will . Those like big boobs Betty from Barnsley on the BBC Vox Pop will also probably believe it but won't be bothered.
It was the one real misstep widely criticised, including by labour supporters who are annoyed it dominated the news media
Lammy back tracked on his comment subsequently
Lammy is referencing widely reported stories from teachers at Dulwich College that Farage demonstrated "fascist" (their word) tendencies including allegedly singing Hitler Youth songs whilst on a field trip to Sussex.
From Crick -
Today's accusation by David Lammy about Farage & the Hitler Youth probably stems from a story I did years ago about a teacher at Dulwich College writing to the headmaster to say Farage was unsuitable to be a prefect since a colleague said he had "neo-fascist" views.
And the teacher who complained to the head also quoted a colleague who said that on a CCF camp "Farage and others had marched through a quiet Sussex village very late at night, shouting Hitler Youth songs".
Farage denied this when I broadcast the letter on C4 News. In researching that film & my subsequent biography, talking to c.60-80 people at his school, I found no corrororation for the Hitler Youth songs story, though plenty of evidence for much worse behaviour at school
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
That's unsurprising as in the run up to Sir Keir's speech the media were all but reading him the last rites. Sir Keir will hope he's confounded his foes and can now start building a narrative with him as the comeback kid.
It will be interesting how the Starmer v Farage public fight pans out in the next few polls
If I am honest, it could go either way and I haven't a clue where in this febrile climate
Have you listened to Nigel's rather impressive whiny broadcast? He has misrepresented Starmer, and laid the murderous hyperbole on with a trowel. However it does seem like he is about to cry.
I did hear it from what appears to be his own studio, and frankly it's a plague on both your houses from me
Then I live in hope that Badenoch can offer something different at her conference
The door has opened for her, but will she walk through it?
I do not know
Are you calling out Starmer ( and Lammy) for childish tomfoolery and hurty words to our Prime Minister in waiting?
I can't deny Farage's speech was carefully constructed and a clever manipulation of Starmer's criticism. However I have listened to Starmer's accusation and Nigel's bizarre but politically astute interpretation.
Should Starmer be stopped from criticising our Prime Minister in waiting? Should Farage not be called out for casual racism by quoting an Andrew Tate X post (lie) which quite possibly, as a result of Farage's interjection stoked the Southport riots?
With all due respect, the right thing happened, the woman was arrested and charged.
There is no excuse at all for agents of the state not being able to be identified. It is the state that has the monopoly on violence, and therefore it is literally the single most important thing in any society that its agents can be identified.
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
That's unsurprising as in the run up to Sir Keir's speech the media were all but reading him the last rites. Sir Keir will hope he's confounded his foes and can now start building a narrative with him as the comeback kid.
It will be interesting how the Starmer v Farage public fight pans out in the next few polls
If I am honest, it could go either way and I haven't a clue where in this febrile climate
Have you listened to Nigel's rather impressive whiny broadcast? He has misrepresented Starmer, and laid the murderous hyperbole on with a trowel. However it does seem like he is about to cry.
I did hear it from what appears to be his own studio, and frankly it's a plague on both your houses from me
Then I live in hope that Badenoch can offer something different at her conference
The door has opened for her, but will she walk through it?
I do not know
Knowing Kemi, she will miss the open door as too busy scrolling twitter and instead end up wrestling with a locked one....
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.)
Because that one is definitely not hyperbolic nonsense in the other direction, not at all!
I called it right yesterday, that the talk from Hegseth would be about getting the DEI and wokery out of the military. Because unlike most on here I actually follow people on both sides of US politics.
Maga and for balance Extreme Maga?
NigelB’s quote was from someone who’s running for Congress as a Democrat.
He probably wrote it before he’d heard a word of DefSec’s speech.
Odd that, since the comment addresses several specifics Hegseth's "speech",
Trump was every bit as poor. This, on one of the less incoherent parts of his ramble.
“A year ago, We did not have weapons because we had given everything to Ukraine. We had nothing”
- Trump
So let’s break this down.
The US provided Ukraine with 31 Abram tanks, they have 2,640 in active service and 6,000/8,000 reserve.
They reportedly donated 39 Himars systems out of a stockpile of 410.
They provided 6-8 Patriots systems out of 80-90.
They gave 180 155mm Artillery systems out of a reported several thousand 155mm guns.
Out of the possible 5,000 Humvee which I believe is a massive exaggeration, 281,000 were produced.
Nearly all of the equipment given to Ukraine was either on the way to being decommissioned or replaced by orders to replace with newer tech and improved systems. https://x.com/Bricktop_NAFO/status/1973044257175794061
And, of course, not a single F16 (hundreds of which are mothballed), and not a single one of the 55,000 anti-drone APKWS they ordered from BAE is to be sent.
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
That's unsurprising as in the run up to Sir Keir's speech the media were all but reading him the last rites. Sir Keir will hope he's confounded his foes and can now start building a narrative with him as the comeback kid.
It will be interesting how the Starmer v Farage public fight pans out in the next few polls
If I am honest, it could go either way and I haven't a clue where in this febrile climate
Have you listened to Nigel's rather impressive whiny broadcast? He has misrepresented Starmer, and laid the murderous hyperbole on with a trowel. However it does seem like he is about to cry.
I did hear it from what appears to be his own studio, and frankly it's a plague on both your houses from me
Then I live in hope that Badenoch can offer something different at her conference
The door has opened for her, but will she walk through it?
I do not know
Are you calling out Starmer ( and Lammy) for childish tomfoolery and hurty words to our Prime Minister in waiting?
I can't deny Farage's speech was carefully constructed and a clever manipulation of Starmer's criticism. However I have listened to Starmer's accusation and Nigel's bizarre but politically astute interpretation.
Should Starmer be stopped from criticising our Prime Minister in waiting? Should Farage not be called out for casual racism by quoting an Andrew Tate X post (lie) which quite possibly, as a result of Farage's interjection stoked the Southport riots?
Do you have a barn full of straw and a man-shaped baler?
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
I heard him say something about flirting with Nazism in his youth. Very smart of lammy to put it out there.
Those who want to believe it will . Those like big boobs Betty from Barnsley on the BBC Vox Pop will also probably believe it but won't be bothered.
It was the one real misstep widely criticised, including by labour supporters who are annoyed it dominated the news media
Lammy back tracked on his comment subsequently
Lammy is referencing widely reported stories from teachers at Dulwich College that Farage demonstrated "fascist" (their word) tendencies including allegedly singing Hitler Youth songs whilst on a field trip to Sussex.
From Crick -
Today's accusation by David Lammy about Farage & the Hitler Youth probably stems from a story I did years ago about a teacher at Dulwich College writing to the headmaster to say Farage was unsuitable to be a prefect since a colleague said he had "neo-fascist" views.
And the teacher who complained to the head also quoted a colleague who said that on a CCF camp "Farage and others had marched through a quiet Sussex village very late at night, shouting Hitler Youth songs".
Farage denied this when I broadcast the letter on C4 News. In researching that film & my subsequent biography, talking to c.60-80 people at his school, I found no corrororation for the Hitler Youth songs story, though plenty of evidence for much worse behaviour at school
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.
Yes, although Russia has done a lot to electrify their railways. A brief Google suggests that half of their track has been electrified, and 87% of rail freight is moved by electric traction (as of ~2020).
I hadn't spotted that re Russia's trainlines - that's really interesting.
Of course, it suggests that once the Ukrainians have taken a little more refining off line, they should probably concentrate their attention on the electricity grid.
Interesting - another thing I thought was well known.
“Communism is Soviet power plus the electrification of the whole country.”
Electrification of railways vs Coal fired steam is a staggering improvement for long distances.
Instead of spending much of the capacity of the system hauling coal about, ‘leccy.
The drop in costs and increase in reliability and performance is something like an order of magnitude for really long distances. Especially when coal mining occurs at one end of long lines - as distances build up, you are hauling coal to power the trains to haul coal to power the trains that haul more coal….
I'd assumed Russian trains were diesel electric.
Some are. But petroleum products were always in constricted supply* in the Soviet Union. They had all the coal, in contrast.
So power stations and electrification didn’t put extra load on the petroleum industry. And in war time, would leave all the petroleum for the military.
For haulage of big loads over vast distances, leaving your fuel at home seems like magic, in terms of efficiency savings.
*the USSR oil industry was so fucked up and inefficient, that one study**I know of said that it would have been better for them to shut the whole thing down and import.
**friend who worked at the same oil company. Went there in post Soviet period to look at projects. Even learnt Soviet accounting practises to directly read the books.
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
I heard him say something about flirting with Nazism in his youth. Very smart of lammy to put it out there.
Those who want to believe it will . Those like big boobs Betty from Barnsley on the BBC Vox Pop will also probably believe it but won't be bothered.
It was the one real misstep widely criticised, including by labour supporters who are annoyed it dominated the news media
Lammy back tracked on his comment subsequently
Lammy is referencing widely reported stories from teachers at Dulwich College that Farage demonstrated "fascist" (their word) tendencies including allegedly singing Hitler Youth songs whilst on a field trip to Sussex.
From Crick -
Today's accusation by David Lammy about Farage & the Hitler Youth probably stems from a story I did years ago about a teacher at Dulwich College writing to the headmaster to say Farage was unsuitable to be a prefect since a colleague said he had "neo-fascist" views.
And the teacher who complained to the head also quoted a colleague who said that on a CCF camp "Farage and others had marched through a quiet Sussex village very late at night, shouting Hitler Youth songs".
Farage denied this when I broadcast the letter on C4 News. In researching that film & my subsequent biography, talking to c.60-80 people at his school, I found no corrororation for the Hitler Youth songs story, though plenty of evidence for much worse behaviour at school
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
That's unsurprising as in the run up to Sir Keir's speech the media were all but reading him the last rites. Sir Keir will hope he's confounded his foes and can now start building a narrative with him as the comeback kid.
It will be interesting how the Starmer v Farage public fight pans out in the next few polls
If I am honest, it could go either way and I haven't a clue where in this febrile climate
Have you listened to Nigel's rather impressive whiny broadcast? He has misrepresented Starmer, and laid the murderous hyperbole on with a trowel. However it does seem like he is about to cry.
I did hear it from what appears to be his own studio, and frankly it's a plague on both your houses from me
Then I live in hope that Badenoch can offer something different at her conference
The door has opened for her, but will she walk through it?
I do not know
Are you calling out Starmer ( and Lammy) for childish tomfoolery and hurty words to our Prime Minister in waiting?
I can't deny Farage's speech was carefully constructed and a clever manipulation of Starmer's criticism. However I have listened to Starmer's accusation and Nigel's bizarre but politically astute interpretation.
Should Starmer be stopped from criticising our Prime Minister in waiting? Should Farage not be called out for casual racism by quoting an Andrew Tate X post (lie) which quite possibly, as a result of Farage's interjection stoked the Southport riots?
Do you have a barn full of straw and a man-shaped baler?
I made a fair and sensible response to a question and stand by it
I do not want Farage or Starmer running this country and that is a position I have been consistent on
News on PPE Medpro front: almost, but not quite, all bawbees have to be repaid.
'A COMPANY linked to Michelle Mone has been told it must repay the UK Government nearly £122 million back after it breached a contract to supply surgical gowns during the pandemic.
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) sued PPE Medpro, saying the company had provided 25m “faulty” gowns that were not sterile.
Lawyers for the Government told a trial earlier this year that it was entitled to recover the £121m cost of the contract, as well as the costs of transporting and storing the items, which amount to an additional £8,648,691.'
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
I heard him say something about flirting with Nazism in his youth. Very smart of lammy to put it out there.
Those who want to believe it will . Those like big boobs Betty from Barnsley on the BBC Vox Pop will also probably believe it but won't be bothered.
It was the one real misstep widely criticised, including by labour supporters who are annoyed it dominated the news media
Lammy back tracked on his comment subsequently
Lammy is referencing widely reported stories from teachers at Dulwich College that Farage demonstrated "fascist" (their word) tendencies including allegedly singing Hitler Youth songs whilst on a field trip to Sussex.
From Crick -
Today's accusation by David Lammy about Farage & the Hitler Youth probably stems from a story I did years ago about a teacher at Dulwich College writing to the headmaster to say Farage was unsuitable to be a prefect since a colleague said he had "neo-fascist" views.
And the teacher who complained to the head also quoted a colleague who said that on a CCF camp "Farage and others had marched through a quiet Sussex village very late at night, shouting Hitler Youth songs".
Farage denied this when I broadcast the letter on C4 News. In researching that film & my subsequent biography, talking to c.60-80 people at his school, I found no corrororation for the Hitler Youth songs story, though plenty of evidence for much worse behaviour at school
With all due respect, the right thing happened, the woman was arrested and charged.
There is no excuse at all for agents of the state not being able to be identified. It is the state that has the monopoly on violence, and therefore it is literally the single most important thing in any society that its agents can be identified.
It's usually easy.
They wear suits with dark glasses, turn their heads and talk slowly, and have barely disguised Australian accents.
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.)
Because that one is definitely not hyperbolic nonsense in the other direction, not at all!
I called it right yesterday, that the talk from Hegseth would be about getting the DEI and wokery out of the military. Because unlike most on here I actually follow people on both sides of US politics.
Maga and for balance Extreme Maga?
NigelB’s quote was from someone who’s running for Congress as a Democrat.
He probably wrote it before he’d heard a word of DefSec’s speech.
Odd that, since the comment addresses several specifics Hegseth's "speech",
Trump was every bit as poor. This, on one of the less incoherent parts of his ramble.
“A year ago, We did not have weapons because we had given everything to Ukraine. We had nothing”
- Trump
So let’s break this down.
The US provided Ukraine with 31 Abram tanks, they have 2,640 in active service and 6,000/8,000 reserve.
They reportedly donated 39 Himars systems out of a stockpile of 410.
They provided 6-8 Patriots systems out of 80-90.
They gave 180 155mm Artillery systems out of a reported several thousand 155mm guns.
Out of the possible 5,000 Humvee which I believe is a massive exaggeration, 281,000 were produced.
Nearly all of the equipment given to Ukraine was either on the way to being decommissioned or replaced by orders to replace with newer tech and improved systems. https://x.com/Bricktop_NAFO/status/1973044257175794061
And, of course, not a single F16 (hundreds of which are mothballed), and not a single one of the 55,000 anti-drone APKWS they ordered from BAE is to be sent.
Face it, you're defending liars and braggarts.
Worse: the GOP stopped weapons supplies to Ukraine for months last year. That would have cost many, many Ukrainian lives.
News on PPE Medpro front: almost, but not quite, all bawbees have to be repaid.
'A COMPANY linked to Michelle Mone has been told it must repay the UK Government nearly £122 million back after it breached a contract to supply surgical gowns during the pandemic.
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) sued PPE Medpro, saying the company had provided 25m “faulty” gowns that were not sterile.
Lawyers for the Government told a trial earlier this year that it was entitled to recover the £121m cost of the contract, as well as the costs of transporting and storing the items, which amount to an additional £8,648,691.'
How surprised would anyone be if by the time this is finalised the company no longer has the means to repay the taxpayer and the money is safely in the accounts of its owners instead......
News on PPE Medpro front: almost, but not quite, all bawbees have to be repaid.
'A COMPANY linked to Michelle Mone has been told it must repay the UK Government nearly £122 million back after it breached a contract to supply surgical gowns during the pandemic.
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) sued PPE Medpro, saying the company had provided 25m “faulty” gowns that were not sterile.
Lawyers for the Government told a trial earlier this year that it was entitled to recover the £121m cost of the contract, as well as the costs of transporting and storing the items, which amount to an additional £8,648,691.'
With all due respect, the right thing happened, the woman was arrested and charged.
There is no excuse at all for agents of the state not being able to be identified. It is the state that has the monopoly on violence, and therefore it is literally the single most important thing in any society that its agents can be identified.
It's usually easy.
They wear suits with dark glasses, turn their heads and talk slowly, and have barely disguised Australian accents.
And have a thing for Desert Eagle pistols in 0.5AE
Which they mag dump every time they see someone wearing snug fitting PVC.
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.
Er..... no.
Badgers are a protected species in the U.K. Do that and you're committing a criminal offence under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.
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
I heard him say something about flirting with Nazism in his youth. Very smart of lammy to put it out there.
Those who want to believe it will . Those like big boobs Betty from Barnsley on the BBC Vox Pop will also probably believe it but won't be bothered.
It was the one real misstep widely criticised, including by labour supporters who are annoyed it dominated the news media
Lammy back tracked on his comment subsequently
Lammy is referencing widely reported stories from teachers at Dulwich College that Farage demonstrated "fascist" (their word) tendencies including allegedly singing Hitler Youth songs whilst on a field trip to Sussex.
From Crick -
Today's accusation by David Lammy about Farage & the Hitler Youth probably stems from a story I did years ago about a teacher at Dulwich College writing to the headmaster to say Farage was unsuitable to be a prefect since a colleague said he had "neo-fascist" views.
And the teacher who complained to the head also quoted a colleague who said that on a CCF camp "Farage and others had marched through a quiet Sussex village very late at night, shouting Hitler Youth songs".
Farage denied this when I broadcast the letter on C4 News. In researching that film & my subsequent biography, talking to c.60-80 people at his school, I found no corrororation for the Hitler Youth songs story, though plenty of evidence for much worse behaviour at school
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.
Er..... no.
Badgers are a protected species in the U.K. Do that and you're committing a criminal offence under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.
How is the badger getting into your garden?
I think Robert established that the kill with a spade comment referred to the dislikable neighbours ?
Comments
Bulwark's JVL.
Meanwhile over on another site I dip into for some Energy insights, there is an interesting view of why the Russia- Ukraine SMO has a long way to go. TLDR: They fear the army and what all those returnees might do if not kept busy.
http://www.cityunslicker.co.uk/2025/09/russia-plans-for-return-of-troubled.html
Starmer is at his lowest ever with MiC this week but I believe this is also Labours lowest ever with MiC too so perhaps there's been a negative reaction on top of the noise
The big question must be whether the US will ever recover from this Trump second term?
Of course, it suggests that once the Ukrainians have taken a little more refining off line, they should probably concentrate their attention on the electricity grid.
Only the Russians weren't very good at it. Seems the Ukrainians might be a touch better and causing smoking accidents, or the Russians aren't as good at defending against them, or both.
But electrified railways are much easier to damage, and also more complicated to repair. And if you rely so heavily on electrified railways, you have fewer diesels to temporarily run services as the knitting and associated electricity supplies are restored.
* Except, not funny.
The Mail is suggesting today (as Nige did yesterday) that Starmer has furtively placed a murderous target on Nigey's sainted back.
Edit: and steam might be problematic, even if they have enough locomotives that can be made into working condition. They will need updating for modern signalling systems, and they need frequent access to coal and, more importantly, water. Steam locos get through massive amounts of water. And then there are where you can get trained crews from.
It’s not a good poll for Kemi. It shows Labour joining the Conservatives in the SlidingToOblivion zone.
When Farage's Trump adjacency becomes an embarrassment to Farage, the Tories (who are no longer to blame for the small boats) will be the net beneficiaries.
https://news.sky.com/story/farage-isnt-racist-says-pm-as-hes-challenged-over-trumps-sharia-law-comment-13441725
I called it right yesterday, that the talk from Hegseth would be about getting the DEI and wokery out of the military. Because unlike most on here I actually follow people on both sides of US politics.
“Communism is Soviet power plus the electrification of the whole country.”
Electrification of railways vs Coal fired steam is a staggering improvement for long distances.
Instead of spending much of the capacity of the system hauling coal about, ‘leccy.
The drop in costs and increase in reliability and performance is something like an order of magnitude for really long distances. Especially when coal mining occurs at one end of long lines - as distances build up, you are hauling coal to power the trains to haul coal to power the trains that haul more coal….
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3rv2pv20rvo
If you've seen it before, the UK version has Elder Arnold Cunningham regularly mispronouncing Nabulungi's name. The final mispronounciation was (as it was in 2018/19 when I saw it), Cunningham said 'Nigel Farage'. This drew the loudest laughs from the audience and also some booing (not evident the first time I saw it).
Proof that Labour will defo hold all the Merseyside seats [1].
[1] I'm being sarcastic.... but it was interesting nevertheless.
Anyway, as a good atheist, I'm off to consider that the song 'You're making things up again Arnold' is a criticism of all religious texts that just make stuff up.
Those who want to believe it will . Those like big boobs Betty from Barnsley on the BBC Vox Pop will also probably believe it but won't be bothered.
https://theweek.com/articles/454970/logic-behind-worlds-4-weirdest-strategic-reserves
It’s one thing to take a big pile of money to supply stuff that’s scarce during an emergency, but you’d better made sure that you do actually supply what’s been paid for.
No issues with those who were paid up front but supplied substandard PPE being chased for the money.
If I am honest, it could go either way and I haven't a clue where in this febrile climate
SKS should be guaranteed a speech bounce next week based on that purely.
I gasped when I saw the front page of this decision; Judge Young includes a postcard sent to him asking "Trump has pardons and tanks ... what do you have?"
He responds "Alone, I have nothing but my sense of duty. Together, We the People ... have our magnificent Constitution."
https://x.com/ReichlinMelnick/status/1973069385372713320
The whole thread is well worth a read.
If you don't like X, the full opinion is here:
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.mad.282460/gov.uscourts.mad.282460.261.0_1.pdf
Think Strawberry Fields Forever, where the finished song is two different takes recorded in different keys and at different speeds. The main difference is that the Beatles edit was seamless, and the McSweeney edit was not...
"ICE goes masked for a single reason -- to terrorize Americans into quiescence."
"In all our history we have never tolerated an armed masked secret police."
https://x.com/AaronBlake/status/1973075306723360981
"Like a cybertruck for your face"
Which, to be fair, might be counteracted by the announced increase in pay.
He probably wrote it before he’d heard a word of DefSec’s speech.
Lammy back tracked on his comment subsequently
Obligitary “MAGA Lies” far-right source https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/women-federal-charges-doxxing-ice-agent-b2835066.html
(And it's WARSEC to you).
Then I live in hope that Badenoch can offer something different at her conference
The door has opened for her, but will she walk through it?
I do not know
SKS’s stance is, as far as I can see:
1. Reform’s immigration policy is racist
2. Nigel Farage, the leader of Reform, is not racist, despite being responsible for its immigration policy, which is racist. He hates Britain though.
3. People who support Reform and Nigel Farage (who is not racist) are not racist either nor do they hate Britain, despite the immigration policy of Reform, which is racist, and the fact Reform is led by Nigel Farage, who hates Britain.
Yes, I am sure this can all be communicated in a clear, unambiguous way that avoids all doubt and will be taken at face value by the voters, media and social networks.
For a start it compromises the safety of the officers - if they rocked up to a gun-totin libertarians ranch then they could have no complaints if they got mown down under the US's stand-your-ground laws. There's already been a few cases of criminals impersonating them.
Today's accusation by David Lammy about Farage & the Hitler Youth probably stems from a story I did years ago about a teacher at Dulwich College writing to the headmaster to say Farage was unsuitable to be a prefect since a colleague said he had "neo-fascist" views.
And the teacher who complained to the head also quoted a colleague who said that on a CCF camp "Farage and others had marched through a quiet Sussex village very late at night, shouting Hitler Youth songs".
Farage denied this when I broadcast the letter on C4 News. In researching that film & my subsequent biography, talking to c.60-80 people at his school, I found no corrororation for the Hitler Youth songs story, though plenty of evidence for much worse behaviour at school
https://x.com/MichaelLCrick/status/1973114505694449898
You say ‘which ended with firebombing their homes’. How many such attacks have taken place?
I can't deny Farage's speech was carefully constructed and a clever manipulation of Starmer's criticism. However I have listened to Starmer's accusation and Nigel's bizarre but politically astute interpretation.
Should Starmer be stopped from criticising our Prime Minister in waiting? Should Farage not be called out for casual racism by quoting an Andrew Tate X post (lie) which quite possibly, as a result of Farage's interjection stoked the Southport riots?
There is no excuse at all for agents of the state not being able to be identified. It is the state that has the monopoly on violence, and therefore it is literally the single most important thing in any society that its agents can be identified.
Trump was every bit as poor.
This, on one of the less incoherent parts of his ramble.
“A year ago, We did not have weapons because we had given everything to Ukraine. We had nothing”
- Trump
So let’s break this down.
The US provided Ukraine with 31 Abram tanks, they have 2,640 in active service and 6,000/8,000 reserve.
They reportedly donated 39 Himars systems out of a stockpile of 410.
They provided 6-8 Patriots systems out of 80-90.
They gave 180 155mm Artillery systems out of a reported several thousand 155mm guns.
Out of the possible 5,000 Humvee which I believe is a massive exaggeration, 281,000 were produced.
Nearly all of the equipment given to Ukraine was either on the way to being decommissioned or replaced by orders to replace with newer tech and improved systems.
https://x.com/Bricktop_NAFO/status/1973044257175794061
And, of course, not a single F16 (hundreds of which are mothballed), and not a single one of the 55,000 anti-drone APKWS they ordered from BAE is to be sent.
Face it, you're defending liars and braggarts.
So power stations and electrification didn’t put extra load on the petroleum industry. And in war time, would leave all the petroleum for the military.
For haulage of big loads over vast distances, leaving your fuel at home seems like magic, in terms of efficiency savings.
*the USSR oil industry was so fucked up and inefficient, that one study**I know of said that it would have been better for them to shut the whole thing down and import.
**friend who worked at the same oil company. Went there in post Soviet period to look at projects. Even learnt Soviet accounting practises to directly read the books.
I do not want Farage or Starmer running this country and that is a position I have been consistent on
News on PPE Medpro front: almost, but not quite, all bawbees have to be repaid.
'A COMPANY linked to Michelle Mone has been told it must repay the UK Government nearly £122 million back after it breached a contract to supply surgical gowns during the pandemic.
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) sued PPE Medpro, saying the company had provided 25m “faulty” gowns that were not sterile.
Lawyers for the Government told a trial earlier this year that it was entitled to recover the £121m cost of the contract, as well as the costs of transporting and storing the items, which amount to an additional £8,648,691.'
They wear suits with dark glasses, turn their heads and talk slowly, and have barely disguised Australian accents.
It was unforgivable.
I'm even teeing up Beth Rgby's gotchas now.
Which they mag dump every time they see someone wearing snug fitting PVC.
Badgers are a protected species in the U.K. Do that and you're committing a criminal offence under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.
How is the badger getting into your garden?
No need for thanks, or an apology
Moscow to Kazan highway, there’s a petrol station every 150km.
More than 130 cars in line at this one today.
https://x.com/dmytrosolenko/status/1973327446079599050