Reform and the Tories combined AHEAD of the SNP and Labour. Must be the first time since the 1950s parties of the right have had the highest voteshare in Scotland?
Reform and the Tories combined AHEAD of the SNP and Labour. Must be the first time since the 1950s parties of the right have had the highest voteshare in Scotland?
Isn't Thiel one of those nutter billionaires who believe they became billionaires because of skill rather than luck and are now trying to drown the rest of us in their delusions?
More than that, he believes that democracy is futile, because it doesn't allow the intellectual, technocrat-elite - himself, and a few other tech oligarchs - unfettered power.
Thiel owns Vance, who most likely will be President soon.
He also bought himself a weird NZ South Island bolthole in order to hide out from the apocalypse that he is busy creating.
But there's always that nagging doubt. Why should the henchmen and bodyguards guard him rather than toss him in the piranha tank?
Yup, and this is the chap our government signed a large data deal with, two weeks ago now.
Yes, that is how the Kleptocracy works to enrich the predator class.
See also Baroness Mone.
Another one that I have been following is Trump's USD 20 bllion bail out of his "Libertarian" mate Milei in Argentina. This is going on (like his ballroom) despite the US government shutdown. While US farmers go bankrupt and US citizens face massive hikes in health insurance, the main beneficiary of the bailout seems to be a mate of the Treasury Secretary who bought up Argentinian bonds.
Well done to BBC Panorama for exposing disgusting attitudes amongst some in the police.
Oh yes, some years after Baroness Casey and others before her exposed disgusting attitudes among some in the police, Panorama finally says the same.
What took them so long?
I'll tell you what has made me angry today. The Maria Kelly v Leonardo U.K. employment tribunal case. Once again a woman has been forced to give evidence about her periods and sexual assaults and other highly intimate personal matters to try and JUSTIFY why she wants to deal with such matters in private away from men. There is deliberate cruelty & humiliation (& I suspect that this is the point for at least some of those forcing women to do this). And there is also the increasingly widespread assumption that women's rights to even the most basic considerations of decency are not something that she ought to have as of right because she is a human being, but should only be conditional on whether this suits men (or a subset of them), an attitude which regrettably finds quite some support on here, as evidenced by the depressingly ignorant debate on this topic the other day by @Luckyguy1983 and @JosiasJessop. It is not just @Leon who talks shite about subjects he does not understand. It was perfectly obvious from that debate that neither of those posters had read or understood the relevant laws or judgment. Though ignorance has never stopped men talking bullshit on pretty much every topic under the sun.
As for the apparently pressing questions of racist maths and men pissing outside, I have no views on the former and as for the latter women in my experience do not find it erotic but are wearily grateful that if men piss on the lawn at least the women don't have to clean up the lavatory before using it, men being apparently incapable of aiming or too selfish to clean up after themselves.
Oh and I don't care about ethnicity either but then as the first person in my family to be born in this country I expect Farage thinks I ought to be on the deportation list. So he and his kind can fuck right off, frankly. I and my parents have done more for this country than him and his bunch of fraudulent shysters.
I'll leave your insult towards me on the table Needless to say, I disagree with what you say about me, and I believe with good reason.
"What took them (Panorama) so long?" I would not be surprised if they had tried to make this sort of program before, but had not got anything juicy. It should also be noted that the undercover man was in place for seven months. Panorama don't have to report when the do an investigation and fail. (This is not a defence of those officers).
"...n at least the women don't have to clean up the lavatory before using it, men being apparently incapable of aiming or too selfish to clean up after themselves."
Reform and the Tories combined AHEAD of the SNP and Labour. Must be the first time since the 1950s parties of the right have had the highest voteshare in Scotland?
Um, you sure?
Rfm + con = 23 + 11 = 34 Snp + lab = 31 + 18 = 49
He means more than SNP OR LABOUR.
That's a rather odd way of doing Maths.
I agree. It's cherry-picking data somewhat to say that the combined share of the right is less than the most popular party of the left, if that is indeed what was meant.
A true comparison if we're in the (rather spurious) world of aggregating parties would be
Left: SNP+LAB+GRN=56%, Right: REF+CON=34% Who knows or cares? LD = 9%
Lordy. More from Doncaster Council. These people are 4 year olds caught stealing jam trying to justify themselves, then blaming each other, and hoping no one will notice.
And these two passed Nigel's world-class vetting system, which he backed out of in the summer to let the rejects have another run.
A Reform UK councillor has stepped down as deputy leader of the Doncaster branch of the party over her involvement in a company she co-founded to do business with the council.
Councillor Rachel Reed set up Fly Doncaster (Auxiliary Services) Ltd with Councillor David Knight, who was also a Reform UK councillor until he was stripped of the party whip over the saga.
The party has said the business was Knight's idea and Reed - who had worked in a school before entering politics - was unaware of the implications it would have.
Reed will remain as a councillor for Conisbrough ward and has resigned as a director of Fly Doncaster (Auxiliary Services) Ltd.
According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), Doncaster Reform UK has appointed Councillor Karl Hughes as deputy leader.
Fly Doncaster (Auxiliary Services) Ltd was established on 18 September after the council created Fly Doncaster to manage Doncaster Sheffield Airport (DSA).
Earlier this month, Reform spokesperson Jason Charity said Fly Doncaster (Auxillary Services) Ltd was Knight's idea, as he "thought that the auxiliary services around DSA have not been established, and he thought there was a business opportunity in it". https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly9d5v2rqpo
One of our more self indulgent judges uses the example of a sticky dodger to explain an inference. Mum leaves the room and the sticky dodger vanishes. Kid vehemently denies taking it but has jam on his face. You might infer the culprit from the circumstantial evidence despite the denials.
Isn't it reassuring to know that the violent drunk and the demented draft dodger have their fingers on the nuclear button.
I imagine they have a toy version they hand to him and all congratulate him when he stops the war in Ababbyjan and other made up countries by blowing them up.
Lordy. More from Doncaster Council. These people are 4 year olds caught stealing jam trying to justify themselves, then blaming each other, and hoping no one will notice.
And these two passed Nigel's world-class vetting system, which he backed out of in the summer to let the rejects have another run.
A Reform UK councillor has stepped down as deputy leader of the Doncaster branch of the party over her involvement in a company she co-founded to do business with the council.
Councillor Rachel Reed set up Fly Doncaster (Auxiliary Services) Ltd with Councillor David Knight, who was also a Reform UK councillor until he was stripped of the party whip over the saga.
The party has said the business was Knight's idea and Reed - who had worked in a school before entering politics - was unaware of the implications it would have.
Reed will remain as a councillor for Conisbrough ward and has resigned as a director of Fly Doncaster (Auxiliary Services) Ltd.
According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), Doncaster Reform UK has appointed Councillor Karl Hughes as deputy leader.
Fly Doncaster (Auxiliary Services) Ltd was established on 18 September after the council created Fly Doncaster to manage Doncaster Sheffield Airport (DSA).
Earlier this month, Reform spokesperson Jason Charity said Fly Doncaster (Auxillary Services) Ltd was Knight's idea, as he "thought that the auxiliary services around DSA have not been established, and he thought there was a business opportunity in it". https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly9d5v2rqpo
Isn't it reassuring to know that the violent drunk and the demented draft dodger have their fingers on the nuclear button.
A great morning read, thanks.
However, I think the framing of Trump as bonkers in the subtitle is a futile one that plays into Trump's hands (I suspect he made that speech in part because he knew he'd provoke an article like this in something like The Atlantic).
Much more interesting was the paragraph later on that acknowledges that Trump's schtick works well with MAGA precisely because they know most of it is nonsense and can filter it out, but the generals have been trained within an inch of their lives to treat every utterance of their CiC with respect and seriousness.
This is at the heart of why Trump is so dangerous, imv. His narcissism and lack of respect for the office mean that he will happily break all the conventions that hold the messy democracy of USA together.
IMV the real story here is Trump using Hegseth's ridiculous conclave to enhance his personality cult. The mess he is making of US institutions is going to take years to unpick, years that will see China, Russia, India and others gain global influence at the USA's expense.
Channel 4 have got the TV rights to broadcast the boat race for the next five years.
Allegedly the head of sport at the BBC saw the boat race as being too elitist. At least, that's the way the Telegraph sees it; the Guardian report doesn't mention that...
This all depends on the word “racist” having any emotional weight any more. Given that it is hurled at literally everything from maths to gardening to half of Britain - or nearly all of it if Labour is doing the hurling - then I don’t think it has any moral impact. Not any more
Go on. Racist maths... No doubt you may be able to find a link, but I can't believe you've actually come up against such a thing.
“Modern Mathematics Confronts Its White, Patriarchal Past”
I have spent a significant chunk of time over the past few years discussing this in school.
Leon isn't wrong.
But also, it's not wrong to say that the way we teach maths tends to pretend that it was all developed by the Greeks and then the universities of Western Europe. We have a big map of maths on the wall in our corridor highlighting that e.g. zero is Indian, prime numbers might have been discovered in what is now the DRC well before anywhere else.
It's a valuable corrective to the otherwise easily formed impression that maths is a white man's game.
But I agree that to label maths as racist is foolish laziness.
The point you make is the point the people mentioned in the articles make: that mathematical discoveries have often been assigned to people who were not their originators, for cultural reasons.
But that's not saying that 'maths is racist". It's saying that racism (and other isms) can intrude into maths, as it can into many other fields. And when it does, it can be racist.
Look at the title of the sciam article; that agrees with the point you made, doesn't it? And even the byline: "Mathematicians want to think their field is a meritocracy, but bias, harassment and exclusion persist" should hardly be controversial.
There are a few levels of this conversation going on.
I'm not disagreeing with you that Leon should read the links rather than Google them, skim the first line and hurl them at us. I do him the credit of assuming he is actually reading the links.
I'm not disagreeing with you that there are some useful thoughts that emerge once we accept that racist attitudes can intrude on maths (I have little doubt that what I'd call the maths canon was set by a bunch of racists and we haven't got around to correcting that yet).
But all these are quite subtle points, and our public discourse does subtlety poorly at present. Hence Leon is right that all this stuff does get boiled down to the sound bite "maths is racist" at times by clickbaiters and angry idiots on the internet.
Also, as you well know, the maths is racist discourse goes way beyond “oh don’t forget to mention how Arabs invented our numbers”
There is a real attempt to get actual arithmetic correctness labelled as white supremacy. It sounds mad - surely they don’t mean it - but then look how far genderwoo has gone. A chunk of the country believes men with penises are women
There is a second strand which believes that any subject which has a racial disparity in outcome - eg maths - MUST be racist. How come these East Asians are doing better? Tear it all down until there is completely racial equity of achievement
Plenty of people are trying to do exactly this to Maths and science. And it’s dangerous nonsense
As others more eloquent than me have said many times, a basic part of the problem is fragility around the word racist.
There is a (useful) interpretation of racism that says that maths as a living subject (rather than just a collection of facts) IS racist and sexist.
We miss recruiting geniuses into the world of maths because they are women or not white. Noone need feel guilt or shame about that, because (almost) noone actively sets out to maintain this status quo.
But if we could all be a little less angry, we could probably find a useful set of tweaks to how young people experience maths that would address this.
Oh and also, almost noone actually believes your first point that arithmetic correctness=white supremacy - I think that is almost purely an online bubble.
No, it's not
This is - or was - part of California's curriculum
"A Pathway to Equitable Math Instruction is an integrated approach to mathematics that centers Black, Latinx, and Multilingual students in grades 6-8, addresses barriers to math equity, and aligns instruction to grade-level priority standards"
This tool provides teachers an opportunity to examine their actions, beliefs, and values around teaching mathematics. The framework for deconstructing racism in mathematics offers essential characteristics of antiracist math educators and critical approaches to dismantling white supremacy in math classrooms by making visible the toxic characteristics of white supremacy culture Jones and Okun 2001; dismantling Racism 2016) with respect to math
As a visual indicator, we italicize the terms used to identify white supremacy characteristics as defined by Jones and Okun (2001). They are as follows: • Perfectionism • Sense of Urgency • Defensiveness • Quantity Over Quality • Worship of the Written Word • Paternalism • Either/Or Thinking • Power Hoarding • Fear of Open Conflict • Individualism • Only One Right Way • Progress is Bigger, More • Objectivity • Right to Comfort
Because, who wants perfectionism, objecitvity or "only one right way" in.... that horrible white supremacist thing known as.... maths?
Anyone who knows anything at all about maths knows there is not "only one right way" to solve problems.
Anyone who thinks there is, is a very shit mathematician.
Having a relational understanding of Mathematics so you can tackle problems in different ways, and understand how those different ways relate to each other, is absolutely critical to developing Mathematical thinking.
Coming up with just the one right way would however most likely put you ahead of our own Leondoofus.
Channel 4 have got the TV rights to broadcast the boat race for the next five years.
Allegedly the head of sport at the BBC saw the boat race as being too elitist. At least, that's the way the Telegraph sees it; the Guardian report doesn't mention that...
Also in the text it says that it costs quite a lot of money to do the production of the boat race and viewership has fallen off, so that plus constant must attract more yuff and diverse audiences with our money, is why the BBC will have ditched it. CH4 on the other hand very active in buying up sports rights at the moment.
BBC spending on sport is all over the shop e.g. They spent a load of money on second tier MMA promotion (only for it to get bought out) to attract da male yuff, then only showed it hidden on the BBC website. Gary Lineker too costly, so we will now have 3 hosts instead for MOTD and also pay Wayne f##king Rooney, a man so dense that light bends around him, a stupid amount of money.
They also pay money for these non-exclusive deals e.g. the Hundred, only get a few games and when it is on the BBC, Sky show their superior coverage for free on YouTube.
The changes since the last election. The swing to Reform from Labour is 16.5% in Scotland.
Looks like a straight Labour to Reform transfer in Scotland.
Very different to the narrative that Lab have lost more votes to the Greens and LibDems than to Reform which you read regularly in the Guardian and elsewhere.
Much more interesting was the paragraph later on that acknowledges that Trump's schtick works well with MAGA precisely because they know most of it is nonsense and can filter it out
I don't think that's true.
Farmers voted for Trump knowing he was planning to introduce tariffs and now they are completely screwed cos they couldn't join the dots from what he said he would do to what it would mean for them.
This all depends on the word “racist” having any emotional weight any more. Given that it is hurled at literally everything from maths to gardening to half of Britain - or nearly all of it if Labour is doing the hurling - then I don’t think it has any moral impact. Not any more
Go on. Racist maths... No doubt you may be able to find a link, but I can't believe you've actually come up against such a thing.
“Modern Mathematics Confronts Its White, Patriarchal Past”
I have spent a significant chunk of time over the past few years discussing this in school.
Leon isn't wrong.
But also, it's not wrong to say that the way we teach maths tends to pretend that it was all developed by the Greeks and then the universities of Western Europe. We have a big map of maths on the wall in our corridor highlighting that e.g. zero is Indian, prime numbers might have been discovered in what is now the DRC well before anywhere else.
It's a valuable corrective to the otherwise easily formed impression that maths is a white man's game.
But I agree that to label maths as racist is foolish laziness.
The point you make is the point the people mentioned in the articles make: that mathematical discoveries have often been assigned to people who were not their originators, for cultural reasons.
But that's not saying that 'maths is racist". It's saying that racism (and other isms) can intrude into maths, as it can into many other fields. And when it does, it can be racist.
Look at the title of the sciam article; that agrees with the point you made, doesn't it? And even the byline: "Mathematicians want to think their field is a meritocracy, but bias, harassment and exclusion persist" should hardly be controversial.
There are a few levels of this conversation going on.
I'm not disagreeing with you that Leon should read the links rather than Google them, skim the first line and hurl them at us. I do him the credit of assuming he is actually reading the links.
I'm not disagreeing with you that there are some useful thoughts that emerge once we accept that racist attitudes can intrude on maths (I have little doubt that what I'd call the maths canon was set by a bunch of racists and we haven't got around to correcting that yet).
But all these are quite subtle points, and our public discourse does subtlety poorly at present. Hence Leon is right that all this stuff does get boiled down to the sound bite "maths is racist" at times by clickbaiters and angry idiots on the internet.
Also, as you well know, the maths is racist discourse goes way beyond “oh don’t forget to mention how Arabs invented our numbers”
There is a real attempt to get actual arithmetic correctness labelled as white supremacy. It sounds mad - surely they don’t mean it - but then look how far genderwoo has gone. A chunk of the country believes men with penises are women
There is a second strand which believes that any subject which has a racial disparity in outcome - eg maths - MUST be racist. How come these East Asians are doing better? Tear it all down until there is completely racial equity of achievement
Plenty of people are trying to do exactly this to Maths and science. And it’s dangerous nonsense
As others more eloquent than me have said many times, a basic part of the problem is fragility around the word racist.
There is a (useful) interpretation of racism that says that maths as a living subject (rather than just a collection of facts) IS racist and sexist.
We miss recruiting geniuses into the world of maths because they are women or not white. Noone need feel guilt or shame about that, because (almost) noone actively sets out to maintain this status quo.
But if we could all be a little less angry, we could probably find a useful set of tweaks to how young people experience maths that would address this.
Oh and also, almost noone actually believes your first point that arithmetic correctness=white supremacy - I think that is almost purely an online bubble.
No, it's not
This is - or was - part of California's curriculum
"A Pathway to Equitable Math Instruction is an integrated approach to mathematics that centers Black, Latinx, and Multilingual students in grades 6-8, addresses barriers to math equity, and aligns instruction to grade-level priority standards"
This tool provides teachers an opportunity to examine their actions, beliefs, and values around teaching mathematics. The framework for deconstructing racism in mathematics offers essential characteristics of antiracist math educators and critical approaches to dismantling white supremacy in math classrooms by making visible the toxic characteristics of white supremacy culture Jones and Okun 2001; dismantling Racism 2016) with respect to math
As a visual indicator, we italicize the terms used to identify white supremacy characteristics as defined by Jones and Okun (2001). They are as follows: • Perfectionism • Sense of Urgency • Defensiveness • Quantity Over Quality • Worship of the Written Word • Paternalism • Either/Or Thinking • Power Hoarding • Fear of Open Conflict • Individualism • Only One Right Way • Progress is Bigger, More • Objectivity • Right to Comfort
Because, who wants perfectionism, objecitvity or "only one right way" in.... that horrible white supremacist thing known as.... maths?
Anyone who knows anything at all about maths knows there is not "only one right way" to solve problems.
Anyone who thinks there is, is a very shit mathematician.
Having a relational understanding of Mathematics so you can tackle problems in different ways, and understand how those different ways relate to each other, is absolutely critical to developing Mathematical thinking.
Coming up with just the one right way would however most likely put you ahead of our own Leondoofus.
Centrist teacher take:
It's certainly true that the best mathematician (and the one probably having the most fun) is the one who knows the most different methods. But the most effective maths teacher of a wide audience is generally the one who keeps it simple and focuses relentlessly on the core reliable techniques. It's the difference between Heston Blumenthal and Delia Smith.
How you balance the two... That's a pendulum that swings back and forth in education every decade or so. (I've seen a couple of cycles and I'm not that old.) Sometimes it has wider cultural baggage, sometimes it doesn't. The people who worry about this sort of thing are painfully sincere on both sides, but the hoohhah isn't, in itself, important. In the meantime, a million Mrs Krabappels will struggle to make thirty million Barts do sums.
But Leon + Ragebait is a calculation where we all know the answer.
Lordy. More from Doncaster Council. These people are 4 year olds caught stealing jam trying to justify themselves, then blaming each other, and hoping no one will notice.
And these two passed Nigel's world-class vetting system, which he backed out of in the summer to let the rejects have another run.
A Reform UK councillor has stepped down as deputy leader of the Doncaster branch of the party over her involvement in a company she co-founded to do business with the council.
Councillor Rachel Reed set up Fly Doncaster (Auxiliary Services) Ltd with Councillor David Knight, who was also a Reform UK councillor until he was stripped of the party whip over the saga.
The party has said the business was Knight's idea and Reed - who had worked in a school before entering politics - was unaware of the implications it would have.
Reed will remain as a councillor for Conisbrough ward and has resigned as a director of Fly Doncaster (Auxiliary Services) Ltd.
According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), Doncaster Reform UK has appointed Councillor Karl Hughes as deputy leader.
Fly Doncaster (Auxiliary Services) Ltd was established on 18 September after the council created Fly Doncaster to manage Doncaster Sheffield Airport (DSA).
Earlier this month, Reform spokesperson Jason Charity said Fly Doncaster (Auxillary Services) Ltd was Knight's idea, as he "thought that the auxiliary services around DSA have not been established, and he thought there was a business opportunity in it". https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly9d5v2rqpo
One of our more self indulgent judges uses the example of a sticky dodger to explain an inference. Mum leaves the room and the sticky dodger vanishes. Kid vehemently denies taking it but has jam on his face. You might infer the culprit from the circumstantial evidence despite the denials.
I read Private Eye. Rotten Boroughs have been forever. I also recall the flurry of air traffic control incidents last year in the US which everyone blamed on Trump, but was actually just at the normal background level. How certain are we that these reform shysters are any more numerous than what has gone before? I feel it may be selection bias again - people are looking for these reform cases specifically.
The changes since the last election. The swing to Reform from Labour is 16.5% in Scotland.
Looks like a straight Labour to Reform transfer in Scotland.
Very different to the narrative that Lab have lost more votes to the Greens and LibDems than to Reform which you read regularly in the Guardian and elsewhere.
Without the full matrix, including people entering and leaving the "don't know/won't say/won't vote" pool you can't tell- that's the point.
Lordy. More from Doncaster Council. These people are 4 year olds caught stealing jam trying to justify themselves, then blaming each other, and hoping no one will notice.
And these two passed Nigel's world-class vetting system, which he backed out of in the summer to let the rejects have another run.
A Reform UK councillor has stepped down as deputy leader of the Doncaster branch of the party over her involvement in a company she co-founded to do business with the council.
Councillor Rachel Reed set up Fly Doncaster (Auxiliary Services) Ltd with Councillor David Knight, who was also a Reform UK councillor until he was stripped of the party whip over the saga.
The party has said the business was Knight's idea and Reed - who had worked in a school before entering politics - was unaware of the implications it would have.
Reed will remain as a councillor for Conisbrough ward and has resigned as a director of Fly Doncaster (Auxiliary Services) Ltd.
According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), Doncaster Reform UK has appointed Councillor Karl Hughes as deputy leader.
Fly Doncaster (Auxiliary Services) Ltd was established on 18 September after the council created Fly Doncaster to manage Doncaster Sheffield Airport (DSA).
Earlier this month, Reform spokesperson Jason Charity said Fly Doncaster (Auxillary Services) Ltd was Knight's idea, as he "thought that the auxiliary services around DSA have not been established, and he thought there was a business opportunity in it". https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly9d5v2rqpo
One of our more self indulgent judges uses the example of a sticky dodger to explain an inference. Mum leaves the room and the sticky dodger vanishes. Kid vehemently denies taking it but has jam on his face. You might infer the culprit from the circumstantial evidence despite the denials.
I read Private Eye. Rotten Boroughs have been forever. I also recall the flurry of air traffic control incidents last year in the US which everyone blamed on Trump, but was actually just at the normal background level. How certain are we that these reform shysters are any more numerous than what has gone before? I feel it may be selection bias again - people are looking for these reform cases specifically.
It’s a fair point. Corrupt councillors are 10 a penny and always have been. It’s more newsworthy when they are Reform corrupt councillors. Are they more corrupt than average? We are not given a clue.
The FT reports that Russia has improved its ballistic missiles to better avoid Patriot interceptors.
Much as we laugh about Russia's use of horses and so on, there's also plenty of evidence that Russia and China are learning more quickly from this war than the West is.
Lordy. More from Doncaster Council. These people are 4 year olds caught stealing jam trying to justify themselves, then blaming each other, and hoping no one will notice.
And these two passed Nigel's world-class vetting system, which he backed out of in the summer to let the rejects have another run.
A Reform UK councillor has stepped down as deputy leader of the Doncaster branch of the party over her involvement in a company she co-founded to do business with the council.
Councillor Rachel Reed set up Fly Doncaster (Auxiliary Services) Ltd with Councillor David Knight, who was also a Reform UK councillor until he was stripped of the party whip over the saga.
The party has said the business was Knight's idea and Reed - who had worked in a school before entering politics - was unaware of the implications it would have.
Reed will remain as a councillor for Conisbrough ward and has resigned as a director of Fly Doncaster (Auxiliary Services) Ltd.
According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), Doncaster Reform UK has appointed Councillor Karl Hughes as deputy leader.
Fly Doncaster (Auxiliary Services) Ltd was established on 18 September after the council created Fly Doncaster to manage Doncaster Sheffield Airport (DSA).
Earlier this month, Reform spokesperson Jason Charity said Fly Doncaster (Auxillary Services) Ltd was Knight's idea, as he "thought that the auxiliary services around DSA have not been established, and he thought there was a business opportunity in it". https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly9d5v2rqpo
One of our more self indulgent judges uses the example of a sticky dodger to explain an inference. Mum leaves the room and the sticky dodger vanishes. Kid vehemently denies taking it but has jam on his face. You might infer the culprit from the circumstantial evidence despite the denials.
I read Private Eye. Rotten Boroughs have been forever. I also recall the flurry of air traffic control incidents last year in the US which everyone blamed on Trump, but was actually just at the normal background level. How certain are we that these reform shysters are any more numerous than what has gone before? I feel it may be selection bias again - people are looking for these reform cases specifically.
It’s a fair point. Corrupt councillors are 10 a penny and always have been. It’s more newsworthy when they are Reform corrupt councillors. Are they more corrupt than average? We are not given a clue.
It appears to be the speed with which they're being found out: become a Reform councillor one minute, get caught out the next. That may mean that they're more corrupt, and/or far less competent at corruption than members of other parties, and/or they are having more light shone onto them.
Lordy. More from Doncaster Council. These people are 4 year olds caught stealing jam trying to justify themselves, then blaming each other, and hoping no one will notice.
And these two passed Nigel's world-class vetting system, which he backed out of in the summer to let the rejects have another run.
A Reform UK councillor has stepped down as deputy leader of the Doncaster branch of the party over her involvement in a company she co-founded to do business with the council.
Councillor Rachel Reed set up Fly Doncaster (Auxiliary Services) Ltd with Councillor David Knight, who was also a Reform UK councillor until he was stripped of the party whip over the saga.
The party has said the business was Knight's idea and Reed - who had worked in a school before entering politics - was unaware of the implications it would have.
Reed will remain as a councillor for Conisbrough ward and has resigned as a director of Fly Doncaster (Auxiliary Services) Ltd.
According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), Doncaster Reform UK has appointed Councillor Karl Hughes as deputy leader.
Fly Doncaster (Auxiliary Services) Ltd was established on 18 September after the council created Fly Doncaster to manage Doncaster Sheffield Airport (DSA).
Earlier this month, Reform spokesperson Jason Charity said Fly Doncaster (Auxillary Services) Ltd was Knight's idea, as he "thought that the auxiliary services around DSA have not been established, and he thought there was a business opportunity in it". https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly9d5v2rqpo
One of our more self indulgent judges uses the example of a sticky dodger to explain an inference. Mum leaves the room and the sticky dodger vanishes. Kid vehemently denies taking it but has jam on his face. You might infer the culprit from the circumstantial evidence despite the denials.
I read Private Eye. Rotten Boroughs have been forever. I also recall the flurry of air traffic control incidents last year in the US which everyone blamed on Trump, but was actually just at the normal background level. How certain are we that these reform shysters are any more numerous than what has gone before? I feel it may be selection bias again - people are looking for these reform cases specifically.
It’s a fair point. Corrupt councillors are 10 a penny and always have been. It’s more newsworthy when they are Reform corrupt councillors. Are they more corrupt than average? We are not given a clue.
The changes since the last election. The swing to Reform from Labour is 16.5% in Scotland.
Looks like a straight Labour to Reform transfer in Scotland.
Very different to the narrative that Lab have lost more votes to the Greens and LibDems than to Reform which you read regularly in the Guardian and elsewhere.
People in Scotland have experience of the Greens in government, and they didn't like it.
The changes since the last election. The swing to Reform from Labour is 16.5% in Scotland.
Looks like a straight Labour to Reform transfer in Scotland.
Very different to the narrative that Lab have lost more votes to the Greens and LibDems than to Reform which you read regularly in the Guardian and elsewhere.
People in Scotland have experience of the Greens in government, and they didn't like it.
The FT reports that Russia has improved its ballistic missiles to better avoid Patriot interceptors.
Much as we laugh about Russia's use of horses and so on, there's also plenty of evidence that Russia and China are learning more quickly from this war than the West is.
Ukraine has also massively enhanced and continually improved its missile and drone capabilities. We have seen many times in history that warfare can accelerate technological change. We may be better building Ukraine drones under licence than trying to design our own. I can’t conceive of us coming up with anything that was not several generations out of date before we reach production.
Lordy. More from Doncaster Council. These people are 4 year olds caught stealing jam trying to justify themselves, then blaming each other, and hoping no one will notice.
And these two passed Nigel's world-class vetting system, which he backed out of in the summer to let the rejects have another run.
A Reform UK councillor has stepped down as deputy leader of the Doncaster branch of the party over her involvement in a company she co-founded to do business with the council.
Councillor Rachel Reed set up Fly Doncaster (Auxiliary Services) Ltd with Councillor David Knight, who was also a Reform UK councillor until he was stripped of the party whip over the saga.
The party has said the business was Knight's idea and Reed - who had worked in a school before entering politics - was unaware of the implications it would have.
Reed will remain as a councillor for Conisbrough ward and has resigned as a director of Fly Doncaster (Auxiliary Services) Ltd.
According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), Doncaster Reform UK has appointed Councillor Karl Hughes as deputy leader.
Fly Doncaster (Auxiliary Services) Ltd was established on 18 September after the council created Fly Doncaster to manage Doncaster Sheffield Airport (DSA).
Earlier this month, Reform spokesperson Jason Charity said Fly Doncaster (Auxillary Services) Ltd was Knight's idea, as he "thought that the auxiliary services around DSA have not been established, and he thought there was a business opportunity in it". https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly9d5v2rqpo
One of our more self indulgent judges uses the example of a sticky dodger to explain an inference. Mum leaves the room and the sticky dodger vanishes. Kid vehemently denies taking it but has jam on his face. You might infer the culprit from the circumstantial evidence despite the denials.
I read Private Eye. Rotten Boroughs have been forever. I also recall the flurry of air traffic control incidents last year in the US which everyone blamed on Trump, but was actually just at the normal background level. How certain are we that these reform shysters are any more numerous than what has gone before? I feel it may be selection bias again - people are looking for these reform cases specifically.
It’s a fair point. Corrupt councillors are 10 a penny and always have been. It’s more newsworthy when they are Reform corrupt councillors. Are they more corrupt than average? We are not given a clue.
It appears to be the speed with which they're being found out: become a Reform councillor one minute, get caught out the next. That may mean that they're more corrupt, and/or far less competent at corruption than members of other parties, and/or they are having more light shone onto them.
Equation : total corruption = rate of corruption x time They'll be less corrupt because "time" is very small
Lordy. More from Doncaster Council. These people are 4 year olds caught stealing jam trying to justify themselves, then blaming each other, and hoping no one will notice.
And these two passed Nigel's world-class vetting system, which he backed out of in the summer to let the rejects have another run.
A Reform UK councillor has stepped down as deputy leader of the Doncaster branch of the party over her involvement in a company she co-founded to do business with the council.
Councillor Rachel Reed set up Fly Doncaster (Auxiliary Services) Ltd with Councillor David Knight, who was also a Reform UK councillor until he was stripped of the party whip over the saga.
The party has said the business was Knight's idea and Reed - who had worked in a school before entering politics - was unaware of the implications it would have.
Reed will remain as a councillor for Conisbrough ward and has resigned as a director of Fly Doncaster (Auxiliary Services) Ltd.
According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), Doncaster Reform UK has appointed Councillor Karl Hughes as deputy leader.
Fly Doncaster (Auxiliary Services) Ltd was established on 18 September after the council created Fly Doncaster to manage Doncaster Sheffield Airport (DSA).
Earlier this month, Reform spokesperson Jason Charity said Fly Doncaster (Auxillary Services) Ltd was Knight's idea, as he "thought that the auxiliary services around DSA have not been established, and he thought there was a business opportunity in it". https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly9d5v2rqpo
The changes since the last election. The swing to Reform from Labour is 16.5% in Scotland.
Looks like a straight Labour to Reform transfer in Scotland.
Very different to the narrative that Lab have lost more votes to the Greens and LibDems than to Reform which you read regularly in the Guardian and elsewhere.
People in Scotland have experience of the Greens in government, and they didn't like it.
The changes since the last election. The swing to Reform from Labour is 16.5% in Scotland.
Looks like a straight Labour to Reform transfer in Scotland.
Very different to the narrative that Lab have lost more votes to the Greens and LibDems than to Reform which you read regularly in the Guardian and elsewhere.
It's one poll and as we are seeing there's plenty of volatility.
The last five polls (four are GB but Survation is UK-wide) have Reform between 29% and 34%. Labour are 17-22, Conservatives 14-20, LDs are 11-16 and Greens 7-12. In polling terms, that's a big spread and reflects the different samplings and weightings being used by the different pollsters. Time will tell which is the most correct and the most accurate one now may not be the most accurate at the next GE.
We can say Reform are definitely ahead and polling around 30% currently. Labour is just ahead of the Conservatives with the former on abour 20% and the latter around 17-18%. The LDs remain becalmed at about 13-14% and the Greens have improved to around 10%. That's where I'd be herding the current numbers but that's no more accurate and scientific than any other method.
As to what any of this tells us about a possible spring 2029 election - absolutely nothing. It doesn't help much with a set of local contests seven months away.
The YouGov London sub sample from their latest poll (the most current):
Well done to BBC Panorama for exposing disgusting attitudes amongst some in the police.
Oh yes, some years after Baroness Casey and others before her exposed disgusting attitudes among some in the police, Panorama finally says the same.
What took them so long?
I'll tell you what has made me angry today. The Maria Kelly v Leonardo U.K. employment tribunal case. Once again a woman has been forced to give evidence about her periods and sexual assaults and other highly intimate personal matters to try and JUSTIFY why she wants to deal with such matters in private away from men. There is deliberate cruelty & humiliation (& I suspect that this is the point for at least some of those forcing women to do this). And there is also the increasingly widespread assumption that women's rights to even the most basic considerations of decency are not something that she ought to have as of right because she is a human being, but should only be conditional on whether this suits men (or a subset of them), an attitude which regrettably finds quite some support on here, as evidenced by the depressingly ignorant debate on this topic the other day by @Luckyguy1983 and @JosiasJessop. It is not just @Leon who talks shite about subjects he does not understand. It was perfectly obvious from that debate that neither of those posters had read or understood the relevant laws or judgment. Though ignorance has never stopped men talking bullshit on pretty much every topic under the sun.
As for the apparently pressing questions of racist maths and men pissing outside, I have no views on the former and as for the latter women in my experience do not find it erotic but are wearily grateful that if men piss on the lawn at least the women don't have to clean up the lavatory before using it, men being apparently incapable of aiming or too selfish to clean up after themselves.
Oh and I don't care about ethnicity either but then as the first person in my family to be born in this country I expect Farage thinks I ought to be on the deportation list. So he and his kind can fuck right off, frankly. I and my parents have done more for this country than him and his bunch of fraudulent shysters.
I'll leave your insult towards me on the table Needless to say, I disagree with what you say about me, and I believe with good reason.
"What took them (Panorama) so long?" I would not be surprised if they had tried to make this sort of program before, but had not got anything juicy. It should also be noted that the undercover man was in place for seven months. Panorama don't have to report when the do an investigation and fail. (This is not a defence of those officers).
"...n at least the women don't have to clean up the lavatory before using it, men being apparently incapable of aiming or too selfish to clean up after themselves."
Nice stereotyping there, Ms Free.
There have been frequent exposés of racist, sexist and criminal behaviour in the Police over the years
Some have come with live video.
Nothing ever changes. A friend was beaten up, while lying unconscious from a hit and run. Then had his watch stolen. The defence of the officer was dogged - despite actual video of the crime in progress.
Mind you, at the same time that happened, the papers were reporting on the case of another officer being fired for a tiny mistake in expenses - it was 1 or 2 pounds, literally.
They always promise change. But the barrel is still full of bad apples.
The FT reports that Russia has improved its ballistic missiles to better avoid Patriot interceptors.
Much as we laugh about Russia's use of horses and so on, there's also plenty of evidence that Russia and China are learning more quickly from this war than the West is.
Ukraine has also massively enhanced and continually improved its missile and drone capabilities. We have seen many times in history that warfare can accelerate technological change. We may be better building Ukraine drones under licence than trying to design our own. I can’t conceive of us coming up with anything that was not several generations out of date before we reach production.
Last night Russia launched 86 drones at Ukraine of which 31 hit targets.
Ukraine is doing very well in the circumstances, but a 64% interception rate suggests that the Russian drones are being improved to evade interception more quickly than Ukraine is learning to intercept them.
I don't think our political leaders have grasped how important the war is, both for itself, and for what China is learning for a future conquest of Taiwan. European political leaders mostly seem to be hoping that Russia will decide to stop of its own accord and that then we can forget it ever happened.
Democracies appear unable and unwilling to defend themselves from the threat posed by Russia and China.
The changes since the last election. The swing to Reform from Labour is 16.5% in Scotland.
Looks like a straight Labour to Reform transfer in Scotland.
Very different to the narrative that Lab have lost more votes to the Greens and LibDems than to Reform which you read regularly in the Guardian and elsewhere.
For the umpteenth time, changes in vote share do not demonstrate there has been a swing between parties.
It's not a "narrative" - the tables demonstrate how Reform's vote share is a result of 1) Con and Lab voters moving to NOTA 2) High voter retention for Reform 3) Some movement from '24 Conservatives to Reform.
The changes since the last election. The swing to Reform from Labour is 16.5% in Scotland.
Looks like a straight Labour to Reform transfer in Scotland.
Very different to the narrative that Lab have lost more votes to the Greens and LibDems than to Reform which you read regularly in the Guardian and elsewhere.
People in Scotland have experience of the Greens in government, and they didn't like it.
Masterful understatement.
Greens look like they will significantly increase their vote share based on that poll.
Well done to BBC Panorama for exposing disgusting attitudes amongst some in the police.
Oh yes, some years after Baroness Casey and others before her exposed disgusting attitudes among some in the police, Panorama finally says the same.
What took them so long?
I'll tell you what has made me angry today. The Maria Kelly v Leonardo U.K. employment tribunal case. Once again a woman has been forced to give evidence about her periods and sexual assaults and other highly intimate personal matters to try and JUSTIFY why she wants to deal with such matters in private away from men. There is deliberate cruelty & humiliation (& I suspect that this is the point for at least some of those forcing women to do this). And there is also the increasingly widespread assumption that women's rights to even the most basic considerations of decency are not something that she ought to have as of right because she is a human being, but should only be conditional on whether this suits men (or a subset of them), an attitude which regrettably finds quite some support on here, as evidenced by the depressingly ignorant debate on this topic the other day by @Luckyguy1983 and @JosiasJessop. It is not just @Leon who talks shite about subjects he does not understand. It was perfectly obvious from that debate that neither of those posters had read or understood the relevant laws or judgment. Though ignorance has never stopped men talking bullshit on pretty much every topic under the sun.
As for the apparently pressing questions of racist maths and men pissing outside, I have no views on the former and as for the latter women in my experience do not find it erotic but are wearily grateful that if men piss on the lawn at least the women don't have to clean up the lavatory before using it, men being apparently incapable of aiming or too selfish to clean up after themselves.
Oh and I don't care about ethnicity either but then as the first person in my family to be born in this country I expect Farage thinks I ought to be on the deportation list. So he and his kind can fuck right off, frankly. I and my parents have done more for this country than him and his bunch of fraudulent shysters.
I'll leave your insult towards me on the table Needless to say, I disagree with what you say about me, and I believe with good reason.
"What took them (Panorama) so long?" I would not be surprised if they had tried to make this sort of program before, but had not got anything juicy. It should also be noted that the undercover man was in place for seven months. Panorama don't have to report when the do an investigation and fail. (This is not a defence of those officers).
"...n at least the women don't have to clean up the lavatory before using it, men being apparently incapable of aiming or too selfish to clean up after themselves."
Nice stereotyping there, Ms Free.
There have been frequent exposés of racist, sexist and criminal behaviour in the Police over the years
Some have come with live video.
Nothing ever changes. A friend was beaten up, while lying unconscious from a hit and run. Then had his watch stolen. The defence of the officer was dogged - despite actual video of the crime in progress.
Mind you, at the same time that happened, the papers were reporting on the case of another officer being fired for a tiny mistake in expenses - it was 1 or 2 pounds, literally.
They always promise change. But the barrel is still full of bad apples.
At some point, one has to conclude that the barrel itself is rotten and contaminating the apples.
But.
How do you take a police system and reset it without interrupting service? Northern Ireland is a bit of a precedent, but a fraction of the size.
The changes since the last election. The swing to Reform from Labour is 16.5% in Scotland.
Looks like a straight Labour to Reform transfer in Scotland.
Very different to the narrative that Lab have lost more votes to the Greens and LibDems than to Reform which you read regularly in the Guardian and elsewhere.
People in Scotland have experience of the Greens in government, and they didn't like it.
So much so that the Greens have a 3% increase in their vote. More accurate to say that people in Scotland have experienced 14 months of a Labour WM government and are MASSIVELY DISAPPOINTED.
This all depends on the word “racist” having any emotional weight any more. Given that it is hurled at literally everything from maths to gardening to half of Britain - or nearly all of it if Labour is doing the hurling - then I don’t think it has any moral impact. Not any more
Go on. Racist maths... No doubt you may be able to find a link, but I can't believe you've actually come up against such a thing.
“Modern Mathematics Confronts Its White, Patriarchal Past”
I have spent a significant chunk of time over the past few years discussing this in school.
Leon isn't wrong.
But also, it's not wrong to say that the way we teach maths tends to pretend that it was all developed by the Greeks and then the universities of Western Europe. We have a big map of maths on the wall in our corridor highlighting that e.g. zero is Indian, prime numbers might have been discovered in what is now the DRC well before anywhere else.
It's a valuable corrective to the otherwise easily formed impression that maths is a white man's game.
But I agree that to label maths as racist is foolish laziness.
The point you make is the point the people mentioned in the articles make: that mathematical discoveries have often been assigned to people who were not their originators, for cultural reasons.
But that's not saying that 'maths is racist". It's saying that racism (and other isms) can intrude into maths, as it can into many other fields. And when it does, it can be racist.
Look at the title of the sciam article; that agrees with the point you made, doesn't it? And even the byline: "Mathematicians want to think their field is a meritocracy, but bias, harassment and exclusion persist" should hardly be controversial.
There are a few levels of this conversation going on.
I'm not disagreeing with you that Leon should read the links rather than Google them, skim the first line and hurl them at us. I do him the credit of assuming he is actually reading the links.
I'm not disagreeing with you that there are some useful thoughts that emerge once we accept that racist attitudes can intrude on maths (I have little doubt that what I'd call the maths canon was set by a bunch of racists and we haven't got around to correcting that yet).
But all these are quite subtle points, and our public discourse does subtlety poorly at present. Hence Leon is right that all this stuff does get boiled down to the sound bite "maths is racist" at times by clickbaiters and angry idiots on the internet.
Also, as you well know, the maths is racist discourse goes way beyond “oh don’t forget to mention how Arabs invented our numbers”
There is a real attempt to get actual arithmetic correctness labelled as white supremacy. It sounds mad - surely they don’t mean it - but then look how far genderwoo has gone. A chunk of the country believes men with penises are women
There is a second strand which believes that any subject which has a racial disparity in outcome - eg maths - MUST be racist. How come these East Asians are doing better? Tear it all down until there is completely racial equity of achievement
Plenty of people are trying to do exactly this to Maths and science. And it’s dangerous nonsense
As others more eloquent than me have said many times, a basic part of the problem is fragility around the word racist.
There is a (useful) interpretation of racism that says that maths as a living subject (rather than just a collection of facts) IS racist and sexist.
We miss recruiting geniuses into the world of maths because they are women or not white. Noone need feel guilt or shame about that, because (almost) noone actively sets out to maintain this status quo.
But if we could all be a little less angry, we could probably find a useful set of tweaks to how young people experience maths that would address this.
Oh and also, almost noone actually believes your first point that arithmetic correctness=white supremacy - I think that is almost purely an online bubble.
No, it's not
This is - or was - part of California's curriculum
"A Pathway to Equitable Math Instruction is an integrated approach to mathematics that centers Black, Latinx, and Multilingual students in grades 6-8, addresses barriers to math equity, and aligns instruction to grade-level priority standards"
This tool provides teachers an opportunity to examine their actions, beliefs, and values around teaching mathematics. The framework for deconstructing racism in mathematics offers essential characteristics of antiracist math educators and critical approaches to dismantling white supremacy in math classrooms by making visible the toxic characteristics of white supremacy culture Jones and Okun 2001; dismantling Racism 2016) with respect to math
As a visual indicator, we italicize the terms used to identify white supremacy characteristics as defined by Jones and Okun (2001). They are as follows: • Perfectionism • Sense of Urgency • Defensiveness • Quantity Over Quality • Worship of the Written Word • Paternalism • Either/Or Thinking • Power Hoarding • Fear of Open Conflict • Individualism • Only One Right Way • Progress is Bigger, More • Objectivity • Right to Comfort
Because, who wants perfectionism, objecitvity or "only one right way" in.... that horrible white supremacist thing known as.... maths?
Anyone who knows anything at all about maths knows there is not "only one right way" to solve problems.
Anyone who thinks there is, is a very shit mathematician.
Having a relational understanding of Mathematics so you can tackle problems in different ways, and understand how those different ways relate to each other, is absolutely critical to developing Mathematical thinking.
Coming up with just the one right way would however most likely put you ahead of our own Leondoofus.
Centrist teacher take:
It's certainly true that the best mathematician (and the one probably having the most fun) is the one who knows the most different methods. But the most effective maths teacher of a wide audience is generally the one who keeps it simple and focuses relentlessly on the core reliable techniques. It's the difference between Heston Blumenthal and Delia Smith.
How you balance the two... That's a pendulum that swings back and forth in education every decade or so. (I've seen a couple of cycles and I'm not that old.) Sometimes it has wider cultural baggage, sometimes it doesn't. The people who worry about this sort of thing are painfully sincere on both sides, but the hoohhah isn't, in itself, important. In the meantime, a million Mrs Krabappels will struggle to make thirty million Barts do sums..
The cost of teaching "effectively" like that, though is the risk of rendering maths intensely boring for a lot of brighter students.
Comments
See also Baroness Mone.
Another one that I have been following is Trump's USD 20 bllion bail out of his "Libertarian" mate Milei in Argentina. This is going on (like his ballroom) despite the US government shutdown. While US farmers go bankrupt and US citizens face massive hikes in health insurance, the main beneficiary of the bailout seems to be a mate of the Treasury Secretary who bought up Argentinian bonds.
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/09/trump-argentina-bailout-hedge-fund-billionaire-rob-citrone-scott-bessent/
"What took them (Panorama) so long?"
I would not be surprised if they had tried to make this sort of program before, but had not got anything juicy. It should also be noted that the undercover man was in place for seven months. Panorama don't have to report when the do an investigation and fail. (This is not a defence of those officers).
"...n at least the women don't have to clean up the lavatory before using it, men being apparently incapable of aiming or too selfish to clean up after themselves."
Nice stereotyping there, Ms Free.
A true comparison if we're in the (rather spurious) world of aggregating parties would be
Left: SNP+LAB+GRN=56%,
Right: REF+CON=34%
Who knows or cares? LD = 9%
MADELEINE DEAN: The president is unhinged. He's unwell
JOHNSON: A lot of folks on your side are too
https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3m26cxb7ixo2e
But is it too late to put the genie back into the bottle?
https://bsky.app/profile/theatlantic.com/post/3m23qhxfkcs22
Isn't it reassuring to know that the violent drunk and the demented draft dodger have their fingers on the nuclear button.
DSA made losses in every financial year of its operation between 2005 and 2022 under private ownership
https://www.facebook.com/yorkshirepost.newspaper/posts/-dsa-made-losses-in-every-financial-year-of-its-operation-between-2005-and-2022-/951838903815040/
RFM: 23% (+16)
LAB: 18% (-17)
CON: 11% (-2)
LDM: 9% (-1)
GRN: 7% (+3)
The changes since the last election. The swing to Reform from Labour is 16.5% in Scotland.
However, I think the framing of Trump as bonkers in the subtitle is a futile one that plays into Trump's hands (I suspect he made that speech in part because he knew he'd provoke an article like this in something like The Atlantic).
Much more interesting was the paragraph later on that acknowledges that Trump's schtick works well with MAGA precisely because they know most of it is nonsense and can filter it out, but the generals have been trained within an inch of their lives to treat every utterance of their CiC with respect and seriousness.
This is at the heart of why Trump is so dangerous, imv. His narcissism and lack of respect for the office mean that he will happily break all the conventions that hold the messy democracy of USA together.
IMV the real story here is Trump using Hegseth's ridiculous conclave to enhance his personality cult. The mess he is making of US institutions is going to take years to unpick, years that will see China, Russia, India and others gain global influence at the USA's expense.
Allegedly the head of sport at the BBC saw the boat race as being too elitist. At least, that's the way the Telegraph sees it; the Guardian report doesn't mention that...
(Incidentally, the Guardian report has a great typo: "In May, the entertainment giant Disney entered the women’s football market, striking a five-year deal to show every match of the men’s Champions League on its Disney+ subscription streaming service."
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/oct/01/channel-4-snares-tv-coverage-of-oxford-cambridge-boat-race-from-the-bbc )
BBC spending on sport is all over the shop e.g. They spent a load of money on second tier MMA promotion (only for it to get bought out) to attract da male yuff, then only showed it hidden on the BBC website. Gary Lineker too costly, so we will now have 3 hosts instead for MOTD and also pay Wayne f##king Rooney, a man so dense that light bends around him, a stupid amount of money.
They also pay money for these non-exclusive deals e.g. the Hundred, only get a few games and when it is on the BBC, Sky show their superior coverage for free on YouTube.
Very different to the narrative that Lab have lost more votes to the Greens and LibDems than to Reform which you read regularly in the Guardian and elsewhere.
Farmers voted for Trump knowing he was planning to introduce tariffs and now they are completely screwed cos they couldn't join the dots from what he said he would do to what it would mean for them.
It's certainly true that the best mathematician (and the one probably having the most fun) is the one who knows the most different methods. But the most effective maths teacher of a wide audience is generally the one who keeps it simple and focuses relentlessly on the core reliable techniques. It's the difference between Heston Blumenthal and Delia Smith.
How you balance the two... That's a pendulum that swings back and forth in education every decade or so. (I've seen a couple of cycles and I'm not that old.) Sometimes it has wider cultural baggage, sometimes it doesn't. The people who worry about this sort of thing are painfully sincere on both sides, but the hoohhah isn't, in itself, important. In the meantime, a million Mrs Krabappels will struggle to make thirty million Barts do sums.
But Leon + Ragebait is a calculation where we all know the answer.
How certain are we that these reform shysters are any more numerous than what has gone before? I feel it may be selection bias again - people are looking for these reform cases specifically.
Much as we laugh about Russia's use of horses and so on, there's also plenty of evidence that Russia and China are learning more quickly from this war than the West is.
Given the scale and enthusiasm of their behaviour, I genuinely think it is more advertised than actual adverts for jobs with the police.
*May not include lessons. May not include learning. May not include “will be”. All wrongs reserved.
They'll be less corrupt because "time" is very small
The last five polls (four are GB but Survation is UK-wide) have Reform between 29% and 34%. Labour are 17-22, Conservatives 14-20, LDs are 11-16 and Greens 7-12. In polling terms, that's a big spread and reflects the different samplings and weightings being used by the different pollsters. Time will tell which is the most correct and the most accurate one now may not be the most accurate at the next GE.
We can say Reform are definitely ahead and polling around 30% currently. Labour is just ahead of the Conservatives with the former on abour 20% and the latter around 17-18%. The LDs remain becalmed at about 13-14% and the Greens have improved to around 10%. That's where I'd be herding the current numbers but that's no more accurate and scientific than any other method.
As to what any of this tells us about a possible spring 2029 election - absolutely nothing. It doesn't help much with a set of local contests seven months away.
The YouGov London sub sample from their latest poll (the most current):
Labour: 30% (-13)
Reform: 17% (+8)
Green: 17% (+7)
Lib Dem: 16% (+5)
Conservative: 15% (-6)
Other: 4% (-3)
Changes from July 2024
On a base of 233 people - yes, I know, keep the klaxons under control in the cheap seats.
Some have come with live video.
Nothing ever changes. A friend was beaten up, while lying unconscious from a hit and run. Then had his watch stolen. The defence of the officer was dogged - despite actual video of the crime in progress.
Mind you, at the same time that happened, the papers were reporting on the case of another officer being fired for a tiny mistake in expenses - it was 1 or 2 pounds, literally.
They always promise change. But the barrel is still full of bad apples.
Ukraine is doing very well in the circumstances, but a 64% interception rate suggests that the Russian drones are being improved to evade interception more quickly than Ukraine is learning to intercept them.
I don't think our political leaders have grasped how important the war is, both for itself, and for what China is learning for a future conquest of Taiwan. European political leaders mostly seem to be hoping that Russia will decide to stop of its own accord and that then we can forget it ever happened.
Democracies appear unable and unwilling to defend themselves from the threat posed by Russia and China.
It's not a "narrative" - the tables demonstrate how Reform's vote share is a result of 1) Con and Lab voters moving to NOTA 2) High voter retention for Reform 3) Some movement from '24 Conservatives to Reform.
But.
How do you take a police system and reset it without interrupting service? Northern Ireland is a bit of a precedent, but a fraction of the size.
It certainly did that for me.