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Another one of my 100/1 tips is looking good – politicalbetting.com

SystemSystem Posts: 12,901
edited 8:02AM in General
Another one of my 100/1 tips is looking good – politicalbetting.com

Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ) tells CNN that he is starting to think seriously about running for president: https://t.co/ELRlyRA8Np pic.twitter.com/WiUZbwaUEW

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  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 54,011
    First?
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 54,011
    edited 8:05AM
    These threads are coming thick and fast. Anyhow, FPT:
    Cookie said:

    Hi pb brains trust - any views on the following:

    We (me, wife, three kids 16-11) are hoping to go from Manchester to Austria for a summer holiday. Would you:
    - overnight ferry from Hull to Rotterdam then drive with overnight stop in Germany (probably cheapest,can pack as much stuff as we want, but would take up two days travelling there and two days travelling back. If si, where would you stay?
    - fly then hire a car (surprisingly expenaive even with Easyjet but only two and a half hours to our destination from Munich)
    - train to Brussels then Brussels-Salzburg sleeper (I'd always wanted to travel that way but some reports are discouraging)
    - something else?

    The sleeper tickets are insanely popular, given such limited supply, and probably sold out as soon as they went on sale, assuming the ones for your travel date already are. So you can probably discount that option.

    I’d take the ferry and car option, and you should get an early start off the ferry. If you want to break the back of the driving on the first day, go stay in Tubingen - the hotel schloss at the top of the hill is a great place to stay, and the whole old town is laid out beneath you. Or, to balance the driving between the two days, you could look at Heidelberg, or one of the characterful small towns along the Rhine around Mannheim. If you are driving to Germany, make sure you have your emissions sticker sorted for the vehicle well ahead.

    For a party of five, the costs of individual plane or train tickets probably make the car an economic option; the downside is obviously the travel time there and back, which you may or may not see as part of your holiday.

  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 85,628
    Good trading bet.
    I'd be quite surprised if he actually gets it.
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 69,689
    Morning all.

  • RochdalePioneersRochdalePioneers Posts: 31,674
    Nigelb said:

    Good trading bet.
    I'd be quite surprised if he actually gets it.

    I'd be quite surprised if there is a presidential election for him to run in...
  • StuartinromfordStuartinromford Posts: 21,326
    The gap between getting the nomination and getting the Presidency is either corking value or an indication of how fair punters think the 2028 election is going to be.

    Coupled with the latest photo coming out of Minnesota, I rather fear that we've moved beyond the "Do you still think you can control them?" stage of the movie.

    Does Brian have any other zingers later on?
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 133,160
    Kelly is worth a long shot bet. Newsom and Buttigieg lead polls now though for the Democratic nomination and Buttigieg is likely to do best in early states. Harris also polls well but losing nominees who have never been President are rarely nominated again
  • pm215pm215 Posts: 1,395
    IanB2 said:

    These threads are coming thick and fast. Anyhow, FPT:

    Cookie said:

    Hi pb brains trust - any views on the following:

    We (me, wife, three kids 16-11) are hoping to go from Manchester to Austria for a summer holiday. Would you:
    - overnight ferry from Hull to Rotterdam then drive with overnight stop in Germany (probably cheapest,can pack as much stuff as we want, but would take up two days travelling there and two days travelling back. If si, where would you stay?
    - fly then hire a car (surprisingly expenaive even with Easyjet but only two and a half hours to our destination from Munich)
    - train to Brussels then Brussels-Salzburg sleeper (I'd always wanted to travel that way but some reports are discouraging)
    - something else?

    The sleeper tickets are insanely popular, given such limited supply, and probably sold out as soon as they went on sale, assuming the ones for your travel date already are. So you can probably discount that option.

    I’d take the ferry and car option, and you should get an early start off the ferry. If you want to break the back of the driving on the first day, go stay in Tubingen - the hotel schloss at the top of the hill is a great place to stay, and the whole old town is laid out beneath you. Or, to balance the driving between the two days, you could look at Heidelberg, or one of the characterful small towns along the Rhine around Mannheim. If you are driving to Germany, make sure you have your emissions sticker sorted for the vehicle well ahead.

    For a party of five, the costs of individual plane or train tickets probably make the car an economic option; the downside is obviously the travel time there and back, which you may or may not see as part of your holiday.

    https://www.seat61.com/ (the absolute best reference for planning this kind of train journey) says the Brussels to Salzburg/Vienna sleeper bookings typically open 3 to 4 months ahead, so for a summer holiday bookings will not yet have opened and you're still in good time to investigate and put a note in your diary for when to book tickets.
  • carnforthcarnforth Posts: 8,193
    IanB2 said:

    These threads are coming thick and fast. Anyhow, FPT:

    Cookie said:

    Hi pb brains trust - any views on the following:

    We (me, wife, three kids 16-11) are hoping to go from Manchester to Austria for a summer holiday. Would you:
    - overnight ferry from Hull to Rotterdam then drive with overnight stop in Germany (probably cheapest,can pack as much stuff as we want, but would take up two days travelling there and two days travelling back. If si, where would you stay?
    - fly then hire a car (surprisingly expenaive even with Easyjet but only two and a half hours to our destination from Munich)
    - train to Brussels then Brussels-Salzburg sleeper (I'd always wanted to travel that way but some reports are discouraging)
    - something else?

    The sleeper tickets are insanely popular, given such limited supply, and probably sold out as soon as they went on sale, assuming the ones for your travel date already are. So you can probably discount that option.

    I’d take the ferry and car option, and you should get an early start off the ferry. If you want to break the back of the driving on the first day, go stay in Tubingen - the hotel schloss at the top of the hill is a great place to stay, and the whole old town is laid out beneath you. Or, to balance the driving between the two days, you could look at Heidelberg, or one of the characterful small towns along the Rhine around Mannheim. If you are driving to Germany, make sure you have your emissions sticker sorted for the vehicle well ahead.

    For a party of five, the costs of individual plane or train tickets probably make the car an economic option; the downside is obviously the travel time there and back, which you may or may not see as part of your holiday.

    Plus, the chance of all five in a party sleeping well on a train is close to nil. Going to be at least one grump the next day.
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 69,689
    HYUFD said:

    Kelly is worth a long shot bet. Newsom and Buttigieg lead polls now though for the Democratic nomination and Buttigieg is likely to do best in early states. Harris also polls well but losing nominees who have never been President are rarely nominated again

    Newsom seems to be everywhere.

    No doubt he is running.

    Buttigieg has the repeated problem of the later states and their demographics.

  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 133,160

    Nigelb said:

    Good trading bet.
    I'd be quite surprised if he actually gets it.

    I'd be quite surprised if there is a presidential election for him to run in...
    Article II of the US Constitution is clear a president holds office for only four years and even the Supreme Court has not read against what the constitution says and the US military also take an oath to uphold the constitution
  • LostPasswordLostPassword Posts: 22,121

    The gap between getting the nomination and getting the Presidency is either corking value or an indication of how fair punters think the 2028 election is going to be.

    Coupled with the latest photo coming out of Minnesota, I rather fear that we've moved beyond the "Do you still think you can control them?" stage of the movie.

    Does Brian have any other zingers later on?

    The photo of the five year old kid?
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 133,160

    HYUFD said:

    Kelly is worth a long shot bet. Newsom and Buttigieg lead polls now though for the Democratic nomination and Buttigieg is likely to do best in early states. Harris also polls well but losing nominees who have never been President are rarely nominated again

    Newsom seems to be everywhere.

    No doubt he is running.

    Buttigieg has the repeated problem of the later states and their demographics.

    In US presidential election primaries the early states are of course crucial, lose those and you won’t even get to the big states. Buttigieg won Iowa in 2020 and would likely outperform Newsom and Kelly in New Hampshire. Kelly would do best in South Carolina I suspect, maybe Harris too would do better there if she ran again
  • LostPasswordLostPassword Posts: 22,121

    HYUFD said:

    Nigelb said:

    Good trading bet.
    I'd be quite surprised if he actually gets it.

    I'd be quite surprised if there is a presidential election for him to run in...
    Article II of the US Constitution is clear a president holds office for only four years and even the Supreme Court has not read against what the constitution says and the US military also take an oath to uphold the constitution
    It’s more likely to be rigged than to not happen at all
    Exactly so.

    One of the ways this works in Russia is that anyone genuinely an electoral threat to Putin is prevented from running, and then people who won't win are allowed to run to create the illusion of a contest.

    So perhaps Kamala Harris is a good bet for the Democratic nomination. She'd lose and create the appearance of a genuine contest.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 133,160
    Of interest twelve states have applied to the DNC to hold their Democratic primaries or caucuses in 2028 before Super Tuesday

    https://abcnews.go.com/amp/Politics/states-host-1st-democratic-primaries-dnc-decide-amid/story?id=129278874
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 133,160
    edited 8:42AM

    HYUFD said:

    Nigelb said:

    Good trading bet.
    I'd be quite surprised if he actually gets it.

    I'd be quite surprised if there is a presidential election for him to run in...
    Article II of the US Constitution is clear a president holds office for only four years and even the Supreme Court has not read against what the constitution says and the US military also take an oath to uphold the constitution
    It’s more likely to be rigged than to not happen at all
    Unless Trump is able to run again, which he can’t either under the 22nd amendment of the US constitution the US military and SC are also required to uphold, he won’t give a shit about even bothering to try and rig in favour of Vance or Rubio.

    He also couldn’t rig it in 2020 even as President
  • StuartinromfordStuartinromford Posts: 21,326

    The gap between getting the nomination and getting the Presidency is either corking value or an indication of how fair punters think the 2028 election is going to be.

    Coupled with the latest photo coming out of Minnesota, I rather fear that we've moved beyond the "Do you still think you can control them?" stage of the movie.

    Does Brian have any other zingers later on?

    The photo of the five year old kid?
    That's the one.

    It shouldn't make a difference, but I think it's the kid's hat that does it.
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 54,011
    carnforth said:

    IanB2 said:

    These threads are coming thick and fast. Anyhow, FPT:

    Cookie said:

    Hi pb brains trust - any views on the following:

    We (me, wife, three kids 16-11) are hoping to go from Manchester to Austria for a summer holiday. Would you:
    - overnight ferry from Hull to Rotterdam then drive with overnight stop in Germany (probably cheapest,can pack as much stuff as we want, but would take up two days travelling there and two days travelling back. If si, where would you stay?
    - fly then hire a car (surprisingly expenaive even with Easyjet but only two and a half hours to our destination from Munich)
    - train to Brussels then Brussels-Salzburg sleeper (I'd always wanted to travel that way but some reports are discouraging)
    - something else?

    The sleeper tickets are insanely popular, given such limited supply, and probably sold out as soon as they went on sale, assuming the ones for your travel date already are. So you can probably discount that option.

    I’d take the ferry and car option, and you should get an early start off the ferry. If you want to break the back of the driving on the first day, go stay in Tubingen - the hotel schloss at the top of the hill is a great place to stay, and the whole old town is laid out beneath you. Or, to balance the driving between the two days, you could look at Heidelberg, or one of the characterful small towns along the Rhine around Mannheim. If you are driving to Germany, make sure you have your emissions sticker sorted for the vehicle well ahead.

    For a party of five, the costs of individual plane or train tickets probably make the car an economic option; the downside is obviously the travel time there and back, which you may or may not see as part of your holiday.

    Plus, the chance of all five in a party sleeping well on a train is close to nil. Going to be at least one grump the next day.
    A consideration will be how many compartments you need - on the old sleeper trains, which I used every year back in the day, you'd commonly find two-person or four-person cabins, so with five you'd be after at least two compartments. I always slept reasonably on a train - yes, you'd get woken up in the night by random noises or when the train stopped suddenly, but the movement of the train always sent me back to sleep quite quickly. The biggest hassle travelling in a small compartment with others is the lack of floor space, especially when the beds are all down, such that getting dressed or washed normally involved a complicated rotation-dance between beds and floor so that everyone got their turn.
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 54,011
    HYUFD said:

    HYUFD said:

    Nigelb said:

    Good trading bet.
    I'd be quite surprised if he actually gets it.

    I'd be quite surprised if there is a presidential election for him to run in...
    Article II of the US Constitution is clear a president holds office for only four years and even the Supreme Court has not read against what the constitution says and the US military also take an oath to uphold the constitution
    It’s more likely to be rigged than to not happen at all
    Unless Trump is able to run again, which he can’t either under the 22nd amendment of the US constitution the US military and SC are also required to uphold, he won’t give a shit about even bothering to try and rig in favour of Vance or Rubio.

    He also couldn’t rig it in 2020 even as President
    Project Trump's mental decline forward a couple of years, and it's most unlikely he'll be able, regardless of what he might want.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 59,452
    Yes, Kelly was on my list of potentials, worth a couple of quid at long odds which are likely to come in once he announces he’s running. Still three years to go to the election though, so likely to be at least 18 months before a formal annnouncement.

    Gavin Newsom is definitely running, he turned up in Davos yesterday with Alex Soros and not as part of the official US delegation.
  • algarkirkalgarkirk Posts: 16,373
    Legit betting is predicated on events that are uncorrupt and fair and where the outcome is declared unambiguously and by a trusted authority. Betting, for example, on UK elections meets this standard. I think I shall wait until after the November USA elections before deciding if the 2028 election will meet the standard.

    My guess is that it won't.
  • BattlebusBattlebus Posts: 2,293
    edited 8:46AM
    pm215 said:

    IanB2 said:

    These threads are coming thick and fast. Anyhow, FPT:

    Cookie said:

    Hi pb brains trust - any views on the following:

    We (me, wife, three kids 16-11) are hoping to go from Manchester to Austria for a summer holiday. Would you:
    - overnight ferry from Hull to Rotterdam then drive with overnight stop in Germany (probably cheapest,can pack as much stuff as we want, but would take up two days travelling there and two days travelling back. If si, where would you stay?
    - fly then hire a car (surprisingly expenaive even with Easyjet but only two and a half hours to our destination from Munich)
    - train to Brussels then Brussels-Salzburg sleeper (I'd always wanted to travel that way but some reports are discouraging)
    - something else?

    The sleeper tickets are insanely popular, given such limited supply, and probably sold out as soon as they went on sale, assuming the ones for your travel date already are. So you can probably discount that option.

    I’d take the ferry and car option, and you should get an early start off the ferry. If you want to break the back of the driving on the first day, go stay in Tubingen - the hotel schloss at the top of the hill is a great place to stay, and the whole old town is laid out beneath you. Or, to balance the driving between the two days, you could look at Heidelberg, or one of the characterful small towns along the Rhine around Mannheim. If you are driving to Germany, make sure you have your emissions sticker sorted for the vehicle well ahead.

    For a party of five, the costs of individual plane or train tickets probably make the car an economic option; the downside is obviously the travel time there and back, which you may or may not see as part of your holiday.

    https://www.seat61.com/ (the absolute best reference for planning this kind of train journey) says the Brussels to Salzburg/Vienna sleeper bookings typically open 3 to 4 months ahead, so for a summer holiday bookings will not yet have opened and you're still in good time to investigate and put a note in your diary for when to book tickets.
    You might want to wait until the investigation into the Spanish rail crash is complete. Seems the Spanish have closed down most of their high speed rail lines as they can't tell if it is the track or the Iryo* train.

    * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frecciarossa_1000
  • pm215pm215 Posts: 1,395
    edited 8:49AM
    Battlebus said:

    pm215 said:

    IanB2 said:

    These threads are coming thick and fast. Anyhow, FPT:

    Cookie said:

    Hi pb brains trust - any views on the following:

    We (me, wife, three kids 16-11) are hoping to go from Manchester to Austria for a summer holiday. Would you:
    - overnight ferry from Hull to Rotterdam then drive with overnight stop in Germany (probably cheapest,can pack as much stuff as we want, but would take up two days travelling there and two days travelling back. If si, where would you stay?
    - fly then hire a car (surprisingly expenaive even with Easyjet but only two and a half hours to our destination from Munich)
    - train to Brussels then Brussels-Salzburg sleeper (I'd always wanted to travel that way but some reports are discouraging)
    - something else?

    The sleeper tickets are insanely popular, given such limited supply, and probably sold out as soon as they went on sale, assuming the ones for your travel date already are. So you can probably discount that option.

    I’d take the ferry and car option, and you should get an early start off the ferry. If you want to break the back of the driving on the first day, go stay in Tubingen - the hotel schloss at the top of the hill is a great place to stay, and the whole old town is laid out beneath you. Or, to balance the driving between the two days, you could look at Heidelberg, or one of the characterful small towns along the Rhine around Mannheim. If you are driving to Germany, make sure you have your emissions sticker sorted for the vehicle well ahead.

    For a party of five, the costs of individual plane or train tickets probably make the car an economic option; the downside is obviously the travel time there and back, which you may or may not see as part of your holiday.

    https://www.seat61.com/ (the absolute best reference for planning this kind of train journey) says the Brussels to Salzburg/Vienna sleeper bookings typically open 3 to 4 months ahead, so for a summer holiday bookings will not yet have opened and you're still in good time to investigate and put a note in your diary for when to book tickets.
    You might want to wait until the investigation into the Spanish rail crash is complete. Seems the Spanish have closed down most of their high speed rail lines as they can't tell if it is the track or the Iryo* train.

    * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frecciarossa_1000
    For a trip from Manchester to Vienna? That goes nowhere near Spain, and the sleeper train isn't going to be a high speed train unit...
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 57,391
    edited 8:49AM
    Agree that Harris has the problem of being a loser.

    BUT pretty much everything she warned about Trump has come true. That is a pretty handy thing to have for another Presidential run.

    That said, how much do the voters like being reminded "You fucked up..."?
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 57,391
    I think Kelly was a good bet.

    He could be a great VP pick.
  • LostPasswordLostPassword Posts: 22,121

    The gap between getting the nomination and getting the Presidency is either corking value or an indication of how fair punters think the 2028 election is going to be.

    Coupled with the latest photo coming out of Minnesota, I rather fear that we've moved beyond the "Do you still think you can control them?" stage of the movie.

    Does Brian have any other zingers later on?

    The photo of the five year old kid?
    That's the one.

    It shouldn't make a difference, but I think it's the kid's hat that does it.
    I believe it's a Stitch hat, as in Lilo & Stitch, the Disney cartoon characters.

    Countless thousands of other kids will be wearing similar hats this morning.
  • eekeek Posts: 32,336
    IanB2 said:

    carnforth said:

    IanB2 said:

    These threads are coming thick and fast. Anyhow, FPT:

    Cookie said:

    Hi pb brains trust - any views on the following:

    We (me, wife, three kids 16-11) are hoping to go from Manchester to Austria for a summer holiday. Would you:
    - overnight ferry from Hull to Rotterdam then drive with overnight stop in Germany (probably cheapest,can pack as much stuff as we want, but would take up two days travelling there and two days travelling back. If si, where would you stay?
    - fly then hire a car (surprisingly expenaive even with Easyjet but only two and a half hours to our destination from Munich)
    - train to Brussels then Brussels-Salzburg sleeper (I'd always wanted to travel that way but some reports are discouraging)
    - something else?

    The sleeper tickets are insanely popular, given such limited supply, and probably sold out as soon as they went on sale, assuming the ones for your travel date already are. So you can probably discount that option.

    I’d take the ferry and car option, and you should get an early start off the ferry. If you want to break the back of the driving on the first day, go stay in Tubingen - the hotel schloss at the top of the hill is a great place to stay, and the whole old town is laid out beneath you. Or, to balance the driving between the two days, you could look at Heidelberg, or one of the characterful small towns along the Rhine around Mannheim. If you are driving to Germany, make sure you have your emissions sticker sorted for the vehicle well ahead.

    For a party of five, the costs of individual plane or train tickets probably make the car an economic option; the downside is obviously the travel time there and back, which you may or may not see as part of your holiday.

    Plus, the chance of all five in a party sleeping well on a train is close to nil. Going to be at least one grump the next day.
    A consideration will be how many compartments you need - on the old sleeper trains, which I used every year back in the day, you'd commonly find two-person or four-person cabins, so with five you'd be after at least two compartments. I always slept reasonably on a train - yes, you'd get woken up in the night by random noises or when the train stopped suddenly, but the movement of the train always sent me back to sleep quite quickly. The biggest hassle travelling in a small compartment with others is the lack of floor space, especially when the beds are all down, such that getting dressed or washed normally involved a complicated rotation-dance between beds and floor so that everyone got their turn.
    Nope couchettes are for 6 and you can block book them.

    On July 20th (latest date you can book today, rolling 6 months in advance) a block booked couchette from Brussels to Salzburg is €355

  • SandyRentoolSandyRentool Posts: 24,244
    If i was travelling with children I would want to get to the destination asap.

    Therefore, a flight from Manchester to Salzberg would be my favoured option.
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 54,011
    edited 8:58AM
    pm215 said:

    Battlebus said:

    pm215 said:

    IanB2 said:

    These threads are coming thick and fast. Anyhow, FPT:

    Cookie said:

    Hi pb brains trust - any views on the following:

    We (me, wife, three kids 16-11) are hoping to go from Manchester to Austria for a summer holiday. Would you:
    - overnight ferry from Hull to Rotterdam then drive with overnight stop in Germany (probably cheapest,can pack as much stuff as we want, but would take up two days travelling there and two days travelling back. If si, where would you stay?
    - fly then hire a car (surprisingly expenaive even with Easyjet but only two and a half hours to our destination from Munich)
    - train to Brussels then Brussels-Salzburg sleeper (I'd always wanted to travel that way but some reports are discouraging)
    - something else?

    The sleeper tickets are insanely popular, given such limited supply, and probably sold out as soon as they went on sale, assuming the ones for your travel date already are. So you can probably discount that option.

    I’d take the ferry and car option, and you should get an early start off the ferry. If you want to break the back of the driving on the first day, go stay in Tubingen - the hotel schloss at the top of the hill is a great place to stay, and the whole old town is laid out beneath you. Or, to balance the driving between the two days, you could look at Heidelberg, or one of the characterful small towns along the Rhine around Mannheim. If you are driving to Germany, make sure you have your emissions sticker sorted for the vehicle well ahead.

    For a party of five, the costs of individual plane or train tickets probably make the car an economic option; the downside is obviously the travel time there and back, which you may or may not see as part of your holiday.

    https://www.seat61.com/ (the absolute best reference for planning this kind of train journey) says the Brussels to Salzburg/Vienna sleeper bookings typically open 3 to 4 months ahead, so for a summer holiday bookings will not yet have opened and you're still in good time to investigate and put a note in your diary for when to book tickets.
    You might want to wait until the investigation into the Spanish rail crash is complete. Seems the Spanish have closed down most of their high speed rail lines as they can't tell if it is the track or the Iryo* train.

    * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frecciarossa_1000
    For a trip from Manchester to Vienna? That goes nowhere near Spain, and the sleeper train isn't going to be a high speed train unit...
    The complete opposite. The sleeper trains, such as they are nowadays - very few left, sadly, despite huge demand for them - have very old rolling stock, are scheduled with a 'relaxed' timetable such that you don't arrive at four in the morning, and low priority on international networks, such that 'trundling' is the best description of their pace of travel. Indeed the sleeper I once took from Brussels to Budapest was, for several hours towards the end of its journey, travelling at speed that you could have kept up with on foot.

    This is worth a read:

    https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/europe-loves-night-trains-why-050232613.html
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 54,011
    eek said:

    IanB2 said:

    carnforth said:

    IanB2 said:

    These threads are coming thick and fast. Anyhow, FPT:

    Cookie said:

    Hi pb brains trust - any views on the following:

    We (me, wife, three kids 16-11) are hoping to go from Manchester to Austria for a summer holiday. Would you:
    - overnight ferry from Hull to Rotterdam then drive with overnight stop in Germany (probably cheapest,can pack as much stuff as we want, but would take up two days travelling there and two days travelling back. If si, where would you stay?
    - fly then hire a car (surprisingly expenaive even with Easyjet but only two and a half hours to our destination from Munich)
    - train to Brussels then Brussels-Salzburg sleeper (I'd always wanted to travel that way but some reports are discouraging)
    - something else?

    The sleeper tickets are insanely popular, given such limited supply, and probably sold out as soon as they went on sale, assuming the ones for your travel date already are. So you can probably discount that option.

    I’d take the ferry and car option, and you should get an early start off the ferry. If you want to break the back of the driving on the first day, go stay in Tubingen - the hotel schloss at the top of the hill is a great place to stay, and the whole old town is laid out beneath you. Or, to balance the driving between the two days, you could look at Heidelberg, or one of the characterful small towns along the Rhine around Mannheim. If you are driving to Germany, make sure you have your emissions sticker sorted for the vehicle well ahead.

    For a party of five, the costs of individual plane or train tickets probably make the car an economic option; the downside is obviously the travel time there and back, which you may or may not see as part of your holiday.

    Plus, the chance of all five in a party sleeping well on a train is close to nil. Going to be at least one grump the next day.
    A consideration will be how many compartments you need - on the old sleeper trains, which I used every year back in the day, you'd commonly find two-person or four-person cabins, so with five you'd be after at least two compartments. I always slept reasonably on a train - yes, you'd get woken up in the night by random noises or when the train stopped suddenly, but the movement of the train always sent me back to sleep quite quickly. The biggest hassle travelling in a small compartment with others is the lack of floor space, especially when the beds are all down, such that getting dressed or washed normally involved a complicated rotation-dance between beds and floor so that everyone got their turn.
    Nope couchettes are for 6 and you can block book them.

    On July 20th (latest date you can book today, rolling 6 months in advance) a block booked couchette from Brussels to Salzburg is €355

    True, yes, because I know I won't sleep sitting up, I've always gone in a cabin, and forgot about the couchettes.
  • Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 57,437
    @Benpointer

    #COMPETITION

    Number of net gains (or losses -ve) for the Dems in the House? 29

    Number of net gains (or losses -ve) for the Dems in the Senate? 5

    Number of MSPs won by the SNP at the Holyrood election? 60

    Number of AMs won by Plaid Cymru at the Senedd election? 25

    UK Party recording the largest poll lead during 2026 and by what percentage? (British Polling Council registered pollsters only). Reform 15%

    Labour’s Projected National Share of the vote based on the 2026 local elections according to the BBC? 21%

    Number of Reform MPs on the 31st December 2026? 10

    The name of the UK Prime Minister on 31st December 2026? Starmer

    Will Andy Burnham will be an MP on 31st December 2026? No

    UK borrowing in the financial year to November 2026 (£132.3bn to November 2025). £150 billion

    UK GDP growth in the 12 months to October 2026 (1.1% to October 2025). 0.1%

    Winners of the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup. Brazil
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 54,011

    Agree that Harris has the problem of being a loser.

    BUT pretty much everything she warned about Trump has come true. That is a pretty handy thing to have for another Presidential run.

    That said, how much do the voters like being reminded "You fucked up..."?

    We just need to ask the Leave voters who post on PB.
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 57,391
    IanB2 said:

    HYUFD said:

    HYUFD said:

    Nigelb said:

    Good trading bet.
    I'd be quite surprised if he actually gets it.

    I'd be quite surprised if there is a presidential election for him to run in...
    Article II of the US Constitution is clear a president holds office for only four years and even the Supreme Court has not read against what the constitution says and the US military also take an oath to uphold the constitution
    It’s more likely to be rigged than to not happen at all
    Unless Trump is able to run again, which he can’t either under the 22nd amendment of the US constitution the US military and SC are also required to uphold, he won’t give a shit about even bothering to try and rig in favour of Vance or Rubio.

    He also couldn’t rig it in 2020 even as President
    Project Trump's mental decline forward a couple of years, and it's most unlikely he'll be able, regardless of what he might want.
    The date for your diary is when Vance can get in as President using the 25th without it robbing him of a second term in his own right (ie he gets a little under 10 years rather than 6 and a bit). Not sure if that is calculated to the date of the election or to the inauguration.

    Although however anybody can vote for Vance once is a question for the ages. He's no Donald Trump.

  • StuartinromfordStuartinromford Posts: 21,326

    Agree that Harris has the problem of being a loser.

    BUT pretty much everything she warned about Trump has come true. That is a pretty handy thing to have for another Presidential run.

    That said, how much do the voters like being reminded "You fucked up..."?

    Trouble is that, in a democracy, the only way to unpick a fuck up is for enough of the voters to acknowledge that they fucked up. Or wait for sufficient generational turnover.

    The other way these things are resolved is total defeat in a war, and I'd rather not go down that road, thanks.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 85,628

    Agree that Harris has the problem of being a loser.

    BUT pretty much everything she warned about Trump has come true. That is a pretty handy thing to have for another Presidential run.

    That said, how much do the voters like being reminded "You fucked up..."?

    I think it's reasonably likely that Harris's endorsement will decide the nomination.
    She is still extremely popular with a large slice of Democratic voters - though, as you say, probably not quite enough to win the nomination herself.
  • TazTaz Posts: 24,137
    I love @TheScreamingEagles he is the epitome of modesty
  • Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 57,437
    IanB2 said:

    These threads are coming thick and fast. Anyhow, FPT:

    Cookie said:

    Hi pb brains trust - any views on the following:

    We (me, wife, three kids 16-11) are hoping to go from Manchester to Austria for a summer holiday. Would you:
    - overnight ferry from Hull to Rotterdam then drive with overnight stop in Germany (probably cheapest,can pack as much stuff as we want, but would take up two days travelling there and two days travelling back. If si, where would you stay?
    - fly then hire a car (surprisingly expenaive even with Easyjet but only two and a half hours to our destination from Munich)
    - train to Brussels then Brussels-Salzburg sleeper (I'd always wanted to travel that way but some reports are discouraging)
    - something else?

    The sleeper tickets are insanely popular, given such limited supply, and probably sold out as soon as they went on sale, assuming the ones for your travel date already are. So you can probably discount that option.

    I’d take the ferry and car option, and you should get an early start off the ferry. If you want to break the back of the driving on the first day, go stay in Tubingen - the hotel schloss at the top of the hill is a great place to stay, and the whole old town is laid out beneath you. Or, to balance the driving between the two days, you could look at Heidelberg, or one of the characterful small towns along the Rhine around Mannheim. If you are driving to Germany, make sure you have your emissions sticker sorted for the vehicle well ahead.

    For a party of five, the costs of individual plane or train tickets probably make the car an economic option; the downside is obviously the travel time there and back, which you may or may not see as part of your holiday.

    Sorry for being boring, only time I visited Vienna, I went from LHR on Austrian Airlines, back in 2003.

    I have railed it from London to Brussels to Amsterdam, however, in 2015.
  • BarnesianBarnesian Posts: 9,675
    edited 9:06AM

    HYUFD said:

    Kelly is worth a long shot bet. Newsom and Buttigieg lead polls now though for the Democratic nomination and Buttigieg is likely to do best in early states. Harris also polls well but losing nominees who have never been President are rarely nominated again

    Newsom seems to be everywhere.

    No doubt he is running.

    Buttigieg has the repeated problem of the later states and their demographics.

    Buttigieg isn't second favourite for the nomination. He's way out at 19.5 on Betfair.
    Newsom is clear favourite on 2.65.
    AOC is second on 8.6.

    The dream ticket is Newsom with AOC as his VP. That covers all the bases.
    AOC is very young and can wait eight years for the presidency, and use that time to prove herself.

    Also Newsom is straight out of central casting as President.
    If he wasn't a democrat, Trump might even endorse him. That would be very Trumpian.
  • Peter_the_PunterPeter_the_Punter Posts: 15,228
    algarkirk said:

    Legit betting is predicated on events that are uncorrupt and fair and where the outcome is declared unambiguously and by a trusted authority. Betting, for example, on UK elections meets this standard. I think I shall wait until after the November USA elections before deciding if the 2028 election will meet the standard.

    My guess is that it won't.

    If you are thinking of betting on Betfair you also have to take account of whether and when they will pay out on the result.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 85,628
    Incidentally, the Greenland agreement appears to be the creation of "Artic Sentry" by NATO.

    And nothing to do with sovereign bases.

    Danish Prime Minister shoots down talk of U.S. sovereign bases in Greenland 🇬🇱 and says she is open to an agreement on Greenland with the U.S. only as long as Denmark’s territorial integrity is respected.

    “NATO is fully aware of the Kingdom of Denmark's position. We can negotiate on everything political; security, investments, economy. But we cannot negotiate on our sovereignty. I have been informed that this has not been the case.“

    https://x.com/yarotrof/status/2014239663326675409
  • Peter_the_PunterPeter_the_Punter Posts: 15,228
    Battlebus said:

    pm215 said:

    IanB2 said:

    These threads are coming thick and fast. Anyhow, FPT:

    Cookie said:

    Hi pb brains trust - any views on the following:

    We (me, wife, three kids 16-11) are hoping to go from Manchester to Austria for a summer holiday. Would you:
    - overnight ferry from Hull to Rotterdam then drive with overnight stop in Germany (probably cheapest,can pack as much stuff as we want, but would take up two days travelling there and two days travelling back. If si, where would you stay?
    - fly then hire a car (surprisingly expenaive even with Easyjet but only two and a half hours to our destination from Munich)
    - train to Brussels then Brussels-Salzburg sleeper (I'd always wanted to travel that way but some reports are discouraging)
    - something else?

    The sleeper tickets are insanely popular, given such limited supply, and probably sold out as soon as they went on sale, assuming the ones for your travel date already are. So you can probably discount that option.

    I’d take the ferry and car option, and you should get an early start off the ferry. If you want to break the back of the driving on the first day, go stay in Tubingen - the hotel schloss at the top of the hill is a great place to stay, and the whole old town is laid out beneath you. Or, to balance the driving between the two days, you could look at Heidelberg, or one of the characterful small towns along the Rhine around Mannheim. If you are driving to Germany, make sure you have your emissions sticker sorted for the vehicle well ahead.

    For a party of five, the costs of individual plane or train tickets probably make the car an economic option; the downside is obviously the travel time there and back, which you may or may not see as part of your holiday.

    https://www.seat61.com/ (the absolute best reference for planning this kind of train journey) says the Brussels to Salzburg/Vienna sleeper bookings typically open 3 to 4 months ahead, so for a summer holiday bookings will not yet have opened and you're still in good time to investigate and put a note in your diary for when to book tickets.
    You might want to wait until the investigation into the Spanish rail crash is complete. Seems the Spanish have closed down most of their high speed rail lines as they can't tell if it is the track or the Iryo* train.

    * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frecciarossa_1000
    Is there not a suspicion of a terrorist incident?
  • glwglw Posts: 10,695
    Nigelb said:

    Incidentally, the Greenland agreement appears to be the creation of "Artic Sentry" by NATO.

    And nothing to do with sovereign bases.

    Danish Prime Minister shoots down talk of U.S. sovereign bases in Greenland 🇬🇱 and says she is open to an agreement on Greenland with the U.S. only as long as Denmark’s territorial integrity is respected.

    “NATO is fully aware of the Kingdom of Denmark's position. We can negotiate on everything political; security, investments, economy. But we cannot negotiate on our sovereignty. I have been informed that this has not been the case.“

    https://x.com/yarotrof/status/2014239663326675409

    Yeah one side is definitely not briefing the press correctly, and I'm pretty sure it's not Denmark and Greenland.
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 57,391
    Barnesian said:

    HYUFD said:

    Kelly is worth a long shot bet. Newsom and Buttigieg lead polls now though for the Democratic nomination and Buttigieg is likely to do best in early states. Harris also polls well but losing nominees who have never been President are rarely nominated again

    Newsom seems to be everywhere.

    No doubt he is running.

    Buttigieg has the repeated problem of the later states and their demographics.

    Buttigieg isn't second favourite for the nomination. He's way out at 19.5 on Betfair.
    Newsom is clear favourite on 2.65.
    AOC is second on 8.6.

    The dream ticket is Newsom with AOC as his VP. That covers all the bases.
    AOC is very young and can wait eight years for the presidency, and use that time to prove herself.

    Newsom-AOC risks scaring the horses with a population pissed off by Trump but still very wary of the Dems.

    There is a real risk that ticket makes the same mistakes Harris made in 2024. The Dems have to earn a lot of respect again.
  • MoonRabbitMoonRabbit Posts: 14,736
    HYUFD said:

    HYUFD said:

    Kelly is worth a long shot bet. Newsom and Buttigieg lead polls now though for the Democratic nomination and Buttigieg is likely to do best in early states. Harris also polls well but losing nominees who have never been President are rarely nominated again

    Newsom seems to be everywhere.

    No doubt he is running.

    Buttigieg has the repeated problem of the later states and their demographics.

    In US presidential election primaries the early states are of course crucial, lose those and you won’t even get to the big states. Buttigieg won Iowa in 2020 and would likely outperform Newsom and Kelly in New Hampshire. Kelly would do best in South Carolina I suspect, maybe Harris too would do better there if she ran again
    And Josh Shapiro chances?
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 59,452

    Battlebus said:

    pm215 said:

    IanB2 said:

    These threads are coming thick and fast. Anyhow, FPT:

    Cookie said:

    Hi pb brains trust - any views on the following:

    We (me, wife, three kids 16-11) are hoping to go from Manchester to Austria for a summer holiday. Would you:
    - overnight ferry from Hull to Rotterdam then drive with overnight stop in Germany (probably cheapest,can pack as much stuff as we want, but would take up two days travelling there and two days travelling back. If si, where would you stay?
    - fly then hire a car (surprisingly expenaive even with Easyjet but only two and a half hours to our destination from Munich)
    - train to Brussels then Brussels-Salzburg sleeper (I'd always wanted to travel that way but some reports are discouraging)
    - something else?

    The sleeper tickets are insanely popular, given such limited supply, and probably sold out as soon as they went on sale, assuming the ones for your travel date already are. So you can probably discount that option.

    I’d take the ferry and car option, and you should get an early start off the ferry. If you want to break the back of the driving on the first day, go stay in Tubingen - the hotel schloss at the top of the hill is a great place to stay, and the whole old town is laid out beneath you. Or, to balance the driving between the two days, you could look at Heidelberg, or one of the characterful small towns along the Rhine around Mannheim. If you are driving to Germany, make sure you have your emissions sticker sorted for the vehicle well ahead.

    For a party of five, the costs of individual plane or train tickets probably make the car an economic option; the downside is obviously the travel time there and back, which you may or may not see as part of your holiday.

    https://www.seat61.com/ (the absolute best reference for planning this kind of train journey) says the Brussels to Salzburg/Vienna sleeper bookings typically open 3 to 4 months ahead, so for a summer holiday bookings will not yet have opened and you're still in good time to investigate and put a note in your diary for when to book tickets.
    You might want to wait until the investigation into the Spanish rail crash is complete. Seems the Spanish have closed down most of their high speed rail lines as they can't tell if it is the track or the Iryo* train.

    * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frecciarossa_1000
    Is there not a suspicion of a terrorist incident?
    The broken rail picture does look suspiciously similar to a broken rail that caused an accident in Poland late last year. That one was confirmed as terrorism, Russian operatives used explosives to damage the track.
  • Peter_the_PunterPeter_the_Punter Posts: 15,228

    HYUFD said:

    Nigelb said:

    Good trading bet.
    I'd be quite surprised if he actually gets it.

    I'd be quite surprised if there is a presidential election for him to run in...
    Article II of the US Constitution is clear a president holds office for only four years and even the Supreme Court has not read against what the constitution says and the US military also take an oath to uphold the constitution
    It’s more likely to be rigged than to not happen at all
    It is already gerrymandered to the extent it is effectively rigged, but yes, there has to be considerable doubt that if the vote is even remotely close, Trump will rig it in his favour, or alternatively do more efficiently what he attempted to do on Jan 6th when Biden beat him.
  • LostPasswordLostPassword Posts: 22,121
    Nigelb said:

    Incidentally, the Greenland agreement appears to be the creation of "Artic Sentry" by NATO.

    And nothing to do with sovereign bases.

    Danish Prime Minister shoots down talk of U.S. sovereign bases in Greenland 🇬🇱 and says she is open to an agreement on Greenland with the U.S. only as long as Denmark’s territorial integrity is respected.

    “NATO is fully aware of the Kingdom of Denmark's position. We can negotiate on everything political; security, investments, economy. But we cannot negotiate on our sovereignty. I have been informed that this has not been the case.“

    https://x.com/yarotrof/status/2014239663326675409

    I certainly hope there's nothing to do with sovereign bases.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 85,628
    Also note that the presence of the US military in Greenland under existing treaty is entirely contingent on US membership of NATO.

    https://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/den001.asp
    The Government of the United States of America and the Government of the Kingdom of Denmark, being parties to the North Atlantic Treaty signed at Washington on April 4, 1949 having regard to their responsibilities thereunder for the defense of the North Atlantic Treaty area, desiring to contribute to such defense and thereby to their own defense in accordance with the principles of self-help and mutual aid, and having been requested by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to negotiate arrangements under which armed forces of the parties to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization may make use of facilities in Greenland in defense of Greenland and the rest of the North Atlantic Treaty area, have entered into an Agreement for the benefit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in terms as set forth below:

    Article I.

    The Government of the United States of America and the Government of the Kingdom of Denmark, in order to promote stability and well-being in the North Atlantic Treaty area by uniting their efforts for collective defense and for the preservation of peace and security and for the development of their collective capacity to resist armed attack, will each take such measures as are necessary or appropriate to carry out expeditiously their respective and joint responsibilities in Greenland, in accordance with NATO plans.

    Article II.

    In order that the Government of the United States of America as a party to the North Atlantic Treaty may assist the Government of the Kingdom of Denmark by establishing and/or operating such defense areas as the two Governments, on the basis of NATO defense plans, may from time to time agree to be necessary for the development of the defense of Greenland and the rest of the North Atlantic Treaty area, and which the Government of the Kingdom of Denmark is unable to establish and operate singlehanded, the two Governments in respect of the defense areas thus selected, agree to the following..
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 57,391
    IanB2 said:

    Agree that Harris has the problem of being a loser.

    BUT pretty much everything she warned about Trump has come true. That is a pretty handy thing to have for another Presidential run.

    That said, how much do the voters like being reminded "You fucked up..."?

    We just need to ask the Leave voters who post on PB.
    Say what you like about Leave, it wasn't run by a cabal of fascist grifters....
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 85,628
    glw said:

    Nigelb said:

    Incidentally, the Greenland agreement appears to be the creation of "Artic Sentry" by NATO.

    And nothing to do with sovereign bases.

    Danish Prime Minister shoots down talk of U.S. sovereign bases in Greenland 🇬🇱 and says she is open to an agreement on Greenland with the U.S. only as long as Denmark’s territorial integrity is respected.

    “NATO is fully aware of the Kingdom of Denmark's position. We can negotiate on everything political; security, investments, economy. But we cannot negotiate on our sovereignty. I have been informed that this has not been the case.“

    https://x.com/yarotrof/status/2014239663326675409

    Yeah one side is definitely not briefing the press correctly, and I'm pretty sure it's not Denmark and Greenland.
    It's not as though US conservative media gives two hoots about the truth, so that's probably not a problem.
  • edmundintokyoedmundintokyo Posts: 17,837

    Nigelb said:

    Good trading bet.
    I'd be quite surprised if he actually gets it.

    I'd be quite surprised if there is a presidential election for him to run in...
    Everyone has elections. Russia has elections. China has elections. North Korea has elections.

    How free and fair they'll be and whether the result will be respected is an open question but there will definitely be elections.
  • BarnesianBarnesian Posts: 9,675
    edited 9:12AM

    Barnesian said:

    HYUFD said:

    Kelly is worth a long shot bet. Newsom and Buttigieg lead polls now though for the Democratic nomination and Buttigieg is likely to do best in early states. Harris also polls well but losing nominees who have never been President are rarely nominated again

    Newsom seems to be everywhere.

    No doubt he is running.

    Buttigieg has the repeated problem of the later states and their demographics.

    Buttigieg isn't second favourite for the nomination. He's way out at 19.5 on Betfair.
    Newsom is clear favourite on 2.65.
    AOC is second on 8.6.

    The dream ticket is Newsom with AOC as his VP. That covers all the bases.
    AOC is very young and can wait eight years for the presidency, and use that time to prove herself.

    Newsom-AOC risks scaring the horses with a population pissed off by Trump but still very wary of the Dems.

    There is a real risk that ticket makes the same mistakes Harris made in 2024. The Dems have to earn a lot of respect again.
    AOC is totally focused on cost of living. She has dropped her pronouns and is closely following the Bernie Sanders line on the 99% versus the 1%.
    She might not appeal to the independents but she can up the turnout of young Democrats.

    Newson is very canny and he'll be in charge of the campaign.
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 54,849

    IanB2 said:

    Agree that Harris has the problem of being a loser.

    BUT pretty much everything she warned about Trump has come true. That is a pretty handy thing to have for another Presidential run.

    That said, how much do the voters like being reminded "You fucked up..."?

    We just need to ask the Leave voters who post on PB.
    Say what you like about Leave, it wasn't run by a cabal of fascist grifters....
    Are you sure?
  • RogerRoger Posts: 21,850
    Gavin Newsom with Tucker Carlson as my wild card. I would also give DJT less than a 50/50 chance of making it through to 2008.
  • BarnesianBarnesian Posts: 9,675

    HYUFD said:

    HYUFD said:

    Kelly is worth a long shot bet. Newsom and Buttigieg lead polls now though for the Democratic nomination and Buttigieg is likely to do best in early states. Harris also polls well but losing nominees who have never been President are rarely nominated again

    Newsom seems to be everywhere.

    No doubt he is running.

    Buttigieg has the repeated problem of the later states and their demographics.

    In US presidential election primaries the early states are of course crucial, lose those and you won’t even get to the big states. Buttigieg won Iowa in 2020 and would likely outperform Newsom and Kelly in New Hampshire. Kelly would do best in South Carolina I suspect, maybe Harris too would do better there if she ran again
    And Josh Shapiro chances?
    Shapiro is third favourite on 17.
    Harris on 18.
    Buttigieg on 19.5
    Kelly on 20.

    Clear frontrunners are Newsom and AOC. They'd make a great team.
  • geoffwgeoffw Posts: 9,453
    Roger said:

    Gavin Newsom with Tucker Carlson as my wild card. I would also give DJT less than a 50/50 chance of making it through to 2008.

    Back to the future betting could be the coming thing
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 57,399
    @Benpointer
    Okay, its time.

    #COMPETITION

    Number of net gains (or losses -ve) for the Dems in the House? 39

    Number of net gains (or losses -ve) for the Dems in the Senate? 4

    Number of MSPs won by the SNP at the Holyrood election? 50

    Number of AMs won by Plaid Cymru at the Senedd election? 25

    UK Party recording the largest poll lead during 2026 and by what percentage? (British Polling Council registered pollsters only). Reform 14%

    Labour’s Projected National Share of the vote based on the 2026 local elections according to the BBC? 23%

    Number of Reform MPs on the 31st December 2026? 7

    The name of the UK Prime Minister on 31st December 2026? Starmer

    Will Andy Burnham will be an MP on 31st December 2026? No

    UK borrowing in the financial year to November 2026 (£132.3bn to November 2025). £142 billion

    UK GDP growth in the 12 months to October 2026 (1.1% to October 2025). 1.1%

    Winners of the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup. England


    I think I may be the first one to suggest the last answer. For shame, for shame.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 85,628
    Absolute effing idiots can nonetheless provide excellent lessons.
    In this case, on how the sunk cost fallacy contributes to absurd decision making.

    Ajax: We're going to turn this challenge that we've had into an opportunity, Army chief says
    https://www.forcesnews.com/services/army/ajax-were-going-turn-challenge-weve-had-opportunity-armys-boss-says
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 59,452
    edited 9:23AM

    Barnesian said:

    HYUFD said:

    Kelly is worth a long shot bet. Newsom and Buttigieg lead polls now though for the Democratic nomination and Buttigieg is likely to do best in early states. Harris also polls well but losing nominees who have never been President are rarely nominated again

    Newsom seems to be everywhere.

    No doubt he is running.

    Buttigieg has the repeated problem of the later states and their demographics.

    Buttigieg isn't second favourite for the nomination. He's way out at 19.5 on Betfair.
    Newsom is clear favourite on 2.65.
    AOC is second on 8.6.

    The dream ticket is Newsom with AOC as his VP. That covers all the bases.
    AOC is very young and can wait eight years for the presidency, and use that time to prove herself.

    Newsom-AOC risks scaring the horses with a population pissed off by Trump but still very wary of the Dems.

    There is a real risk that ticket makes the same mistakes Harris made in 2024. The Dems have to earn a lot of respect again.
    They need to find someone who can appeal first of all to the swing states, to aspirational Middle America rather than the liberal woke Democrat base.

    Make American California Again isn’t even a popular message in California any more, and New York is likely to be an even bigger mess by the time 2028 comes around.

    Too many Dems are still going on about illegal immigration and gender stuff that are 80-20 issues against them. Trump and the GOP are pretty good at finding these things and making the Dems look stupid by reflexively opposing them. This month they appear to be in favour of NGO fraud and against voter ID because it’s racist. Black people in general really don’t think it’s racist, and think it’s insulting that it’s even mentioned in this way.
  • RogerRoger Posts: 21,850
    edited 9:19AM
    geoffw said:

    Roger said:

    Gavin Newsom with Tucker Carlson as my wild card. I would also give DJT less than a 50/50 chance of making it through to 2008.

    Back to the future betting could be the coming thing
    typo obviously! If this politician ever becomes eligable she'd have my vote in a heartbeat.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkRImkcKgkU
  • algarkirkalgarkirk Posts: 16,373
    Foxy said:

    IanB2 said:

    Agree that Harris has the problem of being a loser.

    BUT pretty much everything she warned about Trump has come true. That is a pretty handy thing to have for another Presidential run.

    That said, how much do the voters like being reminded "You fucked up..."?

    We just need to ask the Leave voters who post on PB.
    Say what you like about Leave, it wasn't run by a cabal of fascist grifters....
    Are you sure?
    Whether leave organisers were a bunch of fascist grifters is secondary. The UK management of post referendum events were 100% a matter for government and parliament, most of whom wanted to maintain a sane relationship with the EU but failed to achieve it. It was not fascist grifters who failed to strike a deal along Norway or Swiss lines, or failed to hold a ratifying referendum on the actual proposal but government and parliament.

    Voting to leave a growing political union that didn't have a common defence policy or any plan to achieve one was, at the time, rational. It could now be described as obvious.

  • RogerRoger Posts: 21,850
    Roger said:



    geoffw said:

    Roger said:

    Gavin Newsom with Tucker Carlson as my wild card. I would also give DJT less than a 50/50 chance of making it through to 2008.

    Back to the future betting could be the coming thing
    typo obviously! If this politician ever becomes eligable she'd have my vote in a heartbeat.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkRImkcKgkU
    Wrong link!

    Right link!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMPe_e-WRMk
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 59,452
    Nigelb said:

    Absolute effing idiots can nonetheless provide excellent lessons.
    In this case, on how the sunk cost fallacy contributes to absurd decision making.

    Ajax: We're going to turn this challenge that we've had into an opportunity, Army chief says
    https://www.forcesnews.com/services/army/ajax-were-going-turn-challenge-weve-had-opportunity-armys-boss-says

    Someone needs to explain the Sunk Cost Fallacy to the Army chiefs.

    They’ve been trying to fix it for years now. Send it back and sue the arse off the supplier, then order the Korean IFV off-the-shelf which will be loads cheaper anyway.
  • RogerRoger Posts: 21,850
    edited 9:27AM
    Nigelb said:

    Good trading bet.
    I'd be quite surprised if he actually gets it.

    Hes also bald. When was the last time the oscenely shallow Americans chose someone bald?
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 57,399
    Sandpit said:

    Barnesian said:

    HYUFD said:

    Kelly is worth a long shot bet. Newsom and Buttigieg lead polls now though for the Democratic nomination and Buttigieg is likely to do best in early states. Harris also polls well but losing nominees who have never been President are rarely nominated again

    Newsom seems to be everywhere.

    No doubt he is running.

    Buttigieg has the repeated problem of the later states and their demographics.

    Buttigieg isn't second favourite for the nomination. He's way out at 19.5 on Betfair.
    Newsom is clear favourite on 2.65.
    AOC is second on 8.6.

    The dream ticket is Newsom with AOC as his VP. That covers all the bases.
    AOC is very young and can wait eight years for the presidency, and use that time to prove herself.

    Newsom-AOC risks scaring the horses with a population pissed off by Trump but still very wary of the Dems.

    There is a real risk that ticket makes the same mistakes Harris made in 2024. The Dems have to earn a lot of respect again.
    They need to find someone who can appeal first of all to the swing states, to aspirational Middle America rather than the liberal woke Democrat base.

    Make American California Again isn’t even a popular message in California any more, and New York is likely to be an even bigger mess by the time 2028 comes around.

    Too many Dems are still going on about illegal immigration and gender stuff that are 80-20 issues against them. Trump and the GOP are pretty good at finding these things and making the Dems look stupid by reflexively opposing them. This month they appear to be in favour of NGO fraud and against voter ID because it’s racist. Black people in general really don’t think it’s racist, and think it’s insulting that it’s even mentioned in this way.
    Biden, without the senility, is what the Democrats need. Someone who gets middle America well enough to get a hearing. Who recognises the importance of manufacturing and investment there. Who is not obsessed with gender, race or equality. Who is focused like a laser on the economy and the standard of living of the average American. I am not persuaded Newsom is that man and AOC is not that woman. She would be a drag on the ticket where it matters even if she boosted the vote where it doesn't.

    I would like to see Buttigieg on the ticket as VP but I think having him head it would be giving the Republicans a chance and after foisting Trump on the US and the world they don't deserve one.
  • RochdalePioneersRochdalePioneers Posts: 31,674
    I know that HY is clinging to normalcy, but we're long past normal being relevant.

    His scenario is that everything is fine, America has a legal system and a constitution.

    My scenario is that America is in the midst of a fascist takeover where the rule of law has been suspended and the constitution is being ignored.

    If they lose power they all go to jail. And they think they are unstoppable. Why bother with elections you could lose?

    The mid-terms are the pivot point. If they go ahead in all seats unimpeded, then lets talk about 2028 presidential candidates. Until then, its only speculation there will be a requirement for candidates. And we're increasingly likely to have Kelly and Newsom and the others arrested, not run for election. Seditious traitors don't get to stage faked elections to steal the country, they get bundled into black cars by ski-masked goons.
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 57,399
    Roger said:

    Nigelb said:

    Good trading bet.
    I'd be quite surprised if he actually gets it.

    Hes also bald. When was the last time the oscenely shallow Americans chose someone bald?
    Ike?
  • RochdalePioneersRochdalePioneers Posts: 31,674

    Nigelb said:

    Good trading bet.
    I'd be quite surprised if he actually gets it.

    I'd be quite surprised if there is a presidential election for him to run in...
    Everyone has elections. Russia has elections. China has elections. North Korea has elections.

    How free and fair they'll be and whether the result will be respected is an open question but there will definitely be elections.
    Sure. There's elections and then there are elections. But where its house and senate seats up for grabs, just watch the dem ones get suspended. The people organising these elections are seditious traitors, so even sticking the SA outside the polling station to arrest anyone not wearing a MAGA hat may not be enough to guarantee the required result...
  • LostPasswordLostPassword Posts: 22,121
    Nigelb said:

    Absolute effing idiots can nonetheless provide excellent lessons.
    In this case, on how the sunk cost fallacy contributes to absurd decision making.

    Ajax: We're going to turn this challenge that we've had into an opportunity, Army chief says
    https://www.forcesnews.com/services/army/ajax-were-going-turn-challenge-weve-had-opportunity-armys-boss-says

    When were these vibration issues first identified?

    Why do people still think there's some sort of bodge fix that can be done that hasn't previously been done?
  • isamisam Posts: 43,402
    edited 9:36AM
    Saw the headline and thought this was going to be about Katie Lam (tipped at 100/1, now best price 6/1 with bookmakers to be next Conservative leader). Then I remembered I didn’t write the header
  • bondegezoubondegezou Posts: 18,280
    HYUFD said:

    Nigelb said:

    Good trading bet.
    I'd be quite surprised if he actually gets it.

    I'd be quite surprised if there is a presidential election for him to run in...
    Article II of the US Constitution is clear a president holds office for only four years and even the Supreme Court has not read against what the constitution says and the US military also take an oath to uphold the constitution
    The US Constitution says a lot of things that Trump and his govt have ignored. ICE aren't allowed to arrest people on the street on the grounds they are brown and can't immediately prove they are US citizens. Trump can't randomly set tarrifs. Etc.
  • OnlyLivingBoyOnlyLivingBoy Posts: 17,622
    Roger said:

    Nigelb said:

    Good trading bet.
    I'd be quite surprised if he actually gets it.

    Hes also bald. When was the last time the oscenely shallow Americans chose someone bald?
    2024.
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 54,011
    edited 9:38AM

    IanB2 said:

    Agree that Harris has the problem of being a loser.

    BUT pretty much everything she warned about Trump has come true. That is a pretty handy thing to have for another Presidential run.

    That said, how much do the voters like being reminded "You fucked up..."?

    We just need to ask the Leave voters who post on PB.
    Say what you like about Leave, it wasn't run by a cabal of fascist grifters....
    It depends whether you think the campaign was driven by the Vote Leave or Leave.EU people, broadly comprising the Tories and UKIP/Brexit Party/Reform lot respectively. While the more moderate body was in pole position during the campaign, when you look at how Brexit turned out and ended up being implemented, it was the Russian-linked extremists now in Reform who got their way.
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 54,011
    DavidL said:

    @Benpointer
    Okay, its time.

    #COMPETITION

    Number of net gains (or losses -ve) for the Dems in the House? 39

    Number of net gains (or losses -ve) for the Dems in the Senate? 4

    Number of MSPs won by the SNP at the Holyrood election? 50

    Number of AMs won by Plaid Cymru at the Senedd election? 25

    UK Party recording the largest poll lead during 2026 and by what percentage? (British Polling Council registered pollsters only). Reform 14%

    Labour’s Projected National Share of the vote based on the 2026 local elections according to the BBC? 23%

    Number of Reform MPs on the 31st December 2026? 7

    The name of the UK Prime Minister on 31st December 2026? Starmer

    Will Andy Burnham will be an MP on 31st December 2026? No

    UK borrowing in the financial year to November 2026 (£132.3bn to November 2025). £142 billion

    UK GDP growth in the 12 months to October 2026 (1.1% to October 2025). 1.1%

    Winners of the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup. England


    I think I may be the first one to suggest the last answer. For shame, for shame.

    You're at least the fourth!
  • LostPasswordLostPassword Posts: 22,121

    I know that HY is clinging to normalcy, but we're long past normal being relevant.

    His scenario is that everything is fine, America has a legal system and a constitution.

    My scenario is that America is in the midst of a fascist takeover where the rule of law has been suspended and the constitution is being ignored.

    If they lose power they all go to jail. And they think they are unstoppable. Why bother with elections you could lose?

    The mid-terms are the pivot point. If they go ahead in all seats unimpeded, then lets talk about 2028 presidential candidates. Until then, its only speculation there will be a requirement for candidates. And we're increasingly likely to have Kelly and Newsom and the others arrested, not run for election. Seditious traitors don't get to stage faked elections to steal the country, they get bundled into black cars by ski-masked goons.

    The thing is if you hold sham elections that you make it a lot easier for people with normalcy bias to blame the Dems for standing a weak candidate to explain their loss, and discount the vote rigging, and that all their strongest candidates were prevented from standing.

    Remember, HYUFD says that Russia is a democracy because they hold elections.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 59,452
    edited 9:41AM
    DavidL said:

    Sandpit said:

    Barnesian said:

    HYUFD said:

    Kelly is worth a long shot bet. Newsom and Buttigieg lead polls now though for the Democratic nomination and Buttigieg is likely to do best in early states. Harris also polls well but losing nominees who have never been President are rarely nominated again

    Newsom seems to be everywhere.

    No doubt he is running.

    Buttigieg has the repeated problem of the later states and their demographics.

    Buttigieg isn't second favourite for the nomination. He's way out at 19.5 on Betfair.
    Newsom is clear favourite on 2.65.
    AOC is second on 8.6.

    The dream ticket is Newsom with AOC as his VP. That covers all the bases.
    AOC is very young and can wait eight years for the presidency, and use that time to prove herself.

    Newsom-AOC risks scaring the horses with a population pissed off by Trump but still very wary of the Dems.

    There is a real risk that ticket makes the same mistakes Harris made in 2024. The Dems have to earn a lot of respect again.
    They need to find someone who can appeal first of all to the swing states, to aspirational Middle America rather than the liberal woke Democrat base.

    Make American California Again isn’t even a popular message in California any more, and New York is likely to be an even bigger mess by the time 2028 comes around.

    Too many Dems are still going on about illegal immigration and gender stuff that are 80-20 issues against them. Trump and the GOP are pretty good at finding these things and making the Dems look stupid by reflexively opposing them. This month they appear to be in favour of NGO fraud and against voter ID because it’s racist. Black people in general really don’t think it’s racist, and think it’s insulting that it’s even mentioned in this way.
    Biden, without the senility, is what the Democrats need. Someone who gets middle America well enough to get a hearing. Who recognises the importance of manufacturing and investment there. Who is not obsessed with gender, race or equality. Who is focused like a laser on the economy and the standard of living of the average American. I am not persuaded Newsom is that man and AOC is not that woman. She would be a drag on the ticket where it matters even if she boosted the vote where it doesn't.

    I would like to see Buttigieg on the ticket as VP but I think having him head it would be giving the Republicans a chance and after foisting Trump on the US and the world they don't deserve one.
    Yes a much younger Biden would have been a good choice, someone with a blue-collar sensibility who understands how the engine of the economy runs. Coastal liberals poll terribly in the swing states.

    Whoever does win the nomination needs to remember who are those who actually decide the election, because it’s not the States where you can weigh the blue vote. To say they need a balanced ticket would be something of an understatement.

    Buttigieg is IMHO still too inexperienced, he’s not been a Senator or a Governor, and his stint as Transport under Biden was mixed at best with a number of infrastructure failures and accidents.

    What’s really important is that they have lots of debates and let the primiries run their course, rather than the DNC Establishment trying to stitch things up early as they have done in the recent past. Pretty sure that 2008 was their last real primary season, they need to have much more policy discussion and debate as a party.
  • FossFoss Posts: 2,308
    Sandpit said:

    DavidL said:

    Sandpit said:

    Barnesian said:

    HYUFD said:

    Kelly is worth a long shot bet. Newsom and Buttigieg lead polls now though for the Democratic nomination and Buttigieg is likely to do best in early states. Harris also polls well but losing nominees who have never been President are rarely nominated again

    Newsom seems to be everywhere.

    No doubt he is running.

    Buttigieg has the repeated problem of the later states and their demographics.

    Buttigieg isn't second favourite for the nomination. He's way out at 19.5 on Betfair.
    Newsom is clear favourite on 2.65.
    AOC is second on 8.6.

    The dream ticket is Newsom with AOC as his VP. That covers all the bases.
    AOC is very young and can wait eight years for the presidency, and use that time to prove herself.

    Newsom-AOC risks scaring the horses with a population pissed off by Trump but still very wary of the Dems.

    There is a real risk that ticket makes the same mistakes Harris made in 2024. The Dems have to earn a lot of respect again.
    They need to find someone who can appeal first of all to the swing states, to aspirational Middle America rather than the liberal woke Democrat base.

    Make American California Again isn’t even a popular message in California any more, and New York is likely to be an even bigger mess by the time 2028 comes around.

    Too many Dems are still going on about illegal immigration and gender stuff that are 80-20 issues against them. Trump and the GOP are pretty good at finding these things and making the Dems look stupid by reflexively opposing them. This month they appear to be in favour of NGO fraud and against voter ID because it’s racist. Black people in general really don’t think it’s racist, and think it’s insulting that it’s even mentioned in this way.
    Biden, without the senility, is what the Democrats need. Someone who gets middle America well enough to get a hearing. Who recognises the importance of manufacturing and investment there. Who is not obsessed with gender, race or equality. Who is focused like a laser on the economy and the standard of living of the average American. I am not persuaded Newsom is that man and AOC is not that woman. She would be a drag on the ticket where it matters even if she boosted the vote where it doesn't.

    I would like to see Buttigieg on the ticket as VP but I think having him head it would be giving the Republicans a chance and after foisting Trump on the US and the world they don't deserve one.
    Yes a much younger Biden would have been a good choice, someone with a blue-collar sensibility who understands how the engine of the economy runs. Coastal liberals poll terribly in the swing states.

    Whoever does win the nomination needs to remember who are those who actually decide the election, because it’s not the States where you can weigh the blue vote. To say they need a balanced ticket would be something of an understatement.

    Buttigieg is IMHO still too inexperienced, he’s not been a Senator or a Governor, and his stint as Transport under Biden was mixed at best with a number of infrastructure failures and accidents.

    What’s really important is that they have lots of debates and let the primiries run their course, rather than the DNC Establishment trying to stitch things up early as they have done in the recent past. Pretty sure that 2008 was their last real primary season, they need to have much more policy discussion and debate as a party.
    And 2008 gave them the appealing and winning Obama instead of the unattractive but establishment Clinton.
  • Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 57,437
    Roger said:

    Nigelb said:

    Good trading bet.
    I'd be quite surprised if he actually gets it.

    Hes also bald. When was the last time the oscenely shallow Americans chose someone bald?
    William will be our first bald King, and we won't be able to choose...
  • bondegezoubondegezou Posts: 18,280
    Sandpit said:

    Yes a much younger Biden would have been a good choice, someone with a blue-collar sensibility who understands how the engine of the economy runs. Coastal liberals poll terribly in the swing states.

    As far as I understand it, the US engine of the economy runs on coastal liberals. California and New York alone account for over a fifth of US GDP.

  • bondegezoubondegezou Posts: 18,280
    Foss said:

    Sandpit said:

    DavidL said:

    Sandpit said:

    Barnesian said:

    HYUFD said:

    Kelly is worth a long shot bet. Newsom and Buttigieg lead polls now though for the Democratic nomination and Buttigieg is likely to do best in early states. Harris also polls well but losing nominees who have never been President are rarely nominated again

    Newsom seems to be everywhere.

    No doubt he is running.

    Buttigieg has the repeated problem of the later states and their demographics.

    Buttigieg isn't second favourite for the nomination. He's way out at 19.5 on Betfair.
    Newsom is clear favourite on 2.65.
    AOC is second on 8.6.

    The dream ticket is Newsom with AOC as his VP. That covers all the bases.
    AOC is very young and can wait eight years for the presidency, and use that time to prove herself.

    Newsom-AOC risks scaring the horses with a population pissed off by Trump but still very wary of the Dems.

    There is a real risk that ticket makes the same mistakes Harris made in 2024. The Dems have to earn a lot of respect again.
    They need to find someone who can appeal first of all to the swing states, to aspirational Middle America rather than the liberal woke Democrat base.

    Make American California Again isn’t even a popular message in California any more, and New York is likely to be an even bigger mess by the time 2028 comes around.

    Too many Dems are still going on about illegal immigration and gender stuff that are 80-20 issues against them. Trump and the GOP are pretty good at finding these things and making the Dems look stupid by reflexively opposing them. This month they appear to be in favour of NGO fraud and against voter ID because it’s racist. Black people in general really don’t think it’s racist, and think it’s insulting that it’s even mentioned in this way.
    Biden, without the senility, is what the Democrats need. Someone who gets middle America well enough to get a hearing. Who recognises the importance of manufacturing and investment there. Who is not obsessed with gender, race or equality. Who is focused like a laser on the economy and the standard of living of the average American. I am not persuaded Newsom is that man and AOC is not that woman. She would be a drag on the ticket where it matters even if she boosted the vote where it doesn't.

    I would like to see Buttigieg on the ticket as VP but I think having him head it would be giving the Republicans a chance and after foisting Trump on the US and the world they don't deserve one.
    Yes a much younger Biden would have been a good choice, someone with a blue-collar sensibility who understands how the engine of the economy runs. Coastal liberals poll terribly in the swing states.

    Whoever does win the nomination needs to remember who are those who actually decide the election, because it’s not the States where you can weigh the blue vote. To say they need a balanced ticket would be something of an understatement.

    Buttigieg is IMHO still too inexperienced, he’s not been a Senator or a Governor, and his stint as Transport under Biden was mixed at best with a number of infrastructure failures and accidents.

    What’s really important is that they have lots of debates and let the primiries run their course, rather than the DNC Establishment trying to stitch things up early as they have done in the recent past. Pretty sure that 2008 was their last real primary season, they need to have much more policy discussion and debate as a party.
    And 2008 gave them the appealing and winning Obama instead of the unattractive but establishment Clinton.
    Clinton (H) still won the popular vote!
  • LostPasswordLostPassword Posts: 22,121

    Roger said:

    Nigelb said:

    Good trading bet.
    I'd be quite surprised if he actually gets it.

    Hes also bald. When was the last time the oscenely shallow Americans chose someone bald?
    William will be our first bald King, and we won't be able to choose...
    He'll have the most popular consort of a Monarch since 1952.
  • MattWMattW Posts: 31,804
    Good morning.

    Scotus seems about to do a Dorothy on Trump's Cowardly Lion wrt his desire to sack the head of the Federal Reserve Board.

    (Unless have my time zones around my neck and it has happened already one way or another.)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tb3hF8zQzdI
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 57,399
    IanB2 said:

    DavidL said:

    @Benpointer
    Okay, its time.

    #COMPETITION

    Number of net gains (or losses -ve) for the Dems in the House? 39

    Number of net gains (or losses -ve) for the Dems in the Senate? 4

    Number of MSPs won by the SNP at the Holyrood election? 50

    Number of AMs won by Plaid Cymru at the Senedd election? 25

    UK Party recording the largest poll lead during 2026 and by what percentage? (British Polling Council registered pollsters only). Reform 14%

    Labour’s Projected National Share of the vote based on the 2026 local elections according to the BBC? 23%

    Number of Reform MPs on the 31st December 2026? 7

    The name of the UK Prime Minister on 31st December 2026? Starmer

    Will Andy Burnham will be an MP on 31st December 2026? No

    UK borrowing in the financial year to November 2026 (£132.3bn to November 2025). £142 billion

    UK GDP growth in the 12 months to October 2026 (1.1% to October 2025). 1.1%

    Winners of the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup. England


    I think I may be the first one to suggest the last answer. For shame, for shame.

    You're at least the fourth!
    Okay, I withdraw that. Every one I have seen has been Argentina, Brazil or France.
  • glwglw Posts: 10,695
    DavidL said:

    Just going back to Carney for a moment one of the key parts of the speech for me was this:

    "But when we only negotiate bilaterally with a hegemon, we negotiate from weakness. We accept what's offered. We compete with each other to be the most accommodating.

    This is not sovereignty. It's the performance of sovereignty while accepting subordination. In a world of great power rivalry, the countries in between have a choice – compete with each other for favor, or to combine to create a third path with impact."

    This was a direct and very clear critique of the Starmer "special deal" approach which got us the 5% off tariffs and has been the basis of our "handling" of the Trump grotesque until now. In contrast, the unified position of Europe and Canada has produced yet another Trump TACO on Greenland very quickly. It shows the way ahead. I very much hope that Starmer learns from this and evolves his strategy. I do not doubt for a moment that he was being advised by the Foreign Office that "best buds" was the way to go and that he pursued that believing that to be in the national interest, whatever his personal distaste. So long as the lesson is learned no great harm is done.

    I don't know about CANZUK but we should pursue closer ties with Canada, and other similar nations, as urgently as we mend fences with the EU.
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 57,391
    Foxy said:

    IanB2 said:

    Agree that Harris has the problem of being a loser.

    BUT pretty much everything she warned about Trump has come true. That is a pretty handy thing to have for another Presidential run.

    That said, how much do the voters like being reminded "You fucked up..."?

    We just need to ask the Leave voters who post on PB.
    Say what you like about Leave, it wasn't run by a cabal of fascist grifters....
    Are you sure?
    Yes.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 59,452

    Sandpit said:

    Yes a much younger Biden would have been a good choice, someone with a blue-collar sensibility who understands how the engine of the economy runs. Coastal liberals poll terribly in the swing states.

    As far as I understand it, the US engine of the economy runs on coastal liberals. California and New York alone account for over a fifth of US GDP.

    Mostly driven by small numbers of massive tech and finance companies, while the direction of travel in the last decade has been away from NY and CA, in favour of FL and TX.

    Apple and Google share prices going gangbusters is little to do with California as a place politically.
  • OnlyLivingBoyOnlyLivingBoy Posts: 17,622

    Roger said:

    Nigelb said:

    Good trading bet.
    I'd be quite surprised if he actually gets it.

    Hes also bald. When was the last time the oscenely shallow Americans chose someone bald?
    William will be our first bald King, and we won't be able to choose...
    He'll have the most popular consort of a Monarch since 1952.
    Bald guys always get the prettiest girls, as I know from experience.
  • rkrkrkrkrkrk Posts: 9,057
    #competition

    Thanks for running competition again. Number of questions is a bit more manageable!

    1. Dems gain 14 seats
    2. 3 gains for Dems
    3. 53
    4. 41
    5. Reform 16%
    6. 14%
    7. 8
    8. Keir Starmer
    9. No
    10. £128bn
    11. 2.1%
    12. England
  • bondegezoubondegezou Posts: 18,280
    On the topic of the safety of US elections: https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/21/trump-2020-election-prosecutions-00738778

    President Donald Trump on Wednesday said individuals will soon be prosecuted for their role in what he called the “rigged 2020 election,” continuing his fixation on an election he lost.

    Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Trump said “everybody now knows that” the 2020 presidential election was rigged and “people will soon be prosecuted for what they did.“
  • stodgestodge Posts: 15,920
    Morning all :)

    On follically-challenged Presidents, I didn't think Eisenhower had much hair on the top of his head but I don't think he was bald.

    As much as trying to figure out what's likely to happen at our next General Election, trying to figure out who will even be running in the 2028 US Presidential election (I'm pretty sure there will be one) is also a challenge.

    Presumably, Vance will throw his headgear of choice in the ring but could there be other Republican possibles less wedded to Trump? I'm trying to think of the last time a sitting President or Vice President lost the nomination (as distinct from the election) on either side and I'm struggling - I suppose it's possible had Bobby Kennedy lived, he'd have defeated Hubert Humphrey for the Democrat nomination in 1968.

    The Democrat field is wide open and if the party does well in the midterms, it's likely to get even busier.

    I recall some bright spark getting 250/1 about a Chicago Senator becoming President a couple of decades back. Whether such value exists in the form of Kelly I don't know - he certainly is a possible. Newsom seems to be the obvious place to start - I'm hearing contradictory views on whether he has transformed California or whether it remains a hellhole (presumably depending on your political viewpoint). California Governors have won before so it's not out of the question.
  • Starmer ones again proves to be much better at politics than people give him credit for.
  • bondegezoubondegezou Posts: 18,280
    Sandpit said:

    Sandpit said:

    Yes a much younger Biden would have been a good choice, someone with a blue-collar sensibility who understands how the engine of the economy runs. Coastal liberals poll terribly in the swing states.

    As far as I understand it, the US engine of the economy runs on coastal liberals. California and New York alone account for over a fifth of US GDP.

    Mostly driven by small numbers of massive tech and finance companies, while the direction of travel in the last decade has been away from NY and CA, in favour of FL and TX.

    Apple and Google share prices going gangbusters is little to do with California as a place politically.
    Most of the people working at Apple and Google are coastal liberals. They do not share many cultural values with blue collar workers in Alabama. The US economy depends more on the former than the latter. (But the electoral college downweights the voting power of New Yorkers and Californians.)
  • RochdalePioneersRochdalePioneers Posts: 31,674

    On the topic of the safety of US elections: https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/21/trump-2020-election-prosecutions-00738778

    President Donald Trump on Wednesday said individuals will soon be prosecuted for their role in what he called the “rigged 2020 election,” continuing his fixation on an election he lost.

    Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Trump said “everybody now knows that” the 2020 presidential election was rigged and “people will soon be prosecuted for what they did.“

    And remember - "what they did" was uphold the law and run a free and fair election. So whatever action he has in mind is the illegal part, but surely is just performative?

    Dem lawmakers are seditious traitors, they rigged the 2020 election, we're prosecuting them, we can't allow more traitors to hold rigged elections so we're removing the right of these states to run their elections. Etc.

    Its directly on the path towards not running any election in places in November. The state will try and run an election. The federal government will try and run an election, the ensuing violence allows them to suspend the whole process just long enough to remove the dems from Congress to pass enabling acts removing the power of congress to think it is a co-equal branch of government with the White House.
  • bondegezoubondegezou Posts: 18,280
    stodge said:

    Morning all :)

    On follically-challenged Presidents, I didn't think Eisenhower had much hair on the top of his head but I don't think he was bald.

    As much as trying to figure out what's likely to happen at our next General Election, trying to figure out who will even be running in the 2028 US Presidential election (I'm pretty sure there will be one) is also a challenge.

    Presumably, Vance will throw his headgear of choice in the ring but could there be other Republican possibles less wedded to Trump? I'm trying to think of the last time a sitting President or Vice President lost the nomination (as distinct from the election) on either side and I'm struggling - I suppose it's possible had Bobby Kennedy lived, he'd have defeated Hubert Humphrey for the Democrat nomination in 1968.

    The Democrat field is wide open and if the party does well in the midterms, it's likely to get even busier.

    I recall some bright spark getting 250/1 about a Chicago Senator becoming President a couple of decades back. Whether such value exists in the form of Kelly I don't know - he certainly is a possible. Newsom seems to be the obvious place to start - I'm hearing contradictory views on whether he has transformed California or whether it remains a hellhole (presumably depending on your political viewpoint). California Governors have won before so it's not out of the question.

    If you want a longshot bet, I'm still suggesting Ruben Gallego.
  • RochdalePioneersRochdalePioneers Posts: 31,674

    Starmer ones again proves to be much better at politics than people give him credit for.

    Hey Horse how are you?

    Which political manoeuvre are you impressed by?
  • BurgessianBurgessian Posts: 3,452
    DavidL said:

    Just going back to Carney for a moment one of the key parts of the speech for me was this:

    "But when we only negotiate bilaterally with a hegemon, we negotiate from weakness. We accept what's offered. We compete with each other to be the most accommodating.

    This is not sovereignty. It's the performance of sovereignty while accepting subordination. In a world of great power rivalry, the countries in between have a choice – compete with each other for favor, or to combine to create a third path with impact."

    This was a direct and very clear critique of the Starmer "special deal" approach which got us the 5% off tariffs and has been the basis of our "handling" of the Trump grotesque until now. In contrast, the unified position of Europe and Canada has produced yet another Trump TACO on Greenland very quickly. It shows the way ahead. I very much hope that Starmer learns from this and evolves his strategy. I do not doubt for a moment that he was being advised by the Foreign Office that "best buds" was the way to go and that he pursued that believing that to be in the national interest, whatever his personal distaste. So long as the lesson is learned no great harm is done.

    Not everyone agrees with Carney. Nige has slagged him off, big time: "a chap who gets everything wrong." Don't think people appreciate just how invested in MAGA Farage is.
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 80,501
    edited 9:59AM
    MattW said:

    Good morning.

    Scotus seems about to do a Dorothy on Trump's Cowardly Lion wrt his desire to sack the head of the Federal Reserve Board.

    (Unless have my time zones around my neck and it has happened already one way or another.)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tb3hF8zQzdI

    The court is, despite Trump vs United States - still de facto the strongest branch of US gov't; power SCOTUK can only dream of.
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