After Healey's humiliating de bagging at the hands of Nick Ferrari this morning I have been listening to Al Carns on PM. I don't know that much about him but unlike most Cabinet Ministers he can actually think and talk bat the same time.
A cut above!
Did he mention that he was a big, brave soldier? He tends not to talk about it,
Church attendance report pulled after YouGov finds 'fraudulent' responses
A report claiming the number of young people attending church in England and Wales had skyrocketed has been retracted, after the underlying data was found to be flawed.
The Bible Society's "Quiet Revival" report had been widely reported on since its publication last year and became an accepted part of discourse among many Christians.
Now YouGov, which carried out the research, has told the Bible Society that an internal review of the data found that some of the respondents who completed its survey were "fraudulent".
It has said that quality control measures, which usually remove such responses, were not applied due to human error.
It never rang true as anyone who goes to church on Sunday, or even passes by on the way to the pub can see that there are not hordes of youngsters going.
Plenty in evangelical churches in big cities, Tottenham Court Road Hillsong church is packed with young people of all ethnicities each Sunday
Yeah, but no more than there were.
Mega churches I think are bigger amongst under 30s than they were pre 2000 and especially attract lots of young black British. Even C of E churches are more ethnically diverse than they were, especially in urban areas.
Plenty of younger Eastern Europeans in Roman Catholic churches in the UK too
SECRETARY RUBIO: The U.S. is constantly asked to help in wars and we have. But when we had a need, it didn’t get positive responses from NATO. A couple leaders said that Iran was not Europe’s war. Well, Ukraine isn’t our war, yet we’ve contributed more to that fight than anyone.
And Afghanistan and Iraq weren't our wars yet we did far more than the US did in Ukraine. There's no blank cheque to support stupid actions.
Honestly, never has a single group of people all deserved to be punched in the face more than the Trump cabinet...
Interesting article Rochdale, but you can't have it both ways. It can't be bad that Ref/Green will fall away AND bad that Lab/Con will remain, surely?
Yes, you can. None of them are any good. None offer solutions to our problems. None are even willing to acknowledge the extent of the our problems because it would cause problems with their "solutions" and make them incoherent.
I remember Thatcher and her 1979 government. We were in serious trouble. Unions were willing to destroy businesses rather than compromise about what was needed to boost productivity. Management was arrogant, patronising and frankly under skilled. More and more of our economy was subject to the public sector mindset, more focused on those that worked for the business than their customers. Changing this was hard, brutal at times, but (with a lot of help from the proceeds of North Sea oil) it worked.
Where is the current Thatcherite solution? Not in any of our politicians, that is for sure.
My tentative suggestions are that we need a repeat of 1980s deregulation. We need to massively cut back on the regulatory state, many of these regulatory bodies should be completely eliminated. We need to protect businesses from their intrusions and allow them to get on with making money. This will make running businesses from here more attractive but we need to do more, giving generous tax allowances for investment both in kit and training. We need to admire and not want to tear down those who want to make money. We need them. We need the jobs that they create. We need the taxes they will pay and we need to accept that some of them will be chancers and wide boys taking advantage. That's ok and we need to not get too het up about it.
I don't see anyone offering anything like this. I don't see anyone who has anything like a workable solution at all.
I've just recorded another episode of our Emergency Podcast show, arguing that the solution to the Iran war is trade. We don't need to convert countries we disagree with if we can trade with them. Saudi is still chopping heads but wants to do business.
Britain's way out of our mess? Work hard, trade hard. If only there was a party offering that agenda.
Church attendance report pulled after YouGov finds 'fraudulent' responses
A report claiming the number of young people attending church in England and Wales had skyrocketed has been retracted, after the underlying data was found to be flawed.
The Bible Society's "Quiet Revival" report had been widely reported on since its publication last year and became an accepted part of discourse among many Christians.
Now YouGov, which carried out the research, has told the Bible Society that an internal review of the data found that some of the respondents who completed its survey were "fraudulent".
It has said that quality control measures, which usually remove such responses, were not applied due to human error.
It never rang true as anyone who goes to church on Sunday, or even passes by on the way to the pub can see that there are not hordes of youngsters going.
Plenty in evangelical churches in big cities, Tottenham Court Road Hillsong church is packed with young people of all ethnicities each Sunday
Yeah, but no more than there were.
Mega churches I think are bigger amongst under 30s than they were pre 2000 and especially attract lots of young black British. Even C of E churches are more ethnically diverse than they were, especially in urban areas.
Plenty of younger Eastern Europeans in Roman Catholic churches in the UK too
Don't get me wrong, I would be happy if the young were going to church more, but proper surveys show a continued slow decline.
SECRETARY RUBIO: The U.S. is constantly asked to help in wars and we have. But when we had a need, it didn’t get positive responses from NATO. A couple leaders said that Iran was not Europe’s war. Well, Ukraine isn’t our war, yet we’ve contributed more to that fight than anyone.
And Afghanistan and Iraq weren't our wars yet we did far more than the US did in Ukraine. There's no blank cheque to support stupid actions.
Honestly, never has a single group of people all deserved to be punched in the face more than the Trump cabinet...
I think you can divide the world into those who are embarrassed when “their people” are obnoxious to others, and those who cheer it on or find it amusing.
I had one of those epiphanies when Alan Clarke lauded the football hooligans as heirs to the great British martial spirit, yet every time they appeared on telly tearing up European market squares I felt excruciating embarrassment.
Trump is leaning towards a major ground operation in Iran, believing it could force the regime to surrender, The Times of Israel reports.
This is just bollocks. Desert Storm was 750,000 troops. He’s prepared less than 10,000.
That’s enough for a skerry or two? Even if preps a full invasion we are months away from it.
I'd caveat that with the possibility that modern drone warfare may somewhat reduce the need for such large numbers of troops. Desert Storm was a while ago now.
Max Verstappen proves once more he's an utter [redacted]
Max Verstappen throws Guardian journalist out of press conference
Red Bull driver erupts during media session at Japanese Grand Prix after spotting reporter who had irritated him with question last season
Max Verstappen refused to start a press conference in Japan until a British journalist had left the room, telling the reporter in question to “get out” three times during a tense exchange.
Verstappen, 28, had just sat down for his print media duties in the Red Bull hospitality suite in Suzuka when he spotted the reporter, Giles Richards of The Guardian.
“I’m not speaking before he leaves,” said Verstappen, who was seemingly still aggrieved at a line of questioning during a news conference which followed last season’s finale in Abu Dhabi in December.
On that occasion, Richards had asked Verstappen whether he “now regretted” driving into George Russell at the Spanish Grand Prix last May, an incident which cost the Dutch driver nine championship points. Verstappen ended up losing the title by just two points to McLaren’s Lando Norris.
“You forget about all the other stuff that happened in my season,” a clearly irritated Verstappen replied at the time. “The only thing that you mention is Barcelona. I knew that would come. And you are giving me a stupid grin now.”
I heard the head of Germany say, “This is not our war” for Iran.
I said, well, Ukraine is not our war—we helped.
I thought it was a very inappropriate statement to make, but he made it, and he can’t erase it.
It was an entirely appropriate statement, and the comparison of the two things is absurd.
I remember the insults thrown at France after Chirac refused to go along with the Iraq war. Remember freedom fries? Couple of years later and it was all forgotten.
Our elites now read less than the average member of the population and it shows.
'Britain’s elites no longer look like they did in the 1950s: droopy-moustached old white blokes with a grouse moor somewhere in their background. They are younger, more urban, more multi-ethnic, make rather than inherit their money. That’s all, we may think, to the good. But as The Telegraph’s Great British Class Study discovers, they are less likely than any other sector of society to spend their spare time reading.
For fewer than one in three members of the new “Elite” read for pleasure, according to polling conducted by the opinion-research firm Public First. Too busy with socials, or crypto, or the gym. By contrast, 45 per cent of the “Left Behind” group – whose members typically score the least economic and cultural points in the new system – are readers, as are 60 per cent of the typically older, more financially stable “Quietly Comfortable” class.' https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/news/britains-elites-have-abandoned-intelligence/
I used to read a lot for pleasure.
Then I started reading PB instead.
Yeah, I'm exactly the same. But I feel ambivalent about it. I enjoy the snappy points on PB and the way the arguments develop with many informed contributions but I can't help lamenting how long it is since I read a novel from beginning to end. I seem to be losing the ability to simply be absorbed in a different world and I miss it.
Church attendance report pulled after YouGov finds 'fraudulent' responses
A report claiming the number of young people attending church in England and Wales had skyrocketed has been retracted, after the underlying data was found to be flawed.
The Bible Society's "Quiet Revival" report had been widely reported on since its publication last year and became an accepted part of discourse among many Christians.
Now YouGov, which carried out the research, has told the Bible Society that an internal review of the data found that some of the respondents who completed its survey were "fraudulent".
It has said that quality control measures, which usually remove such responses, were not applied due to human error.
It never rang true as anyone who goes to church on Sunday, or even passes by on the way to the pub can see that there are not hordes of youngsters going.
Plenty in evangelical churches in big cities, Tottenham Court Road Hillsong church is packed with young people of all ethnicities each Sunday
Yeah, but no more than there were.
Mega churches I think are bigger amongst under 30s than they were pre 2000 and especially attract lots of young black British. Even C of E churches are more ethnically diverse than they were, especially in urban areas.
Plenty of younger Eastern Europeans in Roman Catholic churches in the UK too
Don't get me wrong, I would be happy if the young were going to church more, but proper surveys show a continued slow decline.
I think it's wrong to assume that the Treasury/Tories/Labour/the elite/the deep state/the blob/ the establishment, or whatever you want to call the people who run the country, are unaware of the country's problems. It is simply that they don't know what to do about them. They certainly don't know what to do about them and get elected or reelected on that platform. There are no easy solutions, and anybody who pretends there is is lying. And will probably make things worse.
Of course they know what they need to do. There’s just no political will to do it.
So long as the electorate persist in demanding the impossible from politicians, politicians will continue to promise to deliver it.
The line “They certainly don't know what to do about (the problems) and get reelected.” in OLB’s comment is key.
Church attendance report pulled after YouGov finds 'fraudulent' responses
A report claiming the number of young people attending church in England and Wales had skyrocketed has been retracted, after the underlying data was found to be flawed.
The Bible Society's "Quiet Revival" report had been widely reported on since its publication last year and became an accepted part of discourse among many Christians.
Now YouGov, which carried out the research, has told the Bible Society that an internal review of the data found that some of the respondents who completed its survey were "fraudulent".
It has said that quality control measures, which usually remove such responses, were not applied due to human error.
It never rang true as anyone who goes to church on Sunday, or even passes by on the way to the pub can see that there are not hordes of youngsters going.
Plenty in evangelical churches in big cities, Tottenham Court Road Hillsong church is packed with young people of all ethnicities each Sunday
Yeah, but no more than there were.
Mega churches I think are bigger amongst under 30s than they were pre 2000 and especially attract lots of young black British. Even C of E churches are more ethnically diverse than they were, especially in urban areas.
Plenty of younger Eastern Europeans in Roman Catholic churches in the UK too
Don't get me wrong, I would be happy if the young were going to church more, but proper surveys show a continued slow decline.
Depends the survey you read
Yep, the accurate ones or the withdrawn Yougov one.
The obvious flaw in the header - nice attempt at political commentary Rochdale, but no cigar - is how Kemi and her front bench have clearly positioned the Conservatives with much more blue water between them and Labour, less blue water in direction of Farage - so how do the Conservatives gain from the madness of King Trump becoming unpopular, if their own policy agenda so closely matches that of Trump and Farage? Trump, Farage and Kemi’s heads have all been re-aligned by the same Nation First Populist echo chamber they live rent free in.
Unless Dale means the Tory Party gains from unpopularity of Trump and his Populism, by removing its current unConservative Tory leadership, and move the away from their obviously Populist policy agenda - identical Ice raids and hundreds of thousands of deportations as Reform, identical death to net zero as Trump and Farage etc.
Also there is not enough in the header to explain why Populism becomes unpopular and “stick with devils you know” becomes more popular, during coming years of recessions, unemployment, household and business deficits and belt tightening, with constant reminders of economic woe on the news every day - if anything it sounds to me like fertile ground for listening to the most optimistic of speeches and promises and supporting a different party than usual.
I take your point. Surely chaos is the fertile ground for populists?
Possibly. Depends on the offer. Reform are increasingly being shown up as all mouth and no trousers. "Just cut DEI" shown up as a joke. "no more net stupid zero" gets us more on the hook to expensive imported energy. Its "populism" argues for us getting poorer, with the argument put by the mad, bad and loathed.
And the Greens? I like Polanski. But they are infested by Corbynites and Gaza radicals. Isn't a solution, and Polanski is already struggling to get past the shallowness of his offer.
If the populist was 2019 Boris, then sure. But having had 2022 Boris, does chaos really make us think ah what the hell nothing left to lose?
Talking of reading I am about to do something that I can't remember doing for a long time other than for sports events. I am going to watch Masterchef, the Professionals final "live" on a TV channel. My money is on Luke.
Our elites now read less than the average member of the population and it shows.
'Britain’s elites no longer look like they did in the 1950s: droopy-moustached old white blokes with a grouse moor somewhere in their background. They are younger, more urban, more multi-ethnic, make rather than inherit their money. That’s all, we may think, to the good. But as The Telegraph’s Great British Class Study discovers, they are less likely than any other sector of society to spend their spare time reading.
For fewer than one in three members of the new “Elite” read for pleasure, according to polling conducted by the opinion-research firm Public First. Too busy with socials, or crypto, or the gym. By contrast, 45 per cent of the “Left Behind” group – whose members typically score the least economic and cultural points in the new system – are readers, as are 60 per cent of the typically older, more financially stable “Quietly Comfortable” class.' https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/news/britains-elites-have-abandoned-intelligence/
I used to read a lot for pleasure.
Then I started reading PB instead.
Yeah, I'm exactly the same. But I feel ambivalent about it. I enjoy the snappy points on PB and the way the arguments develop with many informed contributions but I can't help lamenting how long it is since I read a novel from beginning to end. I seem to be losing the ability to simply be absorbed in a different world and I miss it.
One of the reasons I booked a series of long train journeys for this summer, Paul Theroux style, was to get me back into reading a book every few days. As it happens I’ve started back up months ahead of time, because the pile of books (a mixture of novels and travel writing) I ordered ahead of the trip have been sitting there asking to be started.
Our elites now read less than the average member of the population and it shows.
'Britain’s elites no longer look like they did in the 1950s: droopy-moustached old white blokes with a grouse moor somewhere in their background. They are younger, more urban, more multi-ethnic, make rather than inherit their money. That’s all, we may think, to the good. But as The Telegraph’s Great British Class Study discovers, they are less likely than any other sector of society to spend their spare time reading.
For fewer than one in three members of the new “Elite” read for pleasure, according to polling conducted by the opinion-research firm Public First. Too busy with socials, or crypto, or the gym. By contrast, 45 per cent of the “Left Behind” group – whose members typically score the least economic and cultural points in the new system – are readers, as are 60 per cent of the typically older, more financially stable “Quietly Comfortable” class.' https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/news/britains-elites-have-abandoned-intelligence/
I used to read a lot for pleasure.
Then I started reading PB instead.
Yeah, I'm exactly the same. But I feel ambivalent about it. I enjoy the snappy points on PB and the way the arguments develop with many informed contributions but I can't help lamenting how long it is since I read a novel from beginning to end. I seem to be losing the ability to simply be absorbed in a different world and I miss it.
My late father in law was a prodigious reader but would not read fiction or novels
What little I'm reading on the Iran war on other forums is that the global markets are still deluding themselves as to how bad this is going to get. And that it will take the first tankers to 'not' get to their destinations next week when they finally wake up to what has already happened.
If some of the doom and gloom I'm seeing is even half right, Leon's going to get to see 'Threads' without the need for nuclear war first.
(It's probably not that bad, but we are all deluding ourselves).
My Trump2 concern is such that if right now you offered me getting to the end of it with the worst consequence being a deep and prolonged global recession I'd take that.
Are you suggesting the options might be a slightly more welcome World economic depression rather than Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome?
Yes. Remember he's done this Iran thing primarily for the visceral pleasure of using his toys and saying things like 'obliterate' and 'destruction never seen before' and 'gonna be hell to pay'. A child and a moral vacuum. Plus breathtakingly corrupt, clueless and incompetent. It's new territory having a person like this in the White House. It doesn't lend itself to traditional analysis or forecasting. All you can do is hope for the best of all the possible grim outcomes. Until he's gone, I mean, not just this episode.
A dementia-ridden, sociopathic narcissist with nukes. What could possibly go wrong?
Our elites now read less than the average member of the population and it shows.
'Britain’s elites no longer look like they did in the 1950s: droopy-moustached old white blokes with a grouse moor somewhere in their background. They are younger, more urban, more multi-ethnic, make rather than inherit their money. That’s all, we may think, to the good. But as The Telegraph’s Great British Class Study discovers, they are less likely than any other sector of society to spend their spare time reading.
For fewer than one in three members of the new “Elite” read for pleasure, according to polling conducted by the opinion-research firm Public First. Too busy with socials, or crypto, or the gym. By contrast, 45 per cent of the “Left Behind” group – whose members typically score the least economic and cultural points in the new system – are readers, as are 60 per cent of the typically older, more financially stable “Quietly Comfortable” class.' https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/news/britains-elites-have-abandoned-intelligence/
I used to read a lot for pleasure.
Then I started reading PB instead.
Yeah, I'm exactly the same. But I feel ambivalent about it. I enjoy the snappy points on PB and the way the arguments develop with many informed contributions but I can't help lamenting how long it is since I read a novel from beginning to end. I seem to be losing the ability to simply be absorbed in a different world and I miss it.
My late father in law was a prodigious reader but would not read fiction or novels
I once met someone who would read only the Guiness book of World Records. Cover to cover and repeat.
90% of his posts these days are YouTube videos of what I can only assume (I’ve never watched any of them) from his brief descriptions are anti Israel videos
Your "What do I do?" statements the other day in your vid quite reminded me of your comments on here last year, as did the answers.
My answer would probably be as a likely Type A, just make sure you have a built in pressure relief valve and deliberate sanity-space built in somewhere. A recommendation I once received from a very busy vicar of a rapidly growing CofE church in Sheffield was to always plan in a "crisis" for half of a day every week. Then when a crisis happened at a random point, he just swapped his "crisis" time to whenever the crisis happened, and moved the activities he had lost to his "crisis" slot on the next Wednesday afternoon.
Interesting drive from Aberdeen. But I was surprised that you arrived in Pennan without mentioning that it was the location of one of the finest Scottish films of all time and one of the best British films of the 80's. Local Hero. It's worth the drive for that alone.ans quite appropriate that it should be used to sell an American car
The obvious flaw in the header - nice attempt at political commentary Rochdale, but no cigar - is how Kemi and her front bench have clearly positioned the Conservatives with much more blue water between them and Labour, less blue water in direction of Farage - so how do the Conservatives gain from the madness of King Trump becoming unpopular, if their own policy agenda so closely matches that of Trump and Farage? Trump, Farage and Kemi’s heads have all been re-aligned by the same Nation First Populist echo chamber they live rent free in.
Unless Dale means the Tory Party gains from unpopularity of Trump and his Populism, by removing its current unConservative Tory leadership, and move the away from their obviously Populist policy agenda - identical Ice raids and hundreds of thousands of deportations as Reform, identical death to net zero as Trump and Farage etc.
Also there is not enough in the header to explain why Populism becomes unpopular and “stick with devils you know” becomes more popular, during coming years of recessions, unemployment, household and business deficits and belt tightening, with constant reminders of economic woe on the news every day - if anything it sounds to me like fertile ground for listening to the most optimistic of speeches and promises and supporting a different party than usual.
I take your point. Surely chaos is the fertile ground for populists?
Possibly. Depends on the offer. Reform are increasingly being shown up as all mouth and no trousers. "Just cut DEI" shown up as a joke. "no more net stupid zero" gets us more on the hook to expensive imported energy. Its "populism" argues for us getting poorer, with the argument put by the mad, bad and loathed.
And the Greens? I like Polanski. But they are infested by Corbynites and Gaza radicals. Isn't a solution, and Polanski is already struggling to get past the shallowness of his offer.
If the populist was 2019 Boris, then sure. But having had 2022 Boris, does chaos really make us think ah what the hell nothing left to lose?
There’s something else to consider: Trump is inoculating the rest of the West against far right populism. Long may that continue.
Same as the state failure of late communist USSR and more recently Cuba and Venezuela have inoculated liberals against the temptation of populist leftism.
Interesting article Rochdale, but you can't have it both ways. It can't be bad that Ref/Green will fall away AND bad that Lab/Con will remain, surely?
Yes, you can. None of them are any good. None offer solutions to our problems. None are even willing to acknowledge the extent of the our problems because it would cause problems with their "solutions" and make them incoherent.
I remember Thatcher and her 1979 government. We were in serious trouble. Unions were willing to destroy businesses rather than compromise about what was needed to boost productivity. Management was arrogant, patronising and frankly under skilled. More and more of our economy was subject to the public sector mindset, more focused on those that worked for the business than their customers. Changing this was hard, brutal at times, but (with a lot of help from the proceeds of North Sea oil) it worked.
Where is the current Thatcherite solution? Not in any of our politicians, that is for sure.
My tentative suggestions are that we need a repeat of 1980s deregulation. We need to massively cut back on the regulatory state, many of these regulatory bodies should be completely eliminated. We need to protect businesses from their intrusions and allow them to get on with making money. This will make running businesses from here more attractive but we need to do more, giving generous tax allowances for investment both in kit and training. We need to admire and not want to tear down those who want to make money. We need them. We need the jobs that they create. We need the taxes they will pay and we need to accept that some of them will be chancers and wide boys taking advantage. That's ok and we need to not get too het up about it.
I don't see anyone offering anything like this. I don't see anyone who has anything like a workable solution at all.
There it s no 'Thatcherite' solution. Many of our current problems can be traced back to her curate's egg administrations.
"Deregulation" is fine (and Labour are already making tentative moves in that direction), but the devil as ever is in the detail. And on its own it's unlikely to be any kind of real solution to where we are.
Rochdale is spot on with this: ..Britain’s long term crumbling decline needs to be arrested. A radical rethink is needed of the kinds we have seen in the past – Liberal reforms a century ago, or Labour’s welfare state post-war, or the Thatcher deregulation boom of the 80s.
A change of direction is needed...
But no one has yet identified what that might mean.
Trump still has a 40% odd approval rating. Begs belief.
That's why we can never really trust the US again even after Trump has gone.
We (and Europe) need to quietly disentangle ourselves from dependence on them. Trump is not an aberration, Americans are very likely to elect an equally malign President again, quite soon. I doubt the US will never really be seen as a reliable ally again given what we have witnessed over the last couple of years.
Problem is, it's not unique to the US. Look at Orban and Fico in Hungary and Slovakia. And then Le Pen in France and AfD in Germany, Farage in Britain.
It's happening everywhere mainly for a few reasons. Firstly, most Western economies have done badly in recent decades, due to a combination of the rise of China, the demographic transition, and increasing costs from climate change. Secondly, social media seems to be incompatible with representative democracy.
It's a much bigger problem than disengaging from the US, large enough though that is.
Agreed but the actions of the US has by far the greatest impact. If Hungary exited NATO it wouldn't make much difference.
The obvious flaw in the header - nice attempt at political commentary Rochdale, but no cigar - is how Kemi and her front bench have clearly positioned the Conservatives with much more blue water between them and Labour, less blue water in direction of Farage - so how do the Conservatives gain from the madness of King Trump becoming unpopular, if their own policy agenda so closely matches that of Trump and Farage? Trump, Farage and Kemi’s heads have all been re-aligned by the same Nation First Populist echo chamber they live rent free in.
Unless Dale means the Tory Party gains from unpopularity of Trump and his Populism, by removing its current unConservative Tory leadership, and move the away from their obviously Populist policy agenda - identical Ice raids and hundreds of thousands of deportations as Reform, identical death to net zero as Trump and Farage etc.
Also there is not enough in the header to explain why Populism becomes unpopular and “stick with devils you know” becomes more popular, during coming years of recessions, unemployment, household and business deficits and belt tightening, with constant reminders of economic woe on the news every day - if anything it sounds to me like fertile ground for listening to the most optimistic of speeches and promises and supporting a different party than usual.
I take your point. Surely chaos is the fertile ground for populists?
Possibly. Depends on the offer. Reform are increasingly being shown up as all mouth and no trousers. "Just cut DEI" shown up as a joke. "no more net stupid zero" gets us more on the hook to expensive imported energy. Its "populism" argues for us getting poorer, with the argument put by the mad, bad and loathed.
And the Greens? I like Polanski. But they are infested by Corbynites and Gaza radicals. Isn't a solution, and Polanski is already struggling to get past the shallowness of his offer.
If the populist was 2019 Boris, then sure. But having had 2022 Boris, does chaos really make us think ah what the hell nothing left to lose?
Surely the US electorate rolling the dice on an incontinent (in all aspects of his life) populist is why we are on the brink of WW3.
And all his friends are mad and in government too. Does that remind you of any tousle-haired columnists?
90% of his posts these days are YouTube videos of what I can only assume (I’ve never watched any of them) from his brief descriptions are anti Israel videos
How much time does he spend on YouTube?
You've got to get your advert ideas from somewhere...
Church attendance report pulled after YouGov finds 'fraudulent' responses
A report claiming the number of young people attending church in England and Wales had skyrocketed has been retracted, after the underlying data was found to be flawed.
The Bible Society's "Quiet Revival" report had been widely reported on since its publication last year and became an accepted part of discourse among many Christians.
Now YouGov, which carried out the research, has told the Bible Society that an internal review of the data found that some of the respondents who completed its survey were "fraudulent".
It has said that quality control measures, which usually remove such responses, were not applied due to human error.
It never rang true as anyone who goes to church on Sunday, or even passes by on the way to the pub can see that there are not hordes of youngsters going.
Plenty in evangelical churches in big cities, Tottenham Court Road Hillsong church is packed with young people of all ethnicities each Sunday
Yeah, but no more than there were.
Mega churches I think are bigger amongst under 30s than they were pre 2000 and especially attract lots of young black British. Even C of E churches are more ethnically diverse than they were, especially in urban areas.
Plenty of younger Eastern Europeans in Roman Catholic churches in the UK too
We used to live down the street from the Polish Catholic church in Ealing. Half the congregation at Mass had to stand outside.
Thanks for an interesting and very readable article @RochdalePioneers. I disagree that the current crisis spells bad news for Reform's energy policy, but I suppose would say that wouldn't I?
Net Zero has always been a policy that floats along on ignorance, and frankly lies. The biggest being that gas is a more expensive form of power generation than wind and solar - it isn't. When something like this happens, it strips away the veneer and people start to listen to calls for change.
Liz Truss had a big chance to change Britain's energy policy in response to the first energy crisis. She tried, but she'd already blown it with the minibudget, so she had little credibility. What she should have done was tie fracking and a wider cheap energy strategy in with the energy subsidy in an act of parliament, using the emergency to make her case for her 'Here's the support with your bills, and here's what we're doing so this never happens again'. That would have worked, and anybody voting against would have been a traitor to the people.
Now Iran has happened, we have another chance. Sir Useless can hang on to Milliband and Net Zero if he wants, but he'll be turned to ashes over it - so will the Greens.
Interesting article Rochdale, but you can't have it both ways. It can't be bad that Ref/Green will fall away AND bad that Lab/Con will remain, surely?
Yes, you can. None of them are any good. None offer solutions to our problems. None are even willing to acknowledge the extent of the our problems because it would cause problems with their "solutions" and make them incoherent.
I remember Thatcher and her 1979 government. We were in serious trouble. Unions were willing to destroy businesses rather than compromise about what was needed to boost productivity. Management was arrogant, patronising and frankly under skilled. More and more of our economy was subject to the public sector mindset, more focused on those that worked for the business than their customers. Changing this was hard, brutal at times, but (with a lot of help from the proceeds of North Sea oil) it worked.
Where is the current Thatcherite solution? Not in any of our politicians, that is for sure.
My tentative suggestions are that we need a repeat of 1980s deregulation. We need to massively cut back on the regulatory state, many of these regulatory bodies should be completely eliminated. We need to protect businesses from their intrusions and allow them to get on with making money. This will make running businesses from here more attractive but we need to do more, giving generous tax allowances for investment both in kit and training. We need to admire and not want to tear down those who want to make money. We need them. We need the jobs that they create. We need the taxes they will pay and we need to accept that some of them will be chancers and wide boys taking advantage. That's ok and we need to not get too het up about it.
I don't see anyone offering anything like this. I don't see anyone who has anything like a workable solution at all.
There it s no 'Thatcherite' solution. Many of our current problems can be traced back to her curate's egg administrations.
"Deregulation" is fine (and Labour are already making tentative moves in that direction), but the devil as ever is in the detail. And on its own it's unlikely to be any kind of real solution to where we are.
Rochdale is spot on with this: ..Britain’s long term crumbling decline needs to be arrested. A radical rethink is needed of the kinds we have seen in the past – Liberal reforms a century ago, or Labour’s welfare state post-war, or the Thatcher deregulation boom of the 80s.
A change of direction is needed...
But no one has yet identified what that might mean.
Taking a hard look at how other nations build infrastructure for a tenth the price we do and then copy it
What little I'm reading on the Iran war on other forums is that the global markets are still deluding themselves as to how bad this is going to get. And that it will take the first tankers to 'not' get to their destinations next week when they finally wake up to what has already happened.
If some of the doom and gloom I'm seeing is even half right, Leon's going to get to see 'Threads' without the need for nuclear war first.
(It's probably not that bad, but we are all deluding ourselves).
Don't markets normally over-react and then stabilise? Are there occasions on which they've notably under-reacted?
Normally, yes. In this case they seem to be overreacting to TACO Trump's previous climbdowns, and they aren't pricing in that the war is between three sides, and neither Israel or Iran are as likely to back down.
90% of his posts these days are YouTube videos of what I can only assume (I’ve never watched any of them) from his brief descriptions are anti Israel videos
How much time does he spend on YouTube?
You've got to get your advert ideas from somewhere...
Why doesn’t Scott comment anymore? Just copy and paste
Interesting article Rochdale, but you can't have it both ways. It can't be bad that Ref/Green will fall away AND bad that Lab/Con will remain, surely?
Yes, you can. None of them are any good. None offer solutions to our problems. None are even willing to acknowledge the extent of the our problems because it would cause problems with their "solutions" and make them incoherent.
I remember Thatcher and her 1979 government. We were in serious trouble. Unions were willing to destroy businesses rather than compromise about what was needed to boost productivity. Management was arrogant, patronising and frankly under skilled. More and more of our economy was subject to the public sector mindset, more focused on those that worked for the business than their customers. Changing this was hard, brutal at times, but (with a lot of help from the proceeds of North Sea oil) it worked.
Where is the current Thatcherite solution? Not in any of our politicians, that is for sure.
My tentative suggestions are that we need a repeat of 1980s deregulation. We need to massively cut back on the regulatory state, many of these regulatory bodies should be completely eliminated. We need to protect businesses from their intrusions and allow them to get on with making money. This will make running businesses from here more attractive but we need to do more, giving generous tax allowances for investment both in kit and training. We need to admire and not want to tear down those who want to make money. We need them. We need the jobs that they create. We need the taxes they will pay and we need to accept that some of them will be chancers and wide boys taking advantage. That's ok and we need to not get too het up about it.
I don't see anyone offering anything like this. I don't see anyone who has anything like a workable solution at all.
There it s no 'Thatcherite' solution. Many of our current problems can be traced back to her curate's egg administrations.
"Deregulation" is fine (and Labour are already making tentative moves in that direction), but the devil as ever is in the detail. And on its own it's unlikely to be any kind of real solution to where we are.
Rochdale is spot on with this: ..Britain’s long term crumbling decline needs to be arrested. A radical rethink is needed of the kinds we have seen in the past – Liberal reforms a century ago, or Labour’s welfare state post-war, or the Thatcher deregulation boom of the 80s.
A change of direction is needed...
But no one has yet identified what that might mean.
Actually lots of people have identified what a change of direction would mean.
But they have all identified different directions.
Most of them can be dismissed as impractical (the Greens or some of the nuttier Reform policies), or as not answering the key question we face, which is how to raise the country's long term growth rate (anything left of centre). The rest would work but don't have sufficient political support (e.g. Thatcherism).
So, given the fracutring of our political landscape, the centre ground has so far won by default.
I heard the head of Germany say, “This is not our war” for Iran.
I said, well, Ukraine is not our war—we helped.
I thought it was a very inappropriate statement to make, but he made it, and he can’t erase it.
It was an entirely appropriate statement, and the comparison of the two things is absurd.
I remember the insults thrown at France after Chirac refused to go along with the Iraq war. Remember freedom fries? Couple of years later and it was all forgotten.
"Cheese eating surrender monkeys"
If I could erase just one thing from the smorgasbord of sociopolitical impulses I think I'd choose belicose 'we are special' nationalism.
Inflation due to the Ukraine war did nothing for the incumbent Conservative government and I suspect inflation now will do nothing for incumbent Labour. I think populists might do well, if they're not linked to the cause of the war.
"Afterwards? It’s Bad News for populists. The more that prices go up when it’s a global impact, the less interest people have in overthrowing the status quo. They want the chaos to stop, not get worse."
Brexit, Trump and some parties on the European continent have successfully sold themselves as the 'safer' option at various points in the past decade. People generally don't like chaos, but what they view as chaos (or as more chaotic) doesn't necessarily chime in with conventional wisdom.
You haven't read the history of 20th century Germany then?
The obvious flaw in the header - nice attempt at political commentary Rochdale, but no cigar - is how Kemi and her front bench have clearly positioned the Conservatives with much more blue water between them and Labour, less blue water in direction of Farage - so how do the Conservatives gain from the madness of King Trump becoming unpopular, if their own policy agenda so closely matches that of Trump and Farage? Trump, Farage and Kemi’s heads have all been re-aligned by the same Nation First Populist echo chamber they live rent free in.
Unless Dale means the Tory Party gains from unpopularity of Trump and his Populism, by removing its current unConservative Tory leadership, and move the away from their obviously Populist policy agenda - identical Ice raids and hundreds of thousands of deportations as Reform, identical death to net zero as Trump and Farage etc.
Also there is not enough in the header to explain why Populism becomes unpopular and “stick with devils you know” becomes more popular, during coming years of recessions, unemployment, household and business deficits and belt tightening, with constant reminders of economic woe on the news every day - if anything it sounds to me like fertile ground for listening to the most optimistic of speeches and promises and supporting a different party than usual.
I take your point. Surely chaos is the fertile ground for populists?
Possibly. Depends on the offer. Reform are increasingly being shown up as all mouth and no trousers. "Just cut DEI" shown up as a joke. "no more net stupid zero" gets us more on the hook to expensive imported energy. Its "populism" argues for us getting poorer, with the argument put by the mad, bad and loathed.
And the Greens? I like Polanski. But they are infested by Corbynites and Gaza radicals. Isn't a solution, and Polanski is already struggling to get past the shallowness of his offer.
If the populist was 2019 Boris, then sure. But having had 2022 Boris, does chaos really make us think ah what the hell nothing left to lose?
Thanks for an interesting and very readable article @RochdalePioneers. I disagree that the current crisis spells bad news for Reform's energy policy, but I suppose would say that wouldn't I?
Net Zero has always been a policy that floats along on ignorance, and frankly lies. The biggest being that gas is a more expensive form of power generation than wind and solar - it isn't. When something like this happens, it strips away the veneer and people start to listen to calls for change.
Liz Truss had a big chance to change Britain's energy policy in response to the first energy crisis. She tried, but she'd already blown it with the minibudget, so she had little credibility. What she should have done was tie fracking and a wider cheap energy strategy in with the energy subsidy in an act of parliament, using the emergency to make her case for her 'Here's the support with your bills, and here's what we're doing so this never happens again'. That would have worked, and anybody voting against would have been a traitor to the people.
Now Iran has happened, we have another chance. Sir Useless can hang on to Milliband and Net Zero if he wants, but he'll be turned to ashes over it - so will the Greens.
Are we talking about Net Zero? Or "Stupid Net Zero".
Renewables blended with fossil and nuclear is the settled policy of the country. The Tories were banging the drum on the exact same things they now criticise Labour for banging.
Gas - used for spot generation when needed - is more expensive. And you saying "no it isn't" doesn't change that. Could we make gas cheaper? Sure - by burning more of it and thus having less renewables. Where will we get that gas from? Yup - Russia.
Interesting article Rochdale, but you can't have it both ways. It can't be bad that Ref/Green will fall away AND bad that Lab/Con will remain, surely?
Yes, you can. None of them are any good. None offer solutions to our problems. None are even willing to acknowledge the extent of the our problems because it would cause problems with their "solutions" and make them incoherent.
I remember Thatcher and her 1979 government. We were in serious trouble. Unions were willing to destroy businesses rather than compromise about what was needed to boost productivity. Management was arrogant, patronising and frankly under skilled. More and more of our economy was subject to the public sector mindset, more focused on those that worked for the business than their customers. Changing this was hard, brutal at times, but (with a lot of help from the proceeds of North Sea oil) it worked.
Where is the current Thatcherite solution? Not in any of our politicians, that is for sure.
My tentative suggestions are that we need a repeat of 1980s deregulation. We need to massively cut back on the regulatory state, many of these regulatory bodies should be completely eliminated. We need to protect businesses from their intrusions and allow them to get on with making money. This will make running businesses from here more attractive but we need to do more, giving generous tax allowances for investment both in kit and training. We need to admire and not want to tear down those who want to make money. We need them. We need the jobs that they create. We need the taxes they will pay and we need to accept that some of them will be chancers and wide boys taking advantage. That's ok and we need to not get too het up about it.
I don't see anyone offering anything like this. I don't see anyone who has anything like a workable solution at all.
There it s no 'Thatcherite' solution. Many of our current problems can be traced back to her curate's egg administrations.
"Deregulation" is fine (and Labour are already making tentative moves in that direction), but the devil as ever is in the detail. And on its own it's unlikely to be any kind of real solution to where we are.
Rochdale is spot on with this: ..Britain’s long term crumbling decline needs to be arrested. A radical rethink is needed of the kinds we have seen in the past – Liberal reforms a century ago, or Labour’s welfare state post-war, or the Thatcher deregulation boom of the 80s.
A change of direction is needed...
But no one has yet identified what that might mean.
Taking a hard look at how other nations build infrastructure for a tenth the price we do and then copy it
That might help.
It would, of course, require a reversal of Thatcherism, which privatised infrastructure, and added on top of that an infrastructure of (ineffective, and ultimately counterproductive) regulation.
Decades of experience have proved that a disaster.
Interesting article Rochdale, but you can't have it both ways. It can't be bad that Ref/Green will fall away AND bad that Lab/Con will remain, surely?
Yes, you can. None of them are any good. None offer solutions to our problems. None are even willing to acknowledge the extent of the our problems because it would cause problems with their "solutions" and make them incoherent.
I remember Thatcher and her 1979 government. We were in serious trouble. Unions were willing to destroy businesses rather than compromise about what was needed to boost productivity. Management was arrogant, patronising and frankly under skilled. More and more of our economy was subject to the public sector mindset, more focused on those that worked for the business than their customers. Changing this was hard, brutal at times, but (with a lot of help from the proceeds of North Sea oil) it worked.
Where is the current Thatcherite solution? Not in any of our politicians, that is for sure.
My tentative suggestions are that we need a repeat of 1980s deregulation. We need to massively cut back on the regulatory state, many of these regulatory bodies should be completely eliminated. We need to protect businesses from their intrusions and allow them to get on with making money. This will make running businesses from here more attractive but we need to do more, giving generous tax allowances for investment both in kit and training. We need to admire and not want to tear down those who want to make money. We need them. We need the jobs that they create. We need the taxes they will pay and we need to accept that some of them will be chancers and wide boys taking advantage. That's ok and we need to not get too het up about it.
I don't see anyone offering anything like this. I don't see anyone who has anything like a workable solution at all.
There it s no 'Thatcherite' solution. Many of our current problems can be traced back to her curate's egg administrations.
"Deregulation" is fine (and Labour are already making tentative moves in that direction), but the devil as ever is in the detail. And on its own it's unlikely to be any kind of real solution to where we are.
Rochdale is spot on with this: ..Britain’s long term crumbling decline needs to be arrested. A radical rethink is needed of the kinds we have seen in the past – Liberal reforms a century ago, or Labour’s welfare state post-war, or the Thatcher deregulation boom of the 80s.
A change of direction is needed...
But no one has yet identified what that might mean.
Taking a hard look at how other nations build infrastructure for a tenth the price we do and then copy it
Why do we need to do that - can we not just look at how we used to build it for a tenth of the price?
Bat tunnels are a very real consequence of a) European legislation adopted into British law, and b) A single issue unaccountable quango set up to enforce that law - with no remit to consider wider implications, no need to face the electorate, and no consequences for the damage they do to the economy.
Undo the legislation, dissolve the quango. Go back to how it was when things did get built.
This stuff isn't rocket science. Half of us just don't want to see it, because it's radically against our notion of good politics - namely that Europe is great, experts are great, and electoral politics is dirty.
Farage's anti immigration, anti woke nationalism and Polanski's anti business anti rich socialism are neither solutions to our problems, just tools for them to get votes. Hopefully the crisis will at least see a return to the main parties to provide support as prices rise and as voters move away from Farage's Trump links. Farage is right though we need to drill more of our own oil and shore up our energy supplies and we also need to grow more of our own food
The person leading the drill for oil in the media is Kemi
Unsurprisingly you refer to Farage
Kemi is right on this
She's right and she's wrong. She's right we should be doing it, that it was moronic to ever stop doing it, that it will benefit us in the medium term. She's wrong that it will make any difference to our energy bills in either the short or medium term. There are benefits but they will not be in the price of gas or oil in the UK. The benefits are our balance of payments (one of the problems politicians hate talking about), investment in the UK and the perpetuation of our skills base. Her presentation today was either stupid or dishonest or both.
A rational approach would be to come up an achievable date for Net Zero.
From that, you calculate the point at which hydrocarbon usage for transport ends, the point where hydrocarbon usage for heating ends etc etc.
Note that things like plastic production will create a long, long tail.
This gives you a demand profile.
From this you create an approach to production of oil and gas - heading to zero, but in a planned manner.
What little I'm reading on the Iran war on other forums is that the global markets are still deluding themselves as to how bad this is going to get. And that it will take the first tankers to 'not' get to their destinations next week when they finally wake up to what has already happened.
If some of the doom and gloom I'm seeing is even half right, Leon's going to get to see 'Threads' without the need for nuclear war first.
(It's probably not that bad, but we are all deluding ourselves).
My Trump2 concern is such that if right now you offered me getting to the end of it with the worst consequence being a deep and prolonged global recession I'd take that.
Are you suggesting the options might be a slightly more welcome World economic depression rather than Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome?
Yes. Remember he's done this Iran thing primarily for the visceral pleasure of using his toys and saying things like 'obliterate' and 'destruction never seen before' and 'gonna be hell to pay'. A child and a moral vacuum. Plus breathtakingly corrupt, clueless and incompetent. It's new territory having a person like this in the White House. It doesn't lend itself to traditional analysis or forecasting. All you can do is hope for the best of all the possible grim outcomes. Until he's gone, I mean, not just this episode.
A dementia-ridden, sociopathic narcissist with nukes. What could possibly go wrong?
Don't think he has the excuse of dementia but otherwise yes in a nutshell. WW3 risk remains elevated (significantly) until he's in the rear view mirror.
Farage's anti immigration, anti woke nationalism and Polanski's anti business anti rich socialism are neither solutions to our problems, just tools for them to get votes. Hopefully the crisis will at least see a return to the main parties to provide support as prices rise and as voters move away from Farage's Trump links. Farage is right though we need to drill more of our own oil and shore up our energy supplies and we also need to grow more of our own food
Our elites now read less than the average member of the population and it shows.
'Britain’s elites no longer look like they did in the 1950s: droopy-moustached old white blokes with a grouse moor somewhere in their background. They are younger, more urban, more multi-ethnic, make rather than inherit their money. That’s all, we may think, to the good. But as The Telegraph’s Great British Class Study discovers, they are less likely than any other sector of society to spend their spare time reading.
For fewer than one in three members of the new “Elite” read for pleasure, according to polling conducted by the opinion-research firm Public First. Too busy with socials, or crypto, or the gym. By contrast, 45 per cent of the “Left Behind” group – whose members typically score the least economic and cultural points in the new system – are readers, as are 60 per cent of the typically older, more financially stable “Quietly Comfortable” class.' https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/news/britains-elites-have-abandoned-intelligence/
I used to read a lot for pleasure.
Then I started reading PB instead.
Yeah, I'm exactly the same. But I feel ambivalent about it. I enjoy the snappy points on PB and the way the arguments develop with many informed contributions but I can't help lamenting how long it is since I read a novel from beginning to end. I seem to be losing the ability to simply be absorbed in a different world and I miss it.
Same. I do audiobooks now. They are immersive and enjoyable but they don't quite 'stick' like trad books used to with me. I think I could get back into books but it would take an effort. Reading in that way has come to feel a bit clunky. It's a shame. I used to devour stuff and time would fly.
90% of his posts these days are YouTube videos of what I can only assume (I’ve never watched any of them) from his brief descriptions are anti Israel videos
How much time does he spend on YouTube?
You've got to get your advert ideas from somewhere...
Advertising is, of course, populism. Roger the populist! Oh dear...
I see that OECD is forecasting 4% inflation for UK for 2026. And 2.7% for 2027. Is this optimistic?
It's delusional.
Sure, it can take some time for inflation to work its way through the economy, but it's starting at 3%.
Looks like Rachel will have to have another tax raising budget in late 2026 to pay for the welfare and pension increases in 2027 which will be based on Sept 2026 CPI possibly 6%+
Farage's anti immigration, anti woke nationalism and Polanski's anti business anti rich socialism are neither solutions to our problems, just tools for them to get votes. Hopefully the crisis will at least see a return to the main parties to provide support as prices rise and as voters move away from Farage's Trump links. Farage is right though we need to drill more of our own oil and shore up our energy supplies and we also need to grow more of our own food
The person leading the drill for oil in the media is Kemi
Unsurprisingly you refer to Farage
Kemi is right on this
She's right and she's wrong. She's right we should be doing it, that it was moronic to ever stop doing it, that it will benefit us in the medium term. She's wrong that it will make any difference to our energy bills in either the short or medium term. There are benefits but they will not be in the price of gas or oil in the UK. The benefits are our balance of payments (one of the problems politicians hate talking about), investment in the UK and the perpetuation of our skills base. Her presentation today was either stupid or dishonest or both.
A rational approach would be to come up an achievable date for Net Zero.
From that, you calculate the point at which hydrocarbon usage for transport ends, the point where hydrocarbon usage for heating ends etc etc.
Note that things like plastic production will create a long, long tail.
This gives you a demand profile.
From this you create an approach to production of oil and gas - heading to zero, but in a planned manner.
"hydrocarbon usage for transport ends" is not net zero
'With a new UN General Assembly resolution calling for reparations to be paid for the transatlantic slave trade, the British public are opposed to such payments, although ethnic minority adults are supportive in principle
Black adults: 71% support Ethnic minority adults: 50% All adults: 24% White adults: 19%'
Our elites now read less than the average member of the population and it shows.
'Britain’s elites no longer look like they did in the 1950s: droopy-moustached old white blokes with a grouse moor somewhere in their background. They are younger, more urban, more multi-ethnic, make rather than inherit their money. That’s all, we may think, to the good. But as The Telegraph’s Great British Class Study discovers, they are less likely than any other sector of society to spend their spare time reading.
For fewer than one in three members of the new “Elite” read for pleasure, according to polling conducted by the opinion-research firm Public First. Too busy with socials, or crypto, or the gym. By contrast, 45 per cent of the “Left Behind” group – whose members typically score the least economic and cultural points in the new system – are readers, as are 60 per cent of the typically older, more financially stable “Quietly Comfortable” class.' https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/news/britains-elites-have-abandoned-intelligence/
I used to read a lot for pleasure.
Then I started reading PB instead.
Yeah, I'm exactly the same. But I feel ambivalent about it. I enjoy the snappy points on PB and the way the arguments develop with many informed contributions but I can't help lamenting how long it is since I read a novel from beginning to end. I seem to be losing the ability to simply be absorbed in a different world and I miss it.
Same. I do audiobooks now. They are immersive and enjoyable but they don't quite 'stick' like trad books used to with me. I think I could get back into books but it would take an effort. Reading in that way has come to feel a bit clunky. It's a shame. I used to devour stuff and time would fly.
I suspect the "book" as we know it, is finished - especially fiction, on the page
It's sad, but it's also undeniable, and it's not all about dumbing down and shortening attention spans, Take narrative history. When I travel I like to read books about where I am, but then you are getting one person's view and one person's distillation of the stories. Which can be annoying and also perverting, you must submit to the writer's POV. Nowadays you can do personal deep-dives online and get much more forensic and focussed info, without the bias of a mediator
I thoroughly enjoy it and feel much better educated
Our elites now read less than the average member of the population and it shows.
'Britain’s elites no longer look like they did in the 1950s: droopy-moustached old white blokes with a grouse moor somewhere in their background. They are younger, more urban, more multi-ethnic, make rather than inherit their money. That’s all, we may think, to the good. But as The Telegraph’s Great British Class Study discovers, they are less likely than any other sector of society to spend their spare time reading.
For fewer than one in three members of the new “Elite” read for pleasure, according to polling conducted by the opinion-research firm Public First. Too busy with socials, or crypto, or the gym. By contrast, 45 per cent of the “Left Behind” group – whose members typically score the least economic and cultural points in the new system – are readers, as are 60 per cent of the typically older, more financially stable “Quietly Comfortable” class.' https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/news/britains-elites-have-abandoned-intelligence/
I used to read a lot for pleasure.
Then I started reading PB instead.
Yeah, I'm exactly the same. But I feel ambivalent about it. I enjoy the snappy points on PB and the way the arguments develop with many informed contributions but I can't help lamenting how long it is since I read a novel from beginning to end. I seem to be losing the ability to simply be absorbed in a different world and I miss it.
Same. I do audiobooks now. They are immersive and enjoyable but they don't quite 'stick' like trad books used to with me. I think I could get back into books but it would take an effort. Reading in that way has come to feel a bit clunky. It's a shame. I used to devour stuff and time would fly.
Audiobooks are great. I listen to them on my commute and when going backwards and forwards to the Isle of Wight, but I also enjoy physical books. Even so, I still have quite a backlog of unread books.
I love being well read, and that is my ambition. The world of ideas is so satisfying to explore.
Interesting article Rochdale, but you can't have it both ways. It can't be bad that Ref/Green will fall away AND bad that Lab/Con will remain, surely?
Yes, you can. None of them are any good. None offer solutions to our problems. None are even willing to acknowledge the extent of the our problems because it would cause problems with their "solutions" and make them incoherent.
I remember Thatcher and her 1979 government. We were in serious trouble. Unions were willing to destroy businesses rather than compromise about what was needed to boost productivity. Management was arrogant, patronising and frankly under skilled. More and more of our economy was subject to the public sector mindset, more focused on those that worked for the business than their customers. Changing this was hard, brutal at times, but (with a lot of help from the proceeds of North Sea oil) it worked.
Where is the current Thatcherite solution? Not in any of our politicians, that is for sure.
My tentative suggestions are that we need a repeat of 1980s deregulation. We need to massively cut back on the regulatory state, many of these regulatory bodies should be completely eliminated. We need to protect businesses from their intrusions and allow them to get on with making money. This will make running businesses from here more attractive but we need to do more, giving generous tax allowances for investment both in kit and training. We need to admire and not want to tear down those who want to make money. We need them. We need the jobs that they create. We need the taxes they will pay and we need to accept that some of them will be chancers and wide boys taking advantage. That's ok and we need to not get too het up about it.
I don't see anyone offering anything like this. I don't see anyone who has anything like a workable solution at all.
There it s no 'Thatcherite' solution. Many of our current problems can be traced back to her curate's egg administrations.
"Deregulation" is fine (and Labour are already making tentative moves in that direction), but the devil as ever is in the detail. And on its own it's unlikely to be any kind of real solution to where we are.
Rochdale is spot on with this: ..Britain’s long term crumbling decline needs to be arrested. A radical rethink is needed of the kinds we have seen in the past – Liberal reforms a century ago, or Labour’s welfare state post-war, or the Thatcher deregulation boom of the 80s.
A change of direction is needed...
But no one has yet identified what that might mean.
Taking a hard look at how other nations build infrastructure for a tenth the price we do and then copy it
It’s about re-regulation. Simply piling up laws, rules etc in the hope that the universe will start behaving when we add more complexity is not merely laughable. It’s mathematically certain not to work.
We live in a non linear world.
What we need is simple, clear, understandable regulations and laws. Which are actually suited to the task they are given.
Which are actually enforced, using morality and human judgement.
What little I'm reading on the Iran war on other forums is that the global markets are still deluding themselves as to how bad this is going to get. And that it will take the first tankers to 'not' get to their destinations next week when they finally wake up to what has already happened.
If some of the doom and gloom I'm seeing is even half right, Leon's going to get to see 'Threads' without the need for nuclear war first.
(It's probably not that bad, but we are all deluding ourselves).
My Trump2 concern is such that if right now you offered me getting to the end of it with the worst consequence being a deep and prolonged global recession I'd take that.
Are you suggesting the options might be a slightly more welcome World economic depression rather than Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome?
Yes. Remember he's done this Iran thing primarily for the visceral pleasure of using his toys and saying things like 'obliterate' and 'destruction never seen before' and 'gonna be hell to pay'. A child and a moral vacuum. Plus breathtakingly corrupt, clueless and incompetent. It's new territory having a person like this in the White House. It doesn't lend itself to traditional analysis or forecasting. All you can do is hope for the best of all the possible grim outcomes. Until he's gone, I mean, not just this episode.
A dementia-ridden, sociopathic narcissist with nukes. What could possibly go wrong?
Don't think he has the excuse of dementia but otherwise yes in a nutshell. WW3 risk remains elevated (significantly) until he's in the rear view mirror.
"In my rear view mirror, the sun is going down...
The sun is in the east even though the day is done
Two suns in the sunset Could be the human race is run"*
Our elites now read less than the average member of the population and it shows.
'Britain’s elites no longer look like they did in the 1950s: droopy-moustached old white blokes with a grouse moor somewhere in their background. They are younger, more urban, more multi-ethnic, make rather than inherit their money. That’s all, we may think, to the good. But as The Telegraph’s Great British Class Study discovers, they are less likely than any other sector of society to spend their spare time reading.
For fewer than one in three members of the new “Elite” read for pleasure, according to polling conducted by the opinion-research firm Public First. Too busy with socials, or crypto, or the gym. By contrast, 45 per cent of the “Left Behind” group – whose members typically score the least economic and cultural points in the new system – are readers, as are 60 per cent of the typically older, more financially stable “Quietly Comfortable” class.' https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/news/britains-elites-have-abandoned-intelligence/
I used to read a lot for pleasure.
Then I started reading PB instead.
Yeah, I'm exactly the same. But I feel ambivalent about it. I enjoy the snappy points on PB and the way the arguments develop with many informed contributions but I can't help lamenting how long it is since I read a novel from beginning to end. I seem to be losing the ability to simply be absorbed in a different world and I miss it.
Same. I do audiobooks now. They are immersive and enjoyable but they don't quite 'stick' like trad books used to with me. I think I could get back into books but it would take an effort. Reading in that way has come to feel a bit clunky. It's a shame. I used to devour stuff and time would fly.
It helps if you have regular long train journeys, and/or have lunch in a place that hasn't got wifi. I have both and the last library book I read for pleasure was "The Regicide Report". But it is getting difficult
'With a new UN General Assembly resolution calling for reparations to be paid for the transatlantic slave trade, the British public are opposed to such payments, although ethnic minority adults are supportive in principle
Black adults: 71% support Ethnic minority adults: 50% All adults: 24% White adults: 19%'
We need to tell them, with extreme vigour, to Go Fuck Themselves, unless they are willing to repay us for the vast cost of Abolishing Slavery worldwide, and also reparate their own people, for enslaving them, as they did
Honestly, the time for this shit to end is yesterday. Enough
Note they aren't asking for a penny from the Islamic nations that slaved them for longer and on a greater scale, and in a much crueller way
"President Trump has extended his deadline for Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz to April 6. The president made the statement Thursday in a social media post. He said he will hold off on bombing Iran’s energy plants." AP
Farage's anti immigration, anti woke nationalism and Polanski's anti business anti rich socialism are neither solutions to our problems, just tools for them to get votes. Hopefully the crisis will at least see a return to the main parties to provide support as prices rise and as voters move away from Farage's Trump links. Farage is right though we need to drill more of our own oil and shore up our energy supplies and we also need to grow more of our own food
The person leading the drill for oil in the media is Kemi
Unsurprisingly you refer to Farage
Kemi is right on this
She's right and she's wrong. She's right we should be doing it, that it was moronic to ever stop doing it, that it will benefit us in the medium term. She's wrong that it will make any difference to our energy bills in either the short or medium term. There are benefits but they will not be in the price of gas or oil in the UK. The benefits are our balance of payments (one of the problems politicians hate talking about), investment in the UK and the perpetuation of our skills base. Her presentation today was either stupid or dishonest or both.
A rational approach would be to come up an achievable date for Net Zero.
From that, you calculate the point at which hydrocarbon usage for transport ends, the point where hydrocarbon usage for heating ends etc etc.
Note that things like plastic production will create a long, long tail.
This gives you a demand profile.
From this you create an approach to production of oil and gas - heading to zero, but in a planned manner.
"hydrocarbon usage for transport ends" is not net zero
No, but it would be part of the plan.
All road vehicles go ZEV, trains electric (some on battery), planes probably on generated hydrocarbons (yes, I know).
That makes offsetting concrete, plastics etc easier - smaller problem.
Our elites now read less than the average member of the population and it shows.
'Britain’s elites no longer look like they did in the 1950s: droopy-moustached old white blokes with a grouse moor somewhere in their background. They are younger, more urban, more multi-ethnic, make rather than inherit their money. That’s all, we may think, to the good. But as The Telegraph’s Great British Class Study discovers, they are less likely than any other sector of society to spend their spare time reading.
For fewer than one in three members of the new “Elite” read for pleasure, according to polling conducted by the opinion-research firm Public First. Too busy with socials, or crypto, or the gym. By contrast, 45 per cent of the “Left Behind” group – whose members typically score the least economic and cultural points in the new system – are readers, as are 60 per cent of the typically older, more financially stable “Quietly Comfortable” class.' https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/news/britains-elites-have-abandoned-intelligence/
I used to read a lot for pleasure.
Then I started reading PB instead.
Yeah, I'm exactly the same. But I feel ambivalent about it. I enjoy the snappy points on PB and the way the arguments develop with many informed contributions but I can't help lamenting how long it is since I read a novel from beginning to end. I seem to be losing the ability to simply be absorbed in a different world and I miss it.
Same. I do audiobooks now. They are immersive and enjoyable but they don't quite 'stick' like trad books used to with me. I think I could get back into books but it would take an effort. Reading in that way has come to feel a bit clunky. It's a shame. I used to devour stuff and time would fly.
You might enjoy "The Death of Reading" by James Marriott, who has written often on this theme
"President Trump has extended his deadline for Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz to April 6. The president made the statement Thursday in a social media post. He said he will hold off on bombing Iran’s energy plants." AP
Our elites now read less than the average member of the population and it shows.
'Britain’s elites no longer look like they did in the 1950s: droopy-moustached old white blokes with a grouse moor somewhere in their background. They are younger, more urban, more multi-ethnic, make rather than inherit their money. That’s all, we may think, to the good. But as The Telegraph’s Great British Class Study discovers, they are less likely than any other sector of society to spend their spare time reading.
For fewer than one in three members of the new “Elite” read for pleasure, according to polling conducted by the opinion-research firm Public First. Too busy with socials, or crypto, or the gym. By contrast, 45 per cent of the “Left Behind” group – whose members typically score the least economic and cultural points in the new system – are readers, as are 60 per cent of the typically older, more financially stable “Quietly Comfortable” class.' https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/news/britains-elites-have-abandoned-intelligence/
I used to read a lot for pleasure.
Then I started reading PB instead.
Yeah, I'm exactly the same. But I feel ambivalent about it. I enjoy the snappy points on PB and the way the arguments develop with many informed contributions but I can't help lamenting how long it is since I read a novel from beginning to end. I seem to be losing the ability to simply be absorbed in a different world and I miss it.
One of the reasons I booked a series of long train journeys for this summer, Paul Theroux style, was to get me back into reading a book every few days. As it happens I’ve started back up months ahead of time, because the pile of books (a mixture of novels and travel writing) I ordered ahead of the trip have been sitting there asking to be started.
Sounds a good plan. My partner loves train travel so we’re training it from Glasgow down to London then the Eurostar to Lille for four nights in May. I’ve pencilled in a reread of The Tin Drum then Flesh (Booker Prize winner) plus something non fiction for leavening. Will try not to dip in and out of tomes and ration internet time, time to rediscover some self discipline.
Our elites now read less than the average member of the population and it shows.
'Britain’s elites no longer look like they did in the 1950s: droopy-moustached old white blokes with a grouse moor somewhere in their background. They are younger, more urban, more multi-ethnic, make rather than inherit their money. That’s all, we may think, to the good. But as The Telegraph’s Great British Class Study discovers, they are less likely than any other sector of society to spend their spare time reading.
For fewer than one in three members of the new “Elite” read for pleasure, according to polling conducted by the opinion-research firm Public First. Too busy with socials, or crypto, or the gym. By contrast, 45 per cent of the “Left Behind” group – whose members typically score the least economic and cultural points in the new system – are readers, as are 60 per cent of the typically older, more financially stable “Quietly Comfortable” class.' https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/news/britains-elites-have-abandoned-intelligence/
I used to read a lot for pleasure.
Then I started reading PB instead.
Yeah, I'm exactly the same. But I feel ambivalent about it. I enjoy the snappy points on PB and the way the arguments develop with many informed contributions but I can't help lamenting how long it is since I read a novel from beginning to end. I seem to be losing the ability to simply be absorbed in a different world and I miss it.
Same. I do audiobooks now. They are immersive and enjoyable but they don't quite 'stick' like trad books used to with me. I think I could get back into books but it would take an effort. Reading in that way has come to feel a bit clunky. It's a shame. I used to devour stuff and time would fly.
I suspect the "book" as we know it, is finished - especially fiction, on the page
It's sad, but it's also undeniable, and it's not all about dumbing down and shortening attention spans, Take narrative history. When I travel I like to read books about where I am, but then you are getting one person's view and one person's distillation of the stories. Which can be annoying and also perverting, you must submit to the writer's POV. Nowadays you can do personal deep-dives online and get much more forensic and focussed info, without the bias of a mediator
I thoroughly enjoy it and feel much better educated
Well I'll look out for the product of that then. Hopefully we'll all benefit.
The enjoyment is key, I think. Life's too short to struggle through things.
Interesting article Rochdale, but you can't have it both ways. It can't be bad that Ref/Green will fall away AND bad that Lab/Con will remain, surely?
Yes, you can. None of them are any good. None offer solutions to our problems. None are even willing to acknowledge the extent of the our problems because it would cause problems with their "solutions" and make them incoherent.
I remember Thatcher and her 1979 government. We were in serious trouble. Unions were willing to destroy businesses rather than compromise about what was needed to boost productivity. Management was arrogant, patronising and frankly under skilled. More and more of our economy was subject to the public sector mindset, more focused on those that worked for the business than their customers. Changing this was hard, brutal at times, but (with a lot of help from the proceeds of North Sea oil) it worked.
Where is the current Thatcherite solution? Not in any of our politicians, that is for sure.
My tentative suggestions are that we need a repeat of 1980s deregulation. We need to massively cut back on the regulatory state, many of these regulatory bodies should be completely eliminated. We need to protect businesses from their intrusions and allow them to get on with making money. This will make running businesses from here more attractive but we need to do more, giving generous tax allowances for investment both in kit and training. We need to admire and not want to tear down those who want to make money. We need them. We need the jobs that they create. We need the taxes they will pay and we need to accept that some of them will be chancers and wide boys taking advantage. That's ok and we need to not get too het up about it.
I don't see anyone offering anything like this. I don't see anyone who has anything like a workable solution at all.
There it s no 'Thatcherite' solution. Many of our current problems can be traced back to her curate's egg administrations.
"Deregulation" is fine (and Labour are already making tentative moves in that direction), but the devil as ever is in the detail. And on its own it's unlikely to be any kind of real solution to where we are.
Rochdale is spot on with this: ..Britain’s long term crumbling decline needs to be arrested. A radical rethink is needed of the kinds we have seen in the past – Liberal reforms a century ago, or Labour’s welfare state post-war, or the Thatcher deregulation boom of the 80s.
A change of direction is needed...
But no one has yet identified what that might mean.
I couldn't disagree more "radical rethink". The UK is middling on most things, excellent on a few others, poor on others. There are a number of sensible reforms, discussed ad finitum on PB, that usually involve fixing a market failure that would go a long way to fix the "poor" things. We can usually just copy-and-paste from other countries and give households and firms a few years lead time.
So - California-style nodal energy pricing. Roll all working-age benefits into the Universal Credit earnings taper system. Bin lots of inefficient, complicated taxes like stamp duty and business rates and transfer the burden to the fairest and least distortive ones like income tax and VAT. A flat property or land value tax. Fix NHS spending at 12% of GDP. Much better public transport for regional cities and towns. Tax breaks for families.
Sometimes you just need to accept there is a limit to what is possible, do it, and let the country get on with it.
Our elites now read less than the average member of the population and it shows.
'Britain’s elites no longer look like they did in the 1950s: droopy-moustached old white blokes with a grouse moor somewhere in their background. They are younger, more urban, more multi-ethnic, make rather than inherit their money. That’s all, we may think, to the good. But as The Telegraph’s Great British Class Study discovers, they are less likely than any other sector of society to spend their spare time reading.
For fewer than one in three members of the new “Elite” read for pleasure, according to polling conducted by the opinion-research firm Public First. Too busy with socials, or crypto, or the gym. By contrast, 45 per cent of the “Left Behind” group – whose members typically score the least economic and cultural points in the new system – are readers, as are 60 per cent of the typically older, more financially stable “Quietly Comfortable” class.' https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/news/britains-elites-have-abandoned-intelligence/
I used to read a lot for pleasure.
Then I started reading PB instead.
Yeah, I'm exactly the same. But I feel ambivalent about it. I enjoy the snappy points on PB and the way the arguments develop with many informed contributions but I can't help lamenting how long it is since I read a novel from beginning to end. I seem to be losing the ability to simply be absorbed in a different world and I miss it.
I'm the same. However I started reading Ian McEwan's latest novel, What We Can Know, a few days ago and became totally engrossed in it. Finished it yesterday. Fantastic. First novel I've read in years.
US President Donald Trump has again taken aim at the UK's military support in the Middle East, denigrating its aircraft carriers, HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales, as "toys".
Speaking at the start of a White House Cabinet meeting on Thursday, Trump criticised the speed at which the UK sent help in the days following the joint Israeli-US attacks on Iran almost one month ago.
"We had the UK say that ‘we’ll send’ – this is three weeks ago – ‘we’ll send our aircraft carriers’, which aren’t the best aircraft carriers by the way," he said. "They're toys compared to what we have."
“But ‘we’ll send our aircraft carrier when the war is over’. I said ‘Oh that’s wonderful, thank you very much. Don’t bother. We don’t need it,'” he added.
"Britain pursuing closer ties with the European Union will “not be viewed favourably” in the White House if it in any way affects the trading relationship between the UK and US, Washington’s ambassador to the UK has warned." https://www.cityam.com/us-ambassador-warns-against-eu-realignment/
'With a new UN General Assembly resolution calling for reparations to be paid for the transatlantic slave trade, the British public are opposed to such payments, although ethnic minority adults are supportive in principle
Black adults: 71% support Ethnic minority adults: 50% All adults: 24% White adults: 19%'
Our elites now read less than the average member of the population and it shows.
'Britain’s elites no longer look like they did in the 1950s: droopy-moustached old white blokes with a grouse moor somewhere in their background. They are younger, more urban, more multi-ethnic, make rather than inherit their money. That’s all, we may think, to the good. But as The Telegraph’s Great British Class Study discovers, they are less likely than any other sector of society to spend their spare time reading.
For fewer than one in three members of the new “Elite” read for pleasure, according to polling conducted by the opinion-research firm Public First. Too busy with socials, or crypto, or the gym. By contrast, 45 per cent of the “Left Behind” group – whose members typically score the least economic and cultural points in the new system – are readers, as are 60 per cent of the typically older, more financially stable “Quietly Comfortable” class.' https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/news/britains-elites-have-abandoned-intelligence/
I used to read a lot for pleasure.
Then I started reading PB instead.
Yeah, I'm exactly the same. But I feel ambivalent about it. I enjoy the snappy points on PB and the way the arguments develop with many informed contributions but I can't help lamenting how long it is since I read a novel from beginning to end. I seem to be losing the ability to simply be absorbed in a different world and I miss it.
Same. I do audiobooks now. They are immersive and enjoyable but they don't quite 'stick' like trad books used to with me. I think I could get back into books but it would take an effort. Reading in that way has come to feel a bit clunky. It's a shame. I used to devour stuff and time would fly.
I suspect the "book" as we know it, is finished - especially fiction, on the page
It's sad, but it's also undeniable, and it's not all about dumbing down and shortening attention spans, Take narrative history. When I travel I like to read books about where I am, but then you are getting one person's view and one person's distillation of the stories. Which can be annoying and also perverting, you must submit to the writer's POV. Nowadays you can do personal deep-dives online and get much more forensic and focussed info, without the bias of a mediator
I thoroughly enjoy it and feel much better educated
I think it is all about dumbing down and shortening attention spans.
Our elites now read less than the average member of the population and it shows.
'Britain’s elites no longer look like they did in the 1950s: droopy-moustached old white blokes with a grouse moor somewhere in their background. They are younger, more urban, more multi-ethnic, make rather than inherit their money. That’s all, we may think, to the good. But as The Telegraph’s Great British Class Study discovers, they are less likely than any other sector of society to spend their spare time reading.
For fewer than one in three members of the new “Elite” read for pleasure, according to polling conducted by the opinion-research firm Public First. Too busy with socials, or crypto, or the gym. By contrast, 45 per cent of the “Left Behind” group – whose members typically score the least economic and cultural points in the new system – are readers, as are 60 per cent of the typically older, more financially stable “Quietly Comfortable” class.' https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/news/britains-elites-have-abandoned-intelligence/
I used to read a lot for pleasure.
Then I started reading PB instead.
Yeah, I'm exactly the same. But I feel ambivalent about it. I enjoy the snappy points on PB and the way the arguments develop with many informed contributions but I can't help lamenting how long it is since I read a novel from beginning to end. I seem to be losing the ability to simply be absorbed in a different world and I miss it.
Same. I do audiobooks now. They are immersive and enjoyable but they don't quite 'stick' like trad books used to with me. I think I could get back into books but it would take an effort. Reading in that way has come to feel a bit clunky. It's a shame. I used to devour stuff and time would fly.
I suspect the "book" as we know it, is finished - especially fiction, on the page
It's sad, but it's also undeniable, and it's not all about dumbing down and shortening attention spans, Take narrative history. When I travel I like to read books about where I am, but then you are getting one person's view and one person's distillation of the stories. Which can be annoying and also perverting, you must submit to the writer's POV. Nowadays you can do personal deep-dives online and get much more forensic and focussed info, without the bias of a mediator
I thoroughly enjoy it and feel much better educated
It's an odd one - because people love long-form 3 hour podcasts. So is long-form media really dead?
Our elites now read less than the average member of the population and it shows.
'Britain’s elites no longer look like they did in the 1950s: droopy-moustached old white blokes with a grouse moor somewhere in their background. They are younger, more urban, more multi-ethnic, make rather than inherit their money. That’s all, we may think, to the good. But as The Telegraph’s Great British Class Study discovers, they are less likely than any other sector of society to spend their spare time reading.
For fewer than one in three members of the new “Elite” read for pleasure, according to polling conducted by the opinion-research firm Public First. Too busy with socials, or crypto, or the gym. By contrast, 45 per cent of the “Left Behind” group – whose members typically score the least economic and cultural points in the new system – are readers, as are 60 per cent of the typically older, more financially stable “Quietly Comfortable” class.' https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/news/britains-elites-have-abandoned-intelligence/
I used to read a lot for pleasure.
Then I started reading PB instead.
Yeah, I'm exactly the same. But I feel ambivalent about it. I enjoy the snappy points on PB and the way the arguments develop with many informed contributions but I can't help lamenting how long it is since I read a novel from beginning to end. I seem to be losing the ability to simply be absorbed in a different world and I miss it.
One of the reasons I booked a series of long train journeys for this summer, Paul Theroux style, was to get me back into reading a book every few days. As it happens I’ve started back up months ahead of time, because the pile of books (a mixture of novels and travel writing) I ordered ahead of the trip have been sitting there asking to be started.
Sounds a good plan. My partner loves train travel so we’re training it from Glasgow down to London then the Eurostar to Lille for four nights in May. I’ve pencilled in a reread of The Tin Drum then Flesh (Booker Prize winner) plus something non fiction for leavening. Will try not to dip in and out of tomes and ration internet time, time to rediscover some self discipline.
My son took the train up to Glasgow recently to visit a friend. A very long journey but more visually attractive than the East coast main line to Edinburgh. I’d love to think he devoured a few books but I suspect he spent the whole journey on Roblox and TikTok.
"Britain pursuing closer ties with the European Union will “not be viewed favourably” in the White House if it in any way affects the trading relationship between the UK and US, Washington’s ambassador to the UK has warned." https://www.cityam.com/us-ambassador-warns-against-eu-realignment/
He needs to be told, with extreme rigour (sic)...
It’s almost as if the US admin is being paid by Brussels.
Interesting thread from @RochdalePioneers. Not sure I agree with all of it but I do agree on the key points in his last paragraph.
1. The current systems and solutions offered by Tory and Labour have clearly failed. 2. The insurgent parties - primarily Reform and The Greens - have recognised this and realise radical change is needed. 3. The solutions they are offering are not going to make things better and will probably make things a lot worse.
So the question that I have been considering is whether actually there is no viable practical solution to the problems facing us. Anything radical enough to deal with the problems (assuming we can even agree on what the problems are) may be so radical and disruptive it leads to large sections of the electorate simply refusing to go along.
Are we and much of the rest of the democratic West becoming ungovernable?
Our elites now read less than the average member of the population and it shows.
'Britain’s elites no longer look like they did in the 1950s: droopy-moustached old white blokes with a grouse moor somewhere in their background. They are younger, more urban, more multi-ethnic, make rather than inherit their money. That’s all, we may think, to the good. But as The Telegraph’s Great British Class Study discovers, they are less likely than any other sector of society to spend their spare time reading.
For fewer than one in three members of the new “Elite” read for pleasure, according to polling conducted by the opinion-research firm Public First. Too busy with socials, or crypto, or the gym. By contrast, 45 per cent of the “Left Behind” group – whose members typically score the least economic and cultural points in the new system – are readers, as are 60 per cent of the typically older, more financially stable “Quietly Comfortable” class.' https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/news/britains-elites-have-abandoned-intelligence/
I used to read a lot for pleasure.
Then I started reading PB instead.
Yeah, I'm exactly the same. But I feel ambivalent about it. I enjoy the snappy points on PB and the way the arguments develop with many informed contributions but I can't help lamenting how long it is since I read a novel from beginning to end. I seem to be losing the ability to simply be absorbed in a different world and I miss it.
One of the reasons I booked a series of long train journeys for this summer, Paul Theroux style, was to get me back into reading a book every few days. As it happens I’ve started back up months ahead of time, because the pile of books (a mixture of novels and travel writing) I ordered ahead of the trip have been sitting there asking to be started.
Sounds a good plan. My partner loves train travel so we’re training it from Glasgow down to London then the Eurostar to Lille for four nights in May. I’ve pencilled in a reread of The Tin Drum then Flesh (Booker Prize winner) plus something non fiction for leavening. Will try not to dip in and out of tomes and ration internet time, time to rediscover some self discipline.
My son took the train up to Glasgow recently to visit a friend. A very long journey but more visually attractive than the East coast main line to Edinburgh. I’d love to think he devoured a few books but I suspect he spent the whole journey on Roblox and TikTok.
...what? Impossible to beat Holy Island, the Tweed, Durham Cathedral.
"Britain pursuing closer ties with the European Union will “not be viewed favourably” in the White House if it in any way affects the trading relationship between the UK and US, Washington’s ambassador to the UK has warned." https://www.cityam.com/us-ambassador-warns-against-eu-realignment/
He needs to be told, with extreme rigour (sic)...
It’s almost as if the US admin is being paid by Brussels.
We should just leave the UN, and junk the Commonwealth
No, we have a UN Security Council veto so they can't really do anything with these meaningless resolutions. The Commonwealth remains a sphere for Anglosphere links and influence
Interesting thread from @RochdalePioneers. Not sure I agree with all of it but I do agree on the key points in his last paragraph.
1. The current systems and solutions offered by Tory and Labour have clearly failed. 2. The insurgent parties - primarily Reform and The Greens - have recognised this and realise radical change is needed. 3. The solutions they are offering are not going to make things better and will probably make things a lot worse.
So the question that I have been considering is whether actually there is no viable practical solution to the problems facing us. Anything radical enough to deal with thebproblems (assuming we can even agree on what the problems are) may be do radical and disruptive it leads to large sections of the electorate simply refusing to go along.
Are we and much of the rest of the democratic West becoming ungovernable?
We have no precedent or case study for our predicament unfortunately, except perhaps Japan.
Perhaps 30% of our problems are down to recent crises (and there have been many) but the rest are down to ageing demographics. A shrinking active population, and a rapidly increasing dependency ratio. Plus advances in healthcare keeping people expensively alive for longer. Hard to find a solution to that, other than an ever increasing pension age.
Huge boost for One Nation after their second place in South Australia last weekend, first poll to have them closer to Labor on 2PP than the Coalition as well
Angela Rayner is preparing to launch a podcast called Beyond the Bubble as she seeks to broaden her appeal before a potential Labour leadership contest
The former deputy prime minister has interviewed Lord Gove, the former Tory cabinet minister, as the star guest on the pilot, which is focused on housing
Rayner and Gove both served as housing secretaries and the two recently gave evidence together to a parliamentary committee about leasehold reform. Both championed legislation to give leaseholders and renters more rights while they were in office
The two are understood to get on well despite their political differences. Gove, who is now editor of The Spectator, is said to have joked to Rayner after their appearance before MPs that she had been like Annie Lennox to his Dave Stewart from Eurythmics
In the first episode Rayner conducts other interviews with people across the country about housing. The show was produced by Global, which owns the radio station LBC, but it is not yet clear if it has signed off a full series
Church attendance report pulled after YouGov finds 'fraudulent' responses
A report claiming the number of young people attending church in England and Wales had skyrocketed has been retracted, after the underlying data was found to be flawed.
The Bible Society's "Quiet Revival" report had been widely reported on since its publication last year and became an accepted part of discourse among many Christians.
Now YouGov, which carried out the research, has told the Bible Society that an internal review of the data found that some of the respondents who completed its survey were "fraudulent".
It has said that quality control measures, which usually remove such responses, were not applied due to human error.
It never rang true as anyone who goes to church on Sunday, or even passes by on the way to the pub can see that there are not hordes of youngsters going.
Plenty in evangelical churches in big cities, Tottenham Court Road Hillsong church is packed with young people of all ethnicities each Sunday
Yeah, but no more than there were.
Mega churches I think are bigger amongst under 30s than they were pre 2000 and especially attract lots of young black British. Even C of E churches are more ethnically diverse than they were, especially in urban areas.
Plenty of younger Eastern Europeans in Roman Catholic churches in the UK too
We used to live down the street from the Polish Catholic church in Ealing. Half the congregation at Mass had to stand outside.
Yes, Poles and Black British under 50 have a good Christian faith still
Interesting thread from @RochdalePioneers. Not sure I agree with all of it but I do agree on the key points in his last paragraph.
1. The current systems and solutions offered by Tory and Labour have clearly failed. 2. The insurgent parties - primarily Reform and The Greens - have recognised this and realise radical change is needed. 3. The solutions they are offering are not going to make things better and will probably make things a lot worse.
So the question that I have been considering is whether actually there is no viable practical solution to the problems facing us. Anything radical enough to deal with thebproblems (assuming we can even agree on what the problems are) may be do radical and disruptive it leads to large sections of the electorate simply refusing to go along.
Are we and much of the rest of the democratic West becoming ungovernable?
We have no precedent or case study for our predicament unfortunately, except perhaps Japan.
Perhaps 30% of our problems are down to recent crises (and there have been many) but the rest are down to ageing demographics. A shrinking active population, and a rapidly increasing dependency ratio. Plus advances in healthcare keeping people expensively alive for longer. Hard to find a solution to that, other than an ever increasing pension age.
SCOOP: Trump has spent his second term in office working to leave his mark on Washington and the country.
Now, his Treasury Department plans to add his signature to all denominations of U.S. dollar bills. It will be the first time in history a sitting president's signature appears on dollar bills
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Plenty of younger Eastern Europeans in Roman Catholic churches in the UK too
Honestly, never has a single group of people all deserved to be punched in the face more than the Trump cabinet...
Britain's way out of our mess? Work hard, trade hard. If only there was a party offering that agenda.
I had one of those epiphanies when Alan Clarke lauded the football hooligans as heirs to the great British martial spirit, yet every time they appeared on telly tearing up European market squares I felt excruciating embarrassment.
MAGA are all of that Alan Clarke type.
Max Verstappen throws Guardian journalist out of press conference
Red Bull driver erupts during media session at Japanese Grand Prix after spotting reporter who had irritated him with question last season
Max Verstappen refused to start a press conference in Japan until a British journalist had left the room, telling the reporter in question to “get out” three times during a tense exchange.
Verstappen, 28, had just sat down for his print media duties in the Red Bull hospitality suite in Suzuka when he spotted the reporter, Giles Richards of The Guardian.
“I’m not speaking before he leaves,” said Verstappen, who was seemingly still aggrieved at a line of questioning during a news conference which followed last season’s finale in Abu Dhabi in December.
On that occasion, Richards had asked Verstappen whether he “now regretted” driving into George Russell at the Spanish Grand Prix last May, an incident which cost the Dutch driver nine championship points. Verstappen ended up losing the title by just two points to McLaren’s Lando Norris.
“You forget about all the other stuff that happened in my season,” a clearly irritated Verstappen replied at the time. “The only thing that you mention is Barcelona. I knew that would come. And you are giving me a stupid grin now.”
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/formula-1/2026/03/26/japanese-gp-max-verstappen-throws-journalist-out-press/
This is why Sir Lewis Hamilton is the 🐐.
Breast hypnosis was good for business – but I drew the line at penises, said Polanski
Green Party leader admitted he had not been misrepresented when he said his hypnotherapy could increase bra sizes
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/03/26/breast-hypnosis-was-good-for-business-but-i-drew-the-line-a/
The line “They certainly don't know what to do about (the problems) and get reelected.” in OLB’s comment is key.
That is the point of the article.
Possibly. Depends on the offer. Reform are increasingly being shown up as all mouth and no trousers. "Just cut DEI" shown up as a joke. "no more net stupid zero" gets us more on the hook to expensive imported energy. Its "populism" argues for us getting poorer, with the argument put by the mad, bad and loathed.
And the Greens? I like Polanski. But they are infested by Corbynites and Gaza radicals. Isn't a solution, and Polanski is already struggling to get past the shallowness of his offer.
If the populist was 2019 Boris, then sure. But having had 2022 Boris, does chaos really make us think ah what the hell nothing left to lose?
I am about to eat my dinner.
No chance at all he survives any scrutiny.
90% of his posts these days are YouTube videos of what I can only assume (I’ve never watched any of them) from his brief descriptions are anti Israel videos
How much time does he spend on YouTube?
Same as the state failure of late communist USSR and more recently Cuba and Venezuela have inoculated liberals against the temptation of populist leftism.
Many of our current problems can be traced back to her curate's egg administrations.
"Deregulation" is fine (and Labour are already making tentative moves in that direction), but the devil as ever is in the detail. And on its own it's unlikely to be any kind of real solution to where we are.
Rochdale is spot on with this:
..Britain’s long term crumbling decline needs to be arrested. A radical rethink is needed of the kinds we have seen in the past – Liberal reforms a century ago, or Labour’s welfare state post-war, or the Thatcher deregulation boom of the 80s.
A change of direction is needed...
But no one has yet identified what that might mean.
Defrauding people with harmless 'hypnosis' doesn't rank particularly highly in comparison.
And all his friends are mad and in government too. Does that remind you of any tousle-haired columnists?
Net Zero has always been a policy that floats along on ignorance, and frankly lies. The biggest being that gas is a more expensive form of power generation than wind and solar - it isn't. When something like this happens, it strips away the veneer and people start to listen to calls for change.
Liz Truss had a big chance to change Britain's energy policy in response to the first energy crisis. She tried, but she'd already blown it with the minibudget, so she had little credibility. What she should have done was tie fracking and a wider cheap energy strategy in with the energy subsidy in an act of parliament, using the emergency to make her case for her 'Here's the support with your bills, and here's what we're doing so this never happens again'. That would have worked, and anybody voting against would have been a traitor to the people.
Now Iran has happened, we have another chance. Sir Useless can hang on to Milliband and Net Zero if he wants, but he'll be turned to ashes over it - so will the Greens.
But they have all identified different directions.
Most of them can be dismissed as impractical (the Greens or some of the nuttier Reform policies), or as not answering the key question we face, which is how to raise the country's long term growth rate (anything left of centre). The rest would work but don't have sufficient political support (e.g. Thatcherism).
So, given the fracutring of our political landscape, the centre ground has so far won by default.
If I could erase just one thing from the smorgasbord of sociopolitical impulses I think I'd choose belicose 'we are special' nationalism.
He is the best communicator in UK politics now.
Or, indeed, any history at all
Renewables blended with fossil and nuclear is the settled policy of the country. The Tories were banging the drum on the exact same things they now criticise Labour for banging.
Gas - used for spot generation when needed - is more expensive. And you saying "no it isn't" doesn't change that. Could we make gas cheaper? Sure - by burning more of it and thus having less renewables. Where will we get that gas from? Yup - Russia.
The Faragist argument is absurd.
It would, of course, require a reversal of Thatcherism, which privatised infrastructure, and added on top of that an infrastructure of (ineffective, and ultimately counterproductive) regulation.
Decades of experience have proved that a disaster.
Bat tunnels are a very real consequence of
a) European legislation adopted into British law, and
b) A single issue unaccountable quango set up to enforce that law - with no remit to consider wider implications, no need to face the electorate, and no consequences for the damage they do to the economy.
Undo the legislation, dissolve the quango. Go back to how it was when things did get built.
This stuff isn't rocket science. Half of us just don't want to see it, because it's radically against our notion of good politics - namely that Europe is great, experts are great, and electoral politics is dirty.
From that, you calculate the point at which hydrocarbon usage for transport ends, the point where hydrocarbon usage for heating ends etc etc.
Note that things like plastic production will create a long, long tail.
This gives you a demand profile.
From this you create an approach to production of oil and gas - heading to zero, but in a planned manner.
Sure, it can take some time for inflation to work its way through the economy, but it's starting at 3%.
Let’s be positive
1. I’ve recently made loads of money
2. My local pub has unveiled a new beer garden. And it rocks
Not everything gets worse. Cheer up
Lab 29%
One Nation 27%
Lib/Nat 19%
Grn 13%
Ind 6%
Oth 6%
2 party preferred
Lab 54%
Lib/Nat 46%
Lab 53%
One Nation 47%
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polling_for_the_next_Australian_federal_election#Voting_intention
Black adults: 71% support
Ethnic minority adults: 50%
All adults: 24%
White adults: 19%'
https://x.com/YouGov/status/2037204040916906441?s=20
'Support for slave trade reparations in principle, by 2024 vote
Green: 53%
Labour: 34%
Lib Dem: 28%
Conservative: 7%
Reform: 4%'
https://x.com/YouGov/status/2037204043269898366?s=20
It's sad, but it's also undeniable, and it's not all about dumbing down and shortening attention spans, Take narrative history. When I travel I like to read books about where I am, but then you are getting one person's view and one person's distillation of the stories. Which can be annoying and also perverting, you must submit to the writer's POV. Nowadays you can do personal deep-dives online and get much more forensic and focussed info, without the bias of a mediator
I thoroughly enjoy it and feel much better educated
In other news...
@chadbourn.bsky.social
US stocks had their biggest loss since the Iran War started with the S&P 500 down 1.7%. (NYT)
I love being well read, and that is my ambition. The world of ideas is so satisfying to explore.
We live in a non linear world.
What we need is simple, clear, understandable regulations and laws. Which are actually suited to the task they are given.
Which are actually enforced, using morality and human judgement.
The sun is in the east even though the day is done
Two suns in the sunset
Could be the human race is run"*
* With thanks to Roger Waters.
Honestly, the time for this shit to end is yesterday. Enough
Note they aren't asking for a penny from the Islamic nations that slaved them for longer and on a greater scale, and in a much crueller way
It is pure grift
All road vehicles go ZEV, trains electric (some on battery), planes probably on generated hydrocarbons (yes, I know).
That makes offsetting concrete, plastics etc easier - smaller problem.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3ct71cy (26 mins)
My partner loves train travel so we’re training it from Glasgow down to London then the Eurostar to Lille for four nights in May. I’ve pencilled in a reread of The Tin Drum then Flesh (Booker Prize winner) plus something non fiction for leavening. Will try not to dip in and out of tomes and ration internet time, time to rediscover some self discipline.
The enjoyment is key, I think. Life's too short to struggle through things.
So - California-style nodal energy pricing. Roll all working-age benefits into the Universal Credit earnings taper system. Bin lots of inefficient, complicated taxes like stamp duty and business rates and transfer the burden to the fairest and least distortive ones like income tax and VAT. A flat property or land value tax. Fix NHS spending at 12% of GDP. Much better public transport for regional cities and towns. Tax breaks for families.
Sometimes you just need to accept there is a limit to what is possible, do it, and let the country get on with it.
However I started reading Ian McEwan's latest novel, What We Can Know, a few days ago and became totally engrossed in it. Finished it yesterday. Fantastic. First novel I've read in years.
US President Donald Trump has again taken aim at the UK's military support in the Middle East, denigrating its aircraft carriers, HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales, as "toys".
Speaking at the start of a White House Cabinet meeting on Thursday, Trump criticised the speed at which the UK sent help in the days following the joint Israeli-US attacks on Iran almost one month ago.
"We had the UK say that ‘we’ll send’ – this is three weeks ago – ‘we’ll send our aircraft carriers’, which aren’t the best aircraft carriers by the way," he said. "They're toys compared to what we have."
“But ‘we’ll send our aircraft carrier when the war is over’. I said ‘Oh that’s wonderful, thank you very much. Don’t bother. We don’t need it,'” he added.
https://www.itv.com/news/2026-03-26/trump-says-uk-aircraft-carriers-are-toys-compared-to-us-ones
https://www.cityam.com/us-ambassador-warns-against-eu-realignment/
He needs to be told, with extreme rigour (sic)...
1. The current systems and solutions offered by Tory and Labour have clearly failed.
2. The insurgent parties - primarily Reform and The Greens - have recognised this and realise radical change is needed.
3. The solutions they are offering are not going to make things better and will probably make things a lot worse.
So the question that I have been considering is whether actually there is no viable practical solution to the problems facing us. Anything radical enough to deal with the problems (assuming we can even agree on what the problems are) may be so radical and disruptive it leads to large sections of the electorate simply refusing to go along.
Are we and much of the rest of the democratic West becoming ungovernable?
Perhaps 30% of our problems are down to recent crises (and there have been many) but the rest are down to ageing demographics. A shrinking active population, and a rapidly increasing dependency ratio. Plus advances in healthcare keeping people expensively alive for longer. Hard to find a solution to that, other than an ever increasing pension age.
Exclusive:
Angela Rayner is preparing to launch a podcast called Beyond the Bubble as she seeks to broaden her appeal before a potential Labour leadership contest
The former deputy prime minister has interviewed Lord Gove, the former Tory cabinet minister, as the star guest on the pilot, which is focused on housing
Rayner and Gove both served as housing secretaries and the two recently gave evidence together to a parliamentary committee about leasehold reform. Both championed legislation to give leaseholders and renters more rights while they were in office
The two are understood to get on well despite their political differences. Gove, who is now editor of The Spectator, is said to have joked to Rayner after their appearance before MPs that she had been like Annie Lennox to his Dave Stewart from Eurythmics
In the first episode Rayner conducts other interviews with people across the country about housing. The show was produced by Global, which owns the radio station LBC, but it is not yet clear if it has signed off a full series
https://t.co/fU4nkzp6Mv
I get very irritated by this assumption, brought up all the time on podcasts. I think it's politicians abdicating responsbility.
SCOOP: Trump has spent his second term in office working to leave his mark on Washington and the country.
Now, his Treasury Department plans to add his signature to all denominations of U.S. dollar bills. It will be the first time in history a sitting president's signature appears on dollar bills