How far away are we from matter/anti matter reactors.
The energy the produce in Star Trek is amazing.
12.75 x 10^18 Watts, for the D apparently, only about a millionth of the power outputted by the Tsar Bomba when that thing went off.
Blimey, I never knew that.
Cheating a bit since the Enterprise is a sustained reaction (obviously), whereas the bomb took less than a second to explode, so using Watts is a bit misleading. According to nerds the superlaser on the Death Star produces 10^33 Watts...
So yeah, I'm calling this a crossover with YouGov, and the fourth different pollster this month to show the Tories ahead.
While I don't think the wording will have made a big difference, I think it's important for comparison purposes that the headline VI with parties only is used for consistency. I don't think this counts, though obviously it's a valuable data point.
My position is based solely on the fact that if this poll is classed as an official Tory lead, Paddy Power will pay me some money.
When do you have up to to win your crossover bet ?
30th June ?
I reckon it is Evens or thereabouts, perhaps 4/5. Yougov always seem to weight raw Labour numbers down a smidgen, and Conservative up slightly... but then again so does everyone. Probably accounts for Labour voter's laziness in safe seats at GE time.
How far away are we from matter/anti matter reactors.
The energy the produce in Star Trek is amazing.
A hell of a long way because the huge problem is storing anti-matter if you can even create sufficient quantities of it. You have to store antimatter so that it doesn't touch the sides of its container otherwise kaboom. The energy drain on storage would be colossal.
It isn't totally unrelated to fusion, in the sense that the fusion reactor requires the super hot (100 million K) plasma to be magnetically confined.
"One nation acting cohesively" is the antithesis of modern capitalism. It requires people to think in term of consumer wealth without regard to abstract concepts like "value"
Mr. Smarmeron, the First Punic War had bloody enormous battles, and the Romans had a pathological approach to warfare that just saw them replace lost fleet after lost fleet.
As for the causes: First - bit of a contretemps over mercenaries in north-east Sicily got out of hand Second - Hannibal invaded Italy (or because the Romans made a city in Carthaginian territory an ally, though that's not my view) Third - Rome bullied Carthage so much the city bit back, and then the Romans spent several years being surprisingly ineffective in a war which was a superpower versus one city
If someone said we will use AWS for 2 elections to rapidly boost the number of women and then show that picking a woman isn't a disaster etc
Women arent under-represented because party members think they dont make good MPs. AWS cant work in just 2 elections.
The issue is role models - if all MPs are middle-aged white men, it seems weird to consider a young black female candidate - people say "I don't know what it is exactly, but she just doesn't seem like an MP". AWSs are seen by everyone as a blunt tool, but they do the job. Introducing them for a fixed period could work, but it might be better to aim to end them when the proportion of women is at a level suggesting that the issue has been resolved - say 40%.
And yes, the same issues arise about ethnic minorities and the possibility of having some all-minority shortlists has been knocking around for years, though the feeling up to now is that adding another special requirement would be a complexity too far.
The greater issue is different insight, different experience, different perspective, different way of operating. I can see why all women short-lists are wrong, but we do ourselves no favours by retaining what are essentially all-boys clubs in so many parts of our civic and business life.
So yeah, I'm calling this a crossover with YouGov, and the fourth different pollster this month to show the Tories ahead.
While I don't think the wording will have made a big difference, I think it's important for comparison purposes that the headline VI with parties only is used for consistency. I don't think this counts, though obviously it's a valuable data point.
My position is based solely on the fact that if this poll is classed as an official Tory lead, Paddy Power will pay me some money.
When do you have up to to win your crossover bet ?
30th June ?
I reckon it is Evens or thereabouts, perhaps 4/5. Yougov always seem to weight raw Labour numbers down a smidgen, and Conservative up slightly... but then again so does everyone. Probably accounts for Labour voter's laziness in safe seats at GE time.
Mr. Smarmeron, worth pointing out wars did happen before the industrial revolution. The death toll at Cannae is comparable to that at battles in World War One.
In terms of percentage of casualties, battles in the ancient world were commonly far more bloody than in modern times.
How far away are we from matter/anti matter reactors.
The energy the produce in Star Trek is amazing.
12.75 x 10^18 Watts, for the D apparently, only about a millionth of the power outputted by the Tsar Bomba when that thing went off.
Blimey, I never knew that.
Cheating a bit since the Enterprise is a sustained reaction (obviously), whereas the bomb took less than a second to explode, so using Watts is a bit misleading. According to nerds the superlaser on the Death Star produces 10^33 Watts...
The party’s powerful org-sub met today to discuss the latest upcoming selections – and in particular which selections will be All Women Shortlists and which will be open. Four seats were confirmed as AWS, but one – Salford and Eccles – is still to be decided.
After a discussion described by one org-sub member as “fractious”, the vote was tied (an unusual result), meaning that the full NEC will need to decide what kind of selection will be held there.
The other selections are as follows:
Great Grimsby – AWS
Cynon Valley – AWS
Swansea East – AWS
Ashton under Lyne – AWS
These selections (all in Labour-held seats) will take place over the coming months
Hmm Nice to see Great Grimsby in there. I have an image of that place as precisely the sort of Old Labour/working class Tory flirting with UKIP by the sea, where this sort of thing could backfire.
Particularly if UKIP find another Diane James type figure, a woman that can point out to the Labour lady that she got there on merit and not through an AWS.
Edit: Even better would be to have Euan Blair parachuted in !
Local election results show 36% lab/26% con/16% ukip
Even though shires were not up hell of a job for Tory victory imho.
Where are the gains by constituncy over 2010 coming from
The Lib Dems, Southampton, Dumfries and Galloway and Birmingham Edgbaston to name 4 potential sources. On current polling, however, it looks a tall order
It's why it was so frustrating that the left chose to mock to death Cameron's tenantive steps to establish the little platoons
The Big Society is the Tories' big idea. As an alternative to the clunking fist of the central state, Mr Cameron and his colleagues envisage a civil society comprised of so many "little platoons", a term they have borrowed from Edmund Burke to describe the voluntary groups and neighbourhood associations that would be integral to a "broad culture of responsibility, mutuality and obligation".
Yes, that was a major mistake by the Left. They could have picked up Cameron's idea and run with it, and used it as a way to encourage more social solidarity in society in general.
Much of the Left has found itself in a dead-end of always arguing for the State to intervene, when the options are broader than State versus Market.
And that for me is why I struggle to see the situation where I could vote for the current Labour party: it is the party of vested interests and the state, rather than a party of the One Nation acting cohensively.
God forbid that you might have some vested interests Charles and that these may be best served by the Conservative party!!
It's why it was so frustrating that the left chose to mock to death Cameron's tenantive steps to establish the little platoons
The Big Society is the Tories' big idea. As an alternative to the clunking fist of the central state, Mr Cameron and his colleagues envisage a civil society comprised of so many "little platoons", a term they have borrowed from Edmund Burke to describe the voluntary groups and neighbourhood associations that would be integral to a "broad culture of responsibility, mutuality and obligation".
Yes, that was a major mistake by the Left. They could have picked up Cameron's idea and run with it, and used it as a way to encourage more social solidarity in society in general.
Much of the Left has found itself in a dead-end of always arguing for the State to intervene, when the options are broader than State versus Market.
And that for me is why I struggle to see the situation where I could vote for the current Labour party: it is the party of vested interests and the state, rather than a party of the One Nation acting cohensively.
This we have in common - but I would still choose Labour over Conservative in a forced-choice.
Interesting article by Sunny Hundal - illustrates Labour's dichotomy.
A very revealing article. Note how the entire debate is framed only in terms of messaging - there is not the slightest interest in whether fiscal discipline is necessary or desirable, only whether going for it or shying away from it would move the polls in Labour's direction.
Classic Labour mindset, at least since New Labour infested the party. Before that there was a genuine (if often misguided) desire to govern well, but, as that article lays bare, that's gone.
Mr. Llama, indeed, but there was a lot of variance. In Macedonian warfare the victors often had surprisingly small casualty rates, whereas losers could be almost wiped out.
Mr. Smarmeron, you seem to be drifting a bit. The point is industrialism has not made warfare more likely, more frequent or worse, it's just changed the weapons.
The party’s powerful org-sub met today to discuss the latest upcoming selections – and in particular which selections will be All Women Shortlists and which will be open. Four seats were confirmed as AWS, but one – Salford and Eccles – is still to be decided.
After a discussion described by one org-sub member as “fractious”, the vote was tied (an unusual result), meaning that the full NEC will need to decide what kind of selection will be held there.
The other selections are as follows:
Great Grimsby – AWS
Cynon Valley – AWS
Swansea East – AWS
Ashton under Lyne – AWS
These selections (all in Labour-held seats) will take place over the coming months
Hmm Nice to see Great Grimsby in there. I have an image of that place as precisely the sort of Old Labour/working class Tory flirting with UKIP by the sea, where this sort of thing could backfire.
Particularly if UKIP find another Diane James type figure, a woman that can point out to the Labour lady that she got there on merit and not through an AWS.
Edit: Even better would be to have Euan Blair parachuted in !
Isn't young Euan having Bootle reserved for him?
Previously it was Coventry North West that was being reserved for him. I do wish he'd make up his mind about which seat should offer itself up to him.
How far away are we from matter/anti matter reactors.
The energy the produce in Star Trek is amazing.
12.75 x 10^18 Watts, for the D apparently, only about a millionth of the power outputted by the Tsar Bomba when that thing went off.
Blimey, I never knew that.
Cheating a bit since the Enterprise is a sustained reaction (obviously), whereas the bomb took less than a second to explode, so using Watts is a bit misleading. According to nerds the superlaser on the Death Star produces 10^33 Watts...
On the energy discussion: one change that I am certain is going to happen over the next couple of years is that of "Fuel Poverty". Currently this is defned as:
"A fuel poor household is defined as one which needs to spend more than 10% of its income on all fuel use and to heat its home to an adequate standard of warmth. In England, this is defined as 21°C in the living room and 18°C in other occupied rooms."
There are going to be so many people in that position that it will become politically impossible for any government of whatever colour to call how a very significant minority of people live poverty. As it will also be politically impossible for a government to reduce prices (just think of the polar bears), they will change the definition.
P.S. Does anyone heat their living room to 21 degrees and 18 in the rest of the house? Our thermostat has been set at 16% for years and our bills are still enormous.
Hurts , mine is set so I can sit comfortably in a tee shirt , never bother with temperatures , now and again I may wear a jumper. I remember well when we had a coal fire and no heating and you had to pile on layers of clothes and be close to the fire mind you, so am enjoying it while I can.
How far away are we from matter/anti matter reactors.
The energy the produce in Star Trek is amazing.
12.75 x 10^18 Watts, for the D apparently, only about a millionth of the power outputted by the Tsar Bomba when that thing went off.
Blimey, I never knew that.
Cheating a bit since the Enterprise is a sustained reaction (obviously), whereas the bomb took less than a second to explode, so using Watts is a bit misleading. According to nerds the superlaser on the Death Star produces 10^33 Watts...
The party’s powerful org-sub met today to discuss the latest upcoming selections – and in particular which selections will be All Women Shortlists and which will be open. Four seats were confirmed as AWS, but one – Salford and Eccles – is still to be decided.
After a discussion described by one org-sub member as “fractious”, the vote was tied (an unusual result), meaning that the full NEC will need to decide what kind of selection will be held there.
The other selections are as follows:
Great Grimsby – AWS
Cynon Valley – AWS
Swansea East – AWS
Ashton under Lyne – AWS
These selections (all in Labour-held seats) will take place over the coming months
Hmm Nice to see Great Grimsby in there. I have an image of that place as precisely the sort of Old Labour/working class Tory flirting with UKIP by the sea, where this sort of thing could backfire.
Particularly if UKIP find another Diane James type figure, a woman that can point out to the Labour lady that she got there on merit and not through an AWS.
Edit: Even better would be to have Euan Blair parachuted in !
Isn't young Euan having Bootle reserved for him?
Previously it was Coventry North West that was being reserved for him. I do wish he'd make up his mind about which seat should offer itself up to him.
I've heard on the grapevine that Coventry Labour wasn't overly thrilled about the prospect !
How far away are we from matter/anti matter reactors.
The energy the produce in Star Trek is amazing.
12.75 x 10^18 Watts, for the D apparently, only about a millionth of the power outputted by the Tsar Bomba when that thing went off.
Blimey, I never knew that.
Cheating a bit since the Enterprise is a sustained reaction (obviously), whereas the bomb took less than a second to explode, so using Watts is a bit misleading. According to nerds the superlaser on the Death Star produces 10^33 Watts...
I'll get my coat
There's quite a few physicists on PB.
I have an A Level in Physics.
Physics gives me a hadron.
Do my bosons give you a hadron?
Titter
Of course.
In case the biologists are feeling left out by physics chat.
How far away are we from matter/anti matter reactors.
The energy the produce in Star Trek is amazing.
A hell of a long way because the huge problem is storing anti-matter if you can even create sufficient quantities of it. You have to store antimatter so that it doesn't touch the sides of its container otherwise kaboom. The energy drain on storage would be colossal.
I suppose it might still be worth doing in some applications. The B29 cost even more than the A-bomb, and both cost vastly more than dropping the equivalent in conventional munitions onto Hiroshima would have cost. The point was exactly to do all that damage with one plane and one bomb. Presumably, in the same way, it might be a poor idea economically to store anti-matter as a fuel, but if a constraint were mass of fuel or something, it might make sense.
IIRC the anti-matter in 'Trek is plasma, which is a crap idea because plasma has no electrical charge. You'd actually want anti-matter to have one to store it, because you could have positively-charged storage vessels, which would be repelled by the anti-matter's positrons, preventing touching of the sides, or something.
IIRC, the three unfathomably implausible bits of Treknology are the transporters; whatever protects the crew from being crushed by the acceleration; and the non-manifestation of the expected relativity consequences of FTL travel. Much of the other stuff is either trivial to the universe, or roughly plausible given some not unreasonable assumptions about future discoveries and technology. But those stand out as impossible to accommodate within any recognisable physics.
The party’s powerful org-sub met today to discuss the latest upcoming selections – and in particular which selections will be All Women Shortlists and which will be open. Four seats were confirmed as AWS, but one – Salford and Eccles – is still to be decided.
After a discussion described by one org-sub member as “fractious”, the vote was tied (an unusual result), meaning that the full NEC will need to decide what kind of selection will be held there.
The other selections are as follows:
Great Grimsby – AWS
Cynon Valley – AWS
Swansea East – AWS
Ashton under Lyne – AWS
These selections (all in Labour-held seats) will take place over the coming months
Hmm Nice to see Great Grimsby in there. I have an image of that place as precisely the sort of Old Labour/working class Tory flirting with UKIP by the sea, where this sort of thing could backfire.
Particularly if UKIP find another Diane James type figure, a woman that can point out to the Labour lady that she got there on merit and not through an AWS.
Edit: Even better would be to have Euan Blair parachuted in !
Isn't young Euan having Bootle reserved for him?
Previously it was Coventry North West that was being reserved for him. I do wish he'd make up his mind about which seat should offer itself up to him.
I wonder if he'll be as much of a dead cert to win as some people think, considering the animosity that exists towards his father.
How far away are we from matter/anti matter reactors.
The energy the produce in Star Trek is amazing.
12.75 x 10^18 Watts, for the D apparently, only about a millionth of the power outputted by the Tsar Bomba when that thing went off.
Blimey, I never knew that.
Cheating a bit since the Enterprise is a sustained reaction (obviously), whereas the bomb took less than a second to explode, so using Watts is a bit misleading. According to nerds the superlaser on the Death Star produces 10^33 Watts...
I'll get my coat
There's quite a few physicists on PB.
I have an A Level in Physics.
Physics gives me a hadron.
Do my bosons give you a hadron?
Titter
Of course.
In case the biologists are feeling left out by physics chat.
Here's a joke for you biologists.
Q: How do you make a hormone?
A: Refuse to pay her
(Say the joke out loud)
Classy! Saying that I did almost choke on my coffee.
The party’s powerful org-sub met today to discuss the latest upcoming selections – and in particular which selections will be All Women Shortlists and which will be open. Four seats were confirmed as AWS, but one – Salford and Eccles – is still to be decided.
After a discussion described by one org-sub member as “fractious”, the vote was tied (an unusual result), meaning that the full NEC will need to decide what kind of selection will be held there.
The other selections are as follows:
Great Grimsby – AWS
Cynon Valley – AWS
Swansea East – AWS
Ashton under Lyne – AWS
These selections (all in Labour-held seats) will take place over the coming months
Hmm Nice to see Great Grimsby in there. I have an image of that place as precisely the sort of Old Labour/working class Tory flirting with UKIP by the sea, where this sort of thing could backfire.
Particularly if UKIP find another Diane James type figure, a woman that can point out to the Labour lady that she got there on merit and not through an AWS.
Edit: Even better would be to have Euan Blair parachuted in !
Isn't young Euan having Bootle reserved for him?
Previously it was Coventry North West that was being reserved for him. I do wish he'd make up his mind about which seat should offer itself up to him.
I've heard on the grapevine that Coventry Labour wasn't overly thrilled about the prospect !
Robinson is running in 2015 so I'm not sure there was ever that much to the story in the first place.
I don't like the Nuclear deal we've done with the French/Chinese, I have no idea why its costing so much - when they can do it much cheaper in their own countries.
Is there any evidence that France can do new nuclear cheaper in France? Their taxpayers paid for a load of it in the 70s, but it doesn't seem to be clear that they're even going to _finish_ the big, expensive plant they're working on right now... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power_in_France#Management_and_economics
Maybe China can do it cheaper, but it sounds like post-Fukushima they've got the same problem as everybody else: They have to build to exceptionally high safety standards to convince everybody they're not going to get radioactive cesium in their tea, and doing that is unbelievably expensive.
How far away are we from matter/anti matter reactors.
The energy the produce in Star Trek is amazing.
12.75 x 10^18 Watts, for the D apparently, only about a millionth of the power outputted by the Tsar Bomba when that thing went off.
Blimey, I never knew that.
Cheating a bit since the Enterprise is a sustained reaction (obviously), whereas the bomb took less than a second to explode, so using Watts is a bit misleading. According to nerds the superlaser on the Death Star produces 10^33 Watts...
I'll get my coat
There's quite a few physicists on PB.
I have an A Level in Physics.
Physics gives me a hadron.
Do my bosons give you a hadron?
Titter
Of course.
In case the biologists are feeling left out by physics chat.
Here's a joke for you biologists.
Q: How do you make a hormone?
A: Refuse to pay her
(Say the joke out loud)
Classy! Saying that I did almost choke on my coffee.
Sorry, still look on the bright side, it's not as classy as my jam joke, a joke I'm only permitted to tell after the lagershed on a general election night.
IIRC, the three unfathomably implausible bits of Treknology are the transporters; whatever protects the crew from being crushed by the acceleration; and the non-manifestation of the expected relativity consequences of FTL travel. Much of the other stuff is either trivial to the universe, or roughly plausible given some not unreasonable assumptions about future discoveries and technology. But those stand out as impossible to accommodate within any recognisable physics.
I quite enjoyed the 'Heisenberg compensators', which are a key part of the transporter's function. Asked how they work, one of the producers/designers said 'very well, thank you'.
How far away are we from matter/anti matter reactors.
The energy the produce in Star Trek is amazing.
12.75 x 10^18 Watts, for the D apparently, only about a millionth of the power outputted by the Tsar Bomba when that thing went off.
Which suggests they weren't using much antimatter as 1g of annihilating matter/antimatter produces about 180TJ of energy weaponised it would be 3x as much energy as released in Hiroshima. Tsar Bomba produced about 240PJ of energy or 1300 times the combined energy of Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined. For that amount of energy you'd need about 1kg of antimatter. Currently we make about 10 nanograms of antimatter in colliders per year at a cost of billions of dollars. It's a very expensive energy source at present.
The party’s powerful org-sub met today to discuss the latest upcoming selections – and in particular which selections will be All Women Shortlists and which will be open. Four seats were confirmed as AWS, but one – Salford and Eccles – is still to be decided.
After a discussion described by one org-sub member as “fractious”, the vote was tied (an unusual result), meaning that the full NEC will need to decide what kind of selection will be held there.
The other selections are as follows:
Great Grimsby – AWS
Cynon Valley – AWS
Swansea East – AWS
Ashton under Lyne – AWS
These selections (all in Labour-held seats) will take place over the coming months
Hmm Nice to see Great Grimsby in there. I have an image of that place as precisely the sort of Old Labour/working class Tory flirting with UKIP by the sea, where this sort of thing could backfire.
Particularly if UKIP find another Diane James type figure, a woman that can point out to the Labour lady that she got there on merit and not through an AWS.
Edit: Even better would be to have Euan Blair parachuted in !
Isn't young Euan having Bootle reserved for him?
Previously it was Coventry North West that was being reserved for him. I do wish he'd make up his mind about which seat should offer itself up to him.
I wonder if he'll be as much of a dead cert to win as some people think, considering the animosity that exists towards his father.
Maybe that is why Bootle is the latest one being talked up. That would be a gob smacking event if Bootle changed colour. Although as a previous landlord of my local now lives there, I wouldn't be able to stop laughing for months if it did happen
If someone said we will use AWS for 2 elections to rapidly boost the number of women and then show that picking a woman isn't a disaster etc
Women arent under-represented because party members think they dont make good MPs. AWS cant work in just 2 elections.
The issue is role models - if all MPs are middle-aged white men, it seems weird to consider a young black female candidate - people say "I don't know what it is exactly, but she just doesn't seem like an MP". AWSs are seen by everyone as a blunt tool, but they do the job. Introducing them for a fixed period could work, but it might be better to aim to end them when the proportion of women is at a level suggesting that the issue has been resolved - say 40%.
And yes, the same issues arise about ethnic minorities and the possibility of having some all-minority shortlists has been knocking around for years, though the feeling up to now is that adding another special requirement would be a complexity too far.
So people can only have role models of the same gender and race as them? Tell that to all those white kids that wanted to be John Barnes.
"Circle took over the failing hospital in 2012 and slashed the numbers in middle management"
I had thought the NHS unreformable unless it went to the French system but this has cheered me up.
It is quite amazing that politicians do not realise that a specialist industry (medicine) needs to be managed by specialist staff - surgeons and medical staff - and not by ignorant (of that specialism) managers. Another return to the 1940/50s?
"Circle took over the failing hospital in 2012 and slashed the numbers in middle management"
I had thought the NHS unreformable unless it went to the French system but this has cheered me up.
Instructive to see how Andy Burnham viewed it back in 2012
"The shadow health secretary, Andy Burnham, said he was concerned the plan "cannot be safely delivered". "Taking a massive £70m out of a small and fragile acute hospital is akin to asking the impossible," he said. "Circle has a financial incentive to make eyewatering efficiencies and the onus is on ministers to ensure this doesn't compromise the quality and safety of patient care."
If someone said we will use AWS for 2 elections to rapidly boost the number of women and then show that picking a woman isn't a disaster etc
Women arent under-represented because party members think they dont make good MPs. AWS cant work in just 2 elections.
The issue is role models - if all MPs are middle-aged white men, it seems weird to consider a young black female candidate - people say "I don't know what it is exactly, but she just doesn't seem like an MP". AWSs are seen by everyone as a blunt tool, but they do the job. Introducing them for a fixed period could work, but it might be better to aim to end them when the proportion of women is at a level suggesting that the issue has been resolved - say 40%.
And yes, the same issues arise about ethnic minorities and the possibility of having some all-minority shortlists has been knocking around for years, though the feeling up to now is that adding another special requirement would be a complexity too far.
So people can only have role models of the same gender and race as them? Tell that to all those white kids that wanted to be John Barnes.
The theory requires "disproportionately tend to have role models..." which is a much less bold claim than "can only have role models...".
The American army of the Rhine was in a state of readiness to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in the event of Russia invading. They were also considered for use at Khe San during the Vietnamese war should the outpost look likely to fall. The fact that they haven't been used recently is more luck than judgement.
(and in one spectacular case a fairly low level Russian commander disobeying strict orders)
The party’s powerful org-sub met today to discuss the latest upcoming selections – and in particular which selections will be All Women Shortlists and which will be open. Four seats were confirmed as AWS, but one – Salford and Eccles – is still to be decided.
After a discussion described by one org-sub member as “fractious”, the vote was tied (an unusual result), meaning that the full NEC will need to decide what kind of selection will be held there.
The other selections are as follows:
Great Grimsby – AWS
Cynon Valley – AWS
Swansea East – AWS
Ashton under Lyne – AWS
These selections (all in Labour-held seats) will take place over the coming months
Hmm Nice to see Great Grimsby in there. I have an image of that place as precisely the sort of Old Labour/working class Tory flirting with UKIP by the sea, where this sort of thing could backfire.
Particularly if UKIP find another Diane James type figure, a woman that can point out to the Labour lady that she got there on merit and not through an AWS.
Edit: Even better would be to have Euan Blair parachuted in !
Isn't young Euan having Bootle reserved for him?
Previously it was Coventry North West that was being reserved for him. I do wish he'd make up his mind about which seat should offer itself up to him.
I wonder if he'll be as much of a dead cert to win as some people think, considering the animosity that exists towards his father.
In Coventry North West hmm... well Conservatives have no chance there.
You endless drumbeat this week that the Labour surge in London was down to immigrants. You ignore the big leftie professional class here.
But fair enough on the address thing - I think the same.
I didn't ignore the big leftie professional class. I just said that there wasn't a sizable enough Labour majority among professionals to actually win elections. You have not come back with anything even resembling evidence to substantiate your claim. You just double down on your own beliefs and say I'm wrong without justification.
I suggest that you can't have such a party unless that party also fosters and promotes a sense of nation. It is surely impossible to have a common purpose with a common identity. As both the modern Conservative party and, especially, the modern Labour party are antipathetical to idea of England, never mind the UK, as a nation then neither can ever be a party of one nation acting cohesively.
Latest Lord Ashcroft poll shows no less than 60% of people say they don't want any more cuts (breaking down as 34% saying there was never any need for austerity in the first place, and 25% saying they thought it was necessary at one time but not necessary anymore).
Can we have a thread on this? I'm genuinely astonished at how political commentators unthinkingly assume the public wildly approve of spending cuts and all the mainstream parties' stances of supporting even more after the next election.
Incidentally, the same poll shows UKIP voters are even MORE hostile to austerity than the average voter.
The party’s powerful org-sub met today to discuss the latest upcoming selections – and in particular which selections will be All Women Shortlists and which will be open. Four seats were confirmed as AWS, but one – Salford and Eccles – is still to be decided.
After a discussion described by one org-sub member as “fractious”, the vote was tied (an unusual result), meaning that the full NEC will need to decide what kind of selection will be held there.
The other selections are as follows:
Great Grimsby – AWS
Cynon Valley – AWS
Swansea East – AWS
Ashton under Lyne – AWS
These selections (all in Labour-held seats) will take place over the coming months
Hmm Nice to see Great Grimsby in there. I have an image of that place as precisely the sort of Old Labour/working class Tory flirting with UKIP by the sea, where this sort of thing could backfire.
Particularly if UKIP find another Diane James type figure, a woman that can point out to the Labour lady that she got there on merit and not through an AWS.
Edit: Even better would be to have Euan Blair parachuted in !
Isn't young Euan having Bootle reserved for him?
Previously it was Coventry North West that was being reserved for him. I do wish he'd make up his mind about which seat should offer itself up to him.
I wonder if he'll be as much of a dead cert to win as some people think, considering the animosity that exists towards his father.
Maybe that is why Bootle is the latest one being talked up.
Or maybe it's because some people like to talk about him being parachuted into a constituency whether it has any basis in fact or not (see all the Coventry North West stories we had that came to nothing in the end).
Mr Dancer how reliable are casualty rates in Macedonian battles though. For instance some sources for Gaugemela suggest Darius III had a million men and a third of them were casualties to Alexander's army of 50k. Don't buy it myself.
Yes, and also a commensurate increase in energy consumption and resource competition. I am not saying that they are wrong to pursue a better life, but basic maths once again comes into play.
It seems to me, though, that the environmental damage which we've suffered due to the Industrial Revolution has been worth it, due to the improvement in living standards that's taken place since then. A pre-Industrial world is one in which a tiny minority live well, and the majority have lives that are nasty, brutish, and short.
I agree, but it's reasonable to point out that the resource depletion and environmental damage for a few Western societies to be wealthy doesn't affect too much of the planet. When the billions in Asia join us, as is their right, we suddenly have four times the damage, in addition to the cumulative destruction with time.
It is perfectly possible to have sustainable capitalism, with the right regulation. Maggie showed us a great example with the regulation on CFCs, and the hole in the ozone layer is now shrinking. We should respond to other environmental damages the same way. As the Stern report showed, this would only be a slither off GDP growth.
If someone said we will use AWS for 2 elections to rapidly boost the number of women and then show that picking a woman isn't a disaster etc
Women arent under-represented because party members think they dont make good MPs. AWS cant work in just 2 elections.
The issue is role models - if all MPs are middle-aged white men, it seems weird to consider a young black female candidate - people say "I don't know what it is exactly, but she just doesn't seem like an MP". AWSs are seen by everyone as a blunt tool, but they do the job. Introducing them for a fixed period could work, but it might be better to aim to end them when the proportion of women is at a level suggesting that the issue has been resolved - say 40%.
And yes, the same issues arise about ethnic minorities and the possibility of having some all-minority shortlists has been knocking around for years, though the feeling up to now is that adding another special requirement would be a complexity too far.
So people can only have role models of the same gender and race as them? Tell that to all those white kids that wanted to be John Barnes.
The theory requires "disproportionately tend to have role models..." which is a much less bold claim than "can only have role models...".
Even if that's true (and I remain to be convinced), isn't the right approach to encourage such people to be not so racist/sexist in their outlook?
The American army of the Rhine was in a state of readiness to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in the event of Russia invading.
The plan worked, as it stopped the Reds from crossing the line. I've heard that in the event of war, ranks as far down the chain of command as Major had the authority to use lower yield weapons. The Russians knew that too.
The party’s powerful org-sub met today to discuss the latest upcoming selections – and in particular which selections will be All Women Shortlists and which will be open. Four seats were confirmed as AWS, but one – Salford and Eccles – is still to be decided.
After a discussion described by one org-sub member as “fractious”, the vote was tied (an unusual result), meaning that the full NEC will need to decide what kind of selection will be held there.
The other selections are as follows:
Great Grimsby – AWS
Cynon Valley – AWS
Swansea East – AWS
Ashton under Lyne – AWS
These selections (all in Labour-held seats) will take place over the coming months
Hmm Nice to see Great Grimsby in there. I have an image of that place as precisely the sort of Old Labour/working class Tory flirting with UKIP by the sea, where this sort of thing could backfire.
Particularly if UKIP find another Diane James type figure, a woman that can point out to the Labour lady that she got there on merit and not through an AWS.
Edit: Even better would be to have Euan Blair parachuted in !
Isn't young Euan having Bootle reserved for him?
Previously it was Coventry North West that was being reserved for him. I do wish he'd make up his mind about which seat should offer itself up to him.
I wonder if he'll be as much of a dead cert to win as some people think, considering the animosity that exists towards his father.
Maybe that is why Bootle is the latest one being talked up.
Or maybe it's because some people like to talk about him being parachuted into a constituency whether it has any basis in fact or not (see all the Coventry North West stories we had that came to nothing in the end).
Indeed. At least it gives us something to rabbit about on here. Anyway, off to do the late shift now.
Really doubt that, I am getting a sense that UKIP are getting drunk on their own hype. There will be lines of people trying to touch Farage to cure the Kings Evil soon.
The American army of the Rhine was in a state of readiness to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in the event of Russia invading.
The plan worked, as it stopped the Reds from crossing the line. I've heard that in the event of war, ranks as far down the chain of command as Major had the authority to use lower yield weapons. The Russians knew that too.
Comrade Smarmeron does indeed confuse luck with judgement and needs to sort out history from sensationalist crap on the web. However, I think the idea that nuclear release was delegated as far down the chain as Major is tosh. One might say that the decision to fire Trident is today delegated to a Commander RN, but it would be a gross misrepresentation of the facts.
"Circle took over the failing hospital in 2012 and slashed the numbers in middle management"
I had thought the NHS unreformable unless it went to the French system but this has cheered me up.
Instructive to see how Andy Burnham viewed it back in 2012
"The shadow health secretary, Andy Burnham, said he was concerned the plan "cannot be safely delivered". "Taking a massive £70m out of a small and fragile acute hospital is akin to asking the impossible," he said. "Circle has a financial incentive to make eyewatering efficiencies and the onus is on ministers to ensure this doesn't compromise the quality and safety of patient care."
If someone said we will use AWS for 2 elections to rapidly boost the number of women and then show that picking a woman isn't a disaster etc
Women arent under-represented because party members think they dont make good MPs. AWS cant work in just 2 elections.
The issue is role models - if all MPs are middle-aged white men, it seems weird to consider a young black female candidate - people say "I don't know what it is exactly, but she just doesn't seem like an MP". AWSs are seen by everyone as a blunt tool, but they do the job. Introducing them for a fixed period could work, but it might be better to aim to end them when the proportion of women is at a level suggesting that the issue has been resolved - say 40%.
And yes, the same issues arise about ethnic minorities and the possibility of having some all-minority shortlists has been knocking around for years, though the feeling up to now is that adding another special requirement would be a complexity too far.
So people can only have role models of the same gender and race as them? Tell that to all those white kids that wanted to be John Barnes.
The theory requires "disproportionately tend to have role models..." which is a much less bold claim than "can only have role models...".
Even if that's true (and I remain to be convinced), isn't the right approach to encourage such people to be not so racist/sexist in their outlook?
If it can be done effectively that would be better, yes. Not a small "if", though.
Also, even if you do decide you can't stamp out that bias and you need to actively discriminate the other way to compensate, the AWS system looks too much like a way for insiders to game things. I don't know the process very will but maybe they'd be better just putting in explicit appeals to the people doing the voting, eg "Labour needs more women candidates. Please help the party by voting for women candidates if possible."
Mr. Jim, the starting numbers of Darius may well be exaggerated, and I agree the casualty rates are probably overestimates. However, worth mentioning a great strength of Macedon was its excellent cavalry and once someone's running away it's not hard to run them down.
Mr. Smarmeron, you're comparing weapons which have been used since the dawn of time to the 'modern day equivalent' of weapons that have seen two uses in warfare.
I think that we have now proved that the inconceivable was conceived several times. Actually in the case of chem/biological ordinance, when it came time to dismantle the things, the US military contacted the manufacturers, who informed them that there was no safe way to do it. The assumption at the time was that it was unnecessary, because they were certain to be used.
Competing claims about the costs and benefits of Scottish independence have been set out to voters.
The Scottish government said everyone in Scotland would be £1,000 better off a year, in the event of a "Yes" vote in September's independence referendum.
But UK ministers said people would benefit from staying in the Union by £1,400 per person, per year.
Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond said the Treasury's calculations had been "blown to smithereens", while Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander accused SNP ministers of offering voters a "bogus bonus".
A new Scottish government paper said an independent Scotland would begin life with its public finances in a "strong" position, and could see its economy £5bn per year better off by 2029-30.
Mr Salmond said Scotland was one of the world's wealthiest countries, but needed the powers of independence to realise its full potential.
He told the BBC: "We put forward the benefit over a period of 15 years. We calculate that as each individual in Scotland being £1,000 better off - that's a £5bn bonus, or a family £2,000 better off a year."
Mr. Jim, the Companions are rightly lauded but the others (Thessalians and, er, some others) were actually also very good indeed. It was the antithesis, in cavalry terms, of the Romans.
Nuclear bomb or spears? not much difference really is there?
In absolute terms, WWII was the bloodiest war in history. But, there have been higher casualty rates among both combatants and non-combatants, in earlier wars, fought in pre-industrial societies. The Taiping Rebellion, or Genghis Khan's conquest of Northern China and Central Asia are outstanding examples.
I think that we have now proved that the inconceivable was conceived several times. Actually in the case of chem/biological ordinance, when it came time to dismantle the things, the US military contacted the manufacturers, who informed them that there was no safe way to do it. The assumption at the time was that it was unnecessary, because they were certain to be used.
I have no idea what you are on about, Comrade, or why you address your post to me as it seems to have no connection to anything I have posted this morning.
Alas it is now time for luncheon, I'll be back, much, later.
"It is quite amazing that politicians do not realise that a specialist industry (medicine) needs to be managed by specialist staff - surgeons and medical staff - and not by ignorant (of that specialism) managers. Another return to the 1940/50s?"
The skills required to be a good manager (planning, direction, control and people skills) are not the same as those to be a good surgeon or doctor. Having medical skills does not mean you don't have management skills but neither does it mean you do have management skills.
Pilots are not always the best people to run airlines but sometimes they are. The best sports persons are not necessarily the best sports administrators, but sometimes they are.
General practicioners form partnerships who run their own surgeries for profit. In this case the medical staff are the managers. However, failures of management are paid for by the doctors in lower profits since they are also the owners of the business.
"Circle took over the failing hospital in 2012 and slashed the numbers in middle management"
I had thought the NHS unreformable unless it went to the French system but this has cheered me up.
Instructive to see how Andy Burnham viewed it back in 2012 "The shadow health secretary, Andy Burnham, said he was concerned the plan "cannot be safely delivered". "Taking a massive £70m out of a small and fragile acute hospital is akin to asking the impossible," he said. "Circle has a financial incentive to make eyewatering efficiencies and the onus is on ministers to ensure this doesn't compromise the quality and safety of patient care." http://www.theguardian.com/society/2012/may/03/hinchingbrooke-nhs-trust-goes-private The rest of the article is worth a read for a good example of capitalism in action. Of course its still early days and it may just be a case that like a football team with a new manager this is just a temporary improvement.
Thanks JonathanD, will this become a Sion Simon type of quote?
@LibbyWienerITV: Lord Oakeshott resigns from Libdems saying party is "heading for disaster" with Nick Clegg as leader
Never understood the role of Lord Oakeshott within the Lib Dems, he appears to have been a malign, disruptive influence since the coalition was formed – Oh well, cheerio and all that.
Lord Oakeshot's attempt to emulate his noble peer Lord Ashcroft is rather funny. He seems to have spent a lot of money in any attempt to show that the LibDems are in the soup if they don't ditch Nick Clegg, and the net result has been that he has produced polls which seem to show that they are in the soup irrespective of whether they ditch Nick Clegg.
@chrisshipitv: Oakeshott knifes Clegg & Cable: A close colleague concerned about voting intentions in Twickenham asked me if I wld arrange & pay for a poll
Lord Oakshot's attempt to emulate his noble peer Lord Ashcroft is rather funny. He seems to have spent a lot of money in any attempt to show that the LibDems are in the soup if they don't ditch Nick Clegg, and the net result has been that he has produced polls which seem to show that they are in the soup irrespective of whether they ditch Nick Clegg.
Also, even if you do decide you can't stamp out that bias and you need to actively discriminate the other way to compensate, the AWS system looks too much like a way for insiders to game things. I don't know the process very will but maybe they'd be better just putting in explicit appeals to the people doing the voting, eg "Labour needs more women candidates. Please help the party by voting for women candidates if possible."
The suspicion has been that an AWS is a very handy way for the party hierarchy to block a popular local candidate, if that candidate happens to be too left-wing and male.
Lord Oakeshot's attempt to emulate his noble peer Lord Ashcroft is rather funny. He seems to have spent a lot of money in any attempt to show that the LibDems are in the soup if they don't ditch Nick Clegg, and the net result has been that he has produced polls which seem to show that they are in the soup irrespective of whether they ditch Nick Clegg.
Heart of stone, etc, etc.
BTW is Lord Rennard still suspended? They don't 'alf pick 'em.
Lord Oakshot's attempt to emulate his noble peer Lord Ashcroft is rather funny. He seems to have spent a lot of money in any attempt to show that the LibDems are in the soup if they don't ditch Nick Clegg, and the net result has been that he has produced polls which seem to show that they are in the soup irrespective of whether they ditch Nick Clegg.
He does strike as a bit dim really because if he'd resigned simultaneous to releasing the polling as the results came in it might have caused more damage to Clegg. Now he looks like a lonely failed revolutionary forced to blow his minimal brains out before someone blew them out for him.
You endless drumbeat this week that the Labour surge in London was down to immigrants. You ignore the big leftie professional class here.
But fair enough on the address thing - I think the same.
I didn't ignore the big leftie professional class. I just said that there wasn't a sizable enough Labour majority among professionals to actually win elections. You have not come back with anything even resembling evidence to substantiate your claim. You just double down on your own beliefs and say I'm wrong without justification.
I would hazard that in London at least some white British people who were not middle class professionals may have voted Labour, just as they did in many other parts of the country.
And we have two further important bits of information. First, Vince Cable may be behind in his own constituency and secondly we can expect news on how Danny Alexander is doing shortly.
Lib Dem incumbency seems to be lagging behind UNS, as I inferred.
And we have two further important bits of information. First, Vince Cable may be behind in his own constituency and secondly we can expect news on how Danny Alexander is doing shortly.
Lib Dem incumbency seems to be lagging behind UNS, as I inferred.
"Circle took over the failing hospital in 2012 and slashed the numbers in middle management"
I had thought the NHS unreformable unless it went to the French system but this has cheered me up.
It is quite amazing that politicians do not realise that a specialist industry (medicine) needs to be managed by specialist staff - surgeons and medical staff - and not by ignorant (of that specialism) managers. Another return to the 1940/50s?
It's a traditional cycle.
"We're going to cut paper-pushers and put GPs/doctors/surgeons/etc in charge of running meidcal services since they have the expertise"
Followed by
"GPs/Doctors/Surgeons etc are spending too much time on non-medical management tasks, we're going to hire management experts to free up GPs/doctors/surgeons/etc to concentrate on seeing patients, which is what they're trained for"
Comments
I'll get my coat
30th June ?
I reckon it is Evens or thereabouts, perhaps 4/5. Yougov always seem to weight raw Labour numbers down a smidgen, and Conservative up slightly... but then again so does everyone. Probably accounts for Labour voter's laziness in safe seats at GE time.
"One nation acting cohesively" is the antithesis of modern capitalism. It requires people to think in term of consumer wealth without regard to abstract concepts like "value"
As for the causes:
First - bit of a contretemps over mercenaries in north-east Sicily got out of hand
Second - Hannibal invaded Italy (or because the Romans made a city in Carthaginian territory an ally, though that's not my view)
Third - Rome bullied Carthage so much the city bit back, and then the Romans spent several years being surprisingly ineffective in a war which was a superpower versus one city
Pretty much the same as all wars, things just get out of hand. Diplomacy by other means?
I have an A Level in Physics.
Physics gives me a hadron.
On current polling, however, it looks a tall order
Classic Labour mindset, at least since New Labour infested the party. Before that there was a genuine (if often misguided) desire to govern well, but, as that article lays bare, that's gone.
Mr. Smarmeron, you seem to be drifting a bit. The point is industrialism has not made warfare more likely, more frequent or worse, it's just changed the weapons.
Physicists do have a certain magnetism
Titter
I think they were fed up hearing too many puns.
In case the biologists are feeling left out by physics chat.
Here's a joke for you biologists.
Q: How do you make a hormone?
A: Refuse to pay her
(Say the joke out loud)
Nuclear bomb or spears? not much difference really is there?
IIRC the anti-matter in 'Trek is plasma, which is a crap idea because plasma has no electrical charge. You'd actually want anti-matter to have one to store it, because you could have positively-charged storage vessels, which would be repelled by the anti-matter's positrons, preventing touching of the sides, or something.
I'm regurgitating some stuff I read in 1996 in a pukka book about the physics of Star Trek here, so if this is wibble, I apologise. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Physics_of_Star_Trek)
IIRC, the three unfathomably implausible bits of Treknology are the transporters; whatever protects the crew from being crushed by the acceleration; and the non-manifestation of the expected relativity consequences of FTL travel. Much of the other stuff is either trivial to the universe, or roughly plausible given some not unreasonable assumptions about future discoveries and technology. But those stand out as impossible to accommodate within any recognisable physics.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power_in_France#Management_and_economics
Maybe China can do it cheaper, but it sounds like post-Fukushima they've got the same problem as everybody else: They have to build to exceptionally high safety standards to convince everybody they're not going to get radioactive cesium in their tea, and doing that is unbelievably expensive.
That would be a gob smacking event if Bootle changed colour.
Although as a previous landlord of my local now lives there, I wouldn't be able to stop laughing for months if it did happen
Instructive to see how Andy Burnham viewed it back in 2012
"The shadow health secretary, Andy Burnham, said he was concerned the plan "cannot be safely delivered". "Taking a massive £70m out of a small and fragile acute hospital is akin to asking the impossible," he said. "Circle has a financial incentive to make eyewatering efficiencies and the onus is on ministers to ensure this doesn't compromise the quality and safety of patient care."
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2012/may/03/hinchingbrooke-nhs-trust-goes-private
The rest of the article is worth a read for a good example of capitalism in action.
Of course its still early days and it may just be a case that like a football team with a new manager this is just a temporary improvement.
The American army of the Rhine was in a state of readiness to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in the event of Russia invading.
They were also considered for use at Khe San during the Vietnamese war should the outpost look likely to fall.
The fact that they haven't been used recently is more luck than judgement.
(and in one spectacular case a fairly low level Russian commander disobeying strict orders)
UKIP 20-1 against Blair the younger maybe ?
In all honesty it's a pretty safe Labour seat.
"...a party of the One Nation acting cohesively"
I suggest that you can't have such a party unless that party also fosters and promotes a sense of nation. It is surely impossible to have a common purpose with a common identity. As both the modern Conservative party and, especially, the modern Labour party are antipathetical to idea of England, never mind the UK, as a nation then neither can ever be a party of one nation acting cohesively.
Can we have a thread on this? I'm genuinely astonished at how political commentators unthinkingly assume the public wildly approve of spending cuts and all the mainstream parties' stances of supporting even more after the next election.
Incidentally, the same poll shows UKIP voters are even MORE hostile to austerity than the average voter.
http://lordashcroftpolls.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/ANP-summary-140527.pdf
Spears have been used a bit more often, and likewise guns. Your comparison is as silly as gerbil called Leonidas.
Mr. Llama, quite right.
It is perfectly possible to have sustainable capitalism, with the right regulation. Maggie showed us a great example with the regulation on CFCs, and the hole in the ozone layer is now shrinking. We should respond to other environmental damages the same way. As the Stern report showed, this would only be a slither off GDP growth.
"UKIP are turning their attention to Newark and boldly claim they will have 1,000 troops on the ground. "
http://order-order.com/2014/05/28/peoples-army-pledge-1000-troops-on-the-ground-in-newark/
Stick to fantasy writing, there is to much history for you to comprehend.
http://www.history.com/news/history-lists/5-cold-war-close-calls
No 4 is the one I referred to earlier
Anyway, off to do the late shift now.
And it seems they were slashed. And patient care improved.
Just ignore the unions, and the public sector will run just fine.
Also, even if you do decide you can't stamp out that bias and you need to actively discriminate the other way to compensate, the AWS system looks too much like a way for insiders to game things. I don't know the process very will but maybe they'd be better just putting in explicit appeals to the people doing the voting, eg "Labour needs more women candidates. Please help the party by voting for women candidates if possible."
Mr. Smarmeron, you're comparing weapons which have been used since the dawn of time to the 'modern day equivalent' of weapons that have seen two uses in warfare.
You're right to highlight my very well-rated fantasy books though (Journey to Altmortis and Sir Edric's Temple currently on 4.5 stars on both the US and UK Amazon sites). Why, they're bargains:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Journey-Altmortis-Thaddeus-White-ebook/dp/B00COAEOS8/
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sir-Edrics-Temple-Adventures-Edric-ebook/dp/B00GCAF2CI/
@jameschappers: Uh oh. @oakeshottm: 'Several weeks ago, I told Vince the results of those four polls' #libdems
I think that we have now proved that the inconceivable was conceived several times.
Actually in the case of chem/biological ordinance, when it came time to dismantle the things, the US military contacted the manufacturers, who informed them that there was no safe way to do it. The assumption at the time was that it was unnecessary, because they were certain to be used.
The Scottish government said everyone in Scotland would be £1,000 better off a year, in the event of a "Yes" vote in September's independence referendum.
But UK ministers said people would benefit from staying in the Union by £1,400 per person, per year.
Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond said the Treasury's calculations had been "blown to smithereens", while Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander accused SNP ministers of offering voters a "bogus bonus".
A new Scottish government paper said an independent Scotland would begin life with its public finances in a "strong" position, and could see its economy £5bn per year better off by 2029-30.
Mr Salmond said Scotland was one of the world's wealthiest countries, but needed the powers of independence to realise its full potential.
He told the BBC: "We put forward the benefit over a period of 15 years. We calculate that as each individual in Scotland being £1,000 better off - that's a £5bn bonus, or a family £2,000 better off a year."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-27595415
Alas it is now time for luncheon, I'll be back, much, later.
Crossed post again, I tend to use selected quotes instead of spamming with the full post.
Apologies.
The skills required to be a good manager (planning, direction, control and people skills) are not the same as those to be a good surgeon or doctor. Having medical skills does not mean you don't have management skills but neither does it mean you do have management skills.
Pilots are not always the best people to run airlines but sometimes they are. The best sports persons are not necessarily the best sports administrators, but sometimes they are.
General practicioners form partnerships who run their own surgeries for profit. In this case the medical staff are the managers. However, failures of management are paid for by the doctors in lower profits since they are also the owners of the business.
BTW is Lord Rennard still suspended? They don't 'alf pick 'em.
And we have two further important bits of information. First, Vince Cable may be behind in his own constituency and secondly we can expect news on how Danny Alexander is doing shortly.
Lib Dem incumbency seems to be lagging behind UNS, as I inferred.
Is pretty tame to past Lib scandals.
Couldn't he have arranged to have Clegg's dog shot or say it was Clegg driving Huhne's car that night.
Exclusive: Sebastian Coe 'front runner' to be new chair of BBC Trust http://itv.co/1oJjDYY by @tombradby pic.twitter.com/QmvIKf7Tuh
No one commenting on that so far that I've seen
http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/News/Cambridge-Liberal-Democrats-call-vote-on-Nick-Cleggs-leadership-20140528115906.htm
"We're going to cut paper-pushers and put GPs/doctors/surgeons/etc in charge of running meidcal services since they have the expertise"
Followed by
"GPs/Doctors/Surgeons etc are spending too much time on non-medical management tasks, we're going to hire management experts to free up GPs/doctors/surgeons/etc to concentrate on seeing patients, which is what they're trained for"
Lather rinse repeat.