I wonder if Corbyn may keep Benn in the cabinet, whilst all the other warmongers moderates are booted out.
Of course he will.
He'll give him a senior sounding position, albeit a clear demotion (because the Leader and the SFS need to be aligned on foreign policy) and dare him to walk out.
Let's say Benn is offered Shadow Business: he looks like an arrogant tosser if he says "that's not good enough" but it's clearly a signal to everyone else that he is unimportant. At the same time you clear out the junior ranks to make sure he doesn't have the numbers. They won't matter because no one normal has ever heard of Vernon Croker. Not even his own family.
He doesn't need to say "that's not good enough" though, just decline the position. In the context of a purge of other moderates, the story is not going to be "Benn flounces out".
Seems a bit strange allowing a free vote so the majority of the shadow cabinet can vote against the leader and then planning to sack them all because they did. Is it really going to happen?
It's being pretty heavily trailed.
It's being so heavily trailed that if it doesn't happen it'll be described as a climbdown.
Yes. Certainly if Benn keeps his job. Which perhaps means it's very unlikely he will.
But how do the figures on home ownership compare with other European countries? After all, to be a homeowner in the first half of your 20's is pretty exceptional.
The figures for those in their late 30's/early 40's still renting would be more interesting.
Most European countries have never got into the home-owning fetish - my peer group were making about £100K/year in the 1990s in Switzerland but it never crossed our minds to do anything but rent. Worry worry worry about the roof, the boiler, the floors, the walls, the garden fence - who needs it? Life is too short. It didn't really take off in Britain AFAICR until it was made tax-deductible for a while.
Obviously a bad landlord is worse than anything, but with a good one he does the tedious stuff and lets you live. My hob stopped working the other day - I reported it, next day there was a new hob - no need to get in an engineer, seasrch for a replacement, take time off work, etc. etc. Bliss!
To be fair it's started to change over the Channel and home ownership is creeping up across the Continent. But it's still a minority pastime.
Sorry Nick but that simply isn't true. The Netherlands, Sweden, Ireland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Italy, Finland, Cyprus, Portugal, Greece, Slovenia, Spain, the Czech Republic, Malta, Estonia, Latvia, Poland, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Slovakia, Lithuania and Romania all have higher percentages of owner occupancy than the UK.
In fact the UK is 24th out of 29 EU countries in terms of Owner Occupancy.
Here's a funny one: excluding resource exporters, there's a strong statistical correlation between home ownership and current account deficits. Countries where people own their own homes are much more likely to have current account deficits than countries where people rent. The R^2 is about 0.7 or 0.8. I have a chart somewhere that I like to show people.
So: US and UK, high levels of home ownership and current account deficits; Germany, Switzerland, low levels of home ownership and current account surpluses.
I'm not sure if there's any obvious causal link (except perhaps that people who own properties tend to feel more financially secure, and therefore spend more of their income), but it's interesting nonetheless.
That sounds like one for the Freakonomics guys! Possibly some correlation of people with mortgages being comfortable with the concept of a large debt that can serve a useful purpose. Lies, damn lies and statistics!
I particularly liked this somewhat delusional comment -
“This is supposed to be a new politics,” said one prospective victim. “Instead, we’re left wondering if we’ll have a job when we get back after the new year. I chose to serve as a frontbencher because I am loyal to Labour, I just thought he would respect that.”
Why would anyone think that Corbyn would respect or value loyalty when he had shown so little loyalty to the Labour party over the years? Really, why? It strikes me as people believing what they desperately want or hope to be true rather than the evidence in front of their eyes.
Miss Cyclefree, as I've said for ages, Labour are sheep. That's good for them when they have a winning leader, and bad when they don't. When their leader is atrocious, it's terrible. Labour MPs need to stop bleating and grow some fangs.
But how do the figures on home ownership compare with other European countries? After all, to be a homeowner in the first half of your 20's is pretty exceptional.
The figures for those in their late 30's/early 40's still renting would be more interesting.
Most European countries have never got into the home-owning fetish - my peer group were making about £100K/year in the 1990s in Switzerland but it never crossed our minds to do anything but rent. Worry worry worry about the roof, the boiler, the floors, the walls, the garden fence - who needs it? Life is too short. It didn't really take off in Britain AFAICR until it was made tax-deductible for a while.
Obviously a bad landlord is worse than anything, but with a good one he does the tedious stuff and lets you live. My hob stopped working the other day - I reported it, next day there was a new hob - no need to get in an engineer, seasrch for a replacement, take time off work, etc. etc. Bliss!
To be fair it's started to change over the Channel and home ownership is creeping up across the Continent. But it's still a minority pastime.
Sorry Nick but that simply isn't true. The Netherlands, Sweden, Ireland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Italy, Finland, Cyprus, Portugal, Greece, Slovenia, Spain, the Czech Republic, Malta, Estonia, Latvia, Poland, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Slovakia, Lithuania and Romania all have higher percentages of owner occupancy than the UK.
In fact the UK is 24th out of 29 EU countries in terms of Owner Occupancy.
At such a young age, though i.e. before they were 30?
No idea. But since home ownership in 11 of those countries is above 80% I suspect it must start fairly early.
Home ownership in the UK is only 65% - almost identical to that of the US and France.
Thanks. A breakdown by age categories would be interesting. Of course, when you have relatively little capital appreciation then the purchase becomes easier because you're not constantly chasing an ever higher price.
I wonder if Corbyn may keep Benn in the cabinet, whilst all the other warmongers moderates are booted out.
Of course he will.
He'll give him a senior sounding position, albeit a clear demotion (because the Leader and the SFS need to be aligned on foreign policy) and dare him to walk out.
Let's say Benn is offered Shadow Business: he looks like an arrogant tosser if he says "that's not good enough" but it's clearly a signal to everyone else that he is unimportant. At the same time you clear out the junior ranks to make sure he doesn't have the numbers. They won't matter because no one normal has ever heard of Vernon Croker. Not even his own family.
He doesn't need to say "that's not good enough" though, just decline the position. In the context of a purge of other moderates, the story is not going to be "Benn flounces out".
Seems a bit strange allowing a free vote so the majority of the shadow cabinet can vote against the leader and then planning to sack them all because they did. Is it really going to happen?
It's being pretty heavily trailed.
Yes I know that. But kites do get trailed. Now I must make clear I do not credit Corbyn with much intelligence, but why let the shadow cabinet vote against him, allow them to speak against his view, only to then sack them afterwards? He only gave a fee vote to stop everyone resigning, now it seems he is going out of his way to encourage a rebellion.
But how do the figures on home ownership compare with other European countries? After all, to be a homeowner in the first half of your 20's is pretty exceptional.
The figures for those in their late 30's/early 40's still renting would be more interesting.
Most European countries have never got into the home-owning fetish - my peer group were making about £100K/year in the 1990s in Switzerland but it never crossed our minds to do anything but rent. Worry worry worry about the roof, the boiler, the floors, the walls, the garden fence - who needs it? Life is too short. It didn't really take off in Britain AFAICR until it was made tax-deductible for a while.
Obviously a bad landlord is worse than anything, but with a good one he does the tedious stuff and lets you live. My hob stopped working the other day - I reported it, next day there was a new hob - no need to get in an engineer, seasrch for a replacement, take time off work, etc. etc. Bliss!
To be fair it's started to change over the Channel and home ownership is creeping up across the Continent. But it's still a minority pastime.
Sorry Nick but that simply isn't true. The Netherlands, Sweden, Ireland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Italy, Finland, Cyprus, Portugal, Greece, Slovenia, Spain, the Czech Republic, Malta, Estonia, Latvia, Poland, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Slovakia, Lithuania and Romania all have higher percentages of owner occupancy than the UK.
In fact the UK is 24th out of 29 EU countries in terms of Owner Occupancy.
At such a young age, though i.e. before they were 30?
No idea. But since home ownership in 11 of those countries is above 80% I suspect it must start fairly early.
Home ownership in the UK is only 65% - almost identical to that of the US and France.
Thanks. A breakdown by age categories would be interesting. Of course, when you have relatively little capital appreciation then the purchase becomes easier because you're not constantly chasing an ever higher price.
Agreed. It is interesting that some of the highest rates of ownership are in central and Eastern European countries where I presume there was little house price inflation for most of the post war period.
You're right. OK, I'm going to do it. (lol - I realise no one gives a stuff but it does feel like a step. I'll probably go native and turn into Eric Pickles in five years.)
You need a very long spoon to sup with the devil
You should credit St Dunstan with that image! (He was also notable for tweaking the devil's nose with a pair of sugar tongs...)
You probably wouldn't like him though - classic Tory: he restructured the monastical system to make it cashflow positive (in his role as ++Cantab), cut government spending in his simultaneous position as Chancellor and still found time to write the Coronation Service that is still largely used today
Not mention being the patron saint of goldsmiths and having a church in fleet street dedicated to him. A lovely church that has been long supported by a certain *cough* banking family who are also big in the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths.
St. Dunstan's is also the name of a wonderful establishment on the coast near Brighton which brings new skills, new hope and new life to people made blind, especially ex-service types and from which I was once thrown out and barred by the matron for having returned one of their residents in a state of major intoxication after a run ashore in Brighton. In my defence he was a grown-up and could have said, "No more I have had enough", furthermore he was no more pissed than I was.
The angriest and most pessimistic people in America are the people we used to call Middle Americans. Middle-class and middle-aged; not rich and not poor; people who are irked when asked to press 1 for English, and who wonder how white male became an accusation rather than a description.
You can measure their pessimism in polls that ask about their expectations for their lives—and for those of their children. On both counts, whites without a college degree express the bleakest view. You can see the effects of their despair in the new statistics describing horrifying rates of suicide and substance-abuse fatality among this same group, in middle age.
If you go into any diversity training course the categories which will be talked about will include:-
- race - ethnicity - gender - sexuality - ability/disability - country of origin / nationality - religion
Spot the one category which is almost invariably missing but which, certainly in the UK (and probably elsewhere as well), has more to do with your chances in life.
Why it is missing is a mystery given how obsessed we are with it in every other respect.
Which investment bank they started their career at?
I wonder if Corbyn may keep Benn in the cabinet, whilst all the other warmongers moderates are booted out.
Of course he will.
He'll give him a senior sounding position, albeit a clear demotion (because the Leader and the SFS need to be aligned on foreign policy) and dare him to walk out.
Let's say Benn is offered Shadow Business: he looks like an arrogant tosser if he says "that's not good enough" but it's clearly a signal to everyone else that he is unimportant. At the same time you clear out the junior ranks to make sure he doesn't have the numbers. They won't matter because no one normal has ever heard of Vernon Croker. Not even his own family.
He doesn't need to say "that's not good enough" though, just decline the position. In the context of a purge of other moderates, the story is not going to be "Benn flounces out".
Seems a bit strange allowing a free vote so the majority of the shadow cabinet can vote against the leader and then planning to sack them all because they did. Is it really going to happen?
It's being pretty heavily trailed.
Yes I know that. But kites do get trailed. Now I must make clear I do not credit Corbyn with much intelligence, but why let the shadow cabinet vote against him, allow them to speak against his view, only to then sack them afterwards? He only gave a fee vote to stop everyone resigning, now it seems he is going out of his way to encourage a rebellion.
He thinks his position is stronger after Oldham. Well, it is stronger. I also wonder if the force of Benn's speech and its reception upset him personally. He knows he's not capable of speaking like that, felt humiliated by it maybe.
The angriest and most pessimistic people in America are the people we used to call Middle Americans. Middle-class and middle-aged; not rich and not poor; people who are irked when asked to press 1 for English, and who wonder how white male became an accusation rather than a description.
You can measure their pessimism in polls that ask about their expectations for their lives—and for those of their children. On both counts, whites without a college degree express the bleakest view. You can see the effects of their despair in the new statistics describing horrifying rates of suicide and substance-abuse fatality among this same group, in middle age.
If you go into any diversity training course the categories which will be talked about will include:-
- race - ethnicity - gender - sexuality - ability/disability - country of origin / nationality - religion
Spot the one category which is almost invariably missing but which, certainly in the UK (and probably elsewhere as well), has more to do with your chances in life.
Why it is missing is a mystery given how obsessed we are with it in every other respect.
The other categories don't affect vested interests.
It's the equivalent of a Nelsonian blind eye. It's why so many diversity courses (diversity with a capital "D" rather than diversity properly understood) are utterly pointless. A lot of equivalently educated middle class people coming from a narrow social, educational and professional circle preening themselves about how diverse they are because they have a breast feeding policy and - gasp! - people who are not English working for them.
Miss Cyclefree, as I've said for ages, Labour are sheep. That's good for them when they have a winning leader, and bad when they don't. When their leader is atrocious, it's terrible. Labour MPs need to stop bleating and grow some fangs.
Currently their leader is like the young dog in Far from the Madding Crowd - about to enthusiastically push them over a cliff.
Our return from overseas investments has fallen as the world economy stutters, whilst the return on investments that foreigners own here have risen. There has been a significant decline in the return on our investment income. It has an effect on balance of payments, which is at the moment being balanced by capital inflows from overseas.
Thank you.
I am not at all sanguine about the long term effect of those inward capital flows. They seem to fall into three categories:
1. Genuine investment in UK industry (e.g. Toyota and Honda building factories) 2. Asset stripping (e.g Kraft take over of Cadbury) 3. Milking where the UK consumer is bled for the benefit of foreign investors (e.g. Thames Water and, indeed, most of the utilities)
Categories 2 and 3, which seem to be the majority are not to the long term benefit of the UK and actually serve to impoverish us as they suck wealth out.
And transport too for cat 3, which strengthens your argument, I should think. 3 has an interesting subvariant - ... bled for the benefit of foreign taxpayers, as in the case of several railway operators. The UK actively discourages public ownership of the railways unless it is a different country doing the owning. Which seems distinctly odd to me.
The angriest and most pessimistic people in America are the people we used to call Middle Americans. Middle-class and middle-aged; not rich and not poor; people who are irked when asked to press 1 for English, and who wonder how white male became an accusation rather than a description.
You can measure their pessimism in polls that ask about their expectations for their lives—and for those of their children. On both counts, whites without a college degree express the bleakest view. You can see the effects of their despair in the new statistics describing horrifying rates of suicide and substance-abuse fatality among this same group, in middle age.
If you go into any diversity training course the categories which will be talked about will include:-
- race - ethnicity - gender - sexuality - ability/disability - country of origin / nationality - religion
Spot the one category which is almost invariably missing but which, certainly in the UK (and probably elsewhere as well), has more to do with your chances in life.
Why it is missing is a mystery given how obsessed we are with it in every other respect.
Which investment bank they started their career at?
I wonder if Corbyn may keep Benn in the cabinet, whilst all the other warmongers moderates are booted out.
Of course he will.
He'll give him a senior sounding position, albeit a clear demotion (because the Leader and the SFS need to be aligned on foreign policy) and dare him to walk out.
Let's say Benn is offered Shadow Business: he looks like an arrogant tosser if he says "that's not good enough" but it's clearly a signal to everyone else that he is unimportant. At the same time you clear out the junior ranks to make sure he doesn't have the numbers. They won't matter because no one normal has ever heard of Vernon Croker. Not even his own family.
He doesn't need to say "that's not good enough" though, just decline the position. In the context of a purge of other moderates, the story is not going to be "Benn flounces out".
Seems a bit strange allowing a free vote so the majority of the shadow cabinet can vote against the leader and then planning to sack them all because they did. Is it really going to happen?
It's being pretty heavily trailed.
Yes I know that. But kites do get trailed. Now I must make clear I do not credit Corbyn with much intelligence, but why let the shadow cabinet vote against him, allow them to speak against his view, only to then sack them afterwards? He only gave a fee vote to stop everyone resigning, now it seems he is going out of his way to encourage a rebellion.
He thinks his position is stronger after Oldham. Well, it is stronger. I also wonder if the force of Benn's speech and its reception upset him personally. He knows he's not capable of speaking like that, felt humiliated by it maybe.
In Corbyns world view, he is not right. He is RIGHT. Moral perfection incarnated. Benn's speech was WRONG. The fact that is was well argued and well made makes it worse. Benn is an agent of EVIL and must be destroyed. Not that this means that he hates Benn - it is just that all HERETICS to the True Church must be destroyed.
The angriest and most pessimistic people in America are the people we used to call Middle Americans. Middle-class and middle-aged; not rich and not poor; people who are irked when asked to press 1 for English, and who wonder how white male became an accusation rather than a description.
You can measure their pessimism in polls that ask about their expectations for their lives—and for those of their children. On both counts, whites without a college degree express the bleakest view. You can see the effects of their despair in the new statistics describing horrifying rates of suicide and substance-abuse fatality among this same group, in middle age.
If you go into any diversity training course the categories which will be talked about will include:-
- race - ethnicity - gender - sexuality - ability/disability - country of origin / nationality - religion
Spot the one category which is almost invariably missing but which, certainly in the UK (and probably elsewhere as well), has more to do with your chances in life.
Why it is missing is a mystery given how obsessed we are with it in every other respect.
Which investment bank they started their career at?
We won't hold that against you.
I have to say that I found two seemingly missing categories - place/mode of education, of course, but also age - and had to stop and think for a moment ...
I wonder if Corbyn may keep Benn in the cabinet, whilst all the other warmongers moderates are booted out.
Of course he will.
He'll give him a senior sounding position, albeit a clear demotion (because the Leader and the SFS need to be aligned on foreign policy) and dare him to walk out.
Let's say Benn is offered Shadow Business: he looks like an arrogant tosser if he says "that's not good enough" but it's clearly a signal to everyone else that he is unimportant. At the same time you clear out the junior ranks to make sure he doesn't have the numbers. They won't matter because no one normal has ever heard of Vernon Croker. Not even his own family.
He doesn't need to say "that's not good enough" though, just decline the position. In the context of a purge of other moderates, the story is not going to be "Benn flounces out".
Seems a bit strange allowing a free vote so the majority of the shadow cabinet can vote against the leader and then planning to sack them all because they did. Is it really going to happen?
It's being pretty heavily trailed.
Yes I know that. But kites do get trailed. Now I must make clear I do not credit Corbyn with much intelligence, but why let the shadow cabinet vote against him, allow them to speak against his view, only to then sack them afterwards? He only gave a fee vote to stop everyone resigning, now it seems he is going out of his way to encourage a rebellion.
He thinks his position is stronger after Oldham. Well, it is stronger. I also wonder if the force of Benn's speech and its reception upset him personally. He knows he's not capable of speaking like that, felt humiliated by it maybe.
In Corbyns world view, he is not right. He is RIGHT. Moral perfection incarnated. Benn's speech was WRONG. The fact that is was well argued and well made makes it worse. Benn is an agent of EVIL and must be destroyed. Not that this means that he hates Benn - it is just that all HERETICS to the True Church must be destroyed.
Corbyn shouldn't have to put up with a shadow cabinet that barely tolerates him. It does him, labour and those who do it no favours whatsoever. I hope he clears the mouthy lot out, better for all concerned, and if he fails, he fails big on his own terms.
I want something that screams opulence, luxury and decadence. Money is no objective.
Georges V
Thank you.
I put a link below. http://www.fourseasons.com/paris/ Be warned that money really is no object there, don't nonchalantly order a glass of champagne in the bar unless you're happy with a €50 bill. Per glass, and that was a few years ago!
I wonder if Corbyn may keep Benn in the cabinet, whilst all the other warmongers moderates are booted out.
Of course he will.
He'll give him a senior sounding position, albeit a clear demotion (because the Leader and the SFS need to be aligned on foreign policy) and dare him to walk out.
Let's say Benn is offered Shadow Business: he looks like an arrogant tosser if he says "that's not good enough" but it's clearly a signal to everyone else that he is unimportant. At the same time you clear out the junior ranks to make sure he doesn't have the numbers. They won't matter because no one normal has ever heard of Vernon Croker. Not even his own family.
He doesn't need to say "that's not good enough" though, just decline the position. In the context of a purge of other moderates, the story is not going to be "Benn flounces out".
Seems a bit strange allowing a free vote so the majority of the shadow cabinet can vote against the leader and then planning to sack them all because they did. Is it really going to happen?
It's being pretty heavily trailed.
Yes I know that. But kites do get trailed. Now I must make clear I do not credit Corbyn with much intelligence, but why let the shadow cabinet vote against him, allow them to speak against his view, only to then sack them afterwards? He only gave a fee vote to stop everyone resigning, now it seems he is going out of his way to encourage a rebellion.
He thinks his position is stronger after Oldham. Well, it is stronger. I also wonder if the force of Benn's speech and its reception upset him personally. He knows he's not capable of speaking like that, felt humiliated by it maybe.
In Corbyns world view, he is not right. He is RIGHT. Moral perfection incarnated. Benn's speech was WRONG. The fact that is was well argued and well made makes it worse. Benn is an agent of EVIL and must be destroyed. Not that this means that he hates Benn - it is just that all HERETICS to the True Church must be destroyed.
Corbyn shouldn't have to put up with a shadow cabinet that barely tolerates him. It does him, labour and those who do it no favours whatsoever. I hope he clears the mouthy lot out, better for all concerned, and if he fails, he fails big on his own terms.
Not sure I agree with that. I would say that one of the skills of a good political leader is getting people that disagree, who may even dislike each other a lot, to work together.
You're right. OK, I'm going to do it. (lol - I realise no one gives a stuff but it does feel like a step. I'll probably go native and turn into Eric Pickles in five years.)
You need a very long spoon to sup with the devil
You should credit St Dunstan with that image! (He was also notable for tweaking the devil's nose with a pair of sugar tongs...)
You probably wouldn't like him though - classic Tory: he restructured the monastical system to make it cashflow positive (in his role as ++Cantab), cut government spending in his simultaneous position as Chancellor and still found time to write the Coronation Service that is still largely used today
Not mention being the patron saint of goldsmiths and having a church in fleet street dedicated to him. A lovely church that has been long supported by a certain *cough* banking family who are also big in the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths.
St. Dunstan's is also the name of a wonderful establishment on the coast near Brighton which brings new skills, new hope and new life to people made blind, especially ex-service types and from which I was once thrown out and barred by the matron for having returned one of their residents in a state of major intoxication after a run ashore in Brighton. In my defence he was a grown-up and could have said, "No more I have had enough", furthermore he was no more pissed than I was.
Blind Veterans UK is a great charity - came across them through the ABF.
St. Dunstan's was a more interesting name - came from it's former base at St. Dunstan's Lodge (now known as Winfield House) in Regent's Park. the only association with the saint is that Hertford bought a clock from the old church before it was rebuilt in the 1830s
The angriest and most pessimistic people in America are the people we used to call Middle Americans. Middle-class and middle-aged; not rich and not poor; people who are irked when asked to press 1 for English, and who wonder how white male became an accusation rather than a description.
You can measure their pessimism in polls that ask about their expectations for their lives—and for those of their children. On both counts, whites without a college degree express the bleakest view. You can see the effects of their despair in the new statistics describing horrifying rates of suicide and substance-abuse fatality among this same group, in middle age.
If you go into any diversity training course the categories which will be talked about will include:-
- race - ethnicity - gender - sexuality - ability/disability - country of origin / nationality - religion
Spot the one category which is almost invariably missing but which, certainly in the UK (and probably elsewhere as well), has more to do with your chances in life.
Why it is missing is a mystery given how obsessed we are with it in every other respect.
Which investment bank they started their career at?
We won't hold that against you.
I have to say that I found two seemingly missing categories - place/mode of education, of course, but also age - and had to stop and think for a moment ...
I thought age was the missing one. What is the "right" answer?
I wonder if Corbyn may keep Benn in the cabinet, whilst all the other warmongers moderates are booted out.
Of course he will.
He'll give him a senior sounding position, albeit a clear demotion (because the Leader and the SFS need to be aligned on foreign policy) and dare him to walk out.
Let's say Benn is offered Shadow Business: he looks like an arrogant tosser if he says "that's not good enough" but it's clearly a signal to everyone else that he is unimportant. At the same time you clear out the junior ranks to make sure he doesn't have the numbers. They won't matter because no one normal has ever heard of Vernon Croker. Not even his own family.
He doesn't need to say "that's not good enough" though, just decline the position. In the context of a purge of other moderates, the story is not going to be "Benn flounces out".
Seems a bit strange allowing a free vote so the majority of the shadow cabinet can vote against the leader and then planning to sack them all because they did. Is it really going to happen?
It's being pretty heavily trailed.
Yes I know that. But kites do get trailed. Now I must make clear I do not credit
He thinks his position is stronger after Oldham. Well, it is stronger. I also wonder if the force of Benn's speech and its reception upset him personally. He knows he's not capable of speaking like that, felt humiliated by it maybe.
In Corbyns world view, he is not right. He is RIGHT. Moral perfection incarnated. Benn's speech was WRONG. The fact that is was well argued and well made makes it worse. Benn is an agent of EVIL and must be destroyed. Not that this means that he hates Benn - it is just that all HERETICS to the True Church must be destroyed.
Corbyn shouldn't have to put up with a shadow cabinet that barely tolerates him. It does him, labour and those who do it no favours whatsoever. I hope he clears the mouthy lot out, better for all concerned, and if he fails, he fails big on his own terms.
Not sure I agree with that. I would say that one of the skills of a good political leader is getting people that disagree, who may even dislike each other a lot, to work together.
In general, yes, but some of made contempt of his positions pretty clear and that they stayed only out of tribal loyalty. That pushes it beyond that expectation I think.
Corbyn shouldn't have to put up with a shadow cabinet that barely tolerates him. It does him, labour and those who do it no favours whatsoever. I hope he clears the mouthy lot out, better for all concerned, and if he fails, he fails big on his own terms.
kle4. I like the way you think and argue, and most of the time I agree with much you say. Sure, Corbyn has the right to try to put together a cabinet he can work with. But demanding political purity of all who serve in your cabinet based on the values of one man is not democracy in action. It is the world of Lenin and Stalin and Hitler.
The reason class is missing is because all those other categories are deliberate distractions by the top 10% to divert attention away from the main threat to their supremacy which is bright people from the lower-middle classes.
The angriest and most pessimistic people in America are the people we used to call Middle Americans. Middle-class and middle-aged; not rich and not poor; people who are irked when asked to press 1 for English, and who wonder how white male became an accusation rather than a description.
You can measure their pessimism in polls that ask about their expectations for their lives—and for those of their children. On both counts, whites without a college degree express the bleakest view. You can see the effects of their despair in the new statistics describing horrifying rates of suicide and substance-abuse fatality among this same group, in middle age.
If you go into any diversity training course the categories which will be talked about will include:-
- race - ethnicity - gender - sexuality - ability/disability - country of origin / nationality - religion
Spot the one category which is almost invariably missing but which, certainly in the UK (and probably elsewhere as well), has more to do with your chances in life.
Why it is missing is a mystery given how obsessed we are with it in every other respect.
Corbyn shouldn't have to put up with a shadow cabinet that barely tolerates him. It does him, labour and those who do it no favours whatsoever. I hope he clears the mouthy lot out, better for all concerned, and if he fails, he fails big on his own terms.
If David Cameron could keep Iain Duncan Smith, Vince Cable, Kenneth Clarke and William Hague all in the hothouse situation of a full cabinet together for five years, give or take, you would have thought anyone reasonably competent or well-meaning could keep Benn and the Eagle twins in a left wing shadow cabinet for more than four months.
But Corbyn is neither competent or well meaning. This is the triumph of Militant, more poisonous for being delayed for 30 years. Fellow travellers who are half hearted will be ruthlessly purged. They are more dangerous than the official enemy, for they think they mean well.
The angriest and most pessimistic people in America are the people we used to call Middle Americans. Middle-class and middle-aged; not rich and not poor; people who are irked when asked to press 1 for English, and who wonder how white male became an accusation rather than a description.
You can measure their pessimism in polls that ask about their expectations for their lives—and for those of their children. On both counts, whites without a college degree express the bleakest view. You can see the effects of their despair in the new statistics describing horrifying rates of suicide and substance-abuse fatality among this same group, in middle age.
If you go into any diversity training course the categories which will be talked about will include:-
- race - ethnicity - gender - sexuality - ability/disability - country of origin / nationality - religion
Spot the one category which is almost invariably missing but which, certainly in the UK (and probably elsewhere as well), has more to do with your chances in life.
Why it is missing is a mystery given how obsessed we are with it in every other respect.
Which investment bank they started their career at?
We won't hold that against you.
I have to say that I found two seemingly missing categories - place/mode of education, of course, but also age - and had to stop and think for a moment ...
I thought age was the missing one. What is the "right" answer?
Age is also included at least recently.
The one that seems key to me - or at least as important as the others - but which I've never seen mentioned is class.
He doesn't need to say "that's not good enough" though, just decline the position. In the context of a purge of other moderates, the story is not going to be "Benn flounces out".
Seems a bit strange allowing a free vote so the majority of the shadow cabinet can vote against the leader and then planning to sack them all because they did. Is it really going to happen?
It's being pretty heavily trailed.
Yes I know that. But kites do get trailed. Now I must make clear I do not credit
He thinks his position is stronger after Oldham. Well, it is stronger. I also wonder if the force of Benn's speech and its reception upset him personally. He knows he's not capable of speaking like that, felt humiliated by it maybe.
In Corbyns world view, he is not right. He is RIGHT. Moral perfection incarnated. Benn's speech was WRONG. The fact that is was well argued and well made makes it worse. Benn is an agent of EVIL and must be destroyed. Not that this means that he hates Benn - it is just that all HERETICS to the True Church must be destroyed.
Corbyn shouldn't have to put up with a shadow cabinet that barely tolerates him. It does him, labour and those who do it no favours whatsoever. I hope he clears the mouthy lot out, better for all concerned, and if he fails, he fails big on his own terms.
Not sure I agree with that. I would say that one of the skills of a good political leader is getting people that disagree, who may even dislike each other a lot, to work together.
In general, yes, but some of made contempt of his positions pretty clear and that they stayed only out of tribal loyalty. That pushes it beyond that expectation I think.
Sure, but it's his job to inspire some level of personal respect. The traditional way to do that is by looking like a winner.
Corbyn shouldn't have to put up with a shadow cabinet that barely tolerates him. It does him, labour and those who do it no favours whatsoever. I hope he clears the mouthy lot out, better for all concerned, and if he fails, he fails big on his own terms.
kle4. I like the way you think and argue, and most of the time I agree with much you say. Sure, Corbyn has the right to try to put together a cabinet he can work with. But demanding political purity of all who serve in your cabinet based on the values of one man is not democracy in action. It is the world of Lenin and Stalin and Hitler.
Well I thank you for the compliment even if on this occasion we are not of the same mind.
It's a coin flip between Faubourg Saint-Honore and Avenue Montaigne for shopping though
@TSE: Depending on what you intend doing in your Paris hotel, do you really care about the opulence of the hall or dining room or whatever? You may only really be interested, for instance, in the comfort of the bed and the room service.
If you intend sightseeing, again, who cares about the chandeliers in the downstairs gents?
It's a coin flip between Faubourg Saint-Honore and Avenue Montaigne for shopping though
@TSE: Depending on what you intend doing in your Paris hotel, do you really care about the opulence of the hall or dining room or whatever? You may only really be interested, for instance, in the comfort of the bed and the room service.
If you intend sightseeing, again, who cares about the chandeliers in the downstairs gents?
A romantic weekend break away but I also want to visit the sights and enjoy the comforts.
Corbyn shouldn't have to put up with a shadow cabinet that barely tolerates him. It does him, labour and those who do it no favours whatsoever. I hope he clears the mouthy lot out, better for all concerned, and if he fails, he fails big on his own terms.
kle4. I like the way you think and argue, and most of the time I agree with much you say. Sure, Corbyn has the right to try to put together a cabinet he can work with. But demanding political purity of all who serve in your cabinet based on the values of one man is not democracy in action. It is the world of Lenin and Stalin and Hitler.
Well I thank you for the compliment even if on this occasion we are not of the same mind.
It is interesting to compare the idea that a (shadow) cabinet should consist of one collective mind on all matters with philosophy of cabinet government of that noted softie.... M. Thatcher. Who tolerated the wets - even when they used to brief the press against her on a daily basis. Her theory, as I understand it, was that they represented a faction within the party and it was better to deal with them directly rather than trying to exile them all.
It's a coin flip between Faubourg Saint-Honore and Avenue Montaigne for shopping though
Thank you.
The Oetker's Hotel Du Cap is probably my favorite hotel anywhere.
Sadly I can only afford to go there very rarely (although having made the mistake of staying there on my honeymoon, I think I'm committed to future anniversaries as well!)
It's a coin flip between Faubourg Saint-Honore and Avenue Montaigne for shopping though
@TSE: Depending on what you intend doing in your Paris hotel, do you really care about the opulence of the hall or dining room or whatever? You may only really be interested, for instance, in the comfort of the bed and the room service.
If you intend sightseeing, again, who cares about the chandeliers in the downstairs gents?
A romantic weekend break away but I also want to visit the sights and enjoy the comforts.
I wouldn't go to a big posh hotel for a romantic break.
If you go into any diversity training course the categories which will be talked about will include:-
- race - ethnicity - gender - sexuality - ability/disability - country of origin / nationality - religion
Spot the one category which is almost invariably missing but which, certainly in the UK (and probably elsewhere as well), has more to do with your chances in life.
Why it is missing is a mystery given how obsessed we are with it in every other respect.
Which investment bank they started their career at?
We won't hold that against you.
I have to say that I found two seemingly missing categories - place/mode of education, of course, but also age - and had to stop and think for a moment ...
I thought age was the missing one. What is the "right" answer?
Age is also included at least recently.
The one that seems key to me - or at least as important as the others - but which I've never seen mentioned is class.
Corbyn shouldn't have to put up with a shadow cabinet that barely tolerates him. It does him, labour and those who do it no favours whatsoever. I hope he clears the mouthy lot out, better for all concerned, and if he fails, he fails big on his own terms.
If David Cameron could keep Iain Duncan Smith, Vince Cable, Kenneth Clarke and William Hague all in the hothouse situation of a full cabinet together for five years, give or take, you would have thought anyone reasonably competent or well-meaning could keep Benn and the Eagle twins in a left wing shadow cabinet for more than four months.
But Corbyn is neither competent or well meaning. This is the triumph of Militant, more poisonous for being delayed for 30 years. Fellow travellers who are half hearted will be ruthlessly purged. They are more dangerous than the official enemy, for they think they mean well.
It is going to be very nasty to watch.
Vince Cable, for instance, rarely let an opportunity go by to express his hatred of Tories.... In terms that make Hillary Benn look like a crazed Corbyn worshiper,
I want something that screams opulence, luxury and decadence.
Money is no objective.
My wife is going to Paris for a night with a friend of hers. Said friend came back with hotel options: the Georges V for one night, for a single room, was more than £1,000.
Yes, really.
Needless to say, we found somewhere very nice for a fraction of the price.
I want something that screams opulence, luxury and decadence.
Money is no objective.
Georges V is pretty tasteless these days.
Judging by his music and fashion tastes I would have thought pretty tasteless was just about right for TSE :-)
Let's just say that I'm not surprised that Sandpit recommended Georges V - it's been refurbished to appeal to people from his locale.
(I refuse to go back to the Plaza Athenee though - I was staying there one summer and the Qatari royal family took a floor of the hotel. The staff *completely* ignored all the other guests because they were so desperate for tips from them
It's a coin flip between Faubourg Saint-Honore and Avenue Montaigne for shopping though
Thank you.
The Oetker's Hotel Du Cap is probably my favorite hotel anywhere.
Sadly I can only afford to go there very rarely (although having made the mistake of staying there on my honeymoon, I think I'm committed to future anniversaries as well!)
The angriest and most pessimistic people in America are the people we used to call Middle Americans. Middle-class and middle-aged; not rich and not poor; people who are irked when asked to press 1 for English, and who wonder how white male became an accusation rather than a description.
You can measure their pessimism in polls that ask about their expectations for their lives—and for those of their children. On both counts, whites without a college degree express the bleakest view. You can see the effects of their despair in the new statistics describing horrifying rates of suicide and substance-abuse fatality among this same group, in middle age.
If you go into any diversity training course the categories which will be talked about will include:-
- race - ethnicity - gender - sexuality - ability/disability - country of origin / nationality - religion
Spot the one category which is almost invariably missing but which, certainly in the UK (and probably elsewhere as well), has more to do with your chances in life.
Why it is missing is a mystery given how obsessed we are with it in every other respect.
Which investment bank they started their career at?
We won't hold that against you.
I have to say that I found two seemingly missing categories - place/mode of education, of course, but also age - and had to stop and think for a moment ...
I thought age was the missing one. What is the "right" answer?
Age is also included at least recently.
The one that seems key to me - or at least as important as the others - but which I've never seen mentioned is class.
Possibly because it is not as easily defined as the others? Especially in terms of box-ticking and recruitment stats.
Place/mode of education is of course a surrogate, but the problem is when does one abandon one's parents' class and attain a new class? And although in Britain accent is also a surrogate, I can't imagine questions being asked about whether one's accent is Morningside, broad Glesca or Highland Gael (to use some local options - RP, Bristle,or Zummerzet perhaps the equivalents for, say, the West Country).
It's a coin flip between Faubourg Saint-Honore and Avenue Montaigne for shopping though
Thank you.
The Oetker's Hotel Du Cap is probably my favorite hotel anywhere.
Sadly I can only afford to go there very rarely (although having made the mistake of staying there on my honeymoon, I think I'm committed to future anniversaries as well!)
I want something that screams opulence, luxury and decadence.
Money is no objective.
My wife is going to Paris for a night with a friend of hers. Said friend came back with hotel options: the Georges V for one night, for a single room, was more than £1,000.
Yes, really.
Needless to say, we found somewhere very nice for a fraction of the price.
That all. The most expensive room I ever paid* for was £3,000 a night, was a bargain. Came with a butler.
It's a coin flip between Faubourg Saint-Honore and Avenue Montaigne for shopping though
Thank you.
The Oetker's Hotel Du Cap is probably my favorite hotel anywhere.
Sadly I can only afford to go there very rarely (although having made the mistake of staying there on my honeymoon, I think I'm committed to future anniversaries as well!)
Is that the Cap Ferrat one?
No - Cap d'Antibes. Only Eur 1,000 per night at peak season, so a bargain!
The angriest and most pessimistic people in America are the people we used to call Middle Americans. Middle-class and middle-aged; not rich and not poor; people who are irked when asked to press 1 for English, and who wonder how white male became an accusation rather than a description.
You can measure their pessimism in polls that ask about their expectations for their lives—and for those of their children. On both counts, whites without a college degree express the bleakest view. You can see the effects of their despair in the new statistics describing horrifying rates of suicide and substance-abuse fatality among this same group, in middle age.
If you go into any diversity training course the categories which will be talked about will include:-
- race - ethnicity - gender - sexuality - ability/disability - country of origin / nationality - religion
Spot the one category which is almost invariably missing but which, certainly in the UK (and probably elsewhere as well), has more to do with your chances in life.
Why it is missing is a mystery given how obsessed we are with it in every other respect.
Which investment bank they started their career at?
We won't hold that against you.
I have to say that I found two seemingly missing categories - place/mode of education, of course, but also age - and had to stop and think for a moment ...
Education can be a signifier for class but I think class is wider. Someone can have had tertiary education but still speak with the "wrong" accent or look like a skinhead or have a CV which has a different (i.e. not like every other applicant) trajectory.
And age is also important because by focusing on the young you can find yourself excluding older women who have got past their child-bearing or the early rearing years and don't just want to be shunted into some part-time or "support" role.
If you raise class at any of these diversity courses - as I once did - the look of horror on the facilitators' faces is something to behold!!
It's a coin flip between Faubourg Saint-Honore and Avenue Montaigne for shopping though
Thank you.
The Oetker's Hotel Du Cap is probably my favorite hotel anywhere.
Sadly I can only afford to go there very rarely (although having made the mistake of staying there on my honeymoon, I think I'm committed to future anniversaries as well!)
Is that the Cap Ferrat one?
No - Cap d'Antibes. Only Eur 1,000 per night at peak season, so a bargain!
I want something that screams opulence, luxury and decadence.
Money is no objective.
My wife is going to Paris for a night with a friend of hers. Said friend came back with hotel options: the Georges V for one night, for a single room, was more than £1,000.
Yes, really.
Needless to say, we found somewhere very nice for a fraction of the price.
That all. The most expensive room I ever paid* for was £3,000 a night, was a bargain. Came with a butler.
*Well work paid for it.
I'd expect angels to sing me to sleep for that price.
I want something that screams opulence, luxury and decadence.
Money is no objective.
Georges V is pretty tasteless these days.
Judging by his music and fashion tastes I would have thought pretty tasteless was just about right for TSE :-)
Let's just say that I'm not surprised that Sandpit recommended Georges V - it's been refurbished to appeal to people from his locale.
(I refuse to go back to the Plaza Athenee though - I was staying there one summer and the Qatari royal family took a floor of the hotel. The staff *completely* ignored all the other guests because they were so desperate for tips from them
Ha ha. I didn't know that, but get exactly what you mean. I visited there a few years back and thought of it as over-the-top opulent and rediculously expensive even then.
This is what passes for ultra-luxury over here. The weird colours look way better in real life than photos and the gold paint is actually gold leaf, but even so. TSE might like it though! https://www.jumeirah.com/en/hotels-resorts/dubai/burj-al-arab/
I want something that screams opulence, luxury and decadence.
Money is no objective.
My wife is going to Paris for a night with a friend of hers. Said friend came back with hotel options: the Georges V for one night, for a single room, was more than £1,000.
Yes, really.
Needless to say, we found somewhere very nice for a fraction of the price.
That all. The most expensive room I ever paid* for was £3,000 a night, was a bargain. Came with a butler.
*Well work paid for it.
I'd expect angels to sing me to sleep for that price.
@SophyRidgeSky: Labour frontbencher tells me to expect mass walk-out if Jeremy Corbyn reshuffles Hilary Benn as Shadow Foreign Secretary
I'll believe that when I see it. This bit's true though...
@SophyRidgeSky: Labour source: “The question isn’t if they’re strong enough to do a reshuffle, but are they stupid enough. The answer is nearly always yes"
I want something that screams opulence, luxury and decadence.
Money is no objective.
My wife is going to Paris for a night with a friend of hers. Said friend came back with hotel options: the Georges V for one night, for a single room, was more than £1,000.
Yes, really.
Needless to say, we found somewhere very nice for a fraction of the price.
That all. The most expensive room I ever paid* for was £3,000 a night, was a bargain. Came with a butler.
*Well work paid for it.
About a decade ago I spend three months living in the Plaza incognito.
At Eur 750 a night it was fine - but I was averaging 3 hours sleep, so it worked out as Eur 250 per hour!
If you go into any diversity training course the categories which will be talked about will include:-
- race - ethnicity - gender - sexuality - ability/disability - country of origin / nationality - religion
Spot the one category which is almost invariably missing but which, certainly in the UK (and probably elsewhere as well), has more to do with your chances in life.
Why it is missing is a mystery given how obsessed we are with it in every other respect.
Which investment bank they started their career at?
We won't hold that against you.
I have to say that I found two seemingly missing categories - place/mode of education, of course, but also age - and had to stop and think for a moment ...
I thought age was the missing one. What is the "right" answer?
Age is also included at least recently.
The one that seems key to me - or at least as important as the others - but which I've never seen mentioned is class.
Possibly because it is not as easily defined as the others? Especially in terms of box-ticking and recruitment stats.
[Snipped]
That is precisely my point: if you look at diversity in terms of box-ticking and recruitment stats you are missing - by a country mile - the whole point of it. You are looking at people in terms of the package they come in rather than looking past the package at what they are - in all their wonderful richness and variety - and at what they could be. You risk appointing people because they do tick certain boxes, thus favouring those who appear to fit and you risk missing people with talent and potential who don't fit in other ways. We have turned diversity into a focus on the appearance of things, of people, rather than on their substance. We categorise people into a deadly taxonomy rather than glory in the unexpected, the surprising, the interesting, the serendipitous wonderfulness of seeing people as they are and not as a collection of characteristics.
The nicest B&B I've ever stayed in in Paris is L'Ermitage near Sacre-Coeur. I discovered it years ago when I was an impoverished student. The lady who ran it (her daughter runs it now) was so charming and friendly; she brought you breakfast in bed; the rooms were small and eccentrically furnished but comfortable and over the years I visited regularly with a variety of friends, on whom - over the years - Madame felt gradually emboldened to comment, finally approving my choice of husband. It felt like a home from home.
It's a coin flip between Faubourg Saint-Honore and Avenue Montaigne for shopping though
@TSE: Depending on what you intend doing in your Paris hotel, do you really care about the opulence of the hall or dining room or whatever? You may only really be interested, for instance, in the comfort of the bed and the room service.
If you intend sightseeing, again, who cares about the chandeliers in the downstairs gents?
A romantic weekend break away but I also want to visit the sights and enjoy the comforts.
I wouldn't go to a big posh hotel for a romantic break.
Strange how ladies differ. When I was courting Herself I came back from a particularly arduous tour, we hadn't seen each other for over six months and I had spent almost nothing so was loaded with cash. A romantic break was on the cards and money was no object. I left the choice of where to Herself, anywhere in the world I said. She chose The Ritz in Piccadilly and doing London "properly". I could have bought a Caribbean Island outright for what those four days cost me.
Mind you, after we were married her attitude changed. In a similar situation (back from a tour and lots of cash in the bank) I gave her the same choice of anywhere in the world to go on holiday and she chose a very reasonably priced hotel on Jersey for a week.
It is a mark of how far Labour has jumped the shark that that is the probably the most sensible suggestion so far.
Why on Earth would he want to serve under Corbyn though? This absurd farce gets more bonkers every day, the sensible MPs need to take a deep breath and just jump.
The angriest and most pessimistic people in America are the people we used to call Middle Americans. Middle-class and middle-aged; not rich and not poor; people who are irked when asked to press 1 for English, and who wonder how white male became an accusation rather than a description.
You can measure their pessimism in polls that ask about their expectations for their lives—and for those of their children. On both counts, whites without a college degree express the bleakest view. You can see the effects of their despair in the new statistics describing horrifying rates of suicide and substance-abuse fatality among this same group, in middle age.
If you go into any diversity training course the categories which will be talked about will include:-
- race - ethnicity - gender - sexuality - ability/disability - country of origin / nationality - religion
Spot the one category which is almost invariably missing but which, certainly in the UK (and probably elsewhere as well), has more to do with your chances in life.
Why it is missing is a mystery given how obsessed we are with it in every other respect.
It is a mark of how far Labour has jumped the shark that that is the probably the most sensible suggestion so far.
Why on Earth would he want to serve under Corbyn though? This absurd farce gets more bonkers every day, the sensible MPs need to take a deep breath and just jump.
Be fair, Corbyn has single-handedly made Ed Miliband look like a good leader of the Labour party. It's difficult to think of anyone else who could have done that, certainly in such a short space of time. Give them six months and the PLP will be dewy-eyed with nostalgia for him.
Perhaps worth remembering at this point that Laws was gone before the week (?) was out.
Yep, another expenses fiddler. I did actually have a little sympathy with his circumstances, having to come out to his parents before the newspapers went to print, but he still cheated the taxpayer.
no excuse for misappropriation though, just needed a backbone. Typical Lib Dem.
the SNP remain popular because they are doing what people want.
Quite right.
The people wanted a Tory government, and Swinney gave them a Tory budget in Scotland.
Everyone's happy.
Ha Ha Ha, only a stupid Tory could come out with that rubbish. Centre ground is what Scotland wants and what SNP give them , not the nasty party version of a Dickens novel or the lying faux champagne socialist labour Tory wet version. One thing for sure they do not want the London sockpuppet regional Tories anywhere near power. They will remain a joke , with a few consolation list seats.
Late to the party with @Dair saying England didn't exist until 1999, and only after that in some NHS bodies. Aren't we forgetting the Church of England?
Corbyn shouldn't have to put up with a shadow cabinet that barely tolerates him. It does him, labour and those who do it no favours whatsoever. I hope he clears the mouthy lot out, better for all concerned, and if he fails, he fails big on his own terms.
If David Cameron could keep Iain Duncan Smith, Vince Cable, Kenneth Clarke and William Hague all in the hothouse situation of a full cabinet together for five years, give or take, you would have thought anyone reasonably competent or well-meaning could keep Benn and the Eagle twins in a left wing shadow cabinet for more than four months.
But Corbyn is neither competent or well meaning. This is the triumph of Militant, more poisonous for being delayed for 30 years. Fellow travellers who are half hearted will be ruthlessly purged. They are more dangerous than the official enemy, for they think they mean well.
It is going to be very nasty to watch.
For anybody who is curios as to what the Labour Party is going though at the moment, and 'God forbid' what the country will go thought if Corban becomes Prime Minister. I can recommend a book by George Orwell, Homage to Catalonia.
It recounts the time that GO, volunteered to fight of the anti-fascist side of the Spanish civil war, and in particular his time in Barcelona. When he first arrived he found a spirit of hope and excitement, class divisions had been abolished, people could and did express opinions openly, and the authorities were for filing the needs of all equally, it felt like a true socialist utopia. later after coming back form fighting on the front line he found a very different place, the new leaders had assumed the privileges of the old aristocracy, but also all dissenting opinions where being supresed, censership was bing vilontly inforced.
There was an internal power struggle going on, and depending on who you thought who was really working in the intrests of 'the people' could diside if you where decreed an outcast, enemy of the people and sent to prison. In the end Orwell escaped and was tried and convicted in his absence.
The labour party is going thought the same thing, fortunately a lot less violently.
Will the 'moderates' ever be able to regain the leadership? I'm realy not sure.
Late to the party with @Dair saying England didn't exist until 1999, and only after that in some NHS bodies. Aren't we forgetting the Church of England?
It's a coin flip between Faubourg Saint-Honore and Avenue Montaigne for shopping though
@TSE: Depending on what you intend doing in your Paris hotel, do you really care about the opulence of the hall or dining room or whatever? You may only really be interested, for instance, in the comfort of the bed and the room service.
If you intend sightseeing, again, who cares about the chandeliers in the downstairs gents?
A romantic weekend break away but I also want to visit the sights and enjoy the comforts.
I wouldn't go to a big posh hotel for a romantic break.
Strange how ladies differ. When I was courting Herself I came back from a particularly arduous tour, we hadn't seen each other for over six months and I had spent almost nothing so was loaded with cash. A romantic break was on the cards and money was no object. I left the choice of where to Herself, anywhere in the world I said. She chose The Ritz in Piccadilly and doing London "properly". I could have bought a Caribbean Island outright for what those four days cost me.
Mind you, after we were married her attitude changed. In a similar situation (back from a tour and lots of cash in the bank) I gave her the same choice of anywhere in the world to go on holiday and she chose a very reasonably priced hotel on Jersey for a week.
Very posh hotels can be unbearably overbearing. I don't want to feel that the hotel outshines me or that I have to live up to it, rather than the other way around.
Also, in some of those places, however beautiful or beautifully dressed you are, people probably assume you're some sort of tart, which is not conducive to romance.
These days I'd be lucky to be invited to partake of a flask of tea on a bench in Hampstead Heath......................
It is a mark of how far Labour has jumped the shark that that is the probably the most sensible suggestion so far.
Either Miliband or Abbott as Shadow Foreign Secretary in a Corbyn lead labour party would exclude labour from sitting down at the table with the US and most of our allies but presumably not Russia. Labour committing international self harm on an epic scale
It is a mark of how far Labour has jumped the shark that that is the probably the most sensible suggestion so far.
Why on Earth would he want to serve under Corbyn though? This absurd farce gets more bonkers every day, the sensible MPs need to take a deep breath and just jump.
I think they need to wait to be pushed. Much of the party is still in the Jeremy is a nice bloke and we must unite around him - a la Nick Palmer of this parish. His broad church claims and so called desire to compromise can only be challenged if he has to make the decision. If they pre-emptively resign we will be straight into cries of betrayal. The whole approach so far has been passive aggressive - because of his weakness in the PLP.
Charles was right down thread they will probably offer demotions rather than outright sackings in order to engineer resignations, and the aggressive briefing and Morris tweet earlier may be aiming to provoke pre-emptive resignations. I can only pray that he does promote Diane Abbott as no-one in any part of the party likes her, and nor do the public.
If Miliband does bail him out by re-joining the Shadow Cabinet he will have utterly disgraced himself.
Late to the party with @Dair saying England didn't exist until 1999, and only after that in some NHS bodies. Aren't we forgetting the Church of England?
is that still a going concern Rob.
Given we are arguing pedantic points in the first place, surely that doesn't matter?
@SophyRidgeSky: Labour frontbencher tells me to expect mass walk-out if Jeremy Corbyn reshuffles Hilary Benn as Shadow Foreign Secretary
I'll believe that when I see it. This bit's true though...
@SophyRidgeSky: Labour source: “The question isn’t if they’re strong enough to do a reshuffle, but are they stupid enough. The answer is nearly always yes"
That's silly. A reshuffle isn't stupid. Going into the election they need to have a leader who can actually function as a leader, and that's not realistically possible with this cabinet behaving in this way.
The Corbynites either need to pick a fight sometime before the election, or they need to give it up and resign. And delaying the fight will only hurt them and the party.
You should credit St Dunstan with that image! (He was also notable for tweaking the devil's nose with a pair of sugar tongs...)
You probably wouldn't like him though - classic Tory: he restructured the monastical system to make it cashflow positive (in his role as ++Cantab), cut government spending in his simultaneous position as Chancellor and still found time to write the Coronation Service that is still largely used today
*Pedant alert on*
You mean ++Cantuar. There was no Archbishop of Cambridge.
Sorry Nick but that simply isn't true. The Netherlands, Sweden, Ireland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Italy, Finland, Cyprus, Portugal, Greece, Slovenia, Spain, the Czech Republic, Malta, Estonia, Latvia, Poland, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Slovakia, Lithuania and Romania all have higher percentages of owner occupancy than the UK.
In fact the UK is 24th out of 29 EU countries in terms of Owner Occupancy.
Comments
I particularly liked this somewhat delusional comment -
“This is supposed to be a new politics,” said one prospective victim. “Instead, we’re left wondering if we’ll have a job when we get back after the new year. I chose to serve as a frontbencher because I am loyal to Labour, I just thought he would respect that.”
Why would anyone think that Corbyn would respect or value loyalty when he had shown so little loyalty to the Labour party over the years? Really, why? It strikes me as people believing what they desperately want or hope to be true rather than the evidence in front of their eyes.
What's the best hotel in central Paris?
I want something that screams opulence, luxury and decadence.
Money is no objective.
http://www.fourseasons.com/paris/
He only gave a fee vote to stop everyone resigning, now it seems he is going out of his way to encourage a rebellion.
St. Dunstan's is also the name of a wonderful establishment on the coast near Brighton which brings new skills, new hope and new life to people made blind, especially ex-service types and from which I was once thrown out and barred by the matron for having returned one of their residents in a state of major intoxication after a run ashore in Brighton. In my defence he was a grown-up and could have said, "No more I have had enough", furthermore he was no more pissed than I was.
- race
- ethnicity
- gender
- sexuality
- ability/disability
- country of origin / nationality
- religion
Spot the one category which is almost invariably missing but which, certainly in the UK (and probably elsewhere as well), has more to do with your chances in life.
Why it is missing is a mystery given how obsessed we are with it in every other respect.
Which investment bank they started their career at?
It's the equivalent of a Nelsonian blind eye. It's why so many diversity courses (diversity with a capital "D" rather than diversity properly understood) are utterly pointless. A lot of equivalently educated middle class people coming from a narrow social, educational and professional circle preening themselves about how diverse they are because they have a breast feeding policy and - gasp! - people who are not English working for them.
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/oct/12/rail-privatisation-dutch-and-german-companies-took-uk-for-ride
We won't hold that against you.
I have to say that I found two seemingly missing categories - place/mode of education, of course, but also age - and had to stop and think for a moment ...
http://www.fourseasons.com/paris/
Be warned that money really is no object there, don't nonchalantly order a glass of champagne in the bar unless you're happy with a €50 bill. Per glass, and that was a few years ago!
For faded elegance try the Plaza Athenee (if you can fight your way through the prostitutes in the bar)
https://www.dorchestercollection.com/en/paris/hotel-plaza-athenee/
The Bristol is quite nice as well (personally I prefer the way the Oetekers do things to the Dorcester group).
http://www.lebristolparis.com/eng/home/?
It's a coin flip between Faubourg Saint-Honore and Avenue Montaigne for shopping though
St. Dunstan's was a more interesting name - came from it's former base at St. Dunstan's Lodge (now known as Winfield House) in Regent's Park. the only association with the saint is that Hertford bought a clock from the old church before it was rebuilt in the 1830s
I thought age was the missing one. What is the "right" answer?
- race
- ethnicity
- gender
- sexuality
- ability/disability
- country of origin / nationality
- religion
Spot the one category which is almost invariably missing but which, certainly in the UK (and probably elsewhere as well), has more to do with your chances in life.
Why it is missing is a mystery given how obsessed we are with it in every other respect.
But Corbyn is neither competent or well meaning. This is the triumph of Militant, more poisonous for being delayed for 30 years. Fellow travellers who are half hearted will be ruthlessly purged. They are more dangerous than the official enemy, for they think they mean well.
It is going to be very nasty to watch.
Age is also included at least recently.
The one that seems key to me - or at least as important as the others - but which I've never seen mentioned is class.
If you intend sightseeing, again, who cares about the chandeliers in the downstairs gents?
His time will come.
Sadly I can only afford to go there very rarely (although having made the mistake of staying there on my honeymoon, I think I'm committed to future anniversaries as well!)
Yes, really.
Needless to say, we found somewhere very nice for a fraction of the price.
(I refuse to go back to the Plaza Athenee though - I was staying there one summer and the Qatari royal family took a floor of the hotel. The staff *completely* ignored all the other guests because they were so desperate for tips from them
The one that seems key to me - or at least as important as the others - but which I've never seen mentioned is class.
Possibly because it is not as easily defined as the others? Especially in terms of box-ticking and recruitment stats.
Place/mode of education is of course a surrogate, but the problem is when does one abandon one's parents' class and attain a new class? And although in Britain accent is also a surrogate, I can't imagine questions being asked about whether one's accent is Morningside, broad Glesca or Highland Gael (to use some local options - RP, Bristle,or Zummerzet perhaps the equivalents for, say, the West Country).
*Well work paid for it.
http://www.hotel-du-cap-eden-roc.com/eng/home/
Education can be a signifier for class but I think class is wider. Someone can have had tertiary education but still speak with the "wrong" accent or look like a skinhead or have a CV which has a different (i.e. not like every other applicant) trajectory.
And age is also important because by focusing on the young you can find yourself excluding older women who have got past their child-bearing or the early rearing years and don't just want to be shunted into some part-time or "support" role.
If you raise class at any of these diversity courses - as I once did - the look of horror on the facilitators' faces is something to behold!!
This is what passes for ultra-luxury over here. The weird colours look way better in real life than photos and the gold paint is actually gold leaf, but even so. TSE might like it though!
https://www.jumeirah.com/en/hotels-resorts/dubai/burj-al-arab/
I'll believe that when I see it. This bit's true though...
@SophyRidgeSky: Labour source: “The question isn’t if they’re strong enough to do a reshuffle, but are they stupid enough. The answer is nearly always yes"
At Eur 750 a night it was fine - but I was averaging 3 hours sleep, so it worked out as Eur 250 per hour!
[Snipped]
That is precisely my point: if you look at diversity in terms of box-ticking and recruitment stats you are missing - by a country mile - the whole point of it. You are looking at people in terms of the package they come in rather than looking past the package at what they are - in all their wonderful richness and variety - and at what they could be. You risk appointing people because they do tick certain boxes, thus favouring those who appear to fit and you risk missing people with talent and potential who don't fit in other ways. We have turned diversity into a focus on the appearance of things, of people, rather than on their substance. We categorise people into a deadly taxonomy rather than glory in the unexpected, the surprising, the interesting, the serendipitous wonderfulness of seeing people as they are and not as a collection of characteristics.
Chacun a son gout......
Mind you, after we were married her attitude changed. In a similar situation (back from a tour and lots of cash in the bank) I gave her the same choice of anywhere in the world to go on holiday and she chose a very reasonably priced hotel on Jersey for a week.
- race
- ethnicity
- gender
- sexuality
- ability/disability
- country of origin / nationality
- religion
Spot the one category which is almost invariably missing but which, certainly in the UK (and probably elsewhere as well), has more to do with your chances in life.
Why it is missing is a mystery given how obsessed we are with it in every other respect.
Parents?
See JPM's "Sons and Daughters" program.
One thing for sure they do not want the London sockpuppet regional Tories anywhere near power. They will remain a joke , with a few consolation list seats.
http://www.espncricinfo.com/south-africa-v-england-2015-16/content/story/956359.html
It recounts the time that GO, volunteered to fight of the anti-fascist side of the Spanish civil war, and in particular his time in Barcelona. When he first arrived he found a spirit of hope and excitement, class divisions had been abolished, people could and did express opinions openly, and the authorities were for filing the needs of all equally, it felt like a true socialist utopia. later after coming back form fighting on the front line he found a very different place, the new leaders had assumed the privileges of the old aristocracy, but also all dissenting opinions where being supresed, censership was bing vilontly inforced.
There was an internal power struggle going on, and depending on who you thought who was really working in the intrests of 'the people' could diside if you where decreed an outcast, enemy of the people and sent to prison. In the end Orwell escaped and was tried and convicted in his absence.
The labour party is going thought the same thing, fortunately a lot less violently.
Will the 'moderates' ever be able to regain the leadership? I'm realy not sure.
Let's hope the nutters are all as stupid as this pair.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/terrorism-in-the-uk/12073343/Couple-planned-Isil-suicide-bombing-of-Westfield-or-Tube-court-heard.html
Also, in some of those places, however beautiful or beautifully dressed you are, people probably assume you're some sort of tart, which is not conducive to romance.
These days I'd be lucky to be invited to partake of a flask of tea on a bench in Hampstead Heath......................
Charles was right down thread they will probably offer demotions rather than outright sackings in order to engineer resignations, and the aggressive briefing and Morris tweet earlier may be aiming to provoke pre-emptive resignations. I can only pray that he does promote Diane Abbott as no-one in any part of the party likes her, and nor do the public.
If Miliband does bail him out by re-joining the Shadow Cabinet he will have utterly disgraced himself.
The Corbynites either need to pick a fight sometime before the election, or they need to give it up and resign. And delaying the fight will only hurt them and the party.
You mean ++Cantuar.
There was no Archbishop of Cambridge.