On-topic, the government's change of line seems at this stage to be more mood music than reality. The word austerity may be gone, but there is still the deficit to be brought down, and the Treasury quite happy to use Brexit risk as a bogeyman. Likewise, on social conservatism, immigration cuts are promised in the future from Brexit, and grammar schools were offered as a token, but is there really any major reversal in social policy underway and exercising the contributers on here. I've not seen too much evidence yet.
Pulling a few cords and a bit of rhetoric in a certain direction, things having changed massively since the 1970s, does not a full return to Butskellism make as far as I can see.
Why is selection by ability regarded as more socially conservative than selection by ability to pay?
This argument is, in a nutshell, the reason why comps need reforming entirely. No more school selection by house price.
Unlike Nick Clegg I don't agree with all of it (some bits I strongly disagree with) but it is unusually well put-together and argued.
Well put together and I find very little I disagree with. A good leader for the educated 48%.
I don't see what the problem is: he seems to me to be arguing that people have made a mistake, they might change their minds when the reality of Brexit arrives and he wants to build some form of argument or structure that will allow that to happen.
The Right are up in arms precisely because they are scared he is right.
OT. For all who missed it last nights thread is well worth a look. A 'Chance The Gardener' moment where PB's finest were attempting to interpret the genius of President Trump.
I've not read anything like it since Gore Vidal's 'Messiah'
Great movie Roger...it's one that I treat myself to from time to time. Chancey Gardner was a simple man unlike Trump who is utterly complex.
After watching snippets of the press conference last night, I felt some glimmer of hope you know. I think Trump's psychotic, narcissistic thirst for recognition and adulation, combined with the fact that he is a rampant opportunist might push him ultimately into doing the right thing.
There is a great scene in Schindlers list where Schindler convinces the Nazi commandant that it is better to spare Jews, if only for a time. That is what needs to happen to Trump.
He makes my skin crawl. I find him iredeemably repulsive in every way.
A racist Scottish nationalist once linked to a notorious tartan terrorist has passed the SNP’s vetting process for council candidates.
Sonja Cameron was suspended from the party for two years – but later let back in – after a court conviction over her role in sinister anti-English group Settler Watch. She was also a friend of terrorist Andrew McIntosh of the so-called Scottish National Liberation Army, who was jailed for 12 years for a hoax bombing campaign.
But despite Cameron’s history of extremism, we have learned that she could be chosen as one of her party’s candidates for Stirling Council. Party bosses have approved her as a potential contender for May’s elections.
How far will you go for your parents? Cleaning their arses perhaps because that is the expectation in Italy. We are lucky...we can pay for care for our elders but many Italians cannot. That said, the daily pressure of elderly parents is suffocating and stifling. A thankless task because you can never do enough. The elderly generation is crushing Italy with their exponentially rising needs as they live longer, and probably other countries like Japan too.
The last thing we want to do is to inflict that kind of misery on middle aged families in the UK. The statement the other day by that minister to shift responsibility onto families was ridiculous...
I personally think medical advances to keep immobile human beings alive at all costs is grotesque in the extreme. It starts with premature babies, it continues with people who are injured or suffer from serious illness, and it finishes with keeping old people alive through a sack of drugs. But in the western world we are increasingly growing the numbers of very unwell people. It's not the resources they take up that bothers me, it is the unrelenting, remorseless suffering and guilt that it places on families.
A lot of sympathy with most of these views, though the nub of the challenge is how to balance carer and self-help with state help in a fair way - all resources will be needed, the state can no more care alone with no family support than the converse.
One thing I would question is the assumption that 'there are growing numbers of very unwell people'. This does not follow from longer life expectancy as night follows day - the parts of the UK that have longest life expectancy in the ONS figures tend also to have the fewest years of ill health, whilst in deprived areas people die early after more ill health. It doesn't follow either that long-living, healthy areas place less pressure on the health service - all those people rattling around perfectly healthily with a bellyful of statins for 30 years must have some effect.
OT. For all who missed it last nights thread is well worth a look. A 'Chance The Gardener' moment where PB's finest were attempting to interpret the genius of President Trump.
I've not read anything like it since Gore Vidal's 'Messiah'
Great movie Roger...it's one that I treat myself to from time to time. Chancey Gardner was a simple man unlike Trump who is utterly complex.
After watching snippets of the press conference last night, I felt some glimmer of hope you know. I think Trump's psychotic, narcissistic thirst for recognition and adulation, combined with the fact that he is a rampant opportunist might push him ultimately into doing the right thing.
There is a great scene in Schindlers list where Schindler convinces the Nazi commandant that it is better to spare Jews, if only for a time. That is what needs to happen to Trump.
Trump is Trump. The UK needs to look elsewhere for predictable, reliable allies. We know this, everyone else knows this. The dreams of swivel-eyed, right wing Atlanticists lie in tatters on the floor. It turns out that the supposedly uppity, anti-British son of a Kenyan colonial who has just left office was a better friend to us than the current President, with his bust of Churchill, will ever be. In fact, no US administration since WW2 has been more antithetical to British interests than the current one.
On-topic, the government's change of line seems at this stage to be more mood music than reality. The word austerity may be gone, but there is still the deficit to be brought down, and the Treasury quite happy to use Brexit risk as a bogeyman. Likewise, on social conservatism, immigration cuts are promised in the future from Brexit, and grammar schools were offered as a token, but is there really any major reversal in social policy underway and exercising the contributers on here. I've not seen too much evidence yet.
Pulling a few cords and a bit of rhetoric in a certain direction, things having changed massively since the 1970s, does not a full return to Butskellism make as far as I can see.
Why is selection by ability regarded as more socially conservative than selection by ability to pay?
I've made arguments on here that are generally very sympathetic to grammar schools and I'm not going to re-tread that debate today. But that they are viewed, rightly or wrongly, as socially conservative, is not really in doubt.
Unlike Nick Clegg I don't agree with all of it (some bits I strongly disagree with) but it is unusually well put-together and argued.
Well put together and I find very little I disagree with. A good leader for the educated 48%.
I don't see what the problem is: he seems to me to be arguing that people have made a mistake, they might change their minds when the reality of Brexit arrives and he wants to build some form of argument or structure that will allow that to happen.
The Right are up in arms precisely because they are scared he is right.
Blair said the referendum result should be overturned by MPs without the need for a second referendum. He said MPs should vote to Remain and stop Brexit on the basis that they judged the people had changed their mind.
Why can't the Tories replicate their opinion poll ratings in the local by-elections, one after the other, up and down the country.
I was right then. Some people cannot differentiate the difference between national election polling and local council by elections. It's quite sad to see.
Mr. Tyson, I have sympathy with that view. I do think we'll revisit it as a nation, but the problem is that resources is a factor, which will lead some/many to feel that any move to euthanasia or suchlike will be driven not by compassion but by the bottom line.
You couldn't make up Italy....the stigma of putting someone in a care home is bad enough. Many oldies are cared for at home by their daughters who live around the corner who clean them and change them.
At my father in laws care home some family members come for hours each day and sit with their parents...these are old people themselves who can no longer care for their parents at home. We pay for someone 5 hours a day to go and see him for two sessions...if he misses one time he goes bonkers and says that he's been deserted..... as well as the care costs. We pay for three hours a day for her mum who mercifully is well. Because of Brexit we have to come back to the UK but the guilt is crippling my wife, and all our Italian friends think we are cruel....
And then you have Isam who preaches that we do not do enough. Well what is enough?
Don't want to pry @tyson, but do you have to come back to the UK? I don't think you'd be happy here (the weather for starters, but for a hundred other reasons too) and your wife would feel terribly guilty.
I seem to recall the main motivation to come back was to avoid a tax payment. You and your wife both seem folk of means and ability. If the pair of you lost your entire fortune, you could earn it back again. For you to spoil your lifestyle, and to end up feeling you didn't do the right thing by your wife's parents, over something as trifling as a tax bill (and even a large one is trifling, in the Grand Scheme of Things) seems like it might be an unfortunate leap.
Trump is Trump. The UK needs to look elsewhere for predictable, reliable allies. We know this, everyone else knows this. The dreams of swivel-eyed, right wing Atlanticists lie in tatters on the floor. It turns out that the supposedly uppity, anti-British son of a Kenyan colonial who has just left office was a better friend to us than the current President, with his bust of Churchill, will ever be. In fact, no US administration since WW2 has been more antithetical to British interests than the current one.
Trump is Trump, but the US isn't Trump. For that matter, it's far from clear to what extent the Trump administration is going to act in ways antithetical to British interests, if at all. Certainly he personally seems to be well-disposed towards the UK, although I agree that that is not much of a guarantee. We'll have to wait and see, and do our best to work with the US and nudge them in directions which are in our interests. Exactly what the PM is doing, in fact.
How far will you go for your parents? Cleaning their arses perhaps because that is the expectation in Italy. We are lucky...we can pay for care for our elders but many Italians cannot. That said, the daily pressure of elderly parents is suffocating and stifling. A thankless task because you can never do enough. The elderly generation is crushing Italy with their exponentially rising needs as they live longer, and probably other countries like Japan too.
The last thing we want to do is to inflict that kind of misery on middle aged families in the UK. The statement the other day by that minister to shift responsibility onto families was ridiculous...
I personally think medical advances to keep immobile human beings alive at all costs is grotesque in the extreme. It starts with premature babies, it continues with people who are injured or suffer from serious illness, and it finishes with keeping old people alive through a sack of drugs. But in the western world we are increasingly growing the numbers of very unwell people. It's not the resources they take up that bothers me, it is the unrelenting, remorseless suffering and guilt that it places on families.
I have watched a few of the #hospital programmes, and that was something that I concluded too.
The lovely fellow with his thoracic anerysm multiple redo, who died after 6 weeks in ITU would perhaps have been better off being told that it was inoperable, for example. I am not sure how well the 2 surviving Nigerian quads would do after their deportation either (and seemed to result from poorly conducted fertility treatment in the first place).
Perhaps I am too much of a medical nihilist, but advanced medical treatment needs to be tempered more by compassion. It is part of the reason that hospital closures like in Copeland are so unpopular. Perhaps the expertise is better concentrated in Carlisle, but if families can no longer visit where is the compassion?
On-topic, the government's change of line seems at this stage to be more mood music than reality. The word austerity may be gone, but there is still the deficit to be brought down, and the Treasury quite happy to use Brexit risk as a bogeyman. Likewise, on social conservatism, immigration cuts are promised in the future from Brexit, and grammar schools were offered as a token, but is there really any major reversal in social policy underway and exercising the contributers on here. I've not seen too much evidence yet.
Pulling a few cords and a bit of rhetoric in a certain direction, things having changed massively since the 1970s, does not a full return to Butskellism make as far as I can see.
Why is selection by ability regarded as more socially conservative than selection by ability to pay?
I don't think academic selection is regarded as "socially conservative" in general.
Academic selection at 18 is largely uncontroversial.
Academic selection at 16 is largely uncontroversial.
Academic selection at 11 is generally seen as retrograde.
Wonder where the threshold is - could they get away with proposing selection at 14?
Trump is Trump. The UK needs to look elsewhere for predictable, reliable allies. We know this, everyone else knows this. The dreams of swivel-eyed, right wing Atlanticists lie in tatters on the floor. It turns out that the supposedly uppity, anti-British son of a Kenyan colonial who has just left office was a better friend to us than the current President, with his bust of Churchill, will ever be. In fact, no US administration since WW2 has been more antithetical to British interests than the current one.
Trump is Trump, but the US isn't Trump. For that matter, it's far from clear to what extent the Trump administration is going to act in ways antithetical to British interests, if at all. Certainly he personally seems to be well-disposed towards the UK, although I agree that that is not much of a guarantee. We'll have to wait and see, and do our best to work with the US and nudge them in directions which are in our interests. Exactly what the PM is doing, in fact.
If Deutsche Bank cut him off, lets hope he doesn't come asking for a loan.....
Robert Coville Sorry to keep banging on about this, but @YouGov just sent this over - literally every segment of the population dislikes Tony Blair https://t.co/HWcF3dUqqm
His highest rating is 19% favourable - 19%! - among actual Lab voters. The only ones hated more are Trump and Putin https://t.co/uQTc3dOMew
How far will you go for your parents? Cleaning their arses perhaps because that is the expectation in Italy. We are lucky...we can pay for care for our elders but many Italians cannot. That said, the daily pressure of elderly parents is suffocating and stifling. A thankless task because you can never do enough. The elderly generation is crushing Italy with their exponentially rising needs as they live longer, and probably other countries like Japan too.
The last thing we want to do is to inflict that kind of misery on middle aged families in the UK. The statement the other day by that minister to shift responsibility onto families was ridiculous...
I personally think medical advances to keep immobile human beings alive at all costs is grotesque in the extreme. It starts with premature babies, it continues with people who are injured or suffer from serious illness, and it finishes with keeping old people alive through a sack of drugs. But in the western world we are increasingly growing the numbers of very unwell people. It's not the resources they take up that bothers me, it is the unrelenting, remorseless suffering and guilt that it places on families.
It isn't just middle-aged any more. My father-in-law just turned 70, and is effectively a part-time carer for both his parents (although they do get State help).
OT. For all who missed it last nights thread is well worth a look. A 'Chance The Gardener' moment where PB's finest were attempting to interpret the genius of President Trump.
I've not read anything like it since Gore Vidal's 'Messiah'
Great movie Roger...it's one that I treat myself to from time to time. Chancey Gardner was a simple man unlike Trump who is utterly complex.
After watching snippets of the press conference last night, I felt some glimmer of hope you know. I think Trump's psychotic, narcissistic thirst for recognition and adulation, combined with the fact that he is a rampant opportunist might push him ultimately into doing the right thing.
There is a great scene in Schindlers list where Schindler convinces the Nazi commandant that it is better to spare Jews, if only for a time. That is what needs to happen to Trump.
He makes my skin crawl. I find him iredeemably repulsive in every way.
This is why Blair needs to accept he is best off leaving the public stage forever. There is nothing he can ever say that will not be dismissed because of Iraq. No cause of any kind that he believes in will be served by him expressing support for it. In fact, it will always be damaged. As someone who has never hated him, thinks that the Third Way is essentially the only way forward for social democracy and can understand why he did what he did over Iraq, I regret that - but them's the facts.
I think his conduct since leaving power... Helping out dodgy dictators and trousering large sums of money from JP Morgan and the like also hasn't helped.
What amazes me though is he doesn't seem to get your point? This guy crushed theTories and now seems to be utterly clueless as to how he is perceived by the public...
I have to say it is slightly amusing that Shep Smith is being held up as the shining light of high standards of journalistic ethics against Trump. He is widely mocked in the US for the idiotic things he says on a daily basis. Even by Fox News standards he is a joke and nothing he says on any issue holds any weight, unlike say Bill O'Reilly (obviously still Fox News etc etc etc).
There used to be a popular US programme called The Soup (kinda of like Charlie Brookers Weekly Wipe) that took the piss out of funny stuff happening that week on US TV...and Shep was basically included every week.
**** INSERTS CAVEAT.....TRUMP IS AS MAD AS A BOX OF FROGS ETC ETC ETC ****
On-topic, the government's change of line seems at this stage to be more mood music than reality. The word austerity may be gone, but there is still the deficit to be brought down, and the Treasury quite happy to use Brexit risk as a bogeyman. Likewise, on social conservatism, immigration cuts are promised in the future from Brexit, and grammar schools were offered as a token, but is there really any major reversal in social policy underway and exercising the contributers on here. I've not seen too much evidence yet.
Pulling a few cords and a bit of rhetoric in a certain direction, things having changed massively since the 1970s, does not a full return to Butskellism make as far as I can see.
Why is selection by ability regarded as more socially conservative than selection by ability to pay?
I don't think academic selection is regarded as "socially conservative" in general.
Academic selection at 18 is largely uncontroversial.
Academic selection at 16 is largely uncontroversial.
Academic selection at 11 is generally seen as retrograde.
Wonder where the threshold is - could they get away with proposing selection at 14?
Well, Common Entrance/scholarship exams at 13 seem to work ok.....
On-topic, the government's change of line seems at this stage to be more mood music than reality. The word austerity may be gone, but there is still the deficit to be brought down, and the Treasury quite happy to use Brexit risk as a bogeyman. Likewise, on social conservatism, immigration cuts are promised in the future from Brexit, and grammar schools were offered as a token, but is there really any major reversal in social policy underway and exercising the contributers on here. I've not seen too much evidence yet.
Pulling a few cords and a bit of rhetoric in a certain direction, things having changed massively since the 1970s, does not a full return to Butskellism make as far as I can see.
Why is selection by ability regarded as more socially conservative than selection by ability to pay?
I don't think academic selection is regarded as "socially conservative" in general.
Academic selection at 18 is largely uncontroversial.
Academic selection at 16 is largely uncontroversial.
Academic selection at 11 is generally seen as retrograde.
Wonder where the threshold is - could they get away with proposing selection at 14?
We already have selection at 14. It is called setting.
"Academic selection at 11 is generally seen as retrograde."
It didn't used to be. I went to a grammar from a council estate in 1960 and most people (even the kids) were generally supportive (a little teasing aside). Homework of any kind was unknown at primary school.
But that was before the era of tutoring to pass the 11-plus. That, I suspect, is the core issue. Only some have the money or inclination to do so.
It may appear to be biased against poorer kids, or the less-determined or less pushy parents.
On-topic, the government's change of line seems at this stage to be more mood music than reality. The word austerity may be gone, but there is still the deficit to be brought down, and the Treasury quite happy to use Brexit risk as a bogeyman. Likewise, on social conservatism, immigration cuts are promised in the future from Brexit, and grammar schools were offered as a token, but is there really any major reversal in social policy underway and exercising the contributers on here. I've not seen too much evidence yet.
Pulling a few cords and a bit of rhetoric in a certain direction, things having changed massively since the 1970s, does not a full return to Butskellism make as far as I can see.
Why is selection by ability regarded as more socially conservative than selection by ability to pay?
I've made arguments on here that are generally very sympathetic to grammar schools and I'm not going to re-tread that debate today. But that they are viewed, rightly or wrongly, as socially conservative, is not really in doubt.
You're right of course. But my question remains: why?
@My burning ears....my wife has to apply for UK citizenship, and for that we have to reside in the UK; thus our need to return. If something happened to me my wife would be left having to manage all our assets which are predominantly UK based as an Italian resident. As much as I love Italy, I would not like my wife to be out in that position.
I have to say it is slightly amusing that Shep Smith is being held up as the shining light of high standards of journalistic ethics against Trump. He is widely mocked in the US for the idiotic things he says on a daily basis. Even by Fox News standards he is a joke and nothing he says on any issue holds any weight, unlike say Bill O'Reilly (obviously still Fox News etc etc etc).
There used to be a popular US programme called The Soup (kinda of like Charlie Brookers Weekly Wipe) that took the piss out of funny stuff happening that week on US TV...and Shep was basically included every week.
**** INSERTS CAVEAT.....TRUMP IS AS MAD AS A BOX OF FROGS ETC ETC ETC ****
I don't think anyone is holding him up as a shining light. The point is more that it is not only the left (or what counts for the left in the US) that is observing Trump tells a lot of lies.
This is why Blair needs to accept he is best off leaving the public stage forever. There is nothing he can ever say that will not be dismissed because of Iraq. No cause of any kind that he believes in will be served by him expressing support for it. In fact, it will always be damaged. As someone who has never hated him, thinks that the Third Way is essentially the only way forward for social democracy and can understand why he did what he did over Iraq, I regret that - but them's the facts.
I think his conduct since leaving power... Helping out dodgy dictators and trousering large sums of money from JP Morgan and the like also hasn't helped.
What amazes me though is he doesn't seem to get your point? This guy crushed theTories and now seems to be utterly clueless as to how he is perceived by the public...
Quite often, political skills can rapidly deteriorate (see Jeb Bush for example). Morris Dancer put it well when he said that an endorsement from Tony Blair is like a testimonial from Idi Amin.
On-topic, the government's change of line seems at this stage to be more mood music than reality. The word austerity may be gone, but there is still the deficit to be brought down, and the Treasury quite happy to use Brexit risk as a bogeyman. Likewise, on social conservatism, immigration cuts are promised in the future from Brexit, and grammar schools were offered as a token, but is there really any major reversal in social policy underway and exercising the contributers on here. I've not seen too much evidence yet.
Pulling a few cords and a bit of rhetoric in a certain direction, things having changed massively since the 1970s, does not a full return to Butskellism make as far as I can see.
Why is selection by ability regarded as more socially conservative than selection by ability to pay?
I don't think academic selection is regarded as "socially conservative" in general.
Academic selection at 18 is largely uncontroversial.
Academic selection at 16 is largely uncontroversial.
Academic selection at 11 is generally seen as retrograde.
Wonder where the threshold is - could they get away with proposing selection at 14?
We already have selection at 14. It is called setting.
I hate setting, but only because I'm the one who has to write the timetable...
Mr. Tyson, I have sympathy with that view. I do think we'll revisit it as a nation, but the problem is that resources is a factor, which will lead some/many to feel that any move to euthanasia or suchlike will be driven not by compassion but by the bottom line.
You couldn't make up Italy....the stigma of putting someone in a care home is bad enough. Many oldies are cared for at home by their daughters who live around the corner who clean them and change them.
At my father in laws care home some family members come for hours each day and sit with their parents...these are old people themselves who can no longer care for their parents at home. We pay for someone 5 hours a day to go and see him for two sessions...if he misses one time he goes bonkers and says that he's been deserted..... as well as the care costs. We pay for three hours a day for her mum who mercifully is well. Because of Brexit we have to come back to the UK but the guilt is crippling my wife, and all our Italian friends think we are cruel....
And then you have Isam who preaches that we do not do enough. Well what is enough?
Don't want to pry @tyson, but do you have to come back to the UK? I don't think you'd be happy here (the weather for starters, but for a hundred other reasons too) and your wife would feel terribly guilty.
I seem to recall the main motivation to come back was to avoid a tax payment. You and your wife both seem folk of means and ability. If the pair of you lost your entire fortune, you could earn it back again. For you to spoil your lifestyle, and to end up feeling you didn't do the right thing by your wife's parents, over something as trifling as a tax bill (and even a large one is trifling, in the Grand Scheme of Things) seems like it might be an unfortunate leap.
Yes seconded. Go and see a shit hot tax lawyer. If you can't find one I am sure someone here can help. If he charges you 5% of your net worth, so what? if he gets you sorted out.
@My burning ears....my wife has to apply for UK citizenship, and for that we have to reside in the UK; thus our need to return. If something happened to me my wife would be left having to manage all our assets which are predominantly UK based as an Italian resident. As much as I love Italy, I would not like my wife to be out in that position.
As a semi-facetious piece of unsolicited advice, you could try not dying for a few years
Thanks for the response, appreciate that you have no obligation to share this stuff with us! If you prefer your life in Italy, and your wife has pressing family commitments in Italy, coming back to Blighty on the off-chance you kick the bucket prematurely does seem a bit drastic. Though of course I don't know how easy it would be for you to unwind your assets in the UK.
Best of luck to the pair of you, whichever course you take. If you can afford to get some good people on the case (not just the tax/law side, but financial planning too... there are also relocation specialists, of course) to evaluate your full set of options for you, I think that would be a worthwhile expense.
@My burning ears....my wife has to apply for UK citizenship, and for that we have to reside in the UK; thus our need to return. If something happened to me my wife would be left having to manage all our assets which are predominantly UK based as an Italian resident. As much as I love Italy, I would not like my wife to be out in that position.
As a semi-facetious piece of unsolicited advice, you could try not dying for a few years
Thanks for the response, appreciate that you have no obligation to share this stuff with us! If you prefer your life in Italy, and your wife has pressing family commitments in Italy, coming back to Blighty on the off-chance you kick the bucket prematurely does seem a bit drastic. Though of course I don't know how easy it would be for you to unwind your assets in the UK.
Best of luck to the pair of you, whichever course you take. If you can afford to get some good people on the case to evaluate your full set of options for you, I think that would be a worthwhile expense.
I don't have to die.....I could also run away with a little Russian gold digger. Ouch.....I'm just trying to imagine what my wife would do to me if that happened.
Thanks for your kind words. We went to an immigration lawyer and he basically said to my wife to get her arse back to the UK as soon as she can and make sure that she keeps a record of absolutely everything. He couldn't have been clearer.
On topic. Agree with much of what has been said that the changes have been of tone and language, rather than substance. However, the dominant ideology of the Conservative Party for 35 years has been of free market fundamentalism. There will be a time in Brexit negotiations or with the Budget, when push will come to shove and a choice will have to be made. As the article says,
"Also ironically, many of the most enthusiastic Leavers, including the erstwhile head of Vote Leave Michael Gove, are fervent economic Thatcherites and socially fairly liberal."
Then we will see the pragmatists and the "true believers" separated. At the moment these divisions are being skated over. It is noticeable, for example, that the recent energy price rises were largely ignored by the Governmennt. Can the business rate re-valuation be similarly ignored? We will see...
Trump is Trump. The UK needs to look elsewhere for predictable, reliable allies. We know this, everyone else knows this. The dreams of swivel-eyed, right wing Atlanticists lie in tatters on the floor. It turns out that the supposedly uppity, anti-British son of a Kenyan colonial who has just left office was a better friend to us than the current President, with his bust of Churchill, will ever be. In fact, no US administration since WW2 has been more antithetical to British interests than the current one.
Trump is Trump, but the US isn't Trump. For that matter, it's far from clear to what extent the Trump administration is going to act in ways antithetical to British interests, if at all. Certainly he personally seems to be well-disposed towards the UK, although I agree that that is not much of a guarantee. We'll have to wait and see, and do our best to work with the US and nudge them in directions which are in our interests. Exactly what the PM is doing, in fact.
A smart Prime Minister wouldn't have just talked to Trump, she'd have held discussions with the GOP & its leadership too.....oh, she did.....
This is why Blair needs to accept he is best off leaving the public stage forever. There is nothing he can ever say that will not be dismissed because of Iraq. No cause of any kind that he believes in will be served by him expressing support for it. In fact, it will always be damaged. As someone who has never hated him, thinks that the Third Way is essentially the only way forward for social democracy and can understand why he did what he did over Iraq, I regret that - but them's the facts.
I think his conduct since leaving power... Helping out dodgy dictators and trousering large sums of money from JP Morgan and the like also hasn't helped.
What amazes me though is he doesn't seem to get your point? This guy crushed theTories and now seems to be utterly clueless as to how he is perceived by the public...
Any half-way comepetent leader of the opposition would have crushed the Tories in 1997 (Corbyn Excepted), with their loss of economic competence as perceived by the electorate and the media pushing 'Tory sleaze' down everyone's throats.
He was, however, ruthless when he gained power. Behind that wide smile was a Machiavellian operator, with his Heinrich MüllerPeter Mandelson to keep everyone in line.
Corbyn, for all his woes is on a comparitively mild -25.
May's + 5 is of course much better - but the favourability gap from Corbynto Corbyn...
Bla The Donald really is Billy Nomates (except Theresa) isn't he?
Surely more relevant is the fact that Blair, who won 3 general elections in the UK is now just 2% more popular than Trump and even less popular than Corbyn and absolutely miles behind May
This is why Blair needs to accept he is best off leaving the public stage forever. There is nothing he can ever say that will not be dismissed because of Iraq. No cause of any kind that he believes in will be served by him expressing support for it. In fact, it will always be damaged. As someone who has never hated him, thinks that the Third Way is essentially the only way forward for social democracy and can understand why he did what he did over Iraq, I regret that - but them's the facts.
I think people on here generally rate politicians higher than do the general public. Probably because they're naturally more enthused by politics.
Expectations are lower elsewhere. Trump may be a first class loon but that's not much worse than most other politicos are regarded. Its only when the media, who also inhabit a bubble, get involved that the hysteria starts. Trump may be a vain, over-promoted, incompetent imbecile, but what's new?
He doesn't hide it so well - that's the difference.
Politicians, estate agents, journalists ... and often solicitors .. you might be polite to them when you meet one (being British), but you wouldn't want your daughter to marry one.
Photos on Momentum twitter of Ken Loach campaigning on door step in Copeland. I thought he was a member of a rival Left party called Unity or something. Has he joined Labour?
Relationship with the U.S. and Commonwealth on 48% so 1% more important than the relationship with Europe (which of course could include non EU states like Switzerland)
It is noticeable, for example, that the recent energy price rises were largely ignored by the Governmennt.
What do you expect them to do? Lower the international prices of energy, or weaken the dollar?
No. It was more an example of a topic of profound relevance to the JAM's, which will affect the ordinary voter. There was no comment. On this the free market reflex won out. My point was that May can talk the talk about "the left behind", but eventually some different policies will be needed. They will of necessity involve some form of interventionist/activist Govt.
@My burning ears....my wife has to apply for UK citizenship, and for that we have to reside in the UK; thus our need to return. If something happened to me my wife would be left having to manage all our assets which are predominantly UK based as an Italian resident. As much as I love Italy, I would not like my wife to be out in that position.
As a semi-facetious piece of unsolicited advice, you could try not dying for a few years
Thanks for the response, appreciate that you have no obligation to share this stuff with us! If you prefer your life in Italy, and your wife has pressing family commitments in Italy, coming back to Blighty on the off-chance you kick the bucket prematurely does seem a bit drastic. Though of course I don't know how easy it would be for you to unwind your assets in the UK.
Best of luck to the pair of you, whichever course you take. If you can afford to get some good people on the case to evaluate your full set of options for you, I think that would be a worthwhile expense.
I don't have to die.....I could also run away with a little Russian gold digger. Ouch.....I'm just trying to imagine what my wife would do to me if that happened.
Thanks for your kind words. We went to an immigration lawyer and he basically said to my wife to get her arse back to the UK as soon as she can and make sure that she keeps a record of absolutely everything. He couldn't have been clearer.
Understood. Doubtless the advice provided is sensible. Please do weigh up all your options - otherwise your immigration lawyer may be telling you the right solution, to the wrong problem! (I'm sure there's an idiom for this, but it escapes me.) Best of luck, again.
Why can't the Tories replicate their opinion poll ratings in the local by-elections, one after the other, up and down the country.
Because local by-elections are, well, local. Parliamentary elections are about the government of the country.
How do we know the national ones are correct ? There have been so many modifications to the weighting.
It's quite possible that the true position is that Labour are behind by 10%, rather than 15%, if the polls are inaccurate, but that's still a very bad position for the Opposition to be in.
I think I'd vote for The Incredible Flying Brick, but only because there's no candidate from the Standing At The Back Dressed Stupidly And Looking Stupid Party.
This is why Blair needs to accept he is best off leaving the public stage forever. There is nothing he can ever say that will not be dismissed because of Iraq. No cause of any kind that he believes in will be served by him expressing support for it. In fact, it will always be damaged. As someone who has never hated him, thinks that the Third Way is essentially the only way forward for social democracy and can understand why he did what he did over Iraq, I regret that - but them's the facts.
I think his conduct since leaving power... Helping out dodgy dictators and trousering large sums of money from JP Morgan and the like also hasn't helped.
What amazes me though is he doesn't seem to get your point? This guy crushed theTories and now seems to be utterly clueless as to how he is perceived by the public...
Any half-way comepetent leader of the opposition would have crushed the Tories in 1997 (Corbyn Excepted), with their loss of economic competence as perceived by the electorate and the media pushing 'Tory sleaze' down everyone's throats.
He was, however, ruthless when he gained power. Behind that wide smile was a Machiavellian operator, with his Heinrich MüllerPeter Mandelson to keep everyone in line.
The 1997 Labour team around Blair was utterly brilliant at doing politics...Gordon Brown included....
On-topic, the government's change of line seems at this stage to be more mood music than reality. The word austerity may be gone, but there is still the deficit to be brought down, and the Treasury quite happy to use Brexit risk as a bogeyman. Likewise, on social conservatism, immigration cuts are promised in the future from Brexit, and grammar schools were offered as a token, but is there really any major reversal in social policy underway and exercising the contributers on here. I've not seen too much evidence yet.
Pulling a few cords and a bit of rhetoric in a certain direction, things having changed massively since the 1970s, does not a full return to Butskellism make as far as I can see.
Why is selection by ability regarded as more socially conservative than selection by ability to pay?
I don't think academic selection is regarded as "socially conservative" in general.
Academic selection at 18 is largely uncontroversial.
Academic selection at 16 is largely uncontroversial.
Academic selection at 11 is generally seen as retrograde.
Wonder where the threshold is - could they get away with proposing selection at 14?
We already have selection at 14. It is called setting.
I hate setting, but only because I'm the one who has to write the timetable...
That's their highest poll score in about three years, isn't it? So, worthy of note.
Not only that, but 13-14% is the LibDem's typical midterm rating pre-coalition - the party mostly bumped along in the low to mid teens, picking up a little after any good news like a by-election win, and only when a GE campaign got underway rose into the high teens pipping 20% in a good year.
If the LibDems continue to rack up headline VIs of 13-15% we can pretty much conclude that the overhang from the coalition period is behind them.
Trump is Trump. The UK needs to look elsewhere for predictable, reliable allies. We know this, everyone else knows this. The dreams of swivel-eyed, right wing Atlanticists lie in tatters on the floor. It turns out that the supposedly uppity, anti-British son of a Kenyan colonial who has just left office was a better friend to us than the current President, with his bust of Churchill, will ever be. In fact, no US administration since WW2 has been more antithetical to British interests than the current one.
Trump is Trump, but the US isn't Trump. For that matter, it's far from clear to what extent the Trump administration is going to act in ways antithetical to British interests, if at all. Certainly he personally seems to be well-disposed towards the UK, although I agree that that is not much of a guarantee. We'll have to wait and see, and do our best to work with the US and nudge them in directions which are in our interests. Exactly what the PM is doing, in fact.
A smart Prime Minister wouldn't have just talked to Trump, she'd have held discussions with the GOP & its leadership too.....oh, she did.....
A smart Prime Minister would have been less obsequious and would have kept a state visit up her sleeve. Clearly, any thoughts that the UK could build a strong relationship with Trump - one that might provide leverage in the Brexit negotiations - have been smashed to smithereens. European leaders know he is an unreliable, narcissistic flake, just as Mrs May does.
@My burning ears....my wife has to apply for UK citizenship, and for that we have to reside in the UK; thus our need to return. If something happened to me my wife would be left having to manage all our assets which are predominantly UK based as an Italian resident. As much as I love Italy, I would not like my wife to be out in that position.
You could sell and redeploy the capital.
Or find a professional manager and accept you'll have to pay them
This is why Blair needs to accept he is best off leaving the public stage forever. There is nothing he can ever say that will not be dismissed because of Iraq. No cause of any kind that he believes in will be served by him expressing support for it. In fact, it will always be damaged. As someone who has never hated him, thinks that the Third Way is essentially the only way forward for social democracy and can understand why he did what he did over Iraq, I regret that - but them's the facts.
I think his conduct since leaving power... Helping out dodgy dictators and trousering large sums of money from JP Morgan and the like also hasn't helped.
What amazes me though is he doesn't seem to get your point? This guy crushed theTories and now seems to be utterly clueless as to how he is perceived by the public...
Any half-way comepetent leader of the opposition would have crushed the Tories in 1997 (Corbyn Excepted), with their loss of economic competence as perceived by the electorate and the media pushing 'Tory sleaze' down everyone's throats.
He was, however, ruthless when he gained power. Behind that wide smile was a Machiavellian operator, with his Heinrich MüllerPeter Mandelson to keep everyone in line.
The 1997 Labour team around Blair was utterly brilliant at doing politics...Gordon Brown included....
Blair was not ruthless when he gained power. Far from it. Him and the team around him (Brown, Mandelson, Campbell) were convinced that Britain was basically a conservative country and nothing should be done that might scare the horses too much. Read any number of biogs of the period.
This is partly/mainly why Left hate him and all his works. They see it as betrayal.
I think I'd vote for The Incredible Flying Brick, but only because there's no candidate from the Standing At The Back Dressed Stupidly And Looking Stupid Party.
The BNP are standing and they are in favour of an English parliament.
Comments
The Right are up in arms precisely because they are scared he is right.
A racist Scottish nationalist once linked to a notorious tartan terrorist has passed the SNP’s vetting process for council candidates.
Sonja Cameron was suspended from the party for two years – but later let back in – after a court conviction over her role in sinister anti-English group Settler Watch. She was also a friend of terrorist Andrew McIntosh of the so-called Scottish National Liberation Army, who was jailed for 12 years for a hoax bombing campaign.
But despite Cameron’s history of extremism, we have learned that she could be chosen as one of her party’s candidates for Stirling Council. Party bosses have approved her as a potential contender for May’s elections.
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/settler-watch-extremist-links-tartan-9834853#ICID=ios_DailyRecordNewsApp_AppShare_Click_Twitter
One thing I would question is the assumption that 'there are growing numbers of very unwell people'. This does not follow from longer life expectancy as night follows day - the parts of the UK that have longest life expectancy in the ONS figures tend also to have the fewest years of ill health, whilst in deprived areas people die early after more ill health. It doesn't follow either that long-living, healthy areas place less pressure on the health service - all those people rattling around perfectly healthily with a bellyful of statins for 30 years must have some effect.
If you like computer games, be it pc mac or linux then the current Humble Freedom bundle is absolutely incredible value
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Asked when he had last talked to Brexit voters he conceded: “It’s true I don’t spend a lot of time on the doorstep.....
http://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/boris-johnson-launches-scathing-attack-on-tony-blair-over-brexit-rallying-cry-a3469336.html
Unbelievable.
I seem to recall the main motivation to come back was to avoid a tax payment. You and your wife both seem folk of means and ability. If the pair of you lost your entire fortune, you could earn it back again. For you to spoil your lifestyle, and to end up feeling you didn't do the right thing by your wife's parents, over something as trifling as a tax bill (and even a large one is trifling, in the Grand Scheme of Things) seems like it might be an unfortunate leap.
The lovely fellow with his thoracic anerysm multiple redo, who died after 6 weeks in ITU would perhaps have been better off being told that it was inoperable, for example. I am not sure how well the 2 surviving Nigerian quads would do after their deportation either (and seemed to result from poorly conducted fertility treatment in the first place).
Perhaps I am too much of a medical nihilist, but advanced medical treatment needs to be tempered more by compassion. It is part of the reason that hospital closures like in Copeland are so unpopular. Perhaps the expertise is better concentrated in Carlisle, but if families can no longer visit where is the compassion?
Academic selection at 18 is largely uncontroversial.
Academic selection at 16 is largely uncontroversial.
Academic selection at 11 is generally seen as retrograde.
Wonder where the threshold is - could they get away with proposing selection at 14?
Sorry to keep banging on about this, but @YouGov just sent this over - literally every segment of the population dislikes Tony Blair https://t.co/HWcF3dUqqm
His highest rating is 19% favourable - 19%! - among actual Lab voters. The only ones hated more are Trump and Putin https://t.co/uQTc3dOMew
Con 40%
Lab 29%
LD 13%
UKIP 9%
Grn 4%
https://www.ipsos-mori.com/researchpublications/researcharchive/3840/Theresa-Mays-honeymoon-continues-as-Jeremy-Corbyn-still-struggles-with-public-approval.aspx
Denied the Premiership because the Tory party thought leadership elections were demeaning.
A pity that he was an advocate of appeasement.
But the assessment of Butler that always sticks in the mind
"Rab's failure was more brilliant than most politicians' success."
WRONNNNNGGGG21st Century Socialism sweeping the nation....https://twitter.com/gavinnewsom/status/832398936702742530
https://twitter.com/GuidoFawkes/status/832554011865776129
What amazes me though is he doesn't seem to get your point? This guy crushed theTories and now seems to be utterly clueless as to how he is perceived by the public...
There used to be a popular US programme called The Soup (kinda of like Charlie Brookers Weekly Wipe) that took the piss out of funny stuff happening that week on US TV...and Shep was basically included every week.
**** INSERTS CAVEAT.....TRUMP IS AS MAD AS A BOX OF FROGS ETC ETC ETC ****
Lib Dems just 13%
Lib Dems creeping up to 13%
All value judgements.
A neutral report would say Lib Dems on 13%.
"Academic selection at 11 is generally seen as retrograde."
It didn't used to be. I went to a grammar from a council estate in 1960 and most people (even the kids) were generally supportive (a little teasing aside). Homework of any kind was unknown at primary school.
But that was before the era of tutoring to pass the 11-plus. That, I suspect, is the core issue. Only some have the money or inclination to do so.
It may appear to be biased against poorer kids, or the less-determined or less pushy parents.
http://www.redstate.com/diary/hanoverhenry/2012/05/10/is-fox-tv-shepard-smith-fair-and-balanced-or-a-liberal-left-shephardista/
Putin -68
Trump -62
Blair -60
Corbyn, for all his woes is on a comparitively mild -25.
May's + 5 is of course much better - but the favourability gap from Corbyn to Blair is greater than the one from May to Corbyn...
https://twitter.com/MichaelLCrick/status/832537683536785408
(Is there an emoji for only semi-serious?)
The Donald really is Billy Nomates (except Theresa) isn't he?
Both go down much better than the US than over here ! (Not I expect with the same people mind..) e.g. Dubya Bush
https://twitter.com/RichardBurgon/status/832558146006687744
Thanks for the response, appreciate that you have no obligation to share this stuff with us! If you prefer your life in Italy, and your wife has pressing family commitments in Italy, coming back to Blighty on the off-chance you kick the bucket prematurely does seem a bit drastic. Though of course I don't know how easy it would be for you to unwind your assets in the UK.
Best of luck to the pair of you, whichever course you take. If you can afford to get some good people on the case (not just the tax/law side, but financial planning too... there are also relocation specialists, of course) to evaluate your full set of options for you, I think that would be a worthwhile expense.
Unfortunately, this is in the current PB Diplomacy game.
>my wife would be left having to manage all our assets which are predominantly UK based as an Italian resident.
Don't envy you. It is tricky enough managing one small package of Eurostar shares in France from a British base.
http://www.theamericanmirror.com/audio-john-mccain-shares-insider-info-prankster-posing-ukrainian-pm/
https://youtu.be/Eqrw2vIvBv0
Independent candidate Barbara Fielding, 78, held on suspicion of publishing material that may stir up racial hatred
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/feb/17/stoke-byelection-candidate-barbara-fielding-arrested-over-anti-immigrant-comments?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
https://twitter.com/AGKD123/status/832559644287578112
Thanks for your kind words. We went to an immigration lawyer and he basically said to my wife to get her arse back to the UK as soon as she can and make sure that she keeps a record of absolutely everything. He couldn't have been clearer.
"Also ironically, many of the most enthusiastic Leavers, including the erstwhile head of Vote Leave Michael Gove, are fervent economic Thatcherites and socially fairly liberal."
Then we will see the pragmatists and the "true believers" separated. At the moment these divisions are being skated over. It is noticeable, for example, that the recent energy price rises were largely ignored by the Governmennt. Can the business rate re-valuation be similarly ignored? We will see...
https://twitter.com/jimwaterson/status/832557619634176000
Though I accept this will be seen as pretty MOR by many of pb's Leavers.
He was, however, ruthless when he gained power. Behind that wide smile was a Machiavellian operator, with his
Heinrich MüllerPeter Mandelson to keep everyone in line.Expectations are lower elsewhere. Trump may be a first class loon but that's not much worse than most other politicos are regarded. Its only when the media, who also inhabit a bubble, get involved that the hysteria starts. Trump may be a vain, over-promoted, incompetent imbecile, but what's new?
He doesn't hide it so well - that's the difference.
Politicians, estate agents, journalists ... and often solicitors .. you might be polite to them when you meet one (being British), but you wouldn't want your daughter to marry one.
Mr. Eagles, Stoke's not turning out to be the loveliest of contests. Any word on the Hell texts?
My point was that May can talk the talk about "the left behind", but eventually some different policies will be needed. They will of necessity involve some form of interventionist/activist Govt.
I think I'd vote for The Incredible Flying Brick, but only because there's no candidate from the Standing At The Back Dressed Stupidly And Looking Stupid Party.
James O'Keefe
Time to release tapes inside the media's newsrooms. Soon. Very soon. #veritas https://t.co/le0cdR9I18
I know you are joshing but you're also making a serious point about editorialising which I agree with.
https://order-order.com/2017/02/17/new-tory-attack-ad-nuttall/
If the LibDems continue to rack up headline VIs of 13-15% we can pretty much conclude that the overhang from the coalition period is behind them.
Or find a professional manager and accept you'll have to pay them
This is partly/mainly why Left hate him and all his works. They see it as betrayal.