Gaz Corfield @GazTheJourno BBC D-G announces explicit intention to abandon broadcasting and compete even more with commercial web publishers
Gaz Corfield @GazTheJourno If you're so minded, open Google News, set it to US edition, and then see how often BBC News stories pop up. Contrast with UK ed.
The Elderking @Harry_ca_Nab Yes, on the news the BBC has announced it is looking to gain a 500,000,000 global audience.
But you'd be cancelling a vital piece of transport infrastructure, and as NPxMP says on his blog, spending most of it on non-infrastructure items such as tax credits!
And it's not a fixation; it is having looked into it and not having seen much of an alternative. As have the experts.
Josias, considering that I've not decided whether I support it or not, you don't half have a fixation with me - and I don't remember suggesting that the money be spent on tax credits instead. It's a good job you're not a lobbyist - you'd put the people you were trying to persuade right off. "You are astoundingly stupid for not immediately agreeing with me" - how not to win friends and influence people... :-)
Funny to see the PB Tories wetting themselves at the prospect of public transport investment. Wasn't it the blessed Maggie who told us you were a failure if you travelled by bus once you reach the age of 30?
Can you supply a credible link to that Thatcher / bus quote ?
Funny to see the PB Tories wetting themselves at the prospect of public transport investment. Wasn't it the blessed Maggie who told us you were a failure if you travelled by bus once you reach the age of 30?
I've always been in favour of careful transport investment by the government, whether roads or rail. So was Maggie in her road building scheme that was widely opposed. The M25 was a 'public' transport investment, after all - the money came from the public purse. :-)
The M25 is another example where penny-pinching led to an underinvestment - built mainly as three lanes, it was soon at capacity. With hindsight the whole thing should have been built as a minimum four-lane motorway, saving vast amounts of congestion and disruption of widening over the years.
We do it every time, from airports to roads to railways. We look at the cheapest, patch-it-up option, rather than at what is really needed, even if it is more expensive. And the cheapest option can end up costing more money in the long run in congestion and delays.
"The 2013 Nobel Prize in Physics has been awarded to Peter Higgs and François Englert for predicting the existence of the Higgs boson. Peter Higgs, 84, emeritus professor of physics at Edinburgh University, predicted the existence of a “massive boson” in 1964, although he was beaten into print by the Belgian physicists Robert Brout and François Englert.
Funny to see the PB Tories wetting themselves at the prospect of public transport investment. Wasn't it the blessed Maggie who told us you were a failure if you travelled by bus once you reach the age of 30?
Can you supply a credible link to that Thatcher / bus quote ?
I doubt you can.
Calm down, dear! Calm down! I phrased it as a question, did I not?
"Wasn't it...?"
Actually it was either the Loelia Ponsonby, Duchess of Westminster or Brian Howard.
@tim - do you really think that "forgetting" to appoint an Armed Forces minister will be picked up by the general public? Or is your point that it will have an internal effect?
"The 2013 Nobel Prize in Physics has been awarded to Peter Higgs and François Englert for predicting the existence of the Higgs boson. Peter Higgs, 84, emeritus professor of physics at Edinburgh University, predicted the existence of a “massive boson” in 1964, although he was beaten into print by the Belgian physicists Robert Brout and François Englert.
Have we seen Eck in his (taxpayer funded) tartan trews welcoming this latest Scottish Nobel prize win?
@YesScotland: Congratulations to Peter Higgs from Edinburgh University for (jointly) winning the Nobel Prize for Physics
Gaz Corfield @GazTheJourno BBC D-G announces explicit intention to abandon broadcasting and compete even more with commercial web publishers
Gaz Corfield @GazTheJourno If you're so minded, open Google News, set it to US edition, and then see how often BBC News stories pop up. Contrast with UK ed.
The Elderking @Harry_ca_Nab Yes, on the news the BBC has announced it is looking to gain a 500,000,000 global audience.
Funded by YOU
"To be given the right to be funded by a licence fee is a tremendous privilege. The people of this country make a bold and generous commitment in paying for the BBC."
Daily Referendum @Daily_Ref The Conservatives helped me get on the housing ladder in the 1990's with their first Armed Forces #HelpToBuy scheme. Thanks.
Funny to see the PB Tories wetting themselves at the prospect of public transport investment. Wasn't it the blessed Maggie who told us you were a failure if you travelled by bus once you reach the age of 30?
Can you supply a credible link to that Thatcher / bus quote ?
I doubt you can.
It's an interesting one. The quote was attributed to her as being delivered in 1986, and the age is 26 not 30. The attribution has been repeated in Hansard twice, in at least one political documentary, apparently without challenge at the time, yet nobody is quite sure whether she said it. It doesn't seem to have originated with her, so most likely options are a) it was in the pre-released text of a speech but not delivered; b) it was ad-libbed in a speech that wasn't recorded; c) it was briefed by "sources close to the PM" or d) at some point, she failed to disagree with a questioner who said something like "do you agree with x who said that...?"
Daily Referendum @Daily_Ref The Conservatives helped me get on the housing ladder in the 1990's with their first Armed Forces #HelpToBuy scheme. Thanks.
Mr. Flashman (deceased), I strongly suspect that the BBC is aware that, sooner or later, it may need to get money from those with PCs (or tablets... or other swanky new stuff) or face losing its guaranteed revenue.
TVs will, like newspapers, never disappear entirely but with online catchup services and the ability to watch TV live online the BBC will, I suspect, position itself to stake a claim for a PC Tax to match (or replace) the TV Tax. That's my feeling, anyway.
Funny to see the PB Tories wetting themselves at the prospect of public transport investment. Wasn't it the blessed Maggie who told us you were a failure if you travelled by bus once you reach the age of 30?
Can you supply a credible link to that Thatcher / bus quote ?
I doubt you can.
It's an interesting one. The quote was attributed to her as being delivered in 1986, and the age is 26 not 30. The attribution has been repeated in Hansard twice, in at least one political documentary, apparently without challenge at the time, yet nobody is quite sure whether she said it. It doesn't seem to have originated with her, so most likely options are a) it was in the pre-released text of a speech but not delivered; b) it was ad-libbed in a speech that wasn't recorded; c) it was briefed by "sources close to the PM" or d) at some point, she failed to disagree with a questioner who said something like "do you agree with x who said that...?"
@tim - do you really think that "forgetting" to appoint an Armed Forces minister will be picked up by the general public? Or is your point that it will have an internal effect?
I'm a university student. My rules of occupancy state that if I have TV I must have a TV licence, a rule that presumably matched the law when it was drafted. However, you can now require a TV licence without owning a TV, if you watch programmes live on your laptop, and you can have a TV without requiring a TV licence, if it has "Smart" features or you use it as a display screen for a computer. For this basic reason, I can only conclude that as time goes by the TV licence concept is going to become more and more tenuous, and it's going to start letting off some people and penalising others, without reflecting the value they derive from the BBC. Given that I support the BBC and its output, this means for me supporting the payment of the BBC from the general expenditure of government. The process by which the BBC agrees the licence fee and the would-be new process whereby the funding is agreed would I'm sure be very similar anyway.
Balls has signalled that he is intending to make this a matter of base politics. The shadow cabinet reshuffle appears to indicate that Ed M agrees.
Unless the Coalition government can get shovels into the ground before the next election HS2 might well be dead, whatever the merits or otherwise.
If HS2 dies then the manner of its death matters, and I don't think I trust Balls to spend £50bn in a rational and useful way, as opposed to a way which he believes is most useful to him politically.
Mr. Flashman (deceased), I strongly suspect that the BBC is aware that, sooner or later, it may need to get money from those with PCs (or tablets... or other swanky new stuff) or face losing its guaranteed revenue.
TVs will, like newspapers, never disappear entirely but with online catchup services and the ability to watch TV live online the BBC will, I suspect, position itself to stake a claim for a PC Tax to match (or replace) the TV Tax. That's my feeling, anyway.
They might want it, but very hard to introduce.
Can you imagine any gov saying to the people: you now need to pay an annual PC tax if you want to access the internet, which we will hand over to the BBC, even if you never visit a BBC site?
Mr. Flashman (deceased), I strongly suspect that the BBC is aware that, sooner or later, it may need to get money from those with PCs (or tablets... or other swanky new stuff) or face losing its guaranteed revenue.
TVs will, like newspapers, never disappear entirely but with online catchup services and the ability to watch TV live online the BBC will, I suspect, position itself to stake a claim for a PC Tax to match (or replace) the TV Tax. That's my feeling, anyway.
They might want it, but very hard to introduce.
Can you imagine any gov saying to the people: you now need to pay an annual PC tax if you want to access the internet, which we will hand over to the BBC, even if you never visit a BBC site?
It may be inverted snobbishness but I don't want old style, Old Etonian Tories of the old school to succeed me and go back to the old complacent, consensus ways. John Major is someone who has fought his way up from the bottom and is far more in tune with the skilled and ambitious and worthwhile working classes than Douglas Hurd is. - Maggie in November 1990. http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Margaret_Thatcher
Funny to see the PB Tories wetting themselves at the prospect of public transport investment. Wasn't it the blessed Maggie who told us you were a failure if you travelled by bus once you reach the age of 30?
Can you supply a credible link to that Thatcher / bus quote ?
I doubt you can.
It's an interesting one. The quote was attributed to her as being delivered in 1986, and the age is 26 not 30. The attribution has been repeated in Hansard twice, in at least one political documentary, apparently without challenge at the time, yet nobody is quite sure whether she said it. It doesn't seem to have originated with her, so most likely options are a) it was in the pre-released text of a speech but not delivered; b) it was ad-libbed in a speech that wasn't recorded; c) it was briefed by "sources close to the PM" or d) at some point, she failed to disagree with a questioner who said something like "do you agree with x who said that...?"
It is bollocks, it's traceable back to at least 1961
"Howard is credited with coining the phrase “Anybody seen in a bus over the age of 30 has been a failure in life”, wrongly attributed to Margaret Thatcher. According to Daily Telegraph correspondent and historian, Hugo Vickers, (writing in November 2006) the author was Brian Howard. The phrase came into wider use when used by Loelia, Duchess of Westminster, in her memoir, Grace and Favour (1961)."
But you'd be cancelling a vital piece of transport infrastructure, and as NPxMP says on his blog, spending most of it on non-infrastructure items such as tax credits!
And it's not a fixation; it is having looked into it and not having seen much of an alternative. As have the experts.
Josias, considering that I've not decided whether I support it or not, you don't half have a fixation with me - and I don't remember suggesting that the money be spent on tax credits instead. It's a good job you're not a lobbyist - you'd put the people you were trying to persuade right off. "You are astoundingly stupid for not immediately agreeing with me" - how not to win friends and influence people... :-)
From your blog:
And I’m tempted to wonder whether we should be spending £40 billion on HS2 with a view to benefiting in 2030, rather than, say, 20 projects of £100 million each, easing bottle necks all over the country here and now, with the balance used for the R&D tax credits and for easing the squeeze on incomes for ordinary people.
You suggest spending £2 billion of the HS2 project's money on relieving bottlenecks. It sounds a lot. But Network Rail is investing £37.5 billion in 2014-2019, and their subsidy from the government in 2009 was £4.5 billion. Your £2 billion is chickenfeed compared to the scale of the problem.
In other words, your proposal does nothing to solve the network's problems. I'm not fixated with you - I just think that your comment on the blog was dangerously naive loose talk. By saying that, you are suggesting to your would-be constituents that such options are feasible, muddying the waters.
And there we have it: tax credits and easing the squeeze on incomes over infrastructure.
On a more constructive note, have you put any concerns that have been expressed to you forwards to the phase two consultation? It ends in January, and is a vital time to get things right for your would-be constituents.
"The 2013 Nobel Prize in Physics has been awarded to Peter Higgs and François Englert for predicting the existence of the Higgs boson. Peter Higgs, 84, emeritus professor of physics at Edinburgh University, predicted the existence of a “massive boson” in 1964, although he was beaten into print by the Belgian physicists Robert Brout and François Englert.
Have we seen Eck in his (taxpayer funded) tartan trews welcoming this latest Scottish Nobel prize win?
@YesScotland: Congratulations to Peter Higgs from Edinburgh University for (jointly) winning the Nobel Prize for Physics
Better Together ;
" Higgs was born in the Elswick district of Newcastle upon Tyne, England, to an English father and Scottish mother "
You suggest spending £2 billion of the HS2 project's money on relieving bottlenecks. It sounds a lot. But Network Rail is investing £37.5 billion in 2014-2019, and their subsidy from the government in 2009 was £4.5 billion. Your £2 billion is chickenfeed compared to the scale of the problem.
In other words, your proposal does nothing to solve the network's problems. I'm not fixated with you - I just think that your comment on the blog was dangerously naive loose talk. By saying that, you are suggesting to your would-be constituents that such options are feasible, muddying the waters.
And there we have it: tax credits and easing the squeeze on incomes over infrastructure.
The licence fee is doomed - its an anachronism which will not survive the age of the internet. I feel the same way about the BBC - except perhaps for a limited news service. It no longer outcompetes other channels or countries in terms of drama, light entertainment, sport, etc, etc - despite the advantage of an enormous guaranteed annual revenue from taxpayers.
Mr. Flashman (deceased), I strongly suspect that the BBC is aware that, sooner or later, it may need to get money from those with PCs (or tablets... or other swanky new stuff) or face losing its guaranteed revenue.
TVs will, like newspapers, never disappear entirely but with online catchup services and the ability to watch TV live online the BBC will, I suspect, position itself to stake a claim for a PC Tax to match (or replace) the TV Tax. That's my feeling, anyway.
Since the BBC bods were making much of it being a "personalised BBC" for people the obvious way is for it to be paid for by subscription. People can pay for the bits they want.
The licence fee is doomed - its an anachronism which will not survive the age of the internet. I feel the same way about the BBC - except perhaps for a limited news service. It no longer outcompetes other channels or countries in terms of drama, light entertainment, sport, etc, etc - despite the advantage of an enormous guaranteed annual revenue from taxpayers.
Mr. Flashman (deceased), I strongly suspect that the BBC is aware that, sooner or later, it may need to get money from those with PCs (or tablets... or other swanky new stuff) or face losing its guaranteed revenue.
TVs will, like newspapers, never disappear entirely but with online catchup services and the ability to watch TV live online the BBC will, I suspect, position itself to stake a claim for a PC Tax to match (or replace) the TV Tax. That's my feeling, anyway.
Since the BBC bods were making much of it being a "personalised BBC" for people the obvious way is for it to be paid for by subscription. People can pay for the bits they want.
You object to paying for libraries, only wanting to pay for the section you use? Or parks?
@skynewsniall: Making myself a hostage to events (dear boy), but I rather suspect the press will now push ahead with their own plans for self regulation.
Mr. Flashman (deceased), I strongly suspect that the BBC is aware that, sooner or later, it may need to get money from those with PCs (or tablets... or other swanky new stuff) or face losing its guaranteed revenue.
TVs will, like newspapers, never disappear entirely but with online catchup services and the ability to watch TV live online the BBC will, I suspect, position itself to stake a claim for a PC Tax to match (or replace) the TV Tax. That's my feeling, anyway.
Since the BBC bods were making much of it being a "personalised BBC" for people the obvious way is for it to be paid for by subscription. People can pay for the bits they want.
You object to paying for libraries, only wanting to pay for the section you use? Or parks?
Do tell us more about the Parks and Libraries licence fee - how much is it? when was it introduced? I must owe them a fortune.
@skynewsniall: Making myself a hostage to events (dear boy), but I rather suspect the press will now push ahead with their own plans for self regulation.
Oh dear - some little feet will be stamped tonight...
does that negative number mean what I think it means?
Adults who went to school decades ago are more literate than those who've just left school now... depressing isn't it.
Am I the only one surprised that it's so positive in other countries? I mean surely literacy is a thing you learn in school but also develop over your life?
Jon Trickett as deputy party chair tells us that Ed Miliband wants to do a deal with the union bosses.
At the extreme this would involve folding on the centre-piece of the reforms, and abandoning the requirement for trade union levy payers to opt-in to paying some of their political levy towards Labour.
This would be a catastrophic personal defeat for Ed Miliband, but already scenarios are being discussed that map out how he could retreat without sustaining politically fatal injuries.
@skynewsniall: Making myself a hostage to events (dear boy), but I rather suspect the press will now push ahead with their own plans for self regulation.
Can you supply a credible link to that Mac / Events quote ?
Jon Trickett as deputy party chair tells us that Ed Miliband wants to do a deal with the union bosses.
At the extreme this would involve folding on the centre-piece of the reforms, and abandoning the requirement for trade union levy payers to opt-in to paying some of their political levy towards Labour.
This would be a catastrophic personal defeat for Ed Miliband, but already scenarios are being discussed that map out how he could retreat without sustaining politically fatal injuries.
"First and foremost, this will involve firmly ruling out any changes to Labour’s institutional structures. The union block vote at conference will remain, the unions will retain a separate electoral college in the leadership election and the union reservation of 12 places out of 33 on the NEC (compared to 6 places reserved for CLP members) will stay."
I keep looking for a "right wing" Hodges equivalent in the Guardian but keep failing.
Surely they must have a tame uncle tom too ?
Why would the Guardian want a right wing pundit who gets every call wrong, they can read you lot on here for that.
I'm frankly amazed that with your superior insight and wisdom, neither the Guardian nor the Telegraph has taken you on as a blogger, like Dan Hodges - and you are forced to remain here, dispensing your cutting edge commentary for free.
Deep in their archives, there's probably a letter from tim, begging for a job, 'Sunny style'.
Jon Trickett as deputy party chair tells us that Ed Miliband wants to do a deal with the union bosses.
At the extreme this would involve folding on the centre-piece of the reforms, and abandoning the requirement for trade union levy payers to opt-in to paying some of their political levy towards Labour.
This would be a catastrophic personal defeat for Ed Miliband, but already scenarios are being discussed that map out how he could retreat without sustaining politically fatal injuries.
"First and foremost, this will involve firmly ruling out any changes to Labour’s institutional structures. The union block vote at conference will remain, the unions will retain a separate electoral college in the leadership election and the union reservation of 12 places out of 33 on the NEC (compared to 6 places reserved for CLP members) will stay."
Sunny Hundal @sunny_hundal Think Tommy Robinson's move will also: destroy EDL; give a slight boost to BNP; annoy extremist Muslim groups who fed off EDL threat.
@skynewsniall: Making myself a hostage to events (dear boy), but I rather suspect the press will now push ahead with their own plans for self regulation.
Can you supply a credible link to that Mac / Events quote ?
I doubt you can.
That's apocryphal, so many of the good ones are.
Yogi Berra (American baseball player who got all kinds of quotes attributed to him due to his tendency to come out with odd phrases). To the point he was appropriately quoted "“I really didn’t say everything I said,”"
does that negative number mean what I think it means?
Adults who went to school decades ago are more literate than those who've just left school now... depressing isn't it.
Am I the only one surprised that it's so positive in other countries? I mean surely literacy is a thing you learn in school but also develop over your life?
I can imagine it being the case in certain countries where there has been a significant upheaval or conflict, I can imagine it in ones that have grown a lot in the time period but yes, I agree, some of the differences seem absolutely phenomenal. I guess there's an evening of digging into the numbers coming up ...
The "parents scored a 3" one is also pretty telling, is it not?
@skynewsniall: Making myself a hostage to events (dear boy), but I rather suspect the press will now push ahead with their own plans for self regulation.
Can you supply a credible link to that Mac / Events quote ?
I doubt you can.
That's apocryphal, so many of the good ones are.
Yogi Berra (American baseball player who got all kinds of quotes attributed to him due to his tendency to come out with odd phrases). To the point he was appropriately quoted "“I really didn’t say everything I said,”"
Ha! That was funny! More on the "events" quote here:
"Nor is the IMF entirely withdrawing its criticism, despite the fact that it has been forced to increase its forecasts of growth for the UK by more than any other G7 country. The IMF's new forecast for this year is for 1.4pc UK growth, against just half of that six months ago, when Professor Blanchard said the Chancellor was "playing with fire" by sticking to his austerity agenda."
Mr. Flashman (deceased), I strongly suspect that the BBC is aware that, sooner or later, it may need to get money from those with PCs (or tablets... or other swanky new stuff) or face losing its guaranteed revenue.
TVs will, like newspapers, never disappear entirely but with online catchup services and the ability to watch TV live online the BBC will, I suspect, position itself to stake a claim for a PC Tax to match (or replace) the TV Tax. That's my feeling, anyway.
Since the BBC bods were making much of it being a "personalised BBC" for people the obvious way is for it to be paid for by subscription. People can pay for the bits they want.
You object to paying for libraries, only wanting to pay for the section you use? Or parks?
There's no licence fee for libraries or parks so your comparison doesn't work. I was merely pointing out that given the way the BBC D-G himself was talking payment by subscription seemed to be the logical consequence.
Jon Trickett as deputy party chair tells us that Ed Miliband wants to do a deal with the union bosses.
At the extreme this would involve folding on the centre-piece of the reforms, and abandoning the requirement for trade union levy payers to opt-in to paying some of their political levy towards Labour.
This would be a catastrophic personal defeat for Ed Miliband, but already scenarios are being discussed that map out how he could retreat without sustaining politically fatal injuries.
"First and foremost, this will involve firmly ruling out any changes to Labour’s institutional structures. The union block vote at conference will remain, the unions will retain a separate electoral college in the leadership election and the union reservation of 12 places out of 33 on the NEC (compared to 6 places reserved for CLP members) will stay."
LMFAOWMLITA - huge victory for ED!!First time I've seen that acronym. I assume the next iteration will take it to: LMFAOWMLITAWBACTOTI ?
Is Maria Miller off to a fancy dress party later? She's doing a fine impression of Delores Umbridge (of Harry Potter fame). Can't say it makes her rather weak answers any more attractive.
Miss Plato, the IMF sounds like the IPCC. They got their 2007 predictions wrong (temperatures plateaued) and then increased the odds on them being right about climate change from 90% to 95%.
It's insane. It's like me going out to a bar, asking out 20 women, getting slapped 20 times, going home and writing in my diary "Today I confirmed my hypothesis that I am irresistible to women".
Miss Plato, the IMF sounds like the IPCC. They got their 2007 predictions wrong (temperatures plateaued) and then increased the odds on them being right about climate change from 90% to 95%.
It's insane. It's like me going out to a bar, asking out 20 women, getting slapped 20 times, going home and writing in my diary "Today I confirmed my hypothesis that I am irresistible to women".
You suggest spending £2 billion of the HS2 project's money on relieving bottlenecks. It sounds a lot. But Network Rail is investing £37.5 billion in 2014-2019, and their subsidy from the government in 2009 was £4.5 billion. Your £2 billion is chickenfeed compared to the scale of the problem.
In other words, your proposal does nothing to solve the network's problems. I'm not fixated with you - I just think that your comment on the blog was dangerously naive loose talk. By saying that, you are suggesting to your would-be constituents that such options are feasible, muddying the waters.
And there we have it: tax credits and easing the squeeze on incomes over infrastructure.
On a more constructive note, have you put any concerns that have been expressed to you forwards to the phase two consultation? It ends in January, and is a vital time to get things right for your would-be constituents.
I've not yet submitted comments to the consultation, but I do intend to.
£2 billion is an increase on the £4.5 billion subsidy of over 40%. I doubt if Network Rail can sensibly accommodate more. And yes, I think investment tax credits for business are potentially more important than easing congestion on the rail line.But yes, too, I do think you're fixated - you're still quoting an old blog post that I wrote ages ago, as you brood on my non-committal view, twice today without any particular reason as I've not raised the subject lately.
But at least you're no longer claiming (unlike Charles, I see) that my doubts have something to do with the party's position - when I expressed them, the party was rock hard in favour, and I suspect they'll stay in favour in the end. I'm simply wary of big-bang projects in general and this one in particular, which seems to excite rail fans more than potential users. I've yet to meet any constituent who told me that his or her business would seriously benefit (I'm currently surveying opinion on and offline), and plenty who say they work on the train and are not much bothered whether they're half an hour longer on the train or in the office.
@LabourList: Labour reshuffle - Unconfirmed rumours that Luciana Berger is the new Shadow Public Health Minister, replacing Abbott http://labli.st/16PhsxT
But at least you're no longer claiming (unlike Charles, I see) that my doubts have something to do with the party's position - when I expressed them, the party was rock hard in favour, and I suspect they'll stay in favour in the end. I'm simply wary of big-bang projects in general and this one in particular, which seems to excite rail fans more than potential users. I've yet to meet any constituent who told me that his or her business would seriously benefit (I'm currently surveying opinion on and offline), and plenty who say they work on the train and are not much bothered whether they're half an hour longer on the train or in the office.
As a potential user of this service (I live near Wilmslow and got to head office on the southern side of the M25 about once a month), I can say that I don't use the existing rail service at all, because although quicker station to station, when you add in the travel time to where I need to get, I end up driving.
@ShippersUnbound: Consternation from Tory MPs that Mark Simmonds (absent without a good explanation on Syria) was not given the boot instead of Alistair Burt.
He was the one in the cupboard with Justine Greening
@ShippersUnbound: Consternation from Tory MPs that Mark Simmonds (absent without a good explanation on Syria) was not given the boot instead of Alistair Burt.
He was the one in the cupboard with Justine Greening
Given that Mark has been married for 10 years, do you have a link to back up your nasty little insinuation?
Or did you mistype "cupboard" when you mean to write "secure briefing room" instead?
Miss Plato, the IMF sounds like the IPCC. They got their 2007 predictions wrong (temperatures plateaued) and then increased the odds on them being right about climate change from 90% to 95%.
It's insane. It's like me going out to a bar, asking out 20 women, getting slapped 20 times, going home and writing in my diary "Today I confirmed my hypothesis that I am irresistible to women".
'Professor Blanchard said the Chancellor was "playing with fire" by sticking to his austerity agenda'
The same idiot that was forecasting unemployment of 4 million?
You're muddling up Blanchflower (Brown's appointment to the MPC & favourite economist of the left) and Blanchard (chief economist of the IMF who embarassed Christine Lagarde by overreaching and getting involved in UK politics when he really shouldn't have done)
Mr. Flashman (deceased), I strongly suspect that the BBC is aware that, sooner or later, it may need to get money from those with PCs (or tablets... or other swanky new stuff) or face losing its guaranteed revenue.
TVs will, like newspapers, never disappear entirely but with online catchup services and the ability to watch TV live online the BBC will, I suspect, position itself to stake a claim for a PC Tax to match (or replace) the TV Tax. That's my feeling, anyway.
Since the BBC bods were making much of it being a "personalised BBC" for people the obvious way is for it to be paid for by subscription. People can pay for the bits they want.
You object to paying for libraries, only wanting to pay for the section you use? Or parks?
There's no licence fee for libraries or parks so your comparison doesn't work. I was merely pointing out that given the way the BBC D-G himself was talking payment by subscription seemed to be the logical consequence.
You pay for parks and libraries whether you use them or not, I pay through council tax to pick up dog shit whether I have a dog or not.
Oh dear not sure it's a good idea to be linking dog shit and the BBC so directly!
'You pay for parks and libraries whether you use them or not, I pay through council tax to pick up dog shit whether I have a dog or not.'
I know that consumer choice may be an alien concept,but we have lots of TV & radio stations to choose from & most seem to get by without a TV poll tax.
If the BBC is such a valued organisation it will no doubt have millions of customers happy to pay whatever subscription fee they choose to charge.
Jon Trickett as deputy party chair tells us that Ed Miliband wants to do a deal with the union bosses.
At the extreme this would involve folding on the centre-piece of the reforms, and abandoning the requirement for trade union levy payers to opt-in to paying some of their political levy towards Labour.
This would be a catastrophic personal defeat for Ed Miliband, but already scenarios are being discussed that map out how he could retreat without sustaining politically fatal injuries.
"First and foremost, this will involve firmly ruling out any changes to Labour’s institutional structures. The union block vote at conference will remain, the unions will retain a separate electoral college in the leadership election and the union reservation of 12 places out of 33 on the NEC (compared to 6 places reserved for CLP members) will stay."
LMFAOWMLITA - huge victory for ED!!
First time I've seen that acronym. I assume the next iteration will take it to: LMFAOWMLITAWBACTOTI ?
@LabourList: Labour reshuffle - Unconfirmed rumours that Luciana Berger is the new Shadow Public Health Minister, replacing Abbott http://labli.st/16PhsxT
But at least you're no longer claiming (unlike Charles, I see) that my doubts have something to do with the party's position
I'm just slightly saddened. Since you were officially reselected your posts seem to have been more in-line with party policy and/or wavering where unclear.
Completely understandable from a personal and career perspective, but makes you a less interesting read and sparring partner
Jon Trickett as deputy party chair tells us that Ed Miliband wants to do a deal with the union bosses.
At the extreme this would involve folding on the centre-piece of the reforms, and abandoning the requirement for trade union levy payers to opt-in to paying some of their political levy towards Labour.
This would be a catastrophic personal defeat for Ed Miliband, but already scenarios are being discussed that map out how he could retreat without sustaining politically fatal injuries.
"First and foremost, this will involve firmly ruling out any changes to Labour’s institutional structures. The union block vote at conference will remain, the unions will retain a separate electoral college in the leadership election and the union reservation of 12 places out of 33 on the NEC (compared to 6 places reserved for CLP members) will stay."
LMFAOWMLITA - huge victory for ED!!
First time I've seen that acronym. I assume the next iteration will take it to: LMFAOWMLITAWBACTOTI ?
How does your addition translate?
Yeah I'm struggling with 'while baking a cake....'
But at least you're no longer claiming (unlike Charles, I see) that my doubts have something to do with the party's position - when I expressed them, the party was rock hard in favour, and I suspect they'll stay in favour in the end. I'm simply wary of big-bang projects in general and this one in particular, which seems to excite rail fans more than potential users. I've yet to meet any constituent who told me that his or her business would seriously benefit (I'm currently surveying opinion on and offline), and plenty who say they work on the train and are not much bothered whether they're half an hour longer on the train or in the office.
As a potential user of this service (I live near Wilmslow and got to head office on the southern side of the M25 about once a month), I can say that I don't use the existing rail service at all, because although quicker station to station, when you add in the travel time to where I need to get, I end up driving.
Erm, yes, because your office in the far sticks, miles from London. Your point is?
Jon Trickett as deputy party chair tells us that Ed Miliband wants to do a deal with the union bosses.
At the extreme this would involve folding on the centre-piece of the reforms, and abandoning the requirement for trade union levy payers to opt-in to paying some of their political levy towards Labour.
This would be a catastrophic personal defeat for Ed Miliband, but already scenarios are being discussed that map out how he could retreat without sustaining politically fatal injuries.
"First and foremost, this will involve firmly ruling out any changes to Labour’s institutional structures. The union block vote at conference will remain, the unions will retain a separate electoral college in the leadership election and the union reservation of 12 places out of 33 on the NEC (compared to 6 places reserved for CLP members) will stay."
LMFAOWMLITA - huge victory for ED!!
First time I've seen that acronym. I assume the next iteration will take it to: LMFAOWMLITAWBACTOTI ?
How does your addition translate?
Yeah I'm struggling with 'while baking a cake....'
Tip of the Iceberg? Twlight of the Idols? Taxes Other Than Income?
Jon Trickett as deputy party chair tells us that Ed Miliband wants to do a deal with the union bosses.
At the extreme this would involve folding on the centre-piece of the reforms, and abandoning the requirement for trade union levy payers to opt-in to paying some of their political levy towards Labour.
This would be a catastrophic personal defeat for Ed Miliband, but already scenarios are being discussed that map out how he could retreat without sustaining politically fatal injuries.
"First and foremost, this will involve firmly ruling out any changes to Labour’s institutional structures. The union block vote at conference will remain, the unions will retain a separate electoral college in the leadership election and the union reservation of 12 places out of 33 on the NEC (compared to 6 places reserved for CLP members) will stay."
LMFAOWMLITA - huge victory for ED!!
First time I've seen that acronym. I assume the next iteration will take it to: LMFAOWMLITAWBACTOTI ?
How does your addition translate?
Yeah I'm struggling with 'while baking a cake....'
Tip of the Iceberg? Twlight of the Idols? Taxes Other Than Income?
Mr. Flashman (deceased), I strongly suspect that the BBC is aware that, sooner or later, it may need to get money from those with PCs (or tablets... or other swanky new stuff) or face losing its guaranteed revenue.
TVs will, like newspapers, never disappear entirely but with online catchup services and the ability to watch TV live online the BBC will, I suspect, position itself to stake a claim for a PC Tax to match (or replace) the TV Tax. That's my feeling, anyway.
Since the BBC bods were making much of it being a "personalised BBC" for people the obvious way is for it to be paid for by subscription. People can pay for the bits they want.
You object to paying for libraries, only wanting to pay for the section you use? Or parks?
There's no licence fee for libraries or parks so your comparison doesn't work. I was merely pointing out that given the way the BBC D-G himself was talking payment by subscription seemed to be the logical consequence.
You pay for parks and libraries whether you use them or not, I pay through council tax to pick up dog shit whether I have a dog or not.
And I have no objection to paying for either or the licence fee come to that.
Comments
http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/speeches/2013/tony-hall-vision.html
One view...
Gaz Corfield @GazTheJourno
BBC D-G announces explicit intention to abandon broadcasting and compete even more with commercial web publishers
Gaz Corfield @GazTheJourno
If you're so minded, open Google News, set it to US edition, and then see how often BBC News stories pop up. Contrast with UK ed.
The Elderking @Harry_ca_Nab
Yes, on the news the BBC has announced it is looking to gain a 500,000,000 global audience.
Funded by YOU
Kate Green gets McGuire's job at Work and Pensions (Disabilities)
I doubt you can.
The M25 is another example where penny-pinching led to an underinvestment - built mainly as three lanes, it was soon at capacity. With hindsight the whole thing should have been built as a minimum four-lane motorway, saving vast amounts of congestion and disruption of widening over the years.
We do it every time, from airports to roads to railways. We look at the cheapest, patch-it-up option, rather than at what is really needed, even if it is more expensive. And the cheapest option can end up costing more money in the long run in congestion and delays.
"The 2013 Nobel Prize in Physics has been awarded to Peter Higgs and François Englert for predicting the existence of the Higgs boson. Peter Higgs, 84, emeritus professor of physics at Edinburgh University, predicted the existence of a “massive boson” in 1964, although he was beaten into print by the Belgian physicists Robert Brout and François Englert.
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/science/article3889676.ece
"Wasn't it...?"
Actually it was either the Loelia Ponsonby, Duchess of Westminster or Brian Howard.
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Margaret_Thatcher
@YesScotland: Congratulations to Peter Higgs from Edinburgh University for (jointly) winning the Nobel Prize for Physics
Like anyone gets a choice.
Daily Referendum @Daily_Ref
The Conservatives helped me get on the housing ladder in the 1990's with their first Armed Forces #HelpToBuy scheme. Thanks.
(sh1t! Did I just press send!!!)
Anyone have any more detail on it?
TVs will, like newspapers, never disappear entirely but with online catchup services and the ability to watch TV live online the BBC will, I suspect, position itself to stake a claim for a PC Tax to match (or replace) the TV Tax. That's my feeling, anyway.
Big Sharon Hodgson moves from Education (where she had Children and Families brief) to Equalities (taking families with her)
Balls has signalled that he is intending to make this a matter of base politics. The shadow cabinet reshuffle appears to indicate that Ed M agrees.
Unless the Coalition government can get shovels into the ground before the next election HS2 might well be dead, whatever the merits or otherwise.
If HS2 dies then the manner of its death matters, and I don't think I trust Balls to spend £50bn in a rational and useful way, as opposed to a way which he believes is most useful to him politically.
Can you imagine any gov saying to the people: you now need to pay an annual PC tax if you want to access the internet, which we will hand over to the BBC, even if you never visit a BBC site?
- Maggie in November 1990.
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Margaret_Thatcher
But then, so's hiking energy prices by £200 and then claiming energy prices are too high.
http://i42.tinypic.com/2nq5g9j.jpg
Note to tim - calm down that isn't Mrs Salmond he's dancing with.
"Howard is credited with coining the phrase “Anybody seen in a bus over the age of 30 has been a failure in life”, wrongly attributed to Margaret Thatcher. According to Daily Telegraph correspondent and historian, Hugo Vickers, (writing in November 2006) the author was Brian Howard. The phrase came into wider use when used by Loelia, Duchess of Westminster, in her memoir, Grace and Favour (1961)."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Howard_(poet)
You suggest spending £2 billion of the HS2 project's money on relieving bottlenecks. It sounds a lot. But Network Rail is investing £37.5 billion in 2014-2019, and their subsidy from the government in 2009 was £4.5 billion. Your £2 billion is chickenfeed compared to the scale of the problem.
In other words, your proposal does nothing to solve the network's problems. I'm not fixated with you - I just think that your comment on the blog was dangerously naive loose talk. By saying that, you are suggesting to your would-be constituents that such options are feasible, muddying the waters.
And there we have it: tax credits and easing the squeeze on incomes over infrastructure.
On a more constructive note, have you put any concerns that have been expressed to you forwards to the phase two consultation? It ends in January, and is a vital time to get things right for your would-be constituents.
http://hs2.org.uk/phase-two/route-consultation/
" Higgs was born in the Elswick district of Newcastle upon Tyne, England, to an English father and Scottish mother "
You are still copying far too much from The Times articles.
Going forward, you are no longer permitted to copy and paste anything from the Times or Sunday Times on pb.com.
Can you confirm that you understand this instruction.
It'd be helpful to know what the PB guidelines are for all posters - it's rather muddled.
Can someone help me with interpreting something that the Guardian have presented.
http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/interactive/2013/oct/08/where-do-the-literacy-numeracy-gaps-fall-interactive
go to "youngest and oldest adults"
does that negative number mean what I think it means?
One where the sun hasn't shined since May 2010...
Am I the only one surprised that it's so positive in other countries? I mean surely literacy is a thing you learn in school but also develop over your life?
I doubt you can.
You missed the fun bit
"First and foremost, this will involve firmly ruling out any changes to Labour’s institutional structures. The union block vote at conference will remain, the unions will retain a separate electoral college in the leadership election and the union reservation of 12 places out of 33 on the NEC (compared to 6 places reserved for CLP members) will stay."
"First and foremost, this will involve firmly ruling out any changes to Labour’s institutional structures. The union block vote at conference will remain, the unions will retain a separate electoral college in the leadership election and the union reservation of 12 places out of 33 on the NEC (compared to 6 places reserved for CLP members) will stay."
LMFAOWMLITA - huge victory for ED!!
Sunny Hundal @sunny_hundal
Think Tommy Robinson's move will also: destroy EDL; give a slight boost to BNP; annoy extremist Muslim groups who fed off EDL threat.
Yogi Berra (American baseball player who got all kinds of quotes attributed to him due to his tendency to come out with odd phrases). To the point he was appropriately quoted "“I really didn’t say everything I said,”"
The "parents scored a 3" one is also pretty telling, is it not?
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Harold_Macmillan#Disputed
"Nor is the IMF entirely withdrawing its criticism, despite the fact that it has been forced to increase its forecasts of growth for the UK by more than any other G7 country. The IMF's new forecast for this year is for 1.4pc UK growth, against just half of that six months ago, when Professor Blanchard said the Chancellor was "playing with fire" by sticking to his austerity agenda."
'Professor Blanchard said the Chancellor was "playing with fire" by sticking to his austerity agenda'
The same idiot that was forecasting unemployment of 4 million?
fabulous
Sky generates much larger revenues by offering better quality and choice to a much smaller number of customers.
Compulsion isn't a customer winner when many of them feel they're held hostage.
It's insane. It's like me going out to a bar, asking out 20 women, getting slapped 20 times, going home and writing in my diary "Today I confirmed my hypothesis that I am irresistible to women".
£2 billion is an increase on the £4.5 billion subsidy of over 40%. I doubt if Network Rail can sensibly accommodate more. And yes, I think investment tax credits for business are potentially more important than easing congestion on the rail line.But yes, too, I do think you're fixated - you're still quoting an old blog post that I wrote ages ago, as you brood on my non-committal view, twice today without any particular reason as I've not raised the subject lately.
But at least you're no longer claiming (unlike Charles, I see) that my doubts have something to do with the party's position - when I expressed them, the party was rock hard in favour, and I suspect they'll stay in favour in the end. I'm simply wary of big-bang projects in general and this one in particular, which seems to excite rail fans more than potential users. I've yet to meet any constituent who told me that his or her business would seriously benefit (I'm currently surveying opinion on and offline), and plenty who say they work on the train and are not much bothered whether they're half an hour longer on the train or in the office.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/georgeosborne/6224723/Tory-public-spending-cuts-could-push-unemployment-to-5-million.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/democracylive/hi/representatives/profiles/83726.stm
Or did you mistype "cupboard" when you mean to write "secure briefing room" instead?
'You pay for parks and libraries whether you use them or not, I pay through council tax to pick up dog shit whether I have a dog or not.'
I know that consumer choice may be an alien concept,but we have lots of TV & radio stations to choose from & most seem to get by without a TV poll tax.
If the BBC is such a valued organisation it will no doubt have millions of customers happy to pay whatever subscription fee they choose to charge.
How does your addition translate?
Completely understandable from a personal and career perspective, but makes you a less interesting read and sparring partner
Yeah I'm struggling with 'while baking a cake....'
Is that in Wales?
Tip of the Iceberg?
Twlight of the Idols?
Taxes Other Than Income?
None really make sense
Twlight of the Idols?
Taxes Other Than Income?
None really make sense
I feel bad for starting this off now.