Another dig at Angela Rayner. Do you find her diction difficult to decipher?
She's a fabulous role model for people who start out in life with nothing. She was brought up by her illiterate single mother - imagine for a minute how your parents might have contributed to your own, superior language skills.
Her mouth hangs open at the end of a sentence like some ungulate.
I am surprised at 69% who are still voting Conservative. Perhaps they don't realise how things have changed. Do they really want to support Brexit? And surely the Conservative Party is NOT what it used to be.
Same could be said of Conservatives in the 1980s, morphing into something more Thatcherite.
The current "Conservative Party" is well to the right of Margaret Thatcher
Not in government spending, levels of immigration or social policy.
Patel seems to want more immigration. Just not European.
When it comes to religious or racial intolerance, and in terms of candidature for parliament -- forever. Sorry if that seems harsh to you, but there are enough people out there who aren't bigots that we can afford to permanently discard those who are. Being a member of parliament is an enormous position of responsibility, an important element of which is pastoral care and representing the vulnerable. We've become so infused with the idea of parliamentarians as pugilists that we forget that an MP also needs to nurture and protect. An MP with a history of bigotry is forever damaged. We can do so much better than this.
It ultimately comes down to a discussion of what "bigotry" is. Passage below is from your Guardian link earlier.
A book by Browne, Do We Need Mass Immigration?, attributes a catalogue of social ills and health problems to immigration.
... “The fact that African immigration has overtaken gay sex as the main cause of HIV in Britain is a sign that Europe can no longer ignore the entirely preventable Aids holocaust consuming the continent next door. But the solution is to treat the majority where they live, rather than the small number who can make it to Britain to access HIV treatment on the NHS.”
In a passage about Muslim leaders warning the Iraq war could cause social unrest, he wrote: “Whatever the merits or demerits of war on Iraq, it is hardly a national strength to have a large minority with such divided loyalties during war.”
Browne ... addressed some of the comments when he became a policy director when Johnson was mayor of London, saying he had gone through a “phase of being deliberately contrary and deliberately provocative”.
He said at the time: “I do very much regret any offence caused by any past newspaper articles. It really never was my intention to cause offence, but to provoke debate. The articles, which I deeply regret writing, also don’t give a fair reflection of my views. I want to make clear that I am emphatically not anti-immigration.
On HIV/immigration - it could be deemed bigoted because he is linking a disease about which people are (irrationally IMV) afraid with immigration. However, his solution - to deal with the infection at source - is commendable
Isn't his comment about the Iraq war causing divided loyalties a statement of fact? (I assume, I haven't looked for polling). And similarly it's a reasonable opinion that "a large minority with such divided loyalties" is "hardly a national strength".
The issue is with screams of "bigotry" you close down reasonable - if provocative - debate. That is quite different from some of the "final solution for the Jews in Palestine" or "pushing Israel into the sea" or some of the more extreme examples we have seen in the last couple of weeks
O/t, but I heard Bill Browder on R4 this am after Hillary state that though the US had applied sanctions to Russia/Russians after the Skirpal poisonings, the UK had not. Is this correct?
If so, what a pitifully compromised paper tiger the UK has become.
Another dig at Angela Rayner. Do you find her diction difficult to decipher?
She's a fabulous role model for people who start out in life with nothing. She was brought up by her illiterate single mother - imagine for a minute how your parents might have contributed to your own, superior language skills.
Tories seem to have a negative view of lifelong educational opportunities since Thatcher's days.
Another dig at Angela Rayner. Do you find her diction difficult to decipher?
She's a fabulous role model for people who start out in life with nothing. She was brought up by her illiterate single mother - imagine for a minute how your parents might have contributed to your own, superior language skills.
Her mouth hangs open at the end of a sentence like some ungulate.
Now, how about the Trump foundation or Trump University?
"Trump University was an American for-profit education company that ran a real estate training program from 2005 until 2010. It was owned and operated by The Trump Organization. After multiple lawsuits, it is now defunct."
Bit of a surprise. I thought it might be a powerhouse of a place providing educational opportunities for the less privileged on a heavily subsidized basis.
The BBC's Gordon Corera has an important update on the Labour cyber attack story. He's learned that it's believed to be a low-level incident - not a large scale and sophisticated attack.
It was reported to the National Cyber Security Centre, but they did not need to take any action as it was all resolved. There is no sign of it being anything linked to another state, our security correspondent adds.
It sounds more like the sort of thing anybody who has an online business is acutely aware of. If you have servers on the internet, you are always a potential target. Years ago, because the likes of Cloudflare were prevalent, one of my business got hit by a DDOS. No ransom, no follow-up, just somebody decided to fire the outer space laser cannon on one of my servers for a day.
If you were to place Jo Swinson's utterings alongside those of Boris "f*ck business" Johnson, I'm pretty sure hers would give a more grown-up impression than his!
True, but then she comes out with childish whinging about being excluded from the debates because of her gender, or tacking a major change in the voting franchise on to a bill specifying an election in a few weeks' time.
The choice voters have to make is between a charlatan man-child, a lightweight, and a superannuated anti-Semitic Trot. It's true that of the three a lightweight is the least bad, but do we want to prolong the hung-parliament nightmare?
What exactly is wrong with a hung parliament? Other countries have them routinely and seem to be able to cope.
Not when they are trying to negotiate Brexit against a deadline they don't.
But a substantial proportion of the electorate doesn't want to negotiate Brexit against a deadline. They want to stop the nightmare by, instead, revoking Brexit, or at least to mitigate the nightmare by ensuring that Brexit doesn't lead to no-deal at the end of next year. They also have a right to have their views represented in parliament.
A reminder: the the accusation of Jews having split loyalties is rightly included in the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism. This is exactly the same thing from a Conservative candidate with respect to Muslims.
Writing in 2002
“In a passage about Muslim leaders warning the Iraq war could cause social unrest, he wrote: “Whatever the merits or demerits of war on Iraq, it is hardly a national strength to have a large minority with such divided loyalties during war.” “
I’m sure the victims and families of 7/7, London Bridge, the Ariana Grande concert, along with Lee Rigby, wish that no British Muslims were driven to terrorism by such foreign policy.
Placed in context, that's quite reasonable.
No it isn't. Divided loyalties is a charge designed to delegitimise immigrant groups for centuries. It is ugly and it is right he apologised for it.
But the phrase related to a historical look back at the Iraq War I believe
Another dig at Angela Rayner. Do you find her diction difficult to decipher?
She's a fabulous role model for people who start out in life with nothing. She was brought up by her illiterate single mother - imagine for a minute how your parents might have contributed to your own, superior language skills.
That's great in itself, but no one should be overpromoted because of their background.
But a substantial proportion of the electorate doesn't want to negotiate Brexit against a deadline. They want to stop the nightmare by, instead, revoking Brexit, or at least to mitigate the nightmare by ensuring that Brexit doesn't lead to no-deal at the end of next year. They also have a right to have their views represented in parliament.
That's the problem. We don't need views represented - we had plenty of those in the last parliament - we need a decision made.
Has everyone kept up with the news that Trump admitted his "fund raiser" for veterans was actually a campaign event and the Trump campaign got the money to do with as it liked.
I have to laugh about William Hague saying it is a fantasy that Jo Swinson can become PM. This is the same William Hague who repeatedly claimed he would win the 2001 election and become PM, when the Tories were only targeting 70 seats. Some of these targets were defence seats! Even if the Tories had won all targets in 2001, they would have had approximately 230 seats and Tony Blair would still be PM with an overall majority! I got into trouble when I worked at CCHQ and someone let slip the target number because I could not help but laugh as I knew what this meant and the disingenuous message leading Tories were advocating!
I don't think Swinson can become PM but when Hague went around claiming he could, when he had signed off a target seat strategy that means he could never have won in 2001 I think someone should reprimand him!
But now, Hague has experience on his side. Experience of knowing what it is like to be a pillock claiming you could be Prime Minister.....
Another dig at Angela Rayner. Do you find her diction difficult to decipher?
She's a fabulous role model for people who start out in life with nothing. She was brought up by her illiterate single mother - imagine for a minute how your parents might have contributed to your own, superior language skills.
That's great in itself, but no one should be overpromoted because of their background.
Just because she has not been to Eton (or the female equivalent) she is deemed to be overpromoted. For all we know she could be able to be a member of mensa...
The BBC's Gordon Corera has an important update on the Labour cyber attack story. He's learned that it's believed to be a low-level incident - not a large scale and sophisticated attack.
It was reported to the National Cyber Security Centre, but they did not need to take any action as it was all resolved. There is no sign of it being anything linked to another state, our security correspondent adds.
It sounds more like the sort of thing anybody who has an online business is acutely aware of. If you have servers on the internet, you are always a potential target. Years ago, because the likes of Cloudflare were prevalent, one of my business got hit by a DDOS. No ransom, no follow-up, just somebody decided to fire the outer space laser cannon on one of my servers for a day.
Very odd pricing at Sporting Index. You can buy the Conservative 300-ups for less than the main Con spread (300+46 vs 347). Should always be the other way round.
I have to laugh about William Hague saying it is a fantasy that Jo Swinson can become PM. This is the same William Hague who repeatedly claimed he would win the 2001 election and become PM, when the Tories were only targeting 70 seats. Some of these targets were defence seats! Even if the Tories had won all targets in 2001, they would have had approximately 230 seats and Tony Blair would still be PM with an overall majority! I got into trouble when I worked at CCHQ and someone let slip the target number because I could not help but laugh as I knew what this meant and the disingenuous message leading Tories were advocating!
I don't think Swinson can become PM but when Hague went around claiming he could, when he had signed off a target seat strategy that means he could never have won in 2001 I think someone should reprimand him!
But now, Hague has experience on his side. Experience of knowing what it is like to be a pillock claiming you could be Prime Minister.....
+1 To be honest, knowing the campaigning constraints on target seats is like finding out there is no father christmas as a child! It takes all the magic out of elections!
The BBC's Gordon Corera has an important update on the Labour cyber attack story. He's learned that it's believed to be a low-level incident - not a large scale and sophisticated attack.
It was reported to the National Cyber Security Centre, but they did not need to take any action as it was all resolved. There is no sign of it being anything linked to another state, our security correspondent adds.
It sounds more like the sort of thing anybody who has an online business is acutely aware of. If you have servers on the internet, you are always a potential target. Years ago, because the likes of Cloudflare were prevalent, one of my business got hit by a DDOS. No ransom, no follow-up, just somebody decided to fire the outer space laser cannon on one of my servers for a day.
Her mouth hangs open at the end of a sentence like some ungulate.
If we're doing this - Boris Johnson looks and moves and sounds like a pig. He really does. Once the uncanny resemblance dawns on you, that's it, you cannot get rid of it. Remember Reggie Perrin and the Mother-in-Law? It's like that.
Can't comment on the smell - so let's assume that's OK.
I am surprised at 69% who are still voting Conservative. Perhaps they don't realise how things have changed. Do they really want to support Brexit? And surely the Conservative Party is NOT what it used to be.
Same could be said of Conservatives in the 1980s, morphing into something more Thatcherite.
The current "Conservative Party" is well to the right of Margaret Thatcher
I don't agree. There is one specific policy (Brexit) where you disagree with them but in terms of general social policy they are far more centrist than they were at the time of Thatcher. Just looking at their policies on same sex relationships, general equality, minimum wage and a whole host of other topics and you see that they are more centrist than in Thatcher's day.
I am not a member of the party and never would be but the claim they are more right wing than Thatcher's day does not stand up.
But they were all Dave and Ozzy's innovations. Wait until Raab and Priti get to work, having ushered Boris into his office with a bottle of gin.
The most right wing and genuinely extremist PM we have had in my memory is Theresa May. Her time as Home Secretary under Cameron and subsequently as PM was characterised by persecution of minorities and increasing state intrusion into our lives. For all I disagree with Patel's views on capital punishment, she has done nothing so far that in any way approaches the genuinely extremist policies of May.
I think it's difficult to argue that the Conservative Party is in general, more right wing now than it was in the mid 1980's. It's just that it was pro-EU in those days, rather than anti-EU now.
The BBC's Gordon Corera has an important update on the Labour cyber attack story. He's learned that it's believed to be a low-level incident - not a large scale and sophisticated attack.
It was reported to the National Cyber Security Centre, but they did not need to take any action as it was all resolved. There is no sign of it being anything linked to another state, our security correspondent adds.
It sounds more like the sort of thing anybody who has an online business is acutely aware of. If you have servers on the internet, you are always a potential target. Years ago, because the likes of Cloudflare were prevalent, one of my business got hit by a DDOS. No ransom, no follow-up, just somebody decided to fire the outer space laser cannon on one of my servers for a day.
Just for context on the "sophisticated cyber attack": they're talking about a DDOS, the most basic and crude form of attack, basically flooding the target with junk until it becomes unusable.
These can be bought online (with cryptocurrency for anonymity) for $20/hour.
If it was the Russians, they'd be in and out silently after grabbing key information, then publishing it via WikiLeaks or wherever.
There is a suggestion it might not even be that. The candidates might have overloaded their own system with a last minute rush to access campaign material.
I agree, if it is DDOS, it highly unlikely to be a nation state. Also, why arent they using something like cloudflare.
Nation states do engage in DDOS attacks.
Why do you say that? (genuine question, it is not an area I am familiar with beyond knowing what the acronym stands for)
Usually it's to divert attention while they steal something important.
I'm not convinced anyone has much to gain from nicking the Labour party's manifesto and campaign leaflets.
I'd have thought that any attacker at this stage would be more interested in simply disrupting the campaign than in stealing anything.
If that was the serious intention, far worse things you can do than DDOS a server.
But DDOS is easy and cheap. Perhaps whoever did it didn't think it was worth spending more on disrupting a campaign that already looks doomed to failure!
Are you sure that Labour didn't launch the attack themselves to try and smear the Tories as being like Trump... Russian support in the election as proved by a DDOS attack...?
Just for context on the "sophisticated cyber attack": they're talking about a DDOS, the most basic and crude form of attack, basically flooding the target with junk until it becomes unusable.
These can be bought online (with cryptocurrency for anonymity) for $20/hour.
If it was the Russians, they'd be in and out silently after grabbing key information, then publishing it via WikiLeaks or wherever.
There is a suggestion it might not even be that. The candidates might have overloaded their own system with a last minute rush to access campaign material.
I agree, if it is DDOS, it highly unlikely to be a nation state. Also, why arent they using something like cloudflare.
Nation states do engage in DDOS attacks.
Why do you say that? (genuine question, it is not an area I am familiar with beyond knowing what the acronym stands for)
Usually it's to divert attention while they steal something important.
I'm not convinced anyone has much to gain from nicking the Labour party's manifesto and campaign leaflets.
I'd have thought that any attacker at this stage would be more interested in simply disrupting the campaign than in stealing anything.
If that was the serious intention, far worse things you can do than DDOS a server.
But DDOS is easy and cheap. Perhaps whoever did it didn't think it was worth spending more on disrupting a campaign that already looks doomed to failure!
Are you sure that Labour didn't launch the attack themselves to try and smear the Tories as being like Trump... Russian support in the election as proved by a DDOS attack...?
There is no False Flag. Only the Red Flag, flying here.
Her mouth hangs open at the end of a sentence like some ungulate.
If we're doing this - Boris Johnson looks and moves and sounds like a pig. He really does. Once the uncanny resemblance dawns on you, that's it, you cannot get rid of it. Remember Reggie Perrin and the Mother-in-Law? It's like that.
Can't comment on the smell - so let's assume that's OK.
lol - BJ is a scruffy oik! He does not stand errect but slouches with his hands in his pockets. If he wore a green knitted hat, he could pass for compo out of last of the summer wine!
O/t, but I heard Bill Browder on R4 this am after Hillary state that though the US had applied sanctions to Russia/Russians after the Skirpal poisonings, the UK had not. Is this correct?
If so, what a pitifully compromised paper tiger the UK has become.
Is this going to be one of those where it eventually emerges that we were constrained by the need to obtain the EU's approval first? If so we were always in trouble; Germany is very worried about its provision of gas.
When it comes to religious or racial intolerance, and in terms of candidature for parliament -- forever. Sorry if that seems harsh to you, but there are enough people out there who aren't bigots that we can afford to permanently discard those who are. Being a member of parliament is an enormous position of responsibility, an important element of which is pastoral care and representing the vulnerable. We've become so infused with the idea of parliamentarians as pugilists that we forget that an MP also needs to nurture and protect. An MP with a history of bigotry is forever damaged. We can do so much better than this.
It ultimately comes down to a discussion of what "bigotry" is. Passage below is from your Guardian link earlier.
A book by Browne, Do We Need Mass Immigration?, attributes a catalogue of social ills and health problems to immigration
He said at the time: “I do very much regret any offence caused by any past newspaper articles. It really never was my intention to cause offence, but to provoke debate. The articles, which I deeply regret writing, also don’t give a fair reflection of my views. I want to make clear that I am emphatically not anti-immigration.
On HIV/immigration - it could be deemed bigoted because he is linking a disease about which people are (irrationally IMV) afraid with immigration. However, his solution - to deal with the infection at source - is commendable
Isn't his comment about the Iraq war causing divided loyalties a statement of fact? (I assume, I haven't looked for polling). And similarly it's a reasonable opinion that "a large minority with such divided loyalties" is "hardly a national strength".
The issue is with screams of "bigotry" you close down reasonable - if provocative - debate. That is quite different from some of the "final solution for the Jews in Palestine" or "pushing Israel into the sea" or some of the more extreme examples we have seen in the last couple of weeks
‘Isn't his comment about the Iraq war causing divided loyalties a statement of fact? (I assume, I haven't looked for polling). And similarly it's a reasonable opinion that "a large minority with such divided loyalties" is "hardly a national strength".‘
No nee for polling. Look at the rationale for the 7/7 & Lee Rigby attacks from the perpetrators. Hundreds of people have been maimed & murdered because of the fact that the loyalty is ‘divided’
Tory sources said such attacks were 'fairly standard' and pointed out that Labour seemed to have 'weaknesses' on their systems. 'Any major organisation is likely to be targeted if they do not have the right security,' a source told MailOnline.
The Conservatives were hit with a similar DDOS strike at party conference earlier this year.
According to Baxter's latest projection, the forthcoming GE is a four horse race with the Tories set to win 382 seats, Labour 185 seats, the SNP 42 seats with LibDems bringing up the rear with just 20 seats.
Baxter reckons that Plaid Cymru, the Greens, Brexit and Others will win a miserable 3 seats between them.
Farage 'Tories should stand down for the Brexit Party in Labour seats'
Farage's decision now clearly aimed at ensuring the Tories keep most seats but again fall short of a majority giving the Brexit Party the balance of power and forcing No Deal. Hence the decision to stand down in only the existing 317 Tory seats while still standing Brexit Party candidates in all Labour seats. Farage says 'Tories aiming for a Tory majority not a Leave majority.'
Farage 'Tories should stand down for the Brexit Party in Labour seats'
Farage's decision now clearly aimed at ensuring the Tories keep most seats but again fall short of a majority giving the Brexit Party the balance of power and forcing No Deal. Hence the decision to stand down in only the existing 317 Tory seats while still standing Brexit Party candidates in all Labour seats. Farage says 'Tories aiming for a Tory majority not a Leave majority.'
Norfolk North was solid blue territory before Norman Lamb.
Now he has quit, with all the known-name bonuses he has built up over 30 years as a PPC them an MP going with him, a 3.4% Lib->Con swing turns the constituency blue again.
3-1 against this happening seems like value, especially as the area is known as much for its rural charm, retirees and brexitiness as it is for its excellent crabs.
O/t, but I heard Bill Browder on R4 this am after Hillary state that though the US had applied sanctions to Russia/Russians after the Skirpal poisonings, the UK had not. Is this correct?
If so, what a pitifully compromised paper tiger the UK has become.
Is this going to be one of those where it eventually emerges that we were constrained by the need to obtain the EU's approval first? If so we were always in trouble; Germany is very worried about its provision of gas.
I believe the EU did impose official (if minimal) sanctions to 4 of the state actors, so I'm not sure if that one's going to fly. Otoh I can't find any record of the UK doing similar, but if anyone can provide a link...
Farage 'Tories should stand down for the Brexit Party in Labour seats'
Farage's decision now clearly aimed at ensuring the Tories keep most seats but again fall short of a majority giving the Brexit Party the balance of power and forcing No Deal. Hence the decision to stand down in only the existing 317 Tory seats while still standing Brexit Party candidates in all Labour seats. Farage says 'Tories aiming for a Tory majority not a Leave majority.'
I thought your line was that TBP would be helping the Tories in Leave LAB/CON marginals?
They will be in my view but Farage still thinks he can take those seats and take seats like Pontefract from Yvette Cooper or Hartlepool or Wigan from Lisa Nandy or the Rhondda and Merthyr Tydfil etc the Tories could never win
lol - BJ is a scruffy oik! He does not stand errect but slouches with his hands in his pockets. If he wore a green knitted hat, he could pass for compo out of last of the summer wine!
Touch of Compo in there too. Yes I can see it. Let's just hope his premiership doesn't resemble that series. It lasted an age and nobody could quite explain why.
Very odd pricing at Sporting Index. You can buy the Conservative 300-ups for less than the main Con spread (300+46 vs 347). Should always be the other way round.
Tory sources said such attacks were 'fairly standard' and pointed out that Labour seemed to have 'weaknesses' on their systems. 'Any major organisation is likely to be targeted if they do not have the right security,' a source told MailOnline.
The Conservatives were hit with a similar DDOS strike at party conference earlier this year.
Clive Lewis making a twat of himself again on twitter over this.
Will be a productive meme for conspiracy theorists after 12 Dec. How Dark Forces robbed the Corbynistas of their victory etc. Someone will make a film about it. All dark shadows, oblique camera angles. Bit part for Paul Mason?
I don't think so either. The public may well think differently though. The UKIP takeover of the Tories is nearly complete.
It is No Deal at the end of Transition imo. BoZo has promised* no extension.
*though obviously his promises are worth nothing.
UKIP/BXP favoured zero immigration, No Deal, opposed same sex marriage, wanted a referendum on reintroducing the death penalty, wanted to slash foreign aid, to be militarily isolationist and denies climate change.
All of those positions are at odds with the Conservatives.
Were at odds with the Conservatives. Where do you think the people that now control the party - the Raabs, the Patels, the Rees Moggs, the Bridgens, the Francois, etc - stand on those issues? There may be nuanced differences in some areas, but the direction of travel is clearly a shared one.
Boris...doesn't favour No Deal...
@Casino_Royale. As I have discussed before, I don't think that's true. I point out that he had to be restrained from Leaving with No Deal by the Benn Act, and that he actively tried to wriggle out from its constraint. I also point out that he had a deal agreed in Parliament (subject to further inspection) and called an election instead of pursuing it. The thesis that Boris may initiate a No Deal departure is still consistent with the facts.
And, as @Cyclefree pointed out in her outstanding recent article, it is still a nontrivial probability in 2020.
Labour really are mental....If you take the tweet at face value, Labour are promising to give every student not only free uni but pay them £15k a year to attend?
I think the SNP has it's fair number of gammons, and looking at your posts Malcolm, I suspect you go red in the face every time you think about Tories! 😂😂
By the way, I thought I'd post this article again to get you to go full on gammon nationalist! It is written by a black Scottish woman. What d'y' think?
Usual bollox from people with a chip on their shoulder. Scotland is far from perfect but trying to say Nationalists are all racists is puerile. PS: Best you stick to your sheep.
Does she have a chip on her shoulder? About what? That is a bit of a "I am not racist but..." comment n'est pas? No sheep round here btw, but if that is the sort of thing that occupies your mind I am sure you can get counselling to go with the anger management advice.
So you can only resort to bollox as your point was garbage
What are the chances of the IT attack on Labour having been carried out by an acne covered 16 year old youth from his bedroom in his parent's house somewhere in deepest, darkest Englandshire and absolutely nothing to do with the Russians, Chinese, Americans or any other foreign power!!
What are the chances of the IT attack on Labour having been carried out by an acne covered 16 year old youth from his bedroom in his parent's house somewhere in deepest, darkest Englandshire and absolutely nothing to do with the Russians, Chinese, Americans or any other foreign power!!
Well the people that are in the know seem to think it was something like that, they have already ruled out nation states.
Give them some credit...I wonder why their campaign tool went down? Didn't setup Cloudflare properly?
They probably only have it for their public facing presence, this was likely an internal tool but with no IP based block so still publicly accessible if one knows where to look.
Labour really are mental....If you take the tweet at face value, Labour are promising to give every student not only free uni but pay them £15k a year to attend?
Labour really are mental....If you take the tweet at face value, Labour are promising to give every student not only free uni but pay them £15k a year to attend?
Labour's education offer to over 18s makes skillz walletz look rather weedy.
It's like the LibDems brought a knife to a gun fight, and Labour brought HMS Hood.
Has Dickie Leonard not noticed that education is devolved? He's not in power in Holyrood. I mean, Labour aren't going to be in power in Westminster, but still...
The BBC's Gordon Corera has an important update on the Labour cyber attack story. He's learned that it's believed to be a low-level incident - not a large scale and sophisticated attack.
It was reported to the National Cyber Security Centre, but they did not need to take any action as it was all resolved. There is no sign of it being anything linked to another state, our security correspondent adds.
It sounds more like the sort of thing anybody who has an online business is acutely aware of. If you have servers on the internet, you are always a potential target. Years ago, because the likes of Cloudflare were prevalent, one of my business got hit by a DDOS. No ransom, no follow-up, just somebody decided to fire the outer space laser cannon on one of my servers for a day.
Labour really are mental....If you take the tweet at face value, Labour are promising to give every student not only free uni but pay them £15k a year to attend?
Labour's education offer to over 18s makes skillz walletz look rather weedy.
It's like the LibDems brought a knife to a gun fight, and Labour brought HMS Hood.
Has Dickie Leonard not noticed that education is devolved? He's not in power in Holyrood. I mean, Labour aren't going to be in power in Westminster, but still...
Was it only 7 short years ago that Johann 'something for nothing' Lamont was suggesting tuition fees should be reintroduced in Scotland? Time flies..
It's not being prioritized. They are saying they'll throw zillions at everything.
Sound Money advocates are disenfranchised in this GE, I'm afraid. We await the manifestos but I think we will find that at least Labour's spending has some coherent underlying purpose. It will be bribery PLUS coherent purpose, rather than just the former, which I fear is what the Cons will unveil. But let's see. One shouldn't pre-judge.
Just for context on the "sophisticated cyber attack": they're talking about a DDOS, the most basic and crude form of attack, basically flooding the target with junk until it becomes unusable.
These can be bought online (with cryptocurrency for anonymity) for $20/hour.
If it was the Russians, they'd be in and out silently after grabbing key information, then publishing it via WikiLeaks or wherever.
There is a suggestion it might not even be that. The candidates might have overloaded their own system with a last minute rush to access campaign material.
I agree, if it is DDOS, it highly unlikely to be a nation state. Also, why arent they using something like cloudflare.
Nation states do engage in DDOS attacks.
Why do you say that? (genuine question, it is not an area I am familiar with beyond knowing what the acronym stands for)
Ddos = distributed denial of service. When you ask to view a webpage, the computer that hosts it needs to know that you want to view it and the id of your computer. It then sends it to you. That process takes time, albeit a small time. That finite length places an upper limit on the number of people who can ask for a view at a given time. If you automatically generate too many requests you can freeze the webpage, and if you spoof it so your requests appear to come from many different sources, then the attacked computer cannot identify which are real and which not, and effectively gives up
Ddos attacks are crude and more the province of virus writers and individuals than states. But iirc they have been done by states before. Although as others have pointed out, it's a bit teenage for a proper state.
(I appreciate from your reply that you may know all/most of this already, but others reading it may not)
What are the chances of the IT attack on Labour having been carried out by an acne covered 16 year old youth from his bedroom in his parent's house somewhere in deepest, darkest Englandshire and absolutely nothing to do with the Russians, Chinese, Americans or any other foreign power!!
I see that Electoral Calculus' latest forecast now only has the Cons losing 4 seats - Richmond Pk and Cheltenham to the LDs and Gordon and Stirling to the SNP. Seems a bit overgenerous to the Cons now.
Regarding where people live, I am in Maidenhead town. I think rather than just thinking about location we should also consider social class. I can't imagine there are many C2s and Ds on here!
Just for context on the "sophisticated cyber attack": they're talking about a DDOS, the most basic and crude form of attack, basically flooding the target with junk until it becomes unusable.
These can be bought online (with cryptocurrency for anonymity) for $20/hour.
If it was the Russians, they'd be in and out silently after grabbing key information, then publishing it via WikiLeaks or wherever.
There is a suggestion it might not even be that. The candidates might have overloaded their own system with a last minute rush to access campaign material.
I agree, if it is DDOS, it highly unlikely to be a nation state. Also, why arent they using something like cloudflare.
Nation states do engage in DDOS attacks.
Why do you say that? (genuine question, it is not an area I am familiar with beyond knowing what the acronym stands for)
Ddos = distributed denial of service. When you ask to view a webpage, the computer that hosts it needs to know that you want to view it and the id of your computer. It then sends it to you. That process takes time, albeit a small time. That finite length places an upper limit on the number of people who can ask for a view at a given time. If you automatically generate too many requests you can freeze the webpage, and if you spoof it so your requests appear to come from many different sources, then the attacked computer cannot identify which are real and which not, and effectively gives up
Ddos attacks are crude and more the province of virus writers and individuals than states. But iirc they have been done by states before. Although as others have pointed out, it's a bit teenage for a proper state.
(I appreciate from your reply that you may know all/most of this already, but others reading it may not)
So it may not be a DDOS at all, it could be too many enthusiastic citizens wishing to view Labour's peals of wisdom ;-).
Labour really are mental....If you take the tweet at face value, Labour are promising to give every student not only free uni but pay them £15k a year to attend?
Labour's education offer to over 18s makes skillz walletz look rather weedy.
It's like the LibDems brought a knife to a gun fight, and Labour brought HMS Hood.
Six years' tuition for every adult means (on a rough set of assumptions including 50% lifetime take-up) a rise in the education bill of £30B a year and a trebling of the numbers of people at university or FE.
Labour really are mental....If you take the tweet at face value, Labour are promising to give every student not only free uni but pay them £15k a year to attend?
Labour's education offer to over 18s makes skillz walletz look rather weedy.
It's like the LibDems brought a knife to a gun fight, and Labour brought HMS Hood.
Has Dickie Leonard not noticed that education is devolved? He's not in power in Holyrood. I mean, Labour aren't going to be in power in Westminster, but still...
I am fascinated by all these Russians who are clogging our internet with messages favouring some candidate or another in some election or another in order, apparently to destroy Western civilisation.
Who is teaching them English ?
Last month I was in Franche Comte again, Besancon generally reckoned to be the most civilized part of France. Le Musee des Beaux Artes is the oldest in France, 100 years older than the Louvre. It has been refurbed at great expense, 100M euros or some such - Macron spent a full afternoon re-opening it - so fairly prestigious project. There are helpful panels in each room of the museum 1/2 French and 1/4 English precis and 1/4 German precis. You would be unlikely to get change from 1000 Euros for each panel - you get the idea. The English on these panels has been produced by Google Translate - or worse - it is absolutely dreadful. Now that was obviously a project management failure - they could have picked up some travelling Englishman or American who could have done the job for a very moderate return - and would have done. There is also a major language school at Besancon - unbelieveable.
Now, if the French could make such a major cock-up on such a prestigious project - how the hell is some Russian, drunk on vodka, going to be able to fire off hundreds of emails day after day and not sound like Alecksandr the Meercat ?
The claim is simply preposterous - only a native English speaker would be capable of entering into, for instance the discussion on PB. Even Scandinavians have verbal mannerisms which give them away in a few sentences.
Now, I am the first to concede that the French have a problem with teaching English nowadays and that must have compounded what has happened at the Musee but the idea that some Russian could write a comment even of this length and not give themselves away is as ridiculous as suggesting I could translate it into French and not be caught out.
BTW Besancon is a tremendous place to visit - but in the Museum don't bother with the English translations - they will make you feel sick.
Comments
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/nov/11/tory-candidate-anthony-browne-faces-calls-quit-over-disgusting-racism
A book by Browne, Do We Need Mass Immigration?, attributes a catalogue of social ills and health problems to immigration.
... “The fact that African immigration has overtaken gay sex as the main cause of HIV in Britain is a sign that Europe can no longer ignore the entirely preventable Aids holocaust consuming the continent next door. But the solution is to treat the majority where they live, rather than the small number who can make it to Britain to access HIV treatment on the NHS.”
In a passage about Muslim leaders warning the Iraq war could cause social unrest, he wrote: “Whatever the merits or demerits of war on Iraq, it is hardly a national strength to have a large minority with such divided loyalties during war.”
Browne ... addressed some of the comments when he became a policy director when Johnson was mayor of London, saying he had gone through a “phase of being deliberately contrary and deliberately provocative”.
He said at the time: “I do very much regret any offence caused by any past newspaper articles. It really never was my intention to cause offence, but to provoke debate. The articles, which I deeply regret writing, also don’t give a fair reflection of my views. I want to make clear that I am emphatically not anti-immigration.
On HIV/immigration - it could be deemed bigoted because he is linking a disease about which people are (irrationally IMV) afraid with immigration. However, his solution - to deal with the infection at source - is commendable
Isn't his comment about the Iraq war causing divided loyalties a statement of fact? (I assume, I haven't looked for polling). And similarly it's a reasonable opinion that "a large minority with such divided loyalties" is "hardly a national strength".
The issue is with screams of "bigotry" you close down reasonable - if provocative - debate. That is quite different from some of the "final solution for the Jews in Palestine" or "pushing Israel into the sea" or some of the more extreme examples we have seen in the last couple of weeks
If so, what a pitifully compromised paper tiger the UK has become.
Sorry.
Sounds like if he was standing this time around he would be cancelled due to his history of dirty jokes...
Bit of a surprise. I thought it might be a powerhouse of a place providing educational opportunities for the less privileged on a heavily subsidized basis.
It was reported to the National Cyber Security Centre, but they did not need to take any action as it was all resolved. There is no sign of it being anything linked to another state, our security correspondent adds.
https://www.bbc.com/news/live/election-2019-50386334
It sounds more like the sort of thing anybody who has an online business is acutely aware of. If you have servers on the internet, you are always a potential target. Years ago, because the likes of Cloudflare were prevalent, one of my business got hit by a DDOS. No ransom, no follow-up, just somebody decided to fire the outer space laser cannon on one of my servers for a day.
But Paul Mason knows better...
https://twitter.com/paulmasonnews/status/1194197404716871680?s=20
Can't comment on the smell - so let's assume that's OK.
It started in 2015 and so far there's no sign of the Deadly Dull Old Stalinist stepping down.
Really glad to see that area being prioritized.
https://www.bbc.com/news/election-2019-50388879
Give them some credit...I wonder why their campaign tool went down? Didn't setup Cloudflare properly?
No nee for polling. Look at the rationale for the 7/7 & Lee Rigby attacks from the perpetrators. Hundreds of people have been maimed & murdered because of the fact that the loyalty is ‘divided’
The Conservatives were hit with a similar DDOS strike at party conference earlier this year.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7676199/Labour-hit-sophisticated-large-scale-cyber-attack.html
Clive Lewis making a twat of himself again on twitter over this.
Can it possibly be a coincidence?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AL93KiCfTc
Baxter reckons that Plaid Cymru, the Greens, Brexit and Others will win a miserable 3 seats between them.
Farage's decision now clearly aimed at ensuring the Tories keep most seats but again fall short of a majority giving the Brexit Party the balance of power and forcing No Deal. Hence the decision to stand down in only the existing 317 Tory seats while still standing Brexit Party candidates in all Labour seats. Farage says 'Tories aiming for a Tory majority not a Leave majority.'
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2019-50387254
Laters.
Norfolk North was solid blue territory before Norman Lamb.
Now he has quit, with all the known-name bonuses he has built up over 30 years as a PPC them an MP going with him, a 3.4% Lib->Con swing turns the constituency blue again.
3-1 against this happening seems like value, especially as the area is known as much for its rural charm, retirees and brexitiness as it is for its excellent crabs.
And, as @Cyclefree pointed out in her outstanding recent article, it is still a nontrivial probability in 2020.
https://twitter.com/LabourRichard/status/1194147817368911872?s=20
https://twitter.com/roger_scully/status/1194237039820103680?s=20
It's like the LibDems brought a knife to a gun fight, and Labour brought HMS Hood.
Ddos attacks are crude and more the province of virus writers and individuals than states. But iirc they have been done by states before. Although as others have pointed out, it's a bit teenage for a proper state.
(I appreciate from your reply that you may know all/most of this already, but others reading it may not)
Regarding where people live, I am in Maidenhead town. I think rather than just thinking about location we should also consider social class. I can't imagine there are many C2s and Ds on here!
Who is teaching them English ?
Last month I was in Franche Comte again, Besancon generally reckoned to be the most civilized part of France. Le Musee des Beaux Artes is the oldest in France, 100 years older than the Louvre. It has been refurbed at great expense, 100M euros or some such - Macron spent a full afternoon re-opening it - so fairly prestigious project. There are helpful panels in each room of the museum 1/2 French and 1/4 English precis and 1/4 German precis. You would be unlikely to get change from 1000 Euros for each panel - you get the idea. The English on these panels has been produced by Google Translate - or worse - it is absolutely dreadful. Now that was obviously a project management failure - they could have picked up some travelling Englishman or American who could have done the job for a very moderate return - and would have done. There is also a major language school at Besancon - unbelieveable.
Now, if the French could make such a major cock-up on such a prestigious project - how the hell is some Russian, drunk on vodka, going to be able to fire off hundreds of emails day after day and not sound like Alecksandr the Meercat ?
The claim is simply preposterous - only a native English speaker would be capable of entering into, for instance the discussion on PB. Even Scandinavians have verbal mannerisms which give them away in a few sentences.
Now, I am the first to concede that the French have a problem with teaching English nowadays and that must have compounded what has happened at the Musee but the idea that some Russian could write a comment even of this length and not give themselves away is as ridiculous as suggesting I could translate it into French and not be caught out.
BTW Besancon is a tremendous place to visit - but in the Museum don't bother with the English translations - they will make you feel sick.