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politicalbetting.com » Blog Archive » Farage looks set to lose his BBC Election Question Time slot f

SystemSystem Posts: 12,170
edited November 2019 in General

imagepoliticalbetting.com » Blog Archive » Farage looks set to lose his BBC Election Question Time slot following BP’s candidate withdrawal move

It is being reported in the Times and other papers that Farage could lose some of his key TV debate slots following his move to pull BP candidates in Tory seats.

Read the full story here


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Comments

  • philiphphiliph Posts: 4,704
    edited November 2019
    First

    Perfectly reasonable and unexpected consequence.
    As a tongue in cheek comment I had suggested Jo was jeopardising her position by withdrawing from seats tactically.
  • olmolm Posts: 125
    edited November 2019
    Second unlike Farage, ever
  • Not with a bang but a whimper.......
  • asjohnstoneasjohnstone Posts: 1,276
    " Clearly moving from a leader who could theoretically win the election and become PM to one where that is no longer possible changes his status. "

    If they won all non conservative held seats, they could still govern couldn't they ?

    (In theory obvs)
  • " Clearly moving from a leader who could theoretically win the election and become PM to one where that is no longer possible changes his status. "

    If they won all non conservative held seats, they could still govern couldn't they ?

    (In theory obvs)

    Think noy standing in Northern Ieland so no!


  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,231
    @FrancisUrquhart

    Reviews of the Mandalorian have generally been pretty good:

    https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/the_mandalorian
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,231

    Hillary Clinton 'under enormous pressure' to run in 2020

    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-50399230

    Well, she's missed the filing deadlines for Alabama and Arkansas. Friday is the deadline for New Hampshire. And then California and Florida are before the end of this month.

    If she's entering the race, she's doing it in the next two weeks. (Spoiler alert: she's not entering the race.)
  • rcs1000 said:

    Hillary Clinton 'under enormous pressure' to run in 2020

    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-50399230

    Well, she's missed the filing deadlines for Alabama and Arkansas. Friday is the deadline for New Hampshire. And then California and Florida are before the end of this month.

    If she's entering the race, she's doing it in the next two weeks. (Spoiler alert: she's not entering the race.)
    A cynic might think she's trying to generate headlines to bolster book sales.....
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 96,153
    madmacs said:

    " Clearly moving from a leader who could theoretically win the election and become PM to one where that is no longer possible changes his status. "

    If they won all non conservative held seats, they could still govern couldn't they ?

    (In theory obvs)

    Think noy standing in Northern Ieland so no!


    But could theoretically win highest number of seats and so lead a coalition or minority. Though you could do that without being largest party. All implausible of course but still.
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 96,153

    Viewers are aghast as Boris Johnson adds milk to his cup of tea BEFORE removing the bag

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7678705/Storm-teacup-Viewers-aghast-PM-adds-milk-cup-tea-removing-bag.html

    Doc Brown - My Proper Tea

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtK_vfp8po8

    I do that sometimes. But he didn't stir after adding milk which is mad.

    Hillary Clinton 'under enormous pressure' to run in 2020

    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-50399230

    I know the USA deserves a lot but it doesnt deserve a rerun of Trump vs Clinton.
    egg said:

    Are the papers boasting “Boris now 14 points ahead in polls” on message?

    The Matt nails it. Again.

    The most partisan people and media cannot help themselves. Presumably they'll headline it if it drops now.
  • Interesting - is Trump's (hormone treated) beef with Europe tariffs or standards?

    https://twitter.com/Reuters/status/1194467422100738049?s=20
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,231

    rcs1000 said:

    Hillary Clinton 'under enormous pressure' to run in 2020

    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-50399230

    Well, she's missed the filing deadlines for Alabama and Arkansas. Friday is the deadline for New Hampshire. And then California and Florida are before the end of this month.

    If she's entering the race, she's doing it in the next two weeks. (Spoiler alert: she's not entering the race.)
    A cynic might think she's trying to generate headlines to bolster book sales.....
    What???

    I was going to post a link about how The Book of Gutsy Women (yuck title) was really badly reviewed.

    But it turns out the reviews are all pretty decent which is a bit embarrassing.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,231

    Interesting - is Trump's (hormone treated) beef with Europe tariffs or standards?

    https://twitter.com/Reuters/status/1194467422100738049?s=20

    One person's Non Tariff Barrier is another person's sovereign right to decide on food standards.

    This, of course, is where US trade negotiations will fall down. The US will require us to accept GM crops, and will also prevent us from labeling said crops as GM.

    Johnson will push hard for it, and it will be really unpopular. (With both his own party and the country at large.)
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 38,868
    rcs1000 said:

    Interesting - is Trump's (hormone treated) beef with Europe tariffs or standards?

    https://twitter.com/Reuters/status/1194467422100738049?s=20

    One person's Non Tariff Barrier is another person's sovereign right to decide on food standards.

    This, of course, is where US trade negotiations will fall down. The US will require us to accept GM crops, and will also prevent us from labeling said crops as GM.

    Johnson will push hard for it, and it will be really unpopular. (With both his own party and the country at large.)
    We won't get a trade deal with the US. There's no political will for it outside of a few hardcore Tories. I'm not even sure that Bozza will push the angle other than as a distraction if the EU trade talks aren't going well.
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 38,868
    In slightly related news, I'm interested to see what IP concessions China has made for this phase 1 deal. I think that might be 5he only possible route to a US trade deal, if it included the UK in whatever Trump negotiates with China. That might be worth the downsides.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,231
    MaxPB said:

    In slightly related news, I'm interested to see what IP concessions China has made for this phase 1 deal. I think that might be 5he only possible route to a US trade deal, if it included the UK in whatever Trump negotiates with China. That might be worth the downsides.

    Sadly, while that would be the best outcome for the world, I fear it is unlikely.

    IP protection is not interesting to a President who cares principally about saying "they've agreed to buy $500bn of US goods and therefore the trade deficit will be eliminated. Look at me, I made an amazing deal."

    China will be looking at its list of imports and working out what can be bought from the US, rather than (for example) Brazil or Australia. It will agree to buy some steel, and some soy beans, and some wheat, and maybe some American oil, or coal, and it will end up paying a slightly higher price than it would have done otherwise.

    The overall US trade deficit, of course, will not decline because those were commodities that would otherwise have been used in the US (requiring them to now be imported from elsewhere) or would have been exported to places like the UK or the EU.

    It's pushing down on a bubble on a piece of plastic and being surprised when it pops up elsewhere.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,231
    MaxPB said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Interesting - is Trump's (hormone treated) beef with Europe tariffs or standards?

    https://twitter.com/Reuters/status/1194467422100738049?s=20

    One person's Non Tariff Barrier is another person's sovereign right to decide on food standards.

    This, of course, is where US trade negotiations will fall down. The US will require us to accept GM crops, and will also prevent us from labeling said crops as GM.

    Johnson will push hard for it, and it will be really unpopular. (With both his own party and the country at large.)
    We won't get a trade deal with the US. There's no political will for it outside of a few hardcore Tories. I'm not even sure that Bozza will push the angle other than as a distraction if the EU trade talks aren't going well.
    I think Johnson genuinely does want to reorient the UK away from Europe and towards the US. I just don't think he realises the compromises that will be necessary to achieve such a pivot.
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 38,868
    rcs1000 said:

    MaxPB said:

    In slightly related news, I'm interested to see what IP concessions China has made for this phase 1 deal. I think that might be 5he only possible route to a US trade deal, if it included the UK in whatever Trump negotiates with China. That might be worth the downsides.

    Sadly, while that would be the best outcome for the world, I fear it is unlikely.

    IP protection is not interesting to a President who cares principally about saying "they've agreed to buy $500bn of US goods and therefore the trade deficit will be eliminated. Look at me, I made an amazing deal."

    China will be looking at its list of imports and working out what can be bought from the US, rather than (for example) Brazil or Australia. It will agree to buy some steel, and some soy beans, and some wheat, and maybe some American oil, or coal, and it will end up paying a slightly higher price than it would have done otherwise.

    The overall US trade deficit, of course, will not decline because those were commodities that would otherwise have been used in the US (requiring them to now be imported from elsewhere) or would have been exported to places like the UK or the EU.

    It's pushing down on a bubble on a piece of plastic and being surprised when it pops up elsewhere.
    Yes, that's why I'm interested to see. I don't think it will amount to a lot, but I've heard that while Trump isn't massively interested the rest of his commerce department is as it is the main concern among US companies that do business in China.
  • rcs1000 said:

    Interesting - is Trump's (hormone treated) beef with Europe tariffs or standards?

    https://twitter.com/Reuters/status/1194467422100738049?s=20

    One person's Non Tariff Barrier is another person's sovereign right to decide on food standards.

    This, of course, is where US trade negotiations will fall down. The US will require us to accept GM crops, and will also prevent us from labeling said crops as GM.

    Johnson will push hard for it, and it will be really unpopular. (With both his own party and the country at large.)
    How does the US already export beef to the Netherlands & Italy?

    https://beef2live.com/story-beef-exports-country-year-date-0-109756
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,231
    MaxPB said:

    rcs1000 said:

    MaxPB said:

    In slightly related news, I'm interested to see what IP concessions China has made for this phase 1 deal. I think that might be 5he only possible route to a US trade deal, if it included the UK in whatever Trump negotiates with China. That might be worth the downsides.

    Sadly, while that would be the best outcome for the world, I fear it is unlikely.

    IP protection is not interesting to a President who cares principally about saying "they've agreed to buy $500bn of US goods and therefore the trade deficit will be eliminated. Look at me, I made an amazing deal."

    China will be looking at its list of imports and working out what can be bought from the US, rather than (for example) Brazil or Australia. It will agree to buy some steel, and some soy beans, and some wheat, and maybe some American oil, or coal, and it will end up paying a slightly higher price than it would have done otherwise.

    The overall US trade deficit, of course, will not decline because those were commodities that would otherwise have been used in the US (requiring them to now be imported from elsewhere) or would have been exported to places like the UK or the EU.

    It's pushing down on a bubble on a piece of plastic and being surprised when it pops up elsewhere.
    Yes, that's why I'm interested to see. I don't think it will amount to a lot, but I've heard that while Trump isn't massively interested the rest of his commerce department is as it is the main concern among US companies that do business in China.
    Intellectual property theft is part inevitable (if you work at a factory, you see how things are made, and that's just life), and part public policy (with the Chinese government forcing Western firms to engage in technology "transfers"). I think the former is all a part-and-parcel of doing business. The latter, sadly, has been tolerated by Western governments for too long.

    US trade policy is dominated by Robert Lighthizer, who's obsessed by the steel industry, and the effect of protective tariffs on it. I've seen him speak, and never once has he mentioned technology and IP issues. Maybe I'm pessimistic, but it seems that the US-China deal will just be a bandaid that allows China to continue to behave badly, while not reducing the overall size of the deficit.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,231

    rcs1000 said:

    Interesting - is Trump's (hormone treated) beef with Europe tariffs or standards?

    https://twitter.com/Reuters/status/1194467422100738049?s=20

    One person's Non Tariff Barrier is another person's sovereign right to decide on food standards.

    This, of course, is where US trade negotiations will fall down. The US will require us to accept GM crops, and will also prevent us from labeling said crops as GM.

    Johnson will push hard for it, and it will be really unpopular. (With both his own party and the country at large.)
    How does the US already export beef to the Netherlands & Italy?

    https://beef2live.com/story-beef-exports-country-year-date-0-109756
    Because it exports beef that meets Dutch and Italian food safety standards. In other words, US farmers have to deal with Dutch non tariff barriers.
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 38,868
    rcs1000 said:

    Intellectual property theft is part inevitable (if you work at a factory, you see how things are made, and that's just life), and part public policy (with the Chinese government forcing Western firms to engage in technology "transfers"). I think the former is all a part-and-parcel of doing business. The latter, sadly, has been tolerated by Western governments for too long.

    US trade policy is dominated by Robert Lighthizer, who's obsessed by the steel industry, and the effect of protective tariffs on it. I've seen him speak, and never once has he mentioned technology and IP issues. Maybe I'm pessimistic, but it seems that the US-China deal will just be a bandaid that allows China to continue to behave badly, while not reducing the overall size of the deficit.

    Hmm, I think it has been accepted until now because companies could live with IP theft being limited to the domestic Chinese market. Now we're seeing those Chinese companies steal the IP, undercut the western backed joint venture, bankrupt it and export said IP to the rest of the world and have the Chinese government cover litigation liabilities where the original IP owner sues the Chinese company.

    I've heard one of the major reasons Sony is shifting a lot of its core manufacturing out of China and into SE Asia is due to this reason. For example there was a consideration to make the new 8K image processing chips in a Chinese foundry, but fear of IP theft has pushed them to do it Japan and assemble the TVs in Thailand. Same for the high end cameras. Only the low margin impossible to copy stuff is going to stay in China (PS5, for example).
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 38,868
    rcs1000 said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Interesting - is Trump's (hormone treated) beef with Europe tariffs or standards?

    https://twitter.com/Reuters/status/1194467422100738049?s=20

    One person's Non Tariff Barrier is another person's sovereign right to decide on food standards.

    This, of course, is where US trade negotiations will fall down. The US will require us to accept GM crops, and will also prevent us from labeling said crops as GM.

    Johnson will push hard for it, and it will be really unpopular. (With both his own party and the country at large.)
    How does the US already export beef to the Netherlands & Italy?

    https://beef2live.com/story-beef-exports-country-year-date-0-109756
    Because it exports beef that meets Dutch and Italian food safety standards. In other words, US farmers have to deal with Dutch non tariff barriers.
    Tbh, this is why I'm not sure anything beyond mutual tariff elimination is desirable with the US.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 54,627
    Nigel who? He should be grateful that it looks like his life’s work is about to be achieved - but instead he’s mad because others are now getting the credit for it.
  • Sean_FSean_F Posts: 37,381
    Sandpit said:

    Nigel who? He should be grateful that it looks like his life’s work is about to be achieved - but instead he’s mad because others are now getting the credit for it.

    I can't remember who said it but it's true that "there's no limit to what you can achieve, so long as you don't care who gets the credit for it."
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 54,627
    rcs1000 said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Interesting - is Trump's (hormone treated) beef with Europe tariffs or standards?

    https://twitter.com/Reuters/status/1194467422100738049?s=20

    One person's Non Tariff Barrier is another person's sovereign right to decide on food standards.

    This, of course, is where US trade negotiations will fall down. The US will require us to accept GM crops, and will also prevent us from labeling said crops as GM.

    Johnson will push hard for it, and it will be really unpopular. (With both his own party and the country at large.)
    How does the US already export beef to the Netherlands & Italy?

    https://beef2live.com/story-beef-exports-country-year-date-0-109756
    Because it exports beef that meets Dutch and Italian food safety standards. In other words, US farmers have to deal with Dutch non tariff barriers.
    Won’t that be mostly high end organic USDA beef, which is really quite nice, as opposed to the crap that’s mass-produced for US domestic consumption?
  • Sean_F said:

    Sandpit said:

    Nigel who? He should be grateful that it looks like his life’s work is about to be achieved - but instead he’s mad because others are now getting the credit for it.

    I can't remember who said it but it's true that "there's no limit to what you can achieve, so long as you don't care who gets the credit for it."
    Variously attributed to Truman or Reagan.....
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,231
    Sandpit said:

    rcs1000 said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Interesting - is Trump's (hormone treated) beef with Europe tariffs or standards?

    https://twitter.com/Reuters/status/1194467422100738049?s=20

    One person's Non Tariff Barrier is another person's sovereign right to decide on food standards.

    This, of course, is where US trade negotiations will fall down. The US will require us to accept GM crops, and will also prevent us from labeling said crops as GM.

    Johnson will push hard for it, and it will be really unpopular. (With both his own party and the country at large.)
    How does the US already export beef to the Netherlands & Italy?

    https://beef2live.com/story-beef-exports-country-year-date-0-109756
    Because it exports beef that meets Dutch and Italian food safety standards. In other words, US farmers have to deal with Dutch non tariff barriers.
    Won’t that be mostly high end organic USDA beef, which is really quite nice, as opposed to the crap that’s mass-produced for US domestic consumption?
    Yes. There's some absolutely amazing beef that's exported. And then there's some utter shit that's in burgers and the like.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 71,236
    rcs1000 said:

    MaxPB said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Interesting - is Trump's (hormone treated) beef with Europe tariffs or standards?

    https://twitter.com/Reuters/status/1194467422100738049?s=20

    One person's Non Tariff Barrier is another person's sovereign right to decide on food standards.

    This, of course, is where US trade negotiations will fall down. The US will require us to accept GM crops, and will also prevent us from labeling said crops as GM.

    Johnson will push hard for it, and it will be really unpopular. (With both his own party and the country at large.)
    We won't get a trade deal with the US. There's no political will for it outside of a few hardcore Tories. I'm not even sure that Bozza will push the angle other than as a distraction if the EU trade talks aren't going well.
    I think Johnson genuinely does want to reorient the UK away from Europe and towards the US. I just don't think he realises the compromises that will be necessary to achieve such a pivot.
    You would think that having had to pay tax on his UK house sale while he was still a US citizen might have clued him in on how the US sees its position in the world.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 71,236
    Another consequence of Trump wanting to run his alliances as protection rackets:
    https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/11/12/asia-pacific/nuclear-weapons-cost-sharing-south-korea/
  • Nigelb said:

    Another consequence of Trump wanting to run his alliances as protection rackets:
    https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/11/12/asia-pacific/nuclear-weapons-cost-sharing-south-korea/

    A nuclear-armed South Korea would also upend the regional security architecture in a number of ways, potentially giving Japan a reason to also build its own atomic weapons program.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,231
    Here is the real problem with the US having a "you're all out to get me" attitude: it gives up World leadership to China.

    China will do a deal with you. China won't rant against you in public. Why wouldn't you choose them as a partner over the US?

    The cost - to the US - of this will be enormous over the next few decades.
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 96,153
    Wow, its highbrow topic discussion for the expat and insomniac crowd.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 54,627
    kle4 said:

    Wow, its highbrow topic discussion for the expat and insomniac crowd.

    You’d prefer us all to have stayed on the topic of Nigel Farage?
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,231
    kle4 said:

    Wow, its highbrow topic discussion for the expat and insomniac crowd.

    I'm on a plane from LA to HK.

    Fifteen hours.

    PB is a welcome distraction.
  • SquareRootSquareRoot Posts: 7,095
    rcs1000 said:

    kle4 said:

    Wow, its highbrow topic discussion for the expat and insomniac crowd.

    I'm on a plane from LA to HK.

    Fifteen hours.

    PB is a welcome distraction.
    How can you post whilst on a plane?
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,231

    rcs1000 said:

    kle4 said:

    Wow, its highbrow topic discussion for the expat and insomniac crowd.

    I'm on a plane from LA to HK.

    Fifteen hours.

    PB is a welcome distraction.
    How can you post whilst on a plane?
    It has WiFi. $20 for a 15 hour flight. Pretty reasonable if you ask me.
  • SquareRootSquareRoot Posts: 7,095
    edited November 2019
    rcs1000 said:

    rcs1000 said:

    kle4 said:

    Wow, its highbrow topic discussion for the expat and insomniac crowd.

    I'm on a plane from LA to HK.

    Fifteen hours.

    PB is a welcome distraction.
    How can you post whilst on a plane?
    It has WiFi. $20 for a 15 hour flight. Pretty reasonable if you ask me.
    Never knew it was possible, I don't do long haul often, last time was longish haul UK to Barbados 8.5 hrs in 2016 and we had to be on flightmode..
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 54,627
    rcs1000 said:

    kle4 said:

    Wow, its highbrow topic discussion for the expat and insomniac crowd.

    I'm on a plane from LA to HK.

    Fifteen hours.

    PB is a welcome distraction.
    Ouch, that’s a long one. I know it’s great that one can now fly direct between just about every city pair in the world (and London to Sydney is coming soon!), but even in the comfy seats that’s an awfully long time to be on a plane.
  • SquareRootSquareRoot Posts: 7,095
    Sandpit said:

    rcs1000 said:

    kle4 said:

    Wow, its highbrow topic discussion for the expat and insomniac crowd.

    I'm on a plane from LA to HK.

    Fifteen hours.

    PB is a welcome distraction.
    Ouch, that’s a long one. I know it’s great that one can now fly direct between just about every city pair in the world (and London to Sydney is coming soon!), but even in the comfy seats that’s an awfully long time to be on a plane.
    too long..
  • Meanwhile back in the UK, SKY News is bring Mark Austin's tour around the UK to Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross on Friday 22nd November. I am delighted SKY is making the effort to come this far north. The BBC usually develops a "nose bleed" as soon as it get north of Stirling Castle and just relies on its doughty "outriders" based in the Inverness and Aberdeen offices.

    I have to confess I admire Martin Baxter's work on his Electoral Calculus site and now he must be burning the midnight oil to factor in the "sit outs" by TBP and the Remain Alliance. I wonder if any intended party candidates will "fail" to lodge nomination papers by 4pm tomorrow afternoon. For example is Liberal HQ going to send someone down to oversee the submission of a set of nomination papers for the Tim Walker replacement in Canterbury? I imagine a number of experienced party agents are sitting with blank nomination papers duly signed except for candidate name in case of last minute withdrawals because someone remembers that 30 years ago as a student a candidate called someone else a "banned" word!
  • Sandpit said:

    rcs1000 said:

    kle4 said:

    Wow, its highbrow topic discussion for the expat and insomniac crowd.

    I'm on a plane from LA to HK.

    Fifteen hours.

    PB is a welcome distraction.
    Ouch, that’s a long one.
    I doubt he's in the cheap seats!

    Mind you Hong Kong looks like it will be "interesting" when he gets there!

  • MysticroseMysticrose Posts: 4,688
    Sean_F said:

    Sandpit said:

    Nigel who? He should be grateful that it looks like his life’s work is about to be achieved - but instead he’s mad because others are now getting the credit for it.

    I can't remember who said it but it's true that "there's no limit to what you can achieve, so long as you don't care who gets the credit for it."
    I prefer John Grisham's description of the American Dream:

    'Basically the American Dream means benefitting from other people's misfortune.'

    Kinda sums up the state of things in the US right now ...
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 54,627
    edited November 2019

    Sandpit said:

    rcs1000 said:

    kle4 said:

    Wow, its highbrow topic discussion for the expat and insomniac crowd.

    I'm on a plane from LA to HK.

    Fifteen hours.

    PB is a welcome distraction.
    Ouch, that’s a long one. I know it’s great that one can now fly direct between just about every city pair in the world (and London to Sydney is coming soon!), but even in the comfy seats that’s an awfully long time to be on a plane.
    too long..
    My record is 13.5 hours on a single flight, Dubai to New York, with nine hours’ time difference.
    It’s pretty horrible. There’s now a direct Dubai to LA, which is something around 16 hours, with 12 hours’ time difference.

    Robert’s plane will land a day and a half after it took off, crossing the date line backwards westbound in the Pacific. That really screws with you.
  • Ouch!

    A Labour member beaten in the race for a plum seat by a close ally of Jeremy Corbyn has hit out at the party's "crooked" candidate selection process.

    Sundip Meghani lost out to Claudia Webbe in the race to contest Labour-held Leicester East at the general election. Islington councillor Ms Webbe is a member of Labour's ruling national executive committee and had tried unsuccessfully to be chosen as the party's candidate in a number of constituencies. She was chosen as the candidate in Leicester seat - which Keith Vaz held with a majority of more than 22,000 in 2017 - by a selection panel including two NEC members.

    In a statement posted on Twitter, Mr Meghani, a lead investigator at the Independent Office for Police Conduct, said: "In my job I challenge abuse of power and corruption - and as a Labour member I fight injustice and unfairness. "So I cannot stay silent on the obvious dodgy practices and nepotism involved in this process, where Labour's ruling executive chose a member of Labour's ruling executive as the candidiate."

    He added: "This type of conduct, where a well-connected favourite is nodded through, is no better than the Etonian old boys' network that Labour seeks to condemn."


    https://www.politicshome.com/news/uk/political-parties/labour-party/news/107950/snubbed-labour-candidate-slams-partys-crooked
  • Sean_F said:

    Sandpit said:

    Nigel who? He should be grateful that it looks like his life’s work is about to be achieved - but instead he’s mad because others are now getting the credit for it.

    I can't remember who said it but it's true that "there's no limit to what you can achieve, so long as you don't care who gets the credit for it."
    I prefer John Grisham's description of the American Dream:

    'Basically the American Dream means benefitting from other people's misfortune.'

    Kinda sums up the state of things in the US right now ...
    The American Dream is one of those phrases that means, as Humpty Dumpty advocated, whatever the user wants it to mean.
  • Sean_F said:

    Sandpit said:

    Nigel who? He should be grateful that it looks like his life’s work is about to be achieved - but instead he’s mad because others are now getting the credit for it.

    I can't remember who said it but it's true that "there's no limit to what you can achieve, so long as you don't care who gets the credit for it."
    Reagan?
  • Ouch!

    A Labour member beaten in the race for a plum seat by a close ally of Jeremy Corbyn has hit out at the party's "crooked" candidate selection process.

    Sundip Meghani lost out to Claudia Webbe in the race to contest Labour-held Leicester East at the general election. Islington councillor Ms Webbe is a member of Labour's ruling national executive committee and had tried unsuccessfully to be chosen as the party's candidate in a number of constituencies. She was chosen as the candidate in Leicester seat - which Keith Vaz held with a majority of more than 22,000 in 2017 - by a selection panel including two NEC members.

    In a statement posted on Twitter, Mr Meghani, a lead investigator at the Independent Office for Police Conduct, said: "In my job I challenge abuse of power and corruption - and as a Labour member I fight injustice and unfairness. "So I cannot stay silent on the obvious dodgy practices and nepotism involved in this process, where Labour's ruling executive chose a member of Labour's ruling executive as the candidiate."

    He added: "This type of conduct, where a well-connected favourite is nodded through, is no better than the Etonian old boys' network that Labour seeks to condemn."


    https://www.politicshome.com/news/uk/political-parties/labour-party/news/107950/snubbed-labour-candidate-slams-partys-crooked

    Claudia Webbe was the councillor for my ward when I lived in London. I have to say that I was not struck by any innate shining talent in her.
  • rcs1000 said:

    Here is the real problem with the US having a "you're all out to get me" attitude: it gives up World leadership to China.

    China will do a deal with you. China won't rant against you in public. Why wouldn't you choose them as a partner over the US?

    The cost - to the US - of this will be enormous over the next few decades.
    I want to read a bit more about Buttigieg’s foreign policy.

    Assuming he’s able to win both the democratic nomination and the presidency, maybe he can arrest the slide.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,231
    Sandpit said:

    Sandpit said:

    rcs1000 said:

    kle4 said:

    Wow, its highbrow topic discussion for the expat and insomniac crowd.

    I'm on a plane from LA to HK.

    Fifteen hours.

    PB is a welcome distraction.
    Ouch, that’s a long one. I know it’s great that one can now fly direct between just about every city pair in the world (and London to Sydney is coming soon!), but even in the comfy seats that’s an awfully long time to be on a plane.
    too long..
    My record is 13.5 hours on a single flight, Dubai to New York, with nine hours’ time difference.
    It’s pretty horrible. There’s now a direct Dubai to LA, which is something around 16 hours, with 12 hours’ time difference.

    Robert’s plane will land a day and a half after it took off, crossing the date line backwards westbound in the Pacific. That really screws with you.
    What screws with me even more is that when I head home, I take off on Thursday evening and land on... err... Thursday evening.
  • MysticroseMysticrose Posts: 4,688

    Sean_F said:

    Sandpit said:

    Nigel who? He should be grateful that it looks like his life’s work is about to be achieved - but instead he’s mad because others are now getting the credit for it.

    I can't remember who said it but it's true that "there's no limit to what you can achieve, so long as you don't care who gets the credit for it."
    I prefer John Grisham's description of the American Dream:

    'Basically the American Dream means benefitting from other people's misfortune.'

    Kinda sums up the state of things in the US right now ...
    The American Dream is one of those phrases that means, as Humpty Dumpty advocated, whatever the user wants it to mean.
    There was a rather more serious point to my comment, Alastair. Which is that America is a dog-eats-dog land. The innate propensity to tread on people's heads to get to the top has been accentuated in the last few years. The tenuous social web has all but disintegrated.

    I was shocked last time I was there earlier this year. Really, really, shocked. Homeless everywhere, or they would be if the authorities weren't busing them in from the suburbs and outlying towns into the city centres so that the inhabitants of wisteria lanes don't have to view them. New York metros and even mainline stations are places of routine fights amongst homeless who are often drunk or high.

    The place is hell. I wouldn't live there if you paid me a fortune to do so. And this is what we want to emulate? God help us.


    (Sorry Robert)
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 54,627
    rcs1000 said:

    Sandpit said:

    Sandpit said:

    rcs1000 said:

    kle4 said:

    Wow, its highbrow topic discussion for the expat and insomniac crowd.

    I'm on a plane from LA to HK.

    Fifteen hours.

    PB is a welcome distraction.
    Ouch, that’s a long one. I know it’s great that one can now fly direct between just about every city pair in the world (and London to Sydney is coming soon!), but even in the comfy seats that’s an awfully long time to be on a plane.
    too long..
    My record is 13.5 hours on a single flight, Dubai to New York, with nine hours’ time difference.
    It’s pretty horrible. There’s now a direct Dubai to LA, which is something around 16 hours, with 12 hours’ time difference.

    Robert’s plane will land a day and a half after it took off, crossing the date line backwards westbound in the Pacific. That really screws with you.
    What screws with me even more is that when I head home, I take off on Thursday evening and land on... err... Thursday evening.
    But Wednesday just never happened at all! It's still Tuesday night in LA, yet only nine hours from being Thursday in Hong Kong.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 54,627

    Sean_F said:

    Sandpit said:

    Nigel who? He should be grateful that it looks like his life’s work is about to be achieved - but instead he’s mad because others are now getting the credit for it.

    I can't remember who said it but it's true that "there's no limit to what you can achieve, so long as you don't care who gets the credit for it."
    Reagan?
    It's one of those that's been attributed to a few people, but variations of it seem to pre-date all of them.
    https://quoteinvestigator.com/2010/12/21/doing-good-selfless/
  • O/T Recently, my near PB namesake suggested backing the LibDems to win the hitherto Tory-held consitituency of The Cotswolds if near double digit odds could be attained. Well so it has proved with those nice folk at Ladbrokes offering 8/1 or 17/2 including their daily odds boost against such an eventuality. It's definitely not one for me, but don't let me dissuade you from having a small punt.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,231
    edited November 2019
    Sandpit said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Sandpit said:

    Sandpit said:

    rcs1000 said:

    kle4 said:

    Wow, its highbrow topic discussion for the expat and insomniac crowd.

    I'm on a plane from LA to HK.

    Fifteen hours.

    PB is a welcome distraction.
    Ouch, that’s a long one. I know it’s great that one can now fly direct between just about every city pair in the world (and London to Sydney is coming soon!), but even in the comfy seats that’s an awfully long time to be on a plane.
    too long..
    My record is 13.5 hours on a single flight, Dubai to New York, with nine hours’ time difference.
    It’s pretty horrible. There’s now a direct Dubai to LA, which is something around 16 hours, with 12 hours’ time difference.

    Robert’s plane will land a day and a half after it took off, crossing the date line backwards westbound in the Pacific. That really screws with you.
    What screws with me even more is that when I head home, I take off on Thursday evening and land on... err... Thursday evening.
    But Wednesday just never happened at all! It's still Tuesday night in LA, yet only nine hours from being Thursday in Hong Kong.
    I don't mind missing Wednesday. Never was a big fan of Wednesdays.
  • SquareRootSquareRoot Posts: 7,095
    Now You Gov has changed its methodology, who knows what poll is an accurate representation of the state of play?
  • OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 33,472
    Sandpit said:

    Sean_F said:

    Sandpit said:

    Nigel who? He should be grateful that it looks like his life’s work is about to be achieved - but instead he’s mad because others are now getting the credit for it.

    I can't remember who said it but it's true that "there's no limit to what you can achieve, so long as you don't care who gets the credit for it."
    Reagan?
    It's one of those that's been attributed to a few people, but variations of it seem to pre-date all of them.
    https://quoteinvestigator.com/2010/12/21/doing-good-selfless/
    Always understood it to be Truman, whom I've always thought to be a somewhat Attlee-like figure. Liked his middle name, too!
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 54,627
    rcs1000 said:

    Sandpit said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Sandpit said:

    Sandpit said:

    rcs1000 said:

    kle4 said:

    Wow, its highbrow topic discussion for the expat and insomniac crowd.

    I'm on a plane from LA to HK.

    Fifteen hours.

    PB is a welcome distraction.
    Ouch, that’s a long one. I know it’s great that one can now fly direct between just about every city pair in the world (and London to Sydney is coming soon!), but even in the comfy seats that’s an awfully long time to be on a plane.
    too long..
    My record is 13.5 hours on a single flight, Dubai to New York, with nine hours’ time difference.
    It’s pretty horrible. There’s now a direct Dubai to LA, which is something around 16 hours, with 12 hours’ time difference.

    Robert’s plane will land a day and a half after it took off, crossing the date line backwards westbound in the Pacific. That really screws with you.
    What screws with me even more is that when I head home, I take off on Thursday evening and land on... err... Thursday evening.
    But Wednesday just never happened at all! It's still Tuesday night in LA, yet only nine hours from being Thursday in Hong Kong.
    I don't mind missing Wednesday. Never was a big fan of Wednesdays.
    Do you think you’d find Bob Geldof leaving LA for Hong Kong on a Sunday night? ;)

    Right, some of us aren’t on a plane and have work to do. Laters!
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 49,868
    Sandpit said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Sandpit said:

    Sandpit said:

    rcs1000 said:

    kle4 said:

    Wow, its highbrow topic discussion for the expat and insomniac crowd.

    I'm on a plane from LA to HK.

    Fifteen hours.

    PB is a welcome distraction.
    Ouch, that’s a long one. I know it’s great that one can now fly direct between just about every city pair in the world (and London to Sydney is coming soon!), but even in the comfy seats that’s an awfully long time to be on a plane.
    too long..
    My record is 13.5 hours on a single flight, Dubai to New York, with nine hours’ time difference.
    It’s pretty horrible. There’s now a direct Dubai to LA, which is something around 16 hours, with 12 hours’ time difference.

    Robert’s plane will land a day and a half after it took off, crossing the date line backwards westbound in the Pacific. That really screws with you.
    What screws with me even more is that when I head home, I take off on Thursday evening and land on... err... Thursday evening.
    But Wednesday just never happened at all! It's still Tuesday night in LA, yet only nine hours from being Thursday in Hong Kong.
    Do it by sea and the clocks change by an hour every day. Very civilised.
  • JonathanJonathan Posts: 21,675
    rcs1000 said:

    rcs1000 said:

    kle4 said:

    Wow, its highbrow topic discussion for the expat and insomniac crowd.

    I'm on a plane from LA to HK.

    Fifteen hours.

    PB is a welcome distraction.
    How can you post whilst on a plane?
    It has WiFi. $20 for a 15 hour flight. Pretty reasonable if you ask me.
    How much do you have to pay NOT to have WIFI?
  • Good morning, everyone.

    This is just one reason why the debates and the arrangement of them are so flawed.

    Should Farage have a place? He could lead the largest party. And the party he leads won the European Election. But he has no MPs and is sliding in the polls.

    Should Sturgeon have a place? Like Farage, she isn't even standing to be an MP. Literally nobody watching will be able to vote for her. She also has a clear upper ceiling of support. There is no chance her party will form a majority. But she does lead the largest party in Scotland, and the governing party of Holyrood.

    Debates work far better in a presidential system. Right now, politicians, and the media, jockey for position to try and work debate formats to their advantage. On top of sucking up far more media time than they deserve (because broadcasters love them), there are plenty of reasons to dislike these little slices of theatre.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 71,424

    O/T Recently, my near PB namesake suggested backing the LibDems to win the hitherto Tory-held consitituency of The Cotswolds if near double digit odds could be attained. Well so it has proved with those nice folk at Ladbrokes offering 8/1 or 17/2 including their daily odds boost against such an eventuality. It's definitely not one for me, but don't let me dissuade you from having a small punt.

    The Cotswolds are a funny one. While traditionally they don't count the Tory votes, they weigh them, the Liberal Democrats have been making inroads in the local council due to the former council's corruption and incompetence. There's also significant metropolitanisation as Londoners move further out along the railway lines. I think the Liberal Democrats will probably still come second this time but I would say they're 5-1 not 8-1. So that does look value.

    At the same time, Cheltenham isn't quite the gimme everyone is assuming. Meanwhile, I think David Drew in Stroud is almost certainly a lost cause for Labour, but as it's Labour's only local marginal or indeed realistic target expect them to throw the kitchen sink at it.
  • RecidivistRecidivist Posts: 4,679
    I always thought freedom of movement was potenitally sellable as a benefit of EU membership - basically because it is. Most salesmen can sell a good product. But I might have been underestimating the good sense of the British public. They seem to want it already.

    https://twitter.com/jdportes/status/1194336599842144256/photo/1
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,231

    O/T Recently, my near PB namesake suggested backing the LibDems to win the hitherto Tory-held consitituency of The Cotswolds if near double digit odds could be attained. Well so it has proved with those nice folk at Ladbrokes offering 8/1 or 17/2 including their daily odds boost against such an eventuality. It's definitely not one for me, but don't let me dissuade you from having a small punt.

    Hmmm. Not convinced those are attractive odds.
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 48,721

    Sean_F said:

    Sandpit said:

    Nigel who? He should be grateful that it looks like his life’s work is about to be achieved - but instead he’s mad because others are now getting the credit for it.

    I can't remember who said it but it's true that "there's no limit to what you can achieve, so long as you don't care who gets the credit for it."
    Reagan?
    I thought it attributed to Marshall, of Marshall plan fame.

    Of course, if true, the aphorisms originator should be obscure or unknown!
  • People are overreacting to that yougov poll on reciprocal rights to live and work in the UK and EU.

    I explained my view on here last night.
  • eekeek Posts: 28,405

    Good morning, everyone.

    This is just one reason why the debates and the arrangement of them are so flawed.

    Should Farage have a place? He could lead the largest party. And the party he leads won the European Election. But he has no MPs and is sliding in the polls.

    Should Sturgeon have a place? Like Farage, she isn't even standing to be an MP. Literally nobody watching will be able to vote for her. She also has a clear upper ceiling of support. There is no chance her party will form a majority. But she does lead the largest party in Scotland, and the governing party of Holyrood.

    Debates work far better in a presidential system. Right now, politicians, and the media, jockey for position to try and work debate formats to their advantage. On top of sucking up far more media time than they deserve (because broadcasters love them), there are plenty of reasons to dislike these little slices of theatre.

    Q1 of any TV company is is the leaders party standing in most seats - as you don't want a party, say the SNP appearing, when most viewers can't vote for them.

    By not standing in 317 seats the BXP makes it impossible for Nigel to pass that very simple threshold.

    Heck the BXP aren't standing in even half the seats in England so it opens the question of should he appear in any nationwide show if over 50% of viewers can't vote for you.
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 48,721

    People are overreacting to that yougov poll on reciprocal rights to live and work in the UK and EU.

    I explained my view on here last night.

    All it means is that there is going to be a lot of buyers remorse.

    Leicester folk will have to retire to Skeggy again, not the Costas. The rich will be fine in Tuscany, free movement is considerably easier for those with money.
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 52,609
    edited November 2019
    ydoethur said:

    O/T Recently, my near PB namesake suggested backing the LibDems to win the hitherto Tory-held consitituency of The Cotswolds if near double digit odds could be attained. Well so it has proved with those nice folk at Ladbrokes offering 8/1 or 17/2 including their daily odds boost against such an eventuality. It's definitely not one for me, but don't let me dissuade you from having a small punt.

    The Cotswolds are a funny one. While traditionally they don't count the Tory votes, they weigh them, the Liberal Democrats have been making inroads in the local council due to the former council's corruption and incompetence. There's also significant metropolitanisation as Londoners move further out along the railway lines. I think the Liberal Democrats will probably still come second this time but I would say they're 5-1 not 8-1. So that does look value.

    At the same time, Cheltenham isn't quite the gimme everyone is assuming. Meanwhile, I think David Drew in Stroud is almost certainly a lost cause for Labour, but as it's Labour's only local marginal or indeed realistic target expect them to throw the kitchen sink at it.
    The unions are going to have paid for an awful lot of kitchens without a functioning sink in them on December 13th.

    If YouGov is anything like the final result, Labour's entire election spend will have been wasted on a highly flammable firewall. How far beyond that structure the fire spreads will be the story of election night.
  • timmotimmo Posts: 1,469
    Has Canterbury been resolved yet?
    Is Swinson really going to force a candidate vs Rosie Duffield..
    Seems.some sort of Mexican standoff taking place at present
  • YBarddCwscYBarddCwsc Posts: 7,172

    Ouch!

    A Labour member beaten in the race for a plum seat by a close ally of Jeremy Corbyn has hit out at the party's "crooked" candidate selection process.

    Sundip Meghani lost out to Claudia Webbe in the race to contest Labour-held Leicester East at the general election. Islington councillor Ms Webbe is a member of Labour's ruling national executive committee and had tried unsuccessfully to be chosen as the party's candidate in a number of constituencies. She was chosen as the candidate in Leicester seat - which Keith Vaz held with a majority of more than 22,000 in 2017 - by a selection panel including two NEC members.

    In a statement posted on Twitter, Mr Meghani, a lead investigator at the Independent Office for Police Conduct, said: "In my job I challenge abuse of power and corruption - and as a Labour member I fight injustice and unfairness. "So I cannot stay silent on the obvious dodgy practices and nepotism involved in this process, where Labour's ruling executive chose a member of Labour's ruling executive as the candidiate."

    He added: "This type of conduct, where a well-connected favourite is nodded through, is no better than the Etonian old boys' network that Labour seeks to condemn."


    https://www.politicshome.com/news/uk/political-parties/labour-party/news/107950/snubbed-labour-candidate-slams-partys-crooked

    We will soon be in a position where the London party holds all 591 English & Welsh seats in Westminster.
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 52,609
    edited November 2019
    rcs1000 said:

    O/T Recently, my near PB namesake suggested backing the LibDems to win the hitherto Tory-held consitituency of The Cotswolds if near double digit odds could be attained. Well so it has proved with those nice folk at Ladbrokes offering 8/1 or 17/2 including their daily odds boost against such an eventuality. It's definitely not one for me, but don't let me dissuade you from having a small punt.

    Hmmm. Not convinced those are attractive odds.
    The campaign polling story so far has been Conservatives going forward, LibDems going backwards. A lot of LibDem longshots are falling ever further out of range. In the SW, they have efffectively given up on winning Torbay; I wonder how long before they give up on Dr. Sarah in Totnes and focus on still in reach North Devon and North Cornwall?
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 71,424

    ydoethur said:

    O/T Recently, my near PB namesake suggested backing the LibDems to win the hitherto Tory-held consitituency of The Cotswolds if near double digit odds could be attained. Well so it has proved with those nice folk at Ladbrokes offering 8/1 or 17/2 including their daily odds boost against such an eventuality. It's definitely not one for me, but don't let me dissuade you from having a small punt.

    The Cotswolds are a funny one. While traditionally they don't count the Tory votes, they weigh them, the Liberal Democrats have been making inroads in the local council due to the former council's corruption and incompetence. There's also significant metropolitanisation as Londoners move further out along the railway lines. I think the Liberal Democrats will probably still come second this time but I would say they're 5-1 not 8-1. So that does look value.

    At the same time, Cheltenham isn't quite the gimme everyone is assuming. Meanwhile, I think David Drew in Stroud is almost certainly a lost cause for Labour, but as it's Labour's only local marginal or indeed realistic target expect them to throw the kitchen sink at it.
    The unions are going to have paid for an awful lot of kitchens without a functioning sink in them on December 13th.
    Votes will drain away from Labour?
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 52,609
    timmo said:

    Has Canterbury been resolved yet?
    Is Swinson really going to force a candidate vs Rosie Duffield..
    Seems.some sort of Mexican standoff taking place at present

    A candidate but no effective campaigning is the way out for Jo.
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 52,609
    ydoethur said:

    ydoethur said:

    O/T Recently, my near PB namesake suggested backing the LibDems to win the hitherto Tory-held consitituency of The Cotswolds if near double digit odds could be attained. Well so it has proved with those nice folk at Ladbrokes offering 8/1 or 17/2 including their daily odds boost against such an eventuality. It's definitely not one for me, but don't let me dissuade you from having a small punt.

    The Cotswolds are a funny one. While traditionally they don't count the Tory votes, they weigh them, the Liberal Democrats have been making inroads in the local council due to the former council's corruption and incompetence. There's also significant metropolitanisation as Londoners move further out along the railway lines. I think the Liberal Democrats will probably still come second this time but I would say they're 5-1 not 8-1. So that does look value.

    At the same time, Cheltenham isn't quite the gimme everyone is assuming. Meanwhile, I think David Drew in Stroud is almost certainly a lost cause for Labour, but as it's Labour's only local marginal or indeed realistic target expect them to throw the kitchen sink at it.
    The unions are going to have paid for an awful lot of kitchens without a functioning sink in them on December 13th.
    Votes will drain away from Labour?
    I thought I'd plugged those puns....
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,231

    rcs1000 said:

    O/T Recently, my near PB namesake suggested backing the LibDems to win the hitherto Tory-held consitituency of The Cotswolds if near double digit odds could be attained. Well so it has proved with those nice folk at Ladbrokes offering 8/1 or 17/2 including their daily odds boost against such an eventuality. It's definitely not one for me, but don't let me dissuade you from having a small punt.

    Hmmm. Not convinced those are attractive odds.
    The campaign polling story so far has been Conservatives going forward, LibDems going backwards. A lot of LibDem longshots are falling ever further out of range. In the SW, they have efffectively given up on winning Torbay; I wonder how long before they give up on Dr. Sarah in Totnes and focus on still in reach North Devon and North Cornwall?
    Is it? The LDs dipped 3-4% in the initial aftermath of the election announcement, but every single poll in the last week has had them in 15-17%, so I think they're pretty much stable. (Likewise, Sunil's Elbow had their share up 0.1% in the last week, and the Wikipedia chart shows them as flat.)

    I agree the Conservatives have picked up with the decline of the BXP, mind.

    I never felt the LDs had much of a chance in the South West. Bollocks to Brexit works in South West London, but is less compelling in Cornwall and Devon.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 71,424

    ydoethur said:

    ydoethur said:

    O/T Recently, my near PB namesake suggested backing the LibDems to win the hitherto Tory-held consitituency of The Cotswolds if near double digit odds could be attained. Well so it has proved with those nice folk at Ladbrokes offering 8/1 or 17/2 including their daily odds boost against such an eventuality. It's definitely not one for me, but don't let me dissuade you from having a small punt.

    The Cotswolds are a funny one. While traditionally they don't count the Tory votes, they weigh them, the Liberal Democrats have been making inroads in the local council due to the former council's corruption and incompetence. There's also significant metropolitanisation as Londoners move further out along the railway lines. I think the Liberal Democrats will probably still come second this time but I would say they're 5-1 not 8-1. So that does look value.

    At the same time, Cheltenham isn't quite the gimme everyone is assuming. Meanwhile, I think David Drew in Stroud is almost certainly a lost cause for Labour, but as it's Labour's only local marginal or indeed realistic target expect them to throw the kitchen sink at it.
    The unions are going to have paid for an awful lot of kitchens without a functioning sink in them on December 13th.
    Votes will drain away from Labour?
    I thought I'd plugged those puns....
    I’m overflowing with them.
  • RecidivistRecidivist Posts: 4,679

    rcs1000 said:

    O/T Recently, my near PB namesake suggested backing the LibDems to win the hitherto Tory-held consitituency of The Cotswolds if near double digit odds could be attained. Well so it has proved with those nice folk at Ladbrokes offering 8/1 or 17/2 including their daily odds boost against such an eventuality. It's definitely not one for me, but don't let me dissuade you from having a small punt.

    Hmmm. Not convinced those are attractive odds.
    The campaign polling story so far has been Conservatives going forward, LibDems going backwards. A lot of LibDem longshots are falling ever further out of range. In the SW, they have efffectively given up on winning Torbay; I wonder how long before they give up on Dr. Sarah in Totnes and focus on still in reach North Devon and North Cornwall?
    The Lib Dems have won Torbay in the past haven't they? If they really are giving up on those kinds of seats then their revival will be very modest indeed.
  • TheJezziahTheJezziah Posts: 3,840
    edited November 2019

    Ouch!

    A Labour member beaten in the race for a plum seat by a close ally of Jeremy Corbyn has hit out at the party's "crooked" candidate selection process.

    Sundip Meghani lost out to Claudia Webbe in the race to contest Labour-held Leicester East at the general election. Islington councillor Ms Webbe is a member of Labour's ruling national executive committee and had tried unsuccessfully to be chosen as the party's candidate in a number of constituencies. She was chosen as the candidate in Leicester seat - which Keith Vaz held with a majority of more than 22,000 in 2017 - by a selection panel including two NEC members.

    In a statement posted on Twitter, Mr Meghani, a lead investigator at the Independent Office for Police Conduct, said: "In my job I challenge abuse of power and corruption - and as a Labour member I fight injustice and unfairness. "So I cannot stay silent on the obvious dodgy practices and nepotism involved in this process, where Labour's ruling executive chose a member of Labour's ruling executive as the candidiate."

    He added: "This type of conduct, where a well-connected favourite is nodded through, is no better than the Etonian old boys' network that Labour seeks to condemn."


    https://www.politicshome.com/news/uk/political-parties/labour-party/news/107950/snubbed-labour-candidate-slams-partys-crooked

    We will soon be in a position where the London party holds all 591 English & Welsh seats in Westminster.
    Isn't Claudia from Leicester?

    Edit: And wasn't Vaz the previous MP actually not from Leicester?
  • MysticroseMysticrose Posts: 4,688
    edited November 2019
    I'm perplexed about the YouGov and wonder if someone can help me out.

    I'm an arty-farty type (hence the occasional poetry) and not a mathematician so the fact that something doesn't ring true may be all down to me.

    Leaving aside the fact that YouGov starts with polling much more favourable to the blues, here's my perplexity. Okay, so I don't see how a poll can show a higher Cons figure when you take out the non-BXP seats. You cannot remove a region (Cons held seats) and then apply the net loss to the national figure. Either the figures are national polling figures, or they're not. If they are regional breakdowns then we should have the regional breakdowns.

    Forgive my ignorance, but this methodology looks totally flawed.

    I'm also not factoring in the inevitable small sample size once you begin chopping out a region.

    I guess the other way of putting this more simply is that the Conservatives don't hold a 14% lead across all the non-tory held seats. Right? If YouGov are going to try this then they need to poll every constituency, remove all the blue seats, and then release the figures for all the remaining 'regions' (non tory held seats).

    Otherwise this looks to me like a crock of sh*t.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 71,424

    rcs1000 said:

    O/T Recently, my near PB namesake suggested backing the LibDems to win the hitherto Tory-held consitituency of The Cotswolds if near double digit odds could be attained. Well so it has proved with those nice folk at Ladbrokes offering 8/1 or 17/2 including their daily odds boost against such an eventuality. It's definitely not one for me, but don't let me dissuade you from having a small punt.

    Hmmm. Not convinced those are attractive odds.
    The campaign polling story so far has been Conservatives going forward, LibDems going backwards. A lot of LibDem longshots are falling ever further out of range. In the SW, they have efffectively given up on winning Torbay; I wonder how long before they give up on Dr. Sarah in Totnes and focus on still in reach North Devon and North Cornwall?
    The Lib Dems have won Torbay in the past haven't they? If they really are giving up on those kinds of seats then their revival will be very modest indeed.
    Or it will be based on a different type of electorate due to the major changes in their policy offering. It’s not impossible we could see a Yellow surge in Islington and them coming fourth in Devon.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 71,236
    ydoethur said:

    ydoethur said:

    ydoethur said:

    O/T Recently, my near PB namesake suggested backing the LibDems to win the hitherto Tory-held consitituency of The Cotswolds if near double digit odds could be attained. Well so it has proved with those nice folk at Ladbrokes offering 8/1 or 17/2 including their daily odds boost against such an eventuality. It's definitely not one for me, but don't let me dissuade you from having a small punt.

    The Cotswolds are a funny one. While traditionally they don't count the Tory votes, they weigh them, the Liberal Democrats have been making inroads in the local council due to the former council's corruption and incompetence. There's also significant metropolitanisation as Londoners move further out along the railway lines. I think the Liberal Democrats will probably still come second this time but I would say they're 5-1 not 8-1. So that does look value.

    At the same time, Cheltenham isn't quite the gimme everyone is assuming. Meanwhile, I think David Drew in Stroud is almost certainly a lost cause for Labour, but as it's Labour's only local marginal or indeed realistic target expect them to throw the kitchen sink at it.
    The unions are going to have paid for an awful lot of kitchens without a functioning sink in them on December 13th.
    Votes will drain away from Labour?
    I thought I'd plugged those puns....
    I’m overflowing with them.
    You don’t have to faucet, though.
  • Jon Ashworth on Sky, talking to Kay Burley, about the insane race to outbid the conservatives by umpteen billions on the NHS came to a juddering halt when Burley asked if this extra money takes into account labour's 4 day working week

    He looked dumbfounded and said the 4 day week will not happen for the next ten years

    Burley obvious retort was so the 4 day week promise is an illusion

    Sums up labour
  • GallowgateGallowgate Posts: 19,468
    Lib Dems should not run a bloody candidate in Canterbury. Sort it out.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 71,424
    Nigelb said:

    ydoethur said:

    ydoethur said:

    ydoethur said:

    O/T Recently, my near PB namesake suggested backing the LibDems to win the hitherto Tory-held consitituency of The Cotswolds if near double digit odds could be attained. Well so it has proved with those nice folk at Ladbrokes offering 8/1 or 17/2 including their daily odds boost against such an eventuality. It's definitely not one for me, but don't let me dissuade you from having a small punt.

    The Cotswolds are a funny one. While traditionally they don't count the Tory votes, they weigh them, the Liberal Democrats have been making inroads in the local council due to the former council's corruption and incompetence. There's also significant metropolitanisation as Londoners move further out along the railway lines. I think the Liberal Democrats will probably still come second this time but I would say they're 5-1 not 8-1. So that does look value.

    At the same time, Cheltenham isn't quite the gimme everyone is assuming. Meanwhile, I think David Drew in Stroud is almost certainly a lost cause for Labour, but as it's Labour's only local marginal or indeed realistic target expect them to throw the kitchen sink at it.
    The unions are going to have paid for an awful lot of kitchens without a functioning sink in them on December 13th.
    Votes will drain away from Labour?
    I thought I'd plugged those puns....
    I’m overflowing with them.
    You don’t have to faucet, though.
    Very good. Alas, I cannot continue to shower you with puns as I have to get to work.

    Have a good morning.
  • ydoethur said:

    O/T Recently, my near PB namesake suggested backing the LibDems to win the hitherto Tory-held consitituency of The Cotswolds if near double digit odds could be attained. Well so it has proved with those nice folk at Ladbrokes offering 8/1 or 17/2 including their daily odds boost against such an eventuality. It's definitely not one for me, but don't let me dissuade you from having a small punt.

    The Cotswolds are a funny one. While traditionally they don't count the Tory votes, they weigh them, the Liberal Democrats have been making inroads in the local council due to the former council's corruption and incompetence. There's also significant metropolitanisation as Londoners move further out along the railway lines. I think the Liberal Democrats will probably still come second this time but I would say they're 5-1 not 8-1. So that does look value.

    At the same time, Cheltenham isn't quite the gimme everyone is assuming. Meanwhile, I think David Drew in Stroud is almost certainly a lost cause for Labour, but as it's Labour's only local marginal or indeed realistic target expect them to throw the kitchen sink at it.
    Agree with you in respect of all three seats.

    The LDs hopes in the Cotswolds were given a boost by the incumbent's misbehaviour at the Party Conference. (Sent home for causing an altercation.)
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 71,236

    Ouch!

    A Labour member beaten in the race for a plum seat by a close ally of Jeremy Corbyn has hit out at the party's "crooked" candidate selection process.

    Sundip Meghani lost out to Claudia Webbe in the race to contest Labour-held Leicester East at the general election. Islington councillor Ms Webbe is a member of Labour's ruling national executive committee and had tried unsuccessfully to be chosen as the party's candidate in a number of constituencies. She was chosen as the candidate in Leicester seat - which Keith Vaz held with a majority of more than 22,000 in 2017 - by a selection panel including two NEC members.

    In a statement posted on Twitter, Mr Meghani, a lead investigator at the Independent Office for Police Conduct, said: "In my job I challenge abuse of power and corruption - and as a Labour member I fight injustice and unfairness. "So I cannot stay silent on the obvious dodgy practices and nepotism involved in this process, where Labour's ruling executive chose a member of Labour's ruling executive as the candidiate."

    He added: "This type of conduct, where a well-connected favourite is nodded through, is no better than the Etonian old boys' network that Labour seeks to condemn."


    https://www.politicshome.com/news/uk/political-parties/labour-party/news/107950/snubbed-labour-candidate-slams-partys-crooked

    As I pointed out on an earlier thread, in their own way Labour are as attached to entrenched privilege as are the Tories.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 71,236
    ydoethur said:

    Nigelb said:

    ydoethur said:

    ydoethur said:

    ydoethur said:

    O/T Recently, my near PB namesake suggested backing the LibDems to win the hitherto Tory-held consitituency of The Cotswolds if near double digit odds could be attained. Well so it has proved with those nice folk at Ladbrokes offering 8/1 or 17/2 including their daily odds boost against such an eventuality. It's definitely not one for me, but don't let me dissuade you from having a small punt.

    The Cotswolds are a funny one. While traditionally they don't count the Tory votes, they weigh them, the Liberal Democrats have been making inroads in the local council due to the former council's corruption and incompetence. There's also significant metropolitanisation as Londoners move further out along the railway lines. I think the Liberal Democrats will probably still come second this time but I would say they're 5-1 not 8-1. So that does look value.

    At the same time, Cheltenham isn't quite the gimme everyone is assuming. Meanwhile, I think David Drew in Stroud is almost certainly a lost cause for Labour, but as it's Labour's only local marginal or indeed realistic target expect them to throw the kitchen sink at it.
    The unions are going to have paid for an awful lot of kitchens without a functioning sink in them on December 13th.
    Votes will drain away from Labour?
    I thought I'd plugged those puns....
    I’m overflowing with them.
    You don’t have to faucet, though.
    Very good. Alas, I cannot continue to shower you with puns as I have to get to work.

    Have a good morning.
    Yes, time to stop, cock.

    Have a good day.
  • Foxy said:

    People are overreacting to that yougov poll on reciprocal rights to live and work in the UK and EU.

    I explained my view on here last night.

    All it means is that there is going to be a lot of buyers remorse.

    Leicester folk will have to retire to Skeggy again, not the Costas. The rich will be fine in Tuscany, free movement is considerably easier for those with money.
    They will still be able to do so, just as you can in Australia and Florida now, but there will be an income qualification and a need to apply for a residency permit.

    Spain’s economy depends upon such people so I don’t expect too many obstacles to be placed in the way.
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 78,212
    edited November 2019
    More crucially Johnson seems to have ran water straight from a tap into his tea !
    There was a kettle across the kitchen which I'd have thought would be redundant with a boiling water tap... ?
  • YBarddCwscYBarddCwsc Posts: 7,172
    edited November 2019

    Ouch!

    A Labour member beaten in the race for a plum seat by a close ally of Jeremy Corbyn has hit out at the party's "crooked" candidate selection process.

    Sundip Meghani lost out to Claudia Webbe in the race to contest Labour-held Leicester East at the general election. Islington councillor Ms Webbe is a member of Labour's ruling national executive committee and had tried unsuccessfully to be chosen as the party's candidate in a number of constituencies. She was chosen as the candidate in Leicester seat - which Keith Vaz held with a majority of more than 22,000 in 2017 - by a selection panel including two NEC members.

    In a statement posted on Twitter, Mr Meghani, a lead investigator at the Independent Office for Police Conduct, said: "In my job I challenge abuse of power and corruption - and as a Labour member I fight injustice and unfairness. "So I cannot stay silent on the obvious dodgy practices and nepotism involved in this process, where Labour's ruling executive chose a member of Labour's ruling executive as the candidiate."

    He added: "This type of conduct, where a well-connected favourite is nodded through, is no better than the Etonian old boys' network that Labour seeks to condemn."


    https://www.politicshome.com/news/uk/political-parties/labour-party/news/107950/snubbed-labour-candidate-slams-partys-crooked

    We will soon be in a position where the London party holds all 591 English & Welsh seats in Westminster.
    Isn't Claudia from Leicester?

    Edit: And wasn't Vaz the previous MP actually not from Leicester?
    I don't know where Vaz was from. Claudia certainly says she was born in Leicester.

    Let me put it this way.

    How many former Councillors for Islington end up as MPs? And how many former Councillors for Rhondda-Cynon-Taff end up as MPs? Why are those numbers so very different?
  • rcs1000 said:

    rcs1000 said:

    O/T Recently, my near PB namesake suggested backing the LibDems to win the hitherto Tory-held consitituency of The Cotswolds if near double digit odds could be attained. Well so it has proved with those nice folk at Ladbrokes offering 8/1 or 17/2 including their daily odds boost against such an eventuality. It's definitely not one for me, but don't let me dissuade you from having a small punt.

    Hmmm. Not convinced those are attractive odds.
    The campaign polling story so far has been Conservatives going forward, LibDems going backwards. A lot of LibDem longshots are falling ever further out of range. In the SW, they have efffectively given up on winning Torbay; I wonder how long before they give up on Dr. Sarah in Totnes and focus on still in reach North Devon and North Cornwall?
    Is it? The LDs dipped 3-4% in the initial aftermath of the election announcement, but every single poll in the last week has had them in 15-17%, so I think they're pretty much stable. (Likewise, Sunil's Elbow had their share up 0.1% in the last week, and the Wikipedia chart shows them as flat.)

    I agree the Conservatives have picked up with the decline of the BXP, mind.

    I never felt the LDs had much of a chance in the South West. Bollocks to Brexit works in South West London, but is less compelling in Cornwall and Devon.
    They need an anti-Brexit slogan that incorporates “alright, my lurver” and “get off my land”.
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 52,609
    rcs1000 said:

    rcs1000 said:

    O/T Recently, my near PB namesake suggested backing the LibDems to win the hitherto Tory-held consitituency of The Cotswolds if near double digit odds could be attained. Well so it has proved with those nice folk at Ladbrokes offering 8/1 or 17/2 including their daily odds boost against such an eventuality. It's definitely not one for me, but don't let me dissuade you from having a small punt.

    Hmmm. Not convinced those are attractive odds.
    The campaign polling story so far has been Conservatives going forward, LibDems going backwards. A lot of LibDem longshots are falling ever further out of range. In the SW, they have efffectively given up on winning Torbay; I wonder how long before they give up on Dr. Sarah in Totnes and focus on still in reach North Devon and North Cornwall?
    Is it? The LDs dipped 3-4% in the initial aftermath of the election announcement, but every single poll in the last week has had them in 15-17%, so I think they're pretty much stable. (Likewise, Sunil's Elbow had their share up 0.1% in the last week, and the Wikipedia chart shows them as flat.)

    I agree the Conservatives have picked up with the decline of the BXP, mind.

    I never felt the LDs had much of a chance in the South West. Bollocks to Brexit works in South West London, but is less compelling in Cornwall and Devon.
    Bollocks to Brexit as a slogan might play well in the Student Union. Elsewhere, it is seen as a poke in the eye to the 17.4m.
  • nunu2nunu2 Posts: 1,453
    Libdems party will not stand down for Labour. They don't want Corbyn's toxicity.


    They already have enough from the tories! 😂
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 52,609

    rcs1000 said:

    O/T Recently, my near PB namesake suggested backing the LibDems to win the hitherto Tory-held consitituency of The Cotswolds if near double digit odds could be attained. Well so it has proved with those nice folk at Ladbrokes offering 8/1 or 17/2 including their daily odds boost against such an eventuality. It's definitely not one for me, but don't let me dissuade you from having a small punt.

    Hmmm. Not convinced those are attractive odds.
    The campaign polling story so far has been Conservatives going forward, LibDems going backwards. A lot of LibDem longshots are falling ever further out of range. In the SW, they have efffectively given up on winning Torbay; I wonder how long before they give up on Dr. Sarah in Totnes and focus on still in reach North Devon and North Cornwall?
    The Lib Dems have won Torbay in the past haven't they? If they really are giving up on those kinds of seats then their revival will be very modest indeed.
    The LibDems won Torbay in 1997. They held it until 2015. In those 18 years they had majorities as high as 6,700. But Kevin Foster is assiduously working the seat as well as any LibDem would. His majority was 14,200 in 2017. It will now need a mighty yellow wave to wash over him.
  • A question regarding air travel and emissions . . . is there a safety or technological reason why hydrogen [ie like in hydrogen cars, not blimps] isn't or can't be used to fuel jets?

    Electric jets seem to be a very long time off but electricity can be used to create hydrogen and the only emission from hydrogen cars is water vapor from memory - could jets be powered that way?
  • Lib Dems should not run a bloody candidate in Canterbury. Sort it out.

    A report on 5 live this morning confirmed they are to stand and were scathing in their attack on the labour candidate's token support for remain while being part of Corbyn's labour party

    It sounded very aggressive towards labour, but if you think about it for a minute any sign Jo Swinson was helping Corbyn would have a really negative affect to any conservatives who might just lend her a vote at this GE
  • GallowgateGallowgate Posts: 19,468

    rcs1000 said:

    rcs1000 said:

    O/T Recently, my near PB namesake suggested backing the LibDems to win the hitherto Tory-held consitituency of The Cotswolds if near double digit odds could be attained. Well so it has proved with those nice folk at Ladbrokes offering 8/1 or 17/2 including their daily odds boost against such an eventuality. It's definitely not one for me, but don't let me dissuade you from having a small punt.

    Hmmm. Not convinced those are attractive odds.
    The campaign polling story so far has been Conservatives going forward, LibDems going backwards. A lot of LibDem longshots are falling ever further out of range. In the SW, they have efffectively given up on winning Torbay; I wonder how long before they give up on Dr. Sarah in Totnes and focus on still in reach North Devon and North Cornwall?
    Is it? The LDs dipped 3-4% in the initial aftermath of the election announcement, but every single poll in the last week has had them in 15-17%, so I think they're pretty much stable. (Likewise, Sunil's Elbow had their share up 0.1% in the last week, and the Wikipedia chart shows them as flat.)

    I agree the Conservatives have picked up with the decline of the BXP, mind.

    I never felt the LDs had much of a chance in the South West. Bollocks to Brexit works in South West London, but is less compelling in Cornwall and Devon.
    Bollocks to Brexit as a slogan might play well in the Student Union. Elsewhere, it is seen as a poke in the eye to the 17.4m.
    Quite literally wrong but okay.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,231

    A question regarding air travel and emissions . . . is there a safety or technological reason why hydrogen [ie like in hydrogen cars, not blimps] isn't or can't be used to fuel jets?

    Electric jets seem to be a very long time off but electricity can be used to create hydrogen and the only emission from hydrogen cars is water vapor from memory - could jets be powered that way?

    Two reasons off the top of my head:

    1. Relatively low energy density. You need a lot of space to store even compressed hydrogen.

    2. Jet engines are really good at going at high speeds. Using hydrogen to generate electricity to power a prop would limit achieveable speeds to perhaps 400mph.
This discussion has been closed.