It is disturbing to reflect that so far I haven’t seen a single leadership contender who either (a) stands out from the rest as somebody of talent and energy or (b) might tempt me to vote Labour in 2024.
Labour are really doing a very bad job right now of trying to head back to government.
It is disturbing to reflect that so far I haven’t seen a single leadership contender who either (a) stands out from the rest as somebody of talent and energy or (b) might tempt me to vote Labour in 2024.
Labour are really doing a very bad job right now of trying to head back to government.
I think you are massively misunderestimating Ian Lavery.
Sure, I love for voting for people who take thousands from unions in redundancy payments they’re not entitled to. Especially when this means they don’t pay tax on it.
It is disturbing to reflect that so far I haven’t seen a single leadership contender who either (a) stands out from the rest as somebody of talent and energy or (b) might tempt me to vote Labour in 2024.
Labour are really doing a very bad job right now of trying to head back to government.
I think you are massively misunderestimating Ian Lavery.
"Ejaculate? In our moment of victory? I think you overestimate their chances!"
It is disturbing to reflect that so far I haven’t seen a single leadership contender who either (a) stands out from the rest as somebody of talent and energy or (b) might tempt me to vote Labour in 2024.
Labour are really doing a very bad job right now of trying to head back to government.
It is disturbing to reflect that so far I haven’t seen a single leadership contender who either (a) stands out from the rest as somebody of talent and energy or (b) might tempt me to vote Labour in 2024.
Labour are really doing a very bad job right now of trying to head back to government.
I think you are massively misunderestimating Ian Lavery.
"Ejaculate? In our moment of victory? I think you overestimate their chances!"
Ian Lavery’s marginal victory in Wansbeck would Cushing my fears of him as PM.
It is disturbing to reflect that so far I haven’t seen a single leadership contender who either (a) stands out from the rest as somebody of talent and energy or (b) might tempt me to vote Labour in 2024.
Labour are really doing a very bad job right now of trying to head back to government.
I think you are massively misunderestimating Ian Lavery.
Sure, I love for voting for people who take thousands from unions in redundancy payments they’re not entitled to. Especially when this means they don’t pay tax on it.
If he becomes leader I might work in a comparison between Ian Lavery and Prince Andrew.
It is disturbing to reflect that so far I haven’t seen a single leadership contender who either (a) stands out from the rest as somebody of talent and energy or (b) might tempt me to vote Labour in 2024.
Labour are really doing a very bad job right now of trying to head back to government.
I think you are massively misunderestimating Ian Lavery.
Sure, I love for voting for people who take thousands from unions in redundancy payments they’re not entitled to. Especially when this means they don’t pay tax on it.
If he becomes leader I might work in a comparison between Ian Lavery and Prince Andrew.
I think that’s a little unfair.
Prince Andrew at least did some travel and glad handing of dodgy foreign businessmen to earn that money.
It is disturbing to reflect that so far I haven’t seen a single leadership contender who either (a) stands out from the rest as somebody of talent and energy or (b) might tempt me to vote Labour in 2024.
Labour are really doing a very bad job right now of trying to head back to government.
This is their 1997 and William Hague era.
No 2001 and their IDS era, the government has been re elected with a big majority as it was then, in 1997 the Government had only just been elected
It is disturbing to reflect that so far I haven’t seen a single leadership contender who either (a) stands out from the rest as somebody of talent and energy or (b) might tempt me to vote Labour in 2024.
Labour are really doing a very bad job right now of trying to head back to government.
Agreed. I was going to rejoin to vote for a new leader but so far nobody has come forward that I would vote for either as leader or even at a GE.
Dan Jarvis or Yvette Cooper are the only possibles that would have me rejoining and if neither won I'd be resigning again the next week.
It divides me a little bit. It’s essentially Game of Thrones in space, to all intents and purposes (before Game of Thrones was a thing), but I veer wildly between being rather impressed by its world building and thinking it’s a fairly interesting tale completely submerged in a lot of over-baked guff. Certainly the Lynch film trended towards the latter.
It certainly needed spicing up in places.
It was a mix of many influences. A melange, you could say.
And a strange ability to worm its way into your affections.
And curiously popularised the concept of jihad in US culture.
Russia invaded Poland too! On 17th September 1939.
Russia doesn't invade countries, it enters them after invitations from concerned citizens to liberate them from their unsympathetic regime. See Hungary 1956, Czechoslovakia 1968, Afghanistan 1979, Georgia 2008, Ukraine 2014, Estonia 2021, Latvia 2024, Lithuania 2028, Poland 2032...
Well, that was better than The Last Jedi. And I think probably better than The Force Awakens.
But it was no Empire Strikes Back.
Well it was the final one so hopefully we can have non Star Wars movies to talk about next Christmas
I expect Denis Villeneuve's take on Dune might well be the blockbuster next Christmas.
The film I am most looking forward to next year is Jojo Rabbit. I do like Taika Waititi a great deal as a filmmaker and this looks utterly surreal.
Got to watch it over Christmas, and it’s a lot better than the trailer suggests (which laudably doesn’t tell the entire story, as so many now do). Possibly the best film I’ve seen this year.
It is disturbing to reflect that so far I haven’t seen a single leadership contender who either (a) stands out from the rest as somebody of talent and energy or (b) might tempt me to vote Labour in 2024.
Labour are really doing a very bad job right now of trying to head back to government.
Agreed. I was going to rejoin to vote for a new leader but so far nobody has come forward that I would vote for either as leader or even at a GE.
Dan Jarvis or Yvette Cooper are the only possibles that would have me rejoining and if neither won I'd be resigning again the next week.
It is disturbing to reflect that so far I haven’t seen a single leadership contender who either (a) stands out from the rest as somebody of talent and energy or (b) might tempt me to vote Labour in 2024.
Labour are really doing a very bad job right now of trying to head back to government.
Agreed. I was going to rejoin to vote for a new leader but so far nobody has come forward that I would vote for either as leader or even at a GE.
Dan Jarvis or Yvette Cooper are the only possibles that would have me rejoining and if neither won I'd be resigning again the next week.
It is disturbing to reflect that so far I haven’t seen a single leadership contender who either (a) stands out from the rest as somebody of talent and energy or (b) might tempt me to vote Labour in 2024.
Labour are really doing a very bad job right now of trying to head back to government.
Agreed. I was going to rejoin to vote for a new leader but so far nobody has come forward that I would vote for either as leader or even at a GE.
Dan Jarvis or Yvette Cooper are the only possibles that would have me rejoining and if neither won I'd be resigning again the next week.
Bit desperate holding out for Dan...
It is beyond belief that Lab members are about to elect these two. Luckily, I have anticipated how stupid these members are and bet accordingly.
It is disturbing to reflect that so far I haven’t seen a single leadership contender who either (a) stands out from the rest as somebody of talent and energy or (b) might tempt me to vote Labour in 2024.
Labour are really doing a very bad job right now of trying to head back to government.
Agreed. I was going to rejoin to vote for a new leader but so far nobody has come forward that I would vote for either as leader or even at a GE.
Dan Jarvis or Yvette Cooper are the only possibles that would have me rejoining and if neither won I'd be resigning again the next week.
Just think: next year, and for the rest of the decade, Britain is going to try something NEW. Something no country has done, ever. We are gonna reverse globalisation, step aside from Davos man-wank, we are going to return the country to its voters, and say: Here, this is what you asked for, suck it and see.
Will it be a disaster? Maybe, but maybe not. NO ONE FUCKING KNOWS
What we do know is that this is genuinely revolutionary. And WE are the country that is trying this. Not America, France, Japan, Malta, the Maldives, Gabon or a mad island near Wallis & Futuna.
WE are doing this brave and crazy thing. WE are gonna be a different nation.
Just think: next year, and for the rest of the decade, Britain is going to try something NEW. Something no country has done, ever. We are gonna reverse globalisation, step aside from Davos man-wank, we are going to return the country to its voters, and say: Here, this is what you asked for, suck it and see.
Will it be a disaster? Maybe, but maybe not. NO ONE FUCKING KNOWS
What we do know is that this is genuinely revolutionary. And WE are the country that is trying this. Not America, France, Japan, Malta, the Maldives, Gabon or a mad island near Wallis & Futuna.
WE are doing this brave and crazy thing. WE are gonna be a different nation.
Go, us.
Like the UK kick-starting privatisation, it will be another idea to circle the globe......
Just think: next year, and for the rest of the decade, Britain is going to try something NEW. Something no country has done, ever. We are gonna reverse globalisation, step aside from Davos man-wank, we are going to return the country to its voters, and say: Here, this is what you asked for, suck it and see.
Will it be a disaster? Maybe, but maybe not. NO ONE FUCKING KNOWS
What we do know is that this is genuinely revolutionary. And WE are the country that is trying this. Not America, France, Japan, Malta, the Maldives, Gabon or a mad island near Wallis & Futuna.
WE are doing this brave and crazy thing. WE are gonna be a different nation.
Go, us.
Like the UK kick-starting privatisation, it will be another idea to circle the globe......
Russia invaded Poland too! On 17th September 1939.
Russia doesn't invade countries, it enters them after invitations from concerned citizens to liberate them from their unsympathetic regime. See Hungary 1956, Czechoslovakia 1968, Afghanistan 1979, Georgia 2008, Ukraine 2014, Estonia 2021, Latvia 2024, Lithuania 2028, Poland 2032...
Maybe we can get a t-shirt printed.
I’m fairly certain they were invading Germany in 1945 and were quite happy to describe it as such...
Russia invaded Poland too! On 17th September 1939.
Russia doesn't invade countries, it enters them after invitations from concerned citizens to liberate them from their unsympathetic regime. See Hungary 1956, Czechoslovakia 1968, Afghanistan 1979, Georgia 2008, Ukraine 2014, Estonia 2021, Latvia 2024, Lithuania 2028, Poland 2032...
Maybe we can get a t-shirt printed.
I’m fairly certain they were invading Germany in 1945 and were quite happy to describe it as such...
In fairness to them, they did have over twenty million good reasons to do so...
It's weird. I've clocked off for the day. I have no papers to review and the paper I'm writing is being reviewed by the editorial board. I don't go back to work until Thursday. I am not catching a train tonight nor tomorrow night.
Pause.
Drums fingers.
Damn, is this what you puny humans call "time off"? Lord, but it is weird...
Just think: next year, and for the rest of the decade, Britain is going to try something NEW. Something no country has done, ever. We are gonna reverse globalisation, step aside from Davos man-wank, we are going to return the country to its voters, and say: Here, this is what you asked for, suck it and see.
Will it be a disaster? Maybe, but maybe not. NO ONE FUCKING KNOWS
What we do know is that this is genuinely revolutionary. And WE are the country that is trying this. Not America, France, Japan, Malta, the Maldives, Gabon or a mad island near Wallis & Futuna.
WE are doing this brave and crazy thing. WE are gonna be a different nation.
Go, us.
“ This makes it doubly important to raise living standards in so-called left behind areas. Productivity must increase in the lower paid and often insecure jobs within Britain’s domestically-oriented economy, such as care work and online shopping delivery. Government policy needs to look beyond glamorous high tech jobs.
That means better alternatives to university education, including for adults, and a package of reforms aimed at reducing one-sided flexibility where workers bear all the risk. The Augar review of higher education and the Taylor review of the future of work provide “oven-ready” proposals.”
Taking the fight to the biggest capitalist project ever known
That's not actually that optimistic an article. It is correct in its recognition of the challenges, but to my mind the big question is around governance. I believe companies and countries prosper when they have the good feedback loops in place.
They try things, they evaluate whether those things have worked (and why) and they adjust.
The larger the organisation, and the more insulated it is from the real world, the less well those feedback loops work. It is why, I believe, that smaller countries are inherently nimbler than large ones. And for large ones, it's very important to have proper democratic structures in place.
That is the optimistic, governance based, argument for Brexit.
What scares me about BJ is that he thinks in terms of outcomes and not processes. I hope I am wrong. I hope uses his ample majority well. I hope he is able to help the left behind.
Cummings is correct here - better to give Manchester University and others cash beefing up their research departments rather than try and create something new.
Agree, if the university is prepared to embrace the new mission and identity thay would make it the MIT of the UK, rather than just Manchester uni rolling in cash.
Yeah, there had better be very tight spending guidelines attached to the money. If they don’t just want to see it disappear into the blob. If they’re going to be like MIT, they’ll also be funding a lot of scholarships for the most able in STEM subjects.
Strong rumours of a massive uptick in the number of places for nurses and doctors at Uni. Think - multiple birds with a single stone.
Cummings is correct here - better to give Manchester University and others cash beefing up their research departments rather than try and create something new.
Agree, if the university is prepared to embrace the new mission and identity thay would make it the MIT of the UK, rather than just Manchester uni rolling in cash.
Yeah, there had better be very tight spending guidelines attached to the money. If they don’t just want to see it disappear into the blob. If they’re going to be like MIT, they’ll also be funding a lot of scholarships for the most able in STEM subjects.
Strong rumours of a massive uptick in the number of places for nurses and doctors at Uni. Think - multiple birds with a single stone.
Haven't nursing courses been generally undersubscribed, causing them to close?
In other words, lack of places is not the fundamental problem.
I got the code quiz right at the end, without looking at the comments! And I haven't coded in Javascript since (thinks) 2012 at the latest! Pause. OK, that's not really something to boast about...
I've looked at date formats frequently over the years, particularly for timestamps. You find yourself writing yyyy-mm-dd-hh-mm-ss and then you get tripped up by those which use milliseconds as well.
I just use milliseconds since the Unix Epoch for everything.
It does sometimes cause confusion.
So either you’re hoping to retire before 2038, or hoping that 2038 generates another millennium bug’s worth of work to enable you to retire?
In Vernor Vinge's "A Deepness in the Sky", 10s of thousands of years from now, only elite code archeologists know that the The Clock started not when humans first landed on the Moon, but 15 megaseconds later, give or take.
Just think: next year, and for the rest of the decade, Britain is going to try something NEW. Something no country has done, ever. We are gonna reverse globalisation, step aside from Davos man-wank, we are going to return the country to its voters, and say: Here, this is what you asked for, suck it and see.
Will it be a disaster? Maybe, but maybe not. NO ONE FUCKING KNOWS
What we do know is that this is genuinely revolutionary. And WE are the country that is trying this. Not America, France, Japan, Malta, the Maldives, Gabon or a mad island near Wallis & Futuna.
WE are doing this brave and crazy thing. WE are gonna be a different nation.
Go, us.
“ This makes it doubly important to raise living standards in so-called left behind areas. Productivity must increase in the lower paid and often insecure jobs within Britain’s domestically-oriented economy, such as care work and online shopping delivery. Government policy needs to look beyond glamorous high tech jobs.
That means better alternatives to university education, including for adults, and a package of reforms aimed at reducing one-sided flexibility where workers bear all the risk. The Augar review of higher education and the Taylor review of the future of work provide “oven-ready” proposals.”
Taking the fight to the biggest capitalist project ever known
I'm not sure the EU is "the biggest capitalist project ever known". It is a political project to create a EU-wide polity. Freedom of Movement is a means to that end.
Just think: next year, and for the rest of the decade, Britain is going to try something NEW. Something no country has done, ever. We are gonna reverse globalisation, step aside from Davos man-wank, we are going to return the country to its voters, and say: Here, this is what you asked for, suck it and see.
Will it be a disaster? Maybe, but maybe not. NO ONE FUCKING KNOWS
What we do know is that this is genuinely revolutionary. And WE are the country that is trying this. Not America, France, Japan, Malta, the Maldives, Gabon or a mad island near Wallis & Futuna.
WE are doing this brave and crazy thing. WE are gonna be a different nation.
Go, us.
“ This makes it doubly important to raise living standards in so-called left behind areas. Productivity must increase in the lower paid and often insecure jobs within Britain’s domestically-oriented economy, such as care work and online shopping delivery. Government policy needs to look beyond glamorous high tech jobs.
That means better alternatives to university education, including for adults, and a package of reforms aimed at reducing one-sided flexibility where workers bear all the risk. The Augar review of higher education and the Taylor review of the future of work provide “oven-ready” proposals.”
Taking the fight to the biggest capitalist project ever known
I'm not sure the EU is "the biggest capitalist project ever known". It is a political project to create a EU-wide polity. Freedom of Movement is a means to that end.
It delivers people prepared to accept lower pay and working conditions than the established labour market to corporates across the continent, and protects this deal by labelling anyone who notices racist or xenophobic. Worked for a decade or two anyway.
Comments
What a pity that your party blocked reform plans during the coalition. It is like it is because of the Tories
But I hope the government increases the number of degree apprenticeships and not just the number of degrees.
Prince Andrew at least did some travel and glad handing of dodgy foreign businessmen to earn that money.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/grooming-child-sex-abuse-exploitation-rotherham-rochdale-police-a9215261.html
Polish PM furious at Putin rewriting history of second world war.
Mateusz Morawiecki attacks Russian president’s ‘lies’ blaming Poland for start of war
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/dec/30/polish-pm-furious-at-putin-rewriting-history-of-second-world-war
Dan Jarvis or Yvette Cooper are the only possibles that would have me rejoining and if neither won I'd be resigning again the next week.
And curiously popularised the concept of jihad in US culture.
This will be the 87th Adam Driver movie I'll have watched this year.
Maybe we can get a t-shirt printed.
Possibly the best film I’ve seen this year.
We know he’s fond of the Goebbels approach to propaganda.
https://twitter.com/allisonpearson/status/1211754362135023617?s=20
I’ll get my coat.
Good night.
https://www.ft.com/content/05e5fcf0-176a-11ea-9ee4-11f260415385?segmentid=acee4131-99c2-09d3-a635-873e61754ec6
But this time... they are trying to be OPTIMISTIC
Just think: next year, and for the rest of the decade, Britain is going to try something NEW. Something no country has done, ever. We are gonna reverse globalisation, step aside from Davos man-wank, we are going to return the country to its voters, and say: Here, this is what you asked for, suck it and see.
Will it be a disaster? Maybe, but maybe not. NO ONE FUCKING KNOWS
What we do know is that this is genuinely revolutionary. And WE are the country that is trying this. Not America, France, Japan, Malta, the Maldives, Gabon or a mad island near Wallis & Futuna.
WE are doing this brave and crazy thing. WE are gonna be a different nation.
Go, us.
Maybe.
Fuck it. Let's try it.
Pause.
Drums fingers.
Damn, is this what you puny humans call "time off"? Lord, but it is weird...
[wanders off to get yoghurt]
That means better alternatives to university education, including for adults, and a package of reforms aimed at reducing one-sided flexibility where workers bear all the risk. The Augar review of higher education and the Taylor review of the future of work provide “oven-ready” proposals.”
Taking the fight to the biggest capitalist project ever known
They try things, they evaluate whether those things have worked (and why) and they adjust.
The larger the organisation, and the more insulated it is from the real world, the less well those feedback loops work. It is why, I believe, that smaller countries are inherently nimbler than large ones. And for large ones, it's very important to have proper democratic structures in place.
That is the optimistic, governance based, argument for Brexit.
What scares me about BJ is that he thinks in terms of outcomes and not processes. I hope I am wrong. I hope uses his ample majority well. I hope he is able to help the left behind.
https://twitter.com/DrDionGeorgiou/status/1211764389252157442
Different governments for London at the weekend would add to the fun.
In other words, lack of places is not the fundamental problem.
New thread
“To try and fail is at least to learn; to fail to try is to suffer the inestimable loss of what might have been.”