Perhaps I’m unusual but I’m not hugely interested in international blame-casting at a time of an urgent and fast-moving crisis. I’d rather the politicians concentrated on the task at hand.
No, but I would beware Chinese bearing gifts (faulty test kits, defective face masks) as altruism may not be their motive.
Tory Klaxon surge on a sub sample did not last long ..........
Sensational Panelbase poll shows SNP have further increased their enormous lead over the Tories - Scottish Parliament constituency voting intentions:
SNP 51% (+1) Conservatives 26% (n/c) Labour 14% (n/c) Liberal Democrats 6% (-1) Greens 3% (n/c)
Scottish Parliament regional list voting intentions:
SNP 48% (+1) Conservatives 26% (+1) Labour 13% (-1)
Malc, I think in these uncertain times we should be grateful that those PBers who month in, month out have predicted the end of the SNP honeymoon, and that every twist & turn of national, European & international politics will be bad for indy, have proved entirely consistent in their predictive powers.
Though it’s true that Florida seems to have received preferential treatment, that seems more likely because the governor is assiduous in flattering Trump: ... Florida has been an exception in its dealings with the stockpile: The state submitted a request on March 11 for 430,000 surgical masks, 180,000 N95 respirators, 82,000 face shields and 238,000 gloves, among other supplies — and received a shipment with everything three days later, according to figures from the state’s Division of Emergency Management. It received an identical shipment on March 23, according to the division, and is awaiting a third. “The governor has spoken to the president daily, and the entire congressional delegation has been working as one for the betterment of the state of Florida,” said Jared Moskowitz, the emergency management division’s director. “We are leaving no stone unturned.” President Trump repeatedly has warned states not to complain about how much they are receiving, including Friday during a White House briefing, where he advised Vice President Pence not to call governors who are critical of the administration’s response. “I want them to be appreciative,” he said...
Trump is a total fucking disgrace in everything he does. If I was in california or new York I would be ready to secede and let the "shithole" states sink in their own crap. Trump is worse than a mafia gangster.
The way he demands obeisance is so bloody crass. No servant of the people he.
What do people think about Jeremy Hunt at 66-1 for next PM?
He's been leading the criticism of the government for not testing enough. If, god forbid, the situation in the UK deteriorates beyond expectations, and the government is seen to have failed, might he be the obvious choice to lead a change in policy?
In a cruel twist of fate for Johnson, Hunt might be the pandemic's Churchill to Johnson's Chamberlain.
Trouble is, it is on Hunt's watch that the warnings were ignored and the preparations not made. Of course, it was the failure of Churchill's Norway Campaign that brought down Chamberlain.
To put it bluntly, if Covid-19 forces out Boris one way or another then it is a good price but if not, you are left waiting for five or ten years with no obvious route back to power for Hunt.
I see you ignore the actual numbers, the fact that unionists said trial would kill the SNP and fact that Salmond is NOT guilty on all charges. We will see when the perjury cases come up and the names are published, the conspirators cannot hide forever and unionist attempts to try and continue the charade are doomed.
TBH, I suspect Salmond would be better to keep his head down for a while. His Counsel probably had it right. And the prosecuting authorities might be well advised to let any perjury charges drop. No sense in dragging the good name of Bute House further through the mud, and I wonder whether the statements in court were exaggerations, rather than downright lies.
How much trouble is the QC in ? I mean this is obviously a MI7 honey trap / sting but surely he will be in hot water?
He's in very serious trouble. Its very sad. He's a brilliant advocate. One of my friends was lucky enough to get a ticket for his just speech. He said it was some of the best advocacy he had ever heard. But this, sadly, is a classic breach of our code of conduct and he will have to self refer himself to the disciplinary body, the SLCC. As it is a conduct matter they will refer it back to the Dean of Faculty to investigate.
If the cult give up and Starmer wins then a large part of his battle will be internal - fighting the continuity Corbyn loyalists who despite being no longer in power will have influence. If the cult don't give up and proclaim RLB the winner then I expect a fairly rapid exodus as moderates flee before they are pushed.
You have to look at the context. Corbyn won. So say Corbyn supporters who see no problem with the Jeremy prancing around on streets taking his applause for the NHS. Corbyn won because the government are delivering Corbyn policies. Corbyn won because the Corona crisis is the collapse of neoliberalism they've been dreaming of, now more than ever they must Keep Going to lead the scared people of Britain to True Socialism.
My only question will be who they select as deputy to go with RLB. Needs to be someone loyal to the cause. Rayner seemed to be the initial choice but then she said some terrible things about Israel having the right to exist. Which leaves Burgon. OK so declaring Burgon the winner is literally telling the world they've rigged the thing but given how they have openly rigged various seat selections are they bothered about being caught out?
I don't criticise people for switching parties if they want to, but since you joined the LibDems your posts have got ever-weirder. Of course the left aren't going to claim that actually RLB/Buirgon won. Nor are they going to be much bothered about changes in personnel. They'll feel a certain unease about too much left-wing policy being junked, but Starmer will get a honeymoon for a while apart from a few outriders.
Perhaps I’m unusual but I’m not hugely interested in international blame-casting at a time of an urgent and fast-moving crisis. I’d rather the politicians concentrated on the task at hand.
No, but I would beware Chinese bearing gifts (faulty test kits, defective face masks) as altruism may not be their motive.
Of more concern is a significant breakdown of international relations. One doesn’t have to assume good intentions on their part (which would be foolish in any event) to deal with China. As for the foreseeable future the rest of the world will have to do.
Good article Alastair and good foresight on the 4 seats (and even the North East!) at risk.
Does raise an interesting prospect that even if Labour replace London's Corbyn with London's Starmer, even facing London's Boris, that Labour might continue to slip backwards in their former North East heartland.
What do people think about Jeremy Hunt at 66-1 for next PM?
He's been leading the criticism of the government for not testing enough. If, god forbid, the situation in the UK deteriorates beyond expectations, and the government is seen to have failed, might he be the obvious choice to lead a change in policy?
In a cruel twist of fate for Johnson, Hunt might be the pandemic's Churchill to Johnson's Chamberlain.
Trouble is, it is on Hunt's watch that the warnings were ignored and the preparations not made. Of course, it was the failure of Churchill's Norway Campaign that brought down Chamberlain.
To put it bluntly, if Covid-19 forces out Boris one way or another then it is a good price but if not, you are left waiting for five or ten years with no obvious route back to power for Hunt.
Churchill was also of course totally unprepared for war in the Far East, having ignored the threat from Japan to hammer Hitler. Although he had been PM and indeed Conservative leader for some time before it kicked off properly.
1. The US is a country in epic decline. 2. China is a country that cannot be trusted. 3. Ditto Russia 4. The EU talks solidarity but does not practise it. There is some major shit still ahead of us all.
Thats enough to send to send me off to church for the first time, to seek comfort and to be surrounded by my fellow man and woman. Oh.
"It’s always nice to be right, of course, but that’s not my main point (it is a subsidiary point, I admit). "
Genuine LOL. Thanks Alastair.
I wonder if another name for ‘sneaky fucker’ could be ‘subsidiary point?’
In these benighted times, especially this morning with the news of the Dean of Faculty, I take my amusement where I can find it and quite a lot is on here.
Sky News suggesting big problems brewing in Italy after 15 days of lockdown.
Given the numbers there you would need to be pretty stupid to be wanting to go out.
Never underestimate how think some are. And I mean really thick...
This is why all those in UK screaming for Lock Down Now! had no idea what they were talking about. Keeping it up for several weeks, never mind two or three, even six months is going to be challenging, to say the least.
How much trouble is the QC in ? I mean this is obviously a MI7 honey trap / sting but surely he will be in hot water?
He's in very serious trouble. Its very sad. He's a brilliant advocate. One of my friends was lucky enough to get a ticket for his just speech. He said it was some of the best advocacy he had ever heard. But this, sadly, is a classic breach of our code of conduct and he will have to self refer himself to the disciplinary body, the SLCC. As it is a conduct matter they will refer it back to the Dean of Faculty to investigate.
When you say, ‘in very serious trouble’ - I take it you mean he might have to pay bar tabs or something by way of penance?
If the cult give up and Starmer wins then a large part of his battle will be internal - fighting the continuity Corbyn loyalists who despite being no longer in power will have influence. If the cult don't give up and proclaim RLB the winner then I expect a fairly rapid exodus as moderates flee before they are pushed.
You have to look at the context. Corbyn won. So say Corbyn supporters who see no problem with the Jeremy prancing around on streets taking his applause for the NHS. Corbyn won because the government are delivering Corbyn policies. Corbyn won because the Corona crisis is the collapse of neoliberalism they've been dreaming of, now more than ever they must Keep Going to lead the scared people of Britain to True Socialism.
My only question will be who they select as deputy to go with RLB. Needs to be someone loyal to the cause. Rayner seemed to be the initial choice but then she said some terrible things about Israel having the right to exist. Which leaves Burgon. OK so declaring Burgon the winner is literally telling the world they've rigged the thing but given how they have openly rigged various seat selections are they bothered about being caught out?
I don't criticise people for switching parties if they want to, but since you joined the LibDems your posts have got ever-weirder. Of course the left aren't going to claim that actually RLB/Buirgon won. Nor are they going to be much bothered about changes in personnel. They'll feel a certain unease about too much left-wing policy being junked, but Starmer will get a honeymoon for a while apart from a few outriders.
Has there been any update on the postal ballots? I believe there were some concerns that party members weren't getting ballot papers.
"It’s always nice to be right, of course, but that’s not my main point (it is a subsidiary point, I admit). "
Genuine LOL. Thanks Alastair.
I wonder if another name for ‘sneaky fucker’ could be ‘subsidiary point?’
In these benighted times, especially this morning with the news of the Dean of Faculty, I take my amusement where I can find it and quite a lot is on here.
What about the Dean of Faculty?
Hold on - is this guy going to have to investigate himself?
I see you ignore the actual numbers, the fact that unionists said trial would kill the SNP and fact that Salmond is NOT guilty on all charges. We will see when the perjury cases come up and the names are published, the conspirators cannot hide forever and unionist attempts to try and continue the charade are doomed.
TBH, I suspect Salmond would be better to keep his head down for a while. His Counsel probably had it right. And the prosecuting authorities might be well advised to let any perjury charges drop. No sense in dragging the good name of Bute House further through the mud, and I wonder whether the statements in court were exaggerations, rather than downright lies.
Remember any such case would see the burden of proof reversed.
How much trouble is the QC in ? I mean this is obviously a MI7 honey trap / sting but surely he will be in hot water?
He’s utterly screwed because he names two of the complainants.
How quickly the world turns. Only a week ago Jackson was thought to have pulled off a career defining triumph.
He's a regular at a pub I used to frequent. When things are back to normal I'll attempt some earwigging, though I daresay indiscreet comments are now off the menu.
It is easy to forget, but before Jeremy Corbyn turned up Ed Miliband was the worst leader Labour had ever had. One undoubted positive about the current leadership election is that Labour members almost certainly haven’t chosen the worst possible candidate. From little acorns ...
Haven't they? We'll see. Starmer is probably the least charismatic of those who stood, is a paid-up member of London's metropolitan elite, and devised the Brexit policy.
This is not a time for charisma. Substance is what is required. The Tories won a huge majority with a leader who is a fully paid-up member of London’s metropolitan elite.
I'm not sure the London thing matters but it was constantly put up as a criticism of Miliband, Corbyn and Labour. See the header, for instance.
I see you ignore the actual numbers, the fact that unionists said trial would kill the SNP and fact that Salmond is NOT guilty on all charges. We will see when the perjury cases come up and the names are published, the conspirators cannot hide forever and unionist attempts to try and continue the charade are doomed.
Salmond's defence was that he was a real nasty bastard who was not safe round women, but his conduct fell just short of criminal.
Nice guy.
Is that a fantasy story you are peddling Mark, I think he said he was human and may have made a few errors, hardly the mince you pretend. It was a bad attempt at a stitch up as was easily proven, prosecution did not question any of the defence witnesses as they did not have a leg to stand on. Their pals in unionist media trying valiantly to keep pushing it to no avail.
If the cult give up and Starmer wins then a large part of his battle will be internal - fighting the continuity Corbyn loyalists who despite being no longer in power will have influence. If the cult don't give up and proclaim RLB the winner then I expect a fairly rapid exodus as moderates flee before they are pushed.
You have to look at the context. Corbyn won. So say Corbyn supporters who see no problem with the Jeremy prancing around on streets taking his applause for the NHS. Corbyn won because the government are delivering Corbyn policies. Corbyn won because the Corona crisis is the collapse of neoliberalism they've been dreaming of, now more than ever they must Keep Going to lead the scared people of Britain to True Socialism.
My only question will be who they select as deputy to go with RLB. Needs to be someone loyal to the cause. Rayner seemed to be the initial choice but then she said some terrible things about Israel having the right to exist. Which leaves Burgon. OK so declaring Burgon the winner is literally telling the world they've rigged the thing but given how they have openly rigged various seat selections are they bothered about being caught out?
I don't criticise people for switching parties if they want to, but since you joined the LibDems your posts have got ever-weirder. Of course the left aren't going to claim that actually RLB/Buirgon won. Nor are they going to be much bothered about changes in personnel. They'll feel a certain unease about too much left-wing policy being junked, but Starmer will get a honeymoon for a while apart from a few outriders.
Your own post is pretty weird. You're probably right but if you are not expecting some on the left to claim RLB or Burgon actually won (assuming for the moment they do not) you've clearly not been on the internet before. It may not be representative but it wont be unherd of. I mean people told me to my face the tories rigged the GE, someone is bound to do the same in the labour contest
If the cult give up and Starmer wins then a large part of his battle will be internal - fighting the continuity Corbyn loyalists who despite being no longer in power will have influence. If the cult don't give up and proclaim RLB the winner then I expect a fairly rapid exodus as moderates flee before they are pushed.
You have to look at the context. Corbyn won. So say Corbyn supporters who see no problem with the Jeremy prancing around on streets taking his applause for the NHS. Corbyn won because the government are delivering Corbyn policies. Corbyn won because the Corona crisis is the collapse of neoliberalism they've been dreaming of, now more than ever they must Keep Going to lead the scared people of Britain to True Socialism.
My only question will be who they select as deputy to go with RLB. Needs to be someone loyal to the cause. Rayner seemed to be the initial choice but then she said some terrible things about Israel having the right to exist. Which leaves Burgon. OK so declaring Burgon the winner is literally telling the world they've rigged the thing but given how they have openly rigged various seat selections are they bothered about being caught out?
I don't criticise people for switching parties if they want to, but since you joined the LibDems your posts have got ever-weirder. Of course the left aren't going to claim that actually RLB/Buirgon won. Nor are they going to be much bothered about changes in personnel. They'll feel a certain unease about too much left-wing policy being junked, but Starmer will get a honeymoon for a while apart from a few outriders.
The weather is not helping, with flood warnings down the North Sea Coast.
Opposite for me, brilliant sunshine in Ayrshire and no problem with lockdown whatsoever. Tidied up garden yesterday , planted my M&S seed packages up, a few beers etc. All very pleasant indeed amid the doom and gloom.
What about your second home in england?
Both my houses are in Scotland, in the same town even.
I see you ignore the actual numbers, the fact that unionists said trial would kill the SNP and fact that Salmond is NOT guilty on all charges. We will see when the perjury cases come up and the names are published, the conspirators cannot hide forever and unionist attempts to try and continue the charade are doomed.
Salmond's defence was that he was a real nasty bastard who was not safe round women, but his conduct fell just short of criminal.
Nice guy.
Is that a fantasy story you are peddling Mark, I think he said he was human and may have made a few errors, hardly the mince you pretend. It was a bad attempt at a stitch up as was easily proven, prosecution did not question any of the defence witnesses as they did not have a leg to stand on. Their pals in unionist media trying valiantly to keep pushing it to no avail.
It is easy to forget, but before Jeremy Corbyn turned up Ed Miliband was the worst leader Labour had ever had. One undoubted positive about the current leadership election is that Labour members almost certainly haven’t chosen the worst possible candidate. From little acorns ...
Haven't they? We'll see. Starmer is probably the least charismatic of those who stood, is a paid-up member of London's metropolitan elite, and devised the Brexit policy.
Great soundbite. Unfortunately none of those three assertions are true.
He isn't a 'paid-up member of London's metropolitan elite'. Being successful doesn't automatically qualify you for that opprobrium. He came from a pretty working class family background in Southwark which is hardly metropolitan elite and certainly wasn't then: mother a nurse and father a toolmaker and his mother was ill for much of his childhood. He was state school educated.
He did not 'devise' Labour's Brexit policy at all. That is utter rubbish. Labour was almost as riven on Europe as the Conservatives. Harold Wilson recognised this and had to deal with the Far Left's ambivalence towards the EEC and at times outright antipathy to Europe: Tony Benn, Eric Heffer being examples. Keir Starmer was attempting to hold together two mutually incompatible forces within Labour: the pro-European metropolitan London elites and the northern (basically racist) working class.
Is he charismatic? Dunno. He can be very effective at the despatch box: erudite and incisive with a sharp forensic mind.
So cut the crap and at least take him down for plausible, not spurious, reasons.
I'm not taking down Starmer so much as pointing out that he fails on what his supporters identify as flaws in other candidates and previous leaders. That aside, your defence seems to concede what it intends to refute; at best it is mitigation. I should also demur over the characterisation of northerners as racist, even if they do talk funny.
I hope you are right about Starmer's forensic questioning of Boris at PMQs to come.
I see you ignore the actual numbers, the fact that unionists said trial would kill the SNP and fact that Salmond is NOT guilty on all charges. We will see when the perjury cases come up and the names are published, the conspirators cannot hide forever and unionist attempts to try and continue the charade are doomed.
TBH, I suspect Salmond would be better to keep his head down for a while. His Counsel probably had it right. And the prosecuting authorities might be well advised to let any perjury charges drop. No sense in dragging the good name of Bute House further through the mud, and I wonder whether the statements in court were exaggerations, rather than downright lies.
Get them in court OKC, we want to see the participants in the stitch up, they will be crapping it as the names will be leaked soon for sure. Lots of people apparently know them so only a matter of time.
The weather is not helping, with flood warnings down the North Sea Coast.
Opposite for me, brilliant sunshine in Ayrshire and no problem with lockdown whatsoever. Tidied up garden yesterday , planted my M&S seed packages up, a few beers etc. All very pleasant indeed amid the doom and gloom.
What about your second home in england?
Both my houses are in Scotland, in the same town even.
On topic, a very good thread. I agree that Labour's problems are very deep-rooted. This isn't particularly original, but I would suggest five main ones. If they beat these, they have a shot next time. If not, probably not, unless Boris screws up disastrously or is replaced by someone else:
1) Patriotism. They are seen, rightly or wrongly, as unpatriotic. My gut feeling is that Starmer will do slightly better on this than Corbyn, simply because he doesn't have Jezza's baggage. But he needs to do more. Not obviously hoping that the Brexit talks go disastrously wrong for this country would be a good start. 2) Economic competence. Memories of the 2008 crash are fading, but they are still there. And Labour's recent chuck-money-at-everyone manifesto hasn't exactly restored their image. 3) Aspiration. People are more likely to support a politician, however, vacuous, who seems to support their aspirations, and gives them some hope that life can get better. The country backed Blair, not Brown. Johnson, not Michael Howard. Etc. etc. I'm not convinced that SKS will do that, but I could be wrong. 4) Scotland. As many have pointed out, the mathematics of winning a majority is difficult for Labour with a recovery in Scotland. Without it, it is simply horrific. And they haven't even started to think about how to do this. 5) The LibDems. Labour needs to squeeze their vote, uniting the Left as Boris's union of the Brexit vote paid such enormous dividends to the Conservatives. If the new LibDem leader is any good, Labour could be in even worse trouble than it is.
The above list shows how much needs to go right for Labour to begin to look credible. So above all it needs the Conservatives to screw up badly and be seen to screw up, as they did in the early 90s. If that happens, all bets are off.
Tony Blair is the only living Labour leader to win a majority, and I don't think SKS is anything like as good as Blair was politically.
"It’s always nice to be right, of course, but that’s not my main point (it is a subsidiary point, I admit). "
Genuine LOL. Thanks Alastair.
I wonder if another name for ‘sneaky fucker’ could be ‘subsidiary point?’
In these benighted times, especially this morning with the news of the Dean of Faculty, I take my amusement where I can find it and quite a lot is on here.
What about the Dean of Faculty?
Hold on - is this guy going to have to investigate himself?
Err, no, he will no longer be Dean. I suspect that we will have to get someone from another bar to investigate it. I don't see how any of the current office bearers could.
I'm not the one presenting an MOE change or no change as "further increased".
you were cheering yesterday when some idiot had the tories 3% behind on a 99 person subsample , not even from a real poll
Now you're making it up......if I did, cite my post.
If you can't, apology accepted.
Are you really a halfwit or pretending, unionists on here were salivating yesterday on a subsample. Given you are one of the most virulent unionists I lump you in with the herd and imagine you dancing a jig when you saw the Klaxon telegram saying they were only 3% behind. I bet you swooned.
I see you ignore the actual numbers, the fact that unionists said trial would kill the SNP and fact that Salmond is NOT guilty on all charges. We will see when the perjury cases come up and the names are published, the conspirators cannot hide forever and unionist attempts to try and continue the charade are doomed.
TBH, I suspect Salmond would be better to keep his head down for a while. His Counsel probably had it right. And the prosecuting authorities might be well advised to let any perjury charges drop. No sense in dragging the good name of Bute House further through the mud, and I wonder whether the statements in court were exaggerations, rather than downright lies.
I sincerely hope there are no prosecutions for perjury. That would send entirely the wrong message to women who have been subjected to sexual assault and worse. Thankfully, since Salmond's defence appears to have been not that the women lied but that his behaviour fell short of criminal, I doubt the complainants will face prosecution.
It is extremely rare for an acquittal to result in the complainants being prosecuted for perjury.
I'm not the one presenting an MOE change or no change as "further increased".
you were cheering yesterday when some idiot had the tories 3% behind on a 99 person subsample , not even from a real poll
And I expressed surprise that Nicola had not got more of a boost from her excellent handling of the Virus. I know a lot of people who are very far from Nationalists who have been impressed.
"It’s always nice to be right, of course, but that’s not my main point (it is a subsidiary point, I admit). "
Genuine LOL. Thanks Alastair.
I wonder if another name for ‘sneaky fucker’ could be ‘subsidiary point?’
In these benighted times, especially this morning with the news of the Dean of Faculty, I take my amusement where I can find it and quite a lot is on here.
What about the Dean of Faculty?
Hold on - is this guy going to have to investigate himself?
Err, no, he will no longer be Dean. I suspect that we will have to get someone from another bar to investigate it. I don't see how any of the current office bearers could.
The weather is not helping, with flood warnings down the North Sea Coast.
Opposite for me, brilliant sunshine in Ayrshire and no problem with lockdown whatsoever. Tidied up garden yesterday , planted my M&S seed packages up, a few beers etc. All very pleasant indeed amid the doom and gloom.
What about your second home in england?
Both my houses are in Scotland, in the same town even.
Are you giving yourself Ayrs, Malc?
LOL, just dispelling scurrilous rumour of me having house in England.
Perhaps I’m unusual but I’m not hugely interested in international blame-casting at a time of an urgent and fast-moving crisis. I’d rather the politicians concentrated on the task at hand.
No, but I would beware Chinese bearing gifts (faulty test kits, defective face masks) as altruism may not be their motive.
I know no-one in the consumer countries will make the distinction, but did the Chinese government actually supply the defective kit or did western governments buy this stuff off Alibaba? If it's the first, the manufacturers will be in serious trouble with their own government. Big loss of face.
I'm not the one presenting an MOE change or no change as "further increased".
you were cheering yesterday when some idiot had the tories 3% behind on a 99 person subsample , not even from a real poll
And I expressed surprise that Nicola had not got more of a boost from her excellent handling of the Virus. I know a lot of people who are very far from Nationalists who have been impressed.
Sure, but I assumed most people already regarded her as a competent figure so less of a boost?
I mean, the competence of the SNP leadership has been part of the problem for unionists generally.
If the cult give up and Starmer wins then a large part of his battle will be internal - fighting the continuity Corbyn loyalists who despite being no longer in power will have influence. If the cult don't give up and proclaim RLB the winner then I expect a fairly rapid exodus as moderates flee before they are pushed.
You have to look at the context. Corbyn won. So say Corbyn supporters who see no problem with the Jeremy prancing around on streets taking his applause for the NHS. Corbyn won because the government are delivering Corbyn policies. Corbyn won because the Corona crisis is the collapse of neoliberalism they've been dreaming of, now more than ever they must Keep Going to lead the scared people of Britain to True Socialism.
My only question will be who they select as deputy to go with RLB. Needs to be someone loyal to the cause. Rayner seemed to be the initial choice but then she said some terrible things about Israel having the right to exist. Which leaves Burgon. OK so declaring Burgon the winner is literally telling the world they've rigged the thing but given how they have openly rigged various seat selections are they bothered about being caught out?
The cult will not give up. RLB will be annointed leader as you so rightly point out, not so sure about Burgon. I think Rayner has done enough to get the nod.
As ChangeUK, or whatever they were called has proven, a fragmentation of the centre left will most likely end in tears again.
Boris Johnson's brand of populism is more appealing to the aspirational working classes than the Labour Party underwritten by Momentum, and their clarion call to turn Britain into the Soviet Union. But here is the rub, they know that anyway. So what does it give them? Perpetual opposition! This is perfect, they can harp from the sidelines in perpetuity, which in essence is all they want.
The Corbynites absolutely despise Rachel Reeves. If Pogrund is right, and SKS does appoint her as his Shadow Chancellor, then that show he's definitely planning on confronting the far left. He'd have gone for Dodds if he wanted to try and avoid pissing them off.
Does the Labour party think it won the argument. Because if it does then it was Jeremy's argument and why would anyone want to change it.
I daresay if events had transpired earlier then he would not have agreed to step down as his moment is surely upon us.
We will soon find out if my slightly sarcastic "they will rig it" claim is true. All I know is that the cult have spent years installing themselves into power at all levels - the idea that they are going to meekly give it all up feels absurd. Especially when their moment of triumph is at hand.
Even if my paranoia is wrong and Starmer is declared the winner they aren't all going to go away. Twitter suggestion that he is going to demand the resignation of Formby. Why would she go?
I see you ignore the actual numbers, the fact that unionists said trial would kill the SNP and fact that Salmond is NOT guilty on all charges. We will see when the perjury cases come up and the names are published, the conspirators cannot hide forever and unionist attempts to try and continue the charade are doomed.
TBH, I suspect Salmond would be better to keep his head down for a while. His Counsel probably had it right. And the prosecuting authorities might be well advised to let any perjury charges drop. No sense in dragging the good name of Bute House further through the mud, and I wonder whether the statements in court were exaggerations, rather than downright lies.
Get them in court OKC, we want to see the participants in the stitch up, they will be crapping it as the names will be leaked soon for sure. Lots of people apparently know them so only a matter of time.
Least said, Malc, soonest mended. Isn't the greater goal of independence worth a bit of sweeping under the carpet?
1. The US is a country in epic decline. 2. China is a country that cannot be trusted. 3. Ditto Russia 4. The EU talks solidarity but does not practise it. There is some major shit still ahead of us all.
Thats enough to send to send me off to church for the first time, to seek comfort and to be surrounded by my fellow man and woman. Oh.
10 days ago I had lunch with a Uni friend who is now Administrator of a fairly net-savvy church in Nottingham - two days before gyms, pubs et al closed. They had just closed all their groups and activities.
They have an online service from someone's front room with a chat room running. The platform is free.
The local parish where I live is doing similar including a 'communion at home', though not quite as slick in operation.
Our Crossfit gym has been up and running online for a fortnight now - since it started 5 years ago the main communication has been via a Facebook Private Group anyway.
Quite a time of broadening of innovation, though all of this has been possible for 10-15 years now.
Sky News suggesting big problems brewing in Italy after 15 days of lockdown.
Given the numbers there you would need to be pretty stupid to be wanting to go out.
Three weeks - no money and no food in parts of the south are having their effect apparently, according to the Sky report.
3 weeks with little or no food would do it. Pretty crap in UK if you cannot get out to shops/get someone to shop for you. They should have made supermarkets prioritise people who can not get out and don't have ways to get food.
Britain must remain in full lockdown until June if it is to avoid the worst effects of the coronavirus, the government’s leading epidemiology adviser warned last night.
As the virus claimed its 1,000th life in the UK — a doubling of the death toll in just three days — Professor Neil Ferguson said in an interview that the entire population could need to stay at home for nearly three months.
Boris Johnson said yesterday that the pandemic crisis would “get worse before it gets better”.
Senior figures in government have been more optimistic, suggesting the restrictions could be eased sooner than June, with the peak of the crisis predicted to come in the week of April 12 with as few as 5,700 deaths.
But Ferguson said: “We’re going to have to keep these measures [the full lockdown] in place, in my view, for a significant period of time — probably until the end of May, maybe even early June. May is optimistic.”
He said that when the lockdown was finally lifted, people would probably still be asked to enforce some forms of social distancing for months more. That could mean schools and universities not reopening until the autumn, and people told to continue working from home rather than return to their offices.
"It’s always nice to be right, of course, but that’s not my main point (it is a subsidiary point, I admit). "
Genuine LOL. Thanks Alastair.
I wonder if another name for ‘sneaky fucker’ could be ‘subsidiary point?’
In these benighted times, especially this morning with the news of the Dean of Faculty, I take my amusement where I can find it and quite a lot is on here.
What about the Dean of Faculty?
Hold on - is this guy going to have to investigate himself?
Err, no, he will no longer be Dean. I suspect that we will have to get someone from another bar to investigate it. I don't see how any of the current office bearers could.
He can retire as king of the QC's in any event. He should have known there would be unionist MI5 lickspittles round every corner. He should have known he would be tailed and eavesdropped on , so a bit silly.
1) Patriotism. They are seen, rightly or wrongly, as unpatriotic. My gut feeling is that Starmer will do slightly better on this than Corbyn, simply because he doesn't have Jezza's baggage. But he needs to do more. Not obviously hoping that the Brexit talks go disastrously wrong for this country would be a good start.
Starmer is wrapped tightly in the blue with gold stars of the EU.
Can you imagine the curl of the lip if he was bought a pair of Union Jack underpants?
Sky News suggesting big problems brewing in Italy after 15 days of lockdown.
Given the numbers there you would need to be pretty stupid to be wanting to go out.
Three weeks - no money and no food in parts of the south are having their effect apparently, according to the Sky report.
3 weeks with little or no food would do it. Pretty crap in UK if you cannot get out to shops/get someone to shop for you. They should have made supermarkets prioritise people who can not get out and don't have ways to get food.
We are fortunate in that our neighbours..... he a Scot...... offer to shop for us. As does one of the grandchildren (others too far away/cannot drive) and our son-in-law. And the lady across the road. And two local off-licences will deliver, although there appears to be a bit of a wait with one.
I see you ignore the actual numbers, the fact that unionists said trial would kill the SNP and fact that Salmond is NOT guilty on all charges. We will see when the perjury cases come up and the names are published, the conspirators cannot hide forever and unionist attempts to try and continue the charade are doomed.
TBH, I suspect Salmond would be better to keep his head down for a while. His Counsel probably had it right. And the prosecuting authorities might be well advised to let any perjury charges drop. No sense in dragging the good name of Bute House further through the mud, and I wonder whether the statements in court were exaggerations, rather than downright lies.
Get them in court OKC, we want to see the participants in the stitch up, they will be crapping it as the names will be leaked soon for sure. Lots of people apparently know them so only a matter of time.
Least said, Malc, soonest mended. Isn't the greater goal of independence worth a bit of sweeping under the carpet?
OKC we will not get it with these turncoats running the show, they are hell bent on delaying and delaying. The byre needs mucked out , we have cuckoos in the nest unfortunately.
Sky News suggesting big problems brewing in Italy after 15 days of lockdown.
Given the numbers there you would need to be pretty stupid to be wanting to go out.
Three weeks - no money and no food in parts of the south are having their effect apparently, according to the Sky report.
3 weeks with little or no food would do it. Pretty crap in UK if you cannot get out to shops/get someone to shop for you. They should have made supermarkets prioritise people who can not get out and don't have ways to get food.
Shops trying to fight stockpiling by limiting the number of items per customer runs up against the simple fact that some families are larger than others, and means more shopping trips must be made. It is too crude for the long term. Quite how they should prevent stockpiling is beyond my ken.
I'm not the one presenting an MOE change or no change as "further increased".
you were cheering yesterday when some idiot had the tories 3% behind on a 99 person subsample , not even from a real poll
And I expressed surprise that Nicola had not got more of a boost from her excellent handling of the Virus. I know a lot of people who are very far from Nationalists who have been impressed.
Sure, but I assumed most people already regarded her as a competent figure so less of a boost?
I mean, the competence of the SNP leadership has been part of the problem for unionists generally.
The incompetence of their own leaderships is a greater part of the problem.
“ Without PCR-Tests there would be no reason for special alarms. We are currently not measuring the incidence of coronavirus diseases, but the activity of the specialists searching for them.”
I’m really starting to struggle with the lockdown. Another 6 weeks or whatever is going to be horrible.
Just think what it would be like without sites like this and, dare I say it, Facebook. As over 70's we are getting supportive and caring messages on all sorts of media. Probably more than we normally get, TBH!
I took a call from a school friend yesterday. He's making a point of phoning 2 or 3 different people a day. People he wouldn't normally speak to.
Seemed like a cool idea.
That is what our vicar has set up. People have been asked to call three people not necessarily churchgoers every few days. I am doing it and I know its appreciated.
I'm contacting a lot of people from mum's funeral I had not seen for years, for that and to rebuild friendships.
Don't forget that even if you are one of the 'vulnerable' group, you can still NHS Volunteer if you want a focus - there is an "ET" role that involves phoning people at home.
I am doing that alongside other things such as the garden, and the house, and the paperwork.
Britain must remain in full lockdown until June if it is to avoid the worst effects of the coronavirus, the government’s leading epidemiology adviser warned last night.
As the virus claimed its 1,000th life in the UK — a doubling of the death toll in just three days — Professor Neil Ferguson said in an interview that the entire population could need to stay at home for nearly three months.
Boris Johnson said yesterday that the pandemic crisis would “get worse before it gets better”.
Senior figures in government have been more optimistic, suggesting the restrictions could be eased sooner than June, with the peak of the crisis predicted to come in the week of April 12 with as few as 5,700 deaths.
But Ferguson said: “We’re going to have to keep these measures [the full lockdown] in place, in my view, for a significant period of time — probably until the end of May, maybe even early June. May is optimistic.”
He said that when the lockdown was finally lifted, people would probably still be asked to enforce some forms of social distancing for months more. That could mean schools and universities not reopening until the autumn, and people told to continue working from home rather than return to their offices.
The Department for Education has told us to plan for no summer term.
Whether that will mean we have no summer term, I’m not sure, but it suggests that they think if we do have it, or part of it, it will be a bonus.
This will also royally screw up GCSEs and A-levels for next year as well due to the loss of teaching time. Any child attending a school that still runs two year GCSEs will be more buggered than a reluctant Turkish conscript.
It is easy to forget, but before Jeremy Corbyn turned up Ed Miliband was the worst leader Labour had ever had. One undoubted positive about the current leadership election is that Labour members almost certainly haven’t chosen the worst possible candidate. From little acorns ...
Haven't they? We'll see. Starmer is probably the least charismatic of those who stood, is a paid-up member of London's metropolitan elite, and devised the Brexit policy.
Great soundbite. Unfortunately none of those three assertions are true.
He isn't a 'paid-up member of London's metropolitan elite'. Being successful doesn't automatically qualify you for that opprobrium. He came from a pretty working class family background in Southwark which is hardly metropolitan elite and certainly wasn't then: mother a nurse and father a toolmaker and his mother was ill for much of his childhood. He was state school educated.
He did not 'devise' Labour's Brexit policy at all. That is utter rubbish. Labour was almost as riven on Europe as the Conservatives. Harold Wilson recognised this and had to deal with the Far Left's ambivalence towards the EEC and at times outright antipathy to Europe: Tony Benn, Eric Heffer being examples. Keir Starmer was attempting to hold together two mutually incompatible forces within Labour: the pro-European metropolitan London elites and the northern (basically racist) working class.
Is he charismatic? Dunno. He can be very effective at the despatch box: erudite and incisive with a sharp forensic mind.
So cut the crap and at least take him down for plausible, not spurious, reasons.
I'm not taking down Starmer so much as pointing out that he fails on what his supporters identify as flaws in other candidates and previous leaders. That aside, your defence seems to concede what it intends to refute; at best it is mitigation. I should also demur over the characterisation of northerners as racist, even if they do talk funny.
I hope you are right about Starmer's forensic questioning of Boris at PMQs to come.
However forensic the questioning Boris can easily blow him (or RLB) away with classical prose, poetry and vernacular invention.
These are the charts the government should send to every household.
While I think that is right, surely there should also be a graph showing lockdown until mid april and social distancing remaining, to show how that would not be sufficiently effective as well
Britain must remain in full lockdown until June if it is to avoid the worst effects of the coronavirus, the government’s leading epidemiology adviser warned last night.
As the virus claimed its 1,000th life in the UK — a doubling of the death toll in just three days — Professor Neil Ferguson said in an interview that the entire population could need to stay at home for nearly three months.
Boris Johnson said yesterday that the pandemic crisis would “get worse before it gets better”.
Senior figures in government have been more optimistic, suggesting the restrictions could be eased sooner than June, with the peak of the crisis predicted to come in the week of April 12 with as few as 5,700 deaths.
But Ferguson said: “We’re going to have to keep these measures [the full lockdown] in place, in my view, for a significant period of time — probably until the end of May, maybe even early June. May is optimistic.”
He said that when the lockdown was finally lifted, people would probably still be asked to enforce some forms of social distancing for months more. That could mean schools and universities not reopening until the autumn, and people told to continue working from home rather than return to their offices.
We need more work on how the virus is actually spread. Where is the peak from the Cheltenham Festival? Could the snooker have gone ahead behind closed doors? Why are Jews and Muslims disproportionately hit? What is the point of a takeaway enforcing social distancing if it provides a box of wooden forks for customers to rummage in? Should we buy wrapped rather than loose fruit and veg?
In other words, we need a more intelligent, better tuned lockdown.
I see you ignore the actual numbers, the fact that unionists said trial would kill the SNP and fact that Salmond is NOT guilty on all charges. We will see when the perjury cases come up and the names are published, the conspirators cannot hide forever and unionist attempts to try and continue the charade are doomed.
Salmond's defence was that he was a real nasty bastard who was not safe round women, but his conduct fell just short of criminal.
Nice guy.
Is that a fantasy story you are peddling Mark, I think he said he was human and may have made a few errors, hardly the mince you pretend. It was a bad attempt at a stitch up as was easily proven, prosecution did not question any of the defence witnesses as they did not have a leg to stand on. Their pals in unionist media trying valiantly to keep pushing it to no avail.
In the words of his own counsel - “If in some ways the former first minister had been a better man, I wouldn’t be here, you wouldn’t be here, none of us would be here.
“I’m not here to suggest he always behaved well or couldn’t have been a better man on occasions. That would be a waste of my time.”
“You have to be satisfied to that very high standard. There’s only to be guilt in these matters, not because someone could have been a better man.
“There can only be guilt in these matters because of that standard of proof.”
Just because the prosecution failed to reach the required standard of proof (i.e. beyond reasonable doubt) does not mean the witnesses were lying, just that the requisite standard of proof was not reached by the prosecution. Indeed if they were prosecuted for perjury, as you absurdly suggest, and cleared, where would that leave Salmond? Indeed what if they brought civil claims (not suggesting they will or at this even could at this point) a la in the OJ Simpson matter and won on the lower standard or proof (i.e the balance of probabilities) and won? The verdicts were “not guilty” and “not proven”. He was not found “innocent”
If perjury prosecutions were brought it would be an international disgrace and would dissuade any sexual assault complainant in Scotland from ever coming forward for fear that if the prosecution ballsed up the case, as here, they would end up in prison themselves. It won’t happen.
I'm not the one presenting an MOE change or no change as "further increased".
you were cheering yesterday when some idiot had the tories 3% behind on a 99 person subsample , not even from a real poll
And I expressed surprise that Nicola had not got more of a boost from her excellent handling of the Virus. I know a lot of people who are very far from Nationalists who have been impressed.
Sure, but I assumed most people already regarded her as a competent figure so less of a boost?
I mean, the competence of the SNP leadership has been part of the problem for unionists generally.
The incompetence of their own leaderships is a greater part of the problem.
Perhaps to be sporting about it the SNP would consent to be equally incompetent for a bit?
I'm not the one presenting an MOE change or no change as "further increased".
you were cheering yesterday when some idiot had the tories 3% behind on a 99 person subsample , not even from a real poll
And I expressed surprise that Nicola had not got more of a boost from her excellent handling of the Virus. I know a lot of people who are very far from Nationalists who have been impressed.
Sure, but I assumed most people already regarded her as a competent figure so less of a boost?
I mean, the competence of the SNP leadership has been part of the problem for unionists generally.
The incompetence of their own leaderships is a greater part of the problem.
Perhaps to be sporting about it the SNP would consent to be equally incompetent for a bit?
Christ, we've been doing our best in that regard for the last few months!
Sky News suggesting big problems brewing in Italy after 15 days of lockdown.
Given the numbers there you would need to be pretty stupid to be wanting to go out.
Three weeks - no money and no food in parts of the south are having their effect apparently, according to the Sky report.
3 weeks with little or no food would do it. Pretty crap in UK if you cannot get out to shops/get someone to shop for you. They should have made supermarkets prioritise people who can not get out and don't have ways to get food.
Shops trying to fight stockpiling by limiting the number of items per customer runs up against the simple fact that some families are larger than others, and means more shopping trips must be made. It is too crude for the long term. Quite how they should prevent stockpiling is beyond my ken.
These are the charts the government should send to every household.
While I think that is right, surely there should also be a graph showing lockdown until mid april and social distancing remaining, to show how that would not be sufficiently effective as well
The graph Govt. will want to see is lockdown to end April, social distancing May through to the end of June. You know, the one that saves the economy.....
Sky News suggesting big problems brewing in Italy after 15 days of lockdown.
Given the numbers there you would need to be pretty stupid to be wanting to go out.
Three weeks - no money and no food in parts of the south are having their effect apparently, according to the Sky report.
3 weeks with little or no food would do it. Pretty crap in UK if you cannot get out to shops/get someone to shop for you. They should have made supermarkets prioritise people who can not get out and don't have ways to get food.
Shops trying to fight stockpiling by limiting the number of items per customer runs up against the simple fact that some families are larger than others, and means more shopping trips must be made. It is too crude for the long term. Quite how they should prevent stockpiling is beyond my ken.
I'm not the one presenting an MOE change or no change as "further increased".
you were cheering yesterday when some idiot had the tories 3% behind on a 99 person subsample , not even from a real poll
And I expressed surprise that Nicola had not got more of a boost from her excellent handling of the Virus. I know a lot of people who are very far from Nationalists who have been impressed.
Sure, but I assumed most people already regarded her as a competent figure so less of a boost?
I mean, the competence of the SNP leadership has been part of the problem for unionists generally.
The incompetence of their own leaderships is a greater part of the problem.
Perhaps to be sporting about it the SNP would consent to be equally incompetent for a bit?
Christ, we've been doing our best in that regard for the last few months!
I'm not the one presenting an MOE change or no change as "further increased".
you were cheering yesterday when some idiot had the tories 3% behind on a 99 person subsample , not even from a real poll
And I expressed surprise that Nicola had not got more of a boost from her excellent handling of the Virus. I know a lot of people who are very far from Nationalists who have been impressed.
Sure, but I assumed most people already regarded her as a competent figure so less of a boost?
I mean, the competence of the SNP leadership has been part of the problem for unionists generally.
The incompetence of their own leaderships is a greater part of the problem.
Perhaps to be sporting about it the SNP would consent to be equally incompetent for a bit?
It is almost impossible for somebody who is not a slug taking up juggling to be as incompetent as the Scottish Labour Party.
Britain must remain in full lockdown until June if it is to avoid the worst effects of the coronavirus, the government’s leading epidemiology adviser warned last night.
As the virus claimed its 1,000th life in the UK — a doubling of the death toll in just three days — Professor Neil Ferguson said in an interview that the entire population could need to stay at home for nearly three months.
Boris Johnson said yesterday that the pandemic crisis would “get worse before it gets better”.
Senior figures in government have been more optimistic, suggesting the restrictions could be eased sooner than June, with the peak of the crisis predicted to come in the week of April 12 with as few as 5,700 deaths.
But Ferguson said: “We’re going to have to keep these measures [the full lockdown] in place, in my view, for a significant period of time — probably until the end of May, maybe even early June. May is optimistic.”
He said that when the lockdown was finally lifted, people would probably still be asked to enforce some forms of social distancing for months more. That could mean schools and universities not reopening until the autumn, and people told to continue working from home rather than return to their offices.
The Department for Education has told us to plan for no summer term.
Whether that will mean we have no summer term, I’m not sure, but it suggests that they think if we do have it, or part of it, it will be a bonus.
This will also royally screw up GCSEs and A-levels for next year as well due to the loss of teaching time. Any child attending a school that still runs two year GCSEs will be more buggered than a reluctant Turkish conscript.
An urgent issue that needs blue-skies thinking. Mr Gove should be conscripted back to the Department for Education!
Britain must remain in full lockdown until June if it is to avoid the worst effects of the coronavirus, the government’s leading epidemiology adviser warned last night.
As the virus claimed its 1,000th life in the UK — a doubling of the death toll in just three days — Professor Neil Ferguson said in an interview that the entire population could need to stay at home for nearly three months.
Boris Johnson said yesterday that the pandemic crisis would “get worse before it gets better”.
Senior figures in government have been more optimistic, suggesting the restrictions could be eased sooner than June, with the peak of the crisis predicted to come in the week of April 12 with as few as 5,700 deaths.
But Ferguson said: “We’re going to have to keep these measures [the full lockdown] in place, in my view, for a significant period of time — probably until the end of May, maybe even early June. May is optimistic.”
He said that when the lockdown was finally lifted, people would probably still be asked to enforce some forms of social distancing for months more. That could mean schools and universities not reopening until the autumn, and people told to continue working from home rather than return to their offices.
The Department for Education has told us to plan for no summer term.
Whether that will mean we have no summer term, I’m not sure, but it suggests that they think if we do have it, or part of it, it will be a bonus.
This will also royally screw up GCSEs and A-levels for next year as well due to the loss of teaching time. Any child attending a school that still runs two year GCSEs will be more buggered than a reluctant Turkish conscript.
An urgent issue that needs blue-skies thinking. Mr Gove should be conscripted back to the Department for Education!
Bloody hell. Just when I thought things couldn’t get worse...
Britain must remain in full lockdown until June if it is to avoid the worst effects of the coronavirus, the government’s leading epidemiology adviser warned last night.
As the virus claimed its 1,000th life in the UK — a doubling of the death toll in just three days — Professor Neil Ferguson said in an interview that the entire population could need to stay at home for nearly three months.
Boris Johnson said yesterday that the pandemic crisis would “get worse before it gets better”.
Senior figures in government have been more optimistic, suggesting the restrictions could be eased sooner than June, with the peak of the crisis predicted to come in the week of April 12 with as few as 5,700 deaths.
But Ferguson said: “We’re going to have to keep these measures [the full lockdown] in place, in my view, for a significant period of time — probably until the end of May, maybe even early June. May is optimistic.”
He said that when the lockdown was finally lifted, people would probably still be asked to enforce some forms of social distancing for months more. That could mean schools and universities not reopening until the autumn, and people told to continue working from home rather than return to their offices.
The Department for Education has told us to plan for no summer term.
Whether that will mean we have no summer term, I’m not sure, but it suggests that they think if we do have it, or part of it, it will be a bonus.
This will also royally screw up GCSEs and A-levels for next year as well due to the loss of teaching time. Any child attending a school that still runs two year GCSEs will be more buggered than a reluctant Turkish conscript.
An urgent issue that needs blue-skies thinking. Mr Gove should be conscripted back to the Department for Education!
Bloody hell. Just when I thought things couldn’t get worse...
Actualizamos los datos sobre coronavirus en España. Se registran 838 nuevos fallecidos en las últimas 24 horas y el número de muertos ya supera los 6.500. Los casos confirmados ascienden a 78.797, de los que 4.907 precisan UCI
Just done a Pets at home run. Staff were friendly but obviously slightly anxious. Kept the social distancing rule except a young eastern european couple were a bit close to my stuff, had to shoo them back. Wore a mask out I found randomly in my car.
“ Without PCR-Tests there would be no reason for special alarms. We are currently not measuring the incidence of coronavirus diseases, but the activity of the specialists searching for them.”
Sky News suggesting big problems brewing in Italy after 15 days of lockdown.
Given the numbers there you would need to be pretty stupid to be wanting to go out.
Three weeks - no money and no food in parts of the south are having their effect apparently, according to the Sky report.
3 weeks with little or no food would do it. Pretty crap in UK if you cannot get out to shops/get someone to shop for you. They should have made supermarkets prioritise people who can not get out and don't have ways to get food.
Shops trying to fight stockpiling by limiting the number of items per customer runs up against the simple fact that some families are larger than others, and means more shopping trips must be made. It is too crude for the long term. Quite how they should prevent stockpiling is beyond my ken.
Tesco have done that by providing small trolleys only.
Us to buy and store at home whilst they restock shelves for more people chasing the product is supermarket industry dream land. The supermarkets want this shelf clearing, do they want it to stop?
I think some of you are confused. Just because we mouth the words ‘all in it together” doesn’t mean the lobby system at heart of government, a lifetime bearing reared into a consumerist society increasingly devoid of conscious awareness isn’t just going to stop.
It is easy to forget, but before Jeremy Corbyn turned up Ed Miliband was the worst leader Labour had ever had. One undoubted positive about the current leadership election is that Labour members almost certainly haven’t chosen the worst possible candidate. From little acorns ...
Haven't they? We'll see. Starmer is probably the least charismatic of those who stood, is a paid-up member of London's metropolitan elite, and devised the Brexit policy.
Great soundbite. Unfortunately none of those three assertions are true.
He isn't a 'paid-up member of London's metropolitan elite'. Being successful doesn't automatically qualify you for that opprobrium. He came from a pretty working class family background in Southwark which is hardly metropolitan elite and certainly wasn't then: mother a nurse and father a toolmaker and his mother was ill for much of his childhood. He was state school educated.
He did not 'devise' Labour's Brexit policy at all. That is utter rubbish. Labour was almost as riven on Europe as the Conservatives. Harold Wilson recognised this and had to deal with the Far Left's ambivalence towards the EEC and at times outright antipathy to Europe: Tony Benn, Eric Heffer being examples. Keir Starmer was attempting to hold together two mutually incompatible forces within Labour: the pro-European metropolitan London elites and the northern (basically racist) working class.
Is he charismatic? Dunno. He can be very effective at the despatch box: erudite and incisive with a sharp forensic mind.
So cut the crap and at least take him down for plausible, not spurious, reasons.
I'm not taking down Starmer so much as pointing out that he fails on what his supporters identify as flaws in other candidates and previous leaders. That aside, your defence seems to concede what it intends to refute; at best it is mitigation. I should also demur over the characterisation of northerners as racist, even if they do talk funny.
I hope you are right about Starmer's forensic questioning of Boris at PMQs to come.
However forensic the questioning Boris can easily blow him (or RLB) away with classical prose, poetry and vernacular invention.
The Prime Minister (whoever that is) holds most of the cards at PMQs. A folder full of answers, and the last word. What is interesting about Boris at PMQs is that he has asked the whips to end the barracking, presumably so he can think more clearly.
I see you ignore the actual numbers, the fact that unionists said trial would kill the SNP and fact that Salmond is NOT guilty on all charges. We will see when the perjury cases come up and the names are published, the conspirators cannot hide forever and unionist attempts to try and continue the charade are doomed.
TBH, I suspect Salmond would be better to keep his head down for a while. His Counsel probably had it right. And the prosecuting authorities might be well advised to let any perjury charges drop. No sense in dragging the good name of Bute House further through the mud, and I wonder whether the statements in court were exaggerations, rather than downright lies.
I sincerely hope there are no prosecutions for perjury. That would send entirely the wrong message to women who have been subjected to sexual assault and worse. Thankfully, since Salmond's defence appears to have been not that the women lied but that his behaviour fell short of criminal, I doubt the complainants will face prosecution.
It is extremely rare for an acquittal to result in the complainants being prosecuted for perjury.
The whole plot will come out in good time, it was an incompetent try at stitching up Salmond because he was going to come back into politics. That spooked the professional gravy train bods at the top, crapping it that they might actually have to push for independence rather than mouthing platitudes and keeping taking the lolly. Far too many fat and happy campers at the top nowadays.
1. The US is a country in epic decline. 2. China is a country that cannot be trusted. 3. Ditto Russia 4. The EU talks solidarity but does not practise it. There is some major shit still ahead of us all.
Thats enough to send to send me off to church for the first time, to seek comfort and to be surrounded by my fellow man and woman. Oh.
Quite a time of broadening of innovation, though all of this has been possible for 10-15 years now.
I really hope schools finally ditch their antediluvian opposition to mobile phones and wake up to the reality that they are a vital part of all our lives and therefore should be a vital part of education.
Sky News suggesting big problems brewing in Italy after 15 days of lockdown.
Given the numbers there you would need to be pretty stupid to be wanting to go out.
Three weeks - no money and no food in parts of the south are having their effect apparently, according to the Sky report.
3 weeks with little or no food would do it. Pretty crap in UK if you cannot get out to shops/get someone to shop for you. They should have made supermarkets prioritise people who can not get out and don't have ways to get food.
Yes. And they should be organising volunteering schemes for people to help the elderly. The NHS volunteering scheme, as I understand it, covers only the 1.5m with medical conditions.
What do people think about Jeremy Hunt at 66-1 for next PM?
He's been leading the criticism of the government for not testing enough. If, god forbid, the situation in the UK deteriorates beyond expectations, and the government is seen to have failed, might he be the obvious choice to lead a change in policy?
In a cruel twist of fate for Johnson, Hunt might be the pandemic's Churchill to Johnson's Chamberlain.
Trouble is, it is on Hunt's watch that the warnings were ignored and the preparations not made. Of course, it was the failure of Churchill's Norway Campaign that brought down Chamberlain.
To put it bluntly, if Covid-19 forces out Boris one way or another then it is a good price but if not, you are left waiting for five or ten years with no obvious route back to power for Hunt.
Churchill was also of course totally unprepared for war in the Far East, having ignored the threat from Japan to hammer Hitler. Although he had been PM and indeed Conservative leader for some time before it kicked off properly.
We've seen fiction or alternative histories based on Hitler being replaced; it might be more interesting to know what might have been different had Churchill stood down after the tide of the war turned in 1942 or 43.
Sky News suggesting big problems brewing in Italy after 15 days of lockdown.
Given the numbers there you would need to be pretty stupid to be wanting to go out.
Three weeks - no money and no food in parts of the south are having their effect apparently, according to the Sky report.
3 weeks with little or no food would do it. Pretty crap in UK if you cannot get out to shops/get someone to shop for you. They should have made supermarkets prioritise people who can not get out and don't have ways to get food.
We are fortunate in that our neighbours..... he a Scot...... offer to shop for us. As does one of the grandchildren (others too far away/cannot drive) and our son-in-law. And the lady across the road. And two local off-licences will deliver, although there appears to be a bit of a wait with one.
OKC , good to see the off-licences looking after customers, a refreshment will be welcome if you are permanently in the house, especially if weather keeps improving and you can sit in the garden.
“ Without PCR-Tests there would be no reason for special alarms. We are currently not measuring the incidence of coronavirus diseases, but the activity of the specialists searching for them.”
"Adding these extra sources of uncertainty, reasonable estimates for the case fatality ratio in the general U.S. population vary from 0.05% to 1%.
That huge range markedly affects how severe the pandemic is and what should be done. A population-wide case fatality rate of 0.05% is lower than seasonal influenza. If that is the true rate, locking down the world with potentially tremendous social and financial consequences may be totally irrational. It’s like an elephant being attacked by a house cat. Frustrated and trying to avoid the cat, the elephant accidentally jumps off a cliff and dies."
Britain must remain in full lockdown until June if it is to avoid the worst effects of the coronavirus, the government’s leading epidemiology adviser warned last night.
As the virus claimed its 1,000th life in the UK — a doubling of the death toll in just three days — Professor Neil Ferguson said in an interview that the entire population could need to stay at home for nearly three months.
Boris Johnson said yesterday that the pandemic crisis would “get worse before it gets better”.
Senior figures in government have been more optimistic, suggesting the restrictions could be eased sooner than June, with the peak of the crisis predicted to come in the week of April 12 with as few as 5,700 deaths.
But Ferguson said: “We’re going to have to keep these measures [the full lockdown] in place, in my view, for a significant period of time — probably until the end of May, maybe even early June. May is optimistic.”
He said that when the lockdown was finally lifted, people would probably still be asked to enforce some forms of social distancing for months more. That could mean schools and universities not reopening until the autumn, and people told to continue working from home rather than return to their offices.
We need more work on how the virus is actually spread. Where is the peak from the Cheltenham Festival? Could the snooker have gone ahead behind closed doors? Why are Jews and Muslims disproportionately hit? What is the point of a takeaway enforcing social distancing if it provides a box of wooden forks for customers to rummage in? Should we buy wrapped rather than loose fruit and veg?
In other words, we need a more intelligent, better tuned lockdown.
The Japanese government tried to do this by coming up with a bunch of recommendations for situations that are especially contagious, namely: 1) A closed area 2) With poor ventiation 3) Where people are talking or shouting
Unfortunately when they started saying this (at the same time as announcing that they're reopen schools) everyone went, "OK cool, we'll watch out for that combination and otherwise go back to normal" and a week later the infection rate went from flat to mad growth.
* Although most of the growth is Tokyo and surroundings, which had been mysteriously mostly spared until then, so there's a plausible conspiracy theory that they were avoiding testing until it was clear the Olympics wouldn't happen.
Comments
Genuine LOL. Thanks Alastair.
To put it bluntly, if Covid-19 forces out Boris one way or another then it is a good price but if not, you are left waiting for five or ten years with no obvious route back to power for Hunt.
One doesn’t have to assume good intentions on their part (which would be foolish in any event) to deal with China. As for the foreseeable future the rest of the world will have to do.
Oh.
Or does the SLCC actually have teeth?
Hold on - is this guy going to have to investigate himself?
He's a regular at a pub I used to frequent. When things are back to normal I'll attempt some earwigging, though I daresay indiscreet comments are now off the menu.
If you can't, apology accepted.
Time for a lie down Malc....
I hope you are right about Starmer's forensic questioning of Boris at PMQs to come.
Lots of people apparently know them so only a matter of time.
1) Patriotism. They are seen, rightly or wrongly, as unpatriotic. My gut feeling is that Starmer will do slightly better on this than Corbyn, simply because he doesn't have Jezza's baggage. But he needs to do more. Not obviously hoping that the Brexit talks go disastrously wrong for this country would be a good start.
2) Economic competence. Memories of the 2008 crash are fading, but they are still there. And Labour's recent chuck-money-at-everyone manifesto hasn't exactly restored their image.
3) Aspiration. People are more likely to support a politician, however, vacuous, who seems to support their aspirations, and gives them some hope that life can get better. The country backed Blair, not Brown. Johnson, not Michael Howard. Etc. etc. I'm not convinced that SKS will do that, but I could be wrong.
4) Scotland. As many have pointed out, the mathematics of winning a majority is difficult for Labour with a recovery in Scotland. Without it, it is simply horrific. And they haven't even started to think about how to do this.
5) The LibDems. Labour needs to squeeze their vote, uniting the Left as Boris's union of the Brexit vote paid such enormous dividends to the Conservatives. If the new LibDem leader is any good, Labour could be in even worse trouble than it is.
The above list shows how much needs to go right for Labour to begin to look credible. So above all it needs the Conservatives to screw up badly and be seen to screw up, as they did in the early 90s. If that happens, all bets are off.
Tony Blair is the only living Labour leader to win a majority, and I don't think SKS is anything like as good as Blair was politically.
It is extremely rare for an acquittal to result in the complainants being prosecuted for perjury.
I hadn’t realised it was *that* big a mess...
What a numpty.
I mean, the competence of the SNP leadership has been part of the problem for unionists generally.
As ChangeUK, or whatever they were called has proven, a fragmentation of the centre left will most likely end in tears again.
Boris Johnson's brand of populism is more appealing to the aspirational working classes than the Labour Party underwritten by Momentum, and their clarion call to turn Britain into the Soviet Union. But here is the rub, they know that anyway. So what does it give them? Perpetual opposition! This is perfect, they can harp from the sidelines in perpetuity, which in essence is all they want.
Even if my paranoia is wrong and Starmer is declared the winner they aren't all going to go away. Twitter suggestion that he is going to demand the resignation of Formby. Why would she go?
They have an online service from someone's front room with a chat room running. The platform is free.
https://stnics.online.church/
The local parish where I live is doing similar including a 'communion at home', though not quite as slick in operation.
Our Crossfit gym has been up and running online for a fortnight now - since it started 5 years ago the main communication has been via a Facebook Private Group anyway.
Quite a time of broadening of innovation, though all of this has been possible for 10-15 years now.
As the virus claimed its 1,000th life in the UK — a doubling of the death toll in just three days — Professor Neil Ferguson said in an interview that the entire population could need to stay at home for nearly three months.
Boris Johnson said yesterday that the pandemic crisis would “get worse before it gets better”.
Senior figures in government have been more optimistic, suggesting the restrictions could be eased sooner than June, with the peak of the crisis predicted to come in the week of April 12 with as few as 5,700 deaths.
But Ferguson said: “We’re going to have to keep these measures [the full lockdown] in place, in my view, for a significant period of time — probably until the end of May, maybe even early June. May is optimistic.”
He said that when the lockdown was finally lifted, people would probably still be asked to enforce some forms of social distancing for months more. That could mean schools and universities not reopening until the autumn, and people told to continue working from home rather than return to their offices.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/coronavirus-lockdown-must-last-until-june-says-top-adviser-s6p0lcxk2
Can you imagine the curl of the lip if he was bought a pair of Union Jack underpants?
And two local off-licences will deliver, although there appears to be a bit of a wait with one.
He has been handed the golden ticket with the virus.
I hope he brings Labour success.
I don't think he will personally.
He will not inspire.
A boring Londoncentric ultra Remainer will be a kick in the teeth to WWC.
Of course a 2024 defeat will be Corbyns fault!!
We are currently not measuring the incidence of coronavirus diseases, but the activity of the specialists searching for them.”
https://www.wodarg.com/
About the author
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfgang_Wodarg
Don't forget that even if you are one of the 'vulnerable' group, you can still NHS Volunteer if you want a focus - there is an "ET" role that involves phoning people at home.
I am doing that alongside other things such as the garden, and the house, and the paperwork.
Whether that will mean we have no summer term, I’m not sure, but it suggests that they think if we do have it, or part of it, it will be a bonus.
This will also royally screw up GCSEs and A-levels for next year as well due to the loss of teaching time. Any child attending a school that still runs two year GCSEs will be more buggered than a reluctant Turkish conscript.
In other words, we need a more intelligent, better tuned lockdown.
https://twitter.com/Colkitto/status/1244193818091585537?s=20
“I’m not here to suggest he always behaved well or couldn’t have been a better man on occasions. That would be a waste of my time.”
“You have to be satisfied to that very high standard. There’s only to be guilt in these matters, not because someone could have been a better man.
“There can only be guilt in these matters because of that standard of proof.”
Just because the prosecution failed to reach the required standard of proof (i.e. beyond reasonable doubt) does not mean the witnesses were lying, just that the requisite standard of proof was not reached by the prosecution. Indeed if they were prosecuted for perjury, as you absurdly suggest, and cleared, where would that leave Salmond? Indeed what if they brought civil claims (not suggesting they will or at this even could at this point) a la in the OJ Simpson matter and won on the lower standard or proof (i.e the balance of probabilities) and won? The verdicts were “not guilty” and “not proven”. He was not found “innocent”
If perjury prosecutions were brought it would be an international disgrace and would dissuade any sexual assault complainant in Scotland from ever coming forward for fear that if the prosecution ballsed up the case, as here, they would end up in prison themselves. It won’t happen.
I think some of you are confused. Just because we mouth the words ‘all in it together” doesn’t mean the lobby system at heart of government, a lifetime bearing reared into a consumerist society increasingly devoid of conscious awareness isn’t just going to stop.
Shout at me as much as you like but it's true.
"Adding these extra sources of uncertainty, reasonable estimates for the case fatality ratio in the general U.S. population vary from 0.05% to 1%.
That huge range markedly affects how severe the pandemic is and what should be done. A population-wide case fatality rate of 0.05% is lower than seasonal influenza. If that is the true rate, locking down the world with potentially tremendous social and financial consequences may be totally irrational. It’s like an elephant being attacked by a house cat. Frustrated and trying to avoid the cat, the elephant accidentally jumps off a cliff and dies."
https://www.statnews.com/2020/03/17/a-fiasco-in-the-making-as-the-coronavirus-pandemic-takes-hold-we-are-making-decisions-without-reliable-data/
1) A closed area
2) With poor ventiation
3) Where people are talking or shouting
Unfortunately when they started saying this (at the same time as announcing that they're reopen schools) everyone went, "OK cool, we'll watch out for that combination and otherwise go back to normal" and a week later the infection rate went from flat to mad growth.
* Although most of the growth is Tokyo and surroundings, which had been mysteriously mostly spared until then, so there's a plausible conspiracy theory that they were avoiding testing until it was clear the Olympics wouldn't happen.