Round here, not going out at 8pm is positively supporting the NHS - far too icy.
But you are not Showing You Care. Therefore you are evil.
**** that for a game of soldiers - not trying to be rude to anyone: but they tried to make it a "Clap for Bojo" earlier this year, which put me right off [a very unfortunate association, that, btw]. And the weather is lethally oscillating above and below freesing with no pavement salting by the local council. I fell on the black ice earlier this week despite wearing studded rubber crampon thingies and banged my head - very fortunately I was wearing a thick Irish fisherman's hat, and there was some snow where I fell. But it was a hell of a fright and I'm not risking anything like it.
This weird and completely unpredictable ice stuff really seems to have caught our councils out this January. The pavements around here are bordering on lethal. My fitbit score this week is going to be the worst since I got it.
It's actually unusually nasty, certainly where I live - temps oscillating and further abetted by the odd light shower of rain on freezing tarmac. Normally it doesn't bother us with boots and sticks etc. but Monday was almost the only time in lving memory we had to stay at home all day as it was just too dangerous to go out. Also does not help that the council are being unusually slow this year with the gritting.
But the resolution date is the 21st, and Loeffler is still technically a senator right now. Warnock doesn't HAVE to be sworn in till the 22nd, though it could be sooner... If Warnock and Ossoff are sworn in before that date it resolves as D/D "Yes", all other contracts "No" - Harris breaks the tie If Warnock is sworn in, but not Ossoff then All contracts resolve to "No" (GOP has 50 senators, but no VP - Dems have 49) If neither is sworn in then it resolves to D/R because Loeffler is still a sitting senator till Warnock is sworn in as the seat is NOT tecnhically vacant (Unlike Purdue) so that gives the GOP 51 senators on the 21st Jan. So it's D/R "Yes" with all other contracts "No" The kicker is Raffensberger doesn't have to act before the 22nd.
On 20th Jan he will once again revert to holding no elected office. He won't really care about those who would like to jump on his coat tails to benefit themselves, because it is hard to see how he could benefit personally by advancing their prospects. Maybe it would smooth his ego, but not his bank balance, so he won't be minded to put himself out beyond trying to settle a few grudges.
Good point, some of the most MAGA people might be in for a shock if Trump himself decides he just can't be bothered anymore.
Guido understands that Downing Street’s televised press briefings, to be fronted by Allegra Stratton and due to launch on January 11th, will not be going ahead next week.
Doesn't make this appointment any better thoguh, does it?
The appointment looks fine. As has long been the case, the BBC Chair is not supposed to be a broadcaster, but someone independent and external, with wide non-BBC experience.
If the argument is that the conventions should be changed and appointees should be experienced broadcasters who have never been a member of a political party and who have no connection with anyone in government, then, yes, that is a valid argument to make. But it's not an argument for accusing this particular government of cronyism compared with any previous government.
Guido understands that Downing Street’s televised press briefings, to be fronted by Allegra Stratton and due to launch on January 11th, will not be going ahead next week.
They appeared to be advertising for Allegra's job again...
I see also that HYUFD is being let off leafleting when it comes to local elections - as is the blood pressure of residents when strangers comes up othe garden path with leaflets.
Guido understands that Downing Street’s televised press briefings, to be fronted by Allegra Stratton and due to launch on January 11th, will not be going ahead next week.
So does the GOP fall into civil war or does it reorganise and retake the House in 2022 ?
The GOP have got themselves into a dire position. Many of them know that the Trump core are batshit crazy / QAnon types but there are too many of them to ignore so they keep quiet because they are scared of them.
I don't see an easy path for any moderately sane Republican to win a GOP Primary. That's why we still have 10 GOP Senators about to humiliate themselves by still pretending Trump won the election.
IDK, parties nearly always pick a moderate against an incumbent, not least because if the governing side isn't contested then politics enthusiasts vote in the opposition race, especially where there are open primaries. It's not clear that Trump will be willing and able to run, and if he's not then it's not clear that anybody similar can pull off what he did.
In some cases you may be correct but I believe the GOP will be dancing to Trump's tune for the next 4 years.
Trump is a malign, vindictive and bullying individual who will take great pleasure in trying to destroy any Republican who has displeased him. The right really have taken the US into a very dark place and now the genii is out of the bottle it's not going to be easy to put it back.
I totally share your opinion on the damage done but I do not think Trump & Clan will be the ongoing political force that many fear (or hope if they're on the dark side). Soon he will out of the White House. He'll be an impeached and disgraced one term ex-president with big legal and money troubles who managed the remarkable negative feat of failing to win a 2nd term after just 4 years of his party in power and while he's at it losing both houses of Congress to the hated other.
From 20 Jan his world will shrink beyond recognition. The difference between being the American president and not being the American president is almost as stark as that between being dead or alive. He'll lose all the trappings of that great office - the most important of which was to have his bullshit piped into people's heads 24/7. Supporters will drift away, not to be replaced by new ones. It will be one way traffic. Drip drip drip until what's left is something not to be taken seriously. He might even realize this himself before too long and concentrate just on cashflow and staying out of jail. Perhaps a deal? Not sure on that one. We'll see.
But Donald Trump the fearsome politician is over. No doubt there will be other grisly characters (the lizard Ted Cruz?) who will battle to own the MAGA space in the GOP, and one will prevail and be a live contender for the 24 nomination, but that person will not be called Trump and they won't be able to recreate what he did in 15/16 because that stunning achievement owed so much to his personal brand and persona. So they won't win the nomination. The Republican Party might look beyond the pale now but my money is on them detoxifying. Looking forward to the opening of the WH24 betting.
I think even if Trump and Trump Jnr do not run in 2024 one of Pence or Cruz will be the GOP nominee, the GOP base are not going to pick an establishment and moderate 'RINO' as their nominee anytime soon
I'll be looking to lay all the MAGA types if that's the consensus view. I especially hope Trump himself and/or his offspring gets quoted at a layable price. But just to clarify, when I say the GOP will detoxify I don't mean they'll go back to a traditional Romney type necessarily. I can see the obstacles to that. What I mean is, they will junk softhead right populism of the Trump variety. They need a new offering and I'm expecting they will come up with one. The Dems will go with New American Dream, which will be powerful. MAGA has no chance against that.
What they need is a Newt Gingrich style contract with America. Ryan could do something similar if he came back. Clear, coherent economic policies without the madness and idiocy of Trump and his fellow loons.
The republicans tried this twice with McCain and Romney. They got their backsides handed to them. Which is just where the dems want them to be. Plucky losers. Never getting power really, but vindicating the American system with their very presence. In case the investment horses and democratic allies get frightened.
So America can still lecture the third world on their elections even though its own election was a shower of sh8t that lasted weeks.
To be fair to them, had McCain won the GOP nomination rather than Dubya in 2000 he would likely have comfortably beaten Al Gore and won the popular vote too.
Similarly had Romney run for the GOP nomination in 2016 rather than 2008 and 2012 and won it he would likely have beaten Hillary Clinton.
Both lost as they were running against an A+ Democratic candidate in Obama, along with JFK and Bill Clinton one of the 3 best candidates the Democrats have nominated since FDR and because of the electoral cycle not because they were terrible candidates
I have visited all the parallel universes, and I regret to tell you you are wrong.
Speaking of parallel universes, I'm you. From the proper universe, not this bizarre alt-history corrupted version. It is YOU who has been impersonating ME, and I'm here to ask you to stop.
Do any wine buffs know whether Barossa Valley Shiraz is any good?
Laithwaites are trying to sell me a case at half price.
Barossa is recognised as a premier area for Shiraz, and produces a lot of good quality wine, especially where there are older vines that survived the vine pulling incentives of twenty years back.
I did my wine qualification online with Laithwaites during the first lockdown, and they’re a good company with some good quality wines on their list. However as a principally online/mail order firm they do rely on selling a lot of plonk cheaply to attract new customers. If you are looking for quality it is generally better to look at their mid-range wines rather than the offers.
Cheers.
Price reduction for 12 bottles is from an alleged £275 to £138
Mid-range? Certainly not plonk (in my universe).
I am not Sean T, or Deirdre as he may be currently.
On 20th Jan he will once again revert to holding no elected office. He won't really care about those who would like to jump on his coat tails to benefit themselves, because it is hard to see how he could benefit personally by advancing their prospects. Maybe it would smooth his ego, but not his bank balance, so he won't be minded to put himself out beyond trying to settle a few grudges.
Good point, some of the most MAGA people might be in for a shock if Trump himself decides he just can't be bothered anymore.
Guido understands that Downing Street’s televised press briefings, to be fronted by Allegra Stratton and due to launch on January 11th, will not be going ahead next week.
They appeared to be advertising for Allegra's job again...
I see also that HYUFD is being let off leafleting when it comes to local elections - as is the blood pressure of residents when strangers comes up othe garden path with leaflets.
The same people who said it was impossible to do 100k tests per day ?
What would you prefer - aim for 14m vaccinations and get 10m or aim for 7m and get 7m ?
He's persistently misleading the country, normality by Christmas etc.
IIRC you were quite enraged by bad forecasts, particularly the Whitty/Vallance projections of 50,000 cases in October without further action.
Turns out they were right.
The 50k forecast was a ridiculous extrapolate to infinity and it was wrong.
And as you've not answered my question I'll ask it again:
What would you prefer - aim for 14m vaccinations and get 10m or aim for 7m and get 7m ?
The issue currently is to get as many people vaccinated as soon as possible.
And its more important that happens than politicians being able to say they reached their targets.
If it is really important to vaccinate as many people as possible why is the government not allowing pharmacists and former docs to join the vaccination rollout, and why are they taking breaks on Sunday?
Because the problem is not delivery, its supply. Its blindingly obvious. The NHS have structures in place every year which allows it to deliver 2m flu jabs a week. Its not hard. It doesn't require vets or dentists or Tesco's. We don't need more capacity, we need more vaccine.
Why the hell our benighted media are not asking about the supply and availability of vaccine to the exclusion of all else is completely beyond...no wait, they're just stupid aren't they?
I think people on here will be surprised in two weeks at the extent of the vaccination prgramme in this country.
I agree. Once the supply issues are resolved there is masses of capacity.
Injecting people isn't hard - why I've been mystified at the stories of plans to only vaccinate 1 million a week that were about.
I'd be really pissed if they can't organise using doses as they become available.
My guess is that we will peak at something like 3-4m a week once we have enough supply. I still think that Boris was being a lot more conservative in his estimates than many would want to admit for entirely political reasons. My guess is that we will exceed 14m by 14th February.
3-4 million was the original target for the mass vaccination planning - for when supply was available.
Indeed. I don't think I am suggesting anything outrageous here. Maybe 14m by 14th Feb and 28m by 14th March?
That will defintely happen, and as I said earlier we are already vaccinating on Sundays and will continue to do so.
"We are already vaccinating on Sundays and will continue to do so". This fills me with dread because you have previously claimed to be a building contractor with a team of builders. How are you and they qualified to vaccinate anyone?
The same people who said it was impossible to do 100k tests per day ?
What would you prefer - aim for 14m vaccinations and get 10m or aim for 7m and get 7m ?
He's persistently misleading the country, normality by Christmas etc.
IIRC you were quite enraged by bad forecasts, particularly the Whitty/Vallance projections of 50,000 cases in October without further action.
Turns out they were right.
The 50k forecast was a ridiculous extrapolate to infinity and it was wrong.
And as you've not answered my question I'll ask it again:
What would you prefer - aim for 14m vaccinations and get 10m or aim for 7m and get 7m ?
The issue currently is to get as many people vaccinated as soon as possible.
And its more important that happens than politicians being able to say they reached their targets.
If it is really important to vaccinate as many people as possible why is the government not allowing pharmacists and former docs to join the vaccination rollout, and why are they taking breaks on Sunday?
Because the problem is not delivery, its supply. Its blindingly obvious. The NHS have structures in place every year which allows it to deliver 2m flu jabs a week. Its not hard. It doesn't require vets or dentists or Tesco's. We don't need more capacity, we need more vaccine.
Why the hell our benighted media are not asking about the supply and availability of vaccine to the exclusion of all else is completely beyond...no wait, they're just stupid aren't they?
I think people on here will be surprised in two weeks at the extent of the vaccination prgramme in this country.
I agree. Once the supply issues are resolved there is masses of capacity.
Injecting people isn't hard - why I've been mystified at the stories of plans to only vaccinate 1 million a week that were about.
I'd be really pissed if they can't organise using doses as they become available.
My guess is that we will peak at something like 3-4m a week once we have enough supply. I still think that Boris was being a lot more conservative in his estimates than many would want to admit for entirely political reasons. My guess is that we will exceed 14m by 14th February.
3-4 million was the original target for the mass vaccination planning - for when supply was available.
Indeed. I don't think I am suggesting anything outrageous here. Maybe 14m by 14th Feb and 28m by 14th March?
That will defintely happen, and as I said earlier we are already vaccinating on Sundays and will continue to do so.
"We are already vaccinating on Sundays and will continue to do so". This fills me with dread because you have previously claimed to be a building contractor with a team of builders. How are you and they qualified to vaccinate anyone?
Round here, not going out at 8pm is positively supporting the NHS - far too icy.
But you are not Showing You Care. Therefore you are evil.
**** that for a game of soldiers - not trying to be rude to anyone: but they tried to make it a "Clap for Bojo" earlier this year, which put me right off [a very unfortunate association, that, btw]. And the weather is lethally oscillating above and below freesing with no pavement salting by the local council. I fell on the black ice earlier this week despite wearing studded rubber crampon thingies and banged my head - very fortunately I was wearing a thick Irish fisherman's hat, and there was some snow where I fell. But it was a hell of a fright and I'm not risking anything like it.
This weird and completely unpredictable ice stuff really seems to have caught our councils out this January. The pavements around here are bordering on lethal. My fitbit score this week is going to be the worst since I got it.
It's actually unusually nasty, certainly where I live - temps oscillating and further abetted by the odd light shower of rain on freezing tarmac. Normally it doesn't bother us with boots and sticks etc. but Monday was almost the only time in lving memory we had to stay at home all day as it was just too dangerous to go out. Also does not help that the council are being unusually slow this year with the gritting.
Doesn't make this appointment any better thoguh, does it?
The appointment looks fine. As has long been the case, the BBC Chair is not supposed to be a broadcaster, but someone independent and external, with wide non-BBC experience.
If the argument is that the conventions should be changed and appointees should be experienced broadcasters who have never been a member of a political party and who have no connection with anyone in government, then, yes, that is a valid argument to make. But it's not an argument for accusing this particular government of cronyism compared with any previous government.
The same people who said it was impossible to do 100k tests per day ?
What would you prefer - aim for 14m vaccinations and get 10m or aim for 7m and get 7m ?
He's persistently misleading the country, normality by Christmas etc.
IIRC you were quite enraged by bad forecasts, particularly the Whitty/Vallance projections of 50,000 cases in October without further action.
Turns out they were right.
The 50k forecast was a ridiculous extrapolate to infinity and it was wrong.
And as you've not answered my question I'll ask it again:
What would you prefer - aim for 14m vaccinations and get 10m or aim for 7m and get 7m ?
The issue currently is to get as many people vaccinated as soon as possible.
And its more important that happens than politicians being able to say they reached their targets.
If it is really important to vaccinate as many people as possible why is the government not allowing pharmacists and former docs to join the vaccination rollout, and why are they taking breaks on Sunday?
Because the problem is not delivery, its supply. Its blindingly obvious. The NHS have structures in place every year which allows it to deliver 2m flu jabs a week. Its not hard. It doesn't require vets or dentists or Tesco's. We don't need more capacity, we need more vaccine.
Why the hell our benighted media are not asking about the supply and availability of vaccine to the exclusion of all else is completely beyond...no wait, they're just stupid aren't they?
I think people on here will be surprised in two weeks at the extent of the vaccination prgramme in this country.
I agree. Once the supply issues are resolved there is masses of capacity.
Injecting people isn't hard - why I've been mystified at the stories of plans to only vaccinate 1 million a week that were about.
I'd be really pissed if they can't organise using doses as they become available.
My guess is that we will peak at something like 3-4m a week once we have enough supply. I still think that Boris was being a lot more conservative in his estimates than many would want to admit for entirely political reasons. My guess is that we will exceed 14m by 14th February.
3-4 million was the original target for the mass vaccination planning - for when supply was available.
Indeed. I don't think I am suggesting anything outrageous here. Maybe 14m by 14th Feb and 28m by 14th March?
That will defintely happen, and as I said earlier we are already vaccinating on Sundays and will continue to do so.
"We are already vaccinating on Sundays and will continue to do so". This fills me with dread because you have previously claimed to be a building contractor with a team of builders. How are you and they qualified to vaccinate anyone?
The same people who said it was impossible to do 100k tests per day ?
What would you prefer - aim for 14m vaccinations and get 10m or aim for 7m and get 7m ?
He's persistently misleading the country, normality by Christmas etc.
IIRC you were quite enraged by bad forecasts, particularly the Whitty/Vallance projections of 50,000 cases in October without further action.
Turns out they were right.
The 50k forecast was a ridiculous extrapolate to infinity and it was wrong.
And as you've not answered my question I'll ask it again:
What would you prefer - aim for 14m vaccinations and get 10m or aim for 7m and get 7m ?
The issue currently is to get as many people vaccinated as soon as possible.
And its more important that happens than politicians being able to say they reached their targets.
If it is really important to vaccinate as many people as possible why is the government not allowing pharmacists and former docs to join the vaccination rollout, and why are they taking breaks on Sunday?
Because the problem is not delivery, its supply. Its blindingly obvious. The NHS have structures in place every year which allows it to deliver 2m flu jabs a week. Its not hard. It doesn't require vets or dentists or Tesco's. We don't need more capacity, we need more vaccine.
Why the hell our benighted media are not asking about the supply and availability of vaccine to the exclusion of all else is completely beyond...no wait, they're just stupid aren't they?
I think people on here will be surprised in two weeks at the extent of the vaccination prgramme in this country.
I agree. Once the supply issues are resolved there is masses of capacity.
Injecting people isn't hard - why I've been mystified at the stories of plans to only vaccinate 1 million a week that were about.
I'd be really pissed if they can't organise using doses as they become available.
My guess is that we will peak at something like 3-4m a week once we have enough supply. I still think that Boris was being a lot more conservative in his estimates than many would want to admit for entirely political reasons. My guess is that we will exceed 14m by 14th February.
3-4 million was the original target for the mass vaccination planning - for when supply was available.
Indeed. I don't think I am suggesting anything outrageous here. Maybe 14m by 14th Feb and 28m by 14th March?
That will defintely happen, and as I said earlier we are already vaccinating on Sundays and will continue to do so.
"We are already vaccinating on Sundays and will continue to do so". This fills me with dread because you have previously claimed to be a building contractor with a team of builders. How are you and they qualified to vaccinate anyone?
An M & E Contractor, my wife and daughter are both nurses, and through them I know dozens of nurses. Many are currently working Sundays doing vaccinations.
I see we are back with the "Trump who got 2 of the 3 lowest Republican votes shares this millennium" is wildly popular line of thinking.
Wow, another leftist promising conservatives they still have a chance if only they select a candidate the left approves of.
I guess we can expect a great deal of this over the next two years.
Well I'm a right winger who thinks Ronald Reagan was America's best postwar POTUS but I find Trump revolting and am glad the Democrats won.
Maybe right wingers finding Trump repellant should be taken seriously? Just an idea.
You fibber, you are the most Trumpian poster on here. I guess you hope that saying you are anti-Trump makes you sound a little more human. Trump is a far right populist and so are you. If you were an American you would be wearing the hat and attending all his rallies and claiming the election was a fraud. You never have any real evidence for your stated views just right wing hunches, just like him. You are probably one of Donald Trump's love children
Not by a long chalk is @Philip_Thompson 'the most Trumpian poster in here'.
I disagree with what PT says but you need to look elsewhere for PB Trump supporters. It isn't hard.
Obviously people wont recall all positions of others but Philip condemned Trump for months and months. It's not even a muted kind of dislike where you might interpret them as secretly still in favour but hiding it with a 'I dont support trump but'.
Just because someone likes Boris doesn't mean they like Trump.
Spot on. Philip has made very clear his disgust for Trump and Boris is no Trump. I certainly detest Trump. I think he is evil. Boris has qualities and he has flaws as do most people. People have different views about him. I don't think he is competent as a PM, but that is a personal opinion, but I feel very confident to say he is definitely not evil, far from it, what is more I do admire his humour and his ability to speak and write (just not to lead).
There are similarities between Johnson and Trump, in particular the dumbing down of political messaging and the "greatest country" shtick, also the immaturity and laziness, but they are at the same time totally different. In particular -
Trump has no intellect to speak of. Johnson does. Trump has no vocabulary. Johnson has a big one. Trump has malevolent intentions. Johnson is merely selfish. Trump's torso is all blubber. Johnson's is toned and muscly.
Every Thursday night, everyone who was going to clap donates £1 via Just Giving with Apple or Android Pay.
Proceeds shared monthly with NHS frontline.
I think it's a lovely idea actually though I'd prefer to spend it on nice espresso machines and cashew nuts and cheese for the NHS staff. Having a bit more take home is great, but it doesn't actually lift ones mood on the day.
Here's a question for PBers. How many of the methods used in US elections would you have no problem in being introduced to UK elections? Would you be happy with drop-off mail-in ballot boxes for example, to boost turnout in poorer areas, or electronic voting. I'm playing Devil's Advocate here in that the vast majority of people on here believe there was no fraud and malice, so I'm assuming everyone would be confident that bringing in US practices over here....:)
But I prefer making it clear in ADVANCE that if the voters do not choose wisely I will be upon them like a greased Martin Sheen. It's no good waving a rifle around in fits of tears after the fact. These libs need to know beforehand that if they vote the wrong way, I'll be combat-rolling through their tenement door with flash grenades in hand and a penknife in my teeth.
I seemed to remember during first wave some.pretty small / cheap things went down really well with NHs staff e.g free food deliveries, free parking, free haircuts.
They are pussies. The typical scoreline for a shooting atrocity is 30 innocents and the perp (by suicide or by cop) not 30 2nd amendmenters and 30 cops. They know that the cops/feds/military have more and better weapons than they do and are better at using them.
Does anyone know where to find how Georgia's Military and Overseas Ballots split in the 2020 Presidential? My guess is that it went to Biden by a hair, but I'd like to confirm with real numbers.
I see we are back with the "Trump who got 2 of the 3 lowest Republican votes shares this millennium" is wildly popular line of thinking.
Wow, another leftist promising conservatives they still have a chance if only they select a candidate the left approves of.
I guess we can expect a great deal of this over the next two years.
Well I'm a right winger who thinks Ronald Reagan was America's best postwar POTUS but I find Trump revolting and am glad the Democrats won.
Maybe right wingers finding Trump repellant should be taken seriously? Just an idea.
You fibber, you are the most Trumpian poster on here. I guess you hope that saying you are anti-Trump makes you sound a little more human. Trump is a far right populist and so are you. If you were an American you would be wearing the hat and attending all his rallies and claiming the election was a fraud. You never have any real evidence for your stated views just right wing hunches, just like him. You are probably one of Donald Trump's love children
Not by a long chalk is @Philip_Thompson 'the most Trumpian poster in here'.
I disagree with what PT says but you need to look elsewhere for PB Trump supporters. It isn't hard.
Indeed. That's a bizarre attack from Nigel.
Plenty of PB Trumptons linger around, they are easy enough to identify.
Indeed not. Brexiteers all of them. Some because of his strinkingly similar amoral behaviour to Boris some because they think he and Boris can be best friends in a post truth Brexity world.
There is a growing industry of converting classic cars to electric traction. Plenty of room for redundant Nissan Leaf battery packs in a steam engine boiler.
I see we are back with the "Trump who got 2 of the 3 lowest Republican votes shares this millennium" is wildly popular line of thinking.
Wow, another leftist promising conservatives they still have a chance if only they select a candidate the left approves of.
I guess we can expect a great deal of this over the next two years.
Well I'm a right winger who thinks Ronald Reagan was America's best postwar POTUS but I find Trump revolting and am glad the Democrats won.
Maybe right wingers finding Trump repellant should be taken seriously? Just an idea.
You fibber, you are the most Trumpian poster on here. I guess you hope that saying you are anti-Trump makes you sound a little more human. Trump is a far right populist and so are you. If you were an American you would be wearing the hat and attending all his rallies and claiming the election was a fraud. You never have any real evidence for your stated views just right wing hunches, just like him. You are probably one of Donald Trump's love children
Not by a long chalk is @Philip_Thompson 'the most Trumpian poster in here'.
I disagree with what PT says but you need to look elsewhere for PB Trump supporters. It isn't hard.
Obviously people wont recall all positions of others but Philip condemned Trump for months and months. It's not even a muted kind of dislike where you might interpret them as secretly still in favour but hiding it with a 'I dont support trump but'.
Just because someone likes Boris doesn't mean they like Trump.
Spot on. Philip has made very clear his disgust for Trump and Boris is no Trump. I certainly detest Trump. I think he is evil. Boris has qualities and he has flaws as do most people. People have different views about him. I don't think he is competent as a PM, but that is a personal opinion, but I feel very confident to say he is definitely not evil, far from it, what is more I do admire his humour and his ability to speak and write (just not to lead).
There are similarities between Johnson and Trump, in particular the dumbing down of political messaging and the "greatest country" shtick, also the immaturity and laziness, but they are at the same time totally different. In particular -
Trump has no intellect to speak of. Johnson does. Trump has no vocabulary. Johnson has a big one. Trump has malevolent intentions. Johnson is merely selfish. Trump's torso is blubbery. Johnson's is toned and muscly.
Doesn;t matter
Whatever you think of Trump, he is his own man. He is eminently able to ride out criticism and bad publicity and not change course. He is very difficult to intimidate or shame and rarely backs down.
The same people who said it was impossible to do 100k tests per day ?
What would you prefer - aim for 14m vaccinations and get 10m or aim for 7m and get 7m ?
He's persistently misleading the country, normality by Christmas etc.
IIRC you were quite enraged by bad forecasts, particularly the Whitty/Vallance projections of 50,000 cases in October without further action.
Turns out they were right.
The 50k forecast was a ridiculous extrapolate to infinity and it was wrong.
And as you've not answered my question I'll ask it again:
What would you prefer - aim for 14m vaccinations and get 10m or aim for 7m and get 7m ?
The issue currently is to get as many people vaccinated as soon as possible.
And its more important that happens than politicians being able to say they reached their targets.
If it is really important to vaccinate as many people as possible why is the government not allowing pharmacists and former docs to join the vaccination rollout, and why are they taking breaks on Sunday?
Because the problem is not delivery, its supply. Its blindingly obvious. The NHS have structures in place every year which allows it to deliver 2m flu jabs a week. Its not hard. It doesn't require vets or dentists or Tesco's. We don't need more capacity, we need more vaccine.
Why the hell our benighted media are not asking about the supply and availability of vaccine to the exclusion of all else is completely beyond...no wait, they're just stupid aren't they?
I think people on here will be surprised in two weeks at the extent of the vaccination prgramme in this country.
I agree. Once the supply issues are resolved there is masses of capacity.
Injecting people isn't hard - why I've been mystified at the stories of plans to only vaccinate 1 million a week that were about.
I'd be really pissed if they can't organise using doses as they become available.
My guess is that we will peak at something like 3-4m a week once we have enough supply. I still think that Boris was being a lot more conservative in his estimates than many would want to admit for entirely political reasons. My guess is that we will exceed 14m by 14th February.
3-4 million was the original target for the mass vaccination planning - for when supply was available.
Indeed. I don't think I am suggesting anything outrageous here. Maybe 14m by 14th Feb and 28m by 14th March?
That will defintely happen, and as I said earlier we are already vaccinating on Sundays and will continue to do so.
"We are already vaccinating on Sundays and will continue to do so". This fills me with dread because you have previously claimed to be a building contractor with a team of builders. How are you and they qualified to vaccinate anyone?
Yep. This is what I am opining will happen. He is net toxic to the GOP brand and so they need to have this battle and win it. Which they will (both) because the Republican party is bigger than any one man - they're not called the GOP for nothing - and they exist to win power not to service the ego of individuals.
Time to dig up the old strapline. Trump is Toast. Again.
I always find it funny when the left give conservatives advice.
Fair point. Which I have to say since I was making it myself in reverse the other day. But I am very objective for my ilk and the "advice" is sound. New American Dream v MAGA would be no contest in a polarized binary in 24. So the GOP will need to come up with something else. And I think they will.
The day Trump leaves office any incentive due to party loyalty to provide cover or protection for Trump will end. The GOP will be just delighted to leave Trump to fight his own legal battles, without any assistance from the DOJ, Senate, etc.
For the other point of view, there's also the question of whether Trump would even persist with much of an active political career, something that he avoided pursuing for most of 7 decades. The past 4 years and the run up to it are the exception, not the rule. He is a narcissist whose every action is taken to benefit himself. On 20th Jan he will once again revert to holding no elected office. He won't really care about those who would like to jump on his coat tails to benefit themselves, because it is hard to see how he could benefit personally by advancing their prospects. Maybe it would smooth his ego, but not his bank balance, so he won't be minded to put himself out beyond trying to settle a few grudges. I think his attitude also extends to his immediate family, who I think he cares little about other than how they can be used to benefit him personally, so why should he go out of his way to help them either? He may just go much the same way as an ageing mafia boss, and try and back away into semi-retirement, his main concern being to fend off attention from those who wish him harm, especially in his case the feds and state prosecutors.
This is broadly my take. He will not stay a political force - and might not even try once it becomes clear it's not happening.
Are you talking about teachers, or OFSTED? In the case of OFSTED, you've made an assumption that there *is* quality in their work. There isn't.
In terms of OFSTED, they still have awkward questions to answer about why in the penultimate week of term they forced two schools to accept onsite inspections, only to then find out that one of their inspectors had tested positive.
Here's a question for PBers. How many of the methods used in US elections would you have no problem in being introduced to UK elections? Would you be happy with drop-off mail-in ballot boxes for example, to boost turnout in poorer areas, or electronic voting. I'm playing Devil's Advocate here in that the vast majority of people on here believe there was no fraud and malice, so I'm assuming everyone would be confident that bringing in US practices over here....:)
We already have things called "pillar boxes" which are conveniently painted red and have Her Maj on them. They can also be used for posting your pools coupon, etc. I'm not quite sure why the Yanks need special boxes, unless it's so they can set fire to the ones in areas full of voters who cannot be trusted to vote the correct way. So no, not a good idea.
Every Thursday night, everyone who was going to clap donates £1 via Just Giving with Apple or Android Pay.
Proceeds shared monthly with NHS frontline.
I think it's a lovely idea actually though I'd prefer to spend it on nice espresso machines and cashew nuts and cheese for the NHS staff. Having a bit more take home is great, but it doesn't actually lift ones mood on the day.
Sure, I was only half-joking. The ludicrous Emote Police do my head in. Why not actually do something of tangible benefit to people?
Yep. This is what I am opining will happen. He is net toxic to the GOP brand and so they need to have this battle and win it. Which they will (both) because the Republican party is bigger than any one man - they're not called the GOP for nothing - and they exist to win power not to service the ego of individuals.
Time to dig up the old strapline. Trump is Toast. Again.
I always find it funny when the left give conservatives advice.
Fair point. Which I have to say since I was making it myself in reverse the other day. But I am very objective for my ilk and the "advice" is sound. New American Dream v MAGA would be no contest in a polarized binary in 24. So the GOP will need to come up with something else. And I think they will.
The day Trump leaves office any incentive due to party loyalty to provide cover or protection for Trump will end. The GOP will be just delighted to leave Trump to fight his own legal battles, without any assistance from the DOJ, Senate, etc.
For the other point of view, there's also the question of whether Trump would even persist with much of an active political career, something that he avoided pursuing for most of 7 decades. The past 4 years and the run up to it are the exception, not the rule. He is a narcissist whose every action is taken to benefit himself. On 20th Jan he will once again revert to holding no elected office. He won't really care about those who would like to jump on his coat tails to benefit themselves, because it is hard to see how he could benefit personally by advancing their prospects. Maybe it would smooth his ego, but not his bank balance, so he won't be minded to put himself out beyond trying to settle a few grudges. I think his attitude also extends to his immediate family, who I think he cares little about other than how they can be used to benefit him personally, so why should he go out of his way to help them either? He may just go much the same way as an ageing mafia boss, and try and back away into semi-retirement, his main concern being to fend off attention from those who wish him harm, especially in his case the feds and state prosecutors.
This is broadly my take. He will not stay a political force - and might not even try once it becomes clear it's not happening.
Keep an eye on his Twitter count. It's 88m now.
Trump will stand for the nomination in 2024. The only question is which one.
I see we are back with the "Trump who got 2 of the 3 lowest Republican votes shares this millennium" is wildly popular line of thinking.
Wow, another leftist promising conservatives they still have a chance if only they select a candidate the left approves of.
I guess we can expect a great deal of this over the next two years.
Well I'm a right winger who thinks Ronald Reagan was America's best postwar POTUS but I find Trump revolting and am glad the Democrats won.
Maybe right wingers finding Trump repellant should be taken seriously? Just an idea.
You fibber, you are the most Trumpian poster on here. I guess you hope that saying you are anti-Trump makes you sound a little more human. Trump is a far right populist and so are you. If you were an American you would be wearing the hat and attending all his rallies and claiming the election was a fraud. You never have any real evidence for your stated views just right wing hunches, just like him. You are probably one of Donald Trump's love children
Not by a long chalk is @Philip_Thompson 'the most Trumpian poster in here'.
I disagree with what PT says but you need to look elsewhere for PB Trump supporters. It isn't hard.
Obviously people wont recall all positions of others but Philip condemned Trump for months and months. It's not even a muted kind of dislike where you might interpret them as secretly still in favour but hiding it with a 'I dont support trump but'.
Just because someone likes Boris doesn't mean they like Trump.
Spot on. Philip has made very clear his disgust for Trump and Boris is no Trump. I certainly detest Trump. I think he is evil. Boris has qualities and he has flaws as do most people. People have different views about him. I don't think he is competent as a PM, but that is a personal opinion, but I feel very confident to say he is definitely not evil, far from it, what is more I do admire his humour and his ability to speak and write (just not to lead).
There are similarities between Johnson and Trump, in particular the dumbing down of political messaging and the "greatest country" shtick, also the immaturity and laziness, but they are at the same time totally different. In particular -
Trump has no intellect to speak of. Johnson does. Trump has no vocabulary. Johnson has a big one. Trump has malevolent intentions. Johnson is merely selfish. Trump's torso is blubbery. Johnson's is toned and muscly.
Doesn;t matter
Whatever you think of Trump, he is his own man. He is eminently able to ride out criticism and bad publicity and not change course. He is very difficult to intimidate or shame and rarely backs down.
The same people who said it was impossible to do 100k tests per day ?
What would you prefer - aim for 14m vaccinations and get 10m or aim for 7m and get 7m ?
He's persistently misleading the country, normality by Christmas etc.
IIRC you were quite enraged by bad forecasts, particularly the Whitty/Vallance projections of 50,000 cases in October without further action.
Turns out they were right.
The 50k forecast was a ridiculous extrapolate to infinity and it was wrong.
And as you've not answered my question I'll ask it again:
What would you prefer - aim for 14m vaccinations and get 10m or aim for 7m and get 7m ?
The issue currently is to get as many people vaccinated as soon as possible.
And its more important that happens than politicians being able to say they reached their targets.
If it is really important to vaccinate as many people as possible why is the government not allowing pharmacists and former docs to join the vaccination rollout, and why are they taking breaks on Sunday?
Because the problem is not delivery, its supply. Its blindingly obvious. The NHS have structures in place every year which allows it to deliver 2m flu jabs a week. Its not hard. It doesn't require vets or dentists or Tesco's. We don't need more capacity, we need more vaccine.
Why the hell our benighted media are not asking about the supply and availability of vaccine to the exclusion of all else is completely beyond...no wait, they're just stupid aren't they?
I think people on here will be surprised in two weeks at the extent of the vaccination prgramme in this country.
I agree. Once the supply issues are resolved there is masses of capacity.
Injecting people isn't hard - why I've been mystified at the stories of plans to only vaccinate 1 million a week that were about.
I'd be really pissed if they can't organise using doses as they become available.
My guess is that we will peak at something like 3-4m a week once we have enough supply. I still think that Boris was being a lot more conservative in his estimates than many would want to admit for entirely political reasons. My guess is that we will exceed 14m by 14th February.
3-4 million was the original target for the mass vaccination planning - for when supply was available.
Indeed. I don't think I am suggesting anything outrageous here. Maybe 14m by 14th Feb and 28m by 14th March?
That will defintely happen, and as I said earlier we are already vaccinating on Sundays and will continue to do so.
"We are already vaccinating on Sundays and will continue to do so". This fills me with dread because you have previously claimed to be a building contractor with a team of builders. How are you and they qualified to vaccinate anyone?
Does anyone know where to find how Georgia's Military and Overseas Ballots split in the 2020 Presidential? My guess is that it went to Biden by a hair, but I'd like to confirm with real numbers.
What I read somewhere was military for Trump, overseas Biden but can't be 100% sure
Here's a question for PBers. How many of the methods used in US elections would you have no problem in being introduced to UK elections? Would you be happy with drop-off mail-in ballot boxes for example, to boost turnout in poorer areas, or electronic voting. I'm playing Devil's Advocate here in that the vast majority of people on here believe there was no fraud and malice, so I'm assuming everyone would be confident that bringing in US practices over here....:)
I think it's the wrong question. There are practices of US elections i dont think are good, but which are perfectly legal in the US. In some cases they've been used for a long time by many states but only challenged because of the outcome this time.
Additionally, even if there is potential for problems with some aspects those need to be proven, and if dozens of legal cases cannot find sufficient grounds to act then it doesn't matter if some practices are not ideal as they haven't been shown to be faulty.
There have been months to prove fraud and other issues. It hasn't changed the results. And whatever flaws exist in their electoral practices in my personal opinion I'd hope they address. But you cannot do that part way through, without sufficient evidence, because the outcome is not liked.
One benefit to the lengthy delays and multiple processes for sign off is testing to destruction fraud claims.
I see we are back with the "Trump who got 2 of the 3 lowest Republican votes shares this millennium" is wildly popular line of thinking.
Wow, another leftist promising conservatives they still have a chance if only they select a candidate the left approves of.
I guess we can expect a great deal of this over the next two years.
Well I'm a right winger who thinks Ronald Reagan was America's best postwar POTUS but I find Trump revolting and am glad the Democrats won.
Maybe right wingers finding Trump repellant should be taken seriously? Just an idea.
You fibber, you are the most Trumpian poster on here. I guess you hope that saying you are anti-Trump makes you sound a little more human. Trump is a far right populist and so are you. If you were an American you would be wearing the hat and attending all his rallies and claiming the election was a fraud. You never have any real evidence for your stated views just right wing hunches, just like him. You are probably one of Donald Trump's love children
Not by a long chalk is @Philip_Thompson 'the most Trumpian poster in here'.
I disagree with what PT says but you need to look elsewhere for PB Trump supporters. It isn't hard.
Obviously people wont recall all positions of others but Philip condemned Trump for months and months. It's not even a muted kind of dislike where you might interpret them as secretly still in favour but hiding it with a 'I dont support trump but'.
Just because someone likes Boris doesn't mean they like Trump.
Spot on. Philip has made very clear his disgust for Trump and Boris is no Trump. I certainly detest Trump. I think he is evil. Boris has qualities and he has flaws as do most people. People have different views about him. I don't think he is competent as a PM, but that is a personal opinion, but I feel very confident to say he is definitely not evil, far from it, what is more I do admire his humour and his ability to speak and write (just not to lead).
There are similarities between Johnson and Trump, in particular the dumbing down of political messaging and the "greatest country" shtick, also the immaturity and laziness, but they are at the same time totally different. In particular -
Trump has no intellect to speak of. Johnson does. Trump has no vocabulary. Johnson has a big one. Trump has malevolent intentions. Johnson is merely selfish. Trump's torso is all blubber. Johnson's is toned and muscly.
Well I agree with all of that, except possibly the 'toned and muscly' but who am I to talk (wobble)
There is a growing industry of converting classic cars to electric traction. Plenty of room for redundant Nissan Leaf battery packs in a steam engine boiler.
Oil. The Ffestiniog went over to oil years back IIRC.
Here's a question for PBers. How many of the methods used in US elections would you have no problem in being introduced to UK elections? Would you be happy with drop-off mail-in ballot boxes for example, to boost turnout in poorer areas, or electronic voting. I'm playing Devil's Advocate here in that the vast majority of people on here believe there was no fraud and malice, so I'm assuming everyone would be confident that bringing in US practices over here....:)
We already have things called "pillar boxes" which are conveniently painted red and have Her Maj on them. They can also be used for posting your pools coupon, etc. I'm not quite sure why the Yanks need special boxes, unless it's so they can set fire to the ones in areas full of voters who cannot be trusted to vote the correct way. So no, not a good idea.
I'd agree with that. I think the US electoral practices are incredibly daft but, unfortunately, it's become politicised, mainly driven by their back history. It's going to one of the main political talking points over the next few years.
Here's a question for PBers. How many of the methods used in US elections would you have no problem in being introduced to UK elections? Would you be happy with drop-off mail-in ballot boxes for example, to boost turnout in poorer areas, or electronic voting. I'm playing Devil's Advocate here in that the vast majority of people on here believe there was no fraud and malice, so I'm assuming everyone would be confident that bringing in US practices over here....:)
We already have things called "pillar boxes" which are conveniently painted red and have Her Maj on them. They can also be used for posting your pools coupon, etc. I'm not quite sure why the Yanks need special boxes, unless it's so they can set fire to the ones in areas full of voters who cannot be trusted to vote the correct way. So no, not a good idea.
Neal Stephenson in The Cryptonomicon observed that British post boxes were obviously designed to deal with a problem of random dynamiting of post boxes.
On a serious note - Royal Mail actually works. Unlike the US postal system - even before Trumps sabotage.
Incidentally, a shout out for Royal Mail. They have recently introduced *pick up* for parcels and letters. For the princely sum of 72p you can pay for collection from your front door. So you can pay for your postage and send your parcel without leaving the house.....
Used it extensively for posting presents for Christmas.
On 20th Jan he will once again revert to holding no elected office. He won't really care about those who would like to jump on his coat tails to benefit themselves, because it is hard to see how he could benefit personally by advancing their prospects. Maybe it would smooth his ego, but not his bank balance, so he won't be minded to put himself out beyond trying to settle a few grudges.
Good point, some of the most MAGA people might be in for a shock if Trump himself decides he just can't be bothered anymore.
I think there is a nontrivial chance of that.
In fact, I think it's almost a 50-50 shot.
My guess is that he has to run again in order to accumulate donations with which to pay off his debts. I see it as a kind of Ponzi scheme whereby the current venture pays off the previous one. If I am right he has to keep running to stay ahead of the bailiffs.
I suspect also that by remaining prominently in the political mix he hopes to keep the prosecutors at bay. Maybe the Dems wouldn't mind that. He's not exactly helping the GoP now.
Are you talking about teachers, or OFSTED? In the case of OFSTED, you've made an assumption that there *is* quality in their work. There isn't.
In terms of OFSTED, they still have awkward questions to answer about why in the penultimate week of term they forced two schools to accept onsite inspections, only to then find out that one of their inspectors had tested positive.
They might well be a casualty of covid.
We already had a Plague Inspection last term, before they got suspended due to inspectors getting the plague. Are we to expect another?
The only complaint I had from (a very few) parents last time around was that we were setting 'too much' work i.e. for a normal five period day (upper secondary).
There is a growing industry of converting classic cars to electric traction. Plenty of room for redundant Nissan Leaf battery packs in a steam engine boiler.
Oil. The Ffestiniog went over to oil years back IIRC.
Some of their locomotives, the Fairlies in particular, can burn either, but it takes about a day to convert the firebox depending on which fuel you want to burn.
They use oil during high summer (less fire risk) and coal at other times.
The Vale of Rheidol converted to oil burning in the 1980s but has since changed back.
There is a growing industry of converting classic cars to electric traction. Plenty of room for redundant Nissan Leaf battery packs in a steam engine boiler.
With teams of footplate volunteers going "Wooo-Wooooooo!" as it glides silently down the track
Here's a question for PBers. How many of the methods used in US elections would you have no problem in being introduced to UK elections? Would you be happy with drop-off mail-in ballot boxes for example, to boost turnout in poorer areas, or electronic voting. I'm playing Devil's Advocate here in that the vast majority of people on here believe there was no fraud and malice, so I'm assuming everyone would be confident that bringing in US practices over here....:)
I would be happy, provided there continued to be a consistent approach across and independent oversight from he EC or similar.
I would add on-line voting with appropriate security controls.
Surely if we believe in democracy we should do everything we can to make it easy to vote.
I see we are back with the "Trump who got 2 of the 3 lowest Republican votes shares this millennium" is wildly popular line of thinking.
Wow, another leftist promising conservatives they still have a chance if only they select a candidate the left approves of.
I guess we can expect a great deal of this over the next two years.
Well I'm a right winger who thinks Ronald Reagan was America's best postwar POTUS but I find Trump revolting and am glad the Democrats won.
Maybe right wingers finding Trump repellant should be taken seriously? Just an idea.
You fibber, you are the most Trumpian poster on here. I guess you hope that saying you are anti-Trump makes you sound a little more human. Trump is a far right populist and so are you. If you were an American you would be wearing the hat and attending all his rallies and claiming the election was a fraud. You never have any real evidence for your stated views just right wing hunches, just like him. You are probably one of Donald Trump's love children
Not by a long chalk is @Philip_Thompson 'the most Trumpian poster in here'.
I disagree with what PT says but you need to look elsewhere for PB Trump supporters. It isn't hard.
Indeed. That's a bizarre attack from Nigel.
Plenty of PB Trumptons linger around, they are easy enough to identify.
Indeed not. Brexiteers all of them. Some because of his strinkingly similar amoral behaviour to Boris some because they think he and Boris can be best friends in a post truth Brexity world.
Here's a question for PBers. How many of the methods used in US elections would you have no problem in being introduced to UK elections? Would you be happy with drop-off mail-in ballot boxes for example, to boost turnout in poorer areas, or electronic voting. I'm playing Devil's Advocate here in that the vast majority of people on here believe there was no fraud and malice, so I'm assuming everyone would be confident that bringing in US practices over here....:)
I think it's the wrong question. There are practices of US elections i dont think are good, but which are perfectly legal in the US. In some cases they've been used for a long time by many states but only challenged because of the outcome this time.
Additionally, even if there is potential for problems with some aspects those need to be proven, and if dozens of legal cases cannot find sufficient grounds to act then it doesn't matter if some practices are not ideal as they haven't been shown to be faulty.
There have been months to prove fraud and other issues. It hasn't changed the results. And whatever flaws exist in their electoral practices in my personal opinion I'd hope they address. But you cannot do that part way through, without sufficient evidence, because the outcome is not liked.
One benefit to the lengthy delays and multiple processes for sign off is testing to destruction fraud claims.
I would agree with that, you can't change the process half way through because you don't like the result. And they also haven't proven fraud, although it's "interesting" how a candidate like Biden drove up enthusiasm in certain US cities but not in others. What I can see is a number of Republican legislatures now becoming aggressive on the votes - PA's state Senate has just blocked a Democratic Senator who won by 69 votes from taking his seat on the grounds his election is being challenged.
There is a growing industry of converting classic cars to electric traction. Plenty of room for redundant Nissan Leaf battery packs in a steam engine boiler.
With teams of footplate volunteers going "Wooo-Wooooooo!" as it glides silently down the track
Interestingly, the car conversion business is what spawned Tesla in the first place.
The Tesla roadster was essentially best practise (as then) in car conversion, applied en-mass. Well in the hundreds, anyway.
Are you talking about teachers, or OFSTED? In the case of OFSTED, you've made an assumption that there *is* quality in their work. There isn't.
In terms of OFSTED, they still have awkward questions to answer about why in the penultimate week of term they forced two schools to accept onsite inspections, only to then find out that one of their inspectors had tested positive.
They might well be a casualty of covid.
We already had a Plague Inspection last term, before they got suspended due to inspectors getting the plague. Are we to expect another?
The only complaint I had from (a very few) parents last time around was that we were setting 'too much' work i.e. for a normal five period day (upper secondary).
They then resumed them. Which they should not have done. That is why they might be in trouble and that's probably what's at the root of this. OFSTED do not want anyone to think they're a bunch of overpaid dicks who are basically no use at all on top of being dimmer than Margaret Ferrier.
I just wish they would do the work. I've set lots of lovely online work today including videos, worksheets and research tasks and under 50% completion rate.
Every Thursday night, everyone who was going to clap donates £1 via Just Giving with Apple or Android Pay.
Proceeds shared monthly with NHS frontline.
I think it's a lovely idea actually though I'd prefer to spend it on nice espresso machines and cashew nuts and cheese for the NHS staff. Having a bit more take home is great, but it doesn't actually lift ones mood on the day.
Food is free again at Winchester Hospital in the staff canteen. Again they received a huge donation from a local (£1 million plus)
Here's a question for PBers. How many of the methods used in US elections would you have no problem in being introduced to UK elections? Would you be happy with drop-off mail-in ballot boxes for example, to boost turnout in poorer areas, or electronic voting. I'm playing Devil's Advocate here in that the vast majority of people on here believe there was no fraud and malice, so I'm assuming everyone would be confident that bringing in US practices over here....:)
I think it's the wrong question. There are practices of US elections i dont think are good, but which are perfectly legal in the US. In some cases they've been used for a long time by many states but only challenged because of the outcome this time.
Additionally, even if there is potential for problems with some aspects those need to be proven, and if dozens of legal cases cannot find sufficient grounds to act then it doesn't matter if some practices are not ideal as they haven't been shown to be faulty.
There have been months to prove fraud and other issues. It hasn't changed the results. And whatever flaws exist in their electoral practices in my personal opinion I'd hope they address. But you cannot do that part way through, without sufficient evidence, because the outcome is not liked.
One benefit to the lengthy delays and multiple processes for sign off is testing to destruction fraud claims.
I would agree with that, you can't change the process half way through because you don't like the result. And they also haven't proven fraud, although it's "interesting" how a candidate like Biden drove up enthusiasm in certain US cities but not in others. What I can see is a number of Republican legislatures now becoming aggressive on the votes - PA's state Senate has just blocked a Democratic Senator who won by 69 votes from taking his seat on the grounds his election is being challenged.
Oh given how aggressive some states already were I'm sure itll be off the charts now. And Democrats will want to move quick and there may be wars of escalation.
Here's a question for PBers. How many of the methods used in US elections would you have no problem in being introduced to UK elections? Would you be happy with drop-off mail-in ballot boxes for example, to boost turnout in poorer areas, or electronic voting. I'm playing Devil's Advocate here in that the vast majority of people on here believe there was no fraud and malice, so I'm assuming everyone would be confident that bringing in US practices over here....:)
I would be happy, provided there continued to be a consistent approach across and independent oversight from he EC or similar.
I would add on-line voting with appropriate security controls.
Surely if we believe in democracy we should do everything we can to make it easy to vote.
I agree with the thrust of making it easier but everything risks the introduction of fraud. If I dump a 100 ballot papers at a block of flats and say "don't worry, I'll come and collect it next week to say you the hassle of dropping it off and / or going to the polling station", that's a problem. That has been the issue around California's alleged ballot harvesting.
I see we are back with the "Trump who got 2 of the 3 lowest Republican votes shares this millennium" is wildly popular line of thinking.
Wow, another leftist promising conservatives they still have a chance if only they select a candidate the left approves of.
I guess we can expect a great deal of this over the next two years.
Well I'm a right winger who thinks Ronald Reagan was America's best postwar POTUS but I find Trump revolting and am glad the Democrats won.
Maybe right wingers finding Trump repellant should be taken seriously? Just an idea.
You fibber, you are the most Trumpian poster on here. I guess you hope that saying you are anti-Trump makes you sound a little more human. Trump is a far right populist and so are you. If you were an American you would be wearing the hat and attending all his rallies and claiming the election was a fraud. You never have any real evidence for your stated views just right wing hunches, just like him. You are probably one of Donald Trump's love children
Not by a long chalk is @Philip_Thompson 'the most Trumpian poster in here'.
I disagree with what PT says but you need to look elsewhere for PB Trump supporters. It isn't hard.
Obviously people wont recall all positions of others but Philip condemned Trump for months and months. It's not even a muted kind of dislike where you might interpret them as secretly still in favour but hiding it with a 'I dont support trump but'.
Just because someone likes Boris doesn't mean they like Trump.
Spot on. Philip has made very clear his disgust for Trump and Boris is no Trump. I certainly detest Trump. I think he is evil. Boris has qualities and he has flaws as do most people. People have different views about him. I don't think he is competent as a PM, but that is a personal opinion, but I feel very confident to say he is definitely not evil, far from it, what is more I do admire his humour and his ability to speak and write (just not to lead).
There are similarities between Johnson and Trump, in particular the dumbing down of political messaging and the "greatest country" shtick, also the immaturity and laziness, but they are at the same time totally different. In particular -
Trump has no intellect to speak of. Johnson does. Trump has no vocabulary. Johnson has a big one. Trump has malevolent intentions. Johnson is merely selfish. Trump's torso is blubbery. Johnson's is toned and muscly.
Doesn;t matter
Whatever you think of Trump, he is his own man. He is eminently able to ride out criticism and bad publicity and not change course. He is very difficult to intimidate or shame and rarely backs down.
Here's a question for PBers. How many of the methods used in US elections would you have no problem in being introduced to UK elections? Would you be happy with drop-off mail-in ballot boxes for example, to boost turnout in poorer areas, or electronic voting. I'm playing Devil's Advocate here in that the vast majority of people on here believe there was no fraud and malice, so I'm assuming everyone would be confident that bringing in US practices over here....:)
We already have things called "pillar boxes" which are conveniently painted red and have Her Maj on them. They can also be used for posting your pools coupon, etc. I'm not quite sure why the Yanks need special boxes, unless it's so they can set fire to the ones in areas full of voters who cannot be trusted to vote the correct way. So no, not a good idea.
Neal Stephenson in The Cryptonomicon observed that British post boxes were obviously designed to deal with a problem of random dynamiting of post boxes.
On a serious note - Royal Mail actually works. Unlike the US postal system - even before Trumps sabotage.
Incidentally, a shout out for Royal Mail. They have recently introduced *pick up* for parcels and letters. For the princely sum of 72p you can pay for collection from your front door. So you can pay for your postage and send your parcel without leaving the house.....
Used it extensively for posting presents for Christmas.
Now that is very useful - thanks.
I checked -
“Of course, the underlying structure of everything in England is posh. There is no in-between with these people. You have to walk a mile to find a telephone booth, but when you find it, it is built as if the senseless dynamiting of pay phones had been a serious problem at some time in the past. And a British mailbox can presumably stop a German tank. None of them have cars, but when they do, they are three-ton hand-built beasts. The concept of stamping out a whole lot of cars is unthinkable—there are certain procedures that have to be followed, Mr. Ford, such as the hand-brazing of radiators, the traditional whittling of the tyres from solid blocks of cahoutchouc.” ― Neal Stephenson, Cryptonomicon
Very odd as they are mostly cast iron - not a good material as it splinters surely. Better with rubber or frangible composition.
The same people who said it was impossible to do 100k tests per day ?
What would you prefer - aim for 14m vaccinations and get 10m or aim for 7m and get 7m ?
He's persistently misleading the country, normality by Christmas etc.
IIRC you were quite enraged by bad forecasts, particularly the Whitty/Vallance projections of 50,000 cases in October without further action.
Turns out they were right.
The 50k forecast was a ridiculous extrapolate to infinity and it was wrong.
And as you've not answered my question I'll ask it again:
What would you prefer - aim for 14m vaccinations and get 10m or aim for 7m and get 7m ?
The issue currently is to get as many people vaccinated as soon as possible.
And its more important that happens than politicians being able to say they reached their targets.
If it is really important to vaccinate as many people as possible why is the government not allowing pharmacists and former docs to join the vaccination rollout, and why are they taking breaks on Sunday?
Because the problem is not delivery, its supply. Its blindingly obvious. The NHS have structures in place every year which allows it to deliver 2m flu jabs a week. Its not hard. It doesn't require vets or dentists or Tesco's. We don't need more capacity, we need more vaccine.
Why the hell our benighted media are not asking about the supply and availability of vaccine to the exclusion of all else is completely beyond...no wait, they're just stupid aren't they?
I think people on here will be surprised in two weeks at the extent of the vaccination prgramme in this country.
I agree. Once the supply issues are resolved there is masses of capacity.
Injecting people isn't hard - why I've been mystified at the stories of plans to only vaccinate 1 million a week that were about.
I'd be really pissed if they can't organise using doses as they become available.
My guess is that we will peak at something like 3-4m a week once we have enough supply. I still think that Boris was being a lot more conservative in his estimates than many would want to admit for entirely political reasons. My guess is that we will exceed 14m by 14th February.
3-4 million was the original target for the mass vaccination planning - for when supply was available.
Indeed. I don't think I am suggesting anything outrageous here. Maybe 14m by 14th Feb and 28m by 14th March?
That will defintely happen, and as I said earlier we are already vaccinating on Sundays and will continue to do so.
"We are already vaccinating on Sundays and will continue to do so". This fills me with dread because you have previously claimed to be a building contractor with a team of builders. How are you and they qualified to vaccinate anyone?
You mean NerysHughes is not the actress in the Liver Birds? I'd never have guessed.
Yep. This is what I am opining will happen. He is net toxic to the GOP brand and so they need to have this battle and win it. Which they will (both) because the Republican party is bigger than any one man - they're not called the GOP for nothing - and they exist to win power not to service the ego of individuals.
Time to dig up the old strapline. Trump is Toast. Again.
I always find it funny when the left give conservatives advice.
Fair point. Which I have to say since I was making it myself in reverse the other day. But I am very objective for my ilk and the "advice" is sound. New American Dream v MAGA would be no contest in a polarized binary in 24. So the GOP will need to come up with something else. And I think they will.
The day Trump leaves office any incentive due to party loyalty to provide cover or protection for Trump will end. The GOP will be just delighted to leave Trump to fight his own legal battles, without any assistance from the DOJ, Senate, etc.
For the other point of view, there's also the question of whether Trump would even persist with much of an active political career, something that he avoided pursuing for most of 7 decades. The past 4 years and the run up to it are the exception, not the rule. He is a narcissist whose every action is taken to benefit himself. On 20th Jan he will once again revert to holding no elected office. He won't really care about those who would like to jump on his coat tails to benefit themselves, because it is hard to see how he could benefit personally by advancing their prospects. Maybe it would smooth his ego, but not his bank balance, so he won't be minded to put himself out beyond trying to settle a few grudges. I think his attitude also extends to his immediate family, who I think he cares little about other than how they can be used to benefit him personally, so why should he go out of his way to help them either? He may just go much the same way as an ageing mafia boss, and try and back away into semi-retirement, his main concern being to fend off attention from those who wish him harm, especially in his case the feds and state prosecutors.
This is broadly my take. He will not stay a political force - and might not even try once it becomes clear it's not happening.
“The point is to still be relevant and still be talked about in the news,” said one of the people. “This is someone who’s been on Page Six of the New York Post for 40 years. He’s beyond embarrassment.”..
Are you talking about teachers, or OFSTED? In the case of OFSTED, you've made an assumption that there *is* quality in their work. There isn't.
In terms of OFSTED, they still have awkward questions to answer about why in the penultimate week of term they forced two schools to accept onsite inspections, only to then find out that one of their inspectors had tested positive.
They might well be a casualty of covid.
We already had a Plague Inspection last term, before they got suspended due to inspectors getting the plague. Are we to expect another?
The only complaint I had from (a very few) parents last time around was that we were setting 'too much' work i.e. for a normal five period day (upper secondary).
They then resumed them. Which they should not have done. That is why they might be in trouble and that's probably what's at the root of this. OFSTED do not want anyone to think they're a bunch of overpaid dicks who are basically no use at all on top of being dimmer than Margaret Ferrier.
I just wish they would do the work. I've set lots of lovely online work today including videos, worksheets and research tasks and under 50% completion rate.
I'm mainly teaching in exam years and much of that is sixth form, so they are completing the work. As they ended up at home due to an outbreak last term, they got into the swing of the online learning.
It's next week with Year 9 and 10 I'm worried about, but Heads of Year are following up daily where there is little to no engagement.
Here's a question for PBers. How many of the methods used in US elections would you have no problem in being introduced to UK elections? Would you be happy with drop-off mail-in ballot boxes for example, to boost turnout in poorer areas, or electronic voting. I'm playing Devil's Advocate here in that the vast majority of people on here believe there was no fraud and malice, so I'm assuming everyone would be confident that bringing in US practices over here....:)
I think it's the wrong question. There are practices of US elections i dont think are good, but which are perfectly legal in the US. In some cases they've been used for a long time by many states but only challenged because of the outcome this time.
Additionally, even if there is potential for problems with some aspects those need to be proven, and if dozens of legal cases cannot find sufficient grounds to act then it doesn't matter if some practices are not ideal as they haven't been shown to be faulty.
There have been months to prove fraud and other issues. It hasn't changed the results. And whatever flaws exist in their electoral practices in my personal opinion I'd hope they address. But you cannot do that part way through, without sufficient evidence, because the outcome is not liked.
One benefit to the lengthy delays and multiple processes for sign off is testing to destruction fraud claims.
I would agree with that, you can't change the process half way through because you don't like the result. And they also haven't proven fraud, although it's "interesting" how a candidate like Biden drove up enthusiasm in certain US cities but not in others. What I can see is a number of Republican legislatures now becoming aggressive on the votes - PA's state Senate has just blocked a Democratic Senator who won by 69 votes from taking his seat on the grounds his election is being challenged.
Oh given how aggressive some states already were I'm sure itll be off the charts now. And Democrats will want to move quick and there may be wars of escalation.
It's difficult at the Federal level because so much of the issue to do with voting evolves around the states. Even though Biden has control, bringing a Federal law on protecting votes like in the 1960s is going to be a nightmare.
Here's a question for PBers. How many of the methods used in US elections would you have no problem in being introduced to UK elections? Would you be happy with drop-off mail-in ballot boxes for example, to boost turnout in poorer areas, or electronic voting. I'm playing Devil's Advocate here in that the vast majority of people on here believe there was no fraud and malice, so I'm assuming everyone would be confident that bringing in US practices over here....:)
I would be happy, provided there continued to be a consistent approach across and independent oversight from he EC or similar.
I would add on-line voting with appropriate security controls.
Surely if we believe in democracy we should do everything we can to make it easy to vote.
I do not believe that the US has electronic voting - some voting machines, and some vote counting machines.
There is no problem in the UK with counting or actual voting - for those that actually want to.
I would be loathe to move to online voting. And I've been in IT since the ZX81.
Comments
I firmly believe Williamson is in place to make Chris Grayling look competent as the obligatory total thicko in each cabinet.
https://www.predictit.org/markets/detail/4353/What-will-be-the-balance-of-power-in-Congress-after-the-2020-election
But the resolution date is the 21st, and Loeffler is still technically a senator right now. Warnock doesn't HAVE to be sworn in till the 22nd, though it could be sooner...
If Warnock and Ossoff are sworn in before that date it resolves as D/D "Yes", all other contracts "No" - Harris breaks the tie
If Warnock is sworn in, but not Ossoff then All contracts resolve to "No" (GOP has 50 senators, but no VP - Dems have 49)
If neither is sworn in then it resolves to D/R because Loeffler is still a sitting senator till Warnock is sworn in as the seat is NOT tecnhically vacant (Unlike Purdue) so that gives the GOP 51 senators on the 21st Jan. So it's D/R "Yes" with all other contracts "No"
The kicker is Raffensberger doesn't have to act before the 22nd.
Proceeds shared monthly with NHS frontline.
If the argument is that the conventions should be changed and appointees should be experienced broadcasters who have never been a member of a political party and who have no connection with anyone in government, then, yes, that is a valid argument to make. But it's not an argument for accusing this particular government of cronyism compared with any previous government.
https://twitter.com/pressjournal/status/1346510157681856512?s=20
Speaking of parallel universes, I'm you. From the proper universe, not this bizarre alt-history corrupted version. It is YOU who has been impersonating ME, and I'm here to ask you to stop.
In fact, I think it's almost a 50-50 shot.
https://twitter.com/PickardJE/status/1346827953607483394
Just as we all know Johnson is doing his best.
https://twitter.com/KateForbesMSP/status/1346470945045659648?ref_src=twsrc^tfw|twcamp^tweetembed|twterm^1346470945045659648|twgr^|twcon^s1_&ref_url=https://wpcluster.dctdigital.com/pressandjournal/fp/news/politics/uk-politics/2789125/treasury-coronavirus-support/
(If this goes on I will begin to wonder if the fish, and Mr Trump's decline, are having something to do with it.)
Edit: Just to avoid any confiusion, Ms Forbes is not Aberdonian in any way AFAIK.)
To be correct, you should spend £10 on a huge badge or flag to hang in your window. 5p could be sent to NHS staff out of the proceeds.
https://twitter.com/bellacaledonia/status/1346828157995917320?s=20
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-55544616
Trump has no intellect to speak of. Johnson does.
Trump has no vocabulary. Johnson has a big one.
Trump has malevolent intentions. Johnson is merely selfish.
Trump's torso is all blubber. Johnson's is toned and muscly.
Insert Spurys joke here...
But I prefer making it clear in ADVANCE that if the voters do not choose wisely I will be upon them like a greased Martin Sheen. It's no good waving a rifle around in fits of tears after the fact. These libs need to know beforehand that if they vote the wrong way, I'll be combat-rolling through their tenement door with flash grenades in hand and a penknife in my teeth.
Scotland, you have been warned.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/jan/02/tottenham-condemn-three-players-for-christmas-party-covid-rules-breach
Doesn;t matter
Whatever you think of Trump, he is his own man. He is eminently able to ride out criticism and bad publicity and not change course. He is very difficult to intimidate or shame and rarely backs down.
Johnson, not so much. In fact, not at all.
Keep an eye on his Twitter count. It's 88m now.
In terms of OFSTED, they still have awkward questions to answer about why in the penultimate week of term they forced two schools to accept onsite inspections, only to then find out that one of their inspectors had tested positive.
They might well be a casualty of covid.
*As owned by a charity running couple of my aquaintance. With sequential vanity plates....
Additionally, even if there is potential for problems with some aspects those need to be proven, and if dozens of legal cases cannot find sufficient grounds to act then it doesn't matter if some practices are not ideal as they haven't been shown to be faulty.
There have been months to prove fraud and other issues. It hasn't changed the results. And whatever flaws exist in their electoral practices in my personal opinion I'd hope they address. But you cannot do that part way through, without sufficient evidence, because the outcome is not liked.
One benefit to the lengthy delays and multiple processes for sign off is testing to destruction fraud claims.
Don't make it longer than it needs to be...
On a serious note - Royal Mail actually works. Unlike the US postal system - even before Trumps sabotage.
Incidentally, a shout out for Royal Mail. They have recently introduced *pick up* for parcels and letters. For the princely sum of 72p you can pay for collection from your front door. So you can pay for your postage and send your parcel without leaving the house.....
Used it extensively for posting presents for Christmas.
I suspect also that by remaining prominently in the political mix he hopes to keep the prosecutors at bay. Maybe the Dems wouldn't mind that. He's not exactly helping the GoP now.
The only complaint I had from (a very few) parents last time around was that we were setting 'too much' work i.e. for a normal five period day (upper secondary).
They use oil during high summer (less fire risk) and coal at other times.
The Vale of Rheidol converted to oil burning in the 1980s but has since changed back.
I would add on-line voting with appropriate security controls.
Surely if we believe in democracy we should do everything we can to make it easy to vote.
The Tesla roadster was essentially best practise (as then) in car conversion, applied en-mass. Well in the hundreds, anyway.
I just wish they would do the work. I've set lots of lovely online work today including videos, worksheets and research tasks and under 50% completion rate.
I checked -
“Of course, the underlying structure of everything in England is posh. There is no in-between with these people. You have to walk a mile to find a telephone booth, but when you find it, it is built as if the senseless dynamiting of pay phones had been a serious problem at some time in the past. And a British mailbox can presumably stop a German tank. None of them have cars, but when they do, they are three-ton hand-built beasts. The concept of stamping out a whole lot of cars is unthinkable—there are certain procedures that have to be followed, Mr. Ford, such as the hand-brazing of radiators, the traditional whittling of the tyres from solid blocks of cahoutchouc.”
― Neal Stephenson, Cryptonomicon
Very odd as they are mostly cast iron - not a good material as it splinters surely. Better with rubber or frangible composition.
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/05/donald-trump-election-challenge-455233
...But mostly, he is continuing his fight to subvert the election for a Trumpian reason: to keep the attention on himself and give his supporters what they want, according to the people who have spoken with him.
“The point is to still be relevant and still be talked about in the news,” said one of the people. “This is someone who’s been on Page Six of the New York Post for 40 years. He’s beyond embarrassment.”..
'You bloody Ossoff'.
It's next week with Year 9 and 10 I'm worried about, but Heads of Year are following up daily where there is little to no engagement.
There is no problem in the UK with counting or actual voting - for those that actually want to.
I would be loathe to move to online voting. And I've been in IT since the ZX81.