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.
I have real life experience of a school who only tried to do things correctly when they knew OFSTED were coming.
The very same school whose headmistress lost her temper with me for daring to complain to outside authorities.
When I explained that I had been to the school several times and on my last visit had told her deputy in no uncertain terms what I would do if there was no improvement she did at least shut up for 5 seconds.
But of course she then had to ensure that the child had no real support as that was her only way of getting back at the parents.
A school where a whistleblower (concerned teacher) told us the school were fabricating notes to "prove" they had been doing something they hadn't
So Forgive me if I can't give a fuck about noses being put out of joint
Floater, I should point out that every time OFSTED has inspected me they've cited my teaching as Outstanding. So they like me.
I know they're full of shit because those were some of my worst ever lessons. So either my worst is better than everyone else's awesomeness, or they are more clueless than an Iranian naval officer after the fifteenth pint of arak.
I've no objection to, or fear of being inspected. But an OFSTED inspection is a worthless thing. Most of them have no clue what they're doing. Their own chief doesn't know what safeguarding is. That's the equivalent of a maths lecturer not knowing arithmetic.
Heck, last time they inspected a school I was working in, their research was so poor it didn't even clock that one of the SLT had been caught downloading indecent images on the school's server.
And it's unlikely they will understand what makes a good online lesson, given they're (A) thick and (B) don't know what they're doing. I've been teaching online one way and another for 15 years. An OFSTED inspector may know what a laptop is.
So - why are they doing it? Answer - to make everyone think they're important.
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.
Also, hopefully not the inspiration for Half Man, Half Biscuit's "I hate Nerys Hughes (from the heart)"....
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.
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.
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.
He is very good at hyperbole, that Mr Stephenson.
"Not so much a gravy boat as a gravy heavy cruiser"
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
Trump is a cult.* His support will wane now but it won't readily transfer anywhere and certainly not to traditional Republicans. The GoP has a massive problem, very much of its own creation. It will do well to avoid a long period in the wilderness.
* For the avoidance of doubt this is not a typo.
It should be noted that the last time a party lost the White House after only 1 term, when Carter lost in 1980, it took the Democrats 12 years until Bill Clinton in 1992 before they won the White House again.
Which is not encouraging for the GOP, at least at the Presidential level
It should be noted that the last time I flipped 3 tails in a row on a Wednesday when the President-elect's surname began with B, it was followed by a run of two heads and a tail.
Portentous.
I may sue for passing off as me
You should take it as a compliment. Even Sean has to run his own parody accounts.
Well I suppose you have to be famous enough to be worth having a parody or impersonator of you in the first place
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
Thanks Mr Ed. I think I read somewhere that active military were marginally pro-Biden, veterans pro-Trump, and overseas I'd take to be solidly Biden (as almost by definition they are internationalists)
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....:)
Not sure I really see the point of this question. Saying you've confidence in another country's processes does not mean you'd run things in precisely the same way.
There are quite a few practical differences in the US for a start. Administration is historically on a county level in the US, and you may well not wish to disrupt it with a major shake-up even if you think "I wouldn't start from here". Physical distances are much larger - even urban areas tend to be much more spaced out so the issues of access to voting are different. Ballots tend to be much larger with many more elected positions and propositions to vote on, lending itself to electronic ballots. There is a history of intimidation against some groups in some states. States have slightly different processes as part of respecting and maintaining a deeply ingrained federal system that we simply don't have as part of the culture in the UK.
So you'd probably not design precisely the same system for different countries. And you might think another country does some things better and others worse, without any implication that you lack confidence in the robustness of either.
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 agree that postboxes are sufficient, as returning a postal ballot is free if posted from the UK. They are also much less likely to be tampered with or stolen than a temporary box which conspicuosly contains many ballot papers.
As for electronic voting, I have no problem, as long as the hardware, software and HCI is thouroughly tested, and that legal a back-up system is available if the electronic system goes down. Until then, lets stick with pencil and paper voting, which has been shown to be a very robust system.
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.
Stephenson can be very funny on US culture (particularly in his earlier work), but I don't think he quite gets us.
Instead of clapping the NHS why don't we give nurses a pay rise?
One reason is because nurses are not in the round poorly paid in the UK.
If you are looking for relatively poorly paid people working in medical jobs in the UK, there are plenty of others.
Okay a bonus then, to thank them. Better than clapping once a week surely?
Perhaps - for *all* relevant staff, mind.
I would be more inclined to suggest nursing assistants or whoever it is doing the more menial work - toiletting, cleaning and so on (which may be nurses). And all the ones in homecare and homes, who are paid minimum wage + a bit.
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.
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.
I have a list of PBers who were either overtly or secretly rooting for Trump to beat Biden.
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 have a problem with having to queue for many hours in order to vote, as a result of blatant decisions to restrict voting opportunities surgically targetted to disadvantage one candidate.
Blatantly gerrymandered electoral re districting is also a no-no.
Where else can a presidential contest be settled on the basis of anything other than the winner of the popular vote, to the extent that most recently the winning candidate would not have prevailed had the margin fallen to much below 4%.
In a system where partisanship extends to every level, I don't like the idea of allowing a state official oversight of the conduct of an election in which he is running for governor, or generally that elections should be overseen by political appointees.
Nor is it good that a state can denying about 8% of the population the right to vote on the basis that they might sometime in their life have been convicted of even a minor felony, especially when that rests on a blatant misreading of a court judgement to the contrary.
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.
Johnson, not so much. In fact, not at all.
Trump deals appallingly with criticism. As for not backing down, he never ADMITS to backing down. But he did, for example, actually sign the stimulus package last week without the $2k and indeed barely changed at all from what he refused to sign earlier. That's called backing 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....:)
One thing I would not want: elections being run by politicians (in some cases candidates in the elections they are running). Pure electronic voting is bad, but the version used in Georgia seems harmless enough: the machine prints out a receipt which the voter checks and which can (and was) used to do a hand recount. Drop-off mail in ballot boxes are probably more secure than the mail, particularly if a politician in charge of the postal service decides to intentionally cripple it just before the election. Getting rid of polling places in poor areas is another thing I would not want to see here, nor the multi-hour queues to vote.
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....:)
US election rules were written in a time when votes took days to be delivered by stagecoach, and the constitution at a time when guns fired one bullet every 30 seconds, not 30 bullets a second.
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.
Then the Senate is doing exactly what it was intended to do, giving extra power to the arm of the little states, to stop them being steam-rollered by California, Texas, New York....
How does that number look for the House of Representatives, where it was always intended to be nearer your vote in Montana being of similar worth to that in Massachussetts? (Acknowledging that the Republicans have done their worst in gerrymandering their way to unfairness.)
OT, but is anyone else here applying to be a vaccinator ? My better half is, and the process is every bit as cumbersome and time-consuming as has been reported.
It's not just the irrelevant anti-radicalisation and diversity training, it's the stupidly disjointed IT. As you complete each training module you generate a certificate of completion, with a file name suggested by the system. So far so good. But when you want to submit your final application: - you have to manually upload each of the certificates onto a portal that is completely separate from the one delivering the training, even though both portals have been specified by the NHS; - you are instructed to name each certificate in a way that bears no relation to the name given to it when generated by the training portal, so you need to rename each one; - you can't upload a ZIP file, you have to upload all 15 of them individually; - the list of certificates required by the application portal turns out to be different to the list of training modules that you were originally asked to complete, so you now have to go back and complete extra modules, otherwise you simply can't proceed with the application.
Only someone with the patience of a saint will get through all this. And, of course, all the time spent on this is unpaid.
I'm a liberal minded lawyer with no political loyalties but I would really like to see ministers and key PHE and NHS officials doing jail time at the end of the eventual public inquiry into all this.
Like someone else said, so many people in the way of getting this sorted just seem to think "well this is how we usually do things, no reason to change".
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.
Stephenson can be very funny on US culture (particularly in his earlier work), but I don't think he quite gets us.
His portrait of UK bureaucracy in WWII was spot on.
His invention of Qwghlm was a brilliant pastiche of regional British behaviour.
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.
And the 6-3 conservative majority on SCOTUS will likely rule that many of the changes the Dems would like to make are unconstitutional, infringing states' rights etc.
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....:)
Mail in, drop boxes and early voting are actually reasonably secure. There is little to no risk of people voting on behalf of others, particularly on mass, so long as the rolls of who voted are public. (This is why the dead people voting schtick is such obvious rubbish: you can literally look at the list of people who are said to have voted, and call them.) Likewise, if there was mass voting on behalf of people who didn't actually vote, it would be found very easily, for the same reason. Plus, there's the fact that you'd need to identify people who weren't going to vote, otherwise you'd be caught when voters turned up at polling booths and found they'd already voted.
Where there is an issue is with inter-family (and occasionally, like Tower Hamlets, inter-community) pressure on people to vote a certain way. Dad runs this family, and dad says we all vote this way. But while this may flip a few votes, it's not easy to do this en mass. (And if I were going to be asking, who benefited from dad pressuring family members in 2020, then can you really be sure the answer is Biden? I mean, really?)
Voting machines are an inherently bad idea.
I'm OK with electronic counting, so long as a hand recount is possible, but I think pressing a screen is dangerous. If a paper trail is generated (i.e. a ballot is also printed and the voter can check it before it goes in the box), then I guess it's probably OK. But I still don't particularly like it.
That being said, statistical analysis is a wonderful thing. Based on the evidence from 99% of America, you can usually forecast to within 1% or so of how a particular area will vote. Simply, by the time you have that much data, you'll know how individual demographic segments will likely vote. Fraud by a particular voting machine vendor is therefore likely pretty easy to spot.
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).
We have had a few comments on the same lines, so we are not setting extra work for homework to Years 7-9 at the moment.
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
Why would they be singing "Sympathy for the Devil" (Rolling Stones)?
And if this is not surreal enough, Toby Young was on Newsnight yesterday. At the start of the worst phase of this terrible pandemic the BBC's flagship current affairs show got Toby on. I thought it was somebody trying to be funny when I heard that, but no. I've checked. He was on.
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)
That's good. They need lots of very nourishing food.
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.
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.
So what if Johnson "has a big one".. What's that got to do with Trump's bigly vocabulary?
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.
Do bear in mind that a substantial (& growing minority) of Trump's Twitter followers are bots.
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
Why would they be singing "Sympathy for the Devil" (Rolling Stones)?
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)
That's good. They need lots of very nourishing food.
The donation is from someone involved in Formula 1 although they do not want to be named.
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.
I have a list of PBers who were either overtly or secretly rooting for Trump to beat Biden.
There are 12 names on it. The Dirty Dozen.
I'm betting it includes those so secret, they have continuously said they wouldn't have voted for Trump in 2016 or 2020.... But clearly, they didn't mean it.
London's Excel Centre, Epsom Racecourse, Manchester's Etihad Tennis Centre, Newcastle's Centre for Life, Birmingham's Millennium Point, Robertson House in Stevenage, and Ashton Gate Stadium in Bristol.
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.
Stephenson can be very funny on US culture (particularly in his earlier work), but I don't think he quite gets us.
I dunno, have you /seen/ the cars the Armstrong works tried to sell to an ungrateful nation? Tanks with wheels that weighed at least two tonnes more than they should.
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
Trump is a cult.* His support will wane now but it won't readily transfer anywhere and certainly not to traditional Republicans. The GoP has a massive problem, very much of its own creation. It will do well to avoid a long period in the wilderness.
* For the avoidance of doubt this is not a typo.
It should be noted that the last time a party lost the White House after only 1 term, when Carter lost in 1980, it took the Democrats 12 years until Bill Clinton in 1992 before they won the White House again.
Which is not encouraging for the GOP, at least at the Presidential level
It should be noted that the last time I flipped 3 tails in a row on a Wednesday when the President-elect's surname began with B, it was followed by a run of two heads and a tail.
Portentous.
I may sue for passing off as me
You should take it as a compliment. Even Sean has to run his own parody accounts.
Well I suppose you have to be famous enough to be worth having a parody or impersonator of you in the first place
It is a sign of blog celebrity. If a poster called "kuntibula" rocked up I'd be rather chuffed.
Now then, you're £25 in hock to me due to Georgia.
Should I come up with a couple of "double or quits" offers to ward off a settlement?
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.
And the 6-3 conservative majority on SCOTUS will likely rule that many of the changes the Dems would like to make are unconstitutional, infringing states' rights etc.
I think a voting rights act will need careful framing it's essentially Kavanaugh who will be the swing vote on that one. It's tricky, but possible to do.
I say Kav and not the other conservative justices because he's a touch more idiosyncratic than the very strict originalists that Gorsuch, Thomas, Alito and ACB are.
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.
Johnson, not so much. In fact, not at all.
But Trump was so very much 'his own man' that he just handed the Presidency, the House, and the Senate to the Democrats. Because he is an irremediable moron.
Perhaps he should have tried being someone else's man on this occasion? Or just any other man, really.
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
President Trump made an enormous number of completely unforced errors. Calling people who died for their country "losers" and "suckers" was not smart. Slagging off a man who spent years - and this David Foster Wallace piece on McCain is worth reading - being tortured in a prisoner of war camp, rather than be sent home earlier than people who had been captured earlier, almost certainly hit him in Arizona.
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.
Johnson, not so much. In fact, not at all.
Trump deals appallingly with criticism. As for not backing down, he never ADMITS to backing down. But he did, for example, actually sign the stimulus package last week without the $2k and indeed barely changed at all from what he refused to sign earlier. That's called backing down.
And he of course has settled numerous court cases in the favour of the complainant against him rather than go to court. A recent example being the the Trump University scam he was part of,
And if this is not surreal enough, Toby Young was on Newsnight yesterday. At the start of the worst phase of this terrible pandemic the BBC's flagship current affairs show got Toby on. I thought it was somebody trying to be funny when I heard that, but no. I've checked. He was on.
It's like Trump.
First he's just an unpleasant prat Then you think "he may be a prat, but he's got a few good ideas" Then "No-one can be that much of a prat - even with those good ideas" Then "It must be me. I really did think that was a good idea. But if a prat like that''s in favour..."
A lot of Scottish institutions in recent times have changed their policy of measured disapproval toward the nat agenda to embracing it. At the very least, the SNP looks like the dominant Governing force in Scotland for a long time, and they're increasingly adept at using the levers of power to further their cause. Case of 'lie back and think of Scotland'. Whether it's a wise long term strategy remains to be seen.
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.
So what if Johnson "has a big one".. What's that got to do with Trump's bigly vocabulary?
I do hope Biden mangles the English language. I'm going to miss that about Trump bigly. Although damn all else...)
Essentially - whining about the result of the previous election didn't go down well.
Scarily for Labour, even a 1997 type result for them today wouldn't deliver a 1997 result in seats.
They have a majority of 2 (assuming Scotland stays SNP and doesn't turn to them) and, if they match Blair in Scotland in 1997 as well, then they have a majority of 80 - max. And that's before the new boundaries kick in, which would handicap further by 8-11 seats.
Basically, bar an absolute transformation in England approaching 1945 levels, Labour aren't getting into power again without the SNP.
Scottish politics are going to be crucial in the UK for the next 5 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 don't need those measures because the vast majority of people can vote a ten minute walk from their homes with a maximum of 5 minutes waiting time and easily get a postal vote if they prefer.
We don't have a party doing its best to try to make it as difficult as possible for people to cast their vote, making them wait in line for hours, reducing polling stations etc etc. In short we don't have Trump and the MAGAs and frankly I have zero respect for anyone who wants to see them in power.
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.
And the 6-3 conservative majority on SCOTUS will likely rule that many of the changes the Dems would like to make are unconstitutional, infringing states' rights etc.
Watching Roberts try and gut the John Lewis Voting Rights Act that will be shortly be coming is going to make my blood god damn boil I am sure.
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.
That's a strinklingly good neologism.
It was wasn't it but just a happy accident I'm afraid! I've recently been working on a photographic book and I entitled a photograh 'Feeding the Geese'. Sounded innocent enough and accurately describes what the girl was doing..........
Romney in all likelyhood would have thrashed Clinton.
He would have absolutely hammered her: remember, he got pretty close to Obama, hard not to think that he would done very well against the much more unpopular Clinton.
(Worth remembering that he got a much higher share of the vote than Trump did in either 2016 or 2020.)
And if this is not surreal enough, Toby Young was on Newsnight yesterday. At the start of the worst phase of this terrible pandemic the BBC's flagship current affairs show got Toby on. I thought it was somebody trying to be funny when I heard that, but no. I've checked. He was on.
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
President Trump made an enormous number of completely unforced errors. Calling people who died for their country "losers" and "suckers" was not smart. Slagging off a man who spent years - and this David Foster Wallace piece on McCain is worth reading - being tortured in a prisoner of war camp, rather than be sent home earlier than people who had been captured earlier, almost certainly hit him in Arizona.
The thing that really pushed them across the line was treatment of the CO of that aircraft carrier, I believe.
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.
And the 6-3 conservative majority on SCOTUS will likely rule that many of the changes the Dems would like to make are unconstitutional, infringing states' rights etc.
Watching Roberts try and gut the John Lewis Voting Rights Act that will be shortly be coming is going to make my blood god damn boil I am sure.
It'll come down to Roberts and Kav, the other 4 conservative justices are off the scale right wing for this sort of stuff I suspect.
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.
I have a list of PBers who were either overtly or secretly rooting for Trump to beat Biden.
There are 12 names on it. The Dirty Dozen.
I'm betting it includes those so secret, they have continuously said they wouldn't have voted for Trump in 2016 or 2020.... But clearly, they didn't mean it.
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
Thanks Mr Ed. I think I read somewhere that active military were marginally pro-Biden, veterans pro-Trump, and overseas I'd take to be solidly Biden (as almost by definition they are internationalists)
I suspect the military was a GOP-leaning cohort before the Commander in Chief decided to brand America's war dead "losers".
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
President Trump made an enormous number of completely unforced errors. Calling people who died for their country "losers" and "suckers" was not smart. Slagging off a man who spent years - and this David Foster Wallace piece on McCain is worth reading - being tortured in a prisoner of war camp, rather than be sent home earlier than people who had been captured earlier, almost certainly hit him in Arizona.
The thing that really pushed them across the line was treatment of the CO of that aircraft carrier, I believe.
That was insane: flying the Secretary of Defence half way around the world to berate (over the loudhailer) the men of a ship for having cheered their previous CO.
We analyzed multiple compartments of circulating immune memory to SARS-CoV-2 in 254 samples from 188 COVID-19 cases, including 43 samples at ≥ 6 months post-infection. IgG to the Spike protein was relatively stable over 6+ months. Spike-specific memory B cells were more abundant at 6 months than at 1 month post symptom onset. SARS-CoV-2-specific CD4+ T cells and CD8+ T cells declined with a half-life of 3-5 months. By studying antibody, memory B cell, CD4+ T cell, and CD8+ T cell memory to SARS-CoV-2 in an integrated manner, we observed that each component of SARS-CoV-2 immune memory exhibited distinct kinetics...
...We observed that heterogeneous initial antibody responses did not collapse into a homogeneous circulating antibody memory; rather, heterogeneity is also a central feature of immune memory to this virus. For antibodies, the responses spanned a ~200-fold range. Additionally, this heterogeneity means that long-term longitudinal studies will be required to precisely define antibody kinetics to SARS-CoV-2....
...Notably, memory B cells specific for the Spike protein or RBD were detected in almost all COVID-19 cases, with no apparent half-life at 5 to 8 months post-infection. Other studies of RBD memory B cells are reporting similar findings (50, 60). B cell memory to some other infections has been observed to be long-lived, including 60+ years after smallpox vaccination (61), or 90+ years after infection with influenza ...
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 don't need those measures because the vast majority of people can vote a ten minute walk from their homes with a maximum of 5 minutes waiting time and easily get a postal vote if they prefer.
We don't have a party doing its best to try to make it as difficult as possible for people to cast their vote, making them wait in line for hours, reducing polling stations etc etc. In short we don't have Trump and the MAGAs and frankly I have zero respect for anyone who wants to see them in power.
I totally agree. I have never spent more than 5 minutes in a queue to vote, in cities and countryside. I actually would not be happy in having early voting other than postal as it is supposed to be an election day. The hours of our voting stations are from 7am to 10pm so I'm sure anyone who wants to vote can do it sometime in the day. I have never had any difficulty getting a short time off work to vote if I needed it as well.
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
President Trump made an enormous number of completely unforced errors. Calling people who died for their country "losers" and "suckers" was not smart. Slagging off a man who spent years - and this David Foster Wallace piece on McCain is worth reading - being tortured in a prisoner of war camp, rather than be sent home earlier than people who had been captured earlier, almost certainly hit him in Arizona.
The thing that really pushed them across the line was treatment of the CO of that aircraft carrier, I believe.
That was insane: flying the Secretary of Defence half way around the world to berate (over the loudhailer) the men of a ship for having cheered their previous CO.
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.
And the 6-3 conservative majority on SCOTUS will likely rule that many of the changes the Dems would like to make are unconstitutional, infringing states' rights etc.
Watching Roberts try and gut the John Lewis Voting Rights Act that will be shortly be coming is going to make my blood god damn boil I am sure.
It'll come down to Roberts and Kav, the other 4 conservative justices are off the scale right wing for this sort of stuff I suspect.
Roberts has dedicated his life to gutting the original VRA. There's a bunch on Long Reads about his multi decade attempts to curtail it when he was a GOP lackey and gut it entirely once he got on the bench
Essentially - whining about the result of the previous election didn't go down well.
Precisely.
The GOP should have been overwhelming favourites to win both of these run offs. A concession by Trump would have led to less interest by Democrat voters and a strong desire by Republicans to constrain Biden's incoming power.
Instead the whining has been far less that helpful and gifted the Democrats both of these seats.
Comments
I know they're full of shit because those were some of my worst ever lessons. So either my worst is better than everyone else's awesomeness, or they are more clueless than an Iranian naval officer after the fifteenth pint of arak.
I've no objection to, or fear of being inspected. But an OFSTED inspection is a worthless thing. Most of them have no clue what they're doing. Their own chief doesn't know what safeguarding is. That's the equivalent of a maths lecturer not knowing arithmetic.
Heck, last time they inspected a school I was working in, their research was so poor it didn't even clock that one of the SLT had been caught downloading indecent images on the school's server.
And it's unlikely they will understand what makes a good online lesson, given they're (A) thick and (B) don't know what they're doing. I've been teaching online one way and another for 15 years. An OFSTED inspector may know what a laptop is.
So - why are they doing it? Answer - to make everyone think they're important.
Which isn't really a good enough reason.
It certainly allows Mr J to claim brownie points I suppose.
"Not so much a gravy boat as a gravy heavy cruiser"
There are quite a few practical differences in the US for a start. Administration is historically on a county level in the US, and you may well not wish to disrupt it with a major shake-up even if you think "I wouldn't start from here". Physical distances are much larger - even urban areas tend to be much more spaced out so the issues of access to voting are different. Ballots tend to be much larger with many more elected positions and propositions to vote on, lending itself to electronic ballots. There is a history of intimidation against some groups in some states. States have slightly different processes as part of respecting and maintaining a deeply ingrained federal system that we simply don't have as part of the culture in the UK.
So you'd probably not design precisely the same system for different countries. And you might think another country does some things better and others worse, without any implication that you lack confidence in the robustness of either.
As for electronic voting, I have no problem, as long as the hardware, software and HCI is thouroughly tested, and that legal a back-up system is available if the electronic system goes down. Until then, lets stick with pencil and paper voting, which has been shown to be a very robust system.
Still, each to their own I suppose. [Goes off to dust his typewriter collection.]
I would be more inclined to suggest nursing assistants or whoever it is doing the more menial work - toiletting, cleaning and so on (which may be nurses). And all the ones in homecare and homes, who are paid minimum wage + a bit.
*Pulls out drawer containing his collection of leather bookmarks*
https://twitter.com/imillhiser/status/1346834407626334209
There are 12 names on it. The Dirty Dozen.
Blatantly gerrymandered electoral re districting is also a no-no.
Where else can a presidential contest be settled on the basis of anything other than the winner of the popular vote, to the extent that most recently the winning candidate would not have prevailed had the margin fallen to much below 4%.
In a system where partisanship extends to every level, I don't like the idea of allowing a state official oversight of the conduct of an election in which he is running for governor, or generally that elections should be overseen by political appointees.
Nor is it good that a state can denying about 8% of the population the right to vote on the basis that they might sometime in their life have been convicted of even a minor felony, especially when that rests on a blatant misreading of a court judgement to the contrary.
That'll do for starters.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/covid-hospitals-overwhelmed-england-scotland-cumerland-dumfries-b1783111.html
https://twitter.com/JamesDelingpole/status/1346792937238224896
Pure electronic voting is bad, but the version used in Georgia seems harmless enough: the machine prints out a receipt which the voter checks and which can (and was) used to do a hand recount.
Drop-off mail in ballot boxes are probably more secure than the mail, particularly if a politician in charge of the postal service decides to intentionally cripple it just before the election.
Getting rid of polling places in poor areas is another thing I would not want to see here, nor the multi-hour queues to vote.
Essentially - whining about the result of the previous election didn't go down well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrNFle6ICCI
How does that number look for the House of Representatives, where it was always intended to be nearer your vote in Montana being of similar worth to that in Massachussetts? (Acknowledging that the Republicans have done their worst in gerrymandering their way to unfairness.)
It's not just the irrelevant anti-radicalisation and diversity training, it's the stupidly disjointed IT. As you complete each training module you generate a certificate of completion, with a file name suggested by the system. So far so good. But when you want to submit your final application:
- you have to manually upload each of the certificates onto a portal that is completely separate from the one delivering the training, even though both portals have been specified by the NHS;
- you are instructed to name each certificate in a way that bears no relation to the name given to it when generated by the training portal, so you need to rename each one;
- you can't upload a ZIP file, you have to upload all 15 of them individually;
- the list of certificates required by the application portal turns out to be different to the list of training modules that you were originally asked to complete, so you now have to go back and complete extra modules, otherwise you simply can't proceed with the application.
Only someone with the patience of a saint will get through all this. And, of course, all the time spent on this is unpaid.
I'm a liberal minded lawyer with no political loyalties but I would really like to see ministers and key PHE and NHS officials doing jail time at the end of the eventual public inquiry into all this.
Like someone else said, so many people in the way of getting this sorted just seem to think "well this is how we usually do things, no reason to change".
His invention of Qwghlm was a brilliant pastiche of regional British behaviour.
Where there is an issue is with inter-family (and occasionally, like Tower Hamlets, inter-community) pressure on people to vote a certain way. Dad runs this family, and dad says we all vote this way. But while this may flip a few votes, it's not easy to do this en mass. (And if I were going to be asking, who benefited from dad pressuring family members in 2020, then can you really be sure the answer is Biden? I mean, really?)
Voting machines are an inherently bad idea.
I'm OK with electronic counting, so long as a hand recount is possible, but I think pressing a screen is dangerous. If a paper trail is generated (i.e. a ballot is also printed and the voter can check it before it goes in the box), then I guess it's probably OK. But I still don't particularly like it.
That being said, statistical analysis is a wonderful thing. Based on the evidence from 99% of America, you can usually forecast to within 1% or so of how a particular area will vote. Simply, by the time you have that much data, you'll know how individual demographic segments will likely vote. Fraud by a particular voting machine vendor is therefore likely pretty easy to spot.
irrespective of reality
So what if Johnson "has a big one".. What's that got to do with Trump's bigly vocabulary?
https://twitter.com/Reuters/status/1346840266708312065?s=20
https://qz.com/1422395/how-many-of-donald-trumps-twitter-followers-are-fake/
https://twitter.com/MorningConsult/status/1346838936715370499?s=20
London's Excel Centre, Epsom Racecourse, Manchester's Etihad Tennis Centre, Newcastle's Centre for Life, Birmingham's Millennium Point, Robertson House in Stevenage, and Ashton Gate Stadium in Bristol.
Now then, you're £25 in hock to me due to Georgia.
Should I come up with a couple of "double or quits" offers to ward off a settlement?
I say Kav and not the other conservative justices because he's a touch more idiosyncratic than the very strict originalists that Gorsuch, Thomas, Alito and ACB are.
Perhaps he should have tried being someone else's man on this occasion? Or just any other man, really.
President Trump made an enormous number of completely unforced errors. Calling people who died for their country "losers" and "suckers" was not smart. Slagging off a man who spent years - and this David Foster Wallace piece on McCain is worth reading - being tortured in a prisoner of war camp, rather than be sent home earlier than people who had been captured earlier, almost certainly hit him in Arizona.
First he's just an unpleasant prat
Then you think "he may be a prat, but he's got a few good ideas"
Then "No-one can be that much of a prat - even with those good ideas"
Then "It must be me. I really did think that was a good idea. But if a prat like that''s in favour..."
They have a majority of 2 (assuming Scotland stays SNP and doesn't turn to them) and, if they match Blair in Scotland in 1997 as well, then they have a majority of 80 - max. And that's before the new boundaries kick in, which would handicap further by 8-11 seats.
Basically, bar an absolute transformation in England approaching 1945 levels, Labour aren't getting into power again without the SNP.
Scottish politics are going to be crucial in the UK for the next 5 years.
We don't have a party doing its best to try to make it as difficult as possible for people to cast their vote, making them wait in line for hours, reducing polling stations etc etc. In short we don't have Trump and the MAGAs and frankly I have zero respect for anyone who wants to see them in power.
(Worth remembering that he got a much higher share of the vote than Trump did in either 2016 or 2020.)
I mean, WTF???
I predict they will unearth a bright young thing.
https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2021/01/05/science.abf4063
We analyzed multiple compartments of circulating immune memory to SARS-CoV-2 in 254 samples from 188 COVID-19 cases, including 43 samples at ≥ 6 months post-infection. IgG to the Spike protein was relatively stable over 6+ months. Spike-specific memory B cells were more abundant at 6 months than at 1 month post symptom onset. SARS-CoV-2-specific CD4+ T cells and CD8+ T cells declined with a half-life of 3-5 months. By studying antibody, memory B cell, CD4+ T cell, and CD8+ T cell memory to SARS-CoV-2 in an integrated manner, we observed that each component of SARS-CoV-2 immune memory exhibited distinct kinetics...
...We observed that heterogeneous initial antibody responses did not collapse into a homogeneous circulating antibody memory; rather, heterogeneity is also a central feature of immune memory to this virus. For antibodies, the responses spanned a ~200-fold range. Additionally, this heterogeneity means that long-term longitudinal studies will be required to precisely define antibody kinetics to SARS-CoV-2....
...Notably, memory B cells specific for the Spike protein or RBD were detected in almost all COVID-19 cases, with no apparent half-life at 5 to 8 months post-infection. Other studies of RBD memory B cells are reporting similar findings (50, 60). B cell memory to some other infections has been observed to be long-lived, including 60+ years after smallpox vaccination (61), or 90+ years after infection with influenza ...
In all fairness to Hancock, he gave a decent(ish) answer to a very good question from Harper.
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/08/john-roberts-voting-rights-act-121222
https://www.vox.com/21211880/supreme-court-chief-justice-john-roberts-voting-rights-act-election-2020
The GOP should have been overwhelming favourites to win both of these run offs. A concession by Trump would have led to less interest by Democrat voters and a strong desire by Republicans to constrain Biden's incoming power.
Instead the whining has been far less that helpful and gifted the Democrats both of these seats.