Howdy, Stranger!

It looks like you're new here. Sign in or register to get started.

A guest thread on Scottish independence and electoral reform – politicalbetting.com

12346

Comments

  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 38,528
    edited April 2021

    MikeL said:

    Budget deficit for 2020/21 is £303bn - 14.5% of GDP.

    Just six weeks ago at the Budget it was forecast to be £355bn - 17% of GDP.

    How was the forecast so far out given it was only made six weeks ago?

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-56856195

    Well the OBR have accrued for the expected write-offs of the government's loan fund, of c.£25bn.

    However the difference is still pretty susbtantial.
    Against that the borrowing figure will probably get revised downwards for another few months as additional data comes in. We might end the year on something like £285bn and 12-13% of GDP once everything is finalised.
  • DecrepiterJohnLDecrepiterJohnL Posts: 27,575
    Scott_xP said:

    A spokesman for the PM insisted that he would “not comment on speculation”, despite stories in the Times, The Daily Telegraph and The Sun quoting Downing Street sources claiming Mr Cummings leaked the texts.
    https://twitter.com/SophiaSleigh/status/1385561134355333120

    If Cummings then presumably not the sinister Labour mole in the Civil Service who was blamed last week.
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 38,528

    MaxPB said:

    MaxPB said:

    Replace Merkel with Greens leader say German business leaders

    Annalena Baerbock wins twice as much support in survey of 1,500 German managers than Armin Laschet, the candidate from ruling conservatives

    (Telegraph)


    A political earthquake seems to be about to happen in Germany.

    Laschet is extremely unpopular with everyone but he won't rock the EU boat so he got the nod ahead of Söder who is pro-EU but not uncritically as the rest of the German establishment. He's probably in a comparable position to @williamglenn, believes that the EU has a lot of potential for good but is run by a ship of fools.

    The CDU are, IMO, throwing away the election to save UvdL as commission president. It's almost a certainty that chancellor Söder would have her head on a platter within weeks of winning. He'd make her position and that of the commission completely untenable.
    Why do the CDU want to save UvdL over winning the election?

    I know she's one of theirs, but you'd think that if she fell it could be portrayed as personal responsibility and drawing a line under the situation to move on from.
    For a lot of Germans the EU is an article of faith, putting what they see as a Eurosceptic (he isn't) in charge is almost sacrilegious. The fear of being seen as un-European is massive, Laschet is another mindless EU-bot who will fall in line when necessary.
    I think you're reading too much into this. This is about internal German politics, not UvdL or the EU. Basically it's the CDU inner circle supporting one of their own rather than the upstart from the sister party.
    Disagree, Söder was looked upon favourably until he started shitting on the commission's vaccine failures. It was that which has put the CDU into a defensive stance becuase they don't believe he will uphold their bootlicking stance on the EU.
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 95,873
    DavidL said:

    HYUFD said:

    DavidL said:

    HYUFD said:

    HYUFD said:

    Good afternoon everyone, and thank you Philip for a thought provoking article.

    This is a very difficult election for Nicola Sturgeon. If she wins an overall majority, she has no excuse not to call for a referendum. Despite the bluster, I think Boris Johnson would have no alternative other than to grant one. He won’t want to be seen as a democracy denier. If Yes win an Indyref, the reason for the SNP’s existence disappears. If she loses, she will gave to resign, and the SNP will be severely weakened for many years.

    It is in Sturgeon’s interest, therefore, not to have a referendum. The scenario that would most suit her, and enable her to continue with her social engineering policies, would be to fall very slightly short of an overall majority, and to govern with the support of the Greens, either in a coalition or a confidence and supply deal. SNP and Green policies are very similar. However, this will be difficult to pull off. If she is too successful, she will have an overall majority. If she is not successful enough, she will be weakened, and will be leading a lame duck government.

    Alba has thrown a major spanner in the works for her. Independence supporters now have another party to vote for. I think they will gain 3 or 4 seats and hold her feet to the fire. There will also be a fightback within the SNP from the currently marginalised activists who have been denied a say in policy since 2018, unless she fights for a referendum.

    Can she pull it off? I think not. The SNP have fought a lacklustre campaign, only helped by the media, especially the BBC, hardly mentioning Alba. Ofcom are today investigating the lack of BBC coverage of Alba. I suspect that many SNP supporters will just stay at home, and even more will vote Green, Alba or Labour on the list. I expect Labour to be the second biggest party, and therefore, the official opposition. This would also suit Sturgeon, as it would reduce the emphasis on Independence in Holyrood.

    Interesting times ahead!

    Latest Comres has the SNP on 62 seats so she would fall short of the 65 she needs for an overall majority as would suit her and with 7 Greens remain in government but the SNP would be down one on the 63 seats they won in 2016 which could also weaken her.
    https://twitter.com/BallotBoxScot/status/1385315103625515016?s=20

    Yougov gives the SNP 68 seats and a narrow overall majority so it will be close either way

    https://twitter.com/BallotBoxScot/status/1385198824948486146?s=20
    It will be interesting to see whether the opinion polls change between now and May 6th. The final result won’t be known until Saturday at the earliest. They will be counting constituency votes on the Friday, but can’t start calculating the list votes until all the constituencies have been decided.
    29 of the Holyrood constituencies will not be counting until the Saturday either, so forget election night this year, both the English local councils and Scottish and Welsh Parliaments and London Mayoral and Assembly and PCC counts will not be until the Friday and Saturday.

    The Thursday night of polling day will be merely verifications, so you can go to bed early and not miss anything as long as you are awake again for 9 30am Friday when the ballots actually start to be counted
    https://twitter.com/BallotBoxScot/status/1385558483123249153?s=20
    Thanks for that. Its all a bit frustrating. Do we know when Hartlepool is counting?
    Hartlepool also has local election and Mayoral and PCC ballots to count at the same time, so probably also on the Friday as well with Thursday night again verifications unless they want the by election result out of the way by Friday morning
    Ach, its not going to be a proper PB election night is it? And it had the potential to be an absolute cracker with so many different elections going on at once.
    Many areas the locals wont be known till Saturday. Travesty.

    Already many hated overnight counts (mine was the only one to do the first PCC election that way I think, to be first), so outside parliamentary we might not get them back!
  • SandyRentoolSandyRentool Posts: 21,965
    At lunchtime we put our crosses into the appropriate boxes on our postal ballots. The red-green electoral pact has come good again, and in the WY mayoral election the green votes are still red votes on second pref anyway. Apparently we won't get a declaration until the Sunday after polling day.

    Reading the bumf, it turns out that the Deputy Mayor for Policing (who is appointed by the mayor) essentially takes over the role of PCC.

    Oh yes, nearly forgot: Voting was 'brisk'. All ballots cast in the space of 5 minutes!
  • DavidL said:

    HYUFD said:

    HYUFD said:

    Good afternoon everyone, and thank you Philip for a thought provoking article.

    This is a very difficult election for Nicola Sturgeon. If she wins an overall majority, she has no excuse not to call for a referendum. Despite the bluster, I think Boris Johnson would have no alternative other than to grant one. He won’t want to be seen as a democracy denier. If Yes win an Indyref, the reason for the SNP’s existence disappears. If she loses, she will gave to resign, and the SNP will be severely weakened for many years.

    It is in Sturgeon’s interest, therefore, not to have a referendum. The scenario that would most suit her, and enable her to continue with her social engineering policies, would be to fall very slightly short of an overall majority, and to govern with the support of the Greens, either in a coalition or a confidence and supply deal. SNP and Green policies are very similar. However, this will be difficult to pull off. If she is too successful, she will have an overall majority. If she is not successful enough, she will be weakened, and will be leading a lame duck government.

    Alba has thrown a major spanner in the works for her. Independence supporters now have another party to vote for. I think they will gain 3 or 4 seats and hold her feet to the fire. There will also be a fightback within the SNP from the currently marginalised activists who have been denied a say in policy since 2018, unless she fights for a referendum.

    Can she pull it off? I think not. The SNP have fought a lacklustre campaign, only helped by the media, especially the BBC, hardly mentioning Alba. Ofcom are today investigating the lack of BBC coverage of Alba. I suspect that many SNP supporters will just stay at home, and even more will vote Green, Alba or Labour on the list. I expect Labour to be the second biggest party, and therefore, the official opposition. This would also suit Sturgeon, as it would reduce the emphasis on Independence in Holyrood.

    Interesting times ahead!

    Latest Comres has the SNP on 62 seats so she would fall short of the 65 she needs for an overall majority as would suit her and with 7 Greens remain in government but the SNP would be down one on the 63 seats they won in 2016 which could also weaken her.
    https://twitter.com/BallotBoxScot/status/1385315103625515016?s=20

    Yougov gives the SNP 68 seats and a narrow overall majority so it will be close either way

    https://twitter.com/BallotBoxScot/status/1385198824948486146?s=20
    It will be interesting to see whether the opinion polls change between now and May 6th. The final result won’t be known until Saturday at the earliest. They will be counting constituency votes on the Friday, but can’t start calculating the list votes until all the constituencies have been decided.
    29 of the Holyrood constituencies will not be counting until the Saturday either, so forget election night this year, both the English local councils and Scottish and Welsh Parliaments and London Mayoral and Assembly and PCC counts will not be until the Friday and Saturday.

    The Thursday night of polling day will be merely verifications, so you can go to bed early and not miss anything as long as you are awake again for 9 30am Friday when the ballots actually start to be counted
    https://twitter.com/BallotBoxScot/status/1385558483123249153?s=20
    Thanks for that. Its all a bit frustrating. Do we know when Hartlepool is counting?
    On the night but it will be VERY late as they are validating all votes for the mayoral the PCC and the byelection first!
  • Philip_ThompsonPhilip_Thompson Posts: 65,826
    MaxPB said:

    MaxPB said:

    MaxPB said:

    Replace Merkel with Greens leader say German business leaders

    Annalena Baerbock wins twice as much support in survey of 1,500 German managers than Armin Laschet, the candidate from ruling conservatives

    (Telegraph)


    A political earthquake seems to be about to happen in Germany.

    Laschet is extremely unpopular with everyone but he won't rock the EU boat so he got the nod ahead of Söder who is pro-EU but not uncritically as the rest of the German establishment. He's probably in a comparable position to @williamglenn, believes that the EU has a lot of potential for good but is run by a ship of fools.

    The CDU are, IMO, throwing away the election to save UvdL as commission president. It's almost a certainty that chancellor Söder would have her head on a platter within weeks of winning. He'd make her position and that of the commission completely untenable.
    Why do the CDU want to save UvdL over winning the election?

    I know she's one of theirs, but you'd think that if she fell it could be portrayed as personal responsibility and drawing a line under the situation to move on from.
    For a lot of Germans the EU is an article of faith, putting what they see as a Eurosceptic (he isn't) in charge is almost sacrilegious. The fear of being seen as un-European is massive, Laschet is another mindless EU-bot who will fall in line when necessary.
    I think you're reading too much into this. This is about internal German politics, not UvdL or the EU. Basically it's the CDU inner circle supporting one of their own rather than the upstart from the sister party.
    Disagree, Söder was looked upon favourably until he started shitting on the commission's vaccine failures. It was that which has put the CDU into a defensive stance becuase they don't believe he will uphold their bootlicking stance on the EU.
    Things can't get better if you can't admit you have problems.
  • TimTTimT Posts: 6,456

    DavidL said:

    This'll help:

    Almost every EU country has backed a lawsuit against AstraZeneca over vaccine delivery delays, paving the way for the Commission to start legal proceedings as soon as Friday, according to two EU diplomats.

    Five to six of the bigger countries had aired reservations about a lawsuit when EU ambassadors met earlier this week, first warning there's little the EU can do if AstraZeneca fails to deliver more doses, then arguing that legal action could further worsen AstraZeneca's already-tarnished image.

    But one by one, concerned countries fell in line: France backed the lawsuit on Thursday night, followed by Germany Friday morning, according to at least two diplomats. Hungary backed the lawsuit as well as of Friday morning, according to another diplomat.


    https://www.politico.eu/article/germany-france-back-commissions-astrazeneca-lawsuit-diplomats/

    Thank god we are out. I mean, really, is this up for discussion anymore? Bunch of complete muppets (with due apologies to Kermit and Miss Piggy).
    They do seem determined to make Brexit look positive by any means necessary.

    They really could have just STFU and tried to change the conversation, but no keep highlighting their failures.
    This does beg the question of what the EU does when they lose the court case.
  • EndillionEndillion Posts: 4,976
    TimT said:

    DavidL said:

    This'll help:

    Almost every EU country has backed a lawsuit against AstraZeneca over vaccine delivery delays, paving the way for the Commission to start legal proceedings as soon as Friday, according to two EU diplomats.

    Five to six of the bigger countries had aired reservations about a lawsuit when EU ambassadors met earlier this week, first warning there's little the EU can do if AstraZeneca fails to deliver more doses, then arguing that legal action could further worsen AstraZeneca's already-tarnished image.

    But one by one, concerned countries fell in line: France backed the lawsuit on Thursday night, followed by Germany Friday morning, according to at least two diplomats. Hungary backed the lawsuit as well as of Friday morning, according to another diplomat.


    https://www.politico.eu/article/germany-france-back-commissions-astrazeneca-lawsuit-diplomats/

    Thank god we are out. I mean, really, is this up for discussion anymore? Bunch of complete muppets (with due apologies to Kermit and Miss Piggy).
    They do seem determined to make Brexit look positive by any means necessary.

    They really could have just STFU and tried to change the conversation, but no keep highlighting their failures.
    This does beg the question of what the EU does when they lose the court case.
    Hold another one in the ECJ and claim victory when they "win".
  • MikeLMikeL Posts: 7,664
    edited April 2021
    Thanks for replies - given what's happened in the last year it does seem surprising that the deficit isn't higher.
  • Richard_NabaviRichard_Nabavi Posts: 30,821
    edited April 2021
    TimT said:

    DavidL said:

    This'll help:

    Almost every EU country has backed a lawsuit against AstraZeneca over vaccine delivery delays, paving the way for the Commission to start legal proceedings as soon as Friday, according to two EU diplomats.

    Five to six of the bigger countries had aired reservations about a lawsuit when EU ambassadors met earlier this week, first warning there's little the EU can do if AstraZeneca fails to deliver more doses, then arguing that legal action could further worsen AstraZeneca's already-tarnished image.

    But one by one, concerned countries fell in line: France backed the lawsuit on Thursday night, followed by Germany Friday morning, according to at least two diplomats. Hungary backed the lawsuit as well as of Friday morning, according to another diplomat.


    https://www.politico.eu/article/germany-france-back-commissions-astrazeneca-lawsuit-diplomats/

    Thank god we are out. I mean, really, is this up for discussion anymore? Bunch of complete muppets (with due apologies to Kermit and Miss Piggy).
    They do seem determined to make Brexit look positive by any means necessary.

    They really could have just STFU and tried to change the conversation, but no keep highlighting their failures.
    This does beg the question of what the EU does when they lose the court case.
    It will be ancient news by then, if indeed this brain-dead case ever gets to court.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 81,458
    Seems Mrs Vennells has a number of high profile non-exec positions e.g. Morrisons Supermarket.

    I wonder how long they will last?
  • Philip_ThompsonPhilip_Thompson Posts: 65,826

    TimT said:

    DavidL said:

    This'll help:

    Almost every EU country has backed a lawsuit against AstraZeneca over vaccine delivery delays, paving the way for the Commission to start legal proceedings as soon as Friday, according to two EU diplomats.

    Five to six of the bigger countries had aired reservations about a lawsuit when EU ambassadors met earlier this week, first warning there's little the EU can do if AstraZeneca fails to deliver more doses, then arguing that legal action could further worsen AstraZeneca's already-tarnished image.

    But one by one, concerned countries fell in line: France backed the lawsuit on Thursday night, followed by Germany Friday morning, according to at least two diplomats. Hungary backed the lawsuit as well as of Friday morning, according to another diplomat.


    https://www.politico.eu/article/germany-france-back-commissions-astrazeneca-lawsuit-diplomats/

    Thank god we are out. I mean, really, is this up for discussion anymore? Bunch of complete muppets (with due apologies to Kermit and Miss Piggy).
    They do seem determined to make Brexit look positive by any means necessary.

    They really could have just STFU and tried to change the conversation, but no keep highlighting their failures.
    This does beg the question of what the EU does when they lose the court case.
    It will be ancient news by then, if indeed this brain-dead case every gets to court.
    Or they'll just ignore it and brush it aside like they did when they lost the case regarding Ireland's tax arrangements with Apple.
  • Richard_NabaviRichard_Nabavi Posts: 30,821


    Or they'll just ignore it and brush it aside like they did when they lost the case regarding Ireland's tax arrangements with Apple.

    My prediction is that it will be quietly forgotten as soon as the political pressure eases, which won't actually be too long since the EU does have lots of vaccines coming its way in the next couple of months. There will probably be some face-saving settlement.
  • TheuniondivvieTheuniondivvie Posts: 41,798
    Further to a previous comment about no one really giving a feck about what Unionist parties are up to & media fixating on the SNP v ALBA narrative..

    https://twitter.com/HzBrandenburg/status/1385579410187853833?s=20

    Time for the Unionists to arrange something eye-catching, perhaps involving farm animals or nasty Nats egging one of their leaders? However Yoons should rest assured that most of the attention given to Sturgeon or indeed Salmond would not have been of the positive variety.
  • Philip_ThompsonPhilip_Thompson Posts: 65,826


    Or they'll just ignore it and brush it aside like they did when they lost the case regarding Ireland's tax arrangements with Apple.

    My prediction is that it will be quietly forgotten as soon as the political pressure eases, which won't actually be too long since the EU does have lots of vaccines coming its way in the next couple of months. There will probably be some face-saving settlement.
    Considering that AZN are doing this not-for-profit I'm not sure how a face-saving settlement will even be possible?

    If they were making a multi-billion euro profit on the contract they could perhaps offer to make a small repayment to make this all go away and save face for everyone, despite them not having done anything wrong, but when they're not even making a profit what's even supposed to happen here next?
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 70,513

    Mr. Thompson, it's an unfortunate coincidence that May and Johnson are both trying to buy themselves legacy points by imposing barely considered and drastic 'green' targets which are due to hit long after their time in office.

    As energy investment are made on multi-decade bases, that is simply unavoidable.
    Doing nothing would be more drastic and ill considered.
  • Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 61,700
    Went shopping the other day. Didn't have any 50/50 so I got myself some white bread.

    Hope I didn't lose any social credit points.
  • TimTTimT Posts: 6,456


    Or they'll just ignore it and brush it aside like they did when they lost the case regarding Ireland's tax arrangements with Apple.

    My prediction is that it will be quietly forgotten as soon as the political pressure eases, which won't actually be too long since the EU does have lots of vaccines coming its way in the next couple of months. There will probably be some face-saving settlement.
    Considering that AZN are doing this not-for-profit I'm not sure how a face-saving settlement will even be possible?

    If they were making a multi-billion euro profit on the contract they could perhaps offer to make a small repayment to make this all go away and save face for everyone, despite them not having done anything wrong, but when they're not even making a profit what's even supposed to happen here next?
    That was precisely my thought.
  • Richard_NabaviRichard_Nabavi Posts: 30,821


    Or they'll just ignore it and brush it aside like they did when they lost the case regarding Ireland's tax arrangements with Apple.

    My prediction is that it will be quietly forgotten as soon as the political pressure eases, which won't actually be too long since the EU does have lots of vaccines coming its way in the next couple of months. There will probably be some face-saving settlement.
    Considering that AZN are doing this not-for-profit I'm not sure how a face-saving settlement will even be possible?

    If they were making a multi-billion euro profit on the contract they could perhaps offer to make a small repayment to make this all go away and save face for everyone, despite them not having done anything wrong, but when they're not even making a profit what's even supposed to happen here next?
    Maybe the two sides will agree to cancel the remaining orders, AZ will return some of the up-front payments, and AZ then sell the production elsewhere? Dunno.
  • TimTTimT Posts: 6,456


    Or they'll just ignore it and brush it aside like they did when they lost the case regarding Ireland's tax arrangements with Apple.

    My prediction is that it will be quietly forgotten as soon as the political pressure eases, which won't actually be too long since the EU does have lots of vaccines coming its way in the next couple of months. There will probably be some face-saving settlement.
    Considering that AZN are doing this not-for-profit I'm not sure how a face-saving settlement will even be possible?

    If they were making a multi-billion euro profit on the contract they could perhaps offer to make a small repayment to make this all go away and save face for everyone, despite them not having done anything wrong, but when they're not even making a profit what's even supposed to happen here next?
    Maybe the two sides will agree to cancel the remaining orders, AZ will return some of the up-front payments, and AZ then sell the production elsewhere? Dunno.
    Were there upfront payments? I thought the EU model was payment upon delivery. But I could well be wrong.
  • Richard_NabaviRichard_Nabavi Posts: 30,821
    TimT said:


    Or they'll just ignore it and brush it aside like they did when they lost the case regarding Ireland's tax arrangements with Apple.

    My prediction is that it will be quietly forgotten as soon as the political pressure eases, which won't actually be too long since the EU does have lots of vaccines coming its way in the next couple of months. There will probably be some face-saving settlement.
    Considering that AZN are doing this not-for-profit I'm not sure how a face-saving settlement will even be possible?

    If they were making a multi-billion euro profit on the contract they could perhaps offer to make a small repayment to make this all go away and save face for everyone, despite them not having done anything wrong, but when they're not even making a profit what's even supposed to happen here next?
    Maybe the two sides will agree to cancel the remaining orders, AZ will return some of the up-front payments, and AZ then sell the production elsewhere? Dunno.
    Were there upfront payments? I thought the EU model was payment upon delivery. But I could well be wrong.
    I'm not sure of the exact details, but there certainly were some upfront payments.
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 53,706
    Cookie said:

    Just been jabbed! Hoorah for AZ. Now spending my obligatory fifteen minutes wait sat in the sun listening to the pleasant summery sounfs of Whalley Range Tennis Club. Blue skies above, the trees awash with blossom. Better days are on the way. Feeling quite emotional.

    I thought that the 15 minutes was only for Pfizer not AZ? Has that changed?
  • TimTTimT Posts: 6,456
    Cookie said:

    Just been jabbed! Hoorah for AZ. Now spending my obligatory fifteen minutes wait sat in the sun listening to the pleasant summery sounfs of Whalley Range Tennis Club. Blue skies above, the trees awash with blossom. Better days are on the way. Feeling quite emotional.

    Isn't it a wonderful feeling? I sat for 30 minutes on Wednesday - in front row seats labeled 30 mins - for those known to have severe allergic reactions to medications. Lots of friendly officials checking every couple of minutes to see how I was doing.
  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 43,209

    One other point on electoral reform - I think some sort of PR system is vital for the future of the Union.

    With some sort of PR, if the SNP receive roughly half the vote they will have roughly half the Scottish MPs - and so the other half of Scottish MPs will still have a chance of having their voice heard.

    At present FPTP can deliver the overwhelming majority of MPs from Scotland to the SNP, and that makes it easier for them to create a Scotland versus Westminster narrative.

    Yes I can see the Tories giving up shedloads of seats to Labour and Libdems, do you boys ever think things through or does your dislike of Scotland blind you to reality. What a halfwit.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 56,926
    More vaccine news: https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/curevac-seeks-covid-19-shot-approval-in-switzerland/46549592

    CureVac has applied for approval in Switzerland. One presumes this means that trial results are imminent.
  • SeaShantyIrish2SeaShantyIrish2 Posts: 17,549
    DavidL said:

    HYUFD said:

    HYUFD said:

    Good afternoon everyone, and thank you Philip for a thought provoking article.

    This is a very difficult election for Nicola Sturgeon. If she wins an overall majority, she has no excuse not to call for a referendum. Despite the bluster, I think Boris Johnson would have no alternative other than to grant one. He won’t want to be seen as a democracy denier. If Yes win an Indyref, the reason for the SNP’s existence disappears. If she loses, she will gave to resign, and the SNP will be severely weakened for many years.

    It is in Sturgeon’s interest, therefore, not to have a referendum. The scenario that would most suit her, and enable her to continue with her social engineering policies, would be to fall very slightly short of an overall majority, and to govern with the support of the Greens, either in a coalition or a confidence and supply deal. SNP and Green policies are very similar. However, this will be difficult to pull off. If she is too successful, she will have an overall majority. If she is not successful enough, she will be weakened, and will be leading a lame duck government.

    Alba has thrown a major spanner in the works for her. Independence supporters now have another party to vote for. I think they will gain 3 or 4 seats and hold her feet to the fire. There will also be a fightback within the SNP from the currently marginalised activists who have been denied a say in policy since 2018, unless she fights for a referendum.

    Can she pull it off? I think not. The SNP have fought a lacklustre campaign, only helped by the media, especially the BBC, hardly mentioning Alba. Ofcom are today investigating the lack of BBC coverage of Alba. I suspect that many SNP supporters will just stay at home, and even more will vote Green, Alba or Labour on the list. I expect Labour to be the second biggest party, and therefore, the official opposition. This would also suit Sturgeon, as it would reduce the emphasis on Independence in Holyrood.

    Interesting times ahead!

    Latest Comres has the SNP on 62 seats so she would fall short of the 65 she needs for an overall majority as would suit her and with 7 Greens remain in government but the SNP would be down one on the 63 seats they won in 2016 which could also weaken her.
    https://twitter.com/BallotBoxScot/status/1385315103625515016?s=20

    Yougov gives the SNP 68 seats and a narrow overall majority so it will be close either way

    https://twitter.com/BallotBoxScot/status/1385198824948486146?s=20
    It will be interesting to see whether the opinion polls change between now and May 6th. The final result won’t be known until Saturday at the earliest. They will be counting constituency votes on the Friday, but can’t start calculating the list votes until all the constituencies have been decided.
    29 of the Holyrood constituencies will not be counting until the Saturday either, so forget election night this year, both the English local councils and Scottish and Welsh Parliaments and London Mayoral and Assembly and PCC counts will not be until the Friday and Saturday.

    The Thursday night of polling day will be merely verifications, so you can go to bed early and not miss anything as long as you are awake again for 9 30am Friday when the ballots actually start to be counted
    https://twitter.com/BallotBoxScot/status/1385558483123249153?s=20
    Thanks for that. Its all a bit frustrating. Do we know when Hartlepool is counting?
    Are we going to be subjected to prolonged moaning by PBers next month, about how crap the UK election system is, because punters can NOT get the instantaneous election results which they not only crave, but believe is their birthright?

    Am sure looking forward to that spectacle. Indeed, will likely throw a little lighter fluid on the flames just for jollies!
  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 43,209
    eek said:

    Good afternoon everyone, and thank you Philip for a thought provoking article.

    This is a very difficult election for Nicola Sturgeon. If she wins an overall majority, she has no excuse not to call for a referendum. Despite the bluster, I think Boris Johnson would have no alternative other than to grant one. He won’t want to be seen as a democracy denier. If Yes win an Indyref, the reason for the SNP’s existence disappears. If she loses, she will gave to resign, and the SNP will be severely weakened for many years.

    It is in Sturgeon’s interest, therefore, not to have a referendum. The scenario that would most suit her, and enable her to continue with her social engineering policies, would be to fall very slightly short of an overall majority, and to govern with the support of the Greens, either in a coalition or a confidence and supply deal. SNP and Green policies are very similar. However, this will be difficult to pull off. If she is too successful, she will have an overall majority. If she is not successful enough, she will be weakened, and will be leading a lame duck government.

    Alba has thrown a major spanner in the works for her. Independence supporters now have another party to vote for. I think they will gain 3 or 4 seats and hold her feet to the fire. There will also be a fightback within the SNP from the currently marginalised activists who have been denied a say in policy since 2018, unless she fights for a referendum.

    Can she pull it off? I think not. The SNP have fought a lacklustre campaign, only helped by the media, especially the BBC, hardly mentioning Alba. Ofcom are today investigating the lack of BBC coverage of Alba. I suspect that many SNP supporters will just stay at home, and even more will vote Green, Alba or Labour on the list. I expect Labour to be the second biggest party, and therefore, the official opposition. This would also suit Sturgeon, as it would reduce the emphasis on Independence in Holyrood.

    Interesting times ahead!

    Don't the Scottish Greens support independence and a referendum? (oh they do see https://www.ft.com/content/fea2ad6b-90e6-4795-8269-3f4bffde80c9)

    So Sturgeon has a problem - the parties wanting a referendum are going to have over 50% of the seats and that puts her in an impossible situation especially when you look at the unicorn futures we saw MalcolmG and other pro independence voters imagine.

    Sturgeon is going to have to find a very good excuse to delay things if that is her desire...
    What drivel are you writing now. When have I ever talked about unicorn futures, I merely stated that a contract for a pension would have to be sorted and the liability was with successor state, ie rUK , which is extremely more sensible than your bollox about rUK welching on its debts. It matters not a jot to me anyway given I have a million anyway so I don't give a monkeys chuff about the state pension.
    Stick your bias up your erchie.@eek
  • Philip_ThompsonPhilip_Thompson Posts: 65,826
    rcs1000 said:

    More vaccine news: https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/curevac-seeks-covid-19-shot-approval-in-switzerland/46549592

    CureVac has applied for approval in Switzerland. One presumes this means that trial results are imminent.

    This is another one the UK has an order with isn't it?

    When would doses be due?
  • Philip_ThompsonPhilip_Thompson Posts: 65,826
    malcolmg said:

    eek said:

    Good afternoon everyone, and thank you Philip for a thought provoking article.

    This is a very difficult election for Nicola Sturgeon. If she wins an overall majority, she has no excuse not to call for a referendum. Despite the bluster, I think Boris Johnson would have no alternative other than to grant one. He won’t want to be seen as a democracy denier. If Yes win an Indyref, the reason for the SNP’s existence disappears. If she loses, she will gave to resign, and the SNP will be severely weakened for many years.

    It is in Sturgeon’s interest, therefore, not to have a referendum. The scenario that would most suit her, and enable her to continue with her social engineering policies, would be to fall very slightly short of an overall majority, and to govern with the support of the Greens, either in a coalition or a confidence and supply deal. SNP and Green policies are very similar. However, this will be difficult to pull off. If she is too successful, she will have an overall majority. If she is not successful enough, she will be weakened, and will be leading a lame duck government.

    Alba has thrown a major spanner in the works for her. Independence supporters now have another party to vote for. I think they will gain 3 or 4 seats and hold her feet to the fire. There will also be a fightback within the SNP from the currently marginalised activists who have been denied a say in policy since 2018, unless she fights for a referendum.

    Can she pull it off? I think not. The SNP have fought a lacklustre campaign, only helped by the media, especially the BBC, hardly mentioning Alba. Ofcom are today investigating the lack of BBC coverage of Alba. I suspect that many SNP supporters will just stay at home, and even more will vote Green, Alba or Labour on the list. I expect Labour to be the second biggest party, and therefore, the official opposition. This would also suit Sturgeon, as it would reduce the emphasis on Independence in Holyrood.

    Interesting times ahead!

    Don't the Scottish Greens support independence and a referendum? (oh they do see https://www.ft.com/content/fea2ad6b-90e6-4795-8269-3f4bffde80c9)

    So Sturgeon has a problem - the parties wanting a referendum are going to have over 50% of the seats and that puts her in an impossible situation especially when you look at the unicorn futures we saw MalcolmG and other pro independence voters imagine.

    Sturgeon is going to have to find a very good excuse to delay things if that is her desire...
    What drivel are you writing now. When have I ever talked about unicorn futures, I merely stated that a contract for a pension would have to be sorted and the liability was with successor state, ie rUK , which is extremely more sensible than your bollox about rUK welching on its debts. It matters not a jot to me anyway given I have a million anyway so I don't give a monkeys chuff about the state pension.
    Stick your bias up your erchie.@eek
    Debts like bonds are paid by the successor state typically, but pensions aren't actually debts. Even if they're [mis-]sold on that basis to the populace.

    Can you name any successor state ever in history to pay pensions for nations that have split off?
  • SeaShantyIrish2SeaShantyIrish2 Posts: 17,549
    HYUFD said:

    MaxPB said:

    Replace Merkel with Greens leader say German business leaders

    Annalena Baerbock wins twice as much support in survey of 1,500 German managers than Armin Laschet, the candidate from ruling conservatives

    (Telegraph)


    A political earthquake seems to be about to happen in Germany.

    Laschet is extremely unpopular with everyone but he won't rock the EU boat so he got the nod ahead of Söder who is pro-EU but not uncritically as the rest of the German establishment. He's probably in a comparable position to @williamglenn, believes that the EU has a lot of potential for good but is run by a ship of fools.

    The CDU are, IMO, throwing away the election to save UvdL as commission president. It's almost a certainty that chancellor Söder would have her head on a platter within weeks of winning. He'd make her position and that of the commission completely untenable.
    The Forsa poll may well hsve been an outlier. Two other polls show a more familiar picture:

    https://www.wahlrecht.de/umfragen/
    All give the Greens+SPD+Linke more than the CDU/CSU+FDP however and Forsa even gives the Greens+SPD+Linke more than the CDU/CSU+FDP+AfD.

    Laschet as Union Chancellor candidate has made a centre left coalition government under Green leader Baerbock now a real possibility
    More likely results methinks is a Green-Black coalition: Greens + CDU/CSU.
  • eekeek Posts: 28,077
    malcolmg said:

    eek said:

    Good afternoon everyone, and thank you Philip for a thought provoking article.

    This is a very difficult election for Nicola Sturgeon. If she wins an overall majority, she has no excuse not to call for a referendum. Despite the bluster, I think Boris Johnson would have no alternative other than to grant one. He won’t want to be seen as a democracy denier. If Yes win an Indyref, the reason for the SNP’s existence disappears. If she loses, she will gave to resign, and the SNP will be severely weakened for many years.

    It is in Sturgeon’s interest, therefore, not to have a referendum. The scenario that would most suit her, and enable her to continue with her social engineering policies, would be to fall very slightly short of an overall majority, and to govern with the support of the Greens, either in a coalition or a confidence and supply deal. SNP and Green policies are very similar. However, this will be difficult to pull off. If she is too successful, she will have an overall majority. If she is not successful enough, she will be weakened, and will be leading a lame duck government.

    Alba has thrown a major spanner in the works for her. Independence supporters now have another party to vote for. I think they will gain 3 or 4 seats and hold her feet to the fire. There will also be a fightback within the SNP from the currently marginalised activists who have been denied a say in policy since 2018, unless she fights for a referendum.

    Can she pull it off? I think not. The SNP have fought a lacklustre campaign, only helped by the media, especially the BBC, hardly mentioning Alba. Ofcom are today investigating the lack of BBC coverage of Alba. I suspect that many SNP supporters will just stay at home, and even more will vote Green, Alba or Labour on the list. I expect Labour to be the second biggest party, and therefore, the official opposition. This would also suit Sturgeon, as it would reduce the emphasis on Independence in Holyrood.

    Interesting times ahead!

    Don't the Scottish Greens support independence and a referendum? (oh they do see https://www.ft.com/content/fea2ad6b-90e6-4795-8269-3f4bffde80c9)

    So Sturgeon has a problem - the parties wanting a referendum are going to have over 50% of the seats and that puts her in an impossible situation especially when you look at the unicorn futures we saw MalcolmG and other pro independence voters imagine.

    Sturgeon is going to have to find a very good excuse to delay things if that is her desire...
    What drivel are you writing now. When have I ever talked about unicorn futures, I merely stated that a contract for a pension would have to be sorted and the liability was with successor state, ie rUK , which is extremely more sensible than your bollox about rUK welching on its debts. It matters not a jot to me anyway given I have a million anyway so I don't give a monkeys chuff about the state pension.
    Stick your bias up your erchie.@eek
    If you live in Scotland the successor state isn't rUK it will be the newly (re)formed Scottish state..

  • DecrepiterJohnLDecrepiterJohnL Posts: 27,575
    Scott_xP said:
    "Allies of Mr Cummings" -- so not @ydoethur then.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 122,276
    edited April 2021

    HYUFD said:

    MaxPB said:

    Replace Merkel with Greens leader say German business leaders

    Annalena Baerbock wins twice as much support in survey of 1,500 German managers than Armin Laschet, the candidate from ruling conservatives

    (Telegraph)


    A political earthquake seems to be about to happen in Germany.

    Laschet is extremely unpopular with everyone but he won't rock the EU boat so he got the nod ahead of Söder who is pro-EU but not uncritically as the rest of the German establishment. He's probably in a comparable position to @williamglenn, believes that the EU has a lot of potential for good but is run by a ship of fools.

    The CDU are, IMO, throwing away the election to save UvdL as commission president. It's almost a certainty that chancellor Söder would have her head on a platter within weeks of winning. He'd make her position and that of the commission completely untenable.
    The Forsa poll may well hsve been an outlier. Two other polls show a more familiar picture:

    https://www.wahlrecht.de/umfragen/
    All give the Greens+SPD+Linke more than the CDU/CSU+FDP however and Forsa even gives the Greens+SPD+Linke more than the CDU/CSU+FDP+AfD.

    Laschet as Union Chancellor candidate has made a centre left coalition government under Green leader Baerbock now a real possibility
    More likely results methinks is a Green-Black coalition: Greens + CDU/CSU.
    If the numbers are there for a Green, Linke and SPD deal I suspect the Green base will force that over a CDU/CSU deal, especially if the Greens are largest party.

    Plus it is also possible many CSU MPs could even vote against Laschet as Chancellor or at least abstain, the CDU/CSU Union is effectively over for the moment
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 70,513
    EU Commission sees potential in protein-based COVID-19 vaccines
    https://www.reuters.com/article/health-coronavirus-eu-vonderleyen/eu-commission-sees-potential-in-protein-based-covid-19-vaccines-idUSB5N2B302O
    ...the EU Commission may eventually expand its portfolio of COVID-19 jabs to protein-based vaccines, the EU executive’s President Ursula von der Leyen suggested on Friday.

    “We will certainly add other potential vaccines, for example protein-based vaccines have also quite a potential,” von der Leyen said at a news briefing.

    The vaccines currently being developed by Novavax and Sanofi/Glaxo-Smith-Kline are examples of protein-based vaccines....


    Comment unnecessary.
  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 43,209
    DavidL said:

    562,056 new vaccinations registered in 🇬🇧 yesterday

    🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 103,988 1st doses / 345,675 2nd doses
    🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 3,206 / 50,997
    🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 14,818 / 17,882
    NI 8,974 / 16,516

    Not bad!
    Yeah, its not bad but I think that we were hoping for 700k towards the end of this week. Still supply limited obviously.
    My wife has appointment next weds for her 2nd jag, nothing for me yet.
  • SeaShantyIrish2SeaShantyIrish2 Posts: 17,549

    Seems Mrs Vennells has a number of high profile non-exec positions e.g. Morrisons Supermarket.

    I wonder how long they will last?

    So you are saying that a supermarket chain has HIGHER ethical standards than the Church of England?
  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 28,231

    Replace Merkel with Greens leader say German business leaders

    Annalena Baerbock wins twice as much support in survey of 1,500 German managers than Armin Laschet, the candidate from ruling conservatives

    (Telegraph)


    A political earthquake seems to be about to happen in Germany.

    The German Greens aren't as 'watermelon' as our Greens here are they?

    Or as green as the Tories it seems. The Green parties carbon targets aren't as ambitious as the Tory ones here, not that you'd know it listening to climate activists here.
    That the Tories appear to want to offshore more business than the Greens is not something to boast about.
  • SeaShantyIrish2SeaShantyIrish2 Posts: 17,549
    HYUFD said:

    HYUFD said:

    MaxPB said:

    Replace Merkel with Greens leader say German business leaders

    Annalena Baerbock wins twice as much support in survey of 1,500 German managers than Armin Laschet, the candidate from ruling conservatives

    (Telegraph)


    A political earthquake seems to be about to happen in Germany.

    Laschet is extremely unpopular with everyone but he won't rock the EU boat so he got the nod ahead of Söder who is pro-EU but not uncritically as the rest of the German establishment. He's probably in a comparable position to @williamglenn, believes that the EU has a lot of potential for good but is run by a ship of fools.

    The CDU are, IMO, throwing away the election to save UvdL as commission president. It's almost a certainty that chancellor Söder would have her head on a platter within weeks of winning. He'd make her position and that of the commission completely untenable.
    The Forsa poll may well hsve been an outlier. Two other polls show a more familiar picture:

    https://www.wahlrecht.de/umfragen/
    All give the Greens+SPD+Linke more than the CDU/CSU+FDP however and Forsa even gives the Greens+SPD+Linke more than the CDU/CSU+FDP+AfD.

    Laschet as Union Chancellor candidate has made a centre left coalition government under Green leader Baerbock now a real possibility
    More likely results methinks is a Green-Black coalition: Greens + CDU/CSU.
    If the numbers are there for a Green, Linke and SPD deal I suspect the Green base will force that over a CDU/CSU deal.

    Plus it is also possible many CSU MPs could even vote against Laschet as Chancellor or at least abstain, the CDU/CSU Union is effectively over for the moment
    And I suspect you are wrong.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 122,276

    Seems Mrs Vennells has a number of high profile non-exec positions e.g. Morrisons Supermarket.

    I wonder how long they will last?

    So you are saying that a supermarket chain has HIGHER ethical standards than the Church of England?
    She still has her Morrisons positions
  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 43,209

    malcolmg said:

    eek said:

    Good afternoon everyone, and thank you Philip for a thought provoking article.

    This is a very difficult election for Nicola Sturgeon. If she wins an overall majority, she has no excuse not to call for a referendum. Despite the bluster, I think Boris Johnson would have no alternative other than to grant one. He won’t want to be seen as a democracy denier. If Yes win an Indyref, the reason for the SNP’s existence disappears. If she loses, she will gave to resign, and the SNP will be severely weakened for many years.

    It is in Sturgeon’s interest, therefore, not to have a referendum. The scenario that would most suit her, and enable her to continue with her social engineering policies, would be to fall very slightly short of an overall majority, and to govern with the support of the Greens, either in a coalition or a confidence and supply deal. SNP and Green policies are very similar. However, this will be difficult to pull off. If she is too successful, she will have an overall majority. If she is not successful enough, she will be weakened, and will be leading a lame duck government.

    Alba has thrown a major spanner in the works for her. Independence supporters now have another party to vote for. I think they will gain 3 or 4 seats and hold her feet to the fire. There will also be a fightback within the SNP from the currently marginalised activists who have been denied a say in policy since 2018, unless she fights for a referendum.

    Can she pull it off? I think not. The SNP have fought a lacklustre campaign, only helped by the media, especially the BBC, hardly mentioning Alba. Ofcom are today investigating the lack of BBC coverage of Alba. I suspect that many SNP supporters will just stay at home, and even more will vote Green, Alba or Labour on the list. I expect Labour to be the second biggest party, and therefore, the official opposition. This would also suit Sturgeon, as it would reduce the emphasis on Independence in Holyrood.

    Interesting times ahead!

    Don't the Scottish Greens support independence and a referendum? (oh they do see https://www.ft.com/content/fea2ad6b-90e6-4795-8269-3f4bffde80c9)

    So Sturgeon has a problem - the parties wanting a referendum are going to have over 50% of the seats and that puts her in an impossible situation especially when you look at the unicorn futures we saw MalcolmG and other pro independence voters imagine.

    Sturgeon is going to have to find a very good excuse to delay things if that is her desire...
    What drivel are you writing now. When have I ever talked about unicorn futures, I merely stated that a contract for a pension would have to be sorted and the liability was with successor state, ie rUK , which is extremely more sensible than your bollox about rUK welching on its debts. It matters not a jot to me anyway given I have a million anyway so I don't give a monkeys chuff about the state pension.
    Stick your bias up your erchie.@eek
    Debts like bonds are paid by the successor state typically, but pensions aren't actually debts. Even if they're [mis-]sold on that basis to the populace.

    Can you name any successor state ever in history to pay pensions for nations that have split off?
    Can you name one that has welched, it will of course be part of the negotiations along with sharing the assets etc. In any case all countries manage to pay their pensions and given UK has lowest pension in the developed world it is of no major concern.
    Only scaredy unionists are concerned and making out they know anything about it, I don't care and believe there will be no change to pensions and someone will pay them, England currently takes all our cash to pay them , it will save a lot of time and overheads to do it locally , create more jobs and less Tory bungs, win win for Scotland methinks.
  • SeaShantyIrish2SeaShantyIrish2 Posts: 17,549
    Cookie said:

    Just been jabbed! Hoorah for AZ. Now spending my obligatory fifteen minutes wait sat in the sun listening to the pleasant summery sounfs of Whalley Range Tennis Club. Blue skies above, the trees awash with blossom. Better days are on the way. Feeling quite emotional.

    Last night visited with close friends I had not seen in a year. Because one of them - a cancer survivor - got their 2nd jab two weeks ago and is now good to go.

    And next week am going out to dinner with some other friends, something not done since March 2020.

    All because we've been vaccinated, the world is once again our oyster.
  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 43,209
    eek said:

    malcolmg said:

    eek said:

    Good afternoon everyone, and thank you Philip for a thought provoking article.

    This is a very difficult election for Nicola Sturgeon. If she wins an overall majority, she has no excuse not to call for a referendum. Despite the bluster, I think Boris Johnson would have no alternative other than to grant one. He won’t want to be seen as a democracy denier. If Yes win an Indyref, the reason for the SNP’s existence disappears. If she loses, she will gave to resign, and the SNP will be severely weakened for many years.

    It is in Sturgeon’s interest, therefore, not to have a referendum. The scenario that would most suit her, and enable her to continue with her social engineering policies, would be to fall very slightly short of an overall majority, and to govern with the support of the Greens, either in a coalition or a confidence and supply deal. SNP and Green policies are very similar. However, this will be difficult to pull off. If she is too successful, she will have an overall majority. If she is not successful enough, she will be weakened, and will be leading a lame duck government.

    Alba has thrown a major spanner in the works for her. Independence supporters now have another party to vote for. I think they will gain 3 or 4 seats and hold her feet to the fire. There will also be a fightback within the SNP from the currently marginalised activists who have been denied a say in policy since 2018, unless she fights for a referendum.

    Can she pull it off? I think not. The SNP have fought a lacklustre campaign, only helped by the media, especially the BBC, hardly mentioning Alba. Ofcom are today investigating the lack of BBC coverage of Alba. I suspect that many SNP supporters will just stay at home, and even more will vote Green, Alba or Labour on the list. I expect Labour to be the second biggest party, and therefore, the official opposition. This would also suit Sturgeon, as it would reduce the emphasis on Independence in Holyrood.

    Interesting times ahead!

    Don't the Scottish Greens support independence and a referendum? (oh they do see https://www.ft.com/content/fea2ad6b-90e6-4795-8269-3f4bffde80c9)

    So Sturgeon has a problem - the parties wanting a referendum are going to have over 50% of the seats and that puts her in an impossible situation especially when you look at the unicorn futures we saw MalcolmG and other pro independence voters imagine.

    Sturgeon is going to have to find a very good excuse to delay things if that is her desire...
    What drivel are you writing now. When have I ever talked about unicorn futures, I merely stated that a contract for a pension would have to be sorted and the liability was with successor state, ie rUK , which is extremely more sensible than your bollox about rUK welching on its debts. It matters not a jot to me anyway given I have a million anyway so I don't give a monkeys chuff about the state pension.
    Stick your bias up your erchie.@eek
    If you live in Scotland the successor state isn't rUK it will be the newly (re)formed Scottish state..

    Look at worst , instead of us sending England all our money and getting a meagre pension from them , we will cut out the overheads pay it ourselves , save money and create jobs. It is of no concern certainly to me, every country in the developed world manages to pay its pension just fine and they are all significantly higher than UK levels. Don't you worry about us, be more concerned about the state of rUK after we are gone , that will affect you for sure.
  • FishingFishing Posts: 4,947
    HYUFD said:

    Fishing said:

    HYUFD said:

    Basically Labour are stuck almost forever around 35%, that seems to be the floor for the time being, which is an improvement on 2019.

    2017 repeat is within reach, 40% should be doable with the right strategy.

    Based on voteshare - I know not always a great measure - Labour are actually in the last 16 years or so, historically reasonably popular. It's just that the Tories are even more popular.

    Voteshare, my dear fellow, is one thing. Turnout, especially in local elections, quite another.

    It is traditional for the turnout of ruling parties to drop while oppositions to increase. Differential turnout gave William Hague IDS and Milliband some really good election results while not been particularly popular.

    This has been turned on its head since Corbyn though. What's your thoughts for may?
    In 1998, Hague's first local elections, the Tories got 32%, in 2002, IDS' first local elections, the Tories got 34%, in 2004, Howard's first local elections the Tories got 37%. In Ed Miliband's first local elections as leader in 2011 Labour got 37% and in 2016, Corbyn's first local elections as leader Labour got 31%. So you would expect Starmer to get a score in the early to mid 30s on current polling.

    Blair in his first local elections as leader by contrast got 47% in 1995 which really suggested a Labour landslide was in the cards in 1997.

    Cameron got 39% in his first local elections as leader in 2006, so to be on course for power Labour really need to be scoring in the late 30s or 40%+ in local polls
    Not really, because Kinnock got 39% in his first local elections in 1984 and Miliband got 40% in 2011.

    You simply can't tell anything about the next election from local elections three years out.
    Kinnock actually got 37% in his first local elections in 1984, the same as Howard in 2004 and Miliband in 2011.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1984_United_Kingdom_local_elections

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_United_Kingdom_local_elections

    Kinnock got up to 44% in the 1990 local elections however after the poll tax and had the Tories not replaced Thatcher with Major and dumped the poll tax he may well have won the 1992 general election.
    You're right, I read the wrong column in the spreadsheet. Though the locals projections I have have 1984 38%, 2004 38% 2011 36%. Projecting is not an exact science
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 28,190

    Scott_xP said:

    A spokesman for the PM insisted that he would “not comment on speculation”, despite stories in the Times, The Daily Telegraph and The Sun quoting Downing Street sources claiming Mr Cummings leaked the texts.
    https://twitter.com/SophiaSleigh/status/1385561134355333120

    If Cummings then presumably not the sinister Labour mole in the Civil Service who was blamed last week.
    Aren't all Civil Servants sinister Labour moles?
  • SeaShantyIrish2SeaShantyIrish2 Posts: 17,549
    HYUFD said:

    Seems Mrs Vennells has a number of high profile non-exec positions e.g. Morrisons Supermarket.

    I wonder how long they will last?

    So you are saying that a supermarket chain has HIGHER ethical standards than the Church of England?
    She still has her Morrisons positions
    If THIS cretin is a fit ethical advisor to ANYONE, let alone a church, then I nominate YOU to be the next Grand Mufti of Jerusalem.
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 77,893
    Cookie said:

    Just been jabbed! Hoorah for AZ. Now spending my obligatory fifteen minutes wait sat in the sun listening to the pleasant summery sounfs of Whalley Range Tennis Club. Blue skies above, the trees awash with blossom. Better days are on the way. Feeling quite emotional.

    Nice one. I will join the ranks in a few hours :o !
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 35,895

    Aren't all Civil Servants sinister Labour moles?

    Only the disgruntled ones
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 56,926

    rcs1000 said:

    More vaccine news: https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/curevac-seeks-covid-19-shot-approval-in-switzerland/46549592

    CureVac has applied for approval in Switzerland. One presumes this means that trial results are imminent.

    This is another one the UK has an order with isn't it?

    When would doses be due?
    By the end of this quarter, I believe. They've signed up some serious manufacturing partners.

    (Their vaccine is interesting, because it's mRNA but can be stored in a fridge They are also - genuinely - backed by Bill Gates.)
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 56,926


    Or they'll just ignore it and brush it aside like they did when they lost the case regarding Ireland's tax arrangements with Apple.

    My prediction is that it will be quietly forgotten as soon as the political pressure eases, which won't actually be too long since the EU does have lots of vaccines coming its way in the next couple of months. There will probably be some face-saving settlement.
    Considering that AZN are doing this not-for-profit I'm not sure how a face-saving settlement will even be possible?

    If they were making a multi-billion euro profit on the contract they could perhaps offer to make a small repayment to make this all go away and save face for everyone, despite them not having done anything wrong, but when they're not even making a profit what's even supposed to happen here next?
    The order gets cancelled and the EU gets all the profit AZ would have made from the deal?
  • JonathanJonathan Posts: 21,555
    India. Good grief. Puts everything into perspective. The west should act.

  • SeaShantyIrish2SeaShantyIrish2 Posts: 17,549
    OT - Thank you for your post PT, in particular for info re: Australia very interesting.
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 38,528

    rcs1000 said:

    More vaccine news: https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/curevac-seeks-covid-19-shot-approval-in-switzerland/46549592

    CureVac has applied for approval in Switzerland. One presumes this means that trial results are imminent.

    This is another one the UK has an order with isn't it?

    When would doses be due?
    2022, we're buying gen 2/3 doses from CureVac and they need to set up manufacturing in the UK as well.
  • CarlottaVanceCarlottaVance Posts: 60,216
    A Parcel o' rogues:

    Affordability

    All manifestos provide limited and ad hoc detail on costings, apart from the Conservatives who provide detailed, but not completely comprehensive, costing information. On the basis of the current projected outlook for the Scottish budget, it seems likely that all manifestos imply the need for budget cuts to some areas of nonprotected spend. No manifesto has given an indication of areas where spending might fall.


    https://fraserofallander.org/tax-and-spending-in-the-scottish-parties-2021-manifestos/
  • SandraMcSandraMc Posts: 690
    edited April 2021

    Seems Mrs Vennells has a number of high profile non-exec positions e.g. Morrisons Supermarket.

    I wonder how long they will last?

    So you are saying that a supermarket chain has HIGHER ethical standards than the Church of England?
    The Rev. Richard Coles has been very supportive of the post office workers' campaign and welcomed today's decision. He has been asked on his twitter account about Ms Vennells' position on the CoE ethics committee and he said that there should be a top level inquiry into the Post Office scandal and removing her from the CoE committee might be seen as prejudging its findings.
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 35,895
    My bit on text-for-access, and Boris Johnson’s decision to go to war on Dominic Cummings https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/apr/23/boris-johnsons-text-addiction-dominic-cummings
  • eekeek Posts: 28,077
    Jonathan said:

    India. Good grief. Puts everything into perspective. The west should act.

    Sadly the damage is done and there is nothing anyone can now do to stop what is going to inevitably be a complete disaster.

  • JonathanJonathan Posts: 21,555
    eek said:

    Jonathan said:

    India. Good grief. Puts everything into perspective. The west should act.

    Sadly the damage is done and there is nothing anyone can now do to stop what is going to inevitably be a complete disaster.

    Send medics and portable O2?
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 122,276
    edited April 2021
    Jonathan said:

    India. Good grief. Puts everything into perspective. The west should act.

    India death rate per million 135

    Global death rate per million 396

    UK death rate per million 1868

    India has a lot of cases but it also has a vast population, its Covid death rate is actually well below most of the West's due to its younger population.
    https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/
  • eekeek Posts: 28,077
    edited April 2021
    malcolmg said:

    DavidL said:

    562,056 new vaccinations registered in 🇬🇧 yesterday

    🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 103,988 1st doses / 345,675 2nd doses
    🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 3,206 / 50,997
    🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 14,818 / 17,882
    NI 8,974 / 16,516

    Not bad!
    Yeah, its not bad but I think that we were hoping for 700k towards the end of this week. Still supply limited obviously.
    My wife has appointment next weds for her 2nd jag, nothing for me yet.
    Yet in England I don't think I personally know anyone who doesn't know exactly when they second jab appointment is.

    Yes I know Cyclefree does seem to have an issue but she is very much an exception and I don't know her personally.
  • CarlottaVanceCarlottaVance Posts: 60,216
    A view from India:

    As India’s second wave worsens, German Chancellor Merkel says Europe “allowed India” to become a major pharma producer. “Ally” America keeps export curbs on vaccine raw materials, labels India “currency manipulator.” So much for a democratic alliance! #Gravitas @WIONews #9pmIST

    https://twitter.com/MacaesBruno/status/1385603056289648649?s=20
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 35,895
    eek said:

    Yet in England I don't think I personally know anyone who doesn't know exactly when they second jab appointment is.

    I have not been notified for mine
  • JonathanJonathan Posts: 21,555
    HYUFD said:

    Jonathan said:

    India. Good grief. Puts everything into perspective. The west should act.

    India death rate per million 135

    Global death rate per million 396

    UK death rate per million 1868

    India has a lot of cases but it also has a vast population, its Covid death rate is actually well below most of the West's due to its younger population.
    https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/
    I think you somewhat miss the point. Simply dividing deaths by the total population of India does not make this any less of an emergency.

    My firm has people in India. A death of a team member was announced just now. It seems everyone out there is effected directly with their family.
  • SeaShantyIrish2SeaShantyIrish2 Posts: 17,549
    SandraMc said:

    Seems Mrs Vennells has a number of high profile non-exec positions e.g. Morrisons Supermarket.

    I wonder how long they will last?

    So you are saying that a supermarket chain has HIGHER ethical standards than the Church of England?
    The Rev. Richard Coles has been very supportive of the post office workers' campaign and welcomed today's decision. He has been asked on his twitter account about Ms Vennells' position on the CoE ethics committee and he said that there should be a top level inquiry into the Post Office scandal and removing her from the CoE committee might be seen as prejudging its findings.
    How's about suspending her from her position until the Church's inquiry is concluded?

    That's pretty typical in these sorts of situations, and does NOT prejudge.

    Instead, ensures that someone facing a serious, credible accusation is NOT in position to continue the conduct for which they are accused.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 81,458
    edited April 2021
    Knifeman screaming 'Allahu Akbar' is shot dead by cops after killing mother-of-two by slitting her throat in French police station

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9504445/French-policewoman-stabbed-death-inside-police-station-attacker-shot-killed.html

    The 36-year-old attacker, who reportedly came to France from Tunisia several years ago, was shot and later died in hospital.

    BBC News - French woman officer dead in knife attack on police in Rambouillet
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-56862436
  • EndillionEndillion Posts: 4,976
    Scott_xP said:

    My bit on text-for-access, and Boris Johnson’s decision to go to war on Dominic Cummings https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/apr/23/boris-johnsons-text-addiction-dominic-cummings

    You are Marina Hyde and I claim my £5???
  • CarlottaVanceCarlottaVance Posts: 60,216
    Caitlyn Jenner Officially Running for Governor of California

    https://twitter.com/THR/status/1385601537326596098?s=20
  • Time_to_LeaveTime_to_Leave Posts: 2,547
    malcolmg said:

    eek said:

    malcolmg said:

    eek said:

    Good afternoon everyone, and thank you Philip for a thought provoking article.

    This is a very difficult election for Nicola Sturgeon. If she wins an overall majority, she has no excuse not to call for a referendum. Despite the bluster, I think Boris Johnson would have no alternative other than to grant one. He won’t want to be seen as a democracy denier. If Yes win an Indyref, the reason for the SNP’s existence disappears. If she loses, she will gave to resign, and the SNP will be severely weakened for many years.

    It is in Sturgeon’s interest, therefore, not to have a referendum. The scenario that would most suit her, and enable her to continue with her social engineering policies, would be to fall very slightly short of an overall majority, and to govern with the support of the Greens, either in a coalition or a confidence and supply deal. SNP and Green policies are very similar. However, this will be difficult to pull off. If she is too successful, she will have an overall majority. If she is not successful enough, she will be weakened, and will be leading a lame duck government.

    Alba has thrown a major spanner in the works for her. Independence supporters now have another party to vote for. I think they will gain 3 or 4 seats and hold her feet to the fire. There will also be a fightback within the SNP from the currently marginalised activists who have been denied a say in policy since 2018, unless she fights for a referendum.

    Can she pull it off? I think not. The SNP have fought a lacklustre campaign, only helped by the media, especially the BBC, hardly mentioning Alba. Ofcom are today investigating the lack of BBC coverage of Alba. I suspect that many SNP supporters will just stay at home, and even more will vote Green, Alba or Labour on the list. I expect Labour to be the second biggest party, and therefore, the official opposition. This would also suit Sturgeon, as it would reduce the emphasis on Independence in Holyrood.

    Interesting times ahead!

    Don't the Scottish Greens support independence and a referendum? (oh they do see https://www.ft.com/content/fea2ad6b-90e6-4795-8269-3f4bffde80c9)

    So Sturgeon has a problem - the parties wanting a referendum are going to have over 50% of the seats and that puts her in an impossible situation especially when you look at the unicorn futures we saw MalcolmG and other pro independence voters imagine.

    Sturgeon is going to have to find a very good excuse to delay things if that is her desire...
    What drivel are you writing now. When have I ever talked about unicorn futures, I merely stated that a contract for a pension would have to be sorted and the liability was with successor state, ie rUK , which is extremely more sensible than your bollox about rUK welching on its debts. It matters not a jot to me anyway given I have a million anyway so I don't give a monkeys chuff about the state pension.
    Stick your bias up your erchie.@eek
    If you live in Scotland the successor state isn't rUK it will be the newly (re)formed Scottish state..

    Look at worst , instead of us sending England all our money and getting a meagre pension from them , we will cut out the overheads pay it ourselves , save money and create jobs. It is of no concern certainly to me, every country in the developed world manages to pay its pension just fine and they are all significantly higher than UK levels. Don't you worry about us, be more concerned about the state of rUK after we are gone , that will affect you for sure.
    It’s almost like you actually believe Scotland will be richer outside of the U.K.

    I voted for Brexit knowing we’d probably be poorer than we might otherwise have been if we stayed in, because I thought other things mattered more. The same position is respectable and understandable for Scots Nats but thinking you’ll be richer is just demonstrable rubbish.
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 32,171
    edited April 2021

    A view from India:

    As India’s second wave worsens, German Chancellor Merkel says Europe “allowed India” to become a major pharma producer. “Ally” America keeps export curbs on vaccine raw materials, labels India “currency manipulator.” So much for a democratic alliance! #Gravitas @WIONews #9pmIST

    https://twitter.com/MacaesBruno/status/1385603056289648649?s=20

    Merkel's job is to look after Germany and deal with their Covid-19 pandemic.
  • Time_to_LeaveTime_to_Leave Posts: 2,547
    Jonathan said:

    India. Good grief. Puts everything into perspective. The west should act.

    Yes it’s horrifying. Not sure what we can do, but we must do something if something can be done.
  • JonathanJonathan Posts: 21,555
    Andy_JS said:

    A view from India:

    As India’s second wave worsens, German Chancellor Merkel says Europe “allowed India” to become a major pharma producer. “Ally” America keeps export curbs on vaccine raw materials, labels India “currency manipulator.” So much for a democratic alliance! #Gravitas @WIONews #9pmIST

    https://twitter.com/MacaesBruno/status/1385603056289648649?s=20

    Merkel's job is to look after Germany and deal with their Covid-19 pandemic.
    https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/oxygen-crisis-india-to-airlift-23-plants-from-germany/articleshow/82216842.cms
  • EndillionEndillion Posts: 4,976
    malcolmg said:

    malcolmg said:

    eek said:

    Good afternoon everyone, and thank you Philip for a thought provoking article.

    This is a very difficult election for Nicola Sturgeon. If she wins an overall majority, she has no excuse not to call for a referendum. Despite the bluster, I think Boris Johnson would have no alternative other than to grant one. He won’t want to be seen as a democracy denier. If Yes win an Indyref, the reason for the SNP’s existence disappears. If she loses, she will gave to resign, and the SNP will be severely weakened for many years.

    It is in Sturgeon’s interest, therefore, not to have a referendum. The scenario that would most suit her, and enable her to continue with her social engineering policies, would be to fall very slightly short of an overall majority, and to govern with the support of the Greens, either in a coalition or a confidence and supply deal. SNP and Green policies are very similar. However, this will be difficult to pull off. If she is too successful, she will have an overall majority. If she is not successful enough, she will be weakened, and will be leading a lame duck government.

    Alba has thrown a major spanner in the works for her. Independence supporters now have another party to vote for. I think they will gain 3 or 4 seats and hold her feet to the fire. There will also be a fightback within the SNP from the currently marginalised activists who have been denied a say in policy since 2018, unless she fights for a referendum.

    Can she pull it off? I think not. The SNP have fought a lacklustre campaign, only helped by the media, especially the BBC, hardly mentioning Alba. Ofcom are today investigating the lack of BBC coverage of Alba. I suspect that many SNP supporters will just stay at home, and even more will vote Green, Alba or Labour on the list. I expect Labour to be the second biggest party, and therefore, the official opposition. This would also suit Sturgeon, as it would reduce the emphasis on Independence in Holyrood.

    Interesting times ahead!

    Don't the Scottish Greens support independence and a referendum? (oh they do see https://www.ft.com/content/fea2ad6b-90e6-4795-8269-3f4bffde80c9)

    So Sturgeon has a problem - the parties wanting a referendum are going to have over 50% of the seats and that puts her in an impossible situation especially when you look at the unicorn futures we saw MalcolmG and other pro independence voters imagine.

    Sturgeon is going to have to find a very good excuse to delay things if that is her desire...
    What drivel are you writing now. When have I ever talked about unicorn futures, I merely stated that a contract for a pension would have to be sorted and the liability was with successor state, ie rUK , which is extremely more sensible than your bollox about rUK welching on its debts. It matters not a jot to me anyway given I have a million anyway so I don't give a monkeys chuff about the state pension.
    Stick your bias up your erchie.@eek
    Debts like bonds are paid by the successor state typically, but pensions aren't actually debts. Even if they're [mis-]sold on that basis to the populace.

    Can you name any successor state ever in history to pay pensions for nations that have split off?
    Can you name one that has welched, it will of course be part of the negotiations along with sharing the assets etc. In any case all countries manage to pay their pensions and given UK has lowest pension in the developed world it is of no major concern.
    Only scaredy unionists are concerned and making out they know anything about it, I don't care and believe there will be no change to pensions and someone will pay them, England currently takes all our cash to pay them , it will save a lot of time and overheads to do it locally , create more jobs and less Tory bungs, win win for Scotland methinks.
    The argument for Scottish independence is now that it will create an extra layer of unnecessary bureaucracy, which will nevertheless provide employment for otherwise unemployable Scots.

    Possibly those made newly redundant from companies fleeing southwards to a more hospitable tax regime, and bigger domestic markets.
  • CarlottaVanceCarlottaVance Posts: 60,216
    Andy_JS said:

    A view from India:

    As India’s second wave worsens, German Chancellor Merkel says Europe “allowed India” to become a major pharma producer. “Ally” America keeps export curbs on vaccine raw materials, labels India “currency manipulator.” So much for a democratic alliance! #Gravitas @WIONews #9pmIST

    https://twitter.com/MacaesBruno/status/1385603056289648649?s=20

    Merkel's job is to look after Germany and deal with their Covid-19 pandemic.
    You don't think her remarks are uncharacteristically undiplomatic?

    Imagine a British PM saying the UK had "allowed" India to become a major pharma producer.....
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 122,276
    Farage arrives in Florida, heading for Mar a Lago?

    https://twitter.com/Nigel_Farage/status/1385598128649351173?s=20
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 35,895
    CONFIRMED: Boris Johnson has (now) met the cost of last year’s refurb of the No11 flat himself

    Far from clear that was always the intention - Tory donors were asked to pay up.

    Will have been quite expensive for the PM.... https://twitter.com/mrharrycole/status/1385605872269897731
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 32,171
    edited April 2021

    Andy_JS said:

    A view from India:

    As India’s second wave worsens, German Chancellor Merkel says Europe “allowed India” to become a major pharma producer. “Ally” America keeps export curbs on vaccine raw materials, labels India “currency manipulator.” So much for a democratic alliance! #Gravitas @WIONews #9pmIST

    https://twitter.com/MacaesBruno/status/1385603056289648649?s=20

    Merkel's job is to look after Germany and deal with their Covid-19 pandemic.
    You don't think her remarks are uncharacteristically undiplomatic?

    Imagine a British PM saying the UK had "allowed" India to become a major pharma producer.....
    Yes but the pandemic is getting worse in Germany and she probably realises she needs to be seen to be prioritising that.
  • SeaShantyIrish2SeaShantyIrish2 Posts: 17,549
    Politico.com - White House writes off Johnson & Johnson vaccine after string of production failures
    The chaos has disappointed the Biden team, which once argued that the company’s one-dose vaccine would be central to turning the tide of the pandemic.

    https://www.politico.com/news/2021/04/22/biden-officials-johnson-vaccine-484356

    Johnson & Johnson - a dysfunctional family company
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 81,458
    HYUFD said:

    Farage arrives in Florida, heading for Mar a Lago?

    https://twitter.com/Nigel_Farage/status/1385598128649351173?s=20

    Certainly getting about on his hols, i mean business trip...
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 81,458

    Politico.com - White House writes off Johnson & Johnson vaccine after string of production failures
    The chaos has disappointed the Biden team, which once argued that the company’s one-dose vaccine would be central to turning the tide of the pandemic.

    https://www.politico.com/news/2021/04/22/biden-officials-johnson-vaccine-484356

    Johnson & Johnson - a dysfunctional family company

    Send them to the UK, we will have them.
  • squareroot2squareroot2 Posts: 6,662

    Politico.com - White House writes off Johnson & Johnson vaccine after string of production failures
    The chaos has disappointed the Biden team, which once argued that the company’s one-dose vaccine would be central to turning the tide of the pandemic.

    https://www.politico.com/news/2021/04/22/biden-officials-johnson-vaccine-484356

    Johnson & Johnson - a dysfunctional family company

    Are they related to the firm that was employed to do the "hits" in the Film "The Sweeney"?
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 32,171
    "A narrative of Indian exceptionalism led people to believe they were more immune to Covid-19, the director of the Centre for Disease Dynamics, Economics and Policy says.

    Dr Ramanan Laxminarayan says it resulted in people taking fewer precautions and allowed the virus to spread rapidly in the country.

    The country avoided a crisis last year due to a lockdown but when it was lifted the virus returned, he tells BBC World News."

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-56856103
  • SeaShantyIrish2SeaShantyIrish2 Posts: 17,549

    Politico.com - White House writes off Johnson & Johnson vaccine after string of production failures
    The chaos has disappointed the Biden team, which once argued that the company’s one-dose vaccine would be central to turning the tide of the pandemic.

    https://www.politico.com/news/2021/04/22/biden-officials-johnson-vaccine-484356

    Johnson & Johnson - a dysfunctional family company

    Send them to the UK, we will have them.
    Isn't the issue that NOBODY is likely to have J&J anytime soon?
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 32,171
    edited April 2021

    Politico.com - White House writes off Johnson & Johnson vaccine after string of production failures
    The chaos has disappointed the Biden team, which once argued that the company’s one-dose vaccine would be central to turning the tide of the pandemic.

    https://www.politico.com/news/2021/04/22/biden-officials-johnson-vaccine-484356

    Johnson & Johnson - a dysfunctional family company

    Very disappointing. This is the first I've heard of it not being a success. The British government was hoping to offer it to younger people.
  • SeaShantyIrish2SeaShantyIrish2 Posts: 17,549
    Andy_JS said:

    "A narrative of Indian exceptionalism led people to believe they were more immune to Covid-19, the director of the Centre for Disease Dynamics, Economics and Policy says.

    Dr Ramanan Laxminarayan says it resulted in people taking fewer precautions and allowed the virus to spread rapidly in the country.

    The country avoided a crisis last year due to a lockdown but when it was lifted the virus returned, he tells BBC World News."

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-56856103

    Did not realize just how many Ted Nugent fans there are on the subcontinent.
  • Northern_AlNorthern_Al Posts: 8,314
    edited April 2021
    HYUFD said:

    Farage arrives in Florida, heading for Mar a Lago?

    https://twitter.com/Nigel_Farage/status/1385598128649351173?s=20

    In the interests of containing the virus, is now the time to ban USA to UK flights (from Florida especially) - permanently?
  • NEW THREAD

  • eek said:

    malcolmg said:

    DavidL said:

    562,056 new vaccinations registered in 🇬🇧 yesterday

    🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 103,988 1st doses / 345,675 2nd doses
    🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 3,206 / 50,997
    🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 14,818 / 17,882
    NI 8,974 / 16,516

    Not bad!
    Yeah, its not bad but I think that we were hoping for 700k towards the end of this week. Still supply limited obviously.
    My wife has appointment next weds for her 2nd jag, nothing for me yet.
    Yet in England I don't think I personally know anyone who doesn't know exactly when they second jab appointment is.

    Yes I know Cyclefree does seem to have an issue but she is very much an exception and I don't know her personally.
    I don't know mine yet. Everyone I know who had their first through a vaccine centre does, but I had mine through the GP. They said they would contact me in due course.

    Something that amazes me is how many of my students have had one or both doses. Mostly not the UK students, but I'd guess that a majority of the EU students have been fully vaccinated. I don't know how that works, but I'm happy for them (and for me, when face-to-face teaching is permitted!).

    --AS
  • dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 29,342
    And jumping and throwing too no doubt.
  • sladeslade Posts: 2,023
    A good day. Had my first drink and meal in a pub, sent off my postal ballots, and the sun is still shining.
  • OswaldOswald Posts: 4
    I live in Scotland, as do much of my family and many of my friends. I have a very legitimate interest in the consequences of Independence; and can reasonably expect political prospectuses to have some contact with reality.

    So: the fiscal deficit issue is a real one (see link), the affordability of legacy pensions is a real issue, the currency issue (and sterling based mortgages in a potentially non-sterling economy) is a real issue, and the potential of a hard border with a currently highly integrated and massively preponderent trading partner is a real issue.

    A certain frequent commenter on this site waves these concerns away with foul-mouthed bigotry, but they are not going away.

    I know it is a mistake to react to a certain "thick as mince bampot from Ayrshire" (TM), but I thought I'd remind him and others of Scotland's long-standing structural fiscal deficit (and one which Covid measures will only have made worse).

    For the five years in the run-up to Covid, Scotland has run a fiscal deficit (inc N Sea revenues split on a geographic basis) of 8% (range 7-10%, more than twice the UK's fiscal deficit. It is a real challenge to fund public spending in an independent Scotland. Solutions: more tax, less spending or more borrowing?? It has to be one or more of these.

    Source: House of Commons Library, Scotland: public spending and revenue, October 2020.

    https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn06625/

  • CarlottaVanceCarlottaVance Posts: 60,216

    Politico.com - White House writes off Johnson & Johnson vaccine after string of production failures
    The chaos has disappointed the Biden team, which once argued that the company’s one-dose vaccine would be central to turning the tide of the pandemic.

    https://www.politico.com/news/2021/04/22/biden-officials-johnson-vaccine-484356

    Johnson & Johnson - a dysfunctional family company

    The EU has ordered 200 million doses from J&J.

    There appear to be two issues - blood clot potential problem and US manufacturing screw ups - anyone know where EU/UK's are being manufactured?
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 70,513

    Politico.com - White House writes off Johnson & Johnson vaccine after string of production failures
    The chaos has disappointed the Biden team, which once argued that the company’s one-dose vaccine would be central to turning the tide of the pandemic.

    https://www.politico.com/news/2021/04/22/biden-officials-johnson-vaccine-484356

    Johnson & Johnson - a dysfunctional family company

    Nice pun, but unfair.

    J&J have a good history of vaccine development, and the manufacturing problems are down to a subcontractor - Emergent Biosolutions - which was selected and financed by the (previous) US administration.
    Novavax got lucky, as they were to have used Emergent as a manufacturing contractor as well, but the govt. bumped them in favour of J&J.
  • CookieCookie Posts: 13,585
    DavidL said:

    Cookie said:

    Just been jabbed! Hoorah for AZ. Now spending my obligatory fifteen minutes wait sat in the sun listening to the pleasant summery sounfs of Whalley Range Tennis Club. Blue skies above, the trees awash with blossom. Better days are on the way. Feeling quite emotional.

    I thought that the 15 minutes was only for Pfizer not AZ? Has that changed?
    Seems to be for everyone driving. Wife who had her AZ in early March was fifteen-minuted too.
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 95,873

    DavidL said:

    HYUFD said:

    HYUFD said:

    Good afternoon everyone, and thank you Philip for a thought provoking article.

    This is a very difficult election for Nicola Sturgeon. If she wins an overall majority, she has no excuse not to call for a referendum. Despite the bluster, I think Boris Johnson would have no alternative other than to grant one. He won’t want to be seen as a democracy denier. If Yes win an Indyref, the reason for the SNP’s existence disappears. If she loses, she will gave to resign, and the SNP will be severely weakened for many years.

    It is in Sturgeon’s interest, therefore, not to have a referendum. The scenario that would most suit her, and enable her to continue with her social engineering policies, would be to fall very slightly short of an overall majority, and to govern with the support of the Greens, either in a coalition or a confidence and supply deal. SNP and Green policies are very similar. However, this will be difficult to pull off. If she is too successful, she will have an overall majority. If she is not successful enough, she will be weakened, and will be leading a lame duck government.

    Alba has thrown a major spanner in the works for her. Independence supporters now have another party to vote for. I think they will gain 3 or 4 seats and hold her feet to the fire. There will also be a fightback within the SNP from the currently marginalised activists who have been denied a say in policy since 2018, unless she fights for a referendum.

    Can she pull it off? I think not. The SNP have fought a lacklustre campaign, only helped by the media, especially the BBC, hardly mentioning Alba. Ofcom are today investigating the lack of BBC coverage of Alba. I suspect that many SNP supporters will just stay at home, and even more will vote Green, Alba or Labour on the list. I expect Labour to be the second biggest party, and therefore, the official opposition. This would also suit Sturgeon, as it would reduce the emphasis on Independence in Holyrood.

    Interesting times ahead!

    Latest Comres has the SNP on 62 seats so she would fall short of the 65 she needs for an overall majority as would suit her and with 7 Greens remain in government but the SNP would be down one on the 63 seats they won in 2016 which could also weaken her.
    https://twitter.com/BallotBoxScot/status/1385315103625515016?s=20

    Yougov gives the SNP 68 seats and a narrow overall majority so it will be close either way

    https://twitter.com/BallotBoxScot/status/1385198824948486146?s=20
    It will be interesting to see whether the opinion polls change between now and May 6th. The final result won’t be known until Saturday at the earliest. They will be counting constituency votes on the Friday, but can’t start calculating the list votes until all the constituencies have been decided.
    29 of the Holyrood constituencies will not be counting until the Saturday either, so forget election night this year, both the English local councils and Scottish and Welsh Parliaments and London Mayoral and Assembly and PCC counts will not be until the Friday and Saturday.

    The Thursday night of polling day will be merely verifications, so you can go to bed early and not miss anything as long as you are awake again for 9 30am Friday when the ballots actually start to be counted
    https://twitter.com/BallotBoxScot/status/1385558483123249153?s=20
    Thanks for that. Its all a bit frustrating. Do we know when Hartlepool is counting?
    Are we going to be subjected to prolonged moaning by PBers next month, about how crap the UK election system is, because punters can NOT get the instantaneous election results which they not only crave, but believe is their birthright?
    Absolutely. Standards must be maintained.
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 95,873
    HYUFD said:

    Jonathan said:

    India. Good grief. Puts everything into perspective. The west should act.

    India death rate per million 135

    Global death rate per million 396

    UK death rate per million 1868

    India has a lot of cases but it also has a vast population, its Covid death rate is actually well below most of the West's due to its younger population.
    https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/
    The overall situation, evening the stats are dodgy, being better than average does not speak as to the current crisis being very bad and capable of causing a medical breakdown.
  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 43,209
    eek said:

    malcolmg said:

    DavidL said:

    562,056 new vaccinations registered in 🇬🇧 yesterday

    🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 103,988 1st doses / 345,675 2nd doses
    🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 3,206 / 50,997
    🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 14,818 / 17,882
    NI 8,974 / 16,516

    Not bad!
    Yeah, its not bad but I think that we were hoping for 700k towards the end of this week. Still supply limited obviously.
    My wife has appointment next weds for her 2nd jag, nothing for me yet.
    Yet in England I don't think I personally know anyone who doesn't know exactly when they second jab appointment is.

    Yes I know Cyclefree does seem to have an issue but she is very much an exception and I don't know her personally.
    They seem to be doing under the 12 weeks in any case, wife had AZ I had pfizer
This discussion has been closed.