On topic - any views on whether this by-election will see a lot of postal votes or not? If a lot, limited effect from Hancock et al. If not much, Mike might be onto something.
I would expect so - certainly Labour and the LibDems always push for postal votes. Covid has only amplified the drive for people to vote remotely. Honestly can't see the non-sacking of Mancock making much of an impact.
I think this is correct, Hancock is barely relevant. The by-election is all about Gorgeous.
Because you're Gorgeous I'd do anything for you.
Labour would have held B&S without Gorgeous. They still will do if Gorgeous only takes a miserly portion of the Islamic vote. If Gorgeous has got 5k votes, Labour have lost.
(I suspect no-one on pb.com has any real idea of how Gorgeous is actually doing in the communities of East Batley).
I'm not as confident that it would have been a Labour hold. The hold that Labour had on seats like B&S is crumbling everywhere and I don't see what has changed to reverse that.
The gorgeous one is the absolute wild card. Yes he is pied pipering the anti-semite element of the Labour muslim vote (and lets be honest probably the hard left nutters who want Labour to lose) - there is debate as to how many are following his tune.
Similarly the Tories appear to have been very very quiet, ceding the ground as the vocal opposition to hat man as soon as he arrived. That is either a very smart tactic or very stupid. The Tories don't act and talk like all the momentum is behind them.
So who knows, I can't call this one. As long as Galloway loses I will be happy. Labour losing as he splits their vote would be far less seismic than Pools loss was. Labour finishing third behind Galloway, well that would be quite something.
Another SAGE member "speaking in a personal capacity"....
If you're on such a body it does seem you should be very wary of making your own separate pronouncements. Thats part of the price of being on it.
Yup. Those actually advising the government really shouldn’t be freelancing on TV, for the same reason we don’t constantly hear from SpAds about the issues of the day.
Effective government (!) relies on everyone being able to speak openly, without fear that that the staff, as opposed to the ministers, will start talking to the Lobby hacks.
Mr. Walker, we have the likes of Dick actively seeking to discriminate against white people in employment practices.
And, as I wrote yesterday, better to crush an egg than fight a dragon.
Dick is a dick.
I’m not saying there’s no “woke” to be seen in real life.
For example, I am currently looking for jobs and applications now all seem to require me to define my ethnicity and even sexual preference. I don’t remember that the last time I was looking for a job (about 4 years ago).
It’s just that the government is not “crushing eggs” but largely engaged in culture war theatre.
To the extent they actually legislate anti-woke, their measures are ham-fisted and draconian (thinking of statue-toppling penalties and the “free speech” protection on campuses).
How Rumsfeld Deserves to Be Remembered https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/06/how-donald-rumsfeld-deserves-be-remembered/619334/ Rumsfeld was the worst secretary of defense in American history. Being newly dead shouldn’t spare him this distinction. He was worse than the closest contender, Robert McNamara, and that is not a competition to judge lightly. McNamara’s folly was that of a whole generation of Cold Warriors who believed that Indochina was a vital front in the struggle against communism. His growing realization that the Vietnam War was an unwinnable waste made him more insightful than some of his peers; his decision to keep this realization from the American public made him an unforgivable coward. But Rumsfeld was the chief advocate of every disaster in the years after September 11. Wherever the United States government contemplated a wrong turn, Rumsfeld was there first with his hard smile—squinting, mocking the cautious, shoving his country deeper into a hole. His fatal judgment was equaled only by his absolute self-assurance. He lacked the courage to doubt himself. He lacked the wisdom to change his mind.
Rumsfeld was working in his office on the morning that a hijacked jet flew into the Pentagon. During the first minutes of terror, he displayed bravery and leadership. But within a few hours, he was already entertaining catastrophic ideas... ....Rumsfeld started being wrong within hours of the attacks and never stopped. He argued that the attacks proved the need for the missile-defense shield that he’d long advocated. He thought that the American war in Afghanistan meant the end of the Taliban. He thought that the new Afghan government didn’t need the U.S. to stick around for security and support. He thought that the United States should stiff the United Nations, brush off allies, and go it alone. He insisted that al-Qaeda couldn’t operate without a strongman like Saddam. He thought that all the intelligence on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction was wrong, except the dire reports that he’d ordered up himself. He reserved his greatest confidence for intelligence obtained through torture...
Got to say I find it fascinating that some are wibbling about the culture war, such as it is, being a rightwing thing.
The only rightwing thing (and it's leftwing too because plenty on the left are highly dubious of the imported tosh) is a reaction to people who thing iconoclasm is cool, kneeling to race-baiters is a good idea, and men should be able to compete in women's sports.
Its the irregular verb thing again....
I state The Truth You are wrong He is a culture warrior
I state MY Truth....you can't argue against that, as its my lived experience.....
Yeah but.you are factually wrong...you right wing bigot, you sexist, racist, homophobe....
Or...as all english dictionaries might say - 'my opinion'!
Since they killed the R35 I think it's fair to say that Nissan no longer make a single car that has any merit or cachet whatsoever. It's a long way down for the company that gave us the Z, the GTR and the S chassis.
Personally, I don't give a flying f*** about 'cachet' in a car. I just want something that will perform the job I want it to do with minimal fuss and cost. Heck, I even drive an automatic ...
I don't particularly like driving; it is a thing that lets me do what I want to do. When I buy a new car, trifling little matters like safety matter more than 0-60.
It's surprising how many of my friends feel the same way (Caterham-7 builders notwithstanding). The car isn't particularly a status symbol; it's a tool.
Going purist for a mo, can you move somewhere different and just not have a car?
Very possible ... plenty of people are unable to drive for medical reasons.
That's actually what we used to do: Mrs J didn't drive, and we'd just move to near she was working. Hence we moved frequently around the country. She learnt to drive, as she felt it was unfair for me to be taxiing her everywhere. But then we bought a house within walking distance of her workplace and had a kid. That company was taken over by a larger one, and she had to commute into Cambridge. Then she moved to another company down in Harlow.
If we'd had to move, we'd have had to move three times - and we like where we live, and the little 'un is settled in school. Besides, we'd have to live in (shudders) Harlow ...
A Cambourne to Harlow trip by public transport is *interesting*.
Excellent.
My memory of growing up in the 80s was that people moved quite frequently for work. It doesn't seem to happen any more - not least because families are typically reliant on two earners, so the ability of earner 1 to get a new job 100 miles away is greatly inhibited by earner 2's need to remain accessible to that individual's own job.
I think house moves have gone from 1 every 7 to one every 15 years (ish) for owners. . That's actually a big point on how fast to build out housing estates.
The vast majority are locals within distance of work.
My version of that is that people don't want 2 big stress events - house move and job move - close together. Plus the qualification period for a mortgage.
Yes. Getting a mortgage to move up here having recently switched from employment to self-employment was a fun* task despite my huge credit rating and proof of earnings. Lets just say that my broker did a fantastic job and earned every penny.
Radek Sikorski pays tribute. https://twitter.com/radeksikorski/status/1410471133212782600 I worked with Donald Rumsfeld as Poland's minister of defence during the Iraq war 2005-2007 and I agree with this assessment. The man was a spiteful prig who landed the U.S. and its allies into a sea of unnecessary trouble.
The irony is, that but for a matter of timing, Donald Rumsfeld might have caused 9/11 not to happen.
When Bush II came into office, there was alot of discussion about over stretch in the US armed forces. One of the reasons that there were so few military aircraft available for quick reaction on 9/11 was that most units were overseas.
Some thought that Bush II would launch a Trump style spending spree. But as the plans emerged - it was something quite different.
The problem of global mobility is that armies need 100K tons of stuff and people to go with it. This is why you saw ridiculous ideas like the Boeing Pelican - a plane that could carry 1,000 tons of cargo.
The Rumsfeld plan went like this -
1) Due to down sizing the US military in a number of areas, there was excess heavy equipment. Tanks etc 2) Place this equipment in cocooned storage in various parts of the world, near trouble spots. 3) Bring the troops home from most of the overseas bases. 4) many bases overseas would be kept, but reduced to skeleton staff, looking after the emplaced equipment 5) In the event of military requirement, fly the troop to theatre, where they pick up their equipment.
This had the advantage of cutting costs, keeping the military-industrial sector happy with upgrading/supporting a large amount of equipment and by bringing home troops, reducing the number of base closures in the US. All good US politics.
One of the first countries on the list was Saudi Arabia - the vast majority of US troops would be removed. Just a few vast warehouses full of kit.
The whole thing got binned in the wake of 9/11
Bin Laden's thing about the US largely centred on the US troops in Saudi Arabia. If they were withdrawn...
Nissan confirm they are to build a 1 billion pound car battery factory in Sunderland
Absolutely coincidental that this announced on by Election Day
I hadn't thought about that but if so good politics
The BBC also says that 'The government is contributing to the cost of the expansion, but a precise figure has not been disclosed.'
Ion other words, a massive handout. Some might call it a bribe.
I am sorry but investing in the future green economy is essential and is actively promoted by all governments
All governments recently signed a “level playing field” treaty, but one of the signatories was crossing their fingers behind their back. Guess which one.
The EU are over and the UK will decide on investments and jobs
Investment decisions will surely be based on access to markets into which to sell, so the EU is not over. It's just that the relationship and dependency is different.
Big G’s statement that “the EU is over” neatly illustrates why the Conservative Party is not fit for purpose. Even moderates like Big G have now embraced the culture war. The past is alterable. The past never has been altered. Yookania is at war with Redpassportland. Yookania has always been at war with Redpassportland.
I don’t think that’s quite what Big G meant, rather than the EU is over as a key influence on domestic policy.
But your general point is correct.
Nevertheless, the Brexity culture warriors know their cause is both potent and fragile; hence the government’s bung to the totemic Nissan.
Though to be fair, it makes sense on its own merits.
Worth a note that the 670 bn Euro "Recovery Fund" from the EuCo includes a huge amount for "Green Transition".
I wonder where that will be going?
That's barely the start of subsidies for new industries - and they probably make sense. Economies are undergoing a once in a generation change, and if countries don't get their share of the new industries, they risk being locked out for a decade or more. And it's going to be all the more abrupt since importing stuff from China got a whole lot more difficult/expensive.
Nissan confirm they are to build a 1 billion pound car battery factory in Sunderland
Absolutely coincidental that this announced on by Election Day
I hadn't thought about that but if so good politics
The BBC also says that 'The government is contributing to the cost of the expansion, but a precise figure has not been disclosed.'
Ion other words, a massive handout. Some might call it a bribe.
I am sorry but investing in the future green economy is essential and is actively promoted by all governments
All governments recently signed a “level playing field” treaty, but one of the signatories was crossing their fingers behind their back. Guess which one.
The EU are over and the UK will decide on investments and jobs
Investment decisions will surely be based on access to markets into which to sell, so the EU is not over. It's just that the relationship and dependency is different.
Big G’s statement that “the EU is over” neatly illustrates why the Conservative Party is not fit for purpose. Even moderates like Big G have now embraced the culture war. The past is alterable. The past never has been altered. Yookania is at war with Redpassportland. Yookania has always been at war with Redpassportland.
It hurts those who idolise the EU, but this country is moving further away each and every day and any idea the EU would interfere with domestic UK investments just adds to the anti EU narrative
Got to say I find it fascinating that some are wibbling about the culture war, such as it is, being a rightwing thing.
The only rightwing thing (and it's leftwing too because plenty on the left are highly dubious of the imported tosh) is a reaction to people who thing iconoclasm is cool, kneeling to race-baiters is a good idea, and men should be able to compete in women's sports.
Its the irregular verb thing again....
I state The Truth You are wrong He is a culture warrior
I state MY Truth....you can't argue against that, as its my lived experience.....
Yeah but.you are factually wrong...you right wing bigot, you sexist, racist, homophobe....
Or...as all english dictionaries might say - 'my opinion'!
The difference being that opinions can be argued about.
These people don’t want discussion, they want only their viewpoint to be valid.
Burnham is aiming to do a Boris ie Boris stood for Parliament again at the 2015 general election 3 years into his second term as Mayor, so on that basis Burnham would stand for Parliament again in 2023/24.
Of course had Cameron lost in 2015 Boris would then have been a big contender to succeed him rather than having to wait 4 years for the Tory leadership, as Burnham would then be a big contender in 2023/24 for the Labour leadership if Starmer lost
Yes, Burnham needs Starmer to survive, lead into the GE, and lose it handily. It's a likely prospect so although he's quite short for next Lab leader I'm not laying him.
I don’t know why you are laughing, your own kids are smarter than you. They are one step ahead of grown ups. 😂
My kids are 5 and 7. Their extent of attempting to be one step ahead right now is fake coughing - then being told to knock it off. 😝
Pirate Libertarians guide to parenting.
You could teach them about individual Liberty I suppose.
Take this mobile phone. This represents the individual. I’m placing this in the middle of the table. Now unless we restrict the freedoms what this phone can do, we won’t have freedom, only the horrors of the anarchy state where everyone hurts everyone, Bluebeard in his castle kills his wives, and monsters come and eat us. So we must have rules, pass laws, reducing our freedoms to escape those horrors. And that is this circle I am drawing with my finger around the phone. But too much, this circle too close to the phone, and we won’t have enough individual freedom. We need to push back to create more individual freedom.
But if you push back too much you will get too close to the monsters of that nature state? So how do we know the circle is drawn in the right place?
Don’t ask me, I’m on PB all day long as pirate libertarian, that’s the bit I’m always getting wrong.
Got to say I find it fascinating that some are wibbling about the culture war, such as it is, being a rightwing thing.
The only rightwing thing (and it's leftwing too because plenty on the left are highly dubious of the imported tosh) is a reaction to people who thing iconoclasm is cool, kneeling to race-baiters is a good idea, and men should be able to compete in women's sports.
Is it right- or left-wing to think that Priti Patel's parents should never have been allowed into UK?
Nissan confirm they are to build a 1 billion pound car battery factory in Sunderland
Absolutely coincidental that this announced on by Election Day
I hadn't thought about that but if so good politics
The BBC also says that 'The government is contributing to the cost of the expansion, but a precise figure has not been disclosed.'
Ion other words, a massive handout. Some might call it a bribe.
I am sorry but investing in the future green economy is essential and is actively promoted by all governments
All governments recently signed a “level playing field” treaty, but one of the signatories was crossing their fingers behind their back. Guess which one.
The EU are over and the UK will decide on investments and jobs
Investment decisions will surely be based on access to markets into which to sell, so the EU is not over. It's just that the relationship and dependency is different.
Big G’s statement that “the EU is over” neatly illustrates why the Conservative Party is not fit for purpose. Even moderates like Big G have now embraced the culture war. The past is alterable. The past never has been altered. Yookania is at war with Redpassportland. Yookania has always been at war with Redpassportland.
It hurts those who idolise the EU, but this country is moving further away each and every day and any idea the EU would interfere with domestic UK investments just adds to the anti EU narrative
How would Winston Churchill reply to your post?
Life and politics has moved on a million miles from the days of Churchill
Got to say I find it fascinating that some are wibbling about the culture war, such as it is, being a rightwing thing.
The only rightwing thing (and it's leftwing too because plenty on the left are highly dubious of the imported tosh) is a reaction to people who thing iconoclasm is cool, kneeling to race-baiters is a good idea, and men should be able to compete in women's sports.
Its the irregular verb thing again....
I state The Truth You are wrong He is a culture warrior
I state MY Truth....you can't argue against that, as its my lived experience.....
Yeah but.you are factually wrong...you right wing bigot, you sexist, racist, homophobe....
Your last line - "Fairytale of New York", re-written..... :-)
Nissan confirm they are to build a 1 billion pound car battery factory in Sunderland
Absolutely coincidental that this announced on by Election Day
I hadn't thought about that but if so good politics
The BBC also says that 'The government is contributing to the cost of the expansion, but a precise figure has not been disclosed.'
Ion other words, a massive handout. Some might call it a bribe.
I am sorry but investing in the future green economy is essential and is actively promoted by all governments
All governments recently signed a “level playing field” treaty, but one of the signatories was crossing their fingers behind their back. Guess which one.
The EU are over and the UK will decide on investments and jobs
Investment decisions will surely be based on access to markets into which to sell, so the EU is not over. It's just that the relationship and dependency is different.
Big G’s statement that “the EU is over” neatly illustrates why the Conservative Party is not fit for purpose. Even moderates like Big G have now embraced the culture war. The past is alterable. The past never has been altered. Yookania is at war with Redpassportland. Yookania has always been at war with Redpassportland.
It hurts those who idolise the EU, but this country is moving further away each and every day and any idea the EU would interfere with domestic UK investments just adds to the anti EU narrative
How would Winston Churchill reply to your post?
Life and politics has moved on a million miles from the days of Churchill
Towards the unnecessary arguing and oneupmanship he hoped to prevent when he founded the EU?
Burnham is aiming to do a Boris ie Boris stood for Parliament again at the 2015 general election 3 years into his second term as Mayor, so on that basis Burnham would stand for Parliament again in 2023/24.
Of course had Cameron lost in 2015 Boris would then have been a big contender to succeed him rather than having to wait 4 years for the Tory leadership, as Burnham would then be a big contender in 2023/24 for the Labour leadership if Starmer lost
Yes, Burnham needs Starmer to survive, lead into the GE, and lose it handily. It's a likely prospect so although he's quite short for next Lab leader I'm not laying him.
Burnham also needs to stand to be an MP and win that seat at the GE - that second bit may be harder than Starmer surviving into the GE...
Another SAGE member "speaking in a personal capacity"....
If you're on such a body it does seem you should be very wary of making your own separate pronouncements. Thats part of the price of being on it.
I see the point, but I'm not completely convinced. Scientists, particularly the top ones value 'truth' and the ability to speak their views. If e.g. SAGE membership required not being able to speak out if policy goes against what they believe to be right, then I think some capable scientists would choose not to be a part of it. I might be reluctant - not that I'm asserting that I'm a capable scientist I wouldn't be dashing off to the press, but I'd want to be able to answer truthfully on my opinions if someone asked me. If I wanted to lie for a living I'd go into politics.
It's an advisory group, not a policy making group - I don't think that civil servants or ministers (or even scientists employed by the government) who disagree with the policy should be able to say so publicly while keeping their jobs.
Nissan confirm they are to build a 1 billion pound car battery factory in Sunderland
Absolutely coincidental that this announced on by Election Day
I hadn't thought about that but if so good politics
The BBC also says that 'The government is contributing to the cost of the expansion, but a precise figure has not been disclosed.'
Ion other words, a massive handout. Some might call it a bribe.
I am sorry but investing in the future green economy is essential and is actively promoted by all governments
All governments recently signed a “level playing field” treaty, but one of the signatories was crossing their fingers behind their back. Guess which one.
The EU are over and the UK will decide on investments and jobs
Investment decisions will surely be based on access to markets into which to sell, so the EU is not over. It's just that the relationship and dependency is different.
Big G’s statement that “the EU is over” neatly illustrates why the Conservative Party is not fit for purpose. Even moderates like Big G have now embraced the culture war. The past is alterable. The past never has been altered. Yookania is at war with Redpassportland. Yookania has always been at war with Redpassportland.
It hurts those who idolise the EU, but this country is moving further away each and every day and any idea the EU would interfere with domestic UK investments just adds to the anti EU narrative
How would Winston Churchill reply to your post?
Life and politics has moved on a million miles from the days of Churchill
Nissan confirm they are to build a 1 billion pound car battery factory in Sunderland
Absolutely coincidental that this announced on by Election Day
I hadn't thought about that but if so good politics
The BBC also says that 'The government is contributing to the cost of the expansion, but a precise figure has not been disclosed.'
Ion other words, a massive handout. Some might call it a bribe.
I am sorry but investing in the future green economy is essential and is actively promoted by all governments
All governments recently signed a “level playing field” treaty, but one of the signatories was crossing their fingers behind their back. Guess which one.
The EU are over and the UK will decide on investments and jobs
Investment decisions will surely be based on access to markets into which to sell, so the EU is not over. It's just that the relationship and dependency is different.
Big G’s statement that “the EU is over” neatly illustrates why the Conservative Party is not fit for purpose. Even moderates like Big G have now embraced the culture war. The past is alterable. The past never has been altered. Yookania is at war with Redpassportland. Yookania has always been at war with Redpassportland.
It hurts those who idolise the EU, but this country is moving further away each and every day and any idea the EU would interfere with domestic UK investments just adds to the anti EU narrative
How would Winston Churchill reply to your post?
Life and politics has moved on a million miles from the days of Churchill
Towards the unnecessary arguing and oneupmanship he hoped to prevent when he founded the EU?
Actually I support the EU as a trading organisation, but not a political concept
Nissan confirm they are to build a 1 billion pound car battery factory in Sunderland
Absolutely coincidental that this announced on by Election Day
I hadn't thought about that but if so good politics
The BBC also says that 'The government is contributing to the cost of the expansion, but a precise figure has not been disclosed.'
Ion other words, a massive handout. Some might call it a bribe.
I am sorry but investing in the future green economy is essential and is actively promoted by all governments
All governments recently signed a “level playing field” treaty, but one of the signatories was crossing their fingers behind their back. Guess which one.
The EU are over and the UK will decide on investments and jobs
Investment decisions will surely be based on access to markets into which to sell, so the EU is not over. It's just that the relationship and dependency is different.
Big G’s statement that “the EU is over” neatly illustrates why the Conservative Party is not fit for purpose. Even moderates like Big G have now embraced the culture war. The past is alterable. The past never has been altered. Yookania is at war with Redpassportland. Yookania has always been at war with Redpassportland.
I don’t think that’s quite what Big G meant, rather than the EU is over as a key influence on domestic policy.
But your general point is correct.
Nevertheless, the Brexity culture warriors know their cause is both potent and fragile; hence the government’s bung to the totemic Nissan.
Though to be fair, it makes sense on its own merits.
Worth a note that the 670 bn Euro "Recovery Fund" from the EuCo includes a huge amount for "Green Transition".
I wonder where that will be going?
That's barely the start of subsidies for new industries - and they probably make sense. Economies are undergoing a once in a generation change, and if countries don't get their share of the new industries, they risk being locked out for a decade or more. And it's going to be all the more abrupt since importing stuff from China got a whole lot more difficult/expensive.
The fact that China is suffering major wage inflation at a time when transport costs have quadrupled suddenly makes manufacturing within Europe plausible again.
Burnham is aiming to do a Boris ie Boris stood for Parliament again at the 2015 general election 3 years into his second term as Mayor, so on that basis Burnham would stand for Parliament again in 2023/24.
Of course had Cameron lost in 2015 Boris would then have been a big contender to succeed him rather than having to wait 4 years for the Tory leadership, as Burnham would then be a big contender in 2023/24 for the Labour leadership if Starmer lost
Yes, Burnham needs Starmer to survive, lead into the GE, and lose it handily. It's a likely prospect so although he's quite short for next Lab leader I'm not laying him.
Burnham also needs to stand to be an MP and win that seat at the GE - that second bit may be harder than Starmer surviving into the GE...
Burnham has left the field and decided to build something substantial at a regional level where both Labour and Tory mayors are happily shaping policy and ideas far beyond their actual formal powers.
Not only is he not available for the Labour leadership but you could argue that his best role for the party is to keep doing what he is doing. I don't get the apparent desperation to bring him back into play as a Starmer replacement.
Got to say I find it fascinating that some are wibbling about the culture war, such as it is, being a rightwing thing.
The only rightwing thing (and it's leftwing too because plenty on the left are highly dubious of the imported tosh) is a reaction to people who thing iconoclasm is cool, kneeling to race-baiters is a good idea, and men should be able to compete in women's sports.
Its the irregular verb thing again....
I state The Truth You are wrong He is a culture warrior
I state MY Truth....you can't argue against that, as its my lived experience.....
Yeah but.you are factually wrong...you right wing bigot, you sexist, racist, homophobe....
Your last line - "Fairytale of New York", re-written..... :-)
“You scumbag, you maggot, you cheap lousy faggot”?
‘This is what @bbcbitesize is teaching our children about climate breakdown. I'm sorry, but it's an absolute disgrace. You could come away thinking: "on balance, it sounds pretty good". It could have been written by Exxon. (h/t: @NickShepley) bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guide…’
‘Here is one of the "positive" aspects of the collapse of our life support systems it lists: "more resources, such as oil, becoming available in places such as Alaska and Siberia when the ice melts". Are they actually trying to misdirect and bamboozle GCSE students’
‘And, apparently, "warmer temperatures could lead to healthier outdoor lifestyles". FFS’
Are both of those examples not true?
We may also be able to grow our own olive oil and more wine.
Doesn't necessarily make it a good idea on balance, but if you pretend these things won't happen, people will think you're lying about the rest as well.
Telling the truth is appropriate. To pretend that there's only negatives means you're not taken seriously.
Quite so. It's not an even balance at all and appropriate to say that, but even the end of the world isnt the end of the world for everything.
I dont think people will be unduly swayed to relax concerns from knowing farming may be easier in Siberia.
Many years ago, Jonathon Porritt from Greenpeace was on Radio 4, describing the effects of Global Warming.
Finally he came out with - "They will be growing palm trees on the beach at Bournemouth!!!".
I was a child at the time, but I remember thinking that wasn't selling Global Warming as the Apocalypse....
Nissan confirm they are to build a 1 billion pound car battery factory in Sunderland
Absolutely coincidental that this announced on by Election Day
I hadn't thought about that but if so good politics
The BBC also says that 'The government is contributing to the cost of the expansion, but a precise figure has not been disclosed.'
Ion other words, a massive handout. Some might call it a bribe.
I am sorry but investing in the future green economy is essential and is actively promoted by all governments
All governments recently signed a “level playing field” treaty, but one of the signatories was crossing their fingers behind their back. Guess which one.
The EU are over and the UK will decide on investments and jobs
Investment decisions will surely be based on access to markets into which to sell, so the EU is not over. It's just that the relationship and dependency is different.
Big G’s statement that “the EU is over” neatly illustrates why the Conservative Party is not fit for purpose. Even moderates like Big G have now embraced the culture war. The past is alterable. The past never has been altered. Yookania is at war with Redpassportland. Yookania has always been at war with Redpassportland.
It hurts those who idolise the EU, but this country is moving further away each and every day and any idea the EU would interfere with domestic UK investments just adds to the anti EU narrative
How would Winston Churchill reply to your post?
Life and politics has moved on a million miles from the days of Churchill
Towards the unnecessary arguing and oneupmanship he hoped to prevent when he founded the EU?
Actually I support the EU as a trading organisation, but not a political concept
And yet you keep banging on about our need to having nothing to do with the EEA.
Got to say I find it fascinating that some are wibbling about the culture war, such as it is, being a rightwing thing.
The only rightwing thing (and it's leftwing too because plenty on the left are highly dubious of the imported tosh) is a reaction to people who thing iconoclasm is cool, kneeling to race-baiters is a good idea, and men should be able to compete in women's sports.
Its the irregular verb thing again....
I state The Truth You are wrong He is a culture warrior
I state MY Truth....you can't argue against that, as its my lived experience.....
Yeah but.you are factually wrong...you right wing bigot, you sexist, racist, homophobe....
Your last line - "Fairytale of New York", re-written..... :-)
“You scumbag, you maggot, you cheap lousy faggot”?
Nissan confirm they are to build a 1 billion pound car battery factory in Sunderland
Absolutely coincidental that this announced on by Election Day
I hadn't thought about that but if so good politics
The BBC also says that 'The government is contributing to the cost of the expansion, but a precise figure has not been disclosed.'
Ion other words, a massive handout. Some might call it a bribe.
I am sorry but investing in the future green economy is essential and is actively promoted by all governments
All governments recently signed a “level playing field” treaty, but one of the signatories was crossing their fingers behind their back. Guess which one.
The EU are over and the UK will decide on investments and jobs
Investment decisions will surely be based on access to markets into which to sell, so the EU is not over. It's just that the relationship and dependency is different.
Big G’s statement that “the EU is over” neatly illustrates why the Conservative Party is not fit for purpose. Even moderates like Big G have now embraced the culture war. The past is alterable. The past never has been altered. Yookania is at war with Redpassportland. Yookania has always been at war with Redpassportland.
I don’t think that’s quite what Big G meant, rather than the EU is over as a key influence on domestic policy.
But your general point is correct.
Nevertheless, the Brexity culture warriors know their cause is both potent and fragile; hence the government’s bung to the totemic Nissan.
Though to be fair, it makes sense on its own merits.
Worth a note that the 670 bn Euro "Recovery Fund" from the EuCo includes a huge amount for "Green Transition".
I wonder where that will be going?
That's barely the start of subsidies for new industries - and they probably make sense. Economies are undergoing a once in a generation change, and if countries don't get their share of the new industries, they risk being locked out for a decade or more. And it's going to be all the more abrupt since importing stuff from China got a whole lot more difficult/expensive.
The fact that China is suffering major wage inflation at a time when transport costs have quadrupled suddenly makes manufacturing within Europe plausible again.
It does, but reviving older industries will be a hard task, as much of the infrastructure which enables them just doesn't exist in a lot of places. Which is why the new stuff is a one-off opportunity.
I commented yesterday that Starmer had a good PMQs and Boris's mumbling was embarrassing
However, I doubt the voters of B & S tune into PMQs, but I do think the divisive, nasty and down right ugly campaign fought by Galloway may see voters rallying to Kim Leadbeater and I expect Labour to hold the seat, probably with a reduced majority
However, returning to Boris and his inability to sack wayward colleagues and to make unpopular decisions I believe this is being noticed by conservative mps
Last Friday, at the height of Boris and Hancock's prevarications I text my local conservative mp (who is also a personal friend) and he was unequivocal in wanting Hancock gone and confirmed he had made his views known to the whips office in no uncertain terms
When news broke of Hancock's resignation I text the news to him and his one word response says it all 'fantastic'
There were 80 or more conservative mps who also demanded to the whips that Hancock resigned and Hancock found no support in the cabinet
Boris seems to have lost his mojo, (whether he has long covid is another matter) and is making unnecessary missteps and I would not be surprised if this was not being noticed across the party and with several replacements waiting in the wings, I would hope the party addresses the issue sooner rather than later
Remember, the conservatives know how to win and have a system for changing their leaders
Did your MP friend express a view about wanting Mancock gone last time he broke the ministerial code? Or Patel gone for breaking the ministerial code? Or Johnson gone for repeatedly breaking the ministerial code, having his ministers lie to parliament etc etc?
Tories can't pull faces at Matt Hancock without applying the same rules to Patel and Johnson and the others. Without being massive hypocrites.
Big G is very selective with his texting anecdotes.
p.s. we haven't really played a good side yet. It's true that we may not have to until the final but then Belgium or Italy might await.
Mornin' all!
Denmark seem to have 'fire on the belly'; don't think they should be written off. One wonders too, how much longer Murray can keep going.
Weatherwise it appears to be a better morning; July has brought some summer sun.
It’s all right for some. Our weather forecast is rain for the next week including thunderstorms over the weekend.
We were bloody luck at Wimbledon yesterday, all things considered. Saw 10 hours play from 11 am to 9 pm. Was distinctly cold until the sun came out for a couple of hours.
A few decent days and then a rapid descent second half of the weekend back to Atlantic weather. It may then settle down end of next week.
It's all very well going big on Staycations but UK summer weather can be horrible.
Yep. I am off to the Lake District for a week on Monday
Another SAGE member "speaking in a personal capacity"....
If you're on such a body it does seem you should be very wary of making your own separate pronouncements. Thats part of the price of being on it.
I see the point, but I'm not completely convinced. Scientists, particularly the top ones value 'truth' and the ability to speak their views. If e.g. SAGE membership required not being able to speak out if policy goes against what they believe to be right, then I think some capable scientists would choose not to be a part of it. I might be reluctant - not that I'm asserting that I'm a capable scientist I wouldn't be dashing off to the press, but I'd want to be able to answer truthfully on my opinions if someone asked me. If I wanted to lie for a living I'd go into politics.
It's an advisory group, not a policy making group - I don't think that civil servants or ministers (or even scientists employed by the government) who disagree with the policy should be able to say so publicly while keeping their jobs.
I take the point, but its why I said wary not prohibited. If people are in part seeking their views because they are on SAGE they need to consider if speaking out in a particular way may undermine or distort the understanding of SAGE advice and the potential consequences to that.
They are via such a body performing a public service and such service may result in imposition on them personally and professionally and are they ok with that is the key. I dont think comment of some kind is impossible, but they do need to be more cautious given their positions.
p.s. we haven't really played a good side yet. It's true that we may not have to until the final but then Belgium or Italy might await.
Mornin' all!
Denmark seem to have 'fire on the belly'; don't think they should be written off. One wonders too, how much longer Murray can keep going.
Weatherwise it appears to be a better morning; July has brought some summer sun.
It’s all right for some. Our weather forecast is rain for the next week including thunderstorms over the weekend.
We were bloody luck at Wimbledon yesterday, all things considered. Saw 10 hours play from 11 am to 9 pm. Was distinctly cold until the sun came out for a couple of hours.
A few decent days and then a rapid descent second half of the weekend back to Atlantic weather. It may then settle down end of next week.
It's all very well going big on Staycations but UK summer weather can be horrible.
Yep. I am off to the Lake District for a week on Monday
Nissan confirm they are to build a 1 billion pound car battery factory in Sunderland
Absolutely coincidental that this announced on by Election Day
I hadn't thought about that but if so good politics
The BBC also says that 'The government is contributing to the cost of the expansion, but a precise figure has not been disclosed.'
Ion other words, a massive handout. Some might call it a bribe.
I am sorry but investing in the future green economy is essential and is actively promoted by all governments
All governments recently signed a “level playing field” treaty, but one of the signatories was crossing their fingers behind their back. Guess which one.
The EU are over and the UK will decide on investments and jobs
Investment decisions will surely be based on access to markets into which to sell, so the EU is not over. It's just that the relationship and dependency is different.
Big G’s statement that “the EU is over” neatly illustrates why the Conservative Party is not fit for purpose. Even moderates like Big G have now embraced the culture war. The past is alterable. The past never has been altered. Yookania is at war with Redpassportland. Yookania has always been at war with Redpassportland.
I don’t think that’s quite what Big G meant, rather than the EU is over as a key influence on domestic policy.
But your general point is correct.
Nevertheless, the Brexity culture warriors know their cause is both potent and fragile; hence the government’s bung to the totemic Nissan.
And the irony is that, unless the EU collapses (which it probably won't), it's still going to be there, and the UK is still going to have to work out, case by case, how it wants to engage. The TCA has a five-yearly review, the NI protocol comes up for debate every four years. Even from here, the question "how do we want to trade divergence from EU rules for ease of access" is still going to be there. Every single time.
Whatever this is, it ain't a Done Brexit.
So the protocol review is due end-2024, TCA end-2025, and therefore likely to be part of the next general election debate?
Johnson would love the next two elections to be about defending Brexit.
I have backed Labour at about 5/1, it seems crazy they are such a big price. They should be favourites really. It is a case of the market being so different to what I think it should be that I must be missing something massively important, but have to have a small bet at the price.
All about Galloway. If Alastair Meeks was around, he’d be pointing out that betting markets tend to overestimate the potential of far right candidates.
Spot on! The only way to understand GG is to realise that he is in fact a far right candidate. All the lefty posturing is simply clever marketing.
(Antifrank’s departure is a huge loss to this blog.)
I commented yesterday that Starmer had a good PMQs and Boris's mumbling was embarrassing
However, I doubt the voters of B & S tune into PMQs, but I do think the divisive, nasty and down right ugly campaign fought by Galloway may see voters rallying to Kim Leadbeater and I expect Labour to hold the seat, probably with a reduced majority
However, returning to Boris and his inability to sack wayward colleagues and to make unpopular decisions I believe this is being noticed by conservative mps
Last Friday, at the height of Boris and Hancock's prevarications I text my local conservative mp (who is also a personal friend) and he was unequivocal in wanting Hancock gone and confirmed he had made his views known to the whips office in no uncertain terms
When news broke of Hancock's resignation I text the news to him and his one word response says it all 'fantastic'
There were 80 or more conservative mps who also demanded to the whips that Hancock resigned and Hancock found no support in the cabinet
Boris seems to have lost his mojo, (whether he has long covid is another matter) and is making unnecessary missteps and I would not be surprised if this was not being noticed across the party and with several replacements waiting in the wings, I would hope the party addresses the issue sooner rather than later
Remember, the conservatives know how to win and have a system for changing their leaders
Did your MP friend express a view about wanting Mancock gone last time he broke the ministerial code? Or Patel gone for breaking the ministerial code? Or Johnson gone for repeatedly breaking the ministerial code, having his ministers lie to parliament etc etc?
Tories can't pull faces at Matt Hancock without applying the same rules to Patel and Johnson and the others. Without being massive hypocrites.
No idea who Mancock is but the conservatives will act to replace their leader when they consider the time has come
I have backed Labour at about 5/1, it seems crazy they are such a big price. They should be favourites really. It is a case of the market being so different to what I think it should be that I must be missing something massively important, but have to have a small bet at the price.
All about Galloway. If Alastair Meeks was around, he’d be pointing out that betting markets tend to overestimate the potential of far right candidates.
Spot on! The only way to understand GG is to realise that he is in fact a far right candidate. All the lefty posturing is simply clever marketing.
(Antifrank’s departure is a huge loss to this blog.)
It is, but it didn't seem as though he found it enjoyable or cathartic in present times.
It's a risky one though, unlike C&A which felt like one of those golden tips that seemed right: thank you again, Mike: your tip paid for my day at Wimbledon yesterday among many other things!
Peak Boris was May 25th. There is a discernible and definite shift now.
The one thing which might lift the Conservatives back is if England win Euro 2020 in front of a full house at Wembley. Otherwise the tide has turned.
You may be right but the polling evidence really is not there for such a claim. The government has had a rough week or so and the press is hostile but these kind of things often flare up only to fizzle out again. All we need is a Grauniead - ' the day the polls turned' and we head back to square one.
What never fizzles out is Tory sleaze. The events of the last week fit into a recognisable pattern going back many decades.
What the Tories need is a generation of nice people. Good, honest, competent, straightforward, pleasant folk with no “side”. When one looks at the coming generation of young Tories one sees the exact opposite. Tory sleaze is going to be around for at least a half century to come.
No sleaze in the SNP thankfully. Salmond and Sturgeon say Hi..
Sleaze comes when a party is so long in power that they think that they can get away with anything and still get elected.
People like @Big_G_NorthWales will vote for a donkey with a blue rosette, and in Scotland will vote SNP until independence. Only after that will Scottish politics return to competitive parties.
The SNP will wither away post-independence. I, and many other members, will leave and help build new, normal parties. Our goal is for Scotland to be a normal country.
I think the SNP do a (mainly) decent job in government, especially considering they're now in their 4th term. I also think that Scottish independence is inevitable and that I will likely vote for it as the Union is unsustainable.
That is very different from me wanting to become a member of or support the SNP. I hope that independent Scotland would retain its general level of civilisation and decency which has been lost south of the wall, but there are other parties who can deliver that.
Thank you for a fair analysis, and hopefully your vote when the day arrives!
Nissan confirm they are to build a 1 billion pound car battery factory in Sunderland
Absolutely coincidental that this announced on by Election Day
I hadn't thought about that but if so good politics
The BBC also says that 'The government is contributing to the cost of the expansion, but a precise figure has not been disclosed.'
Ion other words, a massive handout. Some might call it a bribe.
I am sorry but investing in the future green economy is essential and is actively promoted by all governments
All governments recently signed a “level playing field” treaty, but one of the signatories was crossing their fingers behind their back. Guess which one.
The EU are over and the UK will decide on investments and jobs
Investment decisions will surely be based on access to markets into which to sell, so the EU is not over. It's just that the relationship and dependency is different.
Big G’s statement that “the EU is over” neatly illustrates why the Conservative Party is not fit for purpose. Even moderates like Big G have now embraced the culture war. The past is alterable. The past never has been altered. Yookania is at war with Redpassportland. Yookania has always been at war with Redpassportland.
It hurts those who idolise the EU, but this country is moving further away each and every day and any idea the EU would interfere with domestic UK investments just adds to the anti EU narrative
How would Winston Churchill reply to your post?
Life and politics has moved on a million miles from the days of Churchill
Towards the unnecessary arguing and oneupmanship he hoped to prevent when he founded the EU?
Actually I support the EU as a trading organisation, but not a political concept
And yet you keep banging on about our need to having nothing to do with the EEA.
Actually that is not the case
I have said on several occasions the likely final destination for the UK is a close relationship to the single market but remaining outside the EU
However, it also true that the more we sign trade deals and enact our own laws then than that becomes improbable
Nissan confirm they are to build a 1 billion pound car battery factory in Sunderland
Absolutely coincidental that this announced on by Election Day
I hadn't thought about that but if so good politics
The BBC also says that 'The government is contributing to the cost of the expansion, but a precise figure has not been disclosed.'
Ion other words, a massive handout. Some might call it a bribe.
I am sorry but investing in the future green economy is essential and is actively promoted by all governments
All governments recently signed a “level playing field” treaty, but one of the signatories was crossing their fingers behind their back. Guess which one.
The EU are over and the UK will decide on investments and jobs
Investment decisions will surely be based on access to markets into which to sell, so the EU is not over. It's just that the relationship and dependency is different.
Big G’s statement that “the EU is over” neatly illustrates why the Conservative Party is not fit for purpose. Even moderates like Big G have now embraced the culture war. The past is alterable. The past never has been altered. Yookania is at war with Redpassportland. Yookania has always been at war with Redpassportland.
I don’t think that’s quite what Big G meant, rather than the EU is over as a key influence on domestic policy.
But your general point is correct.
Nevertheless, the Brexity culture warriors know their cause is both potent and fragile; hence the government’s bung to the totemic Nissan.
And the irony is that, unless the EU collapses (which it probably won't), it's still going to be there, and the UK is still going to have to work out, case by case, how it wants to engage. The TCA has a five-yearly review, the NI protocol comes up for debate every four years. Even from here, the question "how do we want to trade divergence from EU rules for ease of access" is still going to be there. Every single time.
Whatever this is, it ain't a Done Brexit.
So the protocol review is due end-2024, TCA end-2025, and therefore likely to be part of the next general election debate?
Johnson would love the next two elections to be about defending Brexit.
Maybe. But surely even the the most Boris-devoted Leavers will eventually get sick at the sight of Boris prattling on a about Brexit, year on year, without end, whilst everything else crumbles to dust.
‘This is what @bbcbitesize is teaching our children about climate breakdown. I'm sorry, but it's an absolute disgrace. You could come away thinking: "on balance, it sounds pretty good". It could have been written by Exxon. (h/t: @NickShepley) bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guide…’
‘Here is one of the "positive" aspects of the collapse of our life support systems it lists: "more resources, such as oil, becoming available in places such as Alaska and Siberia when the ice melts". Are they actually trying to misdirect and bamboozle GCSE students’
‘And, apparently, "warmer temperatures could lead to healthier outdoor lifestyles". FFS’
Not commenting on this particular story, but one of the issues I have with climate alarmism is the assumption that everything will be worse/terrible/extinction worthy. Just not true. There have been wildly different climates in the past. Raising the seas 10m will be catastrophic for cities and humans who live there. But the seas will still be there. Far greater problems are caused by our relentless use of the landscape - deforestation and natural resource depletion than by temperature changes. And as a friend said yesterday - the only way to really stop things would be no human babies for the next 100 years - the problem would solve itself.
I hope the giant man babies who hystericise about wearing masks and other such minor impediments to their indulgent lives will be able to summon up some stoicism in the face of a 10m rise in sea levels.
Turns out the issue has nothing to do with the BBC and everything to do with the Exam Board this bitesize course is written to help
Nissan confirm they are to build a 1 billion pound car battery factory in Sunderland
Absolutely coincidental that this announced on by Election Day
I hadn't thought about that but if so good politics
The BBC also says that 'The government is contributing to the cost of the expansion, but a precise figure has not been disclosed.'
Ion other words, a massive handout. Some might call it a bribe.
I am sorry but investing in the future green economy is essential and is actively promoted by all governments
All governments recently signed a “level playing field” treaty, but one of the signatories was crossing their fingers behind their back. Guess which one.
The EU are over and the UK will decide on investments and jobs
Investment decisions will surely be based on access to markets into which to sell, so the EU is not over. It's just that the relationship and dependency is different.
Big G’s statement that “the EU is over” neatly illustrates why the Conservative Party is not fit for purpose. Even moderates like Big G have now embraced the culture war. The past is alterable. The past never has been altered. Yookania is at war with Redpassportland. Yookania has always been at war with Redpassportland.
I don’t think that’s quite what Big G meant, rather than the EU is over as a key influence on domestic policy.
But your general point is correct.
Nevertheless, the Brexity culture warriors know their cause is both potent and fragile; hence the government’s bung to the totemic Nissan.
And the irony is that, unless the EU collapses (which it probably won't), it's still going to be there, and the UK is still going to have to work out, case by case, how it wants to engage. The TCA has a five-yearly review, the NI protocol comes up for debate every four years. Even from here, the question "how do we want to trade divergence from EU rules for ease of access" is still going to be there. Every single time.
Whatever this is, it ain't a Done Brexit.
So the protocol review is due end-2024, TCA end-2025, and therefore likely to be part of the next general election debate?
Johnson would love the next two elections to be about defending Brexit.
And will do his level best (worst???) to try to ensure that it is!
Nissan confirm they are to build a 1 billion pound car battery factory in Sunderland
Absolutely coincidental that this announced on by Election Day
I hadn't thought about that but if so good politics
The BBC also says that 'The government is contributing to the cost of the expansion, but a precise figure has not been disclosed.'
Ion other words, a massive handout. Some might call it a bribe.
I am sorry but investing in the future green economy is essential and is actively promoted by all governments
All governments recently signed a “level playing field” treaty, but one of the signatories was crossing their fingers behind their back. Guess which one.
The EU are over and the UK will decide on investments and jobs
Investment decisions will surely be based on access to markets into which to sell, so the EU is not over. It's just that the relationship and dependency is different.
Big G’s statement that “the EU is over” neatly illustrates why the Conservative Party is not fit for purpose. Even moderates like Big G have now embraced the culture war. The past is alterable. The past never has been altered. Yookania is at war with Redpassportland. Yookania has always been at war with Redpassportland.
I don’t think that’s quite what Big G meant, rather than the EU is over as a key influence on domestic policy.
But your general point is correct.
Nevertheless, the Brexity culture warriors know their cause is both potent and fragile; hence the government’s bung to the totemic Nissan.
And the irony is that, unless the EU collapses (which it probably won't), it's still going to be there, and the UK is still going to have to work out, case by case, how it wants to engage. The TCA has a five-yearly review, the NI protocol comes up for debate every four years. Even from here, the question "how do we want to trade divergence from EU rules for ease of access" is still going to be there. Every single time.
Whatever this is, it ain't a Done Brexit.
So the protocol review is due end-2024, TCA end-2025, and therefore likely to be part of the next general election debate?
Johnson would love the next two elections to be about defending Brexit.
Maybe. But surely even the the most Boris-devoted Leavers will eventually get sick at the sight of Boris prattling on a about Brexit, year on year, without end, whilst everything else crumbles to dust.
Err, have you not been around the last five years? They will still be talking about Brexit in twenty years time let alone another three.
Nissan confirm they are to build a 1 billion pound car battery factory in Sunderland
Absolutely coincidental that this announced on by Election Day
I hadn't thought about that but if so good politics
The BBC also says that 'The government is contributing to the cost of the expansion, but a precise figure has not been disclosed.'
Ion other words, a massive handout. Some might call it a bribe.
I am sorry but investing in the future green economy is essential and is actively promoted by all governments
All governments recently signed a “level playing field” treaty, but one of the signatories was crossing their fingers behind their back. Guess which one.
The EU are over and the UK will decide on investments and jobs
Investment decisions will surely be based on access to markets into which to sell, so the EU is not over. It's just that the relationship and dependency is different.
The EU dictating UK investment decisions to the UK government is over
Bollocks. Your BritNat government just signed a “level playing field” treaty that explicitly says the exact opposite.
Maggie must be spinning in her grave that her party has morphed into the party of big government, state subsidy and picking winners. It’ll end in tears… for the taxpayers.
I am less concerned that an America contractor gets paid for the work, more do they use Chinese CCTV cameras on all their installations?
These days it would probably take quite a heroic effort to find a CCTV camera that wasn't actually manufactured in China.
But the particular brand used in Hancock's office is from a company banned by the US because of concerns about their operations.
I think its a legitimate question to be asking about, less interested in a US contractor getting government work.
Technically America is a foreign power too. I don't suppose there are many British security farms guarding the Pentagon, or even the office of the Springfield dog catcher.
Nissan confirm they are to build a 1 billion pound car battery factory in Sunderland
Absolutely coincidental that this announced on by Election Day
I hadn't thought about that but if so good politics
The BBC also says that 'The government is contributing to the cost of the expansion, but a precise figure has not been disclosed.'
Ion other words, a massive handout. Some might call it a bribe.
I am sorry but investing in the future green economy is essential and is actively promoted by all governments
All governments recently signed a “level playing field” treaty, but one of the signatories was crossing their fingers behind their back. Guess which one.
The EU are over and the UK will decide on investments and jobs
Investment decisions will surely be based on access to markets into which to sell, so the EU is not over. It's just that the relationship and dependency is different.
The EU dictating UK investment decisions to the UK government is over
Bollocks. Your BritNat government just signed a “level playing field” treaty that explicitly says the exact opposite.
Maggie must be spinning in her grave that her party has morphed into the party of big government, state subsidy and picking winners. It’ll end in tears… for the taxpayers.
I commented yesterday that Starmer had a good PMQs and Boris's mumbling was embarrassing
However, I doubt the voters of B & S tune into PMQs, but I do think the divisive, nasty and down right ugly campaign fought by Galloway may see voters rallying to Kim Leadbeater and I expect Labour to hold the seat, probably with a reduced majority
However, returning to Boris and his inability to sack wayward colleagues and to make unpopular decisions I believe this is being noticed by conservative mps
Last Friday, at the height of Boris and Hancock's prevarications I text my local conservative mp (who is also a personal friend) and he was unequivocal in wanting Hancock gone and confirmed he had made his views known to the whips office in no uncertain terms
When news broke of Hancock's resignation I text the news to him and his one word response says it all 'fantastic'
There were 80 or more conservative mps who also demanded to the whips that Hancock resigned and Hancock found no support in the cabinet
Boris seems to have lost his mojo, (whether he has long covid is another matter) and is making unnecessary missteps and I would not be surprised if this was not being noticed across the party and with several replacements waiting in the wings, I would hope the party addresses the issue sooner rather than later
Remember, the conservatives know how to win and have a system for changing their leaders
Did your MP friend express a view about wanting Mancock gone last time he broke the ministerial code? Or Patel gone for breaking the ministerial code? Or Johnson gone for repeatedly breaking the ministerial code, having his ministers lie to parliament etc etc?
Tories can't pull faces at Matt Hancock without applying the same rules to Patel and Johnson and the others. Without being massive hypocrites.
Big G is very selective with his texting anecdotes.
Political texting is very rare for me and my texts with my MP over Hancock were accurately reported
Nissan confirm they are to build a 1 billion pound car battery factory in Sunderland
Absolutely coincidental that this announced on by Election Day
I hadn't thought about that but if so good politics
The BBC also says that 'The government is contributing to the cost of the expansion, but a precise figure has not been disclosed.'
Ion other words, a massive handout. Some might call it a bribe.
I am sorry but investing in the future green economy is essential and is actively promoted by all governments
All governments recently signed a “level playing field” treaty, but one of the signatories was crossing their fingers behind their back. Guess which one.
The EU are over and the UK will decide on investments and jobs
Investment decisions will surely be based on access to markets into which to sell, so the EU is not over. It's just that the relationship and dependency is different.
Big G’s statement that “the EU is over” neatly illustrates why the Conservative Party is not fit for purpose. Even moderates like Big G have now embraced the culture war. The past is alterable. The past never has been altered. Yookania is at war with Redpassportland. Yookania has always been at war with Redpassportland.
I don’t think that’s quite what Big G meant, rather than the EU is over as a key influence on domestic policy.
But your general point is correct.
Nevertheless, the Brexity culture warriors know their cause is both potent and fragile; hence the government’s bung to the totemic Nissan.
And the irony is that, unless the EU collapses (which it probably won't), it's still going to be there, and the UK is still going to have to work out, case by case, how it wants to engage. The TCA has a five-yearly review, the NI protocol comes up for debate every four years. Even from here, the question "how do we want to trade divergence from EU rules for ease of access" is still going to be there. Every single time.
Whatever this is, it ain't a Done Brexit.
So the protocol review is due end-2024, TCA end-2025, and therefore likely to be part of the next general election debate?
Johnson would love the next two elections to be about defending Brexit.
Despite the "will of the people" bollocks where an advisory referendum in the 2015 parliament was somehow binding on the 2017 parliament, Brexit will never go away as an issue.
There is no end point to aim for, no settled position to reach. We're doing trade deals where the reported objective is to do different to the EU. We don't have a working post-EU settlement that works now never mind one that is sustainable. Which forces this and future parliaments to keep revisiting the subject almost regardless of whether a future government gets elected with a mandate to do so.
This is a problem for all the big parties bar perhaps the SNP. The Tories will never get Brexit done nor be able to deliver the promised benefits. Non-delivery will become an increasing problem. Labour and to a lesser extent the LibDems have no post-Brexit position to take and an electorate that remain hostile to Europe/Brexit. Only the SNP can gleefully point at the protracted issues and say "we told you so, here's the simple solution.
Question - which of the big 3 UK parties can reach a post-Brexit position fastest and make it stick? It surely has to be based on increased trade and protecting standards, and for both a Cameron-esque "Big open and comprehensive" deal with the EEA is the solution. The challenge of course is persuading people that the EU and EEA - which are entirely different things - are entirely different things...
I have backed Labour at about 5/1, it seems crazy they are such a big price. They should be favourites really. It is a case of the market being so different to what I think it should be that I must be missing something massively important, but have to have a small bet at the price.
All about Galloway. If Alastair Meeks was around, he’d be pointing out that betting markets tend to overestimate the potential of far right candidates.
Spot on! The only way to understand GG is to realise that he is in fact a far right candidate. All the lefty posturing is simply clever marketing.
(Antifrank’s departure is a huge loss to this blog.)
It is, but it didn't seem as though he found it enjoyable or cathartic in present times.
Always bet on the dullest outcome.
Not that the dullest outcome always happens, but people overestimate the chances of anything interesting happening.
From today there are also things we need to do very differently. And one of the most important is to change our thinking around what cases in the Bailiwick means. We’ve associated it with hospitalisation, with deaths, with the potential for health services to be overwhelmed. We’ve justified what are really very strict and quite extreme travel restrictions because of those risks. But the risk profile has changed with more than 70% of entire population having had at least one dose. The data shows a full vaccination affords 95% protection against needing hospital care. Younger age-groups are significantly less vulnerable and already far less likely to become very ill and need hospital care. No, it’s not completely risk-free, it never will be no matter what we do. But it is a big change compared to the risk we faced before the vaccine. And as we no longer face the same levels of risk, we can no longer justify the same levels of restrictions. It’s simply not proportionate and not necessary. But in removing the restrictions that we can no longer justify, we must also ask our community not to be complacent. It’s time to start learning to live with COVID, and if we do so responsibly, we can finally begin to regain some of the lost freedoms that COVID has cost us. And that should be cause for celebration.
Nissan confirm they are to build a 1 billion pound car battery factory in Sunderland
Absolutely coincidental that this announced on by Election Day
I hadn't thought about that but if so good politics
The BBC also says that 'The government is contributing to the cost of the expansion, but a precise figure has not been disclosed.'
Ion other words, a massive handout. Some might call it a bribe.
I am sorry but investing in the future green economy is essential and is actively promoted by all governments
All governments recently signed a “level playing field” treaty, but one of the signatories was crossing their fingers behind their back. Guess which one.
The EU are over and the UK will decide on investments and jobs
Investment decisions will surely be based on access to markets into which to sell, so the EU is not over. It's just that the relationship and dependency is different.
The EU dictating UK investment decisions to the UK government is over
Bollocks. Your BritNat government just signed a “level playing field” treaty that explicitly says the exact opposite.
Maggie must be spinning in her grave that her party has morphed into the party of big government, state subsidy and picking winners. It’ll end in tears… for the taxpayers.
Creating jobs and green investments will end in 'tears' of joy for the taxpayers not pain
From today there are also things we need to do very differently. And one of the most important is to change our thinking around what cases in the Bailiwick means. We’ve associated it with hospitalisation, with deaths, with the potential for health services to be overwhelmed. We’ve justified what are really very strict and quite extreme travel restrictions because of those risks. But the risk profile has changed with more than 70% of entire population having had at least one dose. The data shows a full vaccination affords 95% protection against needing hospital care. Younger age-groups are significantly less vulnerable and already far less likely to become very ill and need hospital care. No, it’s not completely risk-free, it never will be no matter what we do. But it is a big change compared to the risk we faced before the vaccine. And as we no longer face the same levels of risk, we can no longer justify the same levels of restrictions. It’s simply not proportionate and not necessary. But in removing the restrictions that we can no longer justify, we must also ask our community not to be complacent. It’s time to start learning to live with COVID, and if we do so responsibly, we can finally begin to regain some of the lost freedoms that COVID has cost us. And that should be cause for celebration.
Nissan confirm they are to build a 1 billion pound car battery factory in Sunderland
Absolutely coincidental that this announced on by Election Day
I hadn't thought about that but if so good politics
The BBC also says that 'The government is contributing to the cost of the expansion, but a precise figure has not been disclosed.'
Ion other words, a massive handout. Some might call it a bribe.
I am sorry but investing in the future green economy is essential and is actively promoted by all governments
All governments recently signed a “level playing field” treaty, but one of the signatories was crossing their fingers behind their back. Guess which one.
The EU are over and the UK will decide on investments and jobs
Investment decisions will surely be based on access to markets into which to sell, so the EU is not over. It's just that the relationship and dependency is different.
Big G’s statement that “the EU is over” neatly illustrates why the Conservative Party is not fit for purpose. Even moderates like Big G have now embraced the culture war. The past is alterable. The past never has been altered. Yookania is at war with Redpassportland. Yookania has always been at war with Redpassportland.
I don’t think that’s quite what Big G meant, rather than the EU is over as a key influence on domestic policy.
But your general point is correct.
Nevertheless, the Brexity culture warriors know their cause is both potent and fragile; hence the government’s bung to the totemic Nissan.
And the irony is that, unless the EU collapses (which it probably won't), it's still going to be there, and the UK is still going to have to work out, case by case, how it wants to engage. The TCA has a five-yearly review, the NI protocol comes up for debate every four years. Even from here, the question "how do we want to trade divergence from EU rules for ease of access" is still going to be there. Every single time.
Whatever this is, it ain't a Done Brexit.
So the protocol review is due end-2024, TCA end-2025, and therefore likely to be part of the next general election debate?
Johnson would love the next two elections to be about defending Brexit.
Maybe. But surely even the the most Boris-devoted Leavers will eventually get sick at the sight of Boris prattling on a about Brexit, year on year, without end, whilst everything else crumbles to dust.
Batley and Spen. Labour will win because Galloway will get less than 10 per cent and the Woollen voters will split 2:1:1 for Labour, Tories and others. Apply those to the 2019 result and Labour wins. More detail at the end of the last thread (not the online radio station one that suggests @rcs1000 needs to revisit the security settings).
Unless the Conservatives win. The Tories are fighting an unusual campaign, hiding the candidate from the media and voters. We do not know what they are telling electors on the phone or social media. Perhaps it is that Labour will disband the army; perhaps it is that Boris will hurl government money and jobs at the constituency. That they've not panicked suggests it might be working.
Also @NickPalmer thinks the blue team has it. Admittedly he is hundreds of miles away on the phone but he is often optimistic on the red side.
It's a risky one though, unlike C&A which felt like one of those golden tips that seemed right: thank you again, Mike: your tip paid for my day at Wimbledon yesterday among many other things!
Peak Boris was May 25th. There is a discernible and definite shift now.
The one thing which might lift the Conservatives back is if England win Euro 2020 in front of a full house at Wembley. Otherwise the tide has turned.
You may be right but the polling evidence really is not there for such a claim. The government has had a rough week or so and the press is hostile but these kind of things often flare up only to fizzle out again. All we need is a Grauniead - ' the day the polls turned' and we head back to square one.
What never fizzles out is Tory sleaze. The events of the last week fit into a recognisable pattern going back many decades.
What the Tories need is a generation of nice people. Good, honest, competent, straightforward, pleasant folk with no “side”. When one looks at the coming generation of young Tories one sees the exact opposite. Tory sleaze is going to be around for at least a half century to come.
At one time the Tories had a cohort of MP's who were from the squirearchy; didn't need a job but needed an occupation. People who 'did the right thing'. That 'right thing' might not have been so for the factory workers and other city dwellers, but there was a sort of code behind it. Those people have, it seems to me, vanished.
And who has replaced them? Wide boys.
Social media has had a bad effect on politics and political parties, but it has been particularly deleterious for Conservatives, especially Scottish ones. Discuss.
One benefit of social media is the demise of the Liberal Democrats. Pre-social media, they gleefully delivered completely incompatible messages to different sectors of voters in different places. They were pseudo-communists in certain Highland wards, and true-blue free-marketeers in certain Home County wards, and every shade in between in various places. That became totally impossible to sustain in the social media age when folk can easily share what is being promoted elsewhere.
Nissan confirm they are to build a 1 billion pound car battery factory in Sunderland
Absolutely coincidental that this announced on by Election Day
I hadn't thought about that but if so good politics
The BBC also says that 'The government is contributing to the cost of the expansion, but a precise figure has not been disclosed.'
Ion other words, a massive handout. Some might call it a bribe.
I am sorry but investing in the future green economy is essential and is actively promoted by all governments
All governments recently signed a “level playing field” treaty, but one of the signatories was crossing their fingers behind their back. Guess which one.
The EU are over and the UK will decide on investments and jobs
Investment decisions will surely be based on access to markets into which to sell, so the EU is not over. It's just that the relationship and dependency is different.
Big G’s statement that “the EU is over” neatly illustrates why the Conservative Party is not fit for purpose. Even moderates like Big G have now embraced the culture war. The past is alterable. The past never has been altered. Yookania is at war with Redpassportland. Yookania has always been at war with Redpassportland.
I don’t think that’s quite what Big G meant, rather than the EU is over as a key influence on domestic policy.
But your general point is correct.
Nevertheless, the Brexity culture warriors know their cause is both potent and fragile; hence the government’s bung to the totemic Nissan.
And the irony is that, unless the EU collapses (which it probably won't), it's still going to be there, and the UK is still going to have to work out, case by case, how it wants to engage. The TCA has a five-yearly review, the NI protocol comes up for debate every four years. Even from here, the question "how do we want to trade divergence from EU rules for ease of access" is still going to be there. Every single time.
Whatever this is, it ain't a Done Brexit.
So the protocol review is due end-2024, TCA end-2025, and therefore likely to be part of the next general election debate?
Johnson would love the next two elections to be about defending Brexit.
Despite the "will of the people" bollocks where an advisory referendum in the 2015 parliament was somehow binding on the 2017 parliament, Brexit will never go away as an issue.
There is no end point to aim for, no settled position to reach. We're doing trade deals where the reported objective is to do different to the EU. We don't have a working post-EU settlement that works now never mind one that is sustainable. Which forces this and future parliaments to keep revisiting the subject almost regardless of whether a future government gets elected with a mandate to do so.
This is a problem for all the big parties bar perhaps the SNP. The Tories will never get Brexit done nor be able to deliver the promised benefits. Non-delivery will become an increasing problem. Labour and to a lesser extent the LibDems have no post-Brexit position to take and an electorate that remain hostile to Europe/Brexit. Only the SNP can gleefully point at the protracted issues and say "we told you so, here's the simple solution.
Question - which of the big 3 UK parties can reach a post-Brexit position fastest and make it stick? It surely has to be based on increased trade and protecting standards, and for both a Cameron-esque "Big open and comprehensive" deal with the EEA is the solution. The challenge of course is persuading people that the EU and EEA - which are entirely different things - are entirely different things...
It will happen eventually but not while Boris is around. Labour is terrified of the seemingly magical hold he has on the Red Wall voters. That perhaps explains why Sir Keir has been so silent and ineffectual - he dare not present himself as anything other than a mini-Boris. British politics is now wholly defined by Boris and, at some point in the future, absence of Boris.
OT the National Lottery site has been broken for some time now. The site is up but you cannot log in. It is an interesting test of their monitoring as to when they will notice and turn it off and back on again.
It's a risky one though, unlike C&A which felt like one of those golden tips that seemed right: thank you again, Mike: your tip paid for my day at Wimbledon yesterday among many other things!
Peak Boris was May 25th. There is a discernible and definite shift now.
The one thing which might lift the Conservatives back is if England win Euro 2020 in front of a full house at Wembley. Otherwise the tide has turned.
You may be right but the polling evidence really is not there for such a claim. The government has had a rough week or so and the press is hostile but these kind of things often flare up only to fizzle out again. All we need is a Grauniead - ' the day the polls turned' and we head back to square one.
What never fizzles out is Tory sleaze. The events of the last week fit into a recognisable pattern going back many decades.
What the Tories need is a generation of nice people. Good, honest, competent, straightforward, pleasant folk with no “side”. When one looks at the coming generation of young Tories one sees the exact opposite. Tory sleaze is going to be around for at least a half century to come.
At one time the Tories had a cohort of MP's who were from the squirearchy; didn't need a job but needed an occupation. People who 'did the right thing'. That 'right thing' might not have been so for the factory workers and other city dwellers, but there was a sort of code behind it. Those people have, it seems to me, vanished.
And who has replaced them? Wide boys.
Social media has had a bad effect on politics and political parties, but it has been particularly deleterious for Conservatives, especially Scottish ones. Discuss.
One benefit of social media is the demise of the Liberal Democrats. Pre-social media, they gleefully delivered completely incompatible messages to different sectors of voters in different places. They were pseudo-communists in certain Highland wards, and true-blue free-marketeers in certain Home County wards, and every shade in between in various places. That became totally impossible to sustain in the social media age when folk can easily share what is being promoted elsewhere.
They just won a by-election by doing exactly this....
Also, you can do what you claim even more effectively than ever before using social media targeted ads.
Nissan confirm they are to build a 1 billion pound car battery factory in Sunderland
Absolutely coincidental that this announced on by Election Day
I hadn't thought about that but if so good politics
The BBC also says that 'The government is contributing to the cost of the expansion, but a precise figure has not been disclosed.'
Ion other words, a massive handout. Some might call it a bribe.
I am sorry but investing in the future green economy is essential and is actively promoted by all governments
All governments recently signed a “level playing field” treaty, but one of the signatories was crossing their fingers behind their back. Guess which one.
The EU are over and the UK will decide on investments and jobs
Investment decisions will surely be based on access to markets into which to sell, so the EU is not over. It's just that the relationship and dependency is different.
The EU dictating UK investment decisions to the UK government is over
Bollocks. Your BritNat government just signed a “level playing field” treaty that explicitly says the exact opposite.
Maggie must be spinning in her grave that her party has morphed into the party of big government, state subsidy and picking winners. It’ll end in tears… for the taxpayers.
Nissan confirm they are to build a 1 billion pound car battery factory in Sunderland
Absolutely coincidental that this announced on by Election Day
I hadn't thought about that but if so good politics
The BBC also says that 'The government is contributing to the cost of the expansion, but a precise figure has not been disclosed.'
Ion other words, a massive handout. Some might call it a bribe.
I am sorry but investing in the future green economy is essential and is actively promoted by all governments
All governments recently signed a “level playing field” treaty, but one of the signatories was crossing their fingers behind their back. Guess which one.
The EU are over and the UK will decide on investments and jobs
The EU still seems to be having significant influence on UK fishing jobs..
Maybe long covid prevented de Pfeffel from understanding the treaty he was signing?
From today there are also things we need to do very differently. And one of the most important is to change our thinking around what cases in the Bailiwick means. We’ve associated it with hospitalisation, with deaths, with the potential for health services to be overwhelmed. We’ve justified what are really very strict and quite extreme travel restrictions because of those risks. But the risk profile has changed with more than 70% of entire population having had at least one dose. The data shows a full vaccination affords 95% protection against needing hospital care. Younger age-groups are significantly less vulnerable and already far less likely to become very ill and need hospital care. No, it’s not completely risk-free, it never will be no matter what we do. But it is a big change compared to the risk we faced before the vaccine. And as we no longer face the same levels of risk, we can no longer justify the same levels of restrictions. It’s simply not proportionate and not necessary. But in removing the restrictions that we can no longer justify, we must also ask our community not to be complacent. It’s time to start learning to live with COVID, and if we do so responsibly, we can finally begin to regain some of the lost freedoms that COVID has cost us. And that should be cause for celebration.
Since they killed the R35 I think it's fair to say that Nissan no longer make a single car that has any merit or cachet whatsoever. It's a long way down for the company that gave us the Z, the GTR and the S chassis.
Personally, I don't give a flying f*** about 'cachet' in a car. I just want something that will perform the job I want it to do with minimal fuss and cost. Heck, I even drive an automatic ...
I don't particularly like driving; it is a thing that lets me do what I want to do. When I buy a new car, trifling little matters like safety matter more than 0-60.
It's surprising how many of my friends feel the same way (Caterham-7 builders notwithstanding). The car isn't particularly a status symbol; it's a tool.
Going purist for a mo, can you move somewhere different and just not have a car?
Very possible ... plenty of people are unable to drive for medical reasons.
That's actually what we used to do: Mrs J didn't drive, and we'd just move to near she was working. Hence we moved frequently around the country. She learnt to drive, as she felt it was unfair for me to be taxiing her everywhere. But then we bought a house within walking distance of her workplace and had a kid. That company was taken over by a larger one, and she had to commute into Cambridge. Then she moved to another company down in Harlow.
If we'd had to move, we'd have had to move three times - and we like where we live, and the little 'un is settled in school. Besides, we'd have to live in (shudders) Harlow ...
A Cambourne to Harlow trip by public transport is *interesting*.
Excellent.
My memory of growing up in the 80s was that people moved quite frequently for work. It doesn't seem to happen any more - not least because families are typically reliant on two earners, so the ability of earner 1 to get a new job 100 miles away is greatly inhibited by earner 2's need to remain accessible to that individual's own job.
One advantage of London at the time was once you picked the station you wanted to commute into, there was little need to move as you switched job.
In my view, that our big cities have outperformed everywhere else over the last 30 years.
From the perspective of 1985, it wasn't obvious that Manchester, for example, would do any better than Stockton-on-Tees, or Northampton, or Gloucester. Our big cities - even London, but especially Manchester, Birmingham, Newcastle, Sheffield, Leeds, Glasgow and especially Liverpool - were massively unfashionable and a bit of a joke. I remember the hilarity when Glasgow was appointed European City of Culture in 1990.
The eradication of the expectation of a job for life and the normalisation of dual earner families has given places with a critical mass of employment opportunities - where you and your spouse might reasonably hope to find employment opportunities for the rest of your life - a big advantage over small towns with just one or two large employers. The large, good quality employer in a small town - GSK in Barnard Castle, for example - felt normal back in the 80s, but now feels something of an anachronism.
(Answers to the question of Romford being Essex or London has the same demographic profile as every other bit of UK politics. Because of course it does.)
Nissan confirm they are to build a 1 billion pound car battery factory in Sunderland
Absolutely coincidental that this announced on by Election Day
I hadn't thought about that but if so good politics
The BBC also says that 'The government is contributing to the cost of the expansion, but a precise figure has not been disclosed.'
Ion other words, a massive handout. Some might call it a bribe.
I am sorry but investing in the future green economy is essential and is actively promoted by all governments
All governments recently signed a “level playing field” treaty, but one of the signatories was crossing their fingers behind their back. Guess which one.
The EU are over and the UK will decide on investments and jobs
Investment decisions will surely be based on access to markets into which to sell, so the EU is not over. It's just that the relationship and dependency is different.
The EU dictating UK investment decisions to the UK government is over
Bollocks. Your BritNat government just signed a “level playing field” treaty that explicitly says the exact opposite.
Maggie must be spinning in her grave that her party has morphed into the party of big government, state subsidy and picking winners. It’ll end in tears… for the taxpayers.
Maggie negotiated considerable state help for various foreign car manufactures to set up in the UK.
Every country does this. The international agreements on state subsidies have restricted the size and nature of such deals, but they haven't eliminated them.
Merkel offered quite alot to Elon to get Gigafactory Berlin, for example.
Nissan confirm they are to build a 1 billion pound car battery factory in Sunderland
Absolutely coincidental that this announced on by Election Day
I hadn't thought about that but if so good politics
The BBC also says that 'The government is contributing to the cost of the expansion, but a precise figure has not been disclosed.'
Ion other words, a massive handout. Some might call it a bribe.
I am sorry but investing in the future green economy is essential and is actively promoted by all governments
All governments recently signed a “level playing field” treaty, but one of the signatories was crossing their fingers behind their back. Guess which one.
The EU are over and the UK will decide on investments and jobs
Investment decisions will surely be based on access to markets into which to sell, so the EU is not over. It's just that the relationship and dependency is different.
Big G’s statement that “the EU is over” neatly illustrates why the Conservative Party is not fit for purpose. Even moderates like Big G have now embraced the culture war. The past is alterable. The past never has been altered. Yookania is at war with Redpassportland. Yookania has always been at war with Redpassportland.
I don’t think that’s quite what Big G meant, rather than the EU is over as a key influence on domestic policy.
But your general point is correct.
Nevertheless, the Brexity culture warriors know their cause is both potent and fragile; hence the government’s bung to the totemic Nissan.
And the irony is that, unless the EU collapses (which it probably won't), it's still going to be there, and the UK is still going to have to work out, case by case, how it wants to engage. The TCA has a five-yearly review, the NI protocol comes up for debate every four years. Even from here, the question "how do we want to trade divergence from EU rules for ease of access" is still going to be there. Every single time.
Whatever this is, it ain't a Done Brexit.
So the protocol review is due end-2024, TCA end-2025, and therefore likely to be part of the next general election debate?
Johnson would love the next two elections to be about defending Brexit.
Despite the "will of the people" bollocks where an advisory referendum in the 2015 parliament was somehow binding on the 2017 parliament, Brexit will never go away as an issue.
There is no end point to aim for, no settled position to reach. We're doing trade deals where the reported objective is to do different to the EU. We don't have a working post-EU settlement that works now never mind one that is sustainable. Which forces this and future parliaments to keep revisiting the subject almost regardless of whether a future government gets elected with a mandate to do so.
This is a problem for all the big parties bar perhaps the SNP. The Tories will never get Brexit done nor be able to deliver the promised benefits. Non-delivery will become an increasing problem. Labour and to a lesser extent the LibDems have no post-Brexit position to take and an electorate that remain hostile to Europe/Brexit. Only the SNP can gleefully point at the protracted issues and say "we told you so, here's the simple solution.
Question - which of the big 3 UK parties can reach a post-Brexit position fastest and make it stick? It surely has to be based on increased trade and protecting standards, and for both a Cameron-esque "Big open and comprehensive" deal with the EEA is the solution. The challenge of course is persuading people that the EU and EEA - which are entirely different things - are entirely different things...
They're not entirely different things. The EEA is just a vehicle to push EU single market law into neighbouring states.
Nissan and EVs at the moment are the brand whose batteries and motors get harvested for classic cars to be converted. They aren't a brand even on the radar for most new converts to electric as their technology is over a decade old.
The Leaf is junk but the EV conversion scene seems to be moving toward butchering Tesla 3s and using the FreedomEV firmware on it.
VAG seem to have the best strategy (if not the best products) for the EV revolution and the Japanese OEMs look slightly lost by tinkering with multiple technologies and not committing to one.
Back Korea. Their drivetrain is amazingly efficient, they are absolutely smashing it in design, build quality is right up there, and a 5 year unlimited mileage warranty.
7 year/100 000 miles with Kia. I am very pleased with my environment over the last year, and a genuine 270 mile range in warm weather, 230 or so on frosty dark winter days with heating and lights on and cold batteries.
The build quality is very good indeed, well ahead of anything that I have had before.
Agree. Kia have been nailing it on these. Literally the only thing I'd like to add to the e-niro is ultrafast charging (up to the 170kW that the Audi can take; the e-niro is limited to about 70kW at the moment. Still pretty rapid - 20 minutes gives not far off an extra 100 miles of range - but could be even better). I think the next generation of Kias will have that.
Nissan confirm they are to build a 1 billion pound car battery factory in Sunderland
Absolutely coincidental that this announced on by Election Day
I hadn't thought about that but if so good politics
The BBC also says that 'The government is contributing to the cost of the expansion, but a precise figure has not been disclosed.'
Ion other words, a massive handout. Some might call it a bribe.
I am sorry but investing in the future green economy is essential and is actively promoted by all governments
All governments recently signed a “level playing field” treaty, but one of the signatories was crossing their fingers behind their back. Guess which one.
The EU are over and the UK will decide on investments and jobs
Investment decisions will surely be based on access to markets into which to sell, so the EU is not over. It's just that the relationship and dependency is different.
The EU dictating UK investment decisions to the UK government is over
Bollocks. Your BritNat government just signed a “level playing field” treaty that explicitly says the exact opposite.
Maggie must be spinning in her grave that her party has morphed into the party of big government, state subsidy and picking winners. It’ll end in tears… for the taxpayers.
Creating jobs and green investments will end in 'tears' of joy for the taxpayers not pain
So you think civil servants and politicians are best placed to decide what companies produce stuff. Governments should be creating strategic policies (eg for green investment) they should not be perverting the market or deciding who gets the business by giving subsidies. I can't believe a Tory believes this. Why not go the whole hog and nationalise it?
Civil servants and politicians should not be allowed anywhere near business decisions. They bugger it up every time they interfere.
For what it's worth, I think the outcome in Batley & Spen is completely unpredictable. There are so many potential cross-currents in the voting patterns that I can't see how anybody can realistically gauge what people will do in the privacy of the voting booth. On that basis, the Labour odds seem good value.
Additionally, I'm not sure that the announcement of a jobs boost in Sunderland will have any impact on voters in West Yorkshire.
I’m inclined to agree that Labour are the value at the moment, there’s many moving parts in this one and it’s been quite the horrible campaign thanks to Mr Galloway.
Hopefully it’s a two horse race, and the scumbag loses his deposit.
That may well be the first time I’ve ever agreed with a Sandpit post.
Covid infections are rising in Europe and a decline in cases over the past 10 weeks has come to an end, the World Health Organization says.
WHO Europe head Hans Kluge has warned of a "new wave in the WHO European region unless we remain disciplined", citing the spread of the Delta variant and an increase in mixing, travel and easing of restrictions.
Nissan confirm they are to build a 1 billion pound car battery factory in Sunderland
Absolutely coincidental that this announced on by Election Day
I hadn't thought about that but if so good politics
The BBC also says that 'The government is contributing to the cost of the expansion, but a precise figure has not been disclosed.'
Ion other words, a massive handout. Some might call it a bribe.
I am sorry but investing in the future green economy is essential and is actively promoted by all governments
All governments recently signed a “level playing field” treaty, but one of the signatories was crossing their fingers behind their back. Guess which one.
The EU are over and the UK will decide on investments and jobs
Investment decisions will surely be based on access to markets into which to sell, so the EU is not over. It's just that the relationship and dependency is different.
Big G’s statement that “the EU is over” neatly illustrates why the Conservative Party is not fit for purpose. Even moderates like Big G have now embraced the culture war. The past is alterable. The past never has been altered. Yookania is at war with Redpassportland. Yookania has always been at war with Redpassportland.
I don’t think that’s quite what Big G meant, rather than the EU is over as a key influence on domestic policy.
But your general point is correct.
Nevertheless, the Brexity culture warriors know their cause is both potent and fragile; hence the government’s bung to the totemic Nissan.
And the irony is that, unless the EU collapses (which it probably won't), it's still going to be there, and the UK is still going to have to work out, case by case, how it wants to engage. The TCA has a five-yearly review, the NI protocol comes up for debate every four years. Even from here, the question "how do we want to trade divergence from EU rules for ease of access" is still going to be there. Every single time.
Whatever this is, it ain't a Done Brexit.
So the protocol review is due end-2024, TCA end-2025, and therefore likely to be part of the next general election debate?
Johnson would love the next two elections to be about defending Brexit.
Despite the "will of the people" bollocks where an advisory referendum in the 2015 parliament was somehow binding on the 2017 parliament, Brexit will never go away as an issue.
There is no end point to aim for, no settled position to reach. We're doing trade deals where the reported objective is to do different to the EU. We don't have a working post-EU settlement that works now never mind one that is sustainable. Which forces this and future parliaments to keep revisiting the subject almost regardless of whether a future government gets elected with a mandate to do so.
This is a problem for all the big parties bar perhaps the SNP. The Tories will never get Brexit done nor be able to deliver the promised benefits. Non-delivery will become an increasing problem. Labour and to a lesser extent the LibDems have no post-Brexit position to take and an electorate that remain hostile to Europe/Brexit. Only the SNP can gleefully point at the protracted issues and say "we told you so, here's the simple solution.
Question - which of the big 3 UK parties can reach a post-Brexit position fastest and make it stick? It surely has to be based on increased trade and protecting standards, and for both a Cameron-esque "Big open and comprehensive" deal with the EEA is the solution. The challenge of course is persuading people that the EU and EEA - which are entirely different things - are entirely different things...
They're not entirely different things. The EEA is just a vehicle to push EU single market law into neighbouring states.
Indeed. The trade model going forwards is going to be the CP-TPP, based primarily on equivalence to global standards, and with little appetite for getting involved in day-to-day politics.
How dare they! It is one of the basic tenets of western democracy that taxpayers are entitled to know how and where their money is being spent.
Really when you are competing against other countries and are trying to encourage other companies to come to the UK based on similar offerings.
The last thing you want to do in those circumstances is tell everyone what you are offering - for one reason it would allow other countries to offer more and see a company currently happy with £50m say insisting they get the £100m Nissan just got given.
Nissan confirm they are to build a 1 billion pound car battery factory in Sunderland
Absolutely coincidental that this announced on by Election Day
I hadn't thought about that but if so good politics
The BBC also says that 'The government is contributing to the cost of the expansion, but a precise figure has not been disclosed.'
Ion other words, a massive handout. Some might call it a bribe.
I am sorry but investing in the future green economy is essential and is actively promoted by all governments
All governments recently signed a “level playing field” treaty, but one of the signatories was crossing their fingers behind their back. Guess which one.
The EU are over and the UK will decide on investments and jobs
Investment decisions will surely be based on access to markets into which to sell, so the EU is not over. It's just that the relationship and dependency is different.
Big G’s statement that “the EU is over” neatly illustrates why the Conservative Party is not fit for purpose. Even moderates like Big G have now embraced the culture war. The past is alterable. The past never has been altered. Yookania is at war with Redpassportland. Yookania has always been at war with Redpassportland.
It hurts those who idolise the EU, but this country is moving further away each and every day and any idea the EU would interfere with domestic UK investments just adds to the anti EU narrative
How would Winston Churchill reply to your post?
Life and politics has moved on a million miles from the days of Churchill
Towards the unnecessary arguing and oneupmanship he hoped to prevent when he founded the EU?
Actually I support the EU as a trading organisation, but not a political concept
And yet you keep banging on about our need to having nothing to do with the EEA.
Actually that is not the case
I have said on several occasions the likely final destination for the UK is a close relationship to the single market but remaining outside the EU
However, it also true that the more we sign trade deals and enact our own laws then than that becomes improbable
Genuine question- how do you square that particular circle? If relationship which looks even remotely like EEA is either desirable or just the inevitable landing point, what's the logic behind the attempts at making that difficult by changing rules or signing quick deals?
(Worth remembering that, if future generations want to reverse all of this, it will be perfectly possible for them to do so. After all, if EU membership wasn't permanent, neither can CTPP be...)
From today there are also things we need to do very differently. And one of the most important is to change our thinking around what cases in the Bailiwick means. We’ve associated it with hospitalisation, with deaths, with the potential for health services to be overwhelmed. We’ve justified what are really very strict and quite extreme travel restrictions because of those risks. But the risk profile has changed with more than 70% of entire population having had at least one dose. The data shows a full vaccination affords 95% protection against needing hospital care. Younger age-groups are significantly less vulnerable and already far less likely to become very ill and need hospital care. No, it’s not completely risk-free, it never will be no matter what we do. But it is a big change compared to the risk we faced before the vaccine. And as we no longer face the same levels of risk, we can no longer justify the same levels of restrictions. It’s simply not proportionate and not necessary. But in removing the restrictions that we can no longer justify, we must also ask our community not to be complacent. It’s time to start learning to live with COVID, and if we do so responsibly, we can finally begin to regain some of the lost freedoms that COVID has cost us. And that should be cause for celebration.
(Answers to the question of Romford being Essex or London has the same demographic profile as every other bit of UK politics. Because of course it does.)
Since they killed the R35 I think it's fair to say that Nissan no longer make a single car that has any merit or cachet whatsoever. It's a long way down for the company that gave us the Z, the GTR and the S chassis.
Personally, I don't give a flying f*** about 'cachet' in a car. I just want something that will perform the job I want it to do with minimal fuss and cost. Heck, I even drive an automatic ...
I don't particularly like driving; it is a thing that lets me do what I want to do. When I buy a new car, trifling little matters like safety matter more than 0-60.
It's surprising how many of my friends feel the same way (Caterham-7 builders notwithstanding). The car isn't particularly a status symbol; it's a tool.
Going purist for a mo, can you move somewhere different and just not have a car?
Very possible ... plenty of people are unable to drive for medical reasons.
That's actually what we used to do: Mrs J didn't drive, and we'd just move to near she was working. Hence we moved frequently around the country. She learnt to drive, as she felt it was unfair for me to be taxiing her everywhere. But then we bought a house within walking distance of her workplace and had a kid. That company was taken over by a larger one, and she had to commute into Cambridge. Then she moved to another company down in Harlow.
If we'd had to move, we'd have had to move three times - and we like where we live, and the little 'un is settled in school. Besides, we'd have to live in (shudders) Harlow ...
A Cambourne to Harlow trip by public transport is *interesting*.
Excellent.
My memory of growing up in the 80s was that people moved quite frequently for work. It doesn't seem to happen any more - not least because families are typically reliant on two earners, so the ability of earner 1 to get a new job 100 miles away is greatly inhibited by earner 2's need to remain accessible to that individual's own job.
One advantage of London at the time was once you picked the station you wanted to commute into, there was little need to move as you switched job.
In my view, that our big cities have outperformed everywhere else over the last 30 years.
From the perspective of 1985, it wasn't obvious that Manchester, for example, would do any better than Stockton-on-Tees, or Northampton, or Gloucester. Our big cities - even London, but especially Manchester, Birmingham, Newcastle, Sheffield, Leeds, Glasgow and especially Liverpool - were massively unfashionable and a bit of a joke. I remember the hilarity when Glasgow was appointed European City of Culture in 1990.
The eradication of the expectation of a job for life and the normalisation of dual earner families has given places with a critical mass of employment opportunities - where you and your spouse might reasonably hope to find employment opportunities for the rest of your life - a big advantage over small towns with just one or two large employers. The large, good quality employer in a small town - GSK in Barnard Castle, for example - felt normal back in the 80s, but now feels something of an anachronism.
I think you've hit the nail on the head then. Once families needed 2 incomes you need to be in a place big enough that both adults can find suitable work. Smaller towns simply don't offer that opportunity unless one adult is say a teacher.
Nissan confirm they are to build a 1 billion pound car battery factory in Sunderland
Absolutely coincidental that this announced on by Election Day
I hadn't thought about that but if so good politics
The BBC also says that 'The government is contributing to the cost of the expansion, but a precise figure has not been disclosed.'
Ion other words, a massive handout. Some might call it a bribe.
I am sorry but investing in the future green economy is essential and is actively promoted by all governments
All governments recently signed a “level playing field” treaty, but one of the signatories was crossing their fingers behind their back. Guess which one.
The EU are over and the UK will decide on investments and jobs
Investment decisions will surely be based on access to markets into which to sell, so the EU is not over. It's just that the relationship and dependency is different.
Big G’s statement that “the EU is over” neatly illustrates why the Conservative Party is not fit for purpose. Even moderates like Big G have now embraced the culture war. The past is alterable. The past never has been altered. Yookania is at war with Redpassportland. Yookania has always been at war with Redpassportland.
I don’t think that’s quite what Big G meant, rather than the EU is over as a key influence on domestic policy.
But your general point is correct.
Nevertheless, the Brexity culture warriors know their cause is both potent and fragile; hence the government’s bung to the totemic Nissan.
And the irony is that, unless the EU collapses (which it probably won't), it's still going to be there, and the UK is still going to have to work out, case by case, how it wants to engage. The TCA has a five-yearly review, the NI protocol comes up for debate every four years. Even from here, the question "how do we want to trade divergence from EU rules for ease of access" is still going to be there. Every single time.
Whatever this is, it ain't a Done Brexit.
So the protocol review is due end-2024, TCA end-2025, and therefore likely to be part of the next general election debate?
Johnson would love the next two elections to be about defending Brexit.
Despite the "will of the people" bollocks where an advisory referendum in the 2015 parliament was somehow binding on the 2017 parliament, Brexit will never go away as an issue.
There is no end point to aim for, no settled position to reach. We're doing trade deals where the reported objective is to do different to the EU. We don't have a working post-EU settlement that works now never mind one that is sustainable. Which forces this and future parliaments to keep revisiting the subject almost regardless of whether a future government gets elected with a mandate to do so.
This is a problem for all the big parties bar perhaps the SNP. The Tories will never get Brexit done nor be able to deliver the promised benefits. Non-delivery will become an increasing problem. Labour and to a lesser extent the LibDems have no post-Brexit position to take and an electorate that remain hostile to Europe/Brexit. Only the SNP can gleefully point at the protracted issues and say "we told you so, here's the simple solution.
Question - which of the big 3 UK parties can reach a post-Brexit position fastest and make it stick? It surely has to be based on increased trade and protecting standards, and for both a Cameron-esque "Big open and comprehensive" deal with the EEA is the solution. The challenge of course is persuading people that the EU and EEA - which are entirely different things - are entirely different things...
All that might be true, and yet doesn't it ignore the political lessons of the last five years?
It seems unlikely to me that rational arguments about costs and benefits are suddenly going to come to the fore, rather than the arguments we've had about emotion and identity.
Throw in a bit of Johnsonian truthiness, so that many people will believe Brexit is great, even if it isn't, and defending Brexit looks like a rich electoral seam for the Tories.
It's a risky one though, unlike C&A which felt like one of those golden tips that seemed right: thank you again, Mike: your tip paid for my day at Wimbledon yesterday among many other things!
Peak Boris was May 25th. There is a discernible and definite shift now.
The one thing which might lift the Conservatives back is if England win Euro 2020 in front of a full house at Wembley. Otherwise the tide has turned.
You may be right but the polling evidence really is not there for such a claim. The government has had a rough week or so and the press is hostile but these kind of things often flare up only to fizzle out again. All we need is a Grauniead - ' the day the polls turned' and we head back to square one.
What never fizzles out is Tory sleaze. The events of the last week fit into a recognisable pattern going back many decades.
What the Tories need is a generation of nice people. Good, honest, competent, straightforward, pleasant folk with no “side”. When one looks at the coming generation of young Tories one sees the exact opposite. Tory sleaze is going to be around for at least a half century to come.
No sleaze in the SNP thankfully. Salmond and Sturgeon say Hi..
Sleaze comes when a party is so long in power that they think that they can get away with anything and still get elected.
People like @Big_G_NorthWales will vote for a donkey with a blue rosette, and in Scotland will vote SNP until independence. Only after that will Scottish politics return to competitive parties.
The SNP will wither away post-independence. I, and many other members, will leave and help build new, normal parties. Our goal is for Scotland to be a normal country.
I think the SNP do a (mainly) decent job in government, especially considering they're now in their 4th term. I also think that Scottish independence is inevitable and that I will likely vote for it as the Union is unsustainable.
That is very different from me wanting to become a member of or support the SNP. I hope that independent Scotland would retain its general level of civilisation and decency which has been lost south of the wall, but there are other parties who can deliver that.
Thank you for a fair analysis, and hopefully your vote when the day arrives!
There is nothing inevitable about Scottish Independence however much diehard anti Tories like Rochdale may hope there is
(Answers to the question of Romford being Essex or London has the same demographic profile as every other bit of UK politics. Because of course it does.)
It is correct to say that Romford is in Essex. And it is also correct to say that Romford is in Greater London.
I wish, for the purposes of a) this sort of thing, and b) quiz questions, we had immutable and agreed sub-divisions of the country which could exist entirely separately from local government. It wouldn't make us any richer or better run. But it would be nice.
The figures for the Novavax vaccine look very good. Would be a decent option for the autumn booster, probably - but it might be a good idea to wait for the US trial results to get more safety data.
Have you seen any data on the Vaxxinity/UBI vaccine that has just applied for EUA in Taiwan - also has ongoing trial in India. Would be interested in your thoughts
It's a risky one though, unlike C&A which felt like one of those golden tips that seemed right: thank you again, Mike: your tip paid for my day at Wimbledon yesterday among many other things!
Peak Boris was May 25th. There is a discernible and definite shift now.
The one thing which might lift the Conservatives back is if England win Euro 2020 in front of a full house at Wembley. Otherwise the tide has turned.
You may be right but the polling evidence really is not there for such a claim. The government has had a rough week or so and the press is hostile but these kind of things often flare up only to fizzle out again. All we need is a Grauniead - ' the day the polls turned' and we head back to square one.
What never fizzles out is Tory sleaze. The events of the last week fit into a recognisable pattern going back many decades.
What the Tories need is a generation of nice people. Good, honest, competent, straightforward, pleasant folk with no “side”. When one looks at the coming generation of young Tories one sees the exact opposite. Tory sleaze is going to be around for at least a half century to come.
No sleaze in the SNP thankfully. Salmond and Sturgeon say Hi..
Sleaze comes when a party is so long in power that they think that they can get away with anything and still get elected.
People like @Big_G_NorthWales will vote for a donkey with a blue rosette, and in Scotland will vote SNP until independence. Only after that will Scottish politics return to competitive parties.
The SNP will wither away post-independence. I, and many other members, will leave and help build new, normal parties. Our goal is for Scotland to be a normal country.
I think the SNP do a (mainly) decent job in government, especially considering they're now in their 4th term. I also think that Scottish independence is inevitable and that I will likely vote for it as the Union is unsustainable.
That is very different from me wanting to become a member of or support the SNP. I hope that independent Scotland would retain its general level of civilisation and decency which has been lost south of the wall, but there are other parties who can deliver that.
Thank you for a fair analysis, and hopefully your vote when the day arrives!
There is nothing inevitable about Scottish Independence however much diehard anti Tories like Rochdale may hope there is
Mr. Walker, we have the likes of Dick actively seeking to discriminate against white people in employment practices.
And, as I wrote yesterday, better to crush an egg than fight a dragon.
Ms Dick should today be explaining - and apologising for - why the force she leads committed "multiple failings" and failed to understand coronavirus laws when policing the Sarah Everard vigil in London, as set out in the report from the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Democracy and the Constitution.
Both the Met and the Avon and Somerset police (in relation to the "Kill the Bill" protests in Bristol) wrongly applied coronavirus lockdown laws and "failed to understand their legal duties in respect of protest".
She will do no such thing I expect.
Are there any police leaders around who actually understand the laws they are meant to enforce? Or is this some sort of optional extra these days?
From today there are also things we need to do very differently. And one of the most important is to change our thinking around what cases in the Bailiwick means. We’ve associated it with hospitalisation, with deaths, with the potential for health services to be overwhelmed. We’ve justified what are really very strict and quite extreme travel restrictions because of those risks. But the risk profile has changed with more than 70% of entire population having had at least one dose. The data shows a full vaccination affords 95% protection against needing hospital care. Younger age-groups are significantly less vulnerable and already far less likely to become very ill and need hospital care. No, it’s not completely risk-free, it never will be no matter what we do. But it is a big change compared to the risk we faced before the vaccine. And as we no longer face the same levels of risk, we can no longer justify the same levels of restrictions. It’s simply not proportionate and not necessary. But in removing the restrictions that we can no longer justify, we must also ask our community not to be complacent. It’s time to start learning to live with COVID, and if we do so responsibly, we can finally begin to regain some of the lost freedoms that COVID has cost us. And that should be cause for celebration.
Looks like a very sensible statement from at least one part of UK (I know, I know, not really)
I think the UK governments really need to start pushing this line - are we really "the most dangerous country in Europe"? I know deaths are a lagging indicator....but:
From today there are also things we need to do very differently. And one of the most important is to change our thinking around what cases in the Bailiwick means. We’ve associated it with hospitalisation, with deaths, with the potential for health services to be overwhelmed. We’ve justified what are really very strict and quite extreme travel restrictions because of those risks. But the risk profile has changed with more than 70% of entire population having had at least one dose. The data shows a full vaccination affords 95% protection against needing hospital care. Younger age-groups are significantly less vulnerable and already far less likely to become very ill and need hospital care. No, it’s not completely risk-free, it never will be no matter what we do. But it is a big change compared to the risk we faced before the vaccine. And as we no longer face the same levels of risk, we can no longer justify the same levels of restrictions. It’s simply not proportionate and not necessary. But in removing the restrictions that we can no longer justify, we must also ask our community not to be complacent. It’s time to start learning to live with COVID, and if we do so responsibly, we can finally begin to regain some of the lost freedoms that COVID has cost us. And that should be cause for celebration.
I sincerely hope my niece will be able to visit her mother in Alderney. My sister needs someone to support her.
If she's double jabbed and is coming from the CTA there are no restrictions & no testing.
She is and is. Thought that was the case, but thanks. Bit of luck, and assuming Aurigny are flying, the rest of my sisters children will be able to visit her. Not sure, for other reasons, that I will.
Mr. Walker, we have the likes of Dick actively seeking to discriminate against white people in employment practices.
And, as I wrote yesterday, better to crush an egg than fight a dragon.
Ms Dick should today be explaining - and apologising for - why the force she leads committed "multiple failings" and failed to understand coronavirus laws when policing the Sarah Everard vigil in London, as set out in the report from the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Democracy and the Constitution.
Both the Met and the Avon and Somerset police (in relation to the "Kill the Bill" protests in Bristol) wrongly applied coronavirus lockdown laws and "failed to understand their legal duties in respect of protest".
She will do no such thing I expect.
Are there any police leaders around who actually understand the laws they are meant to enforce? Or is this some sort of optional extra these days?
Oh they understand the laws they are meant to enforce - the issue is they find it easier to pick and choose the ones they wish to enforce that day
From today there are also things we need to do very differently. And one of the most important is to change our thinking around what cases in the Bailiwick means. We’ve associated it with hospitalisation, with deaths, with the potential for health services to be overwhelmed. We’ve justified what are really very strict and quite extreme travel restrictions because of those risks. But the risk profile has changed with more than 70% of entire population having had at least one dose. The data shows a full vaccination affords 95% protection against needing hospital care. Younger age-groups are significantly less vulnerable and already far less likely to become very ill and need hospital care. No, it’s not completely risk-free, it never will be no matter what we do. But it is a big change compared to the risk we faced before the vaccine. And as we no longer face the same levels of risk, we can no longer justify the same levels of restrictions. It’s simply not proportionate and not necessary. But in removing the restrictions that we can no longer justify, we must also ask our community not to be complacent. It’s time to start learning to live with COVID, and if we do so responsibly, we can finally begin to regain some of the lost freedoms that COVID has cost us. And that should be cause for celebration.
Looks like a very sensible statement from at least one part of UK (I know, I know, not really)
I think the UK governments really need to start pushing this line - are we really "the most dangerous country in Europe"? I know deaths are a lagging indicator....but:
As throughout COVID, every country is at different points in the cycle at different times. Unless you are going full prison island, its going to be your turn as some point.
Since they killed the R35 I think it's fair to say that Nissan no longer make a single car that has any merit or cachet whatsoever. It's a long way down for the company that gave us the Z, the GTR and the S chassis.
Personally, I don't give a flying f*** about 'cachet' in a car. I just want something that will perform the job I want it to do with minimal fuss and cost. Heck, I even drive an automatic ...
I don't particularly like driving; it is a thing that lets me do what I want to do. When I buy a new car, trifling little matters like safety matter more than 0-60.
It's surprising how many of my friends feel the same way (Caterham-7 builders notwithstanding). The car isn't particularly a status symbol; it's a tool.
Going purist for a mo, can you move somewhere different and just not have a car?
Very possible ... plenty of people are unable to drive for medical reasons.
That's actually what we used to do: Mrs J didn't drive, and we'd just move to near she was working. Hence we moved frequently around the country. She learnt to drive, as she felt it was unfair for me to be taxiing her everywhere. But then we bought a house within walking distance of her workplace and had a kid. That company was taken over by a larger one, and she had to commute into Cambridge. Then she moved to another company down in Harlow.
If we'd had to move, we'd have had to move three times - and we like where we live, and the little 'un is settled in school. Besides, we'd have to live in (shudders) Harlow ...
A Cambourne to Harlow trip by public transport is *interesting*.
Excellent.
My memory of growing up in the 80s was that people moved quite frequently for work. It doesn't seem to happen any more - not least because families are typically reliant on two earners, so the ability of earner 1 to get a new job 100 miles away is greatly inhibited by earner 2's need to remain accessible to that individual's own job.
One advantage of London at the time was once you picked the station you wanted to commute into, there was little need to move as you switched job.
In my view, that our big cities have outperformed everywhere else over the last 30 years.
From the perspective of 1985, it wasn't obvious that Manchester, for example, would do any better than Stockton-on-Tees, or Northampton, or Gloucester. Our big cities - even London, but especially Manchester, Birmingham, Newcastle, Sheffield, Leeds, Glasgow and especially Liverpool - were massively unfashionable and a bit of a joke. I remember the hilarity when Glasgow was appointed European City of Culture in 1990.
The eradication of the expectation of a job for life and the normalisation of dual earner families has given places with a critical mass of employment opportunities - where you and your spouse might reasonably hope to find employment opportunities for the rest of your life - a big advantage over small towns with just one or two large employers. The large, good quality employer in a small town - GSK in Barnard Castle, for example - felt normal back in the 80s, but now feels something of an anachronism.
I think you've hit the nail on the head then. Once families needed 2 incomes you need to be in a place big enough that both adults can find suitable work. Smaller towns simply don't offer that opportunity unless one adult is say a teacher.
Yes, apart from I mysteriously missed out the words 'is the most significant reason' after 'that' in my first sentence, thereby taking away almost all the meaning from what I was trying to say! But thanks for inferring correctly.
Another SAGE member "speaking in a personal capacity"....
If you're on such a body it does seem you should be very wary of making your own separate pronouncements. Thats part of the price of being on it.
I see the point, but I'm not completely convinced. Scientists, particularly the top ones value 'truth' and the ability to speak their views. If e.g. SAGE membership required not being able to speak out if policy goes against what they believe to be right, then I think some capable scientists would choose not to be a part of it. I might be reluctant - not that I'm asserting that I'm a capable scientist I wouldn't be dashing off to the press, but I'd want to be able to answer truthfully on my opinions if someone asked me. If I wanted to lie for a living I'd go into politics.
It's an advisory group, not a policy making group - I don't think that civil servants or ministers (or even scientists employed by the government) who disagree with the policy should be able to say so publicly while keeping their jobs.
Spot on.
I do think, though, that members of an advisory group who start trying to bounce the government into a particular decision, when they think they might be losing the argument within the group, should not expect to be invited back when their term of office expires. (All such committees should have a term of office, with re-appointment permitted, so that membership is regularly reviewed.)
Another SAGE member "speaking in a personal capacity"....
If you're on such a body it does seem you should be very wary of making your own separate pronouncements. Thats part of the price of being on it.
I see the point, but I'm not completely convinced. Scientists, particularly the top ones value 'truth' and the ability to speak their views. If e.g. SAGE membership required not being able to speak out if policy goes against what they believe to be right, then I think some capable scientists would choose not to be a part of it. I might be reluctant - not that I'm asserting that I'm a capable scientist I wouldn't be dashing off to the press, but I'd want to be able to answer truthfully on my opinions if someone asked me. If I wanted to lie for a living I'd go into politics.
It's an advisory group, not a policy making group - I don't think that civil servants or ministers (or even scientists employed by the government) who disagree with the policy should be able to say so publicly while keeping their jobs.
I take the point, but its why I said wary not prohibited. If people are in part seeking their views because they are on SAGE they need to consider if speaking out in a particular way may undermine or distort the understanding of SAGE advice and the potential consequences to that.
They are via such a body performing a public service and such service may result in imposition on them personally and professionally and are they ok with that is the key. I dont think comment of some kind is impossible, but they do need to be more cautious given their positions.
Yep, you're right (and I misread what you meant). And when the evidence is not entirely settled and there's not even a decision as of yet, it would be wise to keep quiet.
As with everything else, there will no doubt be egos at play and some people like to be on the telly etc.
It's a risky one though, unlike C&A which felt like one of those golden tips that seemed right: thank you again, Mike: your tip paid for my day at Wimbledon yesterday among many other things!
Peak Boris was May 25th. There is a discernible and definite shift now.
The one thing which might lift the Conservatives back is if England win Euro 2020 in front of a full house at Wembley. Otherwise the tide has turned.
You may be right but the polling evidence really is not there for such a claim. The government has had a rough week or so and the press is hostile but these kind of things often flare up only to fizzle out again. All we need is a Grauniead - ' the day the polls turned' and we head back to square one.
What never fizzles out is Tory sleaze. The events of the last week fit into a recognisable pattern going back many decades.
What the Tories need is a generation of nice people. Good, honest, competent, straightforward, pleasant folk with no “side”. When one looks at the coming generation of young Tories one sees the exact opposite. Tory sleaze is going to be around for at least a half century to come.
No sleaze in the SNP thankfully. Salmond and Sturgeon say Hi..
Sleaze comes when a party is so long in power that they think that they can get away with anything and still get elected.
People like @Big_G_NorthWales will vote for a donkey with a blue rosette, and in Scotland will vote SNP until independence. Only after that will Scottish politics return to competitive parties.
The SNP will wither away post-independence. I, and many other members, will leave and help build new, normal parties. Our goal is for Scotland to be a normal country.
Or the SNP will become like the ANC in South Africa. The victors of independence not working for their people, but getting voted in continuously anyway ...
What happens to the SNP if it doesn’t achieve independence? Seems an alternative and interesting question
They are like the Earl of Bruce’s spider
Indeed. We’ll try, try and try again, until we win.
Scots only need to win once. The BritNats need to win every time. This is only going to end one way.
(Charles, at the time of the spider story he was already king.)
Batley and Spen. Labour will win because Galloway will get less than 10 per cent and the Woollen voters will split 2:1:1 for Labour, Tories and others. Apply those to the 2019 result and Labour wins. More detail at the end of the last thread (not the online radio station one that suggests @rcs1000 needs to revisit the security settings).
Unless the Conservatives win. The Tories are fighting an unusual campaign, hiding the candidate from the media and voters. We do not know what they are telling electors on the phone or social media. Perhaps it is that Labour will disband the army; perhaps it is that Boris will hurl government money and jobs at the constituency. That they've not panicked suggests it might be working.
Also @NickPalmer thinks the blue team has it. Admittedly he is hundreds of miles away on the phone but he is often optimistic on the red side.
It is a mare to predict because you have several unusual factors. First, Kim Leadbetter seems genuinely popular amongst most parts of the community so there is a going to be a big plus there. But the Conservative candidate also seems well respected, is a councillor and has been focusing by the looks of things on door to door, which always helps. Then you have Galloway who seems to have lost some of the steam over the past week or so. However, that is complicated by the fact that sections of the Muslim vote may see voting for Galloway as a useful way of kicking Starmer for some of his actions / views and we don't really have any insight properly into how that constituency will split.
I still think the Tories will win but I can see circumstances where Labour comes through so inclined to agree with Mike re the value in Labour.
OT the National Lottery site has been broken for some time now. The site is up but you cannot log in. It is an interesting test of their monitoring as to when they will notice and turn it off and back on again.
Works for me.
If still broken for you I'd try clearing your browser cache.
Nissan confirm they are to build a 1 billion pound car battery factory in Sunderland
Absolutely coincidental that this announced on by Election Day
I hadn't thought about that but if so good politics
The BBC also says that 'The government is contributing to the cost of the expansion, but a precise figure has not been disclosed.'
Ion other words, a massive handout. Some might call it a bribe.
I am sorry but investing in the future green economy is essential and is actively promoted by all governments
All governments recently signed a “level playing field” treaty, but one of the signatories was crossing their fingers behind their back. Guess which one.
The EU are over and the UK will decide on investments and jobs
Investment decisions will surely be based on access to markets into which to sell, so the EU is not over. It's just that the relationship and dependency is different.
Big G’s statement that “the EU is over” neatly illustrates why the Conservative Party is not fit for purpose. Even moderates like Big G have now embraced the culture war. The past is alterable. The past never has been altered. Yookania is at war with Redpassportland. Yookania has always been at war with Redpassportland.
It hurts those who idolise the EU, but this country is moving further away each and every day and any idea the EU would interfere with domestic UK investments just adds to the anti EU narrative
How would Winston Churchill reply to your post?
Life and politics has moved on a million miles from the days of Churchill
Towards the unnecessary arguing and oneupmanship he hoped to prevent when he founded the EU?
Actually I support the EU as a trading organisation, but not a political concept
And yet you keep banging on about our need to having nothing to do with the EEA.
Actually that is not the case
I have said on several occasions the likely final destination for the UK is a close relationship to the single market but remaining outside the EU
However, it also true that the more we sign trade deals and enact our own laws then than that becomes improbable
The single market is not the EU. You and yours don't know the difference. Brexit was leaving the EU. We could have done Norway or Switzerland, but no because stupid.
It's a risky one though, unlike C&A which felt like one of those golden tips that seemed right: thank you again, Mike: your tip paid for my day at Wimbledon yesterday among many other things!
Peak Boris was May 25th. There is a discernible and definite shift now.
The one thing which might lift the Conservatives back is if England win Euro 2020 in front of a full house at Wembley. Otherwise the tide has turned.
You may be right but the polling evidence really is not there for such a claim. The government has had a rough week or so and the press is hostile but these kind of things often flare up only to fizzle out again. All we need is a Grauniead - ' the day the polls turned' and we head back to square one.
What never fizzles out is Tory sleaze. The events of the last week fit into a recognisable pattern going back many decades.
What the Tories need is a generation of nice people. Good, honest, competent, straightforward, pleasant folk with no “side”. When one looks at the coming generation of young Tories one sees the exact opposite. Tory sleaze is going to be around for at least a half century to come.
We’ve found other ways to serve
Very good Charles, but the fact is that the Conservative and Unionist Party needs you good, honest, competent, straightforward, pleasant folk upfront and centre stage, not arguing with nobodies on an obscure blog.
Everybody is somebody; nobody is a nobody.
But I’m not going to expose my family to the Daily Mail.
The only conversation I had with my mother about it she said she’d spent her life being “somebody’s daughter”; “somebody’s wife”; “somebody’s sister”; and she was damned if she was going to be “somebody’s mother” as well!
Nissan confirm they are to build a 1 billion pound car battery factory in Sunderland
Absolutely coincidental that this announced on by Election Day
I hadn't thought about that but if so good politics
The BBC also says that 'The government is contributing to the cost of the expansion, but a precise figure has not been disclosed.'
Ion other words, a massive handout. Some might call it a bribe.
I am sorry but investing in the future green economy is essential and is actively promoted by all governments
All governments recently signed a “level playing field” treaty, but one of the signatories was crossing their fingers behind their back. Guess which one.
The EU are over and the UK will decide on investments and jobs
Investment decisions will surely be based on access to markets into which to sell, so the EU is not over. It's just that the relationship and dependency is different.
Big G’s statement that “the EU is over” neatly illustrates why the Conservative Party is not fit for purpose. Even moderates like Big G have now embraced the culture war. The past is alterable. The past never has been altered. Yookania is at war with Redpassportland. Yookania has always been at war with Redpassportland.
It hurts those who idolise the EU, but this country is moving further away each and every day and any idea the EU would interfere with domestic UK investments just adds to the anti EU narrative
How would Winston Churchill reply to your post?
Life and politics has moved on a million miles from the days of Churchill
Towards the unnecessary arguing and oneupmanship he hoped to prevent when he founded the EU?
Actually I support the EU as a trading organisation, but not a political concept
And yet you keep banging on about our need to having nothing to do with the EEA.
Actually that is not the case
I have said on several occasions the likely final destination for the UK is a close relationship to the single market but remaining outside the EU
However, it also true that the more we sign trade deals and enact our own laws then than that becomes improbable
The single market is not the EU. You and yours don't know the difference. Brexit was leaving the EU. We could have done Norway or Switzerland, but no because stupid.
Though it appears Switzerland no longer want to do Switzerland, because vast Leviathan.
Nissan confirm they are to build a 1 billion pound car battery factory in Sunderland
Absolutely coincidental that this announced on by Election Day
I hadn't thought about that but if so good politics
The BBC also says that 'The government is contributing to the cost of the expansion, but a precise figure has not been disclosed.'
Ion other words, a massive handout. Some might call it a bribe.
I am sorry but investing in the future green economy is essential and is actively promoted by all governments
All governments recently signed a “level playing field” treaty, but one of the signatories was crossing their fingers behind their back. Guess which one.
The EU are over and the UK will decide on investments and jobs
Investment decisions will surely be based on access to markets into which to sell, so the EU is not over. It's just that the relationship and dependency is different.
Big G’s statement that “the EU is over” neatly illustrates why the Conservative Party is not fit for purpose. Even moderates like Big G have now embraced the culture war. The past is alterable. The past never has been altered. Yookania is at war with Redpassportland. Yookania has always been at war with Redpassportland.
I don’t think that’s quite what Big G meant, rather than the EU is over as a key influence on domestic policy.
But your general point is correct.
Nevertheless, the Brexity culture warriors know their cause is both potent and fragile; hence the government’s bung to the totemic Nissan.
And the irony is that, unless the EU collapses (which it probably won't), it's still going to be there, and the UK is still going to have to work out, case by case, how it wants to engage. The TCA has a five-yearly review, the NI protocol comes up for debate every four years. Even from here, the question "how do we want to trade divergence from EU rules for ease of access" is still going to be there. Every single time.
Whatever this is, it ain't a Done Brexit.
So the protocol review is due end-2024, TCA end-2025, and therefore likely to be part of the next general election debate?
Johnson would love the next two elections to be about defending Brexit.
Despite the "will of the people" bollocks where an advisory referendum in the 2015 parliament was somehow binding on the 2017 parliament, Brexit will never go away as an issue.
There is no end point to aim for, no settled position to reach. We're doing trade deals where the reported objective is to do different to the EU. We don't have a working post-EU settlement that works now never mind one that is sustainable. Which forces this and future parliaments to keep revisiting the subject almost regardless of whether a future government gets elected with a mandate to do so.
This is a problem for all the big parties bar perhaps the SNP. The Tories will never get Brexit done nor be able to deliver the promised benefits. Non-delivery will become an increasing problem. Labour and to a lesser extent the LibDems have no post-Brexit position to take and an electorate that remain hostile to Europe/Brexit. Only the SNP can gleefully point at the protracted issues and say "we told you so, here's the simple solution.
Question - which of the big 3 UK parties can reach a post-Brexit position fastest and make it stick? It surely has to be based on increased trade and protecting standards, and for both a Cameron-esque "Big open and comprehensive" deal with the EEA is the solution. The challenge of course is persuading people that the EU and EEA - which are entirely different things - are entirely different things...
They're not entirely different things. The EEA is just a vehicle to push EU single market law into neighbouring states.
Laughable stupidity. They are legally separate. Is Norway a member of the EU then?
Comments
The gorgeous one is the absolute wild card. Yes he is pied pipering the anti-semite element of the Labour muslim vote (and lets be honest probably the hard left nutters who want Labour to lose) - there is debate as to how many are following his tune.
Similarly the Tories appear to have been very very quiet, ceding the ground as the vocal opposition to hat man as soon as he arrived. That is either a very smart tactic or very stupid. The Tories don't act and talk like all the momentum is behind them.
So who knows, I can't call this one. As long as Galloway loses I will be happy. Labour losing as he splits their vote would be far less seismic than Pools loss was. Labour finishing third behind Galloway, well that would be quite something.
Effective government (!) relies on everyone being able to speak openly, without fear that that the staff, as opposed to the ministers, will start talking to the Lobby hacks.
I’m not saying there’s no “woke” to be seen in real life.
For example, I am currently looking for jobs and applications now all seem to require me to define my ethnicity and even sexual preference. I don’t remember that the last time I was looking for a job (about 4 years ago).
It’s just that the government is not “crushing eggs” but largely engaged in culture war theatre.
To the extent they actually legislate anti-woke, their measures are ham-fisted and draconian (thinking of statue-toppling penalties and the “free speech” protection on campuses).
How Rumsfeld Deserves to Be Remembered
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/06/how-donald-rumsfeld-deserves-be-remembered/619334/
Rumsfeld was the worst secretary of defense in American history. Being newly dead shouldn’t spare him this distinction. He was worse than the closest contender, Robert McNamara, and that is not a competition to judge lightly. McNamara’s folly was that of a whole generation of Cold Warriors who believed that Indochina was a vital front in the struggle against communism. His growing realization that the Vietnam War was an unwinnable waste made him more insightful than some of his peers; his decision to keep this realization from the American public made him an unforgivable coward. But Rumsfeld was the chief advocate of every disaster in the years after September 11. Wherever the United States government contemplated a wrong turn, Rumsfeld was there first with his hard smile—squinting, mocking the cautious, shoving his country deeper into a hole. His fatal judgment was equaled only by his absolute self-assurance. He lacked the courage to doubt himself. He lacked the wisdom to change his mind.
Rumsfeld was working in his office on the morning that a hijacked jet flew into the Pentagon. During the first minutes of terror, he displayed bravery and leadership. But within a few hours, he was already entertaining catastrophic ideas...
....Rumsfeld started being wrong within hours of the attacks and never stopped. He argued that the attacks proved the need for the missile-defense shield that he’d long advocated. He thought that the American war in Afghanistan meant the end of the Taliban. He thought that the new Afghan government didn’t need the U.S. to stick around for security and support. He thought that the United States should stiff the United Nations, brush off allies, and go it alone. He insisted that al-Qaeda couldn’t operate without a strongman like Saddam. He thought that all the intelligence on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction was wrong, except the dire reports that he’d ordered up himself. He reserved his greatest confidence for intelligence obtained through torture...
When Bush II came into office, there was alot of discussion about over stretch in the US armed forces. One of the reasons that there were so few military aircraft available for quick reaction on 9/11 was that most units were overseas.
Some thought that Bush II would launch a Trump style spending spree. But as the plans emerged - it was something quite different.
The problem of global mobility is that armies need 100K tons of stuff and people to go with it. This is why you saw ridiculous ideas like the Boeing Pelican - a plane that could carry 1,000 tons of cargo.
The Rumsfeld plan went like this -
1) Due to down sizing the US military in a number of areas, there was excess heavy equipment. Tanks etc
2) Place this equipment in cocooned storage in various parts of the world, near trouble spots.
3) Bring the troops home from most of the overseas bases.
4) many bases overseas would be kept, but reduced to skeleton staff, looking after the emplaced equipment
5) In the event of military requirement, fly the troop to theatre, where they pick up their equipment.
This had the advantage of cutting costs, keeping the military-industrial sector happy with upgrading/supporting a large amount of equipment and by bringing home troops, reducing the number of base closures in the US. All good US politics.
One of the first countries on the list was Saudi Arabia - the vast majority of US troops would be removed. Just a few vast warehouses full of kit.
The whole thing got binned in the wake of 9/11
Bin Laden's thing about the US largely centred on the US troops in Saudi Arabia. If they were withdrawn...
Economies are undergoing a once in a generation change, and if countries don't get their share of the new industries, they risk being locked out for a decade or more.
And it's going to be all the more abrupt since importing stuff from China got a whole lot more difficult/expensive.
These people don’t want discussion, they want only their viewpoint to be valid.
Take this mobile phone. This represents the individual. I’m placing this in the middle of the table. Now unless we restrict the freedoms what this phone can do, we won’t have freedom, only the horrors of the anarchy state where everyone hurts everyone, Bluebeard in his castle kills his wives, and monsters come and eat us. So we must have rules, pass laws, reducing our freedoms to escape those horrors. And that is this circle I am drawing with my finger around the phone. But too much, this circle too close to the phone, and we won’t have enough individual freedom. We need to push back to create more individual freedom.
But if you push back too much you will get too close to the monsters of that nature state? So how do we know the circle is drawn in the right place?
Don’t ask me, I’m on PB all day long as pirate libertarian, that’s the bit I’m always getting wrong.
It's an advisory group, not a policy making group - I don't think that civil servants or ministers (or even scientists employed by the government) who disagree with the policy should be able to say so publicly while keeping their jobs.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8188227/How-Boris-taking-lessons-hero-Churchill.html
Not only is he not available for the Labour leadership but you could argue that his best role for the party is to keep doing what he is doing. I don't get the apparent desperation to bring him back into play as a Starmer replacement.
Finally he came out with - "They will be growing palm trees on the beach at Bournemouth!!!".
I was a child at the time, but I remember thinking that wasn't selling Global Warming as the Apocalypse....
Which is why the new stuff is a one-off opportunity.
They are via such a body performing a public service and such service may result in imposition on them personally and professionally and are they ok with that is the key. I dont think comment of some kind is impossible, but they do need to be more cautious given their positions.
Johnson would love the next two elections to be about defending Brexit.
(Antifrank’s departure is a huge loss to this blog.)
I have said on several occasions the likely final destination for the UK is a close relationship to the single market but remaining outside the EU
However, it also true that the more we sign trade deals and enact our own laws then than that becomes improbable
https://twitter.com/jasoncartwright/status/1410528807388340224
Jason Cartwright
@jasoncartwright
Replying to
@GeorgeMonbiot
@bbcbitesize
and
@NickShepley
The problem is the exam board, not the BBC. Here is the same topic on the same site for the same qualification from a different exam board. Clearly much better https://bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zx234j6/revision/3
Maggie must be spinning in her grave that her party has morphed into the party of big government, state subsidy and picking winners. It’ll end in tears… for the taxpayers.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/jul/01/man-who-grabbed-chris-whitty-sacked-from-job-as-estate-agent
There is no end point to aim for, no settled position to reach. We're doing trade deals where the reported objective is to do different to the EU. We don't have a working post-EU settlement that works now never mind one that is sustainable. Which forces this and future parliaments to keep revisiting the subject almost regardless of whether a future government gets elected with a mandate to do so.
This is a problem for all the big parties bar perhaps the SNP. The Tories will never get Brexit done nor be able to deliver the promised benefits. Non-delivery will become an increasing problem. Labour and to a lesser extent the LibDems have no post-Brexit position to take and an electorate that remain hostile to Europe/Brexit. Only the SNP can gleefully point at the protracted issues and say "we told you so, here's the simple solution.
Question - which of the big 3 UK parties can reach a post-Brexit position fastest and make it stick? It surely has to be based on increased trade and protecting standards, and for both a Cameron-esque "Big open and comprehensive" deal with the EEA is the solution. The challenge of course is persuading people that the EU and EEA - which are entirely different things - are entirely different things...
Not that the dullest outcome always happens, but people overestimate the chances of anything interesting happening.
From today there are also things we need to do very differently. And one of the most important is to change our thinking around what cases in the Bailiwick means. We’ve associated it with hospitalisation, with deaths, with the potential for health services to be overwhelmed. We’ve justified what are really very strict and quite extreme travel restrictions because of those risks. But the risk profile has changed with more than 70% of entire population having had at least one dose. The data shows a full vaccination affords 95% protection against needing hospital care. Younger age-groups are significantly less vulnerable and already far less likely to become very ill and need hospital care. No, it’s not completely risk-free, it never will be no matter what we do. But it is a big change compared to the risk we faced before the vaccine. And as we no longer face the same levels of risk, we can no longer justify the same levels of restrictions. It’s simply not proportionate and not necessary. But in removing the restrictions that we can no longer justify, we must also ask our community not to be complacent. It’s time to start learning to live with COVID, and if we do so responsibly, we can finally begin to regain some of the lost freedoms that COVID has cost us. And that should be cause for celebration.
https://covid19.gov.gg/node/798
Is "eventually" this side of 2030 though?
Unless the Conservatives win. The Tories are fighting an unusual campaign, hiding the candidate from the media and voters. We do not know what they are telling electors on the phone or social media. Perhaps it is that Labour will disband the army; perhaps it is that Boris will hurl government money and jobs at the constituency. That they've not panicked suggests it might be working.
Also @NickPalmer thinks the blue team has it. Admittedly he is hundreds of miles away on the phone but he is often optimistic on the red side.
Also, you can do what you claim even more effectively than ever before using social media targeted ads.
From the perspective of 1985, it wasn't obvious that Manchester, for example, would do any better than Stockton-on-Tees, or Northampton, or Gloucester. Our big cities - even London, but especially Manchester, Birmingham, Newcastle, Sheffield, Leeds, Glasgow and especially Liverpool - were massively unfashionable and a bit of a joke. I remember the hilarity when Glasgow was appointed European City of Culture in 1990.
The eradication of the expectation of a job for life and the normalisation of dual earner families has given places with a critical mass of employment opportunities - where you and your spouse might reasonably hope to find employment opportunities for the rest of your life - a big advantage over small towns with just one or two large employers.
The large, good quality employer in a small town - GSK in Barnard Castle, for example - felt normal back in the 80s, but now feels something of an anachronism.
(Answers to the question of Romford being Essex or London has the same demographic profile as every other bit of UK politics. Because of course it does.)
Every country does this. The international agreements on state subsidies have restricted the size and nature of such deals, but they haven't eliminated them.
Merkel offered quite alot to Elon to get Gigafactory Berlin, for example.
Literally the only thing I'd like to add to the e-niro is ultrafast charging (up to the 170kW that the Audi can take; the e-niro is limited to about 70kW at the moment. Still pretty rapid - 20 minutes gives not far off an extra 100 miles of range - but could be even better).
I think the next generation of Kias will have that.
Has he no thought for the children?
Perhaps @Andy_Cooke can pop up on twitter and give him a bollocking.
Civil servants and politicians should not be allowed anywhere near business decisions. They bugger it up every time they interfere.
WHO Europe head Hans Kluge has warned of a "new wave in the WHO European region unless we remain disciplined", citing the spread of the Delta variant and an increase in mixing, travel and easing of restrictions.
The last thing you want to do in those circumstances is tell everyone what you are offering - for one reason it would allow other countries to offer more and see a company currently happy with £50m say insisting they get the £100m Nissan just got given.
(Worth remembering that, if future generations want to reverse all of this, it will be perfectly possible for them to do so. After all, if EU membership wasn't permanent, neither can CTPP be...)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dj8ThOmPTuM
It seems unlikely to me that rational arguments about costs and benefits are suddenly going to come to the fore, rather than the arguments we've had about emotion and identity.
Throw in a bit of Johnsonian truthiness, so that many people will believe Brexit is great, even if it isn't, and defending Brexit looks like a rich electoral seam for the Tories.
https://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/poll-shows-drop-for-scottish-independence-support-as-sir-john-curtice-claims-results-shows-cooling-over-uk-split-3287969
I wish, for the purposes of a) this sort of thing, and b) quiz questions, we had immutable and agreed sub-divisions of the country which could exist entirely separately from local government. It wouldn't make us any richer or better run. But it would be nice.
Both the Met and the Avon and Somerset police (in relation to the "Kill the Bill" protests in Bristol) wrongly applied coronavirus lockdown laws and "failed to understand their legal duties in respect of protest".
She will do no such thing I expect.
Are there any police leaders around who actually understand the laws they are meant to enforce? Or is this some sort of optional extra these days?
Or something!
I do think, though, that members of an advisory group who start trying to bounce the government into a particular decision, when they think they might be losing the argument within the group, should not expect to be invited back when their term of office expires. (All such committees should have a term of office, with re-appointment permitted, so that membership is regularly reviewed.)
--AS
As with everything else, there will no doubt be egos at play and some people like to be on the telly etc.
Scots only need to win once. The BritNats need to win every time. This is only going to end one way.
(Charles, at the time of the spider story he was already king.)
I still think the Tories will win but I can see circumstances where Labour comes through so inclined to agree with Mike re the value in Labour.
If still broken for you I'd try clearing your browser cache.
But I’m not going to expose my family to the Daily Mail.
The only conversation I had with my mother about it she said she’d spent her life being “somebody’s daughter”; “somebody’s wife”; “somebody’s sister”; and she was damned if she was going to be “somebody’s mother” as well!