I thought the grown-up professionals were supposed to be back in charge of America?
Yes it's almost as if those who said Biden was a lightweight hasbeen who got elected only by being not-Trump were right.
I don't doubt he's better than his predecessor, but that doesn't make him particularly good.
Of course he's not good. He's an absolute pygmy compared to any of the last dozen occupants of the White House prior to Trump (and yes, I'm including Carter in my comparison).
But he's not attempting to tear up the constitutional framework of the United States.
I'm a moderately successful finance and business person. And I've learned exactly one useful thing in the last quarter century:
Processes matter more than outcomes.
If you want to get thin, focus on a routine (a process) that works for you. Don't focus on a goal weight.
If you want a profitable company, focus on the processes that make your business work. Iterate and measure. But whatever you do, don't set a goal and attempt to manage around it.
The United States political system worked because it was focused on processes, not outcomes. Trump offered the world, but in return for tearing up the systems and processes than made America great.
Biden is bloody awful: weak and prevaricating and mentally incapable. But at least he believes in the system. And the system will chuck him out. And that means it's working.
I thought the grown-up professionals were supposed to be back in charge of America?
Yes it's almost as if those who said Biden was a lightweight hasbeen who got elected only by being not-Trump were right.
I don't doubt he's better than his predecessor, but that doesn't make him particularly good.
They're wrong and he's good.
Biden ran on withdrawal. This was also the policy of Trump and Obama. Biden is getting it done, unlike Trump and Obama who both got suckered into kicking the can.
Whilst I don’t think the government has handled Afghanistan especially well, I’d be amazed if this makes any difference to public opinion on the parties. It feels like another example of the media being disconnected from the ordinary people. As sad as the situation is, this is really low down the list of priorities.
I don't personally believe either UK or US are diminished, but then I'm not Theresa May or Tom Tugenhadt.
The UK has no power to do these sort of things unilaterally. The US does but decided not to.
Thanks for clearing that up for me.
Not what Theresa, Tom and several others were suggesting though.
They're wrong.
What did Theresa ever manage to achieve unilaterally?
Do you honestly believe for a fraction of a second that if Theresa was still PM we'd have remained after Biden's unilateral withdrawal decision?
I don't and I don't think you honestly hand on heart believe that either. So why pretend we should listen to disgraced ex PMs like that?
Always hard to be sure, but I doubt she’d have done anything differently. Note the silence from Blair. I can’t stand the guy and he is responsible for getting us into this, but he always says you should never say what you know you couldn’t have done if you’d been in power. He’s a realist and she is a fantasist.
I don't personally believe either UK or US are diminished, but then I'm not Theresa May or Tom Tugenhadt.
The UK has no power to do these sort of things unilaterally. The US does but decided not to.
Thanks for clearing that up for me.
Not what Theresa, Tom and several others were suggesting though.
They're wrong.
What did Theresa ever manage to achieve unilaterally?
Do you honestly believe for a fraction of a second that if Theresa was still PM we'd have remained after Biden's unilateral withdrawal decision?
I don't and I don't think you honestly hand on heart believe that either. So why pretend we should listen to disgraced ex PMs like that?
Always hard to be sure, but I doubt she’d have done anything differently. Note the silence from Blair. I can’t stand the guy and he is responsible for getting us into this, but he always says you should never say what you know you couldn’t have done if you’d been in power. He’s a realist and she is a fantasist.
As John Major said, as a former PM, it is hard to comment because you have not received the briefings. That would probably be true of Blair as well. I'd not read too much into it.
I don't personally believe either UK or US are diminished, but then I'm not Theresa May or Tom Tugenhadt.
The UK has no power to do these sort of things unilaterally. The US does but decided not to.
Thanks for clearing that up for me.
Not what Theresa, Tom and several others were suggesting though.
They're wrong.
What did Theresa ever manage to achieve unilaterally?
Do you honestly believe for a fraction of a second that if Theresa was still PM we'd have remained after Biden's unilateral withdrawal decision?
I don't and I don't think you honestly hand on heart believe that either. So why pretend we should listen to disgraced ex PMs like that?
Always hard to be sure, but I doubt she’d have done anything differently. Note the silence from Blair. I can’t stand the guy and he is responsible for getting us into this, but he always says you should never say what you know you couldn’t have done if you’d been in power. He’s a realist and she is a fantasist.
As John Major said, as a former PM, it is hard to comment because you have not received the briefings. That would probably be true of Blair as well. I'd not read too much into it.
I think people are getting carried away on the political implications of this. Sooner or later there will be another crisis somewhere else in the world, this time one that can be addressed by bombing some brown people, Biden will bomb some brown people, and the blob will be back on side.
I’m sure this is right. Everyone tends to overreact.
Still, Kamala’s silence is deafening
I think this kind of illustrates the problem with her position, because not being seen talking about it much won't let her off the hook. Health-permitting if Biden is doing well he'll run again, and if he's not doing well then she'll be tainted too.
Kamala's silence does not seem unusual, at least to this outsider. What does the Secretary of State (Blinken, their foreign secretary) say, or the Secretary for Defense (besides not planning to resign)? Or (remembering The West Wing) the Joint Chiefs (of the armed forces)?
The people decrying Harris's silence are the ones who were telling us Harris is uniqely unpopular, so how do they expect her to bail out the President?
I don't personally believe either UK or US are diminished, but then I'm not Theresa May or Tom Tugenhadt.
The UK has no power to do these sort of things unilaterally. The US does but decided not to.
Thanks for clearing that up for me.
Not what Theresa, Tom and several others were suggesting though.
They're wrong.
What did Theresa ever manage to achieve unilaterally?
Do you honestly believe for a fraction of a second that if Theresa was still PM we'd have remained after Biden's unilateral withdrawal decision?
I don't and I don't think you honestly hand on heart believe that either. So why pretend we should listen to disgraced ex PMs like that?
Remind us, what was the scandal that brought down Theresa May? Was it financial or sexual? She is not a "disgraced" former Prime Minister simply because you disagreed with her.
I thought the grown-up professionals were supposed to be back in charge of America?
Yes it's almost as if those who said Biden was a lightweight hasbeen who got elected only by being not-Trump were right.
I don't doubt he's better than his predecessor, but that doesn't make him particularly good.
Of course he's not good. He's an absolute pygmy compared to any of the last dozen occupants of the White House prior to Trump (and yes, I'm including Carter in my comparison).
But he's not attempting to tear up the constitutional framework of the United States.
I'm a moderately successful finance and business person. And I've learned exactly one useful thing in the last quarter century:
Processes matter more than outcomes.
If you want to get thin, focus on a routine (a process) that works for you. Don't focus on a goal weight.
If you want a profitable company, focus on the processes that make your business work. Iterate and measure. But whatever you do, don't set a goal and attempt to manage around it.
The United States political system worked because it was focused on processes, not outcomes. Trump offered the world, but in return for tearing up the systems and processes than made America great.
Biden is bloody awful: weak and prevaricating and mentally incapable. But at least he believes in the system. And the system will chuck him out. And that means it's working.
Wandering off-topic here but that is also the core message of the Atomic Habits self-help book – if you want better results, focus on systems not setting goals. (Possibly also Dominic Cummings.)
I thought the grown-up professionals were supposed to be back in charge of America?
Yes it's almost as if those who said Biden was a lightweight hasbeen who got elected only by being not-Trump were right.
I don't doubt he's better than his predecessor, but that doesn't make him particularly good.
Of course he's not good. He's an absolute pygmy compared to any of the last dozen occupants of the White House prior to Trump (and yes, I'm including Carter in my comparison).
But he's not attempting to tear up the constitutional framework of the United States.
I'm a moderately successful finance and business person. And I've learned exactly one useful thing in the last quarter century:
Processes matter more than outcomes.
If you want to get thin, focus on a routine (a process) that works for you. Don't focus on a goal weight.
If you want a profitable company, focus on the processes that make your business work. Iterate and measure. But whatever you do, don't set a goal and attempt to manage around it.
The United States political system worked because it was focused on processes, not outcomes. Trump offered the world, but in return for tearing up the systems and processes than made America great.
Biden is bloody awful: weak and prevaricating and mentally incapable. But at least he believes in the system. And the system will chuck him out. And that means it's working.
Wandering off-topic here but that is also the core message of the Atomic Habits self-help book – if you want better results, focus on systems not setting goals. (Possibly also Dominic Cummings.)
There has to be a bit of both, otherwise you end up with the infuriating “Computer Says No” customer service mentality, or the “Lesslons have been Learned” approach to public sector screwups, where no-one gives a sh!t about outcomes.
IMO the important thing is to find good people, and empower them to make decisions.
I thought the grown-up professionals were supposed to be back in charge of America?
Yes it's almost as if those who said Biden was a lightweight hasbeen who got elected only by being not-Trump were right.
I don't doubt he's better than his predecessor, but that doesn't make him particularly good.
Of course he's not good. He's an absolute pygmy compared to any of the last dozen occupants of the White House prior to Trump (and yes, I'm including Carter in my comparison).
But he's not attempting to tear up the constitutional framework of the United States.
I'm a moderately successful finance and business person. And I've learned exactly one useful thing in the last quarter century:
Processes matter more than outcomes.
If you want to get thin, focus on a routine (a process) that works for you. Don't focus on a goal weight.
If you want a profitable company, focus on the processes that make your business work. Iterate and measure. But whatever you do, don't set a goal and attempt to manage around it.
The United States political system worked because it was focused on processes, not outcomes. Trump offered the world, but in return for tearing up the systems and processes than made America great.
Biden is bloody awful: weak and prevaricating and mentally incapable. But at least he believes in the system. And the system will chuck him out. And that means it's working.
Wandering off-topic here but that is also the core message of the Atomic Habits self-help book – if you want better results, focus on systems not setting goals. (Possibly also Dominic Cummings.)
There has to be a bit of both, otherwise you end up with the infuriating “Computer Says No” customer service mentality, or the “Lesslons have been Learned” approach to public sector screwups, where no-one gives a sh!t about outcomes.
IMO the important thing is to find good people, and empower them to make decisions.
I reckon I’d be sacked from the civil service if I suggested that last bit.
I don't personally believe either UK or US are diminished, but then I'm not Theresa May or Tom Tugenhadt.
The UK has no power to do these sort of things unilaterally. The US does but decided not to.
Thanks for clearing that up for me.
Not what Theresa, Tom and several others were suggesting though.
They're wrong.
What did Theresa ever manage to achieve unilaterally?
Do you honestly believe for a fraction of a second that if Theresa was still PM we'd have remained after Biden's unilateral withdrawal decision?
I don't and I don't think you honestly hand on heart believe that either. So why pretend we should listen to disgraced ex PMs like that?
Always hard to be sure, but I doubt she’d have done anything differently. Note the silence from Blair. I can’t stand the guy and he is responsible for getting us into this, but he always says you should never say what you know you couldn’t have done if you’d been in power. He’s a realist and she is a fantasist.
As John Major said, as a former PM, it is hard to comment because you have not received the briefings. That would probably be true of Blair as well. I'd not read too much into it.
I thought the grown-up professionals were supposed to be back in charge of America?
Yes it's almost as if those who said Biden was a lightweight hasbeen who got elected only by being not-Trump were right.
I don't doubt he's better than his predecessor, but that doesn't make him particularly good.
Of course he's not good. He's an absolute pygmy compared to any of the last dozen occupants of the White House prior to Trump (and yes, I'm including Carter in my comparison).
But he's not attempting to tear up the constitutional framework of the United States.
I'm a moderately successful finance and business person. And I've learned exactly one useful thing in the last quarter century:
Processes matter more than outcomes.
If you want to get thin, focus on a routine (a process) that works for you. Don't focus on a goal weight.
If you want a profitable company, focus on the processes that make your business work. Iterate and measure. But whatever you do, don't set a goal and attempt to manage around it.
The United States political system worked because it was focused on processes, not outcomes. Trump offered the world, but in return for tearing up the systems and processes than made America great.
Biden is bloody awful: weak and prevaricating and mentally incapable. But at least he believes in the system. And the system will chuck him out. And that means it's working.
Wandering off-topic here but that is also the core message of the Atomic Habits self-help book – if you want better results, focus on systems not setting goals. (Possibly also Dominic Cummings.)
There has to be a bit of both, otherwise you end up with the infuriating “Computer Says No” customer service mentality, or the “Lesslons have been Learned” approach to public sector screwups, where no-one gives a sh!t about outcomes.
IMO the important thing is to find good people, and empower them to make decisions.
If the processes aren’t giving you the outcome you’re after, then you need to reassess them.
But you must never forget that it’s the process that you are optimizing towards.
I'd say Raab should be most worried, though Boris doesn't seen keen on a reshuffle, let alone of his First Secretary.
In a different decade, Raab would have fallen on his sword by now. But Johnson can't really sack him for going on holiday when he did pretty much the same thing. But that's two of the top table who really shouldn't be there (Raab and Patel) now?
On Topic- the interesting one is The Star. Up to now, they have played their criticism of the government for laughs. This is straighter, and that feels worse.
The interesting one is The Times.
Anyone serious knows this is about Biden, not our government. Realistically once Biden pulled out there was no way the UK could or should remain without the USA. Not a single sane person says otherwise.
But sure, "Raab should have fallen on his sword" for Biden's decision . . . ookay then 😕
The Foreign Secretary should not have gone on holiday (against, it is said, Foreign Office advice) while Afghanistan was brewing up. He should resign not because of Biden's decision but for deriliction of duty. And if not for that, he should resign because his department – both FCO and MI6 – did not have a proper handle on events.
Put more simply, Raab should resign either because he knew what was happening and went on holiday anyway, or because he did not know. But honour is no longer in fashion in this Cabinet.
Scientists at the University of Oxford found levels of the virus could be just as high in people who get COVID despite having both jabs as in those who haven't been vaccinated https://trib.al/JdZ6g79
Of course the papers are bad news for the Govt. Its a mess but its not Boris's mess... but will be portrayed as such.
It really is though...
Boris Johnson so far on Afghanistan:
-We were fully prepared -We didn't foresee it happening -We are doing everything we can -We can't do much without US -We were on holiday -We are working around the clock
The moral giant that is “a hostile environment” May. Probably the most incompetent and useless PM since the war.
Give me a break.
David Cameron was our worst Prime Minister since Lord North. HTH. Though Boris is, as was said earlier on this thread about The Donald, sui generis.
Cameron made mistakes. Keeping May as HS was not the least of them. I am no fan of Patel but May showed a cruel indifference to decency, consequences and the British virtue of fairness. She constantly tried to stack the deck against the asylum seeker and then punish them when desperation drove them beyond the law.
As someone who generally votes Conservative she was and is an embarrassment.
Scientists at the University of Oxford found levels of the virus could be just as high in people who get COVID despite having both jabs as in those who haven't been vaccinated https://trib.al/JdZ6g79
That’s disappointing. For a long time we hoped that the vaccinated would be a basis of herd immunity. It’s very bad news for those who have chosen not to be vaxed.
I don't personally believe either UK or US are diminished, but then I'm not Theresa May or Tom Tugenhadt.
A bitter has-been and an uncompromising zealot, neither of whom need to pay attention to real world compromises and can use their soapboxes as they please.
Do you think that a PM May (or even a PM Tugenhadt) after two decades in Afghanistan, having faced the Biden withdrawal which wasn't even discussed with the PM before the decision was made, would have said "the UK is staying behind, we'll continue to fight the Taliban unilaterally ourselves".
The moral giant that is “a hostile environment” May. Probably the most incompetent and useless PM since the war.
Give me a break.
David Cameron was our worst Prime Minister since Lord North. HTH. Though Boris is, as was said earlier on this thread about The Donald, sui generis.
Cameron made mistakes. Keeping May as HS was not the least of them. I am no fan of Patel but May showed a cruel indifference to decency, consequences and the British virtue of fairness. She constantly tried to stack the deck against the asylum seeker and then punish them when desperation drove them beyond the law.
As someone who generally votes Conservative she was and is an embarrassment.
David Cameron lost Europe. He almost lost Scotland. That is enough to condemn him as the worst since Lord North. Beyond that, and looking past his Home Secretary, Cameron seemed to have no appreciation of and no control over what Lansley was doing to the NHS, Gove at Education or IDS with UC, whether or not he'd have approved if he had known. He also tried to rig the electoral system.
Scientists at the University of Oxford found levels of the virus could be just as high in people who get COVID despite having both jabs as in those who haven't been vaccinated https://trib.al/JdZ6g79
That’s disappointing. For a long time we hoped that the vaccinated would be a basis of herd immunity. It’s very bad news for those who have chosen not to be vaxed.
It looks like the vaccines are more effective against symptoms, than infection or transmissibility. Looks like we are all going to get this at some point.
I’ve just been told well be getting boosters out here, six months after the second dose, which was three weeks after the first dose - Pfizer vaccine. It appears, with the benefit of hindsight, that the three-week gap was too short, but that’s what was trialled. Good (and brave, at the time) call by the UK to go with the longer dose interval.
I thought the grown-up professionals were supposed to be back in charge of America?
Yes it's almost as if those who said Biden was a lightweight hasbeen who got elected only by being not-Trump were right.
I don't doubt he's better than his predecessor, but that doesn't make him particularly good.
Of course he's not good. He's an absolute pygmy compared to any of the last dozen occupants of the White House prior to Trump (and yes, I'm including Carter in my comparison).
But he's not attempting to tear up the constitutional framework of the United States.
I'm a moderately successful finance and business person. And I've learned exactly one useful thing in the last quarter century:
Processes matter more than outcomes.
If you want to get thin, focus on a routine (a process) that works for you. Don't focus on a goal weight.
If you want a profitable company, focus on the processes that make your business work. Iterate and measure. But whatever you do, don't set a goal and attempt to manage around it.
The United States political system worked because it was focused on processes, not outcomes. Trump offered the world, but in return for tearing up the systems and processes than made America great.
Biden is bloody awful: weak and prevaricating and mentally incapable. But at least he believes in the system. And the system will chuck him out. And that means it's working.
Wandering off-topic here but that is also the core message of the Atomic Habits self-help book – if you want better results, focus on systems not setting goals. (Possibly also Dominic Cummings.)
There has to be a bit of both, otherwise you end up with the infuriating “Computer Says No” customer service mentality, or the “Lesslons have been Learned” approach to public sector screwups, where no-one gives a sh!t about outcomes.
IMO the important thing is to find good people, and empower them to make decisions.
If the processes aren’t giving you the outcome you’re after, then you need to reassess them.
But you must never forget that it’s the process that you are optimizing towards.
Yes, the egg definitely comes before the chicken. If you want to change outcomes you focus not on the results but how the results are achieved. Otherwise you are willing the ends without the means.
There has been some fascinating research done on this in the field of medical negligence. As someone who doesn’t mind a bit of chaos and has an instinctive hostility to bureaucracy, form filling and routine it was uncomfortable and thought provoking.
Trump was chaos personified. He threatened the very system. Biden is merely painfully inept and incompetent.
The moral giant that is “a hostile environment” May. Probably the most incompetent and useless PM since the war.
Give me a break.
That cartoonist always does the same crap every day. He’s clearly forgotten what a character Mrs May was, when it was her turn in the big seat.
On the other hand, Matt is on form this morning as always, two neighbours talking over the garden fence, with the caption “I’m still working from home, I’m shielding from a nasty new rail fare variant”
Also, some very funny tributes and obituaries for comedian Sean Lock in the papers today.
Of course the papers are bad news for the Govt. Its a mess but its not Boris's mess... but will be portrayed as such.
It really is though...
Boris Johnson so far on Afghanistan:
-We were fully prepared -We didn't foresee it happening -We are doing everything we can -We can't do much without US -We were on holiday -We are working around the clock
Scientists at the University of Oxford found levels of the virus could be just as high in people who get COVID despite having both jabs as in those who haven't been vaccinated https://trib.al/JdZ6g79
That’s disappointing. For a long time we hoped that the vaccinated would be a basis of herd immunity. It’s very bad news for those who have chosen not to be vaxed.
Of course the papers are bad news for the Govt. Its a mess but its not Boris's mess... but will be portrayed as such.
It really is though...
Boris Johnson so far on Afghanistan:
-We were fully prepared -We didn't foresee it happening -We are doing everything we can -We can't do much without US -We were on holiday -We are working around the clock
Also, some very funny tributes and obituaries for comedian Sean Lock in the papers today.
I liked Sean Lock (and posted his death to pb yesterday) but suspect most of the country that does not watch 8 Out of 10 Cats will be asking, Sean who?
Of course the papers are bad news for the Govt. Its a mess but its not Boris's mess... but will be portrayed as such.
It really is though...
Boris Johnson so far on Afghanistan:
-We were fully prepared -We didn't foresee it happening -We are doing everything we can -We can't do much without US -We were on holiday -We are working around the clock
I don't personally believe either UK or US are diminished, but then I'm not Theresa May or Tom Tugenhadt.
The UK has no power to do these sort of things unilaterally. The US does but decided not to.
Thanks for clearing that up for me.
Not what Theresa, Tom and several others were suggesting though.
They're wrong.
What did Theresa ever manage to achieve unilaterally?
Do you honestly believe for a fraction of a second that if Theresa was still PM we'd have remained after Biden's unilateral withdrawal decision?
I don't and I don't think you honestly hand on heart believe that either. So why pretend we should listen to disgraced ex PMs like that?
Always hard to be sure, but I doubt she’d have done anything differently. Note the silence from Blair. I can’t stand the guy and he is responsible for getting us into this…
That too might have something to do with the silence. ?
The moral giant that is “a hostile environment” May. Probably the most incompetent and useless PM since the war.
Give me a break.
There is no end to the double standards of the press. We had the media fawning over Dubya in the last few years, including The Guardian, simply because he opposed Trump.
Also, some very funny tributes and obituaries for comedian Sean Lock in the papers today.
I liked Sean Lock (and posted his death to pb yesterday) but suspect most of the country that does not watch 8 Out of 10 Cats will be asking, Sean who?
I saw him live a couple of times, maybe 15 years ago, very good show.
The comedy spoof of Countdown is one of the funniest programmes on television, and definitely won’t be the same without his deadpan quips - many of which were very close to the line. I’d have loved to have gone to a recording of that, imagine there was an awful lot worse that never made the edit.
Scientists at the University of Oxford found levels of the virus could be just as high in people who get COVID despite having both jabs as in those who haven't been vaccinated https://trib.al/JdZ6g79
That’s disappointing. For a long time we hoped that the vaccinated would be a basis of herd immunity. It’s very bad news for those who have chosen not to be vaxed.
It looks like the vaccines are more effective against symptoms, than infection or transmissibility. Looks like we are all going to get this at some point.
I’ve just been told well be getting boosters out here, six months after the second dose, which was three weeks after the first dose - Pfizer vaccine. It appears, with the benefit of hindsight, that the three-week gap was too short, but that’s what was trialled. Good (and brave, at the time) call by the UK to go with the longer dose interval.
It possibly didn’t make any difference with the Pfizer vaccine (though very probably did with AZN). 1 more point, since the UK gave @Pfizer at 3-4 wks and 8-12 wks dosing schedules: "The study also suggested that the time between doses did not affect effectiveness in preventing new infections" but unclear if this pertains to Delta infections or overall.. https://twitter.com/EricTopol/status/1428216300036190210
Of course the papers are bad news for the Govt. Its a mess but its not Boris's mess... but will be portrayed as such.
It really is though...
Boris Johnson so far on Afghanistan:
-We were fully prepared -We didn't foresee it happening -We are doing everything we can -We can't do much without US -We were on holiday -We are working around the clock
Scientists at the University of Oxford found levels of the virus could be just as high in people who get COVID despite having both jabs as in those who haven't been vaccinated https://trib.al/JdZ6g79
That’s disappointing. For a long time we hoped that the vaccinated would be a basis of herd immunity. It’s very bad news for those who have chosen not to be vaxed.
It looks like the vaccines are more effective against symptoms, than infection or transmissibility. Looks like we are all going to get this at some point.
I’ve just been told well be getting boosters out here, six months after the second dose, which was three weeks after the first dose - Pfizer vaccine. It appears, with the benefit of hindsight, that the three-week gap was too short, but that’s what was trialled. Good (and brave, at the time) call by the UK to go with the longer dose interval.
If the vaccine isn’t priming the immune system to react quickly in suppressing and eliminating the virus within your body, hence both reducing your load and your symptoms, it makes you wonder how exactly is it doing it?
Also, some very funny tributes and obituaries for comedian Sean Lock in the papers today.
I liked Sean Lock (and posted his death to pb yesterday) but suspect most of the country that does not watch 8 Out of 10 Cats will be asking, Sean who?
I only know him from 15 Storeys High. Not even heard of 8 out of 10 cats.
On the wider political significance of yesterday's debate, I think we saw signs that Conservative MPs are starting to question Britain's diminished role. After 10 years (or more if we go back to the 1980s) of Tory defence cuts, we cannot operate independently of the United States. We are no longer a significant enough partner – despite the Special Relationship – to have been consulted or even briefed beforehand.
On the wider political significance of yesterday's debate, I think we saw signs that Conservative MPs are starting to question Britain's diminished role. After 10 years (or more if we go back to the 1980s) of Tory defence cuts, we cannot operate independently of the United States. We are no longer a significant enough partner – despite the Special Relationship – to have been consulted or even briefed beforehand.
Of course the papers are bad news for the Govt. Its a mess but its not Boris's mess... but will be portrayed as such.
It really is though...
Boris Johnson so far on Afghanistan:
-We were fully prepared -We didn't foresee it happening -We are doing everything we can -We can't do much without US -We were on holiday -We are working around the clock
The first two were also what our armed forces chief of staff said. (I think there has been an element of denial in the armed forces leadership about the Afghan situation for a while.)
Also, some very funny tributes and obituaries for comedian Sean Lock in the papers today.
I liked Sean Lock (and posted his death to pb yesterday) but suspect most of the country that does not watch 8 Out of 10 Cats will be asking, Sean who?
I only know him from 15 Storeys High. Not even heard of 8 out of 10 cats.
Then get thee to 4oD or whatever Channel 4's catch-up service is called this week. A treat awaits. Or just watch clips on Youtube.
And what you want is 8 out of 10 cats Does Countdown which is funnier than 8otC itself (funnier than Countdown too). (HT @Sandpit)
New South Wales, which includes Sydney, reports 681 new coronavirus cases, the biggest one-day increase on record
New Zealand's coronavirus outbreak more than doubles in size with 11 new cases, the biggest one-day increase since August 2020
681 is too many. You simply won’t be able to control that with lockdowns. There will always be a couple of cases that you don’t know about.
Another dozen cases in NZ today, they only had one a couple of days ago. Very close to losing it there too, if the Aussie experience is anything to go by.
At least we got mostly vaccinated before Delta came around, our antipodean neighbours are not going to be so lucky.
Also, some very funny tributes and obituaries for comedian Sean Lock in the papers today.
I liked Sean Lock (and posted his death to pb yesterday) but suspect most of the country that does not watch 8 Out of 10 Cats will be asking, Sean who?
On the wider political significance of yesterday's debate, I think we saw signs that Conservative MPs are starting to question Britain's diminished role. After 10 years (or more if we go back to the 1980s) of Tory defence cuts, we cannot operate independently of the United States. We are no longer a significant enough partner – despite the Special Relationship – to have been consulted or even briefed beforehand.
Is our so called diminished role a bad thing ?
That is not the point, which is that it seems to have surprised and disappointed backbenchers who slept through the governments that took us there. Now, it could be argued that we should acknowledge our new position and cut our coat according to our cloth, on defence, intelligence, trade and diplomacy, or that we should strive to climb back up the table, but the short-term political significance might be the scales falling from MPs' eyes.
Of course the papers are bad news for the Govt. Its a mess but its not Boris's mess... but will be portrayed as such.
It really is though...
Boris Johnson so far on Afghanistan:
-We were fully prepared -We didn't foresee it happening -We are doing everything we can -We can't do much without US -We were on holiday -We are working around the clock
The first two were also what our armed forces chief of staff said. (I think there has been an element of denial in the armed forces leadership about the Afghan situation for a while.)
Armed Forces senior leadership has spectacularly failed - Chief of Defence (Gen Carter) actually commanded about 15000 UK/US/Afghan troops in 2011 (and really bigged up its success for many years) - he has driven a massive push towards dependence on the US (stripping out UK logistics, remodelling Brigades along US lines, reducing infantry and armour manpower) thats really looking like a big fat cock up..... he needs to seriously consider his position
Am I the only person who thought Tugendhat’s performance hammy, mawkish and, well, a performance? I’ve no doubt he feels strongly about the subject but as I’ve observed about Starmer, it’s not enough to have sincere principles as a politician, you have to convince people that’s the case even if it means fluently faking it at times.
On the wider political significance of yesterday's debate, I think we saw signs that Conservative MPs are starting to question Britain's diminished role. After 10 years (or more if we go back to the 1980s) of Tory defence cuts, we cannot operate independently of the United States. We are no longer a significant enough partner – despite the Special Relationship – to have been consulted or even briefed beforehand.
Is our so called diminished role a bad thing ?
That is not the point, which is that it seems to have surprised and disappointed backbenchers who slept through the governments that took us there. Now, it could be argued that we should acknowledge our new position and cut our coat according to our cloth, on defence, intelligence, trade and diplomacy, or that we should strive to climb back up the table, but the short-term political significance might be the scales falling from MPs' eyes.
Am I the only person who thought Tugendhat’s performance hammy, mawkish and, well, a performance? I’ve no doubt he feels strongly about the subject but as I’ve observed about Starmer, it’s not enough to have sincere principles as a politician, you have to convince people that’s the case even if it means fluently faking it at times.
It was, and he was trying to make his points by way of anecdote. Which was powerful, and emotive, but for me a true heavyweight speech would have been one containing argument based on evidence.
Am I the only person who thought Tugendhat’s performance hammy, mawkish and, well, a performance? I’ve no doubt he feels strongly about the subject but as I’ve observed about Starmer, it’s not enough to have sincere principles as a politician, you have to convince people that’s the case even if it means fluently faking it at times.
No, you’re not. I’m also finding it bizarre people elevating what is, to date, an average backbencher, to the level of senior statesman on the basis of his speech.
Also, some very funny tributes and obituaries for comedian Sean Lock in the papers today.
I liked Sean Lock (and posted his death to pb yesterday) but suspect most of the country that does not watch 8 Out of 10 Cats will be asking, Sean who?
I only know him from 15 Storeys High. Not even heard of 8 out of 10 cats.
Then get thee to 4oD or whatever Channel 4's catch-up service is called this week. A treat awaits. Or just watch clips on Youtube.
And what you want is 8 out of 10 cats Does Countdown which is funnier than 8otC itself (funnier than Countdown too). (HT @Sandpit)
All of the ex-servicemen who spoke gave similar testimonies, as for a split second did Ben Wallace on LBC with his "cos I'm a sold..." snapped response as to why he is taking this all so personally.
I note the dismissal of Tugendhat's "performance" from several posters above and have to ask - have you served? Unless you have seen what these men have seen who are you to call them fakes?
Of course the papers are bad news for the Govt. Its a mess but its not Boris's mess... but will be portrayed as such.
It really is though...
Boris Johnson so far on Afghanistan:
-We were fully prepared -We didn't foresee it happening -We are doing everything we can -We can't do much without US -We were on holiday -We are working around the clock
The first two were also what our armed forces chief of staff said. (I think there has been an element of denial in the armed forces leadership about the Afghan situation for a while.)
Armed Forces senior leadership has spectacularly failed - Chief of Defence (Gen Carter) actually commanded about 15000 UK/US/Afghan troops in 2011 (and really bigged up its success for many years) - he has driven a massive push towards dependence on the US (stripping out UK logistics, remodelling Brigades along US lines, reducing infantry and armour manpower) thats really looking like a big fat cock up..... he needs to seriously consider his position
The system contains significant inbuilt incentives for the armed services to big up both the potential impact they can make and how things are actually going. This is most obvious in the US where they have almost captured the political system, but apparent also in the Uk. So you need to look elsewhere - the security services, journalism, NGOs - to get a balanced assessment of how things are on the ground. We seem to have been poor at doing this for some time; I am old enough to remember when PB was full of commentary on how the Brits in Helmand were succeeding, with our supposedly more intelligent approach to ‘nation building’, where the heavy-footed Americans were not.
Scientists at the University of Oxford found levels of the virus could be just as high in people who get COVID despite having both jabs as in those who haven't been vaccinated https://trib.al/JdZ6g79
That’s disappointing. For a long time we hoped that the vaccinated would be a basis of herd immunity. It’s very bad news for those who have chosen not to be vaxed.
It looks like the vaccines are more effective against symptoms, than infection or transmissibility. Looks like we are all going to get this at some point.
I’ve just been told well be getting boosters out here, six months after the second dose, which was three weeks after the first dose - Pfizer vaccine. It appears, with the benefit of hindsight, that the three-week gap was too short, but that’s what was trialled. Good (and brave, at the time) call by the UK to go with the longer dose interval.
It possibly didn’t make any difference with the Pfizer vaccine (though very probably did with AZN). 1 more point, since the UK gave @Pfizer at 3-4 wks and 8-12 wks dosing schedules: "The study also suggested that the time between doses did not affect effectiveness in preventing new infections" but unclear if this pertains to Delta infections or overall.. https://twitter.com/EricTopol/status/1428216300036190210
The reporting is poor all round I'm afraid - as for herd immunity the UK is not going to particularly try for this. The entire 12+ population twice jabbed followed by a booster 6 months later might do it...
All of the ex-servicemen who spoke gave similar testimonies, as for a split second did Ben Wallace on LBC with his "cos I'm a sold..." snapped response as to why he is taking this all so personally.
I note the dismissal of Tugendhat's "performance" from several posters above and have to ask - have you served? Unless you have seen what these men have seen who are you to call them fakes?
Who called him a fake? My point is that he wasn’t imo very good at presenting his authentic experience as a professional soldier.
RAAB-ID FIRE: Dominic Raab’s position as foreign secretary is under pressure this morning as he faces calls to resign over his decision to delegate his responsibilities while he was on holiday as Kabul fell to the Taliban. Raab had already come under heavy criticism for failing to return from a luxury break in Crete until the early hours of Monday morning, after the Afghan capital had fallen, and for spending part of Sunday on the beach as the crisis unfolded. The foreign secretary is also embroiled in a major internal row with the ministry of defense and the Home Office over the Foreign Office’s failure to help Afghan interpreters and students, and for relying on MoD officials to undertake visa processing work in Kabul. That was before today’s remarkable Mail splash revealing Raab ignored official advice to call his Afghan counterpart and seek help airlifting translators out of the country, apparently because he was “too busy” on holiday.
I am surprised he can remember as far back as 4 or 5 days.
One thing that is noticeable, the Vice President is nowhere to be seen.
I do believe this is the single most important observation of the day.
Where is Kamala?
Now, she may be wooden. And she may be a dreadful politician. But she's not a complete idiot. She could no doubt answer questions, and merely come over as dull and functional. But she isn't obviously suffering from dementia.
My guess (and it's only a guess) is that she's getting her revenge. Biden* handed her a bunch of impossible problems that will generate only negative press for the VP.
And now Biden needs her. And she doesn't want to be anywhere near the shit show.
Could she actually plunge the knife into Biden early in his term? If so, would it be enough to force Biden from office?
I don't know the answer. But it's far from impossible. Could Afghanistan be America's Suez? With Biden playing the Eden role?
And perhaps Suez is the better analogy than Tehran or Saigon.
* Well, really Biden's team. ** Eden, too long in the shadows... I like it.
Yes, this starts to feel more like an American Suez. Total national humiliation. An entire political generation disgraced.
I don't think like Suez.
In the Suez Crisis, Britain tried to act as if in the pre-war era of Empire, and fell flat when America wouldn't back us up. It was a humiliation to learn that while still extensive, the British Empire was over.
This really is more like the fall of Vietnam, no matter how clichéd that is.
All of the ex-servicemen who spoke gave similar testimonies, as for a split second did Ben Wallace on LBC with his "cos I'm a sold..." snapped response as to why he is taking this all so personally.
I note the dismissal of Tugendhat's "performance" from several posters above and have to ask - have you served? Unless you have seen what these men have seen who are you to call them fakes?
Who called him a fake? My point is that he wasn’t imo very good at presenting his authentic experience as a professional soldier.
So...the problem with Boris’s administration is that the PM listens to what he wants to hear? “Absolutely”.
If he sounds bitter, he is bitter. He was minister for veterans and service personnel but Boris sacked him for disagreeing with the Government’s policy on pursuing British soldiers for alleged historic offences in Northern Ireland without new evidence of wrongdoing. After that, he says, colleagues ostracised him.
“I have no friends in politics”, he says. “It’s a deeply lonely place...I’m sick of doing all this [working for veterans and soldiers] for a Conservative Party and a government that treats me with contempt.” After the shootings not a single member of the Conservative Party phoned me up*
Given all this, does he still want to continue as a Tory MP? “I’m not going to lie to you; it’s something I think about every day”, he says. “Being in a Tory Party at the moment is like working for a really shit company where everyone takes the piss out of you and everyone running it hasn’t got a clue.”
Of course the foreign secretary in a government led by Boris Johnson will be sitting on the beach as Kabul falls to the Taliban. Johnson was also on holiday. Put an incompetent, bone idle, feckless, lying fool in charge and that’s the kind of government you get. Quite why 40% of the country is happy with this is beyond me, but it is, so here we are.
The moral giant that is “a hostile environment” May. Probably the most incompetent and useless PM since the war.
Give me a break.
Yes. You criticise the "hostile environment" of a few vans with "if you aren't here legally we'll get you" posters. Yet you wholeheartedly support the current actual hostile environment where that smirking monster panders to the "sink the migrants" Farragists and is planning to deport them all to somewhere abroad.
All of the ex-servicemen who spoke gave similar testimonies, as for a split second did Ben Wallace on LBC with his "cos I'm a sold..." snapped response as to why he is taking this all so personally.
I note the dismissal of Tugendhat's "performance" from several posters above and have to ask - have you served? Unless you have seen what these men have seen who are you to call them fakes?
Who called him a fake? My point is that he wasn’t imo very good at presenting his authentic experience as a professional soldier.
You did. His speech was a "performance" - an act, a fake.
This one is actually quite truthful by Johnson's standards. The entire British presence in Helmand was just 'hoping and coping'; passing the time by shooting poppy farmers and dogs while the US tried to align the strategy in Kabul. The UK defence establishment could not bear even the suspicion that they weren't the Americans' closest ally so they would not and could not quit while the US persisted. There was zero UK owned strategy.
Scientists at the University of Oxford found levels of the virus could be just as high in people who get COVID despite having both jabs as in those who haven't been vaccinated https://trib.al/JdZ6g79
That’s disappointing. For a long time we hoped that the vaccinated would be a basis of herd immunity. It’s very bad news for those who have chosen not to be vaxed.
It looks like the vaccines are more effective against symptoms, than infection or transmissibility. Looks like we are all going to get this at some point.
I’ve just been told well be getting boosters out here, six months after the second dose, which was three weeks after the first dose - Pfizer vaccine. It appears, with the benefit of hindsight, that the three-week gap was too short, but that’s what was trialled. Good (and brave, at the time) call by the UK to go with the longer dose interval.
It possibly didn’t make any difference with the Pfizer vaccine (though very probably did with AZN). 1 more point, since the UK gave @Pfizer at 3-4 wks and 8-12 wks dosing schedules: "The study also suggested that the time between doses did not affect effectiveness in preventing new infections" but unclear if this pertains to Delta infections or overall.. https://twitter.com/EricTopol/status/1428216300036190210
The reporting is poor all round I'm afraid - as for herd immunity the UK is not going to particularly try for this. The entire 12+ population twice jabbed followed by a booster 6 months later might do it...
Shouldn't we now be looking at a booster with a re-engineered vax that challenges Delta better rather than just a top up?
The moral giant that is “a hostile environment” May. Probably the most incompetent and useless PM since the war.
Give me a break.
Easily outclassed in that respect by her successor, which is saying something. The immediately pressing "hostile environment" against Afghan collaborators with UK forces falls squarely on the current lot.
Beyond that there wasn't much a UK prime minister could do, given the US determination to get out as quickly as possible. I cut Johnson some slack on that.
Scientists at the University of Oxford found levels of the virus could be just as high in people who get COVID despite having both jabs as in those who haven't been vaccinated https://trib.al/JdZ6g79
That’s disappointing. For a long time we hoped that the vaccinated would be a basis of herd immunity. It’s very bad news for those who have chosen not to be vaxed.
It looks like the vaccines are more effective against symptoms, than infection or transmissibility. Looks like we are all going to get this at some point.
I’ve just been told well be getting boosters out here, six months after the second dose, which was three weeks after the first dose - Pfizer vaccine. It appears, with the benefit of hindsight, that the three-week gap was too short, but that’s what was trialled. Good (and brave, at the time) call by the UK to go with the longer dose interval.
It possibly didn’t make any difference with the Pfizer vaccine (though very probably did with AZN). 1 more point, since the UK gave @Pfizer at 3-4 wks and 8-12 wks dosing schedules: "The study also suggested that the time between doses did not affect effectiveness in preventing new infections" but unclear if this pertains to Delta infections or overall.. https://twitter.com/EricTopol/status/1428216300036190210
We are not seeing a problem with those over Eighties injected with the original Pfizer schedule in Dec 2020, at least not noticeably. Obviously we do not have as long of follow up on those with the extended interval.
The pressure on my Trust is increasing. We now have 120+ covid inpatients and 20+ on ICU. Medical outliers on Surgical wards as no Medical beds and cancelled operating lists, with the theatre staff back in ICU.
All of the ex-servicemen who spoke gave similar testimonies, as for a split second did Ben Wallace on LBC with his "cos I'm a sold..." snapped response as to why he is taking this all so personally.
I note the dismissal of Tugendhat's "performance" from several posters above and have to ask - have you served? Unless you have seen what these men have seen who are you to call them fakes?
Who called him a fake? My point is that he wasn’t imo very good at presenting his authentic experience as a professional soldier.
You did. His speech was a "performance" - an act, a fake.
Every single mp who stands up to speak in the HoC gives a performance. How connected those performances are to sincere beliefs and whether they’re good or crap performances are different questions.
So...the problem with Boris’s administration is that the PM listens to what he wants to hear? “Absolutely”.
If he sounds bitter, he is bitter. He was minister for veterans and service personnel but Boris sacked him for disagreeing with the Government’s policy on pursuing British soldiers for alleged historic offences in Northern Ireland without new evidence of wrongdoing. After that, he says, colleagues ostracised him.
“I have no friends in politics”, he says. “It’s a deeply lonely place...I’m sick of doing all this [working for veterans and soldiers] for a Conservative Party and a government that treats me with contempt.” After the shootings not a single member of the Conservative Party phoned me up*
Given all this, does he still want to continue as a Tory MP? “I’m not going to lie to you; it’s something I think about every day”, he says. “Being in a Tory Party at the moment is like working for a really shit company where everyone takes the piss out of you and everyone running it hasn’t got a clue.”
"Racked with self-doubt, its [USA] elites in the grip of a bizarre “awakening” centred around a nihilistic, ungrateful self-loathing, it no longer has values to sell, neither capitalism nor democracy nor the American dream. How can people who live in terror of “micro-aggressions” find it in themselves to defeat real evils?"
So...the problem with Boris’s administration is that the PM listens to what he wants to hear? “Absolutely”.
If he sounds bitter, he is bitter. He was minister for veterans and service personnel but Boris sacked him for disagreeing with the Government’s policy on pursuing British soldiers for alleged historic offences in Northern Ireland without new evidence of wrongdoing. After that, he says, colleagues ostracised him.
“I have no friends in politics”, he says. “It’s a deeply lonely place...I’m sick of doing all this [working for veterans and soldiers] for a Conservative Party and a government that treats me with contempt.” After the shootings not a single member of the Conservative Party phoned me up*
Given all this, does he still want to continue as a Tory MP? “I’m not going to lie to you; it’s something I think about every day”, he says. “Being in a Tory Party at the moment is like working for a really shit company where everyone takes the piss out of you and everyone running it hasn’t got a clue.”
* The only MP who phoned him was Ian Blackford.....
Good morning ladies and gentlemen. Not a good morning on many fronts, is it?
On Mercer, his comments suggest that the current 'Conservative' parliamentary party are largely totally subservient to the PM, rather than, as once would have been the case, 'only' being prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt. Which is the sort of behaviour we used to see from members of the 'parliament' of the Soviet Union.
Unlike some others on here I am much more exercised by Prince Andrew than Prince Harry. But mileages - like recollections - vary, I guess.
Harry's greatest weakness is his sense of entitlement, but he is hardly alone amongst that crowd. At least he wants to do some public service, but is prevented from doing so.
So...the problem with Boris’s administration is that the PM listens to what he wants to hear? “Absolutely”.
If he sounds bitter, he is bitter. He was minister for veterans and service personnel but Boris sacked him for disagreeing with the Government’s policy on pursuing British soldiers for alleged historic offences in Northern Ireland without new evidence of wrongdoing. After that, he says, colleagues ostracised him.
“I have no friends in politics”, he says. “It’s a deeply lonely place...I’m sick of doing all this [working for veterans and soldiers] for a Conservative Party and a government that treats me with contempt.” After the shootings not a single member of the Conservative Party phoned me up*
Given all this, does he still want to continue as a Tory MP? “I’m not going to lie to you; it’s something I think about every day”, he says. “Being in a Tory Party at the moment is like working for a really shit company where everyone takes the piss out of you and everyone running it hasn’t got a clue.”
* The only MP who phoned him was Ian Blackford.....
I think ex service personnel, at least in the era of a professional army, don't make particularly good politicians. They are too shaped by their military days, and have distorted perspectives. The military should keep out of politics.
The moral giant that is “a hostile environment” May. Probably the most incompetent and useless PM since the war.
Give me a break.
Yes. You criticise the "hostile environment" of a few vans with "if you aren't here legally we'll get you" posters. Yet you wholeheartedly support the current actual hostile environment where that smirking monster panders to the "sink the migrants" Farragists and is planning to deport them all to somewhere abroad.
Are there any mirrors in your house?
Jesus, he’s off on one again. Comparing something that happened to something that is only happening in his crazed imaginings. Priti Patel seems to invoke a disproportionate amount of bile from new labour types. Wonder why.
Scientists at the University of Oxford found levels of the virus could be just as high in people who get COVID despite having both jabs as in those who haven't been vaccinated https://trib.al/JdZ6g79
That’s disappointing. For a long time we hoped that the vaccinated would be a basis of herd immunity. It’s very bad news for those who have chosen not to be vaxed.
It looks like the vaccines are more effective against symptoms, than infection or transmissibility. Looks like we are all going to get this at some point.
I’ve just been told well be getting boosters out here, six months after the second dose, which was three weeks after the first dose - Pfizer vaccine. It appears, with the benefit of hindsight, that the three-week gap was too short, but that’s what was trialled. Good (and brave, at the time) call by the UK to go with the longer dose interval.
It possibly didn’t make any difference with the Pfizer vaccine (though very probably did with AZN). 1 more point, since the UK gave @Pfizer at 3-4 wks and 8-12 wks dosing schedules: "The study also suggested that the time between doses did not affect effectiveness in preventing new infections" but unclear if this pertains to Delta infections or overall.. https://twitter.com/EricTopol/status/1428216300036190210
We are not seeing a problem with those over Eighties injected with the original Pfizer schedule in Dec 2020, at least not noticeably. Obviously we do not have as long of follow up on those with the extended interval.
The pressure on my Trust is increasing. We now have 120+ covid inpatients and 20+ on ICU. Medical outliers on Surgical wards as no Medical beds and cancelled operating lists, with the theatre staff back in ICU.
Do you know how many of the 120+ and 20+ are vaccinated?
When Hannibal had just won Cannae, the Romans sold the field his camp was on for the full market value.
The West generally is not exactly showing the same resolve today. Just see how Je Suis Charlie became a Batley Grammar School fearing for his life while a mob of thugs assembled to intimidate him over a cartoon.
Unlike some others on here I am much more exercised by Prince Andrew than Prince Harry. But mileages - like recollections - vary, I guess.
Harry's greatest weakness is his sense of entitlement, but he is hardly alone amongst that crowd. At least he wants to do some public service, but is prevented from doing so.
Not a binary choice mate, can be appalled by both for different reasons. Harry’s constant sniping via close contacts is become tiresome. Just say something yourself. Of course his current disdain for the monarch will be forgotten when he visits her with Netflix cameras in tow.
"Racked with self-doubt, its [USA] elites in the grip of a bizarre “awakening” centred around a nihilistic, ungrateful self-loathing, it no longer has values to sell, neither capitalism nor democracy nor the American dream. How can people who live in terror of “micro-aggressions” find it in themselves to defeat real evils?"
There's lots of hyperventilating going on about the decline of American power but invading middle-eastern countries and trying to govern them is only really a Bush-Cheney thing, and it was obviously doomed only a few years after they tried it. What would really doom the US to decline would be if it couldn't course-correct.
In regard to booster shots the latest communications that Surgeries have received in Hampshire is that those who have had Pfifzer will require a half dose as a booster and these will start in about 3 weeks.
Those who have had AZN are unlikely to require a booster as its effectiveness keeps building.
Comments
I don't doubt he's better than his predecessor, but that doesn't make him particularly good.
But he's not attempting to tear up the constitutional framework of the United States.
I'm a moderately successful finance and business person. And I've learned exactly one useful thing in the last quarter century:
Processes matter more than outcomes.
If you want to get thin, focus on a routine (a process) that works for you. Don't focus on a goal weight.
If you want a profitable company, focus on the processes that make your business work. Iterate and measure. But whatever you do, don't set a goal and attempt to manage around it.
The United States political system worked because it was focused on processes, not outcomes. Trump offered the world, but in return for tearing up the systems and processes than made America great.
Biden is bloody awful: weak and prevaricating and mentally incapable. But at least he believes in the system. And the system will chuck him out. And that means it's working.
Biden ran on withdrawal. This was also the policy of Trump and Obama. Biden is getting it done, unlike Trump and Obama who both got suckered into kicking the can.
The people decrying Harris's silence are the ones who were telling us Harris is uniqely unpopular, so how do they expect her to bail out the President?
And given he served in Afghanistan, he probably would have done a better job of withdrawal.
IMO the important thing is to find good people, and empower them to make decisions.
Yes, dish best served cold etc etc.
But you must never forget that it’s the process that you are optimizing towards.
Put more simply, Raab should resign either because he knew what was happening and went on holiday anyway, or because he did not know. But honour is no longer in fashion in this Cabinet.
Give me a break.
He is a much worse PM than May, just as Priti is a much worse Home Secretary.
Boris Johnson so far on Afghanistan:
-We were fully prepared
-We didn't foresee it happening
-We are doing everything we can
-We can't do much without US
-We were on holiday
-We are working around the clock
#Afghanistan
https://twitter.com/paul__johnson/status/1427918836947374081
As someone who generally votes Conservative she was and is an embarrassment.
I’ve just been told well be getting boosters out here, six months after the second dose, which was three weeks after the first dose - Pfizer vaccine. It appears, with the benefit of hindsight, that the three-week gap was too short, but that’s what was trialled. Good (and brave, at the time) call by the UK to go with the longer dose interval.
There has been some fascinating research done on this in the field of medical negligence. As someone who doesn’t mind a bit of chaos and has an instinctive hostility to bureaucracy, form filling and routine it was uncomfortable and thought provoking.
Trump was chaos personified. He threatened the very system. Biden is merely painfully inept and incompetent.
On the other hand, Matt is on form this morning as always, two neighbours talking over the garden fence, with the caption “I’m still working from home, I’m shielding from a nasty new rail fare variant”
Also, some very funny tributes and obituaries for comedian Sean Lock in the papers today.
Theresa May is far from a giant in any sense.
The comedy spoof of Countdown is one of the funniest programmes on television, and definitely won’t be the same without his deadpan quips - many of which were very close to the line. I’d have loved to have gone to a recording of that, imagine there was an awful lot worse that never made the edit.
1 more point, since the UK gave @Pfizer at 3-4 wks and 8-12 wks dosing schedules:
"The study also suggested that the time between doses did not affect effectiveness in preventing new infections" but unclear if this pertains to Delta infections or overall..
https://twitter.com/EricTopol/status/1428216300036190210
(I think there has been an element of denial in the armed forces leadership about the Afghan situation for a while.)
And what you want is 8 out of 10 cats Does Countdown which is funnier than 8otC itself (funnier than Countdown too). (HT @Sandpit)
At least we got mostly vaccinated before Delta came around, our antipodean neighbours are not going to be so lucky.
https://twitter.com/honeymcel/status/1427956435393056770?s=21
I note the dismissal of Tugendhat's "performance" from several posters above and have to ask - have you served? Unless you have seen what these men have seen who are you to call them fakes?
The UK lost 95 banking millionaires in 2019.
Detail: 71 percent of the near 5,000 highest-paid European bankers remained in the U.K.
So that's about 3,500 remained in the UK and under 3% moved.....
https://www.politico.eu/article/london-lost-millionaire-bankers-to-continent-ahead-of-brexit/
The entire 12+ population twice jabbed followed by a booster 6 months later might do it...
https://www.politico.eu/newsletter/london-playbook/politico-london-playbook-raab-id-fire-digital-detox-gone-wrong-britains-biden-fury/
https://twitter.com/wimdows/status/1428060147365122054?s=21
In the Suez Crisis, Britain tried to act as if in the pre-war era of Empire, and fell flat when America wouldn't back us up. It was a humiliation to learn that while still extensive, the British Empire was over.
This really is more like the fall of Vietnam, no matter how clichéd that is.
Which was a perfectly fair comment to make.
So...the problem with Boris’s administration is that the PM listens to what he wants to hear? “Absolutely”.
If he sounds bitter, he is bitter. He was minister for veterans and service personnel but Boris sacked him for disagreeing with the Government’s policy on pursuing British soldiers for alleged historic offences in Northern Ireland without new evidence of wrongdoing. After that, he says, colleagues ostracised him.
“I have no friends in politics”, he says. “It’s a deeply lonely place...I’m sick of doing all this [working for veterans and soldiers] for a Conservative Party and a government that treats me with contempt.” After the shootings not a single member of the Conservative Party phoned me up*
Given all this, does he still want to continue as a Tory MP? “I’m not going to lie to you; it’s something I think about every day”, he says. “Being in a Tory Party at the moment is like working for a really shit company where everyone takes the piss out of you and everyone running it hasn’t got a clue.”
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/world/johnny-mercer-mp-afghanistan-betrayal-boris-johnson-tory-b951174.html
* The only MP who phoned him was Ian Blackford.....
Are there any mirrors in your house?
Beyond that there wasn't much a UK prime minister could do, given the US determination to get out as quickly as possible. I cut Johnson some slack on that.
Raab wasn't asked to be the ambassador processing visas at Kabul airport
Raab wasn't asked to be one of the 600 troops deployed to secure the airport
He was asked to make *one phone call* from his sun lounger to help the translators who served our troops - and he refused
https://twitter.com/johnestevens/status/1428245637783592962?s=20
The pressure on my Trust is increasing. We now have 120+ covid inpatients and 20+ on ICU. Medical outliers on Surgical wards as no Medical beds and cancelled operating lists, with the theatre staff back in ICU.
https://twitter.com/PoliticsForAlI/status/1428249126509195264?s=20
So that's Labour and The Daily Mail.....
https://twitter.com/statnews/status/1428144684640129028?s=19
"Racked with self-doubt, its [USA] elites in the grip of a bizarre “awakening” centred around a nihilistic, ungrateful self-loathing, it no longer has values to sell, neither capitalism nor democracy nor the American dream. How can people who live in terror of “micro-aggressions” find it in themselves to defeat real evils?"
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/08/18/witnessing-collapse-american-empire/
On Mercer, his comments suggest that the current 'Conservative' parliamentary party are largely totally subservient to the PM, rather than, as once would have been the case, 'only' being prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt.
Which is the sort of behaviour we used to see from members of the 'parliament' of the Soviet Union.
Harry's greatest weakness is his sense of entitlement, but he is hardly alone amongst that crowd. At least he wants to do some public service, but is prevented from doing so.
Mr. Borough, well, quite.
When Hannibal had just won Cannae, the Romans sold the field his camp was on for the full market value.
The West generally is not exactly showing the same resolve today. Just see how Je Suis Charlie became a Batley Grammar School fearing for his life while a mob of thugs assembled to intimidate him over a cartoon.
In 2018, Italy lost €6.6 billion of its corporate tax revenue due to EU tax havens such as Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands. Unacceptable!
High time for a change in EU corporate taxation.
https://twitter.com/heimbergecon/status/1428217674828500994
87% of EU tax revenue lost to "tax havens" went to EU Tax Havens....
https://news.sky.com/story/raab-was-too-busy-on-holiday-to-speak-with-afghan-foreign-minister-as-taliban-closed-in-on-kabul-12384927
https://twitter.com/Keir_Starmer/status/1428252550684418048
If it were in the BVI, Seychelles, or Delaware, then maybe that term could be appropriate.
Setting up pan-EU companies is by design, it’s the Single Market in full effect.
Countries that uses principally Pfizer are going to have a better autumn and winter.
Those who have had AZN are unlikely to require a booster as its effectiveness keeps building.