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Could Raab be in trouble at Esher and Walton? – politicalbetting.com

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  • kle4kle4 Posts: 96,071
    Taz said:

    Taz said:

    Taz said:

    Taz said:

    kle4 said:

    The BBC has mentioned a few times now that Liz Truss is the first female Foreign Secretary, which will be news to Margaret Beckett who held the role under Tony Blair.

    https://twitter.com/GrantTucker/status/1438156831436705794?s=19

    It's such a typical and revealing establishment take.

    They every see every single news story through the prism of identity politics.

    Why the hell should it matter? Let's comment on the experience, capability and agendas of the people appointed - not "celebrate" what tackle they do or don't have between their legs, or what their skin colour is.
    I think there is still something in celebrating a milestone, but you can take that too far and if you then get too specific or its not really a new bar being reached then it is not really worth talking about.

    A first female Foreign Secretary, if it had been the case, would be worth noting, but as we've had two female PMs and other female holders of Great Offices (still waiting on Chancellor) it wouldn't have been that big a deal.

    I vaguely recall an example of it going wrong with the lead from Star Trek Discovery, since there had already been a black female member of a main cast in Star Trek, and a black captain and a female captain, so being the first black female lead character was a thing, but not that big a thing.
    Same with Doctor Who, where the water was extensively tested with a female master and whatever River Song turned out to be, and when we did get a lady doctor, she was surrounded by men just in case.
    There were the cringe inducing promos prior to her first season with a glass ceiling breaking. Subtle.

    The Whitaker years have been poor, really poor. The show has not really recovered from the loss of Tennant and RTD. There have been some highlights along the way but the decline under Whitaker has been marked. Very few highlights and what a load of old shite the Timeless child arc was.

    Chibnalls comments to Pip and Jane Baker have certainly come back to haunt him.
    RTD should come back and save it, otherwise time to put it on ice for a few years.
    RTD has nothing to prove and why would he. He’s moved onwards and upwards and would he recreate the magic a second time.

    Rumour is it is going on hiatus. It needs to. The show can, and will, reinvent itself but it is devoid of ideas. It’s disjointed. It needlessly brings back old monsters and foes for no good reason. The stories are unmemorable. The interest in the show has declined. Merchandise sales are through the floor. The magazine sells to a dwindling audience.

    The show was said to be actor proof, it is not Showrunner proof.

    The problem is the show has been run by fans for far too long.
    Doctor Who is sci-fi for people who don't get sci-fi. ;)

    (Runs for cover)

    Seriously though, it's cr@p scifi. It always has been, always will be. It's lazy, and its world - even in the modern iteration - is laughably inconsistent.

    Take the Angels. They create a brilliant enemy. A really horrific one. So Doctor Who defeats them, and they bring them back. Do they make the angels more intelligent, having learnt from their mistakes? No. They just bring back more of them.

    It's lazy and stupid writing.

    It’s fans writing for fans. It’s the old Alan Partridge line. ‘People like them, lets make some more’.

    We have them always bringing back old villains with little purpose. The Zygons came back a few years ago. Why? One story in the seventies and a small cameo or two aside but it was pointless. Putting an ice warrior on a submarine. Why ?

    Reliving the old days. Like the JNT era it becomes a disappointment and the show is made for fans who don’t like it.

    Too many fans are continuity obsessed.
    It's like Star Wars episodes 7 to 9. They should have asked Lucas for a three-story plot arc and create the world vision and character arcs, then bound and gagged him from writing any dialogue. They should then have employed brilliant writers sans vision to envision that plot arc and the character progression.

    Instead they listened to fans after every episode, and produced inconsistent dross.
    Saw the first film, found it underwhelming. I think my expectation was too high. Never seen another one.
    None of them, even the originals, are as good as die hard fans think. That's why they are die hard.

    As long as people dont take it too seriously they are all watchable, and some better.
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 42,952
    FF43 said:

    theProle said:

    FF43 said:

    Carnyx said:

    Confirmed:

    Nadine Dorries MP @NadineDorries has been appointed Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport @DCMS

    https://twitter.com/10DowningStreet/status/1438169372237959171?s=20

    Interesting - a Brexiter in charge of the laws to replace GDPR, also.
    The current proposals are to gut GDPR and to seriously reduce data privacy safeguards, under the guise of some gentle streamlining of the regulation. I can't see the UK keeping its EU data adequacy agreement if they go ahead with the proposals.
    If this stops people doing stupid stuff everywhere for fear of GDPR (e.g. My church used to email round a copy of the membership address book, now they will only give it out in hardcopy, lest it somehow get forwarded to someone who shouldn't have it in breach of our GDPR policy), then they should get on an do it.
    There may be some good in GDPR somewhere, but it's mostly just been an excuse for petty bureaucracy and stupid cookie popups.
    Actually I disagree with that assessment. I would say GDPR is a serious attempt, maybe the only one in the world, to deal with an issue that exercises people about what happens to their data. I would also say it partially succeeds in its goal. It is an onerous piece of legislation - arguably too much so - although I think your church is possibly overcautious here - but it does have teeth. The main thing is that you can sue companies and institutions if they do it wrong, which is a big incentive for them to do it right.

    The proposed changes is a weakening of safeguards across the piece, but with a multiplicative effect because the safeguards support each other. An example is that most data breaches will no longer need to be reported. The proposed "risk-based" data adequacy agreements will likely result in those that are minimally inconvenienced by the remaining safeguards can just ship the data abroad to do what they like with it.
    Can you imagine that once upon a time they actually published and distributed "phone books" with everyone's name, address and phone number in it. Unless you asked to be ex-directory.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,255

    Cookie said:

    Andy_JS said:

    geoffw said:

    rcs1000 said:

    geoffw said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Important tube news: the two new stations at Battersea Power Station and Nine Elms open on Monday 20th September.

    Which line is that?

    Northern Line? Runs south from Kennington, I think.
    A spur off it I suppose.

    Spur to Nine Elms and Battersea Power Station from Kennington. Takes the number of tube stations to 272.

    First new tube station since 2008 when Wood Lane opened on the Hammersmith & City Line, although that wasn't a new line: it was a new station inserted between existing stations. The most recent new station which involved new track was Heathrow Terminal 5 which opened earlier in 2008.
    Silly tube trivia question. Which stations can you go north one stop, get off the train, go north another stop, and end back up in the same place?
    Eh? So you're you walking to the second stop? Or is this a wordplay question? I'm interested, but I don't understand.
    No. Taking two trains, one after each other. Both northbound. And end in same place. Not a joke, but for pedants, northbound would have been more accurate wording than north.
    I think someone has already answered this correctly. While we are on this topic, name the tube station where you can take a train one stop and find yourself at the same station you started from.
    Shepherd's Bush?
  • IshmaelZIshmaelZ Posts: 21,830
    TOPPING said:

    FF43 said:

    theProle said:

    FF43 said:

    Carnyx said:

    Confirmed:

    Nadine Dorries MP @NadineDorries has been appointed Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport @DCMS

    https://twitter.com/10DowningStreet/status/1438169372237959171?s=20

    Interesting - a Brexiter in charge of the laws to replace GDPR, also.
    The current proposals are to gut GDPR and to seriously reduce data privacy safeguards, under the guise of some gentle streamlining of the regulation. I can't see the UK keeping its EU data adequacy agreement if they go ahead with the proposals.
    If this stops people doing stupid stuff everywhere for fear of GDPR (e.g. My church used to email round a copy of the membership address book, now they will only give it out in hardcopy, lest it somehow get forwarded to someone who shouldn't have it in breach of our GDPR policy), then they should get on an do it.
    There may be some good in GDPR somewhere, but it's mostly just been an excuse for petty bureaucracy and stupid cookie popups.
    Actually I disagree with that assessment. I would say GDPR is a serious attempt, maybe the only one in the world, to deal with an issue that exercises people about what happens to their data. I would also say it partially succeeds in its goal. It is an onerous piece of legislation - arguably too much so - although I think your church is possibly overcautious here - but it does have teeth. The main thing is that you can sue companies and institutions if they do it wrong, which is a big incentive for them to do it right.

    The proposed changes is a weakening of safeguards across the piece, but with a multiplicative effect because the safeguards support each other. An example is that most data breaches will no longer need to be reported. The proposed "risk-based" data adequacy agreements will likely result in those that are minimally inconvenienced by the remaining safeguards can just ship the data abroad to do what they like with it.
    Can you imagine that once upon a time they actually published and distributed "phone books" with everyone's name, address and phone number in it. Unless you asked to be ex-directory.
    Still there unless you ask not to be

    https://www.thephonebook.bt.com/person/
  • Leon said:

    Cookie said:

    Andy_JS said:

    geoffw said:

    rcs1000 said:

    geoffw said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Important tube news: the two new stations at Battersea Power Station and Nine Elms open on Monday 20th September.

    Which line is that?

    Northern Line? Runs south from Kennington, I think.
    A spur off it I suppose.

    Spur to Nine Elms and Battersea Power Station from Kennington. Takes the number of tube stations to 272.

    First new tube station since 2008 when Wood Lane opened on the Hammersmith & City Line, although that wasn't a new line: it was a new station inserted between existing stations. The most recent new station which involved new track was Heathrow Terminal 5 which opened earlier in 2008.
    Silly tube trivia question. Which stations can you go north one stop, get off the train, go north another stop, and end back up in the same place?
    Eh? So you're you walking to the second stop? Or is this a wordplay question? I'm interested, but I don't understand.
    No. Taking two trains, one after each other. Both northbound. And end in same place. Not a joke, but for pedants, northbound would have been more accurate wording than north.
    I think someone has already answered this correctly. While we are on this topic, name the tube station where you can take a train one stop and find yourself at the same station you started from.
    Shepherd's Bush?
    No, or at least not the one I had in mind.
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 42,952
    kle4 said:

    Taz said:

    Taz said:

    Taz said:

    Taz said:

    kle4 said:

    The BBC has mentioned a few times now that Liz Truss is the first female Foreign Secretary, which will be news to Margaret Beckett who held the role under Tony Blair.

    https://twitter.com/GrantTucker/status/1438156831436705794?s=19

    It's such a typical and revealing establishment take.

    They every see every single news story through the prism of identity politics.

    Why the hell should it matter? Let's comment on the experience, capability and agendas of the people appointed - not "celebrate" what tackle they do or don't have between their legs, or what their skin colour is.
    I think there is still something in celebrating a milestone, but you can take that too far and if you then get too specific or its not really a new bar being reached then it is not really worth talking about.

    A first female Foreign Secretary, if it had been the case, would be worth noting, but as we've had two female PMs and other female holders of Great Offices (still waiting on Chancellor) it wouldn't have been that big a deal.

    I vaguely recall an example of it going wrong with the lead from Star Trek Discovery, since there had already been a black female member of a main cast in Star Trek, and a black captain and a female captain, so being the first black female lead character was a thing, but not that big a thing.
    Same with Doctor Who, where the water was extensively tested with a female master and whatever River Song turned out to be, and when we did get a lady doctor, she was surrounded by men just in case.
    There were the cringe inducing promos prior to her first season with a glass ceiling breaking. Subtle.

    The Whitaker years have been poor, really poor. The show has not really recovered from the loss of Tennant and RTD. There have been some highlights along the way but the decline under Whitaker has been marked. Very few highlights and what a load of old shite the Timeless child arc was.

    Chibnalls comments to Pip and Jane Baker have certainly come back to haunt him.
    RTD should come back and save it, otherwise time to put it on ice for a few years.
    RTD has nothing to prove and why would he. He’s moved onwards and upwards and would he recreate the magic a second time.

    Rumour is it is going on hiatus. It needs to. The show can, and will, reinvent itself but it is devoid of ideas. It’s disjointed. It needlessly brings back old monsters and foes for no good reason. The stories are unmemorable. The interest in the show has declined. Merchandise sales are through the floor. The magazine sells to a dwindling audience.

    The show was said to be actor proof, it is not Showrunner proof.

    The problem is the show has been run by fans for far too long.
    Doctor Who is sci-fi for people who don't get sci-fi. ;)

    (Runs for cover)

    Seriously though, it's cr@p scifi. It always has been, always will be. It's lazy, and its world - even in the modern iteration - is laughably inconsistent.

    Take the Angels. They create a brilliant enemy. A really horrific one. So Doctor Who defeats them, and they bring them back. Do they make the angels more intelligent, having learnt from their mistakes? No. They just bring back more of them.

    It's lazy and stupid writing.

    It’s fans writing for fans. It’s the old Alan Partridge line. ‘People like them, lets make some more’.

    We have them always bringing back old villains with little purpose. The Zygons came back a few years ago. Why? One story in the seventies and a small cameo or two aside but it was pointless. Putting an ice warrior on a submarine. Why ?

    Reliving the old days. Like the JNT era it becomes a disappointment and the show is made for fans who don’t like it.

    Too many fans are continuity obsessed.
    It's like Star Wars episodes 7 to 9. They should have asked Lucas for a three-story plot arc and create the world vision and character arcs, then bound and gagged him from writing any dialogue. They should then have employed brilliant writers sans vision to envision that plot arc and the character progression.

    Instead they listened to fans after every episode, and produced inconsistent dross.
    Saw the first film, found it underwhelming. I think my expectation was too high. Never seen another one.
    None of them, even the originals, are as good as die hard fans think. That's why they are die hard.

    As long as people dont take it too seriously they are all watchable, and some better.
    4 - Live Free or Die Hard - was excellent. And didn't take itself too seriously.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 71,364
    Larry appears to think his job is safe:
    https://twitter.com/Number10cat/status/1438125066852700161
  • Also from the BBC is a helpful list of job vacancies per economic sector:

    https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/inflationandpriceindices/timeseries/d7c8/mm23

    I notice that 'transport and storage' has a total of 47k job vacancies at present.

    I thought we'd been told that there are 100k HGV drivers needed ?

    Now there may be some self-employed numbers complicating things but that's a big difference.
  • Which Tube line is the only one entirely underground???
  • IshmaelZIshmaelZ Posts: 21,830

    Cookie said:

    Andy_JS said:

    geoffw said:

    rcs1000 said:

    geoffw said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Important tube news: the two new stations at Battersea Power Station and Nine Elms open on Monday 20th September.

    Which line is that?

    Northern Line? Runs south from Kennington, I think.
    A spur off it I suppose.

    Spur to Nine Elms and Battersea Power Station from Kennington. Takes the number of tube stations to 272.

    First new tube station since 2008 when Wood Lane opened on the Hammersmith & City Line, although that wasn't a new line: it was a new station inserted between existing stations. The most recent new station which involved new track was Heathrow Terminal 5 which opened earlier in 2008.
    Silly tube trivia question. Which stations can you go north one stop, get off the train, go north another stop, and end back up in the same place?
    Eh? So you're you walking to the second stop? Or is this a wordplay question? I'm interested, but I don't understand.
    No. Taking two trains, one after each other. Both northbound. And end in same place. Not a joke, but for pedants, northbound would have been more accurate wording than north.
    I think someone has already answered this correctly. While we are on this topic, name the tube station where you can take a train one stop and find yourself at the same station you started from.
    Bank?
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,255

    Leon said:

    Cookie said:

    Andy_JS said:

    geoffw said:

    rcs1000 said:

    geoffw said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Important tube news: the two new stations at Battersea Power Station and Nine Elms open on Monday 20th September.

    Which line is that?

    Northern Line? Runs south from Kennington, I think.
    A spur off it I suppose.

    Spur to Nine Elms and Battersea Power Station from Kennington. Takes the number of tube stations to 272.

    First new tube station since 2008 when Wood Lane opened on the Hammersmith & City Line, although that wasn't a new line: it was a new station inserted between existing stations. The most recent new station which involved new track was Heathrow Terminal 5 which opened earlier in 2008.
    Silly tube trivia question. Which stations can you go north one stop, get off the train, go north another stop, and end back up in the same place?
    Eh? So you're you walking to the second stop? Or is this a wordplay question? I'm interested, but I don't understand.
    No. Taking two trains, one after each other. Both northbound. And end in same place. Not a joke, but for pedants, northbound would have been more accurate wording than north.
    I think someone has already answered this correctly. While we are on this topic, name the tube station where you can take a train one stop and find yourself at the same station you started from.
    Shepherd's Bush?
    No, or at least not the one I had in mind.
    It's a good question. I'm determined not to Google
  • eekeek Posts: 28,366

    Which Tube line is the only one entirely underground???

    Waterloo and City?
  • Richard "Comical" Murphy on SIndy Pensions:

    One is existing pension commitments. That is, the promise to pay that everyone in the UK already has from the Westminster government. The answer to this one is easy to provide. Just as anyone who leaves the UK is still due their accumulated pension entitlement from the UK Government, so too will everyone in Scotland be entitled to the pensions they have earned to date from that government, which has benefitted from their tax contributions to date. Admittedly those pensions will be paid in English pounds, and they may be worth less than Scottish pounds, but that is the only risk I foresee.

    He then goes on to write:

    When considering this issue it has to be remembered that state pensions are not paid out of a pension fund. There are no savings or investments that back them up. The taxes and national insurance that we pay now are used to pay the pensions of those already retired

    https://timesnewsnetwork.com/news/world/uk/richard-murphy-how-an-independent-scotland-can-beat-uks-lousy-pensions/
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 42,952
    IshmaelZ said:

    TOPPING said:

    FF43 said:

    theProle said:

    FF43 said:

    Carnyx said:

    Confirmed:

    Nadine Dorries MP @NadineDorries has been appointed Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport @DCMS

    https://twitter.com/10DowningStreet/status/1438169372237959171?s=20

    Interesting - a Brexiter in charge of the laws to replace GDPR, also.
    The current proposals are to gut GDPR and to seriously reduce data privacy safeguards, under the guise of some gentle streamlining of the regulation. I can't see the UK keeping its EU data adequacy agreement if they go ahead with the proposals.
    If this stops people doing stupid stuff everywhere for fear of GDPR (e.g. My church used to email round a copy of the membership address book, now they will only give it out in hardcopy, lest it somehow get forwarded to someone who shouldn't have it in breach of our GDPR policy), then they should get on an do it.
    There may be some good in GDPR somewhere, but it's mostly just been an excuse for petty bureaucracy and stupid cookie popups.
    Actually I disagree with that assessment. I would say GDPR is a serious attempt, maybe the only one in the world, to deal with an issue that exercises people about what happens to their data. I would also say it partially succeeds in its goal. It is an onerous piece of legislation - arguably too much so - although I think your church is possibly overcautious here - but it does have teeth. The main thing is that you can sue companies and institutions if they do it wrong, which is a big incentive for them to do it right.

    The proposed changes is a weakening of safeguards across the piece, but with a multiplicative effect because the safeguards support each other. An example is that most data breaches will no longer need to be reported. The proposed "risk-based" data adequacy agreements will likely result in those that are minimally inconvenienced by the remaining safeguards can just ship the data abroad to do what they like with it.
    Can you imagine that once upon a time they actually published and distributed "phone books" with everyone's name, address and phone number in it. Unless you asked to be ex-directory.
    Still there unless you ask not to be

    https://www.thephonebook.bt.com/person/
    Fantastic. What about that for GDPR.
  • Which Tube line is the only one entirely underground???

    Does Waterloo & City count ?
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 49,859
    Soubry: The appointment of Nadine Dorries as Culture Secretary is final confirmation (if you needed it) that we do indeed have the worst Prime Minister and Govt ever. Ever.
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 42,952

    Leon said:

    Cookie said:

    Andy_JS said:

    geoffw said:

    rcs1000 said:

    geoffw said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Important tube news: the two new stations at Battersea Power Station and Nine Elms open on Monday 20th September.

    Which line is that?

    Northern Line? Runs south from Kennington, I think.
    A spur off it I suppose.

    Spur to Nine Elms and Battersea Power Station from Kennington. Takes the number of tube stations to 272.

    First new tube station since 2008 when Wood Lane opened on the Hammersmith & City Line, although that wasn't a new line: it was a new station inserted between existing stations. The most recent new station which involved new track was Heathrow Terminal 5 which opened earlier in 2008.
    Silly tube trivia question. Which stations can you go north one stop, get off the train, go north another stop, and end back up in the same place?
    Eh? So you're you walking to the second stop? Or is this a wordplay question? I'm interested, but I don't understand.
    No. Taking two trains, one after each other. Both northbound. And end in same place. Not a joke, but for pedants, northbound would have been more accurate wording than north.
    I think someone has already answered this correctly. While we are on this topic, name the tube station where you can take a train one stop and find yourself at the same station you started from.
    Shepherd's Bush?
    No, or at least not the one I had in mind.
    Not Shepherds Bush. You end up somewhere different although you cross the road to two different Shepherds Bushes.

    And on that note, which station are there three of within 500 yards?
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 71,364
    IanB2 said:

    Soubry: The appointment of Nadine Dorries as Culture Secretary is final confirmation (if you needed it) that we do indeed have the worst Prime Minister and Govt ever. Ever.

    At least Detritus the Troll had visited the Ankh Morpork opera house when made Cultural Attaché to the Uberwald Embassy.
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 48,631
    JohnO said:

    No confirmation yet from No 10 that Larry Remains Cat.

    Someone not doing a very good job on the vermin. It is time for him to go...
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 71,364
    Foxy said:

    JohnO said:

    No confirmation yet from No 10 that Larry Remains Cat.

    Someone not doing a very good job on the vermin. It is time for him to go...
    Blimey, was it you he chased off recently if you’re so mad at him?
    https://twitter.com/Number10cat/status/1436825103610884106
  • VOTE LEAVE RESHUFFLE

    All of the Remainers have now gone.

    Apart from Brandon Lewis.

    And Grant Shapps.

    And Therese Coffey.

    And Alok Sharma.

    And Sajid Javid.

    And Ben Wallace.

    And Oliver Dowden.

    And Mark Spencer.

    And Simon Hart.

    And the actual foreign secretary Liz Truss.


    https://twitter.com/MattChorley/status/1438199627635900418?s=20
  • Taz said:

    Taz said:

    kle4 said:

    The BBC has mentioned a few times now that Liz Truss is the first female Foreign Secretary, which will be news to Margaret Beckett who held the role under Tony Blair.

    https://twitter.com/GrantTucker/status/1438156831436705794?s=19

    It's such a typical and revealing establishment take.

    They every see every single news story through the prism of identity politics.

    Why the hell should it matter? Let's comment on the experience, capability and agendas of the people appointed - not "celebrate" what tackle they do or don't have between their legs, or what their skin colour is.
    I think there is still something in celebrating a milestone, but you can take that too far and if you then get too specific or its not really a new bar being reached then it is not really worth talking about.

    A first female Foreign Secretary, if it had been the case, would be worth noting, but as we've had two female PMs and other female holders of Great Offices (still waiting on Chancellor) it wouldn't have been that big a deal.

    I vaguely recall an example of it going wrong with the lead from Star Trek Discovery, since there had already been a black female member of a main cast in Star Trek, and a black captain and a female captain, so being the first black female lead character was a thing, but not that big a thing.
    Same with Doctor Who, where the water was extensively tested with a female master and whatever River Song turned out to be, and when we did get a lady doctor, she was surrounded by men just in case.
    There were the cringe inducing promos prior to her first season with a glass ceiling breaking. Subtle.

    The Whitaker years have been poor, really poor. The show has not really recovered from the loss of Tennant and RTD. There have been some highlights along the way but the decline under Whitaker has been marked. Very few highlights and what a load of old shite the Timeless child arc was.

    Chibnalls comments to Pip and Jane Baker have certainly come back to haunt him.
    RTD should come back and save it, otherwise time to put it on ice for a few years.
    RTD has nothing to prove and why would he. He’s moved onwards and upwards and would he recreate the magic a second time.

    Rumour is it is going on hiatus. It needs to. The show can, and will, reinvent itself but it is devoid of ideas. It’s disjointed. It needlessly brings back old monsters and foes for no good reason. The stories are unmemorable. The interest in the show has declined. Merchandise sales are through the floor. The magazine sells to a dwindling audience.

    The show was said to be actor proof, it is not Showrunner proof.

    The problem is the show has been run by fans for far too long.
    Doctor Who is sci-fi for people who don't get sci-fi. ;)

    (Runs for cover)

    Seriously though, it's cr@p scifi. It always has been, always will be. It's lazy, and its world - even in the modern iteration - is laughably inconsistent.

    Take the Angels. They create a brilliant enemy. A really horrific one. So Doctor Who defeats them, and they bring them back. Do they make the angels more intelligent, having learnt from their mistakes? No. They just bring back more of them.

    It's lazy and stupid writing.
    You might be right. I do not like sci fi (or fantasy) – not even when they get their kit off.
    I see literary genres like music. There are types of music I love: electronic being an example. There are some I don't like: rock and country being two. But even in the ones I dislike, there are gems. Several of Queen's output are superlative in the rock genre. Anything by Dusty in the country genre.

    It's the same with sci-fi. Here are two shorts I love: "Travel with my cats", and "Friction"

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travels_with_My_Cats
    https://escapepod.org/2008/02/08/ep144-friction/

    Both very different. And not a single spacecraft in either. (In fact, they might stray over into fantasy.)
    To follow that up: here is the text of 'Travel with my cats'.

    It's a beautiful story, that works on many levels. Sci-fi/fantasy at its best.
    https://web.archive.org/web/20120402020253/http://www.asimovs.com/_issue_0506/travelswithmycats.shtml

    I'd like to think of Ethan now as a SeanT lookalike: travelling the world, experiencing everything it has to offer, looking for something he may never find.
  • Cookie said:

    Andy_JS said:

    geoffw said:

    rcs1000 said:

    geoffw said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Important tube news: the two new stations at Battersea Power Station and Nine Elms open on Monday 20th September.

    Which line is that?

    Northern Line? Runs south from Kennington, I think.
    A spur off it I suppose.

    Spur to Nine Elms and Battersea Power Station from Kennington. Takes the number of tube stations to 272.

    First new tube station since 2008 when Wood Lane opened on the Hammersmith & City Line, although that wasn't a new line: it was a new station inserted between existing stations. The most recent new station which involved new track was Heathrow Terminal 5 which opened earlier in 2008.
    Silly tube trivia question. Which stations can you go north one stop, get off the train, go north another stop, and end back up in the same place?
    Eh? So you're you walking to the second stop? Or is this a wordplay question? I'm interested, but I don't understand.
    No. Taking two trains, one after each other. Both northbound. And end in same place. Not a joke, but for pedants, northbound would have been more accurate wording than north.
    I think someone has already answered this correctly. While we are on this topic, name the tube station where you can take a train one stop and find yourself at the same station you started from.
    On the heathrow loop bit perhaps?
  • IshmaelZIshmaelZ Posts: 21,830
    TOPPING said:

    kle4 said:

    Taz said:

    Taz said:

    Taz said:

    Taz said:

    kle4 said:

    The BBC has mentioned a few times now that Liz Truss is the first female Foreign Secretary, which will be news to Margaret Beckett who held the role under Tony Blair.

    https://twitter.com/GrantTucker/status/1438156831436705794?s=19

    It's such a typical and revealing establishment take.

    They every see every single news story through the prism of identity politics.

    Why the hell should it matter? Let's comment on the experience, capability and agendas of the people appointed - not "celebrate" what tackle they do or don't have between their legs, or what their skin colour is.
    I think there is still something in celebrating a milestone, but you can take that too far and if you then get too specific or its not really a new bar being reached then it is not really worth talking about.

    A first female Foreign Secretary, if it had been the case, would be worth noting, but as we've had two female PMs and other female holders of Great Offices (still waiting on Chancellor) it wouldn't have been that big a deal.

    I vaguely recall an example of it going wrong with the lead from Star Trek Discovery, since there had already been a black female member of a main cast in Star Trek, and a black captain and a female captain, so being the first black female lead character was a thing, but not that big a thing.
    Same with Doctor Who, where the water was extensively tested with a female master and whatever River Song turned out to be, and when we did get a lady doctor, she was surrounded by men just in case.
    There were the cringe inducing promos prior to her first season with a glass ceiling breaking. Subtle.

    The Whitaker years have been poor, really poor. The show has not really recovered from the loss of Tennant and RTD. There have been some highlights along the way but the decline under Whitaker has been marked. Very few highlights and what a load of old shite the Timeless child arc was.

    Chibnalls comments to Pip and Jane Baker have certainly come back to haunt him.
    RTD should come back and save it, otherwise time to put it on ice for a few years.
    RTD has nothing to prove and why would he. He’s moved onwards and upwards and would he recreate the magic a second time.

    Rumour is it is going on hiatus. It needs to. The show can, and will, reinvent itself but it is devoid of ideas. It’s disjointed. It needlessly brings back old monsters and foes for no good reason. The stories are unmemorable. The interest in the show has declined. Merchandise sales are through the floor. The magazine sells to a dwindling audience.

    The show was said to be actor proof, it is not Showrunner proof.

    The problem is the show has been run by fans for far too long.
    Doctor Who is sci-fi for people who don't get sci-fi. ;)

    (Runs for cover)

    Seriously though, it's cr@p scifi. It always has been, always will be. It's lazy, and its world - even in the modern iteration - is laughably inconsistent.

    Take the Angels. They create a brilliant enemy. A really horrific one. So Doctor Who defeats them, and they bring them back. Do they make the angels more intelligent, having learnt from their mistakes? No. They just bring back more of them.

    It's lazy and stupid writing.

    It’s fans writing for fans. It’s the old Alan Partridge line. ‘People like them, lets make some more’.

    We have them always bringing back old villains with little purpose. The Zygons came back a few years ago. Why? One story in the seventies and a small cameo or two aside but it was pointless. Putting an ice warrior on a submarine. Why ?

    Reliving the old days. Like the JNT era it becomes a disappointment and the show is made for fans who don’t like it.

    Too many fans are continuity obsessed.
    It's like Star Wars episodes 7 to 9. They should have asked Lucas for a three-story plot arc and create the world vision and character arcs, then bound and gagged him from writing any dialogue. They should then have employed brilliant writers sans vision to envision that plot arc and the character progression.

    Instead they listened to fans after every episode, and produced inconsistent dross.
    Saw the first film, found it underwhelming. I think my expectation was too high. Never seen another one.
    None of them, even the originals, are as good as die hard fans think. That's why they are die hard.

    As long as people dont take it too seriously they are all watchable, and some better.
    4 - Live Free or Die Hard - was excellent. And didn't take itself too seriously.
    Die Hard 2 has this weird feature: in 1990 Holly can make air-to ground phone calls from standard class in an aeroplane, but Bruce receives them on a pager and has to call her back from a payphone. wtf is that all about? Is it meant to be set in the future?
  • rcs1000 said:

    Cookie said:

    Sandpit said:

    Sandpit said:

    jonny83 said:

    Can Labour capitalise on this cut to UC? This is the sort of thing they should be scoring hits on a government over and yet I don't think they are being effective at all over it.

    I do not support the loss of the temporary £20 UC uplift but the country is divided 38/39 on support/ oppose

    Not an easy one, but was clearly part of the pandemic emergency funding, and they’ll need to find £6bn per year in taxes or borrowing to keep it running.

    Ditto the furlough scheme, there’s several hundred thousand about to go from 80% of their salary to the dole. It still has to be done though.
    In the last few days I have come to the conclusion that Boris is determined that wages have to rise hence why he is not permitting work visas

    He seems to be developing a narrative that the conservative party are a high wage controlled immigration party, while labour will hold down wages through their support for unrestricted immigration

    There is evidence wages are rising quite quickly and of course the electorate will see this in their pay packets, and it raises more tax and reduces the need for benefits

    This is the brexit divided if it comes about
    Not just that, but the pay rises are coming from the bottom.

    For many years, the minimum wage was a maximum for many jobs - but now we are seeing genuine increases for the poorest workers, as firms compete to hire people, rather than people competing to be hired by firms.
    Yes - during the Blair years there was a constant rising of average wages, which didn't seem to ring true - took a while to cotton on that while mean wages were going up, median wages were static: it was all driven by wage growth at the top.
    That's not true: median income rose during the Blair years quite significantly.

    See https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/personalandhouseholdfinances/incomeandwealth/bulletins/householddisposableincomeandinequality/financialyear2020
    The plateau began in 2005.

    It was one of the red warning signs that problems were being stored up.

    Some others being falling home ownership, increasing debt, permanent trade deficit and stagnant investment.
  • algarkirkalgarkirk Posts: 12,496

    Also from the BBC is a helpful list of job vacancies per economic sector:

    https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/inflationandpriceindices/timeseries/d7c8/mm23

    I notice that 'transport and storage' has a total of 47k job vacancies at present.

    I thought we'd been told that there are 100k HGV drivers needed ?

    Now there may be some self-employed numbers complicating things but that's a big difference.

    Anyone remember those innocent days when lots of vacancies was good news? So far as I can see the current score is that low vacancies, high vacancies and medium vacancies are all bad news.

  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 71,364
    Not really that extensive a reshuffle, is it? Not Night of the Long Knives by any stretch of the imagination, or even the later purges of Thatcher. Only four new members of the cabinet, one of whom will surely not last long, and several of the weakest performers like Shapps, Patel and Raab still there.

    If Johnson is hoping to renew his government with this he’s achieved the impossible. He’s managed to be even dimmer than I thought he was.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 54,582
    rcs1000 said:

    MrEd said:

    Sandpit said:

    Sandpit said:

    jonny83 said:

    Can Labour capitalise on this cut to UC? This is the sort of thing they should be scoring hits on a government over and yet I don't think they are being effective at all over it.

    I do not support the loss of the temporary £20 UC uplift but the country is divided 38/39 on support/ oppose

    Not an easy one, but was clearly part of the pandemic emergency funding, and they’ll need to find £6bn per year in taxes or borrowing to keep it running.

    Ditto the furlough scheme, there’s several hundred thousand about to go from 80% of their salary to the dole. It still has to be done though.
    In the last few days I have come to the conclusion that Boris is determined that wages have to rise hence why he is not permitting work visas

    He seems to be developing a narrative that the conservative party are a high wage controlled immigration party, while labour will hold down wages through their support for unrestricted immigration

    There is evidence wages are rising quite quickly and of course the electorate will see this in their pay packets, and it raises more tax and reduces the need for benefits

    This is the brexit divided if it comes about
    Not just that, but the pay rises are coming from the bottom.

    For many years, the minimum wage was a maximum for many jobs - but now we are seeing genuine increases for the poorest workers, as firms compete to hire people, rather than people competing to be hired by firms.
    Also good for the Treasury as:

    (1) Higher wages mean more income tax and NI payments
    (2) Higher wages potentially means lower tax credit payments

    Partially offset by higher wages means lower corporate profits which means lower corporation tax. However, as firms like Amazon do not pay taxes anyway, not much impact there.

    There is, though, a small issue.

    The UK already imports a lot more than it exports. We want higher wages, but that has to be matched by increased productivity, otherwise we will end up squeezing our remaining export industries.

    I am heartened by Gove at Housing: my hope is that one is able to offer "real" pay rises to people by making their cost of living lower.

    But this is a tightrope. And it's not like British firms are particularly profitable - corporate profits in the UK are already a smaller percentage of GDP than most of our European peers.

    Edit to add: the NI charge is an issue here, as it effectively is a real pay cut for workers, and is really not what we want to be doing here.
    Most of the higher wages are in service industries, which are generally internal with a few exceptions such as transport.

    Increased costs of providing baristas, bartenders and arse-wipers, shouldn’t translate too much into inflation of exported goods.
  • IshmaelZIshmaelZ Posts: 21,830
    ydoethur said:

    Foxy said:

    JohnO said:

    No confirmation yet from No 10 that Larry Remains Cat.

    Someone not doing a very good job on the vermin. It is time for him to go...
    Blimey, was it you he chased off recently if you’re so mad at him?
    https://twitter.com/Number10cat/status/1436825103610884106
    Some cat. Foxes usually have cats rather than vv.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 122,897
    FF43 said:

    theProle said:

    FF43 said:

    Carnyx said:

    Confirmed:

    Nadine Dorries MP @NadineDorries has been appointed Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport @DCMS

    https://twitter.com/10DowningStreet/status/1438169372237959171?s=20

    Interesting - a Brexiter in charge of the laws to replace GDPR, also.
    The current proposals are to gut GDPR and to seriously reduce data privacy safeguards, under the guise of some gentle streamlining of the regulation. I can't see the UK keeping its EU data adequacy agreement if they go ahead with the proposals.
    If this stops people doing stupid stuff everywhere for fear of GDPR (e.g. My church used to email round a copy of the membership address book, now they will only give it out in hardcopy, lest it somehow get forwarded to someone who shouldn't have it in breach of our GDPR policy), then they should get on an do it.
    There may be some good in GDPR somewhere, but it's mostly just been an excuse for petty bureaucracy and stupid cookie popups.
    Actually I disagree with that assessment. I would say GDPR is a serious attempt, maybe the only one in the world, to deal with an issue that exercises people about what happens to their data. I would also say it partially succeeds in its goal. It is an onerous piece of legislation - arguably too much so - although I think your church is possibly overcautious here - but it does have teeth. The main thing is that you can sue companies and institutions if they do it wrong, which is a big incentive for them to do it right.

    The proposed changes is a weakening of safeguards across the piece, but with a multiplicative effect because the safeguards support each other. An example is that most data breaches will no longer need to be reported. The proposed "risk-based" data adequacy agreements will likely result in those that are minimally inconvenienced by the remaining safeguards can just ship the data abroad to do what they like with it.
    Only if they are multinational companies and only a minority of private sector firms and virtually no public sector organisations are that and obviously it would have to be outside the UK and outside the EU
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 71,364
    IshmaelZ said:

    ydoethur said:

    Foxy said:

    JohnO said:

    No confirmation yet from No 10 that Larry Remains Cat.

    Someone not doing a very good job on the vermin. It is time for him to go...
    Blimey, was it you he chased off recently if you’re so mad at him?
    https://twitter.com/Number10cat/status/1436825103610884106
    Some cat. Foxes usually have cats rather than vv.
    That’s not my experience, but then my cat was from the Forest of Dean. Greebo would have hesitated before taking her on.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 54,582

    Cookie said:

    Andy_JS said:

    geoffw said:

    rcs1000 said:

    geoffw said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Important tube news: the two new stations at Battersea Power Station and Nine Elms open on Monday 20th September.

    Which line is that?

    Northern Line? Runs south from Kennington, I think.
    A spur off it I suppose.

    Spur to Nine Elms and Battersea Power Station from Kennington. Takes the number of tube stations to 272.

    First new tube station since 2008 when Wood Lane opened on the Hammersmith & City Line, although that wasn't a new line: it was a new station inserted between existing stations. The most recent new station which involved new track was Heathrow Terminal 5 which opened earlier in 2008.
    Silly tube trivia question. Which stations can you go north one stop, get off the train, go north another stop, and end back up in the same place?
    Eh? So you're you walking to the second stop? Or is this a wordplay question? I'm interested, but I don't understand.
    No. Taking two trains, one after each other. Both northbound. And end in same place. Not a joke, but for pedants, northbound would have been more accurate wording than north.
    I think someone has already answered this correctly. While we are on this topic, name the tube station where you can take a train one stop and find yourself at the same station you started from.
    Heathrow somewhere?
  • I bet Raab now wishes he hadn't taken that posho holiday in Crete last month.
  • Farooq said:

    Which Tube is now DCMS minister?

    Dorries is not a poplar appointment.
  • turbotubbsturbotubbs Posts: 17,393
    Not being au fait with celeb culture, is Niki Minaj a drag queen?
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 71,364
    Sandpit said:

    Cookie said:

    Andy_JS said:

    geoffw said:

    rcs1000 said:

    geoffw said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Important tube news: the two new stations at Battersea Power Station and Nine Elms open on Monday 20th September.

    Which line is that?

    Northern Line? Runs south from Kennington, I think.
    A spur off it I suppose.

    Spur to Nine Elms and Battersea Power Station from Kennington. Takes the number of tube stations to 272.

    First new tube station since 2008 when Wood Lane opened on the Hammersmith & City Line, although that wasn't a new line: it was a new station inserted between existing stations. The most recent new station which involved new track was Heathrow Terminal 5 which opened earlier in 2008.
    Silly tube trivia question. Which stations can you go north one stop, get off the train, go north another stop, and end back up in the same place?
    Eh? So you're you walking to the second stop? Or is this a wordplay question? I'm interested, but I don't understand.
    No. Taking two trains, one after each other. Both northbound. And end in same place. Not a joke, but for pedants, northbound would have been more accurate wording than north.
    I think someone has already answered this correctly. While we are on this topic, name the tube station where you can take a train one stop and find yourself at the same station you started from.
    Heathrow somewhere?
    Anything operated by Thameslink?
  • NEW: At 2200 BST tonight the Prime Minister will make an on camera address, alongside US President Biden and Australian Prime Minister Morrison, on a strategic national security announcement - Downing Street

    https://twitter.com/PoliticsForAlI/status/1438202465481117698?s=20
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 122,897
    edited September 2021

    VOTE LEAVE RESHUFFLE

    All of the Remainers have now gone.

    Apart from Brandon Lewis.

    And Grant Shapps.

    And Therese Coffey.

    And Alok Sharma.

    And Sajid Javid.

    And Ben Wallace.

    And Oliver Dowden.

    And Mark Spencer.

    And Simon Hart.

    And the actual foreign secretary Liz Truss.


    https://twitter.com/MattChorley/status/1438199627635900418?s=20

    Yes but it is now a more Leave Cabinet, all of those who left the Cabinet today were Remainers, Dorries, Barclay and Zahawi and Trevaleyan who entered the Cabinet were Leavers
  • NEW: At 2200 BST tonight the Prime Minister will make an on camera address, alongside US President Biden and Australian Prime Minister Morrison, on a strategic national security announcement - Downing Street

    https://twitter.com/PoliticsForAlI/status/1438202465481117698?s=20

    This may be a big moment for UK - US - AUS and a real set back for France, Canada and NZ
  • At 2200 BST tonight the Prime Minister will make an on camera address, alongside US President Biden and Australian Prime Minister Morrison, on a strategic national security announcement - Downing Street
  • Pro-EU Tories disappointed @BorisJohnson didn't use today's reshuffle to bring back some pro-EU figures into Govt

    Arguably the strongest sign to date he intends to play the Brexit card hard against Labour at the next election

    Reinforces my negative basecase for UK-EU relations

    https://twitter.com/Mij_Europe/status/1438203642641801220?s=20

    Also plays to Johnson's PMQs line (twice, today) that Labour's pro-EU, pro-(low wage low skill) immigration policy will hold back lower paid wages...which are now rising...
  • VOTE LEAVE RESHUFFLE

    All of the Remainers have now gone.

    Apart from Brandon Lewis.

    And Grant Shapps.

    And Therese Coffey.

    And Alok Sharma.

    And Sajid Javid.

    And Ben Wallace.

    And Oliver Dowden.

    And Mark Spencer.

    And Simon Hart.

    And the actual foreign secretary Liz Truss.


    https://twitter.com/MattChorley/status/1438199627635900418?s=20

    How many were actual Remainers or just Greasy-Polers - i.e. how many were perfectly happy with hard Brexit when they saw where the Tory wind was blowing?
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 71,364

    At 2200 BST tonight the Prime Minister will make an on camera address, alongside US President Biden and Australian Prime Minister Morrison, on a strategic national security announcement - Downing Street

    Perhaps they all plan to resign at once live on air?
  • NEW: At 2200 BST tonight the Prime Minister will make an on camera address, alongside US President Biden and Australian Prime Minister Morrison, on a strategic national security announcement - Downing Street

    https://twitter.com/PoliticsForAlI/status/1438202465481117698?s=20

    This may be a big moment for UK - US - AUS and a real set back for France, Canada and NZ
    I don't think Canada will be miffed (they're in the middle of an election), NZ is getting no more than it deserves and Macron will have to have a frank n'fearless chat with UvdL when she comes to Paris to talk about "European Defence".....
  • RazedabodeRazedabode Posts: 3,028

    At 2200 BST tonight the Prime Minister will make an on camera address, alongside US President Biden and Australian Prime Minister Morrison, on a strategic national security announcement - Downing Street

    Really interesting - what’s happened to Canada? (I know the reason with NZ)

    Big moment
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 71,364

    VOTE LEAVE RESHUFFLE

    All of the Remainers have now gone.

    Apart from Brandon Lewis.

    And Grant Shapps.

    And Therese Coffey.

    And Alok Sharma.

    And Sajid Javid.

    And Ben Wallace.

    And Oliver Dowden.

    And Mark Spencer.

    And Simon Hart.

    And the actual foreign secretary Liz Truss.


    https://twitter.com/MattChorley/status/1438199627635900418?s=20

    How many were actual Remainers or just Greasy-Polers - i.e. how many were perfectly happy with hard Brexit when they saw where the Tory wind was blowing?
    If we’re including them then the most important Remainer in the cabinet is Boris Johnson.
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 42,952
    Strategic National Security announcement - could it possibly be vaccine donation-related?
  • White House statement on press conference:

    https://twitter.com/jdoyle597/status/1438202742648999947?s=20
  • gealbhangealbhan Posts: 2,362

    Not being au fait with celeb culture, is Niki Minaj a drag queen?

    Are you blind?
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 71,364
    Farooq said:

    ydoethur said:

    IshmaelZ said:

    ydoethur said:

    Foxy said:

    JohnO said:

    No confirmation yet from No 10 that Larry Remains Cat.

    Someone not doing a very good job on the vermin. It is time for him to go...
    Blimey, was it you he chased off recently if you’re so mad at him?
    https://twitter.com/Number10cat/status/1436825103610884106
    Some cat. Foxes usually have cats rather than vv.
    That’s not my experience, but then my cat was from the Forest of Dean. Greebo would have hesitated before taking her on.
    Loving all these Discworld references. If we could have a reshuffle where Weatherwax, Vimes, and Aching all become ministers, I'd be ever so grateful.
    Vimes as Foreign Secretary would be brilliant.

    ‘You told the Ambassador that any further incursions would result in him personally, and I quote, “going home in an ambulance.”’

    ‘I’m sorry about that sir, but it had been a long day and he was getting on my -‘

    ‘Since when their armies have pulled back so far they are nearly in the next country.’
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 42,814
    Farooq said:

    ydoethur said:

    IshmaelZ said:

    ydoethur said:

    Foxy said:

    JohnO said:

    No confirmation yet from No 10 that Larry Remains Cat.

    Someone not doing a very good job on the vermin. It is time for him to go...
    Blimey, was it you he chased off recently if you’re so mad at him?
    https://twitter.com/Number10cat/status/1436825103610884106
    Some cat. Foxes usually have cats rather than vv.
    That’s not my experience, but then my cat was from the Forest of Dean. Greebo would have hesitated before taking her on.
    Loving all these Discworld references. If we could have a reshuffle where Weatherwax, Vimes, and Aching all become ministers, I'd be ever so grateful.
    Even sapient pearwood had a greater IQ than one or two recent ministers.
  • VOTE LEAVE RESHUFFLE

    All of the Remainers have now gone.

    Apart from Brandon Lewis.

    And Grant Shapps.

    And Therese Coffey.

    And Alok Sharma.

    And Sajid Javid.

    And Ben Wallace.

    And Oliver Dowden.

    And Mark Spencer.

    And Simon Hart.

    And the actual foreign secretary Liz Truss.


    https://twitter.com/MattChorley/status/1438199627635900418?s=20

    How many were actual Remainers or just Greasy-Polers - i.e. how many were perfectly happy with hard Brexit when they saw where the Tory wind was blowing?
    I think most people in the parliamentary Conservative Party are greasy polers.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 54,582
    TOPPING said:

    Leon said:

    Cookie said:

    Andy_JS said:

    geoffw said:

    rcs1000 said:

    geoffw said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Important tube news: the two new stations at Battersea Power Station and Nine Elms open on Monday 20th September.

    Which line is that?

    Northern Line? Runs south from Kennington, I think.
    A spur off it I suppose.

    Spur to Nine Elms and Battersea Power Station from Kennington. Takes the number of tube stations to 272.

    First new tube station since 2008 when Wood Lane opened on the Hammersmith & City Line, although that wasn't a new line: it was a new station inserted between existing stations. The most recent new station which involved new track was Heathrow Terminal 5 which opened earlier in 2008.
    Silly tube trivia question. Which stations can you go north one stop, get off the train, go north another stop, and end back up in the same place?
    Eh? So you're you walking to the second stop? Or is this a wordplay question? I'm interested, but I don't understand.
    No. Taking two trains, one after each other. Both northbound. And end in same place. Not a joke, but for pedants, northbound would have been more accurate wording than north.
    I think someone has already answered this correctly. While we are on this topic, name the tube station where you can take a train one stop and find yourself at the same station you started from.
    Shepherd's Bush?
    No, or at least not the one I had in mind.
    Not Shepherds Bush. You end up somewhere different although you cross the road to two different Shepherds Bushes.

    And on that note, which station are there three of within 500 yards?
    Picadilly Circus, Leicester Sq, Covent Garden?

    Definitely faster walking between those, even in the rain.
  • Pro-EU Tories disappointed @BorisJohnson didn't use today's reshuffle to bring back some pro-EU figures into Govt

    Arguably the strongest sign to date he intends to play the Brexit card hard against Labour at the next election

    Reinforces my negative basecase for UK-EU relations

    https://twitter.com/Mij_Europe/status/1438203642641801220?s=20

    Also plays to Johnson's PMQs line (twice, today) that Labour's pro-EU, pro-(low wage low skill) immigration policy will hold back lower paid wages...which are now rising...

    I think this could be the next GE24 slogan from Boris

    High wages - controlled immigration
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 42,952
    edited September 2021
    Sandpit said:

    TOPPING said:

    Leon said:

    Cookie said:

    Andy_JS said:

    geoffw said:

    rcs1000 said:

    geoffw said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Important tube news: the two new stations at Battersea Power Station and Nine Elms open on Monday 20th September.

    Which line is that?

    Northern Line? Runs south from Kennington, I think.
    A spur off it I suppose.

    Spur to Nine Elms and Battersea Power Station from Kennington. Takes the number of tube stations to 272.

    First new tube station since 2008 when Wood Lane opened on the Hammersmith & City Line, although that wasn't a new line: it was a new station inserted between existing stations. The most recent new station which involved new track was Heathrow Terminal 5 which opened earlier in 2008.
    Silly tube trivia question. Which stations can you go north one stop, get off the train, go north another stop, and end back up in the same place?
    Eh? So you're you walking to the second stop? Or is this a wordplay question? I'm interested, but I don't understand.
    No. Taking two trains, one after each other. Both northbound. And end in same place. Not a joke, but for pedants, northbound would have been more accurate wording than north.
    I think someone has already answered this correctly. While we are on this topic, name the tube station where you can take a train one stop and find yourself at the same station you started from.
    Shepherd's Bush?
    No, or at least not the one I had in mind.
    Not Shepherds Bush. You end up somewhere different although you cross the road to two different Shepherds Bushes.

    And on that note, which station are there three of within 500 yards?
    Picadilly Circus, Leicester Sq, Covent Garden?

    Definitely faster walking between those, even in the rain.
    No - the station is the same name.

    Edit: but yes those ones are very close.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 71,364
    edited September 2021
    Carnyx said:

    Farooq said:

    ydoethur said:

    IshmaelZ said:

    ydoethur said:

    Foxy said:

    JohnO said:

    No confirmation yet from No 10 that Larry Remains Cat.

    Someone not doing a very good job on the vermin. It is time for him to go...
    Blimey, was it you he chased off recently if you’re so mad at him?
    https://twitter.com/Number10cat/status/1436825103610884106
    Some cat. Foxes usually have cats rather than vv.
    That’s not my experience, but then my cat was from the Forest of Dean. Greebo would have hesitated before taking her on.
    Loving all these Discworld references. If we could have a reshuffle where Weatherwax, Vimes, and Aching all become ministers, I'd be ever so grateful.
    Even sapient pearwood had a greater IQ than one or two recent ministers.
    In the case of Nadine Dorries I wouldn’t have bothered with the ‘sapient.’

    At least Brown never gave Corbyn a cabinet post.
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 42,814
    TOPPING said:

    Sandpit said:

    TOPPING said:

    Leon said:

    Cookie said:

    Andy_JS said:

    geoffw said:

    rcs1000 said:

    geoffw said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Important tube news: the two new stations at Battersea Power Station and Nine Elms open on Monday 20th September.

    Which line is that?

    Northern Line? Runs south from Kennington, I think.
    A spur off it I suppose.

    Spur to Nine Elms and Battersea Power Station from Kennington. Takes the number of tube stations to 272.

    First new tube station since 2008 when Wood Lane opened on the Hammersmith & City Line, although that wasn't a new line: it was a new station inserted between existing stations. The most recent new station which involved new track was Heathrow Terminal 5 which opened earlier in 2008.
    Silly tube trivia question. Which stations can you go north one stop, get off the train, go north another stop, and end back up in the same place?
    Eh? So you're you walking to the second stop? Or is this a wordplay question? I'm interested, but I don't understand.
    No. Taking two trains, one after each other. Both northbound. And end in same place. Not a joke, but for pedants, northbound would have been more accurate wording than north.
    I think someone has already answered this correctly. While we are on this topic, name the tube station where you can take a train one stop and find yourself at the same station you started from.
    Shepherd's Bush?
    No, or at least not the one I had in mind.
    Not Shepherds Bush. You end up somewhere different although you cross the road to two different Shepherds Bushes.

    And on that note, which station are there three of within 500 yards?
    Picadilly Circus, Leicester Sq, Covent Garden?

    Definitely faster walking between those, even in the rain.
    No - the station is the same name.
    Bank?
  • IshmaelZIshmaelZ Posts: 21,830
    gealbhan said:

    Not being au fait with celeb culture, is Niki Minaj a drag queen?

    Are you blind?
    Yes, m'sieur.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 54,582
    TOPPING said:

    Sandpit said:

    TOPPING said:

    Leon said:

    Cookie said:

    Andy_JS said:

    geoffw said:

    rcs1000 said:

    geoffw said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Important tube news: the two new stations at Battersea Power Station and Nine Elms open on Monday 20th September.

    Which line is that?

    Northern Line? Runs south from Kennington, I think.
    A spur off it I suppose.

    Spur to Nine Elms and Battersea Power Station from Kennington. Takes the number of tube stations to 272.

    First new tube station since 2008 when Wood Lane opened on the Hammersmith & City Line, although that wasn't a new line: it was a new station inserted between existing stations. The most recent new station which involved new track was Heathrow Terminal 5 which opened earlier in 2008.
    Silly tube trivia question. Which stations can you go north one stop, get off the train, go north another stop, and end back up in the same place?
    Eh? So you're you walking to the second stop? Or is this a wordplay question? I'm interested, but I don't understand.
    No. Taking two trains, one after each other. Both northbound. And end in same place. Not a joke, but for pedants, northbound would have been more accurate wording than north.
    I think someone has already answered this correctly. While we are on this topic, name the tube station where you can take a train one stop and find yourself at the same station you started from.
    Shepherd's Bush?
    No, or at least not the one I had in mind.
    Not Shepherds Bush. You end up somewhere different although you cross the road to two different Shepherds Bushes.

    And on that note, which station are there three of within 500 yards?
    Picadilly Circus, Leicester Sq, Covent Garden?

    Definitely faster walking between those, even in the rain.
    No - the station is the same name.

    Edit: but yes those ones are very close.
    Bank then, or KX/SP.
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 49,859

    Cookie said:

    Andy_JS said:

    geoffw said:

    rcs1000 said:

    geoffw said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Important tube news: the two new stations at Battersea Power Station and Nine Elms open on Monday 20th September.

    Which line is that?

    Northern Line? Runs south from Kennington, I think.
    A spur off it I suppose.

    Spur to Nine Elms and Battersea Power Station from Kennington. Takes the number of tube stations to 272.

    First new tube station since 2008 when Wood Lane opened on the Hammersmith & City Line, although that wasn't a new line: it was a new station inserted between existing stations. The most recent new station which involved new track was Heathrow Terminal 5 which opened earlier in 2008.
    Silly tube trivia question. Which stations can you go north one stop, get off the train, go north another stop, and end back up in the same place?
    Eh? So you're you walking to the second stop? Or is this a wordplay question? I'm interested, but I don't understand.
    No. Taking two trains, one after each other. Both northbound. And end in same place. Not a joke, but for pedants, northbound would have been more accurate wording than north.
    I think someone has already answered this correctly. While we are on this topic, name the tube station where you can take a train one stop and find yourself at the same station you started from.
    On the heathrow loop bit perhaps?
    The top bit of the Hainault loop?
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 42,952
    Carnyx said:

    TOPPING said:

    Sandpit said:

    TOPPING said:

    Leon said:

    Cookie said:

    Andy_JS said:

    geoffw said:

    rcs1000 said:

    geoffw said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Important tube news: the two new stations at Battersea Power Station and Nine Elms open on Monday 20th September.

    Which line is that?

    Northern Line? Runs south from Kennington, I think.
    A spur off it I suppose.

    Spur to Nine Elms and Battersea Power Station from Kennington. Takes the number of tube stations to 272.

    First new tube station since 2008 when Wood Lane opened on the Hammersmith & City Line, although that wasn't a new line: it was a new station inserted between existing stations. The most recent new station which involved new track was Heathrow Terminal 5 which opened earlier in 2008.
    Silly tube trivia question. Which stations can you go north one stop, get off the train, go north another stop, and end back up in the same place?
    Eh? So you're you walking to the second stop? Or is this a wordplay question? I'm interested, but I don't understand.
    No. Taking two trains, one after each other. Both northbound. And end in same place. Not a joke, but for pedants, northbound would have been more accurate wording than north.
    I think someone has already answered this correctly. While we are on this topic, name the tube station where you can take a train one stop and find yourself at the same station you started from.
    Shepherd's Bush?
    No, or at least not the one I had in mind.
    Not Shepherds Bush. You end up somewhere different although you cross the road to two different Shepherds Bushes.

    And on that note, which station are there three of within 500 yards?
    Picadilly Circus, Leicester Sq, Covent Garden?

    Definitely faster walking between those, even in the rain.
    No - the station is the same name.
    Bank?
    Nope. I don't mean entrances although yes Bank has two distinct lines (underground and DLR).
  • rcs1000 said:

    MrEd said:

    Sandpit said:

    Sandpit said:

    jonny83 said:

    Can Labour capitalise on this cut to UC? This is the sort of thing they should be scoring hits on a government over and yet I don't think they are being effective at all over it.

    I do not support the loss of the temporary £20 UC uplift but the country is divided 38/39 on support/ oppose

    Not an easy one, but was clearly part of the pandemic emergency funding, and they’ll need to find £6bn per year in taxes or borrowing to keep it running.

    Ditto the furlough scheme, there’s several hundred thousand about to go from 80% of their salary to the dole. It still has to be done though.
    In the last few days I have come to the conclusion that Boris is determined that wages have to rise hence why he is not permitting work visas

    He seems to be developing a narrative that the conservative party are a high wage controlled immigration party, while labour will hold down wages through their support for unrestricted immigration

    There is evidence wages are rising quite quickly and of course the electorate will see this in their pay packets, and it raises more tax and reduces the need for benefits

    This is the brexit divided if it comes about
    Not just that, but the pay rises are coming from the bottom.

    For many years, the minimum wage was a maximum for many jobs - but now we are seeing genuine increases for the poorest workers, as firms compete to hire people, rather than people competing to be hired by firms.
    Also good for the Treasury as:

    (1) Higher wages mean more income tax and NI payments
    (2) Higher wages potentially means lower tax credit payments

    Partially offset by higher wages means lower corporate profits which means lower corporation tax. However, as firms like Amazon do not pay taxes anyway, not much impact there.

    There is, though, a small issue.

    The UK already imports a lot more than it exports. We want higher wages, but that has to be matched by increased productivity, otherwise we will end up squeezing our remaining export industries.

    I am heartened by Gove at Housing: my hope is that one is able to offer "real" pay rises to people by making their cost of living lower.

    But this is a tightrope. And it's not like British firms are particularly profitable - corporate profits in the UK are already a smaller percentage of GDP than most of our European peers.

    Edit to add: the NI charge is an issue here, as it effectively is a real pay cut for workers, and is really not what we want to be doing here.
    It's true that the cost of housing needs to be sorted. It's probably a significant part of why working people don't feel rich. (And to the extent that wages rise, I can imagine rents and house prices rising to absorb the extra cash.)

    But it is also in the category of things where everyone knows what needs to be done, but nobody knows how to get re-elected afterwards.

    (Preside over a house price boom, like Thatcher and Blair, you win. Preside over static or falling house prices, like almost everyone else, you lose.)
  • TOPPING said:

    Strategic National Security announcement - could it possibly be vaccine donation-related?

    UK- US - AUS in new military alignment with 3 eyes rather than 5 to the exclusion of Europe, Canada and NZ
  • TOPPING said:

    Strategic National Security announcement - could it possibly be vaccine donation-related?

    UK- US - AUS in new military alignment with 3 eyes rather than 5 to the exclusion of Europe, Canada and NZ
    I'm sure Russia and China will be quaking in their boots on learning an important Western alliance just got smaller.
  • TOPPING said:

    Leon said:

    Cookie said:

    Andy_JS said:

    geoffw said:

    rcs1000 said:

    geoffw said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Important tube news: the two new stations at Battersea Power Station and Nine Elms open on Monday 20th September.

    Which line is that?

    Northern Line? Runs south from Kennington, I think.
    A spur off it I suppose.

    Spur to Nine Elms and Battersea Power Station from Kennington. Takes the number of tube stations to 272.

    First new tube station since 2008 when Wood Lane opened on the Hammersmith & City Line, although that wasn't a new line: it was a new station inserted between existing stations. The most recent new station which involved new track was Heathrow Terminal 5 which opened earlier in 2008.
    Silly tube trivia question. Which stations can you go north one stop, get off the train, go north another stop, and end back up in the same place?
    Eh? So you're you walking to the second stop? Or is this a wordplay question? I'm interested, but I don't understand.
    No. Taking two trains, one after each other. Both northbound. And end in same place. Not a joke, but for pedants, northbound would have been more accurate wording than north.
    I think someone has already answered this correctly. While we are on this topic, name the tube station where you can take a train one stop and find yourself at the same station you started from.
    Shepherd's Bush?
    No, or at least not the one I had in mind.
    Not Shepherds Bush. You end up somewhere different although you cross the road to two different Shepherds Bushes.

    And on that note, which station are there three of within 500 yards?
    Including vertical? In which case many, including KXSP. But horizontally: Stratford? Including two DLR ones?
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 42,952
    Sandpit said:

    TOPPING said:

    Sandpit said:

    TOPPING said:

    Leon said:

    Cookie said:

    Andy_JS said:

    geoffw said:

    rcs1000 said:

    geoffw said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Important tube news: the two new stations at Battersea Power Station and Nine Elms open on Monday 20th September.

    Which line is that?

    Northern Line? Runs south from Kennington, I think.
    A spur off it I suppose.

    Spur to Nine Elms and Battersea Power Station from Kennington. Takes the number of tube stations to 272.

    First new tube station since 2008 when Wood Lane opened on the Hammersmith & City Line, although that wasn't a new line: it was a new station inserted between existing stations. The most recent new station which involved new track was Heathrow Terminal 5 which opened earlier in 2008.
    Silly tube trivia question. Which stations can you go north one stop, get off the train, go north another stop, and end back up in the same place?
    Eh? So you're you walking to the second stop? Or is this a wordplay question? I'm interested, but I don't understand.
    No. Taking two trains, one after each other. Both northbound. And end in same place. Not a joke, but for pedants, northbound would have been more accurate wording than north.
    I think someone has already answered this correctly. While we are on this topic, name the tube station where you can take a train one stop and find yourself at the same station you started from.
    Shepherd's Bush?
    No, or at least not the one I had in mind.
    Not Shepherds Bush. You end up somewhere different although you cross the road to two different Shepherds Bushes.

    And on that note, which station are there three of within 500 yards?
    Picadilly Circus, Leicester Sq, Covent Garden?

    Definitely faster walking between those, even in the rain.
    No - the station is the same name.

    Edit: but yes those ones are very close.
    Bank then, or KX/SP.
    Three stations all the same name. Bank no, KGX also no although the main line makes two.

    I am talking about....ta daah...West Hampstead - Tube, Thameslink, and Overground.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 54,582
    TOPPING said:

    Carnyx said:

    TOPPING said:

    Sandpit said:

    TOPPING said:

    Leon said:

    Cookie said:

    Andy_JS said:

    geoffw said:

    rcs1000 said:

    geoffw said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Important tube news: the two new stations at Battersea Power Station and Nine Elms open on Monday 20th September.

    Which line is that?

    Northern Line? Runs south from Kennington, I think.
    A spur off it I suppose.

    Spur to Nine Elms and Battersea Power Station from Kennington. Takes the number of tube stations to 272.

    First new tube station since 2008 when Wood Lane opened on the Hammersmith & City Line, although that wasn't a new line: it was a new station inserted between existing stations. The most recent new station which involved new track was Heathrow Terminal 5 which opened earlier in 2008.
    Silly tube trivia question. Which stations can you go north one stop, get off the train, go north another stop, and end back up in the same place?
    Eh? So you're you walking to the second stop? Or is this a wordplay question? I'm interested, but I don't understand.
    No. Taking two trains, one after each other. Both northbound. And end in same place. Not a joke, but for pedants, northbound would have been more accurate wording than north.
    I think someone has already answered this correctly. While we are on this topic, name the tube station where you can take a train one stop and find yourself at the same station you started from.
    Shepherd's Bush?
    No, or at least not the one I had in mind.
    Not Shepherds Bush. You end up somewhere different although you cross the road to two different Shepherds Bushes.

    And on that note, which station are there three of within 500 yards?
    Picadilly Circus, Leicester Sq, Covent Garden?

    Definitely faster walking between those, even in the rain.
    No - the station is the same name.
    Bank?
    Nope. I don't mean entrances although yes Bank has two distinct lines (underground and DLR).
    Three completely different stations - Stratford? Underground, Overground and DLR.
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 42,952

    TOPPING said:

    Strategic National Security announcement - could it possibly be vaccine donation-related?

    UK- US - AUS in new military alignment with 3 eyes rather than 5 to the exclusion of Europe, Canada and NZ
    Big G put the exploding pen down and wait with the rest of us.
  • gealbhangealbhan Posts: 2,362
    edited September 2021
    IshmaelZ said:

    gealbhan said:

    Not being au fait with celeb culture, is Niki Minaj a drag queen?

    Are you blind?
    Yes, m'sieur.
    With floppin jangles and booty like that? Is this a diss?
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 42,814
    edited September 2021
    Farooq said:

    TOPPING said:

    Strategic National Security announcement - could it possibly be vaccine donation-related?

    UK- US - AUS in new military alignment with 3 eyes rather than 5 to the exclusion of Europe, Canada and NZ
    Eyes is intelligence. This is technology.
    Not sure how much is new UK wise - the UK is pretty dependent on the US for Trident and F-35s. But Australia taking US [edit] nuke subs is different.
  • Big_G_NorthWalesBig_G_NorthWales Posts: 63,027
    edited September 2021
    TOPPING said:

    TOPPING said:

    Strategic National Security announcement - could it possibly be vaccine donation-related?

    UK- US - AUS in new military alignment with 3 eyes rather than 5 to the exclusion of Europe, Canada and NZ
    Big G put the exploding pen down and wait with the rest of us.
    It has been trailed for most of the day and has been lost in the reshuffle

    It seems it is to do with Australia's nuclear weapons and cooperation with Japan and India
  • Farooq said:

    TOPPING said:

    Strategic National Security announcement - could it possibly be vaccine donation-related?

    UK- US - AUS in new military alignment with 3 eyes rather than 5 to the exclusion of Europe, Canada and NZ
    Eyes is intelligence. This is technology.
    Australia hates encryption even more than Priti Patel does.
  • FFS....

    Just let us know if there's anything you need':

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9992613/Eco-mob-block-M25-AGAIN.html
  • IshmaelZIshmaelZ Posts: 21,830
    gealbhan said:

    IshmaelZ said:

    gealbhan said:

    Not being au fait with celeb culture, is Niki Minaj a drag queen?

    Are you blind?
    Yes, m'sieur.
    With floppin jangles and booty like that? Is this a diss?
    I love it when you talk dirty to me.
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 42,952

    FFS....

    Just let us know if there's anything you need':

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9992613/Eco-mob-block-M25-AGAIN.html

    I think that was just after they were told they were about to be arrested.

    Nick Ferrari had the full clip.
  • French sub deal dead:

    The Morrison government is poised to tear up the troubled $90 billion contract with French shipbuilder Naval Group and partner with the United States and United Kingdom to switch to an American-made nuclear-powered submarine.

    One source said the dramatic move would be justified that the shift to nuclear technology was required in light of the changing strategic circumstances as China becomes more aggressive in the region.


    https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/speculation-pm-will-announce-90b-french-submarine-deal-is-dead-20210915-p58rzo
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 54,582
    Of relevance to tonight’s announcement, the story of the AU and US police working with ‘a third country’ to develop a ‘super secure encrypted chat phone’, which they sold into the underworld and used to pickup a bunch of serious villains back in June.

    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/sep/11/inside-story-most-daring-surveillance-sting-in-history?source=techstories.org
  • MattWMattW Posts: 23,132
    gealbhan said:

    MattW said:

    justin124 said:

    Stocky said:

    I see Hills have brought Truss in to 10s from 14s earlier for next leader. 12s top price now.

    The Tory Trollop moves further up the greasy pole!
    She writes novels?
    Yep:

    https://www.amazon.co.uk/Nadine-Dorries/e/B00I4ZK0L2?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1&qid=1631722555&sr=1-1
    Not that far from SeanT in style:



    I wonder if she carries a knife?

    Und der Haifisch, der hat Zähne,
    Und die trägt er im Gesicht...
    “ Not that far from SeanT in style “

    That’s actually on the back cover! 😲
    Did someone just admit to reading ND?
  • Still going on.....

    Simon Clarke MP @SimonClarkeMP has been appointed Chief Secretary to the Treasury @HMTreasury
    He will attend Cabinet.
    #Reshuffle

    https://twitter.com/10DowningStreet/status/1438207991854026756?s=20
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 81,978
    edited September 2021
    TOPPING said:

    FFS....

    Just let us know if there's anything you need':

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9992613/Eco-mob-block-M25-AGAIN.html

    I think that was just after they were told they were about to be arrested.

    Nick Ferrari had the full clip.
    I don't give a f##k....clear the idiots out the way, in the paddy wagon, then have a conversation about if they need to go potty or take oat milk for their tea at the station.
  • Sandpit said:

    Cookie said:

    Andy_JS said:

    geoffw said:

    rcs1000 said:

    geoffw said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Important tube news: the two new stations at Battersea Power Station and Nine Elms open on Monday 20th September.

    Which line is that?

    Northern Line? Runs south from Kennington, I think.
    A spur off it I suppose.

    Spur to Nine Elms and Battersea Power Station from Kennington. Takes the number of tube stations to 272.

    First new tube station since 2008 when Wood Lane opened on the Hammersmith & City Line, although that wasn't a new line: it was a new station inserted between existing stations. The most recent new station which involved new track was Heathrow Terminal 5 which opened earlier in 2008.
    Silly tube trivia question. Which stations can you go north one stop, get off the train, go north another stop, and end back up in the same place?
    Eh? So you're you walking to the second stop? Or is this a wordplay question? I'm interested, but I don't understand.
    No. Taking two trains, one after each other. Both northbound. And end in same place. Not a joke, but for pedants, northbound would have been more accurate wording than north.
    I think someone has already answered this correctly. While we are on this topic, name the tube station where you can take a train one stop and find yourself at the same station you started from.
    Heathrow somewhere?
    No - Heathrow stations have different names. Think South...
  • Sydney Morning Herald:

    Australia, the United States and Britain will unveil a landmark new security pact to share advanced technologies, including nuclear submarine technology, in a major international announcement on Thursday morning.

    As part of the pact, to be known as AUKUS, the US would help Australia develop a nuclear submarine capability, which could result in Australia dumping its $90 billion submarine deal with France, sources confirmed.


    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/ministers-granted-border-exemptions-to-attend-urgent-meeting-in-canberra-20210915-p58rzn.html
  • turbotubbsturbotubbs Posts: 17,393
    gealbhan said:

    Not being au fait with celeb culture, is Niki Minaj a drag queen?

    Are you blind?
    Never seen her, so basing it on the name.
  • MattWMattW Posts: 23,132

    NEW: At 2200 BST tonight the Prime Minister will make an on camera address, alongside US President Biden and Australian Prime Minister Morrison, on a strategic national security announcement - Downing Street

    https://twitter.com/PoliticsForAlI/status/1438202465481117698?s=20

    This may be a big moment for UK - US - AUS and a real set back for France, Canada and NZ
    I don't think Canada will be miffed (they're in the middle of an election), NZ is getting no more than it deserves and Macron will have to have a frank n'fearless chat with UvdL when she comes to Paris to talk about "European Defence".....
    Well, Mons.Macaron could sell UVDL 12 submarines, I suppose...
  • Sandpit said:

    Of relevance to tonight’s announcement, the story of the AU and US police working with ‘a third country’ to develop a ‘super secure encrypted chat phone’, which they sold into the underworld and used to pickup a bunch of serious villains back in June.

    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/sep/11/inside-story-most-daring-surveillance-sting-in-history?source=techstories.org

    It's good to see more detail on that story, thanks. From what I've heard, it was brilliant. Make the criminals distrust the secure comms they were using, and then convince another criminal to persuade them than this new system was much more secure. Except the new system was developed by the police ...

    AIUI it's also interesting that the different countries did different parts of the decryption, to get around their various laws. A little naughty, that.
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 42,952

    TOPPING said:

    FFS....

    Just let us know if there's anything you need':

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9992613/Eco-mob-block-M25-AGAIN.html

    I think that was just after they were told they were about to be arrested.

    Nick Ferrari had the full clip.
    I don't give a f##k....clear the idiots out the way, in the paddy wagon, then have a conversation about if they need to go potty or take oat milk for their tea at the station.
    Oooh get you.
  • Government top team is still very weak, but then you look at the red team....its a bit like Aston Ham Villa vs Newcastle.
  • TazTaz Posts: 14,372

    TOPPING said:

    FFS....

    Just let us know if there's anything you need':

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9992613/Eco-mob-block-M25-AGAIN.html

    I think that was just after they were told they were about to be arrested.

    Nick Ferrari had the full clip.
    I don't give a f##k....clear the idiots out the way, in the paddy wagon, then have a conversation about if they need to go potty or take oat milk for their tea at the station.
    I’m sure they’d treat Millwall fans the same way.
  • Sandpit said:

    Of relevance to tonight’s announcement, the story of the AU and US police working with ‘a third country’ to develop a ‘super secure encrypted chat phone’, which they sold into the underworld and used to pickup a bunch of serious villains back in June.

    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/sep/11/inside-story-most-daring-surveillance-sting-in-history?source=techstories.org

    It's good to see more detail on that story, thanks. From what I've heard, it was brilliant. Make the criminals distrust the secure comms they were using, and then convince another criminal to persuade them than this new system was much more secure. Except the new system was developed by the police ...

    AIUI it's also interesting that the different countries did different parts of the decryption, to get around their various laws. A little naughty, that.
    "It was not by chance that the FBI chose to partner with the AFP and trial An0m in Australia. There, since 2018, the Telecommunications and Other Legislation Amendment (Tola) has allowed government agencies to compel telecommunications providers to allow authorities to intercept criminal messages – powers that are not yet available to police elsewhere in the world.

    Tola did not allow the AFP to share the millions of decrypted messages it was gathering with overseas agencies. The FBI had the necessary keys to decrypt the messages, but not the messages themselves. Working with San Diego lawyers, the FBI devised an ingenious, if arguably questionable, scheme. A third, currently unidentified, country apparently governed by laws that provided authority to accept the data, agreed to take the AFP’s massive cache of messages.

    The fact that US law wasn’t suitable for such an operation may be more a criticism of US law than of the operation
    Without the encryption keys, this was no more than a digital mass of unreadable noise. But the third country then agreed to share the cache with the FBI under a mutual legal assistance treaty, in exchange for the encryption keys."

    Naughty but cunningly clever.
  • MattWMattW Posts: 23,132

    NEW: At 2200 BST tonight the Prime Minister will make an on camera address, alongside US President Biden and Australian Prime Minister Morrison, on a strategic national security announcement - Downing Street

    https://twitter.com/PoliticsForAlI/status/1438202465481117698?s=20

    This may be a big moment for UK - US - AUS and a real set back for France, Canada and NZ
    I don't think Canada will be miffed (they're in the middle of an election), NZ is getting no more than it deserves and Macron will have to have a frank n'fearless chat with UvdL when she comes to Paris to talk about "European Defence".....
    I love the initials: AUUKUS

    Has to be admitted it is a difficult one.

  • MattW said:

    NEW: At 2200 BST tonight the Prime Minister will make an on camera address, alongside US President Biden and Australian Prime Minister Morrison, on a strategic national security announcement - Downing Street

    https://twitter.com/PoliticsForAlI/status/1438202465481117698?s=20

    This may be a big moment for UK - US - AUS and a real set back for France, Canada and NZ
    I don't think Canada will be miffed (they're in the middle of an election), NZ is getting no more than it deserves and Macron will have to have a frank n'fearless chat with UvdL when she comes to Paris to talk about "European Defence".....
    I love the initials: AUUKUS

    Has to be admitted it is a difficult one.

    If we can rearrange the letters:

    U SUUK A ;)
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 54,582

    Sandpit said:

    Of relevance to tonight’s announcement, the story of the AU and US police working with ‘a third country’ to develop a ‘super secure encrypted chat phone’, which they sold into the underworld and used to pickup a bunch of serious villains back in June.

    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/sep/11/inside-story-most-daring-surveillance-sting-in-history?source=techstories.org

    It's good to see more detail on that story, thanks. From what I've heard, it was brilliant. Make the criminals distrust the secure comms they were using, and then convince another criminal to persuade them than this new system was much more secure. Except the new system was developed by the police ...

    AIUI it's also interesting that the different countries did different parts of the decryption, to get around their various laws. A little naughty, that.
    It’s amazing that the true story actually came out so quickly. It’s quite the infiltration of various gangs and traffickers. I can only laugh at the small AFP and FBI teams watching all these messages run past them every day.

    But eventually, there’s lives at stake, and the police have to intervene - which over time will blow their cover, so the whole thing has to be brought to a conclusion.

    The ‘five eyes’ have been spying on each other’s citizens to get around domestic laws since forever, at least that way, they keep things to the genuine scumbags rather than trying to monitor everyone - as Snowden revealed was going on in the States.
  • Sandpit said:

    Sandpit said:

    Of relevance to tonight’s announcement, the story of the AU and US police working with ‘a third country’ to develop a ‘super secure encrypted chat phone’, which they sold into the underworld and used to pickup a bunch of serious villains back in June.

    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/sep/11/inside-story-most-daring-surveillance-sting-in-history?source=techstories.org

    It's good to see more detail on that story, thanks. From what I've heard, it was brilliant. Make the criminals distrust the secure comms they were using, and then convince another criminal to persuade them than this new system was much more secure. Except the new system was developed by the police ...

    AIUI it's also interesting that the different countries did different parts of the decryption, to get around their various laws. A little naughty, that.
    It’s amazing that the true story actually came out so quickly. It’s quite the infiltration of various gangs and traffickers. I can only laugh at the small AFP and FBI teams watching all these messages run past them every day.

    But eventually, there’s lives at stake, and the police have to intervene - which over time will blow their cover, so the whole thing has to be brought to a conclusion.

    The ‘five eyes’ have been spying on each other’s citizens to get around domestic laws since forever, at least that way, they keep things to the genuine scumbags rather than trying to monitor everyone - as Snowden revealed was going on in the States.
    Even better : the criminal organisations will be very slow to trust another app / 'secure' solution again.
  • Pro-EU Tories disappointed @BorisJohnson didn't use today's reshuffle to bring back some pro-EU figures into Govt

    Arguably the strongest sign to date he intends to play the Brexit card hard against Labour at the next election

    Reinforces my negative basecase for UK-EU relations

    https://twitter.com/Mij_Europe/status/1438203642641801220?s=20

    Also plays to Johnson's PMQs line (twice, today) that Labour's pro-EU, pro-(low wage low skill) immigration policy will hold back lower paid wages...which are now rising...

    Which is true, but if Boris is going to take 75% of that rise in taxes then the worker doesn't see much return from it.
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 28,368
    edited September 2021
    HYUFD said:

    VOTE LEAVE RESHUFFLE

    All of the Remainers have now gone.

    Apart from Brandon Lewis.

    And Grant Shapps.

    And Therese Coffey.

    And Alok Sharma.

    And Sajid Javid.

    And Ben Wallace.

    And Oliver Dowden.

    And Mark Spencer.

    And Simon Hart.

    And the actual foreign secretary Liz Truss.


    https://twitter.com/MattChorley/status/1438199627635900418?s=20

    Yes but it is now a more Leave Cabinet, all of those who left the Cabinet today were Remainers, Dorries, Barclay and Zahawi and Trevaleyan who entered the Cabinet were Leavers
    ...but, but Brexit is done.
  • IshmaelZIshmaelZ Posts: 21,830
    Sandpit said:

    Of relevance to tonight’s announcement, the story of the AU and US police working with ‘a third country’ to develop a ‘super secure encrypted chat phone’, which they sold into the underworld and used to pickup a bunch of serious villains back in June.

    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/sep/11/inside-story-most-daring-surveillance-sting-in-history?source=techstories.org

    That is beyond fascinating. Someone should buy the film rights asap and make a new French Connection.
  • Big_G_NorthWalesBig_G_NorthWales Posts: 63,027
    edited September 2021

    Pro-EU Tories disappointed @BorisJohnson didn't use today's reshuffle to bring back some pro-EU figures into Govt

    Arguably the strongest sign to date he intends to play the Brexit card hard against Labour at the next election

    Reinforces my negative basecase for UK-EU relations

    https://twitter.com/Mij_Europe/status/1438203642641801220?s=20

    Also plays to Johnson's PMQs line (twice, today) that Labour's pro-EU, pro-(low wage low skill) immigration policy will hold back lower paid wages...which are now rising...

    Which is true, but if Boris is going to take 75% of that rise in taxes then the worker doesn't see much return from it.
    I do not understand this argument

    With wages rising, which is something you support, and controlled immigration then the workers are pleased, the tax take grows and the need for welfare reduces

    It has already been said that the low paid are benefiting from these wage increases as well
This discussion has been closed.