In one day, Faroe Islanders managed to kill (for no reason) 2% of all the white sided dolphins on earth.
Good work, lads. Just another 49 days and they will all be gone
So the question becomes, should a community be allowed to make a species extinct because it has a right to maintain its traditional culture? A good example of humans putting themselves above everything else on the planet.
Yes, absolutely correct. And no, 50,000 barbarian wankers on a shitty archipelago do not have the ‘right’ to wipe out an entire species. Humanity as a whole does not have that ‘right’.
Ugh. Sickening.
The IWC must simply ban all Faroese whaling. End of. If they can’t control their blood-lust, then fuck their stupid ‘tradition’
Arrogant white western nations must continue to impose their worldview on lesser nations.
i) He'll do a good job and ii) the Anti-vaxxers will go absolutely nuts (aren't they already? - ed.)
On the one hand he's alleged to be the kind of emollient character suited to smoothing feathers ruffled by Williamson - and he might even be competent!
On the other hand, he's not a Revolutionary Marxist. The NEU will hate him.
In one day, Faroe Islanders managed to kill (for no reason) 2% of all the white sided dolphins on earth.
Good work, lads. Just another 49 days and they will all be gone
So the question becomes, should a community be allowed to make a species extinct because it has a right to maintain its traditional culture? A good example of humans putting themselves above everything else on the planet.
The slaughter is - presumably - annual. That sort of 2 percentage points harvesting rate (the technical term IIRC from my ecology lessons) does not sound a lot. It is quite possibly sustainable especially if there is some other limiting factor actually controlling population. But that could be a problem for a slow-breeding mammal such as a dolphin which (on a very quick check) takes a decade or so to mature and breeds only every other year or even less often. One is talking about it taking a female something like two decades to produce 3 calves - effectively just enough to replace her and the equivalent male with something left over for pre-breeding mortality. Now imagine an annual hunt of that level. 20 years x 2% is 40% of the population - so she has now to produce an extra half calf in that time, which is quite a chunk (so to speak). So it doesn't look good on a smell test, but one would need to dive into the population stats and population matrices to be sure.
This wouldn't be an issue if they were only killing a few for consumption.
A related issue: was this a natural stranding (in which case they would die anyway, but should have been killed more humanely)? Or a deliberate drive?
There are analogous ethical issues with pheasants etc - shooting of wild birds by 1 or 2 people versus mass breeding and driving toward the guns.
Honestly Red Bull is team full of utter Mark Recklesses.
If he really said that, there should be repercussions inside the sport. The loudmouth's gone a little too far this time.
Helmut Marko, an adviser to Red Bull, has dismissed Hamilton’s complaints as theatrics. “It was a normal racing accident,” he told Österreich, the Austrian newspaper. “All the stories around it were pulled up by the hair by Mercedes. Verstappen had already got out when Hamilton tried to go back to get out of the gravel. The medical car saw that and drove on. And then a show is put on that poor Hamilton is suddenly injured.”
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is beating the Republicans at their own Trumpian game The Democrat congresswoman’s appearance at the Met Gala marked her ascent to the kind of political celebrity that cannot be ignored
Honestly Red Bull is team full of utter Mark Recklesses.
If he really said that, there should be repercussions inside the sport. The loudmouth's gone a little too far this time.
Max’s radio comment ‘That’s what you get when you don’t leave the space’ should be worrying the hell out of the F1 and FIA bigwigs, as well as his own team.
No major surprises from the reshuffle, Truss moves to Foreign Secretary as expected after a good stint getting trade deals and Raab replaces Buckland at Justice. Jenrick after being seen as a bit too supportive of developers is replaced by Gove, a safe pair of hands. Dowden, a media friendly figure, replaces Milling as Party co-chair with Dorries replacing him at culture.
Williamson finally leaves the Cabinet after falling popularity amongst party members and teachers alike, replaced by safe pair of hands Zahawi as Education Secretary.
Also notable that all those leaving the Cabinet backed Remain in the EU referendum, so the Cabinet further shifts towards Leavers
Lol @ “a bit too supportive of developers” !!!
Dowden always comes across as a plonker on the media. But I guess he’s a friendly plonker.
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.
In one day, Faroe Islanders managed to kill (for no reason) 2% of all the white sided dolphins on earth.
Good work, lads. Just another 49 days and they will all be gone
So the question becomes, should a community be allowed to make a species extinct because it has a right to maintain its traditional culture? A good example of humans putting themselves above everything else on the planet.
Yes, absolutely correct. And no, 50,000 barbarian wankers on a shitty archipelago do not have the ‘right’ to wipe out an entire species. Humanity as a whole does not have that ‘right’.
Ugh. Sickening.
The IWC must simply ban all Faroese whaling. End of. If they can’t control their blood-lust, then fuck their stupid ‘tradition’
You are hours away from gluing yourself naked to the Faroese consulate, aren't you?
Possibly. I’m surprised at my own anger. It is genuine (if slightly hysterical, as is my wont)
I’ve always had a streak of Green in me. Voted for them a couple of times. But their relentless Woke leftism puts me off giving them real support
But I’ve travelled the world (yes, I know, flying = hypocrite) and I’ve seen how beautiful it is, and how we are swiftly fucking it up
We can’t solve every problem immediately, or maybe ever, but this is one particular ecological outrage (and it is egregiously evil) which could be solved pretty swiftly (and must be, or these fuckers will kill all the dolphins). The Faroese are rich but they rely entirely on fish exports, and tourism.
These are easy pressure points to use. Make the Faroese suffer. And save the whales and dolphins
Honestly Red Bull is team full of utter Mark Recklesses.
If he really said that, there should be repercussions inside the sport. The loudmouth's gone a little too far this time.
Max’s radio comment ‘That’s what you get when you don’t leave the space’ should be worrying the hell out of the F1 and FIA bigwigs, as well as his own team.
That's just the kind of crap they talk about as drivers though isn't it? There was that great meme trailer with clips of them talking shit at each other and swearing, but the account that did it seems to be gone now.
Charles V: "I speak Spanish to God, Italian to women, French to men, and German to my horse"
@vonderleyen today: I use English for economics and health, French for social policy and German to warn the Poles to respect the rule of law and our values. #StateOfTheUnion
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.
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.
Honestly Red Bull is team full of utter Mark Recklesses.
If he really said that, there should be repercussions inside the sport. The loudmouth's gone a little too far this time.
Helmut Marko, an adviser to Red Bull, has dismissed Hamilton’s complaints as theatrics. “It was a normal racing accident,” he told Österreich, the Austrian newspaper. “All the stories around it were pulled up by the hair by Mercedes. Verstappen had already got out when Hamilton tried to go back to get out of the gravel. The medical car saw that and drove on. And then a show is put on that poor Hamilton is suddenly injured.”
Thanks. That actually makes it sound worse.
I've known people who have walked away from car crashes, evidently none the worse. Only for the whiplash to show up the next morning.
(Not Miss Whiplash, which would be a very different cause of possibly similar symptoms.)
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.
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 predict an hour after reshuffle has finished and we will be getting percentage of men vs women, BAME, public vs state school articles on BBC and Guardian. Then all the op-ed pieces by tomorrow about why not more .....
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.
Under that tweetis one referring to Starmer's essay (which I'd heard about but didn't know if it was out or not). It sounds like a silly idea but I kind of like it - sure, virtually no one will read it, and he'll need to win in the regular ways (luck, tv clips, policy cock ups by government etc) but I like the idea of a political leader taking some time to write even just an essay exploring political ideas, which seems mostly the domain of discontent wonks now.
If you cannot put it into bullet points I doubt it gets a look in during erstwhile MP training.
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.
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.
As less and less people are wearing masks, the decrease in cases has increased.
Also no mask wearing in English schools and cases still declining. Compared to Scottish schools where masks were required, cases went up.
Correlation does not imply causation.
Correlation *does* imply causation. It does not prove it. If it did not imply it, we'd not need the constant reminders they are not the same thing.
Ah, pedant mode.
Still, I'd rather see a study showing that masks increased cases, rather than basing it on anecdote. There's about a thousand other confounding factors which have been brushed under the carpet.
Honestly Red Bull is team full of utter Mark Recklesses.
If he really said that, there should be repercussions inside the sport. The loudmouth's gone a little too far this time.
Helmut Marko, an adviser to Red Bull, has dismissed Hamilton’s complaints as theatrics. “It was a normal racing accident,” he told Österreich, the Austrian newspaper. “All the stories around it were pulled up by the hair by Mercedes. Verstappen had already got out when Hamilton tried to go back to get out of the gravel. The medical car saw that and drove on. And then a show is put on that poor Hamilton is suddenly injured.”
Thanks. That actually makes it sound worse.
I've known people who have walked away from car crashes, evidently none the worse. Only for the whiplash to show up the next morning.
(Not Miss Whiplash, which would be a very different cause of possibly similar symptoms.)
I’ve done a load of kart racing, and it’s always in the morning you feel it. I’m sure it’s more immediate if you’ve actually crashed and broken something (thankfully I didn’t!), but if you’re just battered and bruised it takes a few hours and some resting before the full effect is felt!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 predict an hour after reshuffle has finished and we will be getting percentage of men vs women, BAME, public vs state school articles on BBC and Guardian. Then all the op-ed pieces by tomorrow about why not more .....
Will the Grauniad want to write up the story of the most BAME government ever being a TORY government?
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.
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.
The cabinet is now stronger than it was this morning, that is undeniable, although it would have been tricky to make it worse. Dorries replacing Dowden at culture seems the only clear downgrade, no idea if Raab will be worse than Buckland at justice.
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.
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 predict an hour after reshuffle has finished and we will be getting percentage of men vs women, BAME, public vs state school articles on BBC and Guardian. Then all the op-ed pieces by tomorrow about why not more .....
In fairness I did think it interesting when articles revealed we had the gayest parliament in the world, felt like news worth knowing.
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.
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.
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.
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.
People blame Jodie for Doctor Who being shite but it's been going downhill since 2010. It was hiring useless Chibnall that has killed it completely
Can @RochdalePioneers please not post things like ‘Mad Nad for education?’ I genuinely did feel ill when I read that until I realised it was a joke.
Nadhim Zahawi is a good appointment
Quite possibly he is. But as I have said before, Williamson wasn’t the problem and firing him won’t on its own be a solution. Unless Gibb and Spielman are also removed along with the entirety of the senior structure of the DfE - everybody of undersecretary rank and above - then it’s deckchairs on the Titanic.
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
Charles V: "I speak Spanish to God, Italian to women, French to men, and German to my horse"
@vonderleyen today: I use English for economics and health, French for social policy and German to warn the Poles to respect the rule of law and our values. #StateOfTheUnion
Long before the crisis in Afghanistan, figures within No 10 were feeling the effects of what several describe as the “dysfunctional culture” that Raab presided over in the Foreign Office, in which officials felt unable to approach Raab. When events in Afghanistan began to unfold, Downing Street figures complained that this wasn’t the first time that this culture had caused serious disruption to the government’s response to a crisis. One Whitehall source notes acerbically that officials are too scared to approach Raab during the “gym time” marked out in his calendar, let alone on holiday.
Even Tim Montgomerie thinks Liz Truss built up her non deal with Australia for a bunch of headlines. After Brexit and Afghanistan do we really need a self publicising fantacist?
As less and less people are wearing masks, the decrease in cases has increased.
Also no mask wearing in English schools and cases still declining. Compared to Scottish schools where masks were required, cases went up.
Correlation does not imply causation.
Correlation *does* imply causation. It does not prove it. If it did not imply it, we'd not need the constant reminders they are not the same thing.
Ah, pedant mode.
Still, I'd rather see a study showing that masks increased cases, rather than basing it on anecdote. There's about a thousand other confounding factors which have been brushed under the carpet.
No major surprises from the reshuffle, Truss moves to Foreign Secretary as expected after a good stint getting trade deals and Raab replaces Buckland at Justice. Jenrick after being seen as a bit too supportive of developers is replaced by Gove, a safe pair of hands. Dowden, a media friendly figure, replaces Milling as Party co-chair with Dorries replacing him at culture.
Williamson finally leaves the Cabinet after falling popularity amongst party members and teachers alike, replaced by safe pair of hands Zahawi as Education Secretary.
Also notable that all those leaving the Cabinet backed Remain in the EU referendum, so the Cabinet further shifts towards Leavers
I think Dorries at Culture has to be treated as a surprise....
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.
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.
People blame Jodie for Doctor Who being shite but it's been going downhill since 2010. It was hiring useless Chibnall that has killed it completely
Chibnall's fault mainly. My only complaint about Jodie was that she gabbled her lines which made it difficult for my foreign Whovian moles, who'd had no problems with her in other roles.
As less and less people are wearing masks, the decrease in cases has increased.
Also no mask wearing in English schools and cases still declining. Compared to Scottish schools where masks were required, cases went up.
Correlation does not imply causation.
Correlation *does* imply causation. It does not prove it. If it did not imply it, we'd not need the constant reminders they are not the same thing.
Ah, pedant mode.
Still, I'd rather see a study showing that masks increased cases, rather than basing it on anecdote. There's about a thousand other confounding factors which have been brushed under the carpet.
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.
Even Tim Montgomerie thinks Liz Truss built up her non deal with Australia for a bunch of headlines. After Brexit and Afghanistan do we really need a self publicising fantacist?
Even Tim Montgomerie thinks Liz Truss built up her non deal with Australia for a bunch of headlines. After Brexit and Afghanistan do we really need a self publicising fantacist?
The Rt Hon Anne-Marie Trevelyan @annietrev has been appointed Secretary of State for International Trade @tradegovuk, and President of the Board of Trade.
No major surprises from the reshuffle, Truss moves to Foreign Secretary as expected after a good stint getting trade deals and Raab replaces Buckland at Justice. Jenrick after being seen as a bit too supportive of developers is replaced by Gove, a safe pair of hands. Dowden, a media friendly figure, replaces Milling as Party co-chair with Dorries replacing him at culture.
Williamson finally leaves the Cabinet after falling popularity amongst party members and teachers alike, replaced by safe pair of hands Zahawi as Education Secretary.
Also notable that all those leaving the Cabinet backed Remain in the EU referendum, so the Cabinet further shifts towards Leavers
I think Dorries at Culture has to be treated as a surprise....
A reliable generator of dead cats/live squirrels (as needed) to reenergise the culture wars?
Can't see the Elgin marbles going home for a while.
This is a good appointment, he's competent at least, even if I disagree with pretty much every thing he thinks.
I remember the reaction on here when he was appointed vaccine minister.
He seems to have done a good job on the vaccines, credit where it is due. I have often said the vaccines have been the only thing the Government has done well.
Can @RochdalePioneers please not post things like ‘Mad Nad for education?’ I genuinely did feel ill when I read that until I realised it was a joke.
Apologies - had intended it to be "Mad Nad for Education?". Hadn't realised there was no ? until it was too late for me to edit it.
You are forgiven.
Now to clean up the pool of sick…
OK so DCMS is less critical than DfE. But this is still a David Mellor level of mis-hire. Unless the intention is to have her spend her entire time creating woke battle after woke-battle as a massive distraction for disillusioned Tory voters to try and keep them away from other parties.
This is a good appointment, he's competent at least, even if I disagree with pretty much every thing he thinks.
I remember the reaction on here when he was appointed vaccine minister.
He seems to have done a good job on the vaccines, credit where it is due. I have often said the vaccines have been the only thing the Government has done well.
It's not been mentioned much, but the genetic tracing of the virus has been world-beating as well.
And yes, I mean that it was world-beating. And run from Cambridge.
Can @RochdalePioneers please not post things like ‘Mad Nad for education?’ I genuinely did feel ill when I read that until I realised it was a joke.
Apologies - had intended it to be "Mad Nad for Education?". Hadn't realised there was no ? until it was too late for me to edit it.
You are forgiven.
Now to clean up the pool of sick…
OK so DCMS is less critical than DfE. But this is still a David Mellor level of mis-hire. Unless the intention is to have her spend her entire time creating woke battle after woke-battle as a massive distraction for disillusioned Tory voters to try and keep them away from other parties.
That’s unfair. David Mellor is quite culturally aware.
This is a good appointment, he's competent at least, even if I disagree with pretty much every thing he thinks.
I remember the reaction on here when he was appointed vaccine minister.
He seems to have done a good job on the vaccines, credit where it is due. I have often said the vaccines have been the only thing the Government has done well.
TBH the thing the government did "well" was i) decide not to do the EU scheme then ii) hand it over to the vaccine task force and NHS to deliver. "Getting out of the way" is an undervalued government talent, especially when "something must be done".
As less and less people are wearing masks, the decrease in cases has increased.
Also no mask wearing in English schools and cases still declining. Compared to Scottish schools where masks were required, cases went up.
Correlation does not imply causation.
Correlation *does* imply causation. It does not prove it. If it did not imply it, we'd not need the constant reminders they are not the same thing.
I think he was using 'imply' in the strictly logical sense, which is correct: if you have a correlation, then no causation is implied - or proven if you like - by that correlation. However, if you have causation, then correlation will be an implication of that causation.
Left wing snowflakes are killing comedy, tearing down historic statues, removing books from universities, dumbing down panto, removing Christ from Christmas and suppressing free speech. Sadly, it must be true, history does repeat itself. It will be music next.
Important tube news: the two new stations at Battersea Power Station and Nine Elms open on Monday 20th September.
Pointless personal anecdote. My love of chemistry was born at the age of seven when I went to an open day at Battersea Power Station and saw "water" magically change colour when a powder was added. The turbine hall was scarily noisy but strangely beautiful.
As less and less people are wearing masks, the decrease in cases has increased.
Also no mask wearing in English schools and cases still declining. Compared to Scottish schools where masks were required, cases went up.
Correlation does not imply causation.
Correlation *does* imply causation. It does not prove it. If it did not imply it, we'd not need the constant reminders they are not the same thing.
Ah, pedant mode.
Still, I'd rather see a study showing that masks increased cases, rather than basing it on anecdote. There's about a thousand other confounding factors which have been brushed under the carpet.
I see @Casino_Royale is having a cent at Jacinda Ardern who had the temerity to rout a hapless centre-right Opposition at a general election last year.
It seems, despite the current Level 4 lockdown in Auckland (eased to Level 2 elsewhere) the Prime Minister and the Labour Party remain in a strong position:
If you want a definition of an ineffective Opposition leader, don't look at Starmer who is a political colossus compared to the useless Judith Collins who oversaw the National rout last year and has remained leader despite what the centre-right tell us is the wealth of talent on the National benches - Christopher Luxon anyone?
The extraordinary aspect of the polls is the gender difference - women have Labour an astonishing 42 points ahead while men have National seven points ahead.
There used to be the notion of generational politics but what of gender? The Redfield/Wilton poll which shows the Conservatives four points ahead has the Conservatives eight points ahead among men and tied with Labour among women - not as stark as NZ but still interesting.
In France, Macron has much stronger support than men while Marine Le Pen gets more support from women.
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 a good appointment, he's competent at least, even if I disagree with pretty much every thing he thinks.
I remember the reaction on here when he was appointed vaccine minister.
He seems to have done a good job on the vaccines, credit where it is due. I have often said the vaccines have been the only thing the Government has done well.
TBH the thing the government did "well" was i) decide not to do the EU scheme then ii) hand it over to the vaccine task force and NHS to deliver. "Getting out of the way" is an undervalued government talent, especially when "something must be done".
They deserve credit for that - and I am happy to say so once again.
Still be accused of being a wokie leftie stuck in my bubble, oh well
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.
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.
The cabinet is now stronger than it was this morning, that is undeniable, although it would have been tricky to make it worse. Dorries replacing Dowden at culture seems the only clear downgrade, no idea if Raab will be worse than Buckland at justice.
Going from a 10lb bag of shit to a 9.5lb bag of shit is not much of an improvement.
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.
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.
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 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 of course it raises more tax and reduces the need for benefits
This is the brexit divided if it comes about
But it also raises prices, remember. Which cuts in different ways.
Comments
On the other hand, he's not a Revolutionary Marxist. The NEU will hate him.
This wouldn't be an issue if they were only killing a few for consumption.
A related issue: was this a natural stranding (in which case they would die anyway, but should have been killed more humanely)? Or a deliberate drive?
There are analogous ethical issues with pheasants etc - shooting of wild birds by 1 or 2 people versus mass breeding and driving toward the guns.
I wonder if she carries a knife?
Und der Haifisch, der hat Zähne,
Und die trägt er im Gesicht...
The Democrat congresswoman’s appearance at the Met Gala marked her ascent to the kind of political celebrity that cannot be ignored
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/09/15/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-beating-republicans-trumpian-game/
Dowden always comes across as a plonker on the media. But I guess he’s a friendly plonker.
https://twitter.com/EricTopol/status/1438174690615300104?s=20
https://twitter.com/GrantTucker/status/1438156831436705794?s=19
I’ve always had a streak of Green in me. Voted for them a couple of times. But their relentless Woke leftism puts me off giving them real support
But I’ve travelled the world (yes, I know, flying = hypocrite) and I’ve seen how beautiful it is, and how we are swiftly fucking it up
We can’t solve every problem immediately, or maybe ever, but this is one particular ecological outrage (and it is egregiously evil) which could be solved pretty swiftly (and must be, or these fuckers will kill all the dolphins). The Faroese are rich but they rely entirely on fish exports, and tourism.
These are easy pressure points to use. Make the Faroese suffer. And save the whales and dolphins
I take it that nothing exciting has happened in the big bad world of politics?
(By which I mean, Nick Gibb being fired from Mr Dancer’s cannon.)
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've known people who have walked away from car crashes, evidently none the worse. Only for the whiplash to show up the next morning.
(Not Miss Whiplash, which would be a very different cause of possibly similar symptoms.)
If you cannot put it into bullet points I doubt it gets a look in during erstwhile MP training.
Or perhaps, as things become safer, fewer people decide to wear masks is the more likely causation here. Just perhaps.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_wkO4hk07o
Still, I'd rather see a study showing that masks increased cases, rather than basing it on anecdote. There's about a thousand other confounding factors which have been brushed under the carpet.
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.
https://groceries.morrisons.com/products/squig-square-british-pork-sausages-408912011
You do understand that that bloke in the bible who says Thank God I am not as other men are is not presented as a positive role model, do you?
https://www.politico.eu/article/draft-state-of-the-union-eu-ursula-von-der-leyen/ )
The real one:
We will present a new European Chips Act.
https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/ov/SPEECH_21_4701
What a lovely woman!
This is a good appointment, he's competent at least, even if I disagree with pretty much every thing he thinks.
Now to clean up the pool of sick…
https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/westminster/2021/09/the-irresistible-rise-of-liz-truss
Val Pollycella says so.
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.
She may be the next PM
https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/blog/government-reshuffle-september-2021
https://twitter.com/10DowningStreet/status/1438181183804817411?s=20
Can't see the Elgin marbles going home for a while.
And yes, I mean that it was world-beating. And run from Cambridge.
https://twitter.com/10DowningStreet/status/1438182855134285824?s=20
I see @Casino_Royale is having a cent at Jacinda Ardern who had the temerity to rout a hapless centre-right Opposition at a general election last year.
It seems, despite the current Level 4 lockdown in Auckland (eased to Level 2 elsewhere) the Prime Minister and the Labour Party remain in a strong position:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300407943/covid19-nz-new-poll-has-national-at-21-per-cent-act-not-far-behind-at-15-per-cent
If you want a definition of an ineffective Opposition leader, don't look at Starmer who is a political colossus compared to the useless Judith Collins who oversaw the National rout last year and has remained leader despite what the centre-right tell us is the wealth of talent on the National benches - Christopher Luxon anyone?
The extraordinary aspect of the polls is the gender difference - women have Labour an astonishing 42 points ahead while men have National seven points ahead.
There used to be the notion of generational politics but what of gender? The Redfield/Wilton poll which shows the Conservatives four points ahead has the Conservatives eight points ahead among men and tied with Labour among women - not as stark as NZ but still interesting.
In France, Macron has much stronger support than men while Marine Le Pen gets more support from women.
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
Still be accused of being a wokie leftie stuck in my bubble, oh well
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.
https://twitter.com/patrickkmaguire/status/1438183321280950275?s=20