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Starmer’s challenge: LAB starts in an almost impossible position – politicalbetting.com

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  • kle4kle4 Posts: 96,104
    edited September 2021

    Carnyx said:

    isam said:

    gealbhan said:

    You have heard what the journalists thought, what Peter Mandelson thought, what Laura Pidcock thought, and even what Carole Vincent thought.

    But what did the public make of Starmer's speech?

    Our snap poll is now in field. Results soon!


    https://twitter.com/chriscurtis94/status/1443230894295224325?s=20

    Wonder how many "don't knows"/"haven't heard it" they'll get?

    How can any snap poll provide an accurate response when only the politically engaged would have heard it

    And Sky barely covered it in what is a big news day
    Presumably Sir K was cursing the Wayne Cuzon's case this morning. Will take up air time.
    It is a bigger news story than Starmer’s speech tbf. A police offer users his badge or uniform to take ladies from the street, who compliantly go along with arrest is utterly chilling. It makes your whole stomach drop out, I can’t read or listen to it. 😢

    Blair had to contend with the OJ jury announcing its verdict.

    These snap in middle conference polls always positive bounce, but Big G is right, inaccurate, only in polls after conference season do we understand if the season changed anything.
    How utterly horrific is that Sarah Everard news? Why would anyone, male or female, not resist arrest in the future on the back of this?
    That case was 'arrest' by a single cop. Two of them (esp if one is female) is inherently safer, but not 100% [edit] if only on strict logic.
    Just remember the police think NOT sacking this cop was a good idea.

    Police officer caught on camera threatening to 'make something up' to arrest man allowed to keep job

    https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/uk-news/police-officer-caught-camera-threatening-21438074

    The police deserve nothing but opprobrium.
    Not always. when a friend committed suicide a few years back, the Cambridgeshire police who dealt with me were professional, polite and caring. It can't have been easy for them, and I sent a note of thanks to the police station.

    A while later, I got a call back from a high-ranking officer thanking me for the note, and saying it was rare to get a thankyou note. Again, that was appreciated.
    There are many great officers out there. I know a few, and some former senior ones, who are very able, even inspiring. The police are also very necessary.

    But as an organisation they not only have some major problems, they are clearly massively resistant to genuinely acknowledging their problems and even more so to addressing them.

    When people have the power they have, we cannot go easy on them and have to be very hard on any issues.
  • isamisam Posts: 41,118
    kinabalu said:

    isam said:

    gealbhan said:

    Incidentally, I think Starmer's Make Brexit Work is a slogan that could run - a simple but clever antidote to Get Brexit Done - that wouldn't piss of leave voters.

    They are going hard for leave voters (not in that sense Leon).

    It’s a difficult slogan for the Tories to rebut - how do they combat it, Brexit is working?
    They just have to point to Sir Keir's attitude 2016-2019; refusal to accept the result, then determination to get an other referendum to which he was committed to Remain, no matter what

    Leave was ALL about immigration, and Sir Keir is championing the New Labour regime which introduced the very thing that made the referendum possible, and the Leave win inevitable - don't see how that is courting Leavers, it's reminding them who's fault it was and that he thinks those at fault were the good guys

    The people whoop whooping over his speech are committed Remainers!
    Many PB Leavers dispute that immigration was the driver. They say it was about all sorts of other things such as cutting Brussels red tape and being "nimble" on foreign and trade policy.
    Yes, "PB Leavers"!

    Political debate is full of over complicated arguments, because the people who enjoy political debates enjoy complicated arguments to show off their debating prowess. But most people, 99.9% of the population, vote on the kind of gut instinct that political debaters hold in complete distain
  • IshmaelZIshmaelZ Posts: 21,830
    ping said:

    isam said:

    gealbhan said:

    You have heard what the journalists thought, what Peter Mandelson thought, what Laura Pidcock thought, and even what Carole Vincent thought.

    But what did the public make of Starmer's speech?

    Our snap poll is now in field. Results soon!


    https://twitter.com/chriscurtis94/status/1443230894295224325?s=20

    Wonder how many "don't knows"/"haven't heard it" they'll get?

    How can any snap poll provide an accurate response when only the politically engaged would have heard it

    And Sky barely covered it in what is a big news day
    Presumably Sir K was cursing the Wayne Cuzon's case this morning. Will take up air time.
    It is a bigger news story than Starmer’s speech tbf. A police offer users his badge or uniform to take ladies from the street, who compliantly go along with arrest is utterly chilling. It makes your whole stomach drop out, I can’t read or listen to it. 😢

    Blair had to contend with the OJ jury announcing its verdict.

    These snap in middle conference polls always positive bounce, but Big G is right, inaccurate, only in polls after conference season do we understand if the season changed anything.
    How utterly horrific is that Sarah Everard news? Why would anyone, male or female, not resist arrest in the future on the back of this?
    The police have a credibility problem, for sure. But resisting arrest is almost certainly asking for trouble.

    The “Wayne Couzens” defence ain’t gonna get you very far.
    Really? How many prosecutions are there for the bare offence of resisting arrest, when it turns out there was no crime to be arrested for in the first place? If you don't know the answer to that, what becomes of your point?
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 62,735
    edited September 2021
    GIN1138 said:

    Igloo statement: ""The current extreme price shock that we’re experiencing is one that few, if anyone, anticipated."

    We'll probably all end up back with British Gas and British Gas renationalized... Back to the 70's. Hey we've got ABBA back so why not! :D
    The fact that they didn't anticipate it, or hedge for it, shows why these funny sounding start-ups had the wrong model and why the regulator should be in the sh*t.
  • paulyork64paulyork64 Posts: 2,507
    ping said:

    Gas up a little more today 229p/therm for dec delivery. A new all time high. Up from 40p/ this time last year.

    Let’s hope for a very windy winter…

    https://www.theice.com/products/910/UK-Natural-Gas-Futures/data?marketId=5188708&span=2

    Not sure it's doing what it suggests but I've just walked past a "specialist geothermal drilling rig" doing its thing between 2 tower blocks in east leeds. .
  • Jonathan said:

    The fact that the achievements of the last Labour government got cheered was a big deal, but really shouldn’t be.

    You're right, of course. But nevertheless, I suspect Blair will be purring this afternoon, both because of this and because of Starmer's speech.
  • Another reason why Boris Johnson and Priti Patel are absolute [moderated].

    They renewed the term of that [another moderated] Cressida Dick.

    Fuck Brexit, Boris Johnson deserves to be ousted for that alone.

    Though to be fair he did sack my old college mate Ian Blair, so it's not not all bad.
  • squareroot2squareroot2 Posts: 6,723
    edited September 2021

    I am more left wing than Starmer and I knew that when I voted for him. I always knew he would bring Labour back to the centre.

    But the difference is that I am happy about that, I believe in Labour Governments in general. Labour was around long before Corbyn and will be around long after, for the priority is achieving one (albeit in the meantime I personally hope for a Hung Parliament so the Lib Dems can help to achieve PR)

    Labour will never agree to PR. It will be like Blairs broken promise..
  • Another reason why Boris Johnson and Priti Patel are absolute [moderated].

    They renewed the term of that [another moderated] Cressida Dick.

    Fuck Brexit, Boris Johnson deserves to be ousted for that alone.

    Though to be fair he did sack my old college mate Ian Blair, so it's not not all bad.
    Cressida Dick makes Ian Blair look brilliant, that's how bad she is.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 54,586

    Another reason why Boris Johnson and Priti Patel are absolute [moderated].

    They renewed the term of that [another moderated] Cressida Dick.

    Fuck Brexit, Boris Johnson deserves to be ousted for that alone.

    Though to be fair he did sack my old college mate Ian Blair, so it's not not all bad.
    Cressida Dick makes Ian Blair look brilliant, that's how bad she is.
    I don’t understand why the mayor hasn’t done what the last mayor did, and make it quite clear the Commissioner does not have his confidence.
  • paulyork64paulyork64 Posts: 2,507

    You have heard what the journalists thought, what Peter Mandelson thought, what Laura Pidcock thought, and even what Carole Vincent thought.

    But what did the public make of Starmer's speech?

    Our snap poll is now in field. Results soon!


    https://twitter.com/chriscurtis94/status/1443230894295224325?s=20

    Wonder how many "don't knows"/"haven't heard it" they'll get?

    How can any snap poll provide an accurate response when only the politically engaged would have heard it

    And Sky barely covered it in what is a big news day
    Snap polls are good if you can bet on them. Otherwise I agree about their worth.
  • Sandpit said:

    Another reason why Boris Johnson and Priti Patel are absolute [moderated].

    They renewed the term of that [another moderated] Cressida Dick.

    Fuck Brexit, Boris Johnson deserves to be ousted for that alone.

    Though to be fair he did sack my old college mate Ian Blair, so it's not not all bad.
    Cressida Dick makes Ian Blair look brilliant, that's how bad she is.
    I don’t understand why the mayor hasn’t done what the last mayor did, and make it quite clear the Commissioner does not have his confidence.
    Possibly because that would entail the Mayor making a decision.
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 96,104
    Sandpit said:

    Another reason why Boris Johnson and Priti Patel are absolute [moderated].

    They renewed the term of that [another moderated] Cressida Dick.

    Fuck Brexit, Boris Johnson deserves to be ousted for that alone.

    Though to be fair he did sack my old college mate Ian Blair, so it's not not all bad.
    Cressida Dick makes Ian Blair look brilliant, that's how bad she is.
    I don’t understand why the mayor hasn’t done what the last mayor did, and make it quite clear the Commissioner does not have his confidence.
    Because she does have his confidence?
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 71,104
    .
    GIN1138 said:

    Igloo statement: ""The current extreme price shock that we’re experiencing is one that few, if anyone, anticipated."

    We'll probably all end up back with British Gas and British Gas renationalized... Back to the 70's. Hey we've got ABBA back so why not! :D
    And a fat, blond PM with an odd grin.
    So hung parliament at the next election and a Lib/Lab pact ?

    Followed by half a decade of stagflation and piss poor fashion.
  • Another reason why Boris Johnson and Priti Patel are absolute [moderated].

    They renewed the term of that [another moderated] Cressida Dick.

    Fuck Brexit, Boris Johnson deserves to be ousted for that alone.

    Though to be fair he did sack my old college mate Ian Blair, so it's not not all bad.
    Cressida Dick makes Ian Blair look brilliant, that's how bad she is.
    By any chance is Cressida Dick OR Ian Blair related to Barney Fife?

    Hope not, because a fine representative of the forces of order such as Deputy Fife surely deserves better!
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 42,854

    Carnyx said:

    isam said:

    gealbhan said:

    You have heard what the journalists thought, what Peter Mandelson thought, what Laura Pidcock thought, and even what Carole Vincent thought.

    But what did the public make of Starmer's speech?

    Our snap poll is now in field. Results soon!


    https://twitter.com/chriscurtis94/status/1443230894295224325?s=20

    Wonder how many "don't knows"/"haven't heard it" they'll get?

    How can any snap poll provide an accurate response when only the politically engaged would have heard it

    And Sky barely covered it in what is a big news day
    Presumably Sir K was cursing the Wayne Cuzon's case this morning. Will take up air time.
    It is a bigger news story than Starmer’s speech tbf. A police offer users his badge or uniform to take ladies from the street, who compliantly go along with arrest is utterly chilling. It makes your whole stomach drop out, I can’t read or listen to it. 😢

    Blair had to contend with the OJ jury announcing its verdict.

    These snap in middle conference polls always positive bounce, but Big G is right, inaccurate, only in polls after conference season do we understand if the season changed anything.
    How utterly horrific is that Sarah Everard news? Why would anyone, male or female, not resist arrest in the future on the back of this?
    That case was 'arrest' by a single cop. Two of them (esp if one is female) is inherently safer, but not 100% [edit] if only on strict logic.
    Just remember the police think NOT sacking this cop was a good idea.

    Police officer caught on camera threatening to 'make something up' to arrest man allowed to keep job

    https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/uk-news/police-officer-caught-camera-threatening-21438074

    The police deserve nothing but opprobrium.
    Not always. when a friend committed suicide a few years back, the Cambridgeshire police who dealt with me were professional, polite and caring. It can't have been easy for them, and I sent a note of thanks to the police station.

    A while later, I got a call back from a high-ranking officer thanking me for the note, and saying it was rare to get a thankyou note. Again, that was appreciated.
    Me too. My mother died unexpectedly in horrendous weather - snow and ice. Young PC came, had to hang around for some time. I wrote an appreciative letter to the station officer i/c (not him, but in some ways that is better) - got a nice letter back. Same with the ambulance folk too btw.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 71,104

    IshmaelZ said:

    Leon said:

    JohnO said:

    JohnO said:

    rcs1000 said:

    HYUFD said:

    rcs1000 said:

    HYUFD said:

    rcs1000 said:

    @bigjohnowls

    If Starmer is a loser, what was Corbyn? He lost Labour their heartlands, and led the party to their worst result since before the Second World War.

    I mean, it's possible that the country is just begging for some hard left solutions. But there doesn't seem to be any actual evidence of that.

    Labour won elections - in my lifetime - under Blair and under Wilson. When was the last time (if any) that someone from the left of the party led them to electoral success?

    Wilson was on the moderate left of the party, he won a clear win in 1966 and a small win in 1974

    No he wasn't. He was very definitely on the right of the party.
    No he was on the centre left.

    In the 1963 Labour leadership election Wilson was the main centre left candidate while George Brown and Jim Callaghan, his main rivals, were the candidates of the Labour right
    Actually, you're right. Both Brown and Wilson were more to the right.
    Indeed and most of the Gaitskellites voted for Callaghan. Brown's serious drink problems and the aggressive behaviour that went with it was well-known in the PLP and on the Tory side too (Macmillan's diaries are coruscating): he was wholly unsuited to be Leader.
    One thing that leaps out to me from reading about the politics of the 1970s is the very hard drinking.

    I'm not just talking about the evenings. Harold Wilson would often have sunk a couple of brandies by 11am, and other cabinet ministers sozzled by early afternoon, and obviously inebriated at the dispatch box.

    Just wouldn't happen now.
    Aye, Roy Jenkins - he of claret fame - and Tony Crosland were other very senior Labour figures and I believe Reggie Maudling on the Tory side was also fond of the occasional snifter. As was Dr Horace King who was Speaker from 1965 to 71. And so on....
    Thatcher would drink neat scotch at lunch, it's in one of the political memoirs of the time (David Owen or Alan Clark, perhaps)

    Didn't Ken Clarke get through a fair bit of Scotch when delivering his budgets?

    Can we call the stuff whisky? We are not in Chicago.
    We are not in Chicago and that is why we call it Scotch.

    ETA maybe the Scots call it whisky? In my very limited experience, a wee dram.
    This is a weirdo PB thing (or maybe it's just Ishmael).

    For some reason, some people take umbrage with the precision.

    Of course, Scotch is fine – and offers more detail. There are several types of whisk(e)y, chiefly Scotch, Irish, American Rye and Bourbon... (but also Welsh, English, Japanese...)

    ... and Korean.
    https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/culture/2021/09/135_315955.html
  • gealbhangealbhan Posts: 2,362
    IshmaelZ said:

    ping said:

    isam said:

    gealbhan said:

    You have heard what the journalists thought, what Peter Mandelson thought, what Laura Pidcock thought, and even what Carole Vincent thought.

    But what did the public make of Starmer's speech?

    Our snap poll is now in field. Results soon!


    https://twitter.com/chriscurtis94/status/1443230894295224325?s=20

    Wonder how many "don't knows"/"haven't heard it" they'll get?

    How can any snap poll provide an accurate response when only the politically engaged would have heard it

    And Sky barely covered it in what is a big news day
    Presumably Sir K was cursing the Wayne Cuzon's case this morning. Will take up air time.
    It is a bigger news story than Starmer’s speech tbf. A police offer users his badge or uniform to take ladies from the street, who compliantly go along with arrest is utterly chilling. It makes your whole stomach drop out, I can’t read or listen to it. 😢

    Blair had to contend with the OJ jury announcing its verdict.

    These snap in middle conference polls always positive bounce, but Big G is right, inaccurate, only in polls after conference season do we understand if the season changed anything.
    How utterly horrific is that Sarah Everard news? Why would anyone, male or female, not resist arrest in the future on the back of this?
    The police have a credibility problem, for sure. But resisting arrest is almost certainly asking for trouble.

    The “Wayne Couzens” defence ain’t gonna get you very far.
    Really? How many prosecutions are there for the bare offence of resisting arrest, when it turns out there was no crime to be arrested for in the first place? If you don't know the answer to that, what becomes of your point?
    Decent people like Sarah won’t ever resist arrest. 😕

    Will every type of society produce a bastard like Wayne, or are we too soft on misogyny and pornography?
  • isam said:

    The biggest shop on Romford Market, Debenhams, is being turned into an Islamic Shopping Centre & Mosque

    Good news eh? @Stuartinromford

    No mention of a mosque here-
    https://www.time1075.net/172004-2-romford-debenhams-to-become-superstore/

    There's mention of a prayer room on the website https://akluplaza.co.uk/ but not much space for it in the floor plans.

    Otherwise, it sounds like a version of the Shopping Hall that happens to be run by some successful Asian shopkeepers. Best of luck to them.

    Better that than another empty shell like the adjacent Littlewoods/Index site. That's been abandoned for nearly 20 years.

    So new businesses that will attract people to Romford, unless they're allergic to Asians. Sounds like good news, eh?
    Bluewater and Lakeside also have prayer rooms.
  • paulyork64paulyork64 Posts: 2,507

    IshmaelZ said:

    IanB2 said:

    So my energy supplier Igloo is packing up shop

    Urgh, transferred to Igloo a few months ago. Just saw the email from them..
    Anyone able to login to them?
    Just tried and no.

    Their landing page still has 'Energy for the Connected Generation, Switch today and you could save £71* a year'.
    I sense they have been somewhat overtaken by events.
    Guess it is too late to take that recommended screenshot!
    Go in on about the 50th go including resetting password and retrieved the last bill. Not been able to submit a meter reading yet.
    Should I be personally bovvered about this, if all I burn is oil?
    No but the posters who initially mentioned they are on Igloo, and other people with them, might be. Or might not.

    I doubt people are particularly bothered about most posts people make.
    I think someone posted on here the other day that the price of their heating oil had got up a lot.
  • Speaking of policing, when are PB mods gonna police this thread by putting it out of it's extended misery, by posting something new if not improved?
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 54,586
    kle4 said:

    Sandpit said:

    Another reason why Boris Johnson and Priti Patel are absolute [moderated].

    They renewed the term of that [another moderated] Cressida Dick.

    Fuck Brexit, Boris Johnson deserves to be ousted for that alone.

    Though to be fair he did sack my old college mate Ian Blair, so it's not not all bad.
    Cressida Dick makes Ian Blair look brilliant, that's how bad she is.
    I don’t understand why the mayor hasn’t done what the last mayor did, and make it quite clear the Commissioner does not have his confidence.
    Because she does have his confidence?
    That’s the worrying scenario. Obviously he’s happy with crime in London - or at least happy enough not to need to think about it for a couple of years electorally.
  • kinabalu said:

    isam said:

    gealbhan said:

    Incidentally, I think Starmer's Make Brexit Work is a slogan that could run - a simple but clever antidote to Get Brexit Done - that wouldn't piss of leave voters.

    They are going hard for leave voters (not in that sense Leon).

    It’s a difficult slogan for the Tories to rebut - how do they combat it, Brexit is working?
    They just have to point to Sir Keir's attitude 2016-2019; refusal to accept the result, then determination to get an other referendum to which he was committed to Remain, no matter what

    Leave was ALL about immigration, and Sir Keir is championing the New Labour regime which introduced the very thing that made the referendum possible, and the Leave win inevitable - don't see how that is courting Leavers, it's reminding them who's fault it was and that he thinks those at fault were the good guys

    The people whoop whooping over his speech are committed Remainers!
    Many PB Leavers dispute that immigration was the driver. They say it was about all sorts of other things such as cutting Brussels red tape and being "nimble" on foreign & trade policy.
    Don't forget sclerotic and sovereignty. The EU is sclerotic. We want our sovereignty back.
  • IshmaelZ said:

    Leon said:

    JohnO said:

    JohnO said:

    rcs1000 said:

    HYUFD said:

    rcs1000 said:

    HYUFD said:

    rcs1000 said:

    @bigjohnowls

    If Starmer is a loser, what was Corbyn? He lost Labour their heartlands, and led the party to their worst result since before the Second World War.

    I mean, it's possible that the country is just begging for some hard left solutions. But there doesn't seem to be any actual evidence of that.

    Labour won elections - in my lifetime - under Blair and under Wilson. When was the last time (if any) that someone from the left of the party led them to electoral success?

    Wilson was on the moderate left of the party, he won a clear win in 1966 and a small win in 1974

    No he wasn't. He was very definitely on the right of the party.
    No he was on the centre left.

    In the 1963 Labour leadership election Wilson was the main centre left candidate while George Brown and Jim Callaghan, his main rivals, were the candidates of the Labour right
    Actually, you're right. Both Brown and Wilson were more to the right.
    Indeed and most of the Gaitskellites voted for Callaghan. Brown's serious drink problems and the aggressive behaviour that went with it was well-known in the PLP and on the Tory side too (Macmillan's diaries are coruscating): he was wholly unsuited to be Leader.
    One thing that leaps out to me from reading about the politics of the 1970s is the very hard drinking.

    I'm not just talking about the evenings. Harold Wilson would often have sunk a couple of brandies by 11am, and other cabinet ministers sozzled by early afternoon, and obviously inebriated at the dispatch box.

    Just wouldn't happen now.
    Aye, Roy Jenkins - he of claret fame - and Tony Crosland were other very senior Labour figures and I believe Reggie Maudling on the Tory side was also fond of the occasional snifter. As was Dr Horace King who was Speaker from 1965 to 71. And so on....
    Thatcher would drink neat scotch at lunch, it's in one of the political memoirs of the time (David Owen or Alan Clark, perhaps)

    Didn't Ken Clarke get through a fair bit of Scotch when delivering his budgets?

    Can we call the stuff whisky? We are not in Chicago.
    We are not in Chicago and that is why we call it Scotch.

    ETA maybe the Scots call it whisky? In my very limited experience, a wee dram.
    This is a weirdo PB thing (or maybe it's just Ishmael).

    For some reason, some people take umbrage with the precision.

    Of course, Scotch is fine – and offers more detail. There are several types of whisk(e)y, chiefly Scotch, Irish, American Rye and Bourbon... (but also Welsh, English, Japanese...)

    Yes, I can only ever remember "a bottle of Scotch" or, in pubs, a (double) Scotch. Tbf, it has been decades since I stopped drinking. If you wanted a foreign whiskey, you'd order it by name, eg Jack Daniels or Jameson's.
  • Nigelb said:

    IshmaelZ said:

    Leon said:

    JohnO said:

    JohnO said:

    rcs1000 said:

    HYUFD said:

    rcs1000 said:

    HYUFD said:

    rcs1000 said:

    @bigjohnowls

    If Starmer is a loser, what was Corbyn? He lost Labour their heartlands, and led the party to their worst result since before the Second World War.

    I mean, it's possible that the country is just begging for some hard left solutions. But there doesn't seem to be any actual evidence of that.

    Labour won elections - in my lifetime - under Blair and under Wilson. When was the last time (if any) that someone from the left of the party led them to electoral success?

    Wilson was on the moderate left of the party, he won a clear win in 1966 and a small win in 1974

    No he wasn't. He was very definitely on the right of the party.
    No he was on the centre left.

    In the 1963 Labour leadership election Wilson was the main centre left candidate while George Brown and Jim Callaghan, his main rivals, were the candidates of the Labour right
    Actually, you're right. Both Brown and Wilson were more to the right.
    Indeed and most of the Gaitskellites voted for Callaghan. Brown's serious drink problems and the aggressive behaviour that went with it was well-known in the PLP and on the Tory side too (Macmillan's diaries are coruscating): he was wholly unsuited to be Leader.
    One thing that leaps out to me from reading about the politics of the 1970s is the very hard drinking.

    I'm not just talking about the evenings. Harold Wilson would often have sunk a couple of brandies by 11am, and other cabinet ministers sozzled by early afternoon, and obviously inebriated at the dispatch box.

    Just wouldn't happen now.
    Aye, Roy Jenkins - he of claret fame - and Tony Crosland were other very senior Labour figures and I believe Reggie Maudling on the Tory side was also fond of the occasional snifter. As was Dr Horace King who was Speaker from 1965 to 71. And so on....
    Thatcher would drink neat scotch at lunch, it's in one of the political memoirs of the time (David Owen or Alan Clark, perhaps)

    Didn't Ken Clarke get through a fair bit of Scotch when delivering his budgets?

    Can we call the stuff whisky? We are not in Chicago.
    We are not in Chicago and that is why we call it Scotch.

    ETA maybe the Scots call it whisky? In my very limited experience, a wee dram.
    This is a weirdo PB thing (or maybe it's just Ishmael).

    For some reason, some people take umbrage with the precision.

    Of course, Scotch is fine – and offers more detail. There are several types of whisk(e)y, chiefly Scotch, Irish, American Rye and Bourbon... (but also Welsh, English, Japanese...)

    ... and Korean.
    https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/culture/2021/09/135_315955.html
    Canadian.

    Though the slogan "Drink Canada Dry" referred to ginger ale . . . at least originally!
  • Speaking of policing, when are PB mods gonna police this thread by putting it out of it's extended misery, by posting something new if not improved?

    My guess is they are waiting for a snap poll on the Starmer speech.
  • kinabalu said:

    isam said:

    gealbhan said:

    Incidentally, I think Starmer's Make Brexit Work is a slogan that could run - a simple but clever antidote to Get Brexit Done - that wouldn't piss of leave voters.

    They are going hard for leave voters (not in that sense Leon).

    It’s a difficult slogan for the Tories to rebut - how do they combat it, Brexit is working?
    They just have to point to Sir Keir's attitude 2016-2019; refusal to accept the result, then determination to get an other referendum to which he was committed to Remain, no matter what

    Leave was ALL about immigration, and Sir Keir is championing the New Labour regime which introduced the very thing that made the referendum possible, and the Leave win inevitable - don't see how that is courting Leavers, it's reminding them who's fault it was and that he thinks those at fault were the good guys

    The people whoop whooping over his speech are committed Remainers!
    Many PB Leavers dispute that immigration was the driver. They say it was about all sorts of other things such as cutting Brussels red tape and being "nimble" on foreign & trade policy.
    Don't forget sclerotic and sovereignty. The EU is sclerotic. We want our sovereignty back.
    How can we ever forget sclerotic. Such a horrible word used daily for months on end.
  • Carnyx said:

    Carnyx said:

    isam said:

    gealbhan said:

    You have heard what the journalists thought, what Peter Mandelson thought, what Laura Pidcock thought, and even what Carole Vincent thought.

    But what did the public make of Starmer's speech?

    Our snap poll is now in field. Results soon!


    https://twitter.com/chriscurtis94/status/1443230894295224325?s=20

    Wonder how many "don't knows"/"haven't heard it" they'll get?

    How can any snap poll provide an accurate response when only the politically engaged would have heard it

    And Sky barely covered it in what is a big news day
    Presumably Sir K was cursing the Wayne Cuzon's case this morning. Will take up air time.
    It is a bigger news story than Starmer’s speech tbf. A police offer users his badge or uniform to take ladies from the street, who compliantly go along with arrest is utterly chilling. It makes your whole stomach drop out, I can’t read or listen to it. 😢

    Blair had to contend with the OJ jury announcing its verdict.

    These snap in middle conference polls always positive bounce, but Big G is right, inaccurate, only in polls after conference season do we understand if the season changed anything.
    How utterly horrific is that Sarah Everard news? Why would anyone, male or female, not resist arrest in the future on the back of this?
    That case was 'arrest' by a single cop. Two of them (esp if one is female) is inherently safer, but not 100% [edit] if only on strict logic.
    Just remember the police think NOT sacking this cop was a good idea.

    Police officer caught on camera threatening to 'make something up' to arrest man allowed to keep job

    https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/uk-news/police-officer-caught-camera-threatening-21438074

    The police deserve nothing but opprobrium.
    Not always. when a friend committed suicide a few years back, the Cambridgeshire police who dealt with me were professional, polite and caring. It can't have been easy for them, and I sent a note of thanks to the police station.

    A while later, I got a call back from a high-ranking officer thanking me for the note, and saying it was rare to get a thankyou note. Again, that was appreciated.
    Me too. My mother died unexpectedly in horrendous weather - snow and ice. Young PC came, had to hang around for some time. I wrote an appreciative letter to the station officer i/c (not him, but in some ways that is better) - got a nice letter back. Same with the ambulance folk too btw.
    On reflection I should have done that in Nov 2012.

    The treatment by Vodaphone and the Inland Revenue left a lot to be desired.I exoect it is better now, at least Lyn Hamer promised me that the Inland Revenue would be more compassionate than just sending out a tax return, which is what happened to me.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 42,198
    edited September 2021
    isam said:

    kinabalu said:

    isam said:

    gealbhan said:

    Incidentally, I think Starmer's Make Brexit Work is a slogan that could run - a simple but clever antidote to Get Brexit Done - that wouldn't piss of leave voters.

    They are going hard for leave voters (not in that sense Leon).

    It’s a difficult slogan for the Tories to rebut - how do they combat it, Brexit is working?
    They just have to point to Sir Keir's attitude 2016-2019; refusal to accept the result, then determination to get an other referendum to which he was committed to Remain, no matter what

    Leave was ALL about immigration, and Sir Keir is championing the New Labour regime which introduced the very thing that made the referendum possible, and the Leave win inevitable - don't see how that is courting Leavers, it's reminding them who's fault it was and that he thinks those at fault were the good guys

    The people whoop whooping over his speech are committed Remainers!
    Many PB Leavers dispute that immigration was the driver. They say it was about all sorts of other things such as cutting Brussels red tape and being "nimble" on foreign and trade policy.
    Yes, "PB Leavers"!

    Political debate is full of over complicated arguments, because the people who enjoy political debates enjoy complicated arguments to show off their debating prowess. But most people, 99.9% of the population, vote on the kind of gut instinct that political debaters hold in complete distain
    True true true. Eg me. I love a good debate, love to get nuanced and logical yet remain true to my core egalitarian values, love to check out all the key policies of the main parties, but at the end of the day, when push comes to shove and I vote (Labour) it's not with any of that in mind, it's pure gut, as you say, simply a strong almost primal feeling that TORIES ARE BASTARDS.
  • Important piece from Friedman on the challenge facing the Democrats if they are to save the US democracy from Trump's cult.


    “The absence of pragmatism among Democrats is as troubling as the absence of principle among Republicans.”

    "...there is no question that America’s 245-year experiment in democracy is in real peril."

    https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/28/opinion/liz-cheney-democrats-democracy.html
  • gealbhangealbhan Posts: 2,362
    kle4 said:

    Not something that had occurred to me

    @DavidHerdson

    4h
    Not many masks on show at the #LabourConference, in sharp contrast to in parliament.

    Rather suggests that the MPs' efforts are for show, and the stance gets dropped when there aren't Tories to contrast against.

    Or following the Prime Ministers suggestion to mask up at indoor gatherings?
  • isamisam Posts: 41,118
    edited September 2021

    isam said:

    The biggest shop on Romford Market, Debenhams, is being turned into an Islamic Shopping Centre & Mosque

    Good news eh? @Stuartinromford

    No mention of a mosque here-
    https://www.time1075.net/172004-2-romford-debenhams-to-become-superstore/

    There's mention of a prayer room on the website https://akluplaza.co.uk/ but not much space for it in the floor plans.

    Otherwise, it sounds like a version of the Shopping Hall that happens to be run by some successful Asian shopkeepers. Best of luck to them.

    Better that than another empty shell like the adjacent Littlewoods/Index site. That's been abandoned for nearly 20 years.

    So new businesses that will attract people to Romford, unless they're allergic to Asians. Sounds like good news, eh?
    Mention of a Mosque here - from the owner. Although the subtitles say "most". "Most" makes no sense, but let's see. The subtitles also say "In Charlie's" rather than "inshallah"

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnEhLL1mw5E

    It's a specifically Islamic Shopping Hall, not just a Shopping Hall that happens to be run by successful Asian shopkeepers. I don't think it will go down that well, but who cares about what people who grew up in Romford think? We've mostly all left anyway
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,183
    This is a draw dropping story:

    Goldman Sachs, Ozy Media and a $40 Million Conference Call Gone Wrong https://nyti.ms/2ZAZIIs
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 28,373
    .
    Carnyx said:

    isam said:

    gealbhan said:

    You have heard what the journalists thought, what Peter Mandelson thought, what Laura Pidcock thought, and even what Carole Vincent thought.

    But what did the public make of Starmer's speech?

    Our snap poll is now in field. Results soon!


    https://twitter.com/chriscurtis94/status/1443230894295224325?s=20

    Wonder how many "don't knows"/"haven't heard it" they'll get?

    How can any snap poll provide an accurate response when only the politically engaged would have heard it

    And Sky barely covered it in what is a big news day
    Presumably Sir K was cursing the Wayne Cuzon's case this morning. Will take up air time.
    It is a bigger news story than Starmer’s speech tbf. A police offer users his badge or uniform to take ladies from the street, who compliantly go along with arrest is utterly chilling. It makes your whole stomach drop out, I can’t read or listen to it. 😢

    Blair had to contend with the OJ jury announcing its verdict.

    These snap in middle conference polls always positive bounce, but Big G is right, inaccurate, only in polls after conference season do we understand if the season changed anything.
    How utterly horrific is that Sarah Everard news? Why would anyone, male or female, not resist arrest in the future on the back of this?
    That case was 'arrest' by a single cop. Two of them (esp if one is female) is inherently safer, but not 100% [edit] if only on strict logic.
    Imagine the stress anyone not used to being arrested would be under being cuffed and put into a policecar by a genuine policeman with a genuine warrant card.
  • eekeek Posts: 28,378
    Sandpit said:

    kle4 said:

    Sandpit said:

    Another reason why Boris Johnson and Priti Patel are absolute [moderated].

    They renewed the term of that [another moderated] Cressida Dick.

    Fuck Brexit, Boris Johnson deserves to be ousted for that alone.

    Though to be fair he did sack my old college mate Ian Blair, so it's not not all bad.
    Cressida Dick makes Ian Blair look brilliant, that's how bad she is.
    I don’t understand why the mayor hasn’t done what the last mayor did, and make it quite clear the Commissioner does not have his confidence.
    Because she does have his confidence?
    That’s the worrying scenario. Obviously he’s happy with crime in London - or at least happy enough not to need to think about it for a couple of years electorally.
    What does that solve? The Mayor of London cannot sack the Met Commissioner for that is the responsibility of the the Home Secretary.
  • Speaking of policing, when are PB mods gonna police this thread by putting it out of it's extended misery, by posting something new if not improved?

    My guess is they are waiting for a snap poll on the Starmer speech.
    You could always write something! :smile: Mike and TSE are open to header proposals.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 71,104

    Nigelb said:

    IshmaelZ said:

    Leon said:

    JohnO said:

    JohnO said:

    rcs1000 said:

    HYUFD said:

    rcs1000 said:

    HYUFD said:

    rcs1000 said:

    @bigjohnowls

    If Starmer is a loser, what was Corbyn? He lost Labour their heartlands, and led the party to their worst result since before the Second World War.

    I mean, it's possible that the country is just begging for some hard left solutions. But there doesn't seem to be any actual evidence of that.

    Labour won elections - in my lifetime - under Blair and under Wilson. When was the last time (if any) that someone from the left of the party led them to electoral success?

    Wilson was on the moderate left of the party, he won a clear win in 1966 and a small win in 1974

    No he wasn't. He was very definitely on the right of the party.
    No he was on the centre left.

    In the 1963 Labour leadership election Wilson was the main centre left candidate while George Brown and Jim Callaghan, his main rivals, were the candidates of the Labour right
    Actually, you're right. Both Brown and Wilson were more to the right.
    Indeed and most of the Gaitskellites voted for Callaghan. Brown's serious drink problems and the aggressive behaviour that went with it was well-known in the PLP and on the Tory side too (Macmillan's diaries are coruscating): he was wholly unsuited to be Leader.
    One thing that leaps out to me from reading about the politics of the 1970s is the very hard drinking.

    I'm not just talking about the evenings. Harold Wilson would often have sunk a couple of brandies by 11am, and other cabinet ministers sozzled by early afternoon, and obviously inebriated at the dispatch box.

    Just wouldn't happen now.
    Aye, Roy Jenkins - he of claret fame - and Tony Crosland were other very senior Labour figures and I believe Reggie Maudling on the Tory side was also fond of the occasional snifter. As was Dr Horace King who was Speaker from 1965 to 71. And so on....
    Thatcher would drink neat scotch at lunch, it's in one of the political memoirs of the time (David Owen or Alan Clark, perhaps)

    Didn't Ken Clarke get through a fair bit of Scotch when delivering his budgets?

    Can we call the stuff whisky? We are not in Chicago.
    We are not in Chicago and that is why we call it Scotch.

    ETA maybe the Scots call it whisky? In my very limited experience, a wee dram.
    This is a weirdo PB thing (or maybe it's just Ishmael).

    For some reason, some people take umbrage with the precision.

    Of course, Scotch is fine – and offers more detail. There are several types of whisk(e)y, chiefly Scotch, Irish, American Rye and Bourbon... (but also Welsh, English, Japanese...)

    ... and Korean.
    https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/culture/2021/09/135_315955.html
    Canadian.

    Though the slogan "Drink Canada Dry" referred to ginger ale . . . at least originally!
    I remember a couple of relatives in the 70s used to drink that with whisky.
    Vile stuff.
  • RobDRobD Posts: 59,930
    rcs1000 said:

    This is a draw dropping story:

    Goldman Sachs, Ozy Media and a $40 Million Conference Call Gone Wrong https://nyti.ms/2ZAZIIs

    You dropped your drawers while reading it? TMI, man.

    *gets coat*
  • gealbhangealbhan Posts: 2,362
    kinabalu said:

    isam said:

    kinabalu said:

    isam said:

    gealbhan said:

    Incidentally, I think Starmer's Make Brexit Work is a slogan that could run - a simple but clever antidote to Get Brexit Done - that wouldn't piss of leave voters.

    They are going hard for leave voters (not in that sense Leon).

    It’s a difficult slogan for the Tories to rebut - how do they combat it, Brexit is working?
    They just have to point to Sir Keir's attitude 2016-2019; refusal to accept the result, then determination to get an other referendum to which he was committed to Remain, no matter what

    Leave was ALL about immigration, and Sir Keir is championing the New Labour regime which introduced the very thing that made the referendum possible, and the Leave win inevitable - don't see how that is courting Leavers, it's reminding them who's fault it was and that he thinks those at fault were the good guys

    The people whoop whooping over his speech are committed Remainers!
    Many PB Leavers dispute that immigration was the driver. They say it was about all sorts of other things such as cutting Brussels red tape and being "nimble" on foreign and trade policy.
    Yes, "PB Leavers"!

    Political debate is full of over complicated arguments, because the people who enjoy political debates enjoy complicated arguments to show off their debating prowess. But most people, 99.9% of the population, vote on the kind of gut instinct that political debaters hold in complete distain
    True true true. Eg me. I love a good debate, love to get nuanced and logical yet remain true to my core egalitarian values, love to check out all the key policies of the main parties, but at the end of the day, when push comes to shove and I vote (Labour) it's not with any of that in mind, it's pure gut, as you say, simply a strong almost primal feeling that TORIES ARE BASTARDS.
    Err Bastards is so last week havn’t ya noticed?
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 96,104
    rcs1000 said:

    isam said:

    isam said:

    The biggest shop on Romford Market, Debenhams, is being turned into an Islamic Shopping Centre & Mosque

    Good news eh? @Stuartinromford

    No mention of a mosque here-
    https://www.time1075.net/172004-2-romford-debenhams-to-become-superstore/

    There's mention of a prayer room on the website https://akluplaza.co.uk/ but not much space for it in the floor plans.

    Otherwise, it sounds like a version of the Shopping Hall that happens to be run by some successful Asian shopkeepers. Best of luck to them.

    Better that than another empty shell like the adjacent Littlewoods/Index site. That's been abandoned for nearly 20 years.

    So new businesses that will attract people to Romford, unless they're allergic to Asians. Sounds like good news, eh?
    Mention of a Mosque here - from the owner

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnEhLL1mw5E

    It's a specifically Islamic Shopping Hall, not just a Shopping Hall that happens to be run by successful Asian shopkeepers. I don't think it will go down that well, but who cares about what people who grew up in Romford think? We've mostly all left anyway
    Hang on.

    Those people are now British citizens.

    Why shouldn't they be allowed to open a mosque? Or a church? Or an Anne summers?

    Unless they are actually hurting other people, it's none of your business
    In fairness I have seen mass objections from people who didn't want a new church in their area supposedly on the grounds of increased sunday traffic and noise from the singing. That said, it was not CoE or Catholic.
  • Speaking of policing, when are PB mods gonna police this thread by putting it out of it's extended misery, by posting something new if not improved?

    My guess is they are waiting for a snap poll on the Starmer speech.
    You could always write something! :smile: Mike and TSE are open to header proposals.
    If you must (or must not) know, yours truly is waiting for new thread to post some BREAKING NEWS that impacts US 2022 mid-term elections.
  • MattWMattW Posts: 23,201
    edited September 2021

    isam said:

    The biggest shop on Romford Market, Debenhams, is being turned into an Islamic Shopping Centre & Mosque

    Good news eh? @Stuartinromford

    No mention of a mosque here-
    https://www.time1075.net/172004-2-romford-debenhams-to-become-superstore/

    There's mention of a prayer room on the website https://akluplaza.co.uk/ but not much space for it in the floor plans.

    Otherwise, it sounds like a version of the Shopping Hall that happens to be run by some successful Asian shopkeepers. Best of luck to them.

    Better that than another empty shell like the adjacent Littlewoods/Index site. That's been abandoned for nearly 20 years.

    So new businesses that will attract people to Romford, unless they're allergic to Asians. Sounds like good news, eh?
    Bluewater and Lakeside also have prayer rooms.
    I think all the major shopping centres probably do.

    Most of them also have a variety of Chaplains, too.

    Boots in Nottingham used to employ one part time, who was also Chaplain to Radcliffe on Soar power station, and a small local parish.

    Very interesting that this is a big retail project in a high street.
  • isamisam Posts: 41,118
    ...
    rcs1000 said:

    isam said:

    isam said:

    The biggest shop on Romford Market, Debenhams, is being turned into an Islamic Shopping Centre & Mosque

    Good news eh? @Stuartinromford

    No mention of a mosque here-
    https://www.time1075.net/172004-2-romford-debenhams-to-become-superstore/

    There's mention of a prayer room on the website https://akluplaza.co.uk/ but not much space for it in the floor plans.

    Otherwise, it sounds like a version of the Shopping Hall that happens to be run by some successful Asian shopkeepers. Best of luck to them.

    Better that than another empty shell like the adjacent Littlewoods/Index site. That's been abandoned for nearly 20 years.

    So new businesses that will attract people to Romford, unless they're allergic to Asians. Sounds like good news, eh?
    Mention of a Mosque here - from the owner

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnEhLL1mw5E

    It's a specifically Islamic Shopping Hall, not just a Shopping Hall that happens to be run by successful Asian shopkeepers. I don't think it will go down that well, but who cares about what people who grew up in Romford think? We've mostly all left anyway
    Hang on.

    Those people are British citizens.

    Why shouldn't they be allowed to open a mosque? Or a church? Or an Anne summers?

    Unless they are actually hurting other people, it's none of your business
    Hang on.

    I didn't say they couldn't, did I?
  • Speaking of policing, when are PB mods gonna police this thread by putting it out of it's extended misery, by posting something new if not improved?

    My guess is they are waiting for a snap poll on the Starmer speech.
    You could always write something! :smile: Mike and TSE are open to header proposals.
    I'm serious. Yougov teased a snap poll and I reckon that will be the next thread.
  • rcs1000 said:

    isam said:

    isam said:

    The biggest shop on Romford Market, Debenhams, is being turned into an Islamic Shopping Centre & Mosque

    Good news eh? @Stuartinromford

    No mention of a mosque here-
    https://www.time1075.net/172004-2-romford-debenhams-to-become-superstore/

    There's mention of a prayer room on the website https://akluplaza.co.uk/ but not much space for it in the floor plans.

    Otherwise, it sounds like a version of the Shopping Hall that happens to be run by some successful Asian shopkeepers. Best of luck to them.

    Better that than another empty shell like the adjacent Littlewoods/Index site. That's been abandoned for nearly 20 years.

    So new businesses that will attract people to Romford, unless they're allergic to Asians. Sounds like good news, eh?
    Mention of a Mosque here - from the owner

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnEhLL1mw5E

    It's a specifically Islamic Shopping Hall, not just a Shopping Hall that happens to be run by successful Asian shopkeepers. I don't think it will go down that well, but who cares about what people who grew up in Romford think? We've mostly all left anyway
    Hang on.

    Those people are British citizens.

    Why shouldn't they be allowed to open a mosque? Or a church? Or an Anne summers?

    Unless they are actually hurting other people, it's none of your business
    If there is demand for it they'll make a profit.

    If there isn't demand for it they'll lose money* and shut down.

    Let the free market work it out.

    * Unless this is funded by dodgy Saudi Wahhabist money. That I do have an issue with and needs to be stopped.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 71,104
    What If 2020 Was Just a Rehearsal?

    https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/09/26/trump-politics-american-democracy-threat-2021-2022-analysis-514180
    ...Or consider how things might’ve played out in January if Congress’s makeup had been different. “What would have happened if the election was exactly the same, except Kevin McCarthy was Speaker of the House?” Hasen asks. “I don’t know that we’d have a President Biden right now.”...

    ... A poll by CNN recently found that 59 percent of Republicans say that believing in Trump’s claims of a stolen election is what it “means to be a Republican.” I mean, that’s just awful.

    The reason Bush v. Gore undermined Democrats’ confidence in the process so much was that the margin of error in the election greatly exceeded the margin of victory of the candidate. When you essentially have a tie in an election, and the tie-breaking rules are political bodies — and I consider the U.S. Supreme Court to be a political body, just like the Florida Supreme Court — you’re going to have some disgruntled people.

    But 2020 was not a close election. It was not a close election in the popular vote; it was not a close election in the Electoral College vote. There is no basis in reality for believing that the winner actually lost the election...
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,362
    Jesus, now reading the Everard murder details

    It's one of those cases where you think, ah, hang him. Why not? Why should we pay to keep him alive?

    I also find it very hard to believe this was a one-off. You don't go from normal sane person to intentional kidnapper, torturer, rapist, strangler and body-burner in one day. He must have done other horrible stuff interim. What?

  • gealbhan said:

    kle4 said:

    Not something that had occurred to me

    @DavidHerdson

    4h
    Not many masks on show at the #LabourConference, in sharp contrast to in parliament.

    Rather suggests that the MPs' efforts are for show, and the stance gets dropped when there aren't Tories to contrast against.

    Or following the Prime Ministers suggestion to mask up at indoor gatherings?
    Conference is a gathering and they was nary a mask in sight.

    Parliament is their workplace not a gathering and suddenly it needs masks?

    Clearly the masks are just theatre.
  • Nigelb said:

    Nigelb said:

    IshmaelZ said:

    Leon said:

    JohnO said:

    JohnO said:

    rcs1000 said:

    HYUFD said:

    rcs1000 said:

    HYUFD said:

    rcs1000 said:

    @bigjohnowls

    If Starmer is a loser, what was Corbyn? He lost Labour their heartlands, and led the party to their worst result since before the Second World War.

    I mean, it's possible that the country is just begging for some hard left solutions. But there doesn't seem to be any actual evidence of that.

    Labour won elections - in my lifetime - under Blair and under Wilson. When was the last time (if any) that someone from the left of the party led them to electoral success?

    Wilson was on the moderate left of the party, he won a clear win in 1966 and a small win in 1974

    No he wasn't. He was very definitely on the right of the party.
    No he was on the centre left.

    In the 1963 Labour leadership election Wilson was the main centre left candidate while George Brown and Jim Callaghan, his main rivals, were the candidates of the Labour right
    Actually, you're right. Both Brown and Wilson were more to the right.
    Indeed and most of the Gaitskellites voted for Callaghan. Brown's serious drink problems and the aggressive behaviour that went with it was well-known in the PLP and on the Tory side too (Macmillan's diaries are coruscating): he was wholly unsuited to be Leader.
    One thing that leaps out to me from reading about the politics of the 1970s is the very hard drinking.

    I'm not just talking about the evenings. Harold Wilson would often have sunk a couple of brandies by 11am, and other cabinet ministers sozzled by early afternoon, and obviously inebriated at the dispatch box.

    Just wouldn't happen now.
    Aye, Roy Jenkins - he of claret fame - and Tony Crosland were other very senior Labour figures and I believe Reggie Maudling on the Tory side was also fond of the occasional snifter. As was Dr Horace King who was Speaker from 1965 to 71. And so on....
    Thatcher would drink neat scotch at lunch, it's in one of the political memoirs of the time (David Owen or Alan Clark, perhaps)

    Didn't Ken Clarke get through a fair bit of Scotch when delivering his budgets?

    Can we call the stuff whisky? We are not in Chicago.
    We are not in Chicago and that is why we call it Scotch.

    ETA maybe the Scots call it whisky? In my very limited experience, a wee dram.
    This is a weirdo PB thing (or maybe it's just Ishmael).

    For some reason, some people take umbrage with the precision.

    Of course, Scotch is fine – and offers more detail. There are several types of whisk(e)y, chiefly Scotch, Irish, American Rye and Bourbon... (but also Welsh, English, Japanese...)

    ... and Korean.
    https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/culture/2021/09/135_315955.html
    Canadian.

    Though the slogan "Drink Canada Dry" referred to ginger ale . . . at least originally!
    I remember a couple of relatives in the 70s used to drink that with whisky.
    Vile stuff.
    How dare you dis the Champagne of Saskatchewan!
  • RogerRoger Posts: 19,914
    edited September 2021
    Sometimes the country goes through Alice in Wonderland moments where nothing is in the right place. Last week listening to English radio in France was such a time. Every politician interviewed seemed compelled to answer questions on cervixes. Interviewers weren't happy till they'd squeezed every bit of reason and dignity out of the interviewee.......

    And just when I was musing how little anyone-me included-found this strange I got the annual show-off mag from Millfield. The great and the good picking up their olympic medals and other sporting awards. Next to their photo their house and the dates they attended.....

    ........just as I'm about to bin it I there was a photo of Tyrone Mings. Tyrone Mings went to Milfield! They didn't even play football. Curiouser and curiouser......
  • kle4 said:

    rcs1000 said:

    isam said:

    isam said:

    The biggest shop on Romford Market, Debenhams, is being turned into an Islamic Shopping Centre & Mosque

    Good news eh? @Stuartinromford

    No mention of a mosque here-
    https://www.time1075.net/172004-2-romford-debenhams-to-become-superstore/

    There's mention of a prayer room on the website https://akluplaza.co.uk/ but not much space for it in the floor plans.

    Otherwise, it sounds like a version of the Shopping Hall that happens to be run by some successful Asian shopkeepers. Best of luck to them.

    Better that than another empty shell like the adjacent Littlewoods/Index site. That's been abandoned for nearly 20 years.

    So new businesses that will attract people to Romford, unless they're allergic to Asians. Sounds like good news, eh?
    Mention of a Mosque here - from the owner

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnEhLL1mw5E

    It's a specifically Islamic Shopping Hall, not just a Shopping Hall that happens to be run by successful Asian shopkeepers. I don't think it will go down that well, but who cares about what people who grew up in Romford think? We've mostly all left anyway
    Hang on.

    Those people are now British citizens.

    Why shouldn't they be allowed to open a mosque? Or a church? Or an Anne summers?

    Unless they are actually hurting other people, it's none of your business
    In fairness I have seen mass objections from people who didn't want a new church in their area supposedly on the grounds of increased sunday traffic and noise from the singing. That said, it was not CoE or Catholic.
    This is a prayer room in a multi story shopping centre. The traffic will be from shoppers and diners not prayer goers!
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 96,104
    Leon said:


    It's one of those cases where you think, ah, hang him. Why not? Why should we pay to keep him alive?

    There's no mistake here, clearly, but mistakes do happen even if rare. Prison is at least reversable.

    However, a majority have long supported hanging or similar, I am surprised it is not more of a political issue.
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 32,564
    kle4 said:

    Not something that had occurred to me

    @DavidHerdson

    4h
    Not many masks on show at the #LabourConference, in sharp contrast to in parliament.

    Rather suggests that the MPs' efforts are for show, and the stance gets dropped when there aren't Tories to contrast against.

    Interesting observation.
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 96,104

    kle4 said:

    rcs1000 said:

    isam said:

    isam said:

    The biggest shop on Romford Market, Debenhams, is being turned into an Islamic Shopping Centre & Mosque

    Good news eh? @Stuartinromford

    No mention of a mosque here-
    https://www.time1075.net/172004-2-romford-debenhams-to-become-superstore/

    There's mention of a prayer room on the website https://akluplaza.co.uk/ but not much space for it in the floor plans.

    Otherwise, it sounds like a version of the Shopping Hall that happens to be run by some successful Asian shopkeepers. Best of luck to them.

    Better that than another empty shell like the adjacent Littlewoods/Index site. That's been abandoned for nearly 20 years.

    So new businesses that will attract people to Romford, unless they're allergic to Asians. Sounds like good news, eh?
    Mention of a Mosque here - from the owner

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnEhLL1mw5E

    It's a specifically Islamic Shopping Hall, not just a Shopping Hall that happens to be run by successful Asian shopkeepers. I don't think it will go down that well, but who cares about what people who grew up in Romford think? We've mostly all left anyway
    Hang on.

    Those people are now British citizens.

    Why shouldn't they be allowed to open a mosque? Or a church? Or an Anne summers?

    Unless they are actually hurting other people, it's none of your business
    In fairness I have seen mass objections from people who didn't want a new church in their area supposedly on the grounds of increased sunday traffic and noise from the singing. That said, it was not CoE or Catholic.
    This is a prayer room in a multi story shopping centre. The traffic will be from shoppers and diners not prayer goers!
    Didn't say it wasn't, was just noting that people do object to things connected with faiths in general, without that faith necessarily being the reason.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,183

    rcs1000 said:

    isam said:

    isam said:

    The biggest shop on Romford Market, Debenhams, is being turned into an Islamic Shopping Centre & Mosque

    Good news eh? @Stuartinromford

    No mention of a mosque here-
    https://www.time1075.net/172004-2-romford-debenhams-to-become-superstore/

    There's mention of a prayer room on the website https://akluplaza.co.uk/ but not much space for it in the floor plans.

    Otherwise, it sounds like a version of the Shopping Hall that happens to be run by some successful Asian shopkeepers. Best of luck to them.

    Better that than another empty shell like the adjacent Littlewoods/Index site. That's been abandoned for nearly 20 years.

    So new businesses that will attract people to Romford, unless they're allergic to Asians. Sounds like good news, eh?
    Mention of a Mosque here - from the owner

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnEhLL1mw5E

    It's a specifically Islamic Shopping Hall, not just a Shopping Hall that happens to be run by successful Asian shopkeepers. I don't think it will go down that well, but who cares about what people who grew up in Romford think? We've mostly all left anyway
    Hang on.

    Those people are British citizens.

    Why shouldn't they be allowed to open a mosque? Or a church? Or an Anne summers?

    Unless they are actually hurting other people, it's none of your business
    If there is demand for it they'll make a profit.

    If there isn't demand for it they'll lose money* and shut down.

    Let the free market work it out.

    * Unless this is funded by dodgy Saudi Wahhabist money. That I do have an issue with and needs to be stopped.
    Agree 100%. I don't know what the law is regarding foreign funding of charities, schools, and religious institutions, but it should be strict and strictly enforced.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 71,104
    Xmas present idea for @TheScreamingEagles ... ?

    The creator of #StarWars is getting the action figure treatment with the release of Hasbro’s new toy: “George Lucas (in Stormtrooper Disguise)”
    https://twitter.com/THR/status/1443080105635495936
  • Big_G_NorthWalesBig_G_NorthWales Posts: 63,094
    edited September 2021
    This is @Big_G_NorthWales posting not @Scott_P

    YouGov

    Britons think Brexit is going badly, and it's an opinion more people have come to as the year has gone on

    Going well: 18% (-7)
    Going badly: 53% (+15)
    Neither: 21% (-4)

    Changes from Jun 21, 2021

    Who thinks Brexit has been going well this year?

    Con voters: 39% (-12)
    Leave voters: 35% (-10)
    British public: 18% (-7)
    Remain voters: 5% (-3)
    Lab voters: 3% (-2)

    Changes from Jun 21, 2021

    Opportunity for labour and lib dens to publicly and openly move nearer to the EU
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,362
    edited September 2021
    kle4 said:

    Leon said:


    It's one of those cases where you think, ah, hang him. Why not? Why should we pay to keep him alive?

    There's no mistake here, clearly, but mistakes do happen even if rare. Prison is at least reversable.

    However, a majority have long supported hanging or similar, I am surprised it is not more of a political issue.
    The Establishment keeps a lid on public opinion, in this case. But it is surprising that someone populist but sane like Farage has not ever gone near it

    A referendum on the issue would be a close run thing, and could EASILY be won by the hangers -as you say, they are the majority in most polls

    https://yougov.co.uk/topics/legal/articles-reports/2019/10/01/brits-want-harsher-punishments-criminals
  • CharlesCharles Posts: 35,758
    kinabalu said:

    isam said:

    kinabalu said:

    isam said:

    gealbhan said:

    Incidentally, I think Starmer's Make Brexit Work is a slogan that could run - a simple but clever antidote to Get Brexit Done - that wouldn't piss of leave voters.

    They are going hard for leave voters (not in that sense Leon).

    It’s a difficult slogan for the Tories to rebut - how do they combat it, Brexit is working?
    They just have to point to Sir Keir's attitude 2016-2019; refusal to accept the result, then determination to get an other referendum to which he was committed to Remain, no matter what

    Leave was ALL about immigration, and Sir Keir is championing the New Labour regime which introduced the very thing that made the referendum possible, and the Leave win inevitable - don't see how that is courting Leavers, it's reminding them who's fault it was and that he thinks those at fault were the good guys

    The people whoop whooping over his speech are committed Remainers!
    Many PB Leavers dispute that immigration was the driver. They say it was about all sorts of other things such as cutting Brussels red tape and being "nimble" on foreign and trade policy.
    Yes, "PB Leavers"!

    Political debate is full of over complicated arguments, because the people who enjoy political debates enjoy complicated arguments to show off their debating prowess. But most people, 99.9% of the population, vote on the kind of gut instinct that political debaters hold in complete distain
    True true true. Eg me. I love a good debate, love to get nuanced and logical yet remain true to my core egalitarian values, love to check out all the key policies of the main parties, but at the end of the day, when push comes to shove and I vote (Labour) it's not with any of that in mind, it's pure gut, as you say, simply a strong almost primal feeling that TORIES ARE BASTARDS.
    Don’t tell @justin124
  • rcs1000 said:

    This is a draw dropping story:

    Goldman Sachs, Ozy Media and a $40 Million Conference Call Gone Wrong https://nyti.ms/2ZAZIIs

    Lol. Imposter on a conference call. One to add to the list of remote work hazards.
  • WhisperingOracleWhisperingOracle Posts: 9,164
    edited September 2021

    Important piece from Friedman on the challenge facing the Democrats if they are to save the US democracy from Trump's cult.


    “The absence of pragmatism among Democrats is as troubling as the absence of principle among Republicans.”

    "...there is no question that America’s 245-year experiment in democracy is in real peril."

    https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/28/opinion/liz-cheney-democrats-democracy.html

    The only serious hope the Democrats have of holding off Trump is getting as large-sized a stimulus bill, with as quick tanglible benefits as possible, though now, as several other commenters have mentioned. In that respect, the liberal Democrats' goals are actually far more immediately pragmatic than self-styled moderate figures such as Manchin, with his familiarly sclerotic and damaging ties for the US system to very large corporate donations.

    Only a radical and visible, and fast, material improvement in many people' s lives in the US at the moment may stave off the much more dangerous form of Trump radicalism from returning, and potentially even threatening democracy. That's the fairly accurate calculus they're making, and it's probably rigtht.
  • CharlesCharles Posts: 35,758
    rcs1000 said:

    This is a draw dropping story:

    Goldman Sachs, Ozy Media and a $40 Million Conference Call Gone Wrong https://nyti.ms/2ZAZIIs

    The interesting point was that it is in no one’s interest to make a big thing of it
  • rcs1000 said:

    rcs1000 said:

    isam said:

    isam said:

    The biggest shop on Romford Market, Debenhams, is being turned into an Islamic Shopping Centre & Mosque

    Good news eh? @Stuartinromford

    No mention of a mosque here-
    https://www.time1075.net/172004-2-romford-debenhams-to-become-superstore/

    There's mention of a prayer room on the website https://akluplaza.co.uk/ but not much space for it in the floor plans.

    Otherwise, it sounds like a version of the Shopping Hall that happens to be run by some successful Asian shopkeepers. Best of luck to them.

    Better that than another empty shell like the adjacent Littlewoods/Index site. That's been abandoned for nearly 20 years.

    So new businesses that will attract people to Romford, unless they're allergic to Asians. Sounds like good news, eh?
    Mention of a Mosque here - from the owner

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnEhLL1mw5E

    It's a specifically Islamic Shopping Hall, not just a Shopping Hall that happens to be run by successful Asian shopkeepers. I don't think it will go down that well, but who cares about what people who grew up in Romford think? We've mostly all left anyway
    Hang on.

    Those people are British citizens.

    Why shouldn't they be allowed to open a mosque? Or a church? Or an Anne summers?

    Unless they are actually hurting other people, it's none of your business
    If there is demand for it they'll make a profit.

    If there isn't demand for it they'll lose money* and shut down.

    Let the free market work it out.

    * Unless this is funded by dodgy Saudi Wahhabist money. That I do have an issue with and needs to be stopped.
    Agree 100%. I don't know what the law is regarding foreign funding of charities, schools, and religious institutions, but it should be strict and strictly enforced.
    I think you are expected to bung the Tory party about 100k per year for each one you wish to corrupt? Is that still the going rate?
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 32,564
    Carnyx said:

    Why were the car stickers GB rather than UK originally? Was it because of potential confusion with Ukraine?

    (I once had a payment from a US customer delayed for weeks because they'd sent the cheque to our address but in Ukraine, much to the puzzlement of the Ukrainian postal authorities),

    GB was introduced in 1910 sez Wiki - and Ukraine was very much part of the Tsarist Empire then.

    Edit: maybe they thouight Irish independence might happen and didn't want the hassle of changing? But UK would do just as well even then (reverting to the pre-1800 sense).
    Maybe it was because hardly anyone owned a car in Northern Ireland at that time.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 71,104

    Nigelb said:

    Nigelb said:

    IshmaelZ said:

    Leon said:

    JohnO said:

    JohnO said:

    rcs1000 said:

    HYUFD said:

    rcs1000 said:

    HYUFD said:

    rcs1000 said:

    @bigjohnowls

    If Starmer is a loser, what was Corbyn? He lost Labour their heartlands, and led the party to their worst result since before the Second World War.

    I mean, it's possible that the country is just begging for some hard left solutions. But there doesn't seem to be any actual evidence of that.

    Labour won elections - in my lifetime - under Blair and under Wilson. When was the last time (if any) that someone from the left of the party led them to electoral success?

    Wilson was on the moderate left of the party, he won a clear win in 1966 and a small win in 1974

    No he wasn't. He was very definitely on the right of the party.
    No he was on the centre left.

    In the 1963 Labour leadership election Wilson was the main centre left candidate while George Brown and Jim Callaghan, his main rivals, were the candidates of the Labour right
    Actually, you're right. Both Brown and Wilson were more to the right.
    Indeed and most of the Gaitskellites voted for Callaghan. Brown's serious drink problems and the aggressive behaviour that went with it was well-known in the PLP and on the Tory side too (Macmillan's diaries are coruscating): he was wholly unsuited to be Leader.
    One thing that leaps out to me from reading about the politics of the 1970s is the very hard drinking.

    I'm not just talking about the evenings. Harold Wilson would often have sunk a couple of brandies by 11am, and other cabinet ministers sozzled by early afternoon, and obviously inebriated at the dispatch box.

    Just wouldn't happen now.
    Aye, Roy Jenkins - he of claret fame - and Tony Crosland were other very senior Labour figures and I believe Reggie Maudling on the Tory side was also fond of the occasional snifter. As was Dr Horace King who was Speaker from 1965 to 71. And so on....
    Thatcher would drink neat scotch at lunch, it's in one of the political memoirs of the time (David Owen or Alan Clark, perhaps)

    Didn't Ken Clarke get through a fair bit of Scotch when delivering his budgets?

    Can we call the stuff whisky? We are not in Chicago.
    We are not in Chicago and that is why we call it Scotch.

    ETA maybe the Scots call it whisky? In my very limited experience, a wee dram.
    This is a weirdo PB thing (or maybe it's just Ishmael).

    For some reason, some people take umbrage with the precision.

    Of course, Scotch is fine – and offers more detail. There are several types of whisk(e)y, chiefly Scotch, Irish, American Rye and Bourbon... (but also Welsh, English, Japanese...)

    ... and Korean.
    https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/culture/2021/09/135_315955.html
    Canadian.

    Though the slogan "Drink Canada Dry" referred to ginger ale . . . at least originally!
    I remember a couple of relatives in the 70s used to drink that with whisky.
    Vile stuff.
    How dare you dis the Champagne of Saskatchewan!
    A simple matter of having once tasted it... :smile:
  • Andy_JS said:

    kle4 said:

    Not something that had occurred to me

    @DavidHerdson

    4h
    Not many masks on show at the #LabourConference, in sharp contrast to in parliament.

    Rather suggests that the MPs' efforts are for show, and the stance gets dropped when there aren't Tories to contrast against.

    Interesting observation.
    No masks at conference? Kinda interesting but if I were a Labour spin doctor I'd suggest the venue had a high ceiling and was properly ventilated, as per guidelines. Who knows, it might even be true.
  • Northern_AlNorthern_Al Posts: 8,385
    edited September 2021

    This is @Big_G_NorthWales posting not @Scott_P


    YouGov

    Britons think Brexit is going badly, and it's an opinion more people have come to as the year has gone on

    Going well: 18% (-7)
    Going badly: 53% (+15)
    Neither: 21% (-4)

    Changes from Jun 21, 2021

    As I said earlier, Starmer's Make Brexit Work looks like a pretty good slogan or soundbite that could appeal to leavers as well as (some) remainers.
  • rcs1000 said:

    isam said:

    isam said:

    The biggest shop on Romford Market, Debenhams, is being turned into an Islamic Shopping Centre & Mosque

    Good news eh? @Stuartinromford

    No mention of a mosque here-
    https://www.time1075.net/172004-2-romford-debenhams-to-become-superstore/

    There's mention of a prayer room on the website https://akluplaza.co.uk/ but not much space for it in the floor plans.

    Otherwise, it sounds like a version of the Shopping Hall that happens to be run by some successful Asian shopkeepers. Best of luck to them.

    Better that than another empty shell like the adjacent Littlewoods/Index site. That's been abandoned for nearly 20 years.

    So new businesses that will attract people to Romford, unless they're allergic to Asians. Sounds like good news, eh?
    Mention of a Mosque here - from the owner

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnEhLL1mw5E

    It's a specifically Islamic Shopping Hall, not just a Shopping Hall that happens to be run by successful Asian shopkeepers. I don't think it will go down that well, but who cares about what people who grew up in Romford think? We've mostly all left anyway
    Hang on.

    Those people are British citizens.

    Why shouldn't they be allowed to open a mosque? Or a church? Or an Anne summers?

    Unless they are actually hurting other people, it's none of your business
    And as it happens, there's a long-empty site right next door. If anyone wants to set up a Patriotic English Bazaar, with a distinctly Christian Chapel on the second floor, best of luck to them.

    And the key thing is this. Debenhams closed. Would anyone really rather leave the site empty to avoid having foreigners buying and selling in it?
  • GIN1138GIN1138 Posts: 22,286

    This is @Big_G_NorthWales posting not @Scott_P

    YouGov

    Britons think Brexit is going badly, and it's an opinion more people have come to as the year has gone on

    Going well: 18% (-7)
    Going badly: 53% (+15)
    Neither: 21% (-4)

    Changes from Jun 21, 2021

    Who thinks Brexit has been going well this year?

    Con voters: 39% (-12)
    Leave voters: 35% (-10)
    British public: 18% (-7)
    Remain voters: 5% (-3)
    Lab voters: 3% (-2)

    Changes from Jun 21, 2021

    Opportunity for labour and lib dens to publicly and openly move nearer to the EU

    LOL! Well even I couldn't say it'a all going swimmingly... ;)
  • Keir is surely far too dull to become PM, and seems to be cursed with a voice more adenoidal than Ed Miliband’s, and a plodding delivery that renders even his sincerity insincere-sounding.

    However, his speech seems to be getting positive feedback.

    One of my disaffected Labour mates just texted to tell me that “Labour is back”.

    One other thing, the very broad economic outline, and the anti-union stuff, we’re totally spot on.
  • eek said:

    Sandpit said:

    kle4 said:

    Sandpit said:

    Another reason why Boris Johnson and Priti Patel are absolute [moderated].

    They renewed the term of that [another moderated] Cressida Dick.

    Fuck Brexit, Boris Johnson deserves to be ousted for that alone.

    Though to be fair he did sack my old college mate Ian Blair, so it's not not all bad.
    Cressida Dick makes Ian Blair look brilliant, that's how bad she is.
    I don’t understand why the mayor hasn’t done what the last mayor did, and make it quite clear the Commissioner does not have his confidence.
    Because she does have his confidence?
    That’s the worrying scenario. Obviously he’s happy with crime in London - or at least happy enough not to need to think about it for a couple of years electorally.
    What does that solve? The Mayor of London cannot sack the Met Commissioner for that is the responsibility of the the Home Secretary.
    He could undermine the Met Commissioner....
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,183
    Charles said:

    rcs1000 said:

    This is a draw dropping story:

    Goldman Sachs, Ozy Media and a $40 Million Conference Call Gone Wrong https://nyti.ms/2ZAZIIs

    The interesting point was that it is in no one’s interest to make a big thing of it
    Maybe I'm naïve, but surely that behaviour is illegal.
  • Leon said:

    kle4 said:

    Leon said:


    It's one of those cases where you think, ah, hang him. Why not? Why should we pay to keep him alive?

    There's no mistake here, clearly, but mistakes do happen even if rare. Prison is at least reversable.

    However, a majority have long supported hanging or similar, I am surprised it is not more of a political issue.
    The Establishment keeps a lid on public opinion, in this case. But it is surprising that someone populist but sane like Farage has not ever gone near it

    A referendum on the issue would be a close run thing, and could EASILY be won by the hangers -as you say, they are the majority in most polls

    https://yougov.co.uk/topics/legal/articles-reports/2019/10/01/brits-want-harsher-punishments-criminals
    It would probably pass BUT I vaguely remember hearing that one significant factor at the time was that juries had become reluctant to convict in capital cases.
  • rcs1000 said:

    This is a draw dropping story:

    Goldman Sachs, Ozy Media and a $40 Million Conference Call Gone Wrong https://nyti.ms/2ZAZIIs

    Lol. Imposter on a conference call. One to add to the list of remote work hazards.
    Wonder if #45 will ever try to blame HIS con-artistry on a mental health crisis?

    Alleged or real or somewhere in between!
  • This is @Big_G_NorthWales posting not @Scott_P


    YouGov

    Britons think Brexit is going badly, and it's an opinion more people have come to as the year has gone on

    Going well: 18% (-7)
    Going badly: 53% (+15)
    Neither: 21% (-4)

    Changes from Jun 21, 2021

    As I said earlier, Starmer's Make Brexit Work looks like a pretty good slogan or soundbite that could appeal to leavers as well as (some) remainers.
    It will annoy the hardcore FBPE-ers. On the other hand, does anyone have a version of Make Brexit Work that doesn't involve either unicorns or diluting Brexit?
  • GIN1138 said:

    This is @Big_G_NorthWales posting not @Scott_P

    YouGov

    Britons think Brexit is going badly, and it's an opinion more people have come to as the year has gone on

    Going well: 18% (-7)
    Going badly: 53% (+15)
    Neither: 21% (-4)

    Changes from Jun 21, 2021

    Who thinks Brexit has been going well this year?

    Con voters: 39% (-12)
    Leave voters: 35% (-10)
    British public: 18% (-7)
    Remain voters: 5% (-3)
    Lab voters: 3% (-2)

    Changes from Jun 21, 2021

    Opportunity for labour and lib dens to publicly and openly move nearer to the EU

    LOL! Well even I couldn't say it'a all going swimmingly... ;)
    It’s going swimmingly in the same way as a turd you can’t flush.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,362
    edited September 2021

    rcs1000 said:

    isam said:

    isam said:

    The biggest shop on Romford Market, Debenhams, is being turned into an Islamic Shopping Centre & Mosque

    Good news eh? @Stuartinromford

    No mention of a mosque here-
    https://www.time1075.net/172004-2-romford-debenhams-to-become-superstore/

    There's mention of a prayer room on the website https://akluplaza.co.uk/ but not much space for it in the floor plans.

    Otherwise, it sounds like a version of the Shopping Hall that happens to be run by some successful Asian shopkeepers. Best of luck to them.

    Better that than another empty shell like the adjacent Littlewoods/Index site. That's been abandoned for nearly 20 years.

    So new businesses that will attract people to Romford, unless they're allergic to Asians. Sounds like good news, eh?
    Mention of a Mosque here - from the owner

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnEhLL1mw5E

    It's a specifically Islamic Shopping Hall, not just a Shopping Hall that happens to be run by successful Asian shopkeepers. I don't think it will go down that well, but who cares about what people who grew up in Romford think? We've mostly all left anyway
    Hang on.

    Those people are British citizens.

    Why shouldn't they be allowed to open a mosque? Or a church? Or an Anne summers?

    Unless they are actually hurting other people, it's none of your business
    And as it happens, there's a long-empty site right next door. If anyone wants to set up a Patriotic English Bazaar, with a distinctly Christian Chapel on the second floor, best of luck to them.

    And the key thing is this. Debenhams closed. Would anyone really rather leave the site empty to avoid having foreigners buying and selling in it?
    As Rob Smithson says, British citizens are entitled to open churches, mosques, whatever, if the law allows it

    However, British citizens are also allowed to dislike drastic racial/cultural change, and they are allowed to dislike aspects of Islam, even Islam itself. Just as an atheist can despise Christianity and hate church bells

    Would I be happy if Camden went from 80% white to 80% Muslim in a decade? No, I'd be absolutely horrified, and I'd also probably move.
  • IshmaelZIshmaelZ Posts: 21,830
    Just heard some of the speech

    Without exaggeration I think the in 2010 I was prosecuting terrorists, he was writing pieces about bicycle helmets, point the weakest I have ever heard made. That's what prosecutors and journalists respectively do. So what?

    And the levelling up/ filling up "joke." Jesus. I wanted this speech to be a success. I think pb has been kinder to it than it deserved.
  • Important piece from Friedman on the challenge facing the Democrats if they are to save the US democracy from Trump's cult.


    “The absence of pragmatism among Democrats is as troubling as the absence of principle among Republicans.”

    "...there is no question that America’s 245-year experiment in democracy is in real peril."

    https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/28/opinion/liz-cheney-democrats-democracy.html

    The only serious hope the Democrats have of holding off Trump is getting as large-sized a stimulus bill, with as quick tanglible benefits as possible, though now, as several other commenters have mentioned. In that respect the liberal democrats goals are actually far more immediately pragmatic than self-styled moderate figures such as Manchin, with his ties to very large corporate donations.

    Only a radical and visible, and fast, material improvement in many people' s lives in the US at the moment may stave off the much more dangerous form of Trump radicalism from returning, and potentially even threatening democracy. That's the fairly accurate calculus, in my view.
    This. Top post. :+1:

    Manchin is a pain at moment.
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 32,564
    Leon said:

    kle4 said:

    Leon said:


    It's one of those cases where you think, ah, hang him. Why not? Why should we pay to keep him alive?

    There's no mistake here, clearly, but mistakes do happen even if rare. Prison is at least reversable.

    However, a majority have long supported hanging or similar, I am surprised it is not more of a political issue.
    The Establishment keeps a lid on public opinion, in this case. But it is surprising that someone populist but sane like Farage has not ever gone near it

    A referendum on the issue would be a close run thing, and could EASILY be won by the hangers -as you say, they are the majority in most polls

    https://yougov.co.uk/topics/legal/articles-reports/2019/10/01/brits-want-harsher-punishments-criminals
    Farage has always been anti-capital punishment. Surprising but true.
  • isamisam Posts: 41,118

    rcs1000 said:

    isam said:

    isam said:

    The biggest shop on Romford Market, Debenhams, is being turned into an Islamic Shopping Centre & Mosque

    Good news eh? @Stuartinromford

    No mention of a mosque here-
    https://www.time1075.net/172004-2-romford-debenhams-to-become-superstore/

    There's mention of a prayer room on the website https://akluplaza.co.uk/ but not much space for it in the floor plans.

    Otherwise, it sounds like a version of the Shopping Hall that happens to be run by some successful Asian shopkeepers. Best of luck to them.

    Better that than another empty shell like the adjacent Littlewoods/Index site. That's been abandoned for nearly 20 years.

    So new businesses that will attract people to Romford, unless they're allergic to Asians. Sounds like good news, eh?
    Mention of a Mosque here - from the owner

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnEhLL1mw5E

    It's a specifically Islamic Shopping Hall, not just a Shopping Hall that happens to be run by successful Asian shopkeepers. I don't think it will go down that well, but who cares about what people who grew up in Romford think? We've mostly all left anyway
    Hang on.

    Those people are British citizens.

    Why shouldn't they be allowed to open a mosque? Or a church? Or an Anne summers?

    Unless they are actually hurting other people, it's none of your business
    And as it happens, there's a long-empty site right next door. If anyone wants to set up a Patriotic English Bazaar, with a distinctly Christian Chapel on the second floor, best of luck to them.

    And the key thing is this. Debenhams closed. Would anyone really rather leave the site empty to avoid having foreigners buying and selling in it?
    Ah, so you believe me about the Mosque now

    Stage One: "You're lying"
    Stage Two: "OK you're not, (Not actually said) But so what anyway?"

    Like clockwork
  • Northern_AlNorthern_Al Posts: 8,385
    edited September 2021

    This is @Big_G_NorthWales posting not @Scott_P


    YouGov

    Britons think Brexit is going badly, and it's an opinion more people have come to as the year has gone on

    Going well: 18% (-7)
    Going badly: 53% (+15)
    Neither: 21% (-4)

    Changes from Jun 21, 2021

    As I said earlier, Starmer's Make Brexit Work looks like a pretty good slogan or soundbite that could appeal to leavers as well as (some) remainers.
    It will annoy the hardcore FBPE-ers. On the other hand, does anyone have a version of Make Brexit Work that doesn't involve either unicorns or diluting Brexit?
    I take your point. But even the hardcore FBPE-ers are not so stupid as to think Brexit can be overturned in the next few years, probably much longer. So in the meantime we are all left with no option but to Make Brexit Work, even if that means some dilution of the current hard Brexit. If Labour can convince voters they could Make Brexit Work better than the Tories, they're in business.
  • Andy_JS said:

    Leon said:

    kle4 said:

    Leon said:


    It's one of those cases where you think, ah, hang him. Why not? Why should we pay to keep him alive?

    There's no mistake here, clearly, but mistakes do happen even if rare. Prison is at least reversable.

    However, a majority have long supported hanging or similar, I am surprised it is not more of a political issue.
    The Establishment keeps a lid on public opinion, in this case. But it is surprising that someone populist but sane like Farage has not ever gone near it

    A referendum on the issue would be a close run thing, and could EASILY be won by the hangers -as you say, they are the majority in most polls

    https://yougov.co.uk/topics/legal/articles-reports/2019/10/01/brits-want-harsher-punishments-criminals
    Farage has always been anti-capital punishment. Surprising but true.
    That’s because he knows he wouldn’t escape the noose forever.
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 42,854

    Carnyx said:

    Carnyx said:

    isam said:

    gealbhan said:

    You have heard what the journalists thought, what Peter Mandelson thought, what Laura Pidcock thought, and even what Carole Vincent thought.

    But what did the public make of Starmer's speech?

    Our snap poll is now in field. Results soon!


    https://twitter.com/chriscurtis94/status/1443230894295224325?s=20

    Wonder how many "don't knows"/"haven't heard it" they'll get?

    How can any snap poll provide an accurate response when only the politically engaged would have heard it

    And Sky barely covered it in what is a big news day
    Presumably Sir K was cursing the Wayne Cuzon's case this morning. Will take up air time.
    It is a bigger news story than Starmer’s speech tbf. A police offer users his badge or uniform to take ladies from the street, who compliantly go along with arrest is utterly chilling. It makes your whole stomach drop out, I can’t read or listen to it. 😢

    Blair had to contend with the OJ jury announcing its verdict.

    These snap in middle conference polls always positive bounce, but Big G is right, inaccurate, only in polls after conference season do we understand if the season changed anything.
    How utterly horrific is that Sarah Everard news? Why would anyone, male or female, not resist arrest in the future on the back of this?
    That case was 'arrest' by a single cop. Two of them (esp if one is female) is inherently safer, but not 100% [edit] if only on strict logic.
    Just remember the police think NOT sacking this cop was a good idea.

    Police officer caught on camera threatening to 'make something up' to arrest man allowed to keep job

    https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/uk-news/police-officer-caught-camera-threatening-21438074

    The police deserve nothing but opprobrium.
    Not always. when a friend committed suicide a few years back, the Cambridgeshire police who dealt with me were professional, polite and caring. It can't have been easy for them, and I sent a note of thanks to the police station.

    A while later, I got a call back from a high-ranking officer thanking me for the note, and saying it was rare to get a thankyou note. Again, that was appreciated.
    Me too. My mother died unexpectedly in horrendous weather - snow and ice. Young PC came, had to hang around for some time. I wrote an appreciative letter to the station officer i/c (not him, but in some ways that is better) - got a nice letter back. Same with the ambulance folk too btw.
    On reflection I should have done that in Nov 2012.

    The treatment by Vodaphone and the Inland Revenue left a lot to be desired.I exoect it is better now, at least Lyn Hamer promised me that the Inland Revenue would be more compassionate than just sending out a tax return, which is what happened to me.
    It's not an easy thing to remember to do at the time and as I recall I did it with some months' delay (it is surprising, until one experiences it, how a close bereavement affects one, especially if other family members need to be consulted as they are affected perhaps much more). I was quicker with my father's demise as I was more used to what had to be done.

    As for the matter you raise, some banks and organizations were awful and some very easy. Though I'm still glad I took another look at the heap of old paper from one life asurance company and realised the policy payout seemed rather low - and challenged it, cue £10K++ cheque almost in the next post. I think things have improved since that time after the likes of Which made some very pointed remarks, but the odd thing was that one or two of the good organizations the first time round had regressed. HMRC were very tolerant of a major tax error made by my mother the previous tax year - no penalty at all, just happy to have the basic payment. Fine the second time. The DSS very much in workhouse supervisor mode both times. Shitty paper, shitty typescript, shitty way of doing things, demanding refund to the penny of 'overpaid' state pension for the days not lived - I wouldn't mind that so much if the sods actually gave you a P60 rather than leaving it to you to work out how to calculate the actual income on their weekly accounting system.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,183
    Leon said:

    rcs1000 said:

    isam said:

    isam said:

    The biggest shop on Romford Market, Debenhams, is being turned into an Islamic Shopping Centre & Mosque

    Good news eh? @Stuartinromford

    No mention of a mosque here-
    https://www.time1075.net/172004-2-romford-debenhams-to-become-superstore/

    There's mention of a prayer room on the website https://akluplaza.co.uk/ but not much space for it in the floor plans.

    Otherwise, it sounds like a version of the Shopping Hall that happens to be run by some successful Asian shopkeepers. Best of luck to them.

    Better that than another empty shell like the adjacent Littlewoods/Index site. That's been abandoned for nearly 20 years.

    So new businesses that will attract people to Romford, unless they're allergic to Asians. Sounds like good news, eh?
    Mention of a Mosque here - from the owner

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnEhLL1mw5E

    It's a specifically Islamic Shopping Hall, not just a Shopping Hall that happens to be run by successful Asian shopkeepers. I don't think it will go down that well, but who cares about what people who grew up in Romford think? We've mostly all left anyway
    Hang on.

    Those people are British citizens.

    Why shouldn't they be allowed to open a mosque? Or a church? Or an Anne summers?

    Unless they are actually hurting other people, it's none of your business
    And as it happens, there's a long-empty site right next door. If anyone wants to set up a Patriotic English Bazaar, with a distinctly Christian Chapel on the second floor, best of luck to them.

    And the key thing is this. Debenhams closed. Would anyone really rather leave the site empty to avoid having foreigners buying and selling in it?
    As Rob Smithson says, British citizens are entitled to open churches, mosques, whatever, if the law allows it

    However, British citizens are also allowed to dislike drastic racial/cultural change, and they are allowed to dislike aspects of Islam, even Islam itself. Just as an atheist can despise Christianity and hate church bells

    Would I be happy if Camden went from 80% white to 80% Muslim in a decade? No, I'd be absolutely horrified, and I'd also probably move.
    I went to a school that was 70% Muslim, I've lived on the Aldgate/Whitechapel/Brick Lane boundary, and I've worked with Muslims.

    Now, most of the Muslims I am very close to are the ones that were kicked out of Persia when the Ayatollah came (which tells you they're decadent and Western), but as far as I can they're normal human beings, who care about pretty much the same things non-Muslims do.
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 48,695

    gealbhan said:

    kle4 said:

    Not something that had occurred to me

    @DavidHerdson

    4h
    Not many masks on show at the #LabourConference, in sharp contrast to in parliament.

    Rather suggests that the MPs' efforts are for show, and the stance gets dropped when there aren't Tories to contrast against.

    Or following the Prime Ministers suggestion to mask up at indoor gatherings?
    Conference is a gathering and they was nary a mask in sight.

    Parliament is their workplace not a gathering and suddenly it needs masks?

    Clearly the masks are just theatre.
    I understand that the Conference attendees had to prove double immunisation or lateral flow for entry:

    https://labour.org.uk/conference/faqs/#COVID

    Is this a requirement at Parliament?
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,362
    Andy_JS said:

    Leon said:

    kle4 said:

    Leon said:


    It's one of those cases where you think, ah, hang him. Why not? Why should we pay to keep him alive?

    There's no mistake here, clearly, but mistakes do happen even if rare. Prison is at least reversable.

    However, a majority have long supported hanging or similar, I am surprised it is not more of a political issue.
    The Establishment keeps a lid on public opinion, in this case. But it is surprising that someone populist but sane like Farage has not ever gone near it

    A referendum on the issue would be a close run thing, and could EASILY be won by the hangers -as you say, they are the majority in most polls

    https://yougov.co.uk/topics/legal/articles-reports/2019/10/01/brits-want-harsher-punishments-criminals
    Farage has always been anti-capital punishment. Surprising but true.
    If we can't have capital punishment for cases like Couzens, then there needs to be a special punishment for "police" who kill, just as there should be for people who kill police. I suggest life imprisonment, without parole, and solitary confinement, until death, and with the option of suicide if you want

    It cuts both ways, for the police
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 42,854
    Andy_JS said:

    Carnyx said:

    Why were the car stickers GB rather than UK originally? Was it because of potential confusion with Ukraine?

    (I once had a payment from a US customer delayed for weeks because they'd sent the cheque to our address but in Ukraine, much to the puzzlement of the Ukrainian postal authorities),

    GB was introduced in 1910 sez Wiki - and Ukraine was very much part of the Tsarist Empire then.

    Edit: maybe they thouight Irish independence might happen and didn't want the hassle of changing? But UK would do just as well even then (reverting to the pre-1800 sense).
    Maybe it was because hardly anyone owned a car in Northern Ireland at that time.
    Doubt it. Plenty of money being made by some.
  • algarkirkalgarkirk Posts: 12,518

    Keir is surely far too dull to become PM, and seems to be cursed with a voice more adenoidal than Ed Miliband’s, and a plodding delivery that renders even his sincerity insincere-sounding.

    However, his speech seems to be getting positive feedback.

    One of my disaffected Labour mates just texted to tell me that “Labour is back”.

    One other thing, the very broad economic outline, and the anti-union stuff, we’re totally spot on.

    Yes and no. He is very clearly not a class act dealing with hecklers, (Guido usefully distils the heckles into 1 minute plus, which saves time and looks terrible all round) and SKS is not the supreme class that could overcome a 127 seat deficit to get to 326.

    That isn't what he has to do. He has to assemble a rainbow with about 322 seats between them, and for that if perfectly in the realm of possibility. I give it a 40% chance.

  • Leon said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Leon said:

    kle4 said:

    Leon said:


    It's one of those cases where you think, ah, hang him. Why not? Why should we pay to keep him alive?

    There's no mistake here, clearly, but mistakes do happen even if rare. Prison is at least reversable.

    However, a majority have long supported hanging or similar, I am surprised it is not more of a political issue.
    The Establishment keeps a lid on public opinion, in this case. But it is surprising that someone populist but sane like Farage has not ever gone near it

    A referendum on the issue would be a close run thing, and could EASILY be won by the hangers -as you say, they are the majority in most polls

    https://yougov.co.uk/topics/legal/articles-reports/2019/10/01/brits-want-harsher-punishments-criminals
    Farage has always been anti-capital punishment. Surprising but true.
    If we can't have capital punishment for cases like Couzens, then there needs to be a special punishment for "police" who kill, just as there should be for people who kill police. I suggest life imprisonment, without parole, and solitary confinement, until death, and with the option of suicide if you want

    It cuts both ways, for the police
    This is a great idea; well the bit about an extra tariff for police who kill.
  • Nigelb said:

    Nigelb said:

    Nigelb said:

    IshmaelZ said:

    Leon said:

    JohnO said:

    JohnO said:

    rcs1000 said:

    HYUFD said:

    rcs1000 said:

    HYUFD said:

    rcs1000 said:

    @bigjohnowls

    If Starmer is a loser, what was Corbyn? He lost Labour their heartlands, and led the party to their worst result since before the Second World War.

    I mean, it's possible that the country is just begging for some hard left solutions. But there doesn't seem to be any actual evidence of that.

    Labour won elections - in my lifetime - under Blair and under Wilson. When was the last time (if any) that someone from the left of the party led them to electoral success?

    Wilson was on the moderate left of the party, he won a clear win in 1966 and a small win in 1974

    No he wasn't. He was very definitely on the right of the party.
    No he was on the centre left.

    In the 1963 Labour leadership election Wilson was the main centre left candidate while George Brown and Jim Callaghan, his main rivals, were the candidates of the Labour right
    Actually, you're right. Both Brown and Wilson were more to the right.
    Indeed and most of the Gaitskellites voted for Callaghan. Brown's serious drink problems and the aggressive behaviour that went with it was well-known in the PLP and on the Tory side too (Macmillan's diaries are coruscating): he was wholly unsuited to be Leader.
    One thing that leaps out to me from reading about the politics of the 1970s is the very hard drinking.

    I'm not just talking about the evenings. Harold Wilson would often have sunk a couple of brandies by 11am, and other cabinet ministers sozzled by early afternoon, and obviously inebriated at the dispatch box.

    Just wouldn't happen now.
    Aye, Roy Jenkins - he of claret fame - and Tony Crosland were other very senior Labour figures and I believe Reggie Maudling on the Tory side was also fond of the occasional snifter. As was Dr Horace King who was Speaker from 1965 to 71. And so on....
    Thatcher would drink neat scotch at lunch, it's in one of the political memoirs of the time (David Owen or Alan Clark, perhaps)

    Didn't Ken Clarke get through a fair bit of Scotch when delivering his budgets?

    Can we call the stuff whisky? We are not in Chicago.
    We are not in Chicago and that is why we call it Scotch.

    ETA maybe the Scots call it whisky? In my very limited experience, a wee dram.
    This is a weirdo PB thing (or maybe it's just Ishmael).

    For some reason, some people take umbrage with the precision.

    Of course, Scotch is fine – and offers more detail. There are several types of whisk(e)y, chiefly Scotch, Irish, American Rye and Bourbon... (but also Welsh, English, Japanese...)

    ... and Korean.
    https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/culture/2021/09/135_315955.html
    Canadian.

    Though the slogan "Drink Canada Dry" referred to ginger ale . . . at least originally!
    I remember a couple of relatives in the 70s used to drink that with whisky.
    Vile stuff.
    How dare you dis the Champagne of Saskatchewan!
    A simple matter of having once tasted it... :smile:
    Would agree that diluting whisk(e)y with ANY kind of ginger ale is foul. Though each to their own.

    However, as far as ginger ale goes, it's always been a favorite of mine, and Canada Dry is perhaps the best of the mega-brands, at least on this side of the Atlantic AND the Pacific.

    So there!
  • Leon said:

    rcs1000 said:

    isam said:

    isam said:

    The biggest shop on Romford Market, Debenhams, is being turned into an Islamic Shopping Centre & Mosque

    Good news eh? @Stuartinromford

    No mention of a mosque here-
    https://www.time1075.net/172004-2-romford-debenhams-to-become-superstore/

    There's mention of a prayer room on the website https://akluplaza.co.uk/ but not much space for it in the floor plans.

    Otherwise, it sounds like a version of the Shopping Hall that happens to be run by some successful Asian shopkeepers. Best of luck to them.

    Better that than another empty shell like the adjacent Littlewoods/Index site. That's been abandoned for nearly 20 years.

    So new businesses that will attract people to Romford, unless they're allergic to Asians. Sounds like good news, eh?
    Mention of a Mosque here - from the owner

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnEhLL1mw5E

    It's a specifically Islamic Shopping Hall, not just a Shopping Hall that happens to be run by successful Asian shopkeepers. I don't think it will go down that well, but who cares about what people who grew up in Romford think? We've mostly all left anyway
    Hang on.

    Those people are British citizens.

    Why shouldn't they be allowed to open a mosque? Or a church? Or an Anne summers?

    Unless they are actually hurting other people, it's none of your business
    And as it happens, there's a long-empty site right next door. If anyone wants to set up a Patriotic English Bazaar, with a distinctly Christian Chapel on the second floor, best of luck to them.

    And the key thing is this. Debenhams closed. Would anyone really rather leave the site empty to avoid having foreigners buying and selling in it?
    As Rob Smithson says, British citizens are entitled to open churches, mosques, whatever, if the law allows it

    However, British citizens are also allowed to dislike drastic racial/cultural change, and they are allowed to dislike aspects of Islam, even Islam itself. Just as an atheist can despise Christianity and hate church bells

    Would I be happy if Camden went from 80% white to 80% Muslim in a decade? No, I'd be absolutely horrified, and I'd also probably move.
    Going from my kids school photos, Romford has probably gone from 100% white to 90% white in a decade. One big Asian cornucopia is pretty justified on that basis.

    I get the disturbance that induces. In some ways, going from 100% white to 90% white is more noticeable than from 90% to 70%. And the easy politics is to say "no, Romford must be kept special" (as a certain party here put it four years ago).

    But there are times when it's necessary to say "I know you feel that. But your feeling is wrong."

    And that's where I'm bailing out of this. Children to collect.
  • isam said:

    isam said:

    The biggest shop on Romford Market, Debenhams, is being turned into an Islamic Shopping Centre & Mosque

    Good news eh? @Stuartinromford

    No mention of a mosque here-
    https://www.time1075.net/172004-2-romford-debenhams-to-become-superstore/

    There's mention of a prayer room on the website https://akluplaza.co.uk/ but not much space for it in the floor plans.

    Otherwise, it sounds like a version of the Shopping Hall that happens to be run by some successful Asian shopkeepers. Best of luck to them.

    Better that than another empty shell like the adjacent Littlewoods/Index site. That's been abandoned for nearly 20 years.

    So new businesses that will attract people to Romford, unless they're allergic to Asians. Sounds like good news, eh?
    Mention of a Mosque here - from the owner. Although the subtitles say "most". "Most" makes no sense, but let's see. The subtitles also say "In Charlie's" rather than "inshallah"

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnEhLL1mw5E

    It's a specifically Islamic Shopping Hall, not just a Shopping Hall that happens to be run by successful Asian shopkeepers. I don't think it will go down that well, but who cares about what people who grew up in Romford think? We've mostly all left anyway
    It is a shocking translation.

    On so many levels.
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 48,695
    isam said:

    rcs1000 said:

    isam said:

    isam said:

    The biggest shop on Romford Market, Debenhams, is being turned into an Islamic Shopping Centre & Mosque

    Good news eh? @Stuartinromford

    No mention of a mosque here-
    https://www.time1075.net/172004-2-romford-debenhams-to-become-superstore/

    There's mention of a prayer room on the website https://akluplaza.co.uk/ but not much space for it in the floor plans.

    Otherwise, it sounds like a version of the Shopping Hall that happens to be run by some successful Asian shopkeepers. Best of luck to them.

    Better that than another empty shell like the adjacent Littlewoods/Index site. That's been abandoned for nearly 20 years.

    So new businesses that will attract people to Romford, unless they're allergic to Asians. Sounds like good news, eh?
    Mention of a Mosque here - from the owner

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnEhLL1mw5E

    It's a specifically Islamic Shopping Hall, not just a Shopping Hall that happens to be run by successful Asian shopkeepers. I don't think it will go down that well, but who cares about what people who grew up in Romford think? We've mostly all left anyway
    Hang on.

    Those people are British citizens.

    Why shouldn't they be allowed to open a mosque? Or a church? Or an Anne summers?

    Unless they are actually hurting other people, it's none of your business
    And as it happens, there's a long-empty site right next door. If anyone wants to set up a Patriotic English Bazaar, with a distinctly Christian Chapel on the second floor, best of luck to them.

    And the key thing is this. Debenhams closed. Would anyone really rather leave the site empty to avoid having foreigners buying and selling in it?
    Ah, so you believe me about the Mosque now

    Stage One: "You're lying"
    Stage Two: "OK you're not, (Not actually said) But so what anyway?"

    Like clockwork
    A prayer room is hardly a mosque.

    Still, Enoch was right in your eyes, I suppose...
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,362
    rcs1000 said:

    Leon said:

    rcs1000 said:

    isam said:

    isam said:

    The biggest shop on Romford Market, Debenhams, is being turned into an Islamic Shopping Centre & Mosque

    Good news eh? @Stuartinromford

    No mention of a mosque here-
    https://www.time1075.net/172004-2-romford-debenhams-to-become-superstore/

    There's mention of a prayer room on the website https://akluplaza.co.uk/ but not much space for it in the floor plans.

    Otherwise, it sounds like a version of the Shopping Hall that happens to be run by some successful Asian shopkeepers. Best of luck to them.

    Better that than another empty shell like the adjacent Littlewoods/Index site. That's been abandoned for nearly 20 years.

    So new businesses that will attract people to Romford, unless they're allergic to Asians. Sounds like good news, eh?
    Mention of a Mosque here - from the owner

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnEhLL1mw5E

    It's a specifically Islamic Shopping Hall, not just a Shopping Hall that happens to be run by successful Asian shopkeepers. I don't think it will go down that well, but who cares about what people who grew up in Romford think? We've mostly all left anyway
    Hang on.

    Those people are British citizens.

    Why shouldn't they be allowed to open a mosque? Or a church? Or an Anne summers?

    Unless they are actually hurting other people, it's none of your business
    And as it happens, there's a long-empty site right next door. If anyone wants to set up a Patriotic English Bazaar, with a distinctly Christian Chapel on the second floor, best of luck to them.

    And the key thing is this. Debenhams closed. Would anyone really rather leave the site empty to avoid having foreigners buying and selling in it?
    As Rob Smithson says, British citizens are entitled to open churches, mosques, whatever, if the law allows it

    However, British citizens are also allowed to dislike drastic racial/cultural change, and they are allowed to dislike aspects of Islam, even Islam itself. Just as an atheist can despise Christianity and hate church bells

    Would I be happy if Camden went from 80% white to 80% Muslim in a decade? No, I'd be absolutely horrified, and I'd also probably move.
    I went to a school that was 70% Muslim, I've lived on the Aldgate/Whitechapel/Brick Lane boundary, and I've worked with Muslims.

    Now, most of the Muslims I am very close to are the ones that were kicked out of Persia when the Ayatollah came (which tells you they're decadent and Western), but as far as I can they're normal human beings, who care about pretty much the same things non-Muslims do.
    Of course. I just don't want to live in a Muslim neighborhood, just as, I am sure, lots of Muslims WOULD prefer to live in a Muslim neighborhood, and that's their choice

    This is just human nature, not bigotry. People like to be surrounded by other people similar to them. It's why you get racial enclaves everywhere. It's why you're in a posh part of California, surrounded by lots of people like you
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 123,057
    edited September 2021
    Leon said:

    rcs1000 said:

    isam said:

    isam said:

    The biggest shop on Romford Market, Debenhams, is being turned into an Islamic Shopping Centre & Mosque

    Good news eh? @Stuartinromford

    No mention of a mosque here-
    https://www.time1075.net/172004-2-romford-debenhams-to-become-superstore/

    There's mention of a prayer room on the website https://akluplaza.co.uk/ but not much space for it in the floor plans.

    Otherwise, it sounds like a version of the Shopping Hall that happens to be run by some successful Asian shopkeepers. Best of luck to them.

    Better that than another empty shell like the adjacent Littlewoods/Index site. That's been abandoned for nearly 20 years.

    So new businesses that will attract people to Romford, unless they're allergic to Asians. Sounds like good news, eh?
    Mention of a Mosque here - from the owner

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnEhLL1mw5E

    It's a specifically Islamic Shopping Hall, not just a Shopping Hall that happens to be run by successful Asian shopkeepers. I don't think it will go down that well, but who cares about what people who grew up in Romford think? We've mostly all left anyway
    Hang on.

    Those people are British citizens.

    Why shouldn't they be allowed to open a mosque? Or a church? Or an Anne summers?

    Unless they are actually hurting other people, it's none of your business
    And as it happens, there's a long-empty site right next door. If anyone wants to set up a Patriotic English Bazaar, with a distinctly Christian Chapel on the second floor, best of luck to them.

    And the key thing is this. Debenhams closed. Would anyone really rather leave the site empty to avoid having foreigners buying and selling in it?
    As Rob Smithson says, British citizens are entitled to open churches, mosques, whatever, if the law allows it

    However, British citizens are also allowed to dislike drastic racial/cultural change, and they are allowed to dislike aspects of Islam, even Islam itself. Just as an atheist can despise Christianity and hate church bells

    Would I be happy if Camden went from 80% white to 80% Muslim in a decade? No, I'd be absolutely horrified, and I'd also probably move.
    You can dislike church bells and the call to prayer but if you move near a church or mosque, tough, what did you expect?
  • isamisam Posts: 41,118
    edited September 2021
    Foxy said:

    isam said:

    rcs1000 said:

    isam said:

    isam said:

    The biggest shop on Romford Market, Debenhams, is being turned into an Islamic Shopping Centre & Mosque

    Good news eh? @Stuartinromford

    No mention of a mosque here-
    https://www.time1075.net/172004-2-romford-debenhams-to-become-superstore/

    There's mention of a prayer room on the website https://akluplaza.co.uk/ but not much space for it in the floor plans.

    Otherwise, it sounds like a version of the Shopping Hall that happens to be run by some successful Asian shopkeepers. Best of luck to them.

    Better that than another empty shell like the adjacent Littlewoods/Index site. That's been abandoned for nearly 20 years.

    So new businesses that will attract people to Romford, unless they're allergic to Asians. Sounds like good news, eh?
    Mention of a Mosque here - from the owner

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnEhLL1mw5E

    It's a specifically Islamic Shopping Hall, not just a Shopping Hall that happens to be run by successful Asian shopkeepers. I don't think it will go down that well, but who cares about what people who grew up in Romford think? We've mostly all left anyway
    Hang on.

    Those people are British citizens.

    Why shouldn't they be allowed to open a mosque? Or a church? Or an Anne summers?

    Unless they are actually hurting other people, it's none of your business
    And as it happens, there's a long-empty site right next door. If anyone wants to set up a Patriotic English Bazaar, with a distinctly Christian Chapel on the second floor, best of luck to them.

    And the key thing is this. Debenhams closed. Would anyone really rather leave the site empty to avoid having foreigners buying and selling in it?
    Ah, so you believe me about the Mosque now

    Stage One: "You're lying"
    Stage Two: "OK you're not, (Not actually said) But so what anyway?"

    Like clockwork
    A prayer room is hardly a mosque.

    Still, Enoch was right in your eyes, I suppose...
    The owner calls it a mosque!!!
  • From what I can glean.

    A prayer room is technically a mosque.

    But not the kind of mosques you would assume.

    So long as it has a mihrab and people take off their shoes when entering then your living room becomes a mosque.
  • Unsurprisingly Lord Adonis is very much not happy with the new 'Make Brexit Work" slogan.
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