Okay I'm confused: - Cummings is a SpAd - That's bad, because he's unelected and unaccountable - Cummings has got rid of a lot of other SpAds - Those SpAds were also unelected and unaccountable, which is also bad - However, Cummings' actions were also bad, because those SpAds were good (for some reason), and the ones he'll replace them with will be bad
Is that right? I get why people might want one set of SpAds over another, if they prefer the policies that set will push, for whatever reason. But people seem to be objecting on governance grounds, and I just don't understand why it matters in the abstract precisely who has control over which set of unelected and unaccountable individuals get to advise our ministers.
You're smarter than this. PM and Chancellor is combined too much negotiation and policy to leave to one team. Unless PM is going to pull back on every other policy area, which does not look likely.
I strongly suspect we are about to see our version of Trump economics. Massive splurge and tax cutting to engineer some kind of mini boom to cover up Brexit.
Domonomics.
It'll end in tears.
HS2 will generate billions of investment and provide long term high qualiity jobs and considerable tax income. I expect a hard brexit unless the EU comes to its senses but I am not fearful for the prospects of the UK
My wife and I have been dealing with a couple of health issues over the last few days but I have browsed PB from time to time.
My impressions are that Boris has moved leading brexiteers into his cabinet and taken complete control. I have no idea how malign or otherwise Cummings is but he has been highly successful in brexit and getting Boris into power
The noises coming out of the EU give the impression that nothing has changed and that they can still control the economic direction of the UK and hold it close but this cabinet appears to me to be ready to virtually no deal to break the link
On the domestic situation Boris has turned left and is about to open the spending taps trampling all over labour and making it very difficult for labour to get a hearing
Of course the opposition to Boris and Cummings on here comes from the usual suspects who would never be converted to the Boris way but then that is not important as the only people who matter to Boris are the voters who, for now at least, seem to be very supportive
Weren't you the poster who spent months telling us how strongly you were opposed to Boris and how strongly you were opposed to no deal? Now those people who at least have the consistency to have stuck to the same view are dismissed as the "usual suspects".
Indeed and I do not want no deal, but the EU threatening us with economic damage and restricting our ability to trade and succeed does justify Boris moving to defend our interests as an independent trading nation
Boris moving left meets with my approval as does huge spending on rail and infrastructure
Nevertheless those who have simply been consistent and stuck to the same view of Boris that you yourself spent many months sharing on this forum perhaps should be treated with a little more respect?
I hope I am not disrespecting anyone and certainly do not mean to. We all have our own views and of course there is a great love of the EU by many, but we have left and need to carve out a new role and that does require the EU to recognise it
The EU is not obliged to sign up to terms that Britain would find convenient.
While a distinct minority would be prepared to eat grass rather than compromise with the EU, it remains a distinct minority.
For once I 100% agree with you. Just as the UK is not obliged to sign up to terms that Brussels would find convenient.
While a distinct minority would be prepared to eat grass rather than compromise with the UK, it remains a distinct possibility.
If both parties can compromise and treat each other as equals then a deal will be possible.
The EU is not obliged to sign up to terms that Britain would find convenient.
While a distinct minority would be prepared to eat grass rather than compromise with the EU, it remains a distinct minority.
You are so predictable in your love of the EU and dislike of brexit but I fully expect this Boris government will exit the EU on WTO if necessary and there will be some years of angst on both sides
I expressed neither love of the EU nor dislike of Brexit in that post. Just cold hard fact.
As it happens, the EU might be well-advised to make some moves towards Britain, just as you try to talk down a lunatic cavorting on a ledge. But that's far from compulsory.
The EU might give the Dirty Harry approach a try. Cut down on the talk and go straight for the action
The EU is not obliged to sign up to terms that Britain would find convenient.
While a distinct minority would be prepared to eat grass rather than compromise with the EU, it remains a distinct minority.
You are so predictable in your love of the EU and dislike of brexit but I fully expect this Boris government will exit the EU on WTO if necessary and there will be some years of angst on both sides
I expressed neither love of the EU nor dislike of Brexit in that post. Just cold hard fact.
As it happens, the EU might be well-advised to make some moves towards Britain, just as you try to talk down a lunatic cavorting on a ledge. But that's far from compulsory.
There are no cold hard facts in this process.
I expect UK to do well in the future and outperform France and Germany
You started by asserting that the EU has to recognsise Britain's position. It doesn't.
If it does not move away from wanting to damage the UK economic interests then a complete fracture will happen damaging everyones interests
Apart from the Express - which I imaging caters for the Trumpite/Putinesque niche of the British public - I'm surprised how negative all those front pages are for Boris. Boris markets himself as being quintessentially British, yet with this stuff he's ridden roughshod over the Great British sense of fair play. The question is now: shorn of his bumbling-but-essentially-decent side, is there anything appealing left?
I think you will find he is very popular with voters
But that was simply because he had a cheeky smile and help up Love Actually placards during an Xmas commercial. How radically will they revise their assessment when they realize they've got an insecure megalomaniac on their hands?
They will only change their minds if he fails to deliver especially in the north
Not clear that there's a net positive opinion of Johnson. YouGov still have him net negative although Opinium did have a net positive in January. A popular (net positive) LOTO might change minds quite quickly - not saying that we're going to have one of those anytime soon!
My perception is that the election was more lost by Labour (Corbyn) than won by Johnson - Johnson was the most net negative winner after Blair (2005) at the last election, it's just that Corbyn was perceived to be much worse.
There is a subset that loves Johnson, but that could also be said of Corbyn!
Economically we are not, and never will be the "equal" of the EU27, as Mr Thompson naively believes. We are also not the "equal" of the US, or China. That might make a few people swivel their eyes in jingoistic outrage and displeasure but it is fact. We have a weak negotiating hand and anyone that believes otherwise has been conned, well and truly.
One wonders what they regard as centrist publications.
Occasionally the Mail Online adopts a centre or centre-left stance on a piece, basically setting the comments up for a "I can't believe the mail is saying this, PC gone mad" take. It's deliberate and obviously the true thought of the author is then conveyed in the comments but I've definitely seen it.
Okay I'm confused: - Cummings is a SpAd - That's bad, because he's unelected and unaccountable - Cummings has got rid of a lot of other SpAds - Those SpAds were also unelected and unaccountable, which is also bad - However, Cummings' actions were also bad, because those SpAds were good (for some reason), and the ones he'll replace them with will be bad
Is that right? I get why people might want one set of SpAds over another, if they prefer the policies that set will push, for whatever reason. But people seem to be objecting on governance grounds, and I just don't understand why it matters in the abstract precisely who has control over which set of unelected and unaccountable individuals get to advise our ministers.
You're smarter than this. PM and Chancellor is combined too much negotiation and policy to leave to one team. Unless PM is going to pull back on every other policy area, which does not look likely.
I strongly suspect we are about to see our version of Trump economics. Massive splurge and tax cutting to engineer some kind of mini boom to cover up Brexit.
Domonomics.
It'll end in tears.
HS2 will generate billions of investment and provide long term high qualiity jobs and considerable tax income. I expect a hard brexit unless the EU comes to its senses but I am not fearful for the prospects of the UK
I'm very in favour of HS2 and other long term infrastructure investments. Good time to borrow at low rates. More worried about other splashings of cash when not balanced with some tax take.
The EU is not obliged to sign up to terms that Britain would find convenient.
While a distinct minority would be prepared to eat grass rather than compromise with the EU, it remains a distinct minority.
You are so predictable in your love of the EU and dislike of brexit but I fully expect this Boris government will exit the EU on WTO if necessary and there will be some years of angst on both sides
I expressed neither love of the EU nor dislike of Brexit in that post. Just cold hard fact.
As it happens, the EU might be well-advised to make some moves towards Britain, just as you try to talk down a lunatic cavorting on a ledge. But that's far from compulsory.
There are no cold hard facts in this process.
I expect UK to do well in the future and outperform France and Germany
You started by asserting that the EU has to recognsise Britain's position. It doesn't.
If it does not move away from wanting to damage the UK economic interests then a complete fracture will happen damaging everyones interests
That has always been a possibility ever since 52% were dumb enough to be conned into this pointless exercise.
Johnson has a thumping mandate. He's soaring in the polls. If ever he has the chance to set out his stall, now is it. He can almost do what he wants. That includes sacking a highly ambitious but overrated Sajid Javid.
Johnson won. Johnson's in power and has power. The time will come to land blows. This isn't it. I'm afraid that a number of commentators and posters are still stuck in the mindset of the last Parliament.
It goes back an awful lot further than that. Looking back over the decades, people are so used to the concept of the powerful Chancellor as right-hand man and/or check on the Prime Minister (Osborne, Brown, Clarke, Lawson, Howe, etc etc) that the notion of the Chancellor being just another cabinet minister feels quite alien. But that's what the situation would now appear to be.
We need to dispense with the idea of No.10 and No.11 acting as a duumvirate and treat Boris Johnson as a more presidential figure. We ought instead to assume that Rishi Sunak's job will be to look after the books and to develop taxation and borrowing options in line with the Prime Minister's needs and priorities, and not to co-determine those needs and priorities himself.
Perhaps some resemblance to what happened in early 1958 when Peter Thorneycroft and his Treasury team resigned from Macmillan's government to produce 'little local difficulties' for him.
The idea to cut pension relief for those in the 40% band was crass and stupid.
He is no loss.
At some point the spending Cummings is planning will have to be paid for. Tax rises will be a part of that. There is no magic money tree.
Fat cat public sector defined benefit pensions would be a better place to start if you are dumb enough to want to tax pensions.
It's been done with the pensions taper, with the small side effect of a staffing crisis.
How much indexed linked pension does a public sector nominal £100,000 get? How much would a private sector pension pay for the same amount?
This is one of the great injustices of the pension system. For tax purposes, an indexed-linked final-salary pension (i.e. in practice usually a public-sector pension) is treated as though it were equivalent to a pension pot 20 times the initial salary value. So a doctor about to retire on £50,000 pa, totally secure and index-linked, doesn't get hit by the lifetime allowance (currently £1055K).
For anyone else, who actually has to buy such a pension, the equivalent annuity rate is currently well under 3% (age 65, inflation linked, with a 50% spouse pension). So (leaving aside tax-free sums, which apply in a similar way in both cases) you'd need a pension pot of around £1.7m to match the doctor's deal - which is miles over the lifetime allowance so effectively impossible even if you could have found enough dosh to make the pension contributions to amass a £1.7m pot.
The EU is not obliged to sign up to terms that Britain would find convenient.
While a distinct minority would be prepared to eat grass rather than compromise with the EU, it remains a distinct minority.
You are so predictable in your love of the EU and dislike of brexit but I fully expect this Boris government will exit the EU on WTO if necessary and there will be some years of angst on both sides
I expressed neither love of the EU nor dislike of Brexit in that post. Just cold hard fact.
As it happens, the EU might be well-advised to make some moves towards Britain, just as you try to talk down a lunatic cavorting on a ledge. But that's far from compulsory.
There are no cold hard facts in this process.
I expect UK to do well in the future and outperform France and Germany
You started by asserting that the EU has to recognsise Britain's position. It doesn't.
If it does not move away from wanting to damage the UK economic interests then a complete fracture will happen damaging everyones interests
Britain is a lot smaller than the EU. Of course the EU is going to use its heft in ways that Britain dislikes. That was an inevitable part of Britain deciding that "we" excluded "them".
You think Britain is going to get better treatment from the USA or China than it will get from the EU? Newsflash: it won't. Volunteering to become more isolated in a world of power blocs is so so dumb. The strong do as they please, the weak suffer what they must. Britain has chosen to become an object of verbs rather than a subject.
The EU is not obliged to sign up to terms that Britain would find convenient.
You are so predictable in your love of
I expressed neither love of the EU nor dislike of Brexit in that post. Just cold hard fact.
As it happens, the EU might be well-advised to make some moves towards Britain, just as you try to talk down a lunatic cavorting on a ledge. But that's far from compulsory.
There are no cold hard facts in this process.
I expect UK to do well in the future and outperform France and Germany
You started by asserting that the EU has to recognsise Britain's position. It doesn't.
If it does not move away from wanting to damage the UK economic interests then a complete fracture will happen damaging everyones interests
That has always been a possibility ever since 52% were dumb enough to be conned into this pointless exercise.
The EU is not obliged to sign up to terms that Britain would find convenient.
While a distinct minority would be prepared to eat grass rather than compromise with the EU, it remains a distinct minority.
You are so predictable in your love of the EU and dislike of brexit but I fully expect this Boris government will exit the EU on WTO if necessary and there will be some years of angst on both sides
I expressed neither love of the EU nor dislike of Brexit in that post. Just cold hard fact.
As it happens, the EU might be well-advised to make some moves towards Britain, just as you try to talk down a lunatic cavorting on a ledge. But that's far from compulsory.
There are no cold hard facts in this process.
I expect UK to do well in the future and outperform France and Germany
You started by asserting that the EU has to recognsise Britain's position. It doesn't.
If it does not move away from wanting to damage the UK economic interests then a complete fracture will happen damaging everyones interests
That has always been a possibility ever since 52% were dumb enough to be conned into this pointless exercise.
To brand 52% of the nation as dumb is arrogant nonsense
This thread by the superb Peter Foster is a must-read.
twitter.com/pmdfoster/status/1228083610617622528
Read it and weep.
One starts to wonder if Cummings isn't hopelessly out of his depth and is stringing the gullible Boris along.
Why would anyone wonder?
I suppose the alternative is that the lazy Boris is happy to let Cummings do the fiddly detail stuff while Boris strides the stage like the international colossus he appears to think he is.
The EU is not obliged to sign up to terms that Britain would find convenient.
While a distinct minority would be prepared to eat grass rather than compromise with the EU, it remains a distinct minority.
You are so predictable in your love of the EU and dislike of brexit but I fully expect this Boris government will exit the EU on WTO if necessary and there will be some years of angst on both sides
I expressed neither love of the EU nor dislike of Brexit in that post. Just cold hard fact.
As it happens, the EU might be well-advised to make some moves towards Britain, just as you try to talk down a lunatic cavorting on a ledge. But that's far from compulsory.
There are no cold hard facts in this process.
I expect UK to do well in the future and outperform France and Germany
You started by asserting that the EU has to recognsise Britain's position. It doesn't.
If it does not move away from wanting to damage the UK economic interests then a complete fracture will happen damaging everyones interests
Britain is a lot smaller than the EU. Of course the EU is going to use its heft in ways that Britain dislikes. That was an inevitable part of Britain deciding that "we" excluded "them".
You think Britain is going to get better treatment from the USA or China than it will get from the EU? Newsflash: it won't. Volunteering to become more isolated in a world of power blocs is so so dumb. The strong do as they please, the weak suffer what they must. Britain has chosen to become an object of verbs rather than a subject.
You have your views and it is fair to say other views are available
Economically we are not, and never will be the "equal" of the EU27, as Mr Thompson naively believes. We are also not the "equal" of the US, or China. That might make a few people swivel their eyes in jingoistic outrage and displeasure but it is fact. We have a weak negotiating hand and anyone that believes otherwise has been conned, well and truly.
We do have horrendous weakness in many areas. We also have significant strength in some areas.
USA, China, EU, India and others will have greater markets, GDP and strengths in various areas. This may steer us to beef up our strengths at the expense of our weaknesses. That could be positive.
The EU is not obliged to sign up to terms that Britain would find convenient.
While a distinct minority would be prepared to eat grass rather than compromise with the EU, it remains a distinct minority.
You are so predictable in your love of the EU and dislike of brexit but I fully expect this Boris government will exit the EU on WTO if necessary and there will be some years of angst on both sides
I expressed neither love of the EU nor dislike of Brexit in that post. Just cold hard fact.
As it happens, the EU might be well-advised to make some moves towards Britain, just as you try to talk down a lunatic cavorting on a ledge. But that's far from compulsory.
There are no cold hard facts in this process.
I expect UK to do well in the future and outperform France and Germany
You started by asserting that the EU has to recognsise Britain's position. It doesn't.
If it does not move away from wanting to damage the UK economic interests then a complete fracture will happen damaging everyones interests
Britain is a lot smaller than the EU. Of course the EU is going to use its heft in ways that Britain dislikes. That was an inevitable part of Britain deciding that "we" excluded "them".
You think Britain is going to get better treatment from the USA or China than it will get from the EU? Newsflash: it won't. Volunteering to become more isolated in a world of power blocs is so so dumb. The strong do as they please, the weak suffer what they must. Britain has chosen to become an object of verbs rather than a subject.
You have your views and it is fair to say other views are available
The EU is not obliged to sign up to terms that Britain would find convenient.
While a distinct minority would be prepared to eat grass rather than compromise with the EU, it remains a distinct minority.
You are so predictable in your love of the EU and dislike of brexit but I fully expect this Boris government will exit the EU on WTO if necessary and there will be some years of angst on both sides
I expressed neither love of the EU nor dislike of Brexit in that post. Just cold hard fact.
As it happens, the EU might be well-advised to make some moves towards Britain, just as you try to talk down a lunatic cavorting on a ledge. But that's far from compulsory.
There are no cold hard facts in this process.
I expect UK to do well in the future and outperform France and Germany
You started by asserting that the EU has to recognsise Britain's position. It doesn't.
If it does not move away from wanting to damage the UK economic interests then a complete fracture will happen damaging everyones interests
Britain is a lot smaller than the EU. Of course the EU is going to use its heft in ways that Britain dislikes. That was an inevitable part of Britain deciding that "we" excluded "them".
You think Britain is going to get better treatment from the USA or China than it will get from the EU? Newsflash: it won't. Volunteering to become more isolated in a world of power blocs is so so dumb. The strong do as they please, the weak suffer what they must. Britain has chosen to become an object of verbs rather than a subject.
You have your views and it is fair to say other views are available
Now that the government has adopted the North Korean model as its preferred approach to Brexit, I guess we'll all just have to get used to juche and stirring pictures of Boris Johnson riding a horse up a mountain.
This thread by the superb Peter Foster is a must-read.
twitter.com/pmdfoster/status/1228083610617622528
Read it and weep.
One starts to wonder if Cummings isn't hopelessly out of his depth and is stringing the gullible Boris along.
Why would anyone wonder?
I suppose the alternative is that the lazy Boris is happy to let Cummings do the fiddly detail stuff while Boris strides the stage like the international colossus he appears to think he is.
Echoes of Brown and Blair .....
I think that Blair and Cameron who didn't do detail were better PMs then Brown and May who did do detail.
The EU is not obliged to sign up to terms that Britain would find convenient.
While a distinct minority would be prepared to eat grass rather than compromise with the EU, it remains a distinct minority.
You are so predictable in your love of the EU and dislike of brexit but I fully expect this Boris government will exit the EU on WTO if necessary and there will be some years of angst on both sides
I expressed neither love of the EU nor dislike of Brexit in that post. Just cold hard fact.
As it happens, the EU might be well-advised to make some moves towards Britain, just as you try to talk down a lunatic cavorting on a ledge. But that's far from compulsory.
There are no cold hard facts in this process.
I expect UK to do well in the future and outperform France and Germany
You started by asserting that the EU has to recognsise Britain's position. It doesn't.
If it does not move away from wanting to damage the UK economic interests then a complete fracture will happen damaging everyones interests
Britain is a lot smaller than the EU. Of course the EU is going to use its heft in ways that Britain dislikes. That was an inevitable part of Britain deciding that "we" excluded "them".
You think Britain is going to get better treatment from the USA or China than it will get from the EU? Newsflash: it won't. Volunteering to become more isolated in a world of power blocs is so so dumb. The strong do as they please, the weak suffer what they must. Britain has chosen to become an object of verbs rather than a subject.
You have your views and it is fair to say other views are available
So you don’t think the UK is smaller than the EU?
Of course it is but the larger an organisation it loses the ability to quickly adapt, adopt and improve (as the Round Table motto goes) and we will still trade across Europe and elsewhere with increasing success
Last time I came out of that very airport we queued for about 30 minutes as they check our passports on exit. Perfectly normal. Ps. For all intents and purposes we are still in the EU during the transition.
Last time I came out of that very airport we queued for about 30 minutes as they check our passports on exit. Perfectly normal. Ps. For all intents and purposes we are still in the EU.
The EU is not obliged to sign up to terms that Britain would find convenient.
While a distinct minority would be prepared to eat grass rather than compromise with the EU, it remains a distinct minority.
You are so predictable in your love of the EU and dislike of brexit but I fully expect this Boris government will exit the EU on WTO if necessary and there will be some years of angst on both sides
I expressed neither love of the EU nor dislike of Brexit in that post. Just cold hard fact.
As it happens, the EU might be well-advised to make some moves towards Britain, just as you try to talk down a lunatic cavorting on a ledge. But that's far from compulsory.
There are no cold hard facts in this process.
I expect UK to do well in the future and outperform France and Germany
You started by asserting that the EU has to recognsise Britain's position. It doesn't.
If it does not move away from wanting to damage the UK economic interests then a complete fracture will happen damaging everyones interests
Britain is a lot smaller than the EU. Of course the EU is going to use its heft in ways that Britain dislikes. That was an inevitable part of Britain deciding that "we" excluded "them".
You think Britain is going to get better treatment from the USA or China than it will get from the EU? Newsflash: it won't. Volunteering to become more isolated in a world of power blocs is so so dumb. The strong do as they please, the weak suffer what they must. Britain has chosen to become an object of verbs rather than a subject.
You have your views and it is fair to say other views are available
So you don’t think the UK is smaller than the EU?
I don't think small and nimble is worse than large and sclerotic.
Reminds me of a bizarre pyramid-selling 'conference' I was once tricked into attending. Getting the crowd to chant is a well-know technique: it temporarily reduces the critical faculties of the individuals, so it's a good way of making them agree to something stupid in the immediate aftermath. Dom must know this and instructed Boris accordingly.
This thread by the superb Peter Foster is a must-read.
twitter.com/pmdfoster/status/1228083610617622528
Read it and weep.
One starts to wonder if Cummings isn't hopelessly out of his depth and is stringing the gullible Boris along.
Why would anyone wonder?
I suppose the alternative is that the lazy Boris is happy to let Cummings do the fiddly detail stuff while Boris strides the stage like the international colossus he appears to think he is.
Echoes of Brown and Blair .....
I think that Blair and Cameron who didn't do detail were better PMs then Brown and May who did do detail.
I don't want a PM who is immersed in detail.
It's a difficult balance and will depend on quality around them and genuine discussion around them.
Last time I came out of that very airport we queued for about 30 minutes as they check our passports on exit. Perfectly normal. Ps. For all intents and purposes we are still in the EU during the transition.
That's still the standard EU exit - I don't see any problem beyond he's picked the wrong time to try to escape the airport and the fact he's cropped the EU flag to pretend to raise a point.
Economically we are not, and never will be the "equal" of the EU27, as Mr Thompson naively believes. We are also not the "equal" of the US, or China. That might make a few people swivel their eyes in jingoistic outrage and displeasure but it is fact. We have a weak negotiating hand and anyone that believes otherwise has been conned, well and truly.
Well yes, if I was to put my nationalist hat on then I don't believe we will be equal to Europe, I believe that we are will be better than them.
But saying so doesn't achieve much and I think we should put our nationalism to one side and treat each other as equals.
The EU is not obliged to sign up to terms that Britain would find convenient.
While a distinct minority would be prepared to eat grass rather than compromise with the EU, it remains a distinct minority.
You are so predictable in your love of the EU and dislike of brexit but I fully expect this Boris government will exit the EU on WTO if necessary and there will be some years of angst on both sides
I expressed neither love of the EU nor dislike of Brexit in that post. Just cold hard fact.
As it happens, the EU might be well-advised to make some moves towards Britain, just as you try to talk down a lunatic cavorting on a ledge. But that's far from compulsory.
There are no cold hard facts in this process.
I expect UK to do well in the future and outperform France and Germany
You started by asserting that the EU has to recognsise Britain's position. It doesn't.
If it does not move away from wanting to damage the UK economic interests then a complete fracture will happen damaging everyones interests
Britain is a lot smaller than the EU. Of course the EU is going to use its heft in ways that Britain dislikes. That was an inevitable part of Britain deciding that "we" excluded "them".
You think Britain is going to get better treatment from the USA or China than it will get from the EU? Newsflash: it won't. Volunteering to become more isolated in a world of power blocs is so so dumb. The strong do as they please, the weak suffer what they must. Britain has chosen to become an object of verbs rather than a subject.
You have your views and it is fair to say other views are available
So you don’t think the UK is smaller than the EU?
I don't think small and nimble is worse than large and sclerotic.
The EU is not obliged to sign up to terms that Britain would find convenient.
While a distinct minority would be prepared to eat grass rather than compromise with the EU, it remains a distinct minority.
You are so predictable in your love of the EU and dislike of brexit but I fully expect this Boris government will exit the EU on WTO if necessary and there will be some years of angst on both sides
I expressed neither love of the EU nor dislike of Brexit in that post. Just cold hard fact.
As it happens, the EU might be well-advised to make some moves towards Britain, just as you try to talk down a lunatic cavorting on a ledge. But that's far from compulsory.
There are no cold hard facts in this process.
I expect UK to do well in the future and outperform France and Germany
You started by asserting that the EU has to recognsise Britain's position. It doesn't.
If it does not move away from wanting to damage the UK economic interests then a complete fracture will happen damaging everyones interests
Britain is a lot smaller than the EU. Of course the EU is going to use its heft in ways that Britain dislikes. That was an inevitable part of Britain deciding that "we" excluded "them".
You think Britain is going to get better treatment from the USA or China than it will get from the EU? Newsflash: it won't. Volunteering to become more isolated in a world of power blocs is so so dumb. The strong do as they please, the weak suffer what they must. Britain has chosen to become an object of verbs rather than a subject.
You have your views and it is fair to say other views are available
Now that the government has adopted the North Korean model as its preferred approach to Brexit, I guess we'll all just have to get used to juche and stirring pictures of Boris Johnson riding a horse up a mountain.
North Korean? You are hardly likely to be taken into Downing Street and executed with an anti-aircraft gun.
Last time I came out of that very airport we queued for about 30 minutes as they check our passports on exit. Perfectly normal. Ps. For all intents and purposes we are still in the EU during the transition.
That's still the standard EU exit - I don't see any problem beyond he's picked the wrong time to try to escape the airport and the fact he's cropped the EU flag to pretend to raise a point.
There's also only a handful of people in front of him. He should try visiting the states once in a while.
Reminds me of a bizarre pyramid-selling 'conference' I was once tricked into attending. Getting the crowd to chant is a well-know technique: it temporarily reduces the critical faculties of the individuals, so it's a good way of making them agree to something stupid in the immediate aftermath. Dom must know this and instructed Boris accordingly.
Its a technique often used at corporate events and team building events too.
The EU is not obliged to sign up to terms that Britain would find convenient.
While a distinct minority would be prepared to eat grass rather than compromise with the EU, it remains a distinct minority.
You are so predictable in your love of the EU and dislike of brexit but I fully expect this Boris government will exit the EU on WTO if necessary and there will be some years of angst on both sides
I expressed neither love of the EU nor dislike of Brexit in that post. Just cold hard fact.
As it happens, the EU might be well-advised to make some moves towards Britain, just as you try to talk down a lunatic cavorting on a ledge. But that's far from compulsory.
There are no cold hard facts in this process.
I expect UK to do well in the future and outperform France and Germany
You started by asserting that the EU has to recognsise Britain's position. It doesn't.
If it does not move away from wanting to damage the UK economic interests then a complete fracture will happen damaging everyones interests
Britain is a lot smaller than the EU. Of course the EU is going to use its heft in ways that Britain dislikes. That was an inevitable part of Britain deciding that "we" excluded "them".
You think Britain is going to get better treatment from the USA or China than it will get from the EU? Newsflash: it won't. Volunteering to become more isolated in a world of power blocs is so so dumb. The strong do as they please, the weak suffer what they must. Britain has chosen to become an object of verbs rather than a subject.
You have your views and it is fair to say other views are available
Now that the government has adopted the North Korean model as its preferred approach to Brexit, I guess we'll all just have to get used to juche and stirring pictures of Boris Johnson riding a horse up a mountain.
North Korean? You are hardly likely to be taken into Downing Street and executed with an anti-aircraft gun.
Now that the government has adopted the North Korean model as its preferred approach to Brexit, I guess we'll all just have to get used to juche and stirring pictures of Boris Johnson riding a horse up a mountain.
The EU is not obliged to sign up to terms that Britain would find convenient.
While a distinct minority would be prepared to eat grass rather than compromise with the EU, it remains a distinct minority.
You are so predictable in your love of the EU and dislike of brexit but I fully expect this Boris government will exit the EU on WTO if necessary and there will be some years of angst on both sides
I expressed neither love of the EU nor dislike of Brexit in that post. Just cold hard fact.
As it happens, the EU might be well-advised to make some moves towards Britain, just as you try to talk down a lunatic cavorting on a ledge. But that's far from compulsory.
There are no cold hard facts in this process.
I expect UK to do well in the future and outperform France and Germany
You started by asserting that the EU has to recognsise Britain's position. It doesn't.
If it does not move away from wanting to damage the UK economic interests then a complete fracture will happen damaging everyones interests
Britain is a lot smaller than the EU. Of course the EU is going to use its heft in ways that Britain dislikes. That was an inevitable part of Britain deciding that "we" excluded "them".
You think Britain is going to get better treatment from the USA or China than it will get from the EU? Newsflash: it won't. Volunteering to become more isolated in a world of power blocs is so so dumb. The strong do as they please, the weak suffer what they must. Britain has chosen to become an object of verbs rather than a subject.
You have your views and it is fair to say other views are available
Now that the government has adopted the North Korean model as its preferred approach to Brexit, I guess we'll all just have to get used to juche and stirring pictures of Boris Johnson riding a horse up a mountain.
North Korean? You are hardly likely to be taken into Downing Street and executed with an anti-aircraft gun...
Cummings is probably measuring the Downing St garden to see if there's room for one as we speak.
Last time I came out of that very airport we queued for about 30 minutes as they check our passports on exit. Perfectly normal. Ps. For all intents and purposes we are still in the EU during the transition.
That's still the standard EU exit - I don't see any problem beyond he's picked the wrong time to try to escape the airport and the fact he's cropped the EU flag to pretend to raise a point.
There's also only a handful of people in front of him. He should try visiting the states once in a while.
Yep - I think we had 90+ minutes at JFK in October (mind you it was the first time in a while so we had to join the interrogation queue).
I must admit I'm surprised at the lack of a pattern in the nominations. I would expect Thornberry to be getting nominations in heavy remain seats, while Nandy does well in the red wall but you have oddities like Vauxhall nominating Nandy while Bishop Auckland nominates Thornberry
Reminds me of a bizarre pyramid-selling 'conference' I was once tricked into attending. Getting the crowd to chant is a well-know technique: it temporarily reduces the critical faculties of the individuals, so it's a good way of making them agree to something stupid in the immediate aftermath. Dom must know this and instructed Boris accordingly.
I went to one of those once with my parents (As a well behaved roughly 13 year old or so). My Dad smelt the ruse early on (My mum had booked it I think unwittingly) and was annoyed he was missing the rugby. Timeshare sales pitch, video of Jack Charlton saying how glorious it all was, they don't let you leave early - WACO was definitely fresh in my mind...
Reminds me of a bizarre pyramid-selling 'conference' I was once tricked into attending. Getting the crowd to chant is a well-know technique: it temporarily reduces the critical faculties of the individuals, so it's a good way of making them agree to something stupid in the immediate aftermath. Dom must know this and instructed Boris accordingly.
I assume that only works on people who can be manipulated easily. I remember attending a product release and being completely embarrassed by all this stuff but noting the salesman in attendance lapping it up and joining in in enthusiastically . I knew a number of them and was surprised by their gullibility. I asked them about it afterwards. They were in fact just as cynical and thought it utter bollocks, but just join in for the fun of it.
The EU is not obliged to sign up to terms that Britain would find convenient.
While a distinct minority would be prepared to eat grass rather than compromise with the EU, it remains a distinct minority.
You are so predictable in your love of the EU and dislike of brexit but I fully expect this Boris government will exit the EU on WTO if necessary and there will be some years of angst on both sides
I expressed neither love of the EU nor dislike of Brexit in that post. Just cold hard fact.
As it happens, the EU might be well-advised to make some moves towards Britain, just as you try to talk down a lunatic cavorting on a ledge. But that's far from compulsory.
There are no cold hard facts in this process.
I expect UK to do well in the future and outperform France and Germany
You started by asserting that the EU has to recognsise Britain's position. It doesn't.
If it does not move away from wanting to damage the UK economic interests then a complete fracture will happen damaging everyones interests
Britain is a lot smaller than the EU. Of course the EU is going to use its heft in ways that Britain dislikes. That was an inevitable part of Britain deciding that "we" excluded "them".
You think Britain is going to get better treatment from the USA or China than it will get from the EU? Newsflash: it won't. Volunteering to become more isolated in a world of power blocs is so so dumb. The strong do as they please, the weak suffer what they must. Britain has chosen to become an object of verbs rather than a subject.
You have your views and it is fair to say other views are available
Now that the government has adopted the North Korean model as its preferred approach to Brexit, I guess we'll all just have to get used to juche and stirring pictures of Boris Johnson riding a horse up a mountain.
North Korean? You are hardly likely to be taken into Downing Street and executed with an anti-aircraft gun...
Cummings is probably measuring the Downing St garden to see if there's room for one as we speak.
There we go again Nigel, once again we do the same post, although as usual yours is with more panache.
From that judgment, the final line of this needs to be said more often. I emphasise in bold:
7. However, Mr Justice Julian Knowles also finds that the police’s actions towards the Claimant disproportionately interfered with his right of freedom of expressionon the particular facts of this case([289]). The judgment emphasises the vital importance of free speech in a democracy and provides a reminder that free speech includes not only the inoffensive,but the irritating, the contentious, the eccentric, the heretical, the unwelcome and the provocative, and that the freedom only to speak inoffensively is not worth having([3]).
Reminds me of a bizarre pyramid-selling 'conference' I was once tricked into attending. Getting the crowd to chant is a well-know technique: it temporarily reduces the critical faculties of the individuals, so it's a good way of making them agree to something stupid in the immediate aftermath. Dom must know this and instructed Boris accordingly.
Its a technique often used at corporate events and team building events too.
Yes and its irritating as hell. You can always tell if someone has just been on a training course for team events, as they shoehorn in unnecessary team interactions, very deliberately refer to people by name and overly thank people for ideas, that sort of thing.
The police must have known that they'd lost after the first six paragraphs of the judgment.
I'd go after the police civilly if they rocked up at my work, say if I was committing the heinous crime of retweeting Germaine Greer, JK Rowling or Sharon Davies (I assume the tweets were somewhat stronger, but still). I can't think of anything more damaging to one's reputation.
Reminds me of a bizarre pyramid-selling 'conference' I was once tricked into attending. Getting the crowd to chant is a well-know technique: it temporarily reduces the critical faculties of the individuals, so it's a good way of making them agree to something stupid in the immediate aftermath. Dom must know this and instructed Boris accordingly.
Its a technique often used at corporate events and team building events too.
Yes and its irritating as hell. You can always tell if someone has just been on a training course for team events, as they shoehorn in unnecessary team interactions, very deliberately refer to people by name and overly thank people for ideas, that sort of thing.
Agreed. I've always found it uncomfortable bollocks and rather American.
The police must have known that they'd lost after the first six paragraphs of the judgment.
I'd go after the police civilly if they rocked up at my work, say if I was committing the heinous crime of retweeting Germaine Greer, JK Rowling or Sharon Davies (I assume the tweets were somewhat stronger, but still). I can't think of anything more damaging to one's reputation.
When the Police say they lack the resources to investigate burglaries, but have resources to go after what they have already recorded as a "non-crime" shows a real perversion.
A "non-crime" should be of no interest to the Police, unless it involves eg rescuing someone from a dangerous situation etc
Reminds me of a bizarre pyramid-selling 'conference' I was once tricked into attending. Getting the crowd to chant is a well-know technique: it temporarily reduces the critical faculties of the individuals, so it's a good way of making them agree to something stupid in the immediate aftermath. Dom must know this and instructed Boris accordingly.
Its a technique often used at corporate events and team building events too.
Yes and its irritating as hell. You can always tell if someone has just been on a training course for team events, as they shoehorn in unnecessary team interactions, very deliberately refer to people by name and overly thank people for ideas, that sort of thing.
Agreed. I've always found it uncomfortable bollocks and rather American.
See my post. Same description - Bollocks and yes I worked for an American company at the time.
But what I found amusing was those joining in thought it bollocks also. I assume the people organising this stuff just don't realise they are having the piss taken out of them and instead think it is a jolly good idea by the apparent reception they get.
Reminds me of a bizarre pyramid-selling 'conference' I was once tricked into attending. Getting the crowd to chant is a well-know technique: it temporarily reduces the critical faculties of the individuals, so it's a good way of making them agree to something stupid in the immediate aftermath. Dom must know this and instructed Boris accordingly.
Its a technique often used at corporate events and team building events too.
Yes and its irritating as hell. You can always tell if someone has just been on a training course for team events, as they shoehorn in unnecessary team interactions, very deliberately refer to people by name and overly thank people for ideas, that sort of thing.
Agreed. I've always found it uncomfortable bollocks and rather American.
Obama was the best that I can think of with this oratory technique, but it's incredibly contrived, forced and fake most of the time.
See Boris NI to Scotland bridge has been dwarfed with the recommendation to build dams from lands end to france and northern scotland to norway taking 100 years to build to prevent rising sea levels at a cost of 250 - 500 billion plus
See Boris NI to Scotland bridge has been dwarfed with the recommendation to build dams from lands end to france and northern scotland to norway taking 100 years to builld to prevent rising sea levels at a cost of 250 - 500 billion plus
I expressed neither love of the EU nor dislike of Brexit in that post. Just cold hard fact.
As it happens, the EU might be well-advised to make some moves towards Britain, just as you try to talk down a lunatic cavorting on a ledge. But that's far from compulsory.
There are no cold hard facts in this process.
I expect UK to do well in the future and outperform France and Germany
You started by asserting that the EU has to recognsise Britain's position. It doesn'tet.
If it does not move away from wanting to damage the UK economic interests then a complete fracture will happen damaging everyones interests
Britain is a lot smaller than the EU. Of course the EU is going to use its heft in ways that Britain dislikes. That was an inevitable part of Britain deciding that "we" excluded "them".
You think Britain is going to get better treatment from the USA or China than it will get from the EU? Newsflash: it won't. Volunteering to become more isolated in a world of power blocs is so so dumb. The strong do as they please, the weak suffer what they must. Britain has chosen to become an object of verbs rather than a subject.
You have your views and it is fair to say other views are available
So you don’t think the UK is smaller than the EU?
I don't think small and nimble is worse than large and sclerotic.
Jim Hacker, MP PC: "We are going to be small and nimble, Sir Humphrey"
Sir Humphrey Appleby, Perm Sec DAA: "Excellent, Minister. I am fully charged of your need to be nimble! I will start on the preparation for the airport right away! I will set up the independent judge-led enquiry on the green paper resulting from a Royal Commission leading to an in-depth analysis and risk assessment prior to the publication of a white paper soliciting opinions from interested parties, after the investigation of the temporary injunction imposing a judicial review. To report in 2050. Possibly. In the fullness of time, Minister"
See Boris NI to Scotland bridge has been dwarfed with the recommendation to build dams from lands end to france and northern scotland to norway taking 100 years to builld to prevent rising sea levels at a cost of 250 - 500 billion plus
And I am not joking
Being proposed by someone who says it would be "disastrous" to do as it will turn the sea into a lake.
See Boris NI to Scotland bridge has been dwarfed with the recommendation to build dams from lands end to france and northern scotland to norway taking 100 years to builld to prevent rising sea levels at a cost of 250 - 500 billion plus
See Boris NI to Scotland bridge has been dwarfed with the recommendation to build dams from lands end to france and northern scotland to norway taking 100 years to builld to prevent rising sea levels at a cost of 250 - 500 billion plus
See Boris NI to Scotland bridge has been dwarfed with the recommendation to build dams from lands end to france and northern scotland to norway taking 100 years to build to prevent rising sea levels at a cost of 250 - 500 billion plus
And I am not joking
Wouldn't that leave Ireland and the west coasts of the UK & Norway somewhat..er..exposed?
See Boris NI to Scotland bridge has been dwarfed with the recommendation to build dams from lands end to france and northern scotland to norway taking 100 years to build to prevent rising sea levels at a cost of 250 - 500 billion plus
And I am not joking
Wouldn't that leave Ireland and the west coasts of the UK & Norway somewhat..er..exposed?
Reminds me of a bizarre pyramid-selling 'conference' I was once tricked into attending. Getting the crowd to chant is a well-know technique: it temporarily reduces the critical faculties of the individuals, so it's a good way of making them agree to something stupid in the immediate aftermath. Dom must know this and instructed Boris accordingly.
Its a technique often used at corporate events and team building events too.
Yes and its irritating as hell. You can always tell if someone has just been on a training course for team events, as they shoehorn in unnecessary team interactions, very deliberately refer to people by name and overly thank people for ideas, that sort of thing.
Agreed. I've always found it uncomfortable bollocks and rather American.
Obama was the best that I can think of with this oratory technique, but it's incredibly contrived, forced and fake most of the time.
It's like chainsaw juggling. Its damn impressive but you need to be very sure you can pull it off before you launch into it before a crowd.
The idea to cut pension relief for those in the 40% band was crass and stupid.
He is no loss.
At some point the spending Cummings is planning will have to be paid for. Tax rises will be a part of that. There is no magic money tree.
Fat cat public sector defined benefit pensions would be a better place to start if you are dumb enough to want to tax pensions.
It's been done with the pensions taper, with the small side effect of a staffing crisis.
How much indexed linked pension does a public sector nominal £100,000 get? How much would a private sector pension pay for the same amount?
About £3,800 I believe, based on my own pensions statement.
I am at an age where I can take it (actuarily reduced) at 3 months notice, and escape these shores. Not that I plan to, as I enjoy my job at present, but nice to have that option.
I cashed mine in , private sector about 20 months ago. I put most in a SIPP and have made 120K in that time. I did not want to lose all the money if I did not live till my 90's.
See Boris NI to Scotland bridge has been dwarfed with the recommendation to build dams from lands end to france and northern scotland to norway taking 100 years to build to prevent rising sea levels at a cost of 250 - 500 billion plus
And I am not joking
Wouldn't that leave Ireland and the west coasts of the UK & Norway somewhat..er..exposed?
You would have thought so but this is a proposal by a Dutch Government Scientist which requires 2 dams to completely enclose the north sea
See Boris NI to Scotland bridge has been dwarfed with the recommendation to build dams from lands end to france and northern scotland to norway taking 100 years to build to prevent rising sea levels at a cost of 250 - 500 billion plus
And I am not joking
Wouldn't that leave Ireland and the west coasts of the UK & Norway somewhat..er..exposed?
You would have thought so but this is a proposal by a Dutch Government Scientist which requires 2 dams to completely enclose the north sea
Lol I thought it was Boris' latest megaspend plan. Would turn the North sea into the North Lake lol.
See Boris NI to Scotland bridge has been dwarfed with the recommendation to build dams from lands end to france and northern scotland to norway taking 100 years to builld to prevent rising sea levels at a cost of 250 - 500 billion plus
Another poll showing Sanders as the Dem candidate polling best against Trump. This time 2 behind in Texas, which is admittedly unlikely to be the tipping point state, but there's been a bunch of recent polls showing Sanders as at least no worse than any other likely candidate.
So why are so many people saying that Democrats would be crazy to choose Sanders instead of - who? The comparison with Corbyn is also not valid, as Corbyn pretty much always polled really really badly.
Probably the worst outcome for Dems would be if Sanders gets a plurality of delegates but no majority, and then the convention chooses someone Sanders beat in the actual primaries. Bloomberg makes this quite a likely situation. But it always felt like his second choice (after Bloomberg becoming president) was always Trump winning again, no wonder a majority of Dems don't like the guy.
Bloomberg is spending $millions attacking Trump. He isn't attacking any of his Democrat competitors. It feels personal against Trump.
Bloomberg knows that attacking Trump is all he's got that appeals to Democrat voters.
There may well be personal animosity between them, which is one of the reasons Bloomberg enjoys having Trump as president - it makes him look good in comparison to Trump, and makes him more relevant on the national stage.
But this soap opera about which billionaire is the biggest pantomime villain is just a distraction from taking the necessary action on the biggest crises of our time (global overheating and inequality, I reckon).
Mind you, the judgement in the 'transphobic tweet' case doesn't address this:
The College of Policing’s guidance defines a transgender hate incident as “any non-crime incident which is perceived, by the victim or any other person, to be motivated by a hostility or prejudice against a person who is transgender or perceived to be transgender”.
We really do need to get rid of this sort of garbage, defining a hate crime as something which doesn't depend to even the slightest degree on whether the perception is well-founded.
See Boris NI to Scotland bridge has been dwarfed with the recommendation to build dams from lands end to france and northern scotland to norway taking 100 years to build to prevent rising sea levels at a cost of 250 - 500 billion plus
And I am not joking
Wouldn't that leave Ireland and the west coasts of the UK & Norway somewhat..er..exposed?
You would have thought so but this is a proposal by a Dutch Government Scientist which requires 2 dams to completely enclose the north sea
Lol I thought it was Boris' latest megaspend plan. Would turn the North sea into the North Lake lol.
Would make a bridge to France an easier prospect one would think . . .
Comments
https://twitter.com/pmdfoster/status/1228083610617622528
Read it and weep.
While a distinct minority would be prepared to eat grass rather than compromise with the UK, it remains a distinct possibility.
If both parties can compromise and treat each other as equals then a deal will be possible.
My perception is that the election was more lost by Labour (Corbyn) than won by Johnson - Johnson was the most net negative winner after Blair (2005) at the last election, it's just that Corbyn was perceived to be much worse.
There is a subset that loves Johnson, but that could also be said of Corbyn!
https://twitter.com/Steven_Swinford/status/1228264706395267072?s=20
For anyone else, who actually has to buy such a pension, the equivalent annuity rate is currently well under 3% (age 65, inflation linked, with a 50% spouse pension). So (leaving aside tax-free sums, which apply in a similar way in both cases) you'd need a pension pot of around £1.7m to match the doctor's deal - which is miles over the lifetime allowance so effectively impossible even if you could have found enough dosh to make the pension contributions to amass a £1.7m pot.
And the doctors are the ones bitching!
You think Britain is going to get better treatment from the USA or China than it will get from the EU? Newsflash: it won't. Volunteering to become more isolated in a world of power blocs is so so dumb. The strong do as they please, the weak suffer what they must. Britain has chosen to become an object of verbs rather than a subject.
I suppose the alternative is that the lazy Boris is happy to let Cummings do the fiddly detail stuff while Boris strides the stage like the international colossus he appears to think he is.
Echoes of Brown and Blair .....
A detachment of the NKVDomski rushes in and bundles the unfortunate off to some northern Gulag.
USA, China, EU, India and others will have greater markets, GDP and strengths in various areas. This may steer us to beef up our strengths at the expense of our weaknesses. That could be positive.
https://twitter.com/colinbrowning14/status/1227906931450425344?s=21
I don't want a PM who is immersed in detail.
I remember seeing Barnsley leavers shocked to learn that leaving the EU meant losing EU structural funds.
But saying so doesn't achieve much and I think we should put our nationalism to one side and treat each other as equals.
He had to prompt 4,000.
It is either amusing, childish, or Boris being Boris, depending on your politics
Probably.
Probably.
https://twitter.com/dbanksy/status/1228280843753476096?s=21
https://twitter.com/DBanksy/status/1228280876661907457
(Into intercom)
"Legislate at will, Prime Minister!"
7. However, Mr Justice Julian Knowles also finds that the police’s actions towards the Claimant disproportionately interfered with his right of freedom of expressionon the particular facts of this case([289]). The judgment emphasises the vital importance of free speech in a democracy and provides a reminder that free speech includes not only the inoffensive,but the irritating, the contentious, the eccentric, the heretical, the unwelcome and the provocative, and that the freedom only to speak inoffensively is not worth having([3]).
A "non-crime" should be of no interest to the Police, unless it involves eg rescuing someone from a dangerous situation etc
Won't happen next week will be my guess.
"the switch of Chancellor is just “levelling up” from Deutsche Bank to Goldman Sachs, as one City wag unkindly put it."
But what I found amusing was those joining in thought it bollocks also. I assume the people organising this stuff just don't realise they are having the piss taken out of them and instead think it is a jolly good idea by the apparent reception they get.
Be thankful that we don't live in a bandana republic.
https://twitter.com/SashDavie/status/1228272962278653953?s=20
And I am not joking
Sir Humphrey Appleby, Perm Sec DAA: "Excellent, Minister. I am fully charged of your need to be nimble! I will start on the preparation for the airport right away! I will set up the independent judge-led enquiry on the green paper resulting from a Royal Commission leading to an in-depth analysis and risk assessment prior to the publication of a white paper soliciting opinions from interested parties, after the investigation of the temporary injunction imposing a judicial review. To report in 2050. Possibly. In the fullness of time, Minister"
Hacker: "We are totally fucked, aren't we?"
Sir Humphrey "Yes, Minister"
(Roll credits)
There may well be personal animosity between them, which is one of the reasons Bloomberg enjoys having Trump as president - it makes him look good in comparison to Trump, and makes him more relevant on the national stage.
But this soap opera about which billionaire is the biggest pantomime villain is just a distraction from taking the necessary action on the biggest crises of our time (global overheating and inequality, I reckon).
The College of Policing’s guidance defines a transgender hate incident as “any non-crime incident which is perceived, by the victim or any other person, to be motivated by a hostility or prejudice against a person who is transgender or perceived to be transgender”.
We really do need to get rid of this sort of garbage, defining a hate crime as something which doesn't depend to even the slightest degree on whether the perception is well-founded.