As a human being ,Johnson is showing himself to be every bit as compulsive a liar as Adolf Hitler. Whilst the consequences for Europe and the wider world will be nothing like as destructive, his word to others is to be taken no more seriously than that given to Chamberlain at Munich in 1938. People increasingly recognise the reality of that as the scales drop from their eyes.
Jesus christ. What compels you to make posts like this?
His 'finest hour' such as it was, was hoping Tory MPs died in 2015 so as to remove the majority.
Keep an eye on, once a week, you'll get something as witless and nasty as today's efforts.
While the app is an obvious fiasco, the manual part of Track and Trace is equally crap.
Remember all that boasting of 18 000 trackers? Well in three weeks they have only been able to contact a little over 10 000 positive patients, and an average of three contacts each.
Instead of a competent system that would be key to relaxing lockdown safely, we have a charactestically fuckwitted bit of coronashambles.
These clowns couldn't organise a piss up in a brewery, yet we are supposed to believe in their Global Britain bullshit. Run for the exits people, get out any way you can, the country is going down the plughole.
We should replace it with Tubthumping by Chumbawumba or Bohemian Rhapsody.
The Rugby Football Union is conducting a review into the singing of Swing Low, Sweet Chariot by England supporters, admitting that many of them are unaware of its origins as a song about slavery.
England fans have previously been criticised for “cross-cultural appropriation of a US slave song” by academics, and the Black Lives Matter movement has brought renewed focus on its airing at Twickenham and matches abroad.
Maro Itoje recently described the background of the song as “complicated” and the RFU – aware that the lyrics are plastered all over Twickenham – is set to take action. The union told the Guardian it is reviewing the song’s “historical context” and acknowledged the need to educate supporters.
The RFU did not rule out urging supporters not to sing the song altogether at a time when institutions in England with historical links to slavery are coming under increasing pressure to act.
Sell-out crowds will not return to Twickenham in the short term but the RFU’s chief executive, Bill Sweeney, is optimistic England could host up to 40,000 fans this autumn if the government relaxes its physical distancing rule to one metre.
"NHS has been testing both systems against each other, over the course of the past month. The centralised version trialled on the Isle of Wight worked well at assessing the distance between two users, but was poor at recognising Apple's iPhones. Specifically, the software registered about 75% of nearby Android handsets but only 4% of iPhones. By contrast, the Apple-Google model logged iPhones but its distance calculations were weaker. In some instances, it could not differentiate between a phone in a user's pocket 1m (3.3ft) away and a phone in a user's hand 3m (9.8ft) away."
That is the real problem with all these apps - thanks to the variable accuracy of location tracking, you either set them to catch any possible contact (in which case you cab end up with so large a list that you might as well not bother), or you filter more and potentially miss a number of contacts.
They are not a panacea, or a substitute for teams of experienced/well trained contact tracers.
On your first comment, they are not trying to catch all the new infections, but are aiming to catch a significant number of new infections that would have otherwise flown under the radar.
On your second comment: No, but the app can find new positives, those people can be put in contact with the experienced/well trained contact tracers who can trace even more possibles. The two things are not an either/or. My view from afar, though, is that the British (government) have ballsed-up both the app and the contact tracing.
Tory ineptitude, lies and hubris will get Labour to a steady 35%-36%, but over the coming years the party must also build a positive narrative and demonstrate a decisive break with the far-left. Labour can probably reasonably hope for 40% of the vote at the next election if things fall the right way. But Scotland means it is almost impossible to win that election outright. Depriving the Tories of their overall majority has to be the primary aim.
They'd have the same problem Miliband had in 2015 - what do you offer the SNP for their support? It would drive too many English voters back to the Tories.
Starmer has to make enough headway in Scotland so that he can make such an English backlash look absurd. The next Holyrood elections are critical.
My sense is that Miliband was an easier target than Starmer. I also don't think you offer the SNP anything. If the choice is a Labour minority government or a Tory one let them make the choice.
Starmer is much more appealing to me (an erstwhile Conservative) than any of the Labour leaders in my life time. He is a professional with an air of competence, and I would vote for him (provided my local candidate is a moderate). He also has the massive advantage of not being Corbyn or Johnson.
Tory ineptitude, lies and hubris will get Labour to a steady 35%-36%, but over the coming years the party must also build a positive narrative and demonstrate a decisive break with the far-left. Labour can probably reasonably hope for 40% of the vote at the next election if things fall the right way. But Scotland means it is almost impossible to win that election outright. Depriving the Tories of their overall majority has to be the primary aim.
They'd have the same problem Miliband had in 2015 - what do you offer the SNP for their support? It would drive too many English voters back to the Tories.
Starmer has to make enough headway in Scotland so that he can make such an English backlash look absurd. The next Holyrood elections are critical.
My sense is that Miliband was an easier target than Starmer. I also don't think you offer the SNP anything. If the choice is a Labour minority government or a Tory one let them make the choice.
Starmer will be an easier target when he is finally forced to stop sitting on the fence on every issue and commit.
He's one of life's ditherers, like Gordon Brown or TM. Exactly what you can't be as a PM. I'm just not sure whether he'll be found out before or after the next election. Because he became leader so early, I'm inclined to think before.
While the app is an obvious fiasco, the manual part of Track and Trace is equally crap.
Remember all that boasting of 18 000 trackers? Well in three weeks they have only been able to contact a little over 10 000 positive patients, and an average of three contacts each.
Instead of a competent system that would be key to relaxing lockdown safely, we have a charactestically fuckwitted bit of coronashambles.
These clowns couldn't organise a piss up in a brewery, yet we are supposed to believe in their Global Britain bullshit. Run for the exits people, get out any way you can, the country is going down the plughole.
The problem seems not to be the track and trace as such, but that there aren't enough people being tested positive to enter into the system.
Where are all the other people with the virus?
3 contacts sounds about right for most people if they are observing the lockdown.
As we relax lockdown measures, it's extremely important to keep the numbers falling of new infections falling, otherwise this autumn could get very ugly again.
This isn't just a gotcha over a few government numbers; it's critical to having a functioning economy in six months' time.
My first comment for a few months, mainly to say I'm very happy to get these podcasts back. They are the best ones I've found on politics. And the topic was well chosen.
But I can't leave a comment without actually saying anything, so....
I've been very happy with Starmer, despite putting him second to Nandy on my preference list. I agree that Scotland is the most obvious problem for him, and it's a shame that neither Campbell nor Hazarika had any ideas about it.
Maybe Labour should simply announce some time in 2021/22 that a Labour government would devolve powers to call a referendum to the Scottish Parliament. Morally it's right. We all know the harm that referendums can do, but ultimately the Scottish people, alone, should have the right to choose a government that will either provide or withhold one. Electorally it's no worse, and probably better, than the alternatives. In England and Wales, it avoids a repeat of 2015. The controversy would be dealt with well ahead of the election, and few English people will vote against them over this issue once it's so old and tired. Electorally in Scotland, it's trickier, but they're in a lose-lose situation there anyway.
The most logical step if I were Labour would be devo-max combined with Westminster Scottish MPs making up a revising chamber for Scottish laws, and not voting on anything other than foreign policy. England and Wales would have a system of PR or FPTP/PR hybrid which could be gerrymandered to disadvantage Tories. This could all be achieved by a coalition. The Tories will regret not doing constitutional reform other than the obsession with Brexit.
Labour tried to gerrymander the voting system at Holyrood to stop the SNP and now it looks like they face irrelevance in the face of perpetual SNP rule.
I'd suggest there'd be better off choosing a voting system on its merits.
While the app is an obvious fiasco, the manual part of Track and Trace is equally crap.
Remember all that boasting of 18 000 trackers? Well in three weeks they have only been able to contact a little over 10 000 positive patients, and an average of three contacts each.
Instead of a competent system that would be key to relaxing lockdown safely, we have a charactestically fuckwitted bit of coronashambles.
These clowns couldn't organise a piss up in a brewery, yet we are supposed to believe in their Global Britain bullshit. Run for the exits people, get out any way you can, the country is going down the plughole.
As a human being ,Johnson is showing himself to be every bit as compulsive a liar as Adolf Hitler. Whilst the consequences for Europe and the wider world will be nothing like as destructive, his word to others is to be taken no more seriously than that given to Chamberlain at Munich in 1938. People increasingly recognise the reality of that as the scales drop from their eyes.
Jesus christ. What compels you to make posts like this?
His 'finest hour' such as it was, was hoping Tory MPs died in 2015 so as to remove the majority.
Keep an eye on, once a week, you'll get something as witless and nasty as today's efforts.
Nah, it was during the 2017 GE campaign we saw peak Justin, he said had told Clive Lewis in Norwich on Saturday that the best thing for Labour was for Corbyn to have a massive heart attack.
Unfortunately that Saturday Clive Lewis was in London, getting married.
We should replace it with Tubthumping by Chumbawumba or Bohemian Rhapsody.
The Rugby Football Union is conducting a review into the singing of Swing Low, Sweet Chariot by England supporters, admitting that many of them are unaware of its origins as a song about slavery.
England fans have previously been criticised for “cross-cultural appropriation of a US slave song” by academics, and the Black Lives Matter movement has brought renewed focus on its airing at Twickenham and matches abroad.
Maro Itoje recently described the background of the song as “complicated” and the RFU – aware that the lyrics are plastered all over Twickenham – is set to take action. The union told the Guardian it is reviewing the song’s “historical context” and acknowledged the need to educate supporters.
The RFU did not rule out urging supporters not to sing the song altogether at a time when institutions in England with historical links to slavery are coming under increasing pressure to act.
Sell-out crowds will not return to Twickenham in the short term but the RFU’s chief executive, Bill Sweeney, is optimistic England could host up to 40,000 fans this autumn if the government relaxes its physical distancing rule to one metre.
While the app is an obvious fiasco, the manual part of Track and Trace is equally crap.
Remember all that boasting of 18 000 trackers? Well in three weeks they have only been able to contact a little over 10 000 positive patients, and an average of three contacts each.
Instead of a competent system that would be key to relaxing lockdown safely, we have a charactestically fuckwitted bit of coronashambles.
These clowns couldn't organise a piss up in a brewery, yet we are supposed to believe in their Global Britain bullshit. Run for the exits people, get out any way you can, the country is going down the plughole.
We should replace it with Tubthumping by Chumbawumba or Bohemian Rhapsody.
The Rugby Football Union is conducting a review into the singing of Swing Low, Sweet Chariot by England supporters, admitting that many of them are unaware of its origins as a song about slavery.
England fans have previously been criticised for “cross-cultural appropriation of a US slave song” by academics, and the Black Lives Matter movement has brought renewed focus on its airing at Twickenham and matches abroad.
Maro Itoje recently described the background of the song as “complicated” and the RFU – aware that the lyrics are plastered all over Twickenham – is set to take action. The union told the Guardian it is reviewing the song’s “historical context” and acknowledged the need to educate supporters.
The RFU did not rule out urging supporters not to sing the song altogether at a time when institutions in England with historical links to slavery are coming under increasing pressure to act.
Sell-out crowds will not return to Twickenham in the short term but the RFU’s chief executive, Bill Sweeney, is optimistic England could host up to 40,000 fans this autumn if the government relaxes its physical distancing rule to one metre.
We should replace it with Tubthumping by Chumbawumba or Bohemian Rhapsody.
The Rugby Football Union is conducting a review into the singing of Swing Low, Sweet Chariot by England supporters, admitting that many of them are unaware of its origins as a song about slavery.
England fans have previously been criticised for “cross-cultural appropriation of a US slave song” by academics, and the Black Lives Matter movement has brought renewed focus on its airing at Twickenham and matches abroad.
Maro Itoje recently described the background of the song as “complicated” and the RFU – aware that the lyrics are plastered all over Twickenham – is set to take action. The union told the Guardian it is reviewing the song’s “historical context” and acknowledged the need to educate supporters.
The RFU did not rule out urging supporters not to sing the song altogether at a time when institutions in England with historical links to slavery are coming under increasing pressure to act.
Sell-out crowds will not return to Twickenham in the short term but the RFU’s chief executive, Bill Sweeney, is optimistic England could host up to 40,000 fans this autumn if the government relaxes its physical distancing rule to one metre.
My first comment for a few months, mainly to say I'm very happy to get these podcasts back. They are the best ones I've found on politics. And the topic was well chosen.
But I can't leave a comment without actually saying anything, so....
I've been very happy with Starmer, despite putting him second to Nandy on my preference list. I agree that Scotland is the most obvious problem for him, and it's a shame that neither Campbell nor Hazarika had any ideas about it.
Maybe Labour should simply announce some time in 2021/22 that a Labour government would devolve powers to call a referendum to the Scottish Parliament. Morally it's right. We all know the harm that referendums can do, but ultimately the Scottish people, alone, should have the right to choose a government that will either provide or withhold one. Electorally it's no worse, and probably better, than the alternatives. In England and Wales, it avoids a repeat of 2015. The controversy would be dealt with well ahead of the election, and few English people will vote against them over this issue once it's so old and tired. Electorally in Scotland, it's trickier, but they're in a lose-lose situation there anyway.
The most logical step if I were Labour would be devo-max combined with Westminster Scottish MPs making up a revising chamber for Scottish laws, and not voting on anything other than foreign policy. England and Wales would have a system of PR or FPTP/PR hybrid which could be gerrymandered to disadvantage Tories. This could all be achieved by a coalition. The Tories will regret not doing constitutional reform other than the obsession with Brexit.
Labour tried to gerrymander the voting system at Holyrood to stop the SNP and now it looks like they face irrelevance in the face of perpetual SNP rule.
I'd suggest there'd be better off choosing a voting system on its merits.
I wasn't saying it was the right thing to do, just what might happen.
We should replace it with Tubthumping by Chumbawumba or Bohemian Rhapsody.
The Rugby Football Union is conducting a review into the singing of Swing Low, Sweet Chariot by England supporters, admitting that many of them are unaware of its origins as a song about slavery.
England fans have previously been criticised for “cross-cultural appropriation of a US slave song” by academics, and the Black Lives Matter movement has brought renewed focus on its airing at Twickenham and matches abroad.
Maro Itoje recently described the background of the song as “complicated” and the RFU – aware that the lyrics are plastered all over Twickenham – is set to take action. The union told the Guardian it is reviewing the song’s “historical context” and acknowledged the need to educate supporters.
The RFU did not rule out urging supporters not to sing the song altogether at a time when institutions in England with historical links to slavery are coming under increasing pressure to act.
Sell-out crowds will not return to Twickenham in the short term but the RFU’s chief executive, Bill Sweeney, is optimistic England could host up to 40,000 fans this autumn if the government relaxes its physical distancing rule to one metre.
I don't get this "cultural appropriation" nonsense.
It surely seems to me to be an opportunity to encourage education rather than something to be discouraged?
Those who wish to ban all "cultural appropriation" start from an assumption similar to "white people should do this, whereas black people should do that", a notion that I believe has a well-known name in Afrikaans.
At best they are complete idiots and perhaps they should try and wrap their minds around Paul Robeson singing "Jerusalem" some time, and around the contempt that should rightly be heaped on anybody who has a problem with his doing so.
While the app is an obvious fiasco, the manual part of Track and Trace is equally crap.
Remember all that boasting of 18 000 trackers? Well in three weeks they have only been able to contact a little over 10 000 positive patients, and an average of three contacts each.
Instead of a competent system that would be key to relaxing lockdown safely, we have a charactestically fuckwitted bit of coronashambles.
These clowns couldn't organise a piss up in a brewery, yet we are supposed to believe in their Global Britain bullshit. Run for the exits people, get out any way you can, the country is going down the plughole.
The problem seems not to be the track and trace as such, but that there aren't enough people being tested positive to enter into the system.
Where are all the other people with the virus?
3 contacts sounds about right for most people if they are observing the lockdown.
Since June 1st we have had 24 137 additional positive tests, so the system has contacted less than half.
Meanwhile the NZ government managed to trace 320 contacts from the British Covid +ve couple that landed there.
But the all of the NZ contact tracers only had two cases in total to trace. That does make a difference.
24 317 cases is only a little more than one person each for 18 000 tracers in 3 weeks. At those numbers they should be able to detailed face to face interviews on them all and the rest of their households. And still be able to watch Netflix...
This would be ridiculous from some hack lawyer. That Trump's DOJ applied for this injunction is either hilarious, or rather scary.
Isn't that what Mrs Thatcher's government tried to do with Spycatcher?
Yep, which led to every bookshelf in Europe and the USA having a poster that described it as "The Book That's Banned In Britain"
It definitely increased it's sales. My brother got me a copy from the US. Banning books is never a good look politically. Not Mrs T's finest hour, along with Sec28
"NHS has been testing both systems against each other, over the course of the past month. The centralised version trialled on the Isle of Wight worked well at assessing the distance between two users, but was poor at recognising Apple's iPhones. Specifically, the software registered about 75% of nearby Android handsets but only 4% of iPhones. By contrast, the Apple-Google model logged iPhones but its distance calculations were weaker. In some instances, it could not differentiate between a phone in a user's pocket 1m (3.3ft) away and a phone in a user's hand 3m (9.8ft) away."
That is the real problem with all these apps - thanks to the variable accuracy of location tracking, you either set them to catch any possible contact (in which case you cab end up with so large a list that you might as well not bother), or you filter more and potentially miss a number of contacts.
They are not a panacea, or a substitute for teams of experienced/well trained contact tracers.
On your first comment, they are not trying to catch all the new infections, but are aiming to catch a significant number of new infections that would have otherwise flown under the radar.
On your second comment: No, but the app can find new positives, those people can be put in contact with the experienced/well trained contact tracers who can trace even more possibles. The two things are not an either/or. My view from afar, though, is that the British (government) have ballsed-up both the app and the contact tracing.
Agreed. My bigger concern, though, is that the government hasn't done the basics - getting contact tracing working - anywhere near quickly enough. It didn't start soon enough, and it hasn't given it sufficient attention since. Without that, the apps are almost a waste of time.
"NHS has been testing both systems against each other, over the course of the past month. The centralised version trialled on the Isle of Wight worked well at assessing the distance between two users, but was poor at recognising Apple's iPhones. Specifically, the software registered about 75% of nearby Android handsets but only 4% of iPhones. By contrast, the Apple-Google model logged iPhones but its distance calculations were weaker. In some instances, it could not differentiate between a phone in a user's pocket 1m (3.3ft) away and a phone in a user's hand 3m (9.8ft) away."
That is the real problem with all these apps - thanks to the variable accuracy of location tracking, you either set them to catch any possible contact (in which case you cab end up with so large a list that you might as well not bother), or you filter more and potentially miss a number of contacts.
They are not a panacea, or a substitute for teams of experienced/well trained contact tracers.
On your first comment, they are not trying to catch all the new infections, but are aiming to catch a significant number of new infections that would have otherwise flown under the radar.
On your second comment: No, but the app can find new positives, those people can be put in contact with the experienced/well trained contact tracers who can trace even more possibles. The two things are not an either/or. My view from afar, though, is that the British (government) have ballsed-up both the app and the contact tracing.
In the Google/Apple method the trackers and tracers won't know who those contacts are unless they get in touch, nor (in theory) who they were in contact with or where.
While the app is an obvious fiasco, the manual part of Track and Trace is equally crap.
Remember all that boasting of 18 000 trackers? Well in three weeks they have only been able to contact a little over 10 000 positive patients, and an average of three contacts each.
Instead of a competent system that would be key to relaxing lockdown safely, we have a charactestically fuckwitted bit of coronashambles.
These clowns couldn't organise a piss up in a brewery, yet we are supposed to believe in their Global Britain bullshit. Run for the exits people, get out any way you can, the country is going down the plughole.
The problem seems not to be the track and trace as such, but that there aren't enough people being tested positive to enter into the system.
Where are all the other people with the virus?
3 contacts sounds about right for most people if they are observing the lockdown.
Since June 1st we have had 24 137 additional positive tests, so the system has contacted less than half.
Meanwhile the NZ government managed to trace 320 contacts from the British Covid +ve couple that landed there.
But the all of the NZ contact tracers only had two cases in total to trace. That does make a difference.
24 317 cases is only a little more than one person each for 18 000 tracers in 3 weeks. At those numbers they should be able to detailed face to face interviews on them all and the rest of their households. And still be able to watch Netflix...
Yeah, but they traced 320 contacts from 2 people in New Zealand. So that's 24,317*(320/2) = 3,890,720 people.
We should replace it with Tubthumping by Chumbawumba or Bohemian Rhapsody.
The Rugby Football Union is conducting a review into the singing of Swing Low, Sweet Chariot by England supporters, admitting that many of them are unaware of its origins as a song about slavery.
England fans have previously been criticised for “cross-cultural appropriation of a US slave song” by academics, and the Black Lives Matter movement has brought renewed focus on its airing at Twickenham and matches abroad.
Maro Itoje recently described the background of the song as “complicated” and the RFU – aware that the lyrics are plastered all over Twickenham – is set to take action. The union told the Guardian it is reviewing the song’s “historical context” and acknowledged the need to educate supporters.
The RFU did not rule out urging supporters not to sing the song altogether at a time when institutions in England with historical links to slavery are coming under increasing pressure to act.
Sell-out crowds will not return to Twickenham in the short term but the RFU’s chief executive, Bill Sweeney, is optimistic England could host up to 40,000 fans this autumn if the government relaxes its physical distancing rule to one metre.
I don't get this "cultural appropriation" nonsense.
It surely seems to me to be an opportunity to encourage education rather than something to be discouraged?
Agreed, cultures should be shared, copied and adapted not silo-ed away and separate. It should be done respectfully but the world is clearly a worse place if we cant share and learn from different cultures.
This would be ridiculous from some hack lawyer. That Trump's DOJ applied for this injunction is either hilarious, or rather scary.
Isn't that what Mrs Thatcher's government tried to do with Spycatcher?
Yep, which led to every bookshelf in Europe and the USA having a poster that described it as "The Book That's Banned In Britain"
It definitely increased it's sales. My brother got me a copy from the US. Banning books is never a good look politically. Not Mrs T's finest hour, along with Sec28
I think I got mine from the Duty Free shop in Calais, as a curious teenager.
We should replace it with Tubthumping by Chumbawumba or Bohemian Rhapsody.
The Rugby Football Union is conducting a review into the singing of Swing Low, Sweet Chariot by England supporters, admitting that many of them are unaware of its origins as a song about slavery.
England fans have previously been criticised for “cross-cultural appropriation of a US slave song” by academics, and the Black Lives Matter movement has brought renewed focus on its airing at Twickenham and matches abroad.
Maro Itoje recently described the background of the song as “complicated” and the RFU – aware that the lyrics are plastered all over Twickenham – is set to take action. The union told the Guardian it is reviewing the song’s “historical context” and acknowledged the need to educate supporters.
The RFU did not rule out urging supporters not to sing the song altogether at a time when institutions in England with historical links to slavery are coming under increasing pressure to act.
Sell-out crowds will not return to Twickenham in the short term but the RFU’s chief executive, Bill Sweeney, is optimistic England could host up to 40,000 fans this autumn if the government relaxes its physical distancing rule to one metre.
I don't get this "cultural appropriation" nonsense.
It surely seems to me to be an opportunity to encourage education rather than something to be discouraged?
Those who wish to ban all "cultural appropriation" start from an assumption similar to "white people should do this, whereas black people should do that", a notion that I believe has a well-known name in Afrikaans. At best they are complete idiots and perhaps they should try and wrap their minds around Paul Robeson singing "Jerusalem" some time.
Indeed. I've never believed in "cultural appropriation", we used to have a word for multiple cultures being adopted into a melting pot, we used to call it multi . . . multi . . . something about cultures . . . multi . . . culturalism . . .
Whereas the belief that only those of a particular race should do something and another race should do something else, we used to call that racism.
While the app is an obvious fiasco, the manual part of Track and Trace is equally crap.
Remember all that boasting of 18 000 trackers? Well in three weeks they have only been able to contact a little over 10 000 positive patients, and an average of three contacts each.
Instead of a competent system that would be key to relaxing lockdown safely, we have a charactestically fuckwitted bit of coronashambles.
These clowns couldn't organise a piss up in a brewery, yet we are supposed to believe in their Global Britain bullshit. Run for the exits people, get out any way you can, the country is going down the plughole.
The problem seems not to be the track and trace as such, but that there aren't enough people being tested positive to enter into the system.
Where are all the other people with the virus?
3 contacts sounds about right for most people if they are observing the lockdown.
Since June 1st we have had 24 137 additional positive tests, so the system has contacted less than half.
Meanwhile the NZ government managed to trace 320 contacts from the British Covid +ve couple that landed there.
I thought that it had turned out that there was a lot of double counting of positive tests, so the number of people testing positive is considerably less.
Presumably they don't track/trace those people testing positive in hospital or care homes either.
The main issue seems to be that 25% of those they do try to contact get away.
This would be ridiculous from some hack lawyer. That Trump's DOJ applied for this injunction is either hilarious, or rather scary.
Isn't that what Mrs Thatcher's government tried to do with Spycatcher?
Yep, which led to every bookshelf in Europe and the USA having a poster that described it as "The Book That's Banned In Britain"
It definitely increased it's sales. My brother got me a copy from the US. Banning books is never a good look politically. Not Mrs T's finest hour, along with Sec28
I think I got mine from the Duty Free shop in Calais, as a curious teenager.
It makes me sad that as a curious teenager your curiosity was satisfied with buying a book on spying/politics.
We should replace it with Tubthumping by Chumbawumba or Bohemian Rhapsody.
The Rugby Football Union is conducting a review into the singing of Swing Low, Sweet Chariot by England supporters, admitting that many of them are unaware of its origins as a song about slavery.
England fans have previously been criticised for “cross-cultural appropriation of a US slave song” by academics, and the Black Lives Matter movement has brought renewed focus on its airing at Twickenham and matches abroad.
Maro Itoje recently described the background of the song as “complicated” and the RFU – aware that the lyrics are plastered all over Twickenham – is set to take action. The union told the Guardian it is reviewing the song’s “historical context” and acknowledged the need to educate supporters.
The RFU did not rule out urging supporters not to sing the song altogether at a time when institutions in England with historical links to slavery are coming under increasing pressure to act.
Sell-out crowds will not return to Twickenham in the short term but the RFU’s chief executive, Bill Sweeney, is optimistic England could host up to 40,000 fans this autumn if the government relaxes its physical distancing rule to one metre.
Vuvuzelas were encouraged in South Africa during the World Cup .What is wrong with cultural appropriation anyway? We all do it and surely copying is a form of flattery
We should replace it with Tubthumping by Chumbawumba or Bohemian Rhapsody.
The Rugby Football Union is conducting a review into the singing of Swing Low, Sweet Chariot by England supporters, admitting that many of them are unaware of its origins as a song about slavery.
England fans have previously been criticised for “cross-cultural appropriation of a US slave song” by academics, and the Black Lives Matter movement has brought renewed focus on its airing at Twickenham and matches abroad.
Maro Itoje recently described the background of the song as “complicated” and the RFU – aware that the lyrics are plastered all over Twickenham – is set to take action. The union told the Guardian it is reviewing the song’s “historical context” and acknowledged the need to educate supporters.
The RFU did not rule out urging supporters not to sing the song altogether at a time when institutions in England with historical links to slavery are coming under increasing pressure to act.
Sell-out crowds will not return to Twickenham in the short term but the RFU’s chief executive, Bill Sweeney, is optimistic England could host up to 40,000 fans this autumn if the government relaxes its physical distancing rule to one metre.
Vuvuzelas were encouraged in South Africa during the World Cup .What is wrong with cultural appropriation anyway? We all do it and surely copying is a form of flattery
We should replace it with Tubthumping by Chumbawumba or Bohemian Rhapsody.
The Rugby Football Union is conducting a review into the singing of Swing Low, Sweet Chariot by England supporters, admitting that many of them are unaware of its origins as a song about slavery.
England fans have previously been criticised for “cross-cultural appropriation of a US slave song” by academics, and the Black Lives Matter movement has brought renewed focus on its airing at Twickenham and matches abroad.
Maro Itoje recently described the background of the song as “complicated” and the RFU – aware that the lyrics are plastered all over Twickenham – is set to take action. The union told the Guardian it is reviewing the song’s “historical context” and acknowledged the need to educate supporters.
The RFU did not rule out urging supporters not to sing the song altogether at a time when institutions in England with historical links to slavery are coming under increasing pressure to act.
Sell-out crowds will not return to Twickenham in the short term but the RFU’s chief executive, Bill Sweeney, is optimistic England could host up to 40,000 fans this autumn if the government relaxes its physical distancing rule to one metre.
Tory ineptitude, lies and hubris will get Labour to a steady 35%-36%, but over the coming years the party must also build a positive narrative and demonstrate a decisive break with the far-left. Labour can probably reasonably hope for 40% of the vote at the next election if things fall the right way. But Scotland means it is almost impossible to win that election outright. Depriving the Tories of their overall majority has to be the primary aim.
They'd have the same problem Miliband had in 2015 - what do you offer the SNP for their support? It would drive too many English voters back to the Tories.
Starmer has to make enough headway in Scotland so that he can make such an English backlash look absurd. The next Holyrood elections are critical.
My sense is that Miliband was an easier target than Starmer. I also don't think you offer the SNP anything. If the choice is a Labour minority government or a Tory one let them make the choice.
Starmer will be an easier target when he is finally forced to stop sitting on the fence on every issue and commit.
He's one of life's ditherers, like Gordon Brown or TM. Exactly what you can't be as a PM. I'm just not sure whether he'll be found out before or after the next election. Because he became leader so early, I'm inclined to think before.
On the contrary, Starmer has been both thorough and purposeful in reorganising the Labour Party apparatus.
While the app is an obvious fiasco, the manual part of Track and Trace is equally crap.
Remember all that boasting of 18 000 trackers? Well in three weeks they have only been able to contact a little over 10 000 positive patients, and an average of three contacts each.
Instead of a competent system that would be key to relaxing lockdown safely, we have a charactestically fuckwitted bit of coronashambles.
These clowns couldn't organise a piss up in a brewery, yet we are supposed to believe in their Global Britain bullshit. Run for the exits people, get out any way you can, the country is going down the plughole.
The problem seems not to be the track and trace as such, but that there aren't enough people being tested positive to enter into the system.
Where are all the other people with the virus?
3 contacts sounds about right for most people if they are observing the lockdown.
They had the virus in April, March, May when the scheme should have been operating but the govt failed to have anything in place despite 1m people offering to volunteer to help. With that manpower it could have been done on pen and paper to an effective level.
We should replace it with Tubthumping by Chumbawumba or Bohemian Rhapsody.
The Rugby Football Union is conducting a review into the singing of Swing Low, Sweet Chariot by England supporters, admitting that many of them are unaware of its origins as a song about slavery.
England fans have previously been criticised for “cross-cultural appropriation of a US slave song” by academics, and the Black Lives Matter movement has brought renewed focus on its airing at Twickenham and matches abroad.
Maro Itoje recently described the background of the song as “complicated” and the RFU – aware that the lyrics are plastered all over Twickenham – is set to take action. The union told the Guardian it is reviewing the song’s “historical context” and acknowledged the need to educate supporters.
The RFU did not rule out urging supporters not to sing the song altogether at a time when institutions in England with historical links to slavery are coming under increasing pressure to act.
Sell-out crowds will not return to Twickenham in the short term but the RFU’s chief executive, Bill Sweeney, is optimistic England could host up to 40,000 fans this autumn if the government relaxes its physical distancing rule to one metre.
While the app is an obvious fiasco, the manual part of Track and Trace is equally crap.
Remember all that boasting of 18 000 trackers? Well in three weeks they have only been able to contact a little over 10 000 positive patients, and an average of three contacts each.
Instead of a competent system that would be key to relaxing lockdown safely, we have a charactestically fuckwitted bit of coronashambles.
These clowns couldn't organise a piss up in a brewery, yet we are supposed to believe in their Global Britain bullshit. Run for the exits people, get out any way you can, the country is going down the plughole.
The problem seems not to be the track and trace as such, but that there aren't enough people being tested positive to enter into the system.
Where are all the other people with the virus?
3 contacts sounds about right for most people if they are observing the lockdown.
Since June 1st we have had 24 137 additional positive tests, so the system has contacted less than half.
Meanwhile the NZ government managed to trace 320 contacts from the British Covid +ve couple that landed there.
But the all of the NZ contact tracers only had two cases in total to trace. That does make a difference.
24 317 cases is only a little more than one person each for 18 000 tracers in 3 weeks. At those numbers they should be able to detailed face to face interviews on them all and the rest of their households. And still be able to watch Netflix...
Yeah, but they traced 320 contacts from 2 people in New Zealand. So that's 24,317*(320/2) = 3,890,720 people.
Of whom they identified 3 per case. Less than 1% of the numbers in NZ.
This would be ridiculous from some hack lawyer. That Trump's DOJ applied for this injunction is either hilarious, or rather scary.
Isn't that what Mrs Thatcher's government tried to do with Spycatcher?
Yep, which led to every bookshelf in Europe and the USA having a poster that described it as "The Book That's Banned In Britain"
It definitely increased it's sales. My brother got me a copy from the US. Banning books is never a good look politically. Not Mrs T's finest hour, along with Sec28
I think I got mine from the Duty Free shop in Calais, as a curious teenager.
It makes me sad that as a curious teenager your curiosity was satisfied with buying a book on spying/politics.
Not sad really - just wanted what was banned, like most teenagers who had dreams of being James Bond.
Tory ineptitude, lies and hubris will get Labour to a steady 35%-36%, but over the coming years the party must also build a positive narrative and demonstrate a decisive break with the far-left. Labour can probably reasonably hope for 40% of the vote at the next election if things fall the right way. But Scotland means it is almost impossible to win that election outright. Depriving the Tories of their overall majority has to be the primary aim.
They'd have the same problem Miliband had in 2015 - what do you offer the SNP for their support? It would drive too many English voters back to the Tories.
Starmer has to make enough headway in Scotland so that he can make such an English backlash look absurd. The next Holyrood elections are critical.
My sense is that Miliband was an easier target than Starmer. I also don't think you offer the SNP anything. If the choice is a Labour minority government or a Tory one let them make the choice.
Starmer will be an easier target when he is finally forced to stop sitting on the fence on every issue and commit.
He's one of life's ditherers, like Gordon Brown or TM. Exactly what you can't be as a PM. I'm just not sure whether he'll be found out before or after the next election. Because he became leader so early, I'm inclined to think before.
On the contrary, Starmer has been both thorough and purposeful in reorganising the Labour Party apparatus.
If Starmer is " one of life's ditherers, like Gordon Brown or TM", what the fuck does that make Johnson?!!
While the app is an obvious fiasco, the manual part of Track and Trace is equally crap.
Remember all that boasting of 18 000 trackers? Well in three weeks they have only been able to contact a little over 10 000 positive patients, and an average of three contacts each.
Instead of a competent system that would be key to relaxing lockdown safely, we have a charactestically fuckwitted bit of coronashambles.
These clowns couldn't organise a piss up in a brewery, yet we are supposed to believe in their Global Britain bullshit. Run for the exits people, get out any way you can, the country is going down the plughole.
The problem seems not to be the track and trace as such, but that there aren't enough people being tested positive to enter into the system.
Where are all the other people with the virus?
3 contacts sounds about right for most people if they are observing the lockdown.
Since June 1st we have had 24 137 additional positive tests, so the system has contacted less than half.
Meanwhile the NZ government managed to trace 320 contacts from the British Covid +ve couple that landed there.
But the all of the NZ contact tracers only had two cases in total to trace. That does make a difference.
24 317 cases is only a little more than one person each for 18 000 tracers in 3 weeks. At those numbers they should be able to detailed face to face interviews on them all and the rest of their households. And still be able to watch Netflix...
Yeah, but they traced 320 contacts from 2 people in New Zealand. So that's 24,317*(320/2) = 3,890,720 people.
Of whom they identified 3 per case. Less than 1% of the numbers in NZ.
Maybe because of the substantially higher workload? It's clear that it isn't a fair comparison.
We should replace it with Tubthumping by Chumbawumba or Bohemian Rhapsody.
The Rugby Football Union is conducting a review into the singing of Swing Low, Sweet Chariot by England supporters, admitting that many of them are unaware of its origins as a song about slavery.
England fans have previously been criticised for “cross-cultural appropriation of a US slave song” by academics, and the Black Lives Matter movement has brought renewed focus on its airing at Twickenham and matches abroad.
Maro Itoje recently described the background of the song as “complicated” and the RFU – aware that the lyrics are plastered all over Twickenham – is set to take action. The union told the Guardian it is reviewing the song’s “historical context” and acknowledged the need to educate supporters.
The RFU did not rule out urging supporters not to sing the song altogether at a time when institutions in England with historical links to slavery are coming under increasing pressure to act.
Sell-out crowds will not return to Twickenham in the short term but the RFU’s chief executive, Bill Sweeney, is optimistic England could host up to 40,000 fans this autumn if the government relaxes its physical distancing rule to one metre.
While the app is an obvious fiasco, the manual part of Track and Trace is equally crap.
Remember all that boasting of 18 000 trackers? Well in three weeks they have only been able to contact a little over 10 000 positive patients, and an average of three contacts each.
Instead of a competent system that would be key to relaxing lockdown safely, we have a charactestically fuckwitted bit of coronashambles.
These clowns couldn't organise a piss up in a brewery, yet we are supposed to believe in their Global Britain bullshit. Run for the exits people, get out any way you can, the country is going down the plughole.
The problem seems not to be the track and trace as such, but that there aren't enough people being tested positive to enter into the system.
Where are all the other people with the virus?
3 contacts sounds about right for most people if they are observing the lockdown.
Since June 1st we have had 24 137 additional positive tests, so the system has contacted less than half.
Meanwhile the NZ government managed to trace 320 contacts from the British Covid +ve couple that landed there.
I thought that it had turned out that there was a lot of double counting of positive tests, so the number of people testing positive is considerably less.
Presumably they don't track/trace those people testing positive in hospital or care homes either.
The main issue seems to be that 25% of those they do try to contact get away.
No that is the number of individuals testing positive, taken from the DoH figures. I would say that identifying contacts in Health and Social Care settings is particularly critical, before it spreads to other vulnerable folk.
While the app is an obvious fiasco, the manual part of Track and Trace is equally crap.
Remember all that boasting of 18 000 trackers? Well in three weeks they have only been able to contact a little over 10 000 positive patients, and an average of three contacts each.
Instead of a competent system that would be key to relaxing lockdown safely, we have a charactestically fuckwitted bit of coronashambles.
These clowns couldn't organise a piss up in a brewery, yet we are supposed to believe in their Global Britain bullshit. Run for the exits people, get out any way you can, the country is going down the plughole.
The problem seems not to be the track and trace as such, but that there aren't enough people being tested positive to enter into the system.
Where are all the other people with the virus?
3 contacts sounds about right for most people if they are observing the lockdown.
They had the virus in April, March, May when the scheme should have been operating but the govt failed to have anything in place despite 1m people offering to volunteer to help. With that manpower it could have been done on pen and paper to an effective level.
Ah, well, that's a different question to asking whether it is working at the moment. I'm not sure tracking and tracing 100k people a day was feasible but, yes, the fact that they haven't got enough cases now would imply that they could have started at least a couple of weeks earlier.
It does seem that anything connected with PHE is a bit slooooooow.
We should replace it with Tubthumping by Chumbawumba or Bohemian Rhapsody.
The Rugby Football Union is conducting a review into the singing of Swing Low, Sweet Chariot by England supporters, admitting that many of them are unaware of its origins as a song about slavery.
England fans have previously been criticised for “cross-cultural appropriation of a US slave song” by academics, and the Black Lives Matter movement has brought renewed focus on its airing at Twickenham and matches abroad.
Maro Itoje recently described the background of the song as “complicated” and the RFU – aware that the lyrics are plastered all over Twickenham – is set to take action. The union told the Guardian it is reviewing the song’s “historical context” and acknowledged the need to educate supporters.
The RFU did not rule out urging supporters not to sing the song altogether at a time when institutions in England with historical links to slavery are coming under increasing pressure to act.
Sell-out crowds will not return to Twickenham in the short term but the RFU’s chief executive, Bill Sweeney, is optimistic England could host up to 40,000 fans this autumn if the government relaxes its physical distancing rule to one metre.
I don't get this "cultural appropriation" nonsense.
It surely seems to me to be an opportunity to encourage education rather than something to be discouraged?
Those who wish to ban all "cultural appropriation" start from an assumption similar to "white people should do this, whereas black people should do that", a notion that I believe has a well-known name in Afrikaans. At best they are complete idiots and perhaps they should try and wrap their minds around Paul Robeson singing "Jerusalem" some time.
Indeed. I've never believed in "cultural appropriation", we used to have a word for multiple cultures being adopted into a melting pot, we used to call it multi . . . multi . . . something about cultures . . . multi . . . culturalism . . .
Whereas the belief that only those of a particular race should do something and another race should do something else, we used to call that racism.
What, so white people shouldn;t sell Burrito's !!!!!
While the app is an obvious fiasco, the manual part of Track and Trace is equally crap.
Remember all that boasting of 18 000 trackers? Well in three weeks they have only been able to contact a little over 10 000 positive patients, and an average of three contacts each.
Instead of a competent system that would be key to relaxing lockdown safely, we have a charactestically fuckwitted bit of coronashambles.
These clowns couldn't organise a piss up in a brewery, yet we are supposed to believe in their Global Britain bullshit. Run for the exits people, get out any way you can, the country is going down the plughole.
The problem seems not to be the track and trace as such, but that there aren't enough people being tested positive to enter into the system.
Where are all the other people with the virus?
3 contacts sounds about right for most people if they are observing the lockdown.
Since June 1st we have had 24 137 additional positive tests, so the system has contacted less than half.
Meanwhile the NZ government managed to trace 320 contacts from the British Covid +ve couple that landed there.
But the all of the NZ contact tracers only had two cases in total to trace. That does make a difference.
24 317 cases is only a little more than one person each for 18 000 tracers in 3 weeks. At those numbers they should be able to detailed face to face interviews on them all and the rest of their households. And still be able to watch Netflix...
Yeah, but they traced 320 contacts from 2 people in New Zealand. So that's 24,317*(320/2) = 3,890,720 people.
Of whom they identified 3 per case. Less than 1% of the numbers in NZ.
Maybe because of the substantially higher workload? It's clear that it isn't a fair comparison.
Do you consider 1 or two cases each over 3 weeks to be an excessive workload?
It is ridiculous attacking Bevin anyway for imperialism anyway, as Foreign Secretary in the government that granted India independence. For the first time in history, a country gave a great empire away voluntarily, and without asking anything in return.
A moment that should be celebrated every bit as much as the end of slavery, though I appreciate the million or more Indians who died in the Partition Wars might not be quite so happy.
Far more important than a trivial comment about natural resources.
'Celebrate' is a bizarre word for what was undoubtedly a total catastrophe, one of the worst in British history, dwarfing even Iraq in its effects. I've never understood why the Attlee government gets a free pass on being responsible for the disaster. It was so unnecessary: they were Boris-like in rushing it through for ideological reasons whilst ignoring the reality.
Mountbatten and his colleagues on the spot deserve the blame, not the Government in London. But he was very good at dodging responsibility. One of those repeated public sector failures who are promoted again and again that Cyclefree highlighted the other day.
We should have used air power to pacify the bands of murderous men and deployed a hugely enlarged army before Partition. It would not have stopped bloodshed completely, but it probably would have saved most of the million lives. But we didn't, and a million or more died.
We should replace it with Tubthumping by Chumbawumba or Bohemian Rhapsody.
The Rugby Football Union is conducting a review into the singing of Swing Low, Sweet Chariot by England supporters, admitting that many of them are unaware of its origins as a song about slavery.
England fans have previously been criticised for “cross-cultural appropriation of a US slave song” by academics, and the Black Lives Matter movement has brought renewed focus on its airing at Twickenham and matches abroad.
Maro Itoje recently described the background of the song as “complicated” and the RFU – aware that the lyrics are plastered all over Twickenham – is set to take action. The union told the Guardian it is reviewing the song’s “historical context” and acknowledged the need to educate supporters.
The RFU did not rule out urging supporters not to sing the song altogether at a time when institutions in England with historical links to slavery are coming under increasing pressure to act.
Sell-out crowds will not return to Twickenham in the short term but the RFU’s chief executive, Bill Sweeney, is optimistic England could host up to 40,000 fans this autumn if the government relaxes its physical distancing rule to one metre.
Spoke to a few red-wall-esque Northumberland Tories yesterday. They think the Government is completely clueless and shambolic. That doesn't mean they would vote for Starmer's Labour, but it certainly makes it more likely.
The Tories are going to have a hell of a job hanging on to both the red-wall voters as well as the traditional Tory shire voters.
Depends which bit of the "red wall" you mean. Bassetlaw where I live now is virtually indistinguishable from plenty of traditional rural Tory seats, only the coal mining link, and it was a very very strong link for ages, meant it continually voted Labour. It'll be Tory forever now, or damned near enough. It's probably the most vivd example of this sort of seat with places such as Blackpool South right at the other end of the scale (Slightly Deprived, urban northern town) far easier for Labour to take back.
Why will Bassetlaw remain Tory simply because it shifted massively to them in 2019? If it can swing so quickly , it can swing again!
You sound like plenty of Tories between June 1997 and early 2001.
While the app is an obvious fiasco, the manual part of Track and Trace is equally crap.
Remember all that boasting of 18 000 trackers? Well in three weeks they have only been able to contact a little over 10 000 positive patients, and an average of three contacts each.
Instead of a competent system that would be key to relaxing lockdown safely, we have a charactestically fuckwitted bit of coronashambles.
These clowns couldn't organise a piss up in a brewery, yet we are supposed to believe in their Global Britain bullshit. Run for the exits people, get out any way you can, the country is going down the plughole.
The problem seems not to be the track and trace as such, but that there aren't enough people being tested positive to enter into the system.
Where are all the other people with the virus?
3 contacts sounds about right for most people if they are observing the lockdown.
They had the virus in April, March, May when the scheme should have been operating but the govt failed to have anything in place despite 1m people offering to volunteer to help. With that manpower it could have been done on pen and paper to an effective level.
Ah, well, that's a different question to asking whether it is working at the moment. I'm not sure tracking and tracing 100k people a day was feasible but, yes, the fact that they haven't got enough cases now would imply that they could have started at least a couple of weeks earlier.
It does seem that anything connected with PHE is a bit slooooooow.
PHE has not been doing the tracing. That role was awarded to SERCO via a private contract. Indeed Primary care is kept out of the loop, and GPs not informed of results.
Tory ineptitude, lies and hubris will get Labour to a steady 35%-36%, but over the coming years the party must also build a positive narrative and demonstrate a decisive break with the far-left. Labour can probably reasonably hope for 40% of the vote at the next election if things fall the right way. But Scotland means it is almost impossible to win that election outright. Depriving the Tories of their overall majority has to be the primary aim.
They'd have the same problem Miliband had in 2015 - what do you offer the SNP for their support? It would drive too many English voters back to the Tories.
Starmer has to make enough headway in Scotland so that he can make such an English backlash look absurd. The next Holyrood elections are critical.
My sense is that Miliband was an easier target than Starmer. I also don't think you offer the SNP anything. If the choice is a Labour minority government or a Tory one let them make the choice.
Starmer will be an easier target when he is finally forced to stop sitting on the fence on every issue and commit.
He's one of life's ditherers, like Gordon Brown or TM. Exactly what you can't be as a PM. I'm just not sure whether he'll be found out before or after the next election. Because he became leader so early, I'm inclined to think before.
On the contrary, Starmer has been both thorough and purposeful in reorganising the Labour Party apparatus.
Yes, I'm talking about policy though, not organisation. Repeteadly refusing to say when he wanted to reopen schools is bizarre. As was his Brexit policy fudge last year.
Maybe he'll learn to take positions before he's absolutely forced to. Probably not. Risk aversion is a common characteristic amongst lawyers (though not Blair).
No, "personality ratings". Boris led 64-30 last time with IPSOS-MORI. LotOs don't become PM unless they lead in that attribute (since records began in 78 anyway)
This would be ridiculous from some hack lawyer. That Trump's DOJ applied for this injunction is either hilarious, or rather scary.
Isn't that what Mrs Thatcher's government tried to do with Spycatcher?
Yep, which led to every bookshelf in Europe and the USA having a poster that described it as "The Book That's Banned In Britain"
It definitely increased it's sales. My brother got me a copy from the US. Banning books is never a good look politically. Not Mrs T's finest hour, along with Sec28
Which is remarkable really when you consider it’s actually a shit book.
Only 5-4 majority though so who wins in November will be crucial as the next President could change the balance of the court in a clear conservative or liberal direction
No, "personality ratings". Boris led 64-30 last time with IPSOS-MORI. LotOs don't become PM unless they lead in that attribute (since records began in 78 anyway)
Tory ineptitude, lies and hubris will get Labour to a steady 35%-36%, but over the coming years the party must also build a positive narrative and demonstrate a decisive break with the far-left. Labour can probably reasonably hope for 40% of the vote at the next election if things fall the right way. But Scotland means it is almost impossible to win that election outright. Depriving the Tories of their overall majority has to be the primary aim.
They'd have the same problem Miliband had in 2015 - what do you offer the SNP for their support? It would drive too many English voters back to the Tories.
Starmer has to make enough headway in Scotland so that he can make such an English backlash look absurd. The next Holyrood elections are critical.
My sense is that Miliband was an easier target than Starmer. I also don't think you offer the SNP anything. If the choice is a Labour minority government or a Tory one let them make the choice.
Starmer will be an easier target when he is finally forced to stop sitting on the fence on every issue and commit.
He's one of life's ditherers, like Gordon Brown or TM. Exactly what you can't be as a PM. I'm just not sure whether he'll be found out before or after the next election. Because he became leader so early, I'm inclined to think before.
On the contrary, Starmer has been both thorough and purposeful in reorganising the Labour Party apparatus.
Yes, I'm talking about policy though, not organisation. Repeteadly refusing to say when he wanted to reopen schools is bizarre. As was his Brexit policy fudge last year.
Maybe he'll learn to take positions before he's absolutely forced to. Probably not. Risk aversion is a common characteristic amongst lawyers (though not Blair).
Both Blair and Cameron avoided policy detail as I recall in opposition, except on specifics that enabled them to say "hey look we've changed". Starmer's Brexit position has been consistent with his beliefs. As far as I am aware he has never written two articles on the subject and then decided which one most advanced his career.
We should replace it with Tubthumping by Chumbawumba or Bohemian Rhapsody.
The Rugby Football Union is conducting a review into the singing of Swing Low, Sweet Chariot by England supporters, admitting that many of them are unaware of its origins as a song about slavery.
England fans have previously been criticised for “cross-cultural appropriation of a US slave song” by academics, and the Black Lives Matter movement has brought renewed focus on its airing at Twickenham and matches abroad.
Maro Itoje recently described the background of the song as “complicated” and the RFU – aware that the lyrics are plastered all over Twickenham – is set to take action. The union told the Guardian it is reviewing the song’s “historical context” and acknowledged the need to educate supporters.
The RFU did not rule out urging supporters not to sing the song altogether at a time when institutions in England with historical links to slavery are coming under increasing pressure to act.
Sell-out crowds will not return to Twickenham in the short term but the RFU’s chief executive, Bill Sweeney, is optimistic England could host up to 40,000 fans this autumn if the government relaxes its physical distancing rule to one metre.
We've only sung it for 30 years or so, black players find it complicated.
It can be replaced easily.
Do they, given it wasn’t first recorded until 1909? And do they all feel the same way? Is it really that sensitive or are people looking for something to be sensitive about, which is part of a wider malaise?
Is it not possible for an old song to take on new meaning, and for that to be welcomed?
I haven’t heard anyone complain about it until now.
Spoke to a few red-wall-esque Northumberland Tories yesterday. They think the Government is completely clueless and shambolic. That doesn't mean they would vote for Starmer's Labour, but it certainly makes it more likely.
The Tories are going to have a hell of a job hanging on to both the red-wall voters as well as the traditional Tory shire voters.
Depends which bit of the "red wall" you mean. Bassetlaw where I live now is virtually indistinguishable from plenty of traditional rural Tory seats, only the coal mining link, and it was a very very strong link for ages, meant it continually voted Labour. It'll be Tory forever now, or damned near enough. It's probably the most vivd example of this sort of seat with places such as Blackpool South right at the other end of the scale (Slightly Deprived, urban northern town) far easier for Labour to take back.
Why will Bassetlaw remain Tory simply because it shifted massively to them in 2019? If it can swing so quickly , it can swing again!
You sound like plenty of Tories between June 1997 and early 2001.
Those were dark days.
Even darker after 2001.
I thought we’d never win again.
Aye, you could understand a Labour majority of 179 in 1997, a Labour majority of 167 in 2001 was just mystifying to me.
Mountbatten and his colleagues on the spot deserve the blame, not the Government in London. But he was very good at dodging responsibility. One of those repeated public sector failures who are promoted again and again that Cyclefree highlighted the other day.
We should have used air power to pacify the bands of murderous men and deployed a hugely enlarged army before Partition. It would not have stopped bloodshed completely, but it probably would have saved most of the million lives. But we didn't, and a million or more died.
No, Attlee was to blame. The buck stopped with him.
Your second paragraph is quite right, though. The Labour government wasn't in the least bit interested in the practicalities of the timetable or the reality on the ground, they just wanted to be rid of India in a tearing hurry for ideological reasons (and to suck up to the US, ironically).
No, "personality ratings". Boris led 64-30 last time with IPSOS-MORI. LotOs don't become PM unless they lead in that attribute (since records began in 78 anyway)
The important one is on the economy
Conservative 41% Labour 21% despite Boris
We can discuss this again, this time next year BigG.
Mountbatten and his colleagues on the spot deserve the blame, not the Government in London. But he was very good at dodging responsibility. One of those repeated public sector failures who are promoted again and again that Cyclefree highlighted the other day.
We should have used air power to pacify the bands of murderous men and deployed a hugely enlarged army before Partition. It would not have stopped bloodshed completely, but it probably would have saved most of the million lives. But we didn't, and a million or more died.
No, Attlee was to blame. The buck stopped with him.
Your second paragraph is quite right, though. The Labour government wasn't in the least bit interested in the practicalities of the timetable or the reality on the ground, they just wanted to be rid of India for ideological reasons (and to suck up to the US, ironically).
Mountbatten et al were given an impossible time table and basically no resources.
The no resources thing was because Britain was broke.
Air power - bombing civilians in India into behaving nicely? Well, that is one approach I suppose.
We should replace it with Tubthumping by Chumbawumba or Bohemian Rhapsody.
The Rugby Football Union is conducting a review into the singing of Swing Low, Sweet Chariot by England supporters, admitting that many of them are unaware of its origins as a song about slavery.
England fans have previously been criticised for “cross-cultural appropriation of a US slave song” by academics, and the Black Lives Matter movement has brought renewed focus on its airing at Twickenham and matches abroad.
Maro Itoje recently described the background of the song as “complicated” and the RFU – aware that the lyrics are plastered all over Twickenham – is set to take action. The union told the Guardian it is reviewing the song’s “historical context” and acknowledged the need to educate supporters.
The RFU did not rule out urging supporters not to sing the song altogether at a time when institutions in England with historical links to slavery are coming under increasing pressure to act.
Sell-out crowds will not return to Twickenham in the short term but the RFU’s chief executive, Bill Sweeney, is optimistic England could host up to 40,000 fans this autumn if the government relaxes its physical distancing rule to one metre.
We've only sung it for 30 years or so, black players find it complicated.
It can be replaced easily.
Do they, given it wasn’t first recorded until 1909? And do they all feel the same way? Is it really that sensitive or are people looking for something to be sensitive about, which is part of a wider malaise?
Is it not possible for an old song to take on new meaning, and for that to be welcomed?
I haven’t heard anyone complain about it until now.
I've heard it before but normally from the usual professional grievance mongers.
I've never heard it from anyone genuinely offended rather than offended on behalf of others. This is is a positive, uplifting song with a noble history and spreading it wider and educating those who are interested in its background should be encouraged not discouraged.
This would be ridiculous from some hack lawyer. That Trump's DOJ applied for this injunction is either hilarious, or rather scary.
Isn't that what Mrs Thatcher's government tried to do with Spycatcher?
Yep, which led to every bookshelf in Europe and the USA having a poster that described it as "The Book That's Banned In Britain"
It definitely increased it's sales. My brother got me a copy from the US. Banning books is never a good look politically. Not Mrs T's finest hour, along with Sec28
Which is remarkable really when you consider it’s actually a shit book.
Bolton's or Spycatcher, by Peter Wright?
I remember reading the latter and was distinctly unimpressed. My main take-away was that MI5 really weren't very good.
I don't believe that was what Wright wanted us to think.
No, "personality ratings". Boris led 64-30 last time with IPSOS-MORI. LotOs don't become PM unless they lead in that attribute (since records began in 78 anyway)
The important one is on the economy
Conservative 41% Labour 21% despite Boris
We can discuss this again, this time next year BigG.
This would be ridiculous from some hack lawyer. That Trump's DOJ applied for this injunction is either hilarious, or rather scary.
Isn't that what Mrs Thatcher's government tried to do with Spycatcher?
Yep, which led to every bookshelf in Europe and the USA having a poster that described it as "The Book That's Banned In Britain"
It definitely increased it's sales. My brother got me a copy from the US. Banning books is never a good look politically. Not Mrs T's finest hour, along with Sec28
Which is remarkable really when you consider it’s actually a shit book.
Bolton's or Spycatcher, by Peter Wright?
I remember reading the latter and was distinctly unimpressed. My main take-away was that MI5 really weren't very good.
I don't believe that was what Wright wanted us to think.
Spycatcher showed that Oxford University was a nest of traitors, Sir Roger Hollis was working for the Ruskies.
This would be ridiculous from some hack lawyer. That Trump's DOJ applied for this injunction is either hilarious, or rather scary.
Isn't that what Mrs Thatcher's government tried to do with Spycatcher?
Yep, which led to every bookshelf in Europe and the USA having a poster that described it as "The Book That's Banned In Britain"
It definitely increased it's sales. My brother got me a copy from the US. Banning books is never a good look politically. Not Mrs T's finest hour, along with Sec28
Which is remarkable really when you consider it’s actually a shit book.
Bolton's or Spycatcher, by Peter Wright?
I remember reading the latter and was distinctly unimpressed. My main take-away was that MI5 really weren't very good.
I don't believe that was what Wright wanted us to think.
Spycatcher. Utter pants.
I think MI5 and MI6 have got much better since they became public.
Mountbatten and his colleagues on the spot deserve the blame, not the Government in London. But he was very good at dodging responsibility. One of those repeated public sector failures who are promoted again and again that Cyclefree highlighted the other day.
We should have used air power to pacify the bands of murderous men and deployed a hugely enlarged army before Partition. It would not have stopped bloodshed completely, but it probably would have saved most of the million lives. But we didn't, and a million or more died.
No, Attlee was to blame. The buck stopped with him.
Your second paragraph is quite right, though. The Labour government wasn't in the least bit interested in the practicalities of the timetable or the reality on the ground, they just wanted to be rid of India in a tearing hurry for ideological reasons (and to suck up to the US, ironically).
Mountbatten and his colleagues on the spot deserve the blame, not the Government in London. But he was very good at dodging responsibility. One of those repeated public sector failures who are promoted again and again that Cyclefree highlighted the other day.
We should have used air power to pacify the bands of murderous men and deployed a hugely enlarged army before Partition. It would not have stopped bloodshed completely, but it probably would have saved most of the million lives. But we didn't, and a million or more died.
No, Attlee was to blame. The buck stopped with him.
Your second paragraph is quite right, though. The Labour government wasn't in the least bit interested in the practicalities of the timetable or the reality on the ground, they just wanted to be rid of India for ideological reasons (and to suck up to the US, ironically).
Mountbatten et al were given an impossible time table and basically no resources.
The no resources thing was because Britain was broke.
Air power - bombing civilians in India into behaving nicely? Well, that is one approach I suppose.
Yes, well not air power, just police and army units. Though even air power would have been better than the carnage which Attlee presided over.
We should replace it with Tubthumping by Chumbawumba or Bohemian Rhapsody.
The Rugby Football Union is conducting a review into the singing of Swing Low, Sweet Chariot by England supporters, admitting that many of them are unaware of its origins as a song about slavery.
England fans have previously been criticised for “cross-cultural appropriation of a US slave song” by academics, and the Black Lives Matter movement has brought renewed focus on its airing at Twickenham and matches abroad.
Maro Itoje recently described the background of the song as “complicated” and the RFU – aware that the lyrics are plastered all over Twickenham – is set to take action. The union told the Guardian it is reviewing the song’s “historical context” and acknowledged the need to educate supporters.
The RFU did not rule out urging supporters not to sing the song altogether at a time when institutions in England with historical links to slavery are coming under increasing pressure to act.
Sell-out crowds will not return to Twickenham in the short term but the RFU’s chief executive, Bill Sweeney, is optimistic England could host up to 40,000 fans this autumn if the government relaxes its physical distancing rule to one metre.
We've only sung it for 30 years or so, black players find it complicated.
It can be replaced easily.
Do they, given it wasn’t first recorded until 1909? And do they all feel the same way? Is it really that sensitive or are people looking for something to be sensitive about, which is part of a wider malaise?
Is it not possible for an old song to take on new meaning, and for that to be welcomed?
I haven’t heard anyone complain about it until now.
That's a surprise. It has been controversial ever since it was first sung. Particularly as it was first sung when black players (Offiah and Chris Oti) scored.
I said the tracing app wouldn't work on the day it was announced. It wouldn't work technically, and it wouldn't work because a lot of people wouldn't approve of it on privacy grounds.
Mountbatten's name is mud in Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh.
The view is his focus was on making the House of Windsor the House of Mountbatten, which is why he allowed his wife to get boffed by Nehru, rather than ensure a peaceful partition.
Comments
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2011/may/23/injunction-england-published-in-scotland
Keep an eye on, once a week, you'll get something as witless and nasty as today's efforts.
Meanwhile the NZ government managed to trace 320 contacts from the British Covid +ve couple that landed there.
The Rugby Football Union is conducting a review into the singing of Swing Low, Sweet Chariot by England supporters, admitting that many of them are unaware of its origins as a song about slavery.
England fans have previously been criticised for “cross-cultural appropriation of a US slave song” by academics, and the Black Lives Matter movement has brought renewed focus on its airing at Twickenham and matches abroad.
Maro Itoje recently described the background of the song as “complicated” and the RFU – aware that the lyrics are plastered all over Twickenham – is set to take action. The union told the Guardian it is reviewing the song’s “historical context” and acknowledged the need to educate supporters.
The RFU did not rule out urging supporters not to sing the song altogether at a time when institutions in England with historical links to slavery are coming under increasing pressure to act.
Sell-out crowds will not return to Twickenham in the short term but the RFU’s chief executive, Bill Sweeney, is optimistic England could host up to 40,000 fans this autumn if the government relaxes its physical distancing rule to one metre.
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2020/jun/18/rfu-may-urge-england-fans-against-singing-swing-low-slavery
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1273634152433188865?s=20
On your second comment: No, but the app can find new positives, those people can be put in contact with the experienced/well trained contact tracers who can trace even more possibles. The two things are not an either/or. My view from afar, though, is that the British (government) have ballsed-up both the app and the contact tracing.
He's one of life's ditherers, like Gordon Brown or TM. Exactly what you can't be as a PM. I'm just not sure whether he'll be found out before or after the next election. Because he became leader so early, I'm inclined to think before.
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1273633632742191106?s=20
https://twitter.com/KathleenSoprano/status/1273645798761222146?s=20
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/18/contact-tracers-in-england-get-no-data-from-26-of-people-with-coronavirus
As we relax lockdown measures, it's extremely important to keep the numbers falling of new infections falling, otherwise this autumn could get very ugly again.
This isn't just a gotcha over a few government numbers; it's critical to having a functioning economy in six months' time.
I'd suggest there'd be better off choosing a voting system on its merits.
Unfortunately that Saturday Clive Lewis was in London, getting married.
It surely seems to me to be an opportunity to encourage education rather than something to be discouraged?
He might need something similar to win again in 2020.
It can be replaced easily.
Coronavirus Is Taking a High Toll on Sweden’s Elderly. Families Blame the Government.
Discontent is growing over official triage guidelines critics say too often deny elderly patients vital care.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/coronavirus-is-taking-a-high-toll-on-swedens-elderly-families-blame-the-government-11592479430
At best they are complete idiots and perhaps they should try and wrap their minds around Paul Robeson singing "Jerusalem" some time, and around the contempt that should rightly be heaped on anybody who has a problem with his doing so.
My bigger concern, though, is that the government hasn't done the basics - getting contact tracing working - anywhere near quickly enough. It didn't start soon enough, and it hasn't given it sufficient attention since.
Without that, the apps are almost a waste of time.
Whereas the belief that only those of a particular race should do something and another race should do something else, we used to call that racism.
Presumably they don't track/trace those people testing positive in hospital or care homes either.
The main issue seems to be that 25% of those they do try to contact get away.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdkm1LXDGKA
It does seem that anything connected with PHE is a bit slooooooow.
https://www.tastingtable.com/dine/national/portland-kooks-burritos-cultural-appropriation-restaurant-list
We should have used air power to pacify the bands of murderous men and deployed a hugely enlarged army before Partition. It would not have stopped bloodshed completely, but it probably would have saved most of the million lives. But we didn't, and a million or more died.
So what's Trump's reason ?
I thought we’d never win again.
Google/Apple app doesn't measure distance well enough
Neither work.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/next-phase-of-nhs-coronavirus-covid-19-app-announced
Maybe he'll learn to take positions before he's absolutely forced to. Probably not. Risk aversion is a common characteristic amongst lawyers (though not Blair).
Would have been pointless to do one and not the other.
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1273633632742191106?s=20
Conservative 41% Labour 21% despite Boris
Is it not possible for an old song to take on new meaning, and for that to be welcomed?
I haven’t heard anyone complain about it until now.
Your second paragraph is quite right, though. The Labour government wasn't in the least bit interested in the practicalities of the timetable or the reality on the ground, they just wanted to be rid of India in a tearing hurry for ideological reasons (and to suck up to the US, ironically).
The no resources thing was because Britain was broke.
Air power - bombing civilians in India into behaving nicely? Well, that is one approach I suppose.
I've never heard it from anyone genuinely offended rather than offended on behalf of others. This is is a positive, uplifting song with a noble history and spreading it wider and educating those who are interested in its background should be encouraged not discouraged.
Con -1.7%
Lab +2.1%
LD -3.8%
Green +1.2%
BRX -0.1%
Baxtered: Con 347, Lab 220, LD 6
I remember reading the latter and was distinctly unimpressed. My main take-away was that MI5 really weren't very good.
I don't believe that was what Wright wanted us to think.
Well done!
I think MI5 and MI6 have got much better since they became public.
Fitz and mysticrose to miss out.
Particularly as it was first sung when black players (Offiah and Chris Oti) scored.
The view is his focus was on making the House of Windsor the House of Mountbatten, which is why he allowed his wife to get boffed by Nehru, rather than ensure a peaceful partition.