In other news – politicalbetting.com
In other news – politicalbetting.com
Public sector net debt was £2,076.8 billion at the end of October 2020, or 100.8% of GDP, an increase of £276.3 billion across the first seven months of the financial year https://t.co/i2U5uk9ikf pic.twitter.com/uj5MpUeRif
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Don't they understand we took back control?
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-55077744
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-51852521
It is a disease that generally happens to women but for the men who suffer from it tend to suffer much worse from it.
It is a horrible horrible disease because lots of people automatically assume that you're an alcoholic and lots of everyday things trigger it.
I know a few people who suffer from it, it is traumatic, one female friend suffers from it, she put on a bit of weight from being pregnant and couldn't shake it off after giving birth, so she decided to do exercise which made it worse, and her kid kept on crying every time she picked her up when she had the red face.
Not anyone I had ever heard of to be honest but in the scope of the numbers Rishi was dishing up today this seems odd.
Never mind
I really hope the deal comes this week. Even by EU standards this is getting absolutely ridiculous.
https://twitter.com/MarcusRashford/status/1331623637733023745?s=20
https://twitter.com/OBR_UK/status/1331597566706933762?s=20
Ross Clark"
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/11/25/debt-exploding-deluded-spendthrift-government-has-no-intention/
When I was about 10 , BlackAdder II was my favourite comedy, to a ridiculous level of anorakness; I reckon I could probably still recite every word. I hadn't seen the first series so went and bought the video with my pocket money, and thought it was shit. Then BlackAdder the Third came on, I was super excited, and felt very let down. "Goes Forth" was better but none of them hold a candle to "II" for me.
Anyway, I digress. A couple of Saturday evenings ago we were watching an episode of The Crown Season One on Netflix, and I said to my missus that it reminded me of a scene from the first episode of BlackAdder II, where Bob/Kate says to Edmund she'd like him to meet her father, Edmund turns around and asks what he thinks is an old beggar loitering in the corridor to move along, not knowing it is his prospective FiL.
The episode of The Crown ends, we switch our tv from Netflix to Sky, (this is 830-9ish on a Saturday Night, Prime Time viewing in lockdown), and what is on BBC1? That very episode, a 35 year old repeat, two mins away from the scene I had described
However I have received a letter telling me of the £10 Christmas bonus being paid into my account now.
Completely forgot about this. Can't work out if I am chuffed to bits by the surprised or annoyed by the pointless costs of writing to me and paying such a trivial amount.
Confused!
0.7% (or 0.5%) of GDP is eye-wateringly high, but it may still be in the national interest to maintain it? Dunno.
1. Foreign aid is not popular with the public - it never really has been, except among the well-heeled middle classes. There has always been, and always will be, a majority against it in polls.
2. Nevertheless, foreign aid should continue undiminished, as it is recognised that it helps the poor overseas and, coincidentally but significantly, contributes to Britain's 'soft power'.
3. That's why governments of all stripes have maintained the 0.7% contribution.
4. Therefore this government shouldn't renege on its manifesto commitment - the aid is being reduced anyway, as it's 0.7% of less.
The route to poor governance really is always doing what opinion polls show is "what the people want", rather than what is the right thing to do.
The cherry on the cake being the tanks were eventually finally sold to Iraq.
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1 (thought it was better than given credit for -including you it seems!)
3
4 (it was just a bit too serious imo)
https://news.yahoo.com/trump-campaign-sued-for-attempting-to-disenfranchise-black-voters-100000739.html
http://cdn.obr.uk/November_2020_presentation_slides.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_development_aid_country_donors
This would mean the UK moving from the 5th highest donor (by GNI) to 7th
Not exactly the end of foreign aid.
I would have preferred it was folded into free covid vaccinations for third world countries but I am more concerned about what is coming next spring when today's announcements will be seen as the starter to many controversial decisions
Why should we trust this or any government not to allow debt to spiral out of control when they never managed to recover, despite endless promises, to the point where the books were more or less balanced following the crash of 2008.
Secondly, you claim 'Western Europeans' are far too ignorant of issues on the eastern flank of the EU. Western Europe is a geographical abstraction. Do you mean the EU (in which case whose army?) or NATO, or big western nation governments, in which case How do you know?
I'd be delighted to restore the 0.7% of GDP commitment to foreign aid, without other economies doing so too, if anyone can explain how the UK can afford to do that this year without a budget deficit. If anyone has any good ideas how to afford that then I'm all ears.
Probably my imagination.
Reminds me a bit of some of the coalition years, in that I don't think it really matters whether you are or are not in technical recession, what matters is whether people feel like they are in one. Enough didn't then (I think with revisions we technically avoided one) to punish the government, more probably will next year even though we won't be, because of the severity of the initial shock and its aftermath.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BFI_TV_100#Full_list
Do Barbour jackets and Wellington boots count as costume drama?
BLESSED: "St Juniper once said, “By his loins shall ye know him and by the length of his rod shall he be measured.” The length of my rod is a mystery to all but the Queen, and a thousand Turkish whores, but the fruits of my loins are here for all to see. I have two sons, Henry and
…. another one."
Reminds me of the PM for some reason...
https://fullfact.org/economy/how-much-money-does-uk-spend-aid-compared-rest-g7/
Funny how no complaints about the UK aid spending 2008/09....
2: Not really. I've seen no evidence at all that it meaningfully let alone significantly contributes to UK's soft power.
3: Also not true. For most of Labour's period of office it was running at 0.37% of GDP so even "cut" it will still be more than Labour were spending.
4: It can't be afforded. The deficit is much bigger and this is expenditure we literally can't afford and it does nothing to help the UK's economy. Any other cuts would hurt our economy more.
Also notworthy is that this is the only department not to face austerity in recent years besides the NHS. A return to austerity in other departments isn't really viable, austerity in the NHS isn't viable, so this is the only soft money left. And if we can afford to pay David Milliband millions per year for "charity" or "aid" then this is a sector that can afford some austerity.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KY40__rBvSk
RIP. Let's be magnanimous.
We can't afford it, we should honour that long history of not meeting it until we can without running a deficit.
How is that unreasonable?
However, it does place into context how outraged we should be, and I think when people treat something most others don't do either as beyond the pale, it is a hard sell to the public. Particularly when there is not a magic line wherein you are moral at 0.7% but not at, say, 0.6%.
It's still possible, maybe even reasonable, to criticise based on priorities and moralities, but it really feels more like one of those decisions to be analysed with detachment rather than some great moral outrage.
RIP Maradona, prince of every cwm and glen in the land.
https://youtu.be/3K5ixKDeao8?t=33
Never forgave him.