The latest Brexit betting from the Smarkets exchange – politicalbetting.com
The latest Brexit betting from the Smarkets exchange – politicalbetting.com
Comments
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First, like someone with a negative test onto a cross Channel ferry.1
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From a comment in UK polling report.
Lab 41+4
Con 37 - 2
States from you guv in the times.
No fieldwork given but from this week.
Must be Johnson acting the clown at pmqs.
1 -
Second, like the rest of the world in COVID genomic sequencing
https://twitter.com/Peston/status/1341675925440770048?s=201 -
https://twitter.com/DPJHodges/status/1341672453169442818
Because they wanted to wait until xmas eve to announce the next set of lockdowns?1 -
Truly excellent. I look forward to the announcement in a few months that the funding for this work has been cut as "we all have to tighten our belts" etc etc etc.CarlottaVance said:Second, like the rest of the world in COVID genomic sequencing
https://twitter.com/Peston/status/1341675925440770048?s=200 -
If we do get a lockdown starting on Boxing Day then at least the news won't be full of muppets queueing at 5am for the sales.
4 -
Government imposing severe movement restrictions over Christmas quickly becomes unpopular. Not unexpected.Yorkcity said:From a comment in UK polling report.
Lab 41+4
Con 37 - 2
States from you guv in the times.
No fieldwork given but from this week.
Must be Johnson acting the clown at pmqs.0 -
To quote Benjamin Franklin:rottenborough said:https://twitter.com/DPJHodges/status/1341672453169442818
Because they wanted to wait until xmas eve to announce the next set of lockdowns?
"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
This government - to their credit - is reluctant to lock people into their houses as it is a substantial diminution of personal liberty.
There becomes a point at which it is unavoidable.
When that is becomes a matter of judgement.
That is "why" they haven't expanded Tier 4 beyond the current areas, but keep it under review.3 -
It's not exactly a secret though about this new strain, is it Dan? Most are now aware of it. Personal responsibility is going to count for more than Government's saying "Don't...." - as they have very little else in their armoury. Always assuming we aren't going down the route of people engaging in twattish behaviour being welded into their homes. Be interested to see some polling on that...rottenborough said:https://twitter.com/DPJHodges/status/1341672453169442818
Because they wanted to wait until xmas eve to announce the next set of lockdowns?3 -
Their judgement has been wrong from day 1. Always too late to impose restrictions. Always too quick to relax them.Charles said:
To quote Benjamin Franklin:rottenborough said:https://twitter.com/DPJHodges/status/1341672453169442818
Because they wanted to wait until xmas eve to announce the next set of lockdowns?
"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
This government - to their credit - is reluctant to lock people into their houses as it is a substantial diminution of personal liberty.
There becomes a point at which it is unavoidable.
When that is becomes a matter of judgement.
That is "why" they haven't expanded Tier 4 beyond the current areas, but keep it under review.
National lockdown from Boxing Day is needed.
Well, really it is needed now, but that is too much to hope for.2 -
I wonder when "Most of the deaths are elderly" and "younger people are less affected" mutated into "It's only the old and frail who are affected" and "youngsters and children are unaffected." And become "We are sacrificing the lifestyles of the young for the frail and elderly."
But:
- The age distribution of those needing critical care in hospital peaks twenty years younger than that of deaths. So if it's grandparents-to-great-grandparents who are peak deaths, it's parents-to-grandparents who are peak ICU. If we immunise all up to age 60, we halve the numbers in ICU (until we get another doubling, at which point we have the same numbers, but all under 60). If we immunise all up to age 50, it's reduced to about a quarter of those currently in ICU; two doublings, and we have the same number, but all in their forties, thirties, twenties, and children. Looking at the figures, there's a chunky drop-off below age 40; about 8% are under 40. That allows us 3.6 doublings before we get back to the same number.
- Children are indeed, mercifully, a lot less likely to be badly affected. But not immune. Which does, over our entire population, point to thousands of kids (mostly with no health conditions) needing to be in intensive care to recover - if we let it run through them. Hundreds of them dead. Tens of thousands of those who didn't need hospitalisation ending up with long covid.
This is, of course, amongst millions who will be either asymptomatic, mildly affected, or moderately affected.
As a country, we may indeed prefer to sacrifice those rather than disrupt the education and socialisation of the rest of them for another two or three months. But if so, it should be done with eyes open, rather than a belief that they are unaffected.
- Younger adults still die. Just in far lower numbers. I was a bit surprised to see the ONS stats pointing to covid being the biggest single killer of adults in their twenties and adults in their thirties during April. Between a quarter and a third of all deaths for people in England and Wales of those age categories were covid, causing a big spike in their death rates.
How does this line up with them being a small number of the total covid deaths? Simply because there are usually very few deaths of any reason for those in their twenties or thirties, so the number of covid deaths caused a real spike. It's why we see the deaths of younger people as especially tragic when they happen - burying your children is something no parent should ever have to do. And considerably more parents than normal buried their young adult children in April; fortunately, we stopped the spread before it got really bad. So, again, we should make decisions with eyes wide open: let it loose in those age categories and the raw number of deaths will indeed be far less than now. It's just that they will overwhelmingly be deaths in age categories where we don't usually see anywhere near that number of deaths.
2 -
FPT
Johnson is clearly the most dishonest, incompetent, corrupt and unserious prime minister of recent times. He doesn't bother to hide it. If any of those things mattered to the 40% of the people that intend to vote for Johnson, Starmer would win, because he is none of those things.
Given that, there is nothing Starmer can do to win those people over. Johnson will always outdo him on incompetence, dishonesty and corruption.6 -
...but after a few months we'll all get over it. Tory lead nailed on.Sandpit said:
Government imposing severe movement restrictions over Christmas quickly becomes unpopular. Not unexpected.Yorkcity said:From a comment in UK polling report.
Lab 41+4
Con 37 - 2
States from you guv in the times.
No fieldwork given but from this week.
Must be Johnson acting the clown at pmqs.0 -
I wonder if we’ll get the usual travel chaos caused by railway engineering works story?SandyRentool said:If we do get a lockdown starting on Boxing Day then at least the news won't be full of muppets queueing at 5am for the sales.
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Just ranting doesn't make it true.FF43 said:FPT
Johnson is clearly the most dishonest, incompetent, corrupt and unserious prime minister of recent times. He doesn't bother to hide it. If any of those things mattered to the 40% of the people that intend to vote for Johnson, Starmer would win, because he is none of those things.
Given that, there is nothing Starmer can do to win those people over. Johnson will always outdo him on incompetence, dishonesty and corruption.
Even if others who back your politics will say it too.0 -
Not necessarily. Cameron went years behind in the polls before winning re-election with a majority.Mexicanpete said:
...but after a few months we'll all get over it. Tory lead nailed on.Sandpit said:
Government imposing severe movement restrictions over Christmas quickly becomes unpopular. Not unexpected.Yorkcity said:From a comment in UK polling report.
Lab 41+4
Con 37 - 2
States from you guv in the times.
No fieldwork given but from this week.
Must be Johnson acting the clown at pmqs.
Midterm polls don't matter.0 -
The point at which it is unavoidable is too late though.Charles said:
To quote Benjamin Franklin:rottenborough said:https://twitter.com/DPJHodges/status/1341672453169442818
Because they wanted to wait until xmas eve to announce the next set of lockdowns?
"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
This government - to their credit - is reluctant to lock people into their houses as it is a substantial diminution of personal liberty.
There becomes a point at which it is unavoidable.
When that is becomes a matter of judgement.
That is "why" they haven't expanded Tier 4 beyond the current areas, but keep it under review.
2 -
A 'Walk through the English countryside' including pictures from Wales?Gardenwalker said:
Ignorant, arrogant.0 -
I’m glad more are joining me in calling for a lockdown to start now immediately. This Government has consistently been too slow.1
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If you feel like it, do detail Johnson's successes, his robust governance that avoid cronyism and waste and explain why his outright lies really aren't. I am not going to waste time on that...Philip_Thompson said:
Just ranting doesn't make it true.FF43 said:FPT
Johnson is clearly the most dishonest, incompetent, corrupt and unserious prime minister of recent times. He doesn't bother to hide it. If any of those things mattered to the 40% of the people that intend to vote for Johnson, Starmer would win, because he is none of those things.
Given that, there is nothing Starmer can do to win those people over. Johnson will always outdo him on incompetence, dishonesty and corruption.
Even if others who back your politics will say it too.1 -
Don’t work CCHQ/Russia so hard!FF43 said:
If you feel like it, do detail Johnson's successes, his robust governance that avoid cronyism and waste and explain why his outright lies really aren't. I am not going to waste time on that...Philip_Thompson said:
Just ranting doesn't make it true.FF43 said:FPT
Johnson is clearly the most dishonest, incompetent, corrupt and unserious prime minister of recent times. He doesn't bother to hide it. If any of those things mattered to the 40% of the people that intend to vote for Johnson, Starmer would win, because he is none of those things.
Given that, there is nothing Starmer can do to win those people over. Johnson will always outdo him on incompetence, dishonesty and corruption.
Even if others who back your politics will say it too.0 -
Daniel Hannan really is an utter twat. His promotion to the Lords exemplifies everything that is wrong with the UK. How can we call ourselves a meritocracy when mendacious fools like Hannan are rewarded for their idiocy?Gardenwalker said:4 -
I don’t believe this.FF43 said:FPT
Johnson is clearly the most dishonest, incompetent, corrupt and unserious prime minister of recent times. He doesn't bother to hide it. If any of those things mattered to the 40% of the people that intend to vote for Johnson, Starmer would win, because he is none of those things.
Given that, there is nothing Starmer can do to win those people over. Johnson will always outdo him on incompetence, dishonesty and corruption.
The 40% currently don’t trust Labour and/or Starmer - or believe they don’t share their values - and so they vote the “devil they know”.
Giving up on them means Labour will never return to government.
I’d like to see Labour attack the Tories from the cultural “right” - on patriotism, appeals to the benefits of hard work, crime, probity in public office, respect for the armed forces etc.
Labour generally speaking are still talking to the Guardian reading classes.2 -
Cameron's 2015 win was largely due to the SNP steamroller and the collapse of the LibDems. England saw a small swing to Chaos With Ed Miliband. I'm not really sure what that says about midterm opinion polls.Philip_Thompson said:
Not necessarily. Cameron went years behind in the polls before winning re-election with a majority.Mexicanpete said:
...but after a few months we'll all get over it. Tory lead nailed on.Sandpit said:
Government imposing severe movement restrictions over Christmas quickly becomes unpopular. Not unexpected.Yorkcity said:From a comment in UK polling report.
Lab 41+4
Con 37 - 2
States from you guv in the times.
No fieldwork given but from this week.
Must be Johnson acting the clown at pmqs.
Midterm polls don't matter.0 -
Weren’t the 2010-2015 polls wrong. 2019 was spot on, I am quite confident they’re accurate.DecrepiterJohnL said:
Cameron's 2015 win was largely due to the SNP steamroller and the collapse of the LibDems. England saw a small swing to Chaos With Ed Miliband. I'm not really sure what that says about midterm opinion polls.Philip_Thompson said:
Not necessarily. Cameron went years behind in the polls before winning re-election with a majority.Mexicanpete said:
...but after a few months we'll all get over it. Tory lead nailed on.Sandpit said:
Government imposing severe movement restrictions over Christmas quickly becomes unpopular. Not unexpected.Yorkcity said:From a comment in UK polling report.
Lab 41+4
Con 37 - 2
States from you guv in the times.
No fieldwork given but from this week.
Must be Johnson acting the clown at pmqs.
Midterm polls don't matter.
I wonder if Philip would be saying the same if it was showing a Tory lead, dishonesty yet again tut tut0 -
Starmer is lump of plywood with a high quality wig so he incapable of winning a GE on any policy platform, He is a pre 2016 politician and there is absolutely no point in Labour persisting with him. Labour need to learn from Johnson not get sniffy about his methods. They should tell everybody exactly what they want to hear and promise all sorts of mad shit. That's what politics is now and if they don't get on board the electorate is going to fuck them repeatedly in all holes.4
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What a joyous chart that is for male teachers in their 40s to look at.Andy_Cooke said:I wonder when "Most of the deaths are elderly" and "younger people are less affected" mutated into "It's only the old and frail who are affected" and "youngsters and children are unaffected." And become "We are sacrificing the lifestyles of the young for the frail and elderly."
But:
- The age distribution of those needing critical care in hospital peaks twenty years younger than that of deaths. So if it's grandparents-to-great-grandparents who are peak deaths, it's parents-to-grandparents who are peak ICU. If we immunise all up to age 60, we halve the numbers in ICU (until we get another doubling, at which point we have the same numbers, but all under 60). If we immunise all up to age 50, it's reduced to about a quarter of those currently in ICU; two doublings, and we have the same number, but all in their forties, thirties, twenties, and children. Looking at the figures, there's a chunky drop-off below age 40; about 8% are under 40. That allows us 3.6 doublings before we get back to the same number.
- Children are indeed, mercifully, a lot less likely to be badly affected. But not immune. Which does, over our entire population, point to thousands of kids (mostly with no health conditions) needing to be in intensive care to recover - if we let it run through them. Hundreds of them dead. Tens of thousands of those who didn't need hospitalisation ending up with long covid.
This is, of course, amongst millions who will be either asymptomatic, mildly affected, or moderately affected.
As a country, we may indeed prefer to sacrifice those rather than disrupt the education and socialisation of the rest of them for another two or three months. But if so, it should be done with eyes open, rather than a belief that they are unaffected.
- Younger adults still die. Just in far lower numbers. I was a bit surprised to see the ONS stats pointing to covid being the biggest single killer of adults in their twenties and adults in their thirties during April. Between a quarter and a third of all deaths for people in England and Wales of those age categories were covid, causing a big spike in their death rates.
How does this line up with them being a small number of the total covid deaths? Simply because there are usually very few deaths of any reason for those in their twenties or thirties, so the number of covid deaths caused a real spike. It's why we see the deaths of younger people as especially tragic when they happen - burying your children is something no parent should ever have to do. And considerably more parents than normal buried their young adult children in April; fortunately, we stopped the spread before it got really bad. So, again, we should make decisions with eyes wide open: let it loose in those age categories and the raw number of deaths will indeed be far less than now. It's just that they will overwhelmingly be deaths in age categories where we don't usually see anywhere near that number of deaths.1 -
No UK Trade Deal by end of the year is in principle the value bet. But as Alastair Meeks pointed out on a previous thread, the definitions are too vague.
Incidentally there is a completely objective measure for this, which is if an agreement is notified to the WTO.1 -
I can’t stand him.FeersumEnjineeya said:
Daniel Hannan really is an utter twat. His promotion to the Lords exemplifies everything that is wrong with the UK. How can we call ourselves a meritocracy when mendacious fools like Hannan are rewarded for their idiocy?Gardenwalker said:
He’s a “pundit” and our democracy is plagued with these glib, mendacious arseholes.
But he was Sec-Gen of the ACRE European Parliamentary grouping for nearly a decade, and that’s actually notable unto itself. I don’t find his appointment particularly disturbing.
(Unlike Lebedev, or Goldsmith)0 -
Off the top of my head successes, of course he won't be personally responsible for all but the buck stops at the top:FF43 said:
If you feel like it, do detail Johnson's successes, his robust governance that avoid cronyism and waste and explain why his outright lies really aren't. I am not going to waste time on that...Philip_Thompson said:
Just ranting doesn't make it true.FF43 said:FPT
Johnson is clearly the most dishonest, incompetent, corrupt and unserious prime minister of recent times. He doesn't bother to hide it. If any of those things mattered to the 40% of the people that intend to vote for Johnson, Starmer would win, because he is none of those things.
Given that, there is nothing Starmer can do to win those people over. Johnson will always outdo him on incompetence, dishonesty and corruption.
Even if others who back your politics will say it too.
1: Renegotiated the awful May deal that Barnier, the EU, Hunt, May and everyone else said could not be renegotiated. Removed the backstop that couldn't be removed.
2: Won an 80 seat majority.
3: Got Brexit done.
4: Got an incredible testing program set up doing hundreds of thousands of tests per day.
5: Got a world leading Covid strain monitoring system set up that was able to identify and alert the world to this new strain.
6: First country in the world to have vaccinations.
7: Furlough etc
Just off the top of my head. But yes keep bashing everything, it's all shit in this country isn't it? Never change.1 -
I hope everybody is playing nice this morning and we aren't having any repeat of talks of hanging elected officials.2
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Starmer is, I think, doing the things you suggest. The big differentiator is on honesty and competence. Johnson's supporters don't care about those. If they did, they wouldn't vote for him.Gardenwalker said:
I don’t believe this.FF43 said:FPT
Johnson is clearly the most dishonest, incompetent, corrupt and unserious prime minister of recent times. He doesn't bother to hide it. If any of those things mattered to the 40% of the people that intend to vote for Johnson, Starmer would win, because he is none of those things.
Given that, there is nothing Starmer can do to win those people over. Johnson will always outdo him on incompetence, dishonesty and corruption.
The 40% currently don’t trust Labour and/or Starmer - or believe they don’t share their values - and so they vote the “devil they know”.
Giving up on them means Labour will never return to government.
I’d like to see Labour attack the Tories from the cultural “right” - on patriotism, appeals to the benefits of hard work, crime, probity in public office, respect for the armed forces etc.
Labour generally speaking are still talking to the Guardian reading classes.2 -
It is about timing, not the new tier 4 restrictions themselves. It is one thing to cancel Christmas but quite another to do so just three days after lambasting Ebenezer Starmer.Sandpit said:
Government imposing severe movement restrictions over Christmas quickly becomes unpopular. Not unexpected.Yorkcity said:From a comment in UK polling report.
Lab 41+4
Con 37 - 2
States from you guv in the times.
No fieldwork given but from this week.
Must be Johnson acting the clown at pmqs.
And in particular waiting till Saturday evening, just as shoppers across the land returned home exhausted from buying megaturkeys for family Christmases or buying toys for nieces and nephews because they'd be spending Christmas at mum's. Lockdown came eight hours too late.1 -
CCHQ working overtime on the propagandaPhilip_Thompson said:
Off the top of my head successes, of course he won't be personally responsible for all but the buck stops at the top:FF43 said:
If you feel like it, do detail Johnson's successes, his robust governance that avoid cronyism and waste and explain why his outright lies really aren't. I am not going to waste time on that...Philip_Thompson said:
Just ranting doesn't make it true.FF43 said:FPT
Johnson is clearly the most dishonest, incompetent, corrupt and unserious prime minister of recent times. He doesn't bother to hide it. If any of those things mattered to the 40% of the people that intend to vote for Johnson, Starmer would win, because he is none of those things.
Given that, there is nothing Starmer can do to win those people over. Johnson will always outdo him on incompetence, dishonesty and corruption.
Even if others who back your politics will say it too.
1: Renegotiated the awful May deal that Barnier, the EU, Hunt, May and everyone else said could not be renegotiated. Removed the backstop that couldn't be removed.
2: Won an 80 seat majority.
3: Got Brexit done.
4: Got an incredible testing program set up doing hundreds of thousands of tests per day.
5: Got a world leading Covid strain monitoring system set up that was able to identify and alert the world to this new strain.
6: First country in the world to have vaccinations.
7: Furlough etc
Just off the top of my head. But yes keep bashing everything, it's all shit in this country isn't it? Never change.1 -
Even more important is that leader rPhilip_Thompson said:
Not necessarily. Cameron went years behind in the polls before winning re-election with a majority.Mexicanpete said:
...but after a few months we'll all get over it. Tory lead nailed on.Sandpit said:
Government imposing severe movement restrictions over Christmas quickly becomes unpopular. Not unexpected.Yorkcity said:From a comment in UK polling report.
Lab 41+4
Con 37 - 2
States from you guv in the times.
No fieldwork given but from this week.
Must be Johnson acting the clown at pmqs.
Midterm polls don't matter.
Source?Dura_Ace said:Starmer is lump of plywood with a high quality wig so he incapable of winning a GE on any policy platform, He is a pre 2016 politician and there is absolutely no point in Labour persisting with him. Labour need to learn from Johnson not get sniffy about his methods. They should tell everybody exactly what they want to hear and promise all sorts of mad shit. That's what politics is now and if they don't get on board the electorate is going to fuck them repeatedly in all holes.
0 -
Some will as they don’t bother watching the news.SandyRentool said:If we do get a lockdown starting on Boxing Day then at least the news won't be full of muppets queueing at 5am for the sales.
1 -
8 - tried to backtrack on the deal he agreed when he finally understood the reasons why May had negotiated it the way she had.Philip_Thompson said:
Off the top of my head successes, of course he won't be personally responsible for all but the buck stops at the top:FF43 said:
If you feel like it, do detail Johnson's successes, his robust governance that avoid cronyism and waste and explain why his outright lies really aren't. I am not going to waste time on that...Philip_Thompson said:
Just ranting doesn't make it true.FF43 said:FPT
Johnson is clearly the most dishonest, incompetent, corrupt and unserious prime minister of recent times. He doesn't bother to hide it. If any of those things mattered to the 40% of the people that intend to vote for Johnson, Starmer would win, because he is none of those things.
Given that, there is nothing Starmer can do to win those people over. Johnson will always outdo him on incompetence, dishonesty and corruption.
Even if others who back your politics will say it too.
1: Renegotiated the awful May deal that Barnier, the EU, Hunt, May and everyone else said could not be renegotiated. Removed the backstop that couldn't be removed.
2: Won an 80 seat majority.
3: Got Brexit done.
4: Got an incredible testing program set up doing hundreds of thousands of tests per day.
5: Got a world leading Covid strain monitoring system set up that was able to identify and alert the world to this new strain.
6: First country in the world to have vaccinations.
7: Furlough etc
Just off the top of my head. But yes keep bashing everything, it's all shit in this country isn't it? Never change.1 -
Yes of course I would. You are the dishonest one Mr Battery not me. Turning into a bit of a creepy stalker too Mr Battery.CorrectHorseBattery said:
Weren’t the 2010-2015 polls wrong. 2019 was spot on, I am quite confident they’re accurate.DecrepiterJohnL said:
Cameron's 2015 win was largely due to the SNP steamroller and the collapse of the LibDems. England saw a small swing to Chaos With Ed Miliband. I'm not really sure what that says about midterm opinion polls.Philip_Thompson said:
Not necessarily. Cameron went years behind in the polls before winning re-election with a majority.Mexicanpete said:
...but after a few months we'll all get over it. Tory lead nailed on.Sandpit said:
Government imposing severe movement restrictions over Christmas quickly becomes unpopular. Not unexpected.Yorkcity said:From a comment in UK polling report.
Lab 41+4
Con 37 - 2
States from you guv in the times.
No fieldwork given but from this week.
Must be Johnson acting the clown at pmqs.
Midterm polls don't matter.
I wonder if Philip would be saying the same if it was showing a Tory lead, dishonesty yet again tut tut0 -
Welding Bute House shut might be controversial..MarqueeMark said:
It's not exactly a secret though about this new strain, is it Dan? Most are now aware of it. Personal responsibility is going to count for more than Government's saying "Don't...." - as they have very little else in their armoury. Always assuming we aren't going down the route of people engaging in twattish behaviour being welded into their homes. Be interested to see some polling on that...rottenborough said:https://twitter.com/DPJHodges/status/1341672453169442818
Because they wanted to wait until xmas eve to announce the next set of lockdowns?0 -
I don’t think he is doing the things I suggest.FF43 said:
Starmer is, I think, doing the things you suggest. The big differentiator is on honesty and competence. Johnson's supporters don't care about those. If they did, they wouldn't vote for him.Gardenwalker said:
I don’t believe this.FF43 said:FPT
Johnson is clearly the most dishonest, incompetent, corrupt and unserious prime minister of recent times. He doesn't bother to hide it. If any of those things mattered to the 40% of the people that intend to vote for Johnson, Starmer would win, because he is none of those things.
Given that, there is nothing Starmer can do to win those people over. Johnson will always outdo him on incompetence, dishonesty and corruption.
The 40% currently don’t trust Labour and/or Starmer - or believe they don’t share their values - and so they vote the “devil they know”.
Giving up on them means Labour will never return to government.
I’d like to see Labour attack the Tories from the cultural “right” - on patriotism, appeals to the benefits of hard work, crime, probity in public office, respect for the armed forces etc.
Labour generally speaking are still talking to the Guardian reading classes.
There’s an occasional tweet, but not much more.
The Major govt was also thought to be mired in corruption - pretty tame stuff compared with these days - and Blair/Brown hammered them day in, day out.
Starmer is largely silent on this stuff.
It’s possible that he is spending this Covid year cleaning up internal mess and staking out a few primary positions (like on Scottish Indy).
But if he wants to win he needs a full reboot in the Spring.2 -
I don't really get the upset.FeersumEnjineeya said:
Daniel Hannan really is an utter twat. His promotion to the Lords exemplifies everything that is wrong with the UK. How can we call ourselves a meritocracy when mendacious fools like Hannan are rewarded for their idiocy?Gardenwalker said:
You talk about meritocracy... he's engineered the most remarkable transformation in British politics.
He's at least achieved something (however disastrous it turns out!) - he's a better choice than those who just donate a ton of cash.
2 -
LOL! I see I got BJO nine 'likes' saying how disgusting this comment of mine was! 'Twas but a figure of speech. I'm wading my way through Wolf Hall where such hyperbole is commonplace. Perhaps BJO can find a Hillary Mantel site and get another 9 'Felix' likes!Roger said:
Didn't we at one time show several photos of the Labour leader to indicate Labour's lead? I think we should go back to that. I must say I can't believe Johnson is still polling around 37%. Even people with zero interest in politics would love nothing better than to see him hanging on Westminster Bridge.CorrectHorseBattery said:https://twitter.com/TSEofPB/status/1341537798445273088
Lab 41
Tories 37
Here we fucking go!
0 -
Absolutely that was another good success.eek said:
8 - tried to backtrack on the deal he agreed when he finally understood the reasons why May had negotiated it the way she had.Philip_Thompson said:
Off the top of my head successes, of course he won't be personally responsible for all but the buck stops at the top:FF43 said:
If you feel like it, do detail Johnson's successes, his robust governance that avoid cronyism and waste and explain why his outright lies really aren't. I am not going to waste time on that...Philip_Thompson said:
Just ranting doesn't make it true.FF43 said:FPT
Johnson is clearly the most dishonest, incompetent, corrupt and unserious prime minister of recent times. He doesn't bother to hide it. If any of those things mattered to the 40% of the people that intend to vote for Johnson, Starmer would win, because he is none of those things.
Given that, there is nothing Starmer can do to win those people over. Johnson will always outdo him on incompetence, dishonesty and corruption.
Even if others who back your politics will say it too.
1: Renegotiated the awful May deal that Barnier, the EU, Hunt, May and everyone else said could not be renegotiated. Removed the backstop that couldn't be removed.
2: Won an 80 seat majority.
3: Got Brexit done.
4: Got an incredible testing program set up doing hundreds of thousands of tests per day.
5: Got a world leading Covid strain monitoring system set up that was able to identify and alert the world to this new strain.
6: First country in the world to have vaccinations.
7: Furlough etc
Just off the top of my head. But yes keep bashing everything, it's all shit in this country isn't it? Never change.0 -
I agree Starmer could go stronger on the corruption angle, but I thought we were talking about cultural issues that appear to matter more to Johnson's supporters than honesty and competence?Gardenwalker said:
I don’t think he is doing the things I suggest.FF43 said:
Starmer is, I think, doing the things you suggest. The big differentiator is on honesty and competence. Johnson's supporters don't care about those. If they did, they wouldn't vote for him.Gardenwalker said:
I don’t believe this.FF43 said:FPT
Johnson is clearly the most dishonest, incompetent, corrupt and unserious prime minister of recent times. He doesn't bother to hide it. If any of those things mattered to the 40% of the people that intend to vote for Johnson, Starmer would win, because he is none of those things.
Given that, there is nothing Starmer can do to win those people over. Johnson will always outdo him on incompetence, dishonesty and corruption.
The 40% currently don’t trust Labour and/or Starmer - or believe they don’t share their values - and so they vote the “devil they know”.
Giving up on them means Labour will never return to government.
I’d like to see Labour attack the Tories from the cultural “right” - on patriotism, appeals to the benefits of hard work, crime, probity in public office, respect for the armed forces etc.
Labour generally speaking are still talking to the Guardian reading classes.
There’s an occasional tweet, but not much more.
The Major govt was also thought to be mired in corruption - pretty tame stuff compared with these days - and Blair/Brown hammered them day in, day out.
Starmer is largely silent on this stuff.
It’s possible that he is spending this Covid year cleaning up internal mess and staking out a few primary positions (like on Scottish Indy).
But if he wants to win he needs a full reboot in the Spring.0 -
When 99% of the posts here are you - seriously you never seem to leave - it’s hard not to be responding to you.Philip_Thompson said:
Yes of course I would. You are the dishonest one Mr Battery not me. Turning into a bit of a creepy stalker too Mr Battery.CorrectHorseBattery said:
Weren’t the 2010-2015 polls wrong. 2019 was spot on, I am quite confident they’re accurate.DecrepiterJohnL said:
Cameron's 2015 win was largely due to the SNP steamroller and the collapse of the LibDems. England saw a small swing to Chaos With Ed Miliband. I'm not really sure what that says about midterm opinion polls.Philip_Thompson said:
Not necessarily. Cameron went years behind in the polls before winning re-election with a majority.Mexicanpete said:
...but after a few months we'll all get over it. Tory lead nailed on.Sandpit said:
Government imposing severe movement restrictions over Christmas quickly becomes unpopular. Not unexpected.Yorkcity said:From a comment in UK polling report.
Lab 41+4
Con 37 - 2
States from you guv in the times.
No fieldwork given but from this week.
Must be Johnson acting the clown at pmqs.
Midterm polls don't matter.
I wonder if Philip would be saying the same if it was showing a Tory lead, dishonesty yet again tut tut
I kind of respect your ability to spout so much nonsense minute after minute, day after day. I just hope they are paying you well.1 -
For me, laying No Deal at the currently available 2.96 should be a no brainer given my view that it's highly highly unlikely. However the settlement rules are rather tricksy so I am not getting involved.FF43 said:No UK Trade Deal by end of the year is in principle the value bet. But as Alastair Meeks pointed out on a previous thread, the definitions are too vague.
Incidentally there is a completely objective measure for this, which is if an agreement is notified to the WTO.
The market I really want is "The UK to be trading with the EU on WTO terms on 1st Jan 2021".
I would certainly lay that at 2.96. I'd do it for quite big money.-1 -
-
I hate Johnson and I thought the comment you made was appalling.Roger said:
LOL! I see I got BJO nine 'likes' saying how disgusting this comment of mine was! 'Twas but a figure of speech. I'm wading my way through Wolf Hall where such hyperbole is commonplace. Perhaps BJO can find a Hillary Mantel site and get another 9 'Felix' likes!Roger said:
Didn't we at one time show several photos of the Labour leader to indicate Labour's lead? I think we should go back to that. I must say I can't believe Johnson is still polling around 37%. Even people with zero interest in politics would love nothing better than to see him hanging on Westminster Bridge.CorrectHorseBattery said:https://twitter.com/TSEofPB/status/1341537798445273088
Lab 41
Tories 37
Here we fucking go!1 -
Daniel Hannan is an eminent Brexiteer and the fact that Boris is desperate to get him inside the tent, pissing out, suggests the Prime Minister remains hopeful of a deal and fearful of reaction to the deal. Likewise Cruddas.FeersumEnjineeya said:
Daniel Hannan really is an utter twat. His promotion to the Lords exemplifies everything that is wrong with the UK. How can we call ourselves a meritocracy when mendacious fools like Hannan are rewarded for their idiocy?Gardenwalker said:1 -
Well Mr Battery I have been here since 2008 and my post count dates back to 2013. Yours dates back to 2019 and is more than a quarter of my count.CorrectHorseBattery said:
When 99% of the posts here are you - seriously you never seem to leave - it’s hard not to be responding to you.Philip_Thompson said:
Yes of course I would. You are the dishonest one Mr Battery not me. Turning into a bit of a creepy stalker too Mr Battery.CorrectHorseBattery said:
Weren’t the 2010-2015 polls wrong. 2019 was spot on, I am quite confident they’re accurate.DecrepiterJohnL said:
Cameron's 2015 win was largely due to the SNP steamroller and the collapse of the LibDems. England saw a small swing to Chaos With Ed Miliband. I'm not really sure what that says about midterm opinion polls.Philip_Thompson said:
Not necessarily. Cameron went years behind in the polls before winning re-election with a majority.Mexicanpete said:
...but after a few months we'll all get over it. Tory lead nailed on.Sandpit said:
Government imposing severe movement restrictions over Christmas quickly becomes unpopular. Not unexpected.Yorkcity said:From a comment in UK polling report.
Lab 41+4
Con 37 - 2
States from you guv in the times.
No fieldwork given but from this week.
Must be Johnson acting the clown at pmqs.
Midterm polls don't matter.
I wonder if Philip would be saying the same if it was showing a Tory lead, dishonesty yet again tut tut
I kind of respect your ability to spout so much nonsense minute after minute, day after day. I just hope they are paying you well.
So those with glass houses Mr Battery. How much are you paid for being here? What is your going rate?0 -
All Roger said was that BJ should be well hung. I'm sure I even recall some of the BJ fanbois suggesting that he was in fact well hung.FrancisUrquhart said:I hope everybody is playing nice this morning and we aren't having any repeat of talks of hanging elected officials.
0 -
The lack of food at the airport for the lorry drivers. Given all the absolute masses of mobile food vans that normally make a living doing events throughout the summer and obviously lost out big style, you would have thought the government could have contacted those to turn up there and provide catering.0
-
1. Put a border down the Irish sea that we said we would never doPhilip_Thompson said:
Off the top of my head successes, of course he won't be personally responsible for all but the buck stops at the top:FF43 said:
If you feel like it, do detail Johnson's successes, his robust governance that avoid cronyism and waste and explain why his outright lies really aren't. I am not going to waste time on that...Philip_Thompson said:
Just ranting doesn't make it true.FF43 said:FPT
Johnson is clearly the most dishonest, incompetent, corrupt and unserious prime minister of recent times. He doesn't bother to hide it. If any of those things mattered to the 40% of the people that intend to vote for Johnson, Starmer would win, because he is none of those things.
Given that, there is nothing Starmer can do to win those people over. Johnson will always outdo him on incompetence, dishonesty and corruption.
Even if others who back your politics will say it too.
1: Renegotiated the awful May deal that Barnier, the EU, Hunt, May and everyone else said could not be renegotiated. Removed the backstop that couldn't be removed.
2: Won an 80 seat majority.
3: Got Brexit done.
4: Got an incredible testing program set up doing hundreds of thousands of tests per day.
5: Got a world leading Covid strain monitoring system set up that was able to identify and alert the world to this new strain.
6: First country in the world to have vaccinations.
7: Furlough etc
Just off the top of my head. But yes keep bashing everything, it's all shit in this country isn't it? Never change.
2. Against the worst opposition leader ever
3. Really? Oven ready deal that never existed
4. It was a shambles
5. No he didn't. Nothing to do with Boris
6. Again nothing to do with Boris
7. Give you that one, although failed to cater for those millions that fall through the cracks, in particular for the extension of the furlough when they had time to cater for say those small limited companies.
I would have given you Nightingale hospitals and ventilators.1 -
When Phil was criticising everything May's government did, who was he working for then? Was he already being paid by Team Johnson?CorrectHorseBattery said:
CCHQ working overtime on the propagandaPhilip_Thompson said:
Off the top of my head successes, of course he won't be personally responsible for all but the buck stops at the top:FF43 said:
If you feel like it, do detail Johnson's successes, his robust governance that avoid cronyism and waste and explain why his outright lies really aren't. I am not going to waste time on that...Philip_Thompson said:
Just ranting doesn't make it true.FF43 said:FPT
Johnson is clearly the most dishonest, incompetent, corrupt and unserious prime minister of recent times. He doesn't bother to hide it. If any of those things mattered to the 40% of the people that intend to vote for Johnson, Starmer would win, because he is none of those things.
Given that, there is nothing Starmer can do to win those people over. Johnson will always outdo him on incompetence, dishonesty and corruption.
Even if others who back your politics will say it too.
1: Renegotiated the awful May deal that Barnier, the EU, Hunt, May and everyone else said could not be renegotiated. Removed the backstop that couldn't be removed.
2: Won an 80 seat majority.
3: Got Brexit done.
4: Got an incredible testing program set up doing hundreds of thousands of tests per day.
5: Got a world leading Covid strain monitoring system set up that was able to identify and alert the world to this new strain.
6: First country in the world to have vaccinations.
7: Furlough etc
Just off the top of my head. But yes keep bashing everything, it's all shit in this country isn't it? Never change.2 -
Thanks for the intellectually expressed sentiments which will obviously make a major contribution to our national debate. How do you see your role? A sort of Brit QAnon?Dura_Ace said:Starmer is lump of plywood with a high quality wig so he incapable of winning a GE on any policy platform, He is a pre 2016 politician and there is absolutely no point in Labour persisting with him. Labour need to learn from Johnson not get sniffy about his methods. They should tell everybody exactly what they want to hear and promise all sorts of mad shit. That's what politics is now and if they don't get on board the electorate is going to fuck them repeatedly in all holes.
0 -
The "talking Boris down is the same as talking your country down" wheeze popped into your head a couple of days ago and has had several outings since. Can this be the last one please?Philip_Thompson said:
Off the top of my head successes, of course he won't be personally responsible for all but the buck stops at the top:FF43 said:
If you feel like it, do detail Johnson's successes, his robust governance that avoid cronyism and waste and explain why his outright lies really aren't. I am not going to waste time on that...Philip_Thompson said:
Just ranting doesn't make it true.FF43 said:FPT
Johnson is clearly the most dishonest, incompetent, corrupt and unserious prime minister of recent times. He doesn't bother to hide it. If any of those things mattered to the 40% of the people that intend to vote for Johnson, Starmer would win, because he is none of those things.
Given that, there is nothing Starmer can do to win those people over. Johnson will always outdo him on incompetence, dishonesty and corruption.
Even if others who back your politics will say it too.
1: Renegotiated the awful May deal that Barnier, the EU, Hunt, May and everyone else said could not be renegotiated. Removed the backstop that couldn't be removed.
2: Won an 80 seat majority.
3: Got Brexit done.
4: Got an incredible testing program set up doing hundreds of thousands of tests per day.
5: Got a world leading Covid strain monitoring system set up that was able to identify and alert the world to this new strain.
6: First country in the world to have vaccinations.
7: Furlough etc
Just off the top of my head. But yes keep bashing everything, it's all shit in this country isn't it? Never change.2 -
I'm sure Brits will accept this reverse Berlin airlift with the grace and humility that have become their defining characteristics.
https://twitter.com/NMMackenzie/status/1341690159574765573?s=200 -
Indeed.TrèsDifficile said:
When Phil was criticising everything May's government did, who was he working for then? Was he already being paid by Team Johnson?CorrectHorseBattery said:
CCHQ working overtime on the propagandaPhilip_Thompson said:
Off the top of my head successes, of course he won't be personally responsible for all but the buck stops at the top:FF43 said:
If you feel like it, do detail Johnson's successes, his robust governance that avoid cronyism and waste and explain why his outright lies really aren't. I am not going to waste time on that...Philip_Thompson said:
Just ranting doesn't make it true.FF43 said:FPT
Johnson is clearly the most dishonest, incompetent, corrupt and unserious prime minister of recent times. He doesn't bother to hide it. If any of those things mattered to the 40% of the people that intend to vote for Johnson, Starmer would win, because he is none of those things.
Given that, there is nothing Starmer can do to win those people over. Johnson will always outdo him on incompetence, dishonesty and corruption.
Even if others who back your politics will say it too.
1: Renegotiated the awful May deal that Barnier, the EU, Hunt, May and everyone else said could not be renegotiated. Removed the backstop that couldn't be removed.
2: Won an 80 seat majority.
3: Got Brexit done.
4: Got an incredible testing program set up doing hundreds of thousands of tests per day.
5: Got a world leading Covid strain monitoring system set up that was able to identify and alert the world to this new strain.
6: First country in the world to have vaccinations.
7: Furlough etc
Just off the top of my head. But yes keep bashing everything, it's all shit in this country isn't it? Never change.
The only person on this site I ever thought could have been paid by CCHQ as he never seemed to vary from the party line was Scott_P. But then obviously since BJ took over its been clear that isn't the case.0 -
If Trump had stuck to this sort of stuff he'd have been re-elected comfortably
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-55420366
He said: "This bill contains $85.5m for assistance to Cambodia, $134m to Burma, $1.3bn for Egypt and the Egyptian military, which will go out and buy almost exclusively Russian military equipment, $25m for democracy and gender programmes in Pakistan, $505m to Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama."
The president questioned why the Kennedy Center, a performing arts complex in Washington DC, was set to receive $40m when it is not open, and more than $1bn has been allocated to museums and galleries in the capital.
Mr Trump concluded: "Congress found plenty of money for foreign countries, lobbyists and special interests, while sending the bare minimum to the American people who need it. It wasn't their fault. It was China's fault.
"I am asking Congress to amend this bill and increase the ridiculously low $600 to $2,000 or $4,000 for a couple.0 -
Testing is a mixed bag in the UK. Shambles in part, but good on the absolute numbers. I think other countries have handled furlough better than the UK - Germany and Sweden in particular. Nightingale hospitals implementation impressive. Ventilators not so much - the fault there does lie with Johnson and Cummings. If they hadn't been involved the programme probably would have been more successful.kjh said:
1. Put a border down the Irish sea that we said we would never doPhilip_Thompson said:
Off the top of my head successes, of course he won't be personally responsible for all but the buck stops at the top:FF43 said:
If you feel like it, do detail Johnson's successes, his robust governance that avoid cronyism and waste and explain why his outright lies really aren't. I am not going to waste time on that...Philip_Thompson said:
Just ranting doesn't make it true.FF43 said:FPT
Johnson is clearly the most dishonest, incompetent, corrupt and unserious prime minister of recent times. He doesn't bother to hide it. If any of those things mattered to the 40% of the people that intend to vote for Johnson, Starmer would win, because he is none of those things.
Given that, there is nothing Starmer can do to win those people over. Johnson will always outdo him on incompetence, dishonesty and corruption.
Even if others who back your politics will say it too.
1: Renegotiated the awful May deal that Barnier, the EU, Hunt, May and everyone else said could not be renegotiated. Removed the backstop that couldn't be removed.
2: Won an 80 seat majority.
3: Got Brexit done.
4: Got an incredible testing program set up doing hundreds of thousands of tests per day.
5: Got a world leading Covid strain monitoring system set up that was able to identify and alert the world to this new strain.
6: First country in the world to have vaccinations.
7: Furlough etc
Just off the top of my head. But yes keep bashing everything, it's all shit in this country isn't it? Never change.
2. Against the worst opposition leader ever
3. Really? Oven ready deal that never existed
4. It was a shambles
5. No he didn't. Nothing to do with Boris
6. Again nothing to do with Boris
7. Give you that one, although failed to cater for those millions that fall through the cracks, in particular for the extension of the furlough when they had time to cater for say those small limited companies.
I would have given you Nightingale hospitals and ventilators.0 -
I think that's likely.TrèsDifficile said:
When Phil was criticising everything May's government did, who was he working for then? Was he already being paid by Team Johnson?CorrectHorseBattery said:
CCHQ working overtime on the propagandaPhilip_Thompson said:
Off the top of my head successes, of course he won't be personally responsible for all but the buck stops at the top:FF43 said:
If you feel like it, do detail Johnson's successes, his robust governance that avoid cronyism and waste and explain why his outright lies really aren't. I am not going to waste time on that...Philip_Thompson said:
Just ranting doesn't make it true.FF43 said:FPT
Johnson is clearly the most dishonest, incompetent, corrupt and unserious prime minister of recent times. He doesn't bother to hide it. If any of those things mattered to the 40% of the people that intend to vote for Johnson, Starmer would win, because he is none of those things.
Given that, there is nothing Starmer can do to win those people over. Johnson will always outdo him on incompetence, dishonesty and corruption.
Even if others who back your politics will say it too.
1: Renegotiated the awful May deal that Barnier, the EU, Hunt, May and everyone else said could not be renegotiated. Removed the backstop that couldn't be removed.
2: Won an 80 seat majority.
3: Got Brexit done.
4: Got an incredible testing program set up doing hundreds of thousands of tests per day.
5: Got a world leading Covid strain monitoring system set up that was able to identify and alert the world to this new strain.
6: First country in the world to have vaccinations.
7: Furlough etc
Just off the top of my head. But yes keep bashing everything, it's all shit in this country isn't it? Never change.0 -
Nope - they just put a higher value on Liberty than you do.SandyRentool said:
Their judgement has been wrong from day 1. Always too late to impose restrictions. Always too quick to relax them.Charles said:
To quote Benjamin Franklin:rottenborough said:https://twitter.com/DPJHodges/status/1341672453169442818
Because they wanted to wait until xmas eve to announce the next set of lockdowns?
"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
This government - to their credit - is reluctant to lock people into their houses as it is a substantial diminution of personal liberty.
There becomes a point at which it is unavoidable.
When that is becomes a matter of judgement.
That is "why" they haven't expanded Tier 4 beyond the current areas, but keep it under review.
National lockdown from Boxing Day is needed.
Well, really it is needed now, but that is too much to hope for.
I’m not sure there is a “right” or “wrong” here. There is a spectrum and where on the spectrum you think is right is a value judgement3 -
Chris Grayling has a van apparently.FrancisUrquhart said:The lack of food at the airport for the lorry drivers. Given all the absolute masses of mobile food vans that normally make a living doing events throughout the summer and obviously lost out big style, you would have thought the government could have contacted those to turn up there and provide catering.
0 -
Before Johnson became PM, he was personally employing people to work on obscure politics blogs promoting his views? You're mental..CorrectHorseBattery said:
I think that's likely.TrèsDifficile said:
When Phil was criticising everything May's government did, who was he working for then? Was he already being paid by Team Johnson?CorrectHorseBattery said:
CCHQ working overtime on the propagandaPhilip_Thompson said:
Off the top of my head successes, of course he won't be personally responsible for all but the buck stops at the top:FF43 said:
If you feel like it, do detail Johnson's successes, his robust governance that avoid cronyism and waste and explain why his outright lies really aren't. I am not going to waste time on that...Philip_Thompson said:
Just ranting doesn't make it true.FF43 said:FPT
Johnson is clearly the most dishonest, incompetent, corrupt and unserious prime minister of recent times. He doesn't bother to hide it. If any of those things mattered to the 40% of the people that intend to vote for Johnson, Starmer would win, because he is none of those things.
Given that, there is nothing Starmer can do to win those people over. Johnson will always outdo him on incompetence, dishonesty and corruption.
Even if others who back your politics will say it too.
1: Renegotiated the awful May deal that Barnier, the EU, Hunt, May and everyone else said could not be renegotiated. Removed the backstop that couldn't be removed.
2: Won an 80 seat majority.
3: Got Brexit done.
4: Got an incredible testing program set up doing hundreds of thousands of tests per day.
5: Got a world leading Covid strain monitoring system set up that was able to identify and alert the world to this new strain.
6: First country in the world to have vaccinations.
7: Furlough etc
Just off the top of my head. But yes keep bashing everything, it's all shit in this country isn't it? Never change.1 -
Yes I believe every morning he prays to the God Johnson over a shrine of Maggie.TrèsDifficile said:
Before Johnson became PM, he was employing people to work on obscure politics blogs promoting his views? You're mental..CorrectHorseBattery said:
I think that's likely.TrèsDifficile said:
When Phil was criticising everything May's government did, who was he working for then? Was he already being paid by Team Johnson?CorrectHorseBattery said:
CCHQ working overtime on the propagandaPhilip_Thompson said:
Off the top of my head successes, of course he won't be personally responsible for all but the buck stops at the top:FF43 said:
If you feel like it, do detail Johnson's successes, his robust governance that avoid cronyism and waste and explain why his outright lies really aren't. I am not going to waste time on that...Philip_Thompson said:
Just ranting doesn't make it true.FF43 said:FPT
Johnson is clearly the most dishonest, incompetent, corrupt and unserious prime minister of recent times. He doesn't bother to hide it. If any of those things mattered to the 40% of the people that intend to vote for Johnson, Starmer would win, because he is none of those things.
Given that, there is nothing Starmer can do to win those people over. Johnson will always outdo him on incompetence, dishonesty and corruption.
Even if others who back your politics will say it too.
1: Renegotiated the awful May deal that Barnier, the EU, Hunt, May and everyone else said could not be renegotiated. Removed the backstop that couldn't be removed.
2: Won an 80 seat majority.
3: Got Brexit done.
4: Got an incredible testing program set up doing hundreds of thousands of tests per day.
5: Got a world leading Covid strain monitoring system set up that was able to identify and alert the world to this new strain.
6: First country in the world to have vaccinations.
7: Furlough etc
Just off the top of my head. But yes keep bashing everything, it's all shit in this country isn't it? Never change.0 -
And when I advocate for Scottish Independence, the abolition of the Monarchy, disestablishment of the Church etc ... Who pays for that?CorrectHorseBattery said:
I think that's likely.TrèsDifficile said:
When Phil was criticising everything May's government did, who was he working for then? Was he already being paid by Team Johnson?CorrectHorseBattery said:
CCHQ working overtime on the propagandaPhilip_Thompson said:
Off the top of my head successes, of course he won't be personally responsible for all but the buck stops at the top:FF43 said:
If you feel like it, do detail Johnson's successes, his robust governance that avoid cronyism and waste and explain why his outright lies really aren't. I am not going to waste time on that...Philip_Thompson said:
Just ranting doesn't make it true.FF43 said:FPT
Johnson is clearly the most dishonest, incompetent, corrupt and unserious prime minister of recent times. He doesn't bother to hide it. If any of those things mattered to the 40% of the people that intend to vote for Johnson, Starmer would win, because he is none of those things.
Given that, there is nothing Starmer can do to win those people over. Johnson will always outdo him on incompetence, dishonesty and corruption.
Even if others who back your politics will say it too.
1: Renegotiated the awful May deal that Barnier, the EU, Hunt, May and everyone else said could not be renegotiated. Removed the backstop that couldn't be removed.
2: Won an 80 seat majority.
3: Got Brexit done.
4: Got an incredible testing program set up doing hundreds of thousands of tests per day.
5: Got a world leading Covid strain monitoring system set up that was able to identify and alert the world to this new strain.
6: First country in the world to have vaccinations.
7: Furlough etc
Just off the top of my head. But yes keep bashing everything, it's all shit in this country isn't it? Never change.
Do I have a contract with the SNP Mr Battery?0 -
I had not realised that Lady Tebbitt had died. There is a very moving obituary of her in the Times - https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/register/lady-tebbit-msdfzft6n.
Whatever one might think of Norman Tebbitt's politics, he deserves admiration for the way he cared for his wife. Makes you ponder on what "In sickness and in health until death do us part" means for some, how precious our lives are and how a moment can change everything.12 -
“Unavoidable” is a value judgementrkrkrk said:
The point at which it is unavoidable is too late though.Charles said:
To quote Benjamin Franklin:rottenborough said:https://twitter.com/DPJHodges/status/1341672453169442818
Because they wanted to wait until xmas eve to announce the next set of lockdowns?
"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
This government - to their credit - is reluctant to lock people into their houses as it is a substantial diminution of personal liberty.
There becomes a point at which it is unavoidable.
When that is becomes a matter of judgement.
That is "why" they haven't expanded Tier 4 beyond the current areas, but keep it under review.
If you ask Peter Hitchens, for example, he would say never lockdown.
(I disagree with him, btw)0 -
He employed a personal photographer to capture him resigning.TrèsDifficile said:Before Johnson became PM, he was personally employing people to work on obscure politics blogs promoting his views?
Hiring someone to spam this blog would seem entirely in character.1 -
-
Was that anything to do with the government, or "just" (sic) Scientists & the NHS collaborating off their own bat?Philip_Thompson said:
5: Got a world leading Covid strain monitoring system set up that was able to identify and alert the world to this new strain.FF43 said:
If you feel like it, do detail Johnson's successes, his robust governance that avoid cronyism and waste and explain why his outright lies really aren't. I am not going to waste time on that...Philip_Thompson said:
Just ranting doesn't make it true.FF43 said:FPT
Johnson is clearly the most dishonest, incompetent, corrupt and unserious prime minister of recent times. He doesn't bother to hide it. If any of those things mattered to the 40% of the people that intend to vote for Johnson, Starmer would win, because he is none of those things.
Given that, there is nothing Starmer can do to win those people over. Johnson will always outdo him on incompetence, dishonesty and corruption.
Even if others who back your politics will say it too.
I've no doubt its a major "feather in the cap" for British science, the British government though is much less clear.0 -
I don’t think he did 5 - it already existedPhilip_Thompson said:
Off the top of my head successes, of course he won't be personally responsible for all but the buck stops at the top:FF43 said:
If you feel like it, do detail Johnson's successes, his robust governance that avoid cronyism and waste and explain why his outright lies really aren't. I am not going to waste time on that...Philip_Thompson said:
Just ranting doesn't make it true.FF43 said:FPT
Johnson is clearly the most dishonest, incompetent, corrupt and unserious prime minister of recent times. He doesn't bother to hide it. If any of those things mattered to the 40% of the people that intend to vote for Johnson, Starmer would win, because he is none of those things.
Given that, there is nothing Starmer can do to win those people over. Johnson will always outdo him on incompetence, dishonesty and corruption.
Even if others who back your politics will say it too.
1: Renegotiated the awful May deal that Barnier, the EU, Hunt, May and everyone else said could not be renegotiated. Removed the backstop that couldn't be removed.
2: Won an 80 seat majority.
3: Got Brexit done.
4: Got an incredible testing program set up doing hundreds of thousands of tests per day.
5: Got a world leading Covid strain monitoring system set up that was able to identify and alert the world to this new strain.
6: First country in the world to have vaccinations.
7: Furlough etc
Just off the top of my head. But yes keep bashing everything, it's all shit in this country isn't it? Never change.0 -
Britain, depending on Poles and Sikhs again.
https://twitter.com/PolishEmbassyUK/status/1341446085080977408?s=200 -
The vaccine rollout priority just seem completely wrong to me.ydoethur said:I’ve spent the last five months working incredibly hard so children like your daughter can go to school.
I’ve worked under regulations designed by people who would make the characters from Hot Fuzz look like models of probity and ability.
I’ve put myself at risk, every day, to keep schools open, even though it’s been a fiasco and the safety rules have been shelved for political reasons.
First, the doctors & nurses and all essential service staff should be in the first tier.
If the Govt wants in-person teaching in schools, then teachers should absolutely be in the top tier. And I would also put bus drivers and bin-men and anyone out and about, providing essentials services in this category.
I can understand why fifty-year old or forty-year old teachers are irritated -- because they are pretty low priority in the vaccine queue, yet being asked to risk their lives daily.
Instead, the priority is (almost) exclusively by age. This means that a large number of people who are retired, staying safe in the houses, posting endless rubbish on pb.com & getting whacking great big home deliveries from Waitrose are actually high in the queue.
There was a whole gaggle of them on pb.com the other day, bragging they would soon be vaccinated, so they could bugger off on their skiing holidays again and re-infect everyone (the vaccine protects you but does not mean that you can't infect others)
The priority list should be
1. Essential Service Workers (Doctors, Nurses, Teachers, Bus Drivers, etc),
2. The Elderly and the Shielders,
.....
10 The Politicians who Fucked Up from Johnson to Drakeford,
11 The Wankers who went on Summer Holidays in 2020,
12. The Skiiers.1 -
That would be very funny. Still sat there at Easter when the doors finally open!nichomar said:
Some will as they don’t bother watching the news.SandyRentool said:If we do get a lockdown starting on Boxing Day then at least the news won't be full of muppets queueing at 5am for the sales.
0 -
A kiss on the ring and some money in a fancy briefcase is all that is needed to get the required number of posts for PB Tory extraordinaire.
It's all a conspiracy, Elvis is really alive, moon landings were faked!0 -
A lot of grumpy people on here this morning...its Christmas and you aren't stuck in the queue for the ferry at Dover...6
-
I'm not sure, but I believe sequence monitoring was as a matter of policy deliberately given extra funding and prioritised earlier this year.CarlottaVance said:
Was that anything to do with the government, or "just" (sic) Scientists & the NHS collaborating off their own bat?Philip_Thompson said:
5: Got a world leading Covid strain monitoring system set up that was able to identify and alert the world to this new strain.FF43 said:
If you feel like it, do detail Johnson's successes, his robust governance that avoid cronyism and waste and explain why his outright lies really aren't. I am not going to waste time on that...Philip_Thompson said:
Just ranting doesn't make it true.FF43 said:FPT
Johnson is clearly the most dishonest, incompetent, corrupt and unserious prime minister of recent times. He doesn't bother to hide it. If any of those things mattered to the 40% of the people that intend to vote for Johnson, Starmer would win, because he is none of those things.
Given that, there is nothing Starmer can do to win those people over. Johnson will always outdo him on incompetence, dishonesty and corruption.
Even if others who back your politics will say it too.
I've no doubt its a major "feather in the cap" for British science, the British government though is much less clear.0 -
Some people need to lighten up I reckon, get the booze on!FrancisUrquhart said:A lot of grumpy people on here this morning...its Christmas and you aren't stuck in the queue for the ferry at Dover...
0 -
Too true.Cyclefree said:I had not realised that Lady Tebbitt had died. There is a very moving obituary of her in the Times - https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/register/lady-tebbit-msdfzft6n.
Whatever one might think of Norman Tebbitt's politics, he deserves admiration for the way he cared for his wife. Makes you ponder on what "In sickness and in health until death do us part" means for some, how precious our lives are and how a moment can change everything.
When I was doing my Articles, our senior partner was in Brighton for the Conference. Nobody knew if he had survived or not - until they saw him sat on the stage. He'd never thought to phone to say he was OK....0 -
Here’s a meme we can all relate to but especially me.
1 -
Very well said.Cyclefree said:I had not realised that Lady Tebbitt had died. There is a very moving obituary of her in the Times - https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/register/lady-tebbit-msdfzft6n.
Whatever one might think of Norman Tebbitt's politics, he deserves admiration for the way he cared for his wife. Makes you ponder on what "In sickness and in health until death do us part" means for some, how precious our lives are and how a moment can change everything.1 -
Elvis will be 86 in January.CorrectHorseBattery said:A kiss on the ring and some money in a fancy briefcase is all that is needed to get the required number of posts for PB Tory extraordinaire.
It's all a conspiracy, Elvis is really alive, moon landings were faked!1 -
The great untold story of the Trump years is how he got so comprehensively out-played by Mitch McConnell. He could have sent everybody a new cheque with his signature on it in October, instead he was futzing around with a conservative judge who will do exactly nothing for him.Pulpstar said:If Trump had stuck to this sort of stuff he'd have been re-elected comfortably
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-55420366
He said: "This bill contains $85.5m for assistance to Cambodia, $134m to Burma, $1.3bn for Egypt and the Egyptian military, which will go out and buy almost exclusively Russian military equipment, $25m for democracy and gender programmes in Pakistan, $505m to Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama."
The president questioned why the Kennedy Center, a performing arts complex in Washington DC, was set to receive $40m when it is not open, and more than $1bn has been allocated to museums and galleries in the capital.
Mr Trump concluded: "Congress found plenty of money for foreign countries, lobbyists and special interests, while sending the bare minimum to the American people who need it. It wasn't their fault. It was China's fault.
"I am asking Congress to amend this bill and increase the ridiculously low $600 to $2,000 or $4,000 for a couple.1 -
Yes there is a valid debate around values. But many - I'd say most - of those loudest on the "liberty" side repeatedly fail to grasp basic and incontrovertible truths about the nature of the virus.Charles said:
Nope - they just put a higher value on Liberty than you do.SandyRentool said:
Their judgement has been wrong from day 1. Always too late to impose restrictions. Always too quick to relax them.Charles said:
To quote Benjamin Franklin:rottenborough said:https://twitter.com/DPJHodges/status/1341672453169442818
Because they wanted to wait until xmas eve to announce the next set of lockdowns?
"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
This government - to their credit - is reluctant to lock people into their houses as it is a substantial diminution of personal liberty.
There becomes a point at which it is unavoidable.
When that is becomes a matter of judgement.
That is "why" they haven't expanded Tier 4 beyond the current areas, but keep it under review.
National lockdown from Boxing Day is needed.
Well, really it is needed now, but that is too much to hope for.
I’m not sure there is a “right” or “wrong” here. There is a spectrum and where on the spectrum you think is right is a value judgement1 -
As a realist I don't attribute the success of practical items to politicians. Furlough nightingales, ventilators have been capably delivered through the civil service not government. Funding for those was a political decision though.kjh said:
1. Put a border down the Irish sea that we said we would never doPhilip_Thompson said:
Off the top of my head successes, of course he won't be personally responsible for all but the buck stops at the top:FF43 said:
If you feel like it, do detail Johnson's successes, his robust governance that avoid cronyism and waste and explain why his outright lies really aren't. I am not going to waste time on that...Philip_Thompson said:
Just ranting doesn't make it true.FF43 said:FPT
Johnson is clearly the most dishonest, incompetent, corrupt and unserious prime minister of recent times. He doesn't bother to hide it. If any of those things mattered to the 40% of the people that intend to vote for Johnson, Starmer would win, because he is none of those things.
Given that, there is nothing Starmer can do to win those people over. Johnson will always outdo him on incompetence, dishonesty and corruption.
Even if others who back your politics will say it too.
1: Renegotiated the awful May deal that Barnier, the EU, Hunt, May and everyone else said could not be renegotiated. Removed the backstop that couldn't be removed.
2: Won an 80 seat majority.
3: Got Brexit done.
4: Got an incredible testing program set up doing hundreds of thousands of tests per day.
5: Got a world leading Covid strain monitoring system set up that was able to identify and alert the world to this new strain.
6: First country in the world to have vaccinations.
7: Furlough etc
Just off the top of my head. But yes keep bashing everything, it's all shit in this country isn't it? Never change.
2. Against the worst opposition leader ever
3. Really? Oven ready deal that never existed
4. It was a shambles
5. No he didn't. Nothing to do with Boris
6. Again nothing to do with Boris
7. Give you that one, although failed to cater for those millions that fall through the cracks, in particular for the extension of the furlough when they had time to cater for say those small limited companies.
I would have given you Nightingale hospitals and ventilators.
I am no Boris fan but can you imagine Corbyn running all this. He couldn't even decide which way to fall on Brexit. I was watching an old episode of Mock the Week last night and the predominantly left wing comedians were incredulous that he made a decision on Brexit and his decision was that we was neutral!! I wouldn't trust Corbyn to run a school fete.1 -
Coming over here ...Theuniondivvie said:Britain, depending on Poles and Sikhs again.
https://twitter.com/PolishEmbassyUK/status/1341446085080977408?s=200 -
Will be?MarqueeMark said:
Elvis will be 86 in January.CorrectHorseBattery said:A kiss on the ring and some money in a fancy briefcase is all that is needed to get the required number of posts for PB Tory extraordinaire.
It's all a conspiracy, Elvis is really alive, moon landings were faked!0 -
Where in the article does it say it was a charity case?Theuniondivvie said:I'm sure Brits will accept this reverse Berlin airlift with the grace and humility that have become their defining characteristics.
https://twitter.com/NMMackenzie/status/1341690159574765573?s=20
I suspect it means “smart German entrepreneur saw opportunity and paid Lufthansa to fly 80 tonnes of fresh food to the U.K.”2 -
Give yourself a rest and stop imagining.Nemtynakht said:
As a realist I don't attribute the success of practical items to politicians. Furlough nightingales, ventilators have been capably delivered through the civil service not government. Funding for those was a political decision though.kjh said:
1. Put a border down the Irish sea that we said we would never doPhilip_Thompson said:
Off the top of my head successes, of course he won't be personally responsible for all but the buck stops at the top:FF43 said:
If you feel like it, do detail Johnson's successes, his robust governance that avoid cronyism and waste and explain why his outright lies really aren't. I am not going to waste time on that...Philip_Thompson said:
Just ranting doesn't make it true.FF43 said:FPT
Johnson is clearly the most dishonest, incompetent, corrupt and unserious prime minister of recent times. He doesn't bother to hide it. If any of those things mattered to the 40% of the people that intend to vote for Johnson, Starmer would win, because he is none of those things.
Given that, there is nothing Starmer can do to win those people over. Johnson will always outdo him on incompetence, dishonesty and corruption.
Even if others who back your politics will say it too.
1: Renegotiated the awful May deal that Barnier, the EU, Hunt, May and everyone else said could not be renegotiated. Removed the backstop that couldn't be removed.
2: Won an 80 seat majority.
3: Got Brexit done.
4: Got an incredible testing program set up doing hundreds of thousands of tests per day.
5: Got a world leading Covid strain monitoring system set up that was able to identify and alert the world to this new strain.
6: First country in the world to have vaccinations.
7: Furlough etc
Just off the top of my head. But yes keep bashing everything, it's all shit in this country isn't it? Never change.
2. Against the worst opposition leader ever
3. Really? Oven ready deal that never existed
4. It was a shambles
5. No he didn't. Nothing to do with Boris
6. Again nothing to do with Boris
7. Give you that one, although failed to cater for those millions that fall through the cracks, in particular for the extension of the furlough when they had time to cater for say those small limited companies.
I would have given you Nightingale hospitals and ventilators.
I am no Boris fan but can you imagine Corbyn running all this. He couldn't even decide which way to fall on Brexit. I was watching an old episode of Mock the Week last night and the predominantly left wing comedians were incredulous that he made a decision on Brexit and his decision was that we was neutral!! I wouldn't trust Corbyn to run a school fete.
Corbyn has gone.
0 -
According to CHB....Philip_Thompson said:
Will be?MarqueeMark said:
Elvis will be 86 in January.CorrectHorseBattery said:A kiss on the ring and some money in a fancy briefcase is all that is needed to get the required number of posts for PB Tory extraordinaire.
It's all a conspiracy, Elvis is really alive, moon landings were faked!
1 -
It’s not to prevent this strain spreading to the rest of the country.rottenborough said:https://twitter.com/DPJHodges/status/1341672453169442818
Because they wanted to wait until xmas eve to announce the next set of lockdowns?
It already has (and well beyond).
It’s a reaction to the combination of already high infection levels, dangerously high speed of spread, and overloading hospitals in the areas selected for Tier 4 - which is deemed to be at least partly down to the newly identified strain.
As and when other areas join them in the unfortunate combination of circumstances, they, too, will enter Tier 4. Or higher.2 -
Well at least Captain Hindsight wouldn't stay neutral on an important issue.Nemtynakht said:
As a realist I don't attribute the success of practical items to politicians. Furlough nightingales, ventilators have been capably delivered through the civil service not government. Funding for those was a political decision though.kjh said:
1. Put a border down the Irish sea that we said we would never doPhilip_Thompson said:
Off the top of my head successes, of course he won't be personally responsible for all but the buck stops at the top:FF43 said:
If you feel like it, do detail Johnson's successes, his robust governance that avoid cronyism and waste and explain why his outright lies really aren't. I am not going to waste time on that...Philip_Thompson said:
Just ranting doesn't make it true.FF43 said:FPT
Johnson is clearly the most dishonest, incompetent, corrupt and unserious prime minister of recent times. He doesn't bother to hide it. If any of those things mattered to the 40% of the people that intend to vote for Johnson, Starmer would win, because he is none of those things.
Given that, there is nothing Starmer can do to win those people over. Johnson will always outdo him on incompetence, dishonesty and corruption.
Even if others who back your politics will say it too.
1: Renegotiated the awful May deal that Barnier, the EU, Hunt, May and everyone else said could not be renegotiated. Removed the backstop that couldn't be removed.
2: Won an 80 seat majority.
3: Got Brexit done.
4: Got an incredible testing program set up doing hundreds of thousands of tests per day.
5: Got a world leading Covid strain monitoring system set up that was able to identify and alert the world to this new strain.
6: First country in the world to have vaccinations.
7: Furlough etc
Just off the top of my head. But yes keep bashing everything, it's all shit in this country isn't it? Never change.
2. Against the worst opposition leader ever
3. Really? Oven ready deal that never existed
4. It was a shambles
5. No he didn't. Nothing to do with Boris
6. Again nothing to do with Boris
7. Give you that one, although failed to cater for those millions that fall through the cracks, in particular for the extension of the furlough when they had time to cater for say those small limited companies.
I would have given you Nightingale hospitals and ventilators.
I am no Boris fan but can you imagine Corbyn running all this. He couldn't even decide which way to fall on Brexit. I was watching an old episode of Mock the Week last night and the predominantly left wing comedians were incredulous that he made a decision on Brexit and his decision was that we was neutral!! I wouldn't trust Corbyn to run a school fete.
He just stays neutral and abstains when there's a vote before him, but months after the vote you can rely upon him to take a side in hindsight. Unless he might be called to vote himself again.0 -
I was at a talk a few months ago by the people from McLaren/UCL responsible who worked on the UK Government's call for industry to help increase ventilator production. I'm not sure how much credit the government specifically can take for this, but what they achieved seems incredible, and has helped people in a lot of other countries as well. I think calling the ventilator programme unimpressive is a tad unfair.FF43 said:
Testing is a mixed bag in the UK. Shambles in part, but good on the absolute numbers. I think other countries have handled furlough better than the UK - Germany and Sweden in particular. Nightingale hospitals implementation impressive. Ventilators not so much - the fault there does lie with Johnson and Cummings. If they hadn't been involved the programme probably would have been more successful.kjh said:
1. Put a border down the Irish sea that we said we would never doPhilip_Thompson said:
Off the top of my head successes, of course he won't be personally responsible for all but the buck stops at the top:FF43 said:
If you feel like it, do detail Johnson's successes, his robust governance that avoid cronyism and waste and explain why his outright lies really aren't. I am not going to waste time on that...Philip_Thompson said:
Just ranting doesn't make it true.FF43 said:FPT
Johnson is clearly the most dishonest, incompetent, corrupt and unserious prime minister of recent times. He doesn't bother to hide it. If any of those things mattered to the 40% of the people that intend to vote for Johnson, Starmer would win, because he is none of those things.
Given that, there is nothing Starmer can do to win those people over. Johnson will always outdo him on incompetence, dishonesty and corruption.
Even if others who back your politics will say it too.
1: Renegotiated the awful May deal that Barnier, the EU, Hunt, May and everyone else said could not be renegotiated. Removed the backstop that couldn't be removed.
2: Won an 80 seat majority.
3: Got Brexit done.
4: Got an incredible testing program set up doing hundreds of thousands of tests per day.
5: Got a world leading Covid strain monitoring system set up that was able to identify and alert the world to this new strain.
6: First country in the world to have vaccinations.
7: Furlough etc
Just off the top of my head. But yes keep bashing everything, it's all shit in this country isn't it? Never change.
2. Against the worst opposition leader ever
3. Really? Oven ready deal that never existed
4. It was a shambles
5. No he didn't. Nothing to do with Boris
6. Again nothing to do with Boris
7. Give you that one, although failed to cater for those millions that fall through the cracks, in particular for the extension of the furlough when they had time to cater for say those small limited companies.
I would have given you Nightingale hospitals and ventilators.0 -
Starmer needs to win soft Tories over whilst maintaining his existing electoral coalition. Otherwise, he won't win.FF43 said:FPT
Johnson is clearly the most dishonest, incompetent, corrupt and unserious prime minister of recent times. He doesn't bother to hide it. If any of those things mattered to the 40% of the people that intend to vote for Johnson, Starmer would win, because he is none of those things.
Given that, there is nothing Starmer can do to win those people over. Johnson will always outdo him on incompetence, dishonesty and corruption.
It's no use saying, "b-b-but Boris is a Bad Man!", and then just shrugging your shoulders as if nothing more could be done if that doesn't work.
Hard questions need to be asked. That's going to take the existing Labour activist base to some uncomfortable places.
And that calls for very good leadership.4 -
Yes, it is a judgement call. But one based on evidence and, since the spring, experience.Charles said:
Nope - they just put a higher value on Liberty than you do.SandyRentool said:
Their judgement has been wrong from day 1. Always too late to impose restrictions. Always too quick to relax them.Charles said:
To quote Benjamin Franklin:rottenborough said:https://twitter.com/DPJHodges/status/1341672453169442818
Because they wanted to wait until xmas eve to announce the next set of lockdowns?
"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
This government - to their credit - is reluctant to lock people into their houses as it is a substantial diminution of personal liberty.
There becomes a point at which it is unavoidable.
When that is becomes a matter of judgement.
That is "why" they haven't expanded Tier 4 beyond the current areas, but keep it under review.
National lockdown from Boxing Day is needed.
Well, really it is needed now, but that is too much to hope for.
I’m not sure there is a “right” or “wrong” here. There is a spectrum and where on the spectrum you think is right is a value judgement
They have got it wrong, time after time.0 -
Where does it say “smart German entrepreneur saw opportunity and paid Lufthansa to fly 80 tonnes of fresh food to the U.K.”?Charles said:
Where in the article does it say it was a charity case?Theuniondivvie said:I'm sure Brits will accept this reverse Berlin airlift with the grace and humility that have become their defining characteristics.
https://twitter.com/NMMackenzie/status/1341690159574765573?s=20
I suspect it means “smart German entrepreneur saw opportunity and paid Lufthansa to fly 80 tonnes of fresh food to the U.K.”0 -
Again, Gardenwalker shows himself to be one of the most intelligent thinkers on the soft Left - and a very reflective one too.Gardenwalker said:
I don’t believe this.FF43 said:FPT
Johnson is clearly the most dishonest, incompetent, corrupt and unserious prime minister of recent times. He doesn't bother to hide it. If any of those things mattered to the 40% of the people that intend to vote for Johnson, Starmer would win, because he is none of those things.
Given that, there is nothing Starmer can do to win those people over. Johnson will always outdo him on incompetence, dishonesty and corruption.
The 40% currently don’t trust Labour and/or Starmer - or believe they don’t share their values - and so they vote the “devil they know”.
Giving up on them means Labour will never return to government.
I’d like to see Labour attack the Tories from the cultural “right” - on patriotism, appeals to the benefits of hard work, crime, probity in public office, respect for the armed forces etc.
Labour generally speaking are still talking to the Guardian reading classes.
Well done, Sir.0
