Reassuring CON voters 3 days before the Bexley by-election – politicalbetting.com

Gardenwalker said:

MaxPB said:

Gardenwalker said:

rottenborough said:

bulb has gone

I used to work next to Bulb in a very fashionable co-working space.

Could never figure out why they used it to host their entire call centre operations, employing expensive, London-based call operators.

They pitched themselves as an "energy startup" but really it was just a call centre, some branding and unsustainable prices to get customers via comparison sites.

The whole sector just seems to be built on sand, I'm not surprised they're all going bankrupt.

What terrifies me, in my advancing years, is just how many businesses are smoke and mirrors.

I’m not saying Bulb was a scam, just that the “market” was clearly incentivising simple marketing over innovation or productivity.

It's just like the credit crunch, people assumed the rates/prices would always be this cheap.

When it ends, it goes horribly bad.

I'm glad I'm with EDF, price locked until May 2023.

JBriskin3 said:

DecrepiterJohnL said:

JBriskin3 said:

RE: last thread

It flashed up on CNN that Biden has apparently told allies that he is intending to run in 2024

MRDA surely? Otherwise he'd become a lame duck overnight.

Google is no help in me trying to solve your acronym.

Mandy Rice Davies (applies).

She famously said "Well he would, wouldn't he?"

TheScreamingEagles said:

Gardenwalker said:

MaxPB said:

Gardenwalker said:

rottenborough said:

bulb has gone

I used to work next to Bulb in a very fashionable co-working space.

Could never figure out why they used it to host their entire call centre operations, employing expensive, London-based call operators.

They pitched themselves as an "energy startup" but really it was just a call centre, some branding and unsustainable prices to get customers via comparison sites.

The whole sector just seems to be built on sand, I'm not surprised they're all going bankrupt.

What terrifies me, in my advancing years, is just how many businesses are smoke and mirrors.

I’m not saying Bulb was a scam, just that the “market” was clearly incentivising simple marketing over innovation or productivity.

It's just like the credit crunch, people assumed the rates/prices would always be this cheap.

When it ends, it goes horribly bad.

I'm glad I'm with EDF, price locked until May 2023.

Assuming they don't go under.

tlg86 said:

https://tinyurl.com/367jd8e3

Health minister tells Germans they will either have 'been vaccinated, recovered or died' from Covid by end of winter

I think an Oxford comma would have been useful in that headline.

Indeed.

Talking about Oxford, next summer I have to spend 3 nights in that city.

Can PBers recommend any good places and restaurants to visit in the area.

..

tlg86 said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

Gardenwalker said:

MaxPB said:

Gardenwalker said:

rottenborough said:

bulb has gone

I used to work next to Bulb in a very fashionable co-working space.

Could never figure out why they used it to host their entire call centre operations, employing expensive, London-based call operators.

They pitched themselves as an "energy startup" but really it was just a call centre, some branding and unsustainable prices to get customers via comparison sites.

The whole sector just seems to be built on sand, I'm not surprised they're all going bankrupt.

What terrifies me, in my advancing years, is just how many businesses are smoke and mirrors.

I’m not saying Bulb was a scam, just that the “market” was clearly incentivising simple marketing over innovation or productivity.

It's just like the credit crunch, people assumed the rates/prices would always be this cheap.

When it ends, it goes horribly bad.

I'm glad I'm with EDF, price locked until May 2023.

Assuming they don't go under.

Owned by the French state, if the French state goes mammary glands up then I will be utterly devastated, UTTERLY DEVASTATED.

DecrepiterJohnL said:

JBriskin3 said:

DecrepiterJohnL said:

JBriskin3 said:

RE: last thread

It flashed up on CNN that Biden has apparently told allies that he is intending to run in 2024

MRDA surely? Otherwise he'd become a lame duck overnight.

Google is no help in me trying to solve your acronym.

Mandy Rice-Davies applies, from an answer she gave in court during the Profumo Affair – he would say that, wouldn't he.

Fair enough - that's a pretty obscure ref if you ask me.

The point you're making is of course correct.

Nigel_Foremain said:

Gardenwalker said:

tlg86 said:

MaxPB said:

Has Boris outlasted Theresa as PM yet? I think that's when Boris will go.

Updated chart:



Today, Boris Johnson has tied Henry Campbell-Bannerman on 852 days as Prime Minister.

The dates on which Boris Johnson ties the following...

Gordon Brown - 07/06/2022
Neville Chamberlain - 06/07/2022
Theresa May - 03/08/2022

A crowd in which Boris deserves to be placed.

I think that is a bit harsh on Brown, Chamberlain and May

You’re right. Add Anthony Eden too.

TheScreamingEagles said:

On topic, he's just not up to it.

This is not news. We have been saying this since Day One.

But people love him. Loses notes, dangles in mid-air looking like a complete idiot, being a complete idiot - people love him and I am not at all concerned those people will have been watching his speech to the CBI at 10am of a fine autumn morning.

Gardenwalker said:

MaxPB said:

Gardenwalker said:

rottenborough said:

bulb has gone

I used to work next to Bulb in a very fashionable co-working space.

Could never figure out why they used it to host their entire call centre operations, employing expensive, London-based call operators.

They pitched themselves as an "energy startup" but really it was just a call centre, some branding and unsustainable prices to get customers via comparison sites.

The whole sector just seems to be built on sand, I'm not surprised they're all going bankrupt.

What terrifies me, in my advancing years, is just how many businesses are smoke and mirrors.

I’m not saying Bulb was a scam, just that the “market” was clearly incentivising simple marketing over innovation or productivity.

The costs of bulb’s failure will be added to the bills of everyone, from April.

Price hikes, across the board, are gonna be eyewatering.

Northern_Al said:

Boris's gift is that he can, metaphorically, get away with murder, because he's a bit of a lad and 'one of us'.

He waffles on about Peppa Pig, makes strange noises, rambles and loses his place - but he's great.
Ed Miliband eats a bacon sandwich, rather clumsily - he's finished.
Kinnock slips on the beach and tries to gee up an audience in Sheffield rather strangely - he's finished.

But I think the Boris act is beginning to wear thin with all but his most devout admirers.

I've just caught up with the Peppa Pig vid. I wasn't as offended as I thought I would be.

On the other hand I would be as outraged as BJO if Starmer appeared as inept.

tlg86 said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

tlg86 said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

Gardenwalker said:

MaxPB said:

Gardenwalker said:

rottenborough said:

bulb has gone

I used to work next to Bulb in a very fashionable co-working space.

Could never figure out why they used it to host their entire call centre operations, employing expensive, London-based call operators.

They pitched themselves as an "energy startup" but really it was just a call centre, some branding and unsustainable prices to get customers via comparison sites.

The whole sector just seems to be built on sand, I'm not surprised they're all going bankrupt.

What terrifies me, in my advancing years, is just how many businesses are smoke and mirrors.

I’m not saying Bulb was a scam, just that the “market” was clearly incentivising simple marketing over innovation or productivity.

It's just like the credit crunch, people assumed the rates/prices would always be this cheap.

When it ends, it goes horribly bad.

I'm glad I'm with EDF, price locked until May 2023.

Assuming they don't go under.

Owned by the French state, if the French state goes mammary glands up then I will be utterly devastated, UTTERLY DEVASTATED.

I hate to break it to you, but being owned by a state doesn't mean a company won't fold...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arriva_Rail_North#Demise

Bugger.

Leon said:

HYUFD said:

MikeSmithson said:

Leon said:

Slackbladder said:

Don't you think he looks tired?

Fpt



Its the kids. Boris strikes me as the kind of selfish but charismatic chancer who has always managed to dodge most paternal duties - I don’t mean simply ignoring bastard offspring but always having something more important to do just as the wife needs help with nappies

But this time he can’t dodge. Carrie looks pretty assertive. He’s in the public spotlight. He’s stuck at Number 10. All = a lack of sleep which is ageing him by a decade in a year

I think that's right. Having kids in your 50s isn't that smart because they so disrupt your life.

I am sure they can afford nannies.

One of my late grandfathers had a child in his 50s with a younger wife but again they could afford a nanny at that time. For most people though yes without major child support it can be a burden and even with a nanny you still have to support them through school and maybe university

It’s not the financial issues - tho they are a factor - it’s the physical and emotional demands of parenting. And these are now much greater on fathers than they were.

In Victorian times a rich father could get away with seeing the bairns for 10 minutes a day and maybe an hour at the weekend. Then you packed them off to boarding school at 7. Incredible, really. And cruel

Carrie won’t stand for that. She’s a modern mum. She will expect Boris to pitch in, or else. And it is showing.

To a point, I imagine even Carrie would still like a nanny to help.

They can also I expect still send him to boarding school at 7 especially if Boris does do 5-10 years as PM and then also has the large lecture fees coming in.

Though you are right on Victorian and Edwardian times, then it was commonplace for the rich to largely farm childcare to nanny, seeing their children only at mealtimes and tea and for church on Sunday. The Nanny would also be expected to bathe them and put the children to bed and get them up in the morning and entertain them and take them to the park and there might be a cook for meals too (think Mary Poppins).

Then the children would be packed off to boarding school at 7 and from then until 18 only come back the odd weekend or holidays. Then they would head off to university or the city or the army and that was that

TheScreamingEagles said:

tlg86 said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

tlg86 said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

Gardenwalker said:

MaxPB said:

Gardenwalker said:

rottenborough said:

bulb has gone

I used to work next to Bulb in a very fashionable co-working space.

Could never figure out why they used it to host their entire call centre operations, employing expensive, London-based call operators.

They pitched themselves as an "energy startup" but really it was just a call centre, some branding and unsustainable prices to get customers via comparison sites.

The whole sector just seems to be built on sand, I'm not surprised they're all going bankrupt.

What terrifies me, in my advancing years, is just how many businesses are smoke and mirrors.

I’m not saying Bulb was a scam, just that the “market” was clearly incentivising simple marketing over innovation or productivity.

It's just like the credit crunch, people assumed the rates/prices would always be this cheap.

When it ends, it goes horribly bad.

I'm glad I'm with EDF, price locked until May 2023.

Assuming they don't go under.

Owned by the French state, if the French state goes mammary glands up then I will be utterly devastated, UTTERLY DEVASTATED.

I hate to break it to you, but being owned by a state doesn't mean a company won't fold...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arriva_Rail_North#Demise

Bugger.

I don't know the industry that well, but I thought I read that the Big 6 were getting nervous about having to take on even more customers from these chancers?

Just imagine how angry you'll be if the you get shafted by the French.

TOPPING said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

On topic, he's just not up to it.

This is not news. We have been saying this since Day One.

But people love him. Loses notes, dangles in mid-air looking like a complete idiot, being a complete idiot - people love him and I am not at all concerned those people will have been watching his speech to the CBI at 10am of a fine autumn morning.

Given the alternative were a bunch of communist ratfuckers who wank over pictures of Stalin there wasn't much choice in 2019 either.

NorthofStoke said:

The quicker Boris goes the better for everyone, including Boris, apart from Labour.

To be replaced by who?

Truss is no better.
Rishi is the Barrington Declaration with a good social media game.
Patel is thick and malign.
Javid is a non-entity.

tlg86 said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

tlg86 said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

tlg86 said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

Gardenwalker said:

MaxPB said:

Gardenwalker said:

rottenborough said:

bulb has gone

I used to work next to Bulb in a very fashionable co-working space.

Could never figure out why they used it to host their entire call centre operations, employing expensive, London-based call operators.

They pitched themselves as an "energy startup" but really it was just a call centre, some branding and unsustainable prices to get customers via comparison sites.

The whole sector just seems to be built on sand, I'm not surprised they're all going bankrupt.

What terrifies me, in my advancing years, is just how many businesses are smoke and mirrors.

I’m not saying Bulb was a scam, just that the “market” was clearly incentivising simple marketing over innovation or productivity.

It's just like the credit crunch, people assumed the rates/prices would always be this cheap.

When it ends, it goes horribly bad.

I'm glad I'm with EDF, price locked until May 2023.

Assuming they don't go under.

Owned by the French state, if the French state goes mammary glands up then I will be utterly devastated, UTTERLY DEVASTATED.

I hate to break it to you, but being owned by a state doesn't mean a company won't fold...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arriva_Rail_North#Demise

Bugger.

I don't know the industry that well, but I thought I read that the Big 6 were getting nervous about having to take on even more customers from these chancers?

Just imagine how angry you'll be if the you get shafted by the French.

I'll be outside Parliament protesting about the failure to declare war on France.

MaxPB said:

TOPPING said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

On topic, he's just not up to it.

This is not news. We have been saying this since Day One.

But people love him. Loses notes, dangles in mid-air looking like a complete idiot, being a complete idiot - people love him and I am not at all concerned those people will have been watching his speech to the CBI at 10am of a fine autumn morning.

Given the alternative were a bunch of communist ratfuckers who wank over pictures of Stalin there wasn't much choice in 2019 either.

That is absolutely true. Corbyn sits at the heart of a lot that is rotten today. I mean I voted for Boris. All this is on me. But I simply couldn't have voted for Corbyn or risked the LDs and Corbyn got in somehow.

MaxPB said:

TOPPING said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

On topic, he's just not up to it.

This is not news. We have been saying this since Day One.

But people love him. Loses notes, dangles in mid-air looking like a complete idiot, being a complete idiot - people love him and I am not at all concerned those people will have been watching his speech to the CBI at 10am of a fine autumn morning.

Given the alternative were a bunch of communist ratfuckers who wank over pictures of Stalin there wasn't much choice in 2019 either.

I put the blame as much on them as I do the Tory MPs who backed Boris Johnson in 2019.

His screws ups and laziness were well known beforehand but they still gave him their votes.

isam said:

The other day I pointed out Sir Keir waffling, panicking and getting mixed up, saying he was leader in 2018 etc when questioned by the bbc about his second job - I was castigated for being obsessed. Boris does likewise and it’s the thread header!

I am in my 50s and have been interested in politics all my life. I have never ever seen a professional politician make such a presentational howler. If you think this is similar to Starmer saying the wrong year you have no political judgment. Starmer's was slightly embarrassing for him. This is just on a completely different scale!

Nigel_Foremain said:

isam said:

The other day I pointed out Sir Keir waffling, panicking and getting mixed up, saying he was leader in 2018 etc when questioned by the bbc about his second job - I was castigated for being obsessed. Boris does likewise and it’s the thread header!

I am in my 50s and have been interested in politics all my life. I have never ever seen a professional politician make such a presentational howler. If you think this is similar to Starmer saying the wrong year you have no political judgment. Starmer's was slightly embarrassing for him. This is just on a completely different scale!

What about May’s coughing fit and the collapsing scenery?

TheScreamingEagles said:

MaxPB said:

TOPPING said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

On topic, he's just not up to it.

This is not news. We have been saying this since Day One.

But people love him. Loses notes, dangles in mid-air looking like a complete idiot, being a complete idiot - people love him and I am not at all concerned those people will have been watching his speech to the CBI at 10am of a fine autumn morning.

Given the alternative were a bunch of communist ratfuckers who wank over pictures of Stalin there wasn't much choice in 2019 either.

I put the blame as much on them as I do the Tory MPs who backed Boris Johnson in 2019.

His screws ups and laziness were well known beforehand but they still gave him their votes.

Nah, the issue was with Hunt, who I voted for, in not setting out that his number one aim would be to get the UK out of the EU and have people believe he would do it rather than get in number 10 and then tell everyone it was too difficult so we're not going to bother with it now. Brexit needed a conclusion of any kind and Hunt had absolutely no plan to bring that about.

TheScreamingEagles said:

JBriskin3 said:

DecrepiterJohnL said:

JBriskin3 said:

RE: last thread

It flashed up on CNN that Biden has apparently told allies that he is intending to run in 2024

MRDA surely? Otherwise he'd become a lame duck overnight.

Google is no help in me trying to solve your acronym.

Mandy Rice Davies (applies).

She famously said "Well he would, wouldn't he?"

Isn't the irony of that deservedly famous quotation that the guy she was talking about was actually probably telling the truth, at least on that occasion? Or have I misremembered it?

TheScreamingEagles said:

tlg86 said:

https://tinyurl.com/367jd8e3

Health minister tells Germans they will either have 'been vaccinated, recovered or died' from Covid by end of winter

I think an Oxford comma would have been useful in that headline.

Indeed.

Talking about Oxford, next summer I have to spend 3 nights in that city.

Can PBers recommend any good places and restaurants to visit in the area.

The Ashmoleon and Pitt Rivers museums are excellent, there are also some good coffee houses near All Souls.

The Eagle and Child pub where CS Lewis and Tolkien went was good but sadly has closed down for now, the Morse pub the Trout Inn just outside the city has great views of the river but better for drinking than eating

DecrepiterJohnL said:

JBriskin3 said:

DecrepiterJohnL said:

JBriskin3 said:

DecrepiterJohnL said:

JBriskin3 said:

RE: last thread

It flashed up on CNN that Biden has apparently told allies that he is intending to run in 2024

MRDA surely? Otherwise he'd become a lame duck overnight.

Google is no help in me trying to solve your acronym.

Mandy Rice-Davies applies, from an answer she gave in court during the Profumo Affair – he would say that, wouldn't he.

Fair enough - that's a pretty obscure ref if you ask me.

The point you're making is of course correct.

MRDA is often used on pb, like QTWAIN, AICMFP and, well, pb.

The Profumo Affair should be part of British folklore. A spy scandal with comic elements. A vengeful Establishment driving Ward to suicide. Walk-on parts for a slum landlord later to be notorious in his own right. The Home Secretary acting ultra vires. Two iconic moments: *that* photograph of Christine Keeler, and MRDA, which is where we came in, answering what may have been the most ill-considered question ever put in cross-examination. And the whole thing ruthlessly weaponised by Labour to end 13 years of Tory hegemony.

POBWAS is an adaptation of an acronym used on this site when Gordon used to embarrass himself on a regular basis

The one thing I guess that might do for Boris, I suppose, is that a sense of overwhelming contempt for him may develop in the public mind.

May and Brown were both thought pitiable, pathetic and useless - but not, I think, contemptible.

Gardenwalker said:

The one thing I guess that might do for Boris, I suppose, is that a sense of overwhelming contempt for him may develop in the public mind.

Boris Johnson delivers a rambling speech in which he compared himself to Moses in relation to the government’s environment policy https://trib.al/3xYVrZ4

TOPPING said:

MaxPB said:

TOPPING said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

On topic, he's just not up to it.

This is not news. We have been saying this since Day One.

But people love him. Loses notes, dangles in mid-air looking like a complete idiot, being a complete idiot - people love him and I am not at all concerned those people will have been watching his speech to the CBI at 10am of a fine autumn morning.

Given the alternative were a bunch of communist ratfuckers who wank over pictures of Stalin there wasn't much choice in 2019 either.

That is absolutely true. Corbyn sits at the heart of a lot that is rotten today. I mean I voted for Boris. All this is on me. But I simply couldn't have voted for Corbyn or risked the LDs and Corbyn got in somehow.

Had Burnham beaten Corbyn for the Labour leadership he may well have not only denied May a majority in 2017 or whenever she called the election but won most seats.

Brexit would then never have been delivered and Burnham would now be PM not Boris.

There is a strong argument to say Labour electing Corbyn in 2015 ensured Brexit was delivered and led to Boris becoming PM now

Nigel_Foremain said:

DecrepiterJohnL said:

JBriskin3 said:

DecrepiterJohnL said:

JBriskin3 said:

DecrepiterJohnL said:

JBriskin3 said:

RE: last thread

It flashed up on CNN that Biden has apparently told allies that he is intending to run in 2024

MRDA surely? Otherwise he'd become a lame duck overnight.

Google is no help in me trying to solve your acronym.

Mandy Rice-Davies applies, from an answer she gave in court during the Profumo Affair – he would say that, wouldn't he.

Fair enough - that's a pretty obscure ref if you ask me.

The point you're making is of course correct.

MRDA is often used on pb, like QTWAIN, AICMFP and, well, pb.

The Profumo Affair should be part of British folklore. A spy scandal with comic elements. A vengeful Establishment driving Ward to suicide. Walk-on parts for a slum landlord later to be notorious in his own right. The Home Secretary acting ultra vires. Two iconic moments: *that* photograph of Christine Keeler, and MRDA, which is where we came in, answering what may have been the most ill-considered question ever put in cross-examination. And the whole thing ruthlessly weaponised by Labour to end 13 years of Tory hegemony.

POBWAS is an adaptation of an acronym used on this site when Gordon used to embarrass himself on a regular basis

I'm not sure that's correct although I know PODWAS did evolve to certain circumstances.

I don't what AICMFP is though.

HYUFD said:

Farooq said:

HYUFD said:

Farooq said:

CarlottaVance said:

mickydroy said:

How on earth, have we ended up with this fool as P.M

Ask yourself who the alternative was and who bears responsibility for that?

Jeremy Hunt, Conservative members.
Next.

The alternative was Corbyn who Hunt, unlike Boris, would probably have not won a majority against as he would have had less appeal in the RedWall and the Brexit Party would have stood candidates in Tory held seats as they did not do with Boris, hence the Tories would have lost more seats to the LDs too

Corbyn wasn't on the ticket for the Conservative leadership. Boris became PM as a result of the leadership election.

The aim of which was to pick a leader to beat Corbyn and deliver Brexit.

Both of which Boris achieved

Beating Corbyn was a lucky escape from massive public spending, rising taxes, and a state interfering in every aspect of our lives, for sure.

Gardenwalker said:

The one thing I guess that might do for Boris, I suppose, is that a sense of overwhelming contempt for him may develop in the public mind.

May and Brown were both thought pitiable, pathetic and useless - but not, I think, contemptible.

There's an analogy to be made between Johnson and Solskjaer.

Beloved by the supporters, nothing but good will for them but what ends them is the piss taking by their opponents.

'Ole's at the wheel.'

Nigel_Foremain said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

On topic, he's just not up to it.

To all those Johnson apologists: I told you so. He has fucked the Conservative Party

Why should they get left out ?

HYUFD said:

Nigel_Foremain said:

HYUFD said:

Farooq said:

CarlottaVance said:

mickydroy said:

How on earth, have we ended up with this fool as P.M

Ask yourself who the alternative was and who bears responsibility for that?

Jeremy Hunt, Conservative members.
Next.

The alternative was Corbyn who Hunt, unlike Boris, would probably have not won a majority against as he would have had less appeal in the RedWall and the Brexit Party would have stood candidates in Tory held seats as they did not do with Boris, hence the Tories would have lost more seats to the LDs too

Without a parallel universe you have no way of knowing. Hunt is a highly able man. You have no idea what sort of campaign he would have led. The outcome would no doubt have been different in detail, but the country was already terrified of Mr. Thicky and Hunt would have beaten him almost certainly. It was not a pro-Bozo election, more an anti-Corbyn one.

Hunt would likely would done little better against Corbyn than May did in 2017, again probably Tories most seats but no Tory majority

Why? If people like Big_G who had spent an entire year telling us how dreadful Boris would be, eventually voted for him to avoid Corbyn, then they’d have voted for Hunt for the same reason.

Pretty worrying to lose support from journalists for whom the yardstick had been "at least he's not Hitler". ~AA https://twitter.com/BestForBritain/status/1462774779447029761/photo/1

Leon said:

DecrepiterJohnL said:

Leon said:

HYUFD said:

MikeSmithson said:

Leon said:

Slackbladder said:

Don't you think he looks tired?

Fpt



Its the kids. Boris strikes me as the kind of selfish but charismatic chancer who has always managed to dodge most paternal duties - I don’t mean simply ignoring bastard offspring but always having something more important to do just as the wife needs help with nappies

But this time he can’t dodge. Carrie looks pretty assertive. He’s in the public spotlight. He’s stuck at Number 10. All = a lack of sleep which is ageing him by a decade in a year

I think that's right. Having kids in your 50s isn't that smart because they so disrupt your life.

I am sure they can afford nannies.

One of my late grandfathers had a child in his 50s with a younger wife but again they could afford a nanny at that time. For most people though yes without major child support it can be a burden and even with a nanny you still have to support them through school and maybe university

It’s not the financial issues - tho they are a factor - it’s the physical and emotional demands of parenting. And these are now much greater on fathers than they were.

In Victorian times a rich father could get away with seeing the bairns for 10 minutes a day and maybe an hour at the weekend. Then you packed them off to boarding school at 7. Incredible, really. And cruel

Carrie won’t stand for that. She’s a modern mum. She will expect Boris to pitch in, or else. And it is showing.

Two of our last three Prime Ministers were packed off to boarding school at seven or eight, and probably nearly all the rest before Wilson. Pitt the Younger was home-schooled iirc from the ITV series.

I don't understand parents, esp a mother, who will happily post their children to faraway places when the kids are about 7. And not see them for months, or years

7? It's an adorable age. That's when kids are most fun - from about 6 to 10. Inquiring, amusing, eager, cute, unpredictable, yet still with that precious innocence.

15 or 17 is different, of course.

I am sure plenty of kids benefit from the bracing cruelty of boarding school at age 7. Makes you independent, blah blah

But I have friends who absolutely hated it, and who have blamed and despised their parents ever since

Have any of them nevertheless sent their kids to boarding school?
My dad absolutely loathed being boarded to Edinburgh Academy while his parents lived the colonial life yet wanted to send my brother and me to Gordonstoun, thankfully my mother prevailed.
People are strange, part 79.

HYUFD said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

tlg86 said:

https://tinyurl.com/367jd8e3

Health minister tells Germans they will either have 'been vaccinated, recovered or died' from Covid by end of winter

I think an Oxford comma would have been useful in that headline.

Indeed.

Talking about Oxford, next summer I have to spend 3 nights in that city.

Can PBers recommend any good places and restaurants to visit in the area.

The Ashmoleon and Pitt Rivers museums are excellent, there are also some good coffee houses near All Souls.

The Eagle and Child pub where CS Lewis and Tolkien went was good but sadly has closed down for now, the Morse pub the Trout Inn just outside the city has great views of the river but better for drinking than eating

Afternoon tea on the rooftop terrace of the Ashmolean (a kind of miniature British Museum) is worth paying their slightly inflated prices.

Farooq said:

HYUFD said:

Farooq said:

HYUFD said:

Farooq said:

CarlottaVance said:

mickydroy said:

How on earth, have we ended up with this fool as P.M

Ask yourself who the alternative was and who bears responsibility for that?

Jeremy Hunt, Conservative members.
Next.

The alternative was Corbyn who Hunt, unlike Boris, would probably have not won a majority against as he would have had less appeal in the RedWall and the Brexit Party would have stood candidates in Tory held seats as they did not do with Boris, hence the Tories would have lost more seats to the LDs too

Corbyn wasn't on the ticket for the Conservative leadership. Boris became PM as a result of the leadership election.

The aim of which was to pick a leader to beat Corbyn and deliver Brexit.

Both of which Boris achieved

Super! He can leave now and be applauded as the stunning success he is, or something.
I was only answering the question as posed though, and correctly. Still, if you're having second thoughts having backed him in the leadership election, that's good news for all of us I guess.

I voted for Boris in 2019 to beat Corbyn and deliver Brexit, not because I expected him to be a great administrator as PM.

Boris did what I voted for.

As for the next general election I have an open mind, if Labour starts to get a big poll lead and polls show Sunak beating Starmer then I would switch to Sunak no problem. For now I will give Boris the benefit of the doubt with polls about level

TheScreamingEagles said:

Farooq said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

tlg86 said:

https://tinyurl.com/367jd8e3

Health minister tells Germans they will either have 'been vaccinated, recovered or died' from Covid by end of winter

I think an Oxford comma would have been useful in that headline.

Indeed.

Talking about Oxford, next summer I have to spend 3 nights in that city.

Can PBers recommend any good places and restaurants to visit in the area.

There's a McDonalds on Cornmarket Street.

I was hoping for something a bit more upmarket.

There is a Wetherspoons, the Four Candles. I once had breakfast there.

Nigelb said:

HYUFD said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

tlg86 said:

https://tinyurl.com/367jd8e3

Health minister tells Germans they will either have 'been vaccinated, recovered or died' from Covid by end of winter

I think an Oxford comma would have been useful in that headline.

Indeed.

Talking about Oxford, next summer I have to spend 3 nights in that city.

Can PBers recommend any good places and restaurants to visit in the area.

The Ashmoleon and Pitt Rivers museums are excellent, there are also some good coffee houses near All Souls.

The Eagle and Child pub where CS Lewis and Tolkien went was good but sadly has closed down for now, the Morse pub the Trout Inn just outside the city has great views of the river but better for drinking than eating

Afternoon tea on the rooftop terrace of the Ashmolean (a kind of miniature British Museum) is worth paying their slightly inflated prices.

Ashmolean cafe definitely good for the views. Chiang Mai Kitchen still very good and Edamame if you don’t mind the odd opening hours and sharing tables.

Theuniondivvie said:

Leon said:

DecrepiterJohnL said:

Leon said:

HYUFD said:

MikeSmithson said:

Leon said:

Slackbladder said:

Don't you think he looks tired?

Fpt



Its the kids. Boris strikes me as the kind of selfish but charismatic chancer who has always managed to dodge most paternal duties - I don’t mean simply ignoring bastard offspring but always having something more important to do just as the wife needs help with nappies

But this time he can’t dodge. Carrie looks pretty assertive. He’s in the public spotlight. He’s stuck at Number 10. All = a lack of sleep which is ageing him by a decade in a year

I think that's right. Having kids in your 50s isn't that smart because they so disrupt your life.

I am sure they can afford nannies.

One of my late grandfathers had a child in his 50s with a younger wife but again they could afford a nanny at that time. For most people though yes without major child support it can be a burden and even with a nanny you still have to support them through school and maybe university

It’s not the financial issues - tho they are a factor - it’s the physical and emotional demands of parenting. And these are now much greater on fathers than they were.

In Victorian times a rich father could get away with seeing the bairns for 10 minutes a day and maybe an hour at the weekend. Then you packed them off to boarding school at 7. Incredible, really. And cruel

Carrie won’t stand for that. She’s a modern mum. She will expect Boris to pitch in, or else. And it is showing.

Two of our last three Prime Ministers were packed off to boarding school at seven or eight, and probably nearly all the rest before Wilson. Pitt the Younger was home-schooled iirc from the ITV series.

I don't understand parents, esp a mother, who will happily post their children to faraway places when the kids are about 7. And not see them for months, or years

7? It's an adorable age. That's when kids are most fun - from about 6 to 10. Inquiring, amusing, eager, cute, unpredictable, yet still with that precious innocence.

15 or 17 is different, of course.

I am sure plenty of kids benefit from the bracing cruelty of boarding school at age 7. Makes you independent, blah blah

But I have friends who absolutely hated it, and who have blamed and despised their parents ever since

Have any of them nevertheless sent their kids to boarding school?
My dad absolutely loathed being boarded to Edinburgh Academy while his parents lived the colonial life yet wanted to send my brother and me to Gordonstoun, thankfully my mother prevailed.
People are strange, part 79.

If you'd gone you might have grown up to be Prince Charles.

IanB2 said:

HYUFD said:

Nigel_Foremain said:

HYUFD said:

Farooq said:

CarlottaVance said:

mickydroy said:

How on earth, have we ended up with this fool as P.M

Ask yourself who the alternative was and who bears responsibility for that?

Jeremy Hunt, Conservative members.
Next.

The alternative was Corbyn who Hunt, unlike Boris, would probably have not won a majority against as he would have had less appeal in the RedWall and the Brexit Party would have stood candidates in Tory held seats as they did not do with Boris, hence the Tories would have lost more seats to the LDs too

Without a parallel universe you have no way of knowing. Hunt is a highly able man. You have no idea what sort of campaign he would have led. The outcome would no doubt have been different in detail, but the country was already terrified of Mr. Thicky and Hunt would have beaten him almost certainly. It was not a pro-Bozo election, more an anti-Corbyn one.

Hunt would likely would done little better against Corbyn than May did in 2017, again probably Tories most seats but no Tory majority

Why? If people like Big_G who had spent an entire year telling us how dreadful Boris would be, eventually voted for him to avoid Corbyn, then they’d have voted for Hunt for the same reason.

BigG also voted for May in 2017, it was voters in the RedWall who would still mainly have voted Labour in 2019, they voted for Boris as he was a Leaver they knew would deliver Brexit unlike Hunt. Otherwise some of them would have gone Brexit Party instead of Conservative if Hunt was Tory leader

HYUFD said:

Farooq said:

HYUFD said:

Farooq said:

HYUFD said:

Farooq said:

CarlottaVance said:

mickydroy said:

How on earth, have we ended up with this fool as P.M

Ask yourself who the alternative was and who bears responsibility for that?

Jeremy Hunt, Conservative members.
Next.

The alternative was Corbyn who Hunt, unlike Boris, would probably have not won a majority against as he would have had less appeal in the RedWall and the Brexit Party would have stood candidates in Tory held seats as they did not do with Boris, hence the Tories would have lost more seats to the LDs too

Corbyn wasn't on the ticket for the Conservative leadership. Boris became PM as a result of the leadership election.

The aim of which was to pick a leader to beat Corbyn and deliver Brexit.

Both of which Boris achieved

Super! He can leave now and be applauded as the stunning success he is, or something.
I was only answering the question as posed though, and correctly. Still, if you're having second thoughts having backed him in the leadership election, that's good news for all of us I guess.

I voted for Boris in 2019 to beat Corbyn and deliver Brexit, not because I expected him to be a great administrator as PM.

Boris did what I voted for.

As for the next general election I have an open mind, if Labour starts to get a big poll lead and polls show Sunak beating Starmer then I would switch to Sunak no problem. For now I will give Boris the benefit of the doubt with polls about level

That is fair enough apart from the to deliver Brexit thing. Why did you want a politician to deliver a policy which you disagree with.

Weaponising! LOL

Labour weaponising the PM losing his place in the CBI speech.


https://twitter.com/benrileysmith/status/1462761369447636992

Leon said:

DecrepiterJohnL said:

Leon said:

HYUFD said:

MikeSmithson said:

Leon said:

Slackbladder said:

Don't you think he looks tired?

Fpt



Its the kids. Boris strikes me as the kind of selfish but charismatic chancer who has always managed to dodge most paternal duties - I don’t mean simply ignoring bastard offspring but always having something more important to do just as the wife needs help with nappies

But this time he can’t dodge. Carrie looks pretty assertive. He’s in the public spotlight. He’s stuck at Number 10. All = a lack of sleep which is ageing him by a decade in a year

I think that's right. Having kids in your 50s isn't that smart because they so disrupt your life.

I am sure they can afford nannies.

One of my late grandfathers had a child in his 50s with a younger wife but again they could afford a nanny at that time. For most people though yes without major child support it can be a burden and even with a nanny you still have to support them through school and maybe university

It’s not the financial issues - tho they are a factor - it’s the physical and emotional demands of parenting. And these are now much greater on fathers than they were.

In Victorian times a rich father could get away with seeing the bairns for 10 minutes a day and maybe an hour at the weekend. Then you packed them off to boarding school at 7. Incredible, really. And cruel

Carrie won’t stand for that. She’s a modern mum. She will expect Boris to pitch in, or else. And it is showing.

Two of our last three Prime Ministers were packed off to boarding school at seven or eight, and probably nearly all the rest before Wilson. Pitt the Younger was home-schooled iirc from the ITV series.

I don't understand parents, esp a mother, who will happily post their children to faraway places when the kids are about 7. And not see them for months, or years

7? It's an adorable age. That's when kids are most fun - from about 6 to 10. Inquiring, amusing, eager, cute, unpredictable, yet still with that precious innocence.

15 or 17 is different, of course.

I am sure plenty of kids benefit from the bracing cruelty of boarding school at age 7. Makes you independent, blah blah

But I have friends who absolutely hated it, and who have blamed and despised their parents ever since

What is the point of having kids and packing them off to boarding school? If you want to have a relaxing time then don't have kids. You are right about the 6-10 age range. My eldest is coming up for 13 and the experience with her is totally different now!

My wife went to several boarding schools primarily because her father was often working in different jobs in Europe and it provided her some stability. There are some circumstances like that where they fulfil a need. In most cases though I feel it is for parents with lots of money so they can carry on living a life as if they didn't have kids for 2/3rds of the year.

I can understand how Boris is knackered. My kids are 12, 8 and 4 and I regularly get woken at 4.30am in the morning by the youngest, work during the day and at the end of the day act as a taxi service for kids activities. Often I don't get in from them until 9pm. I'm often in bed before the oldest one. At least I don't have to worry about being Prime Minister too!

Gardenwalker said:

Nigel_Foremain said:

isam said:

The other day I pointed out Sir Keir waffling, panicking and getting mixed up, saying he was leader in 2018 etc when questioned by the bbc about his second job - I was castigated for being obsessed. Boris does likewise and it’s the thread header!

I am in my 50s and have been interested in politics all my life. I have never ever seen a professional politician make such a presentational howler. If you think this is similar to Starmer saying the wrong year you have no political judgment. Starmer's was slightly embarrassing for him. This is just on a completely different scale!

What about May’s coughing fit and the collapsing scenery?

What about it? People can get coughing fits - I thought she handled it well with the proffered cough sweet complete with gags about the chancellor charging her later.

Despite the P45 prank. And almost choking several times. And having to make jokes about said P45 and the cough and the sweet, she didn't lose her place.

TOPPING said:

Theuniondivvie said:

Leon said:

DecrepiterJohnL said:

Leon said:

HYUFD said:

MikeSmithson said:

Leon said:

Slackbladder said:

Don't you think he looks tired?

Fpt



Its the kids. Boris strikes me as the kind of selfish but charismatic chancer who has always managed to dodge most paternal duties - I don’t mean simply ignoring bastard offspring but always having something more important to do just as the wife needs help with nappies

But this time he can’t dodge. Carrie looks pretty assertive. He’s in the public spotlight. He’s stuck at Number 10. All = a lack of sleep which is ageing him by a decade in a year

I think that's right. Having kids in your 50s isn't that smart because they so disrupt your life.

I am sure they can afford nannies.

One of my late grandfathers had a child in his 50s with a younger wife but again they could afford a nanny at that time. For most people though yes without major child support it can be a burden and even with a nanny you still have to support them through school and maybe university

It’s not the financial issues - tho they are a factor - it’s the physical and emotional demands of parenting. And these are now much greater on fathers than they were.

In Victorian times a rich father could get away with seeing the bairns for 10 minutes a day and maybe an hour at the weekend. Then you packed them off to boarding school at 7. Incredible, really. And cruel

Carrie won’t stand for that. She’s a modern mum. She will expect Boris to pitch in, or else. And it is showing.

Two of our last three Prime Ministers were packed off to boarding school at seven or eight, and probably nearly all the rest before Wilson. Pitt the Younger was home-schooled iirc from the ITV series.

I don't understand parents, esp a mother, who will happily post their children to faraway places when the kids are about 7. And not see them for months, or years

7? It's an adorable age. That's when kids are most fun - from about 6 to 10. Inquiring, amusing, eager, cute, unpredictable, yet still with that precious innocence.

15 or 17 is different, of course.

I am sure plenty of kids benefit from the bracing cruelty of boarding school at age 7. Makes you independent, blah blah

But I have friends who absolutely hated it, and who have blamed and despised their parents ever since

Have any of them nevertheless sent their kids to boarding school?
My dad absolutely loathed being boarded to Edinburgh Academy while his parents lived the colonial life yet wanted to send my brother and me to Gordonstoun, thankfully my mother prevailed.
People are strange, part 79.

If you'd gone you might have grown up to be Prince Charles.

Between Andrew's & Edward's ages, so..

HYUFD said:

Farooq said:

HYUFD said:

Farooq said:

HYUFD said:

Farooq said:

CarlottaVance said:

mickydroy said:

How on earth, have we ended up with this fool as P.M

Ask yourself who the alternative was and who bears responsibility for that?

Jeremy Hunt, Conservative members.
Next.

The alternative was Corbyn who Hunt, unlike Boris, would probably have not won a majority against as he would have had less appeal in the RedWall and the Brexit Party would have stood candidates in Tory held seats as they did not do with Boris, hence the Tories would have lost more seats to the LDs too

Corbyn wasn't on the ticket for the Conservative leadership. Boris became PM as a result of the leadership election.

The aim of which was to pick a leader to beat Corbyn and deliver Brexit.

Both of which Boris achieved

Super! He can leave now and be applauded as the stunning success he is, or something.
I was only answering the question as posed though, and correctly. Still, if you're having second thoughts having backed him in the leadership election, that's good news for all of us I guess.

I voted for Boris in 2019 to beat Corbyn and deliver Brexit, not because I expected him to be a great administrator as PM.

Boris did what I voted for.

As for the next general election I have an open mind, if Labour starts to get a big poll lead and polls show Sunak beating Starmer then I would switch to Sunak no problem. For now I will give Boris the benefit of the doubt with polls about level

Surely you voted for Boris because as the only gay Tory in the village you would loyally vote for whomever or whatever happened to be the Tory leader because they were the Tory leader.

Don't come on here trying to give reason for your vote when you deny that reason to others. You are a sycophantic lackey.

AlistairM said:

Leon said:

DecrepiterJohnL said:

Leon said:

HYUFD said:

MikeSmithson said:

Leon said:

Slackbladder said:

Don't you think he looks tired?

Fpt



Its the kids. Boris strikes me as the kind of selfish but charismatic chancer who has always managed to dodge most paternal duties - I don’t mean simply ignoring bastard offspring but always having something more important to do just as the wife needs help with nappies

But this time he can’t dodge. Carrie looks pretty assertive. He’s in the public spotlight. He’s stuck at Number 10. All = a lack of sleep which is ageing him by a decade in a year

I think that's right. Having kids in your 50s isn't that smart because they so disrupt your life.

I am sure they can afford nannies.

One of my late grandfathers had a child in his 50s with a younger wife but again they could afford a nanny at that time. For most people though yes without major child support it can be a burden and even with a nanny you still have to support them through school and maybe university

It’s not the financial issues - tho they are a factor - it’s the physical and emotional demands of parenting. And these are now much greater on fathers than they were.

In Victorian times a rich father could get away with seeing the bairns for 10 minutes a day and maybe an hour at the weekend. Then you packed them off to boarding school at 7. Incredible, really. And cruel

Carrie won’t stand for that. She’s a modern mum. She will expect Boris to pitch in, or else. And it is showing.

Two of our last three Prime Ministers were packed off to boarding school at seven or eight, and probably nearly all the rest before Wilson. Pitt the Younger was home-schooled iirc from the ITV series.

I don't understand parents, esp a mother, who will happily post their children to faraway places when the kids are about 7. And not see them for months, or years

7? It's an adorable age. That's when kids are most fun - from about 6 to 10. Inquiring, amusing, eager, cute, unpredictable, yet still with that precious innocence.

15 or 17 is different, of course.

I am sure plenty of kids benefit from the bracing cruelty of boarding school at age 7. Makes you independent, blah blah

But I have friends who absolutely hated it, and who have blamed and despised their parents ever since

What is the point of having kids and packing them off to boarding school? If you want to have a relaxing time then don't have kids. You are right about the 6-10 age range. My eldest is coming up for 13 and the experience with her is totally different now!

My wife went to several boarding schools primarily because her father was often working in different jobs in Europe and it provided her some stability. There are some circumstances like that where they fulfil a need. In most cases though I feel it is for parents with lots of money so they can carry on living a life as if they didn't have kids for 2/3rds of the year.

I can understand how Boris is knackered. My kids are 12, 8 and 4 and I regularly get woken at 4.30am in the morning by the youngest, work during the day and at the end of the day act as a taxi service for kids activities. Often I don't get in from them until 9pm. I'm often in bed before the oldest one. At least I don't have to worry about being Prime Minister too!

Would feel its very much an outdated hang-over from Empire as a boarding school. A lot of private schools are just 'day' schools these days.