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It’s hard to see how Johnson recovers from this – politicalbetting.com

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  • MattWMattW Posts: 18,086
    edited December 2021
    eek said:

    Sandpit said:

    eek said:

    Sandpit said:

    eek said:

    Sandpit said:

    eek said:

    Sandpit said:

    algarkirk said:



    Honestly Nick?!? Being a vocal fan of Franco, advocating armed invasion of Scotland and cheering police brutality against voting grannies is OK with a former Labour MP? I thought better of you and your party.

    I'm in favour of freedom of speech, so long as the opinions expressed are legal. If they're expressed politely, as HYUFD does, so much the better (I don't think I've heard him on the subject of brutality to grannies). As you'd expect, I disagree with almost everything he says (except his judgement on polls which is often quite sharp), but I like that he's willing to say what he thinks. None of us on PB should feel cowed.
    What is an "illegal opinion"? It can't mean an opinion that would be illegal to put into effect - like that face coverings should always be discretionary or that the urban speed limit should be 35 mph. Which are the opinions that it is against the law to hold? This is a genuine question.

    Anything Rod Liddle says at Durham Students’ Union, or Dave Chappelle on stage at a comedy club?
    I don't think everything Rod Liddle said at Durham South College was illegal, however it does seem close to equality Act.

    Durham is actually interesting as it seems to be two different sets of people with different arguments. The Free Speech are going - it's great how dare Mr Luckhurst be attacked while Durham University is going HOW many parts of his employment contract did he break and can we fix it before more students remove Durham as their first choice.
    It very sad, that university authorities now appear to have a problem with inviting speakers who challenge the viewpoint of some of the students.

    Isn’t having your horizons opened, and your views challenged, supposed to be the whole point of university?
    Again you are missing the context which is both Mr Luckhurst's fault and will be his downfall.

    Mr Liddle was invited to a formal as the speaker without revealing to anyone who the guest was (because if he had few people would have attended). Now the formal was in South College so the College Principal (Mr Luckhurst) basically invited his mate to insult all the students he has a pastoral care responsibility for in his role as College Principal.

    It's also worth adding that there is no right of response or even right to exit the room (even to go to the toilet) and doing so could be subject to disciplinary measures up to expulsion from Durham.

    So that's the first problem Durham University has to deal with. The second one is that it's now also been made into a Free Speech political football to try and project Mr Luckhurst who seems to breached numerous parts of his employment contract.

    And from what I gather it's not doing recruitment any good - UCAS forms are in and this is the exact time students finalise their choices.
    The problem there, is rules that say one can be disciplined for leaving the room at an event.

    Students need to spend a lot more time listing to opinions with which they disagree, because that’s what will happen when they enter the real world.
    Which is what the Free Speech people are trying to argue when Mr Luckhurst's problem is that he's basically broken whole sections of his employment contract while bringing his employer into disrupt.

    The one thing Free Speech activists seem to forget is that while you have Free Speech on a personal level, chances are you've willingly signed other contracts that may impact what you can say or do - see @Casino_Royale keeping quiet about his old employer.
    What does his employment contract say, no speakers to the right of Jeremy Corbyn? There’s clearly something missing from the story.
    As College Principal he was Duty of care responsibility to the students who call South College their home for the years they are at Durham.

    And you then just compare the speech to Durham University's Bullying policy and reflect upon that policy and Mr Luckhurst's position within South College.
    I haven't seen any of the policies or the speeches, but I would be inclined to interpret "Duty of Care" to include exposing them to ideas they have a prejudice against to help them grow up.

    The stuff by Ms Luckhurst seemed a touch marginal, perhaps.
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 40,950
    MattW said:

    eek said:

    Sandpit said:

    eek said:

    Sandpit said:

    eek said:

    Sandpit said:

    eek said:

    Sandpit said:

    algarkirk said:



    Honestly Nick?!? Being a vocal fan of Franco, advocating armed invasion of Scotland and cheering police brutality against voting grannies is OK with a former Labour MP? I thought better of you and your party.

    I'm in favour of freedom of speech, so long as the opinions expressed are legal. If they're expressed politely, as HYUFD does, so much the better (I don't think I've heard him on the subject of brutality to grannies). As you'd expect, I disagree with almost everything he says (except his judgement on polls which is often quite sharp), but I like that he's willing to say what he thinks. None of us on PB should feel cowed.
    What is an "illegal opinion"? It can't mean an opinion that would be illegal to put into effect - like that face coverings should always be discretionary or that the urban speed limit should be 35 mph. Which are the opinions that it is against the law to hold? This is a genuine question.

    Anything Rod Liddle says at Durham Students’ Union, or Dave Chappelle on stage at a comedy club?
    I don't think everything Rod Liddle said at Durham South College was illegal, however it does seem close to equality Act.

    Durham is actually interesting as it seems to be two different sets of people with different arguments. The Free Speech are going - it's great how dare Mr Luckhurst be attacked while Durham University is going HOW many parts of his employment contract did he break and can we fix it before more students remove Durham as their first choice.
    It very sad, that university authorities now appear to have a problem with inviting speakers who challenge the viewpoint of some of the students.

    Isn’t having your horizons opened, and your views challenged, supposed to be the whole point of university?
    Again you are missing the context which is both Mr Luckhurst's fault and will be his downfall.

    Mr Liddle was invited to a formal as the speaker without revealing to anyone who the guest was (because if he had few people would have attended). Now the formal was in South College so the College Principal (Mr Luckhurst) basically invited his mate to insult all the students he has a pastoral care responsibility for in his role as College Principal.

    It's also worth adding that there is no right of response or even right to exit the room (even to go to the toilet) and doing so could be subject to disciplinary measures up to expulsion from Durham.

    So that's the first problem Durham University has to deal with. The second one is that it's now also been made into a Free Speech political football to try and project Mr Luckhurst who seems to breached numerous parts of his employment contract.

    And from what I gather it's not doing recruitment any good - UCAS forms are in and this is the exact time students finalise their choices.
    The problem there, is rules that say one can be disciplined for leaving the room at an event.

    Students need to spend a lot more time listing to opinions with which they disagree, because that’s what will happen when they enter the real world.
    Which is what the Free Speech people are trying to argue when Mr Luckhurst's problem is that he's basically broken whole sections of his employment contract while bringing his employer into disrupt.

    The one thing Free Speech activists seem to forget is that while you have Free Speech on a personal level, chances are you've willingly signed other contracts that may impact what you can say or do - see @Casino_Royale keeping quiet about his old employer.
    What does his employment contract say, no speakers to the right of Jeremy Corbyn? There’s clearly something missing from the story.
    As College Principal he was Duty of care responsibility to the students who call South College their home for the years they are at Durham.

    And you then just compare the speech to Durham University's Bullying policy and reflect upon that policy and Mr Luckhurst's position within South College.
    I haven't seen any of the policies, but I would be inclined to interpret "Duty of Care" to include exposing them to ideas they have a prejudice against to help them grow up.
    Yes. To help them grow up so as to be able to take over the estate later in life.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 49,614
    At what point does a sporting authority realise it has lost control, and the competitors are laughing at it?

    From the press conference today:-

    Norris and Leclerc in the press conference together:

    Tom: "Lando...how are you going to beat this guy?"

    Lando: "I can try brake testing him! It's only a 10 second penalty..."

    https://mobile.twitter.com/autosport/status/1468897017736970248
  • turbotubbsturbotubbs Posts: 14,878

    MattW said:

    IshmaelZ said:

    MattW said:

    IshmaelZ said:

    Leon said:

    Dr Eric Fingl-Doom on France


    “Devastating surge of #COVID19 emerging in France 🇫🇷, where cases are near/at record highs. Cases also surging much faster & steeper than previous waves—especially in young children age 6-10. Similar spikes in other countries. May our children forgive us. HT @nicolasberrod”

    https://twitter.com/drericding/status/1468854522399399942?s=21

    Never mind cases look at hosps n deaths week to yesterday

    📌 daily hospitalizations: + 41%
    📌 daily critical care admissions: + 29%
    📌 hospitalized patients: + 24%
    📌 patients in critical care: + 29%
    📌 daily hospital deaths: + 57%
    The flingle-dingle-dongle is overdoing it for now. Their levels of hospital patients are about 2/3 lower in France than eg in Germany.


    trend...
    France has a trend of switchbacks.
    France has been produced very strange figures throughout this pandemic, they have regularly had far less cases than the UK but many more people in hospital with Covid
    Probably different testing regimes and also criteria for hospital admission?
  • turbotubbsturbotubbs Posts: 14,878
    Stocky said:

    Has Philip been banned? I missed that.

    Why?

    Not sure really. Being pedantic I guess.
    Crikey - if you can get banned for being pedantic, no-one is safe...
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 40,950
    Sandpit said:

    At what point does a sporting authority realise it has lost control, and the competitors are laughing at it?

    From the press conference today:-

    Norris and Leclerc in the press conference together:

    Tom: "Lando...how are you going to beat this guy?"

    Lando: "I can try brake testing him! It's only a 10 second penalty..."

    https://mobile.twitter.com/autosport/status/1468897017736970248

    I was just pondering idly that if we go full vaxports actual vaxports (rather than -ve LFTs) then half the premiership (and more?) would be banned from the ground and from playing for their own teams.
  • Stocky said:

    Cummings still at it:

    "Shopping cart isn't Heineken, he was/is UNPOPULAR. Our strategy & message won 2019, not a mythical Heineken quality which does not exist if u look at the data. b/ 'Carry on'. There's nothing TO carry on, there's no plan no team no grip no clue no message no nuthin"

    That's the interesting thing about whatshisface- you remember, scruffy bloke who drove around to test his eyes. Dave? Dick?

    He had a brilliant plan- use Boris as the frontman for his re-engineering of the nation. Because nobody in their right mind would vote for him. But he got conned, humped and dumped by BoJo. And one one level, he recognises this, hence the fury. But he can't totally admit that, because it makes him the mug, and mugs never want to admit that to themselves. That's why conmen get away with it.
  • MattWMattW Posts: 18,086

    MattW said:

    That fringe! It can only be called doubling down this morning.
    I'll take your word for it :D
    Though I think she should would pile on the votes with a lob, Ang could go this, how cool is that

    https://www.pinterest.fr/pin/530580399823574840/

    Or even go complete curtains would be better than multi-storey crime scene as Z called it

    https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/584975439071542672/.

    What is she trying for, ethnic? 🤔
    Aren't they all escapees from Thunderbirds?

    (I saw the Soup Dragon yesterday, so I have some Moon Rabbit soup for lunch today. Complete with the green string they used to trap it.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBRyP_I0OOA)
    Oh wow. That’s the stuff. Magical. 🥰

    Bllllllllllllllllluh (Translated: without packing out Ukrainian with NATO troops, looks like the West have agree to let Putin invade without a fight)
    On a separate note, one of my Ts has reported a rat nibbling a hole through a brick plinth to get into the warmth under the foundations.

    So I now have to get it dealt with pronto. We have super-rats around here. But lots of rat-men.
  • DougSealDougSeal Posts: 11,059

    Can I speak out in support of @Philip_Thompson for a minute. I am hardly his biggest fan and I'm sure its mutual. He is always happy to repeatedly double down with his positions - so often from a place of having minimal experience / knowledge. I assume he would be an amazing poker player with that level of bluffing.

    I assume he has been put in at least time out for going all in on misquoting OGH to win a battle with @DougSeal over something irrelevant. He loves his strawmen argument and YES OR NO ultimatums. But despite me finding his "people die so what" argument to be awful he isn't abusive or stupid or dull.

    We need him on this site.

    I’m more worried about what he’s going to do with his days while he’s banned.
  • IshmaelZIshmaelZ Posts: 21,830
    Leon said:

    If i was in Boris position now i would step down to spend more time with family and do a teary interview saying never fully recovered from COVID, i suffer brain fog, forgetting exact details, etc etc, it gets better for a bit, then when work load piles on, i go backwards, my doctors have advised me that i can't carry on pushing myself like this...

    That’s also likely true. He looks pretty fucked. His mumbling is worse. Peppa Pig. Etc
    Bugger covid, he is getting on a bit and struggling to keep up with the booze and, ahem, caffeine intake of a funlovin' party animal 20 years his junior, plus babycare.
  • MattWMattW Posts: 18,086

    MattW said:

    IshmaelZ said:

    MattW said:

    IshmaelZ said:

    Leon said:

    Dr Eric Fingl-Doom on France


    “Devastating surge of #COVID19 emerging in France 🇫🇷, where cases are near/at record highs. Cases also surging much faster & steeper than previous waves—especially in young children age 6-10. Similar spikes in other countries. May our children forgive us. HT @nicolasberrod”

    https://twitter.com/drericding/status/1468854522399399942?s=21

    Never mind cases look at hosps n deaths week to yesterday

    📌 daily hospitalizations: + 41%
    📌 daily critical care admissions: + 29%
    📌 hospitalized patients: + 24%
    📌 patients in critical care: + 29%
    📌 daily hospital deaths: + 57%
    The flingle-dingle-dongle is overdoing it for now. Their levels of hospital patients are about 2/3 lower in France than eg in Germany.


    trend...
    France has a trend of switchbacks.
    France has been produced very strange figures throughout this pandemic, they have regularly had far less cases than the UK but many more people in hospital with Covid
    Indeed. Ditto other countries. My theory on that is that here we are more thoroughly geared up for day cases, and for checking people out more quickly.
  • sladeslade Posts: 1,921
    The local by-elections today could be difficult for the Conservatives. They are defending in Bracknell Forest, two wards in Rotherham, and two in Tonbridge and Malling. There is also an Ind defence in Torridge.
  • NerysHughesNerysHughes Posts: 3,346

    MattW said:

    IshmaelZ said:

    MattW said:

    IshmaelZ said:

    Leon said:

    Dr Eric Fingl-Doom on France


    “Devastating surge of #COVID19 emerging in France 🇫🇷, where cases are near/at record highs. Cases also surging much faster & steeper than previous waves—especially in young children age 6-10. Similar spikes in other countries. May our children forgive us. HT @nicolasberrod”

    https://twitter.com/drericding/status/1468854522399399942?s=21

    Never mind cases look at hosps n deaths week to yesterday

    📌 daily hospitalizations: + 41%
    📌 daily critical care admissions: + 29%
    📌 hospitalized patients: + 24%
    📌 patients in critical care: + 29%
    📌 daily hospital deaths: + 57%
    The flingle-dingle-dongle is overdoing it for now. Their levels of hospital patients are about 2/3 lower in France than eg in Germany.


    trend...
    France has a trend of switchbacks.
    France has been produced very strange figures throughout this pandemic, they have regularly had far less cases than the UK but many more people in hospital with Covid
    Probably different testing regimes and also criteria for hospital admission?
    I really don't know, but at the moment despite have far less cases than the UK over the past 8 weeks they have 13044 in hospital, which is nearly double the UK's number
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 39,145
    edited December 2021
    MattW said:

    eek said:

    Sandpit said:

    eek said:

    Sandpit said:

    eek said:

    Sandpit said:

    eek said:

    Sandpit said:

    algarkirk said:



    Honestly Nick?!? Being a vocal fan of Franco, advocating armed invasion of Scotland and cheering police brutality against voting grannies is OK with a former Labour MP? I thought better of you and your party.

    I'm in favour of freedom of speech, so long as the opinions expressed are legal. If they're expressed politely, as HYUFD does, so much the better (I don't think I've heard him on the subject of brutality to grannies). As you'd expect, I disagree with almost everything he says (except his judgement on polls which is often quite sharp), but I like that he's willing to say what he thinks. None of us on PB should feel cowed.
    What is an "illegal opinion"? It can't mean an opinion that would be illegal to put into effect - like that face coverings should always be discretionary or that the urban speed limit should be 35 mph. Which are the opinions that it is against the law to hold? This is a genuine question.

    Anything Rod Liddle says at Durham Students’ Union, or Dave Chappelle on stage at a comedy club?
    I don't think everything Rod Liddle said at Durham South College was illegal, however it does seem close to equality Act.

    Durham is actually interesting as it seems to be two different sets of people with different arguments. The Free Speech are going - it's great how dare Mr Luckhurst be attacked while Durham University is going HOW many parts of his employment contract did he break and can we fix it before more students remove Durham as their first choice.
    It very sad, that university authorities now appear to have a problem with inviting speakers who challenge the viewpoint of some of the students.

    Isn’t having your horizons opened, and your views challenged, supposed to be the whole point of university?
    Again you are missing the context which is both Mr Luckhurst's fault and will be his downfall.

    Mr Liddle was invited to a formal as the speaker without revealing to anyone who the guest was (because if he had few people would have attended). Now the formal was in South College so the College Principal (Mr Luckhurst) basically invited his mate to insult all the students he has a pastoral care responsibility for in his role as College Principal.

    It's also worth adding that there is no right of response or even right to exit the room (even to go to the toilet) and doing so could be subject to disciplinary measures up to expulsion from Durham.

    So that's the first problem Durham University has to deal with. The second one is that it's now also been made into a Free Speech political football to try and project Mr Luckhurst who seems to breached numerous parts of his employment contract.

    And from what I gather it's not doing recruitment any good - UCAS forms are in and this is the exact time students finalise their choices.
    The problem there, is rules that say one can be disciplined for leaving the room at an event.

    Students need to spend a lot more time listing to opinions with which they disagree, because that’s what will happen when they enter the real world.
    Which is what the Free Speech people are trying to argue when Mr Luckhurst's problem is that he's basically broken whole sections of his employment contract while bringing his employer into disrupt.

    The one thing Free Speech activists seem to forget is that while you have Free Speech on a personal level, chances are you've willingly signed other contracts that may impact what you can say or do - see @Casino_Royale keeping quiet about his old employer.
    What does his employment contract say, no speakers to the right of Jeremy Corbyn? There’s clearly something missing from the story.
    As College Principal he was Duty of care responsibility to the students who call South College their home for the years they are at Durham.

    And you then just compare the speech to Durham University's Bullying policy and reflect upon that policy and Mr Luckhurst's position within South College.
    I haven't seen any of the policies or the speeches, but I would be inclined to interpret "Duty of Care" to include exposing them to ideas they have a prejudice against to help them grow up.

    The stuff by Ms Luckhurst seemed a touch marginal, perhaps.
    Fairly sardonic comment on it in the Staggers:

    https://www.newstatesman.com/society/2021/12/if-rod-liddle-has-the-right-to-lecture-durham-students-about-sex-work-wheres-my-invitation-to-talk-about-cats

    "I don’t want to get into an argument about Liddle’s views on colonisation, transphobia or sex work. That he wilfully misinterpreted the support and guidance provided by Durham’s student union (note: the student union, not the university) to students considering taking up sex work as offering “courses in the various forms of harlotry” is not my concern – it’s not my job to teach a 61-year-old how to read. Nor are his views on women (and, lest we forget, underage girls) my concern here. He is free to write what he wants within reason – and, indeed, to speak at any event to which he is invited."

    And previously Mr L in the Speccy - no wonder the students reacted to finding the unexpected bombe surprise on the menu:

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-importance-of-stigma/amp

    "Exciting news from Durham University, which is helping its students to become ‘sex workers’. This noble institution is offering two courses in the various forms of harlotry. My only concern is that at present they do not actually offer an academic qualification in these subjects — at the very least an undergraduate degree in, say, Practical Whoring. Perhaps followed by an MA in Deconstructing the Topless Hand-Shandy1897-1913. Such courses would probably result in more lucrative career opportunities than many of the more traditional subjects which students pay through the nose to study. I am attending a dinner at Durham University next month and fervently hope that some of the ambitious young ladies on these courses will be in attendance."
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 49,614
    DougSeal said:

    Can I speak out in support of @Philip_Thompson for a minute. I am hardly his biggest fan and I'm sure its mutual. He is always happy to repeatedly double down with his positions - so often from a place of having minimal experience / knowledge. I assume he would be an amazing poker player with that level of bluffing.

    I assume he has been put in at least time out for going all in on misquoting OGH to win a battle with @DougSeal over something irrelevant. He loves his strawmen argument and YES OR NO ultimatums. But despite me finding his "people die so what" argument to be awful he isn't abusive or stupid or dull.

    We need him on this site.

    I’m more worried about what he’s going to do with his days while he’s banned.
    Hope that Max Verstappen wins the F1 championship cleanly this weekend, which will almost certainly settle the SPoTY bet I have with him, in his favour.
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 75,842
    Fun day for IT in the office. Fun day all round really !
  • AslanAslan Posts: 1,673

    On topic I think it's easy to see how Boris recovers from this. He does nothing much, there are some bad headlines, maybe he loses a by-election or maybe he doesn't. Then he waits for another issue where the Tory press are back on his side, and the Tory press are back on his side.

    Can easily see that. You might be right.
    I think the emotional connection for many voters is broken now though. People knew he lies but the ongoing denials are taking the piss and people don't like being taken for fools. It feels a lot like Brown pretending he was never going to have an election.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 49,614
    Pulpstar said:

    Fun day for IT in the office. Fun day all round really !

    Fallout from AWS outage yesterday?
  • CyclefreeCyclefree Posts: 25,074
    Scott_xP said:

    Lord Geidt’s entire basis for absolving Boris Johnson over the flat was that the PM told him he didn’t know where the money was coming from until February 2021.

    It was why he was just “unwise”.

    And, according to the Electoral Commission, it was not true


    https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/breaking-tories-fined-17800-breaching-25653921?123

    God, what sort of a useless investigation did Lord Geidt carry out?

    If he asked the PM "Did you ask Lord Brownlow for money?" and was lied to, he needs to make that clear. And probably resign to maintain his honour.

    If he didn't ask such an obvious question and/or check phones to confirm or not what people told him, he should resign for being incompetent.
  • MattWMattW Posts: 18,086
    Sandpit said:

    MattW said:

    MattW said:

    That fringe! It can only be called doubling down this morning.
    I'll take your word for it :D
    Though I think she should would pile on the votes with a lob, Ang could go this, how cool is that

    https://www.pinterest.fr/pin/530580399823574840/

    Or even go complete curtains would be better than multi-storey crime scene as Z called it

    https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/584975439071542672/.

    What is she trying for, ethnic? 🤔
    Aren't they all escapees from Thunderbirds?

    (I saw the Soup Dragon yesterday, so I have some Moon Rabbit soup for lunch today. Complete with the green string they used to trap it.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBRyP_I0OOA)
    Oh wow. That’s the stuff. Magical. 🥰

    Bllllllllllllllllluh (Translated: without packing out Ukrainian with NATO troops, looks like the West have agree to let Putin invade without a fight)
    Smokey Joe does seem to be being a little dim. 'No, we won't send our military in', essentially. I thought the idea was to leave them wondering.

    Though the forces of Ukraine are a lot bigger and a lot better than they were before. It would be interesting if the Russkies tried and were sent back in underpants and flip-flops.
    That’s seriously worrying.

    If the Russkis go over the border, threatening to take Ukraine and leave a massive border between Russia and NATO, how are the NATO countries supposed to respond to Ukraine’s cry for help?

    Grow a pair, Sleepy Joe. Tell them they can expect to be bombed back to Moscow.
    I don't know, though I was surprised how much training has been done by Western forces since 2015 - mainly UKUSCA afaics. 30-40k Ukranian troops have been trained, but the West has been hung up on "non-lethal" aid, which won't hack it.

    Though I'm not really convinced that the West is good at the sort of resistance that would be required.
  • StockyStocky Posts: 9,653

    Stocky said:

    Cummings still at it:

    "Shopping cart isn't Heineken, he was/is UNPOPULAR. Our strategy & message won 2019, not a mythical Heineken quality which does not exist if u look at the data. b/ 'Carry on'. There's nothing TO carry on, there's no plan no team no grip no clue no message no nuthin"

    That's the interesting thing about whatshisface- you remember, scruffy bloke who drove around to test his eyes. Dave? Dick?

    He had a brilliant plan- use Boris as the frontman for his re-engineering of the nation. Because nobody in their right mind would vote for him. But he got conned, humped and dumped by BoJo. And one one level, he recognises this, hence the fury. But he can't totally admit that, because it makes him the mug, and mugs never want to admit that to themselves. That's why conmen get away with it.
    I'm not sure about that. Cummings wants to improve - vastly - the competence of politicians (and civil servants) and couldn't resist the chance to observe more closely from within No 10. He left at at time of his own choosing, having gained the insight and ammunition he needed and having his worst fears about UK governance confirmed.

    Now he is deploying that insight in the most effective way he can in order to to bring Johnson down.
  • numbertwelvenumbertwelve Posts: 5,414
    edited December 2021
    Can Boris actually be enjoying his job? My impression has for some time been that he’s clinging on for dear life for covid to pass so he can steer us all into the sunlit uplands and go back to jaunty buffoonery whilst everyone laughs and calls him a card.

    I struggle to see what motivates him now (beyond the pursuit of personal popularity which is well known). Brown and May had torrid times in office, but they were kept going at least in part by a sense of duty.

    That very lack of a strong moral compass has lead him to the precipice now. He has for some time been known to take a hands off approach to management, allowing underlings to do what they will. Fine if you’re surrounded by competent, managerial types. Less so when you’re surrounded by opportunists and chancers.

    Being Boris he probably wants to leave office on a high note, but is there any chance of that now?
  • LeonLeon Posts: 46,248
    IshmaelZ said:

    Leon said:

    If i was in Boris position now i would step down to spend more time with family and do a teary interview saying never fully recovered from COVID, i suffer brain fog, forgetting exact details, etc etc, it gets better for a bit, then when work load piles on, i go backwards, my doctors have advised me that i can't carry on pushing myself like this...

    That’s also likely true. He looks pretty fucked. His mumbling is worse. Peppa Pig. Etc
    Bugger covid, he is getting on a bit and struggling to keep up with the booze and, ahem, caffeine intake of a funlovin' party animal 20 years his junior, plus babycare.
    Yes. He has the toughest job in the country during a global plague PLUS all the other stuff. A new dad at 57. A lively young wife who wants to party. Endless lies to remember. A dose of covid. As someone who has experienced some of these things I say Fuck that for a game of soldiers. It could literally kill him
  • eekeek Posts: 24,797
    MattW said:

    eek said:

    Sandpit said:

    eek said:

    Sandpit said:

    eek said:

    Sandpit said:

    eek said:

    Sandpit said:

    algarkirk said:



    Honestly Nick?!? Being a vocal fan of Franco, advocating armed invasion of Scotland and cheering police brutality against voting grannies is OK with a former Labour MP? I thought better of you and your party.

    I'm in favour of freedom of speech, so long as the opinions expressed are legal. If they're expressed politely, as HYUFD does, so much the better (I don't think I've heard him on the subject of brutality to grannies). As you'd expect, I disagree with almost everything he says (except his judgement on polls which is often quite sharp), but I like that he's willing to say what he thinks. None of us on PB should feel cowed.
    What is an "illegal opinion"? It can't mean an opinion that would be illegal to put into effect - like that face coverings should always be discretionary or that the urban speed limit should be 35 mph. Which are the opinions that it is against the law to hold? This is a genuine question.

    Anything Rod Liddle says at Durham Students’ Union, or Dave Chappelle on stage at a comedy club?
    I don't think everything Rod Liddle said at Durham South College was illegal, however it does seem close to equality Act.

    Durham is actually interesting as it seems to be two different sets of people with different arguments. The Free Speech are going - it's great how dare Mr Luckhurst be attacked while Durham University is going HOW many parts of his employment contract did he break and can we fix it before more students remove Durham as their first choice.
    It very sad, that university authorities now appear to have a problem with inviting speakers who challenge the viewpoint of some of the students.

    Isn’t having your horizons opened, and your views challenged, supposed to be the whole point of university?
    Again you are missing the context which is both Mr Luckhurst's fault and will be his downfall.

    Mr Liddle was invited to a formal as the speaker without revealing to anyone who the guest was (because if he had few people would have attended). Now the formal was in South College so the College Principal (Mr Luckhurst) basically invited his mate to insult all the students he has a pastoral care responsibility for in his role as College Principal.

    It's also worth adding that there is no right of response or even right to exit the room (even to go to the toilet) and doing so could be subject to disciplinary measures up to expulsion from Durham.

    So that's the first problem Durham University has to deal with. The second one is that it's now also been made into a Free Speech political football to try and project Mr Luckhurst who seems to breached numerous parts of his employment contract.

    And from what I gather it's not doing recruitment any good - UCAS forms are in and this is the exact time students finalise their choices.
    The problem there, is rules that say one can be disciplined for leaving the room at an event.

    Students need to spend a lot more time listing to opinions with which they disagree, because that’s what will happen when they enter the real world.
    Which is what the Free Speech people are trying to argue when Mr Luckhurst's problem is that he's basically broken whole sections of his employment contract while bringing his employer into disrupt.

    The one thing Free Speech activists seem to forget is that while you have Free Speech on a personal level, chances are you've willingly signed other contracts that may impact what you can say or do - see @Casino_Royale keeping quiet about his old employer.
    What does his employment contract say, no speakers to the right of Jeremy Corbyn? There’s clearly something missing from the story.
    As College Principal he was Duty of care responsibility to the students who call South College their home for the years they are at Durham.

    And you then just compare the speech to Durham University's Bullying policy and reflect upon that policy and Mr Luckhurst's position within South College.
    I haven't seen any of the policies or the speeches, but I would be inclined to interpret "Duty of Care" to include exposing them to ideas they have a prejudice against to help them grow up.

    The stuff by Ms Luckhurst seemed a touch marginal, perhaps.
    If you look at the policies and the bits of the speech I've seen - you can literally match the clause to the paragraph of the speech.
  • DougSealDougSeal Posts: 11,059
    Leon said:

    IshmaelZ said:

    Leon said:

    If i was in Boris position now i would step down to spend more time with family and do a teary interview saying never fully recovered from COVID, i suffer brain fog, forgetting exact details, etc etc, it gets better for a bit, then when work load piles on, i go backwards, my doctors have advised me that i can't carry on pushing myself like this...

    That’s also likely true. He looks pretty fucked. His mumbling is worse. Peppa Pig. Etc
    Bugger covid, he is getting on a bit and struggling to keep up with the booze and, ahem, caffeine intake of a funlovin' party animal 20 years his junior, plus babycare.
    Yes. He has the toughest job in the country during a global plague PLUS all the other stuff. A new dad at 57. A lively young wife who wants to party. Endless lies to remember. A dose of covid. As someone who has experienced some of these things I say Fuck that for a game of soldiers. It could literally kill him
    I’ve experienced literally none of those things. As a result I should be PM.
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 47,083
    HYUFD said:

    Who could possibly have predicted that the Conservatives choosing as leader and PM a mendacious, amoral, untrustworthy, disorganised, self-centred buffoon, with the attention-span of a gnat, would lead to chaotic and dysfunctional government, and wouldn't even be in the long-term interests of the Conservative Party?

    They don't even have the excuse that they mistakenly projected their hopes on to a blank slate. This slate was already very well-scribbled over; there can't have been a single member of the party who wasn't perfectly aware by 2019 that Boris was totally unsuited to high office.

    If it was not for Boris the Tories would not have a majority of 80, Brexit would still not have got done and Corbyn would still be leader of the Labour Party
    Surely there must be some offsetting downside?
  • MattWMattW Posts: 18,086

    MattW said:

    IshmaelZ said:

    MattW said:

    IshmaelZ said:

    Leon said:

    Dr Eric Fingl-Doom on France


    “Devastating surge of #COVID19 emerging in France 🇫🇷, where cases are near/at record highs. Cases also surging much faster & steeper than previous waves—especially in young children age 6-10. Similar spikes in other countries. May our children forgive us. HT @nicolasberrod”

    https://twitter.com/drericding/status/1468854522399399942?s=21

    Never mind cases look at hosps n deaths week to yesterday

    📌 daily hospitalizations: + 41%
    📌 daily critical care admissions: + 29%
    📌 hospitalized patients: + 24%
    📌 patients in critical care: + 29%
    📌 daily hospital deaths: + 57%
    The flingle-dingle-dongle is overdoing it for now. Their levels of hospital patients are about 2/3 lower in France than eg in Germany.


    trend...
    France has a trend of switchbacks.
    France has been produced very strange figures throughout this pandemic, they have regularly had far less cases than the UK but many more people in hospital with Covid
    Probably different testing regimes and also criteria for hospital admission?
    I really don't know, but at the moment despite have far less cases than the UK over the past 8 weeks they have 13044 in hospital, which is nearly double the UK's number
    Over the last weeks, the divide between Northern Surge and Southern Flat profiles has been at the France-Belgium France-Germany border.

    Something about warm and cold climates, and length of summer?
  • I always enjoy Dom's morning tweetstorms about Boris.


    He needs to get a job, but nobody will employ him.
  • eekeek Posts: 24,797

    Can Boris actually be enjoying his job? My impression has for some time been that he’s clinging on for dear life for covid to pass so he can steer us all into the sunlit uplands and go back to jaunty buffoonery whilst everyone laughs and calls him a card.

    I struggle to see what motivates him now (beyond the pursuit of personal popularity which is well known). Brown and May had torrid times in office, but they were kept going at least in part by a sense of duty.

    That very lack of a strong moral compass has lead him to the precipice now. He has for some time been known to take a hands off approach to management, allowing underlings to do what they will. Fine if you’re surrounded by competent, managerial types. Less so when you’re surrounded by opportunists and chancers.

    Being Boris he probably wants to leave office on a high note, but is there any chance of that now?

    TSE claimed last week that Boris basically has dates he wishes to pass for various reasons (August 2022 to pass May, sometime in 2026 to pass Cameron).

    It's the bit I don't get, you've done Brexit, we've gone through Covid surely Boris would want to leave on high (any level of high) and earn real money.
  • Even Boris Official PR team are laying into him...

    https://order-order.com/2021/12/09/date-clash-shows-pms-denials-to-lord-geidt-untrue/

    The Sun, The BorisGraph, The Mail (with new Brexity editor), Guido Fawkes.....its literally just one PB defending him these days.
  • MattWMattW Posts: 18,086
    edited December 2021
    On the Ukraine, an interesting comparison with Jimmy Carter and stopping the proposed invasion of Poland in 1980. By the son of Z Brezinski (sp?).

    Foreign ministers, meanwhile, reviewed a set of firm economic and diplomatic sanctions that were provided to the press. They included:

    terminating all large-scale economic projects, including a new natural gas pipeline linking Siberia and Western Europe;
    suspending economic credits to the Soviet Union and Poland;
    imposing a full grain embargo on the Soviet Union;
    ending all shipments of machinery and electronic equipment;
    imposing a total trade boycott;
    banning Soviet ships from Western ports;
    suspending arms-control talks;
    recalling Allied ambassadors from Moscow;
    and curtailing political and cultural/social contacts with the Soviet Union.


    https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/new-atlanticist/nato-thwarted-a-russian-invasion-in-1980-could-its-playbook-work-today/
  • Good Lord, people who drink Oreo wine usually have it with their Hawaiian pizzas.
  • isam said:

    So, if Labour win most seats at the next GE, with the Tories having been 2/5 in the market at one point, are we going to pretend that Labour had been favourites all along and they didn't really achieve anything much?

    I don't think Labour will have done anything special. Their plan, rightly, has been to be a moderate and yes boring alternative to the government. Whether they win or lose, their performance will be similar.

    Their win or loss depends perhaps 80-90% on how the Tories do and 10-20% on what they achieve themselves.
  • Carrie gives birth to a baby girl: PM breaks off from Covid chaos engulfing government to escort wife to hospital and welcome their second child together- making him father to at least seven children

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10291729/Carrie-gives-birth-second-baby-Boris-Johnson.html
  • pingping Posts: 3,724
    edited December 2021
    “British housing boom created £3tn ‘unearned’ and ‘unequal’ windfall“

    https://amp.ft.com/content/68b06c6d-5a72-4eed-86d0-6cdc90f99fcb

    “Corlett said a change was needed. “Choosing not to tax this huge housing wealth windfall . . . has real consequences, including higher taxes for workers and businesses.”

    He’s right. Time to tax property, properly.
  • maaarshmaaarsh Posts: 3,391

    Carrie gives birth to a baby girl: PM breaks off from Covid chaos engulfing government to escort wife to hospital and welcome their second child together- making him father to at least seven children

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10291729/Carrie-gives-birth-second-baby-Boris-Johnson.html

    And only 2 in wedlock, what a guy!
  • GIN1138GIN1138 Posts: 20,695
    Stocky said:

    Cummings still at it:

    "Shopping cart isn't Heineken, he was/is UNPOPULAR. Our strategy & message won 2019, not a mythical Heineken quality which does not exist if u look at the data. b/ 'Carry on'. There's nothing TO carry on, there's no plan no team no grip no clue no message no nuthin"

    Is there any particular reason Cummings calls Boris a "trolley" ? Is it because people push him around? Or some other reason?
  • eek said:

    Can Boris actually be enjoying his job? My impression has for some time been that he’s clinging on for dear life for covid to pass so he can steer us all into the sunlit uplands and go back to jaunty buffoonery whilst everyone laughs and calls him a card.

    I struggle to see what motivates him now (beyond the pursuit of personal popularity which is well known). Brown and May had torrid times in office, but they were kept going at least in part by a sense of duty.

    That very lack of a strong moral compass has lead him to the precipice now. He has for some time been known to take a hands off approach to management, allowing underlings to do what they will. Fine if you’re surrounded by competent, managerial types. Less so when you’re surrounded by opportunists and chancers.

    Being Boris he probably wants to leave office on a high note, but is there any chance of that now?

    TSE claimed last week that Boris basically has dates he wishes to pass for various reasons (August 2022 to pass May, sometime in 2026 to pass Cameron).

    It's the bit I don't get, you've done Brexit, we've gone through Covid surely Boris would want to leave on high (any level of high) and earn real money.
    Ego.

    He's had a rivalry with Dave going back decades.

    Dave got a first, Boris did not.

    (It'd be August/September 2025 to overtake Dave.)

    Ultimately, his entire life has been about becoming PM, he doesn't want it to be fleeting. One person who knows him well says the reason he won't give Scotland indyref2 on his watch? If Scotland votes Yes, then that, not Brexit will be the first line of Boris Johnson's obituary, and his ego won't allow him to sit out indyref2, in the way Dave let the Scots get on with it in indyref2.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 49,614
    MattW said:

    Sandpit said:

    MattW said:

    MattW said:

    That fringe! It can only be called doubling down this morning.
    I'll take your word for it :D
    Though I think she should would pile on the votes with a lob, Ang could go this, how cool is that

    https://www.pinterest.fr/pin/530580399823574840/

    Or even go complete curtains would be better than multi-storey crime scene as Z called it

    https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/584975439071542672/.

    What is she trying for, ethnic? 🤔
    Aren't they all escapees from Thunderbirds?

    (I saw the Soup Dragon yesterday, so I have some Moon Rabbit soup for lunch today. Complete with the green string they used to trap it.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBRyP_I0OOA)
    Oh wow. That’s the stuff. Magical. 🥰

    Bllllllllllllllllluh (Translated: without packing out Ukrainian with NATO troops, looks like the West have agree to let Putin invade without a fight)
    Smokey Joe does seem to be being a little dim. 'No, we won't send our military in', essentially. I thought the idea was to leave them wondering.

    Though the forces of Ukraine are a lot bigger and a lot better than they were before. It would be interesting if the Russkies tried and were sent back in underpants and flip-flops.
    That’s seriously worrying.

    If the Russkis go over the border, threatening to take Ukraine and leave a massive border between Russia and NATO, how are the NATO countries supposed to respond to Ukraine’s cry for help?

    Grow a pair, Sleepy Joe. Tell them they can expect to be bombed back to Moscow.
    I don't know, though I was surprised how much training has been done by Western forces since 2015 - mainly UKUSCA afaics. 30-40k Ukranian troops have been trained, but the West has been hung up on "non-lethal" aid, which won't hack it.

    Though I'm not really convinced that the West is good at the sort of resistance that would be required.
    The Ukrainians have been trained, but the majority of their kit is well behind Western standards. As is a lot of their oppenents’ kit, of course.

    It would quickly become an air war, where the West has a massive superiority. The Russkis will say they have thousands of planes and bombs, but can probably only find a few dozen serviceable ships for any given mission. That’s where the US comes in.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 116,709

    eek said:

    Can Boris actually be enjoying his job? My impression has for some time been that he’s clinging on for dear life for covid to pass so he can steer us all into the sunlit uplands and go back to jaunty buffoonery whilst everyone laughs and calls him a card.

    I struggle to see what motivates him now (beyond the pursuit of personal popularity which is well known). Brown and May had torrid times in office, but they were kept going at least in part by a sense of duty.

    That very lack of a strong moral compass has lead him to the precipice now. He has for some time been known to take a hands off approach to management, allowing underlings to do what they will. Fine if you’re surrounded by competent, managerial types. Less so when you’re surrounded by opportunists and chancers.

    Being Boris he probably wants to leave office on a high note, but is there any chance of that now?

    TSE claimed last week that Boris basically has dates he wishes to pass for various reasons (August 2022 to pass May, sometime in 2026 to pass Cameron).

    It's the bit I don't get, you've done Brexit, we've gone through Covid surely Boris would want to leave on high (any level of high) and earn real money.
    Ego.

    He's had a rivalry with Dave going back decades.

    Dave got a first, Boris did not.

    (It'd be August/September 2025 to overtake Dave.)

    Ultimately, his entire life has been about becoming PM, he doesn't want it to be fleeting. One person who knows him well says the reason he won't give Scotland indyref2 on his watch? If Scotland votes Yes, then that, not Brexit will be the first line of Boris Johnson's obituary, and his ego won't allow him to sit out indyref2, in the way Dave let the Scots get on with it in indyref2.
    Quite right too. If the SNP want an indyref2 they will have to get a UK Labour government reliant on their support, they will not get another indyref while the Tories are in power.
  • maaarshmaaarsh Posts: 3,391
    GIN1138 said:

    Stocky said:

    Cummings still at it:

    "Shopping cart isn't Heineken, he was/is UNPOPULAR. Our strategy & message won 2019, not a mythical Heineken quality which does not exist if u look at the data. b/ 'Carry on'. There's nothing TO carry on, there's no plan no team no grip no clue no message no nuthin"

    Is there any particular reason Cummings calls Boris a "trolley" ? Is it because people push him around? Or some other reason?
    His view sways around wildly depending on the last person to give him a nudge.
  • eekeek Posts: 24,797
    edited December 2021
    maaarsh said:

    Carrie gives birth to a baby girl: PM breaks off from Covid chaos engulfing government to escort wife to hospital and welcome their second child together- making him father to at least seven children

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10291729/Carrie-gives-birth-second-baby-Boris-Johnson.html

    And only 2 in wedlock, what a guy!
    Some of his previous children were also born to a previous wife of Boris - but that marriage didn't have a Catholic Wedding so he was able to give Carrie the white wedding she demanded.
  • TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 113,968
    edited December 2021
    maaarsh said:

    Carrie gives birth to a baby girl: PM breaks off from Covid chaos engulfing government to escort wife to hospital and welcome their second child together- making him father to at least seven children

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10291729/Carrie-gives-birth-second-baby-Boris-Johnson.html

    And only 2 in wedlock, what a guy!
    Six in wedlock, 4 with Marina Wheeler I think.
  • GIN1138 said:

    Stocky said:

    Cummings still at it:

    "Shopping cart isn't Heineken, he was/is UNPOPULAR. Our strategy & message won 2019, not a mythical Heineken quality which does not exist if u look at the data. b/ 'Carry on'. There's nothing TO carry on, there's no plan no team no grip no clue no message no nuthin"

    Is there any particular reason Cummings calls Boris a "trolley" ? Is it because people push him around? Or some other reason?
    He veers all over the place crashing into everything.
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 37,603
    maaarsh said:

    Carrie gives birth to a baby girl: PM breaks off from Covid chaos engulfing government to escort wife to hospital and welcome their second child together- making him father to at least seven children

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10291729/Carrie-gives-birth-second-baby-Boris-Johnson.html

    And only 2 in wedlock, what a guy!
    Nah, he's got 5 kids from his previous marriage. The at least refers to the supposed 3 kids he's had through extra-marital activities.
  • Carrie gives birth to a baby girl: PM breaks off from Covid chaos engulfing government to escort wife to hospital and welcome their second child together- making him father to at least seven children

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10291729/Carrie-gives-birth-second-baby-Boris-Johnson.html

    At this rate will soon have more kids than the LDs have MPs.
    If he isn't careful, more than Tory MPs too....
  • maaarshmaaarsh Posts: 3,391

    maaarsh said:

    Carrie gives birth to a baby girl: PM breaks off from Covid chaos engulfing government to escort wife to hospital and welcome their second child together- making him father to at least seven children

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10291729/Carrie-gives-birth-second-baby-Boris-Johnson.html

    And only 2 in wedlock, what a guy!
    Six in wedlock.
    No, 2 by his count.

    To get married in Westminster Cathedral he had to sign a document declaring he had never been validly married before. He was happy to call his own children the relevant word to please his latest fling.
  • maaarsh said:

    GIN1138 said:

    Stocky said:

    Cummings still at it:

    "Shopping cart isn't Heineken, he was/is UNPOPULAR. Our strategy & message won 2019, not a mythical Heineken quality which does not exist if u look at the data. b/ 'Carry on'. There's nothing TO carry on, there's no plan no team no grip no clue no message no nuthin"

    Is there any particular reason Cummings calls Boris a "trolley" ? Is it because people push him around? Or some other reason?
    His view sways around wildly depending on the last person to give him a nudge.
    The trolleys I use usually have a least one wonky wheel
  • Even Boris Official PR team are laying into him...

    https://order-order.com/2021/12/09/date-clash-shows-pms-denials-to-lord-geidt-untrue/

    The Sun, The BorisGraph, The Mail (with new Brexity editor), Guido Fawkes.....its literally just one PB defending him these days.

    The Sun Xmas party last year was "interesting" according to Private Eye, which is why they were the last to join the pile on.
  • RobDRobD Posts: 58,941
    .
    maaarsh said:

    maaarsh said:

    Carrie gives birth to a baby girl: PM breaks off from Covid chaos engulfing government to escort wife to hospital and welcome their second child together- making him father to at least seven children

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10291729/Carrie-gives-birth-second-baby-Boris-Johnson.html

    And only 2 in wedlock, what a guy!
    Six in wedlock.
    No, 2 by his count.

    To get married in Westminster Cathedral he had to sign a document declaring he had never been validly married before. He was happy to call his own children the relevant word to please his latest fling.
    It was a marriage, just not a catholic one.
  • maaarsh said:

    maaarsh said:

    Carrie gives birth to a baby girl: PM breaks off from Covid chaos engulfing government to escort wife to hospital and welcome their second child together- making him father to at least seven children

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10291729/Carrie-gives-birth-second-baby-Boris-Johnson.html

    And only 2 in wedlock, what a guy!
    Six in wedlock.
    No, 2 by his count.

    To get married in Westminster Cathedral he had to sign a document declaring he had never been validly married before. He was happy to call his own children the relevant word to please his latest fling.
    Oh, what a git.
  • StockyStocky Posts: 9,653
    edited December 2021
    GIN1138 said:

    Stocky said:

    Cummings still at it:

    "Shopping cart isn't Heineken, he was/is UNPOPULAR. Our strategy & message won 2019, not a mythical Heineken quality which does not exist if u look at the data. b/ 'Carry on'. There's nothing TO carry on, there's no plan no team no grip no clue no message no nuthin"

    Is there any particular reason Cummings calls Boris a "trolley" ? Is it because people push him around? Or some other reason?
    He's like a shopping trolley, darting clumsily from one side to the other trying to keep on-board with popular opinion rather than basing decisions on logic and principle. He is the ultimate political weathervane, prone to the shallow brain-farts of the lumpen.
  • GIN1138GIN1138 Posts: 20,695

    Carrie gives birth to a baby girl: PM breaks off from Covid chaos engulfing government to escort wife to hospital and welcome their second child together- making him father to at least seven children

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10291729/Carrie-gives-birth-second-baby-Boris-Johnson.html

    At this rate will soon have more kids than the LDs have MPs.
    LOL! That actually made me laugh :D
  • eekeek Posts: 24,797

    Even Boris Official PR team are laying into him...

    https://order-order.com/2021/12/09/date-clash-shows-pms-denials-to-lord-geidt-untrue/

    The Sun, The BorisGraph, The Mail (with new Brexity editor), Guido Fawkes.....its literally just one PB defending him these days.

    The Sun Xmas party last year was "interesting" according to Private Eye, which is why they were the last to join the pile on.
    If you read the other PB you will know some of the details...
  • IshmaelZIshmaelZ Posts: 21,830
    GIN1138 said:

    Stocky said:

    Cummings still at it:

    "Shopping cart isn't Heineken, he was/is UNPOPULAR. Our strategy & message won 2019, not a mythical Heineken quality which does not exist if u look at the data. b/ 'Carry on'. There's nothing TO carry on, there's no plan no team no grip no clue no message no nuthin"

    Is there any particular reason Cummings calls Boris a "trolley" ? Is it because people push him around? Or some other reason?
    You insert money into him for exclusive use of him for as long as you like
  • maaarshmaaarsh Posts: 3,391
    RobD said:

    .

    maaarsh said:

    maaarsh said:

    Carrie gives birth to a baby girl: PM breaks off from Covid chaos engulfing government to escort wife to hospital and welcome their second child together- making him father to at least seven children

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10291729/Carrie-gives-birth-second-baby-Boris-Johnson.html

    And only 2 in wedlock, what a guy!
    Six in wedlock.
    No, 2 by his count.

    To get married in Westminster Cathedral he had to sign a document declaring he had never been validly married before. He was happy to call his own children the relevant word to please his latest fling.
    It was a marriage, just not a catholic one.
    And he signed a form saying he had not been validly married - the form uses those exact words.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 76,274
    edited December 2021

    Even Boris Official PR team are laying into him...

    https://order-order.com/2021/12/09/date-clash-shows-pms-denials-to-lord-geidt-untrue/

    The Sun, The BorisGraph, The Mail (with new Brexity editor), Guido Fawkes.....its literally just one PB defending him these days.

    The Sun Xmas party last year was "interesting" according to Private Eye, which is why they were the last to join the pile on.
    I am not exactly going to be surprised if we find lots of them actually had "business meetings" around this time.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 49,614

    GIN1138 said:

    Stocky said:

    Cummings still at it:

    "Shopping cart isn't Heineken, he was/is UNPOPULAR. Our strategy & message won 2019, not a mythical Heineken quality which does not exist if u look at the data. b/ 'Carry on'. There's nothing TO carry on, there's no plan no team no grip no clue no message no nuthin"

    Is there any particular reason Cummings calls Boris a "trolley" ? Is it because people push him around? Or some other reason?
    He veers all over the place crashing into everything.
    Can we call him Max Verstappen?
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 75,842
    Sandpit said:

    Pulpstar said:

    Fun day for IT in the office. Fun day all round really !

    Fallout from AWS outage yesterday?
    Setting up for wfh again :D
  • ping said:

    “British housing boom created £3tn ‘unearned’ and ‘unequal’ windfall“

    https://amp.ft.com/content/68b06c6d-5a72-4eed-86d0-6cdc90f99fcb

    “Corlett said a change was needed. “Choosing not to tax this huge housing wealth windfall . . . has real consequences, including higher taxes for workers and businesses.”

    He’s right. Time to tax property, properly.

    It is but at the same time a political graveyard for any party threatened taxes on individual peoples homes
  • StockyStocky Posts: 9,653
    maaarsh said:

    GIN1138 said:

    Stocky said:

    Cummings still at it:

    "Shopping cart isn't Heineken, he was/is UNPOPULAR. Our strategy & message won 2019, not a mythical Heineken quality which does not exist if u look at the data. b/ 'Carry on'. There's nothing TO carry on, there's no plan no team no grip no clue no message no nuthin"

    Is there any particular reason Cummings calls Boris a "trolley" ? Is it because people push him around? Or some other reason?
    His view sways around wildly depending on the last person to give him a nudge.
    Yes very good - Orwell's sheep in Animal Farm come to mind.
  • NerysHughesNerysHughes Posts: 3,346

    Even Boris Official PR team are laying into him...

    https://order-order.com/2021/12/09/date-clash-shows-pms-denials-to-lord-geidt-untrue/

    The Sun, The BorisGraph, The Mail (with new Brexity editor), Guido Fawkes.....its literally just one PB defending him these days.

    The Sun Xmas party last year was "interesting" according to Private Eye, which is why they were the last to join the pile on.
    I am not exactly going to be surprised if we find lots of them actually had "business meetings" around this time.
    My Company did, we all bought in food and sat around having a laugh for an afternoon.

    Im sure lots of Companies did.
  • Pulpstar said:

    Sandpit said:

    Pulpstar said:

    Fun day for IT in the office. Fun day all round really !

    Fallout from AWS outage yesterday?
    Setting up for wfh again :D
    I think I'll still be WFH on the second anniversary of the last time I was properly working in the office.
  • Even Boris Official PR team are laying into him...

    https://order-order.com/2021/12/09/date-clash-shows-pms-denials-to-lord-geidt-untrue/

    The Sun, The BorisGraph, The Mail (with new Brexity editor), Guido Fawkes.....its literally just one PB defending him these days.

    Yes but this is about covid restrictions so he is under fire from across the political divide but for different reasons
  • Boris Johnson's spokesman declines to say how many children the Prime Minister now has.

    https://twitter.com/AdamBienkov/status/1468926474132594692
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 49,614

    Even Boris Official PR team are laying into him...

    https://order-order.com/2021/12/09/date-clash-shows-pms-denials-to-lord-geidt-untrue/

    The Sun, The BorisGraph, The Mail (with new Brexity editor), Guido Fawkes.....its literally just one PB defending him these days.

    The Sun Xmas party last year was "interesting" according to Private Eye, which is why they were the last to join the pile on.
    I am not exactly going to be surprised if we find lots of them actually had "business meetings" around this time.
    My Company did, we all bought in food and sat around having a laugh for an afternoon.

    Im sure lots of Companies did.
    Indeed. There’s Christmas Parties, and Christmas Parties.

    I can imagine that the journalists are thinking that the Downing St ‘parties’ must have been at least as much fun as their own.
  • noneoftheabovenoneoftheabove Posts: 20,454
    edited December 2021

    Even Boris Official PR team are laying into him...

    https://order-order.com/2021/12/09/date-clash-shows-pms-denials-to-lord-geidt-untrue/

    The Sun, The BorisGraph, The Mail (with new Brexity editor), Guido Fawkes.....its literally just one PB defending him these days.

    The Sun Xmas party last year was "interesting" according to Private Eye, which is why they were the last to join the pile on.
    I am not exactly going to be surprised if we find lots of them actually had "business meetings" around this time.
    Indeed. Had the government line last week simply been "people were working long hours and we are very sorry if what was intended as a business meeting progressed into something people might view as a party, we will do better in future" instead of "there was no party and even if there was then no rules were broken, but we wont tell you why it is within the rules" we would no longer be talking about it.

  • Even Boris Official PR team are laying into him...

    https://order-order.com/2021/12/09/date-clash-shows-pms-denials-to-lord-geidt-untrue/

    The Sun, The BorisGraph, The Mail (with new Brexity editor), Guido Fawkes.....its literally just one PB defending him these days.

    Yes but this is about covid restrictions so he is under fire from across the political divide but for different reasons
    But the point is he is getting pincered now from every side.
  • ping said:

    “British housing boom created £3tn ‘unearned’ and ‘unequal’ windfall“

    https://amp.ft.com/content/68b06c6d-5a72-4eed-86d0-6cdc90f99fcb

    “Corlett said a change was needed. “Choosing not to tax this huge housing wealth windfall . . . has real consequences, including higher taxes for workers and businesses.”

    He’s right. Time to tax property, properly.

    It is but at the same time a political graveyard for any party threatened taxes on individual peoples homes
    I don't know why we don't have Council Tax Bands that go above, e.g.
    £3,408.76. You could have a £3m house, easy, around here and still pay only twice as much as a flat worth 10% of it.
  • Even Boris Official PR team are laying into him...

    https://order-order.com/2021/12/09/date-clash-shows-pms-denials-to-lord-geidt-untrue/

    The Sun, The BorisGraph, The Mail (with new Brexity editor), Guido Fawkes.....its literally just one PB defending him these days.

    Yes but this is about covid restrictions so he is under fire from across the political divide but for different reasons
    But the point is he is getting pincered now from every side.
    Agreed
  • Big_G_NorthWalesBig_G_NorthWales Posts: 60,002
    edited December 2021

    ping said:

    “British housing boom created £3tn ‘unearned’ and ‘unequal’ windfall“

    https://amp.ft.com/content/68b06c6d-5a72-4eed-86d0-6cdc90f99fcb

    “Corlett said a change was needed. “Choosing not to tax this huge housing wealth windfall . . . has real consequences, including higher taxes for workers and businesses.”

    He’s right. Time to tax property, properly.

    It is but at the same time a political graveyard for any party threatened taxes on individual peoples homes
    I don't know why we don't have Council Tax Bands that go above, e.g.
    £3,408.76. You could have a £3m house, easy, around here and still pay only twice as much as a flat worth 10% of it.
    I have maintained that for years - more upper band rates are needed to reflect fairness

    Mind you here in Wales the labour green coalition have announced a wide sale review into council tax
  • turbotubbsturbotubbs Posts: 14,878
    maaarsh said:

    maaarsh said:

    Carrie gives birth to a baby girl: PM breaks off from Covid chaos engulfing government to escort wife to hospital and welcome their second child together- making him father to at least seven children

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10291729/Carrie-gives-birth-second-baby-Boris-Johnson.html

    And only 2 in wedlock, what a guy!
    Six in wedlock.
    No, 2 by his count.

    To get married in Westminster Cathedral he had to sign a document declaring he had never been validly married before. He was happy to call his own children the relevant word to please his latest fling.
    Sounds a bit like Henry the 8th not really being married for 20 years to Catherine of Aragon.
  • Boris Johnson's spokesman declines to say how many children the Prime Minister now has.

    https://twitter.com/AdamBienkov/status/1468926474132594692

    Has the excel tracker ran out of rows?
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 61,574
    Sandpit said:

    DougSeal said:

    Can I speak out in support of @Philip_Thompson for a minute. I am hardly his biggest fan and I'm sure its mutual. He is always happy to repeatedly double down with his positions - so often from a place of having minimal experience / knowledge. I assume he would be an amazing poker player with that level of bluffing.

    I assume he has been put in at least time out for going all in on misquoting OGH to win a battle with @DougSeal over something irrelevant. He loves his strawmen argument and YES OR NO ultimatums. But despite me finding his "people die so what" argument to be awful he isn't abusive or stupid or dull.

    We need him on this site.

    I’m more worried about what he’s going to do with his days while he’s banned.
    Hope that Max Verstappen wins the F1 championship cleanly this weekend, which will almost certainly settle the SPoTY bet I have with him, in his favour.
    Nice deadpan.
    I've backed Hamilton for SPOTY, and laid him for the F1 win in the amount of the stake.
    A neatish arbitrage ?
  • maaarshmaaarsh Posts: 3,391
    Someone the other day was saying Omicron might help to fix inflation.

    It's just occured to me the BoE will be delighted at the latest excuse to delay rate rises.

    And if you actually think about where the inflation has come from, it's primarily driven by people spending 2 years piling up savings whilst the quantity of goods produces stagnated, so now we have too much money chasing too few goods. Another round on this nonsense is not going to help in the least.
  • turbotubbsturbotubbs Posts: 14,878

    Boris Johnson's spokesman declines to say how many children the Prime Minister now has.

    https://twitter.com/AdamBienkov/status/1468926474132594692

    And to be honest its no more our business than whether Blair's child had the MMR jab or not.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 61,574
    MattW said:

    Sandpit said:

    MattW said:

    MattW said:

    That fringe! It can only be called doubling down this morning.
    I'll take your word for it :D
    Though I think she should would pile on the votes with a lob, Ang could go this, how cool is that

    https://www.pinterest.fr/pin/530580399823574840/

    Or even go complete curtains would be better than multi-storey crime scene as Z called it

    https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/584975439071542672/.

    What is she trying for, ethnic? 🤔
    Aren't they all escapees from Thunderbirds?

    (I saw the Soup Dragon yesterday, so I have some Moon Rabbit soup for lunch today. Complete with the green string they used to trap it.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBRyP_I0OOA)
    Oh wow. That’s the stuff. Magical. 🥰

    Bllllllllllllllllluh (Translated: without packing out Ukrainian with NATO troops, looks like the West have agree to let Putin invade without a fight)
    Smokey Joe does seem to be being a little dim. 'No, we won't send our military in', essentially. I thought the idea was to leave them wondering.

    Though the forces of Ukraine are a lot bigger and a lot better than they were before. It would be interesting if the Russkies tried and were sent back in underpants and flip-flops.
    That’s seriously worrying.

    If the Russkis go over the border, threatening to take Ukraine and leave a massive border between Russia and NATO, how are the NATO countries supposed to respond to Ukraine’s cry for help?

    Grow a pair, Sleepy Joe. Tell them they can expect to be bombed back to Moscow.
    I don't know, though I was surprised how much training has been done by Western forces since 2015 - mainly UKUSCA afaics. 30-40k Ukranian troops have been trained, but the West has been hung up on "non-lethal" aid, which won't hack it.

    Though I'm not really convinced that the West is good at the sort of resistance that would be required.
    Note that Biden has said only that he won't take unilateral action without NATO. And that the US sent troops to Ukraine on a training exercise last week.
    I think sleepy Joe is perhaps playing a smarter game than he's given credit for.
  • StockyStocky Posts: 9,653
    Nigelb said:

    Sandpit said:

    DougSeal said:

    Can I speak out in support of @Philip_Thompson for a minute. I am hardly his biggest fan and I'm sure its mutual. He is always happy to repeatedly double down with his positions - so often from a place of having minimal experience / knowledge. I assume he would be an amazing poker player with that level of bluffing.

    I assume he has been put in at least time out for going all in on misquoting OGH to win a battle with @DougSeal over something irrelevant. He loves his strawmen argument and YES OR NO ultimatums. But despite me finding his "people die so what" argument to be awful he isn't abusive or stupid or dull.

    We need him on this site.

    I’m more worried about what he’s going to do with his days while he’s banned.
    Hope that Max Verstappen wins the F1 championship cleanly this weekend, which will almost certainly settle the SPoTY bet I have with him, in his favour.
    Nice deadpan.
    I've backed Hamilton for SPOTY, and laid him for the F1 win in the amount of the stake.
    A neatish arbitrage ?
    Very neat
  • maaarshmaaarsh Posts: 3,391

    maaarsh said:

    maaarsh said:

    Carrie gives birth to a baby girl: PM breaks off from Covid chaos engulfing government to escort wife to hospital and welcome their second child together- making him father to at least seven children

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10291729/Carrie-gives-birth-second-baby-Boris-Johnson.html

    And only 2 in wedlock, what a guy!
    Six in wedlock.
    No, 2 by his count.

    To get married in Westminster Cathedral he had to sign a document declaring he had never been validly married before. He was happy to call his own children the relevant word to please his latest fling.
    Sounds a bit like Henry the 8th not really being married for 20 years to Catherine of Aragon.
    Yes, we've got a bad record for fat male leaders who think the rules don't apply to them.
  • NerysHughesNerysHughes Posts: 3,346
    Sandpit said:

    Even Boris Official PR team are laying into him...

    https://order-order.com/2021/12/09/date-clash-shows-pms-denials-to-lord-geidt-untrue/

    The Sun, The BorisGraph, The Mail (with new Brexity editor), Guido Fawkes.....its literally just one PB defending him these days.

    The Sun Xmas party last year was "interesting" according to Private Eye, which is why they were the last to join the pile on.
    I am not exactly going to be surprised if we find lots of them actually had "business meetings" around this time.
    My Company did, we all bought in food and sat around having a laugh for an afternoon.

    Im sure lots of Companies did.
    Indeed. There’s Christmas Parties, and Christmas Parties.

    I can imagine that the journalists are thinking that the Downing St ‘parties’ must have been at least as much fun as their own.
    I imagine that anyone who comes in to the No10 complex has to sign in and out and go through security. So if lots of people all turned up for a 9pm party would it not be easy to prove?

    I thought the MET statement yesterday was interesting as I imagine that the police "guarding" Number 10 are from the MET. So if there was a party then the MET would know.
  • moonshinemoonshine Posts: 5,226
    edited December 2021
    First thing the cleaner said this morning “bloody Boris Johnson I hate that man. What a liar. And to think I said goodbye to my dying father on an iPad for him”.

    Cut through. Conservative MPs would be wise to move swiftly or the next election will already be lost.
  • Even Boris Official PR team are laying into him...

    https://order-order.com/2021/12/09/date-clash-shows-pms-denials-to-lord-geidt-untrue/

    The Sun, The BorisGraph, The Mail (with new Brexity editor), Guido Fawkes.....its literally just one PB defending him these days.

    The Sun Xmas party last year was "interesting" according to Private Eye, which is why they were the last to join the pile on.
    I am not exactly going to be surprised if we find lots of them actually had "business meetings" around this time.
    Are we going to have lots of "parties" this year as cover for business meetings?
  • ping said:

    “British housing boom created £3tn ‘unearned’ and ‘unequal’ windfall“

    https://amp.ft.com/content/68b06c6d-5a72-4eed-86d0-6cdc90f99fcb

    “Corlett said a change was needed. “Choosing not to tax this huge housing wealth windfall . . . has real consequences, including higher taxes for workers and businesses.”

    He’s right. Time to tax property, properly.

    It is but at the same time a political graveyard for any party threatened taxes on individual peoples homes
    I don't know why we don't have Council Tax Bands that go above, e.g.
    £3,408.76. You could have a £3m house, easy, around here and still pay only twice as much as a flat worth 10% of it.
    One word: littleoldladies
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 61,574
    maaarsh said:

    GIN1138 said:

    Stocky said:

    Cummings still at it:

    "Shopping cart isn't Heineken, he was/is UNPOPULAR. Our strategy & message won 2019, not a mythical Heineken quality which does not exist if u look at the data. b/ 'Carry on'. There's nothing TO carry on, there's no plan no team no grip no clue no message no nuthin"

    Is there any particular reason Cummings calls Boris a "trolley" ? Is it because people push him around? Or some other reason?
    His view sways around wildly depending on the last person to give him a nudge.
    Or perhaps it's just that he can rapidly accommodate large quantities of food and wine ?
  • StockyStocky Posts: 9,653
    moonshine said:

    First thing the cleaner said this morning “bloody Boris Johnson I hate that man. What a liar. And to think I said goodbye to my dying father on an iPad for him”.

    Cut through. Conservative MPs would be wise to move swiftly or the next election will already be lost.

    She said goodbye to her dying father on an iPad for Boris Johnson?
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 49,614
    Nigelb said:

    Sandpit said:

    DougSeal said:

    Can I speak out in support of @Philip_Thompson for a minute. I am hardly his biggest fan and I'm sure its mutual. He is always happy to repeatedly double down with his positions - so often from a place of having minimal experience / knowledge. I assume he would be an amazing poker player with that level of bluffing.

    I assume he has been put in at least time out for going all in on misquoting OGH to win a battle with @DougSeal over something irrelevant. He loves his strawmen argument and YES OR NO ultimatums. But despite me finding his "people die so what" argument to be awful he isn't abusive or stupid or dull.

    We need him on this site.

    I’m more worried about what he’s going to do with his days while he’s banned.
    Hope that Max Verstappen wins the F1 championship cleanly this weekend, which will almost certainly settle the SPoTY bet I have with him, in his favour.
    Nice deadpan.
    I've backed Hamilton for SPOTY, and laid him for the F1 win in the amount of the stake.
    A neatish arbitrage ?
    Ish. The worry (from a betting perspective) would be a crash-out “victory” for MV, that leads to a massive outpouring of support for Lewis over the next week.
  • StockyStocky Posts: 9,653
    Just added Wallace (modest stake only) to my portfolio of long-shot bets. Available at 50/1 for next leader and/or 100/1 for next PM.
  • pingping Posts: 3,724
    Sandpit said:

    Nigelb said:

    Sandpit said:

    DougSeal said:

    Can I speak out in support of @Philip_Thompson for a minute. I am hardly his biggest fan and I'm sure its mutual. He is always happy to repeatedly double down with his positions - so often from a place of having minimal experience / knowledge. I assume he would be an amazing poker player with that level of bluffing.

    I assume he has been put in at least time out for going all in on misquoting OGH to win a battle with @DougSeal over something irrelevant. He loves his strawmen argument and YES OR NO ultimatums. But despite me finding his "people die so what" argument to be awful he isn't abusive or stupid or dull.

    We need him on this site.

    I’m more worried about what he’s going to do with his days while he’s banned.
    Hope that Max Verstappen wins the F1 championship cleanly this weekend, which will almost certainly settle the SPoTY bet I have with him, in his favour.
    Nice deadpan.
    I've backed Hamilton for SPOTY, and laid him for the F1 win in the amount of the stake.
    A neatish arbitrage ?
    Ish. The worry (from a betting perspective) would be a crash-out “victory” for MV, that leads to a massive outpouring of support for Lewis over the next week.
    What happens, points-wise, if they take each other out?
  • TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 113,968
    edited December 2021
    Sandpit said:

    Nigelb said:

    Sandpit said:

    DougSeal said:

    Can I speak out in support of @Philip_Thompson for a minute. I am hardly his biggest fan and I'm sure its mutual. He is always happy to repeatedly double down with his positions - so often from a place of having minimal experience / knowledge. I assume he would be an amazing poker player with that level of bluffing.

    I assume he has been put in at least time out for going all in on misquoting OGH to win a battle with @DougSeal over something irrelevant. He loves his strawmen argument and YES OR NO ultimatums. But despite me finding his "people die so what" argument to be awful he isn't abusive or stupid or dull.

    We need him on this site.

    I’m more worried about what he’s going to do with his days while he’s banned.
    Hope that Max Verstappen wins the F1 championship cleanly this weekend, which will almost certainly settle the SPoTY bet I have with him, in his favour.
    Nice deadpan.
    I've backed Hamilton for SPOTY, and laid him for the F1 win in the amount of the stake.
    A neatish arbitrage ?
    Ish. The worry (from a betting perspective) would be a crash-out “victory” for MV, that leads to a massive outpouring of support for Lewis over the next week.
    The thing that worries me right now about the Betfair market.

    In a race, they pay out on podium places as per the three chaps who actually stand on the podium. If one of those gets a penalty which takes them out of a podium place then they don't payout if your promoted chap who has now finished in the top three.

    Now if Verstappen takes out Hamilton but he gets a subsequent penalty which hands the title to Hamilton what will Betfair do?

    It could be the POTUS market all over again.
  • isamisam Posts: 40,731
    edited December 2021
    Why has @Philip_Thompson been banned @MikeSmithson? He produced the evidence for his claim when challenged

    Do I get banned for asking?!
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 49,614
    ping said:

    Sandpit said:

    Nigelb said:

    Sandpit said:

    DougSeal said:

    Can I speak out in support of @Philip_Thompson for a minute. I am hardly his biggest fan and I'm sure its mutual. He is always happy to repeatedly double down with his positions - so often from a place of having minimal experience / knowledge. I assume he would be an amazing poker player with that level of bluffing.

    I assume he has been put in at least time out for going all in on misquoting OGH to win a battle with @DougSeal over something irrelevant. He loves his strawmen argument and YES OR NO ultimatums. But despite me finding his "people die so what" argument to be awful he isn't abusive or stupid or dull.

    We need him on this site.

    I’m more worried about what he’s going to do with his days while he’s banned.
    Hope that Max Verstappen wins the F1 championship cleanly this weekend, which will almost certainly settle the SPoTY bet I have with him, in his favour.
    Nice deadpan.
    I've backed Hamilton for SPOTY, and laid him for the F1 win in the amount of the stake.
    A neatish arbitrage ?
    Ish. The worry (from a betting perspective) would be a crash-out “victory” for MV, that leads to a massive outpouring of support for Lewis over the next week.
    What happens, points-wise, if they take each other out?
    MV wins the championship, as he has one more win than LH - the race that never was, in Belgium.

    The worry is, that MV now has an incentive to do just that.
  • dr_spyndr_spyn Posts: 11,279
    Perhaps No 10 staff might present Boris and Carrie Johnson framed copies of today's front pages to celebrate the arrival of their new daughter, at today's birthday celebration party.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 49,614

    Sandpit said:

    Nigelb said:

    Sandpit said:

    DougSeal said:

    Can I speak out in support of @Philip_Thompson for a minute. I am hardly his biggest fan and I'm sure its mutual. He is always happy to repeatedly double down with his positions - so often from a place of having minimal experience / knowledge. I assume he would be an amazing poker player with that level of bluffing.

    I assume he has been put in at least time out for going all in on misquoting OGH to win a battle with @DougSeal over something irrelevant. He loves his strawmen argument and YES OR NO ultimatums. But despite me finding his "people die so what" argument to be awful he isn't abusive or stupid or dull.

    We need him on this site.

    I’m more worried about what he’s going to do with his days while he’s banned.
    Hope that Max Verstappen wins the F1 championship cleanly this weekend, which will almost certainly settle the SPoTY bet I have with him, in his favour.
    Nice deadpan.
    I've backed Hamilton for SPOTY, and laid him for the F1 win in the amount of the stake.
    A neatish arbitrage ?
    Ish. The worry (from a betting perspective) would be a crash-out “victory” for MV, that leads to a massive outpouring of support for Lewis over the next week.
    The thing that worries me right now about the Betfair market.

    In a race, they pay out on podium places as per the three chaps who actually stand on the podium. If one of those gets a penalty which takes them out of a podium place then they don't payout if your chap who has now finished in the top three.

    Now if Verstappen takes out Hamilton but he gets a subsequent penalty which hands the title to Hamilton what will Betfair do?

    It could be the POTUS market all over again.
    The champion isn’t actually crowned until the FIA annual dinner, which is a couple of weeks away. Any sort of appeal before the race result is final, and yes it could drag on for a while.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 61,574
    Sandpit said:

    Nigelb said:

    Sandpit said:

    DougSeal said:

    Can I speak out in support of @Philip_Thompson for a minute. I am hardly his biggest fan and I'm sure its mutual. He is always happy to repeatedly double down with his positions - so often from a place of having minimal experience / knowledge. I assume he would be an amazing poker player with that level of bluffing.

    I assume he has been put in at least time out for going all in on misquoting OGH to win a battle with @DougSeal over something irrelevant. He loves his strawmen argument and YES OR NO ultimatums. But despite me finding his "people die so what" argument to be awful he isn't abusive or stupid or dull.

    We need him on this site.

    I’m more worried about what he’s going to do with his days while he’s banned.
    Hope that Max Verstappen wins the F1 championship cleanly this weekend, which will almost certainly settle the SPoTY bet I have with him, in his favour.
    Nice deadpan.
    I've backed Hamilton for SPOTY, and laid him for the F1 win in the amount of the stake.
    A neatish arbitrage ?
    Ish. The worry (from a betting perspective) would be a crash-out “victory” for MV, that leads to a massive outpouring of support for Lewis over the next week.
    Why would that be a worry for me ?
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 32,739
    NEW: Downing St is arguing that Lord Geidt’s report on flat refurb did not get it wrong on what the PM knew.

    Why? They argue PM knew Lord Brownlow was HANDLING the money, but not the SOURCE of the money.

    https://twitter.com/benrileysmith/status/1468927765068095490
  • StockyStocky Posts: 9,653
    dr_spyn said:

    Perhaps No 10 staff might present Boris and Carrie Johnson framed copies of today's front pages to celebrate the arrival of their new daughter, at today's birthday celebration party.

    Ouch.
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 32,739
    NEW: No10 mount extraordinary defence of Boris Johnson, claiming he did not lie to the public over the No10 flat refurbishment... because while he knew Tory donor was *organising* the money, he didn't know it was actually *the donor's money* 🤯
    https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/boris-johnson-accused-lying-probe-25655522?!11
  • LostPasswordLostPassword Posts: 14,772

    ping said:

    “British housing boom created £3tn ‘unearned’ and ‘unequal’ windfall“

    https://amp.ft.com/content/68b06c6d-5a72-4eed-86d0-6cdc90f99fcb

    “Corlett said a change was needed. “Choosing not to tax this huge housing wealth windfall . . . has real consequences, including higher taxes for workers and businesses.”

    He’s right. Time to tax property, properly.

    It is but at the same time a political graveyard for any party threatened taxes on individual peoples homes
    I don't know why we don't have Council Tax Bands that go above, e.g.
    £3,408.76. You could have a £3m house, easy, around here and still pay only twice as much as a flat worth 10% of it.
    Aspiration.
  • RobDRobD Posts: 58,941
    Scott_xP said:

    NEW: Downing St is arguing that Lord Geidt’s report on flat refurb did not get it wrong on what the PM knew.

    Why? They argue PM knew Lord Brownlow was HANDLING the money, but not the SOURCE of the money.

    https://twitter.com/benrileysmith/status/1468927765068095490

    Just resting in his account?
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