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Le Pen reached her betting peak just before the end of voting – politicalbetting.com

SystemSystem Posts: 11,002
edited April 2022 in General
imageLe Pen reached her betting peak just before the end of voting – politicalbetting.com

With £5m so far traded on the main Betfair French election market alone this looks set to be the biggest political betting event of the year. Only the US midterms in November might top it.

Read the full story here

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Comments

  • mwadamsmwadams Posts: 3,081
    Morning all! So the surprise comes from the Left, not the far right in France?
  • DecrepiterJohnLDecrepiterJohnL Posts: 23,926
    With friends like these, Rishi does not need enemies:-

    Santa Monica beckons for Rishi Sunak as his political stock continues to plummet
    Chancellor may not stand at next election if he loses job as friends say he is more inclined towards life in California than on back benches

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2022/04/10/santa-monica-beckons-rishi-sunak-political-stock-continues-plummet/ (£££)
  • HeathenerHeathener Posts: 5,096
    edited April 2022
    Yep Macron outperformed his 2017 first round and outperformed Le Pen relative to her increase from 2017 too.

    Last time Macron then went on in the second round to win 66:33.

    This won't be close no matter how much errant pundits (not Mike) try to talk it up. I stick with my 60:40 prediction of some weeks ago but it may go higher than that.

  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 49,955

    With friends like these, Rishi does not need enemies:-

    Santa Monica beckons for Rishi Sunak as his political stock continues to plummet
    Chancellor may not stand at next election if he loses job as friends say he is more inclined towards life in California than on back benches

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2022/04/10/santa-monica-beckons-rishi-sunak-political-stock-continues-plummet/ (£££)

    Been spending too much time with Prince Harry, huh?
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 55,007
    So my bet on Mélenchon to finish in the final two was a value loser.

    Will take a similar approach to Le Pen in final round if she drifts too far, I think.
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 49,955
    FPT: RCS "things that I have lost money on, number 37 - assuming the French would be rational and allow drilling."

    Directional drilling, surely? If those multi-million pound houses on Sandbanks can be shielded from a large drilling operation on Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour, surely it is not beyond the ingenuity of the French to extract billions of barrels that aren't being bought from Russia?

    Pull your bloody finger out, France....
  • DecrepiterJohnLDecrepiterJohnL Posts: 23,926

    So my bet on Mélenchon to finish in the final two was a value loser.

    Will take a similar approach to Le Pen in final round if she drifts too far, I think.

    Betfair has 1.17 Macron vs 6.6 Le Pen.

    The conventional bookmakers are slow to price up the final; presumably they had a busy weekend with the Masters, Liverpool/Man City, and the Grand National. Oh, and something happened in France.

    It is, of course, the National which caused the problems, with bookmakers having spoken of the special measures they need to take to keep their web sites flying, and even then, Bet365 seemed to crash, and others had virtual queues to access their sites.
  • HeathenerHeathener Posts: 5,096

    FPT: RCS "things that I have lost money on, number 37 - assuming the French would be rational and allow drilling."

    Directional drilling, surely? If those multi-million pound houses on Sandbanks can be shielded from a large drilling operation on Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour, surely it is not beyond the ingenuity of the French to extract billions of barrels that aren't being bought from Russia?

    Pull your bloody finger out, France....

    Raping the earth is not the way to build a better future.
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 49,955

    With friends like these, Rishi does not need enemies:-

    Santa Monica beckons for Rishi Sunak as his political stock continues to plummet
    Chancellor may not stand at next election if he loses job as friends say he is more inclined towards life in California than on back benches

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2022/04/10/santa-monica-beckons-rishi-sunak-political-stock-continues-plummet/ (£££)

    Although, any MP can look at Nick Clegg and think "Well, if HE can make THAT sort of money there...."

  • HeathenerHeathener Posts: 5,096

    Heathener said:

    FPT: RCS "things that I have lost money on, number 37 - assuming the French would be rational and allow drilling."

    Directional drilling, surely? If those multi-million pound houses on Sandbanks can be shielded from a large drilling operation on Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour, surely it is not beyond the ingenuity of the French to extract billions of barrels that aren't being bought from Russia?

    Pull your bloody finger out, France....

    Raping the earth is not the way to build a better future.
    And don't call us when you need medical help.
    I waited 7 hours in A&E last week.

    In Thailand I'd have waited 5 minutes. And received better treatment.
  • Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 60,933
    Good morning, everyone.

    Looking forward to next episode in the long-runnng French farce: Anyone But Le Pen.
  • HeathenerHeathener Posts: 5,096
    This is our world JJ, the whole human race's. Not yours to decide upon and the future is green, and increasingly the present.

    The raping of the earth is the right term and as someone who was the victim of rape for which a man got sent to jail for a long time, I politely suggest you put a sock in it. As a man you don't know what it's like.

    Mother Earth has been raped and pillaged, mostly by men. I like the French term: violation which = rape.

    The old white gammons can stick their self-centred capitalism up their arses. We will build a better greener future without them.

    But as you know I am also an advocate of nuclear power and you are adamantly opposed to it for reasons of fear. You have your reasons for being fearful of it, which I get, but in terms of its energy credentials it is very strong and it is the most naturally occurring form of energy in the universe.

    It's a rare thing I agree with Boris about.
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 38,517
    Heathener said:

    Heathener said:

    FPT: RCS "things that I have lost money on, number 37 - assuming the French would be rational and allow drilling."

    Directional drilling, surely? If those multi-million pound houses on Sandbanks can be shielded from a large drilling operation on Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour, surely it is not beyond the ingenuity of the French to extract billions of barrels that aren't being bought from Russia?

    Pull your bloody finger out, France....

    Raping the earth is not the way to build a better future.
    And don't call us when you need medical help.
    I waited 7 hours in A&E last week.

    In Thailand I'd have waited 5 minutes. And received better treatment.
    Really? How would you get from your island in PNG to a Thailand A&E? Please tell. Or is your idea of 'off-grid' living being near a major A&E facility? Or would you be leeching off everyone else by demanding an emergency casevac?
  • Heathener said:

    Heathener said:

    FPT: RCS "things that I have lost money on, number 37 - assuming the French would be rational and allow drilling."

    Directional drilling, surely? If those multi-million pound houses on Sandbanks can be shielded from a large drilling operation on Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour, surely it is not beyond the ingenuity of the French to extract billions of barrels that aren't being bought from Russia?

    Pull your bloody finger out, France....

    Raping the earth is not the way to build a better future.
    And don't call us when you need medical help.
    I waited 7 hours in A&E last week.

    In Thailand I'd have waited 5 minutes. And received better treatment.
    Good morning

    In Wales a pensioner lay on the pavement for 10 hours with a broken hip before an ambulance arrived
  • HeathenerHeathener Posts: 5,096

    Heathener said:

    Heathener said:

    FPT: RCS "things that I have lost money on, number 37 - assuming the French would be rational and allow drilling."

    Directional drilling, surely? If those multi-million pound houses on Sandbanks can be shielded from a large drilling operation on Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour, surely it is not beyond the ingenuity of the French to extract billions of barrels that aren't being bought from Russia?

    Pull your bloody finger out, France....

    Raping the earth is not the way to build a better future.
    And don't call us when you need medical help.
    I waited 7 hours in A&E last week.

    In Thailand I'd have waited 5 minutes. And received better treatment.
    Good morning

    In Wales a pensioner lay on the pavement for 10 hours with a broken hip before an ambulance arrived
    Thank you for sharing this.

    It's just so appalling. Just awful :(
  • HeathenerHeathener Posts: 5,096

    Heathener said:

    Heathener said:

    FPT: RCS "things that I have lost money on, number 37 - assuming the French would be rational and allow drilling."

    Directional drilling, surely? If those multi-million pound houses on Sandbanks can be shielded from a large drilling operation on Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour, surely it is not beyond the ingenuity of the French to extract billions of barrels that aren't being bought from Russia?

    Pull your bloody finger out, France....

    Raping the earth is not the way to build a better future.
    And don't call us when you need medical help.
    I waited 7 hours in A&E last week.

    In Thailand I'd have waited 5 minutes. And received better treatment.
    Really? How would you get from your island in PNG to a Thailand A&E? Please tell. Or is your idea of 'off-grid' living being near a major A&E facility? Or would you be leeching off everyone else by demanding an emergency casevac?
    I'm moving to an island in Thailand and they have excellent medical facilities there and throughout.

    I guess you've never been by the sound of your ignorance.
  • Heathener said:

    This is our world JJ, the whole human race's. Not yours to decide upon and the future is green, and increasingly the present.

    The raping of the earth is the right term and as someone who was the victim of rape for which a man got sent to jail for a long time, I politely suggest you put a sock in it. As a man you don't know what it's like.

    Mother Earth has been raped and pillaged, mostly by men. I like the French term: violation which = rape.

    The old white gammons can stick their self-centred capitalism up their arses. We will build a better greener future without them.

    But as you know I am also an advocate of nuclear power and you are adamantly opposed to it for reasons of fear. You have your reasons for being fearful of it, which I get, but in terms of its energy credentials it is very strong and it is the most naturally occurring form of energy in the universe.

    It's a rare thing I agree with Boris about.

    Your post screams hatred of men and is frankly rude and abusive

    You are a very unpleasant individual
  • HeathenerHeathener Posts: 5,096

    Heathener said:

    FPT: RCS "things that I have lost money on, number 37 - assuming the French would be rational and allow drilling."

    Directional drilling, surely? If those multi-million pound houses on Sandbanks can be shielded from a large drilling operation on Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour, surely it is not beyond the ingenuity of the French to extract billions of barrels that aren't being bought from Russia?

    Pull your bloody finger out, France....

    Raping the earth is not the way to build a better future.

    Yes, we need to go more green. But if you want a massive diminution of living standards, I suggest you go and live on an island off PNG and let the rest of us live our lives without reducing ours. And don't call us when you need medical help. Or glasses. Or food. Or your Internet connection goes down.
    Oooh look the first of your little right-wing members club, felix, has liked both your posts. How brave of him.

    Do you really in your heart of hearts think that the UK is a great place to be right now? If you do then you are the only person I know who thinks that.

    There are much better ways to live and you can fuck off with your leeching comment. You know nothing about me and nothing about better ways to be and exist.
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 38,517
    Heathener said:

    This is our world JJ, the whole human race's. Not yours to decide upon and the future is green, and increasingly the present.

    The raping of the earth is the right term and as someone who was the victim of rape for which a man got sent to jail for a long time, I politely suggest you put a sock in it. As a man you don't know what it's like.

    Mother Earth has been raped and pillaged, mostly by men. I like the French term: violation which = rape.

    The old white gammons can stick their self-centred capitalism up their arses. We will build a better greener future without them.

    But as you know I am also an advocate of nuclear power and you are adamantly opposed to it for reasons of fear. You have your reasons for being fearful of it, which I get, but in terms of its energy credentials it is very strong and it is the most naturally occurring form of energy in the universe.

    It's a rare thing I agree with Boris about.

    I have zero doubt the future is 'green'. When have I said otherwise? The question is how we get to that lovely green future.

    "I am also an advocate of nuclear power and you are adamantly opposed to it for reasons of fear."

    WTAF?

    I have been one of the few people fairly vocally in *favour* of nuclear power, both fission and fusion. There were long, interminable debates on here about Hinkley Point, for instance. I'm also in favour - theoretically atm - for RR's SMRs.

    If you're going to come on here and discuss things with people, you could at least get their positions correct. In addition, using terms like 'gammons' in your arguments makes you just look a trolling fool.
  • HeathenerHeathener Posts: 5,096

    Heathener said:

    This is our world JJ, the whole human race's. Not yours to decide upon and the future is green, and increasingly the present.

    The raping of the earth is the right term and as someone who was the victim of rape for which a man got sent to jail for a long time, I politely suggest you put a sock in it. As a man you don't know what it's like.

    Mother Earth has been raped and pillaged, mostly by men. I like the French term: violation which = rape.

    The old white gammons can stick their self-centred capitalism up their arses. We will build a better greener future without them.

    But as you know I am also an advocate of nuclear power and you are adamantly opposed to it for reasons of fear. You have your reasons for being fearful of it, which I get, but in terms of its energy credentials it is very strong and it is the most naturally occurring form of energy in the universe.

    It's a rare thing I agree with Boris about.

    Your post screams hatred of men
    Men have ravaged and ruined this world
  • Heathener said:

    Heathener said:

    FPT: RCS "things that I have lost money on, number 37 - assuming the French would be rational and allow drilling."

    Directional drilling, surely? If those multi-million pound houses on Sandbanks can be shielded from a large drilling operation on Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour, surely it is not beyond the ingenuity of the French to extract billions of barrels that aren't being bought from Russia?

    Pull your bloody finger out, France....

    Raping the earth is not the way to build a better future.

    Yes, we need to go more green. But if you want a massive diminution of living standards, I suggest you go and live on an island off PNG and let the rest of us live our lives without reducing ours. And don't call us when you need medical help. Or glasses. Or food. Or your Internet connection goes down.
    Oooh look the first of your little right-wing members club, felix, has liked both your posts. How brave of him.

    Do you really in your heart of hearts think that the UK is a great place to be right now? If you do then you are the only person I know who thinks that.

    There are much better ways to live and you can fuck off with your leeching comment. You know nothing about me and nothing about better ways to be and exist.
    I have liked @JosiasJessop posts as he is spot on and logging on this morning to your vile posts when the world needs kindness and understanding is not the best start to the day
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 38,517
    Heathener said:

    Heathener said:

    Heathener said:

    FPT: RCS "things that I have lost money on, number 37 - assuming the French would be rational and allow drilling."

    Directional drilling, surely? If those multi-million pound houses on Sandbanks can be shielded from a large drilling operation on Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour, surely it is not beyond the ingenuity of the French to extract billions of barrels that aren't being bought from Russia?

    Pull your bloody finger out, France....

    Raping the earth is not the way to build a better future.
    And don't call us when you need medical help.
    I waited 7 hours in A&E last week.

    In Thailand I'd have waited 5 minutes. And received better treatment.
    Really? How would you get from your island in PNG to a Thailand A&E? Please tell. Or is your idea of 'off-grid' living being near a major A&E facility? Or would you be leeching off everyone else by demanding an emergency casevac?
    I'm moving to an island in Thailand and they have excellent medical facilities there and throughout.

    I guess you've never been by the sound of your ignorance.
    *My* ignorance? Given your previous posts?

    How are you getting to that Thai island? By air?

    Where are you living? Will you be going to supermarkets, or making your own food? will you be on mains power (if so, ninety percent of Thailand's electricity is thermal power)? If no to the above, how much land will you be farming to subsist on?
  • HeathenerHeathener Posts: 5,096
    Drilling down into Mother Earth without her permission is an act of penetrative rape

    Saving the planet is not being nasty.

    Have a nice day
  • Heathener said:

    Heathener said:

    Heathener said:

    FPT: RCS "things that I have lost money on, number 37 - assuming the French would be rational and allow drilling."

    Directional drilling, surely? If those multi-million pound houses on Sandbanks can be shielded from a large drilling operation on Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour, surely it is not beyond the ingenuity of the French to extract billions of barrels that aren't being bought from Russia?

    Pull your bloody finger out, France....

    Raping the earth is not the way to build a better future.
    And don't call us when you need medical help.
    I waited 7 hours in A&E last week.

    In Thailand I'd have waited 5 minutes. And received better treatment.
    Really? How would you get from your island in PNG to a Thailand A&E? Please tell. Or is your idea of 'off-grid' living being near a major A&E facility? Or would you be leeching off everyone else by demanding an emergency casevac?
    I'm moving to an island in Thailand and they have excellent medical facilities there and throughout.

    I guess you've never been by the sound of your ignorance.
    UK co2 per capita is only slightly higher, and is falling much faster. Presumably you will be lecturing the Thais in the same tone deaf way when you arrive ?
  • Whilst I hate the word "benefits" and all it implies, the article nails to the floor just how broken both the economy is and our politics. Working people should not need to reply on foodbanks, yet for so many Tories this is something to be celebrated.

    https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/apr/11/cost-of-living-crisis-uk-benefits-plunge-to-lowest-value-in-50-years
  • OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 31,715

    Heathener said:

    Heathener said:

    Heathener said:

    FPT: RCS "things that I have lost money on, number 37 - assuming the French would be rational and allow drilling."

    Directional drilling, surely? If those multi-million pound houses on Sandbanks can be shielded from a large drilling operation on Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour, surely it is not beyond the ingenuity of the French to extract billions of barrels that aren't being bought from Russia?

    Pull your bloody finger out, France....

    Raping the earth is not the way to build a better future.
    And don't call us when you need medical help.
    I waited 7 hours in A&E last week.

    In Thailand I'd have waited 5 minutes. And received better treatment.
    Really? How would you get from your island in PNG to a Thailand A&E? Please tell. Or is your idea of 'off-grid' living being near a major A&E facility? Or would you be leeching off everyone else by demanding an emergency casevac?
    I'm moving to an island in Thailand and they have excellent medical facilities there and throughout.

    I guess you've never been by the sound of your ignorance.
    *My* ignorance? Given your previous posts?

    How are you getting to that Thai island? By air?

    Where are you living? Will you be going to supermarkets, or making your own food? will you be on mains power (if so, ninety percent of Thailand's electricity is thermal power)? If no to the above, how much land will you be farming to subsist on?
    I've seen Thai medical, and educational, services first hand. As far as the medical services are concerned, when they're good, they're very good.
    BUT I don't think services our co-in-laws get out in the sticks matches that in Bangkok. Especially if one isn't paying.
    And certainly the school where one of my British grandsons taught for a while wasn't that good.

    However, I'm certainly looking forward to visiting my family out there later this year. Assuming I can stay fit enough!
    Sunny and a little warmer this morning.
  • OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 31,715

    Whilst I hate the word "benefits" and all it implies, the article nails to the floor just how broken both the economy is and our politics. Working people should not need to reply on foodbanks, yet for so many Tories this is something to be celebrated.

    https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/apr/11/cost-of-living-crisis-uk-benefits-plunge-to-lowest-value-in-50-years

    That people have to rely on food banks is something of which we should be ashamed. As is our treatment of refugees.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 66,730
    edited April 2022

    Heathener said:

    Heathener said:

    Heathener said:

    FPT: RCS "things that I have lost money on, number 37 - assuming the French would be rational and allow drilling."

    Directional drilling, surely? If those multi-million pound houses on Sandbanks can be shielded from a large drilling operation on Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour, surely it is not beyond the ingenuity of the French to extract billions of barrels that aren't being bought from Russia?

    Pull your bloody finger out, France....

    Raping the earth is not the way to build a better future.
    And don't call us when you need medical help.
    I waited 7 hours in A&E last week.

    In Thailand I'd have waited 5 minutes. And received better treatment.
    Really? How would you get from your island in PNG to a Thailand A&E? Please tell. Or is your idea of 'off-grid' living being near a major A&E facility? Or would you be leeching off everyone else by demanding an emergency casevac?
    I'm moving to an island in Thailand and they have excellent medical facilities there and throughout.

    I guess you've never been by the sound of your ignorance.
    UK co2 per capita is only slightly higher, and is falling much faster. Presumably you will be lecturing the Thais in the same tone deaf way when you arrive ?
    That led me to look up international CO2 emissions per capita, and I'm baffled by one thing I found.

    https://www.worldometers.info/co2-emissions/co2-emissions-per-capita/

    Can anyone explain why Montenegro is so high up on that list? Second to Qatar at 25 tons per capita - five times that of Britain and 50% higher than even the USA.

    It doesn't have lots of industry. It's not afaik a big exporter of oil or gas. Its transport links are short. It's not even that rich.

    Is the information wrong or is there something I'm missing?
  • RogerRoger Posts: 18,891
    edited April 2022
    I've never read such bullshit as on the last thread. This site is usually so well informed. Moon Rabbit found a poll in the Express that said 63% of the French wanted to leave the EU. The Express polls like Leon's posts aren't polls. They're dreams. How they would like the world to be. Villages at war with the towns. Towns at war with the cities. The young at war with the old......where does it come from?

    What you can say is that the French are generally anti US and therefore anti NATO. Pro EU by at least 2 to 1 and they will always ensure Le Pen loses because they value their reputation and have a high opinion of themselves and their culture (deservedly in my opinion).

    The BBC are unusually hopeless on this as well. Perhaps they're so embarrassed by UK politics that they've decided to make France look as fucked up as we are.

    PS I've had homes in the South since 1989 and have worked in Paris many times so have a reasonable man on the street view of the place
  • Whilst I hate the word "benefits" and all it implies, the article nails to the floor just how broken both the economy is and our politics. Working people should not need to reply on foodbanks, yet for so many Tories this is something to be celebrated.

    https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/apr/11/cost-of-living-crisis-uk-benefits-plunge-to-lowest-value-in-50-years

    That people have to rely on food banks is something of which we should be ashamed. As is our treatment of refugees.
    Too many jobs not paying enough and worse not paying a regular salary. Housing costs preposterous for large chunks of the country. Soaring energy and fuel and food bills and record peacetime taxes. This is not sustainable!

    Have to give credit to the Tories though. They have literally broken our economic model - record taxes, minimal investment, jobs that will never pay, housing costs through the roof, inflation left to explode. And yet they are still in the game for the next election with people being told that the issues they are living with don't exist. Ordinarily that would not remotely work, but with people conditioned to not accept their lived evidence, and a pliant media afraid of mentioning truths like the B word, they get away with it.
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 38,517
    ydoethur said:

    Heathener said:

    Heathener said:

    Heathener said:

    FPT: RCS "things that I have lost money on, number 37 - assuming the French would be rational and allow drilling."

    Directional drilling, surely? If those multi-million pound houses on Sandbanks can be shielded from a large drilling operation on Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour, surely it is not beyond the ingenuity of the French to extract billions of barrels that aren't being bought from Russia?

    Pull your bloody finger out, France....

    Raping the earth is not the way to build a better future.
    And don't call us when you need medical help.
    I waited 7 hours in A&E last week.

    In Thailand I'd have waited 5 minutes. And received better treatment.
    Really? How would you get from your island in PNG to a Thailand A&E? Please tell. Or is your idea of 'off-grid' living being near a major A&E facility? Or would you be leeching off everyone else by demanding an emergency casevac?
    I'm moving to an island in Thailand and they have excellent medical facilities there and throughout.

    I guess you've never been by the sound of your ignorance.
    UK co2 per capita is only slightly higher, and is falling much faster. Presumably you will be lecturing the Thais in the same tone deaf way when you arrive ?
    That led me to look up international CO2 emissions per capita, and I'm baffled by one thing I found.

    https://www.worldometers.info/co2-emissions/co2-emissions-per-capita/

    Can anyone explain why Montenegro is so high up on that list? Second to Qatar at 25 tons per capita - five times that of Britain and 50% higher than even the USA.

    It doesn't have lots of industry. It's not afaik a big exporter of oil or gas. Its transport links are short. It's not even that rich.

    Is the information wrong or is there something I'm missing?
    That's a really good question. I've had a scratch around on t'Internet, and cannot find a reason. Perhaps it's just a result of having a small population (~600k) and a dirty lignite-coal power plant ?

    Sometimes per capita results are odd when comparing small and large populations.
  • LostPasswordLostPassword Posts: 14,772
    ydoethur said:

    Heathener said:

    Heathener said:

    Heathener said:

    FPT: RCS "things that I have lost money on, number 37 - assuming the French would be rational and allow drilling."

    Directional drilling, surely? If those multi-million pound houses on Sandbanks can be shielded from a large drilling operation on Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour, surely it is not beyond the ingenuity of the French to extract billions of barrels that aren't being bought from Russia?

    Pull your bloody finger out, France....

    Raping the earth is not the way to build a better future.
    And don't call us when you need medical help.
    I waited 7 hours in A&E last week.

    In Thailand I'd have waited 5 minutes. And received better treatment.
    Really? How would you get from your island in PNG to a Thailand A&E? Please tell. Or is your idea of 'off-grid' living being near a major A&E facility? Or would you be leeching off everyone else by demanding an emergency casevac?
    I'm moving to an island in Thailand and they have excellent medical facilities there and throughout.

    I guess you've never been by the sound of your ignorance.
    UK co2 per capita is only slightly higher, and is falling much faster. Presumably you will be lecturing the Thais in the same tone deaf way when you arrive ?
    That led me to look up international CO2 emissions per capita, and I'm baffled by one thing I found.

    https://www.worldometers.info/co2-emissions/co2-emissions-per-capita/

    Can anyone explain why Montenegro is so high up on that list? Second to Qatar at 25 tons per capita - five times that of Britain and 50% higher than even the USA.

    It doesn't have lots of industry. It's not afaik a big exporter of oil or gas. Its transport links are short. It's not even that rich.

    Is the information wrong or is there something I'm missing?
    Electricity grid appears to be roughly one-third coal, two-thirds hydropower, so that doesn't explain it.
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 47,080

    Heathener said:

    Heathener said:

    FPT: RCS "things that I have lost money on, number 37 - assuming the French would be rational and allow drilling."

    Directional drilling, surely? If those multi-million pound houses on Sandbanks can be shielded from a large drilling operation on Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour, surely it is not beyond the ingenuity of the French to extract billions of barrels that aren't being bought from Russia?

    Pull your bloody finger out, France....

    Raping the earth is not the way to build a better future.
    And don't call us when you need medical help.
    I waited 7 hours in A&E last week.

    In Thailand I'd have waited 5 minutes. And received better treatment.
    Good morning

    In Wales a pensioner lay on the pavement for 10 hours with a broken hip before an ambulance arrived
    Amazing service. Most people have to phone.
  • darkagedarkage Posts: 4,746
    Roger said:

    I've never read such bullshit as on the last thread. This site is usually so well informed. Moon Rabbit found a poll in the Express that said 63% of the French wanted to leave the EU. The Express polls like Leon's posts aren't polls. They're dreams. How they would like the world to be. Villages at war with the towns. Towns at war with the cities. The young at war with the old......where does it come from?

    What you can say is that the French are generally anti US and therefore anti NATO. Pro EU by at least 2 to 1 and they will always ensure Le Pen loses because they value their reputation and have a high opinion of themselves and their culture (deservedly in my opinion).

    The BBC are unusually hopeless on this as well. Perhaps they're so embarrassed by UK politics that they've decided to make France look as fucked up as we are.

    PS I've had homes in the South since 1989 and have worked in Paris many times so have a reasonable man on the street view of the place

    I don't have any property assets in France unfortunately. But the sense I get from looking at it - is one of complacency on the part of the 'liberal elite'. People think the country is sleepwalking in to catastrophe and are looking for an answer to avert it. Macron is an interesting character and has done ok, but at some point this answer is going to come from the political right. If not now, in the near future.
  • LostPasswordLostPassword Posts: 14,772
    edited April 2022

    ydoethur said:

    Heathener said:

    Heathener said:

    Heathener said:

    FPT: RCS "things that I have lost money on, number 37 - assuming the French would be rational and allow drilling."

    Directional drilling, surely? If those multi-million pound houses on Sandbanks can be shielded from a large drilling operation on Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour, surely it is not beyond the ingenuity of the French to extract billions of barrels that aren't being bought from Russia?

    Pull your bloody finger out, France....

    Raping the earth is not the way to build a better future.
    And don't call us when you need medical help.
    I waited 7 hours in A&E last week.

    In Thailand I'd have waited 5 minutes. And received better treatment.
    Really? How would you get from your island in PNG to a Thailand A&E? Please tell. Or is your idea of 'off-grid' living being near a major A&E facility? Or would you be leeching off everyone else by demanding an emergency casevac?
    I'm moving to an island in Thailand and they have excellent medical facilities there and throughout.

    I guess you've never been by the sound of your ignorance.
    UK co2 per capita is only slightly higher, and is falling much faster. Presumably you will be lecturing the Thais in the same tone deaf way when you arrive ?
    That led me to look up international CO2 emissions per capita, and I'm baffled by one thing I found.

    https://www.worldometers.info/co2-emissions/co2-emissions-per-capita/

    Can anyone explain why Montenegro is so high up on that list? Second to Qatar at 25 tons per capita - five times that of Britain and 50% higher than even the USA.

    It doesn't have lots of industry. It's not afaik a big exporter of oil or gas. Its transport links are short. It's not even that rich.

    Is the information wrong or is there something I'm missing?
    That's a really good question. I've had a scratch around on t'Internet, and cannot find a reason. Perhaps it's just a result of having a small population (~600k) and a dirty lignite-coal power plant ?

    Sometimes per capita results are odd when comparing small and large populations.
    Apparently energy intensity in Montenegro is twice that of the EU - lots of direct electrical heating.

    There's also an aluminium plant. Not clear whether it's still in production, it seems to have faced difficulties at various times, but an aluminium plant, powered by electricity from lignite combustion, would produce a lot of emissions to divide between Montenegro's small population.
  • Roger said:

    I've never read such bullshit as on the last thread. This site is usually so well informed. Moon Rabbit found a poll in the Express that said 63% of the French wanted to leave the EU. The Express polls like Leon's posts aren't polls. They're dreams. How they would like the world to be. Villages at war with the towns. Towns at war with the cities. The young at war with the old......where does it come from?

    What you can say is that the French are generally anti US and therefore anti NATO. Pro EU by at least 2 to 1 and they will always ensure Le Pen loses because they value their reputation and have a high opinion of themselves and their culture (deservedly in my opinion).

    The BBC are unusually hopeless on this as well. Perhaps they're so embarrassed by UK politics that they've decided to make France look as fucked up as we are.

    PS I've had homes in the South since 1989 and have worked in Paris many times so have a reasonable man on the street view of the place

    There's a BBC journalist defending her Kent queues article on Twitter - the one that blames a lack of ferry capacity for the chaos and doesn't mention the B word at all. Even as DFDS release statements to back up photographic proof of ferries leaving with half-empty truck decks she - and her employer - are digging their heels in.

    Then you realise the people in charge of BBC News and the wider BBC, who they are married to, and just how embedded they are with Downing Street. So the official lie gets shouted louder than the evidence of people's eyes and ears.

    So why not have a pop at the French? Its a welcome distraction from that minor issue of no queues in France caused by the lack of ships / bad weather / bloody P&O which if true would cause equal queues on both sides. Look, the French are voting for that fascist woman! Booooo. Don't mention Brexit! Boooooo.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 61,557
    darkage said:

    Roger said:

    I've never read such bullshit as on the last thread. This site is usually so well informed. Moon Rabbit found a poll in the Express that said 63% of the French wanted to leave the EU. The Express polls like Leon's posts aren't polls. They're dreams. How they would like the world to be. Villages at war with the towns. Towns at war with the cities. The young at war with the old......where does it come from?

    What you can say is that the French are generally anti US and therefore anti NATO. Pro EU by at least 2 to 1 and they will always ensure Le Pen loses because they value their reputation and have a high opinion of themselves and their culture (deservedly in my opinion).

    The BBC are unusually hopeless on this as well. Perhaps they're so embarrassed by UK politics that they've decided to make France look as fucked up as we are.

    PS I've had homes in the South since 1989 and have worked in Paris many times so have a reasonable man on the street view of the place

    I don't have any property assets in France unfortunately. But the sense I get from looking at it - is one of complacency on the part of the 'liberal elite'. People think the country is sleepwalking in to catastrophe and are looking for an answer to avert it. Macron is an interesting character and has done ok, but at some point this answer is going to come from the political right. If not now, in the near future.
    Except the 'answers' from Le Pen are economic fantasy that would make Corbyn blush.
  • pingping Posts: 3,724

    Heathener said:

    Heathener said:

    FPT: RCS "things that I have lost money on, number 37 - assuming the French would be rational and allow drilling."

    Directional drilling, surely? If those multi-million pound houses on Sandbanks can be shielded from a large drilling operation on Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour, surely it is not beyond the ingenuity of the French to extract billions of barrels that aren't being bought from Russia?

    Pull your bloody finger out, France....

    Raping the earth is not the way to build a better future.
    And don't call us when you need medical help.
    I waited 7 hours in A&E last week.

    In Thailand I'd have waited 5 minutes. And received better treatment.
    Good morning

    In Wales a pensioner lay on the pavement for 10 hours with a broken hip before an ambulance arrived
    I’m afraid, BigG, it’s only once the situation deteriorates in the Tory heartlands, that any meaningful policy change will occur.

    Wales doesn’t really matter to the tories.
  • turbotubbsturbotubbs Posts: 14,876
    Heathener said:

    This is our world JJ, the whole human race's. Not yours to decide upon and the future is green, and increasingly the present.

    The raping of the earth is the right term and as someone who was the victim of rape for which a man got sent to jail for a long time, I politely suggest you put a sock in it. As a man you don't know what it's like.

    Mother Earth has been raped and pillaged, mostly by men. I like the French term: violation which = rape.

    The old white gammons can stick their self-centred capitalism up their arses. We will build a better greener future without them.

    But as you know I am also an advocate of nuclear power and you are adamantly opposed to it for reasons of fear. You have your reasons for being fearful of it, which I get, but in terms of its energy credentials it is very strong and it is the most naturally occurring form of energy in the universe.

    It's a rare thing I agree with Boris about.

    How do you get nuclear power without raping the planet?
    BTW I’m with you on nuclear, and frustrated that so many greens are anti.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 61,557
    Ukrainian SSO claims they destroyed a BTG from the 70th Motorized Rifle Regiment (42nd Motorized Rifle Division) in Donetsk Oblast, including killing the battalion commander and chief of staff in their BMP-3.
    https://mobile.twitter.com/RALee85/status/1513385560055951363
  • SouthamObserverSouthamObserver Posts: 38,876
    The one concern I have about the French election now is that the final result will be decided by people whose British equivalents believe that there is no difference between the Tories and Labour.
  • LostPasswordLostPassword Posts: 14,772
    P&O still have no Dover/Calais services running. What a shambles.
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 50,758

    DavidL said:

    Whilst I hate the word "benefits" and all it implies, the article nails to the floor just how broken both the economy is and our politics. Working people should not need to reply on foodbanks, yet for so many Tories this is something to be celebrated.

    https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/apr/11/cost-of-living-crisis-uk-benefits-plunge-to-lowest-value-in-50-years

    This is why I was so disappointed with Sunak's mini budget (and indeed Labour's response which barely touched on the point). The cost of living crisis is always the worst for the poorest and he did absolutely nothing to help them when faced with a doubling of heating costs. It was wrong.
    Worse than doing nothing, your party deny there is a crisis at all. Why do something to fix something that doesn't exist? This is Boris - boosterism is all he knows. So no, not the highest peacetime taxes, not an inflation bomb, not a brutal tax rise, not a fuel and food price crisis. No no, the real issue is chicks with dicks on Channel 4.
    It's not my party, I have never been a member of it.

    I don't think that your description is accurate either. Sunak acknowledged the rise of inflation but also the problems we face on the back of the pandemic which has wreaked havoc on our public finances. I agree with the problem and accept that there are limits on what can be done but I think within those limits his priorities were wrong. Increasing NI instead of IT increasing the burden on earned money was wrong. Failing to prioritise the indexation of benefits was wrong. The loan scheme for heating bills is a ridiculous waste of money and time. But it is delusional to think for a moment there were easy choices. There aren't.
  • darkagedarkage Posts: 4,746
    I think the rising energy bills are going to completely do the government in. Popular revolt. I can see it emerging already. My work whatsapp group are discussing prospective civil disobedience.
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 38,517
    ping said:

    Heathener said:

    Heathener said:

    FPT: RCS "things that I have lost money on, number 37 - assuming the French would be rational and allow drilling."

    Directional drilling, surely? If those multi-million pound houses on Sandbanks can be shielded from a large drilling operation on Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour, surely it is not beyond the ingenuity of the French to extract billions of barrels that aren't being bought from Russia?

    Pull your bloody finger out, France....

    Raping the earth is not the way to build a better future.
    And don't call us when you need medical help.
    I waited 7 hours in A&E last week.

    In Thailand I'd have waited 5 minutes. And received better treatment.
    Good morning

    In Wales a pensioner lay on the pavement for 10 hours with a broken hip before an ambulance arrived
    I’m afraid, BigG, it’s only once the situation deteriorates in the Tory heartlands, that any meaningful policy change will occur.

    Wales doesn’t really matter to the tories.
    We can all play that game: 'the countryside doesn't matter to Labour' is just as accurate.

    Which actually poses another question: Labour's heartlands are probably the cities. What are the Conservative Party's 'heartlands' ?
  • DavidL said:

    Whilst I hate the word "benefits" and all it implies, the article nails to the floor just how broken both the economy is and our politics. Working people should not need to reply on foodbanks, yet for so many Tories this is something to be celebrated.

    https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/apr/11/cost-of-living-crisis-uk-benefits-plunge-to-lowest-value-in-50-years

    This is why I was so disappointed with Sunak's mini budget (and indeed Labour's response which barely touched on the point). The cost of living crisis is always the worst for the poorest and he did absolutely nothing to help them when faced with a doubling of heating costs. It was wrong.
    Worse than doing nothing, your party deny there is a crisis at all. Why do something to fix something that doesn't exist? This is Boris - boosterism is all he knows. So no, not the highest peacetime taxes, not an inflation bomb, not a brutal tax rise, not a fuel and food price crisis. No no, the real issue is chicks with dicks on Channel 4.
    You post with an anti HMG agenda which is absolutely fair and understandable, but as we are where we are just how would you deal with the cost of living crisis

    It is a genuine question as I am interested in alternatives to HMG
  • OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 31,715
    Nigelb said:

    Ukrainian SSO claims they destroyed a BTG from the 70th Motorized Rifle Regiment (42nd Motorized Rifle Division) in Donetsk Oblast, including killing the battalion commander and chief of staff in their BMP-3.
    https://mobile.twitter.com/RALee85/status/1513385560055951363

    Am I alone in becoming increasingly confused by the plethora of initials used? Could someone do a list, please, with what they mean.
  • ping said:

    Heathener said:

    Heathener said:

    FPT: RCS "things that I have lost money on, number 37 - assuming the French would be rational and allow drilling."

    Directional drilling, surely? If those multi-million pound houses on Sandbanks can be shielded from a large drilling operation on Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour, surely it is not beyond the ingenuity of the French to extract billions of barrels that aren't being bought from Russia?

    Pull your bloody finger out, France....

    Raping the earth is not the way to build a better future.
    And don't call us when you need medical help.
    I waited 7 hours in A&E last week.

    In Thailand I'd have waited 5 minutes. And received better treatment.
    Good morning

    In Wales a pensioner lay on the pavement for 10 hours with a broken hip before an ambulance arrived
    I’m afraid, BigG, it’s only once the situation deteriorates in the Tory heartlands, that any meaningful policy change will occur.

    Wales doesn’t really matter to the tories.
    Wales matters to us and it is Labour who are in charge of the NHS, so really whatever happens in England does not help us in Wales
  • IanB2 said:

    Heathener said:

    Heathener said:

    FPT: RCS "things that I have lost money on, number 37 - assuming the French would be rational and allow drilling."

    Directional drilling, surely? If those multi-million pound houses on Sandbanks can be shielded from a large drilling operation on Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour, surely it is not beyond the ingenuity of the French to extract billions of barrels that aren't being bought from Russia?

    Pull your bloody finger out, France....

    Raping the earth is not the way to build a better future.
    And don't call us when you need medical help.
    I waited 7 hours in A&E last week.

    In Thailand I'd have waited 5 minutes. And received better treatment.
    Good morning

    In Wales a pensioner lay on the pavement for 10 hours with a broken hip before an ambulance arrived
    Amazing service. Most people have to phone.
    No idea the point of your comment but it sounds very uncaring
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 66,730

    ydoethur said:

    Heathener said:

    Heathener said:

    Heathener said:

    FPT: RCS "things that I have lost money on, number 37 - assuming the French would be rational and allow drilling."

    Directional drilling, surely? If those multi-million pound houses on Sandbanks can be shielded from a large drilling operation on Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour, surely it is not beyond the ingenuity of the French to extract billions of barrels that aren't being bought from Russia?

    Pull your bloody finger out, France....

    Raping the earth is not the way to build a better future.
    And don't call us when you need medical help.
    I waited 7 hours in A&E last week.

    In Thailand I'd have waited 5 minutes. And received better treatment.
    Really? How would you get from your island in PNG to a Thailand A&E? Please tell. Or is your idea of 'off-grid' living being near a major A&E facility? Or would you be leeching off everyone else by demanding an emergency casevac?
    I'm moving to an island in Thailand and they have excellent medical facilities there and throughout.

    I guess you've never been by the sound of your ignorance.
    UK co2 per capita is only slightly higher, and is falling much faster. Presumably you will be lecturing the Thais in the same tone deaf way when you arrive ?
    That led me to look up international CO2 emissions per capita, and I'm baffled by one thing I found.

    https://www.worldometers.info/co2-emissions/co2-emissions-per-capita/

    Can anyone explain why Montenegro is so high up on that list? Second to Qatar at 25 tons per capita - five times that of Britain and 50% higher than even the USA.

    It doesn't have lots of industry. It's not afaik a big exporter of oil or gas. Its transport links are short. It's not even that rich.

    Is the information wrong or is there something I'm missing?
    That's a really good question. I've had a scratch around on t'Internet, and cannot find a reason. Perhaps it's just a result of having a small population (~600k) and a dirty lignite-coal power plant ?

    Sometimes per capita results are odd when comparing small and large populations.
    Apparently energy intensity in Montenegro is twice that of the EU - lots of direct electrical heating.

    There's also an aluminium plant. Not clear whether it's still in production, it seems to have faced difficulties at various times, but an aluminium plant, powered by electricity from lignite combustion, would produce a lot of emissions to divide between Montenegro's small population.
    Thanks. That makes more sense now.
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 50,758
    0.1% growth in February https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-61064546

    Shortage of chips weighing on manufacturing, especially cars once again. We urgently need the new capacity for chips to come online and onshore.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 66,730

    ping said:

    Heathener said:

    Heathener said:

    FPT: RCS "things that I have lost money on, number 37 - assuming the French would be rational and allow drilling."

    Directional drilling, surely? If those multi-million pound houses on Sandbanks can be shielded from a large drilling operation on Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour, surely it is not beyond the ingenuity of the French to extract billions of barrels that aren't being bought from Russia?

    Pull your bloody finger out, France....

    Raping the earth is not the way to build a better future.
    And don't call us when you need medical help.
    I waited 7 hours in A&E last week.

    In Thailand I'd have waited 5 minutes. And received better treatment.
    Good morning

    In Wales a pensioner lay on the pavement for 10 hours with a broken hip before an ambulance arrived
    I’m afraid, BigG, it’s only once the situation deteriorates in the Tory heartlands, that any meaningful policy change will occur.

    Wales doesn’t really matter to the tories.
    We can all play that game: 'the countryside doesn't matter to Labour' is just as accurate.

    Which actually poses another question: Labour's heartlands are probably the cities. What are the Conservative Party's 'heartlands' ?
    Small towns and suburbs with dormitory economies.
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 50,758
    DougSeal said:

    I’m not entirely sure why everyone is so excited by this French presidential election. There’s only ever been one winner. Anyone who says otherwise is just trying to create excitement where there is none.

    My forecast was that it would not be as close as the last time, more like 66% to 33%. I am comfortable with it. Unfortunately the BBC, who claim it could be "a lot closer", are not taking bets.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 66,730

    Nigelb said:

    Ukrainian SSO claims they destroyed a BTG from the 70th Motorized Rifle Regiment (42nd Motorized Rifle Division) in Donetsk Oblast, including killing the battalion commander and chief of staff in their BMP-3.
    https://mobile.twitter.com/RALee85/status/1513385560055951363

    Am I alone in becoming increasingly confused by the plethora of initials used? Could someone do a list, please, with what they mean.
    BTG is 'Battalion Tactical Group' according to the replies on Twitter.
  • Big_G_NorthWalesBig_G_NorthWales Posts: 60,001
    edited April 2022

    P&O still have no Dover/Calais services running. What a shambles.

    The head of UK ports in apologising for the delays affirmed the cause at Dover is the loss of P & O ferries but also poor weather in the channel

    He said the rest of UK ports are operating at 92% but of course some will be wanting to blame brexit
  • The one concern I have about the French election now is that the final result will be decided by people whose British equivalents believe that there is no difference between the Tories and Labour.

    Macron will win without any shadow of a doubt
  • OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 31,715

    Nigelb said:

    Ukrainian SSO claims they destroyed a BTG from the 70th Motorized Rifle Regiment (42nd Motorized Rifle Division) in Donetsk Oblast, including killing the battalion commander and chief of staff in their BMP-3.
    https://mobile.twitter.com/RALee85/status/1513385560055951363

    Am I alone in becoming increasingly confused by the plethora of initials used? Could someone do a list, please, with what they mean.
    SSO - Sily spetsial'nykh operatsiy - Special Operations Forces (so also SOF).
    BTG - Battalion Tactical Group - an operational unit of the Russian Army comprising very approximately 800 soldiers.
    BMP - Boyevaya Mashina Pekhoty - Infantry Fighting Vehicle (so also IFV).

    The author acknowledges the assistance of Dr. Google in assembling this list. Please direct any further enquiries to them at www.google.co.uk
    Thank you, gentlemen. Maybe I shall have to spend some time compiling a list and pinning it up beside the computer!
  • DavidL said:

    DavidL said:

    Whilst I hate the word "benefits" and all it implies, the article nails to the floor just how broken both the economy is and our politics. Working people should not need to reply on foodbanks, yet for so many Tories this is something to be celebrated.

    https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/apr/11/cost-of-living-crisis-uk-benefits-plunge-to-lowest-value-in-50-years

    This is why I was so disappointed with Sunak's mini budget (and indeed Labour's response which barely touched on the point). The cost of living crisis is always the worst for the poorest and he did absolutely nothing to help them when faced with a doubling of heating costs. It was wrong.
    Worse than doing nothing, your party deny there is a crisis at all. Why do something to fix something that doesn't exist? This is Boris - boosterism is all he knows. So no, not the highest peacetime taxes, not an inflation bomb, not a brutal tax rise, not a fuel and food price crisis. No no, the real issue is chicks with dicks on Channel 4.
    It's not my party, I have never been a member of it.

    I don't think that your description is accurate either. Sunak acknowledged the rise of inflation but also the problems we face on the back of the pandemic which has wreaked havoc on our public finances. I agree with the problem and accept that there are limits on what can be done but I think within those limits his priorities were wrong. Increasing NI instead of IT increasing the burden on earned money was wrong. Failing to prioritise the indexation of benefits was wrong. The loan scheme for heating bills is a ridiculous waste of money and time. But it is delusional to think for a moment there were easy choices. There aren't.
    Didn't say you were a member. But you openly support them on here...

    As for their recognition of an issue, their response is always "look here we are investing £x". Which always fails at recognise the depth of the issue. Or that £x is a drop in the ocean. Or that £x solves nothing without a change of direction.

    Whilst you're right that the Pandemic did egregious damage to the economy, we can't use that as an excuse. Social Security payments were unlivable before, the NHS was experiencing on the limit crises before, the cost of living was absurd in so many areas before. The *structural* crisis - that the economy doesn't provide a viable income for so many people working flat out - has been around for ages.

    The only way we are going to change this is to vote them out. If its not your party are you prepared to vote for whichever party is best positioned in your constituency to remove them from office?
  • DavidL said:

    DavidL said:

    Whilst I hate the word "benefits" and all it implies, the article nails to the floor just how broken both the economy is and our politics. Working people should not need to reply on foodbanks, yet for so many Tories this is something to be celebrated.

    https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/apr/11/cost-of-living-crisis-uk-benefits-plunge-to-lowest-value-in-50-years

    This is why I was so disappointed with Sunak's mini budget (and indeed Labour's response which barely touched on the point). The cost of living crisis is always the worst for the poorest and he did absolutely nothing to help them when faced with a doubling of heating costs. It was wrong.
    Worse than doing nothing, your party deny there is a crisis at all. Why do something to fix something that doesn't exist? This is Boris - boosterism is all he knows. So no, not the highest peacetime taxes, not an inflation bomb, not a brutal tax rise, not a fuel and food price crisis. No no, the real issue is chicks with dicks on Channel 4.
    It's not my party, I have never been a member of it.

    I don't think that your description is accurate either. Sunak acknowledged the rise of inflation but also the problems we face on the back of the pandemic which has wreaked havoc on our public finances. I agree with the problem and accept that there are limits on what can be done but I think within those limits his priorities were wrong. Increasing NI instead of IT increasing the burden on earned money was wrong. Failing to prioritise the indexation of benefits was wrong. The loan scheme for heating bills is a ridiculous waste of money and time. But it is delusional to think for a moment there were easy choices. There aren't.
    Didn't say you were a member. But you openly support them on here...

    As for their recognition of an issue, their response is always "look here we are investing £x". Which always fails at recognise the depth of the issue. Or that £x is a drop in the ocean. Or that £x solves nothing without a change of direction.

    Whilst you're right that the Pandemic did egregious damage to the economy, we can't use that as an excuse. Social Security payments were unlivable before, the NHS was experiencing on the limit crises before, the cost of living was absurd in so many areas before. The *structural* crisis - that the economy doesn't provide a viable income for so many people working flat out - has been around for ages.

    The only way we are going to change this is to vote them out. If its not your party are you prepared to vote for whichever party is best positioned in your constituency to remove them from office?
    Earlier I asked you to outline how these issues should be tackled as an alternative to the present government

    Again you demand HMG is replaced but the question is what alternatives do you support
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 49,955
    Nigelb said:

    Ukrainian SSO claims they destroyed a BTG from the 70th Motorized Rifle Regiment (42nd Motorized Rifle Division) in Donetsk Oblast, including killing the battalion commander and chief of staff in their BMP-3.
    https://mobile.twitter.com/RALee85/status/1513385560055951363

    It's going to be no different for the Russians in the east than it was for them around Kyiv. World-class defensive weaponry in the hands of ferocious warriors supplied with minute-by-minute intel on Russian movements.

    Plus - the Ukranians have yoga mats.

    https://mobile.twitter.com/DerAktenfresser/status/1513110723060285441/photo/1
  • Listening to the media narrative this morning I would not be surprised if Rishi resigns and even goes to the US
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 66,730

    DavidL said:

    DavidL said:

    Whilst I hate the word "benefits" and all it implies, the article nails to the floor just how broken both the economy is and our politics. Working people should not need to reply on foodbanks, yet for so many Tories this is something to be celebrated.

    https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/apr/11/cost-of-living-crisis-uk-benefits-plunge-to-lowest-value-in-50-years

    This is why I was so disappointed with Sunak's mini budget (and indeed Labour's response which barely touched on the point). The cost of living crisis is always the worst for the poorest and he did absolutely nothing to help them when faced with a doubling of heating costs. It was wrong.
    Worse than doing nothing, your party deny there is a crisis at all. Why do something to fix something that doesn't exist? This is Boris - boosterism is all he knows. So no, not the highest peacetime taxes, not an inflation bomb, not a brutal tax rise, not a fuel and food price crisis. No no, the real issue is chicks with dicks on Channel 4.
    It's not my party, I have never been a member of it.

    I don't think that your description is accurate either. Sunak acknowledged the rise of inflation but also the problems we face on the back of the pandemic which has wreaked havoc on our public finances. I agree with the problem and accept that there are limits on what can be done but I think within those limits his priorities were wrong. Increasing NI instead of IT increasing the burden on earned money was wrong. Failing to prioritise the indexation of benefits was wrong. The loan scheme for heating bills is a ridiculous waste of money and time. But it is delusional to think for a moment there were easy choices. There aren't.
    Didn't say you were a member. But you openly support them on here...

    As for their recognition of an issue, their response is always "look here we are investing £x". Which always fails at recognise the depth of the issue. Or that £x is a drop in the ocean. Or that £x solves nothing without a change of direction.

    Whilst you're right that the Pandemic did egregious damage to the economy, we can't use that as an excuse. Social Security payments were unlivable before, the NHS was experiencing on the limit crises before, the cost of living was absurd in so many areas before. The *structural* crisis - that the economy doesn't provide a viable income for so many people working flat out - has been around for ages.

    The only way we are going to change this is to vote them out. If its not your party are you prepared to vote for whichever party is best positioned in your constituency to remove them from office?
    While all of that is true and I have no wish to defend the Tories, I should point out you could have written all of that about Labour under Blair and Brown and it would still be accurate.

    Is Starmer's Labour radically different? Well, it's not run by self confessed liars and criminals which is a good start. But I don't see much radical difference in policy.

    And even if there is, you can get your last cent that when they get in the Treasury will gut any improvements to save money, which strangely doesn't seem to apply to their own vast salaries and pensions.
  • P&O still have no Dover/Calais services running. What a shambles.

    The head of UK ports in apologising for the delays affirmed the cause at Dover is the loss of P & O ferries but also poor weather in the channel

    He said the rest of UK ports are operating at 92% but of course some will be wanting to blame brexit
    Can I ask when this quote was given? Because the evidence of eyes and ears demonstrates it to be false.
    "Loss of P&O ferries". Its true that ferry capacity has been reduced. But ships are leaving half empty - trucks cannot get through customs. So the bottleneck is not the P&O issue. "poor weather in the channel" - all you need to do is check the weather forecast today and any day you like last week. There is no poor weather.

    The issue is the collapse of the Goods Vehicle Movement Service, where the computer system which HMRC told your government 6 years ago could not cope with the number of post-Brexit transactions has failed because it can't cope with the number of post-Brexit transactions. We have suspended making any inbound checks - trucks are waved through. But outbound we need to show paperwork for the French in that oven-ready deal we insisted on implementing. So without a working computer its manual checks.

    Remember that there is no room to park trucks at Dover. So even when GVMS and CHIEF were working the time taken forces trucks to be stacked elsewhere and paperwork to be examined at various pre-channel locations. So even the best case scenario will have queues forever. When the system fails its entirely manual, which creates this chaos.

    "Its the fault of P&O" is a demonstrable lie. "Its the fault of poor weather" is a demonstrable lie. You are being spun. You are a smarter man than just believe the lies fed to you in easily digestible portions. DFDS - the people running the ferries - have confirmed their boats are departing half full. So either DFDS are lying about their own business or your quote from UK Ports was a joke at the time and is utterly discredited now.
  • bigjohnowlsbigjohnowls Posts: 21,709

    The one concern I have about the French election now is that the final result will be decided by people whose British equivalents believe that there is no difference between the Tories and Labour.

    Congratulations to Melenchon fantastic result.
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 50,758

    DavidL said:

    DavidL said:

    Whilst I hate the word "benefits" and all it implies, the article nails to the floor just how broken both the economy is and our politics. Working people should not need to reply on foodbanks, yet for so many Tories this is something to be celebrated.

    https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/apr/11/cost-of-living-crisis-uk-benefits-plunge-to-lowest-value-in-50-years

    This is why I was so disappointed with Sunak's mini budget (and indeed Labour's response which barely touched on the point). The cost of living crisis is always the worst for the poorest and he did absolutely nothing to help them when faced with a doubling of heating costs. It was wrong.
    Worse than doing nothing, your party deny there is a crisis at all. Why do something to fix something that doesn't exist? This is Boris - boosterism is all he knows. So no, not the highest peacetime taxes, not an inflation bomb, not a brutal tax rise, not a fuel and food price crisis. No no, the real issue is chicks with dicks on Channel 4.
    It's not my party, I have never been a member of it.

    I don't think that your description is accurate either. Sunak acknowledged the rise of inflation but also the problems we face on the back of the pandemic which has wreaked havoc on our public finances. I agree with the problem and accept that there are limits on what can be done but I think within those limits his priorities were wrong. Increasing NI instead of IT increasing the burden on earned money was wrong. Failing to prioritise the indexation of benefits was wrong. The loan scheme for heating bills is a ridiculous waste of money and time. But it is delusional to think for a moment there were easy choices. There aren't.
    Didn't say you were a member. But you openly support them on here...

    As for their recognition of an issue, their response is always "look here we are investing £x". Which always fails at recognise the depth of the issue. Or that £x is a drop in the ocean. Or that £x solves nothing without a change of direction.

    Whilst you're right that the Pandemic did egregious damage to the economy, we can't use that as an excuse. Social Security payments were unlivable before, the NHS was experiencing on the limit crises before, the cost of living was absurd in so many areas before. The *structural* crisis - that the economy doesn't provide a viable income for so many people working flat out - has been around for ages.

    The only way we are going to change this is to vote them out. If its not your party are you prepared to vote for whichever party is best positioned in your constituency to remove them from office?
    This is a regular reminder that those on benefits in the UK are in the top 10% of incomes worldwide. We achieve this because we actually have a very successful economy that produces considerable quantities of wealth for distribution.

    Your posts are, with respect, verging on the hysterical. There is room for both debate and action on whether incomes are distributed fairly. There is every right to criticise the priorities of this government or indeed any government. Things can indeed be better. But we are fortunate to live in a free, democratic, prosperous country where the rule of law is rigorously applied by an independent judiciary. You make good points which I often agree with but you do so in apocalyptic terms which are unnecessary.
  • RogerRoger Posts: 18,891
    edited April 2022

    Roger said:

    I've never read such bullshit as on the last thread. This site is usually so well informed. Moon Rabbit found a poll in the Express that said 63% of the French wanted to leave the EU. The Express polls like Leon's posts aren't polls. They're dreams. How they would like the world to be. Villages at war with the towns. Towns at war with the cities. The young at war with the old......where does it come from?

    What you can say is that the French are generally anti US and therefore anti NATO. Pro EU by at least 2 to 1 and they will always ensure Le Pen loses because they value their reputation and have a high opinion of themselves and their culture (deservedly in my opinion).

    The BBC are unusually hopeless on this as well. Perhaps they're so embarrassed by UK politics that they've decided to make France look as fucked up as we are.

    PS I've had homes in the South since 1989 and have worked in Paris many times so have a reasonable man on the street view of the place

    There's a BBC journalist defending her Kent queues article on Twitter - the one that blames a lack of ferry capacity for the chaos and doesn't mention the B word at all. Even as DFDS release statements to back up photographic proof of ferries leaving with half-empty truck decks she - and her employer - are digging their heels in.

    Then you realise the people in charge of BBC News and the wider BBC, who they are married to, and just how embedded they are with Downing Street. So the official lie gets shouted louder than the evidence of people's eyes and ears.

    So why not have a pop at the French? Its a welcome distraction from that minor issue of no queues in France caused by the lack of ships / bad weather / bloody P&O which if true would cause equal queues on both sides. Look, the French are voting for that fascist woman! Booooo. Don't mention Brexit! Boooooo.
    Memo from Downing Street to the BBC; WARNING "Next time you show lorry queues longer than the Russian tank column outside Kiev and you mention the "B" Word Nadine Dorries will be up your DG's trousers faster than a rat up a drainpipe" Guto.
  • bigjohnowlsbigjohnowls Posts: 21,709
    SKS finally has a policy

    Reintroduce village stocks and ducking stools to be on the side of the victim.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 66,730

    Listening to the media narrative this morning I would not be surprised if Rishi resigns and even goes to the US

    The last PM to have more than two Chancellors was Thatcher, who had three - Howe, Lawson and Major. But that was over 11 years and 6 months.

    If Johnson has three in just two years, that speaks to a deep malaise at the heart of his government. There hasn't been that much instability in the Treasury since the 1950s when you had Butler, Macmillan, Thorneycroft, Heathcoat Amory and Lloyd in the space of just six years (1955-60)
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 38,517
    A thread title on the Ukraine reddit:

    "It's Day 47: Ukraine has now lasted longer than France did in World War II."

    LOL.

    (Yes, I know that only counts from the start of the German invasion and not from 3rd September 1939. It's funny though.)
  • CarlottaVanceCarlottaVance Posts: 59,540
    edited April 2022
    COVID in China - many older apartment buildings don't have u-bends fitted between wastes (sinks, showers) and the sewer system - so COVID which is aerosol transmitted and present in faecal matter will be breezing into apartments where residents are locked up. And who wears a mask indoors?

    https://www.thebeijinger.com/blog/-why-bathroom-your-chinese-apartment-smells-awful-and-how-fix-it

    2. Chinese plumbing does not have traps- and this has made fecal aerosol transmission an issue. Cooking range hoods without roof fans are another issue- great breakdown on indoor transmission routes here:

    https://twitter.com/RealSexyCyborg/status/1513326953075392515
  • moonshinemoonshine Posts: 5,226
    edited April 2022
    Heathener said:

    Heathener said:

    FPT: RCS "things that I have lost money on, number 37 - assuming the French would be rational and allow drilling."

    Directional drilling, surely? If those multi-million pound houses on Sandbanks can be shielded from a large drilling operation on Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour, surely it is not beyond the ingenuity of the French to extract billions of barrels that aren't being bought from Russia?

    Pull your bloody finger out, France....

    Raping the earth is not the way to build a better future.
    And don't call us when you need medical help.
    I waited 7 hours in A&E last week.

    In Thailand I'd have waited 5 minutes. And received better treatment.
    You know what you can do then… you’d like it there, lots of Russian spoken.
  • P&O still have no Dover/Calais services running. What a shambles.

    The head of UK ports in apologising for the delays affirmed the cause at Dover is the loss of P & O ferries but also poor weather in the channel

    He said the rest of UK ports are operating at 92% but of course some will be wanting to blame brexit
    Can I ask when this quote was given? Because the evidence of eyes and ears demonstrates it to be false.
    "Loss of P&O ferries". Its true that ferry capacity has been reduced. But ships are leaving half empty - trucks cannot get through customs. So the bottleneck is not the P&O issue. "poor weather in the channel" - all you need to do is check the weather forecast today and any day you like last week. There is no poor weather.

    The issue is the collapse of the Goods Vehicle Movement Service, where the computer system which HMRC told your government 6 years ago could not cope with the number of post-Brexit transactions has failed because it can't cope with the number of post-Brexit transactions. We have suspended making any inbound checks - trucks are waved through. But outbound we need to show paperwork for the French in that oven-ready deal we insisted on implementing. So without a working computer its manual checks.

    Remember that there is no room to park trucks at Dover. So even when GVMS and CHIEF were working the time taken forces trucks to be stacked elsewhere and paperwork to be examined at various pre-channel locations. So even the best case scenario will have queues forever. When the system fails its entirely manual, which creates this chaos.

    "Its the fault of P&O" is a demonstrable lie. "Its the fault of poor weather" is a demonstrable lie. You are being spun. You are a smarter man than just believe the lies fed to you in easily digestible portions. DFDS - the people running the ferries - have confirmed their boats are departing half full. So either DFDS are lying about their own business or your quote from UK Ports was a joke at the time and is utterly discredited now.
    He commented on 5 live last week and you are clearly suggesting the head of UK ports is lying to the public

    I would suggest he knows this subject and you are to be fair hardly a neutral observer
  • DavidL said:

    Whilst I hate the word "benefits" and all it implies, the article nails to the floor just how broken both the economy is and our politics. Working people should not need to reply on foodbanks, yet for so many Tories this is something to be celebrated.

    https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/apr/11/cost-of-living-crisis-uk-benefits-plunge-to-lowest-value-in-50-years

    This is why I was so disappointed with Sunak's mini budget (and indeed Labour's response which barely touched on the point). The cost of living crisis is always the worst for the poorest and he did absolutely nothing to help them when faced with a doubling of heating costs. It was wrong.
    Worse than doing nothing, your party deny there is a crisis at all. Why do something to fix something that doesn't exist? This is Boris - boosterism is all he knows. So no, not the highest peacetime taxes, not an inflation bomb, not a brutal tax rise, not a fuel and food price crisis. No no, the real issue is chicks with dicks on Channel 4.
    You post with an anti HMG agenda which is absolutely fair and understandable, but as we are where we are just how would you deal with the cost of living crisis

    It is a genuine question as I am interested in alternatives to HMG
    As I have posted repeatedly there are massive structural problems. Jobs that do not pay enough wages and do not guarantee hours. Housing costs that are unaffordable unless you have a large deposit which you can't possibly save for. A social security safety net that makes people so indebted that recovery is almost impossible.

    There are no quick and simple solutions. But the starter for 10 has to be recognising the issue exists at all. The Tories deny it - they even celebrate the rise of foodbacks as if working people reliant on charity is a Good Thing. Labour don't want to address it - they're also stuck at the micro instead of looking at the macro. But at least they don't enjoy kicking people like the Tories do. So its a start.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 66,730
    edited April 2022

    A thread title on the Ukraine reddit:

    "It's Day 47: Ukraine has now lasted longer than France did in World War II."

    LOL.

    (Yes, I know that only counts from the start of the German invasion and not from 3rd September 1939. It's funny though.)

    It's because France had the Ardennes and Ukraine has the 'ard uns.

    (Yes, I know that's not how you pronounce 'Ardennes' but it still works when written down.)
  • ydoethur said:

    Listening to the media narrative this morning I would not be surprised if Rishi resigns and even goes to the US

    The last PM to have more than two Chancellors was Thatcher, who had three - Howe, Lawson and Major. But that was over 11 years and 6 months.

    If Johnson has three in just two years, that speaks to a deep malaise at the heart of his government. There hasn't been that much instability in the Treasury since the 1950s when you had Butler, Macmillan, Thorneycroft, Heathcoat Amory and Lloyd in the space of just six years (1955-60)
    Rishi implosion has to be one of the most extraordinary events for any politician in recent times
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 49,955

    Whilst I hate the word "benefits" and all it implies, the article nails to the floor just how broken both the economy is and our politics. Working people should not need to reply on foodbanks, yet for so many Tories this is something to be celebrated.

    https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/apr/11/cost-of-living-crisis-uk-benefits-plunge-to-lowest-value-in-50-years

    That people have to rely on food banks is something of which we should be ashamed. As is our treatment of refugees.
    Would you be more ashamed if there were no food banks? Talk to food banks. With the best benefits system in the world, you would still have people who run out of money for food. There are people who have a drugs problem. A gambling problem. A drink problem. A complete inability to budget. Sometimes, they are mentally ill. Or of such low intelligence levels, they are very poorly equipped to survive outside a care system.

    All of these people can benefit from food banks - and the very generous people who give to them and man them.

    Personally, I'm happy that the number of food banks has risen, to help provide for those who would otherwise go without - for whatever reason. Society still provides. That is something to celebrate.
  • OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 31,715
    moonshine said:

    Heathener said:

    Heathener said:

    FPT: RCS "things that I have lost money on, number 37 - assuming the French would be rational and allow drilling."

    Directional drilling, surely? If those multi-million pound houses on Sandbanks can be shielded from a large drilling operation on Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour, surely it is not beyond the ingenuity of the French to extract billions of barrels that aren't being bought from Russia?

    Pull your bloody finger out, France....

    Raping the earth is not the way to build a better future.
    And don't call us when you need medical help.
    I waited 7 hours in A&E last week.

    In Thailand I'd have waited 5 minutes. And received better treatment.
    You know why you can do then… you’d like it there, lots of Russian spoken.
    AIUI they're not very popular tourists.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 66,730

    ydoethur said:

    Listening to the media narrative this morning I would not be surprised if Rishi resigns and even goes to the US

    The last PM to have more than two Chancellors was Thatcher, who had three - Howe, Lawson and Major. But that was over 11 years and 6 months.

    If Johnson has three in just two years, that speaks to a deep malaise at the heart of his government. There hasn't been that much instability in the Treasury since the 1950s when you had Butler, Macmillan, Thorneycroft, Heathcoat Amory and Lloyd in the space of just six years (1955-60)
    Rishi implosion has to be one of the most extraordinary events for any politician in recent times
    Mandelson and the house loan would appear to be the closest recent parallel.
  • DavidL said:

    Whilst I hate the word "benefits" and all it implies, the article nails to the floor just how broken both the economy is and our politics. Working people should not need to reply on foodbanks, yet for so many Tories this is something to be celebrated.

    https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/apr/11/cost-of-living-crisis-uk-benefits-plunge-to-lowest-value-in-50-years

    This is why I was so disappointed with Sunak's mini budget (and indeed Labour's response which barely touched on the point). The cost of living crisis is always the worst for the poorest and he did absolutely nothing to help them when faced with a doubling of heating costs. It was wrong.
    Worse than doing nothing, your party deny there is a crisis at all. Why do something to fix something that doesn't exist? This is Boris - boosterism is all he knows. So no, not the highest peacetime taxes, not an inflation bomb, not a brutal tax rise, not a fuel and food price crisis. No no, the real issue is chicks with dicks on Channel 4.
    You post with an anti HMG agenda which is absolutely fair and understandable, but as we are where we are just how would you deal with the cost of living crisis

    It is a genuine question as I am interested in alternatives to HMG
    As I have posted repeatedly there are massive structural problems. Jobs that do not pay enough wages and do not guarantee hours. Housing costs that are unaffordable unless you have a large deposit which you can't possibly save for. A social security safety net that makes people so indebted that recovery is almost impossible.

    There are no quick and simple solutions. But the starter for 10 has to be recognising the issue exists at all. The Tories deny it - they even celebrate the rise of foodbacks as if working people reliant on charity is a Good Thing. Labour don't want to address it - they're also stuck at the micro instead of looking at the macro. But at least they don't enjoy kicking people like the Tories do. So its a start.
    You have not even attempted to answer the question other than to say kick out Tories

    I assume the reason is it is almost insoluble no matter which party is in charge
  • tlg86tlg86 Posts: 25,164
    So after getting quordle in six yesterday, today's is exceptionally hard...

    Daily Quordle 77
    7️⃣9️⃣
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    quordle.com
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  • bigjohnowlsbigjohnowls Posts: 21,709
    Heathener said:

    Heathener said:

    This is our world JJ, the whole human race's. Not yours to decide upon and the future is green, and increasingly the present.

    The raping of the earth is the right term and as someone who was the victim of rape for which a man got sent to jail for a long time, I politely suggest you put a sock in it. As a man you don't know what it's like.

    Mother Earth has been raped and pillaged, mostly by men. I like the French term: violation which = rape.

    The old white gammons can stick their self-centred capitalism up their arses. We will build a better greener future without them.

    But as you know I am also an advocate of nuclear power and you are adamantly opposed to it for reasons of fear. You have your reasons for being fearful of it, which I get, but in terms of its energy credentials it is very strong and it is the most naturally occurring form of energy in the universe.

    It's a rare thing I agree with Boris about.

    Your post screams hatred of men
    Men have ravaged and ruined this world
    Thatcher was female I believe
  • StuartinromfordStuartinromford Posts: 14,080
    ydoethur said:

    Listening to the media narrative this morning I would not be surprised if Rishi resigns and even goes to the US

    The last PM to have more than two Chancellors was Thatcher, who had three - Howe, Lawson and Major. But that was over 11 years and 6 months.

    If Johnson has three in just two years, that speaks to a deep malaise at the heart of his government. There hasn't been that much instability in the Treasury since the 1950s when you had Butler, Macmillan, Thorneycroft, Heathcoat Amory and Lloyd in the space of just six years (1955-60)
    Worse job security than teaching Defence Against The Dark Arts at Hogwarts.

    Not that surprising, though. Bozzaism only works as a coherent political philosophy if you ignore government income and expenditure. Which is fine for Johnson, but not for anyone at the Treasury.

    Especially since the two ways of boosting economic activity that people have come up with (full-on deregulation or diluting Brexit) are politically not plausible.
  • P&O still have no Dover/Calais services running. What a shambles.

    The head of UK ports in apologising for the delays affirmed the cause at Dover is the loss of P & O ferries but also poor weather in the channel

    He said the rest of UK ports are operating at 92% but of course some will be wanting to blame brexit
    Can I ask when this quote was given? Because the evidence of eyes and ears demonstrates it to be false.
    "Loss of P&O ferries". Its true that ferry capacity has been reduced. But ships are leaving half empty - trucks cannot get through customs. So the bottleneck is not the P&O issue. "poor weather in the channel" - all you need to do is check the weather forecast today and any day you like last week. There is no poor weather.

    The issue is the collapse of the Goods Vehicle Movement Service, where the computer system which HMRC told your government 6 years ago could not cope with the number of post-Brexit transactions has failed because it can't cope with the number of post-Brexit transactions. We have suspended making any inbound checks - trucks are waved through. But outbound we need to show paperwork for the French in that oven-ready deal we insisted on implementing. So without a working computer its manual checks.

    Remember that there is no room to park trucks at Dover. So even when GVMS and CHIEF were working the time taken forces trucks to be stacked elsewhere and paperwork to be examined at various pre-channel locations. So even the best case scenario will have queues forever. When the system fails its entirely manual, which creates this chaos.

    "Its the fault of P&O" is a demonstrable lie. "Its the fault of poor weather" is a demonstrable lie. You are being spun. You are a smarter man than just believe the lies fed to you in easily digestible portions. DFDS - the people running the ferries - have confirmed their boats are departing half full. So either DFDS are lying about their own business or your quote from UK Ports was a joke at the time and is utterly discredited now.
    He commented on 5 live last week and you are clearly suggesting the head of UK ports is lying to the public

    I would suggest he knows this subject and you are to be fair hardly a neutral observer
    OK. So on one hand we have the people doing the exports. And HMRC. And the actual ferry companies. And swathes of evidence submitted live by people there. And on the other hand we have Downing Street and bits of the media and apparently this chap.

    We know for a fact that boats are leaving half empty. Photographic evidence backed up by the actual ferry company itself. So we know that a lack of ferry capacity is not the issue - if it was every last berth would be full of trucks.

    We also know that GVMS failed on 30th March. As confirmed by HMRC. We know that manual checks have been implemented. As confirmed by HMRC and both confirmed on the ground by the whole industry and stacks of truckers posting their experience of the hell that is Brock Zero.

    So again, we have actual evidence on one side, and an actual lie on the other. yes, the head of UK Ports is making public statements which are untrue - assuming that you are paraphrasing him accurately. Repeated lovingly by the BBC and other media outlets desperate for an excuse for what is going on that isn't Brexit.

    As for your last line "you are hardly a neutral observer". I have skin in this game - I import stuff. Which is more than most people making "THESE ARE THE FACTS" statements can say. But again, the evidence of both the ferry companies and HMRC and the Port of Dover and the Truckers and the Logistics companies is there. Plain to see. Not up for discussion or debate because it is simply fact. There for anyone to see.

    When you say "you are hardly a neutral observer" you are inviting me to set aside these facts and instead consider the words of someone denying them. That we can ignore the half empty trucks and ferry company evidence. That we can ignore GVMS and HMRC and the Port of Dover. We can ignore Google Maps and the driveby videos and all the tweets from all the drivers stuck for days. We can even ignore the weather and pretend that there has been poor weather when we know there hasn't.

    Yes. I am hardly a neutral observer. Because facts matter. You are being lied to.
  • RogerRoger Posts: 18,891

    The one concern I have about the French election now is that the final result will be decided by people whose British equivalents believe that there is no difference between the Tories and Labour.

    Congratulations to Melenchon fantastic result.
    Losing?
  • DavidL said:

    Whilst I hate the word "benefits" and all it implies, the article nails to the floor just how broken both the economy is and our politics. Working people should not need to reply on foodbanks, yet for so many Tories this is something to be celebrated.

    https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/apr/11/cost-of-living-crisis-uk-benefits-plunge-to-lowest-value-in-50-years

    This is why I was so disappointed with Sunak's mini budget (and indeed Labour's response which barely touched on the point). The cost of living crisis is always the worst for the poorest and he did absolutely nothing to help them when faced with a doubling of heating costs. It was wrong.
    Worse than doing nothing, your party deny there is a crisis at all. Why do something to fix something that doesn't exist? This is Boris - boosterism is all he knows. So no, not the highest peacetime taxes, not an inflation bomb, not a brutal tax rise, not a fuel and food price crisis. No no, the real issue is chicks with dicks on Channel 4.
    You post with an anti HMG agenda which is absolutely fair and understandable, but as we are where we are just how would you deal with the cost of living crisis

    It is a genuine question as I am interested in alternatives to HMG
    As I have posted repeatedly there are massive structural problems. Jobs that do not pay enough wages and do not guarantee hours. Housing costs that are unaffordable unless you have a large deposit which you can't possibly save for. A social security safety net that makes people so indebted that recovery is almost impossible.

    There are no quick and simple solutions. But the starter for 10 has to be recognising the issue exists at all. The Tories deny it - they even celebrate the rise of foodbacks as if working people reliant on charity is a Good Thing. Labour don't want to address it - they're also stuck at the micro instead of looking at the macro. But at least they don't enjoy kicking people like the Tories do. So its a start.
    You have not even attempted to answer the question other than to say kick out Tories

    I assume the reason is it is almost insoluble no matter which party is in charge
    I said kicking out the Tories is a *start*. You can;t begin to fix the problem when the government deny there is a problem.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 66,730
    edited April 2022

    DavidL said:

    Whilst I hate the word "benefits" and all it implies, the article nails to the floor just how broken both the economy is and our politics. Working people should not need to reply on foodbanks, yet for so many Tories this is something to be celebrated.

    https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/apr/11/cost-of-living-crisis-uk-benefits-plunge-to-lowest-value-in-50-years

    This is why I was so disappointed with Sunak's mini budget (and indeed Labour's response which barely touched on the point). The cost of living crisis is always the worst for the poorest and he did absolutely nothing to help them when faced with a doubling of heating costs. It was wrong.
    Worse than doing nothing, your party deny there is a crisis at all. Why do something to fix something that doesn't exist? This is Boris - boosterism is all he knows. So no, not the highest peacetime taxes, not an inflation bomb, not a brutal tax rise, not a fuel and food price crisis. No no, the real issue is chicks with dicks on Channel 4.
    You post with an anti HMG agenda which is absolutely fair and understandable, but as we are where we are just how would you deal with the cost of living crisis

    It is a genuine question as I am interested in alternatives to HMG
    As I have posted repeatedly there are massive structural problems. Jobs that do not pay enough wages and do not guarantee hours. Housing costs that are unaffordable unless you have a large deposit which you can't possibly save for. A social security safety net that makes people so indebted that recovery is almost impossible.

    There are no quick and simple solutions. But the starter for 10 has to be recognising the issue exists at all. The Tories deny it - they even celebrate the rise of foodbacks as if working people reliant on charity is a Good Thing. Labour don't want to address it - they're also stuck at the micro instead of looking at the macro. But at least they don't enjoy kicking people like the Tories do. So its a start.
    You have not even attempted to answer the question other than to say kick out Tories

    I assume the reason is it is almost insoluble no matter which party is in charge
    It's not insoluble, but it's insoluble in our current economic situation without using methods that create greater long term problems.

    Bluntly, unless we can find ways to raise economic output substantially without increasing the labour force, so there is more money to go round, more tax coming in and the national debt is reduced as a portion of income so becomes more affordable, it can't be done.

    But that's something nobody is willing to do as it is in itself quite costly and also requires us to work harder at a time when many workers are already feeling the strain.

    I mean, I'm part of the problem from that point of view I suppose. I'm looking to go part time. But if everyone did that, our tax structure is buggered.

    If I worked more hours, that might reduce staffing needs and help our economy/tax structure - plus given I'm reducing hours on medical advice due to overwork, so it would save my pension because I would likely be dead before I'm 60 - but from a personal POV it would not be the right solution.

    And that's true for most people.
  • Whilst I hate the word "benefits" and all it implies, the article nails to the floor just how broken both the economy is and our politics. Working people should not need to reply on foodbanks, yet for so many Tories this is something to be celebrated.

    https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/apr/11/cost-of-living-crisis-uk-benefits-plunge-to-lowest-value-in-50-years

    That people have to rely on food banks is something of which we should be ashamed. As is our treatment of refugees.
    Would you be more ashamed if there were no food banks? Talk to food banks. With the best benefits system in the world, you would still have people who run out of money for food. There are people who have a drugs problem. A gambling problem. A drink problem. A complete inability to budget. Sometimes, they are mentally ill. Or of such low intelligence levels, they are very poorly equipped to survive outside a care system.

    All of these people can benefit from food banks - and the very generous people who give to them and man them.

    Personally, I'm happy that the number of food banks has risen, to help provide for those who would otherwise go without - for whatever reason. Society still provides. That is something to celebrate.
    Society doesn't provide. Which is why working people have to rely on foodbanks. If society provided then working would pay the bills. The explosion in foodbank use demonstrates that this is not true.
  • StillWatersStillWaters Posts: 6,760

    With friends like these, Rishi does not need enemies:-

    Santa Monica beckons for Rishi Sunak as his political stock continues to plummet
    Chancellor may not stand at next election if he loses job as friends say he is more inclined towards life in California than on back benches

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2022/04/10/santa-monica-beckons-rishi-sunak-political-stock-continues-plummet/ (£££)

    Why are you assuming they are friends? Wouldn’t an enemy lie to the press to make their attack more damaging?
  • CarlottaVanceCarlottaVance Posts: 59,540

    Heathener said:

    Heathener said:

    This is our world JJ, the whole human race's. Not yours to decide upon and the future is green, and increasingly the present.

    The raping of the earth is the right term and as someone who was the victim of rape for which a man got sent to jail for a long time, I politely suggest you put a sock in it. As a man you don't know what it's like.

    Mother Earth has been raped and pillaged, mostly by men. I like the French term: violation which = rape.

    The old white gammons can stick their self-centred capitalism up their arses. We will build a better greener future without them.

    But as you know I am also an advocate of nuclear power and you are adamantly opposed to it for reasons of fear. You have your reasons for being fearful of it, which I get, but in terms of its energy credentials it is very strong and it is the most naturally occurring form of energy in the universe.

    It's a rare thing I agree with Boris about.

    Your post screams hatred of men
    Men have ravaged and ruined this world
    Thatcher was female I believe
    And was well ahead of the curve on the environment....

    Thatcher summed up what she believed to be the Tory philosophy on environmental protection in an October 1988 speech to the Conservative Party Conference in Brighton: "No generation has a freehold on this earth. All we have is a life tenancy — with full repairing lease. This Government intends to meet the terms of that lease in full"

    https://www.perc.org/2004/12/10/margaret-thatcher/
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 58,038
    The cost of insuring the Kremlin’s debt now signals a record 99pc chance of default within a year.

    Teelegraph
  • IshmaelZIshmaelZ Posts: 21,830
    moonshine said:

    Heathener said:

    Heathener said:

    FPT: RCS "things that I have lost money on, number 37 - assuming the French would be rational and allow drilling."

    Directional drilling, surely? If those multi-million pound houses on Sandbanks can be shielded from a large drilling operation on Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour, surely it is not beyond the ingenuity of the French to extract billions of barrels that aren't being bought from Russia?

    Pull your bloody finger out, France....

    Raping the earth is not the way to build a better future.
    And don't call us when you need medical help.
    I waited 7 hours in A&E last week.

    In Thailand I'd have waited 5 minutes. And received better treatment.
    You know what you can do then… you’d like it there, lots of Russian spoken.
    My experience of 3rd world medicine confirms the 5 minute wait. It is achieved by jumping a queue of about 350 because you're paying usd, and white
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 39,117

    P&O still have no Dover/Calais services running. What a shambles.

    The head of UK ports in apologising for the delays affirmed the cause at Dover is the loss of P & O ferries but also poor weather in the channel

    He said the rest of UK ports are operating at 92% but of course some will be wanting to blame brexit
    Can I ask when this quote was given? Because the evidence of eyes and ears demonstrates it to be false.
    "Loss of P&O ferries". Its true that ferry capacity has been reduced. But ships are leaving half empty - trucks cannot get through customs. So the bottleneck is not the P&O issue. "poor weather in the channel" - all you need to do is check the weather forecast today and any day you like last week. There is no poor weather.

    The issue is the collapse of the Goods Vehicle Movement Service, where the computer system which HMRC told your government 6 years ago could not cope with the number of post-Brexit transactions has failed because it can't cope with the number of post-Brexit transactions. We have suspended making any inbound checks - trucks are waved through. But outbound we need to show paperwork for the French in that oven-ready deal we insisted on implementing. So without a working computer its manual checks.

    Remember that there is no room to park trucks at Dover. So even when GVMS and CHIEF were working the time taken forces trucks to be stacked elsewhere and paperwork to be examined at various pre-channel locations. So even the best case scenario will have queues forever. When the system fails its entirely manual, which creates this chaos.

    "Its the fault of P&O" is a demonstrable lie. "Its the fault of poor weather" is a demonstrable lie. You are being spun. You are a smarter man than just believe the lies fed to you in easily digestible portions. DFDS - the people running the ferries - have confirmed their boats are departing half full. So either DFDS are lying about their own business or your quote from UK Ports was a joke at the time and is utterly discredited now.
    He commented on 5 live last week and you are clearly suggesting the head of UK ports is lying to the public

    I would suggest he knows this subject and you are to be fair hardly a neutral observer
    I'm not surprised RP Isn't a neutral observer. He's trying to import stuff into the UK through this chaos. Of course he isn't a neutral observer. He's a critical, and well-informed, one. I'd be surprised if he has any hair left.
  • IshmaelZIshmaelZ Posts: 21,830

    The one concern I have about the French election now is that the final result will be decided by people whose British equivalents believe that there is no difference between the Tories and Labour.

    Congratulations to Melenchon fantastic result.
    The French Corbyn.
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 39,117

    Whilst I hate the word "benefits" and all it implies, the article nails to the floor just how broken both the economy is and our politics. Working people should not need to reply on foodbanks, yet for so many Tories this is something to be celebrated.

    https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/apr/11/cost-of-living-crisis-uk-benefits-plunge-to-lowest-value-in-50-years

    That people have to rely on food banks is something of which we should be ashamed. As is our treatment of refugees.
    It's surprising how proud the Tories are of recreating the Speenhamland System of the mid-19th C. Giving people starvation wages subsidised by ordinary taxpayers to tbe benefit of the employers, and patting themselves on the back at their moral probity and charity in supporting the locak soup kitchen.
This discussion has been closed.