Anabobazina said: » show previous quotes "The idea that Raab, or indeed anyone, would deliberately watch pornography in the Commons chamber simply doesn't pass the sniff test. Why would anyone do that?
What might have happened is someone texted/WhatsApped something NSFW and they opened the message before realising what it was.
Why would anyone deliberately watch pornography on the job?"
SSI - Based on many documented cases, would appear it's because they are horny as horny-toads? AND think they can get away with it, because when they got caught was NOT the first time they'd done it, more like the umptenth.
I remember in 2008/9 Mervyn King was quoted as saying that the next government who wins would have to impose such huge and eyewatering cuts to spending that they'd be out of power for a generation (which happily turned out to be wrong). I think it what applies to the next government coming in. Weak governor, inflation running wild, sterling tanking, deficit at 6.5% of GDP, economy stalling, COVID rally running out of steam, growth engine suffocated with a huge tax burden and borrowing power quickly running out.
I wouldn't be shocked if we get a few ratings downgrades in the next year or two, our gilt prices already trade below our current average rating.
You think Team Starmer will impose huge cuts.....brave prediction.
I don't think he'll have a choice. There will be market enforced discipline, bond buyers will go on strike and suddenly yields will rise to over 5% on medium dated debt and over 4% on shorter term paper. The state simply can't afford to rollover it's existing debt stock at those rates as well as take on £100bn in new borrowing per year. He's simply got no choice, neither will the Tories. Dave and George presented a credible plan to bring the deficit under control, had reasonable headwinds and won the trust of the markets to enforce discipline on spending so the money kept flowing.
It's been a while since people brought up the bond market vigilantes... makes me nostalgic for 2010 or so...
Personally I think this is wrong, we need a sustained period of higher than normal capital expenditure (to make up for what we lost under austerity), hopefully well-targeted at getting the country more productive.
So big govt investment in transport, science, clean energy, infrastructure, houses and take on the NIMBYs. Financed by borrowing as necessary.
I just don't see where you're getting the money from. At least in 2010 we had oodles of room for QE which the government used as a ladder out of the fiscal hole it dug for itself. We have little to no capacity for QE.
Additionally, talk of capital expenditure inevitably makes way for "our NHS". Anyone who thinks we could make current spending cuts to fund investment is kidding themselves.
The cost of servicing our debt is at a record low - debt servicing costs are like 1.5% -> there is loads more room to borrow, although we should obviously aim for projects that are actually a good idea. Not idiotic bridges across the north sea.
As for our NHS - we need a massive increase in capacity to deal with the backlog. That means investing in people definitely, but it also means investing in actually building (not pretending) newer and better facilities. NHS capital expenditure has really suffered over past years.
In the coming financial year we're looking at debt servicing hit between 3.5% and 3.9% of GDP. This year it was already at just under 3%. Again, a third of our gilt stock is inflation linked to CPI. That gets eyewateringly expensive very quickly indeed.
Question for you Max - is that before or after the counterbalance from assets in the Asset Purchasing Facility?
"Labour 'could struggle to make gains' at local elections despite Boris's Partygate woes as experts say Starmer faces tough task to beat 2018 performance
Keir Starmer is warned Labour will struggle to make gains at the local elections Most of the council seats being fought for next week were last contested in 2018 The results 4 years ago were a high water mark of Labour’s recent performance Election gurus suggest Sir Keir will do well to avoid an 'underwhelming' result"
"Labour 'could struggle to make gains' at local elections despite Boris's Partygate woes as experts say Starmer faces tough task to beat 2018 performance
Keir Starmer is warned Labour will struggle to make gains at the local elections Most of the council seats being fought for next week were last contested in 2018 The results 4 years ago were a high water mark of Labour’s recent performance Election gurus suggest Sir Keir will do well to avoid an 'underwhelming' result"
At the very least though, Starmer will want Labour to take control of Barnet, Wandsworth, Bolton, Stockport, the Wirral, Burnley, Colchester, Crawley, Milton Keynes, Peterborough, Plymouth and West Lancashire and maybe Worthing and Swindon too if he is heading for No 10
Mathematically how exactly does Labour gain overall control of Stockport?! They will be doing extremely well to hold all their existing seats especially Cheadle Hulme North which they only gained from the LDs by 4 votes in 2018 and Stepping Hill from the Tories and Offerton are the only plausible gains. They might also lose Reddish S to the Greens again.
That said Labour and the Conservatives have extremely bad relations with the LDs on Stockport so Labour is likely to remain in control as a minority even if they are not the largest party like in 2021 (although they still won the popular vote).
The others apart from Worthing, Barnet , Wandsworth and Crawley(?) are implausible as well for reasons already discussed.
Plymouth and Swindon are enormous long shots made difficult by how well the Tories did in 2021.
"Spoke to someone v close to govt last week and they were super worried about govt finances. Forget about lower spending they were seeing a likelihood of cuts. The debt servicing bill is eye watering and unsustainable. That puts the Cons in a difficult place in the run up to any election."
My first instinct was (and still is) that this is Treasury bollocks to scare backbench MPs and excuse the current tax regime.
They were very worried. And not sure what would happen when the penny drops amongst the public at large.
This sounds like probable baloney.
The traditional point of concern is when Govt Debt Interest is getting towards 4% of GDP.
(Open to correction if anyone has any startling recent or alternate data.)
And as mentioned to @rcs1000 very sensitive to inflation in itself, on account of its index-linked borrowing, and also the concomitant rate rises.
That depends what % of borrowing is index linked. Two reasons we were comparatively insulated from the impacts in 2010 and following was that most of our borrowing was a) our high percentage of fixed rate public debt and b) our longer term public debt compared to most other countries (10-15 years vs 5 years) so we did not have to go into the market to roll it over as soon.
So there was headroom to spread out public finance recovery.
The % of index-linked is higher now - not sure how much higher.
If there is an analysis that demonstrates this is a real problem in terms of borrowing costs going to an unacceptable level of GDP *now* I'd like to see it - rather than speculation on possibilities.
Aha - see max supplied some numbers.
From your document:
"Relative to March 2021, interest costs have been revised up by £15.0 billion in 2021- 22, £15.5 billion in 2022-23 and an average of nearly £6 billion a year across the rest of the forecast. Again, this is predominantly due to higher than expected RPI inflation, with the increase in interest costs associated with index-linked gilts accounting for £13.8 billion and £10.3 billion of the increase in 2021-22 and 2022-23 respectively. Higher interest rates also increase debt interest spending across the forecast, while a higher path for Bank Rate reduces the impact of the APF in bringing down interest costs from 2022-23 onwards. "
That was an October 2021 document. Six months ago. Oh how the world has changed since then.
Meanwhile 25% of our debt is index linked.
Without undermining the seriousness of balancing the budget (which I do believe in) index linked isn't really that major of an issue.
Sure a quarter to a third may be index linked, but if the country is growing in real terms then that should really be read as two thirds to three quarters is not index linked.
Debt to GDP is the relevant figure, and debt servicing to GDP. Inflation may cost cash, but if the GDP is growing then that should relatively cancel each other out.
A few decades of inflation is probably what we need now to deflate away the debts we have borrowed. That is basically what succeeded from 45 to 74 approximately.
£46 billion is the amount spent this year in debt interest payments. It is easy to hide this as 3% of something or other. It is £1000 per year for 40 million people. That's a lot of extra tax to pay, or a lot of universal credit increase that didn't happen. And we have borrowed much more than this figure this year anyway, so we haven't even paid anything, we have just increased the debt.
"Labour 'could struggle to make gains' at local elections despite Boris's Partygate woes as experts say Starmer faces tough task to beat 2018 performance
Keir Starmer is warned Labour will struggle to make gains at the local elections Most of the council seats being fought for next week were last contested in 2018 The results 4 years ago were a high water mark of Labour’s recent performance Election gurus suggest Sir Keir will do well to avoid an 'underwhelming' result"
I would just comment for those who have been following this thread over the last couple of hours the discussion on the nation's finances has been a sobering lesson to us all
It is clear that neither of the main parties are going to be able to speak the truth to the electorate, as it is frightening just how much covid and Ukraine has cost the economy, let alone as @Scott_xP would say the brexit effect
The idea public sector staff, including nurses and care workers, together with pensioners are going to see inflation increases is just not possible and I have no idea where all the extra income to the exchequer is coming from on the NHS, Schools, and now by common consent defence
I expect truth will be in short supply in manifestos for GE 24 and as I have maintained all along how can Starmer reduce expectations and even say no, when he and labour have promised to outspend on most every department of government.
If I could wave a magic wand I would get rid of those incumbents in the HOC on all sides and install PB posters who have contributed in this debate into running the county
I happened to be driving when PMQs was on today. Blimey, it was tedious. SKS is so dull. No doubt his repeat at the end of every question sounded powerful in his bedroom mirror this morning but there was no bite in it whatsoever. Boris just blusters away repeating the same half relevant statistics time and again without addressing the question. Blackford is utterly tedious and sanctimonious. Ed Davies didn't even bother to turn up which was a good call by him.
Would this be any better if they were also calling each other liars? Probably not. It is undignifed and pointless already.
Re half-relevant statistics at PMQs, Boris claimed 13,500 new coppers, ahead of the government's target of 12,000 but isn't the target 20,000 per the manifesto, or is Boris working on 4,000 a year?
I remember in 2008/9 Mervyn King was quoted as saying that the next government who wins would have to impose such huge and eyewatering cuts to spending that they'd be out of power for a generation (which happily turned out to be wrong). I think it what applies to the next government coming in. Weak governor, inflation running wild, sterling tanking, deficit at 6.5% of GDP, economy stalling, COVID rally running out of steam, growth engine suffocated with a huge tax burden and borrowing power quickly running out.
I wouldn't be shocked if we get a few ratings downgrades in the next year or two, our gilt prices already trade below our current average rating.
I'm normally pretty bullish on the UK economy but the last few weeks have been a chastening experience, all of the warning signs are flashing and both Bailey and Rishi are sitting around twiddling their thumbs talking about £50 off an MOT.
I am amazed you are surprised. How could lockdown, furlough and almost endless money printing have resulted in anything else? The situation we have now is the inevitable outcome of these policies.
I'm not surprised, what disappoints me is that the government is currently asleep at the wheel talking about increasing spending from their already high levels. The conversation about bringing spending and the deficit under control hasn't even begun but it needed to at the end of last year. Forget more money for the NHS, forget more money for old people, forget more money for social care, we have to cut and cut fast.
Grow the economy and the rest falls into place: more to spend and a falling deficit. You can't cut your way to prosperity.
I remember in 2008/9 Mervyn King was quoted as saying that the next government who wins would have to impose such huge and eyewatering cuts to spending that they'd be out of power for a generation (which happily turned out to be wrong). I think it what applies to the next government coming in. Weak governor, inflation running wild, sterling tanking, deficit at 6.5% of GDP, economy stalling, COVID rally running out of steam, growth engine suffocated with a huge tax burden and borrowing power quickly running out.
I wouldn't be shocked if we get a few ratings downgrades in the next year or two, our gilt prices already trade below our current average rating.
I'm normally pretty bullish on the UK economy but the last few weeks have been a chastening experience, all of the warning signs are flashing and both Bailey and Rishi are sitting around twiddling their thumbs talking about £50 off an MOT.
I am amazed you are surprised. How could lockdown, furlough and almost endless money printing have resulted in anything else? The situation we have now is the inevitable outcome of these policies.
I'm not surprised, what disappoints me is that the government is currently asleep at the wheel talking about increasing spending from their already high levels. The conversation about bringing spending and the deficit under control hasn't even begun but it needed to at the end of last year. Forget more money for the NHS, forget more money for old people, forget more money for social care, we have to cut and cut fast.
Grow the economy and the rest falls into place: more to spend and a falling deficit. You can't cut your way to prosperity.
You can if public spending is grotesquely wasteful and you are crowding out private investment.
I happened to be driving when PMQs was on today. Blimey, it was tedious. SKS is so dull. No doubt his repeat at the end of every question sounded powerful in his bedroom mirror this morning but there was no bite in it whatsoever. Boris just blusters away repeating the same half relevant statistics time and again without addressing the question. Blackford is utterly tedious and sanctimonious. Ed Davies didn't even bother to turn up which was a good call by him.
Would this be any better if they were also calling each other liars? Probably not. It is undignifed and pointless already.
Re half-relevant statistics at PMQs, Boris claimed 13,500 new coppers, ahead of the government's target of 12,000 but isn't the target 20,000 per the manifesto, or is Boris working on 4,000 a year?
In response to a q from our own @Tissue_Price, then segued into a channel crossing migrant number. Again, how does AB MP get qs at 2 successive PMQs?
I happened to be driving when PMQs was on today. Blimey, it was tedious. SKS is so dull. No doubt his repeat at the end of every question sounded powerful in his bedroom mirror this morning but there was no bite in it whatsoever. Boris just blusters away repeating the same half relevant statistics time and again without addressing the question. Blackford is utterly tedious and sanctimonious. Ed Davies didn't even bother to turn up which was a good call by him.
Would this be any better if they were also calling each other liars? Probably not. It is undignifed and pointless already.
Re half-relevant statistics at PMQs, Boris claimed 13,500 new coppers, ahead of the government's target of 12,000 but isn't the target 20,000 per the manifesto, or is Boris working on 4,000 a year?
The Tories cut all the coppers and have underfunded the justice system to the extent that the system no longer has the resources to properly pursue criminals.
I would just comment for those who have been following this thread over the last couple of hours the discussion on the nation's finances has been a sobering lesson to us all
It is clear that neither of the main parties are going to be able to speak the truth to the electorate, as it is frightening just how much covid and Ukraine has cost the economy, let alone as @Scott_xP would say the brexit effect
The idea public sector staff, including nurses and care workers, together with pensioners are going to see inflation increases is just not possible and I have no idea where all the extra income to the exchequer is coming from on the NHS, Schools, and now by common consent defence
I expect truth will be in short supply in manifestos for GE 24 and as I have maintained all along how can Starmer reduce expectations and even say no, when he and labour have promised to outspend on most every department of government.
If I could wave a magic wand I would get rid of those incumbents in the HOC on all sides and install PB posters who have contributed in this debate into running the county
I think that unfair there are some excellent MPs.
There is nonetheless much dross. Burgon, Williamson, McDonnell and Corbyn spring readily to mind for starters.
"Labour 'could struggle to make gains' at local elections despite Boris's Partygate woes as experts say Starmer faces tough task to beat 2018 performance
Keir Starmer is warned Labour will struggle to make gains at the local elections Most of the council seats being fought for next week were last contested in 2018 The results 4 years ago were a high water mark of Labour’s recent performance Election gurus suggest Sir Keir will do well to avoid an 'underwhelming' result"
I would just comment for those who have been following this thread over the last couple of hours the discussion on the nation's finances has been a sobering lesson to us all
It is clear that neither of the main parties are going to be able to speak the truth to the electorate, as it is frightening just how much covid and Ukraine has cost the economy, let alone as @Scott_xP would say the brexit effect
The idea public sector staff, including nurses and care workers, together with pensioners are going to see inflation increases is just not possible and I have no idea where all the extra income to the exchequer is coming from on the NHS, Schools, and now by common consent defence
I expect truth will be in short supply in manifestos for GE 24 and as I have maintained all along how can Starmer reduce expectations and even say no, when he and labour have promised to outspend on most every department of government.
If I could wave a magic wand I would get rid of those incumbents in the HOC on all sides and install PB posters who have contributed in this debate into running the county
Not to mention the impact of NI changes on the public sector wage bill.
I was on a train in the early 2000s when a civil servant realised they had forgotten to include NI in the costings for NHS pay increases. It was a very urgent not very whispered panic call.
I would just comment for those who have been following this thread over the last couple of hours the discussion on the nation's finances has been a sobering lesson to us all
It is clear that neither of the main parties are going to be able to speak the truth to the electorate, as it is frightening just how much covid and Ukraine has cost the economy, let alone as @Scott_xP would say the brexit effect
The idea public sector staff, including nurses and care workers, together with pensioners are going to see inflation increases is just not possible and I have no idea where all the extra income to the exchequer is coming from on the NHS, Schools, and now by common consent defence
I expect truth will be in short supply in manifestos for GE 24 and as I have maintained all along how can Starmer reduce expectations and even say no, when he and labour have promised to outspend on most every department of government.
If I could wave a magic wand I would get rid of those incumbents in the HOC on all sides and install PB posters who have contributed in this debate into running the county
I think that unfair there are some excellent MPs.
There is nonetheless much dross. Burgon, Williamson, McDonnell and Corbyn spring readily to mind for starters.
It is harsh but I genuinely believe they the parties are not addressing the reality of the situation, most likely as it would be toxic to their electoral chances
"Spoke to someone v close to govt last week and they were super worried about govt finances. Forget about lower spending they were seeing a likelihood of cuts. The debt servicing bill is eye watering and unsustainable. That puts the Cons in a difficult place in the run up to any election."
My first instinct was (and still is) that this is Treasury bollocks to scare backbench MPs and excuse the current tax regime.
They were very worried. And not sure what would happen when the penny drops amongst the public at large.
This sounds like probable baloney.
The traditional point of concern is when Govt Debt Interest is getting towards 4% of GDP.
(Open to correction if anyone has any startling recent or alternate data.)
And as mentioned to @rcs1000 very sensitive to inflation in itself, on account of its index-linked borrowing, and also the concomitant rate rises.
That depends what % of borrowing is index linked. Two reasons we were comparatively insulated from the impacts in 2010 and following was that most of our borrowing was a) our high percentage of fixed rate public debt and b) our longer term public debt compared to most other countries (10-15 years vs 5 years) so we did not have to go into the market to roll it over as soon.
So there was headroom to spread out public finance recovery.
The % of index-linked is higher now - not sure how much higher.
If there is an analysis that demonstrates this is a real problem in terms of borrowing costs going to an unacceptable level of GDP *now* I'd like to see it - rather than speculation on possibilities.
Aha - see max supplied some numbers.
From your document:
"Relative to March 2021, interest costs have been revised up by £15.0 billion in 2021- 22, £15.5 billion in 2022-23 and an average of nearly £6 billion a year across the rest of the forecast. Again, this is predominantly due to higher than expected RPI inflation, with the increase in interest costs associated with index-linked gilts accounting for £13.8 billion and £10.3 billion of the increase in 2021-22 and 2022-23 respectively. Higher interest rates also increase debt interest spending across the forecast, while a higher path for Bank Rate reduces the impact of the APF in bringing down interest costs from 2022-23 onwards. "
That was an October 2021 document. Six months ago. Oh how the world has changed since then.
Meanwhile 25% of our debt is index linked.
True. However, you are still talking about differences and not wrt the 4% number for unsustainability, which would kick in at £80bn a year of debt interest.
The 2020-21 figure being compared for those £15bn numbers was actually negative : minus £12.1 bn.
I dug out the March 2022 OBR forecasts (link below), and it includes these:
Debt interest spending jumps to a nominal record high of £83.0 billion, double our October forecast and its highest level as a share of revenue since 1997-98. (Executive Summary para 1.23)
And this is the best graph. You can see the spin it oozes.
Looks like 1 year of interest costs near 4% of GDP, then back to 2-2.5% as inflation falls back.
To me that is all a reason why BoJo should have nobbled the retail price of energy by a supply-side intervention which did not impact retail inflation.
Thanks all for the interesting convo.
(As an aside, was looking at comnparative top 6 EU economy figures for debt, and it is interesting how far *everyone's* National Debt to GDP ratio went down last year due to bounceback after COVID.)
I happened to be driving when PMQs was on today. Blimey, it was tedious. SKS is so dull. No doubt his repeat at the end of every question sounded powerful in his bedroom mirror this morning but there was no bite in it whatsoever. Boris just blusters away repeating the same half relevant statistics time and again without addressing the question. Blackford is utterly tedious and sanctimonious. Ed Davies didn't even bother to turn up which was a good call by him.
Would this be any better if they were also calling each other liars? Probably not. It is undignifed and pointless already.
Re half-relevant statistics at PMQs, Boris claimed 13,500 new coppers, ahead of the government's target of 12,000 but isn't the target 20,000 per the manifesto, or is Boris working on 4,000 a year?
In response to a q from our own @Tissue_Price, then segued into a channel crossing migrant number. Again, how does AB MP get qs at 2 successive PMQs?
Almost certainly because he was twice lucky in the draw for questions.
I would just comment for those who have been following this thread over the last couple of hours the discussion on the nation's finances has been a sobering lesson to us all
It is clear that neither of the main parties are going to be able to speak the truth to the electorate, as it is frightening just how much covid and Ukraine has cost the economy, let alone as @Scott_xP would say the brexit effect
The idea public sector staff, including nurses and care workers, together with pensioners are going to see inflation increases is just not possible and I have no idea where all the extra income to the exchequer is coming from on the NHS, Schools, and now by common consent defence
I expect truth will be in short supply in manifestos for GE 24 and as I have maintained all along how can Starmer reduce expectations and even say no, when he and labour have promised to outspend on most every department of government.
If I could wave a magic wand I would get rid of those incumbents in the HOC on all sides and install PB posters who have contributed in this debate into running the county
I think that unfair there are some excellent MPs.
There is nonetheless much dross. Burgon, Williamson, McDonnell and Corbyn spring readily to mind for starters.
I was going to say Chris Williamson has left Parliament, then I remembered Gavin Williamson. I seem to have blanked him from my memory (defence mechanism perhaps?)
Health Minister Eluned Morgan broke Senedd rules over speeding, watchdog says
The Welsh government said it did not comment on leaked reports. The Welsh Conservatives said the Labour minister "has said that politicians should lead by example but has failed to do that herself".
Plaid Cymru called for Eluned Morgan to refer herself for investigation under the ministerial code.
Mark Drakeford, first minister, said he has dealt with it under the ministerial code, the matter is closed, and said there is no "equivalence" with partygate.
I happened to be driving when PMQs was on today. Blimey, it was tedious. SKS is so dull. No doubt his repeat at the end of every question sounded powerful in his bedroom mirror this morning but there was no bite in it whatsoever. Boris just blusters away repeating the same half relevant statistics time and again without addressing the question. Blackford is utterly tedious and sanctimonious. Ed Davies didn't even bother to turn up which was a good call by him.
Would this be any better if they were also calling each other liars? Probably not. It is undignifed and pointless already.
Re half-relevant statistics at PMQs, Boris claimed 13,500 new coppers, ahead of the government's target of 12,000 but isn't the target 20,000 per the manifesto, or is Boris working on 4,000 a year?
In response to a q from our own @Tissue_Price, then segued into a channel crossing migrant number. Again, how does AB MP get qs at 2 successive PMQs?
Almost certainly because he was twice lucky in the draw for questions.
Anabobazina said: » show previous quotes "The idea that Raab, or indeed anyone, would deliberately watch pornography in the Commons chamber simply doesn't pass the sniff test. Why would anyone do that?
What might have happened is someone texted/WhatsApped something NSFW and they opened the message before realising what it was.
Why would anyone deliberately watch pornography on the job?"
SSI - Based on many documented cases, would appear it's because they are horny as horny-toads? AND think they can get away with it, because when they got caught was NOT the first time they'd done it, more like the umptenth.
I happened to be driving when PMQs was on today. Blimey, it was tedious. SKS is so dull. No doubt his repeat at the end of every question sounded powerful in his bedroom mirror this morning but there was no bite in it whatsoever. Boris just blusters away repeating the same half relevant statistics time and again without addressing the question. Blackford is utterly tedious and sanctimonious. Ed Davies didn't even bother to turn up which was a good call by him.
Would this be any better if they were also calling each other liars? Probably not. It is undignifed and pointless already.
Re half-relevant statistics at PMQs, Boris claimed 13,500 new coppers, ahead of the government's target of 12,000 but isn't the target 20,000 per the manifesto, or is Boris working on 4,000 a year?
The Tories cut all the coppers and have underfunded the justice system to the extent that the system no longer has the resources to properly pursue criminals.
The Tories are incredibly soft on crime.
I've said this before but I think this was one of the reasons for the Conservatives' unexpectedly poor performance in 2017. Two terrorist outrages during the election campaign and a tone-deaf Prime Minister claiming that cutting 20,000 police officers had made no difference.
Add to that a courts backlog (where they've not been sold off), legal aid cuts, and not even the slightest interest in going after Covid fraud, which is why Lord Agnew resigned.
I remember in 2008/9 Mervyn King was quoted as saying that the next government who wins would have to impose such huge and eyewatering cuts to spending that they'd be out of power for a generation (which happily turned out to be wrong). I think it what applies to the next government coming in. Weak governor, inflation running wild, sterling tanking, deficit at 6.5% of GDP, economy stalling, COVID rally running out of steam, growth engine suffocated with a huge tax burden and borrowing power quickly running out.
I wouldn't be shocked if we get a few ratings downgrades in the next year or two, our gilt prices already trade below our current average rating.
I'm normally pretty bullish on the UK economy but the last few weeks have been a chastening experience, all of the warning signs are flashing and both Bailey and Rishi are sitting around twiddling their thumbs talking about £50 off an MOT.
I am amazed you are surprised. How could lockdown, furlough and almost endless money printing have resulted in anything else? The situation we have now is the inevitable outcome of these policies.
I'm not surprised, what disappoints me is that the government is currently asleep at the wheel talking about increasing spending from their already high levels. The conversation about bringing spending and the deficit under control hasn't even begun but it needed to at the end of last year. Forget more money for the NHS, forget more money for old people, forget more money for social care, we have to cut and cut fast.
Grow the economy and the rest falls into place: more to spend and a falling deficit. You can't cut your way to prosperity.
You can if public spending is grotesquely wasteful and you are crowding out private investment.
But that’s not really the case here.
There is an awful lot of grotesquely wasteful public spending.
Health Minister Eluned Morgan broke Senedd rules over speeding, watchdog says
The Welsh government said it did not comment on leaked reports. The Welsh Conservatives said the Labour minister "has said that politicians should lead by example but has failed to do that herself".
I would just comment for those who have been following this thread over the last couple of hours the discussion on the nation's finances has been a sobering lesson to us all
It is clear that neither of the main parties are going to be able to speak the truth to the electorate, as it is frightening just how much covid and Ukraine has cost the economy, let alone as @Scott_xP would say the brexit effect
The idea public sector staff, including nurses and care workers, together with pensioners are going to see inflation increases is just not possible and I have no idea where all the extra income to the exchequer is coming from on the NHS, Schools, and now by common consent defence
I expect truth will be in short supply in manifestos for GE 24 and as I have maintained all along how can Starmer reduce expectations and even say no, when he and labour have promised to outspend on most every department of government.
If I could wave a magic wand I would get rid of those incumbents in the HOC on all sides and install PB posters who have contributed in this debate into running the county
I think that unfair there are some excellent MPs.
There is nonetheless much dross. Burgon, Williamson, McDonnell and Corbyn spring readily to mind for starters.
It is harsh but I genuinely believe they the parties are not addressing the reality of the situation, most likely as it would be toxic to their electoral chances
Wasn't that always so. I recall during the Blair years absolutely detesting Geoff Hoon, and Charles Clarke.
Health Minister Eluned Morgan broke Senedd rules over speeding, watchdog says
The Welsh government said it did not comment on leaked reports. The Welsh Conservatives said the Labour minister "has said that politicians should lead by example but has failed to do that herself".
Andrew RT Davies is truly f***ing cretinous.
I concur but speeding is far more dangerous than eating a cake !!!!!!!
I remember in 2008/9 Mervyn King was quoted as saying that the next government who wins would have to impose such huge and eyewatering cuts to spending that they'd be out of power for a generation (which happily turned out to be wrong). I think it what applies to the next government coming in. Weak governor, inflation running wild, sterling tanking, deficit at 6.5% of GDP, economy stalling, COVID rally running out of steam, growth engine suffocated with a huge tax burden and borrowing power quickly running out.
I wouldn't be shocked if we get a few ratings downgrades in the next year or two, our gilt prices already trade below our current average rating.
I'm normally pretty bullish on the UK economy but the last few weeks have been a chastening experience, all of the warning signs are flashing and both Bailey and Rishi are sitting around twiddling their thumbs talking about £50 off an MOT.
I am amazed you are surprised. How could lockdown, furlough and almost endless money printing have resulted in anything else? The situation we have now is the inevitable outcome of these policies.
I'm not surprised, what disappoints me is that the government is currently asleep at the wheel talking about increasing spending from their already high levels. The conversation about bringing spending and the deficit under control hasn't even begun but it needed to at the end of last year. Forget more money for the NHS, forget more money for old people, forget more money for social care, we have to cut and cut fast.
Grow the economy and the rest falls into place: more to spend and a falling deficit. You can't cut your way to prosperity.
You can if public spending is grotesquely wasteful and you are crowding out private investment.
But that’s not really the case here.
There is an awful lot of grotesquely wasteful public spending.
I remember in 2008/9 Mervyn King was quoted as saying that the next government who wins would have to impose such huge and eyewatering cuts to spending that they'd be out of power for a generation (which happily turned out to be wrong). I think it what applies to the next government coming in. Weak governor, inflation running wild, sterling tanking, deficit at 6.5% of GDP, economy stalling, COVID rally running out of steam, growth engine suffocated with a huge tax burden and borrowing power quickly running out.
I wouldn't be shocked if we get a few ratings downgrades in the next year or two, our gilt prices already trade below our current average rating.
I'm normally pretty bullish on the UK economy but the last few weeks have been a chastening experience, all of the warning signs are flashing and both Bailey and Rishi are sitting around twiddling their thumbs talking about £50 off an MOT.
I am amazed you are surprised. How could lockdown, furlough and almost endless money printing have resulted in anything else? The situation we have now is the inevitable outcome of these policies.
I'm not surprised, what disappoints me is that the government is currently asleep at the wheel talking about increasing spending from their already high levels. The conversation about bringing spending and the deficit under control hasn't even begun but it needed to at the end of last year. Forget more money for the NHS, forget more money for old people, forget more money for social care, we have to cut and cut fast.
Grow the economy and the rest falls into place: more to spend and a falling deficit. You can't cut your way to prosperity.
You can if public spending is grotesquely wasteful and you are crowding out private investment.
But that’s not really the case here.
There is an awful lot of grotesquely wasteful public spending.
It’s relative. There are more grotesquely underfunded public services.
I happened to be driving when PMQs was on today. Blimey, it was tedious. SKS is so dull. No doubt his repeat at the end of every question sounded powerful in his bedroom mirror this morning but there was no bite in it whatsoever. Boris just blusters away repeating the same half relevant statistics time and again without addressing the question. Blackford is utterly tedious and sanctimonious. Ed Davies didn't even bother to turn up which was a good call by him.
Would this be any better if they were also calling each other liars? Probably not. It is undignifed and pointless already.
Re half-relevant statistics at PMQs, Boris claimed 13,500 new coppers, ahead of the government's target of 12,000 but isn't the target 20,000 per the manifesto, or is Boris working on 4,000 a year?
Who knows? He just bleathers. If we got 1% of the “forensic cross examination” we were promised from SKS he wouldn’t get away with this nonsense. But wide open generalised questions in search of a theme let Boris go wherever he wants. It’s really poor work for a former prosecutor, it really is.
I happened to be driving when PMQs was on today. Blimey, it was tedious. SKS is so dull. No doubt his repeat at the end of every question sounded powerful in his bedroom mirror this morning but there was no bite in it whatsoever. Boris just blusters away repeating the same half relevant statistics time and again without addressing the question. Blackford is utterly tedious and sanctimonious. Ed Davies didn't even bother to turn up which was a good call by him.
Would this be any better if they were also calling each other liars? Probably not. It is undignifed and pointless already.
Re half-relevant statistics at PMQs, Boris claimed 13,500 new coppers, ahead of the government's target of 12,000 but isn't the target 20,000 per the manifesto, or is Boris working on 4,000 a year?
Who knows? He just bleathers. If we got 1% of the “forensic cross examination” we were promised from SKS he wouldn’t get away with this nonsense. But wide open generalised questions in search of a theme let Boris go wherever he wants. It’s really poor work for a former prosecutor, it really is.
I am not convinced Keir was a “proper” prosecutor.
I would just comment for those who have been following this thread over the last couple of hours the discussion on the nation's finances has been a sobering lesson to us all
It is clear that neither of the main parties are going to be able to speak the truth to the electorate, as it is frightening just how much covid and Ukraine has cost the economy, let alone as @Scott_xP would say the brexit effect
The idea public sector staff, including nurses and care workers, together with pensioners are going to see inflation increases is just not possible and I have no idea where all the extra income to the exchequer is coming from on the NHS, Schools, and now by common consent defence
I expect truth will be in short supply in manifestos for GE 24 and as I have maintained all along how can Starmer reduce expectations and even say no, when he and labour have promised to outspend on most every department of government.
If I could wave a magic wand I would get rid of those incumbents in the HOC on all sides and install PB posters who have contributed in this debate into running the county
I think that unfair there are some excellent MPs.
There is nonetheless much dross. Burgon, Williamson, McDonnell and Corbyn spring readily to mind for starters.
It is harsh but I genuinely believe they the parties are not addressing the reality of the situation, most likely as it would be toxic to their electoral chances
Wasn't that always so. I recall during the Blair years absolutely detesting Geoff Hoon, and Charles Clarke.
Maybe but we have not faced anything like this since WW11 and now we have China on a zero covid policy causing utter chaos for world trade
Health Minister Eluned Morgan broke Senedd rules over speeding, watchdog says
The Welsh government said it did not comment on leaked reports. The Welsh Conservatives said the Labour minister "has said that politicians should lead by example but has failed to do that herself".
Andrew RT Davies is truly f***ing cretinous.
I concur but speeding is far more dangerous than eating a cake !!!!!!!
That is a very disingenuous post. You know full well it is not about cake it is about one rule for us, one rule for them and misleading Parliament.
Morgan has been punished in the same way any of the rest of us have and would be when we have been caught speeding.
Besides which isn't Johnson's defence, one of his FPN is no worse than a speeding ticket.
Uprating by 8% instead of 4% increases the compound rate in future years,
No it doesn't. You return to whatever the price index (not the increase in the index) is next year.
How does that make sense, the welfare budget is £100bn, you're uprating by 4% so it increases to £104bn, next year you uprate by 5% so it becomes £109.2bn, alternatively you uprate by 8% this year so it increases to £108bn, next year you uprate by 5% as before so it becomes £113.4bn, using 8%, even as a one off, will have a huge lasting effect on the benefits bill.
It's not cost free and it's not a one off and you still have no way to pay for it other than begging the bond markets for money.
You don't uprate it by 5% next year. All you are doing is paying some of next year's increase early, so the uprate next year is less (in your example, you increase the total bill next year by £1.2bn).
Richard that's horrifically naive of you. Inflation at 5% in September "Nasty Tories uprate benefits by just 1% attacking the poorest".
All that happens is you create a new baseline at the higher rate, it's like tax, once they're introduced it's extremely difficult to get rid of them. That Osborne managed to get rid of the damaging 50% rate was a minor miracle, if only he'd also dumped the completely counter productive £100-125k tax free withdrawal band.
There's simply no way that the government could uprate benefits by just 1% with inflation at over 5%, even if there was a bringing forwards of the next rise. Honestly, I'm surprised you've fallen for Johnstone's idea, he's been an incredibly disappointing IFS head and he'd be the first person calling the following 1% rise unfair.
Richard is right on the detail.
Max is possibly right on the politics.
The problem is that benefits are uprated on out-of-date CPI stats, so when we get a massive surge in inflation the rates take 12 months to catch up.
2022-23 rates - based on the 12 months to September 2021 2023-24 rates - based on the 12 months to September 2022
I think the rates should use the most recent 12 months. Or perhaps be adjusted every 6 or 3 months. It's really unfair to ask claimants to wait for a whole year for their benefits to catch up with inflation.
It's a very unusual situation, with such a dramatic change in the inflation rate in just a few months.
Irrespective of the presentational point, the simple fact is that those dependant on benefits are going to have enormous problems paying for basic necessities. That should be addressed.
You are a decent human being Richard. You don’t belong in the New British Nationalist Party.
I would just comment for those who have been following this thread over the last couple of hours the discussion on the nation's finances has been a sobering lesson to us all
It is clear that neither of the main parties are going to be able to speak the truth to the electorate, as it is frightening just how much covid and Ukraine has cost the economy, let alone as @Scott_xP would say the brexit effect
The idea public sector staff, including nurses and care workers, together with pensioners are going to see inflation increases is just not possible and I have no idea where all the extra income to the exchequer is coming from on the NHS, Schools, and now by common consent defence
I expect truth will be in short supply in manifestos for GE 24 and as I have maintained all along how can Starmer reduce expectations and even say no, when he and labour have promised to outspend on most every department of government.
If I could wave a magic wand I would get rid of those incumbents in the HOC on all sides and install PB posters who have contributed in this debate into running the county
I think that unfair there are some excellent MPs.
There is nonetheless much dross. Burgon, Williamson, McDonnell and Corbyn spring readily to mind for starters.
I think that's harsh on McDonnell and Corbyn. Yes, in recent years they were over-promoted. But they have been good parliamentarians, and good constituency MPs, for a very long time, even if you disagree with their politics. There's nothing wrong with having a couple of socialists in parliament.
I happened to be driving when PMQs was on today. Blimey, it was tedious. SKS is so dull. No doubt his repeat at the end of every question sounded powerful in his bedroom mirror this morning but there was no bite in it whatsoever. Boris just blusters away repeating the same half relevant statistics time and again without addressing the question. Blackford is utterly tedious and sanctimonious. Ed Davies didn't even bother to turn up which was a good call by him.
Would this be any better if they were also calling each other liars? Probably not. It is undignifed and pointless already.
Re half-relevant statistics at PMQs, Boris claimed 13,500 new coppers, ahead of the government's target of 12,000 but isn't the target 20,000 per the manifesto, or is Boris working on 4,000 a year?
Who knows? He just bleathers. If we got 1% of the “forensic cross examination” we were promised from SKS he wouldn’t get away with this nonsense. But wide open generalised questions in search of a theme let Boris go wherever he wants. It’s really poor work for a former prosecutor, it really is.
I am not convinced Keir was a “proper” prosecutor.
Perhaps it’s different in a court.
It's a different skill. Criminal prosecuting/defending is about the best possible presentation of a case where one side wins and the other doesn't. In politics neither side has any interest in exposing the whole case against the other, because to do so exposes the absence of real solutions to the most intractable problems.
SKS as DPP might want to destroy Boris on the basis of: debt, deficit, tax levels, public expenditure, lack of public expenditure, deficiencies in every department, %of GDP as state managed expenditure, NHS etc. But the greater clarity he brings to bear holistically the clearer it becomes that all parties are in the same impossible difficulty.
To take one tiny example, when it comes to NHS expenditure no-one anywhere ever will say how much expenditure would be enough. That's because there is no such concept in existence. Ditto every other field.
DJ Tim Westwood steps down from his show until further notice
Why has this broken now. There have been rumours about Westwood for YEARS.
Strange to think that his father was a Bishop.
The one thing which surprised me about this story, was that he's 64! Only 14 years younger than @Big_G_NorthWales.
Why connect me to this DJ ?
No offence intended. Sorry if taken.
Thanks but the accusations against him are appalling and everything I stand against
I pride myself that I have always treated women with respect, and not least those who worked for me during the 40 years I ran my business and even today are personal friends
I am disgusted with the behaviour of some mps and it seems, according to todays report, it is cross party with 3 cabinet ministers and 2 shadow cabinet ministers under investigation
What is wrong with these people ?
Simple answer, those that seek to be mp's should rarely be allowed to run a charity shop
I happened to be driving when PMQs was on today. Blimey, it was tedious. SKS is so dull. No doubt his repeat at the end of every question sounded powerful in his bedroom mirror this morning but there was no bite in it whatsoever. Boris just blusters away repeating the same half relevant statistics time and again without addressing the question. Blackford is utterly tedious and sanctimonious. Ed Davies didn't even bother to turn up which was a good call by him.
Would this be any better if they were also calling each other liars? Probably not. It is undignifed and pointless already.
Re half-relevant statistics at PMQs, Boris claimed 13,500 new coppers, ahead of the government's target of 12,000 but isn't the target 20,000 per the manifesto, or is Boris working on 4,000 a year?
Who knows? He just bleathers. If we got 1% of the “forensic cross examination” we were promised from SKS he wouldn’t get away with this nonsense. But wide open generalised questions in search of a theme let Boris go wherever he wants. It’s really poor work for a former prosecutor, it really is.
I am not convinced Keir was a “proper” prosecutor.
Perhaps it’s different in a court.
There is not much evidence on his wikipedia page of actual sharp end, thinking on your feet, prosecuting involving cross-examination of defendants and witnesses, which is what's required for pmq. He spent his time advising liberty, defending mclibel etc. Dreary stuff where the most interesting thing that gets said all day is the judge asking Would this be a good time to break for lunch.
I happened to be driving when PMQs was on today. Blimey, it was tedious. SKS is so dull. No doubt his repeat at the end of every question sounded powerful in his bedroom mirror this morning but there was no bite in it whatsoever. Boris just blusters away repeating the same half relevant statistics time and again without addressing the question. Blackford is utterly tedious and sanctimonious. Ed Davies didn't even bother to turn up which was a good call by him.
Would this be any better if they were also calling each other liars? Probably not. It is undignifed and pointless already.
Re half-relevant statistics at PMQs, Boris claimed 13,500 new coppers, ahead of the government's target of 12,000 but isn't the target 20,000 per the manifesto, or is Boris working on 4,000 a year?
The manifesto commitments on such things are usually “Within the the life of the next Parliament”, meaning over a five-year time period. So 20k new coppers over the life of the parliament, is 4k per year. He’s saying he’s recruited 13,500 in 2.5 years, which is above the (10k) target
I happened to be driving when PMQs was on today. Blimey, it was tedious. SKS is so dull. No doubt his repeat at the end of every question sounded powerful in his bedroom mirror this morning but there was no bite in it whatsoever. Boris just blusters away repeating the same half relevant statistics time and again without addressing the question. Blackford is utterly tedious and sanctimonious. Ed Davies didn't even bother to turn up which was a good call by him.
Would this be any better if they were also calling each other liars? Probably not. It is undignifed and pointless already.
Re half-relevant statistics at PMQs, Boris claimed 13,500 new coppers, ahead of the government's target of 12,000 but isn't the target 20,000 per the manifesto, or is Boris working on 4,000 a year?
Who knows? He just bleathers. If we got 1% of the “forensic cross examination” we were promised from SKS he wouldn’t get away with this nonsense. But wide open generalised questions in search of a theme let Boris go wherever he wants. It’s really poor work for a former prosecutor, it really is.
I am not convinced Keir was a “proper” prosecutor.
Perhaps it’s different in a court.
There is not much evidence on his wikipedia page of actual sharp end, thinking on your feet, prosecuting involving cross-examination of defendants and witnesses, which is what's required for pmq. He spent his time advising liberty, defending mclibel etc. Dreary stuff where the most interesting thing that gets said all day is the judge asking Would this be a good time to break for lunch.
Precisely the problem with most of our mp's they have never had a proper job, they dont realise how you are meant to act in a proper job which is why you get them watching porn etc....they become political appointees and work their way up the "good people column" then become an mp. Johnson and starmer and corbyn and ed davey and most mp's are prime examples of this
DJ Tim Westwood steps down from his show until further notice
Why has this broken now. There have been rumours about Westwood for YEARS.
Strange to think that his father was a Bishop.
The one thing which surprised me about this story, was that he's 64! Only 14 years younger than @Big_G_NorthWales.
Why connect me to this DJ ?
No offence intended. Sorry if taken.
Thanks but the accusations against him are appalling and everything I stand against
I pride myself that I have always treated women with respect, and not least those who worked for me during the 40 years I ran my business and even today are personal friends
I am disgusted with the behaviour of some mps and it seems, according to todays report, it is cross party with 3 cabinet ministers and 2 shadow cabinet ministers under investigation
What is wrong with these people ?
Simple answer, those that seek to be mp's should rarely be allowed to run a charity shop
DJ Tim Westwood steps down from his show until further notice
Why has this broken now. There have been rumours about Westwood for YEARS.
Strange to think that his father was a Bishop.
The one thing which surprised me about this story, was that he's 64! Only 14 years younger than @Big_G_NorthWales.
Why connect me to this DJ ?
No offence intended. Sorry if taken.
Thanks but the accusations against him are appalling and everything I stand against
I pride myself that I have always treated women with respect, and not least those who worked for me during the 40 years I ran my business and even today are personal friends
I am disgusted with the behaviour of some mps and it seems, according to todays report, it is cross party with 3 cabinet ministers and 2 shadow cabinet ministers under investigation
What is wrong with these people ?
Simple answer, those that seek to be mp's should rarely be allowed to run a charity shop
What do you mean. I ran a charity shop.
Where did i claim you ran a charity shop, I said MP's should rarely be allowed to run one.
I happened to be driving when PMQs was on today. Blimey, it was tedious. SKS is so dull. No doubt his repeat at the end of every question sounded powerful in his bedroom mirror this morning but there was no bite in it whatsoever. Boris just blusters away repeating the same half relevant statistics time and again without addressing the question. Blackford is utterly tedious and sanctimonious. Ed Davies didn't even bother to turn up which was a good call by him.
Would this be any better if they were also calling each other liars? Probably not. It is undignifed and pointless already.
Re half-relevant statistics at PMQs, Boris claimed 13,500 new coppers, ahead of the government's target of 12,000 but isn't the target 20,000 per the manifesto, or is Boris working on 4,000 a year?
Who knows? He just bleathers. If we got 1% of the “forensic cross examination” we were promised from SKS he wouldn’t get away with this nonsense. But wide open generalised questions in search of a theme let Boris go wherever he wants. It’s really poor work for a former prosecutor, it really is.
I am not convinced Keir was a “proper” prosecutor.
Perhaps it’s different in a court.
There is not much evidence on his wikipedia page of actual sharp end, thinking on your feet, prosecuting involving cross-examination of defendants and witnesses, which is what's required for pmq. He spent his time advising liberty, defending mclibel etc. Dreary stuff where the most interesting thing that gets said all day is the judge asking Would this be a good time to break for lunch.
Precisely the problem with most of our mp's they have never had a proper job, they dont realise how you are meant to act in a proper job which is why you get them watching porn etc....they become political appointees and work their way up the "good people column" then become an mp. Johnson and starmer and corbyn and ed davey and most mp's are prime examples of this
Starmer was a late entrant to the world of politics, and certainly had a successful law career first. For all his many faults Johnson was a successful newspaper columnist too.
Indeed part of the problem with them may well be inexperience with party politics as backbenchers. Straight from election to front benches.
DJ Tim Westwood steps down from his show until further notice
Why has this broken now. There have been rumours about Westwood for YEARS.
Strange to think that his father was a Bishop.
The one thing which surprised me about this story, was that he's 64! Only 14 years younger than @Big_G_NorthWales.
Why connect me to this DJ ?
No offence intended. Sorry if taken.
Thanks but the accusations against him are appalling and everything I stand against
I pride myself that I have always treated women with respect, and not least those who worked for me during the 40 years I ran my business and even today are personal friends
I am disgusted with the behaviour of some mps and it seems, according to todays report, it is cross party with 3 cabinet ministers and 2 shadow cabinet ministers under investigation
What is wrong with these people ?
Simple answer, those that seek to be mp's should rarely be allowed to run a charity shop
What do you mean. I ran a charity shop.
Where did i claim you ran a charity shop, I said MP's should rarely be allowed to run one.
Which leads me to another rant. It is hard to see punctuation in many online fonts.
DJ Tim Westwood steps down from his show until further notice
Why has this broken now. There have been rumours about Westwood for YEARS.
Strange to think that his father was a Bishop.
The one thing which surprised me about this story, was that he's 64! Only 14 years younger than @Big_G_NorthWales.
Why connect me to this DJ ?
No offence intended. Sorry if taken.
Thanks but the accusations against him are appalling and everything I stand against
I pride myself that I have always treated women with respect, and not least those who worked for me during the 40 years I ran my business and even today are personal friends
I am disgusted with the behaviour of some mps and it seems, according to todays report, it is cross party with 3 cabinet ministers and 2 shadow cabinet ministers under investigation
What is wrong with these people ?
Simple answer, those that seek to be mp's should rarely be allowed to run a charity shop
What do you mean. I ran a charity shop.
Where did i claim you ran a charity shop, I said MP's should rarely be allowed to run one.
No. I ran a charity shop. Why can’t I become a MP. Unless I’m rare?
Health Minister Eluned Morgan broke Senedd rules over speeding, watchdog says
The Welsh government said it did not comment on leaked reports. The Welsh Conservatives said the Labour minister "has said that politicians should lead by example but has failed to do that herself".
Andrew RT Davies is truly f***ing cretinous.
I concur but speeding is far more dangerous than eating a cake !!!!!!!
That is a very disingenuous post. You know full well it is not about cake it is about one rule for us, one rule for them and misleading Parliament.
Morgan has been punished in the same way any of the rest of us have and would be when we have been caught speeding.
Besides which isn't Johnson's defence, one of his FPN is no worse than a speeding ticket.
Shame on you BigG.
This wasn't a single speeding offence and she has been found to have broken the Senedd code of conduct
'Wales' health minister has been found by a politicians' watchdog to have broken the Senedd code of conduct after being convicted for speeding four times.
Eluned Morgan was banned from driving in Mold Magistrates Court on 17 March.
In a report, yet to be published but seen by BBC Wales, Senedd Standards Commissioner Douglas Bain said the offences set a "very poor example" and demonstrated a disregard for the law.
Back on topic, Any MP accused of lying can always resort to the "come and say that again outside" retort. No, not an invitation to fisticuffs, but to somewhere where libel law applies.
Whose more likely to keep a level head in an all-out NATO vs Russia war?
I think that I would prefer to hear who's more likely to *avert* an all out NATO vs Russia war, to which the answer is 'neither of those two no-hopers'. I am not particular interested in who looks statesmanlike from their bunker whilst everything gets turned into pillars of salt.
We need a ringer to bring this race to life, Thatcher-style. This looks like Mordaunt to me at the moment.
I happened to be driving when PMQs was on today. Blimey, it was tedious. SKS is so dull. No doubt his repeat at the end of every question sounded powerful in his bedroom mirror this morning but there was no bite in it whatsoever. Boris just blusters away repeating the same half relevant statistics time and again without addressing the question. Blackford is utterly tedious and sanctimonious. Ed Davies didn't even bother to turn up which was a good call by him.
Would this be any better if they were also calling each other liars? Probably not. It is undignifed and pointless already.
Re half-relevant statistics at PMQs, Boris claimed 13,500 new coppers, ahead of the government's target of 12,000 but isn't the target 20,000 per the manifesto, or is Boris working on 4,000 a year?
Who knows? He just bleathers. If we got 1% of the “forensic cross examination” we were promised from SKS he wouldn’t get away with this nonsense. But wide open generalised questions in search of a theme let Boris go wherever he wants. It’s really poor work for a former prosecutor, it really is.
I am not convinced Keir was a “proper” prosecutor.
Perhaps it’s different in a court.
There is not much evidence on his wikipedia page of actual sharp end, thinking on your feet, prosecuting involving cross-examination of defendants and witnesses, which is what's required for pmq. He spent his time advising liberty, defending mclibel etc. Dreary stuff where the most interesting thing that gets said all day is the judge asking Would this be a good time to break for lunch.
Precisely the problem with most of our mp's they have never had a proper job, they dont realise how you are meant to act in a proper job which is why you get them watching porn etc....they become political appointees and work their way up the "good people column" then become an mp. Johnson and starmer and corbyn and ed davey and most mp's are prime examples of this
Johnson was a successful newspaper columnist too.
Erm, he was sacked by his newspaper editor for constant fabrication of stories.
In 1988 he was sacked by the editor of the Times for fabricating a quote in an article.
During his time as Brussels correspondent for The Daily Telegraph, a former colleague recalled that “Johnson’s half-truths created a new reality … correspondents witnessed Johnson shaping the narrative that morphed into our present-day populist Euroscepticism.” He regularly concocted stories that were either completely untrue, or his preferred method of building whole arguments out of half-truths
He was NOT a successful newspaper columnist. He was a lying shitbag.
I happened to be driving when PMQs was on today. Blimey, it was tedious. SKS is so dull. No doubt his repeat at the end of every question sounded powerful in his bedroom mirror this morning but there was no bite in it whatsoever. Boris just blusters away repeating the same half relevant statistics time and again without addressing the question. Blackford is utterly tedious and sanctimonious. Ed Davies didn't even bother to turn up which was a good call by him.
Would this be any better if they were also calling each other liars? Probably not. It is undignifed and pointless already.
Re half-relevant statistics at PMQs, Boris claimed 13,500 new coppers, ahead of the government's target of 12,000 but isn't the target 20,000 per the manifesto, or is Boris working on 4,000 a year?
Who knows? He just bleathers. If we got 1% of the “forensic cross examination” we were promised from SKS he wouldn’t get away with this nonsense. But wide open generalised questions in search of a theme let Boris go wherever he wants. It’s really poor work for a former prosecutor, it really is.
I am not convinced Keir was a “proper” prosecutor.
Perhaps it’s different in a court.
There is not much evidence on his wikipedia page of actual sharp end, thinking on your feet, prosecuting involving cross-examination of defendants and witnesses, which is what's required for pmq. He spent his time advising liberty, defending mclibel etc. Dreary stuff where the most interesting thing that gets said all day is the judge asking Would this be a good time to break for lunch.
Precisely the problem with most of our mp's they have never had a proper job, they dont realise how you are meant to act in a proper job which is why you get them watching porn etc....they become political appointees and work their way up the "good people column" then become an mp. Johnson and starmer and corbyn and ed davey and most mp's are prime examples of this
Johnson was a successful newspaper columnist too.
Erm, he was sacked by his newspaper editor for constant fabrication of stories.
In 1988 he was sacked by the editor of the Times for fabricating a quote in an article.
During his time as Brussels correspondent for The Daily Telegraph, a former colleague recalled that “Johnson’s half-truths created a new reality … correspondents witnessed Johnson shaping the narrative that morphed into our present-day populist Euroscepticism.” He regularly concocted stories that were either completely untrue, or his preferred method of building whole arguments out of half-truths
He was NOT a successful newspaper columnist. He was a lying shitbag.
Depends on the criteria for success. Sells newspapers, enetertains, then yes a success. Provides accurate journalism and stories, epic fail.
Whose more likely to keep a level head in an all-out NATO vs Russia war?
Leon.
Are you saying that the notorious scare mongering, crisis seeking, doom worrier would be transformed in a real war situation into a calm, resolute sober figure?
Health Minister Eluned Morgan broke Senedd rules over speeding, watchdog says
The Welsh government said it did not comment on leaked reports. The Welsh Conservatives said the Labour minister "has said that politicians should lead by example but has failed to do that herself".
Andrew RT Davies is truly f***ing cretinous.
I concur but speeding is far more dangerous than eating a cake !!!!!!!
That is a very disingenuous post. You know full well it is not about cake it is about one rule for us, one rule for them and misleading Parliament.
Morgan has been punished in the same way any of the rest of us have and would be when we have been caught speeding.
Besides which isn't Johnson's defence, one of his FPN is no worse than a speeding ticket.
Shame on you BigG.
This wasn't a single speeding offence and she has been found to have broken the Senedd code of conduct
'Wales' health minister has been found by a politicians' watchdog to have broken the Senedd code of conduct after being convicted for speeding four times.
Eluned Morgan was banned from driving in Mold Magistrates Court on 17 March.
In a report, yet to be published but seen by BBC Wales, Senedd Standards Commissioner Douglas Bain said the offences set a "very poor example" and demonstrated a disregard for the law.
My point stands.
If she has accumulated 12 points she gets a ban and uses the bus- like the rest of us would. If the rules are she is also censured by the Senedd, so be it.
I am not condoning the offences, particularly if a member of my family was crossing the road in front of her, but it is wholly different to Johnson's partying misdeeds, for so many reasons.
Talking of motoring offences, Johnson's bonfire of 'elf and safety in the form of two year MOTs is insane. Walk up any street and look at car tyres on vehicles. Some look like racing slicks. At least they require checking and changing once a year now- and think of all the little independent garages that will go to the wall on the back of this nonsense,
What is the deal with backbenchers getting called at PMQs, with special reference to the fact that I think Aaron bell has had Qs at 2 successive PMQs? I believe the conventional expression is "catching the Speaker's eye," but in practise this means what?
Backbench MPs put in their names as interested in putting a question, and a lottery decides the top dozen or so. However, the Speaker alternates between government and opposition, so if for example numbers 5 and 6 are both Labour, then the Speaker will call a Tory who "catches his eye" in between.
Health Minister Eluned Morgan broke Senedd rules over speeding, watchdog says
The Welsh government said it did not comment on leaked reports. The Welsh Conservatives said the Labour minister "has said that politicians should lead by example but has failed to do that herself".
Andrew RT Davies is truly f***ing cretinous.
I concur but speeding is far more dangerous than eating a cake !!!!!!!
That is a very disingenuous post. You know full well it is not about cake it is about one rule for us, one rule for them and misleading Parliament.
Morgan has been punished in the same way any of the rest of us have and would be when we have been caught speeding.
Besides which isn't Johnson's defence, one of his FPN is no worse than a speeding ticket.
Shame on you BigG.
This wasn't a single speeding offence and she has been found to have broken the Senedd code of conduct
'Wales' health minister has been found by a politicians' watchdog to have broken the Senedd code of conduct after being convicted for speeding four times.
Eluned Morgan was banned from driving in Mold Magistrates Court on 17 March.
In a report, yet to be published but seen by BBC Wales, Senedd Standards Commissioner Douglas Bain said the offences set a "very poor example" and demonstrated a disregard for the law.
My point stands.
If she has accumulated 12 points she gets a ban and uses the bus- like the rest of us would. If the rules are she is also censured by the Senedd, so be it.
I am not condoning the offences, particularly if a member of my family was crossing the road in front of her, but it is wholly different to Johnson's partying misdeeds, for so many reasons.
Talking of motoring offences, Johnson's bonfire of 'elf and safety in the form of two year MOTs is insane. Walk up any street and look at car tyres on vehicles. Some look like racing slicks. At least they require checking and changing once a year now- and think of all the little independent garages that will go to the wall on the back of this nonsense,
The difficulty is the standards commissioner has said she has demonstrated a disregard for the law
I do not condone Boris behaviour at all and I want him gone, but the Welsh Health Minister has a responsibility and seems to be content to remain in office despite the commissioner comments
Health Minister Eluned Morgan broke Senedd rules over speeding, watchdog says
The Welsh government said it did not comment on leaked reports. The Welsh Conservatives said the Labour minister "has said that politicians should lead by example but has failed to do that herself".
Andrew RT Davies is truly f***ing cretinous.
I concur but speeding is far more dangerous than eating a cake !!!!!!!
That is a very disingenuous post. You know full well it is not about cake it is about one rule for us, one rule for them and misleading Parliament.
Morgan has been punished in the same way any of the rest of us have and would be when we have been caught speeding.
Besides which isn't Johnson's defence, one of his FPN is no worse than a speeding ticket.
Shame on you BigG.
This wasn't a single speeding offence and she has been found to have broken the Senedd code of conduct
'Wales' health minister has been found by a politicians' watchdog to have broken the Senedd code of conduct after being convicted for speeding four times.
Eluned Morgan was banned from driving in Mold Magistrates Court on 17 March.
In a report, yet to be published but seen by BBC Wales, Senedd Standards Commissioner Douglas Bain said the offences set a "very poor example" and demonstrated a disregard for the law.
My point stands.
If she has accumulated 12 points she gets a ban and uses the bus- like the rest of us would. If the rules are she is also censured by the Senedd, so be it.
I am not condoning the offences, particularly if a member of my family was crossing the road in front of her, but it is wholly different to Johnson's partying misdeeds, for so many reasons.
Talking of motoring offences, Johnson's bonfire of 'elf and safety in the form of two year MOTs is insane. Walk up any street and look at car tyres on vehicles. Some look like racing slicks. At least they require checking and changing once a year now- and think of all the little independent garages that will go to the wall on the back of this nonsense,
Ironically, it has been claimed that saving money on MOT tests will lead to paying more in insurance premiums and repair bills. It's a headline, not a policy.
I would just comment for those who have been following this thread over the last couple of hours the discussion on the nation's finances has been a sobering lesson to us all
It is clear that neither of the main parties are going to be able to speak the truth to the electorate, as it is frightening just how much covid and Ukraine has cost the economy, let alone as @Scott_xP would say the brexit effect
The idea public sector staff, including nurses and care workers, together with pensioners are going to see inflation increases is just not possible and I have no idea where all the extra income to the exchequer is coming from on the NHS, Schools, and now by common consent defence
I expect truth will be in short supply in manifestos for GE 24 and as I have maintained all along how can Starmer reduce expectations and even say no, when he and labour have promised to outspend on most every department of government.
If I could wave a magic wand I would get rid of those incumbents in the HOC on all sides and install PB posters who have contributed in this debate into running the county
DJ Tim Westwood steps down from his show until further notice
Why has this broken now. There have been rumours about Westwood for YEARS.
Strange to think that his father was a Bishop.
The one thing which surprised me about this story, was that he's 64! Only 14 years younger than @Big_G_NorthWales.
Why connect me to this DJ ?
No offence intended. Sorry if taken.
Thanks but the accusations against him are appalling and everything I stand against
I pride myself that I have always treated women with respect, and not least those who worked for me during the 40 years I ran my business and even today are personal friends
I am disgusted with the behaviour of some mps and it seems, according to todays report, it is cross party with 3 cabinet ministers and 2 shadow cabinet ministers under investigation
What is wrong with these people ?
Simple answer, those that seek to be mp's should rarely be allowed to run a charity shop
What do you mean. I ran a charity shop.
Where did i claim you ran a charity shop, I said MP's should rarely be allowed to run one.
No. I ran a charity shop. Why can’t I become a MP. Unless I’m rare?
It’s no problem really, I’ll just consider myself special 😇
What is the deal with backbenchers getting called at PMQs, with special reference to the fact that I think Aaron bell has had Qs at 2 successive PMQs? I believe the conventional expression is "catching the Speaker's eye," but in practise this means what?
Backbench MPs put in their names as interested in putting a question, and a lottery decides the top dozen or so. However, the Speaker alternates between government and opposition, so if for example numbers 5 and 6 are both Labour, then the Speaker will call a Tory who "catches his eye" in between.
Ah thanks. I was thinking if you got lucky one week you'd be out of contention next. We can add luck to AB's positive qualities.
Health Minister Eluned Morgan broke Senedd rules over speeding, watchdog says
The Welsh government said it did not comment on leaked reports. The Welsh Conservatives said the Labour minister "has said that politicians should lead by example but has failed to do that herself".
Andrew RT Davies is truly f***ing cretinous.
I concur but speeding is far more dangerous than eating a cake !!!!!!!
That is a very disingenuous post. You know full well it is not about cake it is about one rule for us, one rule for them and misleading Parliament.
Morgan has been punished in the same way any of the rest of us have and would be when we have been caught speeding.
Besides which isn't Johnson's defence, one of his FPN is no worse than a speeding ticket.
Shame on you BigG.
This wasn't a single speeding offence and she has been found to have broken the Senedd code of conduct
'Wales' health minister has been found by a politicians' watchdog to have broken the Senedd code of conduct after being convicted for speeding four times.
Eluned Morgan was banned from driving in Mold Magistrates Court on 17 March.
In a report, yet to be published but seen by BBC Wales, Senedd Standards Commissioner Douglas Bain said the offences set a "very poor example" and demonstrated a disregard for the law.
My point stands.
If she has accumulated 12 points she gets a ban and uses the bus- like the rest of us would. If the rules are she is also censured by the Senedd, so be it.
I am not condoning the offences, particularly if a member of my family was crossing the road in front of her, but it is wholly different to Johnson's partying misdeeds, for so many reasons.
Talking of motoring offences, Johnson's bonfire of 'elf and safety in the form of two year MOTs is insane. Walk up any street and look at car tyres on vehicles. Some look like racing slicks. At least they require checking and changing once a year now- and think of all the little independent garages that will go to the wall on the back of this nonsense,
Ironically, it has been claimed that saving money on MOT tests will lead to paying more in insurance premiums.
A more sensible move would be to make it by mileage rather than by years.
Does a 7 year old car of reasonable quality really need four annual checks? Probably not. But testing it every 12,000 miles after the first 40,000 would make sense.
Equally, I can see it would be difficult to enforce compared to a simple date system.
DJ Tim Westwood steps down from his show until further notice
Why has this broken now. There have been rumours about Westwood for YEARS.
Strange to think that his father was a Bishop.
The one thing which surprised me about this story, was that he's 64! Only 14 years younger than @Big_G_NorthWales.
Why connect me to this DJ ?
No offence intended. Sorry if taken.
Thanks but the accusations against him are appalling and everything I stand against
I pride myself that I have always treated women with respect, and not least those who worked for me during the 40 years I ran my business and even today are personal friends
I am disgusted with the behaviour of some mps and it seems, according to todays report, it is cross party with 3 cabinet ministers and 2 shadow cabinet ministers under investigation
What is wrong with these people ?
Simple answer, those that seek to be mp's should rarely be allowed to run a charity shop
What do you mean. I ran a charity shop.
Where did i claim you ran a charity shop, I said MP's should rarely be allowed to run one.
No. I ran a charity shop. Why can’t I become a MP. Unless I’m rare?
It’s no problem really, I’ll just consider myself special 😇
I think you might be getting confused with the causality on this.
Health Minister Eluned Morgan broke Senedd rules over speeding, watchdog says
The Welsh government said it did not comment on leaked reports. The Welsh Conservatives said the Labour minister "has said that politicians should lead by example but has failed to do that herself".
Andrew RT Davies is truly f***ing cretinous.
I concur but speeding is far more dangerous than eating a cake !!!!!!!
That is a very disingenuous post. You know full well it is not about cake it is about one rule for us, one rule for them and misleading Parliament.
Morgan has been punished in the same way any of the rest of us have and would be when we have been caught speeding.
Besides which isn't Johnson's defence, one of his FPN is no worse than a speeding ticket.
Shame on you BigG.
This wasn't a single speeding offence and she has been found to have broken the Senedd code of conduct
'Wales' health minister has been found by a politicians' watchdog to have broken the Senedd code of conduct after being convicted for speeding four times.
Eluned Morgan was banned from driving in Mold Magistrates Court on 17 March.
In a report, yet to be published but seen by BBC Wales, Senedd Standards Commissioner Douglas Bain said the offences set a "very poor example" and demonstrated a disregard for the law.
My point stands.
If she has accumulated 12 points she gets a ban and uses the bus- like the rest of us would. If the rules are she is also censured by the Senedd, so be it.
I am not condoning the offences, particularly if a member of my family was crossing the road in front of her, but it is wholly different to Johnson's partying misdeeds, for so many reasons.
Talking of motoring offences, Johnson's bonfire of 'elf and safety in the form of two year MOTs is insane. Walk up any street and look at car tyres on vehicles. Some look like racing slicks. At least they require checking and changing once a year now- and think of all the little independent garages that will go to the wall on the back of this nonsense,
The difficulty is the standards commissioner has said she has demonstrated a disregard for the law
I do not condone Boris behaviour at all and I want him gone, but the Welsh Health Minister has a responsibility and seems to be content to remain in office despite the commissioner comments
Has he asked her to resign? If so she must go. If not she can remain Health Minister so long as she takes the bus.
Health Minister Eluned Morgan broke Senedd rules over speeding, watchdog says
The Welsh government said it did not comment on leaked reports. The Welsh Conservatives said the Labour minister "has said that politicians should lead by example but has failed to do that herself".
Andrew RT Davies is truly f***ing cretinous.
I concur but speeding is far more dangerous than eating a cake !!!!!!!
That is a very disingenuous post. You know full well it is not about cake it is about one rule for us, one rule for them and misleading Parliament.
Morgan has been punished in the same way any of the rest of us have and would be when we have been caught speeding.
Besides which isn't Johnson's defence, one of his FPN is no worse than a speeding ticket.
Shame on you BigG.
This wasn't a single speeding offence and she has been found to have broken the Senedd code of conduct
'Wales' health minister has been found by a politicians' watchdog to have broken the Senedd code of conduct after being convicted for speeding four times.
Eluned Morgan was banned from driving in Mold Magistrates Court on 17 March.
In a report, yet to be published but seen by BBC Wales, Senedd Standards Commissioner Douglas Bain said the offences set a "very poor example" and demonstrated a disregard for the law.
My point stands.
If she has accumulated 12 points she gets a ban and uses the bus- like the rest of us would. If the rules are she is also censured by the Senedd, so be it.
I am not condoning the offences, particularly if a member of my family was crossing the road in front of her, but it is wholly different to Johnson's partying misdeeds, for so many reasons.
Talking of motoring offences, Johnson's bonfire of 'elf and safety in the form of two year MOTs is insane. Walk up any street and look at car tyres on vehicles. Some look like racing slicks. At least they require checking and changing once a year now- and think of all the little independent garages that will go to the wall on the back of this nonsense,
Ironically, it has been claimed that saving money on MOT tests will lead to paying more in insurance premiums.
It seems daft.
I’m all in favour of the easing of rules around childcare, though.
Several countries in Europe have ZERO limits on the child to carer ratio including such right-wing hell-holes as Germany and Denmark.
The UK has regulated childcare into one of the most expensive industries in the country.
The social mobility tsar has claimed girls don't study physics because they do not like maths, though she also reports girls are in the majority in maths classes. The paradox is not explored.
I would just comment for those who have been following this thread over the last couple of hours the discussion on the nation's finances has been a sobering lesson to us all
It is clear that neither of the main parties are going to be able to speak the truth to the electorate, as it is frightening just how much covid and Ukraine has cost the economy, let alone as @Scott_xP would say the brexit effect
The idea public sector staff, including nurses and care workers, together with pensioners are going to see inflation increases is just not possible and I have no idea where all the extra income to the exchequer is coming from on the NHS, Schools, and now by common consent defence
I expect truth will be in short supply in manifestos for GE 24 and as I have maintained all along how can Starmer reduce expectations and even say no, when he and labour have promised to outspend on most every department of government.
If I could wave a magic wand I would get rid of those incumbents in the HOC on all sides and install PB posters who have contributed in this debate into running the county
The person who runs this account claims to be an ex-spook who’s now an ‘ethical leaker’. Certainly very anti the current government. Also claims to have contacts in No. 10.
How true all that is, I don’t know. But I have my doubts.
But, if this turns out to be accurate, maybe I’ll have to accept they are who they say they are:
The idea that Raab, or indeed anyone, would deliberately watch pornography in the Commons chamber simply doesn't pass the sniff test. Why would anyone do that?
What might have happened is someone texted/WhatsApped something NSFW and they opened the message before realising what it was.
I was on a plane once, and a gentleman a few rows ahead of me got his laptop out.
As he opened it, it came out of sleep mode, and continued playing the video be had been watching in his hotel room the previous evening. Unfortunately for him, the volume was loud, and the panting and moaning was heard by the entire plane.
He slammed the laptop shut and went a very bright red.
I rather liked one eminent PBer’s very honest account of (briefly) watching hotel porn on a business trip. From memory, he flicked on the ‘free’ six minutes, got bored and went back to his copy of The Times, forgetting to stop the porn feed. Next morning was landed with a bill and a head scratch about how to administer the expense…
I happened to be driving when PMQs was on today. Blimey, it was tedious. SKS is so dull. No doubt his repeat at the end of every question sounded powerful in his bedroom mirror this morning but there was no bite in it whatsoever. Boris just blusters away repeating the same half relevant statistics time and again without addressing the question. Blackford is utterly tedious and sanctimonious. Ed Davies didn't even bother to turn up which was a good call by him.
Would this be any better if they were also calling each other liars? Probably not. It is undignifed and pointless already.
Re half-relevant statistics at PMQs, Boris claimed 13,500 new coppers, ahead of the government's target of 12,000 but isn't the target 20,000 per the manifesto, or is Boris working on 4,000 a year?
Who knows? He just bleathers. If we got 1% of the “forensic cross examination” we were promised from SKS he wouldn’t get away with this nonsense. But wide open generalised questions in search of a theme let Boris go wherever he wants. It’s really poor work for a former prosecutor, it really is.
I am not convinced Keir was a “proper” prosecutor.
Perhaps it’s different in a court.
There is not much evidence on his wikipedia page of actual sharp end, thinking on your feet, prosecuting involving cross-examination of defendants and witnesses, which is what's required for pmq. He spent his time advising liberty, defending mclibel etc. Dreary stuff where the most interesting thing that gets said all day is the judge asking Would this be a good time to break for lunch.
Precisely the problem with most of our mp's they have never had a proper job, they dont realise how you are meant to act in a proper job which is why you get them watching porn etc....they become political appointees and work their way up the "good people column" then become an mp. Johnson and starmer and corbyn and ed davey and most mp's are prime examples of this
Johnson was a successful newspaper columnist too.
Erm, he was sacked by his newspaper editor for constant fabrication of stories.
In 1988 he was sacked by the editor of the Times for fabricating a quote in an article.
During his time as Brussels correspondent for The Daily Telegraph, a former colleague recalled that “Johnson’s half-truths created a new reality … correspondents witnessed Johnson shaping the narrative that morphed into our present-day populist Euroscepticism.” He regularly concocted stories that were either completely untrue, or his preferred method of building whole arguments out of half-truths
He was NOT a successful newspaper columnist. He was a lying shitbag.
Depends on the criteria for success. Sells newspapers, enetertains, then yes a success. Provides accurate journalism and stories, epic fail.
I did describe Johnson as a columnist rather than a journalist deliberately! Journalism requires accuracy, columns just entertainment.
Health Minister Eluned Morgan broke Senedd rules over speeding, watchdog says
The Welsh government said it did not comment on leaked reports. The Welsh Conservatives said the Labour minister "has said that politicians should lead by example but has failed to do that herself".
Andrew RT Davies is truly f***ing cretinous.
I concur but speeding is far more dangerous than eating a cake !!!!!!!
That is a very disingenuous post. You know full well it is not about cake it is about one rule for us, one rule for them and misleading Parliament.
Morgan has been punished in the same way any of the rest of us have and would be when we have been caught speeding.
Besides which isn't Johnson's defence, one of his FPN is no worse than a speeding ticket.
Shame on you BigG.
This wasn't a single speeding offence and she has been found to have broken the Senedd code of conduct
'Wales' health minister has been found by a politicians' watchdog to have broken the Senedd code of conduct after being convicted for speeding four times.
Eluned Morgan was banned from driving in Mold Magistrates Court on 17 March.
In a report, yet to be published but seen by BBC Wales, Senedd Standards Commissioner Douglas Bain said the offences set a "very poor example" and demonstrated a disregard for the law.
My point stands.
If she has accumulated 12 points she gets a ban and uses the bus- like the rest of us would. If the rules are she is also censured by the Senedd, so be it.
I am not condoning the offences, particularly if a member of my family was crossing the road in front of her, but it is wholly different to Johnson's partying misdeeds, for so many reasons.
Talking of motoring offences, Johnson's bonfire of 'elf and safety in the form of two year MOTs is insane. Walk up any street and look at car tyres on vehicles. Some look like racing slicks. At least they require checking and changing once a year now- and think of all the little independent garages that will go to the wall on the back of this nonsense,
Ironically, it has been claimed that saving money on MOT tests will lead to paying more in insurance premiums.
A more sensible move would be to make it by mileage rather than by years.
Does a 7 year old car of reasonable quality really need four annual checks? Probably not. But testing it every 12,000 miles after the first 40,000 would make sense.
Equally, I can see it would be difficult to enforce compared to a simple date system.
I would suggest biannually until 10 years old then annually. Modern cars last well compared to the rusty wrecks that I drove in the eighties.
There is nothing wrong with the parliamentary conventions. We just need to get back to choosing Prime Ministers of integrity.
I'm 39 and I can only think of 1-2 PMs of integrity that were chosen in my lifetime (Thatcher I'd include but she was already in office, plus Cameron).
People should be free to say what they want in the Commons, and accuse others of whatever they want, and if the voters aren't happy the voters should be able to vote how they want.
"Lying" is an irregular verb, or a bit like the old saying about terrorism, one person's lie is another's spin etc
Cameron!! The Cameron who promised to trigger Article 50 the next day if Leave won the Brexit vote?
This is an attack that gets brought out against various people from time to time (Corbyn is the other usual target) and it's pretty misguided: Cameron was just promising to respect the result and kick off the process, but in fact he (as the rest of us) simply had no idea how the process would really work if it came down to it. If the EU's process hadn't been such a colossal mess that required a nine month lead-in, Cameron probably would have been able to just trigger Article 50 right away.
Whatever the process was, step one shouldn't have been storming off in a huff.
It would be an interesting thought experiment. If Cameron hadn’t thrown his toys out of the pram what deal could he have got?
Health Minister Eluned Morgan broke Senedd rules over speeding, watchdog says
The Welsh government said it did not comment on leaked reports. The Welsh Conservatives said the Labour minister "has said that politicians should lead by example but has failed to do that herself".
Andrew RT Davies is truly f***ing cretinous.
I concur but speeding is far more dangerous than eating a cake !!!!!!!
That is a very disingenuous post. You know full well it is not about cake it is about one rule for us, one rule for them and misleading Parliament.
Morgan has been punished in the same way any of the rest of us have and would be when we have been caught speeding.
Besides which isn't Johnson's defence, one of his FPN is no worse than a speeding ticket.
Shame on you BigG.
This wasn't a single speeding offence and she has been found to have broken the Senedd code of conduct
'Wales' health minister has been found by a politicians' watchdog to have broken the Senedd code of conduct after being convicted for speeding four times.
Eluned Morgan was banned from driving in Mold Magistrates Court on 17 March.
In a report, yet to be published but seen by BBC Wales, Senedd Standards Commissioner Douglas Bain said the offences set a "very poor example" and demonstrated a disregard for the law.
My point stands.
If she has accumulated 12 points she gets a ban and uses the bus- like the rest of us would. If the rules are she is also censured by the Senedd, so be it.
I am not condoning the offences, particularly if a member of my family was crossing the road in front of her, but it is wholly different to Johnson's partying misdeeds, for so many reasons.
Talking of motoring offences, Johnson's bonfire of 'elf and safety in the form of two year MOTs is insane. Walk up any street and look at car tyres on vehicles. Some look like racing slicks. At least they require checking and changing once a year now- and think of all the little independent garages that will go to the wall on the back of this nonsense,
Ironically, it has been claimed that saving money on MOT tests will lead to paying more in insurance premiums.
A more sensible move would be to make it by mileage rather than by years.
Does a 7 year old car of reasonable quality really need four annual checks? Probably not. But testing it every 12,000 miles after the first 40,000 would make sense.
Equally, I can see it would be difficult to enforce compared to a simple date system.
I would suggest biannually until 10 years old then annually. Modern cars last well compared to the rusty wrecks that I drove in the eighties.
MOT data is online so a Department of Transport statistician should be able to come up with something.
Health Minister Eluned Morgan broke Senedd rules over speeding, watchdog says
The Welsh government said it did not comment on leaked reports. The Welsh Conservatives said the Labour minister "has said that politicians should lead by example but has failed to do that herself".
Andrew RT Davies is truly f***ing cretinous.
I concur but speeding is far more dangerous than eating a cake !!!!!!!
That is a very disingenuous post. You know full well it is not about cake it is about one rule for us, one rule for them and misleading Parliament.
Morgan has been punished in the same way any of the rest of us have and would be when we have been caught speeding.
Besides which isn't Johnson's defence, one of his FPN is no worse than a speeding ticket.
Shame on you BigG.
This wasn't a single speeding offence and she has been found to have broken the Senedd code of conduct
'Wales' health minister has been found by a politicians' watchdog to have broken the Senedd code of conduct after being convicted for speeding four times.
Eluned Morgan was banned from driving in Mold Magistrates Court on 17 March.
In a report, yet to be published but seen by BBC Wales, Senedd Standards Commissioner Douglas Bain said the offences set a "very poor example" and demonstrated a disregard for the law.
My point stands.
If she has accumulated 12 points she gets a ban and uses the bus- like the rest of us would. If the rules are she is also censured by the Senedd, so be it.
I am not condoning the offences, particularly if a member of my family was crossing the road in front of her, but it is wholly different to Johnson's partying misdeeds, for so many reasons.
Talking of motoring offences, Johnson's bonfire of 'elf and safety in the form of two year MOTs is insane. Walk up any street and look at car tyres on vehicles. Some look like racing slicks. At least they require checking and changing once a year now- and think of all the little independent garages that will go to the wall on the back of this nonsense,
Ironically, it has been claimed that saving money on MOT tests will lead to paying more in insurance premiums.
A more sensible move would be to make it by mileage rather than by years.
Does a 7 year old car of reasonable quality really need four annual checks? Probably not. But testing it every 12,000 miles after the first 40,000 would make sense.
Equally, I can see it would be difficult to enforce compared to a simple date system.
I would suggest biannually until 10 years old then annually. Modern cars last well compared to the rusty wrecks that I drove in the eighties.
Modern cars are very different to the ones that many of had in the 80’s and 90’s. But there is an oddity about choosing time alone for checking. There’s nothing to stop you racking up 100,000 miles a year for three years from new without a requirement to have it checked. I think I’d prefer an either or system, such as two years or 20,000 miles up to 10 years/100,000 miles then more frequently.
Health Minister Eluned Morgan broke Senedd rules over speeding, watchdog says
The Welsh government said it did not comment on leaked reports. The Welsh Conservatives said the Labour minister "has said that politicians should lead by example but has failed to do that herself".
Andrew RT Davies is truly f***ing cretinous.
I concur but speeding is far more dangerous than eating a cake !!!!!!!
That is a very disingenuous post. You know full well it is not about cake it is about one rule for us, one rule for them and misleading Parliament.
Morgan has been punished in the same way any of the rest of us have and would be when we have been caught speeding.
Besides which isn't Johnson's defence, one of his FPN is no worse than a speeding ticket.
Shame on you BigG.
This wasn't a single speeding offence and she has been found to have broken the Senedd code of conduct
'Wales' health minister has been found by a politicians' watchdog to have broken the Senedd code of conduct after being convicted for speeding four times.
Eluned Morgan was banned from driving in Mold Magistrates Court on 17 March.
In a report, yet to be published but seen by BBC Wales, Senedd Standards Commissioner Douglas Bain said the offences set a "very poor example" and demonstrated a disregard for the law.
My point stands.
If she has accumulated 12 points she gets a ban and uses the bus- like the rest of us would. If the rules are she is also censured by the Senedd, so be it.
I am not condoning the offences, particularly if a member of my family was crossing the road in front of her, but it is wholly different to Johnson's partying misdeeds, for so many reasons.
Talking of motoring offences, Johnson's bonfire of 'elf and safety in the form of two year MOTs is insane. Walk up any street and look at car tyres on vehicles. Some look like racing slicks. At least they require checking and changing once a year now- and think of all the little independent garages that will go to the wall on the back of this nonsense,
Ironically, it has been claimed that saving money on MOT tests will lead to paying more in insurance premiums.
A more sensible move would be to make it by mileage rather than by years.
Does a 7 year old car of reasonable quality really need four annual checks? Probably not. But testing it every 12,000 miles after the first 40,000 would make sense.
Equally, I can see it would be difficult to enforce compared to a simple date system.
From a Government of exceeding absurdities the MOT stunt takes the biscuit.
Rather than reduce the frequency of MOTs I would embrace your idea, every twelve months or 12,000 miles whichever comes first, and at 30,000 miles a year that is me severely out of pocket.
At School our biology teacher, whose main source of income was a strawberry farm in Upleadon rather than teaching (although he was very good!) had a Cortina that he had bought new in 1970, by 1978 he was proud to tell us that it had never been back to a garage for routine servicing, he just kept it going with the work required at each MOT, and it looked like it. I would imagine the contents of the sump were 50% black porridge and 50% iron filings. Unless they have to, some people will not maintain their cars to a safe standard. I bet Johnson's clapped-out Toyota Previa and ancient Ford Focus were such vehicles.
The person who runs this account claims to be an ex-spook who’s now an ‘ethical leaker’. Certainly very anti the current government. Also claims to have contacts in No. 10.
How true all that is, I don’t know. But I have my doubts.
But, if this turns out to be accurate, maybe I’ll have to accept they are who they say they are:
The idea that Raab, or indeed anyone, would deliberately watch pornography in the Commons chamber simply doesn't pass the sniff test. Why would anyone do that?
What might have happened is someone texted/WhatsApped something NSFW and they opened the message before realising what it was.
I was on a plane once, and a gentleman a few rows ahead of me got his laptop out.
As he opened it, it came out of sleep mode, and continued playing the video be had been watching in his hotel room the previous evening. Unfortunately for him, the volume was loud, and the panting and moaning was heard by the entire plane.
He slammed the laptop shut and went a very bright red.
Robert, I can one up you there. Was at an international conference in 2007 for officials from all MENA countries, hosted by one of the region's Princesses, when one of the delegates plugged his laptop into the overhead projection system without first opening it to check ...
Ukraine should invite Romania to station troops in that detached bit of the Odessa oblast.
Even a very cursory knowledge of history tells you that inviting in troops from a foreign country to occupy part of your own country rarely ends well.
Perhaps, but in the short term some occupations are more devastating than others. A cursory knowledge of history would also tell us that smaller (or weaker) nations sheltering behind others or, in this scenario, using others, is also very common.
There's presumably nothing in it for Romania to make it a goer of a suggestion though.
This is less a question of whether Johnson's approach to the truth is of lower rectitude than that of Blair, Lloyd George, Palmerston or Walpole, and more a question of whether our more open and immediate public culture, driven by 24 hr-news cycle and particularly social media, demands greater probity of public figures. It seems, for the moment, that it does, though standards may vary depending on country and indeed political persuasion.
Ultimately no politician should expect their opponents not to take advantage of any scandal they can find. Johnson has only himself to blame for any scandal he is found to be involved in, but it is fair to say that scandals are more easily and immediately discovered these days - a good thing for politics perhaps, if not for politicians.
The person who runs this account claims to be an ex-spook who’s now an ‘ethical leaker’. Certainly very anti the current government. Also claims to have contacts in No. 10.
How true all that is, I don’t know. But I have my doubts.
But, if this turns out to be accurate, maybe I’ll have to accept they are who they say they are:
The idea that Raab, or indeed anyone, would deliberately watch pornography in the Commons chamber simply doesn't pass the sniff test. Why would anyone do that?
What might have happened is someone texted/WhatsApped something NSFW and they opened the message before realising what it was.
I was on a plane once, and a gentleman a few rows ahead of me got his laptop out.
As he opened it, it came out of sleep mode, and continued playing the video be had been watching in his hotel room the previous evening. Unfortunately for him, the volume was loud, and the panting and moaning was heard by the entire plane.
He slammed the laptop shut and went a very bright red.
Robert, I can one up you there. Was at an international conference in 2007 for officials from all MENA countries, hosted by one of the region's Princesses, when one of the delegates plugged his laptop into the overhead projection system without first opening it to check ...
What is the deal with backbenchers getting called at PMQs, with special reference to the fact that I think Aaron bell has had Qs at 2 successive PMQs? I believe the conventional expression is "catching the Speaker's eye," but in practise this means what?
Backbench MPs put in their names as interested in putting a question, and a lottery decides the top dozen or so. However, the Speaker alternates between government and opposition, so if for example numbers 5 and 6 are both Labour, then the Speaker will call a Tory who "catches his eye" in between.
Ah thanks. I was thinking if you got lucky one week you'd be out of contention next. We can add luck to AB's positive qualities.
Looking back, he was lucky. The first time (April 20th) he was called as a Tory between Labour questioners who had won places on the draw, and today he succeeded in his own right!
DJ Tim Westwood steps down from his show until further notice
Why has this broken now. There have been rumours about Westwood for YEARS.
Strange to think that his father was a Bishop.
The one thing which surprised me about this story, was that he's 64! Only 14 years younger than @Big_G_NorthWales.
Why connect me to this DJ ?
No offence intended. Sorry if taken.
Thanks but the accusations against him are appalling and everything I stand against
I pride myself that I have always treated women with respect, and not least those who worked for me during the 40 years I ran my business and even today are personal friends
I am disgusted with the behaviour of some mps and it seems, according to todays report, it is cross party with 3 cabinet ministers and 2 shadow cabinet ministers under investigation
What is wrong with these people ?
Simple answer, those that seek to be mp's should rarely be allowed to run a charity shop
Health Minister Eluned Morgan broke Senedd rules over speeding, watchdog says
The Welsh government said it did not comment on leaked reports. The Welsh Conservatives said the Labour minister "has said that politicians should lead by example but has failed to do that herself".
Andrew RT Davies is truly f***ing cretinous.
I concur but speeding is far more dangerous than eating a cake !!!!!!!
That is a very disingenuous post. You know full well it is not about cake it is about one rule for us, one rule for them and misleading Parliament.
Morgan has been punished in the same way any of the rest of us have and would be when we have been caught speeding.
Besides which isn't Johnson's defence, one of his FPN is no worse than a speeding ticket.
Shame on you BigG.
This wasn't a single speeding offence and she has been found to have broken the Senedd code of conduct
'Wales' health minister has been found by a politicians' watchdog to have broken the Senedd code of conduct after being convicted for speeding four times.
Eluned Morgan was banned from driving in Mold Magistrates Court on 17 March.
In a report, yet to be published but seen by BBC Wales, Senedd Standards Commissioner Douglas Bain said the offences set a "very poor example" and demonstrated a disregard for the law.
My point stands.
If she has accumulated 12 points she gets a ban and uses the bus- like the rest of us would. If the rules are she is also censured by the Senedd, so be it.
I am not condoning the offences, particularly if a member of my family was crossing the road in front of her, but it is wholly different to Johnson's partying misdeeds, for so many reasons.
Talking of motoring offences, Johnson's bonfire of 'elf and safety in the form of two year MOTs is insane. Walk up any street and look at car tyres on vehicles. Some look like racing slicks. At least they require checking and changing once a year now- and think of all the little independent garages that will go to the wall on the back of this nonsense,
Ironically, it has been claimed that saving money on MOT tests will lead to paying more in insurance premiums.
It seems daft.
I’m all in favour of the easing of rules around childcare, though.
Several countries in Europe have ZERO limits on the child to carer ratio including such right-wing hell-holes as Germany and Denmark.
The UK has regulated childcare into one of the most expensive industries in the country.
The person who runs this account claims to be an ex-spook who’s now an ‘ethical leaker’. Certainly very anti the current government. Also claims to have contacts in No. 10.
How true all that is, I don’t know. But I have my doubts.
But, if this turns out to be accurate, maybe I’ll have to accept they are who they say they are:
The idea that Raab, or indeed anyone, would deliberately watch pornography in the Commons chamber simply doesn't pass the sniff test. Why would anyone do that?
What might have happened is someone texted/WhatsApped something NSFW and they opened the message before realising what it was.
I was on a plane once, and a gentleman a few rows ahead of me got his laptop out.
As he opened it, it came out of sleep mode, and continued playing the video be had been watching in his hotel room the previous evening. Unfortunately for him, the volume was loud, and the panting and moaning was heard by the entire plane.
He slammed the laptop shut and went a very bright red.
Robert, I can one up you there. Was at an international conference in 2007 for officials from all MENA countries, hosted by one of the region's Princesses, when one of the delegates plugged his laptop into the overhead projection system without first opening it to check ...
The person who runs this account claims to be an ex-spook who’s now an ‘ethical leaker’. Certainly very anti the current government. Also claims to have contacts in No. 10.
How true all that is, I don’t know. But I have my doubts.
But, if this turns out to be accurate, maybe I’ll have to accept they are who they say they are:
The idea that Raab, or indeed anyone, would deliberately watch pornography in the Commons chamber simply doesn't pass the sniff test. Why would anyone do that?
What might have happened is someone texted/WhatsApped something NSFW and they opened the message before realising what it was.
I was on a plane once, and a gentleman a few rows ahead of me got his laptop out.
As he opened it, it came out of sleep mode, and continued playing the video be had been watching in his hotel room the previous evening. Unfortunately for him, the volume was loud, and the panting and moaning was heard by the entire plane.
He slammed the laptop shut and went a very bright red.
Robert, I can one up you there. Was at an international conference in 2007 for officials from all MENA countries, hosted by one of the region's Princesses, when one of the delegates plugged his laptop into the overhead projection system without first opening it to check ...
President of Bolivia did something similar
I read the OP as one of the princesses opened her laptop… which for some reason was a much better story.
This is less a question of whether Johnson's approach to the truth is of lower rectitude than that of Blair, Lloyd George, Palmerston or Walpole, and more a question of whether our more open and immediate public culture, driven by 24 hr-news cycle and particularly social media, demands greater probity of public figures. It seems, for the moment, that it does, though standards may vary depending on country and indeed political persuasion.
Ultimately no politician should expect their opponents not to take advantage of any scandal they can find. Johnson has only himself to blame for any scandal he is found to be involved in, but it is fair to say that scandals are more easily and immediately discovered these days - a good thing for politics perhaps, if not for politicians.
Hypocrisy is the killer. As with Boris and partygate rather than, say, wallpapergate which is arguably more serious, so with drugs. Lots of politicians are known to have indulged but the only man to have suffered was Michael Gove whose leadership campaign was derailed because as Education Secretary, he had advocated sacking teachers who followed his example.
I remember in 2008/9 Mervyn King was quoted as saying that the next government who wins would have to impose such huge and eyewatering cuts to spending that they'd be out of power for a generation (which happily turned out to be wrong). I think it what applies to the next government coming in. Weak governor, inflation running wild, sterling tanking, deficit at 6.5% of GDP, economy stalling, COVID rally running out of steam, growth engine suffocated with a huge tax burden and borrowing power quickly running out.
I wouldn't be shocked if we get a few ratings downgrades in the next year or two, our gilt prices already trade below our current average rating.
You think Team Starmer will impose huge cuts.....brave prediction.
I don't think he'll have a choice. There will be market enforced discipline, bond buyers will go on strike and suddenly yields will rise to over 5% on medium dated debt and over 4% on shorter term paper. The state simply can't afford to rollover it's existing debt stock at those rates as well as take on £100bn in new borrowing per year. He's simply got no choice, neither will the Tories. Dave and George presented a credible plan to bring the deficit under control, had reasonable headwinds and won the trust of the markets to enforce discipline on spending so the money kept flowing.
It's been a while since people brought up the bond market vigilantes... makes me nostalgic for 2010 or so...
Personally I think this is wrong, we need a sustained period of higher than normal capital expenditure (to make up for what we lost under austerity), hopefully well-targeted at getting the country more productive.
So big govt investment in transport, science, clean energy, infrastructure, houses and take on the NIMBYs. Financed by borrowing as necessary.
I just don't see where you're getting the money from. At least in 2010 we had oodles of room for QE which the government used as a ladder out of the fiscal hole it dug for itself. We have little to no capacity for QE.
Additionally, talk of capital expenditure inevitably makes way for "our NHS". Anyone who thinks we could make current spending cuts to fund investment is kidding themselves.
The cost of servicing our debt is at a record low - debt servicing costs are like 1.5% -> there is loads more room to borrow, although we should obviously aim for projects that are actually a good idea. Not idiotic bridges across the north sea.
As for our NHS - we need a massive increase in capacity to deal with the backlog. That means investing in people definitely, but it also means investing in actually building (not pretending) newer and better facilities. NHS capital expenditure has really suffered over past years.
In the coming financial year we're looking at debt servicing hit between 3.5% and 3.9% of GDP. This year it was already at just under 3%. Again, a third of our gilt stock is inflation linked to CPI. That gets eyewateringly expensive very quickly indeed.
You’re ignoring the fact that in keeping the inflation risk, UKG got cheaper financing (as a spread) for years. It’s working against them this year, but I suspect overall they will be ahead
I just watched PMQs. I think Starmer is definitely improving.....
Johnson always blusters but today seemed worse than usual. He answered questions he wasn't asked and sometimes repeated himself as many as three times. I can't imagine those behind him being anything other than alarmed. He was like a talk your weight machine out of control
Starmer by contrast seemed like the adult in the room. He's definitely being coached. This undramatic but assured manner suits him and if he keeps it going his reviews will start to improve.
"Spoke to someone v close to govt last week and they were super worried about govt finances. Forget about lower spending they were seeing a likelihood of cuts. The debt servicing bill is eye watering and unsustainable. That puts the Cons in a difficult place in the run up to any election."
My first instinct was (and still is) that this is Treasury bollocks to scare backbench MPs and excuse the current tax regime.
They were very worried. And not sure what would happen when the penny drops amongst the public at large.
This sounds like probable baloney.
The traditional point of concern is when Govt Debt Interest is getting towards 4% of GDP.
(Open to correction if anyone has any startling recent or alternate data.)
And as mentioned to @rcs1000 very sensitive to inflation in itself, on account of its index-linked borrowing, and also the concomitant rate rises.
That depends what % of borrowing is index linked. Two reasons we were comparatively insulated from the impacts in 2010 and following was that most of our borrowing was a) our high percentage of fixed rate public debt and b) our longer term public debt compared to most other countries (10-15 years vs 5 years) so we did not have to go into the market to roll it over as soon.
So there was headroom to spread out public finance recovery.
The % of index-linked is higher now - not sure how much higher.
If there is an analysis that demonstrates this is a real problem in terms of borrowing costs going to an unacceptable level of GDP *now* I'd like to see it - rather than speculation on possibilities.
Aha - see max supplied some numbers.
From your document:
"Relative to March 2021, interest costs have been revised up by £15.0 billion in 2021- 22, £15.5 billion in 2022-23 and an average of nearly £6 billion a year across the rest of the forecast. Again, this is predominantly due to higher than expected RPI inflation, with the increase in interest costs associated with index-linked gilts accounting for £13.8 billion and £10.3 billion of the increase in 2021-22 and 2022-23 respectively. Higher interest rates also increase debt interest spending across the forecast, while a higher path for Bank Rate reduces the impact of the APF in bringing down interest costs from 2022-23 onwards. "
That was an October 2021 document. Six months ago. Oh how the world has changed since then.
Meanwhile 25% of our debt is index linked.
Without undermining the seriousness of balancing the budget (which I do believe in) index linked isn't really that major of an issue.
Sure a quarter to a third may be index linked, but if the country is growing in real terms then that should really be read as two thirds to three quarters is not index linked.
Debt to GDP is the relevant figure, and debt servicing to GDP. Inflation may cost cash, but if the GDP is growing then that should relatively cancel each other out.
A few decades of inflation is probably what we need now to deflate away the debts we have borrowed. That is basically what succeeded from 45 to 74 approximately.
£46 billion is the amount spent this year in debt interest payments. It is easy to hide this as 3% of something or other. It is £1000 per year for 40 million people. That's a lot of extra tax to pay, or a lot of universal credit increase that didn't happen. And we have borrowed much more than this figure this year anyway, so we haven't even paid anything, we have just increased the debt.
That 46bn is before the return of interest from the BoE. Don't forget that a not insubstantial proportion of our debt is held by the BoE.
I just watched PMQs. I think Starmer is definitely improving.....
Johnson always blusters but today seemed worse than usual. He answered questions he wasn't asked and sometimes repeated himself as many as three times. I can't imagine those behind him being anything other than alarmed. He was like a talk your weight machine out of control
Starmer by contrast seemed like the adult in the room. He's definitely being coached. This undramatic but assured manner suits him and if he keeps it going his reviews will start to improve.
A “talk your weight machine out of control”.
Genius. Straight up the best ever sketch of Boris.
I just watched PMQs. I think Starmer is definitely improving.....
Johnson always blusters but today seemed worse than usual. He answered questions he wasn't asked and sometimes repeated himself as many as three times. I can't imagine those behind him being anything other than alarmed. He was like a talk your weight machine out of control
Starmer by contrast seemed like the adult in the room. He's definitely being coached. This undramatic but assured manner suits him and if he keeps it going his reviews will start to improve.
I didn't think Starmer performed well at all today. Johnson was very self assured and shot every fox. Granted, every answer was absolute b*ll*cks, but it was very self-assured absolute b*ll*cks.
I happened to be driving when PMQs was on today. Blimey, it was tedious. SKS is so dull. No doubt his repeat at the end of every question sounded powerful in his bedroom mirror this morning but there was no bite in it whatsoever. Boris just blusters away repeating the same half relevant statistics time and again without addressing the question. Blackford is utterly tedious and sanctimonious. Ed Davies didn't even bother to turn up which was a good call by him.
Would this be any better if they were also calling each other liars? Probably not. It is undignifed and pointless already.
Re half-relevant statistics at PMQs, Boris claimed 13,500 new coppers, ahead of the government's target of 12,000 but isn't the target 20,000 per the manifesto, or is Boris working on 4,000 a year?
Who knows? He just bleathers. If we got 1% of the “forensic cross examination” we were promised from SKS he wouldn’t get away with this nonsense. But wide open generalised questions in search of a theme let Boris go wherever he wants. It’s really poor work for a former prosecutor, it really is.
I am not convinced Keir was a “proper” prosecutor.
Perhaps it’s different in a court.
He was an administrator - he grew up in private practice not the CPS
Comments
That said Labour and the Conservatives have extremely bad relations with the LDs on Stockport so Labour is likely to remain in control as a minority even if they are not the largest party like in 2021 (although they still won the popular vote).
The others apart from Worthing, Barnet , Wandsworth and Crawley(?) are implausible as well for reasons already discussed.
Plymouth and Swindon are enormous long shots made difficult by how well the Tories did in 2021.
It is clear that neither of the main parties are going to be able to speak the truth to the electorate, as it is frightening just how much covid and Ukraine has cost the economy, let alone as @Scott_xP would say the brexit effect
The idea public sector staff, including nurses and care workers, together with pensioners are going to see inflation increases is just not possible and I have no idea where all the extra income to the exchequer is coming from on the NHS, Schools, and now by common consent defence
I expect truth will be in short supply in manifestos for GE 24 and as I have maintained all along how can Starmer reduce expectations and even say no, when he and labour have promised to outspend on most every department of government.
If I could wave a magic wand I would get rid of those incumbents in the HOC on all sides and install PB posters who have contributed in this debate into running the county
But that’s not really the case here.
The Tories are incredibly soft on crime.
There is nonetheless much dross. Burgon, Williamson, McDonnell and Corbyn spring readily to mind for starters.
I was on a train in the early 2000s when a civil servant realised they had forgotten to include NI in the costings for NHS pay increases. It was a very urgent not very whispered panic call.
The 2020-21 figure being compared for those £15bn numbers was actually negative : minus £12.1 bn.
I dug out the March 2022 OBR forecasts (link below), and it includes these:
Debt interest spending jumps to a nominal record high of £83.0 billion,
double our October forecast and its highest level as a share of revenue since 1997-98.
(Executive Summary para 1.23)
And this is the best graph. You can see the spin it oozes.
Looks like 1 year of interest costs near 4% of GDP, then back to 2-2.5% as inflation falls back.
https://obr.uk/efo/economic-and-fiscal-outlook-march-2022/
To me that is all a reason why BoJo should have nobbled the retail price of energy by a supply-side intervention which did not impact retail inflation.
Thanks all for the interesting convo.
(As an aside, was looking at comnparative top 6 EU economy figures for debt, and it is interesting how far *everyone's* National Debt to GDP ratio went down last year due to bounceback after COVID.)
The Welsh government said it did not comment on leaked reports. The Welsh Conservatives said the Labour minister "has said that politicians should lead by example but has failed to do that herself".
Plaid Cymru called for Eluned Morgan to refer herself for investigation under the ministerial code.
Mark Drakeford, first minister, said he has dealt with it under the ministerial code, the matter is closed, and said there is no "equivalence" with partygate.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-61242316
Add to that a courts backlog (where they've not been sold off), legal aid cuts, and not even the slightest interest in going after Covid fraud, which is why Lord Agnew resigned.
There are more grotesquely underfunded public services.
But wide open generalised questions in search of a theme let Boris go wherever he wants. It’s really poor work for a former prosecutor, it really is.
Perhaps it’s different in a court.
Morgan has been punished in the same way any of the rest of us have and would be when we have been caught speeding.
Besides which isn't Johnson's defence, one of his FPN is no worse than a speeding ticket.
Shame on you BigG.
SKS as DPP might want to destroy Boris on the basis of: debt, deficit, tax levels, public expenditure, lack of public expenditure, deficiencies in every department, %of GDP as state managed expenditure, NHS etc. But the greater clarity he brings to bear holistically the clearer it becomes that all parties are in the same impossible difficulty.
To take one tiny example, when it comes to NHS expenditure no-one anywhere ever will say how much expenditure would be enough. That's because there is no such concept in existence. Ditto every other field.
https://www.betfair.com/exchange/plus/politics/market/1.160663234
Indeed part of the problem with them may well be inexperience with party politics as backbenchers. Straight from election to front benches.
'Wales' health minister has been found by a politicians' watchdog to have broken the Senedd code of conduct after being convicted for speeding four times.
Eluned Morgan was banned from driving in Mold Magistrates Court on 17 March.
In a report, yet to be published but seen by BBC Wales, Senedd Standards Commissioner Douglas Bain said the offences set a "very poor example" and demonstrated a disregard for the law.
Any MP accused of lying can always resort to the "come and say that again outside" retort.
No, not an invitation to fisticuffs, but to somewhere where libel law applies.
We need a ringer to bring this race to life, Thatcher-style. This looks like Mordaunt to me at the moment.
In 1988 he was sacked by the editor of the Times for fabricating a quote in an article.
During his time as Brussels correspondent for The Daily Telegraph, a former colleague recalled that “Johnson’s half-truths created a new reality … correspondents witnessed Johnson shaping the narrative that morphed into our present-day populist Euroscepticism.” He regularly concocted stories that were either completely untrue, or his preferred method of building whole arguments out of half-truths
He was NOT a successful newspaper columnist. He was a lying shitbag.
If she has accumulated 12 points she gets a ban and uses the bus- like the rest of us would. If the rules are she is also censured by the Senedd, so be it.
I am not condoning the offences, particularly if a member of my family was crossing the road in front of her, but it is wholly different to Johnson's partying misdeeds, for so many reasons.
Talking of motoring offences, Johnson's bonfire of 'elf and safety in the form of two year MOTs is insane. Walk up any street and look at car tyres on vehicles. Some look like racing slicks. At least they require checking and changing once a year now- and think of all the little independent garages that will go to the wall on the back of this nonsense,
I do not condone Boris behaviour at all and I want him gone, but the Welsh Health Minister has a responsibility and seems to be content to remain in office despite the commissioner comments
For instance:-
Scrapping annual MOTs will send insurance premiums higher
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/consumer-affairs/scrapping-annual-mots-will-send-insurance-premiums-higher/ (£££)
Does a 7 year old car of reasonable quality really need four annual checks? Probably not. But testing it every 12,000 miles after the first 40,000 would make sense.
Equally, I can see it would be difficult to enforce compared to a simple date system.
I’m all in favour of the easing of rules around childcare, though.
Several countries in Europe have ZERO limits on the child to carer ratio including such right-wing hell-holes as Germany and Denmark.
The UK has regulated childcare into one of the most expensive industries in the country.
The Telegraph does find two lady physics teachers in the House of Commons to comment: Caroline Monaghan (SNP) and Layla Moran (LD).
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/04/27/girls-dont-like-physics-wont-do-hard-maths-says-social-mobility/ (£££)
Rather than reduce the frequency of MOTs I would embrace your idea, every twelve months or 12,000 miles whichever comes first, and at 30,000 miles a year that is me severely out of pocket.
At School our biology teacher, whose main source of income was a strawberry farm in Upleadon rather than teaching (although he was very good!) had a Cortina that he had bought new in 1970, by 1978 he was proud to tell us that it had never been back to a garage for routine servicing, he just kept it going with the work required at each MOT, and it looked like it. I would imagine the contents of the sump were 50% black porridge and 50% iron filings. Unless they have to, some people will not maintain their cars to a safe standard. I bet Johnson's clapped-out Toyota Previa and ancient Ford Focus were such vehicles.
There's presumably nothing in it for Romania to make it a goer of a suggestion though.
Ultimately no politician should expect their opponents not to take advantage of any scandal they can find. Johnson has only himself to blame for any scandal he is found to be involved in, but it is fair to say that scandals are more easily and immediately discovered these days - a good thing for politics perhaps, if not for politicians.
The hand that rocks the cradle rules the bank.
Johnson always blusters but today seemed worse than usual. He answered questions he wasn't asked and sometimes repeated himself as many as three times. I can't imagine those behind him being anything other than alarmed. He was like a talk your weight machine out of control
Starmer by contrast seemed like the adult in the room. He's definitely being coached. This undramatic but assured manner suits him and if he keeps it going his reviews will start to improve.
Rishi Sunak is back!
Cleared of any wrongdoing and he's come back swinging having dreamed up the rather impressive policy idea of a windfall tax on oil companies.
Genius. Straight up the best ever sketch of Boris.