I dunno, call me dense, but I am not really seeing how Kemi Badenoch is going to appeal to Red Wall voters.
She's a Londoner, a graduate, worked in IT consultancy in banking, represents a southern constituency.
And of course she's black and the daughter of immigrants. I'd like to think this last point won't matter to any voter but I know that's sadly not true.
I doubt it. But we know her a bit and have been to her house and she is a very nice person. I hope she will be the next leader but one when she has more experience.
Badenoch “confessed to hacking into the website of a Labour MP in 2008”
I’m impressed. It would be interesting to have the first PM who has actually got a fucking clue about how these newfangled computer thingys work.
One of the things that amuses me is the misuse of the word 'hack'. As an old-timer, 'hack' implies skill. It does not mean getting unauthorised access to systems - it means an elegant shortcut in code, e.g. making something more efficient by using undocumented features in the assembler (which will break with the next processor version...)
Using the modern usage; if she gained access to the website using a default password, it is a level 0 hack and totally unnoteworthy. If she used a script written by a script-kiddie, it is a level 10 hack. If she read about a zero-day exploit on the web and created her own code, a level 100 hack. And if she *found* a zero-day exploit and wrote code to exploit it, a level 1000 hack.
I bet whoever website she hacked was stoopid and used default or easily-guessed passwords.
She is obsessed with the culture wars. Would be dreadful.
She just doesn't accept the premises of the other side.
No it's not that, she enflames it for no good reason.
Penny Morduant is the most sensible on this by a country mile.
No she isn't. She has lied about her position.
I don't mind Ms Mordaunt having different views on self-ID to mine but I do mind very much that she lies about them. She is now claiming, wrongly, that she was the one who fought to remove the gender neutral language in the Maternity Bill so that the word "woman" was used. This is a lie. She was the one who introduced the gender neutral language. It was the Lords who threw the gender neutral language out and she was forced to accept it.
...
This is what she actually tweeted:
"It was me that changed maternity legislation that was drafted in gender neutral language ( by another) to use female terms"
Carefully worded, no doubt (as any lawyer will surely appreciate) but what she wrote is not strictly a lie, and it's some distance short of "claiming, wrongly, that she was the one who fought to remove the gender neutral language in the Maternity Bill"
Rather making my point. "Careful wording" indeed. She is now trying to claim credit for removing language she put in when this was forced on her by others and evades the issue of why she agreed to such language in the first place.
Very Boris-like. But also not really in keeping with all the big hoo-ha she's making over having integrity.
I would imagine it wasn't even a proactive decision of hers in the original legislation, rather it was already drafted that way when it first came across her desk because since 2007 it has been has been government policy to write legislation in gender-neutral language.
She could... but she needs to (a) get through to the final two, and (b) get past the membership. (Or alternatively, she needs her opponent to "do a Leadsom".)
The ConHome poll is very encouraging for her, but we do need to have a few forced choice questions: if it was Sunak vs Badenoch, etc. There's also a long campaign ahead of us. Remember that Leadsom was in with a shot until she made some poorly chosen comments about Ms May not being a mother.
Personally, I think I think the easy money here is to be made by selling Sunak. I don't think he makes the final two, and if - by some miracle he did - then unless he's off against Hunt, then I don't see how he wins.
Mike - I don’t want to reprimand you, but we can do better than that on our site.
This wide open election more closely resembles 2016 than 19 - and at this stage 2016 how we imagined it to play out and how it actually played out are two very different things. It’s our role as politicalbetting.com to put our finger on the actual end result as quickly as possible to earn the real money/kudos.
The real end result here is more likely to be a oven ready Primeminister from a candidate with plenty of high office experience, than the vagaries of a very AOR conhome survey. That swingback in this race will be both to experience and leadership and policies looking beyond the party and best to, if not win the next election, then give MPs as much fighting chance as possible to hold their seat. And we should be able to discern this drift with some accuracy using such tools as Barnsiens transfer predictions, as people can come from behind on transfers, and intuition someone had a good day, and when they have gaffed and blown it.
The more you see of these contenders the more it feels like a freaks circus. They're all fighting a war against woke and they're all falling over themselves to be the most brexity even though brexit has been a colossal failure. The only vaguely nice person is Rishi Sunak but there are some real horrors.
In my experience, those that did lots of drugs (or were permanently drunk) while I was at uni weren't that interesting either.
Referring to yourself in the third person there
I was dead lucky that when I was at uni the low cost airlines were just coming about, so you could get a RyanAir flight for 99p (and they needed bums on seats to get their EU airport kick-backs)...so my group of mates did a load of crazy dashes to places on a whim because we saw a super cheap flight (at that point RyanAir / Easyjet even paid the taxes on occasions as they needed the head count).
There are legendary tales of students going to New York for weekends for almost nothing in the posh classes by buying tickets sold on the old auction site QXL.
Cathy Newman asks Keir Starmer to tell her one interesting thing about himself. Without skipping a beat he replies: “I did violin lessons with fat boy slim back in the day.” @Channel4News
Riveting....I wouldn't say I have lived a SeanT crazed style lifestyle but can give you 10s of better anecdotes than that.
There was that time when you posted that witty pub on PB...
I think the tories fear the cultural power of the left. They saw Boris as pathetic in the face of BLM, the trashing of the Centophah, statue toppling etc. Badenoch offers the possibility of the reinvention and modernisation of the party, a credible alternative to the vision offered by the left. They think that, with Badenoch at the helm, they cannot be just be smeared and dismissed as the party of white male privelege.
The Tory membership want a coup. They are largely favouring those drawn from outside government rather than those at its upper echelons. They have decided the Boris gang need to be excised.
This is a radical and novel idea because it requires parachuting someone with limited government experience into the leadership, something no party has ever really tried before whilst in government. It could do them the world of good, but it could also be seen as irresponsible.
I dunno, call me dense, but I am not really seeing how Kemi Badenoch is going to appeal to Red Wall voters.
She's a Londoner, a graduate, worked in IT consultancy in banking, represents a southern constituency.
And of course she's black and the daughter of immigrants. I'd like to think this last point won't matter to any voter but I know that's sadly not true.
Shes a brexiteer and anti woke and flipped burgers to put herself through 6th form. Shes ideal red meat for red wallers
In my experience, those that did lots of drugs (or were permanently drunk) while I was at uni weren't that interesting either.
Referring to yourself in the third person there
I was dead lucky that when I was at uni the low cost airlines were just coming about, so you could get a RyanAir flight for 99p (and they needed bums on seats to get their EU airport kick-backs)...so my group of mates did a load of crazy dashes to places on a whim because we saw a super cheap flight (at that point RyanAir / Easyjet even paid the taxes on occasions as they needed the head count).
There are legendary tales of students going to New York for weekends for almost nothing in the posh classes by buying tickets sold on the old auction site QXL.
I went to Boston for a weekend on something like that and there was a low cost airline to Canada at the time (can't remember the name and unsurprisingly it went bust) but I got there for very little.
Edit - Just remembered, I also did a totally nutty one where there was some glitch and getting a flight from a UK regional airport to Paris, then Paris to London, then London to NYC was cheaper than just going on the London to NYC leg....so we did it.
This was early days of comparison sites and online booking, so its was chaos.
But Kemi winning before her time (she is best seen as leader after next - possibly LOTO) is just like Hague.
Destroyed his long term chances of being PM by going too early??
But she would be PM first
oh yes true. Sorry in this case I meant she explodes into front runner status and then somehow does not make it and then she never gets the proper chance she would have had in five years time after being CoE for a couple of years or whatever.
I dunno, call me dense, but I am not really seeing how Kemi Badenoch is going to appeal to Red Wall voters.
She's a Londoner, a graduate, worked in IT consultancy in banking, represents a southern constituency.
And of course she's black and the daughter of immigrants. I'd like to think this last point won't matter to any voter but I know that's sadly not true.
That's an interesting question.
She is endorsed by red wallers, including Lee Andersen and Ben Bradley. Are any of the others also red wallers?
The more you see of these contenders the more it feels like a freaks circus. They're all fighting a war against woke and they're all falling over themselves to be the most brexity even though brexit has been a colossal failure. The only vaguely nice person is Rishi Sunak but there are some real horrors.
What wouldn't the country give for a Tony Blair.
Yep we were so much better off when led by a mass murderer.
There is a big error putting a lot of weight on 'cabinet experience'. It doesn't count for much under BoJo. Sunak was bought in to follow Cummings orders and willingly did so.
Badenoch “confessed to hacking into the website of a Labour MP in 2008”
I’m impressed. It would be interesting to have the first PM who has actually got a fucking clue about how these newfangled computer thingys work.
One of the things that amuses me is the misuse of the word 'hack'. As an old-timer, 'hack' implies skill. It does not mean getting unauthorised access to systems - it means an elegant shortcut in code, e.g. making something more efficient by using undocumented features in the assembler (which will break with the next processor version...)
Using the modern usage; if she gained access to the website using a default password, it is a level 0 hack and totally unnoteworthy. If she used a script written by a script-kiddie, it is a level 10 hack. If she read about a zero-day exploit on the web and created her own code, a level 100 hack. And if she *found* a zero-day exploit and wrote code to exploit it, a level 1000 hack.
I bet whoever website she hacked was stoopid and used default or easily-guessed passwords.
Well she does have a MEng in Computer Systems Engineering from Sussex Uni. Her career sounds very impressive.
I find her views off-putting but then I could say that about any of the Tory candidates tbf.
She certainly sounds a lot better than Patel, Braverman, Suna, Truss, Zahawi and Shapps, to name but a view.
Badenoch “confessed to hacking into the website of a Labour MP in 2008”
I’m impressed. It would be interesting to have the first PM who has actually got a fucking clue about how these newfangled computer thingys work.
One of the things that amuses me is the misuse of the word 'hack'. As an old-timer, 'hack' implies skill. It does not mean getting unauthorised access to systems - it means an elegant shortcut in code, e.g. making something more efficient by using undocumented features in the assembler (which will break with the next processor version...)
Using the modern usage; if she gained access to the website using a default password, it is a level 0 hack and totally unnoteworthy. If she used a script written by a script-kiddie, it is a level 10 hack. If she read about a zero-day exploit on the web and created her own code, a level 100 hack. And if she *found* a zero-day exploit and wrote code to exploit it, a level 1000 hack.
I bet whoever website she hacked was stoopid and used default or easily-guessed passwords.
Well she does have a MEng in Computer Systems Engineering from Sussex Uni. Her career sounds very impressive.
I find her views off-putting but then I could say that about any of the Tory candidates tbf.
She certainly sounds a lot better than Patel, Braverman, Suna, Truss, Zahawi and Shapps, to name but a view.
Badenoch “confessed to hacking into the website of a Labour MP in 2008”
I’m impressed. It would be interesting to have the first PM who has actually got a fucking clue about how these newfangled computer thingys work.
One of the things that amuses me is the misuse of the word 'hack'. As an old-timer, 'hack' implies skill. It does not mean getting unauthorised access to systems - it means an elegant shortcut in code, e.g. making something more efficient by using undocumented features in the assembler (which will break with the next processor version...)
Using the modern usage; if she gained access to the website using a default password, it is a level 0 hack and totally unnoteworthy. If she used a script written by a script-kiddie, it is a level 10 hack. If she read about a zero-day exploit on the web and created her own code, a level 100 hack. And if she *found* a zero-day exploit and wrote code to exploit it, a level 1000 hack.
I bet whoever website she hacked was stoopid and used default or easily-guessed passwords.
Well she does have a MEng in Computer Systems Engineering from Sussex Uni. Her career sounds very impressive.
I find her views off-putting but then I could say that about any of the Tory candidates tbf.
She certainly sounds a lot better than Patel, Braverman, Suna, Truss, Zahawi and Shapps, to name but a view.
Cathy Newman asks Keir Starmer to tell her one interesting thing about himself. Without skipping a beat he replies: “I did violin lessons with fat boy slim back in the day.” @Channel4News
Riveting....I wouldn't say I have lived a SeanT crazed style lifestyle but can give you 10s of better anecdotes than that.
Throw a question like that at me and I'd freeze, no matter how interesting I am (spoiler alert, less interesting than SeanT). I'd have to fall back on a joke like winning a boring man competition, which is pretty interesting.
But SKS will (or at least should) have war gamed this as clearly he has been asked previously about being boring. Its like when MPs can't answer the old how much is a pint of milk / litre of petrol. You know its coming at some point, so you better have an answer.
Starmer's answer is great. Doing violin lessons with Fat Boy Slim is a great anecdote.
Astonishingly Zahawi has just picked up another declaration to go 4th= with Truss on 16.
Whatever anyone thinks about policies, it is surely incomprehensible that anyone would think Zahawi would be the best replacement for Johnson.
At this stage, a lot of endorsements aren't about whom the MP genuinely believes would be the best PM.
The ideal thing is to back the winner early, but it isn't entirely wise to pile in behind the frontrunner - ask Portillo backers in 2001. There is a lot of sense publicly getting behind a candidate who isn't going to win but may well be in a senior position in a future administration, and grateful to you for it. You also make yourself a sought after commodity when your candidate drops out and people are desperate for votes to get over the line. I can see a decent case for keeping your powder dry by backing someone you know damned well won't make it to the final two.
In my experience, those that did lots of drugs (or were permanently drunk) while I was at uni weren't that interesting either.
Referring to yourself in the third person there
I was dead lucky that when I was at uni the low cost airlines were just coming about, so you could get a RyanAir flight for 99p (and they needed bums on seats to get their EU airport kick-backs)...so my group of mates did a load of crazy dashes to places on a whim because we saw a super cheap flight (at that point RyanAir / Easyjet even paid the taxes on occasions as they needed the head count).
There are legendary tales of students going to New York for weekends for almost nothing in the posh classes by buying tickets sold on the old auction site QXL.
I went to Boston for a weekend on something like that and there was a low cost airline to Canada at the time (can't remember the name and unsurprisingly it went bust) but I got there for very little.
Edit - Just remembered, I also did a totally nutty one where there was some glitch and getting a flight from a UK regional airport to Paris, then Paris to London, then London to NYC was cheaper than just going on the London to NYC leg....so we did it.
This was early days of comparison sites and online booking, so its was chaos.
Somewhere on HeadforPoints the Gaffer wrote about his exploits.
The Tory membership want a coup. They are largely favouring those drawn from outside government rather than those at its upper echelons. They have decided the Boris gang need to be excised.
This is a radical and novel idea because it requires parachuting someone with limited government experience into the leadership, something no party has ever really tried before whilst in government. It could do them the world of good, but it could also be seen as irresponsible.
Not in the UK, but one D Trump.....
Out of interest, who was the last PM to either have never previously served in the Cabinet or as LoTo? Has there been one (well aside from Walpole, obviously)?
Badenoch “confessed to hacking into the website of a Labour MP in 2008”
I’m impressed. It would be interesting to have the first PM who has actually got a fucking clue about how these newfangled computer thingys work.
One of the things that amuses me is the misuse of the word 'hack'. As an old-timer, 'hack' implies skill. It does not mean getting unauthorised access to systems - it means an elegant shortcut in code, e.g. making something more efficient by using undocumented features in the assembler (which will break with the next processor version...)
Using the modern usage; if she gained access to the website using a default password, it is a level 0 hack and totally unnoteworthy. If she used a script written by a script-kiddie, it is a level 10 hack. If she read about a zero-day exploit on the web and created her own code, a level 100 hack. And if she *found* a zero-day exploit and wrote code to exploit it, a level 1000 hack.
I bet whoever website she hacked was stoopid and used default or easily-guessed passwords.
Well she does have a MEng in Computer Systems Engineering from Sussex Uni. Her career sounds very impressive.
I find her views off-putting but then I could say that about any of the Tory candidates tbf.
She certainly sounds a lot better than Patel, Braverman, Suna, Truss, Zahawi and Shapps, to name but a view.
There is surely no way that Badenoch, Braverman and Patel will all get 30 votes in Round 1 - indeed if they all stand it's quite likely none of them does and they all get eliminated in R1.
So looks as if (probably) Patel will be backed into a corner and won't stand - because if she does she risks them all going out in R1.
The more who stand the harder it becomes for everyone else to get 30 votes - Zahawi, Javid and Shapps will likely go too - potentially just leaving five candidates in R2 if Patel does stand.
Never mind the ship of fools election news, the important question of the day is whether mustard should be chilled as per Macedonian law or is ok outside.
Wikipedia notes that the pungency can be maintained by being chilled.
Ooh, interesting
This is the only country I’ve ever been to where they keep all mustard in the chill cabinet and it is sold in obviously temporary packaging - like yoghurt or cream
I wanted a good old fashioned jar of mustard but needs must, so I bought the chilled version. And it is, I believe, better. More vivid and tasty and aromatic
Interesting.
It makes sense. I have always taken cheese out of the fridge for a half hour or hour before tucking in as it seems to taste just that little bit better. Tomatoes are the same.
The temporary thing though implies you are expected to use the whole pot in one sitting.
Maybe you need to lash the meal with the stuff to be a proper stand-up Macedonian man?
I have. It’s a tiny pot. It’s obviously made fresh and then chilled for one dinner
(In Montenegro, not Macedonia)
Montenegrins are known to enjoy giving Macedonians a good lashing from time to time.
But as a rule NOT during meals.
I always make mustard fresh. Colmans mustard powder mixed to a paste with water. Or milk if you want it slightly less strong.
The more you see of these contenders the more it feels like a freaks circus. They're all fighting a war against woke and they're all falling over themselves to be the most brexity even though brexit has been a colossal failure. The only vaguely nice person is Rishi Sunak but there are some real horrors.
What wouldn't the country give for a Tony Blair.
Both issues which drive opinion in the pubs etc. Your political animals will do their hell or high water for red or blue but for those with only a passing obsession with politics brexit red meat and a stance against what many see as nonsense will swing votes. For a great swathe its not nuance its feeling. Someone who captures a feeling captures votes (or drives them away, but movement nonetheless)
Badenoch doing well looks like bad news for Truss.
If Badenoch gets transfers from Patel and Braverman, she will be well ahead of Truss and Truss could then potentially be eliminated in 4th or 5th place (depending upon whether she can get ahead of Tugendhat).
That would require Patel and/or Braverman to admit that they're sunk and being beaten by someone junior to them. I do not see either Patel or Braverman as the sort of people to rush to admit that, even if it's blindingly obvious that it's true.
Badenoch “confessed to hacking into the website of a Labour MP in 2008”
I’m impressed. It would be interesting to have the first PM who has actually got a fucking clue about how these newfangled computer thingys work.
One of the things that amuses me is the misuse of the word 'hack'. As an old-timer, 'hack' implies skill. It does not mean getting unauthorised access to systems - it means an elegant shortcut in code, e.g. making something more efficient by using undocumented features in the assembler (which will break with the next processor version...)
Using the modern usage; if she gained access to the website using a default password, it is a level 0 hack and totally unnoteworthy. If she used a script written by a script-kiddie, it is a level 10 hack. If she read about a zero-day exploit on the web and created her own code, a level 100 hack. And if she *found* a zero-day exploit and wrote code to exploit it, a level 1000 hack.
I bet whoever website she hacked was stoopid and used default or easily-guessed passwords.
I don't think it was anything particularly clever: they hadn't disable root ssh access, and it was bruteforced with a few lines of Python.
Completely OT but even though I am not generally a big fan of George Monbiot, I am absolutely loving the way he is tearing a new one into Vodaphone for the way they have handled his parents.
Basically Mother died, father has dementia, Vodaphone refusing to cancel the account because the father cannot answer complex questions such as when the account was opened and what his wife's number was (he has dementia!), refusing to deal with Monbiot at all in spite of him submitting evidence and trying to work within their system and then setting debt collectors on the father when they cancelled the DD.
Monbiot is steaming and is not letting them back down now they have seen the bad publicity growing. Hopefully this will cost them a lot of customers.
Cathy Newman asks Keir Starmer to tell her one interesting thing about himself. Without skipping a beat he replies: “I did violin lessons with fat boy slim back in the day.” @Channel4News
Riveting....I wouldn't say I have lived a SeanT crazed style lifestyle but can give you 10s of better anecdotes than that.
Throw a question like that at me and I'd freeze, no matter how interesting I am (spoiler alert, less interesting than SeanT). I'd have to fall back on a joke like winning a boring man competition, which is pretty interesting.
But SKS will (or at least should) have war gamed this as clearly he has been asked previously about being boring. Its like when MPs can't answer the old how much is a pint of milk / litre of petrol. You know its coming at some point, so you better have an answer.
Starmer's answer is great. Doing violin lessons with Fat Boy Slim is a great anecdote.
Pretty low bar for anecdotal greatness there. dueted or formed a quartet with, possibly...
I dunno, call me dense, but I am not really seeing how Kemi Badenoch is going to appeal to Red Wall voters.
She's a Londoner, a graduate, worked in IT consultancy in banking, represents a southern constituency.
And of course she's black and the daughter of immigrants. I'd like to think this last point won't matter to any voter but I know that's sadly not true.
I think that is making a few unsafe assumptions about the 'red wall'. She has been endorsed by Ben Bradley and Lee Anderson, who are red wall MP's. Even if you are a bigot living in the red wall, then you are unlikely to vote for the 'woke' labour party, who are your alternative choice. A bigger issue in the red wall is likely to be this idea of cutting the state by 20% in size or whatever.
Astonishingly Zahawi has just picked up another declaration to go 4th= with Truss on 16.
Whatever anyone thinks about policies, it is surely incomprehensible that anyone would think Zahawi would be the best replacement for Johnson.
At this stage, a lot of endorsements aren't about whom the MP genuinely believes would be the best PM.
The ideal thing is to back the winner early, but it isn't entirely wise to pile in behind the frontrunner - ask Portillo backers in 2001. There is a lot of sense publicly getting behind a candidate who isn't going to win but may well be in a senior position in a future administration, and grateful to you for it. You also make yourself a sought after commodity when your candidate drops out and people are desperate for votes to get over the line. I can see a decent case for keeping your powder dry by backing someone you know damned well won't make it to the final two.
"ask Portillo backers in 2001. "
That's an interesting (but perhaps pointless question): of the Portillo backers in 2001, how many got prominent jobs in the next ten years compared to those who supported (say) IDS or Clarke?
Does backing the 'wrong' horse actually matter in the long run? I'd guess it does, but it should be relatively easy to check for both parties.
Patrick O'Flynn @oflynnsocial · 1h Wow amazing result for @KemiBadenoch - Kemi has done this in two days. Penny has been planning her campaign for two years. If this doesn't tell Tory MPs who is the most compelling candidate in the field then nothing will.
The Tory membership want a coup. They are largely favouring those drawn from outside government rather than those at its upper echelons. They have decided the Boris gang need to be excised.
This is a radical and novel idea because it requires parachuting someone with limited government experience into the leadership, something no party has ever really tried before whilst in government. It could do them the world of good, but it could also be seen as irresponsible.
Not in the UK, but one D Trump.....
Out of interest, who was the last PM to either have never previously served in the Cabinet or as LoTo? Has there been one (well aside from Walpole, obviously)?
The Tory membership want a coup. They are largely favouring those drawn from outside government rather than those at its upper echelons. They have decided the Boris gang need to be excised.
This is a radical and novel idea because it requires parachuting someone with limited government experience into the leadership, something no party has ever really tried before whilst in government. It could do them the world of good, but it could also be seen as irresponsible.
Not in the UK, but one D Trump.....
Out of interest, who was the last PM to either have never previously served in the Cabinet or as LoTo? Has there been one (well aside from Walpole, obviously)?
Not sure I can think of one. Balfour is the closest I think (might even be the right answer) - someone cleverer than me will be able to tell me if that’s right.
Cathy Newman asks Keir Starmer to tell her one interesting thing about himself. Without skipping a beat he replies: “I did violin lessons with fat boy slim back in the day.” @Channel4News
Riveting....I wouldn't say I have lived a SeanT crazed style lifestyle but can give you 10s of better anecdotes than that.
Throw a question like that at me and I'd freeze, no matter how interesting I am (spoiler alert, less interesting than SeanT). I'd have to fall back on a joke like winning a boring man competition, which is pretty interesting.
But SKS will (or at least should) have war gamed this as clearly he has been asked previously about being boring. Its like when MPs can't answer the old how much is a pint of milk / litre of petrol. You know its coming at some point, so you better have an answer.
Starmer's answer is great. Doing violin lessons with Fat Boy Slim is a great anecdote.
It isn't really a "great" anecdote. But it's sufficient to qualify as an interesting thing about himself as per the terms of the question, thus avoiding ridicule, without being so interesting that it invites criticism.
This is the cornfield test. Asked in an interview what the naughtiest thing she's ever done was, Theresa May was ridiculed for saying it was running through a field of wheat. That was clearly nowhere near naughty enough to satisfy people. Equally, if she'd said she'd shot a man in Tesco just to watch him die, that would have been deemed too naughty. The gap between those two things on the naughtiness scale is reasonably large, and she should really have hit something between the two.
Cathy Newman asks Keir Starmer to tell her one interesting thing about himself. Without skipping a beat he replies: “I did violin lessons with fat boy slim back in the day.” @Channel4News
Riveting....I wouldn't say I have lived a SeanT crazed style lifestyle but can give you 10s of better anecdotes than that.
Throw a question like that at me and I'd freeze, no matter how interesting I am (spoiler alert, less interesting than SeanT). I'd have to fall back on a joke like winning a boring man competition, which is pretty interesting.
But SKS will (or at least should) have war gamed this as clearly he has been asked previously about being boring. Its like when MPs can't answer the old how much is a pint of milk / litre of petrol. You know its coming at some point, so you better have an answer.
Starmer's answer is great. Doing violin lessons with Fat Boy Slim is a great anecdote.
Pretty low bar for anecdotal greatness there. dueted or formed a quartet with, possibly...
Its a "I went to school with / I dated somebody who became a B/C-tier famous person" statement....Given the positions in public life he has held, that is super low in the interest rankings.
Tony Blair was a master at answering those type of questions.
Has anyone *sane* actually said they are ditching Net Zero?
I should point out that we have one or two otherwise intelligent and informed posters on PB who don't actually know what Net Zero means. As we saw last week.
The Tory membership want a coup. They are largely favouring those drawn from outside government rather than those at its upper echelons. They have decided the Boris gang need to be excised.
This is a radical and novel idea because it requires parachuting someone with limited government experience into the leadership, something no party has ever really tried before whilst in government. It could do them the world of good, but it could also be seen as irresponsible.
Not in the UK, but one D Trump.....
Out of interest, who was the last PM to either have never previously served in the Cabinet or as LoTo? Has there been one (well aside from Walpole, obviously)?
The concept of a cabinet pre-dated Walpole's premiership, and he certainly held cabinet level posts, including Secretary at War and Chancellor of the Exchequer
Cathy Newman asks Keir Starmer to tell her one interesting thing about himself. Without skipping a beat he replies: “I did violin lessons with fat boy slim back in the day.” @Channel4News
Riveting....I wouldn't say I have lived a SeanT crazed style lifestyle but can give you 10s of better anecdotes than that.
Throw a question like that at me and I'd freeze, no matter how interesting I am (spoiler alert, less interesting than SeanT). I'd have to fall back on a joke like winning a boring man competition, which is pretty interesting.
But SKS will (or at least should) have war gamed this as clearly he has been asked previously about being boring. Its like when MPs can't answer the old how much is a pint of milk / litre of petrol. You know its coming at some point, so you better have an answer.
Starmer's answer is great. Doing violin lessons with Fat Boy Slim is a great anecdote.
Pretty low bar for anecdotal greatness there. dueted or formed a quartet with, possibly...
Its a "I went to school with / I dated somebody who became a B/C-tier famous person" statement....Given the positions in public life he has held, that is super low in the interest rankings.
Having read up a bit and watched some footage of her (thanks to @williamglenn) I'm impressed enough with Badenoch to think she needs to make progress. Speaks human, interesting back story, isn't utterly psychotic / self-serving.
Notion that bigots will refuse ipso facto to vote for someone of a group they are bigoted against, is hogwash.
Esp. considering the range of what's called (rightly or wrongly) bigotry.
Happens all the time in US. Not a new phenomenon either, but gaining in popularity.
Thus suspect that, if he were alive and kicking (naturally) today, Enoch Powell would have zero problem voting for a BIPOC Tory. Though likely would be unwilling to use that terminology except in irony.
I think the tories fear the cultural power of the left. They saw Boris as pathetic in the face of BLM, the trashing of the Centophah, statue toppling etc. Badenoch offers the possibility of the reinvention and modernisation of the party, a credible alternative to the vision offered by the left. They think that, with Badenoch at the helm, they cannot be just be smeared and dismissed as the party of white male privelege.
I think there are many activists on the Right and Left who think in such terms, and I'm sympathetic to those concerns myself, but I also think most of the electorate are more concerned about how they are going to pay their energy bills and why NHS waiting lists are so long.
No, she's made the fundamental mistake of peaking too early. She will now be the target (as will Mordaunt) over the next week or so.
It wouldn't the first Conservative leadership election where those who started well failed to finish.
Bound to be something in her student years that someone has a dossier on surely?
That's how this stuff goes I think.
She’s flown under the radar, they’re only starting to try and dig up dirt, now.
Maybe they’ll find some, maybe not.
She did hack in Harriet Harman's website - not a great look for a future PM. Couldn't imagine Maggie doing that sort of thing!
I remember chatter from when that story broke that she'd specifically owned up when she did, to clear the decks for a future leadership challenge.
Personally I think she's great and have done so for a few years. This opinion is in no way driven by the four figure green number I have next to her name in the "next Tory leader" market.
Having read up a bit and watched some footage of her (thanks to @williamglenn) I'm impressed enough with Badenoch to think she needs to make progress. Speaks human, interesting back story, isn't utterly psychotic / self-serving.
I've watched some vids - she is good. Bloody good. But PM in a time of economic crisis and prelude to War?
Nope. May be brilliant. But it is too much of a risk.
Cathy Newman asks Keir Starmer to tell her one interesting thing about himself. Without skipping a beat he replies: “I did violin lessons with fat boy slim back in the day.” @Channel4News
Riveting....I wouldn't say I have lived a SeanT crazed style lifestyle but can give you 10s of better anecdotes than that.
Throw a question like that at me and I'd freeze, no matter how interesting I am (spoiler alert, less interesting than SeanT). I'd have to fall back on a joke like winning a boring man competition, which is pretty interesting.
But SKS will (or at least should) have war gamed this as clearly he has been asked previously about being boring. Its like when MPs can't answer the old how much is a pint of milk / litre of petrol. You know its coming at some point, so you better have an answer.
Starmer's answer is great. Doing violin lessons with Fat Boy Slim is a great anecdote.
It isn't really a "great" anecdote. But it's sufficient to qualify as an interesting thing about himself as per the terms of the question, thus avoiding ridicule, without being so interesting that it invites criticism.
This is the cornfield test. Asked in an interview what the naughtiest thing she's ever done was, Theresa May was ridiculed for saying it was running through a field of wheat. That was clearly nowhere near naughty enough to satisfy people. Equally, if she'd said she'd shot a man in Tesco just to watch him die, that would have been deemed too naughty. The gap between those two things on the naughtiness scale is reasonably large, and she should really have hit something between the two.
I'm kind of happy to not elect people primarily on the basis of inane questions like that, if I'm honest.
May had bigger problems than a shit answer to a stupid question.
Patrick O'Flynn @oflynnsocial · 1h Wow amazing result for @KemiBadenoch - Kemi has done this in two days. Penny has been planning her campaign for two years. If this doesn't tell Tory MPs who is the most compelling candidate in the field then nothing will.
Is planning really a notable strength among 21st-century Tories in general, and members of BJ administration in particular?
Cathy Newman asks Keir Starmer to tell her one interesting thing about himself. Without skipping a beat he replies: “I did violin lessons with fat boy slim back in the day.” @Channel4News
Riveting....I wouldn't say I have lived a SeanT crazed style lifestyle but can give you 10s of better anecdotes than that.
Throw a question like that at me and I'd freeze, no matter how interesting I am (spoiler alert, less interesting than SeanT). I'd have to fall back on a joke like winning a boring man competition, which is pretty interesting.
But SKS will (or at least should) have war gamed this as clearly he has been asked previously about being boring. Its like when MPs can't answer the old how much is a pint of milk / litre of petrol. You know its coming at some point, so you better have an answer.
Starmer's answer is great. Doing violin lessons with Fat Boy Slim is a great anecdote.
It isn't really a "great" anecdote. But it's sufficient to qualify as an interesting thing about himself as per the terms of the question, thus avoiding ridicule, without being so interesting that it invites criticism.
This is the cornfield test. Asked in an interview what the naughtiest thing she's ever done was, Theresa May was ridiculed for saying it was running through a field of wheat. That was clearly nowhere near naughty enough to satisfy people. Equally, if she'd said she'd shot a man in Tesco just to watch him die, that would have been deemed too naughty. The gap between those two things on the naughtiness scale is reasonably large, and she should really have hit something between the two.
I'm kind of happy to not elect people primarily on the basis of inane questions like that, if I'm honest.
May had bigger problems than a shit answer to a stupid question.
Much more important is "what is your favourite biscuit"....
Cathy Newman asks Keir Starmer to tell her one interesting thing about himself. Without skipping a beat he replies: “I did violin lessons with fat boy slim back in the day.” @Channel4News
Riveting....I wouldn't say I have lived a SeanT crazed style lifestyle but can give you 10s of better anecdotes than that.
Throw a question like that at me and I'd freeze, no matter how interesting I am (spoiler alert, less interesting than SeanT). I'd have to fall back on a joke like winning a boring man competition, which is pretty interesting.
But SKS will (or at least should) have war gamed this as clearly he has been asked previously about being boring. Its like when MPs can't answer the old how much is a pint of milk / litre of petrol. You know its coming at some point, so you better have an answer.
Starmer's answer is great. Doing violin lessons with Fat Boy Slim is a great anecdote.
It isn't really a "great" anecdote. But it's sufficient to qualify as an interesting thing about himself as per the terms of the question, thus avoiding ridicule, without being so interesting that it invites criticism.
This is the cornfield test. Asked in an interview what the naughtiest thing she's ever done was, Theresa May was ridiculed for saying it was running through a field of wheat. That was clearly nowhere near naughty enough to satisfy people. Equally, if she'd said she'd shot a man in Tesco just to watch him die, that would have been deemed too naughty. The gap between those two things on the naughtiness scale is reasonably large, and she should really have hit something between the two.
Completely OT but even though I am not generally a big fan of George Monbiot, I am absolutely loving the way he is tearing a new one into Vodaphone for the way they have handled his parents.
Basically Mother died, father has dementia, Vodaphone refusing to cancel the account because the father cannot answer complex questions such as when the account was opened and what his wife's number was (he has dementia!), refusing to deal with Monbiot at all in spite of him submitting evidence and trying to work within their system and then setting debt collectors on the father when they cancelled the DD.
Monbiot is steaming and is not letting them back down now they have seen the bad publicity growing. Hopefully this will cost them a lot of customers.
Elder abuse. Sounds potentially criminal in this instance - is it?
The more you see of these contenders the more it feels like a freaks circus. They're all fighting a war against woke and they're all falling over themselves to be the most brexity even though brexit has been a colossal failure. The only vaguely nice person is Rishi Sunak but there are some real horrors.
Cathy Newman asks Keir Starmer to tell her one interesting thing about himself. Without skipping a beat he replies: “I did violin lessons with fat boy slim back in the day.” @Channel4News
Riveting....I wouldn't say I have lived a SeanT crazed style lifestyle but can give you 10s of better anecdotes than that.
Throw a question like that at me and I'd freeze, no matter how interesting I am (spoiler alert, less interesting than SeanT). I'd have to fall back on a joke like winning a boring man competition, which is pretty interesting.
But SKS will (or at least should) have war gamed this as clearly he has been asked previously about being boring. Its like when MPs can't answer the old how much is a pint of milk / litre of petrol. You know its coming at some point, so you better have an answer.
Starmer's answer is great. Doing violin lessons with Fat Boy Slim is a great anecdote.
Pretty low bar for anecdotal greatness there. dueted or formed a quartet with, possibly...
Its a "I went to school with / I dated somebody who became a B/C-tier famous person" statement....Given the positions in public life he has held, that is super low in the interest rankings.
Tony Blair was a master at answering those type of questions.
Clearly the most interesting things about SKS are that he was DPP and is now LOTO. His answer gives us a cute anecdote that is unexpected and will appeal strongly to a cohort of people who were the right age when Fat Boy Slim was massive.
Cathy Newman asks Keir Starmer to tell her one interesting thing about himself. Without skipping a beat he replies: “I did violin lessons with fat boy slim back in the day.” @Channel4News
Riveting....I wouldn't say I have lived a SeanT crazed style lifestyle but can give you 10s of better anecdotes than that.
Throw a question like that at me and I'd freeze, no matter how interesting I am (spoiler alert, less interesting than SeanT). I'd have to fall back on a joke like winning a boring man competition, which is pretty interesting.
But SKS will (or at least should) have war gamed this as clearly he has been asked previously about being boring. Its like when MPs can't answer the old how much is a pint of milk / litre of petrol. You know its coming at some point, so you better have an answer.
Starmer's answer is great. Doing violin lessons with Fat Boy Slim is a great anecdote.
Pretty low bar for anecdotal greatness there. dueted or formed a quartet with, possibly...
Why should he get into trouble with his wife by publicly admitting to a night in Paris with Jerry Hall just to make himself seem interesting
Cathy Newman asks Keir Starmer to tell her one interesting thing about himself. Without skipping a beat he replies: “I did violin lessons with fat boy slim back in the day.” @Channel4News
Riveting....I wouldn't say I have lived a SeanT crazed style lifestyle but can give you 10s of better anecdotes than that.
Throw a question like that at me and I'd freeze, no matter how interesting I am (spoiler alert, less interesting than SeanT). I'd have to fall back on a joke like winning a boring man competition, which is pretty interesting.
But SKS will (or at least should) have war gamed this as clearly he has been asked previously about being boring. Its like when MPs can't answer the old how much is a pint of milk / litre of petrol. You know its coming at some point, so you better have an answer.
Starmer's answer is great. Doing violin lessons with Fat Boy Slim is a great anecdote.
Pretty low bar for anecdotal greatness there. dueted or formed a quartet with, possibly...
Its a "I went to school with / I dated somebody who became a B/C-tier famous person" statement....Given the positions in public life he has held, that is super low in the interest rankings.
Tony Blair was a master at answering those type of questions.
Its not really dropping a WOW is it. Did you know? Have you heard? That Starmer guy had violin lessons with Fat Boy Slim! No fucking way! Yes! Sir Keir Starmer AND Quentin Cook. Together. At Grammar School. Amazeballs
Cathy Newman asks Keir Starmer to tell her one interesting thing about himself. Without skipping a beat he replies: “I did violin lessons with fat boy slim back in the day.” @Channel4News
Riveting....I wouldn't say I have lived a SeanT crazed style lifestyle but can give you 10s of better anecdotes than that.
Throw a question like that at me and I'd freeze, no matter how interesting I am (spoiler alert, less interesting than SeanT). I'd have to fall back on a joke like winning a boring man competition, which is pretty interesting.
But SKS will (or at least should) have war gamed this as clearly he has been asked previously about being boring. Its like when MPs can't answer the old how much is a pint of milk / litre of petrol. You know its coming at some point, so you better have an answer.
Starmer's answer is great. Doing violin lessons with Fat Boy Slim is a great anecdote.
It isn't really a "great" anecdote. But it's sufficient to qualify as an interesting thing about himself as per the terms of the question, thus avoiding ridicule, without being so interesting that it invites criticism.
This is the cornfield test. Asked in an interview what the naughtiest thing she's ever done was, Theresa May was ridiculed for saying it was running through a field of wheat. That was clearly nowhere near naughty enough to satisfy people. Equally, if she'd said she'd shot a man in Tesco just to watch him die, that would have been deemed too naughty. The gap between those two things on the naughtiness scale is reasonably large, and she should really have hit something between the two.
I'm kind of happy to not elect people primarily on the basis of inane questions like that, if I'm honest.
May had bigger problems than a shit answer to a stupid question.
I agree. That sort of "gotcha" question is really lazy journalism. Of course the politician is tailoring their answer to be something people want to hear rather than a straight answer to the question... just as anyone would if (for some reason) it came up in a job interview. Nobody answers the "what's your biggest weakness?" question by saying their are bad at maths and often steal pens.
Indeed, one of the better politicians at dealing with that sort of thing is Johnson, who is a consummate bullsh1tter (in the moment - his trouble is it unravels when it concerns anything substantive).
But there we are - that's the game and why it was a reasonable answer from Starmer.
I hope the Badenoch team have 7 names committed in private to tip her over the line. I suspect she has not had long enough to make too many enemies but there will be moves to stop her getting nominated
Notion that bigots will refuse ipso facto to vote for someone of a group they are bigoted against, is hogwash.
Esp. considering the range of what's called (rightly or wrongly) bigotry.
Happens all the time in US. Not a new phenomenon either, but gaining in popularity.
Thus suspect that, if he were alive and kicking (naturally) today, Enoch Powell would have zero problem voting for a BIPOC Tory. Though likely would be unwilling to use that terminology except in irony.
Looking at it superficially, Powell was a big ole racist who wouldn't have voted for Kemi in a month of Sundays. Upon reflection though, he was also an extremely intelligent man who might have realised that these days a black woman is able to defend many principles of which he would approve, in a way that a white man just can't.
Comments
She's a Londoner, a graduate, worked in IT consultancy in banking, represents a southern constituency.
And of course she's black and the daughter of immigrants. I'd like to think this last point won't matter to any voter but I know that's sadly not true.
Using the modern usage; if she gained access to the website using a default password, it is a level 0 hack and totally unnoteworthy. If she used a script written by a script-kiddie, it is a level 10 hack. If she read about a zero-day exploit on the web and created her own code, a level 100 hack. And if she *found* a zero-day exploit and wrote code to exploit it, a level 1000 hack.
I bet whoever website she hacked was stoopid and used default or easily-guessed passwords.
Whatever anyone thinks about policies, it is surely incomprehensible that anyone would think Zahawi would be the best replacement for Johnson.
You can't just use the word to cover your own position.
https://civilservice.blog.gov.uk/2020/01/10/breaking-down-gender-stereotypes-in-legal-writing/
The ConHome poll is very encouraging for her, but we do need to have a few forced choice questions: if it was Sunak vs Badenoch, etc. There's also a long campaign ahead of us. Remember that Leadsom was in with a shot until she made some poorly chosen comments about Ms May not being a mother.
Personally, I think I think the easy money here is to be made by selling Sunak. I don't think he makes the final two, and if - by some miracle he did - then unless he's off against Hunt, then I don't see how he wins.
So looking shaky to be honest
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saffron_Walden_(UK_Parliament_constituency)#Elections_in_the_2010s
This wide open election more closely resembles 2016 than 19 - and at this stage 2016 how we imagined it to play out and how it actually played out are two very different things. It’s our role as politicalbetting.com to put our finger on the actual end result as quickly as possible to earn the real money/kudos.
The real end result here is more likely to be a oven ready Primeminister from a candidate with plenty of high office experience, than the vagaries of a very AOR conhome survey. That swingback in this race will be both to experience and leadership and policies looking beyond the party and best to, if not win the next election, then give MPs as much fighting chance as possible to hold their seat. And we should be able to discern this drift with some accuracy using such tools as Barnsiens transfer predictions, as people can come from behind on transfers, and intuition someone had a good day, and when they have gaffed and blown it.
What wouldn't the country give for a Tony Blair.
has anyone tallied up the various candidates supporters yet and worked out who already has 20?
Anyone likely to lend supporters a la Corbyn to try and get helpful candidates over the line?
Edit - Just remembered, I also did a totally nutty one where there was some glitch and getting a flight from a UK regional airport to Paris, then Paris to London, then London to NYC was cheaper than just going on the London to NYC leg....so we did it.
This was early days of comparison sites and online booking, so its was chaos.
FFS keep this away from the bloody membership.
I got on at 15.5 for a modest sum
Now 12.5/14.5
She is endorsed by red wallers, including Lee Andersen and Ben Bradley. Are any of the others also red wallers?
I find her views off-putting but then I could say that about any of the Tory candidates tbf.
She certainly sounds a lot better than Patel, Braverman, Suna, Truss, Zahawi and Shapps, to name but a view.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVmKync9CYk
https://www.spectator.co.uk/podcast/the-kemi-badenoch-edition
First since the Blessed Margaret?
The ideal thing is to back the winner early, but it isn't entirely wise to pile in behind the frontrunner - ask Portillo backers in 2001. There is a lot of sense publicly getting behind a candidate who isn't going to win but may well be in a senior position in a future administration, and grateful to you for it. You also make yourself a sought after commodity when your candidate drops out and people are desperate for votes to get over the line. I can see a decent case for keeping your powder dry by backing someone you know damned well won't make it to the final two.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kemi_Badenoch
Edit - Just remembered, I also did a totally nutty one where there was some glitch and getting a flight from a UK regional airport to Paris, then Paris to London, then London to NYC was cheaper than just going on the London to NYC leg....so we did it.
This was early days of comparison sites and online booking, so its was chaos.
Somewhere on HeadforPoints the Gaffer wrote about his exploits.
So looks as if (probably) Patel will be backed into a corner and won't stand - because if she does she risks them all going out in R1.
The more who stand the harder it becomes for everyone else to get 30 votes - Zahawi, Javid and Shapps will likely go too - potentially just leaving five candidates in R2 if Patel does stand.
Kemi is going to save the Union.
Kids: always disable root ssh access.
Basically Mother died, father has dementia, Vodaphone refusing to cancel the account because the father cannot answer complex questions such as when the account was opened and what his wife's number was (he has dementia!), refusing to deal with Monbiot at all in spite of him submitting evidence and trying to work within their system and then setting debt collectors on the father when they cancelled the DD.
Monbiot is steaming and is not letting them back down now they have seen the bad publicity growing. Hopefully this will cost them a lot of customers.
Andrew Lilico
@andrew_lilico
·
19m
Could easily be down to 5 or so candidates after the 1st round.
... Oh, hang on.
I know both names are, but I found it a bit odd that a Scot would have stood for the NI Conservatives in Foyle
She has been endorsed by Ben Bradley and Lee Anderson, who are red wall MP's.
Even if you are a bigot living in the red wall, then you are unlikely to vote for the 'woke' labour party, who are your alternative choice.
A bigger issue in the red wall is likely to be this idea of cutting the state by 20% in size or whatever.
That's an interesting (but perhaps pointless question): of the Portillo backers in 2001, how many got prominent jobs in the next ten years compared to those who supported (say) IDS or Clarke?
Does backing the 'wrong' horse actually matter in the long run? I'd guess it does, but it should be relatively easy to check for both parties.
@oflynnsocial
·
1h
Wow amazing result for
@KemiBadenoch
- Kemi has done this in two days. Penny has been planning her campaign for two years.
If this doesn't tell Tory MPs who is the most compelling candidate in the field then nothing will.
"Cae me badden och" he murmurs. You nod, but you don't understand.
This is the cornfield test. Asked in an interview what the naughtiest thing she's ever done was, Theresa May was ridiculed for saying it was running through a field of wheat. That was clearly nowhere near naughty enough to satisfy people. Equally, if she'd said she'd shot a man in Tesco just to watch him die, that would have been deemed too naughty. The gap between those two things on the naughtiness scale is reasonably large, and she should really have hit something between the two.
Tony Blair was a master at answering those type of questions.
TBH I'd call that a prank, not a hack. Like drawing a clown face on a Boris election poster.
Admitted here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AL93KiCfTc
Esp. considering the range of what's called (rightly or wrongly) bigotry.
Happens all the time in US. Not a new phenomenon either, but gaining in popularity.
Thus suspect that, if he were alive and kicking (naturally) today, Enoch Powell would have zero problem voting for a BIPOC Tory. Though likely would be unwilling to use that terminology except in irony.
Personally I think she's great and have done so for a few years. This opinion is in no way driven by the four figure green number I have next to her name in the "next Tory leader" market.
Nope. May be brilliant. But it is too much of a risk.
Although betting wise I am keeping an eye.
May had bigger problems than a shit answer to a stupid question.
Sounds more like a handicap!
Did you know? Have you heard? That Starmer guy had violin lessons with Fat Boy Slim!
No fucking way!
Yes! Sir Keir Starmer AND Quentin Cook. Together. At Grammar School.
Amazeballs
Indeed, one of the better politicians at dealing with that sort of thing is Johnson, who is a consummate bullsh1tter (in the moment - his trouble is it unravels when it concerns anything substantive).
But there we are - that's the game and why it was a reasonable answer from Starmer.