Sweden votes in four weeks and it seems Sifo will be polling regularly for Svenska Dagbladet.
The latest numbers (changes from 2018):
Social Democrats: 31.3% (+2.8) Moderates: 19.2% (-0.6) Sweden Democrats: 17.3% (-0.2) Left: 8.0% (nc) Christian Democrats: 6.7% (+0.4) Liberals: 5.6% (+0.1) Centre: 5.3% (-3.3) Greens: 4.5% (+0.1)
We have our two blocs (as we always do) - the centre-left consisting of Social Democrats, Left, Green and Centre are on 49.1% (-0.2) and the centre-right bloc of Moderates, Sweden Democrats, Christian Democrats and Liberals are on 48.8% (-0.5) so a dead heat to all intents and purposes.
Th 2018 result split the 349 seat Riksdag 175-174 in favour of the centre-left bloc so this is going to be very close again. Perhaps the centre-left might extend their lead by a couple of seats on these numbers but there's a long way to go.
So does Italy and there Brothers of Italy still leads most of the latest polls
If Brothers of Italy do come first next month in votes and seats in the Italian general election, it will be the first time a far right party has won a democratic general election in Western Europe since before the 2nd world war
I thought all those windmills that litter the UK's coast were supposed to provide cheaper energy? It does not seem to be working out that way.
Tidal. We are an island. Tidal ffs, invest to the max in tidal power
I completely agree with you, but for some reason no govt will touch tidal.
Its bizarre how underutilised it has been. More Home grown power we could be leveraging to protect against world price surges. Prorectionism. Its suddenly sexy again.
Same with food. Though I fear it is too late in view of the latest news. Periodically, and only months ago, on here, I was being relentlessly lectured how silly I was for being worried about UK food security, when it was much better and much more consonant with free market liberalism to import all our food from Australia etc and fuck the farmers.
Surely you should be worried about "Scottish food security". Cut off from rUK you will be eating oats, tatties, soil, thistles and "neeps and pebbles", a warming and traditional dish that has filled the stomach of weirdly stunted Unst kids for centuries
There's not a lot wrong with a diet based on porridge, potatoes, swedes, herring and mutton, bread, and garden vegetables.
The point does need t be made that Scotland is overall selfsufficient in food, unlike rUK.
Huh, is that true? I would have thought our lack of arable land would make it a struggle. Though I suppose a small population + massive land and coastline = excess calories, even if it's hard work to produce them.
(Goes on a wikipedia deep dive)
Perhaps I should have said 'relatively' but certainly there is a big differential AIUI.
I was being told at our celebratory lunch today by my son's chinese girlfriend that in Mandarin 4 is a very unlucky number because it sounds like the word for death. Maybe they have a point.
- “What is devomax? What currently reserved powers would be devolved?”
Your lack of answer did not go unnoticed.
It is not for me to answer, it is a PM Starmer and Gordon Brown who would implement it
Gordon Brown?!? When did he become leader of the Labour Party again?
Starmer has made clear as PM he would put Gordon Brown in charge of a programme of further devolution
One for the PB Tories and Stuart.
" Dumb and Dumber"
Just going through the list of stuff that could get devolved while retaining a sensible Union (aka devomax), I reckon:
Universal Credit (etc) Illegal drugs Betting (eeek) Experimenting on animals Possibly some more energy stuff? tricky Equalities Post All income taxes (though income tax is largely devolved now)
That's it really. Anything further would be unworkable, imo.
I assume if income tax is devolved and they keep all they raise then there will be no capital transfer from the rest of the country and they will be getting a bill for their share of defence and debt servicing etc
You're forgetting NI, VAT, road tax, petrol tax ...
Indeed - that's why I specified income taxes (I include NI in that, given there is no actual link to the state pension). I think opening it up to other taxes would be unworkable.
@Pagan2, I won't bore you with the complex interactions of income tax revenue in Scotland and the block grant from the UK Gov, but that's basically what happens already. Though, of course, Scotland enjoys higher spend per capita compared with elsewhere.
But there is a link between NI and pensions, in that you need to pay NI to qualify for the state pension.
Sure, but there is no "pot". That can be swept aside by some legislation.
(Ducks for cover from irate pensioners and Nats...)
There is no pot but it remains true that pensioners have paid NI to qualify for the pension.
I thought all those windmills that litter the UK's coast were supposed to provide cheaper energy? It does not seem to be working out that way.
Tidal. We are an island. Tidal ffs, invest to the max in tidal power
I completely agree with you, but for some reason no govt will touch tidal.
Its bizarre how underutilised it has been. More Home grown power we could be leveraging to protect against world price surges. Prorectionism. Its suddenly sexy again.
Same with food. Though I fear it is too late in view of the latest news. Periodically, and only months ago, on here, I was being relentlessly lectured how silly I was for being worried about UK food security, when it was much better and much more consonant with free market liberalism to import all our food from Australia etc and fuck the farmers.
Surely you should be worried about "Scottish food security". Cut off from rUK you will be eating oats, tatties, soil, thistles and "neeps and pebbles", a warming and traditional dish that has filled the stomach of weirdly stunted Unst kids for centuries
There's not a lot wrong with a diet based on porridge, potatoes, swedes, herring and mutton, bread, and garden vegetables.
The point does need t be made that Scotland is overall selfsufficient in food, unlike rUK.
But that's only because no one wants to live in the turgid, sordid, midgey toilet that is Scotland (especially under the Nats). It's like saying "Greenland is self sufficient in food", Well, er, yeah, because you have 2 million tons of salmon but you have a population of 7,000 and they are all drunk because of the ghastly climate and permanent, suicidal gloom. And the shit football
It's like saying "in Saudi Arabia petrol is 20p a gallon"! Come and live here! Driving is cheap! We cut off hands!
Ghastly climate? It's been a very pleasant 23 degC today, and you aree always on about the Ballard-like transformation of Islington.
I thought all those windmills that litter the UK's coast were supposed to provide cheaper energy? It does not seem to be working out that way.
Tidal. We are an island. Tidal ffs, invest to the max in tidal power
I completely agree with you, but for some reason no govt will touch tidal.
Its bizarre how underutilised it has been. More Home grown power we could be leveraging to protect against world price surges. Prorectionism. Its suddenly sexy again.
Same with food. Though I fear it is too late in view of the latest news. Periodically, and only months ago, on here, I was being relentlessly lectured how silly I was for being worried about UK food security, when it was much better and much more consonant with free market liberalism to import all our food from Australia etc and fuck the farmers.
Surely you should be worried about "Scottish food security". Cut off from rUK you will be eating oats, tatties, soil, thistles and "neeps and pebbles", a warming and traditional dish that has filled the stomach of weirdly stunted Unst kids for centuries
There's not a lot wrong with a diet based on porridge, potatoes, swedes, herring and mutton, bread, and garden vegetables.
The point does need t be made that Scotland is overall selfsufficient in food, unlike rUK.
No avocados? The horror!
I am sure that Edinburgh would starve without quinoa.
Not even sure what that is, let alone having seen it in Edinburgh!
I missed this in July. Starmer rules out any arrangement with anyone. Be a short stint as minority PM then
It's very simple - a lot will depend on the numbers of course. Labour will put forward legislation and presumably the other parties will consider each piece on its merits and vote accordingly. The numbers will dictate how viable this is and how soon we will b facing another election.
It also means an election can be forced by Tories plus (say) LDs once it looks seat gain-ish for the LDs to vote no confidence. In the absence of any formal arrangement hes at the mercy of a polling collapse leading to the opposition cashing in en masse. But of course it will depend on how far labour sit in isolation from 322 seats (assuming SF get 7)
I'm less convinced - I don't think there'll be much sentiment for having the Tories back after so long in power. I suspect Starmer can and will rely on the greater antipathy of the minor parties toward the Conservatives so that even if the Conservatives try to take advantage of poor Labour polling they may find their way blocked by other parties.
Yeah i see that logic, but lets say Starmer is PM of a minoroty government with 280 seats, the SNP have 45, Tories 270 Lib Dems 25 with NI, Greens, a couple of indies and Plaid scarfing the rest. Things are pretty bleak economically 18 months in and con lead but not on a high score Lab are tanking with LDs polling 20 plus again. SNP abstain on a Vonc, surely the LDs are going to cash in and try for a big seat boost?
The LDs would then have more seats but zero influence with a Tory majority government. Better for them to keep getting concessions from Labour so that some of their ideas make it into legislation.
But would be much better placed for the sort of breakthrough that brief I agree with Nick moment teased Theyd need to consider what they might 'get' in the 2 to 3 years left of the parliament versus possibly losing the poll surge they were enjoying. 25 seats and a few concessions, maybe, versus perhaps 65 seats and a Tory majority....
They'd have to hope that the parliamentary arithmetic worked in their favour again. They might have to wait a few decades, as was the case post-1979.
Sweden votes in four weeks and it seems Sifo will be polling regularly for Svenska Dagbladet.
The latest numbers (changes from 2018):
Social Democrats: 31.3% (+2.8) Moderates: 19.2% (-0.6) Sweden Democrats: 17.3% (-0.2) Left: 8.0% (nc) Christian Democrats: 6.7% (+0.4) Liberals: 5.6% (+0.1) Centre: 5.3% (-3.3) Greens: 4.5% (+0.1)
We have our two blocs (as we always do) - the centre-left consisting of Social Democrats, Left, Green and Centre are on 49.1% (-0.2) and the centre-right bloc of Moderates, Sweden Democrats, Christian Democrats and Liberals are on 48.8% (-0.5) so a dead heat to all intents and purposes.
Th 2018 result split the 349 seat Riksdag 175-174 in favour of the centre-left bloc so this is going to be very close again. Perhaps the centre-left might extend their lead by a couple of seats on these numbers but there's a long way to go.
So does Italy and there Brothers of Italy still leads most of the latest polls
I thought all those windmills that litter the UK's coast were supposed to provide cheaper energy? It does not seem to be working out that way.
Tidal. We are an island. Tidal ffs, invest to the max in tidal power
I completely agree with you, but for some reason no govt will touch tidal.
Its bizarre how underutilised it has been. More Home grown power we could be leveraging to protect against world price surges. Prorectionism. Its suddenly sexy again.
Same with food. Though I fear it is too late in view of the latest news. Periodically, and only months ago, on here, I was being relentlessly lectured how silly I was for being worried about UK food security, when it was much better and much more consonant with free market liberalism to import all our food from Australia etc and fuck the farmers.
Surely you should be worried about "Scottish food security". Cut off from rUK you will be eating oats, tatties, soil, thistles and "neeps and pebbles", a warming and traditional dish that has filled the stomach of weirdly stunted Unst kids for centuries
There's not a lot wrong with a diet based on porridge, potatoes, swedes, herring and mutton, bread, and garden vegetables.
The point does need t be made that Scotland is overall selfsufficient in food, unlike rUK.
But that's only because no one wants to live in the turgid, sordid, midgey toilet that is Scotland (especially under the Nats). It's like saying "Greenland is self sufficient in food", Well, er, yeah, because you have 2 million tons of salmon but you have a population of 7,000 and they are all drunk because of the ghastly climate and permanent, suicidal gloom. And the shit football
It's like saying "in Saudi Arabia petrol is 20p a gallon"! Come and live here! Driving is cheap! We cut off hands!
Ghastly climate? It's been a very pleasant 23 degC today, and you aree always on about the Ballard-like transformation of Islington.
It's ghastly, but not for the reason @Leon suggests. Look at the state of the links today:
That will help the owner of a 6 bedroom mansion a lot more than the owner of a 1 bedroom flat. Is that what he wants?
I assume the plan also includes nationalising all the providers and rationing supply.
Presumably his next policy will be to decree that gravity in the UK will be reduced to 8.8m/s2 so that those who are overweight feel better about themselves?
Theyve been working this up with economists and everything. And then they just nick Daveys policy that they said was shit a week ago
Sounds like another Ed Miliband special to me.
Theyll all be tweeting 'fully costed' on Monday.
Why wait? If they close all the schools and get rid of all our armed forces it is covered.
Paying the suppliers not to raise prices is far better than just nationalising them as the problem remains exactly as it was but the state is in charge if you just natioanlise.
We need to adapt to a world where energy is much more expensive. The sooner we start doing this the better. If it reduces demand for all the crap we import and improves our carbon neutrality so much the better.
So you’re saying Ed Miliband was right, with his “insulate the crap out of everything” policy?
Miliband was the Lou Reed of British politics. Didn't sell many policies but most of them have aged well and inspired future practitioners.
Scotland is not self-sufficient in food. Saying it is is a typical SNP head's shoulder-chippy statement, of a piece with "We don't need no foreigners to help us". It could become self-sufficient in food, though, as could Britain as a whole, and easily, if people stopped eating dead animal.
I thought all those windmills that litter the UK's coast were supposed to provide cheaper energy? It does not seem to be working out that way.
Tidal. We are an island. Tidal ffs, invest to the max in tidal power
I completely agree with you, but for some reason no govt will touch tidal.
Its bizarre how underutilised it has been. More Home grown power we could be leveraging to protect against world price surges. Prorectionism. Its suddenly sexy again.
Same with food. Though I fear it is too late in view of the latest news. Periodically, and only months ago, on here, I was being relentlessly lectured how silly I was for being worried about UK food security, when it was much better and much more consonant with free market liberalism to import all our food from Australia etc and fuck the farmers.
Surely you should be worried about "Scottish food security". Cut off from rUK you will be eating oats, tatties, soil, thistles and "neeps and pebbles", a warming and traditional dish that has filled the stomach of weirdly stunted Unst kids for centuries
There's not a lot wrong with a diet based on porridge, potatoes, swedes, herring and mutton, bread, and garden vegetables.
The point does need t be made that Scotland is overall selfsufficient in food, unlike rUK.
But that's only because no one wants to live in the turgid, sordid, midgey toilet that is Scotland (especially under the Nats). It's like saying "Greenland is self sufficient in food", Well, er, yeah, because you have 2 million tons of salmon but you have a population of 7,000 and they are all drunk because of the ghastly climate and permanent, suicidal gloom. And the shit football
It's like saying "in Saudi Arabia petrol is 20p a gallon"! Come and live here! Driving is cheap! We cut off hands!
Ghastly climate? It's been a very pleasant 23 degC today, and you aree always on about the Ballard-like transformation of Islington.
"Scotland's as good as Islington any day of the week".
I thought all those windmills that litter the UK's coast were supposed to provide cheaper energy? It does not seem to be working out that way.
Tidal. We are an island. Tidal ffs, invest to the max in tidal power
I completely agree with you, but for some reason no govt will touch tidal.
Its bizarre how underutilised it has been. More Home grown power we could be leveraging to protect against world price surges. Prorectionism. Its suddenly sexy again.
Same with food. Though I fear it is too late in view of the latest news. Periodically, and only months ago, on here, I was being relentlessly lectured how silly I was for being worried about UK food security, when it was much better and much more consonant with free market liberalism to import all our food from Australia etc and fuck the farmers.
Surely you should be worried about "Scottish food security". Cut off from rUK you will be eating oats, tatties, soil, thistles and "neeps and pebbles", a warming and traditional dish that has filled the stomach of weirdly stunted Unst kids for centuries
There's not a lot wrong with a diet based on porridge, potatoes, swedes, herring and mutton, bread, and garden vegetables.
The point does need t be made that Scotland is overall selfsufficient in food, unlike rUK.
But that's only because no one wants to live in the turgid, sordid, midgey toilet that is Scotland (especially under the Nats). It's like saying "Greenland is self sufficient in food", Well, er, yeah, because you have 2 million tons of salmon but you have a population of 7,000 and they are all drunk because of the ghastly climate and permanent, suicidal gloom. And the shit football
It's like saying "in Saudi Arabia petrol is 20p a gallon"! Come and live here! Driving is cheap! We cut off hands!
Ghastly climate? It's been a very pleasant 23 degC today, and you aree always on about the Ballard-like transformation of Islington.
It was even sunny when I visited Wick back on the 22nd!
I thought all those windmills that litter the UK's coast were supposed to provide cheaper energy? It does not seem to be working out that way.
Tidal. We are an island. Tidal ffs, invest to the max in tidal power
I completely agree with you, but for some reason no govt will touch tidal.
Its bizarre how underutilised it has been. More Home grown power we could be leveraging to protect against world price surges. Prorectionism. Its suddenly sexy again.
Same with food. Though I fear it is too late in view of the latest news. Periodically, and only months ago, on here, I was being relentlessly lectured how silly I was for being worried about UK food security, when it was much better and much more consonant with free market liberalism to import all our food from Australia etc and fuck the farmers.
Surely you should be worried about "Scottish food security". Cut off from rUK you will be eating oats, tatties, soil, thistles and "neeps and pebbles", a warming and traditional dish that has filled the stomach of weirdly stunted Unst kids for centuries
There's not a lot wrong with a diet based on porridge, potatoes, swedes, herring and mutton, bread, and garden vegetables.
The point does need t be made that Scotland is overall selfsufficient in food, unlike rUK.
But that's only because no one wants to live in the turgid, sordid, midgey toilet that is Scotland (especially under the Nats). It's like saying "Greenland is self sufficient in food", Well, er, yeah, because you have 2 million tons of salmon but you have a population of 7,000 and they are all drunk because of the ghastly climate and permanent, suicidal gloom. And the shit football
It's like saying "in Saudi Arabia petrol is 20p a gallon"! Come and live here! Driving is cheap! We cut off hands!
Ghastly climate? It's been a very pleasant 23 degC today, and you aree always on about the Ballard-like transformation of Islington.
It's ghastly, but not for the reason @Leon suggests. Look at the state of the links today:
That Leith? Still pretty green hereabouts, though the grasses are lookign a little sere.
I thought all those windmills that litter the UK's coast were supposed to provide cheaper energy? It does not seem to be working out that way.
Tidal. We are an island. Tidal ffs, invest to the max in tidal power
I completely agree with you, but for some reason no govt will touch tidal.
Its bizarre how underutilised it has been. More Home grown power we could be leveraging to protect against world price surges. Prorectionism. Its suddenly sexy again.
Same with food. Though I fear it is too late in view of the latest news. Periodically, and only months ago, on here, I was being relentlessly lectured how silly I was for being worried about UK food security, when it was much better and much more consonant with free market liberalism to import all our food from Australia etc and fuck the farmers.
Surely you should be worried about "Scottish food security". Cut off from rUK you will be eating oats, tatties, soil, thistles and "neeps and pebbles", a warming and traditional dish that has filled the stomach of weirdly stunted Unst kids for centuries
There's not a lot wrong with a diet based on porridge, potatoes, swedes, herring and mutton, bread, and garden vegetables.
The point does need t be made that Scotland is overall selfsufficient in food, unlike rUK.
But that's only because no one wants to live in the turgid, sordid, midgey toilet that is Scotland (especially under the Nats). It's like saying "Greenland is self sufficient in food", Well, er, yeah, because you have 2 million tons of salmon but you have a population of 7,000 and they are all drunk because of the ghastly climate and permanent, suicidal gloom. And the shit football
It's like saying "in Saudi Arabia petrol is 20p a gallon"! Come and live here! Driving is cheap! We cut off hands!
Ghastly climate? It's been a very pleasant 23 degC today, and you aree always on about the Ballard-like transformation of Islington.
It's ghastly, but not for the reason @Leon suggests. Look at the state of the links today:
The message is clear and obvious. All young cricketers should concentrate on spin bowling.
Regarding the football, as a United fan I was cheering on Brentford to make it 6 or 8.
This is a wretched team, with deep rot from the owners that have completely killed the body. It isn't about the manager or even the players, its the ethos. The club has a business plan that doesn't require success, only to hawk the odd marquee player into shirt sales in places like Thailand.
Ten Hag can't turn that around because it is a club designed to be mediocre. A new owner, with a new ethos, and a new purpose is needed. Much as Liverpool were transformed with owners interested in success, so United can be. But not under the Glazer cancer.
I thought all those windmills that litter the UK's coast were supposed to provide cheaper energy? It does not seem to be working out that way.
Tidal. We are an island. Tidal ffs, invest to the max in tidal power
I completely agree with you, but for some reason no govt will touch tidal.
Its bizarre how underutilised it has been. More Home grown power we could be leveraging to protect against world price surges. Prorectionism. Its suddenly sexy again.
Same with food. Though I fear it is too late in view of the latest news. Periodically, and only months ago, on here, I was being relentlessly lectured how silly I was for being worried about UK food security, when it was much better and much more consonant with free market liberalism to import all our food from Australia etc and fuck the farmers.
Surely you should be worried about "Scottish food security". Cut off from rUK you will be eating oats, tatties, soil, thistles and "neeps and pebbles", a warming and traditional dish that has filled the stomach of weirdly stunted Unst kids for centuries
There's not a lot wrong with a diet based on porridge, potatoes, swedes, herring and mutton, bread, and garden vegetables.
The point does need t be made that Scotland is overall selfsufficient in food, unlike rUK.
But that's only because no one wants to live in the turgid, sordid, midgey toilet that is Scotland (especially under the Nats). It's like saying "Greenland is self sufficient in food", Well, er, yeah, because you have 2 million tons of salmon but you have a population of 7,000 and they are all drunk because of the ghastly climate and permanent, suicidal gloom. And the shit football
It's like saying "in Saudi Arabia petrol is 20p a gallon"! Come and live here! Driving is cheap! We cut off hands!
Ghastly climate? It's been a very pleasant 23 degC today, and you aree always on about the Ballard-like transformation of Islington.
It's ghastly, but not for the reason @Leon suggests. Look at the state of the links today:
I thought all those windmills that litter the UK's coast were supposed to provide cheaper energy? It does not seem to be working out that way.
Tidal. We are an island. Tidal ffs, invest to the max in tidal power
I completely agree with you, but for some reason no govt will touch tidal.
Its bizarre how underutilised it has been. More Home grown power we could be leveraging to protect against world price surges. Prorectionism. Its suddenly sexy again.
Same with food. Though I fear it is too late in view of the latest news. Periodically, and only months ago, on here, I was being relentlessly lectured how silly I was for being worried about UK food security, when it was much better and much more consonant with free market liberalism to import all our food from Australia etc and fuck the farmers.
Surely you should be worried about "Scottish food security". Cut off from rUK you will be eating oats, tatties, soil, thistles and "neeps and pebbles", a warming and traditional dish that has filled the stomach of weirdly stunted Unst kids for centuries
There's not a lot wrong with a diet based on porridge, potatoes, swedes, herring and mutton, bread, and garden vegetables.
The point does need t be made that Scotland is overall selfsufficient in food, unlike rUK.
But that's only because no one wants to live in the turgid, sordid, midgey toilet that is Scotland (especially under the Nats). It's like saying "Greenland is self sufficient in food", Well, er, yeah, because you have 2 million tons of salmon but you have a population of 7,000 and they are all drunk because of the ghastly climate and permanent, suicidal gloom. And the shit football
It's like saying "in Saudi Arabia petrol is 20p a gallon"! Come and live here! Driving is cheap! We cut off hands!
Ghastly climate? It's been a very pleasant 23 degC today, and you aree always on about the Ballard-like transformation of Islington.
It's ghastly, but not for the reason @Leon suggests. Look at the state of the links today:
The message is clear and obvious. All young cricketers should concentrate on spin bowling.
No, because in England we don’t bother to play first class cricket in August, because we are idiots.
Having a second vote on brexit before ghe first had been implemented would have been an abomination. But we could have one now, as we have left. There's no problem with that and I'd vote to rejoin. On the energy I think keeping the price cap to the old level would make sense but with a kicker of much higher unit charges once someone gets past 3000 kwh of leccy or 12000 kwh of gas. Adjust the leccy up for someone on leccy only supply
Too late. I wouldn't vote to rejoin now. The damage is done, and we would rejoin on vastly inferior terms, if the EU even allowed us back.
Still it was all worth it we got a Boris Johnson premiership.
Schengen and the Single Currency aren't inferior terms - they're the best things about the EU!
In fact, as per @Carnyx this should be the basis of the next desperate Scottish "inwards migration" campaign
And Scotland needs it. Because, for all the vast influx of migrants into the UK - literally 10 million people in about 15 years - not a single one has moved to declining-population Scotland, this despite the excitements of Cumbernauld, glorious Scottish weather, the joys of Satanic winter darkness, and the exciting new policies on gender self ID and compulsory mastectomies from a moribund Woke-nationalist government which hasn't a clue what to do apart from errrrrr ask for new referendums, a country so ghastly even @StuartDickson, whose tiny testicles have been tattooeed with Scottish tartan, can't bear to actually live in "modern" Scotland
But all that can be changed!
Scotland just has to adopt the new slogan, thanks to @Carnyx
"Come to Scotland, we are self sufficient in porridge, potatoes, swedes, herring and mutton"
I thought all those windmills that litter the UK's coast were supposed to provide cheaper energy? It does not seem to be working out that way.
Tidal. We are an island. Tidal ffs, invest to the max in tidal power
I completely agree with you, but for some reason no govt will touch tidal.
Its bizarre how underutilised it has been. More Home grown power we could be leveraging to protect against world price surges. Prorectionism. Its suddenly sexy again.
Same with food. Though I fear it is too late in view of the latest news. Periodically, and only months ago, on here, I was being relentlessly lectured how silly I was for being worried about UK food security, when it was much better and much more consonant with free market liberalism to import all our food from Australia etc and fuck the farmers.
Surely you should be worried about "Scottish food security". Cut off from rUK you will be eating oats, tatties, soil, thistles and "neeps and pebbles", a warming and traditional dish that has filled the stomach of weirdly stunted Unst kids for centuries
There's not a lot wrong with a diet based on porridge, potatoes, swedes, herring and mutton, bread, and garden vegetables.
The point does need t be made that Scotland is overall selfsufficient in food, unlike rUK.
No avocados? The horror!
I am sure that Edinburgh would starve without quinoa.
Not even sure what that is, let alone having seen it in Edinburgh!
https://www.britannica.com/plant/quinoa It is that pale tasteless stuff they put in salads etc and it is everywhere in Edinburgh. Never see it in Dundee funnily enough.
Scotland is not self-sufficient in food. Saying it is is a typical SNP head's statement. It could become so, as could Britain as a whole, easily, if people stopped eating dead animal.
I don't think @Carnyx was suggesting it's self-sufficient right now. We'd probably have to sacrifice the bit that goes on whisky production.
There's not a lot wrong with a diet based on porridge, potatoes, swedes, herring and mutton, bread, and garden vegetables.
The point does need t be made that Scotland is overall selfsufficient in food, unlike rUK.
Farmers may have to stop growing potatoes because of rising temperatures in Scotland, projections suggest.
The James Hutton Institute, the respected scientific research centre in Dundee, has calculated that extreme weather will impose radical changes to farming
How does that work then? They grow in the Channel Islands now, hence Jersey Royals. Pretty sure that’s warmer than Scotland on average. I call bullshit.
Not to mention than out-of-season new potatoes in British supermarkets are often from Egypt or Cyprus.
Having a second vote on brexit before ghe first had been implemented would have been an abomination. But we could have one now, as we have left. There's no problem with that and I'd vote to rejoin. On the energy I think keeping the price cap to the old level would make sense but with a kicker of much higher unit charges once someone gets past 3000 kwh of leccy or 12000 kwh of gas. Adjust the leccy up for someone on leccy only supply
Too late. I wouldn't vote to rejoin now. The damage is done, and we would rejoin on vastly inferior terms, if the EU even allowed us back.
Still it was all worth it we got a Boris Johnson premiership.
Schengen and the Single Currency aren't inferior terms - they're the best things about the EU!
Would we meet the criteria for the Euro though?
Based on the Wikipedia page about our relationship with the Euro, I don't think we ever did throughout the Euro's lifetime. But I don't think the EU would have said no to the world's fifth largest economy adding to the strength of the Euro if we were serious about joining.
That will help the owner of a 6 bedroom mansion a lot more than the owner of a 1 bedroom flat. Is that what he wants?
I assume the plan also includes nationalising all the providers and rationing supply.
Presumably his next policy will be to decree that gravity in the UK will be reduced to 8.8m/s2 so that those who are overweight feel better about themselves?
Gravity is not banned in France, but curiously the energy price rises will be held at 4% this year. C'est interesting, n'est-ce-pas ?
EDF is demanding between 8 and upto 15 billion euros from Macron for the freeze
Which will be much better for the French economy than small businesses and pensioners paying it.
Err it comes from the taxes of businesses and pensioners
There is no free money
Yes there is - you get a pension every week.
I have paid a lifetime of contributions into the pension as has every other pensioner
Matthew Parris highlighted the flaw with that argument in his Times piece this morning;
Ever since I started dealing with the leader of the opposition’s postbag in 1976, I’ve been familiar with the cry, “I haven’t worked and paid taxes all my life, only to have [insert chosen desideratum] taken away.” I longed to reply, “You may well have paid taxes all your life, but not enough, as it now turns out.”
Parris has been cribbing my posts with his recent "fairytale of growing the economy" pieces!
Truss to look at cancelling the £400 energy discount to the wealthy and provide more help for those needing it
That would be the right thing to do. Sunak spread his largesse far too thin.
It is the same problem with Starmer proposals
The need has to be targeted and giving professional footballers and celebrities a £2,000 discount is nonsense
The broadest shoulders have to take the hit and provide more to those in real need
Truss could play around with the fixed charge component of the fuel, e.g. convert it to a (temporary) subsidy, leaving the marginal cost of the fuel untouched so that efficient usage is not compromised.
@EdwardJDavey Hi @UKLabour glad you liked my proposal to cancel the energy price rise. I also have some thoughts on electoral reform that you're welcome to adopt..
In fact, as per @Carnyx this should be the basis of the next desperate Scotland inwards migration campaign
And Scotland needs it. Because, for all the vast influx of migrants into the UK - literally 10 million people in about 15 years - not a single one has moved to declining-population Scotland, this despite the excitements of Cumbernauld, glorious Scottish weather, the joys of Satanic winter darkness, and the exciting new policies on gender self ID and compulsory mastectomies from a moribund Woke quasi-fascist nationalist government which hasn't a clue what to do apart from errrrrr ask for new referendums, a country so ghastly even @StuartDickson Dickson, whose tiny testicles have been tattooeed with Scottish tartan, can't bear to actually live in "modern" Scotland
But all that can be changed!
Scotland just has to adopt the new slogan, thanks to @Carnyx
"Come to Scotland, we are self sufficient in porridge, potatoes, swedes, herring and mutton"
Sorted
Not one? Come off it - it's actually doingf better than rUk.
I thought all those windmills that litter the UK's coast were supposed to provide cheaper energy? It does not seem to be working out that way.
Tidal. We are an island. Tidal ffs, invest to the max in tidal power
I completely agree with you, but for some reason no govt will touch tidal.
Its bizarre how underutilised it has been. More Home grown power we could be leveraging to protect against world price surges. Prorectionism. Its suddenly sexy again.
Same with food. Though I fear it is too late in view of the latest news. Periodically, and only months ago, on here, I was being relentlessly lectured how silly I was for being worried about UK food security, when it was much better and much more consonant with free market liberalism to import all our food from Australia etc and fuck the farmers.
Surely you should be worried about "Scottish food security". Cut off from rUK you will be eating oats, tatties, soil, thistles and "neeps and pebbles", a warming and traditional dish that has filled the stomach of weirdly stunted Unst kids for centuries
There's not a lot wrong with a diet based on porridge, potatoes, swedes, herring and mutton, bread, and garden vegetables.
The point does need t be made that Scotland is overall selfsufficient in food, unlike rUK.
No avocados? The horror!
I am sure that Edinburgh would starve without quinoa.
Not even sure what that is, let alone having seen it in Edinburgh!
https://www.britannica.com/plant/quinoa It is that pale tasteless stuff they put in salads etc and it is everywhere in Edinburgh. Never see it in Dundee funnily enough.
Oh, really? Some of us just have lettuce and tomato, or kimchi if in the mood.
In fact, as per @Carnyx this should be the basis of the next desperate Scotland inwards migration campaign
And Scotland needs it. Because, for all the vast influx of migrants into the UK - literally 10 million people in about 15 years - not a single one has moved to declining-population Scotland, this despite the excitements of Cumbernauld, glorious Scottish weather, the joys of Satanic winter darkness, and the exciting new policies on gender self ID and compulsory mastectomies from a moribund Woke quasi-fascist nationalist government which hasn't a clue what to do apart from errrrrr ask for new referendums, a country so ghastly even @StuartDickson Dickson, whose tiny testicles have been tattooeed with Scottish tartan, can't bear to actually live in "modern" Scotland
But all that can be changed!
Scotland just has to adopt the new slogan, thanks to @Carnyx
"Come to Scotland, we are self sufficient in porridge, potatoes, swedes, herring and mutton"
Sorted
The mutton on North Ronaldsay is fed exclusively on seaweed. Tastes weird.
That will help the owner of a 6 bedroom mansion a lot more than the owner of a 1 bedroom flat. Is that what he wants?
I assume the plan also includes nationalising all the providers and rationing supply.
Presumably his next policy will be to decree that gravity in the UK will be reduced to 8.8m/s2 so that those who are overweight feel better about themselves?
Gravity is not banned in France, but curiously the energy price rises will be held at 4% this year. C'est interesting, n'est-ce-pas ?
EDF is demanding between 8 and upto 15 billion euros from Macron for the freeze
Which will be much better for the French economy than small businesses and pensioners paying it.
Err it comes from the taxes of businesses and pensioners
There is no free money
Yes there is - you get a pension every week.
I have paid a lifetime of contributions into the pension as has every other pensioner
Matthew Parris highlighted the flaw with that argument in his Times piece this morning;
Ever since I started dealing with the leader of the opposition’s postbag in 1976, I’ve been familiar with the cry, “I haven’t worked and paid taxes all my life, only to have [insert chosen desideratum] taken away.” I longed to reply, “You may well have paid taxes all your life, but not enough, as it now turns out.”
Parris has been cribbing my posts with his recent "fairytale of growing the economy" pieces!
Of course, Parris got into terrible trouble when he actually wrote what he thought in a letter:
In fact, as per @Carnyx this should be the basis of the next desperate Scotland inwards migration campaign
And Scotland needs it. Because, for all the vast influx of migrants into the UK - literally 10 million people in about 15 years - not a single one has moved to declining-population Scotland, this despite the excitements of Cumbernauld, glorious Scottish weather, the joys of Satanic winter darkness, and the exciting new policies on gender self ID and compulsory mastectomies from a moribund Woke quasi-fascist nationalist government which hasn't a clue what to do apart from errrrrr ask for new referendums, a country so ghastly even @StuartDickson Dickson, whose tiny testicles have been tattooeed with Scottish tartan, can't bear to actually live in "modern" Scotland
But all that can be changed!
Scotland just has to adopt the new slogan, thanks to @Carnyx
"Come to Scotland, we are self sufficient in porridge, potatoes, swedes, herring and mutton"
Sorted
The mutton on North Ronaldsay is fed exclusively on seaweed. Tastes weird.
"Come to Scotland, we are self sufficient in porridge, potatoes, swedes, herring and mutton"
It does have a kind of genius, and also captures an essence of Scotland, as she is. Bless her
In fact, as per @Carnyx this should be the basis of the next desperate Scotland inwards migration campaign
And Scotland needs it. Because, for all the vast influx of migrants into the UK - literally 10 million people in about 15 years - not a single one has moved to declining-population Scotland, this despite the excitements of Cumbernauld, glorious Scottish weather, the joys of Satanic winter darkness, and the exciting new policies on gender self ID and compulsory mastectomies from a moribund Woke quasi-fascist nationalist government which hasn't a clue what to do apart from errrrrr ask for new referendums, a country so ghastly even @StuartDickson Dickson, whose tiny testicles have been tattooeed with Scottish tartan, can't bear to actually live in "modern" Scotland
But all that can be changed!
Scotland just has to adopt the new slogan, thanks to @Carnyx
"Come to Scotland, we are self sufficient in porridge, potatoes, swedes, herring and mutton"
Sorted
The mutton on North Ronaldsay is fed exclusively on seaweed. Tastes weird.
That reminds me - another holiday destination for the list.
Scotland is not self-sufficient in food. Saying it is is a typical SNP head's statement. It could become so, as could Britain as a whole, easily, if people stopped eating dead animal.
I don't think @Carnyx was suggesting it's self-sufficient right now. We'd probably have to sacrifice the bit that goes on whisky production.
Yes - sorry @Carnyx if I gave a false impression of your position.
A large chunk of Scotland's "food and drink exports" is currently accounted for by whisky.
For the record I am a militant vegetarian and if meat were to be banned in any country or part of a country so that that part of the world could become self-sufficient in food I would support that.
In fact, as per @Carnyx this should be the basis of the next desperate Scotland inwards migration campaign
And Scotland needs it. Because, for all the vast influx of migrants into the UK - literally 10 million people in about 15 years - not a single one has moved to declining-population Scotland, this despite the excitements of Cumbernauld, glorious Scottish weather, the joys of Satanic winter darkness, and the exciting new policies on gender self ID and compulsory mastectomies from a moribund Woke quasi-fascist nationalist government which hasn't a clue what to do apart from errrrrr ask for new referendums, a country so ghastly even @StuartDickson Dickson, whose tiny testicles have been tattooeed with Scottish tartan, can't bear to actually live in "modern" Scotland
But all that can be changed!
Scotland just has to adopt the new slogan, thanks to @Carnyx
"Come to Scotland, we are self sufficient in porridge, potatoes, swedes, herring and mutton"
Sorted
The mutton on North Ronaldsay is fed exclusively on seaweed. Tastes weird.
"Come to Scotland, we are self sufficient in porridge, potatoes, swedes, herring and mutton"
It does have a kind of genius, and also captures an essence of Scotland, as she is. Bless her
"Come to England, we are entirely dependent on Lincolnshire, which is sinking, and the rest of the country is on fire"
@EdwardJDavey Hi @UKLabour glad you liked my proposal to cancel the energy price rise. I also have some thoughts on electoral reform that you're welcome to adopt..
All part of the plan... Plausible deniablility...
(SCENE: A beer garden somewhere on the fringes of Westminster)
JERRY: Good result your lot got in Wakefield. BILL: Cheeky. Remember who got these drinks in. But well done on TIverton. Now, to business. If it starts to look like there's a Lib-Lab deal, there will be trouble. JERRY: Absolutely. But at the same time, we want to keep the tacticals doing the right thing. So we need policies that agree... BILL: ... while the politicians disagree, right. Nothing too serious. But just bickering....
I thought all those windmills that litter the UK's coast were supposed to provide cheaper energy? It does not seem to be working out that way.
Tidal. We are an island. Tidal ffs, invest to the max in tidal power
I completely agree with you, but for some reason no govt will touch tidal.
Its bizarre how underutilised it has been. More Home grown power we could be leveraging to protect against world price surges. Prorectionism. Its suddenly sexy again.
Same with food. Though I fear it is too late in view of the latest news. Periodically, and only months ago, on here, I was being relentlessly lectured how silly I was for being worried about UK food security, when it was much better and much more consonant with free market liberalism to import all our food from Australia etc and fuck the farmers.
Surely you should be worried about "Scottish food security". Cut off from rUK you will be eating oats, tatties, soil, thistles and "neeps and pebbles", a warming and traditional dish that has filled the stomach of weirdly stunted Unst kids for centuries
There's not a lot wrong with a diet based on porridge, potatoes, swedes, herring and mutton, bread, and garden vegetables.
The point does need t be made that Scotland is overall selfsufficient in food, unlike rUK.
No avocados? The horror!
I am sure that Edinburgh would starve without quinoa.
Not even sure what that is, let alone having seen it in Edinburgh!
https://www.britannica.com/plant/quinoa It is that pale tasteless stuff they put in salads etc and it is everywhere in Edinburgh. Never see it in Dundee funnily enough.
His protestations that he should have a voice in the Tory leadership campaign, despite loudly leaving the Tory party in disgust after Brexit, really stick in the craw
Fair enough, mate, if you hate the Tories. Leave, and do it loudly. Good for you. But why on earth should they pay you an ounce of respect thereafter? You left. You're out
He was, also, another 2nd Voter. They really need to be expelled from British public life
“The Pleasance declined to give detail about what aspects of Sadowitz's material led to the cancellation.
Its director, Anthony Alderson, added: "The Pleasance is a venue that champions freedom of speech and we do not censor comedians' material.
"While we acknowledge that Jerry Sadowitz has often been controversial, the material presented at his first show is not acceptable and does not align with our values.
"This type of material has no place on the festival and the Pleasance will not be presenting his second and final show"
Did they say that with a straight face? And without realising the irony of what they said?
Fair enough to say they wouldn't book him because they don't approve of his act, but they can't then say they don't censor material. The two are mutually exclusive.
I don't know, their unintentional comedic point is pretty funny, so I think it is entirely sincere that they cannot see it.
I think people are very good at holding irreconcilable opinions at the same time. I imagine they get around this one by insisting they don't censor acts that take place, they just don't host acts they don't like the content of, obviating the need to censor in the first place - the material exists uncensored, but unseen.
When I was at university, a friend was mucking around with neural nets - this was the 90s and the GPU stuff for that came much later.
His chosen thing was processing ancient texts - they have been copied and modified many times. Everything we have from the ancient Greeks, for example, has been copied many times and often hacked and modified. Often we don't know who the author or authors were. We have a number of different versions, often, as well.
What his software was doing was learning to identify style patterns by authors. Many texts were actually written by multiple authors. He trained it on known examples and then set it loose on various other texts.
The university authorities woke up (ha) and pulled him in for an interview without coffee - nearly an interview without chair. They told him that if he ran his software against several quite old texts - one in particular got some emphasis, he would be thrown off his PhD and if he even tried to complain they would tar his name in public.
The funny bit was that they dressed this up with a big speech about freedom of expression, compassion, understanding and being a Good Egg in general.
Blimey, what were they so concerned about? Questionable authorship seems to be generally accepted of a lot of things.
Religious texts - several religions say that X wrote the whole thing. Often by/with/from/to/for/at/near Chief Sky Fairy in question.
They were worried that when confronted with a scientific paper saying actually it was written by 37 blokes over a period of hundreds of years.....
When I was studying the Bible at A-level, it was completely uncontroversial that it was written by numerous authors. Indeed, we spent quite a lot of time deconstructing the four (minimum) authors of Genesis.
If his algorithm said the Koran was written by more than one author or over a period of more than one lifetime, then it was wrong anyway, as the authorship process of the Koran is actually well-attested by a variety of historical sources.
I'm struggling to think of which other religion there might be an issue with. Nobody disputes the Bhagavad Gita and Vedas were the work of multiple authors. The Tipitaka and Dhammanpada likewise. The Guru Granth Sahib literally flaunts the way it draws on multiple sources.
So - it would seem to me this was a bit of a non-issue.
So you are surprised that a moral panic about a non-issue led to a draconian and stupid reaction?
If you are surprised, I have an excellent stock of bridges (one careful owner) to sell.
Scotland is not self-sufficient in food. Saying it is is a typical SNP head's shoulder-chippy statement, of a piece with "We don't need no foreigners to help us". It could become self-sufficient in food, though, as could Britain as a whole, and easily, if people stopped eating dead animal.
I thought all those windmills that litter the UK's coast were supposed to provide cheaper energy? It does not seem to be working out that way.
Tidal. We are an island. Tidal ffs, invest to the max in tidal power
I completely agree with you, but for some reason no govt will touch tidal.
Its bizarre how underutilised it has been. More Home grown power we could be leveraging to protect against world price surges. Prorectionism. Its suddenly sexy again.
Same with food. Though I fear it is too late in view of the latest news. Periodically, and only months ago, on here, I was being relentlessly lectured how silly I was for being worried about UK food security, when it was much better and much more consonant with free market liberalism to import all our food from Australia etc and fuck the farmers.
Surely you should be worried about "Scottish food security". Cut off from rUK you will be eating oats, tatties, soil, thistles and "neeps and pebbles", a warming and traditional dish that has filled the stomach of weirdly stunted Unst kids for centuries
There's not a lot wrong with a diet based on porridge, potatoes, swedes, herring and mutton, bread, and garden vegetables.
The point does need t be made that Scotland is overall selfsufficient in food, unlike rUK.
But that's only because no one wants to live in the turgid, sordid, midgey toilet that is Scotland (especially under the Nats). It's like saying "Greenland is self sufficient in food", Well, er, yeah, because you have 2 million tons of salmon but you have a population of 7,000 and they are all drunk because of the ghastly climate and permanent, suicidal gloom. And the shit football
It's like saying "in Saudi Arabia petrol is 20p a gallon"! Come and live here! Driving is cheap! We cut off hands!
Ghastly climate? It's been a very pleasant 23 degC today, and you aree always on about the Ballard-like transformation of Islington.
"Scotland's as good as Islington any day of the week".
We wouldn't have to give up meat to do that. And there would be no point in doing so if we did. It would have a very negative impact on health.
Sweden votes in four weeks and it seems Sifo will be polling regularly for Svenska Dagbladet.
The latest numbers (changes from 2018):
Social Democrats: 31.3% (+2.8) Moderates: 19.2% (-0.6) Sweden Democrats: 17.3% (-0.2) Left: 8.0% (nc) Christian Democrats: 6.7% (+0.4) Liberals: 5.6% (+0.1) Centre: 5.3% (-3.3) Greens: 4.5% (+0.1)
We have our two blocs (as we always do) - the centre-left consisting of Social Democrats, Left, Green and Centre are on 49.1% (-0.2) and the centre-right bloc of Moderates, Sweden Democrats, Christian Democrats and Liberals are on 48.8% (-0.5) so a dead heat to all intents and purposes.
Th 2018 result split the 349 seat Riksdag 175-174 in favour of the centre-left bloc so this is going to be very close again. Perhaps the centre-left might extend their lead by a couple of seats on these numbers but there's a long way to go.
So does Italy and there Brothers of Italy still leads most of the latest polls
If Brothers of Italy do come first next month in votes and seats in the Italian general election, it will be the first time a far right party has won a democratic general election in Western Europe since before the 2nd world war
Bizarre and depressing. Why don't these people feeling screwed by global capitalism vote Left? Why do they get obsessed with identity instead? Makes me want to get hold of every single one of them and give them a good shake.
In fact, as per @Carnyx this should be the basis of the next desperate Scotland inwards migration campaign
And Scotland needs it. Because, for all the vast influx of migrants into the UK - literally 10 million people in about 15 years - not a single one has moved to declining-population Scotland, this despite the excitements of Cumbernauld, glorious Scottish weather, the joys of Satanic winter darkness, and the exciting new policies on gender self ID and compulsory mastectomies from a moribund Woke quasi-fascist nationalist government which hasn't a clue what to do apart from errrrrr ask for new referendums, a country so ghastly even @StuartDickson Dickson, whose tiny testicles have been tattooeed with Scottish tartan, can't bear to actually live in "modern" Scotland
But all that can be changed!
Scotland just has to adopt the new slogan, thanks to @Carnyx
"Come to Scotland, we are self sufficient in porridge, potatoes, swedes, herring and mutton"
Sorted
The mutton on North Ronaldsay is fed exclusively on seaweed. Tastes weird.
"Come to Scotland, we are self sufficient in porridge, potatoes, swedes, herring and mutton"
It does have a kind of genius, and also captures an essence of Scotland, as she is. Bless her
"Come to England, we are entirely dependent on Lincolnshire, which is sinking, and the rest of the country is on fire"
lol. That's good
Still, England now has lovely world class English fizz and rather good Riesling-type fine white wines, and some developing Pinot Noir-ish reds, which are expected to get ever better
Regarding the football, as a United fan I was cheering on Brentford to make it 6 or 8.
This is a wretched team, with deep rot from the owners that have completely killed the body. It isn't about the manager or even the players, its the ethos. The club has a business plan that doesn't require success, only to hawk the odd marquee player into shirt sales in places like Thailand.
Ten Hag can't turn that around because it is a club designed to be mediocre. A new owner, with a new ethos, and a new purpose is needed. Much as Liverpool were transformed with owners interested in success, so United can be. But not under the Glazer cancer.
wtf are you talking about.
Look at the success of the club under the Glazers. Not their fault that they couldn't find a replacement for SAF. Succession problems aren't unique to them.
Scotland is not self-sufficient in food. Saying it is is a typical SNP head's shoulder-chippy statement, of a piece with "We don't need no foreigners to help us". It could become self-sufficient in food, though, as could Britain as a whole, and easily, if people stopped eating dead animal.
I thought all those windmills that litter the UK's coast were supposed to provide cheaper energy? It does not seem to be working out that way.
Tidal. We are an island. Tidal ffs, invest to the max in tidal power
I completely agree with you, but for some reason no govt will touch tidal.
Its bizarre how underutilised it has been. More Home grown power we could be leveraging to protect against world price surges. Prorectionism. Its suddenly sexy again.
Same with food. Though I fear it is too late in view of the latest news. Periodically, and only months ago, on here, I was being relentlessly lectured how silly I was for being worried about UK food security, when it was much better and much more consonant with free market liberalism to import all our food from Australia etc and fuck the farmers.
Surely you should be worried about "Scottish food security". Cut off from rUK you will be eating oats, tatties, soil, thistles and "neeps and pebbles", a warming and traditional dish that has filled the stomach of weirdly stunted Unst kids for centuries
There's not a lot wrong with a diet based on porridge, potatoes, swedes, herring and mutton, bread, and garden vegetables.
The point does need t be made that Scotland is overall selfsufficient in food, unlike rUK.
But that's only because no one wants to live in the turgid, sordid, midgey toilet that is Scotland (especially under the Nats). It's like saying "Greenland is self sufficient in food", Well, er, yeah, because you have 2 million tons of salmon but you have a population of 7,000 and they are all drunk because of the ghastly climate and permanent, suicidal gloom. And the shit football
It's like saying "in Saudi Arabia petrol is 20p a gallon"! Come and live here! Driving is cheap! We cut off hands!
Ghastly climate? It's been a very pleasant 23 degC today, and you aree always on about the Ballard-like transformation of Islington.
"Scotland's as good as Islington any day of the week".
We wouldn't have to give up meat to do that. And there would be no point in doing so if we did. It would have a very negative impact on health.
That will help the owner of a 6 bedroom mansion a lot more than the owner of a 1 bedroom flat. Is that what he wants?
I assume the plan also includes nationalising all the providers and rationing supply.
Presumably his next policy will be to decree that gravity in the UK will be reduced to 8.8m/s2 so that those who are overweight feel better about themselves?
Gravity is not banned in France, but curiously the energy price rises will be held at 4% this year. C'est interesting, n'est-ce-pas ?
Last time I checked they were importing nearly 20% of their electricity. A possible reason for that would be that producing it profitably in France is no longer possible. C'est magnifique mais c'est ne pas la guerre
Fench leccy is overwhelmingly nuclear. I think there's an issue at the moment with rivers, or rather the lack thereof, reducing the amount they can safely produce.
Also a bunch of the nuclear stations are doing maintenance, so I understand….
It’s almost as if energy connectors between countries are a good idea or something.
Sweden votes in four weeks and it seems Sifo will be polling regularly for Svenska Dagbladet.
The latest numbers (changes from 2018):
Social Democrats: 31.3% (+2.8) Moderates: 19.2% (-0.6) Sweden Democrats: 17.3% (-0.2) Left: 8.0% (nc) Christian Democrats: 6.7% (+0.4) Liberals: 5.6% (+0.1) Centre: 5.3% (-3.3) Greens: 4.5% (+0.1)
We have our two blocs (as we always do) - the centre-left consisting of Social Democrats, Left, Green and Centre are on 49.1% (-0.2) and the centre-right bloc of Moderates, Sweden Democrats, Christian Democrats and Liberals are on 48.8% (-0.5) so a dead heat to all intents and purposes.
Th 2018 result split the 349 seat Riksdag 175-174 in favour of the centre-left bloc so this is going to be very close again. Perhaps the centre-left might extend their lead by a couple of seats on these numbers but there's a long way to go.
So does Italy and there Brothers of Italy still leads most of the latest polls
If Brothers of Italy do come first next month in votes and seats in the Italian general election, it will be the first time a far right party has won a democratic general election in Western Europe since before the 2nd world war
Bizarre and depressing. Why don't these people feeling screwed by global capitalism vote Left? Why do they get obsessed with identity instead? Makes me want to get hold of every single one of them and give them a good shake.
Because the traditional parties of the Left bought into globalisation, the idiot version.
That will help the owner of a 6 bedroom mansion a lot more than the owner of a 1 bedroom flat. Is that what he wants?
I assume the plan also includes nationalising all the providers and rationing supply.
Presumably his next policy will be to decree that gravity in the UK will be reduced to 8.8m/s2 so that those who are overweight feel better about themselves?
Gravity is not banned in France, but curiously the energy price rises will be held at 4% this year. C'est interesting, n'est-ce-pas ?
Last time I checked they were importing nearly 20% of their electricity. A possible reason for that would be that producing it profitably in France is no longer possible. C'est magnifique mais c'est ne pas la guerre
Fench leccy is overwhelmingly nuclear. I think there's an issue at the moment with rivers, or rather the lack thereof, reducing the amount they can safely produce.
Also a bunch of the nuclear stations are doing maintenance, so I understand….
It’s almost as if energy connectors between countries are a good idea or something.
I read that it's because there isn't enough water in the rivers they use. Which seems like quite a big oversight...
We have a govt that publicly calls for further restrictions on immigration while behind close doors pleads for special measures to allow in more migrants. More obvious by the day that things went wrong when we didn't all celebrate Gordon Brown calling an idiot an idiot. https://twitter.com/sundersays/status/1558568240267378689
Truss to look at cancelling the £400 energy discount to the wealthy and provide more help for those needing it
That would be the right thing to do. Sunak spread his largesse far too thin.
Where's this "wealthy" cut off, better not be band E houses again.
I assume it will be on income
HMG should either:
Freeze the energy cap where it is now, subsidise the energy distributors through a windfall tax on energy producers, increased taxes on wealth and/or borrowing.
Or, better still:
Reduce the energy cap back to where it was in 2019/2020, funded through windfall taxes, wealth tax and borrowing, offset by the saving caused by the reduced benefit uplift inflation rate.
Pissing around with £400 here, £150 there is futile.
Sweden votes in four weeks and it seems Sifo will be polling regularly for Svenska Dagbladet.
The latest numbers (changes from 2018):
Social Democrats: 31.3% (+2.8) Moderates: 19.2% (-0.6) Sweden Democrats: 17.3% (-0.2) Left: 8.0% (nc) Christian Democrats: 6.7% (+0.4) Liberals: 5.6% (+0.1) Centre: 5.3% (-3.3) Greens: 4.5% (+0.1)
We have our two blocs (as we always do) - the centre-left consisting of Social Democrats, Left, Green and Centre are on 49.1% (-0.2) and the centre-right bloc of Moderates, Sweden Democrats, Christian Democrats and Liberals are on 48.8% (-0.5) so a dead heat to all intents and purposes.
Th 2018 result split the 349 seat Riksdag 175-174 in favour of the centre-left bloc so this is going to be very close again. Perhaps the centre-left might extend their lead by a couple of seats on these numbers but there's a long way to go.
So does Italy and there Brothers of Italy still leads most of the latest polls
If Brothers of Italy do come first next month in votes and seats in the Italian general election, it will be the first time a far right party has won a democratic general election in Western Europe since before the 2nd world war
Bizarre and depressing. Why don't these people feeling screwed by global capitalism vote Left? Why do they get obsessed with identity instead? Makes me want to get hold of every single one of them and give them a good shake.
Yes, let's vote for the Left, which wants to flood our countries with immigrants, which wants to chop the tits off our daughters, which tells us we are all racist just because we are white, which tells us we are intrinsically evil, which constantly lies about the reality of crime, and which despises the countries we love, and wants us all to be run by, fuck knows, Muslims, anyone, anyone but us, the evil white people?
Yes, it is truly amazing that people are still resistant to voting for the Left in Europe and America
Sweden votes in four weeks and it seems Sifo will be polling regularly for Svenska Dagbladet.
The latest numbers (changes from 2018):
Social Democrats: 31.3% (+2.8) Moderates: 19.2% (-0.6) Sweden Democrats: 17.3% (-0.2) Left: 8.0% (nc) Christian Democrats: 6.7% (+0.4) Liberals: 5.6% (+0.1) Centre: 5.3% (-3.3) Greens: 4.5% (+0.1)
We have our two blocs (as we always do) - the centre-left consisting of Social Democrats, Left, Green and Centre are on 49.1% (-0.2) and the centre-right bloc of Moderates, Sweden Democrats, Christian Democrats and Liberals are on 48.8% (-0.5) so a dead heat to all intents and purposes.
Th 2018 result split the 349 seat Riksdag 175-174 in favour of the centre-left bloc so this is going to be very close again. Perhaps the centre-left might extend their lead by a couple of seats on these numbers but there's a long way to go.
So does Italy and there Brothers of Italy still leads most of the latest polls
If Brothers of Italy do come first next month in votes and seats in the Italian general election, it will be the first time a far right party has won a democratic general election in Western Europe since before the 2nd world war
Bizarre and depressing. Why don't these people feeling screwed by global capitalism vote Left? Why do they get obsessed with identity instead? Makes me want to get hold of every single one of them and give them a good shake.
Yes, let's vote for the Left, which wants to flood our countries with immigrants, which wants to chop the tits off our daughters, which tells us we are all racist just because we are white, which tells us we are intrinsically evil, which constantly lies about the reality of crime, and which despises the countries we love, and wants us all to be run by, fuck knows, Muslims, anyone, anyone but us, the evil white people?
Yes, it is truly amazing that people are still resistant to voting for the Left in Europe and America
Sweden votes in four weeks and it seems Sifo will be polling regularly for Svenska Dagbladet.
The latest numbers (changes from 2018):
Social Democrats: 31.3% (+2.8) Moderates: 19.2% (-0.6) Sweden Democrats: 17.3% (-0.2) Left: 8.0% (nc) Christian Democrats: 6.7% (+0.4) Liberals: 5.6% (+0.1) Centre: 5.3% (-3.3) Greens: 4.5% (+0.1)
We have our two blocs (as we always do) - the centre-left consisting of Social Democrats, Left, Green and Centre are on 49.1% (-0.2) and the centre-right bloc of Moderates, Sweden Democrats, Christian Democrats and Liberals are on 48.8% (-0.5) so a dead heat to all intents and purposes.
Th 2018 result split the 349 seat Riksdag 175-174 in favour of the centre-left bloc so this is going to be very close again. Perhaps the centre-left might extend their lead by a couple of seats on these numbers but there's a long way to go.
So does Italy and there Brothers of Italy still leads most of the latest polls
If Brothers of Italy do come first next month in votes and seats in the Italian general election, it will be the first time a far right party has won a democratic general election in Western Europe since before the 2nd world war
Bizarre and depressing. Why don't these people feeling screwed by global capitalism vote Left? Why do they get obsessed with identity instead? Makes me want to get hold of every single one of them and give them a good shake.
The largest party in the current Draghi led Italian government is the centre left PD
Regarding the football, as a United fan I was cheering on Brentford to make it 6 or 8.
This is a wretched team, with deep rot from the owners that have completely killed the body. It isn't about the manager or even the players, its the ethos. The club has a business plan that doesn't require success, only to hawk the odd marquee player into shirt sales in places like Thailand.
Ten Hag can't turn that around because it is a club designed to be mediocre. A new owner, with a new ethos, and a new purpose is needed. Much as Liverpool were transformed with owners interested in success, so United can be. But not under the Glazer cancer.
The Gary Neville view.
Jamie Redknapp disagrees - he thinks it's down to the players who aren't "running for the shirt".
Says anybody can have an offday but at least they should "run around".
Says when he was at Liverpool all the players would "die for the team" and he doesn't get that feeling off these Man U players - that they'd die for Man U.
So, 2 very different takes there on Manchester United Football Club.
Regarding Starmer (and the Lib Dems) plan to cap energy bills, I have to say this seems logical. I'm not sure what the point of a consistently rising cap is. I appreciate that energy companies cannot sell energy at a loss, but it is clearly wrong that their profits should rise when the cost of their raw material has also risen. That feels like a pisstake. They should trim their profit expectations as UK householders must trim their spare spending money expectations. I have been convinced for a while that part of Liz's way of getting through this would be to stop the rising price cap at a certain level, in combination with her other measures (VAT on fuel etc.). I just think she's not been able to say it.
So we now know where Starmer and Davey would cap it. I reckon Liz would cap it higher, and combine with her tax cuts (energy companies pleased), and then Sunak looks like the odd one out, because he would let it rip, and hand out free Government money to pay for it. That's a big bung to the energy companies, yes with the potential to impose further windfall taxes, but only on a percentage of profits. I think it says something about Sunak that he wants to insert Government into this process as the supposed benefactor, furlough style.
What is truly amazing is that @kinabalu cannot see - and I believe her, I believe she can't see this - that there is a reason why people might vote for the Right, despite falling living standards, indicating an apparent "failure of capitalism"
The time will soon come when we will all have to take sides
Labour's plan, if that's what it is, has been derided on here. The question is though, what is the alternative? It at least has the virtue of putting the ball back in court. Vague concepts of "help based on income" are just that.
- We do 3x potatoes as England - Nearly 3x beef - 2x sheep - 1/5 chicken
Everything else pretty much the same (though it depends on the breakdown of "cereals"). Wales and NI produce absolutely loads of milk, weirdly.
Cows need green grass, not straw!
I wonder if the problem with climate change was about the production of seed potatoes rather than crop potatoes? Scotland produces most of those due to a lack of endemic blight, which likes warmer temperatures.
Sweden votes in four weeks and it seems Sifo will be polling regularly for Svenska Dagbladet.
The latest numbers (changes from 2018):
Social Democrats: 31.3% (+2.8) Moderates: 19.2% (-0.6) Sweden Democrats: 17.3% (-0.2) Left: 8.0% (nc) Christian Democrats: 6.7% (+0.4) Liberals: 5.6% (+0.1) Centre: 5.3% (-3.3) Greens: 4.5% (+0.1)
We have our two blocs (as we always do) - the centre-left consisting of Social Democrats, Left, Green and Centre are on 49.1% (-0.2) and the centre-right bloc of Moderates, Sweden Democrats, Christian Democrats and Liberals are on 48.8% (-0.5) so a dead heat to all intents and purposes.
Th 2018 result split the 349 seat Riksdag 175-174 in favour of the centre-left bloc so this is going to be very close again. Perhaps the centre-left might extend their lead by a couple of seats on these numbers but there's a long way to go.
So does Italy and there Brothers of Italy still leads most of the latest polls
If Brothers of Italy do come first next month in votes and seats in the Italian general election, it will be the first time a far right party has won a democratic general election in Western Europe since before the 2nd world war
Bizarre and depressing. Why don't these people feeling screwed by global capitalism vote Left? Why do they get obsessed with identity instead? Makes me want to get hold of every single one of them and give them a good shake.
The largest party in the current Draghi led Italian government is the centre left PD
Yes but I'm talking Left not centre left. Where's the Italian Corbyn? Where's Jeremichio Corbinossa?
- We do 3x potatoes as England - Nearly 3x beef - 2x sheep - 1/5 chicken
Everything else pretty much the same (though it depends on the breakdown of "cereals"). Wales and NI produce absolutely loads of milk, weirdly.
Cows need green grass, not straw!
I wonder if the problem with climate change was about the production of seed potatoes rather than crop potatoes? Scotland produces most of those due to a lack of endemic blight, which likes warmer temperatures.
Most commercial cow herds go in in the winter and need straw or some other form of feed.
Regarding Starmer (and the Lib Dems) plan to cap energy bills, I have to say this seems logical. I'm not sure what the point of a consistently rising cap is. I appreciate that energy companies cannot sell energy at a loss, but it is clearly wrong that their profits should rise when the cost of their raw material has also risen. That feels like a pisstake. They should trim their profit expectations as UK householders must trim their spare spending money expectations. I have been convinced for a while that part of Liz's way of getting through this would be to stop the rising price cap at a certain level, in combination with her other measures (VAT on fuel etc.). I just think she's not been able to say it.
So we now know where Starmer and Davey would cap it. I reckon Liz would cap it higher, and combine with her tax cuts (energy companies pleased), and then Sunak looks like the odd one out, because he would let it rip, and hand out free Government money to pay for it. That's a big bung to the energy companies, yes with the potential to impose further windfall taxes, but only on a percentage of profits. I think it says something about Sunak that he wants to insert Government into this process as the supposed benefactor, furlough style.
Which energy companies are making tons more profit?
It is the ones who dig the stuff out of the ground or drill in the wilderness not the highly regulated distributors and retail end of the chain.
If you simply cap the price that the retail companies sell the stuff to us then they will either a) not be able to buy any energy on the world markets or b) make losses that result in bankruptcy.
Sweden votes in four weeks and it seems Sifo will be polling regularly for Svenska Dagbladet.
The latest numbers (changes from 2018):
Social Democrats: 31.3% (+2.8) Moderates: 19.2% (-0.6) Sweden Democrats: 17.3% (-0.2) Left: 8.0% (nc) Christian Democrats: 6.7% (+0.4) Liberals: 5.6% (+0.1) Centre: 5.3% (-3.3) Greens: 4.5% (+0.1)
We have our two blocs (as we always do) - the centre-left consisting of Social Democrats, Left, Green and Centre are on 49.1% (-0.2) and the centre-right bloc of Moderates, Sweden Democrats, Christian Democrats and Liberals are on 48.8% (-0.5) so a dead heat to all intents and purposes.
Th 2018 result split the 349 seat Riksdag 175-174 in favour of the centre-left bloc so this is going to be very close again. Perhaps the centre-left might extend their lead by a couple of seats on these numbers but there's a long way to go.
So does Italy and there Brothers of Italy still leads most of the latest polls
If Brothers of Italy do come first next month in votes and seats in the Italian general election, it will be the first time a far right party has won a democratic general election in Western Europe since before the 2nd world war
Bizarre and depressing. Why don't these people feeling screwed by global capitalism vote Left? Why do they get obsessed with identity instead? Makes me want to get hold of every single one of them and give them a good shake.
The largest party in the current Draghi led Italian government is the centre left PD
Yes but I'm talking Left not centre left. Where's the Italian Corbyn? Where's Jeremichio Corbinossa?
Five Star won most seats last time on a populist platform but have withdrawn from the Draghi government. Corbyn of course was trounced in 2019. The Greens and Left Alliance in Italy is polling 3%.
What is truly amazing is that @kinabalu cannot see - and I believe her, I believe she can't see this - that there is a reason why people might vote for the Right, despite falling living standards, indicating an apparent "failure of capitalism"
The time will soon come when we will all have to take sides
It’s the good old “Ha ha! These stupid poor people are voting against their interests!” line - as if poor people are only allowed to be interested in money. Concerns higher than money are only for nice middle-class voters, innit?
Regarding Starmer (and the Lib Dems) plan to cap energy bills, I have to say this seems logical. I'm not sure what the point of a consistently rising cap is. I appreciate that energy companies cannot sell energy at a loss, but it is clearly wrong that their profits should rise when the cost of their raw material has also risen. That feels like a pisstake. They should trim their profit expectations as UK householders must trim their spare spending money expectations. I have been convinced for a while that part of Liz's way of getting through this would be to stop the rising price cap at a certain level, in combination with her other measures (VAT on fuel etc.). I just think she's not been able to say it.
So we now know where Starmer and Davey would cap it. I reckon Liz would cap it higher, and combine with her tax cuts (energy companies pleased), and then Sunak looks like the odd one out, because he would let it rip, and hand out free Government money to pay for it. That's a big bung to the energy companies, yes with the potential to impose further windfall taxes, but only on a percentage of profits. I think it says something about Sunak that he wants to insert Government into this process as the supposed benefactor, furlough style.
Which energy companies are making tons more profit?
It is the ones who dig the stuff out of the ground or drill in the wilderness not the highly regulated distributors and retail end of the chain.
If you simply cap the price that the retail companies sell the stuff to us then they will either a) not be able to buy any energy on the world markets or b) make losses that result in bankruptcy.
I get my gas from Shell. Given the amount of consolidation in the industry recently, I am not sure there's the huge distinction you speak of. I could of course be wrong.
Labour's plan, if that's what it is has been derided on here. The question is though, what is the alternative? It at least has the virtue of putting the ball back in court. Vague concepts of "help based on income" are just that.
The proboem with it is it does nothing to help those at the lower end already going under, nor businesses who dont get the benefit of a cap and are at increasing high risk. And the energy companies will be compensated. But it saves rich people a couple grand a year. So, nothing for the struggling, fuck businesses and tax payer money to compensate energy companies. Once that sinks in, 'fuck labour' will be the conclusion.
We are screwed. They are going to have to reinvent the energy market
Truss to look at cancelling the £400 energy discount to the wealthy and provide more help for those needing it
That would be the right thing to do. Sunak spread his largesse far too thin.
Where's this "wealthy" cut off, better not be band E houses again.
I assume it will be on income
HMG should either:
Freeze the energy cap where it is now, subsidise the energy distributors through a windfall tax on energy producers, increased taxes on wealth and/or borrowing.
Or, better still:
Reduce the energy cap back to where it was in 2019/2020, funded through windfall taxes, wealth tax and borrowing, offset by the saving caused by the reduced benefit uplift inflation rate.
Pissing around with £400 here, £150 there is futile.
Sunak did the £400 because the Treasury told him that was the easiest and simplest way to deliver the policy. The minute you add any kind of means test then the admin levels head up to the moon and the whole thing becomes undeliverable for years.
Edit: Anyone who has done any kind of benefit or disability means test knows how complicated it is. I did one the other day for social care and it ran to 20 pages (with additional sheets to be added if necessary).
Truss to look at cancelling the £400 energy discount to the wealthy and provide more help for those needing it
That would be the right thing to do. Sunak spread his largesse far too thin.
Where's this "wealthy" cut off, better not be band E houses again.
I assume it will be on income
HMG should either:
Freeze the energy cap where it is now, subsidise the energy distributors through a windfall tax on energy producers, increased taxes on wealth and/or borrowing.
Or, better still:
Reduce the energy cap back to where it was in 2019/2020, funded through windfall taxes, wealth tax and borrowing, offset by the saving caused by the reduced benefit uplift inflation rate.
Pissing around with £400 here, £150 there is futile.
Sunak did the £400 because the Treasury told him that was the easiest and simplest way to deliver the policy. The minute you add any kind of means test then the admin levels head up to the moon and the whole thing becomes undeliverable for years.
- We do 3x potatoes as England - Nearly 3x beef - 2x sheep - 1/5 chicken
Everything else pretty much the same (though it depends on the breakdown of "cereals"). Wales and NI produce absolutely loads of milk, weirdly.
Cows need green grass, not straw!
I wonder if the problem with climate change was about the production of seed potatoes rather than crop potatoes? Scotland produces most of those due to a lack of endemic blight, which likes warmer temperatures.
Most commercial cow herds go in in the winter and need straw or some other form of feed.
A farmer acquaintance of mine has his dairy herd indoors eating his winter silage, there being no grazing grass in the fields. More silage for the winter is going to be expensive to buy in.
- We do 3x potatoes as England - Nearly 3x beef - 2x sheep - 1/5 chicken
Everything else pretty much the same (though it depends on the breakdown of "cereals"). Wales and NI produce absolutely loads of milk, weirdly.
Cows need green grass, not straw!
I wonder if the problem with climate change was about the production of seed potatoes rather than crop potatoes? Scotland produces most of those due to a lack of endemic blight, which likes warmer temperatures.
Most commercial cow herds go in in the winter and need straw or some other form of feed.
A farmer acquaintance of mine has his dairy herd indoors eating his winter silage, there being no grazing grass in the fields. More silage for the winter is going to be expensive to buy in.
Lets hope for a wet but warm Autumn so he can get them out and keep them out for longer than usual.
Labour's plan, if that's what it is has been derided on here. The question is though, what is the alternative? It at least has the virtue of putting the ball back in court. Vague concepts of "help based on income" are just that.
The proboem with it is it does nothing to help those at the lower end already going under, nor businesses who dont get the benefit of a cap and are at increasing high risk. And the energy companies will be compensated. But it saves rich people a couple grand a year. So, nothing for the struggling, fuck businesses and tax payer money to compensate energy companies. Once that sinks in, 'fuck labour' will be the conclusion.
We are screwed. They are going to have to reinvent the energy market
But. Isn't it a cap on the kWh price? Therefore it does help the poorest. It isn't great. But I'm not sure there's a great answer. Tax cuts is irrelevant.
Sweden votes in four weeks and it seems Sifo will be polling regularly for Svenska Dagbladet.
The latest numbers (changes from 2018):
Social Democrats: 31.3% (+2.8) Moderates: 19.2% (-0.6) Sweden Democrats: 17.3% (-0.2) Left: 8.0% (nc) Christian Democrats: 6.7% (+0.4) Liberals: 5.6% (+0.1) Centre: 5.3% (-3.3) Greens: 4.5% (+0.1)
We have our two blocs (as we always do) - the centre-left consisting of Social Democrats, Left, Green and Centre are on 49.1% (-0.2) and the centre-right bloc of Moderates, Sweden Democrats, Christian Democrats and Liberals are on 48.8% (-0.5) so a dead heat to all intents and purposes.
Th 2018 result split the 349 seat Riksdag 175-174 in favour of the centre-left bloc so this is going to be very close again. Perhaps the centre-left might extend their lead by a couple of seats on these numbers but there's a long way to go.
So does Italy and there Brothers of Italy still leads most of the latest polls
If Brothers of Italy do come first next month in votes and seats in the Italian general election, it will be the first time a far right party has won a democratic general election in Western Europe since before the 2nd world war
Bizarre and depressing. Why don't these people feeling screwed by global capitalism vote Left? Why do they get obsessed with identity instead? Makes me want to get hold of every single one of them and give them a good shake.
Yes, let's vote for the Left, which wants to flood our countries with immigrants, which wants to chop the tits off our daughters, which tells us we are all racist just because we are white, which tells us we are intrinsically evil, which constantly lies about the reality of crime, and which despises the countries we love, and wants us all to be run by, fuck knows, Muslims, anyone, anyone but us, the evil white people?
Yes, it is truly amazing that people are still resistant to voting for the Left in Europe and America
Rancid old racist or the Fox defence of "obviously just satirical hyperbole"?
Truss to look at cancelling the £400 energy discount to the wealthy and provide more help for those needing it
That would be the right thing to do. Sunak spread his largesse far too thin.
Where's this "wealthy" cut off, better not be band E houses again.
I assume it will be on income
HMG should either:
Freeze the energy cap where it is now, subsidise the energy distributors through a windfall tax on energy producers, increased taxes on wealth and/or borrowing.
Or, better still:
Reduce the energy cap back to where it was in 2019/2020, funded through windfall taxes, wealth tax and borrowing, offset by the saving caused by the reduced benefit uplift inflation rate.
Pissing around with £400 here, £150 there is futile.
Sunak did the £400 because the Treasury told him that was the easiest and simplest way to deliver the policy. The minute you add any kind of means test then the admin levels head up to the moon and the whole thing becomes undeliverable for years.
Edit: Anyone who has done any kind of benefit or disability means test knows how complicated it is. I did one the other day for social care and it ran to 20 pages (with additional sheets to be added if necessary).
Plus. You get the issue of having to apply or summat. A whole new level of bureaucracy.
- We do 3x potatoes as England - Nearly 3x beef - 2x sheep - 1/5 chicken
Everything else pretty much the same (though it depends on the breakdown of "cereals"). Wales and NI produce absolutely loads of milk, weirdly.
Cows need green grass, not straw!
I wonder if the problem with climate change was about the production of seed potatoes rather than crop potatoes? Scotland produces most of those due to a lack of endemic blight, which likes warmer temperatures.
Most commercial cow herds go in in the winter and need straw or some other form of feed.
Labour's plan, if that's what it is has been derided on here. The question is though, what is the alternative? It at least has the virtue of putting the ball back in court. Vague concepts of "help based on income" are just that.
The proboem with it is it does nothing to help those at the lower end already going under, nor businesses who dont get the benefit of a cap and are at increasing high risk. And the energy companies will be compensated. But it saves rich people a couple grand a year. So, nothing for the struggling, fuck businesses and tax payer money to compensate energy companies. Once that sinks in, 'fuck labour' will be the conclusion.
We are screwed. They are going to have to reinvent the energy market
But. Isn't it a cap on the kWh price? Therefore it does help the poorest. It isn't great. But I'm not sure there's a great answer. Tax cuts is irrelevant.
The worse off already cant afford it or are really struggling. This freezes their bills at a 'struggling' level offering no assistance other than the freeze (and how long for? 3 months? 6? Just postponing the apocalypse??). And energy companies who are the ones they struggle to pay will be compensated for not bankrupting little old ladies and poor families with their taxes. Its toxic. It requires complete reinvention, somehow!
Regarding the football, as a United fan I was cheering on Brentford to make it 6 or 8.
This is a wretched team, with deep rot from the owners that have completely killed the body. It isn't about the manager or even the players, its the ethos. The club has a business plan that doesn't require success, only to hawk the odd marquee player into shirt sales in places like Thailand.
Ten Hag can't turn that around because it is a club designed to be mediocre. A new owner, with a new ethos, and a new purpose is needed. Much as Liverpool were transformed with owners interested in success, so United can be. But not under the Glazer cancer.
The Gary Neville view.
Jamie Redknapp disagrees - he thinks it's down to the players who aren't "running for the shirt".
Says anybody can have an offday but at least they should "run around".
Says when he was at Liverpool all the players would "die for the team" and he doesn't get that feeling off these Man U players - that they'd die for Man U.
So, 2 very different takes there on Manchester United Football Club.
Players can run for the shirt. But if they run uncoordinated in every direction, and the trainers aren't guiding them on how they should play, or even that there should be a way they should play, how do they motivate themselves to do so?
Carragher talks about the Liverpool wilderness years. And they had similar - an odd collection of supposedly marquee players who don't fit together and no real idea what they are supposed to be doing. Under Souness as an example.
What is truly amazing is that @kinabalu cannot see - and I believe her, I believe she can't see this - that there is a reason why people might vote for the Right, despite falling living standards, indicating an apparent "failure of capitalism"
The time will soon come when we will all have to take sides
It’s the good old “Ha ha! These stupid poor people are voting against their interests!” line - as if poor people are only allowed to be interested in money. Concerns higher than money are only for nice middle-class voters, innit?
Indeed. And this led to the defeat of Remain
"The proles only care about their income next weekend, so they can drink shit British beer. Scare them with facts about wages, and the price of a burger, the stupid twats"
The Tory snobs led this campaign, and the Labour snobs eagerly joined in
Well, no. Poor people are generally just as smart - or stupid - as rich people, just lacking in genetic luck or decent education, perhaps. And they are quite capable of making an entirely rational decision which isn't exclusively based on immediate self interest. eg "this might not be instantly good for me, but it will be better for my kids, so I will vote for Leave"
That's why 34m people voted in the Brexit referendum. They felt it mattered, and they felt it could make a difference: as it should, and as - thank God - it has
Imagine a Britain where that referendum was ignored. I genuinely believe we would now be looking at violence in the streets. Fuck. I'd be one of them. If votes can be ignored, throw a petrol bomb
Comments
If Brothers of Italy do come first next month in votes and seats in the Italian general election, it will be the first time a far right party has won a democratic general election in Western Europe since before the 2nd world war
"Scotland's as good as Islington any day of the week".
This is a wretched team, with deep rot from the owners that have completely killed the body. It isn't about the manager or even the players, its the ethos. The club has a business plan that doesn't require success, only to hawk the odd marquee player into shirt sales in places like Thailand.
Ten Hag can't turn that around because it is a club designed to be mediocre. A new owner, with a new ethos, and a new purpose is needed. Much as Liverpool were transformed with owners interested in success, so United can be. But not under the Glazer cancer.
The need has to be targeted and giving professional footballers and celebrities a £2,000 discount is nonsense
The broadest shoulders have to take the hit and provide more to those in real need
And Scotland needs it. Because, for all the vast influx of migrants into the UK - literally 10 million people in about 15 years - not a single one has moved to declining-population Scotland, this despite the excitements of Cumbernauld, glorious Scottish weather, the joys of Satanic winter darkness, and the exciting new policies on gender self ID and compulsory mastectomies from a moribund Woke-nationalist government which hasn't a clue what to do apart from errrrrr ask for new referendums, a country so ghastly even @StuartDickson, whose tiny testicles have been tattooeed with Scottish tartan, can't bear to actually live in "modern" Scotland
But all that can be changed!
Scotland just has to adopt the new slogan, thanks to @Carnyx
"Come to Scotland, we are self sufficient in porridge, potatoes, swedes, herring and mutton"
Sorted
It is that pale tasteless stuff they put in salads etc and it is everywhere in Edinburgh. Never see it in Dundee funnily enough.
Telegraph cheerful this evening
Hi
@UKLabour
glad you liked my proposal to cancel the energy price rise. I also have some thoughts on electoral reform that you're welcome to adopt..
https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/files//statistics/migration/quarterly-summary/miration-statistics-quarterly-summary-february-2021.pdf
It does have a kind of genius, and also captures an essence of Scotland, as she is. Bless her
A large chunk of Scotland's "food and drink exports" is currently accounted for by whisky.
For the record I am a militant vegetarian and if meat were to be banned in any country or part of a country so that that part of the world could become self-sufficient in food I would support that.
https://twitter.com/guidofawkes/status/1558555577499926529
(SCENE: A beer garden somewhere on the fringes of Westminster)
JERRY: Good result your lot got in Wakefield.
BILL: Cheeky. Remember who got these drinks in. But well done on TIverton. Now, to business. If it starts to look like there's a Lib-Lab deal, there will be trouble.
JERRY: Absolutely. But at the same time, we want to keep the tacticals doing the right thing. So we need policies that agree...
BILL: ... while the politicians disagree, right. Nothing too serious. But just bickering....
QuinOA
or
KeenWaa
His protestations that he should have a voice in the Tory leadership campaign, despite loudly leaving the Tory party in disgust after Brexit, really stick in the craw
Fair enough, mate, if you hate the Tories. Leave, and do it loudly. Good for you. But why on earth should they pay you an ounce of respect thereafter? You left. You're out
He was, also, another 2nd Voter. They really need to be expelled from British public life
If you are surprised, I have an excellent stock of bridges (one careful owner) to sell.
Still, England now has lovely world class English fizz and rather good Riesling-type fine white wines, and some developing Pinot Noir-ish reds, which are expected to get ever better
You have malty beer
Look at the success of the club under the Glazers. Not their fault that they couldn't find a replacement for SAF. Succession problems aren't unique to them.
- We do 3x potatoes as England
- Nearly 3x beef
- 2x sheep
- 1/5 chicken
Everything else pretty much the same (though it depends on the breakdown of "cereals"). Wales and NI produce absolutely loads of milk, weirdly.
It’s almost as if energy connectors between countries are a good idea or something.
https://www.theneweuropean.co.uk/lucy-siegle-nick-cohen-guardian-complaint/
There could well be other (similar?) stuff, not (yet?) in the public domain that sent the hoopers up the great and good at the guardian.
Or it could be nothing. Who knows?
Where the race to the bottom was the prize.
Then along comes Trump….
Freeze the energy cap where it is now, subsidise the energy distributors through a windfall tax on energy producers, increased taxes on wealth and/or borrowing.
Or, better still:
Reduce the energy cap back to where it was in 2019/2020, funded through windfall taxes, wealth tax and borrowing, offset by the saving caused by the reduced benefit uplift inflation rate.
Pissing around with £400 here, £150 there is futile.
Edit: Just seen Starmer is saying much the same:
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/aug/13/keir-starmer-demands-ban-on-raising-energy-prices
Yes, it is truly amazing that people are still resistant to voting for the Left in Europe and America
Same way they did in 2019. Don't have nightmares.
Jamie Redknapp disagrees - he thinks it's down to the players who aren't "running for the shirt".
Says anybody can have an offday but at least they should "run around".
Says when he was at Liverpool all the players would "die for the team" and he doesn't get that feeling off these Man U players - that they'd die for Man U.
So, 2 very different takes there on Manchester United Football Club.
LOL.
Not this coming winter they wont.
No doubt Lab are keeping all these boosterism quotes stored up for Jan 2025.
So we now know where Starmer and Davey would cap it. I reckon Liz would cap it higher, and combine with her tax cuts (energy companies pleased), and then Sunak looks like the odd one out, because he would let it rip, and hand out free Government money to pay for it. That's a big bung to the energy companies, yes with the potential to impose further windfall taxes, but only on a percentage of profits. I think it says something about Sunak that he wants to insert Government into this process as the supposed benefactor, furlough style.
The time will soon come when we will all have to take sides
It at least has the virtue of putting the ball back in court.
Vague concepts of "help based on income" are just that.
I wonder if the problem with climate change was about the production of seed potatoes rather than crop potatoes? Scotland produces most of those due to a lack of endemic blight, which likes warmer temperatures.
https://twitter.com/Edwina_Currie/status/1558556383162793987?s=20&t=LNt4J049EVw0sOqJMdvodg
It is the ones who dig the stuff out of the ground or drill in the wilderness not the highly regulated distributors and retail end of the chain.
If you simply cap the price that the retail companies sell the stuff to us then they will either a) not be able to buy any energy on the world markets or b) make losses that result in bankruptcy.
Looking forward to BF getting a book up on leader after Truss.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polling_for_the_2022_Italian_general_election
Whatever happens it is likely Italy is moving right against the recent trend in the West
But it saves rich people a couple grand a year.
So, nothing for the struggling, fuck businesses and tax payer money to compensate energy companies.
Once that sinks in, 'fuck labour' will be the conclusion.
We are screwed. They are going to have to reinvent the energy market
2022 is going to turn out to be a hotter summer than 1976.
Edit: Anyone who has done any kind of benefit or disability means test knows how complicated it is. I did one the other day for social care and it ran to 20 pages (with additional sheets to be added if necessary).
Hmm ... Let's sleep on it.
It requires complete reinvention, somehow!
Carragher talks about the Liverpool wilderness years. And they had similar - an odd collection of supposedly marquee players who don't fit together and no real idea what they are supposed to be doing. Under Souness as an example.
"The proles only care about their income next weekend, so they can drink shit British beer. Scare them with facts about wages, and the price of a burger, the stupid twats"
The Tory snobs led this campaign, and the Labour snobs eagerly joined in
Well, no. Poor people are generally just as smart - or stupid - as rich people, just lacking in genetic luck or decent education, perhaps. And they are quite capable of making an entirely rational decision which isn't exclusively based on immediate self interest. eg "this might not be instantly good for me, but it will be better for my kids, so I will vote for Leave"
That's why 34m people voted in the Brexit referendum. They felt it mattered, and they felt it could make a difference: as it should, and as - thank God - it has
Imagine a Britain where that referendum was ignored. I genuinely believe we would now be looking at violence in the streets. Fuck. I'd be one of them. If votes can be ignored, throw a petrol bomb