And given the amount of effort they are spending looking trans / sex ed issues I have to ask is that really the best they can do to find things to attack Labour on.
The funniest thing is apparently a 14-point Labour lead (43-29) isn't enough for an overall majority but would simply leave Labour as the largest party.
Seriously, that's a 14% swing and would be more than enough for a majority.
So who's going to be swearing their allegiance while saluting, and who exhibiting their huge coronation pants at that moment instead, a la Carry On Up the Kyber?
So who's going to be swearing their allegiance while saluting, and who exhibiting their huge coronation pants at that moment instead, a la Carry On Up the Kyber?
So who's going to be swearing their allegiance while saluting, and who exhibiting their huge coronation pants at that moment instead, a la Carry On Up the Kyber?
So who's going to be swearing their allegiance while saluting, and who exhibiting their huge coronation pants at that moment instead, a la Carry On Up the Kyber?
I would totally respect a leaflet from a party or individual which really leaned into the 'least worst' calculation many voters do indeed engage in, and the protest vote at locals angle, and just go "Look, it's a local election, you might as well go for me, it won't matter".
So who's going to be swearing their allegiance while saluting, and who exhibiting their huge coronation pants at that moment instead, a la Carry On Up the Kyber?
So who's going to be swearing their allegiance while saluting, and who exhibiting their huge coronation pants at that moment instead, a la Carry On Up the Kyber?
So who's going to be swearing their allegiance while saluting, and who exhibiting their huge coronation pants at that moment instead, a la Carry On Up the Kyber?
So who's going to be swearing their allegiance while saluting, and who exhibiting their huge coronation pants at that moment instead, a la Carry On Up the Kyber?
So who's going to be swearing their allegiance while saluting, and who exhibiting their huge coronation pants at that moment instead, a la Carry On Up the Kyber?
Based on intelligence info, Russia has suffered more than 100,000 casualties in Bakhmut in last few months--80,000 wounded and 20,000 killed since December, NSC spokesman John Kirby says. Prigozhin's claim Wagner Group's had only 94 killed in action "is just a ludicrous claim." https://twitter.com/JenniferJJacobs/status/1653093775944699905
That's on a par with the entire 9 year long Soviet-Afghan War. A murderous level of incompetence by the Russian government and military, not forgetting of course their genocidal intent in the first place.
So who's going to be swearing their allegiance while saluting, and who exhibiting their huge coronation pants at that moment instead, a la Carry On Up the Kyber?
Based on intelligence info, Russia has suffered more than 100,000 casualties in Bakhmut in last few months--80,000 wounded and 20,000 killed since December, NSC spokesman John Kirby says. Prigozhin's claim Wagner Group's had only 94 killed in action "is just a ludicrous claim." https://twitter.com/JenniferJJacobs/status/1653093775944699905
That's on a par with the entire 9 year long Soviet-Afghan War. A murderous level of incompetence by the Russian government and military, not forgetting of course their genocidal intent in the first place.
Those figures are likely for the entire front, if true. But the bulk of the fighting has been concentrated in that area.
And given the amount of effort they are spending looking trans / sex ed issues I have to ask is that really the best they can do to find things to attack Labour on.
I find it curious the Sun didn't ask, do the issues make a difference to how you'd vote. Because my suggestion is they don't to enough people.
It seems a bit like an exercise in leading questions to me. A lot of them are Tory culture warrior equivalents of the Mirror asking people if they agree it’s important to have a strong NHS
That's that settled then. Got to wonder how flaky some of the support for the monarchy will be, as the monarch does crazier and crazier shit. I would so much like there to be a betting market on how long he'll last in his current "job".
This is the guy who when his ex-wife died in a foreign country hurried there and had her body brought to his house. Shades of Juan Peron?
And who else other than his mother has had "old age" recorded on their death certificate as the sole cause of death?
Of course for some it's approaching treason just to point such stuff out and call it what it would be called if it were happening with someone outside of the royal family.
So who's going to be swearing their allegiance while saluting, and who exhibiting their huge coronation pants at that moment instead, a la Carry On Up the Kyber?
This is going to be us in Trafalgar Square, in matching outfits.
I don't think that's quite the usual style @Casino_Royale goes for.
If that's what @MoonRabbit looks like, and she's wearing that, then woof-woof.
No that’s an online model!
I look like Liv Tyler and my thighs are much much fatter 😭
Does your dad look like Steve?
Liv Tyler has German ancestry, like my Dad, from Liv’s mothers side I think. But I get the look from my mothers ancestry which was Hong Kong and we think in China before that.
Tbh I look just a bit like Liv Tyler, I might have over egged it on account of the number of times I’ve heard “you look like that elf in Lord of the rings.”
Hope @TSE had separate bets on an EFC win and DCL first scorer. Bit curious. We played well. Probably should have won. Created more chances than in about the last six. Their goalie was superb. However. They missed a penalty. So. A lingering feeling we got away with it.
So who's going to be swearing their allegiance while saluting, and who exhibiting their huge coronation pants at that moment instead, a la Carry On Up the Kyber?
This is going to be us in Trafalgar Square, in matching outfits.
I don't think that's quite the usual style @Casino_Royale goes for.
If that's what @MoonRabbit looks like, and she's wearing that, then woof-woof.
No that’s an online model!
I look like Liv Tyler and my thighs are much much fatter 😭
Does your dad look like Steve?
Liv Tyler has German ancestry, like my Dad, from Liv’s mothers side I think. But I get the look from my mothers ancestry which was Hong Kong and we think in China before that.
Tbh I look just a bit like Liv Tyler, I might have over egged it on account of the number of times I’ve heard “you look like that elf in Lord of the rings.”
So who's going to be swearing their allegiance while saluting, and who exhibiting their huge coronation pants at that moment instead, a la Carry On Up the Kyber?
This is going to be us in Trafalgar Square, in matching outfits.
I don't think that's quite the usual style @Casino_Royale goes for.
If that's what @MoonRabbit looks like, and she's wearing that, then woof-woof.
No that’s an online model!
I look like Liv Tyler and my thighs are much much fatter 😭
Does your dad look like Steve?
Liv Tyler has German ancestry, like my Dad, from Liv’s mothers side I think. But I get the look from my mothers ancestry which was Hong Kong and we think in China before that.
Tbh I look just a bit like Liv Tyler, I might have over egged it on account of the number of times I’ve heard “you look like that elf in Lord of the rings.”
Could they have meant Orlando Bloom?
Only when you've had a few too many and appear Legolas.
So who's going to be swearing their allegiance while saluting, and who exhibiting their huge coronation pants at that moment instead, a la Carry On Up the Kyber?
This is going to be us in Trafalgar Square, in matching outfits.
I don't think that's quite the usual style @Casino_Royale goes for.
If that's what @MoonRabbit looks like, and she's wearing that, then woof-woof.
No that’s an online model!
I look like Liv Tyler and my thighs are much much fatter 😭
Does your dad look like Steve?
Liv Tyler has German ancestry, like my Dad, from Liv’s mothers side I think. But I get the look from my mothers ancestry which was Hong Kong and we think in China before that.
Tbh I look just a bit like Liv Tyler, I might have over egged it on account of the number of times I’ve heard “you look like that elf in Lord of the rings.”
Could they have meant Orlando Bloom?
Only when you've had a few too many and appear Legolas.
And given the amount of effort they are spending looking trans / sex ed issues I have to ask is that really the best they can do to find things to attack Labour on.
I find it curious the Sun didn't ask, do the issues make a difference to how you'd vote. Because my suggestion is they don't to enough people.
It seems a bit like an exercise in leading questions to me. A lot of them are Tory culture warrior equivalents of the Mirror asking people if they agree it’s important to have a strong NHS
So more people are proud of their country than not. Why is this a problem for Starmer?
Hope @TSE had separate bets on an EFC win and DCL first scorer. Bit curious. We played well. Probably should have won. Created more chances than in about the last six. Their goalie was superb. However. They missed a penalty. So. A lingering feeling we got away with it.
Sounds like how the Seattle Kraken just made it into the Stanley Cup semi-semi-finals.
Hope @TSE had separate bets on an EFC win and DCL first scorer. Bit curious. We played well. Probably should have won. Created more chances than in about the last six. Their goalie was superb. However. They missed a penalty. So. A lingering feeling we got away with it.
Quite some cardio workout at that match with chances squandered at both ends. A draw no good for either of us.
Hope @TSE had separate bets on an EFC win and DCL first scorer. Bit curious. We played well. Probably should have won. Created more chances than in about the last six. Their goalie was superb. However. They missed a penalty. So. A lingering feeling we got away with it.
Quite some cardio workout at that match with chances squandered at both ends. A draw no good for either of us.
I'd expect the Conservatives to reach 30% in NEV. Simply because Reform won't translate its poll rating into votes on the ground.
I expect Reform vote to stay home where it doesn’t have an option, as well as a chunk of Conservative vote staying home too.
Tories 22% in the NEV. so let’s see friday afternoon, not long to go.
That would imply that the Conservatives will do 3% worse than in 1995.
A year when the Conservatives lost councils like Fenland, Hertsmere, Dartford, Gravesham, to Labour. Nothing indicates to me that such a result is on the cards this time around, but we'll see.
It’s been a while since we’ve been treated to HY’s explanation of why the Tories will gain seats?
Gains from the LDs, who got 19% in 2019 and Independents yes.
I have also never denied Labour will gain seats off the Tories
I've posted my views before, but I think the LDs will do fine, even off the relative high base of 2019. Indeed, I think they'll end up gaining a few (60-120) councillors. The big winner, though, will be Labour. I think they'll end up gaining 300-450 councillors on the night.
A very interesting question is how the Greens will do. They did incredibly well in 2019, gaining 198 councillors to get to 273 on the night. Their performances in 2021 and 2022 didn't match 2019, and it's possible they could actually go backwards somewhat.
Hope @TSE had separate bets on an EFC win and DCL first scorer. Bit curious. We played well. Probably should have won. Created more chances than in about the last six. Their goalie was superb. However. They missed a penalty. So. A lingering feeling we got away with it.
Quite some cardio workout at that match with chances squandered at both ends. A draw no good for either of us.
Au contraire. Damned sight better than a defeat.
I think you needed a win today.
I can see you getting 3 more points, against Bournemouth in the last game, that's all.
Hope @TSE had separate bets on an EFC win and DCL first scorer. Bit curious. We played well. Probably should have won. Created more chances than in about the last six. Their goalie was superb. However. They missed a penalty. So. A lingering feeling we got away with it.
Quite some cardio workout at that match with chances squandered at both ends. A draw no good for either of us.
Au contraire. Damned sight better than a defeat.
Fixtures look pretty gruelling for us both. Forest vs Southampton looks key for the other teams.
5 points from nine under our new management, I fear we left it too late to ditch Rodgers.
Hope @TSE had separate bets on an EFC win and DCL first scorer. Bit curious. We played well. Probably should have won. Created more chances than in about the last six. Their goalie was superb. However. They missed a penalty. So. A lingering feeling we got away with it.
Quite some cardio workout at that match with chances squandered at both ends. A draw no good for either of us.
Au contraire. Damned sight better than a defeat.
I think you needed a win today.
I can see you getting 3 more points, against Bournemouth in the last game, that's all.
32 points won't be enough to stay up.
Well. Yes. However Wolves seem to have gone on holiday. Brighton have a seriously gruelling schedule of games in hand against almost all the top 4. They may just declare. Lot more confident after tonight. At least it was a performance. And at least it looks like we have a fit striker. Also. Leeds look comical. I thought we were down several months ago. Bit less certain now.
Based on intelligence info, Russia has suffered more than 100,000 casualties in Bakhmut in last few months--80,000 wounded and 20,000 killed since December, NSC spokesman John Kirby says. Prigozhin's claim Wagner Group's had only 94 killed in action "is just a ludicrous claim." https://twitter.com/JenniferJJacobs/status/1653093775944699905
That's on a par with the entire 9 year long Soviet-Afghan War. A murderous level of incompetence by the Russian government and military, not forgetting of course their genocidal intent in the first place.
Bakhmut's been a hell of a rope-a-dope by the Ukrainians.
Hope @TSE had separate bets on an EFC win and DCL first scorer. Bit curious. We played well. Probably should have won. Created more chances than in about the last six. Their goalie was superb. However. They missed a penalty. So. A lingering feeling we got away with it.
Quite some cardio workout at that match with chances squandered at both ends. A draw no good for either of us.
Au contraire. Damned sight better than a defeat.
I think you needed a win today.
I can see you getting 3 more points, against Bournemouth in the last game, that's all.
32 points won't be enough to stay up.
Well. Yes. However Wolves seem to have gone on holiday. Brighton have a seriously gruelling schedule against almost all the top 4. Lot more confident after tonight. At least it was a performance. And at least it looks like we have a fit striker. Also. Leeds look comical.
Brighton face Man Utd, Arsenal, City, Newcastle and Aston Villa
Belgians, coming over here, winning our snooker! What was the point of Brexit!?!
Quite exciting, isn't it? First time someone without English as a first language has won it. I genuinely wonder how aware Belgium is about this. I hope it gets the attention it deserves. He's a remarkable player and it would be a shame were it not as appreciated as it deserves to be. I wonder if we'll get any more Europeans involved as a result?
Hope @TSE had separate bets on an EFC win and DCL first scorer. Bit curious. We played well. Probably should have won. Created more chances than in about the last six. Their goalie was superb. However. They missed a penalty. So. A lingering feeling we got away with it.
Quite some cardio workout at that match with chances squandered at both ends. A draw no good for either of us.
Au contraire. Damned sight better than a defeat.
I think you needed a win today.
I can see you getting 3 more points, against Bournemouth in the last game, that's all.
32 points won't be enough to stay up.
Well. Yes. However Wolves seem to have gone on holiday. Brighton have a seriously gruelling schedule against almost all the top 4. Lot more confident after tonight. At least it was a performance. And at least it looks like we have a fit striker. Also. Leeds look comical.
Brighton face Man Utd, Arsenal, City, Newcastle and Aston Villa
Belgians, coming over here, winning our snooker! What was the point of Brexit!?!
Quite exciting, isn't it? First time someone without English as a first language has won it. I genuinely wonder how aware Belgium is about this. I hope it gets the attention it deserves. He's a remarkable player and it would be a shame were it not as appreciated as it deserves to be. I wonder if we'll get any more Europeans involved as a result?
Also, well done Selby and Luca in concluding the final at a sensible hour. It's frustrating if it's over by 8 but impractical if it goes on much beyond 11.30. It's been a brilliant tournament. I can't remember the last time I enjoyed a World Championship this much.
Belgians, coming over here, winning our snooker! What was the point of Brexit!?!
Quite exciting, isn't it? First time someone without English as a first language has won it. I genuinely wonder how aware Belgium is about this. I hope it gets the attention it deserves. He's a remarkable player and it would be a shame were it not as appreciated as it deserves to be. I wonder if we'll get any more Europeans involved as a result?
A good match and an exciting player. No idea if it will get a whole generation of Belgians into the sport, but let's hope so.
Belgians, coming over here, winning our snooker! What was the point of Brexit!?!
Quite exciting, isn't it? First time someone without English as a first language has won it. I genuinely wonder how aware Belgium is about this. I hope it gets the attention it deserves. He's a remarkable player and it would be a shame were it not as appreciated as it deserves to be. I wonder if we'll get any more Europeans involved as a result?
Irishmen aside, I think Tony Drago (Malta) is the only famous one I can think of without looking it up.
Hope @TSE had separate bets on an EFC win and DCL first scorer. Bit curious. We played well. Probably should have won. Created more chances than in about the last six. Their goalie was superb. However. They missed a penalty. So. A lingering feeling we got away with it.
Quite some cardio workout at that match with chances squandered at both ends. A draw no good for either of us.
Au contraire. Damned sight better than a defeat.
I think you needed a win today.
I can see you getting 3 more points, against Bournemouth in the last game, that's all.
32 points won't be enough to stay up.
Well. Yes. However Wolves seem to have gone on holiday. Brighton have a seriously gruelling schedule against almost all the top 4. Lot more confident after tonight. At least it was a performance. And at least it looks like we have a fit striker. Also. Leeds look comical.
Brighton face Man Utd, Arsenal, City, Newcastle and Aston Villa
A formidable end of season for them
And us between the United and Arsenal bit. With us on a bit more rest. I'm hoping they'll throw everything at United in the hope of making Europe. Then rest a few for the big Arsenal game. It's the hope that's the problem.
Based on intelligence info, Russia has suffered more than 100,000 casualties in Bakhmut in last few months--80,000 wounded and 20,000 killed since December, NSC spokesman John Kirby says. Prigozhin's claim Wagner Group's had only 94 killed in action "is just a ludicrous claim." https://twitter.com/JenniferJJacobs/status/1653093775944699905
That's on a par with the entire 9 year long Soviet-Afghan War. A murderous level of incompetence by the Russian government and military, not forgetting of course their genocidal intent in the first place.
Bakhmut's been a hell of a rope-a-dope by the Ukrainians.
I'm surprised we don't have access to solid numbers on casualties/KIA. Would've thought it would be quite easy to work out for investigations teams at major media outfits.
Do you think our MoD have a good picture? The Ukrainians themselves, or is it all just wildly more messy than I can imagine?
Belgians, coming over here, winning our snooker! What was the point of Brexit!?!
Quite exciting, isn't it? First time someone without English as a first language has won it. I genuinely wonder how aware Belgium is about this. I hope it gets the attention it deserves. He's a remarkable player and it would be a shame were it not as appreciated as it deserves to be. I wonder if we'll get any more Europeans involved as a result?
Irishmen aside, I think Tony Drago (Malta) is the only famous one I can think of without looking it up.
Sir Keir Starmer gave a fascinating interview to The Economist a few days ago. No, wait, come back! For once it really is possible to pay that kind of compliment with a straight face. It took 4,926 words but the unthinkable has at last occurred: the Labour leader said something substantive about economic policy and his plan for growth.
Writing on these pages last week, Janice Turner offered some sound but blindingly obvious advice to the leader of the opposition. So obvious, Blairites with his ear complain, that it is all too frequently forgotten by his shadow cabinet and strategists: “Labour’s sole task is to convince us that its economic plans are ambitious enough to pull us out of this morass.” And are they? Well, about that word “ambitious” . . . With no success stories of his own to tell, Greg Hands, the Conservative Party chairman, has taken to answering every question he faces on any subject with a wave of the letter left by Labour’s Liam Byrne in the Treasury nearly 13 years ago: “I’m afraid there is no money. Kind regards — and good luck!” The point of this campaigning by punchline, of course, is to stoke the fears of profligacy that swing voters still express — indeed, sometimes citing that very bon mot — in Labour’s focus groups.
But to Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, Byrne’s words do not amount to the shortest suicide note in political history but a philosophy for government. Such is the reality of life under Reeves and her deputy, Pat McFadden — Starmer’s Mr Gradgrind — for shadow cabinet ministers who wish to spend significant sums on anything. There is no money. Can you tell us how you’d raise it instead? Bear in mind there’s only so many times we can promise to abolish non-dom status, VAT on private school fees only raises so much and we’ve pledged not to raise taxes on working people. Or capital gains tax. Kind regards — and good luck!
All of which would seem to put a low ceiling on Labour’s ambitions for government. We should not be surprised that a former Bank of England economist in Reeves and a confidant to Sir Tony Blair in McFadden should cleave so closely to fiscal orthodoxy, arid though such thinking seems to colleagues. Theirs is a wing of the Labour Party haunted and vindicated in equal measure by Ed Miliband’s loss in 2015 as much as Jeremy Corbyn’s in 2019. If dullness is the price of economic credibility, then so be it. Shadow cabinet ministers do not need much inducement to criticise just how inflexibly this logic is applied. Labour’s fiscal policy, they complain in unguarded moments, is run by political agoraphobes. The historically literate draw parallels with Philip Snowden, who as Labour’s first chancellor preached an immiserating creed of fiscal discipline, even in the teeth of the Depression and mass unemployment. Nearly a century on, his actuarial school of policymaking reigns supreme. But if Labour really does abide by these self-denying ordinances in government, how does it propose to change anything? In that Economist interview Starmer gave an answer. “Economic growth is mission number one, the central most important mission. And therefore, if the answer is it helps with that mission, then the answer is yes. If the answer is it doesn’t, then the answer’s no.”
Anyone can waffle on about raising Britain’s GDP, as if the fastest growth in the G7 — which Labour has pledged to deliver — can be spoken into existence. Just ask Liz Truss. Without an accompanying policy it is meaningless. But Starmer’s offer can now be summed up quite simply: more houses — lots of them. “I want Labour to be the party of home ownership,” he told The Observer. Shabana Mahmood, his campaign chief, revealed how to the BBC yesterday: “We’ve got to stop having a system where people can block housing in their area.”
Under Rishi Sunak, housing policy has become a nimby’s charter. Mandatory targets for councils have been scrapped, effectively freeing local authorities from any meaningful obligation to build at all. Planning law empowers the shires to say no to almost any development they please. One in five councils do not have a local development plan, and nor does England have a national plan. By the next general election, housebuilders fear, construction will have slowed to a low last seen in the aftermath of the financial crash: as few as 160,000 new homes a year. Sunak and Michael Gove, the housing secretary, have accepted this drag anchor on the economy as a price worth paying for quiescent backbenchers. “We have to change this,” Starmer says. “That will require us to be bold when it comes to things like planning.” But how bold? Labour will pledge to restore housebuilding targets and hand more power to local authorities; promise 70 per cent home ownership and hundreds of thousands of new council homes. Given the resistance of so many local authorities to development, that may sound like a contradiction in terms. But I’m told a Starmer government would wield both carrot and stick: councils would be made to work together to come up with plans for development at a regional level, spreading a burden few want to shoulder individually, with cash and infrastructure as the prize for new housing. (Bafflingly, they are under no obligation to work together now.) If proposed developments meet the standards set out in those local plans, they will be approved. So no longer would each town hall have to agree to what one senior Labour source calls “shitty speculative developments” to meet targets arbitrarily imposed upon them. But nor will they be allowed to opt out of building either.
Starmer’s government would also look anew at the green belt, swathes of which — including a petrol station in Tottenham Hale, north London — are neither green nor pleasant. Those sites would be liberated. Not all politics is local, however. We can also expect to hear more about national projects, driven from the centre too: intensive development on the 50-mile Oxford-Cambridge Arc and a generation of new towns are all under discussion as Starmer’s aides work up plans to be announced at Labour conference in September.
In 1945, Clement Attlee said a vote for Labour was a vote to “build the houses — quick!” Harold Wilson built 400,000 a year, a total not beaten since. Housing does not feature in Starmer’s five missions for government. But he knows it is the answer to all of them. Early in his leadership Starmer promised constructive opposition. That phrase is about to assume a new meaning entirely.
So who's going to be swearing their allegiance while saluting, and who exhibiting their huge coronation pants at that moment instead, a la Carry On Up the Kyber?
This is going to be us in Trafalgar Square, in matching outfits.
I don't think that's quite the usual style @Casino_Royale goes for.
If that's what @MoonRabbit looks like, and she's wearing that, then woof-woof.
No that’s an online model!
I look like Liv Tyler and my thighs are much much fatter 😭
Does your dad look like Steve?
Liv Tyler has German ancestry, like my Dad, from Liv’s mothers side I think. But I get the look from my mothers ancestry which was Hong Kong and we think in China before that.
Tbh I look just a bit like Liv Tyler, I might have over egged it on account of the number of times I’ve heard “you look like that elf in Lord of the rings.”
Could they have meant Orlando Bloom?
Only when you've had a few too many and appear Legolas.
Even though her dad wasn't with Aerosmith, he's still Marillion ?
Is Luca Brecel the first player from a non-English speaking (as first language) country to win the snooker world championship?
Yes, he is. There have been Irishmen, Canadians, and Australians, but no non-English speakers. Ding got to the final a few years back but didn't win it.
And given the amount of effort they are spending looking trans / sex ed issues I have to ask is that really the best they can do to find things to attack Labour on.
I find it curious the Sun didn't ask, do the issues make a difference to how you'd vote. Because my suggestion is they don't to enough people.
I did have an ex-Tory today saying she'd like to vote for me, but what did I think about trans issues? I said I couldn't honestly say I gave them much thought, to which she said "Oh, fine, then I'll vote for you." I think that's where the wider public is, in fact - they will react against a militant policy either way, and are OK with Starmer or anyone else shrugging it off.
Belgians, coming over here, winning our snooker! What was the point of Brexit!?!
Quite exciting, isn't it? First time someone without English as a first language has won it. I genuinely wonder how aware Belgium is about this. I hope it gets the attention it deserves. He's a remarkable player and it would be a shame were it not as appreciated as it deserves to be. I wonder if we'll get any more Europeans involved as a result?
Irishmen aside, I think Tony Drago (Malta) is the only famous one I can think of without looking it up.
There have been a couple of Germans and a Swiss on Tour recently. And a Finn and a Norwegian (though they both grew up in UK). As well as a couple of Ukrainians. There are Austrians, French, Latvians, Hungarians and Moldovans playing high level amateur. It's difficult to make a living if you aren't UK based (or exceptionally good). Julien Leclerq is a much younger Belgian who has had a really good first year on the Tour.
Sir Keir Starmer gave a fascinating interview to The Economist a few days ago. No, wait, come back! For once it really is possible to pay that kind of compliment with a straight face. It took 4,926 words but the unthinkable has at last occurred: the Labour leader said something substantive about economic policy and his plan for growth.
Writing on these pages last week, Janice Turner offered some sound but blindingly obvious advice to the leader of the opposition. So obvious, Blairites with his ear complain, that it is all too frequently forgotten by his shadow cabinet and strategists: “Labour’s sole task is to convince us that its economic plans are ambitious enough to pull us out of this morass.” And are they? Well, about that word “ambitious” . . . With no success stories of his own to tell, Greg Hands, the Conservative Party chairman, has taken to answering every question he faces on any subject with a wave of the letter left by Labour’s Liam Byrne in the Treasury nearly 13 years ago: “I’m afraid there is no money. Kind regards — and good luck!” The point of this campaigning by punchline, of course, is to stoke the fears of profligacy that swing voters still express — indeed, sometimes citing that very bon mot — in Labour’s focus groups.
But to Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, Byrne’s words do not amount to the shortest suicide note in political history but a philosophy for government. Such is the reality of life under Reeves and her deputy, Pat McFadden — Starmer’s Mr Gradgrind — for shadow cabinet ministers who wish to spend significant sums on anything. There is no money. Can you tell us how you’d raise it instead? Bear in mind there’s only so many times we can promise to abolish non-dom status, VAT on private school fees only raises so much and we’ve pledged not to raise taxes on working people. Or capital gains tax. Kind regards — and good luck!
If you're quoting from a paper or magazine could you please put the quote in " " or italics, and provide a link?
Based on intelligence info, Russia has suffered more than 100,000 casualties in Bakhmut in last few months--80,000 wounded and 20,000 killed since December, NSC spokesman John Kirby says. Prigozhin's claim Wagner Group's had only 94 killed in action "is just a ludicrous claim." https://twitter.com/JenniferJJacobs/status/1653093775944699905
That's on a par with the entire 9 year long Soviet-Afghan War. A murderous level of incompetence by the Russian government and military, not forgetting of course their genocidal intent in the first place.
Bakhmut's been a hell of a rope-a-dope by the Ukrainians.
I'm surprised we don't have access to solid numbers on casualties/KIA. Would've thought it would be quite easy to work out for investigations teams at major media outfits.
Do you think our MoD have a good picture? The Ukrainians themselves, or is it all just wildly more messy than I can imagine?
The slides [in the recent US intelligence leak] give detailed DIA casualty assessments: Russia 35,500-43,000 KIA & 154,000-180,000 WIA (implies ~1:4 ratio) Ukraine: 15,500-17,500 KIA & 109,000-113,500 WIA (implies ~1:6 ratio) BUT they specify LOW CONFIDENCE in attrition rates for a variety of reasons incl. info ops.
Hope @TSE had separate bets on an EFC win and DCL first scorer. Bit curious. We played well. Probably should have won. Created more chances than in about the last six. Their goalie was superb. However. They missed a penalty. So. A lingering feeling we got away with it.
Quite some cardio workout at that match with chances squandered at both ends. A draw no good for either of us.
Au contraire. Damned sight better than a defeat.
I think you needed a win today.
I can see you getting 3 more points, against Bournemouth in the last game, that's all.
32 points won't be enough to stay up.
Well. Yes. However Wolves seem to have gone on holiday. Brighton have a seriously gruelling schedule against almost all the top 4. Lot more confident after tonight. At least it was a performance. And at least it looks like we have a fit striker. Also. Leeds look comical.
Brighton face Man Utd, Arsenal, City, Newcastle and Aston Villa
A formidable end of season for them
And us between the United and Arsenal bit. With us on a bit more rest. I'm hoping they'll throw everything at United in the hope of making Europe. Then rest a few for the big Arsenal game. It's the hope that's the problem.
And given the amount of effort they are spending looking trans / sex ed issues I have to ask is that really the best they can do to find things to attack Labour on.
I find it curious the Sun didn't ask, do the issues make a difference to how you'd vote. Because my suggestion is they don't to enough people.
It seems a bit like an exercise in leading questions to me. A lot of them are Tory culture warrior equivalents of the Mirror asking people if they agree it’s important to have a strong NHS
Although lurking in that absurd Sun poll which shows Sunak slaughtering Starmer (apparently) is the question: How well is the government handling the Small Boats issue? Well: 12% Badly: 77%. Given the weight Sunak has given to the issue, that's not so good, and probably more important than views on trans issues.
Hope @TSE had separate bets on an EFC win and DCL first scorer. Bit curious. We played well. Probably should have won. Created more chances than in about the last six. Their goalie was superb. However. They missed a penalty. So. A lingering feeling we got away with it.
Quite some cardio workout at that match with chances squandered at both ends. A draw no good for either of us.
Au contraire. Damned sight better than a defeat.
I think you needed a win today.
I can see you getting 3 more points, against Bournemouth in the last game, that's all.
32 points won't be enough to stay up.
Well. Yes. However Wolves seem to have gone on holiday. Brighton have a seriously gruelling schedule against almost all the top 4. Lot more confident after tonight. At least it was a performance. And at least it looks like we have a fit striker. Also. Leeds look comical.
Brighton face Man Utd, Arsenal, City, Newcastle and Aston Villa
A formidable end of season for them
And us between the United and Arsenal bit. With us on a bit more rest. I'm hoping they'll throw everything at United in the hope of making Europe. Then rest a few for the big Arsenal game. It's the hope that's the problem.
Brighton rested a few (Caicedo, Mitoma, McAllister) for the weekend game against Wolves. And won 6-0.
Hope @TSE had separate bets on an EFC win and DCL first scorer. Bit curious. We played well. Probably should have won. Created more chances than in about the last six. Their goalie was superb. However. They missed a penalty. So. A lingering feeling we got away with it.
Quite some cardio workout at that match with chances squandered at both ends. A draw no good for either of us.
Au contraire. Damned sight better than a defeat.
I think you needed a win today.
I can see you getting 3 more points, against Bournemouth in the last game, that's all.
32 points won't be enough to stay up.
Well. Yes. However Wolves seem to have gone on holiday. Brighton have a seriously gruelling schedule against almost all the top 4. Lot more confident after tonight. At least it was a performance. And at least it looks like we have a fit striker. Also. Leeds look comical.
Brighton face Man Utd, Arsenal, City, Newcastle and Aston Villa
A formidable end of season for them
And us between the United and Arsenal bit. With us on a bit more rest. I'm hoping they'll throw everything at United in the hope of making Europe. Then rest a few for the big Arsenal game. It's the hope that's the problem.
I hope you stay up
Thanks. That isn't a very common sentiment. I guess folk want us down because with a new stadium and decently run we'd be another threat to what is becoming an ever expanding big eight. Or nine. I'd put Newcastle and Villa in that group now. And West Ham have the potential.
And given the amount of effort they are spending looking trans / sex ed issues I have to ask is that really the best they can do to find things to attack Labour on.
I find it curious the Sun didn't ask, do the issues make a difference to how you'd vote. Because my suggestion is they don't to enough people.
It seems a bit like an exercise in leading questions to me. A lot of them are Tory culture warrior equivalents of the Mirror asking people if they agree it’s important to have a strong NHS
Although lurking in that absurd Sun poll which shows Sunak slaughtering Starmer (apparently) is the question: How well is the government handling the Small Boats issue? Well: 12% Badly: 77%. Given the weight Sunak has given to the issue, that's not so good, and probably more important than views on trans issues.
Not good at all, but the 77% contains both those who think Suella is the devil, and those who want to deport 'em all. I wonder what the breakdown is?
Hope @TSE had separate bets on an EFC win and DCL first scorer. Bit curious. We played well. Probably should have won. Created more chances than in about the last six. Their goalie was superb. However. They missed a penalty. So. A lingering feeling we got away with it.
Quite some cardio workout at that match with chances squandered at both ends. A draw no good for either of us.
Au contraire. Damned sight better than a defeat.
I think you needed a win today.
I can see you getting 3 more points, against Bournemouth in the last game, that's all.
32 points won't be enough to stay up.
Well. Yes. However Wolves seem to have gone on holiday. Brighton have a seriously gruelling schedule against almost all the top 4. Lot more confident after tonight. At least it was a performance. And at least it looks like we have a fit striker. Also. Leeds look comical.
Brighton face Man Utd, Arsenal, City, Newcastle and Aston Villa
A formidable end of season for them
And us between the United and Arsenal bit. With us on a bit more rest. I'm hoping they'll throw everything at United in the hope of making Europe. Then rest a few for the big Arsenal game. It's the hope that's the problem.
Brighton rested a few (Caicedo, Mitoma, McAllister) for the weekend game against Wolves. And won 6-0.
So who's going to be swearing their allegiance while saluting, and who exhibiting their huge coronation pants at that moment instead, a la Carry On Up the Kyber?
I'd expect the Conservatives to reach 30% in NEV. Simply because Reform won't translate its poll rating into votes on the ground.
I expect Reform vote to stay home where it doesn’t have an option, as well as a chunk of Conservative vote staying home too.
Tories 22% in the NEV. so let’s see friday afternoon, not long to go.
That would imply that the Conservatives will do 3% worse than in 1995.
A year when the Conservatives lost councils like Fenland, Hertsmere, Dartford, Gravesham, to Labour. Nothing indicates to me that such a result is on the cards this time around, but we'll see.
It’s been a while since we’ve been treated to HY’s explanation of why the Tories will gain seats?
It looks as though the Conservatives will be close to their 2019 levels - the England split in tonight's R&W was Labour 44%, Conservative 29% Liberal Democrat 13% so a 14% swing from December 2019 which is pretty much where we were last week. The Scottish sub sample in tonight's poll may be of more interest to some.
The LDs will also be close to 2019 which leaves Labour who are running much higher and how any form of tactical voting or local anti-Conservative agreement, pact or understanding will impact.
In terms of actual votes cast last time, the Conservatives won 31.5%, Labour 26.5%, Liberal Democrats 16.8%. Green 9.2%, UKIP 4.5% and 11.5% went to other parties such as Residents Groups and Independents.
These aren't quite the same seats as were contested last time but it's still a useful starting point.
There's an interesting little twist in my patch (Waverley). As in 2019, we have multi-member wards (thus everyone has 2-3 votes) and no non-Tory party is putting up full slates, so there is a lot of crossover voting. In my 2-member ward when the 2019 candidates were 2*Con (incumbents), 1*LD and 1*Lab, my estimate is that last time I received the second vote from about half the LibDems (the others mostly just left their second vote unused), and the LibDem received around 2/3 of my voters, which proved enough to take both seats. If tactical voting is stronger now, then both these proportions should go up.
Hope @TSE had separate bets on an EFC win and DCL first scorer. Bit curious. We played well. Probably should have won. Created more chances than in about the last six. Their goalie was superb. However. They missed a penalty. So. A lingering feeling we got away with it.
Quite some cardio workout at that match with chances squandered at both ends. A draw no good for either of us.
Au contraire. Damned sight better than a defeat.
I think you needed a win today.
I can see you getting 3 more points, against Bournemouth in the last game, that's all.
32 points won't be enough to stay up.
Well. Yes. However Wolves seem to have gone on holiday. Brighton have a seriously gruelling schedule against almost all the top 4. Lot more confident after tonight. At least it was a performance. And at least it looks like we have a fit striker. Also. Leeds look comical.
Brighton face Man Utd, Arsenal, City, Newcastle and Aston Villa
A formidable end of season for them
And us between the United and Arsenal bit. With us on a bit more rest. I'm hoping they'll throw everything at United in the hope of making Europe. Then rest a few for the big Arsenal game. It's the hope that's the problem.
I hope you stay up
Thanks. That isn't a very common sentiment. I guess folk want us down because with a new stadium and decently run we'd be another threat to what is becoming an ever expanding big eight. Or nine. I'd put Newcastle and Villa in that group now. And West Ham have the potential.
You will stay up. Southampton and Leeds are gone. The pressure will get to Forest. You will be ok - just!
And given the amount of effort they are spending looking trans / sex ed issues I have to ask is that really the best they can do to find things to attack Labour on.
I find it curious the Sun didn't ask, do the issues make a difference to how you'd vote. Because my suggestion is they don't to enough people.
It seems a bit like an exercise in leading questions to me. A lot of them are Tory culture warrior equivalents of the Mirror asking people if they agree it’s important to have a strong NHS
Although lurking in that absurd Sun poll which shows Sunak slaughtering Starmer (apparently) is the question: How well is the government handling the Small Boats issue? Well: 12% Badly: 77%. Given the weight Sunak has given to the issue, that's not so good, and probably more important than views on trans issues.
Not good at all, but the 77% contains both those who think Suella is the devil, and those who want to deport 'em all. I wonder what the breakdown is?
Fair point - but both the deport 'em all and the let 'em all in groups are united in thinking the policy isn't working. I'd guess about 50:50.
I think on the BBC ticker it did indeed say, "Tonight, Leicester City and Everton played. West Ham won, and Leicester, Everton and Nottingham Forest lost."
I'd expect the Conservatives to reach 30% in NEV. Simply because Reform won't translate its poll rating into votes on the ground.
I expect Reform vote to stay home where it doesn’t have an option, as well as a chunk of Conservative vote staying home too.
Tories 22% in the NEV. so let’s see friday afternoon, not long to go.
That would imply that the Conservatives will do 3% worse than in 1995.
A year when the Conservatives lost councils like Fenland, Hertsmere, Dartford, Gravesham, to Labour. Nothing indicates to me that such a result is on the cards this time around, but we'll see.
It’s been a while since we’ve been treated to HY’s explanation of why the Tories will gain seats?
It looks as though the Conservatives will be close to their 2019 levels - the England split in tonight's R&W was Labour 44%, Conservative 29% Liberal Democrat 13% so a 14% swing from December 2019 which is pretty much where we were last week. The Scottish sub sample in tonight's poll may be of more interest to some.
The LDs will also be close to 2019 which leaves Labour who are running much higher and how any form of tactical voting or local anti-Conservative agreement, pact or understanding will impact.
In terms of actual votes cast last time, the Conservatives won 31.5%, Labour 26.5%, Liberal Democrats 16.8%. Green 9.2%, UKIP 4.5% and 11.5% went to other parties such as Residents Groups and Independents.
These aren't quite the same seats as were contested last time but it's still a useful starting point.
There's an interesting little twist in my patch (Waverley). As in 2019, we have multi-member wards (thus everyone has 2-3 votes) and no non-Tory party is putting up full slates, so there is a lot of crossover voting. In my 2-member ward when the 2019 candidates were 2*Con (incumbents), 1*LD and 1*Lab, my estimate is that last time I received the second vote from about half the LibDems (the others mostly just left their second vote unused), and the LibDem received around 2/3 of my voters, which proved enough to take both seats. If tactical voting is stronger now, then both these proportions should go up.
Silly question really, but I'd be interested to know what percentage of people typically vote 1 Con, 1 Lab, 1 LD in 3 member wards where those parties are standing.
That's interesting. Presumably the French figure is down to energy prices being held down so successfully.
It's partly that, and partly the fact that the French economy (despite massive disruption) has actually done pretty well this year. French composite PMI is pretty much "top of the class" in the G7 right now.
Hope @TSE had separate bets on an EFC win and DCL first scorer. Bit curious. We played well. Probably should have won. Created more chances than in about the last six. Their goalie was superb. However. They missed a penalty. So. A lingering feeling we got away with it.
Quite some cardio workout at that match with chances squandered at both ends. A draw no good for either of us.
Au contraire. Damned sight better than a defeat.
I think you needed a win today.
I can see you getting 3 more points, against Bournemouth in the last game, that's all.
32 points won't be enough to stay up.
Bournemouth are a form team now, so I wouldn't count on it. Wolves do seem on the beach, but on the other hand it is their last match of the season.
I think it will most likely go to the last match of the season, except for Saints, who look down already. All the bottom 5 have tough fixtures, but none will lose them all.
Course. The best 10 Dylan songs will be controversial. But. There's nowt after the 1981. At least Blowin in the Wind and Time's They are a- Changin aren't in there.
Silly question really, but I'd be interested to know what percentage of people typically vote 1 Con, 1 Lab, 1 LD in 3 member wards where those parties are standing.
My ward has now been merged into another (the home of Charterhouse school and in parts extremely posh) and has become a 3-member ward, so I'll potentially be able to tell you on Friday (I forget what the rule is about what you can say about the count - can you give guesstimates like that?). There are 3 Tory candidates and one each from LD, Lab (me) and Green. My guess is that the number of voters who mix votes as you say will be tiny, but there are always some votes that raise eyebrows. What's more common is not using all your votes - maybe because you know the reputation of one candidate but have never heard of the others.
Hope @TSE had separate bets on an EFC win and DCL first scorer. Bit curious. We played well. Probably should have won. Created more chances than in about the last six. Their goalie was superb. However. They missed a penalty. So. A lingering feeling we got away with it.
Quite some cardio workout at that match with chances squandered at both ends. A draw no good for either of us.
Au contraire. Damned sight better than a defeat.
I think you needed a win today.
I can see you getting 3 more points, against Bournemouth in the last game, that's all.
32 points won't be enough to stay up.
Well. Yes. However Wolves seem to have gone on holiday. Brighton have a seriously gruelling schedule against almost all the top 4. Lot more confident after tonight. At least it was a performance. And at least it looks like we have a fit striker. Also. Leeds look comical.
Brighton face Man Utd, Arsenal, City, Newcastle and Aston Villa
A formidable end of season for them
And us between the United and Arsenal bit. With us on a bit more rest. I'm hoping they'll throw everything at United in the hope of making Europe. Then rest a few for the big Arsenal game. It's the hope that's the problem.
I hope you stay up
Thanks. That isn't a very common sentiment. I guess folk want us down because with a new stadium and decently run we'd be another threat to what is becoming an ever expanding big eight. Or nine. I'd put Newcastle and Villa in that group now. And West Ham have the potential.
You will stay up. Southampton and Leeds are gone. The pressure will get to Forest. You will be ok - just!
Forest have good home form, so should get 3 points at least. If Leicester stay up, it will most likely be by goal difference.
And given the amount of effort they are spending looking trans / sex ed issues I have to ask is that really the best they can do to find things to attack Labour on.
The most depressing thing about that poll is that a third of Brits think a women can have a penis.
At least 1/3 of Britains don't think
1) That pineapple on Pizza is a good idea 2) Anyone named after a writing implement should be president of France 3) Python is a great coding language 4) Radiohead were a great band 5) Piers Corbyn is other than the answer to one question
Hope @TSE had separate bets on an EFC win and DCL first scorer. Bit curious. We played well. Probably should have won. Created more chances than in about the last six. Their goalie was superb. However. They missed a penalty. So. A lingering feeling we got away with it.
Quite some cardio workout at that match with chances squandered at both ends. A draw no good for either of us.
Au contraire. Damned sight better than a defeat.
I think you needed a win today.
I can see you getting 3 more points, against Bournemouth in the last game, that's all.
32 points won't be enough to stay up.
Bournemouth are a form team now, so I wouldn't count on it. Wolves do seem on the beach, but on the other hand it is their last match of the season.
I think it will most likely go to the last match of the season, except for Saints, who look down already. All the bottom 5 have tough fixtures, but none will lose them all.
Bournemouth safe at Goodison on the final day when we need three can be in form all they like. There isn't anywhere more intimidating. Just hope we get to that.
Hope @TSE had separate bets on an EFC win and DCL first scorer. Bit curious. We played well. Probably should have won. Created more chances than in about the last six. Their goalie was superb. However. They missed a penalty. So. A lingering feeling we got away with it.
Quite some cardio workout at that match with chances squandered at both ends. A draw no good for either of us.
Au contraire. Damned sight better than a defeat.
I think you needed a win today.
I can see you getting 3 more points, against Bournemouth in the last game, that's all.
32 points won't be enough to stay up.
Well. Yes. However Wolves seem to have gone on holiday. Brighton have a seriously gruelling schedule against almost all the top 4. Lot more confident after tonight. At least it was a performance. And at least it looks like we have a fit striker. Also. Leeds look comical.
Brighton face Man Utd, Arsenal, City, Newcastle and Aston Villa
A formidable end of season for them
And us between the United and Arsenal bit. With us on a bit more rest. I'm hoping they'll throw everything at United in the hope of making Europe. Then rest a few for the big Arsenal game. It's the hope that's the problem.
I hope you stay up
Thanks. That isn't a very common sentiment. I guess folk want us down because with a new stadium and decently run we'd be another threat to what is becoming an ever expanding big eight. Or nine. I'd put Newcastle and Villa in that group now. And West Ham have the potential.
You will stay up. Southampton and Leeds are gone. The pressure will get to Forest. You will be ok - just!
Forest have good home form, so should get 3 points at least. If Leicester stay up, it will most likely be by goal difference.
Yes I see Forest have Southampton at home. They have to get 3 points from that. You clearly don't want that outcome!
Silly question really, but I'd be interested to know what percentage of people typically vote 1 Con, 1 Lab, 1 LD in 3 member wards where those parties are standing.
My ward has now been merged into another (the home of Charterhouse school and in parts extremely posh) and has become a 3-member ward, so I'll potentially be able to tell you on Friday (I forget what the rule is about what you can say about the count - can you give guesstimates like that?). There are 3 Tory candidates and one each from LD, Lab (me) and Green. My guess is that the number of voters who mix votes as you say will be tiny, but there are always some votes that raise eyebrows. What's more common is not using all your votes - maybe because you know the reputation of one candidate but have never heard of the others.
Thanks. It would be interesting to know, in an anorak-ish sort of way.
Silly question really, but I'd be interested to know what percentage of people typically vote 1 Con, 1 Lab, 1 LD in 3 member wards where those parties are standing.
My ward has now been merged into another (the home of Charterhouse school and in parts extremely posh) and has become a 3-member ward, so I'll potentially be able to tell you on Friday (I forget what the rule is about what you can say about the count - can you give guesstimates like that?). There are 3 Tory candidates and one each from LD, Lab (me) and Green. My guess is that the number of voters who mix votes as you say will be tiny, but there are always some votes that raise eyebrows. What's more common is not using all your votes - maybe because you know the reputation of one candidate but have never heard of the others.
Well, on your *reputation*, you should be getting about 99% of the vote.....
Course. The best 10 Dylan songs will be controversial. But. There's nowt after the 1981. At least Blowin in the Wind and Time's They are a- Changin aren't in there.
Where is Not Dark Yet? Blind Willie McTell? Mississippi? Workingman's Blues #4? Shooting Star? Dignity? Etc.,etc.
Just noticed "a Hard Rain's A Gonna Fall" suggested as a possible response to the Cuban Missile crisis. Written six months before. Nonsense analysis by someone who's never listened to the aged Zimmerman.
Comments
‘Potential neuro-signatures of consciousness’ observed in unresponsive patients at time of death, scientists say
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/may/01/people-in-comas-showed-conscious-like-brain-activity-as-they-died-study-says
Interesting study.
Seriously, that's a 14% swing and would be more than enough for a majority.
It’s time for PR. The leader of the most successful party in British history backs PR. Labour Party delegates back PR. Starmer needs to back PR
https://twitter.com/OliProbertHill/status/1651880271933853697?cxt=HHwWgsC-wd6W1OwtAAAA
Though it was not that Liz Taylor, or her in "Cleopatra'' I had in my mind's eye. Instead, LT in her Andy Warhol - Michael Jackson period.
Ended in denial.
@SpeakerMcCarthy: "No, I vote for aid for Ukraine. I support aid for Ukraine. I do not support what your country has done to Ukraine."
https://twitter.com/cspan/status/1653070894359560192
But the bulk of the fighting has been concentrated in that area.
But instead let's try distraction tactics away from the economy like the culture wars. I just cannot see how this washes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5Ynodf9CcY
This is the guy who when his ex-wife died in a foreign country hurried there and had her body brought to his house. Shades of Juan Peron?
And who else other than his mother has had "old age" recorded on their death certificate as the sole cause of death?
Of course for some it's approaching treason just to point such stuff out and call it what it would be called if it were happening with someone outside of the royal family.
Tbh I look just a bit like Liv Tyler, I might have over egged it on account of the number of times I’ve heard “you look like that elf in Lord of the rings.”
Bit curious. We played well. Probably should have won. Created more chances than in about the last six. Their goalie was superb.
However. They missed a penalty.
So. A lingering feeling we got away with it.
Damned sight better than a defeat.
BBC News - Protests repeatedly halt first minister's questions
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-65128937
A very interesting question is how the Greens will do. They did incredibly well in 2019, gaining 198 councillors to get to 273 on the night. Their performances in 2021 and 2022 didn't match 2019, and it's possible they could actually go backwards somewhat.
I can see you getting 3 more points, against Bournemouth in the last game, that's all.
32 points won't be enough to stay up.
5 points from nine under our new management, I fear we left it too late to ditch Rodgers.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/22217770/rishi-sunak-makes-best-leader-sir-keir-starmer-poll/?utm_medium=browser_notifications&utm_source=pushly
All those singles losing their council tax discount if this goes ahead
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/05/01/labour-widows-tax-single-person-discount-council-tax/
Brighton have a seriously gruelling schedule of games in hand against almost all the top 4. They may just declare.
Lot more confident after tonight. At least it was a performance.
And at least it looks like we have a fit striker.
Also. Leeds look comical.
I thought we were down several months ago. Bit less certain now.
A formidable end of season for them
That's not a good feeling.
I wonder if we'll get any more Europeans involved as a result?
It's been a brilliant tournament. I can't remember the last time I enjoyed a World Championship this much.
It's the hope that's the problem.
Do you think our MoD have a good picture? The Ukrainians themselves, or is it all just wildly more messy than I can imagine?
https://timesofmalta.com/articles/view/dutch-police-arrest-boris-johnson-after-drunk-driving-incident.1028846
Writing on these pages last week, Janice Turner offered some sound but blindingly obvious advice to the leader of the opposition. So obvious, Blairites with his ear complain, that it is all too frequently forgotten by his shadow cabinet and strategists: “Labour’s sole task is to convince us that its economic plans are ambitious enough to pull us out of this morass.”
And are they? Well, about that word “ambitious” . . . With no success stories of his own to tell, Greg Hands, the Conservative Party chairman, has taken to answering every question he faces on any subject with a wave of the letter left by Labour’s Liam Byrne in the Treasury nearly 13 years ago: “I’m afraid there is no money. Kind regards — and good luck!” The point of this campaigning by punchline, of course, is to stoke the fears of profligacy that swing voters still express — indeed, sometimes citing that very bon mot — in Labour’s focus groups.
But to Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, Byrne’s words do not amount to the shortest suicide note in political history but a philosophy for government. Such is the reality of life under Reeves and her deputy, Pat McFadden — Starmer’s Mr Gradgrind — for shadow cabinet ministers who wish to spend significant sums on anything. There is no money. Can you tell us how you’d raise it instead? Bear in mind there’s only so many times we can promise to abolish non-dom status, VAT on private school fees only raises so much and we’ve pledged not to raise taxes on working people. Or capital gains tax. Kind regards — and good luck!
Shadow cabinet ministers do not need much inducement to criticise just how inflexibly this logic is applied. Labour’s fiscal policy, they complain in unguarded moments, is run by political agoraphobes. The historically literate draw parallels with Philip Snowden, who as Labour’s first chancellor preached an immiserating creed of fiscal discipline, even in the teeth of the Depression and mass unemployment. Nearly a century on, his actuarial school of policymaking reigns supreme. But if Labour really does abide by these self-denying ordinances in government, how does it propose to change anything? In that Economist interview Starmer gave an answer. “Economic growth is mission number one, the central most important mission. And therefore, if the answer is it helps with that mission, then the answer is yes. If the answer is it doesn’t, then the answer’s no.”
Anyone can waffle on about raising Britain’s GDP, as if the fastest growth in the G7 — which Labour has pledged to deliver — can be spoken into existence. Just ask Liz Truss. Without an accompanying policy it is meaningless. But Starmer’s offer can now be summed up quite simply: more houses — lots of them. “I want Labour to be the party of home ownership,” he told The Observer. Shabana Mahmood, his campaign chief, revealed how to the BBC yesterday: “We’ve got to stop having a system where people can block housing in their area.”
“We have to change this,” Starmer says. “That will require us to be bold when it comes to things like planning.” But how bold? Labour will pledge to restore housebuilding targets and hand more power to local authorities; promise 70 per cent home ownership and hundreds of thousands of new council homes. Given the resistance of so many local authorities to development, that may sound like a contradiction in terms. But I’m told a Starmer government would wield both carrot and stick: councils would be made to work together to come up with plans for development at a regional level, spreading a burden few want to shoulder individually, with cash and infrastructure as the prize for new housing. (Bafflingly, they are under no obligation to work together now.) If proposed developments meet the standards set out in those local plans, they will be approved. So no longer would each town hall have to agree to what one senior Labour source calls “shitty speculative developments” to meet targets arbitrarily imposed upon them. But nor will they be allowed to opt out of building either.
Starmer’s government would also look anew at the green belt, swathes of which — including a petrol station in Tottenham Hale, north London — are neither green nor pleasant. Those sites would be liberated. Not all politics is local, however. We can also expect to hear more about national projects, driven from the centre too: intensive development on the 50-mile Oxford-Cambridge Arc and a generation of new towns are all under discussion as Starmer’s aides work up plans to be announced at Labour conference in September.
In 1945, Clement Attlee said a vote for Labour was a vote to “build the houses — quick!” Harold Wilson built 400,000 a year, a total not beaten since. Housing does not feature in Starmer’s five missions for government. But he knows it is the answer to all of them. Early in his leadership Starmer promised constructive opposition. That phrase is about to assume a new meaning entirely.
Ding got to the final a few years back but didn't win it.
There are Austrians, French, Latvians, Hungarians and Moldovans playing high level amateur.
It's difficult to make a living if you aren't UK based (or exceptionally good).
Julien Leclerq is a much younger Belgian who has had a really good first year on the Tour.
Russia 35,500-43,000 KIA & 154,000-180,000 WIA (implies ~1:4 ratio)
Ukraine: 15,500-17,500 KIA & 109,000-113,500 WIA (implies ~1:6 ratio)
BUT they specify LOW CONFIDENCE in attrition rates for a variety of reasons incl. info ops.
https://twitter.com/shashj/status/1644824879642886144
Should add there are other very different figures available, not.just because of varying agendas.
How well is the government handling the Small Boats issue?
Well: 12%
Badly: 77%.
Given the weight Sunak has given to the issue, that's not so good, and probably more important than views on trans issues.
And won 6-0.
That isn't a very common sentiment.
I guess folk want us down because with a new stadium and decently run we'd be another threat to what is becoming an ever expanding big eight. Or nine.
I'd put Newcastle and Villa in that group now.
And West Ham have the potential.
But Wolves are safe.
I think it will most likely go to the last match of the season, except for Saints, who look down already. All the bottom 5 have tough fixtures, but none will lose them all.
At least Blowin in the Wind and Time's They are a- Changin aren't in there.
https://singersroom.com/w5/best-bob-dylan-songs-of-all-time/
Where is Not Dark Yet? Blind Willie McTell? Mississippi? Workingman's Blues #4? Shooting Star? Dignity?
Etc.,etc.
1) That pineapple on Pizza is a good idea
2) Anyone named after a writing implement should be president of France
3) Python is a great coding language
4) Radiohead were a great band
5) Piers Corbyn is other than the answer to one question
Small mercies and all that.
There isn't anywhere more intimidating.
Just hope we get to that.
They will get nothing from their other games.
EXCL: Keir Starmer will abandon Labour’s commitment to abolish university tuition fees within weeks
https://twitter.com/hzeffman/status/1653152666137010177
Written six months before.
Nonsense analysis by someone who's never listened to the aged Zimmerman.