Could there be a LAB-LD pact in mid-Beds? – politicalbetting.com

An enjoyable thread on the measures being taken to render numberplates unreadable to the enforcement cameras.

(Including the cases where the vehicles are exempt from the charge)

https://twitter.com/AdamBronkhorst/status/1698582416657437124

kinabalu said:

Big_G_NorthWales said:

ydoethur said:

I think I have some sympathy for Gillian Keegan. It isn't altogether her fault.

The DfE, none at all. If they hadn't made a botched reform to academy chains, grossly underfunded them and forced them to pursue expensive short term goals at the expense of longer term sustainability than we might not be in this mess to start with.

You can't tell somebody they're doing a good job and/or getting a grip on something when they're clearly not doing so.

I have just listened to Gillian Keegan at the dispatch box and frankly, her knowledge of the subject, and detail was very impressive

Indeed, while not excusing her off camera rant, anyone could see why she was so frustrated with so many who frankly do not have her grasp of the subject

It is the first time I have heard her and considering the pressure she is under her performance was very good

It wasn't much of a rant. I'd have preferred something like, 'ok so Labour are ahead in the polls, bully for them, but they still have to go to a general election and get something, and I tell you something, I'd luv it, luv it, if they fall short and lose. Again.'

Good comment but on Keegan, anyone listening to her detailed knowledge and individual responses to mps would have to accept that she was on top of her brief, and did answer questions honestly and following a question from Christine Jardine agreed with her that the Scottish government were not upto speed and that she was offering all the devolved governments help and assistance in addressing these serious issues

I've been observing events unfold today on my way up to Surrey with my jaw dropping further and further. That wasn't solely because passengers were gasping for air on a train devoid of air-conditioning.

It's the barely believable clusterf*ck unfolding over Britain's crumbling schools.

The current Conservative Party really are the gift to Labour that keeps on giving.

One day it will doubtless be the other way around, but this Government is beyond parody.

Big_G_NorthWales said:

HYUFD said:

MoonRabbit said:

HYUFD said:

MoonRabbit said:

Stuartinromford said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

This chyron probably wasn’t part of the No 10 back-to-school media strategy



https://twitter.com/breeallegretti/status/1698692502906122732

Meanwhile, stand by for the Mail to pin the whole fiasco on Remote Working;

Timeline:

DfE became aware of the RAAC issue early in August

Keegan instructed officials to investigate

While that work was ongoing, on August 25th she flew to Spain to celebrate her father’s birthday, staying in a holiday home she owns there

While she was in Spain, she worked on RAAC via video conferencing each day, her office said

This was equivalent to working from home, just abroad, an ally says

She led ‘gold’ calls, attended by ministers Nick Gibb and Baroness Barran back home in London

https://twitter.com/alexwickham/status/1698683447022117024?s=20

It's not fair to blame GK for any of this. But since when has politics been fair?

A scape goat is going to need to be sacrificed soon, to take the heat off Rishi.

It will be bad news for Labour and the Opposition parties if Concrete Crisis brings down Rishi Sunak. A replacement as PM and HomeSec from moderate wing the party (Hunt PM, Penny HomSec) and 12 months talking about tackling unfair privilege in country today and being a government of aspiration and reform would save 50-100 Tory seats imo.

It’s funny how Concrete Crisis can work out so good for the Tories, if it helps them replace Sunak.

Remainer Hunt replacing Leaver Sunak as Tory leader and PM guarantees a doubling of the RefUK vote and risks near wipeout for the Tories

This one post from you sums up your whole mistake right now HY.

In this electoral situation you arguing Tories need to be Reform and Brexit fixated.

I am explained the exact opposite to you, a position you should adopt. Chasing Grey Wall, Brexit voter and Reform voter gets you 28% tops at next General Election. You are actively ushering in a political sea change by decimating your return of MPs.

50-100 MPs can be saved, a far better Proportion of vote by going in the opposite direction. So many leave voters want a sane, convincing safe pair of hands PM right now, reform minded voters want a Tory HomSec who can get a grip, and there are millions of voters you are just handing to Labour, who would be just as happy to keep in an aspirational Tory government intent on reform.

You are misreading the political mood of the country. The Tories can be in a much better place switching to aspiration and reform, rather than chase UKIP and Reform voters.

Hunt wouldn't win back any Labour or LD voters, he would however see further losses from the Tories to RefUK

@MoonRabbit is correct in her observations, not least your hopes that a move to the right will revitalise the conservative party

Far from it, it will marginalise them into as much as cult as are Corbyn followers

Yes and no.

There's a version of Conservatism which is a lot more centrist centre right than the current one, which I believe would be more popular.

But you can only get there by a big jump, of the sort Cameron did. And that sort of jump can only really be done in opposition.

If you try to do it by gentle shuffles, the first few steps make you less popular, not more. You lose GB News types before you gain centrist dads.

For now, Sunak is trapped on a local summit of a small hill. Every path starts downhill, even if there are better, higher peaks nearby.

Stuartinromford said:

Big_G_NorthWales said:

HYUFD said:

MoonRabbit said:

HYUFD said:

MoonRabbit said:

Stuartinromford said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

This chyron probably wasn’t part of the No 10 back-to-school media strategy



https://twitter.com/breeallegretti/status/1698692502906122732

Meanwhile, stand by for the Mail to pin the whole fiasco on Remote Working;

Timeline:

DfE became aware of the RAAC issue early in August

Keegan instructed officials to investigate

While that work was ongoing, on August 25th she flew to Spain to celebrate her father’s birthday, staying in a holiday home she owns there

While she was in Spain, she worked on RAAC via video conferencing each day, her office said

This was equivalent to working from home, just abroad, an ally says

She led ‘gold’ calls, attended by ministers Nick Gibb and Baroness Barran back home in London

https://twitter.com/alexwickham/status/1698683447022117024?s=20

It's not fair to blame GK for any of this. But since when has politics been fair?

A scape goat is going to need to be sacrificed soon, to take the heat off Rishi.

It will be bad news for Labour and the Opposition parties if Concrete Crisis brings down Rishi Sunak. A replacement as PM and HomeSec from moderate wing the party (Hunt PM, Penny HomSec) and 12 months talking about tackling unfair privilege in country today and being a government of aspiration and reform would save 50-100 Tory seats imo.

It’s funny how Concrete Crisis can work out so good for the Tories, if it helps them replace Sunak.

Remainer Hunt replacing Leaver Sunak as Tory leader and PM guarantees a doubling of the RefUK vote and risks near wipeout for the Tories

This one post from you sums up your whole mistake right now HY.

In this electoral situation you arguing Tories need to be Reform and Brexit fixated.

I am explained the exact opposite to you, a position you should adopt. Chasing Grey Wall, Brexit voter and Reform voter gets you 28% tops at next General Election. You are actively ushering in a political sea change by decimating your return of MPs.

50-100 MPs can be saved, a far better Proportion of vote by going in the opposite direction. So many leave voters want a sane, convincing safe pair of hands PM right now, reform minded voters want a Tory HomSec who can get a grip, and there are millions of voters you are just handing to Labour, who would be just as happy to keep in an aspirational Tory government intent on reform.

You are misreading the political mood of the country. The Tories can be in a much better place switching to aspiration and reform, rather than chase UKIP and Reform voters.

Hunt wouldn't win back any Labour or LD voters, he would however see further losses from the Tories to RefUK

@MoonRabbit is correct in her observations, not least your hopes that a move to the right will revitalise the conservative party

Far from it, it will marginalise them into as much as cult as are Corbyn followers

Yes and no.

There's a version of Conservatism which is a lot more centrist centre right than the current one, which I believe would be more popular.

But you can only get there by a big jump, of the sort Cameron did. And that sort of jump can only really be done in opposition.

If you try to do it by gentle shuffles, the first few steps make you less popular, not more. You lose GB News types before you gain centrist dads.

For now, Sunak is trapped on a local summit of a small hill. Every path starts downhill, even if there are better, higher peaks nearby.

Good summary of their predicament.

They're doomed. Just about everyone knows it. It's when, not if.

Stuartinromford said:

Big_G_NorthWales said:

HYUFD said:

MoonRabbit said:

HYUFD said:

MoonRabbit said:

Stuartinromford said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

This chyron probably wasn’t part of the No 10 back-to-school media strategy



https://twitter.com/breeallegretti/status/1698692502906122732

Meanwhile, stand by for the Mail to pin the whole fiasco on Remote Working;

Timeline:

DfE became aware of the RAAC issue early in August

Keegan instructed officials to investigate

While that work was ongoing, on August 25th she flew to Spain to celebrate her father’s birthday, staying in a holiday home she owns there

While she was in Spain, she worked on RAAC via video conferencing each day, her office said

This was equivalent to working from home, just abroad, an ally says

She led ‘gold’ calls, attended by ministers Nick Gibb and Baroness Barran back home in London

https://twitter.com/alexwickham/status/1698683447022117024?s=20

It's not fair to blame GK for any of this. But since when has politics been fair?

A scape goat is going to need to be sacrificed soon, to take the heat off Rishi.

It will be bad news for Labour and the Opposition parties if Concrete Crisis brings down Rishi Sunak. A replacement as PM and HomeSec from moderate wing the party (Hunt PM, Penny HomSec) and 12 months talking about tackling unfair privilege in country today and being a government of aspiration and reform would save 50-100 Tory seats imo.

It’s funny how Concrete Crisis can work out so good for the Tories, if it helps them replace Sunak.

Remainer Hunt replacing Leaver Sunak as Tory leader and PM guarantees a doubling of the RefUK vote and risks near wipeout for the Tories

This one post from you sums up your whole mistake right now HY.

In this electoral situation you arguing Tories need to be Reform and Brexit fixated.

I am explained the exact opposite to you, a position you should adopt. Chasing Grey Wall, Brexit voter and Reform voter gets you 28% tops at next General Election. You are actively ushering in a political sea change by decimating your return of MPs.

50-100 MPs can be saved, a far better Proportion of vote by going in the opposite direction. So many leave voters want a sane, convincing safe pair of hands PM right now, reform minded voters want a Tory HomSec who can get a grip, and there are millions of voters you are just handing to Labour, who would be just as happy to keep in an aspirational Tory government intent on reform.

You are misreading the political mood of the country. The Tories can be in a much better place switching to aspiration and reform, rather than chase UKIP and Reform voters.

Hunt wouldn't win back any Labour or LD voters, he would however see further losses from the Tories to RefUK

@MoonRabbit is correct in her observations, not least your hopes that a move to the right will revitalise the conservative party

Far from it, it will marginalise them into as much as cult as are Corbyn followers

Yes and no.

There's a version of Conservatism which is a lot more centrist centre right than the current one, which I believe would be more popular.

But you can only get there by a big jump, of the sort Cameron did. And that sort of jump can only really be done in opposition.

If you try to do it by gentle shuffles, the first few steps make you less popular, not more. You lose GB News types before you gain centrist dads.

For now, Sunak is trapped on a local summit of a small hill. Every path starts downhill, even if there are better, higher peaks nearby.

I have little doubt the conservatives will be in opposition but if the ERG and right take over than they will be on the margins

Heathener said:

Stuartinromford said:

Big_G_NorthWales said:

HYUFD said:

MoonRabbit said:

HYUFD said:

MoonRabbit said:

Stuartinromford said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

This chyron probably wasn’t part of the No 10 back-to-school media strategy



https://twitter.com/breeallegretti/status/1698692502906122732

Meanwhile, stand by for the Mail to pin the whole fiasco on Remote Working;

Timeline:

DfE became aware of the RAAC issue early in August

Keegan instructed officials to investigate

While that work was ongoing, on August 25th she flew to Spain to celebrate her father’s birthday, staying in a holiday home she owns there

While she was in Spain, she worked on RAAC via video conferencing each day, her office said

This was equivalent to working from home, just abroad, an ally says

She led ‘gold’ calls, attended by ministers Nick Gibb and Baroness Barran back home in London

https://twitter.com/alexwickham/status/1698683447022117024?s=20

It's not fair to blame GK for any of this. But since when has politics been fair?

A scape goat is going to need to be sacrificed soon, to take the heat off Rishi.

It will be bad news for Labour and the Opposition parties if Concrete Crisis brings down Rishi Sunak. A replacement as PM and HomeSec from moderate wing the party (Hunt PM, Penny HomSec) and 12 months talking about tackling unfair privilege in country today and being a government of aspiration and reform would save 50-100 Tory seats imo.

It’s funny how Concrete Crisis can work out so good for the Tories, if it helps them replace Sunak.

Remainer Hunt replacing Leaver Sunak as Tory leader and PM guarantees a doubling of the RefUK vote and risks near wipeout for the Tories

This one post from you sums up your whole mistake right now HY.

In this electoral situation you arguing Tories need to be Reform and Brexit fixated.

I am explained the exact opposite to you, a position you should adopt. Chasing Grey Wall, Brexit voter and Reform voter gets you 28% tops at next General Election. You are actively ushering in a political sea change by decimating your return of MPs.

50-100 MPs can be saved, a far better Proportion of vote by going in the opposite direction. So many leave voters want a sane, convincing safe pair of hands PM right now, reform minded voters want a Tory HomSec who can get a grip, and there are millions of voters you are just handing to Labour, who would be just as happy to keep in an aspirational Tory government intent on reform.

You are misreading the political mood of the country. The Tories can be in a much better place switching to aspiration and reform, rather than chase UKIP and Reform voters.

Hunt wouldn't win back any Labour or LD voters, he would however see further losses from the Tories to RefUK

@MoonRabbit is correct in her observations, not least your hopes that a move to the right will revitalise the conservative party

Far from it, it will marginalise them into as much as cult as are Corbyn followers

Yes and no.

There's a version of Conservatism which is a lot more centrist centre right than the current one, which I believe would be more popular.

But you can only get there by a big jump, of the sort Cameron did. And that sort of jump can only really be done in opposition.

If you try to do it by gentle shuffles, the first few steps make you less popular, not more. You lose GB News types before you gain centrist dads.

For now, Sunak is trapped on a local summit of a small hill. Every path starts downhill, even if there are better, higher peaks nearby.

Good summary of their predicament.

They're doomed. Just about everyone knows it. It's when, not if.

The question is the margin of defeat, which could be anything from modest to severe

TimS said:

In case you've not been watching, we're at the start of what could potentially be a record breaking September heatwave. Record breaking not so much for its peak temperatures but the sheer relentlessness of unseasonably warm weather.

The latest model run from the American model (GFS) this evening is the warmest of the pack, so I'll admit to a bit of bias, but here are the maximum programmed temperatures for the UK for each day from today until the 20th of September, which are usually 1-2C below the actual max:

28 (but actually it reached 30 today), 29. 32, 31, 30, 30, 30, 30, 30, 30, 28, 25, 24, 27, 28, 30, 30.

Sounds like it'll be over just in time for the weather to turn bad for my beginning-of-October holiday :-)

MattW said:

twistedfirestopper3 said:

It looks like the Great House Price Slide is gathering pace. Today has seen quite a few of the houses at the top end of our budget all getting reduced on RightMove/Zoopla, some by 15%. We actually nearly put an offer on one of them last month that wasn't far off what it's up for now but it was just too close to a busy, noisy road. Glad we didn't now!
It's made me even more convinced to wait a while longer. I feel like a vulture waiting for a wildebeest to kark it, but them's the breaks.

I'm glad to see house prices coming down. IMO we need about minus 20-25% over 3-4 years.

It's been a funny few years. Had a bungalow in mum's estate probate valued at £175k in Nov 2019.

Since then suggested values have gone up to 200k and down to £175k, and buyers have played hokey-cokey.

Finally completed on the sale today at £176k sale price with a buyer who has flubbing for about 18 months.

It's barmy. On the same street, you'll find a 2 bed semi detached bungalow on the market for more than a 3 bed detached bungalow on the next street on the same estate. Sellers are in a bit of denial, and still think house prices only ever go up but if they don't sell soon, they'll sell for a lot less next year. We viewed a bungalow today that has been on since February. Nothing wrong with it, just well over priced in this falling market. Spoke to the estate agent, said would they go for a 10% drop for cash. He said probably not, they're very rigid on whar they want. This is a probate house that a a pair of siblings are selling. It's free money for them, but just too greedy. I guess they don't need the money, but they could have had 240 grand split in their bank in a month or so.

bigjohnowls said:

Soft left demotions.

"Nandy humiliated with International Development"

Oh well first they came for the Socialists .......

...because the entryist Trots had already crawled back under the rock where they came from.

Gillian Keegan is the MP for the neighbouring constituency. Soon after becoming an MP, she gave a talk to a local community group, which I attended. After describing her successful career in business, she said she was invited to enter politics as it needed more people from business. In order to prepare for the world of politics, she became a Chichester District Councillor. I felt she was very snooty about local government and described how her friends found it "hilarious" that she would be dealing with allotments and public conveniences. (In fact, those come under the Town (Parish) Council.)

If she does get sacked over crumbling schools, I feel somehow it is Karma for her seeing local government as somehow beneath her. (I realise schools come under the County Council but the principle is the same.)

bigjohnowls said:

L4%K has been appointed as the new Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary.

Kendall is on record as backing "welfare reform", supporting the benefit cap and calling for EU migrants' benefits to be cut.

Blue Tories / Red Tories = same thing

If Starmer, with his policies and values, was in the Conservative Party today, do you think the Tories would elect him as their leader?

Leon said:

Ludlow has at least five pubs dating from pre-16th century ie medieval. I know this coz I just walked past them

The pub I’m in now dates from 1102

1102!!!!

When this pub was built the fields and hovels all around would still have been full of Anglo Saxons staring murderously at the obnoxious new Normans in the shiny new castle. I sense some of them are still staring

“Nothing to write home about”???

FFS

Fitting for the Tories Medieval Week:

https://twitter.com/tillythorpe/status/1698613376862040289?t=aTrU_3PnP0S5CF6kZ8rygg&s=19

Big_G_NorthWales said:

HYUFD said:

MoonRabbit said:

HYUFD said:

MoonRabbit said:

Stuartinromford said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

This chyron probably wasn’t part of the No 10 back-to-school media strategy



https://twitter.com/breeallegretti/status/1698692502906122732

Meanwhile, stand by for the Mail to pin the whole fiasco on Remote Working;

Timeline:

DfE became aware of the RAAC issue early in August

Keegan instructed officials to investigate

While that work was ongoing, on August 25th she flew to Spain to celebrate her father’s birthday, staying in a holiday home she owns there

While she was in Spain, she worked on RAAC via video conferencing each day, her office said

This was equivalent to working from home, just abroad, an ally says

She led ‘gold’ calls, attended by ministers Nick Gibb and Baroness Barran back home in London

https://twitter.com/alexwickham/status/1698683447022117024?s=20

It's not fair to blame GK for any of this. But since when has politics been fair?

A scape goat is going to need to be sacrificed soon, to take the heat off Rishi.

It will be bad news for Labour and the Opposition parties if Concrete Crisis brings down Rishi Sunak. A replacement as PM and HomeSec from moderate wing the party (Hunt PM, Penny HomSec) and 12 months talking about tackling unfair privilege in country today and being a government of aspiration and reform would save 50-100 Tory seats imo.

It’s funny how Concrete Crisis can work out so good for the Tories, if it helps them replace Sunak.

Remainer Hunt replacing Leaver Sunak as Tory leader and PM guarantees a doubling of the RefUK vote and risks near wipeout for the Tories

This one post from you sums up your whole mistake right now HY.

In this electoral situation you arguing Tories need to be Reform and Brexit fixated.

I am explained the exact opposite to you, a position you should adopt. Chasing Grey Wall, Brexit voter and Reform voter gets you 28% tops at next General Election. You are actively ushering in a political sea change by decimating your return of MPs.

50-100 MPs can be saved, a far better Proportion of vote by going in the opposite direction. So many leave voters want a sane, convincing safe pair of hands PM right now, reform minded voters want a Tory HomSec who can get a grip, and there are millions of voters you are just handing to Labour, who would be just as happy to keep in an aspirational Tory government intent on reform.

You are misreading the political mood of the country. The Tories can be in a much better place switching to aspiration and reform, rather than chase UKIP and Reform voters.

Hunt wouldn't win back any Labour or LD voters, he would however see further losses from the Tories to RefUK

@MoonRabbit is correct in her observations, not least your hopes that a move to the right will revitalise the conservative party

Far from it, it will marginalise them into as much as cult as are Corbyn followers

If Sunak got the 32% Corbyn got in 2019 or the 39% Corbyn got in 2017 or even the 32% Howard got in 2005 he would bite your hand off now.

At the moment the Tories are neither winning centrists, who are almost all voting Starmer Labour or LD, or holding the right, many of whom are DK or RefUK. Brown had the same problem in 2010 when Labour did even worse than Corbyn on just 29% having lost the centre to the Conservatives and LDs and much of the left to the Greens and LDs.

Truss was even worse

Less than a third of Gen Z polled think Royal family is good for Britain

YouGov poll reveals stark decline in support for the monarchy, with roughly a 50 per cent drop among young people in a decade

Only three in 10 young people think the Royal family is good for Britain, a new YouGov poll has revealed.

A majority of those aged 18-24 also said they held a negative opinion of the King as he approaches the first anniversary of his reign, with 52 per cent expressing disapproval.

The figures pose a significant problem for the monarchy, suggesting that attitudes among Generation Z have not improved in the last three years.

Younger Britons have been divided on whether or not to keep the monarchy since 2020, when the Duke of York’s friendship with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein and Harry and Meghan’s fractious exit from royal life saw support plummet.

The latest survey suggests that just over a third of 18 to 24-year-olds want the UK to retain the monarchy, while 40 per cent would prefer an elected head of state.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/royal-family/2023/09/04/yougov-poll-young-people-monarchy-royal-family-bad-britain/

TimS said:

In case you've not been watching, we're at the start of what could potentially be a record breaking September heatwave. Record breaking not so much for its peak temperatures but the sheer relentlessness of unseasonably warm weather.

The latest model run from the American model (GFS) this evening is the warmest of the pack, so I'll admit to a bit of bias, but here are the maximum programmed temperatures for the UK for each day from today until the 20th of September, which are usually 1-2C below the actual max:

28 (but actually it reached 30 today), 29. 32, 31, 30, 30, 30, 30, 30, 30, 28, 25, 24, 27, 28, 30, 30.

Across much of northern and Central Europe it looks like scorchio until at least the middle of the month, perhaps breaking to storms later in the month.

MoonRabbit said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

Paging HYUFD.

Starmer leads Sunak by 17%, tying his largest ever lead over Sunak.

At this moment, which of the following do Britons think would be the better Prime Minister for the UK? (3 September)

Keir Starmer 46% (+2)
Rishi Sunak 29% (-5)

Changes +/- 27 August

https://twitter.com/RedfieldWilton/status/1698730191906889999

For a measurement that’s supposed to be hard for an opposition leader to do well on, 17% gap is looking quite commanding now. RW tend to poll higher % for Con too, compared to most other pollsters, even as Sunak is crashing personally in the fieldwork they still find yet another 28% for Con.

The momentum in which Sunak’s political stock is declining, as the electorate back away from him, has to be the main polling take from the last month.

The England sub sample breaks 44-30-16 (the highest LD number for a while). A 13 point Conservative lead in December 2019 is now a 14 point Labour lead so the swing is 13.5%. The Conservatives were 32 points ahead of the LDs in 2019, the gap now is 14 so that's a 9% swing.

We also have the conundrum of tactical voting and where that might take us.

SandyRentool said:

What I have learnt today:

A "fragrant" woman saying "fuck" gives certain Tory gentlemen the horn.

And that's why she said it.

What seems more likely is she forgot the first rule of politics - always assume every microphone is live. It was amateurish and while she may have been having sleepless nights over RAAC, I'm sure she's not the only one. I know a lot of local authority property managers who have been working through the summer trying to mitigate RAAC in school and non school buildings.

Nick Gibb currently drowning on Channel 4 News.

MattW said:

Leon said:

Ludlow has at least five pubs dating from pre-16th century ie medieval. I know this coz I just walked past them

The pub I’m in now dates from 1102

1102!!!!

When this pub was built the fields and hovels all around would still have been full of Anglo Saxons staring murderously at the obnoxious new Normans in the shiny new castle. I sense some of them are still staring

“Nothing to write home about”???

FFS

In Ludlow you had better visit St Lawrence Church - a Simon Jenkins *****.

This is one of their ~14C misericord carvings, of a cellar-manager in a monastery.


https://www.greatenglishchurches.co.uk/html/ludlow.html

Oooh. I love a Jenkins *****

On the case

Heathener said:

Stuartinromford said:

Big_G_NorthWales said:

HYUFD said:

MoonRabbit said:

HYUFD said:

MoonRabbit said:

Stuartinromford said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

This chyron probably wasn’t part of the No 10 back-to-school media strategy



https://twitter.com/breeallegretti/status/1698692502906122732

Meanwhile, stand by for the Mail to pin the whole fiasco on Remote Working;

Timeline:

DfE became aware of the RAAC issue early in August

Keegan instructed officials to investigate

While that work was ongoing, on August 25th she flew to Spain to celebrate her father’s birthday, staying in a holiday home she owns there

While she was in Spain, she worked on RAAC via video conferencing each day, her office said

This was equivalent to working from home, just abroad, an ally says

She led ‘gold’ calls, attended by ministers Nick Gibb and Baroness Barran back home in London

https://twitter.com/alexwickham/status/1698683447022117024?s=20

It's not fair to blame GK for any of this. But since when has politics been fair?

A scape goat is going to need to be sacrificed soon, to take the heat off Rishi.

It will be bad news for Labour and the Opposition parties if Concrete Crisis brings down Rishi Sunak. A replacement as PM and HomeSec from moderate wing the party (Hunt PM, Penny HomSec) and 12 months talking about tackling unfair privilege in country today and being a government of aspiration and reform would save 50-100 Tory seats imo.

It’s funny how Concrete Crisis can work out so good for the Tories, if it helps them replace Sunak.

Remainer Hunt replacing Leaver Sunak as Tory leader and PM guarantees a doubling of the RefUK vote and risks near wipeout for the Tories

This one post from you sums up your whole mistake right now HY.

In this electoral situation you arguing Tories need to be Reform and Brexit fixated.

I am explained the exact opposite to you, a position you should adopt. Chasing Grey Wall, Brexit voter and Reform voter gets you 28% tops at next General Election. You are actively ushering in a political sea change by decimating your return of MPs.

50-100 MPs can be saved, a far better Proportion of vote by going in the opposite direction. So many leave voters want a sane, convincing safe pair of hands PM right now, reform minded voters want a Tory HomSec who can get a grip, and there are millions of voters you are just handing to Labour, who would be just as happy to keep in an aspirational Tory government intent on reform.

You are misreading the political mood of the country. The Tories can be in a much better place switching to aspiration and reform, rather than chase UKIP and Reform voters.

Hunt wouldn't win back any Labour or LD voters, he would however see further losses from the Tories to RefUK

@MoonRabbit is correct in her observations, not least your hopes that a move to the right will revitalise the conservative party

Far from it, it will marginalise them into as much as cult as are Corbyn followers

Yes and no.

There's a version of Conservatism which is a lot more centrist centre right than the current one, which I believe would be more popular.

But you can only get there by a big jump, of the sort Cameron did. And that sort of jump can only really be done in opposition.

If you try to do it by gentle shuffles, the first few steps make you less popular, not more. You lose GB News types before you gain centrist dads.

For now, Sunak is trapped on a local summit of a small hill. Every path starts downhill, even if there are better, higher peaks nearby.

Good summary of their predicament.

They're doomed. Just about everyone knows it. It's when, not if.

I disagree with you and Stuart’s summary. In my discussion with HY I am not claiming Tories will retain government, but if they limit losses they can remain relevant, deny Starmer a majority government, and with a smaller hill for the tories climb in comeback to government.

But the route to any recovery and limiting seat losses is not the route Sunak is on, the party now blithely defending privilege is the opposite of what Margaret Thatcher built 4 election wins on (including 92). If the Tories replaced the dry right wing messengers Sunak & Braverman for moderates, and switched their concern from ULEZ type issues to cost of rents, costs of mortgage, shortness in housing, they will win so many voters back from the centre before the next election than those they lose rightwards (Stu and HY both wrong on this) and will defend an awful lot more seats at the next general election that look very much lost today.

Making such a move is pointless after an election reducing them to 150 seats. It’s about knowing what the electorate want to hear right now in order to better defend every seat. In other words, the fight for relevance and electoral position begins right now, today. It’s important Conservatives realise this urgency, and not just drift into a general election shellacking.

stodge said:

MoonRabbit said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

Paging HYUFD.

Starmer leads Sunak by 17%, tying his largest ever lead over Sunak.

At this moment, which of the following do Britons think would be the better Prime Minister for the UK? (3 September)

Keir Starmer 46% (+2)
Rishi Sunak 29% (-5)

Changes +/- 27 August

https://twitter.com/RedfieldWilton/status/1698730191906889999

For a measurement that’s supposed to be hard for an opposition leader to do well on, 17% gap is looking quite commanding now. RW tend to poll higher % for Con too, compared to most other pollsters, even as Sunak is crashing personally in the fieldwork they still find yet another 28% for Con.

The momentum in which Sunak’s political stock is declining, as the electorate back away from him, has to be the main polling take from the last month.

The England sub sample breaks 44-30-16 (the highest LD number for a while). A 13 point Conservative lead in December 2019 is now a 14 point Labour lead so the swing is 13.5%. The Conservatives were 32 points ahead of the LDs in 2019, the gap now is 14 so that's a 9% swing.

We also have the conundrum of tactical voting and where that might take us.

The subsample isn’t weighted is it? Therefore it’s meaningless, yet you seem to quote meaningless subsamples almost daily.

Anabobazina said:

FF43 said:

Anabobazina said:

Cookie said:

Anabobazina said:

Cookie said:

Anabobazina said:

Cookie said:

eristdoof said:

Anabobazina said:

Sandpit said:

Alanbrooke said:

BartholomewRoberts said:

Anabobazina said:

boulay said:

For those who don’t know what a passbook is here is mine from 1985 which my mother found the other week in some of my late old man’s belongings as an illustration.

And this is what we are expecting banks to maintain?

I've heard it all now.

What the hell is the frigging point of one of those in this day and age?

Seems even more pointless than chequebooks.

Never had one.

Its an age and wealth thing.

None of my kids carry cash, I carry cash and cards. They slag me off for carrying cash, bur very so often they get caught short and I dont.

The better off are likely to use e payment, the less well off less so.

Cash will probably have its day but until we have covered access to all I see no reason to accelerate it,

Do parents these days give their teenage kids pocket money as a bank transfer?

Any money my son earns through doing work around the house gets paid by bank transfer. He has even asked gifts to be paid by BACS (from relatives etc) as cash just burns a hole in his pocket. He's found saving much easier since we abolished cash entirely.

That's interesting, I always assumed that the problem is the otherway round. You have much less of a feeling how much you are spending when paying with a card or an app, which i would have thought easily leads to overspending. I was in the UK last month and it was annoying how many barstaff would hold the card reader with the amount being charged facing them, so I had to stand on tiptoes, lean over and read the price upside down.

I guess the reality is some people have more of a problem overspending with cash in the pocket and others more of a problem overspending with cashless payment.

I think my kids are a similar age to OLB's - and their issue with cash is keeping it in one place. Inevitably some of the abrogate the responsibility and hand their money over to me to keep in my wallet until they want to spend some of it, which inevitably gets muddled with my money, and I have to keep a running mental tally of how much of each daughter's money is mine. And that's without all the money scattered around their room in various piggy banks, money boxes etc which they have acquired over the years. It was a great relief when they started using cards.

Another big problem with cash, right there. It really is a deeply flawed mode of tender.

Cash isn't 'deeply flawed', just as a notepad and pen isn't deeply flawed despite the presence of word processing software. Cash, cards, phones (I guess) - all have their advantages and drawbacks.
Despite the inconveniences above, I'm not going to be giving my 8 year old a bank card, because she will lose it.

It is deeply flawed, that's why lots of people simply stopped using it many years ago and have never looked back.

Electronic payments: The buyer taps his phone, the money goes straight into the retailer's account.

Cash: The buyer takes his card to a machine, converting perfectly functional, electronic money into slips of paper and shards of metal that he now has to carry about his person. These odd scraps of material are then offered to a retailer who has to find more scraps of material to give back to the buyer as change. If the retailer lacks the correct composition of material, the transaction fails. Assuming he has the correct composition, the retailer now has to store these scraps of material in a secure place, at cost and risk to himself, before finding additional time in his working week to transport said scraps of material to a place, probably several miles away, so he can given them to a lady in a pin-striped skirt who doesn't want them either. Said lady has to them put them in a secure place, at cost and risk to her own business, so they can be transported at even more cost to her business to an even more secure place, at which point she is able to convert them back into electronic money for the retailer, who could have just been paid directly in electronic money in the first place.

Electronic payments: reliant on thr tech working.
Cash: not reliant on the tech working.

Fake news.

I was left high and dry in Southeast Europe recently because the only ATM in the resort I was staying in had conked out, and the restaurant I was eating in took only cash (like lots of the places there, it was a real step back in time). It was a right palaver, which required me to ask a taxi to park illegally at the next resort while I literally legged it in 30c heat to another cashpoint. Cash is an antiquated system that – ironically – relies far too heavily on machines.

You want to ban cash based retail when the business and their customers are happy with those restrictions?

Er, nope.

I have said on here several times, probably dozens of time, I wouldn’t ban cash nor cash based retail.

Do I need to say it yet again FFS?

I'm afraid people get pigeoned here. I want to ban private schools. You want to ban cash. It's like a family in this respect. No point fighting it. Eg according to my family I'm allergic to pineapple. It brings me out in a rash. It doesn't in fact and I'm not. It's not my fave but I can eat it fine. Whatever, it's been repeated so often it's become true despite not being true. Kuntibula is allergic to pineapple.

Anabobazina said:

stodge said:

MoonRabbit said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

Paging HYUFD.

Starmer leads Sunak by 17%, tying his largest ever lead over Sunak.

At this moment, which of the following do Britons think would be the better Prime Minister for the UK? (3 September)

Keir Starmer 46% (+2)
Rishi Sunak 29% (-5)

Changes +/- 27 August

https://twitter.com/RedfieldWilton/status/1698730191906889999

For a measurement that’s supposed to be hard for an opposition leader to do well on, 17% gap is looking quite commanding now. RW tend to poll higher % for Con too, compared to most other pollsters, even as Sunak is crashing personally in the fieldwork they still find yet another 28% for Con.

The momentum in which Sunak’s political stock is declining, as the electorate back away from him, has to be the main polling take from the last month.

The England sub sample breaks 44-30-16 (the highest LD number for a while). A 13 point Conservative lead in December 2019 is now a 14 point Labour lead so the swing is 13.5%. The Conservatives were 32 points ahead of the LDs in 2019, the gap now is 14 so that's a 9% swing.

We also have the conundrum of tactical voting and where that might take us.

The subsample isn’t weighted is it? Therefore it’s meaningless, yet you seem to quote meaningless subsamples almost daily.

In general I agree that subsamples are a mug's game, but the England subsample of a GB poll should be such a large proportion that I expect it's pretty meaningful.

Common consensus amongst colleagues today - the DfE school saga is terminal for the gov. Feeds the narrative of under funded public services and short term decisions made with 0 foresight

At least the DfE aren’t pedantic and overbearing on all other aspects. Oh

What's the note going to say when the Tories leave office?

"Sorry there's no money left and everything is falling apart at the seams"?

I recall aspects such like capital investment in areas like the NHS are appealing at a national level.

We should have invested in capital and infrastructure like mad back when the government could borrow at negative 1-2% real yields.

It's going to be a lot more costly to fix things now.

Anabobazina said:

FF43 said:

Anabobazina said:

Cookie said:

Anabobazina said:

Cookie said:

Anabobazina said:

Cookie said:

eristdoof said:

Anabobazina said:

Sandpit said:

Alanbrooke said:

BartholomewRoberts said:

Anabobazina said:

boulay said:

For those who don’t know what a passbook is here is mine from 1985 which my mother found the other week in some of my late old man’s belongings as an illustration.

And this is what we are expecting banks to maintain?

I've heard it all now.

What the hell is the frigging point of one of those in this day and age?

Seems even more pointless than chequebooks.

Never had one.

Its an age and wealth thing.

None of my kids carry cash, I carry cash and cards. They slag me off for carrying cash, bur very so often they get caught short and I dont.

The better off are likely to use e payment, the less well off less so.

Cash will probably have its day but until we have covered access to all I see no reason to accelerate it,

Do parents these days give their teenage kids pocket money as a bank transfer?

Any money my son earns through doing work around the house gets paid by bank transfer. He has even asked gifts to be paid by BACS (from relatives etc) as cash just burns a hole in his pocket. He's found saving much easier since we abolished cash entirely.

That's interesting, I always assumed that the problem is the otherway round. You have much less of a feeling how much you are spending when paying with a card or an app, which i would have thought easily leads to overspending. I was in the UK last month and it was annoying how many barstaff would hold the card reader with the amount being charged facing them, so I had to stand on tiptoes, lean over and read the price upside down.

I guess the reality is some people have more of a problem overspending with cash in the pocket and others more of a problem overspending with cashless payment.

I think my kids are a similar age to OLB's - and their issue with cash is keeping it in one place. Inevitably some of the abrogate the responsibility and hand their money over to me to keep in my wallet until they want to spend some of it, which inevitably gets muddled with my money, and I have to keep a running mental tally of how much of each daughter's money is mine. And that's without all the money scattered around their room in various piggy banks, money boxes etc which they have acquired over the years. It was a great relief when they started using cards.

Another big problem with cash, right there. It really is a deeply flawed mode of tender.

Cash isn't 'deeply flawed', just as a notepad and pen isn't deeply flawed despite the presence of word processing software. Cash, cards, phones (I guess) - all have their advantages and drawbacks.
Despite the inconveniences above, I'm not going to be giving my 8 year old a bank card, because she will lose it.

It is deeply flawed, that's why lots of people simply stopped using it many years ago and have never looked back.

Electronic payments: The buyer taps his phone, the money goes straight into the retailer's account.

Cash: The buyer takes his card to a machine, converting perfectly functional, electronic money into slips of paper and shards of metal that he now has to carry about his person. These odd scraps of material are then offered to a retailer who has to find more scraps of material to give back to the buyer as change. If the retailer lacks the correct composition of material, the transaction fails. Assuming he has the correct composition, the retailer now has to store these scraps of material in a secure place, at cost and risk to himself, before finding additional time in his working week to transport said scraps of material to a place, probably several miles away, so he can given them to a lady in a pin-striped skirt who doesn't want them either. Said lady has to them put them in a secure place, at cost and risk to her own business, so they can be transported at even more cost to her business to an even more secure place, at which point she is able to convert them back into electronic money for the retailer, who could have just been paid directly in electronic money in the first place.

Electronic payments: reliant on thr tech working.
Cash: not reliant on the tech working.

Fake news.

I was left high and dry in Southeast Europe recently because the only ATM in the resort I was staying in had conked out, and the restaurant I was eating in took only cash (like lots of the places there, it was a real step back in time). It was a right palaver, which required me to ask a taxi to park illegally at the next resort while I literally legged it in 30c heat to another cashpoint. Cash is an antiquated system that – ironically – relies far too heavily on machines.

You want to ban cash based retail when the business and their customers are happy with those restrictions?

Er, nope.

I have said on here several times, probably dozens of time, I wouldn’t ban cash nor cash based retail.

Do I need to say it yet again FFS?

Ban was your word not mine. But you are happy to "restrict", as you said above.

TheScreamingEagles said:

Less than a third of Gen Z polled think Royal family is good for Britain

YouGov poll reveals stark decline in support for the monarchy, with roughly a 50 per cent drop among young people in a decade

Only three in 10 young people think the Royal family is good for Britain, a new YouGov poll has revealed.

A majority of those aged 18-24 also said they held a negative opinion of the King as he approaches the first anniversary of his reign, with 52 per cent expressing disapproval.

The figures pose a significant problem for the monarchy, suggesting that attitudes among Generation Z have not improved in the last three years.

Younger Britons have been divided on whether or not to keep the monarchy since 2020, when the Duke of York’s friendship with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein and Harry and Meghan’s fractious exit from royal life saw support plummet.

The latest survey suggests that just over a third of 18 to 24-year-olds want the UK to retain the monarchy, while 40 per cent would prefer an elected head of state.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/royal-family/2023/09/04/yougov-poll-young-people-monarchy-royal-family-bad-britain/

We need to go all Chairman Mao on secondary school teachers.

They've been feeding students a diet of malignant Wokery for the last 8 years.

Leon said:

El_Capitano said:

Leon said:

Benpointer said:

Leon said:

Ludlow it is! A foaming pint of virtual perry for @Carnyx and a faux thimble of Ludlow gin for @boulay

What a stunning little town

My hotel in the first pic is Dinham Weir House

Here’s my room in case anyone is scared that I’m suffering unduly on my Official Gazette Welsh Marches Road Trip

We were in Ludlow for a weekend a month ago. It's alright - nothing to write home about though.

It’s architecturally exquisite! A completely unharmed 13th-19th century English market town with the Shropshire hills at the end of every road

John Betjeman called it the “prettiest town in England”

However it definitely feels a lot poorer than somewhere like Hereford. Indeed, as I say, it reminds me of Hereford three decades ago - before it was gentrified

I wouldn’t go that far, but the wealth (or lack thereof) is certainly different. Hereford is squaddies and urban families relocated from a bunch of cities including, bizarrely, Glasgow (metalworking basically). There’s a lot of light industry in the city, not least Bulmers/Heineken.

Ludlow however is proper Herefordshire rural with a smattering of expat gastro Londoners. It was also, believe it or not, the epicentre of the computer games magazine industry in the 1980s.

If you want rural poor, Craven Arms is just one stop up the railway line. Good locally owned supermarket, though.

I went back to Hereford recently and it was proper posh compared to what I knew as a lad. I grew up there - I had Scottish friends and friends with SAS dads for the reasons you state

Every night there was a good chance of a major fight. They were guaranteed at weekends

Now it’s all sushi bars and gastro pubs and gleaming vinoteks

And for a good reason. It’s a handsome, safe, largely unspoiled cathedral city surrounded by magnificent countryside. A fine place to live. Not that I appreciated this age 17 and bored witless

I'd say *everywhere* has got less violent since you and I were growing up. A fight was just part of a night out. You'd get a bit of a kicking and then your assailant would catch up with you afterwards to give you back the wallet you'd dropped. I genuinely think this has changed - it's not just that I'm no longer frequenting fighty pubs.
Some put this down to the removal of lead from petrol. I'm not convinced, but I like the theory.

FF43 said:

Anabobazina said:

FF43 said:

Anabobazina said:

Cookie said:

Anabobazina said:

Cookie said:

Anabobazina said:

Cookie said:

eristdoof said:

Anabobazina said:

Sandpit said:

Alanbrooke said:

BartholomewRoberts said:

Anabobazina said:

boulay said:

For those who don’t know what a passbook is here is mine from 1985 which my mother found the other week in some of my late old man’s belongings as an illustration.

And this is what we are expecting banks to maintain?

I've heard it all now.

What the hell is the frigging point of one of those in this day and age?

Seems even more pointless than chequebooks.

Never had one.

Its an age and wealth thing.

None of my kids carry cash, I carry cash and cards. They slag me off for carrying cash, bur very so often they get caught short and I dont.

The better off are likely to use e payment, the less well off less so.

Cash will probably have its day but until we have covered access to all I see no reason to accelerate it,

Do parents these days give their teenage kids pocket money as a bank transfer?

Any money my son earns through doing work around the house gets paid by bank transfer. He has even asked gifts to be paid by BACS (from relatives etc) as cash just burns a hole in his pocket. He's found saving much easier since we abolished cash entirely.

That's interesting, I always assumed that the problem is the otherway round. You have much less of a feeling how much you are spending when paying with a card or an app, which i would have thought easily leads to overspending. I was in the UK last month and it was annoying how many barstaff would hold the card reader with the amount being charged facing them, so I had to stand on tiptoes, lean over and read the price upside down.

I guess the reality is some people have more of a problem overspending with cash in the pocket and others more of a problem overspending with cashless payment.

I think my kids are a similar age to OLB's - and their issue with cash is keeping it in one place. Inevitably some of the abrogate the responsibility and hand their money over to me to keep in my wallet until they want to spend some of it, which inevitably gets muddled with my money, and I have to keep a running mental tally of how much of each daughter's money is mine. And that's without all the money scattered around their room in various piggy banks, money boxes etc which they have acquired over the years. It was a great relief when they started using cards.

Another big problem with cash, right there. It really is a deeply flawed mode of tender.

Cash isn't 'deeply flawed', just as a notepad and pen isn't deeply flawed despite the presence of word processing software. Cash, cards, phones (I guess) - all have their advantages and drawbacks.
Despite the inconveniences above, I'm not going to be giving my 8 year old a bank card, because she will lose it.

It is deeply flawed, that's why lots of people simply stopped using it many years ago and have never looked back.

Electronic payments: The buyer taps his phone, the money goes straight into the retailer's account.

Cash: The buyer takes his card to a machine, converting perfectly functional, electronic money into slips of paper and shards of metal that he now has to carry about his person. These odd scraps of material are then offered to a retailer who has to find more scraps of material to give back to the buyer as change. If the retailer lacks the correct composition of material, the transaction fails. Assuming he has the correct composition, the retailer now has to store these scraps of material in a secure place, at cost and risk to himself, before finding additional time in his working week to transport said scraps of material to a place, probably several miles away, so he can given them to a lady in a pin-striped skirt who doesn't want them either. Said lady has to them put them in a secure place, at cost and risk to her own business, so they can be transported at even more cost to her business to an even more secure place, at which point she is able to convert them back into electronic money for the retailer, who could have just been paid directly in electronic money in the first place.

Electronic payments: reliant on thr tech working.
Cash: not reliant on the tech working.

Fake news.

I was left high and dry in Southeast Europe recently because the only ATM in the resort I was staying in had conked out, and the restaurant I was eating in took only cash (like lots of the places there, it was a real step back in time). It was a right palaver, which required me to ask a taxi to park illegally at the next resort while I literally legged it in 30c heat to another cashpoint. Cash is an antiquated system that – ironically – relies far too heavily on machines.

You want to ban cash based retail when the business and their customers are happy with those restrictions?

Er, nope.

I have said on here several times, probably dozens of time, I wouldn’t ban cash nor cash based retail.

Do I need to say it yet again FFS?

Ban was your word not mine. But you are happy to "restrict", as you said above.

The reason cash should be enforced as an option is the unbanked are generally the poor. If shops gradually move to cashless only we run the risk of the unbanked having few places to shop which might be miles from where they live. Cash accepting shops as they get fewer will also be able to jack up prices as they become the only place the unbanked can shop, a captive audience.

This also before we get into enabling a surveillance state where the government can monitor everything you spend

Leon said:

Mexicanpete said:

Leon said:

El_Capitano said:

Leon said:

Benpointer said:

Leon said:

Ludlow it is! A foaming pint of virtual perry for @Carnyx and a faux thimble of Ludlow gin for @boulay

What a stunning little town

My hotel in the first pic is Dinham Weir House

Here’s my room in case anyone is scared that I’m suffering unduly on my Official Gazette Welsh Marches Road Trip

We were in Ludlow for a weekend a month ago. It's alright - nothing to write home about though.

It’s architecturally exquisite! A completely unharmed 13th-19th century English market town with the Shropshire hills at the end of every road

John Betjeman called it the “prettiest town in England”

However it definitely feels a lot poorer than somewhere like Hereford. Indeed, as I say, it reminds me of Hereford three decades ago - before it was gentrified

I wouldn’t go that far, but the wealth (or lack thereof) is certainly different. Hereford is squaddies and urban families relocated from a bunch of cities including, bizarrely, Glasgow (metalworking basically). There’s a lot of light industry in the city, not least Bulmers/Heineken.

Ludlow however is proper Herefordshire rural with a smattering of expat gastro Londoners. It was also, believe it or not, the epicentre of the computer games magazine industry in the 1980s.

If you want rural poor, Craven Arms is just one stop up the railway line. Good locally owned supermarket, though.

I went back to Hereford recently and it was proper posh compared to what I knew as a lad. I grew up there - I had Scottish friends and friends with SAS dads for the reasons you state

Every night there was a good chance of a major fight. They were guaranteed at weekends

Now it’s all sushi bars and gastro pubs and gleaming vinoteks

And for a good reason. It’s a handsome, safe, largely unspoiled cathedral city surrounded by magnificent countryside. A fine place to live. Not that I appreciated this age 17 and bored witless

A town of two halves. I thought the Widemarsh St. end of HighTown looked good, walking down to the newish food court shopping centre (where the Cattle Market used to be) is great. The other end, Maylords Orchard and the street that used to house Chadds, whose name escapes me, looks tired. Commercial Street down to the Hospital is the same as it ever was.

Ross, by the way is much improved. Much better kept than Ledbury and Newent.

You won't like Leominster or Bromyard as they are Eastern European conclaves.

That’s good. I’d heard sad things about Ross so yay

Leominster was lovely in my memory (possibly faulty); Bromyard was always basically Birmingham

Leominster is fine. Lots of antique shops.

In Ross, there is a really nice little deli/cake shop/cafe if you turn right at the market house coming up from Oveross. I think it is called something like the Secret Garden. If you have a vehicle, the Moody Cow at Upton Bishop is a decent place to eat.

Casino_Royale said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

Less than a third of Gen Z polled think Royal family is good for Britain

YouGov poll reveals stark decline in support for the monarchy, with roughly a 50 per cent drop among young people in a decade

Only three in 10 young people think the Royal family is good for Britain, a new YouGov poll has revealed.

A majority of those aged 18-24 also said they held a negative opinion of the King as he approaches the first anniversary of his reign, with 52 per cent expressing disapproval.

The figures pose a significant problem for the monarchy, suggesting that attitudes among Generation Z have not improved in the last three years.

Younger Britons have been divided on whether or not to keep the monarchy since 2020, when the Duke of York’s friendship with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein and Harry and Meghan’s fractious exit from royal life saw support plummet.

The latest survey suggests that just over a third of 18 to 24-year-olds want the UK to retain the monarchy, while 40 per cent would prefer an elected head of state.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/royal-family/2023/09/04/yougov-poll-young-people-monarchy-royal-family-bad-britain/

We need to go all Chairman Mao on secondary school teachers.

They've been feeding students a diet of malignant Wokery for the last 8 years.

Rage, rage against the dying of the right.

Big_G_NorthWales said:

HYUFD said:

MoonRabbit said:

HYUFD said:

MoonRabbit said:

Stuartinromford said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

This chyron probably wasn’t part of the No 10 back-to-school media strategy



https://twitter.com/breeallegretti/status/1698692502906122732

Meanwhile, stand by for the Mail to pin the whole fiasco on Remote Working;

Timeline:

DfE became aware of the RAAC issue early in August

Keegan instructed officials to investigate

While that work was ongoing, on August 25th she flew to Spain to celebrate her father’s birthday, staying in a holiday home she owns there

While she was in Spain, she worked on RAAC via video conferencing each day, her office said

This was equivalent to working from home, just abroad, an ally says

She led ‘gold’ calls, attended by ministers Nick Gibb and Baroness Barran back home in London

https://twitter.com/alexwickham/status/1698683447022117024?s=20

It's not fair to blame GK for any of this. But since when has politics been fair?

A scape goat is going to need to be sacrificed soon, to take the heat off Rishi.

It will be bad news for Labour and the Opposition parties if Concrete Crisis brings down Rishi Sunak. A replacement as PM and HomeSec from moderate wing the party (Hunt PM, Penny HomSec) and 12 months talking about tackling unfair privilege in country today and being a government of aspiration and reform would save 50-100 Tory seats imo.

It’s funny how Concrete Crisis can work out so good for the Tories, if it helps them replace Sunak.

Remainer Hunt replacing Leaver Sunak as Tory leader and PM guarantees a doubling of the RefUK vote and risks near wipeout for the Tories

This one post from you sums up your whole mistake right now HY.

In this electoral situation you arguing Tories need to be Reform and Brexit fixated.

I am explained the exact opposite to you, a position you should adopt. Chasing Grey Wall, Brexit voter and Reform voter gets you 28% tops at next General Election. You are actively ushering in a political sea change by decimating your return of MPs.

50-100 MPs can be saved, a far better Proportion of vote by going in the opposite direction. So many leave voters want a sane, convincing safe pair of hands PM right now, reform minded voters want a Tory HomSec who can get a grip, and there are millions of voters you are just handing to Labour, who would be just as happy to keep in an aspirational Tory government intent on reform.

You are misreading the political mood of the country. The Tories can be in a much better place switching to aspiration and reform, rather than chase UKIP and Reform voters.

Hunt wouldn't win back any Labour or LD voters, he would however see further losses from the Tories to RefUK

@MoonRabbit is correct in her observations, not least your hopes that a move to the right will revitalise the conservative party

Far from it, it will marginalise them into as much as cult as are Corbyn followers

She is completely off her rocker. Hunt is probably the only politician with an even shittier rep than Sunak. He's also Sunak's best opportunity for a re-set - fire Hunt and blame the crappy economy-destroying economic policy on him. It wouldn't work, but it is the best chance.

Casino_Royale said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

Less than a third of Gen Z polled think Royal family is good for Britain

YouGov poll reveals stark decline in support for the monarchy, with roughly a 50 per cent drop among young people in a decade

Only three in 10 young people think the Royal family is good for Britain, a new YouGov poll has revealed.

A majority of those aged 18-24 also said they held a negative opinion of the King as he approaches the first anniversary of his reign, with 52 per cent expressing disapproval.

The figures pose a significant problem for the monarchy, suggesting that attitudes among Generation Z have not improved in the last three years.

Younger Britons have been divided on whether or not to keep the monarchy since 2020, when the Duke of York’s friendship with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein and Harry and Meghan’s fractious exit from royal life saw support plummet.

The latest survey suggests that just over a third of 18 to 24-year-olds want the UK to retain the monarchy, while 40 per cent would prefer an elected head of state.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/royal-family/2023/09/04/yougov-poll-young-people-monarchy-royal-family-bad-britain/

We need to go all Chairman Mao on secondary school teachers.

They've been feeding students a diet of malignant Wokery for the last 8 years.

18 to 24 year olds are remarkably stupid - they probably just didn’t understand the question.

williamglenn said:

The judo move for the Tories would be to bring back Theresa May, reinstate a few of the defenstratred Brexit rebels, and position themselves to the left of Starmer.

Go full Rejoin. That's where the votes are.

rkrkrk said:

ydoethur said:

I think I have some sympathy for Gillian Keegan. It isn't altogether her fault.

The DfE, none at all. If they hadn't made a botched reform to academy chains, grossly underfunded them and forced them to pursue expensive short term goals at the expense of longer term sustainability than we might not be in this mess to start with.

You can't tell somebody they're doing a good job and/or getting a grip on something when they're clearly not doing so.

Eh? What have academy chains got to do with it? The problem is Sunak slashing the capital maintenance budget.

That's part of it, though even the unslashed budget was a long way from the necessary.

But academisation didn't help. LEAs had sufficient scale to have in-house access to people who knew about buildings. Standalone academies, and most chains, simply don't.

The evolution of the academy model over the last decade has been to recreate undersized, geographically incoherent LEAs, generally with a more expensive executive layer.

(And heads who liked, and thrived, running their own show have been forced into expanding into turning around difficult schools, even when that's not their skill set.)

Going viral on Twitter for Labour = totally irrelevant to most voters. We learned this in 2019.

TheScreamingEagles said:

Casino_Royale said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

Less than a third of Gen Z polled think Royal family is good for Britain

YouGov poll reveals stark decline in support for the monarchy, with roughly a 50 per cent drop among young people in a decade

Only three in 10 young people think the Royal family is good for Britain, a new YouGov poll has revealed.

A majority of those aged 18-24 also said they held a negative opinion of the King as he approaches the first anniversary of his reign, with 52 per cent expressing disapproval.

The figures pose a significant problem for the monarchy, suggesting that attitudes among Generation Z have not improved in the last three years.

Younger Britons have been divided on whether or not to keep the monarchy since 2020, when the Duke of York’s friendship with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein and Harry and Meghan’s fractious exit from royal life saw support plummet.

The latest survey suggests that just over a third of 18 to 24-year-olds want the UK to retain the monarchy, while 40 per cent would prefer an elected head of state.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/royal-family/2023/09/04/yougov-poll-young-people-monarchy-royal-family-bad-britain/

We need to go all Chairman Mao on secondary school teachers.

They've been feeding students a diet of malignant Wokery for the last 8 years.

Must be galling for young people who are struggling to buy a house sees the Royals with all those palaces and other properties.

I wasn't being entirely serious by the way.

But the meme that's been pumped out for at least the last five years is that royalty, imperialism, white supremacy and racism are all intrinsically connected and complicit, which simply isn't true. And at that age you do tend to lap it all up.

TimS said:

Mexicanpete said:

Leon said:

Mexicanpete said:

Leon said:

El_Capitano said:

Leon said:

Benpointer said:

Leon said:

Ludlow it is! A foaming pint of virtual perry for @Carnyx and a faux thimble of Ludlow gin for @boulay

What a stunning little town

My hotel in the first pic is Dinham Weir House

Here’s my room in case anyone is scared that I’m suffering unduly on my Official Gazette Welsh Marches Road Trip

We were in Ludlow for a weekend a month ago. It's alright - nothing to write home about though.

It’s architecturally exquisite! A completely unharmed 13th-19th century English market town with the Shropshire hills at the end of every road

John Betjeman called it the “prettiest town in England”

However it definitely feels a lot poorer than somewhere like Hereford. Indeed, as I say, it reminds me of Hereford three decades ago - before it was gentrified

I wouldn’t go that far, but the wealth (or lack thereof) is certainly different. Hereford is squaddies and urban families relocated from a bunch of cities including, bizarrely, Glasgow (metalworking basically). There’s a lot of light industry in the city, not least Bulmers/Heineken.

Ludlow however is proper Herefordshire rural with a smattering of expat gastro Londoners. It was also, believe it or not, the epicentre of the computer games magazine industry in the 1980s.

If you want rural poor, Craven Arms is just one stop up the railway line. Good locally owned supermarket, though.

I went back to Hereford recently and it was proper posh compared to what I knew as a lad. I grew up there - I had Scottish friends and friends with SAS dads for the reasons you state

Every night there was a good chance of a major fight. They were guaranteed at weekends

Now it’s all sushi bars and gastro pubs and gleaming vinoteks

And for a good reason. It’s a handsome, safe, largely unspoiled cathedral city surrounded by magnificent countryside. A fine place to live. Not that I appreciated this age 17 and bored witless

A town of two halves. I thought the Widemarsh St. end of HighTown looked good, walking down to the newish food court shopping centre (where the Cattle Market used to be) is great. The other end, Maylords Orchard and the street that used to house Chadds, whose name escapes me, looks tired. Commercial Street down to the Hospital is the same as it ever was.

Ross, by the way is much improved. Much better kept than Ledbury and Newent.

You won't like Leominster or Bromyard as they are Eastern European conclaves.

That’s good. I’d heard sad things about Ross so yay

Leominster was lovely in my memory (possibly faulty); Bromyard was always basically Birmingham

Leominster is fine. Lots of antique shops.

In Ross, there is a really nice little deli/cake shop/cafe if you turn right at the market house coming up from Oveross. I think it is called something like the Secret Garden. If you have a vehicle, the Moody Cow at Upton Bishop is a decent place to eat.

The Southern Marches seem to get towns right. Alongside Herefordshire's Ledbury, Leominster and Ross there is much to be recommended in Monmouth, Abergavenny, Crickhowell, Hay, and of course Ludlow.

They also as others have noted sit somewhat outside the normal English and Welsh cultures and social fabric. They are sui generis.

Bradford-upon-Avon looks nice

Cyclefree said:

Malmesbury said:

Cyclefree said:

Nigelb said:

Cyclefree said:

Gillian Keegan's husband, Michael Keegan, is a crown representative to the Cabinet Office, managing cross-government relationships with BAE Systems as a strategic supplier to the Government.

He was also for 12 years from 2006 a senior executive at Fujitsu, ending up as CEO and Head of Technology Product Business, having previously spent some time working at the Post Office.

Perhaps it's just me but a senior executive from a company intimately involved in the worst miscarriage of justice in English history and one of the biggest IT fuck-ups ever would not be on my short list of persons seeking to manage relationships with anyone, let alone a strategic defence supplier.

Why Fujitsu is still getting government contracts is a mystery…

I thin the paragraphs preceding that last sentence go some way to providing the solution to that mystery.

And is it a chummy spivocracy, or a spivvy chumocracy ?
Or just a plain spivocracy.

I have read that Blair put pressure on the Post Office to continue with Horizon even when its faults were first noticed.

Arthur Andersen were kicked out of government work because of the De Lorean fiasco. But here Fujitsu fuck up so badly that people commit suicide and yet they sail merrily on.

The Post Office offers an 18% bonus to lawyers joining it to work on the Horizon inquiry despite previously publicly saying that no bonuses would be paid for inquiry work.

The bare faced lying is bad enough. The gigantic fuck you to the rest of us is even worse.

Why aren't people angry about this? I have recently tackled 2 Tory MPs who I met (they were out meeting voters) about precisely this just so that they know that someone is bothered about this stuff, even though none of this affects me personally.

Arthur Anderson were back the moment the government changed.

Various actors in the permanent structure of government write memos decrying the "short sightedness" of not using them.

In a completely, utterly and totally unrelated mater there was a story about a consultancy, {redacted for OGH} that was caught running a ledger of people who had handled contract competitions with them. Those who had granted them the contracts got pluses, those who award to others got minuses.

The ledger was used to give people with lots of pluses really, really nice jobs with said consultancy. We are talking high 6 figures + bonus + stuff.

eek said:

Cyclefree said:

Nigelb said:

Cyclefree said:

Gillian Keegan's husband, Michael Keegan, is a crown representative to the Cabinet Office, managing cross-government relationships with BAE Systems as a strategic supplier to the Government.

He was also for 12 years from 2006 a senior executive at Fujitsu, ending up as CEO and Head of Technology Product Business, having previously spent some time working at the Post Office.

Perhaps it's just me but a senior executive from a company intimately involved in the worst miscarriage of justice in English history and one of the biggest IT fuck-ups ever would not be on my short list of persons seeking to manage relationships with anyone, let alone a strategic defence supplier.

Why Fujitsu is still getting government contracts is a mystery…

I thin the paragraphs preceding that last sentence go some way to providing the solution to that mystery.

And is it a chummy spivocracy, or a spivvy chumocracy ?
Or just a plain spivocracy.

I have read that Blair put pressure on the Post Office to continue with Horizon even when its faults were first noticed.

Arthur Andersen were kicked out of government work because of the De Lorean fiasco. But here Fujitsu fuck up so badly that people commit suicide and yet they sail merrily on.

The Post Office offers an 18% bonus to lawyers joining it to work on the Horizon inquiry despite previously publicly saying that no bonuses would be paid for inquiry work.

The bare faced lying is bad enough. The gigantic fuck you to the rest of us is even worse.

Why aren't people angry about this? I have recently tackled 2 Tory MPs who I met (they were out meeting voters) about precisely this just so that they know that someone is bothered about this stuff, even though none of this affects me personally.

I suspect the reason why the Post Office is offering bonus to lawyers willing to defend them is because even lawyers have some moral standards and can't defend the completely indefensible...

I can understand that. But then they shouldn't have made a statement saying that they would not be paying bonuses. It's the lying - they simply cannot help themselves.

Jesus. Fujitsu.

I worked on a confidential project looking into their performance on a government contract (which I can't discuss) ten years ago - doubt anything was ever done about it.

Foxy said:

williamglenn said:

The judo move for the Tories would be to bring back Theresa May, reinstate a few of the defenstratred Brexit rebels, and position themselves to the left of Starmer.

Go full Rejoin. That's where the votes are.

Yes, the same hubris when Cameron looked at how well ahead Remain were in the polls when he called the referendum.

Referendum polling is more unpredictable and unstable than virtually anything else, and highly vulnerable to campaign framing.

CorrectHorseBat said:

Going viral on Twitter for Labour = totally irrelevant to most voters. We learned this in 2019.

The BBC haven't though.

It's amazing how many stories their news website derives from it.

Casino_Royale said:

I reckon I do a fucking good job on pb.com whilst the rest sit on their arses.

Never get a thank you.

Welcome to my world.

FF43 said:

Pagan2 said:

FF43 said:

Anabobazina said:

FF43 said:

Anabobazina said:

Cookie said:

Anabobazina said:

Cookie said:

Anabobazina said:

Cookie said:

eristdoof said:

Anabobazina said:

Sandpit said:

Alanbrooke said:

BartholomewRoberts said:

Anabobazina said:

boulay said:

For those who don’t know what a passbook is here is mine from 1985 which my mother found the other week in some of my late old man’s belongings as an illustration.

And this is what we are expecting banks to maintain?

I've heard it all now.

What the hell is the frigging point of one of those in this day and age?

Seems even more pointless than chequebooks.

Never had one.

Its an age and wealth thing.

None of my kids carry cash, I carry cash and cards. They slag me off for carrying cash, bur very so often they get caught short and I dont.

The better off are likely to use e payment, the less well off less so.

Cash will probably have its day but until we have covered access to all I see no reason to accelerate it,

Do parents these days give their teenage kids pocket money as a bank transfer?

Any money my son earns through doing work around the house gets paid by bank transfer. He has even asked gifts to be paid by BACS (from relatives etc) as cash just burns a hole in his pocket. He's found saving much easier since we abolished cash entirely.

That's interesting, I always assumed that the problem is the otherway round. You have much less of a feeling how much you are spending when paying with a card or an app, which i would have thought easily leads to overspending. I was in the UK last month and it was annoying how many barstaff would hold the card reader with the amount being charged facing them, so I had to stand on tiptoes, lean over and read the price upside down.

I guess the reality is some people have more of a problem overspending with cash in the pocket and others more of a problem overspending with cashless payment.

I think my kids are a similar age to OLB's - and their issue with cash is keeping it in one place. Inevitably some of the abrogate the responsibility and hand their money over to me to keep in my wallet until they want to spend some of it, which inevitably gets muddled with my money, and I have to keep a running mental tally of how much of each daughter's money is mine. And that's without all the money scattered around their room in various piggy banks, money boxes etc which they have acquired over the years. It was a great relief when they started using cards.

Another big problem with cash, right there. It really is a deeply flawed mode of tender.

Cash isn't 'deeply flawed', just as a notepad and pen isn't deeply flawed despite the presence of word processing software. Cash, cards, phones (I guess) - all have their advantages and drawbacks.
Despite the inconveniences above, I'm not going to be giving my 8 year old a bank card, because she will lose it.

It is deeply flawed, that's why lots of people simply stopped using it many years ago and have never looked back.

Electronic payments: The buyer taps his phone, the money goes straight into the retailer's account.

Cash: The buyer takes his card to a machine, converting perfectly functional, electronic money into slips of paper and shards of metal that he now has to carry about his person. These odd scraps of material are then offered to a retailer who has to find more scraps of material to give back to the buyer as change. If the retailer lacks the correct composition of material, the transaction fails. Assuming he has the correct composition, the retailer now has to store these scraps of material in a secure place, at cost and risk to himself, before finding additional time in his working week to transport said scraps of material to a place, probably several miles away, so he can given them to a lady in a pin-striped skirt who doesn't want them either. Said lady has to them put them in a secure place, at cost and risk to her own business, so they can be transported at even more cost to her business to an even more secure place, at which point she is able to convert them back into electronic money for the retailer, who could have just been paid directly in electronic money in the first place.

Electronic payments: reliant on thr tech working.
Cash: not reliant on the tech working.

Fake news.

I was left high and dry in Southeast Europe recently because the only ATM in the resort I was staying in had conked out, and the restaurant I was eating in took only cash (like lots of the places there, it was a real step back in time). It was a right palaver, which required me to ask a taxi to park illegally at the next resort while I literally legged it in 30c heat to another cashpoint. Cash is an antiquated system that – ironically – relies far too heavily on machines.

You want to ban cash based retail when the business and their customers are happy with those restrictions?

Er, nope.

I have said on here several times, probably dozens of time, I wouldn’t ban cash nor cash based retail.

Do I need to say it yet again FFS?

Ban was your word not mine. But you are happy to "restrict", as you said above.

The reason cash should be enforced as an option is the unbanked are generally the poor. If shops gradually move to cashless only we run the risk of the unbanked having few places to shop which might be miles from where they live. Cash accepting shops as they get fewer will also be able to jack up prices as they become the only place the unbanked can shop, a captive audience.

This also before we get into enabling a surveillance state where the government can monitor everything you spend

Not having the means to spend cash is actually a bigger problem than the related problem of not having access to bank accounts (the Nigel Farage campaign). Neither problem affects huge numbers of people but they do affect vulnerable people disproportionately.

Yes not having money to spend is a bigger problem, however also having some cash then having to go far afield to spend it because you dont have a card does not help.

viewcode said:

TimS said:

Mexicanpete said:

Leon said:

Mexicanpete said:

Leon said:

El_Capitano said:

Leon said:

Benpointer said:

Leon said:

Ludlow it is! A foaming pint of virtual perry for @Carnyx and a faux thimble of Ludlow gin for @boulay

What a stunning little town

My hotel in the first pic is Dinham Weir House

Here’s my room in case anyone is scared that I’m suffering unduly on my Official Gazette Welsh Marches Road Trip

We were in Ludlow for a weekend a month ago. It's alright - nothing to write home about though.

It’s architecturally exquisite! A completely unharmed 13th-19th century English market town with the Shropshire hills at the end of every road

John Betjeman called it the “prettiest town in England”

However it definitely feels a lot poorer than somewhere like Hereford. Indeed, as I say, it reminds me of Hereford three decades ago - before it was gentrified

I wouldn’t go that far, but the wealth (or lack thereof) is certainly different. Hereford is squaddies and urban families relocated from a bunch of cities including, bizarrely, Glasgow (metalworking basically). There’s a lot of light industry in the city, not least Bulmers/Heineken.

Ludlow however is proper Herefordshire rural with a smattering of expat gastro Londoners. It was also, believe it or not, the epicentre of the computer games magazine industry in the 1980s.

If you want rural poor, Craven Arms is just one stop up the railway line. Good locally owned supermarket, though.

I went back to Hereford recently and it was proper posh compared to what I knew as a lad. I grew up there - I had Scottish friends and friends with SAS dads for the reasons you state

Every night there was a good chance of a major fight. They were guaranteed at weekends

Now it’s all sushi bars and gastro pubs and gleaming vinoteks

And for a good reason. It’s a handsome, safe, largely unspoiled cathedral city surrounded by magnificent countryside. A fine place to live. Not that I appreciated this age 17 and bored witless

A town of two halves. I thought the Widemarsh St. end of HighTown looked good, walking down to the newish food court shopping centre (where the Cattle Market used to be) is great. The other end, Maylords Orchard and the street that used to house Chadds, whose name escapes me, looks tired. Commercial Street down to the Hospital is the same as it ever was.

Ross, by the way is much improved. Much better kept than Ledbury and Newent.

You won't like Leominster or Bromyard as they are Eastern European conclaves.

That’s good. I’d heard sad things about Ross so yay

Leominster was lovely in my memory (possibly faulty); Bromyard was always basically Birmingham

Leominster is fine. Lots of antique shops.

In Ross, there is a really nice little deli/cake shop/cafe if you turn right at the market house coming up from Oveross. I think it is called something like the Secret Garden. If you have a vehicle, the Moody Cow at Upton Bishop is a decent place to eat.

The Southern Marches seem to get towns right. Alongside Herefordshire's Ledbury, Leominster and Ross there is much to be recommended in Monmouth, Abergavenny, Crickhowell, Hay, and of course Ludlow.

They also as others have noted sit somewhat outside the normal English and Welsh cultures and social fabric. They are sui generis.

Bradford-upon-Avon looks nice

A bit full of traffic; but adjacent to the parish church a long neglected and refound (19th century) Anglo Saxon church. Absolutely unmissable; there is nothing quite like it.

TheScreamingEagles said:

Casino_Royale said:

I reckon I do a fucking good job on pb.com whilst the rest sit on their arses.

Never get a thank you.

Welcome to my world.

Are you.moonlighting as Gillian Keegan?

Ratters said:

What's the note going to say when the Tories leave office?

"Sorry there's no money left and everything is falling apart at the seams"?

I recall aspects such like capital investment in areas like the NHS are appealing at a national level.

We should have invested in capital and infrastructure like mad back when the government could borrow at negative 1-2% real yields.

It's going to be a lot more costly to fix things now.

The note SHOULD say, there's no money left because we've given it to our mates.

FF43 said:

Anabobazina said:

FF43 said:

Anabobazina said:

Cookie said:

Anabobazina said:

Cookie said:

Anabobazina said:

Cookie said:

eristdoof said:

Anabobazina said:

Sandpit said:

Alanbrooke said:

BartholomewRoberts said:

Anabobazina said:

boulay said:

For those who don’t know what a passbook is here is mine from 1985 which my mother found the other week in some of my late old man’s belongings as an illustration.

And this is what we are expecting banks to maintain?

I've heard it all now.

What the hell is the frigging point of one of those in this day and age?

Seems even more pointless than chequebooks.

Never had one.

Its an age and wealth thing.

None of my kids carry cash, I carry cash and cards. They slag me off for carrying cash, bur very so often they get caught short and I dont.

The better off are likely to use e payment, the less well off less so.

Cash will probably have its day but until we have covered access to all I see no reason to accelerate it,

Do parents these days give their teenage kids pocket money as a bank transfer?

Any money my son earns through doing work around the house gets paid by bank transfer. He has even asked gifts to be paid by BACS (from relatives etc) as cash just burns a hole in his pocket. He's found saving much easier since we abolished cash entirely.

That's interesting, I always assumed that the problem is the otherway round. You have much less of a feeling how much you are spending when paying with a card or an app, which i would have thought easily leads to overspending. I was in the UK last month and it was annoying how many barstaff would hold the card reader with the amount being charged facing them, so I had to stand on tiptoes, lean over and read the price upside down.

I guess the reality is some people have more of a problem overspending with cash in the pocket and others more of a problem overspending with cashless payment.

I think my kids are a similar age to OLB's - and their issue with cash is keeping it in one place. Inevitably some of the abrogate the responsibility and hand their money over to me to keep in my wallet until they want to spend some of it, which inevitably gets muddled with my money, and I have to keep a running mental tally of how much of each daughter's money is mine. And that's without all the money scattered around their room in various piggy banks, money boxes etc which they have acquired over the years. It was a great relief when they started using cards.

Another big problem with cash, right there. It really is a deeply flawed mode of tender.

Cash isn't 'deeply flawed', just as a notepad and pen isn't deeply flawed despite the presence of word processing software. Cash, cards, phones (I guess) - all have their advantages and drawbacks.
Despite the inconveniences above, I'm not going to be giving my 8 year old a bank card, because she will lose it.

It is deeply flawed, that's why lots of people simply stopped using it many years ago and have never looked back.

Electronic payments: The buyer taps his phone, the money goes straight into the retailer's account.

Cash: The buyer takes his card to a machine, converting perfectly functional, electronic money into slips of paper and shards of metal that he now has to carry about his person. These odd scraps of material are then offered to a retailer who has to find more scraps of material to give back to the buyer as change. If the retailer lacks the correct composition of material, the transaction fails. Assuming he has the correct composition, the retailer now has to store these scraps of material in a secure place, at cost and risk to himself, before finding additional time in his working week to transport said scraps of material to a place, probably several miles away, so he can given them to a lady in a pin-striped skirt who doesn't want them either. Said lady has to them put them in a secure place, at cost and risk to her own business, so they can be transported at even more cost to her business to an even more secure place, at which point she is able to convert them back into electronic money for the retailer, who could have just been paid directly in electronic money in the first place.

Electronic payments: reliant on thr tech working.
Cash: not reliant on the tech working.

Fake news.

I was left high and dry in Southeast Europe recently because the only ATM in the resort I was staying in had conked out, and the restaurant I was eating in took only cash (like lots of the places there, it was a real step back in time). It was a right palaver, which required me to ask a taxi to park illegally at the next resort while I literally legged it in 30c heat to another cashpoint. Cash is an antiquated system that – ironically – relies far too heavily on machines.

You want to ban cash based retail when the business and their customers are happy with those restrictions?

Er, nope.

I have said on here several times, probably dozens of time, I wouldn’t ban cash nor cash based retail.

Do I need to say it yet again FFS?

Ban was your word not mine. But you are happy to "restrict", as you said above.

Wrong. You said I wanted to ban cash - a lie. I have said repeatedly otherwise.