Beware the Bookie rules before betting on a GE2024 overall majority – politicalbetting.com

BartholomewRoberts said:

LostPassword said:

I know that Americans often have idle discussions about how they might split their country up, but do they ever have idle discussions about adding other countries as new States?

Just wondering whether the light-hearted interest in the UK joining the US is reciprocated?

They won't even admit part of their own country (Puerto Rico) as a state as it would alter the balance of Congress, let alone add other countries.

JosiasJessop said:

Casino_Royale said:

isam said:

Casino_Royale said:

Chat GPT just helped me: Can you create for me five very woke names for railways?

ChatGPT
Sure, here are five "woke" names for railways:

1. Unity Line
2. Harmony Express
3. Diversity Junction
4. Inclusion Railway
5. Equity Route

In Rainham, Essex there was a notorious council estate called The Mardyke, and when it was knocked down, the streets that replaced it had names like that

There are plenty of people who think precisely like this.

We have a couple of Harry Potter inspired street names near us, as our part of the town was built at the height of the books' popularity. Later sections are named after airplanes and manufacturers, as they're nearer the old Bourn airfield. Vickers way, York Road, Spitfire Road, Fairey Close, Blackbird Road etc.

Better names and themes than Khan's monstrosities...

Gardenwalker said:

BartholomewRoberts said:

Gardenwalker said:

BartholomewRoberts said:

Gardenwalker said:

northern_monkey said:

OnlyLivingBoy said:

viewcode said:

PART THREE

...Now when the Johnson Administration in Britain came over to talk to Donald
Trump's Administration about a trade deal and they found out what the
conditions would be they walked away. And then the next government came in and did the same thing and walked away (or was it Teresa May?). Anyway there were two back-to-back and so the Brits right now are in this nether world where they kind of quietly admit to themselves that, in order to find a future that has some degree of economic functionality, they have to get into bed with their kids and accept all the demands and the hit to their economy will be real and the hit
to their ego will be massive...


...But the alternatives (trying to build an alternate system or maybe going back to the EU) neither of those are long-term solutions that are very functional, so really what we're doing is going through the paces until the Brits admit the obvious, and when that happens Britain will lose the thing that it values the most: its freedom to act, its agency. It will become a subsidiary of the American system for Better or For Worse and while that will be horrible for the British mindset it is the best game in town from both an economic and a security point of view and in time I have no doubt that that is where the Brits will end up, so stiff upper lip...

I'm not sure I share all this guy's analysis, but I do share his conclusion. The only real alternative to the UK being part of the EU is being much more closely aligned with the US, perhaps even as the 51st or 51st-53rd states.

And that’s why the right pushed so hard for Brexit, and told their fantastical lies to make it happen. They would rather have a small state, low tax, highly unequal UK, with a crumbling public realm and services, rather than EU-style worker protections, environmental protections, etc, etc, etc.

So they whipped up an immigration panic and promised unicorns for all to get just enough people to shoot themselves in the foot.

The idea that EU regulation resulted in higher consumer prices - a shibboleth of Euroscepticism since the early 90s - turned out to be total junk as well.

Witness food prices.

And yet we still get squealing and whining that farmers may face competition from the likes of Australia and New Zealand.

You can't have it both ways.

Why isn't affordable Aussie and Kiwi good enough for us without any tariffs?

The net impact so far is that prices are up (even net of the broader inflation issues), and choice is down.
It’s possible, though I defer to Nick Palmer, that welfare standards are expected to decline too.

I'd like to see any evidence whatsoever that prices are up in the UK compared to other countries net of broader inflation issues. Or that choice is down similarly.

Food inflation has been seen across the globe, so I'm sceptical.

There's nothing wrong with animal welfare in New Zealand etc, I'd be quite delighted to see non-tariff barriers that are falsely portrayed as "welfare" issues to be abolished.

First of many results on Google.

https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/brexit-blame-third-britains-food-bill-rise-researchers-say-2023-05-25/

JosiasJessop said:

Casino_Royale said:

isam said:

Casino_Royale said:

Chat GPT just helped me: Can you create for me five very woke names for railways?

ChatGPT
Sure, here are five "woke" names for railways:

1. Unity Line
2. Harmony Express
3. Diversity Junction
4. Inclusion Railway
5. Equity Route

In Rainham, Essex there was a notorious council estate called The Mardyke, and when it was knocked down, the streets that replaced it had names like that

There are plenty of people who think precisely like this.

We have a couple of Harry Potter inspired street names near us, as our part of the town was built at the height of the books' popularity. Later sections are named after airplanes and manufacturers, as they're nearer the old Bourn airfield. Vickers way, York Road, Spitfire Road, Fairey Close, Blackbird Road etc.

Better names and themes than Khan's monstrosities...

BartholomewRoberts said:

Sandpit said:

Gardenwalker said:

Sandpit said:

kyf_100 said:

Anabobazina said:

FPT point of order it's the Lioness line not the Lionesses line.

Which is slightly (but not much) better.

Unless you're trying to pronounce it after a skinful. Come to think of it "I'm just jumping on a Suffragette" is probably going to get some traction amongst the lairy friday night out crowd.

All in all the names have a vague "if Dave Spart ran a competition for the under 8s to name the lines, then miraculously picked the worst names out of a hat" feel to them.

The London plan comes across as typical Sadiq being Sadiq, and looking for the sort of names that will offend people who don’t like him, further cementing societal division.

If you’re going to give out random names then auction them off. Loads of cities, including mine, do this, the big money is for the destination and interchange stations, or companies buying the station nearest their own business.

I don’t think Khan goes out of his way to cause division.
I just think he’s a bit of a twit. His instincts are just off. Kind of a leftist Sunak.

Perhaps, but, as someone who does disgreee with him on almost everything, it comes across as needlessly antagonistic. There’s plenty of London history that can be seen as positive for the city, rather than dwelling on negative history.

The names are naff, but which are negative? They're all positive.

TheScreamingEagles said:

Peter_the_Punter said:

Still trying to come to terms with the sad news about Mike.

My first post was on the first anniversary of the Site's formation. It has been a big part of my life ever since. For a decade or so it helped keep me solvent and it has always been a great source of fun and enlightenment. Over the years I got to know Mike well enough to make me wonder now whether it might be time for me to take my coat. To stay feels a bit like lingering at a party after the host has had to retire to bed unwell. He wouldn't mind, I'm sure, but somehow it doesn't feel right to keep posting away while OGH and My Good Friend is incapacitated.

I'll think it over but you'll understand if I go a bit quiet. If any of you have views on the matter that you'd like to share privately, you know where to find me.

Atb.

PtP

Stay, it gives Mike great joy that the site is still vibrant as we approach PB’s 20th birthday next month and 2024 is going to be the best year for political betting with potentially a presidential election and Uk general election within days of each other.

BartholomewRoberts said:

Gardenwalker said:

BartholomewRoberts said:

Gardenwalker said:

BartholomewRoberts said:

Gardenwalker said:

northern_monkey said:

OnlyLivingBoy said:

viewcode said:

PART THREE

...Now when the Johnson Administration in Britain came over to talk to Donald
Trump's Administration about a trade deal and they found out what the
conditions would be they walked away. And then the next government came in and did the same thing and walked away (or was it Teresa May?). Anyway there were two back-to-back and so the Brits right now are in this nether world where they kind of quietly admit to themselves that, in order to find a future that has some degree of economic functionality, they have to get into bed with their kids and accept all the demands and the hit to their economy will be real and the hit
to their ego will be massive...


...But the alternatives (trying to build an alternate system or maybe going back to the EU) neither of those are long-term solutions that are very functional, so really what we're doing is going through the paces until the Brits admit the obvious, and when that happens Britain will lose the thing that it values the most: its freedom to act, its agency. It will become a subsidiary of the American system for Better or For Worse and while that will be horrible for the British mindset it is the best game in town from both an economic and a security point of view and in time I have no doubt that that is where the Brits will end up, so stiff upper lip...

I'm not sure I share all this guy's analysis, but I do share his conclusion. The only real alternative to the UK being part of the EU is being much more closely aligned with the US, perhaps even as the 51st or 51st-53rd states.

And that’s why the right pushed so hard for Brexit, and told their fantastical lies to make it happen. They would rather have a small state, low tax, highly unequal UK, with a crumbling public realm and services, rather than EU-style worker protections, environmental protections, etc, etc, etc.

So they whipped up an immigration panic and promised unicorns for all to get just enough people to shoot themselves in the foot.

The idea that EU regulation resulted in higher consumer prices - a shibboleth of Euroscepticism since the early 90s - turned out to be total junk as well.

Witness food prices.

And yet we still get squealing and whining that farmers may face competition from the likes of Australia and New Zealand.

You can't have it both ways.

Why isn't affordable Aussie and Kiwi good enough for us without any tariffs?

The net impact so far is that prices are up (even net of the broader inflation issues), and choice is down.
It’s possible, though I defer to Nick Palmer, that welfare standards are expected to decline too.

I'd like to see any evidence whatsoever that prices are up in the UK compared to other countries net of broader inflation issues. Or that choice is down similarly.

Food inflation has been seen across the globe, so I'm sceptical.

There's nothing wrong with animal welfare in New Zealand etc, I'd be quite delighted to see non-tariff barriers that are falsely portrayed as "welfare" issues to be abolished.

First of many results on Google.

https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/brexit-blame-third-britains-food-bill-rise-researchers-say-2023-05-25/

Counter-example: https://www.euronews.com/business/2023/11/21/real-food-inflation-in-europe-which-countries-are-hit-the-hardest

The UK has lower real food inflation than the Euro Area.

Peter_the_Punter said:

Still trying to come to terms with the sad news about Mike.

My first post was on the first anniversary of the Site's formation. It has been a big part of my life ever since. For a decade or so it helped keep me solvent and it has always been a great source of fun and enlightenment. Over the years I got to know Mike well enough to make me wonder now whether it might be time for me to take my coat. To stay feels a bit like lingering at a party after the host has had to retire to bed unwell. He wouldn't mind, I'm sure, but somehow it doesn't feel right to keep posting away while OGH and My Good Friend is incapacitated.

I'll think it over but you'll understand if I go a bit quiet. If any of you have views on the matter that you'd like to share privately, you know where to find me.

Atb.

PtP

bondegezou said:

I very much doubt Labour will drop below 40% in Rochdale.

Carnyx said:

Nigelb said:

.

TheScreamingEagles said:

Peter_the_Punter said:

Still trying to come to terms with the sad news about Mike.

My first post was on the first anniversary of the Site's formation. It has been a big part of my life ever since. For a decade or so it helped keep me solvent and it has always been a great source of fun and enlightenment. Over the years I got to know Mike well enough to make me wonder now whether it might be time for me to take my coat. To stay feels a bit like lingering at a party after the host has had to retire to bed unwell. He wouldn't mind, I'm sure, but somehow it doesn't feel right to keep posting away while OGH and My Good Friend is incapacitated.

I'll think it over but you'll understand if I go a bit quiet. If any of you have views on the matter that you'd like to share privately, you know where to find me.

Atb.

PtP

Stay, it gives Mike great joy that the site is still vibrant as we approach PB’s 20th birthday next month and 2024 is going to be the best year for political betting with potentially a presidential election and Uk general election within days of each other.

Although I can't remember what it stands for, he will always be OGH.

Our GRacious Host.

Carnyx said:

Nigelb said:

.

TheScreamingEagles said:

Peter_the_Punter said:

Still trying to come to terms with the sad news about Mike.

My first post was on the first anniversary of the Site's formation. It has been a big part of my life ever since. For a decade or so it helped keep me solvent and it has always been a great source of fun and enlightenment. Over the years I got to know Mike well enough to make me wonder now whether it might be time for me to take my coat. To stay feels a bit like lingering at a party after the host has had to retire to bed unwell. He wouldn't mind, I'm sure, but somehow it doesn't feel right to keep posting away while OGH and My Good Friend is incapacitated.

I'll think it over but you'll understand if I go a bit quiet. If any of you have views on the matter that you'd like to share privately, you know where to find me.

Atb.

PtP

Stay, it gives Mike great joy that the site is still vibrant as we approach PB’s 20th birthday next month and 2024 is going to be the best year for political betting with potentially a presidential election and Uk general election within days of each other.

Although I can't remember what it stands for, he will always be OGH.

Our GRacious Host.

Carnyx said:

JosiasJessop said:

Casino_Royale said:

isam said:

Casino_Royale said:

Chat GPT just helped me: Can you create for me five very woke names for railways?

ChatGPT
Sure, here are five "woke" names for railways:

1. Unity Line
2. Harmony Express
3. Diversity Junction
4. Inclusion Railway
5. Equity Route

In Rainham, Essex there was a notorious council estate called The Mardyke, and when it was knocked down, the streets that replaced it had names like that

There are plenty of people who think precisely like this.

We have a couple of Harry Potter inspired street names near us, as our part of the town was built at the height of the books' popularity. Later sections are named after airplanes and manufacturers, as they're nearer the old Bourn airfield. Vickers way, York Road, Spitfire Road, Fairey Close, Blackbird Road etc.

Better names and themes than Khan's monstrosities...

BartholomewRoberts said:

Sandpit said:

Gardenwalker said:

Sandpit said:

kyf_100 said:

Anabobazina said:

FPT point of order it's the Lioness line not the Lionesses line.

Which is slightly (but not much) better.

Unless you're trying to pronounce it after a skinful. Come to think of it "I'm just jumping on a Suffragette" is probably going to get some traction amongst the lairy friday night out crowd.

All in all the names have a vague "if Dave Spart ran a competition for the under 8s to name the lines, then miraculously picked the worst names out of a hat" feel to them.

The London plan comes across as typical Sadiq being Sadiq, and looking for the sort of names that will offend people who don’t like him, further cementing societal division.

If you’re going to give out random names then auction them off. Loads of cities, including mine, do this, the big money is for the destination and interchange stations, or companies buying the station nearest their own business.

I don’t think Khan goes out of his way to cause division.
I just think he’s a bit of a twit. His instincts are just off. Kind of a leftist Sunak.

Perhaps, but, as someone who does disgreee with him on almost everything, it comes across as needlessly antagonistic. There’s plenty of London history that can be seen as positive for the city, rather than dwelling on negative history.

The names are naff, but which are negative? They're all positive.

What really annoys me is the changing of old names to sanitise them. There's such stuff as Titmouse and Gropecunt Lanes in Oxford, which I suppose needed i t, but the incomers mocing to Trotter Haugh in Edinburgh whined about it some years back. Yet Trotter wass an important local l andowner and a haugh a flat riverside piece of land. They wanted it changed but the street name is still there. Ignoran t folk - all they could think about was Del Boy & co.

viewcode said:

BartholomewRoberts said:

Gardenwalker said:

BartholomewRoberts said:

Gardenwalker said:

BartholomewRoberts said:

Gardenwalker said:

northern_monkey said:

OnlyLivingBoy said:

viewcode said:

PART THREE

...Now when the Johnson Administration in Britain came over to talk to Donald
Trump's Administration about a trade deal and they found out what the
conditions would be they walked away. And then the next government came in and did the same thing and walked away (or was it Teresa May?). Anyway there were two back-to-back and so the Brits right now are in this nether world where they kind of quietly admit to themselves that, in order to find a future that has some degree of economic functionality, they have to get into bed with their kids and accept all the demands and the hit to their economy will be real and the hit
to their ego will be massive...


...But the alternatives (trying to build an alternate system or maybe going back to the EU) neither of those are long-term solutions that are very functional, so really what we're doing is going through the paces until the Brits admit the obvious, and when that happens Britain will lose the thing that it values the most: its freedom to act, its agency. It will become a subsidiary of the American system for Better or For Worse and while that will be horrible for the British mindset it is the best game in town from both an economic and a security point of view and in time I have no doubt that that is where the Brits will end up, so stiff upper lip...

I'm not sure I share all this guy's analysis, but I do share his conclusion. The only real alternative to the UK being part of the EU is being much more closely aligned with the US, perhaps even as the 51st or 51st-53rd states.

And that’s why the right pushed so hard for Brexit, and told their fantastical lies to make it happen. They would rather have a small state, low tax, highly unequal UK, with a crumbling public realm and services, rather than EU-style worker protections, environmental protections, etc, etc, etc.

So they whipped up an immigration panic and promised unicorns for all to get just enough people to shoot themselves in the foot.

The idea that EU regulation resulted in higher consumer prices - a shibboleth of Euroscepticism since the early 90s - turned out to be total junk as well.

Witness food prices.

And yet we still get squealing and whining that farmers may face competition from the likes of Australia and New Zealand.

You can't have it both ways.

Why isn't affordable Aussie and Kiwi good enough for us without any tariffs?

The net impact so far is that prices are up (even net of the broader inflation issues), and choice is down.
It’s possible, though I defer to Nick Palmer, that welfare standards are expected to decline too.

I'd like to see any evidence whatsoever that prices are up in the UK compared to other countries net of broader inflation issues. Or that choice is down similarly.

Food inflation has been seen across the globe, so I'm sceptical.

There's nothing wrong with animal welfare in New Zealand etc, I'd be quite delighted to see non-tariff barriers that are falsely portrayed as "welfare" issues to be abolished.

First of many results on Google.

https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/brexit-blame-third-britains-food-bill-rise-researchers-say-2023-05-25/

Counter-example: https://www.euronews.com/business/2023/11/21/real-food-inflation-in-europe-which-countries-are-hit-the-hardest

The UK has lower real food inflation than the Euro Area.

Um: stupid question: what's real inflation?

I know what prices are. Shoes used to cost £X
I know what inflated prices are. Shoes now cost £2X
I know what real prices are. Shoes in real terms cost £2X/(1+inflation rate)
But I don't know what real inflation is.
Can you give me an example?

Cookie said:

bondegezou said:

I very much doubt Labour will drop below 40% in Rochdale.

I think they will drop below 40%, because there are so many other plausible candidates.
But I think they will win comfortably. A combination of people who have already voted, people who agree with Azhar Ali, people who don't care, and people who have paid the whole kerfuffle little attention.

Clutch_Brompton said:

The window between Starmer gaining an overall majority and Starmer gaining an effective majority is only the SF and/or SDLP MPs. It is unlikely to come into play but far from impossible. I suspect it is at the very limit of Con possibilities but it is worth keeping in mind

kyf_100 said:

BartholomewRoberts said:

viewcode said:

BartholomewRoberts said:

Gardenwalker said:

BartholomewRoberts said:

Gardenwalker said:

BartholomewRoberts said:

Gardenwalker said:

northern_monkey said:

OnlyLivingBoy said:

viewcode said:

PART THREE

...Now when the Johnson Administration in Britain came over to talk to Donald
Trump's Administration about a trade deal and they found out what the
conditions would be they walked away. And then the next government came in and did the same thing and walked away (or was it Teresa May?). Anyway there were two back-to-back and so the Brits right now are in this nether world where they kind of quietly admit to themselves that, in order to find a future that has some degree of economic functionality, they have to get into bed with their kids and accept all the demands and the hit to their economy will be real and the hit
to their ego will be massive...


...But the alternatives (trying to build an alternate system or maybe going back to the EU) neither of those are long-term solutions that are very functional, so really what we're doing is going through the paces until the Brits admit the obvious, and when that happens Britain will lose the thing that it values the most: its freedom to act, its agency. It will become a subsidiary of the American system for Better or For Worse and while that will be horrible for the British mindset it is the best game in town from both an economic and a security point of view and in time I have no doubt that that is where the Brits will end up, so stiff upper lip...

I'm not sure I share all this guy's analysis, but I do share his conclusion. The only real alternative to the UK being part of the EU is being much more closely aligned with the US, perhaps even as the 51st or 51st-53rd states.

And that’s why the right pushed so hard for Brexit, and told their fantastical lies to make it happen. They would rather have a small state, low tax, highly unequal UK, with a crumbling public realm and services, rather than EU-style worker protections, environmental protections, etc, etc, etc.

So they whipped up an immigration panic and promised unicorns for all to get just enough people to shoot themselves in the foot.

The idea that EU regulation resulted in higher consumer prices - a shibboleth of Euroscepticism since the early 90s - turned out to be total junk as well.

Witness food prices.

And yet we still get squealing and whining that farmers may face competition from the likes of Australia and New Zealand.

You can't have it both ways.

Why isn't affordable Aussie and Kiwi good enough for us without any tariffs?

The net impact so far is that prices are up (even net of the broader inflation issues), and choice is down.
It’s possible, though I defer to Nick Palmer, that welfare standards are expected to decline too.

I'd like to see any evidence whatsoever that prices are up in the UK compared to other countries net of broader inflation issues. Or that choice is down similarly.

Food inflation has been seen across the globe, so I'm sceptical.

There's nothing wrong with animal welfare in New Zealand etc, I'd be quite delighted to see non-tariff barriers that are falsely portrayed as "welfare" issues to be abolished.

First of many results on Google.

https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/brexit-blame-third-britains-food-bill-rise-researchers-say-2023-05-25/

Counter-example: https://www.euronews.com/business/2023/11/21/real-food-inflation-in-europe-which-countries-are-hit-the-hardest

The UK has lower real food inflation than the Euro Area.

Um: stupid question: what's real inflation?

I know what prices are. Shoes used to cost £X
I know what inflated prices are. Shoes now cost £2X
I know what real prices are. Shoes in real terms cost £2X/(1+inflation rate)
But I don't know what real inflation is.
Can you give me an example?

The real inflation that X as opposed to Y else now costs more than it would have in real currency.

A prime example would be houses. House price inflation has outstripped inflation for decades, so houses now cost more in real terms than they would.

While a counter-example of real deflation is often technology goods. If you would spend £1000 in 2000 on a computer, but could get one for about £300 today, in real terms that's declined in cost by much more than 70% because £1000 in 2000 money is more than £1000 today.

Indeed. And we're all told inflation has been low for the past two decades, because the price of flatscreen tellys and fast fashion has cratered. Meanwhile, the cost of keeping a roof over your head has skyrocketed to the point where absolutely nobody feels any richer despite every home having a massive flatscreen telly. See also: energy prices, childcare prices, almost all the basics you actually need to live a half decent life, etc.

kyf_100 said:

BartholomewRoberts said:

viewcode said:

BartholomewRoberts said:

Gardenwalker said:

BartholomewRoberts said:

Gardenwalker said:

BartholomewRoberts said:

Gardenwalker said:

northern_monkey said:

OnlyLivingBoy said:

viewcode said:

PART THREE

...Now when the Johnson Administration in Britain came over to talk to Donald
Trump's Administration about a trade deal and they found out what the
conditions would be they walked away. And then the next government came in and did the same thing and walked away (or was it Teresa May?). Anyway there were two back-to-back and so the Brits right now are in this nether world where they kind of quietly admit to themselves that, in order to find a future that has some degree of economic functionality, they have to get into bed with their kids and accept all the demands and the hit to their economy will be real and the hit
to their ego will be massive...


...But the alternatives (trying to build an alternate system or maybe going back to the EU) neither of those are long-term solutions that are very functional, so really what we're doing is going through the paces until the Brits admit the obvious, and when that happens Britain will lose the thing that it values the most: its freedom to act, its agency. It will become a subsidiary of the American system for Better or For Worse and while that will be horrible for the British mindset it is the best game in town from both an economic and a security point of view and in time I have no doubt that that is where the Brits will end up, so stiff upper lip...

I'm not sure I share all this guy's analysis, but I do share his conclusion. The only real alternative to the UK being part of the EU is being much more closely aligned with the US, perhaps even as the 51st or 51st-53rd states.

And that’s why the right pushed so hard for Brexit, and told their fantastical lies to make it happen. They would rather have a small state, low tax, highly unequal UK, with a crumbling public realm and services, rather than EU-style worker protections, environmental protections, etc, etc, etc.

So they whipped up an immigration panic and promised unicorns for all to get just enough people to shoot themselves in the foot.

The idea that EU regulation resulted in higher consumer prices - a shibboleth of Euroscepticism since the early 90s - turned out to be total junk as well.

Witness food prices.

And yet we still get squealing and whining that farmers may face competition from the likes of Australia and New Zealand.

You can't have it both ways.

Why isn't affordable Aussie and Kiwi good enough for us without any tariffs?

The net impact so far is that prices are up (even net of the broader inflation issues), and choice is down.
It’s possible, though I defer to Nick Palmer, that welfare standards are expected to decline too.

I'd like to see any evidence whatsoever that prices are up in the UK compared to other countries net of broader inflation issues. Or that choice is down similarly.

Food inflation has been seen across the globe, so I'm sceptical.

There's nothing wrong with animal welfare in New Zealand etc, I'd be quite delighted to see non-tariff barriers that are falsely portrayed as "welfare" issues to be abolished.

First of many results on Google.

https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/brexit-blame-third-britains-food-bill-rise-researchers-say-2023-05-25/

Counter-example: https://www.euronews.com/business/2023/11/21/real-food-inflation-in-europe-which-countries-are-hit-the-hardest

The UK has lower real food inflation than the Euro Area.

Um: stupid question: what's real inflation?

I know what prices are. Shoes used to cost £X
I know what inflated prices are. Shoes now cost £2X
I know what real prices are. Shoes in real terms cost £2X/(1+inflation rate)
But I don't know what real inflation is.
Can you give me an example?

The real inflation that X as opposed to Y else now costs more than it would have in real currency.

A prime example would be houses. House price inflation has outstripped inflation for decades, so houses now cost more in real terms than they would.

While a counter-example of real deflation is often technology goods. If you would spend £1000 in 2000 on a computer, but could get one for about £300 today, in real terms that's declined in cost by much more than 70% because £1000 in 2000 money is more than £1000 today.

Indeed. And we're all told inflation has been low for the past two decades, because the price of flatscreen tellys and fast fashion has cratered. Meanwhile, the cost of keeping a roof over your head has skyrocketed to the point where absolutely nobody feels any richer despite every home having a massive flatscreen telly. See also: energy prices, childcare prices, almost all the basics you actually need to live a half decent life, etc.

mwadams said:

BartholomewRoberts said:

AbandonedHope said:

As it's not the Underground but it is the Overground...

Great Uncle Bulgaria Line
Tobermory Line
Tomsk Line
Orinoco Line
Wellington Line
Madam Cholet Line

Anyone who wants to study the movement of large numbers of people could then examine the Orinoco flow.

Have we done

Pugh
Pugh
Barney McGrew
Cuthbert
Dibble
Grubb

I rather like naming 2 of them the same. It is in keeping with the generally baffling routing.

viewcode said:

Taz said:

I'd propose

• The Hartnell Line
  
• The Cushing Line
  
• The Troughton Line
  
• The Pertwee Line
  
• The Baker Line
  
• The Davison Line
  

Shouldn't that be

• The Hartnell Line
  
• The Troughton Line
  
• The Pertwee Line
  
• The Baker Line
  
• The Davison Line
  
• The McCoy Line
  

Theuniondivvie said:

Nigelb said:

JosiasJessop said:

Casino_Royale said:

isam said:

Casino_Royale said:

Chat GPT just helped me: Can you create for me five very woke names for railways?

ChatGPT
Sure, here are five "woke" names for railways:

1. Unity Line
2. Harmony Express
3. Diversity Junction
4. Inclusion Railway
5. Equity Route

In Rainham, Essex there was a notorious council estate called The Mardyke, and when it was knocked down, the streets that replaced it had names like that

There are plenty of people who think precisely like this.

We have a couple of Harry Potter inspired street names near us, as our part of the town was built at the height of the books' popularity. Later sections are named after airplanes and manufacturers, as they're nearer the old Bourn airfield. Vickers way, York Road, Spitfire Road, Fairey Close, Blackbird Road etc.

Better names and themes than Khan's monstrosities...

So you're only fairly close to Fairey Close ?

A battle to get to it though.

LostPassword said:

algarkirk said:

Clutch_Brompton said:

The window between Starmer gaining an overall majority and Starmer gaining an effective majority is only the SF and/or SDLP MPs. It is unlikely to come into play but far from impossible. I suspect it is at the very limit of Con possibilities but it is worth keeping in mind

The possibilities are fascinating, and if the polls narrow (they will) it will be endless discussion.

To be simplistic and over simplify, per impossibile, Labour gain only 45 seats, all at the expense of the Tories, and LD gain 10, ditto. Labour then have only 247 seats, 79 short of a mathematical/bookies majority but Tories have 310 (16 short). The Tories, SFAICS, cannot form a government; Labour (with rainbow) can and will.

I would doubt that a rainbow coalition would be formed. I'd expect the Tories to continue as a weak minority government for a while before calling another election on the basis that Labour couldn't form a government and the voters should give the Tories a majority.

turbotubbs said:

Nigelb said:

kyf_100 said:

BartholomewRoberts said:

viewcode said:

BartholomewRoberts said:

Gardenwalker said:

BartholomewRoberts said:

Gardenwalker said:

BartholomewRoberts said:

Gardenwalker said:

northern_monkey said:

OnlyLivingBoy said:

viewcode said:

PART THREE

...Now when the Johnson Administration in Britain came over to talk to Donald
Trump's Administration about a trade deal and they found out what the
conditions would be they walked away. And then the next government came in and did the same thing and walked away (or was it Teresa May?). Anyway there were two back-to-back and so the Brits right now are in this nether world where they kind of quietly admit to themselves that, in order to find a future that has some degree of economic functionality, they have to get into bed with their kids and accept all the demands and the hit to their economy will be real and the hit
to their ego will be massive...


...But the alternatives (trying to build an alternate system or maybe going back to the EU) neither of those are long-term solutions that are very functional, so really what we're doing is going through the paces until the Brits admit the obvious, and when that happens Britain will lose the thing that it values the most: its freedom to act, its agency. It will become a subsidiary of the American system for Better or For Worse and while that will be horrible for the British mindset it is the best game in town from both an economic and a security point of view and in time I have no doubt that that is where the Brits will end up, so stiff upper lip...

I'm not sure I share all this guy's analysis, but I do share his conclusion. The only real alternative to the UK being part of the EU is being much more closely aligned with the US, perhaps even as the 51st or 51st-53rd states.

And that’s why the right pushed so hard for Brexit, and told their fantastical lies to make it happen. They would rather have a small state, low tax, highly unequal UK, with a crumbling public realm and services, rather than EU-style worker protections, environmental protections, etc, etc, etc.

So they whipped up an immigration panic and promised unicorns for all to get just enough people to shoot themselves in the foot.

The idea that EU regulation resulted in higher consumer prices - a shibboleth of Euroscepticism since the early 90s - turned out to be total junk as well.

Witness food prices.

And yet we still get squealing and whining that farmers may face competition from the likes of Australia and New Zealand.

You can't have it both ways.

Why isn't affordable Aussie and Kiwi good enough for us without any tariffs?

The net impact so far is that prices are up (even net of the broader inflation issues), and choice is down.
It’s possible, though I defer to Nick Palmer, that welfare standards are expected to decline too.

I'd like to see any evidence whatsoever that prices are up in the UK compared to other countries net of broader inflation issues. Or that choice is down similarly.

Food inflation has been seen across the globe, so I'm sceptical.

There's nothing wrong with animal welfare in New Zealand etc, I'd be quite delighted to see non-tariff barriers that are falsely portrayed as "welfare" issues to be abolished.

First of many results on Google.

https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/brexit-blame-third-britains-food-bill-rise-researchers-say-2023-05-25/

Counter-example: https://www.euronews.com/business/2023/11/21/real-food-inflation-in-europe-which-countries-are-hit-the-hardest

The UK has lower real food inflation than the Euro Area.

Um: stupid question: what's real inflation?

I know what prices are. Shoes used to cost £X
I know what inflated prices are. Shoes now cost £2X
I know what real prices are. Shoes in real terms cost £2X/(1+inflation rate)
But I don't know what real inflation is.
Can you give me an example?

The real inflation that X as opposed to Y else now costs more than it would have in real currency.

A prime example would be houses. House price inflation has outstripped inflation for decades, so houses now cost more in real terms than they would.

While a counter-example of real deflation is often technology goods. If you would spend £1000 in 2000 on a computer, but could get one for about £300 today, in real terms that's declined in cost by much more than 70% because £1000 in 2000 money is more than £1000 today.

Indeed. And we're all told inflation has been low for the past two decades, because the price of flatscreen tellys and fast fashion has cratered. Meanwhile, the cost of keeping a roof over your head has skyrocketed to the point where absolutely nobody feels any richer despite every home having a massive flatscreen telly. See also: energy prices, childcare prices, almost all the basics you actually need to live a half decent life, etc.

Olive oil.

Grated parmesan

Carnyx said:

JosiasJessop said:

Casino_Royale said:

isam said:

Casino_Royale said:

Chat GPT just helped me: Can you create for me five very woke names for railways?

ChatGPT
Sure, here are five "woke" names for railways:

1. Unity Line
2. Harmony Express
3. Diversity Junction
4. Inclusion Railway
5. Equity Route

In Rainham, Essex there was a notorious council estate called The Mardyke, and when it was knocked down, the streets that replaced it had names like that

There are plenty of people who think precisely like this.

We have a couple of Harry Potter inspired street names near us, as our part of the town was built at the height of the books' popularity. Later sections are named after airplanes and manufacturers, as they're nearer the old Bourn airfield. Vickers way, York Road, Spitfire Road, Fairey Close, Blackbird Road etc.

Better names and themes than Khan's monstrosities...

BartholomewRoberts said:

Sandpit said:

Gardenwalker said:

Sandpit said:

kyf_100 said:

Anabobazina said:

FPT point of order it's the Lioness line not the Lionesses line.

Which is slightly (but not much) better.

Unless you're trying to pronounce it after a skinful. Come to think of it "I'm just jumping on a Suffragette" is probably going to get some traction amongst the lairy friday night out crowd.

All in all the names have a vague "if Dave Spart ran a competition for the under 8s to name the lines, then miraculously picked the worst names out of a hat" feel to them.

The London plan comes across as typical Sadiq being Sadiq, and looking for the sort of names that will offend people who don’t like him, further cementing societal division.

If you’re going to give out random names then auction them off. Loads of cities, including mine, do this, the big money is for the destination and interchange stations, or companies buying the station nearest their own business.

I don’t think Khan goes out of his way to cause division.
I just think he’s a bit of a twit. His instincts are just off. Kind of a leftist Sunak.

Perhaps, but, as someone who does disgreee with him on almost everything, it comes across as needlessly antagonistic. There’s plenty of London history that can be seen as positive for the city, rather than dwelling on negative history.

The names are naff, but which are negative? They're all positive.

What really annoys me is the changing of old names to sanitise them. There's such stuff as Titmouse and Gropecunt Lanes in Oxford, which I suppose needed i t, but the incomers mocing to Trotter Haugh in Edinburgh whined about it some years back. Yet Trotter wass an important local l andowner and a haugh a flat riverside piece of land. They wanted it changed but the street name is still there. Ignoran t folk - all they could think about was Del Boy & co.

Malmesbury said:

a

Carnyx said:

AbandonedHope said:

mwadams said:

BartholomewRoberts said:

AbandonedHope said:

As it's not the Underground but it is the Overground...

Great Uncle Bulgaria Line
Tobermory Line
Tomsk Line
Orinoco Line
Wellington Line
Madam Cholet Line

Anyone who wants to study the movement of large numbers of people could then examine the Orinoco flow.

Have we done

Pugh
Pugh
Barney McGrew
Cuthbert
Dibble
Grubb

I rather like naming 2 of them the same. It is in keeping with the generally baffling routing.

I did think about other cultural icons and the Trumpton Firemen were the first to come to mind. I also considered:

Clangers Line
Bagpuss Line
Magic Roundabout Line
Andy Pandy Line
Flowerpot Men Line

Ivor the Train Line.

Thomas Line
Gordon Line
James Line
:
:

jamesdoyle said:

Surely the generation-spanning choices should be:

Buffy Line
Xander Line
Willow Line
Cordelia Line
Giles Line
(Cant have the Angel Line, so) Spike Line

jamesdoyle said:

Surely the generation-spanning choices should be:

Buffy Line
Xander Line
Willow Line
Cordelia Line
Giles Line
(Cant have the Angel Line, so) Spike Line

Carnyx said:

Malmesbury said:

a

Carnyx said:

AbandonedHope said:

mwadams said:

BartholomewRoberts said:

AbandonedHope said:

As it's not the Underground but it is the Overground...

Great Uncle Bulgaria Line
Tobermory Line
Tomsk Line
Orinoco Line
Wellington Line
Madam Cholet Line

Anyone who wants to study the movement of large numbers of people could then examine the Orinoco flow.

Have we done

Pugh
Pugh
Barney McGrew
Cuthbert
Dibble
Grubb

I rather like naming 2 of them the same. It is in keeping with the generally baffling routing.

I did think about other cultural icons and the Trumpton Firemen were the first to come to mind. I also considered:

Clangers Line
Bagpuss Line
Magic Roundabout Line
Andy Pandy Line
Flowerpot Men Line

Ivor the Train Line.

Thomas Line
Gordon Line
James Line
:
:

What! No Mavis, Annie or Clarabel?!

turbotubbs said:

viewcode said:

Taz said:

I'd propose

• The Hartnell Line
  
• The Cushing Line
  
• The Troughton Line
  
• The Pertwee Line
  
• The Baker Line
  
• The Davison Line
  

Shouldn't that be

• The Hartnell Line
  
• The Troughton Line
  
• The Pertwee Line
  
• The Baker Line
  
• The Davison Line
  
• The McCoy Line
  

Or now:
The Eccleston line
The Tenant line
The Smith line
The Whittaker line
The Tenant line
The Gatwa Line

Carnyx said:

Malmesbury said:

a

Carnyx said:

AbandonedHope said:

mwadams said:

BartholomewRoberts said:

AbandonedHope said:

As it's not the Underground but it is the Overground...

Great Uncle Bulgaria Line
Tobermory Line
Tomsk Line
Orinoco Line
Wellington Line
Madam Cholet Line

Anyone who wants to study the movement of large numbers of people could then examine the Orinoco flow.

Have we done

Pugh
Pugh
Barney McGrew
Cuthbert
Dibble
Grubb

I rather like naming 2 of them the same. It is in keeping with the generally baffling routing.

I did think about other cultural icons and the Trumpton Firemen were the first to come to mind. I also considered:

Clangers Line
Bagpuss Line
Magic Roundabout Line
Andy Pandy Line
Flowerpot Men Line

Ivor the Train Line.

Thomas Line
Gordon Line
James Line
:
:

What! No Mavis, Annie or Clarabel?!

Stuartinromford said:

Carnyx said:

Stuartinromford said:

Carnyx said:

Malmesbury said:

a

Carnyx said:

AbandonedHope said:

mwadams said:

BartholomewRoberts said:

AbandonedHope said:

As it's not the Underground but it is the Overground...

Great Uncle Bulgaria Line
Tobermory Line
Tomsk Line
Orinoco Line
Wellington Line
Madam Cholet Line

Anyone who wants to study the movement of large numbers of people could then examine the Orinoco flow.

Have we done

Pugh
Pugh
Barney McGrew
Cuthbert
Dibble
Grubb

I rather like naming 2 of them the same. It is in keeping with the generally baffling routing.

I did think about other cultural icons and the Trumpton Firemen were the first to come to mind. I also considered:

Clangers Line
Bagpuss Line
Magic Roundabout Line
Andy Pandy Line
Flowerpot Men Line

Ivor the Train Line.

Thomas Line
Gordon Line
James Line
:
:

What! No Mavis, Annie or Clarabel?!

As long as we don't have a Henry Line.

Eh?

He was bricked up in a tunnel for always and always and always. Which is a harsh response to the new Minimum Service Level laws.

Cookie said:

bondegezou said:

Cookie said:

bondegezou said:

I very much doubt Labour will drop below 40% in Rochdale.

I think they will drop below 40%, because there are so many other plausible candidates.
But I think they will win comfortably. A combination of people who have already voted, people who agree with Azhar Ali, people who don't care, and people who have paid the whole kerfuffle little attention.

Labour above or below 40% in Rochdale: I say above, you say below, loser donates £5 to Alzheimer's Research UK?

You're on!

Selebian said:

turbotubbs said:

Nigelb said:

kyf_100 said:

BartholomewRoberts said:

viewcode said:

BartholomewRoberts said:

Gardenwalker said:

BartholomewRoberts said:

Gardenwalker said:

BartholomewRoberts said:

Gardenwalker said:

northern_monkey said:

OnlyLivingBoy said:

viewcode said:

PART THREE

...Now when the Johnson Administration in Britain came over to talk to Donald
Trump's Administration about a trade deal and they found out what the
conditions would be they walked away. And then the next government came in and did the same thing and walked away (or was it Teresa May?). Anyway there were two back-to-back and so the Brits right now are in this nether world where they kind of quietly admit to themselves that, in order to find a future that has some degree of economic functionality, they have to get into bed with their kids and accept all the demands and the hit to their economy will be real and the hit
to their ego will be massive...


...But the alternatives (trying to build an alternate system or maybe going back to the EU) neither of those are long-term solutions that are very functional, so really what we're doing is going through the paces until the Brits admit the obvious, and when that happens Britain will lose the thing that it values the most: its freedom to act, its agency. It will become a subsidiary of the American system for Better or For Worse and while that will be horrible for the British mindset it is the best game in town from both an economic and a security point of view and in time I have no doubt that that is where the Brits will end up, so stiff upper lip...

I'm not sure I share all this guy's analysis, but I do share his conclusion. The only real alternative to the UK being part of the EU is being much more closely aligned with the US, perhaps even as the 51st or 51st-53rd states.

And that’s why the right pushed so hard for Brexit, and told their fantastical lies to make it happen. They would rather have a small state, low tax, highly unequal UK, with a crumbling public realm and services, rather than EU-style worker protections, environmental protections, etc, etc, etc.

So they whipped up an immigration panic and promised unicorns for all to get just enough people to shoot themselves in the foot.

The idea that EU regulation resulted in higher consumer prices - a shibboleth of Euroscepticism since the early 90s - turned out to be total junk as well.

Witness food prices.

And yet we still get squealing and whining that farmers may face competition from the likes of Australia and New Zealand.

You can't have it both ways.

Why isn't affordable Aussie and Kiwi good enough for us without any tariffs?

The net impact so far is that prices are up (even net of the broader inflation issues), and choice is down.
It’s possible, though I defer to Nick Palmer, that welfare standards are expected to decline too.

I'd like to see any evidence whatsoever that prices are up in the UK compared to other countries net of broader inflation issues. Or that choice is down similarly.

Food inflation has been seen across the globe, so I'm sceptical.

There's nothing wrong with animal welfare in New Zealand etc, I'd be quite delighted to see non-tariff barriers that are falsely portrayed as "welfare" issues to be abolished.

First of many results on Google.

https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/brexit-blame-third-britains-food-bill-rise-researchers-say-2023-05-25/

Counter-example: https://www.euronews.com/business/2023/11/21/real-food-inflation-in-europe-which-countries-are-hit-the-hardest

The UK has lower real food inflation than the Euro Area.

Um: stupid question: what's real inflation?

I know what prices are. Shoes used to cost £X
I know what inflated prices are. Shoes now cost £2X
I know what real prices are. Shoes in real terms cost £2X/(1+inflation rate)
But I don't know what real inflation is.
Can you give me an example?

The real inflation that X as opposed to Y else now costs more than it would have in real currency.

A prime example would be houses. House price inflation has outstripped inflation for decades, so houses now cost more in real terms than they would.

While a counter-example of real deflation is often technology goods. If you would spend £1000 in 2000 on a computer, but could get one for about £300 today, in real terms that's declined in cost by much more than 70% because £1000 in 2000 money is more than £1000 today.

Indeed. And we're all told inflation has been low for the past two decades, because the price of flatscreen tellys and fast fashion has cratered. Meanwhile, the cost of keeping a roof over your head has skyrocketed to the point where absolutely nobody feels any richer despite every home having a massive flatscreen telly. See also: energy prices, childcare prices, almost all the basics you actually need to live a half decent life, etc.

Olive oil.

Grated parmesan

How about ungrated parmesan? Has inflation been for the grater good?

turbotubbs said:

Selebian said:

turbotubbs said:

Nigelb said:

kyf_100 said:

BartholomewRoberts said:

viewcode said:

BartholomewRoberts said:

Gardenwalker said:

BartholomewRoberts said:

Gardenwalker said:

BartholomewRoberts said:

Gardenwalker said:

northern_monkey said:

OnlyLivingBoy said:

viewcode said:

PART THREE

...Now when the Johnson Administration in Britain came over to talk to Donald
Trump's Administration about a trade deal and they found out what the
conditions would be they walked away. And then the next government came in and did the same thing and walked away (or was it Teresa May?). Anyway there were two back-to-back and so the Brits right now are in this nether world where they kind of quietly admit to themselves that, in order to find a future that has some degree of economic functionality, they have to get into bed with their kids and accept all the demands and the hit to their economy will be real and the hit
to their ego will be massive...


...But the alternatives (trying to build an alternate system or maybe going back to the EU) neither of those are long-term solutions that are very functional, so really what we're doing is going through the paces until the Brits admit the obvious, and when that happens Britain will lose the thing that it values the most: its freedom to act, its agency. It will become a subsidiary of the American system for Better or For Worse and while that will be horrible for the British mindset it is the best game in town from both an economic and a security point of view and in time I have no doubt that that is where the Brits will end up, so stiff upper lip...

I'm not sure I share all this guy's analysis, but I do share his conclusion. The only real alternative to the UK being part of the EU is being much more closely aligned with the US, perhaps even as the 51st or 51st-53rd states.

And that’s why the right pushed so hard for Brexit, and told their fantastical lies to make it happen. They would rather have a small state, low tax, highly unequal UK, with a crumbling public realm and services, rather than EU-style worker protections, environmental protections, etc, etc, etc.

So they whipped up an immigration panic and promised unicorns for all to get just enough people to shoot themselves in the foot.

The idea that EU regulation resulted in higher consumer prices - a shibboleth of Euroscepticism since the early 90s - turned out to be total junk as well.

Witness food prices.

And yet we still get squealing and whining that farmers may face competition from the likes of Australia and New Zealand.

You can't have it both ways.

Why isn't affordable Aussie and Kiwi good enough for us without any tariffs?

The net impact so far is that prices are up (even net of the broader inflation issues), and choice is down.
It’s possible, though I defer to Nick Palmer, that welfare standards are expected to decline too.

I'd like to see any evidence whatsoever that prices are up in the UK compared to other countries net of broader inflation issues. Or that choice is down similarly.

Food inflation has been seen across the globe, so I'm sceptical.

There's nothing wrong with animal welfare in New Zealand etc, I'd be quite delighted to see non-tariff barriers that are falsely portrayed as "welfare" issues to be abolished.

First of many results on Google.

https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/brexit-blame-third-britains-food-bill-rise-researchers-say-2023-05-25/

Counter-example: https://www.euronews.com/business/2023/11/21/real-food-inflation-in-europe-which-countries-are-hit-the-hardest

The UK has lower real food inflation than the Euro Area.

Um: stupid question: what's real inflation?

I know what prices are. Shoes used to cost £X
I know what inflated prices are. Shoes now cost £2X
I know what real prices are. Shoes in real terms cost £2X/(1+inflation rate)
But I don't know what real inflation is.
Can you give me an example?

The real inflation that X as opposed to Y else now costs more than it would have in real currency.

A prime example would be houses. House price inflation has outstripped inflation for decades, so houses now cost more in real terms than they would.

While a counter-example of real deflation is often technology goods. If you would spend £1000 in 2000 on a computer, but could get one for about £300 today, in real terms that's declined in cost by much more than 70% because £1000 in 2000 money is more than £1000 today.

Indeed. And we're all told inflation has been low for the past two decades, because the price of flatscreen tellys and fast fashion has cratered. Meanwhile, the cost of keeping a roof over your head has skyrocketed to the point where absolutely nobody feels any richer despite every home having a massive flatscreen telly. See also: energy prices, childcare prices, almost all the basics you actually need to live a half decent life, etc.

Olive oil.

Grated parmesan

How about ungrated parmesan? Has inflation been for the grater good?

Life is too short to grate your own parmesan

algarkirk said:

bigjohnowls said:

83% of Labour voters think that Israel should stop the war and call an immediate ceasefire.

✅ Call a ceasefire: 83% (+6)
❌ Continue the war: 3% (-4)

Despite this, Labour opposes a ceasefire.

Via
@YouGov
, 12-13 Feb (+/- vs 16 Nov)

Oddly, SFAICS, this survey asks whether Israel should call a ceasefire but not whether Hamas should.

BTW 15% of 18-24 think the massacre of 1000 men women and children by Hamas in October was 'justified'.

Anabobazina said:

algarkirk said:

turbotubbs said:

Selebian said:

turbotubbs said:

Nigelb said:

kyf_100 said:

BartholomewRoberts said:

viewcode said:

BartholomewRoberts said:

Gardenwalker said:

BartholomewRoberts said:

Gardenwalker said:

BartholomewRoberts said:

Gardenwalker said:

northern_monkey said:

OnlyLivingBoy said:

viewcode said:

PART THREE

...Now when the Johnson Administration in Britain came over to talk to Donald
Trump's Administration about a trade deal and they found out what the
conditions would be they walked away. And then the next government came in and did the same thing and walked away (or was it Teresa May?). Anyway there were two back-to-back and so the Brits right now are in this nether world where they kind of quietly admit to themselves that, in order to find a future that has some degree of economic functionality, they have to get into bed with their kids and accept all the demands and the hit to their economy will be real and the hit
to their ego will be massive...


...But the alternatives (trying to build an alternate system or maybe going back to the EU) neither of those are long-term solutions that are very functional, so really what we're doing is going through the paces until the Brits admit the obvious, and when that happens Britain will lose the thing that it values the most: its freedom to act, its agency. It will become a subsidiary of the American system for Better or For Worse and while that will be horrible for the British mindset it is the best game in town from both an economic and a security point of view and in time I have no doubt that that is where the Brits will end up, so stiff upper lip...

I'm not sure I share all this guy's analysis, but I do share his conclusion. The only real alternative to the UK being part of the EU is being much more closely aligned with the US, perhaps even as the 51st or 51st-53rd states.

And that’s why the right pushed so hard for Brexit, and told their fantastical lies to make it happen. They would rather have a small state, low tax, highly unequal UK, with a crumbling public realm and services, rather than EU-style worker protections, environmental protections, etc, etc, etc.

So they whipped up an immigration panic and promised unicorns for all to get just enough people to shoot themselves in the foot.

The idea that EU regulation resulted in higher consumer prices - a shibboleth of Euroscepticism since the early 90s - turned out to be total junk as well.

Witness food prices.

And yet we still get squealing and whining that farmers may face competition from the likes of Australia and New Zealand.

You can't have it both ways.

Why isn't affordable Aussie and Kiwi good enough for us without any tariffs?

The net impact so far is that prices are up (even net of the broader inflation issues), and choice is down.
It’s possible, though I defer to Nick Palmer, that welfare standards are expected to decline too.

I'd like to see any evidence whatsoever that prices are up in the UK compared to other countries net of broader inflation issues. Or that choice is down similarly.

Food inflation has been seen across the globe, so I'm sceptical.

There's nothing wrong with animal welfare in New Zealand etc, I'd be quite delighted to see non-tariff barriers that are falsely portrayed as "welfare" issues to be abolished.

First of many results on Google.

https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/brexit-blame-third-britains-food-bill-rise-researchers-say-2023-05-25/

Counter-example: https://www.euronews.com/business/2023/11/21/real-food-inflation-in-europe-which-countries-are-hit-the-hardest

The UK has lower real food inflation than the Euro Area.

Um: stupid question: what's real inflation?

I know what prices are. Shoes used to cost £X
I know what inflated prices are. Shoes now cost £2X
I know what real prices are. Shoes in real terms cost £2X/(1+inflation rate)
But I don't know what real inflation is.
Can you give me an example?

The real inflation that X as opposed to Y else now costs more than it would have in real currency.

A prime example would be houses. House price inflation has outstripped inflation for decades, so houses now cost more in real terms than they would.

While a counter-example of real deflation is often technology goods. If you would spend £1000 in 2000 on a computer, but could get one for about £300 today, in real terms that's declined in cost by much more than 70% because £1000 in 2000 money is more than £1000 today.

Indeed. And we're all told inflation has been low for the past two decades, because the price of flatscreen tellys and fast fashion has cratered. Meanwhile, the cost of keeping a roof over your head has skyrocketed to the point where absolutely nobody feels any richer despite every home having a massive flatscreen telly. See also: energy prices, childcare prices, almost all the basics you actually need to live a half decent life, etc.

Olive oil.

Grated parmesan

How about ungrated parmesan? Has inflation been for the grater good?

Life is too short to grate your own parmesan

That's like saying life is too short to not use instant coffee.

Many of the gastroidiots on here think that.

isam said:

The rebranding of the London Overground is reported to have cost £6.3m. Is this true? If so it seems ludicrous really.

turbotubbs said:

Stocky said:

Anabobazina said:

algarkirk said:

turbotubbs said:

Selebian said:

turbotubbs said:

Nigelb said:

kyf_100 said:

BartholomewRoberts said:

viewcode said:

BartholomewRoberts said:

Gardenwalker said:

BartholomewRoberts said:

Gardenwalker said:

BartholomewRoberts said:

Gardenwalker said:

northern_monkey said:

OnlyLivingBoy said:

viewcode said:

PART THREE

...Now when the Johnson Administration in Britain came over to talk to Donald
Trump's Administration about a trade deal and they found out what the
conditions would be they walked away. And then the next government came in and did the same thing and walked away (or was it Teresa May?). Anyway there were two back-to-back and so the Brits right now are in this nether world where they kind of quietly admit to themselves that, in order to find a future that has some degree of economic functionality, they have to get into bed with their kids and accept all the demands and the hit to their economy will be real and the hit
to their ego will be massive...


...But the alternatives (trying to build an alternate system or maybe going back to the EU) neither of those are long-term solutions that are very functional, so really what we're doing is going through the paces until the Brits admit the obvious, and when that happens Britain will lose the thing that it values the most: its freedom to act, its agency. It will become a subsidiary of the American system for Better or For Worse and while that will be horrible for the British mindset it is the best game in town from both an economic and a security point of view and in time I have no doubt that that is where the Brits will end up, so stiff upper lip...

I'm not sure I share all this guy's analysis, but I do share his conclusion. The only real alternative to the UK being part of the EU is being much more closely aligned with the US, perhaps even as the 51st or 51st-53rd states.

And that’s why the right pushed so hard for Brexit, and told their fantastical lies to make it happen. They would rather have a small state, low tax, highly unequal UK, with a crumbling public realm and services, rather than EU-style worker protections, environmental protections, etc, etc, etc.

So they whipped up an immigration panic and promised unicorns for all to get just enough people to shoot themselves in the foot.

The idea that EU regulation resulted in higher consumer prices - a shibboleth of Euroscepticism since the early 90s - turned out to be total junk as well.

Witness food prices.

And yet we still get squealing and whining that farmers may face competition from the likes of Australia and New Zealand.

You can't have it both ways.

Why isn't affordable Aussie and Kiwi good enough for us without any tariffs?

The net impact so far is that prices are up (even net of the broader inflation issues), and choice is down.
It’s possible, though I defer to Nick Palmer, that welfare standards are expected to decline too.

I'd like to see any evidence whatsoever that prices are up in the UK compared to other countries net of broader inflation issues. Or that choice is down similarly.

Food inflation has been seen across the globe, so I'm sceptical.

There's nothing wrong with animal welfare in New Zealand etc, I'd be quite delighted to see non-tariff barriers that are falsely portrayed as "welfare" issues to be abolished.

First of many results on Google.

https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/brexit-blame-third-britains-food-bill-rise-researchers-say-2023-05-25/

Counter-example: https://www.euronews.com/business/2023/11/21/real-food-inflation-in-europe-which-countries-are-hit-the-hardest

The UK has lower real food inflation than the Euro Area.

Um: stupid question: what's real inflation?

I know what prices are. Shoes used to cost £X
I know what inflated prices are. Shoes now cost £2X
I know what real prices are. Shoes in real terms cost £2X/(1+inflation rate)
But I don't know what real inflation is.
Can you give me an example?

The real inflation that X as opposed to Y else now costs more than it would have in real currency.

A prime example would be houses. House price inflation has outstripped inflation for decades, so houses now cost more in real terms than they would.

While a counter-example of real deflation is often technology goods. If you would spend £1000 in 2000 on a computer, but could get one for about £300 today, in real terms that's declined in cost by much more than 70% because £1000 in 2000 money is more than £1000 today.

Indeed. And we're all told inflation has been low for the past two decades, because the price of flatscreen tellys and fast fashion has cratered. Meanwhile, the cost of keeping a roof over your head has skyrocketed to the point where absolutely nobody feels any richer despite every home having a massive flatscreen telly. See also: energy prices, childcare prices, almost all the basics you actually need to live a half decent life, etc.

Olive oil.

Grated parmesan

How about ungrated parmesan? Has inflation been for the grater good?

Life is too short to grate your own parmesan

That's like saying life is too short to not use instant coffee.

Many of the gastroidiots on here think that.

I've recently bought some rather nice coffee mugs from Loveramics.

Sizes: flat white, cappuccino and latte.

I have an excellent espresso machine - wouldn't touch instant now.

I've acquired a taste for oat milk in coffee (50/50 with cows').

Irrational pet hate - oat milk. Milk comes from mammals. Oat milk is not a milk, its a massively processed grain.

isam said:

The rebranding of the London Overground is reported to have cost £6.3m. Is this true? If so it seems ludicrous really. Same goes for any Tory rebranding that costs a lot of public money, before we get too deep into whataboutery. Governments and councils always plead poverty, but find the money for stuff that no one the current leader looking for their legacy really cares about

OldKingCole said:

On Canvey Island many of the older roads have Dutch names in tribute to the original drainers and reclaimers of the land, and builders of the first sea-wall.
Thus Haarlem Rd., Van Diemanns Pass, Syderveldt Road, and many more.

Carnyx said:

Sandpit said:

Gardenwalker said:

Sandpit said:

kyf_100 said:

Anabobazina said:

FPT point of order it's the Lioness line not the Lionesses line.

Which is slightly (but not much) better.

Unless you're trying to pronounce it after a skinful. Come to think of it "I'm just jumping on a Suffragette" is probably going to get some traction amongst the lairy friday night out crowd.

All in all the names have a vague "if Dave Spart ran a competition for the under 8s to name the lines, then miraculously picked the worst names out of a hat" feel to them.

The London plan comes across as typical Sadiq being Sadiq, and looking for the sort of names that will offend people who don’t like him, further cementing societal division.

If you’re going to give out random names then auction them off. Loads of cities, including mine, do this, the big money is for the destination and interchange stations, or companies buying the station nearest their own business.

I don’t think Khan goes out of his way to cause division.
I just think he’s a bit of a twit. His instincts are just off. Kind of a leftist Sunak.

Perhaps, but, as someone who does disgreee with him on almost everything, it comes across as needlessly antagonistic. There’s plenty of London history that can be seen as positive for the city, rather than dwelling on negative history.

What's negative about the new names? Unless yhou think votes for women are bad, and you can't possibly mean that. Liberty is nice and historical, so are some of the others.

Cookie said:

Omnium said:

Carnyx said:

Malmesbury said:

a

Carnyx said:

AbandonedHope said:

mwadams said:

BartholomewRoberts said:

AbandonedHope said:

As it's not the Underground but it is the Overground...

Great Uncle Bulgaria Line
Tobermory Line
Tomsk Line
Orinoco Line
Wellington Line
Madam Cholet Line

Anyone who wants to study the movement of large numbers of people could then examine the Orinoco flow.

Have we done

Pugh
Pugh
Barney McGrew
Cuthbert
Dibble
Grubb

I rather like naming 2 of them the same. It is in keeping with the generally baffling routing.

I did think about other cultural icons and the Trumpton Firemen were the first to come to mind. I also considered:

Clangers Line
Bagpuss Line
Magic Roundabout Line
Andy Pandy Line
Flowerpot Men Line

Ivor the Train Line.

Thomas Line
Gordon Line
James Line
:
:

What! No Mavis, Annie or Clarabel?!

I quite like the Wombles suggestion. Sadiq's choices are absolutely appalling. I could just about stomach Windrush and Liberty, although they seem daft, but the others are hopeless.

Khan is going to regret this!

I'm not sure Khan has the degree of self-reflection necessary to regret anything.

I agree though. The Wombles suggestion would have been perfect. And the current choices are ridiculous.

FF43 said:

.

turbotubbs said:

Selebian said:

turbotubbs said:

Nigelb said:

kyf_100 said:

BartholomewRoberts said:

viewcode said:

BartholomewRoberts said:

Gardenwalker said:

BartholomewRoberts said:

Gardenwalker said:

BartholomewRoberts said:

Gardenwalker said:

northern_monkey said:

OnlyLivingBoy said:

viewcode said:

PART THREE

...Now when the Johnson Administration in Britain came over to talk to Donald
Trump's Administration about a trade deal and they found out what the
conditions would be they walked away. And then the next government came in and did the same thing and walked away (or was it Teresa May?). Anyway there were two back-to-back and so the Brits right now are in this nether world where they kind of quietly admit to themselves that, in order to find a future that has some degree of economic functionality, they have to get into bed with their kids and accept all the demands and the hit to their economy will be real and the hit
to their ego will be massive...


...But the alternatives (trying to build an alternate system or maybe going back to the EU) neither of those are long-term solutions that are very functional, so really what we're doing is going through the paces until the Brits admit the obvious, and when that happens Britain will lose the thing that it values the most: its freedom to act, its agency. It will become a subsidiary of the American system for Better or For Worse and while that will be horrible for the British mindset it is the best game in town from both an economic and a security point of view and in time I have no doubt that that is where the Brits will end up, so stiff upper lip...

I'm not sure I share all this guy's analysis, but I do share his conclusion. The only real alternative to the UK being part of the EU is being much more closely aligned with the US, perhaps even as the 51st or 51st-53rd states.

And that’s why the right pushed so hard for Brexit, and told their fantastical lies to make it happen. They would rather have a small state, low tax, highly unequal UK, with a crumbling public realm and services, rather than EU-style worker protections, environmental protections, etc, etc, etc.

So they whipped up an immigration panic and promised unicorns for all to get just enough people to shoot themselves in the foot.

The idea that EU regulation resulted in higher consumer prices - a shibboleth of Euroscepticism since the early 90s - turned out to be total junk as well.

Witness food prices.

And yet we still get squealing and whining that farmers may face competition from the likes of Australia and New Zealand.

You can't have it both ways.

Why isn't affordable Aussie and Kiwi good enough for us without any tariffs?

The net impact so far is that prices are up (even net of the broader inflation issues), and choice is down.
It’s possible, though I defer to Nick Palmer, that welfare standards are expected to decline too.

I'd like to see any evidence whatsoever that prices are up in the UK compared to other countries net of broader inflation issues. Or that choice is down similarly.

Food inflation has been seen across the globe, so I'm sceptical.

There's nothing wrong with animal welfare in New Zealand etc, I'd be quite delighted to see non-tariff barriers that are falsely portrayed as "welfare" issues to be abolished.

First of many results on Google.

https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/brexit-blame-third-britains-food-bill-rise-researchers-say-2023-05-25/

Counter-example: https://www.euronews.com/business/2023/11/21/real-food-inflation-in-europe-which-countries-are-hit-the-hardest

The UK has lower real food inflation than the Euro Area.

Um: stupid question: what's real inflation?

I know what prices are. Shoes used to cost £X
I know what inflated prices are. Shoes now cost £2X
I know what real prices are. Shoes in real terms cost £2X/(1+inflation rate)
But I don't know what real inflation is.
Can you give me an example?

The real inflation that X as opposed to Y else now costs more than it would have in real currency.

A prime example would be houses. House price inflation has outstripped inflation for decades, so houses now cost more in real terms than they would.

While a counter-example of real deflation is often technology goods. If you would spend £1000 in 2000 on a computer, but could get one for about £300 today, in real terms that's declined in cost by much more than 70% because £1000 in 2000 money is more than £1000 today.

Indeed. And we're all told inflation has been low for the past two decades, because the price of flatscreen tellys and fast fashion has cratered. Meanwhile, the cost of keeping a roof over your head has skyrocketed to the point where absolutely nobody feels any richer despite every home having a massive flatscreen telly. See also: energy prices, childcare prices, almost all the basics you actually need to live a half decent life, etc.

Olive oil.

Grated parmesan

How about ungrated parmesan? Has inflation been for the grater good?

Life is too short to grate your own parmesan

I take about 15 minutes to make a dish of pasta from scratch, which is pretty quick. I spend 10 seconds of that time grating parmesan. Life isn't that short.