Russian state news are reporting that Ukraine are behind the theatre attack, and they they apprehended suspects trying to flee West from Moscow towards the war zone.
It’s likely to be total bollocks of course, but that’s what they’re saying.
The problem for Putin is that
1) he was warned, specifically 2) multiple ISIS small attacks were foiled recently in Russia 3) he publicly rejected the warning 4) part of the whole strongman schtick it that “this doesn’t happen if I am in charge”
On 4, kinda handy that the attack occurred days after the election so that he has seven years to defeat terrorism before the next election.
Russian state news are reporting that Ukraine are behind the theatre attack, and they they apprehended suspects trying to flee West from Moscow towards the war zone.
It’s likely to be total bollocks of course, but that’s what they’re saying.
The problem for Putin is that
1) he was warned, specifically 2) multiple ISIS small attacks were foiled recently in Russia 3) he publicly rejected the warning 4) part of the whole strongman schtick it that “this doesn’t happen if I am in charge”
They’re now saying that the Americans are something to do with it, because they issued a warning about an imminent attack - and why would they do that, unless they were behind it?
Wifey thinks that this is a pretext for an escalation of the war, or at least preparing Russians for another non-voluntary mobilisation of young men.
I missed this prediction competition for the GE as I was off air for a long time whilst travelling. Presumably the comp is still open until the day itself? @Benpointer
You all know my views on this, resolutely stated over the past couple of years. So I’ll punt for the number of Cons MPs to be 80-130 after the GE, which equates to I don’t know what in terms of a Labour majority. I guess around 250?
If the comp is still open then I'd also like to enter, but predicting a hung Parliament.
At this juncture a Labour landslide looks more probable, but I'm stubborn.
Why would the competition still be open? Predictions (usually) get easier the nearer you get to the event. A competition needs to have a deadline.
Still, to predict an outcome that has become even less likely since the competition closed is brave!
The way I look at it, if I'm proven right I get to play the genius (yes, I know, stopped clocks etc etc) and if I'm disastrously wrong then the Tories get the stuffing they thoroughly deserve. So it's a bit of a win-win.
The really brave prediction would be another Tory win, but not even I am that crackers.
I understand why @rcs1000 was emotionally attached to the post about Brexit but it is not coherent either logically, practically or emotionally.
@RochdalePioneers (a Brexiter) has given us chapter and verse about some of the economic hurdles now in place. Two anecdotally and trivially from me are movements of horses to and from the EU and a very small luxury clothing business which now finds it too expensive to import from the EU.
But more important wrt the "decisions made closer to home" bullshit (soz) is that, in the words of that noble and fearless Brexiter David Davis, we were always s*v*r**gn. The tiniest number of things were subject to EU lawmaking (VAT on home energy and Droit de Suite for example and you have no idea what one of those is).
You guys keep bleating on about shoulda woulda coulda but you sound like all those mad communists still agitating for that system. A great idea just that no one has done it right.
And with that, we're back on topic. The "good idea, done badly, not gone far enough" is the sort of thing that devotees of St Jeremy The Martyr say as well.
The will of the people is pretty clearly that this isn't going well and is probably a mistake. There's not much enthusiasm for any alternative but the status quo is seen as rubbish. The only useful questions are what the British state does with that information and when?
It's now more than ever that we are expected to embrace our national motto: mustn't grumble.
If there is one thing Britons can unite around it is having a good moan. "Mustn't grumble" is superb British irony considering that is what we do most.
There being a lot more than usual to grumble about right now
Good morning
Oh I don't know about that. Things have been going to hell in a handcart for many years.
Well yes. I now look back fondly to the 2012 London Olympics as the Cool Britannia swansong. It has been all downhill ever since.
But what about the wrong coloured flags on the kit in 2012? Surely that spoiled the whole thing.
On which topic next PM Penny Mordaunt is this morning showing she’s a serious politician for serious times:
I’m going to make myself unpopular on here but I loathe the flag of St George and its connotations. It’s as historically ridiculous to associate it with England as three lions. What the heck have lions got to do with this country? Nothing at all. Nor has the myth of a dragon-slaying Cappadocian. Worse still, it has all become wrapped up in Crusader English nationalism of a particular kind. Yuck.
And don’t get me started on our execrable ’national’ anthem. It was lovely to hear the Welsh lustily singing a great tune the other night and Flower of Scotland is magnificent: the tune possibly more than the odd dodgy line - like La Marseillaise.
Anti-English rant over. Please excuse me.
p.s. I don’t agree with nations, nationhood, or national flags. We’re a human race comprising a multiplicity of different ethnicities, cultures, languages, and histories but essential one race. And we need to learn to get along.
Perhaps we will if one of Sean’s alien spaceships lands here. That’s if they don’t eat us.
I may be completely out of my mind, but I suspect the average UK citizen hasn't really noticed any effects from Brexit, mainly due to Covid and the various wars and general global economic downturn. What effect Brexit really has had is that it's turned our already chaotic and outdated political system into a complete shitshow, with the government ripping itself apart trying to appease its various factions rather than running the country competently. The country is a bit knackered, but due entirely to the government, not Brexit.
Russian state news are reporting that Ukraine are behind the theatre attack, and they they apprehended suspects trying to flee West from Moscow towards the war zone.
It’s likely to be total bollocks of course, but that’s what they’re saying.
The problem for Putin is that
1) he was warned, specifically 2) multiple ISIS small attacks were foiled recently in Russia 3) he publicly rejected the warning 4) part of the whole strongman schtick it that “this doesn’t happen if I am in charge”
On 4, kinda handy that the attack occurred days after the election so that he has seven years to defeat terrorism before the next election.
I haven't asked him, but I doubt that Putin has any worries about winning the next election.
I must admit I'm confused by the idea that leaving the EU would have any significant impact on economic growth.
As a business owner, there are some tiny positives and some tiny negatives, but the reality is that we could always sell to anyone in the world, and we can always buy from anyone in the world. Tariffs are no different for selling to the EU as previously, and paperwork is very mildly worse.
Of course, as most exports from the UK are services anyway, the impact is essentially negligible, especially as most EU countries have implemented legislation to allow cross recognition of professional standards.
What is the mechanism by which EU membership is supposed to either massively boost or massively hinder economic growth?
The big issues companies (and economies face) is the availability of skilled employees, tax and benefits systems. Almost all of those are national competences. Hence the fact that some EU countries have done pretty well, and some have not.
We did better than the EU when we were members, largely because we had a great legal system, were open to inward investment, speak English, and have a flexible labour market.
On the other hand, we have an economy dominated by consumption, due to insufficient household savings. And that number is entirely due to UK government policies.
I support Brexit because I think it's better that decisions are taken closer to people, and Brexit allows that. I support because small and nimble is usually best. I regret the lack of FoM, which has made sourcing skilled engineers slightly harder. But I also recognize that the UK benefits system is essentially incompatible with FoM. I am not displeased to have avoided EU AI regulation, but I also know a couple of European companies that are doing some amazing work there, especially in the medical space, so I doubt it'll have as much effect as people think.
I regret that people have become so wedded to their views that they are unwilling to recognize that almost everything contains positives and negatives. And that those calculations will be different to individual people.
Most of all, I regret that people think Brexit is a cure all for problems that are essentially domestic: our insufficient household savings rate that causes our trade deficit, our inability to free up building regulation, our tax and benefits system that discourage lower skilled workers from finding employment, and most of all a vocational education system that is a pale shadow of those in Germany, Switzerland or Denmark.
My oft-stated position was that Britain could be successful within or outside the EU. However, europhobes successfully sold the lie that the EU was seen as the reason for failures that were caused much closer to home. Leaving the EU has not fixed those issues, as they were not caused by the EU in the first place.
I can be argued that leaving the EU has made it easier for those issues to be solved. Perhaps. But they are not being, perhaps because of the central conceit that they were caused by the EU, not ourselves, is not being addressed.
It is always easier to blame others than to blame ourselves.
Actually many Brexiteers made the argument that the EU gave our national leaders false cover "would love to do something, can't sorry, Europe won't let us" and that Brexit means that now politicians have to take responsibility.
That doesn't mean our first post Brexit government can, should or will be perfect, of course that's not the case. Nor will the second or third. But we as voters can hold our elected politicians to account and kick them out when they fail, no hiding spaces.
I've always found that argument the most spurious straw grasping after any other 'benefits' have dissolved. Firstly and most obviously, it is a case itself of blaming the EU for failures in our own politics - in this case politicians not taking difficult decisions or making brave arguments about the importance of policies certain interests rage against.
Secondly, because of that, inevitably, the blame has just shifted. Brexit true believers or those so politically tied to it they can't admit it's been crap blame 'Remoaners', 'The Blob', the EU (still) and now the European Court of Human Rights - settled on as the latest bogeyman. While Remainers can blame Brexit and the uselessness of Brexiteers and imagine a land of milk and honey upon rejoining and kicking them out of office.
Take the immigration debate - it's quite obviously not resulted in it being addressed in a grown up way, with trade offs explained to the electorate, and with politicians working to find the most practical ways to stop undocumented crossings. Rather we've got exactly the same blame game but even more stupid and farcical than it was in the EU because there's no immediate requirement to make rhetoric work with partner nations.
It is undoubtedly true that the optimistic assumption that our political class would actually accept responsibility for their actions once the bogeyman of the EU was removed has not been borne out.
Well somewhere from 100-200 Tory MPs are about to find out the hard way what accountability looks like. So it’s all working as it should be.
Where do you get your numbers from?
It is now two to one on that the cull will exceed 200.
Sorry if that sounded a bit snotty, Sandpit, but I speak with considerable smugness in my voice.
In Benpointer's excellent competition, I predicted a Labour Majority of 254, which was 54 more than any other entry. I wondered at the time if I had overdone it a bit, but if I could resubmit I would make it more like 452.
As so many on here remarked, Sunak missed his last best chance when he passed over the May election option. It can surely only get worse for him now.
For Labour to have a majority of c 450 doesn’t that mean the Conservatives having 0 seats or very close to 0?
I mean, I know I’m keen on the notion of a sizeable Labour majority but that’s, erm, bold
I would imagine that it's pretty much impossible for Labour to get a majority of 450, as if the Tories performed badly enough to get close to zero seats I would guess the SNP and Lib Dems would probably have about 100 seats between them, thinking about the seats where they are the Tories' main challengers.
I see that last night Ukraine hit a Russian oil refinery again.
Yes, that’s where the Ukranian spooks and special forces are actually spending their time, hitting militarily-significant targets of high economic value to the enemy, rather than shooting up concerts targeting civilians. Ukraine wants to stop Putin supplying his troops with fuel, and stop the fuel exports that give him hard currency to buy equipment.
On the Senate, I thought that the GOP were almost guaranteed to gain control because two of the DEM seats up for election this time are Montana and West Virginia.
In all the Democrats hold eight Senate seats in this cycle where the PVI favours the Republicans.
The GOP probably will get what they need, but "almost guaranteed" is a stretch.
West Virginia is obviously lost. But the other ones where the PVI favours GOP are:
Arizona - Biden won it in 2020 and Mark Kelly won the Senate race (with reasonable ease) in the mid-terms in 2022. Mad likely GOP candidate in Kari Lake who lost Governor election. Polls show Democrats with the edge.
Michigan - Biden won it in 2020 and Gary Peters in the Senate in the same year - both narrowly but a win's a win. Polling looks quite good for the Democrats.
Nevada - Biden won it in 2020 and Catherine Cortez Masto in the Senate rate in the mid-terms in 2022. Both narrowly, but Jacky Rosen is generally considered a stronger incumbent.
Wisconsin - Biden won it in 2020. Ron Johnson hung on narrowly for GOP in 2022, but Tammy Baldwin is a strong incumbent and polls look broadly fine for her.
Pennsylvania - Biden won it in 2020 and it was a fairly comfortable gain for John Fetterman in 2022. Bob Casey is a strong incumbent and polls look quite good for him.
Ohio - Well, that's the thread. It's trended GOP for several cycles, Trump won quite comfortably in 2020, and on paper it should be a great chance. But they've possibly chosen a stinker of a candidate against a strong incumbent in Sherrod Brown, who has led in all the polls.
Montana - Probably the best GOP bet as Trump won easily in 2020. Yet Romney won pretty much as comfortably in 2012, and Jon Tester got re-elected in a close but not actually that close contest. He's just a really strong candidate, who positions himself well and narrowly leads most of the polls.
... the odd one is actually Maryland, which has a strong Democratic lean, but Larry Hogan's involvement makes it very interesting indeed. It would be ironic if Larry Hogan was the one to flip the Senate for the GOP given his loathing of Trump.
I understand why @rcs1000 was emotionally attached to the post about Brexit but it is not coherent either logically, practically or emotionally.
@RochdalePioneers (a Brexiter) has given us chapter and verse about some of the economic hurdles now in place. Two anecdotally and trivially from me are movements of horses to and from the EU and a very small luxury clothing business which now finds it too expensive to import from the EU.
But more important wrt the "decisions made closer to home" bullshit (soz) is that, in the words of that noble and fearless Brexiter David Davis, we were always s*v*r**gn. The tiniest number of things were subject to EU lawmaking (VAT on home energy and Droit de Suite for example and you have no idea what one of those is).
You guys keep bleating on about shoulda woulda coulda but you sound like all those mad communists still agitating for that system. A great idea just that no one has done it right.
And with that, we're back on topic. The "good idea, done badly, not gone far enough" is the sort of thing that devotees of St Jeremy The Martyr say as well.
The will of the people is pretty clearly that this isn't going well and is probably a mistake. There's not much enthusiasm for any alternative but the status quo is seen as rubbish. The only useful questions are what the British state does with that information and when?
It's now more than ever that we are expected to embrace our national motto: mustn't grumble.
If there is one thing Britons can unite around it is having a good moan. "Mustn't grumble" is superb British irony considering that is what we do most.
There being a lot more than usual to grumble about right now
Good morning
Oh I don't know about that. Things have been going to hell in a handcart for many years.
Well yes. I now look back fondly to the 2012 London Olympics as the Cool Britannia swansong. It has been all downhill ever since.
Yup. The interesting thing about the 2012 Olympics is that in many ways it was a huge nostalgiafest for a recent past that was already receding into the rearview mirror. Danny Boyle. The Spice Girls. David Beckham, Underworld.
Even the sporting excellence too, as it was the peak of lottery and government funding for sport. Laura Trott retiring is kind of one of the last of that generation of athletes whose talent delivered golds on an incredible scale because of funding and a setup that was streets ahead of other nations. If Rishi Sunak hopes for a gold rush in Paris this year he is likely to be disappointed.
Very much the epilogue to the New Labour years and something that had already gone rather than the start of something new.
I missed this prediction competition for the GE as I was off air for a long time whilst travelling. Presumably the comp is still open until the day itself? @Benpointer
You all know my views on this, resolutely stated over the past couple of years. So I’ll punt for the number of Cons MPs to be 80-130 after the GE, which equates to I don’t know what in terms of a Labour majority. I guess around 250?
If the comp is still open then I'd also like to enter, but predicting a hung Parliament.
At this juncture a Labour landslide looks more probable, but I'm stubborn.
Why would the competition still be open? Predictions (usually) get easier the nearer you get to the event. A competition needs to have a deadline.
Still, to predict an outcome that has become even less likely since the competition closed is brave!
The way I look at it, if I'm proven right I get to play the genius (yes, I know, stopped clocks etc etc) and if I'm disastrously wrong then the Tories get the stuffing they thoroughly deserve. So it's a bit of a win-win.
The really brave prediction would be another Tory win, but not even I am that crackers.
Bart and I used to predict that Boris Johnson would win the next election with an increased majority - a lot has happened since then! Perhaps enough that most people will forget the prediction.
The tories have to be careful with this carefully orchestrated cock-and-balls show over the Ingerland footie shirt. If, as seems quite unlikely, die drei Löwen have a decent run in the Euros then they'll have to send their spads out to buy the shirt and be seen gurning while wearing it.
I may be completely out of my mind, but I suspect the average UK citizen hasn't really noticed any effects from Brexit, mainly due to Covid and the various wars and general global economic downturn. What effect Brexit really has had is that it's turned our already chaotic and outdated political system into a complete shitshow, with the government ripping itself apart trying to appease its various factions rather than running the country competently. The country is a bit knackered, but due entirely to the government, not Brexit.
Sorry, no.
On a very simple level, everyone who goes abroad now can see what a bloody pain in the ass it is. That’s c. 100 million trips per year and rising. Roughly 1/3rd of us will go abroad this summer alone.
And if you talk to anyone at all who has business dealings with Europe they are tearing their hair out.
Likewise, bringing goods in from Europe has become an absolute pain in the proverbial.
Then there is services and entertainment, brought to its knees by covid and brexit. We are chronically short of overseas workers and shunting Nigerian nurses into the NHS is not exactly what people had in mind when they voted for the bloody thing.
I could go on and on. Brexit is to blame for a large part of this country's cock ups.
I may be completely out of my mind, but I suspect the average UK citizen hasn't really noticed any effects from Brexit, mainly due to Covid and the various wars and general global economic downturn. What effect Brexit really has had is that it's turned our already chaotic and outdated political system into a complete shitshow, with the government ripping itself apart trying to appease its various factions rather than running the country competently. The country is a bit knackered, but due entirely to the government, not Brexit.
We will soon have an election where people can pass judgement on what has gone before - and what might replace it.
I suggest any replacement will soon be ripping itself apart trying to appease its varying factions. But it won't be over Brexit.
Russian state news are reporting that Ukraine are behind the theatre attack, and they they apprehended suspects trying to flee West from Moscow towards the war zone.
It’s likely to be total bollocks of course, but that’s what they’re saying.
We can't know for sure, and probably never will. But the timing is very suspicious. He did not need a terror attack to get re-elected; that was a foregone conclusion. He may have thought he needed one to get wider conscription through.
If I had been planning a terror attack, I may have planned it for a week earlier, during the voting.
Also, allegedly, Russia's leadership have started calling it a 'war' instead on an SMO.
Ukraine is going to face some even harder times very soon. Shame on those who excuse Russia's actions, or repeat their excuses. And shame on those who support the American Republicans, who are doing their best to give Putin victory.
Russian state news are reporting that Ukraine are behind the theatre attack, and they they apprehended suspects trying to flee West from Moscow towards the war zone.
It’s likely to be total bollocks of course, but that’s what they’re saying.
The problem for Putin is that
1) he was warned, specifically 2) multiple ISIS small attacks were foiled recently in Russia 3) he publicly rejected the warning 4) part of the whole strongman schtick it that “this doesn’t happen if I am in charge”
They’re now saying that the Americans are something to do with it, because they issued a warning about an imminent attack - and why would they do that, unless they were behind it?
Wifey thinks that this is a pretext for an escalation of the war, or at least preparing Russians for another non-voluntary mobilisation of young men.
I was thinking flag of convenience rather than false flag last night and details since then suggest it’s not even been competently spun by the Russian leadership since - it clearly caught them completely off guard. It’s a long time since serious jihadist attacks in Russia. They’ve been happy to watch and encourage them elsewhere but forgot about home.
Seems the attackers were Tajiks. So pure jihadist mentalists rather than something linked to Russian activity in Syria or the Sahel.
They’ll now try to spin some Ukraine connection but I’m not sure even Russians will buy that one.
Ohio - Well, that's the thread. It's trended GOP for several cycles, Trump won quite comfortably in 2020, and on paper it should be a great chance. But they've possibly chosen a stinker of a candidate against a strong incumbent in Sherrod Brown, who has led in all the polls.
Russian state news are reporting that Ukraine are behind the theatre attack, and they they apprehended suspects trying to flee West from Moscow towards the war zone.
It’s likely to be total bollocks of course, but that’s what they’re saying.
The problem for Putin is that
1) he was warned, specifically 2) multiple ISIS small attacks were foiled recently in Russia 3) he publicly rejected the warning 4) part of the whole strongman schtick it that “this doesn’t happen if I am in charge”
On 4, kinda handy that the attack occurred days after the election so that he has seven years to defeat terrorism before the next election.
I haven't asked him, but I doubt that Putin has any worries about winning the next election.
Or public opinion in the meantime.
There's very likely going to be a large-scale mobilization in Russia now that the election is done. Obviously it wasn't a free or fair election, but its timing, and concerns about public opinion, will have delayed this mobilisation.
The constraints and interactions with public opinion are different in a dictatorship, but they're still there.
I understand why @rcs1000 was emotionally attached to the post about Brexit but it is not coherent either logically, practically or emotionally.
@RochdalePioneers (a Brexiter) has given us chapter and verse about some of the economic hurdles now in place. Two anecdotally and trivially from me are movements of horses to and from the EU and a very small luxury clothing business which now finds it too expensive to import from the EU.
But more important wrt the "decisions made closer to home" bullshit (soz) is that, in the words of that noble and fearless Brexiter David Davis, we were always s*v*r**gn. The tiniest number of things were subject to EU lawmaking (VAT on home energy and Droit de Suite for example and you have no idea what one of those is).
You guys keep bleating on about shoulda woulda coulda but you sound like all those mad communists still agitating for that system. A great idea just that no one has done it right.
And with that, we're back on topic. The "good idea, done badly, not gone far enough" is the sort of thing that devotees of St Jeremy The Martyr say as well.
The will of the people is pretty clearly that this isn't going well and is probably a mistake. There's not much enthusiasm for any alternative but the status quo is seen as rubbish. The only useful questions are what the British state does with that information and when?
It's now more than ever that we are expected to embrace our national motto: mustn't grumble.
If there is one thing Britons can unite around it is having a good moan. "Mustn't grumble" is superb British irony considering that is what we do most.
There being a lot more than usual to grumble about right now
Good morning
Oh I don't know about that. Things have been going to hell in a handcart for many years.
Well yes. I now look back fondly to the 2012 London Olympics as the Cool Britannia swansong. It has been all downhill ever since.
Yup. The interesting thing about the 2012 Olympics is that in many ways it was a huge nostalgiafest for a recent past that was already receding into the rearview mirror. Danny Boyle. The Spice Girls. David Beckham, Underworld.
Even the sporting excellence too, as it was the peak of lottery and government funding for sport. Laura Trott retiring is kind of one of the last of that generation of athletes whose talent delivered golds on an incredible scale because of funding and a setup that was streets ahead of other nations. If Rishi Sunak hopes for a gold rush in Paris this year he is likely to be disappointed.
Very much the epilogue to the New Labour years and something that had already gone rather than the start of something new.
Underworld?
Wasn't that the garment factory in Coronation Street? Seems an odd thing to celebrate...
I may be completely out of my mind, but I suspect the average UK citizen hasn't really noticed any effects from Brexit, mainly due to Covid and the various wars and general global economic downturn. What effect Brexit really has had is that it's turned our already chaotic and outdated political system into a complete shitshow, with the government ripping itself apart trying to appease its various factions rather than running the country competently. The country is a bit knackered, but due entirely to the government, not Brexit.
Two points there.
Firstly, there's been enough media coverage (and direct experiences on things like holidays) of inconveniences that there will be a background awareness.
But secondly, and more significantly, Brexit happened and the world turned to shit. The actual causality of that is complex but it's the general public's awareness, as filtered through political campaigning, that matters - which isn't always entirely aligned with the truth (though is so more often than cynics sometimes think). The polling on whether Brexit was a success and the relative figures for Rejoin / Remain out tell their own stories.
Most of all, I regret that people think Brexit is a cure all for problems that are essentially domestic: our insufficient household savings rate that causes our trade deficit, our inability to free up building regulation, our tax and benefits system that discourage lower skilled workers from finding employment, and most of all a vocational education system that is a pale shadow of those in Germany, Switzerland or Denmark.
My objections and opposition to Brexit were never primarily economic, but the economic effect of instituting trade barriers without largest trading partner was never going to improve trade.
I don't begin to understand any of the economic chutney nor do, I suspect, most of the people who argued for Brexit.
But you only have to look at the types who lined up to vote for it to assess the worth of the project.
As accurate and concise post as I've read on here.
I understand why @rcs1000 was emotionally attached to the post about Brexit but it is not coherent either logically, practically or emotionally.
@RochdalePioneers (a Brexiter) has given us chapter and verse about some of the economic hurdles now in place. Two anecdotally and trivially from me are movements of horses to and from the EU and a very small luxury clothing business which now finds it too expensive to import from the EU.
But more important wrt the "decisions made closer to home" bullshit (soz) is that, in the words of that noble and fearless Brexiter David Davis, we were always s*v*r**gn. The tiniest number of things were subject to EU lawmaking (VAT on home energy and Droit de Suite for example and you have no idea what one of those is).
You guys keep bleating on about shoulda woulda coulda but you sound like all those mad communists still agitating for that system. A great idea just that no one has done it right.
And with that, we're back on topic. The "good idea, done badly, not gone far enough" is the sort of thing that devotees of St Jeremy The Martyr say as well.
The will of the people is pretty clearly that this isn't going well and is probably a mistake. There's not much enthusiasm for any alternative but the status quo is seen as rubbish. The only useful questions are what the British state does with that information and when?
It's now more than ever that we are expected to embrace our national motto: mustn't grumble.
If there is one thing Britons can unite around it is having a good moan. "Mustn't grumble" is superb British irony considering that is what we do most.
There being a lot more than usual to grumble about right now
Good morning
Oh I don't know about that. Things have been going to hell in a handcart for many years.
Well yes. I now look back fondly to the 2012 London Olympics as the Cool Britannia swansong. It has been all downhill ever since.
Yup. The interesting thing about the 2012 Olympics is that in many ways it was a huge nostalgiafest for a recent past that was already receding into the rearview mirror. Danny Boyle. The Spice Girls. David Beckham, Underworld.
Even the sporting excellence too, as it was the peak of lottery and government funding for sport. Laura Trott retiring is kind of one of the last of that generation of athletes whose talent delivered golds on an incredible scale because of funding and a setup that was streets ahead of other nations. If Rishi Sunak hopes for a gold rush in Paris this year he is likely to be disappointed.
Very much the epilogue to the New Labour years and something that had already gone rather than the start of something new.
So true MJW, to which we could probably add the imminent end of Daniel Craig’s James Bond and even The Queen The unthinkable happened. And our EU membership, the loss of which a majority now feel.
You’re spot on though: it was a "huge nostalgiafest for a recent past that was already receding into the rearview mirror."
Now the Russian TV is saying that even if it was ISIS, then it was still the Ukranians behind it.
They can’t get their story straight, and only started reporting it a couple of hours ago. There was nothing on Russian TV at breakfast this morning, presumably so they could get the story straight.
I may be completely out of my mind, but I suspect the average UK citizen hasn't really noticed any effects from Brexit, mainly due to Covid and the various wars and general global economic downturn. What effect Brexit really has had is that it's turned our already chaotic and outdated political system into a complete shitshow, with the government ripping itself apart trying to appease its various factions rather than running the country competently. The country is a bit knackered, but due entirely to the government, not Brexit.
Sorry, no.
On a very simple level, everyone who goes abroad now can see what a bloody pain in the ass it is. That’s c. 100 million trips per year and rising. Roughly 1/3rd of us will go abroad this summer alone.
And if you talk to anyone at all who has business dealings with Europe they are tearing their hair out.
Likewise, bringing goods in from Europe has become an absolute pain in the proverbial.
Then there is services and entertainment, brought to its knees by covid and brexit. We are chronically short of overseas workers and shunting Nigerian nurses into the NHS is not exactly what people had in mind when they voted for the bloody thing.
I could go on and on. Brexit is to blame for a large part of this country's cock ups.
And even if it isn't really to blame, and it's not to blame for everything, that doesn't matter. The public perception is that it's a bad idea. And I don't see how that is turned around.
It doesn't help that so many of the advocates of Brexit have left the stage in shame. An idea isn't responsible for its holders, but it doesn't help.
Russian state news are reporting that Ukraine are behind the theatre attack, and they they apprehended suspects trying to flee West from Moscow towards the war zone.
It’s likely to be total bollocks of course, but that’s what they’re saying.
The problem for Putin is that
1) he was warned, specifically 2) multiple ISIS small attacks were foiled recently in Russia 3) he publicly rejected the warning 4) part of the whole strongman schtick it that “this doesn’t happen if I am in charge”
They’re now saying that the Americans are something to do with it, because they issued a warning about an imminent attack - and why would they do that, unless they were behind it?
Wifey thinks that this is a pretext for an escalation of the war, or at least preparing Russians for another non-voluntary mobilisation of young men.
I was thinking flag of convenience rather than false flag last night and details since then suggest it’s not even been competently spun by the Russian leadership since - it clearly caught them completely off guard. It’s a long time since serious jihadist attacks in Russia. They’ve been happy to watch and encourage them elsewhere but forgot about home.
Seems the attackers were Tajiks. So pure jihadist mentalists rather than something linked to Russian activity in Syria or the Sahel.
They’ll now try to spin some Ukraine connection but I’m not sure even Russians will buy that one.
Since much of the Russian apparatus is apparently Game of Thrones mixed with the Mafia, it's perfectly possible that one or another grouping decided to let (or actively encourage) a terrorist attack without the rest knowing.
I may be completely out of my mind, but I suspect the average UK citizen hasn't really noticed any effects from Brexit, mainly due to Covid and the various wars and general global economic downturn. What effect Brexit really has had is that it's turned our already chaotic and outdated political system into a complete shitshow, with the government ripping itself apart trying to appease its various factions rather than running the country competently. The country is a bit knackered, but due entirely to the government, not Brexit.
Sorry, no.
On a very simple level, everyone who goes abroad now can see what a bloody pain in the ass it is. That’s c. 100 million trips per year and rising. Roughly 1/3rd of us will go abroad this summer alone.
And if you talk to anyone at all who has business dealings with Europe they are tearing their hair out.
Likewise, bringing goods in from Europe has become an absolute pain in the proverbial.
Then there is services and entertainment, brought to its knees by covid and brexit. We are chronically short of overseas workers and shunting Nigerian nurses into the NHS is not exactly what people had in mind when they voted for the bloody thing.
I could go on and on. Brexit is to blame for a large part of this country's cock ups.
And even if it isn't really to blame, and it's not to blame for everything, that doesn't matter. The public perception is that it's a bad idea. And I don't see how that is turned around.
It doesn't help that so many of the advocates of Brexit have left the stage in shame. An idea isn't responsible for its holders, but it doesn't help.
This is a really good point Stuart. The simple fact is, we’re worse off now than 10 years ago. By a long way. Whether Brexit is entirely to blame, or only partly, it’s in the crosshairs.
I see that last night Ukraine hit a Russian oil refinery again.
Re-hit. One they have attacked before.
Russians are saying the new Ukrainian drones are much more difficult to impact with electronic warfare measures. As much as 16% of Russian refining capacity has already been hit. It is disproportionately located in western Russia, in range of drones able to travel over 1,000 km - seemingly without facing any meaningful air defences.
I must admit I'm confused by the idea that leaving the EU would have any significant impact on economic growth.
As a business owner, there are some tiny positives and some tiny negatives, but the reality is that we could always sell to anyone in the world, and we can always buy from anyone in the world. Tariffs are no different for selling to the EU as previously, and paperwork is very mildly worse.
Of course, as most exports from the UK are services anyway, the impact is essentially negligible, especially as most EU countries have implemented legislation to allow cross recognition of professional standards.
What is the mechanism by which EU membership is supposed to either massively boost or massively hinder economic growth?
The big issues companies (and economies face) is the availability of skilled employees, tax and benefits systems. Almost all of those are national competences. Hence the fact that some EU countries have done pretty well, and some have not.
We did better than the EU when we were members, largely because we had a great legal system, were open to inward investment, speak English, and have a flexible labour market.
On the other hand, we have an economy dominated by consumption, due to insufficient household savings. And that number is entirely due to UK government policies.
I support Brexit because I think it's better that decisions are taken closer to people, and Brexit allows that. I support because small and nimble is usually best. I regret the lack of FoM, which has made sourcing skilled engineers slightly harder. But I also recognize that the UK benefits system is essentially incompatible with FoM. I am not displeased to have avoided EU AI regulation, but I also know a couple of European companies that are doing some amazing work there, especially in the medical space, so I doubt it'll have as much effect as people think.
I regret that people have become so wedded to their views that they are unwilling to recognize that almost everything contains positives and negatives. And that those calculations will be different to individual people.
Most of all, I regret that people think Brexit is a cure all for problems that are essentially domestic: our insufficient household savings rate that causes our trade deficit, our inability to free up building regulation, our tax and benefits system that discourage lower skilled workers from finding employment, and most of all a vocational education system that is a pale shadow of those in Germany, Switzerland or Denmark.
That may or may not be the case. The political problem, and everything is political in the end, is that the firm consensus amongst the British public now is that Brexit was a mistake. Given that what are we going to do about it?
Neither Leavers nor Remainers have any incentive to limit the damage. Leavers because they didn't vote to make things worse; Remainers because Brexit wasn't their choice and their choice has been confirmed from their point of view. I dint see this being resolved as long as thes tribes continue to be a thing.
For myself Brexit turned out broadly as I expected.
I may be completely out of my mind, but I suspect the average UK citizen hasn't really noticed any effects from Brexit, mainly due to Covid and the various wars and general global economic downturn. What effect Brexit really has had is that it's turned our already chaotic and outdated political system into a complete shitshow, with the government ripping itself apart trying to appease its various factions rather than running the country competently. The country is a bit knackered, but due entirely to the government, not Brexit.
Sorry, no.
On a very simple level, everyone who goes abroad now can see what a bloody pain in the ass it is. That’s c. 100 million trips per year and rising. Roughly 1/3rd of us will go abroad this summer alone.
And if you talk to anyone at all who has business dealings with Europe they are tearing their hair out.
Likewise, bringing goods in from Europe has become an absolute pain in the proverbial.
Then there is services and entertainment, brought to its knees by covid and brexit. We are chronically short of overseas workers and shunting Nigerian nurses into the NHS is not exactly what people had in mind when they voted for the bloody thing.
I could go on and on. Brexit is to blame for a large part of this country's cock ups.
I said the average person, not business. Most people, especially at the lower socio-economic end of things will have barely felt a ripple. That's not to say Brexit is done and successful, it hasn't been and isn't, it's just that covid and the general wankiness of life over the past decade has masked whatever great effect Brexit may have had.
I must admit I'm confused by the idea that leaving the EU would have any significant impact on economic growth.
As a business owner, there are some tiny positives and some tiny negatives, but the reality is that we could always sell to anyone in the world, and we can always buy from anyone in the world. Tariffs are no different for selling to the EU as previously, and paperwork is very mildly worse.
Of course, as most exports from the UK are services anyway, the impact is essentially negligible, especially as most EU countries have implemented legislation to allow cross recognition of professional standards.
What is the mechanism by which EU membership is supposed to either massively boost or massively hinder economic growth?
The big issues companies (and economies face) is the availability of skilled employees, tax and benefits systems. Almost all of those are national competences. Hence the fact that some EU countries have done pretty well, and some have not.
We did better than the EU when we were members, largely because we had a great legal system, were open to inward investment, speak English, and have a flexible labour market.
On the other hand, we have an economy dominated by consumption, due to insufficient household savings. And that number is entirely due to UK government policies.
I support Brexit because I think it's better that decisions are taken closer to people, and Brexit allows that. I support because small and nimble is usually best. I regret the lack of FoM, which has made sourcing skilled engineers slightly harder. But I also recognize that the UK benefits system is essentially incompatible with FoM. I am not displeased to have avoided EU AI regulation, but I also know a couple of European companies that are doing some amazing work there, especially in the medical space, so I doubt it'll have as much effect as people think.
I regret that people have become so wedded to their views that they are unwilling to recognize that almost everything contains positives and negatives. And that those calculations will be different to individual people.
Most of all, I regret that people think Brexit is a cure all for problems that are essentially domestic: our insufficient household savings rate that causes our trade deficit, our inability to free up building regulation, our tax and benefits system that discourage lower skilled workers from finding employment, and most of all a vocational education system that is a pale shadow of those in Germany, Switzerland or Denmark.
My oft-stated position was that Britain could be successful within or outside the EU. However, europhobes successfully sold the lie that the EU was seen as the reason for failures that were caused much closer to home. Leaving the EU has not fixed those issues, as they were not caused by the EU in the first place.
I can be argued that leaving the EU has made it easier for those issues to be solved. Perhaps. But they are not being, perhaps because of the central conceit that they were caused by the EU, not ourselves, is not being addressed.
It is always easier to blame others than to blame ourselves.
Actually many Brexiteers made the argument that the EU gave our national leaders false cover "would love to do something, can't sorry, Europe won't let us" and that Brexit means that now politicians have to take responsibility.
That doesn't mean our first post Brexit government can, should or will be perfect, of course that's not the case. Nor will the second or third. But we as voters can hold our elected politicians to account and kick them out when they fail, no hiding spaces.
I've always found that argument the most spurious straw grasping after any other 'benefits' have dissolved. Firstly and most obviously, it is a case itself of blaming the EU for failures in our own politics - in this case politicians not taking difficult decisions or making brave arguments about the importance of policies certain interests rage against.
Secondly, because of that, inevitably, the blame has just shifted. Brexit true believers or those so politically tied to it they can't admit it's been crap blame 'Remoaners', 'The Blob', the EU (still) and now the European Court of Human Rights - settled on as the latest bogeyman. While Remainers can blame Brexit and the uselessness of Brexiteers and imagine a land of milk and honey upon rejoining and kicking them out of office.
Take the immigration debate - it's quite obviously not resulted in it being addressed in a grown up way, with trade offs explained to the electorate, and with politicians working to find the most practical ways to stop undocumented crossings. Rather we've got exactly the same blame game but even more stupid and farcical than it was in the EU because there's no immediate requirement to make rhetoric work with partner nations.
It is undoubtedly true that the optimistic assumption that our political class would actually accept responsibility for their actions once the bogeyman of the EU was removed has not been borne out.
Well somewhere from 100-200 Tory MPs are about to find out the hard way what accountability looks like. So it’s all working as it should be.
Where do you get your numbers from?
It is now two to one on that the cull will exceed 200.
Sorry if that sounded a bit snotty, Sandpit, but I speak with considerable smugness in my voice.
In Benpointer's excellent competition, I predicted a Labour Majority of 254, which was 54 more than any other entry. I wondered at the time if I had overdone it a bit, but if I could resubmit I would make it more like 452.
As so many on here remarked, Sunak missed his last best chance when he passed over the May election option. It can surely only get worse for him now.
For Labour to have a majority of c 450 doesn’t that mean the Conservatives having 0 seats or very close to 0?
I mean, I know I’m keen on the notion of a sizeable Labour majority but that’s, erm, bold
I would imagine that it's pretty much impossible for Labour to get a majority of 450, as if the Tories performed badly enough to get close to zero seats I would guess the SNP and Lib Dems would probably have about 100 seats between them, thinking about the seats where they are the Tories' main challengers.
Not necessarily. If the polls continue their current trend, there will be seats where they overtake the Lib Dems from third to win. Being 'best placed' only matters if you can convince the public of that, and the Lib Dems don't have the resources to do that everywhere, either in manpower or money.
To take some examples local to me, in Yorkshire the Lib Dems target is Harrogate & Knaresborough, which they'll almost certainly take. Hallam remains possible but with a strong Labour showing is more likely to return red. There are several big rural seats where the LDs have a decent local govt base - Skipton & Ripon, for example - which would definitely be vulnerable in a by-election but which are simply too big to nurse to victory now and despite their councillors, where they're too distant to credibly claim two-horse raciness, particularly given Labour's presence in larger towns like Skipton itself where campaigning is easiest. The net result being a generic national swing with the LDs actually down on 2019 and Labour miles up.
If Labour does very well in Scotland (SNP sub-20 is possible on a very good night north of the border for SLab), then it's just about possible to see Con+LD+SNP+NI+Others sub-100 in an absolute night of carnage for the Tories if they end up sub-20%.
Not saying it's likely but it's in the outer fringes of plausible.
"Images of five men have been widely shared tonight, claiming to show the gunmen responsible for the deadly attack at the Crocus City Hall near Moscow.
But the images were first posted in early March, reportedly showing five militants killed during a shoot-out in Ingushetia."
Most of all, I regret that people think Brexit is a cure all for problems that are essentially domestic: our insufficient household savings rate that causes our trade deficit, our inability to free up building regulation, our tax and benefits system that discourage lower skilled workers from finding employment, and most of all a vocational education system that is a pale shadow of those in Germany, Switzerland or Denmark.
My objections and opposition to Brexit were never primarily economic, but the economic effect of instituting trade barriers without largest trading partner was never going to improve trade.
I don't begin to understand any of the economic chutney nor do, I suspect, most of the people who argued for Brexit.
But you only have to look at the types who lined up to vote for it to assess the worth of the project.
As accurate and concise post as I've read on here.
It would be more accurate if he had actually spelt out his view these Untermenchen should be deprived of the right to vote...
I felt, and am pretty sure I said on here at the time, that we should have voted through Theresa May’s final Brexit deal. No, it wasn’t perfect. But it was economically a bloody sight better than the current situation. I felt it was economically the best of the solutions for this country and that, even though I was a Remainer, we should vote it through. I tried to persuade my Labour MP to agree, to no avail.
But of course Brexit wasn’t motivated primarily, or even largely, by economics.
I missed this prediction competition for the GE as I was off air for a long time whilst travelling. Presumably the comp is still open until the day itself? @Benpointer
You all know my views on this, resolutely stated over the past couple of years. So I’ll punt for the number of Cons MPs to be 80-130 after the GE, which equates to I don’t know what in terms of a Labour majority. I guess around 250?
If the comp is still open then I'd also like to enter, but predicting a hung Parliament.
At this juncture a Labour landslide looks more probable, but I'm stubborn.
Why would the competition still be open? Predictions (usually) get easier the nearer you get to the event. A competition needs to have a deadline.
Ohio - Well, that's the thread. It's trended GOP for several cycles, Trump won quite comfortably in 2020, and on paper it should be a great chance. But they've possibly chosen a stinker of a candidate against a strong incumbent in Sherrod Brown, who has led in all the polls.
'Possibly'?!
The man's madder than Donald Trump.
Although Donald Trump won Ohio quite easily. Being mad and being a stinker of a candidate aren't necessarily the same thing, although they often are. If you're mad in precisely the same way as your electorate, it can be quite a benefit.
I may be completely out of my mind, but I suspect the average UK citizen hasn't really noticed any effects from Brexit, mainly due to Covid and the various wars and general global economic downturn. What effect Brexit really has had is that it's turned our already chaotic and outdated political system into a complete shitshow, with the government ripping itself apart trying to appease its various factions rather than running the country competently. The country is a bit knackered, but due entirely to the government, not Brexit.
Sorry, no.
On a very simple level, everyone who goes abroad now can see what a bloody pain in the ass it is. That’s c. 100 million trips per year and rising. Roughly 1/3rd of us will go abroad this summer alone.
And if you talk to anyone at all who has business dealings with Europe they are tearing their hair out.
Likewise, bringing goods in from Europe has become an absolute pain in the proverbial.
Then there is services and entertainment, brought to its knees by covid and brexit. We are chronically short of overseas workers and shunting Nigerian nurses into the NHS is not exactly what people had in mind when they voted for the bloody thing.
I could go on and on. Brexit is to blame for a large part of this country's cock ups.
I said the average person, not business. Most people, especially at the lower socio-economic end of things will have barely felt a ripple. That's not to say Brexit is done and successful, it hasn't been and isn't, it's just that covid and the general wankiness of life over the past decade has masked whatever great effect Brexit may have had.
I am not quite sure what you mean. If it is the average person can't specifically point to negative impacts they are sure relate to Brexit then I agree with you. If it is the average person has not had negative impacts related to Brexit I disagree.
An interesting point made on Twitter (paraphrased):
Many people are sending condolences to Russia over the Moscow attack, who remain silent whenever Russia's fascists kill civilians in Kharkiv, Odessa or Kyiv.
I missed this prediction competition for the GE as I was off air for a long time whilst travelling. Presumably the comp is still open until the day itself? @Benpointer
You all know my views on this, resolutely stated over the past couple of years. So I’ll punt for the number of Cons MPs to be 80-130 after the GE, which equates to I don’t know what in terms of a Labour majority. I guess around 250?
If the comp is still open then I'd also like to enter, but predicting a hung Parliament.
At this juncture a Labour landslide looks more probable, but I'm stubborn.
Why would the competition still be open? Predictions (usually) get easier the nearer you get to the event. A competition needs to have a deadline.
exactly
If only you could place your horse bets with 3 lengths to go Malcolm.
I may be completely out of my mind, but I suspect the average UK citizen hasn't really noticed any effects from Brexit, mainly due to Covid and the various wars and general global economic downturn. What effect Brexit really has had is that it's turned our already chaotic and outdated political system into a complete shitshow, with the government ripping itself apart trying to appease its various factions rather than running the country competently. The country is a bit knackered, but due entirely to the government, not Brexit.
Sorry, no.
On a very simple level, everyone who goes abroad now can see what a bloody pain in the ass it is. That’s c. 100 million trips per year and rising. Roughly 1/3rd of us will go abroad this summer alone.
And if you talk to anyone at all who has business dealings with Europe they are tearing their hair out.
Likewise, bringing goods in from Europe has become an absolute pain in the proverbial.
Then there is services and entertainment, brought to its knees by covid and brexit. We are chronically short of overseas workers and shunting Nigerian nurses into the NHS is not exactly what people had in mind when they voted for the bloody thing.
I could go on and on. Brexit is to blame for a large part of this country's cock ups.
Most people, especially at the lower socio-economic end of things will have barely felt a ripple.
Again I totally disagree with this but then it’s okay to agree to disagree
Ohio - Well, that's the thread. It's trended GOP for several cycles, Trump won quite comfortably in 2020, and on paper it should be a great chance. But they've possibly chosen a stinker of a candidate against a strong incumbent in Sherrod Brown, who has led in all the polls.
'Possibly'?!
The man's madder than Donald Trump.
Although Donald Trump won Ohio quite easily. Being mad and being a stinker of a candidate aren't necessarily the same thing, although they often are. If you're mad in precisely the same way as your electorate, it can be quite a benefit.
But he isn't. For example, he's reversed positions on gun rights, abortion, gay marriage and Trump himself in order to keep in with Trump that seem to have been quite popular with the Ohio electorate.
I may be completely out of my mind, but I suspect the average UK citizen hasn't really noticed any effects from Brexit, mainly due to Covid and the various wars and general global economic downturn. What effect Brexit really has had is that it's turned our already chaotic and outdated political system into a complete shitshow, with the government ripping itself apart trying to appease its various factions rather than running the country competently. The country is a bit knackered, but due entirely to the government, not Brexit.
Sorry, no.
On a very simple level, everyone who goes abroad now can see what a bloody pain in the ass it is. That’s c. 100 million trips per year and rising. Roughly 1/3rd of us will go abroad this summer alone.
And if you talk to anyone at all who has business dealings with Europe they are tearing their hair out.
Likewise, bringing goods in from Europe has become an absolute pain in the proverbial.
Then there is services and entertainment, brought to its knees by covid and brexit. We are chronically short of overseas workers and shunting Nigerian nurses into the NHS is not exactly what people had in mind when they voted for the bloody thing.
I could go on and on. Brexit is to blame for a large part of this country's cock ups.
I fly via Schiphol - don’t think I’ve ever had any hassle getting through immigration - it’s 5 minutes max and was the same previously when I was flying on a weekly basis
Russian state news are reporting that Ukraine are behind the theatre attack, and they they apprehended suspects trying to flee West from Moscow towards the war zone.
It’s likely to be total bollocks of course, but that’s what they’re saying.
The problem for Putin is that
1) he was warned, specifically 2) multiple ISIS small attacks were foiled recently in Russia 3) he publicly rejected the warning 4) part of the whole strongman schtick it that “this doesn’t happen if I am in charge”
They’re now saying that the Americans are something to do with it, because they issued a warning about an imminent attack - and why would they do that, unless they were behind it?
Wifey thinks that this is a pretext for an escalation of the war, or at least preparing Russians for another non-voluntary mobilisation of young men.
I was thinking flag of convenience rather than false flag last night and details since then suggest it’s not even been competently spun by the Russian leadership since - it clearly caught them completely off guard. It’s a long time since serious jihadist attacks in Russia. They’ve been happy to watch and encourage them elsewhere but forgot about home.
Seems the attackers were Tajiks. So pure jihadist mentalists rather than something linked to Russian activity in Syria or the Sahel.
They’ll now try to spin some Ukraine connection but I’m not sure even Russians will buy that one.
Since much of the Russian apparatus is apparently Game of Thrones mixed with the Mafia, it's perfectly possible that one or another grouping decided to let (or actively encourage) a terrorist attack without the rest knowing.
They should remember how stupid Aznar looked after he tried to blame ETA for the 2004 Madrid bombings.
Most of all, I regret that people think Brexit is a cure all for problems that are essentially domestic: our insufficient household savings rate that causes our trade deficit, our inability to free up building regulation, our tax and benefits system that discourage lower skilled workers from finding employment, and most of all a vocational education system that is a pale shadow of those in Germany, Switzerland or Denmark.
My objections and opposition to Brexit were never primarily economic, but the economic effect of instituting trade barriers without largest trading partner was never going to improve trade.
I don't begin to understand any of the economic chutney nor do, I suspect, most of the people who argued for Brexit.
But you only have to look at the types who lined up to vote for it to assess the worth of the project.
As accurate and concise post as I've read on here.
It would be more accurate if he had actually spelt out his view these Untermenchen should be deprived of the right to vote...
You Christopher "Chris" Chope Mark Francois Bernie Ecclestone Joan Collins Roger Daltery Casino BartyBobs
I missed this prediction competition for the GE as I was off air for a long time whilst travelling. Presumably the comp is still open until the day itself? @Benpointer
You all know my views on this, resolutely stated over the past couple of years. So I’ll punt for the number of Cons MPs to be 80-130 after the GE, which equates to I don’t know what in terms of a Labour majority. I guess around 250?
If the comp is still open then I'd also like to enter, but predicting a hung Parliament.
At this juncture a Labour landslide looks more probable, but I'm stubborn.
Why would the competition still be open? Predictions (usually) get easier the nearer you get to the event. A competition needs to have a deadline.
exactly
If only you could place your horse bets with 3 lengths to go Malcolm.
An interesting point made on Twitter (paraphrased):
Many people are sending condolences to Russia over the Moscow attack, who remain silent whenever Russia's fascists kill civilians in Kharkiv, Odessa or Kyiv.
Yes the Russian terrorists murder as many people on a daily basis.
I may be completely out of my mind, but I suspect the average UK citizen hasn't really noticed any effects from Brexit, mainly due to Covid and the various wars and general global economic downturn. What effect Brexit really has had is that it's turned our already chaotic and outdated political system into a complete shitshow, with the government ripping itself apart trying to appease its various factions rather than running the country competently. The country is a bit knackered, but due entirely to the government, not Brexit.
Sorry, no.
On a very simple level, everyone who goes abroad now can see what a bloody pain in the ass it is. That’s c. 100 million trips per year and rising. Roughly 1/3rd of us will go abroad this summer alone.
And if you talk to anyone at all who has business dealings with Europe they are tearing their hair out.
Likewise, bringing goods in from Europe has become an absolute pain in the proverbial.
Then there is services and entertainment, brought to its knees by covid and brexit. We are chronically short of overseas workers and shunting Nigerian nurses into the NHS is not exactly what people had in mind when they voted for the bloody thing.
I could go on and on. Brexit is to blame for a large part of this country's cock ups.
I fly via Schiphol - don’t think I’ve ever had any hassle getting through immigration - it’s 5 minutes max and was the same previously when I was flying on a weekly basis
Oslo seems to be one of the worst airports for UK passport holders post Brexit, and of course it is not even in the EU itself!
I missed this prediction competition for the GE as I was off air for a long time whilst travelling. Presumably the comp is still open until the day itself? @Benpointer
You all know my views on this, resolutely stated over the past couple of years. So I’ll punt for the number of Cons MPs to be 80-130 after the GE, which equates to I don’t know what in terms of a Labour majority. I guess around 250?
If the comp is still open then I'd also like to enter, but predicting a hung Parliament.
At this juncture a Labour landslide looks more probable, but I'm stubborn.
Why would the competition still be open? Predictions (usually) get easier the nearer you get to the event. A competition needs to have a deadline.
exactly
If only you could place your horse bets with 3 lengths to go Malcolm.
Yeah but to be fair there is a bit of a difference here. The GE is likely 7 months away or possibly, god forbid, 10 months away.
Closing a competition before the election has even been called is very odd imho. The horses haven’t even left the traps yet and, to my knowledge, it’s normally fine to bet up until the start of a race.
But I’m glad others have an alternative viewpoint on that.
Maybe someone should start another competition that runs until the day the election is actually called. Or even until the day before the vote. Like normal internet comps.
And with that thought I shall bid you all a lovely Saturday and weekend. xx
I see that last night Ukraine hit a Russian oil refinery again.
Re-hit. One they have attacked before.
Russians are saying the new Ukrainian drones are much more difficult to impact with electronic warfare measures. As much as 16% of Russian refining capacity has already been hit. It is disproportionately located in western Russia, in range of drones able to travel over 1,000 km - seemingly without facing any meaningful air defences.
Yet another evolution of drone technology. You just know that anything we order is going to be modified and modified again before it hits the front line at inordinate cost.
"Images of five men have been widely shared tonight, claiming to show the gunmen responsible for the deadly attack at the Crocus City Hall near Moscow.
But the images were first posted in early March, reportedly showing five militants killed during a shoot-out in Ingushetia."
"Images of five men have been widely shared tonight, claiming to show the gunmen responsible for the deadly attack at the Crocus City Hall near Moscow.
But the images were first posted in early March, reportedly showing five militants killed during a shoot-out in Ingushetia."
I may be completely out of my mind, but I suspect the average UK citizen hasn't really noticed any effects from Brexit, mainly due to Covid and the various wars and general global economic downturn. What effect Brexit really has had is that it's turned our already chaotic and outdated political system into a complete shitshow, with the government ripping itself apart trying to appease its various factions rather than running the country competently. The country is a bit knackered, but due entirely to the government, not Brexit.
Sorry, no.
On a very simple level, everyone who goes abroad now can see what a bloody pain in the ass it is. That’s c. 100 million trips per year and rising. Roughly 1/3rd of us will go abroad this summer alone.
And if you talk to anyone at all who has business dealings with Europe they are tearing their hair out.
Likewise, bringing goods in from Europe has become an absolute pain in the proverbial.
Then there is services and entertainment, brought to its knees by covid and brexit. We are chronically short of overseas workers and shunting Nigerian nurses into the NHS is not exactly what people had in mind when they voted for the bloody thing.
I could go on and on. Brexit is to blame for a large part of this country's cock ups.
I fly via Schiphol - don’t think I’ve ever had any hassle getting through immigration - it’s 5 minutes max and was the same previously when I was flying on a weekly basis
Oslo seems to be one of the worst airports for UK passport holders post Brexit, and of course it is not even in the EU itself!
It certainly hits home there. EU passport holders sail straight through. UK passport holders now have a nightmare, as I found it recently. Brits were incredibly stressed out with missing flights.
As has been mentioned below rumours abound that the attackers were Tajiki. Maybe forcibly conscripting foreign national workers into the Russian military wasn't a great idea.
I missed this prediction competition for the GE as I was off air for a long time whilst travelling. Presumably the comp is still open until the day itself? @Benpointer
You all know my views on this, resolutely stated over the past couple of years. So I’ll punt for the number of Cons MPs to be 80-130 after the GE, which equates to I don’t know what in terms of a Labour majority. I guess around 250?
If the comp is still open then I'd also like to enter, but predicting a hung Parliament.
At this juncture a Labour landslide looks more probable, but I'm stubborn.
Why would the competition still be open? Predictions (usually) get easier the nearer you get to the event. A competition needs to have a deadline.
Still, to predict an outcome that has become even less likely since the competition closed is brave!
The way I look at it, if I'm proven right I get to play the genius (yes, I know, stopped clocks etc etc) and if I'm disastrously wrong then the Tories get the stuffing they thoroughly deserve. So it's a bit of a win-win.
The really brave prediction would be another Tory win, but not even I am that crackers.
Bart and I used to predict that Boris Johnson would win the next election with an increased majority - a lot has happened since then! Perhaps enough that most people will forget the prediction.
I may be completely out of my mind, but I suspect the average UK citizen hasn't really noticed any effects from Brexit, mainly due to Covid and the various wars and general global economic downturn. What effect Brexit really has had is that it's turned our already chaotic and outdated political system into a complete shitshow, with the government ripping itself apart trying to appease its various factions rather than running the country competently. The country is a bit knackered, but due entirely to the government, not Brexit.
Sorry, no.
On a very simple level, everyone who goes abroad now can see what a bloody pain in the ass it is. That’s c. 100 million trips per year and rising. Roughly 1/3rd of us will go abroad this summer alone.
And if you talk to anyone at all who has business dealings with Europe they are tearing their hair out.
Likewise, bringing goods in from Europe has become an absolute pain in the proverbial.
Then there is services and entertainment, brought to its knees by covid and brexit. We are chronically short of overseas workers and shunting Nigerian nurses into the NHS is not exactly what people had in mind when they voted for the bloody thing.
I could go on and on. Brexit is to blame for a large part of this country's cock ups.
I said the average person, not business. Most people, especially at the lower socio-economic end of things will have barely felt a ripple. That's not to say Brexit is done and successful, it hasn't been and isn't, it's just that covid and the general wankiness of life over the past decade has masked whatever great effect Brexit may have had.
I am not quite sure what you mean. If it is the average person can't specifically point to negative impacts they are sure relate to Brexit then I agree with you. If it is the average person has not had negative impacts related to Brexit I disagree.
I've framed it poorly. I mean that covid and the generally shite world recently has masked it. If you live in a deprived area, work in a low paid job and maybe go to Spain once a year, then Brexit will have been crowded out by world events. The government being an absolute clown show will have had a more visible effect on you. You perhaps can't see tangible negative brexit effects on a daily basis, but the government fighting like diseased ferrets rather than running the country is highly visible.
I may be completely out of my mind, but I suspect the average UK citizen hasn't really noticed any effects from Brexit, mainly due to Covid and the various wars and general global economic downturn. What effect Brexit really has had is that it's turned our already chaotic and outdated political system into a complete shitshow, with the government ripping itself apart trying to appease its various factions rather than running the country competently. The country is a bit knackered, but due entirely to the government, not Brexit.
Sorry, no.
On a very simple level, everyone who goes abroad now can see what a bloody pain in the ass it is. That’s c. 100 million trips per year and rising. Roughly 1/3rd of us will go abroad this summer alone.
And if you talk to anyone at all who has business dealings with Europe they are tearing their hair out.
Likewise, bringing goods in from Europe has become an absolute pain in the proverbial.
Then there is services and entertainment, brought to its knees by covid and brexit. We are chronically short of overseas workers and shunting Nigerian nurses into the NHS is not exactly what people had in mind when they voted for the bloody thing.
I could go on and on. Brexit is to blame for a large part of this country's cock ups.
I fly via Schiphol - don’t think I’ve ever had any hassle getting through immigration - it’s 5 minutes max and was the same previously when I was flying on a weekly basis
It really depends on the border, as I remember discussing a few months ago.
The Nordics are the most officious about asking probing questions and playing by the book. It is annoying - probably more so when you’re a remainer, because it feels like a little vicarious microaggression by the Brexiteers. But the queues aren’t bad. [though I see Oslo is].
The French border control is much more laid back, but that’s also where the big queues are: on the tunnel and ferries. Because the passport stamping takes a few extra seconds and multiply that by the thousands of vehicles going through and you can get some pretty cataclysmic queues.
I was caught up in the Christmas wildcat strike at the tunnel which caused us a 7 hour delay but had nothing to do with our not being in the EU. But there were nonetheless plenty of people in the queue cursing Brexit. The equal and opposite phenomenon to those who blamed everything on Brussels before 2016.
"Images of five men have been widely shared tonight, claiming to show the gunmen responsible for the deadly attack at the Crocus City Hall near Moscow.
But the images were first posted in early March, reportedly showing five militants killed during a shoot-out in Ingushetia."
"Images of five men have been widely shared tonight, claiming to show the gunmen responsible for the deadly attack at the Crocus City Hall near Moscow.
But the images were first posted in early March, reportedly showing five militants killed during a shoot-out in Ingushetia."
Russian state news are reporting that Ukraine are behind the theatre attack, and they they apprehended suspects trying to flee West from Moscow towards the war zone.
It’s likely to be total bollocks of course, but that’s what they’re saying.
The problem for Putin is that
1) he was warned, specifically 2) multiple ISIS small attacks were foiled recently in Russia 3) he publicly rejected the warning 4) part of the whole strongman schtick it that “this doesn’t happen if I am in charge”
Putin has history when it comes to false flag attacks on Russian civilians so I wouldn't believe a fucking word that comes out of his mouth.
I understand why @rcs1000 was emotionally attached to the post about Brexit but it is not coherent either logically, practically or emotionally.
@RochdalePioneers (a Brexiter) has given us chapter and verse about some of the economic hurdles now in place. Two anecdotally and trivially from me are movements of horses to and from the EU and a very small luxury clothing business which now finds it too expensive to import from the EU.
But more important wrt the "decisions made closer to home" bullshit (soz) is that, in the words of that noble and fearless Brexiter David Davis, we were always s*v*r**gn. The tiniest number of things were subject to EU lawmaking (VAT on home energy and Droit de Suite for example and you have no idea what one of those is).
You guys keep bleating on about shoulda woulda coulda but you sound like all those mad communists still agitating for that system. A great idea just that no one has done it right.
And with that, we're back on topic. The "good idea, done badly, not gone far enough" is the sort of thing that devotees of St Jeremy The Martyr say as well.
The will of the people is pretty clearly that this isn't going well and is probably a mistake. There's not much enthusiasm for any alternative but the status quo is seen as rubbish. The only useful questions are what the British state does with that information and when?
It's now more than ever that we are expected to embrace our national motto: mustn't grumble.
If there is one thing Britons can unite around it is having a good moan. "Mustn't grumble" is superb British irony considering that is what we do most.
There being a lot more than usual to grumble about right now
Good morning
Oh I don't know about that. Things have been going to hell in a handcart for many years.
Well yes. I now look back fondly to the 2012 London Olympics as the Cool Britannia swansong. It has been all downhill ever since.
Yup. The interesting thing about the 2012 Olympics is that in many ways it was a huge nostalgiafest for a recent past that was already receding into the rearview mirror. Danny Boyle. The Spice Girls. David Beckham, Underworld.
Even the sporting excellence too, as it was the peak of lottery and government funding for sport. Laura Trott retiring is kind of one of the last of that generation of athletes whose talent delivered golds on an incredible scale because of funding and a setup that was streets ahead of other nations. If Rishi Sunak hopes for a gold rush in Paris this year he is likely to be disappointed.
Very much the epilogue to the New Labour years and something that had already gone rather than the start of something new.
Nobody really cares about the Olympics in any case. A bunch of unpopular sports thar few pay much attention too any other time, coupled with Mickey Mouse competitions in popular sports like golf, football and tennis.
As has been mentioned below rumours abound that the attackers were Tajiki. Maybe forcibly conscripting foreign national workers into the Russian military wasn't a great idea.
I may be completely out of my mind, but I suspect the average UK citizen hasn't really noticed any effects from Brexit, mainly due to Covid and the various wars and general global economic downturn. What effect Brexit really has had is that it's turned our already chaotic and outdated political system into a complete shitshow, with the government ripping itself apart trying to appease its various factions rather than running the country competently. The country is a bit knackered, but due entirely to the government, not Brexit.
Sorry, no.
On a very simple level, everyone who goes abroad now can see what a bloody pain in the ass it is. That’s c. 100 million trips per year and rising. Roughly 1/3rd of us will go abroad this summer alone.
And if you talk to anyone at all who has business dealings with Europe they are tearing their hair out.
Likewise, bringing goods in from Europe has become an absolute pain in the proverbial.
Then there is services and entertainment, brought to its knees by covid and brexit. We are chronically short of overseas workers and shunting Nigerian nurses into the NHS is not exactly what people had in mind when they voted for the bloody thing.
I could go on and on. Brexit is to blame for a large part of this country's cock ups.
I fly via Schiphol - don’t think I’ve ever had any hassle getting through immigration - it’s 5 minutes max and was the same previously when I was flying on a weekly basis
Friends of mine recently connecting in Schipol report a nightmare and several missed flights...
Most of all, I regret that people think Brexit is a cure all for problems that are essentially domestic: our insufficient household savings rate that causes our trade deficit, our inability to free up building regulation, our tax and benefits system that discourage lower skilled workers from finding employment, and most of all a vocational education system that is a pale shadow of those in Germany, Switzerland or Denmark.
My objections and opposition to Brexit were never primarily economic, but the economic effect of instituting trade barriers without largest trading partner was never going to improve trade.
I don't begin to understand any of the economic chutney nor do, I suspect, most of the people who argued for Brexit.
But you only have to look at the types who lined up to vote for it to assess the worth of the project.
As accurate and concise post as I've read on here.
It would be more accurate if he had actually spelt out his view these Untermenchen should be deprived of the right to vote...
Blackballing yourself from a club where you can go to 28 countries with hardly a passport check ...... where your kids can take a bar job in Paris Rome Madrid Vienna and learn a language for life without restriction like we could.....
It does seem a little foolish even if as Robert says there isn't much else
I may be completely out of my mind, but I suspect the average UK citizen hasn't really noticed any effects from Brexit, mainly due to Covid and the various wars and general global economic downturn. What effect Brexit really has had is that it's turned our already chaotic and outdated political system into a complete shitshow, with the government ripping itself apart trying to appease its various factions rather than running the country competently. The country is a bit knackered, but due entirely to the government, not Brexit.
Sorry, no.
On a very simple level, everyone who goes abroad now can see what a bloody pain in the ass it is. That’s c. 100 million trips per year and rising. Roughly 1/3rd of us will go abroad this summer alone.
And if you talk to anyone at all who has business dealings with Europe they are tearing their hair out.
Likewise, bringing goods in from Europe has become an absolute pain in the proverbial.
Then there is services and entertainment, brought to its knees by covid and brexit. We are chronically short of overseas workers and shunting Nigerian nurses into the NHS is not exactly what people had in mind when they voted for the bloody thing.
I could go on and on. Brexit is to blame for a large part of this country's cock ups.
Most people, especially at the lower socio-economic end of things will have barely felt a ripple.
Again I totally disagree with this but then it’s okay to agree to disagree
If your life was a daily grind before Brexit, it's exactly the same now.
It's sunny here and I need to be out on the bike, or in the garden.
On the header, I think I heard a statement in a video interview that Ohio is a Republican the Dems are not opposing openly because they find on the ground that he repulses voters who are therefore easier to turn. I think it was this video streamed last night - Jessica Denson interviewing a young man who has been touring Trump rallies talking to Gen Z: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juEbcO-Gq_8
Annoyed because this morning I have just received a PCN from Dart Charge for a crossing on 16 December. There's probably another one coming because I went over it the other way 48 hours later.
That's more than a 3 month delay, and I had an account set up several years ago - but I understand they cancelled all the ones that had not been used for 15 months last year (which mine had not), and kept all the money from any that had any money in them. No idea whether mine had.
But I checked after my crossings and they told me via their website that the car number plate owed nothing.
So it's now down to - is it worth the unequal fight through a system designed to be difficult, or do I accept the £70 mugging?
Nobody really cares about the Olympics in any case. A bunch of unpopular sports that few pay much attention to any other time, coupled with Mickey Mouse competitions in popular sports like golf, football and tennis.
Most of all, I regret that people think Brexit is a cure all for problems that are essentially domestic: our insufficient household savings rate that causes our trade deficit, our inability to free up building regulation, our tax and benefits system that discourage lower skilled workers from finding employment, and most of all a vocational education system that is a pale shadow of those in Germany, Switzerland or Denmark.
My objections and opposition to Brexit were never primarily economic, but the economic effect of instituting trade barriers without largest trading partner was never going to improve trade.
I don't begin to understand any of the economic chutney nor do, I suspect, most of the people who argued for Brexit.
But you only have to look at the types who lined up to vote for it to assess the worth of the project.
As accurate and concise post as I've read on here.
It would be more accurate if he had actually spelt out his view these Untermenchen should be deprived of the right to vote...
You Christopher "Chris" Chope Mark Francois Bernie Ecclestone Joan Collins Roger Daltery Casino BartyBobs
"Images of five men have been widely shared tonight, claiming to show the gunmen responsible for the deadly attack at the Crocus City Hall near Moscow.
But the images were first posted in early March, reportedly showing five militants killed during a shoot-out in Ingushetia."
I understand why @rcs1000 was emotionally attached to the post about Brexit but it is not coherent either logically, practically or emotionally.
@RochdalePioneers (a Brexiter) has given us chapter and verse about some of the economic hurdles now in place. Two anecdotally and trivially from me are movements of horses to and from the EU and a very small luxury clothing business which now finds it too expensive to import from the EU.
But more important wrt the "decisions made closer to home" bullshit (soz) is that, in the words of that noble and fearless Brexiter David Davis, we were always s*v*r**gn. The tiniest number of things were subject to EU lawmaking (VAT on home energy and Droit de Suite for example and you have no idea what one of those is).
You guys keep bleating on about shoulda woulda coulda but you sound like all those mad communists still agitating for that system. A great idea just that no one has done it right.
And with that, we're back on topic. The "good idea, done badly, not gone far enough" is the sort of thing that devotees of St Jeremy The Martyr say as well.
The will of the people is pretty clearly that this isn't going well and is probably a mistake. There's not much enthusiasm for any alternative but the status quo is seen as rubbish. The only useful questions are what the British state does with that information and when?
It's now more than ever that we are expected to embrace our national motto: mustn't grumble.
If there is one thing Britons can unite around it is having a good moan. "Mustn't grumble" is superb British irony considering that is what we do most.
There being a lot more than usual to grumble about right now
Good morning
Oh I don't know about that. Things have been going to hell in a handcart for many years.
Well yes. I now look back fondly to the 2012 London Olympics as the Cool Britannia swansong. It has been all downhill ever since.
Yup. The interesting thing about the 2012 Olympics is that in many ways it was a huge nostalgiafest for a recent past that was already receding into the rearview mirror. Danny Boyle. The Spice Girls. David Beckham, Underworld.
Even the sporting excellence too, as it was the peak of lottery and government funding for sport. Laura Trott retiring is kind of one of the last of that generation of athletes whose talent delivered golds on an incredible scale because of funding and a setup that was streets ahead of other nations. If Rishi Sunak hopes for a gold rush in Paris this year he is likely to be disappointed.
Very much the epilogue to the New Labour years and something that had already gone rather than the start of something new.
Nobody really cares about the Olympics in any case. A bunch of unpopular sports thar few pay much attention too any other time, coupled with Mickey Mouse competitions in popular sports like golf, football and tennis.
Almost as boring as the Commonwealth games. Both disappearing up their own fundamentals as people / sponsors realise they are crap.
It's sunny here and I need to be out on the bike, or in the garden.
On the header, I think I heard a statement in a video interview that Ohio is a Republican the Dems are not opposing openly because they find on the ground that he repulses voters who are therefore easier to turn. I think it was this video streamed last night - Jessica Denson interviewing a young man who has been touring Trump rallies talking to Gen Z: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juEbcO-Gq_8
Annoyed because this morning I have just received a PCN from Dart Charge for a crossing on 16 December. There's probably another one coming because I went over it the other way 48 hours later.
That's more than a 3 month delay, and I had an account set up several years ago - but I understand they cancelled all the ones that had not been used for 15 months last year (which mine had not), and kept all the money from any that had any money in them. No idea whether mine had.
But I checked after my crossings and they told me via their website that the car number plate owed nothing.
So it's now down to - is it worth the unequal fight through a system designed to be difficult, or do I accept the £70 mugging?
I understand why @rcs1000 was emotionally attached to the post about Brexit but it is not coherent either logically, practically or emotionally.
@RochdalePioneers (a Brexiter) has given us chapter and verse about some of the economic hurdles now in place. Two anecdotally and trivially from me are movements of horses to and from the EU and a very small luxury clothing business which now finds it too expensive to import from the EU.
But more important wrt the "decisions made closer to home" bullshit (soz) is that, in the words of that noble and fearless Brexiter David Davis, we were always s*v*r**gn. The tiniest number of things were subject to EU lawmaking (VAT on home energy and Droit de Suite for example and you have no idea what one of those is).
You guys keep bleating on about shoulda woulda coulda but you sound like all those mad communists still agitating for that system. A great idea just that no one has done it right.
And with that, we're back on topic. The "good idea, done badly, not gone far enough" is the sort of thing that devotees of St Jeremy The Martyr say as well.
The will of the people is pretty clearly that this isn't going well and is probably a mistake. There's not much enthusiasm for any alternative but the status quo is seen as rubbish. The only useful questions are what the British state does with that information and when?
It's now more than ever that we are expected to embrace our national motto: mustn't grumble.
If there is one thing Britons can unite around it is having a good moan. "Mustn't grumble" is superb British irony considering that is what we do most.
There being a lot more than usual to grumble about right now
Good morning
Oh I don't know about that. Things have been going to hell in a handcart for many years.
Well yes. I now look back fondly to the 2012 London Olympics as the Cool Britannia swansong. It has been all downhill ever since.
Yup. The interesting thing about the 2012 Olympics is that in many ways it was a huge nostalgiafest for a recent past that was already receding into the rearview mirror. Danny Boyle. The Spice Girls. David Beckham, Underworld.
Even the sporting excellence too, as it was the peak of lottery and government funding for sport. Laura Trott retiring is kind of one of the last of that generation of athletes whose talent delivered golds on an incredible scale because of funding and a setup that was streets ahead of other nations. If Rishi Sunak hopes for a gold rush in Paris this year he is likely to be disappointed.
Very much the epilogue to the New Labour years and something that had already gone rather than the start of something new.
Underworld?
Wasn't that the garment factory in Coronation Street? Seems an odd thing to celebrate...
I may be completely out of my mind, but I suspect the average UK citizen hasn't really noticed any effects from Brexit, mainly due to Covid and the various wars and general global economic downturn. What effect Brexit really has had is that it's turned our already chaotic and outdated political system into a complete shitshow, with the government ripping itself apart trying to appease its various factions rather than running the country competently. The country is a bit knackered, but due entirely to the government, not Brexit.
Sorry, no.
On a very simple level, everyone who goes abroad now can see what a bloody pain in the ass it is. That’s c. 100 million trips per year and rising. Roughly 1/3rd of us will go abroad this summer alone.
And if you talk to anyone at all who has business dealings with Europe they are tearing their hair out.
Likewise, bringing goods in from Europe has become an absolute pain in the proverbial.
Then there is services and entertainment, brought to its knees by covid and brexit. We are chronically short of overseas workers and shunting Nigerian nurses into the NHS is not exactly what people had in mind when they voted for the bloody thing.
I could go on and on. Brexit is to blame for a large part of this country's cock ups.
I fly via Schiphol - don’t think I’ve ever had any hassle getting through immigration - it’s 5 minutes max and was the same previously when I was flying on a weekly basis
Snap
I went though Schipol twice this week without any problems.
I understand why @rcs1000 was emotionally attached to the post about Brexit but it is not coherent either logically, practically or emotionally.
@RochdalePioneers (a Brexiter) has given us chapter and verse about some of the economic hurdles now in place. Two anecdotally and trivially from me are movements of horses to and from the EU and a very small luxury clothing business which now finds it too expensive to import from the EU.
But more important wrt the "decisions made closer to home" bullshit (soz) is that, in the words of that noble and fearless Brexiter David Davis, we were always s*v*r**gn. The tiniest number of things were subject to EU lawmaking (VAT on home energy and Droit de Suite for example and you have no idea what one of those is).
You guys keep bleating on about shoulda woulda coulda but you sound like all those mad communists still agitating for that system. A great idea just that no one has done it right.
And with that, we're back on topic. The "good idea, done badly, not gone far enough" is the sort of thing that devotees of St Jeremy The Martyr say as well.
The will of the people is pretty clearly that this isn't going well and is probably a mistake. There's not much enthusiasm for any alternative but the status quo is seen as rubbish. The only useful questions are what the British state does with that information and when?
It's now more than ever that we are expected to embrace our national motto: mustn't grumble.
If there is one thing Britons can unite around it is having a good moan. "Mustn't grumble" is superb British irony considering that is what we do most.
There being a lot more than usual to grumble about right now
Good morning
Oh I don't know about that. Things have been going to hell in a handcart for many years.
Well yes. I now look back fondly to the 2012 London Olympics as the Cool Britannia swansong. It has been all downhill ever since.
Yup. The interesting thing about the 2012 Olympics is that in many ways it was a huge nostalgiafest for a recent past that was already receding into the rearview mirror. Danny Boyle. The Spice Girls. David Beckham, Underworld.
Even the sporting excellence too, as it was the peak of lottery and government funding for sport. Laura Trott retiring is kind of one of the last of that generation of athletes whose talent delivered golds on an incredible scale because of funding and a setup that was streets ahead of other nations. If Rishi Sunak hopes for a gold rush in Paris this year he is likely to be disappointed.
Very much the epilogue to the New Labour years and something that had already gone rather than the start of something new.
Nobody really cares about the Olympics in any case. A bunch of unpopular sports thar few pay much attention too any other time, coupled with Mickey Mouse competitions in popular sports like golf, football and tennis.
Almost as boring as the Commonwealth games. Both disappearing up their own fundamentals as people / sponsors realise they are crap.
The eBay Olympics are dead. Malaysia just turned down a hundred million quid bung to host them. Maybe Rwanda could be prevailed upon. They seem to be up for whatever.
I understand why @rcs1000 was emotionally attached to the post about Brexit but it is not coherent either logically, practically or emotionally.
@RochdalePioneers (a Brexiter) has given us chapter and verse about some of the economic hurdles now in place. Two anecdotally and trivially from me are movements of horses to and from the EU and a very small luxury clothing business which now finds it too expensive to import from the EU.
But more important wrt the "decisions made closer to home" bullshit (soz) is that, in the words of that noble and fearless Brexiter David Davis, we were always s*v*r**gn. The tiniest number of things were subject to EU lawmaking (VAT on home energy and Droit de Suite for example and you have no idea what one of those is).
You guys keep bleating on about shoulda woulda coulda but you sound like all those mad communists still agitating for that system. A great idea just that no one has done it right.
And with that, we're back on topic. The "good idea, done badly, not gone far enough" is the sort of thing that devotees of St Jeremy The Martyr say as well.
The will of the people is pretty clearly that this isn't going well and is probably a mistake. There's not much enthusiasm for any alternative but the status quo is seen as rubbish. The only useful questions are what the British state does with that information and when?
It's now more than ever that we are expected to embrace our national motto: mustn't grumble.
If there is one thing Britons can unite around it is having a good moan. "Mustn't grumble" is superb British irony considering that is what we do most.
There being a lot more than usual to grumble about right now
Good morning
Oh I don't know about that. Things have been going to hell in a handcart for many years.
Well yes. I now look back fondly to the 2012 London Olympics as the Cool Britannia swansong. It has been all downhill ever since.
But what about the wrong coloured flags on the kit in 2012? Surely that spoiled the whole thing.
On which topic next PM Penny Mordaunt is this morning showing she’s a serious politician for serious times:
I’m going to make myself unpopular on here but I loathe the flag of St George and its connotations. It’s as historically ridiculous to associate it with England as three lions. What the heck have lions got to do with this country? Nothing at all. Nor has the myth of a dragon-slaying Cappadocian. Worse still, it has all become wrapped up in Crusader English nationalism of a particular kind. Yuck.
And don’t get me started on our execrable ’national’ anthem. It was lovely to hear the Welsh lustily singing a great tune the other night and Flower of Scotland is magnificent: the tune possibly more than the odd dodgy line - like La Marseillaise.
Anti-English rant over. Please excuse me.
p.s. I don’t agree with nations, nationhood, or national flags. We’re a human race comprising a multiplicity of different ethnicities, cultures, languages, and histories but essential one race. And we need to learn to get along.
Perhaps we will if one of Sean’s alien spaceships lands here. That’s if they don’t eat us.
The three lions were Richard Coeur de Lion’s personal sigil. They’ve been a recognised symbol of England for some 850 years
I understand why @rcs1000 was emotionally attached to the post about Brexit but it is not coherent either logically, practically or emotionally.
@RochdalePioneers (a Brexiter) has given us chapter and verse about some of the economic hurdles now in place. Two anecdotally and trivially from me are movements of horses to and from the EU and a very small luxury clothing business which now finds it too expensive to import from the EU.
But more important wrt the "decisions made closer to home" bullshit (soz) is that, in the words of that noble and fearless Brexiter David Davis, we were always s*v*r**gn. The tiniest number of things were subject to EU lawmaking (VAT on home energy and Droit de Suite for example and you have no idea what one of those is).
You guys keep bleating on about shoulda woulda coulda but you sound like all those mad communists still agitating for that system. A great idea just that no one has done it right.
And with that, we're back on topic. The "good idea, done badly, not gone far enough" is the sort of thing that devotees of St Jeremy The Martyr say as well.
The will of the people is pretty clearly that this isn't going well and is probably a mistake. There's not much enthusiasm for any alternative but the status quo is seen as rubbish. The only useful questions are what the British state does with that information and when?
It's now more than ever that we are expected to embrace our national motto: mustn't grumble.
If there is one thing Britons can unite around it is having a good moan. "Mustn't grumble" is superb British irony considering that is what we do most.
There being a lot more than usual to grumble about right now
Good morning
Oh I don't know about that. Things have been going to hell in a handcart for many years.
Well yes. I now look back fondly to the 2012 London Olympics as the Cool Britannia swansong. It has been all downhill ever since.
Yup. The interesting thing about the 2012 Olympics is that in many ways it was a huge nostalgiafest for a recent past that was already receding into the rearview mirror. Danny Boyle. The Spice Girls. David Beckham, Underworld.
Even the sporting excellence too, as it was the peak of lottery and government funding for sport. Laura Trott retiring is kind of one of the last of that generation of athletes whose talent delivered golds on an incredible scale because of funding and a setup that was streets ahead of other nations. If Rishi Sunak hopes for a gold rush in Paris this year he is likely to be disappointed.
Very much the epilogue to the New Labour years and something that had already gone rather than the start of something new.
Nobody really cares about the Olympics in any case. A bunch of unpopular sports thar few pay much attention too any other time, coupled with Mickey Mouse competitions in popular sports like golf, football and tennis.
Almost as boring as the Commonwealth games. Both disappearing up their own fundamentals as people / sponsors realise they are crap.
Morning Malc. What do you make of Scotland’s chances in the Euros?
Is it Leaflet Week - I have one from all 4 parties here (AI, Lab, Con, Reform) in the last 2-3 days?
Tory one is from Ben Bradley, all about "what we have done", and Bradley's campaign to be Mayor of N2D2. How resilient are Tories in Derbyshire - like Notts all the county seats are Tory. I'm thinking Bradley could edge this.
Reform is all about saving Britain from the foreigners. I'd forgotten we had Martin Daubney from them last time, but then he's a forgettable white noise.
The Labour one is from Rachel Reeves looking out to sunlit uplands in front of their Aldi Eggbox banner, promising responsibility after Tory mismanagement.
"Zadrozny's Independents" is interesting (they want him in their brand - that's brave!); it's all about how the Tories have failed locally, so they are presumably scared of Labour, and based around "what we have done locally". I'd say he's wetting his pants because he's worried about Labour.
The manipulated bar chart reminds me that he used to be a Lib Dem.
One of the leaflets had a go at "the Labour candidate from Kettering". I haven't worked out how locally committed she is yet - seems to have a family house and volunteer at a foodbank 8 minutes walk from my house. That reminds me of the line Ed Davey used in Kingston & Surbiton in 1997 - "the Tory from Dover".
All the predictions I have seen for the seat are a fairly solid Labour win.
I may be completely out of my mind, but I suspect the average UK citizen hasn't really noticed any effects from Brexit, mainly due to Covid and the various wars and general global economic downturn. What effect Brexit really has had is that it's turned our already chaotic and outdated political system into a complete shitshow, with the government ripping itself apart trying to appease its various factions rather than running the country competently. The country is a bit knackered, but due entirely to the government, not Brexit.
Sorry, no.
On a very simple level, everyone who goes abroad now can see what a bloody pain in the ass it is. That’s c. 100 million trips per year and rising. Roughly 1/3rd of us will go abroad this summer alone.
And if you talk to anyone at all who has business dealings with Europe they are tearing their hair out.
Likewise, bringing goods in from Europe has become an absolute pain in the proverbial.
Then there is services and entertainment, brought to its knees by covid and brexit. We are chronically short of overseas workers and shunting Nigerian nurses into the NHS is not exactly what people had in mind when they voted for the bloody thing.
I could go on and on. Brexit is to blame for a large part of this country's cock ups.
I fly via Schiphol - don’t think I’ve ever had any hassle getting through immigration - it’s 5 minutes max and was the same previously when I was flying on a weekly basis
It really depends on the border, as I remember discussing a few months ago.
The Nordics are the most officious about asking probing questions and playing by the book. It is annoying - probably more so when you’re a remainer, because it feels like a little vicarious microaggression by the Brexiteers. But the queues aren’t bad. [though I see Oslo is].
The French border control is much more laid back, but that’s also where the big queues are: on the tunnel and ferries. Because the passport stamping takes a few extra seconds and multiply that by the thousands of vehicles going through and you can get some pretty cataclysmic queues.
I was caught up in the Christmas wildcat strike at the tunnel which caused us a 7 hour delay but had nothing to do with our not being in the EU. But there were nonetheless plenty of people in the queue cursing Brexit. The equal and opposite phenomenon to those who blamed everything on Brussels before 2016.
I've been going through about 20 times a year, the worst I have had is about an hours queue in Helsinki. It is annoying but not something that shapes my view of Brexit, I would rather that borders were controlled.
Ironically my wife and son sometimes have to queue for longer even though they are dual UK/EU citizens, when there is no father travelling they scrutinise children under 10 for possible child abduction, sometimes there are long queues. This is true both in the EU and the UK.
Connecting flights in Stockholm, Schipol etc are a problem with the airports themselves, they are too big and chaotic to facilitate these 45 minute connections and Brexit makes this even more complicated. On the other hand Riga is a good airport to connect in because it is so small.
Most of all, I regret that people think Brexit is a cure all for problems that are essentially domestic: our insufficient household savings rate that causes our trade deficit, our inability to free up building regulation, our tax and benefits system that discourage lower skilled workers from finding employment, and most of all a vocational education system that is a pale shadow of those in Germany, Switzerland or Denmark.
My objections and opposition to Brexit were never primarily economic, but the economic effect of instituting trade barriers without largest trading partner was never going to improve trade.
I don't begin to understand any of the economic chutney nor do, I suspect, most of the people who argued for Brexit.
But you only have to look at the types who lined up to vote for it to assess the worth of the project.
As accurate and concise post as I've read on here.
It would be more accurate if he had actually spelt out his view these Untermenchen should be deprived of the right to vote...
You Christopher "Chris" Chope Mark Francois Bernie Ecclestone Joan Collins Roger Daltery Casino BartyBobs
And these people in Warrington...
Roger Daltrey on Brexit: " I was just a boy, giving it all away".
If you are stuck learning languages (as I am) then it is worth checking out duolingo. I have made more progress learning Finnish on duolingo in the last month than the last 10 years combined. The great thing is that it seems to be designed as an alternative to scrolling through PB, social media etc or playing games to pass the time.
I understand why @rcs1000 was emotionally attached to the post about Brexit but it is not coherent either logically, practically or emotionally.
@RochdalePioneers (a Brexiter) has given us chapter and verse about some of the economic hurdles now in place. Two anecdotally and trivially from me are movements of horses to and from the EU and a very small luxury clothing business which now finds it too expensive to import from the EU.
But more important wrt the "decisions made closer to home" bullshit (soz) is that, in the words of that noble and fearless Brexiter David Davis, we were always s*v*r**gn. The tiniest number of things were subject to EU lawmaking (VAT on home energy and Droit de Suite for example and you have no idea what one of those is).
You guys keep bleating on about shoulda woulda coulda but you sound like all those mad communists still agitating for that system. A great idea just that no one has done it right.
And with that, we're back on topic. The "good idea, done badly, not gone far enough" is the sort of thing that devotees of St Jeremy The Martyr say as well.
The will of the people is pretty clearly that this isn't going well and is probably a mistake. There's not much enthusiasm for any alternative but the status quo is seen as rubbish. The only useful questions are what the British state does with that information and when?
It's now more than ever that we are expected to embrace our national motto: mustn't grumble.
If there is one thing Britons can unite around it is having a good moan. "Mustn't grumble" is superb British irony considering that is what we do most.
There being a lot more than usual to grumble about right now
Good morning
Oh I don't know about that. Things have been going to hell in a handcart for many years.
Well yes. I now look back fondly to the 2012 London Olympics as the Cool Britannia swansong. It has been all downhill ever since.
But what about the wrong coloured flags on the kit in 2012? Surely that spoiled the whole thing.
On which topic next PM Penny Mordaunt is this morning showing she’s a serious politician for serious times:
I’m going to make myself unpopular on here but I loathe the flag of St George and its connotations. It’s as historically ridiculous to associate it with England as three lions. What the heck have lions got to do with this country? Nothing at all. Nor has the myth of a dragon-slaying Cappadocian. Worse still, it has all become wrapped up in Crusader English nationalism of a particular kind. Yuck.
And don’t get me started on our execrable ’national’ anthem. It was lovely to hear the Welsh lustily singing a great tune the other night and Flower of Scotland is magnificent: the tune possibly more than the odd dodgy line - like La Marseillaise.
Anti-English rant over. Please excuse me.
p.s. I don’t agree with nations, nationhood, or national flags. We’re a human race comprising a multiplicity of different ethnicities, cultures, languages, and histories but essential one race. And we need to learn to get along.
Perhaps we will if one of Sean’s alien spaceships lands here. That’s if they don’t eat us.
The three lions were Richard Coeur de Lion’s personal sigil. They’ve been a recognised symbol of England for some 850 years
He spent most of his reign in France. Would've voted remain.
I understand why @rcs1000 was emotionally attached to the post about Brexit but it is not coherent either logically, practically or emotionally.
@RochdalePioneers (a Brexiter) has given us chapter and verse about some of the economic hurdles now in place. Two anecdotally and trivially from me are movements of horses to and from the EU and a very small luxury clothing business which now finds it too expensive to import from the EU.
But more important wrt the "decisions made closer to home" bullshit (soz) is that, in the words of that noble and fearless Brexiter David Davis, we were always s*v*r**gn. The tiniest number of things were subject to EU lawmaking (VAT on home energy and Droit de Suite for example and you have no idea what one of those is).
You guys keep bleating on about shoulda woulda coulda but you sound like all those mad communists still agitating for that system. A great idea just that no one has done it right.
And with that, we're back on topic. The "good idea, done badly, not gone far enough" is the sort of thing that devotees of St Jeremy The Martyr say as well.
The will of the people is pretty clearly that this isn't going well and is probably a mistake. There's not much enthusiasm for any alternative but the status quo is seen as rubbish. The only useful questions are what the British state does with that information and when?
It's now more than ever that we are expected to embrace our national motto: mustn't grumble.
If there is one thing Britons can unite around it is having a good moan. "Mustn't grumble" is superb British irony considering that is what we do most.
There being a lot more than usual to grumble about right now
Good morning
Oh I don't know about that. Things have been going to hell in a handcart for many years.
Well yes. I now look back fondly to the 2012 London Olympics as the Cool Britannia swansong. It has been all downhill ever since.
But what about the wrong coloured flags on the kit in 2012? Surely that spoiled the whole thing.
On which topic next PM Penny Mordaunt is this morning showing she’s a serious politician for serious times:
I’m going to make myself unpopular on here but I loathe the flag of St George and its connotations. It’s as historically ridiculous to associate it with England as three lions. What the heck have lions got to do with this country? Nothing at all. Nor has the myth of a dragon-slaying Cappadocian. Worse still, it has all become wrapped up in Crusader English nationalism of a particular kind. Yuck.
And don’t get me started on our execrable ’national’ anthem. It was lovely to hear the Welsh lustily singing a great tune the other night and Flower of Scotland is magnificent: the tune possibly more than the odd dodgy line - like La Marseillaise.
Anti-English rant over. Please excuse me.
p.s. I don’t agree with nations, nationhood, or national flags. We’re a human race comprising a multiplicity of different ethnicities, cultures, languages, and histories but essential one race. And we need to learn to get along.
Perhaps we will if one of Sean’s alien spaceships lands here. That’s if they don’t eat us.
The three lions were Richard Coeur de Lion’s personal sigil. They’ve been a recognised symbol of England for some 850 years
Is it Leaflet Week - I have one from all 4 parties here (AI, Lab, Con, Reform) in the last 2-3 days?
You’ve had a leaflet from AI? So ChatGPT has become sentient, but has decided to take part in the democratic process instead of just oppressing all humans? There is hope for us all!
Most of all, I regret that people think Brexit is a cure all for problems that are essentially domestic: our insufficient household savings rate that causes our trade deficit, our inability to free up building regulation, our tax and benefits system that discourage lower skilled workers from finding employment, and most of all a vocational education system that is a pale shadow of those in Germany, Switzerland or Denmark.
My objections and opposition to Brexit were never primarily economic, but the economic effect of instituting trade barriers without largest trading partner was never going to improve trade.
I don't begin to understand any of the economic chutney nor do, I suspect, most of the people who argued for Brexit.
But you only have to look at the types who lined up to vote for it to assess the worth of the project.
As accurate and concise post as I've read on here.
It would be more accurate if he had actually spelt out his view these Untermenchen should be deprived of the right to vote...
You Christopher "Chris" Chope Mark Francois Bernie Ecclestone Joan Collins Roger Daltery Casino BartyBobs
And these people in Warrington...
Roger Daltrey on Brexit: " I was just a boy, giving it all away".
Most of all, I regret that people think Brexit is a cure all for problems that are essentially domestic: our insufficient household savings rate that causes our trade deficit, our inability to free up building regulation, our tax and benefits system that discourage lower skilled workers from finding employment, and most of all a vocational education system that is a pale shadow of those in Germany, Switzerland or Denmark.
My objections and opposition to Brexit were never primarily economic, but the economic effect of instituting trade barriers without largest trading partner was never going to improve trade.
I don't begin to understand any of the economic chutney nor do, I suspect, most of the people who argued for Brexit.
But you only have to look at the types who lined up to vote for it to assess the worth of the project.
For me it was more the types who lined up to persuade/lie to/bully people in to voting for it.
I understand why @rcs1000 was emotionally attached to the post about Brexit but it is not coherent either logically, practically or emotionally.
@RochdalePioneers (a Brexiter) has given us chapter and verse about some of the economic hurdles now in place. Two anecdotally and trivially from me are movements of horses to and from the EU and a very small luxury clothing business which now finds it too expensive to import from the EU.
But more important wrt the "decisions made closer to home" bullshit (soz) is that, in the words of that noble and fearless Brexiter David Davis, we were always s*v*r**gn. The tiniest number of things were subject to EU lawmaking (VAT on home energy and Droit de Suite for example and you have no idea what one of those is).
You guys keep bleating on about shoulda woulda coulda but you sound like all those mad communists still agitating for that system. A great idea just that no one has done it right.
And with that, we're back on topic. The "good idea, done badly, not gone far enough" is the sort of thing that devotees of St Jeremy The Martyr say as well.
The will of the people is pretty clearly that this isn't going well and is probably a mistake. There's not much enthusiasm for any alternative but the status quo is seen as rubbish. The only useful questions are what the British state does with that information and when?
It's now more than ever that we are expected to embrace our national motto: mustn't grumble.
If there is one thing Britons can unite around it is having a good moan. "Mustn't grumble" is superb British irony considering that is what we do most.
There being a lot more than usual to grumble about right now
Good morning
Oh I don't know about that. Things have been going to hell in a handcart for many years.
Well yes. I now look back fondly to the 2012 London Olympics as the Cool Britannia swansong. It has been all downhill ever since.
But what about the wrong coloured flags on the kit in 2012? Surely that spoiled the whole thing.
On which topic next PM Penny Mordaunt is this morning showing she’s a serious politician for serious times:
I’m going to make myself unpopular on here but I loathe the flag of St George and its connotations. It’s as historically ridiculous to associate it with England as three lions. What the heck have lions got to do with this country? Nothing at all. Nor has the myth of a dragon-slaying Cappadocian. Worse still, it has all become wrapped up in Crusader English nationalism of a particular kind. Yuck.
And don’t get me started on our execrable ’national’ anthem. It was lovely to hear the Welsh lustily singing a great tune the other night and Flower of Scotland is magnificent: the tune possibly more than the odd dodgy line - like La Marseillaise.
Anti-English rant over. Please excuse me.
p.s. I don’t agree with nations, nationhood, or national flags. We’re a human race comprising a multiplicity of different ethnicities, cultures, languages, and histories but essential one race. And we need to learn to get along.
Perhaps we will if one of Sean’s alien spaceships lands here. That’s if they don’t eat us.
The three lions were Richard Coeur de Lion’s personal sigil. They’ve been a recognised symbol of England for some 850 years
He spent most of his reign in France. Would've voted remain.
What is now considered France. Was his kingdom then, as well as England. But you’re right; wouldn’t have thought of England (at least) as other than closely linked to Europe. Western Europe, anyway!
Most of all, I regret that people think Brexit is a cure all for problems that are essentially domestic: our insufficient household savings rate that causes our trade deficit, our inability to free up building regulation, our tax and benefits system that discourage lower skilled workers from finding employment, and most of all a vocational education system that is a pale shadow of those in Germany, Switzerland or Denmark.
My objections and opposition to Brexit were never primarily economic, but the economic effect of instituting trade barriers without largest trading partner was never going to improve trade.
I don't begin to understand any of the economic chutney nor do, I suspect, most of the people who argued for Brexit.
But you only have to look at the types who lined up to vote for it to assess the worth of the project.
As accurate and concise post as I've read on here.
It would be more accurate if he had actually spelt out his view these Untermenchen should be deprived of the right to vote...
You Christopher "Chris" Chope Mark Francois Bernie Ecclestone Joan Collins Roger Daltery Casino BartyBobs
I see that last night Ukraine hit a Russian oil refinery again.
Re-hit. One they have attacked before.
Russians are saying the new Ukrainian drones are much more difficult to impact with electronic warfare measures. As much as 16% of Russian refining capacity has already been hit. It is disproportionately located in western Russia, in range of drones able to travel over 1,000 km - seemingly without facing any meaningful air defences.
Shame the Severnaya Goldeneye satellite got blown up.
I understand why @rcs1000 was emotionally attached to the post about Brexit but it is not coherent either logically, practically or emotionally.
@RochdalePioneers (a Brexiter) has given us chapter and verse about some of the economic hurdles now in place. Two anecdotally and trivially from me are movements of horses to and from the EU and a very small luxury clothing business which now finds it too expensive to import from the EU.
But more important wrt the "decisions made closer to home" bullshit (soz) is that, in the words of that noble and fearless Brexiter David Davis, we were always s*v*r**gn. The tiniest number of things were subject to EU lawmaking (VAT on home energy and Droit de Suite for example and you have no idea what one of those is).
You guys keep bleating on about shoulda woulda coulda but you sound like all those mad communists still agitating for that system. A great idea just that no one has done it right.
And with that, we're back on topic. The "good idea, done badly, not gone far enough" is the sort of thing that devotees of St Jeremy The Martyr say as well.
The will of the people is pretty clearly that this isn't going well and is probably a mistake. There's not much enthusiasm for any alternative but the status quo is seen as rubbish. The only useful questions are what the British state does with that information and when?
It's now more than ever that we are expected to embrace our national motto: mustn't grumble.
If there is one thing Britons can unite around it is having a good moan. "Mustn't grumble" is superb British irony considering that is what we do most.
There being a lot more than usual to grumble about right now
Good morning
Oh I don't know about that. Things have been going to hell in a handcart for many years.
Well yes. I now look back fondly to the 2012 London Olympics as the Cool Britannia swansong. It has been all downhill ever since.
But what about the wrong coloured flags on the kit in 2012? Surely that spoiled the whole thing.
On which topic next PM Penny Mordaunt is this morning showing she’s a serious politician for serious times:
I’m going to make myself unpopular on here but I loathe the flag of St George and its connotations. It’s as historically ridiculous to associate it with England as three lions. What the heck have lions got to do with this country? Nothing at all. Nor has the myth of a dragon-slaying Cappadocian. Worse still, it has all become wrapped up in Crusader English nationalism of a particular kind. Yuck.
And don’t get me started on our execrable ’national’ anthem. It was lovely to hear the Welsh lustily singing a great tune the other night and Flower of Scotland is magnificent: the tune possibly more than the odd dodgy line - like La Marseillaise.
Anti-English rant over. Please excuse me.
p.s. I don’t agree with nations, nationhood, or national flags. We’re a human race comprising a multiplicity of different ethnicities, cultures, languages, and histories but essential one race. And we need to learn to get along.
Perhaps we will if one of Sean’s alien spaceships lands here. That’s if they don’t eat us.
The three lions were Richard Coeur de Lion’s personal sigil. They’ve been a recognised symbol of England for some 850 years
He spent most of his reign in France. Would've voted remain.
What is now considered France. Was his kingdom then, as well as England. But you’re right; wouldn’t have thought of England (at least) as other than closely linked to Europe. Western Europe, anyway!
Remainers: "Leavers are all backward-looking people obsessed with an idealised version of the 1950s that never existed."
Also Remainers: "Richard the Lionheart, 12th century monarch of the Angevin Empire, would have voted Remain."
Just a reminder (from the European Movement, to be fair) that, because of post-Brexit changes to our tax system, the price of at least some wines will be increasing. That affects Mrs C and myself!
I understand why @rcs1000 was emotionally attached to the post about Brexit but it is not coherent either logically, practically or emotionally.
@RochdalePioneers (a Brexiter) has given us chapter and verse about some of the economic hurdles now in place. Two anecdotally and trivially from me are movements of horses to and from the EU and a very small luxury clothing business which now finds it too expensive to import from the EU.
But more important wrt the "decisions made closer to home" bullshit (soz) is that, in the words of that noble and fearless Brexiter David Davis, we were always s*v*r**gn. The tiniest number of things were subject to EU lawmaking (VAT on home energy and Droit de Suite for example and you have no idea what one of those is).
You guys keep bleating on about shoulda woulda coulda but you sound like all those mad communists still agitating for that system. A great idea just that no one has done it right.
And with that, we're back on topic. The "good idea, done badly, not gone far enough" is the sort of thing that devotees of St Jeremy The Martyr say as well.
The will of the people is pretty clearly that this isn't going well and is probably a mistake. There's not much enthusiasm for any alternative but the status quo is seen as rubbish. The only useful questions are what the British state does with that information and when?
It's now more than ever that we are expected to embrace our national motto: mustn't grumble.
If there is one thing Britons can unite around it is having a good moan. "Mustn't grumble" is superb British irony considering that is what we do most.
There being a lot more than usual to grumble about right now
Good morning
Oh I don't know about that. Things have been going to hell in a handcart for many years.
Well yes. I now look back fondly to the 2012 London Olympics as the Cool Britannia swansong. It has been all downhill ever since.
But what about the wrong coloured flags on the kit in 2012? Surely that spoiled the whole thing.
On which topic next PM Penny Mordaunt is this morning showing she’s a serious politician for serious times:
I’m going to make myself unpopular on here but I loathe the flag of St George and its connotations. It’s as historically ridiculous to associate it with England as three lions. What the heck have lions got to do with this country? Nothing at all. Nor has the myth of a dragon-slaying Cappadocian. Worse still, it has all become wrapped up in Crusader English nationalism of a particular kind. Yuck.
And don’t get me started on our execrable ’national’ anthem. It was lovely to hear the Welsh lustily singing a great tune the other night and Flower of Scotland is magnificent: the tune possibly more than the odd dodgy line - like La Marseillaise.
Anti-English rant over. Please excuse me.
p.s. I don’t agree with nations, nationhood, or national flags. We’re a human race comprising a multiplicity of different ethnicities, cultures, languages, and histories but essential one race. And we need to learn to get along.
Perhaps we will if one of Sean’s alien spaceships lands here. That’s if they don’t eat us.
The three lions were Richard Coeur de Lion’s personal sigil. They’ve been a recognised symbol of England for some 850 years
He spent most of his reign in France. Would've voted remain.
What is now considered France. Was his kingdom then, as well as England. But you’re right; wouldn’t have thought of England (at least) as other than closely linked to Europe. Western Europe, anyway!
Remainers: "Leavers are all backward-looking people obsessed with an idealised version of the 1950s that never existed."
Also Remainers: "Richard the Lionheart, 12th century monarch of the Angevin Empire, would have voted Remain."
We voted to leave, and maintained a relationship.
The Angevins engaged in a Hundred Years War with France, lost it, and got themselves chucked out of Europe.
I understand why @rcs1000 was emotionally attached to the post about Brexit but it is not coherent either logically, practically or emotionally.
@RochdalePioneers (a Brexiter) has given us chapter and verse about some of the economic hurdles now in place. Two anecdotally and trivially from me are movements of horses to and from the EU and a very small luxury clothing business which now finds it too expensive to import from the EU.
But more important wrt the "decisions made closer to home" bullshit (soz) is that, in the words of that noble and fearless Brexiter David Davis, we were always s*v*r**gn. The tiniest number of things were subject to EU lawmaking (VAT on home energy and Droit de Suite for example and you have no idea what one of those is).
You guys keep bleating on about shoulda woulda coulda but you sound like all those mad communists still agitating for that system. A great idea just that no one has done it right.
And with that, we're back on topic. The "good idea, done badly, not gone far enough" is the sort of thing that devotees of St Jeremy The Martyr say as well.
The will of the people is pretty clearly that this isn't going well and is probably a mistake. There's not much enthusiasm for any alternative but the status quo is seen as rubbish. The only useful questions are what the British state does with that information and when?
It's now more than ever that we are expected to embrace our national motto: mustn't grumble.
If there is one thing Britons can unite around it is having a good moan. "Mustn't grumble" is superb British irony considering that is what we do most.
There being a lot more than usual to grumble about right now
Good morning
Oh I don't know about that. Things have been going to hell in a handcart for many years.
Well yes. I now look back fondly to the 2012 London Olympics as the Cool Britannia swansong. It has been all downhill ever since.
But what about the wrong coloured flags on the kit in 2012? Surely that spoiled the whole thing.
On which topic next PM Penny Mordaunt is this morning showing she’s a serious politician for serious times:
I’m going to make myself unpopular on here but I loathe the flag of St George and its connotations. It’s as historically ridiculous to associate it with England as three lions. What the heck have lions got to do with this country? Nothing at all. Nor has the myth of a dragon-slaying Cappadocian. Worse still, it has all become wrapped up in Crusader English nationalism of a particular kind. Yuck.
And don’t get me started on our execrable ’national’ anthem. It was lovely to hear the Welsh lustily singing a great tune the other night and Flower of Scotland is magnificent: the tune possibly more than the odd dodgy line - like La Marseillaise.
Anti-English rant over. Please excuse me.
p.s. I don’t agree with nations, nationhood, or national flags. We’re a human race comprising a multiplicity of different ethnicities, cultures, languages, and histories but essential one race. And we need to learn to get along.
Perhaps we will if one of Sean’s alien spaceships lands here. That’s if they don’t eat us.
The three lions were Richard Coeur de Lion’s personal sigil. They’ve been a recognised symbol of England for some 850 years
He spent most of his reign in France. Would've voted remain.
What is now considered France. Was his kingdom then, as well as England. But you’re right; wouldn’t have thought of England (at least) as other than closely linked to Europe. Western Europe, anyway!
Remainers: "Leavers are all backward-looking people obsessed with an idealised version of the 1950s that never existed."
Also Remainers: "Richard the Lionheart, 12th century monarch of the Angevin Empire, would have voted Remain."
I didn’t write that. Not in so many words, because, of course, as monarch he wouldn’t have had a vote! Not that a lot of people did then, either!
I see that last night Ukraine hit a Russian oil refinery again.
Re-hit. One they have attacked before.
Russians are saying the new Ukrainian drones are much more difficult to impact with electronic warfare measures. As much as 16% of Russian refining capacity has already been hit. It is disproportionately located in western Russia, in range of drones able to travel over 1,000 km - seemingly without facing any meaningful air defences.
Shame the Severnaya Goldeneye satellite got blown up.
If they can do 1000km they are not far from being able sensibly to reach the fleet in St Petersburg.
Most of all, I regret that people think Brexit is a cure all for problems that are essentially domestic: our insufficient household savings rate that causes our trade deficit, our inability to free up building regulation, our tax and benefits system that discourage lower skilled workers from finding employment, and most of all a vocational education system that is a pale shadow of those in Germany, Switzerland or Denmark.
My objections and opposition to Brexit were never primarily economic, but the economic effect of instituting trade barriers without largest trading partner was never going to improve trade.
I don't begin to understand any of the economic chutney nor do, I suspect, most of the people who argued for Brexit.
But you only have to look at the types who lined up to vote for it to assess the worth of the project.
As accurate and concise post as I've read on here.
It would be more accurate if he had actually spelt out his view these Untermenchen should be deprived of the right to vote...
You Christopher "Chris" Chope Mark Francois Bernie Ecclestone Joan Collins Roger Daltery Casino BartyBobs
And these people in Warrington...
The biggest factor was age.
.....and diet
Yes - let's sneer at people instead of perhaps being curious about them, their lives, why they are like this, what they want from life and so on. Sure - their dress sense is IMO appalling but one could say the same about a lot of very rich people, many of them in the arts, who are fawned over by the very same people who view these people in Warrington with distaste.
But so what: they have a vote and they have a stake - our ought to - in our society. And they may well have talents and capabilities too and they should not be ignored.
I see that last night Ukraine hit a Russian oil refinery again.
Re-hit. One they have attacked before.
Russians are saying the new Ukrainian drones are much more difficult to impact with electronic warfare measures. As much as 16% of Russian refining capacity has already been hit. It is disproportionately located in western Russia, in range of drones able to travel over 1,000 km - seemingly without facing any meaningful air defences.
Shame the Severnaya Goldeneye satellite got blown up.
I see that last night Ukraine hit a Russian oil refinery again.
Re-hit. One they have attacked before.
Russians are saying the new Ukrainian drones are much more difficult to impact with electronic warfare measures. As much as 16% of Russian refining capacity has already been hit. It is disproportionately located in western Russia, in range of drones able to travel over 1,000 km - seemingly without facing any meaningful air defences.
Shame the Severnaya Goldeneye satellite got blown up.
If they can do 1000km they are not far from being able sensibly to reach the fleet in St Petersburg.
Refineries have been hit near St Petersburg.
Refineries and airbases are probably higher value targets than the Baltic Fleet. Last I heard the Black Sea Fleet was still in hiding and refusing to leave port.
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Wifey thinks that this is a pretext for an escalation of the war, or at least preparing Russians for another non-voluntary mobilisation of young men.
The really brave prediction would be another Tory win, but not even I am that crackers.
And don’t get me started on our execrable ’national’ anthem. It was lovely to hear the Welsh lustily singing a great tune the other night and Flower of Scotland is magnificent: the tune possibly more than the odd dodgy line - like La Marseillaise.
Anti-English rant over. Please excuse me.
p.s. I don’t agree with nations, nationhood, or national flags. We’re a human race comprising a multiplicity of different ethnicities, cultures, languages, and histories but essential one race. And we need to learn to get along.
Perhaps we will if one of Sean’s alien spaceships lands here. That’s if they don’t eat us.
The country is a bit knackered, but due entirely to the government, not Brexit.
Or public opinion in the meantime.
It’s Russia (and Hamas) who targets civilians.
West Virginia is obviously lost. But the other ones where the PVI favours GOP are:
Arizona - Biden won it in 2020 and Mark Kelly won the Senate race (with reasonable ease) in the mid-terms in 2022. Mad likely GOP candidate in Kari Lake who lost Governor election. Polls show Democrats with the edge.
Michigan - Biden won it in 2020 and Gary Peters in the Senate in the same year - both narrowly but a win's a win. Polling looks quite good for the Democrats.
Nevada - Biden won it in 2020 and Catherine Cortez Masto in the Senate rate in the mid-terms in 2022. Both narrowly, but Jacky Rosen is generally considered a stronger incumbent.
Wisconsin - Biden won it in 2020. Ron Johnson hung on narrowly for GOP in 2022, but Tammy Baldwin is a strong incumbent and polls look broadly fine for her.
Pennsylvania - Biden won it in 2020 and it was a fairly comfortable gain for John Fetterman in 2022. Bob Casey is a strong incumbent and polls look quite good for him.
Ohio - Well, that's the thread. It's trended GOP for several cycles, Trump won quite comfortably in 2020, and on paper it should be a great chance. But they've possibly chosen a stinker of a candidate against a strong incumbent in Sherrod Brown, who has led in all the polls.
Montana - Probably the best GOP bet as Trump won easily in 2020. Yet Romney won pretty much as comfortably in 2012, and Jon Tester got re-elected in a close but not actually that close contest. He's just a really strong candidate, who positions himself well and narrowly leads most of the polls.
... the odd one is actually Maryland, which has a strong Democratic lean, but Larry Hogan's involvement makes it very interesting indeed. It would be ironic if Larry Hogan was the one to flip the Senate for the GOP given his loathing of Trump.
Even the sporting excellence too, as it was the peak of lottery and government funding for sport. Laura Trott retiring is kind of one of the last of that generation of athletes whose talent delivered golds on an incredible scale because of funding and a setup that was streets ahead of other nations. If Rishi Sunak hopes for a gold rush in Paris this year he is likely to be disappointed.
Very much the epilogue to the New Labour years and something that had already gone rather than the start of something new.
On a very simple level, everyone who goes abroad now can see what a bloody pain in the ass it is. That’s c. 100 million trips per year and rising. Roughly 1/3rd of us will go abroad this summer alone.
And if you talk to anyone at all who has business dealings with Europe they are tearing their hair out.
Likewise, bringing goods in from Europe has become an absolute pain in the proverbial.
Then there is services and entertainment, brought to its knees by covid and brexit. We are chronically short of overseas workers and shunting Nigerian nurses into the NHS is not exactly what people had in mind when they voted for the bloody thing.
I could go on and on. Brexit is to blame for a large part of this country's cock ups.
I suggest any replacement will soon be ripping itself apart trying to appease its varying factions. But it won't be over Brexit.
If I had been planning a terror attack, I may have planned it for a week earlier, during the voting.
Also, allegedly, Russia's leadership have started calling it a 'war' instead on an SMO.
Ukraine is going to face some even harder times very soon. Shame on those who excuse Russia's actions, or repeat their excuses. And shame on those who support the American Republicans, who are doing their best to give Putin victory.
Seems the attackers were Tajiks. So pure jihadist mentalists rather than something linked to Russian activity in Syria or the Sahel.
They’ll now try to spin some Ukraine connection but I’m not sure even Russians will buy that one.
The man's madder than Donald Trump.
The constraints and interactions with public opinion are different in a dictatorship, but they're still there.
Wasn't that the garment factory in Coronation Street? Seems an odd thing to celebrate...
Firstly, there's been enough media coverage (and direct experiences on things like holidays) of inconveniences that there will be a background awareness.
But secondly, and more significantly, Brexit happened and the world turned to shit. The actual causality of that is complex but it's the general public's awareness, as filtered through political campaigning, that matters - which isn't always entirely aligned with the truth (though is so more often than cynics sometimes think). The polling on whether Brexit was a success and the relative figures for Rejoin / Remain out tell their own stories.
You’re spot on though: it was a "huge nostalgiafest for a recent past that was already receding into the rearview mirror."
They can’t get their story straight, and only started reporting it a couple of hours ago. There was nothing on Russian TV at breakfast this morning, presumably so they could get the story straight.
It doesn't help that so many of the advocates of Brexit have left the stage in shame. An idea isn't responsible for its holders, but it doesn't help.
This IMHO, is why many of the red wall voters have gone back to Labour.
Russians are saying the new Ukrainian drones are much more difficult to impact with electronic warfare measures. As much as 16% of Russian refining capacity has already been hit. It is disproportionately located in western Russia, in range of drones able to travel over 1,000 km - seemingly without facing any meaningful air defences.
Neither Leavers nor Remainers have any incentive to limit the damage. Leavers because they didn't vote to make things worse; Remainers because Brexit wasn't their choice and their choice has been confirmed from their point of view. I dint see this being resolved as long as thes tribes continue to be a thing.
For myself Brexit turned out broadly as I expected.
To take some examples local to me, in Yorkshire the Lib Dems target is Harrogate & Knaresborough, which they'll almost certainly take. Hallam remains possible but with a strong Labour showing is more likely to return red. There are several big rural seats where the LDs have a decent local govt base - Skipton & Ripon, for example - which would definitely be vulnerable in a by-election but which are simply too big to nurse to victory now and despite their councillors, where they're too distant to credibly claim two-horse raciness, particularly given Labour's presence in larger towns like Skipton itself where campaigning is easiest. The net result being a generic national swing with the LDs actually down on 2019 and Labour miles up.
If Labour does very well in Scotland (SNP sub-20 is possible on a very good night north of the border for SLab), then it's just about possible to see Con+LD+SNP+NI+Others sub-100 in an absolute night of carnage for the Tories if they end up sub-20%.
Not saying it's likely but it's in the outer fringes of plausible.
But the images were first posted in early March, reportedly showing five militants killed during a shoot-out in Ingushetia."
https://twitter.com/Shayan86/status/1771324954128122276
ISIS have attacked Russia before, in 2019.
But of course Brexit wasn’t motivated primarily, or even largely, by economics.
Many people are sending condolences to Russia over the Moscow attack, who remain silent whenever Russia's fascists kill civilians in Kharkiv, Odessa or Kyiv.
The interminable discussion about Brexit has not improved with time. Please God let's not repeat this debate for the next ten years.
Could we talk about how to smash rentiers and encourage productive investment instead?
Christopher "Chris" Chope
Mark Francois
Bernie Ecclestone
Joan Collins
Roger Daltery
Casino
BartyBobs
And these people in Warrington...
Closing a competition before the election has even been called is very odd imho. The horses haven’t even left the traps yet and, to my knowledge, it’s normally fine to bet up until the start of a race.
But I’m glad others have an alternative viewpoint on that.
Maybe someone should start another competition that runs until the day the election is actually called. Or even until the day before the vote. Like normal internet comps.
And with that thought I shall bid you all a lovely Saturday and weekend.
They're not that useless.
https://iwpr.net/global-voices/tajik-migrants-coerced-russian-army
You play with fire and you end up getting burned.
The Nordics are the most officious about asking probing questions and playing by the book. It is annoying - probably more so when you’re a remainer, because it feels like a little vicarious microaggression by the Brexiteers. But the queues aren’t bad. [though I see Oslo is].
The French border control is much more laid back, but that’s also where the big queues are: on the tunnel and ferries. Because the passport stamping takes a few extra seconds and multiply that by the thousands of vehicles going through and you can get some pretty cataclysmic queues.
I was caught up in the Christmas wildcat strike at the tunnel which caused us a 7 hour delay but had nothing to do with our not being in the EU. But there were nonetheless plenty of people in the queue cursing Brexit. The equal and opposite phenomenon to those who blamed everything on Brussels before 2016.
Strongman fails to be strong.
It does seem a little foolish even if as Robert says there isn't much else
It's sunny here and I need to be out on the bike, or in the garden.
On the header, I think I heard a statement in a video interview that Ohio is a Republican the Dems are not opposing openly because they find on the ground that he repulses voters who are therefore easier to turn. I think it was this video streamed last night - Jessica Denson interviewing a young man who has been touring Trump rallies talking to Gen Z:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juEbcO-Gq_8
Annoyed because this morning I have just received a PCN from Dart Charge for a crossing on 16 December. There's probably another one coming because I went over it the other way 48 hours later.
That's more than a 3 month delay, and I had an account set up several years ago - but I understand they cancelled all the ones that had not been used for 15 months last year (which mine had not), and kept all the money from any that had any money in them. No idea whether mine had.
But I checked after my crossings and they told me via their website that the car number plate owed nothing.
So it's now down to - is it worth the unequal fight through a system designed to be difficult, or do I accept the £70 mugging?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTFrCbQGyvM
I went though Schipol twice this week without any problems.
Tory one is from Ben Bradley, all about "what we have done", and Bradley's campaign to be Mayor of N2D2. How resilient are Tories in Derbyshire - like Notts all the county seats are Tory. I'm thinking Bradley could edge this.
Reform is all about saving Britain from the foreigners. I'd forgotten we had Martin Daubney from them last time, but then he's a forgettable white noise.
The Labour one is from Rachel Reeves looking out to sunlit uplands in front of their Aldi Eggbox banner, promising responsibility after Tory mismanagement.
"Zadrozny's Independents" is interesting (they want him in their brand - that's brave!); it's all about how the Tories have failed locally, so they are presumably scared of Labour, and based around "what we have done locally". I'd say he's wetting his pants because he's worried about Labour.
The manipulated bar chart reminds me that he used to be a Lib Dem.
One of the leaflets had a go at "the Labour candidate from Kettering". I haven't worked out how locally committed she is yet - seems to have a family house and volunteer at a foodbank 8 minutes walk from my house. That reminds me of the line Ed Davey used in Kingston & Surbiton in 1997 - "the Tory from Dover".
All the predictions I have seen for the seat are a fairly solid Labour win.
Ironically my wife and son sometimes have to queue for longer even though they are dual UK/EU citizens, when there is no father travelling they scrutinise children under 10 for possible child abduction, sometimes there are long queues. This is true both in the EU and the UK.
Connecting flights in Stockholm, Schipol etc are a problem with the airports themselves, they are too big and chaotic to facilitate these 45 minute connections and Brexit makes this even more complicated. On the other hand Riga is a good airport to connect in because it is so small.
(I worked it out: Ashfield Independents.)
https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=Beer+commercial+he+aint+heavy+he's+my+brother#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:48d1f72d,vid:TvJyZ9fm73M,st:0
But you’re right; wouldn’t have thought of England (at least) as other than closely linked to Europe. Western Europe, anyway!
Also Remainers: "Richard the Lionheart, 12th century monarch of the Angevin Empire, would have voted Remain."
That affects Mrs C and myself!
The Angevins engaged in a Hundred Years War with France, lost it, and got themselves chucked out of Europe.
Callous was engraved on their heart.
Not that a lot of people did then, either!
But so what: they have a vote and they have a stake - our ought to - in our society. And they may well have talents and capabilities too and they should not be ignored.
Refineries and airbases are probably higher value targets than the Baltic Fleet. Last I heard the Black Sea Fleet was still in hiding and refusing to leave port.
Even Sam Altman thinks AI is over-hyped.
Awaiting @Leon to call him an idiot.