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The YouGov poll has had an impact on punters – politicalbetting.com

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Comments

  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 122,226

    Cicero said:

    HYUFD said:

    DavidL said:

    Badenoch can't do it.

    Can't do what? Make the odd witty comment at PMQs that the small percentage who really pay attention to politics might appreciate? Devise policies that will never be implemented? Watch helplessly as an overwhelming majority means that the government can do whatever it likes however irrational or self harming and all your work and smart comments are to no avail?

    Worrying about who the next Tory leader is shows that you haven't come to terms with what happened last month. They are irrelevant and will be for 10 years now. That is the price of complete failure.
    Nonsense. Snap out of it man, and grow up.

    You're facing a socialist government, and it's time to rally around and challenge it.
    Good grief Casino, how old are you?

    This is nothing like a socialist government. The only time this country has got close to a socialist government was 1945-1950 and even that was fairly mild.

    Starmer's is likely to be very much like Blair2, possibly a bit better, possibly not. But in any event, it will be a shedload better than the mismanagement we have had for the past 14 years.
    At the moment Starmer's government is far more like Brown2 than Blair2
    Starmer is a disaster.
    That comment may become true, but to state it as fact five weeks after the election is just ridiculous.
    There's plenty of evidence already that he's an absolute disaster.
    Wait until they do over the pensions in the Autumn Budget...

    And that will bite hard on not just current pensioners.
    Future pensioners are being taken to the cleaners but they just can't get enough of it.
    48% of 50-64s now disapprove of this government, just 28% approve.

    25-49s disapprove of Starmer's government by 40% to 28% already too. Even 18-24s disapprove of our new government by 41% to 21%

    https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/trackers/government-approval?crossBreak=1824
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 59,980
    HYUFD said:

    Cicero said:

    HYUFD said:

    DavidL said:

    Badenoch can't do it.

    Can't do what? Make the odd witty comment at PMQs that the small percentage who really pay attention to politics might appreciate? Devise policies that will never be implemented? Watch helplessly as an overwhelming majority means that the government can do whatever it likes however irrational or self harming and all your work and smart comments are to no avail?

    Worrying about who the next Tory leader is shows that you haven't come to terms with what happened last month. They are irrelevant and will be for 10 years now. That is the price of complete failure.
    Nonsense. Snap out of it man, and grow up.

    You're facing a socialist government, and it's time to rally around and challenge it.
    Good grief Casino, how old are you?

    This is nothing like a socialist government. The only time this country has got close to a socialist government was 1945-1950 and even that was fairly mild.

    Starmer's is likely to be very much like Blair2, possibly a bit better, possibly not. But in any event, it will be a shedload better than the mismanagement we have had for the past 14 years.
    At the moment Starmer's government is far more like Brown2 than Blair2
    Starmer is a disaster.
    That comment may become true, but to state it as fact five weeks after the election is just ridiculous.
    There's plenty of evidence already that he's an absolute disaster.
    Wait until they do over the pensions in the Autumn Budget...

    And that will bite hard on not just current pensioners.
    Future pensioners are being taken to the cleaners but they just can't get enough of it.
    48% of 50-64s now disapprove of this government, just 28% approve.

    25-49s disapprove of Starmer's government by 40% to 28% already too. Even 18-24s disapprove of our new government by 41% to 21%

    https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/trackers/government-approval?crossBreak=1824
    Going well, isnt it?

    This Government is built on sand, but still thinks it has a mandate to soil your bed.
  • another_richardanother_richard Posts: 26,469
    HYUFD said:

    DavidL said:

    HYUFD said:

    DavidL said:

    HYUFD said:

    DavidL said:

    Badenoch can't do it.

    Can't do what? Make the odd witty comment at PMQs that the small percentage who really pay attention to politics might appreciate? Devise policies that will never be implemented? Watch helplessly as an overwhelming majority means that the government can do whatever it likes however irrational or self harming and all your work and smart comments are to no avail?

    Worrying about who the next Tory leader is shows that you haven't come to terms with what happened last month. They are irrelevant and will be for 10 years now. That is the price of complete failure.
    Given the Labour government is already on a -26% rating with Yougov this is clearly not 1997 when Blair's government had a long honeymoon, so any new Tory leader has a better environment than Hague faced, even if slightly less seats to start on
    True, but the current Tories are shite. They have more to fear from the nutters in Reform than Labour do from them.
    On current polling Reform are taking more Labour 2024 voters than Tory 2024 voters
    Yes but quite a lot of the Labour 2024 voters were Tory 2019 voters. The loss of further seats to the right remains a real and present danger to a seriously damaged Tory party.
    27 of the top 50 Reform target seats are held by Labour, not the Tories.

    https://www.electionpolling.co.uk/battleground/targets/reform-uk#google_vignette

    Reform are more of a threat to Labour now in the redwall and marginal working class Leave seats.

    The Tories face more of a threat from the LDs given 39 of the top 50 LD target seats are Tory held, most of them in middle class southern seats

    https://www.electionpolling.co.uk/battleground/targets/liberal-democrat

    Most of those 27 are seats the Conservatives need to win if they are to return to government.
  • algarkirkalgarkirk Posts: 12,360

    Another thing: why are we all supposed to treat Emily Maitlis as some sort of hero just because she interviewed Prince Andrew several years ago and he made an utter fool of himself?

    With all the news articles, Netflix and Amazon dramas you'd think she'd unearthed Watergate, written Wild Swans or won the Victoria Cross with a remarkable display of valour, but she just interviewed Prince Andrew.

    Clearly, there's some sort of market for this, but it's one that bores most people silly. Didn't even see the original interview.

    The original interview was pure gold and a bit of luck, and TBF, skill for Maitlis. If people are daft enough to allow her, or anyone else, to monetise this in a 40 part film, opera or a series of books, fair play to her. You take your chances. Thankfully we don't live in North Korea so don't have to watch it. But anyone who has not seen the original should give it a try. It's a classic of unintended comedy gold. Like Terry Major-Ball's book on John Major, (titled Major, Major) which apparently was supposed to be serious and make you weep with laughter. One day the collected speeches of Donald Trump will be up there with Monty Python, and no-one will really believe it was once real.
  • Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 51,577

    Pagan2 said:

    Pagan2 said:

    Pagan2 said:

    DavidL said:

    Badenoch can't do it.

    Can't do what? Make the odd witty comment at PMQs that the small percentage who really pay attention to politics might appreciate? Devise policies that will never be implemented? Watch helplessly as an overwhelming majority means that the government can do whatever it likes however irrational or self harming and all your work and smart comments are to no avail?

    Worrying about who the next Tory leader is shows that you haven't come to terms with what happened last month. They are irrelevant and will be for 10 years now. That is the price of complete failure.
    Nonsense. Snap out of it man, and grow up.

    You're facing a socialist government, and it's time to rally around and challenge it.
    He is correct the tories are now irrelevant, I think labour are also heading that way
    I don't think they are irrelevant.

    This is a self-fulfilling prophecy: if you believe in personal responsibility, freedom, family, community, nation and a bold future - you have to fight for it. Or you lose it by default.
    Wek none of that describes the conservatives of the last decade....;they stand for none of that they stand for what they can grift
    Nonsense.
    You call it nonsense the electorate looked at what the idiots did and told you to fuck right off....of course you will argue that the electorate is too stupid to vote for you just like the left....your party was a party of grift and supported absolutely none of those values
    Err, no. We lost the election.

    What I don't accept is that we're not allowed to "fight" the new Government for 10 years until we're suitably chastened and have done a decent spell in the clink.

    "Visit Rwanda!"
    You mean the policy the new government has abolished which has led to a further spike in cross-channel crossings, and Starmer described as a "friend" of prospective migrants?

    Right. Got it.
    Suitably chastised and have done a decent spell in the clink or in Rwanda?
  • maxhmaxh Posts: 1,194
    algarkirk said:

    Another thing: why are we all supposed to treat Emily Maitlis as some sort of hero just because she interviewed Prince Andrew several years ago and he made an utter fool of himself?

    With all the news articles, Netflix and Amazon dramas you'd think she'd unearthed Watergate, written Wild Swans or won the Victoria Cross with a remarkable display of valour, but she just interviewed Prince Andrew.

    Clearly, there's some sort of market for this, but it's one that bores most people silly. Didn't even see the original interview.

    The original interview was pure gold and a bit of luck, and TBF, skill for Maitlis. If people are daft enough to allow her, or anyone else, to monetise this in a 40 part film, opera or a series of books, fair play to her. You take your chances. Thankfully we don't live in North Korea so don't have to watch it. But anyone who has not seen the original should give it a try. It's a classic of unintended comedy gold. Like Terry Major-Ball's book on John Major, (titled Major, Major) which apparently was supposed to be serious and make you weep with laughter. One day the collected speeches of Donald Trump will be up there with Monty Python, and no-one will really believe it was once real.
    That really is an image to make you smile. A hundred years from now 14 year old history students will be critically analysing Trump's oeuvre.
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 32,134
    Google Translation from Die Welt.

    "Arrest in refugee accommodation – IS claims attack in Solingen
    The police stormed a refugee home in downtown Solingen on Saturday evening and arrested a suspect. It is currently being examined whether he is connected to the knife attack on Friday. Shortly before, Islamic Tat had claimed responsibility for the attack."

    https://www.welt.de
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 122,226
    edited August 24

    HYUFD said:

    DavidL said:

    HYUFD said:

    DavidL said:

    HYUFD said:

    DavidL said:

    Badenoch can't do it.

    Can't do what? Make the odd witty comment at PMQs that the small percentage who really pay attention to politics might appreciate? Devise policies that will never be implemented? Watch helplessly as an overwhelming majority means that the government can do whatever it likes however irrational or self harming and all your work and smart comments are to no avail?

    Worrying about who the next Tory leader is shows that you haven't come to terms with what happened last month. They are irrelevant and will be for 10 years now. That is the price of complete failure.
    Given the Labour government is already on a -26% rating with Yougov this is clearly not 1997 when Blair's government had a long honeymoon, so any new Tory leader has a better environment than Hague faced, even if slightly less seats to start on
    True, but the current Tories are shite. They have more to fear from the nutters in Reform than Labour do from them.
    On current polling Reform are taking more Labour 2024 voters than Tory 2024 voters
    Yes but quite a lot of the Labour 2024 voters were Tory 2019 voters. The loss of further seats to the right remains a real and present danger to a seriously damaged Tory party.
    27 of the top 50 Reform target seats are held by Labour, not the Tories.

    https://www.electionpolling.co.uk/battleground/targets/reform-uk#google_vignette

    Reform are more of a threat to Labour now in the redwall and marginal working class Leave seats.

    The Tories face more of a threat from the LDs given 39 of the top 50 LD target seats are Tory held, most of them in middle class southern seats

    https://www.electionpolling.co.uk/battleground/targets/liberal-democrat

    Most of those 27 are seats the Conservatives need to win if they are to return to government.
    Indeed, for a Conservative majority certainly, although if the Tories and Reform combined had a majority of seats they would likely do a deal to form a government
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 59,980
    algarkirk said:

    Another thing: why are we all supposed to treat Emily Maitlis as some sort of hero just because she interviewed Prince Andrew several years ago and he made an utter fool of himself?

    With all the news articles, Netflix and Amazon dramas you'd think she'd unearthed Watergate, written Wild Swans or won the Victoria Cross with a remarkable display of valour, but she just interviewed Prince Andrew.

    Clearly, there's some sort of market for this, but it's one that bores most people silly. Didn't even see the original interview.

    The original interview was pure gold and a bit of luck, and TBF, skill for Maitlis. If people are daft enough to allow her, or anyone else, to monetise this in a 40 part film, opera or a series of books, fair play to her. You take your chances. Thankfully we don't live in North Korea so don't have to watch it. But anyone who has not seen the original should give it a try. It's a classic of unintended comedy gold. Like Terry Major-Ball's book on John Major, (titled Major, Major) which apparently was supposed to be serious and make you weep with laughter. One day the collected speeches of Donald Trump will be up there with Monty Python, and no-one will really believe it was once real.
    I have no interest in it.

    Sorry.
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 35,890

    one of the many things OGH taught me was that a good graph/image can have more of an impact than writing a few hundred words.

    True

    It's a shame we can't do that anymore...
  • StillWatersStillWaters Posts: 8,095

    TSE's going to look a right 'nana with those graphs when Mel Stride hoses up.

    Nah, I tipped him at 75, I shall display all my legendary modesty if that's a winner.

    I need to have words with Betdata.io

    It is their charts, I pay £48 a month so I can get these graphs for PB and they still cannot show Mel Stride on the graphs.
    £48?! That's nearly an armful.
    It’s worth it.

    It benefits PB and one of the many things OGH taught me was that a good graph/image can have more of an impact than writing a few hundred words.
    Any one of your bankers could have told you that. It’s only lawyers who like walls of text

    People love reading my reports, they love
    the subtle puns/innuendoes/pop culture
    references.
    Sounds like a pretty hostile work environment to me…

  • algarkirkalgarkirk Posts: 12,360
    HYUFD said:

    Cicero said:

    HYUFD said:

    DavidL said:

    Badenoch can't do it.

    Can't do what? Make the odd witty comment at PMQs that the small percentage who really pay attention to politics might appreciate? Devise policies that will never be implemented? Watch helplessly as an overwhelming majority means that the government can do whatever it likes however irrational or self harming and all your work and smart comments are to no avail?

    Worrying about who the next Tory leader is shows that you haven't come to terms with what happened last month. They are irrelevant and will be for 10 years now. That is the price of complete failure.
    Nonsense. Snap out of it man, and grow up.

    You're facing a socialist government, and it's time to rally around and challenge it.
    Good grief Casino, how old are you?

    This is nothing like a socialist government. The only time this country has got close to a socialist government was 1945-1950 and even that was fairly mild.

    Starmer's is likely to be very much like Blair2, possibly a bit better, possibly not. But in any event, it will be a shedload better than the mismanagement we have had for the past 14 years.
    At the moment Starmer's government is far more like Brown2 than Blair2
    Starmer is a disaster.
    That comment may become true, but to state it as fact five weeks after the election is just ridiculous.
    There's plenty of evidence already that he's an absolute disaster.
    Wait until they do over the pensions in the Autumn Budget...

    And that will bite hard on not just current pensioners.
    Future pensioners are being taken to the cleaners but they just can't get enough of it.
    48% of 50-64s now disapprove of this government, just 28% approve.

    25-49s disapprove of Starmer's government by 40% to 28% already too. Even 18-24s disapprove of our new government by 41% to 21%

    https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/trackers/government-approval?crossBreak=1824
    WRT hard facts I am not sure that many people can give a plausible and costed account of what they should have done differently, with the possible exception of the pensioner heating thing. But the major disappointment to my mind has been in the new government's failure to command and dominate the narrative, and to grasp the account of the direction of travel, and to change the climate by being prepared to answer hard questions and not use the arts of evasion so readily. They have drifted too fast into bad habits. I had thought they would be better prepared for the fray.
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 28,190
    ...

    HYUFD said:

    Cicero said:

    HYUFD said:

    DavidL said:

    Badenoch can't do it.

    Can't do what? Make the odd witty comment at PMQs that the small percentage who really pay attention to politics might appreciate? Devise policies that will never be implemented? Watch helplessly as an overwhelming majority means that the government can do whatever it likes however irrational or self harming and all your work and smart comments are to no avail?

    Worrying about who the next Tory leader is shows that you haven't come to terms with what happened last month. They are irrelevant and will be for 10 years now. That is the price of complete failure.
    Nonsense. Snap out of it man, and grow up.

    You're facing a socialist government, and it's time to rally around and challenge it.
    Good grief Casino, how old are you?

    This is nothing like a socialist government. The only time this country has got close to a socialist government was 1945-1950 and even that was fairly mild.

    Starmer's is likely to be very much like Blair2, possibly a bit better, possibly not. But in any event, it will be a shedload better than the mismanagement we have had for the past 14 years.
    At the moment Starmer's government is far more like Brown2 than Blair2
    Starmer is a disaster.
    That comment may become true, but to state it as fact five weeks after the election is just ridiculous.
    There's plenty of evidence already that he's an absolute disaster.
    Wait until they do over the pensions in the Autumn Budget...

    And that will bite hard on not just current pensioners.
    Future pensioners are being taken to the cleaners but they just can't get enough of it.
    48% of 50-64s now disapprove of this government, just 28% approve.

    25-49s disapprove of Starmer's government by 40% to 28% already too. Even 18-24s disapprove of our new government by 41% to 21%

    https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/trackers/government-approval?crossBreak=1824
    Going well, isnt it?

    This Government is built on sand, but still thinks it has a mandate to soil your bed.
    Before you get too excited have you checked out the previous approval and disapproval figures just prior to the GE. Just saying.

    Another case of HY taking polling out of context.

    If in five years this government has proven to be the disaster you predict they will be thrown out of office.

    It could well be a party other than the Conservatives who are the net beneficiaries. So you could well be bellyaching about PM Farage immediately after the next election.
  • MJWMJW Posts: 1,723

    MJW said:

    DavidL said:

    Badenoch can't do it.

    Can't do what? Make the odd witty comment at PMQs that the small percentage who really pay attention to politics might appreciate? Devise policies that will never be implemented? Watch helplessly as an overwhelming majority means that the government can do whatever it likes however irrational or self harming and all your work and smart comments are to no avail?

    Worrying about who the next Tory leader is shows that you haven't come to terms with what happened last month. They are irrelevant and will be for 10 years now. That is the price of complete failure.
    Nonsense. Snap out of it man, and grow up.

    You're facing a socialist government, and it's time to rally around and challenge it.
    Good grief Casino, how old are you?

    This is nothing like a socialist government. The only time this country has got close to a socialist government was 1945-1950 and even that was fairly mild.

    Starmer's is likely to be very much like Blair2, possibly a bit better, possibly not. But in any event, it will be a shedload better than the mismanagement we have had for the past 14 years.
    Err, it's a socialist government. Its priorities in the first six weeks alone are clear.

    It's had one of the worst starts of any new government in history, and, no, it has me pining for Sunak again. The mismanagement of this one, already, is utterly appalling.

    Really. You don't know what you've lost till it's gone.
    I'm not sure what planet you have to be living on to think Starmer's government is worse than the disgusting, crooked, nation-ruining disaster that was Conservative misrule.
    Earth.

    And, er, no.

    The previous Conservative Government was far better than this shitshow.
    Nonsense of the highest order. We all have our biases and preferences but it's just delusional to think this 6 weeks into clearing up the dreadful mess left by the Tories' mismanagement.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 70,508

    Dopermean said:

    Pagan2 said:

    Pagan2 said:

    DavidL said:

    Badenoch can't do it.

    Can't do what? Make the odd witty comment at PMQs that the small percentage who really pay attention to politics might appreciate? Devise policies that will never be implemented? Watch helplessly as an overwhelming majority means that the government can do whatever it likes however irrational or self harming and all your work and smart comments are to no avail?

    Worrying about who the next Tory leader is shows that you haven't come to terms with what happened last month. They are irrelevant and will be for 10 years now. That is the price of complete failure.
    Nonsense. Snap out of it man, and grow up.

    You're facing a socialist government, and it's time to rally around and challenge it.
    He is correct the tories are now irrelevant, I think labour are also heading that way
    I don't think they are irrelevant.

    This is a self-fulfilling prophecy: if you believe in personal responsibility, freedom, family, community, nation and a bold future - you have to fight for it. Or you lose it by default.
    Wek none of that describes the conservatives of the last decade....;they stand for none of that they stand for what they can grift
    Nonsense.
    Personal Responsibility - ministers repeatedly failing to resign / abide by ministerial code
    Freedom - numerous laws restricting right to protest
    Family - Johnson, Hancock, 2 child cap
    Community - austerity resulting in closure of libraries and other community facilities
    Nation - ? What does that mean? UK global influence considerably reduced by Brexit
    Bold future - lol! Low levels of investment, withdrawal from multi-national science projects

    Grift - PPE fraud, Johnson personal loans, party donations from dodgy oligarchs etc
    Election is over, dipshit.

    New government now. Focus on them.
    Is this the new charm offensive ?
  • TresTres Posts: 2,685

    algarkirk said:

    Another thing: why are we all supposed to treat Emily Maitlis as some sort of hero just because she interviewed Prince Andrew several years ago and he made an utter fool of himself?

    With all the news articles, Netflix and Amazon dramas you'd think she'd unearthed Watergate, written Wild Swans or won the Victoria Cross with a remarkable display of valour, but she just interviewed Prince Andrew.

    Clearly, there's some sort of market for this, but it's one that bores most people silly. Didn't even see the original interview.

    The original interview was pure gold and a bit of luck, and TBF, skill for Maitlis. If people are daft enough to allow her, or anyone else, to monetise this in a 40 part film, opera or a series of books, fair play to her. You take your chances. Thankfully we don't live in North Korea so don't have to watch it. But anyone who has not seen the original should give it a try. It's a classic of unintended comedy gold. Like Terry Major-Ball's book on John Major, (titled Major, Major) which apparently was supposed to be serious and make you weep with laughter. One day the collected speeches of Donald Trump will be up there with Monty Python, and no-one will really believe it was once real.
    I have no interest in it.

    Sorry.
    You clearly have an interest in it otherwise you wouldn't have brought it up absolutely unprovoked.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 70,508

    algarkirk said:

    Another thing: why are we all supposed to treat Emily Maitlis as some sort of hero just because she interviewed Prince Andrew several years ago and he made an utter fool of himself?

    With all the news articles, Netflix and Amazon dramas you'd think she'd unearthed Watergate, written Wild Swans or won the Victoria Cross with a remarkable display of valour, but she just interviewed Prince Andrew.

    Clearly, there's some sort of market for this, but it's one that bores most people silly. Didn't even see the original interview.

    The original interview was pure gold and a bit of luck, and TBF, skill for Maitlis. If people are daft enough to allow her, or anyone else, to monetise this in a 40 part film, opera or a series of books, fair play to her. You take your chances. Thankfully we don't live in North Korea so don't have to watch it. But anyone who has not seen the original should give it a try. It's a classic of unintended comedy gold. Like Terry Major-Ball's book on John Major, (titled Major, Major) which apparently was supposed to be serious and make you weep with laughter. One day the collected speeches of Donald Trump will be up there with Monty Python, and no-one will really believe it was once real.
    I have no interest in it.

    Sorry.
    Me either.
    Less still in moaning about it.
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 28,190

    Dopermean said:

    Pagan2 said:

    Pagan2 said:

    DavidL said:

    Badenoch can't do it.

    Can't do what? Make the odd witty comment at PMQs that the small percentage who really pay attention to politics might appreciate? Devise policies that will never be implemented? Watch helplessly as an overwhelming majority means that the government can do whatever it likes however irrational or self harming and all your work and smart comments are to no avail?

    Worrying about who the next Tory leader is shows that you haven't come to terms with what happened last month. They are irrelevant and will be for 10 years now. That is the price of complete failure.
    Nonsense. Snap out of it man, and grow up.

    You're facing a socialist government, and it's time to rally around and challenge it.
    He is correct the tories are now irrelevant, I think labour are also heading that way
    I don't think they are irrelevant.

    This is a self-fulfilling prophecy: if you believe in personal responsibility, freedom, family, community, nation and a bold future - you have to fight for it. Or you lose it by default.
    Wek none of that describes the conservatives of the last decade....;they stand for none of that they stand for what they can grift
    Nonsense.
    Personal Responsibility - ministers repeatedly failing to resign / abide by ministerial code
    Freedom - numerous laws restricting right to protest
    Family - Johnson, Hancock, 2 child cap
    Community - austerity resulting in closure of libraries and other community facilities
    Nation - ? What does that mean? UK global influence considerably reduced by Brexit
    Bold future - lol! Low levels of investment, withdrawal from multi-national science projects

    Grift - PPE fraud, Johnson personal loans, party donations from dodgy oligarchs etc
    Election is over, dipshit.

    New government now. Focus on them.
    The Conservative Governments dined out on Liam Byre's note for 14 years, so I suspect this one will have a good few years successfully trawling up the Truss/Kwarteng budget.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 70,508
    This is weird.

    The man who authorised the use of his territory to invade Ukraine towards Kyiv in 2022 "congratulates" Ukraine on its Independence Day:

    "The Belarusian land has always treated the warm-hearted and hardworking people of Ukraine with special respect and warmth. For a long time, our nations found strength in unity, shared joy and sorrow, shelter and bread, overcame adversity together and were proud of their successes. We are united not only by a common destiny and family ties, but also by the desire to be friends and get along with our neighbors"

    https://x.com/wartranslated/status/1827258640195035622

    As is this.

    The Islamic Republic of #Iran🇮🇷 congratulates the government and people of #Ukraine🇺🇦 on their Independence Day.
    https://x.com/IRIMFA_EN/status/1827259327490805776

  • another_richardanother_richard Posts: 26,469
    HYUFD said:

    HYUFD said:

    DavidL said:

    HYUFD said:

    DavidL said:

    HYUFD said:

    DavidL said:

    Badenoch can't do it.

    Can't do what? Make the odd witty comment at PMQs that the small percentage who really pay attention to politics might appreciate? Devise policies that will never be implemented? Watch helplessly as an overwhelming majority means that the government can do whatever it likes however irrational or self harming and all your work and smart comments are to no avail?

    Worrying about who the next Tory leader is shows that you haven't come to terms with what happened last month. They are irrelevant and will be for 10 years now. That is the price of complete failure.
    Given the Labour government is already on a -26% rating with Yougov this is clearly not 1997 when Blair's government had a long honeymoon, so any new Tory leader has a better environment than Hague faced, even if slightly less seats to start on
    True, but the current Tories are shite. They have more to fear from the nutters in Reform than Labour do from them.
    On current polling Reform are taking more Labour 2024 voters than Tory 2024 voters
    Yes but quite a lot of the Labour 2024 voters were Tory 2019 voters. The loss of further seats to the right remains a real and present danger to a seriously damaged Tory party.
    27 of the top 50 Reform target seats are held by Labour, not the Tories.

    https://www.electionpolling.co.uk/battleground/targets/reform-uk#google_vignette

    Reform are more of a threat to Labour now in the redwall and marginal working class Leave seats.

    The Tories face more of a threat from the LDs given 39 of the top 50 LD target seats are Tory held, most of them in middle class southern seats

    https://www.electionpolling.co.uk/battleground/targets/liberal-democrat

    Most of those 27 are seats the Conservatives need to win if they are to return to government.
    Indeed, for a Conservative majority certainly, although if the Tories and Reform combined had a majority of seats they would likely do a deal to form a government
    No deal with Farage and his rabble of malcontents is sustainable.
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 28,190
    HYUFD said:

    HYUFD said:

    DavidL said:

    HYUFD said:

    DavidL said:

    HYUFD said:

    DavidL said:

    Badenoch can't do it.

    Can't do what? Make the odd witty comment at PMQs that the small percentage who really pay attention to politics might appreciate? Devise policies that will never be implemented? Watch helplessly as an overwhelming majority means that the government can do whatever it likes however irrational or self harming and all your work and smart comments are to no avail?

    Worrying about who the next Tory leader is shows that you haven't come to terms with what happened last month. They are irrelevant and will be for 10 years now. That is the price of complete failure.
    Given the Labour government is already on a -26% rating with Yougov this is clearly not 1997 when Blair's government had a long honeymoon, so any new Tory leader has a better environment than Hague faced, even if slightly less seats to start on
    True, but the current Tories are shite. They have more to fear from the nutters in Reform than Labour do from them.
    On current polling Reform are taking more Labour 2024 voters than Tory 2024 voters
    Yes but quite a lot of the Labour 2024 voters were Tory 2019 voters. The loss of further seats to the right remains a real and present danger to a seriously damaged Tory party.
    27 of the top 50 Reform target seats are held by Labour, not the Tories.

    https://www.electionpolling.co.uk/battleground/targets/reform-uk#google_vignette

    Reform are more of a threat to Labour now in the redwall and marginal working class Leave seats.

    The Tories face more of a threat from the LDs given 39 of the top 50 LD target seats are Tory held, most of them in middle class southern seats

    https://www.electionpolling.co.uk/battleground/targets/liberal-democrat

    Most of those 27 are seats the Conservatives need to win if they are to return to government.
    Indeed, for a Conservative majority certainly, although if the Tories and Reform combined had a majority of seats they would likely do a deal to form a government
    A government of all the talents?
  • CookieCookie Posts: 13,583

    DavidL said:

    Badenoch can't do it.

    Can't do what? Make the odd witty comment at PMQs that the small percentage who really pay attention to politics might appreciate? Devise policies that will never be implemented? Watch helplessly as an overwhelming majority means that the government can do whatever it likes however irrational or self harming and all your work and smart comments are to no avail?

    Worrying about who the next Tory leader is shows that you haven't come to terms with what happened last month. They are irrelevant and will be for 10 years now. That is the price of complete failure.
    Nonsense. Snap out of it man, and grow up.

    You're facing a socialist government, and it's time to rally around and challenge it.
    Good grief Casino, how old are you?

    This is nothing like a socialist government. The only time this country has got close to a socialist government was 1945-1950 and even that was fairly mild.

    Starmer's is likely to be very much like Blair2, possibly a bit better, possibly not. But in any event, it will be a shedload better than the mismanagement we have had for the past 14 years.
    Claiming that the only time Britain has got close to socialism is 1945-50 seems to set an unusually high bar for socialism.
  • Cicero said:

    HYUFD said:

    DavidL said:

    Badenoch can't do it.

    Can't do what? Make the odd witty comment at PMQs that the small percentage who really pay attention to politics might appreciate? Devise policies that will never be implemented? Watch helplessly as an overwhelming majority means that the government can do whatever it likes however irrational or self harming and all your work and smart comments are to no avail?

    Worrying about who the next Tory leader is shows that you haven't come to terms with what happened last month. They are irrelevant and will be for 10 years now. That is the price of complete failure.
    Nonsense. Snap out of it man, and grow up.

    You're facing a socialist government, and it's time to rally around and challenge it.
    Good grief Casino, how old are you?

    This is nothing like a socialist government. The only time this country has got close to a socialist government was 1945-1950 and even that was fairly mild.

    Starmer's is likely to be very much like Blair2, possibly a bit better, possibly not. But in any event, it will be a shedload better than the mismanagement we have had for the past 14 years.
    At the moment Starmer's government is far more like Brown2 than Blair2
    Starmer is a disaster.
    That comment may become true, but to state it as fact five weeks after the election is just ridiculous.
    There's plenty of evidence already that he's an absolute disaster.
    Wait until they do over the pensions in the Autumn Budget...

    And that will bite hard on not just current pensioners.
    Future pensioners are being taken to the cleaners but they just can't get enough of it.
    Good.

    We always were going to be, better to have it done now rather than wait until we're about to retire to have the ladder pulled up.
  • HYUFD said:

    Cicero said:

    HYUFD said:

    DavidL said:

    Badenoch can't do it.

    Can't do what? Make the odd witty comment at PMQs that the small percentage who really pay attention to politics might appreciate? Devise policies that will never be implemented? Watch helplessly as an overwhelming majority means that the government can do whatever it likes however irrational or self harming and all your work and smart comments are to no avail?

    Worrying about who the next Tory leader is shows that you haven't come to terms with what happened last month. They are irrelevant and will be for 10 years now. That is the price of complete failure.
    Nonsense. Snap out of it man, and grow up.

    You're facing a socialist government, and it's time to rally around and challenge it.
    Good grief Casino, how old are you?

    This is nothing like a socialist government. The only time this country has got close to a socialist government was 1945-1950 and even that was fairly mild.

    Starmer's is likely to be very much like Blair2, possibly a bit better, possibly not. But in any event, it will be a shedload better than the mismanagement we have had for the past 14 years.
    At the moment Starmer's government is far more like Brown2 than Blair2
    Starmer is a disaster.
    That comment may become true, but to state it as fact five weeks after the election is just ridiculous.
    There's plenty of evidence already that he's an absolute disaster.
    Wait until they do over the pensions in the Autumn Budget...

    And that will bite hard on not just current pensioners.
    Future pensioners are being taken to the cleaners but they just can't get enough of it.
    48% of 50-64s now disapprove of this government, just 28% approve.

    25-49s disapprove of Starmer's government by 40% to 28% already too. Even 18-24s disapprove of our new government by 41% to 21%

    https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/trackers/government-approval?crossBreak=1824
    Going well, isnt it?

    This Government is built on sand, but still thinks it has a mandate to soil your bed.
    Do you want to have a government that prioritises people who are working for a living over those living on welfare, or not?

    The Tories used to be that government. Its a shame they're not anymore.
  • mercatormercator Posts: 815

    HYUFD said:

    HYUFD said:

    DavidL said:

    HYUFD said:

    DavidL said:

    HYUFD said:

    DavidL said:

    Badenoch can't do it.

    Can't do what? Make the odd witty comment at PMQs that the small percentage who really pay attention to politics might appreciate? Devise policies that will never be implemented? Watch helplessly as an overwhelming majority means that the government can do whatever it likes however irrational or self harming and all your work and smart comments are to no avail?

    Worrying about who the next Tory leader is shows that you haven't come to terms with what happened last month. They are irrelevant and will be for 10 years now. That is the price of complete failure.
    Given the Labour government is already on a -26% rating with Yougov this is clearly not 1997 when Blair's government had a long honeymoon, so any new Tory leader has a better environment than Hague faced, even if slightly less seats to start on
    True, but the current Tories are shite. They have more to fear from the nutters in Reform than Labour do from them.
    On current polling Reform are taking more Labour 2024 voters than Tory 2024 voters
    Yes but quite a lot of the Labour 2024 voters were Tory 2019 voters. The loss of further seats to the right remains a real and present danger to a seriously damaged Tory party.
    27 of the top 50 Reform target seats are held by Labour, not the Tories.

    https://www.electionpolling.co.uk/battleground/targets/reform-uk#google_vignette

    Reform are more of a threat to Labour now in the redwall and marginal working class Leave seats.

    The Tories face more of a threat from the LDs given 39 of the top 50 LD target seats are Tory held, most of them in middle class southern seats

    https://www.electionpolling.co.uk/battleground/targets/liberal-democrat

    Most of those 27 are seats the Conservatives need to win if they are to return to government.
    Indeed, for a Conservative majority certainly, although if the Tories and Reform combined had a majority of seats they would likely do a deal to form a government
    A government of all the talents?
    When your foreign secretary thinks that Radium was discovered by Marie Antoinette and Henry viii was succeeded by Henry vii is a bad time to make it all about talent.
  • StuartinromfordStuartinromford Posts: 17,069

    Pagan2 said:

    Pagan2 said:

    Pagan2 said:

    DavidL said:

    Badenoch can't do it.

    Can't do what? Make the odd witty comment at PMQs that the small percentage who really pay attention to politics might appreciate? Devise policies that will never be implemented? Watch helplessly as an overwhelming majority means that the government can do whatever it likes however irrational or self harming and all your work and smart comments are to no avail?

    Worrying about who the next Tory leader is shows that you haven't come to terms with what happened last month. They are irrelevant and will be for 10 years now. That is the price of complete failure.
    Nonsense. Snap out of it man, and grow up.

    You're facing a socialist government, and it's time to rally around and challenge it.
    He is correct the tories are now irrelevant, I think labour are also heading that way
    I don't think they are irrelevant.

    This is a self-fulfilling prophecy: if you believe in personal responsibility, freedom, family, community, nation and a bold future - you have to fight for it. Or you lose it by default.
    Wek none of that describes the conservatives of the last decade....;they stand for none of that they stand for what they can grift
    Nonsense.
    You call it nonsense the electorate looked at what the idiots did and told you to fuck right off....of course you will argue that the electorate is too stupid to vote for you just like the left....your party was a party of grift and supported absolutely none of those values
    Err, no. We lost the election.

    What I don't accept is that we're not allowed to "fight" the new Government for 10 years until we're suitably chastened and have done a decent spell in the clink.

    "Visit Rwanda!"
    You mean the policy the new government has abolished which has led to a further spike in cross-channel crossings, and Starmer described as a "friend" of prospective migrants?

    Right. Got it.
    Funnily enough, there was a piece in today's Times.

    https://www.thetimes.com/article/3c218eaa-bb99-4743-970e-cb5b1b3273c0?shareToken=973898ba15a920cd9742f514ee452398

    If The Times is to be believed, small boat numbers are on track to be down on the last couple of years, despite a pretty poor first half of 2024. (Though the article doesn't point out that the shit summer we've mostly had must have helped.)

    The government have even managed to recycle the Rwanda flight bookings to return failed asylum seekers to their home countries.
  • Alphabet_SoupAlphabet_Soup Posts: 3,182

    Cicero said:

    HYUFD said:

    DavidL said:

    Badenoch can't do it.

    Can't do what? Make the odd witty comment at PMQs that the small percentage who really pay attention to politics might appreciate? Devise policies that will never be implemented? Watch helplessly as an overwhelming majority means that the government can do whatever it likes however irrational or self harming and all your work and smart comments are to no avail?

    Worrying about who the next Tory leader is shows that you haven't come to terms with what happened last month. They are irrelevant and will be for 10 years now. That is the price of complete failure.
    Nonsense. Snap out of it man, and grow up.

    You're facing a socialist government, and it's time to rally around and challenge it.
    Good grief Casino, how old are you?

    This is nothing like a socialist government. The only time this country has got close to a socialist government was 1945-1950 and even that was fairly mild.

    Starmer's is likely to be very much like Blair2, possibly a bit better, possibly not. But in any event, it will be a shedload better than the mismanagement we have had for the past 14 years.
    At the moment Starmer's government is far more like Brown2 than Blair2
    Starmer is a disaster.
    That comment may become true, but to state it as fact five weeks after the election is just ridiculous.
    There's plenty of evidence already that he's an absolute disaster.
    Wait until they do over the pensions in the Autumn Budget...

    And that will bite hard on not just current pensioners.
    When they repeatedly said they specifically won't raise the rate of income tax, NI or VAT it was clear to anyone who can actually listen that they were going to increase other taxes. Some reform is long overdue in pensions, lets see what they do.

    Personally I find it ludicrous that the government foregoes tax to allow people to build up multi million pound retirement pots, plus £20k per year ISAs. Subsidising savings up to around 500k per person makes a lot of sense, but beyond that it is just giving back tax to the wealthy and hiding that we are doing it by making the system very complex.
    The 'pension reform' you crave will apply to people currently in work, who will not be able to save as efficiently as existing retirees were encouraged to. They will be the losers. I genuinely want the Zedders to enjoy the same benefits as me but they seem determined to throw them away in an envious fit of pique.
  • tysontyson Posts: 6,114
    Catching up with PbComers and reading Casino's depressing stuff this evening. Wouldn't expect anything else from the voice of intellectual vacuity. Casino...you can never fail to irritate. SeanT is outrageous. You are just a middle of the road irritant that constantly punches well below your limited weight.

    The most important thing that Starmer has done is get Government Out of our faces. I haven't had to think about UK politics these last weeks. if the worst thing is that Starmer went to a Taylor Swift concert I'd take that. We have had the Tories literally burning any oxygen for year after year after year with their vile personalities.

    The Winter Fuel allowance seems an easy fix. Regulate the providers to implement an OAP reduced tariff and again take this issue away from Govt.

    If Govt becomes boring then that could be Starmer's biggest achievement.
  • Cicero said:

    HYUFD said:

    DavidL said:

    Badenoch can't do it.

    Can't do what? Make the odd witty comment at PMQs that the small percentage who really pay attention to politics might appreciate? Devise policies that will never be implemented? Watch helplessly as an overwhelming majority means that the government can do whatever it likes however irrational or self harming and all your work and smart comments are to no avail?

    Worrying about who the next Tory leader is shows that you haven't come to terms with what happened last month. They are irrelevant and will be for 10 years now. That is the price of complete failure.
    Nonsense. Snap out of it man, and grow up.

    You're facing a socialist government, and it's time to rally around and challenge it.
    Good grief Casino, how old are you?

    This is nothing like a socialist government. The only time this country has got close to a socialist government was 1945-1950 and even that was fairly mild.

    Starmer's is likely to be very much like Blair2, possibly a bit better, possibly not. But in any event, it will be a shedload better than the mismanagement we have had for the past 14 years.
    At the moment Starmer's government is far more like Brown2 than Blair2
    Starmer is a disaster.
    That comment may become true, but to state it as fact five weeks after the election is just ridiculous.
    There's plenty of evidence already that he's an absolute disaster.
    Wait until they do over the pensions in the Autumn Budget...

    And that will bite hard on not just current pensioners.
    When they repeatedly said they specifically won't raise the rate of income tax, NI or VAT it was clear to anyone who can actually listen that they were going to increase other taxes. Some reform is long overdue in pensions, lets see what they do.

    Personally I find it ludicrous that the government foregoes tax to allow people to build up multi million pound retirement pots, plus £20k per year ISAs. Subsidising savings up to around 500k per person makes a lot of sense, but beyond that it is just giving back tax to the wealthy and hiding that we are doing it by making the system very complex.
    The 'pension reform' you crave will apply to people currently in work, who will not be able to save as efficiently as existing retirees were encouraged to. They will be the losers. I genuinely want the Zedders to enjoy the same benefits as me but they seem determined to throw them away in an envious fit of pique.
    Give over.

    Our generation has had the rug pulled away every step of the way. Free university got replaced with tuition fees as it was supposedly "unaffordable" to continue with free university with so many more going than in the past.

    Well there's so many more pensioners than in the past so in the exact same way it is completely unaffordable to keep paying triple locked pensions.

    Getting pensions on an affordable footing is better to ensuring they're still there in the future than burning down the house now by pissing away every penny available then finding there's no money left.
  • Alphabet_SoupAlphabet_Soup Posts: 3,182

    Cicero said:

    HYUFD said:

    DavidL said:

    Badenoch can't do it.

    Can't do what? Make the odd witty comment at PMQs that the small percentage who really pay attention to politics might appreciate? Devise policies that will never be implemented? Watch helplessly as an overwhelming majority means that the government can do whatever it likes however irrational or self harming and all your work and smart comments are to no avail?

    Worrying about who the next Tory leader is shows that you haven't come to terms with what happened last month. They are irrelevant and will be for 10 years now. That is the price of complete failure.
    Nonsense. Snap out of it man, and grow up.

    You're facing a socialist government, and it's time to rally around and challenge it.
    Good grief Casino, how old are you?

    This is nothing like a socialist government. The only time this country has got close to a socialist government was 1945-1950 and even that was fairly mild.

    Starmer's is likely to be very much like Blair2, possibly a bit better, possibly not. But in any event, it will be a shedload better than the mismanagement we have had for the past 14 years.
    At the moment Starmer's government is far more like Brown2 than Blair2
    Starmer is a disaster.
    That comment may become true, but to state it as fact five weeks after the election is just ridiculous.
    There's plenty of evidence already that he's an absolute disaster.
    Wait until they do over the pensions in the Autumn Budget...

    And that will bite hard on not just current pensioners.
    When they repeatedly said they specifically won't raise the rate of income tax, NI or VAT it was clear to anyone who can actually listen that they were going to increase other taxes. Some reform is long overdue in pensions, lets see what they do.

    Personally I find it ludicrous that the government foregoes tax to allow people to build up multi million pound retirement pots, plus £20k per year ISAs. Subsidising savings up to around 500k per person makes a lot of sense, but beyond that it is just giving back tax to the wealthy and hiding that we are doing it by making the system very complex.
    The 'pension reform' you crave will apply to people currently in work, who will not be able to save as efficiently as existing retirees were encouraged to. They will be the losers. I genuinely want the Zedders to enjoy the same benefits as me but they seem determined to throw them away in an envious fit of pique.
    Give over.

    Our generation has had the rug pulled away every step of the way. Free university got replaced with tuition fees as it was supposedly "unaffordable" to continue with free university with so many more going than in the past.

    Well there's so many more pensioners than in the past so in the exact same way it is completely unaffordable to keep paying triple locked pensions.

    Getting pensions on an affordable footing is better to ensuring they're still there in the future than burning down the house now by pissing away every penny available then finding there's no money left.
    Empty rhetoric.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 70,508
    tyson said:

    Catching up with PbComers and reading Casino's depressing stuff this evening. Wouldn't expect anything else from the voice of intellectual vacuity. Casino...you can never fail to irritate. SeanT is outrageous. You are just a middle of the road irritant that constantly punches well below your limited weight.

    Rubbish.
    Casino is often good value, and is pretty shrewd as a bettor. Which is, after all, at least part of what the site is about.
    Just having a bad night.
  • EabhalEabhal Posts: 8,423
    edited August 24
    MattW said:

    A weird one for the PB lawyers, that I don't really understand. I normally know this area of law reasonably.

    What is "Causing Common Danger" under the 1835 Highways Act? And what elements does this require to be proven? I can't even find a reference.

    This is the case: https://www.sunderlandecho.com/news/crime/sunderland-cyclist-punished-in-court-using-200-year-old-law-4747188

    Someone riding a cycle without working lights on the pavement of Villette Road, Sunderland, at 2:30am on a weekday morning, went past police responding to an incident. He was stopped and they had words. They then let him go on his way after helping him back onto his cycle (says his solicitor).

    Charges were laid 2 1/2 weeks later, and he was brought to Magistrates Court.

    He was charged with causing common danger by riding a pedal cycle in the hours of darkness with no illumination, contrary to the 1835 Highway Act.
    He was also taken to task under the same act for riding a pedal cycle on a footpath set aside for pedestrians on Tuesday, April 30.
    His third and final offence – using a pedal cycle without front and rear lights on a road at night – was prosecuted under the 1988 Road Traffic Offenders Act.


    He pled guilty to all three offences, and was given a condition discharge and no fine.

    On this one, I'm thinking WTF, how is this in the Public Interest, and what did such a prosecution cost?

    Villette Road, Sunderland:
    https://www.google.com/maps/@54.895231,-1.371876,3a,75y,243.59h,81.49t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sLaG2vEyd6w28_peyrTI6UA!2e0!5s20240501T000000!7i16384!8i8192?coh=205409&entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI0MDgyMS4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw==

    Astonishing - this cyclist managed to find the only police officer and magistrate's court in the country with any spare capacity. Sunderland must be the most peaceful and serene town in England - indeed their enthusiasm for 20mph limits suggests such a utopia.

    It basically sounds like the police have taken a real dislike to this guy (see previous convictions) and have started to pick on him. Otoh, he might be an ordinary bloke and every single one of those prior convictions is police persecution. I sense a Netflix documentary.

    All the kids around here cycle to school on the pavement, I presume on parental advice. Technically illegal, but they are below the age of criminal responsibility so thankfully won't be sent off to the Sunderland gulag.
  • CookieCookie Posts: 13,583
    tyson said:

    Catching up with PbComers and reading Casino's depressing stuff this evening. Wouldn't expect anything else from the voice of intellectual vacuity. Casino...you can never fail to irritate. SeanT is outrageous. You are just a middle of the road irritant that constantly punches well below your limited weight.

    The most important thing that Starmer has done is get Government Out of our faces. I haven't had to think about UK politics these last weeks. if the worst thing is that Starmer went to a Taylor Swift concert I'd take that. We have had the Tories literally burning any oxygen for year after year after year with their vile personalities.

    The Winter Fuel allowance seems an easy fix. Regulate the providers to implement an OAP reduced tariff and again take this issue away from Govt.

    If Govt becomes boring then that could be Starmer's biggest achievement.

    This government is considerably more in our faces than its predecessor. A common criticism of it from both left and right was that it didn't actually DO anything. Whereas this one seems rather keen on doing stuff. That isn't really getting out of our faces.

    Also, the first para was a bit rude.
  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 28,231
    GIN1138 said:

    "Carrie Johnson has returned to the political frontline. The former Tory PM’s wife is assisting Robert Jenrick in his bid for the Tory leadership. ‘Carrie is helping Rob,’ a Jenrick ally informed me. ‘She’s making calls for him.’ "

    Will Boris Johnson step in as kingmaker or queenmaker for the Tories?

    Dan Hodges in Mail

    If Jenrick becomes Con leader it sounds like we should prepare for a Boris comeback.

    What odds Boris is LOTO by Election 29?
    Or next PM?
  • BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 34,573
    HYUFD said:

    Cicero said:

    HYUFD said:

    DavidL said:

    Badenoch can't do it.

    Can't do what? Make the odd witty comment at PMQs that the small percentage who really pay attention to politics might appreciate? Devise policies that will never be implemented? Watch helplessly as an overwhelming majority means that the government can do whatever it likes however irrational or self harming and all your work and smart comments are to no avail?

    Worrying about who the next Tory leader is shows that you haven't come to terms with what happened last month. They are irrelevant and will be for 10 years now. That is the price of complete failure.
    Nonsense. Snap out of it man, and grow up.

    You're facing a socialist government, and it's time to rally around and challenge it.
    Good grief Casino, how old are you?

    This is nothing like a socialist government. The only time this country has got close to a socialist government was 1945-1950 and even that was fairly mild.

    Starmer's is likely to be very much like Blair2, possibly a bit better, possibly not. But in any event, it will be a shedload better than the mismanagement we have had for the past 14 years.
    At the moment Starmer's government is far more like Brown2 than Blair2
    Starmer is a disaster.
    That comment may become true, but to state it as fact five weeks after the election is just ridiculous.
    There's plenty of evidence already that he's an absolute disaster.
    Wait until they do over the pensions in the Autumn Budget...

    And that will bite hard on not just current pensioners.
    Future pensioners are being taken to the cleaners but they just can't get enough of it.
    48% of 50-64s now disapprove of this government, just 28% approve.

    25-49s disapprove of Starmer's government by 40% to 28% already too. Even 18-24s disapprove of our new government by 41% to 21%

    https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/trackers/government-approval?crossBreak=1824
    Comparable figures for the last government on 1st July:

    76% of 50-64s disapproved of the last government, just 12% approved.
    25-49s disapproved by 74% to 11%
    18-24s disapproved by 69% to 10%
  • another_richardanother_richard Posts: 26,469
    tyson said:

    Catching up with PbComers and reading Casino's depressing stuff this evening. Wouldn't expect anything else from the voice of intellectual vacuity. Casino...you can never fail to irritate. SeanT is outrageous. You are just a middle of the road irritant that constantly punches well below your limited weight.

    The most important thing that Starmer has done is get Government Out of our faces. I haven't had to think about UK politics these last weeks. if the worst thing is that Starmer went to a Taylor Swift concert I'd take that. We have had the Tories literally burning any oxygen for year after year after year with their vile personalities.

    The Winter Fuel allowance seems an easy fix. Regulate the providers to implement an OAP reduced tariff and again take this issue away from Govt.

    If Govt becomes boring then that could be Starmer's biggest achievement.

    So you want the government to pass laws forcing business to give pensioners cheaper energy ???

    With doubtless prices rises on everyone else to fund it.

    And you think this is taking the issue away from government ???
  • Cicero said:

    HYUFD said:

    DavidL said:

    Badenoch can't do it.

    Can't do what? Make the odd witty comment at PMQs that the small percentage who really pay attention to politics might appreciate? Devise policies that will never be implemented? Watch helplessly as an overwhelming majority means that the government can do whatever it likes however irrational or self harming and all your work and smart comments are to no avail?

    Worrying about who the next Tory leader is shows that you haven't come to terms with what happened last month. They are irrelevant and will be for 10 years now. That is the price of complete failure.
    Nonsense. Snap out of it man, and grow up.

    You're facing a socialist government, and it's time to rally around and challenge it.
    Good grief Casino, how old are you?

    This is nothing like a socialist government. The only time this country has got close to a socialist government was 1945-1950 and even that was fairly mild.

    Starmer's is likely to be very much like Blair2, possibly a bit better, possibly not. But in any event, it will be a shedload better than the mismanagement we have had for the past 14 years.
    At the moment Starmer's government is far more like Brown2 than Blair2
    Starmer is a disaster.
    That comment may become true, but to state it as fact five weeks after the election is just ridiculous.
    There's plenty of evidence already that he's an absolute disaster.
    Wait until they do over the pensions in the Autumn Budget...

    And that will bite hard on not just current pensioners.
    When they repeatedly said they specifically won't raise the rate of income tax, NI or VAT it was clear to anyone who can actually listen that they were going to increase other taxes. Some reform is long overdue in pensions, lets see what they do.

    Personally I find it ludicrous that the government foregoes tax to allow people to build up multi million pound retirement pots, plus £20k per year ISAs. Subsidising savings up to around 500k per person makes a lot of sense, but beyond that it is just giving back tax to the wealthy and hiding that we are doing it by making the system very complex.
    The 'pension reform' you crave will apply to people currently in work, who will not be able to save as efficiently as existing retirees were encouraged to. They will be the losers. I genuinely want the Zedders to enjoy the same benefits as me but they seem determined to throw them away in an envious fit of pique.
    Give over.

    Our generation has had the rug pulled away every step of the way. Free university got replaced with tuition fees as it was supposedly "unaffordable" to continue with free university with so many more going than in the past.

    Well there's so many more pensioners than in the past so in the exact same way it is completely unaffordable to keep paying triple locked pensions.

    Getting pensions on an affordable footing is better to ensuring they're still there in the future than burning down the house now by pissing away every penny available then finding there's no money left.
    Empty rhetoric.
    Not remotely empty.

    Give me one good reason that free tuition was taken away because there were more people and it was no longer affordable that doesn't equally apply to pensioners benefits.

    There's no money left, getting spending on a sustainable footing is the best way to ensure the spending can be available in the future too.
  • BarnesianBarnesian Posts: 8,551
    Nigelb said:

    This is weird.

    The man who authorised the use of his territory to invade Ukraine towards Kyiv in 2022 "congratulates" Ukraine on its Independence Day:

    "The Belarusian land has always treated the warm-hearted and hardworking people of Ukraine with special respect and warmth. For a long time, our nations found strength in unity, shared joy and sorrow, shelter and bread, overcame adversity together and were proud of their successes. We are united not only by a common destiny and family ties, but also by the desire to be friends and get along with our neighbors"

    https://x.com/wartranslated/status/1827258640195035622

    As is this.

    The Islamic Republic of #Iran🇮🇷 congratulates the government and people of #Ukraine🇺🇦 on their Independence Day.
    https://x.com/IRIMFA_EN/status/1827259327490805776

    This IS weird. What's occurring?
  • mercatormercator Posts: 815
    tyson said:

    Catching up with PbComers and reading Casino's depressing stuff this evening. Wouldn't expect anything else from the voice of intellectual vacuity. Casino...you can never fail to irritate. SeanT is outrageous. You are just a middle of the road irritant that constantly punches well below your limited weight.

    The most important thing that Starmer has done is get Government Out of our faces. I haven't had to think about UK politics these last weeks. if the worst thing is that Starmer went to a Taylor Swift concert I'd take that. We have had the Tories literally burning any oxygen for year after year after year with their vile personalities.

    The Winter Fuel allowance seems an easy fix. Regulate the providers to implement an OAP reduced tariff and again take this issue away from Govt.

    If Govt becomes boring then that could be Starmer's biggest achievement.

    Government is out of our faces only because Sunaks election date choice pitchforked them straight into summer holidays and the silly season. Normal service will be resumed shortly.
  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 28,231
    Nigelb said:

    algarkirk said:

    Another thing: why are we all supposed to treat Emily Maitlis as some sort of hero just because she interviewed Prince Andrew several years ago and he made an utter fool of himself?

    With all the news articles, Netflix and Amazon dramas you'd think she'd unearthed Watergate, written Wild Swans or won the Victoria Cross with a remarkable display of valour, but she just interviewed Prince Andrew.

    Clearly, there's some sort of market for this, but it's one that bores most people silly. Didn't even see the original interview.

    The original interview was pure gold and a bit of luck, and TBF, skill for Maitlis. If people are daft enough to allow her, or anyone else, to monetise this in a 40 part film, opera or a series of books, fair play to her. You take your chances. Thankfully we don't live in North Korea so don't have to watch it. But anyone who has not seen the original should give it a try. It's a classic of unintended comedy gold. Like Terry Major-Ball's book on John Major, (titled Major, Major) which apparently was supposed to be serious and make you weep with laughter. One day the collected speeches of Donald Trump will be up there with Monty Python, and no-one will really believe it was once real.
    I have no interest in it.

    Sorry.
    Me either.
    Less still in moaning about it.
    Me what?
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 70,508

    Nigelb said:

    algarkirk said:

    Another thing: why are we all supposed to treat Emily Maitlis as some sort of hero just because she interviewed Prince Andrew several years ago and he made an utter fool of himself?

    With all the news articles, Netflix and Amazon dramas you'd think she'd unearthed Watergate, written Wild Swans or won the Victoria Cross with a remarkable display of valour, but she just interviewed Prince Andrew.

    Clearly, there's some sort of market for this, but it's one that bores most people silly. Didn't even see the original interview.

    The original interview was pure gold and a bit of luck, and TBF, skill for Maitlis. If people are daft enough to allow her, or anyone else, to monetise this in a 40 part film, opera or a series of books, fair play to her. You take your chances. Thankfully we don't live in North Korea so don't have to watch it. But anyone who has not seen the original should give it a try. It's a classic of unintended comedy gold. Like Terry Major-Ball's book on John Major, (titled Major, Major) which apparently was supposed to be serious and make you weep with laughter. One day the collected speeches of Donald Trump will be up there with Monty Python, and no-one will really believe it was once real.
    I have no interest in it.

    Sorry.
    Me either.
    Less still in moaning about it.
    Me what?
    You don’t do vernacular, do you ?
  • darkagedarkage Posts: 5,317

    Cicero said:

    HYUFD said:

    DavidL said:

    Badenoch can't do it.

    Can't do what? Make the odd witty comment at PMQs that the small percentage who really pay attention to politics might appreciate? Devise policies that will never be implemented? Watch helplessly as an overwhelming majority means that the government can do whatever it likes however irrational or self harming and all your work and smart comments are to no avail?

    Worrying about who the next Tory leader is shows that you haven't come to terms with what happened last month. They are irrelevant and will be for 10 years now. That is the price of complete failure.
    Nonsense. Snap out of it man, and grow up.

    You're facing a socialist government, and it's time to rally around and challenge it.
    Good grief Casino, how old are you?

    This is nothing like a socialist government. The only time this country has got close to a socialist government was 1945-1950 and even that was fairly mild.

    Starmer's is likely to be very much like Blair2, possibly a bit better, possibly not. But in any event, it will be a shedload better than the mismanagement we have had for the past 14 years.
    At the moment Starmer's government is far more like Brown2 than Blair2
    Starmer is a disaster.
    That comment may become true, but to state it as fact five weeks after the election is just ridiculous.
    There's plenty of evidence already that he's an absolute disaster.
    Wait until they do over the pensions in the Autumn Budget...

    And that will bite hard on not just current pensioners.
    Clearly, there are several emotional stages of acceptance that a lot of regulars on here need to work through before they arrive at the logical, rational conclusion of what an absolute disaster this government is going to be.

    It's the most left-wing since the 1970s.
    The labour party in government is offering a vaguely left wing version of decline management, interspersed with hobby horse policies, like classifying misogyny as terrorism. A bit of class war (ie closing down lower grade private schools), and then forcing rich people in to exile through tax rises. At the same time as this, there is a form of selective austerity, ie it only impacts on certain groups, whilst client groups get support. Finally anyone who complains about immigration, and then causes 'alarm and distress' , goes to jail for 'years'.

    I think in the end, Starmer is let down because of an excess of caution on his part, and structural problems with the labour party, and things won't get better now, they will just go downhill. I don't know which of Reform or the Conservatives would be better, part of me is quite tempted to support Farage as the antithesis of the 'liberal elite', but maybe the tories can successfully reinvent themselves yet again.


  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 62,385
    "It turns out the Kennedy magic was in the 1960s not this century"


    Republicans against Trump
    @RpsAgainstTrump

    Director of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics Larry Sabato on RFK Jr:

    “For people who think that, because he’s endorsing Trump, he can just move that 2 percent into Trump’s column, they don’t know much about politics. It doesn’t work that way. It’s not going to work that way.”


    https://x.com/RpsAgainstTrump/status/1827431479346864471
  • Pagan2Pagan2 Posts: 9,848

    Pagan2 said:

    Pagan2 said:

    Pagan2 said:

    DavidL said:

    Badenoch can't do it.

    Can't do what? Make the odd witty comment at PMQs that the small percentage who really pay attention to politics might appreciate? Devise policies that will never be implemented? Watch helplessly as an overwhelming majority means that the government can do whatever it likes however irrational or self harming and all your work and smart comments are to no avail?

    Worrying about who the next Tory leader is shows that you haven't come to terms with what happened last month. They are irrelevant and will be for 10 years now. That is the price of complete failure.
    Nonsense. Snap out of it man, and grow up.

    You're facing a socialist government, and it's time to rally around and challenge it.
    He is correct the tories are now irrelevant, I think labour are also heading that way
    I don't think they are irrelevant.

    This is a self-fulfilling prophecy: if you believe in personal responsibility, freedom, family, community, nation and a bold future - you have to fight for it. Or you lose it by default.
    Wek none of that describes the conservatives of the last decade....;they stand for none of that they stand for what they can grift
    Nonsense.
    You call it nonsense the electorate looked at what the idiots did and told you to fuck right off....of course you will argue that the electorate is too stupid to vote for you just like the left....your party was a party of grift and supported absolutely none of those values
    Err, no. We lost the election.

    What I don't accept is that we're not allowed to "fight" the new Government for 10 years until we're suitably chastened and have done a decent spell in the clink.

    Everyone is now waking up to the reality of what a Labour government actually means, and plenty aren't going to like it. The fightback has already begun, and rightly so.

    You can fight your side all you like, doesn't stop most of us thinking arseholes to the left of me arseholes to the right...just because starmer does wrong which he will doesn't mean we think your solutions are any better....you are both totally crepuscular
  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 28,231
    Nigelb said:

    Nigelb said:

    algarkirk said:

    Another thing: why are we all supposed to treat Emily Maitlis as some sort of hero just because she interviewed Prince Andrew several years ago and he made an utter fool of himself?

    With all the news articles, Netflix and Amazon dramas you'd think she'd unearthed Watergate, written Wild Swans or won the Victoria Cross with a remarkable display of valour, but she just interviewed Prince Andrew.

    Clearly, there's some sort of market for this, but it's one that bores most people silly. Didn't even see the original interview.

    The original interview was pure gold and a bit of luck, and TBF, skill for Maitlis. If people are daft enough to allow her, or anyone else, to monetise this in a 40 part film, opera or a series of books, fair play to her. You take your chances. Thankfully we don't live in North Korea so don't have to watch it. But anyone who has not seen the original should give it a try. It's a classic of unintended comedy gold. Like Terry Major-Ball's book on John Major, (titled Major, Major) which apparently was supposed to be serious and make you weep with laughter. One day the collected speeches of Donald Trump will be up there with Monty Python, and no-one will really believe it was once real.
    I have no interest in it.

    Sorry.
    Me either.
    Less still in moaning about it.
    Me what?
    You don’t do vernacular, do you ?
    I just don't understand the phrase - it seems to need more words or different words to mean something.
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 28,190
    Nigelb said:

    Nigelb said:

    algarkirk said:

    Another thing: why are we all supposed to treat Emily Maitlis as some sort of hero just because she interviewed Prince Andrew several years ago and he made an utter fool of himself?

    With all the news articles, Netflix and Amazon dramas you'd think she'd unearthed Watergate, written Wild Swans or won the Victoria Cross with a remarkable display of valour, but she just interviewed Prince Andrew.

    Clearly, there's some sort of market for this, but it's one that bores most people silly. Didn't even see the original interview.

    The original interview was pure gold and a bit of luck, and TBF, skill for Maitlis. If people are daft enough to allow her, or anyone else, to monetise this in a 40 part film, opera or a series of books, fair play to her. You take your chances. Thankfully we don't live in North Korea so don't have to watch it. But anyone who has not seen the original should give it a try. It's a classic of unintended comedy gold. Like Terry Major-Ball's book on John Major, (titled Major, Major) which apparently was supposed to be serious and make you weep with laughter. One day the collected speeches of Donald Trump will be up there with Monty Python, and no-one will really believe it was once real.
    I have no interest in it.

    Sorry.
    Me either.
    Less still in moaning about it.
    Me what?
    You don’t do vernacular, do you ?
    He should try it. I rode one in Lisbon!🤣
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 28,190

    tyson said:

    Catching up with PbComers and reading Casino's depressing stuff this evening. Wouldn't expect anything else from the voice of intellectual vacuity. Casino...you can never fail to irritate. SeanT is outrageous. You are just a middle of the road irritant that constantly punches well below your limited weight.

    The most important thing that Starmer has done is get Government Out of our faces. I haven't had to think about UK politics these last weeks. if the worst thing is that Starmer went to a Taylor Swift concert I'd take that. We have had the Tories literally burning any oxygen for year after year after year with their vile personalities.

    The Winter Fuel allowance seems an easy fix. Regulate the providers to implement an OAP reduced tariff and again take this issue away from Govt.

    If Govt becomes boring then that could be Starmer's biggest achievement.

    So you want the government to pass laws forcing business to give pensioners cheaper energy ???

    With doubtless prices rises on everyone else to fund it.

    And you think this is taking the issue away from government ???
    PB Tories seem to still be in the grief/anger stage of their bereavement.
  • Pagan2Pagan2 Posts: 9,848

    Cicero said:

    HYUFD said:

    DavidL said:

    Badenoch can't do it.

    Can't do what? Make the odd witty comment at PMQs that the small percentage who really pay attention to politics might appreciate? Devise policies that will never be implemented? Watch helplessly as an overwhelming majority means that the government can do whatever it likes however irrational or self harming and all your work and smart comments are to no avail?

    Worrying about who the next Tory leader is shows that you haven't come to terms with what happened last month. They are irrelevant and will be for 10 years now. That is the price of complete failure.
    Nonsense. Snap out of it man, and grow up.

    You're facing a socialist government, and it's time to rally around and challenge it.
    Good grief Casino, how old are you?

    This is nothing like a socialist government. The only time this country has got close to a socialist government was 1945-1950 and even that was fairly mild.

    Starmer's is likely to be very much like Blair2, possibly a bit better, possibly not. But in any event, it will be a shedload better than the mismanagement we have had for the past 14 years.
    At the moment Starmer's government is far more like Brown2 than Blair2
    Starmer is a disaster.
    That comment may become true, but to state it as fact five weeks after the election is just ridiculous.
    There's plenty of evidence already that he's an absolute disaster.
    Wait until they do over the pensions in the Autumn Budget...

    And that will bite hard on not just current pensioners.
    Clearly, there are several emotional stages of acceptance that a lot of regulars on here need to work through before they arrive at the logical, rational conclusion of what an absolute disaster this government is going to be.

    It's the most left-wing since the 1970s.
    The johnsonn goverment was more left wing that the 70's....your mistake is thinking the conservatives are right wing you are clearly not by your actions while in power...you are big state...big spending high tax
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 51,305
    Founder of Telegram arrested in France
  • noneoftheabovenoneoftheabove Posts: 22,599

    Cicero said:

    HYUFD said:

    DavidL said:

    Badenoch can't do it.

    Can't do what? Make the odd witty comment at PMQs that the small percentage who really pay attention to politics might appreciate? Devise policies that will never be implemented? Watch helplessly as an overwhelming majority means that the government can do whatever it likes however irrational or self harming and all your work and smart comments are to no avail?

    Worrying about who the next Tory leader is shows that you haven't come to terms with what happened last month. They are irrelevant and will be for 10 years now. That is the price of complete failure.
    Nonsense. Snap out of it man, and grow up.

    You're facing a socialist government, and it's time to rally around and challenge it.
    Good grief Casino, how old are you?

    This is nothing like a socialist government. The only time this country has got close to a socialist government was 1945-1950 and even that was fairly mild.

    Starmer's is likely to be very much like Blair2, possibly a bit better, possibly not. But in any event, it will be a shedload better than the mismanagement we have had for the past 14 years.
    At the moment Starmer's government is far more like Brown2 than Blair2
    Starmer is a disaster.
    That comment may become true, but to state it as fact five weeks after the election is just ridiculous.
    There's plenty of evidence already that he's an absolute disaster.
    Wait until they do over the pensions in the Autumn Budget...

    And that will bite hard on not just current pensioners.
    When they repeatedly said they specifically won't raise the rate of income tax, NI or VAT it was clear to anyone who can actually listen that they were going to increase other taxes. Some reform is long overdue in pensions, lets see what they do.

    Personally I find it ludicrous that the government foregoes tax to allow people to build up multi million pound retirement pots, plus £20k per year ISAs. Subsidising savings up to around 500k per person makes a lot of sense, but beyond that it is just giving back tax to the wealthy and hiding that we are doing it by making the system very complex.
    The 'pension reform' you crave will apply to people currently in work, who will not be able to save as efficiently as existing retirees were encouraged to. They will be the losers. I genuinely want the Zedders to enjoy the same benefits as me but they seem determined to throw them away in an envious fit of pique.
    The maths just doesnt work though. That will eventually override what people want. Yes it would be great if we could continue with each generation richer than the last but it aint happening.
  • Pagan2 said:

    Cicero said:

    HYUFD said:

    DavidL said:

    Badenoch can't do it.

    Can't do what? Make the odd witty comment at PMQs that the small percentage who really pay attention to politics might appreciate? Devise policies that will never be implemented? Watch helplessly as an overwhelming majority means that the government can do whatever it likes however irrational or self harming and all your work and smart comments are to no avail?

    Worrying about who the next Tory leader is shows that you haven't come to terms with what happened last month. They are irrelevant and will be for 10 years now. That is the price of complete failure.
    Nonsense. Snap out of it man, and grow up.

    You're facing a socialist government, and it's time to rally around and challenge it.
    Good grief Casino, how old are you?

    This is nothing like a socialist government. The only time this country has got close to a socialist government was 1945-1950 and even that was fairly mild.

    Starmer's is likely to be very much like Blair2, possibly a bit better, possibly not. But in any event, it will be a shedload better than the mismanagement we have had for the past 14 years.
    At the moment Starmer's government is far more like Brown2 than Blair2
    Starmer is a disaster.
    That comment may become true, but to state it as fact five weeks after the election is just ridiculous.
    There's plenty of evidence already that he's an absolute disaster.
    Wait until they do over the pensions in the Autumn Budget...

    And that will bite hard on not just current pensioners.
    Clearly, there are several emotional stages of acceptance that a lot of regulars on here need to work through before they arrive at the logical, rational conclusion of what an absolute disaster this government is going to be.

    It's the most left-wing since the 1970s.
    The johnsonn goverment was more left wing that the 70's....your mistake is thinking the conservatives are right wing you are clearly not by your actions while in power...you are big state...big spending high tax
    Precisely.

    Casino's concerns would carry a bit more weight had he applied them to the previous government which was every bit as bad.
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 52,343
    Barnesian said:

    Nigelb said:

    This is weird.

    The man who authorised the use of his territory to invade Ukraine towards Kyiv in 2022 "congratulates" Ukraine on its Independence Day:

    "The Belarusian land has always treated the warm-hearted and hardworking people of Ukraine with special respect and warmth. For a long time, our nations found strength in unity, shared joy and sorrow, shelter and bread, overcame adversity together and were proud of their successes. We are united not only by a common destiny and family ties, but also by the desire to be friends and get along with our neighbors"

    https://x.com/wartranslated/status/1827258640195035622

    As is this.

    The Islamic Republic of #Iran🇮🇷 congratulates the government and people of #Ukraine🇺🇦 on their Independence Day.
    https://x.com/IRIMFA_EN/status/1827259327490805776

    This IS weird. What's occurring?
    Russia is losing.

    And fast.
  • Alphabet_SoupAlphabet_Soup Posts: 3,182

    Cicero said:

    HYUFD said:

    DavidL said:

    Badenoch can't do it.

    Can't do what? Make the odd witty comment at PMQs that the small percentage who really pay attention to politics might appreciate? Devise policies that will never be implemented? Watch helplessly as an overwhelming majority means that the government can do whatever it likes however irrational or self harming and all your work and smart comments are to no avail?

    Worrying about who the next Tory leader is shows that you haven't come to terms with what happened last month. They are irrelevant and will be for 10 years now. That is the price of complete failure.
    Nonsense. Snap out of it man, and grow up.

    You're facing a socialist government, and it's time to rally around and challenge it.
    Good grief Casino, how old are you?

    This is nothing like a socialist government. The only time this country has got close to a socialist government was 1945-1950 and even that was fairly mild.

    Starmer's is likely to be very much like Blair2, possibly a bit better, possibly not. But in any event, it will be a shedload better than the mismanagement we have had for the past 14 years.
    At the moment Starmer's government is far more like Brown2 than Blair2
    Starmer is a disaster.
    That comment may become true, but to state it as fact five weeks after the election is just ridiculous.
    There's plenty of evidence already that he's an absolute disaster.
    Wait until they do over the pensions in the Autumn Budget...

    And that will bite hard on not just current pensioners.
    When they repeatedly said they specifically won't raise the rate of income tax, NI or VAT it was clear to anyone who can actually listen that they were going to increase other taxes. Some reform is long overdue in pensions, lets see what they do.

    Personally I find it ludicrous that the government foregoes tax to allow people to build up multi million pound retirement pots, plus £20k per year ISAs. Subsidising savings up to around 500k per person makes a lot of sense, but beyond that it is just giving back tax to the wealthy and hiding that we are doing it by making the system very complex.
    The 'pension reform' you crave will apply to people currently in work, who will not be able to save as efficiently as existing retirees were encouraged to. They will be the losers. I genuinely want the Zedders to enjoy the same benefits as me but they seem determined to throw them away in an envious fit of pique.
    Give over.

    Our generation has had the rug pulled away every step of the way. Free university got replaced with tuition fees as it was supposedly "unaffordable" to continue with free university with so many more going than in the past.

    Well there's so many more pensioners than in the past so in the exact same way it is completely unaffordable to keep paying triple locked pensions.

    Getting pensions on an affordable footing is better to ensuring they're still there in the future than burning down the house now by pissing away every penny available then finding there's no money left.
    Empty rhetoric.
    Not remotely empty.

    Give me one good reason that free tuition was taken away because there were more people and it was no longer affordable that doesn't equally apply to pensioners benefits.

    There's no money left, getting spending on a sustainable footing is the best way to ensure the spending can be available in the future too.
    Empty rhetoric with a side order of whataboutery. You're still seething about your tuition fees after 20 years and you want to chuck away your pension rights just to show how angry you still are. Hopefully your contemporaries will come to their senses before it's too late. The greater loss will not be to current pensioners, it will be to current workers.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 70,508

    Nigelb said:

    Nigelb said:

    algarkirk said:

    Another thing: why are we all supposed to treat Emily Maitlis as some sort of hero just because she interviewed Prince Andrew several years ago and he made an utter fool of himself?

    With all the news articles, Netflix and Amazon dramas you'd think she'd unearthed Watergate, written Wild Swans or won the Victoria Cross with a remarkable display of valour, but she just interviewed Prince Andrew.

    Clearly, there's some sort of market for this, but it's one that bores most people silly. Didn't even see the original interview.

    The original interview was pure gold and a bit of luck, and TBF, skill for Maitlis. If people are daft enough to allow her, or anyone else, to monetise this in a 40 part film, opera or a series of books, fair play to her. You take your chances. Thankfully we don't live in North Korea so don't have to watch it. But anyone who has not seen the original should give it a try. It's a classic of unintended comedy gold. Like Terry Major-Ball's book on John Major, (titled Major, Major) which apparently was supposed to be serious and make you weep with laughter. One day the collected speeches of Donald Trump will be up there with Monty Python, and no-one will really believe it was once real.
    I have no interest in it.

    Sorry.
    Me either.
    Less still in moaning about it.
    Me what?
    You don’t do vernacular, do you ?
    I just don't understand the phrase - it seems to need more words or different words to mean something.
    You understand “me too” ?
    Same thing, but for a negative statement.
  • Alphabet_SoupAlphabet_Soup Posts: 3,182

    Cicero said:

    HYUFD said:

    DavidL said:

    Badenoch can't do it.

    Can't do what? Make the odd witty comment at PMQs that the small percentage who really pay attention to politics might appreciate? Devise policies that will never be implemented? Watch helplessly as an overwhelming majority means that the government can do whatever it likes however irrational or self harming and all your work and smart comments are to no avail?

    Worrying about who the next Tory leader is shows that you haven't come to terms with what happened last month. They are irrelevant and will be for 10 years now. That is the price of complete failure.
    Nonsense. Snap out of it man, and grow up.

    You're facing a socialist government, and it's time to rally around and challenge it.
    Good grief Casino, how old are you?

    This is nothing like a socialist government. The only time this country has got close to a socialist government was 1945-1950 and even that was fairly mild.

    Starmer's is likely to be very much like Blair2, possibly a bit better, possibly not. But in any event, it will be a shedload better than the mismanagement we have had for the past 14 years.
    At the moment Starmer's government is far more like Brown2 than Blair2
    Starmer is a disaster.
    That comment may become true, but to state it as fact five weeks after the election is just ridiculous.
    There's plenty of evidence already that he's an absolute disaster.
    Wait until they do over the pensions in the Autumn Budget...

    And that will bite hard on not just current pensioners.
    When they repeatedly said they specifically won't raise the rate of income tax, NI or VAT it was clear to anyone who can actually listen that they were going to increase other taxes. Some reform is long overdue in pensions, lets see what they do.

    Personally I find it ludicrous that the government foregoes tax to allow people to build up multi million pound retirement pots, plus £20k per year ISAs. Subsidising savings up to around 500k per person makes a lot of sense, but beyond that it is just giving back tax to the wealthy and hiding that we are doing it by making the system very complex.
    The 'pension reform' you crave will apply to people currently in work, who will not be able to save as efficiently as existing retirees were encouraged to. They will be the losers. I genuinely want the Zedders to enjoy the same benefits as me but they seem determined to throw them away in an envious fit of pique.
    The maths just doesnt work though. That will eventually override what people want. Yes it would be great if we could continue with each generation richer than the last but it aint happening.
    It's been happening for hundreds of years.
  • darkagedarkage Posts: 5,317

    "It turns out the Kennedy magic was in the 1960s not this century"


    Republicans against Trump
    @RpsAgainstTrump

    Director of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics Larry Sabato on RFK Jr:

    “For people who think that, because he’s endorsing Trump, he can just move that 2 percent into Trump’s column, they don’t know much about politics. It doesn’t work that way. It’s not going to work that way.”


    https://x.com/RpsAgainstTrump/status/1827431479346864471

    I think it is more significant than that. A lot of people who have historically been on the 'liberal left' find it impossible to vote for Trump, but this endorsement will push them along .
  • EabhalEabhal Posts: 8,423
    edited August 24
    dixiedean said:

    Been some comment on people playing the system with mental health.
    I've decided to pursue an ADHD/ASD diagnosis. At the age of 57. It's become apparent that I have periodic ADHD burnout. This has been a recurring feature of my life. No one ever told me what it was before. We didn't have it in my day. Like bisexuality.
    Anyways. Having leapt the initial bar for ADHD, (100% on the assessment), am now told that the waiting list for an NHS screening to get an official diagnosis is 5 years+.
    Have also scored highly on ASD.
    I also appear to be unemployed. As what was self evidently a mental health issue has been made a disciplinary one. Cos it's easier. No duty of care.
    I'm a great employee. Kids love me. Staff love me. I just cause trouble by requiring reasonable adjustments. And management can't be arsed
    Upshot is.
    Is it any wonder folk in their 50's aren't working?

    I have a friend who was recently diagnosed with something similar and it has improved their confidence and self-worth to a huge degree. They have also had a great deal of trouble with their employer, but have come out the other side in a much stronger position with support from their union. I hope you come through it in a similar fashion.
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 48,473

    tyson said:

    Catching up with PbComers and reading Casino's depressing stuff this evening. Wouldn't expect anything else from the voice of intellectual vacuity. Casino...you can never fail to irritate. SeanT is outrageous. You are just a middle of the road irritant that constantly punches well below your limited weight.

    The most important thing that Starmer has done is get Government Out of our faces. I haven't had to think about UK politics these last weeks. if the worst thing is that Starmer went to a Taylor Swift concert I'd take that. We have had the Tories literally burning any oxygen for year after year after year with their vile personalities.

    The Winter Fuel allowance seems an easy fix. Regulate the providers to implement an OAP reduced tariff and again take this issue away from Govt.

    If Govt becomes boring then that could be Starmer's biggest achievement.

    So you want the government to pass laws forcing business to give pensioners cheaper energy ???

    With doubtless prices rises on everyone else to fund it.

    And you think this is taking the issue away from government ???
    PB Tories seem to still be in the grief/anger stage of their bereavement.
    Yes, they don't seem to have noticed that while there is a palpable lack of enthusiasm for Starmerism, there is even less for a return of the Tories. Meanwhile Farage shat the bed over the #farageriots.

    The discontent is from the left, not the right. People want more spending on WFA, scrapping the two child limit, etc, not less. Not an easy seam for Jenrick or Badenoch to mine.
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 53,706
    dixiedean said:

    Been some comment on people playing the system with mental health.
    I've decided to pursue an ADHD/ASD diagnosis. At the age of 57. It's become apparent that I have periodic ADHD burnout. This has been a recurring feature of my life. No one ever told me what it was before. We didn't have it in my day. Like bisexuality.
    Anyways. Having leapt the initial bar for ADHD, (100% on the assessment), am now told that the waiting list for an NHS screening to get an official diagnosis is 5 years+.
    Have also scored highly on ASD.
    I also appear to be unemployed. As what was self evidently a mental health issue has been made a disciplinary one. Cos it's easier. No duty of care.
    I'm a great employee. Kids love me. Staff love me. I just cause trouble by requiring reasonable adjustments. And management can't be arsed
    Upshot is.
    Is it any wonder folk in their 50's aren't working?

    My daughter paid to get her assessment done. There was an initial screening process which was practically free to see whether a more detailed assessment was likely to be worthwhile. Sounds like that would be the case in your case. She received confirmation that she was autistic but she also got a lot of helpful coping strategies and a much better understanding of why things had not always been straightforward in her life. It gave her a lot of comfort and a bit more confidence. She is better at seeing her parameters and stress points.

    As a society we have been very poor in recognising and building tolerance for these conditions. We make life unnecessarily hard for a lot of people. I had hoped we were getting better at this but your example is not encouraging. All the very best and I hope things work out for you.
  • another_richardanother_richard Posts: 26,469

    tyson said:

    Catching up with PbComers and reading Casino's depressing stuff this evening. Wouldn't expect anything else from the voice of intellectual vacuity. Casino...you can never fail to irritate. SeanT is outrageous. You are just a middle of the road irritant that constantly punches well below your limited weight.

    The most important thing that Starmer has done is get Government Out of our faces. I haven't had to think about UK politics these last weeks. if the worst thing is that Starmer went to a Taylor Swift concert I'd take that. We have had the Tories literally burning any oxygen for year after year after year with their vile personalities.

    The Winter Fuel allowance seems an easy fix. Regulate the providers to implement an OAP reduced tariff and again take this issue away from Govt.

    If Govt becomes boring then that could be Starmer's biggest achievement.

    So you want the government to pass laws forcing business to give pensioners cheaper energy ???

    With doubtless prices rises on everyone else to fund it.

    And you think this is taking the issue away from government ???
    PB Tories seem to still be in the grief/anger stage of their bereavement.
    Firstly I'm not a Tory.

    Secondly I'm in neither grief not anger.

    Thirdly I support the removal of WFA - I have doubts whether it is good politically for Labour though.

    Fourthly Tyson isn't supporting what Reeves has done but instead suggesting some weird government price meddling to the benefit of richer pensioners.

    Fifthly if the government started passing laws setting different prices for different demographics then it wouldn't end with energy but would steadily be extended, which would be the opposite of 'taking the issue away from government' - not to mention causing all sorts of bitterness within the country between different groups and especially with the government.
  • Big_G_NorthWalesBig_G_NorthWales Posts: 62,749
    Foxy said:

    tyson said:

    Catching up with PbComers and reading Casino's depressing stuff this evening. Wouldn't expect anything else from the voice of intellectual vacuity. Casino...you can never fail to irritate. SeanT is outrageous. You are just a middle of the road irritant that constantly punches well below your limited weight.

    The most important thing that Starmer has done is get Government Out of our faces. I haven't had to think about UK politics these last weeks. if the worst thing is that Starmer went to a Taylor Swift concert I'd take that. We have had the Tories literally burning any oxygen for year after year after year with their vile personalities.

    The Winter Fuel allowance seems an easy fix. Regulate the providers to implement an OAP reduced tariff and again take this issue away from Govt.

    If Govt becomes boring then that could be Starmer's biggest achievement.

    So you want the government to pass laws forcing business to give pensioners cheaper energy ???

    With doubtless prices rises on everyone else to fund it.

    And you think this is taking the issue away from government ???
    PB Tories seem to still be in the grief/anger stage of their bereavement.
    Yes, they don't seem to have noticed that while there is a palpable lack of enthusiasm for Starmerism, there is even less for a return of the Tories. Meanwhile Farage shat the bed over the #farageriots.

    The discontent is from the left, not the right. People want more spending on WFA, scrapping the two child limit, etc, not less. Not an easy seam for Jenrick or Badenoch to mine.
    This poll in July found 60% want to keep the 2 child cap but I do not know of any more upto date polls

    https://yougov.co.uk/politics/articles/50140-public-support-retaining-the-two-child-benefit-limit-as-starmer-gears-up-for-first-rebellion
  • noneoftheabovenoneoftheabove Posts: 22,599

    Cicero said:

    HYUFD said:

    DavidL said:

    Badenoch can't do it.

    Can't do what? Make the odd witty comment at PMQs that the small percentage who really pay attention to politics might appreciate? Devise policies that will never be implemented? Watch helplessly as an overwhelming majority means that the government can do whatever it likes however irrational or self harming and all your work and smart comments are to no avail?

    Worrying about who the next Tory leader is shows that you haven't come to terms with what happened last month. They are irrelevant and will be for 10 years now. That is the price of complete failure.
    Nonsense. Snap out of it man, and grow up.

    You're facing a socialist government, and it's time to rally around and challenge it.
    Good grief Casino, how old are you?

    This is nothing like a socialist government. The only time this country has got close to a socialist government was 1945-1950 and even that was fairly mild.

    Starmer's is likely to be very much like Blair2, possibly a bit better, possibly not. But in any event, it will be a shedload better than the mismanagement we have had for the past 14 years.
    At the moment Starmer's government is far more like Brown2 than Blair2
    Starmer is a disaster.
    That comment may become true, but to state it as fact five weeks after the election is just ridiculous.
    There's plenty of evidence already that he's an absolute disaster.
    Wait until they do over the pensions in the Autumn Budget...

    And that will bite hard on not just current pensioners.
    When they repeatedly said they specifically won't raise the rate of income tax, NI or VAT it was clear to anyone who can actually listen that they were going to increase other taxes. Some reform is long overdue in pensions, lets see what they do.

    Personally I find it ludicrous that the government foregoes tax to allow people to build up multi million pound retirement pots, plus £20k per year ISAs. Subsidising savings up to around 500k per person makes a lot of sense, but beyond that it is just giving back tax to the wealthy and hiding that we are doing it by making the system very complex.
    The 'pension reform' you crave will apply to people currently in work, who will not be able to save as efficiently as existing retirees were encouraged to. They will be the losers. I genuinely want the Zedders to enjoy the same benefits as me but they seem determined to throw them away in an envious fit of pique.
    The maths just doesnt work though. That will eventually override what people want. Yes it would be great if we could continue with each generation richer than the last but it aint happening.
    It's been happening for hundreds of years.
    No it goes up and down with a long term upward trend. Depressions, wars, disease and demographics disrupt that curve.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 70,508
    dixiedean said:

    Been some comment on people playing the system with mental health.
    I've decided to pursue an ADHD/ASD diagnosis. At the age of 57. It's become apparent that I have periodic ADHD burnout. This has been a recurring feature of my life. No one ever told me what it was before. We didn't have it in my day. Like bisexuality.
    Anyways. Having leapt the initial bar for ADHD, (100% on the assessment), am now told that the waiting list for an NHS screening to get an official diagnosis is 5 years+.
    Have also scored highly on ASD.
    I also appear to be unemployed. As what was self evidently a mental health issue has been made a disciplinary one. Cos it's easier. No duty of care.
    I'm a great employee. Kids love me. Staff love me. I just cause trouble by requiring reasonable adjustments. And management can't be arsed
    Upshot is.
    Is it any wonder folk in their 50's aren't working?

    That sucks.
    I knew NHS mental health services are deeply problematic, but this is really awful.

    Waiting lists…

    https://adhduk.co.uk/nhs-adhd-assessments-waiting-lists-report/
    … For adults the variation is equally stark – it varies from 12 weeks at Dorset Healthcare University NHS Foundation Trust to 550 weeks (over 10 years) at the Herefordshire and Worcestershire Health and Care Trust
    The adult waiting the longest has been waiting 443 weeks (8.5 years). There are in Wales at the Hywel Dda University Health Board.
    ADHD referral screening is a significant issue.
    A number of NHS organisations have instigated screening of individual ADHD referrals. This is where they use various tools to eliminate individuals formally referred to them from their NHS list. Patients do not have a right to a second opinion in the NHS so this effectively removes people from being able to get an
    NHS assessment. As a charity we are aware of numerous cases where individuals where removed via screening out and later found to have ADHD.
    The screening is happening despite ALL NHS referrals having already been screened due to coming with a professional referral from either a GP or school. A GP is supposed to have agency for their patients. If a GP asks for a test to be done it should be actioned. Individuals cannot self-refer for an ADHD assessment. There is no NICE recommendation or agreed system for ADHD screening in the UK...



    Checking directly what the NHS says seems to confirm that.
    This is Leeds.

    https://www.leedsandyorkpft.nhs.uk/our-services/adult-attention-deficit-hyperactivity-disorder-adhd-service/waiting-times/
    .. There are currently approximately 4,500 people on our list awaiting a diagnostic assessment. We are currently resourced to provide 16 assessment a month.

    Those getting booked in now were referred to the service in February 2021. This waiting period is accurate for those at the front of the waiting list but will be several years longer for those who have been referred more recently…
  • EabhalEabhal Posts: 8,423
    Foxy said:

    tyson said:

    Catching up with PbComers and reading Casino's depressing stuff this evening. Wouldn't expect anything else from the voice of intellectual vacuity. Casino...you can never fail to irritate. SeanT is outrageous. You are just a middle of the road irritant that constantly punches well below your limited weight.

    The most important thing that Starmer has done is get Government Out of our faces. I haven't had to think about UK politics these last weeks. if the worst thing is that Starmer went to a Taylor Swift concert I'd take that. We have had the Tories literally burning any oxygen for year after year after year with their vile personalities.

    The Winter Fuel allowance seems an easy fix. Regulate the providers to implement an OAP reduced tariff and again take this issue away from Govt.

    If Govt becomes boring then that could be Starmer's biggest achievement.

    So you want the government to pass laws forcing business to give pensioners cheaper energy ???

    With doubtless prices rises on everyone else to fund it.

    And you think this is taking the issue away from government ???
    PB Tories seem to still be in the grief/anger stage of their bereavement.
    Yes, they don't seem to have noticed that while there is a palpable lack of enthusiasm for Starmerism, there is even less for a return of the Tories. Meanwhile Farage shat the bed over the #farageriots.

    The discontent is from the left, not the right. People want more spending on WFA, scrapping the two child limit, etc, not less. Not an easy seam for Jenrick or Badenoch to mine.
    The Conservatives need to pick up some younger voters at some point and going all in for pensioners is short-termist.

    Any kind of increase in taxation on working people is the opportunity. It could well be fuel duty. It's one area where their record is very strong (frozen for over a decade), it primarily effects their prime voting cohorts (middle to high incomes, older), and they can contrast it against super-rich Labour voters in their e-SUVs.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 122,226
    Foxy said:

    tyson said:

    Catching up with PbComers and reading Casino's depressing stuff this evening. Wouldn't expect anything else from the voice of intellectual vacuity. Casino...you can never fail to irritate. SeanT is outrageous. You are just a middle of the road irritant that constantly punches well below your limited weight.

    The most important thing that Starmer has done is get Government Out of our faces. I haven't had to think about UK politics these last weeks. if the worst thing is that Starmer went to a Taylor Swift concert I'd take that. We have had the Tories literally burning any oxygen for year after year after year with their vile personalities.

    The Winter Fuel allowance seems an easy fix. Regulate the providers to implement an OAP reduced tariff and again take this issue away from Govt.

    If Govt becomes boring then that could be Starmer's biggest achievement.

    So you want the government to pass laws forcing business to give pensioners cheaper energy ???

    With doubtless prices rises on everyone else to fund it.

    And you think this is taking the issue away from government ???
    PB Tories seem to still be in the grief/anger stage of their bereavement.
    Yes, they don't seem to have noticed that while there is a palpable lack of enthusiasm for Starmerism, there is even less for a return of the Tories. Meanwhile Farage shat the bed over the #farageriots.

    The discontent is from the left, not the right. People want more spending on WFA, scrapping the two child limit, etc, not less. Not an easy seam for Jenrick or Badenoch to mine.
    The discontent is certainly from the right on immigration levels and will be further from the right once the Labour tax rises come in the autumn
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 122,226

    HYUFD said:

    Cicero said:

    HYUFD said:

    DavidL said:

    Badenoch can't do it.

    Can't do what? Make the odd witty comment at PMQs that the small percentage who really pay attention to politics might appreciate? Devise policies that will never be implemented? Watch helplessly as an overwhelming majority means that the government can do whatever it likes however irrational or self harming and all your work and smart comments are to no avail?

    Worrying about who the next Tory leader is shows that you haven't come to terms with what happened last month. They are irrelevant and will be for 10 years now. That is the price of complete failure.
    Nonsense. Snap out of it man, and grow up.

    You're facing a socialist government, and it's time to rally around and challenge it.
    Good grief Casino, how old are you?

    This is nothing like a socialist government. The only time this country has got close to a socialist government was 1945-1950 and even that was fairly mild.

    Starmer's is likely to be very much like Blair2, possibly a bit better, possibly not. But in any event, it will be a shedload better than the mismanagement we have had for the past 14 years.
    At the moment Starmer's government is far more like Brown2 than Blair2
    Starmer is a disaster.
    That comment may become true, but to state it as fact five weeks after the election is just ridiculous.
    There's plenty of evidence already that he's an absolute disaster.
    Wait until they do over the pensions in the Autumn Budget...

    And that will bite hard on not just current pensioners.
    Future pensioners are being taken to the cleaners but they just can't get enough of it.
    48% of 50-64s now disapprove of this government, just 28% approve.

    25-49s disapprove of Starmer's government by 40% to 28% already too. Even 18-24s disapprove of our new government by 41% to 21%

    https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/trackers/government-approval?crossBreak=1824
    Comparable figures for the last government on 1st July:

    76% of 50-64s disapproved of the last government, just 12% approved.
    25-49s disapproved by 74% to 11%
    18-24s disapproved by 69% to 10%
    Yes but that was after 14 years in power, the equivalent figures for the last Conservative government would be in late June 2010
  • Big_G_NorthWalesBig_G_NorthWales Posts: 62,749

    tyson said:

    Catching up with PbComers and reading Casino's depressing stuff this evening. Wouldn't expect anything else from the voice of intellectual vacuity. Casino...you can never fail to irritate. SeanT is outrageous. You are just a middle of the road irritant that constantly punches well below your limited weight.

    The most important thing that Starmer has done is get Government Out of our faces. I haven't had to think about UK politics these last weeks. if the worst thing is that Starmer went to a Taylor Swift concert I'd take that. We have had the Tories literally burning any oxygen for year after year after year with their vile personalities.

    The Winter Fuel allowance seems an easy fix. Regulate the providers to implement an OAP reduced tariff and again take this issue away from Govt.

    If Govt becomes boring then that could be Starmer's biggest achievement.

    So you want the government to pass laws forcing business to give pensioners cheaper energy ???

    With doubtless prices rises on everyone else to fund it.

    And you think this is taking the issue away from government ???
    PB Tories seem to still be in the grief/anger stage of their bereavement.
    Firstly I'm not a Tory.

    Secondly I'm in neither grief not anger.

    Thirdly I support the removal of WFA - I have doubts whether it is good politically for Labour though.

    Fourthly Tyson isn't supporting what Reeves has done but instead suggesting some weird government price meddling to the benefit of richer pensioners.

    Fifthly if the government started passing laws setting different prices for different demographics then it wouldn't end with energy but would steadily be extended, which would be the opposite of 'taking the issue away from government' - not to mention causing all sorts of bitterness within the country between different groups and especially with the government.
    I am a one nation conservative and am most definitely not in grief or anger at the passing of the conservative government, indeed relieved

    Starmer and Reeves have not had a stellar start to their term in office and frankly I expect their popularity to decline as we go through the Autumn statement, the energy price rises, and myriads of controversial issues on the horizon

    Maybe the time will come for the 'don't blame me I didn't vote Labour' badges - who knows ?
  • FossFoss Posts: 990
    edited August 24
    rcs1000 said:

    Just installed Kubuntu on my laptop.

    Early days... but so far I *love* it.

    Kubuntu feels like an OS that understands it’s job is to get out of the way.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 122,226
    edited August 24
    Eabhal said:

    MattW said:

    A weird one for the PB lawyers, that I don't really understand. I normally know this area of law reasonably.

    What is "Causing Common Danger" under the 1835 Highways Act? And what elements does this require to be proven? I can't even find a reference.

    This is the case: https://www.sunderlandecho.com/news/crime/sunderland-cyclist-punished-in-court-using-200-year-old-law-4747188

    Someone riding a cycle without working lights on the pavement of Villette Road, Sunderland, at 2:30am on a weekday morning, went past police responding to an incident. He was stopped and they had words. They then let him go on his way after helping him back onto his cycle (says his solicitor).

    Charges were laid 2 1/2 weeks later, and he was brought to Magistrates Court.

    He was charged with causing common danger by riding a pedal cycle in the hours of darkness with no illumination, contrary to the 1835 Highway Act.
    He was also taken to task under the same act for riding a pedal cycle on a footpath set aside for pedestrians on Tuesday, April 30.
    His third and final offence – using a pedal cycle without front and rear lights on a road at night – was prosecuted under the 1988 Road Traffic Offenders Act.


    He pled guilty to all three offences, and was given a condition discharge and no fine.

    On this one, I'm thinking WTF, how is this in the Public Interest, and what did such a prosecution cost?

    Villette Road, Sunderland:
    https://www.google.com/maps/@54.895231,-1.371876,3a,75y,243.59h,81.49t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sLaG2vEyd6w28_peyrTI6UA!2e0!5s20240501T000000!7i16384!8i8192?coh=205409&entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI0MDgyMS4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw==

    Astonishing - this cyclist managed to find the only police officer and magistrate's court in the country with any spare capacity. Sunderland must be the most peaceful and serene town in England - indeed their enthusiasm for 20mph limits suggests such a utopia.

    It basically sounds like the police have taken a real dislike to this guy (see previous convictions) and have started to pick on him. Otoh, he might be an ordinary bloke and every single one of those prior convictions is police persecution. I sense a Netflix documentary.

    All the kids around here cycle to school on the pavement, I presume on parental advice. Technically illegal, but they are below the age of criminal responsibility so thankfully won't be sent off to the Sunderland gulag.
    He was cycling on the pavement without any lights, if a car driver had been driving on the pavement without any lights the police would have thrown the book at them!
  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 28,231
    Nigelb said:

    Nigelb said:

    Nigelb said:

    algarkirk said:

    Another thing: why are we all supposed to treat Emily Maitlis as some sort of hero just because she interviewed Prince Andrew several years ago and he made an utter fool of himself?

    With all the news articles, Netflix and Amazon dramas you'd think she'd unearthed Watergate, written Wild Swans or won the Victoria Cross with a remarkable display of valour, but she just interviewed Prince Andrew.

    Clearly, there's some sort of market for this, but it's one that bores most people silly. Didn't even see the original interview.

    The original interview was pure gold and a bit of luck, and TBF, skill for Maitlis. If people are daft enough to allow her, or anyone else, to monetise this in a 40 part film, opera or a series of books, fair play to her. You take your chances. Thankfully we don't live in North Korea so don't have to watch it. But anyone who has not seen the original should give it a try. It's a classic of unintended comedy gold. Like Terry Major-Ball's book on John Major, (titled Major, Major) which apparently was supposed to be serious and make you weep with laughter. One day the collected speeches of Donald Trump will be up there with Monty Python, and no-one will really believe it was once real.
    I have no interest in it.

    Sorry.
    Me either.
    Less still in moaning about it.
    Me what?
    You don’t do vernacular, do you ?
    I just don't understand the phrase - it seems to need more words or different words to mean something.
    You understand “me too” ?
    Same thing, but for a negative statement.
    Yes, but that would be me neither.
  • MortimerMortimer Posts: 14,112
    edited August 24
    Foxy said:

    tyson said:

    Catching up with PbComers and reading Casino's depressing stuff this evening. Wouldn't expect anything else from the voice of intellectual vacuity. Casino...you can never fail to irritate. SeanT is outrageous. You are just a middle of the road irritant that constantly punches well below your limited weight.

    The most important thing that Starmer has done is get Government Out of our faces. I haven't had to think about UK politics these last weeks. if the worst thing is that Starmer went to a Taylor Swift concert I'd take that. We have had the Tories literally burning any oxygen for year after year after year with their vile personalities.

    The Winter Fuel allowance seems an easy fix. Regulate the providers to implement an OAP reduced tariff and again take this issue away from Govt.

    If Govt becomes boring then that could be Starmer's biggest achievement.

    So you want the government to pass laws forcing business to give pensioners cheaper energy ???

    With doubtless prices rises on everyone else to fund it.

    And you think this is taking the issue away from government ???
    PB Tories seem to still be in the grief/anger stage of their bereavement.
    Yes, they don't seem to have noticed that while there is a palpable lack of enthusiasm for Starmerism, there is even less for a return of the Tories. Meanwhile Farage shat the bed over the #farageriots.

    The discontent is from the left, not the right. People want more spending on WFA, scrapping the two child limit, etc, not less. Not an easy seam for Jenrick or Badenoch to mine.
    Until the country goes bust, as always seems to happens when socialism is tried....

    The problems started during covid. Not with the parties, but the socialism-lite. Collectivism was always going to end up as reasonably popular when people see no personal downside, until it is demonstrated *yet again* not to work.

    I personally look forward to the slashing of the state that a future IMF bailout will likely necessitate.....
  • Pagan2Pagan2 Posts: 9,848

    tyson said:

    Catching up with PbComers and reading Casino's depressing stuff this evening. Wouldn't expect anything else from the voice of intellectual vacuity. Casino...you can never fail to irritate. SeanT is outrageous. You are just a middle of the road irritant that constantly punches well below your limited weight.

    The most important thing that Starmer has done is get Government Out of our faces. I haven't had to think about UK politics these last weeks. if the worst thing is that Starmer went to a Taylor Swift concert I'd take that. We have had the Tories literally burning any oxygen for year after year after year with their vile personalities.

    The Winter Fuel allowance seems an easy fix. Regulate the providers to implement an OAP reduced tariff and again take this issue away from Govt.

    If Govt becomes boring then that could be Starmer's biggest achievement.

    So you want the government to pass laws forcing business to give pensioners cheaper energy ???

    With doubtless prices rises on everyone else to fund it.

    And you think this is taking the issue away from government ???
    PB Tories seem to still be in the grief/anger stage of their bereavement.
    Firstly I'm not a Tory.

    Secondly I'm in neither grief not anger.

    Thirdly I support the removal of WFA - I have doubts whether it is good politically for Labour though.

    Fourthly Tyson isn't supporting what Reeves has done but instead suggesting some weird government price meddling to the benefit of richer pensioners.

    Fifthly if the government started passing laws setting different prices for different demographics then it wouldn't end with energy but would steadily be extended, which would be the opposite of 'taking the issue away from government' - not to mention causing all sorts of bitterness within the country between different groups and especially with the government.
    I am a one nation conservative and am most definitely not in grief or anger at the passing of the conservative government, indeed relieved

    Starmer and Reeves have not had a stellar start to their term in office and frankly I expect their popularity to decline as we go through the Autumn statement, the energy price rises, and myriads of controversial issues on the horizon

    Maybe the time will come for the 'don't blame me I didn't vote Labour' badges - who knows ?
    I suspect at the next election neither labour nor conservatives will poll well and deservedly so. Its where the vote goes after
  • Big_G_NorthWalesBig_G_NorthWales Posts: 62,749
    HYUFD said:

    Foxy said:

    tyson said:

    Catching up with PbComers and reading Casino's depressing stuff this evening. Wouldn't expect anything else from the voice of intellectual vacuity. Casino...you can never fail to irritate. SeanT is outrageous. You are just a middle of the road irritant that constantly punches well below your limited weight.

    The most important thing that Starmer has done is get Government Out of our faces. I haven't had to think about UK politics these last weeks. if the worst thing is that Starmer went to a Taylor Swift concert I'd take that. We have had the Tories literally burning any oxygen for year after year after year with their vile personalities.

    The Winter Fuel allowance seems an easy fix. Regulate the providers to implement an OAP reduced tariff and again take this issue away from Govt.

    If Govt becomes boring then that could be Starmer's biggest achievement.

    So you want the government to pass laws forcing business to give pensioners cheaper energy ???

    With doubtless prices rises on everyone else to fund it.

    And you think this is taking the issue away from government ???
    PB Tories seem to still be in the grief/anger stage of their bereavement.
    Yes, they don't seem to have noticed that while there is a palpable lack of enthusiasm for Starmerism, there is even less for a return of the Tories. Meanwhile Farage shat the bed over the #farageriots.

    The discontent is from the left, not the right. People want more spending on WFA, scrapping the two child limit, etc, not less. Not an easy seam for Jenrick or Badenoch to mine.
    The discontent is certainly from the right on immigration levels and will be further from the right once the Labour tax rises come in the autumn
    I would suggest not everything is from the right, and I expect many middle income families across the political divide to express concerns at the direction of travel on new and increased taxation following the Autumn statement
  • MortimerMortimer Posts: 14,112
    edited August 24
    Oh, and Kemi is fine.

    But if the Tory membership don't go for Jenrick, we don't AFAICS have a chance of reuniting the right.
  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 28,231
    Mortimer said:

    Oh, and Kemi is fine.

    But if the Tory membership don't go for Jenrick, we don't AFAICS have a chance of reuniting the right.

    Is it desirable to reunite the right? I'd say the more the merrier. Does Coke desperately want a merger with Pepsi, or do they understand that their competition leads to more interest in the brown sugary fizzy drink sector? The left has the greens, Lib Dems and Labour, and left wing opinions have proliferated. Arguably, the Tory Party shouldn't try and be the only flavour of right wing.
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 48,473
    dixiedean said:

    Been some comment on people playing the system with mental health.
    I've decided to pursue an ADHD/ASD diagnosis. At the age of 57. It's become apparent that I have periodic ADHD burnout. This has been a recurring feature of my life. No one ever told me what it was before. We didn't have it in my day. Like bisexuality.
    Anyways. Having leapt the initial bar for ADHD, (100% on the assessment), am now told that the waiting list for an NHS screening to get an official diagnosis is 5 years+.
    Have also scored highly on ASD.
    I also appear to be unemployed. As what was self evidently a mental health issue has been made a disciplinary one. Cos it's easier. No duty of care.
    I'm a great employee. Kids love me. Staff love me. I just cause trouble by requiring reasonable adjustments. And management can't be arsed
    Upshot is.
    Is it any wonder folk in their 50's aren't working?

    No 2 ways about it. Psychiatry has always been a cinderella speciality, but much worse in recent years.

    Mrs Foxy reckons she has ADHD. These things have been underrecognised in the past. We don't have capacity to assess and treat.

    15% of medical graduates have some form of neurodiversity diagnosed now.
  • StillWatersStillWaters Posts: 8,095

    HYUFD said:

    Cicero said:

    HYUFD said:

    DavidL said:

    Badenoch can't do it.

    Can't do what? Make the odd witty comment at PMQs that the small percentage who really pay attention to politics might appreciate? Devise policies that will never be implemented? Watch helplessly as an overwhelming majority means that the government can do whatever it likes however irrational or self harming and all your work and smart comments are to no avail?

    Worrying about who the next Tory leader is shows that you haven't come to terms with what happened last month. They are irrelevant and will be for 10 years now. That is the price of complete failure.
    Nonsense. Snap out of it man, and grow up.

    You're facing a socialist government, and it's time to rally around and challenge it.
    Good grief Casino, how old are you?

    This is nothing like a socialist government. The only time this country has got close to a socialist government was 1945-1950 and even that was fairly mild.

    Starmer's is likely to be very much like Blair2, possibly a bit better, possibly not. But in any event, it will be a shedload better than the mismanagement we have had for the past 14 years.
    At the moment Starmer's government is far more like Brown2 than Blair2
    Starmer is a disaster.
    That comment may become true, but to state it as fact five weeks after the election is just ridiculous.
    There's plenty of evidence already that he's an absolute disaster.
    Wait until they do over the pensions in the Autumn Budget...

    And that will bite hard on not just current pensioners.
    Future pensioners are being taken to the cleaners but they just can't get enough of it.
    48% of 50-64s now disapprove of this government, just 28% approve.

    25-49s disapprove of Starmer's government by 40% to 28% already too. Even 18-24s disapprove of our new government by 41% to 21%

    https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/trackers/government-approval?crossBreak=1824

    Going well, isnt it?

    This Government is built on sand, but still thinks it has a mandate to soil your bed.
    Both the points in your last sentence are correct and not mutually exclusive
  • Big_G_NorthWalesBig_G_NorthWales Posts: 62,749
    Somethings never change

    Tory cronyism- - replaced by Labour cronyism as reported by the Sunday Times

    https://news.sky.com/story/sundays-national-newspaper-front-pages-12427754?postid=8175107#liveblog-body
  • Pagan2Pagan2 Posts: 9,848
    Foxy said:

    dixiedean said:

    Been some comment on people playing the system with mental health.
    I've decided to pursue an ADHD/ASD diagnosis. At the age of 57. It's become apparent that I have periodic ADHD burnout. This has been a recurring feature of my life. No one ever told me what it was before. We didn't have it in my day. Like bisexuality.
    Anyways. Having leapt the initial bar for ADHD, (100% on the assessment), am now told that the waiting list for an NHS screening to get an official diagnosis is 5 years+.
    Have also scored highly on ASD.
    I also appear to be unemployed. As what was self evidently a mental health issue has been made a disciplinary one. Cos it's easier. No duty of care.
    I'm a great employee. Kids love me. Staff love me. I just cause trouble by requiring reasonable adjustments. And management can't be arsed
    Upshot is.
    Is it any wonder folk in their 50's aren't working?

    No 2 ways about it. Psychiatry has always been a cinderella speciality, but much worse in recent years.

    Mrs Foxy reckons she has ADHD. These things have been underrecognised in the past. We don't have capacity to assess and treat.

    15% of medical graduates have some form of neurodiversity diagnosed now.
    Ok maybe seems mean I know but its a serious question....these things have existed for a long while before you learnt to diagnose them. People learnt to cope with them largely and didnt expect their employer to make adjustments. Now extremes of these problems probably do need that....do most of them?
  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 28,231
    dixiedean said:

    Been some comment on people playing the system with mental health.
    I've decided to pursue an ADHD/ASD diagnosis. At the age of 57. It's become apparent that I have periodic ADHD burnout. This has been a recurring feature of my life. No one ever told me what it was before. We didn't have it in my day. Like bisexuality.
    Anyways. Having leapt the initial bar for ADHD, (100% on the assessment), am now told that the waiting list for an NHS screening to get an official diagnosis is 5 years+.
    Have also scored highly on ASD.
    I also appear to be unemployed. As what was self evidently a mental health issue has been made a disciplinary one. Cos it's easier. No duty of care.
    I'm a great employee. Kids love me. Staff love me. I just cause trouble by requiring reasonable adjustments. And management can't be arsed
    Upshot is.
    Is it any wonder folk in their 50's aren't working?

    It is not my place to tell you you do or don't have something, but you did seem to really hate and be stressed out by your job, so it's probably a good thing you're not there any more - time for something else with less stress.
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 48,473
    Mortimer said:

    Foxy said:

    tyson said:

    Catching up with PbComers and reading Casino's depressing stuff this evening. Wouldn't expect anything else from the voice of intellectual vacuity. Casino...you can never fail to irritate. SeanT is outrageous. You are just a middle of the road irritant that constantly punches well below your limited weight.

    The most important thing that Starmer has done is get Government Out of our faces. I haven't had to think about UK politics these last weeks. if the worst thing is that Starmer went to a Taylor Swift concert I'd take that. We have had the Tories literally burning any oxygen for year after year after year with their vile personalities.

    The Winter Fuel allowance seems an easy fix. Regulate the providers to implement an OAP reduced tariff and again take this issue away from Govt.

    If Govt becomes boring then that could be Starmer's biggest achievement.

    So you want the government to pass laws forcing business to give pensioners cheaper energy ???

    With doubtless prices rises on everyone else to fund it.

    And you think this is taking the issue away from government ???
    PB Tories seem to still be in the grief/anger stage of their bereavement.
    Yes, they don't seem to have noticed that while there is a palpable lack of enthusiasm for Starmerism, there is even less for a return of the Tories. Meanwhile Farage shat the bed over the #farageriots.

    The discontent is from the left, not the right. People want more spending on WFA, scrapping the two child limit, etc, not less. Not an easy seam for Jenrick or Badenoch to mine.
    Until the country goes bust, as always seems to happens when socialism is tried....

    The problems started during covid. Not with the parties, but the socialism-lite. Collectivism was always going to end up as reasonably popular when people see no personal downside, until it is demonstrated *yet again* not to work.

    I personally look forward to the slashing of the state that a future IMF bailout will likely necessitate.....
    As I pointed out this morning, slashing the state means major cuts to services for pensioners, not just state pensions themselves but also NHS, Social Care, council tax rebates etc.

    Be careful what you wish for Tories.
  • Pagan2Pagan2 Posts: 9,848
    Foxy said:

    Mortimer said:

    Foxy said:

    tyson said:

    Catching up with PbComers and reading Casino's depressing stuff this evening. Wouldn't expect anything else from the voice of intellectual vacuity. Casino...you can never fail to irritate. SeanT is outrageous. You are just a middle of the road irritant that constantly punches well below your limited weight.

    The most important thing that Starmer has done is get Government Out of our faces. I haven't had to think about UK politics these last weeks. if the worst thing is that Starmer went to a Taylor Swift concert I'd take that. We have had the Tories literally burning any oxygen for year after year after year with their vile personalities.

    The Winter Fuel allowance seems an easy fix. Regulate the providers to implement an OAP reduced tariff and again take this issue away from Govt.

    If Govt becomes boring then that could be Starmer's biggest achievement.

    So you want the government to pass laws forcing business to give pensioners cheaper energy ???

    With doubtless prices rises on everyone else to fund it.

    And you think this is taking the issue away from government ???
    PB Tories seem to still be in the grief/anger stage of their bereavement.
    Yes, they don't seem to have noticed that while there is a palpable lack of enthusiasm for Starmerism, there is even less for a return of the Tories. Meanwhile Farage shat the bed over the #farageriots.

    The discontent is from the left, not the right. People want more spending on WFA, scrapping the two child limit, etc, not less. Not an easy seam for Jenrick or Badenoch to mine.
    Until the country goes bust, as always seems to happens when socialism is tried....

    The problems started during covid. Not with the parties, but the socialism-lite. Collectivism was always going to end up as reasonably popular when people see no personal downside, until it is demonstrated *yet again* not to work.

    I personally look forward to the slashing of the state that a future IMF bailout will likely necessitate.....
    As I pointed out this morning, slashing the state means major cuts to services for pensioners, not just state pensions themselves but also NHS, Social Care, council tax rebates etc.

    Be careful what you wish for Tories.
    I would welcome most of those but then not a tory
  • OT, interesting article on the damage pets do to the environment by Sean Thomas in The Spectator.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/its-time-to-get-rid-of-your-pet/
  • Big_G_NorthWalesBig_G_NorthWales Posts: 62,749
    Foxy said:

    Mortimer said:

    Foxy said:

    tyson said:

    Catching up with PbComers and reading Casino's depressing stuff this evening. Wouldn't expect anything else from the voice of intellectual vacuity. Casino...you can never fail to irritate. SeanT is outrageous. You are just a middle of the road irritant that constantly punches well below your limited weight.

    The most important thing that Starmer has done is get Government Out of our faces. I haven't had to think about UK politics these last weeks. if the worst thing is that Starmer went to a Taylor Swift concert I'd take that. We have had the Tories literally burning any oxygen for year after year after year with their vile personalities.

    The Winter Fuel allowance seems an easy fix. Regulate the providers to implement an OAP reduced tariff and again take this issue away from Govt.

    If Govt becomes boring then that could be Starmer's biggest achievement.

    So you want the government to pass laws forcing business to give pensioners cheaper energy ???

    With doubtless prices rises on everyone else to fund it.

    And you think this is taking the issue away from government ???
    PB Tories seem to still be in the grief/anger stage of their bereavement.
    Yes, they don't seem to have noticed that while there is a palpable lack of enthusiasm for Starmerism, there is even less for a return of the Tories. Meanwhile Farage shat the bed over the #farageriots.

    The discontent is from the left, not the right. People want more spending on WFA, scrapping the two child limit, etc, not less. Not an easy seam for Jenrick or Badenoch to mine.
    Until the country goes bust, as always seems to happens when socialism is tried....

    The problems started during covid. Not with the parties, but the socialism-lite. Collectivism was always going to end up as reasonably popular when people see no personal downside, until it is demonstrated *yet again* not to work.

    I personally look forward to the slashing of the state that a future IMF bailout will likely necessitate.....
    As I pointed out this morning, slashing the state means major cuts to services for pensioners, not just state pensions themselves but also NHS, Social Care, council tax rebates etc.

    Be careful what you wish for Tories.
    The rise in the state pension age is inevitable - it is not sustainable without and may well be something Reeves has to address
  • ohnotnowohnotnow Posts: 3,704
    edited August 24
    Jeez.

    https://x.com/denisdanilovl/status/1827282706574537013?t=8hV1aP0eVoUG5_40y5yuJA

    "Elon Musk has complied after all and provided a list of X Holding Corp shareholders who helped the billionaire buy Twitter. And who do you think turned out to be the investors of the X platform? That's right, Petr Aven and Vadim Moshkovich. Now it is absolutely obvious where Musk got such love for Russia and where the roots of “filters” due to anti-Russian publications grow from. Let me remind you who Aven and Moshkovich are.

    Petr Aven is a Russian billionaire, founder of Alfa Group, which is one of the main wallets for Putin. This m...."

    (I have no idea who the poster is - but is getting a nod from various people who normally don't post 'nutters'. ymmv)
  • StillWatersStillWaters Posts: 8,095

    Cicero said:

    HYUFD said:

    DavidL said:

    Badenoch can't do it.

    Can't do what? Make the odd witty comment at PMQs that the small percentage who really pay attention to politics might appreciate? Devise policies that will never be implemented? Watch helplessly as an overwhelming majority means that the government can do whatever it likes however irrational or self harming and all your work and smart comments are to no avail?

    Worrying about who the next Tory leader is shows that you haven't come to terms with what happened last month. They are irrelevant and will be for 10 years now. That is the price of complete failure.
    Nonsense. Snap out of it man, and grow up.

    You're facing a socialist government, and it's time to rally around and challenge it.
    Good grief Casino, how old are you?

    This is nothing like a socialist government. The only time this country has got close to a socialist government was 1945-1950 and even that was fairly mild.

    Starmer's is likely to be very much like Blair2, possibly a bit better, possibly not. But in any event, it will be a shedload better than the mismanagement we have had for the past 14 years.
    At the moment Starmer's government is far more like Brown2 than Blair2
    Starmer is a disaster.
    That comment may become true, but to state it as fact five weeks after the election is just ridiculous.
    There's plenty of evidence already that he's an absolute disaster.
    Wait until they do over the pensions in the Autumn Budget...

    And that will bite hard on not just current pensioners.
    When they repeatedly said they specifically won't raise the rate of income tax, NI or VAT it was clear to anyone who can actually listen that they were going to increase other taxes. Some reform is long overdue in pensions, lets see what they do.

    Personally I find it ludicrous that the government foregoes tax to allow people to build up multi million pound retirement pots, plus £20k per year ISAs. Subsidising savings up to around 500k per person makes a lot of sense, but beyond that it is just giving back tax to the wealthy and hiding that we are doing it by making the system very complex.
    The 'pension reform' you crave will apply to people currently in work, who will not be able to save as efficiently as existing retirees were encouraged to. They will be the losers. I genuinely want the Zedders to enjoy the same benefits as me but they seem determined to throw them away in an envious fit of pique.
    Give over.

    Our generation has had the rug pulled away every step of the way. Free university got replaced with tuition fees as it was supposedly "unaffordable" to continue with free university with so many more going than in the past.

    Well there's so many more pensioners than in the past so in the exact same way it is completely unaffordable to keep paying triple locked pensions.

    Getting pensions on an affordable footing is better to ensuring they're still there in the future than burning down the house now by pissing away every penny available then finding there's no money left.
    Empty rhetoric.
    Not remotely empty.

    Give me one good reason that free tuition
    was taken away because there were more people and it was no longer affordable that doesn't equally apply to pensioners benefits.

    There's no money left, getting spending on a sustainable footing is the best way to ensure the spending can be available in the future too.
    Because impoverished pensioners will require additional other services.

    Government should actually look at what it does in a critical light and determine if it is value added. For example it’s not clear to me that all the current students benefit from their university courses and not clear that society benefits from funding them.

    But we have this mindset that more people having tertiary education is a good thing in and of itself . That’s just not true. More people having -*value added* tertiary education is a good thing
  • Pagan2Pagan2 Posts: 9,848

    OT, interesting article on the damage pets do to the environment by Sean Thomas in The Spectator.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/its-time-to-get-rid-of-your-pet/

    How can it be interesting when a) its in the spectator (personally I would goto the daily sport for actual relevant and original and opinion first) and b) its by that dick head
  • StillWatersStillWaters Posts: 8,095
    dixiedean said:

    Been some comment on people playing the system with mental health.
    I've decided to pursue an ADHD/ASD diagnosis. At the age of 57. It's become apparent that I have periodic ADHD burnout. This has been a recurring feature of my life. No one ever told me what it was before. We didn't have it in my day. Like bisexuality.
    Anyways. Having leapt the initial bar for ADHD, (100% on the assessment), am now told that the waiting list for an NHS screening to get an official diagnosis is 5 years+.
    Have also scored highly on ASD.
    I also appear to be unemployed. As what was self evidently a mental health issue has been made a disciplinary one. Cos it's easier. No duty of care.
    I'm a great employee. Kids love me. Staff love me. I just cause trouble by requiring reasonable adjustments. And management can't be arsed
    Upshot is.
    Is it any wonder folk in their 50's aren't
    working?

    If you are in the “process” of getting a diagnosis (albeit at the pace that Turkey is joining the EU) don’t you have any protection from that?
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 48,473
    Pagan2 said:

    Foxy said:

    dixiedean said:

    Been some comment on people playing the system with mental health.
    I've decided to pursue an ADHD/ASD diagnosis. At the age of 57. It's become apparent that I have periodic ADHD burnout. This has been a recurring feature of my life. No one ever told me what it was before. We didn't have it in my day. Like bisexuality.
    Anyways. Having leapt the initial bar for ADHD, (100% on the assessment), am now told that the waiting list for an NHS screening to get an official diagnosis is 5 years+.
    Have also scored highly on ASD.
    I also appear to be unemployed. As what was self evidently a mental health issue has been made a disciplinary one. Cos it's easier. No duty of care.
    I'm a great employee. Kids love me. Staff love me. I just cause trouble by requiring reasonable adjustments. And management can't be arsed
    Upshot is.
    Is it any wonder folk in their 50's aren't working?

    No 2 ways about it. Psychiatry has always been a cinderella speciality, but much worse in recent years.

    Mrs Foxy reckons she has ADHD. These things have been underrecognised in the past. We don't have capacity to assess and treat.

    15% of medical graduates have some form of neurodiversity diagnosed now.
    Ok maybe seems mean I know but its a serious question....these things have existed for a long while before you learnt to diagnose them. People learnt to cope with them largely and didnt expect their employer to make adjustments. Now extremes of these problems probably do need that....do most of them?
    These things have certainly been undiagnosed in the past, but may well be also generally increasing. Modern media and smartphones exacerbate these conditions. One of the best non-pharma treatments is for people to spend time in a natural environment. Nature, gardening and any task requiring concentration and absorption.

    The reasonable adjustments can be very straightforward, for example ASD people can thrive on tasks that others find boringly repetitive, or work better at home than in an open office environment, while with ADHD it may be the converse. It can be as simple as putting square pegs in square holes.
  • Pagan2Pagan2 Posts: 9,848

    Cicero said:

    HYUFD said:

    DavidL said:

    Badenoch can't do it.

    Can't do what? Make the odd witty comment at PMQs that the small percentage who really pay attention to politics might appreciate? Devise policies that will never be implemented? Watch helplessly as an overwhelming majority means that the government can do whatever it likes however irrational or self harming and all your work and smart comments are to no avail?

    Worrying about who the next Tory leader is shows that you haven't come to terms with what happened last month. They are irrelevant and will be for 10 years now. That is the price of complete failure.
    Nonsense. Snap out of it man, and grow up.

    You're facing a socialist government, and it's time to rally around and challenge it.
    Good grief Casino, how old are you?

    This is nothing like a socialist government. The only time this country has got close to a socialist government was 1945-1950 and even that was fairly mild.

    Starmer's is likely to be very much like Blair2, possibly a bit better, possibly not. But in any event, it will be a shedload better than the mismanagement we have had for the past 14 years.
    At the moment Starmer's government is far more like Brown2 than Blair2
    Starmer is a disaster.
    That comment may become true, but to state it as fact five weeks after the election is just ridiculous.
    There's plenty of evidence already that he's an absolute disaster.
    Wait until they do over the pensions in the Autumn Budget...

    And that will bite hard on not just current pensioners.
    When they repeatedly said they specifically won't raise the rate of income tax, NI or VAT it was clear to anyone who can actually listen that they were going to increase other taxes. Some reform is long overdue in pensions, lets see what they do.

    Personally I find it ludicrous that the government foregoes tax to allow people to build up multi million pound retirement pots, plus £20k per year ISAs. Subsidising savings up to around 500k per person makes a lot of sense, but beyond that it is just giving back tax to the wealthy and hiding that we are doing it by making the system very complex.
    The 'pension reform' you crave will apply to people currently in work, who will not be able to save as efficiently as existing retirees were encouraged to. They will be the losers. I genuinely want the Zedders to enjoy the same benefits as me but they seem determined to throw them away in an envious fit of pique.
    Give over.

    Our generation has had the rug pulled away every step of the way. Free university got replaced with tuition fees as it was supposedly "unaffordable" to continue with free university with so many more going than in the past.

    Well there's so many more pensioners than in the past so in the exact same way it is completely unaffordable to keep paying triple locked pensions.

    Getting pensions on an affordable footing is better to ensuring they're still there in the future than burning down the house now by pissing away every penny available then finding there's no money left.
    Empty rhetoric.
    Not remotely empty.

    Give me one good reason that free tuition
    was taken away because there were more people and it was no longer affordable that doesn't equally apply to pensioners benefits.

    There's no money left, getting spending on a sustainable footing is the best way to ensure the spending can be available in the future too.
    Because impoverished pensioners will require additional other services.

    Government should actually look at what it does in a critical light and determine if it is value added. For example it’s not clear to me that all the current students benefit from their university courses and not clear that society benefits from funding them.

    But we have this mindset that more people having tertiary education is a good thing in and of itself . That’s just not true. More people having -*value added* tertiary education is a good thing
    I told my son uni was a bad idea when he asked...he went...he got an msc and then said he never wants to work in a lab ever again and says he wished he had taken my advice and learned a trade....I didn't advise him out of snobbery....just knew he would be happier using his hands and make a lot more money that he would with his degree
  • algarkirkalgarkirk Posts: 12,360

    Mortimer said:

    Oh, and Kemi is fine.

    But if the Tory membership don't go for Jenrick, we don't AFAICS have a chance of reuniting the right.

    Is it desirable to reunite the right? I'd say the more the merrier. Does Coke desperately want a merger with Pepsi, or do they understand that their competition leads to more interest in the brown sugary fizzy drink sector? The left has the greens, Lib Dems and Labour, and left wing opinions have proliferated. Arguably, the Tory Party shouldn't try and be the only flavour of right wing.
    Yes. Elections (forget 2019) are won from what voters see as the centre. Where available elections are won on centralness, competence and grownupness. There is a gap in the market for a party with all that, and a clear conservative emphasis - on things like seeking equality of opportunity but not outcomes, respecting tradition and custom, seeing the family as fundamental unit, pro business, sound on defence, supporting the institutions that buttress society, freedom of thought, traditional academia. What we once called the Tory party.
  • Pagan2Pagan2 Posts: 9,848
    Foxy said:

    Pagan2 said:

    Foxy said:

    dixiedean said:

    Been some comment on people playing the system with mental health.
    I've decided to pursue an ADHD/ASD diagnosis. At the age of 57. It's become apparent that I have periodic ADHD burnout. This has been a recurring feature of my life. No one ever told me what it was before. We didn't have it in my day. Like bisexuality.
    Anyways. Having leapt the initial bar for ADHD, (100% on the assessment), am now told that the waiting list for an NHS screening to get an official diagnosis is 5 years+.
    Have also scored highly on ASD.
    I also appear to be unemployed. As what was self evidently a mental health issue has been made a disciplinary one. Cos it's easier. No duty of care.
    I'm a great employee. Kids love me. Staff love me. I just cause trouble by requiring reasonable adjustments. And management can't be arsed
    Upshot is.
    Is it any wonder folk in their 50's aren't working?

    No 2 ways about it. Psychiatry has always been a cinderella speciality, but much worse in recent years.

    Mrs Foxy reckons she has ADHD. These things have been underrecognised in the past. We don't have capacity to assess and treat.

    15% of medical graduates have some form of neurodiversity diagnosed now.
    Ok maybe seems mean I know but its a serious question....these things have existed for a long while before you learnt to diagnose them. People learnt to cope with them largely and didnt expect their employer to make adjustments. Now extremes of these problems probably do need that....do most of them?
    These things have certainly been undiagnosed in the past, but may well be also generally increasing. Modern media and smartphones exacerbate these conditions. One of the best non-pharma treatments is for people to spend time in a natural environment. Nature, gardening and any task requiring concentration and absorption.

    The reasonable adjustments can be very straightforward, for example ASD people can thrive on tasks that others find boringly repetitive, or work better at home than in an open office environment, while with ADHD it may be the converse. It can be as simple as putting square pegs in square holes.
    Don't get me wrong here not saying reasonable adjustments shouldn't be made but have worked with people with diagnoses and it was a pain in the arse. Things like telling them they fucked up no matter how gently. Instead was meant to keep quiet and just fix it. Fine if its once or twice a year, when you are constantly having to redo someones work though and not allowed to say anything sorry thats not ok
  • ohnotnowohnotnow Posts: 3,704
    edited August 24

    OT, interesting article on the damage pets do to the environment by Sean Thomas in The Spectator.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/its-time-to-get-rid-of-your-pet/

    I don't want to give them a click. But does he address the damage to the environment flying round the world to write insipid, predictable articles for a failing rag does?
  • Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 51,577
    Barnesian said:

    Nigelb said:

    This is weird.

    The man who authorised the use of his territory to invade Ukraine towards Kyiv in 2022 "congratulates" Ukraine on its Independence Day:

    "The Belarusian land has always treated the warm-hearted and hardworking people of Ukraine with special respect and warmth. For a long time, our nations found strength in unity, shared joy and sorrow, shelter and bread, overcame adversity together and were proud of their successes. We are united not only by a common destiny and family ties, but also by the desire to be friends and get along with our neighbors"

    https://x.com/wartranslated/status/1827258640195035622

    As is this.

    The Islamic Republic of #Iran🇮🇷 congratulates the government and people of #Ukraine🇺🇦 on their Independence Day.
    https://x.com/IRIMFA_EN/status/1827259327490805776

    This IS weird. What's occurring?
    Also Modi visiting Kyiv the other day.
  • Northern_AlNorthern_Al Posts: 8,313
    I don't wish to be controversial, but I need some persuading that a wet day in late August, around seven weeks since a new government was elected at the height of summer, is a suitable date to provide us with sufficient evidence to reach a judgment on the performance of that government. They've had one major crisis, the riots, and seemed to handle that pretty well. Otherwise, it's just wait and see, surely?
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 32,134

    I don't wish to be controversial, but I need some persuading that a wet day in late August, around seven weeks since a new government was elected at the height of summer, is a suitable date to provide us with sufficient evidence to reach a judgment on the performance of that government. They've had one major crisis, the riots, and seemed to handle that pretty well. Otherwise, it's just wait and see, surely?

    Yes. The only judgement that matters is the next general election.
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 52,343
    Under Labour, things can only get better worse.

    So says...hang on, The Observer? That can't be right...

    https://news.sky.com/story/sundays-national-newspaper-front-pages-12427754?postid=8175107#liveblog-body
  • StillWatersStillWaters Posts: 8,095
    Pagan2 said:

    Cicero said:

    HYUFD said:

    DavidL said:

    Badenoch can't do it.

    Can't do what? Make the odd witty comment at PMQs that the small percentage who really pay attention to politics might appreciate? Devise policies that will never be implemented? Watch helplessly as an overwhelming majority means that the government can do whatever it likes however irrational or self harming and all your work and smart comments are to no avail?

    Worrying about who the next Tory leader is shows that you haven't come to terms with what happened last month. They are irrelevant and will be for 10 years now. That is the price of complete failure.
    Nonsense. Snap out of it man, and grow up.

    You're facing a socialist government, and it's time to rally around and challenge it.
    Good grief Casino, how old are you?

    This is nothing like a socialist government. The only time this country has got close to a socialist government was 1945-1950 and even that was fairly mild.

    Starmer's is likely to be very much like Blair2, possibly a bit better, possibly not. But in any event, it will be a shedload better than the mismanagement we have had for the past 14 years.
    At the moment Starmer's government is far more like Brown2 than Blair2
    Starmer is a disaster.
    That comment may become true, but to state it as fact five weeks after the election is just ridiculous.
    There's plenty of evidence already that he's an absolute disaster.
    Wait until they do over the pensions in the Autumn Budget...

    And that will bite hard on not just current pensioners.
    When they repeatedly said they specifically won't raise the rate of income tax, NI or VAT it was clear to anyone who can actually listen that they were going to increase other taxes. Some reform is long overdue in pensions, lets see what they do.

    Personally I find it ludicrous that the government foregoes tax to allow people to build up multi million pound retirement pots, plus £20k per year ISAs. Subsidising savings up to around 500k per person makes a lot of sense, but beyond that it is just giving back tax to the wealthy and hiding that we are doing it by making the system very complex.
    The 'pension reform' you crave will apply to people currently in work, who will not be able to save as efficiently as existing retirees were encouraged to. They will be the losers. I genuinely want the Zedders to enjoy the same benefits as me but they seem determined to throw them away in an envious fit of pique.
    Give over.

    Our generation has had the rug pulled away every step of the way. Free university got replaced with tuition fees as it was supposedly "unaffordable" to continue with free university with so many more going than in the past.

    Well there's so many more pensioners than in the past so in the exact same way it is completely unaffordable to keep paying triple locked pensions.

    Getting pensions on an affordable footing is better to ensuring they're still there in the future than burning down the house now by pissing away every penny available then finding there's no money left.
    Empty rhetoric.
    Not remotely empty.

    Give me one good reason that free tuition
    was taken away because there were more people and it was no longer affordable that doesn't equally apply to pensioners benefits.

    There's no money left, getting spending on a sustainable footing is the best way to ensure the spending can be available in the future too.
    Because impoverished pensioners will require additional other services.

    Government should actually look at what it does in a critical light and determine if it is value added. For example it’s not clear to me that all the current students benefit from their university courses and not clear that society benefits from funding them.

    But we have this mindset that more people having tertiary education is a good thing in and of itself . That’s just not true. More people having -*value added* tertiary education is a good thing
    I told my son uni was a bad idea when he asked...he went...he got an msc and then said he never wants to work in a lab ever again and says he wished he had taken my advice and learned a trade....I didn't advise him out of snobbery....just knew he would be happier using his hands and make a lot more money that he would with his degree
    I’m not sure that either of you are quite right.

    Unfortunately many employers use tertiary education as a screening device for “graduate level” jobs (even though the jobs may not require graduate skills). So having an MSc gives your son options that he didn’t have before even if he doesn’t want to work in a lab.

    But equally there are people who are not suited for an academic path - for whom a trade would be better. There is certainly useful training that can be done - improving the NVQ model perhaps - but not necessarily 3 years and £40k of student debt…
  • ohnotnowohnotnow Posts: 3,704
    Foss said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Just installed Kubuntu on my laptop.

    Early days... but so far I *love* it.

    Kubuntu feels like an OS that understands it’s job is to get out of the way.
    Lubuntu or xubuntu are the next steps.

    I am on MacOS just now just because it's the only unix-like platform $work allows. And it's somewhat less annoying than Windows.
This discussion has been closed.