Robinson says he’s staying in NC governor’s race after bombshell CNN report
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4889150-north-carolina-lieutenant-governor-mark-robinson/ ..CNN’s story, which went up about a half-hour after Robinson’s video, revealed a wide range of inflammatory comments that he reportedly made on a pornography website’s message board more than 10 years ago, including calling himself a “black NAZI” and wishing for slavery to be reinstated. The outlet reported that Robinson made these comments between 2008 and 2012, before his political career began, on a website called “Nude Africa.” An account with the username “minisoldr” made the posts, and CNN identified the account as belonging to Robinson through his full name being listed on the account, an email address that Robinson used elsewhere and biographical details that line up with his background. CNN reported that Robinson often shared his thoughts on various issues like race, gender and abortion on the forum. He wrote while discussing Black Republicans in 2010 “I’m a Black Nazi” and on another occasion that he supported slavery coming back. “Slavery is not bad. Some people need to be slaves. I wish they would bring it [slavery] back. I would certainly buy a few,” he said. Robinson also reportedly made posts in 2011 criticizing Martin Luther King Jr. as a “commie bastard” and “worse than a maggot” and in 2012 saying that he would prefer Adolf Hitler to be in charge over “any of the sh-t that’s in Washington.” CNN reported Robinson made various sexually graphic comments on the pornography website message board, including describing his pornography preferences…
Nooooooo......really....on a pron site he talked about sex.....Given all the other shit he has allegedly done, that is just laughable to mention that as part of the scandal.
Well. yes. But it’s not entirely on brand for an anti-trans MAGA Republican to be into transgender pron.
Hmm
Given that all anti-immigrant politicians turn out to employ lots of illegals as household staff, the anti-abortion ones have forced one of the illegal staff to have an abortion after an affair, the anti-gun pols have massive arsenals…
I would say it would be totally on-brand.
Yes, yes, and… hold on! What anti-gun politicians have been found to have massive arsenals? (No Starmer free ticket jokes.)
Interesting. Reeves could dig herself out of the political mess of the Winter Fuel Allowance scrapping by using the bump in CGT receipts this year because so many people are selling assets before 30th Oct.
Lord Alli is a Labour peer, a major party donor, and a Labour strategist and fixer.
He is also a multimillionaire.
He is not the taxpayer. And his money and property don’t belong to the taxpayer.
Have we all got this?
And the Prime Minister should not have taken £100,000 in gifts from anyone whether they are corporates, charities, friends or individuals.
It doesn’t matter if they are “within the rules”.
It’s just wrong, both in absolute terms and from a perception perspective.
Boris Johnson accepted a single £24k gift for his wedding costs. Frank Hester donated £10M to the Tories in 2023 alone, and gave £16k to Sunak personally for helicopter costs. Can I just check? Were you critical of these gifts at the time?
Interesting. Reeves could dig herself out of the political mess of the Winter Fuel Allowance scrapping by using the bump in CGT receipts this year because so many people are selling assets before 30th Oct.
Lord Alli is a Labour peer, a major party donor, and a Labour strategist and fixer.
He is also a multimillionaire.
He is not the taxpayer. And his money and property don’t belong to the taxpayer.
Have we all got this?
And the Prime Minister should not have taken £100,000 in gifts from anyone whether they are corporates, charities, friends or individuals.
It doesn’t matter if they are “within the rules”.
It’s just wrong, both in absolute terms and from a perception perspective.
Boris Johnson accepted a single £24k gift for his wedding costs. Frank Hester donated £10M to the Tories in 2023 alone, and gave £16k to Sunak personally for helicopter costs. Can I just check? Were you critical of these gifts at the time?
Keir Starmer was, so it looks hypocritical when he charges off to bunga bunga land.
FFS. How have they got into this mess before even reaching the autumn equinox?
John Rentoul @JohnRentoul · 2h “Why don’t you buy your own suits?” asked BBC Yorks. “The important thing in all of this is that we follow the rules”
What a change from the Corbyn era, when even the PM told him to go and get a suit, and eventually one of his aides managed to drag him through Saville Row for a single blue suit, which then got worn every week to PMQs.
I actually quite liked this about Corbyn. The social convention of hqving to vary your outfit makes no sense to me. Worse for women, of course, though it's only other women inflicting this convention on them. I also wear the same suit every time I'm required to wear a suit.
"Next week, I’m hosting a discussion at the Labour conference asking if Ed Miliband’s 2030 grid decarbonisation target is realistic. A dangerous topic, it seems. Gary Smith, who runs the GMB union, has agreed to speak: he thinks this key pledge is laughably unworkable. An important point for discussion, surely? Not a single Labour MP is willing to debate him or defend the policy."
Interesting. Reeves could dig herself out of the political mess of the Winter Fuel Allowance scrapping by using the bump in CGT receipts this year because so many people are selling assets before 30th Oct.
Alternatively, the Telegraph wants to label Labour as stupid.
Three things.
Using windfalls to pay for ongoing commitments is the stupid that Britain has been doing for years, and is part of why we're in this hole.
If there is a couple of billion more to spend, is replenishing something that is mostly a freebie find for the well-off really the best way of doing it?
Would the apparently inevitable Jenrick/Badenoch government of 2029 reintroduce a winter bonus for all pensioners? Of course they won't.
Lord Alli is a Labour peer, a major party donor, and a Labour strategist and fixer.
He is also a multimillionaire.
He is not the taxpayer. And his money and property don’t belong to the taxpayer.
Have we all got this?
And the Prime Minister should not have taken £100,000 in gifts from anyone whether they are corporates, charities, friends or individuals.
It doesn’t matter if they are “within the rules”.
It’s just wrong, both in absolute terms and from a perception perspective.
Boris Johnson accepted a single £24k gift for his wedding costs. Frank Hester donated £10M to the Tories in 2023 alone, and gave £16k to Sunak personally for helicopter costs. Can I just check? Were you critical of these gifts at the time?
Keir Starmer was, so it looks hypocritical when he charges off to bunga bunga land.
We were told his government was all about "service" and would be whiter than white on the old ethics and proprietary front.
Interesting. Reeves could dig herself out of the political mess of the Winter Fuel Allowance scrapping by using the bump in CGT receipts this year because so many people are selling assets before 30th Oct.
Alternatively, the Telegraph wants to label Labour as stupid.
Three things.
Using windfalls to pay for ongoing commitments is the stupid that Britain has been doing for years, and is part of why we're in this hole.
If there is a couple of billion more to spend, is replenishing something that is mostly a freebie find for the well-off really the best way of doing it?
Would the apparently inevitable Jenrick/Badenoch government of 2029 reintroduce a winter bonus for all pensioners? Of course they won't.
I dunno the Tories are all about subsidising their client vote these days
Interesting. Reeves could dig herself out of the political mess of the Winter Fuel Allowance scrapping by using the bump in CGT receipts this year because so many people are selling assets before 30th Oct.
Alternatively, the Telegraph wants to label Labour as stupid.
Three things.
Using windfalls to pay for ongoing commitments is the stupid that Britain has been doing for years, and is part of why we're in this hole.
If there is a couple of billion more to spend, is replenishing something that is mostly a freebie find for the well-off really the best way of doing it?
Would the apparently inevitable Jenrick/Badenoch government of 2029 reintroduce a winter bonus for all pensioners? Of course they won't.
+1 - got a one off windfall of a few £bn, spend it on some infrastructure say a couple of the 40 hospitals Bozo promised but didn't actually budget for.
Interesting. Reeves could dig herself out of the political mess of the Winter Fuel Allowance scrapping by using the bump in CGT receipts this year because so many people are selling assets before 30th Oct.
Alternatively, the Telegraph wants to label Labour as stupid.
Three things.
Using windfalls to pay for ongoing commitments is the stupid that Britain has been doing for years, and is part of why we're in this hole.
If there is a couple of billion more to spend, is replenishing something that is mostly a freebie find for the well-off really the best way of doing it?
Would the apparently inevitable Jenrick/Badenoch government of 2029 reintroduce a winter bonus for all pensioners? Of course they won't.
It struck me also that this was a one year windfall but I guess once this year is done the £22b hole disappears and we move on.
Interesting. Reeves could dig herself out of the political mess of the Winter Fuel Allowance scrapping by using the bump in CGT receipts this year because so many people are selling assets before 30th Oct.
Alternatively, the Telegraph wants to label Labour as stupid.
Three things.
Using windfalls to pay for ongoing commitments is the stupid that Britain has been doing for years, and is part of why we're in this hole.
If there is a couple of billion more to spend, is replenishing something that is mostly a freebie find for the well-off really the best way of doing it?
Would the apparently inevitable Jenrick/Badenoch government of 2029 reintroduce a winter bonus for all pensioners? Of course they won't.
"If there is a couple of billion more to spend, is replenishing something that is mostly a freebie find for the well-off really the best way of doing it?"
I thought you were all for massive pay rises for doctors and trains drivers ?
Claude at the moment is the best LLM IMO. For all the hype over ChatGPT o1, I just found that it sits and "thinks" for ages and the result isn't actually much better. At best its stopping you manually saying, do this, then this, at worst because it is trying to take many steps itself, it goes off down the wrong path and you wait 30s+ for it to pump out nonsense.
Yes. Apparently o1 is great at maths and coding but as I don’t care about maths or coding that whizzes past me
For words, Claude is still best by a fair stretch. Also the context window on ChatGPT remains relatively tiny
As it seems I am temporarily allowed to discuss AI - I’d note that I’ve seen people all over the world quietly using it, and many hyper aware of all developments. The revolution is happening but it’s sotto voce. A lot of people don’t want their employers to know they are using it
For these and other reasons I wouldn’t bet against AI. It is coming and it is inevitable. Betting against it is like betting against electricity in 1895
I have found the opposite, its shit at coding, its really infuriating. But I am not asking it to code flappy birds game or a web app. As for maths, I have asked it some things that aren't that complicated (I am not a mathematician, but I do lots of maths) and it has done very poorly.
I yield to your experience in these matters
Gemini is often overlooked. It has a massive context window and seems to be improving over time
Frankly, they are all amazing and if you showed them to people in 2014 or 2004 they’d say Wow so that’s AGI
It’s the boiling frog thing
Oh don't get me wrong, I think if you have 100-120 IQ and do very repetitive white collar role and quite low down in the company hierarchy, I would be very concerned for my future. I actually think those that have lower IQ are far better insulated against this tech because they are much more likely to be in vocational jobs that robotics are nowhere near doing their work.
But o1 at least I have found massively underwhelming for my use cases. Its like asking an undergraduate who if they don't know the answer doesn't say I don't know or I think the answer is, it gives you a 10 minute BS talk all about it.
Are we allowed to talk about AI here again, then?
In which case.
Those of us "golgafrincham b ark" types whose main grift in life has been to shuffle papers and produce reports are doomed.
I do a lot of strategy consultancy work for startups and I feed my meeting notes into Claude (as others have noted, the best of the current bunch) and it largely spits out what I would. Not as good, but probably 70-80% of the way there. So why pay me thousands for my time when you're on a tight budget and the chatbot gets you 70-80% of the way there?
Well, I like to think the extra 20% is the difference between the startups I work with that succeed, and the guys who use chatbot answers and don't. But this is not quite 2 years into the AI revolution, and at the current pace, I will be outclassed within the next few years. If I'm lucky. The next few months, if I'm not.
I consider myself fortunate to be financially secure. Because if I wasn't, I'm pretty sure I would be looking at the bread line in a few years, much as a coal miner in the 90s. A completely obsolescent skill set.
I've retired except for translation and chairing my constituency CLP. I've wondered whether the translation work (mostly for the European Commission) will go, since they send a 95% correct draft translation, but although the pay per word has gone down the pay per hour remains decent (about £50/hour, with a minimum of £17.50 even if it's a single sentence) for zipping through the drafts, filling in the 5% and spotting any errors. It's a nice little retirement earner and I think they reckon the human eye is still important as you do occasinally catch the system totally misunderstanding something.
Any news on the post retirement study ideas?
I remain awestruck by people who are competent in more than one language.
My 21 year old granddaughter speaks Welsh, English, French, Italian and Japanese
If you will excuse the immodesty for a moment, my brain rarely lets me down. I reckon myself adept at English: I may not have anything interesting to say, but if someone else does I can spot whuch words they are using wrong and select the right ones. I can proof read well. And it's not just words; I am good at maths and can remember facts. But I am awful at foreign languages. I have not the slightest ear for them; their lexica remain forever elusive. It seems the hardest thing in the world to achieve even a basic competence. And yet, go to Europe and almost everyone there is able to switch effortlessly switch between four languages. These aren't specialists who've spent years striving to master a language - it's everyone. Waiters, actors, shopkeepers, children, passers-by. How is this possible? Dura Ace recently suggested it was just hours of hard work. Where do these people - like your granddaughter - find the time?
I am exactly the same: despite having done reasonably well academically in general, I got a C in GCSE French, and came bottom in the year at my comprehensive in German.
I got a CSE grade 2 in French - basically equivalent to a D or E at O level.
And yet I speak both French and Norwegian well enough to work in those countries - and in the case of France to teach specialist rig operations to trainees. For me school language lessons were a complete disaster and it was only when I started working in the countries concerned that I managed to get a reasonable grasp of the languages.
The UK doesn't general start even one language until high school. Most other European countries start their kids at 8 or even younger. The earlier you are exposed to a second language, the easier it is to learn any language. It is not that the Brits have a poor aptitude for languages, it is simplybthat they are badly taught and too late in a child's development. As for those who suggest that it doesn't matter, because English is a predominant language, learn another language helps the brain stay younger throughout life. So it is time we stopped wasting time and taught languages, and indeed the grammar of English, properly.
Yes. Next question: who teaches them (current primary school teachers are not normally qualified to teach another language) , and which language?
Kind of interesting/annoying post from Nate Silver "complaining" that his forecast is too popular. I have to say that, although he goes on to make some good points, I don't have much sympathy.
The spectacle of Tories getting wound up about it is also something to behold.
It's a bit disappointing from Starmer, but I didn't expect all that much of him anyway.
It's a similar dynamic to something like Barnardcastlegate. The government is the government, and the rest of us get to have our say in 2028/9. Government unpopularity now is to be expected and possibly desired.
If, by the next election, we feel better off and public services are better, nobody will care about this stuff. If we don't feel better off, Labour loses anyway.
Anger by the Conservative party, their hangers-on and the media is pure displacement activity. They can shout all they like, and the government will still win every Commons vote comfortably. I don't think that those on the right (who are used to being in power) have quite cottoned on to this.
If we want top politicians to not take freebies, the taxpayer has to put in more. After all, the next Leader of the Opposition is going to have bills to pay, too. The Conservatives ought to be careful how far they push this.
Interesting. Reeves could dig herself out of the political mess of the Winter Fuel Allowance scrapping by using the bump in CGT receipts this year because so many people are selling assets before 30th Oct.
Alternatively, the Telegraph wants to label Labour as stupid.
Three things.
Using windfalls to pay for ongoing commitments is the stupid that Britain has been doing for years, and is part of why we're in this hole.
If there is a couple of billion more to spend, is replenishing something that is mostly a freebie find for the well-off really the best way of doing it?
Would the apparently inevitable Jenrick/Badenoch government of 2029 reintroduce a winter bonus for all pensioners? Of course they won't.
It struck me also that this was a one year windfall but I guess once this year is done the £22b hole disappears and we move on.
The deficit is forecast to be about £90 billion, the majority of that is structural, spending on government debt is about £100bn a year, total debt is 100% of GDP.
Problems don't disappear whether people think the £22bn was real or exaggerated.
She says it in that slightly drunk-sounding voice that makes it extra scary.
Anyone who breaks into the house of the Vice President of the United States and expects not to end being shot, possibly with a howitzer, is an idiot who knows nothing about the trigger-happy nature of the average Secret Service bodyguard.
Actually, the number of people accidentally shot by the Secret Service is quite low. Which suggests they *are* a cut above average US law enforcement.
There have been a number of cases of idiots/loonies scaling the Whitehouse fence and merely being arrested. Rather than nuked with a medium yield device….
Then again, everyone expects that breaking into a property protected by the Secret Service to go like this
Interesting. Reeves could dig herself out of the political mess of the Winter Fuel Allowance scrapping by using the bump in CGT receipts this year because so many people are selling assets before 30th Oct.
Alternatively, the Telegraph wants to label Labour as stupid.
Three things.
Using windfalls to pay for ongoing commitments is the stupid that Britain has been doing for years, and is part of why we're in this hole.
If there is a couple of billion more to spend, is replenishing something that is mostly a freebie find for the well-off really the best way of doing it?
Would the apparently inevitable Jenrick/Badenoch government of 2029 reintroduce a winter bonus for all pensioners? Of course they won't.
"If there is a couple of billion more to spend, is replenishing something that is mostly a freebie find for the well-off really the best way of doing it?"
I thought you were all for massive pay rises for doctors and trains drivers ?
I'm in favour of reality and arithmetic.
If the cost to the nation of allowing the strikes to drag on was higher than paying up, then settle the strikes.
If recruitment and retention are a problem, pay more.
The problem with the "they should accept X and be grateful model" is that the government can't enforce it.
The spectacle of Tories getting wound up about it is also something to behold.
It's a bit disappointing from Starmer, but I didn't expect all that much of him anyway.
It's a similar dynamic to something like Barnardcastlegate. The government is the government, and the rest of us get to have our say in 2028/9. Government unpopularity now is to be expected and possibly desired.
If, by the next election, we feel better off and public services are better, nobody will care about this stuff. If we don't feel better off, Labour loses anyway.
Anger by the Conservative party, their hangers-on and the media is pure displacement activity. They can shout all they like, and the government will still win every Commons vote comfortably. I don't think that those on the right (who are used to being in power) have quite cottoned on to this.
If we want top politicians to not take freebies, the taxpayer has to put in more. After all, the next Leader of the Opposition is going to have bills to pay, too. The Conservatives ought to be careful how far they push this.
Ok so you advise the Conservatives to lay off what Labour have been doing for 14 years ?
Interesting. Reeves could dig herself out of the political mess of the Winter Fuel Allowance scrapping by using the bump in CGT receipts this year because so many people are selling assets before 30th Oct.
Alternatively, the Telegraph wants to label Labour as stupid.
Three things.
Using windfalls to pay for ongoing commitments is the stupid that Britain has been doing for years, and is part of why we're in this hole.
If there is a couple of billion more to spend, is replenishing something that is mostly a freebie find for the well-off really the best way of doing it?
Would the apparently inevitable Jenrick/Badenoch government of 2029 reintroduce a winter bonus for all pensioners? Of course they won't.
"If there is a couple of billion more to spend, is replenishing something that is mostly a freebie find for the well-off really the best way of doing it?"
I thought you were all for massive pay rises for doctors and trains drivers ?
These are the massive pay rises for train drivers that are afaics less than the CPI rate of inflation?
(I don't have the data for Junior Docs as I'm not sure what happened wrt all previous years.)
Robinson says he’s staying in NC governor’s race after bombshell CNN report
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4889150-north-carolina-lieutenant-governor-mark-robinson/ ..CNN’s story, which went up about a half-hour after Robinson’s video, revealed a wide range of inflammatory comments that he reportedly made on a pornography website’s message board more than 10 years ago, including calling himself a “black NAZI” and wishing for slavery to be reinstated. The outlet reported that Robinson made these comments between 2008 and 2012, before his political career began, on a website called “Nude Africa.” An account with the username “minisoldr” made the posts, and CNN identified the account as belonging to Robinson through his full name being listed on the account, an email address that Robinson used elsewhere and biographical details that line up with his background. CNN reported that Robinson often shared his thoughts on various issues like race, gender and abortion on the forum. He wrote while discussing Black Republicans in 2010 “I’m a Black Nazi” and on another occasion that he supported slavery coming back. “Slavery is not bad. Some people need to be slaves. I wish they would bring it [slavery] back. I would certainly buy a few,” he said. Robinson also reportedly made posts in 2011 criticizing Martin Luther King Jr. as a “commie bastard” and “worse than a maggot” and in 2012 saying that he would prefer Adolf Hitler to be in charge over “any of the sh-t that’s in Washington.” CNN reported Robinson made various sexually graphic comments on the pornography website message board, including describing his pornography preferences…
Nooooooo......really....on a pron site he talked about sex.....Given all the other shit he has allegedly done, that is just laughable to mention that as part of the scandal.
Well. yes. But it’s not entirely on brand for an anti-trans MAGA Republican to be into transgender pron.
Hmm
Given that all anti-immigrant politicians turn out to employ lots of illegals as household staff, the anti-abortion ones have forced one of the illegal staff to have an abortion after an affair, the anti-gun pols have massive arsenals…
I would say it would be totally on-brand.
Yes, yes, and… hold on! What anti-gun politicians have been found to have massive arsenals? (No Starmer free ticket jokes.)
I’d have to dig it out. But there was a spate of these a while back. Including one who had an FFL for fully automatic weapons.
Interesting. Reeves could dig herself out of the political mess of the Winter Fuel Allowance scrapping by using the bump in CGT receipts this year because so many people are selling assets before 30th Oct.
Interesting. Reeves could dig herself out of the political mess of the Winter Fuel Allowance scrapping by using the bump in CGT receipts this year because so many people are selling assets before 30th Oct.
Alternatively, the Telegraph wants to label Labour as stupid.
Three things.
Using windfalls to pay for ongoing commitments is the stupid that Britain has been doing for years, and is part of why we're in this hole.
If there is a couple of billion more to spend, is replenishing something that is mostly a freebie find for the well-off really the best way of doing it?
Would the apparently inevitable Jenrick/Badenoch government of 2029 reintroduce a winter bonus for all pensioners? Of course they won't.
"If there is a couple of billion more to spend, is replenishing something that is mostly a freebie find for the well-off really the best way of doing it?"
I thought you were all for massive pay rises for doctors and trains drivers ?
I'm in favour of reality and arithmetic.
If the cost to the nation of allowing the strikes to drag on was higher than paying up, then settle the strikes.
If recruitment and retention are a problem, pay more.
The problem with the "they should accept X and be grateful model" is that the government can't enforce it.
FFS. How have they got into this mess before even reaching the autumn equinox?
John Rentoul @JohnRentoul · 2h “Why don’t you buy your own suits?” asked BBC Yorks. “The important thing in all of this is that we follow the rules”
What a change from the Corbyn era, when even the PM told him to go and get a suit, and eventually one of his aides managed to drag him through Saville Row for a single blue suit, which then got worn every week to PMQs.
I actually quite liked this about Corbyn. The social convention of hqving to vary your outfit makes no sense to me. Worse for women, of course, though it's only other women inflicting this convention on them. I also wear the same suit every time I'm required to wear a suit.
It depends on the work environment. My work is mostly trousers and shirt, I have a couple of suits for meeting days, that are a few years old but still fit.
If I got a job where jackets and ties were the daily dress code, like the front bench of Parliament, I’d be straight to the tailor for at least a couple more suits.
Oh, and always have the tailor do two pairs of trousers and one jacket. Trousers always need cleaning first, and always wear out first.
Interesting. Reeves could dig herself out of the political mess of the Winter Fuel Allowance scrapping by using the bump in CGT receipts this year because so many people are selling assets before 30th Oct.
Alternatively, the Telegraph wants to label Labour as stupid.
Three things.
Using windfalls to pay for ongoing commitments is the stupid that Britain has been doing for years, and is part of why we're in this hole.
If there is a couple of billion more to spend, is replenishing something that is mostly a freebie find for the well-off really the best way of doing it?
Would the apparently inevitable Jenrick/Badenoch government of 2029 reintroduce a winter bonus for all pensioners? Of course they won't.
"If there is a couple of billion more to spend, is replenishing something that is mostly a freebie find for the well-off really the best way of doing it?"
I thought you were all for massive pay rises for doctors and trains drivers ?
I'm in favour of reality and arithmetic.
If the cost to the nation of allowing the strikes to drag on was higher than paying up, then settle the strikes.
If recruitment and retention are a problem, pay more.
The problem with the "they should accept X and be grateful model" is that the government can't enforce it.
The problem is the government cant afford it.
So much for reality and arithmetic
There are at least three ways the government can afford those pay rises.
One is to raise taxes and charges.
Another is to arrange things so that they need fewer train drivers, doctors etc.
A third is to divert money from other sectors of government into staff pay.
The fourth is to squeeze public sector salaries, which has been the broad strategy since about 2010. Unfortunately, that's run out of road- staff are leaving and can't easily be replaced. So that option is not really available any more.
It may well be that none of the choices are desirable. Unfortunately, life is often about choosing between undesirables. And "don't want to afford" isn't the same as "can't afford".
She says it in that slightly drunk-sounding voice that makes it extra scary.
Anyone who breaks into the house of the Vice President of the United States and expects not to end being shot, possibly with a howitzer, is an idiot who knows nothing about the trigger-happy nature of the average Secret Service bodyguard.
Actually, the number of people accidentally shot by the Secret Service is quite low. Which suggests they *are* a cut above average US law enforcement.
There have been a number of cases of idiots/loonies scaling the Whitehouse fence and merely being arrested. Rather than nuked with a medium yield device….
Then again, everyone expects that breaking into a property protected by the Secret Service to go like this
The USSS are better than the average cop, which isn’t saying much.
One of their snipers quite famously killed someone a couple of months ago, which was a great shot for him but ignores the wider failures that allowed the situation to develop as it did in the first place. A civillian was killed by the attacker, several were injured, and America was potentially only an inch or two away from a civil war.
Angela Rayner enjoyed stunning views of Manhattan and the Empire State Building on new year’s eve from a $2.5 million flat lent by the Labour donor at the centre of the row over freebies, The Telegraph can reveal.
The Deputy Prime Minister spent five nights in the luxury Manhattan apartment, with views over New York from the 56th floor of a skyscraper.
The two-bedroom property – totalling 1,300 sq ft – was lent to Ms Rayner by Lord Alli, the Labour peer, from Dec 29 to Jan 2 last year.
According to the parliamentary register of interests, Ms Rayner was given a flat as accommodation for five nights to enjoy a “personal holiday”, which she said was worth an estimated £1,250 overall.
We talked about hotel prices in North America, don't get much for £250 / night these days.
5 nights in a 2 bed, high end apartment in New York, across New Years. For £1250?
Put her in charge of buying PPE for the NHS.
Yes, utterly ridiculous
More like £5-10,000, including flights (did she go Economy? I rather doubt it)
That’s a massive freebie, and I know a massive freebie when I see one. And she has totally lied about it. Bad
Could this have the media taking a closer look at the values people are estimating for the value of gifts received.....Seems like open to abuse, you still register something so within the rules, but you under cook it to make sure it seems unexceptional and doesn't garner any real interest.
This seems to me an open-and-shut case of outright lying
No way you get a five night NYE holiday in NYC in a 2 bed luxury 55th floor apartment in Manhattan skyscraper for £1250
It’s absurd and we can all see it is absurd. At that time of year you’d be hard pushed to get a luxe 2 bed cottage in NORFOLK for £1250 for 5 nights, especially if one includes travel there and back
Midtown Manhattan?? Several thousands
Eg here’s one that looks similar. Great views, high up a skyscraper. Manhattan
It is £1500 a night = £7500 for 5 nights, plus flights; include flights (esp Biz) and you’ve over £10k easily
Interesting. Reeves could dig herself out of the political mess of the Winter Fuel Allowance scrapping by using the bump in CGT receipts this year because so many people are selling assets before 30th Oct.
Alternatively, the Telegraph wants to label Labour as stupid.
Three things.
Using windfalls to pay for ongoing commitments is the stupid that Britain has been doing for years, and is part of why we're in this hole.
If there is a couple of billion more to spend, is replenishing something that is mostly a freebie find for the well-off really the best way of doing it?
Would the apparently inevitable Jenrick/Badenoch government of 2029 reintroduce a winter bonus for all pensioners? Of course they won't.
"If there is a couple of billion more to spend, is replenishing something that is mostly a freebie find for the well-off really the best way of doing it?"
I thought you were all for massive pay rises for doctors and trains drivers ?
I'm in favour of reality and arithmetic.
If the cost to the nation of allowing the strikes to drag on was higher than paying up, then settle the strikes.
If recruitment and retention are a problem, pay more.
The problem with the "they should accept X and be grateful model" is that the government can't enforce it.
The problem is the government cant afford it.
So much for reality and arithmetic
There are at least three ways the government can afford those pay rises.
One is to raise taxes and charges.
Another is to arrange things so that they need fewer train drivers, doctors etc.
A third is to divert money from other sectors of government into staff pay.
The fourth is to squeeze public sector salaries, which has been the broad strategy since about 2010. Unfortunately, that's run out of road- staff are leaving and can't easily be replaced. So that option is not really available any more.
It may well be that none of the choices are desirable. Unfortunately, life is often about choosing between undesirables. And "don't want to afford" isn't the same as "can't afford".
Can't afford it without political cost, can't afford not to do it without political cost.
She says it in that slightly drunk-sounding voice that makes it extra scary.
Anyone who breaks into the house of the Vice President of the United States and expects not to end being shot, possibly with a howitzer, is an idiot who knows nothing about the trigger-happy nature of the average Secret Service bodyguard.
Actually, the number of people accidentally shot by the Secret Service is quite low. Which suggests they *are* a cut above average US law enforcement.
There have been a number of cases of idiots/loonies scaling the Whitehouse fence and merely being arrested. Rather than nuked with a medium yield device….
Then again, everyone expects that breaking into a property protected by the Secret Service to go like this
The USSS are better than the average cop, which isn’t saying much.
One of their snipers quite famously killed someone a couple of months ago, which was a great shot for him but ignores the wider failures that allowed the situation to develop as it did in the first place. A civillian was killed by the attacker, several were injured, and America was potentially only an inch or two away from a civil war.
On the other hand, the life expectancy of a black pizza delivery person, delivering to a Secret Service protected property is considerably above that for the average US police force.
Angela Rayner enjoyed stunning views of Manhattan and the Empire State Building on new year’s eve from a $2.5 million flat lent by the Labour donor at the centre of the row over freebies, The Telegraph can reveal.
The Deputy Prime Minister spent five nights in the luxury Manhattan apartment, with views over New York from the 56th floor of a skyscraper.
The two-bedroom property – totalling 1,300 sq ft – was lent to Ms Rayner by Lord Alli, the Labour peer, from Dec 29 to Jan 2 last year.
According to the parliamentary register of interests, Ms Rayner was given a flat as accommodation for five nights to enjoy a “personal holiday”, which she said was worth an estimated £1,250 overall.
We talked about hotel prices in North America, don't get much for £250 / night these days.
5 nights in a 2 bed, high end apartment in New York, across New Years. For £1250?
Put her in charge of buying PPE for the NHS.
Yes, utterly ridiculous
More like £5-10,000, including flights (did she go Economy? I rather doubt it)
That’s a massive freebie, and I know a massive freebie when I see one. And she has totally lied about it. Bad
Could this have the media taking a closer look at the values people are estimating for the value of gifts received.....Seems like open to abuse, you still register something so within the rules, but you under cook it to make sure it seems unexceptional and doesn't garner any real interest.
This seems to me an open-and-shut case of outright lying
No way you get a five night NYE holiday in NYC in a 2 bed luxury 55th floor apartment in Manhattan skyscraper for £1250
It’s absurd and we can all see it is absurd. At that time of year you’d be hard pushed to get a luxe 2 bed cottage in NORFOLK for £1250 for 5 nights, especially if one includes travel there and back
Midtown Manhattan?? Several thousands
Eg here’s one that looks similar. Great views, high up a skyscraper. Manhattan
It is £1500 a night = £7500 for 5 nights, plus flights; include flights (esp Biz) and you’ve over £10k easily
Angela Rayner enjoyed stunning views of Manhattan and the Empire State Building on new year’s eve from a $2.5 million flat lent by the Labour donor at the centre of the row over freebies, The Telegraph can reveal.
The Deputy Prime Minister spent five nights in the luxury Manhattan apartment, with views over New York from the 56th floor of a skyscraper.
The two-bedroom property – totalling 1,300 sq ft – was lent to Ms Rayner by Lord Alli, the Labour peer, from Dec 29 to Jan 2 last year.
According to the parliamentary register of interests, Ms Rayner was given a flat as accommodation for five nights to enjoy a “personal holiday”, which she said was worth an estimated £1,250 overall.
We talked about hotel prices in North America, don't get much for £250 / night these days.
5 nights in a 2 bed, high end apartment in New York, across New Years. For £1250?
Put her in charge of buying PPE for the NHS.
Yes, utterly ridiculous
More like £5-10,000, including flights (did she go Economy? I rather doubt it)
That’s a massive freebie, and I know a massive freebie when I see one. And she has totally lied about it. Bad
Could this have the media taking a closer look at the values people are estimating for the value of gifts received.....Seems like open to abuse, you still register something so within the rules, but you under cook it to make sure it seems unexceptional and doesn't garner any real interest.
This seems to me an open-and-shut case of outright lying
No way you get a five night NYE holiday in NYC in a 2 bed luxury 55th floor apartment in Manhattan skyscraper for £1250
It’s absurd and we can all see it is absurd. At that time of year you’d be hard pushed to get a luxe 2 bed cottage in NORFOLK for £1250 for 5 nights, especially if one includes travel there and back
Midtown Manhattan?? Several thousands
Eg here’s one that looks similar. Great views, high up a skyscraper. Manhattan
It is £1500 a night = £7500 for 5 nights, plus flights; include flights (esp Biz) and you’ve over £10k easily
Angela Rayner enjoyed stunning views of Manhattan and the Empire State Building on new year’s eve from a $2.5 million flat lent by the Labour donor at the centre of the row over freebies, The Telegraph can reveal.
The Deputy Prime Minister spent five nights in the luxury Manhattan apartment, with views over New York from the 56th floor of a skyscraper.
The two-bedroom property – totalling 1,300 sq ft – was lent to Ms Rayner by Lord Alli, the Labour peer, from Dec 29 to Jan 2 last year.
According to the parliamentary register of interests, Ms Rayner was given a flat as accommodation for five nights to enjoy a “personal holiday”, which she said was worth an estimated £1,250 overall.
We talked about hotel prices in North America, don't get much for £250 / night these days.
5 nights in a 2 bed, high end apartment in New York, across New Years. For £1250?
Put her in charge of buying PPE for the NHS.
Yes, utterly ridiculous
More like £5-10,000, including flights (did she go Economy? I rather doubt it)
That’s a massive freebie, and I know a massive freebie when I see one. And she has totally lied about it. Bad
Could this have the media taking a closer look at the values people are estimating for the value of gifts received.....Seems like open to abuse, you still register something so within the rules, but you under cook it to make sure it seems unexceptional and doesn't garner any real interest.
This seems to me an open-and-shut case of outright lying
No way you get a five night NYE holiday in NYC in a 2 bed luxury 55th floor apartment in Manhattan skyscraper for £1250
It’s absurd and we can all see it is absurd. At that time of year you’d be hard pushed to get a luxe 2 bed cottage in NORFOLK for £1250 for 5 nights, especially if one includes travel there and back
Midtown Manhattan?? Several thousands
Eg here’s one that looks similar. Great views, high up a skyscraper. Manhattan
It is £1500 a night = £7500 for 5 nights, plus flights; include flights (esp Biz) and you’ve over £10k easily
Comments
Ben Wilkinson
Surely Labour couldn’t be this stupid?
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/property/buy-to-let/surely-labour-cant-be-this-stupid/
So stupid wins.
I post this to those who are trying to justify Starmers freebies including @Anabobazina to realise just how ludicrous it is to try to do so
https://news.sky.com/story/keir-starmer-trying-to-justify-free-gifts-is-making-things-worse-says-baroness-harriet-harman-13217827
"Next week, I’m hosting a discussion at the Labour conference asking if Ed Miliband’s 2030 grid decarbonisation target is realistic. A dangerous topic, it seems. Gary Smith, who runs the GMB union, has agreed to speak: he thinks this key pledge is laughably unworkable. An important point for discussion, surely? Not a single Labour MP is willing to debate him or defend the policy."
Three things.
Using windfalls to pay for ongoing commitments is the stupid that Britain has been doing for years, and is part of why we're in this hole.
If there is a couple of billion more to spend, is replenishing something that is mostly a freebie find for the well-off really the best way of doing it?
Would the apparently inevitable Jenrick/Badenoch government of 2029 reintroduce a winter bonus for all pensioners? Of course they won't.
It's a bit disappointing from Starmer, but I didn't expect all that much of him anyway.
"Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?"
I thought you were all for massive pay rises for doctors and trains drivers ?
https://www.natesilver.net/p/dont-let-randomness-make-a-fool-of
If, by the next election, we feel better off and public services are better, nobody will care about this stuff. If we don't feel better off, Labour loses anyway.
Anger by the Conservative party, their hangers-on and the media is pure displacement activity. They can shout all they like, and the government will still win every Commons vote comfortably. I don't think that those on the right (who are used to being in power) have quite cottoned on to this.
If we want top politicians to not take freebies, the taxpayer has to put in more. After all, the next Leader of the Opposition is going to have bills to pay, too. The Conservatives ought to be careful how far they push this.
Er ... no.
Lord Mandelbrot might, though, especially if he thought it was hand-raised organic ketchup.
Problems don't disappear whether people think the £22bn was real or exaggerated.
There have been a number of cases of idiots/loonies scaling the Whitehouse fence and merely being arrested. Rather than nuked with a medium yield device….
Then again, everyone expects that breaking into a property protected by the Secret Service to go like this
If the cost to the nation of allowing the strikes to drag on was higher than paying up, then settle the strikes.
If recruitment and retention are a problem, pay more.
The problem with the "they should accept X and be grateful model" is that the government can't enforce it.
NEW THREAD
Maybe Labour shouldnt have been pushing this too.
(I don't have the data for Junior Docs as I'm not sure what happened wrt all previous years.)
So much for reality and arithmetic
Good morning, everybody.
If I got a job where jackets and ties were the daily dress code, like the front bench of Parliament, I’d be straight to the tailor for at least a couple more suits.
Oh, and always have the tailor do two pairs of trousers and one jacket. Trousers always need cleaning first, and always wear out first.
One is to raise taxes and charges.
Another is to arrange things so that they need fewer train drivers, doctors etc.
A third is to divert money from other sectors of government into staff pay.
The fourth is to squeeze public sector salaries, which has been the broad strategy since about 2010. Unfortunately, that's run out of road- staff are leaving and can't easily be replaced. So that option is not really available any more.
It may well be that none of the choices are desirable. Unfortunately, life is often about choosing between undesirables. And "don't want to afford" isn't the same as "can't afford".
One of their snipers quite famously killed someone a couple of months ago, which was a great shot for him but ignores the wider failures that allowed the situation to develop as it did in the first place. A civillian was killed by the attacker, several were injured, and America was potentially only an inch or two away from a civil war.
There’s no way anyone stays five nights over NYE in the fancy end of Manhattan for $1,500 total.
So there that…